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Those developers will make applications that take advantage of Kin, a cryptocurrency created by the Kik mobile messaging service. The developers who successfully launch Kin-integrated apps over the next six months will receive financial incentives worth up to $60,000 (or 400 million Kin).
The foundation received more than 200 applications from developers in 38 countries. Of the submissions accepted into the program, approximately 40 percent of proposed use cases plan to integrate Kin by adding a new feature into an existing consumer app. Two such apps are Nearby, a popular social network for meeting new friends, and Vent, an emotion sharing platform at the forefront of its field.
"The Kin Developer Program allows us to harness the creativity of the global developer community to achieve our goal of becoming the most used cryptocurrency in the world," said Dany Fishel, president of Kin, in a statement. "We received proposals that plan to integrate Kin in new and exciting ways, and we are eager to work with these developers to build real consumer use cases of cryptocurrency."
Kik launched the cryptocurrency in September, raising almost $100 million from the sale of its tokens. And now Kik, through the Kin Ecosystem Foundation, is signing deals with partners to make its cryptocurrency broadly available. The foundation created a software development kit (SDK) that makes it easy to incorporate Kin into a game or app.
Kik's goal for Kin is to create an ecosystem of digital services, and it cut a deal with Unity to integrate it into the Unity Asset Store. As more partners like Unity join and expand the ecosystem, Kik and Kin will drive mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency.
As more partners join, Kin will launch the Kin Rewards Engine (KRE), which can incentivize developers to create valuable digital services for users in the Kin Ecosystem. This will allow them to make a fair return based on the number of users of their services. Through the KRE, Kin will introduce a daily reward, distributed to developers based on their contribution to the entire ecosystem.
A selection committee, comprised of executives and team members from Kin, chose submissions based on the nature of the suggested use case, experience, skills, and background of the team or individual applying, and the likelihood of reaching the program's milestones.
The 44 projects will integrate the Kin Ecosystem SDK into new and existing apps, spanning the chat, gaming, productivity, networking, e-commerce, content sharing, health, and education categories.
All participants will attend an educational, web-based kick off session, and they will be supported by the Kin developer team throughout the program. Apps must be ready for presentation during a virtual demo day on Oct. 2 in order for developers to receive their first incentive of 50 million Kin (value of $7,000).
Kin will continue expanding its developer tool, and it is building a self-serve developer platform to allow more developers to create experiences with Kin. That is expected to launch later this year.
source: venturebeat.com


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Plant lovers and backyard enthusiasts are special people who will love your thoughtfulness when you chose a garden gift for them. If someone you know spends more than ninety percent of their day pruning and pairing, selecting garden gifts for their next birthday or anniversary might be the perfect token of your appreciation.
By nature, gardening presents many challenges. There are organic, birdhouse, dish, herbal, flower, varietals and ornamental gardens to name a few.
One of the first things to consider is what type of landscaping or gardening the person you are shopping for participates in. Another consideration might be the type of climate in which the person lives. For example, a plant that requires shade and frequent watering to grow will not do well in a dry climate that is often sunny, such as that in Colorado. There are a few varieties of hardy plants that do well in almost any type of climate. These include the following:
Vanilla Leaf
Lady Fern
Wild Strawberry
Large Avens
False Lily of the Valley
All of these plants are generally hardy, and require only average soil for survival. Their sunshine requirements range from shade to full sun. Marigolds, morning glories, poppies and the cypress vine are all great examples of flowering plants that are also easy to grow for the novice or experienced gardener.
For novices, or those that have yet to acquire their green thumb, there are many easy to raise plants and garden gifts that can encourage a blossoming planter. There are also an amazing variety of selections for backyard enthusiasts that complement the garden without requiring a green thumb. Bird baths and planters for example, come ready to implant into even the most basic garden, and add a touch of elegance and sophistication to any environment. Some neat accessories that also fall into this category of garden gifts, include composters and bird houses.
Organic gardening has become very popular. Besides ornamental garden gifts, there are certain products that every organic gardener needs to grow a lush, organic garden, whether they are growing herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables or some combination of all of these. The list below details some "necessities" that should be considered for any natural landscape:
Potting Soil
Lawn Fertilizer
Earth Work Castings
Natural gardening is popular because planters often obtain higher yields in their crops. Generally, this type of gardening also is considered "healthier" by many enthusiasts, due in part to the lack of pesticides utilized by growers.
Adriana Copaceanu provides people with creative gift ideas that don't blow the bank. You can find many www.abcgiftsandbaskets.com/">Great Gift Ideas at her site. Want regular reminders on gift-giving? Sign up for
her free monthly newsletter.

subset: commoncrawl


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Calls to Livingston Co Sheriff Dept Up
The Livingston County Sheriff says the calls for service in the first half of 2018 are up compared to the same period last year. In fact, nearly all of the numbers are up on the report. Some of the items on the report include:
Incident Reports 305, up 10, Arrest Reports 105, up 14, Civil Process (court papers served) 823, up 76, Traffic Stops 515, up 6, CCW New Permits 16, down 1, CCW Renewal Permits only 1, the same as the year before.
Sheriff Steve Cox says what makes the numbers significant is they are down on the number of employees from last year.
Cox says they hope to have some good news soon for the number of deputies for the department.


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Decision Optimization for Data Science Experience: Why?
In a recent post, I introduced the major areas of functionality of our recent delivery of Decision Optimization for Data Science Experience. The DSX Local platform now additionally includes the ability to develop, validate and deploy Decision Optimization models. But, without background on Decision Optimization, you might wonder: "Why is it so important to have Decision Optimization in my Data Science Platform". This is the topic of this post.
Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics
The definition of Data Science from wikipedia is: "Data Science is an interdisciplinary field of scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge or insights from data."
In other words, using scientific methods, and based on data, data scientists want to:
1. visualize data in different ways in order to understand what is happening now,
2. find out the relationships and behaviors inside data in order to understand what may happen next,
3. use this information and insights in order to decide what actions should be done next.
These intentions are usually classified as Descriptive, Predictive and Prescriptive analytics, as represented in this chart:
For each of these objectives, different scientific techniques can be used, and sometimes the same type of algorithm can be used in different areas.
Another nice example to illustrate this classification is the following:
In your car:
1. The car, using sensors, shows the current speed of the car on the speedometer: this is descriptive analytics,
2. the car, based on recent driving habits, and oil level sensor, estimates and shows the predicted distance before refuel: this is predictive analytics,
3. the car, based on the destination you have indicated, data on the car and traffic, suggests the path to follow: this is prescriptive analytics.
Why Predictive is not enough?
The news suggest machine learning is all what you need to take the right decisions. With enough historical data, algorithms will train to find the right decisions. This is currently true only on specific and limited cases.
As an example, let's consider the marketing campaign optimization. Imagine a company can promote some products to some customers.
Using a trained predictive algorithm, it is possible to predict the expected revenue for each product/customer combination according to product and customer properties. If there is no additional regulation, then all best combinations can be selected. Easy.
But what if there is some additional regulations?
Consider the simplistic case of 3 products and 10 customers, with a given limit of 3 customers per campaign and 1 product per customer. Because of the constraints, it might be better not to always select the highest individual expected revenue. The optimal solution is yet not trivial, and these are just thousands of combinations. Imagine the real application with dozens of products and millions of customers!
Where does Decision Optimization applies?
If I would be sarcastic, I would say Machine Learning applications reduces to recognizing cats and dogs in pictures. This is an area where it is really performing well. If correctly trained, the model might even perform better than humans, as he might extract new features and better use these features.There are lots of potential (future?) applications of Machine Learning, and you read about them everyday in the news.
Decision Optimization easily outperforms humans after the model has been formulated.
Applications of Decision Optimization are just everywhere (already!), although we don't read about them every day in the news.
When you go to the supermarket, the prices have been optimized using DO, the positioning of products on the shelfs have been optimized using DO, the replenishment of the store has been optimized using DO, the localization of warehouses has been optimized using DO, the transportation of the items from the plants to the warehouses has been optimized using DO, the production lines have been scheduled using DO, the maintenance plan of the production lines has been optimized using DO, etc.
In the hospital, nurses are scheduled using DO, in the post office, mails delivery is optimized using DO.
At home, the water and electricity distribution are planned using DO. The generation of electricity is planned using DO, and if you have a failure and call the customer service, the personal there have their planning optimized using DO.
Traveling? the planes construction and maintenance is scheduled using DO, the different flights are optimized using DO, the types of fleets are assigned using DO, the crew and pilots are scheduled using DO, the price of individual tickets is optimized using DO. The assignment of planes to tails and gates in the airport is optimized using DO, and your luggage is handled optimally using DO.
You understand I could continue, and that Decision Optimization even if not very present on the newspapers is really used everywhere.
A data scientist willing to extract insights to take action from data should really consider DO.
Why Prescriptive requires Predictive?
Decision Optimization solves complex problems but requires data. In order to optimally schedule which goods should be produced and transported, one need to take into account the expected demand for these goods at different periods and locations. Decision Optimization is fed with future data which has been predicted from historical data. This is just an example, but any Decision Optimization application requires at some point the outcome of some kind of predictive model.
With the addition of Decision Optimization to Data Science Experience, data scientists now have access to all technologies required to implement complete decision applications within the same platform with common tools to develop, share, validate and deploy models.
With an example, such as Marketing Campaign Optimization, I will illustrate how the complete set of features can be used.


