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Orthodox Jewish Groups Exploit E-Rate Library Subsidy Program
Down a gritty dead-end alley in ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn, past a loading dock and a couple of dumpsters, a set of stairs leads up to a small room with bare walls and a dozen computers.
The plaque on the door at Kollel L'Horauh calls the room a library. As a library, it has received $135,000 in congressionally mandated library subsidies. But there's no librarian, and the room's "collection" consists of a subscription to a single digital database of Jewish books that is not even available on all the computers. In Brooklyn, not being a library is no barrier to receiving library subsidies. A Forward investigation has found that E-Rate, the federally backed library subsidy program, has committed $1.4 million to ultra-Orthodox religious institutions in Brooklyn that don't actually qualify as libraries.
Nine such groups have received an average of $161,000 in commitments from E-Rate since 2010 — more than twice the average amount committed to libraries in New York State during the same period.
The library association legally tasked with serving as a gatekeeper for E-Rate eligibility in New York City chose not to exclude these ultra-Orthodox groups, which in some cases didn't have librarians or card catalogs.
That wasn't their only option. Elsewhere in New York, another gatekeeper agency has taken a stand to block questionable libraries from E-Rate. In 2010, around the same time that the Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox groups were seeking to become E-Rate eligible, a "flurry" of ultra-Orthodox congregations from Rockland County, N.Y., applied to join an upstate library association and become E-Rate eligible, too, according to John Shaloiko, executive director of the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council.
"We didn't want to take just any organization in when it believes it should get E-Rate when it's not really a library," said Shaloiko, whose group serves as the E-Rate gatekeeper for a handful of counties to the north of New York City.
Prompted in part by concerns over the legitimacy of the ultra-Orthodox applicants, Shaloiko's group drew up new library membership guidelines, requiring that area libraries have online card catalogs and librarians with master's degrees, among other criteria, to join their association and become eligible for E-Rate.
The handful of ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregations that have applied to join the group since the adoption of the new guidelines have all dropped their requests after learning of the organization's membership requirements, Shaloiko said.
E-Rate has developed a reputation for waste and abuse since Congress set it up in 1996 to help connect schools and libraries to the Internet. Today, the program is in crisis. Increasing demand has tapped out E-Rate's funding, leaving it unable to meet broad categories of legitimate request. In 2012, only the most needy schools and libraries were allowed to apply for certain sorts of subsidy. In 2013, even applications from some of the poorest schools and libraries for things like servers may be turned down.
The E-Rate pool is fixed at $2.25 billion a year, so more money allocated to questionable expenditures mean less money for everyone else. Ultra-Orthodox communities, in search of government funding opportunities, have exposed what one library official referred to as a "gap" in E-Rate's screening process — a gap that could be contributing to the program's inability to fulfill its basic functions.
What Is a Library?
Identical black coats fill the coat racks at the entrance to 193 Keap Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Identical black hats crown the bearded young men from the Satmar Hasidic community filing up the stairs to the crowded hall, where they study Talmud and Gemara.
On the second floor of the Keap Street building is a large room with walls of religious books, and another, smaller one packed with bookshelves. Downstairs there's a computer room with eight desktops and laptops loaded with a database of Jewish texts.
Does all this amount to a library? Not quite, according to the Metropolitan New York Library Council, known as METRO, New York City's regional library association. At METRO, however, "not quite" is enough to qualify you for E-Rate. The institution at 193 Keap Street has received $190,000 worth of commitments from E-Rate between 2010 and 2012.
It works like this: E-Rate makes telephone and Internet connectivity cheaper for schools and libraries. An independent not-for-profit called the Universal Service Administrative Company, overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, collects $2 billion a year from telecommunications companies and uses it to partially reimburse schools and libraries for phone and Web access and for some Web-related hardware. Libraries across the country are eligible for E-Rate subsidies. That includes public and some so-called "private" libraries.
What's a private library? Neither federal officials nor state officials in New York will say.
According to the law that set up E-Rate, a private library is defined as a library eligible for state library funding. And according to New York State, special not-for-profit libraries are eligible for state library funding if they are members of a regional library association. That leaves it up to New York's network of nine regional reference and research library councils, like METRO and Shaloiko's Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, to determine whether or not a private library is enough of a library to be eligible for E-Rate.
To join METRO, a library must have a full-time employee with a Master of Library Science degree, a catalog of its collection and an annual budget to buy information resources. If an institution doesn't meet these criteria, however, it can still join METRO as a "collegial" member. "Collegial" members, according to METRO's bylaws, are organizations that "do not meet all the criteria for Full membership."
The Keap Street institution, which files with E-Rate under the name Kollel Avreichim of UTA Admin Offices, is a so-called collegial member. So are the vast majority of the roughly 20 Orthodox groups that have joined METRO in recent years.
METRO does not allow its collegial members to vote on internal METRO issues. But their collegial membership is still a membership — so collegial members are eligible for E-Rate.
The Forward has identified nine ultra-Orthodox groups that are collegial members of METRO and have received commitments from E-Rate for subsidies from 2010 through 2012.
METRO disavows any role for itself as a gatekeeper for E-Rate via its policies on collegial members. "I think it's somewhat out of our jurisdiction to make those kinds of judgments," said Jason Kucsma, METRO's executive director. "What we do here is we verify our membership against our own internal criteria."
That's not the New York State Education Department's understanding of METRO's role. Federal law, in fact, holds the NYSED responsible for determining a library's E-Rate eligibility. But the department said in a statement to the Forward that E-Rate eligibility "is handled at the local and regional level" by library associations like METRO.
Confronted with each agency pointing the finger at the other, Kucsma acknowledged, "There's a gap there."
The Satmar Internet Boom
Last winter, Aaron Teitelbaum, one of two rebbes who claim the leadership of the Satmar Hasidic community, decreed that Satmar children with Internet access at home can't attend his community's schools. In so doing, he set off a boom in the Williamsburg Internet café business.
Teitelbaum opposes Internet use, yet he recognizes that some computer access is necessary for his followers. As such he has encouraged the establishment of community-run Internet cafés where Satmar Hasids can access the Web. Some of the cafés are for-profit businesses. Others, like Kollel L'Horauh, the small room at the end of the gritty dead-end alley, take E-Rate subsidies to provide not-for-profit versions of the same service.
"There are many [for-profit] kiosks, but these kiosks are very expensive," said Yankel Schwartz, a spokesman for Kollel L'Horauh. "That's why we opened a digital library."
