text:
Not long ago, Fred Franzia celebrated the sale of the four-hundred-millionth bottle of Charles Shaw, a wine that costs $1.99 at Trader Joe's and is known by the chummy nickname Two Buck Chuck. "Take that and shove it, Napa," he said. "Four hundred million and climbing." Franzia owns forty thousand acres of vineyards, more than anyone in the country; he crushes three hundred and fifty thousand tons of grapes a year, more, he figures, than anyone but his cousin Joseph Gallo, at E. & J. Gallo Winery; and his company, Bronco, has annual revenues of more than five hundred million dollars. Franzia's objective is to sell as much wine as possible—he sells twenty million cases a year now, which makes Bronco the fourth-largest winery in the United States, and would like to reach a hundred million—and his strategy is to charge next to nothing for it. He believes that no bottle of wine should cost more than ten dollars. Jim Carter, a salesman who represents Bronco's products overseas, says that at these prices the competition for wine is bottled water.
Franzia is sixty-five and twice divorced, with silver hair and a smile that steals wickedly across his face. He is not tall, and he is heavy, despite having lost sixty pounds in three months last year. (He has cut out fried food and tries to limit himself to two glasses of wine a night.) His shape is squarish, like a gourmet marshmallow. The way he rolls his eyes, tracing an elaborate, hundred-and-eighty-degree arc, is almost camp. Every several minutes, and sometimes as often as a hundred times a day, Franzia picks up the phone in his office, puts it on speaker, and tells one of his employees to bring him some of his "witch's brew" (instant chicken broth that he drinks to fill himself up), or deliver him his latest stack of mail ("What's this, more money?" he'll say, when the employee hands it over), or get someone on the phone for him to bullshit with. By this he means do business. If the person he seeks—say, his assistant, Barbara, who's been with Bronco since its founding, in 1973, or Anya, the pretty young Russian in accounting he has his eye on and refers to as Mrs. Brain—is not at her desk, he looks momentarily helpless and is likely to mutter, under his breath, "Oh, God damn these women." Then he calls again.
The Bronco operation is vast and complex, and involves nearly every aspect of the wine business. Franzia is both a major seller and a major buyer on the bulk market. He owns several wineries, including one in Sonoma, where he bottles eighteen thousand cases a day, and he acts as a custom winemaker for wineries without his capacity. In 2000, he opened a ninety-two-thousand-square-foot bottling plant in a business park near the Napa airport. With three high-speed lines—one dedicated to Charles Shaw—the plant can bottle twice the amount of the entire Napa Valley. Much of the wine Franzia bottles there is "free-way aged"—it comes up from the Central Valley in tankers and is packaged for quick sale. Although Charles Shaw wine falls under the generic California appellation, the broadest possible designation, it can legitimately be labelled "Cellared & Bottled by Charles Shaw Winery, Napa, CA," a practice that strikes many in Napa as unsavory. "It's called a Zip Code winery," Vic Motto, a business adviser to Napa Valley wineries, says. "The unsuspecting consumer may not realize it's not Napa wine. Fred uses that to his advantage." Franzia says that he built the plant in Napa because that's where so many of the wineries he does business with are based.
Talking about his wine, Franzia can sound like an old-fashioned Democratic populist, though personally he's more of a Darwinian capitalist. "You tell me why someone's bottle is worth eighty dollars and mine's worth two dollars," he says. "Do you get forty times the pleasure from it?" With Charles Shaw, which Bronco introduced in 2002, Franzia invented a category, known as "super-value"—wine that costs less than three dollars a bottle—that is now a significant segment of the marketplace.
Cheap wine—so-called skid-row wine—is nothing new; Franzia's idea was to make cheap wine that yuppies would feel comfortable drinking. He put Charles Shaw in a seven-hundred-and-fifty-millilitre glass bottle, with a real cork, and used varietal grapes—Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and Chardonnay, among others. One way that Franzia keeps the price so low is by acting as his own distributor in California. (Elsewhere, he has to go through a third-party wholesaler, which makes Two Buck Chuck cost roughly $2.99 a bottle.) Another efficiency is the enormous size of the wine lots he buys on the bulk market to put into the Charles Shaw brands. Bronco has an elaborate quality-control system—a high-tech laboratory with mass spectrometers that test for sulfur compounds and yeast byproducts in parts-per-billion measurements—but, partly because of the diverse sources of the wine, absolute consistency is impossible. "It's a moving target," Karen MacNeil, a prominent Napa-based wine writer and educator, told me. Charles Shaw Cabernet, which she had tried on a couple of occasions, had left her unimpressed. "I thought, What's the fuss? This is merely a cheap wine," she said. "I don't understand how people put this in their mouths." James Laube, a senior editor at Wine Spectator and the chief California wine critic for the magazine, gave the 2004 Charles Shaw Merlot an underwhelming 77 points, writing that it was "on the medicinal side of herbal, with thin weedy flavors that give the fruit notes a sourness." The 2005 sauvignon blanc he pronounced "quaffable." But the 2005 Chardonnay, which went on to win a double gold medal at the 2007 California state fair, he described as "clean and intense, with ripe, vivid citrus and pear flavors that end with a refreshing lemony edge." Still, there are some in the Napa Valley who refuse to call Charles Shaw by its cute nickname. To them, it's Two Buck Upchuck.
The recession is likely to bring Franzia more customers. People are drinking more, and cheaper, wine; industry people call it "trading down," a sharp reversal after decades of aspirational consumption. From his own vineyards, Franzia has a ready supply to meet the increasing demand. In good times and bad, owning so many acres allows him to experiment with up-and-coming varietals, changing the character of his vines by grafting new shoots onto old root stock. "We feed the shortages," he says. For instance, after the movie "Sideways" created a boom in Pinot Noir, he converted thousands of acres of vineyards, through grafting, to Pinot Noir. "Every year, the vineyards get refreshed," he told me, explaining that this year he is grafting two thousand acres, or five per cent of his holdings—not much risk, should his bets prove to be losers. "The average farmer would shit in his pants. We're just adjusting to the market." Another time, he said, "I've got twenty-four million grapevines. My vines alone have a three-hundred-and-sixty-million-dollar value, not counting the land. That's why no one can catch us. Checkmate, we won."
Bronco's headquarters, which sit behind a phalanx of shadowy Italian cypresses, past a secure checkpoint, are in Ceres, an agricultural town on the outskirts of Modesto, in the Central Valley—a term that Franzia finds derogatory, as it fails to acknowledge the geological diversity contained within the valley. (His part of the valley, he points out, is the San Joaquin.) It also irritates Franzia when people describe Bronco's facility, with its four hundred and fifty-two stainless-steel storage tanks—including six liquid-oxygen tanks that once held fuel for intercontinental ballistic missiles and are now used to make champagne—as being reminiscent of an oil refinery. The place projects the aura of a faintly hostile sovereign state. Out front, there are three flagpoles. One flies company colors, a maroon-and-gold flag that says "JFJ," with the "J"s standing for Franzia's partners, Joseph and John, who are Fred's older brother and a cousin. The others fly the flag of the home state or country of any visitor, and the American flag. "No California flag—they've screwed us too many times," Franzia says. "We shouldn't fly the U.S. flag, the bastards. They have a felony on us."
In 1994, Franzia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud with Bronco by falsely labelling grapes. He paid a five-hundred-thousand-dollar fine; the company pleaded no contest and paid a two-and-a-half-million-dollar fine. According to the grand-jury indictment, during the late eighties and early nineties Franzia and Bronco misrepresented about a million gallons of wine worth some five million dollars on the bulk market. Franzia was said to have instructed that Zinfandel leaves be scattered over less expensive grapes, a practice that he allegedly referred to by the Whitmanesque euphemism the "blessing of the loads." The judge ordered Franzia to step down from Bronco's board of directors and to relinquish his position as company president for five years; he became the chief financial officer instead. (Today, he is chairman and C.E.O., and Joseph and John are co-presidents.) "It didn't matter," Franzia told me. "The chairs didn't move." As part of his plea, he agreed to perform five hundred hours of community service, which he did at a child-abuse-prevention center in Modesto, under the alias Ralph Kramden, from "The Honeymooners." Before George W. Bush left office, Franzia petitioned him for pardon, and was turned down.
Bronco's offices consist of several large construction trailers that were hauled onto the lot thirty years ago and never improved upon. The walls of the conference room, a drafty connector linking Fred's office to John's, are lined with shelves containing wine bottles, examples of the scores of labels that Bronco has on the market at any given time: Forest Glen, Salmon Creek, Quail Ridge, Crane Lake. The brands, like the names of subdivisions, invoke an invented or, in some cases, an obliterated past: Franzia frequently buys labels and trademarks out of bankruptcy—saving himself the cost of development—and repurposes them when he sees an opening in the market. Usually, he doesn't bother to change the packaging or design—just the wine inside and, of course, the price. (At the moment, he has some twenty brands waiting to be deployed.) Controlling an array of brands allows him to be flexible, opportunistically exploiting supplies of certain varietals as they become available, and temporarily discontinuing a brand should the price of its component wine get too high. Tony Cartlidge, who owns a midsized winery in the Napa Valley and has done business with Franzia over the years, finds the bottles on the shelf unnerving, a kind of warning of the possible future awaiting the vintner who can't make his business thrive. "They're like ghouls staring down at you," he told me.
Several weeks ago, Franzia sat with Jim Carter, the Bronco salesman, in the conference room after lunch. He asked the receptionist to send in his next appointment—a slim man with thinning hair and skittery blue eyes who introduced himself as a wine entrepreneur. "What's our main purpose today?" Franzia asked, shaking his hand.
"I want to partner with you to defeat Gallo and Red Bicyclette." (Red Bicyclette is a popular French wine distributed by Gallo, in the eight-to-ten-dollar range.)
"How do you pronounce that?" Franzia asked mockingly.
"Are you French?"
The man explained that his product was aimed at professional women who buy wine at the grocery store but are embarrassed to show up at a dinner party with Arrogant Frog or Fat Bastard. Franzia, meanwhile, sorted through a tall stack of documents that Barbara had placed next to the phone. The man talked about his wife and daughter, and said he had studied at Berkeley. "I want to participate in the growth of the brand," he said. "I'm happy to give up equity—"
Franzia looked up to interrupt him. "If we do anything, we own at least fifty per cent. Get that clear in your head. That trademark will be jointly owned. If it runs, it runs. If it doesn't, we talk about it." He returned to the mail, scrawling notes with a dull pencil across some pages, and dramatically tearing in half those he didn't need: C.E.O. performance art. Finally, he seemed to notice his visitor again. "O.K., we're not going to issue camping rights," he said. "You gotta get the hell out of here." He promised the man an answer in two weeks.
"Did you think that guy was gay?" Franzia asked Carter as soon as the door closed. (Scared, Carter said.) I asked if anything had impressed him about the man's business plan. "No," he said. "What we'll do is offer him fifty thousand dollars for his packaging and label. It'll sit there and stew."
Carter made a move to go. "You leaving?" Franzia asked. From the shelf, he pulled down a carafe of California Winery, a brand with a palm tree and a Mission bell tower on the label. (He sells a million bottles of it a year to Tex-Mex restaurants in France.) "Say goodbye to Dennis." The carafe was full of ashes. "Dennis was Jim's predecessor, and he designed the package," Franzia explained to me. He went on to praise Dennis's loyalty, of which the decision to bequeath his own bodily remains was the highest expression. He patted the carafe. "Once I get to six, I gotta get a cemetery license," he said.
Just then, a Bronco winemaker poked his head in and said that he had samples from Kirkland Ranch, a large Napa Valley winery that was in bankruptcy proceedings. "They're just bitin' the dust, one by one," Franzia said. "Two hundred and fifty thousand for the trademarks and the labels. Boom, we strike. Clean it right out. We can buy their bulk wine for two dollars a gallon, and put it in the red-wine tank. We're in tough economic conditions. The strong will survive and the dumb ones will die."
He pushed a Mason jar of Jolly Ranchers across the table, and entreated me to have one. "Someone gave those to me," he said. "They could be poisonous. I want to see if you fall."
The Central Valley, where Franzia grew up, is a huge expanse of rich farmland between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range, four hundred miles north to south. At fifteen thousand dollars an acre, land is cheap. The weather is sunny and hot, and the soil is extremely fertile: grape harvests can be as high as twelve tons an acre. But among wine connoisseurs, who believe "marginal situations" to be the best for viticulture, this is not considered a virtue. The Napa Valley, which has rocky, volcanic soil, coastal fogs, and cold nights, yields about four tons an acre, and is some of the most expensive agricultural land in the world. (In 2002, Francis Ford Coppola bought a vineyard there for nearly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars an acre.) "In the Central Valley, grapes grow as if they're on steroids," one Napa wine expert told me disapprovingly. "The grapes ripen too quickly. The conditions are suitable for beverage wine as opposed to fine wine."
In the nineteen-sixties, the winemaker Robert Mondavi began to develop and promote the Napa Valley as a fine-wine-growing region comparable to the best areas in France. Today, Napa is the most prominent wine region in California—indeed, in the United States—although it produces only about four per cent of the state's volume. (The Central Valley accounts for seventy-five per cent.) The common values, and buzzwords, are "artisanal," "hand-crafted," and "site-specific." The wines are correspondingly expensive, commanding up to ten times the price of Central Valley wines on the bulk market.
Franzia likes to point out that the Mondavis—"the original carpetbaggers," he calls them—didn't arrive in California until 1920, by which time his grandfather Giuseppe Franzia had already been making wine there for more than a decade. (The Mondavis, who are old Franzia family friends, started out as grape shippers in the Central Valley; they didn't own a vineyard until 1943, when Robert Mondavi persuaded his father to buy the Charles Krug Winery, in Napa.) Giuseppe Franzia had emigrated from Italy in 1893. When he was ready to marry, the story goes, he wrote to his girlfriend back home and asked her to come to America; she refused, and her friend Teresa went instead. Teresa and Giuseppe had five boys and two girls. After the repeal of Prohibition, while Giuseppe was in Italy, where he spent six months of every year, Teresa told her sons she wanted to start a commercial winery, and borrowed money from the Bank of Italy (now Bank of America). Soon after that, she loaned Ernest Gallo, who had recently married one of her daughters, five thousand dollars, so that he and his brother Julio could start a winery of their own. Into old age, Teresa worked nine-hour shifts on the bottling line, and cooked three meals a day. "She was a goer—nothing stopped her," John Franzia told me. "It's in Fred's genes."
The five brothers, including Fred and Joseph's father, Joseph, and John's father, John, ran the family business, which was called Franzia Brothers Winery. Like other Central Valley winemakers of the era, they catered to the country's taste for sweet wines—port, sherry, muscatel. Fred's family lived with the grandparents on the winery grounds, in Ripon, about ten miles north of Modesto. (One uncle lived in the tank house.) "I grew up working in the vineyard," Fred says. "Weekends, Saturdays, oh, hell yeah." After graduating from Santa Clara University, he began to work full time in sales, which many still consider his greatest strength.
The business expanded, and in the early seventies three of the five brothers sold their shares to a New York investment firm, which took the company public. In 1973, Coca-Cola bought Franzia Brothers Winery. Fred was enraged that the family had lost control of the business. "My dad, he was not a fighter," he says. "He just folded. And he and I went through a period of no communication, I think for five years. I just was pissed." (Today, the Wine Group, the country's second-largest wine company, owns Franzia Brothers Winery, and produces box wine under the Franzia name.) Franzia refused to work for Coke, and founded Bronco instead.
Franzia considers his uncle Ernest Gallo, who died two years ago, just before his ninety-eighth birthday, a mentor; one of the things he most admires about the Gallo business is that it remained independent through generational change. One evening, with the sky streaked pink and blue, Franzia drove past a dense stand of palms, a blotch of darkness surrounded by pale fields, which marks the Gallo homestead. "I ate there a hundred times with him," he said. "I learned from him that, no matter how successful you get, stay grounded. He never wanted to forget he was poor. Bob Mondavi's objective was to forget he was poor. That's the essence of the San Joaquin Valley versus the Napa Valley right there. We are who we are. They want to pretend they're royalty. Bullshit. We're all the same."
Nonetheless, a decade ago Franzia began buying the trademarks of Napa Valley wines. One of these was Napa Ridge, for which he paid forty million dollars. The wine had long been legally produced with non-Napa grapes, owing to a loophole that allowed "geographically misdescriptive" brands to function as long as they were established before 1986. Franzia continued the practice, and also bought, among other labels, Napa Creek and Domaine Napa. In early 2000, as his enormous bottling facility in Napa was nearing completion, James Laube, of Wine Spectator, wrote, "The worst-case scenario is that millions of cases of soulless wine carrying the word Napa could flood the market and dilute the meaning and value of Napa's name. By not protecting the Napa Valley name, Napa vintners are about to live a real-life nightmare."
Within months, the Napa Valley Vintners Association, a powerful trade group that had been working on the issue for several years, had persuaded Governor Gray Davis to sign legislation closing the loophole. The new law was to take effect on January 1, 2001; over the Christmas holiday, Franzia filed a suit against the State of California, claiming that the law was unconstitutional. The case, which was finally concluded in 2006, was decided in favor of the state. Franzia's next move was to bring out a wine made from Napa grapes. He sold it, under the Napa Creek label, for $3.99, and dubbed it Four Buck Fred. "That's when everybody really went nuts," he told me, smiling and rolling his eyes. "We just laugh at them. They're just stupid."
People in Napa are mystified by Franzia's double-pronged provocation: appropriation and disdain. "There's a phrase in wine education—there are Wednesday-night wines and then there are Sunday-night wines," Karen MacNeil, the wine writer, says. "They make Sunday-night wines in the Napa Valley, but every vintner in this valley would argue that we all need Wednesday-night wines. Franzia should just leave it at that—say, 'I make Wednesday-night wines. I'm not going to be making the Armani suit, I'm going to be the clothes purveyor to Target.' Instead, he suggests that there's somehow no valid premise for expensive wines."
The Charles Shaw phenomenon is particularly galling to Napa dwellers, as it involves one of their own. Charles Shaw, the man, epitomized the Napa life style of the glamorous eighties, and its folly. Shaw, handsome and rugged and happy-go-lucky, had spent time in France, and his dream was to make Burgundy—in a region where everyone wanted Bordeaux. His wife, Lucy, was beautiful, and a consummate hostess. They had money; a lovely house, with a tennis court, in the middle of their vineyard; and a bunch of good-looking kids. "They were right out of 'Falcon Crest,' " a local winemaker told me—including their messy divorce, their company's eventual bankruptcy, and the sale of the winery on the courthouse steps. (Charles moved to Chicago and works in I.T., on the night shift; Lucy still lives in the valley.) Franzia bought the brand and its trademark in 1995, during the bankruptcy proceedings. He let it sit until 2002, when there was a large excess of wine and he was able to get bargains on the bulk market. He says that the idea occurred to him when his own surplus forced him to sell wine to a competitor for fifty cents a gallon. A two-dollar wine, particularly one with a historical if not an actual relationship to Napa, was alarming to many Napa winemakers, but it was also a godsend. "What Fred recognized was if we don't purge some of this wine we're going to have an over-all industry disaster," John Barry Jacobs, a vintner who has done business with Franzia over the years, told me. "Fred took the opportunity. The people yelling at him for doing Two Buck were often the same people who sold him the really good juice to make it."
One morning in the middle of March, I met Franzia at the bottling facility, an imposing Mediterranean-style building whose look one Napa winemaker described as "Tuscan warehouse." We sat in an upstairs conference room considerably more lavish than the trailer in Ceres: redwood wainscoting, red leather office chairs, antler chandelier. An assistant brought Franzia a little white ramekin of gorp, which had come from a vending machine in the employee cafeteria. Since losing the right to make "geographically misdescriptive" wines, Franzia has been selling a significant amount of Napaappellation wine: half a million cases a year, he says, which puts him among the top producers in the region. He buys the wine from local winemakers, a source that he calls "the back door." He does the same with prized appellations all over the state: Sonoma, the Alexander Valley. He told me the story of a recent back-door negotiation in which a prestigious winery had approached him about buying some of its surplus wine. "It wouldn't muster up," he said. "The price started at twenty-five dollars a gallon, went down to twenty, then I got them down to ten. I turned them down at ten, they took it to eight. Finally, I offered them a dollar a gallon if they could deliver it to the winery." He bought it, and masked it in a blend.
On the way out, Franzia called my attention to a large oil painting over the reception desk: a farmworker in a vineyard riding a grape harvester, as bright and idealized a portrayal of the mechanized future as any nineteen-thirties socialist propaganda art. Franzia smirked. "The only painting of a grape harvester you'll see in the Napa Valley," he said.
On any given day, Franzia has about two thousand contract laborers in his fields. Last May, a seventeen-year-old named Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez was working near the Bronco headquarters, in a vineyard belonging to West Coast Grape Farming, a company that Fred, Joseph, and John Franzia own. Her job was to train vines to the support wires that run between them. Late in the day, after working in the fields since morning, she became ill. She eventually fell into a coma and died two days later in the hospital. The autopsy report gave "Heat Stroke/Sun Stroke due to Occupational Environmental Exposure" as the cause of death.
The State of California cited the labor contractor that had hired Jimenez, Merced Farm Labor, for a number of violations, including failure to provide accessible drinking water and shade, and fined its owner a record $262,700. United Farm Workers believes that West Coast Grape Farming shares in the responsibility, and, as part of a campaign to call attention to farmworker deaths across the state, urged its supporters to protest Trader Joe's, because of its relationship with the Franzias. Jimenez's mother, who lives in Mexico, has filed a wrongful-death suit naming both West Coast Grape Farming and Merced Farm Labor as defendants. (The defendants deny any culpability.) In late April, the San Joaquin County district attorney submitted a criminal complaint against the owner of Merced Farm Labor and two of her employees, for involuntary manslaughter.
Franzia disputes the claim that water was not available on the day Jimenez died. "That's bullshit," he told me. "We have a wagon continuously bringing water. Her uncle was on the water crew. She was dehydrated and didn't want to drink it." Nonetheless, he is funding the formation of a farm-labor-contractor association whose members will be forced to uphold the rules about water, shade, and safety. Anyone who wants a contract in any of Franzia's vineyards will have to become a member. The intention is to improve working conditions on his properties; the association will also probably create a greater buffer between Franzia's companies and the claims of field workers.
Franzia's vineyards are meticulously maintained. He often drives around in them, making note of bum vines that need to be pulled out, or of places where the wires are exposed. He likes to take his truck straight down the rows; he thinks it's fun for the workers. "Now everybody on the ranch is gonna be pissed 'cause I drove through this crew and I didn't drive through another group," he said, plowing through a vineyard recently. "And when I get stuck, oh, they just go crazy. That's the ultimate. They get to pull me out then. Everyone has a horror story." Scattered through the rows were men in long-sleeved shirts, taking cuttings from the vines and making small bundles to be delivered to the nursery for propagation. "I'm very empathetic with farmworkers, 'cause I think they're mentally considered second- or third-class citizens and it's a goddam crime that people think that way," Franzia said. "They're hardworking human beings. If we didn't have 'em . . .You write this down: if we didn't have 'em, you guys wouldn't be drinking wine out there."
Franzia stopped beside a metal pole with a white box on top: an owl condo, for pest control. Fishing a pair of pliers from the driver's-side pocket, he got out, and told me to follow him. He crouched at the base of the pole and picked up a chalk-white object, like a crushed eggshell, from the ground: an indigestible gopher skull. Then he banged on the pole with the pliers until a lean brown barn owl with a huge wingspan, disturbed from sleep, swooped out and flew low over the fields. I ducked, and quickly got back in the truck. Franzia started giggling like a maniac. "They come out, usually they lay one about that long," he said, making an exaggerated splat sound. A little later, he said, "I wish that owl would've shit on you. You'd have something to talk about the rest of your life." He laughed until tears came into his eyes.
He drove on, showing me the portable bathrooms, the water trucks, the shade tents, with stakes hammered deep into the ground so the wind wouldn't blow them over. The vineyards changed from Pinot Noir to Pinot Grigio. "I think that lady went down somewhere in this area," he said. "You see those little green ties? They were tying them to the wires. It was the easiest job we have on the ranch." He said that there was a fire department a couple of miles away. "They could've had a paramedic out here in two minutes, and they didn't want 'em. It turned out she was illegal, and they didn't want to get caught. She was using false papers." His voice was hard: whatever empathy he might have felt for the farmworker in general had vanished in the particulars.
We arrived at a gate separating the vineyard from the road. It was locked. "Oh, God damn it," Franzia said, and pulled the wheel sharply left to drive around it. Barrelling through a deep ditch, he started to hum a little tune. "Born to Cheat . . . " he sang. When he hit the pavement, he crowed, "O.K.! We're out. Beat the gate system."
Franzia has five children—two sons and three daughters—from his first marriage, to his high-school sweetheart, which ended in 1979. His sons work at Bronco (Carlo, a former Navy SEAL, is head of security and carries a Glock, for the protection of company executives); to his daughters—a pediatrician, a housewife, and Gia, "the baby," an aspiring actress in Los Angeles—he assigns a vague public-relations role. For the past two decades, he has lived in a condominium in Modesto. For just as long, he has been imagining his dream house, on a small rise in the middle of the first piece of vineyard land that Bronco bought, not far from its headquarters. He started building the house a year and a half ago, and is self-conscious about the extravagance. "People see this and they'll say, 'Oh, Jesus, here we go,' " he said. He says he's doing it for the kids.
We drove down an avenue of trees to a clearing before a large man-made lake. Beside it was a pool house, and there are plans for an underground bowling alley, the fulfillment of a promise to one of his granddaughters. The main house—single-story, and contemporary in design—is across the lake. When it's finished, it will be trimmed in copper, glass, and Blue Mountain granite. We went inside; the ceilings in the central room are twenty feet high, and the walls are lined with redwood from old wine barrels. Franzia calls the compound Redwood House.
"This is my little girl's, my baby's corner," Franzia said, leading me back to Gia's wing of the house. "She's not married, so she gets to pick, and she wants to be right across from Dad." He showed me her dressing room and bathroom. "She had to have a special-sized bathtub, so we changed this all around," he said indulgently. "Low windows there so nobody can peek at her titties." Across an atrium was the master suite, and a room that Franzia will use as an office, at least for the time being. He is thinking that he might like to get married again. "It could be a baby room, if I have a young enough girl who wants to have babies. I love kids. I love young ladies."
On Valentine's Day, Franzia anonymously sent twenty-five red roses to Gia and twenty-five to his second ex-wife, a former manicurist from Modesto, with whom he has lately been considering a rendezvous. Anya, in the Bronco accounting department, got fifty. It was part of an ongoing campaign. "I don't know if I'm gaining on it," he said. "I'm still trying. I have to be very careful. You can't push 'em too hard, especially when you work with 'em. She's not a climber—that's why I like her. She wants to make money for herself. I could be fleeced so easily."
That night, we went to Ciao Bella, a dinky Italian place in Modesto, with a plastic grapevine on a trellis and white Christmas lights in any season, where Franzia eats dinner most nights of the week. We entered through the back door, because, he said, he values his privacy and everyone tries to talk to him when he walks in. Once inside, however, he immediately stopped at a table where some people he knew were eating, interrupting their dinner to say hello. They were drinking Salmon Creek, a Bronco wine.
Franzia sat down at his regular table, and a waitress, a very slender woman named Erin, came over. Franzia ordered a bottle of Silver Ridge Chardonnay, which is currently his favorite Bronco wine. He recommended the coconut shrimp. They went nicely with the Chardonnay—tangy, oaky, not half bad. Franzia set aside a shrimp for Erin, and nagged her to eat it. After much cajoling, she sat down, perching lightly on the edge of a chair. "I feed this girl every time I'm in here," he said. "She works so hard. I can't put any meat on her bones."
To reach his goal of a hundred million cases a year, Franzia will need to build a glass factory where he can make his own bottles. (Gallo has one.) He is just waiting until he has enough cash. "The lenders would give us anything we want," he said. "But you won't see me borrowing money. We're so solid it's scary."
The next day was chilly, and the sky was full of dark-gray rain clouds. Sitting in the trailer, wearing a dark-green sweater and turtleneck, Franzia went back over the most important points, the things he really wanted me to understand. "We make wine for the people," he said. "Napa and all their funny money—they're all getting knocked off their thrones. I'm not falling. I'm built on rock." When the rain started, he walked outside, looked up, smacked his lips, and said, "Money." ♦


