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It is the season for battling in the Supreme Court about whether it should be a crime to sell very violent video games to children. No such law exists for other forms of entertainment. Who is for? Who is against?
Should very violent video games be illegal to sell to kids, the way certain kinds of pornography can be?
Do you side with the co-creator of the Fantastic Four? Or do you side with the former Governor Moonbeam?
Do you agree with the agreeing id Software and Activision Blizzard? Or are you a Common Sense Media kind of person?
Are you allied with the attorneys general Arkansas, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah and Washington or those of California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas and Virgina?
What Are They Arguing About?
Hordes of powerful people and advocacy groups have filed their arguments to the United States Supreme Court in advance of November 2 showdown between the State of California and the video game industry.
In the first case involving video games to ever reach the highest court of the United States, California will attempt to convince the Supreme Court what it has failed to successfully argue to the lower courts: That a 2005 law that would make it a crime to sell very violent games — those that lack artistic value — to minors does not violate the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The California law has been blocked from taking effect for five years due to successful legal challenges by the video game industry.
For a medium-length version of California's take, read Kotaku's July summary of the state's argument to the Supreme Court about why the high court should overrule the lower courts' decisions. The state basically argues that extremely violent games can harm minors, that it should not be required to prove direct causation and that — this is key — if states can (as they are) be allowed to criminalize the sale of some sexual content to minors that is legal for adults then they should be afforded the same ability to do so with very violent content.
This is the short version: One of California's favorite targets, Postal 2, is held up by the state as the kind of game that it thinks a retailer should be fined $1,000 for selling to a kid.
Who Is With California?
Louisiana! And .. Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas and Virgina.
These states attorneys general, including the one trying to maintain a Democratic seat in the senate against the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, have filed a brief in support of California. This brief reminds the Supreme Court how low games have sunk in a couple of decades:
In 1975, a cutting-edge video game console allowed players to bounce an electronic ball back and forth on a television screen by rotating small knobs. This was Pong.1 Things had changed by
2003. That year, a popular game called Postal2 invited players to:
• Burn people alive with gasoline or napalm;
• Decapitate people with shovels and have dogs fetch their severed heads;
• Beat police to death while they beg for mercy;
• Kill bald, unshaven men wearing pink dresses (in an "expansion pack" called Fag Hunter);
• Slaughter nude female zombies;
• Urinate on people to make them vomit;
• Shoot players with a shotgun that has been silenced by ramming it into a cat's anus.
Postal2 is made by a company called Running With Scissors, which promotes the game with the tag line: "[R]emember … it's only as violent as you are!"
The makers of Postal likely never intended its hyperbolic violence to be taken seriously. Ten-year olds,
however, may fail to grasp the satiric content in an exploding cat.
These states are prepared for naysayers. They are ready for the people who will cry that the California law supports a view of America that neuters art and chills speech by making laws against anything that's bad for the children.
Don't worry, grown-ups, the states argue:
The California law... simply restricts minors' unmediated commercial access to certain graphically violent video games. But it prevents no adult from buying or renting such games. It does not even stop minors from playing them. Rather, the law helps ensure that parents- and not the marketplace-ultimately decide whether their children play a game, such as Postal2, in which players are encouraged to urinate on their victims before burning them alive.
Shouldn't parents get this help? Look, Louisiana and friends say, noting that states can make it a crime to sell porn to kids:
Parents, in other words, have just as keen an interest in guarding their children from Postal 2 as from Penthouse, and laws like California's may help them do so.
What Would Thomas Jefferson Think?
Also in the corner of California is Common Sense Media the family values advocacy group that dares to image what great 18th century American men would have thought of the likes of Postal:
There is no historical evidence or any other support for the proposition that the Framers or the founding generation would have recognized a constitutionally protected right for children to purchase violent video games.
The Common Sense Folks are with California in asserting that there is an "impressive body of scientific literature [that] confirms the validity of the State's interests in protecting juveniles from exposure to images that can have profound impact on their behavior and development." We recognize juvenile's minds as being still in development, the group says.
Protect the kids? The group quotes philosophers such as John Locke, who is worried about children rejoicing in the harm of others, and then from an 1808 letter from Thomas Jefferson to his then-16-year-old grandson: "Be very select in the society you attach yourself to, avoid taverns, drinkers, smokers, idlers and dissipated persons generally."
Yeah, But Why Video Games? Are They Really Worse Than Other Things?
The writers of the California law suppose games are, compared to movies and books, more damaging to kids' minds because they are interactive. Defenders of video games might grant that, yes, games are more involving than other forms of entertainment.
But California also has one extreme ally in the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund which goes way past the Golden State to argue to the Supreme Court that "Video games are role-playing activities that do not constitute free speech."
Furthermore, game-playing is dangerous, the Eagle Forum contends:
Does playing violent video games lead to aggressive or violent behavior? Yes, and nearly as much as the other major indicator of youth violence: gang membership. Playing violent video games ranks almost as high as gang membership as the number one tell-tale sign among youth for a propensity to commit violence. See Violent Video Game Effects, infra, at 143 (utilizing for comparison purposes data from a 2003 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
Playing violent video games is a far bigger risk factor than other familiar indicators of youth violence. For example, playing violent video games is three times greater as a risk factor for aggressive/violent behavior than engaging in substance abuse, being from a broken home, having a low IQ or even having abusive parents. Id. Playing violent video games is nearly two times greater as a risk factor for aggressive/violent behavior than having a record of prior violence or being a large consumer of media violence.
That's an extreme argument that Calfornia itself does not appear to back. It has not denied that video games are speech.
The Cali Tally: There are four briefs supporting California: the three quoted above, as well as one from California state senator Leland Yee, a child psychologist and author of the law. (Read the full original texts of all the pro-California arguments here.)
Will Anyone Stand Up For Video Games?
On September 10, the Entertainment Software Association, the lobbying group that runs the E3 gaming convention every year and will argue against California before the Supreme Court, filed its official response in advance of the November 2 hearing. It characterized California's law as "the latest in a
long history of overreactions to new expressive media."
Arguing that games are "a modern form of artistic expression," rattling off usage states and dollars earned, quoting the New York Times' review of Red Dead Redemption, and praising the industry's own ratings system, the ESA is basically saying, games are great and grown-up and do not deserve to be treated differently than other forms of entertainment.
The ESA goes after the helping-parents-out part of the California argument:
Parents certainly have the right to determine what expression they want their minor children to experience. But that parental prerogative does not give the government the right to decide what is worthy for minors to view.
The ESA also attacks the argument that laws that make the sale of certain kinds of sexual content illegal for minors should allow similar blocks on violent content. They go back to Ginsberg vs. New York, the same case cited by California but parsed differently by the gaming industry:
Ginsberg held only that the scope of the category of sexual obscenity – already a recognized category of unprotected expression – might vary as between minors and adults. Ginsberg did not hold that other categories of expression, entirely protected as to adults, could be restricted for minors.
Moreover, the State's analogy to obscenity fails because depictions of violence, unlike obscenity, have played a longstanding and celebrated role in expression properly consumed by minors, from Greek myths to the Bible to Star Wars and Harry Potter. A new exception for depictions of violence would threaten access to these materials. California's assertion that it will regulate only "offensive" depictions of violence compounds the First Amendment problem, as "offensiveness" will invite viewpoint discrimination, with depictions of violence committed by malefactors rather than "good guys" being deemed offensive.
The gaming industry asks: Do you know what happens when you start legislating against violent speech? Then you are arguing that high schoolers maybe shouldn't read Ovid. The gaming industry then quotes from Ovid's Metamorphoses to remind us of the kind of violent content children are exposed to (assuming children do their homework and read their Ovid):
The princess willingly her throat reclin'd,
And view'd the steel with a contented mind;
But soon her tongue the girding pinchers strain,
With anguish, soon she feels the piercing pain: . . .
In vain she tries, for now the blade has cut
Her tongue sheer off, close to the trembling root.
The mangled part still quiver'd on the ground,
Murmuring with a faint imperfect sound: . . .
The piece, while life remain'd, still trembled fast,
And to its mistress pointed to the last.
The gaming industry complains that the California law is unreasonably vague about which games it would cover, scoffs at California's assertion that there is scientific evidence that shows violent games can be harmful to kids and, in an effort to say, hey these violent games do have artistic value, tosses in a New Yorker quote about Uncharted 2 being a ""visual glory hallelujah of a game."
Fine, But What Does Activision Think?
More than 25 parties have filed briefs with the Supreme Court to argue that the gaming industry is in the right here and the California is in the wrong. Among them is Activision Blizzard, which focuses on the official video game ratings board and says, you know, these ratings are terrific at keeping kids from buying very violent games:
Without conceding that video games cause any harm, Activision Blizzard submits that current statistics – including those from studies commissioned by the FTC – demonstrate that children cannot easily purchase violent video games and that California can easily advance its goals by supporting the existing ESRB system.
Oh, and they add that California need not worry about the really bad games because no government blockage is needed for a type of content already censored by the industry itself. The equivalent of X-rated games — AO-rated games — won't be sold to California kids because: "most
retailers do not stock or sell AO-rated games and console manufacturers will not certify them."
Let's Hear From The People Who Made Doom
The people at id Software, filing a brief in support of the gaming industry of which the Doom-maker is a part, see the aforementioned quote from Ovid and raise it with some quotations of Homer. The first amendment protects Homer's bloody Iliad, Id argues, The question then arises how a video game with the same expressive characteristics can somehow lose commensurate protection."
Id doesn't then just start quoting positive write-ups of Doom, but it gets into the action of quoting the New York Times about gaming's artistic potential. The id brief spends many paragraphs defending violent content, but also goes after the assertion that games are more problematic than other forms of entertainment because they are interactive:
Nor is video games' status as interactive a reason to deny them full protection. For one thing, with the advent of the DVD, film is no longer necessarily passive. A viewer may choose to watch the same scene many times in a row, or skip scenes he or she does not like.
Postal: The Movie vs. Postal: The Game
The attorneys general of Arkansas, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah and Washington also have made their case, filing a brief in support of the gaming industry.
These states view the California law as a violation of the first amendment, saying, among other things:
There is little sense in restricting the sale of Postal the game, while allowing the same
minor to purchase Postal the movie.
The standout argument in these states' brief is that the permission of the California law "may unintentionally turn a baseless 'twinkie defense' into an increasingly functional criminal defense." The Twinkie line refers to the attempt of the defense for a man named Dan White to claim that his murder of two San Francisco politicians in 1979 was due to an intake of sugary foods. The states in this brief fret that allowing the California law would essentially allow more people to blame video games for their actions, as it would codify the idea that video games are distinctly capable of triggering bad behavior.
If this Court accepts California's argument that games encourage and cause violent behavior in impressionable youth, this will function as a nationwide signal that appropriate criminal prosecutions just got more difficult to procure.
The Anti-Cali Tally: There have been 27 briefs filed to support the video game industry, including briefs by the American Civil Liberties Union, Microsoft, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Motion picture Association of America, the music industry, reporters groups and others. (Read the full original texts of all the anti-California arguments here.)
California vs. The Gaming Industry... The Supreme Court will hear both sides out on November 2.
Read Kotaku's full coverage of California's legal battle with the video game industry to criminalize the sale of violent games to kids.


