text:
Friday, March 20, 2009
Boo-Yah! Will Never be the Same
"What it feels like to us, and I'm speaking purely as a laymen, it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure…"
—Jon Stewart to Jim Cramer, March 12, 2009
Thus Jon Stewart drove a stake in the heart of what many serious investors refer to as "BubbleVision", when he dismantled "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer—and, by inference, CNBC—piece by piece during last week's now-famous Daily Show interview.
So famous, in fact, that NBC Chief Jeff Zucker felt compelled this week to dismiss Stewart's interview as "absurd" and "completely out of line."
But it is far from absurd and anything but out of line. We think it's about time somebody called CNBC out for the mindless cheerleader it has become.
Still, if you haven't seen the interview for yourself, spend the twenty minutes to watch the replay, and see what you think.
We think it's an eye-opener.
For one thing, Stewart demonstrates that, when he is not making yuks with his peers in the entertainment world who use the show to flog forgettable movies and even worse TV shows, he can be the best interviewer on television, bar none.
In less than half the air time of one "Mad Money", Stewart picks apart Cramer's show through the kind of logical, well thought-out, relentlessly piercing, hypocrisy-baring interview that "Sixty Minutes" is famous for but hasn't conducted since Nixon was in the White House.
For another thing, it is Cramer, and not some lesser CNBC light, getting drilled here. You'd think he'd do better.
After all, Cramer actually ran a hedge fund and made money for his investors before getting into the entertainment side of the financial world. Furthermore, he wrote what we have long considered one of the best financial books ever written—certainly the best look at what it's like to actually be on the inside of a hedge fund ("Confessions of a Street Addict.")
If anybody could handle a Jon Stewart, you'd think it would be a Jim Cramer. Yet he barely says a complete sentence, let alone makes a coherent point, during the entire interview.
In fact, far from landing a punch, Cramer says 'no mas' in a figurative sense by offering—and we are not making this up—to change his style completely.
Now, to be fair, Stewart seems to have actually prepared for the interview. He knows where he's going, right from the start.
Not so Cramer, who strides onto the Daily Show set fresh off a Martha Stewart pie-making segment, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up and a smile on his face, and a game-plan that seems no deeper than to a) appear contrite, b) speak softly, and c) smile a lot. None of which come naturally to the man, as long time viewers know.
"Big fan of the show," Cramer tells Stewart at the start, after taking his seat at the Daily Show desk. "But who doesn't say that?"
"A lot of people, actually," Stewart shoots back, under his breath, getting a laugh while simultaneously putting himself firmly in the driver's seat, Alpha-Male-wise.
Stewart then ingeniously sets up his guest by leaning towards Cramer and offering what sounds like an apology: "This was not directed at you per se," Stewart says, of the relentlessly scathing portrayals of Cramer on his previous shows. "I just wanna let you know that."
No, and D-Day was not directed at Hitler, per se.
Cramer, however, takes the bait: he smiles, shrugs, and lets his defenses down. This will be his first mistake, his second mistake, and his third, too, for it allows Stewart to then lay out the central premise of what he perceives to be CNBC's main problem, without any rebuttal from Cramer.
The problem with CNBC, Stewart says, is "The gap between what CNBC advertises itself and what it is."
To make his point he shows an "In Cramer We Trust" promotional clip for Mad Money, with an authoritative, God-like voice intoning:
"When you don't know what to do, don't panic. You've got Cramer at your back."
"Look," Stewart says, letting the farcical nature of that statement sink in to Stewart's audience and Cramer as well—after all, most of Cramer's boo-yah types probably lost as much of their 401ks as everyone else in America—"We're both snake oil salesmen to a certain extent, but we do label the show here as 'snake oil,'…isn't there a problem selling snake oil as vitamin tonic?"
"We all should have seen it more," Cramer says contritely. "I don't think anyone should be spared in this environment." He concludes with a shrug. "We've made some mistakes…we've got 17 hours of live TV to do— "
"Maybe you could cut down on that," Stewart says quietly, stopping Cramer in his tracks and bringing down the house.
The Lightening Round this is not.
With Cramer momentarily speechless, Stewart moves in for the kill, calling up clips of Cramer's infamous 2006 Street.com interview in which Cramer discusses, in very plain language, how to manipulate markets:
"You know a lot of times when I was short," Cramer says on the video, "I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures, it doesn't take much money…."
"What does that mean?" Stewart asks when the clip ends.
Cramer, shoulders hunched, tight smile on his face, says, "Okay, this is a hyperbolic example…I didn't do this, I'm trying to explain this—"
Steward interrupts: "It sounded like you did do that."
"Well I was inarticulate," Cramer responds, inarticulately. "I barely traded the futures."
Stewart says nothing to Cramer, but quickly calls for the next video clip from that same interview. It shows Cramer putting on his most egomaniacal face and sniffing to the interviewer,
"I would encourage anyone who's in the hedge fund business to do it because it is legal, and it is a very quick way to make money, and very satisfying. By the way, no one else in the world would admit this, but I could care."
Stewart lets the arrogance sink in, then says, "I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer."
And he's still not even halfway through the interview.
What else could Cramer have done, you might ask?
Well, for starters he could have pointed out that the show is called "Mad Money" and not "How to Secure Your Financial Situation for Life."
He could have pointed out that the show grew out of a radio program in which small investors called in questions; that he began to get a tremendous response from investors who wanted to take more control of their finances; and things took off from there.
He could have pointed out that his show was simply feeding a market that already existed, not forcing something down people's throats.
He could have pointed out that the whole idea of a TV show called "Mad Money" was exactly that: a fun way to help investors make some "Mad Money" in stocks. Not to uncover fraud at Fannie Mae or AIG or Lehman Brothers.
He could have pointed out that, being an ex-hedge fund guy, he was helping educate his viewers as to what actually makes stocks move, what to look for when trying to evaluate companies in different industries, and how to do their own homework on those companies.
Cramer could have said right up front that he never pretended to be Suze Orman or Ralph Nader, for that matter: that he simply tried to make the stock market understandable and maybe even fun, before he and his bull-market pals got blind-sided by the worst stock market since 1937.
But he did not. Cramer never had a plan.
Besides, Stewart's larger criticism of CNBC is right on target, and hard to rebut:
"You talk about the regulators, why not the financial news networks?" Stewart says, summing up his main beef. "That's the whole point of this. CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination for people that [sic] believe that there are two markets—one that has been sold to us as long term, put your money in 401ks…then there's this other market, this real market…and it hurts that long term market. … What it feels like to us, and I'm speaking purely as a laymen, it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure… It is a game you know is going on, but that you go on television as a financial network and pretend isn't happening."
Stewart is right: CNBC could be a powerful tool of illumination, rather than a testosterone-charged reflection of The Market itself.
And Cramer, who lately seems hell-bent on blaming the financial crisis on a laughably delusional 'conspiracy' among naked short-sellers, which simply does not exist, rather than five solid years of really really really bad lending practices by AIG, Countrywide Credit, Citigroup, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill, Lehman, Wachovia, and, oh, yes, GE, which happens to be the parent company of CNBC, has no response to it.
Instead, he simply gives in.
"How about if I try it?" Cramer blurts out, half way through the interview.
Stewart looks taken aback momentarily, while his guest, a man who normally dismisses his critics by ripping heads off of plastic bears and punching the cry-baby button, offers to throw out the manic-depressive Mad Money Playbook and adopt the Jon Stewart Illumination Model.
"I'll try it. I'll try it," Cramer insists.
Boo-yah! will never be the same.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice. It should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Nor are these comments meant to be a solicitation of business in any way: such inquiries will not be responded to. This content is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
18 comments:
- Namazu said...
So who will hold Jon Stewart to account? Both he and Cramer wrap their acts in disclaimers which their audiences ignore and which they clearly don't believe. At their best, both are capable of piercing through the noise better than any of their peers. Using the Daily Show as a primary news source is as foolish as trading on Cramer's mood swings, but it seems many people do--because despite themselves, Stewart and Cramer obviously believe their own bs. Is a comedy show some kind of invisible cloaking device? Or in a couple of years, will people ask (for instance) why the Stewart wasn't sharper during the Presidential campaign?
- Anonymous said...
The other points to mention would be Rick Santelli's attack on the "losers" who are being foreclosed and then his cancelled appearance on Stewart's show. The articles in the NYTimes, comments by Press Secretary, and the President about CNBC.
The hard part is that the criticism is completely valid. There has been no, zero, zip, nada defense of the network by its executives or an explanation of their actions. I would have thought a good start would have been to eliminate Mad Money from their lineup.
The network has decided to be part of the problem, rather than a part of the solution for the current environment.
I am watching very little of the network as compared to the pre-election period. Only when individuals act will there be change.
- Anonymous said...
It was nice to finally see someone in the (not-so-mainstream) media take Cramer to task for his failings. If you'd like to see more details of Cramer being taken to the woodshed, search "Don Harrold" on YouTube. This guy has been taking Cramer to task for the past 2 years for his flip-flopping, badly missed calls, and outright deception. It's worth the time to review the vids.
- reeb said...
And when Stewart asked who is CNBC beholden to, and whether it was to the big Wall St. types or to the common investor, I felt Cramer should have come clean and said they not beholden to either. Instead as a television network they are beholden to getting as large a rating as they can that gets to most advertising dollars so they can earn the most money for their shareholders. And to do this, if it required them to tell the public what they think they wanted to hear, they would unfortunately do it.
- Anonymous said...
"I would encourage anyone who's in the hedge fund business to do it because it is legal, and it is a very quick way to make money, and very satisfying. By the way, no one else in the world would admit this, but I could care...Stewart lets the arrogance sink in, then says, "I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer."
First of all, Cramer hates the SEC because they are incompetent and don't have the backs of cramer's viewers (individual investors). Read any of his columns about the incompetence of chris cox and you will immediately understand this. the SEC clearly caters to large hedge funds and ib's (madoff? pequot? lehman?). Cramer talked about manipulation, not because he thinks its right, rather, he wanted to make the SEC sound like dummies or at least incense them enough to prove cramer wrong...he made it sound like the people who are supposed to be regulating this stuff, obviously aren't doing their jobs b/c its easy. his urging of the hedge funds to do this was an even more pointed shot at finra/sec, as he explicitly laid out a manipulation scheme...hoping that they would actually investigate these types of funds. they, obviously, never did, and therefore cramers brilliant point (that the sec has been an enabler in helping hedgies screw individual) was proven true. But the point was lost on stewart and every other non-rigorous, couch-potato/blogger.
- Jeff Matthews said...
Anonymous is caught up in the Boo-yah! But we'll give Anonymous his due:
Please lay out the "manipulation scheme," naming names so that the authorities can get to work.
Then explain why most hedge funds lost money last year, if they were in on the "scheme."
Finally, please identify how much money is managed in long-only funds, versus short-only funds.
- sugam said...
I agree to all you say.. wud say there is one part that I think stewart has it wrong... he thinks it was leverage and leverage only that killed the system.. i think it was leverage and lack of accountability.. on the part of the CEO's of the firm, rating agencies and very importantly the home owners who were massively leveraged themselves. These are the guys who brought everyone to this mess and now they want to point finger at the Wall Street alone. Agreed that wall street try to make fast money and loaded up on risk but they are not the only ones responsible for this mess... why are the homeowners being let free.. why should they retain the houses they bought with savers money ass their own?? I would definitely like to know the counter argument to that.. Why should we the savers give the leverage homeowners houses for free? Should they not earn it ?
- Anonymous said...
"Please lay out the "manipulation scheme," naming names so that the authorities can get to work."
People have been naming names for years! but apparently, they are falling on deaf ears.
Maybe you're assuming that since the SEC hasn't come up with anything that that means it doesn't actually occur and is just a bunch of make-believe. If thats the case, i've got a bridge i want to sell to you.
The SEC should be doing everything in its power to engender confidence in the markets. They are failing miserably (lehman, madoff, pequot, stanford)
"Then explain why most hedge funds lost money last year, if they were in on the "scheme.""
Who cares if they made or lost money? The point is, there is plenty of intent to distort markets, which is devastating to confidence. If a bank robber tries to rob a bank with no money in the vault, its still a crime. and if it happens enough, people stop using that bank or banks all together.
"please identify how much money is managed in long-only funds, versus short-only funds."
irrelvant. any type of fund can distort markets. short, long, hybrid, you name it. the point is, i have no faith that anybody is doing anything concerted enough to let the markets function normally.
- Jeff Matthews said...
As we expectred, Anonymous has failed to name a single name. Not one.
Thus goes the conspiracy theory...
- Astaxanthin said...
Just because anonymous doesn't provide evidence of a specific name who manipulates the market doesn't logically mean such distortions don't exist.
Although I tend to agree with Jeff for the most part. There are so many huge arb desks, traders, and hedge funds that any one participant is likely to have no effect on the market for any lasting period, unless they use CNBC (cough cough cramer) to disseminate false rumors. Market oddities might be able to turn a profit once or twice for a firm before some other player recognizes something fishy and blows up the manipulative practice for the original crook.
I am a believer that Pimco bullies favorable policies after they are positioned to profit handsomely from 'em though. whatever Pimco is taking a large position is will likely get favorable government action since Pimco can hold large segments of the bond market hostage.
While I thoroughly enjoyed Stewart slaughtering Cramer into Jimmy Dean sausage, I couldn't imagine that Stewart has ever really watched an episode.
The original video montage that kicked off the controversy primarily aimed at Rick Santelli as well who tends to be the token voice of rationality and sophistication on CNBC.
- Anonymous said...
Congrats on a solid post! You are one of the few who got to the heart of this matter: Why did Cramer go on the show in the first place, and why did he fail so miserably to rebut Stewart?
My jaw dropped when Cramer agreed, right at the start, that Santelli's rant was a criticism of those who are losing their homes.
Cramer should have responded that Santelli was not cruelly pursuing those people, but was instead addressing an issue called "moral hazard" and the real point of the rant was to be quite effective in criticizing an Obama policy, and by the way when is the last time that the NBC Nightly News (or for that matter the Daily Show) actually did that?
Had Cramer been on his game, he could have effectively rebutted every single thing that Stewart said during that interview. (Here's an idea: It would be so easy to go through the Stewart/Cramer video and create sound rebuttals to every point that Stewart made, and splice them into the original video.)
But in the end, going on the show was a fool's errand. Stewart has the ability to pick through a million hours of CNBC air time in order to pull out a few choice clips.
In the end, I think Stewart achieved the greater goal, which was to discredit, and perhaps even silence, critics of the administration.
At the very start of the Santelli controversy, the White House plan, clearly stated, was to establish itself as the sole source of sound policy, and to paint anything coming out of CNBC as not credible.
- Anonymous said...
Hi Jeff! Great post, as usual. Just a couple of quick points:
A) I'd argue that Charlie Rose is ten times the interviewer Jon Stewart is, but Stewart is pretty good at exposing the hyprocrisy of certain guests in a snarky sort of way.
B) One of Cramer's trite and hackneyed phrases is, "There's always a bull market somewhere." If Cramer really wanted to do his viewers a favor, he'd point out where the bull market is right now so investors can get to work making back some of the money they've lost over the past year and a half.
C) There really is no defending Cramer, as he is nothing more than a clown without the outlandish costumes or the bulbous red nose. I feel he's a charlatan who proclaims (screams) his expertise in financial matters, when his results have shown nothing of the sort for his viewers.
That's just my two cents...
- MattJ said...
I have been a housing bear since about 2005; I have been fearing the economic collapse we are in since about the same time. Since then, I have watched a lot of CNBC, and read the WSJ, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, as well as a lot of financial blogs. Of the mainstream media sources I use, the only source that exposed me to more contrarian/bearish viewpoints than CNBC was Bloomberg. Could CNBC have been better? Absolutely. I never watched Cramer's show, or any of the primetime shows other than Kudlow, so I can't make any claims about the value of those shows; but I have to say I believe that CNBC is taking more criticism over their behavior the last few years than they deserve. Where were the major media? How did WSJ, WP, and NYT so completely miss what was happening? I'd say the utter failure of the newspaper industry to report on this story before it happened is a big part of its imminent demise. The economic blogs have completely wiped the floor with them, and made them irrelevant.
- Sorry for the rant said...
It's funny that CNBC, during the crash last year and since, has changed from "Bubblevision" to putting on shows asking "Is your money safe." It seems that all CNBC tends to do is to help psychologically compound the current trend in the market, in recent cases being panic.
While I think your post is a good one, I wonder if going after the cartoonish CNBC is really worth Stewart's time. While it is easy and popular to blame CNBC, or hedge funds, or the banks for the current crisis (and they clearly should share some of the blame), perhaps someone should focus the media's efforts on the incompetence of politicians and bureaucrats, past and present. Someone should question the irony of frauds like Christopher Dodd and bubble-blowers Barney Frank going after these AIG guys. Someone (in the mass media) should expose Greenspan for his role in this and the Fed for using the same solution now as it did in 2002 that got us into this. Someone should expose the fact that the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" is an unsustainable ponzy scheme that appears similar to the fraud committed by Madoff, in that we're either going to borrow or print our way into spending on failed social programs for which we'll have nothing to show for. When these idiot politicans grandstand and go after bankers and companies they shouldn't be bailing out in the first place, perhaps someone should question the messenger. Yet the media just reports what is being said and preys that this status quo, kick the can down the road attitude, is somehow the right thing to do.
- Stick Hansup said...
I'm amazed to see so many defenders of Cramer here (or anywhere). When I watch CNBC I do it with the same mindset that Jon Stewart is coming from. CNBC is a useful tool (and Cramer is certainly a useful tool) for finding out what perceptions/memes that the financial establish is trying to put out there. CNBC has value only if you see it for what it really is. Cramer exists for several reasons: fools demand his "expertise", markets require the liquidity generated by fools, Goldman needs a go-to guy in the media, and he serves as a conduit for memes that various insiders want pushed.
- BlackLab said...
Some of the greatest businesses the world has ever known were born during times of crisis and despair.
Of course, that's because those entrepreneurs were envisioning and planning for the future, not wasting time placing blame in the present.
There is no forward progress here.
- antlord said...
Cramer should have hedld Stewart accountable for the 22.5hrs of completely unfunny programming that airs on Comedy Central.
- Anonymous said...
what Less said:
What should the investor's mindset be if he insists on watching CNBC?
Less Antman: The same as when he watches a porn channel: watch for pleasure and not enlightenment


