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The head of China's top Bitcoin exchange didn't expect the Chinese government would act so soon in taking its first step to regulating the digital currency, but said he welcomed controls.
"I was surprised they were so fast," said Bobby Lee, CEO of BTC China. He claims his company is the largest online marketplace in the world where people can buy and trade bitcoins.
Lee was speaking on the sidelines of a presentation he gave at Stanford University on Thursday evening about Bitcoin in China. They were his first public comments since the Chinese government announced earlier in the day that it would not let banks trade in bitcoins and would require domestic traders to use their real names when registering with exchanges.
Bitcoins can be thought of as digital tokens, bought and sold through online exchanges like BTC China. The currency is based on cryptographic algorithms and people either buy bitcoins with conventional currency or have their computers perform complex mathematical tasks to "mine" bitcoins. Around 12 million bitcoins have been mined to date and about 150 new coins are created every hour. That rate is continually slowing as the currency approaches its theoretical maximum of 21 million bitcoins.
"The bitcoin is a special kind of virtual product, it does not have the same legal status as a currency," Chinese authorities said in an online posting earlier on Thursday. "It should not and cannot be used as a currency circulating in the market." The posting came from the nation's regulators, including the People's Bank of China and the ministry that oversees the tech sector.
Lee wouldn't be drawn on the implications of the regulations. He said he hadn't had enough time to study them, but he did welcome the idea of regulating Bitcoin.
"We're actually pro-regulation," he said. "We operate in the China market and we want the government to regulate the Bitcoin exchange business. We want to make this a more formal business, to have more rules in place so that we can legitimately protect the customer's interests, to protect their funds. Otherwise exchange businesses come and go, they steal customer's money, they get hacked, there are a lot of problems."
The Chinese government made its announcement while Lee was on a plane heading towards the U.S. In addition to his speech at Stanford, he is also scheduled to attend a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas next week.
During his presentation, which had been prepared before the new regulations were announced, Lee said "the future for Bitcoin is bright in China."
He cited data from his customers that showed 60 percent of people were buying or trading the coins as an investment. One third of those were looking at Bitcoins as a short-term speculative play while the remainder said it was a long-term investment.
The price of bitcoins has surged in the last few months, rising from around US$200 to currently over $1,000.
Lee credited the popularity of Bitcoin in China to several factors, including the high rate of savings among the population, that many people are good at math, and that Chinese consumers love to try new things.


text:
Aberdeen Municipal Lawyers
Compare top rated South Dakota attorneys serving Aberdeen.
Todd Wilkinson
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University of South Dakota School of Law
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Doug Hajek is a business and financial institutions attorney at Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, LLP in Sioux Falls, SD. A Tyndall, SD native, Doug didn't enter the practice of law on the usual path. After graduating from college in 1972, Doug began a 10-year career in banking — first, as a commercial lender with US Bank in Rapid City, then in Minneapolis managing the company's system-wide commercial loan participation pool, and finally, managing Western Bank's mortgage banking operation in Sioux Falls. Doug entered law school in 1982 and graduated in 1985, with a practice in corporate law, public finance,...
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
For most of Winter in the Northeast, skating is possible only during the somewhat rare times when the ice is thick and not covered with snow or other unwelcome surface conditions. And bad skating has been the story, typically, for most of this Winter around Boston. After an earlier snow, there were some ad hoc skating rinks cleared by shoveling, but those were ruined by rains, more snow, more rains, and intermittent freezes that made a hash of the surface. But recent rains and hard freezes have formed wide paths between remaining islands of ruined snow. On most ponds there aren't enough open spaces for real hockey games, but there's plenty enough for skating, and for hockey practice, anyway. (A note to newbies and outsiders: nearly all lakes here are called ponds. Dunno why yet. Maybe one of ya'll can tell me. Still a bit of a noob myself.)
Hockey practice is what I saw when I paused to take a sunset shot with my phone at Spy Pond, which I passed it late this afternoon on a long walk along the Minuteman Bikeway, which is one of my favorite walking paths (and thoroughfares — at least when it's warm and clear enough to bike on). As it happens, Spy Pond ice has some history. There was a period, in the mid- to late-1800s, after railroads got big, but before refrigeration came along, when New England was a source for much of the world's shipped ice. And Spy Pond itself was one of the most productive sources. This picture here…
… shows ice being harvested for storage in ice houses beside the railroad which is now the Bikeway. I stood near the left edge of this scene when I took the picture at the top, and the boy and his dad playing hockey were about where at the center left, where a horse is shown pulling what looks like a man with a plow. (That last shot is from this historical display alongside the bikeway.)
The brainfather of Boston's ice industry was Frederic Tudor, about whom I have learned a great deal from The Ice King: Frederic Tudor and His Circle. Highly recommended, if you're into half-forgotten New England history. The book came as a bonus with membership in Mystic Seaport, a terrific maritime museum down the road on the Connecticut coast.
[Later…] The industry you see depicted above can also serve as a metaphor. For that a hat tip goes to Robin Lubbock (@RLma), New Media Director of WBUR, who pointed me to this piece by Michael Rosenblum. Nails it. (I also love Rosenblum's Maybe monetizing is not the answer and Edward III, Crecy and Local TV Newsrooms, also via Robin.)


