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Young and old Cairenes recently packed into a smoke-filled room in downtown Cairo for famed novelist Alaa Al Aswany's first post-Mubarak salon. The anachronistic evening was a reminder of Twitterless days when people sought face-to-face communication to talk about political concerns.
Throughout Middle East history, salons such as Mr. Aswany's have provided forums where compatriots conspired, formed alliances, and criticized their nation's leaders. While the author has been holding salons for 15 years, it was only in the days following Hosni Mubarak's ouster that the gatherings have revolved around the real possibility of building democracy in Egypt.
"I think there is a new enlightenment," says 60-year-old photographer Ninette. "The gathering is very important these days because it's important to exchange ideas."
Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.
As Egyptians guard reforms hard-won over the past two months and push for more change, people like Aswany are making sure there are forums to discuss the democratic transition. A co-founder of opposition movement Kefeya ("Enough") and prime voice in pushing for the resignation last week of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, his salons have been held every Thursday since Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11.
Unprecedented criticism
At the first discussion held in the giddy days following Mubarak's ouster, more than 100 political activists, academics, businessmen and youths sat in rows before Aswany and crowded shoulder-to-shoulder in the back of the room. Celebratory garland and boxes of pastries adorned a table. A man in a mint green shirt squeezed through the crowd, placing cups of Turkish coffee on ring-stained tables.
Laughter came in bursts throughout Aswany's talk when he referred to the regime as "pets" and "darlings." But aside from the occasional joke, his words remained largely serious and primarily political.
"Constitutions fall with regimes. So the constitution we had before cannot work for us now, especially because it is not a proper one," Aswany said during his hour-long talk Feb. 17 in a building belonging to the center-left political party Hizb al-Karama. "It gives [a great deal of] power to the president. He's almost the president of life itself."
Such political criticism has rarely been voiced so freely here. Mubarak's regime tried to suppress intellectuals like Aswany, even kicking him out of a café several years ago for hosting a political discussion.
"[The government] didn't want his articles and voice to reach the people because then the people would have opinions and think about what's going on," says Bassam Awfiq, who has followed Aswany's writings for several years. "Hopefully this will change now."
5,000-year-old tradition
Twenty minutes into the evening, women in the crowd broke into elated Zaghrouta (the popular high-pitched ululation) when Dr. Ahmed Zewail entered the room. Cheers continued as the Nobel-prize winning scientist took a seat next to Aswany and the two carried on with a political chat, continuing a five-millennia-old tradition.
The concept of meeting to exchange ideas dates to 3,000 BC when this type of gathering was a plaything of the elite, says Samir Ali of the University of Texas's Department of Middle Eastern Studies. Their composition shifted in 9th-century Iraq when they became more accessible to the middle class.
Gatherings then known as mujalaset, the root of which means "sitting down together," popped up in Basra and Baghdad, and later Damascus, Cairo, and Aleppo. "They become a way for people to gain influence and form alliances," says Dr. Ali, who has attended five of Aswany's discussions in Cairo.
The concept became popular in 17th-century France where they were named "salons" after the rooms in which they were frequently hosted. The term has since made its way to the Middle East, where French culture is viewed with prestige, even if the forums predate France itself.
'The window is open for change'
Now, revolutions spreading across the Arab world have infused the salons with a new sense of excitement. Several attendees to Aswany's first post-Mubarak salon said it was the most crowded event in 15 years.
The room was filled with a feeling of hope, yet breaths of unease, about the uncertain days ahead. Many grappled with the question of what will come next. One university professor distributed a survey that solicited visions for Egypt's future.
"The window is open for freedom and for change," said Dr. Zewail, as he sat next to Aswany. "The circumstances are difficult, but this isn't the end. This is the beginning."


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After all of our struggles, we managed to get two wonderful days of skiing at Semmering in the Alps. The original plan was to travel Thursday afternoon, ski on Friday and Saturday, and then return on Sunday. As it was, we managed to ski all of Saturday and most of Sunday before returning (uneventfully) to Budapest.
As usual, Dora aced the accommodations portion of the trip. We had a nice apartment, about 30 minutes from the ski resort on top of St. Corona, one of the neighboring peaks. Below you can see the sunrise that greeted us Sunday morning, as well as a peasant home we passed en route to the slopes.
The weather was perfect for skiing — just around 0 °C — not to cold but not so warm that the snow melts and gets slushy. The slopes themselves had a 1000 m elevation, so things got a bit chilly near the top. On Sunday, the weather was a bit hazy, and as we took the second lift to the very top we realized that we were entering a cloud. The kids were pretty amazed, especially when they realized that clouds aren't actually made of some fluffy cotton.
A goal of Dora's has been to get the kids to ski and to enjoy skiing. In that respect, the trip was a big success. There were some nice, easier slopes that the kids enjoyed a lot. Daniel is the more technical skier, while Panka is a bit of a daredevil. Toward the end of the trip, the kids took to referring to Dora as "granny", since she always took her time and was behind us. Here's a short video of the kids skiing at the end of the trip:

subset: commoncrawl


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Your p.m. roundup for Aug. 24, the day we learned how much to tip whom, and for what. Photo credit @johnfayman, via The Big Lead. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors.
What we're watching (all times EDT, unless noted): Red Sox-Rangers is on ESPN2 at 7. White Sox-Angels is on WGN at 10. The tape-delayed broadcast of Arsenal-Udinese is on FOX Sports Net at 8. Billings (Mont.)-Huntington Beach (Calif.) in the Little League World Series is on ESPN at 8. And the NASCAR World Truck Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 is on the Speed Network at 8.
Read Me
Another Pete Dexter classic. This time, Randall Cobb: "After the fight Cobb sat with ABC's Keith Jackson, who asked if he had been surprised Dokes hadn't run more. Cobb said, 'I don't know how it looked from here, but to me it looked like I was running my ass all over the ring trying to catch him.' As he said that Dokes dropped into the chair next to him. Cobb smiled. 'We'll have to do this again, Mike.' Dokes shook his head. 'Oh, no,' he said. 'No, I don't think so.' 'I'm going to go back and start all over," Cobb said later. 'I'll do whatever I got to do and I'm going to keep doin' it until it's right.' His mother heard that and nodded. 'Some day that dog's going to lie in the sun,' she said. Randall Cobb is my friend. I know him, he won't cheat himself. And after it's over-it doesn't matter how many times he's hit in the face-he'll be able to look in the mirror and not be afraid of what he sees." [Inside Sports via Bronx Banter Blog]
This Date In Deadspin History
Aug. 24, 2006: Introducing The Deadspin Hall Of Fame
Things You Might Have Missed Today
Some quick links to a few items we posted earlier:
• It's Bruce Chen's World And We're All Just Renting Space
• Leaked Emails Show A Newsweek Reporter Trying To Set A Picky Shaq Up With Some Girls (He Only Wants Rihanna)
• The Ravens' Torrey Smith, In The Safest Place Imaginable, Ran For His Life When The Earthquake Hit
• This Is The Bloodied Marine That LSU's Jordan Jefferson Allegedly Kicked In The Face
• Readers: Let's Come Up With A Less Awful Trophy For The Winner Of Iowa-Iowa State
Dom Valentino in twilight: "Every announcer is nominally the 'voice' of this team or that. Some voices become iconic, passed down through generations, cherished heirlooms of sound. Rizzuto was the voice of the Yankees, Harry Caray of the Cubs, Vin Scully of the Dodgers. Other voices arrive, and then are gone, sometimes quickly, the soundtrack of a season or two, the work of an able if itinerant craftsman. Dom Valentino skipped from here to there and then elsewhere. 'You should've stayed with the Yankees, Dad,' David said." [New York Times]
This is gonna take a while: "Titans G.M. Mike Reinfeldt met Wednesday with Titans running back Chris Johnson and agent Joel Segal. After the meeting, Reinfeldt expressed both pessimism and optimism." [PFT]
South African Burger Commerical Interlude:
This is a novel concept: "The NCAA said it wanted to send a clear message by slapping Bruce Pearl with a three-year show-cause penalty: Coaches are responsible for their programs. The sanctions mean it will be harder for the former Tennessee men's basketball coach to get another college job anytime soon. Before hiring Pearl, a school must tell the NCAA why it wants him and be prepared to face its own penalties for giving him a job. 'As these allegations are becoming more and more regular, it's very clear that a head coach is being held responsible for his program,' said Britton Banowsky, Conference USA commissioner and vice-chair of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions." [AP]
Turns out Angel Pagan has colitis: "The story in the Daily News is the one that was most linked to the next day from sites like Deadspin, Gawker, and Hardball Talk, whose posts were essentially Google-compliant Nelson Muntz laughs at the expense of Pagan and the team he plays for. Naturally, it fit into the Hapless Mets meme that has reemerged in the past few weeks (with a healthy amount of help from the Mets themselves). The obvious metaphorical implications of a Met batter missing his turn at bat to go to the bathroom were too rich to turn down, not to mention the inner eight-year-old in some people that still loves to hear toilet humor. Problem was, Pagan didn't just have a case of Montezuma's revenge. He suffers from colitis, an uncomfortable, chronic condition that is treatable but not curable. Pagan takes medication for it, and even went on the DL for just that reason while he played for the Cubs back in 2007. 'It's no joke,' Pagan told Rubin on Tuesday, in obvious response to those who found the whole thing hilarious. 'It's something that's going to be with me for the rest of my life.' Pagan spoke at length about what collitis did to him at its worse." [Amazin' Avenue]
The Winter Classic can wait. And wait and wait: "On the NHL schedule, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers are scheduled to face each other at 1 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2012. The game will be carried on NBC and CBC. It is not, however, identified as the Winter Classic. This is because there's been no formal announcement of said Winter Classic by the NHL, the Flyers, Citizens Bank Park or thePhiladelphia Phillies. And despite some chatter that it could come this week, Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly says the waiting will continue." [Puck Daddy]
Did she know this already? "Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher is finally taking his new wife, Joanna Garcia, on a honeymoon — to Afghanistan." [New York Post]
Merch: Managing editor Tom Scocca and contributing editor Drew Magary have both written books. You can buy Scocca's Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future here, and Magary's The Postmortal here. Now do it.
We are all Dave McKenna CCI: Here's your daily link to Dave McKenna's brilliant "The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder," which we'll be posting until Snyder's dumbass libel lawsuit gets rolled up in a carpet and tossed in a dumpster.
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to email@example.com.


