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See an issue?
If you see an issue with the Leadership website, please contact Kathy Howell at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Dr. William A. Henk has served as dean of the College of Education and professor of literacy at Marquette University since 2004. Previously he chaired the department of curriculum and instruction at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and for 18 years prior to that appointment, he worked in various capacities at Penn State Harrisburg. Henk joined the faculty at Penn State in 1983 as an assistant professor of education and reading, and became an associate professor in 1989. Full professor rank followed in 1992, and he was named director of the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education later that year. In 2000 he was appointed to the rank of affiliate associate professor of pediatrics in the Penn State College of Medicine at the Hershey Medical Center.
Henk specializes in reading and language studies and has earned a national reputation for his work in assessing reader and writer self-perceptions and for the development of classroom literacy observation instruments. He has published and presented his work extensively and has served on several premier editorial review boards and in numerous leadership roles in national literacy organizations. In recent years, his scholarship has focused on various aspects of the education deanship and that work earned him and his co-authors the 2018 Neuner Award for Excellence in Professional/Scholarly Publication from the American Association of University Administrators.
Henk's literacy career began at Edinboro University (Pa.) where he earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education English and a master of education degree in reading in 1975 and 1976, respectively. He then served as an elementary school reading specialist in Corry, Pa., before going on to receive his doctorate in reading and educational psychology from West Virginia University in 1982. Upon degree completion, Henk assumed the position of assistant professor of reading education and director of the reading clinic at the University of Georgia.
The Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers recognized Henk with a service award in 2003 and with a lifetime achievement award in 2004. At Penn State Harrisburg, he received institutional awards for both teaching and research, and he was named as an outstanding alumnus of Edinboro University in 2000.
As a dean at Marquette, Henk has successfully led efforts for national accreditation, the designation of his academic unit as the College of Education, and the creation of a new baccalaureate degree and an undergraduate major in educational studies. In addition, he co-founded the Greater Milwaukee Catholic Education Consortium (GMCEC), helped to establish Teach For America in Milwaukee, directed the feasibility study for a Cristo Rey high school, and launched the popular Marquette Educator blog. His university service has included membership on the University Finance and Planning Review Committee, Student Success Advisory Council, Executive Committee of Academic Senate, Task Force on Shared Governance, Campus Master Planning Committee, and co-chairing the Marquette Community Campaign. His civic engagement includes membership on the Leadership Council of Milwaukee Succeeds, Greater Milwaukee Committee Education Committee, Catholic School Commission, and the board of directors for the Milwaukee Academy of Science, GMCEC, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, and Catholic Memorial High School.


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aholden necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 22 diseños de 8 diseñadores freelance.
Student Movie Mondays
We are a cinema in the process of developing a discount night for students. These nights will have a cool and relaxed feel. One of the main drawing cards of this night is that it's CHEAP in fact the CHEAPEST!
Students of all ages - particularly university and college students.
We are looking for a creative, simple and trendy concept for the homepage of our new promotion. The page needs to be fun, young and attractive to students - we don't even mind if you're a little cheeky.
We are looking for a creative page that is attractive enough to draw in individuals and trendy enough for them to tell their friends.
Attached below is the colour concept that we have currently been working off and will use as part of the promotion campaign.
Note: does not need to be a working page just a concept.

subset: commoncrawl


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Watch Men on Call Free Online. Stream and Download The Full Movie Men on Call For Free Online
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Where Can I watch Men on Call For Free? Now a days there are many sites available for free to watch Men on Call online. Now a days we prefer to watch Men on Call online because for offline first we have to download and then watch it, but for online we can see right now.
The First Call: The call into the world. The husband is walking nervously up and down. Just then the doctor and nurse enter, presenting to him the new born baby. The Second Call: The call to school. Boys and girls playing in the school yard. The doors open, the children march in. The Third Call: The call to work. The factory bell rings, the men go to work. The Fourth Call: The call of the weddin
"Altitude 3,200" (aka "Youth in Revolt") asks the question and provides the premise of what would happen if a group of young people----poor, rich, discontented, bored--- were given an idyllic community in which to live. Call it a colony. Call it a village. Call it one-world. Mainly call it a futile exercise in changing human nature, mores, culture and attitudes at any altitude. For t'ain't no ti
This Shortfilm is about a call between father and daughter. During the call you can feel the deep and emotional relationship between them. Due to a shocking incidence the call gets a sudden turn, which unfortunately had to suffer a lot of families all over the world.
There is a secret test hidden with in the SAT. This test does not measure a persons aptitude at reading writing or arithmetic. It measures a students ability to LIE, CHEAT, FIGHT and KILL. Those who score well are recruited into a secret paramilitary academy. Some call them seductresses. Some call them spies. Fools call them innocent. They call themselves D.E.B.S. Centering on four of the girls,
The Roll Call as spelling the students names in a classroom, as an allusion to the personal identity or maybe to the indivudual responsibility. The Roll Call as a help request without answer. The Roll Call as a chance of change for who makes a mistake.
In a smoke-filled room around a table of weapons sit four wiseguys, arguing over whether to make a call to Fat Tony's. As time runs shorter, tensions get higher...Will they survive what awaits them at the end of the call? Will they survive each other long enough to even make that call...
They call it the INLAND EMPIRE, a point of uncharted wilderness within the Cascade Mountains. Everyone's being drawn there, but no one knows why. When a mysterious phone call, from within the INLAND EMPIRE, relays a homicide in progress, Seattle investigators set out to find one of their comrades, recently discovered missing in conjunction with the call. Thrown into a mix of hype and paranoia su
Its call penetrates him like a knife, going deep, unbidden. Its shrill cry never fades from his ears, and it never abates from his nightmares. It is the call of the northern goshawk, an aggressive bird of prey found deep in forests across the continent. And it is this call that leads Ben Simon (Liam Karry), a young grad student desperate to finish a paper on raptor behavior, out into the frigid
When a hopeless Gardner at a local church stays up drinking one night, he receives a mysterious call from a man claiming to be God. Whether its a prank call, or the alpha itself on the other end of the line, the strange call prompts our Gardner to begin questioning his spirituality. Through a series of encounters with strange and fun characters our Gardner has the ultimate question when he recei
John Hogan ran for the second congressional district for Missouri in August of 2006. Some would call John Hogan a politician, some would call him a man seeking change in society, and some would call him a dirty old man. The Politician is about a man who enjoys politics, ties, American flag pins, and the female body. Did he really run for congress? Or did he run from an angry husbands after Filli
There are many Free and paid sites to watch Men on Call online . And some of sites you have to login or signup but there is also some sites where login or signup is not required to watch Men on Call for free.
Here's a list of free movies that are related to Men on Call.
Here's a Random Selection Of Free Movies


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Jonas Brothers: Jingle Ball 2012!
Nick Jonas rocks out on stage at KIIS FM's 2012 Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Saturday night (December 1) in Los Angeles.
Alongside brothers Joe and Kevin, the 20-year-old musician played for a packed crowd at the annual holiday concert.
"Russia is awesome. I think it's very glamorous," Joe dished to Ryan Seacrest about the band's recent travels. "It's got some of the craziest buildings I've ever seen. No joke. They're are multiple buildings made out of gold. The people are really nice. The food is a little heavy with meat and potatoes."
Nick added about the female population, "It was definitely not tough to be there for a week. It's good scenery."
FYI: Nick is wearing David Yurman bracelets.
35+ pics inside of Jonas Brothers…
Posted to: Joe Jonas, Jonas Brothers, Kevin Jonas, Nick Jonas


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Phillies Sign Infielder Yuniesky Betancourt
Infielder Yuniesky Betancourt has agreed to a minor league contract with the Phillies, which includes an invitation to major league spring training, Senior Vice President & General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. announced today.
Betancourt, 30, hit .228 with 14 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 36 RBI in 57 games with the Kansas City Royals last season. Defensively, he appeared in 46 games at second base, eight at third base and one at shortstop. Following the regular season, Betancourt played for Aguilas de Mexicali in the Mexican Winter League, where he batted .308 with eight doubles, seven home runs and 22 RBI in 26 games.
A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, Betancourt has hit .266 with 203 doubles, 28 triples, 67 home runs and 411 RBI in 1,019 career games between the Seattle Mariners (2005-09), Royals (2009-10, 2012) and Milwaukee Brewers (2011).


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Ever tried Teepo Copter? Jude wouldn't give me any time to cast decent spells, so I Teepo Coptered my way to victory. Very amusing.
I'm the same way, Annubis. I treat items in RPGs as more precious than my character's lives sometimes...but then I just end up with a bunch of unused items.
Xillia's characters are some of my favorite right now. The story was meh sure, and the fields were.....incredibly lacking, plus no sorceror's ring always saddens me. But I love Milla and Jude, adored Eliza and her little eggplant doll Teepo, appreciated Rowan's amazing old man perviness, Alvin's overly suaveness, and ....well Leia was just so cute trying to be all tough girl and shit. It all fell together so well for me, I was sad when it was over.
ZshadeZ: Yeah, you're not supposed to go into that area until much later in the game. I'm surprised you were able to handle it, honestly. Even if you're good enough to not get killed aren't your AI companions getting slaughtered?