Kollel L'Horauh — a kollel is a communal study center for religious scholars — is headed by David Markowitz, a gabai, or religious organizer, at Aaron Teitelbaum's main synagogue in Williamsburg. Markowitz established Kollel L'Horauh in an office building he owns on Williamsburg's Kent Avenue.
In order to qualify for E-Rate subsidies, Kollel L'Horauh needed to be a member of METRO. But joining METRO, even as a collegial member, requires a site visit to inspect the applicant's facilities. At the time it applied to join METRO, Kollel L'Horauh had no facilities at all.
"It was a problem," Schwartz said. The organization was going to set itself up using E-Rate money, but it had to show some sort of facility to METRO in order to get the E-Rate money.
Schwartz's solution? "We found people who [would] loan us some money," Schwartz said. The group then used the funds to set up a facility for the purposes of its METRO site visit.
So Kollel L'Horauh opened long enough to secure METRO approval, then closed for renovations. The E-Rate subsidies came through, and the space reopened in the summer of 2012 with "10 to 12" computers, according to Schwartz. The group has received $176,000 worth of commitments from E-Rate, $137,000 of which has already been paid out. Schwartz said that 20 to 30 people use the facility each week. Some of the computers are loaded only with Web browsers; others have access to a large paid database of Jewish books called Otzar HaHochma.
A small room on a floor of offices, Kollel L'Horauh looks less like a library than do any of the other ultra-Orthodox collegial METRO members receiving E-Rate subsidies visited by the Forward.
Others, like Kollel Avreichim and another library in a building across the street from Aaron Teitelbaum's main synagogue, did resemble libraries, with books and tables for study.
One Satmar community activist defended the notion that the library near the Satmar synagogue should be eligible for E-Rate. "The library is a library, even though it has different books," the activist said. "There's books there, there's computers there, there's everything in there [that the community needs], and there's no reason this should not be included in the intention of this act. The reimbursement should be out there for all [communities'] libraries."
In fact, it's not clear how a Satmar library could ever be expected to meet METRO's standards for full membership. Members of ultra-Orthodox communities generally don't attend college, never mind study for master's degrees in library sciences — a requirement for full membership in METRO and for membership at the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council.
According to METRO, the collegial membership level exists to broaden METRO's reach. "We're interested in bringing in organizations that are providing information resources to the communities they serve, and at the very basic level these congregations do that," METRO's Kucsma said.
The Southeastern New York Library Resources Council considered having a secondary membership level similar to METRO's collegial membership. But faced with their state-mandated responsibility to filter E-Rate applicants, council officials decided against it.
"We didn't like being the gatekeeper for E-Rate, but we had no choice," Shaloiko said. "We're doing our due diligence to make sure that it is right for them to receive [E-Rate] benefits" as private libraries under the law, he said.
More Than Their Share?
When ultra-Orthodox collegial METRO members receive E-Rate subsidies, they receive far more in commitments and allocations than is normal among libraries in New York State.
In the three funding years from 2010 to 2012, more than 400 New York State libraries — not including library consortia — received an average commitment of $70,900 from E-Rate. Among the nine ultra-Orthodox collegial METRO members, the average commitment was $161,400 over the same time period — more than twice the general New York State average.
All the ultra-Orthodox groups were relatively new to E-Rate during those three years, and were applying for one-time purchases, like servers and wiring, that are among some of the most expensive sorts of services the program provides. Groups receiving smaller amounts of reimbursements often are only applying for cheaper subsidies for Internet and telephone service, the other main category of E-Rate eligible subsidy. The ultra-Orthodox libraries also receive the highest possible rate of E-Rate reimbursement based on information they submit to USAC.
Yet visits to the ultra-Orthodox collegial METRO members raised questions about whether the subsidies some were receiving were proportional to the scale of their operations.
According to E-Rate expert Dan Riordan, the $137,000 paid out in subsidies to Kollel L'Horauh represents an extraordinary sum to spend on eligible services for a room with 10 computers.
Doing back-of-the-envelope calculations, Riordan, who is president of On-Tech Consulting, a New Jersey-based consulting firm that works with schools and libraries on E-Rate applications, said that the most he could imagine spending on such a setup would be $45,000. Even that would represent a "ridiculous over-configuration," Riordan said. A more appropriate amount would be $11,500, based on what he understood of Kollel L'Horauh's size.
"I don't see how you get it to six figures," Riordan said.
When asked about the size of the subsidy Kollel L'Houra had received, Schwartz noted that electronic equipment is expensive, and that the organization has plans to grow. "You can't imagine how much the servers cost," Schwartz said. "We're going to expand…. Now we have 14 computers. We're going to have much more." Kollel L'Horauh isn't the only METRO collegial member library in Brooklyn with high allocations from E-Rate and apparently little to show for it.
The Levi Yitzchok Lubavitch Resource Center is a small library in a basement in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, just across Kingston Avenue from 770 Eastern Parkway, the spiritual locus of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic community. A collegial METRO member, the library received $122,000 in E-Rate subsidized equipment and services in 2011 and 2012.
When the Forward visited, the only electronic equipment visible was a single computer at the library's checkout desk. Libraries that receive E-Rate subsidies can't get reimbursed for desktop or laptop computers, or for library materials like books. Repeated attempts to reach Shlomo Friedman, the contact person listed on the library's E-Rate filings, were unsuccessful.
While METRO is responsible for certifying to New York State that New York City institutions are libraries, it's up to USAC, the organization that runs E-Rate under FCC supervision, to determine how much money to commit to each library.
In fact, there are some indications that USAC has taken a hard look at the ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn libraries. USAC officials visited at least two ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn libraries last spring, one of them a collegial METRO member in Williamsburg, according to Joseph Klein, an employee of Steady Connections, Inc., a Boro Park-based vendor to some of the Orthodox E-Rate recipients.
"They wanted to see what it meant, libraries," Klein said. "They don't know about… how come they're opening so many libraries."
USAC would not comment on the visits. In an email to the Forward, USAC spokesman Eric Iversen wrote that "such activities would be part of ongoing, internal review procedures, and we don't provide details about questions still in this kind of review phase."
USAC also appears to have denied funding to a handful of Brooklyn ultra-Orthodox groups that have collegial METRO memberships and have applied for E-Rate. Congregation Uvlechtechu Baderech, in Boro Park, and Williamsburg's Congregation Kol Torah, among others, have not received any commitments from E-Rate, despite each applying multiple times in recent years.
Rules enforced by USAC stipulate that E-Rate recipients can't be reimbursed for wiring spaces that aren't libraries — for instance, a synagogue or business with which they share space. When the ultra-Orthodox groups in Rockland County attempted to join the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, Shaloiko was particularly concerned about the relationships between the libraries applying and the Jewish congregations that sometimes housed them.
