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SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - At least three people, including a wealthy California construction executive, were believed killed in the fiery crash-landing of a small jet at Santa Monica airport after a flight from Idaho's Sun Valley resort area, officials said on Monday.
The twin-engine Cessna Citation 525A veered off the right side of the runway as it touched down at Santa Monica Municipal Airport west of Los Angeles on Sunday evening, slammed into a hangar and burst into flames, airport and federal safety officials said.
The lead on-scene investigator, Van McKenny of the National Transportation Safety Board, said he was not at liberty to discuss what might have caused the plane to swerve off the runway. He said any problems with the landing gear or other possible factors would be covered by the crash investigation.
A witness identified as Charles Thomson told local television station KCAL-TV that a tire on the plane's landing gear appeared to blow out as it was landing.
"It wasn't an emergency landing," Thomson said. "It was just a landing, and the tire popped afterwards."
News pictures taken shortly after the crash showed billowing black smoke curling up over aircraft at the airport, which serves communities west of downtown Los Angeles. Subsequent images showed the tail of an aircraft protruding from the partly collapsed hangar, flanked by fire trucks.
Everyone on the plane was presumed killed, though the number of people aboard the aircraft remained to be determined, McKenny said.
"We haven't had any indication that there are ground fatalities at this time," he said.
The private hangar demolished in the crash was partly owned by filmmaker and pilot Tony Bill, who shared a best-picture Academy Award in 1974 for his work as a producer of "The Sting," which starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
Bill said his own aircraft, an Italian-made aerobatics plane, was destroyed in the accident, along with a truck, a car and a motorcycle he kept parked in the hangar. "My assumption is that everything in there is roasted," he told Reuters.
The force of the collision left the interior of the hangar wrapped around the Cessna, preventing authorities from reaching the fuselage for many hours after the crash, McKenny said.
He said investigators were waiting for the arrival of two cranes that would lift the collapsed roof off the aircraft and help shore up the fallen structure, permitting safe access to wreckage, hopefully later in the day.
Two of the presumed victims were identified by Santa Monica-based construction firm Morley Builders, which said in a statement that its chief executive, Mark Benjamin, and his son, Luke, a senior project engineer, were among those on the plane.
The elder Benjamin was also a board member of the Idaho Conservation League, and a spokeswoman for that organization, Aimee Moran, said Luke Benjamin's girlfriend was also believed to have been on board the plane, along with Mark Benjamin's golden retriever.
Mark Benjamin, 63, was a pilot and owner of the plane who flew frequently between his primary residence in the Los Angeles area and his second home in Ketchum, Idaho, near the Sun Valley ski resort in the Rocky Mountains of central Idaho, Moran said.
He was apparently at the controls of the aircraft when it crashed, she said, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The Cessna Citation family of jets has a seating capacity of five to nine people, and the model that crashed is believed to have seating for a pilot, co-pilot and six passengers.
Captain John Nevandro of the Santa Monica Fire Department said the circumstances of the crash made it "an unsurvivable crash."
Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Laura Zuckerman from Salmon, Idaho, also contributed to this report; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Leslie Adler, Cynthia Osterman and Steve Orlofsky


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17 October 2011
The Skinny Barn
photos by Tom b.
- UO dress
- vintage Edwardian era jacket
- UO chelsea boots
- Madewell acorn necklace
- vintage Coach purse
- vintage silk scarf
Tom and I have driven by this skinny barn lots of times and every time we do, we wonder aloud what in the world it was used for. Last night we finally stopped to check it out up close. Now it's used as a haven for all sorts of birds, mostly barn swallows that have built their nests in the rafters. But its original purpose escapes me. Our best guess is that it was used as a tobacco barn where farmers hang and dry the tobacco that is commonly grown around this area. Any guesses?
15 comments:
- Chaucee said...
This dress is amazing! And I love the location you took your photographs
- October 17, 2011
- Magar said...
That is so weird! I have no idea what that could be used for, my first thought when I saw you sitting in the doorway/opening was something to do with chickens, but I don't know much about barns to begin with. It almost looks like something from a movie set. Like it's only meant to be seen from one side.
- October 17, 2011
- calina said...
Very nice photos! Very picturesque :)
Every time I visit your blog it arouses in me the need to escape to the countryside...Unfortunately,for the moment, I am stuck in the city...
- October 17, 2011
- calina said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- October 17, 2011
- Miss Marie said...
What a fabulous building! I'm afraid I can't help you with answering what it was used for - I may be an architectural historian but I've never studied farm buildings! I think your guess is pretty good though.
- October 17, 2011
- Rebecca said...
You find the most interesting locations! No idea what it could be for but your guess sounds pretty good. I love the Chelsea boots with the mustard socks peeking out.
- October 17, 2011
- Joy said...
Gorgeous shoot. Everything is absolutely beautiful. Best personal style blogger EVER.
- October 17, 2011
- Jenn said...
You're totally right! That is a weird barn, but I'd probably guess it was for some sort of birds too. These photos are very beautiful, by the way! I love the light coming through. And your booties are so cute!
- October 17, 2011
- Femke said...
Maybe the owner of the barn or a farmer in the neighborhood knows what the original purpose was?
- October 18, 2011
- Cel said...
That is a pretty peculiar barn hah. It looks like it might have been a storage for firewood maybe?
- October 18, 2011
- Aya Smith said...
Girl, these photos are AMAZING! Sometimes I truly get jealous of the locations you two scrounge up... they makes these photos not only gorgeous, but keepsakes!
Aya ♥ Strawberry Koi
- October 18, 2011
- Sarah said...
beautiful photos! i asked my barn-loving friend what it was for and she said it might have been used for storing whole ears of corn.
- October 18, 2011
- Unknown said...
What a cool place! These pictures are fantastic! I love your little gray dress too.
- October 21, 2011
- Trinity Lea said...
Very cute outfit, love the scarf!
I'm thinking corncrib. My grandparents corncrib is skinny like that, only theirs is attached to a shed.
- October 25, 2011
- Anonymous said...
What a completely interesting little narrow building! I love these pics. You have some of the best backdrops I've seen - you inspire me to keep searching, and to be brave and set up my camera, even if someone might see me, lol.
Tracy @ The Wardrobe Wanderer
- November 29, 2011

subset: commoncrawl


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We are pleased to announce that an update to RootsMagic 6 is now available which has been "Share Certified" by FamilySearch for use with their new "Family Tree" system. This means that RootsMagic is the only software certified to share data with FamilySearch Family Tree!
As far as I know, none of the other software vendors are yet certified with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree system directly. The trick here is that there were several programs certified to work with New.FamilySearch.org and that indirectly, by reason of the synchronization between Family Tree and New.FamilySearch.org, they appeared to be adding data to Family Tree. RootsMagic has a direct connection to the Family Tree program thereby bypassing the New.FamilySearch.org connection.
So how is this different than what was and is already available? Here is the explanation from RootsMagic:
RootsMagic, the genealogy software named "Easiest to Sync" with new.FamilySearch.org, now brings the same power and features that you love to FamilySearch Family Tree- with more to come!
Family Tree has most of the features that are available on new.FamilySearch.org. It has some new features including the ability to edit and delete most any information about a person, a detailed history of changes made to people, and the ability to add sources to back up your conclusions. While new.FamilySearch.org has primarily been available to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family Tree is available to everyone.Some of the features mentioned by RootsMagic are yet to be implemented by FamilySearch in Family Tree. I will have to try to do some of features in the next weeks and see what they are able to do and not do.


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Rocky Nook Press Press sent me a review copy of Alain Briot's new book, Marketing Fine Art Photography, and I was delighted for two reasons. First, Rocky Nook's volumes are beautifully bound and printed on acid-free paper and are a delight to hold and work from because they stay flat and open as you read or work from them. The second reason is that Alain Briot is a learned and articulate photographer and writer who shares his expertise in a relaxed and candid manner as though his reader is a … [Read more...]
Review: Marketing Fine Art Photography By Alain Briot
Marketing Monday: four important easy things
Instead of a big long thing today I'm going to share a collection of small things…things I've learned, thought about, stumbled over, avoided and always had a kernal of an article in them. And trust me they all fit together…. No! I won't do it… One of my children was particularly stubborn about what she would or would not eat and frequently would pick something to call "nasty" and promptly refuse to eat it. After trying everything one … [Read more...]
Marketing Monday: a 21st Century strategy for artists
Historically, the process of selling goods and services fell generally into what came to be called the Sales Funnel Model. In this model businesses offered their goods and services through advertising campaigns that were largely aimed at the constant stream of potential buyers…this was a mass sales approach. Businesses would "catch" potential buyers as they stumbled into the wide mouth of their sales funnel…it was basically a mass approach to selling. Once inside the … [Read more...]


