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UK 'Snooper's Charter' Torn Up; Now What?
from the not-over-yet dept
Since the UK government published the draft version of its Communications Data Bill -- better known as the "snooper's charter" -- with plans to store data about every British citizen's emails, mobile calls and visits to Web sites, there has been almost total opposition to it from everyone else. Indeed, there has been growing resistance even within the UK government's ranks, largely from the smaller of the coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats. Here's what the party's leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has been up to, as described by one of the Liberal Democrat MPs, Julian Huppert:
Nick refused to allow the Bill to go ahead, and forced the Home Office to publish the Bill as a draft, allowing us all to see what the Home Office were planning. Nick appointed Paul Strasburger and I onto a Committee to scrutinise it in detail. We went through the evidence, heard from many experts and published a cross-party report. This was damming of the Home Office proposals -- it unanimously describe some of the Home Office information as 'fanciful and misleading'.
However, instead of trying to answer the huge range of criticisms of the proposed Bill, the Home Office simply insisted that such an intrusive system of surveillance was needed. As a result:
Following Nick's intervention and our report, the Home Office was given the chance to rethink. To build a proper case and look for proposals which were proportionate to the problem.
Nick has just this morning announced that he has killed off the Data Communications Bill, dubbed the "snooper's charter".
By withdrawing the support of the Liberal Democrats, Clegg makes it practically impossible to pass the Bill, since the UK government will lack the requisite majority to push it through. However, this is by no means the end of the story.
Clegg will be under huge pressure from the Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his Conservative party colleagues, to agree to some slightly watered-down proposals. Cameron will doubtless invoke all the usual reasons -- tackling terrorism, paedophiles, organized crime etc. -- knowing that this plays well with enough of the electorate that Clegg won't be able to ignore it completely. So we can probably expect to see new plans in due course. The question then becomes to what extent they address the huge flaws in the original snooper's charter, and whether they represent an approach that is truly "proportionate to the problem", as the cross-party report puts it. If they don't, the battle will doubtless begin again.
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Filed Under: nick clegg, snooper's charter, uk


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I am going off on a tangent, but one of the more extreme members is Guillermo Gómez y Rivera. He's a retired(?) educator in the Philippines, originally from Iloilo. He was involved somehow the constitutional convention of 1973 and he's been a very passionate advocate of reviving the Spanish language in Philippines; he blames the Americans, whom he refers to as the WASP USENSES (American WASPS).
In any case, one of his pet peeves is the term "Pinoy." No problem, I know some people aren't rather fond of nicknames. But he takes it a step further. He urges Filipinos to stop using it because it is very demeaning to us. For one, he asserts, that the Americans coined it, taking the PIN in "Pilipinong" and the OY from "unggoy" (monkey).
Of course, I am in complete disagreement. Gómez asserts that those of us who defend the word "Pinoy" are "sick" because we want other Filipinos to be seen as demeaning. He offers the latest show, "Pinoy Big Brother," as proof wherein one of the celebrities urinates on public television. He blames it on the Americans, but I dutifully pointed out to him that it is a Dutch invention which is now owned by Telefónica, a company based in Spain.
Now his son, Guillermo Gómez y Ordóñez, maintains a blog here on blogspot. I have encountered an entry from January 19, 2006 wherein he mentions his father's story. This time it's a different story; he claims Pinoy was actually coined by two American employers in Los Angeles during the 1970's:
And so it goes and now we adopt it as a norm without knowing where this idiom or street slang even ever came about. Hey, Bro..wake up and smell the coffee!! It was born in L.A.!! Imagine what it means!! It means Pilipinong ungoy! And you will say or sing: Pinoy, Pinoy ako..ibang iba ang Pinoy…and so the song goes. I wonder what those two guys back in the 70's would be laughing at right now…The problem with us is that it's always 'ok' with us because we choose it to be so then when we are made aware of it, it becomes easy to blametoss it to the concept of colonialism. But who in the first place is entertaining it??!! Now, 'think!', where did the word 'flips' come from or how it was invented…wanna adopt that too? It came from L.A. These words didn't even come from here!! Not that I have something against the Americans or the other nations. In the first place, it's not their fault that we do not properly identify or respect our nationality. Will Rizal stand up for this or Bonifacio?? SO DO NOT USE IT!! BOYCOTT THE WORD 'PINOY'!!Never mind the fact that neither Gómez Jr. nor Gómez Sr. identify the names of these racist American pigs and neither do they provide any documentation.
Now, the usual story behind the origin of Pinoy is that it originated among the "manongs" - the early Filipino immigrants to America. Sources such as the Fililipino American National Historical Society say that it was coined to distinguish between the Filipinos living "back home" with the Filipinos living here in America.
I have perused the University of Michigan's collection of important Philippine historical documents (which I mentioned here) and found a lot of hits for "Pinoy" and "Pinoys".
The oldest hit in the database is from a Philippine Republic article written in January 1926 by Dr. J. Juliano, member of the faculty of the Schurz school in Chicago. You can say the article in its entirety here. I quote:
"Why does a Pinoy take it as an insult to be taken for a Shintoist or a Confucian?"
"What should a Pinoy do if he is addressed as a Chinese or a Jap?"
The oldest reference for the Philippines is from 1927. It's a book by Carson Taylor called History of the Philippine press. It's simply a brief mention of a weekly Spanish-Visayan-English publication called Pinoy based in Capiz. The publication date December 27, 1926. The publisher was Pinoy Publishing Company. Other than that, there's no further information.
Another reference is from 1930 in the Manila-based publication Khaki and Red: the official organ of the constabulary and police. The article, which is about street gangs, is located here and the relevant quote is "another is the "Kapatiran" gang of Intramuros, composed of patrons pools rooms who banded together to "protect pinoys" from the abusive American soldados."
There are a more results that span from the 1920's to the 1940's. Some take on social issues facing Pinoy, some are casual mentions of Pinoys at events, while some are advertisements from Hawai'i from Filipinos themselves saying "BILI KAYO SA PINOY."
You can see them for yourselves here:
Results for 'pinoys'.
Results for 'pinoy'.
There are hits for "Pinay" but they are for a French person's surname and does not mean "Filipina."
I should note that Professor Laurence Reid, a retired University of Hawai'i linguist specializing in Philippine languages, is the consultant for the newest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary; he looks for terms originating from Philippine languages that have made it into English. He says that Pinoy was mentioned in Carlos Bulosan's 1946 book America is in the Heart: "The Pinoys work every day in the fields but when the season is over their money is in the Chinese vaults." (Bulosan, 118)
If any of you know of references to Pinoy earlier than 1926, contact me.
Signing off,
--Chris Sundita
A proud Pinoy

subset: commoncrawl


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Dempsey confirms extension with 'Grey's Anatomy'
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Patrick Dempsey's acting and racing careers will be intermingled for the foreseeable future.
Dempsey, a driver/owner racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance event this weekend, confirmed Saturday night that he has signed a two-year contract extension to continue with the popular television series "Grey's Anatomy." The show has not officially been picked up beyond its 10th season, but Dempsey's deal provides a strong indication that it will be back.
Dempsey also plans to run a full season in the United SportsCar Championship, racing in the fourth-tier GTD class.
Dempsey said the acting gig has been a huge help to his other full-time job. Dempsey and co-driver Andrew Davis plan to race in all 13 events.
"'Grey's' does a remarkable job scheduling around these races now, and I wouldn't be able to do it without them," Dempsey said. "The fact that they continue to let me race is remarkable in itself, so I am grateful for that and grateful to have employment that is known around the world. It gives me a platform to come and do this type of thing, and it helps the sponsors.
"I'm lucky to have the gig."
When the 48-year-old Dempsey was asked whether he had any thoughts about giving up "Grey's" for racing, he said, "When I grow up, I want to race full time."
Dempsey has raced professionally for nearly a decade. He is coming off his most successful season, which included a third-place finish at Circuit of The Americas and a second-place finishes at Laguna Seca and Petit at Le Mans. He also was fourth at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, teaming with Joe Foster and Patrick Long.
In 2012, Dempsey and Foster co-drove to a pair of top-three podium finishes in the ALMS series, which merged with Grand-AM to become United SportsCar in 2014.