text:
Click here to enter our on-line catalog where you can locate your Honda Shock Absorbers by year and model, by part number, or keyword search.
About UsWe are a Honda dealer specializing in selling genuine OEM parts and genuine accessories. We are experienced with the process of online transactions and customer satisfaction. We maintain on-line catalogs for genuine mechanical and genuine factory body parts as well as genuine accessories. Our secure on-line catalogs are easy to use and offer Genuine Honda parts at discount prices. Our customer service team is available to answer any questions you might have.
Our Honda catalog contains thousands of parts and accessories. Some of those items include:
Parts - air filter, alternator, antenna, brakes, clutch, distributor, egr valve, emblems, engine mounts, fuel filter, fuel pump, hub caps, ignition parts, ignition switch, interior parts, mass air flow sensor, mirror, oil filter, oxygen sensor, park light, radiator hose, seat belt, serpentine belt, shock absorbers, starter, struts, tail light, timing belt, timing chain, turn signal, water pump, window regulator and wiper blades.
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For models: Accord, Civic, Element, Odyssey, Passport, CR-V, S2000, Prelude, Pilot, CR-Z, Crosstour, Fit and Ridgeline.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jermaine Jackson called Wednesday for an end to the public feud that has embroiled his family for more than a week, saying issues over the care of his mother and with late brother Michael's estate should be handled privately.
Jackson wrote in a statement first released to The Associated Press that he regrets the public turmoil that resulted from his mother Katherine's 10-day trip to an Arizona spa. The trip sparked a missing person's report and a driveway confrontation between relatives at the home of Katherine Jackson before a judge stripped her of guardianship duties.
"Mistakes have been made and irrational things have been said on both sides in a highly charged emotional environment," Jermaine Jackson wrote. "It is time for us all to draw a line in the sand and move towards peace, co-operation, love and healing."
The Jackson family is still raw from the death of the pop superstar three years ago, Jermaine Jackson wrote, and his mother has endured incredible stress and pressures since then.
He said he remains concerned about his brother's estate but is dropping support for a letter leaked two weeks ago that called on executors of the estate to resign.
Jermaine Jackson said his statement was prompted after his son asked if he could no longer visit Katherine Jackson at her suburban Calabasas home.
"After much soul-searching, it is clearly time for us to live by Michael's words about love not war," he wrote.
At the request of an attorney for TJ Jackson, temporary guardian of Michael Jackson's children, the estate has acknowledged it has blocked certain relatives from visiting the home. The family members were not named.
Attorneys are still trying to untangle some of the issues that the family dispute has created. Katherine Jackson's attorney Perry Sanders Jr. said attorneys will return to court Thursday to present an agreement to restore his client as a guardian.
The agreement would also call for TJ Jackson to remain a co-guardian, with control over the staff and day-to-day operations of the home where Katherine Jackson and her grandchildren Prince, Paris and Blanket currently live. Sanders has said the arrangement will allow Katherine Jackson to focus on the children's upbringing and not on other financial or logistics issues.
The co-guardianship arrangement would also allow either Katherine Jackson, 82, or TJ Jackson, 34, to serve as sole guardian if the other were no longer able to serve.
Jermaine Jackson's statement offers a detailed account of why he, brother Randy and sisters Janet and Rebbie felt it was necessary to isolate their mother recently.
"We simply worried that a call home would first entail, or lead to, conversations with individuals we are in dispute with and that would, therefore, increase pressure on Mother -- and pressure was what a doctor said she didn't need," he wrote.
He said by the time of the driveway confrontation on July 23, "it was clear that mutual suspicions had allowed events to spiral out of control." He said that he, Randy and Janet Jackson went to the Calabasas home try to talk to the children.
"I regret that events were ever allowed to reach such a stage," he wrote. "I regret any distress caused to Prince, Paris and Blanket. That was never, ever the intention of myself, Janet, Rebbie or Randy."


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San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
San Juan del Sur, once a quiet, picturesque fishing village, discovered by the Spanish Andres Niño in 1523, is now one of the most visited destinations by foreigners and locals in the country. The city of San Juan del Sur has almost everything: hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, language schools, a post office, a central park, a municipal market, a port, a police station and the famous bay of the same name. A point worth visiting when in San Juan is the 'Jesus de la Misericoridia' statue, located on the summit of the highest hill and built in 2008. From here, tourists have beautiful panoramic views of San Juan del Sur and its surroundings. http://www.nicaragua-guide.com/san-juan-del-sur.htmlRead More
5 / 26