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Students who were in a small class in grades 4 to 6 had better school achievement and higher wages as adults than those who were in large classes. This is shown in research done at IFAU, the Institute for Evaluation of Labor Market and Education Policy, in Sweden. Smaller classes are also found to be profitable to society.
Whether a large or small class size plays any role in student learning is heatedly debated. Previous (primarily American) research has shown that small classes improve school outcomes in the short term; students learn more in school. But it has remained unclear whether these effects make a difference in working life.
The authors of the report studied cognitive and non-cognitive skills in 10 percent of cohorts born in 1967, 1972, 1977 and 1982, nearly 31 000 students. Questionnaires in 6th grade provided the students' own perceptions of their endurance, self-confidence, and expectations. These were combined with test results in 6th and 9th grade, educational attainment, and their income as adults (27-42 years of age).
The report shows that students from small classes in grade 4 to 6 consistently have better results than students from large classes. Those in small classes had better cognitive and non-cognitive skills, had better scores on standardized national tests in grades 6 and 9, perceived themselves as having more self-confidence and greater endurance. The differences in school outcomes persisted throughout the rest of their compulsory schooling. The probability of going on to higher education was also greater for students in small classes. Those who were in small classes also earned more money as adults. A reduction in class size of five students entailed more than 3 percent higher wages.
"These higher wages in adulthood indicate that students from small classes are more productive," says Björn Öckert, an economist and one of the three researchers behind the report. "The effects on earning power are sufficiently large for the surplus to outweigh the direct costs of having smaller classes. This means that society recoups the costs of small classes. School resources play a role not only for student achievement, which previous research has shown, but also for how things turn out later in life."
Prior to 1991 in Sweden there were rules for the maximum number of students in a class. In grades 4 to 6 the number of students in a class could not exceed 30. If there were 31 students in a school grade, they had to be divided into two classes. The rules entailed substantial differences in class sizes for schools with nearly identical number of students, which is what the researchers used to measure the impact of class size.
IFAU Working paper 2012:5 Long-term effects of class size was written by Björn Öckert, IFAU, Peter Fredriksson Stockholm University, and Hessel Oosterbeek, University of Amsterdam.
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Materials provided by Expertanswer (Expertsvar in Swedish). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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text: Apple is once again rumored to be going against the wishes of late co-founder Steve Jobs as it prepares to launch a 7-inch version of its popular iPad tablet. While speaking with Computerworld, Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil said that Apple may be preparing to launch two new products following the imminent release of the iPad 3. One is a case accessory that includes an integrated wireless keyboard, and the second is the oft-rumored iPad mini, which the analyst says will launch later this year. "I believe that's always been in the plan" Gottheil said. "Actually that's a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank." Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs openly opposed the idea of a 7-inch tablet, noting that the smaller screen size inevitably mars the user experience. Even still, this would not be the first time a device would launch that contradicts Apple's earlier claims. Earlier reports suggested the smaller iPad model will launch in the third-quarter this year.


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Abdullah Karataş
Ömer Halisdemir University, Turkey.
ECSDEV promotes rigorous and objective empirical research on issues related to sustainability science to support decision-making by government and industry. The results of the research are disseminated through publications, workshops, educational programs and other public outreach activities.
Global scholars in:
comprise the ECSDEV's: International Advisory Board


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A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't.
Goodbye, Mike Nichols, and Thank You
There are artists whose work informs our sensibilities at critical phases in our lives -- that first album you buy with your own money, that movie you know you will drag every new friend to see -- who define what you consider "entertaining" forever after. When those people are alive and working in your lifetime, it's easy to develop a deeply personal attachment to them; they are the aunts and uncles and cousins who can paint or sing or make you laugh. And if your formative years were spent among very funny, very Jewish people who grew up in New York City, you're going to miss a guy like Mike Nichols very much indeed when they go.
It happened last night that one my favorite, funniest people passed away at the age of 83,
I first knew of Mike Nichols as the male half of the brilliant improvisational comedy team, Nichols and May, alongside gorgeous genius, Elaine May. Then it was pointed out to me (I was still a pre-teen) that he was the director of The Graduate, a movie I enjoyed, but didn't fully understand at first viewing. After that I started noticing he directed lots of movies I liked and that he kept showing up on the Tony Awards. In every endeavor Mike Nichols won critical acclaim and is one of only 12 "EGOTS" in the history of awards: he won Emmy Awards for Wit and Angels in America; a Grammy for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May; an Oscar for The Graduate, and nine Tony Awards (you can look those up) spanning four decades.
Nichols was born in Berlin in 1931, the son of a Russian Jewish doctor whose family had fled to Germany from Siberia after the Revolution and a local Jewish woman who was vaguely related to Albert Einstein. The family had to flee again in 1939 for obvious reasons. Nichols's father established a place for them in New York, then sent for Mike and his brother (aged 7 and 3 respectively) who traveled alone to meet him. Their mother escaped through Italy to join the family one year later.
Nichols grew up in Manhattan and attended (and dropped out of) the University of Chicago, where he discovered local theater and a pretty girl named Elaine May. Nichols went back to New York to study at the Actor's Studio and by 1955, had joined the Compass Players where May was in residence and whose members later formed the famous Second City troupe. Critical and professional success ensued for the next 50 years.
There will be much to read and remember about Mike Nichols in the coming days, but here is a beauty of a routine I can recite by heart and that will now also make me cry:
Excuse me while I go look up how Tom Lehrer is doing.
Favorite Five


text:
Domain as Design Launch 1 :: Word Edition (#DtG1v1) Single Color, Darker on Lighter
Each concept will start with the Domain as Design Launch series comprised of four simple designs featuring only the words of the domain name and the website. Launch 1 is a thicker font while Launch 2 is a more whimsical thinner font. Both will have a darker on lighter and lighter on darker designs.