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NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Immunovaccine Inc., (TSX-V: IMV), a clinical stage vaccine company, announced that John Trizzino, chief executive officer and director, will present at RetailInvestorConferences.com.
DATE: October 4, 2012
LINK: www.retailinvestorconferences.com > red "register / watch event now" button
This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time - both in the presentation hall and the company's "virtual trade booth." If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an on-demand archive will be available for 90 days.
It is recommended that investors pre-register to save time and receive event updates.
About Immunovaccine Inc.
Immunovaccine Inc. (TSX-V: IMV) applies its novel adjuvanting platform to the development of vaccines for cancer therapy, infectious diseases and animal health. The Company's DepoVax™ platform is a patented formulation that provides controlled and prolonged exposure of antigens plus adjuvant to the immune system. Immunovaccine has advanced two DepoVax-based cancer vaccines into Phase I human clinical trials. The Company is also advancing a broad infectious disease pipeline including vaccines in such indications as malaria, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and anthrax. In addition to the Company's human health vaccine strategy, it continues to capture value from animal health vaccine applications. Immunovaccine has key partnerships in the animal health sector including an agreement with PfizerAnimal Health.
About RetailInvestorConferences.com
Since 2010, RetailInvestorConferences.com, created by BetterInvesting (NAIC), PR Newswire and MUNCmedia, has been the only monthly virtual investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for presenting companies to meet directly with retail investors using a graphically-enhanced online platform.
Designed to replicate the look and feel of location-based investor conferences, Retail Investor Conferences unites PR Newswire's leading-edge online conferencing and investor communications capabilities with BetterInvesting's extensive retail investor audience network and MUNCmedia's sophisticated retail investor targeting.
SOURCE Immunovaccine Inc.


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By Parrish Alford/NEMS Daily Journal
OXFORD – Harry Harrison made enough big plays in his Ole Miss football career to be named All-American.
Had he made one more big play, he may have had streets and buildings on campus named in his honor.
Harrison, now a member of the Ole Miss radio broadcast team, was a split-second late in 1972 of stopping one of the most talked-about plays in Ole Miss history.
Former LSU stars Bert Jones and Brad Davis will be honored at their home stadium Saturday afternoon when the Rebels take on No. 8 LSU.
It's been 40 years since Jones, the quarterback, passed to Davis, a running back, on the last play of the game to rally the Tigers to a 17-16 win. As they are now, LSU was a top 10 team – ranked No. 6 – and Ole Miss was unranked. The Rebels would eventually struggle to a 5-5 finish in Billy Kinard's second season as coach.
Those associated with Ole Miss contend the play should never have happened. The play before it – one successfully defended by the Rebels – began with four seconds on the clock.
It included Jones taking a snap from under center, shuffling a few steps back, faking a handoff, dropping back further, looking at primary receivers and then finding another option before finally passing.
All that occurred in only three seconds, if the official game clock of the day was correct.
"We ran that play back hundreds of times on the film, and the minimum amount of time we found that it could take was six seconds," Harrison said.
In the modern era of college football the play would be reviewed. That doesn't mean the play would be overturned. Results are not easily predicted when plays reach the replay booth.
The play that should have ended the game but didn't set up the Jones-to-Davis heroics before a crowd of 68,000 in a Tiger Stadium night game.
Even the winning play was flawed, Harrison says.
Davis lined up not in the backfield but as a third wide receiver. One LSU wide receiver blasted off the line not to run a route but to run directly at Harrison, the safety, and grab hold of his jersey to slow him up.
Davis ran straight to the pylon.
When Harrison realized what was happening, he broke free and got to Davis.
Within seconds Ole Miss players were walking stunned in the end zone as LSU players celebrated and the stadium erupted around them.
All this from a play that never should have been snapped and a ball that wasn't caught anyway, Harrison says.
"He did back across the goalline. I saw the officials looking at him, but he never had control of the football. I hit him about the same time (the pass arrived), and we went out of bounds. He never had control of the football and fumbled it out of bounds, of course," Harrison recalls. "They called it a touchdown. To me, it was an incompletion."
The main goal of the play was to keep Ole Miss linebacker Bobby Bailess away from Davis.
"All they were trying to do was screen off our linebacker who at that point had to cover the wingback that basically became a third receiver. They just tried to create a situation where Bailess had to run around all of us, and they did."
What might have been
Harrison, a member of the last signing class of legendary Ole Miss coach John Vaught, was finally able to play for Vaught after Kinard was fired and Vaught finished up the 1973 season.
Harrison believes the "clock" game might have made a difference for Kinard, had he won it.
"It might have bought him another year or so," he said.
Losing it bought Kinard and the Rebels a lot of pain – "I've thought about it 1,000 times," Harrison says – but time has healed some of those wounds, enough that Harrison can discuss the play that shouldn't have been with Bert Jones.
"Davis says he scored, but Bert Jones says he never had control of the ball. It's always helped my attitude about it to hear an LSU Tiger say, 'Yeah, it really wasn't complete.'"


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Autism and Asperger syndrome are part of a range of conditions known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They affect the way the brain processes information.
What is autism?
Autism is a developmental disorder that can cause problems with social interaction, language skills and physical behaviour. People with autism may also be more sensitive to everyday sensory information.
To people with the condition the world can appear chaotic with no clear boundaries, order or meaning.
The disorder varies from mild to so severe that a person may be almost unable to communicate and need round-the-clock care.
Research has revealed that people with autism have brains that function in a number of different ways to those without the condition.
One recent study suggested that people with autism tend to have far more activity in the part of the brain called the amygdala when looking at other people's faces. The over-stimulation of this part of the brain that deals with new information may explain why people with autism often have difficulty maintaining eye-contact.
Specific nerve cells in the brain, called neurones, also act differently in people with autism. Mirror neurones help us mimic useful behaviour so we can learn from others.
Brain imaging studies suggest that the mirror neurones in people with autism respond in a different way to those without the disorder.
This could partly explain what many behavioural studies have already shown – that children with autism can find it difficult to copy or learn simple behaviours from others. Scientists have suggested with social interaction could have a knock-on effect on language learning.
What is Asperger syndrome?
Asperger syndrome is a milder form of autism, with symptoms that affect social interaction and behaviour.
Children with Asperger syndrome are often of average or above intelligence, and may be particularly good at learning facts and figures. However, they may also lack imagination and find creative play or thinking in the abstract very difficult.
What causes autism?
The exact causes of autism are not yet understood but researchers believe genetic, environmental and neurological factors play a part.
In fact autism is probably not one single condition but encompasses a group of disorders that have their roots in a variety of different causes, but which result in similar problems.
Researchers are examining a number of specific genes that could contribute to the disorder. It's likely that autism occurs when a small number of genes interact in a specific way, possibly linked to some external event or factor.
The genetic link means a predisposition to autism may be inherited and can run in families. Brothers or sisters of a child with the condition are 5-6% more likely to develop it themselves.
A variety of other environmental factors that affect development before, during or soon after birth, may also play a part.
Researchers believe that if a child is exposed to certain situations it may trigger the disorder. These potential triggers include if the mother has an infection or smoked during pregnancy and if the father is over 40 years old.
Despite reports suggesting a possible link between MMR vaccination and autistic spectrum disorders, scientific evidence has confirmed the vaccination does not increase the risk.
Future of research?
Scientists are spending much of their time studying how autism may affect brain function. Research has found that people with autism may have larger brains than average, which grow unusually fast in early childhood.
Connections between different areas of the brain may also differ. However, further research is needed to fully understand the implications of these findings.
Scientists are also measuring magnetic and electrical activity in the brain using sensors placed on the outside of the skull to try and better understand the disorder.
Autistic spectrum disorders
- Estimates suggest that one in 100 people in the UK have autism
- Four times as many boys as girls are diagnosed with autism
- The number of diagnosed cases of autism has increased over the past 20 years, thought to be due to better diagnosis
- There is no cure but there are a range of interventions available
Sources: NHS Choices/National Autistic Society (VOA)
Thank you for reading What is autism?.


text: SUPPORT THE PROJECT CHANGING PERSPECTIVES is a multi-year aerial and ground-based photography project documenting important renewable energy development around the world. To maximize the international reach and potential for this project, I am asking for your financial support. The issues surrounding energy production and its impacts are global in nature. New renewable energy projects are being built around the world at a remarkable pace. At this point, the most dynamic and compelling projects are under development internationally and not in the United States. Thus, I am motivated to document key projects on multiple continents that represent our best efforts to shift energy production away from fossil fuels. By documenting important changes in our contemporary energy landscape, I seek to create imagery relevant both to our present-day collective conversation and to an eventual historical perspective of this era on Earth. We will pursue opportunities to share this imagery with the broadest possible international audiences through editorial print and online publications, books, exhibitions and public presentations. My creative preference for aerial photography is to shoot from helicopters or small planes at altitudes of 500 to 5000 feet over the landscape (150 to 1500 meters). Flight time internationally is two to five times more expensive than in the United States. Add to this the need for fixers, translators, assistants, drones when helicopter or airplane flights are not possible, and more complicated permitting and permission requirements. Undertaking significant in-depth international work results in substantial costs. To cover the out-of-pocket costs associated with documenting in two or more countries annually, we are working to raise a minimum of $150K USD annually for five years. These funds will be dedicated solely to the costs of creating new work and its dissemination to the international community. To ensure the success of CHANGING PERSPECTIVES, I am asking for your financial support to bring these issues to the attention of the decision makers and establish a precedent for future generations. By partnering with BLUE EARTH, a 501c3 non-profit organization, your individual and corporate contributions are tax-deductible. Foundations that provide grants to 501c3 organizations can support CHANGING PERSPECTIVES through BLUE EARTH. Thank you in advance for your help and support. Click here to contribute to CHANGING PERSPECTIVES. Please feel free to contact me directly to learn more about this project and various approaches to supporting the work.


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Liverpool legend hails 'exceptional' Enrique
Brought to you by
Former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen has paid tribute to defender Jose Enrique following his impressive start to life at Anfield.
The Spanish full-back joined the Reds for a reported £6 million in August, leaving Newcastle United for Merseyside after four impressive seasons at St. James' Park.
And, ahead of his first meeting against the Magpies since making the move, club legend Hansen has sung the praises of the left back for his accomplished performances as part of the Barclays Premier League's best defence.
"Enrique has really impressed me since moving to Liverpool from Newcastle at the start of the season," wrote Hansen, who named the former Villarreal defender in his 2011 Team of the Year.
"I always knew he was a good player, but he has been exceptional at Anfield.
"Enrique has been consistent, however, and the highest praise you can pay him is that he looks as though he has been at Liverpool forever with his awareness on the ball significantly improving."
For the player himself, the clash against Alan Pardew's side will be a special occasion, and the 25-year-old admits he has no regrets over making the move in the summer transfer window.
"It will be a special game. I had very good moments there and I always gave my best for them. They have amazing fans, it is an amazing city," said Enrique.
"I still love Newcastle and will do all my life. But I play for Liverpool now and I want three points because it is important that we get them.
"I have no regrets over the move. I played four years for Newcastle and gave my best for them and wish the best for them. But I play for Liverpool now and I want the best for us."
The two sides meet at Anfield tonight with one place and one point separating them in the league table.News Now - Sport News


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"You are an IRONMAN®!" When you hear these magical words as you cross the finish line, you've accomplished something very special.
Designed for NOVICE IRONMAN-distance triathletes with limited or no IRONMAN experience, the primary goal of this training plan is to prepare you for YOUR successful IRONMAN Santa Rosa finish.
Crafted by Exercise Physiologist and Coach David Glover, MSE, MS, CSCS, this plan encapsulates his education, experience - 28 IRONMAN distance finishes with an 8:51 PR - success and passion coaching hundreds of triathletes to achieve their excellence...beyond what they knew they could do.
Beginning 10 weeks before your race, this plan progresses through one base period and one build period (17.5 hrs biggest training week) prior to tapering for your race. Each week typically contains 3x swims, 3x bikes and 3x runs plus 1 BRICK run. Long rides are on Saturday with long runs on Sunday. Monday is the designated day off. Using the plan, you will build up to: 3,800 yards (or meters) swimming, 5-6 hours biking and 2.5-3 hours running.
Prior to using this plan, you should be able to complete the following workouts:
• Swim: 1,000 meters or yards continuously
• Bike: 3.5 hours
• Run: 120 minutes
Purchase of this plan includes our comprehensive 40+ page Triathlon Training Guide, which explains how to use your training plan plus email access to David Glover at any time for questions that you may have about this plan.
For more information about this plan, please DOWNLOAD the Description Document.
Questions? Please visit us on the web at enduranceworks.com or email David directly at: email@example.com.
Please note:
• You can reuse this training plan for future races.
• IRONMAN® and IRONMAN Triathlon® are registered trademarks of World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).
200 FR easy - practice breathing on both sides, r15s
1 x 100 Float Kick Drill, r10s
100 FR easy - practice sighting by popping head up every 3-4 strokes, r15s
1 x 100 Float Kick Drill, r10s
Main Set:
4 x 500 FR maintain same steady pace for all four (within 3-4s of each other), r20s
C/D: 200 easy CHOICE
View swim drill videos: http://www.enduranceworks.net/resources/swim-drill-videos/
Z2. Change between Small Chain Ring (90+ rpm) and Big Chain Ring (70-80 rpm) every 4-5' while riding.
Field test to set your training zones for the run.
Download and follow either Running Field Test #1 or #2 protocol at http://www.enduranceworks.net/resources/ to calculate your run training zones using heart rate, pace or perceived effort.
Your training zones may shift over time as you become more fit.
100 easy CHOICE
2 x 100 side kicking drill, r10s
Main Set:
Pyramid FR (use pull buoy on odd's):
100, 200, 300, 400 steady, r15s
400, 300, 200, 100 steady, r15s
C/D: 200 easy CHOICE
View swim drill videos: http://www.enduranceworks.net/resources/swim-drill-videos/
Field test to set your training zones for the bike.
Download and follow "Cycling Field Test" protocol at http://www.enduranceworks.net/resources/ to calculate your bike training zones using power, heart rate or perceived effort.
Your training zones may change over time.
300 easy CHOICE
4 x 50 FR (fast Z5, easy Z1), r15s
2 x 100 FR start easy and build to Z4, r20s
100 FR easy Z1, r60s
Main Set:
1 x 1000 FR time trial - as fast as you can but pace yourself, r60s
See "Swimming Field Test" at http://www.enduranceworks.net/resources/field-tests/ to calculate your swim training zones.
C/D: 200 easy CHOICE
Z2. Focus on relaxing upper body. Include 3 x 2' Z3 efforts mixed in.


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HIV/AIDS News
NIAID Teams with Wyeth on HIV/AIDS Vaccine
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) today announced the latest contract award in its innovative HIV Vaccine Design and Development Teams (HVDDT) program, a public-private partnership mechanism aimed at accelerating HIV vaccine development. Wyeth Vaccines, a unit of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, will receive $22.8 million over the next 5 years to expand research on a vaccine candidate that has been shown to prevent an AIDS-like disease in monkeys. The candidate vaccine uses a modified livestock virus to ferry into the body two HIV genes whose proteins boost the body's immunity to HIV. Researchers hope the vaccine will stimulate both parts of the immune system: antibodies to neutralize any free-floating HIV and specialized immune cells to kill any cells that HIV does manage to infect.
"HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, May 18th, reminds us that the fight against AIDS requires the marriage of ideas and expertise from both the private and public sectors," says U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. "This novel NIAID research program provides incentives for moving promising HIV/AIDS vaccines from the laboratory to human trials by fostering partnerships between academic research centers and private industry."
"HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates must travel a long pipeline from idea to reality," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The HVDDT program focuses on products in the middle of the pipeline and will bring us nearer to our goal of a safe and effective vaccine against HIV."
The vaccine candidate had its origin in the Yale University laboratory of NIAID grantee John K. Rose, Ph.D. Dr. Rose and his colleagues created a genetically engineered form of a virus called vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which can cause a mild disease in livestock. The engineered virus contains only two HIV genes-not the entire virus-so it cannot cause HIV infection or disease. Furthermore, the hybrid virus is deliberately weakened to make it even safer.
Early tests in monkeys inoculated with the VSV vector vaccine and then "challenged" by exposure to a form of HIV yielded promising results. Although the vaccinated monkeys did not escape infection, they all developed strong immune responses that protected them against disease. The vaccine itself did not cause any illness, and it could be administered nasally, a potentially important advantage for any vaccine destined for widespread use. Expanded animal tests are underway.
The new HVDDT is led by Wyeth's Stephen Udem, M.D., Ph.D. With Dr. Rose and others, the Wyeth scientists will refine several versions of the vaccine and scale-up production capacity. Eventually, the experimental vaccine will be tested in people through NIAID's HIV Vaccine Trials Network.
NIAID launched the HVDDT program in 2000 with four contracts to public-private research teams totaling $70 million over 5 years. Like those, the new contract is milestone-driven, meaning that researchers must describe a clear development plan including timelines indicating when each phase of research will be completed. "Funds are awarded incrementally as each milestone is achieved," explains Peggy Johnston, Ph.D., associate director for HIV/AIDS vaccines, NIAID. "In this way, we encourage continual movement towards a clinically viable vaccine and also reward companies for their accomplishments along the way," she adds.
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, illness from potential agents of bioterrorism, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.


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The History of Europe and the World. The Study of Past Events & Ancient Civilisations. Origins of Ethnic Groups, the Story of Warfare.
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From: http://www.kgw.com/tech/stories/kgw_....249da78a.html
Security has become a hot industry in recent months, and a Corvallis company is making the most of it.
Videx, which makes a number of bar code readers and data collection devices for inventory control, order tracking, and other applications, is finding its hottest seller is an electronic access- control system called CyberLock.
From a user's perspective, the system seems almost conventional -- put the key in the lock and turn to open. But instead of relying on a grooved key that fits into a matching hole, CyberLock opens only for the right electronic code.
Part of the system is a pass word-protected software package that allows managers or security personnel to reprogram both locks and keys to change codes as necessary or to block a key that has been lost, stolen or carried off by a fired employee.
Individual keys can be assigned their own turn-on and expiration dates, and the system can be set to permit access only during specific hours on specific days.
"We can control who gets in and when they get in," said Andy Hilverda, director of sales and marketing for Videx.
One of the system's biggest selling points is that the locks can be installed almost any where.
The CyberLock cylinder simply replaces the cylinder in an existing mechanical lock -- the same process locksmiths use now to rekey a door, padlock, cabinet lock or any other commonly used lock.
The key contains computer circuitry as well as a tiny battery that provides power both for itself and the lock.
That means there's no wiring involved in installing the CyberLock cylinder -- any locksmith can do it, Videx owner Paul Davis said.
Currently, Videx's biggest market for CyberLock products is schools, but new ones are constantly opening up in casinos, hospitals, factories, office buildings, virtually anywhere conventional locks are found.
"One of our very large opportunities is in vending," Hilverda said. "Vending machines sit outside, some times in remote locations, 24 hours a day, and sometimes there's a lot of money sitting in there."
Jim Summerton chose to install CyberLocks when he put up a new building in Philomath for his biotech company, Gene Tools. He's more afraid of industrial espionage than fire or burglary, he said.
CyberLocks protect Gene Tools' various labs, with each one programmed to accept only certain keys. That keeps the work compartmentalized, so no single employee has access to the full range of research, Summerton said.
"Every person has their own key, and I can decide what they can open and what they can't," he said.
Videx is a privately held company, and Davis declined to disclose sales figures. But after just two years on the market, the CyberLock line is really starting to take off, with close to 100,000 units sold, he said. The price varies by application.
"Right now it's about a third of our business," Davis said. "Last year at this time, it was about 10 percent. By next year, we'll be saying it's 80 percent of our business."
Pretty interesting but i'm skeptical.
I wonder how easily it would be to dislodge the battery then replace, it. Would the memory be erased?The key contains computer circuitry as well as a tiny battery that provides power both for itself and the lock.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday's session are Perry Ellis International Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Global Payments Inc.
Perry Ellis US:PERY is projected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 3 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. In February, the apparel maker cut its full year outlook, citing bad weather and weaker consumer spending.
Micron Technology MU, -1.31% is forecast to post second-quarter earnings of 74 cents a share. Analysts at Jefferies on Tuesday reiterated their buy rating on the stock. "We expect stable earnings to drive higher valuation," analyst Sundeep Bajikar said in a report.
Global Payments GPN, -1.02% is likely to post third-quarter earnings of 95 cents a share. "We expect solid fiscal third-quarter 2014 results aided by new business traction and recent share repurchases," Jennifer Dugan, an analyst at Sterne Agee, said in a note.
After Wednesday's closing bell, CACI International Inc. CACI, -0.96% cut its earnings-per-share outlook for the year to a range of $5.12 to $5.51 from $5.59 to $5.98, and lowered its revenue target to $3.5 billion to $3.6 billion from $3.65 billion to $3.8 billion. Shares of CACI slumped 8.8% in after-hours trading.


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Transportation Working GroupThe Transportation Working Group is a diverse group of students, staff, faculty, and community members working toward sustainable tranportation solutions on Indiana University's campus. The Transportation Working Group investigates and enacts measures to address threats to sustainability posed by single-occupancy vehicles. The Working Group aims to provide and improve alternative transportation solutions, i.e. carpooling/ridesharing, bicycling, public transit, and walking.
- Start
- Wednesday January 10, 2018 04:00 PM
- End
- Wednesday January 10, 2018 05:00 PM
- Location
- 704 East 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47408
- Contact Email
- email@example.com


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Get Techmind4U Coupons
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Cruise Details
Sunset Acoustic Harbor Cruise
- Date: Jun 23, 2019
- Age Restriction: None
- Boarding Time: 6:30 PM
- Departure Time: 7:00 PM
- Duration: 2.0 hours
Buy tickets for:
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Catch a gorgeous sunset aboard the M/V Thomas Laighton. Have a drink and unwind to live acoustic entertainment. A perfect end to your week.


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"Five years ago, the Samurai drove back the Mongols from their shores where they were swallowed up by the Divine Wind. But their return has been inevitable and their armies gather, thirsty for revenge. Young fisherman Shoichi follows his dream of becoming a Samurai when Kublai Khan's Mongol horde invades again. Led by the wise warrior-monk Tametomo, Shoiche and the samurai battle to the last to defend their island."
Written by Jeff Amano
Art by Julian Totino Tedesco


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I have downloaded QGIS 1.8 and installed it on my windows 7 system. When I click on the desktop icon, nothing happens.
I am currently running QGIS 1.7.4 with no problems and the installs of previous versions have always worked with no problems. I'm not sure what's going on here. Has anyone else experienced this and have a solution?


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20" footstool cushion - filled with compression resistant polyester filling.
Go to Fabrics to place your footstool cushion order.
PLEASE NOTE - if ordering 1 or 2 footstool or decorative cushions (WITHOUT being accompanied by footstool frame, another papasan cushion, swivel rocker cushion or futon product) then an additional $13.00 will apply, to cover the cost of packaging and shipping.
Papasans Unlimited offers two styles of cushions, the Tufted style (as detailed on this page) and the Deluxe Style. This footstool cushion has 4 tufts and is 20 inches in diameter. Tufted footstool cushions are only available in fabrics from our Standard Range.
Delivery is made through either UPS or FedEx, and we e-mail you with tracking details once items are dispatched - within 10 - 15 working days of receiving your order.
If wishing to purchase cushion AND footstool frame, then order cushion, and then go to our footstool frames to order the frame.


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"I just didn't know they were going to happen so quickly. So soon. I was busy trying to move our family and the next thing I know, I had 4,000 people outside my home in Wauwatosa."Another political wife. By the way, she's 11 years older than Governor Walker. And her maiden name is Tarantino. She met Scott Walker at a karaoke bar in Milwaukee:
It didn't take long for the governor's mansion to become the family's only refuge. The governor and first lady didn't go out to eat or attend teacher conferences at their sons' school.
The family received threats. Protesters confronted their teenage sons in grocery stores, she said.
"'We hate your husband,' 'We hate your father' ... of course those things are hard to hear," Walker said.
After a while, the stress wore on her. She would choke up watching the news. She even called the governor and his staff, questioning them about the controversy. "I would say to Scott ... 'Is this really, really what you have to do?'" she said. "And after he would explain it to me, I would be better again."
Every time someone would rise to head to the stage to sing, the two would lock eyes and make approving or disapproving faces at one another....
Toward the end of the night, the young man rose to leave. As he passed, the future governor handed her a napkin with his phone number on it. Five months later the two returned to Saz's, where Scott Walker proposed to her the same way — on a napkin.


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Wilson, P (2001) Taele gravels. In: The Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Environmental Change. Arnold, p. 621. ISBN 0340741090 [Book section]
Full text not available from this repository.
|Item Type:
|Book section
|Faculties and Schools:
|Faculty of Life and Health Sciences
Faculty of Life and Health Sciences > School of Geography and Environmental Sciences
|Research Institutes and Groups:
|Environmental Sciences Research Institute
Environmental Sciences Research Institute > Quaternary Environmental Change
|ID Code:
|Deposited By:
|Dr Peter Wilson
|Deposited On:
|20 Apr 2010 08:44
|Last Modified:
|28 Mar 2012 15:22
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The holidays may be behind us, but that doesn't mean the end of the gift-giving season… There are birthdays, equinoxes, rainy days, and plenty of duplicate gifts to return. But what to get for the discerning tot in your home? Here are some of the top interactive toys for the toddler set that will keep kids entertained—and are fun for mom and dad too.
Furreal Friends Baby Butterscotch, My Magical Show Pony (Hasbro). This new addition to Hasbro's Furreal Friends line is the most animated and responsive yet. Scratch Butterscotch's head and she'll nuzzle your hand, talk to her, and she'll respond with the pony equivalent of cooing. Feed her a carrot and she'll make happy crunching sounds. Brush her fur, and she'll love you forever. Baby Butterscotch is a fun intro to owning a real pet—she even snores at the end of a long day of play. Carrot and brush included. Ages 4 and up.
Interactive Story Buddies (Hallmark).
Bigsby, the shy monster, likes to go on big adventures and learn new things with his friends. He—along with the other Story Buddies—speak up when they hear certain words. Those words can be delivered by mom or dad, your child, or even the narrator in the iPod/iPad app. Each Story Buddy comes with a book and a read-along CD, free downloadable apps, and a host of other interactive features on line. You can also buy more books, which continue Bigsby's adventures. The books gently teach social skills, such as friendship. But what we think is far more important, they encourage parents to snuggle up and read with their children. And that's priceless. Ages 2 and up.
Super Grover (Playskool)
The Sesame Street Flying Super Grover Plush toy is a lot of fun for fans of Sesame Street. Parents can explore the world with their child as they help Super Grover investigate and solve problems on earth and beyond. He's not only cute (in that monstery sort of way) and a good playmate, he can also help your child learn empathy and social skills by teaching him or her about different countries and cultures, and how kids can help others and their communities. For high-flying fun, just the right message for your pre-K and K children, delivered by a friendly face they know and love, Super Grover will be a year-round hit. His preloaded songs, motorized motion, cool flying sounds, and vocabulary of absurd Grover-ish phrases will keep your kiddo entertained long after the thank-you notes are written (you do have your kids write thank you notes, right?) Ages 2-5.
FURBY (Hasbro)
Furby, one of the first robotic pets, was born in 1998 and immediately became the must-have toy of that year. Those first Furbys talked to and interacted with their human playmate, "learning" depending on the level of the child's interaction and time spent together. The newest generation does much the same, but instead of being simply action-reaction (child says something, Furby responds), these Furbys add an emotional component and a touch of attitude. So if your Furby doesn't like music and you play it anyway, she'll get aggravated and yell. Continue ignoring her needs and she'll get even angrier. It's amazing how much this little fluffy ball of circuits, motors, and screens can mimic an actual pet. Don't be surprised if next year's model includes a real litter box. Ages 6 and up.


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This is part of a series of hikes we offer that run weekly throughout the year. Within minutes of leaving the Salt Lake valley you will enter what we call "paradise"! Lush green foliage, spectacular waterfalls, cool mountain air, shady forests, peaceful alpine lakes and streams, stunning views and vistas await you. We accommodate both beginner and moderate hiking abilities. Please join us often!
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
6200 South UTA Park n Ride
6570 South Wasatch Blvd, Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121
You'll find us on the south end of the large parking lot, known as "6200 South Wasatch Park n Ride" Questions? Call or text me at 801-278-5313
This is a free event!RSVP
Details for this hike, namely the specific trail and canyon, is generally posted at least one day before this event. All of our hikes will finish before 12 noon unless clearly stated. You are always invited to come and enjoy a shortened version of this hike if you prefer. On Saturday attend the pre-hike "get acquainted meeting" held prior to leaving for the hike. Our desire is to help you feel as comfortable and welcome as possible on your first hike with us.
This hike is subject to change without notice due to conditions beyond our control (i.e. weather, road, trail or canyon conditions).
As a worse case, changes will be made at our meeting place prior to leaving for the hike. It doesn't happen very often but contact me to confirm where we are going ONLY IF you plan to meet us anywhere other than our regular 6200 South meeting place.
Equipment or Gear
Water - 1 liter (1 quart) per hour of hiking is recommended, even in the winter
A healthy snack (granola bar, trail mix, etc.)
Sun protection i.e. hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, lip balm
Light jacket for wind protection and cooler mountain temperatures
First Aid Kit (small kit with supplies i.e. bandaids, etc.)
Cell phone - which may be spotty in the canyons
Camera - optional
Flashlight - be prepared even though most of our hikes are during the day
Small rain poncho
My contact information in your phone. Sheryl: 801-278-5313
6200 South UTA Park n Ride
6570 South Wasatch Blvd, Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121
You'll find us on the south end of the large parking lot, known as "6200 South Wasatch Park n Ride" Questions? Call or text me at 801-278-5313
There is a 15 minute window when hikers will be arriving. Step out of your car and join us for a short pre-hike meeting as we greet everyone, introduce new hikers, go over final instructions, address any concerns, arrange carpools, and announce upcoming events.
Hikers are encouraged to gather at our meeting place, not the trailhead in case there is a change of plans at the last minute. If you need to meet us at the trailhead, text me by 8 AM so you'll be informed if there is a change.
The trailhead is generally within 10 - 30 minutes of our 6200 South meeting place, unless otherwise stated. There is limited parking at the trailheads which is why we carpool as much as possible. Some trailheads have a bathroom, many do not. You are always welcome to hike a short distance if you prefer or stay for the full duration of the hike. You decide but let me know at the meeting place if possible since others may want to join you.
We are off the trail between 11:30 AM - 12 noon, depending on the hike. If it is an Out and Back trail, we generally turn around by 10:30 AM in order to be back to the cars in time. There is always a variety of hiking abilities in our group which is what we like. Come often and get to know other hikers with similar abilities.
Related Links
Benefits of hiking with our group
Enjoy a hiking experience that matches your own ability!
Let us know if you'll be coming. It isn't necessary, but it helps us to plan.


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Opinion Columns & Blogs
College degrees often have fancy names, take a long time to get and cost more than they should. In other words, they're already a lot like Starbucks coffee.
So maybe it's not surprising that the Seattle-based coffee chain says it plans to start helping employees pay for college. It's a welcome development, from both an educational and employment standpoint, even if Starbucks claims are slightly exaggerated.
For those working at least 20 hours a week, Starbucks will pay part of the cost of tuition for the first two years of an online bachelor's degree at Arizona State University. The idea is that with tuition support from Starbucks, Pell grants and other federal aid, and financial assistance set up by the university, employees will be left to cover less than half of the cost of a full-time education. Starbucks says students will have the entire costs covered – now about $15,000 a year – for their final two years.
What makes this different from other companies' tuition-support programs is that employees don't have to stay at Starbucks after they graduate. Nor is the benefit limited to long-serving workers; anyone can take advantage of them, regardless of how long he or she has been with the company. And there are about 40 programs to choose from.
This isn't necessarily altruism on the part of Starbucks. First of all, federal student aid is what makes it possible. Second, Howard Schultz, the company's chairman and chief executive, predicted the policy will allow Starbucks to attract and retain better employees, while benefiting Starbucks's reputation.
Starbucks's approach may also provide lessons for other companies and for institutions of higher learning. That includes examining what incentives best encourage part-time workers to pursue a degree, and whether increasing financial support in the third and fourth years of a degree can help improve college completion rates. If Starbucks can show that such programs enhance productivity, other companies may do the same.
That said, it's worthwhile to note just how limited this program is. It applies only to online courses from Arizona State. Some Starbucks workers may prefer to pursue a degree in person at a local college or community college, or online elsewhere. Those programs don't qualify.
By offering its employees this program, Starbucks is making college more accessible for its employees. They may find the extra shot is worth it.
Bloomberg View