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|Moon Halo - Ice crystals in the atmosphere reflecting moonlight.
All of the prints from my store are printed at a local, family owned, third generation print shop. All printing is overseen directly and personally by myself.
Coke's camera has been printing in Macon Georgia since 1920. Pictured are Bob Coke, Bob Coke , and me with a 24x36" print.
Giclee prints on archival fine art lustre paper rated to last generations.
Prints will be signed and shipped well protected, flat, unmatted and unframed.


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Support the National Brain Tumor Society Just By Going to Citi
Here is the announcement, via the National Brain Tumor Society website:
Join us for a New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies game for brain tumor awareness! Tickets are available for the Pepsi Porch Seats (which includes Caesars and Promenade Club access) or Promenade Reserved Seats.
A portion of each ticket sold will benefit the NBTS when purchased through the following link: www.mets.com/braintumor


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Emily Bernice Chapman, 82, formerly of Mt. Airy, a retired teacher and administrator, died July 30 of Alzheimer's disease at the Cheltenham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Mrs. Chapman, who had been living in Olney, retired in 1989 from the Philadelphia School District. She had worked for three decades at the William Penn High School for Girls, where she taught home economics and had been dean of students.
Earlier she had taught at Laing High School in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., where she coached the girls' basketball team.
After her retirement she worked for a time as associate director for urban affairs at Lincoln University's Urban Center. She had also served on the board of trustees at Springside School from 1971 to 1976.
Mrs. Chapman's daughter Victoria said her mother, as an educator and disciplinarian, "was both loving and no-nonsense in her manner, encouraging her students."
Mrs. Chapman was instrumental in the formation and growth of "Just Friends," a group that began in the home economics department at William Penn and grew to include educator friends from various schools.
Born Emily Bernice Mathis in Abbeville, S.C., she was a graduate of South Carolina State College and earned a master's degree in education from Temple University and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Sarasota.
For the past two decades she was an active member of Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia, where she taught Sunday school.
She was an avid seamstress who made wedding dresses for friends and was a fan of Philadelphia's professional football and basketball teams.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Chapman is survived by her husband of 56 years, Lee Manuel; a son, Leander Mathis; a brother, James Thomas Edwards, and a sister, Mildred Edwards.
Funeral services were held Aug. 3 at Zion Baptist Church. – WF


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Funds from this program may be used to support projects that promote the preservation or restoration of Redmond's historic resources. This grant program provides funds to organizations or individuals that own or control interests in historic structures. It seeks to ensure that structures and sites are brought back to a condition or remain in a condition that will illustrate the heritage of Redmond now and into the future.
Details on the grant and the grant application are available here. An electronic version in Word/Excel format is available by email request.


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Sani Alibabic gets buried in avalanche
I didn't think that this landing looked sketchy at all since it was kinda flat and short as I was the one going first. I travelled a bit too far to the right and also I landed my trick I hit a ditch at the bottom of the gully and stopped. Half a secunde later I felt snow pushing from behind and within in seconds I was buried by snow. I started pushing snow away from my face but at some point the snow got so compressed in the ditch that I couldn't move anymore. It got dark and I had snow in my mouth so I couldn't breath. It probably took only a couple of seconds before Fichtl dug me out but this felt like minutes! This really scared the shit out of me! I might sound like a pussy since the avalanche was not big but that little slide had so much power already. I can only imagine how gnarly it must be when a real avalanche hits you. So People, take care out there!
thanx to Basti Gogl for some extra footage


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FRITZ!Box 7390 Service - Knowledge Base
FRITZ!Box 7390 Service
AVM Content
Not your product?
This document is also available for the following products:
Line goes dead after several rings when making calls with an ISDN telephone
When attempting to use an ISDN telephone connected to the FRITZ!Box to make calls from your landline, the line goes dead after several rings.
- The ISDN telephone cannot correctly process the signal for the "call-back on busy / no response" function that the line being called sends to the telephone.
1 Preparations
- Configure the telephone so you can send keypad sequences (sequences of symbols and numbers, such as *121#) and enter special characters such as * and # with it. On many telephones, you can configure this function in the menu "Operation at a PBX > Dialing options > Dial * and #".
2 Disabling "call-back on busy / no response" in the FRITZ!Box
The ISDN telephone terminates the connection because the signal for the "call back on busy / no response" function is not processed correctly. Therefore, disable the use of this function in the FRITZ!Box:
- Enter #960*4* on your telephone and press the call key (lift the receiver).
- Hang up again after about 3 seconds.
Note:You can permanently reenable the function "call-back on busy / no response" with #960*6*.
You can still use the function "call-back on busy / no response" for a specific call; to do so, press the call key again after hanging up and enter *37#.


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We're excited to share the Kimpton® experience with you.
We have welcomed Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants into our extended IHG® family. We are sending you over to KimptonHotels.com to take a look (and book) for yourself.
Please note that Kimpton® hotels are not yet included in the IHG® Rewards Club program. Kimpton Karma® rules apply to stays at Kimpton hotels.


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Watch His First Girl Free Online. Stream and Download The Full Movie His First Girl For Free Online
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Where Can I watch His First Girl For Free? Now a days there are many sites available for free to watch His First Girl online. Now a days we prefer to watch His First Girl online because for offline first we have to download and then watch it, but for online we can see right now.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy shows girl the world he knows. Girl shows boy the world she knows. Boy loves Girl.. Girl loves him back. Boy and Girl date for some time. Boy grows tired of Girl. Girl grows tired of Boy. Boy and Girl decide to break up. Boy is Charles. Girl is Kim.
Shades of Black is a window into the emotional state of Girl One and Girl Two. Girl One has become cold hearted, wrapped in herself and her pleasures. Girl Two appears sweet, frightened, trying to be found. Girl Two searches for reassurance and love from Girl One. The complexity of their relationship within themselves and with the outside world is unveiled once we find their home full of lovers
It's the classic American love story: Boy meets Girl. Boy likes Girl. Boy tells Girl and Girl falls in love with Boy. And Boy and Girl live happily ever after. But what if Girl doesn't like Boy? What if she loves him as a friend but as nothing more than that? There's a word for it: The Friend Zone. This film is about relationships that aren't meant to be. But more importantly, it's a story about
Once upon a time, there was a girl and her rats. The rats were the girl's only friends. They spent every moment together. Until one day, when the girl met a boy. The boy and the rats immediately hated each other. They all yearned for the girl's attention. Soon enough, the girl began to favor the boy. The rats were not pleased. They demanded revenge!
A bullied boy is saved by a girl. The boy's dad (a priest) meets the girl's mother (a prostitute) in a motel room, they're caught in the act by the boy. Daddy hits the boy, the boy runs out in the parking lot and meets the girl. Together boy and girl take off into a forest, but when the girl finds her mother again something terrible has happened.
Leon wants to make a pass at a girl. The girl rejects him. A group of gangsters kidnap the girl. Leon wears a paper bag to fight against the gangsters. He saves the girl, but the girl does not know who saved her. Leon becomes a superhero after that, because a journalist took him picture when he was fighting. Leon has many girls the next morning. He feels so good. The girl who saved by Leon also
Hira falls in love with a girl but the girl won't agree. He seeks help of his uncle who also can't convince the girl's father. One day, when the girl is being chased by a bear, Hira saves her, which then starts their romantic relationship. They eventually get married. Hira and his friends decide to go pilgrimage to 'Silu tirtha'. They leave her behind because of the astrologer but the girl follo
The Michigan Kid is a gambler in the backwoods of Alaska trying to make enough money to go back to his hometown and impress the girl he loves. His childhood rival for the girl happens to turn up at his casino, in trouble and doesn't want his girl to find about it. You guessed it, the same girl!
Kate is an ambitious photojournalist. Caught in a shoot-out in an Eastern European war zone, Kate spots a young girl running through the chaos. Intrigued, she follows the Girl, photographing as she goes. The Girl accidentally encounters a Gunman who interrogates her, pressing his AK-47 to her head. Kate photographs the terrified Girl and is horrified when the Girl makes eye contact with her, ple
The fifth in a series of Cinerama travelogues---and not a Documentary since the vast majority of the film, aside from the scenery, is comprised of fictional stories. The first one involves an American girl, on a cruise to Hawaii, who makes friends with another American girl who lives in Hawaii. The first girl meets the second girl's family, and the Hawaiian-girl's brother takes an interest in he
There are many Free and paid sites to watch His First Girl online . And some of sites you have to login or signup but there is also some sites where login or signup is not required to watch His First Girl for free.
Here's a list of free movies that are related to His First Girl.
Here's a Random Selection Of Free Movies


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Have you heard the news that a recent study found that breastfeeding is not associated with lowered risk of childhood obesity?
But you may also have heard that breastfeeding protects against obesity. In fact, the Surgeon General writes that not breastfeeding is associated with a 32% increased risk of obesity. And a World Health Organization analysis also found evidence that breastfeeding lowers the risk of childhood obesity.
So what's the truth? We thought it was worth taking a closer look at this most recent study.
This finding is one in a series of research questions tackled by the PROBIT studies, conducted in Belarus. In this large and long term project, 17,000 participants were enrolled in 1996 and 1997, and have been tracked in the years since. The lead author of these studies is Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University.
This series of studies is notable because of its size and also because it achieves something very difficult in breastfeeding research – a randomized controlled design. This is challenging because, given what we know about the health and other effects of breastfeeding, it just wouldn't be ethical to tell women not to breastfeed their children in order to compare them to breastfed children.
So this research does what some consider to be the next best thing (we'll get to how it falls short in a moment). It created comparison groups by controlling the kind of care they got in the hospital. They randomized mothers to either the standard hospital care or Baby Friendly Hospital care, and as expected the exclusive breastfeeding rates in the Baby Friendly group were much higher than in the standard care group. This allowed for a comparison of health outcomes over time, while excluding other factors.
So these 17,000 mother/child pairs have been assessed for a variety of health outcomes over time. The PROBIT project has previously found:
Reductions in gastrointestinal episodes and rashes, higher verbal IQ scores, and longer exclusive breastfeeding rates for subsequent children but no statistically significant differences in the child's body mass index, blood pressure, or dental health.
So now on to the most recent publication, which focused on the adiposity (fatness) and insulin-like growth factor of the PROBIT subjects, measured when the children were 11.5 years old.
The authors' conclusions:
Among healthy term infants in Belarus, an intervention that succeeded in improving the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding did not prevent overweight or obesity, nor did it affect IGF-I levels at age 11.5 years.
And an editorial note which follows:
Breastfeeding has many advantages but population strategies to increase the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding are unlikely to curb the obesity epidemic.
Now let's look at some of the issues raised about the study design. For this I owe a debt to Drs. Melissa Bartick and Nathan Nickel, who wrote an excellent analysis for the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine blog. Their critique boils down to these points:
1) Exclusively formula fed infants were excluded from this study, eliminating a key comparison with breastfed and exclusively breastfed children. Remember the statement from the Surgeon General above that not breastfeeding is associated with a 32% increased risk of childhood obesity? There were no "not breastfeeding" kids in this study, so it's not possible to compare exclusively breastfed children to exclusively formula fed children, which may have shown the most significant difference. In other words, this study only compared babies who received ALL breastmilk to those that received SOME (mix of formula/breastfeeding) which is very different than comparing NO breastfeeding to ALL breastfeeding. The difference in outcome was most likely to be seen if exclusive breastfeeding were compared to exclusive formula feeding.
2) These studies were not set up to be able to pick up small to moderate differences in obesity rates, only "extremely large ones," because the rates of breastfeeding were quite low, even in the intervention group. Prior research has established a dose dependent relationship between breastfeeding and obesity, with effects generally seen with exclusive breastfeeding for six months. So the fact that the percentage of exclusive breastfeeding in both groups at that point was very small is a problem.
Then there is the question of industry ties, which I won't get into but will send you to this older blog post and you can make up your own minds.
Now let's get into the politics of how this research has been used. Back in 2009, The Atlantic published a critique of breastfeeding called "The Case Against Breastfeeding." It cited the PROBIT studies as evidence that the connections between breastfeeding and health outcomes is "thin." Then a few months later an article in the The Times (U.K.) made a similar claim, reporting that Kramer's view was that "much of the evidence used to persuade mothers to breastfeed was either wrong or out of date."
To the author's credit, he objected vociferously in the press about how his research was being "grossly misrepresented." Said to be "spitting tacks" about it, he commented:
There really isn't any controversy about which mode of feeding is more beneficial for the baby and the mother, but when you read the article in The Times it sounds like there is." Furthermore, he points out: "I'm not aware of any studies that have observed any health benefits of formula feeding. That's important, and any mother weighing the benefits of breastfeeding vs formula feeding needs to know that.
What to make of all this? At a minimum it's a good reminder that it's important to look beyond – sometimes far beyond – the headlines when you hear about breastfeeding research in the news.


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Longer downtown parking enforcement denied
STAMFORD -- Drivers have avoided a plan that would have charged them for parking downtown an extra hour until 7 p.m.
The proposal was pitched as a way to offset losses from keeping three downtown garages open 24 hours a day. In a 19-17 vote, the Board of Representatives rejected the proposal, which would have affected about 700 on-street parking spaces downtown.
Board of Representatives Transportation Committee Chairman Robert "Gabe" DeLuca, who proposed the increased enforcement, said he viewed the extra revenue as necessary to continuing 24-hour garage operations, which generated a $176,600 loss for the city in the fiscal year completed in July.
DeLuca said he would seek information on use of the garages to consider whether discontinuing or scaling back garage hours could help avoid a shortfall to pay for attendants and other costs. Downtown business owners have supported the longer hours as resolving a quandary in which restaurant and other night workers racked up parking tickets in on-street spots in the early evening for lack of all-night parking elsewhere.
"I was looking at this proposal as a way to raise revenue to offset tax increases and keep the garage open 24 hours a day," DeLuca said. "As far as keeping the garages open 24/7 and losing money, my feeling is I'm sure most people can't see doing that."
The city has been testing 24-hour parking at the Bell, Summer and Bedford street garages on an interim basis since early 2011, and hours will be rolled back automatically unless the Board of Representatives reapproves round-the-clock service by year's end. Currently, meter enforcement at the roughly 700 spaces runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
City Rep. John Zelinsky, D-14, an opponent of the increased meter enforcement, said that regardless of the city's decision about around-the-clock garage parking, the additional hour of enforcement and meter fees at on-street spots could deter people from visiting downtown in the evening.
"I feel it is nickel-and-diming the public," Zelinsky said of the proposal. "All we have is speculation that people would be willing to come down and pay for the extra hour but I'm not sure that is true."
City Rep. Joseph Coppola, R-15, a supporter of the extended enforcement, said the additional hour was a moderate and equitable way to raise revenue for the city and better manage the parking supply.
"I thought there was a pretty decent argument for a little extra revenue," Coppola said. "Whether you think the parking garages should be open 24 hours I'm not really sure they should be, but I leave that to someone else."


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Our Mission: Preparing Principled Leaders for Public Service
We seek out the best and brightest of tomorrow's creators and writers, parents and teachers, lawmakers and pastors, entrepreneurs and philanthropists. We provide them with the intellectual, spiritual, and professional training for transformational cultural leadership. And then we give them membership in a close-knit professional fraternity of alumni to facilitate their strategic placement, continued growth, and lasting impact on American culture.


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Optimum Appliances, leader du marché des blenders avec les Optimum 9200 et 9400 – deux des blenders avec la plus haute qualité au monde, a lancé un blender domestique plus abordable afin de rivaliser avec les concurrents bon marché..
The most important component of a Vortex blender is the power of the motor. The Optimum 8200 has a 3 Horse Power motor able to easily withstand the toughest ingredients and outlast most other domestic blenders. The Optimum can blend fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, ice and fruits into a smooth texture which can be used to make soups, ice cream, nut butters and sauces. At a very high speed the Optimum can also be used to grind grains and crush ice
You can view the various functions of the Optimum blender on the supplier's website here: http://www.optimum-appliances.com/domestic-buyers.html
The Optimum's blade assembly, a custom-alloy assemblage of special stainless steel manufactured to its finest in Japan, was purpose built for a quicker, smoother and more effective synthesis of ingredients. While most blenders have a 2 or 4-blade assembly, the Optimum consists of a unique 6-blade assembly, allowing it to blend even the thickest of foods. An additional 2 down-angled blades are designed to prevent any dense foods from getting jammed and creating a vacuum at the bottom of the jug.
The assembly is securely bolted to a shaft which connects to the bottom blade gear - a feature which then acts as the point of connection for the drive socket when the fully assembled jar and blade set is placed atop the Optimum motor. The six blades are a multipurpose assemblage allowing the Optimum's user to combine both wet and dry ingredients with both ease and efficiency. This superior and multi-faceted blade extends the capabilities of the Optimum far beyond the realms of other competitors, and makes for an otherwise unmatched blending experience.
La majorité des blenders ont des moteurs ventilés qui fonctionnent en permanence à puissance maximale, les amenant
souvent à une surchauffe et à un épuisement prématuré. L'Optimum bénéficie d'un moteur avec un système de balais à
charbon breveté, augmentant la durée de vie du moteur d'une dizaine d'années au lieu de quelque mois. Cette
caractéristique permet à Froothie d'assurer une garantie de 10 ans pour ses clients, en collaboration avec Athena Solutions
Pty Ltd et le fabricant Optimum Appliances Australia.
En plus de ces caractéristiques, afin prolonger la durée de fonctionnement de l'OmniBlend, un capteur intégré éteint automatiquement le moteur lorsqu'il détecte une utilisation excessive. Ce système évitera les pannes survenant lorsque les moteurs surchauffent. Une caractéristique de protection contre la surchauffe supérieure comparée aux systèmes de protection thermique de la plupart de blenders à usage commercial. Cela permet de faire un mixage en continue sans avoir à attendre que le moteur refroidisse une fois qu'il a chauffé. Et son moteur révolutionnaire avec un système de balais à charbon est idéal les usages domestiques ou commerciaux.
Des tests démontrent, qu'à puissance égale, l'Optimum est un des mixeurs les plus silencieux du marché, avec un niveau sonore entre 83.8 dB, un point important lorsque l'on utilise cet appareil tout au long de la journée ou dans des lieux publicstels que les bars ou les restaurants. Un couvercle insonorisant récemment introduit peut de réduire davantage le niveau de bruit de 50%, soit moins de 40 décibels, ce qui fait de l'Optimum le dispositif le plus silencieux du marché !
The Optimum 8200 is a great affordable blender, able to perform many of the functions you would expect from a high-speed blender. The Optimum 8200 however does not include many of the parts that make the 9200 - 2nd Generation and 9400 models our best-selling products. It is designed purely for domestic use, does not include the automatic Torque Control available with blenders such as Vitamix or other Optimum models, and will not have the same durability or performance as the 9200 - 2nd Generation and 9400 models.
As an affordable alternative, the Optimum 8200 will definitely live up to expectations rivalling other similarly priced blenders, and is a great value-for-money blender. For a comparison between the various Optimum blender models, please click here (available in the last paragraph)
Below are some links for independent reviews of the Optimum blender:
Fruit smoothies - The Optimum is designed to make the best fruit smoothies in both domestic and commercial environments, crushing ice and fruits in seconds
Green smoothies - Kale, lettuce, celery, spinach, mints, cucumber, bananas or carrots, the Optimum will make sure your green smoothie is smooth and not fibrous
Grinding nuts and grains - The Optimum's 6-Blade assembly allows it to easily grind whole grains, beans, rice and kneading bread dough ready for the oven
Crushes Ice - The commercial-grade 3 Horse Power motor allows the Optimum to crush large quantities of ice in seconds, perfect for smoothies, slushies and ice cream
Nut butters - Chocolate Hazelnut, Peanut Butter, Almond Butter... you name it! The Optimum will make the most delicious preservative-free nut butters, using only one ingredient
Nut milks - Mix the nuts with some water, blend, filter, and serve for a natural dairy-free bowl of milk and cereal
Ice cream from frozen fruits - The Optimum turns your favourite fruits into a fat free, preservative free, beautiful guilt-free bowl of ice cream
Hot Soups - The same blender which can make frozen ice cream can also make steaming-hot soups from all natural ingredients in less than 10 minutes! This is achieved with the Optimum 's incredible speed , allowing the blender to heat the contents through friction heat
Spreads and dips - Whether you prefer a silky-smooth hummus dip or a chunky tomato salsa, the Optimum is here to help, offering you a range of dips and spreads to choose from
Fresh Fruit Juices - The Optimum is able to easily blend whole fruits and vegetables, unpeeled and uncut, creating a healthy juice full of fibre. Best of all... nothing is wasted, so cleaning is quick and easy
Cocktails - Cocktails can be prepared shaken, stirred or blended with ice for a frozen treat in seconds
Omelettes - The same way the Optimum can make a steaming hot soup, the friction of the blades can also cook beautiful omelettes in minutes!
Food Prep - Ditch the knife! Chop and slice in seconds with your Optimum, saving time and energy for a perfect meal
Dough - After grinding flour, use the same jug to knead fresh dough ready for the oven
Dressings - Make salad dressings in seconds, full of flavour and fresh ingredients
Self-Cleaning - No need for a dishwasher, some water and soap, the Optimum cleans itself in 20 seconds
Once you make the decision to purchase a blender, whether it is an Optimum or otherwise, our relationship with you does not end there. Blenders are a unique and sophisticated appliance, and to make the most of it you must receive the appropriate advice and recommendations.
Our support team here at Froothie will always be a phone call away, Monday-Saturday 9am-7pm. We are in the process of expanding our support centre to cater for the growing demand, and our team will soon be available 7 Days a Week 9am-9pm.
For more information on what makes the Optimum blender better and more durable than most competition, click here.
If you are looking for a lender to rival the popular Vitamix and Blendtec, we would recommend the Optimum 9200 - 2nd Generation and 9400. However if you are seeking a blender to outperform the lower quality Ninja or NutriBullet, then the Optimum 8200 is the way to go!
Optimum 9400 vs 8200:
The Optimum 9400 is a higher quality appliance to the Optimum 8200. Below is a summary of the differences:
- The Optimum 9400 has a faster and more powerful motor. This leads to quicker blending and better consistency for thick contents
- The longer blades of the 9400 also allows it to chop, grind and slice more effectively
- The 9400 has an iron cooling fan for the motor vs. plastic for the 8200
- The 9400 also has a metal plate at the bottom of the jug instead of plastic
- The 9400's bearings have more seals and better quality ball bearings, leading to increased longevity and the ability to be used commercially with no issues
- The Optimum 9400 has one of the industry's most advanced PCB Boards for the motor equipped with Automatic Torque Control, meaning the motor will automatically change power based on what you are blending, leading to better performance and increased longevity
The Optimum 9400 is rated #1 Vitamix competitor by Choice Australia and Product Review Australia, and is our most popular model
The 8200 is a great affordable blender, easily outperforming the likes of NutriBullet, Breville and Sunbeam
Independent reviews of the Optimum blenders here: https://www.froothie.ca/optimum-blender-reviews/


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Lexington (Ohio)
Lexington [16] is a village in Mid-Ohio, Richland County in the state of Ohio. It is a bedroom community for Mansfield. During the summer months, visitors come from all over the world to visit Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It is a high dollar race track, visited by hi-rolling race fans, sponsers and racers.
The race track is in a beautiful, partially wooded setting, attracting families from all over. Clearfork Reservoir , has many amenities, including camping, boating, sailing and fishing. The reservoir is stocked with many fish including muskies.
Get in[edit]
By plane[edit]
By car[edit]
From the South:
From the North:
Get around[edit]
There is no public transportation in Lexington. It is located in a rural area, driving is easy and pleasurable, execept on race weekends when thousands show up for Mid-Ohio races. Great crowd, mostly families.
See[edit][add listing]
Do[edit][add listing]
Buy[edit][add listing]
If you are not from the area and are feeling adventurous, drive west about 1 mile to SR 314. Head south on 314. From this point south to Chesterville, approx. 15 miles, all of the intersecting roads past Johnsville, lead to Amish farms. If you are vigilant, you will notice a few bakeries, tack shops, truck farms, hardwood furniture sales, and such. Feel free to visit where signs offer items for sale. This is a great spot to buy fresh vegetables, maple syrup, eggs and other items that will be appreciated at Mid-Ohio races. It is best to have small bills in hand before starting.
Eat[edit][add listing]
Grocery stores[edit]
There are plenty of choices for eating, Mansfield and Ontario are a short distance away offering even more choices.
Drink[edit][add listing]
There are plenty of choices for alcohol. Most grocery stores carry it, as well as the gas stations, drive-throughs and convenience stores.
Sleep[edit][add listing]
Bed & Breakfast[edit]
Get out[edit]


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I was staying in San Siro north of Menaggio. My favorite ride of the trip, and my first after getting my work cables and housings repaired (allowing me to shift), was the one where I took a ferry to Bellagio then immediately climbed to the legendary Madonna del Ghisallo. After checking out the church and the museum, then enjoying a leisurely lunch in the cafe, I continued upward to San Primo. But my ride wasn't done, not even close. I had a longer looped planned, modeled after stage 7 of the 2010 Giro Donna, the stage race for professional women in Italy modeled loosely after the Giro d'Italia.
Stage 7 of the Giro Donne
Okay - full disclosure. I didn't know much about stage 7 of the Giro Donne (although I followed Mara Abbott and Team USA's successful fight for victory in that race) other than what I learned by that Amanda Miller had the QOM up Ghisallo, and the overall KOM up the longer, more challenging climb from Nesso to Colma di Sormano. Here's the Strava page for her ride in that stage. I was hoping to beat her time up both of these climbs, ideally getting the Ghisallo as well.
The women climbed Nesso first, but my route was the opposite. I wanted to climb Ghisallo on fresh legs, and in any case doing Ghisallo first made for a better route starting and finishing in Bellagio, the ferry access point. Here's my partial ride data. I say partial because I had battery issues with the Garmin 500. After descending to the south from Ghisallo, I rode to Como following the "obvious" route (bypassing the ultimate climb in the Giro di Lombardia, which is this Sunday; unfortunately I hadn't checked the route of that race before this ride, or I would have done that climb as well).
In Como I shut off the Garmin when it issued a "low battery" warning. I'd lost my USB data cable which is used to charge the Edge, and I'd neglected to purchase a new one when I'd ridden to Como the day before. This time, I stopped at a camera shop and paid what I suspected to be the inflated price of 25€ for the cable (it's used with Nokia phones, as well as various cameras, in addition to the Edge). It was worth every penny, and more, but it wasn't going to help me on this ride. I had to save the Edge for recording my forthcoming climb.
So i rode up the coast to Nesso in data silence. The road was spectacular, with fantastic views of the lake off to my left, car traffic surprisingly light on the only two-lane road. Were this in the United States, I was sure it would be virtually unridable. Italians just tend to be more content to be where they are, rather than feeling the need to drive somewhere multiple times per day.
At the turn-off for the climb to Colma di Sormano I turned the battery back on and prepared myself for my big attempt. I was tiring and felt the onset of depletion which signals an oncoming bonk, but the adventure of this new and challenging climb excited me. I felt fairly sure my Edge battery would have enough for at least the full climb based on the % remaining indicator and how long it had run so far, so I restarted the computer, waited for it to lock onto a satellite signal, started the "timer", and began the climb.
It didn't take long before I was humbled by a passing rider. This guy was all business. I managed a quick "ciao" in my flawless Italian (errr....), and tried to follow his pace. That didn't last long: after a few corners i had to let him go.
The climb wasn't bad: while fairly steep, the grade was never truly steep, and given the wonder of being here, on this road, in a heart of Italian cycling made it impossible to anything other than savor the experience. I had a rough recollection the road gained around 900 meters of altitude (it's actually 839 meters), so I managed my progress via my altimeter, and despite my waning energy, I made steady progress.
I hit a flat, which i knew from the altitude wasn't the true summit. This was Pian del Tivano, and here my Edge, proving the % remaining indicator isn't reliable, died. A fear knotted my stomach: what if I'd fallen just a short distance shy of the Strava segment i was striving for? I'd been here before, thinking I'd recorded data, only to discover later it was gone. Remember, I told myself, the existential joy of cycling pre-GPS. Try to recapture that... focus on the moment, on the experience, and not on the result.
But for whatever reason, whether the bonk I felt growing finally took hold, or the death of the battery broke my frigile will, but once the road started climbing again, I cracked. i pulled over to the side of the road, took a drink, tried to gather myself, then pedaled onward, at a survival pace, upward.
Fortunately the remaining climbing was modest in both grade and altitude gained. I was able to sustain my now restrained pace until I came to the observatory which marked the top. The view was impressive. I admired the view and the small observatory for a few minutes, then began the descent of the opposite side.
Here's the profile of the climb to the Plan del Tivano. Fortunately my Edge battery lasted just long enough to squeeze in the Strava segment for this portion of the extended climb. While I didn't get credit for the full climb to Colma, given my serious fade on the final portion, this was probably for the best.
And no, I didn't beat Amanda's time. At least I got the men's Strava record (out of two riders).
A challenging climb, for sure, but nothing exceptional by Bay area standards. Still, it rates 184 on the Low-Key Hillclimbs difficulty rating scheme, where Old La Honda is by definition 100.
The descent passed quickly, and i began the long gradual climb back to the Madonna del Ghisallo. The approach is generally gradual upwards, so by the time the climb proper is reached, there's not much altitude left to be gained. The real climb to the church is the north side. It was good seeing the church again, but I was running short on daylight, so passed without pausing and began the descent.
Here I suffered a bit of a judgement lapse, perhaps associated with my low blood sugar. I went into the first switchback of the descent slightly fast, there having been no warning sign. But the turn was sharper than I'd expected, and I was obviously going way too fast. I tried to brake but couldn't avoid riding into the lane of oncoming traffic. But there weren't any cars to be seen or heard, and so I survived that potentially costly mistake.
The rest of my ride was great: the climbing was done, and I enjoyed the rest of the way to the ferry in Bellagio, then northward from Cadenabbia back to San Siro, just as the sun was leaving the sky.
This was an epic ride, with climbs made more epic by where they were than what the altitude profile shows. Sure, Nesso is tough, but the portion to the Pian del Tivano is Soda Springs tough, nothing more (actually Soda Springs scores 204, higher than this climb). Still, riding these roads is like riding in a dream. I kept wanting to pinch myself to see if I was sleeping, but not wanting to do so for fear I'd awaken. This is the sort of ride you never forget.


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Our friends at Roadkill debuted their latest episode, which had David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan traveling to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky in a 1975 Chevy Corvette they found on Craigslist. What could go wrong?
If you've followed this series before, then you know this pair has a penchant for driving the rattiest junk they can find on long distances. And while we'd hate to insinuate that any Corvette was junk, we'd much rather have seen this window-less L-48 in the sinkhole than the priceless collectables that were recently rescued.
This episode's mission is to pick up a random Corvette, make it roadworthy in a New York-minute, and then drive it from Florida to Bowling Green to see the sinkhole where the two could do a little Corvette destruction of their own (well at least to a set of tires). Their ride was a '75 Corvette with a 350cid, 160-horse L-48 V-8 and a Turbo 400, 3-speed automatic. While on the surface the Vette looked pretty mint, the minute the covers came off it was apparent that this was a mission fitting for Roadkill. No windshield, no brakes, no interior, no problem. That's nothing some zip ties and duct tape can't fix.
Spoiler alert! Though their impromptu reroute to Las Vegas was nixed, the pair does make it to Bowling Green to see the assembly plant and sinkhole, albeit with a new-to-them transmission.


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True, the 420 models are common-rail turbodiesel MB products we can't get in the states. However, with the Detroit introduction of Audi's stump-yanking yet chicky micky Q7 V12 TDI we're betting we'll be seeing these urea scrubbed toughies sooner than later. Which means that Brabus has got a tuning kit for us. It is called the PowerXtra D8 (III) and not only will it Bruce-up the GL and ML with full Brabus bodywork, but will in fact fit any Euro 4 Mercedes diesel. If there is one thing we've learned, it's that 516lbs. ft. of torque sucks. Yes sir, we need 590 pounds of twist per foot like Paula Abdul needs an intervention. The GL450 is already our favorite wide-body SUV with it's politically incorrect petrol unit. We're grinning and nodding just imagining the thrill of an 800Nm oil-burner underfoot (even if it would put out more than 307g/km of C02). And yes, for those wondering, 800Nm equals about 590lbs. ft of torque. And no, we don't like the metric system either.
BRABUS PowerXtra D8 (III) Tuning for GL 420 CDI and ML 420 CDI [AutoMotoPortal]
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The Senate is controlled by a single vote. A democratic senator, Tim Johnson, D-SD, is stricken ill and rushed to the hospital. Reports conflict. He's having a stroke. It's not a stroke. Will he survive? Will he serve out his term? Will a Republican governor appoint a replacement, flipping control of the Senate to the GOP?
This is always a maddening part of being a medical professional. Give me 30 seconds with the chart and I can tell you in exact detail what the situation (or at least the differential diagnosis) is. But the vague and contradictory reports, frequently written by media writers not familiar with medicine can be tough to interpret in the best of cases.
Here's my attempt at reading between the lines:
1. Senator Johnson had an episode of difficulty speaking, evidenced by stuttering and apparent word-finding difficulty. Audible here via CNN. This does clearly point to an acute central nervous system process such as an ischemic stroke causing expressive aphasia.
2. His condition "appeared to recover" to the extent that he was able to ask if there were any additional questions before ending the call. The neurologic deficit was mild and short-lived. This argues against a persistent structural lesion such as hemorrhagic stroke or tumor. The absence of complaint of headache further argues against such diagnoses.
3. However, after initial improvement, another problem developed: "[He] was able to walk back to his office in the Hart Senate Office Building, then began having problems with his right arm. He thought he was all right, she said, and went to his desk, but came out a few minutes later and it was apparent he needed help." The language symptoms having resolved, he developed new symptoms of a motor nature. The language centers (often called "Broca's area") are typically in the left brain, in the same vascular distribution as the left motor cortex, which controls movement of the right arm. Again, this is consistent with cerebral ischemia, though the intermittent nature of the symptoms and variable type of symptomology suggest transient ischemia (often called TIA or mini-stroke) versus true cerebral infarction, aka stroke.
4. His "spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said the senator did not suffer a stroke or heart attack." That helps a bit. Clearly she is repeating what a medical professional told her. "No stroke" implies a more or less clean CT scan -- if there was a hemorrhage, most folks would call it a stroke or aneurysm, and it's an affirmative enough finding that I do not expect that we would be told "no stroke." Also, "no stroke" might imply that his neurologic exam in the ER was not suggestive of a stroke, meaning no persistent neurologic deficit. And based on what I have heard, heart attack would not generally be high in the differential anyway.
5. But he went to surgery. What surgery? Don't know as of this moment. But if he had a TIA, that would generally involve a Carotid Ultrasound as part of the ER work-up. If that revealed a critical stenosis of the carotid artery, it is possible that he would proceed emergently to the operating room to open the offending artery via a procedure called carotid endarterectomy. Less likely, he could undergo some sort of interventional radiology procedure such as intra-vascular thrombolysis, thrombectomy, or angio-embolization of an aneurysm. These procedures, however, are less common and would generally be performed in the context of a true stroke, and given #4 above, would be less likely, in my estimation. Generally, carotid endarterectomies are not performed emergently, but in the case of a senator, VIP medicine might well motivate a vascular surgeon to do so. I would be surprised, but it is possible that carotid angioplasty/stenting might be possibly performed but it would be much less likely.
No further updates are expected tonight. Given the information at hand, I suspect that the Senator had either a TIA or possibly a mild stroke, and underwent carotid endarterectomy. This would imply that his illness might be mild enough to allow him to serve out his term, at the least, and make a full recovery, at the best. It is always possible, and alas, too common, that early media report are inaccurate or incomplete, so I would not hold this estimate out as definitive. Certainly, tomorrow is promised to nobody, and this is a serious condition for the senator, who is, after all, a young man. Regardless of the political implications, our thoughts go out to him and his family, and hopes for a speedy recovery.
Sounds like it was an AVM -- Arterio-venous malformation. AVMs can cause bleeding inside the brain which are essentially indistinguishable from a stroke, though as we are seeing with Senator Johnson, the treatment is quite different. It is interesting that he was never described as having a headache, which is typically the hallmark of a ruptured or bleeding AVM. Oh well, that's the risk one takes trying to read between the lines of the incomplete or inaccurate media reports.
Presuming that the senator underwent craniotomy to repair the damage, it is a big surgery, and a serious condition, but the outlook for survival and a functional recovery are good. The recuperation period, however, can be prolonged.
13 December 2006
Reading the Tea Leaves
The Senate is controlled by a single vote. A democratic senator, Tim Johnson, D-SD, is stricken ill and rushed to the hospital. Reports conflict. He's having a stroke. It's not a stroke. Will he survive? Will he serve out his term? Will a Republican governor appoint a replacement, flipping control of the Senate to the GOP?
Posted by shadowfax at 9:47 PM
6 comments:
Thank you for helping us to understand what is going on. I pray for his well-being for a number of reasons.ReplyDelete
The media wants to know everything too quickly. I know from my experience as a patient that it just doesn't work that way. Unfortunately, the public can't grasp that tests, analyses, and treatments take time.ReplyDelete
I had a major, but planned surgery, earlier this year. Everything went well, but it was still a good five days before they were sure I would be ok and let me go home. There's a lot of stuff that can pop up.
Thanks for a great analysis.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous12/14/2006 3:43 PM
Prayers for the senator's speedy recovery and his family, of course.ReplyDelete
That said, please allow me to RUB IT IN! I've endured your tainted liberal diatribes for months and months now. By my own choice, of course. Study and understand your adversary, as the saying goes. Ooh how enjoy that it's killing you that the Republican gov. may appoint a REPUBLICAN and restore control back to the REPUBLICAN.
BTW, I'm neither Republican nor Democrat. I'm a registered independent who votes for the lesser of 2 evil candidate.
thanks, doc. i figured you'd have something to say on this topic - a combination of a medical emergency mixed in with politics? has your name all over it!ReplyDelete
if you're working tonight, may this storm not cause too many horrendous issues.
Dana, thanks. So far the storm (and the football game) have kept most folks out of the ED -- which is why I have time to write this.ReplyDelete
Anon 3:43
Um, thanks for reading, I guess. I will say that unless Johnson dies, the seat is not vacant and he cannot be replaced. There are ample historical precedents for senators being incapacitated for months and even years, yet continuing to hold their seats. I'm glad to hear that you're not a Republican, though. It would be pretty hard to live with that sort of shame. But it apparently does make it easier to revel in the prospect of a good man's death. Odd people, these conservatives.