text:
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 29, 2012) - Deveron Resources Ltd. ("Deveron" or the "Company") (TSX:DVR) is pleased to announce that it has completed the terms of its option agreement and has now earned a 100% interest in its Nechako Property, subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty payable to the underlying vendor, and a 1% net smelter return royalty payable to Greencastle Resources Ltd. ("Greencastle").
Earlier in 2012, Greencastle assigned all of its right, title and interest in the underlying option agreement on the Nechako property to Deveron in consideration of Deveron issuing to Greencastle 2,431,090 units of Deveron and Deveron granting to Greencastle a 1% net smelter return royalty on the Nechako Property.
The Fall field work program at the Nechako Property has now been completed and rock, soil and silt samples are being prepared for analysis. The Property, covering approximately 13,000 hectares (28 claims), is located approximately 100 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, central British Columbia, in the developing Blackwater gold camp, where New Gold Inc. has recently delineated an open pit resource of over 10 million ounces of gold.
In addition, the Company announces that it has granted 1,000,000 stock options to officers, directors and consultants, pursuant to the Company's stock option plan at an exercise price of $0.25 per share, expiring on November 29, 2017. This stock option grant is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise events or circumstances unless required by applicable securities laws.
Shares Outstanding: 11,794,505
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contact Information:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mirror server info
Download of apng2gif-1.8-src.zip (apng2gif-1.8-src.zip ( external link: SF.net): 476,207 bytes) will begin shortly. If not so, click link on the left.
File Information
Where do you want to go next?
Your rating on APNG to GIF
Project Description
This program converts APNG animations into animated GIF format. Wu64 quantization is used for true-color files. Transparency is handled either using a threshold, or composed over chosen background color. CLI version is OS-independent, GUI version is available for Windows. Another converter: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gif2apng


