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The Supreme Court Decision
Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative
On June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in an historic
decision in Boumediene v. Bush/Al Odah v. United States that
the detainees at Guantánamo Bay have a constitutional right
to habeas corpus, to challenge their detention before a
neutral judge in a real court. The men at Guantánamo have
been struggling for this basic right to be recognized since
2002, when the first prisoners were brought to Guantánamo
Bay, and when the Center for Constitutional Rights' first
challenge to their detention was filed. In 2004, in Rasul v.
Bush, the Supreme Court upheld the detainees' statutory right
to habeas corpus, and in 2006, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the
high court rejected the Bush administration's framework for
military commissions and upheld the rights of the detainees
under the Geneva Conventions.
In the decision, the Court strongly criticized the President and
Congress's attempt to declare that because Guantánamo
was outside the sovereign territory of the United States, the
Constitution did not apply. The Court firmly stated that "To
hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on
or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this
Court, say 'what the law is.'" Furthermore, the Supreme Court
held that the procedures created by the Detainee Treatment
Act were not an adequate substitute for real habeas hearings
and emphasized that the length of our clients' detention
required an end to further delays.
With Justice Kennedy writing for the majority, the opinion
begins with a lengthy survey of historical habeas cases in
which common law courts considered cases of noncitizens
imprisoned without trial. Acknowledging the uniqueness of
the Administration's practices at Guantánamo, the Court
found that no historical habeas case offered by either side
was directly on point and, instead, turned to the fundamental
principles underlying the purpose of habeas corpus: to allow
the courts to act as a check against the abuse of Executive
power. "[F]rom an early date, it was understood that the
King, too, was subject to the law." The Court emphasized
that the Suspension Clause of the U.S. Constitution was
designed by the Founders to "protect against the cyclical
abuses of the writ by the Executive and Legislative Branches."
It noted that the "Framers view freedom from unlawful restraint
as a fundamental precept of liberty." And central to the
protection of this liberty is the "duty and authority of the
Judiciary to call the jailer to account." These separation-of-power
principles guided the Court's reasoning throughout its
The decision in Boumediene v. Bush/Al Odah v. United States
is the third Supreme Court decision to affirm the rights of
Guantánamo detainees and comes after a very long legal
Over six years ago, on January 11, 2002, the first prisoners
were brought from Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay Naval
Base in Cuba. They were quickly labeled as "terrorists," "terrorism
suspects" and the "worst of the worst," with no access to the
courts to determine their legal rights and no evidence laid out
against them. In fact, the government sought to keep secret even
the names of detainees. One month after these first 20 men
arrived, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed the first case on
behalf of detainees at Guantánamo, seeking a habeas corpus
hearing in which the legitimacy of their detention would be
reviewed by an impartial federal judge.
CCR's case, Rasul v. Bush, worked its way up to the Supreme
Court where, in a historic decision, the high court ruled that
Guantánamo detainees could legally challenge their detention
in a court of law. Since that decision was rendered on June 28,
2004, the Bush administration has done everything possible to
evade the court's decision and strip the detainees of access to
the courts.
Shortly following the Rasul decision, the administration created
Combatant Status Review Tribunals, or CSRT's. These proceedings,
in which detainees do not have access to attorneys and in
which decisions are made on the basis of coerced, secret, and
often nonexistent evidence, are widely viewed as sham proceedings
by attorneys and human rights activists. In December 2005,
Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act, which purported
to protect detainees from abuse, but actually undermined the
Rasul decision and attempted to prohibit future habeas corpus
claims by detainees.
On June 29, 2006, the administration's plans for Guantánamo as an extra-legal zone of operation were again damaged by a
decision of the Supreme Court, when, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,
the court ruled that the administration's planned military commissions
violated U.S. and international law. In addition, accepting
an argument made by CCR in a key amicus brief, the court ruled
that the protections of the Geneva Conventions applied to
Guantánamo detainees.
The response of the administration - and Congress - to the Hamdan
decision was, again, not to recognize the detainees' rights, but instead
to craft the Military Commissions Act of 2006, legislation that
attempted to strip the federal courts' jurisdiction to hear detainees'
habeas claims retroactively, and allows the government to arrest and
hold any non-citizen - including U.S. legal residents - anywhere in the
world, at any time, and hold them indefinitely, should he or she be
labeled an "enemy combatant" or even merely "awaiting" such a
CCR's post-Rasul case, Al Odah v. United States, consolidated with
Boumediene v. Bush, was filed shortly after the Rasul decision on
behalf of Kuwaiti detainees, now includes detainees from Bahrain,
Yemen, Libya, Kuwait, and one British resident originally from Jordan,
currently held at Guantánamo.
Both the Al Odah and Boumediene habeas corpus petitions were filed
in July 2004, shortly after the historic Rasul v. Bush Supreme Court
decision that affirmed the detainees' right to challenge their detention.
In January 2005, District Judge Joyce Hens Green held in Al Odah
that detainees possess "the fundamental right to due process of law
under the Fifth Amendment" and that certain detainees are protected
by the Geneva Conventions. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon reached
the opposite conclusion in Boumediene, ruling that the detainees
possess no substantive rights to vindicate through habeas corpus. The
two cases were consolidated and appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
On February 20, 2007, two years after the cases were first appealed,
a divided panel of three judges of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled 2-1 in the consolidated case that the Guantánamo detainees
have no constitutional right to habeas corpus review of their detentions
in federal court. Because the court also found the MCA eliminated any
statutory right of access to the courts under habeas corpus, it dismissed
their cases.
On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court announced that it would not be
hearing the cases of the Guantánamo detainees for the time being.
The Court denied the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and cocounsel's
motion to hear the case with three justices dissenting and two
issuing a statement that the detainees should exhaust the process set up
by the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA).
On June 29, 2007, the Supreme Court, in a rare reversal, announced
that it would in fact hear the consolidated Al Odah and Boumediene
cases in the coming court term (2007-2008). This marked the third time
in the history of the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay that the
Supreme Court will hear a case concerning the rights of the detainees.
On December 5, 2007 the Supreme Court of the United States heard
arguments in Boumediene v. Bush/Al Odah v. United States. The
Boumediene/Al Odah case was the first to directly challenge the
constitutionality of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and its
stripping of habeas corpus jurisdiction from the federal judiciary.
The court's opinion in Boumediene v. Bush/Al Odah v. U.S. was issued
on June 12, 2008.
What now?
Moving forward from this historic victory for Executive accountability,
we hope that the lower courts will quickly move to hold hearings in the
over 200 pending individual habeas corpus cases where detainees
are challenging their indefinite detention without charges. We
anticipate that many of these cases will be decided swiftly because the
government lacks any factual or legal basis for imprisoning the men.
Without this decision these men might have remained in detention
forever without ever having a real chance to argue for their release
before an impartial court. With habeas these men - so many of whom
have been officially cleared for release by the military - would never
have been locked up and abused because no court was watching.
We believe the majority of them will be released once the executive is
forced to show up in front of a federal judge and justify their detention
with hard evidence.
Other significant issues may be litigated as well: most detainees are
being held in solitary confinement, including dozens who are cleared
for release; most are losing their minds as a result. In habeas proceedings,
petitioners should be able to argue for more humane conditions of
confinement. Many detainees are also cleared for release to countries
where they may face torture; these men are basically in the position of
refugees and countries that can offer them asylum will have to be found
before they can be released. A significant issue for the habeas cases
will also be challenges to the government's reliance upon information
obtained through torture or unlawful coercion to justify the detentions.
Major General Jay Hood, former commander at Guantánamo,
admitted to the Wall Street Journal that "[s]ometimes we just didn't get
the right folks," but innocents remain at the base because "[n]obody
wants to be the one to sign the release papers. ... there's no muscle in
the system." Historically, the federal courts have been that muscle. This
decision ensures that they will be.
Ultimately, the administration's strategy with Guantánamo was to run
out the clock and leave its mess – much like the war in Iraq – to the next
president to clean up. The Supreme Court's decision – a historic victory
for Executive accountability to the courts – will, we hope, prevent this
administration from doing so.


