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Close to Home
They met at Victory Hospital back in August 1962. My mother had just given birth to me, but owing to problems during the delivery, she needed to be hospitalized for more than a week after I was born. One of her roommates was Rita Grady, who was expecting a son of her own. Although they lived in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, the two women didn't know each other but quickly became friends. When Rita's sister would visit, she'd offer back rubs to both Rita and my mother. And even after Rita gave birth to her child, Chris, and left the hospital, she'd still call my mom's room to see how she was doing. "We kept in touch a little bit after I came home," my mother recalls, "but we never got together the way we wanted to."
A few years later, my mother was waiting in line inside the auditorium of St. Patrick's Elementary School to enroll me in kindergarten when she spotted Rita Grady waiting to sign up Chris for the same class. "I tapped her on the shoulder, and we became friends again," she remembers. And naturally Chris and I became friends. We went through elementary school together. His dad, Donald, was one of the Little League coaches.
Chris was a great ballplayer. I was lousy.
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We went our separate ways in high school, but our moms remained friends. Every so often, when I would talk to my mother on the phone, she'd suddenly interrupt the conversation with a burst of energy. "Oh, I saw Mrs. Grady the other day ...," she'd begin, and then I'd hear the latest news on Chris. That's how I learned that Chris's father had died and, a few years ago, that Chris had gotten married.
Typically this is the way news travels in my old neighborhood of Bay Ridge. And whenever I would hear an update from my mother or my sister on one of my childhood friends, I couldn't help but think about the small-town nature of this big-city neighborhood where generations of large families have lived for years -- the Mayroses, the Olivers, the Cappellinis, the Abdallahs, and, yes, the Gradys. My sister's husband is close friends with Chris's two younger brothers, Patrick and Brendan. If I thought about it, I could easily find another dozen ways in which the lives of all these families are connected. That's just the way Bay Ridge is.
It's probably been fifteen or twenty years since I've actually spoken to Chris Grady. But when my sister called last week to tell me that Chris, who works in the World Trade Center, was missing, that time disappeared, and I was surprised by how it hit me.
My muscles became weak, my arms grew heavy, and I could feel my body slump forward. I was suddenly very tired. I'd been watching the images of destruction for more than a day on television, and through it all I'd managed to remain relatively detached, more stunned than horrified. But no more.
"It's so sad," my sister kept saying.
Chris was working for the brokerage firm of Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the north tower when the first plane struck. Fire engulfed the floors just below him, and smoke filled the stairwells and offices around him. Unsure what to do, Chris called his father-in-law, a retired captain in the New York City Fire Department, for advice. His father-in-law told him to wet a towel or some clothing, use it to cover his head, and try to breathe through it. He told him to stay calm and try to make it to one of the exits.
That was the last anyone heard from Chris. His sister, who was working in the other tower, made it out safely. As I mentioned earlier, Chris was married a few years ago. I learned last week that he and his wife, Kelly, have two young children.
Two days after the towers collapsed, Chris's family printed up flyers with his picture and vital statistics and delivered them to area hospitals hoping for a miracle. And then, knowing that such miracles are unlikely, they drove Chris's medical records to a makeshift morgue in lower Manhattan in case authorities need them to make an identification.
Chris's wife sent along his hairbrush; the strands of hair within the brush may be needed for a DNA sample. More than 5000 people are now missing from the World Trade Center, including 700 employees of the New York office of Cantor Fitzgerald. "Every time you pick up the phone," my sister tells me, "it seems like you hear about another friend, another neighbor who is missing."
We now know the plane that slammed into the first tower was almost certainly flown by Mohammed Atta, who trained for this unimaginable evil on a flight simulator in Opa-locka. Suddenly the world seems so small.
As a child, my vision of the world consisted of nothing more than my neighborhood and the families within it. Then I grew up and decided that "the world" actually consisted of everything outside the old neighborhood, that in effect, the world was out there, beyond the borders of Bay Ridge. Now I'm not so sure where I stand. And today my footing seems uncertain.
As my thoughts remain with Chris and his family, I can't help but think of some of my own relatives. I was watching one of the local television stations interview the South Florida neighbors of one of the suspected hijackers, and the reporter asked, "Was there anything suspicious about this person?"
"Well," the neighbor replied, "they were Arabic."
I'm an Arab. Or at least part of me is. My maternal grandfather's parents came to the United States around the turn of the last century from the Middle East. My great-grandfather, Rashid Eadeh, came here from Ramallah, in the West Bank, about ten miles north of Jerusalem. His wife, Jamelia, was born in Damascus, Syria.
They initially settled in Cleveland, where my grandfather was born, and then moved to New York around 1920. My grandfather spoke both English and Arabic, a beautiful language I wish I had taken the time to learn from him. Because my father's parents (the Sicilian side of the family, where I get the name DeFede) died when I was young, most holidays and special occasions were spent with my mother's parents, and that usually meant feasts of Middle Eastern food.
I'm not sure why being Arab is synonymous with being suspicious. Nor am I sure why any news station would see fit to promote that idea. The most suspicious thing my grandfather used to do was force me to wake up before sunrise on Saturday mornings so we could get to the golf course early enough to be in the first foursome of the day, and so he could take advantage of his early-bird senior discount card.
These are dark, somber days in which we are now living. There is no need to make them worse by demonizing entire groups of people.
Finally it's hard to picture New York without those twin towers. My Uncle Ralph was a plumber who helped build them back in the Seventies. In the Eighties my mother spent five years working for the phone company in the south tower. And since the early Nineties, my brother-in-law has worked in the Merrill Lynch building across from the towers.
A few days ago my sister told me she was afraid to go outside. She wasn't fearful of further terrorist attacks. She just couldn't imagine stepping outside her apartment building in Brooklyn, looking out across the water to Manhattan and seeing a gap in the skyline. "There is always going to be a hole there," she says. "I mean, a piece of us is gone."
--By Jim DeFede
NYC, September 13-15
Years ago my girlfriend Molissa Fenley, the anti-ballerina, and I used to walk from White Street in Tribeca, where we were staying, down to West Broadway at Vesey. She loved the surreal height of 1 & 2 Trade Center, the north and south towers, the strange graphite hardness of the financial symbols thrusting into the sky like postmodern pyramids; they reminded her, she said, of life and death, and she later choreographed a dance -- "Feral" -- based on the feelings they inspired.
We'd come out of the quiet, low-roofed nineteenth-century streets of lower Manhattan into the awful magnificence that the square of the World Trade Center really was -- laser-lined buildings of adamantine brilliance around a fountain that dwarfed human scale. Everything about the place suggested astral travel, the triumph of technology, the puniness of individuals -- it was a little like being in Houston.
I hadn't visited WTC since the Eighties, and when, last Thursday, a reporter I knew at the Village Voice broke his sacred vowels and lent me his NYPD police credentials while he went home to shower and change after three days of combat duty, squirreling through the pumice-colored dust of what is left of the place, I was shocked to find that scale still intact. Only now, there is a Jurassic quality. The awesome fountain was buried under alkaline layers of shredded paper and powdered mortar -- simulated volcanic ash from the overground and underground fires that were still popping and smoldering Thursday night, making everyone -- cops, firemen, medical personnel -- and reporters look like Dust Bowl Okies; the WTC square resembled the scooped-out carcass of some movie Tyrannosaur now, with dreadful serrated steel rib cages -- the twisted rebar that held up the walls of 1 & 2 towers until 8:46 a.m., September 11.