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I received the following email on Commercial vs. Open Source, Policy, Enforcement, and Security Monitoring. I'm posting this email in order to share some of the views. It could be perceived as a bit of a rant, but I'm posting it below because it could spark some thought and conversation. Let me know what you think. If you have problem with the grammar, please rely on context clues. _MJC_ :)
In the Network security field they are vendors that sell products. They claim the products will catch the bad guys, disassemble malware and save the world. All we need to do is buy their products.
Then they are those Open Source vendors that sell support of some open source tool like Clam AV or Snort all we need to do is use it right and we are safe and they sell themselves as consultants. This model for doing business is not new, In the Financial services industry you have those who claim to be financial planners and when you go and see them they do a budget workup with you and then sell you commission based products like life or medical insurance. Then you have those who claim to be fee based financial planners (much like the open source pimps) and sell you things like Term insurance or no load mutual funds you supposedly pay for their expertise.
The problem with these approaches is they are PRODUCT based. The real solution is a mindset and action to get the desired results not some product Open Source or otherwise.
Network Security is not brain surgery. You need policy, enforcement and monitoring. If those 3 are not done then things break down.
Policy that is not enforced is useless, it's just as bad as if there was no policy at all. In fact if you have a policy you are lured into a sense of false security. If there is no Policy users know they are left to fend for themselves. At [ XYZ ] we don't have a problem in areas like Europe where privacy laws demand they users not be monitored or punished for breaking policy. It's the areas where we have the strictest policies that we have problems.
Enforcement - If policies are not enforced then it is useless. Same with dealing with problem areas of the network. If management turns a blind eye towards tunneling and insists on using systems that are not locked down. Giving most users admin rights and walking on egg shells and not going after employees equally for violations you will never secure the network.
Monitoring - I know a few companies we work with and problems arise and you find out that they have a special internet connection that is not being monitoring. They have this special RESEARCH network they can surf porn on. They tether their laptops with their Blackberries or use a SSL tunnel to do whatever they want on the network. Especially in the technical companies the very ones that should be examples and protecting their networks are doing these things. I have seen individuals have their IP addresses Whitelisted so they could watch movies all day claiming they are doing company business then we all wonder how malware got on the network.
Products do not protect or defend the real network. They point out the obvious and until someone pokes their finger at the sore and lets the world know they need to change network security is a charade. Even DojoSec with it open source pimps is not making things better unless it goes after the above mentioned issues.
That's my 2 cents...


text: The ministry of the apostle is the linchpin ministry of the church, and without it the church cannot become what it is called to be. With it's remarkable growth and impact, it is understandable that "apostolic movements" and claims of apostleship are also becoming some of the greatest controversies of our time. Though this book is not an attempt to answer all of the questions arising from this issue, it does address some of the most important ones, such as:


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(Please note: This review is written by Pamela of Mom Does Reviews. All thoughts are hers. I did not receive any compensation for posting this.)
Cutest Apron Ever!
The Product
The Women's Original apron from Flirty Aprons is a feminine, yet durable apron that you will enjoy over and over again. The double-layer thickness protects from spills and messes, and the apron comes in many different patterns and colors. The Original apron has long ties so you can tie it in the back or front, and it is made to fit women of all sizes. Sassy, fun, cute and even sexy
My Review
I was so excited when my package arrived from Flirty Aprons. While I'm not much of an apron-wearer, I sure need one. I am a messy cook and could use some splatter protection and fun in the kitchen. Since the word Apron makes me feel like I'm a kitchen mom, I like to call it my fabulous kitchen accessory, or FKA for short. My Pink Chocolate FKA arrived and I put it to use the same day. My husband thought I looked cute. My son couldn't wait to have his little girlfriends over so they could try it on. (Now that he's nine, he's too cool to wear girly stuff so I couldn't get him to even try it.) I love the pockets and frilly, girly pattern. It makes cooking fun!
My Pink Chocolate FKA (Fabulous Kitchen Accessory) is:
- Sassy
- Fun
- Cute
- Sexy
- Practical
- Well-made. I love the double layers
- Handy (it has 2 front pockets)
- Fits the "real woman" not just model size
The only thing I didn't care for was the tie at the neck. I would have loved to be able to just slip it over my head and go. But, I can leave it tied all the time, so it's really not an issue.
The Giveaway:
One lucky winner will get to choose a FKA ($35 value) of their own! You can pick from: Pink Chocolate, Blue Chocolate, Frosted Cupcake, Chic Pink, or Scarlet Blossom apron.
Giveaway is open to US residents only.
Enter on the easy Rafflecopter below. Only 13 Mandatory Entries. Lots more optional entries. Please try to follow us with Linky Follows, as it is a new tool to replace GFC.
Thanks and good luck!
Giveaway ends February 25th at 12:01am EST.
(Pamela's disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.)


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The LeaderShape® Institute™ challenges participants to lead with integrity™ while working towards a vision grounded in their deepest values. Participants explore not only what they want to do, but who they want to be.
Dynamic, challenging, and exciting, the week is intended to produce a breakthrough in the leadership capacity of participants—benefiting them individually, as well as their respective communities and the organizations they will go on to lead and serve in the future.
If you have any questions about the Institute™, please email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Publication date: October 31, 2012
"Big Trouble in Little Italy" (title taken from color edition)
*The TMNT: IDW Collection Vol. 3 hardcover places the Annual between TMNT (IDW) #20 and TMNT (IDW) #21. This was done as a matter of space, as the Annual could not fit in Vol. 2. Thematically, the Annual acts as a prelude to the "City Fall" arc and is entirely self-contained, so it reads just fine in either established placement.
*On January 21, 2014, the Annual was rereleased in a Deluxe Edition which featured all new colors from Ronda Pattison.


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Click Image to VIEW
Click Text to VIEW
I want to WIN!!!
A white man said," Colored people aren't allowed here."
The black man turned around and stood up.
He then said.
" Listen sir.. when I was born I was BLACK"
" When I grew up I was BLACK,"
" When I go in the sun I'm BLACK,"
" When I'm sick I'm BLACK,"
" When Im cold I'm BLACK,"
" When I die I'll be BLACK."
" But you sir,"
" When you were born you were PINK,"
" When you grew up you're WHITE,"
" When you're sick you're GREEN,"
" When you go in the sun you're RED,"
" Whe you're cold you turn BLUE,"
" And when you die you turn PURPLE,"
" And you have the nerve to call me colored?"
The black man then sat back down and the white man walked away…
repost( or put on ur page) if you HATE racisim..
Click Kitty to View
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Ok it's kewl!


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"Construction Materials" Seamless Patterns, Set 1
15 seamless patterns for Adobe Photoshop, compatible with Photoshop 7 and all versions of CS
The patterns measure 1000×1000 pixels, at 300 pixels per inch.
Images Included: wood planks, black marble, tiled siding, chipped gray stone, corrugated steel, blue slate, wood floors, steel plates, plaster, corrugated aluminum, faux wood siding, gouged steel, chip board, gray roof tiles, and a raised metal plate.
The 15 patterns are in a .pat file.
A sampler image and installation instructions are also included.


text:
Corner Wire Shelving Lowes Brilliant Lowes Garage Shelf Brackets Elegant Shelves Lowes Garage Shelves Brackets Shelving Units, Cabinets Images
Related photos in this project:
Other recommended ideas:
Nice Corner Wire Shelving Lowes Collections - Fees, promotions, styles, and availability may also range. Our local shops do now not honor on line pricing. Prices and availability of products and services are subject to change with out observe. Errors may be corrected where found, and lowe's reserves the right to revoke any stated provide and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions consisting of after an order has been submitted.
Corners nook closet storage lowes shelf gadgets storage corner twine shelving lowes corner shelves shelf units twine shelving steel cloth thoughts, take your time and discover the excellent for corners corner closet garage lowes shelf devices garage corner cord shelving lowes nook shelves shelf gadgets wire shelving metallic cloth ideas photographs and photos published right here that suitable with your desires and use it to your very own series and private use. For corners corner closet garage lowes shelf gadgets storage nook twine shelving lowes nook cabinets shelf units twine shelving metallic material thoughts.
But, the bathroom isn't the handiest location that can benefit from this form of storage object. The storage is a top area for custom cabinets designed to residence objects of that want to be without problems on hand or are of are heirlooms that want to be prominently displayed with the intention to be loved on a each day basis. For those gadgets glass floating wall cabinets connected with strong metallic brackets secured with screws and bolts may be the right solution. While deciding on the glass for use as garage cabinets in a storage it is vitally vital to check that the tempered glass can endure the burden located upon it.
Save huge and cumbersome objects at the gladiator® rack shelving unit. This garage unit is speedy and smooth to bring together at domestic, and does now not require tools. The welded metallic frame capabilities 4 metallic cabinets which can guide up to two,000 lbs each, and the dual slot profile allows for additional supports and cabinets. Additionally available in 60" wide x 18" deep and forty eight" extensive x 18" deep configurations.
Charges, promotions, patterns, and availability may vary. Our neighborhood shops do no longer honor on-line pricing. Fees and availability of products and services are problem to trade with out observe. Mistakes will be corrected where discovered, and lowe's reserves the proper to revoke any said provide and to accurate any errors, inaccuracies or omissions inclusive of after an order has been submitted.


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PlayStation Plus
Free Games!
Huge Discounts!
Great Exclusives!
EA Access
Vault Games!
10% Discount!
Play First Trials!
Playable On:Click Here to Learn How
Days Gone Digital Deluxe Edition
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Days Gone Digital Deluxe Edition includes:
- Days Gone Digital Full Game
- Days Gone Digital Mini-Art Book by Dark Horse Comics
- Days Gone Digital Sound Track
- Deacon vs. The Horde Dynamic Theme
- Monkey Wrench Skill Early Unlock
- 3 Bike Skins
Software subject to license (us.playstation.com/softwarelicense). Online features require an account and are subject to terms of service and applicable privacy policy (playstationnetwork.com/terms-of-service & playstationnetwork.com/privacy-policy). One-time license fee for play on account's designated primary PS4™ system and other PS4™ systems when signed in with that account.
©2018 Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. Days Gone is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC.


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I intend to use this blog to write a down some thoughts on my experiences during the academic year 2006-2007 at the K.U.Leuven, my Alma Mater, and where I'm currently employed as a professor at the Department of Computer Science. Therefore, this blog will only contain professional information. For stories within the realm of my personal life, you'll have to find some of my personal blogs.
I had the plan for keeping a blog during one year some while ago, but didn't find the time yet to set it up. So the first couple of posts will already have to cover the past 2 weeks, since the academic year started September 25.
Also, most of the posts will be in Dutch, since they most likely are of interest to 'locals' only.


