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I love this app, except
That like all speech enabled apps the size is huge. Running in at 10Mb + and no App2SD its just too big.
So like flash 10.1 (version indicative of the space required) its uninstalled despite being a great app.
Once you have used a letter-trace keyboard like Swype or SlideIT, there really is no going back to one-letter-at-a-time typing. Sadly, Swype is only available fitted to certain phones at source but Nuance - of Dragon speech-to-text fame - has cooked up an equivalent that's available to anyone with a handset running Android 2.1 …
That like all speech enabled apps the size is huge. Running in at 10Mb + and no App2SD its just too big.
So like flash 10.1 (version indicative of the space required) its uninstalled despite being a great app.
The Swype beta was closed for a long time but is now open again so it can be got for free.
I was just about to say the same thing. I've only recently got my 'droid, and one of the first stops was Swype... Sign up for the beta, and there you go!
Brilliant... Makes me wonder why I bought a Desire Z with a really keyboard now! lol!
So this trace thing, is that the first serious innovation in actually using a touch-screen rather than re-implementing existing ideas on a medium they weren't designed for? Pinch-zooming would count too but that is fairly minor in comparison to a new way of doing input. Seems like a case of "the simple ideas are the best"
...but how many people will take the plunge when Swipe offers much of the same and is free of charge?
"Swype is only available fitted to certain phones at source" - actually Swype has an just released a (second) beta, which is available to most Android phones...
Is the speech recognition done on the server or locally? I'm about to go off traveling, so being able to avoid data charges would be awesome.
"that's available to anyone with a handset running Android 2.1 or above" - Nope! I was excited when I read this because Swype is not available for my X10 Mini Pro, but nor, it turns out, is this app - "the app could not be found" was the drearily familiar message after scanning the code at the end of the article
Currently a Swype user on Desire HD. Might look into this when the open Beta is over.
Suggestions, you say? Why, I have many!
- 3G Watchdog (Data tariff monitoring)
- AppBrain App Market (Notice the QCode is an AppBrain link)
- Dropbox
- GMote / Unified Remote Control (Desktop PC remote control)
- gStrings (instrument tuner app)
- Handcent SMS (Awesome SMS / MMS messaging app)
- WhatsApp (Instant Messaging over the internet)
- Lookout (Security App)
- Tricorder (Sensor data app)
- Wifi Analyzer (Networking tool)
- Vaulty (Secure storage)
Just some of the few I use, some more specialist than others.
has been in open beta for a while now, so available for most 'droid devices. http://beta.swype.com/
Although Flext9 does look a bit better. Having been a user of Dragon in the past, I know how good Nuance's speech-to-text can be.
This lacks app2sd, which is pretty much unforgivable. My HTC Desire is pretty tight on base storage now, because too many apps won't install on SD, and it has got to the point where unless I put my foot down, I don't get enough space to update apps.
So yeah, it might be nice, but until they make the minimal effort of providing app2sd, I won't be using it. This is a major issue for a lot of android users, and I am a bit surprised that the review didn't mention it (now is your cue to point out that it did, and I am going blind due to lack of coffee :D).
"So yeah, it might be nice, but until they make the minimal effort of providing app2sd, I won't be using it."
It would be stupid enabling Apps2SD on a keyboard, you wouldn't be able to use it when USB storage is mounted/not present.
This is why live wallpapers etc. don't support it either.
Other apps really do need to start enabling it though.
"Sadly, Swype is only available fitted to certain phones at source "
Not quite true, it's not on the Android Marketplace but if you registered with the Swype beta you can download it. I got it onto my Desire that way.
Regarding the app itself, I fail to understand why companies new to the market don't release a time limited trials for anything over a dollar, especially for a keyboard....
OK - market fed time limited trials are flawed in nature but it wouldn't be hard for the company to generate a phone-home and check expiry for a key tied to the gmail account
The keyboard itself is interesting but I don't think I'll invest in that with less than a thousand downloads and no comments now that Android Market only has a fifteen minute refund...
We watch and learn
This is actually a very important feature that a lot of these predictive type keyboards miss off.
Swype drives me mad when the word you are tapping in letter by letter is not in the dictionary. It pops up a box with ridiculous suggestions along with your typed in letters and you have to tap to select. This is especially bad when you are typing in a password as the the suggestion popup which also contains the password you've just tapped is visible to anyone sitting next to you. Flext9 just lets you individually tap the letters and numbers unhindered.
My only beef is there is no trial version. So you've only got Google's ridiculous 15 minute refund window to decide whether you get on with it or not.
It's optional in Swype, you can turn it off and it is usually better if you do.
Swype's way of deleting a custom entered word annoy's me. If you are in tap-tap mode an dyou make a spelling mistake (such as when your beta period ends every few months) then the words get added to your dictionary and are annoying to remove.
I would also love to have a macro function in Swype (maybe this one does) . E.g. I could stored my e-mail address as a slide from the "Swype Key" to the "a" key? that would make life so much easier.
Couldn't get this to install on an HTC Hero.
I took a chance on this. Installed Ok on my Nexus One and I did a quick test within 15 minutes so I bought it.
The speech recognition seems to be done locally and is awesomely accurate. Just don't pause for too long as it will process and exit - I will probably keep this switched off and use manual exit. The keyboard swiping also looks good.
The point about installing to the SD card is a good one, hopefully this will be addressed at some stage.
And the ability to do some proper writing on these things
It would be nice if someone reinvented the Palm Pilot
There's a graffiti keyboard, and by Access no less.
Probably the third thing I hunted up once I got the color nook was graffiti.
It's early days yet, but the nook may finally be a useable replacement for my TX.
B-folders to migrate over the contact database. Graffiti for input. NewsRob for avantgo-like offline newsreading ability (based on a synchout to Google Reader.)
Also, I'm buying apps. NewsRob and Graffiti were no brainers. I want to encourage this community.
This keyboard certainly looks worth checking out , though.
Thanks for the article - I like the idea of an "Android App of the Week" series :)
"...the intelligent Search/Go/Done button"?? That is not a feature! - it is a requirement! When you develop an Android application that makes use of input boxes, you can specify an input action (done, go, search, send...)
It was the developers of the original applications who had the 'intelligence' to add that option, not the intelligence of the keyboard.
Apps2SD: for a keyboard? are you kidding me? what happens when you's SD card is mounted over USB? what will you do to type? (maybe Android is clever enough to swap to another IME?)
As far as I know - most voice-recog input for keyboards are routed through Google's services, but this is from the dragon-speaking people, so maybe it's their own service...
"Couldn't get this to install on an HTC Hero" - if you look at the supported devices for this keyboard, it seems it requires a phone with a higher resolution screen. This is the same problem Swype has on the Wildfire... this eliminates a number of gen1 and cheaper Android phones.
@Neill Mitchell- yeah, Swype's tap-tap input is terrible!
I bet that's why the app is too big. Most people use 5000 words maximum - Swype and T9 dictionaries (and all spell-check dictionaries) should be small (say 10k words) and extensible. Only crossword solving dictionaries and their ilk need to be huge.
For instance, I was outraged recently to have Swyped 'tine' rather than 'time'. How many fucking times do you want to discuss fork prongs in SMS? It is much, much better to confirm the occasional use of a word outside the top-frequency list than it is to accept mis-spellings because they happen to be obscure or archaic words.
Place names especially should not be present in such dictionaries. Although I have to say that Swype does give you a better class of typo. As I wrote last week - this is Tuscaloosa (Ridiculous).
Can we stop our sudden fascination with QR codes now please?
I mean they were cool and techy and Japanese and stuff 5 years ago, but now they are just really really annoying. Really annoying.
Maybe use the alt attribute in the image tag to display the URL, rather than having it exactly the same as the title attribute. Or maybe just make a website link to the page you intended in addition.
If you're reading this story on your PC as most people will rather than on your phone, it's nice & convenient to just snap a photo of the QR code and go straight to the app rather than either
(A) Open Market, type in name of app, swear under your breath, type in *correct* name of app, scroll through list and choose it; or
(B) Open web browser, go to El Reg, find this story, find link to app, click it.
My point is that to not have the link in a human readable format in addition, is idiotic.
It's at the top and bottom of the article next to where it says 'More Info'
I bought this on the strength of this review and I think it is pretty awesome, especially the voice. Cracking to text the missus you'll be late on hands free.
Also checkout Green Power Free. this disables wireless and internet for periods while your phone is locked. My power usage went from 1/3 left at home time to over 8/10 full.
I may be in the minority here, but I hate, hate, hate Swype with a living passion, I found it fiddly and horrible to use on my Samsung Galaxy S compared to the default Samsung keyboard, never got round to swapping it back as the phone got returned PDQ due to a horrifically poor battery life and terrible reception despite Orange claiming they had excellent coverage in the area I was living at the time....yeah right.
Traded down to a Nokia 2730 to get decent battery life back and hopped back to O2 in the process to get good coverage (more than 2 foot from a window :P)
Dragon Dictation which, in it's latest iteration, spends much of it's time learning even from your typed corrections


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The future of libraries? In Japan, elevated study pods encourage conversation | Library Stuff.
in love with librarianship, librarians, and libraries
Random thoughts from a freshly minted librarian...
Talking about reading, watching and playing every month
Journalist and Culinary Historian
the neverending reference interview of life
inspiration for library creatives
keep your stick on the ice, my life in hockey and art
A books, movies, and more blog from the staff at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main.
musings on academic libraries
...how would you Hack Library School?
On a + note talks about life in library land and our commitment to serve
The daily blog from Hot Key Books!
An inside look at library hiring
Blogging about libraries, technology, teaching, and more
Not a "how to be a great parent" blog
News about new and existing electronic resources worth knowing about
A personal look at special libraries
Promoting the value of law firm librarians through collaboration!!

subset: commoncrawl


text: Bitcoin is a payment system introduced as open-source software in 2009 by developer Satoshi Nakamoto. The payments in the system are recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account, which is also called bitcoin. Payments work peer-to-peer without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the US Treasury to call bitcoin a decentralized virtual currency.


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Creating SEO Success with In-House Marketers and Agencies
by Susan Esparza, April 19, 2011
According the recently released SEMPO State of Search Marketing report, search marketing is a rare growing sector in an otherwise depressed economy. Search marketing grew 14 percent in 2010 and is expected to grow another 16 percent in 2011. Investment in search marketing is strong because the ROI is strong and measureable and because businesses are growing more comfortable with online marketing on every level.
As an SEO agency for more than a decade, Bruce Clay, Inc. has had clients of every size from every industry. In that time, we've noticed a significant change in the needs of most clients. When we began as a one man consulting operation in 1996, most clients had no idea what it meant to change your site so you could rank in search engines. Over time, SEO became an accepted term but companies still needed outside help to achieve their ranking goals. Next week in SMX Toronto, Bruce Clay will present on Enterprise level SEO and discuss how the rising sophistication level of many businesses is putting the actual SEO work more and more on in-house teams with agencies available for expert-level consulting.
A strong in-house team is often the agency or consultant's most valuable resource. When you're ready to make that investment, how do you go about it? What steps should a business take to build an SEO team that will be effective in reaching company goals beyond search engine optimization and how does an in-house team best take advantage of an agency partner?
In-House Hiring
The first thing to establish is if your business can support an in-house SEO team at all. In order to have an in-house SEO, you need to determine if you have the budget, space and work for a full time employee.
Budget means more than the usual salary and insurance. To have an in-house staff, you must be ready to commit to education, research time, and resources. However, you don't need to have your focus only on SEO. An in-house employee can wear as many hats as she has time in the day. Don't need 40 hours of work this week on SEO? That's okay, she can also write up some PPC ads, run your analytics program, write press releases, help out with customer support, and develop your social media campaign. Be warned though, that asking an employee to wear that many hats is going to require a very special individual with a lot of flexibility. In most cases that means you will need to build in plenty of time for education.
It's a rare hire that comes in with 100 percent knowledge of every nook and cranny of SEO. Your best case is picking up an SEO consultant who wants to go in-house; most of the time, hiring an SEO means hiring someone with knowledge of the Internet that you can train to be an SEO. Before you hire, make sure you budget the money for SEO training courses.
There is no degree for Internet marketing so if you can't hire someone with experience, consider looking at people with business, marketing, journalism, public relations, communication or technology degrees. If that seems like it's all over the map, that's because SEO is a field that requires a wide-range of abilities. The key quality that an SEO should have is the ability to problem-solve. Without that, your SEO strategy is likely to derail the first time it hits a bump.
Agency Role
Once you've built an in-house team, having an agency consulting becomes more a question of how you can get the most out of their expertise to support internal goals. What is an agency's role when implementation is an in-house job?
Emerging SEO strategies - Keeping up with Internet marketing is a full-time job. Search marketing changes every week and that means constantly doing research and testing to keep up. Agencies and consultants absorb this cost as a matter of staying in business and are able to support the cost of staying on the cutting edge of the industry.
Cutting Edge Tools - It is to an agency's benefit to always be using the most effective tools for the job. Leverage that knowledge by inquiring which tools they use and integrating them into your process as well.
Comprehensive SEO Knowledge - In addition to new information and tools, an agency represents years and sometimes decades of cumulative knowledge of the SEO industry. Techniques that are hailed as new and innovative may simply be a retread of previous tactics and having a long history in the industry creates the ability to make reliable projections about the future.
Feedback and Perspective - The downside of working in-house is that there is a temptation toward tunnel vision. In-house SEOs focus, and rightly so, on one site, one industry, one goal. Use your consultant to maintain a wider view.
The Bottom Line
Having a great hire and an awesome consulting team aren't the only thing needed to make in-house SEO succeed. You need commitment, education, buy-in and reasonable expectations.
Giving up Control and Trusting the Expert
Getting commitment company-wise and especially buy-in from the C-level is critical to success with in-house SEO. Consultants often have an easier time getting things done because their outsider status lends them expert level credibility. In order to make in-house just as effective, they need to have the same trust and respect level that you would give an agency.
Education is key to this process. As training in search marketing is absorbed by every level of the company, especially when explained in a way that is directly relevant to their goals, the job of the SEO becomes easier and more effective. Without support from the top, SEO is doomed to fail.
Being Receptive to the Process
Search engine optimization touches nearly every part of an organization from marketing to IT to branding and beyond. In order to succeed, all those various parts need to be willing to work with the SEO team to implement and enhance the current website. SEOs need to know about new marketing initiatives, branding goals, even site technology upgrades. While something may make perfect sense to the marketing manager, it may not be the best SEO solution. This doesn't mean it must be scrapped, merely that discussion needs to happen before it is implemented so that as many goals as possible can be met.
Reasonable Expectations
One of the more difficult lessons for executives to learn about SEO is patience regarding timelines and results. The good news is that building an in-house team is probably an indication that someone somewhere already believes in the power of SEO and is willing to make the investment.
For permission to reprint or reuse any materials, please contact us. To learn more about our authors, please visit the Bruce Clay Authors page. Copyright © 2011 Bruce Clay, Inc.


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Howard Friedman reports that the Supreme Court has denied cert in two cases involving religion in public schools that have gotten a lot of attention in recent years. He gives the details on the two cases:
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling… In the case, the 9th Circuit upheld Idaho's decision to bar publicly funded charter schools from using religious texts in the classroom, even for teaching of secular subjects. The 9th Circuit held that the First Amendment's speech clause does not give charter school teachers, students, or parents a right to have such texts included as part of the school curriculum…The Supreme Court also denied review in Johnson v. Poway Unified School District. In the case, the 9th Circuit rejected claims by a high school calculus teacher that his California school district violated his free speech rights, as well as the Establishment Clause and Equal Protection clause, when it required him to remove large banners he had posted in his classroom that carried historic and patriotic slogans, all mentioning God or the Creator.
Both are important decisions and the Supreme Court allowed them to stand.


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The Beauty Stories You Missed This Week
The trick to a matte bordeaux lip? Dusting loose powder through a tissue. {Vogue}
It took Pat McGrath 12 hours to create the crystal face masks at Givenchy's Paris runway show! {Vogue Paris}
Beautify your Instagram feed with these makeup artists. {IntoTheGloss}
Selma Blair, Karlie Kloss, Coco Rocha, and more talk about their latest hair transformations. {Allure}
Speaking of new 'dos, we're loving Carey Mulligan's new brown locks. {Glamour}
Is it April yet? We can't wait for M.A.C.'s limited-edition collaboration with Proenza Schouler. {Beauty Counter}
Is Miu Miu entering the fragrance game?! {WWD}
Get your glow on this weekend with this highlighter how-to. {The Beauty Department}
Lazy girls rejoice! Shampoo at night and try one of these three tips to wake up with morning waves. {PopSugar}


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8:00 pm
NOVA "Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Awakening" Hidden in the red hills of Australia are clues to the mysteries of Earth's birth, how life arose and how it transformed the planet. Experts unveil the earliest forms of life: an odd assortment of bacterial slime that would flood the atmosphere with oxygen and spark a biological revolution. Part 1 of 4G
9:00 pm
The Truth About Exercise with Michael Mosley With recent advances in genetic testing technology and brain stimulation techniques, scientists are uncovering new and surprising truths about what exercise is really doing to the body and why different people respond to it differently. Mosley volunteers himself as a human guinea pig to discover the truth about exercise.G
10:00 pm
10 Things You Need to Know About Losing Weight Michael Mosley presents 10 science-based approaches to losing weight without starving. Experiments reveal the relationship between plate size and food consumption, why soup is the most filling of meals, how low-fat dairy products help the body eliminate fat, the long-term fat-burning potential of exercise, the counterintuitive fact that meal-skipping doesn't facilitate weight loss, and more.G
11:00 pm
Charlie Rose NULL


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5 Erica Davis
|Birth Date:
|Columbus, NJ
|High School:
|Northern Burlington
2006-07: Unanimously named First Team All-Ivy after leading the conference in rebounding (9.0 rpg), field goal percentage (.532) and blocks (2.25 bpg), and finishing third in scoring (15.6 ppg)...Played in all 28 games, making 24 starts...Tallied double-digit points in 21 games, including seven 20-point efforts...Scored 437 points and pulled down 252 rebounds, the sixth-best single season totals in school history...Broke own school record for blocks in a season with 63, which was more than all Yale opponents combined (61)...Finished her career first in blocks (182), fifth in rebounding (670), and seventh in scoring (1,262)...Named Ivy Player of the Week on Jan. 2 after scoring her 1,000th career point in the team's win over Quinnipiac...Grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds at Princeton on Feb. 2...Finished just shy of the first triple-double in school history against Cornell on Feb. 10, tallying 25 points, 13 rebounds and a school-record nine blocks...Had one four-game stretch (Feb. 2-10) where she averaged 22.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocks...Posted eight double-doubles. 2005-06: Finished second on the team in scoring (9.1 ppg) and third in rebounding (5.2 rpg) while leading the team in field goal percentage (.469) despite playing in only 20 games...Hit the game-winning shot Feb. 4 against Penn, a jumper with six seconds left, part of a 15-point performance...Scored a season-high 17 points against Columbia on Feb. 25...Recorded two double-doubles, including a 15-point, 11-rebound, four block performance at Columbia on Feb. 10...Tied a career-high with four steals in a win over Cornell on Feb. 24. 2004-05: Set Yale records for blocked shots in a season (55) and a career (95)...Led the league and ranked 40th in Division I with 2.04 blocks per game...Named to the All-Ivy second team after ranking 10th in the league in scoring (12.3 ppg), sixth in rebounding (6.8 rpg), seventh in field goal percentage (.442) and 11th in free throw percentage (.724)...Named to the Wonder/Hostess Buckeye Classic All-Tournament Team after posting 14 points and five rebounds against No. 10 Ohio State...Tallied three double-doubles, including 23-point, 12-rebound performance in Yale's win over Penn at the Palestra...Notched a season-high 24 points in a win over Cornell and scored 21 against Syracuse...Tied the school record with five swats in a game twice, at New Hampshire and against Delaware State...Broke the previous career record of 77 blocks in the Feb. 4 game against Columbia and eclipsed her own season mark of 40 the next night against Cornell...Grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds at George Washington...Recorded four blocks in a game three times and had four steals in win against Lafayette. 2003-04: Played in all 27 games, starting 15...Second in the Ivy League with field goal percentage of .531...Named honorable mention All-Ivy and to the Ivy All-Rookie Team...Set the all-time Yale record for points in a game with 36 at Lafayette on Jan. 7, breaking teammate Lindsay Page's mark of 35 set in 2001...Led the Bulldogs in scoring (11.6), rebounding (4.9) and field goal percentage and established a new Yale single-season blocks record (40), surpassing Meg Simpson's 2001-02 total of 29...Won Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice (Jan. 12 and March 8)...Averaged 10 points and seven rebounds in the Seattle Times Classic and was named to the all-tournament team...Had three blocks in a game on six occasions...Grabbed a season-best 11 rebounds and scored 28 points in a win over Cornell on March 5...Over the final five games of the season, shot 59 percent, averaged 17.4 points and six rebounds and went 15-for-18 (.833) from the free throw line. At Northern Burlington: A three-year varsity starter, three-year team MVP and all-league player...During the 2002-2003 season, averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds to earn an all-state selection...Was named 2003 Group II state championship game MVP...Member of the school's track and field team, placing second in the state in the discus in 2003. Personal: Daughter of Dr. Lorraine Harris-Davis...Majoring in American Studies...Appeared in three productions as a member of the Drama Club at Northern Burlington...Participated in Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in New York City...Spent the last two summers working for film production companies Carthagian Arts and Flymar as part of the Yale in Hollywood program...Worked in public relations for the BET Awards, as well as the Creative Arts Emmys and Primetime Emmy Awards...Born Nov. 27, 1985.
Total 3-Point Rebounds Year GP-GS Min/Avg FG-FGA Pct FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off-Def Tot Avg PF-FO Ast TO Blk Stl Pts/Avg 2003-04 27-15 486/18.0 130-245 .531 0-0 .000 53-76 .697 53-79 132 4.9 93-8 8 51 40 12 313/11.6 2004-05 27-23 661/24.5 123-278 .442 1-1 1.000 84-116 .724 62-121 183 6.8 86-4 13 59 55 36 331/12.3 2005-06 20-0 313/15.7 67-143 .469 0-0 .000 47-74 .635 38-65 103 5.2 63-4 3 35 24 16 181/9.1 2006-07 28-24 659/23.5 168-316 .532 0-1 .000 101-147 .687 99-153 252 9.0 99-6 17 58 63 33 437/15.6 TOTAL 102-62 2119/20.8 488-982 .497 1-2 .500 285-413 .690 252-418 670 6.6 341-22 41 203 182 97 1262/12.4


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PRO-2912665 Floral Treasure new
Our vendor will ship directly to you. Please allow 14-17 business days. Order cannot be cancelled once placed. Not available to ship to Hawaii, Alaska, outside the US or APO addresses. Additional handling and shipping fee applied in cart.
Online Only.This item is not available in stores
Cedar and Pinecone Initial Swag
40 00 40.00
IN STOCK: Ships directly from our vendor
Greet the season with a personal touch.
Decorated with dried pinecones and finished with a pretty red ribbon for easy hanging, this preserved cedar swag is an elegant and unique way to decorate your home for the season. Hang your family initial on the front door for a personal touch, or spell out festive words to make a big impression.
Features Hide
- Finished with a red ribbon for easy hanging
- Choose a single initial, or mix and match to spell out festive words
Specifications Show
- Manufacturer: Floral Treasure
- Material: Preserved cedar, dried pinecones, polyester ribbon
- Dimensions: Approximately 19" x 10.5" x 2.5"
- Made in Mexico
Care & Usage Show
- Keep away from direct sunlight, humidity, moisture and heat.
What's In the box? Show
- Cedar swag (sold individually)
NEED HELP DECIDING? | Send us an email | Call us at 800-243-0852
Customer Reviews
Questions & Answers
Browse 1 question Browse 1 question and 3 answers
Why did you choose this?
Sur La Table Store
It's a gift for our neighbors and I think it's very unique.
Elissa A on Nov 30, 2016


text:
'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Stars Zendaya & Tom Holland Are A Couple! (Report)
About Photo #1099407: UPDATE: Both stars have confirmed that the below report is NOT true. Read what they said now! Zendaya and Tom Holland are officially an item! According to… Read The Post Here
Posted to Tom Holland, Zendaya
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BioShock Infinite is the third installment in the BioShock franchise, but instead of the underwater metropolis in the previous games, you are shot up into the sky where the city of Columbia floats amongst the clouds. Play as Booker DeWitt, an investigator and former soldier whose past haunts him constantly. Explore the city of floating skyscrapers as you zip from one location to another with your young companion Elizabeth in order to unravel the mysteries surrounding the game's formidable antagonist, Zachary Comstock. In typical BioShock fashion, you shoot enemies with weapons of terrible power and use your Vigors to control the battlefield. But while combat is tight and familiar, you are treated to a story that is filled with suspense, action, and riveting drama as the plot unravels at the end of Booker's emotional journey.
Super Gamer Dude
Xbox 360
As those who have played BioShock I and II will know, and what newcomers to the series, experiencing BioShock culture for the first time by playing BioShock Infinite will soon realize, there is a wealth of lore and and an extremely complex intertwining of characters and items, even when the many cultural references that serious reviewers find in the game's characters and storyline are left out..
In essence the main thrust of the plot is fairly simple inasmuch as it deals with a strong character with problems in his past or present life, seeking to rescue fair lady and so solve his problems. The man and lady in question are Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth. Booker's past is that of a Pinkerton Detective Agency operative whose proclivity for the arts of drinking and gambling led to him parting company with his employers. His twin addictions of course are no fault of his own bit are the consequences of post traumatic stress brought on by experiences in battle and the loss of his wife in childbirth and the subsequent trials of bringing up the resulting child. And, as is usually the fate of such characters, he is now heavily in debt.
The fair maiden, Elizabeth, is a girl of around twenty who from an very early age has been a captive in the floating city of Columbia. But she is not as ordinary as Booker as she can, under certain circumstances, manipulate the Tears, which are breaks in the local spacetime continuum. She is guarded by a creature called the Songbird, a winged monster, which she once regarded as a friend but then came to hate. It is she who Booker, who the player controls, is required to rescue, and the pair are consequently hunted by the Songbird, the Founders and Zachary Comstock and more. Recovering Elizabeth and delivering her to New York will result in Booker's debts being serviced by whoever commissioned the rescue.
The action for the most part takes place in 1912, in Columbia, a sort of floating city suspended aloft by a giant dirigible, and entered by way of a sort of light tower or lighthouse. Columbia is ruled by the Founders, a patriotic, nativist party, led by the aforementioned Comstock. The opposing political grouping, the Vox Populi, are regarded as a subversive rebel grouping who support the poorer levels of society. The city boasts a unique form of transport in the form of an elevated rail or tramway which Booker uses by deploying one of his abilities in the form of a grappling device to hook up to, and travel between locations, occasionally jumping down on enemies along the way.
Other characters who play a major part in the proceedings are Robert Lutece, Rosalind Lutece and Daisy Fitzroy who is Lady Comstock's servant, a migrant brought to Columbia as prisoner and who does not share her the political views of Lady Comstock's husband, so much so that after her escape she becomes leader of the Vox Populi. There is also a fairly large cast of supporting characters who play their particularly relevant parts and who, for the most part, have pretty uninspiring and ordinary names considering the imaginative nature of the story. The Lettuce twins, Robert and Rosalind, play an important part throughout the story, popping up all over the place offering aid and advice to Booker, and although identical twins and so physically similar apart from gender, they represent dual sides of a single character.
An all important role is played by Vigors which are worn on the arm and give Booker various abilities. These Vigors come in eight varieties namely Bucking Bronco, Undertow, Possession, Shock Jockey, Devil's Kiss, Murder of Crows, Return to Sender and Charge. Each has its own properties, or rather two properties, as they each come in charged and uncharged form. For instance the Bucking Bronco in its uncharged form can levitate opponents who, while in this levitated state, are quite harmless. In its charged state it can be deployed as a stationary booby trap having a similar but more powerful levitating effect. So, in general, Vigors when charged have a more powerful effect. They do however have some things in common. They can only be upgraded twice during the game and they also rely on Salts to power them.
Salts are are a chemical which comes in blue bottles found at various locations. The bottles come in small medium and large sizes and give proportionally one quarter, one half and full charge to a Vigor, and this charge, or how much of it is left, is displayed on a bar on the player's screen. Vigors play a similar role to Plasmids in earlier BioShock titles. They can also be charged at special vending machines found around Columbia, and certain foods and drinks contain the substance and help in charging Vigors.
The enemies on which these Vigors and other weapons are used come in many forms but fall roughly into two groups, Standard and Heavy Hitters. The first group contains Police, Soldiers and Citizens which are weak enemies and the last of which are not all of the hostile variety. The Heavy Hitters are far more interesting and comprise Firemen, Zealot of the Lady, Beasts, Sirens, Boys of Silence, Motorized Patriots and Handymen. Motorized Patriots are George Washington lookalikes, clockwork robots, relentless in assault and heavily armed, and Handymen are Human in form, welded to a mechanical frame. They are very strong, very fast, and very bad tempered. It goes without saying that each has its own powers and abilities, and each needs to be tackled differently with different weapons.
Weapons also, as expected, come in all shapes and sizes. We have the Triple R Machine Gun, the Pig Volley Gun, the Barnstormer RPG, the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle, the Broadsider Pistol, the China Broom Shotgun, the Huntsman Carbine, the Skyhook, the Peppermill Crank Gun, and the wonderfully named Paddywhacker Hand Cannon. These again have varying accuracy and destructive powers, and some have limited ammunition, some are automatic and some have to be manually loaded for each shot.
Another useful tool is the Tear in the time continuum. These Tears can be found in many places and, although all can see them, only Elizabeth can use them to advantage. Useful artifacts can be transported for use in the characters present, and past events can be altered to some degree. However, they can be unstable and therefore the results of using them, or even being near them, can be unexpected and unpredictable.
So we have a basic main plot with many many sub plots with their twists and turns in place and time. A wealth character interactions and oodles of weaponry and enemies. Throw in the graphically well presented and well designed scenario, in which you may wander around finding all sorts of goodies and information relative to the storyline, or just to explore in spare moments, and you have a game which, if anything, has too much in it to comprehend in one go. The audio is pretty good as well, but who cares, you will be far too busy to notice.
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Cheats and Achievements
Jan 26, 2014
Mar 6, 2014
Clash In The Clouds DLC Achievements
Mar 6, 2014


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Tonner Doll Co. Inc. has developed a new 16-inch Lady Action collectible doll through a partnership with Captain Action Enterprises. The Lady Action British Superspy doll recently debuted at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center in New York City and will be showcased at the American International Toy Fair in February, as well as the Tonner Collectors Convention in May.
Since Lady Action was introduced in 2007 as part of the Captain Action line, she has been scheduled to appear in the upcoming Captain Action comic series, Codename: Action, published by Dynamite Entertainment. Caption Action: The Animated Series is also currently in development with Gang of Seven Animation.
This collectible doll, also known in reality as Niki Sinclair, daughter of an adventurer and now part of the A.C.T.I.O.N. Directorate international spy organization, will be available to fans and collectors in comic shops nationwide as well as through online retailers and at tonnerdoll.com in May.


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I can't even tell you how much I look forward to Jennifer's recipe posts. You may know Jennifer from her decor and DIY blog, The Chronicles of Home. If you haven't visited or aren't a follower, I'm sure she'd love to have you!
Blueberry Almond Scones
For the most part, I'm a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast. Weekday mornings my daughters and I usually eat one of three things - (1) smoothies and whole grain toast with peanut butter, (2) egg on whole grain toast with fresh fruit, or (3) whole grain hot cereal with dried fruit. And, honestly, I'm okay with this routine. All of those things work for me on harried weekday mornings and I feel good about eating them and feeding them to my daughters as often as I do.
Then the weekends roll around and the last thing I want are any of these things since I've just spent five days in a row eating them! That's where the more "special" breakfast dishes come in, like multigrain pancakes or sweet potato hash. Scones are another of my weekend favorites and I've been tinkering with my recipe lately to try to make it a little healthier.
In this version I used a double shot of blueberries - both fresh and dried - to get a variation in flavor and texture and to double down on all the antioxidant goodness. I added sliced almonds for some crunch and protein. I often use half whole wheat and half white flour in baking recipes to get some whole grain worked in without totally sacrificing the light texture of white flour.
I also played with coconut oil here in place of the typical butter in scones. Here's my take on coconut oil, and keep in mind that I'm not a nutritionist, just a health-minded home cook who's done a little research. Coconut oil is a heavily saturated fat just like butter. There's some research that suggests the kind of saturated fat in coconut oil may be better for those with cholesterol issues than butter. But for me, there are a lot of "may be's" in the research that's out there and in the end I think it's best to use some moderation in your consumption of coconut oil just like you would with butter.
I liked the use of coconut oil in this recipe because it added a very light, subtle undertone of coconut flavor to the scones and still gave them the flakiness of a regular scone made with butter. These scones will be heartier and a bit more dense than one you might get at your local Starbucks, but I've found I actually like the healthy-indulgent version better!
3/4 c. white flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. refined coconut oil (butter can be substituted)
1/2 c. fresh blueberries
1/4 c. dried wild blueberries
1/4 c. sliced almonds
1/3 c. buttermilk
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 400º. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut coconut oil in with a pastry cutter until it's the consistency of coarse sand.
Gently stir in fresh blueberries, dried blueberries, and almonds.
In a small bowl whisk the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla to blend. Pour over dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined.
Drop batter in 8 mounds onto prepared baking sheet (about 1/2 c. of batter each).
Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.
Thank you Jennifer!
* * * * *
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Blueberry Almond Scones (The Chronicles of Home)
Reviewed by jembe
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Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5


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Returning senior Jessica Pyatt was once again Grand's top player. Pyatt scored 40 points for the team, a three-point improvement over her previous performance, and placed second individually in the tournament.
In addition, all of Grand's other girls scored points for the team. Sophomores Brooke Schultz, Molly Hines, Cora Johnston and Zoe Wuthrich scored 23, 11, 12 and 18 points, respectively. Each girl improved on her previous tournament's performance. In addition, junior Alex Gomez added three points to Grand's tally, despite it being only her first tournament.
Head coach Penelope Butterfield said she was very excited with how the young team is doing.
"Everyone scored more this tournament, even Alex, and it was her first tournament," Butterfield said. "Everyone who played scored points toward our total, which I think is very exciting ... Our girls are really improving a lot and they're out there working really hard and enjoying themselves, which is so rewarding in and of itself. I mean, Zoe [Wuthrich] was out there at our course on a really tough hole but she knocked it right in on the green and got par for the hole. The girls are enjoying themselves, they like the groups they're golfing with at competition, and they're having a good time and doing a good job."
The Lady Devil golfers were next scheduled to travel to Bountiful on Wednesday, April 10, to play a tournament on the Lakeside Bountiful course, which will be used as the state tournament course later this year.
"We're hoping to do well and get some good practice for state," said Butterfield.
Following the Bountiful tournament, the girls are scheduled to travel to Beaver on Tuesday, April 16, to play on the Beaver course. Tee-off will be at 11 a.m.


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Gardena, CA - (January 6, 2005) - Clarion Corporation of America, a leading manufacturer of mobile entertainment systems, features a new design concept for the Sirius Plug and Play model, dubbed "Calypso."
The technologically savvy "Calypso" plays commercial free music for hours, and incorporates an ergonomic design with functional capabilities. The Sirius unit has a compact design, and features a blue display with excellent visibility and a positive LCD display. This unit is portability defined; offering the boom box, car kit and home kit options that allow the user to move easily between home, car and anywhere.
"The 'Calypso' is a versatile technology that allows the user to listen to his or her favorite tunes anywhere," says Kazu Arai, Marketing Manager for Clarion.
The Sirius unit features multiple preset satellite stations, allowing the user to touch only one button to listen to music. It also touts the music notification system, where the user can instantly access the most recent song.
The MSRP for the Calypso is $199.99, the CLCK (Calypso car kit) is $99.99, the CLHK (Calypso home kit) is $99.99, and the boom box is $229.99.
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Syracuse, NY – Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University has recently joined America Online as a financial writer and expert commentator. He will be the resident Financial Expert for AOL Black Voices, the premier Black news website in America, with over 100,000 readers per day. Dr. Watkins has been on the faculty at Syracuse University for 8 years and has worked with many major media outlets, including CNN, BET, ESPN and CBS Sports. He is also the author of "Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good".
In his role with AOL Black Voices, Dr. Watkins will provide analysis on the economy, employment issues, celebrity finances, and money management. He will use his unique style of informative, compelling, yet down to earth financial analysis to promote financial literacy within the Black community. The site will syndicate his popular financial series' "Financial Lovemaking", co-hosted with S. Tia Brown (formerly a Senior Editor with "In Touch Weekly" Magazine) and "Get Your Paper Straight", a radio segment hosted with George Kilpatrick of Power 106.5 and WSYR radio.


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BBC News
- Immigration White Paper: Post-Brexit migration plans unveiled
- Brexit: 'Horrified' firms warn time is running out
- Processed meats and ready meals 'still too high in salt'
- Sports Personality 2018: Lewis Hamilton 'used wrong words'
- Millions 'will suffer without cash'
- Laughing gas laws not working, says ex-chief crown prosecutor
- Universities told to end 'spiralling' grade inflation
- 'Self-promoters' cheat the system at work
- National Action trial: Members of neo-Nazi group jailed
- Banning sweets at supermarket checkouts 'works'
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Man Utd appear to confirm Norwegian as interim manager in website post
- Christina Abbotts: Murder accused 'blames red mist'
- Dillian Whyte: 'Warrior' ready for Dereck Chisora rematch
- My filler was botched but now I love my natural lips
- Seal pups across the UK are 'at risk from toxic chemicals'
- Russian cargo ship runs aground in Cornwall
- Magician's tribute to Colchester Zoo's orangutan Rajang
- Jose Mourinho: How Manchester United manager's season collapsed
- Matthew Hedges: 'Mental scars will affect me for years'
- BBC News Channel
- Voice changes may show your date fancies you
- Mary Poppins Returns cast defend 'forgettable' songs
- Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'war footing' and 'the sacked one'
- 'Being called a mumpreneur is patronising'
- How MI5 phone-tapped Sylvia Pankhurst
- 2018 statistic of the year: Plastic waste fact tops list
- London killings: All the victims of 2018
- 'My Christmas parcel ended up being recycled'
- Sark: Ten years of democracy, but is it working?
- 'Why I tried to cut off my breast'
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Definitions of emerald
n. - A precious stone of a rich green color, a variety of beryl. See Beryl. 2
n. - A kind of type, in size between minion and nonpare/l. It is used by English printers. 2
a. - Of a rich green color, like that of the emerald. 2
The word "emerald" uses 7 letters: A D E E L M R.
No direct anagrams for emerald found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after emerald (in bold), or to adeelmr in any order:
i - remailed remedial n - aldermen o - remolade s - demersal emeralds t - trameled v - marveled
Shorter words found within emerald:
ad adeem ae al alder ale alee alme am ameer ar are arm armed dal dale dam dame dare de deal dealer dear dee deem deer del dele deme dere derm derma dermal dram dream dree ear eared earl ed edema eel el eld elder elm em eme er era ere la lad lade lader lam lame lamed lamer lar lard laree lea lead leader lear led lee leer ma mad made madre mae male mar mare marl marled me mead meal med medal medlar meed mel meld melder merde mere merl merle rad rale ram ramee re read real realm ream reamed red rede ree reed reel rem remade
List shorter words within emerald, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in emerald, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with emerald, words containing emerald or words ending with emerald
All words formed from emerald by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: em me er ra al ld
Browse words starting with emerald by next letter
Previous word in list: emends
Next word in list: emeralds
Some random words: efs oocyst phaeton aiglet niacin fyce luau
This is not a dictionary, it's a word game wordfinder.
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The aim was to create a freely available social network for ELT professionals offering mutual support and opportunities for Continuous Professional Development.
Now, every Wednesday at 19:00pm GMT or 21.00pm GMT, ELT teachers from all over the world log into their Twitter account and for one hour hold an online discussion on a topic they have selected.
To join in you just have to follow the hashtag #ELTChat. You'll see the conversation and anything you tag with #ELTChat will be part of it
If you already use a Twitter app like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can follow #ELTChat in there.
Every Saturday, one of the moderators will put up a blog post on the #ELTchat Blog asking teachers who follow #ELTchat to propose some topics for the next chats.
We then share it online and people can go to the post and suggest topics in the comments.
On Sunday evening, the moderators turn that into an online poll and everyone can vote on the website until Wednesday morning. The top two become this weeks #ELTChat.
#ELTchat followers are great at connecting through Social Networks! They meet on Twitter throughout the week but we also maintain a Facebook group, it's another great place to share links and continue the conversation outside Twitter.
Every month we publish a podcast featuring an interview with one of our followers, interviews with well-known ELT authors and a quick summary of the past month's #ELTChats (find all of them here)!


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Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Park[ing] Day this Friday, Santa Monica Spoke To Host Bike Valet And Pop Up Park At Swingers Diner
A substantial amount of land use and city resources are devoted to parking spaces, and because we have so many cars in America (more cars than we have drivers), finding places to put them becomes a hot button issue. However the implications of how our cities take shape around our parking policies, and the underlying economics, is something often not examined closely enough.
Above is the map I created documenting via google satellite data, the off-street land use that is exclusively parking in Santa Monica around the pier and downtown area. For a little more background on the significance of parking policy, here is one of my past posts digging into the topic.
Santa Monica Spoke will be hosting a combo of bike valet (with tools and air pump) and a pop up park on Broadway Ave. directly in front of Swingers. The general manager of Swingers was enthusiastic about the idea, and had requested bike parking from the city before with no success. So this Friday, starting early in the morning, and going into the early evening you can dine at Swingers with free bike valet (assuming we aren't shut down).
Exactly how late we operate may vary depending on how many volunteers we have, what the crowd is like, and if we get broken up by the authorities. So no more trying to wrap around a tree, no more bending over to attach to the bottom of a parking meter pole, no more bumping into guests on the patio trying to attach to the railing. Anyone will be welcome, including customers of Bay Cities a little further down the block, another highly popular business with no bike parking. Spoke has also secured a few goodies for a raffle, coupons for tune ups at REI and Cynergy, along with a few freebies. The local bike shop Cynergy Cycles, which also hosted the recent Bikeside Speaks & Disposable Film Festival event, is also sponsoring us with a roll of quarters to feed the parking meters. Woot!
I'll be out there passing out literature promoting the theories of famous parking economist and UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup, author of the book The High Cost of Free Parking.
For more information and a complete map of all the Park[ing] Day L.A. spaces, check out the Los Angeles Park[ing] Day website. There will be a number of other spaces scattered about, as well as some special events and after parties. Some group bike rides will also be cruising around to scope out some of the spots as well. Should be a fun day, and I know most people will be at work most of the day, but I hope some of you can make it out to the space, and I encourage people to frequent Swingers. One of our goals is to demonstrate that accommodating bicycling can drive local economic growth in a more sustainable way and with less land use and traffic impacts than car trips. We'll probably be able to fit at least 8-10 bikes in the space of a single car. I'm also a regular of Swingers my self for many years now, and have always been frustrated by the lack of bike parking in that part of town. It will be great to see that problem solved if only for a day.
at 11:23 PM Posted by Gary
1 comment:
- SoapBoxLA said...
I'll see you there!
- September 17, 2010 at 12:00 AM
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text: Supply chain management and the conflict minerals rules – action items for 2016 Corporate Governance Alert Share this 16 FEB 2016 Par: Sanjay M. Shirodkar Sarah E. Ritter In enacting Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress expressly stated its view that "the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals is helping to finance conflict characterized by extreme levels of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly sexual- and gender-based violence, and contributing to an emergency humanitarian situation therein." Responding to this humanitarian crisis, Congress directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt new disclosure requirements related to the use of "conflict minerals" originating in certain countries. This alert is a reminder about the importance of the rules and Form SD that the SEC has adopted relating to companies' uses of conflict minerals. The requirement to comply with the rules and use the form is already in effect. Compliance has been required since the year ending December 31, 2013, and affected issuers had to submit the initial Form SD by May 31, 2014. A key deadline for this year is approaching. Accountability and the supply chain Experts believe that in order to eventually ensure that products contain only minerals that are "conflict free" (the overarching goal of the Congressional mandate and the SEC rules), individual companies need to be held accountable for their actions. This accountability extends throughout a company's supply chain. As a foundation for this accountability, it is essential for companies to set a vision, create a team, and fund an appropriate budget to oversee their supply chain. The team should holistically manage supply-chain compliance and diligence. The goal is for the supply chain to be transparent enough so that each participant in it understands the requirements and identifies the risks applicable to that participant. Many companies have become leaders in this compliance, but that should be seen as an advantage, not a threat, to other companies in the same industry. Given the current business environment, it makes sense to view the conflict minerals rules as part of the inevitable evolution of industry customs, and as part of the way any company needs to manage its supply chain risks in the global economy. Preparing for the 2016 conflict minerals filing The SEC's conflict minerals rules require public companies to disclose information relating to conflict minerals (columbite-tantalite, also known as coltan, from which tantalum is derived; tin; gold; and tungsten; or their derivatives) contained in their products. For the calendar year 2015, companies subject to this rule have to file a Form SD with the SEC by May 31, 2016. In previous years, issuers were permitted to describe their products as "DRC conflict undeterminable" in the Form SD if they were unable to determine the source and chain of custody of conflict minerals in a product (including whether or not such conflict minerals came from the Democratic Republic of Congo or an adjoining country), or whether conflict minerals in the product financed or benefitted armed groups in those regions. Issuers using the "DRC conflict undeterminable" designation were required to file a Conflict Minerals Report (CMR), but were not required to obtain an Independent Private Sector Audit (IPSA) to assess the conflict minerals due diligence process employed by the issuer. Starting with Forms SD filed in 2016 with respect to calendar year 2015, issuers will no longer be permitted to use the "DRC conflict undeterminable" determination. For purposes of reporting in 2016, issuers must file a CMR as an exhibit to Form SD if they (1) are not a smaller reporting company and (2) are unable to determine that the conflict minerals contained in their products (a) did not originate in the DRC or an adjoining country, or (b) originated in the DRC or an adjoining country, but did not directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups. As a result of a 2014 court decision that partially vacated the conflict minerals rules, the SEC has advised that issuers are not required to describe their products as "DRC conflict free" or having "not been found to be 'DRC conflict free'" (however, as noted above, beginning with reports filed in 2016 for calendar year 2015, the "DRC conflict undeterminable" designation may no longer be used by companies, other than smaller reporting companies). Further, pursuant to interpretive guidance published by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance on April 29, 2014, an IPSA will not be required unless an issuer voluntarily elects to describe a product as "DRC conflict free." Action items For public companies subject to the rule, here are a few action items to consider with respect to their obligations for the filing due in 2016 related to conflict minerals. Review current conflict minerals compliance program, including confirming that supply chain diligence is current as of December 31, 2015. To the extent relevant to the company, review relevant NGO publications and emerging requirements in the EU and some US states and cities. Review prior Form SD filed by the company and its peer group competitors, with an emphasis on reviewing the supply chain diligence steps. Consider contacting an auditor about the cost, timing, and process of an IPSA, and consider obtaining an IPSA in 2016 for purposes of evaluating the due diligence process. Find out more about the conflict minerals rules and their meaning for your business and your supply chain by contacting the authors.


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Basques in the Atlantic World, 1450–1824
Xabier Lamikiz
Basques formed a minority ethnic group whose diaspora had a significant impact on the history of colonial Latin America. Basques from the four Spanish or peninsular Basque territories—the Lordship of Vizcaya, the provinces of Álava and Guipúzcoa, and the Kingdom of Navarra—migrated to the New World in significant numbers; the French Basques were also prominent in the Atlantic, particularly in the Newfoundland fisheries.
The population density of the Basque Atlantic valleys, which was the highest of any region in Spain, was an important factor that encouraged emigration. And, in response to demographic pressure, in the second half of the 15th century most villages and towns adopted an impartible inheritance system that compelled non-inheriting offspring to seek their fortunes outside the country. Castile was the immediate choice for the Basque émigré, but after 1492 America gradually became an attractive destination. Outside their home country, their unique language and sense of collective nobility (hidalguía universal) were to become two outstanding features of Basque cultural identity.
The Basques' share of total Spanish migration to the New World increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century. By the 18th century they were one of the largest and most influential peninsular regional groups in America. The typical Basque émigré was a young, single man aged between fifteen and thirty. In the New World they left their mark in economic activities that their countrymen had developed in their homeland for centuries: trade, navigation, shipbuilding, and mining. Furthermore, Basques' collective nobility and limpieza de sangre (blood purity) facilitated their access to important official positions.
Biography of a Colonial Document
Sylvia Sellers-García
What can we learn about the documents we work with if we incorporate a study of document creation, travel, and storage into the consideration of document content? Some well-known documents, such as the Popol Vuh, have backstories that reveal as much as their content. But even obscure documents, such as a dispute over a road detour in 18th-century Guatemala, can be read productively as objects with life trajectories. Understanding the "life" of this document—the world in which it was made, the tools and knowledge of its making, its travel while being written, its storage in colonial and national archives—sheds new light on its meaning. Similarly, all colonial documents can be interpreted in new ways if their lives are treated as part of the interpretation.
The Cádiz Constitution in the Atlantic World
Natalia Sobrevilla Perea
On 19 March 1812, representatives from across the Hispanic Monarchy put forward a constitution in the Spanish port city of Cádiz. This foundational document was a response to their king's abdication in favor of Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, obtained under pressure from invading French troops. The constitution aimed to address what they viewed as a lack of legitimacy because the monarch was captive, as the drafters expected it would be the basis of government in all the corners of the empire, from Madrid to Mexico and Manila. Written under the protection of the British fleet in the last bastion of the Peninsula that remained unoccupied, the constitution instituted a very extensive male suffrage, freedom of the press, national sovereignty, and the abolition of privileges for citizens from all parts of the vast empire. These measures were the reason why the men who debated the constitution were the first ones to be called liberal. The liberalism of the drafters at Cádiz must be considered in the context of the early nineteenth century. When in 1814 Ferdinand VII returned to Spain, he abolished the constitution. But in 1820 a mutiny of troops forced the king to accept it grudgingly. A constitutional monarchy was established lasting until 1823, when the so-called 100,000 sons of Saint Louis crossed from France to reinstate absolutism. This period came to be known as the Liberal Triennium. In 1836 the Progressives reinstated the Cádiz Constitution, albeit briefly when they passed a new charter in 1837.
Until quite recently there was very limited scholarship on the Cádiz Constitution in English, and, as Roberto Breña shows, even the literature in Spanish had been mostly limited to the study of the text itself and its impact in the peninsula. In the past decade, Atlantic history and studies on the Enlightenment's influence on revolution in general have led to renewed interest in the Spanish constitutional experience. The reevaluation of Spanish American independence movements in light of the Cádiz Constitution have also sparked debate among historians. François-Xavier Guerra (1992) and Jaime Rodriguez O. (1998)1 consider that it is impossible to understand the process of independence if attention is not paid to Cádiz and the enacting of the constitution. Guerra goes as far as to state that the election of deputies to Cortes was the revolution2 (1993) Bicentennial celebrations have led to a dramatic increase of publications on the constitution. Its importance, especially in influencing subsequent constitutions, is increasingly acknowledged today in academic circles.
In this article I will discuss the calling of the Cortes, the elections that brought representatives from all over the empire to Cádiz, the demands made from far-away provinces, and major issues discussed in the constitutional debates. I conclude by assessing the constitution's reception, as well as the way in which it influenced the advent of modernity in the Hispanic world and beyond. I begin by discussing the development of constitutional thinking in the late eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century. A revision of the events that led to the Peninsular War and the context in which the constitution was put forward follows. The article then analyzes the process through which the constitution was passed, the intellectual debates that surrounded it, the impact the charter had in the wider Atlantic world, as well as the role it played in the process of independence in Spanish America. Finally, it ends with a review of how liberalism developed in the Hispanic Monarchy and the long-lasting legacy of the Cádiz Constitution.
Chile and the Pacific World
Edward D. Melillo
Since the early 1800s, Chileans have imagined their nation's history and destiny through an ever-changing array of transoceanic connections with the rest of the planet. At a deeper level, Chile's relationship with the Pacific Ocean is built upon myriad collective memories and aspirational identities. The long arc of Chile's linkages with the Pacific World—or the peoples and ecosystems in and around the Pacific Ocean—has yet to be fully explored by historians. This article fills this lacuna by analyzing five diverse historical episodes that span more than two centuries: first, Valparaíso's growth into a Pacific commercial hub during the early 1800s; second, Chile's role in the Californian and Australian gold rushes of the mid-1800s; third, the Chilean victory in the late-19th-century War of the Pacific; fourth, Chile's burgeoning commercial relationship with China, which began in the years following the Second World War; and, finally, the emergence of a Chilean-Pacific variant of neoliberal ideology in the final decades of the 20th century. These five developments reveal a litany of ambiguities and antagonisms in Chile's complicated, ongoing association with its western ocean.
The Colonial Economy of New Spain
Jeremy Baskes
For three centuries New Spain was one of the great jewels of Spain's colonial empire, producing wealth for immigrants and the Crown. The brunt of the labor was performed by indigenous Mexicans, often under duress, but natives also succeeded in seizing opportunities to promote their interests. It is tempting to portray the economic history of Mexico as a simple story of domination of colonial subjects by their European rulers, and indeed historians have often resorted to this straightforward rendition. This article, while certainly presenting the conventional wisdom, presents a more complex story, highlighting debates among historians on a wide range of issues, from the experiences of indigenous people to the profitability of colonialism. What follows is a general presentation of New Spain's economy.
Competing Spanish and Indigenous Jurisdictions in Early Colonial Lima
Karen B. Graubart
Spanish legal organization required that political communities be represented by a concejo or cabildo, which used customary law to determine and enforce the common good. In the Spanish colonial world, this entailed vesting indigenous communities with jurisdiction and political representation, parallel to that of the municipal cabildo, which represented the common good of most Spanish citizens. Nevertheless, the supposed common good of indigenous and Spanish jurisdictions often intersected or contested one another. In these cases, agents of the Spanish Crown might intervene, or the parties might negotiate new relations. Because Andean cabildos were entreated not to keep minutes of their deliberations or actions, historians have had difficulty in recognizing the role of indigenous authorities in self-governance, and given more credence to the acts of Spanish cabildos and the Crown. But Indian cabildos and caciques took meaningful decisions within their communities, as demonstrated by moments where they came into conflict with Spanish authorities, and as inferred from a small number of documents available for the similar Mexican case.
Cultural Institutions of the Brazilian Empire
Lilia Katri Moritz Schwarcz
This article provides a larger panorama of the cultural politics of the Brazilian Empire during the 19th century and following the long Second Reign of Pedro II. The central figure of the emperor—as a kind of animator of cultural, scientific, and artistic life—and the conservative profile of the national movement are key issues. The article analyzes the development of the main professional schools of the country, which taught medicine (in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador) and law (in São Paulo and Recife), and also tells the story of the Historical and Geographical Institute and the origins of the museums of art in Rio de Janeiro, the former capital of the court, and scientific museums in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Belém.
The Culture of a Multi-Ethnic Colony
Sonya Lipsett-Rivera
The very nature of Spanish colonization meant that New Spain brought together people from different cultures, ethnicities, religions, and attitudes. Mexico City was the meeting place of all these various populaces. Before the conquest, Tenochtitlan had neighborhoods composed of residents from various parts of the empire. Apart from the many indigenous cultures, colonization also meant the addition of Spaniards, Africans, and Asians, some of whom were enslaved and others simply migrants. The result was a culture that expressed itself both in high and popular culture with a melding of elements—a joyous cacophony that reflected its mestizo nature. This culture was played out not only in institutional settings such as the viceregal court, ceremonies, the theater, and in church but also in the streets, parks, and taverns that dotted towns and cities. Although culture, to a certain extent, reflected New Spain's hierarchical nature, separation between high and low was never absolute. In the cathedral, as in many other institutions, popular pursuits and music infiltrated the formal singing. This pattern of cultural slippage prevailed within many areas of daily life as the colonial world of New Spain layered pastimes and pursuits from its many constituents.
Exile in 19th-Century Haiti
Matthew J. Smith
Of the many conditions pronounced that have been strongly featured in the Caribbean experience since the ending of slavery in the 19th century, exile ranks as one of the most profound. Its impact is far-reaching. The circumstances that encourage exile are well known and involve either a willful decision to leave one's country as a result of political and economic distress or a forced departure sanctioned by the state in an effort to quash internal dissent. There is also the case of political exile of state leaders who fall from grace, a situation associated more with Haiti than with other countries in the Caribbean. Whatever the reasons, exiles and refugees—like other migrants from the Caribbean—brought the Caribbean experience to wider attention. People from the islands surrounded by the Caribbean Sea have since the first days of colonial rule made of that sea a highway for travel to other places, an escape and entry into the wider Atlantic.
The personal impact of exile is manifest in several domains, but most obviously in Caribbean culture. The Rastafari faith in Jamaica has as one of its fundamental beliefs that blacks in the Caribbean are in a state of displacement, taken by force to an oppressive Babylon. The Rastafari desire for repatriation to Africa as necessary to bring to an end centuries of exilic life in the Caribbean is not uncommon, nor is their spiritual and cultural preoccupation with exile. Caribbean writers have consistently written about exile and a yearning to return to an imagined home: Barbadian writer George Lamming's The Pleasures of Exile, Martinican Aimé Césaire's Return to My Native Land, Jamaican Thomas MacDermot's poem "A Song for Exiles" (written under the name Tom Redcam), or Bob Marley's Exodus document the exile experience from several perspectives. Common to all these examples is a melancholic sense of rootlessness and guilt that exile creates among those who have left. There is also a persistent theme of the Caribbean exile as wanderer, moving in and out of different locations across the Atlantic while searching for both a spiritual and physical home and a rationale for their condition. It is a perceived inability to settle completely in a foreign country that produces this guilt. Bob Marley captured this perfectly in "Running Away," the most poignant of his songs recorded during his exile from Jamaica in 1977: "You must have done something wrong / Why you can't find a place where you belong?" which is followed later by the rationalization of the decision to leave—"It is better to live on the house top than in a house full of confusion."
The longing to return, whether to Africa, Europe, or Haiti, has been a constant theme in Haiti and the Caribbean, and it is linked to the long centuries of slavery. Metaphors of slavery and its associated sense of displacement are replete in the literature on exile not only in the 20th-century writings of Depestre, Dany Lafferière, Danticat, the art of Edouard Duval-Carrié, and the music of the Haitian diaspora, but also in references to the social conditions of the Caribbean's populations during the period of slavery. If exile has been a persistent theme in Caribbean history, popping in and out of narratives of the nation at various points on a temporal map of the region, in Haiti it has been woven completely into the fabric of Haitian national history. Exile has always carried a powerful resonance in Haitian culture because it has been a pervasive aspect of Haitian political life. Twentieth-century cultural references to exile and displacement are numerous. In the decades since the coming to power of François Duvalier in 1957, which precipitated mass migration from the island, the theme of exile has been consistently and most powerfully articulated by Haitian writers and singers. From Réne Depestre's famous poem "Exile," in which he compared the country itself to a departure gate in an airport with people waiting to leave, to Edwidge Danticat's novels, the theme is ever-present. Rodrigue Milien's painful song of exile in the Duvalier years, "Nostalgie," sung in both Creole and English, poignantly captured the loneliness of the Haitian exile: "When someone leaves his country far away and life is mistreating you and you want to kill yourself … take me back to Haiti, take me back to Haiti."
This article considers the roots of exile in Haiti's long 19th century, which Haitian scholar Patrick Bellegarde-Smith has suggested began with independence in 1804 and ended with U.S. military occupation in 1915, through the personal experiences and writings of three prominent 19th-century exiles: Joseph Balthazar Inginac (Mémoires, 1843), Edmond Paul (Les causes de nos malheurs, 1882), and Anténor Firmin (Lettres de Saint-Thomas, 1910). None of these men were ever president of Haiti, but they all wielded political and intellectual influence. Common to all three was their forced departure from Haiti for political reasons. They each settled in locations across the Caribbean at different times. Notably, none of these writers settled in North America or Europe. From afar they wrote extensively on Haiti's predicament and the impact of exile on Haiti and their personal lives. Through a reading of their experiences in exile it is possible to arrive at a fresh perspective of the place of exile in the unfolding of Haiti's post-independence development.
Foreign Travelers in Mexico
James A. Garza
The history of foreign travel to Mexico has been dependent on the country's political, economic, and social conditions. Travel restrictions, banditry, the condition of transportation routes and ports, political stability, revolution, and the development of a tourist industry have all played a role in how travelers have written about Mexico. Despite periodic challenges, Mexico has proven to be an alluring destination for foreign travelers since the colonial era. Men and women have journeyed to Mexico for different reasons, some on official business and others for pleasure or to escape their lives back home, and in turn have produced numerous accounts that have served to attract more visitors and have functioned as a valuable source of information on the everyday life of Mexico's peoples. Still others have traveled to Mexico for conquest, and while their motivations were violent, their journals have served as a guide for those interested in retracing the same routes. Travelers have depicted landscapes, communities, peoples, and practices; offered insight into important historic periods; and depicted Mexico as exotic, bountiful, primitive, or dangerous.
This historical topic is divided into three distinct eras: the colonial period, the 19th century, and the 20th century. The Spanish Crown restricted foreign travel to Mexico during the colonial era (1521–1821), resulting in the relative scarcity of accounts from the period. Foreign travelers during this period were conquistadors, clerics, officials, or explorers, all with varying degrees of literacy. During the 19th century, foreign travelers came in three overlapping waves: the early republic era (1821–1840), when most were either investors or diplomats; the middle period (1830–1870), an era dominated by soldiers, travelers, and archeologists; and the Porfiriato (1876–1911), when investors and wealthy tourists flooded Mexico. The 1910 Mexican Revolution marks the beginning of Mexico's 20th century and two distinct periods of foreign travel, both influenced by state power and violence. The revolutionary and state-building era (1910–1946) saw foreign travelers as primarily war journalists and writers exploring the effects of the revolution's social and cultural measures. After World War II, foreign travelers encountered the tourism era (1946–1968), a period under the influence of a burgeoning state tourism industry. Despite this challenge, travelers, many of them writers, carved out their own niches.
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6:00 am
Sesame Street "The Rainbow Show" Elmo is drawing when he looks up in the sky and sees a rainbow! Wow! Elmo rushes to show everybody, but when Rosita arrives, the rainbow has disappeared. Elmo asks Leela if there is something he can do to bring the rainbow back. Leela offers to draw a picture of a rainbow. D
7:00 am
Curious George "Trader George/One in a Million Chameleon" Trader George - George has a new hobby - collecting interestingly shaped sticks with his squeaky, rolling cart. When he encounters Allie selling fresh apple cider, he trades his cart for a gallon, but later regrets his decision. He offers to trade a jar of sauerkraut to Allie in return for the cart, but Allie already traded it to Vicki. D
7:30 am
Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! "Amazing Eyes/Water Walkers" Amazing Eyes - Sally and Nick are trying to guess which game Harvey the guinea pig might like to play with them. The Cat takes them to meet his friend Katie the Cavy, a wild guinea pig. But when they try to ask her, she playfully runs off! With the help of three different animals with very different ways of seeing, they finally find Katie and discover a guinea pig's favourite game - hide and seek! Water Walkers - Nick and Sally are waiting for Mom to come back so they can play in the pool. D
8:00 am
Super Why! "The Three Little Pigs" Jill keeps knocking down Pig's tower and he wants her to stop! The Super Readers fly into the Three Little Pigs story and come face to face with the Big Bad Wolf himself. After all, he knows a thing or two about knocking things down. When all the huffing and puffing dies down, Pig learns an important lesson about friendship.G
8:30 am
Dinosaur Train "The Forest Fire/The Lost Bird" When a forest fire comes to woods not far from the family nest at Pteranodon Terrace, the family takes the Dinosaur Train to visit a nearby area where a fire has already been, and the Conductor leads the kids on a Nature Tracker hike through the woods to see how new life is growing back - even after the forest fire's devastation. Buddy and Tiny ride the Dinosaur Train for a playdate with their old friend Petey Peteinosaurus, and learn that the train has added a new Aviary Car, for their various flying passengers. Suddenly, they are joined by a lost bird named Judy Jehelornis, who was displaced by the recent forest fires, and can't remember where her home is. D
9:00 am
The Electric Company "The Potato Custom" Jessica is named Junior Ambassador to the planet Skelecki, that is, until she makes an intergalactic faux pas. D
9:30 am
Wild Kratts "Octopus Wildkratticus" When Martin accidentally knocks Aviva's creature power suits into a deep Arctic trench, the Martin and Chris dive down in search of them in Aviva's newly invented Octopod submarine. Science Concepts: An Octopus can use ink, jet propulsion, tentacle regeneration, and camouflage in order to escape or hide when in danger. Each feature has an important function for survival. D
10:00 am
WordWorld "Castles in the Sea/Get Your Coat" Castles in the Sea: While playing in the sand on the beach, Duck and Shark discover the perfect home for Shark: a sand castle! But why, oh why, does it disappear every night while Shark is sleeping? When the WordFriends try to hunt down the castle thief, they learn about tides and waves.from a singing Crab. Get Your Coat: Duck thinks Frog doesn't want to play in the rain because Duck accidentally broke Frog's boat. D
10:30 am
WordGirl "Granny Mayor/Tobey Goes Good" Granny Mayor - Granny May uses her wily ways to become the Mayor's Senior Aide. WordGirl has to help the Mayor see past her "nice old lady" act to stop him from signing laws which actually help villains commit more crimes. Tobey Goes Good - In order to win WordGirl's heart Tobey decides enters "The Young Inventors Challenge and Friendly Competition. D
11:00 am
Outdoor Idaho "Seeking Refuge" Nature's scenes and sounds are captured on film in Idaho's six natural wildlife refuges. Hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, plus more who find nesting sites in the refuges, also attract birdwatchers, scientists and others to these special places.G
11:30 am
Mexico -- One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless "Cooking on the Sea of Cortez" Rick is always up for a cooking challenge. After a day spent boating and kayaking on the Sea of Cortez with a local ecotourism group, Rick grills dinner for the group on the beach at Espiritu Santo Island - one of the most biologically diverse marine areas in the world. The waters surrounding the island support coral reefs, colonies of sea lions and more than 500 species of fish. D
12:00 pm
Katie Brown Workshop "Best of Gifts" In these "best-of" segments taken from previous seasons, host Katie Brown demonstrates her favorite homemade gifts to give and receive. In the Kitchen: designer breadsticks, matzo ball soup, Katie's truffles. Projects: putting together a welcome basket for a neighbor and personalizing planters with photos. D
12:30 pm
Paint This With Jerry Yarnell "Kim, Part 2" Having completed the basic under painting, Jerry can now start to shape the figure. This is done by adding the next layer of highlighting as well as using loose strokes to form shadow areas. Jerry continues to work throughout the painting adding highlights and shadows where appropriate. D
1:00 pm
Essential Pepin "Sweet Endings" Chocolate Mint Truffettes; Quick Almond And Plum Cake; Tuiles A L'orange; Summer Cornets Susie. D
1:30 pm
Burt Wolf: Travels & Traditions "Taipei" Burt tours the city's night market, visits traditional shops and the weekend jewelry market. He also learns about Chinese medicine.G
2:00 pm
Dialogue "Life on the River of No Return" Host Marcia Franklin interviews Isaac and Bjornen Babcock, husband and wife filmmakers from McCall, about their NATURE documentary River of No Return. The couple, who spent more than a year in Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, discuss the making of the film, some of the highlights of their adventure, and some of the challenges they faced.G
2:30 pm
MotorWeek "$16k Subcompact Shootout" Road Test: $16K Subcompact Shootout. Road Test: 2012 BMW 3-Series. Goss' Garage: Clock Springs & Airbags. D
3:00 pm
America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated "Salmon and Sole" Host Christopher Kimball visits a Boston fishmonger to discover the truth about farm-raised salmon. Then, test cook Julia Collin Davison shows Chris how to make perfect Glazed Salmon. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of tuna. D
3:30 pm
Painting and Travel with Roger & Sarah Bansemer "Amish Farm" Roger and Sarah visit Amish country. Roger paints an Amish barn and Sarah talks with an Amish farmer about their lifestyle at the farmers market in Shipshewana, Indiana. D
4:00 pm
Globe Trekker "West Texas" In the state capital of Austin, Zay Harding explores everything from rattlesnake hotdogs to bingo with chickens. He checks out the Alamo at San Antonio, spends a night in a haunted hotel and travels to El Paso where he treks into the desert along the old Butterfield trail. He follows Route 66 in a 1960s Mustang and competes in Amarillo's steak-eating challenge.G
5:00 pm
Song of the Mountains Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. D
6:00 pm
Austin City Limits "John Legend & The Roots" The performance is a mix of mostly 1970s soul covers and a few originals. "Captain" Kirk Douglas has a blistering guitar solo at the end of the Bill Withers cover "I Can't Write Left Handed."G
7:00 pm
Circus Dreams Step into the world of Circus Smirkus, the only traveling youth circus in the United States. Follow a group of talented teens, ages 12 to 18, as they audition, rehearse and take to the road for a summer of performances. There are comments from many of the 27 kids with the circus but the film closely follows a 12-year-old dancer/aerialist, a shy stick-juggling boy, and two girl clowns.G
8:30 pm
Music Voyager "Nashville: Music City" Known as the capital of country music, Nashville also is home to some of the world's top singer-songwriters and rock and pop bands. Host Jacob Edgar receives a personal tour of Nashville's iconic Grand Ole Opry by country superstar Vince Gill. Then, he sees Elizabeth Miller perform at a funky bar in East Nashville, the bohemian district home to many of the city's musicians. D
9:00 pm
Song of the Mountains Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. D
10:00 pm
Austin City Limits "John Legend & The Roots" The performance is a mix of mostly 1970s soul covers and a few originals. "Captain" Kirk Douglas has a blistering guitar solo at the end of the Bill Withers cover "I Can't Write Left Handed."G
11:00 pm
Circus Dreams Step into the world of Circus Smirkus, the only traveling youth circus in the United States. Follow a group of talented teens, ages 12 to 18, as they audition, rehearse and take to the road for a summer of performances. There are comments from many of the 27 kids with the circus but the film closely follows a 12-year-old dancer/aerialist, a shy stick-juggling boy, and two girl clowns.G


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 25th Jan 2012 22:49 UTC, submitted by fran
"HP today began executing its plan to deliver an open webOS by committing to a schedule for making the platform's source code available under an open source license. The company aims to complete this milestone in its entirety by September. HP also announced it is releasing version 2.0 of webOS's innovative developer tool, Enyo. Enyo 2.0 enables developers to write a single application that works across mobile devices and desktop web browsers, from the webOS, iOS and Android platforms to the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers - and more. The source code for Enyo is available today, giving the open source community immediate access to the acclaimed application framework for webOS."
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Big Agenda
by dionicio on Thu 26th Jan 2012 00:05 UTC
RE: Big Agenda
by ricegf on Thu 26th Jan 2012 12:16 in reply to "Big Agenda"


text:
No to pork checkoff, yes to beef checkoff
Three announcements, all within a week of each other, left the nation's livestock producers shaking their heads. First, USDA announced that the mandatory pork checkoff will be shut down in March because it did not garner enough votes from pork producers to pass. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman called for the referendum even though the petition drive seeking the referendum did not accumulate enough valid signatures to hold the vote.
One week later, USDA announced that the national mandatory beef checkoff will not be submitted to a referendum. The petition drive seeking the referendum did not gather enough valid signatures.
In still another development, USDA announced it will give $100 million over three years for the promotion of the U.S. sheep and lamb industry.
No doubt livestock producers are wondering what message Glickman was sending before his exit from office.
Pork checkoff. The mandatory pork checkoff, in effect since 1985, lost the national referendum with 15,951 votes opposing it and 14,396 supporting it. The checkoff collected about $54 million in 2000.
However, the battle over the referendum is not over. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) obtained a temporary restraining order that preserved the checkoff until a hearing could be held in federal court. NPPC contends that USDA acted unlawfully in holding the binding referendum because not enough signatures were received to automatically call for the referendum according to the rules of the Pork Act. The Michigan Pork Producers Association and independent pork producers had joined the legal action.
NPPC reports there are other problems with the referendum. A recent press release from the council stated that USDA ran the referendum in a manner that was filled with irregularities, that failed to apply consistent standards or to count all lawfully cast ballots.
Meanwhile, a few states such as Iowa still have mandatory state pork checkoffs that will kick in with some legislative action when the national program closes. These checkoffs were approved before the national checkoff. Iowa's checkoff level is $0.25/$100 value.
With the national checkoff gone, pork producer programs such as the Pork Quality Assurance program and the free environmental assessments are in jeopardy.
Disbanding the mandatory pork checkoff will save the nation's largest hog producer, Smithfield Foods, about $7 million/yr., whereas the 77,000 smallest hog farms will save just $305/yr. in checkoff fees. The largest 250 hog farms will save an average $106,000/yr.
Beef checkoff. Glickman did not call for a beef referendum when too few signatures were collected asking for a vote on that national checkoff program. Only 83,464 valid signatures were collected, and 107,833 signatures were needed for the vote. The beef checkoff, authorized in 1985, collects $1/cow and raises about $80 million/yr.
I find it highly ironic that through an outside vendor, USDA used the same method to verify petition signatures for the beef referendum as the pork, yet in the beef petition decided to follow the law, states Craig Jarolimek, NPPC president.
Lamb promotion. The lamb and sheep industry, which does not have a national checkoff, will receive $100 million from USDA over three years. The infusion of cash will go for grants to shore up marketing and promotion efforts. -Karen McMahon
Sell CRP payments for fast cash
Did your neighbor's 80-acre field just come up for sale and you need cash for the down payment fast? You might try selling your future CRP payments to Heartland Capital Funding to finance the deal. The Burnsville, MN, financier will buy up to 80% of your CRP payments, paying cash immediately.
Purchasing CRP payments since 1997, Heartland now has a Web site for fast online bids. The company turns applications and payments around in one week, according to company president March Wallskog. So far, the company has paid nearly $7 million for CRP payments.
Here's how the bid system works: A grower holds a 10-year CRP contract for annual payments of $25,000. In mid-January for a three-year bid, Heartland offers $46,386 for three payments of $20,000 with the grower still collecting $5,000 a year. The bid for five years' worth of $20,000 CRP payments is $68,111 with the grower collecting $5,000 a year. A seven-year bid is $83,970, and a nine-year bid is $95,741.
In addition, Heartland is setting up an affiliate program to provide referral fees for closed deals.
The company purchases other structured settlements such as lotteries, attorney's fees and seller-financed mortgages. For more information, call Heartland Capital Funding Inc. at 800/897-9825 or check its Web site at www.CRPquote.com.
Tractor sales up
Sales of tractors and combines increased in 2000, compared with 1999. According to the Equipment Manufacturers Institute (EMI), tractor sales jumped 9.1% last year and combine sales increased 4.1%.
EMI manufacturing members reported a total of 152,080 tractors sold in 2000, compared to 139,428 in 1999. A breakdown of the 2000 tractor sales includes 3,069 4-wd tractors, 15,662 tractors with 2-wd and at least 100 hp, 50,182 tractors with 2-wd and 40 to 100 hp, and another 83,167 tractors with 2-wd and less than 40 hp. The EMI members reported 5,663 combines sold in 2000 compared to 5,442 in 1999.
Land rents stable
Wonder what other growers are paying for rent? An annual survey of more than 2,000 growers in south-central Minnesota reveals a stable land rent arena for 2001. Growers from six highly productive counties report they expect to pay about the same rent this year as last year. The anticipated rents average $93.79 to $108.11/acre. In 2000, actual rents ranged from $93.56 to $108.15/acre. Rent in five of the six counties has been more than $100/acre since 1997.
Here's a breakdown of the average rents for each of the six counties with the 2000 rents listed first and the expected rents for 2001 second:
Blue Earth: $104.02 and $104.11
Fairbault: $108.15 and $108.11
Le Sueur: $93.56 and $93.79
Nicollet: $104.95 and $105.10
Sibley: $100.89 and $101.89
Waseca: $105.55 and $105.45
Rewards program grows
Growers involved in the BASF Harvest Partners rewards program may now receive credits for select products from Aventis Crop Science in addition to those from BASF and Syngenta. Aventis recently joined the BASF preferred customer program. However, each company will have separate promotions based on eligible products and services. Harvest Partners operates a Web site that allows members to check point balances and redeem points online.
Biotech notification
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a rule for handling food developed through biotechnology. The proposed rule requires food developers to notify FDA about an intent to market a food or animal feed developed through biotechnology. The company must provide information that demonstrates the product is as safe as conventional counterparts. The rule will make mandatory what is now a voluntary procedure. So far, all biotech food and feed products marketed in the U.S. have gone through the voluntary program before entering the marketplace.
e buying
Price N online
Find your best fertilizer deal online. Real-time fertilizer pricing is now available on Powerfarm.com from Powerfarm Inc., a subsidiary of Ag Services of America.
Farm Ebay
So you've checked 10 ag sites and still can't find the tool, tractor or farm memorabilia you're searching for? Try the granddaddy of all online auctions, Ebay.com. Independent sellers from around the world, and maybe just down the road, are busy selling just about anything you need. Typing in farm on the Ebay search engine recently turned up more than 2,000 items for sale.
Astroturf online
Whether it's a discussion about feed, herbicides, seed or machinery, anyone who has visited an online chat group has probably wondered if some of those glowing product testimonials might be from a company-paid public relations professional masquerading as a farmer. While there's little proof of any ag-related company actively engaged in such activity, we can take a look at how it's happening in other industries. Several PR agencies now specialize in staged grassroots campaigns known as astroturfing.
Last November, Wired magazine reported that one PR agency, called M80 Direct Marketing (www.m80im.com), organizes hordes of teenage music fans to flood chat groups, conduct Web reconnaissance or send requests to MTV for music by their favorite star. So keep your radar up if you suddenly start seeing e-mails extolling the virtues of Britney Spears, a particular farm product, or, for that matter, Orion Samuelson.