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Events for October 3, 2019 › open mic
Events Search and Views Navigation
7:30 pm
Hey You Up Open Mic
The Hey You Up Open Mic at Up & Under (Brady St) on Thursdays is a fun time where comics of different experience levels get to test out new material or polish up old stuff. Sign up is at 7:30, start at 8. Performers get 5 min and a free drink! Hosted by Jeff SpankowskiFind out more »


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Bendco is the leader in manufactured induction bending of pipe and coiling. Call us at 713-473-1557 to start your order. Learn more >>
Bendco's strong project management and increased capacity allows us to customize your order for induction pipe bending and coiling, and deliver on time. Learn more >>
Bendco is committed to the highest quality pipe bends and coils. For a quality pipe bender, trust Bendco's culture, code stamps and certifications. Learn more >>


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I'm looking for suggestions on effective methods that I can use to document, remember and prioritize tasks at work. Many of the these tasks belong to a primary project, but they also exist for independent initiatives. The tasks themselves cover everything from development to documentation to discussions, with varying priorities, and deadlines ranging from right away to a few months from now.
Historically I have used a notepad to keep track of these tasks, with a star next to an item indicating it needs to be done and a check mark when it's completed. However, as I gain more responsibilities and more things to manage:
- it becomes harder to make sure I've done everything (because some things get lost 5 pages back)
- it becomes harder to remember what's most important to do next
- it becomes harder to keep track of dependencies between tasks
Has anyone found methods that have made their tasks easier to manage? I've considered adding some meta-data to keep track of what's most important and dependencies, or possibly switching to an app that could automate this (if such a thing exists). Something that's accessible anywhere would definitely be a plus.