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I purchased a 30' 5th wheel ( Gulfstream Seahawk ) . I believe the weight is 8700 lbs. i needed a truck I could pull it with and so I purchased this 3/4 ton Chevy with a 6.0 liter gas engine . I know most everyone says to go diesel but I just can't afford the initial expense much less the costly repairs. Correct...
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Even if NSA's "metadata" collection of records should pass constitutional muster, the judge said, there is little evidence it has ever prevented a terrorist attack. The collection program was disclosed by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, provoking a heated national and international debate.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction against the collecting of the phone records of two men who had challenged the program and said any such records for the men should be destroyed. But he put enforcement of that decision on hold pending a near-certain government appeal, which may well end up at the Supreme Court.
The injunction applies only to the two individual plaintiffs, but the ruling is likely to open the door to much broader challenges to the records collection and storage.
The plaintiffs are Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer, and Charles Strange, who is the father of a cryptologist technician who was killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011. The son worked for the NSA and support personnel for Navy SEAL Team VI.
Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled that the two men "have a substantial likelihood of showing" that their privacy interests outweigh the government's interest in collecting the data "and therefore the NSA's bulk collection program is indeed an unreasonable search under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment."
"I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison, who cautioned us to beware 'the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power,' would be aghast," he declared.
In addition to civil liberties critics, big communications companies are unhappy with the NSA program, concerned about a loss of business from major clients who are worried about government snooping. President Barack Obama will meet Tuesday with executives from leading technology companies. The meeting was previously scheduled, but the NSA program is sure to be on the agenda, and now the court ruling will be in the mix.
After the ruling, Andrew C. Ames, a spokesman for the Justice Department's National Security Division, said in a statement, "We've seen the opinion and are studying it. We believe the program is constitutional as previous judges have found. We have no further comment at this time."
Snowden, in a statement provided to reporter Glenn Greenwald and obtained by The Associated Press, said, "I acted on my belief that the NSA's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts. Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans' rights. It is the first of many."
Klayman said in a telephone interview that it was a big day for the country.
"Obviously it's a great ruling and a correct ruling, and the first time that in a long time that a court has stepped in to prevent the tyranny of the other two branches of government," he said.
The Obama administration has defended the program as a crucial tool against terrorism.
But in his 68-page, heavily footnoted opinion, Leon concluded that the government didn't cite a single instance in which the program "actually stopped an imminent terrorist attack."
"I have serious doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism," he added.
He said was staying his ruling pending appeal "in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues."
The government has argued that under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling, Smith v. Maryland, no one has an expectation of privacy in the telephone data that phone companies keep as business records. In that ruling, the high court rejected the claim that police need a warrant to obtain such records.
But Leon said that was a "far cry" from the issue in this case. The question, he said, is, "When do present-day circumstances - the evolutions in the government's surveillance capabilities, citizens' phone habits, and the relationship between the NSA and telecom companies - become so thoroughly unlike those considered by the Supreme Court 34 years ago that a precedent like Smith simply does not apply? The answer, unfortunately for the government, is now."
He wrote that the court in 1979 couldn't have imagined how people interact with their phones nowadays, citing the explosion of cellphones. In addition, he said, the Smith case involved a search of just a few days, while "there is the very real prospect that the (NSA) program will go on for as long as America is combatting terrorism, which realistically could be forever!"
Leon added: "The almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived of in 1979."
The judge also mocked the government's contention that it would be burdensome to comply with any court order that requires the NSA to remove the plaintiffs from its database.
"Of course, the public has no interest in saving the government from the burdens of complying with the Constitution!" he wrote. As for the government's complaint that other successful requests "could ultimately have a degrading effect on the utility of the program," he said, "I will leave it to other judges to decide how to handle any future litigation in their courts."
Sen. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat and member of the Intelligence Committee, said Leon's ruling "underscores what I have argued for years: The bulk collection of Americans' phone records conflicts with Americans' privacy rights under the U.S. Constitution and has failed to make us safer."
Stephen Vladeck, a national security law expert at the American University law school, said Leon is the first judge to say he has serious constitutional concerns about the program.
"This is the opening salvo in a very long story, but it's important symbolically in dispelling the invincibility of the metadata program," he added.
Vladeck said 15 judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court have examined Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision of law under which the data collection takes place, without finding constitutional problems. "There's a disconnect between the 15 judges on the FISA court who seem to think it's a no-brainer that Section 215 is constitutional, and Judge Leon, who seems to think otherwise."
Vladeck said there is a long road of court tests ahead for both sides in this dispute and that a higher court could ultimately avoid ruling on the big constitutional issue identified by Leon. "There are five or six different issues in these cases," Vladeck said.
Robert F. Turner, a professor at the University of Virginia's Center for National Security Law, said searching the databases involved in the National Security Agency case is similar to searching motor vehicle records or FBI fingerprint files.
The judge's decision is highly likely to be reversed on appeal, Turner said.
He said the collection of telephone metadata - the issue in Monday's ruling - has already been addressed and resolved by the Supreme Court. Turner said law enforcement officials routinely obtain telephone bills that include the numbers dialed without the use of a warrant.
"The odds that an American will have their phone metadata examined by law enforcement officials are about 1,000-times greater than by the National Security Agency," Turner said.
Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has a similar challenge pending in federal court in New York, called Leon's ruling "a strongly worded and carefully reasoned decision that ultimately concludes, absolutely correctly, that the NSA's call-tracking program can't be squared with the Constitution."
Associated Press writers Mark Sherman, Pete Yost, Nedra Pickler and Kimberly Dozier in Washington and Bradley Brooks in Brazil, contributed to this story.


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I don't always go grocery shopping with Mr. Prevention, but when I do it's sure to be more fun…and more expensive.
We headed to CostCo yesterday afternoon and the location near our home is always INSANE. Like…can't-hardly-find-a-parking-spot insane. Mr. Prevention think he's really funny and in very congested areas with a lot of people he'll make "moo-ing" sounds because, well… shoppers with their carts probably do look like cattle being herded through the store. I have no idea why, but this makes me laugh every time.
{I fully realize this is probably one of those things that's only funny if you're there.}
CostCo is always a lengthy adventure because it's important to compare prices — not everything is a good deal. My favorite CostCo buys are: vanilla extract (Kirkland brand), bell peppers, onions, chicken breasts, Fage 0% plain yogurt, berries, spinach, pineapple, honey, maple syrup, most spices, and chicken stock. I'm sure there's others, but those are my go-to items.
Greek yogurt has been my staple breakfast for the past few weeks. I have been packing for breakfast 1 cup of 0% plain Greek yogurt with 1 cup of diced strawberries, drizzled with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey. For about 300 calories, I find this to be healthy, filling, and really good. This week I'm changing it up and swapping in blackberries.
But then 10:30am rolls around and I'm hungry. Lunch seems forever away…and a lot of times, what I want is something sweet. Suddenly, the sweets in the break room are all but calling my name.
This week, I'm determined to have a care-free (normal schedule!), well-planned (meal planned, well-stocked fridge, and workouts planned for Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun), low-stress work week that has a lot of structure. My life has been lacking structure and knowing that the late morning hours can bring about a healthy, delicious breakfast cookie snack makes me very happy….and dreading the work week just a little less.
These are great for breakfast, snack, or dessert. Kids have got to love them if my husband does! These are whole-grain, refined sugar-free, and vegan. I made these yesterday morning in about 15 minutes.
Other than my CostCo event with my moo-ing husband, and perhaps my hockey scrimmage, making cookies was my best spent time this weekend 😉
Vegan Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies from Eat Drink Love
1 1/2 medium bananas (1/2 cup), mashed
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small bowl, combine the banana, peanut butter, syrup, applesauce, and the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture until well-combined. Stir in the cranberries.
Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the dough onto the pan using a 1/4 cup measure. Wet a spatula and flatten down the mounds of dough so they are about 1/2 inch thick.
Bake for 15 minutes or until browned.
Yield: 14 large cookies.
Nutrition Information (per cookie): 134 calories; 5.3 g. fat; 0 mg. cholesterol; 90 mg. sodium; 19.6 g. carbohydrate; 2.4 g. fiber; 3.1 g. protein
Result: Thumbs up! These are peanut butter oatmeal cookies that are soft with tart cranberries throughout. Simple to make and plenty sweet. Wholesome, nutritious ingredients…and vegan. Mr. Prevention approved these, even. Enjoy![/print_this]
I shouldn't have stayed up so late watching playoff hockey…love this time of year.
Don't forget to send in any RD Q&A questions!
Be well,