"Is that E-Rate money being used just to equip the library, which is the room or series of rooms where the collections is, or are they using that money to wire the entire building?" he asked rhetorically. That, he said, was "one of my concerns always with some of the congregations" that applied to join his regional library association.
Losing Out
In June 1995, Arizona Senator John McCain introduced an amendment on the floor of the Senate that would have killed the nascent program that became E-Rate. Rising to the program's defense was Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
"If you want to have a two-class society in this country, those who know and those who do not, then you vote with the senator from Arizona," Rockefeller said at the time. "You will have people that go online… and do all kinds of things, and they will make 15% more in salaries than people that do not have those abilities, probably 30% more."
Orthodox defenders of the collegial members' access to the program say that their institutions, too, should have access to these subsidies. Some of the institutions, however, don't look much like libraries at all, and seem able to access the E-Rate program because no regulator is taking responsibility for distinguishing libraries from non-libraries in New York City.
What's clear is that E-Rate, a program designed to bring the benefits of the Internet to underserved communities via their libraries, is bleeding assets. "The program in general is running out of money," said Riordan, the E-Rate consultant. "Within a few years there won't be any money for internal connections. In a few more years there won't be enough money to cover everybody's… requests for telecommunications and Internet access."
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter @joshnathankazis


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This blog discusses current weather, weather prediction, climate issues, and current events
November 13, 2010
A Weather Fact That Can Save Your Life
On the chilly Thursday morning, as I got on my bicycle, I noticed some frost on the grass even though my thermometer read 36F. How could this be? It turns out that such a situation happens all the time and understanding this effect can keep you safe while driving and biking.
The evening before the skies had been quite clear (see satellite photo)
Clear skies allows the surface to cool off rapidly be emitting infrared radiation (the atmosphere does the same thing but is not as effective). The long nights of the fall season helps, as does light winds...and we had them all that night. The result? The surface cooled more than the atmosphere above, producing a surface-based inversion (an "inversion" of the normal situation of temperature cooling with height)--see the figure below.
On such clear nights a large difference in temperature can occur in the lowest few feet of the atmosphere, with ground sometimes 1-5 F cooler than the air at the official height of temperature measurements, which is at 2 meters or roughly 6 feet. I have walked around my house at night with a thermometer to demonstrate the effect (my neighbors must think I am a touch crazy) and found cases when my shoes are 5F cooler than my chest! So when a TV weathercaster gives you the surface temperatures they ARE NOT at the surface, but rather at 2 meters! Thus, the temperatures at the surface can be substantially cooler than the official or other reports.
So if you hear the weather report and the temperature is 35F and we are in one of those low-wind, clear situations, frost or ice IS possible at the surface and you better be careful. Many cars have thermometers that provide the outside temperature on your dashboard. These sensors are a few feet up and can be warmer than the surface for the same reason as noted above. So if your car thermometer says 33 or 34, there could be frost at the surface.
Now there are other complications of course....after a warm period, heat from below the surface can keep the surface above freezing on these nights--but I would not depend on this. And bridges have no heat coming up from the ground below and they are generally the first places to have frost or ice.
And for those of you thinking that a little ice or frost at the surface is nothing to worry about, consider this. Roadway icing undoubtedly kills and injures more NW citizens than ANY other weather phenomena....windstorms, floods, hail, tornadoes, you name it!
If weather is going to take you out it will probably be some roadway ice somewhere!
We are now entering the core of the roadway icing season...so be careful! WSDOT is quite knowledgeable about this threat and pretreats some roadways to prevent ice formation, but they can't be everywhere, so you have to protect yourself.
If you want to learn more about this demonic threat, check out my website on roadway icing: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~cliff/Roadway3.html
15 comments:
Can evaporation/sublimation also cause cooling of water on the ground by carrying heat away and result in icing when the air is otherwise slightly warmer than 32F?ReplyDelete
Under these conditions bridges often have the most ice of all the road areas.ReplyDelete
Cliff - I ride a motorcycle so I face the same dangers as you on your bike, but at much higher speeds.ReplyDelete
My home is at 850 feet with much of my riding is done closer to sea level.
So on those days where the ground is cooler than the air as you describe in this post, what is the thermal gradient over say 1000 feet?
I guess what I'm looking for is the total temp differential due to elevation and the ground proximity radiation cooling so I can establish a minimum temperature for riding. Your post seems to suggest that there can be a 5 degree differential between the ground and 6 feet. I'm wondering if there can be an additional 3-4 degrees of elevation difference which would suggest that 40 deg air near sea level could lead to freezing ground temp at elevation.
Different materials have different freezing points as well, cement roads seem to ice up faster than tar pavements, and steel, plastic and glass all frost over at different rates. Montlake Bridge is a good example where I lost control from ice on the bridge but there was none on the road.ReplyDelete
Brad- it's not that different materials have different freezing points; the freezing point for the water on each surface is the same. The fact that ice forms more quickly on some surfaces than others is because of the conductivity of the surfaces. Montlake Bridge, for example, is a metal drawbridge. Metal has a much higher thermal conductivity than some other substances such as asphalt, so heat is transferred much more quickly to and from metal. Metal is a very poor insulator. You probably have experienced this before - especially if you've tried licking a metal pole when it's cold outside. ;)ReplyDelete
Anyway, back to the metal bridge - the metal is already on the cold side, having had heat escape from it quickly to the air, much faster than asphalt road surfaces. Heat then flows quickly from any water on the metal's surface (or even water vapor in the air just above the surface) to the metal itself - because of its good conductivity - and when the water loses enough heat energy, it freezes. This happens much faster on metal than other surfaces precisely because of its much higher thermal conductivity. Other substances (glass, plastic, cement, as you mentioned) have varying conductivities as well that cause water to freeze on them at different rates.
So... as Karin mentioned, bridges freeze first, because there is no warmer ground below them to help insulate them, only the colder air that can surround the road surface on all sides. But extra care should be taken on metal bridges, such as the Montlake Bridge, as there are two things contributing to much quicker freezing of water than on most asphalt roads - the lack of insulating ground below the bridge, and the high thermal conductivity of the metal itself.
You state that a surface-based inversion is "an 'inversion' of the normal situation of temperature warming with height". I was taught (and recently heard a a TV weatherman say) that an inversion was when temperatures increased with increased altitude, which is unlike the normal condition of temperature decreasing with height. This would make a "surface-based inversion" simply an inversion caused by conditions at the earth's surface.
Your definition appears to be different than the one I learned but perhaps that is because I couldn't afford the tuition at UW.