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On a far-from-tropical January day, Kristen Vanneman-Gooding sits under a poster of a palm tree in the waiting room of her obstetrician's office at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC). It is exactly a week to the day before her scheduled cesarean section, and she is filled with anticipation. This delivery, she suspects—and hopes—will be entirely different from her last one.
Five years ago, a pregnant Vanneman-Gooding came for a routine visit to this very office. Vanneman-Gooding had stopped in for a checkup of her as-yet-unborn identical twin boys—conceived through in-vitro fertilization—from Dr. Claire Weitz, head of GBMC's Division of Maternal and Fetal Medicine.
The pregnancy was a troubled one from the start. At 18 weeks, an ultrasound had shown that the twins were together in an amniotic sac without a dividing membrane, a condition that is often fatal for one or both fetuses. "Claire said there was a 50-50 chance that either one or both would not make it," says Vanneman-Gooding.
But in the weeks
to come, she and her husband, Ira Gooding, breathed a sigh of relief
when a follow-up ultrasound showed that there were, in fact, two sacs.
Several weeks later, there was more cause for concern: The twins were suffering from a "growth discordance," in which one fetus was significantly larger than the other. So—as is standard for most twin pregnancies—Weitz put Vanneman-Gooding under "house arrest" to ensure a healthy delivery for both fetuses. ("I watched a lot of L.A. Law reruns," she recalls.)
Months later, during another ultrasound, there was more worrisome news: the black-and-white images showed that one of the fetuses was sluggish. Asked to return the next day to verify the findings, Vanneman-Gooding did; when the results were the same, Vanneman-Gooding remembers Dr. Weitz saying, "We're going to take them today."
"We didn't even have a camera," Vanneman-Gooding says. "It was a whirlwind—it was just a matter of fifteen minutes between being in Claire's office on the fourth floor, walking down the hall, and being in the operating room for the C-section."
Today, those twins—Duncan and Finnigan, both born the same size—are healthy, happy preschoolers. And although she suffered a miscarriage several months before her current pregnancy, Vanneman-Gooding—an assistant teacher at Lutherville's Havenwood Preschool Center and part-time office manager at State Farm Insurance—is relieved that this pregnancy has been so simple.
"I've been able to enjoy this pregnancy more than I did with the boys," says Vanneman-Gooding—who herself was born at GBMC 32 years ago. "I'm so much more relaxed, and knowing what to expect at delivery time is a load off my mind—I'm not nervous about the surgery. I'm more concerned about what to pack in my hospital bag."
It's hard to believe that as recently as 1930, delivering a child was the single most dangerous event in a woman's life: One out of 150 pregnancies ended in the death of the mother (most births occurred at home).
In the 21st century, standardization of practice—from the presence of fetal heart monitors (100 percent of the time at GBMC) to advances in anesthesiology (used by about 85 percent of maternity patients at GBMC) to the prevalence of pitocin (a synthetic hormone used to speed up labor) and intravenous fluids—has made giving birth very safe. In 2003, there were 12.1 deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S.; that's about the same mortality rate as that of women with lung cancer.
"In terms of the safety of the mother, this is probably the best it has ever been," says anesthesiologist Jonathan Hamburger, a partner of Physician's Anesthesia Associates, whose group provides all anesthesia services to GBMC. The constant screening of Vanneman-Gooding's first pregnancy is just one example of how improvements help both mothers and infants.
More babies are
delivered at GBMC than any other hospital in Central Maryland: some
4,500 newborns begin their lives at the hospital each year. (In 2006,
Johns Hopkins Hospital and University of Maryland Medical Center
delivered 3,290 babies combined.)
In the past five years alone, GBMC has delivered more than 22,200 bundles of joy. The hospital has been the delivery destination of people from all walks of life in the region, including former First Lady Kendel Ehrlich. Some satisfied customers even commute from other states—Kensy Boulware, wife of former Ravens linebacker Peter Boulware, traveled from Tallahassee, Florida to deliver the couple's third child at GBMC last fall.
Ever since its founding in September of 1965, GBMC (which merged with The Hospital for The Women of Maryland in Baltimore City and The Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Charity Hospital) has been known for its outstanding obstetrical department. In recent years, GBMC has become known around town as "The Baby Hospital" or "The Baby Factory" for good reason. Despite the fact that there are numerous other prestigious area hospitals delivering plenty of babies, GBMC—in the wooded, tony suburbs of Baltimore—has become a leader for women's healthcare.
The physical plant of the 106-acre hospital campus perches atop a swell of land off of Charles Street; the tranquil campus is often called "The Hilton on the Hill." And if the hospital as a whole is the Hilton, the second floor primarily dedicated to maternal and newborn services, is the concierge level. In the obstetrics lobby and admitting area, a hospital volunteer tickles the ivories on a Yamaha piano to soothe the nerves of anxious family members. The 17 state-of-the-art labor, delivery, and recovery rooms, known as LDRs, are currently under renovation—they'll be redone in a tasteful green and beige palette, and will feature bamboo flooring.
They're also thoroughly modern rooms. There will be wireless internet service (some mothers have been known to log on to their e-mail servers or check their BlackBerries while dilating); handy desks to set up and recharge cell phones, laptops, and other gadgets; and plasma HDTVs. The 48-bed postpartum unit, with private rooms and a dedicated 11-bed high-risk obstetrics unit, is adorned in soft soothing colors and floral fabrics.
Since 2000, GBMC has invested approximately $9.9 million in labor and delivery room renovations, neo-natal intensive care units, and state-of-the-art equipment. Cracks Dr. Weitz, who has two grown children: "When I took the first tour, I said, 'Gee, it's almost enough to make me have another baby.' I've been to other hospitals, and this is about as good as it gets."
And the amenities don't stop there. The Lactation Station retail store is the only one of its kind on a hospital campus in Baltimore, and sells everything from fashionable nursing shirts to breast pumps and nursing pillows. Lactation experts have also set up a breastfeeding information "Warm Line," open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Warm Line is headed up by lactation consultant Marla Newmark, who nursed 12 of her own children (she has 11 surviving kids).
Additional maternity services through GBMC Boutique include an on-staff aesthetician who visits the maternity ward to provide things like hair cuts, manicures, pedicures, and facials; parent education classes; and doula (or birthing coach) services.
The official acceptance of doulas—women who provide emotional and physical support to expectant mothers—by a staid, suburban hospital like GBMC was a big step for both sides.
"GBMC is known as a traditional hospital," says Lanny Dowell, doula coordinator. "It has been interesting to introduce an age-old concept to new and modern medicine. A lot of doulas were worried about how the staff at GBMC was going to take it. Did they think we were going to be dressed in old field garb and doing voodoo?"
Far from it. "We are known as the Ann Taylor and Talbot's doulas," says Dowell, looking very much the part in a pair of classic winter-white trousers, black mules, and tasteful top. "We are trying to merge the two images. We are not this cloaky person in labor and delivery with heavy incense. Our goal has been to soften and change the idea of the doula." The list of doula services—from acupressure to massage—sounds more like a luxe spa's offerings than tasks handled by a birthing coach. GBMC doulas also offer postpartum services, from meal preparation to infant care to light housekeeping—and even carpooling older kids to school, should the need arise.
In short, sums up Victor Khouzami, Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, "At GBMC, there is a dedication to obstetrics at every level. This is a maternity hospital within a general hospital."
Says Susan Bowen, Clinical
Director of Labor and Delivery, "I joke with Dr. Khouzami that we
should secede from the Union and build our own hospital."
In some ways, that's what's happened: GBMC's decision to pour resources into becoming a major obstetrics center has paid off. Year after year, GBMC has racked up awards, including a coveted ranking in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Hospitals" in 1997 and 2001 for gynecology, "Best Maternity Hospital" by the readers of Maryland Family Magazine every year from 2002 through 2006, number one in Obstetrics in the Central Maryland Region by Maryland Hospital Association every year between 1995 and 2002, and one of the top 10 maternity hospitals in the U.S. by Child Magazine (1995). GBMC also has many other claims to fame, including the first birthing rooms in the state (1978), the first peri-natal center in Baltimore County (1985), the establishment of the first Lactation Department in the Baltimore area (1989), and the first robot-assisted gynecologic surgery at a community hospital in the mid-Atlantic (2006).
All those awards are not exactly what Ira Gooding is thinking about as he sits on a blue plastic chair in the hallway outside Delivery Room 1 on the second floor of GBMC.
It's one week after Kristen Vanneman-Gooding's visit to Weitz's office, and Ira Gooding is dressed head to toe in disposable navy blue scrubs, and clutches a camera.
"I'm more relaxed this time," says Gooding, an Open Courseware Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, "but I want to get in there and for everything to go well."
Minutes later, Ira is perched on a leather stool within a foot of his wife's head and several feet away from where his daughter is about to be born. At 66 degrees, the inside of the operating room feels as cold as the January day outside (it's kept cool to prevent germs and bacteria from flourishing). Vanneman-Gooding is draped in warming blankets, and wears a surgical cap that brings out the blue in her eyes. Weitz; her first assisting physician, Dr. Margaret Cyzeski; and a scrub technician congregate around Vanneman-Gooding's midsection.
The anesthesiologist, Dr.
Stanislav Malov, tends to the monitors near her head. A circulating
nurse and neo-natal intensive care unit team are on standby.
The 540-watt prism halogen surgical lights flood the room, intensifying the green of the doctors' gowns, the silver steel storage cabinets, and the ruby red blood that blossoms on Vanneman-Gooding's skin as Weitz makes her first incision through the skin with a number-10 scalpel.
Obstetrical devices have come a long way, both scientifically and culturally. In the 17th century, when obstetrical forceps were invented by Peter Chamberlen, the innovative instrument was such a closely guarded secret that it was used only when a laboring woman was blindfolded.
Other primitive practices in the 1940's through 60's
included putting women in a "twilight sleep" through a potent cocktail
of morphine and a powerful amnesia-inducing drug called scopolamine.
Freed of their inhibitions—but not their pain—thrashing women were
often strapped to gurneys to keep from hurting themselves. "It was such
a powerful amnesiac, some patients would wake up the next day and not
even know if they had a boy or a girl," says Hamburger.
"Patients would run down the hallway stark naked," recalls Khouzami, who joined the GBMC staff in 1981 as head of the Division of Maternal Female Medicine.
Modern obstetrics was still in its infancy (so to speak) when GBMC opened its doors in September 1965. In the 60's and 70's, recalls Khouzami, "We had labor rooms, delivery rooms, and recovery rooms. The woman delivered in the labor room with no family or support services, and she pushed the baby out for hours, and then the baby was taken to the nursery, and [the mother] was taken to the recovery room where maybe someone would visit. It was very, very [impersonal]."
"The husband dropped you off at the door of the labor room," recalls Bonnie Lauryssens, a retired nurse practitioner who worked labor and delivery at GBMC from early 1966 through 2005. "Ashtrays were all in the labor rooms, doctors would walk in smoking, and women smoked while they labored. You had to pull bars up the bed because the anesthesia made them thrash and try to climb out of bed. It all seemed so normal—this was what we knew."
Women had no say in the birthing process either. "There was [a] paternalistic attitude," recalls Khouzami. "The attitude was 'You do it because I know what's best for you.'"
By the mid-70's, as more Americans began to question the status quo on much conventional wisdom, "Families started to demand to share and have greater participation in the delivery," remembers Khouzami. "They said, 'Don't shut us out,'" and GBMC was the first hospital in Maryland to respond to these needs. "We opened the first birthing rooms in the state of Maryland in 1978, and we included fathers in the process."
By the early 80's, birthing centers—where women delivered through the help of a midwife and in the absence of a doctor—had sprung up around Baltimore. GBMC added them and tried to provide families with both the warm, nurturing feeling they would get in a birthing center and the technology and backup staff found in a hospital setting. "That's how we started changing our thinking to, 'pregnancy as a natural process,'" says Khouzami, "and we shouldn't be intrusive, but we should be there, should an emergency arise."
Another trend in the mid-70's was a shortened length of stay for mother and child. "It got to the point where the woman had a baby, took a shower, and went home," says Khouzami. "The length of stay kept dwindling." By the 1990's, the average length of stay was 1.7 days.
"There was pressure put on me," Khouzami says, "because we thought we were going to go down to 12 hours [from admission to release]. I said 'Over my dead body. It's going to swing back.'"
It did, in 1995: Maryland was one of the
first states to mandate a 48-hour length of stay before the practice
became a federal law under President Clinton.
And then there was the liberal open-door policy for visiting family members in the LDR. "We went from having no one in the room in the 70's, to having to put a limitation on how many people could get into the room," says Khouzami. "By the 90's, it started to get crowded—I remember one delivery in which there were twelve people in the room."
Recalls Lauryssens, "There were mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, and friends. It got to be a joke that pretty soon they were going to let the family dog in." (Now the policy is five visitors for a traditional delivery, two for a C-section.)
A drape hung near her chest prevents Vanneman-Gooding from seeing the C-section occur. On the other side of the drape, Weitz is the model of calm and confidence, and she cuts side to side along the turgid abdomen, then cuts through the fascia covering the abdominal muscles, through the peritoneum en route to the thick, muscular uterus. Using numerous white gauze pads, the team of three stanches the deluge of blood that pools and pours from Vanneman-Gooding's body.
though it is possible for Ira to avert his eyes, he watches as Weitz
pulls and probes inside the deep exposed cavity in his wife's abdomen
and then, using a suction device, eases the crown of the baby's head out
of the womb.
"Ira, get your camera ready," calls out the circulating nurse—and then, baby Wren arrives, about 12 minutes after the first incision.
"It's a girl," says Weitz. "I thought you told me it was a boy—I was all set to say, 'Three boys, you're screwed.'"
The baby is weighed (7 pounds, 6.2 ounces) and evaluated (an APGAR score of 9—nearly perfect). APGAR—an acronym for activity, pulse, grimace, appearance, respiration—is a 10-point scale used to provide an immediate, if rough, status report of a newborn's health.
While that's going on, Weitz cuts and ties Vanneman-Gooding's fallopian tubes (a procedure Kristen and Ira had decided to undergo after their third child), before closing the C-section incision with sutures.
The circulating nurse methodically counts the instruments—the bladder blade, the retractors, the sutures, the scissors, the scalpel, the clamps—three times to ensure that nothing gets left behind in the patient's body. Ira snaps a digital photo of their new daughter, and hands the camera to his wife, which lets her study her beautiful baby girl for the first time.
On January 22, 2007, Wren Dorothianne Gooding is logged in the hospital's official record book at 10:57 a.m. She's the 278th baby to be born at GBMC this year; Kristen will return home four days later.
Anesthesiologist Malov offers a little comic relief. "How soon before there are no more [natural] deliveries?" he asks, only half joking. "In the next century, babies will probably be genetically engineered, and there will just be this zipper across here," he says, pointing to his abdomen.
Malov's quip is not entirely in jest. Cesarean section on demand has become de rigueuramong professional women in modern, industrialized nations like Japan where, according to Khouzami, the C-section rate is 90 percent. In the U.S., nearly 25 percent of births today are by cesarean (in 1970, it was only 5 percent).
C-sections offer benefits
(greater control over time of delivery and the removal of some risks
from the childbirth process) with a bit of risk (it is surgery, after
all, and long-term effects may include more postpartum pain and
infertility issues).
"We knew this was coming to the American workplace sooner or later," says Khouzami. "We knew the day would come when women would start asking for it. We are simply coming to a time when women are saying, 'This is how I want to deliver,' but the East Coast is very slow to change. We've had maybe a handful of C-sections on demand in which women have said, 'I don't want to labor. Get me a date.' But the trend is not here yet."
Dr. Weitz seconds the notion. "There will be an increasing demand for elective primary C-sections," says Weitz, who jokes that for some women, natural childbirth means delivering without makeup. "We are the old prudes," she says, "the last to jump on the bandwagon. We are taking it cautiously, but I do foresee a tremendous increase in patient requests for elective C-sections. When you really look at it, women can get nose jobs, breast implants, tummy tucks. Why does society say that we must make them deliver vaginally? It's your body and your decision. We respect the woman's autonomy."
To date, the C-section rate at GBMC is about 22 percent—higher than the national average, but misleadingly high because of GBMC's high-risk patient population. These include mothers with multiple births (many of whom medically must deliver through C-section), older mothers, and repeat patients (at higher risk), and the fact that the local Catholic hospitals will not perform tubal ligations (often done in conjunction with C-sections), so many expectant women choose GBMC to have their C-sections so they can also get their tubes tied.
So are we professionalizing childbirth—turning it from an arcane, vague, mysterious process into a regulated, structured, guesswork-free procedure?
Susan Bowen, clinical director of labor and delivery, believes we're well on our way. "I joke that one day we are going to get our hours down to nine to five, Monday through Friday," she says. "I think the sad part of it is that our whole lives are planned from the minute we step out of bed in the morning until the minute we get back in bed at night. And this should be a wonderful experience for a woman. I worked nights for nine years, and the thing I enjoyed most was that natural labor that came through the door and you could be so supportive and really help the woman and her family."
women deliver these days, what's clear is that they are having a much
greater say in the process. "We try to do what the woman wants us to
do," says Bowen, "as long as it's okay with the doctor and within the
policy of the hospital."
"Years ago, if someone told me they wanted to breastfeed for two days," says lactation consultant Marla Newmark, "I would tell them 'It's not worth the work.' Today, if they tell me they want to breastfeed for two days, I give them the same amount of attention as if they planned to do it for a year. We are out to please the consumer. What the patient wants is what we do."
Something else has changed too: the patient and the doctor now look a lot more alike. The influx of women entering obstetrics has caused sweeping changes in a formerly male-dominated field. At GBMC, there are 57 OB-GYNs: Nearly half are women. "We used to have the token female," says Khouzami laughing. "Now we have the token male." Susan Bowen agrees. "Women have made a big difference in the field because they have experienced labor. This is not a disease—it's a natural process so we have a lot of influence when it comes to how we want to give birth. Women are more assertive. You don't have the little housewife who comes toddling through the door saying, 'I'm here. Take me.' It's not that anymore. We have a lot of career women who know what they want, we have a very educated client base—everyone's doing research on the internet, the women take classes, they want what's best for their baby."
Claire Weitz was the only female resident in obstetrics when she did her training at Johns Hopkins Medical School in the mid-70's. "When we would show up [to put on scrubs for the OR], the locker rooms would say, 'Doctors' or 'Nurses.' I would go into the 'Doctors' room, and it would be the men's room. We are the majority now. Women have brought a new perspective. Things become a little more personalized [for the patients] because they're often dealing with someone who has experienced pregnancy—been there, done that, and gotten the T-shirt—but it doesn't mean that the men are unsympathetic to pregnant women. Some of the kindest, most sympathetic men I've ever known have been obstetricians, and that's a loss for the field because men are not being encouraged to go into it anymore."
"When technology first came in, nurses felt put out," says Bonnie Lauryssens. "They let technology take care of their patients—they would go in a room, look at numbers, and write them down on a chart. Now, it has evolved. The nurses are even more into the deliveries and are incredibly encouraging. Half the nurses probably have hemorrhoids from pushing with the patients."
Khouzami couldn't
agree more. "I remember as a student, I had a teacher from Virginia
who was a real gentleman," says Khouzami. "He was part philosopher,
part obstetrician, and he said that a delivery should be 'by art, not
by force.' It's art, not science. Yes, some part of OB is science, but
if you make it purely science, you take all the emotion out of it. You
have to have a solid foundation in science, you have to have
technology, but it has to be tempered by humanity.
"Obstetrics is more humane than ever. The technology is better than ever. As we move ahead, we have found this wonderful balance."