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About three years ago, developer Cameron Morris had a personal epiphany about passwords, he recently told ZDNet's John Fontana: The time it takes to crack a password is the only true measure of its worth.
Not whether it has a minimum of x or a maximum of y characters, not whether it's got blah-blah amount of numbers, not whether it includes your frou-frou leetspeak ch@r@ct3rs, not whether it contains the verboten from lists of taboo words.
Syntax laws like those make up the typical password policy creations most organizations use and that many security practitioners preach.
But if you religiously follow such policies, Morris notes, you get situations like this: Facebook graded as "weak" a password he made up of 35 characters using the first letters of a random phrase, while it deemed a password "strong" when it matched the social network's creation policies, which allow for use of common words.
Morris's Facebook-appeasing password?
The time it would take to crack that supposedly strong password, according to tools that Morris has created to estimate password strength: less than one day.
Morris, a developer at defense contractor Partnet, told reporters that he came to his realisation after a half hour spent creating a tough-to-crack password.
That 30 minutes of password creation labor was followed by the realization that he'd have to go through the whole rigamarole again when he had to change it in a month's time.
Stop right there. That has the aroma of a password myth.
As Paul Ducklin and Chester Wisniewski discussed in a Sophos Techknow podcast, "Busting Password Myths", the idea that regular password changes lead to better security dates back to the days when passwords were stored in plain text files on Unix systems.
Regular password changes actually decrease security, for a few reasons: 1) your poor users are going to start using sucky passwords because they're easy to remember and to increment, and 2) doing something security-related on a regular, predictable schedule (quarterly? monthly?) is a gift to hackers.
This regular password change-out distracts the IT department for a predictable chunk of time on a predictable schedule. Predictability is a gift you don't really want to hand to attackers.
At any rate, being influenced by the myth that regular password change equates to good security, Morris thought it would be neat to set password expiration based on the strength of a password. He couldn't find a way to measure password strength, though.
Hence, he started building a collection of tools to do just that.
Those open-source tools are out now. Morris handed them over to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) in January.
Morris is inviting people to give them a try. One tool, called Passfault Analyzer, predicts how long it will take to crack a given password.
He also created a Password Creation Slide-Tool that lets administrators configure password policy based on the time to crack, the possible technology that an attacker might be using (from an everyday computer on up to a $180,000 password attacker), and the password protection technology in use (from Microsoft Windows System security on up to 100,000 rounds of the cryptographic hash function SHA-1/).
The tool lets users move a slider bar to increase or decrease the amount of time passwords should take to crack.
All good, yes? But then came the next step in what came to be a password kerfuffle: Morris's premise and tools quickly lit a fire under SecurEnvoy, maker of two-factor authentication technology.
SecurEnvoy blogged that, basically, Morris was right about password creation policies, but he didn't take it far enough, because, in fact, conventional ID/password security is toast.
The company's blog quoted co-founder Steve Watt as putting it this way:
"This isn't to say that Cameron is wrong - far from it - it's just that the reasons why passwords are coming to the end of the line in today's online environment are multi-faceted, with company password policies being only one issue of concern."
"One of the other major issues we have observed is that people have great difficulty remembering more complex passwords than the six or eight alphabetic strings that most Internet users rely on. Because of this, they fall back on an eight digit passphrase that is usually a family member's name or place of birth, and which—unfortunately—are all too easy to hack using brute force password attacks."
It will not shock many readers to find that Watt proposes that the answer is what his company sells: i.e., tokenless two-factor authentication.
Watt does have good points about corporate password policies: they spawn mutant, impossible to remember passwords. Users wind up storing them on their mobile phones or, worse, writing them on sticky notes or on the undersides of their keyboards.
This is, in fact, the heart of the matter that Morris got right, SecurEnvoy says: overly complex passwords prompt users to find easy ways to remember them.
Yes. But the idea that passwords are going away is nuts.
The reasons for this were well laid out by ZDNet's Manek Dubash.
Dubash suggests that two-factor authentication isn't going to save us, given that we're all bringing our smartphones to work and logging on to Facebook in the enterprise:
"The reality today is that the division between enterprise and personal environments has all but evaporated."
"In the course of their jobs, people increasingly access their personal services at work using their personal devices. And enterprises cannot mandate two-factor authentication for access to Facebook, for example, which might well be the chosen method of communication of a key supplier, or a way of communicating with potential customers."
"All FB wants is a password, and it's not alone."
So if two-factor authentication isn't going to save us, what's the answer?
I rely on password generation using the scheme that Sophos's Graham Cluley teaches in this video.
So I put one of my Graham-inspired passwords – containing seven characters – through Morris's Analyzer and found that it would take approximately one day to crack it.
I would prefer that it get up into the range of a year, at least, if not a few centuries, and that is exactly what happened when I appended a range of characters from the keyboard, left to right and then the same string right to left.
Presto! Up in the centuries range.
That points not to a flaw in Graham's technique, of course, but rather a confirmation of Carnegie-Mellon's 2011 study (PDF) that concluded that length was the only thing that really influences password strength.
ZDNet's Dubash, for his part, writes that he uses a "tiny portable password generator," as well as KeePass, an open-source password manager that can even be bolstered with two-factor authentication.
It's all good. We have a technique from Graham that shows us how to create easily remembered passwords. We have password managers. We have a bunch of busted security myths from Chet. We have the Carnegie Mellon study that shows that making them long makes them strong.
And now we have a tool to analyze that strength in terms of how long it takes to crack a given password.
Cracked safe image courtesy of Shutterstock.


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Vietnam visa for Norway
If you are a Norway passport holder and plan to stay in Vietnam within 15 days, you do not need a Vietnam visa.
Yet, for those who are not citizen of Norway and not in the Vietnam visa exemption list, or those Norway citizens who wish to stay in Vietnam for more than 15 days, a valid Vietnam visa is required. From this country, you can get a visa to Vietnam by two 2 options:
1. Get Vietnam Visa on Arrival at lower cost (get visa stamped at Vietnam International Airports on arrival)
Vietnam Visa on arrival is beneficial for those who live far away from the Vietnamese embassies and do not wish to send their passports away by postal mail.
- Issuing unit: Vietnam Immigration Department
- Processing time: 1 to 2 working days
- No Passport sendoff required
- How it works? You go online at Apply Vietnam Visa, fill in the secure form, and just wait 2 working days (normal service) or within 1 working day (urgent service) to get your Vietnam Visa Approval Letter via email, and take this letter + your passport + 2 photos + some dollars as stamping fee to get your visa at airport. Further information, please visit application process.
2. Get Vietnam Entry Visa at Vietnam Embassies:
At present, there is no information about the Embassy of Vietnam in Norway. Please find your nearest Vietnam embassies to apply for your Vietnam visa.
- Issuing unit: Vietnam Embassy
- Processing time: 4 to 5 working days
- Your original passport required
- Before applying for Vietnam visa, make sure your passport has minimum 6 month validity and left pages.
- For visa on arrival option, it is applicable for those traveling by air to Vietnam.
For any further information, please kindly contact us. We are willing and pleased to assist you at our best!


text:
- This event has passed.
Bike Link at Parc Jean-Drapeau
April 23 @ 6:00 am - 11:00 pmFree
The bike link is a safe, well-maintained marked trail of about 14 kms, reserved for bicycles. The bike path links Montréal, Parc Jean-Drapeau, Île des Soeurs and the South Shore municipalities: it is one of the rare spots where you can cross the Saint Lawrence River on your bike.
The bike link is part of the Great Trail and the Route verte, and it provides a wide vista of unique and spectacular views of the city's downtown area and the majestic Saint Lawrence River.
The bike link segment at Parc Jean-Drapeau is a place where nature, public art and heritage venues converge. There are many facilities along the bike link on the Saint-Hélène and Notre-Dame islands, such as an Information center, washrooms, picnic spots and even a service area.


