Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives leader Emma González coughed deliberately and sipped her tea when asked about the National Rifle Association saying that it's lost money since the teen activists start protesting gun violence.
The NRA claimed last week in court filings that the organization has suffered "tens of millions of dollars" in harm because of actions taken by the New York state government specifically in response to the Parkland shooting.
"They are, and I'm happy about that," said González in an appearance with March for Our Lives activists Bria Smith and Matt Post on BuzzFeed News' morning show, AM to DM.
"Because the National Rifle Association used to stand for safety," González said. "And now it's like, 'We're going to take money from the gun companies, the companies that manufacture weapons of this caliber, and when there is mass shootings, we're going to make more money, so we going to encourage politicians to say what we want them to say, so that we will continue to get more money in the long run and not be the company that people used to think we are.'"
The trio appeared on the show in advance of their New York leg of the Road to Change, a national tour with over 70 stops and 90 events to register young voters and discuss ways to end gun violence.
"We get a lot of protesters at our events, even though our events are set up to communicate with protesters," explained the 18-year-old, noting that in her experience, after conversations with other March for Our Lives leaders, most protesters ending up agreeing with 90% of what they stand for.
The final stop for the tour is in Newtown, Connecticut, on Sunday, where the Sandy Hook massacre took place. Families of that massacre have been painted as crisis actors by conspiracy theorists including Alex Jones. This also happened to González and her friends after a shooter killed 17 people at their high school.
González was asked what she'd want to tell Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, about what it's like to be on the receiving end of those sorts of online threats.
"He already knows. I've had a conversation with him before," said González. "Everybody sees the abuse that people face online."
She pointed out that YouTube hosts videos of people making pipe bombs but often removes videos about people discussing coming out as LGBT.
"There's an extreme problem in this country with censorship, that leans more to 'Nazis should have freedom of speech' and people who are living their life in a safe and comfortable way every day, their rights are being infringed because other people feel uncomfortable seeing love," said González.
During the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, DC, in March, González addressed the crowd and stood powerfully in silence for several minutes.
"It was a low place for everybody," she said. "The whole point of that silence was to create an environment where people could be upset because it was a rough time period. And I'm getting emotional talking about it now because I'm remembering that mindset. But it was important to do."


Whenever “nation building” gets trotted out you can be pretty sure the advocates of the subject proposal have little confidence in the logic of their argument. The big question to my mind is why anyone who knows anything about transport and cities still takes this idea seriously.
Why is this even a thing? Why are we still talking about east coast HSR in 2019 as if it’s a pressing national priority?
It’s not because there’s an obvious problem to be addressed. There’s already a regular public transport service operating on this route. It’s got adequate capacity and scope to scale up in line with demand. Importantly, it’s a competitive market with four major operators i.e. Qantas, Tiger, Jetstar and Virgin.
This isn’t like a new outer suburban growth area where there’s no rail access at all. East coast HSR is about replacing one form of public transport with another. That’d be fine except for the fact it hinges on provision of a mammoth subsidy.
It’s not because it only requires a modest outlay of a few billion dollars or so. Any discussion of east coast HSR must be in the context of the truly monumental level of public subsidy required to build it. The 2013 study undertaken by Labor and the Greens put the capital cost at $114 – $127 billion (that’s a ‘b’) and made it clear virtually all of that would have to come from the public purse.
But we know it’s near-certain the cost would be much higher, probably in the range $150 – $200 billion, because early scoping studies like this invariably grossly under-estimate the cost, largely due to optimism bias (see Why do the worst infrastructure projects get built? and Are cost estimates for transport projects reliable?). The cost of building California HSR was initially estimated at $33 billion in 2008; by 2018 it had escalated to $63.2 – $98.1 billion.
Is it instead of a second Sydney Airport?
It’s not because Sydney’s second airport isn’t going ahead. One of the key arguments for east coast HSR was that it might obviate or delay the need to build a costly second airport in Sydney. That’s no longer relevant. Construction of Nancy-Bird Walton Airport at Badgerys Creek started on September 2018, with completion scheduled for December 2026.
In fact, the new airport weakens the case for east coast HSR. According to the Labor/Greens HSR feasibility study, that’s because it would reduce a key driver of demand for HSR – delays and unpredictability of flight times at Kingsford Smith airport arising from air traffic congestion. The study found the new airport would lower the demand for HSR into and out of Sydney and therefore decrease the economic benefits.
Is it to tackle emissions?
It’s not because it’s an efficient way of reducing emissions. After allowing for additional emissions from construction, operation and induced demand, east coast HSR would yield net savings of 55 Mt CO2-e over 50 years. That sounds good, but given the estimated cost of construction it would be an extraordinarily expensive way of addressing climate change i.e. circa $2,000 per tonne of CO2-e avoided. At a more likely $150 billion for construction, the cost rises to $2,700 per tonne (see So high speed rail would increase carbon emissions?).
That scale of subsidy would have a much larger impact on emissions if it were instead used to fund renewable power generation. The Bloomberg New Energy Finance energy outlook estimates the cost of making 92% of generation in Australia from renewable sources by 2050 is $186 billion.
Is it to improve equity?
It’s not because it would be more equitable. The great bulk of benefits from east coast HSR would come from faster trips between Sydney and Melbourne for business travellers. This group currently pays the full capital and operating cost of air travel; there’s no reason why it should now be gifted such a titanic subsidy.
Is it much, much faster?
It’s not because east coast HSR would be significantly faster than flying. CBD business people are the key beneficiaries; they’d save 15 minutes door-to-door travelling from Melbourne CBD to Sydney CBD, compared to what’s currently a three-hour journey by air (although HSR would be slower from Sydney to Brisbane than air). Nice, but hardly worth a couple of generations worth of infrastructure subsidy.
Is it to decentralise big cities?
It’s not because it would encourage decentralisation and “grow the regions”. The Labor/Greens feasibility study couldn’t find any net benefits from regional development. Heavily subsidised HSR fares from somewhere like Shepparton to Melbourne (notwithstanding that air fares aren’t subsidised!) wouldn’t shift high-paying jobs from the capital cities to the regions. Rather, they’d just promote regional sprawl by creating remote dormitory suburbs for city centre workers.
Is it to reduce housing costs?
It’s not because it would reduce housing costs appreciably compared to the capital cities. They’ll be much the same in Goulburn as they are in the outer suburbs of Sydney. It’s hard to see why sprawl in Goulburn or Yass would somehow be better than sprawl in Liverpool (see Will business really pay for High Speed Rail? and Is value capture the silver bullet for funding infrastructure?).
It’s not because it would be “transformative” or “nation building” as claimed by Ms Rice and Mr Albanese. How can that be the case when it will mostly do pretty much what planes already do i.e. move travellers between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne?
The fact that it’s a bit faster than flying for some potential users doesn’t make it “transformative” or “nation building”. This is nothing like the huge increase in speed that trains in the 19th century, and subsequently planes in the post-war era, brought to east coast inter-capital travel. The only way it might be transformative is if it were to destroy the competitive airline services between Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne, leading to higher fares and/or fewer services, and perhaps ultimately an HSR monopoly.
Faster trains might well have a role in the future in connecting far-flung suburbs and major regional centres like Canberra and Newcastle to Sydney, but something like the 160 km/h Type D Trainset currently being tested for the New Airport Line in Beijing is likely to be a much better fit than the 350 km/h HSR service touted by Mr Albanese and Ms Rice.
Public funding on the scale required to build east coast HSR could be more usefully deployed in many other ways. For example, it could be used to improve over-loaded public transport systems in capital cities (e.g. see What would happen if public transport use grew faster?).
It says something truly awful about our political culture and the standard of public discourse, especially around cities and transport, that this foolishness still has legs. I don’t expect gunzels are going to lose their enthusiasm for east coast HSR, but it’s way past time politicians, academics and the commentariat got over this folly. And it’s time to be a great deal more circumspect with terms like “nation building”.


A Newtown Township man who threatened to go to the Bucks County Courthouse and kill the man he was infatuated with was sentenced to a four- to 23-month prison term yesterday after pleading guilty to terroristic threats.
On July 19, 47-year-old Edward Joseph Twining was stopped at the courthouse by security personnel, who were aware of his threat on the lives of William Marietta and Marietta's girlfriend, Helen Hovan.
Security guards, who were looking for a man fitting Twining's description, found a gun in his briefcase and Twining was later arrested. Twining knew Marietta would be at the courthouse, court records said, because Marietta was scheduled for a hearing on a minor criminal charge.
At his hearing yesterday, Twining said his intention was not to kill Marietta but to kill himself in front of the man he loved, Senior Deputy District Attorney Terry Houck said.
Twining also said there were love letters in the briefcase he brought to the courthouse.
The subjects of the threats chose not to make a statement in court, Houck said. "They're all very frightened of this guy and what he might do because of the threats he made."
Twining said yesterday that he was upset because Hovan had broken up the relationship between Marietta and him, Houck said. But Marietta has told Houck that "there never was such a relationship," the prosecutor said.
Marietta resided at Twining's house for a period of time, Houck said, but he was living there much of that time with his girlfriend.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Kenneth G. Biehn sentenced Twining to a consecutive five-year probationary term for threatening Hovan.
Bucks County Court personnel learned of the threats from an assistant public defender who was representing Marietta on a receiving stolen property charge.
Twining was arrested outside Courtroom 2. That courtroom is the place criminal defendants wait to find out where their trials will be or plead guilty to the charges against them.
Twining was not charged with bringing a firearm into the courthouse. Doing so is legal as long as the gun is not brought into a courtroom.


