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Shin Kyung-Sook was born in 1963 in a village near Jeongeup, north Jeolla Province, in southern South Korea, from humble farmer parents who lacked the financial means to send her to high school. She was the fourth child and eldest daughter of six. At the age of sixteen Shin joined her elder brother in Seoul where she worked at an electronics plant while at the same time attending evening classes.
After graduating as a creative writing major from the Seoul Institute Of Arts, Shin published her first novella "Winter's Fable" which earned her the 1985 Literary Joongang Newcomer's Prize.
Shin's work consists of novels, short stories and non-fiction. She has received several literary prizes and awards and is the most acclaimed writer in South Korea. Please Look After Mother has been translated into several languages and won the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. It was originally published in Korean in 2008 and in English in 2011.
Presently Shin divides her timetable between Seoul and New York City, where she teaches as a visiting scholar at Colombia University.
Please Look After Mother starts with the one week missing, sixty-nine-year-old illiterate, hard-working peasant, Park So-nyo, who was with her husband on their way to visit their children in Seoul. She is separated from her husband, who is walking fast, ahead of her as usual, in Seoul's crowded central railway station. The distracted husband boards the congested train in a hurry while his wife is left behind on the platform.
Park So-nyo's husband and her four adult children, two sons and two daughters, undertake a thorough search to try to find her. The businessman, Hyong-chol, is the eldest son and the successful novelist, Chi-hon, is the eldest daughter.
Park So-nyo's disappearance leads to a strange mixed feeling in her family, realising that they didn't really know her well and took her for granted all these years without showing her any gratitude and without ever devoting time to appreciate the love and sacrifice of this kind, affable and generous woman.
Please Look After Mother, Shin's sixth novel and her first to be translated into other languages, is a short, powerful and heavily emotional book. It is divided into four chapters plus an epilogue. The first chapter concerns the daughter, Chi-hon and the third chapter belongs to Park So-nyo's husband. The narration in these two chapters is in the uncommon second-person style which lends the novel a note of personal intimacy as well as a general accusatory tone.
In the second chapter, Hyong-chol, Park So-nyo's favourite child is the focal point. And by a twist from the author, in the fourth chapter the mother reappears as a ghost – suggesting that she has already passed away – to narrate her side of the story which is the most evocative and lyrical part of the novel.
In the poignant, melodramatic, short epilogue, Shin leads the story through a spiritual path by taking the maternal love and devotion to a higher level, turning it into self-martyrdom worthy of sanctity. The author goes to the extent of comparing Park So-nyo to the virgin Mary in Michael Angelo's "Pietà" and the novel ends with Chi-hon praying and pleading to the virgin Mary to look after her mother.
Each chapter conveys the thoughts, the feelings, the guilt and remorse of each one of the characters. The different narrations as they unravel gradually, constitute the multifaceted story that forms the full image of the matriarch's character and illustrates the veracity and inner self of each member of the family.
The reader learns that Park So-nyo is a kind-hearted, tough, resilient and determined, solitary woman who is averse to pity and therefore suffers silently from brain cancer, while her family is too busy ignoring the symptoms of her debilitating, dangerous disease. And although poor and in fragile health, she continues to devote herself to helping the less fortunate than her. She gives assistance and comfort to the destitute Un'gyu, his sick wife and to his newly born baby. She is also a donor and a helper in the local orphanage as well as a devoted, self sacrificing mother and wife.
In Please Look After My Mother, the author tackles an important subject by placing in juxtaposition rural and urban life and their effects on societies by creating an unbalance with the increasing social shift from one to the other : a common preoccupation world-wide, not only in South Korea. Young people from the countryside migrating to the big cities, whether they seek education or work in the hope of a better life. They end up settling in the big city leaving their parents behind and nobody to look after the parents or to take over the agricultural land.
In one of her interviews Shin says about her novel: "We've taken it for granted that our mothers are always here beside us and devoted to us. We think they are born to be mothers. But they were once girls and women as we are now. I want to show it through this book. My mother is the energy behind my writings."
How far back can we remember a human being? And how far does the memory of a mother last? Please Look After Mother is a moving, gloomy story, a hymn and a tribute to maternal love and a contemplation on motherhood. A good insight into Korean culture, values, food, festivals and political changes.


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But are you? is the real question. Actually, you don't have much choice. There's no real sports. The only TV tonight is scripted garbage, full of hackneyed jokes backed by forced laughter. Or, you could watch sitcoms. Ba-dum-tsh!
Seth Meyers is the head writer for one of the unfunnier SNL eras, and can't even get into any sketches. This makes him overqualified to host tonight's awards. As Drew writes elsewhere,
I assume he'll be on hand to make jokes about LeBron James a week after everyone else has already made them all. Say, it's just like his work on "Weekend Update"! Seriously though, someone needs to explain Seth Meyers' success to me. At least little girls think Jimmy Fallon is cute. I almost understand his appeal. But with Meyers, it's like someone found a guy working at an accounting firm and said, "You! You seem mildly snarky! How would you like to be head writer of SNL?" And off he went.
I think it will be slightly less painful to watch than seeing Pete Carroll try to distance himself from USC on tonight's HBO Real Sports.
Well, bad television isn't so bad if you can MST3K it. So use this space as your ESPY's open thread.
(Beadle photo via her Twitter)
That's all for today. We'll be back tomorrow, unless something big happens tonight. (Protip: it won't.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to Bob Copeland's world in the White Mountains of New Hampshire! Since retiring from Channel 5 in Boston after 36 years of keeping New Englanders one step ahead of the next snowstorm, Bob has built a retirement home and an art studio right in the middle of snow country!
Gallery I - Recent Paintings contains many of Bob's oil and pastel impressions of New Hampshire's North Country including Franconia Notch, Cannon Mountain, Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Washington and the other Presidentials.
Gallery II - Abstractions from Nature features Bob's macro photography. Here you will find some very abstract images, the subjects of which you may have difficulty identifying.
Gallery III - Atmospheric Abstractions features Bob's weather photography and his unique ability to capture clouds and storms at just the right moment...
Weather Maps Order a custom weather map hand drawn by Bob for any date you choose since 1900. These colorful collector's items are identical to the maps Bob used on Channel 5 prior to the introduction of computer graphics!
New Hampshire Online Art Studio | Online Paintings for Sale | White Mountain Photographs | Littleton New Hampshire White Mountain Paintings | More Resources


