Monday Watch List: Get In Shape, Tubby!
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and celebrate Labor Day. Ah, Labor Day. The day where you go to a pool or a beach one last time, when you’ve already had more than your fill of going to pools and beaches. LET’S GO!
THINTERVENTION WITH JACKIE WARNER – 10:15PM (Bravo – an NBC/Universal network) Bravo’s new reality show features fitness guru Jackie Warner slapping a group of tubbies into better shape. I hope they stage the thinterventions like an actual intervention, with family members crying and threatening to cut off communication with the food addicts if they can’t stop eating Pop Tarts, and telling horrible stories of how Johnny failed to pick up his son from soccer practice because he was too busy binging at KFC. You’d watch that, and don’t even deny it. I know you all too well. ANTICIPATION: IT’S FAT CAMP FOR DADDY’S CHUBBY LITTLE SECRET!
REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW JERSEY – 9:00PM (Bravo – an NBC/Universal network) It’s part two of the post-finale reunion. Part two! It’s as if the reunion is its own spinoff series. It’s like “Jersey Shore” doing that after hours show with J-Woww, Ronnie, and Sammi. They barely even need the actual show to stage a reunion anymore. Just have Springer host and it’s all academic. ANTICIPATION: CATFIGHTS!
BOISE STATE VS. VIRGINIA TECH – 8:00PM (ESPN) The marquee matchup of the first full weekend of college football is this battle between two Top 10 teams. Most top ranked programs start off their season blowing apart some pansy D-III team, like Western Oral Roberts Tech. Not these two. No, these two teams wanted to face the best right away, to jettison ANY hope of winning a national title right off the bat if they come out rusty and can’t end up winning. I don’t know whether to admire them, or kick them in the head. ANTICIPATION: FOOTBALL!
DATELINE NBC – 10:00PM (NBC) Chris Hansen investigates lottery clerks who are finding ways to scam the lottery and ticket buyers. ANTICIPATION: BUSTED!
NICKELODEON MEGA MUSIC FEST – 8:00PM (NICK) If you’re the kind of horrible parent that lets your child stay up at this time of night, why not go the distance and be a REALLY lousy parent by letting them subject you to this concert featuring Dora, the folks from Yo Gabba Gabba, Justin Bieber and Wyclef Jean? It’s as if the concert was organized by Satan himself. ANTICIPATION: YOU DID IT!


Penalty wrongly awarded to Manchester City against Swansea in FA Cup video, where is VAR?
Manchester City’s quest for a quadruple is still on thanks to a bit of luck and some help from the referee, but Manchester United has only one remaining chance for silverware after being dumped out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Wolves held on to win a game it dominated, but Swansea couldn’t protect its 2-0 lead against a City side that benefited from two refereeing mistakes.
City was incorrectly awarded a penalty that led to the equaliser before Sergio Aguero scored the winner from an offside position to end Swansea’s hopes of pulling off a massive upset.
Aguero’s spot kick then hit the post before the ball went in off the luckless Kristoffer Nordfeldt.
“If it’s not a penalty, I’m sorry. If it’s offside, I’m sorry,” said Guardiola, who added he had not seen replays of either incident.


WARNING: This post might cause your eyes to bleed. H/T to r/CrappyDesign.
1. "Yeah, let's make sure the face is on the window."
2. "You we'll know show you how to how to design lead."
3. "Please choose what you'd like to eat."
4. "Boy syrup is on sale on aisle four."
6. "Screw it, just throw all the words on there."
7. "But how will they know it's a male hand?"
10. "Perfect. Now stick it to the window. Wait..."
11. "I'm sure the corner won't affect it at all."
12. "leave as WelcomeF May all who guests came asriends."
13. "Put the red in the blue bottle and the blue in the red bottle. No, I don't think it'll be confusing."
14. "Nobody's going to want to charge it and use it at the same time anyway."
15. "Sure, I can make a pie chart. Math isn't my strong suit, though."
16. "You must be an elderly pregnant disabled child to poop here."
17. "What do you mean, there's an easier way to input phone numbers?"
18. "Just tell 'em all to quit."


Great Residential Lots in Farmerville off Hwy 2. Close to shopping And Restaurants. Spring is here time to build!!!!!
Great Residential Lots in Farmerville off Hwy 2. Close to shopping And Restaurants.


ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Kimi Raikkonen still believes he can compete for another Formula One title, despite not winning a race since the start of the 2013 season.
And despite being considered Ferrari's second driver after Sebastian Vettel.
Raikkonen sits fifth in the standings heading into this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He can still climb to fourth but is seven points behind Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and more than 100 points behind Vettel, who is second to leader Lewis Hamilton.
Although Raikkonen has finished third in the past three F1 races, his best results among seven podiums this year are two second-place finishes.
The 2007 F1 champion expects much more from himself.
"Obviously I am here to try to win races and win championships, so it is far from ideal," the 38-year-old Finnish driver said. "But this is how it turned out to be. I can live with it, but it is not why I am here."
Raikkonen was fourth in both of Friday's practice sessions for Sunday's race.
Ferrari took the decision over the summer to award Raikkonen a contract for one more year in 2018. Given his age, and barren winning streak, it was met with some surprise.
Raikkonen has 91 career podiums and could well reach 100 next year if Ferrari shows the same sort of improvement it did this season. But his last F1 victory was at the Australian GP in March 2013, when driving for Lotus. Since then, he has competed in 94 races without a win.
"It is far from what I wanted," Raikkonen said, assessing his season overall. "There is one race to go, we try to make the best out of it and then obviously start next year, try to do a lot better."
Vettel has won five races and led the F1 championship up until the summer break, after which Hamilton took control and clinches the championship to join Vettel on four world titles.
Raikkonen has long been hailed as one of the quickest drivers around.
But Vettel has largely beaten him in qualifying this season, and when Raikkonen did take pole position - at the Monaco Grand Prix - he led before Vettel overtook him following a pit stop. It raised questions of whether Ferrari had told Raikkonen to pit early in order to favor Vettel's chances, but talk of any team orders was refuted.
Raikkonen has had bad luck.
Vettel's crash from pole position at the Singapore GP in September took Raikkonen out of the race, too, and when Raikkonen qualified second on the grid at the next race in Malaysia he had to pull out moments before the start because of a mechanical failure. Earlier this season, at the Spanish GP, he had to retire with suspension damage.
"We had too many DNFs and never really recovered from there," Raikkonen said. "It has been very close with quite a few cars over the races, and it is small things that count over the race weekends."
He thinks that Ferrari needs to step up a level next year for him to compete consistently with the leading drivers.
"We need to be faster, more often, and then hopefully some things will go a bit in our direction," he said. "We try this weekend and next year again."


Campanelli Cos. of Braintree has begun work on a 62,000-square-foot expansion of Airxchange’s headquarters in Rockland that could accommodate up to 100 new jobs in the next three years.
The expansion will essentially triple the size of the building for the company, which designs and manufactures energy-efficient components for HVAC systems.
Designed by RKB Architects of Braintree, the work involves construction of a new entryway, upgrades to office areas and an addition for the manufacturing facilities to include more loading dock space.
When it’s done, the entire expanded facility will be about 95,000 square feet in size.
Airxchange also plans to exit a 15,000-square-foot leased warehouse in Hingham early next year and move those operations to the Rockland site.
The Rockland expansion is expected to be finished by spring 2011.
The company currently employs fewer than 100 people in Rockland, but it could add up to 100 more employees during the next two to three years after the expansion is complete.
Airxchange plans to spend about $4.5 million on its expansion project, which will be overseen by Campanelli, and $3 million on new equipment.
The company was recently awarded nearly $921,000 in tax credits from federal stimulus funds set aside for clean energy manufacturing projects. Airxchange plans to use those funds to help subsidize the purchase of new equipment for the expansion.
The company could also be eligible for a state tax credit of up to 5 percent on the equipment purchases. The company will also benefit from $132,000 in property tax savings on the expansion over 20 years that the town of Rockland awarded as a tax-increment financing incentive. In return, the town will get nearly $1.5 million in new tax revenue over that same period.
Airxchange sells its energy recovery wheels to major manufacturers of heating and cooling systems, such as Trane and Carrier, which in turn provide systems with the Airxchange wheels that are installed on the rooftops of commercial buildings.


Consumer Confidence at Highest Level Since October 2000 - 24/7 Wall St.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday morning that its consumer confidence index for the month of August rose from 127.9 in July to 133.4. The expectations index increased from 102.4 to 107.6, and the present situation index rose from 166.1 to 172.2. The consensus estimate for August called for a slight dip to an index reading of 126.5.
The assessment of present-day conditions improved again in August. The percentage of consumers who said business conditions are “good” rose from 38.1% to 40.3%, while those claiming business conditions are “bad” declined from 10.3% to 9.1%.
Consumers’ assessment of the August labor market also improved. The proportion stating jobs are “plentiful” was unchanged at 42.7%, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” dropped from 14.8% to 12.7%.
Consumer confidence increased to its highest level since October 2000 (Index, 135.8), following a modest improvement in July. Consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions improved further. Expectations, which had declined in June and July, bounced back in August and continue to suggest solid economic growth for the remainder of 2018. Overall, these historically high confidence levels should continue to support healthy consumer spending in the near-term.
Many economists are forecasting a slowdown in the U.S. economy in the second half of this year. Partly that’s due to expected effects of the Trump tariffs and partly to the lack of growth in real wages. Consumers also could be overlooking the effects of slowly rising inflation unaccompanied by pay increases.
On the jobs front, expectations for new jobs dipped from 22.6% to 21.7% in August but so did the number of respondents who expect fewer jobs, from 15.2% to 14.1%. Regarding their own income, 25.5% expect an improvement in the short term, up from 20.4% in July. The proportion expecting a decrease in income fell from 9.4% to 7%.
Optimism about the short-term outlook rebounded in August. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased from 22.9% to 24.3%; those expecting business conditions to worsen also rose slightly, from 10.3% to 10.5%.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a probability-design random sample and is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen. The index baseline is 1985=100.


