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The Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign supports and oversees the creation and sustainability of a variety of high quality public school options-including those that innovate in the areas of instructional practice, time, resources, and technology-to ensure that all students in the Commonwealth have equitable access to a pathway to success after high school.
Authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Education Reform Act of 1993, charter schools are independent public schools that operate under five year charters granted by the Commonwealth's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The increased freedom available to charter schools coupled with increased accountability, infuses all aspects of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's oversight of charter schools, beginning with the rigorous application process that groups must go through to receive a charter. Once the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has awarded a charter, the new charter school has the freedom to organize around a core mission, curriculum, theme, or teaching method. It is allowed to control its own budget and hire (and fire) teachers and staff. In return for this freedom, a charter school must demonstrate good results within five years or risk losing its charter.
Last Updated: September 5, 2023
2023-2024 Superintendent's Checklist
Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148-4906
Voice: (781) 338-3000
Disclaimer: A reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.


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The Brazilian Sounds Of Choro: A Living Tradition
Stuart Zobel is the guitarist in the Seattle-based band Choroloco. The band plays music from Brazil called "choro." Stewart says the infectious rhythms and melodies of the music, and the spirit of community associated with the choro style is what draws him to the music. He says:
All segments of Brazilian society were involved with it. You had a lot of the upper classes with their pianos, playing music from Europe and fusing it with other styles. And they were actually getting together with other people outside of their class or race and playing. It reminds me a lot of old timey music and jam sessions and circles here in the United States. That happens in Rio with choro and they call these gatherings the "rodas de choro" and that means wheel or circle of choro. Anybody can show up. Any instrument can come.
Rosalynn De Roos is the clarinetist and band lead in Choroloco. She put the group together about five years ago when she was studying Latin music styles at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts. Rosalynn says choro has its roots in the music of African slaves who were brought to Brazil. There are also elements of European chamber music and indigenous sounds from Brazil's native population. She and other musicians love the style because there's something in it from so many traditions, styles and approaches to music making. She says:
I'm constantly listening to this music, reading about it, studying up on the composers — and it is a living tradition. As a North American I'm taking this music, re-interpreting it and putting my own spin and voice on it. And so there is a marriage of the old and new. I keep it fresh and different, but also try to protect the tradition out of respect and joy and love for it.
Members of Choroloco visited us in the performance studio at KUOW this week and played two pieces from the choro tradition. KUOW sound engineer Eamon Nordquist recorded the session. Choroloco and other Brazilian bands and artists who make their home in the Pacific Northwest will play together on Friday, November 9 at 8:30 p.m. in the Royal Room in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood.

subset: commoncrawl


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Care Solutions Materials: Missouri Resources
Care Solutions Materials: Missouri Resources
CS Materials: Missouri
The following are links to Care Solutions materials approved in the state of Missouri. Links that are not active have not been approved by Missouri at this time and will be updated.
- Care Solutions whole life core brochure
- Care Solutions annuity core brochure
- Asset Care Single Premium Whole Life
- Asset Care with Return of Premium
- Asset Care Annuity Funding Whole Life
- Asset Care Recurring Premium Whole Life
- Asset Care: The Important Things Last a Lifetime brochure
- Annuity Care funding option brochure
- Annuity Care II funding option brochure
- Joint Life Deep Dive
- Continuation of Benefits Deep Dive
- Inflation protection deep dive
- A well-balanced retirement strategy
- Reimbursement vs Indemnity
- Definitions deep dive
- How Asset Based LTC Works


text: Using the Debian Sarge "Perfect Setup" when I got to the part to "telnet localhost 25" I get: Code: server1:~# telnet localhost 25 Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost.localdomain. Escape character is '^]'. Connection closed by foreign host. The second time I try it doesn't close and I can enter "ehlo localhost" and nothing happens. Here are the contents of my /etc/postfix/main.cf file: Code: # See /usr/share/postfix/main.cf.dist for a commented, more complete version smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Debian/GNU) biff = no # appending .domain is the MUA's job. append_dot_mydomain = no # Uncomment the next line to generate "delayed mail" warnings #delay_warning_time = 4h myhostname = server1.strec.com alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases myorigin = /etc/mailname #mydestination = server1.strec.com, localhost.strec.com, , localhost relayhost = mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 mailbox_command = mailbox_size_limit = 0 recipient_delimiter = + inet_interfaces = all smtpd_sasl_local_domain = smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_sasl_security_options = nonanonymous broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes smptd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated,permit_mynetworks,reject_unauth_destination smtpd_tls_auth_only = no smtp_use_tls = yes smtpd_use_tls = yes smtp_tls_note_starttls_offer = yes smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.key smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.crt smtpd_tls_CAfile = /etc/postfix/ssl/cacert.pem smtpd_tls_loglevel = 1 smtpd_tls_received_header = yes smtpd_tls_session_cache_timeout = 3600s tls_random_source = dev:/dev/urandom home_mailbox = Maildir/ virtual_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/virtusertable mydestination = /etc/postfix/local-host-names strec.com is the domain name I entered during the Debian setup and is not an internet domain. Should I try reinstalling postfix? If so, how do I go about that to make sure everything is removed completely?


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Most Harvey flood victims on hook to pay for home repairs
Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms — a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.
Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey's path of destruction have flood insurance. That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes. Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.
"All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance," said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America who used to run a federal flood insurance program.
Hunter estimates that total out-of-pocket costs for flooded homeowners could reach $28 billion, the largest in U.S. history.
Harvey made landfall in Texas late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has lingered off the coast, dropping heavy rain as a tropical storm. Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance.
With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.
Homeowners insurance typically covers just damage from winds, not floods. For that, you need separate coverage from the federally run National Flood Insurance Program. The insurance must be bought by homeowners with federally-backed mortgages living in the most vulnerable areas, called Special Flood Hazard Zones.
People in those areas and near them have complained for years that the premiums are too high, though they would be much higher still if not subsidized by the federal government.
Much of the Houston area falls outside those most vulnerable zones and many homeowners who aren't forced to have coverage have decided to do without. Now they are stuck because much of the damage in the nation's fourth largest city won't be covered by their homeowners insurance.
Unlike Corpus Christi and Rockport, much of the Houston area was damaged by flooding, not winds.
"There's going to be a huge uninsured economic loss here," said Pete Mills, a senior vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
About 1.2 million properties in the Houston-Sugarland-Baytown area are at high/moderate risk of flooding but are not in a designated flood zone requiring insurance, research firm CoreLogic estimates. That's roughly half of all properties — residential and commercial — in that area.
Hunter of the CFA said that homeowners without flood insurance can possibly apply for federal disaster relief benefits, but those come in the form of low interest loans, a burden for those already struggling with too much debt.
"If you have $30,000 in damages, you can get maybe $25,000," Hunter said. "But there will be interest, and then you have your mortgage. You'll have two loans on your house."
Homeowners with water damage can get paid through their homeowners insurance but only if wind blows out a window or sends a roof aloft first, allowing the water in. If the water rushes through the floorboard or walls, you're not covered.
Harvey has dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some places, and rivers are swelling and expected to crest at record levels. The Cypress River, which runs through downtown Houston, is expected to rise four feet higher than the record 94.3 feet set in 1949, according to Air Worldwide, a risk modeling firm.
Hunter said that adjusters typically take about 30 days to visit your home and send a check, but the crucial distinction between wind damage and flood damage can be tricky and take longer. Fights in court with insurers over wind-versus-storm damage stretched out for years after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Sandy resulted in $8.4 billion in payouts for flood damage from the federal insurance program, according to the Insurance Information Institute. After Katrina in 2005, the program paid $16 billion for flood damage.
The flood program is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which owes the Treasury about $23 billion in funds borrowed to cover the cost of past disasters, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
For homeowners facing big bills, some banks may be willing to help. During a disaster like Harvey, they typically will institute a type of forbearance program on any borrowers who are in the disaster's impacted counties.
Wells Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Monday that it was suspending all negative reporting to credit bureaus, collection calls and foreclosure procedures against customers in the impacted communities at least through the end of September.
Customers who contact Wells Fargo can get disaster relief for 60 to 90 days, and can postpone payments. Further relief will be offered case-by-case, the bank said.
Loretta Worters, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, said floods do have a least one positive effect: They convince people who had shrugged off the risk to their homes to buy policies.
But the memory quickly fades, she added, noting that despite the blows of Katrina and Sandy and other storms only 12 percent of homeowners nationwide had flood insurance last year.
"People buy coverage immediately after a storm, then it starts to drop," Worters said. "Three or four years later, we're back to where we started."