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The funeral director who prepared for burial the body of the man hit and killed by a patrol car announced at a press conference Tuesday that the body had fractures, contrary to the findings reported by the medical examiner who did the autopsy.
DELAND — The funeral director who prepared for burial the body of the man hit and killed by a police car announced at a press conference Tuesday that the body had fractures, contrary to the findings reported by the medical examiner who did the autopsy.
The medical examiner, Shiping Bao, fired by Volusia County earlier this month, said in his report that Marlon Brown was not hit by the patrol car driven by DeLand Police Officer James Harris, and that Brown died of mechanical asphyxia from of the weight of the car. Bao also said that Brown did not have any fractures.
But James E. Cusack, funeral director of J.E. Cusack Mortuary in DeLand, presented his findings accompanied by Benjamin Crump, the attorney representing Brown's ex-wife.
"We are here to reveal information that tells us the medical examiner is inaccurate and at best was intentionally deceitful," Crump said.
Cusack prepared Brown for burial and said he saw evidence the popular Spring Hill barber was hit by the car. He said that Brown's vascular system was collapsed and that when he tried to inject liquids to embalm Marlon Brown, it would not flow through, indicating that there was breakage in the body's blood vessels. There were compound fractures to his skull and below the abdomen, Cusack said.
"My conclusion is that Marlon Brown suffered trauma to the head and neck and had multiple fractures and contusions that come as a result of being hit by car," Cusack said during the press conference at the Chisholm Community Center in DeLand. "He had compound fractures to the point that fluids would not go through."
When asked for comment, Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron said: "The autopsy speaks for itself." Harris, who has since been fired for policy violations in the incident, struck and ran over Brown as he ran from a traffic stop on May 8 about 12:37 a.m. Harris and Officer Justin Ferrari had engaged Brown in a pursuit after a Volusia County deputy announced over the radio that Brown had fled from him as he tried to stop him for a seat belt violation. Brown ran from his car after pulling into an empty lot behind 960 Delaware Ave. and was struck and run over by Harris in a vegetable garden at a chain link fence. Brown was driving without a license and on probation after serving jail time for drug possession, one of 20 arrests on his record.
Crump said that what Cusack observed was corroborated by the video taken from Harris' patrol car.
The video shows the car appears to hit Marlon Brown. Crump also cited sections of deputy John Szabo's interview that said Marlon Brown "was on his stomach and he was just mangled" and that "his neck was not where it was supposed to be."
"This is a forceful violent impact between a human being and a police car," Crump said.
"This vital information that Mr. Crump has shared further shows that they lied to us," said Krystal Brown, the ex-wife of Marlon Brown.
The family fears that the medical examiner's report wrongly influenced the grand jury's decision not to indict Harris for vehicular homicide, Crump said.
"Because we believe the grand jury based its decision on this inaccurate evidence, we are demanding that an independent investigation be done and that the evidence be presented again to a grand jury," Crump said.
Crump said he hopes that pressure from the public will get the attention of a different "prosecutorial agency" and people who have the authority to look into Marlon Brown's case.
Requests for an independent investigation from agencies had not yet been made "as we are trying to get all our ducks in a row," Crump said.
Krystal Brown was shocked to learn of the jury's decision, especially after what she was told by Cusack, Crump said.
Harris did not make a statement after the crash and has not spoken publicly since Brown's death.
"The medical examiner saying that the vehicle rolled and stopped on top of Marlon Brown is pleasant to the ear but it's not what happened," Crump said. "To suggest that Officer Harris' reckless conduct did not cause Marlon Brown's death is not true."