The folks who attend Denver Drink & Draw decided that what Denver, CO really needs is a free comics newspaper, the likes of which we see in several major cities, and so they put their pencils and desire together and got contributing, but they still need the funds to launch this paper with the heady name of Comix Brew. Their Kickstarter campaign launched a few days ago.
We need money to help create a free all comics newspaper for Denver and the surrounding areas. This would be the first in its kind in Denver! However, you don’t need to be local to donate, because we’ll send you a copy anywhere within the U.S. On top of the uniqueness of the project, it will be something really fantastic! With a committed line-up of amazing artists whose styles run the gamut, it will be a thing that will both entertain and inspire! Help us make this reality! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and your support.
4th India Comic Con In New Delhi – Will John Layman Bite Off More Than He Can Chew?


QATAR. Private wealth continued to experience positive growth between 2016 and 2017 (8 percent), and this growth is projected to remain steady over the next five years according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Global Wealth 2018: Seizing the Analytics Advantage.
Personal wealth in the Middle East rose by 11 percent to $3.8 trillion in 2017, a significant increase compared with the CAGR for the previous five years. In comparison, personal wealth in Qatar has grown at 9 percent between 2016 and 2017. In 2016 to 2017, private wealth was driven primarily by the positive development of life insurance and pensions.
In Qatar, personal wealth is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8 percent and expected to reach $270 billion in investible assets by 2022.
The report, BCG’s eighteenth annual study of the global wealth management industry, uses global and regional perspectives to examine such topics as the evolution of personal financial wealth, the widening revenue gap and how institutions can narrow it, and the state of offshore business. The report also takes a comprehensive look at a critical initiative for staying competitive in the marketplace: unleashing the power of advanced analytics.
“Taking an in-depth look at wealth distribution, Qatar non-investible assets are expected to increase at a CAGR of 23 percent in the next five years, while investible wealth growth is projected to accelerate at a CAGR of 7 percent,” explains Markus Massi.
“When it comes to asset allocation, currency and deposits, at 45 percent, were the highest proportion of assets in Qatar in 2017, followed by offshore assets at 41 percent, equities and investment funds at 10 percent, and life insurance and pensions at 3 percent. By 2022, currency and deposits, and life insurance and pensions are expected to experience slight growth to 53 percent and 5 percent respectively. For offshore assets, and equities and investment funds will experience a decline to a respective 36 percent and 6 percent respectively,” Massi added.
At 24 percent, life insurance and pensions drove growth by asset class between 2016 and 2017 in Qatar. Other drivers of asset class growth included currency and deposits at 21 percent, and offshore assets at 5 percent. In Qatar, equities and investment funds and bonds experienced negative growth at -16 percent and -2 percent respectively.
Looking to the future, growth by asset class is expected to experience a slightly slower, but steady growth with life insurance and pensions at 23 percent, and currency and deposits at 11 percent CAGR over the next five years. In the same period, growth in offshore assets will remain constant at CAGR of 5 percent and equities and investment funds and bonds will accelerate to -2 percent CAGR and -1 percent CAGR respectively.
While offshore share is expected to decline over the next five years from 41.4 percent in 2017 to 35.5 percent in 2022, it will continue to grow at a CAGR of 4.6 percent to reach $95 billion in Qatar in the same period.
• The Evolution of Personal Financial Wealth. According to the report, global personal financial wealth grew by 12 percent in 2017 to $201.9 trillion in US dollar terms. The main drivers were the bull market environment in all major economies—with wealth in equities and investment funds showing by far the strongest growth—and the significant strengthening of most major currencies against the dollar. In general, developed markets held a higher share of wealth in non-investable assets—particularly pension fund entitlements—than developing markets. The share of global wealth held by millionaires increased to almost 50 percent in 2017, compared with just under 45 percent in 2012. If recent patterns of wealth expansion continue, under an optimistic scenario, personal financial wealth could rise at a compound annual growth rate of around 7 percent from 2017 to 2022 in US dollar terms.
• The Offshore Perspective. The amount of global offshore wealth held in 2017 was around $8.2 trillion, 6 percent higher than in the previous year in US dollar terms. Switzerland remained the largest offshore center, domiciling $2.3 trillion in personal wealth in the country. The next-largest booking centers were Hong Kong ($1.1 trillion) and Singapore ($0.9 trillion), which have grown at yearly rates of 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively—more than three times the rate (3 percent) of Switzerland over the past five years. Net offshore inflows from 2012 through 2017 totaled over $800 billion, with Hong Kong and Singapore the key destinations. Some offshore centers, notably the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, saw net outflows during the same period.
• Bridging the Revenue Gap. According to BCG industry data gathered from more than 150 wealth managers, top performers—defined as the quartile of institutions with the highest pretax profit margins—achieved a significant lead over average performers in overall revenue growth and return on assets (RoA) over the past three years. BCG estimates that wealth managers can achieve a revenue uplift of 8 percent to 12 percent by adjusting price levels, correcting unnecessary discounts, and simplifying overall pricing structures. Product and service bundling can contribute to higher revenues if properly linked to the pricing architecture and to the value proposition for each client segment. Overall, smart revenue practices can accomplish the dual goal of increasing the top line and enhancing client satisfaction.
• Unleashing the Value of Advanced Analytics. Firms that deliver smart, individualized products, services, and prices—digitally and through a relationship manager or financial advisor—will significantly bolster their top-line growth and occupy a differentiated position in the market. But seizing this opportunity requires the deployment of cutting-edge capabilities in advanced analytics—encompassing such elements as new technology platforms, fresh development capacities, next-generation tech and data architectures, updated data and digital organizational structures and skills, and improved access to internal and external data. A full transformation along these lines can lead to top-line growth of 15 percent to 30 percent and drive efficiency gains of 10 percent to 15 percent.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with offices in more than 90 cities in 50 countries.


A Quebec airline has announced two daily weekday flights between Gatineau and Quebec City, beginning Jan. 30.
Quebec City-based Air Liaison, which serves about a dozen municipalities in Quebec, will use small prop planes for the 50-minute non-stop flight to Jean Lesage International Airport.
Gatineau departures will be at 6:40 a.m. and 4:40 p.m., while Quebec City flights to Gatineau will be at 7:55 a.m. and 5:50 p.m.
A round trip is expected to cost around $540 once taxes have been factored in.
The Gatineau Executive Airport has not had regularly scheduled passenger service for about 19 months.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Wondering if Republicans will push Nancy Pelosi over the top in her drive to become House speaker next year? Despite supportive words from President Donald Trump, it's implausible.
Twice since Democrats won House control in last month's elections, Trump has said the California Democrat deserves to regain the post she held from 2007 to early 2011 as the first female speaker. He's offered to help her win GOP votes, if needed, when the new House elects its speaker Jan. 3. One Republican lawmaker says he'd consider helping her.
Still, it's a far-fetched scenario that she's publicly rejected.
It's rare for lawmakers to vote for the other party's speaker nominees, though there's an uncanny connection between the last time it happened and one of Pelosi's leading foes. Even a seemingly harmless vote of "present" by a Republican would help Pelosi because she'd need fewer votes to win a majority, leaving anyone who did that vulnerable to a future GOP primary election challenge.
WHY WOULD REPUBLICANS EVEN CONSIDER HELPING PELOSI?
It's largely about 2020. The GOP has spent tens of millions on campaign ads over the years, political consultants say, portraying Pelosi as a dangerous radical from San Francisco, her liberal hometown, and linking Democratic candidates to her. While the GOP lost the House last month anyway despite featuring Pelosi in ads, many Republicans would love to use her again in the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns.
THEN WHY NOT ASSIST HER?
For a Republican, helping Pelosi — even by voting "present" or missing next month's roll call — would be tantamount to begging a GOP primary challenger to oust them in 2020. Pelosi is that loathed by conservative voters.
"It would be an absolute career killer," said Jon McHenry, a GOP consultant.
The vote for speaker is the first House vote in each new Congress, when lawmakers demonstrate their party loyalty. For most, helping the other side is unthinkable.
"It would be like Democrats voting for Newt Gingrich," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich. Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, became speaker in 1995 after using combative, obstructionist tactics to lead Republicans to their first House majority in 40 years. He was despised by Democrats.
The last time a lawmaker voted for the other major party's speaker nominee was 2001. Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, an eccentric dissident who'd long clashed with party leaders, backed Ohio Republican Dennis Hastert for speaker.
Traficant was expelled from the House in 2002 following his conviction on corruption charges. Imprisoned, he ran for re-election that year as an independent but lost to a former aide, Tim Ryan. Ryan is now an Ohio Democratic congressman and organizer of the effort to dump Pelosi, saying it's time for fresh leadership.
"There's no correlation there," Ryan said of his opposition to Pelosi and his past connection to Traficant, who died in 2014. Ryan said while opposed to Pelosi, he would not vote for a Republican.
A crossover vote occurred at least one other time, according to the House historian's office. Rep. Thomas Schall, R-Minn., voted for Rep. Champ Clark, D-Mo., to be speaker in 1917, saying he wanted to show U.S. unity on the eve of World War I.
... is arithmetic, not popularity among Democrats. An overwhelming majority want her to win the gavel, while a disgruntled handful wants to get rid of her.
When the chamber votes, she'll need a majority of all House members — 218, assuming everyone shows up and Republicans unanimously oppose her. Lawmakers who abstain, vote "present" or are absent don't count.
Democrats will have a 234-198 majority next year, with three races still uncalled by The Associated Press. As of now, Pelosi could lose up to 16 Democrats and still become speaker if Republicans vote "no" and everyone votes for a candidate.
Sixteen Democrats signed a letter saying it's time to change their leadership, and several others promised during their campaigns to oppose her. In a secret ballot for the party's speaker nominee, 203 Democrats voted for her, though three were delegates from territories and can't vote next month for speaker.
Her party's leader since 2003, Pelosi, 78, has won over some opponents and has nearly a month to make the additional deals she'll need to get the votes.
Pelosi has said she'll be elected with Democrats alone. She rejected the idea of winning with Republican support, saying, "Oh, please, no, never, never, never."
Ryan and Pelosi's other opponents say they doubt she'd seek Republican backing, citing her long career as a stalwart Democrat. Yet some foes suggest it's not out of the realm of possibility.
"Who knows?" Ryan said. "At this point she doesn't have enough Democratic votes."
Asked if Pelosi might seek a deal for GOP votes if she had no other alternative, spokesman Drew Hammill said, "Your premise is faulty. Nancy Pelosi will have the votes."
Prevailing with GOP backing would put Pelosi at risk of alienating liberal voters and heighten their anger against Democrats who opposed her, fueling 2020 primary challenges. It could also entice Republicans to try a seldom-used procedural vote to remove her from the speakership.
Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., said he'd consider helping Pelosi if they could negotiate changes in House rules to help the minority party get amendments and bills considered. The chamber's majority has long had control over the agenda.
Reed is a leader of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers. While Pelosi promised changes to get support from the Democrats in that group, Reed said he hasn't heard from her.
Voting for her would be "toxic" among Republicans, Reed said, adding, "Speaking of this has caused a tremendous amount of heartburn on my side."


