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Dr. Harry Kraus on How the Church Has Domesticated Jesus
- Shawn McEvoy Managing Editor, Crosswalk.com
- 2010 21 Oct
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild? Or, have we forgotten how wild and untamed the Lord really is?
Dr. Harry Kraus, missionary and author of Christian fiction and non-fiction, believes the Church -- particularly in America -- has gradually taken crucial missteps that result in miniaturizing and muzzling the One who is mighty to save.
Crosswalk.com caught up with Dr. Kraus while he was home on furlough to talk with him about his latest effort, the somewhat-radically titled, Domesticated Jesus.
Crosswalk.com: Dr. Kraus, where did we even get the idea -- if we even did it intentionally at all -- that in our culture we could "domesticate" this Jesus who in the Bible would not be tamed, pigeonholed, or contained?
Harry Kraus: Great question! I mean, obviously we want our [audience] to understand that you cannot fence Him in. You cannot tame Him. You cannot domesticate Him. You cannot contain Him to a box. But what I mean by this phrase "domesticated Jesus" is just something that I do in a thousand different ways. Perhaps, maybe in my worry, I am acting as if this Jesus, who is powerful enough to have spoken and stars happened, is small. I am acting as if he is not big enough to solve my problem.
How did we get here? I am going to blame that one on Adam, I guess. From the get-go, even in this beautiful plan of the gospel, we want to turn it around and make Jesus into someone who is a servant to me. It is all about cleansing my sin. Come on in to my life, Jesus. Clean up my sin mess but then just kind of sit quietly over there. And I will give you some time once a week, but I want to go about running my life myself, and you just come in on my terms. I get to be in control. That is what "domesticating" him is.
CW: You mentioned Adam's sin, and in your book you talk about the different ways we domesticate Jesus through a lot of our own sins, failings, shortcomings, or frailty. Recognizing that frailty, do we try and bring the Lord down to our own level?
And so I address this in a very practical way in many, many chapters as not somebody on a pedestal telling you down there, "You guys that struggle with this…" No, this is where I struggle. I am only writing, Shawn, the stuff that I need to read. I write as an insider. Sure, I have been a Christian for many, many years. I have been a foreign missionary for years. I served as a missionary surgeon in a closed Muslim context. So I can write as an insider. I know that the American Church struggles with this because I struggle with this.
CW: How have your insights as a missionary home on furlough informed what you have written?
HK: Well, I think coming in again after having been out of the country for a few years, sometimes I realize how repressed we are in our worship. And I think, "Wait a minute. What are we here to do?" Let's think about that. Why am I yawning on a Sunday morning? Why am I not spending time in preparing for this event? We have been promised that where two or three are gathered, there is some special presence of God. I do not know how that works intellectually. I don't get that, but I just know that He said, "I am in your midst."
And I also know that this Jesus was present at creation, and He made this galaxy and a billion others and so, therefore, He is kind of beyond gettable. Is that a word? He is beyond gettable! And perhaps in some way, we have to domesticate Him. We have to bring Him down small enough just for language to contain Him, because my mind is going to explode with trying to understand Him because I can't. He is not gettable.
CW: If that is true, why would we even try to place limits on God? HK: I don't think we try. I just think it is something that we fall into because we are so limited, and we have to build a mental construct of God just so we have a frame of reference, unfortunately. As we go through life and we understand more and more of His holiness, He is going to blow away every little mental construct I have.
And what this book is about is looking at the little ways in our life—maybe it is through anxiety, or fear of the future, or doubt, or guilt—these things we should take and go, wait a minute! What is this saying about the size of the God I believe in? And what am I really believing? Do I really believe the gospel? It is transformative now, not just something for a ticket out of hell. It is so much bigger than that. And the God of the gospel is so much bigger than that.
CW: Do you think it is just way too challenging for some folks to read about the Son of Man having no place to lay his head, or saying give away all of your possessions and follow? Are these claims just too hard for some people to accept? We like the moral side of what Jesus represents, but the true radical nature of who He was and what He preaches... is that just too hard for us?
HK: No. I mean, yes, it is hard, but is it too hard? I don't think so, but we have to become small people with a big God. We don't have to think this is such a big thing or we cannot do it. That is a great place to start. Grace finds its perfection in weakness. All of these examples that I use in the book about how I just tend to make Jesus look small, that is my ticket [to the conversation]. If it was all about God being pleased with me because of the books I have written or the surgeries I have done or the service I had as a missionary, well then I would be promoting a concept called wages. But, man, I am promoting grace, grace, grace. This is not about me getting credit. I want Jesus to be treasured, and that is it.
CW: Can you tell us a little bit about how, in a non-fiction book, you have incorporated a bit of a fictional storyline? HK: Well, most of my readership knows me from being a novelist. Books like, Could I Have This Dance? or my most recent title, The Six-Liter Club, these are stories, and we write stories to impact people emotionally. And that is why I incorporate story in this book. It is partially because illustration is such a good way to teach a message, and you do that because it does not threaten the reader quite as much.
You don't say, "You have got this problem, and here is the answer." You say, "Look at Bob. Bob is struggling with addiction. And here is how Bob's day went." And the reader suddenly goes, "Wait a minute. I do that! Ooh, I recognize myself there." And I am just giving the reader a chance to put off on Bob, and it becomes a less threatening way to learn. But also, look around on a Sunday morning when your pastor says, "Let me tell you a story." Everybody straightens up a bit, and their heads lift, and they want to hear the story because we all have stories, and that is the way we experience life. That is the way we learn.
CW: Great perspective, considering the fact you are writing about Jesus who pretty much did the same thing. HK: Exactly!
CW: Is that the point in parables and story-teaching? To allow people to "put off on 'Bob'" rather than preaching directly at them; to let them get it for themselves? HK: Right. And you notice that Jesus resisted the tendency to over-explain. Now sometimes His disciples pulled Him aside and went, "I don't get it! What did you mean?" But most of the time, He told the story, and He let the Holy Spirit nudge them. And I find out in my fiction that often the Holy Spirit has an agenda way beyond what I understood.
Some people believe that fiction is different for every reader, because they bring something to the equation, and they experience the story just a little bit differently. And they will write me, and I might think, "Gee, that is pretty cool. I did not really mean it that way, but it is kind of true."
CW: Who needs to undomesticate Jesus? Is it me? Is it you? This American culture? The worldwide Church? And how do we do it? HK: Well, yeah, it is you, Shawn! [Laughs.] I'd love to say it is only you. No, it is me. It is the Church. It is the world. It is every believer struggling with understanding Jesus in His splendor, understanding the majesty. I mean this Guy is not gettable. He is beyond it.
So we understand we are on a journey of discovery, and we are going to be on that journey from now until forever. And I think that will be the beauty of heaven: this picture of angels who do nothing but say, "Holy, Holy, Holy"... and it does not get old! They just keep repeating it because there is no end to what we can discover about Him.
But this is a problem for everyone. Now, what do we do about it? Well, we become aware. We start looking honestly at our own lives, and when you find yourself as anxious, use it as something to prod you to say, "Wait a minute. If somebody was looking at me, how big would they say my God is right now?" And then go to the Scripture. This book is written very practically with scriptural prescriptions at the end of many of the chapters, just to say, "Look, if you are struggling with a fear of the future, if you are struggling with an understanding of forgiveness of your sins, if you are struggling with anxiety, look at these scriptures. Look at who Jesus really is." Yes, he cares for you deeply. He loves you deeply. He holds your future.
So, all of these things have a scriptural solution. It is just a matter of bathing our minds and aligning our thinking with His and getting just a little bit bigger glimpse. I mean, I am not going to tell somebody if they pick up and read this book, they will know God in all of His splendor, because it is only a book. They are only written words. Our language cannot contain Him, cannot describe Him. We can only say words that are just little tools. But, you know, that should prompt us to say, "How big is my God? How big am I acting that He is? And do the two jive?"
Dr. Harry Kraus describes himself as "a ragamuffin, just a fallen man who struggles with all the same problems you do. But I've discovered the wonder of a relationship with God, who reached out to me in the most spectacular way." Visit his website at www.harrykraus.com.
Publication date: October 21, 2010