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What's New with FLP360
Forever strives to bring you the latest technology to help you grow your business and track your progress. With FLP360, we're working hard to make sure everything you need to know about your business is in the palm of your hands anytime, anywhere.
Mobile App
One of the best features of FLP360 is the ability to take your business on the go with the mobile application, available for download on iTunes and the Google Play Store. We're excited to announce the latest updates to the FLP360 Mobile App allow you to not only be on top of your business at all times, but also get personalized information in the most convenience way possible.
When you login, you now have the option to view your content in your preferred language, with more than 31 languages to choose from! Wherever you are in the world and whatever language you speak, you can always be confident that the information will reach you. Simply head to "Settings" on the FLP360 mobile app and change your Language.
We also know your team is growing every day! Now you will be notified every time someone fills out the "Contact Me" form on your website with push notifications! You can enable these notifications in your settings to keep you informed as new leads are added to your account. With the power that FLP360 has to keep you connected to all of your customers and downline members, you can make sure you're reaching all of the right people at all of the right times.
Email Blaster
Share your latest news, remind your customers when it's time to place an order or send a personalized message to your prospects. Whatever message you decide to communicate with your contacts, the Email Blaster can help you get it there.
Send bulk emails to your team or to all of your contacts at once. The Email Blaster allows you to send up to 250 emails per day! Plus, with numerous templates to choose from, you can tailor your message and its look for every email you send. Building a global business? Translate into one of the many languages supported by FLP360 to ensure your message is heard by your team around the world!
Custom Reports
Not only can you stay on top of communication with your downline team members, but you can also dive deeper into their Forever businesses. Easily view custom reports that allow you to see case credits, activity, proximity to incentives and much more!
Each report you setup is generated automatically and sent to your email, so you can track growth across your team month over month or year over year. You can also view your data in charts that help you gain a new perspective on your business.
There's much more you can do with FLP360! Don't miss out on the power that it has to ignite your biz! Learn more here.


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They were too green with envy to blush at this sex shindig.
A couple of swingers who were really getting into the swing of things ended up striking each other when jealousy reared it's head during an orgy in Spring Hill, reports Hernando Today.
Tina Michelle Norris, 39, got upset when her boyfriend, James Albert Barfield, 56, was having sex with another woman. Barfield then lost his cool when Norris jumped into bed with two men, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
The Weeki Wachee couple were still naked when lawmen arrived, deputies said.
Get all the DUHtails at Hernando Today.
Photos: Hernando County Jail


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Implemented on July 1, 1960, the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program is the largest employer-sponsored group health insurance program in the world. Managed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the program is governed under 5 Code of Federal Regulations (5 CFR), Part 890, offering eligible employees a choice of plans and options.
The program is voluntary and coverage becomes effective with no medical examination or restrictions because of age or physical condition. The program also offers guaranteed protection that cannot be canceled by the insurance carrier. Each health plan carrier under the FEHB program contracts with the OPM to provide certain health benefits. Contract negotiations are a bilateral process, between OPM and the carrier and the contract period is usually for one year. Each plan carrier charges a different premium. For most employees, the Government contributes up to 75% toward the cost of the premiums while employees pay the remaining balance through payroll deductions.
The program also offers a temporary 31-day extension of coverage after separation from employment, during which you may convert to a non-group policy.
The two basic types of health benefit plans available are Managed Fee-for-Service Plans and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs).
Fee-for-Service Plans - Under a fee-for-service plan, employees or health care providers are reimbursed for covered services, and employees are able to choose their own physician, hospital, and other health care providers. Fee-for-Service plans include the Government-wide Service Benefit Plan, administered by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association on behalf of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, and are open to any employee eligible to enroll under the program.
Plans sponsored by unions and employee organizations are open to all Federal employees who hold full or associate memberships in the organizations that sponsor the plans; others are restricted to employees in certain occupational groups and/or agencies. Generally the organization requires a membership fee or dues paid directly to the employee organization, in addition to the premium. This fee is set by the employee organization and is not negotiated with OPM.
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) - Prepaid health plans that provide a comprehensive array of medical services provided through contracted physicians, hospitals, and other providers. Each HMO sets a geographic area for which health care services will be available. You must live or work within the HMO's defined service area to be eligible to enroll.
Some managed fee for service plans and HMOs offer a Point-of-Service Product where members have the option of using a selected network of providers; thereby minimizing out-of pocket expenses, or using non-network providers at an additional cost.
The program also offers High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) Options. Learn more about the FEHB program, HDHPs, and HSAs by visiting the OPM web site at http://www.opm.gov/insure/new_employ/index.asp.
Eligibility: As a Federal employee, you are entitled to enroll yourself and any eligible family members in a health plan offered under the FEHB Program, unless your position is excluded from coverage by law or regulation. Some of the more common exclusions include but are not limited to:
As a new or rehired employee, you have 60 days from the effective date of your appointment, rehire, or reinstatement in which to complete an election either to enroll in a plan or not to enroll. If you don't make an election, you are considered to have declined coverage.
If you are transferring, you are not normally eligible to change your benefits elections. However, if you moved from a post of duty overseas to one in the United States, or reverse, or if your transfer moved you out of the servicing area of your HMO, you may elect a new health plan within 60 days of your transfer effective date.
Temporary employees are eligible to enroll only after completing one year of employment and beginning a second consecutive appointment; however, you do not receive any government contribution toward your premiums.
Enrollment: To enroll or change your enrollment, you must complete Standard Form (SF) 2809, Employee Health Benefits Election Form. To make an FEHB change or enrollment, access the Employee Benefits Information System (EBIS). If you need further assistance with making your election through EBIS, please contact your local Human Resources Representative, visit The Army Benefits Center-Civilian (ABC-C) Centralized Benefits Center website or call the ABC-C directly at 1-877-276-9287, Option #4.
Elections that are made through EBIS are transmitted electronically to payroll alleviating the need for you to complete an enrollment form. Elections made through EBIS provide you an immediate receipt by allowing you to print a copy of the completed election form for your records. This form can be used as proof of enrollment until you receive identification cards from the health carrier. EBIS is easy, fast, accurate, and cost-effective.
There are two types of enrollment: (1) Self Only, provides benefits only to you and (2) Self and Family, provides benefits for you and your eligible family members. Under the FEHB law, "eligible family members" include:
A "regular parent-child relationship" means that you are exercising parental authority, responsibility, and control over the child by caring for, supporting, disciplining, and guiding the child, including making decisions about the child's education and health care.
If you enroll in health benefits, you are automatically covered by Premium Conversion unless you waive participation. Premium Conversion is a tax benefit that reduces your taxable income by allowing you to pay for health insurance on a pre-tax basis. Instead of deducting your insurance premiums from your salary, that portion of your salary will be used to purchase the benefit thereby reducing your taxable income by the amount of health insurance premiums. This enables you to save on Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes and, if applicable, State and Local income taxes.
The opportunity to waive participation in premium conversion is limited. You may only waive premium conversion during the annual open season, or during the 60 day window to enroll in health benefits if you are a new hire or rehired employee, or you may waive premium conversion in conjunction with a change in FEHB enrollment on account of and consistent with a qualifying life event. To waive Premium Conversion you must complete a waiver form. You may obtain a copy of the form from your local Human Resources Representative or you may download the form at http://www.opm.gov/asd/pdf/2000/00-215_attach3.pdf.
If you do not enroll during your first opportunity, you will not be eligible to enroll until open season, which are normally held in the November/December timeframe or until you have a qualifying life event. Examples of life events are marriage, birth of a child, divorce, death, loss of coverage under another policy, etc. If you experience a qualifying life event, you have 60 days from the date of the event to conduct a non-open season enrollment. There are many qualifying life events and you may obtain further information regarding them from your local Human Resources Representative, Site Manager or the DoDEA Headquarters Benefits Unit.
Effective Date: As a new or rehired employee, the earliest your health insurance can become effective is the beginning of the first day of the pay period that begins after your election is received and that follows a pay period during any part of which you were in a pay status.
If you are given a decision of non-eligibility to enroll or change your enrollment, you have the right to request reconsideration. When enrollment or changes to enrollment is denied, you will receive in writing the reason for denial along with instructions on how to request reconsideration.
If you wait until open season, coverage will begin the first full pay period the following January.
The deductions for the FEHB plan appear on your Statement of Earnings and Leave starting with the pay period in which the enrollment becomes effective. If a deduction or the correct deduction does not appear on your statement within 14 days after the effective date of the enrollment, please notify your local Human Resources Representative, Site Manager or DoDEA Headquarters Benefits Unit immediately. You are obligated to make the correct payment, regardless of any error in withholding made by the employing agency.
Cancellation or Changes: You may cancel your FEHB enrollment outside of the annual open season ONLY if you elected to waive participation in Premium Conversion. If you waived participation in Premium Conversion, you may cancel your health insurance coverage at any time. However, if you cancel your enrollment, you or your family members are NOT entitled to the 31-day extension of coverage for conversion to a non-group policy.
Employees who elect to participate in Premium Conversion may only make changes during the FEHB open season or upon a qualifying life event, IF the reason for the change is -on account of and consistent with- the qualifying life event.
Summary: The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program helps protect you and your family members from the expenses of illness and accident. There are many other features to the program; for example your options when entering leave without pay; Temporary Continuation of Coverage (TCC) for dependents, continued enrollment for eligible family members if you die as an employee, continuing enrollment into retirement, etc.
You are encouraged to study informational material so that you may make an informed decision regarding health care for you and your family members. You may obtain detailed information about the program from your local Human Resources Representative or you may download a variety of pamphlets, brochures and the FEHB Handbook for Enrollees and Employing Offices directly from OPM's web-site at http://www.opm.gov/insure/health.
Each health carrier has an individual plan brochure. You should review the brochure for each plan you are considering; especially checking to see if the plan offers the services you think you might need.
When choosing a plan, remember there are other things you should consider besides the cost of premiums. Out of pocket expenses, limitations on coverage, how the plan works, procedures to see a specialist and whether you must choose a doctor only from with the plan's provider network, are among the questions you need to consider when selecting a plan that best fits the needs of you and your family members.