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== '''Student Testimonials''' ==
== '''Student Testimonials''' ==
Revision as of 15:55, 31 August 2021
Ernest Courant Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering
Stony Brook University in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Cornell University (CU) and FERMI National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) is establishing the Ernest Courant Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering supported by a 5-year grant from the High Energy Office of the US Department of Energy. This novel program is named after eminent accelerator physicist, Ernest Courant, who lay the foundation of modern accelerator science. At SBU the traineeship is a part of the Center for Accelerator Physics and Education (CASE) – the http://case.physics.stonybrook.edu/index.php/Main_Page
The main goal of the program is to train scientists and engineers in the field of accelerator sciences with a focus in the four areas identified as the DOE Mission Critical Workforce Needs in Accelerator Science and Engineering: (a) Physics of large accelerators and systems engineering; (b) Superconducting radiofrequency accelerator physics and engineering; (c) Radiofrequency power system engineering and (d) Cryogenic systems engineering (especially liquid helium systems).
Why Particle Accelerators?
Particle accelerators are a futuristic technology that has many uses including for science, engineering, medicine and industrial applications. There are about 30,000 accelerators of all sizes in the world. Finding trained people who can understand, operate and engineer such systems is a problem. What is a particle accelerator? It is a circular or straight (linear) tube containing a vacuum in which atomic particles (i.e. electrons, protons or ions) can be accelerated to high speed using electric and/or magnetic fields. Research accelerators can be measured in miles. Many other accelerators are much smaller. What can the particle accelerators be used for? Some applications include:
Careers in Accelerator Science and Engineering
Dr. Irina Petrushina, PhD 2019
What kind of career can a love of mathematics lead to? For Irina Petrushina it led to being a Research Scientist and Research Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University working on accelerator science and engineering. In high school she enjoyed languages and literature and played in the local theatre but her favorite subject by far was mathematics. This prompted her to seek education that would use a great deal of mathematics. Instead of working in pure math though she pursued career in physics as it uses mathematics to communicate the laws of nature, as she puts it.
Student Testimonials
Kristina Finnelli
I am an MSI (masters of science in instrumentation) student working with Professor Thomas Hemmick.
My research project is to help design the line laser calibration system for the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), which will be the central tracker of the sPHENIX detector at RHIC. A compact, steerable, ionizing laser calibration system will be used to provide a known track that allows us to study the evolving components of the distortion throughout the TPC. I have been working on simulations of this system so we can understand how to improve our calibration efforts and what the limits will be.
I think receiving a certification specifically in accelerator science and engineering will be helpful in standing out in that field.
I am about to be finished with the courses necessary for the traineeship but will be continuing research for at least a semester.
The financial assistance has allowed me to focus more on what I am learning and my research, where otherwise I may not have been able to. This will leave me in a better place once I graduate. I think if a student is already interested in focusing on accelerator physics, there is no reason not to apply for the traineeship program; taking additional classes will prepare you better if this is what you want your career to be, and leaving graduate school with a certificate will help you find a job later.
Pietro Iapozzuto
I am pursuing a masters degree.
My project involves Plasma Wakefield Acceleration. The advancement of compact accelerators will have tremendous impact in the medical field. My responsibilities were to build a plasma Wakefield chamber, design and install components such as the differential pumping system, and the beam profile monitor system.
Participating in the program trained me in specific classes that otherwise I would have not taken and makes me knowledgeable in the current developments in the field. It helps in learning the jargon and gives one a basis to start doing research where otherwise it might be difficult understanding even group meetings. It also allows one to interact and speak with specialists in the field. My career goal is to become a professor and research scientist working in a government lab in the accelerator field.
I am 3 credits away from finishing the traineeship
The traineeship allowed me to consider a field in accelerator physics. I like that the professors are from different locations which give a different perspective and gives variety. The classes are condensed in a big time slot once a week which I like.
The traineeship program changes things up from the regular Stony Brook classes, which do not give you specialized knowledge for your research. If you are interested in accelerators you need to have a background to understand the jargon and the technicalities and to be able to communicate. This program teaches you that. Again I like that the professors are from different locations which gives diversity and also networking potential.
Arun Kingan
I am a masters student working with Axel Drees.
My research is on analyzing the data from the PHENIX experiment on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Specifically I am studying proton-gold collisions and measuring the direct photon yield so as to better understand the onset of Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) in heavy ion collisions. My day to day responsibilities consist of writing and fine tuning the analysis code.
The traineeship provided a comprehensive education in accelerator science, which has clear applications to studying heavy ion collisions (i.e. the collision part). While it is unclear at the moment whether I will continue studying heavy ion collisions throughout my PhD and beyond, accelerator science also has applications in numerous other fields like material science, biology etc. I am sure in whatever area of research I end up in, the information I've learned through this traineeship will be invaluable.
I will be finishing the program at the end of this semester
I particularly enjoyed the introductory classes. They provided information over a broad scope, which I found to be the most interesting. Particularly the lessons on all the different applications of accelerators were the best.
Accelerator science has applications in almost all areas of STEM. Wherever your personal research interests lie, participating in this program will give you a well-rounded education which will ultimately aid you in your research.
Nikhil Kumar
I am a masters of science in instrumentation student.
My research project involves the diffuse laser system for the sPHENIX TPC (Time Projection Chamber). The diffuse laser system will allow us to monitor dynamic space charge inside the TPC. My responsibilities lie with ensuring adequate light uniformity on the central membrane, and certain aspects of the manufacturing of the central membrane.
I think it is important to understand the systems we are using on a large scale. I intend to work with a national lab, either after pursing a PhD, or directly after my MSI program.
I have nearly completed the traineeship program requirements. My masters will continue for one more year.
There are interesting classes to take and lots of people active in the field teaching us. I wish I had been able to get some more hands on experience though.
It is an interesting and short program. It is funded by the US Dept. of Energy and financial support is a possibility for US citizens and permanent residents.
Jonathan Lee
I am a PhD student. I work with Dr. Y. Semertzidis, Dr. W. Morse and Dr. F. Meot
My research project is to provide design and computational support in the proton EDM project, with a strong focus on spin dynamics in the storage ring and impact on the design and specifications regarding its optical components.
By participating the Ernest Courant Traineeship program, I gain fruitful theoretical knowledge and hands-on simulation experience in the field of accelerator physics. The Ernest Courant Traineeship program improves my academic knowledge and boosts my technological skills towards my research career of accelerator physics. My career goal is to be a computational accelerator physicist.
I have been in the program one semester (starting from Spring 2021)
Besides the funding opportunities, I gain broad academic knowledge in accelerator physics from various courses (Stony Brook and USPAS), I also receive much useful information that would help me prepare to pursue my career goal.
The Ernest Courant Traineeship program educates students to be accelerator physicists from the professional perspective. It helps students who are interested in accelerator physics explore their career in this area.
Yuan Hui Wu
I am a masters student.
I am working on a research project at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The project is related to particle accelerator research. The research will be important for the current collider at BNL to increase its luminosity. My responsibilities are to operate, design and simulate the performance of the accelerator.
My career goal is to become an Accelerator Physicist. The traineeship program gives me the opportunity to work with scientists around the world and gain many valuable experiences.
I finished the program and joined Brookhaven National Laboratory as full-time this year.
The best part of the traineeship program is that I can work with scientists around the world on a project which is closely relate to current physics research.
I will highly recommend this program to other students. Students can work with people who are really good at this area. Particle accelerator research is also very important part of next generation physics research.