Thanks for any clarification.
Timely post. The long range forecast predicts cold, cold, cold.ReplyDelete
John...sorry..that was a typo..fixed...normal situation is when the air cools with height. Need another cup of coffee!.thanks...cliffReplyDelete
So far I have seen ice on the surface of the ground and other objects three times this fall with official temps that were on the order of 35. That was the case on Friday in Bellingham.ReplyDelete
I have also observed this condition on snow fields at warmer temps. The air may be in the upper 40s, but the snow is ice hard.
Demonic threat? Come on now, it is just mother nature. Learn to live with the planet and adverse weather does not seem so "demonic". I rode street bikes yr round. You just need to adjust.ReplyDelete
Regarding temp decrease with elevation:ReplyDelete
I have hiked in the mountains for many years, and a useful number I learned early on is the "adiabatic lapse rate", or the rate at which temp of dry air decreases with elevation. This value is roughly 5.5F/1000' (9.8C/1000M). (Wikipedia has a good writeup on this.) So, at 850', the temp drop due to elevation would be about 4.5F. -- Gary
Re: Rate at which surfaces ice up: Two other factors to pay attention to are the color and texture of the surface. Both affect the rate at which a solid will give off (and absorb) radiation. Darker-colored substances radiate faster than lighter-colored ones, so that blacktop tends to form ice faster than lighter concrete (under the conditions Cliff is describing). And rough surfaces (I think) radiate faster than do smooth ones.ReplyDelete
Check out "blackbody radiation" for another application of this phenomenon. -- Gary
Any thoughts about the weather that's supposedly coming the next week or so. Snow at lower elevations? Wondering if I should put on my snow tires yet (not studded) for traveling down to Oregon next week for Thanksgiving.ReplyDelete
Thank you,
Wind gusts in Olympia tonight have power lines down along Littlerock Rd. Power went out here for a few seconds and has flickered off and on.ReplyDelete
Officially, NOAA is saying gusts of 25 at the airport ( but who lives at the airport, as George Carlin used to say). It is always gustier along the foot of the Black Hills.
Strength of Monday night winds in San Juan Islands was seriously underestimated. About 24 hours ago, max gusts were predicted at under 30. Then they bumped them up to 37, then on Mon afternoon to 47, and finally at 8:07 they issued a high wind warning of gusts to 60. How is it they were still so far off so close to the event?ReplyDelete
Heavy Rainfall is Now Certain for the Northwest. But Why Are Some Folks So Worried About Drought?
The latest water-vapor channel satellite image is quite ominous, with a series of very wet weather systems approaching our region. The weake...
I have to tell you about this, even though some of the forecasts are crazy extreme. For several forecast cycles, the models have suggested t...
What has happened and is happening in California is extraordinary....one of the coolest/wettest ends of spring in Golden State history. Th...

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text: adventurechik 2 Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) Hi there, Just in case anyone is thinking of doing a compact camera photo workshop aboard a Red Sea Liveaboard this year, I'll be running three trips with blue o two on the following dates: 29 June - 6 July Red Sea - Tiran aboard Blue Horizon 17 August - 24 August - Red Sea - North aboard Blue Melody 26 October - 2 November - Red Sea - South aboard Blue Voyager These trips are aimed for beginners or for the more advanced compact camera user looking to develop their skills and I promise that you will come home with a portfolio of photographs to be proud of just like my other 15 prize winning compact camera guests. The price for 7 nights including flights from London, accommodation and diving is £1,149. Visit blue o two's website for more information or email me at email@example.com. I'll also be doing a shore based one with Emperor Divers to their beautiful house reef at Nuweiba, more details will be coming soon. Best Wishes, Maria Munn Ocean Visions Photography Courses Edited January 17, 2012 by adventurechik Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Bill Russell, the cornerstone of a Boston Celtics team that won 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons, including a record eight straight titles, will be permanently honored by having The Finals Most Valuable Player Trophy named for him, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today.
Who better to name this prestigious award for than one of the greatest players of all time and the ultimate champion, said Stern. Bill inspired a generation not just of basketball fans but Americans everywhere. He is respected by colleagues, coaches, fans, and his legacy clearly has withstood the test of time.
The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award will be presented at the conclusion of The Finals. Select writers and broadcasters who cover the series will determine the MVP.
Russell anchored a Celtics team that became synonymous with NBA championships during the 1960s. As a rookie center, he helped the Celtics earn their first NBA title in 1957, defeating the St. Louis Hawks in seven games. It was the first of 10 straight Finals appearances for Boston, including eight straight titles from 1959-1966. Following the 1966 championship season, Head Coach Red Auerbach retired and Russell took over as player-coach, becoming the NBAs first African-American coach. After failing in 1967 to make The Finals for the first time since 1956, Russell guided the Celtics to consecutive titles in 1968 and 1969. Russell would win 11 NBA Championships throughout his career as a player and coach.
The 1969 Finals between the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers was the first time a Most Valuable Player trophy was awarded, with the Lakers Jerry West the first recipient -- the first and only time the MVP Award has gone to a member of the losing team.
Russell earned five Most Valuable Player Awards during his career. He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975 and was named the "Greatest Player in the History of the NBA" by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America in 1980. In 1996, Russell was honored as One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the All-Star Game in Cleveland.


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New York City
Congressman John Lewis, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Georgia), Jose Antonio Vargas of Define American, and Simone Wu of Choice Hotels International, Inc. received the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund's (AALDEF) 2013 Justice in Action Awards at AALDEF's annual Lunar New Year benefit, held at PIER 60 Chelsea Piers in New York on February 19, 2013.
Since 1987, AALDEF has presented the Justice in Action Awards to exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and efforts in advancing social justice. The awards were presented by Rep. Grace Meng, the first Asian American to represent New York in Congress, Tony Award-winning playwright of M. Butterfly David Henry Hwang, and Gordon Smith, CEO of Consumer and Community Banking, JPMorgan Chase.
Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer at Columbia University, both long time supporters of AALDEF, were the co-emcees for the banquet of over 700. They were joined at the end with a surprise appearance on stage from actor BD Wong, who urged the guests to show their support for AALDEF.
Among the guests at Pier Sixty in New York City were Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Debra James, and past Justice in Action Award recipients Don Liu, Parkin Lee, Alice Young, and Sandra Leung.
