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US now naming force-fed Guantanamo prisoners
Associated Press
Ben Fox
April 7, 2013
MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. government has begun notifying lawyers of Guantanamo Bay prisoners if the men they represent are being force-fed to prevent them from starving to death in a hunger strike that has dragged on for more than two months, though its extent remains in dispute.
Cori Crider, a lawyer for Yemeni prisoner Samir Mukbel, said she received notification from the Department of Justice late last week that her client was being force-fed and was permitted to speak with him by phone Monday to confirm the report.
Crider, who works for the British legal rights group Reprieve, said Mukbel told her he joined the hunger strike in February, has lost about 30 pounds and at one point fainted and had to be hospitalized at the prison on the U.S. base in Cuba. He described the feeding process as painful.
"Some people have gone through this a lot but he said he had never felt anything like it in his life," she said shortly after the call.
The U.S. military generally does not discuss specific prisoners in part because doing so might violate provisions of the Geneva Conventions that prohibit making a public spectacle of prisoners, said Navy Capt. Robert Durand, a spokesman for the detention center. As part of that policy, officials have not confirmed the identities of individual hunger strikers, though there has at times been indirect confirmation in court papers as part of the process through which the men challenge their confinement in federal court.
Durand said he was aware the government was notifying lawyers whose clients were being force fed, though he did not know the reason for the change.
Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have gone on hunger strikes since shortly after the prison opened in January 2002. Lawyers for prisoners said the current one began around Feb. 6 to protest the virtual halt in releases under President Barack Obama as well as what they say is a tightening of restrictions and intrusive searches of their Qurans. The lawyers allege that most of the 166 prisoners are participating in the hunger strike.
U.S. officials have said there has been no tightening of restrictions at the base and that the Qurans have been searched in a respectful way by Muslim translators looking for contraband such as medications or potential weapons. There were 42 prisoners listed as hunger strikers Monday under the military guidelines, which include missing nine consecutive meals. Of that group, 11 were being force fed, Durand said.
The feeding procedure used at Guantanamo Bay is similar to one used in civilian federal prisons and involves giving them a liquid nutrient mix through a flexible rubber tube inserted into the prisoner's nostril. Base officials have said it is not painful, though they have also offered the men a topical anesthetic.
Crider said Mukbel told her that he had refused to be force-fed on one occasion in March and was taken by guards to the detainee hospital and handcuffed to a bed for 24 hours to undergo the procedure. The account could not be independently verified.
Mukbel is not facing any charges, according to his lawyer, and is one of about two dozen Yemenis at Guantanamo who have been cleared for transfer but cannot be sent back to their own country because the Obama administration believes the country's security and political situation is too dicey to prevent former militants from attacking the U.S. or its allies.
He previously had been held in a section of Guantanamo for well-behaved prisoners but had grown bitterly frustrated, Crider said.
"Samir's theory was always that if I don't cause any trouble they will clearly see that I'm not threat to anyone and turn me loose," she said. "But so far his calculation on that hasn't been quite right."


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From Optic Nerve #11.
Adrian Tomine was born in Sacramento, California. At the age of twelve, he discovered the comic 'Love and Rockets' by the Hernandez Brothers and was heavily influenced by their work. In 1991, while still in high school, he started writing and drawing fictional and autobiographical stories, which he published in his first mini-comic 'Optic Nerve'.
Summer Blonde
A year later, he was hired by Pulse! Magazine to produce a monthly comic strip and a few years and six mini-comics later, publisher Drawn & Quarterly offered him to produce 'Optic Nerve' as a regular comic series. Tomine won the Harvey Award for Best New Talent for this work.
Comic strip by Adrian Tomine.
Since then, Tomine's art appeared in several magazines, including The New Yorker. Stories from 'Optic Nerve' have been adapted and performed on stage by the Inertia Ensemble in Chicago and his art has been featured by Drawn & Quarterly exhibitions in Portugal, Holland, Finland, Canada and the USA. In addition to his more than ten issues of 'Optic Nerve', Drawn & Quarterly also published the book collections '32 Stories' (a collection of his mini-comics, 1995) and 'Sleepwalk and Other Stories' (1997), as well as his graphic novels 'Summer Blond' (2002) and 'Shortcommings' (2007).
'Scenes From an Impending Marriage'.
Adrian Tomine is a keen observer of the intricacies of human relationships. The characters that populate these stories may appear to be well-adjusted on the surface, but Tomine takes us deeper into their lives, subtly examining their struggle to connect with friends and lovers. He even chronicled the preparations of his own wedding to Sarah Brennan in his 2011 book 'Scenes From an Impending Marriage'. Tomine completed a degree in English Literature at The University of California at Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he still resides.
Adrian Tomine was a strong influence on Sophie Crumb.
Comic strip by Adrian Tomine.

subset: commoncrawl


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If you share your Netflix password with family and friends, it's might be time for everyone to get their own account.
New artificial intelligence introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show will be used to track down login sharers. The technology comes from a software provider called Synamedia.
Recent research says 35 percent of millennials admit to sharing their Netflix credentials. Even though their CEO once said "sharing wasn't a problem" it's REALLY starting to add up money wise and that's going to stop.


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Los Angeles Achdiocese to Release Personnel Files of Priests Accused of Abuse
By Christina Villacorte
LA Daily News
October 12, 2012
Five years after agreeing to do so, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is poised to release personnel files on 25 former priests accused of sex abuse and child molestation, after the state Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the former priests' appeal to keep the documents confidential.
The release of the documents was part of the Archdiocese's record $660 million settlement in 2007 to 508 people who said they were victims.
Former priests sued to block the release of the documents, but lost. The state Supreme Court denied their appeal Wednesday.
Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg did not say when the documents would be released, only that it would happen "at some point in the not-too-distant future."
Joelle Casteix, Western regional director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said victims have waited too long for those personnel files to be made public.
"No amount of money in a financial settlement can heal the wounds of childhood sex abuse," she said in a written statement. "That is why victims fought to expose secret sex abuse files."
"Catholics and the community can now know the true scope and scale of abuse and cover-up," she added. "Most importantly, exposing the files also helps victims keep children safe RIGHT NOW."
Tamberg said the Archdiocese has been "cooperative" and stressed it was the accused former priests' lawyers who tried to block the release of the documents.
He added the Archdiocese has spent the last several years trying to redact the names of innocent priests from the personnel files, which is allowed under the settlement. Victims' attorneys are present when the names are removed.
"We're still working under the order of the court, which was accepted by plaintiffs' attorneys, to redact the names of innocent people," he said.
"Once that's completed to the judge's satisfaction, then presumably she'll sign an order to release the documents."
Tamberg said the process for releasing the documents did not begin in earnest until about two years after the settlement was reached. He said further delays were caused by a judge recusing himself from the process, and the considerable wait for another judge to set the rules for redacting names.
"There have been twists and turns along the way, with former priests objecting to their files being produced, but I think everybody would agree we're at the end of that process," Tamberg added.
Casteix said she hopes the personnel files - which should include any complaints against the former priests and how the church responded to them - can be used to protect children.
"We hope that law enforcement, who may be actively investigating many of these men, will vigorously review these files and use any evidence in them to punish wrongdoers and keep children safe," she said.
Former Archbishop Roger Mahony once fought against making the documents public but stopped contesting their release as part of the settlement.
The former priests whose personnel files will be released are: Michael Buckley, Santiago Tamayo, Kevin Barmasse, Angel Cruces, Donald Patrick Roemer, Peter Garcia, Cristobal Garcia, Lawrence Lovell, John Salazar, Matthew Sprouffske, Lynn Cafoe, Michael Baker, John Dawson, Gerald Fessard, Michael Wempe, Carlos Rene Rodriguez, James Ford, Richard Allen Henry, Michael Nocita, Luis Jaramillo, George Neville Rucker, George Miller, Eleuterio Ramos, Benjamin Hawkes and Fidencio Silva.
News of the impending release of confidential personnel files on former priests accused of abuse comes days after a Seattle plaintiffs attorney released the names of 1,900 men kicked out of Boy Scouts of America for alleged sexual abuse from 1970-1991.
Next week, by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, the Boy Scouts is expected to release 1,200 files on alleged sexual abuse spanning 1965-1985.