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As our heroes excitedly arrive at Iris's hometown, the Village of Dragons, they run into her childhood friend Shannon and the two Zweilous she's been raising. Iris makes plans to meet up with Shannon later and tell her friend all about her journey, but first she needs to visit the Village Elder.
The Elder warmly welcomes Iris home and, after a quick examination, declares that she's been taking good care of Axew. Some of the other villagers want to see the rest of Iris's Pokémon, and Iris calls Dragonite to come out. Everyone oohs and ahhs over this impressive catch—at least, until Dragonite picks a fight with a nearby Haxorus! But amazingly, a few gentle words from the Elder calm them both down.
Then it's off to Shannon's house for lunch, where Iris suggests that she join our heroes on their journey! Shannon mentions that she'd been planning to start a journey after both of her Zweilous evolve, but she's not sure she has the talent for that. She's decided to become a Pokémon Breeder, and thinks she's better off staying home and working on that goal.
As our heroes attempt to convince her a journey would be a wonderful opportunity, they hear the frantic cries of one of the Zweilous outside. They rush to investigate, and discover that the older Zweilous is evolving into Hydreigon! It's an exciting moment—one that is quickly disturbed as it becomes clear that Hydreigon's sudden Evolution has thrown it into a state of panic and confusion. It goes on a rampage, attacking everything in sight! Iris remembers how the Elder calmed her Dragonite and springs into action.
With the help of all her Pokémon, she manages to back Hydreigon into a corner where she can get close to it. It's a difficult task indeed, but Iris hangs in there, speaking calm words of reassurance and encouragement. And her patience pays off, because she succeeds and Hydreigon calms down, much to everyone's amazement!
The Village Elder, who's been watching, comes up to congratulate Iris on her victory—and so does Gym Leader Drayden, Iris's old teacher! She's been trying to avoid him because she feels bad about leaving school, but he compliments her growth and challenges her to come to the Opelucid Gym for a battle with him. And so, the next stop on our heroes' journey is decided!


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The 50-berth marina in the Vieux Port will cater to small boats from 8m-12m
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Tel Aviv, Israel -- Last Friday, at a historical meeting entitled "Reinventing Compassion," the Israel Democratic Institute presented the Dalai Lama with a draft of the new Israeli Democratic Constitution, to which the Dalai Lama contributed to the introduction. The constitution is known as Constitution by Consensus . It is a book that has been coming under fire by a number of Israeli factions.
Several prominent Israeli scholars, business people and others were at the meeting that is a historical event for democracy in Israel. Among them were Meir Shamgar, President of the Supreme Court [Emeritus]; Tali Lipkin-Shahak, journalist; Linda Gradstein [NPR]; and Professor Avia Spivak, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel. They posed a number of interesting questions to the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama noted the strength, education and history of the people of the young nation. The country has a lengthy history but as a nation is very young. However, he warned of having expectations when democracy is introduced to the nation as something that will only bring on disappointment. The idea is to accept the problems and deal with them as they arise, as some may not be predicted.
" I believe this should be adopted as the constitution of the nation," the Dalai Lama mentioned with assurance.
Various prominent members of the Israeli community proceeded to ask him a variety of questions ranging from violence, cheap labour, and the economy to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
With regards to violence the Dalai Lama explained that only with each circumstance should right and wrong be judged, as the larger communities should practice justice. He stated that Buddhists only use violence on rare occasions since peaceful means take precedence. He feels peaceful means are the best for a long-term solution, and the use of violence is only a temporary solution, while we need to focus on our motivation and goal. He stressed that totalitarian regimes often fail because they war with human nature and are the most violent of all regimes.
As the meeting began to focus on the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama mentioned that his institution will continue but will relinquish its power to the Tibetan government once the Chinese release control of Tibet. The reason he provided focused on the concept of religious institutions not being political. Each Tibetan community should elect a government, he suggested, as he talked about the Indian government in 1963, drafted a constitution, while two thirds of the government removed the power of the Dalai Lama.
He turned his focus to the Chinese invasion of Tibet and mentioned, even though, the Chinese government has restricted Tibetan Buddhism, it has flourished and more people practice in China. The Chinese government takes the view that Tibetan Buddhism separates Tibet from China.
He expressed grave concern for Tibetan culture being eroded by the Chinese government that makes Chinese the official language taught in schools and enforces Chinese to be spoken in shops, which are predominately owned by Chinese. As in Mongolia, there are more Chinese in Tibet than the native Tibetans. He expressed this as " cultural genocide."
The meeting turned to focus on terrorism.
"Can you uproot terrorism? I do not think so. Physical elimination is not the answer. There is only one way to uproot terrorism; it must be done through the heart," replied the Dalai Lama.
He reasoned that as one terrorist is killed more people who support them become angry and we create more terrorists for the future. Their hostility has accumulated over many years and is based on jealousy of the western world, which is wrong, the Dalai Lama cited. The solution would be to work hard and become educated to overcome the jealousy.
He felt that pressure might be necessary for Israel to use when dealing with the Hamas government. However, they should wait to see what happens first. He said that most of the population does not want violence and the solution would be to offer a hand to work for non- violence methods.
He inquired," Why does the population agree with the Hamas?"
When talking about the connection of peace and economic cooperation he felt that cooperation must be improved since new circumstances in the economy are important. History has been that the European Union cherished sovereignty. As the world develops to be one community, unified forces are cooperating more with each other. This can be obtained by creating schools where children from all ethnic backgrounds attend school together. Thereby, creating equal schools, communities and environments.
When asked about welfare needs and a free market society he replied, " I am not an economist. I believe that economy, politics, education and health are different activities and need humanity, including military warfare which needs human feeling to be less destructive."
He spoke about true religion as based upon compassion without hatred and that politics would be better without hatred. These are lacking in the modern economy, as there is little concern for employees, customers, society and the ecology, which is being destroyed. The transfer of profits to education can eliminate this problem, according to the Dalai Lama as he went on to mention, the problems with governments are the leader has something wrong in their heart. He felt all governments have their good and bad sides.
His idea regarding happiness and cheap labour was around the loss of a structure or system, which in turn creates a lack of safety, increased crime, frustration and inequality. Again he stressed working hard, and to obtain an education and healthcare system, financed by the wealthy. A wealthy global economy must help the local economies, which will keep the people happy, creating less disruption amongst them. When people are not treated as equal, he cited, there is injustice and the new constitution provides for equal rights.
He talked about a strong nation and cultural heritage are what will bring the people through genocide to prepare for the next leadership. He talked about his trust in the Tibetan nation and Mongolia to do so as the religions are prominent.
He talked about the real meaning of compassion as not pertaining to pity, but as a sense of caring and concern that has no judgement, and is honest with justice, that we extend to everyone which includes the enemy. People always need help and as a Buddhist he must give them help.
He was asked how Hitler affected him and replied by mentioning that affection is the basis of compassion, and we must oppose the wrong doings and help that person. Anyone who feels happy killing people is not normal. So hatred must be dissolved to let forgiveness prevail. Tibetans give the Chinese compassion.
The meeting was ended by a question about a businessman's love for money.
His reply was," It is reasonable to love money. You cannot do anything without money. Without money, just prayer. But if you solely worship money and feel it is only goodness of our life, that is wrong. Money does not buy peace of mind."
The Israel Democratic Institute wished the Dalai Lama luck and thanked him for coming to the meeting.


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My son loves these books because there is bound to be a truck, train, plane or car on almost every page. I enjoy them because I remember reading the books and playing the game as a kid. And they are not as repetitive as some of the other children's books... you can always find something new to point to on each page.
My husband got a kick out of these books when he asked my son where the phone was. Rather than point to the rotary phone (which my son has never seen in his life), he thought for a bit and then pointed to a blue rectangular block. Well, yes, that was the closest thing to a smartphone on the page!
What "mistakes" have your children made that are not actually mistakes at all, just a generation gap?


