When Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) finished 9th overall in last year’s Giro d’Italia, a discerning minority regarded the performance, and not Ivan Basso’s victory, as the most significant of the Corsa Rosa for Italian cycling. For years an unheralded journeyman, Pinotti had slowly risen to prominence in the latter part of the noughties as contemporaries like Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca’s stock fell, their reputations and palmarès sullied by doping scandals.

Few, though, would have batted an eyelid at Pinotti’s five Italian national time trial titles, his four days in the pink jersey in 2007 or indeed his 2010 Giro campaign were it not for the anti-doping convictions he wore so forthrightly on his sleeve. A graduate engineer, he also spoke eloquently about the environment, the challenge of attracting kids to cycling and just about any topic on which his views were solicited. He was, in short, a worthy spokesperson for a cycling nation that for years had placed its trust in men of straw.

Last December, on the eve of the 2011 season, we sat down with Pinotti to retrace his career path up to this point. With just ten days to go to the start of the Giro in Turin, we’re about to discover whether cycling’s voice of reason – and Pinotti’s palmarès – will continue on the same heartening upward curve.

A shorter, adapted version of this interview appeared in the April issue of Procycling magazine.

Cyclingnews: Marco, let’s go right back to the start. How and why did you start cycling?

Marco Pinotti: I started riding when I was 16. I was Matteo Algeri’s teammate. One summer I went round to his house to do homework and we went for a bike ride together. He said I was quite good, that I should give it a go and so on. Then I went to watch an Under 23 race that October. I liked it so I started looking for a team. I found out there was one in my village. So I joined and the next season I started racing.

Did cycling run in the family?

No one rode bikes in my family but my granddad always liked cycling and wanted me to race. He died in January 1992 and that was the year I started racing. He never saw me on a bike but I know he’d have been my biggest fan. I was lucky to be from an area where there’s a lot of passion for cycling, which really developed after the war with Gimondi. He was winning in the sixties, then the oil industry was in crisis in the 1970s and people started using bikes as a mode of transport. So it really grew, then in the 1980s and 1990s you got the ripple effect of Gimondi and that generation. There were lots of clubs in the area then. In the second half of the 1990s, there were something like 27 professionals living in Bergamo, some born there, some from other regions or countries. They were all guys who had started riding in the late 1980s. Now it’s very different; now there are only a handful of pros in Bergamo. I think there are two reasons why it’s changed so much. One is that people just don’t ride bikes as much any more. The other is that the foreigners aren’t coming to Bergamo any more. There’s still Kanstantin Siutsou, Alexander Kuchinski, one of the Efimkin brothers, but that’s about it. That’s because it’s no longer a good place to train. If a young rider, someone like Tejay Van Garderen, asks me to recommend a place to stay and train in Italy, I’d like to say Bergamo but I tell them to go somewhere else.

Kids of your generation in Italy grew up very aware of cycling and the top riders, didn’t they? Do you think that’s changed now?

Italian kids are maybe as aware of cycling as they once were but it’s changed. There are a lot fewer races. There are a lot fewer kids too, when you think of it. Now families have one, two kids on average. There’s more traffic, so parents don’t want their kids on the road. And there’s a lot of competition from other sports. I don’t know…On one hand, the Federation will tell you that the numbers are going up but those statistics are “doped” slightly by the numbers doing mountain biking, which is safer. Granfondos have really taken off too – but those are generally over 30s who are doing it for health reasons. And again, Bergamo’s not at the forefront of that trend.

Did you follow the Giro, the Tour?

Even before I started racing, I followed cycling. I followed all sport. I loved the Tour – with LeMond, Bugno, the back end of Hinault’s career. But I didn’t have any idols as such. I can remember the Fignon and LeMond Tour really well. But I wasn’t a “fan” of any one rider.

You were more focused on your academic work? You went on to get a degree in engineering….

I was certainly more focused on my school work than cycling at that time. I started racing but I didn’t intend to turn pro. That idea only really entered my head the year before I turned pro. I always had to juggle academic work with cycling, so I was always a bit pressed for time. I thought I’d turn pro for two or three years and see how things went, whether my body could take the strain. But I would never have expected a career like I’ve had, so long and successful.

How successful were you as an amateur?

I won races but I was never up there with Basso and Di Luca, those guys. I was always in a small amateur team. Now, and even more so then, there was a massive difference between the big, very organized teams who went on training camps and were basically run like pro teams, with riders who were effectively pros because they’d left school and cycling was all they did. I never went to training camps. I just used to race on a Saturday then go back to my parents’. So, I won races but small ones. I was never really in the set-up for the national team. Time trials were the only way for me to get noticed on a national level. Without those, I would never have gone beyond a few good results in regional races. There was a bit of a dearth of good time triallists so that’s where I slotted in. That’s what got my name out there on a national level

They were rough, unpleasant times in Italian amateur cycling….

Yep. Absolutely. I don’t know what it’s like now but it certainly wasn’t easy then. History has taught us that a lot of victories in that era were the fruit of illegal short-cuts and not talent.

Pinotti in his element

You came into contact with professional cycling for the first time immediately after the Festina affair, when you joined Polti as a stagiaire in August 1998…

I guess I was conscious of what was happening…but the Festina affair was a good thing because it opened up the possibility for change. It gave cycling a big jolt. When I turned pro, I heard mentalities were already changing. Or at least there was that hope. So that was the first jolt, which made people finally take the war on doping seriously.

But did you know what you were getting into?

No, I had no idea.

And you hadn’t seen team-mates or opponents doping with your own eyes?

No.

So it wasn’t as though you were going to races and your team-mates were filling the minibar with EPO…

No. I think if that was ever the case, it probably changed in 1998. After Festina there probably wasn’t much organized doping. It was individual riders making their own choices then. Perhaps the teams were closing their eyes to it but there was no organized doping. I don’t know what it was like before Festina. But something definitely changed there.

Had you already asked yourself the question of whether you would dope or not?

I was lucky that I was turning pro just because I could. I also had an education behind me. I turned pro in 1999 and graduated in 2000. My main aim was to get my engineering degree, then I was going to evaluate whether I could still race my bike. If I could survive with my values and not do too badly…I like racing my bike, so why not continue? Then when I got my degree I felt even more secure because I had something to fall back on. I even went for interviews after I graduated just to see how attractive the offers were. But they weren’t so attractive that I wouldn’t rather carry on racing.

And in fact, in those first two years, you…

Did nothing [laughs].

Well, yeah, you didn’t get amazing results but you did OK.

Yes, yeah. I mean, I turned pro and rode and finished the Tour in my first year. It was one of my biggest achievements in the first part of my career. It was the first Tour that Armstrong won. I finished and the directeur sportifs were all happy with me. 

But it must have been tough.

Well, I didn’t do anything exceptional but, honestly, I finished without ever having been on my knees. I was OK. It was actually a really good thing to do the Tour in my first year because I said to myself that was as hard as it could get. The level was high but the others also had two legs, just like me, and there I was with them. It was a good first experience of the Tour.

Your friend Matteo Algeri had bit more trouble than you adapting to the pro scene.

He did two and a half years. He was passionate but he had lots of physical problems which maybe came from overextending himself to get up to scratch. He’d eventually had enough.

What were your sporting highlights in those first couple of years?

Finishing the Tour in 1999, coming second in a stage in 2001… I was in a break with Rik Verbrugghe. That was the first time I really became aware of Jonathan Vaughters because that was the day he had to quit the race because his eye was swollen from a bee sting and he couldn’t take cortisone. I saw the photos in the paper the next day. I was second in that stage and I was fifth or sixth in the young riders’ classification. I was 30 or 40 minutes behind on general classification but still one of the best Under 25s. That was good for me because I was coming off a few physical problems. Even then I realized that I recovered pretty well. I might have been 50th overall in that Tour but I was in the top five young riders and that was having lost a bit of time in the flat stages. In the mountains I was in the top 40 or 50. I can remember the Alpe d’Huez stage that Armstrong won, when he bluffed Ullrich. I was in the first group of around 40 at the bottom of Alpe d’Huez. I can remember Armstrong bluffing, the penultimate climb…

The Glandon.

That’s it. There were a few hard sections and I could see Armstrong dropping back behind me. He didn’t look too bad but it seemed strange that he was there at the back of the group. There was Livingston on the front, then Ullrich…I can remember Telekom working the whole day. Then we descended, got to the foot of Alpe d’Huez and I got dropped. I can remember being puzzled when I saw him on the Glandon.

With hindsight and everything that’s happening now, what are your impressions of Armstrong?

When I rode the Tour in 1999 he was a source of inspiration. I was like a lot of other people. Looking back now….when he gave up the first time and L’Equipe published the article about his 1999 urine samples, it was a bit of a kick in the stomach.

You believed in him before that?

Here’s the thing [long hesitation]. As long as you don’t have proof, you always hope. I hoped. But there I thought, blimey, everything people said, the rumours…it was all confirmed, albeit not from a legal point of view. Now all I know, I read in the newspapers, and when I read about this investigation in the United States, I just think there’s no point now – the time to act was years ago.

Would context be any excuse? If one were to say, if he’s proven guilty, that plenty of other people were doping?

No, it’s not.

There’s an argument that he also dictated, created the context. He was the standard bearer for the sport. If he had sent out strong signals, would the context have changed?

OK, but it’s not the riders’ responsibility to send out signals. His job is to race his bike and win. Armstrong never tested positive. OK, there are those tests from 1999 but he was never convicted. What annoys me is the role the authorities played or didn’t play. A few months ago I read Paul Kimmage’s book, Rough Ride. As I read it, I was thinking, blimey, this was 1990! And if my memory serves me, Kimmage said that one of the reasons he was writing it was so that the UCI would finally see what was happening. He talked about how the riders all knew there would be no dope tests in the last stage of a major tour, so they took amphetamines. And this gave him a dilemma: he didn’t want to take amphetamines but he did want to help his team leader. So what could he do? In the book, he was effectively asking why the UCI let this kind of thing happen. He wrote it as an invitation to the authorities to open their eyes. They didn’t and so they’re maybe the guiltiest ones.

OK, but there wasn’t always the technology to detect certain substances. The riders also had to take responsibility, let their own ethics govern the sport.

Agreed, but for years these people underestimated the problem. In 1997 it was the riders who applied pressure to introduce a haematocrit limit. Maybe it did more harm than good – I don’t know – but it was the people at the base of the pyramid, the riders, who demanded action before the authorities. I wasn’t there at the time but…I’m more angry with the people who facilitated all this or who didn’t do enough. But then yeah, you’re also right about riders and their ethics. Now there are people trying to undermine the credibility of the biological passport, which is a positive thing that the UCI have introduced. A lot has changed but when Landis says there are riders who the UCI has protected, if that’s true, it’s very serious.

Allegations don’t come much more serious that that.

Yeah, because there is this conflict of interests between promotion and organization. If I was in the UCI’s shoes, it’s clear that I would want to create heroes, drama. The two roles, promotion and legislation, should be separated. There ought to be collaboration with the UCI but they shouldn’t be in control of both areas.

Doping is a completely selfish act, isn’t it? Would you agree that these riders have no concern for the wellbeing of the sport?  

I agree.

For example, Danilo Di Luca gave an interview this winter explaining why he collaborated with the Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) anti-doping commission. He said he’d done it “because he couldn’t stand being away from races”. There was no notion of him doing it to serve the sport.

This is hypocrisy at its worst. Don’t get me started on Di Luca because if you do we’ll still be here tomorrow morning. I don’t want to talk about him.

But it’s obvious that you’d like to…

[long sigh] You can’t say what he said. I don’t know what he told the investigators – he must have said something if they reduced his ban – but compare Di Luca and Tom Zirbel. Zirbel was banned for two years by USADA having tested positive for DHEA. He didn’t know how it got into his body and he definitely didn’t take it intentionally. Nonetheless, he admitted that what enters an athlete’s body was his responsibility and he wasn’t able to prove that it was contamination, perhaps because he didn’t have the money and the lawyers. Anyway, he couldn’t prove it and he got banned for two years. There was another case - Zirbel heard about it - of an athlete who did manage to prove that he’d taken a contaminated supplement and the company got sued – but the athlete still only got a three-month reduction to his ban. Then along comes Di Luca, who’s already been charged twice -  once for consulting a doctor who’s banned from cycling for life and now for this. Di Luca tests positive, admits he did it and then he provides the investigators with information, which he can do because he’s an expert in the field, and they give him a nine-month reduction. Then what? He throws his hands up in the air and says, “I didn’t name any names. I didn’t spit in the soup. I just explained my doping methods.” So as an expert in the field, he’s told the investigators how you go about doping. At this point Zirbel says, “Ah, it’s a shame that I’m not an expert in doping. I should have pretended to be one then I’d be able to start racing again next year. Because I’m an idiot, though, and I let this substance get into my system without knowing how, I’ve got two years and I’m stuck with it.” You see these are the inconsistencies of the system. I read what Zirbel wrote and I thought, yeah, he’s right.  I respect him. I mean, they are two different bodies making the decisions, USADA and CONI, but the lack of uniformity is still unacceptable. It’s things like this that undermine cycling’s credibility.

And yet it’s a lot better than it was.

I say that if things remain as they are, it’s at least a big improvement on fifteen years ago. There’s been some progress. Everyone whinges about McQuaid but ever since he took over at the UCI – I don’t know, maybe under another president there would have been even greater strides – but things have improved. Maybe it’s because he’s come under pressure from WADA, the riders, the media, but efforts have been made. Cycling must be one of the cleanest sports now. I mean, I don’t know anything about other sports, but I know what happens in cycling. Sure, if you read WADA’s report on the Tour de France, you think to yourself that they’re still not doing enough, that the holes in the net are still too wide, but what do you do?

Is one of the reasons you still “hope” Armstrong was clean his charisma, his presence?

He definitely has that. I rode the 2009 Giro alongside him and you could see his charisma. Cycling has benefited from that. Do I hate him? No, because I’m more upset with the authorities. I never said a word to Armstrong all those years when he was winning the Tour. He was a lot more accessible at the Giro in 2009. Someone from the hospital in Bergamo called me during that race to ask whether Armstrong might agree to have his photo taken with the oncology department, since there was a stage finishing in Bergamo. I thought to myself there was no way, he’d have people asking him for stuff every two minutes…but I’d told this person that I’d try anyway. So at the first opportunity, in the middle of a stage one day, I found him in the bunch and asked him whether he might be able to help. He was really gracious, actually. He said they should look in the roadbook, find out where his team were staying at the end of the stage to Bergamo and meet him there in the evening. He even asked for their name, so he knew who it was. Sure enough, the day after the Bergamo stage, he found me in the bunch and told that the people had come and got the photos they wanted. Apparently the people from the hospital had invited him to some kind of conference in October but he couldn’t go because his girlfriend was due to give birth then. He was very approachable, really, which is not what you’d expect of someone that famous and in demand.

Another charismatic rider whose career overlapped with yours was Gilberto Simoni, your team-mate at Lampre and then again at Saunier Duval.

His was a different kind of charisma. He came to Lampre in 2000 and rode with us until the end of 2001, when he went to Saeco. Then in 2006 I rode with him again at Saunier Duval. I have good memories of him. He’s not someone who brings a team together, not that kind of leader…

Really?

Not in my experience. He was always a bit in his own world. He was very methodical [pauses] but in his own way. In winter, he hardly rode his bike. I can remember the first year that I was at Lampre, he started his training in January. Then he went and finished third in the Giro. Let’s say that he did things his way. Then, by the time we rode for Saunier Duval, he had become much more of a leader, which he needed to be because we had a lot of young riders. The directeur sportif would often give his briefing in the morning and Gibo would interject with his own ideas. He started to have a big influence on the directeurs sportifs, probably as a result of having won the Giro twice and grown in confidence. He didn’t shout but he didn’t have to; when he talked, you listened.

With the media, he was very enigmatic. Sometimes it could be quite comical.

He was like that with us too. You thought he wasn’t paying attention but he noticed everything, then he’d deliver these killer one-liners. If you messed up in a race he wasn’t one to bang his fists the table and if you did something right he’d always remember it. You’d finish stages happy with the work you’d done for the team but thinking Gibo probably hadn’t even noticed certain things, yet he always did. He was always brutally frank as well – a typical mountain man. He didn’t care about public relations.

Which other riders have particularly influenced you in your career?

I learned a lot from Chris Horner.

Tell us more.

Yeah. I raced with him at Saunier Duval. He had real race craft, really good tactical sense, but all of his own, very American. I can remember in the 2005 Tour of Switzerland, he, Leonardo Piepoli and Fabian Jeker were our strongest riders on the climbs and in the transitional stages rest of us had to cover the breaks. I can remember this puzzling him. He said that all team leaders seemed to do in Europe was sit on for the whole race and see how far they could get on the summit finishes. He couldn’t understand why the leaders didn’t also pull on the flat stages, or why they weren’t covering the breaks too. So he had pretty different perspective from the rest of us. He’d been in Europe in the late 1990s, it hadn’t really worked, then he’d come over for the second time in 2005. He was 34 at the time yet, to listen to him, you’d have thought that he still had six, seven years as a pro ahead of him. I couldn’t work it out: he’d been at La Française des Jeux, broken his scaphoid or something, then won everything in America and come back over here. And here he was now sounding like a kid at the start of his career. I said to myself, blimey, never mind six or seven, the way he’s talking he’s going to ride for another ten years. He was 34 then and now I’ve just had my best season at 34 years of age… and he’s just had his best year at 39.

So it was the power of positive thinking, youth as a self-fulfilling prophesy?

That’s it. I was 29 at the time and I was thinking I didn’t have that long left. I looked at him and thought he’d have one, two years at best. But then you heard him, and five years on you can see now that it wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part. There he is at 39 winning at the Tour of the Basque Country.

In your own career, moving to T-Mobile, which soon became Highroad, was a massive turning point.

Yeah. I’d always wanted to ride in a foreign team and the culture of an American team suited me perfectly. The constant striving to improve, the innovation…it lit a fire under the passion I already had.  It’s the main reason why I’ve improved so much. The old way that still prevailed in Italian teams had its advantages but you only have to look at what this team’s for done me to see that this is the way forward. Liquigas is still a big team but Italy’s still a very traditionalist country because its cycling culture has such deep roots. For example, in this team we spend hours if not days getting our bikes properly fitted. In Italian teams, if they do it, it’s just for show, for the press. I’m not even sure they’re convinced that these things have an effect on performance. For example, at Lampre, Compex supplied us with electro-stimulators, like they do here. But there the directeurs gave us the Compex and that was it, whereas here, last year, we had a two-hour seminar on how to use it. See what I mean? There I seem to remember half of the team got a Compex at the start of the season, they took some photos, then the rest of us got ours later in the year, but no one ever told us how to use it. The same thing with nutritional supplements and equipment. You might already know the stuff that they tell you but you might not. Maybe in Italy the amateurs are more advanced in terms of what they know but then they stop learning.

Somehow it’s hard to imagine you becoming a directeur sportif when you retire, whether it’s in Italy or anywhere else.

You never know. I can’t really see myself driving a team car but you never know. At the moment I’m thinking about racing and nothing else. I’m better off being like Chris Horner and living for the moment. That’s where my focus is now.

...

Yep, we messed up. That's the word out of the Cambridge-based consulting firm Monitor Group. Between 2006 and 2008, the company maintained a highly questionable business relationship with the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator. Monitor helped Muammar Qaddafi's son Saif write his PhD dissertation at the London School of Economics. It also hired some of the US and UK's foremost international relations experts to write glowing editorials and essays about the Qaddafi regime's efforts to clean up its act and enact democratic reforms. And the firm never revealed that it was all was part of a coordinated—and well-funded—effort to end Libya's status as a pariah state.

Not long after Mother Jones reported on Monitor's Libya project, questions arose about whether the firm had taken the proper steps to register as a lobbyist for Libya with the Justice Department. Offering advice on economic or governing reform without registering isn't illegal. But the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) stipulates that groups like Monitor must register if they're planning on conducting "acts in a public relations capacity for a foreign principal"—which, as we reported, is primarily what Monitor's Libya project was all about. As we wrote back in March, Monitor decided to conduct an internal investigation into whether it had violated FARA, initially led by Eamonn Kelly, a senior partner at the firm. Later, the company brought in outside lawyers from the firm of Covington & Burling to finish the job.

The lawyers' conclusion: yes, Monitor most certainly did break FARA law. Today, the company announced that it is retroactively registering some of its past work in Libya, as well as its more recent work with Jordan. And on Tuesday, Monitor CEO Mark Fuller, who played a key role in the Libya project, resigned. Monitor also issued a press release on the findings of its internal investigation:

These decisions reflect a thorough fact-finding and legal investigation initiated by Monitor after issues concerning its work in Libya were raised earlier this year. The investigation, conducted by the law firm of Covington & Burling, included a review of Monitor engagements with foreign governments. That review concluded that some elements of Monitor’s work in Libya from 2006 through 2008 should have been registered under FARA. It also became apparent that a more recent item of work on behalf of the Kingdom of Jordan should have been registered. Monitor will now take all appropriate measures to remediate these errors.