Hamlet Builders Inc is located at Po Box 174, Cannon Beach, OR. This business specializes in General Contractors.
Hamlet Builders Inc is located at 3800 E Chinook St in Tolovana Park and has been in the business of New Construction, Single-family Houses since 1984.


2 marathons, 15 days: a blistering pace?
Sometimes, successful marathon running means backing off when pressing on seems the only way to go.
For Robert Yara, one of those times came last week, and as a result, come Sunday, Yara will be running in his second marathon in 15 days.
"This was just sort of a feeler for me," Yara said Sunday after he had won the Baltimore Road Runners Club's 5K Championship at Goucher College in 15 minutes, 44 seconds. "It's only the second time I've run this week."
A week earlier, he had finished fourth in a marathon in Burlington, Vt.
"I should have won or, at least, finished second," Yara said about the Vermont marathon, which he completed in 2:26. "I had to stop a couple of times. I got a real bad blister; in fact, I still have it.
"My last stop was at 21 [miles]. Stopping at 20 for a minute tightened up my muscles. The first time I stopped at 14, I was with the leaders."
Restraint allowed Yara to finish and stay in line for the South Bend Marathon this weekend.
"Blisters or not, I'm going," Yara said. "I bought the [airplane] ticket three weeks ago. They make a big deal out of it. The finish is at the 50-yard line inside the [Notre Dame] stadium."
Yara's decision to run in Vermont was another story.
"I've been out of town on business a lot lately," Yara said. "I came home from San Antonio on Friday and jumped on another plane for Vermont."
When you run as many marathons as Yara does, that can be expected. He has qualified for the United States men's Olympic Marathon Trials in Columbus, Ohio.
"I might do three a year," Yara said about his marathon running. "I might do seven or eight. Vermont was just one of those spur-of-the-moment things."
Males: 1. Robert Yara, 36, 15:44; 2. Doug Moyer, 32, 16:01; 3. Frick Welling, 20, 16:03; 4. Jeff Sanborn, 37, 16:05; 5. Layne Party, 31, 16:09; 6. Michael Mamo, 16, 16:14; 7. Mark Bogardy, 33, 16:18; 8. Clayton Deel, 33, 16:19; 9. Mark Rosasco, 32, 16:22; 10. Dan Esser, 31, 16:22.6. Masters: 1. Dave Lowe, 44, 17:05.
Females: 1. Stacey Nicholson, 28, 18:19; 2. Carol Zimmerman, 32, 18:55; 3. Joy Glass, 36, 19:16; 4. Pat Milleson, 32, 19:47; 5. Edie Tress, 41, 20:21; 6. Carolyn Stoll, 30, 20:24; 7. Carole Rosasco, 31, 20:42; 8. Cindy Silate, 16, 21:20; 9. Christy St. Clair, 42, 21:57; 10. Margaret Mudge, 16, 21:56. Masters: 1. Tress.
Males: 1. Nathan Boyer, 29:54; 2. Dave Starnes, 31:07; 3. John Jagde, 31:51; 4. Richard Norris, 32:35; 5. Mike Dougherty, 33:25.
Females: 1. Margaret Cooper, 32:15; 2. Leslie Morgan, 39:41; 3. Kristin Gavlinski, 42:37.
Males: 1. Michael Sterling, 30, 9:35; 2. Scott Douglas, 26, 9:42; 3. Paul Jacobson, 27, 9:55; 4. Michael Santoni, 28, 9:59; 5. Tim Smith, 20, 10:02. Masters: 1. Dave Lowe, 44, 10:52.
Females: 1. Jenny Caple, 25, 12:27; 2. Tracey Smith, 21, 13:38; 3. Cheryl Santoni, 27, 13:58; 4. Judi Bullock, 44, 14:38; 5. Liuda Galinaitis, 33, 15:17. Masters: 1. Bullock.
Friday, MCRRC Go for the Gold Track Meet, Rockville, 7 p.m., (301) 353-0200.
Saturday, BRRC A Place for Your Pace, Loch Raven, 8 a.m., 566-RUN2.
Saturday, Rodgers Forge 5K, Rodgers Forge, 494-8649.
Saturday, Separation Day 5-Miler, New Castle, Del., 9 a.m., (302) 656-5816.
Sunday, Bel Air Town Run 5K, Bel Air, 8 a.m., 879-6410.
Sunday, Police Chase 6-Miler, Argonne Drive, 9 a.m.
Sunday, Savage River Moonshine Classic 10K, Westernport, 9 a.m., (301) 359-0476.
Sunday, Reach the Beach Triathlon, (301) 228-2505.
Sunday, Aidswalk '91, Johns Hopkins University, 9 a.m., 685-1230.
June 12, BRRC Track Series No. 1, Catonsville High School, 6:30 p.m., 566-RUN2.
June 13, WRRC Twilight Series #2, Pleasant Valley Four-Mile Run, Westminster, 7 p.m., 857-5427.
June 15, Gunpowder Neck 10-Miler, Aberdeen Proving Ground Edgewood Area, 8 a.m., 838-5504.
June 15, BRRC A Place for Your Pace, Loch Raven, 8 a.m., 566-RUN2.
June 15, Run for Rick 5K, Bay Ridge, 8:30 a.m., 269-5981.
June 16, GBMC Father's Day 5K, Sheraton Towson, 8 a.m., 494-8649.
June 16, Annapolis Striders' Father's Day 10K, Edgewater, 8 a.m., 268-1165.


Each year, the College of Biological Sciences honors its top undergraduate students for their research contributions. The following students were recognized during commencement.
Jessica West, of Shasta Lake, Calif., received her Bachelor’s of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As a sophomore, West was awarded a Provost Undergraduate Fellowship to investigate Drosophila insecticide resistance in the lab of Professor Joanna Chiu, Department of Entomology. She was selected to present her research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students and the Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. West has been highly involved in a recently published study investigating underlying Drosophila gene expression.
West credits much of her success to the institutional support she received from the Special Transitional Enrichment Program and the Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program. “Coming from my small town that doesn't have a lot of educational opportunities, I think it goes to show that if you're self-motivated, curious and hard-working, despite your background you can go far and excel in college,” she said.
“Writing papers and giving presentations has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my time in research because it has made me appreciate the storytelling aspect of research and how to make your science appealing,” West said. In the fall, she will begin a Ph.D. program in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology at Cornell University. West hopes to one day conduct research and teach at the university level.
The College of Biological Sciences Medal recipient is a distinguished recognition honoring the top undergraduate of the college, selected from a diverse application pool with recommendations from faculty members.
Roy Qu, of San Jose, Calif., received his Bachelor’s of Science in Genetics and Genomics. He currently serves as a junior specialist in the lab of Professor Damian Genetos, Department of Veterinary Anatomy & Cell Biology. Qu is investigating signaling in skeletal homeostasis and repair, with plans to send out a first-author manuscript soon.
Qu’s work focuses on understanding how bone-forming cells respond during low oxygen conditions, which may lead to a better understanding of how some cancers spread throughout the body. He aspires to become a physician conducting both basic and translational research on the clinical use of genome editing.
“The most rewarding aspect of undergraduate research has been figuring out how to learn and troubleshoot on your own,” Qu said. “It's a very important skill that's not necessarily taught or trained in classes.” As a freshman, Qu conducted biomedical research on telomere regulation with Professor Lifeng Xu, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Qu has gained further experience developing an independent project from a proposal and preliminary data into a manuscript ready for submission. He feels that all of his research has been valuable, especially the lessons he has learned from the experiments that came back with negative data.
The Ron and Lydia Baskin Research Award is given to one graduating senior for excellence in research in the biological sciences.
Jenice Cheah, of San Jose, Calif., received her Bachelor’s of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. Under the guidance of Aldrin Gomes, associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, she has completed several independent projects supported by undergraduate fellowships from the American Heart Association and the Office of the Provost.
Her work has led to the publication of two papers and a presentation at the Undergraduate Research Conference. She is currently applying to medical school. Cheah credits the support of Gomes, who pushed her to challenge herself in the lab.
The Undergraduate Student of the Year award recognizes a graduating senior who has conducted substantial research activity with a faculty member for two or more quarters and contributed significantly to campus and community service.


The 59th Annual Grammy Awards are finally here.
Just ahead of the music industry's biggest annual evening, see TooFab's guide to everything you need to know about the 2017 Grammys, with coverage kicking off on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Comedian and actor James Corden will be hosting the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 12. About his hosting gig, Corden told the LA Times: "I'm completely underqualified. My point is that maybe you don't need to be qualified for this gig. My qualification is that I'm a massive fan of everybody in that room, and I'm going to try and share that with the audience."
Adele, The Weeknd and Daft Punk, Chance The Rapper, Alicia Keys and Maren Morris, Bruno Mars, Little Big Town, Demi Lovato, Andra Day and Tori Kelly, Lady Gaga and Metallica, Sturgill Simpson, Lukas Graham, John Legend and Cynthia Erivo, A Tribe Called Quest, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, and William Bell and Gary Clark Jr, but there's sure to be more surprise appearances and performances.
See TooFab's comprehensive list of this year's nominees and what they're nominated for in the gallery (below).
Though the Recording Academy hasn't released the full list of award presenters, they have announced Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Paris Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Solange, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Camila Cabello, The Chainsmokers, Laverne Cox, Jason Derulo, Halsey, Taraji P. Henson, Gina Rodriguez, John Travolta, Nick Jonas, DNCE, Thomas Rhett, Katharine McPhee, Ryan Seacrest and Penatonix.
2016 saw the deaths of so many musical icons like David Bowie, George Michael, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Glenn Frey and many others. The Grammys have a history of producing tributes to the fallen stars, but show producer Kenneth Ehrlich told Rolling Stone that there will be a fine balance between honoring the late musicians and continuing to celebrate those nominated for awards. "You've got a lot of people incredibly excited about being nominated," Ehrlich told the magazine. "I don't want to deny them by devoting a third of the show to people who've passed away."
TMZ reported that Beyoncé will be "taking it easier than normal" due to her pregnancy, and that "there will be an elaborate digital screen onstage," which will "create movement that will cover the slower pace onstage." TMZ also reported that there will be cameos during the Queen's performance.
Wait'll You See J.Lo's Latin Grammy Look from the Back!