text:
The diagram below shows the creation of the EAD in Archivists Toolkit (AT) during processing. The archivists consider the copy in Archivists Toolkit to be the copy of record; however, we have found that reloading EADs containing links to component items modifies the links, and reexporting modifies them further. So we have altered our workflow. While the EAD in AT is the copy of record for analog material, the delivery EAD (containing the links to digitized content) will be stored separately. Every time EADs are modified by the archivists, they must go through the item-level linking process again.
1) EADs are exported by archivists from Archivists Toolkit and placed in the "new" or "remediated" folders in the share drive S:\Special Collections\Digital_Program_files\EAD directory.
2) Every Friday night, a script called "getEADs" (File:GetEads.txt -- this script no longer places the EADs live in Acumen) picks up these EADs, makes a datestamped directory in the "uploaded" directory there on the share drive (for example, "uploaded_new_20100803"), copys the EADs to the corresponding "uploaded" directory (so the archivists will know what was picked up when), and then places them in an "notInDbase" directory on libcontent (under /srv/deposits/EADs/).
3) "eadModsTester" (in/srv/scripts/eads/) looks for which ones we can link, outputs several lists of problems found, and creates FaList which is used by next script, of what can (and cannot) be linked.
4) "linkInContent" uses the FaList created by eadModsTester, and pulls EADs from /srv/deposits/EADs/notInDbase/. This script goes through the Acumen directories, reading box and folder values in the item-level MODS, hunts through the appropriate EAD to match up the location, creates PURL links and enters them into the EAD, puts unlinked version in /srv/deposits/EADs/unlinked, linked version in /srv/deposits/EADs/notInDbase and LINKED folder (in /srv/scripts/eads) after backing up previously linked version (datestamped) into backups (also in /srv/scripts/eads/).
Once a month, Jody collects all online EADs for linking in newly digitized content. After placing them in a single directory, she modifies a line in eadModsTester and linkInContent to point to this directory, and runs those two scripts (steps 3 and 4). Step 5 follows this monthly process.
5)THIS STEP FOR LINKING NEWLY DIGITIZED CONTENT into EADs previously uploaded. If any linking is done (previous step) linkedEADlive will copy the EAD into Acumen, place a copy in the /srv/deposits/EADs/new directory for uploading to the archive, and will give the archivists a copy over on the share drive, and also load a copy into the /srv/deposits/EADs/linked directory. Remaining EADs in notInDbase may be discarded, as they are old copies that did not link.
Note: Currently lists of problems found are being copied to the archivists area under S:\Special Collections\Digital_Program_files\EAD\Feedback into the summaries and byEAD subdirectories. What needs to be done here is a sorting: what changes need to be made to the EAD; what EADs must be linked by hand (already contain unlinked items); what collections require MODS remediation (item level metadata repair); and script errors.
5 alternative) THIS STEP FOR NEW or CHANGED (by archivists) EADS ONLY. "EadsToDbase" pulls from /srv/deposits/EADs/notInDbase/, updates the database (including replacing changed title and abstract); the values in the database appear in the online collection list (collection list), so it also puts the EADs live online in Acumen, and moves the copy from notInDbase to /srv/deposits/EADs/new.
6) "waitCheckEADs" checks to see if the EAD has changed from the last version cached. If not, it is deleted from the deposits directory. If so, it checks to see if this collection has been released into LOCKSS (and on what date). If it has, the script asks if you are going to go ahead and archive; if you say yes, the script will copy the existing manifest to one ending in "_LOCKSS_$date" where $date is today's date. We need this because LOCKSS collects each version of manifest, and we need to know how many bytes we have in the preservation architecture, as it impacts our costs. Try NOT to archive to a collection frequently, or within 2-3 weeks of release to LOCKSS.
7) Remove RelocateManifests. Uncomment $test = 1 in relocatingEads and run it.
8) Check moveme & relocateManifests to verify that the manifests will be written correctly, and verify in move me that the Eads are going to be copied over to the correct place.
9) Comment back in $test = 1; and re-run relocatingEads."relocatingEads" pulls from /srv/deposits/EADs/new and locates where the EADs go in the archive, versioning as necessary and linking them into existing LOCKSS manifests, or creating new ones as needed.
10)run Checkem to verify that they have been copied over correctly and deleting the Eads in the deposits.
11) Check directory to make sure nothing is left /srv/deposits/EADs/new. If anything is left in this location, there is a problem and you need to figure out what it is.
Some discussion of the linking from EADs, instructions, and implementation, can be found in Linking_out_from_EADS. We are currently in the throes of analysis and repair of data entry in both the item-level metadata and the EADs to enable automated even more linking to digitized content from the finding aid.
updated 7/1/11 Jlderidder