The Boston Globe reports that Monitor is also likely to release details on how much it paid its academics, including British academic Sir Anthony Giddens. How did Monitor mess this up so bad? From the Globe:

[Eamonn] Kelly said the failure to register was due to a misunderstanding about legal requirements. But others said it reflects a deeper problem: The company was not transparent about the fact that it was engaged in a calculated effort to burnish Khadafy’s reputation, even to professors recruited in the effort.

"If I had known that a primary purpose of the visit to Libya was to influence public opinion in the United States, I would not have gone," Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said in a telephone interview yesterday. Other professors said they did not feel misled.

Whether the DOJ actually brings charges against Fuller, et. al, remains to be seen. But given the intellectual firepower and general worldliness of the people involved in its project, Monitor's excuse—"We didn't know, sorry"—is less than satisfying. Hopefully, the DOJ feels the same way. 

Yep, we messed up. That's the word out of the Cambridge-based consulting firm Monitor Group. Between 2006 and 2008, the company maintained a highly questionable business relationship with the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator. Monitor helped Muammar Qaddafi's son Saif write his PhD dissertation at the London School of Economics. It also hired some of the US and UK's foremost international relations experts to write glowing editorials and essays about the Qaddafi regime's efforts to clean up its act and enact democratic reforms. And the firm never revealed that it was all was part of a coordinated—and well-funded—effort to end Libya's status as a pariah state.

Not long after Mother Jones reported on Monitor's Libya project, questions arose about whether the firm had taken the proper steps to register as a lobbyist for Libya with the Justice Department. Offering advice on economic or governing reform without registering isn't illegal. But the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) stipulates that groups like Monitor must register if they're planning on conducting "acts in a public relations capacity for a foreign principal"—which, as we reported, is primarily what Monitor's Libya project was all about. As we wrote back in March, Monitor decided to conduct an internal investigation into whether it had violated FARA, initially led by Eamonn Kelly, a senior partner at the firm. Later, the company brought in outside lawyers from the firm of Covington & Burling to finish the job.

The lawyers' conclusion: yes, Monitor most certainly did break FARA law. Today, the company announced that it is retroactively registering some of its past work in Libya, as well as its more recent work with Jordan. And on Tuesday, Monitor CEO Mark Fuller, who played a key role in the Libya project, resigned. Monitor also issued a press release on the findings of its internal investigation:

These decisions reflect a thorough fact-finding and legal investigation initiated by Monitor after issues concerning its work in Libya were raised earlier this year. The investigation, conducted by the law firm of Covington & Burling, included a review of Monitor engagements with foreign governments. That review concluded that some elements of Monitor’s work in Libya from 2006 through 2008 should have been registered under FARA. It also became apparent that a more recent item of work on behalf of the Kingdom of Jordan should have been registered. Monitor will now take all appropriate measures to remediate these errors.

The Boston Globe reports that Monitor is also likely to release details on how much it paid its academics, including British academic Sir Anthony Giddens. How did Monitor mess this up so bad? From the Globe:

[Eamonn] Kelly said the failure to register was due to a misunderstanding about legal requirements. But others said it reflects a deeper problem: The company was not transparent about the fact that it was engaged in a calculated effort to burnish Khadafy’s reputation, even to professors recruited in the effort.

"If I had known that a primary purpose of the visit to Libya was to influence public opinion in the United States, I would not have gone," Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, said in a telephone interview yesterday. Other professors said they did not feel misled.

Whether the DOJ actually brings charges against Fuller, et. al, remains to be seen. But given the intellectual firepower and general worldliness of the people involved in its project, Monitor's excuse—"We didn't know, sorry"—is less than satisfying. Hopefully, the DOJ feels the same way. 

Job Description: Sales & Operations Manager

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• Become proficient at cleaning and using all car seats and strollers. Train and check employee’s work to ensure high quality standard. Regularly help with cleaning when busy or working alone
• Complete car seat certification course and help parents reinstall car seats in vehicles after cleaning service is completed
• As needed, help with house calls including pick-up, drop-off, or cleanings at customers’ homes (or sometimes at your own home)
• Maintain a safe and clean site (including a clean van which needs to be hand-washed weekly)
• Order and pick-up replacement supplies and manage inventory carefully to ensure adequate reorder lead time
• Help with general mechanical duties such as maintenance of equipment, van, and generator
• Perform tune-ups and repairs on strollers when needed. Coordinate drop-off/pick-up with repair experts, bike shops, seamstresses as needed
• Help in developing operations manual which will be used in franchising the business

People Management:
• Ability to work closely and professionally with retail partners to set up logistics for site set-up
• Managing labor – ensuring timely arrivals, a focus on safety, compliance with workplace rules such as dresscode and no smoking, disciplining and documenting workers who are late or do not comply. Will assist owner in hiring and firing labor
• Communicate frequently with owner regarding status updates, issues/problems. Debrief owner each evening on day’s sales via email or phone.
• Provide suggestions and ideas to owner for new site locations, customer reactions and suggestions, and operational improvements including cleaning methods

Skills:
• Self-motivated and driven; Experience working autonomously with little supervision
• Ability to juggle many tasks and work quickly during tumultuous times of high stress
• Experience managing hourly workers
• Customer service experience in a retail or restaurant setting, particularly when dealing with wait times and service backlog

Qualifications:
• Problem solving—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information skillfully and collaboratively.
• Oral communication—the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills and conducts productive meetings.
• Quality management—the individual looks for ways to improve and promote quality and demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Judgment—the individual displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, and makes timely decisions.
• Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.
• Safety and security—the individual observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Preferred qualifications that are “nice to have” but not required:
• experienced Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (training can be provided if not already completed, but prefer experienced applicants)
• Technical skills and mechanical competence for helping with repairs and van/equipment maintenance
• Cleaning industry experience and contacts
• speaks Spanish
• Any business experience in Marketing, Bookkeeping, etc

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

EDUCATION: Prefer at least 2 year college degree or technical school training

WORK AUTHORIZATION: Must have US work authorization, proof of social security card/passport and drivers license.

COMPENSATION: $2500/month, with opportunity for raise within 3 months after trial period. This company is a start-up, and despite the long hours, we are not able to pay much yet. We hope to offer better pay after we get off the ground! Some benefits may be negotiated based on your priorities (e.g. work schedule, vacation, health care, etc). Profit Sharing/Bonus available. One year commitment required or training costs must be reimbursed.

To apply: please email resume and cover letter outlining your skill sets and desire to work in a start-up. Email subject should be “Open Manager Position”. Include the sentence “I read the detailed job description” as the last sentence in the cover letter to be considered.

Attention: Ms. Jennifer Beall, cleanbeebaby@gmail.com

Hiring Organization: CleanBeeBaby

• Location: Los Angeles
• Compensation: $2500/month (raise after 3 months) plus profit sharing/bonus and flexible benefits
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Job Description: Sales & Operations Manager

READ ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE APPLYING.

About CleanBeeBaby: We are a new business poised for strong growth across the country. CleanBeeBaby is an eco-friendly cleaning service for baby car seats and strollers. Our service targets families with children under 5 who are time-starved, worried about health and safety, and hate cleaning. Additionally, regular cleaning with eco-friendly methods allows for parents to re-use and recycle car seats and strollers, decreasing waste. Our mobile service partners with retailers all over the LA area (from Pasadena to Santa Monica, and Hermosa Beach to Westlake Village) to clean baby gear while moms are inside shopping. We also do house calls and private events. We launched in March 2011 in Los Angeles. You can learn more at www.cleanbeebaby.com or www.facebook.com/cleanbeebaby

Why work for us: Working for a start-up allows you to learn many skills and competencies as you are required to wear “many different hats.” You will experience the various aspects it takes to run a business – from marketing, sales, operations, business development, and much more. Getting in to a start-up in the launch phase is a rare and precious opportunity, and there will be many opportunities for increasing responsibility as we grow and start to franchise. We’re building a company culture based on exceptional customer service and truly delighting the parents who come to us. We want happy, well-adjusted, and humble employees who work hard and are passionate about working with parents and young children. In turn, we will provide a fun work environment with flexible perks and benefits. We’re committed to developing leaders in our business who will want to stick around for many years!

Responsibilities:
General management of mobile business, including coordinating house calls, open & close at retail sites, customer service and labor management. Looking for someone who is RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY, and OUTGOING.

Customer Service & Business Management:
• Answer all incoming phone calls from 9-5 Monday through Saturday. Schedule appointments for customers and answer questions about the business. Up-sell customers to higher end service packages. Respond to all customer service emails/inquiries within 24 hours. Manage calendar.
• Provide excellent customer service throughout the day including greeting customers, collecting information, taking payments, providing giveaways and ensuring all needs are met
• Help with general office duties and marketing tasks such as writing blog posts for website, data entry of customer details, updating facebook / twitter status to announce locations, keeping record of sales and services, employee work times, and house call log sheets
• Ensure compliance with all regulations and insurance requirements surrounding car seat installation, as well as compliance with local and city regulations for parking, labor laws, etc.

General Operations:
• Set up site at retail locations including tent, tables, and equipment/supplies. Clean-up site in evening and ensure proper storage. Recharge mobile devices and wash towels overnight.
• Become proficient at cleaning and using all car seats and strollers. Train and check employee’s work to ensure high quality standard. Regularly help with cleaning when busy or working alone
• Complete car seat certification course and help parents reinstall car seats in vehicles after cleaning service is completed
• As needed, help with house calls including pick-up, drop-off, or cleanings at customers’ homes (or sometimes at your own home)
• Maintain a safe and clean site (including a clean van which needs to be hand-washed weekly)
• Order and pick-up replacement supplies and manage inventory carefully to ensure adequate reorder lead time
• Help with general mechanical duties such as maintenance of equipment, van, and generator
• Perform tune-ups and repairs on strollers when needed. Coordinate drop-off/pick-up with repair experts, bike shops, seamstresses as needed
• Help in developing operations manual which will be used in franchising the business

People Management:
• Ability to work closely and professionally with retail partners to set up logistics for site set-up
• Managing labor – ensuring timely arrivals, a focus on safety, compliance with workplace rules such as dresscode and no smoking, disciplining and documenting workers who are late or do not comply. Will assist owner in hiring and firing labor
• Communicate frequently with owner regarding status updates, issues/problems. Debrief owner each evening on day’s sales via email or phone.
• Provide suggestions and ideas to owner for new site locations, customer reactions and suggestions, and operational improvements including cleaning methods

Skills:
• Self-motivated and driven; Experience working autonomously with little supervision
• Ability to juggle many tasks and work quickly during tumultuous times of high stress
• Experience managing hourly workers
• Customer service experience in a retail or restaurant setting, particularly when dealing with wait times and service backlog

Qualifications:
• Problem solving—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information skillfully and collaboratively.
• Oral communication—the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills and conducts productive meetings.
• Quality management—the individual looks for ways to improve and promote quality and demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Judgment—the individual displays willingness to make decisions, exhibits sound and accurate judgment, and makes timely decisions.
• Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.
• Safety and security—the individual observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Preferred qualifications that are “nice to have” but not required:
• experienced Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (training can be provided if not already completed, but prefer experienced applicants)
• Technical skills and mechanical competence for helping with repairs and van/equipment maintenance
• Cleaning industry experience and contacts
• speaks Spanish
• Any business experience in Marketing, Bookkeeping, etc

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus

EDUCATION: Prefer at least 2 year college degree or technical school training

WORK AUTHORIZATION: Must have US work authorization, proof of social security card/passport and drivers license.

COMPENSATION: $2500/month, with opportunity for raise within 3 months after trial period. This company is a start-up, and despite the long hours, we are not able to pay much yet. We hope to offer better pay after we get off the ground! Some benefits may be negotiated based on your priorities (e.g. work schedule, vacation, health care, etc). Profit Sharing/Bonus available. One year commitment required or training costs must be reimbursed.

To apply: please email resume and cover letter outlining your skill sets and desire to work in a start-up. Email subject should be “Open Manager Position”. Include the sentence “I read the detailed job description” as the last sentence in the cover letter to be considered.

Attention: Ms. Jennifer Beall

• Location: Los Angeles
• Compensation: $2500/month (raise after 3 months) plus profit sharing/bonus and flexible benefits
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

!Job Fair!

Immediate interviews! Next week start dates! No experience necessary!

Aircraft Service International Group
O’Hare International Airport
521 Old Cargo Rd.
Chicago, IL 60666
773-686-7001

*Monday, May 9th 10:00 am – 3:00 pm*

Directions:
At ORD, take the exit to Terminal 5 (Sign shows Terminal 5, car rental returns etc..)
At the light (Besse Coleman Dr), make a right turn. At the next light, make a left turn.
About 50 ft, make a right and another right at the stop sign and the ASIG building is located to the immediate right.
*If these directions do not work with your location, please Mapquest 521 Old Cargo Road, Chicago, IL 60666.

From the Blue Line
Exit Blue line at O’Hare International Airport
Follow signs to Airport Transit System (ATS)
Take ATS towards International Terminal (Terminal 5)
From International Terminal (Terminal 5) go upstairs and exit the terminal
Head East (right)
Walk down the sidewalk until you come to the first street on the right
Turn right and ASIG will be the second building on your left

*Ramp Agent*
Part time Position – 20 hours per week
$8.75/hour – ($9.05 after 6 months, $9.45 after 12 months, $9.75 after 18 months...) ! Promotions to full time positions with benefits!

~Must be available to work various shifts, weekends and holidays.
~Must be able to pass background check, fingerprinting and drug testing.
~Must have valid drivers license.

SUMMARY

Performs basic ground equipment service. Handles loading, unloading, stowing, pick up delivery of mail, express, baggage, freight and cargo and the operation of automotive and other ramp equipment in the performance of their duties. Maintain the ramp area, building and equipment in a clean, presentable condition.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Comply with the Location’s attendance/tardiness standards.
Responsible for loading and unloading baggage/cargo.
Chock aircraft.
Connect electrical power unit to aircraft.
Position passenger stairs/Jetway to aircraft.
Replenish water supply and service lavatories.
Connect tow bar and tug for push back or towing aircraft.
Provide airstart and air-conditioning.
Operate headset/radio to provide communication between ground crew, flight crew, and tower.
Clean line equipment and ramp areas.
Provide additional service as required.
Know and comply with all safety procedures.
Check-in baggage when required.
Is able to meet the Station’s attendance standards.

Education Requirements:
Basic math skills

*If you aren't able to attend the job fair, please visit www.asig.com/employment to complete an online application*

An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V
We are a drug-free workplace and drug testing will be required.

• Location: O'Hare
• Compensation: $8.75
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Hubby was craving something sweet the other night. Even though I had made Nutella Brownie Bites and homemade vanilla ice cream earlier in the week he asked if I could "whip up something quick."

Talk about pressure...the thought process alone would render whatever I finally decided to make no longer quick. Then I remembered the Chocolate Cinnamon Squares in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours.  These delicious little squares come together so quick you don't even need to turn on your mixer.



Since I have never been one to follow directions I decided to change the recipe up a bit giving it my own little twist.  I omitted the chocolate frosting, because these bars really don't need it.  And I added a shot of espresso turning them into what I now call:


Chocolate Cinnamon Espresso Bars
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan)


1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp + 2 tsp cinnamon
1 shot espresso
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
10 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips semi-sweet

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp sugar, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, the remaining cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, espresso and butter. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour half of the batter into the prepare pan, spreading it evenly over the bottom. Evenly sprinkle on sugar/espresso mixture and mini chocolate chips, then top with the remaining batter, spreading it evenly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F, just until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and remove the parchment.

'We've done seven dry runs to the hospital, none of them successful. The satnav, for some reason, refuses to believe such an institution exists'

If you're reading this, I'm in labour. I hope your day's going better.

I've done all I can by way of preparation. My hospital bag, assembled and packed by Mum in a manner that would make any Krypton Factor champion weep for very shame, has been in the hall for six weeks. It contains clean nighties, clean knickers, clean dressing gown, two packs of newborn-sized nappies, a packet of maternity pads that I prefer not to think about, six babygros, a baby hat, a fan, a water spray and some cereal bars that look like the kind of thing you should undertake only if you are in peak physical condition, not trying to push a baby out of a reluctant orifice. I presume Mum knows what she's doing. I have always presumed she knows what she's doing.

Alongside it is the supplementary bag I have packed for myself. It contains four Twixes, a Creme Egg, Bunny (my faithful and only non-judgmental childhood companion) and a selection of comfort reading that caused what I strongly feel to be an unnecessary number of disagreements between me and Toryboy. I tried to put in Maeve Binchy's Light A Penny Candle. He took it out.

"No son of mine is going to be born in the vicinity of one of your Bridget O'Bridget sagas," he said.

"I'm not even going to be looking at it. It's just to have. I'd like to know it's there. It's the bibliographic equivalent of Bunny."

"No."

No matter. I've taken out three of the maternity pads in the other bag and slipped it in there instead.

What else? My godmother and great-aunts have been alerted so the novena chain has begun.

Toryboy and I have decided that the baby will take his name. He doesn't know it's because I spoke to Mum about it and she said, "Oh, yes, let him have the name. Everyone knows children belong to their mothers really. Changing the name just makes the dads feel like they've got something to do with it." It's a robust attitude, and one that explains much.

We've done seven dry runs to the hospital, none of them successful. The satnav, for some reason, refuses to believe such an institution exists. Rather than buy a new one, Toryboy has chosen to interpret this as a challenge to his masculinity and intends to do the journey unaided. That's fine. The bookbag and I are going by taxi.

After a brief but intense discussion, Mum has agreed to meet us at the hospital and stay for the first hour or so to get me settled.

"But it should be your and Toryboy's time," she argued.

"What? What? Now you're attempting detachment? After 36 years of making sure you haunt my every waking and sleeping  thought?"

"But he's your husband and the father."

"Nobody can prove any of that. I had papers destroyed. What's with you? Have you been on the internet again? Who's filling your head with all this nonsense? No, you're coming. You didn't send me to university on my own, you're not leaving me now. It'll be like September 1993 all over again. You come, you unpack while I sob inconsolably with fear and regret, you make me eat something, you leave. Three years later we'll hopefully agree again that it all worked out fine in the end."

So that's it. We're ready to go. Whether we're ready to come back with a baby in tow is anybody's guess. I'll let you know how it went when I make it back to work in six weeks, six months or 18 years' time, however long it takes to find the new normal, though I'll try not to bang on about him thereafter. Wish me luck.

Think life without a clock for a moment? It will become so difficult to manage the whole day and of course keep track of time. Designs of clocks are getting a new shape and form so that they blend with the modern times which is highly tech driven. Brian Schmitt & Jane Kim have come out with a clock that has been fashioned in a simple and eco-friendly manner christened Samara Wall Clock.

The clock has been given a simple appearance but still looks very elegant. Samara has been made from bamboo which is renewable as well as environment friendly. Apart from the hour and minute hand the timepiece comes attached with 12 arms that have been cut in an asymmetric ray like shape. They actually represent the 1-12 digits that we find on clocks. The hour and minute hand, wedged on the central anchor, move with the help of a high-torque quartz movement.

The shape of this clock has been heavily inspired from Schmitt’s mobile which is also named Samara and has been crafted from bamboo as well. Eco-MDF has been used to make the clock housing while the hands have been crafted from stainless steel which has been later swathed with paint. The clock will instantly make the wall where it is wedged glow with its green qualities.

Get the eco-friendly Samara Wall Clock or gift it to your loved ones and see it decorate your dwellings in a smart yet clean manner.

Via: SchmittDesign

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? The Legend Of The Mighty Soap Trailer When I was a kid I watched HBO relentlessly. Whenever there wasn't reairings of Fraggle Rock, Braingames, Heartbeeps, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome there were lots of short films that played between movies. The actual "program" was called Short Take (anyone remember Recorded Live [1]? Still creeps me out.) and even though I only have a vague recollection of them there was one really odd film about a talking, shrunken head. It was strange even by my 10 year-old standards as the thing somehow was hanging out with a couple of kids, for whatever effed up reason, stuffed it into a soccer ball and was kicked around a field to the sounds of something equating to macabre whimpering. This trailer reminds me of that moment. To that end, there is no other, correct, response to have after watching this trailer other than realizing you need to see this film. It's probably the strangest thing you'll see today but it's worth it. While I couldn’t tell you what the hell is happening I can say with some certainty that the style is a little Tim and Eric with a dash of bizarro, netherworld action. Director Andrew Bond has made something that even those at a Freudian institute would be hard pressed to explain without breaking out into fits of frustration. There is a narrative here, though. From what I can deduce by watching,  I can't understand the vocal track because they're not speaking American, the visuals really are reminiscent of those brainiacs behind the Old Spice commercials (Again, Tim and Eric for those who didn't know) but it's a perfectly apropos comparison. Those ads worked for P&G in the number of units that were moved because of how well the public received them; they were irreverent, funny, creative, but had a purpose. This trailer has a purpose because it's not just content with being strange. It wants to express itself as a story that is pitting the unwashed masses who want to be clean against a bile shooting monster. Sometimes an explanation is too much. It's best to leave the oddness be. [Twitch [2]] The National Parks Project Trailer Moving out beyond the usual nature photographers who simply stick a camera out into a field and expect to capture nature in all its splendor, this project seems like it's something a little more unique. The opening of this trailer is representative of why it's such an evocative piece of marketing material simply because of its plain, white, snow swept mountain ranges. It's not just  a canvas that is waiting for you to give it some kind of meaning. There are no words, no guide about what we're seeing as you focus on the hills that look like ribs jutting up from the ground. This something more than what it appears to be and you can sense it. All the unwashed hippies in the audience ought to be crying at this point at the beauty of it all. Smash cut, we're now on the shore of some lush wilderness. We get close to a tree as the jangling of a guitar slips in and envelopes you in some nature photography that is certainly unlike anything I've ever seen on the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I can't exactly put my finger on it but this is a different kind of nature documentary. It seems hipper in a way, with a modern sensibility. And that seems to be the case when the narrator drops in. Literally, a voice of God simply lays it out simply and effectively about why we're here, what we're looking at. That's it about Canadian parks is one thing but when the information scrolls by and tells us that it and it is going to utilize 13 filmmakers and 39 musicians to essentially guide us through this walk through nature my curiosity is even more piqued. What strikes me as I watch this is that it's like something we would expect to come from authors if this was the 19th centuries; writers who looked at nature not as a utilitarian source of power but of an entity endowed with an inherent beauty, as something to be celebrated. This is the 21st answer to Henry David Thoreau or Emerson and it simply looks like it's a movie where you hunker down and let it wash over you. The Elephant In The Living Room Trailer This obviously goes beyond people who own some ferrets. Director Michael Webber has done something genuinely novel here while also creating a trailer that is both ambitious and tense. What grabs you immediately is that even before we know this is a story about people who keep really dangerous pets we get the 911 call and the police officer who fields them. We're not really sure what this is all about, it sounds a little goofy honestly and it does appear to be humorous, but that smile is turned upside down once we hear from this cop who looks deadly serious about his role in playing the part of exotic pet wrangler. He's not so much afraid as he is worried about the possibilities of what could happen. We get quotes from /Film's own David Chen and Michael Moore (always good company to be in) and it's about as an explosive, riveting opening as you're going to get for a documentary all this year. I, honestly, loved how well it pulls you in with not only the kudos, its editing, its pacing, and the ability to emotionally tug at you that all the rest is gravy. Gravy being the one thing that sustains the goodness of this thing because it is flat out enthralling. We get crazies of all kinds and that's just glorious. There's some guy who looks like the wizened, slouchy brother of Captain Lou Albano who is *really* into his lion, some dude who wants to talk about the dangers of legislating controls on the ownership of these beasts, and opinions that straddle the grey lines in-between. I love that we get a shot of some jamoke who is casually and nonchalantly hanging out with his mountain lion in his living room as the scene we get directly following this is of a police officer pumping his shotgun as he slowly walks into some tall scrub. This film shot up to the top of my most wanted list of documentaries based on the strength of the trailer as not only does it make clear what the story is about it smartly stays out of the way for the thoughts that come out of it. The people are allowed to get their opinions out without judgement and without guidance from the filmmakers about how we should think about this. It's refreshing and exciting. Tracker Trailer I honestly wish Australia could have been a good film. To that point, I would have loved to have had a compelling story to go along with the lush landscapes and places we were taken in that movie. Alas, what we got was painfully unwatchable pap that went nowhere quite fast and labored like a sick dog all the way to the end. It's interesting, then, that director Ian Sharp, who hasn't directed anything of note since 2002's blockbuster Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War, might be able to bring some of what Australia could have been to the screen. And, yes, I realize that New Zealand is a wholly independent continent but it's a pretty close facsimile. The trailer is quite precise as it establishes what is happening in the film and that it seems to focus on the relationship between Ray Winstone and Temuera Morrison. It's that focus on the duality of these men that really appeals to me. The first half of the trailer sets up things solidly with not only establishing the persona non grata status of Winstone but explains why Morrison is on the run from Johnny Law. Instead of a good guy/bad guy demarcation there is a whole lot of gray to for both parties as the manhunt is on. As the trailer goes into its back nine, the physical landscape provides a great postcard for anyone looking to be ensconced in a world that seems to be punctuated with sound stage set-ups. The "out in the open" quality of key moments in this story are not only well presented here but have really been appealing to me as of late after seeing how the Coen's used physical landscape in True Grit. There could be some meat on this script if it can be more than just a movie about inequality and Winstone's journey to be accepted in a culture that seems to not want him around. From the looks of it there are some exciting set pieces and interesting directorial choices. It's been a while since I've caught Winstone in something reaching the epic proportions of The Departed and while I didn't get it with 44 Inch Chest there is the distinct possibility this could be something close. Bloodrape Trailer The last time I checked in [3] with this film, I was pretty much blown away by its ferocity. Well, Tucker Bennett, Taeer Maymon, and Zach Shipko are back to melt whatever was left of your face off in a trailer I simply love for reasons that I cannot justify in any coherent, factual way. By all accounts I should be annoyed by the construction of it. The sound is just pounding through the speakers, the visuals are more methed up than a junkie who just found a c-note in the street, there is no direction to it whatsoever, or any clear vision of what they're trying to "sell", but it's the rawness of it all that's so alluring. There isn't any way to talk about this trailer in a manner that breaks down the core components of what makes this a trailer worth mentioning only because you can't watch this and not feel this is either one of the most fascinating things you'll see all week (make note: I'm not saying great, I'm just stating "fascinating") or something that you are completely repulsed by. I happen to fall in the former camp as this isn't just a slapdash trailer that's put together with some snot and invisible tape, you genuinely have a focused piece of performance art that not only is giving you bits of this film's content but it's got an independent style that eschews most everything you would consider necessary to get you interested in a film you've never heard of. I have no doubt some of you will think this is the most obnoxious, attention whore-ing piece of trash you've come across but I would counter that the minds behind this have a clear voice and don't care about anyone else thinks. That indifference isn't punk so much as it is having a vision of what you want and just shoving it out there for everyone to see. From the vampire orgy, the feasting that's being done on humans with blood that seems more pink than red, the music that is damn near bleeding through your speakers, the editing that seems unable to focus on anything for more than mere milliseconds, and the last fifteen seconds that is out to melt what's left of your cerebral cortex with its distorted volume and disjointed narrative that offers no help in deciphering what in the hell is going here, it's all wonderful. I embrace the work for what it is and respect the insane vibe of it all. Elephant White Trailer Um. Ok. While everyone is in white hot anticipation for Kevin Bacon in X-Men: First Class maybe seeing Bacon plying his trade at trying out a British accent would be of interest. I'm not sure what's worse, his attempt or the premise of this film. Chocolate, Ong-bak, The Protector, all films that director Prachya Pinkaew ought to be really proud of but this is just amazing in its average-ness. It's not enough to say we've seen this before in films like Taken or Man on Fire because that would be generous to those films. This is a wholesale, played out, construction that starts off so modestly that you wonder whether this was conceived with the idea of this movie never making it to a large screen; instead, this direct-to-DVD film would probably best be deployed as freebies to those buying a Previously Viewed film at a closing Blockbuster. That, or Antonio Sabato Jr.'s latest. The trailer just doesn't inspire to be anything, really. Of course it possesses the rudimentary elements to be classified as a story, some guy is on the hunt for a girl who may have been kidnapped and is in the sex trade, but as the story is unraveled all we get is gold and red lit scenes where people are acting like this is an action blockbuster that's much too hot to be contained but it's clunkier than an AMC Pacer. There's some pretty bad choreographed fighting, uninspiring heaps of strained dialogue from both Bacon and Djimon, and pathetic running-through-crowded-streets moments that don't even manage to top the gold standard set by Bloodsport. Oh, and there's elephants. A few times. For whatever that's worth to you. For me, it just means disappointment. Operation Belvis Bash Trailer Never before has a trailer felt like having to watch Shoah without ever getting up to pee than this did. I think this will make a lot more sense if I simply let the press release I received on Monday morning set things up: George Bush’s backyard was the backdrop for what turned out to be an unexpected ending to an exciting evening for actor/singer Corey Feldman.  Feldman’s latest film, Operation Belvis Bash premiered on May 1, in Houston,TX, and is the story of a special military operation whose goal is to assassinate Osama Bin Laden.  Just a few minutes after seeing what audiences thought was a purely fictional assassination of the world’s most hated terrorist, they exited the theater to learn that it had happened in real life. “It’s absolutely unbelievable,” commented Feldman.  “I was in New York on September 11, 2001, with Michael Jackson, and then, nearly ten years later, I walk out of the premiere of my latest film, which I had postponed to be able to attend Corey Haim’s Decisions premiere and memorial, to learn that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by a special operation, just like in the film we’d just screened. The timing is simply unbelievable, and whether life imitates art, or art imitates life, now is a time for all Americans to express their gratitude to the brave men and women who serve our country and helped make this happen.” What's here, though, is awful. I watched this with the kind of fascination that a baby gives to someone speaking to them: I don't know what's going on, I don't believe what I'm seeing, and I can't understand why anyone pumped dollar one into a story that seems to be thinner than a stick of gum. Apart from the Soup Nazi, the Iron Sheik, Daniel Baldwin, that guy from the Twisted Sister video, and Corey Feldman in a role that is too bizarre for even me to describe, I am unsure of who anyone is or what it is I'm supposed to be buying into as this film's premise. It's uneven, choppy, and doesn't sell me at all on what a lot of people sunk their time and money into in order to make this. I was amazed by the press release and I'm even more amazed by this trailer. Note bene: If you have any suggestions of trailers to possibly be included in this column, even have a trailer of your own to pitch, please let me know by sending me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week: Intruders Trailer [4] - Bravo. In fifty seconds this teaser is able to actually tease a story, not give anything away, while managing to give a sense of the time and place we're in. Page One: Inside The New York Times Trailer [5] - I am such a fan of movies like this and this trailer infuses just enough drama and excitement to get any layperson charged up about wanting to see a documentary about a newspaper. The Ledge Trailer [6] - This plays a little weak. The premise isn't novel so much as it is overwhelmingly silly. I just couldn't shake the feeling this isn't a very entertaining film as it is overacted. Buck Trailer [7] - Living in the southwest I am bombarded by horses and horse related issues on a daily basis but I've never really cared about these beasts until I saw this trailer. I found myself riveted by the premise and who we'll be following on this journey. Hell On Wheels Trailer [8] - I'm unmoved one way or the other by this trailer. The show seems interesting but the attempts at giving me some money shots or reasons to tune in just aren't there. Green Lantern Trailer #2 [9] - This trailer seems to take the best parts of the teaser and the first trailer and, bravo, this actually works for me. Martha Marcy May Marlene Trailer [10] - This trailer got under my psyche and did not relent. It's such a great mix of mysteriousness and evil that I can't help but wonder how soon I can see it. Colombiana Trailer [11] - I would apologize for liking this but I'm in a sweet tooth mood right now and this looks like just what I need: by the numbers, fun, hollow, escapism. The Trip Trailer [12] - We've all heard this musical cue before but it works for me. The tempo is great and so is the trailer. I'm enthralled with the idea of seeing Coogan just be himself again. For my money, it doesn't get much better. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Qeee8D2Ro [2] http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/04/if-you-are-dirty-the-legend-of-the-mighty-soap-will-clean-you.php [3] http://www.slashfilm.com/this-week-in-trailers-trigger-night-of-the-demons-bloodrape-idiots-and-angels-picture-me/ [4] http://www.slashfilm.com/intruders-teaser-trailer-clive-owen-has-a-demon-problem/ [5] http://www.slashfilm.com/page-one-inside-the-new-york-times-trailer/ [6] http://www.slashfilm.com/ledge-trailer-charlie-hunnam-problems/ [7] http://www.slashfilm.com/buck-trailer-life-reallife-horse-human-whisperer/ [8] http://www.slashfilm.com/hell-wheels-trailer-amc-western/ [9] http://www.slashfilm.com/green-lantern-trailer-2/ [10] http://www.slashfilm.com/martha-marcy-may-marlene-trailer/ [11] http://www.slashfilm.com/columbiana-trailer/ [12] http://www.slashfilm.com/the-trip-trailer/

Metacafe's Grace Parra gets Kenneth Branagh to come clean on the plot of Thor 2. But not before getting the cast to open up on their daddy issues.
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Tags: Grace Parra Thor Thor (film) Thor 2 Kenneth Branagh Chris Hemsworth Tom Hiddleston Metacafe Metacafe Unfiltered Unfiltered Interviews 2011 Paramount 
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Hi folks, Ned here again with another tri-weekly Friday Mail Sack. This time we talk service auditing, trust creation, certificates and USMT, SYSVOL migration with RODCs, DFS stuff, RPC and firewalls, virtualization, and the zombie corpse of FRS.

Shoot it in the head!

Question

We’re setting up a trust between two domains in two forests. When we type in the name of the domain we are immediately prompted for credentials in that domain and the message “to create this trust relationship, you must supply user credentials for the specified domain”. We can enter any domain credentials here from that domain and it will work – some nobody user works, never mind an admin":

We are later prompted for administrative credentials like usual when finalizing the trust. Everything works, it’s just weird.

Answer

Anyone can reproduce this issue by removing the NullSessionPipes registry entry for LSARPC. NullSessionPipes – along with RestrictNullSessAccess - controls anonymous access to Named Pipes. Very legacy stuff. The list of default allowed protocols varies between OS and server role; for instance, a pure Windows Server 2008 R2 DC has a default list of:

NETLOGON
LSARPC
SAMR

You’ll find various security documents giving valid (or crazy) advice about messing with these settings but it boils down to “what do you need for your specific server, client, and application workloads to function?” If you get so secure that no one can work, you’ve gone too far.

In this case, setting up a trust uses the LSARPC protocol to connect to a DC in the other domain and find out basic information about it. If you can’t connect to it anonymously for this “phone book” kind of directory info that dates back to NT, you get prompted for creds. Since the info is public knowledge in that domain, any user is adequate.

These are often set through security policies and if you have this issue, look there first.

I’ve also seen it as part of a server image from someone who had too much time on their hands.

Question

DFSN is awesome. What is decidedly not awesome is when the requisite antivirus software absolutely kills client-side performance. What can loyal DFSN evangelists do (short of removing the AV or completely disabling network file scanning) on the client-side to prevent our users from suffering a dreaded antivirus performance hit when using DFS Namespaces?

Answer

Sort of a sideways approach, but if you are using Windows 7 clients then Offline Files might be an option. As an experiment with some test computers/users, you can configure:

• Enable Transparent Caching
• Configure Background Sync
• Configure Slow-Link Mode

You could make these computers work as if they are on a “slow network”, working primarily out of their Offline Files cache and trickle synchronizing their data back to the servers in the background continuously.

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff183315(WS.10).aspx
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd637828(WS.10).aspx
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff633429(WS.10).aspx
• (and the GP explain text)

I specifically call out Windows 7 as Vista doesn’t support all these features, and XP supports none of them. XP is also gross.

Ultimately, you can only bandage things in this scenario. Whaling on your vendor (even if it’s us!) to improve performance is the only thing left. Like beer, they are the cause of - and solution to - all of life’s problems…

Question

I read your previous post here where you talked about how USMT 4.0 migrates computer certificates without private keys. Generally speaking this has not been an issue, as we have certificate auto-enrollment and the new computers get new valid certs. One application is having problems with these migrated invalid certs though and we need to block them from migrating, is that possible?

Answer

Yes. While this should be avoided if possible (a machine cert without a private key might still mean something useful to some strange application), it's simple to block computer certificate migration. Here is sample unconditional exclusion XML named skipmachinecerts.xml that you would run only with scanstate.exe (no need for loadstate to run it):

scanstate.exe c:\store /i:migapp.xml /i:migdocs.xml /i:skipmachinecerts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<migration urlid="http://www.microsoft.com/migration/1.0/migxmlext/sampleskipcomputercerts">
<component type="Documents" context="System">
  <displayName>SkipComputerCertMig</displayName>
   <role role="Data">
    <rules>
     <!-- This override XML prevents computer (not user) certificates from migrating. –>
     <!-- This should ONLY be used if machine certs with no private keys are causing issues –>
     <!-- Nice applications consider these certs invalid and computers request auto-enrollment –>
     <unconditionalExclude>
      <objectSet>
       <pattern type="Registry">HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My\Certificates\*[*]</pattern>
      </objectSet>
     </unconditionalExclude>
    </rules>
   </role>
  </component>
</migration>

You should never block user certificate migration as they have private keys and if users are securing data like EFS-encrypted files you would be be locking them out of their files. If there's no DRA it would be permanent.

Question

What is the event, if any, that is triggered when we perform a D2 on a FRS non-sysvol replica set?  Is it the same error message we get when we perform in on SYSVOL, but we insert the new replica set name? 

Answer

Ha! You wish it were that cool. You get these events (in this order – here I D2’ed just a single custom replica set and did not touch SYSVOL at all):

Some old docs also say you should get a 13565 when you BURFLAG a replica – but you do not unless it’s SYSVOL:

“Oh, but this is a DC” you are saying. Ok. Here’s a member server getting D2’ed:

1. 13520 like above
2. 13553 like above
3. 13554 like above
4. Done.

Question

We have a server that is part of a simple DFS Namespace and Replication setup. Is there any issue with virtualizing a DFS server, shutting down the old host, and bringing the virtual one online. We would do this during a period of downtime so data change would be minimal?

Answer

That’s pretty much the point of SCVMM so I can’t really say no, can I? :)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc764232.aspx

The important thing (as always with P2V) is that you do a one-to-one change. You cannot have both servers alive at the same time. This is the risk with tools like disk2vhd.exe and other stuff on the internet, and why SCVMM is less risky – it ensures you don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Once the new DFS server looks like it’s working, destroy the old server so there is no chance it can come back up (format drive – you got a complete bare-metal capable backup of it first. Right???). To the other servers it would just like that server was rebooted and reappeared no worse for wear.

Question

We rolled back a DFSR SYSVOL migration (don’t ask). All the DC’s rolled back fine except one – an RODC ended up in an inconsistent state. He is the only one that has entries under DFSR-LocalSettings and he is constantly switching between state 5 and 9.

The event logs show:

Log Name:      DFS Replication
Source:        DFSR
Date:          5/5/2011 9:00:00 AM
Event ID:      6016
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      rodc1.contoso.com
Description:
The DFS Replication service failed to update configuration in Active Directory Domain Services. The service will retry this operation periodically.

Additional Information:
Object Category: msDFSR-LocalSettings
Object DN: CN=DFSR-LocalSettings,CN=rodc1,OU=Domain Controllers,DC=contoso,DC=com
Error: 2 (The system cannot find the file specified.)
Domain Controller: writabledc1.contoso.com
Polling Cycle: 60

I’m not sure of the recommended way to clean it up.

Answer

Run on your PDC Emulator DC:

DFSRMIG.EXE /DeleteRoDfsrMember <name of the rodc>

Ensure that AD replication converges to the RODC. Then update the DFSR service with:

DFSRDIAG.EXE POLLAD /mem:<name of the rodc>

As you can see, we planned for this eventuality. :)

Question

Do you have docs on configuring Advanced Audit Policy granular object access for HiPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, or other US regulatory acts?

Answer

Neither the HiPAA nor SOX Acts make any specific mention of actual object access auditing settings in Windows or any OS - only that you must audit… stuff. Your customer should talk to whoever audits them to find out what their (arbitrary) requirements are so they satisfy the audit. There is an entire industry of “compliance” vendors out there that sell solutions and settings recommendations that vary greatly between each company. We even have one, although it wisely makes no mention of HiPAA or Sarbanes and then completely indemnifies itself by saying it’s totally up to the customer to determine the right settings and we have no opinion. I bet our lawyers had a crack at that one :-D.

Question

What is the best method for cleaning out the PreExisting folder? I've done quite a bit of searching, but most of the results are cleaning out the Conflict directory or recovering files from the Pre-Existing folder.

Answer

If you don’t care about the files anymore (I recommend you at least back them up), you can delete the files and the preexistingManifest.xml file. You don’t need to stop the service or anything, once initial sync is done DFSR no longer cares about those files either. :)

Question

When using the netsh.exe command to set the port range for dynamic RPC, what is the minimum number of ports that you recommend be provisioned? We need to set this value for application servers in an Extranet and want to make sure we provision enough ports but satisfy our firewall folks.

Answer

There’s no rule, it’s just as many as you find you need with testing. Our recommendation is not to mess with these if you are trying to lower the number of ports open in a firewall and instead use IPSEC tunnels between computers – this means you only have to open a couple ports and the traffic is protected regardless. Opening “only 500” ports is not much better than the default of many thousands. Going too low and you will cause mysterious random outages that take forever to figure out.

Barring that, I usually recommend first leaving default and evaluating to see what the usage patterns are – then setting to match with maybe a +10% extra fudge factor for unexpected growth. Then document the heck out of it because when you’re gone and someone else inherits that system, as they are going to be fornicated when problems happen. No one will be expecting that sort of restriction.

Question

It’s pretty easy to audit who is services starting and stopping in Windows Server 2003, I just examine the System Event Log for events 7035 and 7036, sourced to Service Control Manager. The User field will show who stopped and started a service.

But Windows Server 2008 and later don’t do this. Is there a way to audit their services?

Answer

Yes. You will need to decide which services you want to audit as there is no simple way to turn it all on for everything, though. You probably only want to know about some specific ones anyway. Who cares that Ned restarted the Zune Wireless service on his laptop?

1. Logon as an administrator, make sure an elevated CMD prompt if UAC is on.
2. Run on the affected server:

SC QUERY > Svcs.txt

3. Examine the svcs.txt for your service “DISPLAY_NAME” that is being restarted.

For example in my case, I looked for “DFS Namespace” (no quotes) and see:

SERVICE_NAME: W32time
DISPLAY_NAME: Windows Time
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
STATE : 4 RUNNING
(STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
CHECKPOINT : 0x0
WAIT_HINT : 0x0

4. Above the display name you will see the SERVICE_NAME. Note that for below.
5. Run:

SC SDSHOW <service name> > sd.txt

Example:

SC SDSHOW w32time > sd.txt

6. Open this text file. It will contain SDDL data similar (not necessarily the same as below, do not re-use my example) to this:

D:(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSD
RCWDWO;;;SO)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)

7. Copy the following and add it to the end of the SDDL string in that text file:

(AU;SAFA;RPWPDT;;;WD)

So if you had used my example SDDL data and then added the above string, you now
have all one line:

D:(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSD
RCWDWO;;;SO)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)S:(AU;SAFA;RPWPDT;;;WD)

Note that there is an S: that separates the DACL and SACL sections. If your exported SDDL did not contain an S: you must prepend it to your SACL entry like so:

S:(AU;SAFA;RPWPDT;;;WD)

8. Copy and paste that whole new string and run:

SC SDSET <name of the service> <the big new string>

Example":

SC SDSET w32time D:(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSD
RCWDWO;;;SO)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)S:(AU;SAFA;RPWPDT;;;WD)

Note: What we are doing is adding an audit SACL to the service so that when the previous auditing steps I gave you are used, the restart of the service will be audited and we’ll know who did what. Remember that if there was no auditing in place on the service already (after the "S:") then you will need to add that to the string.

9. Audit Subcategory "Other Object Access Events" for success and "Handle Manipulation" for success.
10. Note events for 4656. Object Server will be "SC Manager", Object Name will the name of the service, Access Request Information will show the operation (ex: "Stop the Service").

Until next time.

- Ned “yes, bwaamp is a technical term here” Pyle

_{Posted in Fashion » Fashion Blog » Makeup » Make-up Blog}

It is undoubtable that metallics and the new nudes are a dominant force to be at this year's RAFW. And when combined with a blue nail as seen at Zimmermann the look is a casual youthfulness, breezy and fun. And tres wearable with ease.

The look, created by M.A.C Makeup Director Linda Jeffries, heralds for fresh skin and a delicate rawness rather than polished perfection. But a good base reigns supreme, so remember to prime and prep for an even canvas. The lightweight M.A.C Studio Moisture Fix was used to create the smoothest of bases on the models skin readying for the clean look to come. Not blessed with model ready skin? Look for light diffusing products to minimise flaws and even out your complexion. Lightweight foundations are key, as is setting the face with a barely there translucent powder to work some seriously spotless skin.

Entire Article: Read it by clicking Beauty how-to: Zimmermann.

Related Pictures (94 in total): See them by clicking Zimmermann S/S '11 or read up on fall 2011 fashion, 2011 hairstyles or our pre-rafw coverage if you're not keen on the pictures.

_{Click for more pictures}

Tags: RAFW,Sydney,Zimmermann,MAC

Asma Khan grew up in Britain in a traditional Muslim family. She was excited about visiting Pakistan for the first time, aged 11, for a cousin's wedding. But her experience was horrific, and made her wary of family and faith

If you ask any Pakistani what holds us together, they will say family and faith, but what they won't tell you is that family and faith can also tear you apart. That's what crossed my mind as I sat, holding a photo of a dark-skinned, dark-eyed little girl. I have the photo turned over; I cannot bear to look in her eyes, even though she's done nothing wrong. It's because if I do, I will see the eyes of her father, my Uncle. The last time I saw Uncle, I was 11 and it was my first visit to Pakistan.

I was small and skinny and had yet to show any signs of turning into a woman, either physically or emotionally. I had little knowledge or interest in adult relationships, and things like that are rarely discussed in Asian families.

Although we knew nothing about sex, we all knew about shame, purity and family honour. We have just one word for it in our language, izzat. While there are dozens of words in English to describe its different facets, there isn't an equivalent. Ultimately, it means the worst sin is for a girl not to be pure – in other words, a virgin – before marriage.

Like most of my friends in the UK, our parents were, ironically, much stricter than those of our cousins in Pakistan. They were paranoid about us becoming too westernised, so they kept us cocooned at home. Culture became our religion, and most of our parents were fundamentalists.

Some days I'd be watching TV, and a romantic scene would come, and it would trigger a lecture from my mum. "It's OK for English people, but in our culture we don't have boyfriends, and you are having an arranged marriage, OK?" Sometimes I felt guilty of something before I had done anything.

One day I came home from school and my mum was talking excitedly on the phone in Punjabi. Her youngest sister's marriage had been arranged, and we would be going.

My parents hadn't been able to afford to return home for years, so my mum was excited about seeing her family, and I was looking forward to seeing the place where she had grown up. I was drawn by her wistful expression as she talked about stealing sugar cane from the fields, and holidays near the mountains. I was a misfit at school, and dreamed that I, too, would find somewhere I could belong. My mum's fantasy had become my fantasy also.

There is no more exciting place for a girl to be than Karachi in the run-up to a wedding. I was excited about wearing traditional wedding clothes for the first time, and my mum glowed with happiness as the sister of the bride.

The first ceremony, the mehndi – or henna party – was what we were most excited about, because that is when everyone dances, and the bride's sisters compete with those of the groom to see who can sing the loudest.

To prepare for the mehndi, we had parties called dholkis – after the dholki drum – which the girls played as the rest of us sang wedding songs from the latest Bollywood films. We used henna paste to decorate our palms, the muddy trails leaving pretty, spider-web patterns on our hands the next day.

A week before the wedding, Uncle arrived. On the death of my grandfather, Uncle had taken responsibility for the family and never married. He worked in the Middle East, successfully educated his brothers, and married off his sisters in respectable homes.

He was a large man, dark skinned, with a small beard. Always in white traditional clothes, with prayer beads in hand, he was able to quote lines from the Qu'ran on any subject.

He often cornered me to talk about religion, and how girls growing up in the west were already halfway down the road to sin.

My family was not particularly religious, and Uncle spoke with such authority that I thought Allah was hanging around waiting for me to mess up and prove what everyone suspected all along.

On the night of the mehndi, I fell ill. My cousins were upset that I wouldn't be able to join in and my mother said she'd take me home, but we could tell she was disappointed. "Don't worry," said Uncle. "Mehndis are for women. I will take her home."

It felt strange being at the house alone with Uncle. It had been so full of people and activity, but now it was silent. Uncle told me to undress for bed and he would check on me later.

I was half asleep and barely noticed him come in. He sat on my bed and placed his hand on my forehead to check my temperature, then began stroking my hair.

As he did so, he talked softly, his voice caring, yet menacing, like honey on a serpent's tongue, and his breath smelled sour, of old cigarettes. I felt scared, but didn't know why. My heart was beating swiftly and I couldn't breathe. He began to caress my back, then his hands slipped under my clothes ...

When the call to prayer echoed from the mosques at dawn, he said it was my fault for tempting him, and I would go to hell. Then he left to perform his morning prayers.

I spent the following day in a daze. I kept thinking I could feel Uncle's touch, like insects crawling over me, and showered over and over again, but no matter how hard I scrubbed, the feeling wouldn't go away.

During the day, he always seemed to be angry with me and I felt like I was walking on eggshells when he was around. Every time I looked up, his eyes were following me. As everyone excitedly dressed up in their sparkly outfits and shared jokes, I was at the edge of the happy picture, not quite a part of it. It was hard to pretend to smile when I knew, as each hour passed, it would be night again and he would return to my room.

Eventually, two days before the final ceremony, I told my cousin Nadia everything. Though I swore her to secrecy, she told her mum. Nadia's mum dragged me downstairs, hissing angrily that I was a wicked girl, and I burst into tears, partly of fear and partly of relief.

My mum couldn't process what had happened and began wailing loudly as her sisters held her. Another aunt asked me if I was a virgin because if not, they would have to marry me off straight away, so I lied and said he had only touched me. Although my aunts were sympathetic, I could tell by their eyes that they were relieved that it wasn't their daughters. I think my mum could tell too.

That night, the elders talked about what to do, but everyone seemed more worried about protecting the family's honour than what was best for me. They worried that any scandal could ruin Nadia's chances for marriage. Everyone decided the best thing would be to pretend it never happened and never to talk about it.

When we returned, my dad hugged us at the airport, thinking we'd had the time of our lives. Looking back, I wonder if he sensed my mum's unhappiness. But I couldn't get the memories out of my head. I couldn't tell anyone because I was ashamed. I stopped writing my diary because the words felt too dirty to be put on the diary's clean pages. My school work suffered and my friends thought I was moody. There was a guy in my class who liked me, but I was horrible to him. Once he touched my shoulder in the canteen and I shouted at him in front of everyone.

At university I became friends with a girl who wore a hijab, who told me she had been abused. I told her what had happened to me and asked how she could stay devoted to her faith after a thing like that. She told me it was her faith that had got her through. I discovered I'd got it all wrong, that in the Qu'ran it says people like Uncle are the sinners, and in Allah's eyes I was as chaste as a virgin. But nobody ever tells you that. All that time, Uncle had used religion against me and I had let him. My mum became less strict too. What had happened to me had unlocked a repressed memory she had of an uncle abusing her too. She also said she believed me from the start, and regretted not confronting her brother.

I heard rumours about Uncle over the years, that he had reluctantly had an arranged marriage to a woman much younger than him. My aunts and cousins all knew what he had done, but they all still danced at his wedding and painted their hands with henna.

After I graduated, my parents also arranged a marriage for me. Though it was a traditional setup, my husband was brought up here, and he's kind and gentle so we get on well. I am certain he suspects, and has for a long time, but he doesn't ask and I will never tell.

Asma Khan is a pseudonym

Lukasz Kulaga's team had to deep-clean the wedding route and give it a final polish. Then came the big clean-up. Jill Insley helps wield the broom

In pictures: the royal wedding clean-up

There are 154 horses in the Captain's and Sovereign's Escorts in the royal wedding parade, and I swear every single one of them has pooed on the way to Westminster Abbey.

I can say this with some assurance as I am helping to clean the roads with Lukasz Kulaga, a foreman with Veolia Environmental Services, leading a 15-strong team of cleaners following in hot pursuit of the procession. Most of the wedding route is within the City of Westminster, for which Veolia holds the contract for cleaning.

By the day of the wedding, preparations on the streets have already been going on for several weeks, starting with a "deep cleansing" of the route. This has involved sweepers pulling out every scrap of paper, tin and cardboard they could find and running the Johnston C40 – a small mechanical sweeper – along the sides of the roads and pavements, followed by a bigger Johnston 600. Some of the bins have been removed and the roads have been given a final polish with a flushing machine, a lorry with several high-pressure jets squirting water from the front.

The cleaners have also had a practice run to make sure they know who is going where and when. Even so, their working day, which starts at 2am on the day of the wedding, begins with another staff briefing, "just to make sure every one knows what they are doing," says Kulaga. They then do another sweep through, put sand down on the metal manhole covers to prevent the horses' hooves from slipping, and hand out bin bags to members of the public already waiting along the route.

I meet the team on the corner of Victoria Street and Artillery Row. There are cleaners with barrows, dust lorries, mechanical sweepers and flushers all lined up. The cleaners are waiting with an air of eager anticipation, cracking jokes and asking Kulaga questions: although special events such as this result in very long days, the atmosphere is tingling and everyone is happy.

There is the noise of clopping hooves approaching from around the corner and the carriages come in sight along Buckingham Gate. Although this is not part of the official route, Victoria Street leads directly to Westminster Abbey, where all the horse-drawn vehicles and escorts will stop to pick up the royal party. While the public go mad, snapping photos and taking videos, the cleaners look on resignedly as the horses do what comes naturally in stressful circumstances.

As soon as the procession has passed through the barriers to the second half of Victoria Street, the cleaners spring into action. Within seconds, the first section of the street has been cleared of muck and sand and everyone moves up to the barriers, waiting for the police to let them through to work on the next section.

The men are in for a long wait. Bags of crisps come out, passers-by ask directions, the horses, which are parked about 50m ahead of us, continue producing fertiliser. I have a conversation with a woman who has just come up to London for the day from Anglesey, and whose daughter lives next door to the royal couple. Sadly, she turns into a clam when I ask if Kate and William are good neighbours.

Suddenly a cheer goes up from the crowd along the road, the bells start ringing and the horses move forward. "We still have to wait," says Kulaga. "Guests are coming back this way in cars and coaches, and we can't have our men on the road – it's not safe." Health and safety forms a big part of the training Veolia employees go through, and staff are given regular reminders and updates if problems occur within the industry.

The day before, I had been put through the hour-long induction usually given to agency staff by contract trainer Ian Riddell. Although I have mucked out stables on and off for 35 years, Riddell pointed out that I tend to bend forward to push the broom, putting pressure on my lumbar region.

"There are lots of accidents in this industry, more than any other except perhaps farming," he says. "Stand up straight, hold the broom at the top with your hands about 18in apart and push. Try not to let the broom bounce."

I try out his method and on the laminated floor of Veolia's office, it works perfectly. On the road, however, particularly a sticky bit outside the Houses of Parliament, it's hard not to lean into the broom and I am told at least five times by the cleaners around me to stand up or else my back will hurt the next day.

Kulaga moved to the UK in 2004 from Poland, where he had been working as a cashier in a hypermarket and then in the marketing department of a debt collecting firm. "The amount I was earning there was barely enough for living, and I had to support my wife and son. I miss my extended family and would like to go back there." But the need to save more money keeps him in the UK, at least for the forseeable future.

He found a job with an agency within four days of arriving and spent a few weeks working as a cleaner in south-east London, before switching to Veolia and working in Westminster. The company, which prefers to employ people on a staff rather than contract basis if possible, offered him a full-time job, and within nine months he had been promoted to foreman.

Since joining Veolia, Kulaga has attained an HGV licence so he can drive the bigger sweepers and flushers, and has completed an NVQ in waste management. All Veolia's operatives have the opportunity to take such qualifications: the company runs its own dedicated training and development centre, Campus Veolia at Croydon, that offers 200 courses ranging from vocational ones right up to MBAs.

He has worked cleaning up for numerous premieres in Leicester Square (Denzel Washington once thanked him for the fantastic job he was doing), and several openings of parliament and lord mayor's shows, but his favourite occasion is Remembrance Sunday. "It's reflective and people are there to celebrate and remember," he says.

Finally the barriers go up and Kulaga signals to the cleaners to move forward. He runs to a mechanical sweeper, starts up and follows in their wake. I climb into the cab of one of the dust lorries and we roll forward, parking just in front of the entrance to Westminster Abbey, and underneath the specially built press area. While the guests pour out of the Abbey, the crowds stay glued behind the barriers and there is little the cleaners can do. But eventually they start to move off down Whitehall in the direction of Buckingham Palace and Kulaga asks the men to start work again.

I hope this is more of a reflection on those camping rather than the journalists above, but the dirtiest section by far is the pavement immediately below the press box. People have left popup tents, gas canisters, bottles and cans, and thousands of mini union jacks. Corporate litter offenders include Virgin Media for handing out cardboard periscopes so those at the back of the crowds could see what was going on: these all ended up on the pavement. Burger King and its cardboard crowns are just as bad.

The crowds traipse in cavalier fashion through carefully constructed piles of rubbish and sand. I brush into a few legs that dare to walk in front of me, but the men around me are tolerant, not batting an eyelid at the inconsiderate behaviour of those who have dumped the litter in the first place. They virtually run along the road, working efficiently as mini teams, with a couple of sweepers pushing litter towards every person with a shovel.

It's hard work: you soon work up a sweat, and yes, my back started aching. Not surprisingly, Riddell says that virtually all the cleaners employed by Veolia are men. "We have had a couple of women and we are happy to employ them, but virtually all who come from the agencies are men," he says.

In all, the team shifted 140 tonnes of wedding-day rubbish from the streets of Westminster, dropped by the public. Four mornings later it is dust bin day in my road. As I leave my house, the road sweepers are clearing up. I smile and say hello: I will never again ignore those who are working so hard to keep my environment clean.

Curriculum vitae

Pay According to DirectGov, street cleaners can expect to earn between £12,000 and £16,000 a year.

Hours Normally eight hours, with 15 minutes in the morning for a tea break and half an hour for lunch, but shifts are staggered throughout the day. Longer hours for special occasions such as the lord mayor's show or the Tour de France.

Work-life balance The cleaners can choose which shifts to work – if they want to do just Monday to Friday, that can be worked into the schedule. Likewise, if they want to do weekends and overtime, that can also be incorporated.

Best thing "This is the best thing about the job – events like this. It's hard work and there's a lot of preparation, but at the end of the day it is noticed and you are praised by the clients."

Worst thing "Leaves. You sweep them up and then look behind you and literally wonder if you've actually done that street. Cigarettes are bad too since the ban on smoking in offices and pubs."

Overtime

Lukasz doesn't get much spare time thanks to his two young children, Dominic and Patricia, but in the odd free hour he is learning how to use his digital SLR camera properly. Lukasz loves Polish food and his favourite dishes are bigos, a cabbage and meat stew traditionally served on the second day of Christmas, and pierogi, boiled dumplings with savoury fillings. Lukasz claims that even after a hard day sweeping the streets, he pulls his weight with the cleaning at home: we think we need to hear from his wife on this.

It's probably not a good idea to put too much stock into rankings of this nature, but in case you need a reason to get all warm and fuzzy about how great Toronto is, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Partnership for New York City have just ranked our humble hometown the second most "successful" city in the world. What exactly does that word mean in this context? For the purposes of this report, success is defined as a mix of financial, cultural and educational opportunity and is measured via 10 indicators, which include transportation and infrastructure, intellectual capital and innovation, and lifestyle assets (i.e. share of green space, skyline impact, etc).

The only city to top Toronto in the 28-city survey is New York. Trailing both NYC and Toronto in the top five are San Francisco, Stockholm and Sydney. TO picked up the most points for quality of living, clean air, skyscraper construction, and sports and leisure. And, just in case you're already dubious of the report's credibility, it's interesting to note that we come third last in the cost of public transportation. Sounds about right...

Despite the high ranking, the authors still deem Toronto a beta city "because it's not considered a part of the conversation with London, Paris, and New York for greatest city in the world," according to an article in the Atlantic about the survey. We do, however, have "all the building blocks of a superlative international city, beginning with smart ideas about sustainability and innovation." Based on those last two qualities, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the data was collected prior to the election of our current mayor. Still it's nice to get kudos once in a while (even if they're of the beta type).

Check out the in depth statistics here.

Photo by c_pix in the blogTO Flickr pool.

