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In yacht racing, as in life, nothing is over until the fat lady sings, and so it was in the most competitive fleet in the 2008 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD, the Melges 32 class. Two boats had been duking it out the entire eight-race series, Michael Carrol and Marty Kullman's New Wave, and Joe Woods' Red. On Sunday morning, New Wave had a one-point lead over Red, but the conditions had changed drastically from the first two days of the regatta. Instead of the light air the 268-boat fleet had been dealing with, a cold front had brought a northeasterly breeze, with winds topping out at about 15 knots. In addition, a strong line of thunderstorms and strong breezes had turned the formerly placid Chesapeake into a choppy mess.
In the next-to-last race, Red placed first and regained the lead from New Wave, which placed third in the race. "New Wave is a very good team. They've been around since the start of the fleet and they've now got Scott Nixon on the boat, so it's good to beat them," said Red's boat captain and mastman, Tim Edward. "We got in the class two years ago in Miami, and the first year was hard, it was fairly tough progress, but we brought some guys in from North Sails to help us out and that seems to have upped our game a lot. We have a regular crew that doesn't change much and we've always found from sailing in the past on our Melges 24 that having a regular crew makes a difference and we try to stick with that."
"It was close, and it was all on the last race," said Red's tactician, Dave Lenz. "Whoever beat who in the last race was going to win. We won the first race, but it only gave us a one-point lead, which in this kind of fleet isn't very much. Halfway up the first beat in the last race we were probably tenth, and it wasn't looking very good, but we had a good run and got ahead. We got a break at the leeward mark, and got a couple of shifts and it was reasonably comfortable from there."
The final race was a boat-on-boat death match between Red and New Wave. With two minutes to go, Marty Kullman and the New Wave crew went right at their competition and laid a port-starboard penalty on Red, which forced them to do penalty turns before the start.
"We went in the day one point behind, so it was all on," said Edward. "The first race got us back in the lead, but by only one point, so we knew going into the last race we had to finish one point behind them, or if they won that race, it was their regatta, so it was very close. It was a bit of match racing on the starting line, and New Wave managed to get a port/starboard foul on us, so we had to do a 720 with two minutes to go before the start, so we had to do our turns pretty quickly. I think the team dealt with that very well, we did it, put it out of our minds, and managed to get on with the race. Marty Kullman is a very good driver and managed to catch us by surprise. We managed to complete the turns just in time, and get off the line. We went off in the right-hand side of the beat, they went left, and fortunately it was OK, and we came up to the top mark fairly close. We had a bit of a luffing match with them between the weather mark and the offset mark, and we managed to use our speed and get past them."
"The owner is very pleased with this week," Edward continued. "It's something we've been working toward for the last year, trying to get our first win, so we've done that finally and we're happy about that. Hopefully more will come from this. He loves driving the boat, he's got three of them, so he must love it.
"The racing's good. It's a high-performance boat that rewards good sailing," said Lenz. "You've got to be good to do well. It's powered up in the light. You can race it in light air and have a lot of fun, and on a day like today, it's even better."
"The key for us all week was that we had very good pace," said Edwards. "We seemed to have our rig set up spot on. Our sail program is very good, and if you've got the speed, it goes a long way. We didn't help ourselves all weekend, we had a couple of poor starts, but tactically and speed wise, we always got ourselves back to the top end of the fleet. It helps if you have speed. Today was different, especially in the first race when we had a bit more speed and were actually planing, which was good fun. But in the second race it very quickly changed from planing to sailing soft, in displacement mode, so the last race was quite more challenging and shifty. Obviously, for us, we had our minds on New Wave, and vice versa, and we were focusing less on the shifts and just trying to protect the lead we had in the last race."
The next event for the Red crew is next week, in Lake Garda, Italy, for the start of the Audi Melges 32 regatta, a season-long series in Europe, but they'll meet up with the New Wave crew and the rest of the American fleet in Newport, R.I., for the Melges 32 Nationals. In November, however, they'll get a bit of a break in the Caribbean. As the overall winner of the Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD, they'll meet up with the overall winners of the eight other NOOD regattas for the NOOD championship in the British Virgin Islands.


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Detailed interactive map Pirin north - exact copy of the print edition. The map is in csale 1:40'000 and contour lines by 25 m. The iluminatione (shadows) is from 90° (east). The map is GPS compatible with drawn grid by 1 min, Datum: WGS84, Format: Lat/Lon hddd° mm. mmm'
The borders of all protected areas in the map area are reflected on the map, kindly submited from the direction of the "Pirin" National Park.
The publication of the maps in GPS format is project we working on and expect as soon as posible all the Iskartour's maps ready for instalation of your personal GPS receivers.
The places sale the Iskartour maps are published in section "distribution". If you are interesting to distribute or just sale our maps, feel free to contact us here.
Free fly over the map
Weather current condition and 5 days forecast
In this topic:
Panorama 360° from mount Vihren - summer

subset: commoncrawl


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philipsim needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 58 designs submitted by 26 freelance designers.
I'm looking for a logo for an event we run annually called the Kickstart Forum. Looking for something fairly simple, but which fits well along side our other logos.
Kickstart Forum
Desired Color Scheme:
Reds, blues, greys
Desired Style:
Simple, contemporary
Accepted File Formats:
Standard Web Formats (.jpg, .gif or .png); Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)
I'm looking for a logo for an event we run annually called the Kickstart Forum. The event connects technology journalists with technology companies. I'm looking for a logo that uses the main design element in our company logo. Please see http://www.mediaconnect.com.au for logo.
We have another conference called Influence Forum. please see http://www.influenceforum.com to see logo that was designed for that - we liked the way that incorporated our logo.
Want this logo to be a little bit difference, maybe a little bit more fun and colourful but as you can see with influence forum would still like to stick roughly around our blue, grey, red colour scheme.Â
The word Kickstart needs to be the emphasis. We're looking for something reasonably simple.Â
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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(Dacelo leachii)
The blue-winged kookaburra is very similar to the well-known laughing kookaburra. Blue-winged Kookaburras have a much brighter colouration and are more top-heavy than the considerably shyer laughing kookaburra.
Primarily they are found in savanna woodland but also may inhabit timbered creek areas, parks and gardens. The blue-winged kookaburra is distributed through coastal north Australia from the Pilbara in the west to just south of Brisbane.
The blue-winged kookaburra appears to hunt and eat a high proportion of snakes, possibly because these are more common in the tropics. They will also eat smail reptiles, frogs, insects and other invertebrates Most prey is taken on the ground by hunting from a perch. Prey is seized with the bill after a gliding flight. Kookaburras may often be seen beating their food against a perch area. This is to help breakup the bones and tendons, as well as tendering the food for easier digestion.
Generally a single pair raises the young but occasionally they will cooperatively breed. Breeding occurs between September and November. Blue-winged kookaburras nest in arboreal termite mounds or tree hollows. They show a strong preference for Poplar Gum (Eucalyptus alba).


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Have you ever watched The West Wing? A great television show with fantastic insight into contemporary politics delivered with verve and wit. Anyway, the friend of ours who introduced the show to us, has calculated exactly how much he's willing to pay ($1,200) to be able to re-watch the first two episodes of Season 2 for the first time.
Incredible the first animal that dreamed of another animal. Monstrous the first vertebrate that succeeded in standing on two feet and thus spread terror among the beasts still normally and happily crawling close to the ground through the slime of creation. Astounding the first telephone call, the first boiling water, the first song, the first loincloth.
Carlos Fuentes, who died this week, wrote a great number of novels and stories, as well as some exceptionally fine essays. He was, along with Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, Alejo Carpentier and Octavio Paz, representative of a generation of Latin American authors who took the world by storm in the 1960s and 70s.
My first and most lasting encounter with Fuentes took place when I was 22 years old and recovering from an accident, when I read the fabulous and hallucinatory Terra Nostra, the opening lines of which are reproduced above. In spite of the far greater success of his other novels, such as The Death of Artemio Cruz, Change of Skin and The Old Gringo (made into a movie with Gregory Peck), for me it is Terra Nostra, a sprawling, futuristic epic, concerned with the beginnings of Europe's occupation of America, the phantom marriage of Elizabeth, Queen of England, with Phillip II of Spain, and dark investigations into medieval Paris, all tied up and shaken (as far as I can remember) with lashing of surrealist humour and a good deal of neo-baroque terror, that will summarize Fuentes' achievement.
Funnily enough, Andrés Neuman's description of his own novel, Traveller of the Century, as 'a futuristic novel that happens in the past' comes to mind as an entirely appropriate description of Fuentes' antecedent.
In his Introduction to the Dalkey Archive edition, Jorge Volpi writes: "Terra Nostra is not a simple novel. It is a malfunctioning time tunnel; the entrance to a labyrinth of mirrors; a hell – or a purgatory – in which all memories and echoes intermingle; the gigantic rotting place of history; a jig-saw puzzle put together incorrectly or Chinese boxes that become deeper every moment . . . the underwater tunnel that joins Europe and America; the black hole that connects past, present and future . . ."
I have Terra Nostra in front of me now, the 2003 edition, with an afterword by Milan Kundera. Nearly 800 pages of it, and the pages are big. I wonder if re-reading can ever re-capture the excitement and hunger of reading a great book the first time round? Maybe the pleasure of re-reading are entirely distinct from those of first-time discovery. Maybe I'll just be disappointed. Maybe I'll just peek inside, flick through the pages, see what leaps out . . . perhaps this is a preferable way to revisit old favourite books and places.


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Romania: the Si-Tu project
The goal of the training facility Si-Tu, located in Constanta, is to help disable children to integrate into society. Together with SKF Sweden, SKF Romania is one of the sponsors supporting the training centre.
During the late eighties the Swedish national television was airing a documentary -"Ceaucescus' Children" - about the Romanian psychiatric healthcare, where disabled children were deserted by their parents and the hardship these children were exposed to.
Consequently a non-profit organization, Bräcke Diakoni started in Sweden, committed to support Si-Tu in their work to help disabled children to be better integrated and accepted in society.
"A lot has happened in the last 15 years, but still there are attitudes among families that it is OK to "leave" disabled children in an institution, depriving the boys or girls from the possibility to attend school and to develop", says Karin Guttman, the project manager for Si-Tu operations.
The SKF Group is encouraging local SKF units to engage in and support countries and regions with more needs for social support. SKF in Sweden have chosen to cooperate with SKF Romania in supporting the Si-Tu project. The joint-support from SKF Sweden and SKF Romania enables the institution to acquire more training equipment, making it possible for the institution to support the children when they reach their teenage years.
Si-Tu means "You too", and is founded in an apartment in Constanta, Romania. Physic therapist, Morisena is helping the children with the physical development and Juliana,who is a psychologist, is working with the children on speech development and therapeutic support for the children and their families.
In spite of limited resources, 40 families come here and receive support annually, many of whom stay several years depending on the child's individual needs.
"We receive inquiries from parents all the time, sometimes we have to say no because we don't have the capacity. In each case we sit down with the family to talk about realistic expectations and agree on an individual care plan," explains Juliana.
Morisena and Juliana also arranges family activities, allowing families in similar situation to gather and find support in each other, creating a social network among them. Parent education in taking care of children is also arranged.
"We spend a lot of time contacting school headmasters to get the children into ordinary school or pre-school. Unfortunately there is still stigma in the school system which hinders disabled children to attend regular education and it is a daunting task to change this mentality," tells Juliana.


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- English
Laboratory for Communications and Applications LCA
Security of Vehicular Network
What are Vehicular Networks?
Vehicular Networks (also known as VANETs) are a cornerstone of the envisioned Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). By enabling vehicles to communicate with each other via Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) as well as with roadside base stations via Roadside-to-Vehicle Communication (RVC), vehicular networks will contribute to safer and more efficient roads by providing timely information to drivers and concerned authorities. The interesting research area of Vehicular Networks is where ad hoc networks can be brought to their full potential.
Security of Vehicular Networks
To become a real technology that can guarantee public safety on the roads, vehicular networks need an appropriate security architecture that will protect them from different types of security attacks. Leveraging on the expertise of LCA in the domains of networking and security, we are exploring the different security aspects of vehicular networks, including:
- Threat model
- Authentication and key management
- Privacy
- Secure positioning
Security Requirements and Architecture
P. Papadimitratos, L. Buttyan, T. Holczer, E. Schoch, J. Freudiger, M. Raya, Z. Ma, F. Kargl, A. Kung, J.-P. Hubaux, Secure vehicular communications: design and architecture, IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 100-109, November 2008 [pdf]
F. Kargl, P. Papadimitratos, L. Buttyan, M. Müter, E. Schoch, B. Wiedersheim, Ta-Vinh Thong, G. Calandriello, A. Held, A. Kung, J.-P. Hubaux, Secure vehicular communication systems: implementation, performance, and research challenges, IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 110-118, November 2008 [pdf]
P. Papadimitratos, L. Buttyan, J-P. Hubaux, F. Kargl, A. Kung, and M. Raya, Architecture for Secure and Private Vehicular Communications, In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications, June 2007 [pdf]
P. Papadimitratos, V. Gligor, and J.-P. Hubaux. Securing Vehicular Communications - Assumptions, Requirements, and Principles, In Proceedings of the Workshop on Embedded Security in Cars (ESCAR) 2006, November 2006. [pdf]
M. Raya, P. Papadimitratos, and J.-P. Hubaux, Securing Vehicular Communications, In IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, Special Issue on Inter-Vehicular Communications, October 2006 [pdf]
M. Raya and J.-P. Hubaux, The Security of Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, In Proceedings of SASN 2005, November 2005 [pdf]
M. Raya and J.-P. Hubaux, Security Aspects of Inter-Vehicle Communications, In Proceedings of STRC 2005 (Swiss Transport Research Conference), March 2005 [pdf]
J.-P. Hubaux, S. Capkun and J. Luo, The Security and Privacy of Smart Vehicles, IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp 49--55, May-June 2004 [pdf]
J. Luo and J.-P. Hubaux, A Survey of Inter-Vehicle Communication, EPFL Technical Report IC/2004/24, March 2004 [pdf]
Trust and Revocation
M. Raya, M. H. Manshaei, M. Felegyhazi, and J.-P. Hubaux, Revocation Games in Ephemeral Networks, Proceedings of ACM CCS 2008, October 2008 [pdf]
M. Raya, P. Papadimitratos, V. D. Gligor, and J.-P. Hubaux, On Data-Centric Trust Establishment in Ephemeral Ad Hoc Networks, Proceedings of INFOCOM 2008, April 2008 [pdf]
M. Raya, P. Papadimitratos, I. Aad, D. Jungels, and J.-P. Hubaux, Eviction of Misbehaving and Faulty Nodes in Vehicular Networks, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Special Issue on Vehicular Networks, 2007 [pdf]
G. Calandriello, P. Papadimitratos, A. Lloy, and J.-P. Hubaux, Efficient and Robust Pseudonymous Authentication in VANET, In Proceedings of VANET 2007, September 2007 [pdf]
M. Raya and J.-P. Hubaux, Securing Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, Journal of Computer Security, Special Issue on Security of Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks, Vol. 15, Nr. 1, pp. 39 - 68, 2007 [pdf]
J. Freudiger, M. Raya, M. Félegyházi, P. Papadimitratos, and J.-P. Hubaux, Mix-Zones for Location Privacy in Vehicular Networks, In Proceedings of WiN-ITS, August 2007 [pdf]
E. Schoch, F. Kargl, T. Leinmuller, S. Schlott, and P. Papadimitratos, Impact of Pseudonym Changes on Geographic Routing in VANETs, In Proceedings of the European Workshop on Security and Privacy in Ad hoc and Sensor Networks (ESAS), October 2006. [pdf]
P. Papadimitratos, A. Kung, J.-P. Hubaux, and F. Kargl, Privacy and Identity Management for Vehicular Communication Systems: A Position Paper, Workshop on Standards for Privacy in User-Centric Identity Management, Zurich, Switzerland, July 2006. [pdf]
C. Harsch, A. Festag, and P. Papadimitratos, Secure Position-Based Routing for VANETs, To appear in Proceedings of the IEEE VTC2007-Fall, October 2007 [pdf]
M. Raya, A. Aziz, and J.-P. Hubaux, Efficient secure aggregation in VANETs, In Proceedings of VANET 2006, September 2006 [pdf]
T. Leinmueller, L. Buttyan, J.-P. Hubaux, F. Kargl, R. Kroh, P. Papadimitratos, M. Raya, and E. Schoch, SEVECOM - Secure Vehicle Communication, IST Mobile and Wireless Communication Summit, Mykonos, Greece, June 2006.
Presentations and Posters
M. Raya, P. Papadimitratos, and J.-P. Hubaux, Securing Vehicular Networks, Slide show [ppt]
M. Raya, P. Papadimitratos, and J.-P. Hubaux, Securing Vehicular Networks, In Infocom'06 - Poster session, April 2006 [pdf]
Simulation of VANETs
We have completed a new, realistic, and open-source simulation environment for VANETs called TraNS. Follow this link for more information: http://trans.epfl.ch.


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State Licenses
Required State License(s): None Further Information:
To perform marriage ceremonies a person should be an ordained minister, magistrate (a civil officer with power to administer and enforce law -- Justice of the Peace), mayor of a Michigan city or a judge.
An ordained minister of the gospel recognized by a church may perform marriages whether or not the church has filed a charter with the State of Michigan, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporation Division or an elected government official. To determine if a church has filed a charter, telephone: 517-241-6470.
Contact the Department of Community Health, Vital Statistics at 517-335-8714 for statistics on the number of marriages.
When forming a religious organization, there is a tax guide available from the IRS, publication "tax Guide For Churches and Other Religious Organizations; Publication 1828 Catalog Number 21096G; address: IRS, Freedom of Information Reading Room, P.O. Box 795, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044; telephone: 800-829-3676.
Many churches are required to have a "Church Copyright License." For further information about this license call 800-234-2446. Marriage licenses are obtained at the county clerk's office.
Revised: 8/2016


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Karrde wrote:Probably the Battle of Stamford Bridge - I just love the idea of a single Viking holding the bridge until the crafty English slew him from below.
Teherean wrote:It was a tough call, but the battle of Agincourt has to be my favorite. It proved the power of light infantry with over heavy infantry, and shows a great tactical use of terrain by the English.
In the battle, king Henry V of England (who participated in the hand-to-hand fighting) led an army concisting mainly of welsh and english longbowmen against a numerically superior french army led by Constable Charles d'Albret. The French suffered a great defeat, mostly due to the fact that their armor was too heavy for the muddy terain, slowing them down or even incapacitating them at some times. The archers on the flanks shreded the French until their arrows ran out, after which they drew swords and joined the melee.
after the battle, Henry V killed presumably severeal thousands of French soldiers, fearing they would rearm themselves with the weapons strewn across the field. Only the most illustrious were left alive.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


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One of the things you can expect from another four years of the Obama administration: wind turbines. Lots and lots of wind turbines. And with them as Stephen Colbert reports, come a slew of illnesses. Or at least, accusations of such:
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Can you actually get heres from a wind turbine? Of course not (unless you're intimate with one after a herpes-addled hobo... you know what, just no, you can't). But that's not going to stop people from blaming their woes on progress. [Colbert Nation]


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Hey sweets! First of all, I wanted to offer my condolences to you and my sympathy. I'm so sorry about Kintaro. He was so cute and I know you loved him so much from all the storied you shared with me. He will be missed and I know he will be in Kitty Heaven... most likely getting assignments direct from Boo as a consience or little kitty guardian angel.
Also, we have internet at work again!! YAY! We had a virus that deleted the C Drive and the PC pooped out. I also just got new internet at home on Friday. So i'm sure you've sent me tons of messages over the last 3 weeks I'm sorries!! If you get this before 11, call me at work, otherwise i'll catch you on myspace sweety.
Brianna Mae


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LA shooting suspect has ties to NAS Fallon
A former Los Angeles police officer suspected of three murders has ties to Fallon.
According to Christopher Jordan Dorner's manifesto – obtained by http://www.myfoxla.com – said he lost his position as a commanding officer of a Naval Security Forces reserve unit at Naval Air Station Fallon "because of the LAPD."
Dorner, 33, is suspected of killing a police officer in Riverside, Calif., and shooting one other officer on Thursday, and killing a couple in Irvine earlier in the week, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times reported Dorner also shot at two other officers 20 minutes before killing the 34-year-old, 11-year veteran. The veteran police officer, according to the Times, was training a 27-year-old officer, who was shot in the upper body.
As of press time, Dorner had not been captured and according to the Times, a burned truck, which belonged to Dorner, was discovered at Big Bear Lake in Southern California.
A manhunt in California and Nevada has been ongoing since Thursday.
The three victims, according to the Times, were police officers. Dorner was fired by the LAPD in 2009, the newspaper said.
Zip Upham, public affairs officer for NAS Fallon, said Navy reserve records show Dorner was in flight training, which he did not complete, in 2004. Dorner then went into the reserves.
Upham said the Navy reserves has no information about how Dorner lost his command because of the LAPD.
"His unit drilled in Fallon one weekend a month from March 2009 to November 2009," Upham said.
Upham said he doubts anyone would remember Dorner since naval personnel rotate every three years.
According to the Navy reserves, Dorner received an honorable discharge on Feb. 1, 2013. He was not recommended for continuation at a recent continuation board and received his discharge, according to the Navy reserve.
Dorner said the Los Angeles Police Department's actions "cost me my Naval career, which started in April 2002 and ends in February 2013.
The Fallon Police Department reports they have no records of Dorner.
Dorner's manifesto is 11 pages long and opens with "what would you do to clear your name?" Dorner alleges abuse and systematic negligence within the LAPD hierarchy.