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It's not easy to tell a story spanning seven years of adolescence, and a trial like that was almost unprecedented until these films came into fruition. One of the things that made the Harry Potter films so successful both commercially and critically is how different each film really was from one another; every entry in the series had its own distinct look and feel. The fact that each movie had a different pairing of director and cinematographer makes it easy to see why that is.
Eduardo Serra was the cinematographer behind the last two movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 & 2.


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Imagining Natural Scotland, aiming to thoroughly think through the relationship between the arts and the natural environment, is holding a series of sessions which promise to be more interesting than the title suggests. Sessions are to encourage collaborations applying for the awards.
Each session will feature,
- Detailed information on how to apply to the Imagining Natural Scotland fund.
- A presentation, open discussion and Q&A on a particular aspect of Natural Scotland's representation in the arts and popular culture; featuring guest speakers from both the environmental and creative sectors.
- Time for networking and meeting potential collaborators.
For example Dundee feature presentations on cross-disciplinary collaboration from Tentsmuir Artist in Residence, Derek Robertson and Sophie Eastwood the Red Squirrel Project Officer for Fife Coast and Countryside Trust; Inverness will feature Professor Paul M Thompson and artist and composer, Mark Lyken, and curiously Oban will feature Professor Laurence Mee director of Scottish Marine Institute (SAMS) and the designer Daniel Mee.
Dumfries will feature artist, author and planner, Timothy Collins and Reader in the Institute of Geography, Emily Brady on why arts and humanities informed by science are uniquely situated to explore future imaginaries and potential virtues where nature is concerned.
From what we understand one of the key issues for the Imagining Natural Scotland team is that the visual arts (and applied arts?) are perceived to be very engaged with the environment compared to music, dance and poetry, though we're certain that there are those that would dispute this perception. The point is that visual and applied artists interested in this programme might want to partner up with other art forms.


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Credit pack contains 4.200 Far Cry Credits, including 700 bonus Far Cry Credits, which can be used to unlock extra items, in-game currency, resources and more.
© 2021 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Far Cry, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Based on Crytek's original Far Cry directed by Cevat Yerli. Powered by Crytek's technology "CryEngine."


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There have been a lot of mixed thoughts about "Tarantallegra", both the song and the album, and I completely understand the people who say they don't like it -- more than their personal preference, I get why and what could make them dislike it. However, my response would be that you're looking at the wrong thing. Like what I said in my review of Big Bang's "Alive", you have to look at, and think of, the right element in order to completely appreciate it.
I won't lie and say that this album is everything I expected and more, because it's not, and I was disappointed when I first heard it because I was expecting everything to be equally brilliant -- the material, the delivery, the production -- but hearing the album now, this is the most ideal way to do a solo album. This isn't just an album, this is Junsu's album, and that has to be made very clear. But even that, I'm not entirely sure about.
There are things I don't like, and the more I listen, the more problems I find. I don't like the production on the entire album, because it dulls Junsu's vocals, and in turn, dulls all the songs. Junsu still carries the songs, but dull production is something out of his reach, and it does absolutely nothing for the generic material. The songs don't have to be loud, because the album is actually pretty soft volume-wise (not dynamics-wise), but I would've liked the production to be crisp.
Half of the album, or more than actually, is made up of ballads. I was half-expecting this, as always, but I was also hoping that Junsu wouldn't go down this route. He's had enough ballads in and out of DBSK, solo or group, to last him several lifetimes. Some of the ballads on this are gorgeous, of course, and Junsu sings them better than everyone else, but this is the same thing all over again. On the other hand, for a first solo release, sticking with something comfortable may be better. Who knows.
I listened to "Tarantallegra" the song again this morning, and I do agree with some of the comments on yesterday's single review -- it's potentially boring, and when I listened to it again without the music video, there were parts what just went on and on and on. However, the song gives me the impression that you really have to look at the entire package (and all it's ridiculousness) to fully appreciate it. The song leans towards boring by itself, but if you really focus on Junsu's vocals it's really something else, and add in the video, Junsu's performance as a whole in particular, and it gets that much better.
The synths on "Set Me Free" are so Christina (Aguilera) circa-"Keeps Getting Better", and now that I think about it, the entire song is so Christina. Period. It also reminds me a bit of After School's "Dream" around the edges. But again, the focus of this entire album isn't the material, which I've already deemed average, it's the delivery. For me, Junsu's vocals are enough to draw me in.
The problem with "사랑이 싫다구요" is a problem I see in a lot of other Korean ballads, actually -- they're too low. I was watching K-Pop Star a few weeks back, and from what I got the industry opinion on these things is that they're "emotional". I'm sorry, but the only thing this song does to me is give me a sore throat. The same goes for "알면서도", a few tracks later. It has OST song written all over it, but honestly, at this point it sounds too much like a better-sung version of "사랑이 싫다구요" in the right key.
Which is why, while the choruses of both songs are gorgeous and Junsu's voice takes center stage, as it should, I prefer "돌고 돌아도", not just because it's in waltz-time, even if that's a major reason too. Junsu's singing in the right range, and we actually get the chance to feel the emotion, because he isn't scratching our throats anymore. And the arrangement laced with the ever so slightly oriental melody has a much more natural flow than the previous song. If "Mulan" had one of those ballroom scenes appropriated for China, this would be the song playing.
This is pretty rare, but I actually like the Korean arrangement of "Intoxication" better than the Japanese one -- I adore the guitar line, in all its crisp glory and how it contrasts the vocal treatment (which, for once, matches the song) and the dynamics have much more punch here. But "Intoxication" is a brilliant song regardless.
And the best song on the album? "Lullaby". It's stunning, and it was made and executed with a musical mindset. The arrangement half of the package, because it's just as stunning as the delivery. The strings and chymes that lead into a very clean drum kit and gentle but confident synths, especially. Junsu sang the entire song flawlessly, and he really sounds his best on this song -- both technically and emotionally. He turned a potentially cheesy and lounge-y song into something stunning.
I'm pretty sure I've heard "이슬을 머금은 나무" somewhere before, but I can't quite remember where. Nevertheless, it's another gorgeous ballad, and currently fighting with "돌고 돌아도" for my second favorite song. It's the kind of song that lulls you to sleep, not because it's boring, but because it's gorgeous and it relaxes you. Epic string section? Check. Half-real drums? Check. Junsu's stunning voice? Check. Check. Aaaaaand Check.
"Tarantallegra" is an okay album, boring around the edges, yes, but I think another dimension to it is that Junsu himself is very comfortable with the material on it, so he delivers it much better than it actually is. Fair enough.
My favorite: "Lullaby"
Song(s) I'd listen to again: "돌고 돌아도", "이슬을 머금은 나무", "Fever", "Set Me Free"
My least favorite: "사랑이 싫다구요"
The final verdict: 3.9/5


