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Lipscomb's Bisons opened the 2004-2005 basketball season on the road Sunday afternoon with a 83-66 loss at Williams Arena to the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big 10.
The Bisons made a strong run, especially in the first half, but in the end the size and strength of the Minnesota team prevailed.
"We were concerned about their inside game _ their size and their strength," said Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson. "They're just big. We knew they were bigger than we are."
Sparked by seven points from sophomore guard Brian Fisk, the Bisons took the lead at 16-12. The Bisons relinquished the lead with 6:18 on the clock at 27-24, but rallied to take a 32-27 advantage with 2:46 remaining in the half,
However, an 11-2 run by the Golden Gophers gave them a 38-34 lead at the half.
The Golden Gophers picked up the defensive intensity in the second half. After giving up five 3-pointers to the Bisons on eight attempts in the first half,, Minnesota stopped the Bisons on 3-pointers with only two unsuccessful second half shots.
With 13 minutes left the Bisons led 52-49, but Minnesota pulled away with an 8-0 run.
Fisk led the Bisons in scoring with 23 points, a team-high six rebounds and three steals. Also in double figures were forward Cameron Robinson with 12 and guard James Poindexter with 11.
The Bisons shot 45.1 percent from the field.
Minnesota was led by Vincent Grier with 23 points and Dan Coleman with 21. Minnesota shot 55 percent from the field. The Golden Gophers also had 14 steals and 12 blocks.
"This is team where every opponent we play, whether it's Lipscomb or whomever, we need to be pleased to come away with a win," said Minnesota coach Dan Monson. "We had a sense of urgency on the defensive end in the second half.
"Lipscomb was five-of-eight in the first half from 3-point range, and those are like daggers."
The Bisons are back home in Allen Arena Tuesday night to face Savannah State at 7.


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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale heavyweight crew team will kick off the 2012-13 racing season this Saturday with a classic, the Head of the Housatonic. This race will be the first step on the road towards the championship regattas of the spring, but this year the team dynamic will be a bit different. At the end of last season the IRA Stewards voted to allow first-year students to race in varsity boats, and as a result, this season the freshman class will not be confined to racing in the freshman eight category. As Steve Gladstone returns for his third year as head coach of Yale heavyweight crew, he now has one big team that is more unified and more competitive than ever.
"I'm very excited to see the team in action," said senior captain Jon Morgan. "We came into the season having worked hard over the summer and we are looking forward to the fall races."
As was the case last year, the team was charged with returning to campus this fall and completing a 6k erg trial within the first week of practice. While all of this year's team was hard at work over the summer, three current squad members made it to the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. Junior Owen Symington improved on his seventh-place finish from the coxed four from U23's the year before and took home some hardware, this time winning a silver medal as bow seat of the Australian coxless four. Freshman Hubert Trzybinski brought home silver as well, finishing second in the single scull for Germany in one of the largest fields at the regatta. Senior Tom Lynam also raced in Trakai, rowing against Symington in the Irish coxless four entry and finishing in the B final, as did Tom Dethlefs '12 who defended his gold medal with the U.S. eight.
In addition to the strong showing of heavyweights at the U23's, Yale also had one of its sons racing at the Olympics over the summer. Charlie Cole '07 raced as three-seat of the U.S. coxless four at London 2012, winning a bronze medal in the event that many countries had chosen to prioritize at these Games. Cole is scheduled to appear as part of a panel discussion celebrating Yale's Olympians this Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the Law School Auditorium. Then at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Cole will have a heavyweight four dedicated in his name with a reception at Gilder Boathouse to follow.
This Saturday the heavyweights have crews entered in three event categories in two classes of sweep boats. The freshmen will get to race against Ivy League rivals Brown in the novice eight category, while in the collegiate eights (IRA) the heavyweights will go up against St. Joe's, Williams and the Yale lightweights. The full timetable for Saturday is available here, while Yale's schedule is as follows:
11:10 a.m. – 8+ Collegiate Novice Men
1:05 p.m. – 8+ Collegiate Men (IRA)
2:30 p.m. – 4+ Collegiate Men (IRA)
Yale's Gilder Boathouse is located at 280 Roosevelt Drive in Derby, Conn. Directions can be found here, but a good place to watch the race from is the RiverView BBQ restaurant.
After this weekend the Bulldogs have one more race on the schedule for the fall, the Head of the Charles from Oct. 20-21. The heavyweights will stay on the water up through November before returning to the ergs and the rowing tanks in Payne Whitney Gymnasium. Finally the Bulldogs will head south as they did last year for a 10-day winter training trip in Stuart, Fla., before reconvening in New Haven for the start of the spring semester.
Report filed by Yale Sports Publicity

subset: commoncrawl


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The process began with a chance meeting at the 2006 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., an international competition that challenges collegiate teams to build solar-powered homes. Architecture student Adam Rude, who helped design the University of Colorado (CU-Boulder) house, ended up giving the last tour of the day to Robert Freling, executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit Solar Electric Light Fund. Freling was taken right away with Rude's design philosophy, and by the end of the tour told him, "I have a friend in Colorado who is looking for an architect. I think you two should meet."
Weeks later, back in Boulder, Rude sat down for his first meeting with Freling's friend, Kitty Brigham, a retired nonprofit administrator who wanted to build a net-zero energy home. "I liked him instantly. I just took the leap and said, 'Why don't you design a house for me?'" Brigham recalls. "I told him that I liked angles and trilevels, and he took it from there."
Rude, who graduated shortly after that initial meeting, didn't have the resources to take on the project on his own, so he turned to his mentor and design advisor from the Solar Decathlon—Mark Sofield, a local architect who ran his own shop. The two partnered on the project, with Rude taking the lead on the schematic design, under Sofield's direction as architect of record. Two additional members of the CU-Boulder Decathlon team—engineer Chad Corbin and lighting designer Todd Gibson—signed on for the project as well.
Every architect's dream, Brigham gave the design team few constraints, with only one real demand: "Performance first, then form." Driving the design was her pursuit of LEED Platinum certification, the highest ranking awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. "I knew building to platinum standards could be a costly venture, but I wanted to showcase what's possible and hopefully inspire people to walk the talk," Brigham says.
From the start, Brigham envisioned the home as a space she would "share" with the nonprofits and committees that she works with. SELF, for one, plans to use the space to host retreats for its board members. "The central living space had to be very open—a place where I could host meetings," says Brigham, who holds volunteer leadership roles for several nonprofit organizations, including SELF, Boulder County Audubon Society, and Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition. "And I wanted a rooftop living space," she adds.
Rude scoured the foothill communities near Boulder looking for land in the mountains, but for one reason or another, none of them worked. The design team ended up finding an ideal site farther east in Longmont, literally in Sofield's backyard.
Brigham purchased two lots along the street that makes up the southern boundary of Prospect New Town, a new urbanist housing community that transformed an 80-acre tree farm into a walkable, multiuse neighborhood. With a horse pasture and farm fields to the south, the site—a little less than 0.25 acres—offers views of Boulder's Flatirons rock formations and the foothills in the distance. And, with any luck, Brigham says, new building restrictions imposed by the city should keep the views intact for many years to come.
Not only does Sofield live in Prospect with his family, he also wrote the architectural guidelines for the community and designed several of the homes and buildings there. Prospect—which won a Governor's Smart Growth Award in 1996 for its innovative alternative to suburban sprawl—boasts a mix of businesses, detached homes, row houses, live/work lofts, and apartments, all in a broad range of traditional and modern architectural styles in a rich spectrum of colors. Even with its strikingly angled and geometric form, Brigham's home fits right in.


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No- the first part, to be honest, is barely recognisable as English.
I can hear 'is everything' and a few plays helped build up something:
attitude (though it sounds like 'attribute', but that doesn't make sense) is everything. Working back, I'd say it's 'age is nothing', but that's only from logic. If I heard the first bit alone, I wouldn't recognise the language, I'm afraid.
Student or Learner


text: Hi, i have installed a ispconfig 3 interface with this script (http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51928). It all works fine but the web quota does not count. Traffic is count fine, but the web quota not. Here is a Screenshot: http://epvpimg.com/qoceh I hope somebody can help me, and sorry for my bad english :-( Cheers!