subset: commoncrawl


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Spooky quantum entanglement just got spookier.
Entanglement is a weird state where two particles remain intimately connected, even when separated over vast distances, like two die that must always show the same numbers when rolled. For the first time, scientists have entangled particles after they've been measured and may no longer even exist.
If that sounds baffling, even the researchers agree it's a bit "radical," in a paper reporting the experiment published online April 22 in the journal Nature Physics.
"Whether these two particles are entangled or separable has been decided after they have been measured," write the researchers, led by Xiao-song Ma of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the University of Vienna.
Essentially, the scientists showed that future actions may influence past events, at least when it comes to the messy, mind-bending world of quantum physics.
In the quantum world, things behave differently than they do in the real, macroscopic world we can see and touch around us. In fact, when quantum entanglement was first predicted by the theory of quantum mechanics, Albert Einstein expressed his distaste for the idea, calling it "spooky action at a distance."
The researchers, taking entanglement a step further than ever before, started with two sets of light particles, called photons. [Stunning Photos of the Very Small]
The basic setup goes like this:
Both pairs of photons are entangled, so that the two particles in the first set are entangled with each other, and the two particles in the second set are entangled with each other. Then, one photon from each pair is sent to a person named Victor. Of the two particles that are left behind, one goes to Bob, and the other goes to Alice.
But now, Victor has control over Alice and Bob's particles. If he decides to entangle the two photons he has, then Alice and Bob's photons, each entangled with one of Victor's, also become entangled with each other. And Victor can choose to take this action at any time, even after Bob and Alice may have measured, changed or destroyed their photons.
"The fantastic new thing is that this decision to entangle two photons can be done at a much later time," said research co-author Anton Zeilinger, also of the University of Vienna. "They may no longer exist."
Such an experiment had first been predicted by physicist Asher Peres in 2000, but had not been realized until now.
"The way you entangle them is to send them onto a half-silvered mirror," Zeilinger told LiveScience. "It reflects half of the photons, and transmits half. If you send two photons, one to the right and one to the left, then each of the two photons have forgotten where they come from. They lose their identities and become entangled."
Zeilinger said the technique could one day be used to communicate between superfast quantum computers, which rely on entanglement to store information. Such a machine has not yet been created, but experiments like this are a step toward that goal, the researchers say.
"The idea is to create two particle pairs, send one to one computer, the other to another," Zeilinger said. "Then if these two photons are entangled, the computers could use them to exchange information."
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @. For more science news, follow LiveScience on twitter @.


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Pittsburgh Panthers (27-6) vs. Wright State (23-9)
When: Thursday, 9:40 p.m.
Where: Buffalo
1. The Name Game. Pitt's starting lineup includes a lanky Canadian forward with stupid lines shaved in his head and a compact cornrowed point guard formerly of the famed New York Gauchos AAU team. One is named Levance and another is named Levon, but can you tell which is which?
2. Tarzana Of The Pennsylvanians. To understand Aaron Gray you must understand where he came from. Although raised as a Pennsylvanian he was born in Tarzana, Calif. It all makes sense when you take into account his towering presence and his body hair that refuses to be tamed. Of course in Hebrew the word "tarzan" translates as "dandy, fop, coxcomb" (via Wiki). Obviously Gray is a gentile-giant, but some NBA GM's might say he's lived up to the chosen people's description all to well.
3. Basketball Been Berry Berry Good. Pitt has become a prime destination for Dominican ballers going back to the days of Jaime Peterson. More recently the team featured Ricardo Greer who has parlayed his skills into a solid Euroleague career. He currently teams up with ex-NCAA standouts like Aaron Miles, Britton Johnson, and Michael Wright. The torch is currently carried by the team's top shooter, Ronald Ramon, and assistant coach (and former star player) Orlando Antigua who will forever be known as the first hispanic Globetrotter. — unsilent majority
1. Go Vikings...err...Coyotes...err...Raiders? Since this is only Wright State's second trip to the Big Dance, not many people know much about the school. Despite what Wright State's logo entails, their mascot is the Raider. It is not coyotes or even their circa 1993 mascot, a viking.
2. It's Vitaly's world...we're just living in it. Vitaly Potapenko is Wright State's most famous basketball alumni. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected him #12 overall in the 1996 NBA draft. In the words of GOB Bluth, "They made a huge mistake." Fans of the Celtics, Supersonics and Kings also have the same sentiments.
3. The Wright State University of Las Vegas? Despite only being in Division I since 1991, Wright State has been marked with scandal. In 1996, with a stellar 356-159 record (74-71 in Division 1), Ralph Underhill was fired for allegedly stealing five bottles of vitamins from a Dayton-area grocery store. He was never convicted of the crime (he took a plea bargain). In 2006, after only three years at Wright State, Paul Biancardi was asked to resign and instead was fired for his involvement with Jim O'Brien and the Ohio State basketball scandal. — Scott DeMange
Join The Deadspin Pool!
Deadspin Printable Bracket [PDF]
Complete NCAA Tournament Schedule


text:
Viburnum tinus L.Adoxaceae
It is a native plant to the Mediterranean region, characteristic of thick forests and rocky areas. Like other Mediterranean shrubs found in cities such as oleander and myrtle, the Eve price is an important ally against air pollution due to its high absorbing ability of harmful carbon dioxide. Thus, the presence of shrubs and of course trees in the urban environment plays therefore a key role in the fight against global warming, while making a clear and immediate improvement in the quality of human life, the plants function as genuine carbon sinks and filter harmful health dioxide particles. In this regard, Professor Clemente Figueroa of the University of Sevilla has proved that one Eve price offsets the carbon dioxide emitted by 77 cars in the city daily.


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This paper is an update to Dr. William T. Wilson's 2002 study, "The Effect of Right to Work Laws on Economic Development."
In that report, Wilson compared right-to-work and non-right-to-work states on basic measurements of economic performance, such as gross state product growth, job creation and per-capita disposable income between 1970 and 2000. Wilson found that right-to-work states had significant advantages in economic growth and job creation. While incomes were still somewhat lower in right-to-work states, incomes were also growing faster in those states. Michigan, on nearly every economic measurement, had lagged behind.
This paper picks up where Wilson's study left off, tracking the same measurements from 2001 to 2006. We find that little has changed — if anything the apparent advantages of right-to-work states have grown larger. The economies of right-to-work states grew by an average of 3.4 percent compared to 2.6 percent for non-right-to-work states and 0.7 percent for Michigan. Jobs grew by 1.2 percent annually in right-to-work states, compared to 0.6 percent for non-right-to-work states, while jobs decreased by an average of 0.8 percent in Michigan.
Meanwhile, the gap in per-capita disposable income continues to shrink, to the point where most right-to-work states are likely to have higher incomes than Michigan does within just a few years.
On several measurements, the trends between 2001 and 2006 were more favorable towards right-to-work states than they had been in the period covered by Wilson's earlier study. In light of Michigan's current economic difficulties, this leads to the conclusion that the case for making Michigan a right-to-work state has only become stronger.