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|i got the news from my reading on google related news. the site, http://vixy.net/podcaster , offer a service to turn ur youtube search result into a video podcast list.
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i believe, with a search query, the link that can subscribe can bring always updated vidpod published by my family. hope u enjoy them on my google sites dashboard.
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Quicksand? Don't Sink, Just "Dance" Across It
My husband lays shirt, shorts and boots on the rock. Pink as the sandstone around us, he walks toward the pool of water that blocks our way up this narrow canyon in southern Utah.
The pool is about the size of a big living room, maybe 30 by 20 feet. Jon will check its depth. If the water comes no higher than his chest — and my chin — we'll lift our packs over our heads and wade across. Any deeper and we'll turn around and try to find another route.
We're Easterners. We're familiar with fog and ice. Maine blackflies. Tree roots that twist ankles. Although we love these desert canyons, we know their perils mostly from books.
Jon steps into the chilly water. He yelps like a puppy, but strides on, buttocks bouncing. Soon, he's thigh-deep. "Easy wading!" he calls. His words end in a squawk. Jon's arms fling up, elbows stiff, fingers splayed. I hear the dread word: "Quicksand!"
Quicksand is odd: a bed of silt becomes saturated with water so that its grains no longer cohere. Heavy objects — a cow, a log, my husband — sink readily but can't easily rise. Quicksand creates a suction that makes it difficult to move anywhere but down, which is why creatures caught in it often die from exertion or starvation.
The locals assure us quicksand is a hassle, not a danger. "Do not panic," our map instructs us. "You will most likely not sink past your waist." But this quicksand is under five feet of water. If Jon sinks to his waist, his head submerges by at least a foot. He's already up to his armpits.
My husband of 37 years is disappearing. I look around for a long stick, but floods have scoured this canyon clean. I'd throw Jon a rope — if we had one. He sinks deeper. I pace the water's edge. Then suddenly, a mid-pool commotion. Jon is smacking his hands against the surface of the water and lurching forward. He looks silly but inches closer. I reach out, grab hold and pull. Finally, he emerges — a miracle of pink flesh.
I dry his mud-caked legs. Mystified, I ask how he escaped. He says he recalled something he once read in a book: quicksand takes a couple of seconds to break up.
Slapping the water for leverage, he began tiptoeing across the quaking surface of the siltbed before it could collapse. In that fashion, not unlike a giraffe pretending to be a member of the corps de ballet, he improvised a crossing to safety.
He's shivering. His skin is covered with goose bumps. I'm thinking: enough. Let's go back to hiking in New England where we know what's what. No more quicksand. No more near-death experiences, thank you very much.
Jon puts on his shirt, shorts and boots. He stands up, looks around and takes a deep breath. "Next time," he says cheerfully, "let's bring an inner tube."


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When the snow begins to fall, I head straight for the mountains to indulge my love for telemarking. This years first turns were in Tateyama in Toyama Prefecture where early rainstorms created icy conditions for my annual snow baptism. Driving is a necessity for this trip, and my vehicle, or rather compatriot, on ski adventures is my trusty Mitsubishi Delica van filled with gas stoves, food, water, mountains of beer and memories of bluebird skies and champagne powder.
Some of the memories would best be forgotten, such as the time I pulled into a gas station to fill up, handed the attendant my credit card and communicated to him I wanted a full tank. As I began straightening up around the driver's seat, the attendant seemed to being saying something but, without really checking, I simply waved him off, neglecting to have him write down any questions.
There my troubles began, as he promptly began to fill up my diesel tank with high-octane regular gasoline. One look at my van and it's obvious it's not a "high octane" rig, but the word "diesel" written clearly on the gas cap should have clued him in.
Actually, this wasn't the first, or even second time this happened. Normally, I would have them change the gas before starting the engine, but this time I pulled out of the station before noticing. Before long the wheel suddenly become heavy, and the engine began to sputter to an eventual halt. The repairs normally would have cost ¥100,000 to replace the entire gas tank but, as luck would have it, there was a recall on the Delica and everything was fixed for free.
The experience spurred me to begin filling up at self-service stands, as well as place a bamboo pen holder near the driver's seat—always within reach for emergency conversations. It's also proven to be a good way to ask the locals, "Is there a decent restaurant nearby?"
Incidentally, some people have asked, "How do you sign with someone while driving?" Basically, you grip the wheel with your right hand and talk with your left, keeping your right eye on the road and your left on the passenger seat. It helps to have great peripheral vision. Hands really start flying when driving a stick shift.
If you're with your significant other, you have to choose between holding hands and talking, and when night falls you need to keep the dome light on to talk. Although talking on cell phones while driving is now illegal, should you happen to see a flurry of hands in a dome-lit car, please just look the other way.


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- Residential : Interiors / Exteriors
- Commercial
- Retail
- Natural Spaces
- Vignettes
- People
- About
- Pix of the moment
The Whiteside home
The Whiteside home, of Seattle, Washington photographed at dusk for Seattle Metrolopolitan Magazine. The home was designed by renowned architect Albert O. Bumgardner and updated by Ben Trogdon Architects.
Phone: 206.935.2823
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Email: email@example.com
© William Wright Photography, Seattle, Washington
All rights reserved
Site by Effective Design Studio


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Sort of like an Australian Goodfellas with less sweep and more grubbiness, David Michôd's Animal Kingdom tracks a teenage orphan's introduction to a life of low-level crime. The movie begins with hulking teenager James Frecheville finding his mother dead of an overdose and calling his grandmother, Jacki Weaver, who invites him to come live with her. She lives in a flat full of thugs, some of whom the kid is related to, and all of whom take him under their collective, molting wing. Two major problems, though: the cops (led by Guy Pearce) are all over the family's criminal operations, making it tough for them to maneuver, and when Frecheville's most level-headed "uncle" is assassinated by rogue cops, the gang is left in the care of crazy Ben Mendelsohn, a paranoid, dangerously single-minded fugitive.
First-time feature-director Michôd borrows a little from other hip genre filmmakers; he apes Quentin Tarantino by throwing a kitschy Air Supply song onto the soundtrack, and aestheticizes roughhousing in ways reminiscent of Nicolas Winding Refn. But Michôd also sandbags himself with a charisma-free hero, whose most dramatic act in the first two-thirds of the film is scraping the burned bits off his toast. Even when he's telling his own story, Frecheville describes the sudden changes in his life with a noncommittal "Kids are just wherever they are, and they do whatever they do." At times, Frecheville's lack of self-awareness threatens to suck all the energy out of the film.
Thank goodness Animal Kingdom is so stylish and sharply plotted. Plus, Michôd counters Frecheville with two strong characters: Weaver, a sweet-faced lady with a well-honed sense of self-preservation, and Mendelsohn, who tests the mettle of everyone in his circle by talking slow and staring dead-on, leaving them wondering whether he's totally off the beam, or more aware than anyone realizes. Weaver and Mendelsohn easily manipulate the needy Frecheville, who's just looking for a home. As the villains turn Frecheville's suburban oasis into a prison, Animal Kingdom joins in the tradition of brutally unsentimental Australian crime dramas like The Boys, in which the stakes are low, except to the people staring down the barrel of a gun.


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Crystal clear copy – razor-sharp prose
A freelance copywriter, magazine journalist and online editor based in South Wales providing business copywriting services and feature writing.
Sparkling copy and sharp prose gives you an edge
Clear communication is essential in both journalism and business; make the biggest impact and get your message across clearly.
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If you value honesty, integrity and professionalism in a writer as much as clear thinking, sharp writing and incisive copy, then look no further – get in touch.
"Had Future Publishing's management decided to persevere with the poker market, Ben would have been invited to come on board full time as our editor at large. He knows the game, he understands the players, he delivers the goods, and he'll even hit deadlines (or at least tell you sooner rather than later if he predicts a problem). What more do you need to know? Try him out..."


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Image: University of Aberdeen
A new underwater camera developed at the University of Aberdeen and Brunel University is a far cry from the disposable kind you might buy in a plastic box: it takes sharp holographic images of marine creatures--and anything else under the sea--in three dimensions. John Watson, shown right, and colleagues described the new device last week at the Institute of Physics Applied Optics and Opto-Electronics Conference in Loughborough, England. Tomorrow the holocam is scheduled to begin sea trials at the Southampton Oceanography Centre
The camera's first subjects--plankton--aren't the most photogenic, but because these organisms feed many fish, their numbers yield important information about the health of select marine environments. Scientists often count plankton by scooping up bucketfuls of seawater and sticking it under a microscope. The advantage holocam offers is the ability to see in 3-D the relative positions between creatures, showing whether they are close enough to breed, interact or eat each other.
The camera can operate down to 100 meters, taking 45 pictures per holographic plate. Its resolution is sufficient to show dense concentrations of plankton measuring a fraction of a millimeter. And when its lasers are slightly reconfigured, the holocam can record even smaller, transparent organisms. During playback in the lab, the detailed images hover in space. Future missions for the holocam may include examining pipelines, shipwrecks, oil rigs and other submerged structures.