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Terry Gannon: " Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2003-2004 Grand Prix Final. To my left is Olympic Champion, Peggy Fleming, and to my right is the always opinionated Dick Button. It's just about time to start our live coverage of the ladies free skate, and let me tell you folks, it has been a very interesting competition."
Peggy: " Well, yes Terry , that's right. This year we have been priveleged yet again with the grace of skaters like Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes, and many others. However, this competition has resembled more of a blast from the past. To everyones surprise, Tanya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and the always innovative and interesting Surya Bonaly decided early in the season to compete in the Grand Prix events. It is very odd that almost all the skaters here at the final are American, and even more difficult to comprehend that many of these skaters have decided to reappear on the skating scence after nearly 10 years, but it is certainly exciting. Perhaps the skater here getting the most attention is Tanya Harding, for obvious reasons. We know that many of you at home are probably wanting to know Tanya's reasons for coming back to eligible competition, so here we are with the story."
(Video starts with the Nancy Kerrigan knee incident.)
Tanya: " It's been hard dealing with all of the negative pressure and mean , hurtful things that have happened to me, but I will always stay true to myself. I know that I wasn't involved, and as long as I know, that is what is most important."
( Video continues, showing the problems Tanya faced after the Tanya/Nancy. Falls, laces, blades...etc.)
Interviewer: "Was it Tanya? Was it another, unknown party? Was Nancy simply faking it? Was she buckling under the pressure? These are just a few of the questions..... the unanswered questions.
After the "Whack heard 'round the world", Tanya seemed to go into a downward spiral, and I don't mean the spirals that we refer to in skating. Falls haunted her during important programs. Skate blades started becoming faulty. Laces were untying themselves and breaking. Was this simply a cry for attention? Was someone trying to seek revenge on Tanya? Was there, yet again , another unknown party?"
( Pictures of Nancy , Tanya, and close friends flash on the screen.)
Interviewer: " Describe the chain of events after the Olympics."
Tanya: " Well..... I have always been a pretty strong person. I think that my resilience for the last 10 years is proof of that. But, I think that at first , the pressure of everything just started piling up. Um.... people have accused me of seeking attention with my laces breaking, and my blades having problems, and stuff, but I really don't care anymore."
Interviewer: " Well, Tanya, there have been a lot of stories involving you on the news. There was the wrestling , the racecar driving.... I mean, what was that all about?"
Tanya: "Well, I know that the skating world won't really support me anymore, so I felt during that time that I needed to try new things. I have always been interested in wrestling, and I really enjoyed that. At first they wanted me to use a club when I was performing, to capitalize off of Nancy, and join the WWF, or whatever it is now, but that was really hurtful and after that, I knew that I couldn't go on with a serious career in proffesional wrestling. So, I went to racecar driving. Racecar driving is something I have always been real excited about, and I think it was time to explore new avenues."
Interviewer: " What was it then that compelled you to come back to skating after all these years?"
Tanya: "Well, i will always be a skater in my heart, and nobody can take that away from me. Not the media, not the skating federations, and associations, not the public. Nobody. I think that I belong on the ice, and I will always be competitive."
(Story concludes with live coverage of Tanya warming up. She is wearing a bright orange dress, with purple and green flames. She is skating to a rock medley.)
Terry: " Hmmm. Well , lets get back to our coverage of the Grand Prix. Dick , we will start with you."
Dick: " As always, the skating competitions you watch in person and on television are full of scrumptious skaters with bubbly personalities, great competitors, gaudy costumes, odd music, and at times atrocious choreography. This year...... is no different. Now, I am an old timer. I like the classical, lyrical numbers. Not the ritzy , over - the - top , chintzy costumes, but the simple elegant ones. But skaters to...."
Terry: " Well our producer is telling us it is time for a commercial break."
Dick: " As I was saying..... skaters today seem to go for these dispicable program choices and it is just going too far in my opinion. Anyway... back to our commercial break."


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World Globes for Kids & Teens | Make Geography Fun for Your Kids
Using a world globe as an educational tool for your child is nothing new, but you can make it a lot more fun with world globes for kids and teens that are designed specifically for them. Your youngsters can have a great time coloring in the Bimbi world globe and won't be able to help learning about the world while doing it.
Children and teens also love to decorate their rooms and we have plenty of modern bright colored geographical and educational tools that will complement their furniture and become part of their decor. Some of the globes of the world even open up so that your kids can store their jewelry or other personal belongings (or bunny rabbits, of course).
The world globes below are made in Italy by Zoffoli and belong to the Italian manufacturer's Geographica collection. So have a look below at our selection of world globes for children and let your kids have fun while they learn geography.
- Sort by Default Order


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Green Mountain Soap Company and its products are the result of decades
of personal interest in soap making and an intense and broad-based study
of soap chemistry and the methods used to produce soap on a commercial
scale. Our goal has been to produce the purest soap made anywhere in
the world. Tell Me More...


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Maple Professional
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Home : Webinars : Hollywood Math
Over its storied and intriguing history, Hollywood has entertained us with many mathematical moments in film. John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind," the brilliant janitor in "Good Will Hunting," the number theory genius in "Pi," and even Abbott and Costello are just a few of the Hollywood "mathematicians" that come to mind.
Although the widespread presentation of mathematics on the silver screen is not always entirely accurate, it does serve as a great introduction to the study of mathematics in general. The recent television series "Numb3rs" is a perfect example of how math becomes exciting when demonstrated in a unique and intriguing context. Math is turning up with increasing frequency in today's movies and television programs, and as a result, interest in the study of mathematics is increasing. We've seen a similar phenomenon with shows like CSI, CSI Miami and CSI New York, as more and more people who watched the shows began registering for science-related courses. By placing a particular subject like mathematics or science in a new light, you can increase your students' appreciation of the topic, and of course, with an increase in appreciation comes a corresponding increase in comprehension!
During this webinar we will present a number of examples of mathematics in film, including those done capably, as well as questionable and downright "creative" treatments. See relevant, exciting examples that you can use to engage your students, or attend this webinar simply for its entertainment value. Have you ever wondered if the bus could really have jumped the gap in "Speed?" We've got the answer! Anyone with an interest in mathematics, especially high school and early college math educators, will be both entertained and informed by attending this webinar. At the end of the webinar you'll be given an opportunity to download an application containing all of the Hollywood examples that we demonstrate.