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Health and Safety Issues Caused by Teens Distracted when Driving
Published: 2014-04-24
Author: Elsevier Health Sciences - Contact: Eileen Leahy - firstname.lastname@example.com - Ph. 732-238-3628
Peer-Reviewed: N/A
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On This Page: Summary - Main Article
Synopsis: Journal of Adolescent Health reports on insights from investigators regarding causes of distracted driving among teenagers. Motor vehicle crashes rank as the leading cause of teen deaths and in 2008, 16% of all distraction-related fatal automobile crashes involved drivers under 20 years of age. These grim statistics, coupled with an increasing nationwide awareness of the dangers of distracted driving for all ages, prompted the publication of an important supplement to the Journal of Adolescent Health that explores the causes of distracted driving and offers practical recommendations to reduce the incidence of distracted driving among teens.
Main DigestMotor vehicle crashes rank as the leading cause of teen deaths and in 2008, 16% of all distraction-related fatal automobile crashes involved drivers under 20 years of age. These grim statistics, coupled with an increasing nationwide awareness of the dangers of distracted driving for all ages, prompted the publication of an important supplement to the Journal of Adolescent Health that explores the causes of distracted driving and offers practical recommendations to reduce the incidence of distracted driving among teens.
"Although public health efforts have made some progress in reducing risk of adolescent motor vehicle crashes over the last three decades, new technologies and evolving behavior patterns have focused attention on the risk of distracted driving," observes Guest Editor C. Raymond Bingham, PhD, from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, MI. "For many of the same reasons that alcohol-impaired driving represents a distinct risk for adolescents, distracted driving has an elevated impact on this age group. The unique challenge posed by the proliferation of new technological distractions may accelerate this risk behavior and may lend itself to innovative prevention efforts."
The issues involved are not simple. While there are many different causes of distracted driving, the aim of the supplement is to take a broad view of the topic instead of focusing on the individual sources of distraction. The goal is to give researchers, practitioners, lawmakers, parents, and teens a better understanding of why distracted driving is a potentially deadly activity and steps that might be taken to reduce the number of crashes it causes.
An important issue for the public as well as legislators, former United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood comments, "This special Journal of Adolescent Health supplement brings the important issue of driver distraction and young drivers into focus. The articles presented cover a variety of the influences on young drivers' distractibility and safety as well as the important influence of parents, peers, and technology. While there is no single (simple or quick) solution to this problem, this research can lay a substantive foundation for additional debate and informed and effective policies to address the complex problem of distracted driving among young drivers and the larger driving population as a whole."
The supplement examines the issues surrounding distracted driving by teens, exploring developmental states and changes that are associated with adolescents' distractibility and their relation to driving, examining patterns of distraction among newly licensed adolescents as well as brain function, considering the potential role played by parental modeling of distracted behavior while driving, accounting for the role of technology and the influence of peer passengers and society norms, and investigating policy, legislation, and intervention.
One of the ideas that the supplement highlights is that there are a multitude of complicated factors that result in teens being more vulnerable to the effects of distracted driving than other age groups. In the article "Adolescence, Attention Allocation, and Driving Safety," by Daniel Romer, PhD, et al, the authors explore the explanations behind why teens fail to pay attention, including brain immaturity and lack of driving experience. Their review points to extensive new driver training as a way to help compensate for the unique problems teenage drivers face when it comes to focusing on the road.
Another issue the supplement addresses is what can specifically be done to prevent distracted driving among teens. "Young Driver Distraction: State of the Evidence and Directions for Behavior Change Programs," by Lisa Buckley, PhD, et al, discusses different methods used to both educate and prevent distracted driving. While the authors argue that legislative and contextual interventions can be effective prevention strategies, they also recognize that there is an unmet need for behavioral change programs designed to pinpoint the most at-risk groups, identify their risk and protective factors, and then design effective interventions tailored to their specific needs.
Current evidence regarding laws to limit cell phone use for talking or texting that are now in place in many jurisdictions suggests that these laws are either ineffective or may have an unintended effect, according to Johnathon P. Ehsani, PhD, and co-authors in "The Impact of Michigan's Text Messaging Restriction on Motor Vehicle Crashes."
Dr. Bingham concludes, "In the near future, and perhaps for years to come, reducing driver distraction to increase roadway safety is going to be increasingly challenging. As automated functions increase in vehicles, drivers are likely to feel that their attention to the road is less necessary." He continues, "Cultural attitudes and values and the public's tolerance for distracted driving need to be targeted by informative and persuasive public health campaigns that make evident the need and create a public demand for individual behavior change."
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Cite This Page (APA): Elsevier Health Sciences. (2014, April 24). Health and Safety Issues Caused by Teens Distracted when Driving. Disabled World. Retrieved September 23, 2023 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/accidents/distraction.php
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In Olathe, KS
Call to schedule an eye exam at Galbrecht Eyecare
To contact Galbrecht Eyecare for any other matter, please fill out the appropriate form below, send us an email or give us a call. Don't put off a chance to improve or preserve your vision. You can schedule an eye exam appointment right now with our online request form or use the feedback form to contact us for any other inquiry. We look forward to hearing from you.


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Seven women from Island Magee, Co Antrim are imprisoned and pilloried for 'bewitching' a woman named Mary Dunbar, who experienced strange fits and visions.
The last trial for witchcraft in Ireland–there were never very many–thus given in MacSkimin's History of Carrickfergus: "1711, March 31st, Janet Mean, of Braid-island; Janet Latimer, Irish-quarter, Carrickfergus; Janet Millar, Scotch-quarter, Carrickfergus; Margaret Mitchel, Kilroot; Catharine M'Calmond, Janet Liston, alias Seller, Elizabeth Seller, and Janet Carson, the four last from Island Magee, were tried here, in the County of Antrim Court, for witchcraft."
Their alleged crime was tormenting a young woman, called Mary Dunbar, about eighteen years of age, at the house of James Hattridge, Island Magee, and at other places to which she was removed. The circumstances sworn on the trial were as follows:
"The afflicted person being, in the month of February, 1711, in the house of James Hattridge, Island Magee (which had been for some time believed to be haunted by evil spirits), found an apron on the parlour floor, that had been missing some time, tied with five strange knots, which she loosened.
"On the following day she was suddenly seized with a violent pain in her thigh, and afterwards fell into fits and ravings; and, on recovering, said she was tormented by several women, whose dress and personal appearance she minutely described. Shortly after, she was again seized with the like fits, and on recovering she accused five other women of tormenting her, describing them also. The accused persons being brought from different parts of the country, she appeared to suffer extreme fear and additional torture as they approached the hous"It was also deposed that strange noises, as of whistling, scratching, etc., were heard in the house, and that a sulphureous smell was observed in the rooms; that stones, turf, and the like were thrown about the house, and the coverlets, etc., frequently taken off the beds and made up in the shape of a corpse; and that a bolster once walked out of a room into the kitchen with a nightgown about it! It likewise appeared in evidence that in some of her fits three strong men were scarcely able to hold her in the bed; that at times she vomited feathers, cotton yam, pins, and buttons; and that on one occasion she slid off the bed and was laid on the floor, as if supported and drawn by an invincible power. The afflicted person was unable to give any evidence on the trial, being during that time dumb, but had no violent fit during its continuance."
In defence of the accused, it appeared that they were mostly sober, industrious people, who attended public worship, could repeat the Lord's Prayer, and had been known to pray both in public and private; and that some of them had lately received communion.
Judge Upton charged the jury, and observed on the regular attendance of accused at public worship; remarking that he thought it improbable that real witches could so far retain the form of religion as to frequent the religious worship of God, both publicly and privately, which had been proved in favour of the accused. He concluded by giving his opinion "that the jury could not bring them in guilty upon the sole testimony of the afflicted person's visionary images". He was followed by Judge Macarthy, who differed from him in opinion" and thought the jury might, from the evidence, bring them in guilty", which they accordingly did.
This trial lasted from six o'clock in the morning till two in the afternoon; and the prisoners were sentenced to be imprisoned twelve months, and to stand four times in the pillory of Carrickfergus.
Tradition says that the people were much exasperated against these unfortunate persons, who were severely pelted in the pillory with boiled cabbage stalks and the like, by which one of them had an eye beaten out.
Source: Celtic Twilight