AALDEF Board president Tommy Shi wished the audience a happy new year and shared the story that, seven days before the 2012 election, with AALDEF's national poll monitoring and exit poll project at stake, Hurricane Sandy hit New York. AALDEF staff was stranded in outer boroughs and our office was without electricity. "We put out an emergency call for help," said Shi. "AALDEF staff and volunteers lugged boxes of voting materials down 12 flights of stairs in the dark. We were lucky that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP donated temporary space with computers and phones for our staff and volunteers. And Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP opened its conference rooms to us. In the end, the Asian American Exit Poll surveyed over 9,000 voters in 14 states on Election Day, the largest multilingual survey of its kind."
Margaret Fung, AALDEF executive director, said that the three Justice in Action Award recipients had taken courageous stands on some of AALDEF's current priority issues: securing real immigration reform, expanding diversity, and defending the Voting Rights Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.
David Henry Hwang introduced honoree Jose Antonio Vargas as having "one of the great immigrant stories of our time." Vargas, an award-winning Filipino American journalist, publicly revealed himself to be an undocumented immigrant in a 2011 New York Times Magazine article. "Immigrant rights are human rights," said Vargas, who acknowledged the work of AALDEF and civil rights organizations by joking that the reason he "was still here" was that he was "all lawyered up."
Honoree Simone Wu, senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief compliance officer of Choice Hotels International, spoke about the need for diversity and inclusiveness. "So many Asian Americans do not get a chance to share in the model minority myth," said Wu. "At Choice Hotels we value diversity in all our decisions and our results are better as a result of doing that."
The evening came to a close with Rep. Grace Meng introducing civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis with a surprise video of the Congressman dancing "Gangnam-style" for the right to vote.
"The right to vote is precious, even sacred," said Congressman Lewis, who, in 1965, led over 600 peaceful protesters in the march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation known as "Bloody Sunday," and the senseless cruelty hastened passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. "I gave a little blood for the right to vote. But some of my friends gave their lives. We have made too much progress to stop now."
Past Justice in Action Award recipients include Fred Korematsu, David Henry Hwang, Fareed Zakaria, BD Wong, Sandra Leung, Harold Koh, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick, George Takei, Salman Rushdie, Seymour Hersh, Charles Ogletree, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Margaret Cho, and Yoko Ono.
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.
Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and anaward-winning multi-platform journalist.


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You already know that the April issue of Vogue Paris is pretty inside, but did you know that one photo shoot was also perfect for a LOLcat treatment? And so. The black and white "Simplement Couture" shots, by Hedi Slimane, get some incredibly stoopid faux Français text. We're puttin werds on ur moddles, after the jump.
Earlier: French Vogue: The Wind Beneath Our Wings
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
Bon Joor, C'est Paris LOLVogue Encore!
French 'Vogue': Devil Worship Is The New Black!
Related: LOLVogue: Teh Hare Toss & Teh Bunnee Hop
LOLVogue: Tard Moddles & Bahlinceeyagga
LOLVogue: Sheez Over Ayteen, I Sware
LOLVogue: Hungry Moddles & Rorschach Tests
LOLVogue: Carbs, Botox & Pink-Eye
LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters


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Shutdown roils Va. governor race
The government shutdown is casting a long shadow over the Virginia governor's race.
Less than a week after the federal closure started, both candidates are running ads that blame the other for the federal furloughs — never mind that neither one really had any say in the matter.
"It's a failure of leadership … and Terry McAuliffe deserves part of the blame," a narrator says in a radio spotfor Republican Ken Cuccinelli, aired widely Friday on D.C. stations. "McAuliffe said he is against compromise, against working together to find solutions."
The Democrat wants voters to know Cuccinelli will appear this weekend with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). McAuliffe released a radio adFriday – which followed a TV ad that went up the day before – to draw attention to a gala at which the two are scheduled to speak.
"Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas who's the leader of the government shutdown, is coming in to campaign for another radical Republican: Ken Cuccinelli," a narrator says. "So don't believe Cuccinelli's ridiculous ads."
The attorney general has increasingly tried to distance himself from congressional Republicans, and he's used harsher language to decry the shutdown as it continues with no end in sight. He has come out for legislation to pay federal employees during the shutdown, prodded members to not accept their salaries and declared for the first time Thursday that the fight over funding Obamacare should be separated from the fight over the budget.
"Strangling government to do this is not an appropriate course to go," he told a group of reporters, accordingto the Associated Press. "Holding one part of government hostage to another part, I don't think is a proper way to govern."
But Cuccinelli committed weeks ago to speak in Richmond at the annual fundraising dinner for The Family Foundation, and the Texas senator was locked in to keynote the event long before his 21-hour speech made him the face of tea party intransigence. He's even earned the enmity of many GOP colleagues.
Cuccinelli, already trailing in the polls, risks becoming the first political casualty of the shutdown if a chunk of the 175,000 federal workers who were furloughed across the commonwealth vent their frustration on him. Virginia, which received more federal contracts than any other state last fiscal year, is particularly dependent on federal largesse.
But Cuccinelli cannot afford to skip Saturday's engagement and risk depressing base enthusiasm in next month's low-turnout, off-year election. He has stressed when asked that he does not agree with all his supporters on every issue.
Top Virginia Republicans acknowledge privately that a protracted shutdown will hurt Cuccinelli, especially if independent voters continue to blame the GOP. Planned attacks on McAuliffe's business record, his readiness to be governor and his lack of a clear plan to pay for proposed spending risk being drowned out as long as the shutdown leads the news.
Democrats believe the shutdown dovetails with the narrative they've been pushing for months, that Cuccinelli is an ideologue and McAuliffe is a problem solver. They are intent on trying to inflict as much political pain as possible over the joint appearance with Cruz, which the Cuccinelli campaign insists is no big deal.
The liberal super PAC, American Bridge, circulated a 45-second videoFriday afternoon of Cuccinelli heaping praise on Cruz at a RedState gathering last summer.
"You know, you get more Ted Cruzes in there to back up Jim DeMint and you have less to worry about," he said then.
Democrats have spent the week relentlessly trying to portray Cuccinelli as someone who has been willing in the past to shut down the government.
McAuliffe's new TV ad includes a clip from a 2006 speech in which Cuccinelli said he wished Republicans had fought harder against a tax hike pushed by then-Gov. Mark Warner in 2004. In the full speech, he said Democrats would have been blamed for allowing a shutdown and complained that some of his GOP colleagues in the legislature "chickened out."
"I'd have taken them right to the brink," Cuccinelli says in the spot. "I'd have gone right over the brink."
Cuccinelli's camp says the sound bite is out of context, that he was making a broader point about how he had offered a bill to continue spending at current levels in order to avoid a state government shutdown.
The Republican's team argues that self-identifying Republicans blame President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats for the shutdown, not Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli's campaign put up a graphic on FacebookThursday calling for members of Congress to forgo pay as long as the government is closed.
The Cuccinelli campaign, meanwhile, has been highlighting McAuliffe's past comments that he would not sign a budget as governor unless the Republican-controlled legislature expanded Medicaid. Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix cited this to argue that "McAuliffe will bring Washington, D.C.-style tactics and brinksmanship straight to Richmond."
The shutdown has put other Virginia Republicans in a tough spot, too. Two members of the Hose delegation have publicly urged Republican colleagues to back off their demands and the shutdown. Others are more subtly pushing for a quick resolution.
Two polls released on Friday – both conducted before the shutdown began at midnight Monday night – show that McAuliffe continues to hold a lead.
Hampton Universityput McAuliffe up 5 points, 42 percent to 37 percent, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis getting 8 percent.
The University of Mary Washington has McAuliffe up 7 points, 42 percent to 35 percent, with Sarvis getting 10 percent among likely voters.
The libertarian, who could be a spoiler for Cuccinelli, says both of his opponents look bad.
"The government shutdown is further proof of the extreme dysfunction we've come to expect from Republicans and Democrats," he said.


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|'Massacre of the Innocents', Matteo di Giovanni, 1482, Sant'Agostino, Siena, Italy
|A sermon of St Quodvultdeus
|Even before they learn to speak, they proclaim Christ
A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come.
Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.
You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.
Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace, so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God's adopted children.
The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the saviour already working salvation.
But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it.
How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.
They worshipped him who lives for ever and ever, and laid their crowns before the throne of the Lord their God.
They fell on their faces before the throne, and blessed him who lives for ever and ever, and laid their crowns before the throne of the Lord their God


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View source for Collaboration with VoIP Providers
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text:
Lindsay Lohan's attorney predicts there will be no case against the actress in connection with an alleged fight at a Manhattan nightclub.
Attorney Mark Jay Heller spoke after signing paperwork at the courthouse Monday. Lohan was not there.
Lohan was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor assault in the Nov. 29 incident at Club Avenue in Chelsea. Lohan, 26, allegedly struck a woman in the face with her hand after getting into a spat with her.
Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver confirmed that a criminal complaint has not been drawn up. The district attorney's office said only that the investigation is continuing.
At the time of her arrest, Heller said Lohan was "a victim of someone trying to capture their 15 minutes of fame.''
In September, she was involved in an NYPD investigation after alleging a man assaulted her in a hotel. Charges against the man were later dropped.


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Live by it....
Just For Today!
1. Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
2. Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
3. Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
4. Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
5. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do as William James suggests, just for exercise.
6. Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
7. Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.
9. Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
10. Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.
If we want to develop a mental attitude that will bring us peace and happiness, here is Rule #1:
Think and act cheerfully, and you will feel cheerful.
Written by Sybyl F Partridge in 1916 and printed in "How To Stop Worrying, And Start Living" by Dale Carnegie, 1951


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Abbott receives FDA approval for first fully automated blood test for `kissing bug` disease
Abbott received Biologic License Application (BLA) approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the ABBOTT PRISM Chagas test. The test is a fully automated blood screening assay that can detect antibodies to Trypansoma cruzi (T. cruzi), a parasite found only in the Americas and most commonly acquired through contact with the blood-sucking triatomine or 'kissing bug.' According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated eight to 11 million people are infected worldwide with Chagas disease and an additional 108.6 million people are considered to be at risk. If left undiagnosed and untreated, Chagas disease can result in death. In 2007, national screening of the blood supply for the disease was instituted. The FDA reports that in the last three years more than 1,000 donors with Chagas disease were identified. This latest approval for the ABBOTT PRISM analyzer marks the completion of Abbott's full menu of blood screening tests, which includes assays for hepatitis, HIV and other retroviruses. Most recently, the ABBOTT PRISM HIV O Plus test was added to the analyzer's menu of available assays. ABBOTT PRISM systems can screen 160 blood donations per hour, making it possible to test more than 1,200 donations in an eight-hour laboratory shift. Speed and efficiency are important to labs, given that the Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than 16 million units of blood are collected in the United States each year. Used by more than 30 countries, the ABBOTT PRISM system is used to screen the majority of the blood supply in the United States and around the world. 'The approval of the ABBOTT PRISM Chagas test marks the availability of an important automated tool to ensure the continued safety of our blood supply, and it also offers our customers the ability to conduct all their serology testing on one system to increase the productivity and efficiency of their labs,' said John Coulter, divisional vice president, U.S. commercial operations, Abbott Diagnostics. Important Product Usage and Safety Information The ABBOTT PRISM Chagas assay is an in vitro chemiluminescent immunoassay (ChLIA) for the qualitative detection of antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), the causative agent of Chagas disease, in human serum and plasma specimens. The ABBOTT PRISM Chagas assay is intended to screen individual human donors, including volunteer donors of whole blood and blood components and other living donors, for the presence of antibodies to T. cruzi. The assay is also intended for use in testing serum and plasma specimens to screen organ donors when specimens are obtained while the donor's heart is still beating, and in testing blood specimens to screen cadaveric (non–heart-beating) donors. It is not intended for use on cord blood specimens or for the laboratory diagnosis of Chagas infection. This assay has not been validated for use with plasmapheresis specimens, amniotic fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid or pooled specimens. This product contains human sourced and/or potentially infectious components. About Chagas Disease Chagas disease is caused by the parasite T. cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insects through contact with the feces of an infected triatomine bug. Infection also occurs congenitally, through transfusions of contaminated blood products, or through an organ transplant from an infected donor. If left untreated, Chagas disease develops from an acute to a chronic illness, which could result in constipation, digestive problems, abdomen pain, and abnormal heart rhythms or heart failure, which may result in death. As many as 11 million people are infected by the disease, which is endemic throughout much of Mexico, Central America, and South America. About Neglected Diseases Chagas disease belongs to a group of 13 tropical diseases (NTDs), considered neglected as they disproportionately affect the world's poor and marginalized populations, and tend to fall low on the list of public health priorities. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than one billion people or one-sixth of the world's population suffer from one or more neglected tropical diseases. Important progress towards the elimination and eradication of neglected tropical diseases is being made as a result of the development of public-private partnerships, drug donations from pharmaceutical companies, increased country and international agency commitment, and effective intervention strategies. Abbott is committed to the development and modification of new drugs and diagnostic tools to address unmet needs in the area of neglected disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management. About Abbott Diagnostics Abbott Diagnostics is a global leader in in vitro diagnostics and offers a broad range of innovative instrument systems and tests for hospitals, reference labs, blood banks, physician offices and clinics. With more than 69,000 institutional customers in more than 100 countries, Abbott's diagnostic products offer customers automation, convenience, cost effectiveness and flexibility. The history of Abbott Diagnostics is filled with examples of first-of-a-kind products and significant technological advancements, including the development of the very first diagnostic test to detect HIV. About Abbott Abbott (NYSE: ABT) is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 83,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at www.abbott.com.
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Two Fisted Podcast 1: Hong Kong Godfather
Ideal females The Ninjasquid and achillesgirl discuss Wang Lung Wei's 1985 bloody triad film Hong Kong Godfather in the debut episode of Two Fisted Podcast! Highlights include Ninjasquid's special recipe for the "Hong Kong Godfather" cocktail, a short pre-Shaw biography of Wang Lung Wei, his career, an hommage à Shum Wai, an email interview with Wayne Archer, and a "Learn Movie Cantonese!" segment with Frank Djeng (frankdjeng at yahoo.com) ! Sex, violence and hilarity ensues. Also see the Hong Kong Godfather companion blogpost
Contact the show via email at twofistedpodcast at yahoo.com, via our forum (containing EXCLUSIVE content and announcements!), Two Fisted Podcast blog, Facebook group or Twitter (@podcastonfire, @2fistedpodcast) and SUBSCRIBE to our iTunes feed.
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Ornamental to detrimental | Napier
Th 10 May
2018 Leonard Cockayne Lecture
Professor Philip Hulme speaks on the current and future threats to New Zealand by non-native plants, and the policies and tools that are needed to control these plant invaders.
Ornamental to detrimental: The invasion of New Zealand by non-native plants
Aotearoa New Zealand has more types of non-native plants than almost anywhere in the world. Our great botanist, Leonard Cockayne (1855-1934), believed that such non-natives would never pose a threat to our native flora. Yet today, many of these introduced species are causing significant economic and environmental costs, with all signs pointing to this problem growing in the future.
Professor Philip Hulme, recipient of the 2017 Leonard Cockayne Lecture Award, will explore the history of plant invasions in New Zealand and examine the underlying causes and potential future trends. Some of these invasive plants have been introduced as commercial crops such as pine and pasture grasses, while others have arrived as ornamentals from around the world. Cockayne himself introduced thousands of non-native plants to his property in Christchurch.
Although new imports are screened at the border for signs of invasive behaviour, New Zealand faces a threat from the 30,000 or so varieties already grown here in our gardens, though sometimes it takes up to 100 years before these invaders jump the garden fence and become a problem.
So what are the tools available to control these current and future threats? Philip looks at the role of botanic gardens in both the spread and management of invasive weeds, and consider how both the government and public can be more effective in preventing and controlling the plant invaders.
About the speaker
Professor Philip Hulme FRSNZ is the Chair in Plant Biosecurity at Lincoln University, where he is based at the Bio-Protection Research Centre. He has been listed in the top 1% of all scientists worldwide in terms of his research impact in each of the past four years. His expertise lies in biological invasions and biosecurity and he is a member of the New Zealand Biosecurity Ministerial Advisory Committee.
All welcome. Free admission.
Guarantee your seat(s) by registering now.
Come and discover with this series of Academy Lectures from Royal Society Te Apārangi, where we share the expertise of New Zealand scientists through the ties with our Branches - Hawke's Bay Branch of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
This event is proudly presented in partnership with the Bio-Protection Research Centre.
Views that are expressed at this event may not reflect those of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Professor Philip Hulme
Ornamental to detrimental: The invasion of New Zealand by non-native plants
Royal Society Te Apārangi
Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT), 501 Gloucester Street, Taradale, Napier, Hawke's Bay 4112
6:00pm Thu 10 May, 2018 - 7:00pm Thu 10 May, 2018


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August 23, 2006
Gmail Opens In Japan
Gmail was initially an invite-only service, then users from the US and other countries could get Gmail by SMS, and now more countries can have Gmail directly from Gmail.com. Google clearly prepares for the public release of Gmail, after more than two years of beta-testing.
I wonder which of the three email services will get out of beta first: Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Windows Live Mail?
4 comments:
The funny thing about all that is, that they all have the same problem: ScalingReplyDelete
All the services are slow, to a different extent, but slow.
Gmail is in the best situation here, because it doesn't need so much initial loading time (compared to WL Mail and Yahoo Mail Beta).
I guess it will be a quite launch for Gmail, I think they are already in launching phase.
The Windows Live-services should launch soon after Windows Vista, because afaik Microsoft wants to promote the WL-brand in Vista.
To see how flawed search engines are, I couldn't find a single information about webmail and Gmail's popularity in Japan. The problem is I searched in English.ReplyDelete
Maybe someone from Japan could enlighten me.
- AnonymousAugust 23, 2006 at 3:50 AM
Wait... in Japan you dont´t have to send a SMS? Really?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 23, 2006 at 4:54 AM
Maybe at the same time, some 4.1, that out of beta.ReplyDelete
New comments are not allowed.


text:
If "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is the last ever episode of The River—and it almost certainly is—it's an appropriately underwhelming conclusion to a frustrating series that only sporadically delivered on its initial promise. While last week's episode brought us a tribute-band version of The Walking Dead, this week's installment reaches all the way back to The Exorcist for its special brand of rehashed and watered-down horror. As has been the case for most of our excursion down The River, there are a handful of effective moments surrounded by talky soap-opera segments and forehead-slapping stupidity.
The hour begins promisingly enough, with Lincoln getting shot in the neck and killed. I'm sure I was not alone in rejoicing for half a second before remembering that this is The River, and that he'd surely be alive again before the next commercial break. That is indeed what happens, thanks to Jahel, who has apparently had a full personality transplant since last we saw her. She's still The Spanish Exposition, of course, informing Tess (and us) that Lincoln can be brought back to life with the help of the Boiuna, which is not just the name of the region through which they've been traveling, but also what the God of All Demons likes to be called when he's relaxing at home. (Other nicknames include The Black Snake and, my favorite, The Boat Eater.)
Jahel conducts some sort of black-magic ritual in order to summon Boiuna and bring Lincoln back from the dead. All of this seemed completely out of character to me, as did a later scene in which Jahel tells her father that she's not scared of all the creepy stuff that's been happening, unlike him. It's funny, because I remember Jahel as the one who was always panicking, running around telling everybody that they had to get the hell off the river and stop messing with all these dark forces. The writers have also decided that this would be a good time to feed us a lot of back-story about Jahel and her mother, as if we're now supposed to believe they've actually cared about her as a character all this time.
The episode gets lively for a few minutes in the middle, as the now-possessed Lincoln sheds his whiny persona and starts acting like badass. I have to say, I much preferred this post-death version of our hero to the original. It may have been unintentional, but I was reminded of the series finale of a far superior supernatural-inflected show, Twin Peaks, and its final moments with the evil Agent Cooper. That is, before Emmet figures out what's going on, and Lincoln goes the full Linda Blair, taunting and contorting and rasping like a third-rate Tom Waits impersonator.
In the end, however, The River returns to its roots as a pale imitation of Lost, with the resolution of daddy issues serving as the cure for what ails Lincoln. Once again, Bruce Greenwood deserves all the credit in the world for fully committing to the cringe-worthy dialogue when Emmet apologizes for missing out on his son's entire life up until that point. He almost manages to sell it.
The final "cliffhanger," in which the course of the river morphs, trapping the crew of the Magus as permanently as the crew of the Minnow before them (without anywhere near enough episodes for a syndication run), works as an ending for me. I take perverse glee in thinking that these people are trapped together forever, as long as I don't have to see anymore of it.
Stray observations:
- Thanks to Hayden Childs for filling in for me last week. I owe you a beer or six, Hayden.
- How about one last nitpick about the found-footage gimmick? We see Lincoln kill Jonas through the ship's cameras, from several angles, but when Emmet looks at the footage later, he sees Jonas walking away unharmed, followed by Lincoln glancing up at the camera. Obviously, the implication here is that the Boiuna-Lincoln has cast some kind of spell, thus changing the footage, which is fine, except… where did the footage we saw earlier come from? We shouldn't have been able to see what really happened, right?
- "Day 35—The Search for Emmet Cole." Except… the search for Emmet Cole ended when he was found, no?
- Nothing much ever came of Lena's birthmark. Or Kurt's secret mission. Or "The Source." I guess the producers are saving that for the second season. Let's not hold our breath.


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England Dish Towel
Between the North Sea, Irish Sea, and the English Channel exists an amazing delight - England!
The design is silk-screened, then framed with a hand embroidered border on a 100% cotton dish towel / hand towel / guest towel / bar towel. Three stripes down both sides and hand dyed rick-rack at the top and bottom add a charming vintage touch. Delightfully presented in a fab organdy re-usable pouch!
Packaged in organdy pouch
100% Cotton
Machine wash cold and line dry
Measures 20" x 29"


text:
a tale of 52 cards
One of the questions we are asked repeatedly is "How do you tell people what permaculture is?" If you give them a book, they might look at a few pictures. If you send them a link to something they tend to save it for later. The idea of the deck of cards is that they might browse it like a book - but this is all pictures and just a few words. Much easier to browse. And hopefully convey a bigger picture in a smaller package.
When you are bonkers about permaculture, your friends and family tend to think you are crazy .... if only there were a way to help them understand your passion better ..... while at the same time resolving your winter gift giving obligations. Whattya know? I created just the thing! But first, lemme tell ya a little story.
In 2011 I made a podcast where I suggested the idea of permaculture playing cards. A thread started and people said they were going to make it a real thing. When that didn't go anywhere, I tried to shake a few trees to see if people would make this cool thing happen. A lot of people liked the idea, but nothing came of it. In May of 2012 Alexander Ojeda and I got to work.
We spent hours arguing over each card. We spent hours arguing over the whole deck and what stuff made the cut and what stuff didn't. Weeks and months passed and we had a dozen cards done. More months and we had a system of "done", "in progress" or "need to figure out how to start." On and on and on. Now it seems really weird. We're finally done. The amount of work that went into this was about twenty times greater than I originally thought it would be. But, wow - they turned out far better than I thought possible.


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CA Supreme Court Process for Filing Challenges to Redistricting
Contact: Lynn Holton, Public Information Officer, 415-865-7740
Aug 15, 2011
Supreme Court Requires Electronic Submission of Petitions and Related Documents Challenging Electoral Maps Certified by the Citizens Redistricting Commission
Court creates dedicated 'uploading' and 'downloading' pages on the California Courts Website
San Francisco—The California Supreme Court today announced in Administrative Order No. 2011-8-15 that any petition that might be filed challenging any map recently certified by the Citizens Redistricting Commission (Commission), or any related litigation document, must be submitted, as soon as possible, in electronic format, prior to presentation for timely filing in hard copy.
On Monday, August 15, the Commission certified to the Secretary of State electoral district boundaries for four statewide maps covering California's 53 congressional, 40 State Senate, 80 State Assembly, and 4 State Board of Equalization districts. Under California Constitution article XXI, section 3, subdivision (b)(2), registered voters may challenge these maps by filing a petition for a writ of mandate or prohibition in the California Supreme Court within 45 days of certification—that is, by Thursday, September 29, 2011.
Frederick Ohlrich, Clerk/Administrator of the court, explained that "electronic submission" of any petition or petitions challenging any certified map "would allow the court to address the claims presented in an expeditious manner and help the court ensure that future statewide elections, including the June 5, 2012, statewide Primary Election, can proceed as scheduled."
With regard to electronic submission, the court's order states: "In light of the limited time the court will have to review any petition challenging any map or maps given the numerous procedural prerequisites that must occur prior to the June 5, 2012, Primary Election . . . [a]ny petition that will be offered for filing to challenge any map, and any corresponding preliminary opposition or reply, must first be submitted in electronic format in a single "text-based" document (containing "embedded images" as necessary) not exceeding 50 megabytes, by uploading the document to the specially dedicated judicial branch web page. The web site provides instructions about how to upload and download documents and various technical matters. Any litigant may be excused from the requirement of prior electronic submission by demonstrating that compliance would pose a substantial hardship—for example, by filing a declaration under penalty of perjury that the litigant has no access to a computer or Internet services, etc."
The order continues: "Electronic submission alone is not sufficient. Within 24 hours after electronic submission, the hard copy of the petition or related preliminary opposition or reply must be presented and received by this court for timely filing by September 29, 2011, in the court's San Francisco office. Upon confirmation by the clerk's office (a) that the document has been properly uploaded to the dedicated judicial branch web page, and (b) of proof of service by hard copy on all parties, the petition or related preliminary opposition or reply will be filed. As soon as possible following electronic submission, the document will become available for downloading on the judicial branch Web site by any interested person or entity. All subsequent filing deadlines will run from the date of filing of the hard copy of the petition."
The order also states that the court will establish expedited deadlines for the service and filing of any preliminary opposition or reply.