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My Grandfather's Son, by Clarence Thomas, is reviewed by Jabari Asim in today's Washington Post. Asim begins:
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas frames the initial pages of his candid, often anguished memoir with an extended portrait of his grandfather. In doing so, the nation's most intensely scrutinized jurist has made what can only be called a judicious decision.
Myers Anderson, who raised Thomas and his brother, was a fearless, hardworking man. He built his own house, acquired rental property, operated a fuel-oil delivery service, plowed his own crops on his own land, and shot or slaughtered meat for his table. In Thomas's convincing portrait, his barely literate grandfather was as whip-smart and witty as Benjamin Franklin -- if Franklin had been born poor and black in the Deep South. Among Myers's aphorisms on the benefits of hard work: "Old Man Can't is Dead -- I helped bury him" and my personal favorite: "You worth less than a carload of dead men." The book's charm decreases considerably when the author turns his attention to other lives and other matters, such as post-Jim Crow black professionals who worry that they may never measure up to their white counterparts. For some of us, a greater question is whether we will ever equal the black men who raised us after surviving far more harrowing circumstances. This question clearly haunts Thomas as well....
If Anderson ever felt vulnerable, he no doubt kept it to himself and probably had little tolerance for such a notion. "Despite the hardships he had faced, there was no bitterness or self-pity in his heart," Thomas writes. Ironically, both those qualities are abundantly displayed in My Grandfather's Son. Thomas seems unable to resist doing what conservatives have often accused African American leaders of doing: casting himself as a victim.
No tormentor goes unremembered here, from cruel African American high-schoolers who teased him about his dark complexion to an arrogant white seminary classmate who assured him, "One day you will be as good as us."...His use of the past tense belies the ire that rises like steam from so many of these pages. Yale Law School soon rekindled his anger at paternalistic liberals, "ostensibly unprejudiced whites who pretended to side with black people while using them to further their own political and social ends."
In this and other comments, Thomas often implies that most blacks are witless simpletons at the mercy of white liberal duplicity. He is right to warn against African Americans' over-reliance on Democrats and other putative liberals, but his descriptions of his own internecine battles with Reagan-administration stonewallers hardly point to a viable alternative. Those clashes convinced him that "the disease of blind dogma afflicted both parties." Left unsaid is any suggestion of how African Americans should best address such predicaments....
[In recounting Thomas' bitterness over accusations of sexual harrassment by Anita Hill during his Supreme Court nomination battle, Thomas'] evocation of a high-tech lynching, while clearly heartfelt, seemed inappropriate then and does so now. He writes that he must have been inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel in which a black man goes on trial for raping a white woman. But Anita Hill's blackness complicates his discussions of racist myths about African American men being untrustworthy around white women. He suggests that his upbringing taught him to never forget "what it felt like to live in fear of the power of a mob," but what white mob ever formed to avenge the alleged assault or harassment of a black woman? It's telling and dismaying that Thomas's consideration of the history of injustices against black men doesn't consider the denigration of black women that so often accompanied it.
My Grandfather's Son ends triumphantly as Thomas prepares for his first conference as a member of the Supreme Court. This memoir will not sway those who oppose his fierce, unapologetic conservatism, but it does provide a fascinating glimpse into a tortured, complex and often perplexing personality. Near the end of the book he discusses a desire to allow his life "to be seen as the story of an ordinary person who, like most people, had worked out his problems step by unsure step." In that he has succeeded.
The full review is here.


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This was the bullet that started it all. Produced by pressure-forming pure copper tubing around a pure lead core, this highly reliable bullet was the first custom bullet available to American handloaders. Introduced in 1939, it was long the favorite of professional hunters who demanded performance they could depend on, each and every time. On impact, Barnes's Original bullets typically expand to more than 200 percent of their original diameter and retain 70 to 90 percent of their original weight.
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|11 × 5 × 7 cm


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Today The New York Times announced to its staff that it is combining the print and online newsrooms. I can't and won't comment on that specifically because I don't know much about it and because of this full disclosure: I consult for The New York Times Company. Similarly, I did not comment on the specifics of these issues when I worked at Advance with its 29 newspapers, though I have said that my final reason for moving on what that I did not want to be the change agent in newsrooms. They're hardly the only ones going through this change: CBS News says that all 1,500 employees of its employees now work for the online service. Even TV Guide is grappling with fundamental change; see my post on milking the cash cow here. A few weeks ago, I also wrote about changing the newsroom.
The essential truth of all this is that a fundamental change in media is driving fundamental change in the market, which should be driving fundamental change in news products, which must cause fundamental change in newsrooms.
That is what we are witnessing now. I often hear people say that big-media executives don't get it, that they don't get the imperative for change. Well, they're getting it. They have no choice.
Each organization will debate — until the cash cows come home — about who should drive that change.
Each organization and each executive will debate — until retirement — about the form that change should take.
Each of us will debate — until somebody goes out of business — whether they are successful.
But make no mistake: Change is inevitable.


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Global Carbon Emissions Reach Record 10 Billion Tons, Threatening 2 Degree Target
Global Carbon Emissions Reach Record 10 Billion Tons, Threatening 2 Degree Target
04 December 2011
published by http://www.sciencedaily.com
Global — Global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have increased by 49 per cent in the last two decades, according to the latest figures by an international team, including researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia.
Published Dec. 4 in the journal Nature Climate Change, the new analysis by the Global Carbon Project shows fossil fuel emissions increased by 5.9 per cent in 2010 and by 49 per cent since 1990 — the reference year for the Kyoto protocol.
On average, fossil fuel emissions have risen by 3.1 per cent each year between 2000 and 2010 — three times the rate of increase during the 1990s. They are projected to continue to increase by 3.1 per cent in 2011.
Total emissions — which combine fossil fuel combustion, cement production, deforestation and other land use emissions — reached 10 billion tonnes of carbon* in 2010 for the first time. Half of the emissions remained in the atmosphere, where CO2 concentration reached 389.6 parts per million. The remaining emissions were taken up by the ocean and land reservoirs, in approximately equal proportions.
Rebounding from the global financial crisis of 2008-09 when emissions temporarily decreased, last year's high growth was caused by both emerging and developed economies. Rich countries continued to outsource part of their emissions to emerging economies through international trade.
Contributions to global emissions growth in 2010 were largest from China, the United States, India, the Russian Federation and the European Union. Emissions from the trade of goods and services produced in emerging economies but consumed in the West increased from 2.5 per cent of the share of rich countries in 1990 to 16 per cent in 2010.
In the UK, fossil fuel CO2 emissions grew 3.8 per cent in 2010 but were 14 per cent below their 1990 levels. However, emissions from the trade of goods and services grew from 5 per cent of the emissions produced locally in 1990 to 46 per cent in 2010 — overcompensating the reductions in local emissions. Emissions in the UK were 20 per cent above their 1990 levels when emissions from trade are taken into account.
"Global CO2 emissions since 2000 are tracking the high end of the projections used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which far exceed two degrees warming by 2100," said co-author Prof Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and professor at the University of East Anglia. "Yet governments have pledged to keep warming below two degrees to avoid the most dangerous aspects of climate change such as widespread water stress and sea level rise, and increases in extreme climatic events.
"Taking action to reverse current trends is urgent."
Lead author Dr Glen Peters, of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research in Norway, said: "Many saw the global financial crisis as an opportunity to move the global economy away from persistent and high emissions growth, but the return to emissions growth in 2010 suggests the opportunity was not exploited."
Co-author Dr Pep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project, added: "The global financial crisis has helped developed countries meet their production emission commitments as promised in the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord, but its impact has been short-lived and pre-existing challenges remain."
* Values reported here are in billion tonnes of carbon. To convert emissions to billion tonnes of CO2, multiply the value by 3.67.