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Scott Wiener "making sure high-speed rail happens"
|Photo: Dennis Hearne
"The press has sort of gone on a feeding frenzy against high-speed rail, and that's unfortunate. Yes it's expensive; yes it's going to take a long time. But that's true of any transformative infrastructure project."
From the 2008 Voters Guide:
State costs of about $19.4 billion, assuming 30 years to pay off both principal ($9.95 billion) and interest ($9.5 billion) costs of the bonds. Payments of about $647 million per year. When constructed, additional unknown costs, probably in excess of $1 billion a year, to operate and maintain a high-speed train system.
Wiener's homework assignment: read the many studies on this site about the high-speed rail project.
Thanks to SF Streetsblog for the link to the interview.
GJEL interviews San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener
San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener is one of the most outspoken street safety advocates in the city government and Mayor Ed Lee's appointee to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (a four year term).
In 2011, he was instrumental in passing Proposition B, which will allocate $248 million in General Obligation Bonds for fixing San Francisco's streets, bridges and public spaces. In 2012, he'll be tackling another far reaching transportation renovation: bringing high-speed rail to the Bay Area.
We spoke with Supervisor Wiener about improving the transportation experience in San Francisco, thinking long term on high-speed rail, why more taxis means fewer drivers, and other street safety issues.
GJEL: You've lived in San Francisco for 14 years. Has the way people travel changed significantly since you moved here?
WIENER: Not dramatically. We do see more people biking and I do know of more people who have gotten rid of their cars or have a car but hardly ever drive it. You know, I have some friends I never thought would ride Muni who now ride Muni at least some of the time.
GJEL: To what would you attribute that change?
WIENER: I think that's a combination of the fact that parking can be challenging but also there are a lot of people who are realizing that just driving in this town is not always so fun.
And I'm realistic. I have a car. I don't drive it that much, but there are times when I need to drive. I don't subscribe to the belief that we are going to create a non-car paradise. There are people who need to drive whether that's because of their job or to get groceries or getting their kids around.
But for the people who are only driving because they can't get where they want to go otherwise, we want to give them the option to travel in a different way. So by improving Muni, by making the streets more walkable, by getting more cabs on the street there will be more people who decide that is more desirable to not drive.
GJEL: You mention taxis on your city council homepage. Why are cabs such a big part of your agenda?
WIENER: If you want to be a transit first city, if you really want to get people out of their cars, cabs are an important part of that system. Even if we had 100 million dollars each year to improve Muni to address its structural deficits, to expand service and to really upgrade the system, Muni is never going to be able to get you anywhere you want to go at any time. If you look at a city like New York, this city has a world-class transportation system, one of the most amazing subways around. That is part of what gets people out of their cars in New York, but their cab system is just as important.
People need to know that if they need to get somewhere quickly, they can jump in a cab and get there. And I personally have people tell me that if they knew they could get a cab when they wanted, they would sell their cars tomorrow. But we have a relatively low number of cabs, and our cab service is bad.
GJEL: The passing of proposition B was a big win for you this year. The city has tried to pass similar bond measures in the past, in 2005, what was different this time?
WIENER: A couple things: We put together a very strong coalition to get the streets bond passed of all sorts of different people including the Bike Coalition, the safety advocates, labor, the business community. We had a lot of different people involved who could agree that we needed to fix our roads and fix a lot of other infrastructure that this bond addresses.
It's also important to keep in mind that in 2005, the last bond that failed, it got in the high 50s (in terms of votes), so that bond did well, it just didn't make it to two-thirds. That was a much smaller campaign so we knew with the right campaign we'd have a shot at the two-thirds and I also think that, as time goes by, people just become more convinced that we need to do something drastic to getting our roads fixed.
GJEL: On transportation issues, some might see a tension between function and experience in urban planning. That is, there's a belief that the things we do for quality of life, wider sidewalks, etc, are not the most functional improvements. This bond sort of addresses both needs. Can you talk about your emphasis on quality of life in San Francisco?
WIENER: I think anything we can do to improve our public spaces is going to bring people together and build communities. So when we now have $10's of millions to spend on street safety and making our neighborhoods more walkable, to make room for outdoor seating by making the sidewalks a little wider–that improves our experience as a community. When we improve Muni with signal upgrades, it improves the public experience. When we make our streets more bikeable–that improves the public experience.
GJEL: Speaking of bikeable: The relationship between Muni buses and city cyclists isn't all that great. There have been a number of collisions in the last year. Is the problem one of education for riders and drivers, or is it an infrastructural issue?
WIENER: We live in a very cramped city in a lot of ways. Geographically it's a small city that's densely populated. Many times we have narrow roads, and on these cramped spaces we have cars and large busses and cyclists and pedestrians so there's a lot of potential for conflict on our roads. So we're not going to make our geographic space bigger, but what we can do is make sure our roads are structured in a way so that everyone can use them and its clear who should be where and that it's as easy as possible to make sure everyone can travel on our roads in a way that reduces those conflicts. That's a real challenge but we have been moving in that direction.
GJEL: One of the crucial tools for a lot of the pedestrian advocacy organizations we talk to are strong statistics that help pinpoint where we can make manageable improvements. Are metrics an important tool for you?
WIENER: Yes, because they really help us make the case for why we're doing this. Sometimes when we make changes, let's say by having a longer crossing time for pedestrians. Sometimes people will say "you're just doing this to undermine driving because you're anti-car," or something like that. And that's not the case. We're doing this because we have an unacceptable rate of injuries and fatalities for pedestrians.
[Stats] really help justify why we're doing it. We're not doing it for the heck of it, for unfounded reasons. We're doing it because we have a lot of pedestrians in this town and too many injuries.
GJEL: What are you big transportation agenda items in 2012?
WIENER: I'm already engaged–and will be even more so–in high speed rail and making sure it happens and that it goes to down town San Francisco.
GJEL: That's another controversial topic, what's the status of that initiative right now?
WIENER: It's in flux now. The press has sort of gone on a feeding frenzy against high-speed rail, and that's unfortunate. Yes it's expensive; yes it's going to take a long time. But that's true of any transformative infrastructure project.
You know the interstate highway system was not built overnight, and when the decision was made to build it, they didn't have all the money in the bank. These projects take years and years and years and investment over time. But we know that without high speed rail we're just going to have to spend an enormous amount on highways and doing a lot of things that are very expensive, have significant negative environmental impacts and then we still wont have a good transportation system.
GJEL: What do you think the hang up is? Is it that people do not think this sort of infrastructure is important, or is it a sort of cognitive issue where people recognize that they want or need these changes, but it's such an enormous project that right now, with the economy not so flush, people aren't willing to take the plunge?
WIENER: The short term, easy answer is to say, "let's not take on these big projects because they're expensive and they take a long time and they're controversial." So it's easy just to throw up your hands and say, "lets not do it." But if you look at what made this country great, it was our willingness to say, "we're going to do something big and it may be expensive and it may take a longtime and politically it may be a heavy lift, but its going to be transformative."
So whether it's the interstate highway system, whether its building BART and Muni underground–whatever it may be—it almost always ends up being worth it. Can you even imagine what would have happened if people would have killed BART because it was going to be expensive and take a long time and be disruptive while they're building it?
Look at the fact that we made the huge blunder of allowing Marin County and San Mateo to opt out of BART. If we had BART all the way up to Santa Rosa and down through the Peninsula to San Jose, it would be so much better. With these kinds of infrastructure projects, far more often than not, you regret not doing it, and you regret not going further.
GJEL: What are some things that people who are passionate about high-speed rail can do to aid its progress?
WIENER: When there are negative stories about high-speed rail, for example, write a letter to the editor. Keep lobbying officials, keep all of our spirits up and make sure that we're focusing on high-speed rail, that we're committed to it.
Sometimes you only hear from the people who don't want it. As committed as you may be, sometimes you only hear from the opponent. And that's tough psychologically for any public official, so it's important to keep communicating and keep talking about how important it is.
Labels: City Government, High-Speed Rail, Muni, Scott Wiener, Streetsblog