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I've previously documented numerous ways in which the Fed is working against its stated goals, such as:
- Reinforcing cyclical trends (when one of the Fed's main justifications is providing a counter-cyclical balance);
- Increasing unemployment (when the Fed is mandated by law to maximize employment); and
- Encouraging financial companies to make even riskier gambles in the future (when it is supposed to stabilize the financial system).
And see this.
And I've repeatedly pointed out that the Federal Reserve has been intentionally discouraged banks from lending to Main Street – in a misguided attempt to curb inflation – which has increased unemployment and stalled out the economy.
As I noted last year:
[T]he Fed has been paying the big banks high enough interest on the funds which they deposit at the Fed to discourage banks from making loans. Indeed, the Fed has explicitly stated that – in order to prevent inflation – it wants to ensure that the banks don't loan out money into the economy, but instead deposit it at the Fed:
Why is M1 crashing? [the M1 money multiplier basically measures how much the money supply increases for each $1 increase in the monetary base, and it gives an indication of the "velocity" of money, i.e. how quickly money is circulating through the system]
Because the banks continue to build up their excess reserves, instead of lending out money:
(Click for full image)
These excess reserves, of course, are deposited at the Fed:
(Click for full image)
Why are banks building up their excess reserves?
As the Fed notes:
The Federal Reserve Banks pay interest on required reserve balances–balances held at Reserve Banks to satisfy reserve requirements–and on excess balances–balances held in excess of required reserve balances and contractual clearing balances.
The New York Fed itself said in a July 2009 staff report that the excess reserves are almost entirely due to Fed policy:
Since September 2008, the quantity of reserves in the U.S. banking system has grown dramatically, as shown in Figure 1.1 Prior to the onset of the financial crisis, required reserves were about $40 billion and excess reserves were roughly $1.5 billion. Excess reserves spiked to around $9 billion in August 2007, but then quickly returned to pre-crisis levels and remained there until the middle of September 2008. Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, however, total reserves began to grow rapidly, climbing above $900 billion by January 2009. As the figure shows, almost all of the increase was in excess reserves. While required reserves rose from $44 billion to $60 billion over this period, this change was dwarfed by the large and unprecedented rise in excess reserves.
[Figure 1 is here]
Why are banks holding so many excess reserves? What do the data in Figure 1 tell us about current economic conditions and about bank lending behavior? Some observers claim that the large increase in excess reserves implies that many of the policies introduced by the Federal Reserve in response to the financial crisis have been ineffective. Rather than promoting the flow of credit to firms and households, it is argued, the data shown in Figure 1 indicate that the money lent to banks and other intermediaries by the Federal Reserve since September 2008 is simply sitting idle in banks' reserve accounts. Edlin and Jaffee (2009), for example, identify the high level of excess reserves as either the "problem" behind the continuing credit crunch or "if not the problem, one heckuva symptom" (p.2). Commentators have asked why banks are choosing to hold so many reserves instead of lending them out, and some claim that inducing banks to lend their excess reserves is crucial for resolving the credit crisis.
This view has lead to proposals aimed at discouraging banks from holding excess reserves, such as placing a tax on excess reserves (Sumner, 2009) or setting a cap on the amount of excess reserves each bank is allowed to hold (Dasgupta, 2009). Mankiw (2009) discusses historical concerns about people hoarding money during times of financial stress and mentions proposals that were made to tax money holdings in order to encourage lending. He relates these historical episodes to the current situation by noting that "[w]ith banks now holding substantial excess reserves, [this historical] concern about cash hoarding suddenly seems very modern."
[In fact, however,] the total level of reserves in the banking system is determined almost entirely by the actions of the central bank and is not affected by private banks' lending decisions.
The liquidity facilities introduced by the Federal Reserve in response to the crisis have created a large quantity of reserves. While changes in bank lending behavior may lead to small changes in the level of required reserves, the vast majority of the newly-created reserves will end up being held as excess reserves almost no matter how banks react. In other words, the quantity of excess reserves depicted in Figure 1 reflects the size of the Federal Reserve's policy initiatives, but says little or nothing about their effects on bank lending or on the economy more broadly.
This conclusion may seem strange, at first glance, to readers familiar with textbook presentations of the money multiplier.
Why Is The Fed Locking Up Excess Reserves?
Why is the Fed locking up excess reserves?
As Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said in a speech on April 18, 2009:
We are paying interest on excess reserves, which we can use to help provide a floor for the federal funds rate, as it does for other central banks, even if declines in lending or open market operations are not sufficient to bring reserves down to the desired level.
Kohn said in a speech on January 3, 2010:
Because we can now pay interest on excess reserves, we can raise short-term interest rates even with an extraordinarily large volume of reserves in the banking system. Increasing the rate we offer to banks on deposits at the Federal Reserve will put upward pressure on all short-term interest rates.
As the Minneapolis Fed's research consultant, V. V. Chari, wrote this month:
Currently, U.S. banks hold more than $1.1 trillion of reserves with the Federal Reserve System. To restrict excessive flow of reserves back into the economy, the Fed could increase the interest rate it pays on these reserves. Doing so would not only discourage banks from draining their reserve holdings, but would also exert upward pressure on broader market interest rates, since only rates higher than the overnight reserve rate would attract bank funds. In addition, paying interest on reserves is supported by economic theory as a means of reducing monetary inefficiencies, a concept referred to as "the Friedman rule."
And the conclusion to the above-linked New York Fed article states:
We also discussed the importance of paying interest on reserves when the level of excess reserves is unusually high, as the Federal Reserve began to do in October 2008. Paying interest on reserves allows a central bank to maintain its influence over market interest rates independent of the quantity of reserves created by its liquidity facilities. The central bank can then let the size of these facilities be determined by conditions in the financial sector, while setting its target for the short-term interest rate based on macroeconomic conditions. This ability to separate monetary policy from the quantity of bank reserves is particularly important during the recovery from a financial crisis. If inflationary pressures begin to appear while the liquidity facilities are still in use, the central bank can use its interest-on-reserves policy to raise interest rates without necessarily removing all of the reserves created by the facilities.
As the NY Fed explains in more detail:
The central bank paid interest on reserves to prevent the increase in reserves from driving market interest rates below the level it deemed appropriate given macroeconomic conditions. In such a situation, the absence of a money-multiplier effect should be neither surprising nor troubling.
Is the large quantity of reserves inflationary?
Some observers have expressed concern that the large quantity of reserves will lead to an increase in the inflation rate unless the Federal Reserve acts to remove them quickly once the economy begins to recover. Meltzer (2009), for example, worries that "the enormous increase in bank reserves — caused by the Fed's purchases of bonds and mortgages — will surely bring on severe inflation if allowed to remain." Feldstein (2009) expresses similar concern that "when the economy begins to recover, these reserves can be converted into new loans and faster money growth" that will eventually prove inflationary. Under a traditional operational framework, where the central bank influences interest rates and the level of economic activity by changing the quantity of reserves, this concern would be well justified. Now that the Federal Reserve is paying interest on reserves, however, matters are different.
When the economy begins to recover, firms will have more profitable opportunities to invest, increasing their demands for bank loans. Consequently, banks will be presented with more lending opportunities that are profitable at the current level of interest rates. As banks lend more, new deposits will be created and the general level of economic activity will increase. Left unchecked, this growth in lending and economic activity may generate inflationary pressures. Under a traditional operating framework, where no interest is paid on reserves, the central bank must remove nearly all of the excess reserves from the banking system in order to arrest this process. Only by removing these excess reserves can the central bank limit banks' willingness to lend to firms and households and cause short-term interest rates to rise.
Paying interest on reserves breaks this link between the quantity of reserves and banks' willingness to lend. By raising the interest rate paid on reserves, the central bank can increase market interest rates and slow the growth of bank lending and economic activity without changing the quantity of reserves. In other words, paying interest on reserves allows the central bank to follow a path for short-term interest rates that is independent of the level of reserves. By choosing this path appropriately, the central bank can guard against inflationary pressures even if financial conditions lead it to maintain a high level of excess reserves.
This logic applies equally well when financial conditions are normal. A central bank may choose to maintain a high level of reserve balances in normal times because doing so offers some important advantages, particularly regarding the operation of the payments system. For example, when banks hold more reserves they tend to rely less on daylight credit from the central bank for payments purposes. They also tend to send payments earlier in the day, on average, which reduces the likelihood of a significant operational disruption or of gridlock in the payments system. To capture these benefits, a central bank may choose to create a high level of reserves as a part of its normal operations, again using the interest rate it pays on reserves to influence market interest rates.
Because financial conditions are not "normal", it appears that preventing inflation seems to be the Fed's overriding purpose in creating conditions ensuring high levels of excess reserves.
As Barron's notes:
The multiplier's decline "corresponds so exactly to the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet," says Constance Hunter, economist at hedge-fund firm Galtere. "It hits at the core of the problem in a credit crisis. Until [the multiplier] expands, we can't get sustainable growth of credit, jobs, consumption, housing. When the multiplier starts to go back up toward 1.8, then we know the psychological logjam has begun to break."
It's not just the Fed. The NY Fed report notes:
Most central banks now pay interest on reserves.
Robert D. Auerbach – an economist with the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee for eleven years, assisting with oversight of the Federal Reserve, and subsequently Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin – argues that the Fed should slowly reduce the interest paid on reserves so as to stimulate the economy.
Last week, Auerbach wrote:
The stimulative effects of QE2 may be small and the costs may be large. One of these costs will be the payment of billions of dollars by taxpayers to the banks which currently hold over 50 percent of the monetary base, over $1 trillion in reserves. The interest payments are an incentive for banks to hold reserves rather than make business loans. If market interest rates rise, the Federal Reserve may be required to increase these interest payments to prevent the huge amount of bank reserves from flooding the economy. They should follow a different policy that benefits taxpayers and increases the incentive of banks to make business loans as I have previously suggested.
In September, Auerbach explained:
Immediately after the recession took a dramatic dive in September 2008, the Bernanke Fed implemented a policy that continues to further damage the incentive for banks to lend to businesses. On October 6, 2008 the Fed's Board of Governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke, announced it would begin paying interest on the reserve balances of the nation's banks, major lenders to medium and small size businesses.
You don't need a Ph.D. economist to know that if you pay banks ¼ percent risk free interest to hold reserves that they can obtain at near zero interest, that would be an incentive to hold the reserves. The Fed pumped out huge amounts of money, with the base of the money supply more than doubling from August 2008 to August 2010, reaching $1.99 trillion. Guess who has over half of this money parked in cold storage? The banks have $1.085 trillion on reserves drawing interest, The Fed records show they were paid $2.18 billion interest on these reserves in 2009.
A number of people spoke about the disincentive for bank lending embedded in this policy including Chairman Bernanke.
Jim McTague, Washington Editor of Barrons, wrote in his February 2, 2009 column, "Where's the Stimulus:" "Increasing the supply of credit might help pump up spending, too. University of Texas Professor Robert Auerbach an economist who studied under the late Milton Friedman, thinks he has the makings of a malpractice suit against Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as the Fed is holding a record number of reserves: $901 billion in January as opposed to $44 billion in September, when the Fed began paying interest on money commercial banks parked at the central bank. The banks prefer the sure rate of return they get by sitting in cash, not making loans. Fed, stop paying, he says."
Shortly after this article appeared Fed Chairman Bernanke explained: "Because banks should be unwilling to lend reserves at a rate lower than they can receive from the Fed, the interest rate the Fed pays on bank reserves should help to set a floor on the overnight interest rate." (National Press Club, February 18, 2009) That was an admission that the Fed's payment of interest on reserves did impair bank lending. Bernanke's rationale for interest payments on reserves included preventing banks from lending at lower interest rates. That is illogical at a time when the Fed's target interest rate for federal funds, the small market for interbank loans, was zero to a quarter of one percent. The banks would be unlikely to lend at negative rates of interest — paying people to take their money — even without the Fed paying the banks to hold reserves.
The next month William T. Gavin, an excellent economist at the St. Louis Federal Reserve, wrote in its MarchApril 2009 publication: "first, for the individual bank, the risk-free rate of ¼ percent must be the bank's perception of its best investment opportunity."
The Bernanke Fed's policy was a repetition of what the Fed did in 1936 and 1937 which helped drive the country into a second depression. Why does Chairman Bernanke, who has studied the Great Depression of the 1930's and has surely read the classic 1963 account of improper actions by the Fed on bank reserves described by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz, repeat the mistaken policy?
As the economy pulled out of the deep recession in 1936 the Fed Board thought the U.S. banks had too much excess reserves, so they began to raise the reserves banks were required to hold. In three steps from August 1936 to May 1937 they doubled the reserve requirements for the large banks (13 percent to 26 percent of checkable deposits) and the country banks (7 percent to 14 percent of checkable deposits).
Friedman and Schwartz ask: "why seek to immobilize reserves at that time?" The economy went back into a deep depression. The Bernanke Fed's 2008 to 2010 policy also immobilizes the banking system's reserves reducing the banks' incentive to make loans.
This is a bad policy even if the banks approve. The correct policy now should be to slowly reduce the interest paid on bank reserves to zero and simultaneously maintain a moderate increase in the money supply by slowly raising the short term market interest rate targeted by the Fed. Keeping the short term target interest rate at zero causes many problems, not the least of which is allowing banks to borrow at a zero interest rate and sit on their reserves so they can receive billions in interest from the taxpayers via the Fed. Business loans from banks are vital to the nations' recovery.
The fact that the Fed is suppressing lending and inflation at a time when it says it is trying to encourage both shows that the Fed is saying one thing and doing something else entirely.
Today, Ellen Brown adds some details:
In a June 30 article in the Wall Street Journal titled "Smaller Businesses Seeking Loans Still Come Up Empty," Emily Maltby reported that business owners rank access to capital as the most important issue facing them today; and only 17% of smaller businesses said they were able to land needed bank financing. Businesses have to pay for workers and materials before they can get paid for the products they produce, and for that they need bank credit; but they are reporting that their credit lines are being cut.
Bruce Bartlett, writing in the Fiscal Times in July 2010, observed:
Economists are divided on why banks are not lending, but increasingly are focusing on a Fed policy of paying interest on reserves — a policy that began, interestingly enough, on October 9, 2008, at almost exactly the moment when the financial crisis became acute. . .
Historically, the Fed paid banks nothing on required reserves. This was like a tax equivalent to the interest rate banks could have earned if they had been allowed to lend such funds. But in 2006, the Fed requested permission to pay interest on reserves because it believes that it would help control the money supply should inflation reappear.
. . . [M]any economists believe that the Fed has unwittingly encouraged banks to sit on their cash and not lend it by paying interest on reserves.
At one time, banks collected deposits from their own customers and stored them for their own liquidity needs, using them to back loans and clear outgoing checks. But today banks typically borrow (or "buy") liquidity, either from other banks, from the money market, or from the commercial paper market. The Fed's payment of interest on reserves competes with all of these markets for ready-access short-term funds, creating a shortage of the liquidity that banks need to make loans.
By inhibiting interbank lending, the Fed appears to be creating a silent "liquidity squeeze" — the same sort of thing that brought on the banking crisis of September 2008. According to Jeff Hummel, associate professor of economics at San Jose State University, it could happen again. He warns that paying interest on reserves "may eventually rank with the Fed's doubling of reserve requirements in the 1930s and bringing on the recession of 1937 within the midst of the Great Depression."
The bank bailout and the Federal Reserve's two "quantitative easing" programs were supposedly intended to keep credit flowing to the local economy; but despite trillions of dollars thrown at Wall Street banks, these programs have succeeded only in producing mountains of "excess reserves" that are now sitting idle in Federal Reserve bank accounts. A stunning $1.6 trillion in excess reserves have accumulated since the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008.
The justification for TARP — the Trouble Asset Relief Program that subsidized the nation's largest banks — was that it was necessary to unfreeze credit markets. The contention was that banks were refusing to lend to each other, cutting them off from the liquidity that was essential to the lending business. But an MIT study reported in September 2010 showed that immediately after the Lehman collapse, the interbank lending markets were actually working. They froze, not when Lehman died, but when the Fed started paying interest on excess reserves in October 2008. According to the study, as summarized in The Daily Bail:
. . . [T]he NY Fed's own data show that interbank lending during the period from September to November did not "freeze," collapse, melt down or anything else. In fact, every single day throughout this period, hundreds of billions were borrowed and paid back. The decline in daily interbank lending came only when the Fed ballooned its balance sheet and started paying interest on excess reserves.
On October 9, 2008, the Fed began paying interest, not just on required bank reserves (amounting to 10% of deposits for larger banks), but on "excess" reserves. Reserve balances immediately shot up, and they have been going up almost vertically ever since.
By March 2011, interbank loans outstanding were only one-third their level in May 2008, before the banking crisis hit. And on June 29, 2011, the Fed reported excess reserves of nearly $1.57 trillion – 20 times what the banks needed to satisfy their reserve requirements.
John Mason, Professor of Finance at Penn State University and a former senior economist at the Federal Reserve, wrote in a June 27 blog that despite QE2:
Cash assets at the smaller [U.S.] banks remained relatively flat . . . . Thus, the reserves the Fed was pumping into the banking system were not going into the smaller banks. . . .
[B]usiness loans continue to "tank" at the smaller banking institutions.