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101 Piece Wooden Train Track Expansion Set
Expansion pack includes tracks, train engine, train cars, trees & signs.
Code: 38480
Manufacture: Maxim Enterprise
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101 pc Ultimate Expansion Track Pack - Maxim Enterprise
This 101 piece Ultimate Expansion Wooden Train Track Pack has everything that you need in order to add to your existing wooden train set and or if you just want to design your
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Real wages decline; literally no one notices
Cross-posted from Middle Class Political Economist.
Your read it here first: Real wages fell 0.2% in 2012, down from $295.49 (1982-84 dollars) to $294.83 per week, according to the 2013 Economic Report of the President. Thus, a 1.9% increase in nominal wages was more than wiped out by inflation, marking the 40th consecutive year that real wages have remained below their 1972 peak.
Yet no one in the media noticed, or at least none thought it newsworthy. I searched the web and the subscription-only Nexis news database, and there are literally 0 stories on this. So I meant it when I said you read it here first. In fact, there was little press coverage of the report at all, in sharp contrast to last year.
Below are the gory details. The data source is Appendix Table B-47, "Hours and Earnings in Private Non-Agricultural Industries, 1966-2012." The table has been completely revised since last year's edition of the report. The data is for production and non-supervisory workers in the private sector, about 80% of the private workforce, so we are able to focus on what's happening to average workers rather than those with high incomes.. I use weekly wages rather than hourly because there has been substantial variation (with a long-term decline) in the number of hours worked per week, from 38.5 in 1966 to 33.7 in 2012. The table below takes selected years to reduce its size.
Year Weekly Earnings (1982-84 dollars)
1972 $341.73 (peak)
1975 $314.77
1980 $290.80
1985 $284.96
1990 $271.10
1992 $266.46 (lowest point; 22% below peak)
1995 $267.17
2000 $285.00
2005 $285.05
2010 $297.79
2011 $295.49
2012 $294.83 (still 14% below peak)
This decline is especially amazing when we consider that private non-farm productivity has doubled in this period:
Update: Jon Talton at the Seattle Times has now taken note of this.


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
I can confirm that this is still happening on Alpha 2.36.Thom, the issue with m_bMediaRunning not being set false, unless the core is running (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8881.msg60630#msg60630,) still exists. Nothing in SVN has changed which would rectify the issue. I don't have a build environment yet so I can not provide a direct patch. I intend to get on irc and request some assistance with the build environment but I've been away and havn't had a chance yet.I believe that adding the line:Code: [Select] m_bMediaRunning = false;to LM::LM() in LM.cpp [line 70-83] will fix the problem. J.
m_bMediaRunning = false;
phenigma, Did you figure out how to get the update or when the fix will be available? I asked Thom also but I don't think he's online and I have the same problem too and I'm fully updated also.
Now that alpha 2.37 has been released, anyone try it that had the "orbiter already started" error?


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When I sat down to write my first column — an introduction, of sorts — I thought it would be easy. What I didn't realize was how hard it would be to find a place to start.
Since debuting in 2004, wrestling has taken me to eight different countries, from England to India. I've had the opportunity to see some of the world's most famous sites, like England's Big Ben and Spain's Familia Sagrada. I've also had the chance to discover some less-known sites that should really be on more maps, like England's Ye Olde Chershire Cheese.
Most importantly to me, though, I've been able to do what I've always wanted to do — wrestle around the world — and have been lucky enough to discover a passion for traveling at the same time.
My dream of wrestling internationally stemmed from my admiration for wrestlers such as Owen Hart and Chris Jericho, who spent time early in their careers wrestling overseas. It became very important to me to travel to different places and try to learn what each place has to offer. What surprised me, although probably shouldn't have, is that some of the places I learned the most from were the places that I found the most difficult to wrestle or live in, like my time spent in Mexico. In some cases, what I learned really had nothing to do with how to do a certain hold or put a match together, but taught me about what I'm capable of dealing with and overcoming on my own.
This weekend marks a special day in my career, and it's my past travels that make it so special to me. Since I turned 18 in 2005, I've traveled to Mexico, Europe, India, and 25 U.S. states, wrestling in 15 of them. Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to see my own country. My travels within Canada have been limited to southern Ontario and a few nearby cities in Quebec, with a weekend trip to British Columbia thrown in just a few weeks ago.
On Thursday, April 24th, I started my first real Canadian tour. The 18-day tour will take us across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick before ending with two shows in Labrador. The opportunity to see eastern Canada — a place I haven't visited since I was eight years old — is something I've been very excited about since I was first booked on the tour almost six months ago. Visiting different countries has been rewarding to me both personally and professionally, but it also made me curious as to what my own country has to offer, and if it's current wrestling scene carries the lessons of the legendary wrestlers who once performed here.
My next column, which will be finished shortly after I return home on May 12th, will feature my thoughts and stories from my tour with Mainstream Wrestling. This column will act as something of a journal for me, where I will write about my current travels, recount stories from past trips, and hopefully shed some light on how much independent wrestling has to offer in every part of the world.


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Hedge fund giant SAC Capital to pay $1.8B penalty
NEW YORK (AP) — SAC Capital Advisors will plead guilty to criminal fraud charges, stop investing money for others and pay $1.8 billion — the largest financial penalty in history for insider trading — to resolve criminal and civil claims against the hedge fund giant, the government announced Monday.
The government said in a letter to judges presiding over Manhattan cases that the "proposed global resolution" of the criminal and civil cases against SAC Capital Advisors and related companies also includes an agreement that SAC will cease operating as an investment adviser and will not accept any additional funds from third-party investors.
The company will pay a $900 million fine and forfeit another $900 million to the federal government, though $616 million that SAC companies have already agreed to pay to settle parallel actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will be deducted from the $1.8 billion.
The government called the penalties "steep but fair" and "commensurate with the breadth and duration of the charged criminal conduct."
Early in the afternoon, SAC Capital said in a statement: "We take responsibility for the handful of men who pleaded guilty and whose conduct gave rise to SAC's liability. The tiny fraction of wrongdoers does not represent the 3,000 honest men and women who have worked at the firm during the past 21 years. SAC has never encouraged, promoted or tolerated insider trading."
Later, the company revised and softened its statement, subtracting "tiny fraction" and replacing the last sentence with a more remorseful tone: "Even one person crossing the line into illegal behavior is too many and we greatly regret this conduct occurred."
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference the settlement should send the message that "no institution should rest easy in the belief that it is too big to jail." He said it was up to the courts to decide whether to accept the plea deal. No date for a plea was immediately set.
In a statement, FBI Assistant Director George Venizelos said SAC Capital's plea demonstrates "that cheating and breaking the law were not only permitted but allowed to persist."
The deal did not resolve a civil case that the SEC brought in July against SAC Capital's billionaire founder, Steven A. Cohen. He was accused of failing to prevent insider trading at the company, which he founded in 1992 and which bears his initials. The SEC sought to fine Cohen and effectively shut him down by barring him from managing investor funds. Cohen has disputed the SEC's allegations.
Over two decades, Cohen built SAC Capital into one of the biggest and most envied hedge funds. With its hothouse competitive environment for portfolio managers — and outsized bonuses for trading success and swift punishment for losses — the company achieved stellar success.
Cohen rose to become one of the highest-profile figures in U.S. finance and the 40th-richest American, with a net worth of $8.8 billion, according to Forbes. He is among an elite group of hedge fund managers who have personally earned at least $1 billion a year.
Criminal charges were filed in July against the Stamford, Conn.-based SAC Capital. As part of the plea, SAC Capital LP, SAC Capital Advisors LLC, CR Intrinsic Investors LLC and Sigma Capital Management LLC, will plead guilty to a single count of wire fraud and four counts of securities fraud, the government said.
A prosecutor said in July that evidence against the company was "voluminous" and included electronic messages, instant messages, court-ordered wiretaps and consensual recordings. Prosecutors said a work culture at SAC permitted, if not encouraged, insider trading.
Authorities alleged that SAC Capital earned hundreds of millions of dollars illegally from 1999 to 2010 as its portfolio managers and analysts traded on inside information from at least 20 public companies. Bharara in July said SAC Capital "trafficked in inside information on a scale without any known precedent in the history of hedge funds."
At least eight former SAC employees have previously been criminally charged with insider trading and most have pleaded guilty. One is a former portfolio manager at an SAC affiliate who was accused of using illegal tips about an experimental Alzheimer's drug to net more than $276 million for his fund and others.
Of the roughly $15 billion in assets that SAC managed as of earlier this year, about half belonged to Cohen and his employees. The rest was client money.
Cohen wasn't named as a defendant in the case. He was repeatedly referenced in court papers at the "SAC owner" who "enabled and promoted" insider trading practices.
As part of the deal, prosecutors said they will not assert claims for financial recovery against any present owner or shareholder of the SAC defendants for insider trading on behalf of SAC through last Dec. 21, except for criminal fines or forfeiture claims related to insider trading profits or avoided losses. Prosecutors also reserved the right to charge others criminally.
Gordon reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Tom Hays in New York contributed to this report.