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StarCraft II 2.1.7 Patch Notes
Blizzard Entertainment deployed today a small patch to address some bug issues. No balance fixes in this patch. Check out the StarCraft II 2.1.7 Patch Notes:
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that could cause the post-game score screen to become stuck while loading.
- The "So many Banelings" achievement can now be completed properly.
- The Confine Mouse Cursor option will now work correctly on Mac clients with Retina display.
- Fixed an issue that could cause errors or delays when loading achievements.
Tomas Hernandez is owner of Blizzplanet.com since 2003. I post news about World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard Careers, and the Warcraft film. Blizzplanet is a leading fansite covering news about upcoming Blizzard Entertainment licensed products. I also post previews and reviews. I have interviewed book writers and Blizzard game developers. I was previously an employee of the OGaming Network (2003), and IncGamers (2008-2010). I was a guest newsposter for GosuGamers (World of Warcraft) a few years ago and for Diablofans.com (formerly Diablo3.com) ***Fans who would love to watch Blizzard-related panels and appreciate our efforts can support Blizzplanet's patreon in a monthly-basis, or a one-time basis. Our staff are volunteer fans like you. Your donatives will help us travel to all the Blizzard events we attend year-round.


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"Fifty Shades Freed" – Movie Review
Don't mess with Mrs. Grey! Anastasia has two new titles – wife and editor – and has now become a force to be reckoned with. No longer the timid Anastasia, she's determined not to loose herself. She will not allow Christian to dominate her outside of the "red room." In this story, Ana seems to be the one "calling the shots." She's constantly defying Christians instructions and it's making him crazy. She's also fearless and will do anything to protect her family.
"50 Shades Freed" is probably the best book and movie adaptation of the entire E.L. James franchise. It goes beyond being an X-rated love story and builds into a suspenseful drama. If only all of the "Fifty Shades" books had this type of story line where the sex is secondary to the plot.
This movie opens with the wedding vows, followed by various scenes from the romantic and steamy honeymoon, making some girls wish they had a man with the finances of Christian Grey! The honeymoon is cut short by the news of a break-in and fire at Christian's business office. Jack Hyde (Ana's former boss) is determined to make her and Christian pay for their happiness and his self-serving misery. If you haven't read the books, I won't spoil the plot for you, go see the movie. It is the last movie of the series, so it ends with a montage of scenes from all three movies.
I was invited to screen the movie by the Sly Fox Club at the Santikos Casa Blanca Theater. The theater seats over 200 people and every seat was full; I was almost turned away. I was lucky enough to get the last of the cool gifts (shown in the photo) that were given out to various audience members. The mirror compact is really nice. Unfortunately, mine fell on the floor and cracked.
"Fifty Shades Freed" opens Friday, just in time for Valentine's Day. It goes without saying that it is for mature, adults only. If you are in the San Antonio area, I recommend seeing it at Santikos Casa Blanca Theater; the seats are really comfortable. "Fifty Shades Freed" is a perfect date night flick. You may want to go to the earlier show and plan for some alone time afterwards 😉 (I'm just saying!)
Enjoy the show and come back and tell me what you think. – BMT


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Xu Jiaqiang has pleaded guilty to three counts of economic espionage, and three counts of theft of a trade secret, from the US company where he worked as a developer between November 2010 and May 2014.
The defendant, formerly of Beijing, had access to certain proprietary software and its source code, which was stored behind a company firewall and was accessible by a small number of employees. He "stole, duplicated, and possessed" the source code with the intent of benefitting the National Health and Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China.
"Xu Jiaqiang admitted and pled guilty today to stealing high tech trade secrets from a U.S. employer, intending to benefit the Chinese government," said Acting Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Dana Boente. "What Xu did was not only a federal crime, but a threat to our national security and the American spirit of innovation."
Each count of economic espionage carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; each count of theft of a trade secret carries a maximum of 10 years. Sentencing is scheduled for October 13.
Read more details here.Dark Reading's Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio
Recommended Reading:


text: Warwick's Albert Wisner Public Library (AWPL) – located just a short stroll away from the heart of Warwick Grove – was recently named Library Journal's "Best Small Library in America 2016." Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the award was created to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of libraries serving populations under 25,000. According to the Journal, "The Albert Wisner Public Library has truly earned Best Small Library in America recognition. It is a model library, changing with the times and technology, becoming the cultural core of the community, and partnering with any and all to make community life in Warwick better informed, more entertaining, and enriched for people of all ages." Click here to read the full article. Congratulations, AWPL!


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Ken Harrison Radio Speaker In-Dash Upgrade 1967-1968
- Center Dash Mounted Speaker
- 2 Separate 3-1/2" Drivers
- For Use With Modern Radios
- Direct-Fit Replacement
Ken Harrison In-Dash Upgraded Radio Speaker for 1967-1968 Mustangs.
When it comes to the audio system in your Classic Mustang, most owners want a simple set-up but some owners want to upgrade for a better sound quality. Replace you're worn out in-dash speaker with this high quality upgrade from Ken Harrison. This in-dash speaker fits in the dash on all 1967-1968 Mustangs that have upgraded the radio to a modern unit.
Ken Harrison In-Dash Speaker Features:
- 2 X 3.5" Coaxial 2 way speakers
- High Quality Paper Cone
- 25 oz. Magnet / 50 oz. Magnet Structure
- 1" Mylar Tweeter
- 1" Hi-Temp Voice Coils
- Efficiency: 86dB (1W/1M)
Please Note: This in-dash speaker does NOT include speaker wire for installation.
Vehicle Fitment Note: This in-dash speaker will also work on 1967-1968 Cougars.
The in-dash speaker has two separate 3-1/2" speakers that can be finely tuned for the perfect sounding system. The speaker cone is made out of a high quality paper which helps with the sound travel. This speaker also features a 1" tweeter that helps with the high-frequency noise. This little speaker can pack a big punch with its ability to push out 86dB which is adequate for this small speaker.
*This is one (1) individual speaker.
If you are a Mustang owner that is looking to repair or replace the original radio equipment in your classic Mustang, then CJ Pony Parts has exactly what you are looking for with our inventory of Ken Harrison radio equipment and accessories. Ken Harrison is a Mustang industry leader in the production of authentic appearance radio bezels, surrounds and speaker systems, as well as full radio assemblies with modern face plates to bring all of the power and technological advancements of a modern radio in your classic Mustang.
Purchase a new Ken Harrison In-Dash Upgraded Radio Speaker for 1967-1968 Mustangs from CJ Pony Parts today!
California Residents: Proposition 65 Warning