text:
DAVID KOENIG, AP Airlines Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Even with the turbulence of severe winter storms and stubbornly high fuel prices, many of the major airlines are cruising and their stock prices are soaring.
Mergers have reduced competition and made it easier for the airlines to limit the supply of seats and raise average fares. Extra fees bring in billions more each year.
On Thursday, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines reported record profits for the first quarter, usually the weakest time of year for the airlines. That followed a rousing report from Delta Air Lines a day earlier.
Still stuck on the tarmac: United Airlines. While rivals were making money, United lost another $609 million during the first three months of the year. Its shares plunged $4.22, or 9.2 percent, to $41.84 in afternoon trading.
The No. 2 airline company behind American, United Continental Holdings Inc. is struggling to make the 2010 merger of United and Continental work. As costs rise, United is taking in less per mile from passengers — it's not charging fares high enough to cover expenses.
"This quarter's financial performance is well below what we can and should achieve," conceded United Chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek. He said that the company still had too many parallel technology systems, "and our customer service historically since the merger has not been as good as it should be."
Analysts weren't mollified by the promise to fix problems. On a conference call, the normally cheerful Helane Becker of Cowen and Co. prefaced a question for United executives with, "One of last year's many excuses … "
And Jamie Baker of J.P. Morgan wondered whether the steps United is taking — things like setting aside more seats for last-minute fliers who pay higher prices — will matter. He said that United faces too much competition at key hubs in San Francisco and Denver.
"I'm just not convinced that even if properly executed … United has the same profit potential as your primary competitors," Baker said.
Smisek defended United's strategy and assets, admitting only that hub airports in northern cities such as Chicago and Newark, N.J., were more vulnerable to bad winter weather. United said that $200 million of its first-quarter loss was due to 35,000 weather-related flight cancelations.
Jim Corridore, an analyst with Standard & Poor's, said in an interview that United is still paying the price for network meltdowns that caused widespread flight cancelations over the past couple years.
"They certainly say the right things on the conference calls," he said, "but once you make a mistake like they did with their technology — losing customers, the site being down, the reservations systems not being synched properly — it snowballed and they have been playing catch-up ever since."
Excluding integration expenses and other items, United's loss was $1.33 per share as revenue dipped 0.3 percent to $8.70 billion. Analysts expected a loss of $1.35 per share on $8.71 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
Revenue for every seat flown one mile, a key measure in the airline business, fell 2 percent, which United blamed mostly on canceled flights.
The same figure rose 3 percent at American Airlines Group Inc., the company formed by December's merger of American and US Airways. That helped American swing to a $480 million profit, a record for American for the usually weak first quarter, as revenue rose 6 percent. A year earlier, American and US Airways together lost $297 million.
Excluding the sale of takeoff and landing slots at Washington's Reagan National Airport and other one-time gains, American would have earned $402 million, or 54 cents per share, topping analysts' forecast of 48 cents per share.
"In the entire history of American Airlines, we have never earned $400 million in the first three months of a year, but in the first three months since the merger, we did," CEO Doug Parker said in a note to employees.
American's shares were up 77 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $37.86 in afternoon trading.
Southwest Airlines Co. also set a first-quarter record with its profit of $152 million, more than doubling the year-ago number despite 7,500 weather-related flight cancelations that the company said reduced profit by $50 million. Excluding special items, Southwest earned 18 cents per share, beating analysts' forecast of 16 cents per share.
"Demand was very strong and very steady and resilient, you might say, considering the extreme weather," Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said on a conference call. He gave an upbeat outlook for the April-through-June quarter, with strong bookings and revenue trends plus stable prices for jet fuel. The shares gained 21 cents to $24.29.
Flying the other direction was JetBlue Airways Corp., which has big operations in the Northeast that were hit particularly hard by winter storms. But it still had a profit.
JetBlue said weather cancelations cost $50 million in revenue and $35 million in operating profit, and added to higher labor costs, helped send net income down about 71 percent to $4 million, or a penny per share. Analysts were forecasting 7 cents per share.
Its shares were down 22.5 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $8.365.
On Thursday, Delta said that it canceled more than 17,000 flights in January and February and still beat expectations with a $213 million profit, up from $7 million a year ago.


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A former ad sales rep for Gourmet magazine (R.I.P.), Lisa Rogovin had what she calls her Eat, Pray, Love moment in 2005, meaning she left an unhappy marriage, sold the house, and embarked on a food-fueled journey around the world, visiting 14 countries (yes, India was in the mix) in seven months.
Before she left on her edible adventure, though, the food enthusiast sowed the seeds for her future happiness, both personally and professionally. She met the man who would become her second husband and she led a group of hotel guests on a culinary expedition of San Francisco's Ferry Building fine-food emporium.
Buoyed from her travels, she took up where she left off when she returned. The Venezuelan golf pro became her hubbie, and she launched her own business, In the Kitchen with Lisa, leading intimate food forays around the Bay Area's culinary epicenters. Her field trips include the Ferry Building's Marketplace and Farmers' Market, West Marin food and wine top spots, and, more recently, a tour of the city's Mission District eclectic eats.
And for the past two years, every Thursday between 11 am and 2 pm, Lisa or one of her team of seven tour guides (they call themselves epicurean concierges) walks a group who pay $75 a pop for the privilege around the Gourmet Ghetto in North Berkeley — a spot many consider to be the birthplace of California cuisine and the growing food movement. All while noshing on samples at eight different eateries and getting an insider's perspective from the area's food purveyors, restaurant owners, and chefs.
Last Thursday her tour began at Saul's Restaurant and Delicatessen where, over local pastrami on Acme rye with house-made celery seed soda, co-owner Peter Levitt gave an impassioned overview of the demise of the Jewish deli and Saul's controversial efforts to provide sustainable, yet authentic, Jewish foods.
Next stop, around the corner to Walnut Square for a quick primer on the evolution of Peet's Coffee + Tea (it took an immigrant from the Netherlands to bring decent coffee to the States way back in the 1960s, though Alfred Peet would likely turn in his grave at all the frou-frou coffee drinks his brewing revolution spawned). Something savory? Check. Something bitter? Check.
It's time for something sweet, so we head upstairs for mini cupcakes at Love at First Bite (what's not to like?), a quick nod to The Juice Bar Collective (this being Berkeley, food politics are never far away) and then it's time to don our bon vivant hats as we head into Vintage Berkeley wine shop for a tasting of good drops that cost less than 25 bucks.
Turns out, we're just getting started.
We take a spin through the Epicurious Garden, Berkeley's genteel version of a food court, for samples of artisanal offerings from neighborhood newbie Lush Gelato and Alegio Chocolate. And there's a celebrity sighting to boot: author Michael Lewis, disguised as a dad, buying pie with one of his kids.
I'm entering food coma territory at this stage, and I suspect the group of mostly out-of-towners appreciate the short walk past Cesar, and Chez Panisse (photo op!), and other restaurants before experiencing something completely different, culinarily speaking, at the raw food temple Cafe Gratitude.
After sampling I Am Insightful (chard wrapped spring rolls) and I Am Thankful (coconut curry soup) — one local wag once wrote of the labor intensive eats here "I am hungry and impatient" — we made our way to the grand finale, a swing through the kitchen of The Cheeseboard Collective, where cheese, sourdough bread, pizza, and huge chocolate chip cookies are eagerly devoured.
As a local, it's easy to take for granted all the gourmet goodies we have in easy reach. But seen through the eyes of this group of 16 or so food fans, who hailed from Canada, Utah, Arizona, coastal California, and the Eastern States, I'm reminded, yet again, of the abundance of delicious fare in town.
Well fed, I sat down post tour to talk food with Rogovin, 40, who lives in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood with her husband and young son.
What do you enjoy about your job?
I love to give people, whether they're from the Bay Area or somewhere else, an opportunity to experience great, authentic, local food. And I like to demystify the experience. I want visitors to see the food world through the eyes of the people who run these businesses. It gives people an intimate and informative view of the food scene and access they couldn't get on their own. People who are interested in food want to know the background and the stories behind the food businesses they visit. And, of course, they want to taste what these purveyors have to offer. It's like showing people an artichoke, you want to peel back the layers to get to the heart of the matter.
What kind of skills do you need for this line of work?
You have to do a lot of leg work in advance, both in terms of research and coordinating the logistics on the day. During the tour you have put out a lot of energy and have good time management skills. You have to give people firm directions and tell them what to do and where to go.
You also need to be adaptable, depending on everything from the weather to the composition of the group, to what's going on with the businesses you visit. You need to assess pretty quickly who your audience is and cater to it accordingly.
And you need to make people comfortable and feel welcome, by interacting with them around interests, such as food and travel. Being an epicurean concierge definitely has a performance aspect to it. You need to be on for the entire three hours, even though most peoples attention span starts to wan around the 30 minute mark. That's why we keep things moving.
Describe the typical demographics of someone on your tour?
Our tours draw 60-70% Bay Area people, mostly women, ranging in age from 30s-70s. But today, as you saw, we had lots of out-of-towners, a mix of men and women, as well as some moms with daughters, and a couple of family groups with teenagers who are interested in cooking.
What do you bring home to eat after a tour?
I always pick up a Cheeseboard pizza. My husband is a big fan, so Thursday is pizza night in our house. I also really like the soups at SOOP, they're wholesome and satisfying. If I'm feeling a bit under the weather I'll get matzo ball soup from Saul's.
How would you describe the difference between the food scene in Berkeley versus San Francisco?
It's a little slower paced here, there's a little more rustic natural elegance. The city is a bit slicker in comparison.
Readers: Where would you want to eat on a Berkeley food tour. Where do you take visitors to eat here?
Each Friday in this space food writer Sarah Henry asks a well-known, up-and-coming, or under-the-radar food aficionado about their favorite tastes in town, preferred food purveyors and other local culinary gems worth sharing.
Henry muses about food matters on her blog Lettuce Eat Kale. Follow her on Twitter and become a fan of Lettuce Eat Kale on Facebook.
If you have an idea for a Berkeley Bites interview, send your suggestion to firstname.lastname@example.com or leave a comment here. To read previous Berkeley Bites profiles click here.