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Banks Facing the Innovator's Dilemma
Sometimes the simplest lessons are the hardest ones to learn.
Anyone who has taken even the most basic business course in the past fifty years is undoubtedly familiar with this passage from Theodore Levitt's 1960 treatise "Marketing Myopia":
"The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are in trouble today not because that need was filled by others (cars, trucks, airplanes, and even telephones) but because it was filled by the railroads themselves. They let others take customers away from them because they assumed themselves to be in the railroad business rather than in the transportation business. The reason they defined their industry incorrectly was that they were railroad oriented instead of transportation oriented; they were product oriented instead of customer oriented."
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to rewrite that paragraph to describe the banking industry today.
Economic cycles wax and wane, but people will always look for ways to save and borrow, to move money from one place to another, and to occasionally get some advice from someone they trust. Traditional financial institutions like banks and brokerages held a near-monopoly on those activities for generations, but banks that continue to be bank-oriented will continue to lose to an increasingly broad group of competitors that are truly customer-oriented.
Mature industries erode subtly at first. Hungry upstarts nibble at segments too small or unprofitable for entrenched incumbents to waste much energy protecting. But eventually the new entrants gain traction and move upmarket to larger and more profitable segments. And new categories are invented along the way.
Think about what's been happening around the edges of the banking industry. Peer-to-peer lending platforms and retailers' captive financing programs have taken lending business that once was nearly the sole province of banks. New payments ventures like Square and Dwolla provide services that people want to use because of their great design and ease of use. SigFig is an online registered investment advisor with over $50 billion in assets tracked on its platform. Innovative startups like Simple and Movenbank are reinventing the whole notion of what it even means to be a bank.
The scariest part? None of those companies even existed five years ago.
While the banking industry was recovering from a global financial crisis and reacting to the prospects of new regulations, smart entrepreneurs were finding new and better solutions to problems that people cared about.
Is it reasonable to suggest that banks could have or should have been the ones to create all those new innovations given the weighty issues they were understandably tackling? Even when not in crisis mode, established companies should rationally protect their own profitable businesses, and small niches are not very attractive prospects for large companies needing large profits.
That presents a dilemma, but not one unique to banks. It's the Innovator's Dilemma, as Clayton Christensen famously dubbed it in 1997.
Established companies correctly protect their successful businesses and are naturally reluctant to disintermediate their own products.
But those initially small niches sometimes grow into large markets that can become significant threats. Clayton describes how minimills at first could only produce low quality rebar, and the large integrated steel manufacturers were glad to get out of that low-margin business. But with their profits, the minimills were then able to invest in new processes for angle iron, then structural steel, and then eventually high-quality sheet metal, disrupting the entire steel industry in the process.
Consider seemingly innocuous innovations like prepaid cards and online-only banks. To some they don't seem to threaten the more profitable core banking businesses today, but they could very soon.
And the pace of change is increasing. It took 13 years for the new product known as television to reach 50 million users. No one had any idea what a "tablet" was or what they would even do with one when Apple introduced the iPad, but it reached 50 million users in just 18 months, and created a whole new category that is already a serious threat to the personal computer industry.
Bankers take too much comfort in the perceived protection provided by operating in a highly regulated business. Relying on regulations to protect the industry will only hasten its reduction to utility status. Regulations are also a poor excuse for not innovating.
The highly regulated healthcare industry invests 10% to 15% of its revenues back into research and development, and represented 21% of the $603 billion spent globally on R&D in 2011, according to a Booz & Co. study. Financials don't even make the list, lumped in instead with the 2% of "other" industries, collectively in tenth place.
So what business are banks in if they are not in the banking business? They are in the business of helping people achieve their financial goals. Hardly a groundbreaking idea, but in my experience not one that most bankers spend a lot of time and energy addressing. While shareholders and regulators cannot be ignored, customers really do not care about your net interest margin or the duration of your loan book.
Banks that will thrive in this new era will find new ways to be relevant and provide value to their customers, and some of those ways may not involve traditional banking products. Bankers need to really listen to their customers, discover their financial pain points and embrace creative ways to address them.
If they don't, someone else will.
Wait! Before you go.
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JP Nicols is the CEO of the advisory firm Clientific and was the first chief private banking officer for U.S. Bank. He writes about leadership, advice and innovation on his blog at www.affluentstrategies.com.
Why the World Cup is a Big Deal
After living overseas in Germany and England and now coming back to the United States, I have a completely different perspective on Football (or Soccer as we call it in the United States). With the World Cup in full swing, I thought I would tackle the subject of Football and why it is the most popular sport in the world.Read More
Credit Card Shenanigans
It must be great to be in the credit card business in the United States. Demand is relatively inelastic and regulation is lax, so you can charge whatever you want for an interest rate, increase your fees once or twice a year, and make additional money off cash withdrawals and foreign exchange transactions.Read More


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Connecticut Client Portal
CHA Hospital Wage Index Data
Welcome to R-C Healthcare Management's online application of the Medicare Wage Index for your hospital! Using your Medicare Provider Number, you will be able to access your hospital's data, including:
- Average Hourly Wage Comparisons, Current to Prior Year
- Worksheet S-3, Parts II and III - as a PDF file
Use the form below to enter your provider number. Your customized report will launch in a new window as a PDF so you can download and/or print.
In addition, we have complied the following reports for your use. Click on the links below to access these resources:
- Connecticut CBSA Wage Index History (PDF)
- Connecticut Hospital Average Hourly Wage Comparisons (PDF)
- FY 2020 Wage Index Timetable (PDF)
- Worksheet S-3, Parts II and III Instructions (PDF)
- Pension - 3 Year Average Worksheet(Excel)
Finally, you can also download the slides(PDF) from the webinar
If you have any questions or need help with this application, please e-mail or call us at 800-862-5368 or 602-995-9420


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President Obama won a second term by marrying the new Democratic coalition with just enough of the old to overcome enduring economic disenchantment and a cavernous racial divide.
In many places, particularly across the Sun Belt, Obama mobilized the Democrats' new "coalition of the ascendant," winning enough support among young people, minorities and college-educated whites, especially women, to overcome very weak numbers among blue-collar whites and college-educated men. But in the upper Midwest, where there are not enough of those voters to win, Obama attracted just enough working-class whites to hold the critical battlegrounds of Wisconsin, Iowa, and above all Ohio against Mitt Romney's forceful challenge.
Navigating those two tightropes, Obama held enough states to win a comfortable margin in the Electoral College, despite the headwind of the frustratingly slow economic recovery.
Yet while Obama's victory was emphatic from some angles, it was tenuously equivocal from others.
On the one hand, Obama's success underscored the demographic and geographic advantages that Democrats have developed over the past quarter-century in the race for the White House. With the victory, Democrats have now won the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections—matching the Republican record from 1968-1988 (if not the massive margins the GOP frequently racked up during those years). Obama also held all 18 "blue wall" states that have voted Democratic in each election since 1992. By doing so he set a new milestone: that is the most states Democrats have won that often since the formation of the modern party system in 1828.
In another important success, Obama's unprecedented effort to reshape the electorate's composition, boosted by the tailwind of changing demography, also paid off: According to the exit polls, the share of votes cast by minorities increased to 28%(just as Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, had predicted for months). The president captured an overwhelming 80%of those voters, including not only more than nine in 10 African-Americans, but also about seven in 10 Hispanics, and about three in four Asians.
In the Sun Belt, that rising minority participation allowed him to overcome a weak performance among whites to win Virginia, Nevada, and Colorado, and to hold a narrow lead late into the night in Florida. In the key Midwestern battlegrounds with much smaller minority populations, the president engineered a different formula for victory. In those states, Obama exceeded his national performance among white voters by just enough to repel Romney's challenge. Exit polls show that the unstinting effort by his campaign and its allied super PACs to paint Romney as an insensitive plutocrat detonated with explosive force in those critical states, particularly Ohio, where nearly three in five voters said his agenda would favor the rich. Obama's national numbers precisely approached his winning formula of capturing 80%of minorities and 40%of whites.
On the other hand, Obama became the first elected president since Andrew Jackson to win a second full term with a smaller share of the popular vote than he took in his first victory. And he faced a resounding repudiation among whites. Four years ago, Obama became the first candidate ever to lose white voters by double digits and win the election; in that campaign, whites preferred John McCain by 12 percentage points. In this election, Obama's deficit among whites swelled to 20 points, according to the exit polls as of 1 a.m. on Wednesday. In winning reelection, Obama captured a smaller share of the white vote than John Kerry did when he lost in 2004.
In that way, the election offered warning signs to each party.
For Democrats, it continued an ominous pattern, dating to the 1960s, that has seen the party lose support among whites in the subsequent elections each time it has held unified control of the White House and Congress.
But the message for Republicans was much more stark. By winning nearly three-fifths of whites, Romney matched the best performance among white voters ever for a Republican challenger–and yet he lost decisively in the Electoral College.
With Romney's defeat, the GOP also faces the reality that none of its presidential nominees since 1988 has exceeded 50.8%of the popular vote or 286 Electoral College votes. In essence, by failing to compete more effectively for the growing minority population, Republicans have lowered their ceiling in presidential politics, and left their nominees trying to thread a needle to reach a majority either in the popular or Electoral College vote.
The questions for the country may be even more difficult than those facing either party. Even as Obama won convincingly in the Electoral College, his victory underscored the enduring polarization along ideological, regional, and racial lines: For instance, while about three-fifths of Hispanics and three-fourths of African-Americans who voted said they wanted his health care law maintained or even expanded, nearly three-fifths of whites said they wanted it repealed. The campaign showed the parties to be divided as deeply in the direction they want to take America as at any time since 1980, if not 1964. Yet the election once again showed the nation to be divided extremely closely. How Washington makes progress on the biggest challenges we face while the nation is both deeply and closely divided is the largest question looming after Obama's historic victory.
This originally appeared on National Journal. Also on our sister site:
World leaders react to Obama's election
Obama victory comes with no manadate