text:
|2006 onwards
|The women's 50km
gained traction over the years leading up to 2016,
initially with national championships (UK, USA, China, Spain, Portugal,
etc) and then eventually with area championships contested for the
|22 Jan 2012
|Erin Taylor-Talcott gained
permission to compete in the USA men's 50km Olympic Trial which was
held in Santee on 22nd January 2012. She had bettered the trial
qualifying standard of 4:45:00 (she had walked 4:41:36). The only catch
was that she had to compete by Invitation since there was no women's
50km in the 2012 Olympics and the men's 50km was just that - an event
exclusively for men.
She raced to 6th place with an 8 minute PB time of 4:33:22. She could not progress any further but it was a start. It also showed that she had the support of USATF, a support that would prove vital some years later.
|August 2015
|The IAAF advised it would
officially recognise a women's 50km record as of 1st Jan 2017.
|11 Apr 2016
|The IAAF announced that women
would be able to participate in the forthcoming 2016 IAAF World Team
Championships 50km in Rome, and in future AAF Championships, until such
time as they had their own separate championship. See http://vrwc.org.au/documents/2016-04-11%20IAAF%20Press%20Release.pdf.
|7 May 2016
Taylor-Talcott qualified for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup 50km by
finishing in the first 5 in the USA trial. Although her entry had been
initially refused by the IAAF, legal proceedings were instigated, the
folded (see IAAF announcement on 11 April 2016), and Erin had been
granted permission to race.
She finished 39th with a time of 4:51:08, thus becoming the first ever woman to race in a 50km world championship.
|The IAAF announced
that the 2017 IAAF World Championship 50km would be open
to both men and women but that there would be a common qualifying
of 4:06:00. In no other event were men and women treated in this way.
One step forward, two steps back! The IAAF was prepared to allow women
to compete in the 50km but had made it impossible for them to qualify!
|Jan 2017
|Inez Henriques of
Portugal set an inaugural women's 50km World Record
of 4:08:26 on 15th January 2017. This time was still over 2 minutes
above the 2017 women's WC qualifying standard, showing the
ludicrousness of the IAAF stance.
|June/July 2017
|The Women's 50km
qualifying standard was challenged on the grounds of
gender discrimination. The IAAF relented and announced on 23rd July
that any women who bettered 4:30:00 in the qualifying period could
compete in an inaugural women's 50km World Championship in London. Five
women were now proposed by their Federations.
Shuqing YANG (CHN) 4:27:24
Hang YIN (CHN) 4:22:22
Ines HENRIQUES (POR) 4:08:26
Kathleen BURNETT (USA) 4:26:37
Erin TALCOTT (USA) 4:29:33
|July 2017
|A further 2 women
were added to the field after a legal challenge on
the basis of them being area champions. The entry list had now risen to
Nair DA ROSA (BRA) 4:39:28
Susan RANDALL (USA) 4:54:12
|Sun 13 August 2017
|With only weeks to
prepare, the 7 women fronted for the inaugural IAAF World 50km
Championship for women. While it might have been a small field, it
punched above its weight, with Ines Henriques setting a new world
record of 4:05:56, Hang Yin setting an Asian area record of 4:08:58 and
Katie Burnett setting an American area record of 4:21:51.
See http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num46.pdf
|Post August 2017
|Since this auspicious start, we
have had to fight every step of the way but have had further successes
In April 2018, a women's 50km was scheduled as part of the IAAF Race Walking World Teams Championships in Taicang, China
In July 2018, a women's 50km was scheduled as part of the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
The women's 50km has been included in the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships, to be contested in Doha.
The women's 50km is currently not included on the 2020 Olympic Program. That remains the next hurdle for our female 50km walkers in their fight for equality.
|9 May 2016
|The IAAF RW
Committee meeting on
9th May 2016 in Rome discussed two topics of interest to us
a) The fact that the inclusion of a women in the IAAAF Race Walking Team Championships 50km had been forced upon the IAAF, the acting General Secretary, Jean Garcia, indicating it was not in the best interest of having it be seen as a High Performance event with just one woman participant.
b) The creation of a working group to develop a strategic plan for race walking, with the following members: Maurizio Damilano, Robert Korzeniowski, Jane Saville and Luis Saladie.
The IAAF RW Committee also published a strategic plan "To develop Race Walking in an innovative and collaborative manner to fit the global, modern
sports market whilst observing the core values of the IAAF." In particular, secton 1.1 of this plan read as follows
1.1 Evaluate whether changing standard race walking distances at major championships will improve image, recognition and understanding. Research the pros and cons of 'Race Walking Half Marathon' and 'Marathon' for men and women as standard distances or other relatable distances.
Of course, none of this was ever published to the wider walking community. In particular, the "Strategic Plan" never saw the light of day, as far as I know.
We would no nothing of this if it had not been for USA RW Committee member Maryann Daniel who published her own informal minutes. See http://vrwc.org.au/documents/2016%20report%20Maryanne%20Daniel%20USA.pdf.
|Early Feb 2017
|The next IAAF RW Committee
meeting was scheduled for 25th February 2017. The agenda did not
include any indication that the future of the 50km was going to be
discussed. Like all RWC documents, distribution was strictly limited to
RWC members.
See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-02-25%20RWC%20Meeting%20Agenda.pdf.
|25 Feb 2017
|The IAAF RW Committee meeting,
held on Saturday 25th February
2017, voted YES to recommendations which were to be forwarded to the
IAAF Council, effectively killing off the 50km in early 2018. The
recommendations, developed in secret by the IAAF Race Walking
Committee, were that
a) The 50km event was to be deleted from all future World Cup/World Championship and Olympics
b) The 20km event was to be discontinued, to be replaced by half marathon distances in all the above competitions
This was to take effect after the 2018 World Race Walking Teams Championships in May 2018. So that would have been the last international 50km championship. See the minutes at http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/RaceWalkingComRprt-Council-April2017.pdf.
Note that this was not an agenda item, raising issues of probity and proper conduct.
Their special subcommittee had obviously been busy during the 9 months since May 2016, canvassing opinion on how to "fix" walking. It is to their lasting shame that this was done behind closed doors, with NO information ever being asked of or distributed to the wider racewalking community.
|March 2017 ?
|Maurizio Damilano produced
minutes of the February 2017 RWC meeting for fowarding to the IAAF. As
well as documenting dicussions and recommendations on the 9 Agenda
items, a 10th Item was added, namely "RACE WALK COMPETITION PROGRAMME
This firm recommendation to the IAAF Executive went one step further than what had been documented in Maryann Daniel's RWC minutes in that it included a recommendation that major championship walks should be changed to the half marathon and a mixed gender 4x5000m track relay.
See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-04%20Minutes%20-%20RWC%20Report%20to%20IAAF%20Council.pdf.
|Wed 5 Apr 2017
|This information was finally
leaked to me on Wednesday 5th April 2017, nearly 6 weeks after the RWC
February meeting
and only 1 week before the IAAF Council were to vote to ratify the
recommendations, which they would no doubt assume to have been made
consultation with the RW community. This assumption was incorrect –
there had been no consultation and NO ONE in the racewalking community
knew anything about it.
I immediately put out facebook posts and tweets and pushed out in quick succession, two special editions of my Heel and Toe online magazine.
Fri 6 Apr 2017 http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num27A.pdf
Sat 7 Apr 2017 http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num27B.pdf
|Thu 6 Apr 2017
|A wide ranging group of top
international walkers from around the world quickly set up a change.org
petition https://www.change.org/p/ioc-iaaf-keep-the-50km-race-walk-in-the-olympics.
Within a week, this had accumulated nearly 10,000 signatures from more
than 50 countries.
When the international athletes tried to contact the IAAF RW Committee members, they were met by a wall of silence. The one or two members who did reply simply sent out trite generalities that said nothing. The IAAF RW Committee and the IAAF would not comment in any official way.
|Mon 10 Apr 2017
IAAF Communications office
was finally forced by dint of pressure
from the RW community to release an official response on the future of
racewalking. Suffice it to say, I disagreed with with the opinions and
comments expressed therein. See http://vrwc.org.au/documents/Situation%20regarding%20Race%20Walking%20and%20Tokyo%202020%20Olympic%20Games.pdf.
|Mon 10 Apr 2017
|Late on the Monday evening, I
was told that the IAAF RW
Committee vote in February to kill off the 50km had been almost
unamimous - one lone
voice of opposition was heard from those present at the meeting. All 4
Olympic medallists on the committee voted YES.
That was the state of play, summarised in http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num28.pdf, dated Tue 11 April 2017.
Paul DeMeester was amongst those who took direct action. To quote directly from Paul
The letter I wrote to Coe is the one I hand-delivered to him on Monday, April 10, 2017 at the London Marriott Hotel, West India Quay, when I spoke with him. Identical letters (save for individualized names and salutations) were given to 21 other Council members when I spoke with them on April 10 and April 11, 2017. The vote took place on Thursday, April 13, 2017. Notice that page 2 of the April 10 letter calls for eauality and a women's 50K.
And here is his letter to the IAAF: http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-04-10%20De%20Meester%20Letter%20to%20IAAF.pdf.
French newspaper L'Equipe also wrote in support of the 50km on 12th April. See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-04-12%20MARCHE-50KM.pdf.
Quentin Rew nailed it as usual in his racewalking blog with this April 13th review of the IOC and the 50km. See http://morethanracewalking.blogspot.it/2017/04/olympic-hypocrisy.html.
|Wed 12 Apr 2017
|Athletics Australia was one of
the many Member Federations to express its concern with this
behind-doors process. To quote from their press release:
There has been a complete lack of consultation with the National Federations and the broader athletics community. This is a matter of particular concern to Athletics Australia. We have and will continue to make this point clear.
See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-04-12%20AA-Response.pdf.
|Thu 13 Apr 2017
|The IAAF Council listened to the
many voices of protest ande voted unanimously against recommending any
changes to the 2020 Olympic T&Fprogram.
|MOn 17 Apr
Marciadalmondo did a superb analysis in their latest press release
dated April 17th (http://www.marciadalmondo.com/eng/dettagli_news.aspx?id=2771)
which shows that in the first 4 months of 2017, there had been 12
major 50km walk championships, with a total of 238 men and 25 women
starting the races.
|Tue 18 Apr 2017
|On Tuesday 18th April, I was
able to report that the immediate threat had been thwarted (see http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num29.pdf).
There were 2 decisive factors leading to this outcome
a) The presentation of the Petition, with 9380 signatures, all seeking to save the 50km
b) The presence of USA Attorney at Law Paul deMeester who travelled to London off his own bat, booked himself into the same hotel as the IAAF Council delegates and then caught up with and spoke to them all in the final days leading up to the vote. His post-conference press release (see http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/De%20Meester%20Press%20Release.pdf) confirmed the IAAF's continuing support for the 50km event and raised the need for the govening body to continue to work towards full gender equality in the 50km event.
|April 2017
|As part of the April 2017
debacle, I set up web page http://vrwc.org.au/50kmwomen.shtml to document the
campaign thus far, as well as the steps remaining to ensure the 50km is
fully gender inclusive.
|26 Sep 2017
|I finished off my newsletter
year with a summary of the
unrepresentive actions of the IAAF Race Walking Committee over the last
couple of years. Titled "Some
Background on the Current 50km Situation". See http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num52.pdf.
Since that time, Paul DeMeester and I have written many articles, all focusing on the 50km discipline. I document them here for completeness
|25 Apr 2017
Tim Erickson writes a short opinion piece, pointing out that the previous week marked a momentous occasion in women's sport when, 50 years ago, Kathrine Switzer became the first lady to complete the Boston marathon.
Gender Equality And The 50km Racewalk
|16 May 2017
Paul DeMeester gives an indepth review of the 50km racewalk discussions and argues that it has a valid place on the World Track and Field program. He also looks at what is needed to ensure gender equality in this event.
From Fifty (men only) to Fifty-Fifty (men & women): No Better Time than the Present
|21 May 2017
Proposal by Paul DeMeester for modification of the London 2017 Women's 50K Race Walk Entry Standard through Executive Board Action. It had been set to a ridiculous 4:06:00, over 2 minutes faster than the current world record. Paul argued for a more realistic qualifying standard of 4:55:00.
|7 June 2017
|It did not take long for the
IAAF to respond to Paul and it was a flat NO CHANGE. The response came
from IAAF Competition and Events director Paul Hardy. Paul responded to
him on 7th June with a further letter. Paul's proposal called for
Executive Board Action. See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-06-07%20Response%20to%20IAAF%20Director%20Paul%20Hardy.pdf.
|6 Jun 2017
Tim Erickson writes a short history of the women's 50km in Australia
Australia and the Women's 50km
|20 Jun 2017
Tim Erickson publishes a biograph of two of the best ever 50km walkers
Christoph Hohne, Bernd Kannenberg and the Story of Two Olympic 50km Championships
|26 June 2017
Paul DeMeester's formal letter to USATF, requesting a Declaration by USATF regarding Equal Treatment for Men and Women in the 50km lAAF Race Walk Events.
|18 Jul 2017
Paul DeMeester's statistical analysis of the number of men and women who have completed 50km races since 1st January 2016
Life Gets Better Past Fifty
|23 Jul 2017
The IAAF eventually folds under the threat of legal action, announcing that a women's 50km would be added to the 2017 IAAF World Championships. An entry standard of 4:30:00 is set.
|24 Jul 2017
Erin Talcott talks about being able to walk in the IAAF World Champs 50km, due to legal help from Paul DeMeester.
|25 Jul 2017
Paul DeMeester is awarded my Walker of the Week for his efforts in overturning the IAAF gender bias against women in the 50km discipline.
Newsletter 43 also celebrated the addition of five women into next month's IAAF World Championship 50km in London.
It also documents the newly minted IAAF ranking list for 50km women.
|28 July 2018
|You might think the IAAF press
release of 23rd July would signal an end to the 2017 World
Championships saga. Alas, this is not the case. USA walker Susan
Randall, who in May 2017 became the Area Champion in the Women's 50km
Race Walk for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Area
(NACAC), has her entry refused by the IAAF when it is submitted by
USATF. This prompts the following press release from Paul DeMeester who
takes on the probono task of taking her case to the Court of
Arbitrationin sport. See http://www.vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-07-28%20Press%20Release.pdf.
This was also reproduced in http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num43A.pdf.
|31 July 2017
|The IAAF Council meets in London
on 31st July and approves the programme for the 2018 World Team
Championships. It reads as follows:
Saturday, May 5, 2018 08:00 50 km
15.30 10 km men under 20
16.30 20 km women
Sunday, May 6, 2018 09.00 10 km women under 20
10:10 20km men
We do not see 50km for men and 50km for women separately mentioned, even though this timetable was published a week after
the IAAF agreed to add the women's 50km in the 2017 IAAF World Championships. What is going on here? The answer is obvious – they will not give an inch in this argument without further fighting.
|1 Aug 2017
No sooner has a case been lodged with CAS by Paul DeMeester than the IAAF immediately adds the two effected women to the IAAF 50km. So now there are 7 confirmed starters in the women's 50km in London in 2 weeks time. It's a good outcome and, regardless of how the women go, the momentum is now in place to build.