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Evolving into the largest homecoming of modern Dodge rear-wheel-drive performance cars, the seventh annual Spring Festival of LXs marked the perfect opportunity to reveal the new 2012 Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline. With its powerful and efficient 305 horsepower engine, paddle-shifting transmission, performance suspension designed to maximize the muscle car's near 50/50 weight distribution for improved handling, and all-new red hot styling enhancements - this new Challenger delivers exactly what Dodge fans want.
"Infused with Dodge DNA, the new Challenger Rallye Redline adds even more excitement to our iconic muscle car, and to show our appreciation to our most hard-core enthusiasts, we revealed this new model at Spring Fest," said Reid Bigland, President and CEO, Dodge Brand - Chrysler Group LLC. "With its unique Redline Red accented exterior details, available Radar Red leather, performance suspension and brakes, and 305 horsepower V-6 with paddle shifters getting 27 mpg – this new Challenger fuses the nameplate's iconic heritage with modern Dodge styling and performance." Read more!
New red hot styling details
Based on the 2012 Dodge Challenger SXT Plus, the new Challenger Rallye Redline model adds even more 'bad boy' attitude and head-turning style to the brand's iconic coupe.
Flanking the center of the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline's performance hood scoops, roof and deck lid is its signature Redline Red stripe with two thin side stripes for added detail. A body-color painted deck-lid spoiler adds to the performance look, while continuing the Redline Red triple stripe pattern at the center.
Filling the wheel wells, the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline features new 20-inch Pitch Black wheels with a Redline Red lip and inner drum for a one-of-a-kind look. In addition, wider P245/45R20 Firestone Firehawk all-season performance tires provide greater contact with the road and a lower sidewall profile for improved steering precision and at-the-limit handling.
All-new to the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline model is the availability of heated front performance seats in Radar Red leather. In addition, Dodge Challenger's class-exclusive seating for five may be wrapped in Dark Slate Gray leather.
The Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline is available in four colors, including Bright Silver Metallic, Tungsten Metallic, Bright White and Pitch Black.
Track-tuned performance
The new 2012 Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline combines world-class ride and refinement with its 305 horsepower aluminum Pentastar V-6 engine and track-tuned performance suspension to deliver a thrilling driving experience.
The Dodge Challenger's 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine features a cold-air induction system and dual exhausts from the headers back to the exhaust tips for maximum output. The result is 305 track-ready horsepower (227 kW) at 6,350 rpm and a responsive 268 lb.-ft. (363 N•m) of torque at 4,800 rpm. The engine's torque exceeds 90 percent of its peak value from 1,800 to 6,400 rpm, which provides outstanding drivability and responsiveness. Thanks to its all-aluminum design, the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine provides the new Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline with a 52.4 / 47.6 front-to-rear weight distribution for improved balance and handling.
Enabling even more spirited driving with its five-speed Auto Stick transmission are die-cast zinc steering-wheel mounted paddle shifters. Race-inspired with precision feel, Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline's paddle shifters are ergonomically located behind the sporty thick-rimmed three-spoke Dodge steering wheel for maximum control.
And to deliver improved all around acceleration, the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline replaces its 2.65:1 rear-axle ratio for a more responsive 3.06:1 unit.
Upping the ante, the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline features the Super Sport Group as standard equipment and includes: performance-tuned suspension with 42 percent firmer front and 22 percent firmer rear monotube shocks. A larger 1.18-inch (30 mm) front and a 0.78-inch (20 mm) rear-sway bar replace 1.06-inch (27 mm) and 0.62-inch (16 mm) bars, respectively and add to the Dodge Challenger's cornering capabilities. A performance-tuned steering calibration delivers 25 percent quicker steering and 20 percent heavier on-center feel. Topping off the handling upgrade are larger and wider 20 x 8.0-inch (replacing 18 x 7.5-inch) wheels with wider P245/45R20 all-season performance tires (replacing P235/55R18 tires).
Making sure the Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline delivers world-class levels of stopping power, larger performance disc brakes replace the standard set. At the front, dual-piston front calipers replace single-piston units and larger 13.6 x 1.26-inch (345 x 28 mm) vented rotors replace 12.6 x 1.1-inch (320 x 28 mm) vented rotors. At the rear, 12.6 x 0.87-inch (320 x 22 mm) vented rotors replace 12.6 x 0.4-inch (320 x 10 mm) solid rotors.
Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline also includes a tremendous level of standard equipment found on every 2012 Challenger SXT Plus, including: Uconnect™ hands-free phone, six Boston Acoustic Speakers with 276-watt amplifier, premium Nappa leather faced seats, heated front seats, SIRIUS/XM satellite radio with 12-month subscription, fog lamps, dual exhausts, automatic temperature control, power 10-way driver's seat, cruise control, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Keyless Enter 'n Go, and six standard airbags.
Just in time for spring
The new Dodge Challenger Rallye Redline is available for ordering now and arrives at Dodge dealerships this April with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $28,745 (excluding $925 destination).
About Spring Festival of LXs
Evolving into one of the largest gatherings of Chrysler and Dodge car owners in North America, the seventh annual Spring Festival of LXs in Irvine, Calif., is a celebration of approximately 1,000 of the most "tricked out" Chrysler 300s, Dodge Chargers, Dodge Challengers and Dodge Magnums.
Chrysler and Dodge LX (original vehicle platform code for Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum) vehicles are some of the most customized and accessorized vehicles in the country. Chrysler and Dodge LX owners are also some of the most active in online forums, and the Spring Festival of LXs turns their virtual community into reality as a large meet-and-greet owner opportunity along with exclusive roundtable forums with the people who design, engineer and manufacture these Chrysler and Dodge vehicles.
Seven years ago, this event started as a small group and active community of online "LX" owners and forum users. Today, the Spring Festival of LXs has expanded into a collaboration that includes Chrysler Group's California Business Center, aftermarket vendors, vehicle displays and family-friendly fun with music, food and prizes. For more information, visit www.socallx.com


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SANTA ANA — Investigators say a methamphetamine-addled home invasion robber held a woman for hours and forced her to cook a meal.
The suspect was smoking a meth pipe when he finally left the woman's Santa Ana apartment and rode away on her son's bicycle.
Santa Ana police released a composite sketch of the suspect on Wednesday and asked for public help in finding the man who broke into two apartments on Monday.
The Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/YBzDy1) says he stole $100 from a woman at daybreak and that afternoon he forced his way into another apartment where he confronted a woman in her kitchen.
The intruder demanded that she cook him some food, which she did.
He took out a pipe and began smoking methamphetamine at one point during the three-hour ordeal.
Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com


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Five Best American Cities for Finding Love
New research shows singles have a significantly greater chance of meeting someone of the opposite sex depending on where they live. MarketWatch's Rex Crum discusses five cities in the U.S. that offer the best chances for men or women to find love. (Photo: AP)
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... I ... it's Valentine's day instead of looking for love and all the wrong places to triple to real estate market is truly a ... crunch some numbers show where the male to female ratio in some places the female male ratio ... are to be in your favor looking for love this time of year I'm Rex Crum MarketWatch ... well those places is lost in North Dakota ... centers of the oil boom going across the middle United States ... where men outnumber women about two to one so you're looking for rich oil ... oil rig or thereabouts please go the least populous state in the unionist Wyoming ... but does mean there aren't a lot of men their big pull out of the ground ... the male to female ratio is about to the once the women looking for a diamond Ruff that some of what Wyoming but it was to go ... and the aunts liking your favor for looking for a husband in Las Vegas sin city is popularly called ... a truly it says about forcing the women to every three settlement ... not every place literally a survey has more men than women to what are the big Apple New York City have two to one male to female ratio ... in Washington D C well there might be more male politicians the female ... victims of the overall population women outnumber men for three ... accidents more women than men in the nation's three major horse of some East Coast Washington New York and Boston ... I ...


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Sure, your old Los Angeles Chargers hat is great, but your Chargers wardrobe can always use an upgrade. Put your team pride on display with this Solid 59FIFTY hat from New Era. The crown of this flat-billed cap displays an embroidered team logo, while the back boasts an embroidered team name. This fitted hat is bound to bring a boost of Chargers spirit to any game day outfit.
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WALES yesterday departed for their World Cup campaign with head coach Warren Gatland revealing he has sought the opinion of predecessor Gareth Jenkins as he looks to avoid repeating the embarrassing first-round exit of four years ago.
Jenkins was sacked as Wales boss after a 38-34 defeat to Fiji in Nantes ended their participation in the 2007 tournament in France.
Gatland made an immediate impact upon replacing the former Scarlets supremo, winning an Six Nations Grand Slam in 2008, but the success of his tenure to date will ultimately be decided by how his side fare in New Zealand.
Wales again find themselves facing Fiji in the pool stages, along with South Africa, Samoa and Namibia, and Gatland says he has no intention of allowing his players to adopt the sort of loose gameplan that cost the men in red so dearly against the South Sea Islanders last time round.
He said: "It is the pinnacle of anyone's career, coach or player, to be involved in a World Cup and the players have worked incredibly hard.
"For me, going back to New Zealand is an honour and we have to do Wales proud. We will give it our best shot.
"I have spoken to Gareth Jenkins and (his assistant) Nigel Davies about some of the things they did with Wales four years ago and what they would do differently if they had their time again. It was good to listen to them and a big help to me.
"The disappointing thing for the coaches in 2007 was that they had put a tight gameplan in place to beat Fiji and for whatever reason the match exploded into a loose affair which played into Fiji's hands.
"As a result Gareth lost his job but the players were still employed the following week. We will certainly look to pick and go against Fiji and Samoa."
Wales departed for the land of the long white cloud on the back of an encouraging series of August Tests, with a narrow defeat to England at Twickenham being followed by victory in the return fixture and a win over Argentina.
Gatland has been dealt injury blows with the loss of the likes of captain Matthew Rees, Gavin Henson and Morgan Stoddart, but is confident that his squad, led by Wales' youngest-ever World Cup captain in Sam Warburton, are up to the task and will be firing when their Pool D campaign opens against South Africa on September 11.
"We have to be going to New Zealand with a lot of confidence after beating England and Argentina," he said.
"It is hugely positive for us to have South Africa first up. We have (England's) Wayne Barnes refereeing and he is one of the best in the world.
"I would not want to be playing them last as a decider with referees having quarter-finals to think about: they are under as much pressure to perform as players.
"We have pushed South Africa close in recent encounters and it is about getting over the line. We know it will be tough and we have to go there with confidence, putting out our best side to get a performance and a victory.
"This is the fittest squad I have been involved in and as long as we do not pick up too many key injuries, we have a chance.
"It is a waste of time getting on the plane unless we believe we can go out there, qualify from the group and perform well.
"I do not like to think in terms of a minimum target. We want to get to the quarter-finals and take it one step at a time. We believe we are good enough."


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Wrapping it up
Lording the Land was a lot of fun for me, and I managed to blog for an entire year. During that time I got married, quit my job, moved overseas and started a new career. What a year!
However, with my new career demanding more of my time (though I enjoy the work, so it's not bad), I find it harder and harder to write. Blogging becomes a chore rather than a fun activity. So I think it's time to stop and focus my efforts elsewhere. For all 30 or so readers who read on a relatively constant basis, thanks for listening to my rants and raves.
The Landlord


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Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, Sam Witwer was actually preparing to play Aidan McCollin, the vampire roommate inSyfy's monster mashup "Being Human."
"I hid out in my basement with my band so I didn't see the light a lot," he told me last week, only partly joking. "There it is. You know, everyone wonders, 'Why the hell is he so pale?' Well it's because I've been training myself to be this pale."
Witwer's co-star, Sam Huntington, suggested that he "literally can't get a tan now."
"No, I can't. I think I've lost the ability," Witwer continued with the joke. "Yeah, my skin has lost the ability to create melanin."
Witwer does have the perfect pale skin tone and buff body to play 250-year-old Aidan. The Glenbrook South High School grad wasn't completely joking when he said that hanging out with his Love Plumber bandmates did, ultimately, help him with his current role.
"I actually am telling a little bit of the truth in that me and my friends were all night people," he said. "And we wouldn't wake up if we didn't have to for school or something. We wouldn't wake up until noon or [1 p.m.]. And we all knew, 'Don't call your buddy before noon, that's rude. That's not cool.' So there's my vampire training right there."
Aidan, and his roomies, Josh the werewolf (Huntington) and Sally the ghost (Meagan Rath) will each explore the darker sides of their natures when Season 2 begins at 8 p.m. Jan. 16. Their individual journeys will lead to trouble at home—with each other—the actors said during a conference call with reporters last week.
"This season you will see a lot of tension between the three roommates because we all are on our own journey and trying to get ourselves out of these really desperate situations," Rath said.
Witwer added that the roomies will be at each other's throats at times, in scenes that he said were satisfying to film but also difficult because "I don't like having to shout or be mean to Sammy or Meaghan."
But, as was made obvious by their banter and teasing of each other during the call, the actors do get along famously, so they all feel those harsher scenes. "When it's a really, really rough moment for one of us, it usually means it's a rough moment for all of us," Huntington said, adding another poke at Rath, "I usually give Meaghan a really hard time, but beyond that..."
Since the three main characters are tempted by the darker parts of their natures this season, I asked the stars how they manage to maintain the character's humanity when playing those dark parts. Here's what they said:
Meaghan Rath: I think for me it's important to keep in mind that these are real people and not to get sucked into the supernatural element of the whole thing. What makes the show different is that we're not playing into the supernatural stereotypes; we are trying to play these as regular people. So for me it's a lot about just keeping in mind what I would do in this kind of situation and what's great about the show is that it's really acting, what would you do if you were put in this situation. I think that's where the humanity comes from, just being a good person and being with these challenges that sort of question your morality and your values.
Sam Witwer: I think Meaghan is absolutely right with that. In television we've kind of seen everything including vampires, werewolves and ghosts and we've seen people get killed and all kinds of crazy stuff. What we're trying to do as three actors is we're trying to bring as much humanity into those events as possible. For example, if someone dies, hopefully we're going to tell a story where you realize that that is an awful sacrifice or that something has happened that is really, really terrible.
It's all about the character's reactions and I mean these three characters are the eyes through which the audience watches the show. So we're really trying to keep our reactions to all this giant supernatural stuff very grounded.
In terms of the dark stuff that comes up, I mean the messed up thing is that at first you'll see our characters react with horror and shame and all this awful stuff. And then as time goes on you might see them kind of get used to it and that hopefully will be a very sad thing to watch.
Sam Huntington: I think you just kind of hit the nail on the head. A lot of times on the show I can say I think the characters are almost seeing these horrible things happen for the first time, so they're almost like the audience. They're viewing these things and so hopefully that's what the audience can kind of grasp on to. As an actor it helps inform what you do. Because you're like, "OK, well, what if this person was killed? What would the ramifications be? Emotionally what would that mean to me and how would that affect me and how would that affect every aspect of my life? So it's cool. It sets the show aside. We don't just roll over these issues, we actually tackle them.
Here are a few more highlights from the call, with the stars answering other's questions:
With the absence of vampire leader Biship (Mark Pellegrino, who will be back this season), Aidan is sucked into vampire authority matters and a new vampire played by "Dollhouse" alum Dichen Lachman. Said Witwer: "We go into some vampire authority matters and there are vampires that are much, much older than Aidan or even Bishop. We learn [more] about older Aidan, we learn about how he was rather than how he is and Dichen represents a lot of that in this season for Aidan. She represents a lot of what he wanted, a lot of who he wanted to be and she's thrown back into the mix and the problem is that Aidan is now a different guy. So it's like imagine that you had a really close relationship with someone back in high school and then you link up with them later. It's not exactly the same as it was because you've both changed, that type of thing."
Josh's girlfriend, Nora, will be back right away this season. Huntington talked about Kristen Hager, who plays Nora: "I can tell you Kristen Hager is one of my all time favorite people to work with ever and one of the greatest scene partners and I'm such a lucky guy. You know I get Meaghan, Sam and Kristen, like I'm such a lucky guy."
Rath talked more about the darkness of Season 2, in which Sally learns some dangerous new ghost tricks from some old (dead) classmates and meets a spooky, um, something: "Darkness this season is kind of a prominent theme and … for anyone, once you dabble in something dark that … consumes your consciousness, it's hard to remove yourself from it."


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By David Mamet
Co-Directed by Nathaniel Sayatovich & Ric Goodwin
Off-Broadway in 1977 to a television movie in 1993:
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mamet takes us into the lives of two actors: one is young and rising into the first flush of his success; the other is older, anxious, and beginning to wane. This comedy about the artifice of acting portrays a professional relationship, and a shifting balance of power, between an aging, less-than-successful veteran and an eager, often clumsy tyro. As the play goes on they are involved in a variety of productions, and gradually their relationship begins to change.
April 10, 11, 12, 13 at 7:30 p.m.
April 14 at 2:00 p.m., Studio Theatre
Talkback: after April 12 performance.
Event Date:
04/10/2013 - 7:30pm
04/11/2013 - 7:30pm
04/12/2013 - 7:30pm
04/13/2013 - 7:30pm
04/14/2013 - 2:00pm
Start Date:
Saturday, April 13, 2013 - 7:30pm


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The N.C. Forest Service is now a quarter of the way toward its goal of creating an 8,000-acre Headwaters State Forest in southern Transylvania County, protecting one of the largest undeveloped tracts of privately owned land in Western North Carolina.
ROSMAN - The N.C. Forest Service is now a quarter of the way toward its goal of creating an 8,000-acre Headwaters State Forest in southern Transylvania County, protecting one of the largest undeveloped tracts of privately owned land in Western North Carolina.
Over the last three months, in partnership with The Conservation Fund and Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, the Forest Service has acquired 1,319 acres of land offered for sale by former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor in the East Fork headwaters of the French Broad River.
Another 786 acres was purchased by The Conservation Fund in 2010 and will eventually be transferred to the state. That means the N.C. Forest Service and its partners have pieced together 2,105 acres to form the core of a future state forest nearly as big as DuPont State Recreational Forest, yet with its own rough-hewn character.
Like DuPont, the property along the Blue Ridge Escarpment boasts about 25 waterfalls, including Hidden Falls at over 100 feet high. The tract supports 60 miles of high-quality streams, nine rare Appalachian mountain bogs and several uncommon species, including green salamanders, gorge filmy fern and native brook trout.
The 107-mile Foothills Trail traces the southern spine of the property, and there are more than 50 miles of logging roads that will provide recreational access for sportsmen, mountain bikers and hikers. Hunting will be allowed throughout the area, which will remain open to logging as a "Stewardship Forest."
When fully acquired, the tract will complete a "key link" in a chain of conservation lands stretching 100,000 acres across the Carolinas, said Kieran Roe, CMLC's executive director.
Bordering 9,700 acres of Greenville, S.C.'s watershed to the south, the East Fork tract connects the Jocassee Gorges area and adjacent national forest lands to the west with DuPont to the east, via Caesar's Head and Jones Gap State Parks. Such connectivity provides room to roam for recreationalists and migrating animals, Roe said.
Before Headwaters State Forest can open to the public, though, funding must be found to acquire the remaining 5,895 acres and a land management plan must be developed, said Assistant Regional Forester Michael Cheek. That could take three to five years, he said. Until then, it remains closed to public access.
When it does open, Headwaters State Forest will offer visitors a more rugged, backcountry experience than DuPont, Cheek said.
"DuPont is very easy for people to get into and walk around in," he said. "Most of the trails aren't that hard. This property is along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. It has some extremely steep and rugged terrain. The majority of the waterfalls are significantly harder to access. It's not as easily accessible to those key features like you see at places like Hooker Falls."
Cheek said the management model being considered won't provide for large parking lots like DuPont has or miles of newly developed trails. He said there are no current plans to staff the forest either. Rangers will have a number of forest restoration projects to tackle, Cheek said, from thinning white pine plantations to prescribed burning.
A working forest
The East Fork headwaters tract has a long history of timber management, going back to the late 1800s when the Joseph Silverstein family purchased the land to source timber for their lumber mill and tanning operation in nearby Rosman.
When Charles Taylor purchased the tract in the 1980s from Champion Timber Company, the forest was a mix of hardwood and pine trees interlaced by a network of logging roads, said Owen Taylor, Charles Taylor's son.
"We reduced the annual percentage of harvesting, which resulted in more mature stands of timber," Taylor said in an email to the Times-News. "But large sections of the property are not suitable for harvesting and have been untouched for decades, at least."
Charles Taylor approached CMLC about buying the land in 2009, with the goal of keeping the property under "multi-use" management while "preserving the health of the natural systems," his son said. Taylor agreed to sell the property in phased installments over a six-year period, as funding became available.
The Conservation Fund bought the first 786-acre section in December 2010, donating 5 acres to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources so it could eventually build an observation tower on Sassafras Mountain, that state's highest peak.
The N.C. Forest Service's goal is to restore the forest to a more natural condition, Cheek said, thinning out overcrowded white pine stands, introducing short-leaf and pitch pine to areas where they once dominated and using prescribed fire to open up the understory so more sunlight can reach the forest floor, allowing herbaceous plants to grow.
"The majority of the hardwood there is in a medium-age class, where it doesn't need a lot of work," Cheek said. "We just need to let it grow and mature."
Besides managing for the growth of acorn-producing oaks, Cheek said the Forest Service will likely continue to maintain some of the open food plots created by the Headwaters Sportsman's Club, which leased much of the property for hunting deer, turkey and other game.
Cutbacks slow buyout
While the Taylor family has been "very helpful" by allowing a buyout in installments, Roe said "their patience may not be endless." He said acquisition has moved "slower than anyone would like," primarily because of state and federal cutbacks in funding for conservation.
"We are all working toward acquiring the 8,000 acres and putting it into state forest, but it's going to take a lot of work," Roe said. "Part of the big picture is, we really need our state officials to restore conservation funding so projects like this can come to a conclusion."
Funding for the Headwaters State Forest project has come from a hodge-podge of sources: The Conservation Fund, private donors Fred and Alice Stanback, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund and the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
Five years ago, the clean water trust fund was "a recurring budget item funded at $100 million," Roe said. But it was cut to $50 million, then $11 million, and Gov. Pat McCrory's proposed budget gives it just $6 million. The Natural Heritage Trust Fund has been similarly reduced.
"The word we've been hearing is the current conversations in Raleigh may involve consolidating one or more of those trust funds and cutting back on administrative costs," said Roe. "And probably the whole will be considerably less than its parts, in terms of money available for conservation."
Roe said CMLC and its partners are hoping to fund the next phase of East Fork acquisition with funds from the U.S. Forest Service's "Forest Legacy Program," which provides grants to states for purchasing commercial timberlands threatened by development. The program had protected 2.3 million acres as of 2012.
But funding for Forest Legacy fell from $79.5 million in 2010 to $53 million in 2011 and 2012. Due to federal sequestration, only $50.6 million was enacted for the current fiscal year. Roe said the federal process is lengthy, but said CMLC is "optimistic" that funds for the East Fork project will be forthcoming.
Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or email@example.com


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Gaucho wrote:no
MRandall25 wrote:Sorry, there's no way you can convince me it wasn't a **** move by the owners to try to get the players to sign a deal without their legal representation. That's "negotiating in bad faith". It has nothing to do with Fehr "winning". It really has nothing to do with Fehr. It was a PR tactic by the owners to try and strong-arm the players without their legal representation in the room.
interstorm wrote:Sarcastic wrote:The owners balked because they gave in on pretty much everything WHEN COMPARING TO THE FIRST LEAGUE OFFER except for contract length and variance (that they should stick with no matter what) and it still wasn't good enough.
Fixed that for you..
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Rearrange Your Furniture: Save Money and the Earth
We've been doing it since we were kids. We'd rearrange our bedroom on rainy weekends, exhilerated by the new feel of walking into a rearranged room. And we still do it. It's a great way to freshen up a space when you have a hankering for redecorating without spending lots of money, disposing of old furniture, or consuming more. By reorganizing what you already have, your home's layout becomes an adaptive response to shifting needs and lifestyles.
posted originally from: AT:New York
We think this hobby of ours started when our mother would move furniture seasonally. In the winter, the heads of our beds would be placed against interior walls to avoid drafts. In summer, they'd be situated next to windows to take advantage of cool night air. We learned that simply adjusting our existing environment was all that was necessary to satisfy practical needs or fulfill aesthetic desires.
Some links on rearranging furniture:
Sketch a plan of action first with pencil and paper or try this free Arrange-a-Room from Better Homes and Gardens. Even with planning in advance, though, we've found sometime it's most effective and more fun to just try it out.
(photo from the Oprah Winfrey Show)


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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
EEOC NOTICE Number 915.002 Date 5-22-96 1. SUBJECT: Enforcement Guidance: Whether "testers" can file charges and litigate claims of employment discrimination. 1 2. PURPOSE: To set forth the Commission's position that testers and organizations that send testers to respondents may file charges and litigate their claims. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon issuance. 4. EXPIRATION DATE: As an exception to EEOC Order 205.001, Appendix B, Attachment 4, § a(5), this Notice will remain in effect until rescinded or superseded. 5. ORIGINATOR: Title VII/EPA Division, Office of Legal Counsel. 6. INSTRUCTIONS: File after § 605 of Volume II of the Compliance Manual. 7. SUBJECT MATTER: I. Introduction This document reiterates the Commission's view that testers (persons who apply for employment for the purpose of testing for discriminatory hiring practices, but do not intend to accept such employment), and the organizations that send testers to respondents, may challenge any discrimination to which they were subjected while conducting the tests. The document describes the legal developments that have occurred since the issuance of the 1990 document on tester standing and discusses their impact on the issue. The discussion focuses on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., because employment testing to date has focused on race. However, the analysis applies to any basis covered by Title VII as well as to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., which incorporates Title VII procedures and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., whose language is, in relevant part, virtually identical to that of Title VII. 2 II. Definition and Function of "Testers" Testers are individuals who apply for employment which they do not intend to accept, for the sole purpose of uncovering unlawful discriminatory hiring practices. Testers are matched to appear equally qualified with respect to their employment histories, educational backgrounds, references, and other relevant factors. The basis being tested, e.g., race, national origin, disability etc.,3 should be the only significant difference between the testers. Matched testers apply for the same job[s] and their treatment is compared at each stage of the application and selection process. In other words, the comparison is not limited to whether the testers were ultimately offered jobs. It also includes whether, for example, each tester was given the same information about job availability or length of time before a selection decision would be made; whether interviews of the testers were comparable in duration and content; and how far in the hiring process each tester progressed. 4 If the testers are properly matched, unequal treatment of them will evidence discrimination. Several sets of testers may be sent to the same employment provider to establish a pattern of discriminatory treatment and to assure that the different treatment was not an individual "fluke," oversight, or personality conflict. 5 Similarly, testers will make follow-up calls to receive updated information about the status of the vacancy to assure that discrimination is the likely explanation for any different treatment. For example, a phone call could verify that a vacancy continued to exist after a Black applicant was told that the job had been filled. III. "Testers" Have Standing To Enforce Civil Rights Laws A. Individual Testers The Commission concludes that individual testers who were subjected to employment discrimination have standing to seek both monetary and appropriate injunctive relief. This conclusion is based on a considerable body of law addressing tester standing in a variety of contexts, on statutory construction and on sound enforcement policy. 1. Standing Is Broad Under Civil Rights Laws Standing is generally interpreted broadly under employment discrimination laws to achieve the statutory goal of equal employment opportunity. Hackett v. McGuire Bros., Inc., 445 F.2d 442, 3 EPD Par. 8,276 (3d Cir. 1971)("[t]he national public policy reflected . . . in Title VII . . . may not be frustrated by the development of overly technical judicial doctrines of standing or election of remedies"). 6 Cf. McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., 115 S.Ct. 879, 885, 65 EPD Par. 43,368 (1995) (regarding the ADEA: "[t]he disclosure through litigation of incidents or practices which violate national policies respecting nondiscrimination in the work force is itself important, for the occurrence of violations may disclose patterns of noncompliance resulting from a misappreciation of the Act's operation or entrenched resistance to its commands, either of which can be of industry wide significance"). The civil rights movement has a long history of using testers to uncover and illustrate discrimination. In Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967), the Supreme Court held that a group of Black clergymen who were removed from a segregated bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi, had standing to seek redress under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court ruled that plaintiffs had been discriminated against by being ejected from the terminal, despite the fact that the plaintiffs' sole purpose was to test the law rather than to actually use the terminal. Similarly, in Evers v. Dwyer, 358 U.S. 202 (1958), the Supreme Court recognized the standing of a Black plaintiff who sat in the White section of a Memphis bus and was removed from the bus by local authorities. The plaintiff had never before ridden a bus in Memphis and had done so solely for the purpose of testing the legality of the state's segregation laws. Testers have most frequently been used to detect housing discrimination. More than a decade ago, the Supreme Court held that a tester who was given inaccurate or incomplete information with respect to available housing had standing to sue the realtor under Section 804 of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3604 et seq. 7 Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 374 (1982). The Havens Court relied on Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 409 U.S. 205, 209 (1972), in which the Court unanimously concluded that the term "person aggrieved" should be interpreted broadly where: 1) actions brought by private persons are the primary method of obtaining compliance with the statute; 2) the statutory language indicates a congressional intent to construe standing as broadly and inclusively as allowed by Article III of the Constitution; 3) the legislative history of the statute indicates a congressional intent to broadly construe standing; and/or 4) the governmental agency charged with enforcing the statute broadly construes standing. 409 U.S. at 209-211. 8 The Havens Court concluded that, in enacting section 804(d), Congress "conferred on all 'persons' a legal right to truthful information about available housing," regardless of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 455 U.S. at 373.9 Accord Cabrera v. Jakabovitz, 24 F.3d 372 (2d Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 205 (1994); United States v. Balistrieri, 981 F.2d 916 (7th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 114 S. Ct. 58 (1993); Village of Bellwood v. Dwivedi, 895 F.2d 1521 (7th Cir. 1990); Watts v. Boyd Properties, Inc., 758 F.2d 1482, 1485 (11th Cir. 1985); Village of Bellwood v. Gorey & Associates, 664 F. Supp. 320 (N.D. Ill. 1987).10 2. Title VII Language Similar to Housing Discrimination Statutes Significantly, the language relied upon by the courts to find standing under Title VIII is paralleled in Title VII. As the Ninth Circuit observed, the purpose and structure of Titles VII and VIII are "functionally identical." Waters v. Heublein, Inc., 547 F.2d 466, 469, 12 EPD Par. 11,238 (1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915, 14 EPD Par. 7,635 (1977). 11 Like Section 810(a) of Title VIII, which authorizes suit by "person[s] aggrieved,"12 Section 706(b) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C § 2000e- 5(b), authorizes the Commission to accept charges of employment discrimination "filed by or on behalf of a person claiming to be aggrieved." 13 Indeed, the Supreme Court's holding in Trafficante, 409 U.S. 205, 209 (1972), that Title VIII's "person aggrieved" language conferred "standing as broad[] as is permitted by Article III of the Constitution,'" was based on a Title VII case, Hackett, 445 F.2d 442. As the Sixth Circuit observed: "[t]he fact that Trafficante . . . approved the reasoning of this Title VII case further demonstrates that on this issue of standing the Supreme Court does not conceive Titles VII and VIII to be different . . . ." EEOC v. Bailey Co., Inc., 563 F.2d 439, 453, 15 EPD Par. 7,840 (6th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 915, 16 EPD Par. 8,148 (1978). Similarly, the discrimination prohibitions set forth in sections 703 of Title VII and 804 of Title VIII are comparable. 14 Like an applicant for housing, an applicant for employment has a statutory right to be referred and selected without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, even if the applicant does not intend to accept the position. The injury is disparate treatment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, rather than the loss of employment or housing. 3. Employment Testers Are Private Attorneys General Although the issue of employment tester standing has not often been the subject of litigation, standing to function as Title VII testers was recognized as long as twenty-five years ago. Lea v. Cone Mills Corp., 301 F. Supp. 97, 2 EPD Par. 10,052 (M.D.N.C. 1969), aff'd in relevant part, 438 F.2d 86, 3 EPD Par. 8,102 (4th Cir. 1971). The plaintiffs were Black women who were organized to apply for positions with employers who were reputed not to hire Black women. The plaintiffs expected to be rejected and intended to file charges against those who illegally discriminated against them. The court concluded that the plaintiffs' primary motive was to test for discrimination, but did not determine whether any of the plaintiffs would have accepted a position, if offered, at the time that they applied. The court held that the plaintiffs' Title VII rights had been violated, whether or not they intended to accept the jobs,15 because they had not been considered for employment due to their race and sex. 16 The Commission agrees that individual testers have broad standing to challenge discrimination to which they were subjected and disagrees with the limitations on standing expressed in Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington, Inc. v. BMC Marketing Corporation, 28 F.3d 1268 (D.C. Cir. 1994)("FEC"). 17 The court there ruled that the individual Black testers lacked standing to challenge an employment agency's allegedly discriminatory refusal to refer them for jobs on the ground that they could not demonstrate likelihood of future injury. 18 The court distinguished the Supreme Court's holding, in Havens, that housing testers had standing under 42 U.S.C. § 1982 on the ground that, unlike § 1982, damages were not available under Title VII. 19 Of course, since damages are now available under Title VII and the ADA, the court's rationale means that testers seeking damages under those statutes for discriminatory conduct which occurred after November 21, 1991, would not be barred. However, in ruling that individual testers lack standing to obtain injunctive relief unless they allege likely future harm, the FEC court overlooked several important factors. Namely, 1) the statutory language contradicts that interpretation; 2) the individual testers have suffered very real injury and, 3) such construction undermines the fundamental precept that individual plaintiffs serve as private attorneys general. First, on its face, Title VII permits a court to award an injunction based on past discrimination without requiring the plaintiff to make a separate showing of likely future harm. Section 706(g) of Title VII grants authority to impose injunctive relief whenever "the Respondent has intentionally engaged in or is intentionally engaging in an unlawful employment practice," indicating that injunctions are appropriate even where the discrimination occurred in the past. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g) (emphasis added). Though not mandatory, injunctions for prior discrimination can be issued and are particularly appropriate where a pattern or practice of discrimination is proven and the discrimination is likely to continue. Tester evidence by its nature tends to show a pattern or practice of discrimination. 20 Second, plaintiff testers are entitled to relief because they are individual victims of discrimination. Justice White has observed that "any discrimination in employment based upon sexual or racial characteristics aggrieves an employee or an applicant for employment having such characteristics by stigmatization and explicit or implicit application of a badge of inferiority . . . ." Sosna v. Iowa, 419 U.S. 393, 413 n.1 (1975) (dissenting from the Court's holding that a class challenge to a residency requirement could survive even though the issue was moot as to the named plaintiff and distinguishing Title VII). "Congress gave [persons aggrieved by employment discrimination] standing by statute to continue an attack upon such discrimination even though they fail to establish particular injury to themselves in being denied employment unlawfully." Ibid. (emphasis added). Third, to deny injunctive relief to individuals who prove that they were victims of a pattern of discrimination undermines congressional intent to deter discrimination by permitting individuals to function as private attorneys general. See Lea v. Cone Mills, 438 F.2d at 88 (if a "[tester] obtains an injunction, he does so not for himself alone but also as a 'private attorney general,' vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority"), citing Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U.S. 400 (1968); 21 Briscoe v. Fred's Dollar Store, 24 F.3d 1026, 1029 (8th Cir. 1994) (even though the individual plaintiff was denied reinstatement and would not benefit from it, a permanent injunction was imposed because the evidence revealed the employer's "consistent practice" of discrimination against Black employees); EEOC v. Corinth, Inc., 824 F. Supp. 1302, 1312 (N.D. Ill. 1993) (injunction issued because there was evidence of a pattern of discrimination against pregnant employees, even though the named plaintiff was not reinstated and would not benefit from the injunction). 22 B. Organizations Sponsoring Testers An organization that uses testers to identify a pattern or practice of discrimination by employers and employment agencies has standing to file charges on behalf of the testers. Furthermore, an organization that sponsors testers has standing on its own behalf if it can demonstrate a perceptible injury to its activities which is fairly traceable to the alleged illegal action. The D.C. Circuit, for example, held that the Fair Employment Council, which sent testers to the defendant's employment agency (BMC) to test for discriminatory job referrals, had standing to contest the damage to the organization caused by BMC's alleged discrimination. The court ruled that organizations sponsoring testers have a cause of action under Title VII to the extent that alleged discrimination has "perceptibly impaired" the organization's programs. 23 According to the court, the organization must demonstrate that the defendant's conduct caused it "injury in its own right" by draining its resources in order to counteract the unlawful employment practices. 28 F.3d at 1277. The court stated that the FEC's "standing stems from BMC's actions against bona fide employment candidates, not from BMC's actions against the testers," because any drain on the Council's resources flows from BMC's refusal to refer genuine job-seekers for employment. Id. BMC's treatment of the testers provided evidence of a pattern or practice of discrimination by BMC. IV. Remedies As a matter of statutory construction, testers who are subjected to unlawful employment practices may be entitled to compensatory and punitive damages pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 1981a (1994). Compensatory and/or punitive damages have been awarded to testers in housing discrimination cases where the tester demonstrated that s/he suffered humiliation and degradation as a result of the discriminatory treatment and/or that the defendant acted with reckless disregard of federally protected rights. See Saunders v. General Serv. Corp., 659 F. Supp. 1042, 1061 (E.D. Va. 1987)(compensatory damages award of $2,500 to tester was appropriate); Davis v. Mansards, Inc., 597 F. Supp. 334, 347 (N.D. Ind. 1984)(awarding $5,000 and $2,500 to testers for emotional distress caused by discriminatory rejection of housing application). One court has suggested that, because testers are "investigators," they are less likely than the bona fide home or job seeker to feel humiliated by discrimination. United States v. Balistrieri, 981 F.2d 916, 932 (7th Cir. 1992). Nevertheless, the court concluded that the jury was "in the best position to evaluate both the humiliation inherent in the circumstances and the witness's explanation of his injury." Id. at 933. Accordingly, in that case, the court upheld a $2,000 award made to each of the testers. Id. Compensatory and/or punitive damages have also been awarded to the civil rights organizations that sponsored the housing testers. The compensatory damages were based on diversion of the organizations' resources and frustration of their missions. See, e.g., Chicago v. Matchmaker Real Estate Sales Center, Inc., U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4435 (N.D. Ill. April 5, 1991), aff'd in relevant part and rev'd in part, 982 F.2d 1086 (7th Cir. 1992), cert. denied sub nom. Ernst v. Leadership Council, __ U.S. __, 113 S.Ct 2961 (1993); Saunders v. General Serv. Corp., 659 F. Supp. at 1061; Davis v. Mansards, Inc., 597 F. Supp. at 347-48. See also United States v. Balistrieri, 981 F.2d at 933. The rationale applied in those cases applies equally in the employment context. An organization that sends out employment testers may establish eligibility for damages by showing that it diverted resources from other programs in order to identify and counteract the defendant's unlawful employment practices. A state court jury recently awarded compensatory and punitive damages in an EEO tester case brought under the District of Columbia's Human Rights Act. The female testers, sent by the FEC, and a bona fide applicant had encountered sex discrimination upon seeking the services of the defendant employment agency. The jury awarded $79,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to the FEC, its testers, and the bona fide applicant. Fair Employment Council et al. v. Molovinsky, Civil Action No. 91-7202 (Sup. Ct. D.C. Aug. 12, 1993) (discussed at 155 DLR A-15 (Aug. 13, 1993)). See also 1 Merrick T. Rossein, Employment Discrimination Law and Litigation, §§ 15.4(6), 19.8(1) (1990)(discussing availability of damages for testers). Whether it is appropriate to seek compensatory and/or punitive damages during conciliation must be decided case by case. For further guidance on evaluating compensatory and punitive damages, see EEOC Enforcement Guidance: "Compensatory and Punitive Damages Available Under § 102 of the Civil Rights Act of 1991," July 7, 1992. Testers may also be entitled to injunctive relief24 and attorney's fees. Testers are not, however, entitled to reinstatement or back pay because they did not intend to take the jobs. The goal of the federal employment discrimination statutes is to try to put the plaintiff in the same position s/he would have been in absent the discrimination.25 V. Charge Processing A. Charges filed by individual testers 1. Accept charge from the tester(s) aggrieved by the discrimination. 2. At intake, obtain sworn statement from both the aggrieved and the non-aggrieved tester(s) who serve as comparator(s). If the comparator(s) are not present at intake, obtain their names, addresses, and phone numbers and contact them as promptly as possible to obtain sworn statements. The comparator(s) are not charging parties, but are witnesses to the discriminatory conduct. 3. Obtain any contemporaneous notes made by the testers during or immediately after the testing occurred. 4. Determine the scope of the investigation -- Was a specific job or a wider class of jobs tested? 5. Review applications of persons hired and rejected for the relevant jobs and time frame and compare qualifications. This review may result in the identification of actual victims of hiring discrimination. 6. Investigate as you would any disparate treatment case, See CM sections 604.3 through 604.6. 26 7. Carefully evaluate the respondent's articulated explanation for the possibility of pretext, focusing on whether each pair of testers was successfully matched so as to be "similarly situated." For example, if the respondent asserts that Tester A seemed more ambitious and therefore was more impressive in the job interview than Tester B, determine whether an effort was made to match the two testers in terms of their demeanor. Also, look at the interviewer's notes to determine if a notation was made as to Tester A's alleged ambition or Tester B's alleged lack of ambition. Review other applicant's files to determine whether minority applicants were subjected to different standards and whether "ambition" was a determinative standard. 8. Tester evidence typically constitutes evidence of a pattern or practice of discrimination and, as such, should be evaluated for possible systemic processing and a Commissioner's charge or, in an ADEA case, a directed investigation. Analyze statistical data regarding disparities between minority representation in the qualified available labor market and in the job in question. B. Charges filed by organizations 1. If organization seeks to file a charge on its own behalf, determine whether it meets appropriate criteria (i.e., did it use resources to counteract respondent's allegedly unlawful employment practices). If organization seeks to file "on behalf of" the testers, the procedures in 29 C.F.R. § 1601.7 should be followed. 2. Obtain identifying information about both the aggrieved tester(s) and the comparator(s). 3. Inquire whether the organization "debriefed" the testers after the testing situation. Obtain debriefing documents and other evidence held by the organization. 4. Investigate as usual. See A.6 and A.7 above. 5. As noted at A.8 above, evaluate for systemic processing and Commissioner's charge or directed investigation. C. Remedies 1. Injunctive relief should be sought. 2. Attorney's fees are available during conciliation. 3. Because they did not actually intend to take the job, reinstatement or back pay are not appropriate remedies for the testers. 4. For the reason set forth in #3, immediately above, compensation for costs associated with not getting the job also is not available. 5. Other monetary damages for the testers and for the organization may be sought if warranted. Non-pecuniary compensatory and punitive damages may be available. Date: 5-22-96 Approved: Gilbert Casellas Chairman 1. 1 This Enforcement Guidance supersedes Policy Guidance No. 915-062, issued on November 20, 1990, entitled: "Whether 'Testers' have standing to file charges of employment discrimination against employers, employment agencies and/or labor organizations which have discriminated against them because of their race, color, religion or national origin." 2. Compare Section 7(c)(1) of the ADEA with Section 706(b) of Title VII. 3. Since, as noted above, most discrimination testing has focused on race -- and for the sake of editorial convenience -- references in this document will generally be to Black and White testers. Of course, the theories discussed in this document are equally applicable to testers challenging discrimination on the basis of color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. 4. Federal and state governmental agencies are also increasingly using testing as an enforcement technique to detect discrimination in employment, housing, and mortgage lending. For example, the Office of Federal Compliance Programs recently announced that it has begun a pilot tester program. Employment Discrimination Report (BNA) at 142-43 (Feb. 7, 1996). See also Massachusetts Agency Settles Job Tester Cases, 177 Daily Lab. Rep. A-18 (1993) (Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination settled with two clothing stores after testers hired by agency reported that White applicants were informed of hiring opportunities while Black applicants with the same qualifications were told that no positions were available); Justice 'Sting' Finds Housing Discrimination, Wash. Post, June 22, 1993, at A-6 (Department of Justice obtained the largest civil penalty ever in housing discrimination case -- $350,000 -- after undercover testing showed that two apartment complex owners in Detroit refused to rent to Blacks; program has produced five other complaints in Detroit area and testing project will now be expanded to approximately six cities); U.S. to Use Agents to Detect Mortgage Bias, N.Y. Times, May 6, 1993, at D1 (government to use undercover agents to test whether mortgage lenders are illegally discriminating among borrowers). 5. While tester pairs in the housing area need only show that they are qualified to pay for the housing, employment tester pairs have the more complicated assignment of appearing qualified for the particular jobs. 6. See also Murphy v. Derwinski, 990 F.2d 540, 543-44, 61 EPD Par. 42,231 (10th Cir. 1993)(female has right to challenge a gender-based barrier to consideration for employment, even though removing the barrier may not result in her being employed); EEOC v. Mississippi College, 626 F.2d 477, 482, 24 EPD Par. 31,268 (5th Cir. 1980)(White faculty member granted standing to challenge discriminatory hiring practices against Blacks), cert. denied, 453 U.S. 912, 26 EPD Par. 31,901 (1981); Waters v. Heublein, Inc., 547 F.2d 466, 469-70, 12 EPD Par. 11,238 (1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915, 14 EPD Par. 7,635 (1977) (White employee had standing to sue for discriminatory hiring practices which excluded Blacks and Hispanics because it deprived her of interpersonal contacts with persons of other races in her work environment). 7. In relevant part, Section 804 makes it unlawful: (a) To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because or race, color, religion, sex . . . or national origin. (b) To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith because of race, color, religion, sex . . . or national origin. ... (d) To represent to any person because of race, color, religion, sex . . . or national origin that any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale, or rental when such dwelling is in fact so available. 8. The Court also cited Pierson and Evers for the proposition that a person need not have intended to buy or rent in order to have been injured within the meaning of Title VIII. 9. The Court noted that section 804(a) differs from 804(d) in that 804(a) makes it unlawful to refuse to rent or sell after the making of a bona fide offer; it proceeded to find standing under section 804(d) without further discussing 804(a). Neither Title VII, the ADEA nor the ADA requires that the applicant have a bona fide intent to accept an offer of employment. 10. Courts have also concluded that testers have standing to challenge discriminatory housing practices under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1982, which provides that "[a]ll citizens shall have the same right . . . as is enjoyed by white citizens . . . to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property." See, e.g., Watts v. Boyd Properties, Inc., 758 F.2d at 1484-85, and Meyers v. Pennypack Woods Home Ownership Association, 559 F.2d 894, 898 (3d Cir. 1977), overruled on other grounds, Goodman v. Lukens Steel Co., 777 F.2d 113 (3d Cir. 1985), aff'd, 482 U.S. 656 (1987). As with section 804, the fact that the Black testers did not actually intend to rent the apartments in question was deemed irrelevant in determining whether their statutory rights had been violated. Unlike § 804(a) of Title VIII, and like Title VII, Section 1982 contains no language about the need for a bona fide offer as a condition for some challenges. 11. The Ninth Circuit stressed that extending the Title VIII definition of "person aggrieved" to Title VII made "no new law." Waters v. Heublein, Inc., 547 F.2d at 470. 12. At the time of the Trafficante decision, the "person aggrieved" language was defined in Section 810, 42 U.S.C. § 3610. That definition has been recodified at 42 U.S.C. § 3602(i). 13. Note that only the tester who is discriminated against can file the charge as a "person aggrieved." The tester of the opposite class who functions as the comparator is a witness, not a charging party. Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 374-75 (1982); Nur v. Blake Development Corp., 655 F. Supp. 158 (N.D. Ind. 1987). 14. Under Section 703(a) of Title VII, it is unlawful for employers to: fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Similarly, section 703(b) provides that employment agencies may not: refuse to refer . . . or classify individuals on [the prohibited bases]; and, in section 703(c), labor organizations may not: (1) exclude or expel [individuals] from . . . membership on [the prohibited bases]; (2) limit, segregate, or classify its membership, . . . or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive . . . [or limit] employment opportunities, . . . . or otherwise adversely affect [the employment status on the prohibited bases]; or (3) cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section. 15. In fact, some of the non-plaintiff applicants in the original group of testers did accept employment which was offered after the discrimination charges were filed. 