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Two seasons ago when I cluelessly purchased this domain name my mom pronounces pa-choops, I had little more intention than to shout about the Pac-12's basketball teams and learn a thing or two about the web.
The fact of note here has been that there has been no end goal to this. It has become abundantly clear to me that it is impossible – no matter the power of my words, the WordPress platform, or integrated social approaches – to make November arrive any faster.
But there has to be a way, right?
Baseball? Ubiquitous, on demand. A sport I once cherished but now see it for the time suck it serves to our busy lives. (That said, show me those composite GIFs all day long of Verlander's four pitches. I will forever appreciate the minute details and October, I've just lost the patience for the daily grind of the game that perhaps too painfully serves as a metaphor for our own grind.)
College football? Ain't here yet.
NFL? Ain't here yet.
Soccer? That's an every-four-years or lunch-break-with-Joel sport.
NBA? OK, I'll confess, these playoffs are doing it for me and I have no qualms saying I love this run by Steph Curry and the Dubs.
And so, as it were, none of these shortens the months. There is no Off-Season Savings Time – a fall forward – to get to collegiate tip off and our favorite of games.
Or is there?
I present to you, recaps of first and second round action of the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Championships:
- Women's Tournament kicks off – 5 in dance, 2 playing on Day 1
- Men's Tournament Starts – 5 P12 teams dancing
- Women's First & Second Round Action – No one eliminated!
- Men's Second Round Wraps – 3 P12 schools to S16
- Women's Second Round Closes – Four P12 schools to S16
Ok, maybe not. But this has really been a round about way of saying I've started to do some work with the Pac-12 Networks' Digital Team. An opportunity I'm excited to have and a role that I hope can allow me broader access to the conference.
Alas, that was me cutting my P12N teeth, recaps of a wild tournament with sixty-four teams vying to be the last group standing.
As a hoops fan, how much better can it get?


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Paddle switch level measurement
Point level detection in bulk solids
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Different variants of paddle switches for point level detection in bulk materials are available. The robust polymer housing and compact design makes it an ideal sensor for full, empty and demand alarm in applications with bulk solids. The optimized materials make the unit outstandingly robust and therefore suitable for use in dust explosive areas. It is ideal for flowing bulk solids up to a grain size of 50mm (2").
Paddle switch measurement: Measuring Principle
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No calibration required


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When people set out to create compelling print marketing materials for their business, they normally (and appropriately) devote a lot of attention to the types of elements that will attract new customers. Obviously, the design of that print direct mail brochure is key because it will always be someone's first exposure to the brand. However, many people fail to pay enough attention to another area that is equally important: in-store signage. Remember, just because someone is already in your store doesn't mean the marketing machine can take the afternoon off. When it comes to designing the types of in-store signs your customers can't help but notice, there are a few key things you'll need to keep in mind.
Keep It Simple
If you're designing print marketing materials to send out into the world, one of your instincts may be to try to pack as much helpful information into those materials as possible. After all, you can only have one first impression, so you need to make it a good one. When it comes to in-store signage, however, you'll have better results if you dial back your instincts a bit and keep things as short and as sweet as possible.
Think about the language you're using on in-store signs the same way you would the headline in a newspaper. The brochures and other documents you're sending out into the world are like the newspaper articles themselves — they contain all of the information required to answer any questions the customer may have and guide them further down the sales funnel. In-store signs are the headlines — they give you just enough information to help you in that moment, but they don't try to tell the whole story.
It's All About the Focus
Because so much of your marketing focuses on selling yourself, it's natural for that instinct to carry over into the world of in-store signage, too. It's easy to forget you already have the customer right where you want them. Now it's up to the products (or, more specifically, the way you're showcasing those products) to finish the job.
Your in-store signage needs to showcase not only what a product might do, but why someone might need it. Your signs should sell people on the benefits of what you're offering, not necessarily on your brand. For maximum effectiveness, use your signs to provide quick answers to questions like "What can product X do for me?" and "Why will product Y make my day easier?"
Above all else, there's one key term you always need to keep in mind when designing in-store signs: compelling. If the types of signs you're creating are always compelling and are always created with the best interest of your customers in mind, they will succeed on multiple levels. Not only will they immediately attract the attention of anyone who looks at them, but they will also add to the overall value of the experience customers are having in your store. Good signage can help turn first time customers into repeat customers in the long run. With the addition of our new HP 360 Wide Format Printer, we would love to help you with all your custom business signage needs. Contact Kendall Press for a quote.


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Medicare Names Best And Worst Hospitals For Joint Replacements
Around a million people get hip or knee replacements a year, and those operations cost Medicare and private insurers a lot of money. For the first time, the federal government is evaluating how good a job individual hospitals are doing.
Medicare has identified 95 hospitals where elderly patients were more likely to suffer significant setbacks and another 97 hospitals where patients tended to have the smoothest recoveries. (It's a long list that you can sift through here.)
The analysis is the latest part of the government's push to improve quality at the nation's hospitals instead of simply paying Medicare patients' bills.
Medicare already assesses hospital death rates, how consistently hospitals follow basic medical guidelines and how patients rate their stays. The evaluation of hip and knee surgery results is significant because for the first time, Medicare is rating hospitals' performance on two common elective procedures.
Of the 95 hospitals where knee and hip surgery patients experienced difficulties after the operation, nine were rated as having both high readmissions and high complication rates. Those hospitals were:
- Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee
- Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio
- Mercy St. Anne Hospital in Toledo, Ohio
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia
- Peterson Regional Medical Center in Kerrville, Texas
- Reston Hospital Center in Reston, Va.
- Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo, Texas
- Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, Va.
Some of those hospitals complained Monday that Medicare's assessments were outdated since they covered operations between July 2009 through June 2012, and said they have since improved. A spokeswoman for Southside Regional Medical Center said that the hospital adopted a new treatment model in 2012 for joint and spine patients and that their outcomes have "drastically improved."
Out of the 97 hospitals that did better than average in avoiding either readmissions or complications, 25 were rated as being better at both measures. The assessments for all hospitals is published here.
Hospitals may soon feel a financial pinch from the evaluations. Medicare plans to add hip and knee readmission rates to the criteria it uses when deciding whether to penalize hospitals each year.
Many patients needing joint replacements want to know a hospital's record when choosing where to have the procedure done. This isn't the case for conditions Medicare has evaluated previously, such as heart attacks. Still the ratings may be of limited use, as Medicare categorized 19 out of 20 hospitals as average.
Medicare evaluated how often the patients ended up being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. It also assessed how often a hospital's patients suffered one of eight complications after the operation, including a blood clot, mechanical complication from the implant or death.
The quality of joint implants has been under scrutiny for several years. Some of the surgical devices have been plagued by quality problems, especially among artificial hips made of interlocking metal parts.
Dr. Eric Coleman, an expert on readmissions at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said some hospitals are trying to prevent joint replacement patients from returning by educating them ahead of the surgeries about how to take care of themselves and warning signs of problems. This approach provides "a chance to walk you through what to expect, what your family would expect, how to arrange your home," Coleman said. "In most of the cases of readmission reductions, we're still very reactive."
KHN reporters Ankita Rao and Marissa Evans contributed to this story.
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text: Hello everyone, I am new to the site, from Alberta Canada. I have a 1990 SC that my dad bought new, I bought it off of him and intent to keep it in the family forever. It has been sitting since 2010 but I just fired it up and took if for a little spin. Changed the oil and put new fuel in. Any suggestions on anything else I should do since it has been sitting for so long?


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Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that it would deploy "only" one aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, rather than the customary two. This move, said the Pentagon, was in preparation for the so-called "sequestration," scheduled to take effect this week, that mandates spending cuts for all agencies, including the Pentagon. This aircraft carrier announcement was all part of the White House's campaign to scare the public into believing that sequestration, which Democrats blame on Republicans, will result in serious harm to national security. Shortly before this cut was announced, then-defense Secretary Leon Panetta said:
"With another trigger for sequestration approaching on March 1st, the Department of Defense is facing the most serious readiness crisis in over a decade. ... Make no mistake, if these cuts happen there will be a serious disruption in defense programs and a sharp decline in military readiness."
That the Obama administration might actually honor the budget cuts mandated by a law enacted by Congress and signed by Obama infuriates Bob Woodward, Washington's most celebrated journalist. He appeared this week on the "Morning Joe" program to excoriate Obama for withholding a second aircraft carrier in the Gulf, saying:
"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?' Or George W Bush saying, 'You know, I'm not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I need' or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' as he did when Clinton was president, because of some budget document.
"Under the Constitution, the president is commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the president going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can't do what I need to do to protect the country. That's a kind of madness that I haven't seen in a long time."
As Brian Beutler points out: "the obscure type of budget document Woodward's referring to is called a duly enacted law -- passed by Congress, signed by the President -- and the only ways around it are for Congress to change it ... . or for Obama to break it." But that's exactly what Woodward is demanding: that Obama trumpet his status as Commander-in-Chief in order to simply ignore -- i.e. break -- the law, just like those wonderful men before him would have done. Woodward derides the law as some petty, trivial annoyance ("this piece of paper") and thus mocks Obama's weakness for the crime of suggesting that the law is something he actually has to obey.
How ironic that this comes from the reporter endlessly heralded for having brought down Richard Nixon's presidency on the ground that Nixon believed himself above the law. Nixon's hallmark proclamation -- "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal" -- is also apparently Bob Woodward's.
All of this, of course, is pure pretense. Is it even remotely plausible that Obama is refraining from engaging in military action he believes is necessary out of some sort of quaint deference to the law? Please. This is a president who continued to wage war in Libya, not merely without Congressional authorization, but even after Congress expressly voted against its authorization. This is a president who has repeatedly argued that he has the right to kill anyone he wants, anywhere in the world, not only due to Congressional authorization but also his own Commander-in-Chief powers. If Obama really wanted to deploy that second aircraft carrier, he would do so, knowing that journalists like Bob Woodward and members of both parties would cheer him. This is just a flamboyant political stunt designed to dramatize how those Big, Bad Republicans are leaving us all exposed and vulnerable with sequestration cuts.
But whatever Obama's motives might be, the fact is that what we call "law" really does require some cuts in military spending. To refuse to do so would be to assert powers not even most monarchs have: to break the law at will. Woodward is right about one point: not only would prior presidents have been willing to do this, this is exactly what they did. Indeed, George Bush's entire presidency was explicitly predicated on the theory that the president has the power to break the law at will whenever he deems that doing so promotes national security. That America's most celebrated journalist not only supports this, but demands that all presidents follow this model of lawlessness, is telling indeed.
Equally telling is the radical militarism implicit in Woodward's outburst. Contrary to the fear-mongering from the government and its media, the military cuts compelled by sequestration are extremely modest (as opposed to domestic spending cuts, which will actually produce genuine pain for many people). As the Washington Post's Ezra Klein documented: "even if we implement every single cut in the sequester, the fall in spending would be less than the military experienced after Korea, Vietnam, or the Cold War." Given the massive explosion of military spending in the name of the War on Terror over the last decade (which Klein notes was "larger than the rise during Vietnam and during the Cold War"), the sequestration-mandated cuts would be but a very small step in returning to a sane level of military spending.
Then there's the hysteria Woodward spreads about how we'll all somehow be endangered if the US has only one rather than two aircraft carriers stalking Iran in the Gulf. What possible harm could come from that? None. This is all grounded in cartoon narrative that Iran is this frightening hegemon threatening the US at all times, and must be contained with massive assertions of military might. The reality, of course, is that even with these sequestration cuts, the US military budget is so much larger than Iran's that they are not in the same universe. That would be true if we had multiple sequestrations. The very idea that two aircraft carriers are needed at all in the Gulf, let alone necessary to Keep America Safe, is just laughable.
Yet here is Bob Woodward, with one rant, expressing the core values of America's media class. The president is not constrained by law (contemptuously referred to as "this piece of paper"). He not only has the right but the duty to do anything -- even if the law prohibits it -- to project military force whenever he wants (even though the Constitution mandates as his prime duty not to Keep Us Safe but rather that he "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed" and thus must swear as his oath "to the best of [his] ability [to] preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States"). The US must act as empire, dominating the world with superior military force if it wants to stay safe. Any reduction in military spending and deployment will endanger us all.
It's to be expected that these authoritarian and militaristic values shape political leaders and their followers. That these values also shape the "watchdog" media class, as embodied by one of their "legends," explains much about US political culture generally.
Bob Woodward fulfills an important function. Just as Tim Russert was long held up as the scary bulldog questioner who proved the existence of an adversarial TV press while the reality was that, as Harper's Lewis Lapham famously put it, he maintained "the on-air persona of an attentive and accommodating headwaiter," the decades-old Woodward lore plays a critical role in maintaining the fiction of a watchdog press corps even though he is one of the most faithful servants of the war machine and the national security and surveillance states. Every once and awhile, the mask falls, and it's a good thing when it does.


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Gaga tweeted Sunday that she bought 55 pieces in the sale administered by Julien's Auctions and said she plans to keep the items "archived and expertly cared for in the spirit and love of Michael Jackson, his bravery and fans worldwide."
Auctioneer Darren Julien said the jacket Jackson wore during his "Bad" tour fetched $240,000. Two of Jackson's crystal-encrusted gloves sold for more than $100,000 each, as did other jackets and performance costumes.
The auction featuring the collection of Jackson's longtime costume designers Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush raised more than $5 million. Some proceeds benefited Guide Dogs of America and Nathan Adelson Hospice of Las Vegas.


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Gary Bettman still hopeful Coyotes are staying in Phoenix
Commissioner says league has no alternative plans for struggling franchise
The NHL's goal is the keep the Coyotes in Phoenix.
Whether it will happen is still in doubt.
Speaking at the league's announcement of the 2014 Winter Classic on Sunday in Detroit, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league's focus is to leave the Coyotes in the desert.
"We're not planning on moving Phoenix as we stand here today," he said.
The Coyotes have been run by the NHL since 2009, when former owner Jerry Moyes took the team into bankruptcy in a bid to sell to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, who would move the franchise to Hamilton, Ontario. The NHL vehemently opposed that plan, and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge later refused to allow the sale to go through.
The Coyotes have had several suitors since then, but haven't been able to complete a deal.
The latest, with former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison, fell through when his group couldn't come through with its finances in time to meet a deadline on a 20-year, $308 million lease agreement with the City Glendale for Jobing.com Arena.
Despite reports that the league has looked at relocating the franchise, Bettman said it hasn't looked at that option yet.
"We haven't been exploring the alternatives," Bettman said. "We are exploring everything we can do to work this out, and there seems to be considerable interest. If you go through the history of this, there have been lots of reasons — not excuses, but lots of reasons — this has taken a lot of time. There seems to be now, in the calm of the moment, a lot more interest than we've ever seen."
Canadian businessmen George Gosbee and Anthony LeBlanc submitted a purchase bid last week, and a group led by Buffalo, N.Y. businessman Darin Pastor also put in a proposal.
Jamison is still working on a deal, and former suitor Matthew Hulsizer is reportedly interested.
Bettman said the league would select an ownership bid before talking with Glendale about a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena. The city recently hired a company to find a manager to run the arena and handle negotiations with prospective owners.
"I've been in regular touch with the mayor and we agreed that when we get a framework lined up, then we would come see the city," Bettman told reporters. "We don't want the city to have to expend resources and time getting involved until there's something concrete to present to them."


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(AllHipHop News) Rapper, producer, and all around entrepreneur Kanye West will be heading to the Middle East next month to shoot a new short film according to a recent report from The New York Observer.
West reportedly sent representatives to scout locations in the Persian Gulf, including Abu Dahbi, Dubai, and Doha Qatar, for the short which is scheduled to film in March and will be presented in a similar manner to 2010's "Runaway" from his Grammy-nominated album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
According to the Observer, "A number of local municipal officials and film companies are said to be engaged in what is characterized as a heated bidding war for the contracts involved in bringing Mr. West's vision to life."
One source involved in the talks stated, "In Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha all of the film initiatives are government controlled. A bidding war is going on between various government entities and private investors to fund the film. There's pretty intense rivalry here between Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar. They all want to claim the film as their own and take credit for generating the publicity." Currently, details on the plot of the short and the shoot itself are being kept under wraps, even to those who are closely involved.
"Mr. West's creative team is moving to the region for a few weeks, as part of an effort to create an "authentic" depiction of the culture. They plan to utilize local talent and production crews, and are said to be eager to portray the locales and their cultures in a positive light," the source added.
Check out Kanye's short film for "Runaway" below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA&w=560&h=315]


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Before I begin, I'd like to clarify that I understand that we only see what the editors want us to see on reality television shows. My discussion here is based on what we see.
When I watched the Celebrity Apprentice final project, I was struck by the way the project leaders communicated. The competition was strong and the result of winning significant. It was apparent that the leaders were feeling the weight of the responsibility.
Whenever they were talking to their team or to the camera the word "I" was most prominent. They had chosen people to be on their teams because they respected those players and trusted them. Yet, Arsenio Hall and Clay Aiken never empowered them or talked about the team. It's as if Arsenio and Clay didn't trust the people they'd selected to complete their tasks autonomously.
Unlike real life, the teams were made up of celebrities who had no stake in the outcome other than the feel good from a job well done. Their livelihood didn't depend on the success of the effort. So, they could tolerate being disrespected and even verbally abused.
Another example comes from America's Got Talent. The addition of Howard Stern has been an essay in how not to lead. He's the newest member of the judging panel. Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel have been on the show for years. Yet, Howard talks about how he is going to have to keep or let go of someone. He talks about "my show. " It's as if Sharon and Howie aren't even there. He speaks as if he is the sole decision maker for which acts make it to the next round. The fact is that he only has 1 vote out of three. He needs at least one other judge to agree with him in order to get what he wants.
These postures happen all the time in business and are, in my opinion, what contributes to dysfunction within organizations. If I asked you whether you'd rather work hard or work smart, I'm imagining you'd say smart.
Creating an environment where others want to work with you and help you achieve your goal is working smart. Being self-focused and dictatorial creates a situation where you end up working really hard to achieve your success. People aren't as enthusiastic about working with you if they feel disrespected or discounted.
These two stark examples of a lack of leadership actually help us see what TO DO to be an effective leader:
1. Communicate the Goal and How Important the Teammates Are to Achieving it
This is something that should be done early and often. When people understand what you want to achieve, why it matters, and how they are a part of that process, they are more likely to work with you. Remember here that it's about the goal – not about you or your needs.
When we keep our focus on the goal, we remove our egos and emotions. We are able to keep things objective and professional.
2. Empower Your Team in Decision Making and Taking Action
When you hire people or add them to your team, you are doing it because you believe they bring skills and abilities to the table. Let them use them.
Don't micromanage; don't order them around; don't keep them on a short leash. You need them thinking and acting enthusiastically. That's how you'll get the most out of them. When people are contributing with the best of their ability, your team is stronger and your odds of success go up dramatically.
3. Seek Input and Ideas From Your Teammates
You know the saying, "Two heads are better than one?" It applies to this situation. You don't have to have all the answers. I submit to you that you shouldn't have all the answers. When you get your teammates involved in the ideas you get greater buy-in from them. Let them help you problem solve. They'll be more committed to the outcome and you'll be working smart.
Can you see how I've moved away from the leader holding all the cards to the team sharing the load? That is true leadership. When you actively engage your teammates to contribute with their skills and ideas, you make your team stronger.
People who are empowered tend to bring energy and results to an organization. The better you are at pulling those forces together, the greater leader you will be.
Being a leader doesn't mean you have to know everything or have all the answers. It means that you understand that you need your team and that everyone plays a significant, valuable role.
Treat them as such by changing "I" to "We" and "Me" and you will find success much more attainable and enjoyable.
Howard Stern Photo via Shutterstock


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Anyone who has ever tried to analyse a game mathematically knows that things can get very complicated very quickly. In a game like chess, the number of possibilities for just the first three moves is already enormous, while, in poker, the roles played by chance, strategy and psychology seem to be mysteriously interlinked.
This book sets out to explain the mathematics underlying some of our most popular games and to give a historical perspective on its development. The type of games explored are divided into three categories: games of chance, combinatorial games and strategic games.
Bewersdorff starts with games of chance. Using concrete examples, he gives a basic and quite accessible introduction to probability theory and describes statistical methods that can be used to analyse games based on "luck".
In combinatorial games such as chess, the number of possible combinations of moves is astronomical, meaning that a complete analysis is totally unfeasible. In the second part of the book, we see how mathematics gets to grips with this problem. The basic terms of game theory à la John Nash are introduced, and there are very interesting chapters on the programming of chess computers, complexity theory and Gödel's mindboggling Incompleteness Theorem.
Finally, in the last section we learn about strategic games such as poker, and the role probability theory has to play in creating the perfect bluff.
At the beginning of each chapter the author uses concrete examples of games to introduce the theory. Of course, this makes things easier for the novice as he or she can work through the specific example to understand the underlying concepts. However, there's no getting away from the fact that the maths involved is hard in places, and in difficult situations the author tends to pitch the text at a more advanced level. Things are not made easier by the sometimes clumsy translation from the German and the relatively high number of typographical errors, at least one of which occurs in a table.
For the non-professional mathematician this book will definitely have more of a textbook character than might be expected from reading the blurb on the back. Having said that, some of the chapters are self-contained, and it is possible to pick up little nuggets of information through selective reading.
For a reader with some mathematical knowledge this is an interesting introduction to the mathematics of games, with concise references to the expert literature. However, whether or not it will increase its readers' chances of winning, as the blurb on the back seems to suggest, remains to be seen.
Book details:
Luck, logic and white lies: The mathematics of games
Jörg Bewersdorff
paperback - 350 pages (2004)
A K Peters


text: AF to implement force structure changes Published March 28, 2013 By Jennifer Cassidy Air Force Public Affairs WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Air Force released its plan Mar. 28 to implement force structure changes mandated by the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill authorized the service to complete actions approved in previous years, such as aircraft retirements, and directed execution of Congressionally-approved force structure actions. Some of these changes were outlined in the Air Force's Total Force Proposal, developed in coordination with the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Others were congressionally-directed. "Our Air Force continues efforts to maximize the strength of our Total Force, and we are pleased with the progress that is being made on this front," said Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley. "This implementation plan illustrates the Air Force's continued commitment to transparency as it completes the force structure requirements directed and authorized by the NDAA." The NDAA directs a reduction of 65 aircraft and approximately 1,400 military billets from the Air National Guard, 57 aircraft from the Air Force Reserve, and 122 aircraft and approximately 6,100 military billets from the active-duty Air Force. "Working together we can combine the personnel, equipment and readiness necessary to build a total Air Force equal to all the challenges our nation faces," said Lt. Gen. Stanley (Sid) E. Clarke III, director of the Air National Guard. The Air Force's implementation plan includes a state-by-state description of changes for each base and the associated timeline. Each major command developed activation, reassignment, re-missioning or divesture options. "We've developed guiding principles to ensure that as we make decisions, we continue to have a strong foundation for what is best for our Air Force," said Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, chief, Air Force Reserve and commander, Air Force Reserve Command. "We must leverage regular and reserve component strengths and align our decisions with a commitment as one total force team." Key principles include: ensure personnel readiness, training and retention for transitioning units to remain at the highest level practicable and minimize mission gaps for units transitioning to new or different missions. Each of the components embraces these principles. The Air Force will apply this collaborative approach to facilitate open communication with key stakeholders on future total force efforts. Recently, the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force created a Total Force Task Force. TF2 will create an enduring strategic process to determine how to correctly balance the strengths of each component to sustain capabilities required to defend our nation now and into the future. "Our active, Reserve and Guard components are increasingly integrated --training, deploying and conducting a full range of missions together as one Air Force," said Donley, "and we're committed to ensuring that our active and reserve component mix correctly balances the strengths of each component, meeting our strategic requirements and our fiscal demands as well. The FY13 implementation plan gets us on a path toward that end." Find the full text of the Air Force Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act Implementation Plan "A Strong Total Force for the Future" here.


text:
See Feb. 6 Update at end of this post.
Last night we attended a very interesting session sponsored by the group River Valley Action. The topic was Myth Busters. (DebunkingCommonMyths_Jan31_final)
There were three excellent and knowledgeable presenters: J. Drake Hamilton of the organization Fresh Energy; Professor David Schultz; and Kathy Tomsich of League of Women Voters Minnesota (do watch their video on Voter ID). The speakers topics related to their area of expertise, and their websites are well worth a visit. The format was effective, but the room was too crowded. More than 100 people were in attendance – they had expected perhaps 60.
My biggest learning last night – it was really a reminder, I first learned it as a 'target' myself in a political campaign in the early 1970s – came from watching a certain few members of the assembled crowd, all in the back of the room, who seemed to be most interested in disrupting, confusing and displaying anger. None of them were excluded from participation. They walked in like all the rest of us (though one of them grumped loudly that they weren't invited – but if so, why were they there?) Someone described their behavior as thuggish, and in a couple of cases it definitely was.
"Do you want a quote?", one said to me, thinking me to be a journalist, I guess. (Thanks for the quote.)
Of course, with a negative mindset going in, 'facts' are of no value or even interest. There is no listening. If an unpleasant fact comes forth, there is simply a new charge, and on it goes. The angry bunch may have 'high-five'd' each other afterward – "we showed 'em!" – but they definitely reflected very poorly on themselves.
The "grumps" were people who would have no interest in supporting anything. They were into their own abundant anger, and that was about it.
Many sessions like last night are essential if we are ever going to begin to move past the insanity of todays anger-based politics. We have to sit in the same room, and talk, talk, talk, and listen, civilly.
I kept thinking back to a favorite quotation of mine, on dialogue, which I found in Joseph Jaworsky's 1996 book, "Synchronicity, the Inner Path of Leadership". Preceding the chapter on "Dialogue: The Power of Collective Thinking", Jaworsky includes the following from David Bohms "On Dialogue":
"From time to time, (the) tribe (gathered) in a circle.
They just talked and talked and talked apparently to no purpose. They made no decisions. There was no leader. And everybody could participate.
There may have been wise men or wise women who were listened to a bit more – the older ones – but everybody could talk.
The meeting went on, until it finally seemed to stop for no reason at all and the group dispersed. Yet after that, everybody seemed to know what to do, because they understood each other so well. Then they could get together in smaller groups and do something or decide things."
We could use a lot more dialogue in our community, state and country.
I took a few photos, and perhaps they're a good way to end this piece. (click on them to enlarge.)
Thanks to the River Valley Action folks for an excellent evening.
UPDATE February 6, 2011, here


text:
Japanese tourists in Rome are said to have diminished in the last period. Not only the economic crisis but also the bad service that Italian restaurants and hotels provide to the tourists as well as the fear to have their wallet or mobile phone ripped off, have made the Japanese choose other safer destinations.
Just of few weeks ago the news that a Japanese couple was cheated by a famous restaurant in the center of Rome who presented them a 700 euro bill for an ordinary lunch. Japanese people, though, have started to be fed up with being considered the well-off, easily-cheatable tourist to milk.
Moshimoshi, the Japanese manager of the B&B in Rome that hosted the unlucky couple, explains what happened and titles the post "There is no way I can tolerate it" (絶対に許せない!!).
Some of my customers recently were victims of a rip off and I went there for verification.
To explain in simple words what the fraud consisted of, the two were exaggeratedly overcharged and made pay 700 Euro (100.000 Yen) for a lunch.
I can't tolerate it! So I went to the police to draw up a report. What's more, that restaurant is on the guidebook with the commenting words 'Japanese menu included, fair prices!'. It's true that those customers didn't check the menu and asked to bring them what the restaurant suggested but 700 euro…
Italian people told me "Why did they pay?"
But try to imagine, could you walk off a restaurant without paying what you ate? Also if I had personally complained, eventually I would haven't been able to go away without paying.
But, can you tolerate that? Is it ok for people in this country to think that "since they are not complaining I can cheat them"? I will absolutely fight such mentality because I believe it's impossible to tolerate such things. Also the policeman who called me today swore that the restaurant will have to pay a very heavy fine. "I, as Italian, cannot tolerate that those tourists will have such a terrible memory of Italy! Those people are the shame of Italy!!".
However, a Japanese blogger points his finger against those Japanese tourists who think to find abroad the same quality service that in Japan they give for granted.
In this period of recession it's not strange if the number of Japanese tourists has decreased and what the Japanese attribute to "bad Italian service" is nothing new or recent…
However, "bad service" is not only [a problem] in Italy.
In this regard, it's absolutely obvious that there are differences between Japan and the other countries.
In Japan service is considered "having everything done without saying a word." (According to the saying, "the customer is God"…)
But abroad (some think that) service is "having something done after I requested what I want".
And although there are many points of difference, going to those countries without taking it into account…
[…]And those who go abroad with such [superficial] understanding are a shame for us Japanese!
Ripping off foreign travelers is nothing new to the Italian people, unfortunately. Especially to those who come from cities that partly lives on tourism, like Rome.
Not for this, Italians are less ashamed of what is being considered around the world as the umpteenth cheat in the home of Colosseo.
An Italian blogger at L'isola dei riottosi expresses his disappointment on the matter.
Ci stiamo rovinando con le nostre stesse mani. Come dico spesso, la meschinità sta diventando uno dei capisaldi del nostro popolo. Tanto che il turismo rischia di sentirne. E parecchio. In particolare, il numero di turisti giapponesi che si recano a Roma si è dimezzato rispetto al 1997. Motivi? Le strade dell'Urbe sono sporche, e specialmente c'è un ricchissimo business delle Truffe! […]E giustamente queste cose non passano inosservate, dato che ne parlano pubblicamente all'estero, in questo caso il Giappone, dove adesso Roma viene vista come una bellissima città d'arte ma anche come un "macchina succhia soldi".
In particular, the number of Japanese tourists who go to Rome halved from 1997. Why? Because the streets of Rome are dirty and ripping off is a very profitable business![…] And obviously such things cannot be ignored, as they talk about it abroad. In Japan in this case, Rome is not only seen as a beautiful city of art but also as a "money-sucking machine".
Another Italian blogger, id: dragor, makes clear how a tourist is often regarded by some Roman shopkeepers.
PER GLI ITALIANI gli stranieri sono una massa d'imbecilli che aspettano soltanto di farsi fregare. Si considerano molto furbi e credono che tutti gli altri siano ingenui. La loro fantasia per tirare la botta è incredibile. […] Ma il massimo della fantasia si esercita nella fregatura individuale, che in molti casi si manifesta con il prezzo ad hoc. In un bar di Roma, mia moglie ha ordinato un caffè in francese. Le è stato fatturato 5 euro. Quando ho fatto notare nella lingua di Dante che era un furto, ho ricevuto questa risposta: "Dovevi dirlo subito che sei italiano. Quello è il prezzo per gli stranieri."
In a bar in Rome, my wife ordered a coffee in french. They gave here a 5 euro check. So when I made them notice, in Dante's language, that that was a fraud I got this answer: "You should have immediately told us you were Italian. That is the price for foreigners".
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15 comments
fraudulent businesses and scammers cause havoc to economies. Fraud is deceit for financial profit and has cost economies billionof money. We can fight fraud together if we join hands!