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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she is skeptical that the nation would begin defaulting on what it owes if Congress doesn't vote to increase the debt limit by Oct. 17, as President Obama, other Democrats and many economists have predicted.
"I've been here long enough when we've come to what was supposed to be the date of default and the Treasury finds a way to shift obligations or payments . . . in a way that gives us a little more time," Collins said. "However, I do not doubt that we are coming close to the point where we will need to do something about the debt ceiling."
Collins, a moderate Republican, made her comments Wednesday moments after emerging from a meeting with Republican senators, where she presented a plan to end the government shutdown and repeal a medical-device tax contained in the Affordable Care Act. The plan, which Collins said she hopes to expand to include a temporary extension of the debt ceiling, appears to be gaining traction among Republicans but has yet to pick up any public support among Democrats.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers remain furloughed because of the government shutdown as Democrats and Republicans clash over Republican attempts to link changes to the Affordable Care Act to a temporary budget. But talk in Washington is increasingly turning to the debt ceiling and what would or would not happen if the U.S. passes the Oct. 17 deadline without extending the debt limit.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Sunday that "on the 17th, we run out of our ability to borrow, and Congress is playing with fire" by delaying a vote to increase the debt ceiling from $16.7 trillion. At that time, the government will have used all "extraordinary measures" to stay below the ceiling, raising questions about Washington's ability to pay its bills.
Lew has declined to say exactly when the United States is likely to begin missing payments, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
But analysts say it would happen no later than Nov. 1, when the Treasury Department is due to pay out nearly $60 billion to Social Security recipients, Medicare providers, civil-service retirees and active-duty military service members, the Post reported.
Some Republicans have accused the Obama administration of exaggerating the significance of the Oct. 17 debt-limit deadline, and that they are skeptical of the contention that defaulting on the nation's debt would lead to a global economic crisis.
Collins said Wednesday that a default would have "dire consequences." Economists, business groups and financial analysts say Congress risks sending financial markets tumbling — potentially triggering another recession and global economic turmoil — if a deal is not struck before Oct. 17.
"The markets have been trying to remain calm and with surprising success, but I don't see that lasting until 11:59 and 59 seconds" on Oct. 17, said Neil Buchanan, a law professor at George Washington University who specializes in tax, spending and the national debt.
Buchanan said consumers and investors already appear to be reacting to uncertainty over the debt limit — the Dow is down about 6 percent since mid-September. Delaying negotiations on a deal into next week will only heighten those concerns, especially given that House Speaker John Boehner has been unable to win the support of a majority of his caucus for past deals, Buchanan said.
"Waiting until the last possible moment, they might not be able to do anything at all," he said.
Charles Colgan, an economist at the University of Southern Maine, said that after Oct. 17, the Treasury Department predicts it will be operating on a day-to-day basis. But he said that amid the uncertainty, government vendors will likely ask whether they will receive a check.
"It is psychological rather than technical," Colgan said of the Oct. 17 deadline. "But by that point, the damage is done."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged Congress to quickly address the shutdown and the debt ceiling.
"There are a lot of moving pieces and different views being discussed, but the needs of the country are clear," Chamber Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Bruce Josten said in a written statement. "Congress and the administration must find a path forward on a continuing resolution and on the debt limit to preserve the normal operations of government and to remove a serious threat to the full faith and credit of the United States."
Obama met with congressional Democrats at the White House on Wednesday and plans to meet with Republicans on Thursday. The invitations were viewed as a rare positive sign as the nation entered its 10th day of a partial government shutdown caused by a congressional stalemate over whether to link the budget to funding the Affordable Care Act, as some Republicans insist.
The Senate is expected to hold the first votes later this week on a Democratic plan to increase the debt ceiling with no other issues attached. Collins said attempting to increase the debt limit by $1 trillion "appears to be a non-starter in my caucus" without changes to spending or to the health care act.
Collins would not say whether she would vote to proceed with consideration of the Democratic debt ceiling plan and predicted that Democrats will fail to muster the six Republicans needed to break a filibuster.
"My focus has been to try to come up with a solution . . . to get us out of this impasse," Collins said.
Her plan would reopen now-shuttered federal offices by funding the government for six months at an annual rate of $986 billion — the level proposed by Republicans and reluctantly agreed to by Democrats. It would also give federal agencies more flexibility to implement the forced sequestration budget cuts that began in March.
The sticking point for Democrats, however, is likely to be a proposed repeal of the health care act's 2.3 percent tax on medical equipment and devices, offsetting the $30 billion loss through temporary pension plan adjustments for companies with fixed pension plans.
The majority of the Senate voted earlier this year on a budget amendment to repeal the medical device tax, but that was before House Republicans linked the Affordable Care Act to keeping the government open. Since then, Senate Democrats have rebuffed any attempted changes to the health care law.
Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said he wasn't sure he could support Collins' plan.
"I think it's a creative proposal and I've heard similar discussions in the House," King said in an interview. "But what I have to get over is my concern that if we reward this kind of activity . . . we will be doing this a year or six months from now and it will become the norm for how we legislate. And that really bothers me."
Collins said she has been approached by several Democrats interested in her plan, but acknowledged that no one has pledged support. A similar measure is under discussion in the House.
"I think they feel held back by leadership at this point," Collins said of Democrats. "But I am hopeful that this bill provides at least concepts that could be the basis for reopening government and moving forward."
Washington correspondent Kevin Miller can be contacted at 317-6256 or at:firstname.lastname@example.com
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1. From Colombo: Sigiriya and Dambulla Day Trip
Depart Colombo and travel by a shared vehicle, in a small group, to the city of Sigiriya, and head directly to Sigiriya Rock on arrival. Gaze in awe at the massive column of rock that, according to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle The Culavamsa, was selected by King Kassyapa as the site of his new capital. Admire numerous paintings of historic queens, princesses, and maids inside the rock fortress before getting a break for lunch at your own expense. Then, explore some of the traditional crafts of the region, such as wood carving and batik textiles, with time to purchase souvenirs before departing. Start the journey back towards Colombo via Dambulla to explore the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. Discover the magnificent Buddha images and rock paintings of vivid colors and different shapes, painted from around the 2nd century B.C. up to the 18th-century Kandyan era.


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I dont know how to say about it.
Artists as Critics
Growing up as the child of a professional musician, it was not uncommon to hear grumblings across the breakfast table over critical missteps in the morning paper's concert reviews. This is not an uncommon sentiment among artists either.
In his review of James McNeill Whistler's 1877 show at the Grosvenor Gallery, and in response to his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket in particular,the art critic John Ruskin famously declared,
"I have seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face."
Whistler's response was to sue Ruskin for libel, and though he won his settlement, it was only a farthing.
The painter Clyfford Still was never shy about his distaste for art critics or anyone else he felt misunderstood his work. Writing to Betty Parsons about some of his paintings in her gallery inventory he stressed,
"...allow no one to write about them. NO ONE. My contempt for the intelligence of the scribblers I have read is so complete that I cannot tolerate their imbecilities, particularly when they attempt to deal with my canvases."
His response to the New York Herald Tribune's art critic Emily Genauer's columns was equally as blunt, though pithier: he sent a pair of rubber baby pants with a note that read, "Hoping this will aid in concealing your Sunday affliction. With the compliments of Clyfford Still." One can only imagine that Whistler would have approved.
More on artists and critics at the Archives of American Art:
No Day Without A Line: Whistler in the Archives of American Art
The Critic Sees: A Century of Art Criticism From the Archives of American Art
Elizabeth Botten works in the Reference Services Department at the Archives of American Art.
A good way of criticism, this is far better than criticism with riots. Thanks
Me either not sure how to comment, but I will give it my best try. When I first opened up this page I was expecting to see a write up on the old time baby rubber pants for the baby...
Get Involved
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You can help make digitized historical documents more findable and useful by transcribing their text.
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Government v Triggs
It's hardly President of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs' fault when the Australian government is the worst human rights offender that Commission has to deal with.
When a government acts criminally, one hope for recourse is that statutory bodies will refuse to collude with or enable that government's criminal behaviour, and indeed, that such bodies will name and shame the errant government.
The Turnbull government's accusation that Professor Triggs is "politicising" her role is, like much of this government's spin, farcical. For a start human rights are inherently political, and secondly all actions by governments are also inherently political. If the Turnbull government is determined to transgress the human rights of refugees currently abandoned to a highly uncertain future on Manus Island and Nauru, Professor Triggs has no option but to hold it accountable, otherwise she isn't doing her job.
Of course any commentary Triggs runs on the government of the day is necessarily political, favourable or otherwise. There are instances in which even the silence of someone in her position is political.
Is it the government's expectation that Triggs will ignore human rights abuses because they are perpetrated by the government? In what country are we living?
Triggs isn't acting in isolation. Amnesty, the UNHCR, professionals who've worked on Manus and Nauru, refugee advocates, some thirty nation states, and this editorial in the New York Times speak with one voice to Australia's refugee detention policies, and that one voice is damning.
There's no doubt that in some instances, including the New York Times editorial, there's blatant examples of the pot/kettle affliction, however, that does not invalidate the truth of the protests against Australia's policies.
In a classic abuser pattern of behaviour, the Turnbull government continues its efforts to destroy the messenger, in this case Professor Triggs, though the government isn't fussy, the tactic is transferable. The first concern of abusers is to silence accusers, and the government has displayed this pathology innumerable times, not only in relation to the secrecy with which it surrounds Manus and Nauru and threats of retribution, including imprisonment, against anyone who might transgress those secrecy demands.
Last week, the Border Force Act was amended to remove a comprehensive list of health professionals from the threat of two years jail for speaking publicly about conditions they encountered whilst working in the detention camps. The Turnbull government was forced to make this particular backflip because health professionals have spoken out regardless of the intimidation, and even this collection of political grotesques can see the folly of prosecuting them. However, they can still go after Gillian Triggs and deprived of other targets, they'll no doubt double their efforts.
(Note to Turnbull government: never wise to make threats you can't carry out. Makes you look wussy.)
Obviously, the solution for the government is to cease persecuting refugees. The pursuit of Professor Triggs is a distraction: don't look at the refugees, look at this woman who is (allegedly) overstepping her role. It's a greater offence to (allegedly) overstep a role than it is to torture refugees. Again, we see the classic abuser spin: it is a far worse crime to speak out about abuse than it is to perpetrate it.
It's been messenger season as long as I can remember, in private and in public life. The paradigm is deeply entrenched in our society. It starts at the top and it doesn't trickle down, it roars like a river in flood. It's time to turn it around and put the focus where it belongs: on the perpetrator. In this case, the Turnbull government.
Stand with the messengers. Stand with Gillian Triggs.
This article was originally published on No Place For Sheep.