16. Cf. NAACP v. City of Clifton, New Jersey, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17512, at *19 - 20 (D. N.J. Dec. 27, 1990) (applicant need not have a genuine interest in a job to establish standing to challenge, as violative of Title VII, a hiring policy that allegedly discriminated on the basis of race) (unpublished). But see Parr v. Woodmen of the World Life Ins. Society, 657 F.Supp. 1022, 43 EPD Par. 37,199 (M.D. Ga. 1987) (plaintiff whose primary purpose in obtaining a pre-application job interview was to create a basis for a Title VII claim, and who did not actually formally apply for a job, failed to establish prima facie case of hiring discrimination; court stated in dicta that, even if plaintiff had formally applied for the job and been rejected, he would not have been harmed because he did not want the job). 17. Of course, testers may file charges with the Commission and the Commission may investigate -- and, if appropriate, litigate -- the claims whether or not the individual testers have standing to litigate. General Telephone Co. of Northwest, Inc. v. EEOC, 446 U.S. 318, 326 (1980)(the EEOC has a statutory mission of eliminating discrimination; "[it] is not merely a proxy for victims of discrimination." See also, EEOC v. Harris Chernin, Inc., 10 F.3d 1286, 1291-92 (7th Cir. 1993)(Commission may pursue an enforcement action for injunctive relief even when no individual could pursue a suit on her own behalf). Accord, EEOC v. United Parcel Service, 860 F.2d 372, 374 (10th Cir. 1988); EEOC v. Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 813 F.2d 23, 25 (5th Cir. 1982). 18. The FEC Court explicitly declined to address defendant's argument that only bona fide job applicants had standing to sue. 19. The alleged discriminatory conduct occurred before the effective date of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Pub. L. No. 102- 166, 105 Stat. 445. 20. The 1991 Title VII amendments further belie the idea that injunctive relief necessarily depends upon proof that the plaintiff will likely suffer future harm. The amendments provide that an employer who takes an adverse action against an employee for both discriminatory and nondiscriminatory reasons is subject to an injunction even when Respondent proves that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the unlawful reason. In other words, the court may enjoin the employer from future discrimination even though the individual plaintiff may have been lawfully terminated and cannot, therefore, be affected by any of Respondent's future actions. Section 706(g)(2)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B). 21. Recently, the Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed the idea that individuals should be encouraged to function as private attorneys general, in holding that after-acquired evidence of the plaintiff's wrongdoing does not bar relief for earlier violations of the Act and stating that "[t]he objectives of [the federal employment discrimination laws] are furthered when even a single [person] establishes that an employer has discriminated against him or her. . . [w]e have rejected the unclean hands defense 'where a private suit serves important public purposes'." McKennon v. Nashville Banner Publishing Co., 115 S.Ct. 879, 885, 65 EPD Par. 43,368 (1995) (citation omitted). 22. Injunctions have also been upheld in "tester" cases under fair housing laws. See, e.g., Cabrera v. Fischler, 814 F. Supp. 269, 281 (E.D.N.Y. 1993) (injunctive relief granted in a fair housing tester case because the defendants will likely engage in future discriminatory activity), aff'd in relevant part, 24 F.3d 372 (2d Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 205 (1994); United States v. Balistrieri, 981 F.2d 916, 932 (7th Cir. 1992) (court upheld an injunction because the defendant had engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination and had not shown that the discriminatory practices had ceased), cert. denied, __ U.S. __, 114 S. Ct. 58 (1993); Davis v. Mansards, 597 F.Supp. 334, 348 (N.D. Ind. 1984) (injunction granted in a fair housing tester case because the "public interest in abolishing racial discrimination dictates that the defendants be held to a continuing high standard of fair dealing"). 23. Similarly, in Havens, 455 U.S. at 378-79, an organization that sent out testers to test defendants' housing practices had standing in its own right under the Fair Housing Act based on its allegation that the defendants' steering practices impaired its ability to provide counseling and referral services for low and moderate income homeseekers. This concrete and demonstrable injury to its activities constituted far more than simply a setback to its abstract social interests. See also Chicago v. Matchmaker Real Estate Sales Center, 982 F.2d 1086, 1095 (7th Cir. 1992)(organization had standing to challenge Fair Housing Act violations uncovered by its testers based on showing that it deflected its time and money from counseling to efforts directed against discrimination), cert. denied sub nom., Ernst v. Leadership Council, __ U.S. __, 113 S.Ct. 2961 (1993). Cf. Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington, Inc. v. BMC Marketing Corporation, 28 F.3d 1268 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (rejecting Seventh Circuit rule that the expense of testing constitutes the requisite injury in fact). 24. But see discussion of the FEC case at pages 8 - 10. For the reasons discussed there, the Commission disagrees with the conclusion of the FEC court that the testers lacked standing to seek an injunction. 25. See Lea, 438 F.2d at 87-88 (upheld lower court's award of injunctive relief and denial of back pay in EEO tester case, and overruled lower court's refusal to award attorney's fees). See also Sledge v. J.P. Stevens & Co., 585 F.2d 625, 641, 18 EPD Par. 8657 (4th Cir. 1978) (reiterating holding in Lea that "test plaintiffs are not eligible for back pay"), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 981 (1979). 26. The Employment Discrimination Testing Manual, developed by the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies, also has useful information on investigating and assessing tester charges.
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Stuff Happens
Flying back from a great clinic in the "Hittin Mitten" I did with Hugh McCutcheon and Gary Sato. Signed all sorts of USAV Logo banners for the kids in our clinic - "Citius, Altius, Fortius," as these are all USAV Jr. Olympic Volleyball players -- hopefuls to be future Olympians....and they need to know those key three words right? Watched the Gold medal hockey match with Lakeshore leadership, and then the closing ceremonies.
These Winter Olympics brought me back to an Olympics I attended over 20 years ago, the 1988 Summer games in Seoul. The USA men went on to win the gold, while the USA women needed to win in three and not let Peru get 33 points (or about that) in the Peru hopeful loss. Peru got about 11 in the first game loss, and about the same in the next loss, so when Peru got to their 33rd point, and mathematically eliminated the USA team from advancing....they celebrated. The USA just needed about 5 more points than Peru to advance, points scored over the whole period of pool play, but fell short. Peru went on to the Silver medal, and the USA women took 7th as I recall.
So a couple of days later, I went to watch the semifinals for the women. The top four in the world now at that point, and one match in particular really impacted me. Russia was to play China in this first Olympic semifinal. Now, China had been the #1 team in the world almost all that decade, winning the gold in the major FIVB event of the year in 1981, 82, 83....Olympic Gold in 1984 over our USA women and led by Lang Ping who 25 years later would be coaching that USA team in China of all places, and beyond...they had dominated Russia, and most other nations, over those years. The event was played in the evening, televised live to both nations who were on the same basic time zone, so billions watched. What was the score of this match in a rivalry that really goes by thousands of years, predating even the Great Wall? Did it go 3, 4, 5? ....most coaches guess it went five, with China winning 15-10 in the 5th. Randomness in sport is the why we play the game. On any given Sunday, they say an NFL team can beat another. USA wins over Russia in Ice hockey in the Miracle on Ice in 1980. Canada defeats the USA in Ice hockey, both men and women, in their own Miracle on ice in 2010. In volleyball, this same randomness of sport hits home as Russia defeated China in 3, 15-0, 15-9, 15-2. That is ZERO and TWO in an OLYMPIC semifinal coaches. Stuff happens. Randomness is certain to happen, and will surprise you at times - both positively (for Russia) and negatively (for China).
I so often hear from coaches the following "explanations..." for their own USAV Jr. Olympic Volleyball teams play....Do you think that...
1. "We just did not practice hard enough..." - Well the Chinese may practice more than anyone in the world....
2. "We just did not care enough..." This was being televised to a billion countrymen live, as they played to defend their gold medal.
3. "We just were not ready for this level" - They had over half a returning Olympic Gold medalists squad.
4. "We s@#k..." ? - Yeah the best team in the decade clearly deserves that title.
5. "We just did not get enough rest..." - The village was not the quietest place by the near end of an Olympics, as most competitors are done and beginning their unwinding phase, but all the volleyball teams were still in it - playing for places, Russia included, and the Chinese are some of the most skilled nappers and catnappers I have seen.
Nope. Stuff happens. When it does, stop chewing out your kids for what is the randomness of sport. Be their biggest supporter - not their biggest critic - and teach them to love and embrace the chaos and funny bounces of the game.
I reflect on the times I drove in my Region Eight while developing my game, to my "local" tournaments - which were over 12 hours away -- as back then my RVA was 6 states. I would leave work at 5pm, drive my VW Squareback alone to the gym, and on arrival sleep in the back, on an angle for maybe 1 hour. Then I would unfold, get up and play all day in the Men's Open tourney. Sometimes I would be play great, and sometimes I would not. Or we would stay out and celebrate to 3 am on the overnight of a 2 day tournament and Sunday morning sometimes we would play great and sometimes not. The game is random. It is OK, in my humble opinion, that your athletes might stay up and be kids, talking about life and learning from each other well beyond the VB court. They should be in their room, and know that they need to get enough rest, as it is not about overtraining, it is about getting enough rest. Just remember, we chose a random game....and randomness occurs, and they will not play poorly just because they shared life lessons with their roommates.
I have been to many USAV Qualifiers and watched teams play with a coach who have taken CAP from me, and proudly watched the coach win game one 25-0. Then watched that coach's team in the second game lose 0-25. I know I see it more at 13s and 12s, than older, but it happens at all levels. That same year of 1988, I was in the stands watching the NCAA Final Four for women. Texas lost to Stanford in the first game....15-0. NCAA Final Four level....15-0. If you go to look at the big qualifiers where lots of matches are played, you will see these 0-25 games and cousins 1-25 etc. happening on a nice bell curve. Our game is random, and when bad stuff and streaks occurs is just as random.
You can win 25-0, 25-0 and lose 23-25-23-25 13-15, so that you score 115 to their 62, and yet lose the match. The randomness of our game, and helping kids be comfortable with playing one point at a time is an important lesson and skill to teach, part of the mental side of the game we need to teach better. The outcome of a volleyball game is out of one player's control. What is in your athelte's control is simply this point, then this point... something we can do something about, as we develop that right now, right here focus.
The recent blog on Cumulative effect has elicited some fun email discussions, and one from grassroots member Michelle Goodall noting the concept of "212 degrees" was a good reminding example that sometimes it is just one little degree that matters. In this concept, the story to share with your athletes is that at 211 degrees, water is simply hot and does not much else, but at 212, the power of a steam engine and the water is huge. Just one degree, just one tenth of a second, just one more repetition in practice...
We must win by two, but in the end, every point matters. The USA men beat Cuba 15-13 in the fifth to qualify for 2004, which built the team for 2008 gold. Had that win not happened...I don't think you would have seen our success in Beijing, for we went on to play in the medal round in Athens that year, and built from that team, our gold medal success. Cuba in 2004 on the other hand, by just two points, failed to go for yet another quad - not unlike our teams in the 1970s - where in 1972 and 1976 and 1980, the USA teams failed to qualify, not being able to get past...Cuba...(except in 1980, with Cuba already World qualified, the USA women got in thru NORCECA win, only to have the USA Government boycott those Olympics...what a waste...). So just TWO points meant 4th in 2004 and several times in the 2008 Olympics for the men, we won by the minimum two points....as every point matters, amidst all this random play...
This randomness is seen in sport with the crashes at the gate, after four years of training. The 1-2-3 finish of the short track Korean athletes, clipping one another and whammo, it is Korea and the USA in silver and bronze...random weather makes for delays allowing healing, or reruns less successful than hoped...the Dutch Coach looking at his clipboard and then looking back up, signaling his gold medal bound, on a record setting course skater into the wrong lane and disqualification.... these Vancouver games again showed why we PLAY sport - and don't just let the experts, or fans, tell us who is the best - all the while knowing that if these Olympics were re-run, the results would be very different no doubt. The best book on understanding this is The Drunkards Walk - a physicist term for what happens randomly with molecules released in a room - how the movement and everything else, even though following the laws of physics, remains completely random.
In closing, though stuff happens, you do need to teach the kids the incredible value and importance of mindful learning, and deliberate practice, and of not making excuses. How real teams better the ball rather than blame teammates, and how all communication, both verbally and non-verbally, needs to be feedforward and about things to improve and help one another. They say excuses are like bellybuttons, everybody has one....but just in case your players need a chance to discuss the wasted time making them, download my handy dandy "Excuse List" by CLICKING HERE.
Let us know how else we can grow the game together.