|8 Aug 2017
To further 50km articles by Tim Erickson
More on the Women's 50km
Keeping the Pressure Up On the Women's 50km
|11 Aug 2017
Paul DeMeester and Tim Erickson each travel to the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships in London in 2017, giving a press conference on the question of the women's 50km. Paul's press release summarised the issues at work.
Ending Gender Discrimination In Lord Coe's IAAF
|15 Aug 2017
Ines Henriques wins the inaugural IAAF women's 50km with a new world record
|20 Aug 2017
|Paul DeMeester writes to Lord
Coe and the IAAF Council, urging the inclusion of a women's 50km race
in the 2018 World Race Walking Team Championships in Taicang. See http://vrwc.org.au/documents/2017-08-20%20Letter%20re%20Taicang%202018.pdf.
|29 Aug 2017
In the immediate aftermath of the highly successful World Championship 50km walks, Paul deMeester analyses where we are currently situated with regard to the women's 50km and how the IAAF should proceed forward.
50/50 - The Legal Case for A Women's 50km
|12 Sept 2017
Two further 50km related articles
Keeping the Focus on the Women's 50km (Tim Erickson)
50/50 - Eight Days In September: The Women's Fifty Progress Continues (Paul DeMeester)
|19 Sept 2017
Paul DeMeester keeps the pressure on the IAAF with this article
All In The Family - IAAF Should Not Let IOC Dictate Its Competition Program
|26 Sept 2017
| http://www.vrwc.org.au/newsletters/heelandtoe-2017-num52.pdf.
Tim Erickson finishes off his newsletter year with a summary of the unrepresentive actions of the IAAF Race Walking Committee over the last couple of years
Some Background on the Current 50km Situation
|3 Oct 2017
Pau DeMeester continues his 50km related articles with
What Happened Between May 2016 and April 2017 Demonstrates the Immediate Need For What Lord Coe Promised: Transparency
|10 Oct 2017
In Oct 2017, the IAAF finally confirms that a separate women's 50km Championship will be on offer in the 2018 IAAF Racewalking World Cup, to be contested in early May in Taicang, China. The IAAF does not set qualifying standards for the World Teams Championships 50km events, preferring to leave it to each country to set its own standards.
|17 Oct 2017
Athletics Australia opens entries for the inaugural Women's Australian Open 50km Race Walk Championships, to take place in December 2017.
|31 Oct 2017
Marciadalmondo publishes a 2017 World Ranking list for 50km women.
|14 Nov 2017
While the 2018 European Athletics Championships, which are scheduled for July in Berlin, have 20km walks for men and women and a 50km walk for men, the published timetable does not show a 50km for women. This is very disappointing considering that the women's 50km championship was included in the 2017 IAAF World Championships and is scheduled for the 2018 World Race Walking Teams Championships, and considering that the current world champion and world record holder is European athlete Inês Henriques. I am pleased to report that European walkers Inês Henriques (POR) and María Dolores Marcos Valero (ESP) have, via their attorney Paul DeMeester, filed a case with the European Athletics Association Court (EAA Court).
|19 Dec 2017
The European Athletics Federation has announced that it will now include the women's 50km in the 2018 European Championships. This means two major 50km championships for women in 2018 - the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships 50km on May 5 in Taicang, China, and the Europeans Championships 50km on August 7 in Berlin. European 50km Championship entry standards have now been set – prospective female entrants need to walk 4:50.00 or better in a 50km race or 1:39.00 or better in a 20km race.
If you think it was a relatively simple process to get the women's 50km added to the European Champs, think again. US Attorney at Law Paul DeMeester has shared with us the various documents and correspondences that led to this outcome. Unlike CAS documents, they are not governed by privacy so can be reproduced in the public arena. Here is how it all panned out.
Initial claim to European Athletics Court, made by Paul on behalf of Ines Henriques and Maria Delores Marcos Valero.
Formal request to the court for a delay in proceedings to allow EAA to add the women's 50km and amend their rules accordingly. This followed a very positive response from EAA.
An official stay of proceedings is granted by the Court until Dec 15th
Confirmation from EAA that they have added the women's 50km, along with details of amended Timetable, amended Entry Standards and amended Competition Regulations.
Request from Paul to the court for lifting of stay of proceedings, dismissal of claim and termination of proceedings.
|2 Jan 2018
Tim Erickson profiles 50km World Record holder Ines Henriques.
|6 Feb 2018
Paul DeMeester publishes the first of what become regular updates for the 2018 50km World Ranking Lists.
|5-6 Mar 2018
At the Birmingham IAAF Council meeting in early March 2018, the target numbers for the 2019 Doha World Championships events are announced. The meeting confirms quotas of 60 for each of the 20km walks but only 60 for the combined men's and women's 50km.
|20 Mar 2018
Paul DeMeester publishes a further 50km Ranking List Update.
Emmanuel Tardi publishes a French All-Time Women's 50km Ranking List.
|3 Apr 2018
The recent IAAF announcement of the quotas for the 2019 World Champs in Doha - 60 (men's 20km), 60 (women's 20km) but only 60 for the combined men's and women's 50km prompts us to publish two further 50km related articles
Happy Anniversary (one year since the RWC tried to remove the 50km) (by Tim Erickson)
Is the IAAF Trying to Squeeze the Women's 50K or Worse? (by Paul DeMeester)
|10 Apr 2018
Another timely article by Paul DeMeester in the leadup to the World Race Walking World Championships
The 50K: Giving Credit To The Term Athletics
|17 Apr 2018
Paul DeMeester talks money and racewalking in his latest article
The Race Walk Revenue River Runneth Dry
|24 Apr 2018
Paul DeMeester supports Lord Coe against his detractors
Commoners Give Lord Coe a Bum Rap
|8 May 2018
Paul DeMeester writes feature articles on the men's and women's 50km walks at the IAAF World Team Championships
Women's 50K: Claire Tallent to the Fore as Women's Even Grew by 3100%
Men's 50km: A Veritable Japanese National Championship
|15 May 2018
Two further 50km articles
Women's 50km Walk: The Prelude (Claire Tallent)
The Definition of Quality: The Women's 50K in Taicang (Paul DeMeester)
|May 2018
|The competition schedule for the
IAAF World Championships Doha 2019 is
unveiled. The timetable reflects the compromises necessary when such
events are awarded to cities that are relentlessly hot.
DAY 2: Saturday 29th September 2019 11:30pm 50km Race Walk Women
11:30pm 50km Race Walk Men
DAY 3: Sunday 29th September 2019 11:30pm 20km Race Walk Women
DAY 8: Friday 4th October 2019 11:30pm 20km Race Walk Men
|5 Jun 2018
Two further 50km articles
Long Live The 50Km - The 50km Will Make You Live Longer (Paul DeMeester)
Let's Stand Up For Our Sport of Racewalking (Tim Erickson)
|31 Jul 2018
As the European Championships loom large, this issue contain a Women's European 50km Ranking List as well as an updated 2018 50km World Ranking List.
|7 Aug 2018
With just on 2 years to go until the 2020 Olympics, the IAAF has partially released its new qualification system, along with the walks timetable and event quotas. Sadly the women's 50km is not in the mix. The President of the South American Athletics Federation has written to Lord Coe to express his concern at this omission.
|14 Aug 2018
Two further articles by Paul DeMeester
A wet race in Berlin's Euro 50K served up an upset and a re-affirmation
IAAF President Coe address gender equality in athletics and gets his facts wrong.
A selection of documents from the then IAAF President Lord Burghley, ranging from 1972 to 1976 and covering the period when the IOC removed the 50km racewalk from its competition and the IAAF put on its own replacement 50km World Championship. Note this zip file is very large (around 260Mb) so will take a while to download
|21 Aug 2018
Two further articles and an updated 50km ranking list
Once Upon a Time … when the IAAF Race Walking Committee actually Cared about Race Walking (Paul DeMeester)
The Mexico City Olympic walks (Tim Erickson)
|28 Aug 2018
Paul DeMeester adds one final piece to his European Championships reports
The Berlin Euro 50K - Even Better Than I thought
|11 Sep 2018
Letter from IOC confirms IOC is willing to consider women's 50km in 2020 Olympics if a recommendation comes from the IAAF.
|18 Sep 2018
The IAAF releases an update to its 2019 Doha World Championship Qualification Document of March 2018, with news of an increase of the quota for the 2019 World Championship combined 50km from 60 to 80.
|28 Nov 2018
|It has now been announced that
the 2019 European Race Walking Cup is to be held in Alytus, Lithuania
on Sunday 19 May 2019. The big news is that it will include the women's
50km walk. Another box is ticked, with the European Athletics Assn now
firmly behind the women's 50km walk.
|30 Nov 2018
|Paul DeMeester Submission to IAAF Council.pdf
Paul DeMeester, along with 50km walkers Ines Henriques, Erin Taylor-Talcott, Johana Ordonez, Ainhoa Pinedo Gonzalez and Quentin Rew,travel to the December IAAF Council meeting in Monaco. Their task - to lobby the IAAF Council members to add the women's 50km walk to the 2020 Olympic Games. Each delegate is presented with a prepared booklet and asked to support women in their endeavour to end gender discrimination in racewalking. The lobbying is successful and the IAAF officially announces it will request the IOC to add the Women's 50K Race Walk Event to the 2020 Olympic Games athletics program in Tokyo.
|18 Dec 2018
Paul DeMeester writes on the advances made in the women's 50km but there is still much work to do to completely remove gender discrimination.
|24 Dec 2018
Paul DeMeester's letter to IOC President Thomas Bach, urging the IOC to accept the recommendation of the IAAF and add the women's 50km walk to the program for the 2020 Olympic Games.
|8 Jan 2019
The Faces of Discrimination by Paul DeMeester
|14 Jan 2019
Walking fights for its survival again.
Once again, IAAF RWC are recommending to the IAAF Council that the 20km and 50km be discontinued, to be replaced this time by 10km and 30km distances, to take effect on 1st January 2021.
|18 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019
The RW Community is urged to hit back at the misinformation put forward by the IAAF RW Committee.
|24 Jan 2019
29 Jan 2019
5 Feb 2019
Italian racewalking enthusiast Stefano La Sorda, joins the fight, with his "Save The Racewalking" Logo. We focus on member Federations that do not seem to be supporting us.
|12 Feb 2019
IAAF RW Committee member Peter Marlow resigns in Protest at Proposed Changes.
Stefano La Sorda unveils his two handed silent protest. This quickly gains momentum, with social media posts from around the world, all supporting our position.
|18 Feb 2019
This is perhaps our most concentrated campaign thus far. More and more people rally to support the 20km and 50km.
|26 Feb 2019
Stefano La Sorda puts out his own survey, to show the level of support.
|5 Mar 2019
8 Mar 2019
The IAAF propaganda machine goes into overtime in the final week leading up to the IAAF Council vote on the future of racewalking. Stefano releases the results of his survey, which overwhelmingly show support for the continuance of the status quo. He also puts together a superb 5 page cartoon which sums up what has gone on over the last couple of months. If there was ever a reason for getting rid of the RW Committee, this is it.
|12 Mar 2019
The IAAF Council knocks back the IAAF RW Committee proposals. No vote is taken. The RWC must now be seen as a poisoned chalice. The status quo continues. There are no prescribed changes at the moment and no definitive plans. When the IAAF wants to progress post 2020, they will have to come up with concrete proposals and then we are back to our fight. And we won't have the IAAF RW Committee to fight against at that stage – they will all be long gone.
|1 Apr 2019
A media release was published yesterday by Paul F. DeMeester, forshadowing a suit to be filed in the Court of Arbitration in Sport, to address the outstanding issue of gender inequality. Paul will act on behalf of appellants Inês Henriques, Claire Woods, Paola Pérez, Johana Ordóñez, Magaly Bonilla, Ainhoa
Pinedo, Erin Taylor-Talcott and Quentin Rew and will argue the case for the inclusion of the women's 50km in the 2020 Olympics.
|2 July 2019
CAS has now posted the official dates for a formal hearing on the case re the Olympic women's 50km. Two days have been set aside (29-30 July 2019) and the court will address two different but related legal cases which have been raised. Once the 2 day hearing is concluded, it is possible the arbitrators may need additional time before rendering a final decision. Hopefully the issue can be resolved well before the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha.
|30 July 2019
29-30 July sees the 2 Day CAS hearing on whether to add the women's 50km to the 2020 Olympic program. Attorney at Law Paul F. DeMeester argues, the case, with plaintifs Ines Henriques, Ainhoa Pinedo González and Claire Woods in attendance.
|3 Feb 2020
After promising a decision in late September 2019, CAS delayed until the end of October, then again to the end of November, then again to the end of December and finally until the end of January 2020. Finally on 3rd February 2020, they delivered their judgement - 10 months after the case was lodged and 6 months after the case was heard. CAS added insult to injury in their just published decisions – after sitting on the case for six months beyond their own self imposed deadline – the Court held that it did not have personal jurisdiction over the athletes who brought the claim.
|25 Feb 2020
The Guardian newspaper pulls apart the CAS/IOC decision to stop women competing in the Olympic 50km and exposes the hypocricy of the IOC.
|24 Mar 2020
|Paul DeMeester has written a
number of articles to keep us occupied during the COVID-19 pandemic
shutdown. They have been published weekly in the weekly newsletter as
shown below and focus on various matters with regard to the IOC and
World Athletics.
24 Mar 2020
1. Independence Day: A Perfect Time to Wean World Athletics from its IOC Addiction
31 Mar 2020
2. IOC Wants Strict Adherence to the Olympic Charter for Women 50K Race Walkers But Not For Itself When It Comes To Protecting Its Pocketbook
7 Apr 2020
3. Is World Athletics President Seb Coe's Recent Endorsement of Walking a Permanent Sidelining of Coe's IOC Conflict of Interest or is it Just Temporary?
13 Apr 2020
4. A Women's 50K Race Walk at Tokyo 2020 is Not Just a Moral Imperative But Also a Legal One
20 Apr 2020
27 Apr 2020
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9. THE INHERENT NATURE OF THE IOC CoeNFLICT
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The warm weather is finally here: time to cut loose on vacation, go on a picnic excursion, or laze by the pool. Let the good times roll!
Here are a few ideas to help you get your proper dose of vitamin Sun this summer.
Create your own personal oasis
After all those months of hibernation, the deck and the back yard are finally yours to enjoy! Since you're going to be outside a lot, why not fix up your outdoor space just the way you like it? Plant a few fragrant flowers here and there, create a hanging garden and grow your own vegetables, set up your hammock to gaze up at the night sky, hang some bird feeders and wake up to birdsong in the morning… let your imagination run wild. There's just one small thing to bear in mind, though: lazy evenings on the deck are often enjoyed with snacks and alcoholic beverages, a combination that is high in calories and can quickly elevate your blood sugar. Just make sure not to overdo it!
Colour your world
No, we're not recommending that you take up tanning… we're talking about seasonal fruits and vegetables! There's no better time than summer to enjoy fresh, local flavours at affordable prices. Lucky for you, fruits and vegetables can be a great help in managing diabetes: because they are high in fibre, they slow the absorption of sugar, lower cholesterol and help regulate blood pressure. For the cream of the crop, we recommend stopping by farmers' markets and roadside fruit and vegetable stands. You can also roll up your sleeves and go berry picking—an activity the whole family can enjoy.
Get up and get active!
We all know the usual wintertime cop-outs: it's freezing, the sidewalks are icy, and so on. But all those excuses melt away in summer, when there is no shortage of physical activities to get out there and move. Not convinced yet? Here's another angle: physical activity gives you energy, relieves stress, helps lower insulin resistance and helps control diabetes. Ready... set... go!
And above all else, have fun!
Too often, autumn comes around and we're stuck wishing we had gotten out and enjoyed the summer more. Let's guard against that this year! Why not go on an adventure to discover or rediscover your province, your area or even your city? Take up a new pastime? Take in a summer festival or two? Visit a national park? The possibilities are practically endless: it's up to you to take full advantage!