text:
We don't need to tell you how hot Mayrin Villanueva is. That's what this galler is for. What we are here, however, is to provide you with a little background on her. Mayrin was born in Mexico City in 1970, meaning that she's 40 (40!). Oh yeah, she's also the mother of two children, which qualifies her for MILF status. Like many of the hot ladies we feature on Tu Vez, Mayrin was able to use her good looks to get on television, where she appeared in several telenovelas. In 2007, she was almost cast as a "bond girl" for the film Quantum Of Solace but wasn't because the makers of the film clearly have no taste in women.
More About: Actress,Mayrin Villanueva,Mexico,Telenovela


text:
Frank McCourt told a jury Friday that although he considered fan security during and after games to be a top priority when he owned the team, he was not heavily involved in either the implementation of such policies nor the hiring of individuals assigned to that task.
Testifying in the trial of Bryan Stow's negligence suit against him and Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, McCourt said he also was not aware that parking lot lighting at Dodger Stadium had not been upgraded for about 30 years before Stow was attacked in Lot 2 by two Dodger fans on March 31, 2011.
McCourt said he did not know that two watchtowers from which lots 1 and 2 could be observed were unmanned when Stow was attacked. "I don't recall any specific conversations about watchtowers," McCourt testified.
Questioned by Stow attorney David Lira, McCourt said he was unaware that Francine Hughes, who in 2011 was vice president of stadium operations and largely responsible for fan security, had a background in property management before she was hired by the Dodgers.
"I wasn't familiar with her resume," McCourt said, adding he expected that people who worked for him were "capable, competent people."
McCourt said he was not involved in the decision to significantly reduce the number of uniformed Los Angeles police officers on opening day 2011 from 2009-10 levels. "I trust the people empowered to do the job to do the job without limitations," he said.
While he was not directly involved in the decision to have many sworn off-duty police officers wear polo shirts rather than LAPD uniforms, McCourt had no problem with the change. "I did not object to it," he said.
Rialto residents Louie Sanchez, 31, and Marvin Norwood, 33, pleaded guilty in January to assaulting Stow and were sentenced to eight- and four-year terms, respectively. McCourt filed a cross-complaint against both men that is being tried along with Stow's case.
Defense attorneys said Sanchez, Norwood and Stow are to blame for the attack. They assert Stow was drunk, gestured toward his assailants and made sarcastic remarks. The lawyers also noted the combined security force of sworn peace officers and private guards was the largest ever for a Dodger opening-day game.
McCourt owned the team from 2004 to 12.
Stow, 45, has not been in court for more than a week. He filed his lawsuit in May 2011.
After he testified, McCourt told reporters he "appreciated the opportunity to be able to address the jurors today regarding the Bryan Stow matter.
"And like all Dodger fans, I was appalled at the criminal behavior of Sanchez and Norwood. And make no mistake, they're the parties responsible for this tragic incident."


text:
Cuban Link - Your Not Hood [Diss To DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, & Rick Ross)[Audio Only]! Hes Back?
DISS to Dj Khaled, Fat Joe, And Rick Ross, THEY AINT HOOD!! LMFAO - CUBAN LINK GoIN IN HARD! LOOKS LIKE HES BACK!&IP=184.108.40.206
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Four ECU Golfers Named Scholar All-Americans — Strandberg, Hardison & Wolte for 2nd-Straight Year
07/07/2012 10:42
● By Kathryn
Julia Strandberg, a senior on the ECU Ladies Golf Team
East Carolina senior Julia Strandberg, redshirt sophomore Faith Hardison, sophomore Fanny Wolte and freshman Katie Kirk have been named 2011-12 NCAA Division I All-American Scholars according to an announcement by the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) Friday.
For the trio of Strandberg, Hardison and Wolte, it marks their second-straight year being named all-american scholars, while Kirk becomes the 10th Pirate honoree. It is also the third time that four Pirates have been named all-american scholars in the same year (2006-07 and 2011-12).
"I'm very proud of the hard work by our team in practice, on the course and in the classroom," said ECU Head Coach Kevin Williams. "These four student-athletes have achieved a very high honor and I'm excited that their hard work has been rewarded."
The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent of all college athletics. The student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.50 grade-point average and have competed in at least 50 percent (Division I) or 66 percent (Division II & III) of the institution's regularly-scheduled competitive rounds during the year.
Strandberg, who recently earned her degree in communications, was a 2008-09 Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal winner, three-time C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient and seven-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member.
On the course, she participated in 11 events for the Pirates, where she posted a 77.72 stroke average and claimed a pair of top-20 finishes. She became the eighth Pirate in school history to take home medalist honors at an event when she claimed the rain-shortened Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup with a 1-over par 145 (75-70). In her first event of the season, she took home third place at the Golfweek Program Challenge with a 3-over par 54-hole total of 216 (68-76-72), which established a new career-low round. Strandberg's opening round of 68 was also a personal-best 18-hole score and earned her the first of two-straight C-USA Golfer-of-the-Week awards (Sept. 14 and 21).
Hardison appeared in all 12 events during the 2011-12 year where she owned a 76.54 stroke average in 35 rounds. The Jamesville, N.C. native recorded three top-20 placements including a share of fifth place (personal-best) at the UNCW Lady Seahawk Challenge with a career-low even par 216 (71-72-73). Hardison also claimed a share of eighth place at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown (219) and a share of 17th at the Pinehurst Challenge (223). Off the course, Hardison is a two-time C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal winner, three-time C-USA Honor Roll recipient and six-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member.
Wolte closed out her second season with the Pirates with a 75.20 stroke average, second-best on the team, and took home second-team All C-USA honors. She recorded a pair of top-10 and six top-20 finishes which included a share of sixth place at both the Golfweek Program Challenge and Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup. In 23 career events, she has posted 13 top-20 finishes and has a stroke average of 75.16, which ranks second all-time at East Carolina. In the classroom, she is a two-time C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal winner, two-time C-USA Honor Roll recipient, four-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member and was named to the 2012 C-USA All-Academic Team.
Kirk closed out her rookie season earning Third-Team All C-USA honors posting a 77.69 stroke average and participating in her first NCAA Regional. In 12 events, she recorded a pair of top-5 placements, finishing fourth at the UNCW Lady Seahawk Classic with a 1-over par 217 (71-74-72) claiming her first career C-USA Golfer-of-the-Week accolade. Off the course she was C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal Winner, C-USA Honor Roll recipient and is a two-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member.
In the 12-year history of the Lady Pirates golf program, 10 golfers have tallied 25 NGCA All-America Scholar honors.
East Carolina National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholars
Abby Bools (2007-10)
Colleen Estes (2008-11)
Faith Hardison (2011-12)
Jessica Hauser (2005-07)
Katie Kirk (2012)
Lene Krog (2006-07)
Margret Mitchell (2002-04)
Julia Strandberg (2011-12)
Michelle Williams (2005 and 2007)
Fanny Wolte (2011-12)
Article by Malcolm Gray.


text:
IGO search
The project was started by David Oldenkamp, International Documents Librarian at Indiana University. The IGO search is done with GoogleCSE. The list of urls for the search came from the Northwestern University IGO site. For questions, comments, suggestions or to submit an IGO to add to the search, email David or James Jacobs, International Documents Librarian at Stanford University.
What it is: Using Google Co-op, fed 392 base URLs of IGOs into the search engine. The growing spreadsheet of urls can be found here. When the search engine is used by a patron, the terms are searched across all of the websites, so if you have the core url: http://www.un.org/ in the database, the search engine will search all of the websites that share the core http://www.un.org/ URL. Here's the URL for the IGO Search Engine.
We've also started work on an Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) custom search engine. Here's the of NGOs. Thanks to David Oldenkamp and Barbara Celone for their work on the NGO search engine. Here's the URL for the NGO Search Engine.
Adding IGO search to HTML pages
If you want to include the IGO Search (Google) to your webpage, then feel free to copy and paste this code into your webpage:
<!-- Google CSE Search Box Begins --> <form id="searchbox_006748068166572874491:55ez0c3j3ey" action="http://www.google.com/cse"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="006748068166572874491:55ez0c3j3ey" /> <input name="q" type="text" size="40" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:0" /> </form> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=searchbox_006748068166572 874491:55ez0c3j3ey"></script> <!-- Google CSE Search Box Ends -->
Adding NGO search to an HTML page
<script src="http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/coop/api/012681683249965267634/cse/q4g16p05-ao/gadget&synd=open&w=320&h=75&title=Non-governmental+Organizations+Search&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script>
Examples of Other Google Co-op Searches
- "Government Watchers" search engine searches "about 55 sites whose focus could be loosely categorized as 'Government Watchers'"


text:
- Yield
- Makes 2 Loaves
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- 2 1/2 cups warm water (105°F. to 115°F.)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 envelope dry yeast
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
- 3/4 cup toasted shelled sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 cups (about) bread flour
- 1 large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
- Cook rice in medium pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 40 minutes. Drain. Cool completely.
- Stir warm water and honey in large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over, let stand until foamy, about 8 minutes. Add rice, whole wheat flour, dry milk, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, wheat germ, oil and salt and stir until well blended. Gradually mix in enough bread flour to form dough. Cover dough and let rest 15 minutes.
- Turn out dough onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more bread flour if sticky, about 10 minutes. Oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat. Cover bowl with clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Line large baking sheet with parchment. Punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly oiled surface. Knead briefly. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Roll each piece between work surface and palms into 12x3-inch loaf. Transfer loaves to oiled baking sheet, spacing evenly. Cover with kitchen towel. Let rise in warm area until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Brush loaves generously with egg mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sunflower seeds. Using sharp knife, cut 3 slashes crosswise in surface of each loaf. Bake until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, 35 minutes. Transfer loaves to racks; cool.(Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic and store at room temperature.)
Related Video
Nutritional Info
- Calories327
- Carbohydrates51 g(17%)
- Fat9 g(15%)
- Protein11 g(23%)
- Saturated Fat2 g(11%)
- Sodium297 mg(12%)
- Polyunsaturated Fat2 g
- Fiber4 g(17%)
- Monounsaturated Fat4 g
- Cholesterol22 mg(7%)


text:
first amendment: an overview
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. See U.S. Const. amend. I. Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief. The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Court as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress. Furthermore, the Court has interpreted, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as protecting the rights in the First Amendment from interference by state governments. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. It enforces the "separation of church and state." Some governmental activity related to religion has been declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. For example, providing bus transportation for parochial school students and the enforcement of "blue laws" is not prohibited. The free exercise clause prohibits the government, in most instances, from interfering with a person's practice of their religion.
The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government. The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. A less stringent test is applied for content-neutral legislation. The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. For more on unprotected and less protected categories of speech see advocacy of illegal action, fighting words, commercial speech and obscenity. The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicate a message. The level of protection speech receives also depends on the forum in which it takes place.
Despite popular misunderstanding the right to freedom of the press guaranteed by the first amendment is not very different from the right to freedom of speech. It allows an individual to express themselves through publication and dissemination. It is part of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression. It does not afford members of the media any special rights or privileges not afforded to citizens in general.
The right to assemble allows people to gather for peaceful and lawful purposes. Implicit within this right is the right to association and belief. The Supreme Court has expressly recognized that a right to freedom of association and belief is implicit in the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. This implicit right is limited to the right to associate for First Amendment purposes. It does not include a right of social association. The government may prohibit people from knowingly associating in groups that engage and promote illegal activities. The right to associate also prohibits the government from requiring a group to register or disclose its members or from denying government benefits on the basis of an individual's current or past membership in a particular group. There are exceptions to this rule where the Court finds that governmental interests in disclosure/registration outweigh interference with first amendment rights. The government may also, generally, not compel individuals to express themselves, hold certain beliefs, or belong to particular associations or groups.
The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances guarantees people the right to ask the government to provide relief for a wrong through the courts (litigation) or other governmental action. It works with the right of assembly by allowing people to join together and seek change from the government.
menu of sources
federal material
U.S. Constitution
- First amendment
- Fourteenth amendment
- CRS Annotated Constitution: First Amendment
Federal Judicial Decisions
- Supreme Court:
- Historic Constitutional Law Decisions
- Recent First Amendment Decisions - Religion, Press, Speech
- liibulletin Oral Argument Previews
- Recent U.S. Court of Appeals Decisions on: Religion, Press, Speech
State Material
State Judicial Decisions
- N.Y. Court of Appeals:
- Appellate Decisions from Other States
International Material
Conventions and Treaties
Other References
Key Internet Sources
- Freedom of Expression (National Endowment for the Arts)
- Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
- Christian Law Association
- First Amendment Alert!
- EFF Legal Guide for Bloggers
- LII sitewide: First Amendment
Useful Offnet (or Subscription - $) Sources
- Good Starting Point in Print: John E. Nowak, Ronald Rotunda, Constitutional Law, Chapters 16 & 17, West Group, 7th ed. (2004)
- LII Downloads
other topics


text:
Lords of Middleton is a member of the Guild of Q Butchers, which means that you, the customer, can be confident that the meat you buy from us is properly stored, displayed and handled prior to purchase.
All members of the Guild of Q Butchers are committed to maintaining and promoting the fine traditions of top class butchery and have to pass regular and rigorous inspections of their premises, working practices and hygiene standards to qualify for Q Butcher Status. So you can be sure that your Guild of Q Butcher really is one of Britain's best.
The natural environment of the Scottish countryside provides that special ingredient which gives SCOTCH PREMIER products that unique flavour and wholesomeness.
The quality of the pure clean waters from Scotland's mountain streams is legendary. Add to that the lush natural pastureland, rich in minerals and nutrients and the clean unpolluted air and you have the ideal conditions for rearing high quality livestock.
We stock a superb range of pâtés supplied to us by the Patchwork Traditional Food Company. Renowned for imaginative and quite superb flavours, this range of pâté contains no pork, using fresh chicken livers as a base for a blend of many fine ingredients, enlivened with herbs and spices.
"Patchwork pâtés for that traditional taste"


text:
The day of the member thank-you party last week at Nautilus Health Center in Huntsville, TX, the main air conditioner broke.
Such was the life for the club's owner, Matthew Wagner, who threw the party after announcing he had sold the club to Chuck and Susan Miller of nearby Iron Works Health Club. After 33 years of club ownership, Wagner is walking away—but not before replacing two compressors.
"In a small business environment, one of the keys is being on location and being able to take care of those day-to-day details," Wagner told me last week. "Over the years, my passion ebbed a bit and I didn't enjoy the day-to-day as much as I used to. One of the things that was very important to me was to find individuals who had the same passion for it that I thought I had years ago. [The Millers] personified that."
As of last Friday, Wagner had completed the sale. But don't feel too badly for him. Armed with a doctorate in kinesiology, Wagner is an assistant professor at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, and with two years to go before he's tenured, he's been busier than ever at the university. Oh, and he's only 55.
That's right, in 1980, at the ripe age of 22, Wagner bought Nautilus Health Center, which had only been in operation for three years. Wagner had worked there for about a year or two, and after the manager quit, the owner was going to shut the club down. With the aid of a partner, his family and the bank, Wagner bought the club on "a wing and a prayer," he says.
Wagner's gumption reminds me of a young Joe Cirulli starting out in Gainesville, FL. Cirulli has gone on to have a stellar career, and he was our Lifetime Achievement Award winner last year.
"That guy is me but times 10," Wagner says of Cirulli. "He was an influence on my career in many ways."
The other connection is Nautilus. Cirulli knew Nautilus founder Arthur Jones personally and spoke at several of his conferences. Wagner says back in the 1970s, if a club bought equipment from Nautilus, the owner could name the club Nautilus, too.
"I believed in Arthur and his principles, as eccentric as he was," Wagner says. "In my opinion, the guy really knew what he was doing."
Wagner never really considered expanding Nautilus Health Center, a 15,000-square-foot club with two swimming pools and 2,100 members, into multiple clubs. Huntsville is a town of about 38,000, and a good portion of the population comes from the university and the state prison.
"[Huntsville has] a lot of inmates that aren't going to become members of the club," Wagner says.
Through it all, Wagner has seen it all. He met his wife at the club. He also has spoken at industry trade shows, including Club Industry.
Of all the success stories at Nautilus Health Center, there have been tragedies, too. Two members in Wagner's 33 years have had cardiac episodes at the club and later died.
"Both of their families thanked us for all we did," Wagner says, "because they felt that their loved ones would not have been around as long if they hadn't been working out with us, which was huge to us, obviously."
Mainly, though, Wagner will miss helping people get healthier and the impact he and his staff have had on improving their lives. And aside from the air conditioners breaking or the whirlpool needing fixing ("If you have a MacGyver on staff, you'll do well," Wagner says), there are so many positives to owning a health club.
"It's been a ride, that's for sure," Wagner says. "The highs are high and the lows are low, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."


text:
At Alliant International University, we recognize many service members have gained knowledge and experience that can be applied to an academic curriculum. We will help you apply the maximum transfer credits possible to your Alliant degree program.
Alliant International University offers several opportunities to demonstrate non-traditional learning and will allow up to 90 units of coursework from 4 sources:
- Credit for Military ExperienceAdvanced Placement Examinations (AP Exams)
- College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
- Extension Courses
- Military Service
AP Exams
Credit is generally awarded for scores of 3, 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Examination.
College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
Alliant International University awards transfer credit for military training and experience evaluated for college equivalency by the American Council on Education.
Extension Courses
Undergraduate university level extension courses completed at a regionally accredited institution of higher learning can be considered for transfer credit. The extension course must be similar in content to a regular course offered. No more than 20 semester units of extension credit with at least an earned 2.0 (C) or better may be applied toward undergraduate degree requirements.
Credit for Military Experience
Up to 27 transfer credits may be earned through Military Experience. As a member of Service Members Opportunity Colleges (SOC), we have designed our transfer credit policy to minimize the loss of credit and avoid duplication of course work while maintaining the academic integrity and educational effectiveness of our programs.
Alliant International University considers both military service and military coursework for academic credit using the guidelines issued by the American Council on Education (ACE). We refer to the ACE "Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Services" when determining applicable transfer credit for military experience and training.
Veterans, active-duty personnel, Guard and Reservists applying for admission to Alliant International University may be granted academic credit on a case-by-case basis upon evaluation of official military transcripts. These include Sailor/Marine ACE Registry Transcript System (SMARTS), Army/ACE Registry Transcript System (AARTS), Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) and United States Coast Guard transcripts.
Course equivalencies and credit hours awarded for a particular Alliant degree are determined by our schools and/or academic departments. Credit hours may be awarded for specific courses toward degree requirements or as elective credit. The number of credit hours awarded will be determined by the school and/ or academic department.


text:
The Best of Jim BrickmanJim Brickman/arr. Bullock - Alfred Publishing Belwin Division
Click to review
The American songwriter and pianist, Jim Brickman, is noted for his Gold and Platinum status in the recording industry, his Grammy, Songwriter of the Year, and Dove awards, his solo piano compositions, and collaborations with well-known performers. This unique arrangement of three hits; The Gift; Valentine and Angel Eyes, is evidence of this mastery.
Select a Product
My Library
Powered by Rating-System.com


text:
Possible Duplicate:
What are some at-home options for pest control?
I know one way to kill cockroach but not centipedes would be to dip pieces of potato in boric acid put them around the house in mesh bags. A way to prevent those that crawl around the house would be to wipe the boric acid onto the floor since it would leave crystals of pesticide. Are there any more effective treatment for these?


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Wife is Native Chinese Teacher - Where to go? Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Wife is Native Chinese Teacher - Where to go? Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Asia Forum View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message maruiJoined: 25 Feb 2004Posts: 66Location: UK Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 1:03 am Post subject: Wife is Native Chinese Teacher - Where to go? Im a UK national currently working as a middle school teacher in Hangzhou, China - 2years experience (Business English, Mid-School, Teacher training -China, Primary School Teaching Assist-UK). My wife is native Chinese with a 4 year teaching degree & IELTS 7.0. Recently we got an offer for us both to teach in Korea (Me to teach English, her to teach Chinese/English) and were assured by the school in question that she would have no problems getting a work visa. The Korean deal wasn't so bad...she would have her airfare paid for but she would only be paid 600,000 won a month compared to my 2,000,000 for a 25 hour week (twice as much as a normal teacher here in China though!). This offer although badly timed (We're not free until October) got us both thinking about Korea and other places in Asia we could teach. So if anyone has any more information about teaching Chinese in Korea, Japan, Singapore or is now working in a similar situation with a Chinese spouse i'd be glad to here from you, Thanks! Back to top roninJoined: 22 Feb 2003Posts: 50Location: canada Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 2:34 pm Post subject: Well you should have married a Japanese woman, cause you could have lived and worked in awsome Japan but to late! Back to top hermanJoined: 30 Apr 2003Posts: 42Location: City by the Bay (SF) Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 6:29 am Post subject: Hong Kong and Singapore are possibilities. Hong Kong is lagging behind in Mandarin and although I don't know the situation personally, I bet there is increasing demand (for many years to come) for Mandarin instruction. We're sort of notorious for being bad with languages so the demand is always there. Moreover, Hong Kong prefers English teachers from Commonwealth countries; UK nationals optimal. As to Singapore I don't know enough, but it's one place where both English and Mandarin are important languages and your wife might be better received there than in, say, Taiwan. But I don't know how high the demand or competition in the Singaporean market is. You probably know these facts already but there's my two cents about HK as a HK Chinese American who has looked into teaching in HK. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Asia Forum All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Teaching Jobs in China


text:
11a- 4p- ?; Cairo NY, Catskills
Empire State Honey Producers Annual Picnic
Hosted by the Catskill Mountain Beekeepers Club
Contact: [email protected]
Join us for our Annual Picnic Saturday July 20, featuring
Randy Oliver!
A family friendly event hosted by the
Catskill Mountain Beekeepers and the Empire State Honey Producers (ESHPA.org).
Angelo Canna Park,
Joseph D Spencer Ln, Cairo, NY 12413
11a- General meeting for ESHPA
12n-Potluck lunch & BYO beverages; Ham is provided
Games and activities for the kids all afternoon, including the Sac Brood Water Balloon toss
1:30 -4p Randy Oliver on Bee Disease Identification & Commercial Mite Management w/o Synthetic
Miticides (link)
4p-Dusk, Socialization
***Donations gratefully accepted
Here is some info on local lodging:
Most of the lodging has internet, you may have to ask to confirm on some.