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Slideshow Campus In Crisis5 slides
Humboldt State University is in trouble -- serious trouble, though you wouldn't know it to walk around the campus. Students still happily yak on cell phones in the quad, hike up and down the Founders Hall stairs and file into the environmentally cutting-edge new Behavioral and Social Sciences building.
No, the trouble lies deeper than that. It's intangible yet systemic, and according to outside experts who have investigated HSU at length, this trouble should not -- must not -- be ignored. As the pool of higher education funding drains away, fundamental problems submerged in the culture and operations of HSU have come to the surface.
There's an atmosphere of distrust and animosity on campus, administrative systems fraught with inefficiencies, and finances that have been eroded to the bedrock. HSU is now on the verge of losing its status as a sanctioned institute for higher learning. After closely examining the school, a series of inspectors and consultants have delivered a unanimous message: Change now or you won't survive.
The first serious alarm was sounded in February with a report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), HSU's regional accrediting organization. Citing ineffective curricular oversight and labyrinthine processes for budgeting and decision-making, the agency elected to delay its Educational Effectiveness Review -- essentially a pass/fail inspection to determine whether the school is up to California State University standards -- by a year, from Spring 2009 to Spring 2010.
Following WASC recommendations, HSU President Rollin Richmond called for help. The university employed the services of Keeling & Associates, a respected higher-ed consulting firm based in New York City. Over several weeks, the Keeling consultants reviewed data on the university's history and operations, conducted phone interviews with staff, faculty and administrators, and finally, in mid-September, a team of consultants visited the campus for a closer look.
On Oct. 7, Keeling & Associates issued its 31-page report -- a scathing appraisal of a college in almost complete disarray. President Richmond's leadership was described as "ineffective," as were the university's decision-making processes. The "dysfunctional" campus culture has created "a fatigued if not demoralized administration, faculty, staff, and student body." The school lacks a shared vision, the report stated, a common purpose among university leaders.
That wasn't the worst of it. In their interviews, the consultants encountered deep-seated suspicion of leadership, a near-total lack of confidence in administrative intentions, and, perhaps worst of all, they said solutions are unlikely to emerge from the university as it is currently organized. "[T]he loss of trust at Humboldt is so profound," the report stated, "that it cannot be overcome without significant institutional change."
WASC's decision to postpone the accreditation review was not merely an institutional favor but "a clear signal of problems of crisis-level proportions." Should the school lose accreditation, its federal financial aid would be cut and the subsequent damage to its admissions and reputation would be immense. In short, Keeling & Associates concluded that HSU is in the midst of "a legitimate institutional emergency."
While the report's near-apocalyptic tone shocked many on campus, few disagreed with its conclusions. "I think we all read it and said, 'Yeah, we've been saying that,'" said Val Arizzi, an administrative support coordinator in the geology department and co-chair of HSU's staff council. "I don't know if the administration and the president were surprised, but the staff wasn't surprised."
The Keeling people spread blame in many directions, but ultimately, they said, the responsibility lies with the captain of this listing ship -- President Richmond. Speaking with the Journal from his office on the second floor of Siemen's Hall, Richmond -- who was joined by interim Provost and President of Academic Affairs Bob Snyder -- addressed the immense challenges facing the university.
A man of resolute intellectualism with a background in evolutionary biology, Richmond views this crisis from a scholarly, scientific remove. In the middle of a long and seemingly painful chronicle of the school's communication issues, Richmond took a rhetorical step back. Human beings, he explained, have evolved to prioritize one imperative above all others -- passing our genes on to the next generation.
"That's why we design political systems and social systems," Richmond said, "to try to balance that innate biological directive with the needs of multiple people living together." Those systems don't eliminate the self-preservation instinct, he said; they merely raise the stakes from individuals to groups. What you're left with, Richmond explained, is tribalism -- "one tribe saying, 'This is my territory, you can't have anything to do with it and I'll support the people who support me and to hell with the other tribe over there.'"
That's the current state of HSU: The administrators, faculty, staff and even students have been reduced to warring tribes, fighting over the scraps of a decimated education budget while the future of this 95-year-old university hangs in the balance.
How did Humboldt get to this point? The Keeling report identifies numerous culprits, including poor communication, an overly complex administration, a lack of strategic (as opposed to seat-of-the-pants) decision-making and a general absence of community on campus.
Richmond, not surprisingly, found the analysis to be needlessly brutal. After posting the report on-line, he sent a response to Keeling & Associates requesting that they soften some of the harshest recriminations, which they did. Richmond posted this revised version on the Web days later, saying in an e-mail to faculty, staff and students that the first version had merely been a preliminary draft, posted by mistake. (An e-mail following the first posting made no reference to it as a draft.) Richmond left both versions on-line.
Like any good psychiatrist, the Keeling consultants cautioned that before any substantive changes could be made, university leaders must first admit that problems exist. With evident frustration, Richmond told the Journal that, yes, the university is in crisis. But it's the state, he said, not the university that's responsible.
"When I was an undergraduate at San Diego State about 40 years ago, California was in the top 10 states in the nation in per capita spending for education across the board -- from kindergarten through higher education," Richmond said. "We are now 46th and falling." Richmond feels that from as far back as Prop. 13, the 1978 initiative that capped property taxes, California has been steadily abandoning its commitment to education.
The current state budget crisis may have the most devastating effects yet on the 23-campus CSU system, the largest university system in the nation. When the state legislature finally passed a budget in August following a long and quarrelsome standoff, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for budget cuts, including $31.3 million from the CSU budget. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed acquiesced (HSU's share was $849,000) despite having recently raised student admission fees, a move that angered many union members.
"[Chancellor Reed] can't increase fees and then turn around and say to the governor, 'We really don't need this money,'" said Robin Meiggs, chair of HSU's chapter of the California Faculty Association.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Schwarzenegger asked the legislature to approve more cuts -- including another $66.3 million from the CSU budget -- to help close the state's estimated $11.2 billion shortfall. HSU's share, should this request be approved, would be $1,796,700, bringing its total cuts this academic year to nearly $2.65 million. According to Reed, CSU's budget was already $215 million below the system's operational needs.
"We've been down to the bone for years," said HSU spokesman Paul Mann. "Now we're down to the marrow."
Arizzi said her operational expenses have been cut by 25 percent in the last five years. The geology department's copy machine is old, she said, but there's no money to replace it. Two people now often do the work of three. Earlier this year, the department was forced to lay off a promising lecturer.
While Richmond has assured everyone that HSU budgeted conservatively enough to cover these cuts (assuming they're not made permanent) the school will soon likely be forced to follow others in the CSU system in laying off more lecturers, eliminating classes -- if not entire departments -- and increasing class sizes. In a meeting with the CSU's board of trustees in Long Beach this week, Chancellor Reed was expected to announce that for the first time in its history, CSU will likely not be able to accept all eligible students into next year's freshmen class.
This steady plunder of education coffers has left Richmond at the end of his rope. "What frustrates me so much is that the people of the state of California, as represented by their legislators, do not recognize the value of what we've got here," he said, his voice rising. "They do not recognize that there's a causal relationship between the economy of California and how much they invest in education." Pointing out that the state's prison budget may soon exceed its investment in higher education, Richmond grew angry and, pounding the arms of his chair, he demanded, "What is the matter with the people in this state?"
Richmond is not the only one who's upset. The cuts have exacerbated already caustic relations between the factions at HSU. While Richmond's appointment as president in 2002 was widely hailed as a step toward clearer communication and greater inclusiveness (he arrived on the heels of the maligned presidency of Alistair McCrone), the intervening years have seen growing divisions between administration, faculty and staff.
This divide actually has an architectural manifestation in those mission-style entrance gates and kiosks erected hastily in the summer of 2005. Designed to be decorative symbols delineating campus borders and, it was hoped, boosting admission, the gates instead came to represent the president's perceived sense of sovereignty (though there was, in fact, a jump in admissions following their construction).
"[The staff] had no prior knowledge of those gates," Arizzi said. This type of poor communication is rampant, she explained, and is "one of the cruxes of the mistrust" on campus. "There's a sense that administrators do whatever they want to do."
Richmond's faculty relations have not been any better. Dr. Saeed Mortazavi chairs the Academic Senate, a faculty body that makes policy recommendations to the president. He feels that Richmond has shown little respect for the faculty and has unfairly reduced its role in decision making, especially on budgetary matters.
Several years ago, HSU set out to reform its budgeting process, which had grown cumbersome and ineffective. Mortazavi was deeply involved in the reforms, co-chairing a committee tasked with developing a new policy. What emerged was the University Budget Committee, a fiscal decision-making body co-chaired by the provost and the chair of the Academic Senate. The majority of its members came from faculty.
Mortazavi and other faculty members were pleased with the result but said the administration criticized the UBC's makeup from day one. Twice Richmond changed the group's lineup and, per his revisions, the UBC now has just 10 voting members, of which four are faculty. And the president has final say on any decisions.
Mortazavi feels the current setup has reversed the budgeting process from being bottom-up governance to top-down, with faculty just there to offer a stamp of approval. "At this time, the faculty has lost its voice in the UBC, or at least doesn't have the majority," Mortazavi said. "The UBC -- the way it exists today -- is not going to be as effective as it was."
Richmond says Mortazavi is mischaracterizing the process. It's more efficient now, he said, and more effective. Voting members in the old setup focused disproportionately on their own needs, Richmond feels, rather than those of the university. "It took a long time and resulted in relatively little useful information," he said.
Regardless of the system, the Keeling report griped that "conversations about budget, especially, seem never to end."
Tensions with faculty aren't limited to the budgetary matters. According to the Keeling report, the faculty harbors an acute distrust of central authority and a resistance to academic standardization and assessment.
Richmond has encountered this resistance in his repeated attempts to push the faculty toward further academic scholarship and research. "This is an important component to [the faculty's] responsibility to the university, to the people of the state of California which support this institution and to the students," Richmond said.
But faculty members have questioned his priorities, insisting that student instruction should remain their primary focus. Some also have questioned his motives, suggesting that the CSU Chancellor's office pushes research as a way to land grant money, a charge Richmond denies.
The president, in turn, lays the blame for Humboldt's contentious atmosphere primarily at the feet of the CSU's unionized system. "That always puts a table between people," he said. "It's been a very combative relationship, and I think that's done damage to the university as a whole."
His battle with the faculty union reached a crescendo late last year. Members of the Academic Senate felt that Richmond was ignoring their concerns and had become unapproachable. He was trying to run HSU like a business, they said, and the administration's cuts, particularly their elimination of the German major, were interpreted as a sign that Richmond cares little for the needs of students.
In an October 2007 survey -- albeit a flawed one by most accounts -- 156 of 408 voting Academic Senate members called for a vote of no confidence in the president. This past May, just as parents were arriving for graduation, a group of 160 past and present faculty members took out full-page ads in both the university paper and this one featuring a petition, signed by each of them, "affirming no confidence in President Rollin C. Richmond."
It was a bold challenge, though it ultimately didn't amount to much. As the budget crisis began to take precedence, the efforts to censure Richmond were reluctantly abandoned. According to Mortazavi, the Academic Senate decided the gesture wouldn't be productive for the university. (In a separate but related issue, the 23,000 members of the California Faculty Association CSU-wide considered a strike over a contract dispute. That, too, was narrowly avoided.)
Students and staff have had beefs with Richmond as well. The Associated Students didn't like the elimination of German either, and a 2006 increase in athletic fees -- which went against the recommendation of both the Fee Advisory Committee and Associated Students -- prompted AS to censure the president in April 2007 and to consider its own no confidence vote. The official censure document matter-of-factly referenced the president's "past and present failed leadership."
Jerry Saner, president of Humboldt's chapter of the California State University Employee's Union (CSUEU) said Richmond's contempt for unions is unjustified. The system levels the playing field and guards against favoritism, he said, adding that by suggesting otherwise, Richmond was being disrespectful. "We've been conscientious to do our part to communicate," Saner said.
The Keeling report repeatedly suggests that the problems at HSU lie not with the unions or even the budget, but with a failure to approach problems strategically. Crises at the university tend to be dealt with "tactically," the report said. In other words, when fires flare up they're extinguished one at a time rather than through comprehensive solutions -- like, say, a sprinkler system.
This is not necessarily for lack of effort. Shortly after Richmond's 2002 arrival at HSU, he and the rest of the administration began an extensive strategic planning process, despite the president's general leeriness of such plans. In his experience, he said, it's a lot of time and energy invested in something that ends up sitting on a shelf. But they persevered, coming up with a document that Richmond felt accurately described "the essence" of the university.
"No sooner was it put in print than it was put on a shelf and nothing was done with it," said Meiggs, who sat on the steering committee during the planning process. The plan may have described the essence of Humboldt, but it was sorely lacking in specifics.
When asked how many of HSU's troubles are his fault, Richmond acknowledged that as president, he carries ultimate responsibility. He pointed to this planning process as something he wishes he'd done differently. "I regret that I didn't focus more on making decisions from a strategic perspective" he said.
As to whether or not the faculty has been disrespected, interim Provost Snyder stepped in. "The curriculum is the purview of the faculty," he said testily, implying that such matters as budgetary decisions are not their purview, or at least not theirs exclusively. Then, seeming to recognize that he'd slipped back into battle mode, Snyder paused and sighed deeply. "For me," he said, "this [fight] is just symptomatic of the problem we have here, which is the inability to trust and work together cooperatively."
On Friday afternoon, Richmond and Snyder took the stage in HSU's Van Duzer Theatre. Bathed in a double spotlight, the men leaned awkwardly against their stools at center-stage. It looked like the setup for a magic act, but the mood in the theater was pensive. The sizable crowd of faculty, staff and students had come for answers.
Richmond had arranged this forum to review the WASC and Keeling reports and to explain what was being done in response. As most on campus were already aware, Snyder was in the midst of an academic prioritization process in which each department on campus was instructed to analyze its programs and grade them in terms of importance, the idea being to eliminate what's not working.
The Keeling consultants felt that this effort, which began last year, should by all means continue. The process is going as planned, Snyder assured the crowd, and should be sorted out by the end of the academic year.
Richmond then launched into a discussion of the Keeling report. Holding a stapled stack of notes in his lap, he glossed over the indictments and moved quickly on to what is being done. At Keeling's suggestion he formed an Expanded Executive Committee, with representatives from nearly every branch of HSU, to consider three questions:
Should we act upon the Keeling report recommendations?
Do we need help from consultants?
What process should we use to reach decisions regarding the recommendations contained in the WASC and Keeling reports?
In three meetings held the previous week, the Expanded Executive Committee had answered "yes" to numbers one and two, though not without reservations. Number three, Richmond said, remains only partially answered. If the quantity of bullet points are any indication, the plan thus far looks decidedly strategic.
Keeling & Associates will return to campus to help HSU through a four-stage plan addressing the 14 recommendations laid out in their report. Among those recommendations: The president should publicly admit the gravity of the situation; he should appoint Snyder as the permanent provost; the university should suspend all non-essential governance activities; and Richmond should appoint a Cabinet for Institutional Change to be made up of faculty, staff, administrators and students.
Aside from the suggestion to make Snyder permanent provost (Richmond approved but the faculty senate was split), the Keeling recommendations have been accepted and progress, cumbersome though it may be, has begun. A budget consultant has laid out suggestions for a transparent budgeting process free of gamesmanship. Through the academic prioritization process, individual departments have now been examined more thoroughly than they had in years. And thanks to Keeling's kick in the institutional pants, university leaders are reportedly working toward a system of shared governance that is truly inclusive.
Addressing the crowd, Richmond made a point of clarifying, as he did in his meeting with the Journal, that the myriad problems confronting HSU do not necessarily reflect upon the quality of education on campus. "Humboldt State is a good university," he said somewhat defiantly. "It has been good for a long time."
Indeed, while the Keeling report is brutally frank in its critique of HSU, the analysis is not without bright spots -- even a few compliments. The consultants found "strong institutional assets" including a campus community that maintains a "readily perceptible, genuine hope and hunger for renewal." The challenge, they said, will be mobilizing those good intentions.
During the question-and-answer period following Friday's presentation, HSU's salvation seemed feasible. Here was a gathering of staff, faculty and students communicating with one another, apparently focused on a common goal. Jerry Saner, dressed in his blue workman's coveralls, took hold of the microphone being passed around and asked Richmond and Snyder, "What can we do to help?"
Meiggs, for one, said there's no doubt in her mind that HSU will be re-accredited next year. "I work up here every day, and I see the work being done," she said. She recently met with Richmond to discuss his dislike of unions and emerged from the meeting feeling "very optimistic" about the future.
But the layers of distrust at Humboldt State have been accumulating for years, and undoing the damage won't come easy. An HSU lecturer, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of losing her job, told the Journal that things are hardly as civil as Friday's meeting may have suggested. In fact, she called the entire display "absolute rubbish" and suggested that many people in attendance remain "pissed off" at Richmond but are reluctant to voice their opinions lest they be deemed non-essential.
Whether HSU will be able to heal this culture of fear and distrust remains to be seen. What's clear is that more people than ever are paying attention to the problems on campus, and that, in and of itself, may be an important step.
"One of the things the Keeling report ... has done is to get people's attention," Richmond said. "If they've done nothing else, they've created a sense of urgency. This is an opportunity which you don't have when things are going well. It's an opportunity to make change that may not occur again for a long time."


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New Home for Sale: 1 Arlington II @ Lakeview Farms, Unincorporated, MO 63304
3 beds
2 full baths
2,496 sqft
1 Arlington II @ Lakeview Farms, Unincorporated, MO 63304
3 beds
2 full baths
2,496 sqft
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$10,000 - 02/13/2023
Est. payment: Skip to Mortgage Calculator
Type New Home
Style 1 Story
Architecture Ranch
Beds 3
Total Baths 2 full baths
Total Living Area 2,496 sqft
Square Footage 2,496 sqft
Garage Spaces 3
Assoc Fee $750
Assoc Fee Paid Annually
City Unincorporated
County St Charles
School District Francis Howell R-III
Subdivision The Reserve at Lakeview Farms
Status Active
DOM 366 days
The highly anticipated new homes community, The Reserve at Lakeview Farms, is now open! Fischer and Frichtel is offering their impressive Heritage Collection of ranch, 1.5 story and 2-story homes ranging from 2,081-3,840 square feet. Quality-built to Fischer and Frichtel's exacting standards, these homes feature 3 car garages, high-functioning and open living spaces, on-trend Kitchens and inviting Master Suites. Centrally located on 62 acres of rolling farmland just minutes from Highway 364 and Hwy 94, this exquisite master planned community features a landscaped boulevard-style entrance accessing 3 distinct villages and a central lake. There are 8.5 acres of common ground with multiple lakes and a wooded perimeter. Nearby attractions include the spectacular Veterans Tribute Park, Whitmoor Country Club and the Katy Trail. Students will attend the acclaimed Francis Howell School District. Homeowners will be paired with a design consultant who will assist and guide them through the journey of designing their dream home at the spectacular, state-of-the-art Fischer and Frichtel Home Center.
Room Features
Main Level Full Baths 2
Basement Description Concrete, Egress Window(s), Full, Unfinished
Master Bath Description Double Sink, Full Bath, Tub & Separate Shwr
Bedroom Description Main Floor Master, Master Bdr. Suite
Dining Description Separate Dining
Kitchen Description Breakfast Bar, Breakfast Room, Center Island, Granite Countertops, Walk-In Pantry
Misc Description Builders Warranty, Smoke Alarm/Detec, Some Carpeting, Some Underground Utl, Some Wood Floors, Walk-In Closets
Lot & Building Features
Appliances Dishwasher, Disposal, Microwave, Electric Oven
Architecture Ranch
Assoc Fee $750
Assoc Fee Paid Annually
Construction Frame, Vinyl Siding
Cooling Electric
Heating Forced Air
Interior Decor High Ceilings, Open Floorplan, Walk-in Closet(s)
Parking Description Attached Garage, Garage Door Opener
Sewer Public Sewer
Special Areas Entry Foyer, Great Room, Main Floor Laundry
Tax Year 0
Water Public
Windows And Doors Six Panel Door(s), Lever Style Door Handles, Low Emissivity Windows, Panel Door(s), Sliding Glass Doors, Some Insulated Wndws, Some Tilt-In Windows
Lot Dimensions See County Records
Fireplaces 1
Fireplace Locations Great Room
Community and Schools
Elementary School Castlio Elem.
Junior High School Bryan Middle
Senior High School Francis Howell High
Price History of 1 Arlington II @ Lakeview Farms, Unincorporated, MO
|Price Adjustment
|Listing Price
*Information provided by REWS for your reference only. The accuracy of this information cannot be verified and is not guaranteed.
1 Arlington II @ Lakeview Farms, Unincorporated, MO
|Location Map
|Street View
|Walk Score
Listed by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties, Linda & Kelly Boehmer & Kelly Boehmer
Listing Last updated . Some properties which appear for sale on this web site may subsequently have sold or may no longer be available. Walk Score map and data provided by Walk Score. Google map provided by Google. Bing map provided by Microsoft Corporation.
All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.
Listing information courtesy of: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties
Listings displaying the MARIS logo are courtesy of the participants of Mid America Regional Information Systems Internet Data Exchange


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"I Used To Be His Angel Now He's Mine"
Losing a loved one is hard, and we carry that loss with us forever. Here at Southern Stamped Jewelry, we take the job of honoring the memories of your loved ones very seriously. Each item is carefully created to be a treasure you can carry with you every single day. Our "I used to be" necklaces are wonderful reminders that deep love is never lost, and that a part of our loved ones stays with us forever.
SSJ's original designs are heart felt, hand made and completely customizable. Each piece is meant to be a true reflection of your heart...your loves, your memories, your story. We can't wait to create your one of a kind treasure to share with the world.
The Details:
This item includes:
- 1 x largest stamped piece is one inch
- 1 x smaller stamped piece is around 3/4 of an inch
- 1 x charm - Please note that we have hundreds of charms to choose from to make your item even more customized. If you don't see the charm you want, please contact us and we will try to get it for you. :)
- 1 x Fire Polished birthstone bead or Freshwater Pearl.
- 1 x Sterling Silver Chain. There is no extra charge from sizes 16" to 24".
We welcome custom orders! If you don't see exactly what you want, please contact us and we will work with you to create your perfect, one of a kind treasure!
***Please note these are handmade***
These items are handmade by me in our studio. Each item is hand stamped, meaning that each letter is stamped into the metal by hand. Every piece is slightly different and unique, and letters and spacing vary just enough to make yours truly one of a kind. Your piece is created when you order, then beautifully packaged and shipped, all by hand by our team of family and friends here at SouthernStamped. Each item also comes with a complementary cleaning pad and gift bag.
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I order this for my niece, we both love it!