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Pix #1 - First Methodist Church
Pix #2 - Second Methodist Church
Editor's Note: The churches are important in any community, since the affect not only the spiritual life of its citizens but also the moreal fibre of all age groups of people; also the perspective for community growth, education and recreation.
From that viewpoint, the author of Potluck will from time-to-time present historical articles about Fostoria's churches, to divulge the time, money and hardships that Fostoria'a early Christians expended to advance Christianity. The articles will not deal with denominational fundamental or spiritual progress.
Today's article is the first in the series. It concerns the Methodist denomination, since it was the first organized Christian church in what is now the Fostoria area.
Space does not permit illustrations of all of the Methodist church buildings, except the two oldest.
This author is indebted to Melvin L. Murray, for his permission to extract data from his book, "History of the Methodist Chuch in Fostoria, Ohio, published in 1968.
Methodism was introduced in this area back in the early 1800's, before there was Fostoria, when Risdon and Rome were stuggling pioneer villages. That Protestant denomination reached Ohio as it spread across the Allengheny mountains into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, then north across the Ohio River in 1812.
In April 1832, near the present village of West Milgrove, Rev. Andrew Hollopeter introduced Methodism to the William Shawhan household who lived on "Nestlerode's Island", settled earlier by Isreal Nestlerode, and so called because of the great amount of swamp land that surrounded the property. The Nestlerode property was in the vicinity of Pelton and Baird roads in Wood County. As a result of Hollopeter's efforts a church and cemetery came into existence near the present Union Methodist Church.
Rev. E.B. Chase followed Hollopeter in introducting Methodism in the area, and in 1833 talked to the residents of Risdon about building a church there. It was built on the east bank of Portage Creek, on the north side of what is now Summit Street. That log structure, 26 by 36 feet, shown in the accompanying sketch, was the first Methodist church built between Bucyrus and Maumee River.
John Gorsuch, one of the pioneers of Risdon, was active in the early days of the Methodists, in that village. Gorsuch, Robert F. Caples, Livingston Thomas, Isaac Germond, William Shawhan, Reuben Brtant and perhaps others were responsible for construction of that first church.
At about that same time, James G. Wiseman, James Swaney, Elijah McRill and Oliver Day spurred on by Methodist circuit riders, built another church four miles west of Fostoria on the present Ohio 18. That church was later called "Ridge".
According to Murray's book, there was also another Risdon Methodist church located on summit Street, where Summit Chapel is now. Later the church was used as a school.
Thus Methodism was introduced to the Risdon area, and according to old records the membership in that Risdon church aried by years, but in 1836 there were 251 and in 1844 there were 425.
In the village of Rome, Methodism hadn't caught on as well as at Ridson. Rev. James Anderson began to build the first Methodist church in Rome in 1847, at the northwast corner of what is now, Wood and Tiffin streets. Murray's book says Rev. George W. Collier made many attempts to get the Methodist in the two villages to consider union. His efforts were successful and they decided to build a new church halfway between Rome and Risdon. The northwest corner of Fremont and Main was selected as the site.
Charles Foster donated the land for the new church and a new school adjacent to it. Fostoria probably had a stong influence for the site of the church, since the Rome church was the weaker church.
So, in 1854, the two-story frame structure, 40 by 60 feet, shown in the accompanying sketch, was built.
The church union provided the impetus for the joining of the villages of Risdon and Rome, which took place in 1854.
Methodism in the Fostoria circuit now consisted of five churches: The Risdon Church near Amsden; Union Church in Perry Township, Wood County; Arcadia Church; and the Ridge Church. Two and sometimes three ministers made up the group of pastors for preaching and overseeing the parishoners.
The next 25 years saw the new Fostoria Methodist Church outgrow the structure built in 1854.
In 1883, Rev. Richard Wallace overseer of the Northern Ohio Conference of Methodists, announed the ground adjacent to the (1854) church had been acquired and that $22,050 suscribed. Plans and specifications had been adopted and the contract to build a new church for $21,595 had been let. The latter figure did not include the stainglassed windows and seats. The church ladies subscribed $2,500 for other furnishings.
When the 1883 church was built the Official Board consisted of Charles Foster, Andrew Emerine, P.D. Caples, J.J. Myers, J.F. Ritchart, John Noble and E.J. Padgham.
Historical data indicates Foster was the moving spirit on the board, and that without him the church would probably not been built. He was a ready donor, and his wisdom settled many deadlocked issues.
The (1883) church continued to serve the congregation until 1968.
Near the end of the 1950's it became apparent to the local congregation that an addition should be made to the building to accomodate the growing needs of the church school and the young people. Investigations and discussion of the needs resulted in a group of parishioners advancing the idea that a new church should be built away from the city's center, to meet the challenges of the times. Another group felt that the tradition and setting of the old church was equal to the demands of this age. After much discussion and balloting, about 60 percent of the congregation voted to build a new church in a new location.
The site for the new church was Van Buren Street.
Construction started and the cornerstone was placed in 1967. So, after 134 years, the Fostoria Methodist (Wesley United Methodist Church) returned to the area that was once Risdon, where the roots for Methodism in this area were put down and flourished.
Also, in 1967, the Methodist Church, nationally, voted to merge with the Evangelical United Brethren Church, under the name of United Methodist Church. In Fostoria there were two EUB churches and one Methodist. This presented a problem of what name each church would adopt. It was resolved when the original Methodist church chose "Wesley United Methodist"; Bethel UEB chose to be called "Bethel United Methodist"; and the First EUB decided on "High Street United Methodist".
Mel Murray's book on Methodism in this area provides a vast amount of information too voluminous to include in this article, including the names of many of the early members, also human interest stories from back then. A limited number of copies of the book are still available by contacting the Wesley United Methodist Church.
Charles Wesley, one of the great Methodist evangelists and hymn writer, wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime.


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Tag Archives: www.gritsandbacon.com
In Remembrance of Dad…
I'll Fly Away…such a beloved song. Dad loved Bluegrass music. We sat and listened to old records for hours. Tipping my hat to a truly great man…
I'll Fly Away…
One of my favorite songs. In remembrance of two great people. You are missed. You are loved. You will be forever in my heart…
Biblical Perspective on Narcissism
Happy New Year! I've been researching several topics in my course work, and one of them is narcissism. It's a term that is loosely used in politics, with celebrities, the news, etc. The truth is, there are people every day … Continue reading →
25 Wonderful Christian Quotes for the New Year — GODINTEREST – Christian magazine covering faith, culture and life
Another year of your life closes today. How can you look back upon it? Have you made advancement in the divine life? Have you increased in spirituality? Have you crucified self, with the affections and lusts? Have you an increased … Continue reading →
God's Gifts to Us…
Originally posted on Heather C. King – Room to Breathe: Ecclesiastes 3:13 ESV also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. Matthew 7:11 ESV If you then, who … Continue reading →
Lord I Need You, by Chris Tomlin and a prayer
Lord, forgive me. Everyday, I wake up and forget to pray. I start the day without remembering to ask You to guide me, to protect me, and to help me shine Your light to everyone I come into contact with … Continue reading →
Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [08.13.16] — A Holy Experience
Happy, happy, happy weekend! Some real, down in the bones JOY to celebrate today! Links & stories this week 100% guaranteed to make you smile a mile wide & believe like crazy in a Good God redeeming everything — and … Continue reading →
Paul's Economy — The Life Project
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost … Continue reading →
I'll Fly Away…
Tipping my hat to dad…miss you, love you, I'll see you again… … Continue reading →
Tim Tebow Foundation
A website worth checking out: http://www.timtebowfoundation.org … Continue reading →


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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
COCKS, Michelle L; DOLD, Tony and VETTER, Susi. 'God is my forest' : Xhosa cultural values provide untapped opportunities for conservation. S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2012, vol.108, n.5-6, pp.52-59. ISSN 1996-7489.
In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people, within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot, as well as the activities that mediate this relationship. A descriptive research approach was applied to document the emotions, meanings and values associated with landscape elements. This approach included group and individual interviews and 'walk-in-the-woods' interviews and participatory mapping exercises. Respondents portrayed a strong, although not always easily articulated, appreciation for nature, especially ihlathi lesiXhosa ('Xhosa forest', vegetation types within the Thicket Biome). Activities such as collecting fuelwood and other resources, hunting and time spent at initiation schools were described as key opportunities for spending time in nature. The benefits of being in nature were ascribed not only to the physical experience of the forest environment and its biota, but also to the presence of ancestral spirits. Being in nature thus contributes significantly to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of local people, and is also integral to their sense of cultural identity. This study has made it clear that maintenance of biodiversity and natural vegetation is as much in the interest of the local community's well-being as it is in the interest of conservation planners. We recommend that cultural values be incorporated into local conservation plans.