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For those who remember, and for those who can't forget:
• 1977: Quincy is born.
• 1996: Quincy signs a letter of intent to play football for Georgia Tech, but decided instead to play baseball. He is drafted by the Chicago Cubs.
• 1998: Realizing that life couldn't possibly be worse than it is in the Cubs organization, Carter quits and wins the starting job at the University of Georgia.
• 1999: Has an outstanding sophomore season for the Bulldogs.
• 2000: Despite a difficult junior year, Quincy declares for the NFL Draft, where he is considered a third-or-fourth round pick.
• 2001: Jerry Jones shocks the NFL world by picking Quincy with the 22nd pick in the second round. Somehow, he ends up starting, and isn't quite as awful as everyone thought he'd be. Nevertheless, the Cowboys still sign
noted guitar artiste Chad Hutchinson in the offseason. It is most likely this is when Carter decided drugs were a much better option than life as a Cowboy.
Get the rest of Quincy's odd career after the jump.
• 2003: Carter, under new coach Bill Parcells, has an unexpected resurgence and leads the Cowboys to the playoffs. Some herald Jones a genius for recognizing Carter's potential before anyone else did. They say this quickly to Jones and scramble away, lest glancing on his face turn them into stone.
• 2004: Out of nowhere, Parcells releases Carter before the season begins, saying he "could not be trusted with the leadership of the team." Carter also fails a drug test. He ends up playing for the Jets, and isn't half bad. He suffers a "drug relapse" during the playoffs, however, and is again kicked off his team.
• 2005: He moves to St. Louis and officially retires from the NFL.
• 2006: He accepts an offer from the CFL's Montreal Alouettes in April. He lasted one month before QB Carter Released From Als' Camp [TSN]
Quincy Carter [Wikipedia]


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Dear Sirs,
Explore This IssueACEP News: Vol 32 – No 06 – June 2013
First, thank you for putting all the tools I need into one sterile package, minimizing the amount of running around finding little pieces to start central lines on my patients. (A central line goes into the central venous circulation, allowing the use of hypertonic medications and monitoring of venous pressures to guide fluid resuscitation.)
Now, to my gripe: apparently none of you have thought about the order in which these devices are used when starting a line.
Yes, everything has a special place, but it tells me you haven't thought out the actual use of the kit when I have to dig the Seldinger wire out of the bottom of the kit despite its use being necessary very early in the process, and getting it out dislodges many of the other items from their pockets, then making the whole shebang a mess.
Therefore, I offer my assistance in designing a kit that makes more sense when it's used.
FYI, here's a link to a nicely done animation of how to place a central line: (www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QHiuYc22pfE). I do mine a little differently (direct sonographic guidance usually), but this is good for the gist. (The wire is there, but it's really hard to see…).
Read Dr. Roberts' blog at www.gruntdoc.com.


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Posted by Suzanne Kai
on Sunday, 14 August 2022
Continue Reading
Posted by Lia Chang
on Monday, 09 May 2011.
Sthaniya Sambaad (Spring in the Colony), directed by Arjun Gourisaria & Moinak Biswas was named Best Feature Film.
Best Director winner Aparna Sen (Iti Mrinalini). Photo Credit: MichaelToolan.com
(L-R) Presenter Neetu Singh Kapoor and Best Actor winner Rishi Kapoor (Do Dooni Chaar) Photo Credit: MichaelToolan.com
Mohan Raghavan received Best Screenplay for T.D. Dasan Std. VI B.,
Max Carlson's Bhopali was named Best Documentary.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Invites 397 Members
What's Going On? Everything, All at Once By Ben Fong-Torres
American Born Chinese coming to Disney+ in 2023
AAPI Stars of Hollywood, Sports, and Business! Asia Society Southern California Gala 2023
Asia Society Southern California U.S. Asia Entertainment Summit
Simu Liu is on Time 100 List of the World's Most Influential People - Another 1st in 2022 for Asians and Asian Americans
James Hong, Veteran Actor Receives His Star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame! 2022 is a Year of Great Firsts for Asian Americans in Hollywood
Janet Yang is Elected President of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
2022-2021-2020-2019 - New Diversity Rules for Oscars
Simu Lui - First Asian Star of a Marvel Studios Movie! SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences 2021 Class of Invitees Continues to be more Inclusive
Friends, Strangers Respond to 'The Year of the Rat' By Ben Fong-Torres
The Year of the Rat By Ben Fong-Torres
The Year of Sheltering Dangerously By Ben Fong-Torres
#STOP ASIAN HATE - National Protests - Tools to Fight Now! - GoFundMe.org launches The Support the AAPI Community Fund
Ben Fong-Torres New Audiobook!
Must See! RUTH: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words - A documentary by Oscar winner Freida Lee Mock
Henry Golding Stars as SNAKE EYES Coming to Theaters July 22, 2021!
2021 Oscar and Emmy Nominated CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION - Documentary
Busier Than Ever, After a Plug is Pulled
Awkwafina Wins Golden Globe! Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy!
February 9, 2020 Update: "Parasite" Makes History - Wins Oscar for Best Picture
Awkwafina is Nominated for a Golden Globe for "The Farewell" - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Actor Tim Lounibos - Hopeful Opportunities Ahead for APA's in Hollywood Movies and Television
Documentary Filmmaker Stephen Maing Honored by IDA with Courage Under Fire Award
We hope you VOTED today! - November 6, 2018
Thank you - Chinese for Affirmative Action - 50 Years of Standing Up for What is Right
Actor Tim Lounibos - Its an Amazing Time in Hollywood Now for Asian American Entertainment
Updates! Congratulations - CRAZY RICH ASIANS is crossing the $100 Million mark for North American Box Office!
Go See This Opening Weekend! CRAZY RICH ASIANS - August 15-19, 2018
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Invites more Diverse Members to Join
A New Day Has Dawned at the Los Angeles Times
In Memoriam - Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018) and Kate Spade (1962-2018)
Must See Films! AAPI Heritage Month on WORLD CHANNEL's America Reframed
2018 Newport Beach Film Festival - April 26 - May 3
Happy Birthday! to Justice Harry W. Low, pioneer community leader
Team USA Figure Skater Nathan Chen Wows Audiences with Six Quad Jumps
Team USA Snowboarder Chloe Kim Wins Gold at the Winter Olympics
Celebrate! Ben Fong-Torres co-hosts Southwest Airlines® Chinese New Year Parade Feb 24, 2018
Kelly Marie Tran is Rose, the first major Star Wars character played by an Asian American female
Crazy Rich Asians - The Movie is coming to screens August, 2018
The Honorable March Fong Eu 1922 - 2017
Visual Artist Sim Chi Yin is this year's Nobel Peace Prize Photographer
Jackie Chan's latest movie The Foreigner shows off his acting skills
Actor Ed Skrein quits reboot of "Hellboy" over whitewashing concerns
Jackie Chan stars in 2 movies - The Foreigner (Oct 2017) & Bleeding Steel (Dec 2017) - & Streaming Jan. 2018
Happy Birthday Cameron Crowe!
Hawaii Five-O co-stars ask for equal pay to white co-stars - CBS offers less - They Quit


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Schematic model of the gas boiler with gas burner Weishaupt G30 for boilers heating and hot water supply.
Originally modelled in 3ds max 9.
Used standard 3ds max matherials. Final images rendered with standard Scanline render.
Also you can check at my Collections:
Vector Cartoon Cars
Vector Cartoon Trucks
Detailed Vector Cars modern and retro
Detailed Vector Trucks Vans Tractors and Pickups
Detailed Vector realistic and cartoon styled Buses
Vector aircrafts, airplanes, retro, modern, blueprints, silhouettes and aerial backgrouds
Detailed vector train illustrations and Detailed 3D model locomotive
Detailed vector illustrations, 3D models, and 3D renders of Spacecrafts
Vector detailed Hotrod illustrations in Cartoon and realistic styles
Vector Design elements, objects and backgrounds


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A very dapper Robert Pattinson is heating up the small screens.
Since signing a big deal to be the new face of Christian Dior's men's fragrance, fans got a sneak peek at the Twilight hottie's print ads, and now E! News got the exclusive deets on the actor's commercial for the brand, which was shot back in December.
"It was a ceremony with a lot of guests dressed very fancy. There was a 6-piece formal band with violins," a source, who was present at the shoot, tells us, adding that about 100 people gathered as extras in the background.
The shoot, which took place inside the ballroom in the New York City's Waldorf Astoria, had a French crew, director and translator—and a beautiful model, who played opposite Pattinson's character.
"They ran through the crowd and stopped on the dance floor. Rob danced with an older lady and the girl would dance with the kids," our source explains. "During the scene, they were holding hands and danced a little before splitting up so Rob could dance with the older lady. The scene was that others were not amused by this—like those two were crashing a ceremony."
Dior told E! News in a statement: "Robert has been photographed for the campaign by American artist Nan Goldin and filmed by French director Romain Gavras, which is currently being broadcast exclusively in Europe (excluding the U.K.) and Asia (excluding China and Japan)."
Guess the U.S. will just have to wait.