text:
City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
2004 Media Releases
Mayor Coleen J. Seng today released the results of a survey estimating that 1,954 people are homeless in Lincoln, including 292 children. The "Point in Time Count" was conducted by organizations that provide services to the homeless.
"Lincoln is focused on the prevention of homelessness," said Mayor Seng as she issued a proclamation declaring November as Homeless and Hunger Awareness Month in the City of Lincoln. "There are so many agencies and individuals who are not only seeking out those root causes of homelessness, but working each day to prevent them. I want to thank everyone who supports the efforts in our community to combat homelessness and hunger."
The Mayor signed the proclamation at Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach, where she was joined by members of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Homeless Coalition and its Continuum of Care Planning and Evaluation Committee.
Other findings from the "Point in Time" count include:
Susanne Blue, executive director at Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach, says the kitchen has been providing an average of 10,000 meals per month over the past quarter. She projects that over 110,000 meals will be provided by the end of the year - an all-time high for the organization. In 2003, 100,745 meals were provided. The significant increase may be due to the economy and the expanded space at the kitchen and outreach center. A major facility expansion project was completed this past year.
Blue said advocates believe the actual number of homeless is higher than that identified in the "Point in Time Count" because those not receiving services at the time the survey was conducted were not counted. Homeless who are living in cars or motel rooms or staying with family or friends were not counted.
Scott Young, Executive Director of Lincoln Food Bank, said his agency distributed over 2.1 million pounds of food in the first 10 months of this year. This is the equivalent of 5,521 meals a day to the 91 agencies that operate 189 programs in the 16-county service area.
"Our Holiday Food Drive will begin November 22, and we are hopeful that we will have enough food on the shelves to get our agencies through the difficult winter months," said Young. "Food is a critical need of the working poor and homeless 12 months a year, and by giving to the drive people can make a real difference in the lives of these people this winter."
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Homeless Coalition works to educate the public and raise awareness of issues surrounding the homeless and to encourage citizen involvement. The Coalition's Continuum of Care Planning and Evaluation Committee identifies gaps in services, coordinates the "Point in Time Count" and conducts a peer review of service providers.


text:
We are thrilled to announce at the TOC conference in New York that Plympton is joining forces withDailyLit, the oldest and largest digital distributor of daily serialized fiction. Chosen as the #1 book website by the Sunday Times in London, DailyLit has been delivering great books and series in short installments directly to readers' inboxes since 2006. Hundreds of thousands of readers have received over 50 million installments through DailyLit.
This combination of DailyLit's worldwide distribution platform together with Plympton's original serial fiction presents a unique and exciting opportunity in cutting-edge publishing. The DailyLit library ranges from classics like Pride and Prejudice and Moby Dick to modern treasures by writers like Jhumpa Lahiri and Margaret Atwood. Our ambition is to commission and add to that library.
DailyLit was founded by Susan Danziger, formerly of Random House, and her husband, Albert Wenger, a partner at Union Square Ventures whose birthday is this week. The initial idea behind DailyLit was to integrate quality reading into people's busy, daily lives — through "byte-sized ebooks" as The New York Times put it — a notion that is even more pertinent today.
Susan and Albert are now investors and advisors to the combined company, and Plympton will be taking over and expanding DailyLit operations. To oversee the technical aspects of that effort, Jacqueline Chang, an MIT graduate who was mostly recently an engineer at StumbleUpon, has joined us as our technical cofounder and Chief Technology Officer.
As my cofounder, the novelist Yael Goldstein Love, says, "DailyLit has always been about making books a daily part of peoples' lives again. I'm inspired by it as a writer and a reader and thrilled to have this chance to expand on the great work Susan has already done while also giving our own original fiction a welcoming new home."
In particular, we've been impressed how DailyLit has created an intimate and direct relationship with readers. When Susan sends out the newsletter to hundreds of thousands in the DailyLit audience, people write back personally.
Our vision for the future of DailyLit tackles a number of problems that are facing publishers, authors, and independent bookstores as reading becomes increasingly digitized. Susan and Albert have already created a robust platform for delivering great writing, having launched almost 1,000 critically acclaimed titles from a number of major publishers.
We at Plympton want to bring the DailyLit experience up-to-date by developing new and engaging ways to give readers more power than ever to read what they want, when and where they want.
DailyLit was the first way to get a library of fiction delivered to your phone ("highbrow" as the New York Magazine's Approval Matrix put it). The first iteration was in 2006, in the ole' Blackberry and Treo days, pre-Kindle, pre-iPhone. Back then, it was all by email, but today mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are clearly changing the way we read, and we want to re-imagine the entire DailyLit experience. That means everything from commissioning works meant to be read natively in digital format to finding the best way to deliver those stories to readers.
These are issues the whole publishing industry is thinking about, and DailyLit will not only promote Plympton's original series, but will provide solutions for great serialized titles coming out from other publishing houses, many of whom have made works available on DailyLit in the past.
Over the last several months, our editorial team have been busy commissioning new series for Plympton/DailyLit and have been thrilled to discover how many writers are eager to try their hand at this old-new form of storytelling. Upcoming titles will include original fiction by, among others, Rachel Kadish, author of the critically-acclaimed novels From a Sealed Room and Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story; Deni Bechard, whose debut novel Vandal Love won the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize; National Book Award Finalist Edith Pearlman; and Julian Gough, whose novel Jude in Ireland was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and who has twice been nominated for (and once been awarded) the BBC short story award. We also remain committed as ever to discovering emerging talent and giving a platform to great writing that might otherwise not find a home in an increasingly shrinking marketplace.
We are particularly excited to unveil WinkPoke, an ongoing series of short stories about love in the digital age. WinkPoke is literature's answer to The New York Times' "Modern Love" column, with each installment a rich, fictional look at how we navigate intimate relationships in a world dominated by Facebook, FaceTime, and dining companions too obsessed with their phones to notice the growing look of despair on our collective faces.
Finally, we're one of eight finalists in the SXSW Accelerator startup competition in the entertainment and gaming category. We'll be on stage on March 11 in Austin. We're planning to reveal more of our DailyLit plans then.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? You can email me and yael at yaelandjenny[at]plympton.com.


text:
Coldwell Banker® Vesta Group combines more than 40 years of experience in the local market ensuring you get the best selection and most professional service. We feature the largest inventory of properties in the region. We invite you to use our advanced search features to browse Costa Rica's best selection of properties.
The dream of owning a beachfront property just came true. Coldwell Banker® Vesta Group features the largest selection of Costa Rica real estate including beachfront properties. Looking for land to build a house, villa, or hotel? We have the most complete selection of properties and offer our clients expertise in beachfront acquisitions.
Are you tired of jumping from site to site trying to find a complete and up-to-date selection of properties? The search is over. Coldwell Banker® Vesta Group features the most advanced technology for managing listings and publishing listings on the web. We've also figured out how to include all the inventory across the network of Coldwell Banker franchise offices in Costa Rica.
Coldwell Banker® Vesta Group is a national and regional leader in providing the most professional services to buyers and sellers. We are unmatched in technology for marketing and expertise. Our brokers are Coldwell Banker International Previews® Specialists, members of the National Association of Realtors®, recognized as Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate®, and Certified International Property Specialists (CIPS).
Our selection of properties includes the premier inventory of Costa Rica luxury real estate and income properties. Investors and buyers in search of Costa Rica homes for sale or Costa Rica hotels for sale discover that their search is over after meeting our team of professionals.
We exceed expectations day in and day out providing our clients added value and professionalism. We invite you to browse the most comprehensive and up to date inventory of Costa Rica villas, Costa Rica condos for sale, and Costa Rica beachfront properties. Investors and buyers also find a complete selection of Costa Rica lots for sale, Costa Rica land for sale, and rural acreage.
If you're planning a vacation to learn more about the region, take a look at our featured Costa Rica rentals and view the Costa Rica map to find local attractions, businesses, hotels, and routes. When you're ready to learn more about Costa Rica, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to helping you achieve your investment, relocation, or retirement goals in paradise.