text:
Feb 28, 2012
chocolate pencils + cheburaska holding some pencils.
always like to check pencils in thriftstores and it's also nice to browse them on the internet. here are some nice ones! and this is a very nice website. +anu tuominen made a landscape, a page and soup out of them.
op 17:33 7 comments:
Labels: cheburashka, collections, food
Feb 26, 2012
want two
a dear friend of us sophie anson (no link, she doesn't have a website-yet) made a beautiful exhibition in the house of a friend. here a few photos. hope to show you more of her works soon.
op 21:08 2 comments:
Feb 24, 2012
a mix
1. a poster by michel françois at a friend's place.
2. from the africa-museum
3. a present for a friend
4. sunshine in k's home
op 18:25 4 comments:
Feb 23, 2012
calder in the hague
yesterday we visited the calder exhibition in the hague. it shows a lot of mobiles ofcourse (didn't make photos of them cause google is full of them). it also shows the influence of mondriaan (see 3rd photo, that's a paining by calder). and there were some fantastic photos from andré kertész. and ofcourse calder's circus was there, with a video and some of the creatures he made for it. if you haven't seen it yet, there are a lot of videos on youtube.
the exhibition still runs till the 28th of may, so you still have some time!
op 14:01 2 comments:
Feb 20, 2012
lazy monday
tea time at a friends place. she has 2 lazy cats and the biggest pilea plant i've ever seen.
+ love this kitchen. photo by nicholas haggard.
op 18:49 7 comments:
Labels: apartments, plants
Feb 19, 2012
shapes and cy
origami and an empty puzzle.
+ visited the cy twombly photo exhibition. not so crazy about his photographs, but tacita dean made an amazing video about him. beautiful images in his studio. would like to see more of her work.
op 18:58 5 comments:
Feb 16, 2012
deutsche naive kunst
it's a fantastic book on outsider art from germany! there are so many nice works in it! and it's nice that there is a photograph of the artists next to their work. such a pity blogger doesn't make the photos real size any longer when you click on them, cause than you could have a closer look.
op 19:42 8 comments:
Labels: art, books, outsider art
Feb 15, 2012
blue presents
from renilde.
the first work is from the blue path series and it's ofiicially called 'eclipse' but we call it 'the mickey'.
and the pillowcase is made out of a fabric in a classic african print which i have seen before in this etsy shop.
op 15:25 4 comments:
Feb 13, 2012
tarkovsky's polaroids
a friend reminded us on a book we recently saw with tarkovsky's polaroids. beautiful light! wonderful atmosphere! have a look here if you want to see many more.
op 10:38 9 comments:
Labels: art
Feb 12, 2012
mickey again
1. a vintage pin. 2. minnie drawn by a child. 3. photo saved from ebay long time ago. 4. a marker from the thirftstore.
op 21:00 3 comments:
Labels: mickey
Feb 10, 2012
1. a drawing by charlotte for otark. could be a nice tattoo :)
2. love this note, found on happy accident, which is a fantastic tumblr by jennilee marigomen.
3. a photo found in the newspaper not very long ago. the title said: 'man holds hand of woman since 1500 years'.
+ this is so nice.
op 18:29 7 comments:
Labels: charlotte
Feb 9, 2012
this week
trying to make as much photos as possible since the light is so nice most of the time. these are some analogue ones taken in a very nice home.
just discovered this blog. there are some nice things to see and also a post on us :)
op 21:03 7 comments:
Labels: apartments, plants
Feb 7, 2012
always nice to browse this flickr page. it shows someones collection of QSL cards (read here what they are, had to look that up!) lots of animals as chipmunks, dancing bears, and a few mickey's too!
the photoshoot went well. a bit worried about the photos i had to pose on though. if it looks allright you will see it here beginning of march!
op 21:15 3 comments:
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text:
Story highlights
Sources: FBI closes myredbook.com
Website alleged to have advertised children for prostitution
Two people arrested in San Francisco in connection with raid, sources say
Raid comes amid crackdown on sex trafficking of minors
The FBI on Wednesday shut down a website advertising children for prostitution – a move made as part of a broader crackdown on the sex trafficking of minors, law enforcement sources told CNN on condition of anonymity.
Federal agents closed myredbook.com in a raid in San Francisco. Two people were arrested on suspicion of operating the site, the sources said
The raid stems from a national child sex trafficking crackdown in which the FBI said it rescued 168 children and arrested 281 alleged pimps this month.
Some of the rescued children were identified through myredbook.com, one of the law enforcement sources said.
The FBI acknowledged an ongoing investigation, but would not provide specific information.