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Posted on November 28, 2012 by imadeitso
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|OpenBSD Packages and Ports Installation and upgrading of packages and ports on OpenBSD.
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Hello everybody!
I have beautiful 4.6-current installation with Gnome, OpenOffice, Seamonkey etc.
Couple of times I've rebuilt kernel and world but after last ports update I've noticed Gnome2-2.28 in ports (I still have 2.24) and then my troubles have begun. I've seen this: daemonforums.org//showthread.php?t=4022
so: I got both sources and ports with cvsup from -current some time before 4.6 release and update them having default tag=. in supfiles.
I also have PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/packages/i386/
in ~/.profile and /root/.profile
In general I had lots of outdated packages and I managed to update them with pkg_add -ui but Gnome cannot be updated so easily. "Can't install, can't install..." I tried one by one without luck. I tried to update main packages first and found out that I cannot update glib2 and dbus for instance and everything else depend on them. I tried to compile glib2 from source - no luck, I tried to delete the package first and then build but it cannot be deleted because everything depend on it And I have very similar (if not identical) "error1/stop" output shown in the thread mentioned above.
So, how to deal with glib2, dbus and similar "monters" on OpenBSD? Is there a "portupgrade" or similar tool on OpenBSD that deals with dependencies?
This is a standard procedure for FreeBSD but very wrong for OpenBSD
You cannot mix OBSD 'release/stable' packages with those from 'current'. Please read http://www.openbsd.dk/faq/faq15.html#NoFun
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
Thank you. Did you mean that at first I've installed 4.6-current from a snapshot (install46.iso; 4.6-release was not ready) but the packages (with pkg_add -r ) from 4.5-release/stable ?
Should I reinstall all the packages?
Since I cannot edit my post yet here are a few additions:
uname -a gives OpenBSD host.domain 4.6 GENERIC#0 i386
I remember that previous build was #208
dmesg shows OpenBSD 4.6-current (GENERIC) #0: Sat Dec 5 21:43:55 EST 2009
I never rebuilt Xenocara though I have Xorg working on my system without xorg.conf.
So far I've been never having any problems. Everthing works 'from the box".
Hardware: Asus P4S333c (latest bios), P4 (i686) 2.4GHz, DDR333 2.5Gb, GeForce3 Ti200, Viewsonic VA912b (1280x1024).
I rebuild Xenocara and reinstalled all the packages. Everything works great so far
I have to apologize, I mis interpreted your post and got the impression you ran 4.6-release and updated your ports to current. Sorry for the misunderstanding
Nice to hear all is well now.
My way to run OBSD current is using binary snapshots and pre-compiled packages. I hardly ever have to compile ports.
When I want to install another snapshot. I either use another machine, or another disk in the same machine. That way I always can fall back, if something doesn't work out.
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
Yeah, but it was vice versa: I had old packages and couldn't update them without total reinstalling
I read in FAQ that using snapshots is recommended but 238MB install46.iso obviously contains no packages so they must be installed again. Yesterday I couldn't install inkscape from a package (not found) and it took me a couple of hours to build it. I also had to rebuild gstreamer otherwise I couldn't update a long chain of dependencies. That the problem with pre-built packages: they are built with those versions of dependencies available at the moment when a package is built and if some of them bump original package cannot be updated automatically (at least I don't know how).
I like how OBSD runs and feels so I'll continue to learn. As I understood so far it is quite possible to follow -current by trivial way: just update sources and packages. As to "Flag Date" it's an exciting challenge, why not to try and definitely learn a lot at once? However looks like this way is not popular. Why?
For a long time my fastest machine was a 800Mhz P3, wife and daughter had the newest machine, poor dad the old junk.
So following current by recompiling was not a viable option. Thus my preference for using pre-compiled stuff.
Also about release time the OBSD porters urge you to test the binary packages. That's another reason.
Reason nr 3: I don't mind being a 'guinea pig' ; the binary install sets sometimes contain 'uncommited patches'. One time Theo mentioned that a particular snapshot contained IIRC 11 patches, not anywhere to be found in CVS . Same way like they test new medicines with a double blind test
Now you understand why I never have an issue with "Flag Day". Maybe others can give their reason.
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
As another example see http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=126004335307524&w=2.
The name of the OP of that thread seems familiar somehow
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
It was a pleasure, thanks!
Salut, another dad! My daughter is a graphic designer, lives in Paris, uses Mac and has no idea how it works
If I understood the thread correctly OBSD sometimes grows by a kinda revolution or biblical "creating" so a regular user (and current compiler) cannot comprehend changes.
It makes sense though...
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Traveling in 2014? Here are 14 things to know – latimes.com
Hotel rates, cabs versus the likes of Uber and Lyft, Las Vegas, car rentals, vaccines, river cruises — here's what to know before you go.
New players in the ever-annoying world of air carriers. New perks for visitors to Vegas. New ways to get around town. Travel continues to evolve, sometimes in great ways, sometimes in ways that make us want to stick out our tongues. The travel treat and the potential travel tantrum? 2014 promises to provide both. Here's a look.
1. You'll probably pay more for a hotel room. That's the word from Peter Van Dorn, co-founder and chief executive of PointsHound, an online booking source for hotels. (Added benefit to that website: It helps the traveler maximize the accumulation of award points by offering hotels that match with whatever loyalty programs you belong to.) "2013 was a good year overall, and 2014 will be better," he says. "People are just traveling more." Which means hotels will be more fully booked, so expect the average daily rate to increase. In cities in which chains are prevalent, Van Dorn suggests trying to book with independent and boutique hotels.
2. If you want to find a great rate on hotels outside of independent and boutique hotels, you'll need to have a bit of gambler in your soul, says travel guru John DiScala, better known as JohnnyJet. Your best shot at finding bargains for hotels, which always worry about rate integrity and thus are less inclined to tip their hands about costs, may be HotelTonight (an app that offers same-day hotel bookings) and Priceline (which doesn't reveal the name of the hotel, but you'll find plenty of hints at BiddingforTravel.com). Or, he says, buy a bundled airfare and hotel package. You often get a good deal because the hotel rate is disguised. (Best to price your itinerary and compare before you make your final selection.)
3. Here's the good news — for Vegas, at least. You may now be able to use or earn loyalty points from your hotel awards program in Sin City. The big kids on the block — we mean the customer loyalty program block — aren't always the big kids on the Strip. The dozen Vegas MGM properties have hooked up with Hyatt's loyalty program, and Caesars has linked arms with Starwood's program.
4. Your airline ticket will cost more, and that's before you factor in the drivers of ticket price, says Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com: fuel costs, the economy, supply and demand. You've always paid a security fee; it used to be $2.50 for each leg of your ticket. Under the budget deal that Congress OKd in December, that increases to $5.60 for each one-way leg.
5. If you want to know about flash sales on airline tickets, buddy up with Twitter. Travel guru DiScala recommends (besides individual airlines) @TheFlightDeal, @Airfarewatchdog and, of course, @JohnnyJet. You can see his list of airlines at twitter.com/JohnnyJet/airlines.
6. If you have a mobility issue, river cruising might become easier for you. Those languorous trips have become the hottest ticket in cruising. More demand means more new ships, and those newer ships incorporate elevators, lacking on some older vessels. Among the lines, Viking is scheduled to launch 14 ships in 2014; Avalon Waterways will add three new ships, increasing capacity by 10%. Aging baby boomers find river cruising particularly attractive, says Linda Garrison, cruise expert for About.com, because of their all-inclusive price, a pace that's less frenetic than the shorter party-hearty ocean trips and the opportunity to stay connected with the device(s) of choice because of proximity to land. Compared with oceangoing cruises, river cruises may look more expensive, but don't be deceived, Garrison says. Most river cruises are all-inclusive, whereas ocean cruises have unbundled some of the costs.
7. Polio hasn't been eradicated. It was on track to disappear for good in 2013, but outbreaks were reported in Syria and Pakistan, among other countries. Your chances of contracting the disease are small because you've probably been immunized, but it's a good reminder to make sure your shots are up to date before you go anywhere, and that includes the U.S. (When was your last tetanus shot? Did you have a flu shot?) To learn more about what you need, see the Centers for Disease Control website, which gives country-specific recommendations: wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel.
8. You may be able to get through airport security a little faster. Toward the end of 2013, the Transportation Security Administration introduced a PreCheck program that, for $85, allows you to become a trusted traveler (pending a background check) and to whisk through security, becoming the third way to get expedited screening. New centers that help you complete that process have opened in Glendale, Carson and Signal Hill. The TSA also has been using "managed inclusion," offering selected travelers faster screening. The random selection process means you're at the mercy of whatever criteria are used to select you, so there's no promise you'll get to scoot. There isn't with the three other PreCheck programs either, because that's part of security, but you're more apt to get to skip the shoes-belt-jacket-laptop-liquids removal. The PreCheck expedited screening program is now in use at 113 airports, including Burbank, Ontario, LAX, Long Beach and John Wayne/Orange County.
9. You can hold down your ski-lift ticket costs, but you must know when to buy and go. Buying a lift ticket for a ski resort is becoming more like booking an airline ticket, with discounts for advance purchases. It used to be that the pricing was X dollars a day and that was it. No more. "My advice and counsel: Spend a little time shopping [lift ticket prices] and incorporate that into the your travel planning," says Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Assn. Some ski area websites are doing what the airlines have done: creating a matrix that shows pricing for various days. Kirkwood at Tahoe, for instance, recently listed $64 for an adult all-day ticket on Jan. 26 purchased online at least three days in advance. A six-day lift ticket starting Feb. 15 showed at $360, about $60 a day, which includes the President's Day holiday weekend. A two-day pass for Colorado's Aspen-Snowmass, for Feb. 15 and 16, if purchased seven days in advance, was listed at $198; if you wanted only Feb. 15, it was $124.
10. You'll need to add new words to your ground transportation vocabulary: Uber, Lyft (whose cars wear mustaches), GroundLink and Sidecar. These ride services are summoned by iPhone app; each works a little differently, but they are muscling in on traditional taxi business by offering improvements to cab service. Uber, which I recently used, is cashless; my fare and the tip were charged to my credit card on file. These services are part of the "collaborative consumption" movement that gave us AirBnB, the hotel alternative. The idea is just what your mom told you when you were a kid: Sharing is a good thing. But know, at least, it's not quite as good when demand is high; some companies raise their prices.
11. But don't count out taxis. As part of the "e-hail" craze, TaxiMagic and Hailo, among others, allow you to use an app to hail a traditional cab. If it feels more secure to get in a car that's been inspected and whose driver is licensed (as is required in L.A., but not everywhere), a traditional cab may be for you. Not an app fan? There's always the good old phone call.
12. Renting a car? Prepare to pay more this year in the U.S, according to American Express' Business Travel Forecast. Thanks to acquisitions, there's less competition among rental car agencies, and the cost of new cars will go up. Result: an increase of as much as 1.5% in North American rental car costs, it predicts. That's $4.50 on a $300 car rental, which isn't catastrophic but can add up for the frequent renter.
13. If you're looking to go to Europe for less, look to European low-cost carriers. Norwegian Air Shuttle "is just starting to penetrate the U.S. market," says Warren Chang, vice president and general manager of Fly.com, an airfare search engine. In early January, I found an L.A.-Copenhagen round trip for randomly chosen May 15-22 for about $625 and a fare to Helsinki on the same dates for $799. Best fare I found on a U.S. carrier was $1,144 on United and $1,112 on American, respectively. (These fares may no longer be available.) Also check out Aeroflot (not generally a budget carrier but competitive), AirBerlin and FinnAir, among others.
14. If travel costs more in 2014, blame it all on people of a certain age. And by a certain age, we're talking about baby boomers, of whom there are 75 million in the U.S. The top end of the boomer generation is hitting retirement age. Look for an increase in demand, now that travel is no longer the big deal it was for their parents' generation. And boomers do, apparently, need to be cheered up: They are consistently more downcast about just about everything than the generation before or after, according to a 2010 report from the Pew Research Center. Best antidote for that? Travel — the anticipation and the act. See the rest of this week's Travel section for ideas.
Traveling in 2014? Here are 14 things to know – latimes.com.


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"What was done instead was to de-emphasize the martial pedigree of aikido's techniques, and eschew practice conditions that led to the cultivation of a strong martial spirit."
Revival of aikido after World War II
The typical aikido practitioner — this also includes many instructors — has only the vaguest of notions of how the art planted roots in Japan and abroad following World War II. This is not due to a lack of availability of information on the subject. It is possible to study about the events of this period, but the necessary information is scattered among multiple sources, which require a reading ability in Japanese, English, and other European languages.
Certainly, the Internet has facilitated this task, but it is still difficult to gain a basic perspective of how aikido reemerged, first in Japan, and then abroad, after the cataclysmic events of the Great Pacific War. There is little incentive for scholars to do the necessary research because only a relatively small number of people are interested in such historical matters pertaining to aikido.
Who were the Prime Movers?
It is a fairly simple matter to identify the main persons responsible for aikido's emergence as a modern Japanese martial art since so few people were involved in the art's early years. Here is my list: Kisshomaru Ueshiba, Koichi Tohei, Gozo Shioda, and Kenji Tomiki. These names will be immediately recognizable to most experienced aikido practitioners. There are others who played roles of varying importance, but these four figures stand out as the key figures that shaped postwar aikido. Among the four, Kisshomaru Ueshiba and Koichi Tohei were far and away the most influential during the 1950s and 60s. Yet neither of the two had an extensive background in martial arts prior to stepping into their leadership roles within the Aikikai.
Because it is critical to my thesis here, let me touch upon the martial arts antecedents of each of these four individuals in turn:
Kisshomaru Ueshiba (1921-1999): Of frail constitution as a child, Kisshomaru Ueshiba, son of Founder Morihei Ueshiba, studied kendo as a boy. He began practicing Aiki Budo regularly with his father following the departure of his brother-in-law Kiyoshi Nakakura from the Ueshiba family around 1937-38. Early evidence that Kisshomaru was being groomed as the Founder's successor is the fact that the younger Ueshiba appears in the 1938 "Budo" book as one of Morihei's uke. By this time, the core of talented uchideshi of the prewar period had left the Kobukan Dojo mainly related to the mobilization of Japan. Kisshomaru was one of the few young men remaining at the Kobukan Dojo. Others were Gozo Shioda and Zenzaburo Akazawa.
A mere five years later, Kisshomaru became responsible for his father's dojo when Morihei retired to Iwama late in 1942. During and after the war, Kisshomaru's aikido training was irregular because of the extreme conditions in Japan that were unfavorable for martial arts practice. He was employed during the day at a securities company in Tokyo and trained and taught part time in aikido as his schedule allowed. For the first few years, he lived in Iwama and commuted to Tokyo, but later moved back to Ueshiba's dojo in Tokyo to oversee affairs and shorten the commute to work. During this time, several bombed-out families were living in the dojo.
In 1955, since the Aikikai Hombu Dojo was reviving, Kisshomaru quit his job and began devoting full-time to instruction and management of the dojo. His total combined time of training under his father in the prewar and postwar eras can be estimated at 7-8 years. From 1955 forward until the Founder's death in 1969, Kisshomaru was kept busy with his teaching schedule and management responsibilities, and so calculation of his total years training under his father is at best an estimate.
Koichi Tohei (1920-2011): Tohei began judo as a boy and continued training up to his university days having attained a dan grade level. Starting in 1939 while a student at Keio University, Tohei entered the Ueshiba Dojo and learned from Morihei for a period of about 18 months before entering the Imperial Japanese Army. After his repatriation at the end of the war, Tohei returned to his family home in Tochigi Preference and launched a business venture that proved unsuccessful. He found time to travel periodically to Iwama for additional training under Ueshiba during the late 1940s. Tohei would eventually begin spending more time in Tokyo starting in the early 1950s prior to his departure for Hawaii in 1953. We can estimate his time of study under Ueshiba as three to four years including his wartime studies and training in Iwama and Tokyo. Tohei himself stated that he learned under the Founder for only about two years.
Gozo Shioda (1915-1994): Shioda enrolled in Morihei's Kobukan Dojo in 1932 after having studied judo and kendo. He continued his training at the Kobukan Dojo during the height of its activity continuing for about eight years, part of which he spent as a live-in student. His training partners included many of the most famous students of Morihei Ueshiba from the prewar period. Although Shioda did not enter the military, he served during the war in a civilian capacity on various assignments in China and Southeast Asia. Following the war, Shioda spent one month of intensive practice in Iwama with Morihei in 1946. As Shioda lived in Tokyo, he had sporadic contact with Ueshiba thereafter during visits to Iwama, a train ride of about two hours from Tokyo station. Shioda was among the first to begin actively teaching aikido after the war in Tokyo, and would soon establish his own school called Yoshinkan Aikido. A liberal estimate of Shioda's total time studying under Ueshiba would be approximately nine years.
Kenji Tomiki (1900-1979): Tomiki learned judo as a boy continuing his practice while a student at Waseda University, save for an interrupting of four years due to illness. A large man by Japanese standards, he was a top-level competitor of 5th dan level during the late 1920s and even competed before the Emperor in the 1929 Tenranjiai tournament. Tomiki was heavily influenced by the views of Judo Founder Jigoro Kano with whom he enjoyed a close relationship. Tomiki started learning Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu under Morihei Ueshiba in 1926. He trained under Ueshiba in Tokyo on and off while he worked as a school teacher in Akita prefecture. In 1936, Tomiki relocated to Japanese-controlled Manchuria where he was employed as a martial arts instructor thanks to his connections with Morihei Ueshiba. Tomiki was awarded an 8th dan from Ueshiba in 1940. Tomiki's total time of study under Ueshiba amounted to perhaps 8-10 years.
Leaving behind Morihei's legacy
Gozo Shioda was the first to begin teaching aikido publicly due to his work of providing security arrangements at various company facilities during the "Red Purge" period of the early 1950s. The Aikikai was still struggling with low class attendance and the continued presence of the war-displaced families living in the dojo. A landmark event took place in 1954 when a public martial arts demonstration sponsored by the the "Life Extension Association" attracted some 15,000 spectators. Shioda's dynamic demonstration attracted the attention of several wealthy patrons and soon plans were being made to build a dojo for his activities. In 1955, the first Yoshinkan Aikido dojo was inaugurated and served as the base for the propagation of this style of aikido in companies and police departments. An interesting side note is that a handful of American servicemen were among the early adopters of Yoshinkan Aikido and brought the art back to the USA starting in the mid-1950s.
Shioda remained on good terms with the Aikikai, but saw Morihei infrequently. He felt that Ueshiba was retired in Iwama and that it was incumbent on him and the younger generation of Morihei's students to disseminate the art to the general public.
Tomiki's repatriation to Japan was delayed until 1948. By the following year, he had become a professor at his alma mater, Waseda University, and director of the judo club in the physical education department. His activities were centered at the university although he also continued teaching at the Aikikai on a semi-regular basis. This lasted until about 1958 when Tomiki earned the ire of Morihei and the Aikikai leaders by introducing a competitive form of the art at Waseda University, something anathema to O-Sensei's most deeply held principles. He could have muted criticism of his action had he abandoned the use of the name "aikido," but chose instead to keep it. From that moment forward, Tomiki became unwelcome at the Aikikai.
For Tomiki's part, though he had profound respect for Ueshiba as a martial artist, he thought that Morihei's teaching methods were antiquated and unscientific. He much preferred his mentor Jigoro Kano's approach to teaching the martial arts and felt that competition was an important tool being a means of testing one's true progress against an uncooperative opponent.
Kisshomaru's situation was extremely complex. As the Founder's son, he was expected to carry on in his father's footsteps and manage the course of the development of aikido. In terms of martial ability, he was inexperienced and his temperment such that he rejected a rigorous training model in favor of gentler forms of practice that more closely resembled a cardiovascular exercise system. Simlarly, he refrained from using esoteric language in expressing his vision of the art. Moreover, he edited the writings and speeches published in his father's name eliminating unfamiliar religious references. Kisshomaru regarded these actions as a reform and improvement of aikido making the art more suitable for postwar Japanese society, and thus easier to spread aikido internationally.
Koichi Tohei was blunt in his criticism of Morihei Ueshiba. He clearly stated in published interviews that the main thing he learned from his aikido training under the Founder was the importance of "relaxation." Tohei developed his ki-based methods incorporating elements of Tempu Nakamura's health system and meditative practices of the Ichikukai. He created what was actually a hybrid system combining basic aikido techniques absent a martial emphasis with additional practices culled from his outside studies. Tohei, too, felt that Morihei's mystical explanations of aikido replete with incomprehensible metaphors and rambling speech ran would retard the future growth of the art.
From the above remarks, it should be clear that all four of these key figures dismissed some parts of Morihei's aikido legacy. Kisshomaru and Tohei, especially, abandoned the Founder's martial techniques, budo theory, and teaching methodology. All of them concluded that Morihei's arcane language and explanations of aikido's key concepts were inappropriate for modern times. However, except for Tohei, all were careful to couch their criticisms of Morihei in diplomatic terms while displaying outward respect.
At this point, I would like to focus attention on the actions of Kisshomaru and Tohei in the 1950s and 1960s. The reason for this is that these two formed the backbone of the Aikikai organization to which the lion's share of aikido practitioners worldwide owe allegiance even today.
In previous articles, I have advanced the thesis that Morihei's presence and participation in the activities of the Aikikai during this period were limited and irregular, and that he did not play a role in the management of the dojo or organization. Abundant historical evidence exists to support this view. For many years, Kisshomaru and Tohei acted as a team. Married to sisters and thus sharing a blood bond, both had their followings within the Aikikai and exerted controlling influence on the key decisions taken by the headquarters.
Aikido shifts gears in tenor with the times
Kisshomaru, starting in the late 1950s, and Tohei in the early 1960s, began publishing a continuous stream of books on aikido, mostly of a technical nature. These early publications set the de facto standard for aikido pedagogy on which the Aikikai-affiliated curricula were based. The young instructors dispatched from the Aikikai to numerous parts of the world spread these same techniques and teaching methods abroad. Other senior instructors within the Aikikai of course had some influence, but none of them could rival Kisshomaru and Tohei in importance or visibility.
What were Kisshomaru's and Tohei's training methods? Boths styles of training had warmups, some of which overlapped, that included exercises inherited from Morihei. There was a core of some 50 empty-handed aikido techniques that were most commonly practiced and that were used for testing purposes. Most of the techniques were practiced in a flowing manner, and nage would seldom perform techniques from a static grab. Although sometimes mentioned in passing, practices commonly used in martial arts such as atemi and kiai fell out of favor in the Aikikai system, and were discouraged in training. The fact of the matter was that any practitioners who attempted to employ strong atemi or kiai would be scolded, or even asked to leave the dojo.
I practiced in both systems from 1963 forward and have first-hand knowledge of the training conditions that prevailed in those days. Attacks tended to be slow, sloppy and lacking in commitment. Seniors would sometimes resist juniors, which was easy to do because of uncommitted attacks. The success of the application of some techniques depended entirely on this sort of careless interaction between uke and nage. Sudden, strong attacks perceived as challenges would evoke an angry reaction in nage who would usually resort to physical strength in an attempt to force a technique to work.
The use of weapons — tanto, ken and jo — was minimal. Various weapons defenses were sometimes taught in preparation for advanced testing. Since few people had training in the use of weapons, attacks were slow and weak and poorly executed.
One might be led to believe that training was not vigorous. On the contrary, it could be very exhausting, especially in Kisshomaru's style. However, the severity of training in such situations was due to the cardiovascular demands placed on the body due to the non-stop movement, and endless falling and standing up during practice. I found it particularly difficult to train this way in hot and humid practice conditions.
For the most part, dojo training did not stress martial integrity in technique. In fact, an attempt to display such a budo mindset during practice would have been met with resistence and derided as "contrary to aikido principles." The lack of atemi, kiai and weapons training I allude to above is evidence of this state of affairs. We have historical footage from 1962 of both Kisshomaru and Tohei's teaching methods that readers can consult to draw their own conclusions.
The use of the parallel training methods of Kisshomaru and Tohei within the Aikikai and affiliated schools came to an abrupt end in May 1974 when Tohei resigned from the headquarters school. I have written extensively about this pivotal event elsewhere for those wishing to learn about this important episode in aikido history.
Kisshomaru's aikido becomes the Aikikai standard
Kisshomaru's methods were quickly adopted as the standard for instruction at the Hombu Dojo following Tohei's departure, although the Aikikai senior instructors continued teaching as they had previously. Kisshomaru's son, the present Doshu Moriteru Ueshiba, was groomed under his father's tutelage, as were the junior instructors who joined the Aikikai in this period. With little modification, Kisshomaru's system continues today as the official Aikikai curriculum.
This, in a nutshell, is a description of the beginnings of aikido in postwar Japan. Many have faulted Kisshomaru, Tohei, and other teachers of this era for propagating subpar technical standards that have made aikido into a caricature of a martial art. Such comments are common among critics of aikido from other martial arts, and can be heard even within the aikido community. Of course, the whole debate is subjective in nature, and opinions can be found across a broad spectrum.
In fairness, one must remember the circumstances in which aikido took its first, tentative steps in Japan and began to be exported to foreign lands. Japanese society rejected the militaristic spirit and radical nationalism that propelled the nation into a suicidal war. Therefore, anything associated with prewar nationalism and militarism, which of course included martial arts, was met with broad societal disapproval.
Morihei's students who revived the art after the war had to keep a low profile, and deal with rampant poverty, occupation forces, and negative public opinion. This was true of all martial arts. One of the ways some arts attempted to overcome these limiting circumstances was to emphasize or introduce a competitive component. It could then be claimed that these arts had become sports, and were therefore not destined to be used for war propaganda as was the case prior to and during the war.
Given the art's core principles as set forth by Morihei, the introduction of competition was of course not an option in the case of aikido. What was done instead within the Aikikai system was to de-emphasize the martial pedigree of aikido's techniques, and eschew practice conditions that led to the cultivation of a strong martial spirit. Some 60 years later, a large number of practitioners within the Aikikai system are still being formed using this teaching approach, which is not martial in nature and does not reflect the vision of aikido conceived by the art's founder, Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei.
In my next article which will build upon the above historical background, I will discuss aspects of Morihei Ueshiba's aikido as taught in Iwama to a small number of people in the years immediately following the war. The most significant of Morihei's students from that era was Morihiro Saito. Saito assisted Morihei in his daily life and received a great deal of private instruction from the Founder for more than 20 years. He was also the person most knowledgeable of Ueshiba's Aiki Ken and Aiki Jo training methods. It was Saito who organized Morihei's Iwama curriculum, including both empty-handed and weapons techniques, and presented this vast body of material in published form starting in the mid-1970s. The Iwama Aikido system taught by Saito Sensei offered an alternative to the Aikikai syllabus and steadily gained acceptance, particularly abroad, from that time forward.
Stanley Pranin
Las Vegas, October 2012