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Check showtimes to see when Amanpour is on CNN where you are. Or watch online.
Flesh and bones
Jerome Cohen, an American lawyer and friend of Chen Guangcheng, appeared on Amanpour today. He has been in contact with the Chinese dissident ever since his escape from house arrest, advising him on how best to secure his freedom and safety with the help of U.S. authorities.
According to Cohen, "Chen's first choice was to stay in China…to study law, to take part in China's further legal development, and to have free communication." Cohen quoted him as saying, "I want simply the rights of every other Chinese citizen."
At first, it seemed that the Chinese had agreed to let Chen remain in the country. Said Cohen, "We know the bare bones of the agreement. How flesh would be put on those bones remains to be seen."
Cohen added, "China is evolving. This is the twenty-first century. The political system lags behind the rest of China's progress. The time is right for legal progress."
Everything changed when he got to the hospital
However, Chen appeared to have a change of heart after he left the protection of the U.S. embassy in Beijing. He questioned his safety and that of his family, and appealed to the U.S. to help them leave the country.
"Everything changed when he got to the hospital, "said Cohen. Exhausted by their efforts to secure his future, embassy and state department officials went home to sleep. Chen's doctors examined him and they left him, as well.
"All of a sudden," said Cohen, "his (human) rights companions…got a hold of him. And they said…don't do this, you're just totally unrealistic, it will never work."
Cohen added, "At the same time the media were getting through to him and his wife, who had encouraged him to take this deal (with the Chinese government) and leave the embassy and reunite the family – she changed her mind when her friends were getting a hold of her. And so he's in a very fragile emotional state."
The most humane appearance possible
Still, Cohen remains optimistic. "One thing we share with the Chinese is the belief you must change a vice into a virtue. This debacle may leave him (Chen) better off if he really wants to come to the United States."
Said Cohen, "He's now reunited with his family, he wouldn't have been had he stayed in the embassy, and the whole world is watching." He said of Chinese leaders, "They're practical people. They're going to want to get rid of him and his family in the most humane appearance possible."
Cohen's assessment was later echoed by Madeleine Albright, also a guest on Amanpour today.
The first female Secretary of State, and the author of Prague Winter, she had her own dealings with China's rulers when she served in President Bill Clinton's cabinet. Like Cohen, she believes the Chinese ultimately will decide to let Chen leave.
"I think they (the Chinese leaders) do want to work something out," said Secretary Albright. "The question is what is the best way, what is the timing and then what are the arrangements."
She added, "They know, and we know, that we will always raise human rights."
I believe America always uses human rights to disturbe other countries' internal affairs. I don't think an embassy have the right of leting a stranger come in and protect him for a so long time. It's China's own business.
Beware, this kind of brutal evil regime is brewing ins the U.S and Europe also, thats why the bill of rights has been trampled all over buy this gang that owns the FED and their political and military puppets. Beware people, wake up, search the net while it is not heavily censored yet. Stand with Ron Paul stay with alternative media stand for freedom and kindness. What you choose shall be your future.
Neat blog! Is your theme custom made or did you dnoalwod it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your theme. Kudos
What rights? He is Chinese.
Have you ever thought about adnidg a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and all. But think of if you added some great photos or video clips to give your posts more, "pop"! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this website could certainly be one of the best in its field. Terrific blog!
Chen may want his rights and the Chinese Government may help him by letting him leave "right out' of China.
Right,Good to see these useful info here..Thanks a lot for sharing them with us….
Bare bones networking


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Digital Services Responsibilities
From UA Libraries Digital Services Planning and Documentation
This is a list of the basic responsibilities of our staff members: crucial tasks and critical fallback roles, as well as other responsibilities.
- 1 Repository Manager Responsibilities
- 2 Digitization Technologist Responsibilities
- 3 Access Coordinator Responsibilities
- 4 Technical Lead Responsibilities
- 5 Metadata Librarian Responsibilities
- 6 Metadata Staff Responsibilities
- 7 Archival Technologist Responsibilities
- 8 Department Head Responsibilities
Repository Manager Responsibilities
- Coordinate oversight of pipeline
- Assigns pipeline content as needed
- Server-side work including:
- Monthly archiving: EADs, digital content, transcriptions, born digital, user tags, MODS, technical & administrative metadata
- automated monthly reports of current and new content in Acumen, including PURLs, in XML or tab-delimited form as needed
- semi-automated monthly reports of progress
- reports of new and changed content for Ebsco Discovery service (monthly)
- Digitization
- content capture
- metadata verification/creation
- quality control
- uploads
- Backup person for programming work (Unit Head, Digitization Technologist)
- Backup person for audio digitization (Digitization Technologist)
Digitization Technologist Responsibilities
- Digitization
- content capture, including audio
- metadata verification/creation
- quality control
- uploads
- support for automated uploads to Acumen and deposits
- Technical metadata research and recommendations
- Digitization side script support, including quality control
- Backup person for identifying and solving problems in digitization production (Technical Lead)
- Backup person for accessibility and usability research & development (Outreach Coordinator)
- Backup person for maintenance of equipment (Technical Lead)
Access Coordinator Responsibilities
- Support for continuing access to digital content over time
- Setting policies and procedures for intake and processing of digital content
- Accessibility and usability research & development
- Digitization
- content capture: particularly difficult or complex projects
- metadata verification/creation
- quality control
- uploads
- Primary responsibility for student oversight
- Developing projects for, locating, obtaining, and overseeing practicum students and interns
- Seeking collaborations
- Backup person for digitization oversight (Repository Manager)
- Backup person for coordination of pipeline and content assignments (Repository Manager)
Technical Lead Responsibilities
- Research and development of improved methodologies for capture and delivery
- Maintenance of all equipment
- Identifying and solving problems in digitization production
- Training of staff in digitization processes
- Backup person for administrative functions of unit head?
- Digitization
- content capture
- metadata verification/creation
- quality control
- uploads
Metadata Librarian Responsibilities
- Research and development of improved methodologies for metadata generation and remediation
- Maintenance of authority databases and usage methods
- Maintain expertise in current metadata standards and evolving trends
- Item-level metadata generation and remediation
- Maintenance of crosswalks and XSL transformations for web delivery and indexing
- Generation and support of specialized web-accessible metadata for search engine indexing and OAI delivery
Metadata Staff Responsibilities
- Item-level metadata generation and remediation
- Digitization
- quality control
- uploads
Archival Technologist Responsibilities
- Research and monitor impact of workflows for item description and collection description on one another, and propose solutions to problems encountered
- Assist in resolving problems in linking between items and collections
- Determine best methods for managing item-level processing during digitization, and training others
- Metadata generation for item-level content
- Corrections, modifications and enrichment of EAD finding aids
- Digitization
Department Head Responsibilities
- Administrative functions
- Representation of unit needs to collaborative groups and Associate Dean
- Oversight of Digital Services focus, direction, and progress
- Developing unit goals and tracking progress
- Annual access statistics and production statistics compilation
- Management of personnel
- Developing and maintaining cross-departmental collaborations that effectively support the goals of Digital Services production
- Programming and automation
- Linking content into EADs and providing documentation of issues preventing this
- Maintenance and oversight of archive and LOCKSS involvement, including database tracking of content harvested
- Implementation of digital preservation policies
- Maintenance and oversight of checksum capture, storage, and verification system
- Monthly backups of critical databases, and removal of old backups
- Server administration on libcontent.lib.ua.edu and etd.lib.ua.edu, including support for staff/faculty working on servers
- Management and support for local persistent URLs, including software to support others to obtain new ones
- Database tracking of information about collections (digital and analog), their items, number of pages, etc.
- Verification of correct browse display pulled from databases
- Development of software as needed to automate or implement necessary tasks
- Support of cross-departmental tasks, including:
- pre-processing ETDs
- support for ETD embargos, including notifications of embargo lifting, movement of files, anomalies
- analysis of problems with OAI feeds and collaborative record sharing, with development of solutions
- Development of alternative access/browse mechanisms
- Presentations and publications to publicize UA Libraries and Digital Services efforts
- Support of other library efforts
- E-research support
- Electronic records support (forthcoming)
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Getting in at least three servings of fruit a day is easier than you think. But if you're tired of the same old fruit options, try these two variations. 1. Blend it. In a blender, add 2 fresh or frozen bananas, 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, and 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt. Blend until smooth. 2. Grill it. Cut apples, pears or peaches into chunks, brush lightly with canola oil, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place on skewers or wrap in foil. Grill on low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/health-tip/art-20048872
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Pat Millikan, Steven Rhodes Earn Top Honorsby Steve Charles • May 12, 2007 Share:
An All-Conference lineman taking an unconventional route to medical school and an award-winning chemist who worked for the National Institutes of Health have been presented with the College's top honors for graduates.
At the Dean's Breakfast Saturday morning, Dean of Students Tom Bambrey '68 presented Wabash Patrick Millikan (right) with the Frank H. Sparks Award for All-Around Student Achievement, given to a senior who has done the most "to promote the true spirit and purpose of Wabash College."
Dean of the College Gary Phillips presented chemistry major Steven Rhodes (below left) with the John Maurice Butler Prize for Scholarship and Character. The Butler Prize is awarded to the senior "having the best standing in scholarship and character." (See a photo album of Saturday's breakfast here.)
Millikan will attend medical school thanks in part to the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship he earned earlier this spring. At that time, Wabash faculty athletics representative and English professor Tobey Herzog praised the Wabash religion major/art minor for taking "an unconventional and, I would argue, a more demanding route to achieving his goal of becoming a doctor."
Rhodes' approach to medical school is unconventional as well. Inspired by his internship with the National Institutes of Health, the summa cum laude graduate will enter the combined M.D./Ph.D. medical scientist training program at Indiana University in the fall. The editor of the College's scientific journal, Erotan, Rhodes also won "top orator" honors his sophomore year in the College's Moot Court competition.
Dean Gary Phillips concluded the breakfast with his remarks, telling graduates that his favorite TV show is the game show Jeopardy, because "it's all about getting the question right."
"Knowing how to frame the right question leads you to the truth," Phillips said. "It is the heart of the liberal arts, the art of freedom."
A religious scholar whose speciality includes study of the Holocaust, Phillips shared his experience visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.
"Walking out of that museum, I have no answers, only questions," Phillips said. "There is no explanation—questions seem far more honest."
Quoting Rainer Marie Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, he told the graduates to "have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart… Try to love the questions themselves…Live the question."
Living the question "allows us to live the truth," Phillips said. "It interrupts my daily self-sufficiency, keeps me asking Tolstoy's famous question, 'How then should I live?"
Photo of Pat Millikan by Professor John Zimmerman.
More News
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- Hakim '22 Earns Gilman Scholarship
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Detroit will be celebrating a Stanley Cup victory over Pittsburgh for the second straight season. In 10,000 simulations of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Red Wings and Penguins the defending champs come out on top 53.2% of the time, with the most common occurrence a seven game series. Though Hockeytown USA will cheer the loudest, all hockey fans will win with an entertaining, competitive and dramatic series.
This series is closer than last season when we predicted a Detroit win in five and the team won in six (in every instance but one, we were within one goal of each team's actual score for the first five games).
As is evident below, we had to make some assumptions regarding playoff rosters and the health of all players, particularly Detroit stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk. Both play in the simulated series. With the (recently announced) quick turnaround before the Stanley Cup starts Saturday, this may not be the case. If either player were to miss multiple games, this would be enough to swing the series in Pittsburgh's favor.
What follows is an example Stanley Cup Finals based on the most common result of those simulations. We have included boxscores, play-by-play and stats for each game in the series. Click on the links after each summary to see the entire breakdown of the game.
Stanley Cup Finals Game 1
Pittsburgh 4 @ Detroit 6 - A fast-paced, exciting game that includes ten total goals, opens the Stanley Cup Finals and puts the Red Wings on the board first at home. Detroit's Marian Hossa, who last year skated with Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals, leads the way as the only player to score more than once. Hossa, a healthy Pavel Datsyuk and young defenseman Jonathan Ericsson are the game's three stars.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 2
Pittsburgh 1 @ Detroit 5 - Detroit's offensive dominance in Joe Louis Arena continues with three new stars and its defense shining brightly. Goalie Chris Osgood, who has certainly been here before, and forwards Valterri Filppula and Jiri Hudler earn honors in Game 2. Filppula scores once and assists on goals by Hudler and Johan Franzen. The lone Penguins' goal is scored by Evgeni Malkin early in the third period. Down 5-0 at the time, it's already too late.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 3
Detroit 2 @ Pittsburgh 4 - The Penguins get a crucial win in Game 3 at home. This time, Pittsburgh puts together the scoring streak. After no scoring in the first period, the Penguins get goals from Sergei Gonchar, Ruslan Fedotenko, Rob Scuderi and Sidney Crosby - three of which are assisted by Evgeni Malkin - to go up 4-0 midway through the third period. Malkin, Crosby and Detroit's Jiri Hudler are the three stars for Game 3.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 4
Detroit 3 @ Pittsburgh 2 - A back-and-forth game results in a one-goal victory by the defending champion Red Wings, putting Detroit up 3-1 in the series with a pivitol win on the road. The Red Wings get an impressive 40 shots on goal to the Penguins' 24 shots. Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stops 37 of those Red Wings' shots, but it's not enough. Two late shots by Evgeni Malkin are stopped by Chris Osgood to seal the victory for the road team. Three new players, Detroit defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart and Fleury, despite his team's loss, earn the three stars of the game. Interestingly, through four games, 11 different players have been mentioned among the stars of the game; only Jiri Hudler has been included twice.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 5
Pittsburgh 5 @ Detroit 3 - In what has been a series of runs and momentum, Pittsburgh steals a road victory back from Detroit, with five goals in the first 16 minutes of Game 5. Sidney Crosby, who already has one hat trick in these playoffs, gets another before the second period even starts. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar actually opens the scoring for the game with a goal just 13 seconds after the initial faceoff, assisted by Crosby. Sid the Kid's breakout game - one that every hockey fan was waiting for - nets him the top star of the game honors. Gonchar and wing Chris Kunitz, who assists each of Crosby's goals, join him as stars. Joe Louis Arena has never been so quiet.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 6
Detroit 2 @ Pittsburgh 3 - Once again facing elimination, the Pengins manage to score early Pittsburgh wins back-to-back games to force a seventh game in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh gets second period goals from role players Chris Kunitz, Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot to go up 3-0 and never look back. Marc-Andre Fleury stops 26 of 28 Red Wings' shots in the win. And none of those players are in the top three stars. Game 6 honorees include Evgeni Malkin with two assists and five faceoff wins, Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski, also with two assists, and Valtteri Filppula, who scores one of Detroit's two goals. The series heads back to Detroit with everything on the line.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
Stanley Cup Finals Game 7
Pittsburgh 3 @ Detroit 4 - The decisive game ends with the more well-rounded team skating with Stanley Cup Trophy on its home ice as Detroit's Marian Hossa's goal with 5:34 remaining provides the insurance that the Red Wings need to win the game and repeat as champs. Early game jitters keep the game scoreless until almost halfway through the second period, but then the pace and intensity pick up furiously. The Penguins lead 1-0 after a Chris Kunitz goal at the 10:47 mark in the second period. Detroit immediately answers with goals from Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg, who had been very quiet in the series up to this point. A powerplay due to a Johan Franzen cross check penalty gives the Penguins a chance to capitalize and Evengi Malkin does just that with an early third period goal that ties the game. With 8:08 remaining and the game tied, Valtteri Filppula takes a pass from Mikael Samuelsson and sneaks it by Marc-Andre Fleury for the Game 7 lead. Hossa adds the goal a couple minutes later and the team needs it when Malkin scores just a few seconds after that. Chris Osgood holds off Malkin, Crosby and the last minute flurry of shots to win the game and the cup. Hossa, Malkin and Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk are the three stars for the deciding game.
Boxscore with play-by-play >>
The Detroit Red Wings win the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals in seven games. Marian Hossa, who skated on Pittsburgh's first scoring line in last season's Stanley Cup Finals against Detroit, now leads the Red Wings to victory and earns the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the NHL's Playoff MVP, for his efforts. In total, Hossa scores 11 goals, including two in the deciding game, and has nine assists with a +/- rating of +14 in Detroit's 23 games. Other Red Wing standouts from the seven-game series include Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall, each with seven points. Goalie Chris Osgood plays every minute and saves 87.8% of Pittsburgh's shots. The Penguins are led by their superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who both score ten points. Marc-Andre Fleur actually outperforms his counterpart with an 89.45% save percentage. Clearly, depth is the key to Detroit's victory. Few teams in NHL history can match Crosby and Malkin, but it's Detroit's third and fourth lines and defensemen who make the difference. The win marks the twelfth Stanley Cup for the Red Wings, their fifth since 1996.
Paul Bessire is the Product Manager of Content and Quantitative Analysis for WhatIfSports.com, a division of FOX Sports Interactive. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks!