What better way to show your valentine and loved ones how special they are on Feb. 14 than by giving the gift of chocolate truffles, bean-to-bar artisan chocolate, or confections you made especially for them?
Speaking of bean-to-bar, while going up and down the aisles at the Fancy Food Show last summer, I was overwhelmed by the number of bean-to-bar chocolatiers. I predict this is the next movement in the artisanal food world. Like craft beer, specialty coffee and bread before it, this small-batch industry is growing by leaps and bounds. American craft chocolate sales are $100 million annually and growing.
Most recently, while working on 2018’s Hidden Gems of Florida feature (keep an eye out for it), I visited Castronovo Chocolate Factory in Stuart, Fla. Denise Castronovo has taken home the gold medal several times in the International Chocolate Awards for her bean-to-bar chocolate bars. One bite of the Colombia Sierra Nevada bar, and no wonder it was the gold winner of the International Chocolate Awards World Finals in 2016 and gold winner of the 2016 Academy of Chocolate Awards.
Books that Castronovo has on display caught my attention (in addition to her decadent chocolates), since it was a book I was planning to feature here for Valentine’s Day. A sample copy for visitors to peruse, complete with sticky notes, piqued my curiosity. Those highlighted pages showcased the winning bar and information about this chocolatier.
“Bean to Bar: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution, the Origins, the Makers, the Mind-Blowing Flavors,” by Megan Giller (2017, Storey Publishing, $19.95), is your primer to “everything you wanted to know about chocolate but were afraid to ask.” Her blog, “Chocolate Noise,” was a 2016 Saveur Food Blog Awards Finalist. Megan offers private chocolate tasting classes, hosts “underground Chocolate Salons,” teaches classes at shops across the U.S. and judges at chocolate competitions.
If you are curious about the bean-to-bar movement, she demystifies it and explains the process. I learned what to look for in a chocolate bar and chocolatiers to watch. Wonder how cocoa beans from Venezuela differ from beans from Madagascar, or what is dark milk chocolate, and who makes the best? Giller has you covered. Here’s a fun idea … take her suggestions on how to hold a chocolate tasting, with advice on pairing chocolate with coffee, tea, beer, spirits, bread and cheese. I enjoyed her explanation of why chocolate shouldn’t cost a dollar. Her answer?, she writes, “$14 can still seem like a big investment. However, I’d say that’s a pretty low price point to buy the best food of its kind in the world. The best wines retail for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. Caviar? Forget about it. Spending an average of $10 on a bar that I’ll taste over the course of several days or a week seems well worth it to me.” I must agree with her “food (or should I say chocolate) for thought”; the Castronovo bars that I purchased weeks ago are still being savored. Of course the bars are works of art, but so, too, are the distinctive wrappings, many worthy of framing.
And now, what you’ve been waiting for … the recipes. Several top chefs and chocolatiers have contributed some of the recipes. You just might decide to make one for your valentine. From Champurrado drinking chocolate to olive oil sourdough truffles to Devil Dogs and the recipes below for Ceylon tea fudge sauce and Mayan chocolate mousse, these decadent treats defy expectations of what chocolate should taste like. For recipes for Balsamic Strawberries in Mini Chocolate Cups and Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies visit http://bit.ly/2DP3YnH.
Recipe from Lauren Adler, chief chocophile, and the Chocolopolis team.
To make the mousse, combine the cream and allspice berries in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until the cream around the edge of the saucepan begins to boil. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Cover the top of the pan tightly with plastic wrap to hold in the flavorful vapors of the allspice. Set aside for 30 minutes to let the flavors infuse. Then remove the plastic wrap and fish out the allspice berries.
Combine the butter and chocolate in a medium bowl and microwave at high power for 30 seconds. Check to see if they have melted. If not, microwave in intervals of 10 seconds until they are melted. Add the cream to the melted chocolate and mix well.
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Set the whites in the refrigerator to keep them chilled. Whip the egg yolks into the chocolate and cream mixture until they’re just incorporated. With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the ultra-fine sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then fold in the remaining egg whites.
Dish the mousse into six 4-ounce ramekins, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.
Send your requests: Which restaurant recipes or other recipes would you like to have? Which food products are you having difficulty finding? Do you have cooking questions? Send them to: Stephen Fries, professor and coordinator of the Hospitality Management Programs at Gateway Community College, at gw-stephen.fries@gwcc.commnet.edu or Dept. FC, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., 06510. Include your full name, address and phone number. Due to volume, he might not be able to publish every request. For more, go to stephenfries.com.
5th annual Febtoberfest, Feb. 8, 6-9 p.m., Mattituck Museum, 144 West Main St. Waterbury, 203-753-0381. $35 in advance, $40 at the door. In addition to local breweries, guests will have the opportunity to sample American wine from the region and beyond. Tickets at http://bit.ly/2ncHF5k.
Food & Wine Tasting, Feb. 8, 5:30 p.m., Fletcher Cameron Kitchens, 91 Orange St., New Haven, 203-777-7707. $35. Chef Anne Gallagher, owner of a farm-to-table catering company in Litchfield demonstrates how to make winter soups. An educational guided wine tasting by The Wine Thief will be offered. Info and tickets at http://bit.ly/2Dr7dWF.
Consiglio’s Cooking Demonstration and Dinner: Feb. 22, 6:30 p.m., Consiglio’s Restaurant, 165 Wooster St., New Haven, 203-865-4489 (reservations required), $65 (beverages, tax and gratuity not included). Preparation of a 4-course meal is demonstrated. Each course is shown, step-by-step, and then served. Learn how to make some of Consiglio’s trademark dishes: Oysters Rockefeller, baby spinach bacon orange pine nut vinaigrette, homemade lobster ravioli plum tomato cream sauce, white chocolate creme brulee.


Earnings double for Speedy Hire | City A.M.
SERVICES company Speedy Hire has reported a 12 per cent jump in revenue for the six months ended 30 September, from £169m in 2013 to £189m. Pre-tax profit grew from £4.5m in the first half of the 2013 financial year, to £10.3m.
Mark Rogerson, Speedy Hire chief executive, said there were “major opportunities ahead” as the UK business continued with a “very significant infrastructure regeneration programme”.


With enviable long legs and an ultra-lean physique, Gwyneth Paltrow has a body that most women would kill for.
But the mother-of-two has made it clear in a new interview that it is not by chance that she has the amazing body she does.
'It's not an accident. It's not luck, it's not fairy dust, it's not good genes. It's killing myself for an hour and a half five days a week, but what I get out of it is relative to what I put into it.
'That's what I try to do in all areas of my life', the actresss said at Good Housekeeping's Shine On Awards in New York this week.
The event honoured the achievements of powerful women.
The actress was on hand to salute the hard work done to raise awareness of maternal health by model Christy Turlington and enjoyed the evening with other women like Meryl Streep, Rebecca Romijn and new mother Ali Larter.
In her cover issue of Self magazine she said of her workouts: 'I do 45 minutes of cardio five days a week, because I like to eat. I also try for 45 minutes of muscular structure work, which is toning, realigning and lengthening', she shared.
On her food Gwyneth said she does indulge every once in a while but then reins herself back in.
'I always eat right, but last night, I had fried clams, pasta with duck sausage and two glasses of red wine. When I want to lose, I eat less pasta, bread and potatoes. Before last year's Iron Man 2 premiere, I did green juices and salads for three days', she shared.
Gwyneth hosted a dinner for friends like Cameron Diaz, Jay-Z, Martha Stewart and Mario Batali on Monday to toast her new cookbook, My Father's Daughter.
'If I'm prepping for something or I've been eating a lot of pie, I do two hours a day, six days a week for two weeks', Paltrow said.
And today she hit the promotional circuit of talk shows to drum up sales for the tome which has recipes that she cooked with her father Bruce Paltrow growing up as well as some new family favourites.
Appearing on US TV show Good Morning America, Paltrow served up 'very healthy' vegan muffins and duck and tomato pasta.
The Oscar winner's cookbook is devoted to her beloved father who passed away in 2002.
Gwyneth then flitted to the studios of talk show Regis and Kelly where she got up close and personal with Regis Philbin, 79, and Kelly Ripa, 40..
While Gwyneth was in the middle of talking about food the host unexpectedly asked her for a kiss.
After a long kiss on the cheek from Gwyneth he said: 'Wow that was some kiss. I don't care about this any more,' he said, referring to the tuna burgers they were cooking together. 'I don't really like tuna,' he said.
Female host Kelly Ripa then came in for a piece of the action while Regis looked on in glee.
'I'm here for the burgers and the kissing,' she said as Gwyneth gave her one.
Earlier in the show The Talented Mr. Ripley actress admitted she is so bad at maths she can't help her daughter Apple, 6, with her homework.
The actress turned country music singer and now Glee performer also admitted that science is not her strong point either.'I'm pretty bad at science too,' said the star married to Coldplay front man Chris Martin.
Gwyneth may be a foodie now but she was once a once well-publicised macrobiotic dieter which she said she started to follow when her father was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998.
She thought she would try to heal her father by proxy and eliminated dairy, sugar, meat, liquor and gluten but ultimately she was unable to help her father.
But when she became pregnant with daughter Apple a few years later she said: 'I could not eat a bowl of brown rice for love or money. I wanted grilled cheese and Baskin-Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream, and well, you can guess what won out.
'When my daughter started eating solid food, I went back to organic, whole foods. I still wonder if my father would be alive today if he had grown up eating healthier food', she questioned.