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No. 13 Oklahoma State is getting ready for the postseason a week early.
With a road game at Iowa State on Wednesday night and then a home game against No. 9 Kansas State on Saturday, coach Travis Ford says this is probably the most difficult week of the season for the Cowboys (22-6, 12-4 Big 12).
The Cyclones (19-10, 9-7) have lost only one of their 16 games at Hilton Coliseum this season, and that one featured a controversial finish that resulted in the Big 12 later issuing a statement that officials made mistakes. Kansas State (24-5, 13-3) is just ahead of Oklahoma State in the standings.
Ford says the week will be a good preparation for the NCAA tournament, since both opponents are likely to make the field.
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The real voyage of discovery rests not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
-Marcel Proust
I met Marie on a long cross-country flight. She was returning to her home in California after a business trip. We spoke about oceans and beaches, and I told her how much I was looking forward to a few days of long walks by the sea. After a heavy sigh she said, "I've lived near the beach for the past year and I haven't been able to take one walk." Although she didn't know I was a physician, she continued to speak with some intensity "I've had asthma for two years, and now it is so severe that I have to stay indoors as much as possible." She continued, "I'm too young to stop doing all the things I love to do." As I listened, I wondered whether physicians have a subtle way of attracting those who are ill, or whether it was my smile of encouragement that invited her disclosures. Either way, I put my work aside to listen.
In the past two years she had seen numerous physicians, had undergone complete allergy testing, and had taken the usual prescribed medicines. Despite these efforts her symptoms were getting worse. "It's the pollen," she said. "I know it's the pollen." She continued with this thought in a rather persistent way even though I pointed out to her that she had lived in the same area for many years without any previous problem with asthma. I took another tack, asking "Was there something that happened in your life before the asthma began?" A bit set back by what seemed to be an irrelevant question, she responded, "No, nothing."
Because I have heard so many similar stories, I pressed on with some ambivalence (after all I was taking an airplane flight, not conducting an office visit). "Think carefully," I told her, then asked again, "Did anything unusual happen in your fife?" After a pause she spoke. "Well, now that I think about it my mother died around the time I got my first attack."
What happened?" I asked. She responded, "I've never been close to my mother, but on the day she died she had complained of some chest pain. She had similar pains many times before, but I told her I would come over. She insisted that it wasn't necessary, but I knew I should have gone. She died that night, and I feel guilty."
Noticing her sadness, I asked, "What have you done about the guilt, and sadness, and anger?" "What do you mean?" she answered. "Well," I asked, "when did the asthma start?" "About a month later," she responded, not making the connection between the events in her life and her disease.
As we talked it became clear. Marie had come to believe that disease generally has a single cause, one that is usually outside of ourselves. In her case it was pollen. A single cause calls for a magic bullet, which for us means drugs. And even though all her efforts at such treatment had failed to heal her asthma, she persisted in using that treatment.
Through their experience, physicians learn that there is a time to join an individual compassionately in his or her pain and suffering, and a time to confront. With only an hour left on the flight I realized that I would have to take the path of confrontation. I let her know that I was a doctor, and stated my view as
clearly as possible. "Disease is not caused by one external agent," I said, "nor is it ever isolated to one part of ourselves. Disease results from the combination of many issues that lead to a disunity in our mind and body. Disease is a disorder of our whole being. Your asthma," I stated, "can be fully healed."
I went on to say that healing would require her to understand the full web of circumstances, inner and outer, that resulted in the disunity of mind and body that she called asthma. I told her that she could learn about and apply her own built-in capacities for healing, moving from her present partial approach to healing to one of Whole Healing. I also assured her that if she chose to engage her disease in this way then she would walk on the beaches again. She listened intently, yet skeptically, and asked me where to begin. I told her that I would find someone in her area who could help her with the first steps toward Whole Healing. Within a few days I called her to fulfill my promise.
For Marie, the problem was a severely limited understanding of her disease and her own healing capacities. For others who are exploring for the first time the rich diversity of healing approaches that are now increasingly available, the problem is very different. Consider the following.
Several months ago I received a telephone call from Ann, a thirty-two-year-old woman in considerable emotional distress. Although we had never met before, her story came quickly as she sought my advice and assistance. Four months previously she had been diagnosed with a localized, surgically curable; cancer of the cervix. For the next month she reflected on her options and then decided to forgo surgery. Instead, she traveled to a Mexican clinic to try an alternative therapy. After three weeks of that therapy she was advised to return home and undergo the previously recommended surgery. She did so. At the time of surgery the surgeon explored the cancer and found that it had progressed. What had been an easily curable cancer had now advanced. Four months before, this woman could anticipate many more years. Her potential now for a
long and full life were dramatically changed. In her call to me she was struggling to make sense of the situation.
In Marie's situation the problem was a lack of information. In Ann's circumstance there were newly discovered alternative practices, a burgeoning number of options for healing, and plenty of information, but no way to sort through them and organize them for her benefit. These two people are typical of many people who seek medical help. Most do not have an understanding of their capacity for healing themselves, and even if they do, they have a lot of information but no effective way to use it. So the absence of information is only part of the problem. How to use information, particularly when it is plentiful, is the second part of the problem.
Ironically, we are living in a time when we are no longer dependent on a single health-care system and its particular perspectives. We are now discovering multiple unrelated health-care systems such as Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and homeopathy; each has its own logic, approach, and treatment options, each is rapidly expanding our information and capacities for healing. Yet this sudden embarrassment of riches has resulted in a fragmented approach to healing. Some people are unaware of these new opportunities, and others who are aware make decisions based on pieces of information, pieces that too often are taken out of context and can therefore be more misleading than helpful. The problem is simply this: At a time when our world is changing and our possibilities are expanding, we have not yet developed a way to find the best and most direct route to health and healing.
This problem has developed in part because we are living at a time when old structures and ways of thinking are coming apart and new ideas are being formulated. This shift in our way of thinking can be most dramatically seen in the reshaping of our ideas about health and healing. We are changing from a mechanical view of the mind and body, one that examines and repairs one cog, one spring, and one flywheel at a time, to one that is dynamic and holistic. This shift has given rise to confusion and, at times, false hopes, but it has also given rise to a fundamentally new set of opportunities. Yet with all the changes that are occurring, several clear facts emerge:
A new vision of healing cannot be found through any one healing practice or a combination of them. Nor can it be found by shifting our focus from the body to the mind, or from one practitioner to another. Healing does not evolve from the proper functioning of pieces and parts, from the exclusive influence of either the mind or body, or from one system of belief or another. It emerges from our entire experience, which gives us access to all the possibilities for both inner and outer healing. The task becomes a process of exploring and bringing into our lives a fundamentally new and comprehensive approach to healing, an approach that I call Whole Healing.
Solving the Problem
As we move along the path toward Whole Healing, here is what we need: first, an understanding of the Whole-Healing process and a new vision of what it means to be healthy; second, the capacity to choose intelligently among the extensive menu of practices and approaches-conventional, alternative, mind/body, and spiritual; and third, an understanding of how these approaches work together. These three essential elements of a complete healing program were the missing ingredients in Marie's and Ann's quests for healing.
To facilitate these steps we need a way to consolidate the current array of healing practices into a coherent process, one that serves our needs rather than adding conflict and confusion. We must answer these questions: How do we expand our knowledge and understanding of our full healing capacities? How do we create order and coherence out of diversity? How do we bring together what appear to be separate aspects of healing into a natural whole that can serve our day-to-day health concerns while promoting long-term health? These are the questions that Marie and Ann, unknowingly, were beginning to ask for each of us. Their dilemmas reflected the larger concerns that we are all now confronting. The answers to these questions will force us to break through the limitations of a partial and inadequate approach to healing.
I'd like to propose a model that achieves that consolidation by considering the full range of healing already available to us, the four distinct healing systems that we can identify as part of our personal experience. Each of these systems has its own frame of reference, operating principles, characteristics, practitioners, practices, and research methodologies. I call the four systems Homeostasis, Treatment, Mind/Body, and Spiritual. At any one time, most of us are using one or two of these systems. That is what we are taught and what we are accustomed to. Used individually, these systems are limited and partial approaches to healing. Taken together, they form a Whole Healing System with a flexibility, adaptability, and comprehensiveness that cannot be accounted for by the mere sum of the individual components.
The figure below illustrates the natural nesting of the four individual systems to form a single whole. In the pages that follow we will examine each of the systems separately, but it is important to remember that in life they always operate as a unity, as one system. Living systems do not exist as parts; it is only our capacity for abstraction that makes it seem this way. And although the chapters in this book on the individual healing systems can each stand alone as descriptions of separate and distinct healing paths, human life, as we know it, is dependent on the presence and interaction of all of these four systems.
The Whole Healing System is composed of four separate and unique healing systems. Each system builds upon the other systems by adding new capacities and resources. In our lives, the entire system works as one, providing us with a remarkable capacity for self-healing.


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Hello everyone!
I just began making a post about an issue I've been dealing with, and it started to run very long, so I figured I would move part to this section.
I am 20 years old and have been an atheist in one way or another for as long as I can remember. I have always been a bit ahead of my age bracket and as a child that manifested as being very analytic and thoughtful; more so than other children my age. I thank that for my becoming an atheist despite an extremely excessive catholic upbringing.
I can remember sitting outside one day when I was around five. I had recently been told some lesson regarding the rapture and with a child-like simplicity was thinking that their god wouldn't make sense because no decent being would end the world when some of the people living on it were only babies and hadn't had a chance to live, and since there would always be babies around, there couldn't be a rapture and therefore couldn't be a god. Obviously since then my understanding and belief system has matured and progressed further than "god can't exist because no decent being would hurt babies!"
It took me awhile to gain the confidence and strength I needed to really stand up against what my family pushed on me and really be able to say I was an atheist and be strong in that, but I feel that those beliefs were always there and I can't remember a time when I really bought into it; aside from saying and doing things as a young child to appease my parents, which I am sure everyone can relate to. We our all our parents children, as adults we are responsible for our own thoughts and beliefs; as children, the beliefs of our parents have a much heavier weight. We say and do things without really understanding their meaning outside of "my mom or dad told me this."
I grew up in an extremely catholic household. It can be difficult to explain to people just how religious they are because it is catholicism to an insane degree. I was told from a young age that religion was more important than me, religion always took priority. Most people grew up with tons of family photos around their house, I grew up with tons of religious photos, maybe one photo of myself. As the years continued, my parents became more and more cloistered within their religion to the point that the minute secular activities they used to engage in dissappeared little by little until they became completely engulfed in religion and completely unable to think or reason for themselves. They are so entrenched in their beliefs that they won't even give to charity organizaitons that are secular (including a child and orphan sponsorship charity that I have been a part of since I was quite young).
It's always a battle dealing with my family and I try as hard as I can to keep the peace. My upbringing was not only extremely religious, it was emotionally and verbally abusive. And yet, any issues that I had, any time I was upset or sad, the blame always fell to my shoulders. When they discovered I was gay and had told someome that I was afraid my parents would throw me out of the house; instead of being upset and concerned that their child was afraid of that and wanting to make things right and ensure I knew that wasn't the case, they got angry at me for slandering them and making up lies. That has always been their way, I confront them with their own bad behavior and I am the one lying, making up stories.
It got to the point where distance is just better. I left for college and have hardly been back since. I have a relationship with them but it is a relationship much better from a distance. I tried for along time to be rational and reasonable with them, but they refuse. It's gotten to a point where all that is being accomplished is my high stress level and bad back problems that a 20 year old should not have! At this point, I basically switched to autopilot. I will talk to them, be as mature, calm, and reasonable as I can, but I will not go out of my way to try to get them to understand things they are too far in denial to understand. Relationships work two ways, nothing gets done if only one person is making the effort. I would love to talk to others who have been through similar situations and see how others are handing them.
Apologies for the length of this post, I guess I got off on a tangent there. I originally was going to post this in Introductions but it seems to be mostly family related!
Views: 157
It sounds like you are doing all that you can. They are too invested in their own beliefs to love their son no matter what.. it is their loss. I grew up in a cultish backwoods baptist household that was abusive verbally and physically as well, and I left and didn't look back. There is no handling the situation other than what you are doing. I recently moved back onto my dads property, and let me tell you, it has not been easy. I had to threaten to move again to get him to get off my back about religion. Make the best of your own life through your own beliefs, and leave them to wallow in theirs.
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This boot is made to represent the year that Lucchese was founded. The entire line of 1883 boots are built with all leather components, including full leather heel counters. Lucchese took an ordinary western boot and transformed it into a fashion statement with unique toes and materials. The boots have cushioned insoles, and are full welt construction. This Classic Mad Dog Skin vamp with a matching 12" shaft looks great with a skirt or jeans. Check out the ladies 5 toe, a small define square toe adds a certain look that turns heads! Be the modern urban cowboy, wear 1883 boots! Made in the USA.


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A La Grange resident is entering the race for the U.S. congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Geoff Davis.
Brian Oerther, a conservative Republican who teaches math for Jefferson County Public Schools, is the third candidate for the position.
Republicans are filing for the election after Davis, a four-term Republican congressman, announced Dec. 15 he will not run again in 2012 for the 4th Congressional district. Davis said he wants to devote more time to his family.
A father of three, Oerther said he is active in local political parties and keeps up with state and federal legislation.
He describes himself as an "everyday, hard-working man" who is able to relate to those he would represent.
"I will fight to bring jobs to Kentucky and our district to help reduce the current unemployment rates," he said.
Oerther said he would work to repeal current legislation threatening Kentucky coal companies while introducing legislation to decrease energy costs and lead to energy independence.
He said increasing the profitability and sustainability of family-owned farms is another important issue, as is tackling insider trading.
"My election will send Washington the message we are no longer willing to sit back while they line their pockets at our expense," Oerther said.
Oerther previously ran for La Grange mayor in 2010.
Oerther and his wife, Mary, have three children. He is a member of Immaculate Conception Church and head soccer coach for South Oldham Middle School.
Two other Republicans are officially in the race, State Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington, Ft. Wright, and Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore.
Other potential candidates include Florence-based attorney K. Lance Lucas, Lewis County Judge-Executive Thomas Massie, state Senate Pro Tem Katie Katz Stine and Campbell County Judge-Executive Steve Pendery.
The deadline to file for candidacy is Jan. 31.
Oldham County is the westernmost part of the 4th District, which follows the Ohio River to Ashland and includes 24 counties. The largest population concentration is in the Northern Kentucky region of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.
However, a redistricting plan in the state house could add part of eastern Jefferson County to the 4th Congressional District. House Speaker Greg Stumbo expects to have a plan passed by the house this week, although adjustments to the map are still being considered.
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Looks great! Guts' head seems a bit small relative to his body though in some of those shots.
But why make 2 variants! Don't make me buy both!!
Actually this is one statue with multiple switch outs so it can be displayed in a variety of ways. You will notice the base can be changed up as well. Puck is placed in different locations. Also there will be a third head that hasn't been shown yet.
Price range will be around $750 I guess.
$750 would put AOW to shame, but I'm guessing it'll be around the $1000 mark.
Pic for scale lol. Is it just me, or does Guts' head look the right size in this pic?


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Heather Stoddart necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 55 diseños de 18 diseñadores freelance.
Ontario Centres of Excellence (design is for our Healthy Workplace program)
OCE is an independent, not-for-profit corporation. OCE's mandate is to foster collaboration between academic researchers and industry partners, provide guidance, and offer support through financial investment. We have three main programs: Collaborative Research; Talent Development; and Commercialization.
We take ideas to income. Created in response to Ontario's most critical competitive challenges, we facilitate economic growth through support for industrially relevant research and development, the opening of new market opportunities and the commercialization of leading edge discovery. We build strong industry and academic relationships. And, we stimulate knowledge transfer through the development of bright minds, moving their skills to the market.
This brief is to create a logo for an internal staff program called Healthy Workplace. The OCE logo is and will remain our corporate logo.
Our diverse staff are the target audience for this logo. It will be used to help brand the Healthy Workplace initiative which is primarily designed to help effect cultural change as well as improve employee wellness and health & safety.
There will be little external branding using this logo, our OCE logo is and will remain our corporate logo.
All our staff are based in Ontario, Canada.
We are looking for a creative and engaging logo that will be part of the healthy workplace branding at our organization and that will appeal to our staff.
Our healthy workplace focuses on primarily on cultural change, with wellness and health & safety components.
Key criteria:
- consists of an image and tag line which may also be used independently of one another for internal marketing
- no more than two colours but preferably one, must be able to print in black & white without losing meaning
- image must be well defined and clear, it will be printed on materials in a small font and mustn't lose visual integrity
- representative of healthy workplace
- does not have to conform to OCE logo brand standards
Please visit http://www.oce-ontario.org to learn more about our organization and http://www.nqi.ca to learn more about healthy workplace.
No apples please.
We will provide feedback and look forward to your ideas.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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By Megan Badger
Messenger Post
Since 2008, the Child Advocacy Center of the Finger Lakes has played an important role in identifying and preventing child abuse. Now, with a recently awarded state grant, the center will also work to review child fatalities in�Ontario County.
New York state awarded the CAC with $48,145 to create a Child Fatality Review Team to research and prevent child deaths. The team will consist of representatives from 14 county agencies, including local schools and hospitals, law enforcement agencies, domestic violence agencies, Ontario County Public Health, Child Protective Services and the county�s district attorney office.
Assistant District Attorney Jim Ritts, who has been involved with the CAC as chairperson of the advisory committee, will represent his office on the new review team.
�It�s pretty neat. We�re excited to get the grant,� he said. �We (the CAC) largely acted as review team anyway, but now we�re charged with reviewing every child fatality, with the idea being to help families immediately and help the community generally with awareness.�
The review team will work to prevent deaths in children by educating the community about everything from bike helmets to child safety seats, Ritts said.
�All agencies involved are very committed to this work and to this team and to providing the best services,� said CAC Project Director Jennifer Brownell. �We felt we were doing very solid work on abuse cases and the next step was to look at child fatalities.�
In Ontario County, the mortality rate for infants is higher than for children, with most of those deaths resulting from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Brownell said.
�In Ontario County we don�t have a lot of child fatalities,� Brownell said. �But whenever there is any kind of fatality, we want to prevent that from happening in the future.�
For children ages 1 to 17, the mortality rate is five in 100,000, according to statistics provided by the CAC. Statistics show there were four total infant deaths in the county in 2012, bringing the overall mortality rate for children ages 0 to 17 to less than 1 percent.
A large role of the Child Fatality Review Team will be community outreach and education. Part of this effort will be having a full-time family outreach coordinator on staff to carry out community campaigns and serve as a family advocate. Brownell said the goal of the review team is not to point fingers, but to bring people together to reduce those numbers and protect children in Ontario County.
The team will offer training to organizations on how to spot early signs of child abuse. The target group for training will be child protective services, law enforcement officers and mental health professionals.
�We don�t want to duplicate services,� Brownell said. �There are already tremendous services in this county. Our goal is to coordinate what is already happening and to be able to expand and enhance on that.�
Coordination is also a daily responsibility of the CAC, which brings together all the agencies and people involved in a child abuse case to streamline the process.
In 2012, the CAC received New York state accreditation and national accreditation through the National Children�s Alliance. Operating under the Partnership for Ontario County, the CAC does everything from on-site forensic interviews to medical evaluations.
�Any professional who would be involved in child abuse cases � both physical and sexual � we coordinate,� Brownell explained.
In the past, agencies acted independently on child abuse cases, making the process for the child longer and more difficult as the victim had to repeat his or her story multiple times for different people. Now, almost everything that�s part of the case can take place at the center, which Brownell says is designed to be a kid-friendly environment.
�Our goal is to reduce the trauma,� she said. �This is a means of having a team that all works together to reduce the trauma for the child and provide a better, more succinct investigation.�
To report abuse or to learn more about the Child Advocacy Center, visit www.cacfingerlakes.org or call the toll-free New York Hotline at 1-800-342-3720.


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After 22 years, Poland retires from Crow's Nest
At his favorite occupation, bartender Bob Poland, who retired after 22 years in the tavern at the Crows Nest Marina and Restaurant at South Jetty, stands with his wife Josetta, who is the hostess at Norma Jeans Bar & Grill on the Venice Bypass.
When you visit the Crow's Nest Marina Tavern in Venice, there will be one familiar face missing. Bob Poland retired recently following 22 years serving at the bar.
"I could not have survived without doing this particular job serving people," he said. "It was my therapy after coming back from those crazy wars, and over the years, all these people I met became family."


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Mouse acceleration
There are several ways of setting mouse acceleration:
- By editing xorg configuration files
- The xorg-server-utils package provides two programs that can be used to change those settings from a shell or a script:
- xset
- xinput
- Many desktop environments provide a configuration GUI for mouse settings. They should be easy to find and use.
Setting mouse acceleration
In Xorg configuration
man xorg.conf for details.
Section "InputClass" Identifier "My Mouse" MatchIsPointer "yes" # set the following to 1 1 0 respectively to disable acceleration. Option "AccelerationNumerator" "2" Option "AccelerationDenominator" "1" Option "AccelerationThreshold" "4" EndSection
Section "InputClass" Identifier "My Mouse" MatchIsPointer "yes" # some curved deceleration # Option "AdaptiveDeceleration" "2" # linear deceleration (mouse speed reduction) Option "ConstantDeceleration" "2" EndSection
You can also assign settings to specific hardware by using "MatchProduct", "MatchVendor" and other matches inside class sections.
Using xset
To get the current values, use:
$ xset q | grep -A 1 Pointer
To set new values, type:
$ xset m acceleration threshold
where acceleration defines how many times faster the cursor will move than the default speed. threshold is the velocity required for acceleration to become effective, usually measured in device units per 10ms. acceleration can be a fraction, so if you want to slow down the mouse you can use 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ... if you want to make it faster you can use 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, ...
Threshold defines the point at which acceleration should occur in pixels per 10 ms. If threshold is zero, e.g. if you use:
$ xset m 3/2 0
as suggested in the man page, then acceleration is treated as "the exponent of a more natural and continuous formula."
To get the default settings back:
$ xset m default
For more info see
man xset.
To make it permanent, edit xorg configuration (see above) or add commands to xprofile. The latter won't affect speed in a display manager.
Using xinput
First, get a list of devices plugged in (ignore any virtual pointers):
$ xinput list
Take note of the ID. You may also use the full name in commands if the ID is prone to changing.
Get a list of available properties and their current values available for modification with
$ xinput list-props 9
9 is the ID of the device you wish to use. Or
$ xinput list-props mouse brand
where mouse brand is the name of your mouse given by
$ xinput list
Example, changing the property of
Constant Deceleration to 2:
$ xinput list-props 9
Device 'mouse brand': Device Enabled (121): 1 Device Accel Profile (240): 0 Device Accel Constant Deceleration (241): 1.000000 Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (243): 1.000000 Device Accel Velocity Scaling (244): 10.000000
$ xinput --set-prop 'mouse brand' 'Device Accel Constant Deceleration' 2
To make it permanent, edit xorg configuration (see above) or add commands to xprofile. The latter won't affect speed in a Display Manager.
Configuration example
You may need to resort to using more than one method to achieve your desired mouse settings. Here's what I did to configure a generic optical mouse: First, slow down the default movement speed 3 times so that it's more precise.
$ xinput --set-prop 9 'Device Accel Constant Deceleration' 3 &
Then, enable acceleration and make it 3 times faster after moving past 6 units.
$ xset mouse 3 6 &
If you are satisfied of the results, store the preceding commands in
Disabling mouse acceleration
Mouse acceleration has changed dramatically in recent X server versions; using
xset to disable acceleration doesn't work as it used to and is not recommended anymore.
Recent changes on
PointerAcceleration can be read here.
To completely disable any sort of acceleration/deceleration, create the following file:
Section "InputClass" Identifier "My Mouse" MatchIsPointer "yes" Option "AccelerationProfile" "-1" Option "AccelerationScheme" "none" EndSection
and restart X.


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Everybody loves them because not only are they sturdier, but also because they can be so pretty to look at. I love to explore my hardcovers when I get them home. I love staring at the cover art, the typography, and feeling all of the textures. To me, that is the true definition of book porn. Cause at the end of the day, it's not just about what's written on the pages (though that is important), but it is also about the tactile experience. Holding, caressing, and yes, sniffing that new book you're planning to read are all vital parts of falling in love with your hardcover. There are some books in which the design goes beyond the dust jacket cover art.
Have you ever taken a moment to strip off that dust jacket to see what that precious hardcover book looks like in the buff? I ALWAYS do. Sometimes, I even find some surprises when my books are stripped down, thus increasing my book love. Those are the books that impress me, and keep me drooling, all while emptying my bank account (as I "make it rain" dolla bills on those books). Because of some ingenious book design, I wanted to create a feature on the blog to spotlight some books whose design goes beyond the dust jacket.
I wish to share my unadulterated book lust with you.
I promise to be gentle.
Sit back, and enjoy the novel strip-tease…
SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo!
That's no shadow–those are black-stained pages.
That's right.
Pages. That. Are. Stained. Black.
(You'll see more of them below.)
Also, Leigh has a video on her Instagram page showing you all the angles:
Was it as good for you as it was for me?
Drop me a line and let me know your thoughts! Are there any books you own that look good in the nude?
I'd love to hear about it!
Latest posts by Stephanie (see all)
- [Steph's Review]: The Rose by Tiffany Reisz - January 27, 2019
- Steph's Review: Catching Caden by Samantha Christie - January 15, 2019
- Steph's Review: Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren - September 8, 2018


text: Archie Crisp is a character in the port of Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961. Along with his brother Albert Crisp, they provide the character with odd jobs. The Crisp brothers are feuding with London's most elite crime lords Harold Cartwright and Jack Parkinson. Archie is considered the muscle of the operation. Archie remains silent throughout the game unlike his brother Albert.


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In: International Journal of Dream Research, 3 (2010), Nr. 1. pp. 91-94
- URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-108674
- URL: http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/10867
- ["eprint_fieldopt_id_scheme_ojs" not defined]: 584
Empirical studies largely support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. For example, it has been shown in past research that sport students dream more often about sports than psychology students do, presumably reflecting their engagement in sport activities and sport theory. The present study tested the hypothesis whether frequency of sport dreams is related to the amount of time spent on waking sport activities for elite athletes. As expected, the amount of time spent with sport activity was directly related to the frequency of sport dreams. Secondly, the amount of competitions was also related. The findings also indicated that other factors such as emotional involvement associated with competitions might be of importance in explaining the relationship between waking activities and dream events. Future studies using longitudinal designs will shed more light on this relationship and will help derive a more precise formulation of the continuity hypothesis.
|Item Type:
|Journal or Publication Title:
|International Journal of Dream Research
|Date Deposited:
|21 Jul 2010 10:55
|Page Range:
|pp. 91-94
|Faculties / Institutes:
|The Faculty of Behavioural and Cultural Studies > Institut für Sport und Sportwissenschaft
|300 Social sciences
|Uncontrolled Keywords:
|dream content; continuity hypothesis; sport activities; athletes; competitions


text: Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums :: View topic - Mathematical English System Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Mathematical English System Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> TOEFL and Other English Exams View previous topic :: View next topic Do you like the way english is taught in schools in your country? yes. 0% [ 0 ] no. 0% [ 0 ] some yes, but mostly no. 0% [ 0 ] Total Votes : 0 Author Message ramblinghunJoined: 05 Jul 2010Posts: 4Location: seoul Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:50 pm Post subject: Mathematical English System while in korea i managed to solve the whole english mistery for the people here by creating a teaching system that teaches the language by the principles of math. it is , in most part, the opposite of what all the other non-system teaching methods do in the classroom. with this i make an averagely intelligent korean speak in 4 months and converse in 5 within the limits of his/her vocabulary. i have never seen any method in korea that can show such a result, and i know why. if you want to know more about this, ask me your questions. if you want to know why you are not getting the desired result in your learning, tell me how you are learning it and i will point out what you are doing wrong. i have learned 5 languages in my life and you probably will benefit from my advice. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums Forum Index -> TOEFL and Other English Exams All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Student Forums----------------ComputersCurrent NewsCultureEnglish SchoolsFamilyFilm and CinemaFoodHealth and FitnessHelp CenterHobbiesHolidaysLearning EnglishLiteratureMaking FriendsMusicOpinionsPetsScienceSportsThe Strange and MysteriousTOEFL and Other English ExamsTravel You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Dave's ESL Cafe is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Banner Advertising | Bookstore / Alta Books | FAQs | Articles | Interview with Dave Copyright © 2018 Dave's ESL Cafe | All Rights Reserved | Contact Dave's ESL Cafe | Site Map Teachers College, Columbia University: Train to Teach English Here or Abroad Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group


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At the Net: Usual suspects parade into French quarters
Philadelphia, PA – If you were looking for any major surprises through the first four rounds of the French Open, then you're going to be very disappointed.
On the men's side, the "Big Three" (which is the "Big Four" minus Andy Murray, who decided to skip the year's second major) all safely landed in the quarterfinals in Paris, while the "Big Three" on the women's side -- 2002 champion Serena Williams, reigning titlist Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka -- also secured berths in the round of eight at Stade Roland Garros.
Last year's men's runner-up Novak Djokovic, 2009 winner Roger Federer and reigning three-time champ and record seven-time titlist Rafael Nadal all appear headed to the final four at the world's lone clay-court major.
The Australian Open champion, Djokovic, and Nadal could only meet in the semifinals in a rematch of the 2012 French finale, which Rafa won in four sets. And if the two greats do square off in the semis, the swashbuckling Swiss legend and reigning Wimbledon champ Federer could await the winner in the title tilt.
Note: Federer has lost to Nadal no less than four times in French Open finals.
For the ladies, it could be shaping up as a Serena-Maria final unless Azarenka can spoil that potential matchup with a hypothetical victory over Sharapova in the semis.
Note: Sharapova is attempting to become the first women's repeat winner in Paris since Justine Henin won three straight titles from 2005-07.
My guess is that Federer and Nadal, who turned 27 on Monday, will do battle in the men's final, again, while the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open queen Serena appears on her way to the women's championship match, where it's currently a toss-up right now between Sharapova and the reigning two-time Aussie champ Azarenka for the other spot.
The biggest upset on the men's side to this point came when fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych lost in the first round. But the big Czech did give way to oft-injured former top-10 star and heavy French favorite Gael Monfils in that one. So, a big upset it really was not.
In the women's draw, some big upsets came when former French Open champ and 2013 Aussie Open runner-up Li Na was stunned by fashion-challenged American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round and seventh-seeded former Wimbledon champ and 2012 Roland Garros semifinalist Petra Kvitova succumbed to another American, Jamie Hampton, in the third.
On the outside looking in right now at a French title among the men are fourth seed David Ferrer, sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, ninth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka, resurgent, 35-year-old, 12th-seeded German Tommy Haas and 32nd- seeded veteran Spaniard Tommy Robredo, while on the women's side, potential championship candidates outside the "Big Three" are fourth seed Aga Radwanska, fifth-seeded, 2012 runner-up Sara Errani, 12th-seeded Russian glamour girl Maria Kirilenko, 18th-seeded, three-time semifinalist Jelena Jankovic and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who was also a French runner-up in 2006.
Note: The last time the men's French Open champ wasn't named Nadal or Federer was back in 2004 (Gaston Gaudio).
Rain was one of the big winners last week (Week 1), as inclement weather affected the schedule through the first two rounds of play. The schedule, however, righted itself before the first full weekend of action, and just tennis, fortunately, has been the order of the day since then.


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Zen Master Seung Sahn (1927–2004) was the first teacher to bring Korean Zen Buddhism to America, having already established temples in Japan and Hong Kong. In 1972 he came to the United States and started what became the Providence Zen Center, the first center in what is now the Kwan Um School of Zen, which now includes more than eighty centers and groups worldwide. His students called him Dae Soen Sa Nim, "Great Honored Zen Teacher," and he was the 78th Zen master in his line of dharma transmission in the Chogye order of Korean Buddhism. His books include The Compass of Zen, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha, Only Don't Know, and The Whole World Is a Single Flower: 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life.
4 Item(s)
Korean Zen: A Reader's Guide


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Auditions go well for Vogelsong, Giants in win
SAN FRANCISCO -- A trio of Giants auditioning for spots on the 2014 Opening Day roster distinguished themselves in Friday night's 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Ryan Vogelsong ended his winless streak at five games, surrendering two runs in six innings. Opponents were batting .372 off Vogelsong with runners in scoring position entering the game. But the Padres were just 1-for-5 off him in those situations.View Full Game Coverage
SAN FRANCISCO -- A trio of Giants auditioning for spots on the 2014 Opening Day roster distinguished themselves in Friday night's 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Ryan Vogelsong ended his winless streak at five games, surrendering two runs in six innings. Opponents were batting .372 off Vogelsong with runners in scoring position entering the game. But the Padres were just 1-for-5 off him in those situations.View Full Game Coverage
Juan Perez, who fits the profile of a backup outfielder, displayed versatility by hitting his first Major League home run during a 3-for-4 effort, assisting on a third-inning putout and making a diving catch of Jesus Guzman's sixth-inning line drive.
Tony Abreu, the utility infielder who has missed much of the season with left knee problems, kept compensating for lost time by going 3-for-5, raising his batting average for his past nine games to .387 (12-for-31).
The most compelling member of the group, though, was Vogelsong, largely because he has more at stake. The Giants must decide whether to pick up the $6.5 million option on his 2014 contract or pay him a $300,000 buyout. Declining the option and signing Vogelsong to a revised deal is another possibility.
"I'm going to go home and wait and see what happens," said Vogelsong, who wants to remain a Giant.
Earlier Friday, Giants general manager Brian Sabean offered no clues regarding Vogelsong's fate. Sabean is preoccupied with other issues, including signing impending free agents such as right fielder Hunter Pence, right-hander Tim Lincecum and left-hander Javier Lopez.
"We like Ryan, and we hope there's a place for him on next year's roster, but we're juggling a lot of balls here," Sabean said.
Retaining Vogelsong would be automatic had he performed better. San Francisco's leading winner in last year's postseason (3-0) entered Friday night's game saddled by ominous statistics. He owned a 5.90 ERA, opponents were hitting .372 off him with runners in scoring position and he had allowed righties to bat .330, the National League's second-highest figure.
"We really have to fill in the blanks with what went haywire with Vogey; he was so good for us last year," Sabean said, noting that other Giants also prompted questions about possible fatigue with their diminished performance following last year's World Series push. "The effort they put forth, and the kind of energy they expended, you wonder the residual effect not only into this year but next year."
Returning specifically to Vogelsong, Sabean added: "He's got some mileage. But this guy's a warrior. He's forever found a way to reinvent himself. If anybody should get a pass on what didn't go right this year, it's certainly him."
Vogelsong (4-6) endured a shaky first inning, permitting three hits. But he struck out Guzman to strand two runners and limit San Diego to a single run. Thereafter, Vogelsong allowed only two hits.
"I've told you guys before that I've had trouble with my delivery," Vogelsong said. "I've been fighting it all year. Tonight was a little better."
The Giants victimized Padres starter Burch Smith (1-3) with three home runs. Perez lined a two-run, two-out drive over the left-field barrier in the second inning. Brandon Belt followed Abreu's third-inning leadoff single with his 17th homer of the season. One out later, Pence, honored before the game with the Willie Mac Award as the Giants' most inspirational player, hit his career-high 26th homer.
San Francisco added a run in the sixth as reliever Tommy Layne walked Gregor Blanco with two outs and the bases loaded. Blanco later drove in Perez with an eighth-inning triple.
With their victory and Colorado's loss at Los Angeles, the Giants guaranteed themselves of avoiding a last-place finish in the National League West, which would have made dubious history. The 1998 Marlins remained the only team to finish last one season after winning the World Series. San Francisco also pulled into a third-place tie in the division standings with San Diego at 75-85.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com.


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Skip to Content
James Reinnoldt is the Managing Director of Axess Asia Pte. Ltd, a Bangkok-based aviation and marketing consultancy where he specializes in airline and hospitality marketing strategy, distribution cost management, market research and revenue management programs.
Professionally, James has over 25 years' experience in the corporate, public and consulting sectors in Asia where he has lived and worked in more than 20 countries. As both an executive and consultant, James has worked for Singapore Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Walt Disney Attractions, Qantas Airways, The United Nations (WHO), The Boston Consulting Group, Family Health International, The International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Boeing Commercial Aircraft.
In addition to his executive and consulting capacities, James has been an instructor in International Marketing and Aviation Marketing (MBA) at Assumption University (ABAC) in Bangkok, and at The University of Victoria (B.C.) as part of its MBA program. He has taught International Marketing and Global Business (MBA and Senior Capstone) at UWB since 2001 and has taught at UW Seattle as part of the Boeing-AIMs program faculty since 2004. He has also directed UW Exploration Seminars to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia since 2007.
James received his BA (International Relations) and CBA from Creighton University in 1979 and an MBA degree (International Business) from The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in 1981.
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The NFL fined four players and two coaches a total of $83,665 for their actions in the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati wild-card game.
Bengals cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones was fined $28,940 for contact with an official, a foul that moved the Steelers closer for their game-winning field goal in the final seconds Saturday night.
His teammates Wallace Gilberry and Domata Peko were each fined $8,681. Gilberry's fine was for unsportsmanlike conduct and Peko's for unnecessary roughness.
Steelers guard Ramon Foster was fined $17,363 for unnecessary roughness.
Earlier this week, the league suspended Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict three games without pay for his...


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I did however brave the rain and wind to spend the day walking around Seattle with a group of amazing photographers. It was for the annual Clickin Moms' Clickin Walk, which I have gone to 3 years in a row. Here a photo of our group at the beginning of the walk taken by one of our fearless leaders Davina...
It was a challenge to take photos, but the experience was amazing! I got to see people I haven't seen in a year, meet new people and immerse myself in my passion for a day. It is difficult to describe the boost in creative energy one can get from just simply being around people who love the same thing you do and who love it just as much! Here are a few of my photos from the walk...
Settings: ISO 320, 50mm, ss1/3200, f/3.2
Settings: ISO 320, 50mm, ss1/1000, f/2.5
Settings: ISO 320, 100mm, ss1/200, f/3.2
Settings: ISO 320, 100mm, ss1/500, f/3.2
Settings: ISO 320, 100mm, ss1/125, f/2.8
One of the coolest parts of the walk for me was getting to help a fellow photographer I had met first at another photography meet up get a shot she had been hoping to try. As with many photographers, I am not a fan of being in front of the camera. However, I just couldn't pass up the chance to be a cheerleader and model for a photo. I know what it is like to dream about getting a certain shot and I was glad to help make it happen. I also learned about bit about flash because of this photo and a mini-workshop Jennifer put on after the walk.
How cool is that! I can't wait to see what next year's Clickin Walk brings!
"Life is a canvas of many strokes where shades from different palettes meet into a picture so concrete that some forget it is their own, so become framed themselves." - Vanna Bonta


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apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
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Post subject:
apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 12:58
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 183
Status: Offline
since some weeks I get the following error on "apt-get update" very frequently:
W: Failed to fetch bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/ftp.de.debian.org_debian_dists_unstable_main_binary-i386_Packages Hash Sum mismatch
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Usually I fix this by switching between the two mirrors:
But the next day the activated mirror brings the same error, so I switch back to the other one again that will normally works again.
Currently both mirrors have this error. What might be the problem? Are the mirrors out of sync somehow? Is this a problem of the apt client? Is there anything that I could do to fix this?
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 13:30
Joined: 2011-01-28
Posts: 25
Location: Tlemcen, Algeria
Status: Offline
The same problem is annoying me since this morning and I can't manage to solve it like I used to do (by switching repos)...
The issue has been discussed here:
http://aptosid.com/index.php?name=PNphp ... ight=bzip2
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 15:32
Team Member
Joined: 2010-09-02
Posts: 485
Status: Offline
As said: Ignore it. You can't do anything against it beside trying later. Its a temporary problem on the mirrors and if you try it at the right time you will experience it on every mirror.
Could it be that you try to upgrade always at the same time? The window is relatively small, but given that the mirrors are updated 4 times a day…
It is currently more likely to hit it "thanks" to mirrors not using the latest version of the mirror-update script, but even if that is fixed you will see it once in a while (I haven't seen it at all in the wild so far btw).
I have a small idea to catch the problem a bit earlier (= if-unmodified-since request header) - so that you get a different error message - but that requires quiet a bit of code and time and especially the later is currently limited for me thanks to exams i have to prepare… and as said. It doesn't fix the "problem" as such but more or less just adds another error message
MfG. DonKult
"I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones." ~ The Doctor
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 16:45
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 183
Status: Offline
How long does a mirror sync need to complete? Sometimes the error lasts for some hours. But indeed, now it does work again. I just wondered that the error occurs much more often in the last weeks than the years before.
Shouldn't be a mirror sync more atomic? I do not know how it works, but I thought that the new package versions were synced to the mirrors first by always keeping the last version of the packages intact. The last operation then was to sync the package list and its checksum. This way the old package list still works, so upgrading with the old apt-get-updated package list would still work, and the new packages get active in one step with the new package list.
But maybe it is really just a problem of an old version of the "mirror-update script". Is there a way to find out, which one is used?
Another thing: When the error occurs, apt says "E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead." but when doing an "apt-get autoclean" after this did sweep away all packages. As I understand this should not happen, shouldn't it?
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 23:06
Team Member
Joined: 2010-09-02
Posts: 485
Status: Offline
Infrastructure is changed after the release, too, so sometimes even the core parts are failing - like dinstall (= the program responsible to build the archive) runs which seemed to happened today. So today the error message really did something useful.
Mirror updates are best done in two steps. First all the new *.deb *.tar.gz and stuff files in the pool which can be easily multiple GB of data. Second all indexes like the Packages, Sources and Releasefiles which are all together maybe ~100 MB. The problem is that APT started recently to use the InRelease instead of Release files which has a few advantages, but many mirrors update this file already in the first step and not in the second step, so the window is open for the time needed to push maybe multiple GBs through the internet. Thats a bit misfortune and i am playing with the idea to disable that for now, but this a) removes a bit of pressure from the mirrors to update making it a 'maybe next year'-wishlist item and b) enables others to say: "Yeah, back then you did that for the mirrors, why not revert this for us now", which means whatever we try to do in the future it will be usable even slower… (InRelease files are on the mirrors for more than a year now).
MfG. DonKult
"I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones." ~ The Doctor
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
12.03.2011, 23:12
Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 183
Status: Offline
If InRelease files make sense I would not revert them.
If you could desribe what I could ask my provider to update the mirror process I will ask him about it. Usually netcologne has a good support so I had the hope they will upgrade it.
Post subject:
RE: apt-get update: Hash Sum mismatch
13.03.2011, 00:07
Team Member
Joined: 2010-09-02
Posts: 485
Status: Offline
If they use the ftpsync from debian, just update to the latest version from here:
But if they don't but use handmangled rsync: At the place where they exclude Release* files, just exclude InRelease files, too with
… --exclude Release* --exclude InRelease --exclude ls-lR* …
While looking at it, it seems to be that the referred webpage wasn't updated to reflect that. Lets see if i will find tomorrow the right place to "complain" about that.
MfG. DonKult
"I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones." ~ The Doctor
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Born from the legacy of the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States, Major League Soccer wanted to harness the momentum from what was considered to be the most successful World Cup in soccer history.
On June 15, 1994, Columbus, Ohio was presented with the first Major League Soccer (MLS) club, becoming the first of the original ten (10) clubs. Ohio's capital city was chosen due to its more than 11,500 season ticket deposits and plans to build a soccer-specific stadium, the first soccer-specific stadium in the United States.
The then-Crew Stadium was christened on May 15, 1999, with a 2-0 win over the New England Revolution, forever etching its place in American sports history as the country's first soccer-specific stadium. The inaugural match at the venue was played in front of a crowd of 24,741. MLS Commissioner at the time, Doug Logan, hailed the match as a "relaunching of the league"; which established the Black & Gold as one of the top organizations in Major League Soccer both on and off the field.
On October 8, 2014 the Columbus Crew unveiled its new brand, badge and name; evolving from Columbus Crew to Columbus Crew SC. Crew SC's new brand pillars: original, energetic and authentically Columbus, establishes the club's connection to the city of Columbus, distinguishes itself as a soccer club, represents the origins and history of the club, and celebrates the passion and energy of its fans.


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In most classical ballets, it's usually the main characters portrayed by high-profile principals who get the glory. But in Marius Petipa's 1877 classic "La Bayadère," which Boston Ballet will perform Oct. 24 to Nov. 3, it's a corps of 24 ghost-like women in white who often steal the show with a celebrated sequence that is one of the most exquisite and entrancing in the repertoire. It's also one of the most fiendishly difficult, requiring intense concentration and steady technical command.
The Act 3 scene is called "The Kingdom of the Shades." The Shades are mysterious, shadowy spirit figures that appear in the opium-fueled hallucination of a young Indian warrior named Solor following the death of his beloved Nikiya, a temple dancer. The scene opens as, one by one, the dancers of the corps de ballet enter single file and slowly make their way in unison down a ramp that crisscrosses nearly the full width of the stage, until all are at floor level. This hypnotic, dreamlike processional is basically the repetition of a single phrase — steps forward, a shift of weight, an arabesque in plié, with one leg extended behind, waist high — which the initial dancer performs 38 times until all the women have joined her onstage. The fundamental phrase is so pristine and simple, yet when performed well, it is a breathtaking, timeless tour de force of ensemble grace and precision.
Its simplicity belies its difficulty. "Of the big story ballets, this is the hardest piece for the corps de ballet to perform," says ballet master and artistic coordinator Shannon Parsley of Boston Ballet. "Twenty-four girls enter doing the same combination of steps, and it's a long time until they zigzag and wind their way around and all get onstage. The repetition, staying together, technically finishing everything the way they've been taught is so challenging. They have to do this whole section completely 100 percent together. Then in the adagio, the actual steps are difficult to perform as one person. To get 24 completely together during a performance is so hard. Mentally you have to prepare so you don't let nerves get the better of you."
Parsley says the sequence is one of the most unusual in the repertoire. "You not only have to deal with the ramp, but you're moving side to side, and when you change directions, you're looking right into the light booms, and your peripheral vision changes. Also, there's the tutus. The dancers can't necessarily see over the tutus to see their feet, and it changes perspective."
"La Bayadère," set to music by Ludwig Minkus, is one of the most lavish of the popular story ballets. The tale of ill-fated lovers unfolds in exotic India amid a climate of intrigue and betrayal. The ballet is often considered a link between ballet's classical and romantic eras. Boston Ballet's current production is a revival of the world premiere version of the work choreographed for the company in 2010 by Florence Clerc.
Since the beginning of August, Parsley has been working to re-create and fine-tune the Shades' scene according to Clerc's specifications.
"I'm always negotiating to make sure I do it enough to get where they need to be, but not too much to kill the spirit of it," Parsley says. "I was very careful in 2010 to watch Florence Clerc stage this and to understand how she thought about the part."
Corps de ballet member Kimberly Uphoff, who danced in the 2010 production, will be the second female out of the gate this time around, which means she dances the same phrase 37 times. She agrees that drilling the movement has been crucial for developing ensemble precision as well as stamina.
"We do a lot of stopping and starting and repeating over and over. You have to know at each count where the foot is and how to move between counts," she says. "It takes so much control. Your feet get crampy. It kind of puts you in a trance. Then you have to run to your place onstage and do the adagio section."
The adagio sequence extends both the beauty and the rigor. Once the corps coalesces into six lines of four dancers, the ensemble performs a slow, lyrical sequence that features even more tricky one-leg balances, some with the body tilting toward the floor into penchés, the back leg raised even higher. "If we just did the adagio on its own, it would still be challenging, but to do it after all those arabesques [down the ramp] adds another level of difficulty," Uphoff says. "Doing something so controlled and calm is almost harder than doing something faster that moves. You feel very exposed. Everything shows. Nobody wants to be the one who wobbles."
However, it's not just about the steps, says Parsley, who performed different versions of the scene during her career as a performer. "Little by little, we've added all the nuances and spirit of these characters. They are shadows, they are sad, but they have strength, and that quality has to show in the steps, the timing, the rhythms."
For Uphoff, the challenge is also the reward. "I really love doing it," she says. "It's all about the corps. Everyone has that little groan before we start because it's so tiring. But when you finish, it's very satisfying. You feel like you've really done something."
Parsley adds, "I think they understand that this is quite an extraordinary thing they are about to perform. To have the [dramatic] setup, the costumes, the music, and the sadness and spirit behind what they're doing — putting all that together is an accomplishment individually and for the ballet, and when people see that kind of artistry, it's inspiring. It's not just going out and doing 10 pirouettes. It's delicate work with everyone pulling together. It really does create magic."Karen Campbell can be reached at email@example.com.