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Bomber Girls - Cookies For Soldiers
Thomas Crossroads Elementary 'Rises Up' for Falcons Students, staff and faculty at Thomas Crossroads Elementary School have spent the week getting ready for the Atlanta Falcons' appearance in Sunday's Super Bowl. On Thursday, the school celebrated "Rise Up" Day, when students dressed in red and black to show their support. Pictured from left are, front, Jake Jeffries, Mckinley Robinson, Dylan Padovani, Jamari Renteria and Colt Kline; middle row, Mrs. Donna Hightower, Sierra Walker, Conner Whetstone, Kate McManus, Amiel Trott, Miles Parham and Evan Nieves; back row, Tim Brown, Jackson Perez, Ariana Simmons, Kyleigh Hightower, Alison Taylor and Haley Stapp.
Dr. Joel Richardson makes the sign of the cross on Courtenay Budd's forehead at last year's community Lenten service on Ash Wednesday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. This year's service is Wednesday at noon at St. Paul's.
Coweta County's STAR students, with their STAR teachers are, left to right: East Coweta's Emma Helfers and Chris Sewell, The Heritage School's Harper Minor and and Brooke Martin, Newnan High School's Stephanie Cannon and Smokey Road Middle School teacher Chris Hildebrand, Northgate High School's Bo Heatherman and Liz Lotter, and Trinity Christian School's Joshua Hess and Jennifer Rinkenberger.
Jim Crain was a judge at the annual Poultry Show at the Coweta County Fairgrounds on Saturday. Crain said he examines the chickens from head-to toe.
Nathan Toth, right, purchases eight new baby chicks to take home with him from Bob of Bob's Chicken Ranch, left. Toth raises chickens for their eggs.
Jennifer Bittner straightens the tail of one her chickens that competed in the annual Chattahoochee Valley Poultry Association show on Saturday..
East Coweta High School's contingent at the STAR student luncheon included, left to right: counselor Wendy Williams, STAR Teacher Chris Sewell, STAR Student Emma Helfers, parents Darrin and Ellen Helfers, and Principal Steve Allen.
East Coweta High School senior Emma Helfers was named Coweta County's STAR student Friday. Helfers chose AP biology teacher Chris Sewell as her STAR teacher.


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Exercitation ullamco laboris nis aliquip sed conseqrure dolorn repreh deris ptate velit ecepteur duis.
Localization: Wrocław
Customer Pricing Team in Wroclaw connects telecommunications with business. We structure Nokia's offers commercially, to achieve short- and long-term objectives to increase the value of our company.
We set a price tag on Mobile Networks products and Global Services, contributing to winning new deals with the highest possible profit for Nokia:
- Mobile Networks offers radio access networks for 5G/4G/3G/2G technologies, microwave radio links, cloud computing for radio,
- Global Services are digital services portfolio for network deployment, maintenance and operations.
Our customers are mobile network operators, enterprises and public sector.
We are looking for experts in the fields of telecommunication, business analysis and data science.
In this position you will be a part of Customer Pricing team. You will be responsible for implementation of pricing strategies and definition of business cases to ensure competitive positioning and profitability of offered solution.
Position Description:
As a Pricing Specialist you will:
- Support a Pricing Manager in preparation of pricing strategy and customer offer,
- Implement it, in line with Nokia pricing principles, through Nokia Pricing Tool,
- Support the creation of price benchmarking,
- Interact with Nokia Sales and Solution Teams for offer generation,
- Calculate business case in the respective Nokia tools,
- Document pricing assumptions and communicate to relevant teams.
- The ideal candidate presents a mix of technical skills and business understanding,
- University degree in Telecommunication or Economics will be a clear plus,
- Previous experience in pricing or sales will be a clear plus,
- Fluent English (both written and spoken),
- Analytical, problem solving and synthesis skills,
- Eagerness to learn,
- Ability to work under time pressure and flexibility,
- Team player,
- Highly responsible person,
- Strong knowledge of MS Excel,
- Depending on a supported market, it might be required to work in early / late hours


text:
It would have been a blockbuster deal that could have put the Los Angeles Clippers in an immediate Championship position. Kevin Garnett's movement from the Boston Celtics to the Los Angeles Clippers would have shaken up the entire league and would have changed the balances between the best teams. The thing is that this deal never happened.
KG expressed his loyalty to the Celtics numerous times. He stated that he lives green and that he will die green. There could have been no way the Clippers made this huge acquisition, or was there a chance?
According to many reports, Clippers' superstar Chris Paul made a strong push for this trade to happen. He spoke to Garnett prior to the trade deadline and urged him to join forces with him and Blake Griffin at Los Angeles. His addition to the team would mean that the Clippers would have one of the best combinations of point-guard and frontcourt in the league. KG's great mid and long range shot would set Griffin free and open lanes for his game close to the basket and the penetrations of several of his teammates. The Big Ticket has a great presence as a mental leader and would help lifting the entire team during crunch time and at crucial games against difficult opponents duringthe Playoffs. However, Garnett chose to remain with the Celtics and his loyalty means a lot to his team and all the fans at Boston, who saw their team been hit with serious injuries and player losses. Of course the no-trade clause that Garnett has on his contract played a huge role during this trade talk. He justified long before the trade deadline that the only case he would even think departing from Boston would be if Paul Pierce also left the team. Danny Ainge never made it happen.
The fact is that many of the teams that sit on the top seedsboth in the West and in the East were afraid of this deal to happen. Having three superstars in a roster with so many great role players and one of the best second units in the league would have made the Clippers really tough to take down. We might never really know how hard did the Celtics management team pushed for this trade and if Garnett was about to use his no-trade clause. However, if Ainge was really determined to start the rebuilding processin Boston, he would have sent also Paul Pierce to another team – Brooklyn was one of the possible destinations- and together with the exchanges for KG, the Celtics would have started forming a brand new team with potential.
Both teams now will have to look forward and continue fighting for a good run with their current roster. The Celtics are happy to have Garnett on their roster and the Clippers can be confident that with their current formation they are able to make this season the best of their franchise history.
By Chris Michaels
Lets Hang, Add me to your Circles I like to give away FREE TICKETS! as much as possible.
Chris Michaels I live in Los Angeles, CA and work as an Chief Wisdom Officer
at Barry's Ticket Service www.barrystickets.com.
Official Partner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
1020 S. Figueroa
Los Angeles,CA90015
Phone: 213-749-0057
Clippers Tickets


text:
Spanish Word for catalysis
English Word: catalysis
Spanish Word: catálisis
Now you know how to say catalysis in Spanish. :-)
Spanish Word: catálisis
Now you know how to say catalysis in Spanish. :-)
Interested in travelling to a Spanish-speaking country? Read the travel blog below:
I really like madrid (Madrid, Spain)
Today was a fun filled day of tours and exploring. We started off the day early with a tour of El Prado museum where we were partially able to see famous works by El Greco, Goya, and Valesquez. I say partially because there were a ton of people in the museum... so many that we could rarely see all of a painting and could barely hear the tour guide (which didn´t help any, because the tour...
[ view entire travel blog ]
Popular Phrase: possessive pronouns spanish worksheet | Future Tense | Conjugated Verb: arquitecturar - establish [ click for full conjugation ]


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20 March 2000
Yes, We Do Live In The Past
by Kate Melville
If you think you're living in the past, you're right -- and science can tell you just how far behind the times you are. According to a new Salk study, it's at least 80 milliseconds, just slightly longer than the blink of an eye.
"What you think you're seeing at any given moment is actually influenced by the future," said David Eagleman, lead author of a study in the current issue of Science. "This doesn't mean the brain is clairvoyant, however."
He compared the timing of conscious perception to the broadcasting of a live television show, "which is actually not live. The show is delayed by about three seconds, so it can be edited if something happens. The brain does the same thing."
Using a visual illusion known as the flash-lag phenomenon, Eagleman and Salk Professor Terrence Sejnowski showed that the human brain appears to construct conscious awareness in an after-the-fact fashion, which they term postdiction. Their findings counter a leading hypothesis that visual awareness is predictive, extrapolating ahead of perceived events.
"In fact," said Sejnowski, "it looks like the conscious mind is just catching up on past information."
The flash-lag phenomenon was initially noted in 1958 and, more recently, recognized as a potential tool to probe puzzles of visual perception. Imagine you're watching a moving ring or hoop, and a light flashes in the center of the ring.
"Although the flash is physically in the center of the ring," said Eagleman, "it is perceived to lag behind the ring. You can sometimes see this if you look at an airplane at night -- the blinking lights may appear to be lagging behind the plane."
One popular hypothesis held that this was because our brains assume the ring will continue in its path of motion and extrapolate its position forward.
That was a reasonable theory, according to Eagleman. "Let's suppose there's a moving object in the world, and by the time the light from that object hits my retina and gets processed in my brain, the object has already moved on. So if you want to see things where they really are, maybe the visual system needs to extrapolate and guess where things will be in the future. It was intuitively very appealing. But I had reasons to doubt it was true."
To test this theory, Eagleman and Sejnowski devised a set of simple experiments. Instead of continuing the ring's movement through space, at the instant of the flash they stopped or reversed its motion.
"If the predictive hypothesis is correct," said Eagleman, "one would expect the same result in each case -- that is, the flash should appear to trail behind because your brain is assuming the ring will continue in its path."
Instead, they found that perception of the flash was dependent on where the ring moved after the flash. If the ring stopped, subjects reported the flash to be dead center. If it reversed, the flash lagged in the other direction.
"That's a wacky result," said Eagleman. "It means that your brain collects information into the future of an event before it commits to what it thinks it saw at the time of the event."
The researchers followed these experiments with a set in which the ring was at a complete standstill at the time of the flash; immediately afterward it moved in one direction or another. They obtained the same results -- the illusory displacement depended on where the ring moved after the flash occurred.
"The flash always appears to trail the movement, when in reality it occupies the center of the ring," said Eagleman.
And how long does the brain have to polish the past?
"If I were to show a subject a flash and move the ring two weeks later, there would be no effect on perception," said Eagleman. "So I asked: how long could I delay movement after the flash and still get the flash-lag effect?"
That window turned out to be 80 milliseconds -- a trice by our conscious clocks -- but long enough to be clearly measured in the laboratory. Eagleman pointed out that this is an averaged number: "I don't know, perhaps fighter pilots live less in the past than the rest of us."
Sejnowski added: "Now that we know our brain is stealing time from our visual awareness, we can begin to ask why. More surprises may be in store as we look for this missing time gap in the brain itself."


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Given how little sleep Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) gets as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, his favorite snack should come as no surprise: jelly beans, preferably washed down with a swig of Diet Coke.
"Keeps me going — my caffeine, my sugar," quipped Israel, munching on a handful of the chewy candies as he cracked open a soda before a recent interview in his study in the Rayburn House Office Building.
It's not just juggling two jobs as DCCC chairman and as a Congressman representing New York's 2nd district on Long Island that stokes Israel's sugar habit — though he said he's gone from six to four hours of sleep per night.
What really keeps Israel up at night is super PACs — Republican-friendly super PACs to be exact. The DCCC is well-positioned, Israel argues, to win the 25 seats Democrats would need to retake the House in 2012. The DCCC has outraised its GOP counterpart by close to $10 million and recruited 60 Democrats ahead of schedule last year to run in GOP-held districts.
But the unrestricted super PACs ushered in by the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling could spend hundreds of millions in the election — and the vast bulk will likely back Republican candidates.
The top five super PACs supporting presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Republican House and Senate candidates have pulled in $102.3 million so far, according to Political MoneyLine — almost three times what the top five pro-Democrat super PACs have raised.
"Everything that we have done that is in our control, we have met or exceeded expectations," Israel said. "We have outraised the Republicans, we have out-
recruited them and we have out-messaged them. … But I know that those super PACs are going to sweep in and spend tens of millions of dollars in stealth money supported by corporate interests, and try to steal this election away from us."
Not that Israel seems too worried. At 54, the Brooklyn native displays the same hard-charging energy and willingness to buck tough political odds that propelled him from a career in public relations and local politics to a seat in the House in 2000.
Israel wears his victory in that contest — he beat four general election candidates with 48 percent — like a badge of honor. It helps explain how he won the DCCC chairmanship. On announcing Israel's selection for the post in 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) touted his "practical experience in running and winning in difficult districts."
As a former member of the Blue Dog Coalition and founder of the now-defunct House Center Aisle Caucus, the centrist was not the obvious choice for such a partisan post. But Israel maintains that Democrats recognize that they lost the majority in 2010 because swing voters abandoned them. And he's taken to his new partisan role like a duck to Long Island Sound.
"I do remind my colleagues that we lost 63 seats in 2010 because swing voters swung away from us," Israel said. "Now what's happening is, they're swinging back — because Republicans in this Congress have gone so excessively to the right. They've been so hyper-partisan, they've been so protective of their own perks and privileges, and they've been so protective of millionaires versus the middle class, that those swing voters are back in play for Democrats."
When Israel took over as DCCC chairman, the committee was about $20 million in debt and Democrats were sagging in the polls. In addition to erasing the committee's debt and putting the DCCC in the black, Israel has set about "applying what I learned representing a swing district to the national political landscape," as he put it.
"If you knock on somebody's door, and there's a pothole outside, and you say, 'That's not a federal responsibility,' you will lose," said Israel. "Get a shovel. Find some asphalt. Pave the pothole."
It's no surprise that Democrats would work to frame House contests around local, not national, issues, Republicans say. Though Democrats now lead by as much as 7 points in generic ballot polls, President Barack Obama may do little to buoy his party.
"In most cases, they are going to do their best to make this not a national election," National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Paul Lindsay said. "Because at the end of the day, they have a president whose approval rating is not very good right now, and who is not popular in parts of the country, even where they have Democratic seats."
Republicans acknowledge that they are taking nothing for granted. As Israel likes to point out, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told Fox News in April that "there's a one-in-three chance" Republicans could lose the House.
But because of retirements and newly drawn district lines that have made many GOP seats safer than in 2010, Lindsay said, Democrats really need to win closer to 35 or even 45 seats to regain the majority. Though the DCCC has outraised the NRCC, Lindsay noted, the GOP committee has more cash on hand — $31.3 million compared with the DCCC's $25 million.
Israel himself is running for re-election in a redrawn 2nd district that is 60 percent new to him. As he adds an extended "listening tour" to his already busy schedule, he might want to stock up on jelly beans. An NRCC memo cites Israel as one of 16 Democrats whose seat redistricting has put in play.


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Ludacris' Trademark Battle for Disturbing Tha Peace
Ludacris' Trademark Battle for Disturbing Tha Peace
Early this month, Demitri Brown and Donna Evans-Brown (the "Browns") filed a federal trademark infringement suit against Christopher Bridges p/k/a Ludacris, claiming that Luda's "Disturbing Tha Peace" trademark is confusingly similar to their mark "Disturb the Peace." However, "Disturb the Peace" has been canceled since August 31, 2004. This means that the Browns no longer have a valid US Federal Trademark Registration, which ultimately means that they may likely only claim common law trademark rights and not Federal trademark rights.
On the other hand, Ludacris has several trademark registrations that incorporate "Disturbing Tha Peace" (Reg. Nos. 3159855, 2945795, 2923163, 2925238, 3220495, 2791443, and 3268946). Although the Browns allegedly have been using "Disturb the Peace" since 1988, as mentioned, the Federal registration was canceled in 2004. Ludacris has been using "Disturbing Tha Peace" continuously since he started his record label "Disturbing Tha Peace Records" in 2000.
What does "cancellation" of a trademark mean? Cancellation is the proceeding instituted with the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (TTAB), in which the petitioner alleges that the registered trademark was not or is no longer a valid trademark. Cancellation may be based on the fact that a registered trademark is weak, it was procured by fraud, or it was abandoned. In Ludacris' case, he claimed abandonment. This means that he alleged that the Browns have not used their trademark "Disturb the Peace" in connection with the sale of the goods specified in the Browns' trademark application (Serial No. 76090517) for the statutory amount of time. Ludacris filed the petition to cancel the Browns' trademark in late 2003. A default judgment was entered granting the cancellation because the Browns failed to respond to the petition. As such, the mark was effectively canceled in 2004.
Seven years later, according to the documents pertaining to the Browns' "Petition of Reinstatement", which was actually treated as a motion for relief from the final judgment under FRCP Rule 60(b), of their canceled mark with the TTAB, Ludacris allegedly committed fraud in his cancellation proceedings in 2003. Ultimately, the TTAB determined that, among other deficiencies in the petition, the seven-year wait would cause undue prejudice against Ludacris since, not only has Ludacris successfully registered multiple trademarks incorporating "Disturbing Tha Peace" in the interim, but he has also "spent in excess of approximately one million dollars over the years in marketing, advertising, and promoting" of the mark. In short, the TTAB denied the Browns' petition.
This holding, although not necessarily binding on the federal district court case, may nevertheless be telling of what types of arguments each side will allege. It may very well be considered strong evidence that Ludacris essentially won the TTAB case because the Browns failed to diligently protect their federal trademark rights back in 2004 if they, in fact, did not abandon the use of such mark. What is the moral of this story? Diligently follow up on the status of your trademark. Although it was not explicitly discussed in the TTAB's Order, the Browns had an obligation to check the status of registration. In fact, Section 108.03 of the TMEP entitled "Due Diligence: Duty to Monitor Status" states the following:
Trademark applicants and registrants should monitor the status of their applications or registrations in cases where a notice or action from the USPTO is expected. Inquiries regarding the status of pending matters should be made during the following time periods:
(1) During the pendency of an application, an applicant should check the status of the application every six months between the filing date of the application and issuance of a registration; and
(2) After filing an affidavit of use or excusable nonuse under §8 or §71 of the Trademark Act, or a renewal application under §9 of the Act, a registrant should check the status of the registration every six months until the registrant receives notice that the affidavit or renewal application has been accepted.
Should the status inquiry reveal that a paper is lost, or that some other problem exists, the applicant or registrant must promptly request corrective action. 37 C.F.R. 2.146(i). Failure to act diligently and follow up with appropriate action may result in denial of the requested relief. The USPTO may deny petitions to reactivate abandoned applications and canceled registrations when a party fails to inquire about the status of a pending matter within a reasonable time. See TMEP §§1705.05 and 1714.01(d).


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The mug you see there belongs to Raanan Katz, minority owner of the Miami Heat, former Israeli basketball player, and real estate developer in Sunny Isles, Fla. He's into silly faces and frivolous lawsuits, and somehow he just got a court in Florida to walk all over the First Amendment.
Let's start with the silly faces. Back in June, Katz sued Google to remove that ridiculous picture of Katz sticking his tongue out, claiming copyright infringement. He also sued a small-time Blogspot blogger and aggrieved former tenant named Irina Chevaldina, who has been publishing various publicly available documents concerning various lawsuits involving Katz and his company. Chevaldina has posted the picture of a turtle-faced Katz several times.
But what is Katz's legal theory?
It is unclear whether this is still an active suit, but it appears Google is no longer involved in the case. Katz and Chevaldina have a long history, however,and the latest chapter is even crazier than suing a search engine because your stupid face is on the internet.
On Nov. 1, 2012, in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, Raanan Katz filed a motion for preliminary injunction against Chevaldina to, in his words, "Enjoin Tortious Interference, Stalking, Trespass and Defamatory Blogs." That means Katz wanted the court to prevent Chevaldina from interfering with his ability to pursue his business interests, from entering his property, and from writing about him on her blog. The Florida court recently granted Mr. Katz's motion, which is nuts.
To be clear, because this cannot be emphasized enough, Raanan Katz asked a Florida state court to issue an order preventing a private resident of Florida from writing things about him on her personal blog—and the Florida state court granted the request. From the order:
The Court, having reviewed the file, heard argument of counsel, considered limited testimony, admitted evidence and being otherwise duly advised in the premises, makes no finding of facts as to actual violations of law by the Defendants, except that the Defendants have blogged extensively about the Plaintiff and many of these blogs are arguably defamatory.
So: The court won't make any findings of fact regarding possible defamation, but it will justify prior restraint—forbidden by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Florida Constitution, except in very limited circumstances—on the grounds that "many" of the blogs are "arguably" defamatory. I believe this is known in jurisprudence as the "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'" doctrine. If you were explaining state actions and prior restraints to a slow 6-year-old, this is the example you would use to illustrate the point.
Have I mentioned that this is crazy? If you could see my face, it would look something like:
The Florida court—and Katz's attorneys—rely on some case law that draws a distinction between pure speech and commercial speech, especially when the speech is linked to other torts. This is why Katz has asked for a preliminary injunction to enjoin tortious interference, stalking et. al.—the theory being that these "blogs," if they reach Katz's customers, would have an impact on his bottom line. Just because speech has a commercial impact, however, does not mean it is commercial speech. Chevaldina has claimed she is seeking to educate the public on what she claims are improper business practices. She has no financial stake in the matter, unlike the defendants in the case law relied upon by the court in granting this injunction. (Those were tenants picketing the landlord to compel various repairs, which the court deemed commercial interests.)
As you can imagine, it is ordinarily very difficult to obtain such an injunction. The movant has to demonstrate that he or she has a substantial likelihood of success on the merits (i.e. show solid evidence of defamation and damages as a result) of the claim. Unless, apparently, you're a partial owner of the Heat, in which case you can have the state prevent people from writing anything that is "arguably" defamatory.
Here's what Lawrence Walters, a First Amendment attorney in Florida, had to say in an email:
The trial court's broad injunction against future defamation is astonishingly at odds with the First Amendment and should be reversed on appeal. This type of prior restraint on speech is presumptively unconstitutional, for good reason: Powerful individuals and companies should not be permitted to use the courts to silence critics. If this Order were to be upheld, the precedent would represent a dangerous threat to freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the state of Florida.
In conclusion, Raanan Katz is a dick, and so is the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida.
Here's the full Google complaint:


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The California Chess Reporter - VOLUME 2
Book Description
This volume includes reprints "The Chess Players", originally from the October 1953 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story of Zeno the Rat by Charles Harness faithfully recreates the small chess club atmosphere of 60 years ago. I've always loved the story, but interestingly enough, more readers wrote in to complain about it taking room away from chess, than not. Another treat is the complete coverage of Hollywood 1954 (or the 2nd Pan-American Chess Congress) won by Arthur Bisguier over Larry Evans. The cross table reads like a who's who of early 1950's California chess.
This is one volume not to be missed! Pre-WW2 had only intermittent chess magazine coverage for Northern and Southern California; the war years had none. In 1947 George Koltanowski moved to Santa Rosa, California, and started the California Chess News. In 1949, California Chess News changed its name to Chess Digest and lasted through 1950. The first issue of the California Chess Reporter, that promised continuous coverage of the entire state, appeared on June 1951. Editor Dr. H. J. Ralston's first editorial explained it best, "The unhappy demise of the Chess Digest early this year left the chess players of California without any organ for the systematic publication of chess news. It has been the fate of chess publications in the past to quietly expire unless they enjoyed the support of some solid organization of chess players.
The present issue of the Reporter is made possible by the generous financial support of the SF Bay Area Chess League, which voted funds for the publication at the meeting of May 6, 1951. In order to guarantee continuation of the Reporter, it is estimated that 350 subscriptions will be needed. This is not a large number in comparison with the number of active chess players in California. The present editors feel that with reasonable cooperation of the principal chess leagues of California the Reporter will be a permanent fixture of California chess activity. At any rate, all chess players may rest assured that the present editors are determined to do everything in their power to make the publication a success."
Besides Editor Dr. Ralston, the CCR boasted Associate Editors, Guthrie McClain (SF), Neil T. Austin (Sacramento), Francis Crofut (San Jose), and Dr. Mark Eudey (Berkeley). Chess historians and collectors consider the Chess Reporter the gold standard for California chess magazines. There have been over a hundred chess periodicals to have graced California chess during the last one hundred years, but only one has combined all the pertinent information that a chess historian looks for: who played in what tournament, club or league, when and where it was played, and, of course, the game scores. The match results, club results, league results, tournament cross tables, and game scores that appeared every month for both Northern and Southern California answered all of these criteria and more.
The Reporter had very balanced reporting; there were first hand accounts from tournaments, articles on opening and endgame analysis, problems (yes, Virginia, in those days there really were players who liked to solve them), and even an occasional fiction story (Zeno the rat was terrific!) The off-set process that the Reporter adopted created very readable chess diagrams and excellent photos.
|Publication Date
|November 28, 2012
|Notation Type
|DN - Descriptive
|Book Binding Type
|Book Edition
|This is a Modern Reprint of a Classic Book