text:
Story highlights
German court dismisses complaint against European rescue fund
37,000 citizens had sought to stop the fund going ahead
Critics said the fund would expose German taxpayers to excessive demands
Supporters say the European Stability Mechanism is vital to saving the euro
(CNN) – The eurozone's crisis plan passed another milestone Wednesday with the decision from Germany's Constitutional Court to dismiss a complaint against Europe's permanent bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism.
The decision eases the pressure on two of the eurozone bloc's largest economies, Italy and Spain, whose funding costs have been soaring amid a financial crisis that has dragged on for more than two years.
The two countries – the bloc's third- and fourth-largest economies, respectively – are considered too big to fail, but Spain has already been forced to seek financial aid for its banks and is widely expected to seek further assistance.
Anatoli Annenkov, senior European economist at Societe Generale, said the verdict showed that on paper, "we now have some powerful tools available which combined looks sufficiently large to deal with financing pressures on Spain and Italy, if and when they arise."
That may "be sufficient to calm markets," Annenkov said, although he noted that the plans needed to be quickly translated into practice, with full details of conditions and enforcement made clear. "We expect the first real case to be Spain, which is currently studying the conditions for applying for aid," he added.
The decision, which was months in the making, was expected but clears the way for the introduction of the European Stability Mechanism, which is due to become operational in October and will have a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion euros. The ruling included conditions to limit Germany's liability to the fund to 190 billion euros.
In Germany's biggest ever constitutional challenge, about 37,000 citizens had tried to block the fund, saying it violated the country's right to retain control of its own budget.
The citizens, who backed a legal push from the More Democracy movement, said the mechanism could expose the country to unlimited demands for taxpayer money. They wanted a referendum to decide the issue.
Supporters of the rescue fund, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it was a vital part of measures to prop up ailing European economies and avert the collapse of the euro. Addressing German parliament Wednesday, Merkel said: "It is a good day for Germany, it is a good day for Europe."
Markets rose on news of the ruling, as investors had been anxious about how it would affect the European Central Bank's plans to preserve the euro.
It was feared that a negative ruling would throw global markets into chaos and force Europe's politicians to return to the drawing board to tackle Europe's debt crisis.
The bailout fund is set to provide financial help to European countries struggling to cope with their debt burdens.
It's an integral part of a plan announced by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi last week to buy bonds with a duration of between one and three years.
The bond purchases, described as "outright monetary transactions," would be available to countries that seek outside help and that agree to meet a number of budgetary conditions before approval. There would be no "ex ante limits on the size" of the purchases, Draghi said, repeating his pledge to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.
The measure is designed to keep a lid on bond yields and borrowing costs.


text:
City Of Sydney Terms And Conditions
Information on how to enter and the prize form part of these Terms and Conditions. Participation in "Win Your Ultimate Night Out In Sydney" promotion ("Promotion") is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
The Promoter is The Urban List Pty Ltd ATF The Urban List Trust (ABN 56 349 266 482).
The Promotion is open to all Australian residents aged 18 and over.
Employees (and their immediate family and/or those living in the same household) of the Promoter, and its respective affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies and suppliers associated with this promotion are ineligible to enter. Immediate family means any of the following: spouse, ex-spouse, de-facto spouse, child or step-child (whether natural or by adoption), parent, step-parent, grandparent, step-grandparent, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, brother, sister, step-brother, step-sister or 1st cousin.
How to Enter
The Promotion period commences at 12:01AM AEDT on Tuesday 26th November 2019 and ends at 11:59PM AEDT on Tuesday 10th December 2019. ("Promotional Period").
To enter, individuals must complete the following steps during the Promotional Period: Complete the quiz 'Take This Quiz To Reveal Your Ultimate Night Out In Sydney (And Win It)' and accompanying entry form as hosted on the Promoter's website, www.theurbanlist.com;
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The judging will take place at the Sydney office of the Promoter, 8 Hill Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010 at 2:00pm AEDT on Wednesday 11th December 2019.
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Outcome A: Indulgent Foodie Date: Total $1000
$350 Voucher for The Clare Hotel
$150 Cooking Class Voucher at Salt, Meats, Cheese Circular Quay
$125 voucher for The Rooftop Sydney
$250 voucher for Mary's Underground
$125 The Grounds Of Alexandria Breakfast Voucher
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2 x Afternoon Serenity packages $530 at The Day Spa at The Langham
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text:
|Home Refrigeration Freezers All Freezer Viking 5 Series VCFB5303RSS
+ Product Information
Brand: VIKING
Model: VCFB5303RSS
+ Appearance
Color: Stainless Steel
+ Technical Details
Energy Star Rated: No
Viking vcfb5303rss
In the 70's Fred Carl Jr., a fourth generation building contractor was building kitchens for his clients and saw many of them used commercial ranges in their home. When it was time for him to build his own kitchen, he realized the commercial ranges that were offered were not well suited for the home. His wife wanted a classic looking range like the old Chambers, her mother used to use. His solution was to create a hybrid range that would combine the look and styling of commercial ranges and yet have the safety features and sizes home consumers desired.
Consistency in both performance and design should be a major consideration when building or remodeling a home. With the complete Viking indoor or outdoor kitchen, every single product works together in form and function with the same level of excellence. It's something Viking calls Design Integrity.
Viking offers complete ultra-premium kitchens and truly consistent design, while delivering the quality and performance that make Viking the true market leader. Across all product categories, the knobs, handles, bezels, curves, angles, and lines all follow the same design cues â even the grain of stainless is the same from product to product. This enables the designer to create a perfectly harmonious kitchen in one of three Viking product offerings â Professional Indoor, D3 Indoor, or Professional Outdoor.
You wouldn't install mismatched cabinets and drawers or countertops. Yet design differences are even more dramatic between multiple appliance manufacturers. Traditional or contemporary. Stainless or color finish. No matter the look you're going for, no one can match the Viking kitchen and Viking Design Integrity.
Viking Built-in refrigerator-freezers
Freestanding refrigerator/freezers, refrigerated drawers, and ice machines are available in Stainless Steel (SS) only.
Built-in full-height wine cellar
Outdoor refrigeration products
CA Residents: Prop 65 WARNING
Pro Chill Temperature Management
Pro Chill Temperature Management System with variable speed DC Overdrive compressor. Single compressor system includes the quietest compressor available. Electronic controls provide precise temperature management with digital readout
Electronic Temperature Control
Electronic controls with digital temperature readout
Multi-channel Airflow
Enjoy less humidity and less odor with our Multi-Channel Airflow
Two Wire Baskets With Dividers
Frozen storage comes to you with our two slide-out, full-width wire baskets with adjustable dividers
Two Separate Ice Bins
Have twice the ice or extra frozen storage with our two separate ice pans
Adaptive Defrost
Defrost time adjusts to the usage of the freezer and extends up to 96 hours
Prochill Temperature Management System
• Electronic controls maintain even temperatures within one degree °F to keep food fresher longer
• Multi-channel airflow system and Odor Eliminator Evaporator removes odors and excess humidity
• Maintenance-free Super Clog Resistant Condenser provides expense free peace of mind
• Adaptive defrost on All Freezer models control the timing of the defrost periods, instead of an electromechanical defrost timer
Led Lighting
• All items are in clear view with bright energy efficient LED lighting from top and sidewalls
• Ramp on theater lighting provides better visibility
Functional Shelving And Storage
• Adjustable full-width wire shelves along with one full-width metal shelf and two full-width slide-out wire baskets with tempered glass fronts allows for increased storage options
• Exclusive adjustable metal door bins to securely store heavy items
• Full-extension precision ball bearing slides on all baskets and drawers allow for drawers to easily glide open and close for access
Automatic Ice Maker
• Factory-installed automatic ice maker with full-width large-capacity ice drawer includes two separate ice pans for maximum ice production and storage