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The Centre for Multilevel Modelling (CMM) is a research centre based at the University of Bristol. Our researchers are drawn from the School of Education. We collaborate with a range of researchers in the School of Geographical Sciences, School of Social and Community Medicine and School of Veterinary Sciences working with multilevel models.
Multilevel Modelling is one of the basic techniques used in quantitative social science research for modelling data with complex hierarchical structures. The Multilevel Modelling research theme focuses on producing new statistical methods for tackling research questions, developing new software for implementing this methodology and disseminating these techniques to the national and international social science community.
We develop new statistical methodology, implemented in software to address unsolved issues in quantitative modelling of social processes.
Longitudinal Effects, Multilevel Modelling and Applications is a node of the third phase of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM). More information
Interrelationships between housing transitions and fertility in Britain and Australia
The principal aim of this project is to examine the extent to which housing transitions and residential location choice are influenced by fertility outcomes such as the birth of a(nother) child or a child reaching primary or secondary school age, allowing for the effects of other social processes such as union formation and dissolution and employment changes. More information
Multilevel Modelling Government's School Performance Measures, 'Floor Standards' Target & 'Narrowing the Gap' Priority
Each year, the Government publishes school performance tables that report the achievement and progress of pupils in English secondary schools. In the 2011 tables, the Government introduced a number of changes. These changes have important implications and it is therefore imperative that they are critically reviewed and that innovative techniques are developed and applied to explore potential improvements to the accuracy, usefulness and communication of school performance tables.
This grant will do this by pursuing a programme of methodological and substantive research using multilevel modelling, and based on secondary analyses of the Government's highly detailed pupil and school level performance data which underlie their tables. More information
Use of interactive electronic-books in teaching and application of modern quantitative methods in the social science
The aims of this project are to provide computer-assisted support to increase the skills and understanding of quantitative principles and techniques of researchers in UK social science, and to create innovative tools for reproducible research. More information
Gallery of Multilevel Papers
On-line course
Graduated modules starting from an introduction to quantitative research progressing to multilevel modelling of continuous and binary data. More information and course modules.
Videos and voice-over presentations
Including Random Intercept Models, Residuals, Measuring Dependency, Covariance and Correlation Matrices, and Random Slope Models. More information
Advanced quantitative methods in social science and health
The Advanced Quantitative Methods (AQM) pathway of the SWDTC offers ESRC +3 postgraduate research training in the application of advanced quantitative methods in the social sciences and health. More information
The Centre for Multilevel Modelling's own software enables quantitative social science researchers to become effective multilevel modelling practitioners.
- Purchase MLwiN
- Upgrade to latest version
- Download for free if you are a UK academic
- Software help: MLwiN FAQs, MLwiN user forum.
Stat-JR is a software environment for promoting interactive complex statistical modelling. It is designed to make it easy to analyse large and/or complex datasets, learn statistical methods and develop new statistical methodologies. It also provides access to imputation methods for handling multilevel missing data via downloadable templates.
Other software
- Realcom (Developing multilevel models for REAListically COMplex social science data). Realcom-Impute Realcom macros with interface for handling missing data.
- MLPowSim Application for performing sample size/power calculations in multilevel models via simulation.
- R2MLwiN is an R command interface to the MLwiN multilevel modelling software package, allowing users to fit multilevel models using MLwiN from within the R environment.
- runmlwin Stata command to fit multilevel models in MLwiN from within Stata.
If you would like to be informed of future workshops, you can subscribe to the Centre for Multilevel Modelling Newsletter.
- Introduction to Multilevel Modelling Using MLwiN, R or Stata, 16-18 January 2024 24 September 2023
- MLwiN 3.08 released 22 September 2023
- MLwiN 3.07 released 31 July 2023


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credits defensemedianetwork.com
Apr. 8, 2013 - By PAUL MCLEARY - Defense News
WASHINGTON — If the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, deploys to Afghanistan this year to act as a security forces advise-and-assist team mentoring Afghan troops, they'll likely introduce a weapon to the battlefield: the Boar Battle Wagon.
Two privates from the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment "Wild Boars" constructed the beast at Fort Polk, La., during their train-up for the mission this winter. It consists of a John Deere Gator ATV stacked with the Army's newest and most anticipated communications equipment.
Lt. Col. Al Boyer, the commander of 2/30, said he was looking for a way to use the Capability Set 13 suite of radios, mission command and on a platform lighter than a mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicle, to have connectivity in places where the hulking armored vehicle is too big to go.
The two privates equipped the vehicle with satellite voice capability and a Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below system. It also has access to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance feeds. They loaded it on a CH-47 Chinook with a small generator to keep everything running and dropped it on top of a mountain, where Boyer was able to stay in contact with his soldiers.
In Afghanistan, "I need to be expeditionary," Boyer said. "So essentially, we can drive this thing up on the back of a '47, fly it up to some austere environment, pull it out, fire up the generator and, essentially, I had every single thing on the back of that vehicle that I could have in my [tactical operations center] in a hardwired structure."
Boyer praised the CS13 package his soldiers used during their training rotation, saying it "will save people's lives in Afghanistan, especially as we transition to retrograde and advising our Afghan partners. That situational awareness in those small teams is critical."
At the training center, the unit created a BOLO list (short for "be on the lookout") with the names and descriptions of suspects they were hunting. They blasted it through the CS13 system "so every single soldier out there on the battlefield had the BOLO list" available on the smartphone-like devices they were equipped with.
After that, "we started rolling up the network significantly." The opposition force told him that "those checkpoints significantly impacted their operations" because soldiers could now spot any suspects that might be coming through, Boyer said.
"Capability Set 13 is a great out-of-contact system" he continued, adding that once a fight starts he wants his soldiers to be focused on the fight and not fiddling with their radios and smartphones.
"What it does out of contact is immediately following contact you can drop [virtual] chem lights and say 'this is where the enemy is,' or drop a request for help or you can take a picture and send it back, or you can locate personnel on the ground who are not in contact" for things such as casualty evacuation.