I'd eluded the National Guard, deployed across lower Manhattan from the Hudson to the East River, by rolling into the scene on a fire truck from the Eddystone, Pennsylvania, volunteer company, talking things over with Ali Erbugri, a fireman of Middle Eastern extraction. "I wanted to do something," he told me. "A lot of my brothers are getting it." He was also aware of the rising prejudice against Arabs, or "Middle Easterners," gas stations operated by Pakistanis in Eddystone having already come under rock and spray-paint attack ("Death to ragheads!"), and Ali was showing, by his presence, that he was an American, too.
Eddystone FD dropped me near the corner of Church and Duane, and I started down to 125 Worth Street, where I knew a doctor who was moving ice packs, tracheotomy tubes, IV fluid setups, and bandages into the Board of Health building, scant blocks from the fallen WTC; relief workers were beginning to call ground zero "the Pit" because so few victims were coming out alive.
I couldn't find my doctor friend but met a guy, Charlie, who was heaving boxes in an old-fashioned fire-brigade line, and crying. He said he'd been in the Holocaust in Germany and the sirens, fires, and people holding up cardboard signs with photos of lost loved ones and scrawled cell-phone numbers was too reminiscent of his ruined youth. "I'm reliving my life," he bawled. "Sirens, bombs, sirens! It doesn't stop ... Screaming ... We couldn't find anybody then, either ... You young people don't remember ... We moved from Germany to Israel -- more bombs and madness ... and now you've got it, too!"
There were 50 refrigerated trucks on Liberty and Broadway, waiting for the dead, and the teleprompters set up all around ground zero showed Ernie Anastos of Channel 2, imparting the news that 30,000 body bags were on the scene. (By Saturday, gratefully, there were 25,000 left unfilled.) Toward midnight clouds rolled in, and by Friday morning, thunderstorms had turned the dust into slick cement.
President Bush is the same size as Rudy Giuliani, the medieval hawk-face mayor of New York, but if anything, the mayor looked more presidential. Giuliani spoke in humbled terms of the sacrifices his firemen and cops were making (369 dead or missing); it was as if his own cancer diagnosis last year had knocked the cowboy out of him. This was not the case with Bush. He swaggered to the mike in his tan golf jacket, without a hardhat, as if making up for his Air Force One flights to Louisiana and Nebraska on attack day. He pointed importantly at various peaks and creaking crags in the shifting rubble around him, where yellow and blue helmets teetered on, searching in the background, oblivious to his speech, while TV focused tightly on the smallish crew paying attention. "I can hear you," Bush said gravely into his bullhorn. "The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
Despite the polls, those I talked to weren't so intent on revenge. Glen Ray, who'd been on the scene for three days, searching for survivors, finally pulled a fireman out: "I reached down a hole there, and felt a scratching on my hand." Paul DiMartini kept complaining that "they won't let me dig. They say they've got enough guys." Anthony Fischetti, who'd been working since Tuesday, said he hadn't found any whole bodies yet. "They're gonna haveta go to dentals and DNA," he murmured sorrowfully. "I saw a hand. I found part of a torso, but you weren't sure, you know? It was exactly the same color as the stone and shit. I just kept thinking: Who does this belong to? Somebody's father or brother before the bomb hit...."
TV rhetoric and the president's fiery declaration that Western civilization is in a state of war were beginning to take effect. The American and United Airlines planes that had hit the twin towers were now, officially, "bombs." The AA flight that cracked the Pentagon was a "missile." The United flight, U-turning on the Pennsylvania-Ohio border and crashing near Pittsburgh, was surely headed for Camp David, or the White House, or Air Force One. By Friday's Day of Remembering, real pain was being recycled into mediaspeak, as Dan Rather imitated Walter Cronkite, and Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Jim Baker, and George Bush, Sr., presumably advised the president in the mysteries of statesmanship.
By Saturday the rescue workers still weren't finding much, and people were writing their own epitaphs and hieroglyphs on the dirty fenders and windows of cars and rescue vehicles: On 31st Street on the West Side, near Ladder Company 24, which lost its whole first squad the first day, someone had scrawled Renab, you will be missed. Next to that it said: Father Mychal lives 4-ever. (Father Mike Judge of the Catholic church across the street was caught in the debris when the south tower collapsed.) Then it said: Stay strong and Fear no evil.
Curiously, as you moved south, back toward WTC, the graffiti grew more probative and lyrical, cave inscriptions for the 21st Century: At Fourteenth and Fifth someone had spray-painted Osama mon amour on a used-clothing store window; smeared in pink lipstick on the hood of a pearl-white Audi TT parked on Washington Square North near MacDougal was the message: God instructs the heart by pains and contradictions; a single word, one I'd first seen in the Eighties, adorned the regular "artists' graffito" space at West Broadway and Grand Street, Militarize; and at ground zero, taped Vietnam-style to the white hardhat of a shockingly beautiful young woman rescue worker who said she was a Ford model, was this: Nuke till you Puke.
On Saturday night the U.S. dead and missing count was 4972; the terrorist list hadn't yet begun.
--By John Lombardi
Fawad's Jihad
At 1:15 a.m. last Saturday, the fear unleashed from the kamikaze jetliners was still resonating in the windowless studio at WVUM-FM (90.5), the University of Miami's radio station. A lanky, dark-haired 22-year-old with long pointy sideburns stood nervously before the soundboard and prepared to speak into the microphone. He wore jeans and a long-sleeve shirt with the words "Cult Leader" embroidered above one pocket and "Bomb Squad" above the other. "This is DJ Mother Goose," he began. "Actually, uh, now I'm DJ Muslim in light of, uh, what's been going on up north. I'd like to begin tonight's program with the Islamic call to prayer." He swallowed audibly, put his index fingers to his temples, and then began a mournful melodic droning, in Arabic.
"God is great. God is great. I bear witness that there is no God but God. I bear witness that Muhammed is a messenger of God. Come to prayer. Come to success."
"Wasn't that beautiful?" DJ Muslim asked his listeners politely. "I thought so anyway," he answered himself. He faded out the mike and punched on "One More Teardrop," a song from altrockers Summer Hymns. As the song played, he rushed to gather a few more CDs. "Oh boy, this is killer. Number five: No More Fear.'"
DJ Muslim is Fawad Siddiqui, communications major, UM newspaper reporter, and Hialeah native. He is a U.S. citizen -- technically a Pakistani American. His parents moved from Karachi to Miami in 1974. His father, Hamid, a long-time Republican, operates a soil-testing company with county contracts.
"I would like to get through the whole night without a hate crime," Fawad said quietly into the mike. "And then I'd like to get credit for it, or maybe like a plaque or a street named after me in Little Havana. 'Cuz it would be so weird having a DJ Muslim Street in Little Havana."
On top of the horror of watching the attacks on television, another kind of fear closed in on Fawad on September 11. He recalled an account of a pregnant Muslim woman who was beaten up after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. "That report was going through my head all day," he said. He thought of other assaults on Arabs and Muslims by his fellow citizens in 1995 after the bombing in Oklahoma City.
