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A leading figure in the nation’s cattle trade claimed there would be serious emotional and health consequences for many Australians from the federal government’s suspension of cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months. Prime Minister Julia Gillard also refused to commit the government to compensating farmers and businesses impacted by the trade ban. “I have grave fears for the social wellbeing for these people," Mr Farley said. “AAco is a big corporation. We have a big, strong balance sheet. There are families out there that can only operate their enterprise for about six months of the year because of the seasonality of [the operation]. Now the cash flow is gone. They are doomed," he said. Ms Gillard pointedly declined to be drawn on whether the government was considering compensation for farmers in a radio interview and in a press conference in Darwin yesterday. Mr Farley said the industry body Meat & Livestock Australia needed to find a compensation solution. He said the industry could have solved the issue without imposing a ban on exports. “The government was smart enough to address the banking system in the financial system in the global financial crisis," Mr Farley said. “This is a crisis in the live exporting business in northern Australia . . . they made the decision to ban it and there are consequences to it and the consequences need to be addressed." Ms Gillard said assurances provided by the industry to ensure cattle were treated humanely by Indonesian abattoirs had failed. “The industry has known these issues needed to be dealt with . . . and [though] the industry has responded since the Four Corners report what they have provided so far doesn’t give us the kind of assurance we want that Australian cattle will be treated in a way that all Australians find acceptable,’’ Ms Gillard told the ABC. She accused the industry of being too slow to clean up its act despite knowing of the problems with the Indonesian live cattle trade. The allegation was denied by Meat & Livestock Australia chairman Don Heatly, who said the industry would have acted earlier if it knew about the “grotesque brutality". Ms Gillard said Indonesia didn’t have grounds to challenge the decision in the World Trade Organisation. “Let’s be very clear here: what we have done does not breach WTO rules,’’ she said. Mr Farley, who was disturbed by the television images of cattle being mistreated, said the industry had not invested enough time and energy in live export markets. The Australian Financial Review

Perhaps it should have waited longer. Two years ago, the beauty products maker Coty weighed going public but pulled back when markets turned rocky. The company has now taken the plunge, and its shares had a lacklustre debut on Thursday – when world stock markets were again nervous. Shares of Coty opened flat at their offering price, $US17.50. They ended the day down 1.14 per cent, at $US17.30, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It is one of the biggest initial public offerings in the United States this year. Shareholders, including the wealthy Reimann family of Germany and the investment firms Berkshire Partners and Rhone Capital, sold 57.14 million Class A shares of Coty on Wednesday, raising a bit less than $US1 billion. The sale valued the company at about $US6.7 billion. The Reimanns will continue to control the company through voting shares. The family, through its investment vehicle, Joh. Benckiser, bought Coty for $US440 million from Pfizer in 1992. Coty’s brands now include Calvin Klein, Chloé, Davidoff, Marc Jacobs and philosophy. The company says it is No. 2 in fragrances worldwide and the sixth-biggest in the world in colour cosmetics. It sells its products – endorsed by Beyoncé and Katy Perry – in more than 130 countries. Coty’s selling shareholders sought to take advantage of a burgeoning market for stock offerings amid a healthy rise in equity market valuations this year. The company’s owners are also betting on a revival of consumer confidence, with customers increasing their purchases of higher-ticket perfumes and nail polishes. According to a Euromonitor survey cited in Coty’s prospectus, the company’s main sectors are expected to grow 3 per cent to 4 per cent a year through 2016. Coty reported $US258.1 million in net income for the nine months ended March 31, up more than fourfold compared with results in the period a year earlier, though its revenue was roughly flat at $US3.59 billion. Founded by a French perfumer 108 years ago, Coty has become a significant player in the global cosmetics market. It already has a strong hold in the perfume market, especially in the realm of licensed fragrances from the likes of Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and Chloé. And through a string of deals for companies like OPI and TJoy of China, it has broadened both its product offerings and its reach. Coty now sells its wares in more than 130 countries, with an increasing emphasis in emerging markets like Brazil and China. That international push was one of the main drivers behind the company’s $US10.7 billion bid for Avon last year. Despite being about half the size of its target, Coty argued that it could bring a strong management team to its embattled rival. Yet despite securing the backing of Berkshire Hathaway, Coty was unable to convince Avon of the merits of a merger and withdrew its takeover bid last spring. Soon afterward, it filed for an initial public offering. Coty had contemplated going public two years ago but held off because of volatile market conditions. Its offering was led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. The New York Times

The West Australian budget is headed for a forecast $1.79 billion surplus in three years, fuelled by a sharp rebound in royalties from iron ore and other minerals, but debt is still predicted to rise more than $5 billion due to capital works spending. In a pre-election financial update released before the March 9 poll, an anticipated budget deficit in 2013-14 was wiped away by the return of huge mineral wealth. State Treasury officials forecast that mining royalties would add more than $1.86 billion to state budgets during the next three fiscal years, compared with estimates published in the mid-year review in December. WA Treasurer “These figures, when contrasted with those in the mid-year review, clearly show that there’s a lot of volatility underpinning the state’s finances," Mr Buswell said after the release of the figures on Thursday. Nonetheless, the substantial change to WA’s books means opposing political parties will be under less pressure to promote austerity measures than they were with a looming deficit. The forecast gains in royalty revenue are expected to be offset by a $745 million reduction in goods and services tax revenue. A mechanism to distribute GST funds to states and territories works against resource states enjoying strong royalty inflows. All up, changes to the royalty flows, new exchange rate predictions and GST carve-up forecasts mean the winner of the March state election is expected to have $1.3 billion more, over three years, than was predicted in December. “While these projections suggest a better outlook for the general government sector relative to the mid-year review . . . they highlight that the state’s finances are very sensitive to changes in global conditions that are beyond the control of state governments," the pre-election papers say. Mr Buswell said if re-elected the government would continue to work towards large surpluses to protect the bottom line against royalty fluctuations. “I think West Australians understand we are an export economy and royalties are a big part of our revenue stream and that movements in royalties will impact on government aggregates. “Part of the strategy has to be to maintain large budget surpluses. Large budget surpluses give you a buffer and … the capacity to pay down debt." State surpluses are expected to increase from a modest $240 million this financial year to $1.78 billion by 2015-16. Backed by mining royalties, Liberal Premier Debt is still forecast to hit $23.7 billion by 2016 from the current $18.3 billion this financial year, rather than the previously forecast $24.8 billion. The debt levels are largely the result of a big capital works program and had loomed as a key election issue. Mr Buswell justified the high level as debt as necessary. “In terms of debt, the government made a conscious decision to invest in infrastructure, particularly in hospitals… knowing we would have to borrow money," he said. Ratings agencies placed the state’s AAA credit rating on “negative outlook". AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said on Thursday that the rating agency warnings showed that WA governments had not necessarily handled their mineral wealth well. “I think it was an indictment on the governments over the last few years in WA," Mr Oliver said. A “negative outlook" warning from Standard & Poor’s means the agency believes there is a one-in-three chance the rating could be lowered in the next two years. John Nicolaou, chief economist at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, said resources states still faced structural problems in their budgets. “Revenues in some areas have been flat or declining and in other areas have been very volatile," Mr Nicolaou said. The Australian Financial Review

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – John Reutter, director of planning and resource development, has been named acting president today at Drake State Community & Technical College. Reutter's appointment came from Mark Heinrich, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. Reutter replaces Helen McAlpine, who today was named by Heinrich to be the interim president of Gadsden State Community College. Reutter, who has worked at Drake State since 2006, has a bachelor's degree from California State Polytechnic University, a master's degree from Rutgers University, a master's degree from the University of North Alabama and a doctorate from the University of Alabama, according to the Drake State website. Reutter has worked closely with McAlpine in shepherding the school to community college status in 2013. The school had an enrollment of 1,056 in the fall of 2013. The school also has plans to update its campus with new facilities. Reutter was not immediately available for comment today.

How did three Danes end up being tortured in Lebanon? The army officer and alleged collusion in Yemen 12 Feb 2014 14:56 GMT | Politics, Environment, Humanitarian crises, Africa, Congo More than 400,000 people have been displaced in the southern Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They fled their homes to escape increasing violence by armed militias collectively known as Mayi Mayi Kata-Katanga. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: Al Jazeera While hopes for peace blossomed after M23 rebel surrender, much work remains after 20 years of war. Politics, Congo, Rwanda, Switzerland, Uganda Millions have died and over 400,000 have been displaced by the ongoing battle for control of the country's resources.

Tag Roy Kim presents Psy with a gift backstage at the '2012 MAMA' 'Superstar K4' winner Roy Kim recently met up with Psy backstage at the '2012 MAMA'. Fans were eager to see the two stars finally meet face to face, not as a judge and contestant, but as one singer to another. This was Roy Kim's first encounter with Psy since last August after Psy was unable to continue judging 'Superstar K4' due to his overseas activities. Prior to Roy Kim's performance at the awards ceremony, the singer visited Psy's '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' scores high in ratings The 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), broadcast simultaneously on seven channels, was a hit for the night with ratings of 3.5%. Since the show was aired on cable networks, a 3.5% rating is considered to be very respectable. The ratings also increased throughout the night, with the numbers rising from 3.168% in Part 1 of the awards program to 5.152% as the show approached its climax. The number of viewers peaked as Big Bang won the Ar Actress Han Ga In can't take her eyes off of G-Dragon? Actress Han Ga In seems to have fallen head over heels for charismatic singer, Big Bang's G-Dragon. Recently, the photo above was shared on an online community board under the title, 'Han Ga In staring at G-Dragon'. The picture seems to have been taken by a fan during the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA'), which took place in Hong Kong on November 30th. The photo shows the actress, who was presiding over the award, observing G-Dra K. Will snaps a proof shot with B.o.B backstage at the '2012 MAMA' Male soloist K. Will, who recently took home the title of 'Best Solo Vocal Performance' at the 2012 MAMA ceremony, shared a photo taken with B.o.B. backstage! On December 1st, the singer wrote on his Twitter, "Taken right after an amazing collaboration stage with Bobby Ray (B.o.B.) I followed him on Twitter". Dressed handsomely in matching black and gold attire, the two give the signature victory pose for the camera after their praise-w Winners from the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' On November 30th, Mnet hosted its '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA') in Hong Kong, attracting stars and performers from both Korea and around the world. Check out 2012′s winners and nominees! (Winners will be bolded in the list) ===== Daesang Award (Grand Prize) ▲ Artist of the Year Big Bang 2NE1 AOA B.A.P EXO-K G-Dragon G.NA K.Will Ga In TVXQ J.Y. Park Busker Busker Baek Ji Young BoA B2ST Se7en Girls' Gene Performances from the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' On November 29th, Mnet hosted its '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA') in Hong Kong, attracting stars and performers from both Korea and around the world. Check out their performances below! ====== < Song Joong Ki & G-Dragon > = < Ailee & B.A.P's Bang Yong Guk > = < Ga In, SISTAR, Trouble Maker > = < Lee Hi & Epik High > = < Roy Kim > = < Big Bang to perform on stage as five for '2012 MAMA' Big Bang will be performing together as five for the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards'! Mnet uploaded a short video of the members of Big Bang revealing the news and some teasers for their '2012 MAMA' stage. G-Dragon increased anticipation by stating, "'MAMA' to Big Bang is like the final exam because it is our biggest project, performance wise, for the end of the year." This will be the first time Big Bang will be performing on TV with al Ailee confirmed as the opening act for the '2012 MAMA' Ailee has been given the honor of opening the '2012 MAMA' ceremony on November 30th. According

Who else has declined a knighthood? Among others: David Bowie, musicianMeanwhile, also at the link: Winston Churchill declined a Dukedom, Neville Chamberlain declined an earldom, John Cleese declined a barony, and John Lennon returned his MBE "in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts." Francis Crick, physicist and Nobel Prize winner Michael Faraday, scientist Albert Finney, actor E. M. Forster, author and essayist Michael Frayn, novelist and dramatist John Galsworthy, playwright and novelist Graham Greene, novelist Stephen Hawking, scientist David Hockney, CH, RA, artist Aldous Huxley, author Rudyard Kipling, author Henry Moore, sculptor J.B. Priestley, novelist and playwright George Bernard Shaw, playwright and critic Paul Scofield, actor Ralph Vaughan Williams composer H.G. Wells, writer The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these.Said Thomas Paine. 36 comments: That's pretty neat. I like Albert Finney even more now, and can't get used to all this Sir Paul crap. What the fuck good is a knighthood now that you're not even allowed to ravage peasant villages anymore? This sacrifice of common sense is the certain badge which distinguishes slavery from freedom; for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. Too bad that sentiment didn't stay viral. ...for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. Our country manged to yield up the privilege of thinking without titles. I'm not against recognizing a person's achievements with a purely symbolic prize or title, but I often tend to disagree with the types of achievements (or lack thereof)that are deemed worthy of recognition. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize comes to mind. I can understand Huxley and Shaw (especially Shaw), but I'd love to know why Kipling, Faraday, and Crick turned it down. Ann Althouse said... The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these years? We'd be calling Cap Weinberger Sir Caspar - which I would do if i ever met him. But we do call former military officers by their rank and we have all those other titles - Governor, Senator, Judge,... Princess of the Internets. Maguro said... What the fuck good is a knighthood now that you're not even allowed to ravage peasant villages anymore? Worse, they make you go to knight school. (thank you, I'm here all week) Big deal. It's no biggie durning down the chance to be a knight. In 1959 Otis Redding turned down the chance to be a Pip. That's impressive. Gladys Knight never got over it. Considering the farce he made of the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies, Boyle deserves to be drawn and quartered, not knighted. I had to click the story to figure out who Danny Boyle is. Knowing that now, I find it funny that someone who created an Olympic tribute to a state agency would decline laurels from said state.. I insist on being called "My Lord" in my bedroom. Yea, kinda lonely in there, but my dogs know who the master is, so I got that going for me. Bowing to a Royal family and honoring their blue blooded friends is a reenactment of the Roman Empire's main governing tool that worshiped the son of god, Augustus Caesar and his family. That is also seen in the dividing line between Episcopal/Anglican ethos and the Presbyterian/Baptist ethos in our culture. The Presbyterians/Baptists won the war and have been dominant until the recent humanist religion based upon Gaia worship. Since 1914 mega disaster caused by Royal family governance it has been done away with in most of Europe. It's the old top down governance vs. bottom up governance. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these years? We'd probably be paying our high civil servants less. They'd get a smaller pension, but a knighthood and maybe an Order of the American Empire for their service. Our aristocracy is closer to the aristocracy of Imperial China -- much as our society resembles the society of Imperial China more than it resembles the society of the Framers. There, it wasn't precisely inherited titles of nobility so much as membership in a ruling class defined by high marks on standardised exams and prestigious education, honour derived from illustrious fathers or grandfathers, and titles of office. What would Thomas Paine know - he's a dead, white, European male. Ideas don't stand on their own. They must come from the right people to be relevant. Now if a wise Latina were to say such a thing... Re: Bob R:. On the contrary, we should refer to all former high ministers of the government -- Presidents, Secretaries, Governors, and all -- as Excellency. Presidents can be "Most Serene Excellency," Governors "Serene Exellency," Cabinet Secretaries and Lt. Governors "High Excellency," Ambassadors and other inferior ministers mere "Excellency." His Most Serene Excellency Barack Hussein Obama II, President of the United States of America. Does it not roll trippingly off the tongue? Balfegor, did you work for the Nixon Administration? traditionalguy said... Since 1914 mega disaster caused by Royal family governance it has been done away with in most of Europe. Yes, now it's caused by any slob you see on the street. Sieg Heil, baby. He's not allowed to be an "equal citizen." The most he can be is an equal subject. Unless he emigrates, of course. RE: Icepick: Balfegor, did you work for the Nixon Administration? I forgot! UNIFORMS! With GOLD BRAID! Also get rid of that dopey fanfare and have them play soemthing that will make the listener tremble. Also, victory titles -- Arianicus Maximus! The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. Mrs. Barbara Boxer will be disappointed to hear that. Adults neither seek nor accept awards. What would happen if we granted titles? There was once a facetious monthly column adding new members to "America's House of Lords," defined as government operatives, media figures and "public intellectuals" who screwed up everything they touched or were wrong about everything they said or wrote but nevertheless always rose in the esteem of their circle, e.g. Anthony Lewis, Jaime Gorlick, Lester Thurow. Unfortunately, that's exactly the kind of people who would be honored. The list of declines is a lustrous group. Does Danny Boyle really have what it takes to be a member? (That's a joke, I feel I must mention, since it's come to my attention some commenters are rather challenged in that area.) Churchill and Chamberlain are obvious - they wanted to stay in the House of Commons, and accepting peerages would have removed them to the Lords. They knew where the real power was. Thatcher accepted her title because she knew she'd never have real power in Commons again. Kipling was a surprise, though I suspect he may have thought himself unworthy of it, compared to many of the brave souls he wrote about. What about the so-called Medal of Freedom, which is handed out to retired hack politicians and leftist singers and actors? The U.S. doesn't grant titles of nobility, but citizens are not barred from accepting them, as far as I could find with a quick Internet check. A constitutional amendment was offered to bar it, but it hasn't been ratified by enough states. In my opinion, it's a bad idea for the government to restrict citizens' choices in this way. That said, I think it's a good thing that the UK continues to have a royal and aristocratic tradition. In all humility, we can't claim to have perfected the art of government. We are a republic, and the mother country is a monarchy. So let it be. We can learn some things, and enjoy some of the benefits of the old way, without losing the benefits of a republican system. There's something to be said for the idea of nobility, however badly it fails in execution--but then the same can be said for our system in the U.S. Granting titles of nobility can be a great way of raising revenue - even better than vanity plates. How about a "Sir" title after 10 million paid in taxes and a "Lord" title after 100,000 million paid (over the course of a lifetime). Instead of avoiding taxes, wealthy people will actually pay more taxes to achieve status. As a gesture to the masses, a few titles each year could be granted solely on merit. I've always loved the inconguity of the British "Question Time", where the MPs would refer to each other as "the Right Honourable Gentleman" immediately before embarking upon verbal savagery. Ahhh, good times. I have never heard of anyone turning down a MacArthur Grant and only a couple of people who have turned down a Nobel. The people who turned down the Nobel were already wealthy. From this I surmise that people value money more than honor. I'd like to hear of some artist turning down a MacArthur on the grounds that the money might corrupt or subvert his art.... One of Napoleon's innovations in the art of warfare was awarding ribbons to those who distinguished themselves in battle. Men, especially enlisted men, would throw themselves in harm's way to win these pretty ribbons. So honor has its uses. Boyle's a pompous ass, and still a goddamn subject. If he wants to become a citizen, he'll need to emigrate to someplace that isn't a monarchy, and pass that sunny land's hurdles for citizenship. Citizenship isn't a stance or a lifestyle, it's a legal and moral relationship with a commonwealth. I have to wonder what Kipling's deal was, if he refused a title. Titles are, I understand, tied up with class issues that don't necessarily make first-encounter sense to Americans, I suppose, and Kipling's writing and poetry has a lot of working-class posturing to it. Especially the Soldiers' Ballads. Anthony's right about Churchill and Chamberlain - you can't have a title and sit in the House of Commons. I wonder if it's possible to renounce your title for political reasons in the United Kingdom? Hmm, apparently Douglas-Home did, to become Prime Minister. The schmuck went and took a life peerage after leaving office, though, so it was a pretty weak-tea sort of renunciation of title, more like a revolving-door that screwed his heirs than anything real. Re: Mitch H: Anthony's right about Churchill and Chamberlain - you can't have a title and sit in the House of Commons. Not quite. You could be a Lord and sit in the Commons if you went by a courtesy title (subsidiary title of your father's main title) or if you were an Irish Peer. Irish Peers for some time could either sit in the Commons or get elected as a Representative Peer and sit in the Lords. Re: Douglas-Home: I wonder if it's possible to renounce your title for political reasons in the United Kingdom? Hmm, apparently Douglas-Home did, to become Prime Minister. Technically he became Prime Minister first before renouncing his title and standing for election to the Commons. I think it's still perfectly legal for the Prime Minister to sit in the Lords, although Salisbury was the last to do it for his entire premiership. Custom is now that the PM is supposed to be from the Commons. Anyhow, Home sticks out to me as -- I believe -- the last instance of the British sovereign personally choosing the PM. My impression is that for many years, the Conservatives' succession planning was essentially that the King/Queen will call someone to form a government, and that person will be the leader of the party. And there was a natural split between the Lords and the Commons. So it was Salisbury (Lords) vs. Northcote (Commons) in 1885, Curzon (Lords) vs. Baldwin (commons) in 1923, and Butler (Commons) vs. Maudling (Commons) vs. Hailsham (Lords) in 1963, that last resulting in the Queen's unexpected appointment of Lord Home as PM. Didn't Churchill turn it down for the sake of his son? Why yes, I could google an answer. I'm trying to be more extrovert perceiving. perhaps he just figured out he doesn't want to be known as sir danny. sir kenneth or sir laurence sound much more dignified of course. vanitas vanitatum. Apparently Kipling declined the Knighthood out of modesty, as he did the Poet Laureateship. One of my NCOs called me Sir Ken. We were so close, it would have been awkward for him to call me by my rank--Lieutenant. I called him Chief. He was a Chief Master Sergeant. We both knew these ranks were artificial.

WEXFORD - Maddison Miller scored eight points to lead undefeated Altoona to a 31-21 win over North Allegheny in junior high girls basketball Wednesday. Altoona hiked its record to 4-0. ALTOONA (31): Kelly 5, Miller 8, Shilling 7, Woomer 5, Brumbaugh 6. NORTH ALLEGHENY (21): Blanchard 3, Miller 5, Hazlett 4, Jenkins 3, Finochio 2, Port 4. Records: Altoona (4-0); North Allegheny (2-2). Penn Cambria44 Bishop McCort15 GALLITZIN - Miche Burkett scored 23 points to lead unbeaten Penn Cambria to a win over Bishop McCort. Penn Cambria is now 2-0. BISHOP MCCORT (15): Duplin 2, King 1, Rhine 4, Shroyer 2, Brisko 4, Bridges 2. PENN CAMBRIA (44): Burkett 23, Strasser 8, Michina 3, Sral 4, K. Guzic 1, L. Guzic 1, George 2, Harvey 2. Records: Penn Cambria (2-0). Somerset 29 Cambria Heights23 PATTON - Maria Weimer scored 13 points to lead Somerset to a win over Cambria Heights. Madison Kline led Heights with eight points. SOMERSET (29): Weimer 13, Lane 2, Direnzo 6, Robinson 2, Vogt 6. CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (23): Kline 8, Fox 2, Farabaugh 4, Gill 5, Thomas 4. Records: Cambria Heights (1-2). 7th-8th grade: Somerset, 34-9 Bishop Guilfoyle63 Richland7 Ryley Lewis scored 17 points to go with 11 from Molly Kibler to lead Bishop Guilfoyle past Richland at the Pleasant Valley gymnasium. RICHLAND (7): Maglicca 1, Pasko 4, Townseno 2. BISHOP GUILFOYLE (63): Consiglio 8, Lewis 17, Labriola 8, Crider 5, Kibler 11, Kiesewetter 6, Jennings 6, Yahner 2. Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (4-0), Richland (0-3). 8th-grade score: Bishop Guilfoyle 56, Richland 2. High scorer: Kibler, BG, 18. Bishop Carroll27 Johnstown18 EBENSBURG - Maria Schall scored eight points to lead Bishop Carroll to a win over Johnstown. JOHNSTOWN (18): Harris 2, Loe 11, Richards 5. BISHOP CARROLL (27): Martinazzi 4, Schall 8, Kline 2, SImmons 6, Dunchak 2, Borlie 2, Blake 2, Novak 1. Records: Bishop Carroll (2-0). 8th grade: Bishop Carroll, 26-8 Huntingdon31 Tyrone21 HUNTINGDON - Despite Sidney Shaw's eight points, Tyrone (2-2) dropped a decision to Huntingdon. TYRONE (21): Shaw 8, Crabtree 5, McKenna 3, Makdad 3, Kramer 2. HUNTINGDON (31): Miller 10, Easter 8, Hawkins 6, Gearhart 4, Gutshall 2. Records: Tyrone (2-2). Eighth grade: Tyrone 30, Huntingdon 7. High scorers-S.Shaw, T, 12. BOYS Altoona White43 Punxsutawney38 Trey Barr and Alex Weaver scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, to lead Altoona White to a win over Punxsutawney in boys action. PUNXSUTAWNEY (38): Ambler 5, Burkett 2, Constant 3, Kelly 4, Fedigan 6, Horner 4, Snyder 2, Triponey 3, Weaver 6, Young 1, Zimmerman 2. ALTOONA WHITE (43): Weaver 12, Deterline 2, Russo 3, Sell 2, Skelley 5, Barr 13, Hoover 4, Ajay 2. Records: Punxsutawney (3-1); Altoona White (3-2). Altoona Maroon57 Central Mountain20 MILL HALL - Jarod Kutz scored a game-high 13 points and Daquain Watson added 11 as Altoona Maroon throttled Central Mountain. Altoona Maroon improved to 2-3. Central Mountain (0-2) was led by Trevor Smith's 10 points. ALTOONA MAROON (57): Gibson 4, Palfey 1, Hord 4, Sheetz 5, Kutz 13, McCloskey 3, McGeary 6, Watson 11, Day 8, Miller 2. CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (20): Smith 10, Rhine 3, Frankhauser 1, Neff 4, Carpenetti 2. Records: Altoona Maroon (2-3); Central Mountain (0-2). Claysburg-Kimmel35 Northern Bedford22 LOYSBURG - Claysburg-Kimmel got 10 points from Landon Bauman in the Bulldogs' win over Northern Bedford. Josh Dasher led Northern Bedford (0-4) with six points. CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (35): Benton 3, Dibert 3, Musselman 2, Walter 2, Long 5, Bauman 10, Helsel 8, Ody 2. NORTHERN BEDFORD (22): McCue 4, Dasher 6, Fernandez 4, Foor 5, Donaldson 3. Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (1-2), Northern Bedford (0-4). 301 Cayuga Ave. , Altoona, PA 16602 | 814-946-7411 © 2015. All rights reserved.| Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Following its fairly successful February theatrical release, Disney’s The Jungle Book 2 lands on DVD and VHS today. The Buena Vista Home Ent. release retails for $29.99 DVD and $24.99 VHS and promises to deliver much more than just the bare necessities. In The Jungle Book 2, wild child Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment) lives in the village with humans but longs to see his bear buddy, Baloo (John Goodman). When he sneaks away to the jungle, the villainous tiger, Shere Kahn (Tony Jay), sees his opportunity to take revenge and the chase is on. The sequel was was written by Karl Geurs and directed by Steve Trenbirth. Christopher Chase and Mary Thorne produced. DVD extra features include a behind-the-scenes featurette titled The Legacy of The Jungle Book, a synopsis of Walt Disney’s original The Jungle Book, Mowgli’s Jungle Ruins Maze set-top game, Disney’s song selection, deleted musical sequences with filmmaker introductions, and music videos for W-I-L-D, Jungle Rhythm and Smash Mouth’s I Wanna Be Like You. Also arriving on home video today is Miramax’s critically acclaimed biopic Frida, starring Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Edward Norton, Antonio Banderas and Ashley Judd. The film features a dream sequence with stop-motion animation by accomplished cult favorites the Brothers Quay. Extra features on the two-disc DVD set include a behind-the-scenes look at the effects hosted by the Quays. The title lists for $29.99 DVD.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) —. Critics call the department's move a rush to judgment and say it will have a chilling effect on officers in the field. "What it does is it shakes their confidence because, like it or not, most cops like to think their department has their back," Randy Hagler, president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, told The Associated Press. "That's not to say the department is going to cover anything up. They just want the department to give them a fair shake. That's all we ask for. And officers in our community don't necessarily all feel that way." Dan fired 12 shots, hitting Ferrell with all but two. Ferrell died at the scene.." © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and

[Part I] In analyzing the fabric strength of the material that evolutionists have woven together to promote the importance of Archaeopteryx, we must invest some time looking at an important anatomical feature, for it is at this point that we begin to see the threads of evolution unravel. Current evolutionary theory demands that the lungs of certain land-dwelling animals “somehow” evolved into bird lungs. However, birds’ lungs are quite unlike the lungs of other animals because they do not “breathe out.” The lungs of land-dwelling animals work somewhat like a bellows in which the “good” air is inhaled and the “bad” air is exhaled. Birds’ lungs, on the other hand, are unique because they have an opening at each end and thus possess a one-way respiratory system. In birds’ lungs, the new air comes in one end, is stored in special sacs until needed, and then is stored in another sac until it is released out the other end. So how do the millions of years required for evolution mesh with the fact that “air breathers” can survive for only a few moments (at most) if a disruption to their respiratory system occurs? How can you take a “two-way” reptile lung and over a period of minutes evolve it into a fully functional “one-way” bird lung? The simple answer is, you cannot. John Ruben, an expert in respiratory physiology from Oregon State University at Corvallis, addressed the problem of such a hypothetical intermediate. Recently, conventional wisdom has held that birds are direct descendants of theropod dinosaurs [those dinosaurs that are said to have been “beastfooted” and bipedal Saurischians—BH/BT]. [or hole—BH/BT] in taxa transitional between theropods and birds. Such a debilitating condition would have immediately compromised the entire pulmonary ventilatory apparatus and seems unlikely to have been of any selective advantage (1997, 278:1269). To suggest that the “debilitating condition of a diaphragmatic hernia would have immediately compromised the entire pulmonary apparatus” and thus be “unlikely to have been of any selective advantage” is nothing more than scientific “prestige jargon” for stating the obvious: in other words, the animal would not have been able to breathe. We think it is a gross understatement, therefore, to suggest that this “seems unlikely to have been of any selective advantage.” Death—to put it bluntly—is not a good survival mechanism! Overall, dinosaurs can be divided into two groups based on the shape of their pelvis. The Saurischia are “lizard hipped” dinosaurs, whereas Ornithischia are considered “bird hipped.” Strange as it may seem, Archaeopteryx (and thus all modern birds) allegedly evolved from the Saurischia, not the bird-hipped Ornithischia. Evolutionists, therefore, have spent countless hours trying to connect Archaeopteryx with its fellow Saurischian, the theropod—a “beastfooted,” bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur. A comparison of the pelvic bones of modern perching birds and Archaeopteryx reveals that both probably assisted their breathing while perching by means of muscles attached between their pubis and tail. In contrast, the pelvic bones of the theropod dinosaurs look nothing like that of either modern birds or Archaeopteryx, but instead look more similar to those of modern reptiles (like the crocodile, for example). There is no way for the pubis of modern reptiles or the theropod dinosaurs to serve as an attachment point for suprapubic muscles that are needed to assist in breathing during perching. Numerous studies have pointed out that the curvature of Archaeopteryx’s claws, compared to the curvature of modern birds’ claws, puts it firmly in the “perching bird” category (see Feduccia, 1993). In fact, the habits of birds that are similar to Archaeopteryx (such as the earthbound Australian pheasant cuckoo) can be distinguished on the basis of claw curvature. Furthermore, the unusual claws on the wings of Archaeopteryx resemble those of various tree-climbing birds, and differ noticeably from the claws of its supposed dinosaurian relatives. As ornithologist Alan Feduccia put it: “Archaeopteryx probably cannot tell us much about the early origin of feathers and flight in the true protobirds because Archaeopteryx was, in the modern sense, a bird” (1993, 249:792). Our point exactly! Much controversy has occurred in scientific circles regarding whether Archaeopteryx should be classified strictly as a bird or as a “transitional intermediate” between dinosaurs and birds. Many researchers automatically place this animal into the “bird” category based solely on the presence of feathers. As Feduccia noted: “Feathers are unique to birds, and no known structure intermediate between scales and feathers has been identified” (Feduccia, 1980, p. 52). Creationists, of course, have long made that very point. In fact, writing in volume two of their Modern Creation Trilogy on this matter in regard to Archaeopteryx, Henry Morris and John Morris stated: Archaeopteryx is a “mosaic” of useful and functioning structures found also in other creatures, not a “transition” between them. A true transitional structure would be, say, a “sceather”—that is, a half-scale, half-feather—or a “ling”—half-leg, half-wing—or, perhaps a half-evolved heart or liver or eye. Such transitional structures, however, would not survive in any struggle for existence (1996, 2:70). Recent intriguing discoveries have caused researchers to speculate with wild abandon about exactly how Archaeopteryx fits into the dinosaurs-to-birds theory. As you will see later in this article, some evolutionists have haplessly fashioned a fascinating tale of dinosaur-to-bird descendants, only to realize after the fact that they actually have created a huge time-line fiasco for themselves (and for the birds!). Much of this began after several important recent finds in China, in what some believe is ever-increasing evidence that establishes a direct link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The first find, uncovered in the early 1990s, was a newly discovered bird named Confuciusornis from the Yixian formation of Liaoning province in northeastern China. The find, which is considered more modern in form than Archaeopteryx, was described from three partial skeletons, and is said to be roughly half the size of the London specimen of Archaeopteryx (while sharing several common features). In his 1999 book, In Search of Deep Time, zoologist (and senior editor for Nature) Henry Gee noted: Unlike Archaeopteryx, which had a conventional reptilian spout, Confuciusornis had a beak, the earliest record of a beak in the fossil record. In more than 150 years, only seven specimens of Archaeopteryx have ever been found, and each one is treated as a priceless relic. The contrast with Confuciusornis could hardly be greater; in only a few years, hundreds of specimens had been excavated from Liaoning province. Confuciusornis joined a steadily accumulating catalogue of fossil birds unearthed in the 1980s and 1990s from a small number of fossil sites in China, Spain, and other countries. Most fossils came from the mid to late Cretaceous. None were [sic] as old as Archaeopteryx itself, which still remained the oldest bird (pp. 188-189). The exact age of these combined specimens, however, has turned out to be a matter of intense debate among evolutionists, having been reported to be either “as old as” or “older than,” Archaeopteryx (Hou, 1995), or almost the same age (Gee, p. 189). In 1996, two additional finds were discovered. The first was Compsognathus, a small theropod about the size of a chicken (see Gibbons, 1996a, 274:720-721; Corliss, 1998, p. 281). Dated at 121 million years old, Compsognathus is too recent to have given rise to Archaeopteryx. Initially, it was believed to have had a mane of downy feathers running along its neck, back, and tail, which caused Yale paleontologist John Ostrom to state: “If it does have feathers, it could be a descendant of the dinosaur that gave rise to birds” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996a, 274:720). At first, Dr. Ostrom believed that the structures on the back of Compsognathus were, in fact, some kind of primordial feathers. Later, however, he abandoned that idea as erroneous (see Corliss, 1998, p. 280). Furthermore, University of North Carolina ornithologist Alan Feduccia and University of Kansas paleontologist Larry Martin have suggested that the creature’s anatomy was all wrong and much too distinctly un-bird-like: Feduccia noted: “It’s biophysically impossible to evolve flight from such large bipeds with foreshortened forelimbs and heavy, balancing tails” as Compsognathus (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996a, 274:721). In his 1998 volume, Biological Anomalies: Birds, scientist William R. Corliss concluded: “Compsognathus was too good to be true.... [T]he structures along the fossil’s back were not really feathers. Just what they were remains a mystery” (p. 280, emp. in orig.). That was not the end of the story, however, because the discovery of another fossilized creature was announced later that same year (1996). Sinosauropteryx [Chinese winged lizard] originally was uncovered in China in 1992 and is believed by evolutionists to be about 135 million years old. It differs from Archaeopteryx in that its main toes face away from its other toes rather than all of them pointing forward. This placement allows for better gripping of branches, and thus is viewed as an important advance over Archaeopteryx. However, some have suggested that Sinosauropteryx’s features are due to the manner in which the damaged fossil was reconstructed (a not-too-improbable scenario, as you will see later in this article when we discuss the fossil fraud, Archaeoraptor). The skeleton of Sinosauropteryx was said to be surrounded by a halo of “fuzz,” which resulted in the discovery making headlines on the front page of the respected New York Times and being viewed by many as confirmation of the dinosaurian origins of birds. However, after all the facts were gathered the verdict was somewhat different. Henry Gee stated in regard to the Sinosauropteryx “feathers”: At the time, there was a great deal of debate about the significance of the fibers. They did not really look much like either hairs or feathers. Chen [Chen Pei-Ji from Nanjing, the Chinese scientist who discovered the Sinosauropteryx fossils (see Chen, 1998)—BH/BT] and his colleagues called them “integumentary structures,” in a way to avoid seeming to prejudge the functions or affinities of these structures. Some even supposed that they were not external at all, but internal collagenous struts supporting a lizard-like frill.... The range of types of skin covering in extant tetrapods is rather limited; apart from bare skin, there are scales, hair, or feathers, and that’s it. The not-quite-feathery, not-quite-hairy fibres of Sinosauropteryx may represent a completely different, hitherto unknown variety of vertebrate skin covering.... [T]he significance of fibres of Sinosauropteryx in understanding the origin of birds in particular is hard to estimate.... Sinosauropteryx remained an enigma: were its puzzling integumentary structures peculiar to itself, revealing nothing about the ancestry of feathers, or did they represent a significant discovery that might further understanding of the origin of feathers, and therefore of birds? (1999, pp. 190,191). Since the initial find of Sinosauropteryx, two additional discoveries of the creature have been made (one is a dromaeosaur and the other is a therizinosaur), both of which have the same type of Sinosauropteryx-like fibers. Larry Martin of the University of Kansas (Lawrence) thinks the fine structures may be “frayed collagenous fibers” beneath the skin that have nothing whatsoever to do with either feathers or birds. John Ruben of Oregon State University (Corvallis) dissected a sea snake’s tail and showed that such fibers can indeed look feathery [see Gibbons, 1997, 278:1229]. In an intriguingly titled article (“Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur”) published in Science, Ann Gibbons referred to “roughly a half-dozen Western paleontologists who have seen the specimens” and who admitted that “the structures are not modern feathers” (1997, 278:1229). And now, to add to the confusion, hotly disputed claims from China of the discovery of two species of dinosaurs that allegedly possessed feathers (Protoarchaeopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui) have many evolutionists scratching their heads and reevaluating their time lines altogether. Protoarchaeopteryx, the larger of the two specimens, is about the size of a turkey and has a patch of bird-like feathers at the tip of its tail. Caudipteryx had a fairly short tail, a fan of tail feathers, and a fringe of feathers along the trailing edges of each of its forearms. Two Chinese scientists, Ji Qiang and Ji Shuan, discovered these so-called “feathered dinosaurs” in the same location as the Sinosauropteryx, and suggested in an article in Chinese Geology (and then later in another article in the June 25, 1998 issue of Nature [393:753-761]) that the feathers link these creatures both to theropods and to birds. That same year, in an article in Science, Philip Currie asserted: “You can’t get around the fact that these are feathers on dinosaurs” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1998, 280:2051). In his book, In Search of Deep Time, Gee wrote This time, the nature of the skin was quite unambiguous, because these dinosaurs had unmistakable feathers, rather than enigmatic fibres.... The feathers are like those of birds; each one has a central stalk, and vanes on either side. Given the smallness of these creatures’ arms, it is extremely unlikely that either dinosaur was capable of flight.... The implications of these discoveries are profound: the discovery of feathers in patently non-flying dromaeosaurs demonstrates that feathers existed before the evolution of flight. It can no longer be claimed that the origin of birds is inextricably linked with the origin of flight or denied that the heritage of the birds is closely linked with that of the theropod dinosaurs.... The discovery of these feathered dinosaurs has brought the debate about the origin of birds to a close (1999, pp. 191,192). Even evolutionists who do not accept the dinosaur-to-bird concept of evolution agree that the feathers are real. They stress, however, that the feathers document the fact that the two creatures were birds, not dinosaurs. Larry Martin wrote: “I think they’ve found a group of flightless birds” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1998, 280:2051). The radiometric dating of the sites in which the finds were discovered has presented serious problems as well. In an article in Science, Ann Gibbons reported on this aspect of the controversy. Until recently, many paleontologists thought that Archaeopteryx itself gave rise to opposite birds [birds whose foot bones are fused from the top down, as opposed to modern birds, whose foot bones are fused from the bottom up—BH/BT] which in turn gradually evolved into modern birds.... [Alan] Feduccia and his colleagues now challenge that view with fossils of a bird the size of a sparrow, called Liaoningornis. The specimen, unearthed by a farmer in the Yixian formation in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, lacks a skull but includes a nearly complete skeleton with foot bones and a keeled sternum that resemble those of modern birds. Yet the Chinese scientists cite radiometric dates of 137 to 142 million years for the volcanic rock of the Yixian formation, which would make the bird almost as old as Archaeopteryx. And the same beds also yielded a magpie-sized primitive bird called Confuciusornis, which shares many traits with both Archaeopteryx and modern birds.... According to Feduccia and Martin, the discoveries imply that by the time of Archaeopteryx, birds had already diverged into two lineages and had a rich history that is missing from the fossil record. One lineage led to modern birds. Another led to Archaeopteryx and the opposite birds, which they view as sister taxa, closely related to each other but distinct from the line that led to modern birds. And both of these bird lineages must have descended from a much earlier ancestral bird. Feduccia reckons that the first bird must have lived about 76 million years before the birdlike dinosaurs of the Cretaceous—a fact that he says raises questions about the dinosaurian origins of birds (1996b, 274:1083, emp. added). Evolutionists admit that radiometric dates for the Yixian formation (estimated at anywhere between 121 million and 142 million years) are controversial. As Feduccia has suggested: “Whatever the date is, we’re getting both types of birds shortly after Archaeopteryx” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996b, 274:1083). His point is well taken. Ann Gibbons noted in another Science article: “...the Chinese fossil is too recent—121 million years old—for the dinosaur to have given rise to the 150-million-year-old Jurassic bird, Archaeopteryx” (1996a, 274:720). In his article in Science (“The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted?”), Richard Hinchliffe commented on the controversy over the “recent nature” of these fossil finds when he noted that “most theropod dinosaurs and in particular the birdlike dromaesours are all very much later (i.e., more recent—BH/BT) in the fossil record than Archaeopteryx (1997, 278:597). So unless birds perfected time travel millions of years ago, these latest finds do little to support the theory that dinosaurs gave rise to birds. In the February 1998 issue of Scientific American, Kevin Padian and Luis Chiappe, while fully backing the dinosaurian origin of birds, added a sidebar explaining the major points of contention: 1. The hands of theropod dinosaurs and birds differ in important ways.). In his review of an article on “Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand” by Ann Burke and Alan Feduccia in the October 24, 1997 issue of Science, Richard Hinchliffe reiterated many of these same problems by pointing out problems with the “dinosaur-to-bird” hypothesis. These included: 1. The much smaller theropod forelimb (relative to body size) in comparison with the Archaeopteryx wing. Such small limbs are not convincing as proto-wings for a “ground-up” origin of flight.). The controversy over the alleged connection between reptiles and birds in the evolutionary scenario increased dramatically with the publication in November 1999 by National Geographic of). It is unlikely that anyone—outside National Geographic’s offices—ever will know the severity of the damage massive debacle transpired (Simons, 2000). [For additional information on how this story unraveled, see also: Dalton, 2000a, 2000b; National Geographic, 2000; Rummo, 2000.] chose to run its submitted to National Geographic, Lewis Simons documented the fact that authors of the original account were told several times of discrepancies in their data and problems with the fossil, but apparently never took the opportunity to establish the accuracy of the specimen (Simons, 2000). The desperate desire to find the long-sought-after “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds overshadowed the truth. As American humorist Mark Twain suggested in Life on the Mississippi: “There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact” (1883, p. 156). In the short span of time that has passed since we mailed Part I of this series, yet another “missing link” has been reported in the scientific and popular media. The paper describing the latest in a long (but failed) series of missing links, “The Distribution of Integumentary Structures in a Feathered Dinosaur” (Qiang, et al., 2001), appeared in the April 26, 2001 issue of Nature. In a review article, Time magazine extolled this latest find as “as good a missing link as anyone could want” (Lemonick, 2001, 157[18]:56). Interestingly, one of the authors of the Nature paper, Ji Qiang, had made the same type of claim regarding an earlier “missing link” known as Caudipteryx zoui, boasting that it represented “a missing link between dinosaurs and birds which we had expected to find” (as quoted in Chang, 1998). University of Kansas biologist Larry Martin was not so quick to agree with Ji Qiang’s expectations regarding “feathered dinosaurs.” In referring to Caudipteryx zoui, Martin suggested that it was merely a flightless bird, and stated: “You have to put this in perspective. To people who wrote the paper, the chicken would be a feathered dinosaur” (as quoted in Chang, 1998). Martin’s words of caution are especially important in light of the last report of “feathers” from Liaoning fossils, since those “feathers” eventually were dismissed as little more than frayed internal fibers of collagen (a structural protein found in connective tissue). With memories of Archaeoraptor still fresh in their minds, Ji Qiang and his colleagues included the following statement in the second paragraph of their latest “feathered dinosaur” report: “Although some specimens from Western Liaoning have been shown to be composites or forgeries, the integrity of the specimen described here is assured because both slabs match up exactly...” (2001, 410:1084). Fossil composition data and X-ray computed tomography results were not included in Qiang’s latest report of this “feathered dinosaur,” so further research will be necessary to determine its authenticity. It is a well-known fact that many fossils from this area of the world have been unwittingly or deliberately subjected to misleading reconstruction. Additionally, Ji Qiang and his team explained that the fossilized bones were brittle and that “most shattered when the specimen was collected by splitting the slab, so many skeletal details cannot be scored adequately” (410:1085). This lack of proper skeletal scoring, and the admission that the tail is “unusual” in that it has “no individual vertebral segments,” make it difficult to determine the exact category in which this specimen should be placed—bird or dinosaur. But if this as-yet-unnamed creature is categorized as a “dinosaur,” then scientists will face an even more daunting task because the date assigned to it suggests that feather “evolution” precedes almost all of the dromaeosaur fossil finds (the theropod from which birds allegedly evolved) [see Padian and Chiappe, 1998, 278[2]:43]. This would indicate that the “insect-catching” theory, the “tree-down” theory, and all other ideas regarding the evolution of feathers for flight, are completely inaccurate. Therefore scientists are left to explain why (and how!) these early dinosaurs “evolved” and maintained feathers that would not be used for flight? Some have suggested that perhaps feathers were used to maintain body temperature. But that then poses the question: Why didn’t other animals (like, for example, crocodiles and snakes) evolve feathers as a means of warmth? Stay tuned; the quest continues.. Lewis Simons, the reporter who was commissioned to investigate the Archaeoraptor fiasco for National Geographic, stated that what he had uncovered was “a tale of misguided secrecy and misplaced confidence, of rampant egos clashing, self-aggrandizement, wishful thinking, naïve assumptions, human error, stubbornness, manipulation, backbiting, lying, corruption, and most of all, abysmal communication” (Simons, 2000, 198[4]:128). It may well be that we routinely witness the same kind of “tale” (albeit admittedly to a much-less-publicized degree) every time a new “missing link” is uncovered and then shown to be either incorrect or fraudulent. The history of science is replete with just such events (to wit, Nebraska Man, Piltdown Man, etc.). Certainly many authentic fossils do exist. However, as the late Colin Patterson (who served with distinction for many years as the senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History in London) admitted in his 1999 book, Evolution: “Fossils may tell us many things, but one thing they can never disclose is whether they were ancestors of anything else” (p. 109). While the “Piltdown Man” hoax was able to fool evolutionists for more than 40H/B, we certainly can understand why. Burke, Ann C. and Alan Feduccia (1997), “Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand,” Science, 278:666-669, October 24. Chang, Kenneth (1998), “A Feathered Dinosaur,” [On-line], URL:. Chen, Pei-ji (1998), “An Exceptionally Well-Preserved Theropod Dinosaur from the Yixian Formation of China,” Nature, 391:147-152, January 8. Corliss, William R. (1998), Biological Anomalies: Birds (Glen Arm, MD: The Sourcebook Project). Dalton, R. (2000a), “Feathers Fly Over Chinese Fossil Bird’s Legality and Authenticity,” Nature, 403:689-690, February 17. Dalton, R. (2000b), “Chasing the Dragons,” Nature, 406:930-932, August 31. Feduccia, Allan (1980), The Age of Birds (Cambridge, England: Harvard University Press). Feduccia, Allan (1993), “Evidence from Claw Geometry Indicating Arboreal Habits of Archaeopteryx,” Science, 259:790-793, February 5. Friend, Tim (2000), “Dinosaur-bird Link Smashed in Fossil Flap,” USA Today, [On-line], URL: htty://. Gee, Henry (1999), In Search of Deep Time (New York: Free Press). Gibbons, Ann (1996a), “New Feathered Fossil Brings Dinosaurs and Birds Closer,” Science, 274:720-721, November 1. Gibbons, Ann (1996b), “Early Birds Rise from China Fossil Beds,” Science, 274:1083, November 15. Gibbons, Ann (1997), “Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur,” Science, 278:1229, November 14. Gibbons, Ann (1998), “Dinosaur Fossils, in Fine Feather, Show Links to Birds,” Science, 280:2051, June 26. Hinchliffe, R. (1997), “The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted?,” Science, 278:596-597, October 24. Hou, L., Z. Zhou, L.D. Martin, and A. Feduccia (1995), “A Beaked Bird from the Jurassic of China,” Nature, 377:616-618, October 19. Lemonick, Michael D. (2001), “Down-Covered Dinosaur,” Time, 157[18]:56-57, May 7. MacBeth, Norman (1971), Darwin Retried (Boston, MA: Gambit). Monastersky, Richard (2000), “All Mixed Up Over Birds and Dinosaurs,” Science News, [On-line], URL:. Morris, Henry M. and John D. Morris (1996), The Modern Creation Trilogy—Volume 2 (Green Forest, AR: Master Books). National Geographic (2000), “Archaeoraptor A Composite, Panel of Scientists Determines,” [On-line], URL:, April 4. Olson, Storrs L. (1999), Letter to Dr. Peter Raven, Secretary of the Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society, [On-line], URL:. org/docs/4159.asp. Padian, K. and L.M. Chiappe (1998), “The Origin of Birds and Their Flight,” Scientific American, 278[2]:38-47, February. Patterson, Colin (1999), Evolution (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), second edition. Qiang, J., P.J. Currie, M.A. Norell, and J.I. Shuan (1998), “Two Feathered Dinosaurs from Northeastern China,” Nature, 393:753-761, June 25. Recer, P. (1999), From Dinosaur to Bird, [On-line], URL:. Rowe, Timothy, Richard Ketcham, Cambria Denison, Matthew Colbert, Xing Xu and Philip Currie (2001), “Forensic Paleontology: The Archaeoraptor Forgery,” Nature, 410:539-540, March 29. Ruben, J.A., T.D. Jones, N.R. Geist, and W.J. Hillenius (1997), “Lung Structure and Ventilation in Theropod Dinosaurs and Early Birds,” Science, 278:1267-1270, November 14. Rummo, G.J. (2000), “Another ‘Missing Link’ Proven to be a Fraud,” Independent News, November 9. Simons, Lewis M. (2000), “Archaeoraptor Fossil Trail,” National Geographic, 198[4]:128-132, October. Sloan, Christopher P. (1999), “Feathers for T. Rex?,” National Geographic, 196[5]:99-107, November. Twain, Mark (1883), Life on the Mississippi (Boston, MA: J.R. Osgood). Xing, Xu (2000), “Feathers for T-rex?” [Letter to the editor], National Geographic, 197[3]:no page number, March.

Back in the Finals Again« Back to Stories Related Links The victory not only avenges the Cougars’ only loss of the season, a 1-0 setback on the Blue Raiders’ field back on Sept. 15, but it puts Azusa Pacific back into the national championship game for the second straight year and the fourth time since 1998. Massro, a 5-foot-9 senior midfielder who was named the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) Player of the Year, used her noticeable height advantage by heading a Cougar corner kick into the back of the net less than 4 minutes into the second half to give Azusa Pacific a 1-0 lead. Twenty minutes later, Domene dribbled down the middle of the field and launched a 20-foot shot the sailed past LWC keeper Carrie Revlett for her seventh goal of the season, putting Azusa Pacific up by what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-goal advantage. However, with 11 minutes remaining, Lindsey Wilson answered when Kimmia Parker converted a perfectly placed cross from Omolyn Davis to cut Azusa Pacific’s lead in half and set a potentially dramatic finish. The Cougar defense, led by All-American keeper Jill Colfer-Martinson, stuffed every Blue Raider attack the rest of the way to preserve the win, which was especially meaningful for Azusa Pacific, which also lost to Lindsey Wilson in last year’s national championship game, 2-1, in 4 overtimes. “The girls were fantastic,” said eighth-year Cougar head coach Jason Surrell. “They played with their brains as well as putting forth the effort to show how much they wanted to avenge our 1 loss of the year, and to do it here at the national championship tournament is sweet. But we still have one more to go.” With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 20-1-1 and will face Martin Methodist College of Pulaski, Tenn., which improved to 15-4 on the season after beating No. 1-ranked Lee University (Tenn.), 2-0, in the other semifinal game. Kickoff for the national championship game is set for Tuesday (Nov. 20) at 4 p.m. (PST). It’s the first-ever meeting between the 2 national powers. Azusa Pacific won the 1998 NAIA championship, and Martin Methodist collected the school’s first-ever national title in 2005. Combined with Azusa Pacific’s 1-0 semifinal victory over Simon Fraser University earlier today in the NAIA Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament in Olathe, Kan., Azusa Pacific becomes the first school in NAIA history to play for the men’s and women’s soccer championships in back-top-back seasons. The Cougar men will play GSAC rival Concordia University at 5 p.m. (PST) in the championship game Tuesday (Nov. 20).

[tag: science] United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Technical Abstract: The Q gene encodes an AP2-like transcription factor that played an important role in domestication of polyploid wheat. The chromosome 5A Q alleles (5AQ and 5Aq) have been well studied, but much less is known about the q alleles on wheat homoeologous chromosomes 5B (5Bq) and 5D (5Dq). We investigated the organization, evolution, and function of the Q/q homoeoalleles in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Q/q gene sequences are highly conserved within and among the A, B, and D genomes of hexaploid wheat, the A and B genomes of tetraploid wheat, and the A, S, and D genomes of the diploid progenitors, but the intergenic regions of the Q/q locus are highly divergent among homoeologous genomes. Duplication of the q gene 5.8 MYA was likely followed by selective loss of one of the copies from the A-genome progenitor and the other copy from the B, D, and S genomes. A recent V329 to I mutation in the A lineage is correlated with the Q phenotype. The 5Bq homoeoallele became a pseudogene after allotetraploidization. Expression analysis indicated that the homoeoalleles are co-regulated in a complex manner. Combined phenotypic and expression analysis indicated that, whereas 5AQ plays a major role in conferring domestication-related traits, 5Dq contributes to suppression of the speltoid phenotype directly and 5Bq indirectly, especially in the absence of 5AQ. The evolution of the Q/q loci in polyploid wheat resulted in the hyper-functionalization of 5AQ, pseudogenization of 5Bq, and sub-functionalization of 5Dq, all contributing to the domestication traits.

[tag: science] United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Technical Abstract: It is widely accepted that substantial amounts of carbon can be sequestered in agricultural soils by changing tillage practices from conventional plowing to less intensive methods, loosely known as conservation tillage. This view is based on experiments in which relative carbon changes have been estimated through soil sampling of long-term tillage trials. However, an examination of these experiments shows that sampling protocol may have biased the results. In nearly all cases where conservation tillage was found to sequester C, soils were only sampled to a depth of 30 cm or less, despite the fact that crop roots often extend much deeper. In the relatively fewer studies where sampling extended to a depth greater than 30 cm, conservation tillage has actually resulted in a loss of C relative to conventional tillage in the majority of reported cases. These contrasting results may be due to well known tillage-induced differences in soil thermal and physical properties that affect root distribution patterns, causing shallower rooting in reduced tillage situations. Recently reported continuous eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 in different tillage systems have also been unable to detect any C gain due to reduced tillage. Though there are other good reasons, such as erosion prevention, to use conservation tillage practices, the evidence that it promotes C sequestration is not compelling.

'What's the minimum you can do to make a painting?' Royce Weatherly lets his paintings—and oil paint itself—reveal the workings of time. Many of his painstakingly composed, hyperrealist still lifes take decades to complete. He acknowledges and even welcomes the medium’s natural pigment changes and the decay of the objects he depicts. Untitled (Black Walnuts #2), 2012, for example, shows walnuts rotting in their shells, and the blue rim of a coffee cup in another work might turn yellower with age. “I want to see if I make a piece,” the artist says, “that over time, as it yellows, it will become more gray and more like a shadow.” Royce Weatherly.COURTESY ARTHELIX, BROOKLYN. Having worked on and off for years as an installer and conservationist for the Whitney Museum and other institutions, Weatherly, 56, knows a lot about how art materials can age. Born in North Carolina, he got his B.A. in political science and art from Wake Forest University, and then received an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In the 1980s and early ’90s, he was a preparator at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, had a solo show at the then brand-new Gavin Brown’s enterprise, and soon found his work in a handful of private European collections. But then he disappeared from the art scene—or at least from galleries. He moved to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he still lives with his wife and two daughters, working in carpentry and art installation.After a 12-year hiatus, Weatherly made a triumphant return last spring with an exhibition at Bushwick’s Bogart Salon, a space run by his longtime friend, the artist and gallerist Peter Hopkins. The show’s three Morandi-like still lifes of what Weatherly calls “dumb objects”—potatoes, rocks, walnuts, coffee cups—sold out, for $12,000 apiece. According to Hopkins, one buyer was Richard Prince, Weatherly’s friend from the Gladstone years. Prince purchased Untitled (Bupkis), a small 2012 oil on linen depicting spilled coffee in a Greek-deli cup and the cellophane wrapping from a cigarette pack against a white field. Weatherly’s new series of still lifes—one featuring lard and butter—was recently included in an exhibition that opened in April at Hopkins’s latest Bushwick venture, ArtHelix, where the artist is represented. Royce Weatherly, Untitled (Bupkis), 2012. Purchased by artist Richard Prince.COURTESY PRIVATE COLLECTION. When selecting the everyday items that will become the subjects of his meticulous focus, Weatherly says he often asks himself, “‘What’s the minimum you can do to make a painting?’ A flower is too loaded, but a potato is good.” He then sets things up in his basement studio where seashells, coral, and cellophane cluster in careful piles. He paints slowly, over the course of months if not years, building up thin layers of paint to capture the arrangement and any weathering—of subject matter or medium—that occurs with time.“Sometimes an object looks better as it gets older,” Weatherly says. “Everything around it will get richer and deeper. It’s all about slowing down and looking.” Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | Nick Socrates Contemporary Art() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | Art of JD Parrish() Pingback: Rob Zombie brings Mayhem to Denver, the Colorado Burlesque Festival Returns, and Boring Objects Go Artistic | The CO Creatives() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | KELLY 2D() Pingback: ARTnews June 2013 | KELLY 2D() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak from ARTnews | KELLY 2D() Pingback: Untitled (Bupkis) | Ang Fierra ni Juana()

An Expanse of Forms By Luis Fernando Valencia The first aspect made evident in this unique series is its return to Cartesian coordinates, orthogonal axes that appear, disperse, disintegrate and, when we least expect it, become part of an organic form. It is a reference to a missing rationality that, approaching from behind, suddenly comes to the forefront. However, the oeuvre no longer speaks of reason and instinct, or rationality and intuition; what is clearly significant about this approach is overcoming those dichotomies so that it can install itself in another world far from binary hierarchies and obvious contradictions. These works now spread in a controlled planimetry that refers us to the deconstruction of traditional painting. In this series the oeuvre lights up; it gleams in an exacerbated chrominance, giving rise to its accurate designation of “Eterna Primavera” (Eternal Spring). The disquieting brilliance gives the works new outcomes: it is no longer a background; instead it is a homogeneity that jumps and erupts within an organic form, moving about and disappearing. Mario Vélez begins questioning the modern concept of “background” and treats it as a transient element. He takes risks with a color that alludes to fertile regions but with enough care so as not to fall into the torridness prevalent in the tropical. The background-figure split disappears, thereby raising an unprecedented universe that, as Edmund Husserl would say, “should be accepted simply because it exists,” without looking for non-existent metaphysical essences. Vélez's range of works make no concessions to the artist, nor to the work as an apparent meaning, nor to the viewer as a central character in the aesthetics of today. Instead, they touch on two aspects addressed by Jacques Derrida in his concept of “différance”: spacing and deferral. The work does not seek an identity, or origin, or anything fundamental. It embarks upon some non-narrative elements that float in their simply pictorial tranquility. This spacing discredits representative worlds and presents us with a completely autonomous universe. However, in order to perceive it we also need it to have time, (a priori categories, such as space and time, according to Kant). This deferral is given by those ellipsoidal forms that appear to pass momentarily through the painting in their nomadic meanderings, where we can only perceive their imprint, their trace, without pretensions of transcendence or essential substance. On a splendid field that supplies the color, forms and lines glide, creating an implacable logic that produces a different rationality, far from the Cartesian rationalism that was the starting point. The process that has been unleashed is gleaned from the different pieces that make up the paintings; however, strictly speaking, we are only looking at one oeuvre. Thus, an exhibition of this series in its totality turns out to be indicative and telling of the exceptionality of Mario Vélez’s work process. The plane is irrigated by permutations, articulations, withdrawals and a large number of elements that create pictorial inscriptions, like a kind of graphic symbol that undergoes a controlled explosion throughout an expanse of forms. After we have examined the entire series and ruminated upon it all for some time, the field of color that has traditionally been called background is what stands out in our memory. That means that there is no surface on which lines, planes and forms are inserted; instead, that surface is also a figure. Walter de María expressed it very well: “The terrain is not the scene of the work, it is part of it.” Like a never-ending horizontal band, the oeuvre allows us to look at its persistent journey; but at the same time, those flat, sharp, irregular forms also look back at us. Ultimately, Vélez's works leave us with a silent aura, some traces, some imprints, in which incoherence, far from being a defect, is an accurate affirmation of the randomness of life. There is no order of subordination in Vélez's paintings, meaning no element takes precedence over another, and there is no formal component that acts as protagonist. This transforms his painting into a completely contemporary manifestation of Postmodern art and explains the high level of regard many have for him in the current panorama of painting, not only in Colombia, but also on the international scene. All of the elements we see refer back to themselves and to others, creating, in Derrida’s words, “non-identical sameness.” Vélez also resists the Hegelistic maneuver of using one element to refer to another so that a third element can arise in synthesis. Instead, painting simply proliferates everywhere. It is produced. It happens. If this happens with space, it also happens with time, as the eye wants to see more—what happens above, below and on the sides, where it came from and where it goes. This disconcerting game introduces the concept of duration, since the work is deferred, postponed and continues to occur on other planes beyond our line of vision. This geography of dispersion entails time existing in non-linear temporality. There is no before or after; everything floats like a pictorial symbol. It is no longer photosynthesis as in nature, but a transformation of the painting, in which everything is fixed at the same time that it escapes. In the end, I can affirm that “Eterna Primavera" is his most auratic series to date. With its resplendent and blinding presence, as with the intriguing yellow paintings, it produces a specifically Benjaminian aura, which "is the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be.” Furthermore, there exists here what Foucault called “the productive subconscious,” in which the oeuvre is not just a reality, but also a set of other possibilities proffered by involuntary memory. Beauty bedazzles to make way for reflection. Translation: Diana Scholtz

BHPann:AustCosPartnerToFormMultiple-IndElectronicMktplace Document date: Wed 05 Jul 2000 Published: Wed 05 Jul 2000 10:16:17 Document No: 164038 Document part: A Market Flag: N Classification: BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY COMPANY LIMITED 2000-07-05 ASX-SIGNAL-G HOMEX - Melbourne +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please find following the Media Release, dated 5 July 2000 that announces BHP's intention to join thirteen other Australian corporates in a web procurement initiative, corProcure. The announcement is due to be made publicly at 11:00am today. For further information, please contact Ms Mandy Frostick, Media Relations Manager on ph 03 9609 4157 or Dr Robert Porter, VP Investor Relations on ph 03 9609 3540. R Taylor ASSISTANT SECRETARY MEDIA RELEASE The intention to form Australia's first multiple-industry business to-business e-marketplace - corProcure - was announced today by fourteen of Australia's leading companies. The companies, each of which is a founding shareholder in corProcure, include Amcor, AMP, ANZ, Australia Post, BHP, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coles Myer, Foster's, Goodman Fielder, Orica, Pacific Dunlop, Qantas, Telstra and Wesfarmers. Together, these companies intend to spend more than A$8 billion on indirect goods and services using corProcure over the next two years. The total value of indirect spend in Australia exceeds A$300 billion annually. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today, and a shareholders' agreement is expected to be signed in 45 days. corProcure will be an independent, stand-alone, internet-based indirect goods and services marketplace open to all existing and new suppliers. The Founding Shareholders will share the investment cost of e-procurement infrastructure. In a joint statement, the Founding Shareholders said that by seamlessly connecting thousands of trading partners, regardless of size and location, corProcure is expected to deliver new transaction efficiencies and standards as well as significant business networking opportunities across the supply chain that will significantly benefit both suppliers and buyers. ' "The number of leading companies coming together from a range of industries and business sectors is unmatched in Australia's business-to-business marketplace. This is a significant and far-reaching partnership of major buyers and sellers that will utilise technology to extract and deliver wide-ranging benefits for all parties. "corProcure is an initiative that will transform procurement practices in Australia, create new value for buyers and suppliers and give all participants an improved competitive footing in the regional and global economy. "Suppliers will gain access to a much larger customer base, will be able to reduce administration and customer acquisition costs and better manage product demand processes, and will eliminate time-consuming paperwork and tracking. Buyers will benefit from simplified ordering processes and improved order accuracy. "corProcure is committed to the development of an open-platform, standards-based, multiple-industry regional trading network that delivers real value and benefits to all participants and stakeholders." Examples of goods and services traded through corProcure may include: office and cleaning supplies, fuel, energy, telecommunications, facilities management, human resources services, legal services, promotions and advertising, computer services, insurance and capital expenditure items. Each founding shareholder will be represented on the board of the new company. A Team Leader, Business Establishment has been appointed and a search will be launched this week to recruit an independent management team. Proposals for technology infrastructure will also be solicited in the next few weeks. It is expected that transactions will begin by September this year. In recognition of the importance of suppliers to the success of corProcure, the Founding Shareholders said they would discuss the company's proposed e-procurement strategy and logistics directly with suppliers over the next several weeks. A corProcure website, launched today, contains information for suppliers, and other interested parties. The web address is. The Founding Shareholders have not disclosed the amount of expected savings in transaction costs. For further information contact: Sally Abbott or Rupert Hugh-Jones 03 9289 9555 Contact details for corProcure Founding Shareholders. Amcor Kerrie Lavey Orica CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER Kate Shea Tel: 03 9226 9004 PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER 03 9665 7256 Peter Brown MANAGING DIRECTOR Pacific Dunlop Amcor Australasia Anton McKernan Tel: 03 9811 7135 CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER Qantas AMP Justin Kirkwood Telstra CORPORATE MEDIA MANAGER Selena Adams 02 9257 7473 PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER Tel: 02 8255 2687 ANZ Australia Post Wesfarmers Stephen Walter CORPORATE AFFAIRS GROUP Tel: 03 9204 7135 BHP Mandy Frostick MANAGER MEDIA RELATIONS 03 9609 4157; Mobile: 419 546 245 Dr Robert Porter VICE PRESIDENT INVESTOR RELATIONS 03 9609 3540; Mobile: 419 587 456 Coca-Cola Amatil Alec Wagstaff CORPORATE AFFAIRS MANAGER, Australia Tel: 02 9259 6571 Coles Myer Greg Price MANAGER, MEDIA RELATIONS Tel: 03 9829 6273 Foster's Mary Reikert NEW MEDIA ADVISOR Tel: 03 9633 2277; Mobile: 0418 313 478 Goodman Fielder Robert Hadler CORPORATE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR Tel: 02 8874 6095, Mobile: 4017 00 000

on “Hey, Bobby Ray,” which begins in a Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon style before Felice’s “Cat Stevens on shrooms” vocals kick in. It sets the mood for the gospel tinged, Gothic Americana sound with which Felice fills the album. Felice is a melancholic man who loves flawed people most of all. “Courtney Love” is a sympathetic ballad for the woman who lost the rights to her daughter and her dead husband’s name due to her bad behavior. Even Felice, who feels she is just misunderstood, does not wholly trust her. “When we sleep, I keep one eye open,” he croons. “The Ballad of Sharon Tate,” about the “vampire movie queen,” meanders off into an almost pitying expose on the Manson family, who were under Charlie Manson’s spell. Yet for such a provocative subject, he doesn’t say much. It’s a problem throughout the album. In “New York Times” he discusses various headlines and sad stories he read in the paper, culminating with 9/11 and the death of Michael Jackson. He then pleads with his girlfriend to never be on the cover of The Times. Nice sentiment, but it just feels like there should be more there. There’s also the hopeless romantic side to Felice. On “Stormy-Eyed Sarah” he remembers a girl from his teens who he thought was cool and slightly dangerous because she had a Ouija board. “Charade” tells the story of a boy who pumps gas in his dad’s filling station. His life is going nowhere and he just wants out. But when he’s with his girl, and runs his fingers through her hair, the world doesn’t suck as much. The only deviation from the gospel and Gothic folk sound comes early on in the album, on “You and I Belong.” It’s a happy, sunny, almost poppy song that could fit on a kid’s album (and was, in fact, written for his newborn daughter). It is still rich and lush, but it is rich and lush with banjos and whistling as well. It’s too bad Felice didn’t throw more changes of pace into the album. A survivor of a congential heart defect that almost killed him and forced him to undergo open heart surgery in 2010, Felice is justified in taking the leap out on his own. It makes sense that he reminisces about his younger days, but it still seems like he should have more to say, and, with help from people like Ted Dwane and Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons, some more ways to say it. Simone Felice plays Eddie’s Attic on Tuesday, May 29th. Get tickets here.

[tag: how-to] 1.5 pixels / 0.75m = 2 pixels per meter 6 pixels / 0.75m = 8 pixels per meter 12 pixels / 0.75m = 16 pixels per meter The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is an advanced Laser Range Finding System that rapidly provides an accurately measured distance out to 800 yards. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is an advanced, compact, yet simple to operate Optical Device that combines a 6X Monocular with a laser distance-measuring instrument – a Laser Range Finder. It is intended to observe and measure distance of a specific (non transparent) object. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is equipped with an eye-safe laser. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 features four different modes of operation as well as an automatic shut-off switch. Optically, the ATN Ranger Eye 800 Scope is a 6X25 Monocular with a built-in LCD in the field of view. When activated, the LCD will display a viewfinder for aiming and other relevant data for adjustments and readout output data. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 can take measurements up and beyond 800 yards, most users will find it most useful and accurate for readings within 600 yards. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 can be used for a wide range of sport activities such as hunting, golf, archery, target shooting as well as for industrial, topography, safety and tactical applications.

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With his 2008 debut, A Larum, Johnny Flynn snuck into the collective consciousness with fellow Brit-folksters like Mumford And Sons and Laura Marling. His latest, Been Listening, is soulful and simple. His songs are eclectic, charmingly verbose and, above all, endlessly listenable. Judging by the way the careers of Mumford and Marling have skyrocketed in the past year, good things may be in store for Flynn. The A.V. Club caught up with him to talk about his influences, from Shakespeare to 78s, in anticipation of his show tomorrow at World Cafe Live. The A.V. Club: How did the title track of the new record come about? Johnny Flynn: I was listening to a whole bunch of really old 78s, all of which were just incredibly scratchy. I have loads of that stuff. One of the songs, I could only make out the words “been listening,” and to me, listening is really important. It kind of spun me out on my own take on that song, where I imagined a scenario where all music disappears from the universe and humanity. Society becomes more complicated and more confused. Values are lost. We need an idea of what music is, what connects people. Then, in this scenario, one single song comes to replace all music, and it is the answer. It’s like quantum physics—like one big thing comes and answers everything. AVC: Is that always what writing a song is like for you? JF: It’s always like learning something, or discovering something about the universe. I don’t really write songs. They’re just there anyway, chiseling away at the atmosphere, and suddenly they’re like, “Oh, thanks for coming. Thanks for finding me. We’ll share each other now.” AVC: Why is listening so important to you? JF: I think the truest things come from silence, but everything’s always so clogged up with noise. If everything falls away, and you can truly listen to someone, giving them yourself and generosity, you can truly lose yourself in what they’re saying. Like, not impose your ideas on what they’re saying, but really tune into them. I think it’s just the most joyful way to go about things, even a picture gallery exhibition or listening to music. It’s nice to discover that stuff rather than have ideas about what they might be beforehand. Not listening is the reason for so many misunderstandings and conflicts. AVC: What draws you to older music like those 78s? JF: It’s just good, honest music. There was no A&R guy walking into a studio thinking, “Yeah, we could make this a radio hit.” The music came from people who were just doing what they did, and someone just happened to record them. They were just writing for themselves in the immediate situation, and weren’t conscious of people in other countries 80 years later listening to it, or whatever. It’s just much more of an insight, old music, into these people. Bands that make music now are so much more self-conscious about the whole process. The songs are strange, and old, and ancient, and wise. Sometimes they’re really angry or sad. They’re not rounded-off or neatened-up and made into two-minute-30 Radio 1 playlist hits. They’re just really rough and good. I’m also obsessed with field recordings. That’s my favorite stuff to listen to, just really incidental music. AVC: Is there anywhere you’re especially looking forward to going on this tour, music history-wise? JF: I’m really looking forward to going to Nashville for the first time. I always love going to New York. I’ve been to Chicago once before, but I didn’t get much of a chance to look around. I’ve always wanted to go to blues clubs there. Actually, have you seen that documentary Desperate Man Blues? It’s about a guy who’s spent 60 or 70 years of his life collecting old 78s, finding things that were only pressed locally. He goes out and collects them. It’s a really great film. It’s got great music, and he knows a lot about the history of musicians. He’s discovered musicians a ton of people know about now just by knocking on doors and picking up records from the attics. AVC: I haven’t seen that, but I did see something about a guy digging for hi-life records in Africa, which actually segues perfectly into talking about “Churlish May,” the kind of hi-life song on your record. How did that one come about? JF: My drummer, Dave, is really into a lot of good music, and he’s gotten me into a lot of it. I get really excited about trying different things with music, like different drumming styles, so we went there on that song. It’s not like we were trying to really go there and get a conga player and stuff, but we were just edging into new rhythmic dimensions. AVC: The press release for your record talks about how you had kind of an idyllic Roald Dahl-like childhood, growing up catching trout and living on a farm. Weirdly, “Kentucky Pill,” on your record, reminds me of Roald Dahl, but in another way. Like in the “I’m secretly better than everyone and I will ultimately persevere” Matilda way. Did you mean to go there with that? JF: It’s generally a song about a sense of growing up. It’s about finding yourself to be slightly more dangerous and effective as a human being than you thought you could be. When you’re young, you live in a state of innocence, but eventually you realize that actions have wider consequences than you thought. As you grow up, as you get a sense of time, you stop living in your immediate presence. Your emotional world grows and you can kind of start being hard. It’s an abstract thing, but the song’s about all these situations you experience growing up that stop you from being innocent. It’s about wanting to hurt people and get hurt. AVC: Is that based on any specific personal experience? JF: It’s not explicitly a story from my own life, but it’s about little snippets and things. I used to go cow tipping, for one. I grew up in the country, so that’s par for the course, but then I started thinking about the cows, and that upset me. I realized that they were actually being hurt. AVC: You recorded your first record and part of this record outside Seattle. What made you want to go there? JF: We recorded the first record there with Ryan Hadlock, and we just wanted to go back for the second record. It’s a really nice place to do the record, his studio. It’s an isolated barn out in the middle of nowhere, and it really accentuated who we were. It’s a weird landscape out there. Like, that’s where they filmed Twin Peaks. There are all these Native American place-names, big waterfalls, and huge forests. It’s very far from home for us, which increases the sense of what you’re doing. You’re not in your environment, doing what’s familiar to you. It’s a good way to bring out what you are really trying to say or do. AVC: You toured with a Shakespeare company for a year as an actor. Do you think that experience shaped your songwriting at all? JF: Definitely, yes. Hugely. We toured the world and were very entrenched in the plays we were doing, Twelfth Night and Taming Of The Shrew, which are quite different plays, really. Twelfth Night especially had a big impact on me. There’s such an ambiguity to it, and it’s very poetic. It’s more about learning to say what isn’t there, and how what’s not say is more important than what is. It’s a good lesson in pre-emptive storytelling. Good poetry doesn’t have to say much.

"Chain of Command, Part 2" (season 6, episode 11, first aired: 12/19/1992) Or The One Where There Are Lights's. Grade: A Stray Observations: - Apparently, the torture sequences in this episode were inspired by Closetland, a 1991 film starring Madeline Stowe and Alan Rickman. I've been meaning to see that for years, although I may wait a few weeks now. - That is Patrick Stewart hanging naked when Madred has Picard's clothes stripped off. The man commits. - "How many lights do you see?" "I see four lights." "No. There are five." - This pretty much ruins any other scene in the series where a character was tortured, doesn't it. - Dick or no, how awesome was Riker's shit-eating grin when he had Jellico at his mercy? "I won't order you to fly this mission." <cue grin> "Then ask me." - "In spite of all you've done to me, I find you a pitiable man." "Ship in a Bottle" (season 6, episode 12, first aired: 1/23/1993) Or The One Where the Monster Demands a Mate And now for something completely different. Our second holodeck-centric episode in, what, two weeks? Three? And blah blah, the holodeck is nonsense, ridiculous it should still be on the hip, and it's treated far too cavalierly by all involved. Let's just get that right out of the way, because "Ship" is actually a lot of fun (especially after the darkness of "Chain"), and more than earns the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy it. This is a very clever episode, and it's clever in the most fun way possible, creating puzzles without telegraphing their solutions and relying on the audience to keep pace with some surprisingly complex ideas. As well, it gives us the best kind of villain--someone who's resourceful, smarter than our heroes give him credit for, easy to empathize with, but not all powerful. Even better, the villain is a familiar face: a character from one of TNG's few strong season two episodes, one whose story we had no real reason to believe we'd be returning to, but whose return here makes perfect sense. In "Elementary, Dear Data," Geordi asked the Enterprise computer to create a holodeck opponent that would be capable of defeating Data in a game of crime and punishment. Data and Geordi had been playing at Sherlock and Watson, only Geordi wasn't impressed by Data's deductive abilities--the android wasn't solving mysteries as much as he was remembering the details of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and applying them as needed. So, Geordi decided to the up the stakes, and Moriarty (Daniel Davis) was born, the reincarnation of Holmes's greatest foe. Except Moriarty was just fiendishly smart, he was so smart that he was able to deduce the limited realities of his own existence, a program that became self-aware. There was a bit of struggle, Dr. Polaski was briefly kidnapped, and in the end, Picard stepped in, assuring Moriarty that he and the brightest minds of the Federation would get to work to find a way for the holographic human to step into the real world. Jump four years ahead, and Geordi and Data are back to elementarying and game afooting to beat the band. The cold open has a standard "Sherlock pulls together all the evidence scene," except that in Data's triumphant moment, a flaw in the system undoes his reasoning. The holodeck is having problem with spatial relationships, which turns a left-handed character (a character who needs to be left-handed for the story to properly resolve) into a right-handed one. Showing an attention to detail and a foresight which is relatively unheard of when it comes to dealings with the holodeck, Data notes the problem, and gets Barclay to look over the system. In the process of trying to find the problem, Barclay stumbles over a few lines of blocked memory, releases them, and Moriarty pops back in to existence, politely indomitable as ever, and more than a little miffed at being put off for so long. I remember enjoying Davis's first appearance on the show, and he's a lot of fun here as well. What makes the character so effective is he's a mixture of two sci-fi staples: the Frankenstein monster demanding the rights of the living from a creator who doesn't know what to do with him; and a brilliant criminal mastermind. This version of Moriarty isn't evil, and he certainly isn't a patch on his literary inspiration in terms of diabolical intent, but this is the skill-set that the computer has given him. His goal is understandable, and, in its way, admirable: the goal of all sentient life, to be allowed the freedom to aspire to his own destiny. (Or something along those lines. Basically, he wants to get laid and go on a nice vacation, buy, y'know, poetical.) Picard isn't able to grant him this desire, through no fault of the captain's own, and Moriarty responds in the only way he knows how: by taking over the ship and holding it hostage until Picard gives him what he wants. Which Picard can't do, because of those pesky laws of physics. So, we've got the right construction for good conflict, with Moriarty's irresistible force meeting reality's immovable object. "Ship" handles this conflict by introducing a magic trick, and then taking its sweet time to reveal how the trick was done. Moriarty's apparent exit from the holodeck is a great moment, even if you already know the secret of what's happening, because it plays so wonderfully with our expectations. Picard has demonstrated to Moriarty how a seemingly solid object on the holodeck vanishes the instant it hits the real world, but Moriarty determines to walk out the door anyway, arguing that consciousness overrides intangibility. Now, we know that Moriarty isn't just going to disappear; you can't just bring back a major character and vanish him ten minutes into the episode, without any sort of storyline to take his place. But we also know that Moriarty can't simply leave, because that violates one of the show's core principles. We can have magic aliens, we can have god-like beings, but what happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. Moriarty "escape," then, is a kind of surprise that sci-fi shows (especially one this long in the tooth) rarely get to pull off. We're trained to expect time travel and wormholes and monsters, but this is, apparently, breaking one of the rules of the reality we've been presented. Even better, Picard is astounded by what he sees, which sells the trick--he's as amazed as we are, and his constant refrain to Moriarty that they have no idea what just happened helps keep the heart of the illusion a secret for longer than it might have been. See, Moriarty doesn't actually exit the holodeck; he just creates a program inside the holodeck to make it look like he's leaving, a program that recreates every other crewmember on board the ship who isn't Picard, Data, or Barclay. And while Picard and the others scramble to find a way to help Moriarty's beloved Countess follow him off the holodeck, Moriarty holds them hostage, even tricking Picard into giving up his access codes so that Moriarty can take control of both the ship in his simulation and the real one. Yes, we could nitpick here. It's an impressive that the ruse lasts as long as it does, and a little unnerving. Data realizes what's going on when he discovers that the fake Geordi, like the character from the Holmes story earlier, is left-handed instead of right-handed. Which means that neither he, Barclay, nor Picard noticed anything different in the personalities of their friends and co-workers. Admittedly they were under some stress and shock at the time, but it's maybe stretching credulity that the computer would be able to recreate everyone else quite so well. Bringing fictional characters to life is one thing, but mimicking the conversational patterns of those nearest and dearest to you? I'll buy it, but I can see having problems with it. Also, it's odd that nobody simply tries to repeat their earlier successes when Moriarty asks Picard to bring the Countess out. Picard resists, in typical Frankenstein fashion, because he doesn't want to move forward before they understand the ramifications of what they've inadvertently accomplished. But once Moriarty holds the ship hostage, why not just ask the Countess to walk off the holodeck like her mate? Couldn't hurt to try. But like I said, these are nitpicks. I enjoyed "Ship," because it uses the holodeck in a way I don't think we've seen before, and because Moriarty's a great character. And man, that ending is just so cool. Picard and the others simply turn Moriarty's game back on him, and program the holodeck inside the holodeck to make yet a third Enterprise, one where both Moriarty and the Countess can leave the confines of their electronic cell, and spend the rest of their lives traveling the galaxy. Maybe it's a little too neat, a little too convenient, but it's such a good-natured ending that I can't really look at it too hard. Moriarty can't really get what he wants (I remember the Doctor on Voyager wandering around outside Sick Bay, but that may just have been because Robert Picardo is awesome), but, instead of being destroyed or exiled back to electronic oblivion, he gets what he needs: universes to explore, and a charming, beautiful companion at his side. As sequels go, this was a fine conclusion to an idea that deserved a second chance. Grade: A- Stray Observations: - Interesting use of Barclay in this episode--he doesn't really do anything, but it's nice to have him around. (And he gets a great last line.) - I love listening to Patrick Stewart and Daniel Davis talk at each other. The enunciation is intense. - Faux-Geordi: "He's brilliant in any century." Also, a bit of an egotist. Next week: Geordi does some investigating of his own in "Aquiel," and Deanna looks in the mirror and finds the "Face of the Enemy."

. According to VARIETY, Tom Cavanagh has inked a deal to play Ranger Smith in YOGI BEAR. The live-action/CG animated film from Warner Bros. has already begun shooting in New Zealand. Zoe Saldana is helping promote AVATAR leading up to its release, saying the movie will match the hype, according to THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. Joshua Jackson will star in UFO, VARIETY reports. Matthew Gratzner will be directing the feature adaptation of the British TV series. Natalie Portman told MTV that Kat Dennings (NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST) is on the cast of THOR, but didn't reveal the role she'll be playing. REAL STEEL, which VARIETY describes as a "ROCKY-esque robot tale," will begin filming in June starring Hugh Jackman. Mania.com reports that Sam Worthington will star in a screen adaptation of Radical Publishing's comic THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME. Kenneth Branagh has locked in Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson and Tadanobu Asano to play a trio who will fight alongside THOR in the upcoming drama, VARIETY reports. Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox are all in talks to join the cast of RED, reports the Heat Vision blog. Two weeks after SAG rejected a similar offer, AFTRA members have ratified a new deal with video game producers, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. COMINGSOON.NET reports that Rachel McAdams is a frontrunner for the role of villian Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in the upcoming SPIDER-MAN 4. Cecile de France has signed up to star opposite Matt Damon in HEREAFTER, a supernatural drama helmed by Clint Eastwood, VARIETY reports. Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey have joined the cast for BLACK SWAN alongside previously announced cast members Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, SLASHFILM.COM reports. TWILIGHT actress Ashley Greene is in negotiations to star in Dark Castle's THE APPARITION, according to VARIETY. Zach Galifianakis, the breakout star of THE HANGOVER, is in talks to lend his voice to Humpty Dumpty in DreamWorks' PUSS IN BOOTS, reports VARIETY. In her next two columns, Nancy Cartwright has a revealing conversation with legendary casting director, voice director and voice actress Andrea Romano. UGO reports from a recent TRICK 'R TREAT screening that Dylan Baker would be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in SPIDER-MAN 4. Action hero Chow Yun-fat is taking on a role in Jiang Wen's $18 million period comedy Western LET THE BULLETS FLY,. Chris Messina (JULIE & JULIA) has been tapped by Universal to star in DEVIL, which is based on a story concocted by M. Night Shyamalan, reports VARIETY.

"What could be more fun than going to work every day and singing songs like 'All Out of Love' and 'Even the Nights are Better' at the top of your lungs with other fantastic performers?" Craig asks. In "Lost in Love," a man and a woman must choose to follow tradition or live for love as royalty and emerging American wealth collide in early 1900s England. Craig is originating the role of Margo, a young American heiress and hopeless romantic who is caught in a love triangle between a merchant named John Wilson (Justin Matthew Sargent) and Eduardo, an Italian prince (Maroulis). After her initial audition, where she performed a rock song and Air Supply's "All Out of Love," Craig sang with Sargent and Maroulis at callbacks. Grammy-winning Air Supply guitarist-songwriter Graham Russell, who is writing four new songs for the musical, was also in the room. Craig admits that aside from their radio hits, she was not familiar with much of the 1980s soft rock duo's material. "But during the audition process I took some time to really listen and get a feel for the vibe and style of their music," Craig says. "Now that I'm cast, I will actually avoid listening to them too much so I can style the songs to my character first, rather than overly imitate their version. Since this is brand new material, I have a great deal of freedom in how to craft the character, which is always both a treat and a challenge." Rehearsals for "Lost in Love" begin this week, and a staged reading will be performed on Monday, April 23 and Tuesday, April 24 in New York City. Since touring with "Cats," Craig has appeared in regional productions of "Avenue Q," "The Marvelous Wonderettes," and "The King and I" (starring Lorenzo Lamas), as well as the world premiere of "The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody" at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2011. She got married last year after meeting her husband on the "Cats" tour; he currently plays bass in the "Mamma Mia!" national tour. Craig will earn her Actors' Equity membership card this summer. Read more about Lynn Craig on BackStage.com.

[tag: science] Dee Spagnuolo focuses on the representation of companies and individuals in all aspects of complex civil litigation, internal investigations in educational and corporate settings, and compliance and regulatory matters. Ms. Spagnuolo has defended clients in civil litigation and criminal investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), state and federal false claims acts (FCA), disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) fraud, and environmental compliance. Ms. Spagnuolo. Ms. Spagnuolo also has extensive experience managing internal investigations, communications with law enforcement, disciplinary proceedings, and the interplay between civil and criminal proceedings in the area of sexual misconduct. Domestic and international clients have included educational institutions, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and religious institutions. As a member of Ballard Spahr's Domestic Extremism Group, Ms. Spagnuolo represents pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions to secure injunctions and contempt orders that curtail activity directed at companies, employees, and employees' families. Ms. Spagnuolo also counsels corporate clients with respect to their internal and external diversity and inclusion policies and practices, with a particular focus on workforce and procurement. Ms. Spagnuolo serves on the firm's Hiring Committee and served two years as Co-Chair of the firm's summer associate program. She also serves as a member of Ballard Spahr's Diversity and Inclusion Council. Prior to law school, Ms. Spagnuolo worked as a college counselor for at-risk youth and as a research assistant for the Say Yes to Education Foundation. She also served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Representative Matters Pro Bono Experience Ms. Spagnuolo has represented a wide range of pro bono clients. She also successfully represented a Costa Rican woman in a Violence Against Women Act petition. She has counseled and trained nonprofit organizations in the areas of child abuse reporting and criminal background policies. In addition, Ms. Spagnuolo serves as the designee for an educational trust for a Dominican-born youth, and as the guardian ad litem for a minor involved in Mann Act litigation against her convicted abuser. Judicial Clerkships Hon. R. Barclay Surrick, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 2003-2004 Professional Activities American Bar Association Pennsylvania Bar Association Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Recognition & Accomplishments Named a Diverse Attorney of the Year, The Legal Intelligencer, 2015 Named a Super Lawyers Penn Co-author, "Look Out! They're Gonna Get YOU: DOJ Going After Individuals in FCPA Prosecutions," Corporate Counsel, March 17, 2010 Co-author, "Eastern District Hands Down Landmark Decision under False Claims Act," Ballard Spahr alert, December 8, 2009 Co-author, "Federal Appeals Court Rejects Free Speech Claims of Animal Rights Activists," Ballard Spahr alert, October 16, 2009 Co-author, "Expansion of False Claims Act Liability Signed into Law by President," Ballard Spahr alert, May 22, 2009 Co-author, "Making It a Summer to Remember," The Legal Intelligencer, June 9, 2008 Speaking Engagements "Legal Challenges: Creative Strategies that Threaten Research," part of "Security: Risks & Reality of Animal Extremism Across the Biomedical Research Community," New Jersey Association of Biomedical Research, October 3, 2012 "Market Trends in Third Party Due Diligence," Ernst & Young General Counsel Roundtable Series, June 13, 2012 "Employee Training," EducationWorks, Inc., Annual Retreat, April 4, 2012 Moderator, "A Powerful Governmental Tool: The False Claims Act," Ballard Spahr LLP and the Philadelphia Young Lawyers Division of the ABA's White Collar Crime Committee, March 23, 2011 "Bridge the Gap" CLE, February 2010 "Addressing Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry in Navigating Animal Rights Extremism," Symposium on Global Security, October 2007 Guest lecturer, Drexel University, Earle Mack School of Law Community Activities Bowdoin College Alumni Council Bowdoin Alumni Schools Interviewing Committee (BASIC) Bowdoin Club of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Association of Alumnae University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D. 2003) Class President; Legal Writing Fellow; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Economic Law Bowdoin College (A.B. 1996) Languages Pennsylvania U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

> Mortgages > Winter is coming, so Julie Watson has put her husband to work. For the past few weeks, as the air cools and daylight time ends, he busies himself with removing old caulk around the windows, cleaning out leaves and debris from the eaves troughs and removing any obstacles that will cause drifts when the snow starts to accumulate. "It's all about economizing and controlling costs," says Watson. "It's also about being comfortable in the winter." Living in a 30-year-old bungalow in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the couple makes sure their house is toasty warm for the winter. Whether you're living in a bungalow or a town house, there are many check-ups to do before winter sets in. We've amassed a list of seven savvy tips to keep the fires burning and the pipes humming, just as they should, all winter long. Not only will these tips conserve energy, but they'll also save you money in the process. 1. Seal the deal The easiest way to keep the heat inside your home is to seal air leaks. If you're in an older home, hire a professional to test your home for leaks, which costs about $150. To do it yourself, ensure the caulk around windows and weatherstripping around doors are in good condition and replace where necessary. For unused or older windows, seal them using a plastic window-sealer kit, available from most hardware stores for about $20. If you live in an older home, installing storm windows will also give you another layer of protection from the elements. 2. Get ready to heat Furnaces should be checked every year, says Charlie Smolenaars, building supply manager from Rafuse Home Hardware Building Centre in Wolfville, N.S. "You should have your furnace serviced yearly to change the filter and nozzle in the burner to make sure it's working as efficiently as possible," he says. He adds that for those using oil, the annual checks may be tied into your contract with your oil provider. Ottawa resident Judy Scott tops up her fuel early in the season to keep her warm all winter. "We make sure our oil furnace tank and the propane tanks for our propane fireplace are topped up early, before the snow and ice come. When the guys come with the propane tanks, we also have them check and turn on the fireplace," she says. 3. Don't forget about your cooling systemsOn the cooler side of things, air conditioners need attention, too. Partially cover freestanding units, ensuring they can still breathe. For window units, cover them tightly with a cover, and caulk the gaps between the unit and the frame to prevent leaks. Depending on how big your unit is, and how big the gaps are, you may be better off removing it from the window all together until the nicer weather arrives. If you have an air exchanger -- a system that filters and cleans the air inside your home, exchanging the old, inside air with outside air -- it also needs some winter care. "Normally in the summer, a lot of people don't run those systems, so the fall is the best time to change filters and clean it to run properly for the winter," says Smolenaars, who adds that most filter changes require a service technician. 4. Look up at your roofIt's also important to inspect your roof. If you don't have a ladder, use binoculars to visually inspect the roof, making sure there are no sagging or missing shingles. Alongside the house, ensure gutters and eaves troughs are clean. You can have your eaves troughs cleaned professionally (it costs about $80 for an average-sized home) or, for $40, you can invest in the Gutter Blaster, an eight-foot extension for your garden hose. The U-shaped end fits into the trough and blasts out unwanted build-up using the regular pressure from your hose. 5. Look at pipes and holesIf you have pipes, drainage or otherwise, that run outside, keep them warm to prevent freezing. Watson's husband puts a heat cable around his drainage pipes, but you can also buy heat tape, foam rubber sleeves or fiberglass insulation. Inside, make sure you plug every hole you can find. So, for every electrical outlet in the house, buy a liner that acts as extra insulation and fits between the wall and the cover. And even if you don't have kids, plug the outlets with plastic socket inserts. 6. Check your insulationThe largest amount of heat that escapes your house leaves through the attic -- almost 45 percent in fact. So, to prevent your warm air from taking off, ensure your house has adequate insulation. Experts agree that an R-30 rated insulation is the minimum requirement. Newer homes usually have this standard, but older homes may need some new insulation. 7. Pack an emergency kit Don't be caught without supplies for you and your family -- pack an emergency kit before the bad weather arrives. According to the Canadian Red Cross, every kit should include: four litres of water per person per day, enough canned food to last for a few days, a first aid kit, blankets, sleeping bags and a crank-operated radio. Homeowners are notorious for leaving this little detail to the last minute, which means everyone scrambles to the hardware store at the same time if there's a rough winter storm that knocks out the power. Montreal residents were without electricity for days during the 1998 ice storm, with no heat and no lights. Melanie Chambers is a freelance writer based in London, Ont.

Here's another humiliating fact that puts cyclist Lance Armstrong in the history books: He's the richest cheater ever to be stripped of an Olympic medal or championship, according to Bloomberg. Lance Armstrong's newest title: richest Olympic cheater. Before being stripped of his titles by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the seven-time Tour de France winner earned more than $218 million, Bloomberg reports. The cyclist admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs after vehemently denying the charges for years. In the ensuing pileup of charges and disgrace, he was also stripped of his bronze medal for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Other athletes who suffered a similar removal of titles and medals because of the use of performance drugs include runners Marion Jones and Ben Johnson and cyclists Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador. The charity Armstrong founded to help in the fight against cancer, Livestrong, has raised more than $470 million, with Armstrong himself donating $7 million. Though the charity will continue, Armstrong -- its largest private donor -- will likely not have the funds to continue his philanthropic commitment, at least not on the same monetary scale. The list of sponsors who dropped Armstrong is long, including Nike, Oakley, Anheuser-Busch and Trek Bicycle Corp. Endorsements and speaking engagements comprised approximately $180 million of Armstrong's income, according to IEG of Chicago, a sponsorship consultant. Jim Andrews, senior vice president of content strategy at IEG, told Bloomberg that "with the number of companies associated with him, the amount of years and the amount of money that was involved, all told, I just don't see anything that equates to it." Keep up with your wealth and mortgages and follow me on Twitter. Get more news, money-saving tips and expert advice by signing up for a free Bankrate newsletter. As for punishment for his cheating... The money awards and the medals should be given the to second place winner. He already does charity work for cancer so at least his public service is taken care of... Why does everyone think death and destruction (or tar and feathering) are appropriate punishment for his lies? Do you even consider how truly painful that punishment was? Try pouring scalding hot wax on your skin and leave it there. Hurts right? Now imagine heat that is longer lasting and hotter. Add feathers. Now try removing it... Ripping off one's skin and suffering subcutaneous burns that fester and rot... Gee! What a wonderful person you are. Think before you comment. Besides, he had testicular cancer... I don't think he has them to remove. He needs to be striped of all financial gain and the money distributed to the honest participants he cheated. I also thin Tar and feathering appropriate after his testicles have been removed with a quick cut, no anesthesia.

1989 Chicago White Sox From BR Bullpen Record: 69-92, Finished 7th in AL Western Division (1989 AL) Managed by Jeff Torborg Coaches: Terry Bevington, Ron Clark, Sammy Ellis, Walt Hriniak, Dave LaRoche and Glen Rosenbaum [edit] History, Comments, Contributions The 1989 Chicago White Sox finished with the team's worst record since 1976 and endedup in last place in the AL West. Overall, it was a year of transition for the club. The Sox selected slugging first baseman Frank Thomas with their first pick in that year's amateur draft. After nearly a decade with the club, designated hitter Harold Baines was traded to the Texas Rangers on July 29th for outfielder Sammy Sosa and pitcher Wilson Alvarez. Both Sosa and Alvarez would go on to play big roles on the Sox in the years to come. Slick-fielding third baseman Robin Ventura made his big league debut on September 12th and would remain a club mainstay for the next decade. [edit] Awards and Honors - All-Star: Harold Baines - AL Silver Slugger Award: Harold Baines (DH) - Topps All-Star Rookie Team: Carlos Martinez (1B) [edit] 1989 Opening Day Lineup Ozzie Guillen, ss Dave Gallagher, cf Harold Baines, dh Ivan Calderon, rf Greg Walker, 1b Carlton Fisk, c Dan Pasqua, lf Steve Lyons, 2b Eddie Williams, 3b Jerry Reuss, p

Lai-Fa Lee From BR Bullpen Lai-Fa Lee (李來發) (known as Raihatsu Lee in Japan) - Bats Right, Throws Right - Height 5' 10", Weight 176 lb. - Born June 28, 1956 in Chiayi County Taiwan Lai-Fa Lee was a longtime manager and coach in Taiwan. Lee served in Taiwan's military. He represented Taiwan in the 1974 Amateur World Series, 1975 Asian Championship, 1976 Amateur World Series and 1977 Intercontinental Cup. As his homeland had no professional baseball at the time, he took the same path as other players in going to Japan. He spent four years in the Nankai Hawks chain but only two of them in the Pacific League. He was 6 for 33 with two homers and a walk in 1983 and 10 for 41 with two doubles, a homer and five walks in 1983. Overall, he had hit .216/.324/.365 in 25 games as an outfielder in Nippon Pro Baseball. Lee returned to Taiwan as a coach, though he was only in his 20s. He coached for Taiwan in the 1984 Olympics, 1986 Amateur World Series, 1987 Asian Championship, 1987 Intercontinental Cup, 1988 Baseball World Cup, 1988 Olympics and 1989 Asian Championship. During this period, he also was a coach at Fu Jen Catholic University. Lee became Taiwan's manager for the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and held that role for the 1990 Baseball World Cup, 1990 Asian Games, 1991 Asian Championship, 1991 Intercontinental Cup and 1992 Olympics, when they won a Silver Medal. He also was coach of his alma mater in 1991. In 1997, Lee was appointed skipper of the Chinatrust Whales. He was 39-56-1 in 1997, but improved to 54-49-2 in 1998. In 1999, his club was 60-29-2 and made it to the Taiwan Series but fell to the Wei Chuan Dragons. It was the Whales' first trip ever to the Series; they would never take the title. In 2000, the club fell to 41-45-4 followed by 45-45 in 2001, after which Lee was removed from the helm. Lee was a coach for Taiwan in the 2003 World Port Tournament, 2003 Asian Championship and 2004 Olympics. He would coach the Whales' minor league team in 2004-2005, guide the parent club to a 42-51-7 record in 2006 then return to their minor league team in 2007-2008, after which the team folded in a gambling scandal. Lee was 281-274-6 as a manager in the CPBL. Through 2009, he ranked third in league history in victories.

Archive for Thursday, July 30, 2009 Side Pockets closes; blames economy July 30, 2009 As more new businesses pop up in the area, one long-standing Bonner Springs business has finally become a product of the current economy. Side Pockets closed its doors Wednesday, July 22, after being open for almost 4-and-a-half years. With the majority of clientele ranging from plumbers to electricians to construction workers, owner Richard Hawkins said the lack of sales at Side Pockets was reflected in the lack of hours these workers had been receiving of late at their jobs. “As their work has fallen off, a lot of these people are either out of work or working a lot fewer hours,” Hawkins said. “So they don’t have that discretionary income to come here on a regular basis and enjoy our food, our drinks and our pool. And what’s happened is our business has declined from a high three years ago to the point now where we’re probably 38 to 40 percent off of where we were at that time.” That 40 percent drop, Hawkins said, had been enough to close down his bar and grill. He said he had started seeing a decline a year-and-a-half ago, but hadn’t started to worry until this year, when sales began to drop significantly. Though cutbacks were made, last week’s closing was an eventuality he couldn’t have prevented, Hawkins said. “We cut back our payroll, we cut back our overhead, we watched every penny that went out the door, we were as lean as we could be,” Hawkins said. “And yet the economy is such that people didn’t have the money to come out and spend the dollars doing this.” A Side Pockets in Olathe will also be closing its doors, Hawkins said, which still leaves several open in the Kansas City metro area. Some of the Bonner Springs employees will be finding work at one of these locations. For others, the closing has effectively put them out of work and on the hunt for yet another job. “Most of them it’s gonna be too far for them to travel so, consequently, they’ll just have to seek work elsewhere,” Hawkins said. As for Hawkins, he says he will stay afloat. He is co-owner of a Side Pockets in Lenexa and also maintains ownership in Side Pockets Franchise Systems, Inc. He said this may not be the last Bonner Springs has seen of Side Pockets, however. Though too early to tell, possible future uses of the building may include opening up another bar and grill, Hawkins said, or turning it into another Side Pockets once the economy improves. His current situation is one that doesn’t quite defy the idea that people drink more in a recession, but just goes to show that people are more apt to choose the cheaper option of a liquor store than head to their local watering hole when times are tough, Hawkins said. He said it wasn’t a lost cause for anyone interested in opening a new bar at this time, but that it would be hard going, guaranteed. “I think it’s still going to be a tough business market for at least another year, year-and-a-half,” Hawkins said. “And if someone wanted to work through this for that amount of time, and had the wherewithal to do it, than I would say good luck to ‘em.” Hawkins said, for him, that waiting game was one he simply wasn’t interested in playing anymore. “Being 65 years of age, I don’t have the patience to wait for the comeback if you will,” he said. Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content. Commenting has been disabled for this item.

Row over publicity for care home fee refund deadline Thousands of families are at risk of missing the chance to claim back wrongly paid care home fees, Age Cymru has claimed. It accused the Welsh government of not adequately publicising the 31 July deadline to claim refunds from the NHS for the costs of continuing healthcare. More than £50m has been reimbursed over the last 10 years after many elderly people were forced to sell their homes. The Welsh government said it had "proactively publicised" the deadline. Appeal The NHS is responsible for paying the fees for people who receive care primarily for health reasons, regardless of the person's financial circumstances or whether the care was in a nursing home or in their own home. This is known as NHS Continuing Healthcare. Many people did not claim the payments because they did not know they could or because they were told they did not qualify for the funding. People who paid for nursing care between 1 April 2003 and 31 July 2013 have until the end of this month register their intent to appeal and then until 31 December complete and submit their documentation. Powys Teaching Health Board, which has been running a pan-Wales scheme for retrospective claims, has paid £50m since 2004. In some cases, local health boards have dealt with claims directly. It said 83% of the 1,375 cases administered by the scheme have resulted in a refund of part or all of the care fees. Now, shadow health minister Darren Millar is calling for the Welsh Government to extend the deadline for people to claim back money. He said: "The 31 July deadline should now be extended by three months to give the thousands of relatives, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable, the opportunity to claim back five figure care home bills they never should have been made to pay. "An extended deadline would give Labour ministers and Local Health Boards the chance to re-double their efforts and properly publicise how families can have their claims fairly assessed and be appropriately reimbursed." 'Never a burden' Viv Roberts, from Aberdare, managed to claim back more than £80,000 after his sister-in-law Eileen Puc was denied funding for care. Mrs Puc, who had worked for the NHS, was forced to sell her house in order to pay the fees for the nursing home that she lived in before she died in 2009. She was immobile after three strokes, was diabetic, could not speak and was partially sighted. When she was assessed for continuing healthcare she was told that she was not entitled to any funding. However, that decision was overturned following three appeals and two complaints to the Public Services Ombudsman. But the delay in funding meant Mrs Puc's home had to be sold to pay the nursing home fees. Mr Roberts said the experience was "traumatic". "These people cannot look after themselves anymore but they worked 40, 50 years," he said. "They paid their taxes and their national insurance contributions and were never a burden to society and when it came to their case, for them to be looked after, they had to pay for themselves." Age Cymru's head of policy and public affairs, Graeme Francis, said: "I don't think there's been a huge amount of pro-active publicity given about this deadline. "I think that's wrong because people need to have the right information and need to know whether they can apply or they might miss the opportunity. "I think there's been reluctance in the past or an attempt by the NHS to manage its budgets and to try and avoid liabilities to pay for people's care. "Ultimately, that doesn't serve them or the people that are getting the care in the long run." The Welsh government denied failing to alert people to the limited time left to claim refunds. "We wrote to a range of bodies throughout the health, local government, user groups and the independent sector - including Age Cymru - announcing to them the new arrangements." a spokesperson said. "Local health boards worked with their own communications teams to distribute these materials. Welsh government has placed adverts in 12 newspapers across Wales."

London considers Commonwealth Games bid Olympics legacy bosses are considering a bid for London to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. After the success of last year's Olympic and Paralympic games, organisers said they were "thinking hard about it". The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park would be the centrepiece of the bid. London Mayor's adviser on Olympic legacy, Neale Coleman, said Lord Coe, who spearheaded the games, thought the idea would be a "fantastic follow-up". He added that the bid was in its early stages. "It's a great event, it brings people together in a very unique and special way and it's the sort of event that we would certainly hope the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will stage one year or another in the future," he said. Mayor's backing 'fundamental' England last staged the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, while the next Commonwealth Games will be held in 2014 in Glasgow. "We need to make sure it's something that will be welcomed across the Commonwealth," Mr Coleman continued. "We wouldn't go into it unless we believe we could win it." "The mayor's decision to back this is fundamental. It really will come down to whether the mayor sees this as a priority and believes it's something it's worth London doing," he said. Following on from the Games, the Olympic Stadium has a series of events lined up later this year. Jay Z and Justin Timberlake are set to headline the Wireless music festival there while Bruce Springsteen will play the Hard Rock Calling Festival, also staged at the stadium In 2017, the World Athletics Championships and the Paralympic Athletics World Championships are to be held at the stadium. Legacy bosses are also in talks with West Ham Football Club about it moving into the stadium, probably from the 2016-17 season. If this goes ahead, Mr Coleman said a Commonwealth Games would not interfere with the football club's ability to hold Premiership matches.

Update: As of June 1, Bruce Jenner has officially announced that she would like to be known as Caitlyn. We have updated this blog to reflect her name change and pronoun usage. Since coming out last month as a transwoman during her interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20, former Olympian, track and field athlete, and TV personality Caitlyn Jenner has cast more light on gender identity. Her celebrity status grants her a privileged position to do so and has been propelling a paradigm shift in American society’s regard toward the standard female/male dichotomy. That Jenner came out to millions of viewers while still phenotypically male is encouraging. In fact, she inspired singer and actress Miley Cyrus to come out and admit her non-binary gender. These and the stories of others give guidance and hope to those living between and outside of the narrow definitions of masculine and feminine. If you or someone you know is at the crossroads of gender identity, we would like to share some books and resources that we hope will be helpful in the journey. Matt Kailey lived as a straight woman for forty-two years until he took the steps toward becoming a man. In Just Add Hormones,he shares the story of his transformation through surgery and hormone therapy, the change in the behavior of others because of his new gender identity, and the transition towards acceptance of one’s self as a person who straddles two genders. For those who have been questioning their gender, Kailey’s book is full of sound advice and answers all the questions you may have about what it’s like to live as a transsexual. Trans Liberation is a collection of activist Leslie Feinberg’s inspirational speeches in which ze calls for acceptance and tolerance for those who live at the boundary of sex and gender expression. Pointing out the similarities between the struggles of the trans and gay, lesbian and bi communities, Feinberg advocates for respect towards the cross-dressers, transsexuals, intersex persons, Two Spirits, drag kings and drag queens. It’s hard to believe that the world lost Matt Kailey and Leslie Feinberg just last year, but we hope their lives and work continues to inspire and help others. In My Gender Workbook, author, performance artist, playwright, and gender outlaw Kate Bornstein provides a hands-on, accessible guide to help readers discover their own gender identity. Through quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, you may discover that you’re a “real man”, a “real woman”, or “something else entirely”. Professor J. Jack Halberstam appoints Lady Gaga as a symbol for the new era of gender identity in Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal. With the burgeoning influence of pregnant men, late-life lesbians, SpongeBob SquarePants, and queer families in the twenty-first century, gender and sexual politics have broken away from the status quo of heteronormativity. Halberstam urges readers to embrace the gender and sexual fluidity of the new feminism that Lady Gaga embodies. Our parent organization, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), offers a Transgender 101: Identity, Inclusion, and Resources section on their website that includes a list of ten ways to be more welcoming and inclusive of transgender people, basic gender identity definitions, films for congregational viewing, and much more. You may also be interested in Standing on the Side of Love, a public advocacy campaign sponsored by the UUA that participates in LGBTQ activism. The campaign’s mission is to challenge exclusion, oppression, and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, race, religion, or any other identity.

Director Thankar Bachan is known for his poignant tales of human relationships on celluloid and he follows the same syntax in Ammavin Kaipesi too which is a cinematic adaptation of his own literary work of the same name. Thankar is identified for his uncompromising styles of film making and Ammavin Kaipesi is no exception either. AK is about the boundless love of a mom towards her youngest wastrel of a son and his tryst with life to prove a point to the world. The pain that a mom feels on being forced to evict her son out and then suffer his absence are all well etched out by Thankar. And a cell phone plays a significant role in the film justifying the title. For Thankar, traversing in the intricate emotional by lanes is just a sweep and he does that in AK too. The ironical aspect of what happens to mom and son is very interesting and is a typical Thankar style. The pace is leisurely but at points, brisk especially in the second half. The director’s passion for nativity is well known and praise points are due to the film’s real feel approach in showcasing the customs and practices of rural Tamil Nadu. Casting is one of the highlights of Ammavin Kaipesi where every artist from the core to the periphery has done their job convincingly. For Shanthanoo, AK would be a milestone in his career graph that has essayed the role of Annamalai with deep understanding and an apt body language. Iniya delivers it right but the young girl is on the road of getting typecast as village belle. Thankar as the money crazy and spineless Prasad is a good choice and he earns brownie points in the scenes with his wife and also later as the guilt ridden man on a mission. Meenal, Azhagam Perumal and Revathy are adequate as support cast. AK abounds in maudlin moments and such melodrama on the lines of television soap may prove pure poison at the cash counters and with the contemporary audience. The film certainly has a succulent story line but sadly the narrative style, the premise and the presentation are not in tune with current sensibilities. Entertainment value is minimal in Ammavin Kaipesi which appears quite lengthy at 152 minutes. Close to climax, the director builds his tempo in untangling the knot and if this pace was uniform, AK may have fared better. Rohit Kulkarni’s background score is neat and ‘enna senju pore’s melodious rhythm is soothing. A few songs appear quite forced like the one which involves Thankar and his wife Meenal. Even the item number types in the initial scene are also unwarranted. Thankar’s cinematography is functional and his frames are good. For audience who patronize, Thankar’s work, Ammavin Kaipesi does not disappoint. For the main stream entertainment expecting populace, AK will prove to be a different experience. Verdict: Thankar Bachan’s style of film that works in parts

My First ColdFusion 8 CFFTP Experience - Rocky But Triumphant Yesterday, I performed my first ever ColdFusion CFFTP task. I've needed to perform FTP tasks from ColdFusion before but required sFTP functionality, which was only added in ColdFusion 8. As such, until now, I have only ever used third-party utilities. I got the ColdFusion 8 secure FTP to work, but it took me a while to figure it out all. I am sure others will run into similar road blocks, so I thought I'd share my learnings. The first thing we want to do is create a large test file to upload (PUT) to our FTP account: - <!--- Get the file name of this test file. ---> - <cfset strFilePath = ExpandPath( "./test.txt" ) /> - <!--- - Create a really large file. We need to do this because a - small file will be uploaded no matter what the timeout it - on the CFFTP. - ---> - <cfsavecontent variable="strText"> - <cfloop index="intI" from="1" to="100000" step="1" - >This is a really large file with a massive amount of text. - </cfloop> - </cfsavecontent> - <!--- Write the text to the test file. ---> - <cffile - action="write" - file="#strFilePath#" - output="#strText#" - /> Here, we are just creating a file path (to be used throughout this example) and writing about 6 MB of data to it. It is important that the file be large because that's when things get a little bit more exciting. The next thing we need to do is define our connection properties. We could do this inline with the ColdFusion 8 CFFTP tag, but using the AttributeCollection gives us the ability to cache the connection information in our site's configuration mechanism: - <!--- Set up the FTP configuration. ---> - <cfset objFTPProperties = { - Server = "****************", - Port = "***", - Username = "bnadel", - Secure = true - } /> Ok, now that we have our test file and our sFTP configuration object in place (for use with the tag's AttributeCollection), let's go ahead and try to upload (PUT) the file to the remote FTP server: - <!--- - Now that the file has been written, we need to FTP it. - Let's create a connection object that will be used for - the following FTP commands. - When we name this connection, "objConnection", ColdFusion - caches the connection and allows us to execute future FTP - commands on this connection without passing in login - credentials or configuration. - ---> - <cfftp - action="open" - connection="objConnection" - attributeCollection="#objFTPProperties#" - /> - <!--- "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - /> - <!--- Close the connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="close" - connection="objConnection" - /> There's a couple of things going on here. First, we are naming our sFTP connection, "objConnection." By doing this, it gets ColdFusion 8 to cache to the connection to the FTP server. This allows us to execute additional FTP commands on the cached connection without using our configuration attributes. That is why only the OPEN command uses the AttributeCollection; the PUT and CLOSE commands simply refer to the name of the cached connection. Simple enough, right? Unfortunately, this does not work. When running the above code, ColdFusion throws the following exception: An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. Ok, that make sense; I'm uploading a 6 MB file and the default timeout for FTP commands is 30 seconds. To fix this, I went to increase the timeout of the PUT command to 300 seconds (5 minutes): - <!--- - "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. This time, put - a 5 minute timeout on the PUT command. This should be more - than enough to handle the file size. - ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - timeout="300" - /> The connection is really fast so 5 minutes should be no problem for 6 MB. However, when I integrated this PUT file with the above example, I got the same exact error: An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. Maybe 5 minutes wasn't enough. I tried pumping it up to 8 minutes. Still no luck. After pouring over the ColdFusion live docs for a while, it suddenly occurred to me: the timeout attribute doesn't go on the PUT command. I don't know if this is true for one-off commands, but when we are using a ColdFusion cached connection (named connection), the Timeout attribute must be included in the OPEN command. This way, the Timeout will define the timeout of all commands executed on that cached connection. So, no problem, I went ahead and put the Timeout in the OPEN CFFTP command: - <!--- - Now that the file has been written, we need to FTP it. - Let's create a connection object that will be used for - the following FTP commands. - This time, let's move the TimeOut property to the OPEN - command. This will put the timeout property into our - cached connection object for use on all commands. - When we name this connection, "objConnection", ColdFusion - caches the connection and allows us to execute future FTP - commands on this connection without passing in login - credentials or configuration. - ---> - <cfftp - action="open" - connection="objConnection3" - timeout="300" - attributeCollection="#objFTPProperties#" - /> - <!--- "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection3" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - /> - <!--- Close the connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="close" - connection="objConnection3" - /> I was feeling confident when I refreshed the page. As it was running, I monitored the progress of the FTP upload using FileZilla. Every few seconds, I would refresh the remote directory listing in FileZilla to see how big the file size was. When it got to 6 MB, I was excited - it has worked! But then, I was shocked to switch back to the web page and find the following error: The request has exceeded the allowable time limit Tag: cfftp. The error occurred on line 210. An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT When I saw the line: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT ... I assumed the FTP just timed out again. So I increased the Timeout value and ran it again. And, once again, the same problem - the file finished uploading according to FileZilla, but the page kept reporting that the PUT command timed out. What was going on? I started looking at the log files and messing with the timeout value and going back over the documentation. What had I missed?!? It seemed to be both working and failing at the same time? Then it occurred to me! The above error is actually telling us two things: the PUT file exceeded the timeout and the request had exceeded the allowable time limit. Of course! The request! This time, it wasn't the FTP command that was timing out, it was the page itself. What was happening was that the ColdFusion sFTP PUT command was finishing properly, but when it returned, the executing page timed out. The fix for this was simple: - <!--- - Give the page some extra time to execute since we are going - to be executing some large FTP commands. - ---> - <cfsetting requesttimeout="300" /> By increasing both the timeout of the cached CFFTP connection as well as the timeout of the page, everything went smoothly. So, it was a bit of a rocky start with ColdFusion 8's CFFTP tag, but once I got all the kinks ironed out, I had some pretty powerful functionality. I won't bother putting this in the example, but after I was done testing, I moved this into a CFThread tag so that it could run asynchronously as part of a list of scheduled tasks. By putting the CFFTP command in a CFThread, it eliminated the need for the CFSetting tag. ColdFusion threads launched using CFThread do not have a timeout; therefore, only the timeout of the CFFTP connection needs to be considered. have a small nitpick: "There's a couple of things going on here. First, we are naming our sFTP connection, "objConnection." By doing this, it gets ColdFusion 8 to cache to the connection to the FTP server." The way you wrote this makes it seem like naming your connection "objConnection" is doing something magical. Maybe it's the use of the quotes. I also don't think it's a 'caching' mechanism as much as it is a naming of a thread. Connection is an optional thing, but if you don't supply a connection name, CF will make one for itself. Quote from the CFDocs: Name of the FTP connection. If you specify the username, password, and server attributes, and if no connection exists for them, ColdFusion creates one. Calls to cfftp with the same connection name reuse the connection. The biggest thing I ran into when I upgraded to CF 8 was that CF 8 required the connection attribute but the error you get without it "Null, Null" doesn't give you a clue that that is the problem. @Todd, I was just referencing some of the documentation: When you establish a connection with cfftp action="open" and specify a name in the connection attribute, ColdFusion caches the connection so that you can reuse it to perform additional FTP operations. When you use a cached connection for subsequent FTP operations, you do not have to specify the username, password, or server connection attributes. The FTP operations that use the same connection name automatically use the information stored in the cached connection. Using a cached connection helps save connection time and improves file transfer performance..... Changes to a cached connection, such as changing retryCount or timeout values, might require reestablishing the connection. Maybe I am using weird wording, but I was trying to get the above sentiment across. And, as I am new to the CFFTP world, I am not aware of all the ins-and-outs. @Ian, Yeah, the Null Null error on anything is frustrating :) Thanks for writing up your experience with this. I just migrated to CF 8 and had this exact problem. Your instructions on solving it saved me a lot of time figuring it out. @Chris, Glad to help multiple FTP calls. HTH, Tom As always, thanks for figuring this out for us! Hi Ben I was reading this post now and I saw a reference to the "retryCount" property of CFFTP. I did some research into this and I must admit the documentation relating to this property is very minimal. What I am wondering is: 1) Does this ONLY apply to the "open" action of CFFTP or other tags, as I've only seen it referenced in the "open" action. 2) If so, does this simply ensure that if a connection can't be established, that it tries [retrycount] number of times to establish the connection OR Does this mean that ANY CFFTP action attempt that fails (e.g. action="putfile") will retry [retrycount] number of times?? Any idea? I was just laying in bed thinking about how to handle FTP file resumes if a file upload should get disrupted somehow and then I saw this post and reference to the "retrycount" property and was wondering if this is what I need? :) Thanks Thanks for this post, I was about to shoot myself in the face. Hi Ben, Here's a great post on CF8 and a file size issue here: I wasn't sure how big a file CF8 would manage to transfer without timing out as i've had troubles with reading large 400meg xml files. Any ideas on how to receive a response on the progress of the file? Cheers @Leigh, I am confused as to what you are asking. This post was about FTP, but the link you listed was about HTTP. Are you asking about timing out in FTP or HTTP? rethink your structuring a little bit better I know that is killing your server when you request that file. effect the CFFTP but i could be wrong? I've had trouble in the past with CF timing out when reading large xml files, but haven't attempted to copy large files at all. I have a current client system that generates a massive XML file of property data (full push) which came to 400meg! This is a seperate issue i face in CF as i believe a COM object on a windows server is a solution after doing some research on how to read large files. *The xml is also encased inside a zip file full of images. I've found i can only read into CF around 3.7 meg of XML data in 10mins before it times out. Leigh Is there anything else that must be set-up/configured to allow ColdFusion 8 to establish a secure FTP connection? I have set-up multiple tests with various code configurations, each test results in a "User Authentication failed" error. I can connect to the secure FTP server using CoreFTP or psFTP which confirms my user parameters, server, and port are correct. @JFC, From the docs, it looks like all you need to do is set secure="true" in the CFFTP tag. If you need to get more complex, it looks like you might need to generate some secure private key stuff: I have not worked with SFTP very much. Handy article..Ben you may also want to set the fingerprint parameter to the cfftp tag for SFTP.. <cfsetting requesttimeout="600" /> <cfftp action = "open" username = "***" connection = "**********" fingerprint = "40:12:77:67:43:bb:2f:71:06:b8:3b:b7:ee:v5:ee:31" server = "111.11.111.111" secure = "yes" timeout="300"> use Bitvise Tunnelier to get the fingerprint for your SFTP login put in syntax to be run on the ftp server, so in this instance I'm running the following: <cfftp connection="Myftp" action="site" actionparam="LITERAL SITE LRECL=2088 RECFM=FB CYLINDERS PRIMARY=3 SECONDARY=1"> Works great in CF8, the problem is that our production environment is still running CF7 and, unfortunately, we do not have plans to upgrade in the near future. Do you know of any similar commands in CF7 that I could use to accomplish this task? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Chuck @Chuck, Unfortunately, that is beyond my understanding. I've never even seen the Site feature before. If I come across anything, I'll let you know. Hi Ben! I do not if i should ask this question or not, but i am bit in complexity. Can we use cfftp to upload multiple files and insert the same in the database too at the same time. is This possible. Ben, I've been able to make the ftp connection to the server ok. but I'm having trouble uploading a file to a remote server. I have the correct path on the remote server and that looks ok. what I'm having trouble with is I use a form to look up the file I want to upload, which give a honking long filename, nothing like the real filename. I always get an error that says it can't make the file. any suggestions on what's going on here? @Terri, The most common problem people have with uploading files in CF is they fail to account for the cffile variable. This article sums it up pretty nicely:. Check your code and see if this might be the issue. The tip was the "honking long filename." :) Terri, Just double check you have the correct permissions on the folder..sometimes easy to overlook You could test with a normal upload function to see if you can write files ok @Terri, If it is giving you a really long file name, it's probably giving you the .TMP file path (extracted from the FORM). What you need to do is actually save the file to disk first (using CFFILE) and then upload the destination file. Chris and Ben, Have you guys tried to secure ftp into a unix box using just the username and pub/pivate key access methods? @Tony, I have not tried that. tag. @Ben, ok thanks.... @Chris, are you using the "username/key" instead of "username/password"??? Hi Tony, we are using username/password/fingerprint. Sorry if the previous post was unhelpful. @Chris, any input on this is helpful. I appreciate the response! seems to have solved the problem. @Roman, Glad you got it working; ColdFusion is sometimes funny that way, in that it won't timeout while a 3rd party interaction is executing; it will only timeout once that process has returned. Perhaps this has been mentioned before on your blog but I didn't have luck Googling for it. I just resolved an issue that's pretty trivial but misleading and figured I'd put it here so someone else can find the solution. So, I had FTP code written that worked perfectly fine. I know I hadn't changed the code - but I had changed related code. Basically the code would connect, change to a directory, put a file, close the connection. Simple, right? Well, it wasn't working. It basically connected and timed out -- similar to what Ben talks about. However, the circumstances were different than what Ben talks about. I connected to the FTP server with FileZilla and found out the file was created but it had a filesize of 0 bytes. Long story short, I upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows Vista and Windows 7 Firewall hates ColdFusion FTP out of the box -- it's fine with making a connection and creating a file.. but sending file content gets blocked. I added a rule and all was well. first time I tried the windows 7 firewall asked me and I opened it up, really wish it would do that when cfftp tries. Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings Inbound Rules > New Rule Program > Next This program path: %SystemDrive%\ColdFusion\d\runtime\bin\jrun.exe > Next Allow the connection > Next Your preference > Next Name: JRun Free Reign > Next > Finish Repeat for Outbound Rules. That's what I did on my development machine... which is obviously pretty open. For production, you'll probably want to go with Custom rule creation and set up ports for FTP (20, 21, etc.). For a complete list, there's this: and Google. :) Good luck! ok i got it to work. i needed to point the file instead of the key value. @Josh Olson, Thanks a bunch for the Firewall help. Oh and keep up the great work Ben. I lost count how many times I've found an answer to a question or problem about Coldfusion on your site. I am using the following code to transfer files from one server to another and used it successfully in the past to transfer files of sizes close to 100 MB but I have recently been upgrading the code and having trouble getting back response once file is transferred. File do get transferred but coldfusion page keep showing the the same page as transfer is happening. If I stop the execution of page and then try doing it again, I start to get error page after long time with cflock errors. Do you have any idea why is it happening? <cfftp action="open" server = "#request.Server#" username = "#request.Username#" password = "#request.Password#" timeout = "3600" connection = "ftpconnect" passive="no" stoponerror="yes" /> <cfftp action="existsdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#request.FTPDir#/#arguments.FileID#"> <cfif cf eq 'no'> <cfftp action="createdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#request.FTPDir#/#arguments.FileID#"> </cfif> <cfftp action="existsdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#UploadDirectory#"> <cfif cf eq 'no'> <cfftp action="createdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#UploadDirectory#"> </cfif> <cfftp action="putfile" connection="ftpconnect" localfile="#SourceDirectory#\#arguments.FileToUpload#" remotefile="#UploadDirectory#/#arguments.FileToUpload#" transfermode="auto" /> <cfftp action="close" connection="ftpconnect"> <cflocation url="mainpage.cfm" addtoken="no"> @Omer, At a glance, nothing looks off. What kind of upgrades have you been making to the code? Chuck, Thank you! Worked like a charm on the first attempt and really got our team around an ugly problem. Sandra we have an ftp process that moves files from one server to another. I want to give the user the ability to browse the folder they want to ftp to the other server. I have not had any luck getting this to work. Since the folders are in different locations each time they want to ftp them it would be easier for the user to be able to browse to the folder and select it. I have tried letting the user select a file in the directory and then trying to read the directory, but ColdFusion just gives me a temporary folder to upload from. Is this a security feature of Windows? Mike @Mike, I am not sure I understand what's going on. How is the person browsing for the directory? Nice this worked perfectly fine for me. and @ Mike, please rephrase your problem as I would like to help answer it though I couldn't clearly visualize your problem I was using cf9 ftp functions do download files from an msftp server. Last month something changed on the remote server, now nothing downloads. I think the remote server may be using virtual directories now. When I make the connection and do a "listDir" its empty. For some reason when cfftp logs in, it doesn't get forwarded into the correct directory. Getcurrentdir shows "/" and should show "/myusername" Any Ideas? Thanks Ben. I had the same issue you mention in this post with CF9. After doing everything you mentioned, I still got the dreaded "Error: putfile operation exceeded timeout." error. I am using a named connection. After some searching, I found (Kumar Chandan's post from 02 May 2008 09:48 GMT), which gave me the idea to add a timeout attribute to the putfile operation (in addition to the open operation). 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You also need to make sure that the company you decide on offers ongoing support and training. This will help you to succeed in your endeavors.Having all these things covered will give you time to market your turnkey website. You will need to promote your products and promote your turnkey website. Once your website is in a really good position on search engines, you will see the money start to roll in.An online turnkey business will save you time, and give you a professional website to market products. Be patient, and work at promoting your turnkey website and soon your will have a wonderful profitable online business.To learn more about turnkey websites and a guide to other online business ideas, please visit us I typically shy away from watching American Idol. I find watching peoples hopes dashed by 'judges' lynnea ugg akin to watching humans flayed by gladiators to the amusement of the dullard populace. Parenthetically, I wonder how the objectively questionable voices of legends: Louis Armstrong, Neil mbt mall Young, Bob Dylan or Robert Plant would survive the scrutiny of the bastions of talent assessment found in judges: Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul. Paula Abdul. My automatic grammar checker is authentic gucci bags telling me that the sentence "Paula Abdul." on its own is a sentence fragment; I couldn't disagree with it more in this context. In fact, I find it spin shoes to be a full paragraph. While I find the show irksome, mustering the power to 'turn the buy headphones other cheek' is about as hard as turning to another channel and as such, I wholesale designer inspired handbags haven't, until recently, paid it much mind. However, when this show chose to wax moral, wireless audio headphones I perked up my ears because when a Fox Network program discusses morals, this is bound to be something I want to tune into. (Words fail to express the sarcasm of the previous sentence.) The Fox Network is the same network which brought you the tasteful tidbit "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" and is the official station of George W. Bush and his war to eradicate weapons of mass destruction. (In a strange twist of fate, the largest [and only] weapon of mass destruction after the year 2000 in Iraq turned out to be George W. Bush himself.) This is the network that sought to sanction contestant Antonella Barba on American Idol after it was revealed she had some scandalous photographs found on the internet. Barba man purse was voted off the show, but it was her voice that was cited as the final cause. Nonetheless, American Idol has previously removed a contestant "Frenchie" after pictures surfaced of her on an adult pay site.A Google search of either girl will reveal l.credi handbags cheap chan. burberry outlet In turn, the only take home message one can glean about the state of American morals from all this is that Americans are fine with boobs only so long as one doesn't post pictures of them on the internet and instead elects them to office. As you can see, in the end equation Y = 280X, which means that Y, life coach jobs or the total cost is a function of the number of cousins, which is 'X'. Here the domain is the number of his cousins while the range mbt safiri chill is the value of total shopping cost, as a function of number of cousins that he buys clothes for! I have been reading this thread and it's comments for awhile now. I am still getting the exceeding time out error here is my code Any idea why it is not working still? @Alexander - May be you are missing "/" in your local or remote path? @Meensi, I tried adding and removing slashes but they are correct. Wouldn't I be getting a different error if the paths were incorrect? @Alexander, try adding passive=true This was what caused me to keep getting timeouts when I was doing cfftp in the past. I tried running the code but I am getting an error on connection open command. The error message is: An error occurred while establishing an sFTP connection. Verify your connection attributes: username, password, server, fingerprint, port, key, connection, proxyServer, and secure (as applicable). Error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect. I tried connecting to FTP using the same credentials using FTP client and it connected successfully. I guess my server doesn't support SFTP connections. What should I do to make my server support SFTP as well? Hey Ben, I'm using cfftp to open a connection and put some files on a server. Now I need to list some files and be able to download them, using the atribute action = getfile. What I intend to do is, when the user click the link, the 'Save as' dialog box opens, and allows to choose where to save the file, but in cfftp tag, I have to use the "localfile" to set file's destination. Do you know some way to make it work with the dialog box? Thank you in advance! This is driving me nuts. I can make one connection to the SFTP server. Just one. Any further attempts to connect to it just hang until, well, forever, so far as I can tell. At least until I forcibly restart coldfusion. I know the hanging has lasted at least 36 hours, which I'm pretty sure is longer even than the underlying timeout in the JVM. That's about as long as I was willing to let it go. Even using CFThread doesn't seem to make a difference. One SFTP connection, one time, then it's done. I need to do an SFTP using CF7 (I know). I see Ben says he used a third party utility. Is there a post about how to do that? Our production has not been updated to CF10 yet and I need to apply these SFTP changes now. Thanks for any assistance. Thanks for your valuable posting, it was very informative. Am working in <a> Construction Management System In Chennai <.

BECKET -- Although there were nearly 20 crashes in Berkshire County related to icy conditions and snow, only one person was reportedly injured. Just after 6 p.m., a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck hit a pole on the right side of Main Road before swerving into the other lane and hitting a tree, Becket Police Officer Tyler Miller said at the scene. The driver abandoned the car, leaving it parked on top of a mailbox before fleeing into the woods, Miller said. The driver was spotted by nearby residents and reportedly looked injured, according to dispatchers on the police scanner. It was unknown if the driver of the vehicle was the owner. Becket police were still looking for the driver at 9 p.m. Although many Berkshire County residents woke up Saturday morning to roughly an inch of snow, traffic conditions were nearly optimal with road crews working quickly to clear the streets. Officials said there were at least 17 motor vehicle accidents throughout the day -- 10 in Pittsfield and seven in the Great Barrington area -- be cause of the road conditions, but all were considered "minor" and no one was injured. According to the National Weather Service the snow isn't expected beyond this afternoon and Berkshire County is in for a big temperature swing Monday and Tuesday. Meteorologist Brian Mont gomery said Saturday's storm was just a "prelude to the warmer air system" coming in today. "The clouds will stick around but the temperatures are on the rise," he said. Monday temperatures shou ld be in the lower 50s for most of Berkshire County and Tuesday could see near-record highs in the low 60s, Montgomery said. "It'll be a flip-flop week between temperatures," he said. "But all in all it's a great start to December no matter what kind of weather you prefer."

What did Eric and Dara Trager tell Mike Rowe they had done in their earlier lives before buying the snake farm? Met each other in chiropractic school What was Mike Rowe doing to an alligator when Jarrod criticized him for not being intimidating enough to the animal? Tapping its nose with a pole What did the third python do while being carried to a new tank that Jarrod explained was a common defense mechanism? Defecated all over host's pants What did Jarrod tell Mike Rowe to do while cleaning water out of the crocodile pool? Create vacuum over filter by filling bucket with water What did Jarrod say researchers had recently done that allowed him to guess about how old their alligator snapping turtle was? Found musket balls lodged in like-sized animal What did Jarrod do before jumping on an errant alligator that needed to be moved out of dirty water? Threw host's shirt over its eyes What did Mike Rowe do to try and put off having to reach in and grab a boa constrictor from a plastic bin? Mused about the "almost prehistoric" creatures What did Chris the cameraman do while Dara Trager and Mike Rowe began to pick up Apollo from his resting spot? Smashed plate glass sliding door What did Jarrod tell Mike Rowe about the American alligators in the crocodile pool they would be cleaning? Have strongest jaw bite in world Ford What did Mike Rowe and Eric Trager do to decide who would lift the first Red Tail Boa Constrictor out of a plastic tub? Played quick rounds of a hand game What did Jarrod say people visiting the snake farm often did to get the rattlesnakes to rattle? Threw coins into their pit What did Mike Rowe do that caused Jarrod to warn him against playing around in the rattlesnake pit? Caught a stick rather than a snake In a commercial during this show, what happened as a man reclining on sand poured a beverage into a glass and consumed it? *Advertisement was filmed in several takes as a director ordered changes, including rotating a can *Starbucks Iced Coffee *Uses premium ingredients for great taste In a movie commercial during this show, what did an army, led by a steadfast and fearless king, do in ancient times? Fought against an enemy with far greater numbers "300" In a commercial during this show, what happened before two people caused disruptions by paying for their purchases with cash instead of paying with a card? NOT families In a commercial during this show, what happened after men used cutting-edge devices, like a PDA that played sports video, as an announcer discussed a deodorant with an "advanced triple protection system," before a woman wearing a towel shrieked? NOT deodorant shrunk In a commercial during this show, what did a man do with his laptop computer to please his frustrated girlfriend, whose name was Penelope, while she was away on a trip? NOT made a movie In a commercial during this show, who was shown with different pixels emphasized on her face, before and after a beauty product and its effects were shown and discussed, and a glowing triangle framed her face? Brunette woman with her hair up who wore silver-sequined top Olay Definity Deep Penetrating UV Foam Combats dullness, discoloration, and wrinkles In a commercial during this show, what did several laptops do after someone was seen exiting a vehicle before a woman in a green shirt shut a laptop as she assisted a customer at a store? Rotated around against a black background over text in a red banner Circuit City Will optimize your computer system and scan for viruses at no cost In a commercial during this show, what did a cartoon woman with hair that changed colors do, before she met a man wearing a suit and as she explained how she could track the repair of her car? Traveled on moving sidewalk and escalator to his location NOT GEICO

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to report on the economy/financial side of Bigfoot news. The actual reward is 1 million rubles, which is roughly equal to over $31,000. Below, is a great article with a companion video embedded below. We should mention that the Governor offers to have Tea with the Yeti. This is not the first time he has offered 1 million rubels and a tea party with the Yeti. The governor said the same thing last year in our post, "Tea party with the Yeti?" And don't miss our previous Kemerovo Siberian Yeti coverage. We covered most of the main stream stuff, plus some exclusives to Bigfoot Lunch Club. Bigfoot Hunters Detect Signs of the Hairy Beast in Siberia Officials Host Conference, Offer Reward; 'We Need to Sit Down With Him, Drink Some Tea' By ALAN CULLISON October 25th 2011." Mr. Fokin crept further into the chill, followed by a horde of television crews and photographers. Cameras illuminated more footprints and a bed of dried brush in a recess of the cavern. "This is unusual and good evidence," said Mr. Fokin, who dropped his full-time work as an architect to spend more time on hunts like this one. "A Yeti has been here." Throughout the world, lore persists about wild hairy creatures walking upright through woods. In the U.S.'ve. Local officials say they will now make efforts to contact the beast, who hasn't yet been photographed. They will also begin funding a permanent center for Bigfoot research at Siberia's Kemerovo State University. Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev is offering a one million ruble, or about $31,500, reward to anyone who finds a Yeti, telling Russian television, "We need to sit down with him, drink some tea and talk about life." Russian heavyweight boxing champion Nikolai Valuyev, who at nearly 7 feet tall is known as the "Beast from the East," made a foray into the woods last month to look for the creature, but came out saying he only found broken branches and footprints. Officials say they would also like to drum up some tourism for Kemerovo, a poverty-stricken region known more for its coal mine accidents than alpine beauty. But Vladimir Makuta, the top official of Tashtagol, says he is a genuine believer in "a kind of forest spirit" who has been aiding and undermining hunters in the woods. The very existence of a Yeti is looked upon askance by mainstream scientists, who say all the upright-walking mammals have long ago been discovered and categorized. They dismiss evidence compiled by Yeti hunters as a mass of unverified sightings, fuzzy photographs and film clips, and footprints that have been planted by hucksters. Lately, Bigfoot sightings have been on the rise in the U.S. Once confined to the Pacific Northwest and Appalachia, today they have spread as far as Texas, Florida and New England, says Brian Regal, a Bigfoot debunker and assistant professor of history of science at Kean University in New Jersey. "Meeting Bigfoot has become the encounter du jour," says Mr. Regal, a native of New Jersey. "You can't spit over here without someone saying there's a monster living in the woods." That has also made Bigfoot searching a growing business, in the same way UFO-ology became a trade since the 1950s, Mr. Regal says. Today the Internet hosts a range of websites devoted to Bigfoot happenings, while tour guides offer excursions in search of the creature. Russia's own Bigfoot industry has been a laggard. An early enthusiast was Soviet historian Boris Porshnev, who believed Bigfoots in Russia were a relict strain of leftover Neanderthals or cavemen. With government funding, Mr. Porshnev launched a Soviet Snowperson Commission that after 1958 trudged through the Pamir Mountains of modern-day Tajikistan and the Caucasus region. The group turned up no snowmen, only alleged footprints whose outlines they cast in plaster. "They were addicted to this subject in the 1950s and 1960s and blew through a whole program," says Oleg Pugachuyov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg. "They never found any real evidence. It was a myth." But former colleagues of the late Mr. Porshnev still hold a candle for him, along with a collection of plaster casts at the International Center of Hominology in Moscow. Igor Burtsev, the center's director, says that with government support he is hoping he can establish synergy with Yeti hunters in the U.S., whom he visited last year and who "are far ahead of Russia in research.". Also attending was Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University. Mr. Meldrum, who believes Bigfoot may exist, says he favors a "scientific approach" to the subject. During the trip to the cave, he worried that the footprints they found were only for a right foot, none from a left. They also seemed to be stamped too perfectly, he said. "I'd like to see progress," he said. "But some of this makes me suspicious." SRC: The Wall Street Journal, page A1 Let's keep the language clean, keep in mind we have younger fans and we want to make this the best bigfoot website for bigfoot news and bigfoot research.

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