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2000 Busted Rock Rd., Meadows of Dan, Virginia 24120, United States
Free WiFi
It's probably been a while since most city slickers have seen the stars (or the sun, for that matter), but Primland Resort is on the job. At this eco-conscious getaway, the altitude and sparsely populated mountain setting presents a cure-all for this ailment, in the form of stargazing. You can wish on whichever one you want—when you view the night sky from the resort's Observatory Dome, expect to see millions.
But it's not just a place to study the heavenly bodies—it has a heavenly spa, too, where guests can luxuriate in the mosaic-tiled pool, then head to a meditation class or a soothing massage for that stubborn ache or pain. Though the resort has an assortment of rustic-refined suites, cottages, and houses, we suggest booking the Pinnacles Suite, a two-story abode with floor-to-ceiling windows, 400-thread count Frette sheets, and most importantly, a killer view of aforementioned galaxies (hint: the bedroom sits just beneath the Observatory). But if privacy's the aim, then head for one of the Mountain Homes, where the silence is absolute—your back deck juts out just above the hills, where there's nary a human in sight, and you can climb mountains and ride ATVs to your wild heart's content.
Editor's Pick: Gold List 2018
Got the skinny on this place? Let our editors know!


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This was originally going to be implemented on the new site, but that is taking longer than hoped.
So for the interim I have added a stop gap fix. This is mostly for posters, backgrounds and album covers, if you know who the copyright of an image should belong to please click on the © "unknown" link under the image and input the details, I will then update the entry if it is correct, please also add any details that will help verifying the information easier.
When uploading new images please put any copyright details in the comments section.


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10 Things You Didn't Know About Sierra Nevada
America's craft beer movement is so young, breweries that started in the late '90s are considered old-timers. But a select few can call themselves true godfathers of the scene, and Sierra Nevada is one of them. Started by sudsy legend Ken Grossman in 1979, the label has done great things for pale ales, IPAs, holiday brews, and even jelly bean beers (stay with us) in its 36 years of existence. Find out how Grossman got the company off the ground, and how to play his video game, below:
1. Founder Ken Grossman is one of three US "beer billionaires"
According to Bloomberg, Grossman joined the American beer billionaires club just this year. Jim Koch (Sam Adams) and Dick Yuengling (Yuengling) are the only other members. We assume they spend meetings sitting around in leather lounge chairs, prank-calling all the millionaires.
2. But he started out with a homebrew supply shop
Before he created Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Grossman ran the Home Brew Shop in Downtown Chico. It gave him the chance to learn from other homebrewers and hone his skills -- but he could only stay behind the counter for so long. Grossman opened the shop in 1976, founded Sierra Nevada three years later, and opened the first brewery in 1980.
3. Grossman repurposed most of the brewery equipment from dairy farms
There weren't a ton of vacant breweries hanging around Chico in 1979, so Grossman took it upon himself to basically build the thing from scratch. That meant reading a few manuals on refrigeration and welding, then cruising dairy farms for scrap steel tanks.
4. Sierra Nevada has had the same head brewer for 32 years
His name is Steve Dresler, and that's him rocking the Farrah Fawcett hair with Ken in the brewery's early days.
5. All employees get a tab at the brewery's pub, and it increases the longer they work there
Sierra Nevada employees already get subsidized day care and a free on-site health clinic, but they also receive monthly lunch money. Here's how it works: everyone has a tab at the Chico brewery's taproom, and it increases the longer you work there. If you're a newbie, it might just be enough for a meal or two. But if you're a vet like Dresler, you get over $300 each month.
6. Its first collaboration beer was with Dogfish Head
Despite being one of the first craft breweries on the scene, Sierra Nevada didn't produce any collaboration beers until 2009. But once the team was ready, it went straight to the big dogs at Dogfish Head, who kinda thrive on this stuff. The result was Life & Limb, a 10% ABV beer made with maple syrup from Sam Calagione's family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley from Grossman's Chico fields. The guys even used the run-off to produce a small-batch session brew with a dark-roast coffee taste. Its name? Limb & Life, of course.
7. There was also a jelly bean beer
Life & Limb isn't the only curiosity in Sierra Nevada's discontinued beer vault. Saison de Haricot also lives there, after making a splashy appearance at BeerAdvocate's 2011 Extreme Beer Fest. We say splashy because it was bright pink, and made with Jelly Belly jelly beans.
8. Torpedo is Steve Austin's favorite beer
He made sure to bring it up during his interview with Grossman on The Steve Austin Show - Unleashed! Yes, Stone Cold has a podcast. He says "son of a bitch" and "dang" a lot.
9. Last year's Beer Camp Across America raised $80,000 for "hops and barley research"
Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp first launched in 2008, but the festival has come a long way since. Version 1.0 was a two-day event at the Chico brewery with one special Beer Camp brew. The camp Sierra Nevada hosted last year hit seven cities across the nation, brought in 700 breweries, and resulted in a Beer Camp Across America 12-pack of collaboration beers. A portion of the proceeds from that 12-pack went towards hops and barley research, so your drinking actually supported science. Good work.
10. There's a Sierra Nevada video game
To promote this year's Oktoberfest beer (brewed with Brauhaus Riegele), Sierra Nevada made a retro video game. The star is a tiny man in lederhosen, and it's your job to help him gather the yeast, malt, water, and hops he needs to make a beer. You can play by entering "Prost" in the "Locate Beers" field at the bottom of the official site, or just be lazy and click on this link.
Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.
Kristin Hunt is a staff writer for Thrillist, and hopes to contribute to that noble barley research at next year's Beer Camp. Follow her to the buses at @kristin_hunt.


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Category Archives: Architecture
A Visit to Maggie's West London
Richard Rogers first came to international attention when he and Renzo Piano won the competition for the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1971. That radical intervention into the urban fabric of the French capital placed escalators into a transparent tube along one side of the building and mechanical services into multicolored modular units along the street elevation, such that interior space is freed up for ultimate flexibility and democratic participation in the arts.
Many distinguished buildings later, Rogers and his partners, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour, realized the first Maggie's Centre in London. Awarded the 2009 Stirling Prize, the key prize for a building designed by a UK-registered practice, the Centre offers practical and emotional support to folks undergoing cancer care at the adjacent Charing Cross Hospital. The subject of our fall 2014 exhibition at the Heinz Architectural Center, more than a dozen Maggie's Centres have been designed over the last two decades by influential architects and landscape designers across Britain.
Barns of Western Pennsylvania, Revisited
As a professional photographer, my experience with architecture is not so much the history or study of as it is one of practical knowledge. You need to learn the hallmarks of the different genres to speak with some intelligence to various clients. Before working as an architectural photographer for Carnegie Museum of Art in 2004, I really only knew of Frank Lloyd Wright and a handful of other names, but of course still could pick out visually interesting buildings and enjoy the differences between eras. Continue reading
Architecture + Teenie Harris
Teenie Harris is perhaps best known for his ability to photograph people and capture their spectrum of expressions as well as truthfully document their life events. He was surrounded by family, friends, and a large community who seemed to be drawn to him and offered their trust to his lens, as well as frequently "photobombed" the margins of his frame while he was on assignment.
But Harris also had a keen eye for architecture and the urban landscape—he was known to have a deep love for the city of Pittsburgh, and at times it seems as if the city itself was another member of his community. His landscape and architectural images show the same intimacy and the deliberate and careful composition that he used when photographing children playing in the street or a family being evicted from their home. Continue reading
The Spittin' Image of Architecture
I was recently looking at some of the photographs in the exhibition Architecture + Photography with curatorial assistant Alyssum Skjeie, who co-organized the show with me, when I saw an image that was so familiar it felt like I'd been transported back to an art history class. The photograph shows the vestibule and staircase of the Laurentian Library (or Biblioteca Laurenziana) in Florence, which was designed by Michelangelo and constructed by him and others in several "campaigns" between 1524 and 1559. The staircase is dramatic and idiosyncratic—it's been described as looking like a lava flow—and the photograph here is a version of the "money shot" that's shown in virtually every source on Renaissance architecture. Seeing that image again evoked the same kind of feeling I experience when looking at photographs from trips I've taken.
My reaction isn't unique or remarkable: a great deal of what we know or remember about the world is what's been captured by us or for us through images. It's fair to say that this is especially true of the constructed environment—the buildings and other structures we humans build for ourselves. Most of us don't get to literally travel the world to see its architectural wonders, and not even the highest-resolution, largest-scale photograph can provide the physical experience of space that's so crucial to truly understanding a building or site. So we rely on pictures—and have done so ever since photography was invented. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, one of the medium's two principal founders, originally trained as an architect, and buildings were a favorite subject for experimentation in the field's early days.
This points to the central proposition of Architecture + Photography: the mere fact that a building appears in a photograph doesn't mean that that image is about architecture. In other words, it's not necessarily "architectural photography." For example, the pictorial content of Richard Stoner's Why We Fight, September 18, 1990 (1990) is obviously the oil tanks in the lower left corner and the huge, somewhat agitated and ominous sky that looms over them. But does the picture aim to elucidate ideas about oil tanks as architecture? The title certainly suggests otherwise. (Titles: another great topic for dissection!)
By contrast, the subject of Ezra Stoller's work is, unequivocally, buildings. One of the top architectural photographers in the twentieth century, Stoller shot many of the most iconic images of modernist postwar American architecture. He was keenly aware of the photographer's ability to shape viewers' understanding of architectural imagery and attempted to communicate through a two-dimensional medium the experience one might have of a building or place. An example is this somewhat enigmatic photograph of the McMath Solar Telescope (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1962) at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona: Stoller doesn't show the entire structure, but instead focuses on its colossal scale and extraordinary setting. You can easily place yourself in that photograph, sharing the sensations we imagine the man in the photograph having.
The Laurentian Library, along with Stoner's and Stoller's images, are but three points on the spectrum of photographers' intentions in presenting architectural imagery in their work. Come see the show while it's open (through May 26)! We would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
For information on Frances Benjamin Johnston, a featured photographer in Architecture + Photography, see Alyssum's blog post.


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I'll confess I picked this book up because I like the author's blog. Duncan MacMaster is the proprietor of The Furious D Show, an excellent movie blog. In spite of the handicap of being Canadian, MacMaster writes with authority and wit on the business of Hollywood (though, like so many blogmeisters, he's been posting less and less lately). But the more I read A Mint Condition Corpse, the more I liked it for its own sake, and the more fun I had.
MacMaster's knowledge of Hollywood provides a great background for this story, which deals with comics fandom and movie making. His hero is Kirby Baxter, a famous comic book artist who has been out of circulation for a couple years. On the same day he was fired from his job, he won the lottery. After collecting his riches, he fled to Europe. There he got involved in a couple criminal investigations, employing his expertise in reading people's faces, which he learned from a magician uncle who did a mind reading act. His contributions to police operations earned him honorary status as an Interpol consultant, and the loyalty of a giant Czech former policeman, who became his constant, protective shadow.
Now he's decided to reconnect with his old friends and fans. He flies to Toronto to attend Omnicon, a huge comics convention. He runs into Mitch, his diminutive, dirty-minded old buddy, and Molly, a fellow artist whom he helped get started in the business. He also meets a supermodel turned actress who has been cast in an upcoming superhero movie and is at the convention to promote it. She turns out to be every geek's dream – she's a fan of his work, and sends out clear signals that she's interested in him personally.
And then there's a murder. Employing his people reading skills, Kirby assists the police in cutting through a tangle of personal and business motives (here the author's knowledge of the movie industry adds a lot to verisimilitude), putting his own life in danger.
In description, the plot sounds like fanboy wish-fulfillment fantasy. But what makes A Mint Condition Corpse work is the way the author brings the characters to life and laughs (in an affectionate way) at the quaint customs and mores of the subcultures represented in the story. I really liked these characters, and cared about them. The book worked for me very well.
The dialogue can get a little raunchy, especially when Mitch is talking, but it's not bad by the standards of thriller literature. I recommend A Mint Condition Corpse, and I hope we see more of Kirby Baxter.


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I find it useful to emphasize what's said over who's saying it. We live in a society so committed to an individualist ethic that we forget how much our environment influences our behavior. We want people to be responsible for their actions. We don't want their actions to be the product of their environments. This not only makes it easier to assign blame—and to regulate conduct—it also makes complex problems seem simple. Environments are infinitely more complex than individuals. If we focus on what's said rather than who's saying it, we must acknowledge the complex set of social relations responsible for human beings and their bizarre, erratic, and unpredictable behavior. We have to admit that nothing is ever very simple.
When Ursula K. Le Guin died on January 22, 2018, I tried to let the person fade from view in favor of the words. I had no need to mourn, I told myself. Her death did not come as a shock. She had lived a long and productive life. Why not celebrate what she said rather than grieve for who said it? But at 88 years old, Le Guin still possessed the moral authority to challenge established norms and fight for change. Five years ago, when the National Book Foundation honored her lifetime achievement in literature, she said, "I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope. We will need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality."
Here in Mormon Country, the people we call "prophets" clamber to positions of power within institutional frameworks that favor entrenched privilege over divine inspiration. The people do not choose their prophets based on who inspires them the most. The people accept that the next "prophet" will be whoever was "next in line." Le Guin had no need for such profane institutional politics. She spoke and, in a prophet's voice, she inspired. She inspired us to look beyond gender, race, and class to see the people our society disregards and ignores. She inspired us to imagine alternatives to the status quo and to implement them, if not in our lives, then at least in our thinking. She inspired us to be more than what we are. We'll be waiting a long time for another Le Guin, but then, that's how it goes when a prophet dies.
In the strictest sense, a prophet is someone who proves prophetic in their predictions of the future so as to help us prepare for what's coming. I think that, by expanding our definition of prophet from "one who speaks prophetically" to "one who inspires future change through critical engagement with the past and present," we might find inspiration outside the cold and sterile halls of churches. We do not need religion. We need for the people who read and ponder what's been said about the human condition to demonstrate how ideas can transform reality. We need people to recognize their sources of inspiration and act upon their words. Yes, what's being said may indeed be more important than who's saying it. But insofar as a person ignites a prophetic conduit between the sacred and the profane, we would do well to locate the signal through the noise, or the individual in the crowd.
Once we've all had time to mourn—and we return to the world to agitate and organize—let's take a moment to raise our glasses to Le Guin and to her "realists of a larger reality." May she rest in power surrounded by people who bring her peace. May we follow in her example, subject our reality to ruthless criticism, and transcend it with half as much grace as she did.


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GEISMAR — Huntsman Corp. announced Thursday it will spend $78 million to expand its chemical plant, a move that will create 17 new full-time jobs and 100 construction jobs.
The expansion will increase the amount of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate produced at the plant. MDI is used in making polyurethanes, a key component in car seats, furniture, footwear adhesives and energy-saving insulation products.
Once the expansion is completed at the end of 2014, capacity will increase by 50 kilotons to a total 500 kilotons of MDI. Process improvements at the plant are already under way.
The 17 new jobs will pay an average salary of $92,000, plus benefits, according to figures provided by the Louisiana Economic Development Department. LED estimates the project will result in 60 indirect jobs.
Huntsman has just under 400 employees at its Geismar plant, many of whom attended the project announcement.
Jon M. Huntsman, founder and executive chairman of the Texas speciality chemicals firm, said 25 percent of the MDI produced at the Geismar plant is bound for use overseas and that share will increase to 30 percent once the expansion is completed. Despite this, Huntsman said his firm never considered doing an expansion anywhere but in Louisiana.
The state's incentives package includes a $1.5 million modernization tax credit, payable over five years. In addition, the company is expected to use the state's industrial tax exemption program.
"Adding manufacturing jobs is how America rebuilds its might," said Huntsman, who founded the company in 1970 after he stepped down as president of a joint venture involving Dow Chemical. Huntsman now has more than 12,000 employees worldwide and posted $12 billion in sales during 2012.
The expansion wasn't a surprise. The company announced in August that it had commissioned engineering design studies for an expansion in Geismar to take advantage of cheap natural gas from shale formations.
"Louisiana is centered in the middle of a natural gas boom because of our access to shale gas reserves, and it's helping to create thousands of opportunities for our people," Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
Many of those opportunities are happening in Ascension Parish, which has a cluster of current and potential projects poised to take advantage of the ample supply of natural gas.
Tommy Martinez, Ascension Parish president, joked that Jindal should get an apartment in the parish because he's been making so many economic development announcements there.
Mike Eades, president and CEO of the Ascension Economic Development Corp., said discussions with Huntsman about an expansion first started a year and a half ago, but heated up in October.
The company also announced a $57 million investment to upgrade a plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In addition to Geismar and Rotterdam, Huntsman Polyurethanes operates a third MDI facility in Caojing, Shanghai.
Huntsman Corp., based in The Woodlands, Texas, operates 75 facilities in 27 countries and serves customers in more than 100 countries.


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"And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests" (Neh. 2:8).
God has used this verse to put some wind back into my very deflated sails this week. I've been living with a very big disconnect in my faith. You see, I have great faith in God. I believe His word is true, from cover to cover. I believe He is the same today as He was in olden times. I believe He has done great things, making all things from nothing and other such miraculous things. I don't question His ability. I do, however, question mine.
When the Lord spoke specifically of His will in my life, I was immediately ecstatic. I was Isaiah, hand waving violently in the air, "Here I am! Send me!" I have willingly submitted myself to studying scripture hard-core, knowing that God's call is directly tied to His Word. In short, I was ready to be used, willing to be prepared, but sadly … unwilling to really believe God could do what He wanted to do through me. You see, I know my flaws. I know my sin. I know my SELF, and she's not very talented, smart, capable, likable … the list goes on and on. Everything I thought God needed me to be to accomplish His will just isn't in me naturally. Naturally, I'm a mess. Don't try to console me … I don't need it. Why?
Because the gracious hand of my God is upon me.
Oh goodness. This verse. So powerful. So empowering. You see, I have faith in God. Not in myself, but finally, I can see that faith in me is not necessary. I just need to recognize that God's hand is on me. God can take this foolish mess that I am and do something that I could never do on my own. Because God can do anything. With His hand on me, so can I.
"With God, all things are possible" (Matt 19:26). Do you know how many times I read this verse, but apparently just now am able to believe it? Something clicked. The Lord kept bringing Nehemiah 2:8 to me over and over this past week, and suddenly, this verse is REAL. I know my God can do all things. I know without Him I can do nothing. But suddenly, I KNOW that with His hand on me, all things – every dream, vision, heart-cry He encourages – are possible.
I am going to try again. I am going to pick up my bruised ego (and throw it away) and go back to being about my Father's business, trusting in Him. Knowing that succeeding at His Will is ultimately about my connection to the Vine. I simply have to stay connected. Stop being distracted. Stop allowing Satan to taunt me with fear and lies. Acknowledge my deficits while also acknowledging His infinite wisdom and ability. I just have to be an empty vessel willing to be picked up by my Father and filled to overflowing. However it comes out is however it comes out because the gracious hand of my God is upon me.
I hope you know, though, that although this blog is a little me-centered (it's my pep-talk), it's about all of His children who are holding on to a dream. You might be tight-fisted with a bleeding heart right now, desperately wondering how you are going to do what God is asking you to do. Let me help you relax, dear friend: you may not be able to say, "I've got this!" but God is! He just needs you to be willing and obedient. If you have turned your back on those promises because they have exasperated you for so long and you can't stand to look at an unfulfilled Word, I just want to encourage you. It's not by your might, or your power. It's by His Spirit. Reconnect, because God still wants to use you! Don't lose heart anymore, church. The gracious hand of our God is upon us!


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Tuesday, September 12, 2017 02:28 PM
SPRINGFIELD –Today State Senator John G. Mulroe (D-Chicago) honored Corporal Donald W. Bollman by dedicating the bridge on Illinois Route 19 that crosses the Des Plaines River in his memory. Corporal Bollman, who gave his life during the Vietnam War, was a lifelong resident of Norridge before serving in the Marines.
"It is important for us to remember and honor those who sacrificed their lives for our safety and our freedom," Mulroe said. "I was privileged to sponsor the resolution to dedicate this bridge across the Des Plaines River to Corporal Donald Bollman. Though he died 50 years ago, his memory and sacrifice will live on with this bridge."
Corporal Bollman enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1965. He served in California as a Marine Guard before beginning a tour in South Vietnam. While serving in South Vietnam, his company came under attack from a North Vietnamese battalion. Corporal Bollman was killed in action on March 1, 1967 at the age of 23. He received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with a V for Valor for his service.
"This bridge dedication means so much to our family because it not only honors the loss of our beloved brother Donald, who sacrificed his life for his country, but after all these years we know now he will never be forgotten," Norman Bollman, brother of Corporal Donald Bollman said. "I know that it will help my brothers and sister to finally have some closure even though he will always be a part of our lives."
The bridge is located on West Irving Park Road. A sign commemorating Corporal Donald Bollman is now in place at the entrance to the bridge.
Sen. John G. Mulroe
10th District
Years served: 2010 - 2019
Committee assignments: Commerce and Economic Development; Criminal Law; Executive; Insurance (Vice-Chairperson); Judiciary (Chairperson); Public Health; Subcommittee on Const. Amendments.
Biography: Born July 21, 1959, in Chicago; BBA, accounting, Loyola University; J.D., Loyola University School of Law; member of Chicago and Illinois State Bar associations; full-time attorney; former assistant state's attorney and arbitrator for Cook County; certified public accountant; married (wife, Margaret), four children.
Associated Representative:
Robert Martwick
Michael P. McAuliffe