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Product photography and illustrations have been reproduced as accurately as print and web technologies permit. To ensure highest satisfaction, we suggest you view an actual sample from your dealer for best color, wood grain and finish representation.
Fresco is a ceruse finish that adds a gray washed look to Kindling on Oak, keeping right on-trend with popular furniture finishes throughout the rest of the home.


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The landscape for publishers is changing radically. Digital technologies, threats to copyright and intellectual property, new distribution channels and changing consumer behaviour are all forcing publishers to rethink their focus, structure and business models.
The IPA is committed to providing publishers around the world with market insight and analysis which they can use to build sustainable publishing businesses.
This market intelligence takes different forms: country reports assessing a national publishing sector, interviews with publishing industry leaders, case studies of innovative business models. It covers topics of critical importance to publishers, including digitalization, copyright and piracy issues.


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Image: B&W image of words relating to social media and the news. (geralt/pixabay)
My atheist friends give me a lot to ponder. One wrote passionately on facebook:
Media: Stop using the word miracle. It has a whole host of implications, and some of the ones from the last 24 hours of the news cycle are horrifying, and deeply offensive. Don't use it. Just don't.
I knew immediately what he meant: there was a story in the news about three young women who were kidnapped ten years ago and finally managed to escape their captors. I agree, using "miracle" in this context is a minefield. We're talking about three young women who appear to have suffered imprisonment and abuse for a decade – he's right, the word "miracle" is just gross.
That thought led me to another: is the obsessive reportage of stories like this a problem when we look at it at through the lens of Torah?
The story is all over the news at the time, and because it is upsetting, people want to talk about it. The fact that it is upsetting and sensational is the reason it's all over the news, too – Big News is in the business of selling advertising time, after all: sensational stories are much more mezmerizing than Afghanistan or an economic matter. It will sell more soap flakes, and more diet aids, and after all, that is the bottom line.
Torah demands of us that we ask questions: instead of nattering about miracles or obsessing over salacious details, let's stop and think, what speech is necessary? And is there any way we can learn something or be helpful?
OK, it was necessary to report the story; we do need to know what the cops do, and what goes on in our community. I'm less clear that I need to know about something like this in Cleveland when I live in California, but OK, I'll go that far. But do I need breathless prose about miracles and gory details from well-coiffed anchors? I don't think so. Do those poor women need microphones poked in their faces? Do their families? No and no.
Jewish tradition forbids talking about other people unless it is necessary. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin wrote a wonderful book on the subject, Words that Hurt, Words that Heal. MyJewishLearning.com has an article that gives you the short form of his teaching about lashon hara, [evil speech.] Especially if the words we use could spoil someone's reputation, or even cause envy, they are not proper speech for a Jew even if they are true. Jewish law is stricter than American civil law on this subject: the truth of the words is immaterial, if they have any potential to cause injury, we shouldn't say them.
There are words that ARE necessary, sometimes, even unpleasant words. We are commanded not to be passive when someone is being hurt (Lev. 19:16) so by all means, if you know of a crime or a possible crime, report it.
What speech is truly necessary, in the case of the news story? Certainly, if you've heard the story and it upsets you, find someone with whom to discuss your feelings. The details of those women's suffering are not our business; they are the business of law enforcement and the courts. My fears, and my upset are my business. If I find I can't leave this story alone, then I should talk it out with a rabbi, a therapist, or maybe a trusted friend.
It may be too, that with the story everywhere, it is necessary to talk to children about it. We need to reassure children that (1) this is very unusual and that (2)it is important not to go anywhere with strangers, etc. We also need to tell our children that we will value them no matter what, that they are infinitely precious, and that nothing will change that.
What can we learn? Perhaps we could learn to ask more questions when a situation in our neighborhood seems "a bit off." I'm afraid that's all I can think of, though: this isn't a news story that will inform my vote, or cause me to write my congressman, or make me a wiser person.
Speculating about it or treating this event as if it is some kind of entertainment is a low form of gossip. Making theology out of it (miracles! redemption!) verges on blasphemy. I am not in charge of Corporate News, but I am in charge of my keyboard and my remote. Jewish tradition suggests that if there is something that needs to be said, I should say it; if there is something that needs to be done, I should do it, but that beyond that, it's seriously time to turn off the news.


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Be advised that there are significant delays with Canada Post and USPS, please allow 3-4 weeks, or choose upgraded shipping, or porch pick up in Milton, Ontario is free anytime.
** All SALES ARE FINAL, NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE PRODUCT**


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Fox News Accidentally Uses Photo of Same-Sex Couple to Illustrate Article About the Importance of Heterosexual Marriage
Atop yet another typical Fox News article espousing the merits of heteronormativity sits a decidedly atypical sight: A photo of the same-sex couple who made headlines last year for being the first same-sex couple to get married at the Empire State Building.
"Being equal in worth, or value, is not the same as being identical, interchangeable beings," writes Suzanne Venker, author of How to Choose a Husband and Make Peace with Marriage.
Of course, she's talking about her belief that women should stop trying to compete with men and just give in to the fact that they were put on earth to be a wife and mother and nothing more.
But looking at the photo of Stephanie Figarelle and Lela McArthur lovingly sharing their first kiss as a legally married couple, you can't help but smile.


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"Many families offered the opportunity to move chose to stay. Others relocated but then returned to their old neighborhoods. When families did move, many youths remained strongly attached to their old neighborhoods. Most participating families who did move ended up in relatively nearby, majority-minority communities that were safer and modestly more prosperous than their old neighborhoods. Unfortunately, many of these receiving neighborhoods…themselves have relatively low-quality, racially segregated schools…children didn't show much academic improvement."
Section 8 Everywhere
7 comments:
- Daniel Nairn said...
This really is a tough one. I agree that it may be crossing the line to shove too much on low-income residents who, for whatever reason, choose to live in their own community. Social and cultural forces are very powerful, even if they fall below the radar of our usual quality-of-life metrics.
Of course, the opposite of drawing low-income folks out is enticing middle-income folks in. Both goals will serve the same purpose. The challenge is encouraging this trend without taking over the neighborhood completely, both culturally and economically (aka gentrification). There may be more promise in approaching the problem from this side.
- October 15, 2008 at 11:18 PM
- avatarr8 said...
May I be so bold as to suggest that being "low-income" itself is the problem? Why subsidize housing directly, why not raise the minimum wage and subsidize that--let folks invest in the communities they are already part of.
oh f**k it, who am I kidding, back to the countryside with everyone! death to cities, long live the peasant! Seriously though, can the gummint buy up foreclosed suburbs (say, in, oh I dunno, Bakersfield) and redistribute them for free to low-income folks? Probably not my best idea, but I'm just saying, i woudln't turn down a free 4 bedroom house.
- October 15, 2008 at 11:21 PM
- Dan Lorentz said...
Your post addresses what I consider one of the most important and vexing policy questions facing American cities.
I think a mix of income levels adds a vitalizing diversity to neighborhoods—a mix that helps everybody (poor, not poor, rich) in different ways.
Like you, I don't think poor people should be expected to leave their neighborhoods. Some will want to leave, and they should be given the resources to do so because the evidence suggests that these motivated "leavers" might benefit. But motivated "stayers"—as Jane Jacobs and others have suggested—often have deep, stabilizing and other socially beneficial impacts on their neighborhood. Like leavers, stayers should be supported, perhaps even more so than leavers.
Low-income people should not be manipulated into deconstructing their communities, but, of course, poverty itself is a constraint that limits housing choices. For some poor people, leaving the old neighborhood might be life-saving. For others, dissevering old connections and roots will be a big mistake. But without some government help to create choices that otherwise wouldn't exist, low-income people don't really have lots of housing choices open to them.
Thanks for the excellent links.
- October 16, 2008 at 12:02 AM
- Daniel Ahkiam said...
The double-binds of creating 'good' neighborhoods are tremendous. People can't be locked in, people can't be pushed out. There needs to be development so that a neighborhood gets basic services like grocery stores, but you need to avoid gentrification. I want to learn more about the leavers vs. stayers dynamic, especially if there's some research into what differentiates the groups. Is it how acute each experience the poverty in their community or how disparate their economic opportunities are? How much of a pull do local institutions like churches have? I guess I'll start with Jane Jacobs.
Clearly, as Dr. Tarr says, eliminating poverty in a socialist revolution (possibly centered at my parents house in the Bakersfield exurbs) is one solution. But you see, proposals like that are why "Geography PhD" is just another word for "Troll." =)
I prefer the Land Trust solution (they, like cooperatives, being little progressive loopholes in the law): Use deficit spending to buy up land in poor areas to be administered by the local institutions. Then you can allow gentrification to occur without it creating pressure on housing prices, so no one gets displaced, but everyone can benefit from the new services that wealthy neighbors bring. Really I just want to give these people (pdf) billions of dollars.
- October 16, 2008 at 4:35 AM
- Dan Lorentz said...
My earlier comments about "leavers" and "stayers" probably sounded more confident than I had a right to convey.
It's more that I suspect--on the basis of common sense, which can be quite unreliable--that there are such groups of people.
The Jane Jacobs reference I made is to Chapter 15: Unslumming and Slumming in The Life and Death of Great American Cities.
There must be some research about who benefits and who doesn't from the Moving to Opportunity program and Chicago's Gautreaux Project, which inspired MTO.
I'll be nosing around a bit to see what I can find, and I'll let you know. Let me know if you find anything.
- October 16, 2008 at 11:06 AM
- Katia Savchuk said...
When I did research on Section 8 through the lens of "mental maps," I found that where voucher holders look for and find housing is limited by the areas that are visible, accessible, and positively valuated in their mental constructions of the city. Visible means in the realm of the areas that exist for them: what's on their mental map, so to speak. Accessibility means whether or not they imagine it is affordable or "welcoming," not directly correlated with actual affordability. And having a positive valence means it's considered "better" than their current situation. So many of these studies look at systemic explanations, without considering the fluid relationship between the subject and the city.
- October 20, 2008 at 11:42 AM
- Daniel Ahkiam said...
I liked the leavers vs. stayers concept because previously I wasn't really thinking of each as an active choice taken by people with agency. In my mind, there were those who left for better things vs. those who failed to leave.
Obviously that's problematic, so I jumped on your model. Don't worry; I won't ask you about your dissertation on the motivations of leavers! I too am wading deeper into the MTO information, will post about anything interesting I find.
Good points. It'd be interesting to see a study where "mental mapping" is conducted on participants before they enter an MTO-like program. Then we could see how predictive the maps are, what the relative importance of visibility vs. accessibility is, etc.
- October 21, 2008 at 4:37 AM