It takes a lot to make me feel ashamed of London, my beloved home city. But yesterday’s tower-block inferno did it. The raging fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, the disturbing speed with which this home to hundreds was reduced to a smouldering shell of a building, heaps shame on this city. It is positively Dickensian, a hellish scene out of place in 2017, like a violent echo from an older era when safety, especially the safety of the poor, was of little moment. London needs to look in the mirror. This cannot just be chalked up to ‘tragedy’.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that it was the low social status of the inhabitants of the tower that left them vulnerable to this horror. That’s a serious charge, I know, but how else do we explain that residents who complained about fire hazards were ignored? The Grenfell Action Group residents’ association complained to the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) — which manages Grenfell — about ‘terrifying power surges’ caused by ‘faulty wiring’. It predicted that only a ‘serious fire in a tower block’ would lead to KCTMO being ‘brought to justice’. It remains to be seen how neglectful KCTMO was, if it was at all, but it is profoundly concerning that residents say their complaints were ignored. Their worries ‘fell on deaf ears’, they say. It’s hard to imagine the residents of one of Kensington’s plusher, more pleasing-to-the-eye builds being treated like this.
There are many specific questions that must be asked — and answered — about this horrific fire. Most pressingly: how did a fire in one flat spread with such ferocious speed to the entire block? A flat-based fire can be a simple accident (though we don’t yet know if this fire was accidental or deliberate). But when such a fire moves upwards and upwards with nightmarish intensity, engulfing home after home, it’s not an accident. Then it becomes something else; then it becomes clear that the fire has been enabled by something, perhaps by the decisions and actions of others. In this case, recent refurbishment, including the addition of seemingly flammable cladding, raises serious questions about materials used on buildings and official fire regulations. Also, why don’t all tower blocks have sprinklers? And decent fire alarms that can actually be heard? These specific issues must be pored over, urgently, post this inferno.
But there are broader questions, too. Most importantly, there’s the housing crisis, the dearth of new build, and how this has helped to warp the housing market so that homes in Britain, and especially in London, are pretty much unaffordable to normal people. The failure of both Tory and Labour governments to build the millions of new homes Britain needs has messed up the economy and society in ways we sometimes fail to appreciate. Bank of England governor Mark Carney was right to warn in 2014 that ‘there are not sufficient houses [being] built in the UK’, and that this lack, this dearth, is ramping up house prices, intensifying borrowing, and storing up serious problems for ‘financial durability’.
But the housebuilding failure hasn’t only twisted prices and blown up economic bubbles — it has also had a dire impact on society, too, on community life, even on the value we attach to certain citizens. It has created a situation where developers, and the local councils who love them, tend always to have the super-rich in mind; tend to erect new builds they know will be snapped up by those flush with cash: wealthy foreigners or filthy-rich Brits. In the midst of this market-lighted process of gentrification, the poorer inhabitants of places like Kensington and Chelsea sometimes come to be seen as a pain, as squatters almost, whose towering blocks or state-funded homes are in essence vast concrete barriers to the making of huge amounts of money.
And so do the poorer inhabitants of certain boroughs come to be seen, inexorably, as a problem, as pests, their concerns easily ignored. After all, wouldn’t it be better if they left? If they cleared the way for new opportunities for wealth creation for the few? This is the inhumanity unwittingly unleashed by our warped housing crisis, and by the recession more broadly, and it is, if you will forgive me, disgusting.
Since that benighted building and the family homes it contains went up in flames 24 hours ago, there has been a rush to pin the blame on ‘evil’ individuals. We’ve seen an outburst of Tory-bashing in particular. Boris is to blame, for cutting fire services. Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s new chief-of-staff, is also getting it in the neck for having allegedly ‘sat on’ a report about how tower blocks are vulnerable to fire. This craven search for the one evil Tory to blame for this calamity is also Dickensian. It’s a Dickensian breed of moralism that prefers to bash wicked individual landlords or nasty Scrooges rather than address the bigger social and economic underpinnings of tragedies like this. Finger-pointing and the desire to feel good and pompous become a substitute for examining how both Tory and Labour governments have helped to warp the housing question through their failures of housing ambition.
I was born into overcrowded social housing in West London, not far from Grenfell. So I know something of how social-housing residents are mistreated, how they can come to be viewed as lesser citizens than those with money and influence, whether it’s by Labourites hectoring them for their ‘nasty neighbour’ behaviour or the rich wishing they would move on. It must stop. We have it in our power to ensure that nothing like the Grenfell fire ever happens again, if we ask the right and hard questions.


BAYBAY CITY, Leyte — The Regional Trial Court here will tackle on Wednesday, the three motions filed by Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. who is detained on illegal drugs and gun charges.
Judge Carlos Arguelles of RTC Branch 14 ruled to take up the motions during a hearing where the prosecution would oppose the motions that included asking the court to allow Espinosa to be released on bail.
The two other motions included a motion to quash the search warrant that was used to raid his house in Barangay Benolho, Albuera on Aug. 9 when the police found 11 kilos of shabu worth P88 million.
The other motion was to seek the transfer of Espinosa from the Baybay sub-provincial Jail back to Albuera police station under Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido due to threats to his security.
The three motions were filed by Espinosa’s lawyer, Leilani Villarino last Oct. 12 when the mayor was about to be arraigned for charges of illegal possession of firearms and drugs.
The filing of the motions caused the postponement of the arraignment.
Judge Arguelles warned Villarino not to again delay the proceedings of the case.
The prosecution, however, manifested their opposition to the move to transfer Espinosa back to his hometown.
But the judge ruled that the motions would be discussed during the hearing on Wednesday.
Even before the motions could be discussed, Espenido served two more arrest warrants against Espinosa last Oct. 12 after the postponement of his arraignment.
The two warrants pertained to the two additional charges filed against the mayor that stemmed from the raid on Aug. 10.
One of the cases included sale of illegal drugs in violation of Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Acts of 2002.
Espenido has alleged that the 11 kilos of shabu found in the house of the mayor showed that the illegal drugs trade has been a family business and has not been limited to his son, Kerwin, alone.
The other case was the manufacture of explosives in violation of Republic Act 9516 after the police recovered ingredients in bomb making in his house during the Aug. 10 raid.


Not content with starring in her own "Will she or won't she?" presidential soap opera, Sarah Palin offered a revision of Paul Revere's famous midnight ride – one of the best-known events in Amewrican history – that both provoked and confounded her critics.
What was at worst a syntactic ambiguity on Palin's part during her bus tour last week became another instance of critics accusing her of historical ignorance, and her supporters just as insistently defending her from error – a battle that spilled over onto the historical event's Wikipedia entry.
He warned the British that they weren't going be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells, and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.
The British armed forces' mission was to seize arms belonging to the nascent rebels, so Palin's right in a general sense, although one assumes Revere and the other riders' primary aim was to warn the rebels and their leaders about the British military move.
As it happened, Revere also did warn the British military directly, when he was captured by British troops and interrogated at gunpoint. Revere told them what he had been doing and according to his own account warned them that 500 armed militia were waiting.
Here is what Paul Revere did. He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming, and they were going to try take our arms and we got to make sure that we were protecting ourselves and shoring up all of ammunitions and our firearms so that they couldn't take it.
But remember that the British had already been there, many soldiers for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere's ride – and it wasn't just one ride – he was a courier, he was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn the British that we're already there. That, hey, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have. He did warn the British.
So, Sarah Palin claimed that Paul Revere was a Revolutionary-era NRA member whose famous ride was for a British audience, to let them know Americans were going to win the war because they believed in gun rights.
Palin's aim – insofar as she had one – was to blow a dog-whistle for her supporters, turning the Revolutionary war into a tale about gun ownership. That's not historically inaccurate – it's the reason there is a second amendment defending the right to bear arms in the first place.
But her supporters couldn't resist trying to make history conform more closely to her version, by editing the Wikipedia entry covering Revere's ride. The rewriting was first spotted by the political website Little Green Footballs: "Man, you've gotta almost admire the sheer blind dedication of Sarah Palin's wingnut acolytes."
Official: What was the cause of the Civil War?
Official: Wait, wait. Just say slavery.
Apu: Slavery it is, sir.