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2009 Polaris Ranger RZR S - What Fun!
The Visit Continues
Our long-term Polaris Ranger RZR S side-by-side continues to impress. As we reported in our last installment, the only thing we've added to the RZR S is gasoline. It doesn't use oil. The clutch/belt squeak returned and happens always when we're coasting. It even does it in low range. We think it's a design issue and nothing that impedes progress. This is the only "problem" we have to report.
Are we the only people using the RZR S as a full-time trail rig? Here, every RZR S owner we know, and there are many, use their side-by-sides at the dunes or for high-speed desert travel. We've found that you don't need a utility 4x4 to have fun on the trail. You need a RZR S. The 12 inches of wheel travel afforded by the long A-arms and Fox Podium reservoir shocks make the RZR S the perfect trail side-by-side. Its spool rear and locker up front have all four wheels turning, no matter if some are in the air. The 800 (760cc) transversely-mounted EFI four-stroke twin makes the RZR S feel balanced and stable and never misses a beat, no matter what the altitude or attitude.
We were going to complain about the Maxxis Big Horn tires. They don't have much lateral grip and tend to float at higher speeds. After using them in the rocks, we have to reevaluate our opinion. They grip like glue when on rock, whether it be boulders or slickrock. The Big Horn's great rock performance balances their marginal loose dirt and sand performance. Because the RZR S goes 63 mph easily, high-speed tire performance is something that has to be taken into account, though, and the Maxxis Big Horns don't work well at high speed.
Driver and passenger comfort is excellent and the seats don't feel bad, even after a long day in the dirt. Ergonomics are good and the tilt wheel and adjustable passenger grab bar make fitting the RZR S to different drivers and passengers easy. Polaris offers a cargo system for the RZR S, but we just strap our cooler and stuff in the back, and have had no problems.
The Polaris Ranger RZR S is just a blast to use as a trail rig. The photos you see here were taken exploring to the east of Zion National Park. The trail takes a few hours to travel one-way in our Jeeps. The RZR S did the trail, out and back, in 1.5 hours.


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Larry Major Bowerman, age 63, died this month after a long battle with Hepatitis C.
Larry was born in Glendale, AZ to Leroy and Marioliver (Polly) Bowerman.
He graduated from Monticello High School in 1967.
After graduation, he moved to San Francisco, CA and then up north to Burnt Ranch, CA. He was a brick layer and poured concrete by trade.
He moved to Green River in 1992 He helped his mother sell Green River Melons and worked for the Dunham Melon stand.
Larry had an interest in sailboats, airplanes, and reading books. A year before he died, he started writing a book about small mistakes in your life that have serious effects.
He is survived by his daughter, Mithrell Bowerman, of Santa Cruz, CA; mother Marioliver (Polly) of Green River, UT; sister Judy (Tom) Hills, of Eatonville, WA; brothers Von (Cindy) of Green River, Paul (Jeannine) of Logandale, NV; eight nieces, one nephew and their spouses, eight great-nieces and nine great-nephews.
He is preceded in death by his father Leroy, and neice Katina.
Graveside services were held September 12, 2012 at the Elgin Cemetery, in Green River, UT.
Arrangements entrusted to Spanish Valley Mortuary, in Moab.