Software stability is a key requirement for large companies, and Hortonworks is taking a big step in that direction with a new release cadence for its enterprise Hadoop software.
Starting with the Hortonworks Data Platform 2.4, which is now available, the company is taking a two-pronged approach to updates. Specifically, it will update core Apache Hadoop components such as HDFS, MapReduce and YARN along with Apache Zookeeper annually, while extended services that run on top of those components -- including Spark, Hive, HBase and Ambari -- will be updated continuously throughout the year.
"We can give customers all the latest innovations in the moment without sacrificing a stable and reliable core," said Tim Hall, vice president of product management at Hortonworks, in an announcement. "This will change the way people consume Hadoop."
HDP 2.4 includes Apache Spark 1.6, Apache Ambari 2.2 and SmartSense 1.2. "We're the first to announce the inclusion of Apache Spark 1.6 in our distribution," said Rob Bearden, Hortonworks' CEO, in a webcast accompanying the announcement Tuesday.
Bearden also announced a data preview of Apache Zeppelin, which aims to help users get analytics insights out of their Spark workloads. "Think of it as Tableau for Spark," he said.
Coming later in the first quarter of this year is version 1.2 of Hortonworks' DataFlow product for data in motion, which will feature expanded streaming-analytics capabilities and support for Apache Kafka and Apache Storm. HDF 1.2 also supports integration with the Kerberos protocol for centralized authentication management across applications.
Finally, Hortonworks has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to advance the Apache Spark data-processing tool, the companies announced.
"We’re hoping to enable the Spark community to derive insight more rapidly from much larger data sets without having to change a single line of code," said Martin Fink, executive vice president and CTO for HPE as well as a member of Hortonworks' board.


A sponge roller creates a textured finish on the wall.
Faux finishing is an inexpensive way to add a customized look to a room. Applying extra layers of color with sponging or ragging creates an illusion of dimension and texture on the wall. Any surface that can be painted can be faux-finished, but it's best to start with a clean, primed wall. You can create a subtle or lively look with faux finishing depending on the colors of paint you choose. For an understated look, use slightly different shades of the same color. Complementary colors -- those opposite each other on the color wheel -- will result in a more vivid finish.
Select the paint colors for your project. Using one base color and two accent colors is a typical method, but you may also opt for only one accent color or more than two. Use standard interior latex paint in an eggshell or flat finish.
Apply a base coat of paint to all the surfaces that will be sponged.
Thin a portion of accent paint with water or glaze. Thinning the paint makes it dry slower, giving you more time for blending. Glaze may add a sheen to the paint and should be used according to the manufacturer's directions. Add 1 part water to 8 parts of paint if using a paint that can be mixed with water. Stir well.
Dip a large sea sponge into the accent paint to lightly coat the outside layer. Don't saturate it.
Dab the sponge onto a piece of cardboard to remove any excess paint. This is called offloading.
Practice your sponging technique on a sample board before painting the wall. Lightly press the sponge against the board turning your hand to the left and right to create a random pattern. A small amount of overlapping is attractive, but don't sponge directly over an existing print. Once you are confident with your technique, begin sponging on the wall.
Fill in sections of the wall with sponge prints until the entire surface has an even pattern. Work quickly, reloading and offloading the sponge as needed. Allow the first layer to dry and repeat the process with remaining accent colors.
Apply a base coat of paint to the wall.
Mix one accent color with glaze according to the manufacturer's directions.
Paint a 5-by-5-foot section of the wall with the paint/glaze mixture.
Dab at the glaze with a dry sea sponge to remove a porton of paint. Offload excess paint onto a piece of cardboard as the sponge becomes saturated. Continue sponging off until you achieve the desired affect. Repeat the process in sections until the entire wall is complete.
Apply a base coat of paint and thin your accent color or colors with water or glaze.
Dip a lint-free rag into the thinned paint. Wring out excess paint.
Practice rolling the rag against a sample board. Experiment with the shape and size of the rag, the amount of paint and direction of your roll until you are happy with the look.
Work in sections of the wall and apply the ragging technique. Work quickly, loading and offloading the rag with paint as needed. Keep ragging until you've created a pleasing, overall pattern. Allow the paint to dry before ragging any additional accent colors.
Use a small sponge or cut one into smaller pieces to dab into corners and around trim.
Frequently stand back and take a look at the overall look of the faux technique. Fill in blank spots as needed. If you sponge or rag too heavily in a spot, dab on a bit of the base color to lighten the area.
Don't be nervous. It's only paint. Be sure to practice until you feel confident with the technique, and remember you can always paint over it if you don't like the finished effect.
Adding a final layer of clear glaze after all the paint is dry will add another subtle layer of dimension to the finish.
Burns, Jo. "How to Do Sponge and Ragging Effects on Walls." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/sponge-ragging-effects-walls-54683.html. Accessed 19 April 2019.


Sebastian Vettel led team-mate Mark Webber to a Red Bull one-two in qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix.
McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were third and fourth ahead of the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
Vettel was 0.044 seconds faster than Webber, Hamilton 0.261secs adrift of pole.
Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, third in the championship behind Vettel and Alonso, was seventh.
Sauber's Sergio Perez was eighth, ahead of the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.
Michael Schumacher was 14th in his fourth last F1 qualifying session - he was behind Lotus's Romain Grosjean, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Williams driver Bruno Senna and was 0.6secs slower than team-mate Rosberg.
"I made a mistake on my first run so we only had one set of tyres left but I was pretty happy with the [final] lap," said Vettel. "It has been a great weekend so far, no problems with the car. We need to keep pushing; we have a lot of important races to go but the best chance of doing well is to focus on every single step.
He added: "You know that a lot of things can happen in the race. I am very happy to be on pole but there is a hard race coming tomorrow. We had a bit of a surprise on Friday on the long runs, everyone was quite close, so we'll see what that means with strategy tomorrow."
The margins at the front were not as great as expected, with Webber closer to Vettel than he had been for most of the weekend and the McLarens likewise closer to the Red Bulls.
"The lap itself wasn't too bad," said Webber. "I got onto the Astroturf at the last corner so it wasn't the smoothest run to the finish line, but I'm driving the car.
"Then I didn't get to do my final lap, the McLarens were doing very slow out-laps so I didn't get my second lap. I had no front grip at the start of my lap so it was finished. So I was surprised to end up second - I'll take that."
Alonso appeared to have the potential to sneak onto the second row, but a wheel locked on his entry to Turn Four on his final qualifying lap and he failed to improve on the time he set on his first run earlier in the top 10 shoot-out.
But he said that he was already down on his best time before that incident, and that he had been struggling to get the best out of the tyres on their first lap. He added that he did not think he would have been able to out-qualify the McLarens.
Third-placed Hamilton said: "We're not quick enough to be ahead of these guys but we can definitely challenge them in the race. Our race pace was just as good as theirs in practice so I'm excited about that."
It was the third consecutive front-row lock-out for Red Bull, who are in imperious form following a series of car upgrades that started at the Singapore Grand Prix four races ago.


Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerIn this 2009 file photo, students take a tour of Montclair State University. Police are investigating a hateful message found on the campus, officials said.
MONTCLAIR — Montclair State University police are investigating another hateful message found on campus, this time directed at African Americans and women, officials said.
The message was written in marker on the door of a room in The Heights residence complex about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, university president Susan Cole said in a message to the campus community. Students reported the incident to police.
The hateful message appeared after a unity rally, which was organized by students after they learned about three anti-gay death threats written in a note and on the walls of the student center. The university boosted security, which included posting police with guns on the rooftops of buildings near the quad to protect students.
“They wanted to have it on that day in part to demonstrate that they were not fearful,” Karen Pennington, vice president for student development and campus life, said today.
Montclair State has worked hard to create an inclusive culture, she said, and students are now more likely to report discriminatory messages.
Irvington resident Jacqueline Ndao said she’s worried about her daughter, a sophomore at Montclair State, because she attends dance practice on campus at night. She said she wishes there were 24-hour surveillance cameras that the public could monitor to ensure the students’ safety.
Anyone with information can contact university police at (973) 655-5222 or the confidential tips line at (973) 655-8477.


Experience the contemporary R&B of Austin’s Gary Clark Jr. as he plays songs from his album The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. Rocking Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett performs tunes from her LP Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.
Courtney Barnett covers You Am I's "Heavy Heart" on Austin City Limits.
Gary Clark Jr. performs the song, "Grinder" on the ACL stage.
Behind the Scenes: Gary Clark Jr.
Go behind the scenes as Gary Clark Jr. returns to Austin City Limits.
Go behind the scenes with Courtney Barnett as she films her first ever ACl taping!
Courtney Barnett performs her infectious song "Elevator Operator"


