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So once we get through today's pantomime of an AL Cy Young Award announcement, we can look forward to the fair and equitable distribution of Silver Slugger Awards.
We think it is pretty safe to assume that no Blue Jay is going to be so honoured this year. In fact, we'd be surprised if a Blue Jay got so much as a single vote amongst the managers and coaches who pick the winners.
The last time a Blue Jay won a Silver Slugger was in 2003, when Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado ('member him?) both received one, in the same year that Roy Halladay won the Cy Young.
Wow. We had no idea at the time that 2003 was going to be viewed in retrospect as "the salad years".
Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to go slam our door on our hand to see if we can remember what it's like to feel something.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Silver Sluggers to be awarded - Blue Jays need not apply
5 comments:
- eyebleaf said...
Carlos. Oh, those were good times.
- November 13, 2008 at 2:05 PM
- The Ack said...
Fuck you, Clifford the big red dog Lee.
- November 13, 2008 at 2:26 PM
24 of 28 First place votes? DAMN HIM!
- November 13, 2008 at 2:53 PM
- Ian H. said...
Is there any chance that there are any GIDP awards? If so, Overbay is all over that shit.
- November 14, 2008 at 1:17 AM
- Torgen said...
Maybe the American Airlines Companion Ticket Award For Taking A Friend With You.
- November 14, 2008 at 5:45 PM
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Imagine the golden hue sky peaking over the still water. A slight breeze quietly rustles the pin oak leaves above your rv. The last call of a Barred Owl as the morning light dots the treeline encompassing the campground. Fish jumping, family laughing, and the unique smell of delicious food cooking over your fire. Experiences like these await your arrival at Rockville Lake Park. This 400 acre hidden gem of Parke County, Indiana provides you and your family the opportunity to retreat outdoors to drift away from everyday routine. Chuckle as you witness family and friends create memories while enjoying the activities available at our park. Don't forget to check out Parke County as we are the covered bridge capital of the world. Hosting 31 covered bridges, three state parks, canoeing down Sugar Creek, and a variety of antique shops on and near our historical square, Parke County will be a destination that will draw your attention for years to come!
Here at Rockville Lake Park our pride comes by offering our guests a variety of options to spend their leisure time in a clean and accommodating facility. Whether spending the day on the lake fishing from your craft or in one of our rental boats, enjoying our 18 hole disc golf course, walking on our nature trails, or just relaxing with the family at your campsite, our beautiful park will adhere to your needs!
Our gatehouse is your one stop camp store for all of your camping essentials. Firewood, ice, bait, candy, drinks, camping supplies, fishing supplies, fishing license, and all other supplies you need. Our gatehouse attendants will assist with camping details including reservations, check-in, and check-out.
Our bait includes red worms, night crawlers, crickets, beemoth, and catfish bait.
Our lakefront recreation area hosts over 5oo feet of shoreline to fish. Along with our 125' wheelchair accessible fishing pier, you will have plenty of space to catch your mess. Our popular swimming beach, volleyball, horseshoes, one of three modern playgrounds, and plenty of open grass allow for numerous games and family memories. Rent one of our three shelters for your next family or company gathering!
***Please note that will are in the process of getting a new septic system installed and may have to contend with construction in our park***

subset: commoncrawl


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Miles Hoffman Miles Hoffman is a music commentator on Morning Edition.
Stories By
Miles Hoffman
If Abraham Lincoln Had An iPod
Musical Families For Thanksgiving
Stravinsky's Riotous 'Rite of Spring'
Financing the Classics: Beethoven's Benefactor
Audio will be available later today.
Italian: The Language That Sings
An Abundance of Spring Music in the Air
Heifetz and Kreisler: Setting Standards for the Violin
Last but Definitely Not Least (Great Finales)
For Thanksgiving, the Other Kind of Drumsticks
Young Tuba Player Gets Nod from Phila. Orchestra
Organ Music: Pulling Out All the Stops
The Importance of the Bow
American Chamber Players, Live at NPR
Audio will be available later today.


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Fiery seas, lightning strikes and sacred war: NKorea talks with bluster but sometimes strikes
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea will burn like a "sea of fire." Seoul's "rat-like" president will be struck with a "bolt of lightning." The country's media companies will be blown up in missile strikes.
North Korea has fired off many memorable threats at Seoul and Washington over the years. This week brought the promise of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States because of U.N. sanctions punishing the North's Feb. 12 nuclear test.
Seoul has not burned, and experts think Pyongyang lacks the technology to build a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile, or to accurately fire such a missile at the United States. A conventional war, however, is considered a real possibility. In 2010, attacks blamed on Pyongyang killed 50 South Koreans.
Here's a timeline of some of North Korea's more vivid threats in its 65 years of existence:
— January 1951: Six months after invading North Korean forces started the Korean War, North Korean leader and founder Kim Il Sung says in a speech that U.S. and South Korean forces were the actual invaders and had prompted his army to retaliate. Kim vows to annihilate the North's enemies.
— January 1952: Kim Il Sung likens U.S. forces to Nazis and says that the war is turning into a mass grave for U.S. forces.
— May 1972: Kim Il Sung tells Harrison Salisbury and John Lee of The New York Times that because of perceived U.S. hostility, "we are always making preparations for war. We do not conceal this matter."
— March 1993: North Korea declares a "semi-state of war" to protest joint U.S.-South Korean war games that it says threaten its security. Amid a standoff with Washington over its nuclear program, it also threatens to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
— 1994: In an appearance of what will become a well-worn phrase, a North Korean negotiator threatens to turn Seoul into "a sea of fire." Fearing war, South Koreans clear store shelves of instant noodles, water, gas and other necessities.
— September 1996: North Korea threatens "hundredfold and thousandfold retaliation" against South Korean troops who had captured or killed armed North Korean agents who had used a submarine to sneak into the South.
— January 2002: After President George W. Bush labels North Korea part of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran, Pyongyang calls the remark "little short of a declaration of war." North Korea's Foreign Ministry warns it "will never tolerate the U.S. reckless attempt to stifle the (North) by force of arms but mercilessly wipe out the aggressors."
— January 2010: North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission warns that the country will initiate a "retaliatory holy war" against South Korea over Seoul's alleged contingency plan to deal with potential unrest in the North.
— May 2010: After a Seoul-led international investigation blames a North Korean torpedo for the sinking of a South Korea warship that killed 46 sailors, Pyongyang issues a denial and warns of a "prompt physical strike." In November 2010, the North attacked a front-line island, killing four South Koreans.
— November 2011: A day after South Korea conducts large-scale military drills near the island hit by the North in 2010, the North's Korean People's Army threatens to turn Seoul's presidential palace into a "sea of fire."
— April 2012: North Korea holds a massive rally denouncing conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak as a "rat." It says he should be struck with a "retaliatory bolt of lightning" because of his confrontational approach toward Pyongyang.
— June 2012: North Korea's military warns that troops have aimed artillery at seven South Korean media groups to express outrage over criticism in Seoul of ongoing children's festivals in Pyongyang. It threatens a "merciless sacred war."
— October 2012: An unidentified spokesman at the powerful National Defense Commission warns that the U.S. mainland is within range of its missiles and says Washington's recent agreement to let Seoul possess missiles capable of hitting all of North Korea shows the allies are plotting to invade the North.


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|2010 HDTV Holiday Gift Guide
|Monday, 15 November 2010
Page 1 of 3The holiday season is rolling around and there's no gift more exciting than a television, whether you're on the giving end or the receiving end. You can expect to see some absolutely crazy deals this holiday season, especially as Black Friday rolls around, but deal or not, you've got to make sure you get a great set for your money.
Up to $1,000
We'll start out at the entry level with sets that sell for $1,000 or less. You get what you pay for, of course. Sets in the $1,000 range won't boast the same video quality and features as a set that you'd put in your main viewing room, but they're great for second viewing rooms, cottages, or even as gifts for someone you love.
Top Pick: Sony 40" Internet TV
If you're looking for a set that can do just about everything, this is it. The Sony Internet TV, Sony Google TV, or NSX40GT1 – whatever you want to call it – does almost anything you need it to do. It's a nice looking set that uses LED edge lighting for a solid contrast ratio, but it's not the video quality that sets the Internet TV apart.
As you might have picked up from the name, the Sony Internet TV absolutely dominates when it comes to online content. It's got plenty of apps, a built-in flash capable web browser and it can even let you search your DVR without having to switch inputs. It doesn't do 3D and it won't go over 60Hz, but if you're looking for entertainment options, it'll get you there.
Samsung 50" C490 Plasma PN50C490
You're not going to find a cheaper 3D capable plasma set than Samsung's. Though it has an MSRP of $1,099, the PN50C490 isn't being sold for more than $999 anywhere you look. It's a nice looking set, but that low price comes at the cost of resolution. Samsung's inexpensive set is only 720p.
This is a great set to buy if you're not yet sure about making the jump into 3D. It's cheap, it's plasma – the preferred display technology for quality 3D – and it boasts 3D capability, but doesn't come with the required glasses.
Mitsubishi 60" Home Cinema DLP WD-60638
If you're looking for the best size to money ratio, you won't do better than DLP. It's a less often seen technology these days, but don't count DLP out. Mitsubishi's WD-60638 has a massive 60 inch 1080p screen with a six color processor to keep those images bright and vibrant.
Like the Samsung Plasma, Mitsubishi's DLP is 3D ready. Unlike the Samsung though, you'll need to get more than just glasses to make it work. An adapter and an IR emitter will be needed, both of which can be purchased from Mitsubishi in a starter pack with two pairs of 3D glasses.