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Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts is offering Puzzlers: a Junior Badge Workshop on Thursday, May 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Camp Virginia in Bolton.
Event description: Mazes, crosswords, math tricks and magic -- all of these involve working with puzzles. Test your brain power by solving or creating these unique puzzles. Registration price includes badge.
The event is for Junior and Juliette level Scouts in grades 4, 5, & 6.
The badge program takes place at Camp Virginia, in Bolton.
The cost is $9 per Scout. Leaders and adult chaperones are free.
To register, visit the GSEM Web site at http://www.girlscoutseasternmass.org/programs/search.html?id=446


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If you're actually trying to get some work done on your tablet or phone, instead of just consuming media, then you most likely need a keyboard. It's either that, or switch out your tablet for a MacBook Air or netbook. The Rapoo E6300 Ultra-Thin Bluetooth Keyboard is quite thin and compact.
Read more @ Technabob


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"Married and common-law couples often share similar attitudes, behavior and levels of education. Our study revealed that this tendency can exacerbate social inequality related to health," explains Sara Marie Nilsen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. She has examined the significance of differences in education and how this relates to the individual's subjective perception of his or her own health in general, and of anxiety and depression in particular, among the nearly 19,000 Norwegian couples who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag health study (HUNT). HUNT is a very large longitudinal population health study carried out in Norway.
"Our findings show that spouses and partners often have a similar perception of their health status. Sharing the same level of education may be a factor behind this correlation. The highly educated are often healthier than people with lower levels of education," states Nilsen. However, her thesis also indicates that the individual's health is directly affected by the education of the partner. For example, individuals with a lower level of education will feel healthier if they live together with someone with a higher education. "It is also turns out that partners with different levels of education share a fairly similar perception of their health," Nilsen explains.
Social inequality is one of the four thematic priority areas of FOLKEHELSE, a research program on public health at the Research Council of Norway. Research activities take as their point of departure the fact that the higher our social status, the better our health, and vice-versa. Factors such as income, occupation and education play a pivotal role in whether a person will develop cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic illness or the like.
Nilsen has chosen education as a measure of socio-economic standing since educational background forms the basis for an individual's work life and subsequent level of income, and is also the key to social status. Her findings indicate that the higher a couple's combined status, the healthier each of them will be. The opposite also holds true; the lower their combined status, the poorer their individual health.
Two out of three Norwegians live together in relationships. It can be difficult to explain social inequality in health, especially for women, without taking into consideration the impact partners have on each other. Social position can also affect children's health. Previously, health research has primarily focused on individual risk. Examining partners and spouses as a unit is a relatively new approach in this context. "Health researchers would benefit from focusing more attention on the social contexts we live in, as couples, families and households. This is precisely where the majority of us spend most of our time," Nilsen points out.
"Social inequalities in health have been, and remain, a sensitive topic. Researchers are apprehensive about amplifying the feeling of failure among those who are struggling to begin with," says Steinar Westin. "But it does not help to stick your head in the sand. We have to learn more about how these factors really play out in order to be able to address our problems and subsequently do something about it," he believes.
MEDICA.de; Source: The Research Council of Norway


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Diversity and Inclusion
Vendor Diversity and Inclusion
We strive to provide a full spectrum of businesses with the opportunity to compete on a fair and equal basis for our business and, ideally, to expand and grow while working with us. Having a diverse and inclusive supply chain is a social and economic imperative and we look for vendors that share this commitment.
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To do this, we encourage the use of qualified businesses where opportunities exist, promote strategic partnerships and engage a number of external stakeholders in support of our efforts.
We continue to make progress expanding the global reach of our vendor diversity and inclusion efforts. Our program began in North America in 2000, expanded to Europe in 2005 and then to Asia Pacific in 2009. We currently have diversity and inclusion definitions for over 20 countries where we operate, which include the following categories, where applicable:
- Ethnic Minority Owned
- Indigenous Owned
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Owned
- Locally Owned or Locally Owned and Small and Medium Enterprise
- Disability Owned
- Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business
- Social Enterprise Business
- Small and Medium Enterprise or Small Business
- Supported Business
- Veteran Owned Small Business
- Women Owned
When constructing our global headquarters in New York, more than $300 million was awarded to women and minority-owned businesses - making it the most successful project in the history of New York State's Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise program upon completion. Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), a New York nonprofit that works with unions to bring women into higher-paying jobs in construction trades, recognized Goldman Sachs with its Equity Leadership award for its diversity efforts in the construction of our headquarters building. This is just one example of our commitment to vendor diversity and inclusion.
As a firm, we take our reputation for excellence seriously and seek to align with business partners who share our commitment to quality. In selecting our vendors, we consider businesses that can supply us with the most cost-effective, reliable products and services. Prospective vendors are evaluated on several criteria, including:
- Quality of their products and services
- Customer service
- Pricing
- Ability to assist us in meeting our business goals
- Environmental, Social and Governance commitments
If the ownership structure, scale or nature of your business (and/or one of the companies you subcontract to) meets one or more of your country's national, state or local standards as defined above and you are interested in becoming a Goldman Sachs vendor, please complete the prospective vendor form and return it via e-mail to email@example.com. Your submission must include a current copy of your relevant certification by a recognized agency and/or self-certification documentation. Note that submission of the form is for informational purposes and internal use only. It is not a guarantee of business and does not ensure "Approved" vendor status.
Message from Our Chairman
Goldman Sachs has a passion for achieving results – for our clients, our employees and the communities where we work around the globe. We understand that one way to improve our results is to capitalize on the broad range of experience, skill and perspective that people from different backgrounds possess.
Through our Vendor Diversity Program, Goldman Sachs seeks to cultivate relationships with diverse businesses that share our commitment to achieving excellent results. Vendor diversity not only increases competition and the potential for economic savings, but also provides a means to build the economic foundation of the communities in which we operate around the world. Through the unique expertise of diverse businesses, Goldman Sachs benefits from innovative ideas, a broader customer base and better service for our clients. Our goal is for the firm to have access to the highest quality products and services at the best possible price. We look forward to the prospect of working with you.
Lloyd C. Blankfein
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Is there a registration process for participating in Goldman Sachs' Vendor Diversity Program? What is the procedure for registering my company?
Yes—complete the attached prospective diverse vendor form and email to mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com. Note that submission of the form is for informational purposes and internal use only. It is not a guarantee of business and does not ensure "Approved" vendor status.
Does my company have to be certified as a diverse business to participate in the Goldman Sachs Vendor Diversity Program?
Goldman Sachs requires diverse business certification from a national, state or locally-recognized third party certification agency. In countries where third party certification does not exist, self-certification documentation is acceptable, but remains subject to review and approval by Goldman Sachs.
What happens after I submit a diverse vendor profile to the Goldman Sachs Vendor Diversity Program? Will someone contact me?
You will be contacted at Goldman Sachs' discretion upon review of your prospective diverse vendor form. Inquiries providing products/services not currently sought will be maintained for future consideration.


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Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker Misuses DMCA To Take Down Video Of Reporter Asking Him Tough Questions
from the copyright-as-censorship dept
Fox is free to argue that the clip misrepresented him, misquoted him or otherwise was unfair or questionable, if he believes that's the case. He can argue that he didn't give good answers and would like to answer the questions more fully. But what he should not be able to do is to issue a totally bogus copyright claim on the video which is clearly fair use, and where he's obviously not using copyright law as intended, but as a way to silence a critic of his.


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A blog by one of the volunteer reviewers for Geocaching.com. It's about geocaching and the review process -- what it takes to get your new caches listed on the world's most popular geocaching web site. ©Copyright 2012 by K.Braband. All rights reserved
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A gift from the Frog
I recently received an unexpected gift from Groundspeak, the company that owns and runs geocaching.com. It's a glass award to mark my five years of being a volunteer reviewer for their web site. During those 5+ years I have published close to 6,000 geocaches, which comes to approximately 100 per month. I don't know how many others I have reviewed but not approved, but I'm guessing it would be an additional 10 percent to 25 percent. Sometimes you encounter people who just seem to have a grudge against me, geocaching.com and the world in general. But by far it's been an enjoyable "job" and it's been great to meet and/or talk to so many interesting geocachers.
6 comments:
- paintergal said...
Congratulations, Ken! A well deserved honor for all of your efforts.
- 12:25 PM, September 29, 2008
- schnider said...
Yeah we all decided to chip in to get you something. We each threw in a little cache here and a little cache there. :-)
- 10:00 PM, September 30, 2008
- Tom said...
Cool award! I'm proud to have been a part of both the 6,000 approved and the 10-25% not approved:) You do good work!
- 7:54 PM, October 02, 2008
- Parabola said...
That's a neat award Ken. You've earned it. What's that about a "grudge"? lol If you think about that or take some time to look it up, it will come to ya.
Keep up the great work!!!
- 12:23 AM, November 05, 2008
- IowaAdmin said...
Ha! No, I wasn't referring to your cache called The Grudge.
- 8:44 AM, November 05, 2008
- welch said...
I'll donate the tag if you want to make that thingy a travel bug. ;)
- 10:55 PM, January 03, 2009