It's a fantastic update to a favorite tool for chefs and bartenders.
WiredA fantastic update to a favorite tool for chefs and bartenders. Improvements over the original version make everything better.
TiredIt's a narrow niche for home use. Consider if you're into this kind of thing before purchasing and filing it away in a drawer after only one use. The screen filter also has a tendency to pop through the burn chamber.
Trundle through as many fancy restaurant kitchens as I have and you'll start recognizing specialized tools, big and small: little offset spatulas, slablike flat-top griddles, high-powered Vitamix blenders, spoonulas. For years now, many of those kitchens also used something that looks like a cross between a black squirt gun and a battery-powered hookah.
This thing, the PolyScience Smoking Gun, uses a tiny fan to draw a flame across a teaspoon of wood chips or other combustibles to produce a steady stream of smoke, which it expels through a long tube. You can do some pretty cool things with it: I've seen chefs present food under a clear glass cloche full of smoke, lifting it tableside to reveal a dish; bartenders will smoke a glass, the booze, or an entire cocktail to impart varying degrees of smokiness. When I worked on The Willows Inn’s cookbook, Sea and Smoke, chef Blaine Wetzel would cold-smoke mussels in a smoker for four hours, sear them on the flat top to caramelize them, tuck them back in their shells, pop them in a tiny cedar box, pipe alder smoke into the box, and immediately walk it out into the dining room, where diners opened the box, sending a puff of smoke billowing toward the ceiling.
Despite its ability to turn a dish or a drink into a showstopper, the original Smoking Gun, like that plastic squirt gun, feels a bit chintzy. It's also poorly balanced: Even in its stand, a tug on the tube can cause the whole thing to fall over and make a literal hot mess.
Version two, the Smoking Gun Pro ($150)—a joint venture between PolyScience and Breville—solves these problems and improves on the original in just about every way. The original, now referred to as the "legacy" version, is being phased out. In a confusing bit of marketing and nomenclature, there is also the Breville Smoking Gun (no PolyScience, no Pro, $100), with a smaller footprint, diminished capabilities, and less weight.
The Pro offers new features, like a large base for stability, a variable speed fan, and a big shiny removable metal barrel that gives it heft, durability, and undeniable cool. It's easily disassembled, and many of the components are dishwasher-safe. Comparing the new versions, the non-pro model looks like a cash grab. If, like most people, you've never heard of these things and are now considering one, save your pennies a little longer and go Pro.
I went to see bartender Jamie Boudreau of the high-end Canon bar in Seattle, and there on the front corner of the bar sat his Smoking Gun Pro. For Boudreau, there are two ways to smoke a drink: in and around. "In is for flavor more than aroma—you get a smokiness in the mouth," he says. To do this, he pours the booze in a decanter with smoke and gives it a quick shake. "I lean toward the darker spirits. Clear spirits like gin are more delicate, and the smoke can overtake the drink."
He keeps this in mind making his Khaleesi cocktail. Boudreau brings a glass skull full of tea smoke to the table, adds a mix of Punt e Mes, Blanton's single-barrel bourbon, and some other lovely ingredients, gives it a quick shake, and pours immediately. Just two shakes, he says—more than that, and you risk the smoke overpowering the drink.
For the around technique, he pipes smoke into a clear smoking box, inundating either the glass or the entire drink in the terrarium-like cube: for example, he might smoke a Manhattan with strawberry tea. Boudreau is clearly a big fan of the Pro. His only quibble is that the screen the wood chips can pop right through the burn chamber (something I experienced during testing), which he avoids by cutting his own screen instead of using the smaller circles that come with the Smoking Gun.
"Other than that," he summarizes, "everything is better."
Everything about the Smoking Gun Pro is so much better that chefs and bartenders who have a legacy version ought to seriously consider replacing it. As for everyone else, do you really need one? Tough call. As my wife said, "This wouldn't rate a spot on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Not even the frivolous end."
With further testing, particularly with food, I learned to think of the smoke more like a seasoning: A nice addition, but it doesn't completely change the meal. You can blend it into a soup or a salsa or whip it into mashed potatoes. You can smoke a salad. You can use all kinds of wood to make smoke or, like Boudreau, you can smoke tea leaves. It's showy and fun—and very easy to imagine someone buying it or receiving it as a gift, using it once, and never pulling it out of the drawer.
Then again, what do I know about people? I bought a bottle of Famous Grouse and brought it, along with the Pro and a utility lighter, to poker night at my buddy Brian's house. We went out to his patio to keep the smoke detector from going off, had everyone try a taste of the "regular" whisky, then combined some with mesquite smoke in an empty glass bottle, gave it two quick shakes, and poured a round of shots. The mesquite gave the Scotch a pleasant burnt-marshmallow flavor that everybody was into. Several hands later, Brian pulled out a bottle of Cazadores Reposado and we ran the same experiment on tequila. Here the results were mixed, but it was a lot of fun.
In short, it was a big, showy success, the guys got really into it, and we all tottered off into the night with a smoky buzz.


The Make Comedy Great Again Tour stars, from left, Tina Giorgi, Jeff Allen, Earl David Reed, Brad Upton and Ross Bennett.
ALBANY — Despite its obvious echo of a decidedly partisan slogan, the "Make Comedy Great Again" Tour promises that it will be an evening of five comics who work in an older tradition, namely one free of politics and vulgarity.
Saturday's show at The Egg ran for more than two hours, yet it never got stronger than PG-13 in language and innuendo, and it was a clear hit with a freely laughing audience that had an age range as broad as any I've seen for stand-up comedy, from about a kid about 11 to a couple in their 70s.
Even before the national exposure of the special, interest in MCGA has been so strong that the tour, produced by The Comedy Works in Saratoga Springs, is already looking at booking 30 to 40 weekends' worth of dates next year, according to owner Tommy Nicchi.
The comedians' material isn't explicitly political, but it is fundamentally conservative, in the larger sense of the word.
On the stage this manifested itself in a pair of grandpa personas: Brad Upton as the genial, slightly goofy one who's younger than his age and Jeff Allen as the only-62-but-already-a-geezer guy who walks effortfully and complains about his declining health and about everyone in his life. For Upton, getting older means sitting in the mall food court and staring longingly at plates going by, not the attractive young women carrying them. While this is to him a sign of deterioration, it's representative of MCGA that Upton would never consider that the food-carrying women think it's a major improvement. Allen is more explicitly sour, having crossed over into that late-middle-age period where men are so hen-pecked that it gets a big laugh when Allen says something like, "I've been married 32 years, so it's not like I'm a man anymore anyway."
If they're the grumpy gramps of the tour, Ross Bennett is the weird uncle, with sproingy hair, thick glasses and a persona he describes as "the science teacher that (all the students) suspected smokes pot." Though sentimentality was thickest with Bennett, it was also gentlest, culminating with a hilarious set-closing routine about sledding, the differences between toboggans and flying saucers and being mummified in scarf wrapped around his head so many times that it felt as if his mother was planning to pull-start a lawnmower.
Absolutely necessary to this mix is the ostensible opener/emcee, David Earl Reed, a black comic and morning-radio host in York, Pa., who is supremely skilled at zinging white audiences just up to their comfort levels. In a set that was as long as each of the others', Reed was masterful in his crowd work, riffing brilliantly on interactions with the audience, from late-comers to a monosyllabic 20something who, when asked about his career, said only, but enthusiastically, "Concrete!"
Noting a black-white interracial couple sitting near the front, Reed said, "You know what they say: Once you go black ...."
He trailed off, letting the audience mentally fill in what they thought was coming. What he actually said was far more pointed than a a rhyming, sexually based cliché: "Once you go black, your family leaves."


Son of former D.C. mayor claimed he had been "self-medicating"
The son of former District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry has received a nine-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to charges of drug possession.
Marion Christopher Barry pleaded guilty in July to charges of possessing marijuana and PCP. He told the judge in the case that he had been "self-medicating." He'll remain a free man if he avoids further trouble with the law.
The younger Barry is the only child of the former mayor, who was arrested in 1990 after he was caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. The elder Barry, who was in his third term as mayor at the time, was found guilty on a misdemeanor drug possession charge and served six months in prison.


star, who suffered a myocardial infarction, has been "moved from the Intensive Care Unit, but remains hospitalized."
"His family are firm believers in the power of prayer, and have asked that you keep him in yours during this time," his rep adds.
Duncan has his quick-thinking girlfriend, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, to thank for saving his life. The notorious star of The Apprentice discovered Duncan while he was unconscious and delivered CPR while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
A week after his hospitalization, doctors said he had a "very strong heartbeat" and were optimistic for his health.


TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO star Kevon Carter, 30, has died of a suspected heart attack after training with his club team Defense Force FC.
The Caribbean Football Union says the 30-year-old striker, who had 25 international caps to his name, passed away in hospital after complaining of chest pains at the end of a routine training session.
The general secretary of the CFU, Sheldon Phillips, said: "The young man had a quiet resolve about him and bounced back from a horrific leg injury to once again earn a spot on the national team.
"The entire football family is in mourning and our thoughts and prayers are with Kevon's family and teammates."


Notegraphy lets users create and publish notes in beautiful formats and layouts.
If you’ve ever marveled at how artists create beautiful typography and wished you could do the same, this new web and mobile app will be right up your alley.
Notegraphy lets users write and publish pieces of writing in different designs and formats, and share them on their social networks.
The app makes it easy for people to create their own design-worthy typography by offering various templates or “Styles” made by some of the best graphic designers in the world. Users can scroll through the different Styles and preview how their notes look. They can also choose from three color schemes per style. Once they’re satisfied with how their notes look, they can hit “Publish” to add titles, tags, and decide whether to share their notes on their social networks.


Take 5: How can we stop being jerky customers?
The customer may not always be right. What are some circumstances where they could be wrong?
In a recent trip to a grocery store, I grabbed my usual few items in a hand basket and took my wares to the cashier's counter. I set the basket on the table (not a conveyor belt, just a small table) and started to reach for my wallet.
I looked up and the cashier was just staring at the basket, not moving. I asked her if everything was OK, and she replied, "I never remove items from baskets."
I didn't realize that was a thing. I simply thought the effort to grab something from inside a basket was the same as it was on a table. I'm happy to learn the right way to be, so it wasn't a big deal to do as she wanted.
Got to thinking: Have I been a jerk all this time and not known? Facebook opinions were 50-50 on whether that's truly an etiquette thing or whether she was just cranky.
What else have I been flubbing up? I asked friends to explain what circumstances they wished customers understood about jobs they had. In other words, when are customers just not right?
The general truth seems to be that people who've never worked in customer service have unrealistic expectations.
Inconsiderate cell phone users during checkout, people who get mad at employees if the store is out of the product they seek, people who make a line of people behind them wait while they get something they forgot and people who treat pharmacists like they only count pills for a living were just a few quick hits my friends offered to support that truth.
School teacher Sylvia Hammons asked me to remind people that school is not a daycare. Dropping kids off early or coming to pick them up late has a ripple effect people generally forget.
"While families are 'our customers,' they need to understand that teachers have a schedule to follow, too, and dropping kids off early and picking them up late prevents teachers from getting other responsibilities done. I’d say probably the same for sports coaches," she said.
Planning for these circumstances is important. Part of planning, however, isn't giving your sick kid Tylenol that wears off in two hours so everyone ultimately has to deal with it (nurses, parents, teachers, classmates) anyway.
Former Community Press writer Liz Carey gave another example: Her husband used to work at CompUSA where a woman screamed at him for 15 minutes because his company didn't sell film for her digital camera. I'll give you a second to reread that.
For her contribution, Leslie Kohlman talked about the bane of restaurant managers: The habitual complainers who come in to get free meals. She said, "I finally told a family you cost me money every time you walk in the door."
I waited tables at Ground Round when the company had penny-per-pound day for kids meals. You'd be surprised how hard people will work to avoid paying for meals, even 65-cent dinners.
Tara Stroud had another restaurant issue. Some people don't understand how reservations/call-ahead/seating issues work. "So many factors come into play when seating guests, i.e. party size, time of arrival, closed sections, smoking/non-smoking (used to), etc. I can’t tell you how many times I had to field a customer complaint because of how they thought it should go. Everyone knows more than the employees when they want to be seated."
Now, it's understandable what most consumers deal with: Tight home budgets, too many stressors and too much to do with no time to do it. However, no one gets paid enough to be a customer's human fidget spinner.
It's sad people talk to customer service workers in manners they'd never tolerate someone talking to their own loved ones.
For the record, when I have a handheld basket at the grocery store, I now ask cashiers if they want me to remove items from those baskets. So far, no one cared one way or the other, but it was nice to ask.
The Golden Rule isn't so hard to remember.
Melanie Laughman is the digital preps planning editor for high school sports. She periodically writes a column, Take 5, on family-related issues. You can reach her via Twitter at @mlaughman or by email at mlaughman@enquirer.com.