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Preview: ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene - Intel Z77 Packed in mATX Format
ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene - Intel Z77 Packed in microATX Format
Feature Packed Intel Z77 microATX Form Factor Board
The Intel Z77 Express chipset will be the main component of most DIY-class motherboards in time to come; hence, understandably, the main bulk of boards arriving at our offices are based on this new chipset. We have just previewed the MSI Z77A-GD65 and from ASUS, the P8Z77-V Deluxe. Now we present the ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene, which is the first microATX gaming motherboard to hail from the prestigious lineage of Republic of Gamers (ROG).
The sprightly looking board is small in stature, but jammed pack with features to satisfy the needs of gamers and power users looking for that something special when building their next gaming rig. After all, the main advantage of standard ATX boards is to allow usage of more expansion cards which is fast becoming unnecessary these days other than cramming multiple graphics cards. The Intel Z77 Express chipset along with the LGA1155 CPU socket supports the current and the upcoming third generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs. The processors themselves still support only a single PCIe x16 link that can be split into dual x8 links. For that reason, this class of boards can easily get by with the mATX board size by featuring dual PEG slots, which by the way are PCIe Gen 3 ready and spaced for 2-way SLI or CrossFire setup. The board also manages to cram quad DIMM slots to support overclocked memory modules (DDR3 modules that are rated up to 2666MHz) up to a maximum capacity of 32GB.
The ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene is bundled with LucidLogix Virtu MVP software with its familiar Virtu GPU-tasking capabilities that is touted to dynamically assign tasks to either the integrated graphics processor of the CPU or the GPU of a discrete graphics card. This version has added two 3D features: Virtual Vsync to reduce screen tearing and HyperFormance to increase frame rates.
True to Republic of Gamers Core
Besides sporting the familiar color scheme of ROG lineage, the board features ROG Connect, allowing power users to tweak their rigs with another computer or notebook that is attached via a USB cable. You can refer to our previous coverage of this function for more information.
According to the board's specifications, its Extreme Engine Digi+ II has been upgraded and equipped with 10k Black Metallic capacitors (made in Japan), coupled with its digital VRM control for fine-tuning CPU and memory performance.
The board sports well rounded connectivity and functionality (some unique to ASUS) as seen by the variety of connections and ports on the board and the rear-I/O. However note that display connection options are down to just HDMI and DisplayPort as ASUS is expecting the prospective buyers to run the system with discrete graphics card(s).


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Erasmus interns also definitely need liability insurance.
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Lebanon is incredible – an intoxicating blend of natural beauty, rebellious spirit, pious clarity, tolerance, wild night life and unbelievable hummus. I landed in Beirut four days ago. The purpose of my visit wasn't all that clear. I knew that a talk and a musical performance were scheduled by Almayadeen TV, but I never expected such a spiritually transforming experience.
It was my second visit to the country. Thirty years ago I crossed the Lebanese border along with an IDF convoy escorted by tanks and armed vehicles. Then I was an occupier, this time I came with only my saxophone and a desire to share my thoughts and deliver some beauty.
But it didn't take me a couple of hours to realise that Lebanon is much more than just humus, shisha, the sea and some captivating rural scenery. Early on Friday we left Beirut for the south. Our first stop was Mleeta – a Hezbollah frontline outpost and a symbol of Lebanese defiance. Mleeta is located on top of a mountain, surrounded by the South Lebanese Massif which, until 2000, was controlled by the Israelis. From Mleeta, the Lebanese Mujahedeen launched daily attacks against the Israeli invader and gave the Israelis a true taste of their own medicine. Now Mleeta is a Jihadi tourist resort, there to tell the story of the heroic Hezbollah, those brave paramilitaries that confounded the 'best army in the world'. The truth is, though armed only with light weapons, they were well supplied with Shia, spiritual ammunition.
Mleeta provides an overview of three decades of Islamic resistance in Lebanon and, in exhibiting all that the fleeing IDF soldiers have left behind, it proudly demonstrates the reality of Israeli cowardice. Mleeta is a symbol of confidence – confidence that the IDF is gone, never to return. Because when, in the summer of 2006 Hezbollah routed the IDF, it also demolished their confidence forever. The Jewish state was taught a lesson it would never forget – their phantasmic expansionist dream had come to an end.
But Mleeta was just a beginning. South Lebanon is dripping with defiance – every village, house and person is an emblem of Shia's heroic resistance with the villages bedecked with Hezbollah posters featuring Leader Hasan Nasrallah and the many martyrs who taught the IDF those very necessary lessons.
Like Mleeta, Khiam, the notorious Detention Centre, is also a monument to Israeli brutality. Khiam is where Israel detained and tortured its political opponents, in some cases, for as long as 14 years. My visit there reminded me of a devastating memory, which on occasion, I share with my audience. It concerns Ansar, an Israeli concentration camp located in South Lebanon. It was back in 1984, on a piece of flat land in the middle of the camp, I noticed a dozen concrete boxes with small metal doors, they looked like dog kennels being only about 80 cm high, 100 cm long and probably about 80cm wide. When I pointed out to the commanding officer that these concrete construction weren't suitable for dogs, he told me not to worry: no one would even think of putting dogs in them. "Put a Palestinian in one of those for 24 hours," he laughed, "And he'll come out singing the Hatikvah." They were solitary confinement units for Palestinian prisoners. That was it. Then and there, I realised that Israel was not my country.
In Khiam this week I saw the exact same Israeli torture facility where the Israelis would shove their political opponents into tiny metal boxes, lock them in for days and then occasionally hit the top with a heavy stone. This time I took a picture.
But someone in Israel must have felt some shame at what Israel was leaving behind in Lebanon. In 2006 the IDF attempted to erase all trace of the detention centre at Khiam. In a desperate attempt to hide Israeli brutality, Israel sent in its engineering squads to blow up the cells and all remaining evidence of torture. But that clumsy effort to conceal the true reality of Israeli inhumanity achieved only the complete opposite. It now only affirms that Israel has, indeed, a lot to conceal.
The journey to occupied Palestine's Border is over the most beautiful, wild and rural terrain. But then, suddenly, we were there, faced with the Jewish ghetto walls, guarded by cameras, army posts and barbed wire. Israel clearly doesn't even try to convince its neighbours that it belongs in the region. It looks different, it smells different, it sounds different – it is, in fact, just one extended Jewish European shtetl that has matured into a neurotic, psychotic and murderous collective fuelled by PRE traumatic stress. In that regard, the Israelis indeed have a great deal to keep under wraps.
Inspired by Lyotard's "Heidegger and the Jews" and my visit to the south, I decided, in my talk in Beirut, to speak about 'History as a form of concealment.' Instead of telling us 'what really happened', I argued that history is there to hide our shame, to repress that which we cannot even utter. It is, in effect, there to make us forget. Jewish history, for instance, is there to suppress Jewish shame, to disguise that which Jews prefer to hide from themselves. Jewish history is an attempt to talk about the past while avoiding the horrendous and embarrassing fact that Jews, throughout their history, have been bringing on themselves one Shoa after the other.
But concealment wasn't invented by the Jews. The Brits also find it hard to cope with their past chain of murderous imperial genocides. This may explain why they entrusted the writing of Churchill's biography to Jewish Zionist Sir Martin Gilbert, and why their historians have dedicated a whole floor of the Imperial War Museum to the Nazi Holocaust. As if Brits do not have enough shoas and suffering inflicted on others to remember. One of those British-inflicted shoas is obviously the Palestinian Nakba. Britain should own up to this disaster and perhaps find a little room for it also in its Imperial Museums. And like Britain, the Israelis have yet to acknowledge their own role in the original sin of 1948.
Looking at the state of the refugee camps in Lebanon, it became very clear to me that the Lebanese also might engage in some soul searching. For 65 years Palestinian refugees have lived in Lebanon and in other Arab countries in unbearable conditions and have suffered terrible discrimination. Palestinian refuge camps in Lebanon are nothing short of hell on earth. Palestinians cannot be naturalized. They are banned from certain professions and jobs such as medicine and law. In some ways, their situation is worse even than their brothers' in Gaza or The West Bank, because for them there is not even any prospect of hope or change.
Those endless solidarity discussions about 'One State', 'Two States' or 'BDS' have zero significance or impact on their lives or their livelihoods. These displaced and dispossessed people need immediate change in their political status, but, being excluded from the political process, they lack the wherewithal to bring such change about. Not able to travel, their voice is hardly heard within the Western solidarity discourse and the International Palestinian solidarity movement is hardly engaged, or even concerned, with their tragedy. Even that most absolute of rights, the right to return to their land has been compromised by the BDS in Ramallah and other prominent Palestinian leaders.
On my last day in Beirut I visited Sabra and Satilla. I saw the mass graveyards, I saw the poverty, I saw the piles of rubbish in the streets, the outcome of the complete absence of even the most elementary municipal services. I have been traveling around the world for many years but this is, without doubt, one of the saddest sights I have seen. But, in those camps, I also saw some of the kindest people on this planet. People who against all odds, in spite of being crushed, humiliated and tortured from more than six decades, still look forward, still live their lives. They raise their kids and care about their education. They greet you in the warmest possible manner and, no sooner have you approached their shop, they have invited you for coffee. Surely, their suffering must be our primary concern.