text: I have been eating a lot of bluegills lately. I just roll them in dry Drakes batter mix with onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper added and fry them in corn oil. That is still my favorite way to fix bluegills. Today I wanted to do something different so I melted half a stick of butter and added about that much sherry. When a slice of finely diced sweet onion and a clove of minced garlic had sauted in that for a few minutes I reduced the heat and poached my fillets in it for ten minutes while turning once. I was able to do two batches of twelve fillets though I don't think I could have done any more without adding more butter and sherry. I'd take a picture but the fish all disappeared.


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Address: Gib Lane, Hoghton
Phone number: 01254 852272
Lancashire Telegraph review by John Anson from July 17, 2010.
OVER the years the Boar's Head has undergone a number of transformations.
For years it was a popular Brewer's Fayre pub and more recently it has gone upmarket.
It's been quite a while since we last visited and the whole place appears to have had yet another facelift.
There's a posh new sign and the interior is best described as "trendy rustic", which is light, airy and rather pleasant.
The menu offers mainly standard pub grub but with a twist.
It's not quite a gastro pub — more a country pub offering quality fare.
I went for the interest-sounding homemade fishcake in crayfish broth at £9.25, while the better half chose slowly roasted belly of pork at £8.75.
The service was friendly but not obtrusive and there was a reassuring wait for our dishes — but long enough to show they were being prepapred to order.
I didn't know what to expect with my choice, but it turned out a fine selection.
The fishcake was the size of a large saucer and a good inch thick, packed with fish and herbs.
It sat in a creamy broth on a bed of spinach, which worked perfectly — I mopped up every last mouthful.
The pork dish was equally well received, served with black pudding mash and green beans.
The meat was beautifully tender and full of flavour.
We just had room for a pud — I chose lemon tart with raspberry mousse while the better half had homemade ice cream.
Both were beautifully presented. The ice cream sat on individual shortbread biscuits with a piece of chocolate on top, and we polished them off with relish.
The Boar's Head was surprisingly quiet when we went. Offering the quality of food we enjoyed, it can't be long before word gets round that it's worth a visit.
Lancashire Telegraph review by John Anson from July 14, 2008.
THE Boars Head is yet another establishment to have undergone a transformation.
With historic Hoghton Tower virtually next door and open fields in front of it, this large, stone pub has to be in one of the nicer settings.
Inside it retains a country feel with different seating areas for diners to choose from.
It was pretty quiet when we visited midweek, initially we were the only diners, but good company can always create its own good atmosphere.
The menu is traditional classic pub fare with daily specials chalked up on a board.
Fish and chips is always a good test of a kitchen's abilities to do the simple things well so that was my choice while the better half went for a 'light bite' version of another classic — scampi and chips.
If you have a weedy appetite then you're just going to be overwhelmed by the portions served up at the Boars Head.
Don't believe me? Well it was the first time I have ever had two fish served up with chips and mushy peas! The fish was moist and the batter fairly light although a little crispy at the edges. But at £7.95 it was still pretty good value.
And if the scampi dish was a 'lite' version, I'd hate to think what the 'heavy' one would be like! Again at £5.95 it was pretty good value, the scampi wasn't overcooked and the accompanying salad was much more than the usual lettuce and tomato.
A number of signs around the place indicate that the Boars Head has a range of themed nights during the week with quizzes and the like which perhaps creates a livelier atmosphere than we experienced.
If it's fine dining you're after then the Boars Head isn't for you. But that's not what it is trying to offer.
What you will get are hearty platefuls of old fashioned pub grub. Just make sure you've worked up an appetite.
The verdict
Sizeable portions will suit those with hearty appetites.
Reader Views
Add your comments or rate The Boar's Head below.


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Posted on April 1, 2013
Higher Education in Texas is a Boom and Enterprise that Dwarfs Oil and Gas
Alphonso Rincón - The location of a conversation that took place March 26 involving the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the chancellors, regents and campus leaders of the state's largest—and often rival—university systems was a statement in itself. The location was neither Austin (home to the University of Texas main campus), or the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, or the Texas Legislature, or Texas Monthly (which co-sponsored the conversation), nor Bryan, home of the Texas A&M University main campus. Instead the Broadening the Pathway of Higher Education in Texas panel took place in the new, solitary building of Texas A&M University, situated, not on the north but the south—historically underserved—side of San Antonio.


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Introduction While attention must be paid to the changes discovered within the genomic profile of a cancerous growth, equal attention must be paid to the intrinsic genetic background of each patient. Cancer does not develop in a vacuum, but within a patient, and each patient's distinctive genetic background results from both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 1 Getting Cancer-Different Fates One man who smokes cigarettes lives to age 90 without getting lung cancer, while another man who smokes the same amount gets cancer at age 60. Why does one womanユs breast cancer respond to chemotherapy, and her tumor shrinks, while another woman's breast cancer shows no change after the same treatment? How can these differences be explained? Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 2 The Challenge: Cancer Genome Meets Patient's Genetic Background Differences observed among individuals in terms of their risk or response to chemotherapy point to the tremendous challenge involved in dealing with cancer, a disease of genomic instability. Even when a genome-wide profile of cancerous tissue reveals the molecular changes present there, the diagnosis is incomplete. Information about a person's medical history and genetic background also must be included in the case. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 3 Human Genome and Coding Regions To understand a person's genetic background, one needs to start with the human genome, including all 25,000 genes.The human genome is the complete set of instructions for life as we know it. The human genome is located in the nucleus of every cell in the body, except for red blood cells, which have no nuclei. Only about 3 percent of this genome actually provides the set of instructions called genes that are used to build the body's proteins. These regions are called coding regions, and they are scattered throughout the chromosomes. In addition to coding regions, close to each gene are regulatory sequences of DNA, which are able to turn the gene "on" or "off." Scientists have discovered some functions for the remaining 97 percent of the genome, areas called noncoding regions, but most of this region remains a mystery. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 4 Variation in a Person's Genome An amazing aspect of a person's genome is that there is so little variation in the DNA sequence when the genome of one person is compared to that of another. Of the 3.2 billion bases, roughly 99.9 percent are the same between any two people. It is the variation in the remaining tiny fraction of the genome, 0.1 percent—roughly several million bases—that plays a powerful role in deterring or encouraging cancer. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 5 What is Variation in the Genome? Variation occurs whenever bases in a person's DNA sequences change. Variations can involve only one base, many bases, or even large segments of chromosomes. If the two strands of a chromosome are thought of as nucleotides threaded on a string, then, for example, a string can break, resulting in a re-ordering of the beads. One or more nucleotides may be changed, added, removed, or exchanged. In chromosomes, these changes are called polymorphisms, insertions, deletions, or translocations.In addition to these c hanges, some persons have DNA sequences called "repeats" that like to insert extra copies of themselves several times. Chromosomes can also undergo more dramatic changes called translocations. These occur when an entire section of DNA on one chromosome switches places with a section on another. Not all variations in a person's DNA sequences have an effect. Among the variations that do cause effects, some are more serious than others. The outcome depends on two factors: where in the genome the change occurs (i.e., in a noncoding, coding, or regulatory region) and the exact nature of the change. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 6 Genetic Variations Called SNPs Cancer researchers think that, in addition to inherited or acquired mutations, tiny variations in a person's genome called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs ("snips") for short, may play a role in cancer. A SNP is defined as a single base change in a DNA sequence that occurs in a significant proportion (more than 1 percent) of a large population. The single base is replaced by any of the other three bases. Here is an example: In the DNA sequence TAGC, a SNP occurs w hen the G base changes to a C, and the sequence becomes TACC. SNPs are scattered throughout a person's genome and are found in both coding AND noncoding regions. They can cause silent, harmless, harmful, or latent effects. They occur w ith a very high frequency, w ith estimates ranging from about 1 in 1000 bases to 1 in 100 to 300 bases. This means that there could be millions of SNPs in each human genome. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 7 Genetic Variation in Noncoding Regions Most SNPs occur in noncoding regions and do not alter genes. So most variations in the human genome have no known effect at all because they occur in noncoding regions of the DNA. In addition, there are some changes that do occur in coding and regulatory regions, yet the effect is not entirely understood. All these are silent variations. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 8 Genetic Variation in Coding Regions The remaining SNPs occur in coding regions. They may alter the protein made by that coding region, which in turn could influence a person's health. Some of the variations that occur in the coding and regulatory regions of genes simply contribute to the normal variation observed among people. They can, for example, change the way a person looks. Some people have blue eyes, others brown; some are tall, others short. Other variations in coding regions are harmless because they occur in regions of a gene that do not affect the function of the protein made. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 9 Harmful Genetic Variations: Mutations There are a group of variations in coding and regulatory regions that result in harmful effects. These are called mutations. Mutations alter the gene's instructions for its corresponding protein. If many such variations occur in critical genes within the same cell, cancer may develop. In chronic myelogenous leukemia, a translocation occurs between chromosome 9 and 22. This rearrangement of genomic material creates a fusion gene called Bcr-Ab l that produces a protein (tyrosine kinase) thought to promote the development of leukemia. The drug Gleevec blocks the activation of the Bcr-Abl protein. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 10 Genetic Variations: Latent Effects An individual may also harbor genetic variations that have "latent" effects. These variations, found in coding and regulatory regions, may have small effects on their ow n, but over time, in the context of other genetic changes, infections, or environmental exposures, they may eventually alter a person's risk for cancer. They may also explain w hy one person responds to a drug w hile another does not. These variations are very difficult to study, but populations studies are attempting to unravel their effects. Here is part of the genome from tw o people w ho are both smokers, but only one of them gets cancer. The zoom into the chromosomes of these tw o men show s just a sampling of the differences in variation that are responsible for their individual cancer risk. The variations themselves do not cause cancer. They only affect each person's susceptibility to the damaging effects of tobacco smoke after exposure. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 11 Genetic Variations: Drug Metabolism SNPs When a person takes medication, many proteins in his or her body interact with the drug as it is transported throughout the body, absorbed into tissues, metabolized into more active forms or toxic byproducts, and excreted. If an individual has SNPs in any one or more of these proteins, they may alter the time the body is exposed to active forms of a drug or to any of its toxic byproducts. Researchers now have the tools to study how genetic variations can influence an individual person's response to a drug. They can even capture information on metabolism-related genetic variations that occur among different genders or ethnic groups. The data they are collecting should help to explain why certain persons within a person population may have different side effects in response to the same drug or some may respond to therapy better or worse than others. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 12 Example: Drug Metabolism and SNPs in CYP2C9 CYP2C9 genetic variants are a good example of how SNPs can be linked to abnormal drug metabolism. CYP2C9 is an important cytochrome P450 protein that works in the liver to metabolize drugs. Genetic variation in the gene for this protein can alter this metabolism. As many as 40 percent of persons carry a SNP that produces a deficient CYP2C9 protein. Deficiencies in this protein can impair the metabolism of as many as 1 in 5 medications currently on the market. Fortunately, technology makes it possible for a person to discover the drug metabolism variants that he or she carries. This information can then inform drug selection. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 13 Genotypes and Phenotypes In order to understand some additional contributors to a person's genetic background, one must understand terms like genotype, phenotype, and alleles. Cancer may start as a new genotype, that is, as a change in the genetic makeup of a person, but it ultimately produces a new phenotype as well. A phenotype is the physical manifestation of a genotype in the form of a trait or disease. Cancer is known for its everchanging genotypes and phenotypes. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 14 Genotypes, Phenotypes and Alleles All genotypes are not created equal in their influence on phenotype. Genes come in many varieties called alleles, and some are more dominant than others. In a pair of alleles, the effect of a dominant allele prevails over the effect of a recessive allele. And the effects of a recessive allele become apparent only if the dominant allele becomes inactivated or lost. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 15 Mutations in Cancer Susceptibility Genes Now let's look at what a difference an allele can make. Another contributor to cancer risk comes from cancer-predisposing germline mutations called cancer susceptibility genes. Persons with susceptibility mutations carry these altered alleles in every cell in their bodies. Here are examples of the mutations seen in the BRCA2 and BRCA1 breast cancer susceptibility genes. Inheriting these mutated alleles greatly increases a person's lifetime cancer risk. This may explain why cancers linked to germline mutations in susceptibility genes often occur at an earlier age and in multiple sites. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 16 Different Locus, Different Allele, Same Phenotype Many cancer susceptibility syndromes are genetically heterogeneous (a mixture), which means that different mutations (genotypes) can be expressed as the same phenotype (e.g., cancer). These different mutations may be located within the same gene but at different locations (locus heterogeneity) or on different genes altogether (allelic heterogeneity). For example, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility has both locus and allelic heterogeneity. More than 500 different mutations have been identified that can occur in the BRCA1 gene on chromosome 17 and increase a womanユs risk for breast cancer. And more than 300 mutations scattered throughout the BRCA2 gene on chromosome 13 are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 17 Incomplete Penetrance Many cancer susceptibility syndromes are genetically heterogeneous (a mixture), which means that different mutations (genotypes) can be expressed as the same phenotype (e.g., cancer). These different mutations may be located within the same gene but at different locations (locus heterogeneity) or on different genes altogether (allelic heterogeneity). For example, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility has both locus and allelic heterogeneity. More than 500 different mutations have been identified that can occur in the BRCA1 gene on chromosome 17 and increase a woman's risk for breast cancer. And more than 300 mutations scattered throughout the BRCA2 gene on chromosome 13 are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 18 Incomplete Penetrance and Phenocopies Individuals who inherit cancer susceptibility mutations inherit a predisposition to cancer, not cancer itself. Some mutation carriers inherit their predisposing genotypes in an autosomal dominant fashion, yet they do not develop cancer because their altered genes are incompletely penetrant.Further confusing the situation is the fact that sporadic forms of cancer may also occur in families along with a hereditary cancer syndrome. These cases of sporadic cancer are called phenocopies because their phenotype is similar to that of the affected mutation carriers, but their genotype is different. Genomic profiling of normal and cancer cells from the same person can determine if the cancer is hereditary or sporadic in nature. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 19 Modifier Genes One explanation for the incomplete penetrance seen in persons who have inherited cancer susceptibility genes may lie in the effects of modifier genes. Modifier genes are simply genes that indirectly influence the expression of other genes. One can think of the modifier gene as a breaker switch, which controls all of the power. If the breaker switch is off, it doesn't matter whether the susceptibility gene is ready to turn on or not. There is no power, so it won't work. If both copies of modifier genes lead to a breaker switch being thrown, then the gene for cancer susceptibility will be silenced. On the other hand, if the modifier genes power up to let the cancer susceptibility gene be expressed, then there still must be a functioning copy of the gene available. Here the switch has been thrown OFF by modifier genes and the cancer susceptibility gene is silenced. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 20 Epigenetic Variation Reversible, heritable changes called epigenetic factors also can indirectly regulate gene expression and protein production. These modifications can occur even without a change (mutation) in a gene's DNA sequence. Epigenetic alterations may be induced spontaneously, in response to environmental factors, or may simply be part of a person's genetic background. Some examples include: • Addition of a methyl group to CpG dinucleotides, which are special regions in DNA bases where gene activity can be silenced when methyl groups are attached • Removal of acetyl groups from histone tails, which stops the gene activity of the DNA bases wrapped around the histone, causing the DNA to coil up tightly. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 21 The Role of MicroRNAs MicroRNAs also can indirectly interfere with gene expression in a person. These small RNA molecules play an important role in controlling gene activity by regulating a process known as translation. In translation, another type of RNA molecule, called a messenger RNA, which is produced by copying the genetic code of a gene, is used as a template to make proteins. There are many different types of microRNAs, and a single microRNA species can affect the expression of many different proteins. Changes in microRNA levels have been linked to several human cancers. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 22 Other Internal Factors Clearly, other factors are involved in cancer that we still do not understand. Some families are more cancer prone than others. In part, inheritance is involved in some of these cases. This is because, at birth, some offspring unknowingly inherit gene changes that can make them more susceptible to cancer. But this explains only a very small percent of new cancer cases, no more than 5 percent. Others factors that may change cancer risk include having stronger or weaker immune systems, variations in detoxifying enzymes or repair genes, or differences in hormone levels. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 23 External Factors A cancer patient's genetic background may be impacted by external factors as well. Over a lifetime, a person's internal genetic makeup persistently interacts with many external factors such as diet, smoking, alcohol use, hormone levels, or exposures to certain viruses and cancer-linked chemicals (called carcinogens). These may collectively conspire with internal genetic changes to destabilize normal checks and balances on the body's growth and maturation. (Please see Understanding Cancer and the Environment for more information.) Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 24 Still Don't Completely Understand We don't know which specific combinations of environmental factors on the outside of a person's body combines with an individual's genetic background on the inside to cause cancer. We don't know why two persons can have very similar environmental exposures, yet one gets cancer and the other does not. A number of individual factors are involved, and there are complex relationships among them. Hopefully, the technology that is empowering an era of personalized medicine will also help oncologists to address these and other unanswered questions about cancer. Last updated 11/6/2009 National Cancer Institute 25
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Here is a tutorial on drawing eye catching scenes to help tell the story you're trying to tell with your picture. Tips on points of interest, types of scenes and more for you to enjoy. Good Luck
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Of my random meanderings around the Internet, I think the coolest thing I've seen this past week certainly has to be the Steampunk sequencer:
With that out of the way, here are some links:
- In somewhat keeping with the theme from some links 2's look at primitive writing systems, comes a post from the excellent Not Exactly Rocket Science: An 60,000-year old artistic movement recorded in Ostrich egg shells.
- More on topic of writing systems is Kevin Mitchell's post on Why Johnny can't read (but Jane can). Essentially, the post is asking: why dyslexia is about twice as common in boys as in girls?
- Is synaesthesia a high-level brain power? I'm not sure, but that's the question being asked over at New Scientist.
- Science Daily claims: Simple math explains dramatic beak shape variation in Darwin's finches. Key paragraph: "Using digitization techniques, the researchers found that 14 distinct beak shapes, that at first glance look unrelated, could be categorized into three broader, group shapes. Despite the striking variety of sizes and shapes, mathematically, the beaks within a particular group only differ by their scales."
- Pamelia Brown has 50 Fascinating Lectures All About Your Brain. I've only managed to watch one of the videos (see below), so I'm certain that there is at least one fascinating lecture…
- Be sure to check out the Kahn Academy — a not-for-profit organisation that provides some great educational resources. For those of you interested in demographics and the quantitative analysis of movement, then here's a whole section on differential equations.
- Dormivigilia provides a brief overview of a paper examining the neural origins of handedness.
- Razib Kahn over at GNXP has an in-depth discussion about the convergent evolution of skin pigmentation: OCA2 makes East Asians white and Europeans blue.
- How reliable are fMRI results? Another question I'm not so sure about. However, Prefrontal.org has a full paper on providing something of an answer. The key sentence: "the results from fMRI research may be somewhat less reliable than many researchers implicitly believe."
- Jonah Leher has a lengthy, interesting piece over at the New York Times, asking: Is depression an adaptation? Probably not. But for a more balanced perspective, read Neurocritic's brilliant analysis of the topic.
- Laelaps writes about a paper claiming the discovery a 4,300 year old chimpanzee nut-cracking site: Uncovering the "Chimpanzee Stone Age".
- Lastly, Jeff Elman, UCSD professor of cognitive science and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, presents a lecture on some of the latest research in our ability to use language and why it is so far removed from other animal communication systems:


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|09-04-10, 10:00
Join Date: 09-10-02
Location: Melbourne, S.E.
Car: '67 Camaro in the Build... And still looking for a stock'ish BT1
Trader Rating: (40)
www.CalaisTurbo.com.au Newsletter Special Edition. *Emailed 09/04/2010
Welcome to the First Ever www.CalaisTurbo.com.au Emailed Newsletter.
Why have we started emailing them? Well, we thought there was something everyone should be kept informed off.
Anzac Day long Weekend 24th & 25th April 2010
Who would have thought that 4 months ago this was merely an idea that has turned into something of a phenomenon. The long awaited event which has been eagerly anticipated is now only a matter of 2 weeks away.
There has been talk of some of the BIGGEST names in the business set to boost into Heathcote Park Raceway (VICTORIA) over the Anzac day long weekend.
The Event is set to be actioned packed with lots of different events ranging from the traditional drag racing, up to the big guys in Pro VL. Now who doesn't want to see a grudge match against the biggest names in the VL scene. Who will be crowned King?? Be there to see for your self.
The Organiser has managed to pull some of the biggest and best prizes from some of the biggest names in the VL community including 6Boost, JdCustoms, Brightline, ICE Ignitions, Rajab racing and many more. There's also a Meguires Show and shine. All in all there's thousands of dollars of prizes at stake. So enter your car for your chance to win!!!
So if you haven't already purchased your ticket its time to get to the website and secure your express entry. WWW.VLTURBONATIONALS.COM.AU
If you wish to camp on-site you will have to pre pay your tickets before the 15th April. No payment, No camping.
We look forward to seeing you at the event!!
Steve (XCHASE) from VLTNATS would also like to thank the following for there great help with the project!
Street Commodores Magazine, Dalkat, Jimytools, Mitre10, Calaisturbo.com.au, Mr Transmissions.
*Useful Links:
Forum Address Link: http://www.calaisturbo.com.au
Forgotten Password Link: http://www.calaisturbo.com.au/login.php?do=lostpw
VL Nationals Website: http://www.vlturbonationals.com.au
www.CalaisTurbo.com.au Official Memebership Information CLICK HERE
My 1967 Camaro Rebuild.... Current Status: Stalled....
|Thread Tools


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New Products
Modular Spray-Lubrication System
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Sunday, June 1, 2008
The Jet-Set MOD-1E unit from Michigan
Manufacturers Service Inc., Wixom, MI, is an electrically activated module package containing a solenoid that can be integrated into a machine's control system to provide a desirable lubrication cycle to meet users' needs. It is equipped with the No. 1401 Repeat Cycle Timer option, allowing the user to activate the pump any number of times within a given time period. The timer allows multiple shots of lubricant on the stock during several press cycles. The MOD-1E comes standard with a 9100 pump that will provide millions of cycles of maintenance-free operation. All Jet Set pumps provide simple volume regulation by just turning the large volume-control knob on top of the pump.
Michigan Manufacturers Service: 248/348-3900; jet-set-mms.com
See also: Michigan Manufacturers Service
Related Enterprise Zones: Lubrication


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Demo d'oh! Downtown building falls sans permit
As mentioned in an aside yesterday, contractor Alexander / Nicholson Inc. applied for a permit to demolish a 14-year old apartment building at 220-222 South Street, making way for a new 6,800-square-foot conference center for the Blue Moon Fund. There's only one problem: the building has already been demolished.
Despite developer Oliver Kuttner's offer to buy and move the building to property he owns next door, the Blue Moon Fund elected to demolish some rare affordable housing downtown (the building had five two-bedroom, two bath apartments with rents from $850 to $1,050) to make room for the new conference center. Because the building is in a historic district, the Fund had to seek approval from the Board of Architectural Review approval to demolish it, which it received last year.
At the time, a representative of the Fund, which counts supporting new approaches to urban development to "improve the human condition" as one of its initiatives, justified the demo by saying the existing building was energy inefficient and that the Fund didn't want to "perpetuate that kind of construction."
"This is the first I've heard of it," said City building inspector Tom Elliott after being informed about the demo. "They should have gotten a permit before they took the building down."
However, City permit technician Lisa Barmore, who processes demo and building permits, appeared to be familiar with the project, calling the demo application a "formality" and saying "they were supposed to have gotten one beforehand."
"This sometimes happens when a contractor thinks a building permit covers demolition," says Elliott, speculating on the mix-up, but said it's usually when something like a garage comes down or there's a partial demolition of a property. "For as long as I've been here, that's the first building of that size that has come down without a permit," he said.
City preservation planner Mary Joy Scala said she found the situation "unusual," but did not sound alarmed by the news. "The part I care about is that the BAR reviewed the project and approved the demo," she said.
Still, Elliott says that demolishing a building without a permit is not permissible, and can prompt a stop work order or a lawsuit. However, Elliott says that if the building isn't historic, any kind of real punishment in these cases is rare. Even when a contractor goes before a judge, he says, the judge usually approves the demo if the contractor has a permit in their hand, even if it was applied for just days before the court date.
Elliott says he plans to speak with Barmore and look into what happened. Calls to Alexander / Nicholson Inc. had not been immediately returned by the time of this post.
9 comments
The rents on that building probably didn't even cover the property taxes let alone the mortgage.
It appears I really need to get out more often. I wouldn't classify $850 to $1050 rent as "affordable housing"!
And what's up with $50,000 to $60,000 rent a year not even covering the property taxes? What does the city have the building appraised at, $6 million dollars?
Let's see... 5 apartments x $850 = $4250 a month. That translates to $51,000 a year. You actually believe that the yearly taxes were higher than $51,000 on a property assessed at $1.3 million in January? What do think the tax rate is in Charlottesville anyway?
No, I didn't believe it. I think user name "reality" did though.
He/she is the person who said above that the rent wouldn't even pay the property taxes.
That's who I was responding to, but you posted in the meantime. Sick, I know you're smarter than that! :)
I remember when a property owner was finded $50k in the nineties for tearing down a building in the 1000 block of W. Main even though it had to go later in order to build the 9th-10th Connector (Roosevelt Brown Boulevard). Also, a man was fined $5,000 for tearing down a tree in the front yard of a house in Fifeville. Also, didn't a developer get fined for tearing down a tree a couple of years ago on University Circle or University Way or did the city let him off? I didn't follow that story because I thought it was ridiculous.
A no-confidence vote for the City. The real solution is to disband or greatly reduce Neighborhood Development Services. They are the development arm of the city. Virtually very private sector developer has shrunk either in staff or gross revenues. Its time to have a serious conversation about the really fat NDS department. They are telling cops to ride bicycles and do more foot patrols to save gas. Time for NDS to go on a diet, as shown here, we can do just fine through individual property rights.
I really enjoy the food but with the latest price increase I think I'll be throtling back my consumption of this good food. :(
The main problem with Sticks (and it may prove to be a fatal one) is that there are no photos either outside or inside their restaurants that show what their dishes look like.
Even on the menu boards above the counters.
(And those menu boards are almost impossible to read, due to their "creative" font choices and their confusing mix-and-match configuration."
The food is great! But the place makes it very difficult for new customers to navigate the ordering process.


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Well, actually we're not. That would actually be a really, really bad idea – and if you saw our post earlier with a photo from yesterday's site, you have a good idea why.
The weather started building yesterday afternoon and by this morning it was coming down hard. Since we were planning to dig Marco, the site Steven discovered yesterday, he was a little disappointed.
And it did rain all day – the first time they have had rain like this in over a year. So it's not just soaking in – it's running over the surface in rivers and creating vast quantities of mud that make scaling the steep cliff faces these sites are at the top of near to suicidal.
So, we got the opportunity to work the Dinosaur Field Station, which was just as fascinating (and much less dangerous and/or muddy). This is the facility where they do prep work on finds once they have been brought off the site – stabilizing the fossils, removing the dirt, or "matrix," and preparing them for display.
It used to be an auto machanic shop, but they have renovated it to include all of the tools they need – large workspaces, a huge storage closet, a wine refrigerator that houses vinac (a glue solution), outlets for air drills that are used to pick away at the matrix and much more.
Right now, the Field Station is a mix of display and work-in-progress, but when the Great Plains Museum opens on June 6, it will serve as a permanent home for these fossils, as well as Leonardo, after his world premiere debut at HMNS.
A life-size model of Leonardo stands guard of the real
So, in addition to prospecting this week, Dr. Bakker is directing the movement of fossils from one place to the other. Today, we assistied with the documentation and categorizization of what they have in storage from over 10 years of digging here – which was quite fun, as they were constantly discovering something they hadn't seen in several years, like a T. rex brain case (essentially, a natural cast of the inside of a skull) and we got to hear the stories of discovery and excavation. (We'll share more video soon.)
Dr. Bakker, Mark and Tim going through stored fossils to
A closeup of Roberta's ribcage.
Dave and Kathy are examining some fossils in storage,


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r3ddevil wrote:who do you contact if you bought a vessel from the ch store?
Just send them a HelpDesk Ticket through the CH store.
r3ddevil wrote:who do you contact if you bought a vessel from the ch store?
Caiyros Neptunias 1 wrote:r3ddevil wrote:hey guys quick question are their any guides for training the mind to start to hear and see ur spirits and a begginers conurers and binding guide?
A Tulip
Any Color
In you hand
Sat Down
In Chair,
Floor or Cushion.
And Facing
Empty White
Blank Wall!
Minutes every
angel_vixen wrote:hi all alot of it is common sense its like an ouija board i wouldnt ever touch 1 in my life ur asking for trouble...i must admit i did test this and asked 1 person about a ring for them to reply oh i dont know much about it i thought well im not going to buy it if you cannot explain to me about the spirit inside it i was right i believe its sensible to have a good idea what your doing read the spirit keeping book and get other sources of info...my first 3 purchases have been here so i was wise but i was just wondering does the CH conjurers know the name of the spirit that comes forward in custom conjurations? or is it only to be told to yourself?? i read the part they give a bit of detail on the spirit because their aim is to rehome them not bond with them which makes sense....
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Electric Cars Going Out of Style? Not in China
By Michael Dunne
What is China seeing in electric vehicles that the rest of the world is missing?
Chinese car companies are behaving like they really know something. If history is any guide, the answer could reside with Xi Jinping and a future master plan for cars and energy in China.
This week, Geely Automobile, Dongfeng Motors and other Chinese automotive firms are bidding to take over Fisker, maker of the Karma premium electric sedan. And Buffett-owned BYD plans to launch the Denza -- a brand new electric car developed in a joint venture with Daimler – later this year.
China's Wanxiang Group received U.S. government approval just last month to purchase A123 Systems for $256 million. Before bankruptcy, A123 Systems had been America's most advanced developer of batteries for electric cars and a recipient of $133 million in grants from the federal government.
"The future is bright for A123," Pin Ni, president of Wanxiang America Corp., said last month. "It is a company with exceptional talent and potential."
China's relentless pursuit of electric cars looks curious because it comes at a time when confidence in electric cars in the U.S. and elsewhere appears to be hitting new lows.
Electric vehicle sales remain a mere drop in the automotive sales ocean. For all the news headlines they generate, electrics still account for a tiny fraction of one percent of cars bought each year. Private buyers just are not convinced yet.
Take for example the Leaf, Nissan's highly touted all-electric car. Despite aggressive marketing, the Leaf managed to win over just 9,819 customers in 2012 – less than half of the annual sales target. "It was a disappointment for us," said Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's respected CEO.
Electrics got another black eye this month when a New York Times test-drive of the highly acclaimed Tesla Model S resulted into the car having to be towed to a nearby station after it lost power.
Holding back sales are two stubborn shortcomings:
First, batteries can add up to $10,000 to the cost of a conventional sedan. Case in point: The gasoline-powered Chevrolet Cruze outsells the electric–powered Chevrolet Volt by 10 to 1 even though they are built on the same basic platform.
Second is range anxiety. If you get an edgy feeling when your mobile phone battery flashes low, imagine running out of juice on a cold winter day on a highway between cities, as happened with the Tesla.
So, how to explain China's accelerated pursuit of electric vehicle technology? Companies like Geely, BYD and Wanxiang are essentially betting that Beijing will follow through on its promise to have five million electric vehicles on Chinese roads by 2020.
Officials in the capital have a strong desire to avoid American-like addiction to oil from volatile regions like the Middle East. And Chinese citizens are growing increasingly irate as sections of the country get blanketed with hazardous air pollution.
To move beyond oil into electrics, look for Xi's lieutenants to start with buses, taxis and government fleets -- vehicles that tend to have fixed routes that can be served easily by a set of local charging stations. Cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen can ramp up demand for electrics with a single stroke of the pen because they directly own vehicle fleets that number in the tens of thousands.
More pieces of the puzzle start to come together when you realize that the Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (which is owned by the city of Shanghai) formed a joint venture in 2009 with now Chinese-owned A123 Systems. This brings the market, the battery maker and the vehicle producer into a tight circle around Shanghai.
For most countries in the world, gasoline engines prevail over electrics because of their superior range and affordability. The market has the final word.
But China is different. The world's second-largest economy can go much further to induce electric vehicle growth with generous rebates (electric vehicle buyers in Beijing now qualify for a $9,600 subsidy), rapid installation of charging stations in key cities and, most powerful of all, direct purchase mandates.
As the Chinese like to say about business in the People's Republic: "Look at the mayor, not the market."
A leading expert on China's auto industry, Michael Dunne has been consulting to global and Chinese automakers in China for over two decades. He speaks fluent Mandarin and has lived in China, on and off, since 1986. He is the author of "American Wheels, Chinese Roads: The Story of General Motors in China." Follow him on Twitter @DunneCarsAsia.
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