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My Content
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The rationale for Pleiades was simple: trumpet master Eric Miyashiro wanted to say a proper goodbye to his "all-time hero," the late Maynard Ferguson, and do it the way he does bestaiming his horn toward the stratosphere and shaking down some stars, as his mentor, the incomparable Monarch of the High Cs, often did. As it turns out, Miyashiro and his EM ensemble not only accomplished that purpose but in doing so have produced one of the year's most powerful and persuasive big-band albums.
Miyashiro raises the curtain with his enchanting composition, "Pleiades," on which he uses the flugelhorn to show what a marvelous all-around player he is (and an electric piano to enhance the mood), and rings it down with his quiet, offbeat arrangement of Ferguson's greatest hit, the inspirational theme from the movie Rocky ("Gonna Fly Now," subtitled "A Ballad for Maynard"). In between are a pair of Slide Hampton classics ("Frame for the Blues," "Ole"), the sensuous ballad "Maria" (from West Side Story) and four previously unrecorded treasuresNick Lane's funky "River Whale," Chip McNeill's rockin' "Close the Deal," Denis DiBlasio's sunny arrangement of Chico Buarque's "O Que Sera" and a second blue-chip chart by Lane, "Dance to Your Heart," which he co-wrote with Ferguson. The last is especially important to him, Miyashiro writes, "because this was the first chart I played with Maynard when I was in high school." "Maria" is followed by a medley of songs from the rock opera Tommy, neatly arranged by Jay Chattaway, only a part of which was recorded by the Ferguson band.
Even though Miyashiro's electrifying high-note trumpet (the nearest thing to Maynard since Maynard) is the unequivocal axis, he's by no means the whole show. The EM Band is superb, and there are adrenalizing solos along the way by altos Kazuhiko Kondo and Akio Suzuki, tenors Tatsuya Sato and Atsushi Tsuzurano, guitarist Mitsukuni Kohata, trombonist Yuzo Kataoka, bassist Kiyoshi Murakami and pianist Masaki Hayashi. And one mustn't overlook the ensemble's rock-solid rhythm section, steadfastly anchored by drummer Tappy Iwase. This is no one-dimensional showcase, it's the complete package.
As for highlights: pick a track, any track. The charts, as noted, are admirable, the band likewise, while Miyashiro's trumpet work is, in a word, breathtaking. It's albums such as this that make reviewing a pleasure, as there's absolutely nothing one can write that is less than complimentary. A strong candidate for anyone's annual Top 10 list.
> CNY Jazz Orchestra
Then, Now & Again
CNY Records
The CNY (Central New York) Jazz Orchestra is at its best in a swinging, straight-ahead groove, which, happily, is the norm much of the time on its engaging debut album, Then, Now & Again. This is actually another of those hybridsCD on one side, DVD on the otherthat have become increasingly prevalent and popular, enabling one to see as well as hear the orchestra perform the album's ten engaging selections. Unfortunately, my review copy included only the CD, so I'll have to rely on my ears alone to assess the result.
With at least one and perhaps as many as three exceptions, the session consists of original compositions as opposed to standards. The reason for the equivocation is that two of the three songs in question, Quincy Jones' "The Midnight Sun Will Never Set" and Pat Ballard's "Mr. Sandman" (a big hit in the '50s for the Chordettes and other groups) may reasonably be counted as "standards," having hung around long enough to earn the label. Two of the newer charts are by music director Bret Zvacek who also arranged the legitimate standard "I Loves You Porgy," Miles Davis / Ron Carter's "Eighty One" and the opener, Irving Szathmary's "Get Smart" (the only track on the album that failed to elicit my enthusiasm).
The others are exemplary, from pianist Rick Montalbano's suave "HipNotHop" to Dan Voegli's savvy take on the public radio news theme "All Things Considered," Calvin Custer's irrepressible "Status Quo" (which sounds like something Benny Carter might have written), Zvacek's "Shimmer" and "Things Happen" (the last featuring his trombone). Trumpeter Jeff Stockham is showcased on "Porgy," alto Joe Carello on "The Midnight Sun," trumpeter Rob Robson on "Sandman" (arranged by Custer as a laid-back, seductive foxtrot).
Other first-rate soloists include Montalbano, tenors John Jeanneret (who arranged "All Things Considered") and John Rohde, alto John Delia, baritone Frank Grosso, trumpeter Dave Blask, trombonists Bill Palange (outstanding on "Status Quo") and Joe Colombo. The ensemble is tight and sure-handed, the rhythm section sharp and supportive. An auspicious beginning for an orchestra that one hopes may be hanging around for a while.
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Air Conditioning Perth
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While other video game companies are happy to celebrate 10th, 15th or even 20th anniversaries, Nintendo is over 100 years old.
Founded in 1889, the company has enjoyed a rich video gaming tradition dating back to the 1970s, releasing some of the most successful gaming consoles and franchises of all time.
Which is great for them, but it's not why we're here. Today, we're here to look back at some of Nintendo's lesser-known, but way more interesting accomplishments (and failures, and dirty secrets).
Below, you'll find a collection of some of the more bizarre aspects of Nintendo's history, some of them during the company's video gaming years, others from earlier in their history when they made playing cards, bad LEGO clones and ran love hotels.
The Nintendo They've Tried to Forget: Gambling, Gangsters, and Love Hotels - Nintendo, the world's family-friendly video game maker, formed under less virtuous auspices. Before Nintendo made video games, they made playing cards for gangsters and ran their own love hotel, which some assert their own president frequented-during work. Saucy!
The Arcade Machine That Made (And Nearly Broke) Nintendo - The amazing story of Nintendo's 1970's "Light Gun Parlours", which nearly sunk the company, and which were only saved by some first-night heroics from a future executive who managed to rig the games when their computer systems failed.
Nintendo's First Arcade Games Were, Well, Pretty Sucky - Great things often have small beginnings, and Nintendo is no different. Before Donkey Kong & Mario, the company needed to cut its teeth and learn the ropes, which it did by releasing some fairly awful and unoriginal arcade games.
This Is the Coolest Stuff Nintendo Has Ever Made - In the early 1970's, Nintendo released a line of LEGO rip-offs, which were so blatant the Danish toy giants would take them to court. The sets featured licensed characters like Kamen Rider, and while basic by today's standard, had some of the coolest box art the world has ever seen.
How Pokémon Was Born From Bug Collecting and Asperger's Syndrome - Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri didn't just wake up one day and think "oh, yes, let's do fighting monsters". He needed inspiration to come up with one of the greatest pop culture phenomenons of our time. And he got it from two places: his childhood love of collecting insects, and his Asperger's Syndrome.
The Father of the Game Boy Was Not Killed By Yakuza - There's long been a bizarre rumour that Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Game Boy, was murdered by the Yakuza, given the odd and premature circumstances surrounding his untimely death back in 1997. Brian Ashcraft breaks down why these rumours are a total bust.
When Nintendo Wanted to Bring Gambling Into American Homes - It's all but forgotten now, but in the early 1990s, at the height of Nintendomania in the United States, the company's American operations quietly floated the idea of using the NES as an online gateway to gambling. Free consoles were handed out and a unique modem was engineered before a combination of political pressure and inadequate tech scuppered the concept.
When Pokémon Got a Little Too Nazi Germany - Pokémon animated episodes and trading cards have had to be either edited or recalled not once, not twice, but thrice because they contained references to Nazi Germany. Or, at least, were accused of referencing Nazi Germany.
In 1983, Donkey Kong Nearly Died - He's one of Nintendo's most successful characters, and the company's springboard to success before Mario even had his own game, but in 1983 a court case Universal sued Nintendo over the giant ape. Rather than accept losses which would have crippled the company's fledgling American operations, Nintendo of America president Howard Lincoln decided to fight the media giant.
Nintendo's War On Blood, Nazis, Religion And Puppy Dogs - Removing blood from a game about blood, shaving Hitler's moustache...there was a time in the early 1990s when Nintendo seemed more concerned with acting as a moral policeman than as a games publisher. While its heart was in the right place, the way Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein were treated on the Super Nintendo will not go down as some of the company's finest moments.
Iron Chef's Secret Ingredient Was…Pokémon! - Beloved Japanese cooking show Iron Chef, which continues to find new fans across the world via repeats, ceased filming in 1999, leaving host Takeshi Kaga in need of a new gig. He found one straight away. Voicing Pokémon characters.
Nintendo's First Console Is One You've Never Played - Years before the Famicom and NES were released, Nintendo's first foray into the world of home video games - in the late 1970s - weren't quite as successful. More colourful, perhaps, and with more steering wheels than we'd be accustomed to, but while reasonably popular in Japan, were never seen outside of Nintendo's home territory.