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Controlling dyn.block + constraint parameters and object properties from Microsoft® Excel tables
The DwgText plugin allows you to export/import texts and selected entity properties between your DWG drawing and an Excel or text file.
Time-tracking for Autodesk® AutoCAD® - report time spent on editing DWG. See more information on http://www.cadstudio.cz/jobtime.
Find a word or phrase throughout a whole set of drawings.
Command set of quick selection.
Selection of dynamic blocks by their VISIBILITIES or their LOOKUPS.
Splice (divide) polygon into 2 equal smaller polygons.
Easily convert those old leaders and text to Mleaders!
Pick on a drawing entity and place text in the drawing listing the entity's area.
Convert coordinates from selected Cursor Position, 2D Polylines or 3D Polylines and all Blocks into table format in a drawing.
This utility automatically aligns the locations of selected entities.
QuickAreas is a handy add-in for Autodesk® AutoCAD® that retrieves the area property of multiple polylines and inserts a label with its associated area value.
In-Place is an Autodesk® AutoCAD® plug-in that helps you to rotate and scale drawing objects altogether relative to their own center points as base points.
Calculates the Total Length of multiple objects of selected type(s).
Use Scaffold Counter to easily draw 3D scaffolding models and generate a BOM. Print your BOM and export to Excel, PDF, or Word. Integrated with Avontus Quantify for estimating and materials tracking.
This plug-in can be used with Autodesk® AutoCAD® to copy selected objects thru selected or all layouts.
Search multiple drawings for blocks or texts, grouping and counting them based on their attributes.
Results can both be inserted as a table or exported as XLS workbook. Table tools included.
Export from Autodesk® AutoCAD® to Excel is simple than ever.
Copy and increase the number text
Quick Plotting by Block
Quickly counts and exports information to a Table or Clipboard
Array will be simpler than ever.
Calculates the Total Length of multiple objects of selected type(s). Inserts labels and specification of the selected objects.
Inserts Text Bubbles at end of lines, arcs, polylines, splines and leaders or at any other location of your choice. Renumber the text bubbles quickly as needed.


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FWS ignores wolf supporters in Colorado, Pacific Northwest
No public hearings on wolf delisting proposal in areas with prime habitat
WASHINGTON (Sept. 4, 2013) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that it will not host any public hearings in Colorado, Oregon or Washington on their proposal to strip federal protections for gray wolves across most of the lower 48. All three states are home to excellent, unoccupied wolf habitat and a strong base of support for continued wolf recovery, but the FWS will only hold hearings in Sacramento, Calif., Albuquerque, N.M., and Washington, D.C.
The following is a statement from Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife:
"We are very disappointed to see the Obama administration and the Fish and Wildlife Service ignoring wolf supporters in the some of the nation's best remaining unoccupied wolf habitat. The federal government is essentially turning its back on Americans who want to see thriving wolf populations restored to their states. Those who oppose the Service's premature and short-sighted delisting proposal deserve a chance to voice their concerns. By excluding those voices, the Fish and Wildlife Service is effectively cutting off public debate about the future of wolves in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest.
"There is still much work to be done to ensure that wolves are able to return to western Colorado, northern California and Washington's Olympic peninsula – places that have excellent habitat but no wolves. We need continued commitment from the federal government to ensure safe passage of wolves into these important areas. Now is not the time for the Obama administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, our nation's chief wildlife stewards, to give up on wolf recovery before the job is finished."
Defenders has released an updated report titled "Places for Wolves" that identifies key areas where wolf recovery has not yet occurred. For example, some of the best remaining unoccupied habitat exists in western Colorado, northern California and Washington's Olympic Peninsula, where there are currently no known wolf populations. The report also outlines general conservation strategies that would facilitate wolf recovery across the country.
Further, a poll conducted by Peak Campaigns in Colorado earlier this year showed very strong support for wolf restoration in the state, including 72% who support protecting wolves that cross into Colorado from other states. Additional polling is being conducted this week to gauge support for wolf recovery in California, Oregon and Washington. Results will be available early next week.
On June 6, FWS released its proposed rule to strip federal protections for gray wolves across the entire lower 48, except for Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest. If approved, the delisting proposal could preclude any further wolf recovery, especially in places like Colorado, Utah and California, where there are no known wolf populations. Nascent wolf populations in Oregon and Washington would be managed entirely by both those states with no assistance from the federal government and no federal backstop to prevent state wildlife agencies from significantly reducing wolf numbers in the future.
Read today's notice in the federal register about the public hearings
Read our updated "Places for Wolves" report, including regional factsheets for the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockiesand Southern Rockies
Visit Defenders' Delisting Disaster campaign page
Get the latest wolf news on Defenders blog
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org/newsroomand follow us on Twitter @DefendersNews.


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Give us a call at 888-755-RACK for more information.
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We are sincerely pleased with all that Advocate does for us. We are certainly not a really large client, but the team at Advocate makes us feel as though we are.
Bill Doherty Chair of the Atlantic Nationals car show
Our goal is to make your life easier by providing all the services your business needs to put its best face forward.
Web. Offset. Digital. Whatever your printing need — if you can dream it, we can make it!
Advocate has been built around the needs of our clients. Beyond printing, we offer just about any related product or service you may be looking for. Check us out!


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Babe Bowl
Babe Bowl
Ceramicist Yaara Nir Kachlon believes in enjoying the simple things in life, but never in an ordinary way. Since 2000, she has been producing her line of beautiful yet functional objects, focusing on creating pieces that are inviting to handle and hold. Kachlon graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York.
- Handmade in Israel
- Made with nontoxic elements
- Due to the handmade nature of each piece, slight variations may occur (including the shades of white used for glazing) and should not be considered a defect
- Measures 9.25" in diameter x 4.1" H
- Oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe


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Horus is a template by Scarabaeus that is clean but has some advanced features. The comments are accessed in a drop down part of the page, and images can be navigated through by clicking on either...
A new very simply template with shadow. No calendar, no referer. Work fine only with firefox, Mozilla or Safari. IE don't display the PNG files. See readme.txt for install
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writergrrl needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 12 designs submitted by 5 freelance designers.
Help for Writers
I have been where many unpublished writers are today. It took me seven years to get my first book into print. I could have wallpapered my bathroom with rejection letters from editors. But after one nonfiction book and two fiction books (I am penning a third under contract now), I've learned a thing or two about successful manuscripts, most importantly that the differences between one that stands out and one that gets rejected aren't as major as you'd think. With the right tips for revising and editing -- which neither have to kill a writer nor break the bank -- a book can go from unpublished to unstoppable. The Help for Writers website is all about communicating to writers that I can help get their books out of the slush pile and into editors' hands.
Help for Writers is aimed at all unpublished writers, but I'm specifically targeting the young-adult writer audience (those who write books for readers 12 and up). However, this doesn't mean the website should have a "kid" feel. It should be accessible and friendly, yes, but above all else I want it to look professional. While my specialty is young-adult authors, I do want someone writing historical fiction or a memoir to know that they could use my services as well.
The Help for Writers website will live at http://www.help4writers.com, the URL I purchased. The page should have strong visual identity that's both professional and accessible. I really want writers to understand that I'm an expert, but I've also been in their shoes (many times, actually). I want them to know I can help.
I will need a landing page and navigation for an "About" section, as well as "Pricing," "Contact," and "Testimonials." I will need a designer who can share files with me so that I can reproduce this identity on brochures and business cards.
Ideally, the code will be simple enough for me to update myself. Alas, I'm a word girl, not a technology expert.


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By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Standing in an empty Miami warehouse on May 24 with a man he believed had ties to Osama bin Laden, a dejected Narseal Batiste talked of the setbacks to their terrorist plot and then uttered the words that helped put him in a federal prison cell.
"I want to fight some jihad," he allegedly said. "That's all I live for."
What Batiste did not know was that the bin Laden representative was really an FBI informant. The warehouse in which they were meeting had been rented and wired for sound and video by bureau agents, who were monitoring his every word.
Within a month, Batiste, 32, and six of his compatriots were arrested and charged with conspiracy to aid a terrorist organization and bomb a federal building. On June 23, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales held a news conference to announce the destruction of a terrorist cell inside the United States, hailing "our commitment to preventing terrorism through energetic law enforcement efforts aimed at detecting and thwarting terrorist acts."
But court records released since then suggest that what Gonzales described as a "deadly plot" was virtually the pipe dream of a few men with almost no ability to pull it off on their own. The suspects have raised questions in court about the FBI informants' role in keeping the plan alive.
The plot featured self-proclaimed militant religious leaders who referred to themselves as kings, talked of establishing their own nation inside the United States, called their headquarters an embassy and discussed plans to train their recruits to use bows and arrows. One of their quixotic notions was to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower.
Batiste's father, a Christian preacher and former contractor who lives in Louisiana, told the news media after the indictment that his son was "not in his right mind" and needed psychiatric treatment.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, separating serious terrorist plotters from delusional dreamers has proved one of the FBI's most challenging tasks. The effort is complicated by the bureau's frequent use of informants who sometimes play active roles in the plotting.
U.S. law enforcement officials say they do not have the luxury of waiting for a terrorist plot to mature before they break it up. A delay, they say, could mean that a member of the plot they had not discovered might be able to pull off an attack.
At the news conference, Gonzales acknowledged that Batiste was nowhere near carrying out a terrorist act.
"Our philosophy here is that we try to identify plots in the earliest stages possible, because we don't know what we don't know about a terrorist plot," he said. It is dangerous to evaluate in advance that "this is a really dangerous group; this is not a dangerous group," he added.
But lawyers for the defendants have raised questions about where a government sting ends and entrapment begins. Not only did government informants provide money and a meeting place for Batiste and his followers, but they also gave them video cameras for conducting surveillance, as well as cellphones, and suggested that their first target be a Miami FBI office, court records show.
At the hearing, Batiste's attorney, John Wylie, showed that the FBI's investigation found no evidence that his client had met with any real terrorist, received e-mails or wire transfers from the Middle East, possessed any al-Qaeda literature, or had even a picture of bin Laden.
Asked for a response, a Justice Department spokesman referred a reporter to Gonzales's remarks about the case.
Court documents and testimony at hearings describe how the plot unfolded. Last October, Batiste allegedly contacted a Middle Eastern-born Miami resident who was about to travel to Yemen. The man dealt in fresh produce; Batiste was unaware that he was also a paid informant for the FBI.
The man -- known only as CW1 in court documents -- told his FBI handlers that Batiste had spoken of forming an army to wage jihad and overthrow the federal government. He said Batiste was "willing to work with al Qaeda to accomplish the mission and wanted to travel with [the informant] overseas to make appropriate connections," according to court documents.
The FBI would eventually pay the informant, who had previous arrests for assault and marijuana possession, $10,500 for his services in the Batiste investigation and reimburse him $8,815 for his expenses.
Over the next few weeks, the informant stayed in touch with Batiste and spent a night at the "embassy" where the group was headquartered. He reported seeing guns, karate practice and fighting drills that involved machetes.
By mid-November, the FBI decided to take a more active role. Agents introduced a more experienced Middle Eastern-born informant, CW2, to play the role of a potential financier to prevent Batiste from seeking money elsewhere. CW2, according to court papers, had worked for the FBI for six years and provided information that led to the arrests of two individuals on "terrorist-related charges."
But CW2 soon also took a key role in the plotting, suggesting targets and supplying videotaping equipment, according to the court papers. His reward was $17,000 the FBI paid for his services, and approval of his petition for political asylum in the United States.
At their initial meeting, the second informant said he was there to "evaluate" Batiste's operation and asked what help he needed to carry out his "mission." Batiste drew up a list that included "uniforms, boots, automatic hand pistols, communications equipment like Nextel cell phones, an SUV truck, black in color," according to court documents. Two days later, he asked for more equipment, including a "mini .223 Bushmaster" rifle.
Three days before Christmas, Batiste and CW2 met again, and Batiste talked for the first time about destroying Chicago's Sears Tower, a landmark in a city where he once worked as a FedEx delivery driver and still had associates. Batiste said he would take advantage of the ensuing chaos to liberate Muslims from a nearby jail. They would form an army powerful enough to force the U.S. government to recognize the "Sovereign Moors" -- an offshoot of a religious group, the Moorish Science Temple, to which Batiste claimed allegiance -- as an independent nation.
A week later, when he met with CW2 again, Batiste asked for more firearms, radios, binoculars, bulletproof vests, SUVs and $50,000 in cash. He also invited the informant to join him on a trip to Chicago to meet his "two top generals" and look at the Sears Tower. But the trip never took place.
By the beginning of January, CW2 had offered Batiste a rent-free warehouse large enough for training. In reality, the FBI wanted a new meeting spot because it could not carry out surveillance at the "embassy," which was located in a high-crime area where agents would be easily spotted. At the same time, however, Batiste began to mistrust CW2 because of his numerous questions and ended direct contact with him for a while.
In mid-January, the first informant contacted Batiste's closest associate in the group to report that approval for the plan had come from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen. When bin Laden issued a public statement saying that al-Qaeda would soon strike in the United States, the informant passed word to Batiste that it was a reference to the missions he was planning.
CW2 soon informed Batiste that an explosives expert in Europe -- actually a Scotland Yard agent -- was ready to come and help.
On Feb. 19, Batiste met with CW2 in a videotaped session at the informant's Miami apartment, where he "outlined his plan to wage jihad in the United States," according to court records. Batiste said he would conduct a "full ground war" and "kill all the devils we can," beginning with "taking down the Sears Tower in Chicago and attacking a prison to free Muslim Brothers who are incarcerated."
When Batiste grew impatient for money early in March, CW2 placated him by formally swearing him into al-Qaeda. In a ceremony recorded by the FBI, the informant read an English translation of the al-Qaeda loyalty oath, "welcomed Batiste to al Qaeda and declared that al Qaeda and the Moors were officially united," according to court papers. The informant and Batiste also selected a two-story warehouse as their new headquarters and training site.
On March 15, the FBI wired the warehouse for sound and video. The next night, before a secret camera, CW2 administered an English translation of the al-Qaeda oath to six members of Batiste's group, four of whom called themselves "prince" and two who were addressed as "brother."
The men also face charges of conspiring to aid a terrorist group.
Acting on instructions from the FBI, CW2 told the group that his al-Qaeda bosses were planning to attack FBI buildings in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. He asked that Batiste and his group assist by providing video of the Miami FBI building, "which would be sent back to al Qaeda overseas," according to court papers. He also gave Batiste a video camera.
In late March, driving a van provided by the informant, Batiste and two associates videotaped and photographed the FBI building, as CW2 had requested. They also taped the federal courthouse and detention center, and the Miami police headquarters.
CW2 later expressed interest in meeting Batiste's Chicago associates and said al-Qaeda would pay to have them come to Miami. Batiste called Charles James Stewart, also known as Sultan Khan Bey, and his wife in Chicago, where Stewart leads his own branch of the Moorish Science Temple. With $3,500 in FBI money, Batiste paid for them to come to Miami.
Court papers show that Stewart is a convicted rapist with a long arrest record for other serious crimes. On April 11, with FBI cameras rolling, Stewart and Batiste sat in the Miami warehouse and discussed opening a shop to sell marijuana and drug pipes. They smoked marijuana as they talked, and Stewart revealed his plan to build a Moorish nation of 10,000 people.
Stewart wanted to make his wife, whom he called Queen Zakiyaah, an ambassador of the Moorish nation so she could not be detained by U.S. authorities. He said Moorish soldiers would wear green uniforms and become expert with bows and arrows. They would undergo night training that included jumping from a bridge into water 20 feet below.
But within days, Stewart and Batiste began to have differences over control of the organization and its mission. On April 17, the conflict broke into the open and Stewart tried Batiste under Moorish law on charges of treason and insubordination. He questioned "his relationship and association with the Arabian or Nigerian mafia," a reference to the second FBI informant.
Two days later, Stewart, now running what was left of Batiste's group, was arrested by Miami police after he fired a shot at one of Batiste's supporters.
On May 5, after a local hearing on the shooting, federal weapons charges were lodged against Stewart. Federal agents asked whether he knew of any plots against the United States, and Stewart began talking about Batiste's mission as one that was "starting to get serious," a phrase later cited in court by prosecutors. Stewart became a witness against Batiste and the others.
The defendants have signaled that they will contest the government's actions. At a July 5 detention hearing, Nathan Clark, an attorney for one member of the group, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted E. Bandstra that the ceremony at which the defendants took the al-Qaeda oath was "induced by the government themselves in an effort to set these people up."
"What we see is this entire organization, by the government's own admission, falling apart. . . . Nobody really believes that these people are capable of doing anything," he said.
In the end, Bandstra ruled that the seven would have to remain in jail because the allegations were "disturbing." But he added that "the plans appear to be beyond the present ability of these defendants" and said he expected their attorneys to argue the government's actions at trial.
Researchers Julie Tate and Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.