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Ireland Exits Bailout Program, But Economy Still On The Mend
Ireland was one of the countries hardest hit by Europe's debt crisis. On Sunday, it passed a big milestone when the nation became the first country to formally exit the bailout program funded by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
After three years of the bailout program, it isn't hard to find signs of improvement in Ireland and of an economy coming back from the dead.
"Don't get me wrong, it's been bad in a lot of ways, but there's a silver lining in every cloud," says Conor Mulhall, a 41-year-old father of three.
Mulhall used to be in construction management. After the collapse of the Irish economy, he moved to England. But recently, he moved back to Ireland to take a job managing another business.
"It brings you to new stages in your life," Mulhall says. "I'm now involved in the organic food business, so I never would have been if the construction thing had kept going, and there's a lot of people like me."
Mulhall is working at a food fair near Dublin's financial district.
These days, people like him are beginning to find work again. Ireland's unemployment rate has fallen from more than 15 percent to 12.5 percent. The economy is growing again, albeit slowly.
"We're still below where we were at the top of our inflated boom, so we need 10 years of solid growth, but we'll do it year by year," says Michael Noonan, Ireland's finance minister.
Noonan says big foreign companies, including a lot of U.S. tech firms like Google, are once again investing in Ireland. The government can also borrow at a rate not much higher than countries like England and Belgium. Tourism and agriculture are rebounding as well.
Noonan says the exit from the European bailout program is one more step forward. The program forced the country to undergo steep budget cuts and tax increases in exchange for loans.
"Leaving the program means we control our own affairs," he says. "And an Irish government elected by the Irish people can make all future decisions concerning our country."
But there's little joy in Ireland over the exit, perhaps because the country still has a long way to go. The economic crisis was caused by a property bubble that popped in 2008, and the severe budget cuts that followed left the government with few resources to help.
"If you walk around the main streets of our cities, there are people sleeping in the streets because the homeless shelters are all crowded," says Robin Hanan, who directs the Irish branch of the European Anti-Poverty Network. "A lot of people lost their jobs and their houses."
Even though things are getting better, economist Colm McCarthy of University College Dublin says the recovery is tentative.
"It's very fragile, and the economy is very dependent on external demand; it's a very small country," McCarthy says. "It exports a lot of what's produced here, and a lot of what's consumed is imported."
McCarthy says Ireland's fate is very much up to its export markets — mainly England, the United States and continental Europe — and none of them are thriving. There are other problems as well.
For a long time, Ireland was able to draw foreign investment because wages were so low. But now it has to compete with countries like Spain and Greece, where pay has also fallen. McCarthy says there's still an army of former construction workers in Ireland, and they're not likely to find work at Google.
Jimmy Burke came back to Ireland from Australia at the height of the recession. He says jobs were scarce.
"So I got bar work when I came back," Burke says. "People are always going to drink, but manufacturing and stuff, there was no jobs left in that anymore."
He is now studying at the University of Limerick. Like generations before him, he'll probably leave Ireland once he graduates.
"If you go to Scandinavia or Canada, there [are] better prospects to get more experience, rather than just a job in the first place," he says.
Ireland needs to have a serious discussion about how to address unemployment and other problems, says Hanan of the European Anti-Poverty Network. If nothing else, he says, the exit from the bailout program will allow that to happen.
"Now we can have that debate openly with people who might disagree with us, who might have other priorities, without anyone saying, 'Well, sorry, you can't do that because the people lending us the money won't let us,' " Hanan says.
In that sense, he hopes Sunday's move could usher in an era of real change in Ireland.
You care.
You want to know what is really going on these days, especially in Colorado. We can help you keep up. The Lookout is a free, daily email newsletter with news and happenings from all over Colorado. Sign up here and we will see you in the morning!


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One benefit of digital media distribution is that you can store all of your music, movies, TV shows, and videos as data on hard drives rather than as stacks on shelves. But with higher-quality files and larger collections, that can still add up to a lot of storage.
Finding the right storage solution for your needs can be tricky, as you try to balance performance with expandability. Throw in the need for backup and network-wide access and things can get quite complicated. I was very surprised then, to discover Lime Technology's unRAID, a DIY storage system that provides a very powerful, flexible storage option at a very low price.
The need for storage
As a photographer and videographer, I produce a lot of storage-intensive media, and so need a fair amount of space. For music playback, I stream from iTunes to an AirPort Express attached to my stereo, and for video playback, I have a Mac mini attached to a TV, running Plex. So, I want a storage system that can also serve as a centralized media server. Finally, I need to keep all of this data backed up, as well as have a place for general backup of my various computers. I also want to be able to access the storage from any machine on my network and, ideally, access it when I'm away from home. I travel a lot, and when on the road, I invariably get a request from a client for some file that I don't have with me.
Until now, I've been managing my storage needs through a combination of internal hard drives inside my desktop computer, and external USB hard drives on my desk. The problem with this approach is that a desktop computer only has so many bays, and every time you add another external drive you need another USB or FireWire port (or a hub), another electrical outlet, and another place to stack the drive. Finally, for every drive you add, you need a counterpart for backup, and all of these drives have to be plugged into a computer of some kind.
To suit my needs, I decided to build my own unRAID-based network-attached storage server—basically a stand-alone mini-tower computer that has a bunch of hard drives inside it. It sits on my network, and can be accessed from any other machine. I already had a bunch of hard drives, so it was a very cost-effective way to go.
Building an unRAID
To get started, you need a case, a motherboard, a power supply, and a lot of hard drives. Luckily, Lime recommends specific hardware—while you can try to use any motherboard or processor, choosing something from the list of recommended components will greatly improve your chances of getting a working system. The Lime forums are also full of recommendations from users who have built their own systems.
(If you're not comfortable building your own system, Lime sells a 12-bay server for $699 and a fancier, 15-bay server starting at $1199. You just need to add the drives).
Building a system from scratch involves ordering the requisite parts, bolting them all to the inside of the case, attaching the appropriate cable connections, installing the unRAID OS and software on a flash drive, and then testing the results. I bought my parts from Newegg, for a total of $470, including tax and shipping. I bought the $69 Plus version of the unRAID software.
Note that the unRAID does not require much in the way of processing power, so you don't need the fanciest motherboard, and speediest processor. In fact, you might want to consider underclocking your system—setting the processor to run at a lower speed. A slower machine will use less power and stay cooler, which means it won't require a lot of noisy fans. For a media server, a quiet machine can be very important.
In addition to screwdriver proficiency, you'll need some basic computer skills. If you don't know what an IP address is, and how to determine the address of your computer, then you might have some extra steps to learn while assembling the unRAID. Building a machine from scratch is a great way to expand your skill set and understanding, though, so just budget some extra time. You might find it very interesting.
Hard drives
An unRAID contains data drives, and an additional drive called a parity drive. This is the drive that holds the backup data for all the other drives. The parity drive must be at least as big as your largest data drive, so you might want to purchase a big drive specifically for parity. Though my largest data drive is 1TB, I ordered a 2TB drive for an additional $120 to serve as my parity drive. This will allow me to add any drive up to 2TB, at any time in the future. No matter how many drives I add, as long as each is 2TB or smaller (the current max size for a desktop hard drive) I'll be able to restore data if any individual hard drive fails (other than the parity drive, that is).
When you build the machine, it's a good idea to label the physical drives themselves—Parity Drive, Data Drive 1, Data Drive 2, and so on. Attach the Parity drive to the first SATA port on the motherboard, and then the data drives to the other ports, in order. This will make it easier to keep track of which drive is which.
Installing the Software
You boot an UnRAID system off of a flash drive, which also runs the software. By booting off of a flash drive, rather than a hard drive, an extra bay is freed for storage. The OS itself is a stripped-down version of Linux, and the OS and unRAID software will fit on a drive as small as 128 megabytes.
The Basic version of the software, with support for up to three drives and with limited options, is free. For $69 you get the Plus version, with support for six drives, and $119 lets you install up to 20 drives. The software is tied to your flash drive, so you have to provide its specific GUID before downloading (all the info you need is on Lime's registration key page).
Once the machine is built, you'll need to prepare the flash drive, a simple process wherein you format the drive, and then install the unRAID package. After you boot the machine, you're ready to start configuring the software. Configuration is fairly simple, you just need to tell the system which drive is for parity, and which drives are your data drives. It will need to do a little formatting and prep, but once it's done, you most likely won't need to do any more maintenance or management until you're ready to add another drive.
After the initial setup—which may require you to connect a display in order to figure out the IP address—all future configuration is done via a Web browser (or, if you prefer, Terminal). I run my unRAID "headless" meaning I don't keep a monitor on it. The unRAID's Web interface is very easy, and provides all of the features you need for normal maintenance.
The unRAID software is also extensible, and there are a lot of nice add-ons. Some are easier to install than others, but as examples of what you can do, I've added Avahi, a plug-in that makes the unRAID appear in my Finder sidebar, just as any other Bonjour-aware server does. I've also added sleep capability—after half an hour of no use, the machine sleeps, which means its processor, drives, and fans shut down completely.
Why unRAID?
The unRAID offers a lot of great features. First, like a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Disks) it combines multiple drives into a single volume. And, like several RAID formats, it has built-in redundancy. By incorporating a dedicated parity disk, anything you copy to the unRAID can be restored should a single drive fail.
Unlike many RAID configurations, though, you don't have to expand the unRAID with pairs of drives. You can add another drive, of any size, to the array at any time. So, if you run out of storage, all you have to do is add another drive to the system, and that drive's space will automatically be added to the total pool of storage. In this way, the unRAID is like a Data Robotics' Drobo. But while the Drobo comes in a $399, 4-bay Drobo () configuration—which you can expand to eight drives by adding a $199 DroboShare ( ) and a second Drobo—or a $799, 5-bay Drobo S configuration, the unRAID can be expanded to hold up to 20 drives.
Like the Drobo (and unlike most RAID configurations) if a drive in the unRAID fails, you can take it out and replace it with a new drive. The unRAID system will automatically fill the new drive with the contents of the old drive. Thanks to this redundancy, the unRAID system can survive a failure of a single drive. What's also nice is that the data is not "striped" in any way—each drive simply has directories of files, so even if multiple drives fail, you can still retrieve your data from the surviving drives. Also like the Drobo, you can add functionality that you might want (Data Robotics calls them DroboApps).
Finally, the unRAID system is extremely affordable. I had to buy a case, power supply, motherboard, and CPU, but I already had several drives. I simply took the drives out of all of my external enclosures, and some of the extra drives out of my tower, and put them in the unRAID box.
So, with the unRAID, I have a single device that, using current drive technology, can be expanded up to 38 terabytes, and allows for expansion one drive at a time, without losing any data, and without having to rebuild the entire system. All of that data is backed up, and the system can survive a single drive crash with no loss of data. Also, unlike a mirrored RAID 1 setup, half my storage is not used for backup. If I put in 10TB worth of data drives, then I have 10TB worth of usable storage (the same can't be said for a Drobo). The box is attached to my network, so I can access it from anywhere, on any machine (the Drobo requires a separate DroboShare to work over a network). It shows up on my Mac like any other Bonjour device, sleeps when I don't need it, and is speedy enough to serve HD movies wirelessly to my Mac mini.
Using the unRAID
With the unRAID configured and running, you can get to it from any computer on your network. If you've configured your unRAID with Avahi, then it will simply show up in your Finder sidebars, just like any other server. Otherwise, you can choose Go -> Connect To Server and enter SMB://unRAID IP address to access the server.
You can access individual drives on the machine, or specify Shares, which are single logical volumes that span multiple drives. For example, I have an Images share. When I mount it on any machine on my network, I see a single volume with all of my images on it. The images themselves are actually spread across all of the drives of the unRAID. The unRAID software takes care of deciding which drive to write to, and does so with the goal of minimizing the number of drives that are running at any given time. This helps keep the machine more energy efficient, quieter, and cooler. If you want a specific file on a specific drive (maybe because that drive is faster than the others) then you can simply mount a particular drive. Any files that you place on specific drives will still appear in the relevant shares. The unRAID software also lets you specify which drives you want to use for a share, so you could, for example, tell it to keep HD movies on your faster drives, and music files on slower drives.
As you write a file to the drive, the unRAID automatically calculates the relevant backup data and writes it to the parity drive. This process slows down writing a little bit, but if you have a gigabit network, then the unRAID is still plenty fast. I've found it speedy enough to work with large Photoshop documents, and I can stream large HD files from the unRAID to my media server over 802.11g, without any stuttering or stalling. As with any network drive, you can also use the unRAID for Time Machine backups, though you'll need to make a simple modification to one Time Machine preference.
If you need to move a bunch of data onto the unRAID, you can temporarily turn off the parity drive. This will speed up your writes, and you can always turn the drive back on later, and initiate a backup sync.
The sleep plug-in that I installed also includes a wake-on-LAN capability. As long as your unRAID's motherboard supports wake-on-LAN (sometimes referred to as S3) then you can wake up the unRAID from another machine on the network. This means you can stick the unRAID tower in a closet, and still activate it whenever you need. By using an open source router with a wake-on-LAN feature, I can wake the unRAID from anywhere in the world. dd-wrt is open source router firmware that you can flash onto a number of different wireless routers. In addition to extensive customization and management, dd-wrt provides a wake-on-LAN feature.
Best of all, when the server fills up, all I have to do is go buy another internal drive (right now, you can buy a 2TB SATA drive for less than $200) put it in the unRAID tower, and tell the software that the drive is there. That drive will immediately be added to my available space, and I can merrily go along copying media to the server.
The unRAID takes a little more work to get set up than an out-of-the-box solution, but it offers advantages that other systems lack, the least of all being lower price. If you've been hurting for disk space, and don't mind getting a little technical, then the unRAID is a great option.