Just when you thought you'd seen every variation of moc-toed boot possible, Yuketen comes through with their Fall/Winter 2012 collection and flips the script. While the silhouettes are more or less the same as past seasons, Yuketen freaked the uppers with animal skins, colored suedes, and tweed inlays all set on top of crepe and Vibram soles. If Yuketen's previous models were a bit too mundane for your tastes, these new models might be right up your ally.


Alaska's distilleries can no longer serve mixed drinks to customers, the state agency overseeing alcohol ruled Tuesday.
In a 3-1 vote, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board decided that distilleries — which make vodka, gin and other types of distilled alcohol — have to stop serving cocktails in their tasting rooms. The ruling may change how the state's distilleries do business.
The decision centered around vague language in Alaska's laws that says the businesses may serve "the distillery's product" to customers. After complaints landed at the state regulatory office this summer, months of debate followed about exactly what that meant and how it was being applied in distilleries across the state.
Tuesday's vote clarified that the "product" is "distilled spirit made or distilled in the licensed facility," and can't include other things like tonic or other mixers.
But, distilleries will be allowed to "separately serve other types of nonalcoholic mixers/garnishes," Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office Director Erika McConnell wrote in an email.
That means a distillery could serve a customer two glasses, one with gin, and the other with tonic, which the customer could then mix themselves.
Distilleries say they've been serving cocktails since 2014, when legislators passed a bill allowing for distillery tasting rooms. Alaska regulators said that they didn't know distilleries were selling cocktails for the past three years.
"The purpose of the law was to allow the distilling industry to promote and sell our products directly to the consumer, just like the breweries do," Heather Shade, co-owner of Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines, wrote in public comment to the board.
"Spirits are unique in the way that they are prepared and there is no reason to limit how we serve them," Shade wrote.
Bars spoke out against the practice. The Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association — known as CHARR – said it would never have supported allowing for tasting rooms if it had known they would become "de facto bars."
Distilleries said that rules were put in place specifically to prevent them from becoming bars. Customers may only have 3 ounces of alcohol. Alcohol can't be served after 8 p.m. Entertainment is banned. Bar stools are not allowed.
As of September, nine distilleries were operating in Alaska. Anchorage Distillery is the only one in Alaska's largest city.
More than 500 pages of public comment were submitted in advance of Tuesday's meeting.
McConnell wrote that the Department of Law would receive the adopted regulation next week. After the agency's review, the adopted regulations will be sent to Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott. Regulation is effective 30 days after he signs it.


Ida Reolfi will celebrate her 103rd birthday on March 31, 2013. She is the widow of Eugene (Bill) Reolfi and the mother of three sons, Robert (Carol Bandy), Gary (Sondra) and Fred (Susan). Ida has 10 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; three great-great- grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.
Ida has always enjoyed cooking, baking and spending time with her family. She is retired from Fishers Foods and spent several years in Boynton Beach, Fla., with her husband where they enjoyed an active social life with friends.
The family is holding a reception for her birthday on April 7, 2013 from 1-3 p.m. at Bethany Nursing Home located at 626 34th St NW in Canton.


Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio which recently turned two, is celebrating its second anniversary by offering free 4G data with Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate. Here is how to get it.
The Jio offer can be availed from MyJio App.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio which recently turned two, is celebrating its second anniversary by offering free 4G data with Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate. As part of this deal, Jio is offering 1GB of 4G data with a regular Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate worth as low as Rs 5. The users will also have an option to transfer this data to any other Jio subscriber. The offer is valid until September 30, and the customers need to have the MyJio app on their smartphone to get the free data.
According to the terms and conditions of the offer, this 1 GB data can be availed on the purchase of Cadbury Dairy Milk worth Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 40, or Rs 100. Those who don’t like the regular Dairy Milk chocolate, can avail the offer by buying Dairy Milk Crackle worth Rs. 40, Dairy Milk Roast Almond worth Rs 40, Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut worth Rs 40 or Rs 80, or Dairy Milk Lickables worth Rs 35. The 1GB of free data is above the regular data entitlement and comes as an additional data.
To avail this offer, users need to open MyJio App or download it if they don’t have it. The app shows a banner on the homescreen highlighting the offer. By clicking on the banner, users will be redirected to a page where they need to participate in the offer.
For this, they need to tap the Participate Now button and then scan the barcode from the empty wrapper for a Dairy Milk chocolate to avail the free data.
The data will be credited into the MyJio account within seven to eight working days from the date of redemption. Furthermore, only one empty wrapper is allowed to be redeemed per registered Reliance Jio account.
This data will be added to users’ account as additional data over their regular benefits. The users will also have an option to donate this data to an NGO called Pratham Foundation. The donation is touted to enable e-learning in far-flung areas of India.


Odds are you've watched your favorite show on Netflix enough times to pick up on the overarching plot no matter what episode you're watching. Of course, you can manually choose an episode at "random," but that takes a lot of work.
LinkedIn is sending its standalone Job Search app out to pasture next month.
Sony PlayStation 4 owners on Wednesday can finally edit their online IDs with PSN's new name change feature, said Sid Shuman, PSN's director of social media, in a blog post. IDs can be changed on a PS4 or via web browser.
Attention, witches and wizards: you can now secure a code name for the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite game. If you already play Ingress Prime or Pokemon Go, you can keep the same agent name or trainer nickname for Wizards Unite.
Many new devices boast of heightened security with the addition of Touch ID, and the Samsung Galaxy S10, which debuted last month, is a prime example. A user of the Imgur image-sharing site, however, has challenged that notion.
Imgur user Darkshark said a 3D print of his own fingerprint fooled the Samsung Galaxy S10's ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and unlocked the device. Darkshark posted a video on Thursday showing the 3D print unlocking the phone.
With all of the streaming TV shows and movies out there, simply finding what to watch can be a hassle. But what if you already know what to watch but don't know where to stream it?
Google Play's Artist Hub is no longer accepting new sign-ups and will reportedly shut down April 30. The service, which lets smaller indie artists post and sell their music on the Google Play Store and Google Play Music, redirects new users to YouTube for Artists.
Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment but told 9to5Google the move is part of its plan to replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music.


Everyone has one of these, a person in their lives who they are absolutely terrified to drive with. This person could be a friend, a family member, a coworker. Or maybe it’s you!
Last week, I asked you guys to spill on that one friend you’re scared to get into a car with. Are they erratic, panicky or just way too confident? Are they aggressive phone-users? Over-estimate their ability behind the wheel? All of these things?
The most terrified I’ve been as a passenger happened when I was riding in the car with a friend’s dad. Now, this dad was a real nice guy, but absolutely petrified to be behind the wheel.
And it didn’t help that his mother was in the passenger seat, panicky to be in a car in the first place screaming at him to slow down on the highway. We were the ones going 55 in a 65. He’d brake to merge. It was so, so bad.
Your turn. Who are you scared of?
Someone needs to have a talk with this person ASAP.
What’s Gus up to now?
These people need to be called out.
I’ll pass on a ride in your Porsche.
Breathe, just breathe. And then speak.
It’s good music to work out to, admittedly.
That’s real important for driving.
Now the meetings are arranged separately.
Yeah, those affect your speed.
That’s when you become the driver for everything.
Never had one! Wonder why?
That training doesn’t guarantee anything.
I enjoy all the names you gave them.
Don’t drink and drive, don’t drink and drive.
Johnny needs to keep his eyes on the damn road.
What's the Worst High-Volume Car of This Millennium?


"Country Music Hair" author Erin Duvall breaks down the 'dos.
You can't think about country music without thinking about hair. Whenever anyone talks about Dolly Parton, her look is mentioned in the same breath as her unparalleled songwriting ability and angelic voice. Willie Nelson is the Red Headed Stranger; his braids are as iconic as his illegal drug habit. That's why I focused on the evolution of hairstyles in country music for my new book Country Music Hair. From the 1960s to today, my first book is a tribute to the iconic hairstyles we loved on our favorite artists.
Willie Nelson, "The Red Headed Stranger"
In my opinion, there has been no greater hair transformation in country music history than that of Willie Nelson. Most fans who see pictures of the icon in the 1960s cannot recognize him thanks to his clean-cut look. The 1970s brought shoulder-length hair and the first signs of what was to come. By the '80s, Nelson had become the man we think of today, full red braids and a signature bandana.
One of my favorite quotes attributed to Dolly Parton is "People ask me how long it takes to do my hair and I say, 'I don't know, I'm never there.'" Parton has worn everything from a bouffant to long layers, but it's never been her real hair. Stylist Cheryl Riddle is responsible for getting each wig ready to wear, but surprisingly Parton still does her own makeup to this day.
Kelsea Ballerini is in the new class of country stars, finding her own way by honoring those who came before her. When it comes to hair, Ballerini doesn't go full wig, but she's a big supporter of clip-in hair extensions. Her hair is stick straight and, especially in performance situations, clip-ins hold curl (and thus style) despite the environmental conditions.
Patsy Cline is arguably one of the most iconic voices in country music. Her style is stamped in time as well. Reba's stylist Neil Robison explains in Country Music Hair that Cline likely had naturally curly hair and therefore it was a laborious process to get her signature wave. Stylist Earl Cox agrees, sharing a story from his client Barbara Mandrell, who actually styled Cline's hair every night when she was playing steel guitar for the songstress in her teens.
Country Music Hair also looks at the relationships that fans have with the 'dos of their favorite artists. In 1996, Faith Hill famously chopped off her long locks in what has become known as the "Cut Heard Round the World." Most recently, Ali Ryan of the Dry House Nashville started a new movement when she transformed Jake Owen by cutting his established shoulder-length hair to this clean-cut look. Granted, there was far less outcry this time around as happy fans praised Ryan's work.


A lawsuit filed by R&B singer Brandy Norwood s mother, Sonja Norwood, against Kim Kardashian was dismissed Monday in an apparent settlement, according to court papers.
Norwood sued Kardashian, who once worked as Brandy’s stylist, accusing her of charging more than $120,000 to a credit card without permission.
In the suit, Norwood accused Kardashian and siblings Khloe, Kourtney and Robert of running up the charges in 2006 and 2007. She sought the return of the money plus 10 percent interest.
As Brandy’s stylist in 2004, Kardashian had been authorized to make only one purchase on the Norwood American Express card, Norwood said in the suit. But Norwood alleged that Kardashian made unauthorized purchases and passed the card number to her siblings, who ran up bills at two Kardashian family-owned clothing stores, Dash and Smooch, for a total of $120,636.
Kardashian denied the allegations, saying she never used the credit card without authorization. The lawsuit was dismissed June 1 with prejudice, which means the case cannot be appealed or re-filed.
Attorneys for Norwood and Kardashian could not be immediately reached for comment.


Which Irish names are making a comeback?
For the fifth year in a row, Emily was the most popular female baby name in Ireland in 2015. Emily finished the year ahead of Emma, Ava, Sophie and Amelia – rounding out the top five – and is again number one among girls’ baby names. Emily has ruled the roost without interruption since 2010.
Jack, again, took the crown on the male list as it has for the past eight years. Apart from slight changes in the order, the top five male baby names in 2015 – Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean – are exactly as they have been since 2007. Only one new name has even made even the top 100 boys’ list. As it happens, four out of five of the top five male names have remained in the top five since 1998, almost two whole decades.
George has leaped in popularity both last year and this year, probably thanks to England’s Prince George who probably has won some fans in Ireland based on the number of new-born baby boys sharing his name. George rose from 103rd to 90th.
Ollie also continues to stride up the table, rising most in popularity of all the names on the list. Ollie moved from 87th in 2014 to 66th place in 2015.
On the girls’ side, Annabelle, Mila, and Rosie were three new names to make the top 100, with Mila being the highest climbing name on either list, rising from 142nd place in 2014 to 88th place in 2015.
Emily & Daniel were the most popular baby names on passport applications in Ireland last year.
Out of the 4,487 different girls’ names registered are some more unusual ones, including Paris, Nelly, Dakota, Kim, Pixie and Sabina.
On the male list, which saw 3,475 different boys’ names registered, we may be able to detect the influence of One Direction given the popularity of Zayn among other outsider choices including Barra, Pauric, Gus, Romeo and Otis.
Zayn made the top 100 baby names in Ireland. Words fail me.
Interestingly, the statistics recently published by the Irish Central Statistics Office compare the names chosen by parents who both stated they were Irish nationals, compared to parents who claimed another nationality.
Jack also remained the popular choice for a boy among UK parents, while Noah was the most popular choice for Europeans from countries other than Ireland or the UK. Muhammed was the most popular choice for boys whose parents came from outside Europe.
Isla and Chloe were the top picks for girls' names among UK parents while Chloe, Emma, and Julia were popular with other European parents. In 2015, Fatima was the name of choice for baby girls born in Ireland to parents who are not from Europe.
The recent data also compared the top names of 2015 to those in 1965 when John and Mary reigned supreme.
Of this year’s top five boys’ names, only James appeared in 1965's top five while none of 2015’s top girls’ picks were in 1965’s top monikers. In 1965, Mary, Margaret, Catherine, Anne, and Ann came top of the pile, of which, Mary was the only name to even make the top 100 in 2015.


What time GAYA-JAJ PASS depart from GAYA JN Railway Station?
GAYA-JAJ PASS (53624) departs from GAYA JN Railway Station at 05:05.
How much time GAYA-JAJ PASS take to reach JHAJHA Railway Station?
GAYA-JAJ PASS reach on day 1 to JHAJHA Railway Station. The arrival time of GAYA-JAJ PASS at JHAJHA Railway Station is 13:00.
Distance covered by GAYA-JAJ PASS?
GAYA-JAJ PASS covers 183 km to reach JHAJHA Railway Station at average speed of 24 km/hr. GAYA-JAJ PASS passes through 21 stations.


Photo: © Donna Ward/Retna Ltd.
Nicki Minaj‘s hairstyle inspiration is cartoon character Marge Simpson. The eccentric rapper has recently been seen in a number of gravity-defying beehive wigs, and claims the idea came to her when thinking about the animated matriarch’s tall blue hairstyle.
Nicki also said that unlike some stars, she will happily wear her wigs more than once–providing they are clean.
Try on Nicki Minaj’s hairstyles in the Makeover Studio!


Xiomara Castro began her presidential campaign in Honduras last Sunday, almost four years after husband and ex-President Manuel Zelaya was roused from his sleep and flown out of the Central American country in pajamas during a military coup.
Representing the Liberty and Reestablishment Party, known as Libre, Castro opened her campaign for November’s election with a speech that outlined plans to demilitarize the country, promote foreign and private investment, and create a constituent assembly to modify the constitution. Castro, 53, leads polls with 28 percent support, according to CID-Gallup, which surveyed 1,233 potential voters from May 2 to 8 and has a margin of error of five percentage points.
Castro’s plans to create a constituent assembly echo those of Zelaya, who sat behind his wife in his trademark white stetson cowboy hat at Sunday’s campaign opening in Tegucigalpa. During the final year of his presidency, Zelaya’s attempt to hold a referendum to form a constituent assembly led to his ouster by the armed forces on June 28, 2009, as some government officials presumed that he aimed to modify presidential term limitations to remain in power.
Clad in the red and black colors of the Libre party, Castro also criticized rises in crime and impunity during the current government of President Porfirio Lobo. Honduras has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, with 86 of every 100,000 citizens suffering a violent death in 2012, according to the Violence Observatory at Honduras’s National Autonomous University.
Honduras’s presidential elections will be held Nov. 24.


Pennsylvania Republicans on Tuesday called for some voting machines to be impounded because votes were allegedly cast on them before the polls officially opened.
Philadelphia Mayor John Street (search) told FOX News that those charges were false. And City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione, the official responsible for overseeing elections there, issued a statement.
A city investigation found that the numbers were from a device that counted how many votes had ever been recorded on the machine, not how many would be cast Tuesday.
The complaints in the key battleground's largest city were among the earliest lodged on Election Day.
In Mercer County, Commissioner Olivia Lazor said some voters were apparently having problems with new electronic voting machines that the rural western Pennsylvania county started using about two years ago. Voters apparently were voiding their votes by accident while trying to review them, and having to redo their ballots. The delays caused longer lines than normal.
Also in Philadelphia, the Republican City Committee (search) filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a federal judge to give them more time to challenge absentee ballots cast by Democrats. The suit demands that the city turn over a list of every city resident who received an absentee ballot, and then delay counting any of their votes until at least Nov. 5 to give the GOP time to investigate whether any ballots were cast by ineligible people.
A lawyer for John Kerry's campaign in Pennsylvania said some people were prevented from voting when at least a dozen Allegheny County precincts ran out of provisional ballots. More ballots were sent to the precincts that ran out, and Kerry lawyer Clifford Levine suggested that people who were turned away this morning should try again after 5 p.m. The provisional ballots, which are cast when there are questions about whether a person is eligible to vote, won't be counted until three days after the election.
FOX News' Todd Connor and Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Stanley Karnow, the award-winning author and journalist who wrote a definitive book about the Vietnam War, worked on an accompanying documentary and later won a Pulitzer for a history of the Philippines, died Sunday morning. He was 87.
Karnow, who had congestive heart failure, died in his sleep at his home in Potomac, Md., said son Michael Karnow.
A Paris-based correspondent for Time magazine early in his career, Karnow was assigned in 1958 to Hong Kong as bureau chief for Southeast Asia and soon arrived in Vietnam, when the American presence was still confined to a small core of advisers. In 1959, Karnow reported on the first two American deaths in Vietnam, not suspecting that tens of thousands would follow.
Into the 1970s, Karnow would cover the war off and on for Time, The Washington Post and other publications and then draw upon his experience for an epic PBS documentary and for the million-selling “Vietnam: A History,” published in 1983 and widely regarded as an essential, even-handed summation.
Karnow’s “In Our Image,” a companion to a PBS documentary on the Philippines, won the Pulitzer in 1990. His other books included “Mao and China,” which in 1973 received a National Book Award nomination, and “Paris in The Fifties,” a memoir published in 1997.
A fellow Vietnam reporter, Morley Safer, would describe Karnow as the embodiment of “the wise old Asian hand.” Karnow was known for his precision and research—his Vietnam book reaches back to ancient times—and his willingness to see past his own beliefs. He was a critic of the Vietnam War (and a name on President Nixon’s enemies list) who still found cruelty and incompetence among the North Vietnamese. His friendship with Philippines leader Corazon Aquino did not stop him from criticizing her presidency.
A salesman’s son, Karnow was born in New York in 1925 and by high school was writing radio plays and editing the school’s paper, a job he also held at the Harvard Crimson. He first lived in Asia during World War II when he served throughout the region in the Army Air Corps. Back in the U.S., he majored in European history and literature at Harvard, from which he graduated in 1947.
He began sending dispatches to a Connecticut weekly, where the owner was a friend, and in 1950 was hired as a researcher at Time. Promoted to correspondent, he would cover strikes, race car driving and the beginning of the French conflict with Algeria, but also interviewed Audrey Hepburn (“a memorable if regrettably brief encounter”) fashion designer Christian Dior and director John Huston, who smoked cigars, knocked back Irish whiskies and rambled about the meaning of Humphrey Bogart. Friends and acquaintances included Norman Mailer, James Baldwin and John Kenneth Galbraith.
Karnow’s first book was the text for “Southeast Asia,” an illustrated Life World Library release published in 1962, before the U.S. committed ground troops to Vietnam. It was partly a Cold War time capsule, preoccupied with Communist influence, but was also skeptical enough of official policy to anticipate the fall of a key American ally, South Vietnamese president Ngo Dihn Diem, an event that helped lead to greater American involvement.
Like so many others, Karnow initially supported the war and believed in the “domino theory,” which asserted that if South Vietnam were to fall to communism its neighbors would too.
But by war’s end, Karnow agreed with the soldier asked by a reporter in 1968 what he thought of the conflict: “It stinks,” was the reply.
“There are not many carefully delineated judgments in the book. But that is more a comment than the criticism it might be, for Mr. Karnow does not claim to have reached a sweeping verdict on the war,” Douglas Pike, a former U.S. government official in Vietnam who became a leading authority on the war, wrote for The New York Times in a 1983 review.
The PBS series won six Emmys, a Peabody and a Polk and was the highest-rated documentary at the time for public television, with an average of 9.7 million viewers per episode. Along with much praise came criticism from the left and right. The liberal weekly The Nation faulted Karnow for “little analysis and much waffling.” Conservatives were so angered by the documentary that PBS agreed to let the right-wing Accuracy in Media air a rebuttal, “Television’s Vietnam: The Real Story,” which in turn was criticized as a show of weakness by PBS.
Karnow completed no books after “Paris in the Fifties.” He attempted a study of Asians in the U.S., which he abandoned; a history of Jewish humor that never advanced beyond an outline; and a second memoir, with such working titles as “Interesting Times” and “Out of Asia.” He also cared for his ailing wife, Annette, who died of cancer in 2009. A previous marriage, to Claude Sarraute (daughter of French novelist Nathalie Sarraute), ended in divorce in 1955. Karnow had three children.
He was often called on for speeches, panel discussions and television appearances and asked for his opinions on current affairs. One query came in 2009, through his old friend Richard Holbrooke, at the time the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan. Holbrooke wanted advice on U.S. policy in Afghanistan and put Karnow on the phone with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander. Karnow and the general discussed similarities between the wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam.


Anna O'Flanagan and Katie Mullan scored as Ireland beat 2016 Olympic bronze medallists Germany 2-1 in their opening game of the Berlin Four Nations Cup.
O'Flanagan put Ireland ahead but Germany equalised in the third quarter.
Mullan scored the winner by diverting in a long ball from Hannah Matthews in the final quarter and Ireland now face China on Friday and Korea on Sunday.
Ireland will next meet Germany in the pool stages of this year's World League semi-finals in Johannesburg in July.
The World League 3 tournament in South Africa will be followed by the Eurohockey Championships in August.


Roadwork continues in Madison Twp.
WEST POINT — Madison Township’s road crew continues its work on potholes and cleanup of trees following recent storms.
In his report last Wednesday to trustees, road foreman Gary Mitchell announced the road crew is currently in the middle of hot patching various roads throughout the township and will be continuing its efforts until entirely finished.
Mitchell reported one request for work for a culvert pipe cleanout on McDonald has been put on hold until the hot patching process is complete.
Due to recent storms, several trees have been reported down, including on Cream Ridge Road and throughout Bear Hollow. Mitchell said while the Cream Ridge tree has been cleaned up, additional work had to be done at Bear Hollow, resulting in the road being temporarily closed.
” … we had to shut down the road for one day before a power line and a telephone pole down there,” he explained.
Mitchell also said, due to mechanical problems with the mower, crews have not been able to continue mowing. He also stated loggers have been looking at property on Cannons Mill Road and will be there for a couple weeks. He said they may consider placing a bid on the property, but was not certain.
In addition, Mitchell requested the board approve purchases of limestone material which will be used for winter road clearing, along with ash which has been picked up recently. The board approved motions to purchase 500 tons of limestone material. The board, however, is waiting on winter salt after learning that it would cost $62 per ton.
— During public comment, Torma Road resident Todd Mays asked the board about the township’s electrical co-op program and inquired who is the electrical provider for the township following recent news of the bankruptcy and pending purchase of FirstEnergy.
Trustee Roger Walker said to his knowledge all contracts would be honored with the new company. Fiscal Officer Tiffany Chetock stated there was an opt-out program, but the township would need to look into the information.
Also in public comment, Skip Hamilton asked trustees about the switching plant for South Field Energy on state Route 45 in the township and whether or not the township will be able to receive any money from the plant. Chairman Wayne Chamberlain advised Hamilton the township will receive some of the tax money.
— Trustees approved a motion to create a separate emergency fund for any proceeds the West Point Fire Department may receive for fire damage and work. The motion was made at the request of the state auditor’s office, which recommended the township no longer place those funds in the General Fund and instead deposit them into a different fund.
Also related to finances, trustees approved the payment of the bills amounting to $25,762.65, along with seven purchase orders.
The next regular meeting is scheduled 6 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Madison Township Garage meeting room on state Route 45.


At The U.S. Olympic Trials, Mixed Opinions About Russian Doping Scandal : The Torch The Russian scandal is a hot topic at the U.S. track and field Olympic Trials. Some feel individual Russian athletes should be allowed to compete if they're clean, others support a blanket ban.
There will be a decision soon about whether some Russian track and field athletes can compete in the Olympics next month in Rio. This week, Russia filed an appeal after its track federation was banned because of state-sponsored doping. Despite efforts to stop it, doping is a persistent problem in track and field as NPR's Tom Goldman reports from the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: It didn't take long in Eugene - matter of fact the first day of the trials - a brilliant blue sky day. There was a reminder of the shadow of doping.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Medal ceremony. Shot put men.
GOLDMAN: A medal ceremony is a happy moment. The winner on this day smiled as he stood wearing a victory wreath on his head. But it was bittersweet, coming 12 years late.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Gold medalist and 2004 Olympic champion representing the USA, Adam Nelson.
GOLDMAN: Adam Nelson won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic shot put competition. A few years ago, the gold medalist tested positive for a banned drug in retroactive testing, meaning Nelson was the winner. But then one of the most underwhelming victory moments ever - the gold medal was hand delivered to Nelson in 2013 in a food court at the Atlanta airport. Track officials in Eugene thought Nelson deserved better, so did the thousands of fans who cheered him last week at Hayward Field. Not long after those cheers, there were more reminders.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Gatlin and Bromell. Gatlin, Bromell.
GOLDMAN: America's best sprinter proved it again in Eugene. Justin Gatlin won the 100-meter final Sunday in 9.80 seconds. That's a world best time this year. But during the weekend, about 30 people at Hayward Field wore T-shirts with the slogan runners against doping. It was a targeted and quiet protest against Gatlin and fellow sprinter Tyson Gay. Both have served doping suspensions. Thirty-four-year-old Gatlin served two.
Doping is a charged issue for him, but in Eugene, Gatlin was willing to talk about the Russian scandal. I asked him whether some athletes who prove they're clean should be able to go to Rio, even though their track federation is banned.
JUSTIN GATLIN: At the end of the day, I mean, you got to think about fair is fair. You know, if an athlete has come and he's been tested or she's been tested, and they've passed a test, I don't think they should, you know, basically prosecuted or make a statement with other people who have done wrong.
GOLDMAN: Distance runner Stephanie Bruce is sponsored by Oiselle. That's the apparel company that organized the T-shirt protest. For Bruce, the situation is murkier with the Russian athletes who protest their innocence.
STEPHANIE BRUCE: How long have you been running in a culture like that and you don't know that it's going on and you haven't come forward? Like, you are totally oblivious that coaches or - you know what I mean? So that seems strange to me.
GOLDMAN: It's not surprising that Adam Nelson, the man in the belated ceremony, takes a hardest line. He's a long-time anti-doping Fair Play advocate, but he's also a victim of doping. He was quoted as saying this, the reality is you make a ban on a country and then you allow the athletes to compete. It sends a mixed message.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected to decide by July 21 whether individual Russian athletes can compete in Rio. If the decision is no, it will be the first time that country isn't part of the Olympics' most prominent sport - track and field - since the former Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 LA Summer Games. Tom Goldman, NPR News.


Blink to take pictures using the new Google Glass firmware?
Google Glass still hasn't been released to the masses and we're already getting word of a second version in the works. But back to the now and Google has come up with a firmware update for the model currently being used by Explorers. We can expect blink controls, more specific voice commands and music control.
The latest XE10 update, studied by Android Police, appears to offer some exciting blink control options. A "wink for photo" function is found in the new build as does the option to control something using a "double blink". While this sounds great it might still be held back by Google because of privacy concerns.
Music has also had an upgrade with a quick control command of "play music" added. This will likely be a way of accessing and controlling music from your phone. It also includes a layout for music items like album art, album name, track name and artist name. Also you should be able to control play, next, previous, pause and stop. A new radio icon has been added which could be used for Play Music's All Access radio channels.
App specific controls have also been added like "take note" to instantly record in Evernote, or "post update" to add to your Path account. Other controls include: "find a recipe", "check me in", "call me a car", "add a calendar event", "learn a song", "start a run", "translate this", and "tune an instrument". All very cool potential uses but whether these controls will have apps to support them anytime soon is another matter.
Perhaps the most exciting new control, which likely won't be usable for some time, is "create a 3D model". Imagine looking at an object and that being enough to create a file for 3D printing. The mind boggles.
The XE10 update will launch next month.


A letter to the editor published Oct. 16 supported U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint's recent comments on gay school teachers and referred to homosexuals as predatory.
I recently reviewed the issue of child sexual molestation by homosexuals for a course I am giving on homosexuality for Lifelong Learning of Hilton Head. Phallometric tests (measuring sexual arousal) of teenagers and adult men who molested male children showed them sexually uninterested in adult men, but responsive to adult women. Two peer-reviewed studies of convicted child molesters found that less than 1 percent in one study and zero percent in the other study were lesbian or gay.
To imply that homosexuals are child abusers is narrow-minded and uninformed.


The “car chase” is another carryover from The Bourne Identity that Director Greengrass includes yet improves upon. Supremacy takes the cliché car chase, injects it with steroids, and chases it with a Red Bull. The climax is easily the best car chase on screen in ten years. It’s better than the The Matrix: Reloaded. Why? Supremacy isn't hindered by CGI. The chase is intense and real. When Bourne’s car spins out of control and is simultaneously blind-sided by another car, I dare you not to flinch.
As my wife has mentioned many times before, Matt Damon is a good looking man. She also mentions his lovely smile. Well, you won’t see Damon’s pearly whites in The Bourne Supremacy, but you will see why he’s one of the most talented actors of his generation. Forget about his buddy Ben Affleck, Damon knows how to capture the audience’s attention with his talent not his girlfriends.
When Paula Landy’s (Joan Allen) CIA sting ends terribly, the few clues left behind lead her to believe Jason Bourne (Damon) has ended his retirement. Her subsequent investigation of Bourne uncovers the closed Operation “Treadstone” and opens doors that others wish to remain sealed.
Hundreds of miles away, the real Jason Bourne enjoys a peaceful yet cautious life with Marie (Franka Potente). Unbeknownst to him, a Russian Kingpin and an American traitor plan on making Jason Bourne’s retirement, permanent. After the hired assassin Kirill (Karl Urban) attempts to kill him, a resulting tragedy propels Bourne back towards the mysterious life that haunts his nights.
Bourne Identity director Doug Lyman brought us a thriller that was restrained until action was warranted. When the action began, it was relentless, cold, and efficient much like Bourne himself. Lyman rescued the secret agent genre from Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks with a thriller that while grounded in realism, explodes upon the screen with a fury that no silly kid movie can hope to match.
Lyman passed on directing The Bourne Supremacy, but thankfully Paul Greengrass took the helm and kept Supremacy faithful to Lyman’s vision. The major complaint one could find with Greengrass’ style is an overuse of hand-held camera shots used to represent the cloudy/jumbled bits of memory floating in Bourne’s head. I thought it worked well enough, however I can imagine some viewers finding it distracting.
The key to both movies is Matt Damon’s portrayal of Bourne. With minimal dialogue, Damon gives a complicated performance as a man who struggles to discover who he was while consciously trying to distance himself from his past. Bourne is an assassin who needs amnesia to discover who he really should have been. Only Damon’s talents could have shown us this. Do you really think his buddy Affleck could pull this off? What about Paul Walker or Vin Diesel? I don’t think so. Amongst his peers, Damon is in an acting class by himself.
Whether Lyman’s vision or the directing of Greengrass can claim responsibility for The Bourne Supremacy’s is open to debate. I don’t care. At the very least, Greengrass knew not to screw up a good thing. With Matt Damon establishing himself as a talented and bankable star, The Bourne Supremacy will reign supreme at the box office and in the action-thriller genre.


Dancing With the Stars pros Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson said their I do’s at a seaside California resort this weekend in front of costars from the ABC reality competition and other VIP guests.
DWTS pros Sasha Farber, Witney Carson, Alan Bersten and Lindsay Arnold were on hand for the festivities on Saturday, April 13, as were Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd, the groom’s brother and sister-in-law.
As the ceremony kicked off at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, snapshots from the event started hitting social media, showing guests in high spirits as they celebrated the newlyweds’ big day.
As she and Val exchanged vows on Saturday evening, the star-studded audience cheered them on. Scroll down to see photos of the celebrity guests at the wedding and reception.


Kent State University Urban Design CollaborativeA rendering of the proposed Rivergate Park.
The Cleveland Rowing Foundation's project to create a riverfront park in Cleveland scored its third big grant in two days today with a $200,000 donation from the George Gund Foundation. The grant follows $550,000 in donations announced Tuesday by Peter Lewis and the Cleveland Foundation.
Gund Foundation trustees voted around 2 p.m. to make the gift, said senior program officer John Mitterholzer. The money will be channeled to the project through the non-profit Trust for Public Land, Mitterholzer said.
The goal of Rivergate is to turn 7 acres owned by the former Commodore's Club Marina on Columbus Road Peninsula into a cluster of boathouses for rowing shells, caneos, kayaks and dragon boats. The rowing foundation, an umbrella organization for high school, collegiate and adult rowing organizations with 850 members, currently occupies rented facilities on Scranton Road Peninsula, one river-bend south of the Commodore's Club site.
Jon Adams, co-chairman of the Rivergate Fund, said he was elated by the Gund announcement.
Adams said the Gund grant brings the Rivergate project to within $700,000 of the $3.2 million price for the property. Rivergate advocates have a purchase option that expires July 31.
"It's just wonderful to get this broad-based community support for the project," he said. "It speaks to the fact that people see the vision and benefit of creating a riverfront park and preserving public access for canoeing, kayaking, rowing – healthy, human-powered sports."
In the case of the Gund foundation, Adams' description of "seeing" the vision was literally true.
Mitterholzer said members of the Gund family who serve on the foundation board could look out of the organization's officers in the Guildhall Building at 45 Prospect Ave., and see the site on Columbus Road Peninsula.
"We think it's a transformative project, because we can see what's happening down there, and it was fun because we could show the board through the window," Mitterholzer said.
Adams said Rivergate advocates are confident they'll complete fundraising or obtain a bridge loan in time to meet the July 31 deadline on the purchase option, and will be able to open for business in August.
"Because the site already has two buildings, one of which is perfect for our current boathouse storage needs, we can be up and running very quickly," he said.


A report by the Wall Street Journal suggests that Dell could be on the verge of becoming a public company once again.
The deal could be announced as soon as later today and -- if the cited sources close to Dell are correct -- it would see the company swapping the "trading stock" it created when it bought EMC a couple of years ago. It would simplify Dell's current structure, seen by many as overly complicated, and make use of the stock that tracks VMware Inc.
The deal is not yet thought to have been finalized, and the paper warns that there is still a chance it could fall through. While the tracking stock that would facilitate the change has doubled in value, Michael Dell has previously stated a preference for being a private company -- which Dell has been since 2013. With the value of VMware continuing to grow, it's possible that investors might oppose the idea of using the stock at the moment.
The expected move, which would help simplify Dell's complicated ownership structure, is the culmination of a strategic review the company has been conducting for months. Other options it considered include a combination with VMware itself or a straight initial public offering, the company has said.
The tracking stock was created as a way to help finance Dell's purchase of storage pioneer EMC in 2016. The deal was largely in cash, but the remainder was paid via the new security that was linked to a portion of EMC's interest in the VMware business, which provides cloud-infrastructure services.
Issuing the tracking stock meant Dell didn't have to raise quite as much money to finance the deal.
The tracking stock has nearly doubled in value since it was issued, closing Friday at $84.58.
Should Dell become a public company once again, it's not entirely clear what will happen to VMware -- although it should be possible for it to continue to operate as it currently does.


Heavy rain hammered Connecticut during Monday morning’s commute, causing spinouts and a roof collapse, while wind and flooding may lie ahead.
The sun was shining brightly in Hartford by late morning, only to give way to more rain early in the afternoon. A flood warning for the Connecticut River in Hartford and Middlesex counties is in effect. The river is expected to exceed flood stage Tuesday in Hartford, the Thompsonville section of Enfield and in the Middle Haddam section of East Hampton.
Before dawn, water pooled on highways and torrential downpours cut visibility, causing some truckers to pull over rather than try to make their way through the driving rain.
Some crashes and spinouts were reported in the Hartford area, although it wasn’t clear if weather was a factor in all of them. One car appeared to have slid off I-91 into the center median in Windsor about 6:30 a.m., and a truck overturned on I-95 north in Stamford, causing authorities to close the highway.
Trees fell on power lines in Sherman and Goshen, closing roads, according to the state Department of Transportation. A combined 44 customers in those towns were without power at 8 a.m., while in Sharon, also in the northwest corner, 102 customers lacked electricity.
On the other side of the state, in Woodstock, 572 customers had no power, according to Eversource.
In the Pawcatuck section of Stonington, the top floors and roof of a long-vacant brick mill collapsed early Monday, police said. No one was injured. The building at 75 Stillman Ave., formerly called Connecticut Castings, had been fenced off and boarded up.
A passerby noticed the damage about 7 a.m., after heavy rain had fallen in the area, Stonington Lt. Bryan Schneider said.
Officials are talking about the possibility of razing the building, he said.
A wind advisory is in effect from 1 p.m. Monday until 8 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. A wind advisory means sustained winds of 31-39 mph are expected, with gusts up to 57 mph.
“Winds this strong are capable of downing small tree limbs and branches, possibly causing isolated power outages,” the weather service said.
The good news is that Tuesday’s forecast is for sunny weather, with a high near 60 degrees.


Dhaka is celebrating its 400th year and much of the celebration is centred on Old Dhaka, a city immersed in history and tradition. As its crumbling, yet spectacular architecture is evidence to, Old Dhaka represents a glorious and glamorous past. Yet there is so much more to Old Dhaka than merely its architectural splendour. It is the warm and vibrant life in Puran Dhaka as it is locally called, that has sustained despite the decaying infrastructure and utter neglect from the authorities to maintain and preserve this living symbol of our glorious history.


LAVALLETTE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A Jersey shore town is determined to always remember a teen whose life was cut short in a senseless murder.
With bags of cement on their shoulders, friends, family, and even strangers worked to cement Brendan Tevlin’s memory into a playground in Lavallette.
“We’re all heartbroken, we’re all devastated by it, it’s just something you never imagine would happen to you. Family friends have been the rock that has gotten our family through this,” the teen’s god mother, Kathleen Magnier said.
Tevlin’s family says the Jersey shore was a special place that helped shape his life motto.
“’Good vibes and easy living’… he lived it and he loved it. He was a surfer who spent days on the beach. This is a great town and a great place to have a playground,” Tevlin’s father Michael told CBS2’s Meg Baker.
Volunteers with the non-profit “Where Angels Play” started construction bright and early Wednesday.
The group and the teen’s relatives hope the playground will become a special place for all youngsters to make memories like the happy ones the Tevlins hold onto.


We share a lot of things with our Malaysian neighbors. Borneo, which holds the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and is just a stone’s throw away … physically, culturally and linguistically. The two Malaysian states are familiar territory for me. I used to frequent them in the ’80s and ’90s as a site planning and landscape architectural consultant for real estate and resort developments there.
I flew in from Singapore, where I was based for over a dozen years. I remember having to take small planes from there to Kuching and from there hop across Sibu, Bintulu and to Miri, where I had most of my projects. I felt like an Indiana Jones, albeit without the bullwhip and sidearm.
Kuching’s cool cats are used for all of the city’s major monuments.
Times have changed and that was two decades ago. I visited Kuching recently and was impressed with the extent of development. First, the airport has transformed from a utilitarian box into a well-designed terminal with distinctive Sawarakan touches (something we could learn from). The City of Kuching has grown, too, but from all indications, its growth has been well managed.
The ride into the city is bereft of billboards and the creeping blights that line most of our provincial destinations. The cityscape, though obviously not as dense as our provincial cities, is rational, consistently clean, tree-lined, and green. We also got to our hotel within 15 minutes (compared to the hour or two required in major destinations in the Philippines).
Kuching’s name comes from the Malaysian word for cat similar to ours. The actual etymology is that the name comes from the fruit mata-kuching (whose seeds look like cat’s eyes). The city uses this name and theme consistently, a branding exercise that we can again learn from.
Our hotel was one of several comfortable accomodations lining the city’s picturesque Kuching River. The river, like our Pasig, was and still is the lifeblood of the city. It is used to connect the city to the lush tropical hinterlands and the sea.
Most of the city is built on the southern side of the river, much like Iloilo city. The historic core is a mainly a pre-independence colonial city, when the white rajahs ruled Borneo; a long story we don’t have space for here, but a colorful one that makes the city’s story a compelling one.
Kuching’s crocs are a lively bunch — this one in bronze guards the Esplanade plaza.
In the boom of the ’80s, the city (and the State of Sarawak’s Development Corporation) made a decision to rationally plan for growth … both from the overall context of the economy and from a specific goal of developing tourism.
The direction taken was to conserve the city’s historic resources of architecture and culture, as well as to revive the waterfront. The riverside had deteriorated into a parking lot and the city turned its back to it. A new esplanade was planned, incorporating existing structures but also improving the urban design and landscape architecture to accommodate spaces for modern life and to make it attractive to visitors.
The modern Kuching esplanade was completed in the early ’90s and immediately caught the attention of tourists regionally and internationally. The esplanade also helped to link one side of the city with the other and improved real estate value immensely.
The esplanade provided venues for community and state-wide events. The central plaza at one end provided a front door to the city from the river. Two view towers also marked this plaza and allowed boarding points for river boats (which increased in operation into today’s regular tourist cruises).
Kayaking is super kool in Kuching.
The espalanade’s success is seen in its popularity with locals. It is used for early morning jogging and tai chi. Children frequent it on weekends and food kiosks make it a rendezvous for teenagers.
The Kuching River has also been cleaned up (not that it was dirty). Kayaking is a growing sport and local schools hold competitions. The cleaned-up river and waterfront also led to the general sprucing up of the rest of the city and I saw little in the way of garbage or unkempt sites anywhere we went.
We (a bunch of international journalists and I) also came to Kuching for their world-renowned Rainforest World Music Festival. The festival, which started in 1997, is now a key date in the festival circuit world-wide.
The Rainforest Festival was a short bus ride into where else but the rainforest. The festival featured what else but world music by groups from Africa, South America, and Asia …thank God, there were no pop groups, Beiber or Gaga wannabees. And yes, beer flowed freely (if you’re wondering). A wonderful time was had by all. We went home quite satisfied with the festivities’ overflowing menu of music, food, and spirits (the locals have also apparently taken to western (mostly Australian) wine … with good chardonays, shirazs, cabernet sauvignons available from kiosks.
Cool Kuching river cruises are available every day.
I spent the last day in Kuching walking up and down the one-kilometer esplanade. It is now being extended to allow for more (coordinated) development as the city expands. One hotel, in fact, the 360 Hotel, used a Filipino consultant, architect Yolly Reyes. It has wonderfully modern interiors (embellished in the lobby with a fantastic mural by Robby Mananquil). The city, the capital of Sarawak state, is also the jumping point for adventures into the state’s vast nature preserves, mountains, falls and coastal destinations.
The city museum was built in 1851 and modeled after a European town hall.
I do have friends, too, in Kuching. Juan Lacsamana, or Johnny, is a colorful character whose wedding in Kuching I attended in the early ’90s. He married a local princess and the ceremony, which lasted into the wee hours of the next day, was a classic tale filled with cake fights (started by the best man, his brother Joel), head-banging music and wild dancing, capped by a wild chase around the city ending at the airport. But that’s another story entirely! Regardless of the adventure you’re looking for, from natural to not-the-ordinary, Kuching is truly kool!


Decision trees help people identify the pros and cons of business choices.
A decision tree is a visual tool used to help business professionals weigh the pros, cons and various approaches to major tasks or decisions. A decision tree can help executives break down the elements of a decision-making process and consider input from a range of participants. This type of approach is highly effective when used in brainstorming sessions and strategic planning meetings.
An individual decision tree should be used for each decision that must be made. Create the core or “trunk” for the tree using a whiteboard or large paper flipchart that is easy to write on and is visible to all participants. In the center of the core, briefly summarize the decision to be made. For example, if you are thinking about diversifying your product offerings, you would write “New product development?” in the core.
From the core of your tree, draw two main “branches” or lines that represent the pros and cons of the decision. Using the example of a new product introduction, pros might include increased earnings, entry into new markets and portfolio diversification. Cons could include financial risk and the necessary investment in new machinery and employees.
Continue to expand your decision tree by drawing potential “outcome” lines from each of your individual pros and cons. Following the same example, outcomes for increased earnings could include business stability, increased market share and the ability to expand the size of the business. Outcomes for financial risk could include business debt, job loss and company dissolution.
The more complex the decision to be made, the more significant and complex the decision tree can become. You may opt to continue adding different line categories that allow you to go into greater detail about the processes to be considered as part of the decision-making approach. You could include financial projections, steps to be taken during each stage of the process, timelines for implementation and allocation of staff and resources.
When the decision tree is fully branched out, weigh the outcomes of the two main “pro” and “con” branches. This will help you talk through the information that is on the tree in front of you. Ideally, when the tree is complete, the group should have a firm idea of the best way to proceed. A note-taker may opt to supplement the tree with a written summary of the findings for further consideration and analysis.
McQuerrey, Lisa. "Simple Example of a Decision Tree." Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/simple-example-decision-tree-58613.html. Accessed 25 April 2019.


More information has been released about a two-vehicle collision near Ireton that claimed the life of a child Tuesday afternoon. The victim was six-year old Michayla Bates. She was a passenger in a car driven by 17-year old Paula Smykel of Akron. Sioux County authorities say Smykel made a u-turn into the path of a sport utility vehicle driven by 23-year old Eric Doyle of rural Ireton. The accident happened at the intersection of Sioux County road K-22 and 460th Street. Smykle was airlifted to St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center where she is in fair condition. Doyle was treated and released at the Hawarden Hospital. Four other passengers were taken to the Hawarden hospital, but authorities did not have information about their injuries.