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A close friend of Philip Seymour Hoffman has settled a libel lawsuit against The National Enquirer by creating a playwriting foundation to be initially funded by the tabloid, the New York Post reports.
In a one-page ad Wednesday in The New York Times, The Enquirer said it "responsibly acknowledged its error" for a story that purported to be an exclusive interview with David Bar Katz. The Enquirer also apologized to Katz, a playwright who discovered Hoffman's body.
The actor died of an apparent heroin overdose Feb. 2.
The Times reported on the settlement and said the ad was part of the agreement.
The American Playwriting Foundation will award $45,000 yearly for an unproduced play that embodies Hoffman's "passion for truth." Katz's lawyer told the Times the amount won't be disclosed.


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New Car Review
by: BILL RUSS
SEE ALSO: Land Rover Buyer's Guide
Land Rover is the venerable name in European sport-utility vehicles. The company has been making sturdy utility machines since 1948, and there is a unique aura about them. Land Rover products have long been the transportation of choice for explorers and sportsmen in the far reaches of the old British Empire. An African wildlife or tropical expedition documentary isn't complete without one. The original Land Rovers were basically trucks and exceedingly practical vehicles for the bush or country. In England and elsewhere around the globe they were used much the same as our pickup trucks and small jeeps. In 1970, recognizing that many of its basic vehicles were being used for go- anywhere passenger vehicles Land Rover built the Range Rover, the first luxury sport-utility. With its leather and walnut interior, the Range Rover County was (and is) just the thing for driving around the grounds at the summer estate, but perhaps a bit pricey for the mass market. As sport-utility sales skyrocketed in the past few years, a new mid-line Land Rover, the Discovery, was created.
The Discovery is a close cousin to the larger Range Rover County (LWB). It has the same type of rugged boxed-steel ladder chassis and long-travel suspension as its more expensive cousin but simpler suspension and drivetrain designs. This and its more modest standard interior appointments allow the Discovery to be sold at a price that is very competitive with other popular sport-utilities.
We drove the newest Discovery rather extensively both on and off-road. It has good road manners in the city and on the highway, and on a rugged off-road course it displays the handling characteristics that made Land Rover synonymous with go-anywhere in safety, style and class.
APPEARANCE: The new Discovery is unmistakably Land Rover. It is a boxy, functional piece of machinery, handsome in a rugged sort of way. Short, high, and with little overhang beyond the large wheels and tires, it looks like a safari vehicle. Many items demonstrate its versatility. Among them are formidable bumpers equipped with pull hooks in front and a tow bar in back, headlight washers, rear washer wiper and defogger, large all-season tires, a high cab with a low step-up, and mud flaps. Its aluminum bodywork has few frills. The extra windows curving into the roof (Alpine windows) and two sunroofs give the rear-seat passengers a good upward view and make the Discovery unique.
COMFORT: While the Discovery is a SUV on the outside, inside it touches on luxury. It can seat from two to seven, there are many storage spaces, cup holders, comfortable and supportive seating, remote locking, plus power windows and mirrors. The rear jump seats are good for kids, and like the leather upholstery, optional. The temperature control system has dual temperature settings for each side, and when the optional rear area is installed all passengers are assured of a comfortable cabin. The four-speaker radio/cassette/CD player has excellent sound. Retained power makes it possible to close windows and sunroof after the ignition is turned off.
SAFETY: The Discovery is as safe as it is rugged. It is fitted with dual front airbags, side door impact beams, four-wheel antilock disc brakes, three-point outboard seat belts, and rear door child locks. Its rugged ladder frame and large bumpers aid in minimizing damage.
ROADABILITY: The Discovery has a short wheelbase, high center of mass, and a soft, very outback- capable suspension. It offers excellent handling when used within its design parameters, but fast cornering is a bad idea. With power steering it is easy to maneuver whether in town on the outback, and its braking system assures safe stopping. It can agilely climb over boulders, ford streams up to 20 inches deep, tour over deeply rutted roads, and even tow a trailer. All-around visibility is fantastic, and the cabin is well insulated. Engine noise and gravel pinging on the underside do intrude
PERFORMANCE: "Performance" takes on a slightly different meaning with a vehicle like the new Discovery. Acceleration and cornering speed are much less important than towing capacity, climbing or declining ability, and approach and departure angle. Land Rover's 3.9 liter aluminum V8 engine develops 232 lb/ft of torque for heavy hauling and 182 horsepower for performance purposes. Low gearing and a torquey engine provide a 5500-pound towing capacity in high range and 7700 pounds in low. Our Discovery was equipped with the standard five-speed manual transmission, but a four-speed automatic is available for those who prefer its convenience.
CONCLUSION: The 1995 Land Rover Discovery carries on the traditions of the larger County LWB. While well equipped with most of the modern conveniences it maintains its British heritage and is a vehicle that can literally go to the jungle, the veldt or the family castle.
Base Price $ 29,350 Price As Tested $ 34,550 Engine Type V-8, ohv - 16 valve, mpfi Engine Size 3.9 liter/241 cid Horsepower 182 @ 4750 Torque (ft/lbs) 232 @ 3100 Wheelbase/Length 100"/179" Transmission five speed manual w/od Curb Weight 4400 Pounds per Horsepower 24 Fuel Capacity 23 Fuel Requirement Unleaded premium (91 oct) Tires Michelin 235/70R16 4x4 all-season Brakes anti-lock standard disc/disc Drive Train front engine/full-time all wheel drive PERFORMANCE EPA Economy - miles per gallon, city/highway/observed 13/16/14.1 0 to 60 mph 10.8 sec 1/4 mi (E.T.) 17.9 sec Coefficient of Drag (Cd) .44


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An Interview With Fr Gabriele Amorth - The Church's Leading Exorcist
by Gyles Brandreth of The Sunday Telegraph
On the bumpy flight to Rome I read The Bible all the way. The passenger on
my left - a wiry businesswoman from Wisconsin - found this disconcerting. As
the turbulence worsened and I moved from Jude to Revelation, she hissed at
me, "Do you have to?" "It's only background reading," I murmured. She
grimaced. "What for?" I turned to her and whispered: "I'm going to meet the
exorcist." "Oh Christ," she gasped, as the plane lurched and hot coffee
spilled over us.
Father Gabriele Amorth is indeed the exorcist, the most senior and respected member of his calling. A priest for 50 years, he is the undisputed leader of the city's six exorcists (appointed by the cardinal to whom the Pope delegates the office of Vicar of Rome) and honorary president-for-life of the International Association of Exorcists. He is 75, small, spry, humorous, and wonderfully direct.
"I speak with the Devil every day," he says, grinning like a benevolent gargoyle. "I talk to him in Latin. He answers in Italian. I have been wrestling with him, day in day out, for 14 years."
On cue (God is not worried by clichés) a shaft of October sunlight falls across Father Amorth's pale, round face. We are sitting at a table by the window in a small high-ceilinged meeting room at his Rome headquarters, the offices of the Society of St Paul. Father Amorth has come to exorcism late in life, but with impressive credentials. Born in 1925 in Modena, northern Italy, the son and grandson of lawyers (his brother is a judge), Gabriele Amorth, in his late teens, joined the Italian resistance.
Immediately after the war, he became a member of the fledgling Christian Democratic Party. Giulo Andreotti was president of the Young Christian Democrats, Amorth was his deputy. Andreotti went into politics and was seven times prime minister. Amorth, having studied law at university, went into the Church.
"From the age of 15," be says, "I knew it was my true vocation. My speciality was the Madonna. For many years I edited the magazine Madre di Deo (Mother of God). When I hear people say, 'You Catholics honour Mary too much,' I reply, 'We are never able to honour her enough.'
"I knew nothing of exorcism - I had given it no thought - until June 6, 1986 when Cardinal Poletti, the then Vicar of Rome, asked to see me. There was a famous exorcist in Rome then, the only one, Father Candido, but he was not well, and Cardinal Poletti told me I was to be his assistant. I learnt everything from Father Candido. He was my great master. Quickly I realised how much work there was to be done and how few exorcists there were to do it. From that day, I dropped everything and dedicated myself entirely to exorcism."
Father Amorth smiles continually as he tells his story. His enthusiasm for his subject is infectious and engaging. "Jesus performed exorcisms. He cast out demons. He freed souls from demonic possession and from Him the Church has received the power and office of exorcism. A simple exorcism is performed at every baptism, but major exorcism can be performed only by a priest licensed by the bishop. I have performed over 50,000 exorcisms. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, sometimes many hours. It is hard work multo duro."
How does he recognise someone possessed by evil spirits? "It is not easy. There are many grades of possession. The Devil does not like to be seen, so there are people who are possessed who manage to conceal it. There are other cases where the person possessed is in acute physical pain, such agony that they cannot move.
"It is essential not to confuse demonic possession with ordinary illness. The symptoms of possession often include violent headaches and stomach cramps, but you must always go to the doctor before you go to the exorcist. I have people come to me who are not possessed at all. They are suffering from epilepsy or schizophrenia or other mental problems. Of the thousands of patients I have seen, only a hundred or so have been truly possessed."
"How can you tell?"
"By their aversion to the sacrament and all things sacred. If blessed they become furious. If confronted with the crucifix, they are subdued." "But couldn't an hysteric imitate the symptoms?"
"We can sort out the phoney ones. We look into their eyes. As part of the exorcism, at specific times during the prayers, holding two fingers on the patient's eyes we raise the eyelids. Almost always, in cases of evil presence, the eyes look completely white. Even with the help of both hands, we can barely discern whether the pupils are towards the top or the bottom of the eye. If the pupils are looking up, the demons in possession are scorpions. If looking down, they are serpents."
As I report this now, it sounds absurd. As Father Amorth told it to me, it felt entirely credible.
I had gone to Rome expecting - hoping, even - for a chilling encounter, but instead of a sinister bug-eyed obsessive lurking in the shadows of a Hammer Horror film set, here I was sitting in an airy room facing a kindly old man with an uncanny knack for making the truly bizarre seem wholly rational. He has God on his side and customers at his door. The demand for exorcism is growing as never before. Fifteen years ago there were 20 church-appointed exorcists in Italy. Now there are 300.
I ask Father Amorph to describe the ritual of exorcism.
"Ideally, the exorcist needs another priest to help him and a group nearby who will assist through prayer. The ritual does not specify the stance of the exorcist. Some stand, some sit. The ritual says only that, beginning with the words Ecce crucem Domini ('Behold the Cross of the Lord') the priest should touch the neck of the possessed one with the hem of his stole and hold his hand on his head. The demons will want to hide. Our task is to expose them, and then expel them. There are many ways to goad them into showing themselves. Although the ritual does not mention this, experience has taught us that using oil and holy water and salt can be very effective.
"Demons are wary of talking and must be forced to speak. When demons are voluntarily chatty it's a trick to distract the exorcist. We must never ask useless questions out of curiosity. We but must interrogate with care. We always begin by asking for the demon's name."
"And does he answer?" I ask. Father Amorth nods. "Yes, through the patient, but in a strange, unnatural voice. If it is the Devil himself, he says 'I am Satan, or Lucifer, or Beelzebub. We ask if he is alone or if there are others with him. Usually there are two or five, 20 or 30. We must quantify the number. We ask when and how they entered that particular body. We find out whether their presence is due to a spell and the specifics of that spell.
"During the exorcism the evil may emerge in slow stages or with sudden explosions. He does not want show himself. He will be angry and he is strong. During one exorcism I saw a child of 11 held down by four strong men. The child threw the men aside with ease. I was there when a boy of 10 lifted a huge, heavy table.
"Afterwards I felt the muscles in the boy's arms. He could not have done it on his own. He had the strength of the Devil inside him.
"No two cases are the same. Some patients have to be tied down on a bed. They spit. They vomit. At first the demon will try to demoralise the exorcist, then he will try to terrify him, saying, 'Tonight I'm going to put a serpent between your sheets. Tomorrow I'm going to eat your heart'."
I lean towards Father Amorth. "And are you sometimes frightened?" I ask. He looks incredulous. "Never. I have faith. I laugh at the demon and say to him, 'I've got the Madonna on my side. I am called Gabriel. Go fight the Archangel Gabriel if you will.' That usually shuts them up."
Now he leans towards me and taps my hand confidentially. "The secret is to find your demon's weak spot. Some demons cannot bear to have the Sign of the Cross traced with a stole on an aching part of the body; some cannot stand a puff of breath on the face; others resist with all their strength against blessing with holy water.
"Relief for the patient is always possible, but to completely rid a person of his demons can take many exorcisms over many years. For a demon to leave a body and go back to hell means to die forever and to lose any ability to molest people in the future. He expresses his desperation saying: 'I am dying, I am dying. You are killing me; you have won. All priests are murderers'."
How do people come to be possessed by demons in the first place? "I believe God sometimes singles out certain souls for a special test of spiritual endurance, but more often people lay themselves open to possession by dabbling with black magic. Some are entrapped by a satanic cult. Others are the victims of a curse."
I interrupt. "You mean like Yasser Arafat saying to Ehud Barak, 'Go to Hell' and meaning it?"
"No." Father Amorth gives me a withering look. "That is merely a sudden imprecation. It is very difficult to perform a curse. You need to be a priest of Satan to do it properly. Of course, just as you can hire a killer if you need one, you can hire a male witch to utter a curse on your behalf. Most witches are frauds, but I am afraid some authentic ones do exist."
Father Amorth shakes his head and sighs at the wickedness of the world. At the outset be has told me he is confident he will have an answer to all my questions, but he has a difficulty with the next one. "Why do many more women seem to become possessed than men?"
"Ah, that we do not know. They may be more vulnerable because, as a rule, more women than men are interested in the occult. Or it may be the Devil's way of getting at men, just as he got to Adam through Eve. What we do know is that the problem is getting worse. The Devil is gaining ground. We are living in an age when faith is diminishing. If you abandon God, the Devil will take his place.
"All faiths, all cultures, have exorcists, but only Christianity has the true force to exorcise through Christ's example and authority. We need many more exorcists, but the bishops won't appoint them. In many countries - Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain there are no Catholic exorcists. It is a scandal. In England there are more Anglican exorcists than Catholic ones."
Although the post of exorcist is an official diocesan appointment (there are about 300 attached to the various bishops throughout Italy) and Father Amorth is undisputably the best known in his field, there is some tension between Amorth and the modernising tendencies in the Church hierarchy.
Devil-hunting is not fashionable in senior church circles. The Catholic establishment is happier talking about "the spirit of evil" than evil spirits. The Vatican recently issued a new rite of exorcism which has not met with Father Amorth's approval. "They say we cannot perform an exorcism unless we know for certain that the Evil One is present. That is ridiculous. It is only through exorcism that the demons reveal themselves. An unnecessary exorcism never hurt anybody."
What does the Pope make of all this? "The Holy Father knows that the Devil is still alive and active in the world. He has performed exorcism. In 1982, he performed a solemn exorcism on a girl from Spoletto. She screamed and rolled on the floor. Those who saw it were very frightened. The Pope brought her temporary freedom.
"The other day, on September 6, at his weekly audience at St Peter's, a young woman from a village near Monza started to shriek as the Pope was about to bless her. She shouted obscenities at him in a strange voice. The Pope blessed her and brought her relief, but the Devil is still in her. She is exorcised each week in Milan and she is now coming to me once a month. It may take a long time to help her, but we must try. The work of the exorcists is to relieve suffering, to free souls from torment, to bring us closer to God."
Father Amorth has laughed and smiled a good deal during our three-hour discussion. He has pulled sundry rude faces to indicate his contempt for the pusillanimous bishops who have a monopoly on exorcism and refuse to license more practitioners. In his mouth it does not seem like mumbo-jumbo or hocus-pocus. He produces detailed case histories. He quotes scriptural chapter and verse to justify his actions. And he has a large following. His book, An Exorcist Tells his Story, has been reprinted in Italy 17 times.
Given his shining faith and scholarly approach, I hardly dare ask him whether he has seen the notorious 1973 horror film, The Exorcist. It turns out to be his favourite film. "Of course, the special effects are exaggerated. but it is a good film, and substantially exact, based on a respectable novel which mirrored a true story."
The film is held to be so disturbing it has never been shown [until recently] on British terrestrial television and until last year could not even be rented from video shops. None the less, Father Amorth recommends it. "People need to know what we do."
And what about hallowe'en? The American tradition has made no inroads in Italy. "Here it is on Christmas Eve that the Satanists have their orgies. Nothing happens on October 31. But if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that.''
It is time to go to the chapel where our photographer is waiting. Father Atnorth, used to the ways of the press, raises an eyebrow at us indulgently as he realises the photograph is designed to heighten the drama of his calling. Pictures taken, he potters off to find me of one ot his books.
"What do make of him?'' asks the photographer. "Is he mad?"
"I don't think so,'' I say. The award-winning Daily and Sunday Telegraph Rome correspondent, who has acted as interpreter br the interview, and is both a lapsed Catholic and a hardened hack, is more empathic: "There's not a trace of the charlatan about him. He is quite sane and utterly convincing."
Surprised at myself I add: "He seems to me to be a power for good in the world." With a smirk, the photographer loads his gear into the back of the taxi. ''So he's Peter Cushing then, not Christopher Lee," he says.
Father Amorth reappears with his book and smiles. "Remember, when we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest."
This interview first appeared in the 29th October 2000 issue of The Sunday Telegraph and is reproduced with permission
Copyright © Telegraph Group Ltd.
Version: 29th April 2001


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(CNN) -- Former Olympic champion Angel Matos of Cuba faces a life ban after kicking a referee flush in the face during his taekwondo bronze medal match in Beijing.
Matos reacted in extraordinary fashion to being disqualified by Chelbat.
Matos, who took gold in Sydney in 2000, was winning 3-2, with just over a minute left in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov.
Matos lay down, awaiting medical attention, but was then disqualified by referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden for taking too much injury time.
A furious Matos reacted by pushing a judge, then pushed and kicked Chelbat in the face.
It left the Swede with blood pouring from his lip while Matos spat on the floor and was then escorted out of the arena.
"We didn't expect anything like what you have witnessed to occur," said World Taekwondo Federation secretary general Yang Jin-suk.
"I am at a loss for words," he told the Associated Press.
Matos' coach, Leudis Gonzalez, is also in hot water for his angry reaction and claiming the Kazakhs had tried to fix the match.
"This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind," Yang added.
Although the arena announcer said Matos and his coach were banned effective immediately, Yang said due process must be followed before officially banning the two.
It was not the only controversial moment in the four-day taekwondo competition, which was marred by several protests against judging decisions.
Earlier Saturday, China's double gold medalist Chen Zhong crashed out in the quarterfinals after initially being declared the winner.
She was fighting Britain's Sarah Stevenson, who scored with a clear head kick -- worth two points -- in the final seconds of their bout.
That would have put Stevenson ahead and into the semifinals, but the judges ruled Stevenson's kick wasn't solid enough for points, and Chen was declared the winner 1-0.
After Britain protested, the result was changed to put Stevenson in the semifinal. She lost that to jeers from the partisan Chinese crowd, but later won a bronze medal match.
It was the first time a match result has been overturned since taekwondo became an official Olympic sport.
Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.


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In March 2000, Barron's reported that 51 Internet companies were burning cash so fast that they'd be broke by the end of the end of the year. The article (it's behind a seemingly unbreachable paywall) has acquired the reputation of having marked the end of the dot-com boom. The Nasdaq composite index peaked on March 10 at 5132, and by the end of the month was in a full-on collapse (as I write this, it's only at 3155, despite years of gains).
The Burn Rate 51 was made up mostly of now-forgotten companies like drkoop.com and CDNow. But it also included a certain Internet bookseller from Seattle. The Barron's article mentioned that a 690 million euro convertible bond sale in February had bought Amazon some more time (the list was based on 1999 year-end data) — but that the company would still run out of cash in 21 months.
In fact, Amazon was only operating at such a high burn rate because it could. Once investors stopped giving it free money, the company quickly cut back on its investments and its losses. By the fourth quarter of 2001 — that is, within about 21 months — it was turning a profit.
That opportunistic approach to financial markets has defined Amazon since it went public in 1997. And while it has certainly burned many buyers of Amazon shares through the years — Amazon's stock price took a decade to get back to its 1999
peak — the long-run returns have been spectacular. In Morten T. Hansen, Herminia Ibarra, and Urs Peyer latest ranking of long-run CEO performance in HBR, Amazon's Jeff Bezos now ranks No. 2, behind the late Steve Jobs, with an industry-adjusted shareholder return of 12,266% during his tenure.
So when Amazon reports below-consensus earnings, as it did Tuesday, and the share price jumps, as it did after-hours Tuesday and again Wednesday morning, the reaction isn't quite the puzzle it seems. Slate's Matthew Yglesias cracked that "Amazon, as best I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers." But what's really going on is that Jeff Bezos has trained elements of the investment community to expect that low profits (or big losses) now represent investments that will eventually pay off, not signs of trouble.
How has Bezos done this? Well, he's a hedge fund veteran who has always taken a skeptical view of Wall Street, treating it more as a loopy rich uncle than the efficient information processor of standard finance theory. When Uncle Wall Street (also known as Mr. Market) is in a generous mood, Bezos is always ready to take advantage by putting investment ahead of profitability. But he's also always been ready to shift gears when the mood turns stingy.
And so Amazon thrived in the crazy late 1990s, when Henry Blodget made his name as an analyst by making outrageous guesses about how high Amazon's stock price would go and seeing them come true long before he expected. It also thrived right through the gloomy early 2000s, when bond analyst Ravi Suria made his name picking apart Amazon's balance sheet and worrying that the company wasn't generating enough cash to make its bond payments (along with the 690 million euro issue in 2000, the company had sold $1.25 billion in bonds the year before). Suria was wrong about that. In fact, Amazon retired the last of the $1.25 billion bond issue just before the debt-market meltdown of autumn 2008. Nice timing, huh?
Of course, none of this would have worked if Bezos hadn't been making the right strategic bets, running the company spectacularly well, and catching the occasional lucky break. There are lots of corporate executives who think they know better than Wall Street. Most turn out not to.
But when you combine Amazon's success with its resolute unwillingness to take financial markets too seriously, the result is an amazing thing to see. Clayton Christensen has long complained that standard financial metrics can be enemies of innovation and growth. As he and two co-authors wrote in 2008:
The emphasis on earnings per share as the primary driver of share price and hence of shareholder value creation, to the exclusion of almost everything else, diverts resources away from investments whose payoff lies beyond the immediate horizon.
With Amazon, though, nobody emphasizes EPS. Or, when they emphasize earnings, it's in the opposite direction from what Christensen's worried about. A few months ago, I heard analyst Mark Mahaney, now of RBC Capital markets, argue (at about minute 26 on the video) that Amazon's razor-thin profit margins were a source of competitive advantage:
You really develop very sustainable moats around a business when you run it at low margins. Very few companies want to come into Amazon's core businesses and try to compete with them at 1% margins or 2% margins.
This sounds eerily similar to what Yglesias was saying, half-jokingly, on Tuesday:
Competition is always scary, but competition against a juggernaut that seems to have permission from its shareholders to not turn any profits is really frightening.
Amazon has this permission because it has trained its shareholders to believe that everything will work out in the end. As a result, it has a shareholder base that's geared for the long-run. The biggest holder, by far, is Bezos himself. After that the No. 1 institutional holder, by a good margin, is Capital Group, the giant Los Angeles mutual fund complex with a reputation for having long investment horizons. I've been looking through transcripts of the company's past couple years of quarterly earnings conference calls with analysts (thanks, Seeking Alpha), and have learned that Bezos never participates (most CEOs do) while CFO Tom Szkutak always concludes his remarks with the sentence, "We believe putting customers first is the only reliable way to create lasting value for shareholders." Nobody complains.
Being long-term oriented isn't necessarily the same as being right. Amazon could make the wrong bets. Bezos could get more interested in space travel than selling massive quantities of stuff at just above cost. But Bezos seems to get this. From an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky last year:
"We believe in the long term, but the long term also has to come," says Bezos, explaining that periodically Amazon wants to "check in" with its ability to make money.
Just "check in," mind you. Wouldn't want to get hung up on flawed financial metrics when there's a world to conquer. Which Bezos can get away with — now that he has housebroken the investment community. The key to success in dog training, I'm learning (we just got a puppy), is to appeal to instinct and memory. Reasoning with the animal, or getting mad at it, doesn't get you anywhere. Neither does mockery, whatever Will Ferrell says. Bezos did lose his cool a bit over Suria's claims back in 2000 ("hogwash," he kept calling them). But in general he has exuded the steady authority of a good dog trainer. Hey, Wall Street! Roll over!


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Community Partners consist of individuals or groups who provide financial or in-kind support to an organization, event or activity through the provision of donations, products or services. They share common missions, interests, values, and messages–thereby achieving together what could never be accomplished separately.
The Diversity Council establishes Community Partnerships in order to:
Organizations joining the Diversity Council as Community Partners receive the following benefits:
To become a Community Partner, your organization must submit a request for partnership to Dennis Kennedy at [email protected]. The request should outline your organization's mission, vision, goals, and reasons for partnering with us. All requests will be reviewed and approved organizations will be notified. We have a limited number of Community Partnership opportunities available, therefore not all organizations will be approved. If you do not acquire Community Partner status upon your first request, you may reapply for future approval.
All approved Community Partners will be reevaluated on an annual basis. For your organization to remain as a Community Partner, you must:


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