So he began his own little jihad to spread the word of Islam and defend freedom of speech. "You have all these ideals swimming around in your head that you were taught when you were a kid," he said. "Like, First Amendment, First Amendment, First Amendment...."
September 12
His first stop was a mosque in Pompano Beach where leaders from Islamic Communities of South Florida, a regional Muslim association, were to hold a news conference. To a small group of reporters they condemned the previous day's attacks as "vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians."
The press briefing was over by the time Fawad pulled into the parking lot in his parents' beige Lexus SUV, which bears an "I [heart] Islam" bumper sticker. But he managed to educate a couple of reporters. The word Islam, for example, translates as "peaceful submission to God." The guy who leads the prayer service is an imam, not a minister.
At about 4:00 p.m. Fawad sat at a Miami Subs. He wore a white T-shirt with ISLAM emblazoned across the chest. Next to his tray was an empty, plastic one-gallon gasoline container. He had run out of gas on his way back from Pompano and enlisted a few men to push the SUV into the parking lot. A Miami cop in the next booth noticed the container and asked him if he was insane.
"He was cool, though," Fawad reported later. "He said, Look, you have a beautiful religion. I have friends who are Pakistani. But people are crazy out there today.'" The officer put the container under the table. "Don't you think that would raise more suspicions, though, if it looked like I was hiding a gas container under the table?" Fawad wondered.
Fawad was still hoping the hijackers weren't Muslims. But the American in him is suspicious. "I've been so brainwashed by the media that when they say terrorist,' I think Muslim," he said.
On a piece of paper, Fawad created a chart to represent Islam's four major schools of thought: Hanafi, Malaki, Shafi, and Hambli. This urge to proselytize comes from an Islamic obligation called dawah. And Fawad will dawah your ear off about Islam. It all started, he explained, when the angel Gabriel told the Koran to the prophet Muhammed, who was illiterate but had a great memory. Muhammed told the Koran to others, who wrote it down. From there Islam branched into the schools of thought, each linked to a geographical location....
And to illustrate how the majority of Islam's followers are peaceful, he draws an inverted pyramid. Muslims in general are along the top; the violent ones are down at the peak, with Osama bin Laden occupying the tip. "Bin Laden thinks there should be no schools of thought," he remarked.
September 13
Fawad shared the inverted-pyramid idea with a Cuban-American friend, who had jokingly called him a towel-head and a terrorist long before Tuesday. "He said the United States was going to pound that pyramid so far into the earth that Osama bin Laden would end up in Hell," Fawad chuckled. He was pretty sure his friend was kidding.
Later that evening Fawad paid a visit to the Muslim Student Organization's dingy four-room facility on campus. He likes the fact that he can walk into any Islamic center or mosque and be received as a brother by total strangers. At the same time, he is hiding his animosity toward the puritanical and authoritarian tendencies of the guys who run the MSO.
Just inside the door, snacks are for sale. The walls are white, the carpet in the prayer room is two-toned dull green. A room in back has a desk and a computer. One wall is filled with cassettes containing lectures by Islamic scholars. Two barefoot students were there, a stocky Kuwaiti with a long, combed black beard, and a gangly Moroccan man with a fuzzy brown beard. The Kuwaiti put his index fingers together and then pulled them away. "There is no connection with Islam," he declared, referring to the destruction. "That is bad. That is terrorism."
They told Fawad that earlier, UM president Donna Shalala (who is of Lebanese descent) met with Muslim students and told them to report any hostile calls or queries from FBI agents.
In the prayer room, Fawad noted with disapproval that his sisters do not feel welcome at the MSO.
He showed New Times how to pray, explaining that when kneeling with head to the ground, one is closest to God. Then he performed the ritual in earnest; it was his fifth and last of the day. On a whiteboard behind him someone had written an excerpt from the Koran: Whatever happens to us is the will of God. On his way back across campus, he shared his belief that Jews control the UM administration and that he doesn't feel completely comfortable expressing his pro-Palestinian views. As Fawad walked along South Dixie Highway, a man shouted something unintelligible at him from passing car. "Oh, my first comment," he muttered.
September 14
Fawad and his father were relaxing after returning home from the 183rd Street mosque where the imam, a Syrian-American electrical engineer named Abdul Hamid Samra, delivered the Friday-afternoon sermon. "Even if somebody is trying to harm you, trying to attack you," he had told about 100 men and a few women separated in a curtained-off area, "try to avoid this in a peaceful way." The Koran forbids the killing of innocents. If you kill one, you kill everyone.
"This is a shameful act!" exclaimed Fawad's father in his Urdu-inflected English, thrusting his hands toward a huge television. "These people must be punished," he added. But he believes the United States should refrain from the widespread bombing of Afghanistan or other countries because innocent people would be killed.
The previous day federal agents had knocked on the door of Hamid Siddiqui's Hialeah office. Fawad's 27-year-old brother Asad, who has an architectural engineering degree from the University of Texas, also was there. The agents apparently had received a tip that a shipment of explosives had arrived at the family-run company. "They asked us: Do you have any bombs?'" recounted Asad. "We said, No, but we have soil-density testing machines.' They asked, Can we take a look at 'em'?" Asad said the agents left cordially after inspecting the machines.
Fawad, Asad, their 26-year-old sister Fatima, and 51-year-old mother Meena watched live coverage of President Bush's trip to the WTC site. "They are nut cases," declared Meena, referring to the hijackers. "I have anger for those who have committed this act. I want something to happen to them." But, she noted, "more suffering in the world, we don't want it."
Asad and Fawad concur with the "nut cases" description. But they also think the policies of their own nation are partly to blame.
"That did not even cross my mind," protested Fatima, her face surrounded by a large, creamy yellow scarf covering her hair and draping over her torso. "All I could think was, What kind of idiot would do this?" Fawad shook his head. "She's a girl. What does she know?" he joked. "She's oppressed. She has a thing on her head."
September 15
The song "An Instant Death" had just ended when DJ Muslim repeated one of his themes for the third time that night. "The homework assignment is to open up your encyclopedia and read the entry on Islam," he said. "I'm a little shaken, can you tell?" Then he told his listeners that he was going to continue his holy war to spread peace and love through South Florida.
--By Kirk Nielsen
Red Alert
They say we were taken completely off guard.
Since suicide hijackers bombed the World Trade Center and Pentagon, government officials have repeated in media reports that the country had been caught completely by surprise. U.S. intelligence officials have declared that they knew terror was planned but expected assaults on American interests in Europe -- not in New York City and Washington, D.C.
The truth, however, may be more complicated. While federal authorities likely had no intimate knowledge of the attack beforehand, the Federal Aviation Administration did warn top airline and airport security personnel of a "potential hijacking threat in the eastern United States" on December 8, 1998. An alert that was sent to aviation officials on a strict "need-to-know" basis states the FAA had "received information that unidentified individuals, who are associated with a terrorist organization, may be planning a hijacking at a metropolitan airport in the eastern United States."
That terrorist organization, the document indicates, may well have been al Qaeda, which is run by Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the New York and D.C. attacks. "We believe the threat is current," officials wrote in the alert. "There is a general increase in tensions in the Middle East, as well as the potential for retaliation for U.S. cruise missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan, and the FAA recommends a high degree of vigilance."
