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Ovechkin, Caps look to build off Game 5 momentum against FlyersNHL.com @NHLdotcom
VOORHEES, N.J. - Alex Ovechkin has at least one more game to play up to his "Alexander the Great" nickname.
The Philadelphia Flyers don't want to give the Capitals star forward any more chances to rediscover his scoring touch. That's why the Flyers are treating Monday night's Game 6 like a decisive seventh game: Win at home, advance to the next round, and not have to worry about Ovechkin having a breakout game Tuesday night in Washington.
"We've got two shots at it, but it's pretty close to a must win," Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul said on Sunday. "I don't think we were prepared for how hard (the Capitals) were going to come out with their backs against the wall as we should have been."
The Flyers, who hold a 3-2 series lead, know they wasted a great shot at eliminating the Capitals in Game 5 on Saturday. They started slow, never really picked up the pace until the third period and lost 3-2.
"I think (Saturday) we were a little more confident than we should have been," said Flyers centre Danny Briere.
The Capitals won again without a goal or assist from Ovechkin, the NHL's regular-season leading scorer. He only has one goal and four assists in the series, but played perhaps his best all-around game on Saturday. Ovechkin's shifts were shorter, he created better looks (six shots) at the net, and drew a timely hooking penalty that allowed the Caps to score on a 5-on-3 advantage. Toss in a nice hip-check on Jim Dowd and Ovechkin contributed in more ways without the puck than he had in any of the other first four games.
"In the past, when you stop Alex, you stop the team. I don't think that's so now," said centre Brooks Laich.
True, but the kind of game from Ovechkin where he stuffs the scoresheet could be what the Capitals need to send the series back to Washington for a potential Game 7.
"People expect him to have two goals every game. It doesn't happen," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau. "He can contribute in many ways."
That is exactly what concerns the Flyers. Coach John Stevens was unhappy with the Flyers' effort for most of the first two periods and wants them to compete harder for the puck from the first faceoff of Game 6.
While the Capitals controlled the puck and outplayed the Flyers for long stretches in the first two periods, the Flyers hustled in the third period and nearly tied the game in the waning minutes. Stevens, though, didn't necessarily feel like the Flyers were in trouble heading back to Philadelphia to try and wrap up there series in front of a wild home crowd. The key is to win the series, not every game.
"I felt like I was playing pingpong where you had to win by two," Stevens said. "If you didn't win by two, you couldn't win the series. It's not as if Washington is a bad team and we should have rolled them over in four straight."
The Flyers will attempt to clinch their first post-season series victory since 2004 without veteran right winger Mike Knuble. Knuble, who scored the double overtime winner in Game 4, sustained a partial tear of his left hamstring and will miss the rest of the series. Knuble tumbled to the ice in a moment of indecision over whether to try to block a shot late in the second period and did not return.
"I take pride in being a player that's in the lineup a lot," Knuble said. "To have something like this take you out, and you pretty much did it to yourself, is the frustrating part."
The Flyers are used to playing without their top players in the lineup. Simon Gagne, Derian Hatcher and Mike Richards are among the key Flyers who missed long stretches of the season and they always got by fine.
Knuble had 29 goals and 26 assists during the regular season, and two goals and three assists against the Capitals.
Knuble and Scottie Upshall were the forwards on a line with centre Jeff Carter, a line that produced three of the four goals in a Game 4 win.
R.J. Umberger, who had 13 goals and 50 points this season, is a likely option to fill Knuble's spot, especially on the power play.
"This is my chance to play my best hockey," Umberger said.
The Flyers know it's the same attitude for Ovechkin, too.
"Now we're getting closer to facing elimination," Briere said. "You should expect to see two teams that are going to push extremely hard."
- -
AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Arlington, Va. contributed to this report.


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A fine line exists between satire and bad taste. Mel Brooks danced up
to that line with his "Springtime for Hitler and Germany" in "The
Producers." And, every night, comedian pundits like Jon Stewart
(www.thedailyshow.com) and Stephen Colbert (www.colbertnation.com) use
the politics of comedy and the comedy of politics as they laugh all
the way to the bank.
I make my living off the evening news, as the song says, in a newsroom
where it helps to have the maturity level of a 14-year-old boy. I say
this to give context to the following train of thought from earlier in
the week.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who more and more looks like a
drowning man clinging to an anchor, came under ridicule when he noted
the events surrounding the murder of U.S. embassy personnel in Libya
last year happened a long time ago.
Of course, my twisted mind filled in the rest of that comment with the
phrase "in a galaxy far, far away."
Then my mind jumped to the phrase "may the farce be with you."
And that, my friends, just about sums up what has been coming out of
Washington over the past week: the farce of politics and comedy.
This week started with a paper trail detailing how the Obama
Administration changed the story about that deadly attack on the U.S.
embassy outpost in Benghazi. If you are the president, you know things
are not going well when you start sounding like Bill Clinton defining
what the meaning of the word "is" is.
"There is no there, there," Mr. Obama told reporters with a straight face.
Then came word the Internal Revenue Service (www.irs.gov) may have
targeted conservative, tea party, and pro-Israel groups during the
application process for 501(c) (4) tax-exempt status, which prompted
this POTUS response: "People have got to be held accountable and it's
gotta be fixed."
Excuse us, Mr. President, but isn't that a given? How about givin' us
something more?
Well, we got more when the IRS said two rogue employees in the
Cincinnati office were "overly aggressive" in handling the
applications. Former acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller is said to
have told congressional investigators the two rogues were not the only
ones involved.
Miller also told investigators, before he resigned, the rogues were
"off the reservation", a phrase sure to please the Native American
population, and one guaranteed to force his resignation if he were a
It appears any organization with the words "tea party" and/or
"patriots" in its name was not the only target of the "Illegal"
Revenue Service.
A Huffington Post story
during the presidential campaign may have used information leaked by
the IRS to connect a Romney political action committee to an anti-gay
marriage group.
Franklin Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
(www.billygraham.org), shared with Politico a letter
(http://images.politico.com/global/2013/05/14/130514_graham.html) he
wrote to President Obama complaining the IRS came after the
association because it supported a North Carolina constitutional
amendment banning gay marriage.
Late Monday, the Associated Press (www.ap.org) said it was the target
of a massive data harvest by the Department of Justice (www.doj.gov).
AP says DOJ took two months of phone records from offices in New York,
Washington, and Hartford, Conn., and from the phones in the House of
Representatives (www.house.gov) press gallery. The DOJ probe involved
more than 100 reporters and editors, and in some cases, logs from
their personal cell and home phones.
The government wanted to find out who leaked the sensitive information
that led to a story that broke in May 2012 about a mole in Al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula who thwarted a bomb attack.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the DOJ action was (wait for it) a
matter of national security. The story, he said "put the American
people at risk, and trying to determine who was responsible for that,
I think required very aggressive action."
Call me mad, call me crazy (just don't call me from an AP phone), but
if an AP reporter can verify a terrorist mole, is it not possible the
terrorists already fingered him? Maybe the Department of Homeland
Security (www.dhs.gov) should forget the usual intelligence-gathering
methods and just consult with wire-service reporters.
But Uncle Sam is not the only snoop, dog.
Last week, Bloomberg (www.bloomberg.com) added to the seemingly
endless parade of farce by admitting its journalists used Bloomberg
market-data terminals to spy on Bloomberg's financial clients. They
not only spied on Wall Street bankers, they also spied on Federal
Reserve (www.federalreserve.gov) chairman Ben Bernanke and former
Treasury (www.treasury.gov) secretary Tim Geithner.
It's kind of hard for journalists to stay on their high horse when
they are also slogging through the mud.
And we still have the rest of the week ahead. May the farce stop being with us.
John David Powell writes his Lone Star Award winning columns from
ShadeyHill Ranch in Texas.


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For nearly 150 years the world-renowned beer manufacturer Anheuser-Busch was a family company. It was passed from father to son for five generations. A couple drops of Budweiser were put onto the tongue of each first-born son before he even tasted his mother's milk. That trademark brew, Budweiser, is known to the world as the "King of Beers," and the Busch family wasn't too far from American royalty.
William Knoedelseder, the author of Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's King of Beer, spoke with NPR's Guy Raz about the family and their company.
The story begins in 1857 when a young man, Adolphus Busch, came to St. Louis from Germany. With his meager inheritance — he was one of 22 children — he bought a brewery supply company. Making beer was something that he knew how to do, and could do well.
Ebert Anheuser, on the other hand, couldn't. He was one of Busch's buyers and was a wealthy soap manufacturer who'd come into owning a failing brewery. The Bavarian Brewing Co. produced such horribly tasting beer that "people would spit it back across the bar at bartenders," Knoedelseder says.
Eventually Busch took over the company, changed the recipe, changed the name, and Anheuser-Busch was born.
Busch took that failure of a local brewery and turned it into a national brand of beer. "He was vertically integrated before there was a name for it," Knoedelseder says. Busch was the first person to pasteurize beer so that it would stay fresh on cross-country trips. He also owned the company that built the railroad cars that transported his beer. He owned the company that made his bottles. He even owned a coal mine that fired his plant.
The brand took off. Beer became the national drink, and Anheuser-Busch was reeling in the profits, "They were selling a million barrels a year, which was just unthinkable back then," says Knoedelseder.
Soon, though, prohibition, not alcohol, was on the lips of Americans. Busch launched pre-prohibition ad campaigns to try to curb the movement. Taglines read, "Budweiser Spells Temperance." He claimed the beer was a "light, happy" beverage.
When meeting the president at a political function, Busch launched into a 30-minute lecture about the dangers of the impending prohibition. He would stop at nothing, but his worst nightmare was upon him. His only product was now illegal to sell in the United States.
His son, August Anheuser-Busch, or August A., floated the company through prohibition by selling the raw ingredients instead of the full product. "It wasn't illegal to sell the ingredients, it was illegal to assemble them," Knoedelseder explains. "Their yeast profits saved the company. That was the cash engine that was able to keep the company open."
Prohibition wiped out most of Anhesuser-Busch's competition, but as Knoedelseder points out, August A. was able to keep 2,000 people working and they were poised to forge ahead as the leading American manufacturer of beer — now legal!
For two more generations, ambitious Busch sons pushed the company to international beer power, but it wasn't without trial. The next 75 years were mired in family struggles for power, unexpected deaths, drug addiction, alcoholism and more.
In 2008 Anheuser-Busch was a $19-billion-a-year Fortune 500 company and still operating as a family business. August IV, the great-great-grandson of Aldolphus, and then-CEO, showed up to speak at a beer industry convention but he couldn't seem to get a word out. "He's stoned, he's loaded, he cannot deliver the speech," Knoedelser says. Just a few weeks later, it all came crashing down.
InBev, a company that had not existed four years before, moved in for a hostile takeover, and with that, the reign of the Busch family was over.
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
The Busch family of St. Louis is about as close to royalty as it gets in that city. For nearly 150 years, the beer they produce, Budweiser, was known as the king of beers. But the story of the Busch family reads almost like a Shakespearean drama full of intrigue, betrayal and eventually collapse.
Bill Knoedelseder tells that story in his new book about the family. It's called "Bitter Brew." And in it, he traces the origins of Anheuser-Busch back to the middle of the 19th century and its founder, a young German émigré named Adolphus Busch.
BILL KNOEDELSEDER: He was an 18-year-old German immigrant from a large family in Germany - one of 22 children. He arrived in St. Louis in 1857. He stepped off a steamboat and took the first steps toward building what would be the world's largest brewery. At the time, there were 40 breweries in St. Louis.
RAZ: Forty in St. Louis.
KNOEDELSEDER: Forty in St. Louis. That's kind of how it was.
RAZ: And St. Louis was a particularly German city.
KNOEDELSEDER: And they did what they knew how to do. They built breweries. At the time, America was a whiskey drinking country, and they built breweries to satisfy the thirst of those people.
RAZ: So here you have this young man - he's in St. Louis - he knows how to brew beer. He's got a little bit of money, and, as you write, he buys a brewery supply business first.
KNOEDELSEDER: Right. And he supplies one very bad brewery called Bavarian Brewery, which was owned by Anheuser - who was a soap manufacturer - who had acquired it, the brewery, in a defaulted debt. And he was not a brewer. And he had this brewery there that made terrible-tasting beer. And, you know, the people would spit it back across the bar, you know, at the bartenders.
And he married Anheuser's daughter, and Anheuser sort of brought him in. He had - Anheuser had built up a debt to him, so he, in exchange for Busch forgiving the debt that he owed - for supplies and stuff like that - he cut him in with shares. Adolphus proved to be a very smart salesman, a very good salesman, and he sort of took over the running of the brewery and the rest is history.
RAZ: I mean, that became Anheuser-Busch.
KNOEDELSEDER: That became Anheuser-Busch. One of the first things he did was get a good recipe for beer, which he acquired through a friend from some monks that made this particular beer in Bohemia in this region called Budweis, and he then proceeded to outthink everybody else. At the time, you brewed beer, it was all consumed locally. I mean, the brewing, it was almost hyperlocal. It was by neighborhood because you couldn't store beer very long.
And he read about the pasteurization of wine and thought, hmm, I bet you could do that with beer. And he was the first person to pasteurize beer so that he could store it longer, he could put it on railroad cars. He thereby built the first national brand of beer. He figured out that, well, you know, I should own the company that builds the railroad cars. I should own the company that makes the bottles that we're putting it in.
He bought a couple of coal mines on the other side of the river from St. Louis that would fire his plant, and he was vertically integrated before there was a name for it.
RAZ: This company was run by five generations of Busches, starting with Adolphus. And as anyone who reads your book will discover, it reads like a Shakespearean tale, a pretty unbelievably scandalous story throughout this book.
KNOEDELSEDER: Right. Exactly.
RAZ: But I want to start by asking about his son August Anheuser. He was the guy who kind of really made this company explode.
KNOEDELSEDER: He saved the company - he kept the company afloat during, you know, Prohibition, World War I and the Depression, which is just astonishing that you could do that. Very few others lasted, and their yeast profits saved the company. That was the cash engine that kept the company open during the Depression. He was able to keep 2,000 people working at a time when the breweries in St. Louis was wiped out. So when Prohibition ended then, they still had some money. They were in a good position, and all the competition was gone.
RAZ: His son, one of his sons, known as Gussy, he sort of pushed his older brother aside to take over the company. He became the sort of legendary, dominating figure for the next, what, half-century.
KNOEDELSEDER: Oh, yeah. He was the - he is the beer baron, and he was also a really larger-than-life character - outspoken, crude, coarse, colorful, funny, outrageous, and I think probably the best beer salesman who ever lived. And he basically came out of World War II determined that he was going to put them back on top and they were going to be the number one beer company in the world, and he did that.
RAZ: Gussy's son, August III, I guess it's sort of an understatement to say, clashed with his father to the point where he basically stages a coup to oust his father and take over the company. What happens?
KNOEDELSEDER: Well, what happened was is that he wanted to modernize the company. And his father, who was getting old, was fighting against it. And he was an authoritarian, old school guy, and he didn't believe in corporate planning or computers and all that. He was always, you know, you react fast to things and you get it done, and he went by the seat of his pants.
So August III, as he rose up in the ranks, a very bright guy, was at loggerheads with his father all the time. The Third, as he was referred to - August III - staged a coup where he convinced the board to vote against his father.
RAZ: The final, sort of, chapter to the Busch family and the beer empire is with August Busch IV. He is the son of The Third. The opening scene in your book actually takes place at the end of that timeline. And he - August Busch IV is late to a meeting. He's supposed to address several hundred Anheuser-Busch distributors. He's late. Eventually, he shows up, and what happens?
KNOEDELSEDER: It's the middle of the afternoon, and he finally shows up after keeping people waiting for half an hour or so, and he's stoned. He's loaded. He cannot deliver the speech. And he had to be led off the stage. And they gave some sort of story that he was taking some sort of, you know, cold medication or something like that, you know, which nobody believed. And it was like three, four weeks later that the hostile bid for takeover of Anheuser-Busch began.
RAZ: This is by InBev.
KNOEDELSEDER: By InBev, the - a company that had not existed four years before.
RAZ: That's an incredible story. William Knoedelseder's new book is called "Bitter Brew." It's about the history of Anheuser-Busch and the Busch family. Bill, thank you so much.
KNOEDELSEDER: Thank you very much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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She Looked Like A Normal 90-Year-Old, Until The Music Started
Please like us to get more great stories like this
This 90-Year-Old Shows Off Her Amazing Dance Skills On Her Birthday
July 9, 2015
Jean Veloz, born Jeannette Phelps, is an American dancer born in the 1920s. She is known to many as the Hollywood-style icon of Lindy, a variety of dance that was started in America in the early 1930s. A fusion of jazz, tap, breakaway and the Charleston, Lindy became extremely popular for swing dancers everywhere.
Jean started her career at an early age. Like it did for many teenagers in the 1940s, dancing became a pastime for Jean and her brothers. On a whim, Jean and her brother, Ray, entered a jitterbug dancing competition, winning first place over 500 contestants.
In 1942, after moving to Los Angeles, Jean and her brother were able to dance at the hottest clubs, honing their skills with the elite. A year later, Jean entered a contest at the American Legion Stadium in Hollywood. The grand prize winner would receive a Screen Actors Guild membership card and a dance cameo in the movie Swing Fever. Jean conquered the competition, which opened up a wealth of opportunities.
Meanwhile, as Jean and Ray rose the ranks, Yolanda and Frank Veloz were the most famous couple in the dancing world. When Yolanda retired in 1948, Jean became Frank's new dancing partner. Together they danced on Frank's TV show for five years. In 1963, the two got married and stayed happily together until Frank's death in 1981, the same time at which Jean decided to retire.
In 1992, Jean was convinced to come out of retirement and the world was quite enchanted by her comeback. She got into the "swing" of things again and was inducted into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame in 1996.
At 90 years old, Jean Veloz has no intentions of slowing down.
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News · October 15


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The article and comments quickly discussed how this system would be abued
"OMG - Your car is full of monkeys!".
"No kids will ever spam/text because they love/hate your car"
"And I'm sure there wouldn't be any car jackings, abductions or rapes where victims were lured out of safety to check their car because someone said their lights were on..."
But the writer who was the most off the mark was this one...
Great idea that will never work. Why, you ask? The people who typically struggle with their ability to park are not going to buy into a system where they can be called out by the masses for their parking ineptitudeWrong. What this service would accomplish is to enable parking ineptitude. Well, not ineptitude, but parking laziness.
If you are struggling to find parking in a crowded neighborhood late in the evening for dinner in a world where this service was the status quo, the pro move would be to just park in front of the driveway of some random driveway, and go to dinner. Chances are the owner of the house isn't going anywhere, and you'll be fine. If not, they'll text you to come move your car to another driveway. No need to worry about being towed!


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What Erika didn't say as much as she said to me was that she didn't want to share the cultures at the wedding and preferred to just keep it simple with Mexican decor, food and entertainment. She was not willing to compromise by finding a way to incorporate her future husband's Samoan background. I found it fascinating how little she knew about the Samoan culture and here she is marrying this wonderful guy James, knowing almost nothing about where he came from. I think she thought once I stepped in she would get a full Mexican wedding.
I loved that when I met her, Erika said to me, "I'm not an emotional girl, I don't cry," and I found it wonderful that the wedding process brought out her emotional side. I reminded her that she did cry like her mom because she really was excited and happy about the whole process.
The money dance for Erika really was a sore spot even though I gave her lessons on how to do it. I don't think she thought she really had to go through with it until her mother-in-law, Sharon, took over planning the wedding, at the wedding, without me knowing (which by the way pissed me off) but I took the reigns back from her and said to Erika, this isn't a question, this is a demand, this is the money dance. And now it's not for Sharon, it's for me.
The fun behind-the scenes: it was a freaking hot day, so even though we weren't in Mexico, it felt like we could've been since it was April and almost 100 degrees. You may not have seen it in the show, but let me tell you we felt it in wedding.
Some of the other things you didn't see behind the scenes were when I took Erika and James into their bridal suite to change into their money dance garb. James had a little too much to drink and wasn't happy. He was going to do this when he was the one who wanted to do it in the first place and Erika was embracing something she didn't want to do but was going to do it anyway, so the roles had flipped. James's aunt came into the bridal suite and started demanding that certain things be put onto Erika. James's sister came into the bridal suite and started dressing Erika and then they wanted to oil her up because they wanted her body to shine and Erika began to lose her patience. What you didn't see was a bride and groom that flipped sides, then got aggravated, then got angry at family members, then became angry at my crew because they were trying to shoot this. So I had to take a very hostile bride and groom, put them on a dance floor and ask them to dance the money dance, which for the record, I would have danced because I would have taken the money; that's the whole point–you dance, and the guests throw you money (it's a tradition that takes place in the Samoan culture).
What I learned from the moment I met them to the moment I left them was that you had two strong-headed personalities in this wedding with the bride and groom. Every time I gave a little to one of the cultures, the other seemed a little taken aback. However, in the end, everyone ended up getting everything they wanted, but I'm still not happy that Sharon took over the wedding for 10 minutes. The food was incredible, the entertainment was fantastic and you felt the combination of both cultures at the wedding.


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Where Babies Come From
Midwife-run nonprofit births alternative for expectant mothers
by Christie Chisholm, Weekly Alibi, August 4, 2011
Dar a Luz Birth & Health Center sits on a lush plot of land in the North Valley, set back from the road and abutted by agricultural plots. The sprawling center seems about as un-hospital-like as Abigail Lanin Eaves could make it. Dotted with skylights and large windows, it looks like a place people go to stay well, not get better.
Even the front door is preceded by a bridge and pond. The theme of sanctuary is reflected throughout the center, with art by locals, a lending library, a kitchen and a classroom. There are two futon-stocked exam rooms, which Eaves likes to call "visiting rooms," and two dedicated birthing suites that resemble rooms at a bed and breakfast.
Eaves says she knew at age 12 that she was meant to deliver babies. She assumed it would be as an OB-GYN. When her sister had a home birth years later, Eaves was introduced to the world of midwifery, and there was no turning back.
Eaves began midwifery school in 2000 at the University of New Mexico. As a student, she learned about birth centers run by certified nurse-midwives and was drawn to the idea. No such centers existed in the state when she graduated.
"I always wanted a relationship with women," she says. "I wanted them to have a relationship with someone they could trust." Hospital obstetrics doesn't provide that, she says, and so she decided to open a space that embraces her labor philosophy. That's how Dar a Luz was born. The name directly translates as "to give light" in Spanish, but it can also mean "to give birth."
She got her start at Lovelace's ABQ Health Partners, where she worked until 2009, catching more than 600 babies. "Catching" is the term midwives use, rather than "delivering."
"Catching babies is about shifting the focus to the mother," Eaves says. "She birthed her baby. We were there to catch it."
Eaves had a baby of her own and took some time off. In May 2007, she officially incorporated and then, in August of that year, attained nonprofit status. She appealed the Legislature for funding, but the market crashed. "My big dreams were squashed," she says. It took three more years to gather donations, take out a private loan and get some help from The Loan Fund.
The nonprofit opened on March 24. It's the only birth center in the state that's run by certified nurse-midwives. The last of its kind, SouthWest Maternity Center, closed in 1985, Eaves says. She credits the 26-year gap to the difficulty involved in opening this kind of center.
The staff at Dar a Luz is small. Melanie Yanke serves as the center's full-time certified nurse-midwife, and Marie Meakin works part-time while finishing midwifery school.
Yanke heard rumblings about the idea for the center in 2008 and contacted Eaves. "I kept on her," she says. "I'd check in." Yanke was instrumental in starting the center, working with Eaves to remodel the building. Evidence of Yanke is all over the place, with her clay and stone sculptures tucked into corners. Yanke also designed and landscaped the large backyard, which is surrounded by recycled cedar fence posts from her father's ranch in Texas and contains a stone-lined walking labyrinth for mothers in labor.
The labyrinth is symbolic of the Dar a Luz philosophy. The center focuses on natural childbirth, and it promotes a number of labor techniques that are difficult to find in a hospital. "We encourage women to keep moving," says Eaves. "We don't want you to stay in bed. The worst plan is staying in bed." Walking through the labyrinth (which is easy to exit at any time) or using birthing balls keeps the body moving and "helps the baby to come into position," Yanke says. "Gravity pushes the baby down."
Hydrotherapy is one of the methods Dar a Luz has available. "The water is relaxing," says Eaves. When women get in a tub when they're close to crowning, the water can help the baby come faster. Eventually, the center may also offer massage and acupuncture. Dar a Luz has had eight births so far, but there are about 20 more expected by December.
Eaves says the birth center comes with a host of advantages. Prenatal exams "range from 30 to 60 minutes, as opposed to a five- to 15-minute visit in a hospital," she says. That theme is echoed throughout a mother's relationship with her midwife. During labor, mothers have at least two-on-one support, she says. "In a hospital, the chance of getting one-on-one support is very small."
Dar a Luz' services are cheaper than a hospital's. According to the New Mexico Hospital Association, 2010 costs for hospital care with uncomplicated deliveries rose to a baseline average of $6,645 statewide. Dar a Luz charges a flat $2,500. Discounts are also available for those who are un- or under-insured.
Dar a Luz isn't for everyone, though. For safety reasons, it only takes low-risk mothers. "There are very few situations where there becomes an emergent problem without signs leading up to it," says Yanke. In case of an emergency, though, they will call 911. Eaves says nationally there's only about a 10 percent transfer rate from birthing centers to hospitals during labor, and that most of those transfers aren't prompted because of danger.
The point of a birthing center is to ad intimacy to the birthing process, Eaves says. "Hospital delivery is just like a conveyor belt. I want more than that. It's not just about catching babies."
Dar a Luz Birth & Health Center
7708 Fourth Street NW


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So what do think of biodiesel and has anyone else out there tried it? I run a little 81 VW NA diesel and have made some for it and tried it out. Works preety good and doesn't gel like SVO.
So what do think of biodiesel and has anyone else out there tried it? I run a little 81 VW NA diesel and have made some for it and tried it out. Works preety good and doesn't gel like SVO.
what is "biodiesel"?
Biodiesel is the methyl or ethyl ester of a vegetable oil. It is used as an enviromental alternative to petro diesel. You make it by mixing an alcohol (methanol or ethanol) with lye and then reacting that with vegetable oil. The trigylceride is denatured and the glycerin is allowed to settle. The supernatant liquid (top layer) is then put right into you diesel tank. Great stuff really. No CO2 build up in the atmosphere. Any other questions?
Can't you just put veg. oil right in the tank?
Nope. It will gel when it gets cool and the viscosity is too high for the fule pump to inject it correctly. Needs to be about 120F or so. That is for straight veg oil. Mix it 50/50 with kerosene and you are ok. but that defeats the purpose.
[This message has been edited by Daisy (edited June 29, 2004).]
Hemp is fast growing and very prolific. I am all for the use of industrial hemp, personal use of the skunk is up to the individual. I don't partake but find nothing wrong with those that do. Just like alcohol, regulate it and make some tax money off of it.
>The government already steals SIXTY PERCENT OF OUR MONEY!
Fourty percent is pretty easy to substantiate. Sixty may be accurate if you take into account the taxes we pay on taxes. When the food in the grocery store already has the price higher to cover the tax on the fuel the truck used to haul it there and you pay sales tax on that amount, it starts compounding.
Where did you find the 60% figure?
Yes MB, you're precisely right.
When you take into account the taxes, on top of taxes, they never stop bleeding us.
We are indentured slaves....
[This message has been edited by Daisy (edited July 01, 2004).]
Ummm.... Biodiesel????
Chemist, you might find his interesting.
Besides keeping bees, and trying to make lots of dough to pay my taxes, I am setting up a small cogeneration plant. have done all the preliminary testing, and it all works, now am in the last assembly stage. I am using 2 Lister clone engines (do a google on Listeroid), 10hp and 12hp each, to turn large induction motors faster than their normal spped so as to generate power. I will make about 60 amps continuous at 240V three phase. This is where the "co" in cogeneration comes in, diesels are tpically in the range of 27% to 35% efficient, and that 73% to 65% difference, which largely goes to heat in the exhaust and cooling air, will be largely recovered to heat my house and other buildings. Free heat. I will burn waste vegetable oil, not biodiesel, it burns just fine when it warmed up and filtered. That of course is the trick, you must keep it warm. They do this for vehicles by the way too, but it seems like a hassle to me to have to switch tanks to keep normal easy starting diesel in the injectors for the next startup, but I digress.
I can, and have, burned filtered waste engine oil. Much less smoke than you woiuld think, too. Both of these oils make the engines slightly harder to start (both are currently hand cranked - I told you these were old style diesels )
But once started they run with every bit as much power as straight diesel and posssibly better. I got a continuous 10.3 kW electric output from the 12hp rated engine generator setup, and 12hp is only 8.8kW rating! So minus the generator and friction losses that's a large output for that engine in any case.
If you would like to discuss more, you can email me at billkichman (at)comcast (dot) net. I will supply my tel number if you wish to call too.
But I agree about the taxes too! I am self employed, and likely must work till July till I can keep my money each year. It's a crime in itself what taxes we are paying.
Fascinating... You will certainly be getting an email after I have some time to do a little research.
On a side note the original diesel engine was designed to run on peanut oil at the same time a motor was designed to run on coal dust. But then big oil got their grubby paws in on it and well that was the end of all that was good about diesels. If only someone would produce a pump capable of atoming cold VO then we could get back to what it is about. Oh well.
Interesting arguement. I think I posted this somewhere else too.
You bet, Chemist, the diesel was designed for peanut oil by Mr. Diesel himself. Most diesels will still burn it straight just fine, but as I am sure you are aware, it needs filtered, and it clogs filters at a nasty pace, but if it is heated, just like honey, it moves through a filter, and the injectors much better. In my test run with veggie oil, I set up a second tank filled with veggie oil on a warm 70 deg day, and while the engine was running (unloaded) switched over the valves. I noticed nothing different except that the exhaust had a "back of the restaurant" type of smell and was more whitish in color. When I burned motor oil, it ran pretty much identically to diesel. Ran well under load too, as I espoused previously. No more smoke really than with diesel. But like I said, harder to start, just a bit.
Many people are now running their cars on straight filtered veggie oil, and I am considering doing the same, but one thing at a time. I have 4500 gallons storage capacity so it shouldn't be a problem to feed a car or truck. I see that Europe is coming out with ever nicer cars in diesel configuration, even sports cars.
I found that biodiesel message board (that coyote put up a link to a couple messages ago) about 6 months ago. Mostly biodiesel converts. I think biodiesel is just too much hassle, cost and danger. I have 3 big tanks, 1100 gallons and 1600 gal sizes plus some 275 gallon types. Fill one, let it settle a couple months before using it. Settling is the best filter. Then tap only the top 70 percent and drain off the bottom once in a while to waste. Some are mixing the crud off the bottom with sawdust in oj containers to use as "firewood". Haven't tried that yet. I do wonder if the oil melts and makes a mess. Another link I located related to filtering mentioned using several tanks in series, the more the better, for series filtration. This is what I will be doing. I will manually valve the output of the selected 1 of the 3 big tanks, which will feed into a series of 15 gallon poly tanks I happen to have. Will feed into the top of the first tank, and it has a bottom drain that is piped to the top of the next tank. And so on for 3 or 4 tanks. Add some drain valves to drain off the scum that accumulates, and run it properly so the crud isn't stirred up, and the increasingly settled material should be nearly clean at the other end even before it gets heated and filtered.
Racor makes a nice turbine separator filter that is used on big engines and boats. FG500 or some such model I believe is popular. Even better though is the old bypass oil filters that use toilet tissue rolls. Frantz oil filters. They have been making them since DeSotos were on the road, kind of a cult following, I don't know why, they do a super fantastic job of cleaning the engine's oil. Heat the veggie oil, run it slowly through that filter, and when the filter needs changed, it costs less than a buck, and the element will burn really well in the old wood stove to boot. I picked up a couple of these setups on Ebay used, as they are not cheap.
I guess that's enough for now, probably I put half of you to sleep.
You certainly didn't put me to sleep. I found the lister motors interesting. We have an antique engine club here in Hookstown and several of the men have listers. Never knew they were oil burners though. Wouldn't have guessed as they don't clack like a throttled diesel does. I have found that for a car biodiesel is the way to go but you are correct that for a stationary SVO is the good bet. Being a chemist turned computer geek I always find myself tinkering in the basement with my first love, chemistry. I sort of gave up on the SVO/Biodiesel but I think I may start tinkering again.
Do a Google searce on "Stirling engines" or "Stirling cycle" for an interesting alternative engine.
I haven't read this whole thread yet, but all of our larger vehicles here at Mammoth Cave National Park operate on biodiesel and the other vehicles use propane.


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Irish hospital 'told husband foetus would die'
Galway: An Asian dentist who died in an Irish hospital after she was refused an abortion had already been told by medical staff during her ordeal that the foetus could not survive, an inquest has heard.
Savita Halappanavar died after a consultant told the couple an abortion was not allowed because "this is a Catholic country", her widower Praveen Halappanavar told the courthouse in Galway city.
At the start of the inquest on Monday, Mr Halappanavar said his wife was hospitalised in Galway in great pain after beginning to miscarry.
She had gone to the bathroom and "felt something hard come out and had to push it back".
The widower told the court how his wife cried loudly as the couple were told by a doctor that the cervix was open and the baby would not survive.
"He said it will all be over in a few hours," Mr Halappanavar said. "I asked what that meant. We wanted to go home. She was in shock.
"He said in four to five hours it will be all over and then she could go home."
In fact, it was the beginning of an ordeal that lasted for days.
Mr Halappanavar outlined in detail how the hospital consultant, Katherine Astbury, twice dismissed requests for a termination and told the couple it was because the foetus was alive. The second time, Dr Astbury allegedly told him: "Unfortunately, I cannot. This is a Catholic country, we are bound by the law. We cannot terminate the foetus when it's still alive."
The consultant's comments and apparent misreading of Irish law permitting an abortion to save the life of the mother caused international outcry. The Indian government issued a diplomatic protest to Dublin.
An official inquiry has found that staff did not show sufficient concern for the risks to Mrs Halappanavar's life.
Mr Halappanavar said his wife was admitted on October 21 and that, on Tuesday, October 23, she requested a termination for a second time from Dr Astbury.
This is a Catholic country, we are bound by the law. We cannot terminate the foetus when it's still alive.Family friend Chalikonda Prasad
An emotional Mr Halappanavar wiped away tears as he told how, on the Wednesday afternoon, his wife miscarried their baby. "I could hear Savita crying," he said. "She was in shock again. I was wiping her tears. She was saying 'it was a girl, it was a girl'.
"Savita was very confident it would be a girl. She already had finalised a name."
Mrs Halappanavar died on the following Sunday after she was admitted for suspected septicaemia. Mr Halappanavar said a nurse held his hand and asked: "Do you know what's happening?"
"I said yes," he said. "She said, 'she was dying'."
Several expert witnesses are expected to give evidence during the inquest, including the former master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Peter Boylan. More than 50 statements have been submitted by health chiefs and police.
Mr Halappanavar, 34, an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, has so far refused to co-operate with the official investigations.
The death of Mrs Halappanavar thrust the controversial issue of abortion in Ireland into the spotlight, with pro-choice and pro-life groups both staging demonstrations.
Telegraph, London


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The B.C. government and the Ktunaxa First Nation signed a revenue-sharing agreement Tuesday that could see the two governments split millions in mining revenues from new developments in B.C.'s largest coal field, the Elk Valley.
The agreement has the potential to make the Ktunaxa a significant partner in tax revenues generated from the coal fields, giving them, initially, more than a third of the region's mineral taxes collected on new developments.
The Elk Valley in the East Kootenays contains the province's richest mineral resource, metallurgical coal, which is used for steelmaking in Asian countries. Last year, the major mining company operating there, Teck Resources, produced 23 million tonnes of coal.
Although the agreement only applies to new projects or expansions to existing ones, Ktunaxa Nation chairwoman Kathryn Teneese said she expects the agreement to begin contributing to tribal revenues soon. She said she is aware of three new projects in the works within Ktunaxa territory, which covers 66,000 square kilometres in the province's southeast. Existing mines also have expansion plans, she said. One of the new projects is Centermount Coal, which filed an application with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Jan. 18 to develop a mine producing two million tonnes of coal a year over a mine life of 20 years.
Exactly how much revenue the agreement will provide for the Ktunaxa remains unknown. But according to a 2011 report by consultants PwC, B.C. collected $129 million in mineral taxes that year. Coal, mostly from the Elk Valley, accounted for 90 per cent of those revenues.
"This will provide us with the opportunity to move forward in the direction we plan for ourselves," said Teneese. "I think (the money) will be fairly significant. The formula is 37.5 per cent of the first $23 million in revenue tax. In terms of the Ktunaxa First Nation, that's very significant because it's more than we have now."
The First Nation has a population of 1,500 to 2,000 people, many of whom live off-reserve. Teneese said new housing is likely to be the main priority, but that the Ktunaxa also want to use the revenue to establish a heritage fund for the future.
B.C. has signed four revenue-sharing agreements with B.C. First Nations in the last two years as part of an initiative to make them partners in resource development and to increase certainty on the land base for resource companies, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister Ida Chong said in announcing the agreement Tuesday.
"This agreement embodies the spirit of the new relationship vision and a transformative change of course," Chong said, noting that it is the first one that covers the entire Ktunaxa territory and enables new projects to be incorporated over time. "It is not project-specific. We do not have to go back each and every time to make amendments."
The deal also includes amendments to an existing forest revenue-sharing agreement with commitments to provide future revenues. In 2013-14, the Ktunaxa are to receive $917,000.
Dan Smith of the First Nations Summit Task Group said the Ktunaxa agreement is an example of revenue-sharing that all First Nations are striving to achieve.
"It is critical for First Nations to have the opportunity to negotiate interim agreements such as this. ... However, this agreement only represents the tip of the iceberg of the kinds of government-to-government relations First Nations require in our respective territories."
The government made the announcement at the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C. convention at Vancouver, where mining leaders have been urging support for current provincial resource policies.
Teck president Don Lindsay told delegates the industry needs "a stable, competitive investment climate in order to have the confidence to explore for, to develop and to make the huge investments to bring these projects online."
To drive the point home, Lindsay repeated that statement, then said "given that we have an election coming up."


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News, notes and quotes from the Raiders open locker room and Tom Cable's post-walkthrough press briefing:
— On a weekly television appearance on a local Sunday night postgame show, cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha talked about having to prepare for two quarterbacks for this week's game in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.
Raiders coach Tom Cable seemed to have little doubt as to which one will be the starter.
"All indications are Ben (Roethlisberger) will be back," Cable said.
The Steelers, who lost overtime games to Kansas City and Balitmore over the past two weeks, turned to San Leandro High School and Oregon product Dennis Dixon against Baltimore. Dixon started the season as the No. 3 quarterback and was elevated to No. 2 when Charlie Batch was lost fo rthe season to a wrist injury.
When it was determined Roethlisberger had not sufficiently recovered from concussion symptoms sustained against the Chiefs, Dixon played against Balitmore and his 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter had the Steelers in position to win.
However, the Pittsburgh defense allowed the Ravens to drive for the tie at regulation, and Dixon's overtime interception to rookie Paul Kruger against a zone blitz set up Baltimore's winning field goal.
— Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski talked glowingly about returning to Pittsburgh, noting it was the third time he had started in his home town. Gradkowski was a star quarterback at Seton-La Salle High School in the city and his father is a longtime employee in the business department of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"It's always exciting getting back to Pittsburgh," Gradkowski said. "My whole family's from Pittsburgh and grew up watching the Steelers."
Gradkowski remembers going to games at Three Rivers Stadium and said his family and friends could number 100, although fortunately he's not entrusted with the ticket details.
"They already told me, `Hey, don't worry about it, we'll find our own tickets,' " Gradkowski said. "That's good they know I am thinking about a lot of things, that I've got a lot on my plate right now."
Foremost among them is having some success in Pittsburgh beyond the glory days of high school.
Gradkowski started the season finale for Cleveland last season in Pittsburgh, and had a start as a rookie in 2007 with Tampa Bay. In the two games, Gradkowski was 25-for-50 for 193 yards, no touchdowns, five interceptions and was sacked eight times. His Heinz Field quarterback rating is 20.3 and his teams lost by a combined 51-3.
— If finally getting into the end zone is a relief for Darrius Heyward-Bey, he wasn't showing it.
"Tell you the truth, I really haven't looked at it that way," Heyward-Bey said. "It's like, a touchdown was what we needed at the time, and now if I can help out the team more, it'll be great."
Cable said Monday the Raiders were very close to connecting on plays which could have gone for big yardage and sustained drives. Toward that end, following a walkthrough, quarterbacks, receivers and running backs were still on the field, working on their timing.
"We're an inch away from being a good passing offense," Heyward-Bey said. "We understand that. We wish we weren't an inch away. We wish we were hitting those. It's positive. It's a good thing to look at. Going into these last five games, we hope we just hit those big plays and go into the offseason with a good feeling."
— With Trevor Scott starting at weak side linebacker, it meant fewer snaps for Thomas Howard, although Howard did get some work on the strong side and on the weak side when Scott was rushing the passer.
Cable, however, did not dispel the notion that Howard's game could use some work.
"I think you always try to do what gives you a good chance to succeed, so if you want to improve an area you make a move like we did, and certainly Trevor was able to go in and back it up," Cable said.
In 2007, Howard had a breakout year with six interceptions, including touchdown returns of 44 and 66 yards. In his last 29 games, Howard has one interception and both he and Kirk Morrison have occasionally had problems disengaging from blockers against the run.
— Gary Russell, the fullback who returned one kickoff 17 yards against Dallas and appeared to almost go down voluntarily when he hit a wall, will get another crack at it against his former team, Cable said. Russell scored the first touchdown of the Steelers Super Bowl win over Arizona on a 1-yard run.
— Cable said defensive end Greg Ellis, who left the Dallas game with knee swelling, and running back Justin Fargas, who has a stinger, are questionable to face Pittsburgh.
Cable said the short week, combined with playing on artificial surface probably took its toll on Ellis.
— JaMarcus Russell has not been available to the media since losing his job to Gradkowski. As for how Russell is faring in his new role, Cable said, "I don't really see any change whatsoever. He's working, doing what he's asked to do. He's preparing like normal. So I wouldn't say there was any change or anything I've noticed."
— Nick Miller update _ getting out of a protective boot this week, Raiders will attempt to determine if it's realistic to get him rehabbed fast enough so he can be of some service this season.


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In mid-October, we got a dog. Specifically, we got Gracie, a 4-month-old, white-and-brown Labradoodle.
Big story still to come tonight, at midnight, is the projection for Senate gains for Democrats... and for women.
As it now stands at 12:11 a.m, Nov. 7, the Democrats have won 50 Senate seats, plus two Independents — Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in Vermont, who votes solidly with the Democrats, and Angus King, Maine, who will be a true independent, leaning Democratic on social issues. But there are still four Senate seats in the running, and three of them are leading Democratic.
It's Halloween again, the holiday our daughters have been anticipating for the past nine months.
Photo credit
I killed my first squirrel last year.
Outtake from last year's Christmas card photo: Would you let us be YOUR neighbors?
My last name is Gong, but I'm not Asian.
One of our favorite fall views, from the treehouse at Happy Valley Orchard.
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Saturday, March 09, 2019
In 1998: Palm III introduced (first InfraRed; 2MB RAM; OS3)
The Palm III was my first ever PDA. It was a revelation for me and it was also a landmark device in 1998. Thinking back to then, the idea of communication through infrared was amazing and had huge possibilities. I often think that modern devices could do with infrared now.
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Here in the Spinnaker Lounge we'll ALL gather together as soon as we're onboard for our "Meet & Mingle Party with The Dam Cast & Crew" to assess the group of dynamite DIPS with whom we'll be spending the next 5 DAM nights! The fun begins here where we start the festivities for the week and find out which fellow DIPS we'll be grouped with to compete against opposing DIP groups throughout the cruise!
We're also holding a top-secret, highly classified, super-surprise event in this Lounge that we have affectionately entitled "The Very Dam Vague Event". Pay attention, because we'll be dropping random clues and hints to see if anyone can guess the nature of the excellent event before we set sail!
The Giggle Dam Cast & Crew are in eager anticipation of performing TWO hilarious DAM shows in this stunning theatre!
Our hilarious All-Canadian tribute to The Great White North!
Ohhhh Canada!…A truly majestic melting pot of people, places and things full of legend and lore. Amazingly, there are many things 'Canadian' that have achieved iconic status throughout the world. Beavers, Bears, Beers, Canoes, Maple Syrup, RCMP, Hockey, Snow, Beer, Wheat, Igloos, Back Bacon, Salmon, Beer, Gooses, Mooses, Gretzky, Toques and Beer…AND this is just the start! Join the rampantly comedic cast of the Dam for a romp across Canada that you'll never forget!
This show is so exclusive, it only comes out of the DAM vault once a year! Laugh your heart out at this Celebrity Impersonations show that includes comedic pokes at some of the most famous performers of our time, such as Tom Jones, Shania Twain, Barry Manilow, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion, Dean Martin, Cher, Elvis (of course) and many more!
One of the bonuses of sailing on the gorgeous Norwegian Pearl is that they offer anytime dining, which allows flexibility to eat on your own schedule, but we wanted to make sure we had at least one opportunity to break bread with every one of you DIPS (Dam Important Passengers) together at the same time. The ship has graciously reserved the entire dining room for us on the last night of our "Dam Trip to LA, eh?" so that we can have one final opportunity to fawn and farewell while we feed our faces with fabulous fare!
**Venues and events are subject to change at ship's discretion
**Events and venues subject to change at ship's discretion


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Rapid advances in technology are making all kinds of high-tech snooping easier and cheaper. As a result, the Seattle Police department and other local law enforcement agencies will soon be capable of sophisticated surveillance. The kind that allows them to track people suspected of criminal activity, and also record and analyze the everyday activities of law-abiding citizens.
In our post-September 11th world, security threats can be real. Nevertheless, the Seattle Police Department's new state-of-the-art, federally-funded "port security" surveillance network raises some serious questions about local government oversight of federally-funded police surveillance programs.
The proposed network includes some 30 high resolution video cameras to monitor waterfront areas throughout the city, including some far from the port. The cameras, some of which are capable of thermal imaging, will be connected by a new dedicated wireless data network designed primarily for police use. The network will have links to local transit and other systems.
The ordinance authorizing the project was passed by the City Council and signed by the mayor in a largely perfunctory way. Pertinent details were left out of the council briefings. The new surveillance network was supposed to go live at the end of this month. But when news of the project broke in the West Seattle Blog, the resulting public outcry prompted Mayor McGinn to call for a "thorough public vetting" before deploying the system, and City Council veteran Nick Licata to draft new legislation to regulate it.
Washington's ACLU and other groups have also chimed in, calling for transparency and public hearings before this kind of technology is deployed by local police. "In a democratic society, we treasure the ability to move about our streets without being under constant surveillance," wrote ACLU of Washington Executive Director Kathleen Taylor in a letter to the mayor and City Council.
Meanwhile, Crosscut has been reviewing hundreds of pages of documents related to the project, including requests for proposals (RFP), contracts, technical specifications and communications with bidders. (You can see the documents here.) What we've learned raises more questions than answers about the implications of the proposed surveillance system for the city, its residents and its police department. We hope these and other questions will be addressed at upcoming public hearings on the program.
1. What's the role of the Feds?
There is conflicting information about how the Seattle surveillance system will connect to federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Contract documents show that the system will have "video output" and "control" linkages to the Washington State Fusion Center, one of a controversial network of state-level information clearinghouses designed to share "all crimes" information among local and federal agencies.
SPD representatives made no reference to a Fusion Center link in presentations to the City Council. Mayoral spokesperson Aaron Pickus told Crosscut that "there was no plan to connect the Fusion Center. I'm told it was in the RFP as a possibility, but is currently not in discussion for an actual policy going forward." Yet a city contract manager told Crosscut that no change orders to the contract have yet been made. Things became clearer on this point at last night's public meeting at Alki when Paul McDonagh, the SPD's lead on the project, said that the system will not connect to the Fusion Center and that he was the person who made that decision.
2. What does this network really do?
Though the 30 waterway cameras drew the most attention, the program's new wireless data "mesh network" is the more likely game-changer when it comes to the future of surveillance in Seattle. Contract documents and SPD statements differ somewhat on this issue. The contract calls for installing 180 Aruba Networks' wireless transmitters and receivers (mWAPs) across the city. (The police department says 158 are being installed.) This so-called "mesh network" can send and receive large amounts of real-time data.
For example, video and audio can move seamlessly from moving vehicles, such as police cars, to central points, such as police headquarters or the city's Emergency Operations Center. From these central points, the data can be shared with any number of partners or agencies. Live video transmission is a core feature of the system; SPD has already field-tested it. The surveillance network is technically capable of sending video directly to police cruisers. For now, SPD vehicles can't send live video back, but that could change with future upgrades to police equipment.
What this all means is that the network forms the potential "backbone" for connecting any type of surveillance equipment throughout the city. Taken to the extreme, privacy advocates worry that bit by bit, without any major public decision to do so, Seattle will end up with an extensive network of night vision- and facial recognition-enabled cameras linked by sophisticated software that allows local and federal — law enforcement agencies to track citizens on streets, parks and other public places, as well as in stores, hotels, restaurants, buses, trains, the airport, ferry terminals — everywhere, and in real time.
3. Who has access to the video and how do we prevent abuse?
Questions abound about who will have access to all this surveillance video, how long the information will be stored and what protections will be in place to guard against misuse or abuse of the system. The American Civil Liberties Union supports City Councilmember Licata's proposed regulation of surveillance technology, praising his bill for recognizing that "there needs to be transparency, public discussion, and policies in place before the City obtains surveillance technology," says Doug Honig of the ACLU of Washington. "Notably, the proposal includes a data retention policy and an access log — both are important protections for privacy. We'd like to see added a private right of action for when government violates the law — so there is a real consequence for abuses."
4. What about the rest of the grant money?
The Seattle Police Department's surveillance project was underwritten by a $4.8 million grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security. The contract for the surveillance camera and network program is for $2.6 million. (That part of the project is itemized as "Chief of Police Project P1000" in the city budget.) That leaves $2.1 million not yet publicly accounted for.
5. Where's the Port or the Coast Guard?
For a project billed primarily as a "Port Security" effort, connections to the Port of Seattle appear minimal; in recent presentation materials, the police department said "there are preliminary discussions underway with the Port of Seattle to share access to the cameras as a law enforcement partner on the water." If the primary rationale for the project is port security, wouldn't the Port of Seattle or the Coast Guard have been the lead agency? Wouldn't the bulk of surveillance cameras be located there? Or was the surveillance project driven more by the romance of new technology and the availability of federal money to the city?
6. Why does the SPD need its own network?
Seattle's surveillance system will be superseded by a federal one, already in the works, that promises stronger controls. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 authorized what's known as "FirstNet," the First Responder Network Authority. FirstNet, funded through the auction of radio spectrum and governed by an independent board, seeks to create one national civilian data network for emergency and first responders. A former city official with detailed knowledge of both the SPD project and the national effort says that, ultimately, FirstNet will "do 99% of what the SPD is trying to do;" that is, provide basic communications infrastructure for emergency responders that streamlines inter-agency communication.
7. Can the SPD surveillance project be stopped?
The city contract contains all the customary termination clauses, including one for terminating at the city's convenience. The project's affordable price — a few million bucks — says a lot about the advancements in technology. But it also makes it possible — if not easy — for the city to pull the plug. Mayor McGinn did just that recently when he killed the SPD's aerial drone program.
The cost of eliminating the surveillance program would be more than a rounding error in the city's budget, but not impossible to manage. But the cost of keeping or killing the surveillance project isn't the point.
Judging from public interest in and reaction to the program, the concerns are about what kind of city Seattle is, and wants to be. The next public hearing on the SPD project is on Tuesday, March 19th, 7 p.m at the Belltown Community Center. More meetings will be scheduled.
There's a lot to talk about.
Matt Fikse is a consultant, former CEO and past Director of Special Projects for the Mayor of Seattle. He writes about business, politics and urban issues. This article originally appeared on Crosscut, a daily news site dedicated to Northwest political, cultural and social issues.


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|Pirate Little Bit, age 4. Sniff.
|Sweetheart, age 8, after our Pirate treasure hunt. Sniff.
|The girls with their cousins acting out Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Sniff. Sniff.
We're there.
But instead of sitting around being very sad, I thought and thought about how to redeem the summer. There MUST be something fun that a 12 year old and an 8 year old can do together. I mean, the 8 year old deserves to have fun. It's not her fault she has a fuddy-duddy older sister! (Just kidding. Sweetheart actually still plays a lot. But she isn't "little" anymore and I have to respect that too.) And it's not their fault there is a newborn in the house keeping us from doing a lot of running around town.
My answer?
I knew they would both enjoy art projects and I even thought of a way to make it a "theme" for Little Bit. Who is, after all, only 8. Let's say I chose "ballerinas" as the theme. Well, we do ballerina art projects (which Sweetheart could also do), check out some books about ballerinas, an Angelina Ballerina video, and make a tutu for her dolls. There. A theme for the 8 year old. And the 12 year old could participate in the art and anything else she felt like participating in.
I know I have a newborn in the house so I'm not sure how much of the theme business will happen, but what I'm saying is...it's doable.
So in my research on Pinterest, I stumbled on a great art site. From there, I began to learn about something called "art journals." Honestly, I had never heard of these. Hmm. A way to do art projects AND keep them contained within a journal instead of littering my fridge, spilling off the kitchen counters, or stacking up on the girls' dressers? Sounds like a winner to me!
The site kept referring to "Strathmore Art Journals." I didn't know what that meant exactly but then at Hobby Lobby, I figured it out.
|Oh! It's a brand name for these art books! This is the one I chose. They are pretty big.
First I had them decorate inside the front cover.
Then we started our first project. Directions are here.
|Concentrating means the tongue goes out. :)
|Cutting out the sunglasses (from images on the computer).
|We just used pencil, Sharpie, and crayons. Nothing fancy.
|Adding details...
|The caption says, "I love summer." I had just finished telling them "you can't mess up on art journals" so I let the lowercase "i" go.
|Love these self-portraits. Can't wait to do more projects!
So that's my plan. Lots and lots of art! I know there will be days when we are busy running errands, and swimming, and cleaning house. But there are plenty of other days when there is nothing on Netflix to watch, and it's raining or terribly hot, and our art journals will be just the ticket to fun!


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CA School District Announces It's Doing Round-The-Clock Monitoring Of Its 13,000 Students' Social Media Activities
from the incarcerating-13,000-students-would-make-them-'safer' dept
The Glendale School District in California is facing some backlash from the recent news that it has retained the services of Geo Listening to track its students' social media activity. The rationale behind the program is (of course) the students' safety.
After collecting information from students' posts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, Geo Listening will provide Glendale school officials with a daily report that categorizes posts by their frequency and how they relate to cyber-bullying, harm, hate, despair, substance abuse, vandalism and truancy.It would appear that the school district knew there would be some backlash, hence its decision to delay this announcement until the beginning of this school year, rather than "last year," when the program was actually put into place. (The date stated in this article may be incorrect. The founder of Geo Listening's LinkedIn page says the company formed in January -- unless "last year" means "last school year.") Administration officials are already on the defensive.
Glendale Unified, which piloted the service at Hoover, Glendale and Crescenta Valley high schools last year, will pay the company $40,500 to monitor posts made by about 13,000 middle school and high school students at eight Glendale schools.
Glendale Unified Supt. Dick Sheehan said the service gives the district another opportunity to "go above and beyond" when dealing with students' safety.A rather overwrought paragraph on the company's About Us page attempts to sell fear and monitoring system at the same time, much as Superintendent Sheehan did in the above paragraph.
"People are always looking to see what we're doing to ensure that their kids are safe. This just gives us another opportunity to ensure the kids are safe at all times," he said.
The FactsWhat Geo Listening appears to do is nothing more than aggregate public social media posts linked to either the students or school district. Geo Listening repeatedly points out that it doesn't "monitor email, SMS, MMS, phone calls, voicemails or unlock any privacy setting of a social network user."
Your students are crying for help. We have heard these cries of despair, and for help and attention, loud and clear from students themselves via their public postings on social networks. Many feel as though no one is listening, and they are falling away from societal connections. This trend can be reversed with more timely information that we can provide to the appropriate school staff.
This seems to be true, but not necessarily because Geo Listening is concerned about privacy. In its privacy policy, it breaks down exactly what it does monitor.
Geo Listening is a social media monitoring system that allows school districts to locate and process publicly available social media content. School districts use the Geo Listening Services to access and aggregate publicly available content on the Internet into regular reports and dashboards. Public content is collected and provided to school districts from the following websites:By monitoring only public posts on social media services, Geo Listening is able to provide the district with reports on 13,000 students. Without having access to a report, it's tough to say exactly what Geo Listening is turning over to the district. Here's what it says it's looking for:
· Twitter;
· Facebook;
· Instagram;
· Picasa;
· Vine;
· Flickr;
· Ask.fm;
· YouTube; and
· Google+.
Geo Listening provides social media monitoring services ("Geo Listening Services") that enable school districts to locate and process publicly available information about their students for the purposes of combating bullying, cyber-bullying, hate and shaming activities, depression, harm and self harm, self hate and suicide, crime, vandalism, substance abuse and truancy.There are some very broad terms in that list and without more information on how Geo Listening tracks or aggregates posts that fall into this very wide net, it looks as though the system is apt to produce a lot of false positives.
Then there's the question about how it searches for offending posts. Does it only run current students through its digital sifter or does it include anyone who lists a Glendale school on their profile? Does this dragnet also capture comments, tweets, etc. from non-students who interact with Glendale students? If a student interacts with a non-student's post that falls afoul of the guidelines, can they be punished? These are just a few of the many questions this monitoring service raises.
Beyond that, there's the fact that the service, as it's currently implemented, is incredibly easy to circumvent, something Geo Location's site even discusses in its privacy policy.
How to Opt OutIt would seem that stating this openly somewhat defeats the purpose of the program, but it does give Geo Listening a pretty strong defense against privacy violations. Geo Listening, however, seems fairly confident that most students won't "opt out," according to this answer in its FAQ.
If you would like to ensure content that you post through a social media platform or profile is not monitored by Geo Listening, you should ensure that your social media posts are non-public. Geo Listening only collects publicly available information. Therefore, if a social media platform includes settings that allow you to designate your posts as private, doing so will ensure your posts will not be collected.
Most users below the age of 25 do not utilize the available privacy settings because they are seeking to be recognized for their respective posts. They have chosen to post in the public domain in exchange for popularity and a decreasing ability to communicate effectively face to face.Personally, I feel Geo Listening is underestimating the teens it's monitoring and the little dig it throws in during the last sentence is unseemly. Insulting the people you're spying on is the sort of thing that comes back to haunt you.
Geo Listening doesn't address one of the biggest flaws in its system anywhere in its statements: trolling. Once students realize their public posts are being monitored, they're likely to respond with deliberately objectionable statements in order to trigger a response from the school system. Once this starts happening with any frequency, it will be much harder to separate the legitimate problems from the fake, while also providing legitimate bullies with a handy excuse.
Then there's the fact that the monitoring makes no distinction between posts made at school (where the school should presumably have some sort of say, especially if these are made using school equipment) and those made outside of school, away from the school's jurisdiction. Some will argue that the type of behavior being monitored crosses both boundaries and therefore should be the concern of the school. But opening this door will lead to more monitoring of kids' (theoretically) private lives rather than what should actually be under the school's purview.
Also of some concern is Geo Listening's mobile app, which basically turns any phone possessed by a student, parent or school staff member into a "Report" button.
Geo Listening also provides a free mobile application to each respective school's parents, students and staff. This mobile application provides each stakeholder the ability to anonymously report incidents that are experienced or witnessed.While having an easy way to collect anonymous tips on incidents of bullying is a theoretically good idea, in practice it often just becomes another avenue of abuse. The district may have thought it was offloading something it didn't have the time and resources for (monitoring students' social network use 24/7) to a third party, but the exploitable flaws in the system indicate a significant amount of investigative and followup work will be generated -- all of which will have to be handled by school administrators.
If administrators are sluggish in their response to reported issues, it will give the appearance that they only really care about appearing to do something, rather than actually doing something. And Geo Listening's rationale ("only public posts") for tracking students off-campus isn't really that much different than the FBI, NSA, et al abusing the Third Party Doctrine in order to hoover up huge amounts of metadata. Just because it's been created doesn't automatically mean it should be collected.
It's another bad administrative decision based on an impossibility (keeping children safe "all the time"), one that's likely to hurt the school in the long run. Unfortunately, this news has attracted the attention of another California school district, one which obviously hasn't read the comments attached to the dozens of stories about the monitoring system.
Burbank's schools chief said she plans to keep an eye on neighboring Glendale Unified, who recently hired a Hermosa Beach-based company to monitor the public social networking accounts of its middle and high school students.No one "keeps an eye" on something like this unless they think it's a good idea, but just need some additional justification or a lower bidder. Officials don't "keep an eye" on ideas they've dismissed out of hand as being "terrible" or "not for us." The expectation of privacy as it pertains to public posts is very limited, but as diminished as it is, it's not completely unwarranted for the student body to feel they should be able to leave campus without the school following it around and reading its posts over its shoulder.
"We do not currently monitor students' social media sites and we have not yet researched the program that Glendale Unified has implemented, but we will be gathering more information," Burbank Unified Supt. Jan Britz said in an email Thursday.
[More excellent posts on the same subject at Free Range Kids and Popehat.]
Filed Under: california, monitoring, social media


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In Europe, the national academies of art, which educated their best and brightest and gave their official stamp of approval to both artists and that which they produced, every year turned out dozens of extremely well-trained painters capable of creating the massive masterpieces of history illustration needed to feed the egos of the military and governmental powers with the deep pockets to support such work. At the same time, in the United States, there was just as much history - military and otherwise - to paint, but the problem was there were but a handful of artists, all trained in Europe, who could handle the demands of the genre. And moreover, the struggling new government had better things upon which to spend its meagre revenues. A man could be the best history painter in the world here and go broke for all his efforts.
Around 1780, shortly after the close of America's richest source of history begging to be painted, the "handful" of American painters capable of rising to the demands of this calling amounted to John Trumbull, Thomas Sully, Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley, and Benjamin West. West of course, while born in Pennsylvania, spent his working life as an artist in England, where the art of history painting was truly appreciated. He painted the American Revolution, but from a decidedly British point of view. His Battle of Bunker's Hill (1786) is an interesting example. However, West's greatest contribution to American history painting undoubtedly came in the form of his tutelage of the others--Trumbull, Stuart, Sully, and Copley. Of these however, Stuart was mostly too busy raking in easy money painting George Washingtons. Copley too preferred the relatively well-paid art of portraiture as compared to history, and when he did indulge in this more exalted effort, tended to prefer minor events such as shark encounters rather than those designed to lift the patriotic spirits of a fledgling nation. That leaves only Sully and Trumbull. Sully was also primarily a portrait painter, though his Passage of the Delaware, painted in 1819, is a passably accurate version of the heroic event. And though it's often been criticised as being overly dramatic, it's certainly not so to the degree that Emanuel Leutze indulged in some fifty years later in his much more famous Washington Crossing the Delaware. Leutze made Washington and his brave entourage look downright foolhardy.
By process of elimination, we're left with only John Trumbull. And what the others lacked both in skill and intestinal fortitude in pursuing this unappreciated artform in the early days of the American nation, Trumbull more than made up for. His Surrender of Burgoyne, begun as early as 1786 but not finished until about 1824, depicts the scene on October 16, 1777, the end of the turning-point battle of the American Revolution, as the British army, led by Burgoyne, laid down its arms at Saratoga, New York before the bedraggled forces of General Gates. The 38-year time span from the first preliminary sketches until the paint dried on the final work is evidence of the care and effort Trumbull exhibited in recreating this scene, right down to portraits of the participants, often copied from family heirloom miniatures or etched prints. And if even this seems a poor excuse for taking half a lifetime to complete a single painting, keep in mind that during part of this time, Trumbull was at work on an even bigger undertaking, his famous Declaration of Independence comprising some 48 portraits, often painted from life, dating from between 1789 and 1794. And at the same time too, during 1786-87 while in London studying with West, Trumbull also painted The Surrender of Cornwallis. And we wonder why no one paints history today. Who's got the time?
Contributed by Lane, Jim18 February 2001


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Government & Politics
Obama, Democrats rip GOP as governors gather in D.C.
President Barack Obama and Democratic governors tore into Republicans on Friday as out of touch and insensitive to ordinary Americans, a partisan broadside to open the annual Washington gathering of the nation's governors.
Obama set the political tone at a Thursday night dinner for the Democrats, conceding that too often during midterm elections "we end up getting ourselves into trouble, because I guess we don't think it's sexy enough." Obama then explained that in fact, midterm elections are "where much of the action is."
Friday, the president met at the White House for about an hour with 14 Democratic governors and brought up New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Until recently, Christie was widely viewed as the Republicans' strongest 2016 presidential candidate.
Obama was promoting his own plan to increase the minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. He told the governors a higher wage is "not just good policy, it also happens to be good politics."
As an example, he said, "In New Jersey, even though the Republican governor opposed it, it passed by 60 percent."
New Jersey voters last year approved raising the minimum wage by $1, to $8.25, and allowing automatic cost-of-living increases annually. Christie had vetoed legislation that would have permitted an $8.50 wage and permitted increases for inflation. He instead offered to back a $1 increase over three years.
Christie is chairman of the Republican Governors Association. His popularity has plunged since disclosures of his aides' involvement in closing lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge to punish a local Democratic mayor.
While the four-day governors meeting that began Friday was once seen as a way for Christie to show gravitas and political skill to a national audience, he is now expected to be less visible. He reportedly will skip the traditional Sunday night governors' dinner with Obama at the White House so he can be home for his daughter's 18th birthday.
Christie and his organization plan to use the weekend gathering to tout their economic success by keeping taxes at reasonable levels and providing incentives for business to grow.
After their meeting with Obama Friday, the Democratic governors were aggressively challenging those claims.
"Our Republican governors have been distracted by a more radical social agenda that gives tax cuts to the wealthy (and) asks the middle class to pay for them while they cut education and the opportunities that allow us to grow jobs," said Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, the Democratic Governors Association chairman.
"While they do that, they seem more focused on passing policies that . . . alienate women, minorities, immigrants, gays and other Americans."
Jon Thompson, spokesman for the Republican Governors Association, rejected the Democrats' characterization of the GOP governors.
"Through tax relief, budget surpluses and making jobs priority number one, Republican governors are making their states a better place to live, work, raise a family and start a business," he said. "Republican governors have a clear record that Democrat governors can't match."
One of the top issues raised by the Democrats will be the minimum wage.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee noted that some people work a full week and still need government assistance. "When people can't eat, they're not good consumers," he said.
Inslee, a former congressman, challenged this week's report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office suggesting that while the increase could take 900,000 people out of poverty, it could also mean a loss of half a million jobs.
"With all due respect, they are not the experts on this issue," Inslee said.
The fighting words reflect a view that Democrats were caught off guard in 2010, when the rise of the tea party and its grassroots conservative base not only gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives, but helped elect Republican governors in states with strong Democratic bases.
White House officials would later lament that losing key governorships made it harder to control congressional redistricting. Lines were drawn that have given Republicans a decided advantage in House races.
Democrats this year have high hopes to win the statehouses in several of the states the party lost four years ago, notably Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Maine.
Obama and the Democratic governors were very much on the same page Thursday night and Friday.
"State by state, Republican governors are implementing a different agenda," Obama said. "They're pursuing the same top-down, failed economic policies that don't help Americans get ahead."


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"At a banquet here [Copenhagen] late last month, accounting firm Ernst & Young [E&Y] feted a Danish Software company for runaway growth under Stein Bagger, its dynamic chief executive. ... But Mr. Bagger, the night's big winner, wasn't there to pick up the accolade of 'Entrepreneur of the Year' and two other awards. ... In the meantime, his award-winning company, IT Factory [ITF], declared bankruptcy. A liquidator has taken over [ITF] and is sifting through its affairs. ... KPMG audited [ITF's] accounts from 2005 through 2007. Deloitte did the same in the previous two years. ... KPMG in Denmark says it is 'shocked' and 'cooperating with police.' Deloitte's Danish unit said it has double-checked its 2003 and 2004 audits and found no problems. [E&Y] for its part, has now withdrawn the three awards it gave to [ITF] on the day Mr. Bagger took flight. 'We feel deceived,' said Soren Strom, head of [E&Y's] 'Entrepreneur of the Year' program, in a statement. The accounting firm, he added, is 'unable to understand the last few days' developments.' ... [Asger] Jensby [ITF's chairman] now says he was wrong and estimates that 95% of [ITF's] reported business was fictitious. ... One person to come out of the mess looking good is Dorte Toft, a 64-year old free-lance journalist and blogger. ... In December, she wrote a blog challenging Mr. Bagger's extraordinary growth figures. But, she says, virtually no one wanted to listen to 'an old woman'," Andrew Higgins at the WSJ, 17 December 2008.
In 2001, Texas CPA named a "Corporate Finance Department of the Year". The company: Enron. Really. This story is so good, a big 87654 firm triple-header. What do these guys know? ITF sounds like Barry Minkow's ZZZZ Best in 1987. What did these CPAs look at? How did PriceWaterhouse avoid involvment with ITF? KPMG is "shocked". Is KPMG Casablanca's Captain Renault? Laugh!