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Jeffrey DeWitt is set to take over as the District of Columbia's chief financial officer.
Friday is DeWitt's first day on the job. He replaces Natwar Gandhi, who retired after 13 years.
The CFO operates independently from the rest of city government to ensure that the city doesn't overspend. The position was created by Congress in the 1990s.
DeWitt was the former CFO in Phoenix. He was appointed by Mayor Vincent Gray and confirmed by the D.C. Council with minimal debate.
Gandhi was praised for keeping the city on sound financial footing, but his management of the office has come under scrutiny in other ways. Its handling of the city's lottery contract is the subject of a long-running federal investigation.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


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|2018 (e)
|2019 (f)
|GDP growth (%)
|Inflation (yearly average, %)
|Budget balance (% GDP)
|Current account balance (% GDP)
|Public debt (% GDP)
(e): Estimate. (f): Forecast.
- IMF Extended Credit Facility
- Economy in the process of diversifying
- Close to the European market; association agreement with the EU
- Tourist potential
- Mining production (phosphates and oil)
- High social and geographical inequalities
- High unemployment rate, mainly among young people
- Tourism sector facing political and security problems as well as increased competition
- Social tension leading to increased demonstrations and social unrest
- Structural imbalances in public and external accounts and significant increase in external debt
- Unstable political situation
The upturn is set to continue in 2019
Tunisian growth strengthened in 2018. After a long period of struggle, tourism enjoyed a recovery, boosting the tertiary sector's contribution to activity. Export-oriented manufacturing, particularly the electrical and mechanical industries, also performed well, helped especially by renewed competitiveness thanks to the dinar's depreciation and robust external demand. The cooling expansion in the eurozone, Tunisia's main trading partner, is expected to have little effect on activity in 2019, with growth poised to strengthen further. Domestic demand will remain vigorous thanks to strong public and private investment. New pro-business measures are set to round out the reforms to the Investment Promotion Act, which include cutting the corporate tax rate from 25% to 13.5% and doubling the budget allocated to the fund created to support export sectors (electronics, automotive, textiles, agro-industry). In addition, newly created companies are in line to benefit from tax exemptions. The government also plans to increase the budget allocation for infrastructure investment. Several projects are being mooted, including construction of the Bizerte bridge and three new dams in Satta, Khalled and Raghay. Household consumption is expected to remain sluggish, however, due to continued high inflation. The central bank will likely continue tightening monetary policy, a process that it began in 2018, which should slightly contain the price increases.
Large twin deficits and high debt
The consolidation of public finances undertaken with IMF support, coupled with the upturn in activity, led to a reduction in the government deficit in 2018. The tax measures contained in the 2018 Finance Act, along with improved tax and arrears collection, contributed to higher revenues, while current expenditure was lower than expected. The 2019 Finance Bill sets the government deficit target at 3.9% of GDP with a growth assumption of 3.1%. A brighter economic outlook and a broader tax base should bring about a slight increase in budgetary revenues, but spending is expected to be higher than forecast, as 2019 is an election year. In this setting, public debt is unlikely to be reduced.
Although it remains very large, the current account deficit shrank slightly in 2018. Nevertheless, Tunisia's external accounts continue to be in a worrying state. The country, which is a net importer of oil, is expected to face high crude prices and rising import prices. Although increases in tourism and export revenues (electrical and mechanical industries) should reduce the current account deficit, the external accounts will remain in a precarious situation. The external debt ratio is significant and approaching 90% of GDP. Disbursements on maturing external debt combined with debt service payments will continue to put pressure on foreign exchange reserves, which remained below three months of imports in 2018. The Tunisian dinar, whose value has depreciated significantly since the beginning of 2018, is likely to come under downward pressure, which will have an impact on the burden of external debt and inflation. The Tunisian central bank has made a commitment to the IMF to continue to make the exchange rate more flexible, notably viacompetitive calls for tenders.
2019, an election year in a tense social climate
Protests in January 2018 against the austerity policy marked the beginning of a very tense political year. The rift between the ruling party, Nidaa Tounes, and Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has worsened the climate of political crisis and weakened the government. The Prime Minister was suspended by the party in September 2018, but was not forced to resign, narrowly avoiding dissolution of the government. Although the president ended the agreement between the ruling party and the Islamist Ennahda party, the head of the government has continued to get backing from the National Coalition, a parliamentary group formed around the prime minister and supported by Ennahda. Internal disputes and defections by deputies also continue to undermine Nidaa Tounes, which has lost its majority in the People's Assembly. The party, which is chaired by Hafedh Caid Essebsi, the son of the current president, was the big loser in the May 2018 municipal elections. Four years after the presidential elections that built on the achievements of the revolution, the Tunisian political class has never been so fragmented. This reconfiguration of the political scene is likely to foster a climate of uncertainty in a context of mounting social unrest supported by trade unions, including the Tunisian General Labour Union. This increasingly fragmented political landscape will serve as the backdrop for the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December 2019.
Last update: February 2019


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As I mentioned last month, I haven't even gotten my iPhone 5 yet, but I'm already annoyed by it.
Well, first, the wait.
I was all set to buy my iPhone 5 last year, when everyone expected the iPhone 5 to be released. But then Apple went and released a modest upgrade to the iPhone 4, and there seemed no reason to buy that when the iPhone 5 was about to come out.
(I have an iPhone 3GS, which still works great. But I confess I have been coveting some of the newer features. I tried to buy an iPhone 4 once, a couple of months after it came out, but hundreds of people had been waiting all night in line to buy them to ship them to Asia, so I gave up. But I have decided to upgrade to the iPhone 5, unless it totally sucks.)
But it's not just the wait.
Despite Apple's assertion that it is going to crack down on leaks, people seem confident that they know pretty much everything about the iPhone 5. And here are the things they think they know that have jumped out at me (and annoyed me):
- The iPhone 5 is not going to have a really big screen, like the gorgeous screen on the Samsung Galaxy S III. I played with an S III the other night, and it confirmed my suspicion that it is just awesome to have such a big screen. Next to the Samsung, my iPhone felt small and old. Given that Apple thinks Samsung has ripped off everything about the Galaxy from the iPhone, I assumed that Apple would want to return the favor and rip off the awesome big Galaxy screen from Samsung. But according to the gadget gods, Apple has decided to just make the iPhone 5 screen slightly taller, not huge and insanely great like the Galaxy S III. And that's annoying. Who cares about having a "taller" screen? I certainly don't want to have to turn the phone to "landscape" view every time I want to look at something.
- The iPhone 5 will have a new power cord, one that will render the dozen or so Apple power cords I have obsolete. This is also annoying. One of the positive side-effects of becoming an Apple household is that we have one of those power cords lying around pretty much everywhere you look. And now, I gather, Apple is going to make all of those cords worthless. (Unless I buy some special adapter. But having to do that is annoying.)
So all that is annoying.
But the screen thing is really annoying. I'm not a watch-movies-or-play-video-games-on-my-phone guy. I'm a do-email-and-tweet-and-read-the-Internet-on-my-phone guy. So the idea of having to turn the phone to landscape to take advantage of the screen being slightly taller sounds more annoying than anything.
Also as this video produced by Mac Rumors shows, having a slightly taller screen is pretty much a complete yawn of a difference relative to the iPhone 4, especially because a lot of the apps won't even take advantage of it. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S III is bright, gorgeous, and huge.
And do you know what is extra, extra annoying? Apple is now trying to get Samsung blocked from selling the S III because of those patent claims. Apple, the richest and most valuable company in the world, resorting to litigation to try to stop the sale of a phone that is clearly better than anything Apple has yet produced. Sorry, but that's just lame.
I gather Apple is making some other changes to the iPhone 5, too--moving a button, for example. But I haven't seen any changes that I care about.
All of which means, I'm already annoyed by my iPhone 5. If, after using it, I determine that the smaller screen is, in fact, inferior to the big Samsung screen, I'm going to be really annoyed.
So, if I'm so annoyed by the iPhone 5 and Apple's lame patent attack, why am I not just rushing out and buying a Samsung Galaxy S III before Apple gets them sued off the shelves?
Well, I'll tell you, I'm close to doing that. Very close.
But, as I feared a couple of years ago when I realized the lengths Apple was going to to build a closed system with "network effects," I'm also kind of stuck with Apple now, given that our entire household has standardized on it. If I switched to Samsung, I'd have to learn how to use something new. And none of my iTunes stuff and passwords would work. So the sad truth is that I'm going to buy an iPhone 5 even if it's an inferior phone.
But it's going to bum me out knowing that I have to go with Apple even though it's an inferior phone.
And it's going to really bum me out now that Apple is suing people to protect its vast profits instead of just making superior products like it used to.
(Litigation might protect you for a little while, but not over the long run. And I know I'm not the only one who finds it disheartening to see Apple resorting to it.)
Bottom line, like a lot of other Apple customers, I am quietly hoping that everything that has been reported about the iPhone 5 isn't true.
Because if I'm going to finally shell out another $200 for a new phone, it would be nice to be buying the best one on the market.
SEE ALSO: If The iPhone 5 Really Looks Like This, Apple May Be Screwed
And find out everything you need to know about the iPhone 5 below: