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The crowds came from multiple counties to the top of the hill to watch the W.E. Rock event under the lights on Friday and Saturday night. The Tennessee skies opened up for a while adding one more element of difficulty to the already natural vertical climbs and aggressive side off-camber climbs: Wet Rock and Sand. A previous mining ground, the rocks changed with every run as the 35″+ tires shot them across the course and the weight of the custom built rigs crumbled the ledges.
The stage for the day started in Downtown Dayton Tennessee when four of the competition rigs showed up to join in the Strawberry Festival Parade that went through town. Passing out thousands of fliers, kids were yelling "WERock" from the crowd as the cars passed by and revved their engines.
Back at the competition site, trucks rolled in all day filling up the fields with people ready to watch the best of the best on the rocks. The night before had proved to be no different, and no lack of entertainment. The points coming into night two was so close that anyone could still win in each class; and that's exactly what happened!
The Unlimited Class had four strong competitors that pushed each other to finish for the win. The Courses on Saturday night were more accomplishable for the rigs than they had been the night before. Undoubtedly, Bill Barton and son spotter Chicky Barton had the best night with multiple negative scores, putting them in the lead going into the shootout. The crowd favorite, Wes Keen, had a challenging night after he rolled on his second course and spent the rest of the night trying to get the
rig started. With the help from the crowd he rallied a new starter, new spark plugs and some JB weld to get it started and try to pull through the gates for the shootout. Unfortunately, he would not make it.
The shootout was a 15 minute run that would include a rock crawl section and "bonus land" where competitors could pick up -25 points. Alex Vaughn made it through the first rock crawl section and backing out through the gates realized that he had something wrong with the rig; part of the frame had broken off requiring welding to continue. Brian Milsap took on the course next and was the first to go through the bonus land taking a total score of -2, a great run for the team. Last on course and having fun making all the obstacles was Bill Barton. They took every single bonus option and came out with a score of -23 keeping their first place lead by well over 60 points.
The Pro Modified class was composed of 7 rigs and by the end there were still 6 running, almost. Kenny Blume had started the day in the lead and had a rough Saturday night breaking his rear drive shaft on the first course, then he did a 2 and a half roll down his final obstacle and showed up to the shootout with quite a noise rumbling through the engine compartment! Shelby Gilstrap who had a decent day on Friday also ended up rolling and breaking not completing a majority of the courses on Saturday. Jonathan Dawes in the only diesel powered vehicle was seen under his rig at different points during the night as well.
As the score card shows, the best performances of the day was from Derek West and Ritchie Keller who had completed a desert race in the same car just two weeks before. When it came time for the shootout the mid pack was tight in scoring, but Derek West was sitting pretty solid in the first position. The Bonus Land gave the Pro Mods a bit more of challenge than the Unlimited class making it fun for the crowd to watch all the uphill climbs. At then end of the night, Derek West would still complete the entire shootout course even though he didn't have to for points purposes. Kenny Blume took second and Justin Lawson took third.
The Modified Stock class had some good competition going between Duane Garretson, Mike Smith and Kelly Young. They skidded across rocks, got high sided and accomplished some impossible looking dropoffs. The Mod Stock class added as much entertainment to the show as the Unlimited Class did this weekend. As the points settled out at the end of the night, Duane Garretson and Jeff Spear took home the first place trophy.
Still a new class in W.E. Rock, Brandon Hudson and Alan Shirley showed their trail driving skills in the Trail Class made for the every day wheeler that wants to compete. They broke early on Friday, went home, fixed the rig, and showed back up on Saturday night to earning some very impressive scores for their first time out in front of a crowd.
Overall, the weekend was excellent with crowds hanging out until the competitions were over after 1am both nights. The outpouring of caring and gifts for property owners and event host Kenny and Julia Kizzar who lost everything in the recent Tornado disaster was amazing.
Pictures and Videos will be posted this week.
SATURDAY PICTURES[nggallery id=8]
DAYTON, TN STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL PARADE[nggallery id=9]


text: PictureTrail offers several services that enable you to express yourself. Photo sharing, cool photo slideshows, and image hosting will enhance your online community experience. PictureTrail also host personal homepages which enable you to build your own social networking community right here on PT. It supports Myspace layout codes as well as music and web widgets from anywhere on the web.

subset: commoncrawl


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An Open Letter To Girls About the Men Who Fear Them
Guest blog post: Soraya Chemaly is a feminist starist and media critic. She is also an insightful and thought-provoking blogger whom I greatly respect and admire. I highly recommend following her on Twitter.
This excellent piece was originally published on The Huffington Post.
Dear Girls,
You are powerful beyond words, because you threaten to unravel the control of corrupt men who abuse their authority.
In the United States last week there were people who wouldn't let boys play a baseball championship final because a girl was on the opposing team. She'd already had to sit out two games because of their demands. Why? Did she, a competitive athlete and a member of her team, chose to? Was she being good and respectful when she acceded to their demands? Why were they not asked to forfeit their games? What messages were sent to her and her teammates? This is not complicated. It sent the wrong messages. Confusing messages. Incoherent messages. You need to know that she should have been allowed to play and not have had to sit out two games. These people, and others like them, all over the world, led exclusively by religious men, are scared of you and will not let you be. You worry them constantly.
If you were not powerful, they would not take you so seriously and they take you very, very seriously. You should, too. You can set the world on fire.
It doesn't feel this way, I know. If that were true, you think, I would not have to sit out baseball games out of respect for religious beliefs that require my subservience and call it a gift. I would not be turned away from serving God with my brothers. I would not be taught that I'm an evil temptress or the virtue keeper of boys. I would not have virginity wielded as a weapon against me and my worth determined by my womb. I would not be spat on and called a whore by men when I am eight because my arms are bare. I would not be poisoned for going to school. I would not be forced, at the age of 9, to carry twins borne of child torture. I would not have to kill myself to avoid marrying my rapist. If this were true, they would pursue my rapists instead of stoning me for their crimes. I, and thousands others, would not be killed for "honor."
Girls, these things happen because there are men with power who fear you and want to control you. I know that I have equated relatively benign baseball games with deadly, honor killings but, whereas one is a type of daily, seemingly harmless micro-aggression and the other is a lethal macro-aggression they share the same roots. The basis of both, and escalating actions in between, is the same: To teach you, and all girls subject to these men and their authority, a lesson: "Know your place." I also know that there are places where girls are marginalized and hurt that are not religious. But all over the world these hypocritical, pious men, in their shamefully obvious wrongness, represent the sharp-edged tip of an iceberg, the visible surface of a deep and vast harm. They employ the full range of their earthly and divine influence to make sure, as early as possible, that you and the boys around you understand what they want your relative roles to be. Where there are patriarchal religions girls, in dramatically varying and extreme degrees, disproportionately suffer. Understand these men for what they are: bullies. Do not internalize what they would have you believe.
Your very existence makes them anxious. And their anxiety is particularly high because you have something no generation of girls has had before -- globally connected communities of men and women who support your equality and freedom. Like guns, germs and steel, this transformative technology, which enables me to write to you here, alters geography, changes societies and dismantles systems of control -- it makes the world a smaller place and it creates, even if slowly in some places, positive change for girls like you. You see, until now, these men could count on, indeed they could ensure, that you and the women around you were house-bound and isolated. Many of you still are. But now, there are millions and millions and millions people who are thinking about you and challenging these men every single day. You have the speed of light on your side and unless someone permanently turns the lights out, those days are gone. So, although you might feel like you are alone, you are not.
How do you threaten them? A girl, alone? By being able, strong, confident and yes, shameless. You may not "naturally" be interested in domesticity, piety, purity and submission, and they rely on your commitment to those things to order their worlds. Their actions, from one end of the spectrum to the other, are designed to fill you with self-doubt and, ultimately, fear -- either bodily or spiritual -- because otherwise you, and the young boys around you, will be fully aware of your strength and potential.
Because of this, they single-mindedly focus their attention on you, your body, your clothes, your hair, your abilities, your physical freedom. When their "manners" and "morals" are not universally applicable, but different for boys and girls, you can be sure that this is why. They seek to teach you, subtly, through small slights and gendered expectations, that you are "different," weak, unworthy, incapable. The sadness is that, in their perception, if you are none of these things, then they are not strong, worthy and capable. This is not an excuse, but an explanation. It's why they find infinite "benevolent" ways to undermine and disparage you, all in the name of "God's word." When that fails, they resort to violence. All over the world, their anxiety is manifest in a spectrum of actions ranging from mild paternalism, respectful of "proper boundaries," to deadly enforcement of their rules.
Fear is why these men "officially" investigate Girl Scouts while perversely shielding child rapists. It's why they obsess over your "purity." It's why they segregate you in public and private spaces. It's why they instruct girls and boys that girls' bodies are either shameful and dirty or sacred and belonging to men. Fear motivates them to teach that you pollute others by your very nature. It makes them intent on making sure you stay home and not be fully engaged in the world. It leads them to sanction marriages of 8-year-olds to old men. It convinces them that rape and its consequences are a "gift from God." It's why they empower others to stone you to death and disfigure you with acid.
Even "beating the gay" out of children, especially boys who are "more like" you, is aimed at you. Because if boys are "more like girls," something these men believe is fundamentally inferior, then you can be "more like boys." That causes ambiguity and destroys their carefully defined hierarchies and that is intolerable to them.
Fear is why they insist there is something fundamentally wrong with you. Don't believe them. Fear is why they want you to cover your body. There is nothing wrong with your body, and your body is not to blame. Whether you chose to expose your body or to cover it up, consider the degree to which either choice is defined by a reduction of your character to narrow sexuality by a culture that refuses to hold men accountable for their actions and requires you to either radically display ourself for men's pleasure or withdraw from the world and be held in reserve. Either way, ask who is defining your worth and by what measure. Fear is why they tell you you are so different from boys. You, and the boys you know, understand that your bodies are different, but that you are far more alike than dissimilar. Threatened, insecure, adult men say otherwise. Don't give in. Even if you're quiet. The differences these religious authorities exaggerate are simply pillars of oppression used to teach boys and girls that women's subjugation is "natural" and "divine." Reject them and their ideas.
This is hard to do. It requires that you, individually, be brave, strong, determined, fearless and confident. It requires that you demand that the adults around you pay attention and change their behavior. This is even harder.
First, and perhaps the most difficult to understand as a girl, is that women who love you and care for you often enable these men. This is what people say, "It's not JUST men!" And they are right, women support them, individually and in groups, in ways that have private, public, political and societal consequences. But, make no mistake -- although women are the enforcers of rules, they have no real, systemic authority in conservative religious hierarchies, and they know this. Yes, without their support these men could not continue, but until these women are truly free -- bodily, economically, physically, politically -- and their practical and spiritual salvation is no longer mediated by these very men, they will continue to support them. Enforcing the rules is a rational choice that enables them to survive, the world over, in unjust environments. You scare them too, because you call in to question their own complicity and cause conflict within.
Second, it is confusing that these men say they do what they do for your own good. They talk about respecting you and your dignity. You want to believe them; they have power and authority over you, your parents, your community and your access to God. They are often kind and benevolent and they love you. So, they must be right. But they are not. They demonstrate their own hypocrisy over and over and over again. They say they know what is best. They do not. You do. Don't believe them when they teach you in hundreds of ways, through sacred text, careful words, cherished traditions, hidden threats and frightening examples, that you are inherently more sinful, base and corrupt, less worthy and in need of constant male guidance. Reject them.
The adults around you may not appear to support you when you take your humanity to its logical religious conclusions. Do not let them off the hook. Do not let them use "tradition" as an excuse or say it "really doesn't matter." Do not allow them to get away with asking you to "sit out games," "be a good girl," "don't make a fuss," and "put something on." These are micro-aggressions that result in macro-aggressions. Adults often don't think these things through. Sometimes it's scary to them, too.
You can say: "There is nothing wrong with me. There is something wrong with you and your world."
Otherwise, when you get older, these same men, the ones who fear and hate you, will continue to undermine you. They will seek to control your body, keep you out of the public sphere, subjugate you in the name of a narrowly defined "family," create impediments to your equality, shame you at every turn and justify your continued oppression in convoluted ways that defy reason and morality. They will investigate you for being strong, violate you, stone you to death, charge you with witchcraft, punish you in every conceivable way to set an example for ... your children.
So, know that you are strong and powerful. Use your reason. Trust your instincts. Seek out those that would support you and, yes, know your place: on the field, in the street, on the bus (in the front), in school, at work and in public office.
You are not alone and you are brighter than the sun.
Soraya Chemaly is a feminist starist and media critic. She is also an insightful and thought-provoking blogger whom I greatly respect and admire. I highly recommend following her on Twitter.
This excellent piece was originally published on The Huffington Post.
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VA Awards National Cell Phone Contract to Three Carriers
The IDIQ deal covers voice and data airtime plus voice phones, smartphones and tablets.
This story has been updated.
The Veterans Affairs Department awarded a contract for national cellular service and devices valued at $200 million to three carriers: AT&T Mobility; Verizon Wireless; and A&T Systems, a company in Silver Spring, Md., that says it provides telecommunications and information infrastructure to federal, state and local governments.
Until now, VA used a variety of contract vehicles to acquire these services and devices. The department said when it launched the National Mobile Devices and Services procurement in September 2012 that it plans to use the contract to consolidate cellular services and drive down costs. Under the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, the three winners will compete for task orders.
One way VA plans to drive down airtime costs is by pooling minutes for all its cellphones. It asked bidders to provide annual pricing for a 2 million, 5 million, 10 million minute pools serving respectively 15,000, 35,000 and 75,000 users for calls made within all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The department specified an unlimited data plan for smart phone users, and asked for pricing for 10,000, 25,000 and 50,000 users and up to 1,000 tablets in the first year of the contract.
Department officials anticipated that in the first year of the contracts, vendors would be required to support 72,900 voice phones and 14,373 smartphones; by the fifth year, those projections were 75,860 voice phones and 15,373 smartphones. The number of tablets in the fifth year was expected to grow to only 1,040.
The deal calls for vendors to supply basic voice and text phones, smartphones and tablets, but the award notice did not detail which devices the winning bidders will supply.
The national contract covers international roaming with support for voice, text and broadband data. It also calls for unlimited broadband service for personnel who use laptop wireless data cards for connectivity. The department estimates 10,467 users in the first year of the contract and 11,029 in the fifth year.
VA also plans to tap into the contract to support mobile wireless hotspots -- hardware that connects to a cellular broadband signal and then hooks up multiple users through a Wi-Fi connection. Officials plan for 104 hotspots in the first year and 154 in the fifth year.
The awards do not include the other two national carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile. Neither of those companies responded to queries about whether they submitted bids or plan to protest the awards.
(Image via Aigars Reinholds/Shutterstock.com)


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Excerpt: "Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 - with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the groun - collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced."
The Fourth reactor at Fukushima. The yellow area is the containment vessel, 02/20/12. (photo: The Asahi Shimbum Digital)
Fate of Japan and the Whole World Depends on No. 4 Reactor
11 April 12
Fukushima Daiichi site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl accident.
apan's former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public Hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, on the Fukushima nuclear power plants accident. Before the Committee, Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4 - with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground - collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421 (396+615+566+1,535+994+940+6375).
I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 rods.
I received an astounding response from Mr. Alvarez [updated 4/5/12]:
In recent times, more information about the spent fuel situation at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site has become known. It is my understanding that of the 1,532 spent fuel assemblies in reactor No. 304 assemblies are fresh and unirradiated. This then leaves 1,231 irradiated spent fuel rods in pool No. 4, which contain roughly 37 million curies (~1.4E+18 Becquerel) of long-lived radioactivity. The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.
The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters. Despite the enormous destruction cased at the Da-Ichi site, dry casks holding a smaller amount of spent fuel appear to be unscathed.
Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 - roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).
It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.
Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival.
There was a Nuclear Security Summit Conference in Seoul on March 26 and 27, and Ambassador Murata and I made a concerted effort to find someone to inform the participants from 54 nations of the potential global catastrophe of reactor unit 4. We asked several participants to share the idea of an Independent Assessment team comprised of a broad group of international experts to deal with this urgent issue.
I would like to introduce Ambassador Murata's letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to convey this urgent message and also his letter to Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for Japanese readers. He emphasized in the statement that we should bring human wisdom to tackle this unprecedented challenge.
It seems to us that the Nuclear Security Summit was focused on the North Korea nuclear issue and on the issue of common security from a terrorist attack. Our appeal on the need for the independent assessment at Reactor 4 was regarded as less urgent. We predicted this outcome in light of the nature of the Summit. I suppose most participants fully understood the potential disaster which will affect their countries. Nevertheless, they decided not to raise the delicate issue, perhaps in order to not ruffle their diplomatic relationship with Japan.
I was moved by Ambassador Murata's courage in pressing this issue in Japan. I know how difficult it is for a former career diplomat to do this, especially in my country. Current and former government officials might be similarly restricted in the scope of their actions, as Ambassador Murata is, but it is their responsibility to take a stand for the benefit of our descendants for centuries to come - to pass on a world safer than our ancestors passed us.
If Japanese government leaders do not recognize the risk their nation faces, how could the rest of us be persuaded of the looming disaster? And if the rest of us do not acknowledge the catastrophe we collectively face, who will be the one to act?
March 25, 2012
Dear Secretary-General,
Honorable Ban Ki-moon,
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for your considerate letter dated 2 March, 2012. Your moral support for a United Nations Ethics Summit will remain a constant source of encouragement for my activities.
Please allow me to pay a tribute to your great contribution to strengthen nuclear safety and security. The current Nuclear Summit in Seoul is no doubt greatly benefiting from the high-level meeting you convened last September.
I was asked to make a statement at the public hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 23. I raised the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima containing1535 fuel rods. It could be fatally damaged by continuing aftershocks. Moreover, 50 meters away from it exists a common cooling pool for 6 reactors containing 6375 fuel rods!
It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide.
Please allow me to inform you of an initiative being taken by a former UN official who is endeavoring to have the Nuclear Security Summit take up the crucial problem. of N0.4 reactor of Fukushima. He is pursuing the establishment of an independent assessment team. I think his efforts are very significant, because it is indispensable to draw the attention of world leaders to this vital issue.
I am cooperating with him, writing to some of my Korean acquaintances that this issue deserves the personal attention of President Lee Myung-bak. I have written today to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. I asked him to consider taking the initiative of mobilizing human wisdom on the widest scope to cope with the Fukushima reactor No.4 problem, fully taking into account the above-mentioned "independent assessment team."
The world has been made so fragile and vulnerable. The role of the United Nations is increasingly vital. I wish you the best of luck in your noble mission. Please accept, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mitsuhei Murata
Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics
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Pasta e Fagioli
My husband was out for the evening so my friend and her son came over for dinner. Since it was a cold and rainy day, I was in the mood for a hearty Italian soup. I found a Cooking Light recipe for Pasta e Fagioli that I adapted. It was rich in flavor and thick with beans, meat, and pasta. At the last minute, I threw in some fresh spinach which topped it off nicely. This soup was served with a fresh salad made by my friend and some crusty bread slathered with butter. All of us loved this soup, especially the kids. It was a wonderful meal shared with great friends.
Pasta e Fagioli:
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2-3 turkey Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, blended
- 4 cups of chicken broth
- 2 15 oz cans of white beans, drained
- 1 tsp of dried basil
- 1/2 tsp of dried oregano
- Pinch of crushed red pepper
- Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper
- 1 cup of tubed shaped pasta
- 1-2 cups of fresh baby spinach
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
How to Make Pasta e Fagioli
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the turkey sausage, removed it from the casing, and cook until done and well crumbled. Add the garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds then add the chicken broth.
Pour the tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl, blend the tomatoes thoroughly with an immersion blender (or just use a blender) then pour into the Dutch oven. Add the drained beans and seasonings to the soup and simmer partly covered for 1-2 hours.
When you are ready to eat, turn the soup up to a slow boil then add the pasta and cook per instructions. Taste the soup and re-season if needed. Once the pasta is cooked, add the fresh spinach and parsley. Serve with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy.
Side Note: Be careful not to add too much pasta because it will thicken up the soup too much.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe


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If you are thinking about applying to enrol on the MSc Accounting and Finance masters degree at the Management School at the University of Southampton, then here is a quick overview of the course.
The Accounting and Finance MSc course is designed to meet the needs of students who have some knowledge of accounting and finance and who wish to extend their knowledge to an advanced level.
Students who have studied very little accounting or finance and have little relevant work experience are likely to find the programme very challenging indeed.
This MSc Accounting and Finance masters degree course consists of a core covering the main areas of accounting and corporate finance, and a research methods course that supports the dissertation.
Options available on this programme of study allow students to study particular aspects of accounting or taxation in more depth.
For example, there is a pathway within the programme that allows students to concentrate on research-oriented training and more advanced aspects of accounting and finance.
Your understanding of the subjects covered and your ability to use the knowledge and skills gained will be enhanced through a variety of methods and strategies on the MSc Accounting and Finance masters degree.
If you wish to apply to study this MSc in Accounting and Finance you should complete a University of Southampton application form and return it to the Academic Registrar.
Your application to study MSc Accounting and Finance will be carefully considered by a specialist member of the academic staff who will weigh up many factors; not only your academic achievements, interests and aptitudes, but also your motivation and your referee's confidential report.
At the Management School we make our decisions in most cases on the application form and supporting documents alone. However, candidates who require special consideration, e.g. on grounds of age, disability or non-standard entry qualifications may be interviewed.


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I once heard a comment from a friend who was preparing a homily for today's passage from Luke's Gospel (see Luke 13:22-30). He was finding it difficult to "preach that there will be so few in heaven." He has no problem on preaching about death, judgment, Heaven and Hell; but, he is disturbed and sad that, in his understanding, there will be so few saved.
He is not alone in his belief. Some of the great theologians and saints of the Church have written the same opinion regarding the population of Heaven. But is it a fact? And whether it is a fact or speculation, how can we benefit from reflecting on the question?
How many of us have been asked our opinion on this question, posed it to others, or simply speculated in our own reflections? The answer to this question has been argued in the Christian era for 2,000 years. Why is that? Did not Jesus answer that question? Do not the Gospels of St. Luke and St. Matthew record his answer? Well, let us see.
The Question Posed to Jesus and His Answer
"Lord, will those who are saved be few?"
"And someone said to him, 'Lord, will those who are saved be few?' And he said to them, 'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us.' He will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I do not know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!' There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.'" (Luke 13:22-30 RSV-2CE)
One must admit that at first appearance, looking at this passage in isolation, the answer is not promising. "Many," he says, "will not be able to enter." And if we look at the parallel passage in St. Matthew's Gospel we read, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:14 RSV-2CE).
So this seems the answer to the question is that few will be saved and many will be damned, right? If it were this easy, the centuries of theological speculation, ranging from St. John Chrysostom (fewer than 100 out of thousands will be saved) to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (perhaps there are few who will be in hell) would not perplex us on this question.
A Necessary Perspective—God Revealed as Father
The simple answer is that we do not know the population of Hell, nor can we determine it from Divine Revelation. In the above passage from St. Luke, Jesus turns from the person who asked the question and addresses His Jewish listeners who were present. He warns them clearly that their rejection of Him will lead to their being locked on the outside while the influx of Gentiles into the kingdom will come from the four corners of the world. Those who are called last (the Gentiles) will come before those who were called first (God's Chosen People). So He might not be speaking, in general terms.
Recall that Jesus revealed to us that we are to see our relationship to God as a child to its Father. What father among us would consider seeing nine of his ten children attain Heaven as being enough? What mother would view the loss of only one of her ten children as few enough? Dr. Peter Kreeft wrote on this very aspect of Jesus' words in an essay on Hell, "But 'few' here does not mean that less than half of mankind will be saved. For God speaks as our Father, not our statistician. Even one child lost is too many, and the rest saved are too few. The good shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep safe at home to rescue his one lost sheep found even 99 percent salvation too 'few'."
Four Things we can Learn…
If it is true that we do not know the population statistics of Heaven and Hell, what can you and I learn from the many warnings given by Jesus about Hell and the varied opinions of the Church's theologians regarding who is there?
First – Hell is real and it is everlasting. We may not hear much about Hell these days and we may not even like to, but silence on the subject does not make the reality of Hell go away. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says this, "Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the 'sad and lamentable reality of eternal death', also called 'hell.' Hell's principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs. The Church prays that no one should be lost: 'Lord, let me never be parted from you.' If it is true that no one can save himself, it is also true that God 'desires all men to be saved' (1 Tim 2:4), and that for him 'all things are possible' (Mt 19:26)." (CCC 1056-58).
The Church has never definitively taught that anyone in particular is or is not in Hell. Her theologians have speculated and taught that Judas is there; and of course the devil and the other fallen angels are there. Jesus said that "many" will find themselves outside the kingdom. We also know that there will be a "multitude" in heaven (cf., Revelation 7). Beyond that, it is impossible to know the percentage of history's population that will be there. But underlying this, we cannot deny the existence of Hell and the very real possibility that you or I might end up there.
Second – There are two categories of paths in this life, a) the difficult path that leads to the narrow gate and life and b) the broad path which leads to the wide gate and destruction. It is a popular error of our time to believe that it does not matter which road one takes. Some believe that all roads are like spokes on a wheel, all leading to the same place—Heaven. I hear it said by my own friends that "so and so" may not be a faithful Catholic anymore but they mean well and their new beliefs are sincere. But Jesus says that He is the "Way" and that He is the "Door". We are not being loving by letting people follow their "own way" when that way is the broad path leading to the wide gate of destruction. If you know someone who is lost and following the broad path, help them find their way back to the narrow and hard path.
Third – Time is of the essence. Jesus speaks of the time when the householder will arise, shut and lock the door. St. Faustina taught us that we are blessed to live in the time of God's Divine Mercy. Jesus tells us that the time of mercy will not last forever. For some people, maybe us or maybe for others in the near or distant future, that time will close on the Last Day of Judgment. For those who have died, that time has already expired. For most of us alive today, it will likely come at our own death when we face our Particular Judgment. Do we "strive to enter by the narrow door?"
Fourth – We must make our own salvation and the salvation of all those around us, our top priorities in this life. Nothing else ranks anywhere close in importance—not health, wealth, career, popularity, possessions or acclaim by others. Know what you must do to be saved and work out that salvation in fear and trembling.
Into the deep…
Editor's Note: The Mass readings for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) are Isaiah 66:18-21; Psalms 117:1, 2; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30.
Deacon Bickerstaff is available to speak at your parish or event. Be sure to check out his Speaker Page to learn more. Into the Deep is a regular feature of the The Integrated Catholic Life™.
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Expert's Rating
- Fun Mixer Brush offers creative potential
- Refine Mask and Content Aware tools save time in selecting and cloning
- HDR Toning works only on a single-layer image
- Refine Edge dialog box doesn't have Undo/Redo options
Whenever a new version of an important program comes out, the need for it, depending on the changes, can run the spectrum–from it's-revolutionary, got-to-have-it-now to ho-hum, I-can-wait-for-the-next-revision. Adobe Photoshop CS5, the latest version that's sold both individually and as part of Adobe Creative Suite 5, falls between those two extremes ($699 for Standard stand-alone, $1299 for Creative Suite 5 Design Standard; upgrade pricing available).We reviewed a beta.
Photoshop is a mature program that is already an indispensable component of everyday business for photographers and graphics professionals. What sets Photoshop CS5 apart isn't any one killer app but dozens of refinements that will make users' lives easier, more efficient, and, potentially, more creative.
Interface: Everything Is Where It Should Be… Plus More
Photoshop CS5's interface remains comfortably familiar, though slightly changed–and more efficient to use. For instance, the revamped Workspace switcher is no longer buried in the Window drop-down menu. Instead, it is always immediately available at the top of the screen to the right of the Ribbon Bar. What's more, if you make changes to any Workspace (such as Photography) and then switch to another (such as Painting), when you return to Photography, those changes will be retained.
The most significant workflow improvement to the interface is the introduction of Mini-Bridge. Essentially, it's a palette (or panel) within Photoshop that's really a window onto Bridge, allowing full access to all your image files without having to leave Photoshop. As with the full Bridge, you can choose different display options, depending upon what information you need or want: Thumbnails, As Filmstrip, Details, or List. And as before, if you need the full functionality of Bridge, just click on the BR icon, either within the Mini-Bridge palette or at the top of the screen.
The other noticeable (albeit trivial) change to the interface is that the appearance of many of the toolbox icons is different. While the shapes remain the same (for instance, the Clone tool icon is still a rubber stamp), they're redrawn.
Advances in Camera RAW
One of Photoshop CS5's most important changes is in the new noise reduction algorithms in Camera RAW 6. It now has sliders for both Luminance and Color Noise. However, it wasn't fully implemented in the beta version we tested, so our judgment has to be based on demonstrations by Adobe, which made it look quite good.
If your creative instincts lean toward filmlike texturing, the new FX tab in Camera RAW will add grain or vignetting.
By the way, Camera RAW 6 and Lightroom 3 are now better coordinated, since they both use the same RAW conversion. This means that you'll no longer have conflicts and be forced to choose between the two. Camera Raw 6 will not be available for anyone who is using earlier Creative Suite software than CS5.
Smarter Masking
Photoshop's masking and selection tools are the workhorses of the program, because a high percentage of any creative session starts with drawing a good mask. That's why any improvements for easier, more precise selections are always welcome.
The Refine Edge selection dialog box has been redesigned to allow more accurate selections, especially of difficult textured edges, such as wooly clothes or flyaway hair. This isn't to say that creating such masks are now child's play, but with the Refine Radius and Erase Refinements brushes, along with Smart Radius analyzing the edges, the task of working on such difficult subjects isn't as grueling. In addition, the Color Decontaminant option helps remove excess background that you might have inadvertently included in your mask–though as with all such tools, your original picture must have some differentiation in color and contrast between the background and the subject.
Refine Edge will generally save time with such masks, but it is annoying that the dialog doesn't have Undo/Redo options–just Reset, which takes you back to your starting point, when all you might want to do is roll back a couple of brush strokes. When saving the mask, Refine Edge offers several useful options, such as Layer Mask, New Layer, New Layer with Layer Mask, New Document, or New Document with Layer Mask. Incidentally, Refine Edge works with Smart Objects, which means you can return to Camera RAW to re-edit the conversion parameters, while retaining all the work you did on the mask.
A Magic Eraser Tool
The new Content Aware Fill is like a magic eraser for extraneous elements you wish weren't in your photograph, such as telephone wires or the ex-boyfriend. Content Aware works with the Spot Healing Brush and is an option of the Fill tool. It fills a selected area with data from the surrounding area, so that the lighting, texture, and tonality fits. No, it isn't perfect in all circumstances; sometimes, you need to do bits of cleanup with the Clone tool. But, overall, it is an impressive time-saving feature.
Fun Creativity
Let's face it: Photoshop is more than just a workaday tool, it's a platform for pushing your creativity as far as you can. And CS5's latest add-ons for creativity make playing with your pictures even more of an adventure.
Adobe has boosted Photoshop's Paint Brushes (including the Clone tool) in customizability and responsiveness–especially with control over Bristles–bringing them a bit closer to the painterly functionality of Corel Painter. The new Mixer Brush interacts with the colors on the picture. You can choose to work with (virtual) wet or dry paints, and wet or dry canvas, and you can set whether (and how much) the brush loads (picks up) color from the canvas, and when the brush should remain clean (with no loading or removing of paint that was loaded).
Control over Bristle number, size, thickness, stiffness, and behavior provides a good variety of styling. While it takes practice to master color and paint loading, you may find this feature somewhat addictive to experiment with. Photoshop remains tightly integrated with Wacom tablets, so that it supports pressure sensitivity when painting with the Bristle and other brushes.
The new Puppet Warp is an entirely different kind of creative tool. It allows you to place control points on your image, as though you were tying puppet strings to it. Then you can push and pull the shape as you wish. It works best when the background doesn't get caught into the "strings." As such, before proceeding you'll need to select the object you want to reshape and paste it into its own layer.
High Dynamic Range
Responding to the growing interest in high dynamic range (HDR) images, and to the fact that some of the better photo printers are now able to output their heightened tonality, Photoshop CS5 offers features called HDR-Pro and HDR Toning.
While CS4 had HDR capabilities, CS5's HDR-Pro offers enhanced options and new algorithms. The various controls–such as a Curve tool and sliders for adjusting Vibrance, Saturation, Exposure, Detail, and more–provide more precise, highly creative control over the dynamics, so you can create very personalized results, from the subtle to the dramatic. The auto deghosting works well at removing artifacts caused by slight differences among the merged photos, such as a tree branch that might have rustled. You can choose which of your original images is to be used as the defining reference to resolve visual conflicts, such as a cloud that might have changed shape between frames. Find a style that you'll want to use again? You can save the settings as a custom preset.
One of the problems with HDR is that it requires that you have a series of nearly identical photos, taken at various exposures. The new HDR Toning in CS5 allows you to emulate HDR, using a single image. The controls are quite similar to HDR-Pro, and the tool provides a high degree of creative potential. Unfortunately, though HDR Toning is an Adjustment, it isn't part of the Adjustment Layer architecture; the effect works only on a single-layer image and will merge down into the original image.
Better Lens Corrections
The Lens Correction filter now includes both automated and custom tools. The new Automatic Lens Correction will correct geometric distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting, based on the established profile of the lens (which is recognized by the software from the metadata in the image file). If your lens doesn't have an established profile (or if you disagree with how the profile interprets your particular lens), you can create your own with the free Adobe Lens Profile Creator (downloadable from labs.adobe.com). The calibration chart that you'll need to photograph in order to use the profile creator is a printable PDF that's also available at labs.adobe.com. Of course, you can also adjust the Lens Correction filter using the dialog box's custom tools.
Lots of Little Tweaks
A number of small improvements are sprinkled throughout Photoshop CS5; some are quite useful time-savers, though not exactly earth-shaking. One of our favorites is that you can now define new Layer Effects defaults, based on your own preferences. For instance, you can specify how you usually like your layer shadows to be defined. The Crop tool has a grid overlay that can be set to nine squares (for a classic Rule of Thirds composition). And–a feature we've been asking for, for years–when you do a Save As, you can set the default to always go to the last folder where you saved a file, so that we no longer have to constantly navigate to the same folder over and over again, with each Save As.
If you're an old Photoshop hand, some changes, especially those to the Zoom tool, may take some getting used to. Now, when you drag the Zoom tool diagonally across your image, it doesn't define a rectangular section of your picture to which you want to zoom. Instead, dragging the zoom across your image will zoom in or out of the image, depending on the direction you move your cursor. Fortunately, this behavior can be turned off by unchecking the Scrubby Zoom option in the Ribbon Bar.
Photoshop Extended Boosts 3D
As with previous versions, Photoshop CS5 comes in Standard and Extended packages. The primary purposes for Photoshop Extended are for measured technical drawing and 3D. (However, we recommend a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW for most technical drawing projects.) In CS5, PS Extended includes the new Repousse dialog box, which gives far more control over how 2D artwork and text are extruded into 3D. Extended has also improved the level of realism it can impart to 3D, using different texture, image-based lights, shadow generation, and improved raytracing. While Photoshop can't compete with a full 3D-modeling program, Photoshop CS5 Extended offers just enough control to generate very decent quality 3D models that can then be used in Photoshop layouts and on the Web.
Worth the Upgrade?
Photoshop CS5 has lots of little tweaks, enhancements, and improvements that add up to smoother workflow, greater convenience, and more creative potential for those who use Photoshop day in and day out. If you're still using CS3, combining the advances of CS4 with CS5 makes upgrading an easy decision. If you are currently using CS4, moving up to CS5 could save you some time and effort–especially if your regular tasks include masking and cloning. If you are into painting, the new Mixer Brush may be enough to make the upgrade worthwhile. And if you do a lot of low-light photography, in which noise is a problem, the fact that Camera RAW 6 won't be available to CS4 users is very compelling. However, moving from CS4 to CS5 it isn't one of those mandatory, can't-avoid-it decisions for other Photoshop users who are satisfied with their current workflow and toolset.
As usual, Photoshop and the rest of Creative Suite 5 are available in a somewhat confusing array of packages. But when you stop to read what each contains, it becomes a clear issue of deciding just what programs you need (or want) and which ones you don't.
You can buy Photoshop CS5 Standard or Extended as stand-alone applications, for $699 or $999, respectively. Upgrades from Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS3, or CS4 Standard, or from Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4 Extended, to Photoshop CS5 Standard is $199; upgrading to Photoshop CS5 Efor Extendextended is $349. From Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0, 6.0, or 8.0 (Mac OS) or Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0, 7.0, or 8.0 (Microsoft Windows) to Photoshop CS5 Standard is $599, and to Extended, it's $899.
If you use at least two Adobe programs, it may be more economical to get one of the Creative Suite box sets. Adobe Photoshop CS5 is available as a component of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Standard ($1299). Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended is available as a component of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium ($1899), Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium ($1799), Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium ($1699), or Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection ($2599).


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Referee Clete Blakeman wouldn't change a thing. After reviewing the controversial non-call that ended Monday night's 24-20Carolina Panthers victory, Blakeman believes his crew did everything right.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay
will re-air the Carolina Panthers' 24-20 win over the New England Patriots from Week 11 on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 9 p.m. ET.
Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly clearly made contact with tight end Rob Gronkowski on the final play of the game in the end zone. A penalty flag was thrown, but then picked up after a discussion. Blakeman believes that Tom Brady's final pass was uncatchable.
"There were two officials that came in," Blakeman said, via a pool report transcript distributed to the media. "One was the umpire and the other one was our side judge and there was a discussion at that point as to the, in essence, the catchability of the ball due to its location.
"So it was determined at that point in time that when the primary contact occurred on the tight end that the ball, in essence, was coming in underthrown and in essence it was immediate at that point intercepted at the front end of the end zone. So there was a determination that, in essence, uncatchability, that the ball was intercepted at or about the same time the primary contact against the receiver occurred."
Replays appear to prove Blakeman wrong. Kuechly made contact before the interception. Blakeman was asked if he believes he made the right call after watching the replays.
"Yeah, in review, yeah. I think so," he said. "I'm pleased that ... well, two situations. You never like to end the game with some controversy like that on a call, but I'm pleased that our officiating crew got together and communicated and discussed it and, ultimately, I believe we got it right. So that to me is the part that is coming away from it. I'm pleased that our crew was able to discuss it and make the call right."
Reasonable minds disagree. Fox Sports analyst and former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira believes there was clear contact before the interception and the officials should have stuck with the penalty call. NBC officiating analyst Jim Daopoulos also believes the officials made the wrong call. He believes the ball was catchable.
Gronkowski didn't appear to have a chance to "sit down" on his route or move back to the underthrown ball because he was being held. The ball obviously was in play. Gronkowski was careful to make no excuses after the game, offering no opinion to reporters about the call.
Brady, after giving Blakeman an earful in the tunnel immediately after the game, largely blamed his bad throw for the incompletion when he spoke to the media.
It's worth noting that the Patriotsfumbled inside the 10-yard line in the first half, and failed to convert a third-and-1 inside the 10-yard line late in the game. Cam Newtonplayed outstanding and deserved to win.
The Patriots wasted chances and would not have necessarily won if the officials called pass interference. They would have had the ball at the 1-yard line, with one play left to decide the game.
That play would have been a lot of fun to see.


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How to set up Time Machine on your Mac
World Backup Day is tomorrow, so have you established a backup plan for your Mac to ensure your data is safe?
Tomorrow is World Backup Day, which is an effort to spread the word about the importance of backing up your computer. As anyone who regularly uses computers ought to know, backing up is a vital step for the safety of your files, especially when troubleshooting problems with your system where you may update software, change configurations, or need to reinstall the OS.
There are many ways to back up your files, including using external hard disks, Internet-based storage, or CDs and DVDs, so the approaches you choose for backing up are up to you; however, whichever route you choose, one important thing about backing up is that you do so regularly.
If you do not already have a backup plan for your Mac, then perhaps in light of World Backup Day you might take a look at making one.
In OS X Apple's Time Machine feature offers a convenient backup option, which once activated will automatically keep hourly backups of your entire system, including the operating system and user accounts so you can easily restore individual files or your whole OS X installation, if needed.
While you can use Time Machine to back up to network devices such as Apple's Time Capsule, and OS X Server, or other network devices, if you are just starting to use Time Machine then the basics of setting up a quick backup can be done in a simple two-step process:
- Get a hard drive
Purchase or obtain a USB or Firewire hard drive that is at least the size of your internal hard drive (or at the very minimum the same size as the data on your drive). To look this up, go to the Finder's Go menu, choose the Computer option, and then right-click your hard drive (called Macintosh HD by default) and get information on it.
In the information window check the Capacity field to see what the size of the drive is (or the Used field to see the exact amount of data you have), and then purchase a drive that is at least this size. If you need guidance on which drives might be best for your setup, you can check out CNET editor Dong Ngo's recent look at his top 5 external drive recommendations.
- Plug it into your Mac
If Time Machine is not already configured on your Mac, then when you plug in your external drive, the system will show a prompt asking you whether you would like to use the drive for Time Machine backups. Confirming this action in the prompt will have the system format the drive and immediately start using it for backing up your system.
If the system does not issue this prompt then you can go to the Time Machine system preferences, ensure it is enabled by dragging the slider to the On position, and then clicking Select Disk to choose a device to use for your backups. In this window you can select your attached hard drive, or choose another device such as a Time Capsule, if you have one.
Once Time Machine is set up, it will create a full backup of your system, and then will continue to update the backups every hour as long as the drive is attached to your system. If you choose to use a network device such as an Apple Time Capsule, then the system will back up whenever the device is available on the network, and may be a more convenient option for people with laptops.
While Time Machine is intended to be a background process, you can check the option in the Time Machine preferences to show its status in the menu bar. This menu extra adds a little more interaction with Time Machine, allowing you to see when the system is backing up (the menu bar icon will rotate), and offering the options for manually updating the backups and invoking Time Machine for browsing your backups.
If you find you have lost a file and wish to restore it from backup, go to the location on your drive where the file ought to be and then invoke Time Machine from the menu, followed by navigating through the backups using the arrows until you find your lost file. To restore the file, simply select it and click Restore, and it will be copied from the backups to your system.
Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
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The cry of "Allah Akbar" rang out across the crowd and thousands of Muslims kneeled in unison for noon prayers Sunday in Tahrir Square. The prayer services have been held regularly since protesters took over the Cairo square 10 days ago, but another service was held for the first time in the square Sunday afternoon: a Mass. Many Muslims joined the Christian service in a show of interfaith unity.
Still, Egypt's Christian community is deeply divided about the protests. While Christian protesters seeking the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak prayed in Tahrir Square on Sunday, the day before, Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Coptic Church, called for an end to the protests in an interview with state-run TV.
Even before the demonstrations began, the Coptic community in Egypt, which represents about 10 percent of the country's 80 million people, was already in shock. On New Year's Eve, a suicide bomber attacked a church in the city of Alexandria, killing 23 people and wounding nearly 100. The Egyptian government blamed the attack on an Islamic radical group based in Gaza, but the Iraqi branch of al Qaeda had also issued warnings about a possible attack.
The protests have only increased the Copts' anxiety. They fear that if Mubarak goes, Muslim radicals—read: the Muslim Brotherhood—may step in to fill the vacuum. Many Copts surely took note that the Muslim Brotherhood joined a handful of other opposition leaders in talks with Vice President Omar Suleiman on Sunday afternoon.
Maryam, a 28-year old telecommunications engineer sporting a large silver cross over a black sweater, was in Tahrir Square on Sunday with a handful of friends. She hadn't come for the Mass but wanted to show solidarity with the protesters. "I think the change is needed," she said. "But no one has a plan. It looks like chaos. We're worried that the Muslim Brotherhood will use this for their political benefit. It's a potential threat and we have to stop it from growing."
Marianne Khoury, a well-known Egyptian film producer and director who's a member of the Greek Orthodox community, said the fears of many of her fellow Christians are overblown. "There's this huge fear that the Muslim Brotherhood will take over—RAAR," she said, mimicking a roar and raising her hands. "But I don't think the Muslim Brotherhood will take advantage of the situation. There's huge solidarity between Christians and Muslims."
"We're worried that the Muslim Brotherhood will use this for their political benefit. It's a potential threat and we have to stop it from growing," said one Christian on Tahrir Square.
For Khoury, the bigger threat has been the pro-regime mobs that have sown chaos around the city in the past week. Last Thursday, she decided to take some supplies to the protesters in Tahrir Square. She bought 50 blankets and headed to the square with a driver. They never got there. Less than a mile from their destination, a pro-regime mob attacked their car when they spotted the blankets. "There were hundreds of people on the car. It was extremely violent and aggressive," said Khoury, still shaken up by the attack. "They pulled me out of the car and began pulling my hair and beating me. They were shouting, 'You are a spy!' and 'You are not Egyptian!'" Khoury paused a few moments to collect her thoughts. "The situation now is extremely bad. I don't know how I'm alive," she said.
Since the protests began, the Egyptian government has hardly acknowledged the chaos that its supporters have caused. Instead, it has stoked fears about the Muslim Brotherhood at nearly every opportunity, a strategy the government has used for 30 years. Mubarak conjured up the reliable boogeyman in an interview with Christiane Amanpour last week. "If I resign now there will be chaos," he said. "And I'm afraid the Muslim Brotherhood will take over."
For their part, the leaders of the Brotherhood have been doing their best to dispel any fears about their plans if Mubarak goes. In an interview last week, Rashad Bayoumi, the deputy head of the Brotherhood, said the group isn't planning a power grab. "We were not waiting to jump and take power. We are a group that's a part of society. What we want is for power to go back to the people so that everybody in society will be represented," he said. "We will not impose anything on the people. We want the people to decide for themselves."
It remains to be seen whether the Christian community will believe the Brotherhood's promises.
Babak Dehghanpisheh was named Newsweek's Baghdad bureau chief in December 2006. He has been covering Iraq regularly for the past five years.


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Crude Reality: Gas Prices Rocket Because They Can
Turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East has registered quickly at the gas pumps. In a jittery oil market, who's calling the shots?
This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.
It didn't take long for turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East to produce pain at gasoline pumps in the United States. And in the weeks ahead, the forecasters say, it's going to get worse.
Government energy analysts predict U.S. consumers will pay an average $3.71 per gallon during the upcoming summer driving season, 48 cents more than they projected just one month ago. Gas prices are rising everywhere, but the shock is not as great in other countries where consumers already pay high prices because of substantial taxes. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the price is about $8 per gallon. But in the United States, the projected increase likely means that summer vacation drives will cost fully 36 percent more than they did last year.
And the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) sees the market veering into an even sharper incline: "Given where prices are today, this year Americans will pay higher gasoline prices, on an inflation-adjusted basis, than at any time in U.S. history," says Mark Cooper, CFA's research director. That would put the price beyond the record of $4.17 per gallon set in early July 2008.
Consumers can be forgiven for their disbelief at the market's lightning-fast reaction to events that—while certainly historic—have not actually caused any real shortage of oil. But on the crude futures markets, where oil is bought and sold, a majority of traders are betting that the wave of rebellion in North Africa and the Middle East eventually will curtail petroleum supplies.
(Related: "Pictures—Oil States: Are They Stable? Why it Matters")
The sequence of business transactions that takes place after moves in the futures market virtually ensures two equally maddening outcomes for consumers: Gas prices go up fast, and go down slowly.
Turbo-Charged Climb
"We like to say they rise like a rocket and fall like a feather," says Troy Green, national spokesman for the auto club AAA. While drivers are often quick to focus their outrage on the seller at the front line of this supply chain—the gas station owner—such ire would be misplaced, say those who monitor the market with consumers in mind.
"Truth be told, gas station owners make more money selling you 12 ounces of coffee than selling you 12 gallons of gasoline," says Green. "They are just using gas to get you in to buy doughnuts, coffee, and other things inside with a much larger profit margin." Green says data showed that during the 2008 gas price run-up, some retail stations were making 1 or 2 cents net profit per gallon—much less than 1 percent.
Numerous government investigations of gas price gouging, often mandated by Congress, have followed earlier gas price run-ups. But rather than turning up illegal market manipulation, investigators found only businesses responding as expected to market conditions.
Cooper argues that the choke point in the market is midstream between the oil fields and the retail stations—at the refineries, where there's little competition, and where a small number of players can dictate the price. The number of refineries operating in the United States has been cut in half in the past 30 years, from 301 in 1982 to 148 in 2010. While total capacity, which fell for some years, is now about the same as it was in the early 1980s—17.5 million barrels per day—it means fewer players in the market. "The price is controlled by refiners," Cooper says.
Retailers need to adjust their prices quickly when the wholesale charge increases. But the prices are "sticky downward," says Cooper. Because the service stations are operating at such a low margin, "They may decide not to bring down the retail prices as quickly for a couple days or several days," after the wholesale price drops, says Green. But what can push the price down is competition on the street: "On one side of the road there's one price, and other side, there's a guy who's selling it for 2 cents lower," says Green.
But for now, the price is going in the other direction—up 35 cents from February 20 to March 8, according to AAA's nationwide survey. The only time that the United States ever saw a faster run-up was after Hurricane Katrina took a direct hit on the nation's most important production and refining center. (That was a 42-cent hike in 12 days.)
More Pain in Store
And the current surge is not over. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that pump prices will have to rise at least 10 cents more per gallon to fully reflect what has already happened in the crude oil market. That is true even though the U.S. benchmark for crude oil, called West Texas Intermediate, has fallen slightly to reflect large U.S. inventories of gasoline. That's because the refiners buy half of their crude from the world market, and the Brent benchmark—a better indicator of the global price—continues to rise in response to the bloodshed in Libya and unrest in neighboring nations.
(Related: "Oil Markets Churn Over Egypt's Potential as Gateway for Revolt")
Cooper maintains that the only response to the mounting gas prices that can make a difference is to reduce demand. U.S. oil consumption did fall slightly after the 2008 price peak and subsequent recession. But it has been climbing recently as the economy has recovered.
Cooper notes that despite presidential pledges to end petroleum addiction dating back to Richard Nixon, the United States still uses a quarter of the world's oil. "They have all failed, Democrats or Republicans alike," he said. But Cooper said he believes that the new automobile fuel economy standards under the Obama administration, which would require the car fleet to reach a 35.5 mile per gallon average by 2016, could have a real impact. So could decisions by individual consumers to cut consumption.
"The most important thing you can do in the short term is to make a long-term commitment to use less gasoline," Cooper says.
(See Quiz: "What You Don't Know About World Energy")