Those missile strikes were ordered on August 20, 1998, by former President Bill Clinton and aimed at bin Laden in retaliation for the suicide bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Thirty members of bin Laden's organization were reportedly killed, but the prime target was missed.
FAA south regional spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen refuses to comment on the two-page alert, officially called an "information circular," which expired January 31, 1999. "We don't discuss specific security measures," says Bergen, adding that even she isn't authorized to see FAA-issued alerts. "We have a lot of information that we give airports and airlines on a need-to-know basis. We don't want to give any perpetrators any suggestion of what we might be doing."
All FAA information circulars, which number an estimated fifteen to twenty per year, are restricted from public view by law. Unlike FAA's "security directives," which have more-specific information on threats and demand certain security measures by air carriers and ports, circulars make no direct order. They are distributed to airlines' corporate security directors, senior management officials, and other security personnel. Managers and "security elements" at airports are also notified. At the bottom of the circular, in bold print, is written: "For Use by Aviation Security Personnel Only. Unauthorized Dissemination of This Document or Information Contained Herein Is Prohibited."
A confidential source in the federal government supplied New Times with the document last week because the source felt that the FAA and intelligence community were being disingenuous when expressing total surprise that domestic airliners had been hijacked. "That alert should have changed the way the airlines were doing business, but it did nothing," says the source, who has worked in various airports across South Florida. "I think they are covering their asses by saying they didn't know anything about this."
It is unknown whether the 1998 alert was directly related to last Tuesday's disaster. It has been widely speculated that the attack had been planned for more than two years, though information from the current FBI investigation seems to indicate that a concerted effort by the hijackers didn't begin on American soil until mid-2000. The seeds of the plot, according to The Washington Post, seem to date back to November 1998, when two of the suspected hijackers, Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, formed a terrorist cell in Hamburg, Germany. Two of the other suspected hijackers, Hani Hanjour and Waleed Alshehri, attended flight schools in the United States in 1997.
Since the disaster, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has given no clue that the FAA knew of any terrorist hijacking threat on the East Coast or anywhere else. "Our national transportation system has become a target," Mineta said Sunday during a press conference. "This past week requires a new system ... that will move passengers safely and efficiently."
Veteran aviation security consultant Marvin Badler says the FAA's information circulars are all too often virtually ignored by the airlines and airports. Badler, who lives in Boca Raton and is a former head of security for El Al Israel Airlines, was unaware of the 1998 East Coast threat. "That document should have been taken a lot more seriously than it seems to have been taken," he says. "But if they would have started with a higher level of security that has always been needed, then nobody would have to listen to alert notifications in the first place."
Rarely has any FAA alert surfaced publicly. After EgyptAir flight 990 crashed off the East Coast in 1999, the Associated Press obtained an information circular warning that a bomb would be "used" on a flight departing from Los Angeles or New York. Although the EgyptAir disaster is still under investigation, no evidence has been found to indicate that a bomb was on board. In 1989 an FAA circular warning that three Palestinians were planning a hijacking of an American aircraft in Western Europe was leaked to a London newspaper, causing much controversy about whether citizens have a right to know when a credible threat is made against airlines or airports. A congressional subcommittee met after the 1989 leak to discuss whether the public should be informed of aviation threats, but there ultimately was no change; FAA alerts remain a secret today.
Badler says that, while the secrecy may have helped the airlines avoid accountability for their woeful security levels, he agrees that terrorist threats shouldn't be made public. "They would produce panic, and people wouldn't want to fly," he says, adding that U.S. intelligence would also be compromised. "We can't live like that."
--By Bob Norman
Little Voices
Gregory Lujan squirted a ribbon of ketchup and then mustard onto his French fries. Because the countertop of Two Guys Restaurant is at eyebrow level for the eight-year-old, he held the red-and-yellow plastic bottles over his head and squeezed. "Everything with ketchup and mustard on it is good," Gregory proclaimed in a loud voice when questioned about the combo. "Well, there you go," commented Two Guys owner Shirley Meadows from the other side of the counter. Arms folded in front of her, Meadows was facing a thirteen-inch television set placed on a barstool at the Overtown take-out restaurant on NW Third Avenue. She was listening to Peter Jennings. Even though no one else in the tiny box of a space could make out what Jennings was saying -- the volume was turned down -- you knew the somber, serious, clipped murmuring was about the World Trade Center.
It was Friday afternoon, and we had all been tethered to the television since Tuesday -- to the voices of news anchors like Jennings, to the footage of the hijacked planes silently piercing those skyscrapers over and over again, to the smoke blooming from them, to the fireballs, to the towers collapsing, one and then the other, the ugly cloud, the people running, the updates, the scenes of the rescuers picking through the mountain of gray rubble. Televisions were turned to news at the grocery store, at the veterinarian, in offices, in restaurants. Gregory noticed that adults standing beside him waiting to order still had their eyes on the screen. "I'll tell you what I think," offered Gregory, practically shouting. "I think the people who flew airplanes into those buildings are boneheads!"
Children watched, too. Gregory's third-grade class turned on the news after the second plane hit the World Trade Center. Now he wanted to escape it. But when he got home from school, his dad was watching. Like other children that Friday afternoon, Gregory said, he wished the adults around him would just stop. He wished there was some way to make it all go away. "Kids, you see," he explained, "they just wish they could watch cartoons again. But they can't. Oh boy. It's always on, on every channel."
"Stop watching it," Eric Meadows kept telling his mother, Shirley. Yet there she was, watching again, when he got to the restaurant Friday after school. "I'm tired of buildings falling down," said Eric. And then the loquacious and precocious five-year-old explained the horror in a circuitous stream of thought that he though had an end, but that he couldn't get to. "I'm tired of buildings falling down," he said. "When buildings fall down, people get hurt. When people get hurt, them get their legs chopped off. And when them get their legs chopped off, the ambulance comes.... And if they have another plane, them better not play with it because them not supposed to play with fire. It's bad for adults. It's bad for kids. It's bad for all the people in this world! Them better not do it again, because if them do it again, the buildings will burn, and if the buildings burn, the buildings will fall down, and then all the people in this world will be dead...."
Gregory placed his fries on a counter against a wall painted with images of the food the restaurant serves: red snapper, hamburger, bowl of beans. He climbed onto a stool and sunk his chin into his hand, watching Eric. "That's right. I just hope, say if the people who did this do get bombed, they won't have anymore evilness in their minds," interrupted Gregory.
"I'm not done yet!" shouted Eric. But then he was gone, off to help his mother bag orders. "Those people who burned those buildings," Gregory added, "when they was little someone told them all these bad things about America."
Like the children in Two Guys, the lives of children all over the United States were pierced on Tuesday. Their generation had been marked. At Booker T. Washington High School, Ronald Wright's first-period journalism class turned on CNN on Tuesday morning and saw the second plane hit. "Everyone was just looking in astonishment," says fifteen-year-old Wright. Before class ended the students wrote a passage about the attack for the school's 2001-2002 yearbook. "Probably every history book from now on will talk about it for a long, long time. For generations," said Wright, waiting at Two Guys for an order of shrimp and fries. "Nothing has ever happened before in America like this. For my generation this is like our Pearl Harbor."