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Beauty is more than just skin deep.
Michelle Heston and her daughter Shelby Heston of rural Woodburn will be participating as a mother-daughter team in the America's SUPER Pageant.
For Shelby, 16, a sophomore at Clarke Community High School, this will be her first pageant. She will be representing Iowa's SUPER Teen.
Shelby said she was influenced to join a pageant because of her mother participating in pageants.
"Well, like seeing her onstage, she looked happy and stuff, and looked like she was having a good time," Shelby said. "And, she got involved with everyone there and she met new people. And, I thought, maybe, it'd be a good experience to try."
SUPER Pageant
According to the America's SUPER Pageant website, the pageant is a personal development opportunity for women of all ages throughout the world.
The delegates who represent its state, country and international titles have beauty, style, poise, intelligence, confidence and a strong desire to improve the world around them by promoting a personal platform and/or the national Safety Belt Use and Awareness Platform.
The pageant, which is June 21-23 in Hamilton, Mont,. near the historic Bitterroot Valley, gives women the opportunity to advance their personal goals, while acting as a role model to those around them.
America's Super Teen, Miss/Ms./Mrs. competition is directed by Janet Bierer. and is being held in memory of her daughter Allanya DaRay Thorning, who died July 18, 2010, in a car accident.
Delegates may have their own platforms, but also agree to promote seat belt use.
Michelle competed in the pageant last year, and she is no stranger to the pageant system. Michelle was Mrs. Iowa International in 2011 and Iowa's SUPER Mrs. in 2012. She was asked to return this year as Iowa's SUPER Mrs.
Throughout the year, Michelle gets involved with Special Olympics and the Dystonia Foundation based in Chicago because she has dystonia.
Dystonia is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. It affects 300,000 people in the U.S. alone, and there is no cure. But, there is treatment.
As for seat-belt safety, in June, Michelle will be taking the car-seat safety-check course to become a car-seat technician.
In southern Iowa, there's only one car-seat safety checker who is based in Albia, Michelle said.
"I will continue on with this because I really, really think that it's an important issue. My own two daughters, this past fall, were in a serious car accident," Michelle said. "They would have died, they would have went through the windshield, had they not been wearing seatbelts. It really, really was an eyeopener. Accidents really do affect everyone."
Michelle said, in 1992, her best friend, who was also her cousin, was killed in a car accident
When asked what she would say to a person who wasn't wearing a seat belt, Shelby said, "I'd tell them to either put on a seat belt or get out of my car because it's important to buckle up."
Looking forward
With the pageant almost a month away, Shelby said she's looking forward to meeting new people and getting the word out about seat-belt safety.
Also, Shelby has spoken on Pageant Live, an online forum where women can talk about pageants and what has inspired them. It gives tips, including what to wear, public speaking and how to win a pageant. The forum also focuses on women and world issues.
Michelle said, since the pageant last year, she's looking forward to seeing some of the returning queens, who have become good friends. She's also hoping to win the national title, but added, everybody else is, too.
"I'm just looking to expand my horizons and learn more about myself because that's really what pageantry in the last three years has done for me," Michelle said. "It has taught me who I am, which was so much more than what I ever thought I was."


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by Hugh Gilmore
My four-day visit to my friend, the writer John O'Brien, and his wife, Becky, in Green Bank, W.Va., had been both fun and poignant. During the day, John and I would tour and talk, and toward late afternoon we'd sit and talk. John's porch overlooked a lovely valley that spread far and wide. The valley ended at the edge of the sort of forest that tempted you to saunter down there and walk in, just to see what mysteries it held.
One afternoon John said during a quiet moment, as we both gazed across the valley, "Darn, Hugh, look at all that – it's just so beautiful, I don't want to die." I sensed he wasn't so much complaining about the cancer that was eating him as he was trying to express the thought that losing such beauty was more than he could bear.
There's nothing you can say in consolation at such moments, nothing believable, except maybe to agree that the view from his porch certainly was beautiful. It's a lovely state, West Virginia. I guess when you're dying, they all are.
On the train, on the way back to my home in Philadelphia, I thought a lot about the things John and I had discussed. One part of my thinking was devoted to some questions John had raised in his book, "At Home in the Heart of Appalachia." John believed that Appalachia was a state of mind, mostly in the minds of outsiders. He defended country people and their way of life. He felt the extreme mountain "types" depicted in books, cartoons, movies and TV were stereotypes. They were not worth writing about, not when so many decent people were being tarred with the same brush.
An important question for fiction writers is this: If you create a story that stars a mean, drunken, nasty, lowdown, lowlife duck, does that reflect poorly on all ducks? This question, expressed in more cultured language, has a long and bitter history.
Does Chaucer's, or Rabelais', or Moliere's depiction of a rogue priest harm the church? Does Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock demean Jews? Is Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom an "Uncle Tom"? Do fictional drunken Irishmen, thick Poles, conniving Turks, murderous Italians, superficial Frenchmen, et al., insult their respective ethnic groups?
John died in 2004, three years after his quiet masterpiece was published. If he were still around, we could continue our near-weekly telephone conversations and debates. Maybe he would have loosened up, maybe he wouldn't, on this topic. West Virginia had a great champion while he was alive and still does through his lovely book.
So, though one-sided as the argument will now be, I'll press on. And I'll begin by saying I love reading the Kentucky writer Chris Offutt. John dismissed Offutt as "Southern Gothic," a category of writer who deliberately exaggerates the negative backwoods eccentricities of his characters, just to sensationalize – just to make that cash register ring.
Offutt, I must say, does not belong to any category though he's got milieu (in his fiction) to spare. He's just a darned good writer. However, when people (not people, really, but critics and journalists and publishing biz marketers) start lumping contemporary writers together, they toss Offutt into the recently popular category of "country noir" (aka: hillbilly, redneck, Ozark, Appalachian, backwoods noir).
I'd like to just go on and talk about some of the writers who are getting tagged this way nowadays, but a certain problem lies like a fallen timber across that road. We can't avoid this problem anymore: Define "noir." What do we talk about when we talk about "noir"?
The term "noir" (meaning: black, or dark) is of French origin and was first used to describe American films and novels of the 1940s that went beyond ordinary mysteries, through "hardboiled" mysteries, and evolved into a kind of crime story that threw some important previous conventions aside.
First, though a noir story nearly always involves crime, it is not told through the eyes of someone outside the crime. Detectives do not come to the scene and read clues and apprehend the bad guy. The story is told, instead, from the point of view of someone involved in the crime, either as victim, perpetrator, or suspect. There is usually no law or institutional legal force to be counted on.
"Little Caesar," by W.R. Burnett (1929) is widely said to be the first successful noir film. James M. Cain is thought of as the master of the genre. In Jim Thompson's "The Killer Inside Me," (1952), the first-person narrator is the detective assigned to a serial murder investigation, and he turns our to also be the murderer.
Sex and violence also permeate these noir novels and used to be cast as defining attributes of noir. These two aspects of human life, however, saturate nearly every form of contemporary entertainment, so I think their presence can be taken for granted. The key ingredient of noir is that the only moral compass in the story is that of the protagonist – even if he or she is a criminal. Noir puts the shock in "shocking."
By and large, hardboiled and noir fiction had been an urban genre. After all, that's what cities did – they corrupted people. How did corruption come into the countryside? Doesn't all that clean, fresh, unpolluted air help keep people on the straight and narrow? We'll take a look next week.
Hugh says: If you promise to read John O'Brien's "At Home in the Heart of Appalachia," he will give you a free paperback copy. He has four to give away.