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- Nuclear & Particle Physics
- Collider-Accelerator
- Isotope Research & Production
- Physics
- RIKEN BNL Research Center
Technology Maturation Program: Commercializing BNL Technologies
December 1, 2009
From left, the Technology Commercialization & Partnerships Office's Christine Brakel, Poornima Upadhya, and Kimberley Elcess review a technology maturation project.
Started in fiscal year 2008, BNL's Technology Maturation Program funds the Laboratory's researchers with royalties from previously commercialized technologies to prepare new inventions for the marketplace.
"With input from the BNL Directorates, we choose technologies for maturation that enhance the value of the Lab's intellectual property," said Christine Brakel, a licensing specialist in the Office of Technology Commercialization and Partnerships (TCP). "The goal of the maturation effort is to put the technology in a better position to transfer to industry."
An industrial partner is not required for submission of a proposal under the Technology Maturation Program. TCP makes award decisions based upon evaluation of projects that are funded in the amount of $50,000 or less. For projects that are funded beyond that amount, a committee of associate laboratory directors and department chairs makes the funding decision based on presentations given by the principal investigator, who provides technical details about the project, and a TCP member, who makes a business case for it. In FY2009, five projects were funded by the program for a total amount of $360,000. They are:
Developing CZT detectors with shared electrodes for medical imaging – Yonggang Cui, Nonproliferation and National Security Department
Cui has envisioned a new, simplified design for stacks of thin detectors made of cadmium zinc telluride, which will be used to detect gamma rays in positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. He plans to develop detectors that can share electrodes between them, which would make this medical imaging technology more economical. Currently, an individual electrode is required for each detector to make electrical contact. Also, each electrode requires a readout channel – a chain of electronic circuits that process signals from the electrode.
"By gluing two detectors together to share the electrode, we can reduce the number of readout channels, which will reduce power consumption and cost," said Cui.
Developing thermoelectric materials for conversion of waste heat to energy – Qiang Li, Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department
With new technology, a portion of the 75 percent of waste heat from a combustion engine can be converted to electricity. Working on a project that was originally funded through a CRADA with General Motors, Li is developing advanced thermoelectric materials and modules that can perform this waste heat-to-electricity conversion.
Li is using environmentally friendly thermoelectric materials known as filled skutterudites to make a module that can be placed between a vehicle's catalytic converter and muffler. He has developed a method to make the material in several minutes, rather than a week, the amount of time it would take using the standard method. He starts with the raw materials and uses a rapid solidification method to transform the materials into a nearly amorphous compound, shaped like ribbons. Then he uses a hot press to form the skutterite into a bulk crystalline material. Li is experimenting with different methods to perform the final, challenging next step: forming the material into a module.
"The goal is to make a demonstration module with optimal performance and low cost," Li said. "If we can make an effective module with just a three percent rate of conversion, we can save 1.9 billion gallons of gas per year worldwide."
Developing a mini-PET camera to replace taking arterial blood for measuring a radiotracer – David Schlyer, Medical Department
To detect the spread of cancer, patients are injected with a radiotracer, usually 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), which was developed by Brookhaven Lab researchers and collaborators. To accurately measure the rate that cells are using energy, samples of the patient's blood are taken every 2 ½ seconds through an arterial puncture to measure the radiotracer concentration in the blood. A higher rate than normal means more sugar is being used by the tumor, and it is growing rapidly.
By using the new mini-PET camera developed by Schlyer and colleagues from BNL's Instrumentation Department and Stony Brook University, taking blood is no longer necessary to determine a tumor's energy consumption. The small device, made of a ring of miniature detectors, is worn around the wrist, and, when used with a mathematical model, is capable of quantifying the uptake of the radiotracer and the growth of cancer noninvasively.
"We are working on improving the sensitivity of the new device, which would be sold to hospitals and other medical facilities, along with a PET scanner," Schlyer said.
Developing a combined animal MRI/PET scanner – David Smith, David Schlyer and Paul Vaska, Medical Department
In collaboration with the Instrumentation Division, the Physics Department and Stony Brook University, Smith and his team are designing a combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and PET scanner to be used in small animal research. To do so, they have drawn on the technology of a BNL-patented invention called RatCAP, a miniature PET scanner designed to acquire 3D images of an awake animal's brain. That device, while designed for another purpose, is so compact that it is able to fit and operate inside the bore of the Medical Department's MicroMRI system, which has a useable area with a diameter of less than five inches.
"MRI and PET scans are complimentary technologies," Smith said. "PET shows molecular function, so it can provide information on metabolic differences between normal and cancerous tissue, for instance, while MRI scans have much better spatial and contrast resolution for showing structural changes.
"We have achieved a proof-of-principle demonstration of the concept, using a slightly modified version of the RatCAP, and we now are working on a reconfiguration and repackaging of the RatCAP technology specifically for use as a combined MRI/PET scanner. Commercialization of the product for sale as a research instrument could follow upon the successful demonstration of the prototype device."
Developing Novel Electrodes for CZT detectors – Ge Yang, Nonproliferation and National Security Department
Yang is modifying radiation detectors made of cadmium zinc telluride to reduce the "edge effect." Typically, these detectors have lower charge collection efficiency at their edges. This effect is ascribed to the change of the local electric field direction caused by extended defects near edges.
"The carriers are trapped by the side surfaces before reaching the collecting electrodes, resulting in a signal loss for interacting events near the edges," Yang explained. "We are modifying the anode, changing the design of the detector array and providing shielding for the electrode to eliminate the problem."
CZT detectors have many applications, including medical imaging, environmental monitoring, and national security, so that a more efficient detector of this type would be highly marketable. Yang is using beamline X27B at the National Synchrotron Light Source to test the novel electrodes he is developing for these detectors.
Look for an announcement in the Bulletin and BNL homepage requesting applications for new technology maturation projects in January 2010.
2009-1500 | INT/EXT | Newsroom