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Gregory wasn't worrying about generations, just about his best friend Steven. The pair talk on the telephone daily, Gregory said. Steven's father works in New York City. "I hope his dad wasn't working someplace around the building and that his dad is fine, "Gregory said. "That would make him feel a whole lot better." Gregory stared at the floor, lost in thought. "Oh boy."
Commercial airlines were back in the sky over Miami on Friday afternoon, but it didn't comfort Nerrissa Palmer, age eight. "Everytime I see an airplane I feel scared, and I want my mom and dad," Nerrissa said. She believed they could protect her. "I know nothing is going to happen to me because I have grownups around me; having grownups around me makes me feel secure," she explained.
Gregory felt his bag of fries to see if they were still hot, but he didn't make a move to leave. "A lot of people have been hurt by this," he said again. Every time Gregory spoke, he ended the thought with, "Oh boy," staring into space and looking as though he was falling into a chasm. "Oh boy," he repeated, like he wished he could stop his emotions from tumbling out. Gregory finally explained that he had lost his own mother when he was an infant, and he just felt so sad, thinking about her and thinking about the other children who lost their moms on Tuesday. "I understand," he said softly. "I do. Yes, yes. I understand."
--By Susan Eastman


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Seahawks select Alabama DT Williams in 5th round
April 27, 2013
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks continued their offseason overhaul of the defensive line on the third day of the draft with the selection of Alabama defensive tackle Jesse Williams in the fifth round.
Seattle traded one of three fifth round selections and a sixth round pick to the Detroit Lions to move up and snag Williams. While most of Seattle's roster moves have been to bolster their pass rush, Williams is a big-body at 6-foot-4, 323 pounds that will factor more heavily in the run game. The Seahawks have now expended three free agent signings and two draft picks along the defensive front.
Williams could be the replacement Seattle needed for Alan Branch, who signed with the Buffalo Bills in free agency.

subset: commoncrawl


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OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) — Hurricane Sandy has done significant damage to a large fishing pier in the Maryland beach resort of Ocean City.
Town officials confirmed the damage, which occurred early Monday as heavy surf pounded at the pilings.
Gov. Martin O'Malley says the fishing pier is now "half-gone."
The pier extends from the southern end of the Boardwalk in an area that's been under a mandatory evacuation order.
It has several small buildings on it, the last of which is a bait and tackle shop. After that point, about 100 to 150 feet of the pier is gone.
The area at the boardwalk end of the pier has some debris but remains intact.


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|Assistant Coach
A 2006 Brandeis graduate and one of the top pitchers in school history, Tim Dunphy joins the Brandeis coaching staff for his fifth season as the squad's pitching coach.
A three-time All-UAA performer and All-New England selection as a senior, Dunphy turned in one of three 10-win seasons in school history as a senior in 2006, when he went 10-3 with a 2.35 earned-run average. He led the Judges in wins, innings pitchers and strikeouts three straight seasons, finishing third on the Judges' career list with 227 strikeouts and 25 victories. Dunphy played in the prestigious Cape Cod League for the Hyannis Mets between his junior and senior season, and went on to play professionally overseas in Belgium for the Namur Lions in 2007.
A Cambridge native, Dunphy was a two-year captain at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. He was named MVP of the Greater Boston League as a senior.


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Mechanical Breakdown Protection, Inc.
Today's technologically advanced automobile repair costs are accelerating fast, making mechanical breakdown protection more valuable than ever. Mechanical Breakdown Protection, Inc. will be there to protect you from the unexpected problems the road has in store. MBPI provides maximum protection to extend mechanical breakdown coverage beyond the term of the manufacturer's warranty. You never know what bumps are in store for you and your vehicle -- get some peace of mind with mechanical breakdown protection from MBPI.
To learn more about the mechanical breakdown protection we offer, talk to an MBPI representative at 1-800-325-7484 today.


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Make smart connections
Teach your family not to arrange in-person meetings with people they "meet" online, and not to share personal information with online strangers. Google's tools make it easy for you and your family to interact online with the people you know and avoid the ones you don't. When your teens start using online communication tools like Hangouts, Google+, and Blogger, the first step is always to have a conversation about making smart choices and being a good digital citizen.
Advice from our partners
- Supervise your child's online activities. Monitoring software is no substitute for an involved parent. Know which sites your children use and who their online friends are. Know what they are saying online and talk to them about what types of posts are appropriate.
- Report suspected predators to the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children®'s CyberTipline®. Report:
- Anyone who sends your child photos or videos containing obscene content.
- Anyone who speaks to your child in a sexual manner.
- Anyone who asks your child to meet in person.
- You can't trust everyone you meet online. Teach children that the people they meet online may not be who they say they are. Watch Friend or Fake? with younger children (ages 8-12) to start a discussion about not believing everything that people say online. Watch Survivor Diaries with your teen (ages 13-17) to start a discussion about the risks of meeting offline.
- What is the Profile of a Predator? What does an online predator "look like"? The online predator: 1) Blends into society, 2) Is typically clean cut and outwardly law abiding, 3) Is usually white, middle-aged or younger, and male.
- Warning Signs Your child may be in contact with an online predator if he or she becomes secretive about online activities, becomes obsessive about being online, or gets angry when he or she can't get online.
- How to Talk to your Kids about Internet Predators Communication is key in protecting children from online exploitation. One way to keep children safer is to supervise their online activities or limit their access to sites that can facilitate online interaction with people they don't know and trust in real life.


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Latest News
Industry News Desk
Eucalyptus Hardened; Outpaces OpenStack
CEO Marten Mikos says he's "amazed at the engineering cadence. It's better than at MySQL"
By: Maureen O'Gara
Nov. 27, 2012 08:00 AM
Eucalyptus Systems, the open source cloud company, has been busy hardening the platform and is days away from delivering its third feature release in the last year.
CEO Marten Mikos says he's "amazed at the engineering cadence. It's better than at MySQL."
He ought to know. He's the guy who sold MySQL to Sun for a sweet billion dollars.
Out of an abundance of mock humility, he says, the widgetry has been dubbed Eucalyptus 3.2 although it's not your everyday point release. It represents significant work with key customers that should put further distance between Eucalyptus and its main open source rival, OpenStack, which Marten says is way too big.
He describes it as a loosely coupled bunch of products that offers no repeatability and no quick and easy ramp to production. In contrast the new Eucalyptus 3.2, due out around December 11, focuses on usability as well as deeper AWS storage compatibility.
Eucalyptus of course is the private cloud platform that Amazon shares its public cloud APIs with so companies can have the hybrid clouds they want.
Among 3.2's features is a new web-based cloud user console for self-service provisioning of compute, network and storage resources. That includes provisioning instances, keypair and password creation, Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume and snapshot operations, image catalog listing and registration, user group operations and elastic IP operations.
Cloud installation now reportedly takes all of seven clicks thanks to deeper automation and guided configuration of cloud components that also makes for fancier administration.
Users can install all systems from a single ISO image with multiple install modes, or choose a Cloud-in-a-Box mode that installs and configures Eucalyptus on a single system for demo and developer use.
Users also benefit from simplified cloud administration through improved logging capabilities for faster troubleshooting and issue resolution.
Eucalyptus is targeting specific markets these days, namely technology, media and telecom companies as well as the government. Its roadmap is designed to satisfy their itches - and it's getting direct feedback from them, Marten says.