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I. On a Sunday afternoon
I am making three lasagnas, one for a family member who was just diagnosed with lymphoma, one for a friend with a brand new baby, and one for my sister.
The baby and the cancer happened so quickly, seemingly days apart. Events like these make me broody about mortality and humans and life. In darker moments, it feels relentless, this onslaught of new babies and people I love falling sick, as if I will never possess arms open enough or heart big enough to welcome them and give them the tenderness they deserve, the protection they need. Three lasagnas: the puniest of offerings.
I bring the lasagna to family dinner, and everyone has seconds. Everyone is quiet while they chew. It is not okay. And yet.
II. On a Tuesday night, oh wait, now early Wednesday morning, oh god
I am not one to wallow, really. I think things can be really, really bad, but not apocalyptic. Modernity is simultaneously more fragile and more resilient than we think. I believe in work. Which is probably why it was a very bad idea to take off a week of work during the election.
We are having talks about normalization in our household and in popular media, and I have opinions about it. What I want everyone to know is that it's human to normalize things, so you shouldn't feel guilty when you do. Should you fight it? Yes. Set yourself a calendar reminder every morning at 8 am to write to your senator about Aleppo or Bannon or campaign finance reform or immigration. Automate your donations. Use behavioral psychology to help your poor lizard brain keep its focus on important issues of which it will tire. And it will tire. You will want, soon enough, to post a photo of the yuppie naturally leavened bread that you baked.
When bad things happen, there's a bizarre insistence from other conscientious folks that we stop talking about flip things like what's for dinner, but the fact is that we all still eat, and that the bad things are there, every single day. Similarly, the work never, ever ends. Timeliness of our response is important. Consistency, though, and settling in for the long haul, is paramount. We have to be able to, every single day, keep our brains and hearts open enough to fight injustice where you see it and drive yourself to work and take care of your babies or your health or your girlfriend and sometimes to eat dinner. These things are not of equal importance. But there they are, all contained in the span of the same 24 hours.
I'm stirring a pot of soup while calling my senator (How is he doing? I ask the answering machine. Must be weird to be that-guy-who-was-almost-vice-president). Some people's day jobs are writing about food. Some people's day jobs are working at a bank. Some people's day jobs are being Senator-Almost-Vice-President. My day job is working on health systems in poor countries, but for some reason I've also been writing a silly blog about food (sort of) for six years. I want us all to keep our day jobs and our silly blogs and keep cooking dinner and keep fighting. These things are not mutually exclusive. I want us to work to keep them not mutually exclusive, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone else could cram fighting and working and also enjoying a meal into their days?
This is what I am committed to, the victory of the ordinary-that-is-not-ordinary. It is popular to act like sitting down to a reasonable dinner at the end of the day is a small, humble act. What a joke. It is a big, hard act, and it is a privilege.
I have a nurse practitioner friend who says that everyone medicates in some way or another. I drink more wine than I should.
III. Early Wednesday morning
We have a small copse of woods on our property, around 4 scrubby acres. It's not much, but it's a veritable nature preserve for the surrounding area, as the developments close in around us. Coyotes, white-tailed deer, pileated woodpeckers. The deer are a plague. We signed up for a service that links small landowners with hunters, with the aim of letting some bow hunters into the woods this season. (Yes, this is basically AirBnb for hunting. What a world.)
At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about having strangers out killing animals in our woods. But I've been surprised how nice it feels to share our small sanctuary with people, and grateful for their respect and kindness. One is a wine importer, and brings gifts of ground venison alongside bottles of Brut cava. Another, an older gentleman who has retired to the aforementioned dreaded developments, is so enthusiastic it's catching. "This is God's country!" he shouts as he walks back in, cheeks cold and shiny red. He's convinced there's an eight-point buck out there. They drive in before dawn.
One day as I headed out, Tom, the wine importer, huffed and puffed through the yard, dragging a doe behind him. "Did you just get her?" I asked. "No," he said, "I got her at first light, clean. She dropped where she stood. But then I sat and watched the morning." He promises to bring the backstrap – the choicest cut – for us, and I promise to share with him the best venison chili recipe. He drives home, and I drive into DC.
IV. Yesterday
I have been writing an essay about Dairy Queen for about six months now. I got it into my head the last time I visited my grandparents' farm in Indiana that I was going to write this piece about Dairy Queen and taking refuge and hockey-puck-shaped Dilly Bars. I planned to take a grand writer road trip to confirm that, per this outdated website, the original Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois became a church and then an auto insurance office. Sometimes I overshare and tell people all about this fabulous essay that I'm sort of in the middle of writing, and I have a lot of it done, like a lot, like 10,000 words a lot, which actually is definitely too many words to write about your personal feelings about Dairy Queen.
In any event, I consider it something of a creative failure to have only been able to write part of a long, bad essay about Dairy Queen for six months. I don't need to tell you the kind of paralyzing, sneaky, hate spiral this can send someone into, one where one doesn't do anything at all because of the aforementioned clear creative failure.
But I do want to write more, and yesterday, at a very low moment, decided that even if it's just a LiveJournal rant about feelings, thinly-veiled politics, soup, and dead deer, that I would do so, today. So here I am. Ben is at a conference (farmers have conferences in the winter). I am eating cold leftover Kung Pao tofu. I am writing.
Tomorrow I'll call Tim Kaine's answering machine again.
I. This lasagna – the creme fraiche is a true stroke of genius. It's almost annoying how fabulous all of Julia Turshen's recipes are.
II. This soup: Kenji for president
III. Best ever venison chili: Molasses! Coffee! Many chiles!
IV. Get your wok out, I made Kung Pao tofu that's a mash-up of this (without the deep frying, sorry President Kenji), this, and this recipe. It is a process, but good. Chinkiang vinegar if you can get your hands on it; 1 tbsp red wine + 1 tbsp balsamic if you can't.
V. Places to send your ducats, if ya got 'em:
– Southern Poverty Law Center
– Planned Parenthood
– Council on Islamic-American Relations
– Consider supporting your local or regional or national news outlets! We need strong free press more than ever.
§ 51 responses to What to eat when things aren't going so well
So nice to read your words again. Thank you for the reminders and the links. Best wishes
If we don't feed our bodies and our souls, we have nothing left to give. Thank you for taking the time for writing this.
I grew up with a Dairy Queen too – closed in the winter, only open during the warm months. It's claim to fame was that it didn't serve burgers – just ice cream which in my book made it the best ever. This was in Illinois. I always thought the Dilly Bar was a bit underrated too – I like butterscotch, which always seemed to run out. Our DQ did chocolate soft serve just once a week. Geez, I hope that place is still there, unchanged.
Would love to read your essay some day – as someone else who plays around with ideas from the mid-west, writing about places that feel familiar, yet foreign now. Memories. Wishes. An entire summer of peanut buster parfaits.
Ha. I've been working on the same novel for 4 years. 4 YEARS. I don't even know if it's good anymore. I'm going to keep going though.
Thank you for writing.
Lauren Groff, who wrote Fates and Furies, took five years to write it. That is not an unreasonable amount of time to write a novel.
I don't believe your blog is silly. Not one bit.
I can't tell you how soothing this was to read. I also see and feel the confluence of friends gaining children and losing parents at a jarring speed. I too work in healthcare and have been trying to channel every ounce of my frustration and sadness into something concrete and worthwhile. One long apology for moving to London instead of staying behind to help. It is a tougher season this year but it also has the comforting wonders that show up every year. 'The victory of the ordinary-that-is-not-ordinary' is absolutely right.
I read your posts religiously and live them all but this one has totally touched a nerve.
I have a brother with a learning disability. I won't go into details, as that would a book. He has lived on his own since mom and Dad passed some 20 years ago. He was just diagnosed with cancer. His "neighbor" Cross the hall doesn't like him nor understand him. My brother wants to move. Next month will start a new regime "to make America great again" and all I want is to make America better again.
I am supposed to be jolly as the holidays are coming and all I do is cry. Can you make me one of your lasagnas?
What started out as soothing, wound up hurting my heart. It's very upsetting to read about hunting animals in an area they have sought sanctuary in (I love animals to bits and don't consume meat).
Your writing is the reason I read this blog. It's good.
Thanks for putting this out there. I wanted to paste so many quotes and link the post to FB for my friends to see. I feel – as many others here do – many of the same pulls now and become afraid that I've lapsed and that I will simply close my door to the activism that I need to find a way to manage now. Thanks for putting 24 hours into context.
i love your writing, your thoughts and your musings. It is the about the simple and ordinary everyday things that we need to do including eating, caring and being activists in our small way. Not silly at all. Please keep sharing.
Between your's and Molly Wizenberg's recent blog post, I have spent two mornings at my desk at the office, near tears. I don't necessarily know why, other than I'm feeling particularly fragile post-election and other people's writing reminds me why. Thank you for putting words to the emotions.
and the cycle of life continues……
The kitchen is where I am during times of stress. I cook when I'm in pain, like right now after a tooth extraction! I think there's enough food for days! I'm thankful for the ability to make food and then write about it on my silly blog, which started out of necessity when I gave up everything back home to move to another country. We need our silly blogs and our silly words.
Perpetual lurker and I've been reading along for more of those six years than I realized, but this post is one of my favorites you've written (the other was maybe 2 years ago on your work and on privilege and one I still read from time to time). The balance between the trivial and the big, hard fighting is so essential, so privileged, and so challenging to hold the right space for – but this is such an eloquent reminder that it is all life. Your line about all that our 24 hours hold is really ringing true. And AirBnB for hunters made me laugh; I know hunting is a fraught subject for many but living in the country and places with development pressure make it so clear the important role hunters play in helping maintain healthy populations that nature isn't able to regulate on its own because we've modified it too much. Thank you for sharing, for writing about the hard and the daily. xo
This was a beautiful essay. It gave me the feeling of spending a rainy afternoon cooking a meal with friends and then sitting down at the table to eat. Thank you for sharing this.
Beautiful. I am also trying to figure out how to work and blog and feed my family and keep fighting. Thank you for this.
This is so beautiful! Esp. this quote "When bad things happen, there's a bizarre insistence from other conscientious folks that we stop talking about flip things like what's for dinner, but the fact is that we all still eat, and that the bad things are there, every single day." — I needed it. x
Death and birth, activism, hunting, writing, food. Wow. I just lost a friend to cancer and stepmother to old age as I read about a league of former students having babies and friends becoming grandparents. Is this the path tom acceptance? I feel the fire lit under my ass to fight for what I believe. Where will I be the most helpful? After living in the Adirondacks for 26 years, it warmed my heart reading about the arrangement you've made with hunters, and I'm not a hunter. The hunters I know have a deep reverence for nature. And you've inspired me to write again – I fell into that dark nobody-gives-a-shit hole a while ago. And I believe there are those of us who show our love with food – a friend's daughter was coming home from college and she said "I need to bake gigantic chocolate chip cookies!" Need I say more? I do.
Thank you.
Perfect timing for comfort foods like lasagna and lentil soup. Can't wait to try these great twists on the traditional! For even more comfort, add the ACLU to your list. A highly effective organization, they're ramping up the fight for civil rights at all levels of our judicial system and can use the support! http://www.aclu.org
Yes Dana! I'm new to this blog but will be back. I second the ACLU! I'm a Canadian and fiercely political. Going to the ACLU gave me a sense that there is hope and sanity.
Thank you for this post.
Your writing is so beautiful. Thank you for this post.
Always so happy to see a new post, and to hear your voice. Yes to more writing – I've been feeling the same tug lately.
YES! Livejournal! Politics! Life! All of it. Fabulous.
I am failing at writing about statistics since the election. It seems a 30 day migraine (how is that even possible!?) will do that to you. But there are so many ways to create: writing, yes, but also cooking, playing music, sharing what you have with others. All of it beautiful and worthy and good.
The struggle continues.
So good to read your lovely prose.
Through many and many ups, downs and in betweens, cooking is what I do… for nourishment of my friends and family and delight to my soul.
My children are superb cooks (Moms are allowed to brag) and my granddaughter, age just barely 6, is going to open a restaurant with her specialty… batter fried squash blossoms. These facts sustain me more than chocolate. Well, maybe not chocolate, but close. :)
Long may you flourish and long may you nourish us with your food and your writing.

subset: commoncrawl


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New media expert Clay Shirky (www.shirky.com), who analyzes the social and economic effects of Internet technologies, will join New York University as a full-time faculty member, with appointments at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the Tisch School of the Arts.
New media expert Clay Shirky, who analyzes the social and economic effects of Internet technologies, will join New York University as a full-time faculty member, with appointments at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the Tisch School of the Arts.
Shirky, who recently published Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age (Penguin Press HC, 2010), is currently an associate teacher at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School.
"We are delighted that Clay Shirky will have a broader role within the NYU community," said Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts. "As an Associate Teacher for the past 10 years in ITP and a prominent figure in the field of Internet technologies even longer, he has been making the case that the Internet is an inherently participatory and social medium. By bridging the two departments, Shirky will be able to create on NYU's campus a range of perspectives on the conversation about the Internet's capacity to convene groups of people and effectively gather and disseminate information."
"It's a thrill to be able to return Clay Shirky's embrace of journalism, as the field's courtship with technology grows ever deeper," said Brooke Kroeger, director of the Carter Journalism Institute. "For our students and faculty who engage directly with the future's big questions, this tightening of bonds with Clay and ITP could not be more timely or more welcome."
At the Carter Journalism Institute, Shirky will hold the title Distinguished Writer in Residence and will teach in both the Studio 20 graduate concentration and the Media Criticism course sequence for undergraduates; at the Tisch School of the Arts, he will be Assistant Arts Professor and his first new class at ITP will be Designing Conversation Spaces.
Earlier this year, Fortune named Shirky to its "Smartest People in Tech" list, which also included Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos.
"Clay Shirky may be the finest thinker we have on the internet revolution," observed Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You. The Chronicle of Higher Education called him "a kind of spiritual guide to the wired set." Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson labeled Shirky "a prominent thinker on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies."
Shirky has written extensively about the Internet since 1996. Over the years, he has had regular columns in Business 2.0 and FEED, among other publications, and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, Wired, and Computerworld. Shirky has also authored Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (Penguin Press HC, 2008) and Voices from the Net (Ziff-Davis Press, 1995).
In addition to writing, Shirky has a consulting practice focused on the rise of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, web services, and wireless networks that provide alternatives to the wired client/server infrastructure that characterizes the Web. Current clients include Nokia, GBN, the Library of Congress, the Highlands Forum, the Markle Foundation, and the BBC.
Prior to his appointment at NYU, Shirky was a partner at the investment firm the Accelerator Group, an international investment company. Shirky was the original Professor of New Media in the Media Studies department at Hunter College, where he created the department's first undergraduate and graduate offerings in new media and helped design the current MFA in Integrated Media Arts program.
Before his tenure at Hunter College, Shirky was the chief technology officer of the New York City-based Web media and design firm Site Specific, where he created the company's media tracking database and server log analysis software. Site Specific was later acquired by CKS Group, where Shirky was promoted to vice president of technology for the eastern region.


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The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) and NYU Steinhardt School announced today the establishment of The SHOF Songwriting Scholars. Generous grants from the SHOF and performing rights organizations ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC will make it possible for seven students to receive full scholarships to the NYU Summer Songwriters Workshop.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF), in collaboration with the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, announced today the establishment of The SHOF Songwriting Scholars. Generous grants from the SHOF and performing rights organizations ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC will make it possible for seven students to receive full scholarships to the NYU Summer Songwriters Workshop. The program is an eight-day intensive seminar to be held at NYU Steinhardt June 18-27, 2012.
"We are delighted to expand our scholarship program, in partnership with NYU Steinhardt," said SHOF President and CEO Linda Moran. "The workshop offers a unique and very rare opportunity for students to work closely with some of today's most accomplished and respected songwriters. The scholars program is a natural extension of our growing collaboration with NYU Steinhardt, which we began a year ago with the creation of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions."
The NYU Summer Songwriters Workshop will provide one-on-one sessions with faculty, detailed presentations on a wide variety of skills, tools, and strategies essential for working songwriters, interaction with renowned practitioners of the art of songwriting, and in-depth master classes with prominent members of the music community. Headed by Phil Galdston, NYU Songwriter-in-Residence and workshop artistic director, workshop faculty will include Jonatha Brooke, Barry Eastmond, and Angela Hunte.
"Jonatha, Barry, Angela, and I are thrilled to be launching this exciting and innovative program together, and deeply appreciative of the support SHOF, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC will be providing to our students and the workshop," Galdston said.
The seven Songwriters Hall of Fame Scholars will be selected by the faculty from among the students accepted to the NYU Summer Songwriters Workshop. The application deadline is April 16, 2012. Further information is available here.
"The opportunity for gifted young writers to be mentored by the most esteemed artists is a celebration of the art of songwriting," said Ron Sadoff, associate professor of film scoring and workshop executive producer. "The SHOF scholarships for this inaugural workshop highlight a wonderful progression of support and collaboration with NYU Steinhardt."
About the Songwriters Hall of Fame: The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters, educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships.
Join us! Our mission is to remember and honor our great songwriters while building our musical future through workshops, showcases, and scholarships, along with the opportunity to vote for the next slate of inductees. Joining online is quick and easy: http://songhall.org/join
About Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions:
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To learn more about NYU Steinhardt and the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, visit: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music. To learn more NYU Steinhardt visit: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/.


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BANGKOK -- The good news for the Chinese visitor to Bangkok was that a doctor had successfully removed a foreign object from her large intestine that could have damaged her digestive system.
The bad news: It was a 10 million baht ($278,000) diamond the woman was accused of stealing from a jewelry fair, adding a piece of rock-hard evidence to the case against her.
Police Col. Mana Tienmaungpak said Sunday that authorities got to the bottom of the theft when a doctor wielding a colonoscope and the medical equivalent of pliers pulled the 6-carat gemstone from the large intestine of the woman alleged to have filched it, after nature and laxatives failed to get it out.
The woman, identified as 39-year-old Jiang Xulian, and a Chinese man were arrested Thursday night at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on their way out of Thailand on the basis of surveillance video from the fair just outside Bangkok, where earlier that day the duo allegedly switched a fake stone for the real one after asking to inspect it. The dealer at the booth selling the diamond also identified the two.
The suspects initially denied involvement, but X-rays showed a diamond-like object in the woman's intestine, and police said she then confessed.
If convicted, the two face up to three years in prison, according to police.
Mana, the chief investigator for the case, said the woman agreed to Sunday's delicate operation after being told that the gemstone risked injuring her. The diamond's owner identified the stone after it was removed.
Hiding gems in the digestive system is a rare but not unknown ploy. The method is more commonly used by drug smugglers, who swallow condoms filled with cocaine or other illicit substances to get them past customs checks.
In 2012, police in South Africa arrested a 25-year-old man who they said swallowed 220 polished diamonds in an attempt to smuggle them out of the country. The diamonds were estimated to be worth about $2.3 million, and were discovered by a body scan as the man was waiting to go through security at the international airport near Johannesburg prior to taking a flight to Dubai.


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Study results: MIT cancer biologists have identified a subpopulation of cells that can give rise to pancreatic cancer. They also found that tumors can form in other, more mature pancreatic cell types, but only when they are injured or inflamed, suggesting that pancreatic cancer can arise from different types of cells depending on the circumstances.
Why it matters: There are few good treatment options for pancreatic cancer, which kills an estimated 35,000 Americans per year — making it the country's fourth-leading cause of cancer death. Learning more about the origins of pancreatic cancer cells could help scientists develop better treatments and tools for early diagnosis.
"By the time pancreatic disease is typically diagnosed, it's already very advanced and non-curable. Our new findings can help scientists focus their drug development efforts and lead them to new ways to detect the disease in early stages," says Sharon Friedlander, a postdoctoral associate at MIT's David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and lead author of a paper describing the work in the Nov. 3 issue of Cancer Cell.
How they did it: The team found that in mice, tumors originate from a subpopulation of pancreatic cells that express a protein called pdx1. This protein plays a critical role in pancreas development and differentiation, a process of specialization that normally occurs during embryonic development but can also occur later in life. This suggests that under normal conditions, pancreatic cancer may arise from a type of adult stem cell that can differentiate into mature pancreatic cells, says Friedlander.
When the cancer-promoting gene K-ras, commonly activated in tumors, was turned on in the pdx1-expressing cells, they became cancerous. However, mature pancreatic cells, such as insulin-secreting cells, became cancerous only when they expressed K-ras and also suffered from chronic inflammation. Under these conditions, the insulin-secreting cells became another cell type, a condition that appears necessary before they can initiate pancreatic cancer.
Next steps: In future studies, the MIT researchers plan to use their mouse models to follow the molecular events that take place during pancreatic cancer development and identify potential targets for drug treatments and protein markers for early diagnosis. These new mouse models could also help researchers test potential pancreatic cancer treatments.
Source: "Context-dependent transformation of adult pancreatic cells by oncogenic K-ras," Sharon Gidekel Friedlander, Tyler Jacks, et al. Cancer Cell, Nov. 3 issue.
Cancer Cell


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Intel Core i3-2308M
The Intel Core i3-2308M is a dual core processor for laptops. It is based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and offers Hyperthreading to handle 4 threads at once (for a better usage of the pipeline). Compared to the faster Core i5, the i3 does not offer the Turbo Boost technique for the CPU part and is therefore clocked at 2.1 GHz (max).
Sandy Bridge is the evolutionary successor of the Arrandale architecture. The most noteable improvements are the new 256Bit AVX instructions, the improved Turbo 2.0 and the integration of the graphics card into the 32nm CPU core. The CPU is similar to the Core i3-2310M, but does not support Intel's Small Business Advantage tools, such as USB blocker, PC health check, data backup and wireless display (according to CPU World).
Der i3-2308M offers an integrated graphics card ( Intel HD Graphics 3000) which is clearly faster then the older Intel HD Graphics in the Arrandale CPUs. As the new GPU is included in the CPU, it is also manufactured in 32nm and shares the fast level 3 cache with the CPU cores (using a new ring bus). In the 2308M it is clocked from 650-1100MHz (with Turbo Boost). The faster Sandy Bridge CPUs are clocked up to 1300 MHz (like the i5-2520M).
Furthermore, an improved dual-channel DDR3 memory controller is included on the CPU die that is used by the CPU and GPU part.
Due to the improved architecture, the average performance of the Core i3-2308M is higher than a similar clocked Arrandale Core i3 without Turbo Boost. In synthetic benchmarks, the performance was about on par with the faster clocked Core i5-430M (2.3-2.5 GHz) and therefore adequate for most applications.
The 35W TDP rating includes the integrated GPU and memory controller.
|Intel Core i3
|Sandy Bridge
Series: Core i3 Sandy Bridge
|Clock Rate
|2100 MHz
|Level 1 Cache
|Level 2 Cache
|Level 3 Cache
|Number of Cores / Threads
|2 / 4
|Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power)
|35 Watt
|Transistor Count
|624 Million
|Manufacturing Technology
|32 nm
|Die Size
|149 mm2
|Max. Temperature
|rPGA988B / BGA1023
|HD Graphics 3000 (650-1100MHz), DDR3-1066/1333 Memory Controller (max 8GB), HyperThreading, AVX, Quick Sync, Virtualization
|Intel HD Graphics 3000 (650 - 1100 MHz)
|64 Bit
|64 Bit support
|Announcement Date
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
#0 no ids found in url (should be separated by "_") +0s ... 0s
#1 not redirecting to Ajax server +0s ... 0s
#2 did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old! Created at Fri, 25 Aug 2023 17:29:24 +0200 +0.001s ... 0.001s
#3 composed specs +0.019s ... 0.02s
#4 did output specs +0s ... 0.02s
#5 getting avg benchmarks for device 3511 +0.003s ... 0.022s
#6 got single benchmarks 3511 +0s ... 0.023s
#7 got avg benchmarks for devices +0s ... 0.023s
#8 min, max, avg, median took s +0s ... 0.023s
#9 return log +0.026s ... 0.049s
No reviews found for this CPU (yet).


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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Singer Wyclef Jean's high-profile bid for Haiti's presidency ended after election officials on the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation disqualified his candidacy.
The Haitian-American hip-hop star expressed disappointment at the late Friday ruling, but called on his followers to act "peacefully and responsibly."
"Though I disagree with the ruling, I respectfully accept the committee's final decision, and I urge my supporters to do the same," the former Fugees frontman said in a statement.
"I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti's renewal; though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is where the heart is — and my heart has and will always be in Haiti."
On Saturday, Jean attended a church service in his mother's hometown and prepared to fly back to the United States where his wife and daughter live. He did not speak to the news media.
Questions remained about whether he will stay involved with the presidential election, perhaps by throwing his support to one of the 19 candidates Haiti's electoral council approved for the Nov. 28 election.
The commission did not say why it had disqualified Jean, but the singer had faced a challenge to his candidacy because he has not lived in Haiti for the past five years as required.
Election officials also rejected the candidacy of Jean's uncle, Raymond Joseph, who is Haiti's ambassador to the United States.
The commission approved 19 candidates and rejected 15, spokesman Richardson Dumel told journalists. While rejecting Jean, the board approved two leading contenders: former Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and Yvon Neptune, who was the last prime minister under ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and has been active in helping to coordinate reconstruction efforts.
Also allowed to run are: Jude Celestin, head of the government's primary construction firm and the candidate supported by President Rene Preval; and Michel Martelly, a well-known Haitian singer known as "Sweet Mickey." The Constitution bars Preval from running for re-election.
Jean had apparently been aware which way the decision would go. The 40-year-old entertainer had been in a hotel near the electoral commission office but left abruptly without speaking to journalists about an hour before the announcement. He issued his statement later.
Dozens of police and U.N. peacekeepers in riot gear were stationed outside the office, but there were no signs of protests or unrest.
Despite his final rejection, Jean attracted global attention to a race in which almost no one outside Haiti could even name any of the candidates.
"His candidacy certainly did shake things up," said Laurent Dubois, a Haiti historian and professor at Duke University. "But it's still a very important election whether Wyclef is in it or not."
Jean, who gained famed as a member of the Fugees before building a solo career, had no political organization, not much of a following beyond his fans of his music and only a vague platform, casting himself as an advocate of Haiti's struggling youth and saying he would ask reconstruction donors to help the country's dysfunctional education system.
He also faced persistent criticism over alleged financial mismanagement at the charity he founded, Yele Haiti. He stepped down from the charity at the beginning of his campaign.
Some Haitians questioned the seriousness of the aspiring candidate, who left the desperately poor Caribbean nation as a boy.
"I don't think he's a politician at all," said Etienne St. Cyr, a pastor who helps at a camp for homeless earthquake survivors at the Petionville Country Club. "Maybe he's not what we need right now."
St. Cyr said Jean failed to win over the people camped in squalid tents on the slope of a golf course, noting they already have allegiances to established political parties and the singer had not visited the camp.
Earlier this week, Jean said he had received death threats from somebody who called and told him to get out of Haiti.
The winner of the November vote will take charge of recovery from the Jan. 12 earthquake, coordinating billions of aid dollars in a country with a history of political turmoil and corruption. The quake killed an estimated 300,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.
The devastation, coupled with frustration over a weak government response, created an opening for a messianic outsider like Jean, said Robert Fatton Jr., a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia.
"The very fact that he is taken seriously when … he has no preparation to be president, is an indication that the whole country, in particular the youth, looks at the typical Haitian population as a bankrupt kind of species," Fatton said.
Fatton said he suspects the delay in announcing the candidate list, which was initially supposed to be released Tuesday, owed to a struggle among the political elite, with some trying to keep Jean from running.
Although he is not officially in the race, Jean could still influence the election by helping to mobilize the youth vote, said Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston.
"The other candidates should try to get him on their team," he said.
Associated Press Writers Chris Gillette and Evens Sanon contributed to this report.


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Serena was born via surrogate mother Lucy Coe when it was discovered that her mother, Dominique, was dying, but wanted to leave her husband, Scott, with a child. Lucy made this dream possible by carrying Serena until birth. Shortly after Serena's birth, Scott took her to Canada to hide from the mob, who were trying to steal the fortune that Dominique left them both.
In 1997, Scott returned to Port Charles without Serena. Scott accused Lucy of kidnapping her. Scott was run down by a car, but that didn't stop him from his efforts to find his daughter. Eventually, Scott learned that Danielle Ashley and Rex Stanton had taken Serena with the hope of bilking Scott out of Serena's trust fund. Danielle told Scott the truth and he reunited with Serena. Rex, however, wasn't finished with Scott. He made it appear that Scott was an unfit father, and Rex gained custody of Serena. Lucy married Rex in order to keep an eye on Serena. Rex was forced to come clean and he was arrested for his crimes. Serena was once again reunited with her father -- this time for good.
Lucy grew jealous of Eve spending time with Scott and Serena, so Lucy siphoned the gas out of Eve's car as part of a plan to be a hero in Serena's eyes. Lucy figured that she would rescue them when their car ran out of gas, and Scott would be impressed. However, things didn't go as planned. The car got in an accident and Serena lost her eyesight. After a successful surgery, Serena was able to regain her vision. Lucy and Scott eventually married and the trio headed off to Paris to live happily ever after.
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This is part of the Solo Piano Pieces collection.
This solo piano piece features simple melodies and chord structure, played in a soft 3/4 Waltz rhythm, creating a sentimental and innocent nostalgic vibe.
It is exported as a perfectly working loop. If you need this in a old-vinyl sounding version, please e-mail me.
Watch how it was used on the "Nostalgic Memories" project by marius4199


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Shaun Phillips strikes two-year deal with Titans
Published March 27, 2014 01:45 PM
A busy free agency afternoon for late March continues.
The Titans have struck a two-year, $6 million agreement with Broncos defensive end/outside linebacker Shaun Phillips, Mike Garafolo of Fox reports.
Phillips (6-3, 255) notched 10 sacks for Denver in 2013. He will likely play outside linebacker in Ray Horton's defense, which employs a base 3-4 front.
Phillips has recorded 508 tackles and 79.5 sacks in 10 NFL campaigns. He played for San Diego for nine seasons (2004-2012) before joining Denver last April. Phillips turns 33 in May.
Phillips' agreement with the Titans leaves no unsigned or untagged members among PFT's top 50 free agents. Cowboys outside linebacker Anthony Spencer (No. 65) is the top unsigned player in PFT's rankings.


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Such a simple, but gorgeous set. These timeless rings features our favorite materials, from colored gems to 18k gold to create a truly 1-of-a-kind set that is a must have favorite. Perfect accessory to highlight any hand wearing it and add the finishing touch to any beautiful lady that makes all the difference.
✧ Handcrafted with extreme attention making it exceptionally comfortable to wear.
✧ Available in 18k Gold over a 316L stainless steel base.
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Anderson, 101 years old, lived near Mobile, Alabama at the time she
was interviewed. She was born at Belle's Landing, in Monroe County, Alabama.
Her master operated a wood yard that supplied fuel to river boats. Anderson
was a house slave. She recalls that her master treated all his slaves well,
but she also remembered seeing slaves torn up by dogs and whipped unmercifully.
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Last revised: November 1, 1998


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The long-term success of any company depends heavily upon the quality and loyalty of its people. Yet, when times are tough, employers often lay off employees to reduce costs, which has a direct effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The landmark Ipsos Loyalty Study, the largest study of loyalty ever conducted, found less than 30 percent of US employees say they are loyal to their company. Only about 25 percent of US employees think their employer has earned their loyalty.
The long-term success of any company depends heavily upon the quality and loyalty of its people. Few corporate executives would disagree with this idea conceptually. But it is also true that most treat the economic value of employees in enhancing customer relationships and company profits as "soft" numbers, unlike the "hard" numbers they use to manage their operations, such as the cost of labor.
The problem with this is that when the going gets tough, managers focus on the hard numbers. And the reality is that at some point every company will go through tough times. That is the nature of business cycles.
The result is that today we are overwhelmed with downsizings and restructurings. Layoffs make the front pages of our newspapers regularly. And while Wall Street often rewards layoffs by treating them as a sign that management is serious about getting a company's financial house in order, the reality is quite different. Most organizations that downsize fail to realize any long-term cost savings or efficiencies, which necessitates even more restructurings and layoffs.
Disloyalty Is a Two-Way Street
Although the cost benefits tend to be mirages, the corresponding pain to customers and employees is all too real. Research using the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that those firms that engaged in substantial downsizing experienced large declines in customer satisfaction. Unfortunately for those firms, the index has proven to be a good predictor of future earnings. The study's authors note that "the current trend toward downsizing in US firms may increase productivity in the short term, but the downsized firms' future financial performance will suffer if repeat business is dependent on labor-intensive customized service."
The impact on the organization's culture is also severe. Downsizings result in a rumor-filled paranoia. When Coca-Cola instituted a restructuring that resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs, the company became so awash in far-fetched stories that executives were forced to take the unusual step of intervening to quash them.
Worse still, employees that remain often find themselves jaded. It isn't hard to find employees who feel exactly like Dan after his company's layoffs in Mitchell Lee Marks' Charging Back Up the Hill:
"There is no loyalty here; no one is going the extra mile after this. Two years ago, we worked sixty-five-hour weeks. People were willing to do it, because it was a great place to work and we were doing something that mattered. … From here on in, it's just a job for me. I'll put in my forty hours and that's it."
Let's be clear. No CEO relishes the thought of layoffs. It means that their companies are floundering. Furthermore, history has shown us that the pain often outweighs any long-term financial gains.
If companies are going to grow their way out of difficult times (and excel in good times), they need two things: (1) for their customers to stick with them, and (2) to improve their productivity. But this only happens through an organization of committed, loyal employees.
Finding the Link between Employee Loyalty and Profitability
Benjamin Schneider, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, has shown conclusively that the employee's loyalty-related attitudes precede a firm's financial and market performance. And there is a much greater payoff in working on improving the human factor than people think. Researchers at University of Pennsylvania found that spending 10 percent of a company's revenue on capital improvements increased productivity by 3.9 percent. But investing that same amount in developing the employee capital more than doubles that amount, to a whopping 8.5 percent.
It is one thing to believe that employee loyalty results in positive financial outcomes, it is quite another to quantify those outcomes. But if we are going to be able to resist our natural inclinations to focus exclusively on the short-term in difficult times, then we need to get very good at understanding what the real implications to the long-term health of our business is of employee loyalty.
The place to begin at your company is by asking, "How loyal are our employees really?" Doing this requires that you meaningfully solicit feedback from all employees (management included). And you have to be willing to ask tough questions. For example:
- How do our managers' relationship styles impact the organization's service climate and employee loyalty?
- Does the company provide the necessary tools and training for employees to perform their jobs well?
- Is a commitment to serve customers rewarded and encouraged by the organization?
- Does the company demonstrate that it deserves the loyalty of its employees?
There will of course be other dimensions that are of concern for your particular organization or industry. The key is to identify those few, vital dimensions that are most essential for your success. Once you have identified these dimensions, you must measure them in a clear, objective, and rigorous manner.
Once you know where you stand vis-à-vis employee loyalty, next you need to tie this information to the performance drivers of your business. Typically, these come down to four things: productivity, employee turnover, customer loyalty, and revenue.
The ability to statistically link each of these measures to employee loyalty is relatively straightforward. The key is to aggregate employee data into groups that meaningfully link to turnover, customer loyalty, and revenue. For example, a retail chain might find store level analysis to be the most relevant unit, since customer loyalty and revenue are tracked at this level, and stores typically have semi-independent management.
The correlation between employee-loyalty-related attitudes and business outcomes is always meaningful from a practical, managerially relevant perspective, so it is worth the effort. In fact, a large-scale study conducted by researchers Harter, Schmidt, and Hayes presented compelling evidence that employee-loyalty-related attitudes were positively linked to each of these performance drivers. Furthermore, managers can learn a great deal by studying the performance of their most loyal business units, and how this is influenced by managers' own relationship styles.
Despite the ability to pull this information together to gain invaluable managerial insight, most companies do nothing (or next to nothing) in this regard. The number one problem in making the link isn't that this information doesn't exist. It is simply a lack of management will to pull the data contained in various departments together.
Why? We don't want to hear bad news. And without question, this kind of company internal examination always yields bad news. The reality is that employees are only as loyal to the company as they believe the company is loyal to them. This is true almost everywhere in the world! So in the end, building an organization of committed, loyalty employees ultimately comes down to demonstrating to employees that the company deserves their loyalty.
TIMOTHY KEININGHAM is a world-renowned authority in the field of loyalty measurement and management, and Global Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President for Ipsos Loyalty, one of the world's largest business research organizations. LERZAN AKSOY is an acclaimed expert in the science of loyal management, and Associate Professor of Marketing at Fordham University. They are coauthors of a new book, with Luke Williams, entitled Why Loyalty Matters (BenBella Books, 2009).


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Einhorn's Esoteric Trap for Apple
As a lawyer, I take a certain level of interest and amusement out of the use of little-referenced laws or legal maneuvering to accomplish a task. In the case filed by hedge fund star David Einhorn against Apple last week in the New York U.S. District Court, just such an approach is the basis for the lawsuit. While the purpose of the suit is to block the Feb. 27 vote by shareholders on a proposal that would alter how preferred shares can be issued, the complaint alleges that the company has violated an Securities Exchange Commission rule that prohibits "bundling" of unrelated matters into a single vote.
It remains unclear what ramifications a victory by Einhorn would actually have on the company or the stock, but the definite result is that the central issue has been brought squarely into the light. As the case unfolds ahead of Apple's annual shareholders meeting, focusing on any reactions from Cupertino may give you some insight into how the case will be handled and what moves Apple may make as a result. Ultimately, all the theatrics are a testament to how strongly positioned the company really is.
The law
Under Section 14 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (link opens PDF), a company is not permitted to "bundle" multiple issues together into a single issue. The theory behind the law and the SEC rules that support it is that the company should not be permitted to provide a sweetener that might incline certain shareholders to vote in favor of a decision that they would otherwise be opposed to alone. To take an absurdly oversimplified hypothetical, consider the following fabricated example: "XYZ Corporation would like to issue a special dividend to pay every shareholder $2.00 per share and also grant every member of upper management any additional 100,000 dilutive shares; vote yes or no." Shareholders must be given the chance to approve the special dividend and reject the share issuance.
A recent report by Reuters cited one of the few related precedents from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which "recognized an implied private right of action by shareholders suing over alleged anti-bundling rule violations." While the precedent backs Einhorn's positions, other legal experts have noted that Apple may choose to argue that since all of the elements of the proposal deal with amendments to the Articles of Incorporation, they are, in fact, sufficiently related to be grouped together. This argument is a stretch, particularly when amendments to the Articles are in play, as they go to the very nature of how the company may conduct business.
Taking the other side of the argument is ISS Proxy Advisor Services: "ISS policy supports the elimination of 'blank check' preferred shares, because of their potential to be misused in a takeover defense." The preferred shares in question may be issued by the board of directors without shareholder approval and are most commonly used to fight off a hostile takeover. As Einhorm points out, however, the notion of an Apple takeover is thoroughly absurd.
In further commentary on the situation, ISS said it "generally believes bundling of proposals is not in the best interest of shareholders." This is a deeply impressive position for an influential advisor to take given the fact that bundling is de facto against the law. There is, in fact, a basis for the rule, which ISS has succinctly stated, which is that bundling is contrary to shareholder interests in most cases.
Does it really matter?
In response to the lawsuit, Apple issued a press release in which it stated: "Currently, Apple's articles of incorporation provide for the issuance of 'blank check' preferred stock by the Board of Directors without shareholder approval. If Proposal [No.] 2 is adopted, our shareholders would have the right to approve the issuance of preferred stock." The company claims that the measure is designed to enhance corporate governance and protect shareholders. While it seems counterintuitive to think that requiring shareholder approval is bad, Einhorn contends that it creates an unnecessary impediment to issuing the preferred shares that would "unlock the value on Apple's balance sheet."
The issue that seems to be overlooked is that if Einhorn is successful, it may delay the vote, but will not necessarily change anything. If the court finds the bundling to be improper, Apple may simply choose to unbundle the issues and press forward. A reading of Proposal No. 2 does not suggest that shareholders would necessarily vote differently if the preferred stock issue were considered in a vacuum.
What the lawsuit has done is draw significant attention to the fact that Apple is sitting on roughly $137 billion in cash. This alone may be sufficient to get the company to figure out a way to return money to investors in one way or another. The takeaway when you look beyond the legal wrangling is that Apple is in great shape, and at the bottom of a 35% sell-off, the stock is a buy.
There's no doubt that Apple is at the center of technology's largest revolution ever, and that longtime shareholders have been handsomely rewarded with over 1,000% gains. However, there is a debate raging as to whether Apple remains a buy. The Motley Fool's senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, is prepared to fill you in on both reasons to buy and reasons to sell Apple, and what opportunities are left for the company (and your portfolio) going forward. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, simply click here now.
The article Einhorn's Esoteric Trap for Apple originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Doug Ehrman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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I have been attempting to refactor some Windows Forms classes that contain hundreds of controls and have thousands of lines of code behind. What I would like to do is to group a load of controls together and make a new UserControl that contains them. The only trouble is, there seems no easy way to do this. None of the refactoring tools seem support it, and if you were to simply try to cut and paste the controls using the Windows Forms designer you would end up losing all your event handlers and potentially messing up the relative positioning of all your controls (lots of docking and anchoring is going on).
My approach in the end was to make a complete copy of the entire class in question and delete parts from it. Then I have spent two whole days trying to reduce the compiler error count to zero (I'm down to just 19 now from 387). Even so I now have a whole bunch of event handlers that need to be hooked up and a horrible feeling that my new panel will not quite work exactly like the old one did.
So what's the point of this post? Well just to say, wouldn't it be nice if one of the .NET refactoring tool companies would implement this? Allow you to select a bunch of GUI components on a form to move to a new UserControl, expose the appropriate properties and events, and hook up the old code to access the new control. Obviously you would want to perform more refactoring after doing this, to clean up the interface to your new UserControl, but it would be an invaluable tool in managing Windows Forms projects that have got out of control.


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General Motors has told 1,300 employees at the automaker's Detroit Hamtramck plant they will be temporarily laid off for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt and its European counterpart, the Opel Ampera.
"Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," said GM spokesman Chris Lee to the Detroit Free Press. Another way of phrasing that? Because sales still suck.
Lee said employees were told Thursday that production would put on hold from March 19 to April 23.
Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in the U.S. in February and has sold 1,626 so far this year.


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Originally posted on theRoot.com
The staff wrap party for the last episode of NewsOne Now with Roland Martin was not supposed to feel like it did. I walked into the staff kitchen and saw Martin in all of his fuchsia glory, smiling, ascot crisp, happily chopping it up. "What's up, baby?" he said, then hit me with a hug like we were at Essence Fest or the Republican convention, not the last day of an award-winning TV show.
It was 10 a.m., the final show had wrapped an hour earlier, and across a series of long tables, there was a tray of eggs, biscuits, fruit and two struggle strips of bacon left by the time I got there. A meal befitting the final episode of a morning news show. Considering that NewsOne Now was going off the air after four years, and almost 30 people were going to lose jobs or have their hours cut, the room wasn't as sad as you'd expect. In fact, it was more like a murder mystery than a funeral. Who killed NewsOne Now?
The more people I talked to, the more obvious it became that nobody knew for sure why NewsOne Now was going off the air, but the one thing on which they did agree was that black folks were going to be the worse for it.
"I'm sure Friday I'm gonna wake up like I usually do, ready to go, and the show won't be there. That will be different," said Martin when we spoke on the phone two days before the final show.
On Dec. 8, TV One announced the suspension (the network has not used the word "canceled" in any official statements) of NewsOne Now with Roland Martin for budgetary reasons, and since that time, Martin has never publicly questioned the network's stated reason.
However, Tom Joyner has called for listeners to protest the network's decision, and the National Association of Black Journalists has called on TV One to consider the harm to the black community if the only daily African-American television news outlet in America goes silent during the Trump administration.
Fellow journalists, like T.J. Holmes, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jemele Hill and Stephen A. Smith, have all publicly expressed dismay about the decision. For his part, Martin has mostly focused on the nature of the business.
"Sometimes it's just the fundamental economics of the cable industry; there's only so much you can stream, and that's where a lot of the audience is," said Martin.
TV One reaches about 59 million homes, and NewsOne Now is the network's highest-rated program. However, the inability to regularly stream a show that came on at 7 a.m. often made it hard to connect with some of the 25- to 45-year-old demographic that advertisers are thirsty for.
"I fundamentally believe that a show can be a success in the digital world in which we are living. Whether it's on Facebook or Twitter or some streaming service," Martin said, pointing out that he regularly brings in huge audiences on Facebook Live and on Periscope.
The hot takes, speculation and rumors about why NewsOne Now was suspended continue to swirl around. Martin, of course, has haters, and some legitimate critics. Was NewsOne Now really suspended for being too expensive? No one I spoke to who was associated with the show fully bought that explanation, either on or off the record. NewsOne Now was expanded from a one-hour to a two-hour program in September. If the show was hemorrhaging money, why expand it to two hours, only to "suspend" it three months later?
Was NewsOne Now suspended because of Martin himself? Was he difficult to work with, or did TV One want to relaunch with new talent? Privately, staff commented that Martin could be hard to work with at times, but as one staffer who asked to remain anonymous stated: "Yeah, he was difficult. What talent in this industry isn't? He's brilliant, though. Best way to deal with Roland was to do your job, do it well and push back when you need to. He respects that."
There seemed to be a sense, both at the wrap party and among others to whom I spoke, that if the end of the show came down to the budget or Martin, it wasn't Martin's fault.
No matter what the full story is behind NewsOne Now's being suspended, everybody seems to agree that the end of America's only daily African-American-focused news show will hurt the black community, especially now.
Even if you weren't watching his show, the stories it touched on ended up popping up in your timeline or on your feed or got magnified by other networks. It's one thing to pick up a story about black lives for a five-minute segment, but NewsOne Now provided daily coverage about the death of Gemmel Moore, a young gay black man in Los Angeles found dead in a wealthy Democratic donor's home.
NewsOne Now was the only show providing daily coverage of the Daniel Holtzclaw case where the now former police officer was convicted of serially raping black women. Not to mention the show's daily coverage of taxes, health care and elections across the nation with specific relevance to the black community. People noticed and appreciated it.
"Sandra Bland loved Roland's show," said Susan Henry, an executive producer at TV One. "Her mother told us that she watched his show and said she wanted to be on it one day. It's so sad, but it meant so much to her family that Roland brought national attention to her death."
"Roland's show gave a lot of people a platform—scholars, researchers, activists—to talk about issues that nobody else was covering; people got on that wouldn't have otherwise," said Avis Jones-DeWeever, a frequent guest on the show.
TV One has made no formal announcements about launching another daily news program. This means that for the foreseeable future there will be no daily, African-American-focused televised news show covering the upcoming 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the 2018 midterm elections, and whatever unbelievable shenanigans Donald Trump and his minions come up with in the new year.
As for Martin himself, even if he won't be hosting daily on TV One, he'll still be out there. He's on contract with TV One until August 2018 and is still in talks with the network about what he'll be doing next year.
In the meantime, he'll still be appearing on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, doing speeches, working on a book and tweeting about everything from the Texans to taxes.
As for the hundreds of thousands of black folks out there looking to know what's happening in the world from an exclusively black perspective? The television may not have much to offer in 2018, unless some network out there is willing to fill some rather large fuchsia shoes.


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