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Lithuanian literature
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Lithuanian literature, body of writings in the Lithuanian language. In the grand duchy of Lithuania, which stretched in the 14th and 15th centuries from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the official language was Belorussian, and later Latin. In the 16th century the temporary spread of Protestantism, and thereafter the Counter-Reformation, led to the writing of religious works in the vernacular.
The first known Lithuanian printed book was the catechism of M. Mažvydas (1547). Later there appeared the religious writings of J. Bretkūnas, or J. Bretke. In 1701 the New Testament was published and, in 1727, the entire Scriptures. Until the 18th century, books were mostly of a religious character. Among publications outside this category, the first Lithuanian dictionary, K. Širvydas' Dictionarium trium linguarum (1629), is noteworthy.
The 18th century produced more books of secular tendency, including grammars, dictionaries, and the first collections of folk songs. The most significant work of the period was the poem of Kristijonas Donelaitis called Metai (1818; "The Four Seasons"); it is written in hexameters, shows German influence, and depicts village life throughout the year.
During the first half of the 19th century there arose a new movement to create a Lithuanian literary language and foster a new Romantic interest in the early history of the country. In the literature of the period, notably in the poetry of Simanas Stanevičius and Dionyzas Poška, a surge of Western influence appeared in the wake of the French Revolution. Despite a Russian prohibition of the printing of Lithuanian writings in Latin letters, this renaissance was continued by Bishop Motiejus Valančius, noted for religious and educational works, and by Bishop Antanas Baranauskas, a poet whose greatest work was Anykščių šilelis (1858–59; The Forest of Anykščiai). The literature of this era sought to rally Lithuanians against the political control of Russia and the cultural influence of Poland.
The first modern Lithuanian periodical, Aušra ("Dawn"), founded in 1883 by Jonas Basanavičius, gave its name to the literature of the ensuing generation. One of the poems of Vincas Kudirka, a leading publicist and short-story writer, became the national anthem of independent Lithuania. The most famous Lithuanian poet, Jonas Mačiulis (pseudonym Maironis), was noted for both dramatic and lyric poetry and has been called "the poet-prophet of the Lithuanian renaissance." Other distinguished names were Vilius Storasta (pseudonym Vydūnas), philosopher, poet, and dramatist; J. Biliūnas, a sensitive short-story writer; and Juozas Tumas (called Vaižgantas), a literary critic.
In 1918 Lithuania regained independence. Writers began to concentrate on developing national culture and a greater degree of sophistication in literature. Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, novelist and dramatist, was regarded by some as the greatest Lithuanian writer, and Jurgis Baltrušaitis achieved distinction as a lyrical poet. Other prominent figures were Vincas Mykolaitis, who pioneered the modern Lithuanian romance; Balys Sruoga and Kazys Binkis, both poets and dramatists; and Ignas Šeinius, novelist and short-story writer.
When Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and again in 1944, writers were compelled to follow the communist line. Those Lithuanian writers working in the West tried to further the development of the national literature. New modes of expression were successfully attempted in the philosophical poetry of Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas, in the idylls of J. Mekas, and in the novels of Marius Katiliškis. The genres most favoured have been the short story and the lyric.