text:
By Eric Tucker / Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A judge has ordered the Justice Department to give the House secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, handing a victory to Democrats as they gather evidence for the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
In a Friday ruling that also affirmed the legality of the impeachment inquiry itself, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered the department to turn over the materials by Oct. 30. A Justice Department spokeswoman said it was reviewing the decision. The administration can appeal.
The ruling in favor of the House Judiciary Committee comes as Democrats gather closed-door testimony from current and former government officials about the Trump administration's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden. The Mueller materials could reveal previously hidden details to lawmakers about Trump's actions during the 2016 election and become part of the impeachment push.
The material covered by Howell's order consists of redacted grand jury testimony mentioned in Mueller's report. The Justice Department says that information is the only piece of the document that key lawmakers have not had access to.
Democrats believe the still-redacted information could shed new light on key episodes of the investigation, including discussions Trump is reported to have had with associates about the release of stolen emails during the campaign and conversations about a 2016 Trump Tower meeting at which Trump's eldest son expected to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The judge said the materials could help lawmakers as they decide which witnesses to call for an impeachment inquiry and what additional lines of investigation should be pursued.
In a 75-page ruling accompanying the order, Howell slashed through many of the administration's arguments for withholding materials from Congress, including the need for continued secrecy.
"The reality is that DOJ and the White House have been openly stonewalling the House's efforts to get information by subpoena and by agreement, and the White House has flatly stated that the Administration will not cooperate with congressional requests for information," Howell wrote.
While the Justice Department said it could not provide grand jury material under existing law, "DOJ is wrong," she wrote. And though the White House and its Republican allies argued impeachment is illegitimate without a formal vote, the judge said: "A House resolution has never, in fact, been required."
The judge also rejected the Justice Department's argument that impeachment does not qualify as a "judicial proceeding." That distinction matters because, though grand jury testimony is ordinarily secret, one exemption that allows it to be legally disclosed is in connection with a judicial proceeding.
"To the extent the House's role in the impeachment context is to investigate misconduct by the President and ascertain whether that conduct amounts to an impeachable offense warranting removal from office, the House performs a function somewhat akin to a grand jury," the judge wrote.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was pleased by the ruling.
"The court's thoughtful ruling recognizes that our impeachment inquiry fully comports with the Constitution and thoroughly rejects the spurious White House claims to the contrary," Nadler said in a statement. "This grand jury information that the Administration has tried to block the House from seeing will be critical to our work."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the ruling was "another blow to President Trump's attempt to put himself above the law."
"This critical court ruling affirms Congress's authority to expose the truth for the American people. Most importantly, the Court recognized the House's right to obtain grand jury information pursuant to its impeachment inquiry," Pelosi said.
Justice Department lawyers argued against providing the materials at a hearing earlier this month. They pointed out that House Democrats already had significant evidence from Mueller's investigation, including copies of summaries of FBI witness interviews. But the judge said that information is no substitute for the actual grand jury testimony.
"To insure most effectively against being misled, HJC must have access to all essential pieces of testimony by witnesses, including testimony given under oath to the grand jury," Howell said, referring to the House Judiciary Committee.
"Additionally, for purposes of assessing and following up on the Mueller Report's conclusions, the full Report is needed: the grand jury material may offer unique insights, insights not contained in the rest of the Report, congressional testimony" or FBI reports, she added.
The Mueller report found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. It also examined multiple episodes in which Trump sought to thwart the investigation and pointedly determined that he could not be exonerated on obstruction of justice allegations.
Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
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text:
The Judicial power of the State of Montana is vested in the following:
Unlike most state court systems and the federal judiciary, Montana does not have an intermediate appellate court. Consequently, the Supreme Court hears direct appeals from all of the District Courts across Montana, as well as from the Workers' Compensation Court and the Water Court. Because people have a right to an appeal and there is no intermediate appellate court for Montanans to go to, the Montana Supreme Court does not have discretion to turn down appeals; it must take them all and resolve them.
The Montana Constitution also vests the Supreme Court with original jurisdiction. Original jurisdiction may be asserted via habeas corpus applications from inmates and petitions for supervisory control over District Courts in cases still pending there. The Supreme Court also may exercise original jurisdiction in a case that has not been through a District Court if there are no facts in dispute and the case presents only legal or constitutional questions. An example of a case in recent years in which the Montana Supreme Court had accepted original jurisdiction of this type was the challenge to term limits.
The Montana Supreme Court has other duties, including lawyer discipline and revisions of various rules, such as the Montana Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure, the Rules of Professional Conduct that apply to Montana lawyers, and the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement that govern lawyer discipline cases. On occasion, the Montana Supreme Court also must determine whether to impose judicial discipline as recommended by the Judicial Standards Commission. In addition, the Supreme Court, as part of the state assumption of District Court funding, must adopt a personnel plan for the Judicial Branch. The Chief Justice also chairs the District Court Council, created by the Legislature to implement and administer the state-funded District Court program.
The Clerk of the Supreme Court keeps all Supreme Court records, maintains the court's docket, and performs other administrative tasks.
The Court Administrator is the chief administrative staff person for the judiciary. Answerable to all seven justices of the Supreme Court, the administrator executes the day-to-day administrative operations of the Supreme Court, including some administrative matters concerning District Courts and Courts of Limited Jurisdiction.