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It's hard to keep up with ever-changing technology. Fortunately, our Tuesday News Day can help you out. This week, tweets are the new way to measure TV audiences, diners no longer need to wait for the check, and the new iPhone is already more than 50% off.
Get a new iPhone for just $45.
Best Buy, RadioShack, and Walmart have already slashed the price of the iPhone 5c. The phone costs $99 if purchased through Apple with a two-year contact or $549 if you're paying retail. Walmart has the best price at $45, and the deal lasts through the holiday season.
Source: CNN
Get the Apple iPhone 5c for $45 at Walmart with Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint
Valid in-stores only for a limited time only.
No more waiting around for the check to come.
New app, Cover, makes it possible to pay and tip right from your mobile phone at certain restaurants. And they're not the only one using technology in place of a waiter. Chili's is expanding its use of tablets for ordering food and even games (at an added cost) for the kids to play while they wait for their food.
Source: Businessweek
Homemade crafters are stepping up their game.
Etsy sellers are headed to the big leagues. Etsy has modified their rules and will now allow sellers to use outside manufacturers and hire as many employees as they need. They say this will allow Etsy businesses to continue to expand and meet demand. Others think this will alter the essence of Etsy.
Source: Bloomberg
Holiday shoppers lose six days this year.
Does Black Friday officially mark the start of your holiday shopping? Then be prepared because this year there are only 25 days between Black Friday and Christmas as opposed to last year's 31, making this shopping season the shortest we've seen in a decade.
Source: MarketWatch
Twitter chatter matters for TV shows.
Your TV tweets matter to more than just your friends. Nielsen is now using tweets to measure TV show audiences. So what shows are getting the most social chatter? For the week of September 23, Breaking Bad took the number one spot. The Voice and Jimmy Kimmel Live also made it into the top 10.
Source: NYTimes


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Watch CBSN Live
Bruce Lee in his first martial arts
feature, the Hong Kong actioner, "The Big Boss" (1971).
"People have always appreciated
the degree to which Bruce Lee, in his movies, was the underdog," said
playwright David Henry Hwang. "And I think when those early Hong Kong
movies were first starting to be shown in the U.S., you had a huge population
of African Americans and Latino Americans who really embraced those martial
arts movies, and felt Bruce Lee was them."
They identified with Lee -- and audiences
still do, four decades after his untimely death. "The key to
immortality," Bruce Lee once said, "is first living a life worth remembering."
Credit: Bruce Lee Foundation
Bruce Lee taught martial arts classes, first in Seattle and later in Los Angeles, where his students included Steve McQueen and James Coburn. Those martial arts skills landed Lee the role of Kato on "The Green Hornet" in 1966 (left, with Van Williams).
"That was huge," said Hwang, the Tony Award-winning playwright ("M. Butterfly"). Before then, Hwang told Mason, American audiences were usually fed stereotypical Asian characters, like Charlie Chan (who was actually played by a white actor).
Credit: ABC
Credit: MGM
Bruce Lee developed a form of martial
arts called Jeet Kune Do, whose purpose, he said, was "to simplify."
He wrote, "Art is the expression of the self. The more complicated and restricted the
method, the less the opportunity for expression of one's original sense of
freedom. Though they play an important role in the early stage, the
techniques should not be too mechanical, complex or restrictive. If we cling
blindly to them, we shall eventually become bound by their limitations ...
"The highest technique
is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my
movement is a result of your movement."
Passed over by ABC to star in the pilot of the series, "Kung Fu" (which would star David Carradine), Bruce Lee took an offer to make a film in Hong Kong. He returned to Asia to star in "The Big Boss" (1971).
Credit: Golden Harvest
After his success in Hong Kong films, Warner Brothers came courting for "Enter the Dragon."
Credit: Warner Brothers
Bruce Lee defeats Shih Kien (a drug
trafficker and pimp with a metal hand) in "Enter the Dragon."
Credit: "Game of Death"
Credit: Dan Levine/AFP/Getty Images
Credit: AP Photo/Vincent Yu
Credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
Credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images For Revolver Entertainment
Credit: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
A new play by David Henry Hwang, "Kung Fu," about
the life of Bruce Lee, recently opened at New York's Signature Theatre.
knows him as the star and the martial arts guy with the yell," Hwang said.
"But no one knows how he got there."
Credit: Joan Marcus/Signature Theatre
Mason asked the playwright, "What part of Bruce Lee surprised you the
"I began approaching Bruce Lee with the idea of him
being a symbol almost, 'cause I thought, well, he is sort of the symbol of the
rise of the new China," Hwang said. "And the more I got into the
story, what surprised me was the degree to which he had to struggle."
Cole Horibe plays Bruce Lee in "Kung Fu."
"It's very intimidating," Horibe told Mason.
"I try not to think about the fact that I was playing this huge icon."
Horibe told Mason he grew up with motivation similar to
Bruce Lee's: "His whole thing was, he wanted to show that an Oriental man
can be strong and not stereotyped as comedy relief or what-not. That's a
passion I share with Bruce."
Credit: CBS News
For more info:
Bruce Lee Foundation
"Kung Fu" by David Henry Hwang, at the Signature Theatre, New York
All Bruce Lee images and footage courtesy of Bruce Lee, LLC. All
Rights Reserved.
BRUCE LEE is a registered trademark of Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC. The
Bruce Lee name, image, likeness and all related indicia are intellectual
property of Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan


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Liberty News
Virginia Christmas Spectacular to air on TBN Friday
The Virginia Christmas Spectacular, Thomas Road Baptist Church's holiday musical featuring church members, the choir and Liberty University students, will be broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network throughout the United States and the world on Friday, Dec. 19 (11 p.m. EST).
The show will have a potential to reach more than 2 billion homes worldwide. The church has been hosting the annual show, formerly called The Living Christmas Tree, since 1971, the year Liberty University was founded.
Last January, TRBC began broadcasting its services on TBN, the largest Christian television network.


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A Letter to Thrice, Part Two
June 13, 2012 § Leave a comment
In which I conclude my letter to Thrice.
After Vheissu you decided to raise the bar and pursue your most ambitious project to date—The Alchemy Index. I remember being so excited that you were applying your musical acumen to a concept album revolving around the four elements, matching the sonic qualities of each disc (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) to the qualities of the elements. And while they didn't end being my favorite thing you have ever done, the songs on each six-song disc sounded remarkably what I imagined each element might sound like as music. Fire was heavy, bludgeoning at times, yet carried a delicate beauty; Water was bathed in electronic blips and synths while buoyed by ethereal vocals and melodies; Air was light and peaceful, yet occasionally hit with the force of a tornado; and Earth was acoustic, steeped in folk, delivering an earthy, homey set of songs. Oh, and ending each disc with a sonnet from the perspective of the element was a brilliant touch.
My favorite songs from The Alchemy Index are scattered across the discs, with Air probably being my favorite of the four. From Fire, "The Arsonist" and its serpentine guitar riff is my favorite with "Burn the Fleet" being a close second. Water's high points are opener "Digital Sea" and the gorgeous, melancholy "The Whaler." For my money, Air is the most consistent, each song worthy of mention, but none more so than the soaring "Silver Wings," one of the most beautiful songs I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. The highlight of Earth is "Come All You Weary," especially as the full band kicks in near the end of the song. Yet, the true fun of The Alchemy Index is combining the songs in different ways, and listening to them in a different order, experimenting with placing the disparate elements next to each other to attempt a kind of synthesis.
Luckily for us, you created the very synthesis I am describing with your next two, and unfortunately last, albums—Beggars and Major/Minor. Beggars is rough and tumble rock and roll, incorporating qualities of The Alchemy Index into a more streamlined, gritty soundscape. It's easy to hear the southern rock and blues influence on songs like "The Weight" and "Doublespeak," yet it never overtakes your unique approach to music. Beggars had just dropped when I got the chance to see you live for the first time in Pittsburgh during my junior year of college: an incredible experience, even if the venue was jam-packed and uncomfortable at times. The subtle play between the harder elements of your past music and the newer, more melodic nature of some of the newer material on Beggars offers up some of its most intriguing moments. The title track is a slow-burner which eventually turns into a grungy mess of a song, highlighting the central message of the song and the album: "We are beggars all." To hear such a resonant statement in the midst of the shiny, superficial music that often populates people's iPods was, and still is, a breath of fresh air.
However, the songs on Beggars had a tendency to bleed together, lacking the sonic diversity that marked an album like Vheissu. Major/Minor solved this problem, and in many ways seems like a culmination of your music. There are heavy moments juxtaposed with soft, fast with slow, angry with peaceful: such is what I expect from a Thrice record. It's smooth, almost effortless; clearly, you know how to make an album. I stayed up until 11 (CST, baby!) and downloaded the album as soon as it was available—the only other band I've done that for is U2. I don't have much more to say about Major/Minor other than remarking about the palpable sense of finality that seems to pervade it. Especially now, looking back on it knowing this was your final album, there are moments that act as a closure to some of the themes, musically and lyrically that you have been exploring for your entire career. Indeed, you concluded the May 27th show with "Anthology," a farewell song if there ever was one, including a multitude of references to previous songs from your discography. The chorus, directed at your fans at the show, says it all: "Oh, you know me and I know you. And I know we can see this through."
So, at the end, it comes down to this. You are the first of my favorite bands to break up. Sure there were other bands I enjoyed who have parted ways over the course of the past ten years, but they did not have the same impact on my life as you did. For all you've meant to me, all I can offer is this—thank you.
Your devoted fan,
A Letter to Thrice, Part One
June 4, 2012 § Leave a comment
Part One of an open letter to Thrice, my favorite band, on the occasion of their farewell tour.
Dear Thrice,
I can't believe it's all over—you're not making music any more. I first met you in 2005, at the tender age of 16, just after you had released your fourth album Vheissu, which remains one of my favorite albums of all time, even now with seven more years of music listening under my belt. Shortly after this, I discovered 2003's The Artist in the Ambulance, its hard-hitting music perhaps only overshadowed by its lyrical bite, and it wasn't long before you became one of my favorite bands. You have remained so until this day, growing in my respect as you refused to sell out, but continued to push your music in new directions with what came after Vheissu. And if the show I was at on May 27th is indeed the final time I will see you, I wanted to write you this letter to thank you for what your music has meant to me throughout high school, college and, even, grad school.
What you probably don't know is that your music came to me at a time I was breaking away from the maudlin Christian music that constituted the majority of my music library up until sophomore year of high school or so. I was discovering artists like U2 and Sufjan Stevens, broadening my musical horizons, and then I stumbled upon your music: heavy, deep and beautiful. Once Vheissu began with "Image of the Invisible" bursting from the ether, I was hooked: this was something different than I had heard before. And the album keeps hitting—"The Earth Will Shake," "Hold Fast Hope," and "Dust of Nations" just to name a few songs. Yet, it exquisitely balances these heavy riffs and harsh vocals with lighter tracks like "Atlantic" and "Music Box" before ending with "Red Sky." I remember thinking to myself, "This is art. This band knows how to make deep, inspiring music without sacrificing artistry."
I soon began listening to the rest of your music: the fantastic, stirring The Artist in the Ambulance; the fast-paced, aggrieved The Illusion of Safety; and the raw, energetic Identity Crisis. While Identity Crisis and The Illusion of Safety certain do not rise to the heights of your later work, it's evident that from the beginning of your career there was something special, a certain spark in your music. For instance, "Phoenix Ignition" and "T&C," the two songs from your debut album that you played at the show, contain passion and energy without resorting to manufactured anger. Then there's "Deadbolt" from your second album, ripping through its two and half minute running time with a relentless focus and intensity before fading to a remorseful 30 seconds of piano, expertly highlighting the song's interplay between passion and regret. My personal favorite from The Illusion of Safety is "So Strange I Remember You," another song that balances slower passages with torrid drumming and guitar work to excellent effect.
As entertaining and exciting your first two albums were, nothing, for me at least, can compare with The Artist in the Ambulance and Vheissu. I don't think there is one bad song on The Artist in the Ambulance, and many songs on that album were instrumental in helping me make sense of my final two years of high school. "Under a Killing Moon," the inspiration of my Xbox gamertag, takes Arthur Miller's The Crucible/the Salem Witch Trials and transforms their stories into a blistering rumination on standing up for your convictions. In fact, you almost sound like a different band—more confident, bolstered by better production values and improved music and vocals. Without letting up, the album moves into lead single "All That's Left," a story of faith lost due to a lack of room for questions, "We are the dead, a ghost of everything we thought but never said." What you couldn't have known is I was searching and asking questions of my faith, and this song and "Stare at the Sun" gave me the courage to keep asking those questions at a crucial point in my life. I remember singing along to the chorus of "Stare at the Sun" with all my might, just as I did the other night: "Cause I am due for a miracle, I'm waiting for a sign. I'll stare straight into the sun, and I won't close my eyes, 'til I understand or go blind."
To be continued…


text: Nampa has one or more hair and nail salons. Salons are places that offer beauty and maintenance services. These provide beauty services for maintenance and augmentation of the attractiveness of hair and nails. The services that one can opt for include hair treatments, coloring, styling, haircuts of various types, and for nails, pedicures, manicures, polishing, buffing, nail art and so on. The salon stylists either learn by experience, or go through a school that teaches them the various methods to style, clean, care for and accessorize hair as well as nails. Like fashion, there are many trends that come and go in hair and nail styling, such as lengths, cuts, kind of hair (straight, perm, tight curls), or the colors used in nailpolish. One can opt for classic styles, or experiment to move with the times. Treatments for strenthening hair and nails are also available. Salons can be for either men, or women, or be unisex in nature. The pricing for the services can vary a fair bit in Nampa. Salons provide pampering and styling so that you emerge feeling beautiful, confident and ready to take on the world!


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Adult Sex Games and Nude Game Mods For Your Favorite PC Games…
League of Legends (LoL) is a popular multiplayer online battle arena video game available as free to play product. In the game players are formed into 2 even teams of Champions and there are currently more than 100 different characters (male, female and animals) from which to choose. And thanks to the fact that the game has a lot of different characters that are skinnable and modifiable, you can take advantage of some custom users skins for LoL making some of the female characters completely nude, semi nude, topless or in more revealing and sexy outfits. Here is a selection of 20 of the more interesting nude skins, topless modifications and more sexier and revealing outfits for various female characters in League of Legends collected from various locations.
The installation and removal of the different nude female character modifications in LoL can be easily be done using a software called LoL Skin Installer Ultimate to make it easier to start using the naked modifications for League of Legends immediately after you get them. Everything is done via an easy to use graphical interface, so you will quickly get up to speed how to add and install and then remove a nude skin should choose to.
– To Download the League of Legends Nude Female Skins – mirror 1


text:
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 5
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2003 - Encyclopedias and dictionaries - 982 pages
From inside the book
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text:
Envy Outweighs Greed in New Investment Study
(JERUSALEM) -- "It is not enough that I succeed," the late Gore Vidal once noted. "Others must fail."
Vidal, who also famously admitted that "a little something" in him dies whenever a friend does well, would have had a field day with a new study, "Investment Choices with Envy and Altruism," conducted by Israeli economists Haim Levy and Guy Kaplanski. Their findings are totally counter-intuitive from an economics standpoint (unless, of course, you're Gore Vidal, in which case you probably knew it all along.)
Here's the gist: We are all happy to lose money, just as long as other people lose more.
"Normally in economics we assume that the person wants to have the highest benefit from his wealth, and he does not care about other people," said Levy, a professor of finance at Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. "But that's not what we found."
About 10 percent of nearly a thousand business students and business executives interviewed in Israel, the United States, Switzerland, Turkey and China, were "altruists" -- that is, they said they were happy if a friend or family member made more money than they did. This only applied to someone they knew, however.
"Altruism is very rare toward strangers," said Levy. "At most what we get is that you are indifferent to strangers." (Indeed, another 20 percent they didn't care what happened to anyone else as long as they had their own money.)
But a whopping 70 percent said they were fine losing money, provided other people lost more. "'I'm happier if you are relatively poorer'-- which goes against economic theory," said Levy. "Economic theory says, 'I should be happy with what I have.' But we found that, 'I'm happy to decrease my wealth as long you decrease your wealth.' This is pure jealousy."
This jealousy applies to strangers, too, and not just our nearest and dearest. For example: Suppose your portfolio decreases by 10 percent. According to the study, if the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 20 percent, you would be OK with your loss, because you only lost ten percent -- and everyone else, even those you don't know! -- lost more.
On the other hand, if your portfolio increased by 10 percent and the Dow went up, say, 30 percent, you would be unhappy. Sure, you may have made money, but other folks made even more -- which is completely unacceptable in a world rife with schadenfreude.
Although the findings are bleak about human nature, they don't especially shock ABC News personal finance columnist Ted Schwartz, the president and chief investment officer of Capstone Investment Financial Group. "Our job as an adviser is to teach clients to run their own race-- 'What are your goals and how do you achieve them?'" he said. "Society trains you to run a comparative race-- 'I lost 20 percent but they lost 30, so I win.' So, I am not too surprised by this study."
"The key to success," he continues, "is to avoid large periods when you are not compounding your money due to losses. As Warren Buffet says, rule one is don't lose money. Rule two is don't forget rule one."
And if your best friend happens to forget both rules, well, so much the better.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


text:
SEEC offers consultation, external evaluation, and research support for existing STEM education grants and programs, and we collaborate with proposal writing teams to design studies. SEEC staff respond to clients at various points in the process, focusing on needs assessments, formative development and feedback, summative outcomes, sustainability, and dissemination.
Our projects range in scale from close observations of individual training events to implementation of multi-year, multi-site evaluations on local, state, and national levels. We are experienced quantitative and qualitative researchers who understand the affordances and constraints of different methods and approaches, and can design instruments and studies, collect and analyze data, and report results whether they are highly nuanced descriptions of a phenomenon, multi-faceted comparisons of outcomes, or evidence of causal impact.
As researchers, evaluators and principal investigators who focus solely on STEM education, SEEC's expertise is grounded in theory and practice. We work on the cutting edge of disciplinary, curricular, instructional, and methodological practices in STEM education.
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About 1500 people move to Western Australia each week, most of them to Perth, squeezing into an already tight housing market.
Most are coming for work and are having to deal with high rental costs and a vacancy rate for rental properties of less than two per cent.
The average asking price for house rentals increased 15.4 per cent to $450 per week between September 2011 and September 2012, and preliminary figures are already showing a further rise of about $20 a week.
According to an expert in sustainability, many new arrivals are having to find accommodation further away from the CBD and their workplaces and in some cases are pushing others out of the market.
Recruitment companies say the cost of housing is a surprise for many heading west.
Hays regional director of technical recruitment Chris Kent said most people who moved to Perth for work rented first to test an area out to see if they liked it.
He said while executive positions usually offered some accommodation initially, people in other roles, especially single people, were turning to shared accommodation as it was the only affordable option.
Mr Kent said people coming from Europe generally chose to move into the northern suburbs, whereas those coming from the eastern states were more likely to relocate somewhere near Mandurah.
"I guess that's just based on the information available to them back home," he said
Wood Recruitment managing director Scott Van Heurck said some workers moving to Perth were shocked at the price of housing.
"They do find it a bit expensive," he said.
Mr Van Heurck said while most dealt with the high price of accommodation, it was a deterrent for some.
He recalled one man who came from the United Kingdom to Perth and spent two or three weeks attending interviews and applying for roles before being put off by the price of housing.
"When he looked at the cost of living and property he went home," Mr Van Heurck said.
"He reckoned the Perth market was like the Irish housing market before it crashed," he said.
REIWA president David Airey said another factor making it difficult for people from outside of Western Australia to find a rental property was that they needed to do a physical inspection of a property to apply for it, so in many cases could not organise a property before they arrived.
He said real estate agents also looked for the best possible tenant, which meant that people coming here without employment may not be at the top of the list of candidates.
Head of the Sustainability Policy Institute at Curtin University Professor Peter Newman said Perth would grow at an even greater rate if there was the housing to cater for more people.
He said if there was housing for as many people who were willing to move to WA, the state could welcome even more people.
There are currently about 1500 new arrivals to the state each week.
"You could double that without any trouble, it's really only a question of the housing market and infrastructure," Professor Newman said.
"They are going further and further out and many don't want to be further out," he said.
Professor Newman said some had even moved to places such as Harvey, York and Northam and commuted to Perth.
"There's no doubt that the price of housing in Perth has become ridiculous," he said
"There will always be some at the bottom end of the rental market pushed out by those prepared to pay more."
Professor Newman said a simple solution was local governments allowing more apartments to be built and builders building "reasonably priced" apartments.
"It's a planning crisis, we don't build enough apartments," he said.


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You are here : Home \ Sector \ Rescue & Lifesaving
Lifelines on Call
Lifelines on Call was formed to make your donations go further - to save, support and rescue those in distress. Every day the Fire Fighters Charity, Samaritans and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) make a difference to someone's life. We are always there, on call 24 hours a day.By donating to Lifelines on Call from your salary you are supporting three charities equally and making a real difference to people that need help from our organisations. Thank you for your support.
We save lives, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Samaritans receive 5 million contacts annually.
People contact Samaritans for many reasons: relationship problems, health worries, financial problems, stress at work, loneliness and bereavement. Our volunteers are trained to talk about anything to anyone in confidence. 1 in 8 of our contacts are in financial distress (up from 1 in 10 in December).
Each year, thousands of fire fighters are injured whilst protecting the public. Every 30 seconds in the UK fire fighters are called to an incident, risking their lives to save others, but sadly they often sustain physical injuries whilst carrying out their duties.
The Fire Fighters Charity is here for fire fighters during their times of need, providing vital support services across the UK for all fire fighters.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. We provide, on call, a 24-hour search and rescue service around the coast of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and a seasonal lifeguard service on beaches in England and Wales.
Last year was the RNLI's busiest year on record and on average we rescued 23 people every day. The RNLI is independent from Government and we need your support to train and equip our volunteer crews, helping bring them safely home to their families.Watch video
St Andrews First Aid
St Andrew's First Aid is Scotland's leading first aid charity. In a crisis it's vital that first aid is delivered with confidence. We provide Scotland with the highest standards in first aid skills, services, and volunteering opportunities. Together we save lives.
Registered Charity No. SC006750View website Watch video
St John Ambulance
Nothing is more tragic than a life lost needlessly. Yet every year, too many people die in situations where first aid could have given them the chance to live.
St John Ambulance teaches people first aid so that they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.
As the nation's leading first aid charity, we teach more people first aid than any other organisation. Each year, more than half a million people complete a St John Ambulance training course, either through their workplace or in the community. We teach life saving skills to young people in schools and through our youth programmes, and equip members of the public with information that can save lives.
Our volunteers provide first aid assistance at public events, pre-hospital clinical care, and emergency ambulance support to the statutory services in times of crisis.
We also campaign to raise awareness of the importance of first aid, equip the public with first aid information, and encourage everyone to join us in our cause.
Registered Charity No. 1077265/1View website Watch video
The Lifeboat Fund
About us
The Communications and Public Service Lifeboat Fund (The Lifeboat Fund, for short) is commited to help save lives at sea. The Fund is a public service charity, and proud to be the longest-serving supporter and one of the biggest single contributors to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The Fund is registered with the official regulators as a charity which fundraises throughout the UK.
Who we are
We are The Lifeboat Fund we are a charity that exists for one purpose: to help the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) - the charity that saves lives at sea. Over many years we have done this by raising money to pay for new lifeboats, refurbishing lifeboat stations and boats, and buying crew kit, equipment & training for RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards.
Why we do it
Sir Peter Housden (Chair): Drowning must be one of the greatest human fears. It takes little imagination to understand why the RNLI is such a popular cause for so many people. Volunteer lifeboat crews, stand ready to go on shouts 24/7, often at night and in all weathers to help people in distress. We want to help, and since The Fund began, its lifeboats in the RNLI fleet have saved over 4700 lives.
Who supports us?
The Lifeboat Fund is an official charity of the Civil Service. It also receives valuable support from employees of the Royal Mail and British Telecom.
It benefits from giving by current and retired staff members and from legacies.
Civil servants throughout the UK organise fundraising collections, run marathons and cake sales etc, and promote The Lifeboat Fund and its beneficiary, the RNLI.
Supporters also use payroll and pension giving to help this life-saving cause.
The name of our charity
The group of civil servants who raised money from their colleagues to buy the first lifeboat back in 1866 formed the Civil Service Lifeboat Fund.
This later became the Civil Service, Post Office and British Telecommunications Lifeboat Fund (CISPOTEL).
The title of the charity changed in 1969 when the Post Office left the Civil Service, and again in 1983 when British Telecom did likewise.
In 2002 when the Post Office changed its name to Consignia, the Fund changed its title to the Communications and Public Service Lifeboat Fund, or The Lifeboat Fund, for short. Consignia was renamed Royal Mail but we are proud to retain our name of The Lifeboat Fund.
Registered Charity No. 248421View website Watch video


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Do you know what's really overrated? Hoods. Also, driving in a straight line. The R33 Nissan Skyline in this awesome photo isn't having either of those things, and it's better for it.
This photo comes to us from the photostream of Arkadiusz Kamieniecki, who was shooting the 2012 King of Europe Drift Series in Poland.
I don't know the exact story behind this left-hand-drive Skyline or how it suffered the front-end damage it has in the photo. Maybe it has something to do with the missing hood. In any case, it certainly looks good sideways.
Click here for a giganto-desktop version.


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Horseferry Print Leather Card Case
€190.00 €190.00
All orders will be fulfilled by Burberry Limited and shipped from the UK. When you place your order, you accept Burberry's Terms and Conditions and confirm that you have read our Privacy Policy.
Size Guide
Use the Size Guide to choose the best fit for your measurements.
In this window, you can find out the shipping and returns options for the selected item.
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- A sleek card case in Italian-tanned leather, revised with our runway Horseferry print.
- 10 x 7.5cm/3.9 x 3in
- Outer: 100% calf leather
- Inner: 100% calf leather
- Lining: 100% polyamide
- Four card slots
- Centre slip compartment
- Hand-painted edges
- Printed Burberry lettering at front
- Imported
Item 80146981


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Font Family: Landmark, Number of fonts: 4*OTF, Type Foundry: Hoefler & Co., Design date: 2000, 2012
Landmark, an architectural letter.
The signature alphabet of one of New York's most significant buildings becomes a family of clear and colorful display fonts.
For those who understand outdoor lettering as a form of public service, no landmark seems more deserving of its own typeface than Lever House. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft and completed in 1952, Lever House is celebrated for its emphasis on both technological innovation and urban values: it pioneered glass curtain wall construction, the technique that came to define the modern skyscraper, and it used its site to favor aesthetic and social considerations over the raw potential for profit. There could hardly be a project more sympathetic with H&Co's own values, making the opportunity to design a typeface for Lever House an irresistible commission.
Pentagram's Michael Bierut developed an identity system for Lever House as part of the building's 1999 renovation. Instead of selecting a typeface from the world of print, whose origins would have made it a poor match for the mechanical needs and cultural considerations of public lettering, Bierut commissioned a new alphabet from H&Co inspired by letters found on the building itself. The words "LEVER HOUSE" on the Park Avenue window had a spare and manifest geometry which was shared by the inscription on the building's cornerstone, together shaping the direction of the Landmark typeface. Of vital importance was that the typeface succeed in all capitals, in keeping with the architectural aesthetic, and that it satisfy a range of applications and materials, from large-scale steel signs to ADA-compliant elevator panels cast in resin.
In preparation for the font's release, we revisited the original Landmark typeface with additional variations in mind. Thinking about the material qualities of architectural lettering, and how it responds to changes in light and perspective, prompted three new designs: a keen Inline, a contemplative Shadow, and a dazzling Dimensional.


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Flickr Faves on Friday: A Groovy U.K. Lounge Makeover
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Thanks so much to Flickr member The beauty is in the details for adding pictures of her lounge to our Fresh New Spaces Group. It is a true lounge; don't you want to curl up on that couch and watch some trashy shows on television, or sit with a bunch of friends and enjoy some cocktails?
The wallpaper adds vibrant energy to the room. It's Sanderson Dandelion Clocks
Dandelion Clocks also make an appearance in the dining room. I don't know about you, but I'm jealous!
To see more of The beauty is in the details' "nice bits and bobs" and home decor, check out her blog and her Flickr photostream.


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Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 12:18AM
When I was a young teen in Chicago in the early 90s, Michael Jordan was bigger than god. And if god drove a car in 1990, it would be a black 512 TR, parked in the "employee lot" of Chicago stadium. It was a good time to live in Chicagoland.
via Petrolicious
tagged 512TR, Chicago, Ferrari, Michael Jordan, testarossa in Musings


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Lollapalooza evacuated because of thunderstorm
CHICAGO (AP) -- Police evacuated tens of thousands of concertgoers from the Lollapalooza music festival on Saturday before a powerful thunderstorm swept into downtown Chicago and pelted the outdoor venue with rain.
The event was indefinitely suspended at 3:30 p.m. after a severe thunderstorm warning was issued, said police spokesman Darryl Baety.
The estimated 100,000 fans at the sold-out show left Grant Park calmly as they were led to evacuation and shelter sites in underground parking garages along Michigan Avenue.
Day two of the three-day event, which concludes Sunday, was supposed to culminate with the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocking out on the main stage. Concert organizers said Saturday's show would resume if and when it's deemed safe to do so.
"Due to an approaching storm and warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS), Lollapalooza organizers have suspended the festival until further notice," said an announcement on the concert website and sent by text message to those who downloaded the festival smartphone app.
"Lollapalooza officials are continuing to ... monitor weather conditions and determine when the park is safe for festival-goers to return," it said.
Video screens at the venue also displayed evacuation announcements.
Shelby Meade, a spokeswoman for promoter C3 Presents, said the company regretted having to suspend the show.
"Our first priority is always the safety of our fans, staff and artists," Meade said.
Powerful winds from an advancing storm were responsible for last summer's deadly stage rigging collapse at the Indiana State Fair.


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Looney Tallies Game-High Five Points on Three Helpers and Two Goals
SALISBURY, Md. – Host #2 Salisbury used a 11-2 run from late in the first quarter to the fourth quarter to turn a 3-0 deficit into an 11-5 lead en route to a 13-8 victory over #5 Washington College at Sea Gull Stadium in a NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Tournament Semifinal game on Sunday evening in front of 2,375 fans. The Sea Gulls improve to 21-1 with the victory, while the Shoremen conclude their season at 18-2.
The Shoremen scored the game's opening goal just 58 seconds into the contest when senior midfielder Hunter Nowicki (Baltimore, Md./Franklin) scored unassisted from the right side. Washington made it 2-0 with 8:47 left in the first quarter when sophomore midfielder Sid Looney (Westhampton, N.Y./Westhampton) drove in from the left side and put in a bounce shot from five yards out. Nowicki scored his second goal of the first quarter with 7:21 remaining to put the Shoremen ahead by three. Salisbury got onto the board when Rhett DePol scored from the left side with eight seconds left to trim the WC lead to 3-1.
Salisbury used a 5-2 second quarter to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead at halftime. The Sea Gulls trimmed the lead to 3-2 just 44 seconds into the quarter on a man-up goal by Sean Fitzgerald from the right side after he faked the original shot and bounced it in. DePol evened the game with 11:56 to go in the second from the left side right in front of the crease after he faked high and went low. Nowicki gave the Shoremen the lead back with 9:56 to go in the second from about 12 yards out down the middle into the left side of the net. Fitzgerald evened the game up again at 4-4 when his shot from the left side found the upper right corner of the goal with 8:01 left in the first half and Adam Stork gave Salisbury its first lead of the night 70 seconds later at 5-4 on a bounce shot from the left side. The Stork tally also put Salisbury up for the rest of the night. The Sea Gulls scored a man-up score with 4:37 left when Luke Phipps scored from five yards out on the right side from DePol to give Salisbury a 6-4 lead. Washington took advantage of a man-up situation with 35 seconds left when sophomore attackman Casey Kermes (State College, Pa./Northfield Mount Herman (Mass.) scored from Looney from the left side to reduce the Salisbury lead to 6-5. Salisbury had one last chance to make it 7-5 following a caused turnover by DePol, but DePol was ruled to be in the crease and the goal was ruled no good and the Sea Gulls took a 6-5 lead into halftime.
The Sea Gulls made it 7-5 just 2:01 into the third quarter when Fitzgerald scored on a man-up situation from the right side with Donovan Lange tallying the assist. Mike Kane made it 8-5 with 11:29 left in the third quarter on a shot from the left side on a feed from Fitzgerald. Greg Korvin made it 9-5 with 5:27 remaining in the third when he drove down the middle and bounced a shot into the left side and the Sea Gulls would take a four-goal advantage into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Salisbury made it 10-5 with 12:52 left on a Fitzgerald goal from in front of the crease on the left side from Korvin. Stork made it 11-5 with 10:56 to go in the quarter from the right side on a pass from Thomas Cirillo. The Shoremen scored their first goal since late in the second quarter when Kermes scored from the left side off of a feed from Looney as the pair connected for the second time in the game with 9:27 to go to cut the lead to 11-6 and ended a 5-0 Sea Gull run. Salisbury made it 12-6 with 6:32 left in the contest when Kane was able to grab a loose ball off of a rebound and put it into the cage from the left side in front of the crease. The Kermes-Looney connection worked again with 3:14 to go when Kermes scored from the left side with Looney tallying the helper to trim the lead to 12-7. Salisbury made it 13-7 with 2:22 left on a Kane score with Cirillo picking up the assist. Looney tallied his fifth point of the night and second goal with 39 ticks left to trim the lead to 13-8.
For Salisbury, Fitzgerald had a team-best four points on three goals and one assist and scooped up a team-high five groundballs. Kane had three goals and DePol had three points on two goals and a helper. Tallying two goals were Phipps and Stork, while Cirillo had a pair of assists. Korvin had two points on a goal and an assist. In goal, Alex Taylor made eight saves as he played the first 57:59 of the game.
Looney had a game-best five points on a contest-high three helpers, also a career-high, to go along with two goals. Kermes and Nowicki tied Fitzgerald and Kane for tops in the game with three scores. All of Looney's three helpers were on goals by Kermes as Kermes set a personal-best for goals in a game. Junior midfielder Michael Trapp (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) won 15-of-22 face-offs to lead all players and scooped up 11 ground balls to lead all participants. In net, senior goalkeeper Ted DiSalvo (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River) made nine saves.
Salisbury held a 37-33 edge in shots and went 18-for-20 in clears, while WC was 11-for-15. WC held a 32-29 edge in ground balls and won 16 of the contest's 23 face-offs. The Sea Gulls went 3-for-6 on the man-up, while holding the Shoremen to one goal in seven man-up chances. The Shoremen turned it over 18 times; while the Sea Gulls coughed it up just 12 times.
The 18-2 (.900) mark for Washington this season was the team's most successful season in terms of winning percentage since going 11-1 (.917) in 1967. The 18 victories ties the 2004 team for the most wins in a season as that team went 18-3 and that was the last WC squad to reach the semifinal round where they lost 13-11 to Salisbury.
It was the 11th all-time meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the Shoremen and the Sea Gulls with WC now leading 6-5. Washington won in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996 and 1998; while Salisbury won in 1994, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2014.
Salisbury will play Tufts next Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium for the Division III Championship as Tufts (20-2) downed host Rochester Institute of Technology (20-1) by a 21-11 score earlier today in Rochester, N.Y.
Tonight marked the final game in a Washington uniform for nine seniors. The seniors were DiSalvo, Nowicki, long stick midfielder Michael Baker (Meridian, Idaho/Meridian), attackman JD Campbell (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph), attackman Jim Cusick (Fallston, Md./Calvert Hall), midfielder Kodie Englehart (Coronado, Calif./Coronado), defenseman Casey McKnight (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) midfielder Ryan Polak (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ridgewood (N.J.), defenseman Stephen Pappas (Ocean City, Md./Worcester Prep).


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She couldn't be more correct.
When the skin rolls off my thighs, this day rolls away with it, this day that burned into my legs and my mind and left me swollen with the heat and the joy that watching my family just simply play filled me with.
As my shoulders heal and the tan lines flake off and fade back to white, the vision of floating beside my son, watching him discover a whole new world he never knew existed, fades with them. The amazement that filled his eyes, that he silently shared with my under water through goggles, amongst schools of fish we couldn't even identify, is fading to white in my mind.
The shorelines on my back are receding into my sides, parting the Red Sea that holds the flood of memories I carried home, heavy on my back, heavier still in my heart. Visions of silliness, echoes of laughter, whispers of contentment, waves of joy, all loose their foothold in the layers of my body they etched themselves into under sunny Pacific skies.
1. A Moment Alone, 2. Sandcastles Made Of Kids, 3. Channeling Abraham Lincoln, 4. Trix Are For Kids, 5. Sister and Brother, 6. Building Castles, 7. *bleeeeep!*, 8. Walking, 9. SPLASH!, 10. Yeah, He's Pretty Hot, 11. A Little Too Small, 12. Whee!
My fingers feel dry around the pen I hold, writing out complicated grocery lists that accommodate the different needs of my different children, and it makes me ache for the days without lists, the days my lap wasn't full of school work and projects and laundry, the days my lap was filled with the only thing I've ever wanted it to be.
My eyes adjust to the grey of fall, surrendering to it the blues and oranges that draped us in the perfect harmonies of nature.
I fight to hold on to those days, those first days in the life of our family simple and sweet. I'm afraid to let them go, to forget the magic that nestled into our skin and burrowed into our bones and left us bronzed and burnt and sore and perfectly content. And then my husband reminds me that the magic only lives if it's a wanting, a retreat we have to return to, and I think he might be right as I listen to my daughter rubbing lotion into my sunburnt, peeling back, telling me it will all be okay, that she will take my hoits away, asking me to not be afwaid. I realize that she's learned empathy, possibly from her days caring for a friend.
And with that I know that I've brought home everything I needed to, that those shores will wait for us to return and refill our cup until it, once again, runneth over.
{I took 1,750 pictures while we were gone. I will be 102 before I get them all edited, but they'll show up here as I get them done.}
{Also, I've got drugs over here today and I don't even know how I got heroin, hemorrhoids and eye cream in the same post, but I'm giving away one of those three at my review blog, too. You know, if you don't have anything better to do than read my dumb posts all day.}


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LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A judicial crackdown and mounting political pressure on legal tax avoidance are failing to deter companies from setting up in European tax havens.
Growing numbers of accountants, banks and consultants are signing lengthy office leases in Luxembourg and the Channel Islands as they flock to serve customers seeking the legal ways to cut their tax bills offered by having a offshore base.
That is in stark contrast to the traditional financial districts of London and Paris, where letting markets are lacklustre.
``The tax avoidance business is alive and well,'' tax adviser turned campaigner Richard Murphy told Reuters. ``The economic downturn is not having any impact on this type of banking.''
More than seven percent of offices in London's financial district are vacant - more than double the rate in Luxembourg's three business districts. Jersey's has ``close to no vacant prime office space,'' said consultant Montagu Evans.
The equivalent of about seven soccer pitches of office space was let in Luxembourg in the first half of 2012, the highest level in four years, with almost 60 percent taken by banks, accountants and business consultants, data from property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle showed.
The picture is similar in offshore centres in the Caribbean. Though hard data is thin, local property agents told Reuters the best Barbados offices are close to full occupancy while law firms and accountants expanded throughout the recession in the Cayman Islands.
Offshore centres tend to be characterized by their small geographical size, low tax regimes and financial sectors that are disproportionately large to the size of their domestic economies.
Last month, a Reuters report showed Starbucks had legally lowered its UK tax bill with inter-company loans, paying royalty fees to foreign subsidiaries and allocating money made in the UK to other units in so-called ``transfer pricing''.
Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was unhappy with the level of tax avoidance by big companies.
Jersey and Guernsey are the world's top offshore centres according to the Global Financial Centres Index, which scores cities on taxation, corruption, regulation, quality of staff and airports and the ratings of local employees.
In a list of global financial centres by size headed by London, they rank 21st and 31st respectively, while landlocked Luxembourg, which the index said competes i n a similar way to offshore hubs, came 23rd.
They gained a reputation for sheltering tax exiles thanks to banking secrecy laws and have been targeted by G20 leaders in a crackdown on secretive financial centres that includes Switzerland's banking system.
Jersey and Guernsey generally tax companies at zero percent, while Luxembourg has low sales taxes and does not charge companies on interest made from loans to the UK.
In 2009, all three signed up to an international 'white list' of areas that are attempting to clean up their act by agreeing to internationally agreed tax standards.
But the recent reports linking them to tax reduction strategies by companies including Amazon and British celebrities such as comedian Jimmy Carr have triggered political anger and kept the negative image alive, even though what they do is legal.
``Businesses don't always take notice of public outcry,'' said Prem Skikka, professor of accounting at the University of Essex.
Societe Generale took the most space of any company in Luxembourg in the first half of 2012, signing a deal for about 98,000 square feet in a new office block for about 10 years, local property agents said. The bank declined to comment.
``It may sound counterintuitive but what's been driving the Luxembourg market for the last 12 months is the financial sector,'' said Pierre-Paul Verelst, Jones Lang LaSalle's head of research for the Benelux region.
Chinese banks are also shifting their European offices from London to Luxembourg.
On Jersey, accountant KPMG moved into a new office twice as big as its previous one in August while PricewaterhouseCoopers will move into a newer, larger office in coming months. Both signed 15-year leases, said Montagu Evans.
Accountants, banks and lawyers that advise companies on offshore tax planning often take much larger offices and hire more staff than their clients, whose presence in these hubs can sometimes amount to no more than a letter box.
Jersey has the ``right tax neutral and transparent infrastructure in place'' to attract clients like private equity companies to the island, meaning PwC will stay for the long-term, said Brendan McMahon, PwC partner in Jersey.
``Moving to new premises is a sign of our confidence that economic conditions in Jersey will improve,'' said Jason Laity, KPMG Jersey's managing director.
Other residents of the rocky islands off the French coast include private equity tycoon Guy Hands, commodities trader Glencore and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.
But as the political temperature rises, some have expressed fear over the fragility of what are relatively small property markets as the scrutiny grows.
``The market has been very robust,'' said Chris Daniels, managing director of Jersey at BNP Paribas Real Estate. ``But with all the uncertainty that surrounds us, these guys could almost disappear overnight.''


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The singer and saxman has released an autobiography that documents his growing-up years in Kinston and how he broke into the celebrity music scene during a time of racial strife, as well as his solo career in the last couple of decades. It�s '98% Funky Stuff: My Life in Music.'
�The funky Parker brothers� was the name Maceo and Melvin Parker were dubbed while studying at N.C. Agricultural & Technical College after the two put on an improvisational music jam at a talent show.
Their reputation earned them the opportunity to play back-up for Marvin Gaye at a Greensboro club. For Maceo Parker Jr., it was the first time to rub elbows with one of the greatest musical artists of the 1960s and ultimately led him to a music career that continues today.
The singer and saxman has released an autobiography that documents his growing-up years in Kinston and how he broke into the celebrity music scene during a time of racial strife, as well as his solo career in the last couple of decades. It�s �98% Funky Stuff: My Life in Music.�
People would sometimes ask him to describe his shows. About 15 years ago, he came up with a catchy description.
�And somehow this equation just jumped into my mind,� he said, sitting in a tastefully decorated room at his Kinston home where he likes to practice the saxophone, �� 2 percent jazz and 98 percent funky stuff.�
Funky, he said, is music that elicits dancing.
�I like it when people, the audience, you know, have that freedom to just dance,� he said. �I mean dance. Dance. Have a good time. Party, party, party.�
In an interview with The Free Press, he was neatly dressed in black, wearing a tie and his signature dark shades � even though it was indoors � as his hands, with neatly manicured nails, moved to some sort of rhythm as he spoke.
With some vocalized doo dots, he began snapping his fingers and quietly and rhythmically sang, �Shake every-thing you�ve got.�
But a funky music show needs some slow interludes to break it up every so often, so that�s where the 2 percent comes in, he said.
Parker, 70, admired the jazz, blues and early funk musicians of the 1950s and 1960s. Of them all, he admired Ray Charles the most.
�(Charles�) tone quality, the quality that I heard in his singing,� he said, �sounded to me like as though he had lived whatever he was singing about. � And he was blind.�
Around 1958, Parker and his brothers came home from school and heard Charles singing �What�d I Say� on the radio. The song appeared to have ended.
�And then, all of a sudden it went heyyy � aaay, ohhh � ohhh,� Parker sang while tapping his hands for the drums, �and we went absolutely crazy.�
The sons of Novella and Maceo Parker Sr., he and his brothers grew up playing together. Music was in the family.
His parents would sing all the time � especially his mother � as if those days were the happiest of times. But years later, Parker realized his parents had been struggling to make ends meet.
He believes his warm-hearted family life kept him from letting his later success go to his head, and kept him away from trouble and worldly vices. Parker said he wasn�t lacking for support and love.
�Plus I knew from early, early on I was born with a gift,� he said.
At around age 4, he began testing out the notes on the family piano. One day, a man with the church choir visited and began practicing a melody on the piano as the choir members sang. Parker watched from the sidelines.
When they left the room, Parker began to emulate what he saw and heard and eventually the others caught on that this little boy had picked up the tone and rhythm on the piano and was singing the song.
That gift was realized by Parker when he was a junior in high school and was given an award that normally was given to a senior.
�That was really important to me,� he said, �to sound like a professional.�
Parker was around age 13 when he and his brothers� first formed a band with a name. His uncle, Bobby Butler, had a band called Blue Notes, they named their band Junior Blue Notes.
Once he was able to get a professional sound to his voice, Parker began to work on his own style. He said that style began to take shape in high school.
�Well, I just played and satisfied what I heard inside of me,� he said, �and I just kept doing that.� And then he hoped someone would like it.
And like it, they did. James Brown, �The Godfather of Soul,� liked it enough to hire him to play the sax in his band in 1964.
In his book, Parker tells about those exciting, yet increasingly difficult, times working with Brown, who kept a tight rein on the group.
Parker and others in the group left and formed Maceo Parker and All the King�s Men for a couple of years. He went solo in the 1990s, and, at times, performs with Prince.
Recognition got him an interview by Johnny Carson. Parker chuckled over the experience.
�When (Carson) got ready to introduce me,� Parker said, �he got confused with the James Brown thing and called me Maceo Brown.�
Carson heartily apologized to him after his act.
In the early years, black musicians saw clearly the line between black and white. And in the old pickle warehouse in Faison, that line was a literal one.
A thick rope � like what is used for ships � divided the blacks and the whites where music greats such as Brown and Charles played.
As a performer, Parker was the recipient of smiles and greetings from the many familiar faces of the concert-goers in Faison and Kinston. But like the separation drawn by the rope, there was an invisible line, as well.
�We knew our job was to go there, do what we have to do and go home,� he said.
When he was a junior in high school, his brother Kellis and others played a part in desegregating the theater and drugstore diner in downtown Kinston by holding sit-ins in the late 1950s. That was before the famous 1960 sit-in at the Woolworth�s in Greensboro.
Parker was inducted into the N.C. Hall of Fame in 2011 and, in 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award from Les Victoires du Jazz in Paris. He is named on the state�s African American Music Trail.
What is planned to be the hub of the trail � the $500,000 African American Music Trail Park � is currently being constructed downtown.
It is situated across from the old tobacco warehouse that once rocked with the sounds of Brown, Charles and the likes.
�When I was there a few minutes ago playing,� Parker said about being photographed at the four-acre park, �I�m thinking about all the musicians who came before me. � There used to be a lot of little places to play.�
He recalled the numerous music venues that once drew hundreds of people into Kinston.
�All these people who came before me,� Parker said, �who were sort of struggling, but they were having fun and doing their thing � it�s a lot of them. And somehow, I seem to feel that I represent all those people now.�
There is a bond between certain musicians that�s �really, really, really special,� he said.
�In this field,� Parker said, �you get like a camaraderie thing � or a brotherly thing or whatever � that really, really feels like family.�
He said he believes Kinston�s downturn occurred when people began traveling to larger cities for entertainment and dining because there was more happening in those places.
Parker hopes the music trail will inspire the younger set, especially those who may have a gift in music. He sees that spark returning.
�It seems like there is a small buzz around,� Parker said. �� I think it�s maybe on the beginning of something really happening.�
For now, he is drawn to his excited audiences overseas. But one day, he will be more visible in his hometown.
�I�m going to get in the mix once I decide to stop going to Europe,� he said.
At every performance, his message of love is, �Always remember, we love you.� Lending a smile or kind word could possibly change a person who is having bad thoughts, and counteract the idea that a life has no value, he said.
�It doesn�t seem to be far-fetched for me,� he said, �for people to just think of other people as almost as themselves.�
That message became validated when a woman in a wheelchair requested to enter onto the stage to say something to the audience. Suffering from depression and a disabling disease, she said Parker�s message of love inspired her and stopped her from contemplating suicide.
�I decided right then,� Parker wrote in his book, �that as long as I was going to tour and be in front of hundreds of people every night, I would talk about love as much as I could in my shows.�
He and Carolyn Washington Parker have been married for 41 years. They have six children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Breakout box:
Where to purchase �98% Funky Stuff� in print or audiobook:
amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Ebay.com, bestbuy.com and other outlets