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Will Supreme Court Endow Corporations With A Soul, Too?
Private businesses are trying to block Obamacare on religious grounds? What do companies worship besides, perhaps, the almighty dollar?
That's the question at the heart of two conflicting rulings from lower courts that the Supreme Court has decided to take up in its second constitutional showdown over President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Since the law also known as Obamacare was passed, dozens of Christian employers have challenged its birth-control mandate that requires employers to provide health insurance coverage for FDA-approved contraception.
Abortion rights opponents believe some of the allowed contraceptive methods block fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman's uterus. That's disputed by other research findings that the methods in question actually work before fertilization occurs.
To placate such objections, the Obama administration has changed the requirement to allow explicitly religious organizations and some other nonprofits to opt out of paying for insurance directly, passing the costs on to their insurance provider instead.
But that doesn't apply to the big for-profit corporations at issue in the two cases that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear.
In one of them, the 10th Circuit Court upheld the argument of Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., a chain of 500 arts-and-crafts stores with 13,000 full-time employees, that the mandate would violate the rights of owners David and Barbara Green under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. That law says that a "person" can seek to opt out of a law under some circumstances if obeying it would "substantially burden" the exercise of his or her religion.
But is a corporation a "person?" Yes, says the 10th Circuit, under the Citizens United decision, which holds that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as individual people to spend money as a form of speech in political campaigns.
Not so, says the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in the second of the two decisions the justices will review. In rejecting the arguments of Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania manufacturer of wooden cabinets owned by a Mennonite family, the appeals court wrote that corporations "do not pray, worship, observe sacraments or take other religiously motivated actions separate and apart from the intention and direction of their individual actors."
That sounds right to me. Even if the corporations qualified as "persons" under the 1993 law, which I am sure would surprise many of those who voted for it, the law cites a "substantial burden" on the exercise of religion.
If any "burden" is imposed on the employers in these cases, it hardly can be called "substantial" any more than the burden government routinely imposes on taxpayers to fund overseas wars or domestic social programs to which they personally object.
But if the high court grants corporations a religious license to pick and choose whichever government rules they want to follow or taxes they want to pay, a substantial burden would be imposed on the ability of the health care law to work — which would be just fine with some of its critics.
The impact of such a decision would reach far beyond Obamacare. That's why the Supreme Court has drawn boundaries around the First Amendment's "free exercise of religion" clause since its ruling in the 1878 test case of the bigamy conviction of George Reynolds, the personal secretary to Mormon leader Brigham Young.
Reynolds contended that his bigamy conviction violated his First Amendment rights as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which would not renounce bigamy until 1890. He lost, mainly because of legal reasoning drawn partly from a letter by Thomas Jefferson in which he drew a sharp distinction between religious belief and religiously motivated actions.
Because belief "lies solely between man and his God," Jefferson wrote, "the legislative powers of the government reach actions only, and not opinions." In that spirit, the Supreme Court' wrote, "Suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship, would it be seriously contended that the civil government under which he lived could not interfere to prevent a sacrifice?"
One hopes not. Government should not intrude on religious faith, but for the sake of the common good, it occasionally must intervene in acts that are motivated by religious belief.
(Email Clarence Page at email@example.com.)
AFP Photo/Saul Loeb


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One day in September, Isidro Rivera Barrera, a contract worker and labor organizer who was campaigning at an Ecopetrol refining facility in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, was reportedly gunned down outside his home. His death was met with the usual silence–just business as usual in a country with one of the world's worst human rights records for attacks on trade unionists. But now, the hushed suffering of Colombian workers reverberates in the U.S. Capitol, which has just passed a deal to bring even more business-as-usual to Colombia. Congress last week approved three long-pending trade deals with Panama, South Korea and Colombia. The rationale behind each of them is dubious; there's little evidence that the agreements will lift up the U.S. economy and plenty that they could lead to massive job loss in key sectors. But free trade deals have always been less about creating jobs than exporting neoliberal ideology to the Global South, thereby accelerating poor nations' cascade toward low labor standards, environmental exploitation and deregulation. The new trade deals had been stalled under the Bush administration, due to concerns that they would undermine human rights and economic security in the same way the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) wreaked havoc on Mexico and the U.S. years before. But the Obama administration has picked up where its predecessor left off and finalized these corporate wish lists. Fair-trade activists and labor groups, both in the U.S. and in the civil societies of "partner" nations, warn that the new deals will only exacerbate the inequities that landed the global economy in the ongoing crisis: lax labor standards and unfettered corporate greed, along with a blank check to abuse the environment and trample indigenous people's land rights. Buoyed by the momentum of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a diverse coalition of groups gave one last push to block the deals in the final days before the vote. But hammering lawmakers with phone calls and emails didn't shake bipartisan dedication to the pacts. The three deals collectively represent the spectrum of grievances that advocates have raised about free trade at home and abroad. The Panama deal, according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, would do little to improve economic conditions, but would promote development under a regime known for "unhesitating corruption," nested in an infamous offshore tax haven for corporate cronies. The Colombia deal, meanwhile, has been denounced by human rights advocates and labor unions for having prettily worded, but deeply inadequate labor protections. Just as the ink was drying on the deal, Colombian trade unionists took to the streets to protest exploitative working conditions under multinational bosses in Puerto Gaitán, and Colombia's government faced international condemnations for failing to address a long-standing epidemic of retaliatory attacks on labor activists. "It is anti-social for any nation to adopt a free trade agreement with Colombia so long as that government continues to allow impunity for the cowards who commit cold blooded murder on trade unionists," Dick Blin of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, which has campaigned on the Ecopetrol case, told Colorlines.com. But what might be deemed "anti-social" from a human rights standpoint can pass for "international partnership" in Washington. The South Korea trade deal, which is expected to encourage more offshoring of U.S.-based jobs while eroding consumer and labor protections, illustrates the curious ethical calculations that guide global commerce. As the legislation neared approval, the administration opened a loophole specifically for U.S. manufacturers to export cars that fall short of South Korea's emissions standards, effectively offshoring American pollution to a country with more progressive environmental policy. Environmental activists have in fact argued broadly that the trade deals would usher in environmentally destructive development–take, for instance, palm oil plantations, which could displace Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities. As fair trade activists revamp their campaigns in the wake of last week's congressional vote, many have aligned themselves with the various Occupation movements that have sprung up around the country. Sukjong Hong of Korean Americans for Fair Trade, who works with Occupy Wall Street's nascent Trade Justice Working Group, explains:
We know that the votes were conducted quickly, without much fanfare or public debate, and they took place a year before the 2012 elections so that voters will forget–but we want them to know we will not forget. Obama broke his promise as a presidential candidate to review and repeal the NAFTA trade model and his own opposition to the U.S.-Colombia trade deal because of human rights issues.
Still, a substantial minority of House members did vote against the free trade deals. Arthur Stamoulis of Citizens Trade Campaign said this suggests that even in Congress, skepticism about mantra-like promotion of free trade has grown, though not by enough:
Despite [the movement's success in] convincing more than two-thirds of House Democrats to stand with working constituents and vote against these pacts, the decision by so many freshmen Republicans to collude with the White House on passing these job-killing agreements was impossible to overcome…. The so-called Tea Party Republicans and President Obama both abandoned their bases to curry favor with corporate offshorers, tax evaders and Wall Street executives.
And as we've reported before, the administration is already greasing the skids for an even broader trade deal, a NAFTA-style deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would stretch from Chile to Vietnam. Meanwhile, concrete ideas to reform free trade systems generally get little attention in the Beltway. But Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown's proposed TRADE Act, would allow lawmakers to revise existing deals and establish stronger safeguards for labor, environment and other social issues in future trade pacts. The threadbare protections that politicians have touted in existing trade deals have proven useless in fighting sweatshops. Jeff Ballinger at Labor Notes details what real safeguards would look like:
We know that including labor rights language in trade deals hasn't stopped global corporations from exploiting workers and whitewashing their records with "social responsibility" baloney. So what can? Strong unions, pressure groups of consumers, and truly independent factory monitors are an imperfect–but far better–combination to hold them accountable.
The grassroots uprisings that have erupted around the globe this year show that real change happens when ordinary people are willing to look horizontally for solutions, reaching outside the establishment to engage peers and neighbors in reshaping the status quo. "Really, it's all about grassroots education and movement building," says Stamoulis of the Citizens Trade Campaign. "Nobody said taking on some of the most powerful economic interests in world history would be easy. We're in this for the long haul." Michelle Chen is a regular contributor to Colorlines.com.