text:
Research Shows How White Blood Cells Detect Invaders
Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have discovered how a molecular receptor on the surface of white blood cells identifies when invading fungi have established direct contact with the cell surface and pose an infectious threat.
The receptor called Dectin-1, studied in the laboratory of David Underhill, PhD, an associate professor in Cedars-Sinai's Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute, detects fungi and instructs white blood cells whether to expend the energy needed to devour the invading pathogens. The findings are featured as the cover story in the April 28 edition of Nature.
Although scientists long have theorized how immune cells recognize microbial debris sloughed from invading organisms at some distance from themselves, this study establishes a model to explain how immune cells determine when pathogens are directly in contact with their surface and thus pose a significantly greater risk, demanding rapid destruction.
The study is important because it moves scientists one step closer to understanding the mysteries of how our bodies mount an immune response to fight disease.In early stages of infection, white blood cells patrol the body looking for invading pathogens. Dectin-1, a receptor on the surface of white blood cells, recognizes specific components of fungal cell walls, and alerts or "switches on" the immune cells to prepare to fight the infection.
"Our lab has been studying Dectin-1, which directs white blood cells to eat and kill the fungi that they encounter directly, but to ignore soluble material sloughed off of the fungal surface which does not pose an immediate threat," said Helen Goodridge, PhD, first author on the study and a researcher in the laboratory headed by Underhill. "This is important because phagocytosis and anti-microbial defense responses are energy-intensive and destructive, and should only be used when absolutely necessary."
During phagocytosis, a white blood cell encounters a microbe, engulfs it, and eats it. Once inside the cell, the microbe can be killed using a combination of degradative enzymes, highly reactive chemicals, and an acidic environment.
A molecular structure that the Underhill lab calls a "phagocytic synapse" forms at the surface of the white blood cell when Dectin-1 detects fungi. As a phagocytic synapse forms, two inhibitory proteins that block transmission of signals inside the white blood cell are pushed aside. This allows Dectin-1 to instruct the cell to respond. The phagocytic synapse does not form when Dectin-1 encounters soluble fungal debris, so the white blood cell does not respond.
"The phagocytic synapse resembles another molecular structure, the 'immunological synapse.' It is critical at later stages of an immune response," said Underhill. "It appears that the phagocytic synapse may be an evolutionary precursor of the immunological synapse."
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Underhill, who also directs the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences and Translational Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, is the Medical Center's Janis and William Wetsman Family Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research.
Nationally known for its high quality patient care, the Cedars-Sinai Health System includes a major research enterprise and ranks among the top 10 independent medical centers in terms of NIH research funding. With more than 850 research projects under way, Cedars-Sinai focuses on translational studies that move advances directly from the laboratory to the bedside.


text:
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Axopar 45 xc
A powerboat built by Axopar, the 45 xc is a center console vessel. Axopar 45 xc boats are typically used for overnight-cruising, day-cruising and freshwater-fishing. These boats were built with a composite deep-vee; usually with an outboard-4s and available in Gas.
Got a specific Axopar 45 xc in mind?
There are currently 2 listings available on Boat Trader by both private sellers and professional boat dealers. The oldest boat was built in 2023 and the newest model is 2023. Related boats include the following models: 25 Cross Top, 37 Sun Top and 28 CABIN.
Boat Trader works with thousands of boat dealers and brokers to bring you one of the largest collections of Axopar 45 xc boats on the market. You can also browse boat dealers to find a boat near you today.


text:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Bo the Portuguese water dog made his White House debut under cloudy skies Tuesday afternoon, spending several minutes taking his new family on a lively romp over the South Lawn with frequent stops for hearty sniffs at his new surroundings.
Malia Obama practices walking Bo as her parents and sister, Sasha, wait their turn.
Bo landed on all four feet at his fourth home in his six short months of life, fulfilling President Obama's campaign promise to get his daughters a dog in return for all the time he spent on the road during the long presidential fight.
"He's a star. He's got star quality," the president said of the black curly pup with white front feet and chest and a lion-cut tail.
The Obamas ended up with a purebred dog, despite the president's preference for a mutt, largely because of 10-year-old Malia's allergies -- Portuguese water dogs don't shed -- and because of opportunity. Watch Bo frolic on the White House lawn »
Bo didn't fit in well with his first owners and was returned to the breeder in March. That breeder happened to be the breeder of Sen. Ted Kennedy's Portuguese water dogs, and when Kennedy learned the puppy was available, he arranged to offer him to the Obamas.
Bo spent a month with Kennedy's trainer before coming to the White House for an initial visit over the weekend and for his official welcome Tuesday.
"Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan said on Tuesday afternoon that Portuguese water dogs are an active breed and will need long walks and will need to understand quickly who is the "pack leader."
"Very important everybody plays the leadership role -- the girls, Ms. Michelle, obviously, the president," he said. "Everybody has to learn to walk the dog, to master the walk."
The Obamas, Millan said, have an opportunity to model good behavior for dog owners.
"This is definitely the most popular dog in the world right now," he said. "This is why it's very important for everybody -- all the Obama family -- to practice the exercise, the discipline and affection."
While out with his family and the dog Tuesday afternoon, Obama said Bo had "a bunch of possibilities" of where to sleep, but his own bed wasn't one of those. Bo will be allowed into the Oval Office, he said, and the family will take turns with walks.
The president and his family also shared some of their newfound knowledge about Portuguese water dogs.
"The only concern we have is that apparently, Portuguese water dogs like tomatoes. Michelle's garden is in danger," he said.
"We don't have tomatoes," the first lady said. "Not yet," Obama reminded.
"He doesn't know how to swim," chimed in 7-year-old Sasha.
"Apparently they have to be taught how to swim," the president said. "They have webbed feet. And they herd fish for the fishermen in Portugal. That is what we've heard."
All About Barack Obama • Michelle Obama • Obama Girls • Dogs