text:
"Gainsbourg: a Heroic Life," the new biopic about the iconic French songwriter is a playful, innovative film that skims along the surface of his life, without ever really plumbing the depths of the man, despite giving itself more than enough time to do so.
For Americans not overly familiar with the life of Serge Gainsbourg, this film could prove maddening. Rather than the story of his life, the film offers a series of moments. They are by and large well crafted by first-time writer director Joann Sfar, who made his name as a comic book writer. It's entertaining, but there's no thread to hold the thing together.
The film follows Gainsbourg's from his early childhood, when he was Lucien Ginsburg, struggling with being a Russian Jew in World War II France, to his rise through the ranks of French pop music and his inevitable descent into alcoholism and general madness.
Throughout the film Gainsbourg's internal struggles are played out for the audience to see via his being is prodded and coaxed by his tall, elegant, rat-faced doppelganger -- it's an amusing and effective techinique.
Eric Elmosnino is great as Gainsbourg. With his car-door ears, long pointed nose, droopy hangdog eyes, and the ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth, you couldn't ask for more. His Gainsbourg is bold, bashful, arrogant, sadistic, cagey and most importantly, he does al his own singing -- a totally believable rendering of the man.
Laetita Casta (best known stateside as the lingerie-clad vixen in the Chris Isaak video "Baby Did a Bad, Bad, Thing" -- we recommend hitting mute) makes a fantastic entrance, perfectly shot, as Bridgette Bardot. Asking a woman to capture the allure and playfulness of Bardot seems almost unfair, but Casta delivers. And if the film is any indication, Gainsbourg's brief time with Bardot was the happiest of his life.
Despite being racked with self-doubt about his own "mug," which he thought ugly, he nonetheless pursued beautiful younger woman throughout his life with a gusto that would make a frat boy blush. But the films stops short of showing just how lecherous and vile Gainsbourg could be. In 1986, when he was in his late 50s and Whitney Houston was in her early 20s, he drunkenly declared of the emerging pop star, "I want to (expletive) her," as she sat next to him on live French television. This was not a run-of-the-mill Cassanova.
While each scene of "Gainsbourg" could stand alone, and the music is great, the whole is less than the sum of its parts, a problem exacerbated by the film's length. It's a bit like watching a slideshow that goes on and on… By the end it becomes clear that he had turned into a mean, self-absorbed drunk – how many times do we have to be shown that?


text:
First, a feature from BBC Radio 4's PM from 25 May 2011. Eddie Mair discusses press subservience with a sample of 4 hacks, the sample suitably diluted by the presence of fashion, sport and gossip correspondents. Ridicule is mentioned as a common means of keeping awkward correspondents in line, but another method, banning them, is also mentioned as what seems a pretty robust back-up plan.
(Quote from Humbert Wolfe.)
Next, a couple of clips of everyone's favourite cartoon neocon John Bolton throwing his weight around, illustrating the US approach to these matters. (He claims not to be a neocon, not sure on what grounds - the moustache perhaps.) Rajesh Mirchandani should be sacked for the very mildly challenging interview shown, apparently - the mind boggles as to what treatment the intrepid correspondent in the second segment merits.
And finally, a reporter daring to ask interesting questions of a politician is firmly rebuffed by members of the US media clique:


text:
Every week we get Down & Dirty, in which Nozlee Samadzadeh breaks down our favorite seasonal fruits, vegetables, and more by the numbers.
Parsnips aren't the most welcoming vegetable -- after all, they look like carrots after an attack by Bunnicula! But strip away that winter-toughed peel and you're left with a white vegetable that's gently sweet and almost honey-like when cooked.
It's easy to forget that parsnips are cousins to some of the most popular vegetables -- carrots, parsley, celery, dill, fennel, and yes, parsnips, are all members of the plant family Apiaceae. According to the book Domestication of Plants in the Old World by Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf, and Ehud Weiss, ancient Romans even used the same name, pastinaca, for both carrots and parsnips!
In the kitchen, you can certainly replace parsnips for carrots in many recipes for a milder, more subtle result. For roasting and mashing, however, parsnips are interchangeable with root vegetables from the Brassica family like turnips and rutabagas. But enough about substitution -- it's the parsnip's turn to shine.
1. Notes from the Underground: Parsnips are roots, so they get plenty dirty and knobbly during their months in the ground. (Especially when shopping at the farmer's market, be sure to scrub them!) The secret to parsnips' sweetness is in their time underground, as well. They aren't ready to harvest until two weeks or so after the first frost, when the cold snap of weather converts the starches in the parsnips into sugars.
In fact, you can leave parsnips in the ground all winter long without a problem -- just be sure to harvest them before spring, when, as the University of Illinois Extension tells us, new leaf growth turns the parsnip root bitter and woody.
2. Carrot Top: You'll rarely see them, but parsnip greens look just like carrot greens! If you ever find a bunch with their tops on at market, try these tips from Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot of Ideas in Food.
3. Parsnips Unmasked: Because parsnips stay in the ground for so long, their skin grows tough and thick. Peel parsnips before cooking them, whether you're making parsnip fries, dicing them for a chicken soup, or steaming them for a mash.
4. Peels: But don't toss those peels! Just like you'd save carrot and potato peels in the freezer for soup on a rainy day, hold on to your parsnip peels to make rich, fragrant vegetable stock.
When it comes to winter vegetables parsnip is ever the bridesmaid, never the bride, but try out these dishes in which it plays a supporting role. (Especially the potato and parsnip mash that tops the shepherd's pie -- you may never make simple mashed potatoes again.)
Root Vegetable Ribbons
Sweet Potato and Parsnip Mash
Shepherd's Pie
Photos by James Ransom
See what other Food52 readers are saying.


text:
MBA*610 - Business Decision Analysis
(3 cr.) This course is an introduction to basic quantitative tools that enable managers to analyze data and make informed decisions. Topics include descriptive analysis of survey data, introductory probability, sampling and sampling distributions, hypothesis testing, simple and multiple regression and decision analysis. Students apply the quantitative decision-making tools to business situations through cases. Every Year, All


text:
7 Top Tips for creating The Social Workplace
There are many top tips out there when it comes to social media strategies, but many of these are based on theory. The top tips below are based on experience (and mistakes) on how to create The Social Workplace:
1. Social technologies enable the strategy, they don't define it
If I had a penny for every time I heard "I want to start doing social media, which Blog do you recommend?" I could afford to buy, and coach, my own England football team ...
The technology is important yes, but it's the last thing to focus on. Firstly, understand the social capabilities of your target audience; identify what you are trying to achieve; plan how you want to achieve it; and finally determine the right social technologies that will lead to success.
2. Do not under-estimate the cultural change
As mentioned in a previous post, I compare the change in culture in using social technologies to that of the early 70's, when people first began walking around with a large telephones strapped to their heads.
People will pick up the concept and benefits of being social in the workplace at a variation of speeds. Some will just "get it", some will need a bit of coaching, whilst others will need a lot of hand-holding.
I've had a lot of success with introducing a remote social media change workshop and is something I would recommend, along with identifying use cases.
3. Find the hook!
Approaching senior management with "I would love to talk to you about social technologies...." is not the way to start your opening pitch (or even for them to allow you to finish your sentence).
Be more bold, and find what is important to them. I often use "Would you like me to reduce your email by 50%?" as an opening gambit and that gets me a coffee and a seat.
4. Start small - Quick win - BIG impact
Trying to do too much too quick is going to have a negative impact and hamper any future opportunities to creating a social workplace.
So identify a solution that has a big business benefit with the minimum of effort. Once you have a successful solution under your belt you can crank it up a notch to the next level.
5. Be creative!
Utilise the right-side of your brain and use social media to explain social media, not large PowerPoint presentations with lots of tiny writing that forces people to squint. If they are reading your slides they are not listening to you.
By creating something that people talk about and share, will enable your message to reach a mass market in a socially connected enterprise much faster than the traditional communication channels.
This is an animated video I created with the help of my good friends at www.moviestorm.co.uk, to communicate the importance to Oracle's sales organisation of being more socially connected (with a little humour mixed in).
6. Be Passionate...
Creating a social workplace is a fairly new concept, and if done correctly can create much more effective and much more efficient business teams.
However it is a big change in culture as I mentioned earlier, and therefore you need to be passionate and resilient in your message before others are willing to believe and follow.
7. Stop, Think, be Social
And finally, before you next send that large presentation to 20+ people asking for their feedback causing huge irritations in doing so, take a step back and think "is there a better way of achieving my goal, a more social way?"
It is far too easy to slip back into the bad habits of traditional communication styles and methods so you need to regularly Stop, Think, and remember to be Social.


text:
Find a quality used Hyundai in Busselton.
At Busselton Hyundai, along with offering the latest New Hyundai Models, we also stock a fantastic range of quality used cars at affordable prices.
While most of our used vehicles are used Hyundais, we do stock a selection of other used car makes and models.
You can trust our Hyundai certified used cars to perform and look at their very best. For total peace of mind all our used Hyundai vehicles come with:
100+ point vehicle certification
Balance of 5 year Hyundai warranty
Detailed vehicle history and title check
Guaranteed mileage
12-months roadside assist
myHyundai membership.
Drive away from Busselton Hyundai today in a used car that suits your needs, budget and lifestyle. For more information or to test drive any of our used cars, please Contact a member of our helpful team today.


text:
If you would like to get in touch, please provide us with your contact details and inquiry by submitting our online form and we shall endeavour to respond shortly.
Alternatively, if you would like to speak with us directly, our telephone number can be found on our contact page.
Thank you!
St Pancrace
0033 (0)553058680
A family run Sanctuary for UK retired Police Horses in France. Saving just one horse will not change the world but surely it will change the world for that one horse


text:
This week has been all about the Best10. We've got your decade's best cars, second-best cars, and decade's worst cars. It's December, so we have to ask, what's the car of the year?
We're going to be coy here and not give you the answer right away. Despite our occasional kvetching, we actually liked some cars. What will make our list? Will we continue to go all Truck Yeah! and choose a Ford Raptor SVT? Maybe we'll switch the game up and pick a mid-size sedan like the surprisingly fun Suzuki Kizashi... or not. European cars? We love European cars. Nothing says power like a Mercedes C63 AMG. So many choices, but just a few exploding trophies.
What do you think is the best car of 2009?
(QOTD is your chance to answer the day's most pressing automotive questions and experience the opinions of the insightful insiders, practicing pundits and gleeful gearheads that make up the Jalopnik commentariat. If you've got a suggestion for a good "Question Of the Day" send an email to tips at jalopnik dot com.)