CNN viewers were greeted Thursday with video footage of bent metal and broken glass from a bombed-out London train. The images' source: a video camera phone, a first for the news network.
Meanwhile, amateur pictures of the bombing began popping up on Flickr.com, a photo swapping Web site, at the same time mainstream news outlets were announcing the attack.
Welcome to the world of citizen news gathering, where technology and the age-old desire to communicate hot information, be it hard news or soft gossip, are converging and forcing traditional news organizations to dramatically change the way they cover big news events.
Reporting by the public got a big push from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and has gathered steam as camera phones have become more ubiquitous, blogs have multiplied and mainstream media outlets have gotten more Web-savvy.
"Sept. 11 marked an important date in the history of how people got information when a major news event happened," said Rich Gordon, director of the new media program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
More people sought--and shared--information on the Internet. Do-it-yourself journalism became more popular on the Web, while Americans coped with the crisis by posting their own reactions and reading those of others on mainstream and non-traditional media sites.
"Four years later, there are even more sources [of information] and even more familiarity with the variety of sources that exist," Gordon said. "And in that four-year time period, there has been an explosion of media production tools in the hands of people."
One of those tools is the rise of Web logs, or blogs, which are Web sites where people can post opinions, pictures and links to other sites.
Software developments in the past few years have made it easier to create Web sites or post pictures on existing sites, Gordon said.
Flickr was launched in early 2004 and was purchased by Internet colossus Yahoo earlier this year. Users can share photos on many subjects, and big news often drives a surge in postings. When a giant tsunami washed through South Asia in December, killing tens of thousands of people, Flickr was inundated with thousands of pictures, said Caterina Fake, a Flickr co-founder.
The first pictures from London were posted on Flickr at the same time workers at its California data center were hearing about the bombings through the mainstream media, Fake said. Within 14 hours of the blasts, there were more than 450 pictures posted.
Five shots came from James Cridland, including one that shows ambulances outside the King's Cross subway station, one of the bombing sites. At least three British blogs picked up the picture from Flickr.
Cridland, head of new media for Virgin Radio in London, normally commutes on the subway. But Thursday he biked to his office, stopping when he noticed a crowd of police near the tube station.
"I took a couple of snaps on the off chance it was something exciting," Cridland said in an e-mail. When he got to work, he posted his pictures.
He's what Scott Shamp, director of the University of Georgia's New Media Institute, would call a new sort of "embedded reporter." Cridland's turf is just about anything and everything in the world around him.
These reporters' tools include digital cameras, which run about $100 for low-end models and are now widely affordable. And more than ever, it's been the camera phone.
It was a novelty in 2001, making up a sliver of all cell phone sales. Nowadays, at least 75 percent of all phones shipped by wireless phone giant Motorola Inc. are equipped with cameras.
"The world of these mobile communications devices has so radically changed," Shamp said. Just a few years ago, "who would've carried a camera with them on a daily basis?"
Video cell phones are the next wave in wireless hardware. CNN used a cell phone clip for the first time Thursday to cover a major news event, said Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/U.S. The clip was originally obtained by Britain's Sky TV, which made it available to all news organizations, he said. "We've run it several times through the day."
The pictures taken by the new breed of accidental photojournalist are different than those taken by professional news photographers. That's partly because they're simply not as skilled as pros, but it's also because "this is a medium of raw emotion," Shamp said.
Major media organizations are increasingly reaching out to such citizen journalists.
After Thursday's bombing, the Web site of Britain's Guardian newspaper had links to Flickr galleries and blogs featuring first-person accounts. The BBC's site had a prominent posting to readers: "We want your pictures." Below was "Eyewitness Accounts," a link to bombing pictures sent in.
"Mainstream media are coming to realize they are not islands anymore," said Northwestern's Gordon. "If they want to be a place where people turn to for information, they need to point people to other sources, even if it's information they didn't gather."
Conversely, amateur picture-takers appear to be keeping a keen eye on video pros, judging by the Flickr site Thursday. Several photos on the site's bombing gallery were of TV screens, including CNN, beaming out news of the event.


Both Miranda Cosgrove and her mother reportedly suffered injuries in a "life-threatening crash" on Thursday morning.
A source told People.com that Miranda's tour bus collided with a tractor-trailer leaving theiCarly star with a broken ankle and her mom "really beaten up."
The bus driver may have been the most affected by the accident as he remains in critical condition.
"A piece from the tractor-trailer went straight through the windshield and the driver's arm was sliced all the way through," the source said.
None of the other passengers were seriously injured, but Cosgrove has allegedly had to postpone her tour until the fall.


OTTAWA—Has there ever been a better time to air a political satire in Canada?
Between the Senate scandals and Toronto’s bobblehead mayor, Rob Ford, Canadian politicians provided more laughs and shocks in 2013 than The Big Bang Theory and Breaking Bad combined.
Enter The Best Laid Plans, a six-part series premiering Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBC, before moving to Monday nights at 9.
Late last fall, on location inside a century-old, wood-panelled estate, director/producer Peter Moss stepped away from the camera long enough to explain how the series came together. The spark was Terry Fallis’ award-winning novel of the same name, based on the author’s own adventures as a Parliament Hill speech writer.
“One night I was reading the book and I was laughing my head off,” says Moss.
Producing partner Phyllis Platt asked what was up. Moss told her he’d found their next project.
The idea was pitched to CBC, and six episodes were ordered.
The story centres on Daniel Addison, a young political back-room operative played by Jonas Chernick (star and screenwriter of the festival hit My Awkward Sexual Adventure). Addison is sickened by the Ottawa power game after catching his girlfriend in bed with a political foe. He wants out, but is dragged back in for one last power play by his boss, the less-than-charismatic leader of the opposition, George Quimby (Mark McKinney).
The two know they’re going to get hammered in the next election by the sitting prime minister (Sonja Smits). Addison’s assignment is to woo a local, past-his-prime professor to stand in a riding election the party will surely lose.
Kenneth Welsh plays loose cannon candidate Angus McLintock and grabs the part with gusto, as does another Canadian TV veteran, Eric Peterson (Corner Gas).
Welsh, in fact, has played several politicians before, including presidents and prime ministers. He did a memorable turn as notorious Saskatchewan MLA Colin Thatcher and also once played Alberta’s Peter Lougheed.
The producers were happy to gather several familiar faces they’d worked with before for this project, including Ron Lea, Barbara Gordon, Tom Jackson, Peter Keleghan and Leah Pinsent. Jodi Balfour (Bomb Girls) also stars. Susan Coyne (Slings and Arrows) and Jason Sherman (The Listener) adapted the script from Fallis’ novel.
Sometimes actors who headline a Canadian series “don’t necessarily hop to something else that keeps them employed the same way,” points out Platt, diplomatically addressing an odd reality not seen south of the border: Canadian series stars seem to get just one shot at a homegrown success.
It’s a challenging role as the series swings from comedy to drama, sometimes in the same scene. A long take inside the stately manor finds Chernick’s Addison being chewed out by Quimby’s acidic chief of staff, played by Raoul Bhaneja. Their extended, rat-tat-tat-dialogue is reminiscent of the old screwball comedies of Preston Sturges, Frank Capra and Billy Wilder. That’s no accident, with Moss coaching cast members to check out the classics. Chernick took the tip to heart, screening both Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Philadelphia Story.
Bhaneja, a busy stage and screen actor, sees The Best Laid Plans more as a cross between Yes, Minister and the British House of Cards, an apt comparison given Addison’s penchant for confiding directly into the camera.
Also in the cast is Sarah Allen, who will be seen in Global’s upcoming medical drama Remedy. Allen was doing double duty this fall, shooting The Best Laid Plans in Ottawa and then flying to Toronto to shoot scenes opposite Enrico Colantoni and Dillon Casey on Remedy.
“I’ve come to realize you can’t always be working in this game,” says Allen of being actress. Still, if these best laid plans work out, 2014 could be a better year to play a Canadian politician than to be one.


CHICAGO—John McDonough’s job title stays the same. By moving just a few miles across town, though, he’s got a new team to run in an entirely different sport.
McDonough resigned Tuesday as president of the Chicago Cubs—a team that is up for sale—to take a similar position with the Chicago Blackhawks, who offered him a multiyear contract he couldn’t pass up.
“I do see parallels. We have a lot of work to do,” McDonough said.
The most striking similarity is long championship droughts. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908, and the Blackhawks haven’t captured the Stanley Cup since 1961.
But while the Cubs pack Wrigley Field, the Blackhawks have been plagued by dwindling attendance and poor play for nearly a decade. Last year, the Blackhawks missed the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons.
The team is undergoing a facelift both on and off the ice. General manager Dale Tallon is building a young club, featuring 19-year-old Patrick Kane, the first pick in the 2007 draft. And chairman Rocky Wirtz is making numerous changes to the corporate structure, following the death of his father, William Wirtz, in September.
The younger Wirtz reassigned longtime vice president Bob Pulford, and also worked out a deal to have several home games televised this season—something his father steadfastly refused to do. Now he’s hired McDonough.
Blackhawks Hall of Famer Denis Savard, who is now the team’s coach, said McDonough’s transition to hockey from baseball should be eased by his long list of contacts in Chicago.
He quickly pointed out that even though the Cubs are an institution in Chicago, so are the Blackhawks, one of the NHL’s original franchises.
“We’ve been around hockey a long time, and we’ve got a product out there that’s good,” Savard said.
And McDonough knows a little something about selling a team. He joined the Cubs in 1983 and spent most of his career in marketing—he started the trend of sports teams giving away Beanie Babies.
He took over as Cubs president Oct. 1 last year after Andy MacPhail resigned, and made it his goal to get the team in the World Series. The Cubs spent $300 million in the offseason and did make the playoffs, but were eliminated in a first-round sweep.
The Cubs’ uncertain future was a factor in his decision, McDonough said. The Tribune Co. is being sold to an entity controlled by Sam Zell, who is expected to sell the franchise.
Crane Kenney, the Tribune Co. executive responsible for the Cubs the last five years, said the Blackhawks offered McDonough a six-year deal—a five-year contract with an option for a sixth year. With the Cubs up for sale, Kenney said the Cubs were not in position to do a long-term deal.
“With the expected change in ownership, the president’s role is the privilege of the new owner,” Kenney said. “Certainly an offer of that length wasn’t something that we could commit to anyone, given the likely change of ownership.
As for the direction of the Cubs, Kenney and Cubs general manager Jim Hendry stressed it would be business as usual in the offseason as Chicago pursues players. Kenney said the payroll would rise from last season’s $110 million.
Hendry isn’t worried about his job security.


Yandle’s versatility and ability to fuel the offense will be critical as the Panthers begin a three-game homestand at the BB&T Center on Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers. The Panthers (3-5-3, 9 points) are about to begin a stretch in which they play 14 games in 24 days, a stretch the Panthers hope will get them out of their early-season rut in which they recorded an NHL-low nine points during their first 11 games and have been outscored 41-34.
The Panthers likely don’t want Yandle to think too much either if it means seeing the production he has already created this year.
Heading into Wednesday’s slate of games, Yandle ranked fifth among defensemen while averaging a career-best 1.09 points per game. His team-leading nine assists are tied for 10th among blue line players.
But Yandle’s strength as of late is coming on the power play. When the Panthers are in a man-up situation, Yandle has thrived. He leads NHL defensemen with five power-play points and is one of five defensemen with multiple power-play goals so far this season. He tallied three points (2 goals, 1 assists) during the power play in the Panthers’ two-game Global Series matchup against the Winnipeg Jets in Helsinki, Finland, last week.


Fantastic Beasts 3 principal photography has been pushed back to late fall. The third installment was originally going to start filming in July, but it appears that the studio wants more time to properly prepare. Fantastic Beasts 2 was just released in November and is still in some theaters. To date, the sequel has made close to $650 million worldwide, which is nearly $200 million less than the first installment. It has not been revealed why the studio has requested the extra time to prepare, but the box office numbers may have been a factor.
If Fantastic Beasts 3 was going to start filming in July, it would have to be in the soft prep process right now. It has been reported that the actors have all been briefed in order to keep their schedules clear for the upcoming production start. The project is expected to hit theaters on November 20th, 2020 and there has not been any announcements about pushing the release date back as of this writing. However, that could easily change in the next few months.
Fantastic Beasts 2 received mixed reviews from fans and critics for a story that seemed to be too cluttered. Additionally, many feel that the all-star cast wasn't utilized in the best way. Speaking of the cast, many Harry Potter fans were upset that J.K. Rowling and the studio chose to work with Johnny Depp after allegations of domestic violence became public. The decision to have Depp stay on board for Fantastic Beasts 3 has also been met with criticism by long-time fans of the franchise, who may not go to see the movie for that fact alone.
David Yates is still set to direct Fantastic Beasts 3 with David Heyman, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram, and J.K. Rowling on board to produce. As for the story, that obviously isn't public news at this time and it's way too early to tell. But, it will hopefully solve some of the plot holes from Fantastic Beasts 2 and offer a clearer storyline. Rowling is pretty active on social media and when one fan asked her what the story will be about, she simply said, "answers are given." That's about all of the information that the author has teased so far.
Harry Potter fans have looked at the Credence twist in Fantastic Beasts 2 as a plot hole, but Ezra Miller has asked everybody to put their trust in J.K. Rowling, meaning that she obviously did this on purpose. One would have to imagine that Rowling has more progressions to introduce as the franchise continues over the next few years. After the third installment, we have movies four and five to look forward to, so there's still plenty of ground to cover and answers to be given in the future. For now, fans are just going to have to be patient as J.K. Rowling keeps writing. The Fantastic Beasts 3 production delay news was first reported by Deadline.


The British citizen of Syrian origin detained at Košice swimming pool was sentenced for attacking a public official.
The man identified by initials as A. O. was found guilty by a judge of the District Court Košice I. of the misdemeanour of attacking a public official and received a sentence of 12 months, conditionally postponed for two years. The court also ordered the Briton to pay damage compensation to the Slovak police officer, amounting to €442, spokeswoman of Košice courts Marcela Gálová told the SITA newswire.
The man caused an uproar at the Red Star outdoor swimming pool in Košice when he was roaming around fully clothed and was taking photos of buildings. Košice Police spokeswoman Jana Mésarová said that on the morning of July 25, an emergency phone call alerted the police about the man who was behaving suspiciously. Police patrols arrived and learned about the situation from the pool’s employees. They also found that after the man had heard that police were coming, he jumped over the fence and fled the site.
After the police checked video surveillance systems, they found out the British man had a cloth sack and a plastic bag when entering the complex; but when fleeing, he had just the sack. Thus, police had the premises evacuated and started searching for the man, Mésarová said, adding that he was found at the Košice airport. “The man was nervous when interviewed by police, uncooperative, refused to answer questions about his activities and the pool, and about where his plastic bag was,” the spokeswoman explained. “Police detained the suspect; and after initial checks, they found out he had repeatedly visited Syria, Iraq and Ukraine in the last two years. After due proceeding, he was placed in pre-trial custody. The next morning, during a check, he attacked the police officer to whom he caused facial injuries,” Mésarová informed SITA. She added that based on the evidence, the investigator accused the foreigner of an attack on a public official and prosecuted him in pre-trial custody.


How would you fare if auditors walked in the door tomorrow morning and started scrutinizing all your processes, policies and procedures? Here are descriptions of several types of audits and four tips for making your management audit less stressful.
This is a test. Which of the following are common occurrences during IT Management Audits?
2. Staff members break down in tears in front of the consultants.
3. Staff members fly into a screaming rage at the consultants.
4. Staff members lie to the consultants.
5. Staff members refuse to cooperate.
6. All of the above.
If you selected item 6, you get a gold star! There is no reason for any of these behaviors but they occur all too often, especially in organizations in which audits are not routine events. The consultants are there to identify problems and help improve operations. They wouldn’t have been hired if everything was peachy keen, but Information Technology management and staff members rarely see it from this perspective. Identifying the problem is the first step to recovery. All Information Technology organizations should be managed as if an audit is imminent. How would you fare if auditors walked in the door tomorrow morning?
Why are you being audited?
There are many reasons for conducting audits, but following are the four I encounter most often.
In market sectors such as Financial, Behavioral Health, Medical, and Pharmaceutical, periodic audits are the norm and the guidelines are clear. In any given year, a Behavioral Health clinic in NY State, for instance may be required to undergo 4 separate audits including Medicaid, HIPAA, OMH (Office of Mental Health), and OASAS (Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services). In many of these cases, the auditors show up unannounced or on very short notice.
Compliance audits aren’t technically management audits, but the scores on such audits are certainly a direct reflection of management’s performance. Would your policies, practices, procedures, and documentation measure up to the scrutiny to which a Behavioral Health clinic is subjected?
Often, members of the IT management and staff think they are doing a spectacular job but the customers and executive management disagree vehemently. In the worst cases, end users are preparing their pitchforks and torches in case the audit doesn’t bring about some positive performance outcomes. These audits are tough; the IT staff is defensive and they all assume that the consultants are there to fire them. Sometimes, the hostility reaches levels that make me feel like Patrick Swayze’s character, Dalton in the 1989 movie Road House. I have been accused of cherry-picking information, interrogation, and cross examination and I have been screamed at in front of a large audience. The truth is, I am simply researching a complex problem and I will work diligently to provide answers to the people who are paying me to do so.
During these audits, employees sometimes resign even before the final report is released. This is unfortunate because poor performance is a reflection of management rather than staff. At other times, excellent employees leave because they have had their fill of ineffective management. Frustrations become bitter tears dripping on the conference room table, even from managers.
Sometimes, incoming executives want an X-Ray of organizational performance and requesting an audit is an intelligent professional move. They want a clear distinction between the previous management’s practices and their own and they use the final report to establish a program of organizational change.
Occasionally, IT audits are conducted because executive management considers the IT operation too expensive. They want an independent audit and a strategic plan that shows all the viable options.
If the auditors are coming next week, there probably isn’t much you can do to improve the outcome, but there is plenty you can do to make the process more comfortable for everyone involved.
When questions requiring a Yes or No answer are met with lengthy explanations, it is a clear indication of a problem. When I ask if you have documentation of your daily security log validation, just say yes or no! If you don’t have the required documentation, no amount of explanation is going the help. Also, I am not really interested that you are going to begin implementing your security program next month. Good for you, but I only care about what your actual practices are at the time I ask.
I always walk into audits and assessments taking a neutral, objective stance and I appreciate clients who don’t try to pre-program me. I will selectively ask for evidence or documentation for every statement you make and false statements will certainly damage your credibility. When subjects provide evasive or ambiguous answers, my inner Columbo puts on his trench coat. Equivocation and rationalization drive me to keep searching until I get the answer. Just tell the truth.
I recall one compliance audit where a staff member served up every document request with a plate full of anger and hostility. The odd thing about it was that all her ducks were in a row, which is pretty unusual. So, why the anger? Don’t unleash it on the consultants.
I remember several engagements where the IT staff tried to tell me that their IP addressing schemes and Visio diagrams were secret. Huh? As soon as I retrieved my jaw from the floor, I went over their heads and arranged for delivery of the requested information. These events created suspicion and hostility that weren't required.
In two organizations I contracted with, staff members claimed their Security Policies were secret! How does that work? These sorts of behaviors are indicators of significant departmental and organizational problems.
All documentation including policies, procedures, infrastructure documentation, logs, hardware and software inventories, PSA system reports, etc. should be readily available for the consultants. They will ask to see it. I generally ask for all this information before I go on site for the first time and I am always appalled by the number of organizations that have none of the documents that are generally accepted to be components of a solid Information Technology Governance program. Sometimes these data dumps include reams of irrelevant information in the hope that I won’t find the smoking gun.
I include a frank assessment of departmental and organizational culture in my reports and it is sometimes less than flattering. Delivering this information to executives and managers generally creates a tense silence while they try to chew and swallow that particularly tough piece of meat. They rarely argue because they know it’s true, but few have dared to state the obvious out loud. A realistic and objective assessment of company culture is required to address the root causes of problems. Bad management, inefficiency, malfeasance and incompetence have often been enabled for years before an audit is finally initiated. Interdepartmental politics, turf wars, jealousy, meddling and backstabbing all contribute to the problems at hand and managers throughout the organization are responsible.
In many cases, executives and managers have worked in large, bureaucratic organizations for their entire careers and they can’t see the signs of broken company culture. They think bad behavior and dysfunction are the norm.
If the final report is not a testimonial of glowing praise for your IT operation, I urge you to sit back and reflect carefully before lashing out. The report is a mixture of data, facts, and input from your coworkers and end users. I always base part of my conclusions on both formal and informal interviews with end users and managers from every department in an organization. What ends up in the report is a reflection of what your colleagues really think about your operation. My career started with a four-year stint in army intelligence and I actually do cross examine and interrogate. The natural inclination of some IT Directors is to argue and pick apart every statement and conclusion in the report, but this is definitely the wrong approach.
A nearby local government entity with which I am familiar recently received a failing audit from a state regulatory agency. It wasn’t a first-time fail and the endemic problems have been simmering for decades. Several executives from this entity made statements to the press that the audit “was a gotcha audit. It’s all about paperwork and there is nothing real here. We’re providing excellent services.” Talk about denial! I believe they will come to regret those statements since the infractions were extremely serious and they will likely have to return millions of dollars to Medicaid. They may call a missing signature “a gotcha,” but Medicaid calls it fraud. Their culture is so broken that they really need a turnaround expert and complete replacement of the management, but they haven’t reached rock bottom yet, apparently.
The correct response to a failing audit is to contemplate the report carefully and develop a proactive remediation plan immediately. Humility may save your job, but you can’t step off onto the recovery road until you admit you have a problem.
Ask for help. Operations that have been dysfunctional for years can’t be turned around overnight. Organizational culture may inhibit a turnaround and objective, external assistance may be required.
Listen to what your colleagues and objective auditors had to say and take it seriously. Don’t go swimmin’ in denial.


The weather may indicate otherwise. The calendar may disagree. But anybody who lives in New York City knows that Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer.
As your tan fades, the only sensible thing to do is celebrate the city. In the next couple of months, dozens of restaurants will open, many of them with wonderful chefs at the helm: Anne Rosenzweig (Arcadia), David Walzog (Arizona 206), Matthew Kenney (Matthew's), Gary Robins (Aja), Antoine Bouterin (Le Perigord) and Jean-Jacques Rachou (La Cote Basque) are all planning to open new restaurants in the fall. But while you're waiting for these new ventures, let me suggest a visit to Nobu, a remarkable restaurant that epitomizes the energy of the city at this exact moment.
When Nobu opened last year, most people assumed that it would be a clone of its Los Angeles sibling, Matsuhisa. In the beginning, despite flashy digs designed by David Rockwell and management by the restaurant impresario Drew Nieporent, that is pretty much what it was. But the restaurant's instant popularity had a remarkable effect: as Nobu matured, it gained confidence and developed its own personality. It has grown into a restaurant that cannot be compared to anything else.
In Los Angeles, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa succeeded in wrenching Japanese food from its classical base by incorporating new ingredients into old dishes or retooling tradition. His "new style sashimi" is a case in point: slightly cooked, it incorporates olive oil, garlic and other ingredients that no traditional Japanese chef would dream of using. The result is something that seems like a Japanese dish but is not. By using chilies, caviar and cilantro in his dishes, Mr. Matsuhisa created an entirely new take on Japanese cuisine. But the Los Angeles restaurant has been content to stop there.
In New York, Mr. Matsuhisa's spirit of invention lighted a spark in the kitchen, igniting each chef to new and increasingly daring feats. The fire started slowly; in the beginning the kitchen seemed lost when Mr. Matsuhisa, who spends only one week a month in New York, was not on the premises. But then the head chef, Shin Tsujimura, who spent many years at Hatsuhana in Manhattan, and the chefs who work with him began to seem excited by the possibilities of being liberated from tradition.
"Do you like my 'sorbet,' the head sushi chef, Masaharu Morimoto, asked one day, stopping by to introduce his latest creation. The little ball of white fluff looked like ice cream but turned out to be grated turnip with a single enormous peeled grape inside. On top, like the icing on a sundae, was a fan of marinated abalone. Each bite was clean, refreshing, delicious.
The kitchen is not alone in seizing this spirit of adventure. The service, tentative at first, has also found new ground. The manager, Richard Notar, has encouraged his waiters to speak in a kind of poetry all their own. Where else would a waiter describe a dish as "a spark in the mouth" or introduce an oyster as "born in Japan and brought up in Seattle"? This makes eating at Nobu a particularly charming experience.
The best time to discover this is at lunchtime, when the restaurant seems to slow down for a deep breath while it waits for the frenetic evening. If you're looking for a scene, you'll want Nobu at night when it is thronged with celebrities and celebrity-watchers and the room reverberates with the shouts and cheers of the chefs urging one another on and calling to the waiters. But if you want to discover the breadth of this kitchen, go for lunch.
One day I sat in the sun-filled room and watched the chefs execute their culinary gymnastics. Five tables had ordered an omakase meal, meaning that each had agreed to let the chefs choose their meals for them. I watched in astonishment as they turned out five completely different multi-course meals without repeating a dish.
The highlights of my meal included spicy lobster ceviche wrapped in lettuce with shreds of daikon and beets. A plate of sashimi featured slices of fresh bamboo shoots that had the nutty taste of asparagus, the texture of velvet and the surprise of a subtle crunch. When the waiter removed that, he set down a small dish, whispered "so soft" and left me to contemplate Japanese sea cucumber and eel. Indeed. Then there was the single strangest thing I have ever eaten, a freshwater trout that had been buried in rice for a year. The waiter identified it as "Funazushi," almost reverently. The fish had a strong, cheesy flavor; I liked it very much.
But if dishes like that do not sound appealing to you, don't worry. Put yourself in the chefs' hands and the first question will inevitably be, "Are there foods that you do not eat?" A finicky child could eat happily at Nobu, munching on skewers of grilled chicken, beautifully rendered fried tempura, and toro, the richest of tuna, gently cooked until it tastes like some strange and wonderful beef. And what child could resist snow-white Chilean sea bass wrapped around resiny slices of matsutake mushrooms and gently cooked? Children appreciate this food even more because everything looks so beautiful, occasionally draped in sheer slices of edible gold that flutter like butterflies each time they catch a moving current of air.
Sushi lovers will find that no kitchen in the city turns out a more spectacular plate of raw fish. And sake lovers, having learned to love the flavor of the Hokusetsu sake, which trickles out of iced bamboo pitchers with the pure flavor of melted snow, will find it almost impossible to drink the stuff served in other restaurants. Even dessert, once the Achilles heel of the kitchen, has improved. Melon balls dance across slabs of slate framed by stars made of jellied fruits and chocolate. Grape sorbet arrives in a bamboo box. And what is this on top? A feathery toothpick that looks like no other in the world.
"Do you like it?" Mr. Morimoto asks, laughing with delight. "I carved it out of a fish tail."
105 Hudson Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-0500.
Atmosphere: Energy rustles through the chic, casual room as waiters call orders to chefs and heads turn to see which movie star has just walked through the door.
Service: The waiters are poetic about the food and seem to take great pleasure in serving it.
Recommended dishes: The best way to appreciate this kitchen is simply to put yourself in the chefs' hands.
Wine list: There is a lovely choice of wines that go well with the food but to my taste the cold Hokusetsu sake, imported by Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, shows this food off to best advantage.
Hours: Lunch: 11:45 A.M. to 2:15 P.M. Mondays through Fridays; dinner: 5:45 to 10:15 P.M. daily.
Price range: Lunch: special $19.95, omakase (chef's choice) $40, individual items on menu $9 to $18, sushi and sashimi $2.50 to $8 a piece, desserts $6.50, average lunch $20 to $30; dinner: omakase $60, entrees $21 to $26, sushi and sashimi $2.50 to $8 a piece, desserts $7 to $8, average dinner $50 to $60.
Credit cards: American Express, Diner's Club, Mastercard, Visa.
Wheelchair accessibility: The dining room is up a few steps, but there is a ramp at the back door.


Within 1 mile from 3 different T stations (Community College, Lechmere, and Kendall Sq. Station), bus stations down the street, and easy highway access, this office space couldn't be in a more perfect location! Perfect for any business, the office is available for use from the hours of 6am - 8pm every day. This office space is a gross month to month lease that has plenty of metered on street parking. All you have to do is add wifi. Some great additional features included in the building are a kitchen, a common area, and an auto lock security door. There are 3 offices for rent in the building, but they are also available to be put into one lease.


The narration needs to be told in a montage style.
Techniques to break down the fourth wall, making the audience directly conscious of the fact that they are watching a play.
Use of a narrator. Because this character is outside the character framework, they change the relationship with the audience.
Use of songs or music. Songs and dances are likely to provoke a more objective viewing, particularly if what you’re watching is serious and not the schmaltzy environment of a typical musical.
Use of technology. If you project ideas onto a screen in a slide show or even have a still image there throughout each scene, it makes the audience analyse more thoroughly.
Use of signs. If an actor starts each scene with a placard naming the scene or you have a board which is changed at the start of each scene, you’re reminding the audience about the fact that they are watching a play.
. This is obviously unnatural in the simple sense of that word, and should make the audience think about the frozen moment.


BLUE ASH, Ohio -- Celebrating Independence Day in Greater Cincinnati’s dangerously hot weather meant putting comfort on the back burner. At Red, White and Blue Ash, which Fire Chief Chris Theders estimated drew 100,000 people, the lines for bathrooms and food were outdone only by those for coolers and hoses.
"It’s probably the hottest one I’ve been to in a long time,” Matt Gesner, who attended with wife, Logan, and children, said.
Theders said firefighters, EMTs and police set up more cooling stations than they had in previous years to compensate for the temperatures, which hovered around 100 degrees during the hottest part of the day.
It was worth it, Logan Gesner said, for the chance to introduce her children to the annual tradition.
"Even though it's hot out, we're willing to sacrifice that for some family memories," she said.


Most of the new workers will build a new generation of electric vehicle at Ford's existing factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, south of Detroit, which will see an $850 million investment. The company also plans a roughly $50 million autonomous vehicle manufacturing center at an undisclosed site near Detroit that will add hardware to existing vehicles.
Wednesday's announcement comes just after a three-day string of venomous tweets by President Donald Trump condemning crosstown rival General Motors for shutting down its small-car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland. Trump demanded that GM reopen the plant, criticized the local union leader and expressed frustration with GM CEO Mary Barra.
Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations, wouldn't directly answer questions about whether Trump's actions influenced the moves, but said Wednesday that the investment is part of the company's plans to run its business more efficiently. The timing of the announcement was due to requirements that parts suppliers be notified of manufacturing plans, Hinrichs said.
"We've been running our business this way for 10-plus years," he said in an interview. Hinrichs said Ford is aware that auto manufacturing gets a lot of attention these days, and said he is proud that Ford employs more workers represented by the United Auto Workers union than any other manufacturer. A union spokesman confirmed that statement.


Wrexham Association Football Club has posted an operating profit for the first time in 15 years.
The club announced it made a net profit of £11,587 for the 2014-15 season in which the Dragons celebrated its 150th anniversary.
The fourth annual general meeting of Wrexham AFC Limited will take place on Wednesday, 20 January.