As a result if external dependencies break Eucalyptus doesn't break. It can be restarted on-the-fly and applications keep running. Marten says rivals can't match that. They haven't gotten that far.
See, Eucalyptus 3.2 introduces a hardened node controller for greater cloud stability. It insulates a Eucalyptus cloud instance from any underlying issues on a Linux operating system, ensuring the node and applications remain running even if the host operating system is having problems.
Eucalyptus says managing distributed cloud environments is a daunting challenge for today's cloud administrators. As the complexity and scale of cloud deployments grow solutions that automate key processes, troubleshoot and resolve performance issues and report on cloud usage and key trends are critical for success.
It claims the innovations in Eucalyptus 3.2 provide customers with greater visibility and control over cloud environments so cloud adoption is accelerated across their organizations.
Other new features include enhanced cloud usage reporting. Customers can understand the use of cloud resources, providing chargeback for the resources consumed and facilitating capacity planning. Administrators can report on cloud compute, storage and memory usage at the user, group and cloud level, generate and export reports via the Eucalyptus Dashboard, API or command line and store usage data in an external database.
Thomas Morse, director of IT and SaaS operations at App Dynamics, said, "At any given time, our load-test harness may handle up to 6,000 concurrent connections to 20 test applications across multiple groups and phases of development. Eucalyptus enables us to quickly provision cloud resources to meet these demands using the same ecosystem of tools we're already familiar with through our work with AWS. The reliability, flexibility and control provided by Eucalyptus 3.2 sets the stage for us to more rapidly deploy and manage mission-critical development and test environments in a highly scalable and self-service manner."
Eucalyptus has also broadened its storage support with two new adapters. Its new JBOD Storage Adapter overlays Elastic Block Storage (EBS) functionality on top of raw block devices and JBODs, providing full support of AWS EBS API operations. Its EMC VNX SAN Storage Adapter expands SAN support for EMC VNX Series SANs for Elastic Block Store (EBS) storage, including high availability for the Storage Controller, failover for the EMC management port, advanced VNX snapshot support and multi-pathing support for datapath redundancy.
Marten says "Customers worldwide, including NSN, Puma, Inter-Continental Hotels Group and NASA have turned to Eucalyptus based on the agility, elasticity, and scale that our software provides for highly demanding development and test and web applications. Eucalyptus 3.2 delivers a highly reliable and robust private and hybrid cloud solution that empowers both enterprises and the open source community to confidently deploy applications and drive innovation in the cloud."
The new capabilities were build on Eucalyptus 3.1, which aligned the open source community and enterprises on the same platform to contribute, build, run and manage cloud development and deployments.
Reader Feedback: Page 1 of 1
Cloud Computing Blogs


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Monday is the first deadline for the CTA's transition to Ventra, its new fare payment system. Starting Monday, CTA riders will not be able to load money onto their Chicago Cards or buy disposable magnetic cards at rail stations.
This is not a deadline for Chicago Card Plus users, though, whose cards will continue to autoload until Nov. 14, the last day that Chicago Card Plus can be used on CTA.
The CTA said it has finished mailing Ventra cards to Chicago Card Plus users and riders with registered Chicago Cards who have verified their information.
But the agency said there is a "small number" of Chicago Card users whose contact information is incomplete in the Ventra system, so the CTA is emailing those users to update information so their Ventra cards can be mailed.
The CTA said there are 899,000 Ventra accounts, and as of Wednesday, Ventra was used for about a third of all CTA rides.
Here's what you need to do and know for Monday's transition deadline.
If you have a Chicago Card
>> If you have not yet received your Ventra card, load money onto your Chicago Card this weekend and use the card until you receive your Ventra card. You will eventually have to spend down your Chicago Card balance, though, because balances cannot automatically be transferred to Ventra.
>> Chicago Cards can be used until Nov. 15.
If you have a disposable magnetic card
>> Load unlimited passes onto Ventra cards, which can be purchased at rail stations and retailers including CVS and Jewel-Osco.
>> You can still buy disposable cards at retailers, just not at rail station vending machines.
>> You can still use cash on buses and purchase single-ride Ventra rail tickets for $3, up from $2.25.


text: Save This Event For Later 2018 Berkshire Brevet Spring 200K Westfield, MA, Sun Mar 25, 2018 Who's Registered? | Contact Event | Event Website | Google Calendar Start line address: 55 Franklin Street, Westfield, MA 01085 Presented by New Horizons Cycling Club This is a past event. If you wish to see the details for this event click, "Continue" below. If you are looking for a current event, please search the event calendar .


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33 U.S. Code § 646 - Headquarters and meetings of commission
The headquarters and general offices of said commission shall be located at some city or town on the Mississippi River, to be designated by the Secretary of the Army, and the meetings of the commission except such as are held on Government boats during the time of the semiannual inspection trips of the commission shall be held at said headquarters and general offices, the times of said meetings to be fixed by the president of the commission, who shall cause due notice of such meetings to be given members of the commission and the public.
Department of War designated Department of the Army and title of Secretary of War changed to Secretary of the Army by section 205(a) of act July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, 61 Stat. 501. Section 205(a) of act July 26, 1947, was repealed by section 53 of act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 641. Section 1 of act Aug. 10, 1956, enacted "Title 10, Armed Forces" which in sections 3010 to 3013 continued Department of the Army under administrative supervision of Secretary of the Army.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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ASHLAND, OR – April 18th 2011 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – The appointment of Scuderia West as a new Brammo dealer in San Francisco will ensure that Bay Area customers now have easy access to the Brammo range of electric motorcycles.
The American manufacturer Brammo has partnered with this well-established motorcycle dealer on Duboce Avenue, San Francisco. Scuderia West has built up an enviable reputation over 20 years for its high levels of servicing, repairs and parts sourcing for both new and used motorcycles.
Established in 1991, Scuderia's current facilities include a comprehensive showroom, sales and aftersales department, and full servicing facilities with workshops featuring the latest electronic diagnostic equipment.
"We are delighted to be the first motorcycle dealership to sign up with Brammo," said Scuderia's founder and owner, Don Lemelin. "Typically, our customers appreciate a motorcycle that is both well designed and performs flawlessly. Thanks to Brammo's superior engineering and quality we know we can stake our reputation on these motorcycles."
Brammo prices start at $7,995 less federal and state incentives for the entry level Enertia, and rise to $13,995 for the top of the line Empulse 10.0.
Commenting on this latest appointment, CEO of Brammo Inc, Craig Bramscher, added: "Brammo's share of the US market is soaring and we have no doubt that the Bay Area appreciates the benefits of Brammo electric motorcycles. Scuderia West is becoming a Brammo Dealer at a very exciting time and we both look forward to providing Bay Area riders with world-class products and service. Brammo's soon to be announced expanded product line is a great fit with the traditional high end motorcycle dealer and with Scuderia, we are off to a great start."
Located at 69 Duboce Avenue, San Francisco, Scuderia West is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9am until 6pm.
Brammo's change in distribution will also benefit existing customers as all servicing and warranty of Brammo motorcycles previously sold through stores will be honored by Brammo's new dealership network.
"We are always interested to talk with dealers about our exciting motorcycles and explore the opportunity of becoming a Brammo dealer." Said Craig Bramscher.
About Brammo
Brammo Inc is a leading electric vehicle technology company headquartered in North America. Brammo designs and develops electric vehicles including the award winning Brammo Enertia motorcycle. Brammo is an OEM supplier of its innovative Brammo Digital Drivetrain™ systems including the Brammo Power™ battery pack and Brammo Power™ vehicle management system. Brammo has vehicle distribution and marketing operations in North America, Europe and Asia.
You can learn more about Brammo and follow our developments by using these links:
Brammo Newsletter sign up
Brammo official website www.Brammo.com
Brammo Blog
Brammo Facebook page
Brammo Twitter feed
Brammo You Tube channel
Brammo Smug Mug galleries
Brammo Forum (operated by Brammo enthusiasts)


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28 U.S. Code § 452 - Courts always open; powers unrestricted by expiration of sessions
All courts of the United States shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing proper papers, issuing and returning process, and making motions and orders.
The continued existence or expiration of a session of a court in no way affects the power of the court to do any act or take any proceeding.
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 13 and 302 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §§ 9, 189, 36 Stat. 1088, 1143; Mar. 2, 1929, ch. 488, § 1, 45 Stat. 1475).
Sections 13 and 302 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., related only to district courts and the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and this section has been written to cover all other courts of the United States.
Other provisions of said section 302 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., are incorporated in sections 214, 456, and 604 of this title.
The phrase "always open" means "never closed" and signifies the time when a court can exercise its functions. With respect to matters enumerated by statute or rule as to which the court is "always open," there is no time when the court is without power to act. (Ex parte Branch, 63 Ala. 383, 387.)
Section 13 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., provided that "The district courts, as courts of admiralty and as courts of equity, shall be deemed always open * * *" for enumerated purposes, and that the judge "at chambers or in the clerk's office, and in vacation as well as in term," may make orders and issue process. The revised section omits all reference to the nature of the action or proceeding and enumeration of the acts which may be performed by the court. This is in accord with Rules 45(c) and 56 of the new Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which contain similar provisions with respect to criminal procedure both in the courts of appeals and in the district courts.
Rules 6(c) and 77(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contain provisions similar to the second and first paragraphs, respectively, of this section with respect to civil actions in district courts.
1963—Pub. L. 88–139 substituted "expiration of sessions" for "terms" in section catchline, and "session" for "term" in text.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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Hey all, came across this board the other night and liked the format. I am very active on another board, but one cannot have enough info about the Chiefs, especially during the off season.
I have been a huge fan of the Chiefs since I was little. Got it from my dad and have continued ever since. Win or lose, they are my team. I am very excited with the changes so far in 2009 and look forward to hearing who our new head coach is (hopefully we will know this week)!! Also love the draft and will watch every minute of it, as I have the past two years!!
GO CHIEFS:sign0155:


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SOURCE: Maxymiser, Inc.
February 22, 2012 09:00 ET
Global Multivariate Testing and Personalization Leader Wins Accolades From WhichTestWon for Work With The Telegraph
Global Multivariate Testing and Personalization Leader Wins Accolades From WhichTestWon for Work With The Telegraph
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Feb 22, 2012) - Maxymiser, the global expert in multivariate testing, personalization and optimization solutions, today announced its wins of two WhichTestWon's Annual A/B & Multivariate Testing Awards for their work with The Telegraph. Maxymiser swept the "Online Ad/Banner Test Results category," winning both the Gold and Silver Awards. The winners were announced via a live webinar on Friday, February 17, 2012.
Maxymiser worked with The Telegraph to test multiple variations of ad text on The Telegraph site to win the Gold Award. The test aimed to find the best design for the Telegraph's "sponsored features panel," which is used to drive traffic to content sponsored by advertisers. Since traffic is sold per unique visitor arriving, every click -- and conversion -- counts. The test, designed and led by Maxymiser's customer experience experts, delivered a significant increase in conversion rates for The Telegraph. Maxymiser and The Telegraph also snagged the Silver Award in this category for tests performed and conversions achieved around Google AdSense campaigns.
"The recognition for our work with The Telegraph serves to further establish Maxymiser as the industry leader in customer experience optimization market," said Maxymiser's President and Founder, Mark Simpson. "At Maxymiser, we continue to innovate and take website testing, and personalization to the next level for our clients, who in turn continue to experience rising conversion rates and higher ROI."
The awards come on the heels of Maxymiser's recent Series B funding of $12 Million and the expansion of Maxymiser's global roster of clients including Wyndham Hotel Group, Teleflora, Finish Line, Harry & David and Time Warner Cable, among others.
To learn more about the WhichTestWon awards, please visit http://whichtestwon.com/about-testing-awards.
To learn more about Maxymiser -- and its services and clients -- please visit www.maxymiser.com.
About Maxymiser
Maxymiser is the global expert in multivariate testing, personalization and optimization solutions. Brands such as Finish Line, Teleflora, Time Warner Cable, and Wyndham Hotel Group use Maxymiser to drive the most effective online customer experiences which increase conversion rates, revenue and consumer loyalty. Maxymiser combines online testing and automated personalization into a single platform that empowers marketers to launch comprehensive optimization campaigns on-the-fly without the need for IT resources. This patent-pending OneTouch Network connects once to your website, mobile sites, or mobile apps to leverage all Maxymiser solutions and existing data sources to drive highly personalized experiences for every individual. Founded in 2006, Maxymiser is a rapidly expanding, private company with offices in New York, London, San Francisco, Edinburgh and Dusseldorf, as well as a global network of marketing and technology partners. The company's conversion management solutions and reporting infrastructure are recognized by leading industry analysts as best-in-class.
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On Tuesday (4/15/14) morning... around 2am, CST (<- because I'm not moving), there will be a LUNAR ECLIPSE.
Just in case there is some confusion, a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse are two different events and cannot happen at the same time.
A lunar eclipse is when the Earth blocks the Sun's rays going to the Moon and reflecting off it's surface. Due to the Earth's atmosphere, the sunlight is diffused and filtered... and it is projected onto the surface of the Moon, causing it to have an orange-ish cast.
A solar eclipse is when the Moon gets between the Sun and the Earth and the moon physically blocks the sunlight going to the Earth. Because the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, the entire shadow moves across causing a definite perceived change in sunlight intensity. It should be stressed that you do not want to directly look at this kind of eclipse with the naked eye, or with sunglasses or directly photograph the sun without substantial light-reduction filtering, on the order of f/96.
Unfortunately, in Chicago. the weather may not cooperate (rain/snow), at the time of this event, and it is going to be back down around freezing. (C'mon, already! Enough with the photographic challenges!)
Anyway, I'm breaking out the telescope, again, and will try to capture the shot. The lens, itself, weighs about 12 pounds (5.5 kg) and the camera adds about 2.5 pounds (1.2 kg) more, requiring a substantial tripod. (Remember to tape at the legs joints, to provide a significant point of safety for long term shoots. Also, the use of the gimbal tripod head is also recommended with larger lenses, for ease of movement. Following the Moon is a constant effort. It does not just sit there, looking cute.
Throw a little luck my way, will ya? There's only so much camera to throw around.


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The UC Davis Pediatric Infusion Center started a new tradition Wednesday with the presentation of a beautifully frosted cake in honor of the end of therapy for one young cancer patient.