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Solve all moisture problems first
Finishing a portion of a basement is an inexpensive way to gain valuable space for a family room, game room or other use. The big question is how to finish the foundation walls. We'll assume that you have either a poured concrete or a cement block masonry wall. With either surface, the finishing options are the same.
Before beginning any work, you must determine whether your basement has any moisture problems. If your foundation walls are only damp on humid summer days, fine—you're good to go with the methods we recommend. But if you have any problems with standing or leaking water in the spring or during heavy rains, you've got some "prework" to do.
Fixes usually are as simple as adding or repairing gutters and downspouts or adjusting the grade to direct runoff water away from the house. But serious water problems may call for drastic measures like interior or exterior drain tiling, or exterior waterproofing, which could mean digging around the house or tearing up part of the slab. You must solve all water problems, or you'll risk boxing future water in behind a finished wall, ruining it. You'll end up spending hundreds of bucks re-remodeling a recently finished lower level.
Just about every carpenter or building inspector has a different opinion on how to finish walls against masonry. The methods we'll demonstrate work well in most conditions, but consult with your building inspector before beginning any work to make sure you're meeting building codes in your area with these unfinished basement wall ideas.
Seal the wall
Roll on the sealer
Use a paint roller to apply the waterproofing product you choose.
Masonry waterproofer
Masonry waterproofing products are available at home center stores.
Once you've solved the moisture problems, seal the foundation walls. Start by rolling on a masonry waterproofing product. This step is only to help prevent water that naturally migrates through concrete through a capillary effect.
Roll-on waterproofing is in no way a permanent solution to a bulk water infiltration problem. If the walls are damp from condensation, dry them out with a dehumidifier before using the product. One choice is DRYLOK, which is available at home centers and hardware stores.
Meet the expert
Phil Geis has been a framing carpenter for more than 20 years. He started out helping his uncle on remodeling projects while he was still in high school. He and his crew have built more than 300 new houses and breathed new life into dozens of old basements.
Install blocking between joists
Install blocking for attaching the top wall plate
Screw or nail one side of the block through the joist, and secure the other side to the sill plate. Use treated lumber if the brace will come in direct contact with bare concrete.
When the floor joists run parallel to the wall you're building, you'll need to install blocking for attaching the top wall plate. Screw or nail one side of the block through the joist, and secure the other side to the sill plate. Use treated lumber if the brace will come in direct contact with bare concrete. It may be easier to install the braces before you install the foam board on the walls and insulate your rim joist. (See more on How to Insulate Basement Rim Joists.) Phil places his blocks 2 ft. apart so they work as drywall backers too.
Install foam board
Install the foam sheets
Apply the adhesive vertically to keep water from pooling behind the foam insulation.
After your waterproofing has dried, install 2-in. extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam board insulation. Be sure you use XPS—other types are not as moisture resistant. Stick it to the wall with a construction adhesive that's specifically designed for foam—regular construction adhesives will melt the foam.
Apply the adhesive in vertical strips in the middle of the wall. If some water does get behind the foam, adhesive applied horizontally could cause the water to pool up and lengthen the time it takes to dry up. Run a continuous bead of adhesive at the top and bottom of the wall, and tape all the seams. This will help keep warm air in the room from getting behind the foam and condensing on the cool concrete walls. To ensure a good seal, Phil prefers to caulk the bottom after the foam is installed.
Snap lines on the floor
Snap lines on the floor
Snap a line on the floor 4 in. away from the foam as a guide for the bottom plate.
Snap a line on the floor 4 in. away from the foam as a guide for the bottom plate. This will leave a 1/2-in. gap between the bottom of the new wall and the foam. That'll allow a bit of wiggle room if the foundation walls aren't perfectly plumb or straight.
Assemble the walls on the ground
Assemble the walls on the ground
It's faster and easier to assemble a wall on the ground—if you have the space!
If you have the space, it's faster and easier to assemble a wall on the ground. Sight every stud for a "crown" (a slight curve on the narrow side of the board), and mark an "X" on the crown. Have all the crowns face the same direction. If you don't, you'll end up with a wavy wall.
It's easier to assemble your wall with the crowns up; that way both ends of the studs are solidly on the ground when you attach the top and bottom plates, instead of acting like rockers on a rocking chair. Build the wall so it can be tipped right up; there's usually not enough room to swing the whole wall around if you don't.
Tip up the walls
Tip up the walls
If the floor joists are sagging or there's ductwork in the way, you may have to lift the top of the wall in first and slide the bottom plate into place as shown here.
It's usually easier to tip a wall up with the bottom plate against the wall, but if the floor joists are sagging or there's ductwork in the way, you may have to lift the top of the wall in first and slide the bottom plate into place. If you're working alone, don't build a wall too heavy to lift. Save your back by building smaller sections and tying them together after you set them in place.
Build the walls short
If you need to pound the walls into place with a sledgehammer, you've built your walls too tall. There's no reason that the top plate has to be tight against the joists—that's what shims are for. Measure the distance from the floor to the joists at several locations and build your wall at least 1/4 in. shorter than the shortest measurement. Trying to force a wall into place can raise the joists, which could wreak havoc with drywall joints and flooring on the rooms above.
Fasten the bottom plate
Fasten the bottom plate
First put construction adhesive on the floor, then tip the wall into place and fasten with concrete nails or screws. Space fasteners every 6 ft. and within 6 in. of each end.
Phil fastens his walls to the floor with construction adhesive and a powder-actuated tool (PAT). He spaces fasteners every 6 ft. and within 6 in. of each end. Most residential-grade PATs are powered by .22 caliber blank cartridges, which drive in nail-like fasteners at a velocity of about 300 ft. per second. Prices range from $20 for the one in this photo up to $80 for models that have a trigger and don't require a hammer to fire them. Get 2-1/2-in. fasteners so they will penetrate about 1 in. to 1-1/4 in.
Wear safety glasses, and hearing protection is a must because these suckers are loud. Phil usually shouts out "Fire in the hole" to warn other people in the area. For more information on PATs, check out How to Use Powder Actuated Tools.
Plumb and secure the top plate
Plumb the wall and secure the top plate
Plumb the wall about every 4 ft. You need shims only about every third joist, but nail the top plate to every joist.
Instead of snapping a line for the top plate, Phil plumbs the wall about every 4 ft. using an adjustable level that reaches from the bottom plate up to the top. If you don't own a $300 plate level, use at least a 4-ft. level, and try to find the straightest studs to use as a guide. You need shims only about every third joist, but nail the top plate to every joist. It's not necessary to align the studs directly under floor joists, but it's a good idea if you plan to run ductwork or plumbing in the walls.
Build in place when necessary
If your floor is horribly out of level, or if you're framing around a window, it may be best to "stick frame," nailing one stud at a time instead of building the wall on the floor.
Start by fastening your bottom plate, and then use a straight stud and a level to plumb up to find the location for your top plate. After you snap a line and fasten your top plate, plumb up again and mark the location of your first stud on both plates. Mark the rest of the stud locations on the plates using those marks. Toenail each stud into place with two nails on one side of the stud and one on the other.
Inside corners
Framing inside corners
Turn the last stud on the first wall sideways and overlap it about halfway past the connecting wall to create drywall backing.
When he frames inside corners, Phil turns the last board on the first wall sideways and overlaps it about halfway past the connecting wall. This way he can fasten the two walls together and still have a surface for attaching the drywall.
Build out around windows
Build out around windows
Windows set in a block or concrete wall will need wood around them in order to attach the drywall or jamb extensions.
Windows set in a block or concrete wall will need wood around them in order to attach the drywall or jamb extensions. If there's room, use foam under the boards, and tape the seams to the foam you've installed on the wall. If there's no room for foam, make sure to use treated lumber, but still tape the seams. Construction adhesive and concrete screws work best to attach these boards. Install the wood around the window before you build your wall. That way you'll know exactly where the new wall framing needs to be.
Don't forget drywall backers
It's a lot easier to add drywall backers while you still have all your framing tools out and before you fill the wall cavities. So before you pack it up, walk around the entire work area and make sure the ceiling and all walls have a sufficient nailing surface for the drywall. The top of outside corners, perpendicular intersections, and walls that run parallel to the joists are three of the most common areas where you'll need to add backers.
Additional Information
Required Tools for this Project
Have the necessary tools for this DIY project lined up before you start—you'll save time and frustration.
- Air compressor
- Air hose
- Caulk gun
- Chalk line
- Circular saw
- Corded drill
- Extension cord
- Framing square
- Hammer
- Hearing protection
- Knee pads
- Level
- Safety glasses
- Tape measure
- Utility knife
Required Materials for this Project
Avoid last-minute shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of time. Here's a list.
- 2x4 green treated lumber
- 2x4 lumber
- Rigid insulation


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ESD Event Services Directory
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Tel: 02070430652
Unit 2 New North House, 202-208 New North Road, London, London, N1 7BJ
Tel: 03333220123
Unit 5b Compstall mills, Andrew street, Stockport , Cheshire , Sk65hn
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I'm finally back in the Bay Area after a five week jaunt from Indian Wells, Miami, and then to Tokyo to visit my sister for a week. It was another long stretch of 2011 wherein I lived out of my suitcase, relying on the generosity of others. Thanks others! You were so generous!
Anyway, this isn't a travel blog so I'll make this short and sweet. Tokyo was absolutely amazing. Just...everything about it was fascinating. The Japanese are such a strong, noble, classy, no-nonsense people. Of course as tennis fans, we already know this. Kimiko's got more class and grit in her cute little haircut than both tours combined. Kei, I was totally rooting for you, dude. And Ayumi...sometimes you remind me of my kid sister and it makes me happy.
All this is to say, go to Tokyo if you get the chance. It's pretty much ridiculously safe. I was there on the 31st floor of a residential high-rise during the 7.4 aftershock and seriously, the building creaked a bit and that was it. Nothing fell, no pets were harmed, and 30 minutes later, I went back to sleep. Considering the fact that Loma Prieta (the 1989 Bay Area quake) was a smaller quake and like, freeways collapsed and San Francisco was on fire, Tokyo's preparedness was pretty fucking amazing. Besides, refusing to go to Tokyo these days because of safety concerns is like refusing to go to San Francisco after an earthquake hits Fresno.
I'm not saying go to Sendai with your surfboard or head up to Fukushima and ask for a tour of the reactor core or anything. But Tokyo itself is fine and so worth going to. I was there for a week and I still felt like there was so much more to see. Mind-blowing food, fantastic cafes, and three-story secret bars that only accomodate 10 people. How could any of that suck?
So yeah. Everybody chill out about Tokyo. I'm already scrounging pennies in order to try and finance a trip in September for the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Last, I will share with you this tennis-nerd idiocy. I was walking around the city with my sister:
Me: This intersection looks familiar.
Sister: Oh, it's pretty famous. There are pictures of it everywhere.
Me: No...I don't think I've seen a picture of it.
Sister: Really?
Me: Oh. Nevermind.
Sister: What?
Me: Nothing. Well, there's a video of Ana Ivanovic crossing this intersection. That's where I saw it.
Sister: ...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand scene.
(Pics: Getty)


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Significant Developments in Canadian Taxation
by RUSSELL E. MCKAY Principal, Deloitte, Plender, Haskins & Sells, Toronto
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE of the Government of Canada was particu-
larly busy during the last twelve months in that he has presented two budget addresses, the first on December 20, 1960 and the second on June 20, 1961.
The amendments to the Act resulting from his activity have been numerous, and a greater than usual number apply to non-residents of Canada.
The more important amendments are as follows:
Effective December 20, 1960, dividends paid by a Canadian subsidiary
to its United States parent are subject to a 15% withholding tax instead of the former rate of 5%.
In order to implement this change, it was necessary to amend the Canada-United States Reciprocal Tax Convention. The increased withholding applies to all dividends paid subsequent to December 20, 1960 so that even dividends declared prior to but payable subsequent to that date are subject to the higher rate.
At the present time then, the 15% rate of withholding tax applies to all dividend payments to a non-resident except where an international
agreement still prevails providing for a lower rate; e.g., the Canada—United Kingdom Tax Agreement still provides that dividends
paid by a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary to its United Kingdom parent are exempt from withholding tax. As yet there has been no official announcement concerning the re-negotiation of this agreement.
Also effective December 20, 1960, certain interest payments that previously attracted a 5% withholding tax became subject to tax at 15%.
These payments fell into three main categories:
Presented before the Haskins & Sells Annual Tax Conference, New York — October 1961
Interest on Government of Canada bonds, Interest on bonds of the Provinces of Canada, and


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Tomorrow's Stars to Play at "Futures at Fenway Presented by Xfinity" July 27
Double-A Portland Sea Dogs Take on Harrisburg Senators; Family-friendly Event Features "Dog Day at Fenway" and Performance by the KIDZ BOP Kids, Billboard's #1 Kids Artist of the Year; Tickets Start at $5 and go on Sale Wednesday
Families across New England will have the chance to see Major League Baseball stars of tomorrow when the 8th annual "Futures at Fenway presented by Xfinity" returns to Fenway Park on Saturday, July 27. With tickets starting at $5, family-friendly prices and kid-friendly activities and entertainment highlight the day of minor league fun. This year's event, which includes special family-friendly concession prices, invites fans to bring their dogs to the ballpark and features a post-game performance by the popular kids group, "The KIDZ BOP Kids." Tickets go on sale this Wednesday, May 22, at noon at redsox.com.
After a one year absence from the event, Boston's Double-A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs, will make their fourth appearance at Futures at Fenway, taking on the Harrisburg Senators, the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Fenway Park gates will open at 11 a.m. for the noon game.
After the game, The KIDZ BOP Kids, a group of five kids from across the country that dance and sing today's biggest hits, will perform. KIDZ BOP is the number one music brand for children ages 5-12 in the U.S. and has been named "#1 Kids' Artists of the Year" for the third consecutive year by Billboard.
For the first time at Fenway Park, fans can bring their dogs to the ballpark (free of charge). Sections of the seating bowl will be available to owners and their pets where rest areas, water bowls, and activities will be provided. There will also be a photo station for dogs and their owners and the opportunity to participate in a pre-game dog parade around the warning track.
Pre-sale tickets go on sale today for Red Sox season ticket holders, Red Sox Nation, and Red Sox Kid Nation members, and the Portland Sea Dogs Hood Kids Club members.
Starting Wednesday, tickets can be purchased at redsox.com/futures or by calling (877) REDSOX-9. Fans with disabilities can call (877) REDSOX-9 to purchase accessible seating. The Red Sox' TTY number for hearing-impaired fans is (617) 226-6644.
Tickets range from $5 (for Bleacher seats) to $30 (for Premium seating areas, including the EMC Club). Fans who wish to bring their dog to the ballpark are asked to purchase tickets by phone only at (877) REDSOX-9 and bring a completed waiver that can be downloaded at redsox.com/futures.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino originally approached the Red Sox eight years ago with the idea to host minor league games at Fenway Park. According to historians, the Futures at Fenway games in 2006 are the first minor league games at Fenway Park since the 1977 Eastern League All-Star Game. The last known regular season minor league game at Fenway had been a 1966 Eastern League contest between Pittsfield (Red Sox) and Pawtucket (Indians).


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"Import and Domestic...Cars, Trucks & SUVs...We Fix Them All"
To solve our customers problems by working with them and/or their insurance company, in a courteous and professional manner.
To strive to return vehicles back to pre-accident condition, therefore becoming an asset to our community.
Fort Worth native and owner of Master Europa Paint and Collision Center Jeff Brunz has been providing the community the hightest levels of quality vehicle repair for over 26 years..


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Jack E. Kiger
Jan R. Williams PROFESSOR OF ACCOUNTING THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
Abstract: This article reviews the development of income presentation found in the authoritative accounting pronouncements since 1941. During this period, with-in the historical cost reporting model for presentation of income, emphasis has shifted from the ail-inclusive concept of net income and the current operating per-formance concept to a hybrid approach which substantially incorporates the two concepts.
Income measurement presents an imprecise evaluation of the re-sults of business activity. Despite its limitations, the importance of income measurement is well established in the financial accounting literature.1 Two extreme positions are apparent in a study of the alternative methods of determining and presenting income within the historical cost model. These are commonly identified as the all-inclusive and the current operating performance concepts.
Advocates of the all-inclusive approach to income determination and presentation have defined net income
. . . according to a strict proprietary concept by which it is presumed to be determined by the inclusion of all items affecting net increase in proprietorship during the period except dividend distributions and capital transactions2
On the other hand, advocates of the current operating perfor-mance concept of income placed
. . . principal emphasis upon the relationship of items to the operations, and to the year, excluding from determina-tion of net income any material extraordinary items which are not so related or which, if included, would impair the significance of net income so that misleading inferences might be drawn therefrom.3


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After the second day of the NFL Draft, Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland downplayed the significance of Daniel Thomas' history running the Wildcat offense in college as a reason for trading up to draft him.
"I wasn't looking for that," Ireland said. "I was looking for a running back. That's what intrigued me about this kid, is that this guy knows how to run the football."
It's hard to blame Ireland for downplaying the Wildcat, as the formation has become somewhat of a dirty word in South Florida. The direct-snap formation, which the Dolphins unleashed on the NFL in 2008 en route to a surprise division title, grew stale and predictable in 2010.
Though successful in spots – particularly in the win over Tennessee – the Wildcat formation produced just 191 yards on 56 attempts (3.4 yards per play), with only three plays over 10 yards (long of 28), one touchdown and 0 completions on 3 pass attempts. And Bill Parcells admitted that it cost the Dolphins a second-round pick when the team drafted Pat White 44th overall in 2009, though he was ultimately too small and inaccurate for the NFL.
But despite Ireland downplaying Thomas' skills in the Wildcat offense, and the Dolphins potentially moving on from the two trigger men who ran the Wildcat the past three years (Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams), all signs still point to the Dolphins rebuilding, not retiring, their Wildcat/direct-snap offense in 2011.
To wit:
1. The Dolphins drafted two skill players with extensive history at Wildcat quarterback.
Thomas, the Dolphins' second-round pick, played quarterback in junior college, completing 31-of-67 passes for 578 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. And then he served as the Wildcat trigger man for two years at Kansas State, completing 8-of-12 passes for 155 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Thomas, who stands 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds, also would be a significant upgrade for the Dolphins as the Wildcat QB: A better thrower than Brown and a bigger, more physical player than White (5-11, 190).
"Just his versatility was what we were looking for," Ireland said of Thomas.
And H-back Charles Clay, the Dolphins' sixth-round pick, also has extensive history running the Wildcat offense at Tulsa, though he never threw a pass. It was one of five positions Clay played in college – Wildcat QB, tailback, fullback, tight end and slot receiver.
"He has a very unique set of skills," Ireland said. "That's what we liked about the kid, was his versatility."
2. The Dolphins drafted a quick, athletic center who has a history with the Wildcat, too.
When the Wildcat was successful in 2008 and 09, the interior linemen were Samson Satele, Jake Grove, Nate Garner, Donald Thomas and Justin Smiley. Not one of them played for the Dolphins in 2010. Last year's interior line of Richie Incognito, Joe Berger, John Jerry and Pat McQuistan struggled with the formation, in part because they were not as quick to get to the second level as their predecessors.
In this now-famous video of former Dolphins QB coach David Lee explaining the Wildcat (which he brought with him from Arkansas), watch how the offensive linemen are pulling around the formation on every play:
Enter Mike Pouncey. The Dolphins' first-round pick, who will likely play center but also started at guard for two seasons at Florida, "is very athletic like his brother," Ireland said. Watch in this video his quickness in getting out to the edge and the second level of blocking:
It also doesn't hurt that Pouncey also has experience in the Wildcat – Percy Harvin ran it periodically for the Gators in 2007 and 08.
And multiple sources have said that although Pouncey did not receive a playbook in his quick visit to the Dolphins facility after the draft, he did receive material pertaining to the Wildcat, to allow him to start familiarizing himself with some of the various plays and concepts.
Plus, Garner will likely be back in 2011, giving the Dolphins another quick, athletic lineman to help run the formation.
3. The Dolphins have a new offensive coordinator with a history of running the Wildcat, as well.
Brian Daboll didn't just run the Wildcat in his two seasons as offensive coordinator in Cleveland. In 2009, he called it to the point that he "made it too big a part of its offense and defenses became more accustomed to shutting it down," according to an article by ESPN.com's James Walker.
Trigger man Josh Cribbs, who like Thomas was a converted college quarterback, had 55 rushing attempts and four passing attempts for the Browns in 2009, mostly out of the Wildcat. And Cribbs had 20 rushing attempts and three more passing attempts in 2010, mostly out of the Wildcat, though he struggled with a foot injury for much of the season.
Daboll may not run the same "Wildcat" as did the Dolphins, but Daboll has shown that he isn't afraid to run a single-wing attack or get creative on offense.
4. The Dolphins' new offensive coordinator also has experience in using the Wildcat to hide quarterback's deficiencies.
Dolphins management wasn't thrilled with Chad Henne's performance in 2010, but instead of trying to find a different quarterback in 2011, the team has instead tried to improve the pieces around him – a new center in Pouncey, two new backfield members in Thomas and Clay, a new speed threat in Edmond Gates, a new coordinator in Daboll, a new quarterbacks coach in Karl Dorrell.
The Dolphins didn't win many games behind Henne in 2010, but they were successful when they limited his opportunities. They were 0-3 when he attempted 40 or more passes last year. They were 2-5 when he had 35-plus attempts. And they were 5-3 when he had fewer than 35 attempts, including road wins at the Vikings and Jets in which he attempted just 15 and 18 passes, respectively.
And if there's a coordinator who knows how to mask the deficiencies of a quarterback, Daboll certainly qualifies. In two years at Cleveland, he was forced to find ways to move the ball after being given a horrid stable of quarterbacks – Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace.
In 2009, particularly, the Browns began the season 1-11 but finished with four straight wins, partially because the team went heavy with the Wildcat formation. Cribbs ran the Wildcat 21 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns over the last four games, as the Browns knocked off the Steelers, Chiefs, Raiders and Jaguars to end the season.
Add it all up – the new versatile players, the athletic lineman, the coordinator with history of using the formation – and it becomes clear that the Wildcat, or at least some sort of direct-snap offense, will be back in Miami in 2011.


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Personal History: My Two-Year Journey Into the Caffeine Desert
Posted by TheShot on 06 Jan 2007 | Tagged as: Coffee Health, CoffeeRatings.com, Consumer Trends, Home Brew
John Walker, a freelance gaming journalist in the UK, wrote in his blog today about his experiences giving up coffee — on doctor's orders to relieve anxiety symptoms: bothererblog » Diary Of A Coffee Addict. I commented in his blog about my own experiences of giving up all caffeine for a couple of years back in 2000. Clearly, from the looks of CoffeeRatings.com, I have been what you might call "off the wagon" (or is that "off the Swiss water"?) for years now. But because the story is relevant enough, I felt it worth repeating here — with a bit of my own personal coffee history.
Not trying to sound like this month's Barista Magazine interview with David Schomer, my first memories of drinking coffee go back to when I was about eight-years-old during the 1970s. This was in an era when corporate America was not yet savvy enough to squeeze every penny of profit out of customers. Retailers, from the local A&P to the neighborhood savings & loan, frequently offered free coffee to their customers. (Contrast with today, where a recent trip to BMW of San Francisco revealed that even a potential $40,000 car buyer must carry quarters to pay for their own cup of coffee.)
From then on, I had coffee off and on, but I still didn't quite buy into the adult mystique of it. Then in 1989, while living and working in Maryland, I visited U.C. Berkeley as a potential grad student. I was easily impressed when a professor nonchalantly invited me to talk shop over a cappuccino ("heard about them, never had one") from one of the many espresso kiosks along Bancroft Way. It was coffee like I never had before; though by today's standards, Starbucks was likely a step up. That year, I moved to California to start graduate school at a joint Berkeley-UCSF program. And although it wasn't the West Coast espresso that brought me here, it was occasionally a nice convenience compared with the one-dimensional coffee served in much of the rest of the country at the time.
From Addict to Recovering Addict
It slowly evolved into a regular habit, with my awareness of better coffee growing over time. But after several years of being a daily drinker of good coffee, drip as well as the occasional espresso, some evil voice of a modern temperance movement got into my head. Noticing the caffeine headaches I would get if I went a day without coffee, I started to think that giving up the stuff — and all caffeine for that matter — might be personally purifying and a healthier alternative. (Of course, I am also a former vegetarian who gave up meat for a couple of years during grad school, so perhaps there's a pattern in this.)
Then in early 2000, I stumbled upon the most convenient timing: I decided to quit caffeine the day I scheduled my elective sinus surgery. Oh sure, I would have a massive pounding headache for a while. But would I really notice the difference between that and having my sinuses packed with gauze during my recovery? My doc even prescribed all the Vicodin I would ever need to get through it. (Not that I was worried about going down the road of a Brett Favre or Rush Limbaugh, but I'm a bit of a masochist who prefers to endure the pain unless I really need the meds. And on the theme of personal purification, ultimately I took none of it.)
I was coffee-free for the longest time; I missed the flavor, but not immensely. And while the purification thing seemed like a nice purge, it truly had little effect on my quality of life. The caffeine never had much effect on me, other than my withdrawl headache symptoms; I could always down a couple of double-espressos an hour before bed and still sleep like it was a glass of milk. Unfortunately, I believe some people are genetically/biologically predisposed to heightened chemical sensitivity to caffeine — not unlike the way some people can fall violently ill with just the smell of perfume.
"Again, can someone explain to me why this was a good idea?"
Then came a 2002 return trip to Italy, and, as with my prior vegetarianism stint, the whole denial thing suddenly seemed absurd. And while Italian espresso suffers from a sort of sameness, their baseline was (is) so far and away better than the U.S. baseline, I revelled in the convenience of being able to go anywhere and have good espresso. I decided then that I was born to be a coffee drinker, and I was only betraying my true nature as a human being. Who am I to defy God's gift of my caffeine insensitivity?
Of course, the rest is history. A familiar story to anyone who has caught the good coffee disease, my death spiral into the pursuit of better and better coffee only accelerated. Italy was my gateway drug to the hard stuff of home espresso, home roasting, and cries for help that lead to CoffeeRatings.com.
In the end, the caffeine angle is an amusing one — given that espresso, my coffee beverage of choice, is one of your better options. Culturally, at least in America, we errantly behold espresso as if it were an intravenous drip of pure caffeine. Writers and editors constantly riff on espresso as a euphemism for the most potent infusion of caffeine your veins can handle. Pulling an all-nighter? Six cups of coffee won't do, but six espressos will keep you awake from now until Christ's second coming. (For example, last year, San Francisco magazine even resorted to calling me a "caffeinista".) Yet if made properly — i.e., without all the water-soluble muck that comes tumbling out into your typical over-extracted American espresso — it has less caffeine than your average drip coffee.
3 Comments »
3 Responses to "Personal History: My Two-Year Journey Into the Caffeine Desert"
[…] Unfortunately, conventional wisdom in this country suggests that espresso is a "hot, bitter brew" — with the maximum caffeinated effect. This reflects just how poor the American cultural standard for espresso really is. I would argue that if it's hot and bitter, you're not drinking espresso — you're drinking something else. In a country where our beverage choices are either "freezing" or "scalding", espresso should be served a touch closer to room temperature. And if it's bitter, whoever made it likely over-extracted the shot, and it should be sent back like a corked wine. […]
You made an interesting point on my site, in response to uncaffeinated lifestyle article, about people's opinions about decaffeinated coffee being a potential litmus test for whether they treat coffee as a drug or as something consumed for pleasure. Unfortunately for me, it's a bit of both. I enjoy decaffeinated drinks but (at times) can really use the stimulating effects.
Sounds like you and I have gone down similar roads in trying to kind a place for caffeine and coffee in our lives. I know I'm struggling with their roles in my current life, and I'm eager to see where I'll end up.
Anyways, for anybody else interested, here is an article I wrote. Greg has a great comment:
I went down the road of cutting out all caffeine for two months — i.e. not even decaf coffee which still has caffeine, chocolate or foods containing chocolate (think mole sauce). It didn't make me feel any better and I still had a craving for chocolate when I remembered how good it tasted – memories prompted by seeing the food on the shelves.
It's hard to live caffeine free when most desserts and even savory foods have chocolate in them.
So i'm back on the chocolate, but still on decaf.


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Fish With Braids Gallery presents
Art Exhibition by KALIPTUS
Curated by UTA BRAUSER
For DATABENDINGS OF THE MIND, I exploresd glitch art and databending techniques with photography which I eventually began to print & cut, and later on collaged and reassembled the best of the glitches into "psychedelic gems" that are both digitally-crafted and hand-made. The work itself translates as a sort of stream of consciousness and also manifests itself as abstracted reflections of my past experiences.
The opening reception is December 7th, 6-11pm
exhibit dates: Dec 7 - 16 2012


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This page is shown in English as no translation to Português is available.
Mastering Scrum Courses
Scrum knowledge is expected before joining a LeSS course. You can gain basic Scrum knowledge via experience, or reading (e.g. Scrum Primer). But we recommend to join a Scrum course. Not all Scrum courses are good and we'd like to recommend the LeSS-friendly Scrum courses. The current LeSS-friendly Scrum courses planned are:
If you also want to become a LeSS-Friendly Scrum Trainer, please check the becoming a LeSS-Friendly Trainer page


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Wednesday 27 April 2011
by: Ellen Brown, Truthout
Deficit terrorists" are gutting governments and forcing the privatization of public assets, all in the name of "deficit reduction." But deficits aren't actually a bad thing. In today's monetary scheme, in which most money comes from debt, debt and deficits are actually necessary to have a stable money supply. The public debt is the people's money.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney famously said, "Deficits don't matter." A staunch Republican, he was arguing against raising taxes on the rich; but today, Republicans seem to have forgotten this maxim. They are bent on stripping social programs, privatizing public assets and gutting unions, all in the name of "deficit reduction."
Worse, Standard & Poor's has now taken up the hatchet. Some bloggers are calling itblackmail. This private, for-profit rating agency, with a dubious track record of its own, is dictating government policy, threatening to downgrade the government's long-held triple AAA credit rating if Congress fails to deal with its deficit in sufficiently draconian fashion. The threat is a real one, as we've seen with the devastating effects of downgrades in Greece, Ireland, and other struggling countries. Lowered credit ratings force up interest rates and cripple national budgets.
The biggest threat to the dollar's credit rating, however, may be the game of chicken being played with the federal debt ceiling. Nearly70 percentof Americans are said to be in favor of a freeze on May 16, when the ceiling is due to be raised; and Tea Party-oriented politicians could go along with this scheme to please their constituents.
If they get what they wish for, the party could be over for the whole economy. The Chinese are dumping US Treasuries and the Fed is backing off from its "quantitative easing" program, in which it has been buying federal securities with money simply created on its books. When the Fed buys Treasuries, the government gets the money nearly interest-free, since the Fed rebates itsprofitsto the government after deducting its costs. When the Chinese and the Fed quit buying Treasuries, interest rates are liable to shoot up; and with a frozen debt ceiling, the government would have to default, since any interest increase on a $14 trillion debt would be a major expenditure. Today, the Treasury is paying a very low .25 percenton securities of nine months or less, and interest on the whole debt is about 3 percent (a total of$414 billionon a debt of $14 trillion in 2010). Greece is paying4.5 percenton its debt, and Venezuela is paying18 percent- six times the 3 percent we're paying on ours. Interest at 18 percent would add $2 trillion to our tax bill. That would mean payingthree timeswhat we're paying now in personal income taxes (projected to be a total of$956 billionin 2011), just to cover the interest.
There are other alternatives. Congress could cut the military budget - but it probably won't, since this option is never even discussed. It could raise taxes on the rich, but that probably won't happen either. A third option is to slash government services. But which services? How about Social Security? Do you really want to see Grandma panhandling? Congress can't agree on a budget for good reason: there is no good place to cut.
Fortunately, there is a more satisfactory solution. We can sit back, relax and concede that Cheney was right. Deficits aren't necessarily a bad thing! They don't matter, so long as they are at very low interest rates; and they can be kept at these very low rates either by maintaining our triple A credit rating or by borrowing from the Fed essentially interest-free.
The Yin and Yang of Money
Under our current monetary scheme, debt and deficits not only don't matter but are actually necessary in order to maintain a stable money supply. The reason was explained by Marriner Eccles, governor of the Federal Reserve Board, in hearings before the House Committee on Banking and Currency in 1941. Wright Patman asked Eccles how the Federal Reserve got the money to buy government bonds.
"We created it," Eccles replied.
"Out of what?"
"Out of the right to issue credit money."
"And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our government's credit?"
"That is what our money system is," Eccles replied."If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money."
That could explain why the US debt hasn't been paid off since 1835. It has just continued to grow and the economy has grown and flourished along with it. A debt that is never paid off isn't really a debt. Financial planner Mark Pash calls it aNational Monetization Account. Government bonds (or debt) are "monetized" (or turned into money). Government bonds and dollar bills are the yin and yang of the money supply, the negative and positive sides of the national balance sheet. To have a plus-1 on one side of the balance sheet, a minus-1 needs to be created on the other.
Except for coins, all of the money in the US money supply now gets into circulation as a debt to a bank (including the Federal Reserve, the central bank). But private loans zero out when they are repaid. In order to keep the money supply fairly constant, some major player has to incur debt that never gets paid back; and this role is played by the federal government.
Here is why. Private banks always lend at interest, so more money is always owed back than was created in the first place. In fact, investors of all sorts expect more money back than they paid. That means the debt needs to be not only maintained, but expanded, to keep the economy functioning. When the Fed "takes away the punch bowl" by tightening credit, there is insufficient money to pay off debts; people and businesses go into default; and the economy spins into a recession or depression.
Maintaining a deficit is particularly important when the private lending market collapses, as it did in 2008 and 2009. Then debt drops off and so does the money supply. Too little money is available to buy the goods on the market, so businesses shut down and workers get laid off, further reducing demand, precipitating a recession. To reverse this deflationary cycle, the government needs to step in with additional public debt to fill the breach.


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Vahé Baladouni UNIVERSIT Y OF NEW ORLEANS "IT IS UP TO US." - - - ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE Professor Arnold J. Toynbee, one of the most outstanding intel-lectual figures of our time, died in October at the age of eighty-six. His vast erudition, accompanied with astonishing industry and mag-nificent style, made him a prolific writer on numerous and disparate subjects—ranging from works on the Armenian genocide of 1915 to his well-known twelve-volume work, A Study of History. Alongside his scholarly achievements, Toynbee worked for his government during both World Wars and was a member of the British delegation to the Paris peace conferences in 1919 and 1945. Showered with honorary degrees both at home and abroad, Professor Toynbee will be remembered as a great historian and a man—in the testimony erf those who knew him personally—of extraordinary modesty and humility. Born in London on April 14, 1889, Toynbee received a classical education at Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating in 1911, he studied briefly at the British Archaeological School in Athens, where, we are told, he first entertained a philosophy about the decline of civilizations. In 1912 he became a tutor and fellow in ancient history in his Alma Mater. After World War I, he was appointed professor of Byzantine and modern Greek studies at the University of London. Some years later, in 1925, he accepted a joint appointment: Re-search Professor of International History at the University of London and Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. While holding this position at the Institute, he issued his annual Surveys of International Affairs which soon became well recognized sources of reference. He had travelled and lectured extensively. Like the German philosopher Immanual Kant and many others before him, Toynbee, too, believed that there must be an order or design in history. It was repugnant to him to think of the history of mankind as a chaotic, disorderly, fortuitious flux. This necessity for a meaningful view of history assumes in Professor Toynbee's Study a moral or religious character. If the religious basis of his work is latent in the first six volumes (the first three volumes were published in 1934 and the next three just before the outbreak of the


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Obama on immigration: 'Let's do it'
Immigration reform may not pass, but that's no reason to give up the fight, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
The president made his long-awaited return to the issue in a brief East Room speech urging advocates to keep the pressure on House Republicans to take action on the Senate's immigration bill, saying that only public pressure will lead to action.
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And yet Obama expressed some of the same skepticism he decried, saying that while immigration reform is "the right thing to do," it doesn't have a clear path to success.
( Also on POLITICO: John Boehner: 'Hopeful' on immigration)
"Just because something is smart and fair and good for the economy and fiscally responsible and supported by business and labor and evangelical community and many Democrats and many Republicans, that does not mean that it will actually get done," Obama said with a laugh. "This is Washington, after all."
The East Room address comes as the White House grapples with fallout from the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov. The return to immigration reform comes weeks after the White House signaled in September it would soon make a renewed effort to back comprehensive immigration reform. That push was put off while Obama dealt with the government shutdown and debt limit crisis.
Obama's call for the House to vote on the Senate-passed bill represents his effort to duplicate what his allies saw as a victory on the fiscal showdown – get legislation that can be labeled bipartisan through the Senate and then try to apply public pressure to force it through the House.
Republicans — including George W. Bush — have supported immigration reform, Obama said. As he said during the shutdown fight, Obama implied that a small faction of House Republicans are blocking progress.
"We've got the time to do it. Republicans in the House, including the speaker, have said we should act. So let's not wait," Obama said. "It doesn't get easier to just put it off. Let's do it now, let's not delay, let's get this done and let's do it in a bipartisan fashion."
But while that approach worked for the fiscal cliff in January and to end the shutdown this month, those episodes featured hard deadlines that carried the threat of fiscal calamity. Immigration reform does not.
And as the Senate debated immigration reform for months earlier this year, Obama kept a public distance as White House and Senate aides maintained that the legislation had a better chance to proceed without an appearance of the president being directly involved.
Now with the House GOP leadership calling for a "step-by-step approach" instead of the comprehensive solution Obama seeks, the president is shifting from the inside approach that won votes in the Senate to an outside push to pressure House Republicans.
Speaker John Boehner's spokesman said the House won't be calling a vote on the Senate's immigration bill any time soon.
"The Speaker agrees that America has a broken immigration system and we need reform that would boost our economy," spokesman Brendan Buck said. "He's also been clear that the House will not consider any massive, Obamacare-style legislation that no one understands. Instead, the House is committed to a common sense, step-by-step approach that gives Americans confidence that reform is done the right way. We hope that the president will work with us — not against us — as we pursue this deliberate approach."
Obama, who would like to keep advocates from carping at the White House for its failure to pass a reform bill, praised the gathered immigration reformers for their work and urged them to keep up pressure on House Republicans.
"I want to tell you, you've got to keep it up. Keep putting the pressure on all of us to get this done," Obama said. "There are going to be moments, and there are always moments like this in big efforts at reform where you meet resistance and the press will declare something dead, it's not going to happen, but that can be overcome."
Obama added to applause: "You look fired up to make the next push."


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Samir Nasri feels Man City's team spirit can lift them to a successful campaign
Samir Nasri insists that Manchester City's team spirit can see them through to another Premier League title.
Last Updated: 05/11/12 10:32am
City remain unbeaten this season as they aim to defend their crown, but Roberto Mancini's side have been far from impressive, especially in Europe as they look like losing out once again in the UEFA Champions League group stages.
But Nasri remains upbeat, saying: "I don't know if we will stay unbeaten. I know we have the quality to stay unbeaten but all of us have to think this way.
"When we go out on the pitch we should think we will win. With the quality we have if we are sure of it, if we run for each other and fight for each other we can do it.
"We missed many chances and if you do miss these type of chances you can't expect to win the game, we have to improve on that.
"The good thing is we didn't lose a game still in the Premier League and we have to continue on this point."