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If the Cubs come back to earn a playoff berth, they might look back on Wednesday's eighth inning as a jumping-off point.
Chicago was clinging to a one-run lead over Washington in the bottom of the frame when Koyie Hill ignited a six-run outburst with a two-run double. The Cubs held on to win, 9-4, their sixth victory in their last 19 games, as Hill went 3-for-3 and Milton Bradley homered and drove in three runs.
Even with the win, the Cubs remain nine games behind the Cardinals in the National League Central and moved to 7 1/2 behind the Rockies in the Wild Card race, but their big inning has the potential to send them in the right direction.
"It helped us win a baseball game today, and let's hope it becomes contagious here in the last month or so of the season," manager Lou Piniella said.
"We need to put together a semblance of a good winning streak and go from there. Right now, a win feels really good, believe it or not."
Bradley gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead in the third with a two-run homer off Livan Hernandez, but the Nationals tied the score in the sixth when Cristian Guzman touched Rich Harden for an RBI single.
Chicago put runners on first and third with one out in the seventh for Bradley, who hit a soft ground ball to third off Jason Bergmann (2-3). Ryan Zimmerman charged and fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw home sailed wide, allowing Hill to score the go-ahead run.
With the often-erratic Carlos Marmol preparing to enter the game in the ninth inning, the Cubs needed some insurance runs and got plenty of them. Kosuke Fukudome singled, and one out later, Jeff Baker hit a grounder to first. Pitcher Jorge Sosa didn't get over to cover first on time, and Baker picked up an infield single.
"We have done a heck of a job taking care of the details of the game and, today, we didn't," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "You see what happens."
Hill came up next and drove in two with a double, and the Cubs plated four more in the inning to go ahead, 9-2.
"I think at this point, any time you get three hits in an inning, it's something to build on," Hill said. "It was nice to have that big inning, definitely, late in the game, in a close ballgame, to give our guys a little breathing room."
Marmol, who recently was appointed as the team's closer, walked the first three hitters he faced in the ninth and surrendered two runs.
John Grabow had kept Washington off the board in the eighth and Angel Guzman (3-3) earned the win with a scoreless seventh in relief of Harden, who held the Nationals to two runs in six innings. Harden has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight straight outings.
He got off to a rough start, loading the bases with no outs in the first, but he struck out Adam Dunn and escaped after allowing one run on Josh Willingham's sacrifice fly.
"I've been feeling pretty good," Harden said. "I just go out there and throw strikes. The big thing for me is getting through that first inning without any problems. That's when I've been throwing most of my pitches for a few games here."
Bradley continued to produce at Wrigley Field, where he has hit about 100 points better than on the road and smacked eight of his 11 home runs. He was 2-for-23 on the Cubs' last road trip but went 4-for-4 on Tuesday and 1-for-4 with a walk Wednesday.
Hill has been splitting time with Geovany Soto at catcher since Soto returned from the disabled list Aug. 7. Although he is known more for his glove, Hill reached base all four times he came up and scored two runs.
"It always feels good to contribute, but it feels even better to win," Hill said. "That being the pressing issue around here -- I think it always is -- but it's nice to get back on the right track."
Just like everyone else in the Cubs' clubhouse, Hill is not giving up on the season yet.
"We want to put together a winning streak," he said. "We want to win ballgames. Just because you're running out of time, it doesn't mean there's any more emphasis on it, it just means you're running out of time and you don't have a whole season to get on that roll. You have to get on that roll now."


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The "Share Your Story" photo contest will be open to Colorado residents 18 years of age or older beginning on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011 at 8 a.m. MT and ending on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, 11:59 p.m. MT.
Photo submissions can include yourself, your kids, or your whole family dressed up to tell a Colorado Story. Dress up to look like your favorite Colorado characters and figures—an adventurer of centuries past, perhaps a Colorado sports figure, or a picture of you in a uniform or a costume that relates to your cultural heritage and family legacy in Colorado; or maybe you'll invent a futuristic character — someone you think has yet to leave their legacy on Colorado's history.
Visit http://www.facebook.com/HistoryColorado?sk=app_95936962634 for more information and to Share Your Story!


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Quebec: Eastern Townships Resources
March 2, 2010 by © Joan Miller - Luxegen Genealogy.
Filed under Canada, Quebec
English Quebec Searching the Eastern Townships of Quebec for one's non-French ancestors can be a challenge. Quebec is now divided primarily by language but for the two centuries prior the divisions were religious. Quebecers were either Roman Catholic or non-Catholic. Before 1926, all registration of vital records was done by the church. Each Parish of [...]


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It�s a long walk from Billings, Mont., to Lincoln, Neb. � anywhere between 850 and 902 miles, depending on which road you take. But that�s the walk crusty and slightly addled Woody Grant has just set out on in the opening frames of Nebraska native Alexander Payne�s newest film. Payne has been nominated numerous times for directing and writing awards from the folks at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes, and he�s nabbed the scripting gold for �The Descendants,� �Sideways� and �About Schmidt.�
His name will likely be on those short lists again, but this time so will that of Bruce Dern, who, playing Woody, has gotten and delivered one of the best roles of his career. Woody�s taking that walk to Nebraska to claim the million dollar prize he won in one of those magazine sweepstakes contests. He lost his driver�s license due to excessive drinking, and no one � not his wife, neither of his two sons � is going to give him a ride. And since he won�t listen to anyone that�s trying to tell him the prize is bogus, he hits the highway on foot, only to be stopped immediately by the cops.
As Payne has done in all of his previous films (most of them set in Nebraska), he introduces us to his characters, then allows us to get inside their heads. Actually, much of that was done here by first-time screenwriter Bob Nelson, and this is the first film Payne has directed that he hasn�t also written. But it�s Payne that lets his actors know what he wants from them to get the story told and the characters understood, then steps back and lets them do it.
The business of the million dollars keeps coming up, and keeps pushing the plot along, but it�s the people that take the front seat here. Dern�s Woody is a man of few words, and probably always has been. He�s a retired auto mechanic, a nice guy who�s always helped others and now, without much money, but seeing what he believes is a jackpot flashing in front of his eyes, he expects people to help him in return.
But his wife, Kate (June Squibb, who played Jack Nicholson�s wife in �About Schmidt�), is at her wit�s end with him, and his sons, Ross (Bob Odenkirk) and David (Will Forte) have no idea what to do about dear old dad. Well, it�s really only David that would use that loving term on him. Kate is fed up with years of neglect (and let�s not forget that drinking), and Ross is just too selfishly busy to have any concern about dad�s crazy ideas. It�s David who sees that there�s a problem and would like to help, even if the only way he can think to go about it is to give his dad a ride to where he wants to go.
So we get a road-trip movie, a father-son relationship movie, a husband-wife relationship movie, a pie-in-the-sky dreamer movie ... the list could go on. It also includes an examination of what happens when old friends, if they ever really were friends, are led to believe that someone in their group has stumbled onto some good fortune. So we also get the story of Woody�s long ago rocky business relationship with the blustery Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach), and it�s not very pretty.
But the movie sure is, physically. It�s shot in stark and stunning black and white, and Payne and his longtime cinematographer Phedon Papamichael use it in a remarkable manner, both to catch an other-worldly look at the western landscape and to give us subtly breathtaking close-up looks at a variety of faces.
�Nebraska� is a serious film about a dysfunctional family, the patriarch of which might be delusional. But the beauty of its script is that, at all the right moments, it�s sweet and touching and absolutely hilarious (thank you, June Squibb, for your comic timing). One of its nicest surprises is that it�s just as much David�s story as it is Woody�s, and they�re both people to root for.
Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.
Written by Bob Nelson; directed by Alexander Payne
With Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach
Rated R


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Lucky winner of the $40 Semilla credit goes to....
Lucky mama! Congrats!! :)
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Semilla snack bags giveaway winner!
Posted by Melissa at 10:33 PM
Labels: giveaway
4 comments:
- The Original Drama Mama said... [Reply to comment]
Aw yeah! So excited - my daughter's charter school is all about trash free lunch, and sometimes I have to get very creative with what I pack...this will make my job much more fun! THANK YOU!!!
- May 27, 2011 at 8:19 AM
Congrats Original Drama Mama!
- May 27, 2011 at 9:29 AM
- Alzbeta said... [Reply to comment]
I miss your posts! I'm sure you are doing something much more important, though :).
- August 7, 2011 at 1:05 AM
Does anybody keep up with this blog anymore? I loved reading it!
- August 8, 2011 at 1:56 PM
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Noise and Popular Music
Claude Debussy was an especially keen observer of Parisian street life and the music it fostered. A picture of the city is conveyed in Pierre Bonnard's prints of bustling street scenes in Paris, with their visually implied sounds of voices, traffic, and eclectic noises. Lithographs of popular entertainers and music halls by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Jules Chéret evoke the boisterous atmosphere and popular songs that were performed in the cabarets and cafés-concerts of Montmartre, where Debussy occasionally played the piano.
The juxtaposition of these and other works point toward a new kind of understanding of the relationship between art and music that had developed in Debussy's Paris. With the expansion of lithographic printing techniques, the domain of graphic arts was expanded to include a broader range of genres, from posters and illustrated sheet music covers to original art prints and illustrated books. Music worthy of listening to moved beyond performances in prestigious concert halls and the salons of the Parisian elite. It now took to the streets to include popular songs sung by cabaret stars Aristide Bruant and Yvette Guilbert, as well as the tuneful cries of Parisian street vendors, which were featured in Gustave Charpentier's box-office hit Louise. Debussy himself incorporated certain novel or "exotic" elements into his music, some of them inspired by Javanese gamelan music, which he heard at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. But in his own compositions, he remained essentially a purist, fending off the noises of commercial mass culture.
Image credit: Eugène Atget. French, 1857–1927. Organ Grinder (Joueur d'orgue), 1898; printed later by Berenice Abbott, ca. 1910. Gelatin silver print. SCMA, Purchased. Photograph by Petegorsky/Gipe
Sound file: Songs performed by popular cabaret stars Aristide Bruant, singing À la Bastille ("To the Bastille"), and Yvette Guilbert, singing Le Fiacre ("The Hackney Cab"). Produced by RBH Multimedia, Inc.


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When the sun shines on the ocean, water evaporates.
Water evaporates when it is warmed by the sun.
The sun causes water to evaporate.
The sun causes the water in our oceans to evaporate.
The heat of the sun makes ocean water evaporate.
The heat of the sun evaporates the water in the oceans.
Student or Learner


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If you're unfamiliar with home monitoring, it allows for patients to send data from their pacemakers or ICDs over a phone line for a doctor to review. The data transmitted is available to the clinic, the manufacturer, and in some cases even to a third-party contractor. However, it's not available electronically to patients, even though it is technically ours. If you've been to this blog before, you probably already know how I feel about this.
The patient's commentary is priceless. Here's how he describes what he finds in the box:
"Oh, a telephone cord. Not a USB cord, a telephone cord."
"It looks like a telephone answering machine."
"There's a switch here for tone or pulse, depending on which type of phone you have. I don't have either kind."And how he expresses his disappointment, after reading about data transmission:
"That doesn't sound very interesting. I'd like to see it printing on my own screen or something. That would be nice."Yes, I agree. Giving us access to data that is rightfully ours would indeed be very nice, if not the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, Medtronic and other ICD and pacemaker manufacturers don't see it this way. Dr. Marshall Stanton, VP of Clinical Research at Medtronic's Cardiac and Vascular Group said at USC's Body Computing Conference in 2009 that they're not in the business of providing data to patients. Information collected by the device is only valuable to physicians, and that patients do not wish to see it on a regular basis. Watch Dr. Stanton here (links to YouTube).
I disagree. If you believe, as I do, that outcomes matter and that an empowered patient population will become healthier, manufacturers must share this data with patients in a way that it can be used to change behavior and improve our quality of life and health outcomes.
Above: Medtronic's CareLink Home Monitoring system next to its cellular accessory (M-Link), introduced earlier this year. The grey contraption with its many wires and boxy companion is not the most attractive thing you can have on your nightstand. And for as long as patients remain excluded from the data loop, it is certainly a sight you'll not find in my home.


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Friday, May 18, 2012
Weight Center hosts Pediatric Obesity Collaborative Retreat
WEIGHING THE ISSUES: From left, Craig Canapari, MD, MGHfC pulmonologist and sleep expert; Elmy Trevejo, MD, Affiliated Pediatric Practices Needham; and Paul Beopple, MD, pediatric endocrinologist for the MGH Weight Center
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that three out of four obese children will become obese adults, increasing the obese adult population to 42 percent by 2030. Just days after the report, on May 10, the MGH Weight Center brought together clinicians from 24 different programs – many within MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) – for the first Pediatric Obesity Collaborative Retreat.
The daylong forum was created by Janey S. Pratt, MD, director of the Weight Center, Alison Hoppin, MD, associate director for pediatric programs at the Weight Center, and Christina Scirica, MD, MPH, director of the Coordinated Health and Asthma Management Program at MGHfC. Its aim was to increase collaboration among different teams involved in childhood obesity treatment and research and to share information about existing resources and treatment programs, including those offered by the Weight Center. "There are so many people at MGH working on childhood obesity," said Pratt. "It's important for us to collaborate."
The retreat featured research presentations from staff in clinical programs related to obesity and related conditions – such as fatty liver disease, asthma, sleep apnea, endocrine issues, and diabetes and insulin resistance. "It was really eye-opening to hear about how much is going on in so many different areas," said Caren T. Harris, NP, of Pediatric Surgery. "The commitment was coming through loud and clear."
The keynote speaker was Elsie M. Taveras, MD, MPH, a pediatrician and researcher who serves as co-director of the Obesity Prevention Program at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and director of One Step Ahead, a multidisciplinary childhood overweight prevention and early management program at Children's Hospital Boston. Taveras shared several strategies for addressing obesity – including focusing on evidence-based targets for counseling, referring children to specialists, using health information technology and providing support to families via mobile technology. She said effective communication was key, especially for behavioral changes, and emphasized that clinicians need to recognize patients are not all at the same stage of readiness to change. Caregivers must find the right combination of services for each individual.
Building upon Taveras' recommendations and suggestions made by retreat participants during breakout sessions, Pratt said members of the MGH Weight Center will develop evidence-based treatment and referral guidelines for families and clinicians to share with the MGH community. They also plan to develop a postgraduate course for pediatric caregivers, which will be offered in May 2013.
For more information about the MGH Weight Center, visit www.weightcenter.org.
Read more articles from the 05/18/12 Hotline issue.
Browse the Entire Newsroom Archive


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At least 20 people shot in NYC over the weekend
NEW YORK (AP) — A wave of violence swept New York City over the weekend as at least 20 people were shot, four of them fatally, authorities said Monday.
The shootings, which included the separate woundings of 10- and 12-year-old boys, made for the third weekend in June that at least a dozen people were struck by bullets, police said. In the last week of June, 35 people were shot, down from 39 gunshot victims the same week a year ago, according to New York Police Department statistics. A breakdown between those killed and those wounded was not immediately available.
This year, 611 people have been shot in the city, compared with 554 for the same period last year.
"We've had an increase, a temporary increase, in shootings," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. "Crime goes up, it goes down."
Homicides are down 11 percent this year, according to the NYPD.
After a crime drop in recent years, the spate of violence has raised alarms. A group of Brooklyn residents organized what they called an "emergency town hall meeting" Monday.
The 10-year-old boy wounded on a street outside his Coney Island home was recovering after being caught in a hail of bullets that grazed his thigh as he walked with friends to a grocery store Saturday. Also shot was a 25-year-old man reported in stable condition.
In the Bronx on Sunday, the 12-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.
The bloodshed spilled into Monday, when a man at an iron works in Brooklyn opened fire and wounded two employees, police said. He kept officers at bay for two hours before killing himself.
Bratton said more than 1,000 young graduates of the city's police academy will soon be hitting city streets, partnering with veteran officers in the most violent, crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Residents planned to meet Monday evening in Brooklyn's 77th Police Precinct, which includes the Crown Heights and Prospect Heights neighborhoods. Three people have died in 11 area shootings since late May, according to Shalawn Langhorne, in charge of public safety for the community board organizing the gathering.
So far this year in the 77th Precinct, 23 people were shot, compared with 20 last year, according to NYPD figures.
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text: Springfield xd-s 9 For Sale from TTGunnery | Positive feedback: 100% View | | 180 Completed Sales View Sellers Items /UserImages/109181/944988717 13879480.jpg Description: Springfield xd-s 9mm new in box, 2 mags. Read More Condition: New In Box Brand: Springfield Caliber: 9mm Luger Location: NY Trades Accepted: No Read More Shipping Notes: Shipping covers packing, shipping, and insurance Read More Share Item Item #: 944988717 Stock No.: A99-15, A99-16 TTGunnery Seller Since: May. 2009 Seller Level: Basic This seller is an FFL City: seaford State: NY Price: $275.00 Buy It Now Add To Cart Please Login/Register to Order Login or Register to buy Shipping: $35.00 (or Arrange local transfer) Accepted Payment Methods: Returns: No Returns Send Message to TTGunnery You must login or register to send a message to this seller. Contact Seller as Guest Message To Seller Email * That Email Address is already in use. If you typed your email correctly, you are already registered and you should login or click here for the password recovery system. First Name * Last Name * Phone * Address 1 * Address 2 City * State * -State- AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA GU HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA PR RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VI VT WA WI WV WY Zip * Already have an account? Login Your Recently Viewed Items