Tiny Iryss Holliday seemed stunned when led into a room where a bright white cake with pink and purple frosting had her name on it with the message, "You did it."
Many of Iryss' caregivers, including nurses, radiation therapists and physicians, attended the event, applauding as she was presented with the cake.
Anjali Pawar, the pediatric oncologist overseeing Iryss' care, launched the effort to recognize children and their families for their courage and perseverance during months of often difficult cancer treatment.
The cake was donated by the Keaton Raphael Memorial, a foundation dedicated to supporting pediatric cancer patients and research.
"These children have had to battle with sadness and loneliness, and now they get to celebrate and get back to a normal life," said Teresa Hotkenke, the foundation's executive director. "It sends a message of hope."
The Fairfield pre-schooler was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer. She had one kidney removed, 15 radiation therapy treatments and 33 weeks of chemotherapy.
"We had you come here for so many unpleasant things, and we are all happy you have come so far," Pawar said. "So we decided to have a little cake."
Iryss' father, Dwayne Holliday, was teary-eyed when asked about the importance of the day.
"This is not even real for me yet," he said. "This is almost like a second home for us."
Holliday says his daughter is feeling much better, and has a great appetite.
"I can't keep her fed," he joked. "She wants to eat everything."
A single father, Holliday had to quit his job to attend to his daughter's medical needs. He is just starting back at work, part time. As for his daughter, there is much to do.
"I have a lot of things planned for her," he said. "She will be a busy girl."


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Plastics prices, markets & analysis
The reliable and trustworthy Plastics Market Monthly report is published by ICIS in Europe. It includes an overview of activity in the polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) markets.
Our team of locally-based reporters gather intelligence and news to provide this comprehensive, unbiased information, ensuring you can evaluate the market from every angle and make confident business decisions.
How we can help
Plastics news and market information products from ICIS
We offer the following regional Plastics analysis and news coverage to keep you informed of factors and developments affecting prices in the Plastics marketplace.
Price reporting
Price Reporting – More information about the price reports we publish on Plastics
Independent price assessments and market coverage by region
Price history
Price History – More information about the historical price data we publish on Plastics
Track historical price data
News & analysis
News & Analysis - News & market analysis specifically relating to Plastics
Breaking news of latest developments affecting the markets.
Insight and analysis of factors driving prices.
Market overview
Plastics: Market overview
Updated to Q1 2015
European polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) Q1 prices are expected to be agreed at reductions based on falling feedstock prices and pressure coming from competitively priced Asian imports. Reductions are expected in the price of all PBT raw materials, including butanediol (BDO), purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT).
European polyacetal (POM) negotiations are less straightforward, with some producers hoping to secure slight increases to gain margin, while buyers believe there is room for price decreases amid market length. Feedstock price methanol is expected to remain largely stable this year.
The euro has recently reached a nine-year low versus the dollar which is likely to discourage some Asian suppliers from targeting the eurozone, which will benefit producers in both of the markets.
See a collection of featured plastics content including articles, videos, podcasts and much more at our dedicated plastics page
News & analysis
Plastics news & analysis
Pricing Intelligence
Pricing information
Regional price assessments, published daily or weekly, enabling you to keep track of trading prices, understand price drivers/fluctuations and set a benchmark for contract price settlements. ICIS offers reports on over 180 commodities across the global petrochemical, energy and fertilizer markets. Information covered in our price reports includes:
- Spot and contract price assessments
- Market commentary on trends and developments
- Transactions reported and confirmed
- Plant and production news
Information is accessed online, via the ICIS dashboard service and is configurable to suit your preferences.
Price forecast services
Produced by the ICIS Consulting team, these reports give a robust rolling 12-month price forecast, trade balances and in-depth analysis into where markets are heading – providing a valuable tool to support your short- to medium-term plans.
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ICIS pricing intelligence is delivered to you online via the ICIS dashboard. Here you can view your reports and also access other useful services including related news, analysis, historical data and market alerts.
ICIS dashboard also makes it easy for you to create pricing charts, download price history and export data to create tailored analytical models.
- Find more about ICIS dashboard >>
- Find out more about new ICIS data delivery options: Excel Plug-In & API >>
Margin reports
ICIS weekly margin reports deliver the detail you need to understand how production costs and prices are affecting margins, enabling you to judge the likely impact on your business and optimise your upstream and downstream business decisions.
Supply and Demand Window on ICIS Dashboard
The Supply and Demand Window on the ICIS Dashboard provides a snapshot view of historical and forecast information for supply and demand, production capacity and trade flows – a key tool to help safeguard future investments within the chemicals market.
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24-hour global coverage of breaking news in the petrochemical industry, including updates on production, shutdowns and key transacted deals, keeping you informed of market developments as they happen. The ICIS news service allows you to customise the market alerts delivered to your email inbox, providing the business-critical information you need straightaway.
ICIS Chemical Business magazine
If you want to keep updated on the factors driving price movements in the global chemical markets, ICIS Chemical Business provides a summary of the information you need to support your business decisions. Every week, our global team of experts digests and summarises the key issues and their potential impact on the market – all in one magazine.
Market Studies & Analysis
Supply & Demand Data
An expert view of supply and demand comprising four fully-reconciled databases, giving you access to extensive data for more than 100 markets. Information is included on global and regional trade flows, production, capacity and sources of demand in the short-, medium- and long-term. Data can be downloaded, customised and queried to support your planning requirements and your strategic decisions.
Training & Conferences
Training courses
ICIS provides specialist training courses across the global petrochemicals, base oils and fertilizers industries. Our training team of industry experts can help you increase your knowledge of the industry and gain the insight and know-how needed to operate and trade effectively.
Find out more about ICIS training courses >>
ICIS produces a series of highly informative and timely conferences. Extensive research is carried out to ensure that each programme delivers the information you need and addresses current industry issues. We source speakers who have the appropriate expertise and experience to deliver excellent quality papers.
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Global markets
Working closely with you to understand your strategies, challenges and ambitions, the ICIS consulting team deliver tailored advice and solutions to suit your unique requirements. With many years' experience of guiding business leadership teams, we show you how market conditions can make a positive or negative impact on your long-term plans.
China markets
ICIS expert consultants can provide your organisation with the insight, intelligence and data needed to build and grow your business in China. We can help you to gain a clear view on the short and long-term supply and demand picture in the chemicals, energy, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals and paper and pulp markets in China.
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Our in-depth market knowledge drives our specialist focus, as we recognise the importance of individual market dynamics and not a one-size-fits-all approach.
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Saturday, September 12, 2015
Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
Taoist Sexual Practices
Dear Sirs,
I have been introduced lately to the taoist sexual practices (a book by Mantak Chia called the multiorgasmic man). I have found that all the exercises are very beneficial to vitalize the body and to prepare it for a better sexual experience. However, they advised to do sex or masturbation without ejaculation. Is it healthy to do so? or it might cause problems to my prostate gland, or to any part of my body! Thank you in advance.
Any sexual stimulation and education is healthy to your sexual life and enhances your pleasure. Having sex without ejaculation requires a lot of concentration and at times it is impossible unless drugs such as Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used.
Stimulation without producing semen is not known to cause any adverse effect except for occasional pain in testicles known as "blue ball syndrome".
Ahmad Hamidinia, MD
Formerly, Professor of Clinical Surgery
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati