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Our heritage ham is featured in the December issue of Bon Appetit magazine … and they did a beautiful job with it. Check out their video with editor Adam Rappaport extolling the virtues of the ham for a holiday party. We get a little choked up watching the video. Our ham looks so good. And it's bringing people together, with forks and knives at the ready.
Let's have a close-up, shall we? Just look at that gorgeous glaze and crispy skin. There's nothing to it, as the video proves. And we have two simple recipes for the glaze. But don't be afraid to improvise.
You can get one of these glorious 12- to 14-lb pieces of porcine heaven at dartagnan.com. Already have a plan for your Christmas meal? Well, maybe a ham would liven up your New Year's Eve party!


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Salem Elder Law Lawyers
Mr. John Walter Mead
(812) 883-4693
IndianaIndiana State Bar and Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Assn.
Bruce Brightwell
(812) 542-0007
Indiana University - Indiana University-BloomingtonIndiana University - Indiana University-BloomingtonIndiana and KentuckyAmerican College of Legal MedicineIndiana State Bar and National Academy of Elder Law AttorneyBook Review, The Caregivers: A Support Group's Stories of Slow Loss, Courage, and Love, by Nell Lake.
Charles Murphy
(812) 944-0515
IndianaIndiana State Bar
Mary F Higdon
(812) 961-8333
Illinois and IndianaIndiana Bar Association and Indiana Public Defender Council
Leslie Mathewson
(765) 587-4526
Valparaiso University School of LawBall State UniversityIndianaIndiana Bar FoundationIndiana State Bar and American Inns of Court
Felicia Locke
(317) 638-3468
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawIndianaIndiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawIndiana State Bar and Indianapolis Bar Association
Robert J. Arnold
(317) 392-2553
Valparaiso University School of LawIndiana University - Indiana University-BloomingtonIndianaIndiana State Bar and Indianapolis Bar Association
Dana Luetzelschwab
(317) 536-2644
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawEarlham CollegeIndianaIndiana State Bar and Indianapolis Bar Association
Jeff Hawkins
(812) 268-8777
University of LouisvilleIndiana University - Indiana University-BloomingtonIndianaIndiana Super LawyersNational Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and Indiana State Bar
Melissa Winkler-York
(317) 781-1080
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawPurdue University - Purdue University7th Circuit and IndianaIndiana State Bar
Grace E. Dillow
(317) 825-5110
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawButler UniversityIndianaState Bar of Indiana
Susan Hunter
(317) 863-2030
Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky UniversityHanover CollegeIndianaIndiana State Bar and Hamilton County Bar Association
Clifton A Dennis
(317) 500-4883
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawIndiana
Amy J. Osborne
(317) 467-6107
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawFranklin College and Manchester CollegeIndianaIndiana State Bar, Hancock County Community Foundation Women's Fund...
Micha R. Buffington
(765) 552-9878
University of Tennessee College of LawPurdue University - Purdue University and Anderson UniversityTennessee and IndianaIndiana State Bar Association
Cynthia Bedrick
(317) 825-5110
Indiana University Maurer School of LawButler UniversityIndianaIndiana State Bar
Jay J. Haggerty
(317) 786-2225
IndianaIndiana State Bar and Executive Council Estate Planning & Administration Section, Indianapolis Bar Assoc.
Matthew Moore
(812) 932-1227
IndianaIndiana State Bar and National Association of Elder Law Attorneys
Jayson R. Gilbert
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of LawIndianaIndiana State Bar
John V. Commons
The LII Lawyer Directory contains lawyers who have claimed their profiles and are actively seeking clients. Find more Salem Elder Law Lawyers in the Justia Legal Services and Lawyers Directory which includes profiles of more than one million lawyers licensed to practice in the United States, in addition to profiles of legal aid, pro bono and legal service organizations.
Researching Attorney Discipline

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The place that brought you Rolf wants to bring back the times that brought you Rolf.
One Year After Granting Adulthood To Video Gamers, Committee Suggests Australian Government Reenact Ban On R18+ Games
from the the-land-of-eternal-youth dept
Early in 2013, the Australian government finally recognized the fact that the average gamer is nearly 30 years old and can probably handle twice the objectionable content a 15-year-old can and passed a law creating an R18+ classification (roughly equivalent to the ESRB's "M" rating). This gave Australian gamers the chance to play something more age-appropriate, something that usually wasn't possible with the previous top-end classification of MA15+. Whatever wasn't banned outright was often gutted to meet censors' requirements.
Now, part of Australia is considering rolling that new decision back.
The Australian State of Western Australia (WA) is reviving the country's vexed games classification debate, with a new report suggesting the state government should consider banning games currently carrying an R18+ classification.
The average gamer may be nearer to a mid-life crisis than mid-teen surliness, but WA's governing bodies are still thinking about "the children."
The suggestion is contained in a report from the Joint Standing Committee on the Commissioner for Children and Young People, in the latest in a series of reports on the Sexualisation of Children.
Among various recommendations aimed at preventing the sexualization of children (including a suggestion to put government resources to work regulating child beauty pageants) is the following:
Proposal 5: Amendments to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1996 (WA)
Further consideration be given to possible amendments to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1996 (WA)
• To prohibit the sale, supply, demonstration, possession or advertisement of a R18+ computer game in Western Australia; or
• To provide that it is an offence for any person to supply a R18+ computer game to a minor; and/or
• To provide that it is an offence for any person to supply a R18+ film to a minor; and/or
• To provide that it is an offence for any person to supply a Category 1 Restricted publication to a minor.
The first suggestion is obviously a regression to Australia's pre-2013 days, the golden era of "computer gaming", when everyone agreed video games weren't to be played by adults. The other suggestions are slightly less odious, but still point towards the government further entrenching itself in the content-regulation business. Like similar awful legislation mooted by US lawmakers, this points towards criminal charges being levied against anyone who supplies certain content to minors. It's a bad idea, and one that infantilizes not only the "children," but adults as well, threatening to take away their choice in content as well as their own personal decisions as to what's appropriate for their children.
But the report's bad ideas aren't strictly limited to video games and other entertainment media. The report also suggests the government might be interested in regulating other areas as well.
Consideration be given to referring to the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia a review of Western Australia's laws and regulations that may impact on the regulation of the content and display of billboard and outdoor advertising to determine if there is any scope for Western Australia to regulate the nature and positioning of outdoor advertisements to ensure that children and young people are protected from exposure to sexualised images.
Government regulation of advertising is nothing new, but rather than clear-cut bans on tobacco products or alcoholic beverages, this new directive would ask the government to determine whether or not any image is too "sexualized" to be allowed to be seen by the public. Advertisers will be forced to deal with a regulating body's highly subjective views. Erring on the side of caution will be the most common option — for both involved parties. The end result will be ad campaigns that attempt to sell products to adults by approaching them as if they were five.
The committee also thinks the government might be able to do something about sexting.
The findings of the Victorian Parliamentary Law Reform Committee inquiry into sexting be examined to determine if there are any strategies or options to reduce the negative impact of sexting on children and young people in Western Australia both generally and in relation to the sexualisation of children and young people.
The only way the government can intercede in private communications is by criminalizing certain content. The outcome of this has already been seen in the US, where sexting between minors has ended with participants being accused of sex offenses — charges that lump them together with actual child predators and saddle them with years of government-induced ostracism.
Elsewhere, the report is very even-handed in depicting the realities of regulating content and advertising, noting that parental supervision will have far more impact than any laws that may result from its findings.
It is necessary to recognise that if sexualised media and advertising content is available to adults it is inevitable that some of this content will be accessed (either deliberately or inadvertently) or viewed by children and young people. With the convergence of media and the multitude of platforms by which children and young people can access material from the internet (for example laptops, smart phones, smart TVs, iPad, iPods and other gaming devices) laws and regulations cannot alone protect children and young people from the potential harmful effects of being exposed to premature or inappropriate sexualised content.
It also notes that this committee's desire to head off the sexualization of children may veer into damaging witch hunts if not tempered, especially if the "sexualization" itself is given too broad of a definition.
There is a risk that if a broad definition is adopted, the extent of sexualisation of children may be overestimated or that the more serious examples of inappropriate sexualisation will be overlooked. Incidentally, it has been observed that one commentator (Catharine Lumby) is concerned that 'by having this conversation [about sexualisation] all the time we'll end up looking for sexual images of children where there aren't [any]'.
The problem is that, no matter how well-written and even-handed the report is (and much of it is), it's being handed over to government bodies which tend to prefer broad brushwork to subtlety. What's completely intolerable to most legislators is admitting there's very little they can do to address convoluted issues like these, at least not without making things much worse. All it takes is a few bits of anecdotal evidence to fuel the lawmaking fire and Australians could see their government (or at least the Western State side) slip back into censor mode.
Taking away adults' choices because children might avail themselves of the content isn't the answer but this report presents it as being just that, a potential "fix" for a societal issue. Video games have long been low-hanging fruit for legislators whose reach never exceeds their limited grasp and "for the children" may be all the excuse they need to roll back the recently-granted adulthood of its gaming population.
There's plenty in the report that warns against such legislative band-aids, but the most troubling suggestions are right up front, easily skimmable and bullet-pointed. Which part of this report is likely to see more politician eyeballs? The first 15 pages, with all the "remedies" and "do somethings?" Or the last 100+ pages, where the subtleties, nuances and limitations of legislative action are thoroughly discussed?
Filed Under: adults, australia, bans, mature, r18+, ratings, video games, western australia


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5 things to know about Ebola outbreak in W. Africa
(AP)—There has been panic and fear about the deadly Ebola disease spreading ever since Nigerian health officials reported Friday that a Liberian man sick with the disease had traveled to Togo and then Nigeria before dying. Here are five things to know about Ebola and how it is spread:
1. THE WEST AFRICA EBOLA OUTBREAK IS NOW THE LARGEST IN HISTORY. The World Health Organization says more than 672 people have died from Ebola. A total of 1,201 cases had been reported as of last week in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In addition, one Liberian man has died in Nigeria.
2. BUT SOME PEOPLE HAVE SURVIVED EBOLA. While the fatality rate for Ebola can be as high as 90 percent, health officials in the three countries say people have recovered from the virus and the current death rate is about 70 percent. Those who fared best sought immediate medical attention and got supportive care to prevent dehydration even though there is no specific treatment for Ebola itself.
3. EBOLA CAN LOOK A LOT LIKE OTHER DISEASES. The early symptoms of an Ebola infection include fever, headache, muscle aches and sore throat, according to the World Health Organization. It can be difficult to distinguish between Ebola and the symptoms of malaria, typhoid fever or cholera. Only in later stages do people with Ebola begin bleeding both internally and externally, often through the nose and ears.
4. EBOLA IS ONLY SPREAD THROUGH BODILY FLUIDS. The Ebola virus is not airborne, so people would have to come into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. These include blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen—making transmission through casual contact in a public setting unlikely.
5. FEAR AND MISINFORMATION THOUGH IS MAKING THINGS WORSE. In each of the affected countries, health workers and clinics have come under attack from panicked residents who mistakenly blame foreign doctors and nurses for bringing the virus to remote communities. Family members also have removed sick Ebola patients from hospitals, including one woman in Sierra Leone's capital who later died. Police had to use tear gas to disperse others who attacked a hospital in the country.
© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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Annual Report and Accounts 2010 and new Articles of association
Renishaw plc (the "Company")
Annual Report and Accounts 2010 and new Articles of association
Renishaw plc (the "Company")
Annual Report and Accounts 2010 and new Articles of association
Further to the publication of the Company's preliminary announcement of its annual results for the year ended 30 June 2010 on 28 July 2010 (the "Preliminary Announcement"), it is confirmed that two copies of the following have been submitted to the UK Listing Authority:
1. Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2010 containing Notice of AGM;
2. Proxy Form; and
3. Proposed new articles of association.
These will shortly be available for inspection at the UK Listing Authority's Document Viewing Facility, whose address is set out below.
UK Listing Authority
Financial Services Authority
25 The North Colonnade
Canary Wharf
Tel. No. (0)20 676 1000
The Annual Report and Accounts 2010 will also be available on www.renishaw.com (see document below)
In compliance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the following information, together with the Preliminary Announcement (available on www.renishaw.com), forms the information required to be communicated to the media in unedited full text as required by DTR 6.3.5:
Risk Management
Worldwide economic situation
In response to the global economic downturn, the Group initiated a significant cost reduction programme at the start of the 2009 calendar year, with a targeted £10m reduction in annual overhead expenditure, a redundancy programme involving 437 personnel and the remaining staff accepting a voluntary 20% reduction in pay from February 2009.
Order intake has shown a significant improvement since the end of the Group's last financial year, with orders received exceeding sales for the current financial year. As profits returned during the first half of the current financial year, full pay was reinstated in stages, effectively for the full year.
The Board continues to maintain a tight control on costs and additional headcount is approved where vital to support the increasing order book.
Whilst the signs of an improving global economy are encouraging, the upturn may be slower than anticipated, highlighting that Group growth targets may be at risk.
Order book
Orders from customers generally involve short lead times with the outstanding order book at any time being around one month's worth of sales value.
This limited forward order visibility restricts the Group's ability to forecast demand accurately and therefore requires maximum production flexibility and appropriate inventory levels.
Research and development
The Group invests heavily in research and development in order to develop new products and processes to maintain the long-term growth of the Group. This research and development encompasses new innovative products within our core metrology business, as well as the application of our technology in the area of healthcare, including dental and specific applications in the medical field.
The development of new products and processes involves risk, such as with development time, which may take longer than originally forecast and hence involve more cost. Also, being at the leading edge of new technology, there are uncertainties whether new developments will perform as planned and in some cases, projects may need to be halted.
Research and development also involves beta testing at our major customers to ensure that new products will meet the needs of the market at the right price.
Expenditure is only capitalised once the commercial and technical feasibility of a product is proven.
These risks are minimised by operating strictly managed research and development programmes with regular reviews against milestones achieved and against forecast business plans.
Defined benefit pension schemes
With the closure of the UK and Irish defined benefit schemes to new employees and future accruals for existing members, the major risk surrounding accounting for pension costs and future funding arise from investment performance within the portfolio and actuarial assumptions.
This year has seen the Consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expense bear an actuarial loss of £14.9m (2009 loss of £13.0m).
The UK defined benefit scheme is secured by a registered charge on certain of the Group's UK properties. The Pension Regulator has confirmed that it does not propose to issue any scheme funding directions under Part 3 of the Pensions Act 2004.
With the concentration of manufacturing in the UK, Ireland and India, there is an exposure to fluctuating currencies on export sales, largely in respect of the US Dollar, Euro and Japanese Yen. The Group managed the risk in respect of the year just ended by using forward contracts to hedge forecast income streams for its Euro and Japanese Yen exposures and for a proportion of its US Dollar income streams.
The hedging contracts outstanding at the end of the year were marked to market at the year end and the Consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expense shows a profit for the year of £5.6m (after tax) on these outstanding contracts, with the cash flow hedging reserve changing from a loss of £5.4m at the end of June 2009 to a profit of £0.2m at the end of June 2010.
The Group continues to be hedged against current levels of Euro and Japanese Yen receivables on a rolling three-and-a-half year basis, and against a proportion of forecast US Dollar receivables on a rolling fourteen-month basis. The Group monitors the effectiveness of its hedging policies regularly and any ineffective proportions may need to be accounted for in the Consolidated income statement. The policy relating to the Group's hedging practices is noted within the treasury policies on page 14.
Significant judgement is required in determining the effective tax rate and in evaluating certain tax positions. Tax provisions are adjusted as a result of changing facts and circumstances, such as case law, progress of tax audits or when an event occurs requiring a change in tax provisions. Management regularly assesses the appropriateness of tax provisions.
Directors Responsibility Statement
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
(a) the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the accounting standards referred to in the Statement of directors' responsibilities, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
(b) the Financial review includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
20 August 2010
Renishaw plc
Registered office: New Mills, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire GL12 8JR UK
Registered number: 1106260
Contact name: Norma Tang
Contact telephone: 01453 524482
- Annual report: 2010 [2.0MB]


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Where is Obama on Religious Freedom?
Critics Cite His Support for Islamic Dominance Abroad Over Protection of Christians
WASHINGTON — International religious-freedom advocates are increasingly concerned that the Obama administration has rejected America's traditional role as the world's leading protector of religious liberty in order to placate Islamic critics. The concern that the Obama administration is retreating from the nation's long-standing leadership in advocating for religious freedom in all nations stems from a growing list of actions and inaction in an area that is critical to supporting Christian and other minorities abroad but also in helping to counter violent interpretations of Islam that have inspired thousands of deadly attacks worldwide.
One of the chief symbols and prime drivers of any administration's commitment to international religious freedom is the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, which is a position mandated by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. That position sat unfilled until June of this year, when Suzan Johnson Cook was nominated. However, she remains unconfirmed by the Senate more than a year after similar at-large ambassadors for global women's issues and counterterrorism were nominated and confirmed by the Democrat-majority Senate. Such a delay telegraphs that religious freedom is clearly not an Obama administration priority, said critics, because even a quick confirmation would leave the position filled for only half of Obama's four-year term.
"It communicates [to foreign-service personnel] that when this person does show up, there is no need to take this position very seriously," said Thomas Farr, a visiting professor at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs there.
Similarly concerning is the move by the Obama administration away from previous presidents' references to "freedom of religion" to "freedom of worship." The seemingly innocuous change in wording is noticed by State Department staff, who have many competing priorities, and by foreign nations who are hostile to religious freedom, according to advocates.
Change in Language
The language change was specifically cited by the 11th annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a congressionally mandated watchdog, that said holding other nations to a "freedom of worship" standard allows them to claim they are not oppressing certain religions if they allow the practice of those religions within the walls of their churches, temples or synagogues — even as they crush its display outside of those settings.
"It tells someone overseas … that we're not really going to hold you to account if you are persecuting someone outside of a house of worship," said Eric Rassbach, national litigation director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Specifically, such nations may allow minority churches but authorize those believers to be literally "gunned down with impunity leaving [those] places of worship," said Leonard Leo, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, when it released its report.
Evan Owen, a State Department spokesman, countered that "freedom of religion" has been referenced by the administration on at least two important occasions: during Obama's speech in Cairo in June 2009, when he said "freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together," and by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when releasing the department's 2009 International Religious Freedom report, which evaluates the situation in each country of the world.
"On an everyday basis, our ambassadors and senior officials routinely raise religious-freedom issues in meeting with host-nation governments, civil society and the media," Owen said.
Beyond the words, religious-freedom advocates have seen little action by this administration to push Islamic nations hostile toward the United States or even U.S.-allied Muslim nations toward better treatment of their minority religious populations. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., co-chairman of the International Religious Freedom Caucus, said the administration's lack of action to address the ongoing expulsions of Christians from Iraq and other Islamic countries highlights its general disinterest in the issue.
"There is a general malaise" on religious freedom in the Obama administration, Franks said. "But it's actually the cornerstone of all freedoms."
Undermining Pro-Life Law?
Beyond the weak responses to religious persecution in other countries, the Obama administration has been accused of actively undermining religion-based pro-life laws in Kenya, where it helped drive ratification of a constitution this year that for the first time allowed for abortion in cases other than when the life of the mother was in danger. Federal law prohibits using U.S. foreign assistance to lobby for or against abortion.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., has spurred an ongoing investigation into the Obama administration's role in the Kenyan constitution ratification by the inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and he plans hearings on the issue if Republicans gain a majority in the House of Representatives after the Nov. 2 election.
"The new constitution, in failing to protect Kenya's children, does not bode well for Kenya's future," Smith said. "It is doubly tragic that the Obama administration illegally used U.S. taxpayer dollars to do it."
Another issue raised by the Kenyan constitution was its elevation of Islamic "kadhi courts" and the provision of state funding to them. Leaders of other religious groups in Kenya are concerned, Smith said, that granting privileges to one religion over others in the constitution will lay the foundation for state-sanctioned religious discrimination.
Such active accommodations of hard-line Islamist belief are part of an emerging pattern in the Obama administration, according to William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, and others.
"The pandering to Islam causes a lack of religious freedom for all other faiths," said Murray, citing a lack of an Obama administration response to forced Islamic marriages of Hindi women in Bangladesh and repeated Islamic massacres of Indonesian Christian civilians.
Like other religious-freedom advocates, Murray granted that outspoken U.S. condemnation of such atrocities could precipitate more attacks on religious minorities in majority-Islamic countries, but at least in some of those countries U.S. military forces are available to provide sanctuary and protection, if political leaders allow them to do that.
Rich Daly writes from Washington.


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Non-economic government bodies
INFORMEST Non-profit government body created to provide market operators with information, documentation, training, assistance and consulting with regard to the countries of Eastern Europe (Balkans, Central-Eastern Europe, CIS) and Central and Eastern Asia (China, Mongolia, Vietnam):
Administration and Documentation Centre for International Economic Cooperation
- provides assistance in the use of government internationalisation instruments, which includes helping enterprises to complete the application procedure for funding or contributions.
INFORMEST website
IPI · government agency under the vigilance of the Ministry of Productive Activities specialised in promoting the growth and competitiveness of productive and economic systems in an international global context;
Institute for Industrial Promotion
· intervenes in the planning, realisation and administration of programmes, systematic actions and instruments aimed at supporting the development of Italian enterprises;
· operates in the context of the processes of international multilateral industrial cooperation promoted by the Italian government.
IPI website
Several principal representative organisations
Italian Manufacturers' association
· contributes – along with political institutions and national and international economic, social and cultural organisations – to the country's economic growth and social progress;
· intervenes in support of economic, political, social and cultural organisations in Italy and the European Union;
· represents and safeguards the sector of goods and services production.
Confindustria website
CONFAPI · promotes the interests of small and medium-sized industry;
Italian Confederation of Small and medium-Sized Enterprises
· fosters the economic and civil development of the country in association with national and foreign organisations and institutions.
Confapi website
CONFCOMMERCIO · collaborates with the European Union in defining community policy in the sector;
General Italian Confederation of Trade, Tourism, and Services for SMEs
· assists and handles applications for contributions for promotional activities abroad;
· researches new markets and seeks out potential buyers on international markets.
Confcommercio website
CONFARTIGIANATO · supports the development of new enterprises through training activities and information on local and national level opportunities and concessions;
Organisation for information on and representation of Italian artisan enterprises
· provides initial assessments of the quality of entrepreneurial projects and offers basic consulting on matters of legislation, credit, taxes and the environment;
· grants financial concessions in order to turn "business plans" into concrete enterprises.
Confartigianato website
CNA · represents artisan enterprises;
National Confederation of artisan and small and medium-sized enterprises
· formulates sector strategies and supplies information on opportunities, programmes and tenders proposed by the European Union;
· represents the world of self-enterprise through "CNA self-employed" consultants and collaborators.
CNA website
CONFAGRICOLTURA · promotes, assists and coordinates the economic activities of individual products or sectors of production;
Italian agriculture organisation
· represents and safeguards its associate enterprises within the institutional context;
· provides its associates with various qualified services such as legal consultation, training and technical assistance in the management of the agricultural enterprise.
Confagricultura website


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Mustang Confidential
Photos by the author and Ford Motor Co.
In its fifty years as an American automotive and pop-culture icon, the Ford Mustang has become as familiar as Monday Night Football, pumpkin pie and Seinfeld reruns, but here are few things you may not have known about the original Pony Car:
1. Mustang was nearly named Cougar
Although Mustang was always a front-runner for the car's name, it wasn't a lock until deep into the car's development. In fact, many design studies pointed to Cougar was the preferred name – including prototypes of the famed "corral" grille emblem showing a cougar inside rather than the running horse. As the story goes, Lee Iacocca and Henry Ford II settled on Mustang in November 1962, less than 18 months before the car's debut. Other names in the running included Bronco, Puma, Cheetah and Torino.
2. Ford sold more than 418,000 Mustangs in its first year of production
Talk about instant success. The driving-age Baby Boomers were waiting with baited breath for Ford to introduce the Mustang and rushed dealerships as if the Beatles were the salespeople. A total of 418,810 were sold in the first year. If that had occurred in 2012, the Mustang would have been second only to the Ford F-Series in annual sales, placing it ahead of Chevy's full-size trucks (418,312), Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and all the rest. By the way: Of those 418,000+ first-year Mustangs, 22,000 were sold on the first day alone! That's about 27 percent of all the Mustangs sold in all of 2012. Ford reached the one-million Mustangs milestone by February 23, 1966 – less than two years after it debuted. Wow.
3. The first Mustang off the assembly line was mistakenly sold in Canada
The historic first Mustang to roll off the assembly line – the one with serial number 0001 – was inadvertently sold to airline pilot Stanley Tucker, in St. Johns, Newfoundland. It was part of a display meant to show off the Mustang to customers, but not designated to be sold. Nevertheless, Tucker convinced the dealership to sell him the white convertible and it took a couple of weeks in those pre-Internet days for Ford to discover Mustang number 1 had gone missing. Ford tried to buy it back, but Tucker initially refused. About two years later he "traded" it in at Ford's headquarters for the one-millionth Mustang produced. It was another white convertible.
4. Lost Pace Cars
Ford supplied three modified Wimbledon White Mustang convertibles to serve as pace cars for the 1964 Indianapolis pace car. Each was fitted with a modified 289 V-8 and after the race, two of them disappeared. The vehicle identification numbers of all three are known, but only one, which ended up as a pace car at Florida's Sebring track, has been tracked. The other two have never resurfaced. Where are agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully when you need them? By the way: Ford also supplied 35 additional, bone-stock "festival" cars for the race that year.
5. The 1974 Mustang II was an unqualified success – even without a V-8
No kidding. With its diminutive size, lack of a V-8 engine and a legacy definitely lacking in respect, the introduction of the downsized Mustang II proved very successful for Ford. Approximately 386,000 were sold the first year, nearly tripling the sales of the 1973 Mustang. Although the lack of a V-8 seems incongruous for a Mustang, the Mustang II came along during the energy crisis, when efficiency trumped horsepower. A four-cylinder was standard and V-6 the only engine option, but the 302 V-8 returned to the lineup in 1975.
6. Jack Telnack saved the 1979 Mustang from being a Granada knock-off
When work commenced on the design of the third-generation Mustang – the car that would be known as the Fox-body – the Dearborn-based design staff was under strict orders to keep the styling formal. It was the mid-1970s, after all, and landau roofs and neo-classical design was popular, so a slanted nose was forbidden. The design concepts weren't inspiring and certainly didn't scream "MUSTANG." That changed when design honcho Jack Telnack returned in 1975 from overseas stints at Ford's European and Australian arms. He pushed the designers to start over with sleeker, European-influenced designs, including a slanted nose. The rest is history.
7. The Mustang SVO was not the first EFI turbocharged Mustang
In 1983 Ford introduced the Mustang GT Turbo, which featured the same turbocharged, non-intercooled 2.3-liter four-cylinder that debuted that year in the all-new "aero" Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. It was rated at 145 horsepower. The engine represented a giant technological leap over earlier carbureted turbo engines, with a modern port fuel injection system that's still used on most vehicles today. Unfortunately for the GT Turbo, the hotter 5.0-liter V-8 GT was more powerful for a comparable price and the intercooled Mustang SVO was introduced the next year. Only 556 were built in 1983 and about 4,000 were built in 1984, the GT Turbo's second and final year.
8. The Ford Probe was the car slated to replace the Fox-body Mustang
Ford was working on the Fox-body replacement for the Mustang throughout the 1980s, scheduling it to debut in 1989, around the time of the car's 25th anniversary. When word got out the car would be – gasp! – front-wheel-drive and without V-8 power, loyalists and casual automotive fans around the world registered their immediate disapproval. Ford took the feedback to heart, released the new car as the Probe and immediately went to work on the SN95-generation Mustang that debuted in 1994 (on a modified Fox platform).
9. The 1990 "7-Up" Mustang was the result of a failed NCAA basketball promotion
What do you when you're geared up to produce a number of uniquely outfitted Mustangs for a promotion and the rug gets pulled out from under you? Damn the torpedoes and continue full-speed ahead! That was Ford's response when informed the original deal to provide 30 green-with-white-top Mustangs as giveaways for a 7-Up promotion for the 1990 NCAA basketball tournament was scuttled. Having already developed the package when the promo's plug was pulled, Ford proceeded with production and dubbed it a special edition (with no mention of the aborted promotion). Ford produced 4,103 cars, which were later nicknamed the 7-Up Mustangs by enthusiasts.
10. Dearborn produced the 300-millionth Ford and its final Mustang in 2004
The year 2004 was a big one for Ford's Dearborn Assembly Plant. It built the 300-millionth Ford that year – a 40th Anniversary Mustang GT convertible – and its final Mustang, after forty years of production. The historic plant changed over to produce the F150 pickup and the Mustang moved to the Flat Rock plant, about 20 miles south. Ironically, the Flat Rock plant was also home to the almost-Mustang Ford Probe, from 1989-97.
Before the running horse there was a pouncing cat in the grille of early design concepts. Cougar was a leading name for the car before Mustang was confirmed.
After lining up at the World's Fair in New York, where the Mustang made its public debut, customer lined up at dealerships and bought 22,000 of them on the first day it went on sale.
Although all first-year Mustangs are technically 1965 models, the first six months of production are referred are known as 1964-1/2 models. The fastback body style didn't arrive until Oct. 1964, so it isn't considered a '64-1/2.
Airline pilot Stanley Tucker poses with Mustang serial number 1 that he persuaded his local dealer in St. Johns, Newfoundland to sell him – but Ford never intended to sell it.
Ford finally got serial number 1 back in 1966 by "trading" Stanley Tucker the one-millionth Mustang for it.
Mustang has paced the Indy 500 three times: 1964, 1979 and 1994. Three specially modified cars were built for both the '64 and '79 races; the 1994 – and SVT Cobra model – relied on the stock 240-hp 5.0L engine.
It may still seek respect today, but the Mustang II was a sales success upon its launch for 1974, with nearly triple the sales of the '73 model.
This was an early Mustang II concept under consideration. Seriously!
A V-8 rejoined the Mustang in 1975, after going missing in 1974, and the Cobra II was introduced in 1976 in an attempt to re-inject some sportiness into the lineup.
Before designer Jack Telnack took the reins, the Fox-body was heading in this very formal direction – definitely more Fairmont than Mustang.
With its slanted nose and minimal bright trim, the 1979 Mustang blended a European aesthetic that took the car roaring into the high-tech 1980s.
The Mustang GT Turbo beat the SVO model to the market by a year. Only about 4,500 were built between 1983 and '84.
The Mustang GT Turbo's 2.3L engine was rated at 145 hp, but lacked the performance-boosting intercooler that helped the SVO engine produce 175 horses.
The Ford Probe "officially" replaced the Escort-based EXP in the Ford lineup, but it was originally intended as the fourth-generation Mustang – until enthusiasts said no way to a front-drive 'Stang.
While it wasn't the Mustang, the Probe held its own in the market and Ford even pushed it in motorsports, including running the sleek, second-gen body in Pro Stock in the mid-1990s.
The 1990 Mustang known as the "7-Up" model was the result of an aborted NCAA basketball tournament promotion. Ford had developed the package already, so the company introduced it as a special edition.
A 2004 40th Anniversary Mustang GT was the 300-millionth Ford vehicle produced, and it was built at the Dearborn Assembly plant. Interestingly, the 100-millionth Ford as a 1978 Fairmont – the platform on which the 2004 Mustang was derived. It took Ford 75 years to build its first 100 million vehicles, but only 26 years to build another 200 million.
The Dearborn plant celebrated the one-millionth Mustang milestone in 1966, less than two years after the car went on sale and smashed sales records.
Today, the Mustang is built at Ford's Flat Rock, Mich., plant. It started with production of the S197 (2005+) generation and in April 2013, the plant marked its millionth Mustang produced there.
Published Dec 7th, 2015
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Overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight get an immediate benefit in the form of better heart health, according to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And the heart improvements happen whether that weight is shed by eating less or exercising more.
"If individuals want to do something that's good for their heart, then my message to them is lose weight by the method they find most tolerable," says the study's senior author Sándor J. Kovács, Ph.D, M.D., director of the Cardiovascular Biophysics Laboratory and professor of medicine. "They're virtually guaranteed that it will have a salutary effect on their cardiovascular system."
Studying a group of healthy, overweight but not obese, middle-aged men and women, the researchers found that a yearlong regimen of either calorie restriction or exercise increase had positive effects on heart function. Their analysis revealed that heart function was restored to a more youthful state so that during the heart's filling phase (called diastole) it took less time for participants' hearts to relax and fill with blood. The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Physiology and are now available online.
"As we get older, our tissues become more fibrotic as collagen fibers accumulate," says study co-author John O. Holloszy, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science. "So the arteries and heart muscle stiffen, and the heart doesn't relax as well after contracting. Similar studies that we've conducted with members of the Caloric Restriction with Optimal Nutrition Society (CRONies) show they have heart function resembling much younger people." CRONies voluntarily consume about 25 percent fewer calories than the average American while still maintaining good nutrition.
The scientists used ultrasound imaging (echocardiography) to measure the diastolic or filling phase of the cardiac cycle because it is a crucial indicator of heart health. "During filling, the left ventricle is a suction pump," Kovács explains. "Think of the rubber bulb of an old-fashioned bicycle horn — you squeeze it (the analog of the ejection phase of the cardiac cycle), then let go (the analog of the filling or diastolic phase) and the rubber bulb springs back to its original shape, sucking air back in. Similarly, the heart's muscle and connective tissue are elastic, and after ejecting blood to the body during contraction (systole), the left ventricle springs back to draw in new blood (diastole). It's during this filling phase of the cardiac cycle that subtle changes in heart health can be most readily detected."
By the end of the yearlong study, both the calorie restriction and exercise groups of volunteers lost 12 percent of their weight and 12 percent of their body mass index (BMI), a measurement considered to be a fairly reliable indicator of the amount of body fat. In both groups, participants' hearts responded to this weight loss by gaining the ability to relax more quickly, recovering some of the elasticity characteristic of younger heart tissue. Those in the calorie restriction group achieved slightly more reduction of heart stiffness.
Cardiologists can measure delicate alterations in diastolic function because of the work of Kovács, also professor of cell biology and physiology and adjunct professor of physics and of biomedical engineering, who developed a methodology called parameterized diastolic filling (PDF) formalism, which analyzes the filling of the heart according to physical laws and determines the chamber's elasticity and stiffness. Previous studies in humans using the PDF formalism have shown that it's a more sensitive and specific predictor of cardiovascular health than conventional indexes of heart function determined by echocardiography.
Although previous studies also have indicated that the heart benefits from weight loss, those studies were performed on morbidly obese people, few focused on diastolic function and none used the sophisticated PDF formalism. By looking at filling function in healthy, non-obese people using PDF formalism, the researchers in the current study were able to understand in more detail how normal hearts react to moderate weight loss.
The detailed analysis showed that in both groups, the left ventricle gained an increased capacity to expand to accommodate blood entering during diastole. In the calorie restriction group, the global stiffness of the left ventricle decreased, suggesting that the muscle and connective tissue of the heart more readily sprang back after the contraction phase. This group also experienced a decrease in the internal pressure gradient, indicating that their left ventricles had better suction ability.
The study participants were nonsmokers between ages 50 and 60 and had BMIs between 23.5 and 30, making them high normal to overweight. None of the participants had diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer or lung disease. Before enrolling in the study, all were relatively sedentary — they exercised less than 20 minutes a day or twice a week.
Twelve participants (four men and eight women) were in the calorie restriction group, in which volunteers reduced the amount of calories they ate between 12 percent and 15 percent. Their physical activity did not change. Thirteen participants (six men and seven women) were in the exercise group and increased their exercise to burn the caloric equivalent of the other group's caloric reduction. The exercise group exercised about six days a week for an hour each session walking, running, cycling or doing elliptical training. Their caloric intake did not change.
Kovács said he feels the study offers encouragement for those who are overweight. "One reason that it's hard to get people to change their behavior and lose weight is that we warn them about consequences of being overweight that might occur sometime in the future — we say if your BMI is too high, eventually you'll develop heart disease, diabetes or hypertension," Kovács says. "But now we can tell them, lose weight and right away you can have better cardiovascular health."
This study was part of a larger trial, CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy), designed to investigate the feasibility of long-term calorie restriction in humans. CALERIE investigators have begun a second phase of their study in which they will determine the effect of calorie restriction in younger people, age 25 to 45.
Riordan MM, Weiss EP, Meyer TE, Ehsani AA, Racette SB, Villareal DT, Fontana L, Holloszy JO, Kovács SJ. The effects of caloric restriction- and exercise-induced weight loss on left ventricular diastolic function. American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology. 2007 Dec 27; advance online publication.
Funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Whitaker Foundation, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Charitable Trust and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation supported this research.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.


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Following on from last year's Gods and Kings, 2K/Firaxis has announced Brave New World, a second expansion for Civilization V. Whereas G&K's headline features were religion and espionage, BNW seems to focus on "soft power": trade, culture, diplomacy, and a new "World Congress" a la the UN in previous Civ games/the Planetary Council in Alpha Centauri. I look forward to finding out more.
If you'd like to read the details, I've copied and pasted the press release below, while Rock Paper Shotgun has a full interview/preview up.
2K and Firaxis Games announced today that Sid Meier's Civilization® V: Brave New World, the second expansion pack for the award-winning Civilization V, is currently in development and will be released this winter for Windows-based PC and brought to the Mac® by Aspyr Media. Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World brings a massive amount of new gameplay to the Civilization V experience, providing gamers with even more rewarding ways to achieve world domination.
"Civilization V: Brave New World continues the strong tradition of ambitious expansion packs that fans have come to expect from the Civilization franchise," said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. "Brave New World is destined to continue the strong Civilization lineage that already includes massive expansions such as Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and Civilization V: Gods & Kings."
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World provides new depth and replayability through the introduction of international trade and a focus on culture and diplomacy. The player's influence around the world will be impacted by creating a number of Great Works across a variety of crafts, choosing an ideology for their civilization, and proposing global resolutions in the new World Congress. As players move through the ages of history, they will make critical decisions that influence relationships with all civilizations in the game world.
"After adding a number of great new features to Civilization V with the Gods & Kings expansion, the team continued to search for ways to create even more exciting gameplay through new systems and features," said Sid Meier, director of creative development for Firaxis Games. "We're happy to bring our fans another ambitious expansion that will provide hours and hours of new Civilization experiences.
Key features include:
– New Civilizations, Units and Buildings: The expansion features nine new civilizations, each with unique traits, units, buildings and all-new leaders, including Casimir III of Poland.
– New Culture Victory: Spread your culture across the globe, dominating all other cultures. Create masterpieces with Great Artists, Writers, and Musicians that are placed in key buildings across your empire, like Museums, Opera Houses and even the Great Library. Use Archaeologists to investigate sites of ancient battles and city ruins for priceless cultural artifacts. Become the first civilization with a majority influence in all other civilizations to achieve a Culture Victory, becoming the envy of the world.
– World Congress: The importance of diplomacy is intensified and city-state alliances are more important than ever. Change the diplomatic landscape through a new World Congress that votes on critical issues like implementing trade sanctions against rogue nations, limiting resource usage, designating host cities for the World Games and the use of nuclear weapons. Game-changing resolutions, vote trading, intrigue, and a new lead into the Diplomatic Victory ensures that the end of the game will be more dynamic than ever before.
– International Trade Routes: Build your cities into hubs of international trade by land and sea, creating great wealth and prosperity for your people, while also spreading religion, cultural influence, and science. The number of trade routes increases through the advancement of economics and technologies, the creation of wonders and the unique abilities of your civilization. Will you connect to a closer city for a lower payoff and a safer route, choose a longer route with more risk for the bigger payoff, or perhaps point your trade route inward, sending vitally important food and production to the far corners of your own empire?
– New Wonders: Eight new Wonders are introduced, including the Parthenon, Broadway, the Uffizi, and more.
– New Game Scenarios: Two new scenarios let gamers fight the "War Between the States" and embark on the epic Scramble for Africa. Fight the American Civil War from either the Union or Confederate side, as you focus on the critical action in the Eastern theatre of operations between the capital cities of Richmond and Washington. In "Scramble for Africa", the great colonial powers of the world are racing to explore the Dark Continent and extend their reach into its interior. Search for great natural wonders in the heart of Africa, as you explore a dynamically-generated continent each time you play.
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World is not yet rated by the Australian Classification Board or the OFLC in New Zealand and will be available for Windows-based PC and Mac this winter. For more information on Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World, please visit www.civilization.com or become a fan on Facebook.


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Исполнитель: AC/DC
Композиция: Who Made Who
Длительность mp3: 03:51
Добавлено: 2017-03-16
Просмотры: 553
The video game says "Play me"
Face it on a level but it takes you every time on a one on one
Feeling running down your spine
Nothing gonna save your one last dime cause it owns you
Through and through
The databank knows my number
Says I gotta pay cause I made the grade last year
Feel it when I turn the screw
Kicks you round the world, there ain't a thing that it can't do
Do to you
Who made who, who made you?
Who made who, ain't nobody told you?
Who made who, who made you?
If you made them and they made you
Who picked up the bill, who? And who made who?
Who made who, who turned the screw?
Satellites send me picture
Get it in the eye, take it to the world (take it to the wire)
Spinning like a dynamo
Feel it going round and round
Running out of chips, you got no line in an 8-bit town
So don't look down, no
Ain't nobody told you, who made who?


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If you're planning to sell your home, it's probably crossed your mind to try to sell it yourself and save the sales commission. But, there are some very good reasons why that would be a mistake.
According to housing industry experts at HomeGain.com and Realtor.org, more homes listed by real estate agents are sold than
homes marketed by owners, and they sell more quickly and for more money.
Homes listed by real estate professionals get more exposure and their sellers get more support. Real estate professionals offer many advantages:
- They're trained and licensed professionals.
- They have experience in your neighborhood and your market.
- They have oversight from brokers and state licensing officials.
- Their job is to advise you the best way to reach your goals.
- Their continuing education keeps them up-to-date on housing issues.
- They know how to present your home and deal with buyers.
- They know how and where to market properties.
- They know how to overcome typical snags that occur in all real estate transactions and closings.
- They understand state-required disclosures and look out for your best interests.
- They understand personal safety and security for your belongings during showings.
- They know the best resources to make transactions go more smoothly, from bankers to home-stagers to contractors.
- They have the most accurate data sources – the MLS, the only data repository that has the most up-to-date listing and sales information.
- They know how to negotiate.
- Their job is making real estate transactions successful.
When you market your own home, you have to make the time to do all the jobs a real estate professional would do, and you'll be
competing against other sellers who have real estate professionals by their sides.
If you can't leave work to show your home, or you feel it requires more knowledge and experience than you have, you can't go
wrong by hiring a well-respected real estate professional.


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Experts reiterate call for calorie count reform
Energy value of foods is most often allocated by using the Atwater general factor system, in which the main food components – protein, fat, and carbohydrate – have a single energy factor, regardless of the food in which they are found or how they are processed. Carbohydrates and proteins are considered to contain four calories per gram, fat nine calories per gram, and the system also includes a value of seven calories per gram of alcohol.
But momentum has been building to overhaul the way that calories are calculated, as evidence increasingly points to energy being locked up in the structure of some foods, meaning that it is not used by the body – while other research has suggested that cooking could increase the availability of energy.
"There needs to be some kind of reform of food energy evaluation throughout the world if it is to be representative of foods, including specific digestibilities," said Dr Geoffrey Livesey, an independent nutritionist addressing conference delegates at SIAL this week.
"We may overestimate the energy density of high protein and high fibre foods."
Professor Martin Wickham of Leatherhead Food Research said that measuring how much energy in foods is actually used in the body is not easy. He praised a recent study carried out by Novotny et al. published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which found that almonds contained about 20% less energy than previously thought, by measuring energy excreted in faeces and urine.
"What we eat is not necessarily absorbed," he said. "…Not all energy is taken up by the body."
Wickham added that there are two approaches being used to evaluate the caloric value of foods; measuring energy balance, as in the Novotny study, or using calorie conversion factors to estimate caloric content.
This latter is "of course less accurate because it is only a model of the real world," Wickham said.
The Almond Board of California is in discussions with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and food authorities in the US to reduce the amount of calories allocated to almonds on food labels following the Novotny study results.
Similar findings were made after US research into pistachios last year.


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Above measurements are of actual sweatshirt and NOT body measurements
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We will gladly exchange your free shipping purchase; customer will be responsible for return shipping of $9.95
If a refund is required on order with free shipping, a 15% re-stocking fee will be charged on returned items only.


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Despite all the compelling reasons local marathon runners share in a recent Palo Alto Weekly cover story as to why they run, I am completely confident that running a marathon is something I will never do. My excuse is that whatever willpower I might have once had for such an endurance event was depleted in multiple rounds of natural childbirth. But I embrace all the reasons the marathoners' cite for running: improving health, the joy of "moving the body in nature," training with a goal, and the benefits of longer exercise sessions for reflection and meditation. Fortunately there are alternative exercise opportunities that are considerably less strenuous than a marathon but can provide these benefits for the rest of us!
Two weeks ago on a gorgeous spring morning, air fresh and fields lush from recent rains, I had the pleasure, along with my friend, Lisa, and 2500 other women, of riding in the 38th Cinderella Classic, a bike tour hosted by the Valley Spokesmen Bicycle Touring Club every April. The 65-mile ride begins and ends at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, and winds its way counter clockwise through Livermore, Danville, and San Ramon. The route passes through residential neighborhoods and strip malls, but most of the route is rural with farmhouses, pastures, vineyards, and bucolic views of the surrounding green hills.
It is not a race, nor a fundraiser, just a wonderful opportunity to ride some distance with an enthusiastic, friendly and festive group of women while following a trail of painted pink arrows. Biking is the perfect pace at which to appreciate the landscape and wave at the cows and sheep.
There are women of all shapes, sizes and ages on the ride. We were inspired by a woman celebrating her 70th birthday on her bike, and a woman pedaling confidently with her artificial leg. Pink and purple are the colors of the day. One group in matching grape jelly-colored jerseys looked intent on besting their previous ride times, but most participants are decidedly more relaxed in demeanor and dress. Sequined helmets, tulle tutus and feather boas are popular choices for coordinating outfits. Lisa and I couldn't imagine biking that distance wearing flapping or itchy costumes, but next year we might at least wear some whacky socks so we do not feel so woefully underdressed! There were also bikes with bright pink tires, and one bike painted black and white like a Holstein dairy cow with a pink udder attached.
The route is mostly flat, although there are two gradual ascents with a total elevation gain of just over 1900 ft. An optional additional challenge loop over Altamont pass increases the mileage and elevation gain considerably. The challenge loop is also something I am pretty certain I will never do.
The $48 registration fee covers coffee and bagels at the start, hot soup at the finish, and three rest stops in between stocked with healthy snacks, drinks, and wraps for lunch, all served by smiling volunteers. There are plenty of port-a-potties, and SAG (support and gear) vehicles patrol the route to assist in minor repairs. Police are also a visible presence, one on a motorcycle got us laughing by kindly covering his eyes with his hands allowing us to cruise through a stop sign without losing our downhill momentum.
We finished the ride feeling elated and rejuvenated, but tired and sore enough to have earned the pleasure of a day spent pedaling under blue skies and fluffy clouds!


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EXCLUSIVE: Producer Angus Lamont announces a number of projects developed for his Crab Apple Films with slate funding from Creative Scotland.
Producer Angus Lamont (Donkey Punch, Late Night Shopping etc) has announced a number of projects developed for his Crab Apple Films with slate funding from Creative Scotland. The Glasgow-based independent has attached Rhianna Pratchett to write the screenplay of the Janet Paisley historical novel Warrior Daughter, an epic tale of a Celtic queen learning the skills that will allow her to claim her throne prior to the arrival of the Romans in Britain.
Pratchett is the daughter of science-fiction writer Terry Pratchett and has previously written the DC Comics miniseries Mirror's Edge and a number of fantasy gaming titles including Sony's PS3 Heavenly Sword.
"We have been working on these projects for the past couple of years bringing them to a point where they can now be announced as the company defines the kind of quality genre material we want to make, " says Lamont.
Crab Apple are also developing the supernatural thriller Behind You which journalist and broadcaster Muriel Gray is adapting from her own original story set in a remote stalking lodge in the western highlands of Scotland.
Crab Apple have previously announced four projects in collaboration with Warp Films; Falklands war story Destroyer to be directed by Tom Shankland, life after death drama SUM Tales From The Afterlives, 71, an original action thriller from writer Gregory Burke set during the early days of the troubles in Belfast which has also attracted finance from Northern Ireland Screen, and Modify Or Die, a custom car racing film that will reunite the Donkey Punch team of Lamont, writer/director Olly Blackburn, screenwriter David Bloom and UK distributor Optimum.


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Thank you. I want to talk to you today about a paradox that can handcuff efforts at education reform. The paradox is this: Everyone in this hall would agree that great teachers and principals hold the key to America's children getting a first-rate education—nothing is more important. Yet then why is it, as a nation that exalts outstanding teachers, do we continue to do a spotty job of preparing teachers and principals to lead in the classroom and schoolhouse?
Great teachers and passionate principals are absolutely heroes to me and countless students because they change the trajectory of children's lives for the better. They stir curiosity and illuminate the power of learning. I cannot think of a single, vital school reform that is teacher-proof or principal-proof.
As I've often said, talent matters tremendously in the classroom. It's no surprise that the single biggest in-school influence on student academic growth is the quality of the teacher standing in front of the classroom—not socioeconomic status, not family background, but the quality of the teacher at the head of the class.
Yet, in so many respects, the federal government, states, districts, certification agencies, unions, and universities, all regularly act as though talent did not matter tremendously.
In a speech last fall at the Teachers College at Columbia, I noted that education schools have long been treated as the Rodney Dangerfield of higher education. Colleges of education have traditionally been the institution that got no respect—yet still they are described as cash cows for other, more academically-prestigious departments of the university.
Once teachers finish their preparation program, they enter a profession that continues to treat them as something less than highly-skilled professionals. Smart induction policies and well-designed mentoring for new teachers is the exception, rather than the rule. Professional development is generally of poor quality. Pay is based not on your performance in the classroom or your impact on student learning but rather on your credentials and time spent in the job. Performance evaluations of teachers are largely a sham.
So, how do we explain this paradox of on the one hand revering teachers, yet on the other hand, failing to elevate the teaching profession?
I believe part of the answer is that our schools and teacher preparation programs were designed in an earlier industrial age, when schools were thought of as conveyor belts in a factory where students moved from class to class and grade to grade with little differentiation between teachers or principals, and little differentiation of instruction for students.
Take the example of principal preparation programs, which I will talk about in more detail in a minute. Principals were thought of for many decades as building managers and supervisors of operations—and principal preparation programs were designed accordingly. But we now know that the role of the principal has changed dramatically.
Today, the job of a principal is to be an instructional leader, not just a supervisor. Top-flight school leaders are more like CEOs than building managers. They can oversee multimillion dollar budgets and hundreds of employees. They work with community organizations and the media, and are expected to serve as change agents. Arthur Levine, the former president of Columbia's Teachers College, wrote in his comprehensive study of leadership preparation programs in 2005 that principals are being "educated for jobs that do not exist any longer."
I'd be the first to admit that the Education Department has often gotten stuck in the past as well. For far too long, we have underinvested in teacher and principal preparation programs. I promise you, that is changing. In the Administration's new budget, we propose to double spending for teacher preparation programs to $235 million, while funding for school leadership preparation programs would increase five-fold, to $170 million. Despite those large increases in funding, I recognize some of your member institutions are concerned about our plans to shift to more competitive streams of funding.
I want to address those concerns in a moment. But before I do, I want to make the case that our teacher and principal preparation programs need transformational change, not tinkering with the status quo.
Three profound shifts—including new realities within schools, the demographics of the teaching force, and an altered American economy—drive the need for transformational change. Business as usual is not an adequate response to these new challenges. As Richard Riley, one of my predecessors, put it, "We can no longer fiddle around the edges of how we recruit, prepare, retain, and reward America's teachers … our colleges of education can no longer be the sleepy backwaters."
The first of these challenges is that students and workers today compete in a global economy for the first time in history. The education that millions of Americans got in the past simply won't do anymore. In the information age, it is impossible to drop out of school and land a good job. Even workers with high school diplomas, but without college degrees, are going to find their opportunities extremely limited in the future.
Education, as President Obama has said, "is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success—it's a prerequisite to success." We are convinced we must educate our way to a better economy.
The second challenge is the civil rights challenge, the imperative to live up to the great American Dream of equal opportunity. Education has always been the great equalizer in America. No matter what your race, national origin, disability, or zip code, every child is entitled to a quality public education. Today, more than ever, we acknowledge America's need—and a public school's obligation—to teach all students to their full potential.
And yet we know that we still have a long way to go to achieve that dream of equal educational opportunity. Nearly 30 percent of our students today drop out or fail to complete high school on time.
Nationwide, researchers have identified 2,000 high schools that have been dubbed dropout factories. These 2,000 high schools produce half of the nation's dropouts, two-thirds of all Hispanic dropouts, and nearly three fourths of black dropouts. That is why education is the civil rights issue of our generation. Our work either builds upon Dr. King's legacy, or lets him down—there is no middle ground.
For years, states and districts have largely ignored chronically low-performing schools, or tried to tinker around the edges of institutions that were in educational meltdown. The lack of outcry, the lack of urgency, and the absence of innovation has frankly been deeply disturbing. But the federal government has a special role to play in protecting the rights of disadvantaged and minority students.
We are no longer willing to gloss over the educational failures of the bottom five percent of the nation's 100,000 schools. We are going to insist on rigorous change in chronically underperforming schools, and the federal government is going to provide generous incentives to implement those changes. But to turn around our lowest-performing schools, we will need a new generation of principals and teachers prepared to take on this difficult challenge, in addition to new support for teachers currently in these schools who are committed and ready to transform the educational opportunities of their students.
The third and final challenge is demographic. A massive exodus of Baby Boomers from the teaching force in the next decade is going to drive demand for more and better teachers. We currently have about 3.2 million teachers. But more than half of all teachers and principals are Baby Boomers.
During the next three to five years, we could lose a third of veteran teachers and school leaders to retirement. The challenge to our schools is not just a looming teacher shortage, but rather a shortage of great teachers in the schools and communities where they are needed the most, and that have been historically underserved.
As you know, high-poverty, high-needs schools still struggle to attract and retain good teachers. Teacher openings in science and math are often hard to fill with effective instructors. Students with disabilities and English language learners are still underserved. Rural classrooms are facing shortages as well—and we have far too few teachers of color. Only two percent, one in 50 teachers today are African-American males. Something is fundamentally wrong with that picture.
These problems are not self-correcting. They must be tackled by everyone, head-on, including colleges of education. At the same time, it is no secret to any of you that the bar has been raised for successful teacher preparation programs.
We ask much more of teachers today than even a decade ago. Teachers are now asked to achieve significant academic growth for all students, yet instruct students with ever-more diverse needs.
Teaching has never been more difficult, it has never been more important—and the need for student success has never been so urgent. I am convinced that our ability to attract, and more importantly, retain, great talent over the next five years will shape public education for the next thirty years. It is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
In my talk last fall at the Teachers College at Columbia I called for a sea-change in our schools of education. I challenged schools of education for failing to teach aspiring teachers how to use data to differentiate and improve instruction, and boost student learning. Great teacher after great teacher I've talked with around the country told me that they learned those skills on the job, not in school.
I criticized some ed schools for a lack of rigorous and relevant research, and for failing to provide sufficient high-quality, hands-on practical training about managing the classroom, especially for high-needs students. And I said that colleges of education had to do a much better job of gathering data on the effectiveness of their graduates in the classroom and their impact on student achievement. At present, most colleges of education know little to nothing about the impact of their graduates on student learning.
Many of the issues that I raised about education schools have been raised repeatedly by others—including deans of the colleges of education. I know what hundreds of deans across the country are striving to do, to take their schools to another level.
In fact, all too often universities, states, and the federal government have all impeded reform in a variety of ways.
It takes a university to prepare a teacher. The arts and sciences faculty play an essential role in strengthening the content knowledge of aspiring teachers and developing a rigorous, scientifically-based curriculum in how to best teach math and science. Yet we know that schools of education are too often money-makers for other branches of the university. Many college presidents and provosts are reluctant to invest in well-run clinical programs and rigorous education research.
States and districts are also culpable for the persistence of weak teacher preparation programs. Most states routinely approve teacher education programs, and licensing exams typically measure basic skills and subject matter knowledge with paper-and-pencil tests without any real-world assessment of classroom readiness. And as I said earlier, the Department of Education has, unfortunately, historically underinvested in quality teacher and principal preparation programs.
Despite the concerns I raised, I was then—and am now—highly optimistic about the prospects for reform. The seeds of change are taking hold due to visionary leadership.
I cited numerous examples of ed schools that run exemplary clinical programs for pre-service teachers, including Emporia State University in Kansas, Alverno College in Milwaukee, and Hunter College in New York City.
I am also encouraged by the fact that, under the wonderful leadership of Dr. Robinson, the AACTE has made it a core mission to have pre-service education lead to substantial increases in student achievement. In fact, AACTE has launched a series of new programs and initiatives to improve teacher effectiveness.
One of the most promising initiatives is the development of the first nationally accessible, performance-based assessment of teacher candidate readiness, pioneered by Linda Darling-Hammond (who is here today) and a consortium of teacher preparation programs in California.
Already, 20 states have signed up to pilot the performance assessment.
At the time of my speech last fall at Teachers College, just one state, Louisiana, monitored the impact of in-state teacher preparation programs on student performance and growth. Louisiana is tracking student growth in math, English, reading, science, and social studies for hundreds of thousands of students and tens of thousands of teachers.
As a result, the state is able to identify effective and ineffective programs for the first time. And university-based teacher education programs, like the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, are using the outcomes data to revamp and strengthen their programs. That is real change—based upon real outcomes for children. Schools of education improve, their graduates enter the teaching profession better prepared, and schoolchildren learn more. Isn't that what we all want?
I am pleased to see that Florida and Texas have now also moved toward tracking the impact of teacher preparation programs on student growth, along with several other states that are exploring Louisiana's program.
In our budget, as I mentioned earlier, we'll be doubling funding for teacher preparation programs and providing a five-fold increase for leadership and principal preparation programs. But I know those increases are not big enough to insulate Higher Education institutions from looming state and local budget cutbacks. It is going to be a tough year in many postsecondary institutions—and those difficult decisions looming ahead are no fun for any of us.
I do believe, though, that in obstacles lie opportunity. As Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff has said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." Now is the moment to rethink policies that are not serving the best interests of aspiring teachers or children.
Change, of course, is difficult. If it was easy to change, the status quo wouldn't persist for so long. And even though our department is planning to dramatically boost federal funding for teacher preparation and principal preparation programs, I appreciate that shifting toward competitive funding with multiple players can create legitimate concerns.
Let me tell you why we have proposed this shift. To put it in the simplest terms, we believe teacher preparation programs should be focused on results.
I'm talking about program outcomes such as how well graduates accelerate student performance in the classroom, the extent to which program graduates teach in high need schools and shortage areas, and whether program graduates stay in the teaching profession.
Under our budget proposal, teacher and principal preparation grants can go to school districts, states, and IHEs and non-profits partnering with LEAs and SEAs, to create or expand effective teacher preparation programs—especially in high-need schools, subjects, or areas. Grants will be made to both traditional and alternative certification providers, just as they have in the past.
Successful applicants will demonstrate a real record of results in preparing teachers to succeed, or present a strong plan to commit to tracking the results of their graduates. Funding what works is the right thing to do for children, and is in the best interests of teacher preparation programs as well.
I want to close by challenging you to also rethink your principal preparation programs. These programs have received surprisingly little attention in the national debate about school reform.
I say surprisingly, because the importance of great principals should be self-evident. I have yet to find a high-performing school that didn't have a visionary principal at its helm.
It is the principal who is responsible for building a school culture focused on learning and high expectations. It is the principal who must hire good instructors, provide quality professional development, evaluate teachers, and serve as the school's instructional leader. Great principals nurture, retain, and empower great teachers—bad principals run them off.
It is not easy being a principal today—and all these hats become even more difficult to wear when principals are asked to serve in turnaround schools mired in low expectations and high rates of dysfunction.
Now, nearly 90 percent of principals take courses at education schools, mostly in educational administration or leadership. Colleges of education run more than 600 leadership programs, which produce over 15,000 master's degrees in educational administration, according to Arthur Levine's 2005 study. But the record of these programs is poor—and it has been widely criticized by both education deans and those outside academia.
In 1987, the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration, which included both then-governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton and education school deans, issued a report that concluded 60 percent of the nation's principal preparation programs were so subpar that they should be shut down. Yet throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as Linda Darling-Hammond has noted, the "significant role of the principal in creating the conditions for improved student outcomes was largely ignored."
In the last decade, a spate of reports from the National Staff Development Council, the Southern Regional Education Board, the RAND Corporation, the Institute for Educational Leadership, and the Levine report have all renewed concerns about the quality of principal preparation programs. The Levine study concluded that the majority of leadership preparation programs "range from inadequate to appalling, even at some of the country's leading universities."
Many principals, it turns out, are not pleased with their training either. In one poll by Public Agenda, nearly 70 percent of principals reported that traditional leadership programs were "out of touch with the realities of what it takes to run today's schools."
The findings of these various reports are remarkably consistent. Admission standards are low, and most leadership preparation programs accept almost everyone who applies. Many students who enroll do not actually plan to become principals, but want to get their master's degree to boost their teaching salary.
The majority of programs provide inadequate clinical training and mentorship by successful school leaders. And the curriculum has a limited connection to the real-world needs of principals.
One 2007 review of the course syllabi of 56 principal preparation programs by Frederick Hess and Andrew Kelly found that just two percent of the more than 2,400 course weeks "addressed accountability in the context of school management or school improvement … less than five percent included instruction on managing school improvement via data."
Worst of all, there is absolutely no tie back between traditional school leadership programs and boosting student achievement. The Levine study found that "the body of research in educational administration cannot answer questions as basic as whether school leadership programs have any impact on student achievement in the schools that graduates of these programs lead."
Now, again, it is far too easy to just challenge colleges of education for the mediocrity of most principal preparation programs. States, districts, and universities are all deeply implicated in second-rate programs.
State licensure requirements for principals typically hinge on the number of courses taken and previous experience as a teacher, and have no link to performance as a school leader.
All states, and almost all districts, also award salary raises to teachers who earn advanced degrees, ratcheting up demand for leadership preparation classes. But since many teachers who enroll don't really aspire to become principals, universities feel pressured to reduce both rigor and tuition costs to attract more students. The result is a classic race to the bottom.
Despite the generally poor quality of principal preparation programs, I see many signs that states and universities are starting to rethink their leadership initiatives.
The University of Virginia has established a School Turnaround Specialist Program. As we seek to turnaround the nation's bottom one percent of schools each year—the thousand lowest-performing schools—the demand for turnaround specialists is going to continue to expand. There is real opportunity for you here.
Stanford, which offers a two-year joint M.B.A. and M.A. in education, has added a nine-month program to provide more coursework in business and school policy. In August, Harvard's Graduate School of Education will open a tuition-free three-year doctoral program in educational leadership, its first new degree in 74 years. Other schools, such as Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, Bank Street College, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, have run exemplary programs for years.
I want to be clear that it doesn't take an elite university to create a fantastic principal preparation program. Delta State University in Mississippi, and the University of San Diego's Educational Leadership Development Academy, have also been singled out as top-notch programs.
States are stepping in to set up and support principal preparation programs as well. The Connecticut Administrator Test requires principal candidates to map out school improvements and respond to concrete school-wide problems based on school and community profiles and data about student learning. Twenty percent of candidates fail that simulated but rigorous real-world test.
In North Carolina, the Principal Fellows Program provides an annual scholarship loan of $20,000 for two years of study, the second year of which candidates spend in a supervised full-time administrative internship in a public school. Fellows repay the scholarship loan with four years of service as a principal or assistant principal at a public school. Since the program began in 1994, more than 800 scholarship loans have been awarded. One out of eight practicing principals and assistant principals in the state are now program graduates.
Mississippi took a different tack in the late 1990s. It shut down all of its university-administered preparation programs and made them re-apply for accreditation. Mississippi then required at least 80 percent of a program's graduates to pass the state administrator test in the three years preceding the re-accreditation process. Initially, every program failed to meet the 80 percent pass rate. But that forced an overhaul of the university-based programs, strengthening the principal pipeline statewide.
Finally, we are also seeing a new generation of promising alternative providers for principal preparation programs in New Leaders for New Schools, KIPP's Fisher Fellows program, and the New York City Leadership Academy. These programs are demonstrating the importance not only of high-quality principal preparation. Just as importantly, they show the ability to link training to student achievement, especially among disadvantaged students. Successful programs are fostering an ethic of continuous improvement for aspiring principals and students alike.
I sometimes hear it said that great teachers are unsung heroes and the principalship is a thankless job. But teaching and school leadership are among the few professions that are not just a job or even an adventure—they are a calling. Great teachers and outstanding principals strive to help every student unlock their potential and develop the habits of mind that will serve them for a lifetime. They believe that every student has a gift—even when students doubt themselves.
Henry Adams said, "A teacher affects eternity—he can never tell where his influence stops." That is a weighty responsibility but also an amazing privilege.
I thank you for all you have done, and will do, to train the next generation of teachers and school leaders. Your commitment to developing the next generation of talent, I'm convinced, will not just change our students' lives forever, but over the long term will ensure that America will once again lead the world in college graduates. I can't think of a more noble, or more important, battle to fight together. Thank you.


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CHICAGO—A Chicago man is facing a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty today to transporting a minor from Wisconsin to Illinois for prostitution. The defendant, Carl Brandon Smith, also admitted that he engaged in forced sex trafficking of the victim, as well as of a second minor and two young adult women. Between 2010 and early 2012, Smith forced his victims to engage in commercial sex acts, used physical violence, and threatened to kill them if they ever left him. The guilty plea was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Thomas R. Trautmann, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Smith, also known as "Moo," 25, of Chicago, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5 by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. Smith has remained in federal custody since he was arrested last April last and charged with two counts of sex trafficking of a minor and by force, two counts of sex trafficking by force, and one count of transporting a minor across state lines to engage in prostitution.
According to a plea agreement, Smith met Victim B in December 2010 and began contacting her via phone, text, and social media, asking her to move to Chicago, intending that she be his "girlfriend" and also engage in prostitution. In February 2011, Smith drove from Chicago to Victim B's residence in Wisconsin and then drove her from Wisconsin to his apartment in Chicago, acknowledging that she was under 18 at the time.
Once in Chicago, Smith "dated" Victim B for approximately a week before Victim B began working as a prostitute under his employ. Between February and July 2011, Victim B engaged in commercial sex acts at Smith's direction. Smith acted as Victim B's pimp, advertised her for commercial sex on Internet sites, and instructed her to have sex with customers in his apartment and in area motels. Victim B had sex with numerous men per week and gave a portion of the money she earned to Smith.
As part of the guilty plea, Smith stipulated that he acted as a pimp for Victim A, also a minor, and forced her to engage in prostitution during 2010. Smith inflicted physical violence on Victim A when she gave him "attitude" or when she indicated that she no longer wanted to work as a prostitute. On one occasion, Smith beat Victim A so severely that one eye swelled shut.
Similarly, Smith stipulated to using and threatening violence against both Victims C and D, both adults, while acting as their pimp and forcing them to engage in commercial sex acts in 2011 and early 2012.