It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Vermont.  I ran my long run today.  Brilliant sunshine, cool breeze, and rolling hills.  Truly idyllic.  Past the cows that I actually talk to as I go by, as they walk along the fence as though escorting me down the yard.  Their expression is one of incredulity – it is as though they are asking me:  “Why are you doing this?”  I think I am projecting…. I really don’t like to run….just putting it out there.  I run.  And I run often.  I run at least three times during the week.  And I have even gotten to the point of running a long run (for me) on the weekends of at least six miles or so.  But, I don’t like running.  I like the idea of running.  I like thinking of myself as a runner.  I like the way I feel after a run.  I like the cool clothes I have to run in.  I like that I can rationalize that I ran off enough calories to drink my one Saturday night beer guilt-free. But I don’t like to run.  But I run.  Running was always an ancillary activity for me.  I ran to get in shape for whatever else it was that I was doing.   But, now running is an end in and of itself; a validation.  After my run today I sat down in the grass, turned my music up really loud, and cried.  It was a moment, and I don’t allow myself many.  It goes back to one of the reasons I don’t like to run.  It gives me time to think! Saturday afternoon a year ago, I was just out of surgery, in ICU, intubated, with a multitude of tubes, and an external pacemaker literally coming out of my chest.  I had a new aortic valve, one to replace the one that had ruptured on just such an uneventful run days before.  I was living in Moscow, Russia (that is a story for another day!) and was at the gym running on the treadmill.  Running outdoors in Moscow is a little sketchy.  I always run with a heart rate monitor and that day was no different.  I felt great and ran hard. I didn’t pay much attention to the ever so slight cramping in my chest.  I ran through it, more annoyed with my heart rate monitor that didn’t seem to be working properly, as I couldn’t get a consistent reading.  I changed out the belt – twice - finally gave up, and kept running.  The cramping didn’t go away, and was shortly joined by a wicked headache and being physically ill. I went to the Emergency Room of the European Medical Center in Moscow, the first of two visits over the next couple of days, where I was given an EKG, and put on intravenous medication to bring down my blood pressure, which had skyrocketed, and to relieve the accompanying headache.  After a couple of hours, I was pronounced fine, assured that it wasn’t my heart, but encouraged to see the cardiologist to “address my heart murmur.”   What heart murmur?  I made another visit to the ER on the intervening days because of that nagging cramp, was again given a clean EKG and sent home, this time with an antacid.  I almost didn’t go to the cardiologist.  I was feeling fine, but for the cramping.  I had convinced myself that the doctor was right, that the cramping was nothing more than indigestion or some such, and that I would get my ‘heart murmur’ checked out when I was back in the States at the end of June.  But that plan didn’t sit well with my husband, so off I went. At the cardiologist I was given a third EKG which, again, was normal.  It wasn’t until I was given an echocardiagram, and the cardiologist switched from speaking slowly to me in English to speaking very rapidly in Russian to the swell of doctors who had appeared, that I started to worry.  She told me that I had a problem with my valve.  I was prepped for a trans-[esophegal ] echocardiagram.  It didn’t go well.  The building tension in the room was contagious and I began to panic.  I started choking and vomiting.  The words went from the somewhat vague, “you have problem with your valve,”  to “you have to have surgery right away.”   My response was not vague at all – I said ‘No.”  The cardiologist was the kindest person.  She laughed a nervous laugh, addressed me by name, took my hand in hers and explained that my aortic value had ruptured, and that I wouldn’t survive if I did not have surgery.  She was very plain and matter of fact, describing massive aortic insufficiency and how my heart could not keep up.   It was the single most surreal moment of my life.  It was as if she were talking to me, but not about me.  The next few hours are a blur.  They couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do the surgery in Moscow; the survival rate was below 20%.   So arrangements were made to transport me to Berlin.  My insurance company declined the authorization to transport me – I was too unstable and might not survive the flight. Again, enter my husband.   There wasn’t much of a choice or a discussion.  I wouldn’t be staying in Moscow.  He contacted American Express, who agreed to cover the cost of my transport and we were on our way to Berlin.  (There is a ton of drama in between, like having to talk to each of my children thinking that it could be the last time, but that you can imagine.) I arrived in Berlin, was met by a trauma team at the airport and transported to the Berlin Heart Institute.  There were brief discussions and decisions to be made on the nature of the valve (biological or mechanical) and what I should expect from the surgery.  I then I was out.  I was in surgery for over six hours and at the Heart Institute for 23 days.  I was given a bye. From that moment forward (I started walking laps around the hospital ward the day I was released from ICU), and for the last year, I have walked, run, lifted, biked, and swam, working desperately to get my confidence back.  I had a fabulous team of doctors, and they quite literally saved my life.  They fixed me, physically, and I am good to go.  But, as we all know, it is what goes on in our heads that matters.  And my head has been a scary place this last year. Being athletic has defined me to a certain extent – I was a tomboy when I was a child and a jock in high school and college.  I thought of myself as one of the guys when I started my career on Wall Street – I could talk the talk and had a better jump shot than most.  And, as I had my children, I reveled in teaching them to throw and shoot and catch. But here I was, being told that a part of my body had failed me, and not because of anything I did, or could have done.  It just did.   I had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect – a bicuspid aortic valve – and it chose that moment to fail. At that point, my head and my body parted company, so to speak. Because I was in decent shape and had generally treated my body well over the years, I weathered the surgery and the immediate recovery pretty well.  My body was traumatized, but it was recovering. As well as I was doing physically, I was insecure and frightened, and not a little insane.  I wouldn’t swim unless someone watched me and I wouldn’t run alone.  I was angry.  I felt a tremendous sense of ‘unfairness’.  I ordered a new “Road Id” so that all of the vital info about my valve and other details would be immediately available should I have an issue when I was alone.  I wore my heart rate monitor 24/7 and took my blood pressure a thousand times a day.  I was convinced that chocolate milk and my friend Anne’s home-made granola were the key to my recovery, and I drank and ate them every day. But I didn’t stop running, or swimming, or lifting, or biking.  I met with an exercise physiologist who assured me that I wouldn’t implode if I ran.  I worked with a personal trainer, something I had never done before, who helped me gradually build my strength.  A message therapist and a stretching specialist helped my body heal and allowed me to dispel the feeling that my chest was going to cave in on me.  I am not, and probably never will be, the person I was a year and a day ago.  It may sound canned, or hokey, but my life’s path has been altered.  And for that I am grateful.  I have come to know myself and my body.  I am more aware of my limitations, and more realistic about my abilities.  I have learned to include and rely on others for my physical and emotional well being.  I am still insecure and frightened and a little angry – but I am no longer irrational.  I have regained control and confidence.  I survived because I was physically fit, and I need to stay fit so that, when the time comes to replace the valve (15-17 years), I will be ready.  But one thing hasn’t changed – I was and I am, a triathlete.   I am going to do the Danskin at Disney for Mother’s Day…my gift to myself and to all who have helped me on this incredible life journey.  I won’t be ‘racing’ or ‘competing’ – I will be validating!  I am viewing it as my one-year check up!  I will let you know how it goes.  http://www.womentalksports.com/images/image15262.jpg Margie

Indianapolis, Indiana

12:10 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Good to see you.  (Applause.)  Thank you so much.  Thank you, everybody.  Please have a seat.  Thank you.  It is good to be back in Indianapolis. (Applause.)  Hello, Hoosiers!  Sorry about the Pacers.  (Laughter.)  I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor.  (Laughter.)  Give the Mayor a big round of applause.  He’s doing a great job.  (Applause.)

Along with the Mayor, we've got Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in the house.  Ray -- (applause.)  We've got your own member of Congress, André Carson, here.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank Larry Dewey and everybody here at Allison for their extraordinary hospitality.

It is wonderful to be here.  I just had a chance to see the hybrid systems that you’re working on at the plant.  I love to see high-tech machinery like this.  I stand there and people explain it to me and I pretend like I know what they’re talking about.  (Laughter.)  But it looked outstanding.  (Laughter.)     
What you’re doing here at Allison Transmission is really important.  Today there are more than 3,800 buses using hybrid technology all over the world -– buses that have already saved 15 million gallons of fuel.  And pretty soon, you’ll be expanding this technology to trucks as well.  And that means we’ll have even more vehicles who are using even less oil.  That means more jobs here at Allison.  Last month, you added 50 jobs at this company and I hear that you plan to add another 200 over the next two years.  So we are very proud of that.  We are very happy about that.  (Applause.)  

This is where the American economy is rebuilding, where we are regaining our footing.  We just went through one of the worst recessions in our history, worst in our lifetimes, the worst since the Great Depression.  But this economic momentum that's taking place here at Allison is taking place all across the country.  Today we found out that we added another 268,000 private sector jobs in April.  (Applause.)  So that means over the past 14 months, just in a little bit over a year, we’ve added more than 2 million jobs in the private sector.

Now, we’ve made this progress at a time when our economy has been facing some serious headwinds -- and I don't need to tell you about that.  We've got high gas prices that have been eating away at your paychecks.  And that is a headwind that we've got to confront.  You’ve got the earthquake in Japan that has had an effect on manufacturing here.  So there are always going to be some ups and downs like these as we come out of a recession.  And there will undoubtedly be some more challenges ahead.

But the fact is that we are still making progress, and that proves how resilient the American economy is, and how resilient the American worker is, and that we can take a hit and we can keep on going forward.  That’s exactly what we're doing.  (Applause.)  

Now, despite the good work that's being done in Allison, obviously here in Indiana and all across the country there’s still some folks who are struggling.  And a lot of people are thinking, where are those new jobs going to come from, that pay well, have good benefits, can support a family?  And how do we finally reduce our dependence on oil so that we’re not hostage to high gas prices all the time?

The reason I’m here today is because the answers to these questions are right here at Allison, right here in these vehicles, right here in these transmissions.  This is where the jobs of the future are at.  We’re going to have a lot of jobs in the service sector because we’re a mature economy, but America’s economy is always going to rely on outstanding manufacturing, where we make stuff -- where we’re not just buying stuff overseas, but we’re making stuff here, and we’re selling it to somebody else.  And that's what Allison is all about.  (Applause.)

This is also where a clean energy economy is being built.  This is the kind of company that will make sure that America remains the most prosperous nation in the world.  See, other countries understand this.  We’re in a competition all around the world, and other countries -- Germany, China, South Korea -- they know that clean energy technology is what is going to help spur job creation and economic growth for years to come.

And that's why we’ve got to make sure that we win that competition.  I don't want the new breakthrough technologies and the new manufacturing taking place in China and India.  I want all those new jobs right here in Indiana, right here in the United States of America, with American workers, American know-how, American ingenuity.  (Applause.)

And that's also how we’re going to get gas prices under control.  Now, I confess, it’s been a while since I filled up.  (Laughter.)  Secret Service doesn't let me fill up my motorcade. (Laughter.)  But it hasn’t been that long ago since I watched those numbers scroll up and I know how tough it is.  If you’ve got to drive to work, and you may not be able to afford buying a new car, so you’ve got that old beater that gets you eight miles a gallon, it’s tough.  It is a huge strain on a lot of people.

But if we can transition to new technologies, that's what’s going to make a difference over the long term.  That's how we’re going to meet the goal that I’ve set of reducing the amount of oil that we import by one-third by the middle of the next decade.
We can hit that target.  We can hit that target.

Now, in the short term, we still need to do everything we can to encourage safe and responsible oil production here at home.  In fact, last year, American oil production reached its highest level since 2003.  So I want everybody to remember that if people ask -- because sometimes I get letters from constituencies saying, why aren’t we just drilling more here?  We’re actually producing more oil here than ever.  But the challenge is we’ve only got about 2 to 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves and we use 25 percent of the world’s oil.  So we can’t just drill our way out of the problem.

If we’re serious about meeting our energy challenge we’re going to have to do more than drill.  And that’s why the real solution is clean, homegrown energy.  The real solution is advanced biofuels -- and there’s a lot of good biofuel work being done here in Indiana.  It means that we’ve got to have natural gas vehicles.  We’ve got a lot of natural gas that can be produced here in the United States of America.  It means making our cars and trucks more energy-efficient, because if we use less oil, that reduces demand; that brings the price down; and you will see the impact at the pump.  That’s what’s going to make a difference and that’s why what you’re doing here is so important.

Now, it turns out even though they don’t let me go to the gas pump, I do have a lot of cars under my jurisdiction, as President.  The federal fleet is enormous, and we’ve already doubled the number of hybrids in the federal fleet.  And I’m directing every agency to make sure that 100 percent of our cars and trucks are fuel-efficient or clean-energy vehicles by 2015.  So you’re going to have a customer, hopefully in the United States government, because we want to make sure -- (applause) -- that we are making clean fuel-efficient cars and trucks.  (Applause.)   

We’ve also launched private sector partnerships with companies like FedEx, UPS, utility companies.  A lot of these companies that have trucks and delivery trucks that are used in urban areas with a lot of stops and starts are perfect for the technology that you’re building.  So we’re forming partnerships to make sure that you’ve got more customers.

And to spur the production of fuel-efficient cars and trucks across the country, we’ve reached an historic agreement with every major auto company.  Thanks to the leadership of Ray LaHood, they’re ramping up the fuel economy of their cars and trucks.  And that will not only save 1.8 billion barrels of oil, it’s going to save you, the average driver, about $3,000 at the pump as cars increasingly get better gas mileage.

And this July, we’re finalizing new fuel-efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks for the first time in our history.  And that could actually end up saving us -- we were talking about this the other day -- it could end up saving us something like 500 billion barrels of oil, huge amounts of oil, because heavy trucks use so much.

We’re also promoting clean energy technologies in other ways, from investing in hybrid systems like the one Allison is developing for commercial trucks, to championing vehicles that run on clean-burning natural gas, to spurring the creation of next-generation batteries for electric vehicles.

You know, a few years ago, America only produced 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries.  Those are the batteries that are going into these new electric cars.  Because of the investments that we made in the first two years that I was in office, we’re on track to produce 40 percent of the advanced batteries.  That is going to be a huge boon to American manufacturing.  (Applause.)  That’s an example of a big new industry that we can create right here in the United States of America.   

And to make sure we’re not only investing in clean energy technologies but encouraging people to use these new technologies, I’ve proposed a $7,500 tax rebate for electric vehicles.  So if you do have that old beater that you need to get rid of, and you decide that you’re going to buy a new car, choosing an electric car you can actually get a huge rebate that will save you money at the gas pump, but is also going to save money on your tax returns.  And that will make a big difference.
We should reward also communities that are making it easier for folks to use electric vehicles and leading the way when it comes to clean energy.  And that’s the kind of leadership that Indianapolis is showing.  You’re installing natural gas pumps around town and you’re taking other steps to promote clean energy.  And I hope cities and towns across this country follow in your example.

Of course, these investments in clean energy do cost some money, and we’re going to need to find a way to pay for them.  Part of the cost can be made up by putting an end to the unwarranted subsidies that we are giving oil companies right now through the tax code.  (Applause.)  I want everybody to listen here.  Oil companies over the last five years, through a recession, through ups and downs, the top five oil companies, their profits have ranged between $75 billion and $125 billion.  That's with a B -- not million; billion.  And yet, they still have a tax loophole that is costing taxpayers $4 billion every year.  Now, if you're already paying them at the pump, we don't need to pay them through the tax code.  We do not need to do it. (Applause.)  Especially at a time when we’re scouring every part of the budget to try to figure out how we bring down our deficit and our debt.

Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that even if we end these taxpayer subsidies, we’re still going to have more work to do in getting control of our deficit and debt.  And I know that in this difficult fiscal climate, it may be tempting for some people to say let’s stop investing in hybrid technology; let’s stop investing in basic research; let’s stop investing in the infrastructure that's needed to make sure that we can transition to new forms of transportation.  That's the temptation.  But I profoundly disagree with that approach.

If we’re going to win the future, we’ve got to cut out the things we don't need, but still make investments in the things that we do.  That's what you do at home.  If somebody in your family loses a job, if your hours get cut, what do you do?  You may stop going out to a restaurant to eat.  You may decide we’re going to put off buying that new furniture or taking that vacation.  But you’re not going to stop fixing the boiler or the hole in the roof.  You’re not going to stop making sure that you got enough money to help your kids go to school.  Those are the things -- that's like your seed corn.  You don't eat that.

The same is true for the federal government.  We can’t cut investments in clean energy that are going to help us out-innovate and out-compete and help America win the future.  We’re not going to stop making investments that allow plants like this one to find the new ways of doing business in the future.

I want to make sure the federal government is right here with you as a partner with you as you move forward, and we can do it and still get control of our debt and our deficit if we do it smart.

For nearly 100 years this company has made its way forward through ups and through downs, making advances that have transformed everything from buses to planes to tanks.  Jim Allison actually helped start the Indy 500 back in 1909 -- not just to race cars, but to test new racecar components.  And that same spirit of innovation and ingenuity is what I’ve seen in the workers that I talked to today.

And that's why I’m so confident in this country.  That's why I’m so optimistic about our economic future -- because I believe in all of you.  I believe in the American worker, and I believe in American business.  For all the challenges we face, this country is still home to the most entrepreneurial, most industrious, most determined people on the planet.  There is nothing we cannot do so long as we put our mind to it, so long as we keep our eyes on the prize.  (Applause.)

And I’m going to keep on working with you to make sure we do that so long as I have the privilege of being President of the United States.

Thank you, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END
12:28 P.M. EDT

Anton Witting loves making art forms the green way. He has created some splendid forms using recycled stainless steel, stones and other thrown away materials. His escalating collection yells the ‘Go Green’ slogan and the artifacts molded out of steel have been enveloped with a coat of clear enamel for added protection. This also prevents steel from getting oxidized hence, increasing the life of such sculptures.

The artist

Anton Witting is from Connecticut, United States and he loves to create recycled metal art and craft work using recycled objects. In his art forms he has beautifully used old, used and thrown away materials that were thrown in the thrash can or dumped in the junk yard. These so called meaningless objects have been pumped with a new life that is all about various forms of art. Adopting this art form comes with the tag environment friendly as by making an effort to bring down piles of heap will keep our earth clean and green. Anton has adopted the eco-friendly way of making beautiful artifacts which shows how much he loves nature.

The inspiration

Anton Witting’s sole inspiration was clutter he saw everywhere. The artist with his love for the environment made good use of waste by crafting it into magnificent forms and giving thrown away objects a new lease of life that too the eco-friendly way.

The material

Simple and everyday materials that had been thrown away thinking it is useless has been fashioned in an appetizing manner. To bring his ideas of crafting art-forms the green way Anton Witting has made good use of recycled mild steel, stones, waste glass and other things that were tagged as waste. Once the form is decided all the parts are fixed with the help of gas tungsten arc welds. The finishing is not smooth at all and has been left in its natural form. Finally to make it long-lasting and prevent it from oxidation an enamel clear coat is caked all over it for added protection.

The artwork

Joy

Joy has been fashioned out of recycled mild steel and was put together with the help of gas tungsten arc welds and has a natural finish. It is 11 inches high (28cms) and has been coated with clear enamel for added protection. This one-of-its-kind art form comes etched with the date and Anton’s signature.

Little Engine

Crafted from recycled stainless steel is this four inches long (100mm) sculpture. It has been put together using gas tungsten arc welds and will fit faultlessly as a small shelf nook or office desk that too the eco-friendly way.

Balance

As the name suggests, Balance shows how perfectly stones have been balanced by placing them one upon the other. Though the whole structure gives a very shaky look but has been held together by wedging a fabricated steel spine so that it remains balanced forever.

HIM and HER

Internals of recycled gasoline automobile engines was used to create this amazing piece. Once again gas tungsten arc welds was brought to good use to join the sculptures which are about eleven inches tall (28cm). Though they were made separately but the artist later decided to unite them and named it as “Him and Her.” They come caked with black textured enamel paint that makes them look all the more striking.

Green aspects

Whatever the artist creates is fashioned using recycled and natural materials only. It is taken care that nothing is used that will ruin the environment further. Anton Witting has beautifully exploited stones, mild steel and other thrown away objects to craft eco-friendly delicate pieces of art out of it. A lot of everyday waste has been utilized which includes paper, small cardboard, tin, aluminum, glass and plastic. Metals like brass, copper, mild steel and stainless steel were arranged in an eye-appealing and elegant manner. He has made the most of machines that have broken and cannot be repaired. Also machines lying in the scrap yard were sliced to get metal which could be further used by the artist for his genius creations.

Every time I come home from work, my dog looks so guilty, I try to touch the pillows on the couch to see if they’re still warm, I check for tell tale signs of dog hair in the middle of my nice clean bed, all while he slinks around knowing he’s done something. I don’t [...]

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been the subject of much discussion and ridicule since his UFC 129 decision win over Jake Shields. Fans and media alike have been harsh in their criticism, but one of the major game-changers in the fight was Shields inadvertently poking GSP in the eye in the third round. GSP came back to his corner and said he couldn't see out of his eye, and had considerable trouble finding his range for the rest of the fight. 

There has been much speculation about the severity of his injury since the fight, so St. Pierre turned to twitter today to give his fans an update on his condition:

I am so lucky my BJJ instructor Bruno Fernandes is an ophtamologist!!! I'll be in good hands!!!

My medical condition is called Hyphema. My vision is still blurry and my eye sensitive but the blood in my eye has now been absorbed...

My retina is find as well and my vision will come back to 100%!!! Can't be more happy!!

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia:

Hyphema is blood in the front (anterior) chamber of the eye. It may appear as a reddish tinge, or it may appear as a small pool of blood at the bottom of the iris or in the cornea.

Treatment of hyphema consists of 4 major tenets:

1. Light activity or even bedrest (to prevent a rebleed into the anterior chamber, which may cause obstruction of vision, or a painful rise in pressure)

2. Elevation of the head of the bed by approximately 45 degrees (so that the hyphema can settle out inferiorly and avoid obstruction of vision, as well as to facilitate resolution)

3. Wearing of an eye shield at night time (to prevent accidental rubbing of the eyes during sleep, which can precipitate a rebleed)

4. Avoidance of pain medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen (which thin the blood and increase the risk of a rebleed - instead, acetaminophen can be used for pain control).

The vast majority of hyphemas resolve on their own without complication.

Some cases of non-resolving hyphemas, or hyphemas that are associated with high pressure, may require surgery to clean out the anterior chamber and prevent corneal blood staining.

He stated that the blood has already been absorbed, so it would appear that there will be no complications and he will be just fine. Now we can get onto bigger questions - does he face Nick Diaz next? Anderson Silva? Someone else?

So, I mentioned in my last blogpost that I was getting ready to go to the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association meeting in San Antonio...

I was sitting here thinking, "Gee, no wonder I'm not posting much on my blog. I can't ever think of anything to blog about." And then I remembered that I had not ever blogged about the trip to San Antonio.

Oh, and hey--I did a workshop last night for "BAWL" (also known as the Bay Area Writer's League--as in "Houston Bay Area"--except it isn't Houston Bay, it's Galveston Bay, but the Bay goes way up to Houston, and a long way from Galveston, which is where it starts, so it's usually called the Houston Bay Area, because it's the area of Houston around the Bay...). Anyway--

So I was hanging around on Twitter one day, and made the comment that "Oh, the PCA is meeting in San Antonio. I like San Antonio. It's a cool city." And up pops Sarah Franz, one of the academics behind Teach Me Tonight and the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance, who says "Want to come to PCA?" And I said--"Ooooh cool! I've always wanted to listen to smart people talk about romance like it was Important Litrachur." So I did.

I went to the meeting, dear readers, and I even took the spouse. We got a room in a "boutique hotel," or a B&B--however you want to define it--a couple of blocks from the conference hotel, and across the street from the River Walk, called the Riverwalk Vista. A seriously cool place to stay. It's an old, converted warehouse. I will put up pictures when I get home to the computer that has the pictures on it.

We ate Mexican food. We went by the Alamo. (We've been inside many times before--my grandparents lived in San Antonio.) We hung out with smart romance people. I went to several of the panels where graduate students and professors and others presented papers. It was very cool. I enjoyed hearing people talk about the link between romance novels and poetry, or how romance is used in advertising (romance, as opposed to sex).

Occasionally, I had trouble following what a presenter was trying to say--more because some of the academic language was unfamiliar, and some of these people talked Really Fast, than because I really didn't understand what they were saying. I didn't know what the words meant. And sometimes, I didn't know what the word WAS, because holy crap! some of those people talked fast. Yes, I realize I'm a Southerner, but not all of us talk slow. Still...

But it was FUN. It was totally cool listening to these guys talk about stuff. And I got to hang with my friend Theresa, and I got to meet Sarah face to face, and Eric Selinger and some of the other academics whose blogs and papers and things I've been reading online. I was just kinda blown away.

I also got to meet Sherry Thomas, and Louisa Edwards, and Skyler White, and Tracy Wolff--I did not know they were all from AUSTIN. Just up the road. (Or, well, as up the road as anything is in Texas...) I need to get them down here to talk to our RWA chapter.

And then, on Saturday, the fella and I strolled the River Walk, and rode on the boat tour, and had lunch next to the water, and then drove home again. It was lots of fun.

Then I came home and finally got all the revisions done on the ms and shipped it out. And I did the workshop for BAWL. It was on "Worldbuilding 101." I talked a little bit about building the worlds for a contemporary or a historical, but mostly I talked about how to do it for spec fic. (It gets tiring, saying fantasy/science fiction/paranormal/steampunk....) I think it went pretty well. I enjoyed it, anyway. :)

I probably ought to get my brain into the writing of a new book sometime soon. Maybe I'll clean my office first...

Once upon a time I introduced you the five types of RTs, cfive types of COPD patients, and the 11 types of asthmatics, and the six types of doctors. Now it's time for the 13 types of nurses.

No group of individuals is more vital to good patient care than our beloved nurses. Nurses are great, and I've had the honor of working with nurses on both the receiving end and as fellow professionals.

So, without further adieu, I present to you the nursing types:

1. Consensus: About 80% of RNs fit into this category. These RNs respect, seek out, and listen to the opinions of other members of the staff. They tend to work well together as members of the team to come up with a "consensus" as to what might be wrong with the patient and what to do about it. They are aware that they lack the experience in all areas, that they don't have all the answers, and are willing call upon their coworkers, including doctors and respiratory therapists, to help them to best care for their patients. These are similar to your gallant doctors.

2. Contents: These nurses are set in their ways, and prefer not to sway from their routine. They believe they know what needs to be done, and they do it. They tend to not seek out other opinions, and usually don't consider the opinions of others. They consist of about 10% of all nurses. They will often perform procedures (such as increasing oxygen) without seeking expert consultation. These are similar to your goofus doctors.

3. Prospects: These are your newby RNs or, perhaps, soon to be RNs. Most are eager to learn and are more than willing to go out of their way to help out. Some are mature, independent and trustworthy enough to work on their own, while others have less confidence and need quality assistance. Look at these folks carefully, because in a year or two they will morph to a different type of RN. Some will grow dogmatic and become contents, while others will grow and smile and become consensus. These consist of about 10% of all nurses.

4. Cordial: We all hope that Beginner RNs turn out to be of this type. They know they do not hold all the answers, have a friendly disposition, and are more than willing to take thee extra step, even when they're burned out, to smile and lend a helping hand to patients and coworkers. Their ears are always open. They are most often social, may often bring in treats to work to keep the peace, and are likely to remain in one department for several years, if not their entire nursing career. You'll find them mainly on medical/surgical floors, although they generally don't fit in fast pace departments such as critical care and emergency. Some people refer to this type of RN as Happy or even Friendly RN. Most staff and most patients love cordial RNs. They almost seem to be flawless. These usually consist of most LPNs and about 20% of Consensus RNs. Most of them work on the med-surg floors, but a small percentage wander down to the ER and critical care.

5. Receptive: These are your nurses who are constantly looking to become better nurses, read medical journals, magazines, blogs, read online sources such as blogs and articles, and are more than willing to listen and retain the wisdom of their fellow workers. They like to learn not just to better themselves, but the institution as well. They tend to be more observant than your receptive RN when it comes to being proactive responding quickly to emergency situations. They can be friendly, but tend to be more serious and bossy and bossy under pressure, and may even appear to be condescending at times. They may start their careers on medical/ surgical floors, but generally branch out to more challenging areas such as emergency and critical care. Many are likely to further their careers by earning their bachelor's or even mater's degree, and it is from this group you get your future supervisors, administrators, nurse practitioners, and occasionally doctors. They consist of about 20% of Consensus RNs.

6. Dogmatic: This type of RN has a definitive way of doing things. They are relatively laid back in their personality (type b personality) however they have created a set way of doing things to protect themselves from making mistakes. Patients love them because dogmatics tend to be overbearing and attentive to their patent's needs. If a doctor orders for teeth to be brushed every two hours, they will do it every two hours whether it's needed or not, and whether they have to wake the patient or not (patients don't like this part). They are also very particular about specific doctor orders, and call to report even slight variances. For example, if the doctor writes an order to maintain a sat of 92%, they will call the doctor and RT even if the sat is 91%. They will often guilt you into staring at the monitor hoping the vitals improve by your looks alone.

Thus, they are known to make a bill deal of trivial things. In this way, they tend to irritate doctors and RNs. Although they are so nice it's hard to stay mad at them. However, patients can be guaranteed to get a good wash per shift, to be rotated regularly, have fresh blankets and sheets and towels and a good assessment frequently. Any slight change in lung sounds will be noted. But, the bottom line is, they do this because they legitimately want the best for their patients. Bosses love them too, because, like type a anal RNs, they are perfectionists with their charting. They make good friends, and are relatively happy except under pressure. Oh, and one more thing, their rooms are spiffy clean. If you leave something laying around they will not say anything, but they will clean it up. They consist of about 10% of Consensus RNs.

7. Compulsive: Like Dogmatic RNs, they are guaranteed to do full assessments, and will do everything the doctor orders to a tee whether they think it's needed or not. They will never question a doctors order. Actually, they are under the belief that if the doctor ordered it, it's needed. If you say something is not needed, they will defend the doctor as a "god." They too will have you staring at monitor values that are "barely" below the accepted range. But if an RT refuses to continue staring at the monitor saying something like "that sats fine," he will get mad at you and tell you that you are not caring for your patient. If you don't follow the rules, or directly follow a doctor's order, he will approach you. He's also prone to writing variances for even the silliest of detail. They are type A personalities, although are generally very precise and attentive to their patients. Yet they too can be overbearing, and tend to be hard to work with. Unlike Macho RNs, they often seek the help of others, but tend to get upset when others disagree with them, or don't provide the answers they want. Therefore, it's easier to pretend to agree with them than to show them how they are incorrect. They expect equal perfection from their coworkers, and are known to look over your back. Sometimes they are referred to as snoops, or sometimes worse. So, when you are working with these RNs, you need to careful. Oh, and one more thing, if you leave your ABG kit lying on the patients bed, they will make you well aware that you messed up their room. These consist about 5% of consensus RNs.

8. Macho: These tend to take things in stride, and not make big deals over trifles. They would be content to live with a sat in the mid 80s, will use common sense, and will not call RTs and doctors over trivial things. They tend to use the word "common sense" a lot. They tend to be cool. They tend to have a dry sense of humor. Many tend to be men, but not all. Nothing seems to bother them, and they do a good job with their patients with the advice of others or without. They tend to have a high degree of intelligence, yet are often seen reading science fiction or mystery novels in their free time as opposed to medical stuff. They tend to hold their own. They tend to work in CCUs, and are very confident. They consist of about 5% of Consensus RNs.

9. Complainers: Nurses do not have as much time to complain as RTs do because they are busier. When RTs complain, they complain about stupid doctor orders or how doctors refuse to give them autonomy. RNs complain not about their job per se, but about the hospital in general -- too many patients, not enough pay, too many rules, change is not needed, paper charting was better, insurance isn't fair, so and so gets treated better by the boss, etc. They tend to be busy bodies while taking care of their duties. When you pass them as you are entering work, they are known to say things like: "You definitely don't want to be here tonight," or, "Welcome to hell," or, "This schedule sucks," or "I hate Michelle, she's always picking her nose." For the most part, complainers tend to be stuck working on med-surge floors, and consist of about 20% of all Consensus RNs.

10. Busybodies: These RNs consist of the RNs you never really get to know because they are busy, busy, busy. They are fast moving, going from room to room, chart to chart, and phone to phone. They never run, but walk at a vary fast pace. They tend to be thin. Some of them work on the med-surge floors, but the majority work in the emergency room. The tend to be very business-like, but when you get a chance to sit down with them they are very fun to talk with. Yet they are known to take off mid sentence. Getting a complete conversation in can be a challenge. Likewise, they are not good listeners. Actually, they are awesome nurses and are very knowledgeable. Because they are so busy, some of them tend to skip corners. The RT bosses may complain to them occasionally, but considering they are such great workers, they don't make a big deal about it. These consist of about 10% of Consensus RNs.

The Arrogants: They always have that smirk on the corner of their lips, and walk with their heads high. They are usually friendly and easy to get along with, but they tend to believe that they know everything and don't need to hear from you. Since they know so much, they tend to compete for supervisor jobs, and seek to become RN Bosses. When they do become RN Bosses, they tend to not keep many of their friends. These consist of 15% of Content RNs.

Old School: These are very wise and sagacious RNs. They can pick up on even the most simple thing wrong with the patient. Their patients are usually well taken care of, and they have little need for other members of the team. They are not arrogant by any means, and are usually great teachers. The problem with this type of RN is they are set in their ways, and are not quick to adapt to changes. They tend to believe in old theories such as the hypoxic drive theory, prefer paper charting to computers, and may tend to wine when they are told to break from their routine. If you are not intimidated by them, they can be fun, or at least educational, to work with. About 50% of Contents are Old School.


Content Contents: They are happy-go-lucky and when we RTs tell them a treatment is not needed they will look at you with crazy eyes. They do this not because they don't like you, but because they don't understand why you just didn't do what you were told. They say things like, "The patient is wheezing. He needs a treatment." They tend to refer to RTs as ancillary staff, and have little use for them other than for them to do what they are told. They are usually opposed to protocols and rapid response teams (RTT) because those elevate RTs to the same level as RNs, and they know that shouldn't be. And, even if a hospital has an RRT, they will never call for one. Attempts to educate them are futile. They are wonderful people and make great friends otherwise, and are great nurses, but they are incapable of learning new things. They consist of 25% of Content RNs.


Besetting: I'm sorry, but these guys tend to not be happy ever. Nobody gets along with them, probably not even the patient. But when all is said and done, they are very good with their patient when it comes to picking up on things early. However, when it comes to little things like brushing their patients teeth or giving baths, they think those tasks belong to lesser people like Nurses Aids. Unfortunately, these RNs tend to work in Critical Care Units where AIDS are far and few. They have few friends. They hate you and more than likely you can't stand to work with them. If you do something wrong, they will not be nice and give you a warning, they will simply crab to you and make you feel miserable, or they will simply go over your head and write you up. They consist of 5% of Content RNs, so thankfully they're a rare breed.


Boor: They tend to be very similar to Macho RNs as listed above, except that they have no use for "ancillary staff" other than to provide their duties. They consider anyone besides doctors and nurses as ancillary, so RTs are ancillary. If they ask you to do something, you do it and do it now. If you don't do exactly as you are told, you will have to deal with the consequences. They are usually very quiet, and are very opinionated at the same time if you get them going. They can also be hot heads if you say something they disagree with. They will put you on the spot. If you ask a question, they will ask a question back. They hold grudges, and may go days without talking to you if you said something to irritate him. For example, if you are discussing politics with him, and everybody in the room disagrees with him, he may give you all the cold shoulder. He's modest, smart, quick witted, and can be hard to work with. He has no problems making enemies. But if you are intelligent or important, you may be his best friend. They are rare and far between, or less than 5% of Content RNs.


Chief: Here we lump all levels of RNs from supervisors on up. Usually, but not always, RN bosses come from the ranks of the Receptive (85%) or Arrogant (15%). Arrogant RNs don't necessarily care what people think about them, but Learners do. Learners go out of their way to please. The farther away from the duties of RN work the RN Bosses become, the greater the chance that The Institution moves ahead of The Person. That doesn't mean they won't try to be friendly, but the bottom line is not necessarily keeping the patient load low, but making money for the institution and keeping their own bosses happy and keeping their jobs and the higher wages that come with it. The RN bosses closer to the working staff (the supervisors, the lead RNs), tend to fit in nicely with the other workers. They do not complain. They are very helpful. They tend to be good workers. Yet they are often political, defend policy regardless of usefulness, and generally will tell you what you want to hear and then either ignore you (Arrogant) or make an attempt to help through the general chain of command -- a process that's really slow. As a general rule, they don't like to make waves, and the longer they have their jobs, the smaller the waves become.

We've discussed before how whenever there's a successful TV show or movie, people come out of the woodwork to insist that they actually came up with the idea. Usually, these claims go nowhere, in large part, because you can't copyright an idea. There are, of course, a few famous exceptions, but those are cases where there was a clear ongoing and detailed working relationship beforehand.

However, a new ruling in the 9th Circuit appeals court (which has a reputation for somewhat wacky rulings on intellectual property issues) may open the floodgates on these kinds of lawsuits. The ruling is an en banc ruling (meaning heard by all of the judges in the court), and it overturned the earlier ruling from the same court that was just done by a three judge panel. That means the only place to go from here is the Supreme Court, and it's not at all clear that the Supreme Court would be that interested in the case (as of now, I don't think there's a real split between circuit courts, which is often a key determining factor for the Supreme Court).

The ruling itself is on some rather specific and slightly technical aspects of copyright law vs. contract law. You can also watch the video of the one hour hearing that was held for this case earlier this year, which is also a good way to grasp some of the finer points: However, a simple way of explaining it is this: federal copyright law is clear that it overrules any state copyright law or equivalent state law. This was to make sure that there was a single unified copyright law, and people didn't have to deal with the vagaries and differences found in 50 different state copyright laws. Part of the (quite reasonable) fear was that states would be pressured to make even more draconian copyright laws, and that would harm the true intent of copyright law.

Now, copyright law (again) does not cover ideas. You only get a copyright on the expression, but not the idea. However, there is a California state law that creates an implied contract in certain cases, and that's where this lawsuit hinges. The question is whether or not in presenting the idea for a TV show slightly similar to what is now Ghost Hunters, an implicit contract was formed, which meant that the SciFi Channel (now SyFy) couldn't make Ghost Hunters without working with the plaintiffs. While I have all sorts of issues with "implied" contracts in cases like this, the earlier rulings had thrown out the case based on the fact that this was really a copyright claim in disguise, and copyright law preempts the state contract laws, and then the case goes nowhere because this is really about an idea, which is uncopyrightable. Clean, simple and sensible.

Unfortunately, the majority here twists itself into contortions to claim that this is different. It claims that the specific argument is not about rights covered by copyright law, and thus it is a contractual dispute, where there is an implied contract. As the dissenting judges point out, this doesn't make much sense. The specific complaints by the plaintiffs are rights that are clearly provided under Copyright Law.

But the real issue here is that this will open the floodgates for similar lawsuits. We already see plenty, but they're usually quickly dismissed. Now there will be more such cases, where the focus will be on whether or not there's an "implied contract," when someone shows a studio a script or an idea. In the end, that's really only going to make it more difficult for people who have ideas, because studios aren't going to want to hear them for fear of future liability. If multiple people come up with similar ideas, studios shouldn't be forced to pay them all due to some bizarre implied contract...

This kind of ruling really seems to undermine the whole point of ideas not being copyrightable...

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Hong Kong investment group Guoco has announced a £585m cash offer for bingo and casino operator Rank, but it does not want the bid to succeed.

Under takeover rules Guoco had to make the offer after buying an 11.6% stake in Rank from Malaysian casino group Genting when it came up for sale. The deal took Guoco's shareholding to 40.8%, above the 29.9% threshold where it had to make a bid. But the offer will not be raised and is expected to be open for only 21 days. Guoco's aim is to keep Rank's listing and a spokesman said: "Guoco remains very supportive of the company and its management team. This is not a hostile move."

Guoco first invested in Rank in 2007 at 80p a share. Rank shares closed up 1.9p at 148.8p ahead of the release of the Guoco announcement.

Overall the market managed an unlikely revival after an early fall. Better than expected US employment figures helped offset another volatile day for commodity prices, especially oil, gold and silver. The non-farm payrolls for April showed that an additional 244,000 jobs were created, much higher than the 185,000 expected by analysts. So having fallen as low as 5871, the FTSE 100 finished 56.79 points higher at 5976.77, helped by a rise of nearly 170 points on Wall Street by the time London closed.

Royal Bank of Scotland rose 2.26p to 42.74p, the best performer in the leading index after its first quarter figure showed an increase in core profits, while results from insurer Admiral were also well received, and it added 35p to £16.97.

Meanwhile ITV, which has been a weak market of late on concerns about a downturn in advertising spending, recovered 3.5p to 75.6p after analysts at JP Morgan said the fall had been overdone. They said:

We believe ITV's current share price has already factored in the worse than expected second quarter, having slipped by 7.6% over the last month. The release of first quarter revenues [next week] may be an opportunity to buy the stock as we believe the worse than expected second quarter revenues for European free TV are not the sign of a structural change in the advertising recovery, but a blip.

SABMiller added 37.5p to 2247.5p as Citigroup said it was unlikely the brewer would bid for Australian group Foster's, as has been suggested. Citi analyst Adam Spielmen said:

There has been lots of speculation that SAB may buy Foster's. From May 20, Foster's will be a pure play brewer, without wine exposure. But we don't think that either SAB or anyone else is likely to bid, unless Foster's price falls materially first. The returns would not stack up ...and this looks a bad time to buy, with the Australian dollar trading at a 20-50% premium to historical averages.

With oil up on the day but still well below its recent peak, Royal Dutch Shell A shares fell 11.5p to £22.24. But falling fuel prices benefited transport companies, with International Airlines Group up 8.1p to 254.1p, additionally helped by better than expected quarterly figures. Easyjet climbed 12.2p to 355.1p and even Flybe, hit hard by a profit warning this week, recovered 1.5p to 174p. Cruise specialist Carnival added 50p to £26 and Tui Travel ended 2.9p ahead at 244.8p.

Among the mid-caps Rentokil Initial rose 3.2p to 94.25p despite its struggling parcels business City Link continuing to hold back progress. The company said overall first quarter revenues rose 0.7%, but City Link fell by 13.4%. Its poor performance was expected to continue in the second quarter before seeing an improvement later in the year.

Cable & Wireless Worldwide added 2.91p to 49.74p on talk of possible predatory interest from the likes of Vodafone, down 1.65p at 167.6p, or AT&T.; Micro Focus International climbed 8.8p to 372.8p ahead of a trading update next week, with investors awaiting bid developments. Bain Capital is thought to be one party interested in the software group.

Elsewhere investors in Helphire, the accident claim specialist, faced a bit of a car crash. The company's shares lost nearly two-thirds of their value after its second profit warning in less than a year and news of an accounting problem.

The company, which supplies vehicles to motorists involved in accidents while their own cars are replaced, said its profits for the year would be significantly below expectations. Total claims in the UK fell by 8% in 2010 and Helphire believed this trend had continued into the first quarter. It said high petrol prices had led to fewer car journeys and therefore fewer accidents, as well as shorter hire periods as vehicles were repaired more quickly.

As if that were not bad enough, it has discovered it may have overstated the amount owed by its insurance company debtors by around £25m. It has called in KPMG to investigate what happened and exactly how big the problem is. It has also told its bankers, but said the problem does not affect the settlement of claims or its cash position.

But investors do not like "accounting problems" and Helphire's shares plunged 7.84p to 4.91p. Danielle James at Shore Capital issued a sell note, saying:

With consensus estimates currently forecasting adjusted pretax profit for the group of £12.3m for 2011, the write off of this [£25m] debt would cause...a material loss for the period. Ignoring the accounting impact, the error, to us raises serious questions over Helphire's revenue recognition policies, the integrity of operating systems and the quality of oversight being exercised by the management team.

Victoria Oil and Gas jumped 1.06p to 5.6p after the exploration group was granted a licence by the Cameroon government allowing it to develop the Logbaba gas field. Analysts at Fox-Davies Capital said:

It has been a frustrating long wait for the award of the exploitation licence, but it is finally in hand and the company can now proceed with the construction of the gas pipeline. The management have previously indicated that it will take approximately five months from the receipt of the licence to first gas; therefore, gas sales should commence in the fourth quarter.

HMV slid 0.25p to 10p on worries about its current trading. Nick Bubb at Arden said:

Every morning we sit eagerly at our desks at 7am watching for an HMV trading update to pop up on the screen and…nothing has happened. But HMV will have to come clean eventually on how bad April was, and we discovered one clue in the Morrison's first quarter conference call, of all things, yesterday.

Asked about non-food trading, the [Morrison's] chief executive Dalton Phillips said that they're pleased to be much less involved in non-food than their rivals, so that they can "cherry-pick" and "have a bit of fun" and he quoted the example of how Morrison's had doubled their normal market share on the latest Harry Potter DVD release last month with a punchy £6 promotion…We recall HMV whining this time last year about predatory supermarket pricing on new chart releases and it doesn't sound like conditions have improved.

With electoral reform hopes dashed, Lib Dems in near-death agonies and the loss of Scotland, Labour has work to do

The AV referendum result comes as a thundering blow. In an era when voters are in rebellion against the old two-party duopoly, a third refusing to vote for either of the old tribes, the chance to shape an electoral system that might reflect that mood by recording people's true first choices has been cast away.

As for a properly representative system, that hope is dashed for years to come. Forget new parties breaking through, the portal to politics remains desperately narrow. Westminster can only be approached through the heavily guarded gateways of the old parties, barring the way to others. Parliament is a closed club that risks falling into deeper disrepute, further removed from its voters, less responsive to the increasingly complex feelings voters want to express. What's the point of voting, the poll refuseniks ask on the doorstep, if no one outside the two big parties ever has a chance.

How perverse to vote for less choice, but the reasons why are simple. The issue was steamrollered flat by the political passions of the day. For too many of those on the centre-left, instant vengeance against Lib Dems drove out all thoughts of the political future. It was a vile campaign, the No side mendacious beyond anything I can recall, the Yes side insultingly stupid with its call to make MPs "work harder".

Nick Clegg badly misjudged this by insisting the referendum be held on local election day, when winning councils was the activists' priority. A stand-alone referendum, after the Lib Dems had been trounced, might have aired the question better.

Shedloads of cash from Tory donors did its work. David Cameron's killer threat, untrue but mighty effective – that AV would leave the rump Lib Dems in power forever – probably won the day. But Labour's split between its retro-revengers and its forward-looking pluralists was a disaster. If Tony Blair at the height of his power dared not face down his party and push for PR with Roy Jenkins and Paddy Ashdown, Ed Miliband was in a considerably weaker position to whip the party in to embrace a more fluid multi-party future. Of course AV in itself, that "miserable little compromise", wouldn't have produced that outcome – but voting it down makes all electoral reform moribund. So will the Lib Dems get House of Lords reform instead? No, the Tories will kill that too, just watch and see, whatever Cameron may pretend. For many the loss of any hope of electoral reform will mark a dark turning point in their enthusiasm for politics.

The great double losers of the day were the Lib Dems, poll-axed by the end of their reform dream. Thrashing about in near-death agonies, expect all manner of contortions that may be as self-destructive as everything else they have done in the last year. Their overall result was not quite as bad as some polls predicted, holding on in some places, but their catastrophic coalition miscalculation may yet split and wipe them out for a generation.

They may bring down the coalition. They may eject Clegg, but what's the point of replacing him with Chris Huhne? Even before the last election, he was pressing the not-so-cunning plan of going into a death-hug with the Tories. All the Lib Dem leaders convinced themselves insanely that they must prove they were a grown-up party of government, eager to take harsh decisions as nasty as the Tories.

How badly they misunderstood the nature of their swelling support: they were a safe haven for voters not wanting tough choices, nice people with apolitical instincts, trusting Clegg's promised "new politics" would keep their votes clean from contamination. Had the Lib Dems stood apart and stood their ground, loudly opposing Tory plans, objecting to the savagery of the budget without quite bringing down the government, they might have kept their virginity. Instead, their relentless trashing of "Labour who left us in this mess" slammed the door on an alternative coalition future – and ensured angry Labour voters killed off their AV hopes.

Today a frightening question confronts Labour: is this the start of a long Conservative hegemony? The economy is flatlining – but so is Labour. It gained too few seats, compared with its 2007 low vote. Why didn't it do better? Unemployment is rising, the NHS faces deep cuts, libraries, leisure centres and Sure Starts are slamming their doors, while university fees terrify families, middle incomes shrink and growing ranks of economists warn that George Osborne's plans are sending the UK into a downward spiral – yet Cameron's shield is undented. Some progress is made with "too far, too fast" – but nowhere near enough yet. If there were a general election tomorrow, Cameron would win.Labour remains unforgiven, blamed for everything, its faces still too redolent of a rejected Brown era. Twenty-three policy reviews under the aegis of "No money left" Liam Byrne are not so far an inspiring prospect.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem votes collapsing to Labour may paradoxically yield more Westminster seats to Tories. Labour regained its northern strongholds but until it besieges Tories in the south, it's not a contender. Losing Scotland was a blow. Boundary changes favour the Tories and if Scotland breaks away, then Westminster looks blue stretching into the far horizons of the future.

Is this the death of the idea that Britain has a "progressive majority"? Is this really a Conservative country after all, as the Blair/Brown/ Mandelson project always assumed? No, though without AV, first preferences can't be proven: a fifth of voters are forced to vote tactically. A solid third of voters are Tory but the anti-Tory vote is now more dispersed and without voting reform, harder to assemble into a winning force.

What is the Miliband, pluralist wing of Labour to do about that? Open up the party to new entrants, hold open primaries to become the gateway into politics for unconventional candidates assembled around the spine of Labour values. Cameron has cooled on this, since the Totnes Tory primary delivered a GP critical of his health reforms.

Labour can only be attractive if it is welcoming, open-minded, free-spirited, the party that unlocks doors to Westminster for new ideas and new people. In the last weeks, the worst of Labour often paraded the opposite. Where once left and right were Labour's deepest rift, now the deeper divide is the open-minded versus narrow sectarians. Haunted by its painful recent past, Labour has yet to tell us what it's for.

Are you looking for a peaceful vacation away from the hustle and bustle of frantic city life?  Come to tranquil Iron Mountain Michigan, where you will be surrounded by natural wonders: The Cornish Pump Museum, Piers Gorge, Fumee Falls, Millie Mine Bat Cave, and many others!

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Sebastian has launched a new line of shampoos and conditioners called Color Ignite.  Meant to help you keep your coloured hair bright and fresh looking, the products come in a set for single toned hair (Mono) and a set for highlighted hair (Multi Tone). What’s interesting about the line is that the conditioners are actually [...] Related posts:

1. Live Clean Shampoo and Conditioner Review
2. Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner for Curly Hair Review
3. Fekkai Silky Straight Ironless Shampoo and Conditioner Review

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Indianapolis, Indiana

10:36 A.M. EDT

MR. CARNEY:  I just want to mention a couple of things before I get started here.  First, as you all know, we had an employment report today that showed private sector payrolls increasing by 268,000 in April, which makes 14 consecutive months of private sector employment growth.  During that period, the economy added 2.1 million private sector jobs, including more than 800,000 jobs since the beginning of the year.

This is obviously good news.  The February number was revised upwards to 261,000 private sector jobs created, and the March number was estimated upward to 231,000 -- very, very solid; an average of approximately a quarter of a million private sector jobs created each month for three straight months. 

We're pleased about that.  We obviously have a lot more work to do.  The recession cost the American labor force 8 million jobs and we're still digging ourselves out of that hole. 

Next I'd like to just remind you about where we're going today.  The President will first visit Allison Transmission, which is a leader in hybrid technology and the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, tactical military vehicles, and hybrid compulsion systems.  This visit is meant to highlight the President’s commitment to diversifying our energy requirements, to reduce our dependence on imported oil, and to ensure that we are leaders in clean energy technology in the 21st century.

Finally, I just wanted to note that when we go to Fort Campbell today, the President and Vice President will be visiting with members of the 101st Airborne Division, which, if you don't know, has such a remarkable history, beginning in World War II, where they were the first allied forces to set foot on occupied France territory; fought valiantly through World War II; were a vital division during the Cold War, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm and then obviously in the Iraq war, and most recently in Afghanistan.  Extraordinary service, extraordinary sacrifice.

What is less known is that it was elements of the 101st Airborne Division who were sent by President Eisenhower to Little Rock to ensure that the “Little Rock Nine” attended Little Rock Central High School.  It was also elements of the 101st that were sent to help make sure that James Meredith was able to attend as the first African American at the University of Mississippi.  So it is a noble, noble history.  And both the President and Vice President look forward to that visit.

With that I will take your questions.

Q    Jay, the President has said he doesn't want to spike the ball.  But he’s speaking to troops.  Doesn't he expect a celebratory mood there in the wake of bin Laden’s death?  And does that kind of go against that mood that he’s trying to -- a non-gloating mood?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don't expect you’ll hear the President spiking the ball or gloating when he speaks to troops returning from Afghanistan today.  The point he will make is that while the successful mission against Osama bin Laden was an historic and singular event, it does not by any means mean that we are finished with the war against al Qaeda.  The fight goes on.

And one of the reasons why the President refocused our resources and attention on the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, increased our commitment there in terms of troops -- which these troops represent -- is because he believed very strongly that al Qaeda central was the number one target -- should be the number one target of that effort.

He’s going to speak to these troops to thank them for their service.  They have fought valiantly and incurred significant casualties in that effort.  So there’s nothing -- there’s no intent to gloat at all in that regard.

Q    Is he meeting with members of the teams that carried out the operation to get Osama bin Laden?

MR. CARNEY:  What I can say is that he is meeting with special operators -- some special operators who were involved in that, but that is all I can say.

Q    On the bin Laden operation, Al Arabia is reporting that al Qaeda is now -- may not come as a shock -- threatening to attack the U.S. in retaliation for killing bin Laden.  Is the President aware of that?  And what’s his thinking on that?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, we are aware of it, seen the reports.  What it does do, obviously, is acknowledge the obvious, which is that Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday night by U.S. forces.

Q    Is there any more concern now that there’s been --

MR. CARNEY:  We're being extremely vigilant.  You can ask questions of the Department of Homeland Security as well, but the -- we’re quite aware of the potential for activity and are highly vigilant on that matter for that reason. 

One of the things we saw I think last night was the notice that DHS put out with regard to the information collected about the consideration at least of a terrorist plot against American railways back in February of 2010.  The fact that the world’s most wanted terrorist might have been considering further terror plots against the United States is not a surprise, but it reminds us, of course, that we need to remain ever vigilant.    

Q    Jay, can you at least tell us whether this group of special operators that you referred to will include Navy SEALs or helicopter pilots --

MR. CARNEY:  I’m not going to say anything more about that.  It is extremely important that I say nothing more.

Q    If we’re done with the bin Laden questions, or are you not?  On another matter, the Republican congressional leaders appear to be backing away from attempting to pass their Medicare plan prior to the 2012 election it’s widely reported today.  What does the President think about that?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I would say simply that the talks that the Vice President led yesterday, the initial meeting of the members of Congress and team from the administration, was productive.  And we certainly think that it’s a good thing if those who are participating in those negotiations understand that in order to achieve compromise, we need to find common ground. 

We obviously have -- the President has laid out his plan, and there are elements of stark contrast with the House Republican’s budget that passed.  What we’re looking for now is where we can find some common ground to achieve a goal that Republicans and Democrats share, which is reducing the debt significantly, getting our fiscal house in order and, as the President sees it, while making sure that we protect the investments we need to protect in order to continue to grow the economy, continue to create jobs and educate our children.

Q    Does the President have any reaction to the report today that CEO pay is up 25 percent over last year  --

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t heard him react to that, no.

Q    Jay, can you tell us anything about the President’s immigration speech next week and any other events from the week ahead?

MR. CARNEY:  What I can say is that the speech will reflect the President’s continued commitment to find a bipartisan way to create a bipartisan -- rather comprehensive immigration reform.  As I think I said earlier this week, the fact that we were not able to achieve that in the first two years only means that we need to refocus our efforts and try to find that compromise.  In the past, obviously there has been Republican support for the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that is necessary and we hope that there will be again in the future.  

Q    -- rest of the week ahead?

MR. CARNEY:  I do have that, if you’re ready for it.

Q    Can you field more questions after?

MR. CARNEY:  Do you want to ask those questions first, and then I’ll do --

Q    In April of 2008, President Obama -- or then candidate Obama appeared at a gas station in Indiana -- gas was at $3.60 a gallon -- said we need to vote for change, a new set of policies. He’s returning to Indiana now with gas well over $4.00 a gallon. What does it say about the success he has had over the last three years in dealing with the fuel issue, the gas issue?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think you’ve heard the President speak quite a lot lately about the impact of high gas prices on Americans’ pocketbooks and wallets.  We’re very concerned about it.  We do note the steep drop in oil prices in the last couple of days.  And I would also note that one of the things the Attorney General task force will be looking at is coordinating with state attorneys general to make sure that we don’t have a what I’ve heard described as a “rockets-and-parachutes phenomenon,” where prices at the pump rocket up when oil prices rocket up, and yet they come down in a parachute fashion when oil prices go down.  So we want to make sure that a drop in oil prices is appropriately reflected in a drop in gas prices at the pump.

Q    Does the President believe gas prices will drop in the coming months?  The futures market seem to be indicating they will.

MR. CARNEY:  We don’t predict markets here, obviously.  And we have seen a drop.  We have -- but they go up and down.  The President, as you know, has said many times that there are no silver bullet solutions here, no short-term solutions, and that’s why he is committed to -- while we are doing the things in the short term that we hope can provide some relief, the big challenge is the long-term solution that weans us off our dependence on foreign oil, that diversifies our energy supply, that allows us to build clean energy industries in the United States that both enhance our national security and provide quality jobs in this country. 

So that’s been his commitment; you’ve heard him speak about that many times.  You’ll hear him speak about it again today in Indiana.

Q    What does the President think about all the Monday morning quarterbacking on the Osama bin Laden operation?  Does he think it’s helpful -- all the criticism and the questioning about how it went down?  Does it --

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t heard much criticism about how it went down.  What I’ve heard is a pretty universal acclamation of the fact that a remarkable team of U.S. personnel conducted one of the most -- one of the riskiest operations imaginable flawlessly, and limited collateral damage and civilian casualties, achieved their goal of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, and returned safely every single American.

So I think that is what most people have focused on, appropriately, because it was a remarkable achievement that was the product of years of intelligence work, years of training in the case of the personnel involved in the actual mission, and some very bold decision-making by the President and others to bring this about.

Q    Jay, how did he feel about yesterday’s events in New York?

MR. CARNEY:  He felt very good about it.  I think he -- the meetings with firefighters, with the police, with families and loved ones of victims were powerful events.  And I think he understands that this is a bittersweet moment, especially for those who lost loved ones in 9/11, both in New York, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.  And he was very glad he made the trip.

Q    Jay, the President won Indiana by less than 30,000 votes in ’08.  Does he think that it’s as tough or even tougher political environment right now for him to get support for his agenda or even win reelection?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think that it’s a long time before next year’s election, and he’s focused on the things that a President needs to be focused on -- our national security -- his focus on that I think has been quite evident in the last several days; and the economy, which is what he’ll be focusing on today in Indiana.

I think that the President firmly believes that making the right policy decisions tends to be beneficial come political season, but for him, at least, political season is a long way off.

Q    -- we’re flying into another swing state.

MR. CARNEY:  The fact is that this -- Allison Transmission is, as I just read to you, a major manufacturer of the kind of the technology that the President believes is going to help us win the future in the 21st century.  So I think we go where the action is, and in this case, this company is where the action is.

Q    Did the President watch the Fox News Republican debate last night?

MR. CARNEY:  I haven’t asked him.  I don't know.  I think there was some basketball on last night -- maybe there wasn’t, maybe that's tonight -- so I don't know.  I think the Bulls are playing tonight, is that right?  Well, come on, guys. 

Yes.  Okay, I can do the week ahead if you don't have any more questions.

On Monday, the President will meet with heads of the Chinese Strategic Economic Dialogue delegation at the White House. 

On Tuesday, the President will travel, as you know, to the El Paso, Texas area to deliver a speech on comprehensive immigration reform.  He will then travel to Austin, Texas, before returning to Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, the President will participate in a CBS Town Hall at the Newseum.  In the evening, the President and the First Lady will host a celebration of American poetry and prose by welcoming accomplished poets, musicians and artists, as well as students, from across the country to the White House.

On Thursday, the President will deliver remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. 

And on Friday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.

Q    The town hall is Wednesday, not Thursday?  Initially it was --

MR. CARNEY:  That’s correct, it’s Wednesday. 

All right, thanks, guys.

END
10:52 A.M. EDT

Yeah, yeah.  It's been a while since any of us have posted.  Such is life, right?

We've all been pretty busy lately, and I have tons of stories and photos to share, but here's the last thing on that long list...
It seems I'm always baking something for school functions.  I bake for my son's teachers, however, twice per year.  The cupcakes (paired with Starbucks gift cards) were delivered this morning for Teacher Appreciation week.  My school year is officially over.


I posted photos on Facebook and now here are the recipes!

Print this Recipe!
Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Cake recipe adapted from Joy of Baking.com
Frosting recipe adapted from Easy Cake Ideas.com


Makes approx. 16 cupcakes


Ingredients for Cake:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water
1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Frosting Ingredients:


5-6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temp)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Kraft)
1/2 shortening (not butter flavor)
2 Tbsp meringue powder


Directions for Chocolate Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter (I use an ice cream scoop) and bake for about 16 - 20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Directions for Frosting:

1.  Using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, mix the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt, vanilla and milk at low speed until smooth and creamy.

Former Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien is in a unique situation.

As the winner of the 2010 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually to the nation's most successful senior quarterback, based on their achievements both on and off the field, his name forever will be listed alongside Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and Matt Ryan.

But after not hearing his name called during the '11 NFL draft, Tolzien now belongs to a different group; one that includes Kurt Warner, Tony Romo and Jeff Garcia — undrafted quarterbacks.

The Badgers' all-time most accurate passer would be happy to have a fraction of the success that any of those aforementioned QBs have achieved at the professional level, but Tolzien is at a disadvantage never seen before in the history of the league: He can't speak with NFL teams because of the ongoing lockout. Thus, he can't sign with a team or begin learning a new system until the league opens for business again.

All Tolzien can do is wait, and try to make the best of the situation. To him, that means remaining in Madison, Wis., and continuing to work out until he can start receiving calls from interested teams.

"There's nothing you can do about it, so it's kind of like, why worry about it," he explained. "The most important thing right now is to control what you can control. And that's being in the best shape possible, being ready to go. Let's say tomorrow the NFL is no longer locked out, you have to be ready to field calls."

The problem is, no one knows when the lockout will come to an end. Not the owners. Not the players. Nobody.

It takes a special type of person to continue to work at such a high level for an opportunity that may or may not present itself. Bears rookie OT Gabe Carimi, who spent two seasons protecting Tolzien's blind side at Wisconsin, thinks the 6-2, 212-pound QB has the personality to make it work.

"He is real dedicated in whatever he's doing," Carimi said. "He's a real accountable guy. He does his schoolwork well. You should see his apartment, his apartment is clean. He does everything right."

Projected to go a bit higher, Carimi was selected by the Bears with the 29th overall pick in the draft. Tolzien was at Carimi's side during his draft-day party when the nerves began to pick up near the end of the first round.

Tolzien had no party. He was at home in Rolling Meadows, Ill., two days later, where he watched Rounds 4-7 with his dad and a couple of friends. His phone started ringing around the seventh round, but he never did see his name pop up on the TV screen.

"What's weird, this year, is usually those talks continue on after the draft but this year, because the NFL is locked out, the minute that last pick is made teams can no longer call you," Tolzien said. "Basically now, all the free agents, we're just waiting for the NFL to get unlocked and teams will start calling us."

Carimi was unable to watch the remainder of the draft with Tolzien, as he was in Chicago meeting with the Bears. Now a member of the only NFL team that invited Tolzien in for a private workout prior to the draft, Carimi said he would do his best to help his good friend land a job with the Bears.

"I don't really know their whole plans, but anyone that has Scott on their team is going to do pretty well," Carimi said. "They're going to have a consistent player behind another great quarterback."

The knock on Tolzien, who turns 24 in early September, has never been his character. NFL scouts have lauded him for his intangibles and have been impressed with his work ethic and football I.Q. The problem has been his smaller-than-preferred size and his limited mobility.

When asked about his NFL potential, Tolzien said that's something for teams to evaluate. But he did say that his résumé [including a 21-5 career record as a starter] speaks for itself.

"I personally feel like I've been a winning quarterback at the college level," Tolzien said. "And I'm an accurate passer (68.1 career passing percentage). I think those are two powerful things."

Time will tell if NFL teams feel the same way. Tolzien said that he has no plans of giving up on his dreams of playing in the league and likely would decline an offer from the United Football League (UFL).

He is set to graduate from Wisconsin in the coming days with a degree in consumer affairs. He spoke of all sorts of options he could pursue when his playing career ended, with the main focus being on coaching. Those plans are for down the road. Currently, Tolzien said he has one goal.

"Right now, I'm going to try and play in the NFL."

Audible draft recaps of the league by divisions

1. AFC WEST - Broncos, KC, Raiders, Chargers
Posted 03 May 2011 - 04:41 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol56a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - TE Julius Thomas has high upside but the Broncos offense could limit his production, did San Diego make a mistake in drafting RB Jordan Todman, the Chiefs will start Jonathan Baldwin opposite Dwayne Bowe, Oakland has a great sleeper WR in Denarius Moore, plus more!
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2. NFC NORTH - Vikings, Packers, Lions, Bears
Posted 03 May 2011 - 05:11 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol59a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - the Packers crush the draft, the Lions adding quality and potential superstars, did the Bears do enough to help them keep up with Green Bay, what to make of the Vikings draft, plus more!
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3. AFC North - Bengals, Browns, Steelers, Ravens
Posted 03 May 2011 - 05:10 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol58a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - why Greg Little could star from day one for the Browns, the new look Bengals with WR A.J. Green and QB Andy Dalton, Baltimore adds youth and speed to the WR corps with Torrey Smith, the Steelers add the son of Ironhead, plus more!

=================================================

4. AFC EAST - Bills, Pats, Jets, Phins
Posted 04 May 2011 - 06:56 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol60a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - why Johnny White could be a great pick for the Bills, the Dolphins new lead back Daniel Thomas, Bilal Powell as the replacement to LaDainian Tomlinson, Ryan Mallett boom or bust, plus more!

=================================================

5. NFC EAST - Boys, Skins, Eagles, Giants
Posted 04 May 2011 - 07:01 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol61a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - the Redskins poor draft, Jerry Jones being smart with his picks, why Dion Lewis is a great fit, DaRel Scott as a great dynasty sleeper with the Giants, plus more!

=================================================

6. AFC SOUTH - Colts, Texans, Jags, Titans
Posted Yesterday, 03:50 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol62a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - the Texans have a solid draft, Delone Carter as the lead back for the Colts, did the Titans do the right thing when picking Locker, Gabbert as the Jaguars QB of the future, plus more!

=================================================

7. NFC SOUTH - Falcons, Bucs, Saints, Panthers
Posted Yesterday, 03:52 PM
http://podcast.footb...2011-Vol63a.mp3

In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom recap the 2011 NFL Draft. Topics Include - did the Falcons give up too much for WR Julio Jones, why Mark Ingram is a great pick for the Saints, Cam Newton could be a Ben Roethlisberger type of QB, the Bucs have a great draft, plus more!

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My draft grades of each team to compare/contrast against Sig and Cecil

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=591165

1. CAROLINA PANTHERS B-
2. DENVER BRONCOS A
3. BUFFALO BILLS A
4. CINCINNATI BENGALS A+
5. ARIZONA CARDINALS A+
6. ATLANTA FALCONS B
7. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS A
8. TENNESSEE TITANS B+
9. DALLAS COWBOYS B-
10. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS B-
11. HOUSTON TEXANS B+
12. MINNESOTA VIKINGS B-
13. DETROIT LIONS A
14. ST. LOUIS RAMS B+
15. MIAMI DOLPHINS C+
16. WASHINGTON REDSKINS A+
17. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS D+
18. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS B-
19. NEW YORK GIANTS A
20. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS A+
21. CLEVELAND BROWNS B
22. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS B
23. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES C+
24. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS B
25. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS C+
26. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS B-
27. BALTIMORE RAVENS A-
28. CHICAGO BEARS B
29. NEW YORK JETS B-
30. PITTSBURGH STEELERS B-
31. GREEN BAY PACKERS B
32. OAKLAND RAIDERS B-

The ones that we disagree on the most is Washington and New England.

I went into detail I my thread on my reasoning for giving the Pats such a low grade so go to the link if you're interested in that dialogue but per the Skins this is how I see this draft.

First they probably had their eye on a particular QB, possibly Locker but he went early. Gabbert fell to them but they didn’t like him and got an opportunity to trade down. Its possible that they were thinking that they could pick up Ponder at the 16 spot but he went early however I believe they reaped a windfall because I’m sky-high on Ryan Kerrigan.

The boys didn’t rip into Kerrigan but they said he wasn’t athletic and I strongly disagree on that remark. His combine numbers are off the charts. His production in college is at the top of all pass rushers. He can come off the edge and in addition to getting pressure he causes turnovers with many forced fumbles. The vision of him coming off the weak side with Orakpo coming off the strong-side sets the table for him to clean up.

Also I like Hankerson and the boys don’t like him. My reasoning is very simple, he’s big with HUGE HANDS. Largest from this draft class. He can catch and he has the body to block out the defender. The boys make some good points on the specifics of his game. They do hours and hours of film study and talk to people and get to meet the prospects.

I just follow the game and really am into the draft and the long-term stats of players who do and don’t make it. Statistically if you take a long-term view of the draft you will find that very few make a big splash after the top third of the second round, the talent falls off a cliff at that point.

If you look at my thread the very first criteria I use to make my grades is TALENT because that is the point of the draft, to acquire more and better talent than your competition. I gave out higher grades based on potential talent and concentrated on the top-two rounds based on long-term draft analysis.

I don’t do hours and hours of film study, I don’t have contacts, I don’t meet prospects or attend all-star games or pro day workouts or go to the combine and I don’t get too wrapped up in later round prospects do to the long term draft analysis shows a small percentage of later round prospects make a big splash.

Many have stated that drafts can’t be analyzed for at least three years so I’ll take a look at the draft from three years ago, the 2009 draft and we can look at who did or didn’t make it. I think that will provide some context and with the lockout at this time of the year when it typically enters the slow season it will give fodder to keep people’s interest up and it will be eye opening for many who don’t go back to look at past drafts.

The tools are coming out of storage and along with coming out means Cleaning up. Having been in storage for a couple of years my machines are in need of some TLC. Yesterday I brought to the shop some of my machines to start putting into place. I finally have my workbench to work on so this will help to make the clean up process go a little easier.

I started with the Band Saw last night and began disassembling the movable parts that began rusting. I got the table cleaned up of most of the rust. A little more elbow grease and it will be ready for some wax. The other parts have been cleaning up fairly quickly. I will finish cleaning the body and lube everything and have it back together today.

Next on the list will be the Radial Arm Drill Press. It seems to have acquired more rust than the Band Saw did. The steel used for the column and the radial arm seem to need the most work. I put a oily rag with a plastic bag around the chuck last night before going to the house for the night. Hopefully that will do some good while I clean up the table and column and arm.

My lathe didn’t look to bad as most of it is painted although there are a couple of parts that need to be replaced because of damage being moved into storage. The Jointer you can just about imagine what it looks like. Any way things are getting done and the shop is finally beginning to look like a shop. I still have more to come but I’m dependent on the help of others and when their time is available to help. Will try to get some pics later today to post. Anyway things are coming together in piece work making for a small shop to come to life without being crowded doing it.

Denim transcends departments once again on this highly anticipated Nike Air Force 1 Low. Another look at this makeup reveals more of the same showcasing premium materials, attention to detail, and clean colors. Bronze thread and denim make the upper come a live over a white midsole and gum finish. If you don’t want to [...]

Looking for a new driving position? We can help!

We are currently screening for CDL B with Passenger endorsement & CDL B with both Passenger and School Bus Endorsement positions.

All openings are full time and you can interview immediately if qualified!! NO EXPERIENCE is needed. New CDL Graduates ENCOURAGED to apply!!!

Basic job requirements:
- Clean NYS CDL Class B or C with Passenger Endorsement
- School Bus applicants must have S endorsement
- Must be NYC five borough resident
- Recent DMV Abstract no older than 30 days old
- Must be 18 years of age or older ( 21 to apply for selected positions that require interstate travel)
- Must be able to work a flexible schedule, including weekends and or nights.


Please attend the Workforce1 Transportation Career Center screening event!

Location: 168-46 91st Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11432 2nd Floor
Date: Monday, May 9, 2011
CHECK IN TIME: 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM (No admittance after 9:00 AM)

Please bring CDL License, Resume and recent DMV Abstract (NO OLDER THEN 30 DAYS)

Please come professionally dressed with 2 copies of your resume (an electronic version preferred).

Be prepared to spend the day.

• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

NO Experience NEEDED!

We are currently screening Para-Transit Drivers for Queens Based and Bronx Based Access-A-Ride Bus Companies. CDL Class C or B is needed with Passenger Endorsement.

New CDL drivers are welcome to apply.

REQUIREMENTS:
• All applicants are required to have at least 3 years driving experience w/ a regular D license
• Clean MVR abstract no older than 30 days from date of screening REQUIRED
• You must 21 years of age or older.
• All applicants will be expected to pass a pre-hire background and drug screening

Please attend the Workforce1 Transportation Career Center pre-screening:

Location: 168-46 91st Ave, 2nd Floor, Jamaica NY 11432
Dates: Monday, May 9, 2011
CHECK IN TIME: 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM (No admittance after 9:00 AM)
Directions: F Train to 169th Street

** PLEASE ADVISE THE FRONT DESK YOU ARE HERE FOR PARATRANSIT DRIVER POSITIONS**

Please come professionally dressed with a 2 copies of your resume (an electronic version preferred) , VALID Driver’s License, and copy of MVR Abstract,

Be prepared to spend most of the day with us.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO ASSISTING YOU WITH THE FIRST DAY OF YOUR NEW CAREER!

• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Jeff has been in San Francisco this week, which means I’m currently parenting at a level of eight point five. (I normally hover at around five or six.) Eight point five means I often come down on the girls for not clearing their breakfast dishes, I clean the litter box every other day, and I’m [...]

First of all, I need to say: all the compliments and praise on how well I am handling everything – you guys can’t possibly know how much I appreciate hearing that. But I do feel that I need to come clean a bit in that I mostly save all the “I CAN’T HANDLE THIS SHIT!” [...]

From Strauss at the Southbank, Marian motets in Sherbourne Abbey, and Prokofiev's piano concerto in Manchester, it's been an exciting week for Radio 3's listeners - and presenters

Renaissance motets in honour of the Virgin Mary sung under the vaulted ceiling of a Dorset abbey; Strauss's Four Last Songs performed by one of the world's greatest sopranos, and a 23-year old Korean launching himself calmly and confidently into one of the trickiest of all piano concertos. I've had an amazing musical week so far, and, more to the point, I hope hundreds of thousands of Radio 3 listeners have as well.

On Tuesday we launched Radio 3 Live in Concert, and from here on in, evenings on the radio will never be the same again. Five nights a week we'll be broadcasting, live, the very best of British and international music making. BBC microphones will hang above stages at concerts and recitals in halls from Poole to Aberdeen; visits to the UK's music festivals will take us even further afield.

I'm the lucky presenter who's had the responsibility of kicking it all off, and I've fronted each of this week's concerts. It's been a full-on first week; early starts, laptop out on the train as I write up my notes for the night ahead. We started on Tuesday with The Sixteen at Sherborne Abbey, singing music by the 16th-century composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. "Did we want the bells off?" asked the verger. After much debate, we decided we'd leave them on. Should the BBC really be responsible for silencing the bells of one of our finest churches? As Harry Christophers finished a Marian hymn, the clock struck eight. He paused, then calmly continued. A magical moment.

The next morning it was straight to London's Southbank, where the London Philharmonic was rehearsing. They later gave a brilliantly clean, unemotional account of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski. And an anniversary to mark 60 years to the day since the first public concert at the Royal Festival Hall. After her performance of the Four Last Songs, soprano Christine Brewer joined me in the commentary box above the stage, and we pored over a copy of the programme for that first night, when Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was the star of the show. "By the way," Brewer added, "can I say hi to my family? They're all listening online back home in Lebanon, Illinois."

And now I'm in Manchester, where Mark Elder conducted the Hallé in Elgar's Enigma Variations last night. There was Sibelius's En Saga to begin, and then Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto, incredibly complicated to play, but nailed by Sunwook Kim. When I last met him, he was 17, and had just won the Leeds Piano Competition. We had to do his victory interview, via translator, in Korean. Now he's been living in London for five years, revelling in what he described to me as the "greatest musical city in the world". But Manchester seemed to come a close second last night.

What a week – and there's still the BBC Philharmonic playing Shostakovich Five tonight. Then next week there's the Vienna Piano Trio, Florilegium, Bach's B Minor Mass under Herreweghe … on and on the list goes. Radio 3 is living up to the demand of the old Musicians' Union slogan, that graced a million instrument cases – "Keep Music Live."

Investors in HMV are keenly awaiting the next stage in the troubled story at the music and book retailer.

Optimists are hoping for a news of a deal whereby the group sells its Waterstone's chain to Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, who owns 6% of HMV but has seen it prove a disappointing investment, to put it mildly.

But three profit warnings have come from the beleaguered group, and some in the City are wondering if another one is due, given the dire consumer outlook and increasing competition. Nick Bubb at Arden said:

Every morning we sit eagerly at our desks at 7am watching for an HMV trading update to pop up on the screen and…nothing has happened. But HMV will have to come clean eventually on how bad April was, and we discovered one clue in the Morrison's first quarter conference call, of all things, yesterday.

Asked about non-food trading, the [Morrison's] chief executive Dalton Phillips said that they're pleased to be much less involved in non-food than their rivals, so that they can "cherry-pick" and "have a bit of fun" and he quoted the example of how Morrison's had doubled their normal market share on the latest Harry Potter DVD release last month with a punchy £6 promotion…We recall HMV whining this time last year about predatory supermarket pricing on new chart releases and it doesn't sound like conditions have improved.

Still, with no negative update yet, HMV's shares are steady at 10.25p.

If you're familiar with in-season leeks, you know how tough it can be to clean and prep them. Sugar staffer and Yum Community member Julia shared her expert tips in the Kitchen Goddess group. Read on!

One of my favorite things to cook - and eat - when it's warm outside is vichyssoise soup. It's always served at the country club I grew up going to in the Summer, so it reminds me of the vacation! The potato and leek soup is also absolutely delicious. Potatoes are a cinch to wash and slice up, but leeks require more preparation. So the first time I tried to make this soup, I had to do a little research about how to use this onion/garlic cousin. During a recent wave, I took some photos of the steps, so I could share them with you. Come learn how to prepare leeks, if you don't already know!

View Slideshow ›

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Every year, millions of homes lose power for hours – even days – at a time. Being prepared is the best defense for such energy emergencies. And for many homeowners, that means investing in a standby generator – one that is fully automatic and permanently installed outside the home. While virtually all home owners can benefit from having a standby unit, reliable power is especially important in homes with elderly residents or young children who are more dependent upon heating, air conditioning and other of life’s necessities. It’s also important for home businesses and for travelers who are not home to deal with the damaging consequences of a power outage. If you’ve made the decision to purchase a standby generator for your home, it’s helpful to be familiar with what is involved in regards to the installation process. This article IS NOT intended to serve as a step-by-step guide. It is highly recommended that all standby generators be installed by a licensed contractor – not the homeowner. Improper installation can cause damage to the unit and could potentially void the warranty. However, knowledge is power and understanding the installation process will help you properly screen and oversee a contractor during the installation process. In this article, we’ll go through the key steps involved in installing an air-cooled home generator, which operates on the same fuel source that currently runs the appliances in your home (LP or natural gas). We’ll discuss the key components of the system, including: Selecting a generator Where to place a generator Making power connections Connecting to fuel sources Pre-start checks Remote monitoring Basic maintenance Selecting a Generator Permanent standby generators are different from portable generators, which are designed to power worksites. With a standby generator – which is specifically designed for the home – there’s no need to fill the gas tank every few hours or change the oil. In addition, portable generators can only back up appliances that can be plugged in via an extension cord run outside to the generator. Standby generators are hard-wired into your home and can back up the circuits you choose without running extension cords. Furthermore, standby generators don’t have exposed engine parts that could lead to burns or hazardous conditions such refilling/spilling gasoline onto hot engines. Permanent standby generators are also better suited for delicate electronics like big-screen TVs or computers due to better voltage and frequency regulation and lower total harmonic distortion. Standby generators range from 8 to 125 kilowatts. It’s important to choose a standby generator that meets your lifestyle and needs. If you simply want to power a few key appliances in a large home, or everything in a smaller home, an 8- to 20-kilowatt generator may serve you well. If you have a large home and want to keep everything powered up, a larger generator will be required. To determine what size generator you need, contact a local power professional (dealer) or licensed electrical contractor familiar with standby generators. Before you meet with a contractor, you may want to get some estimates from an online sizing tool such as the calculator found here . However, enlisting a licensed power professional is essential to determine the right size for your needs. They will also help you comply with any municipal codes governing proper installation, including: Noise ordinances (typically under 70 dBA) Positioning of the generator (flood risks) Electrical codes In addition to selecting the size of the generator, don’t forget about its appearance. A generator sits outside your home – permanently, so look for a unit with a bold, clean look and one that is corrosion resistant, particularly in salty air or moist environments. Where to Position a Generator Once you’ve purchased a standby generator, the next step is to find an ideal location for installation. Similar to where your central air conditioning unit is placed, select an area where hot exhaust gases don’t blow on plants or other combustible materials. Also, be sure your contractor allows the minimum clearance provided in the installation manual. Clearance refers to the minimum distance from the home and/or any other structures that may affect airflow. Some generators, like Kohler’s air-cooled models, come with a built-in composite mounting pad. This eliminates the need for pouring a concrete pad in most locations. Just place it on a level area covered with pea gravel. In some coastal areas with high-wind conditions, it may be desirable to place it on a concrete pad and bolt it down. To move the generator, your contractor will want to insert two metal bars in the lifting holes found in the base of the product and use them to lift the unit into place. The lifting holes allow four strong people to lift a 20-kilowatt generator (approximately 500 pounds). Straps or a lift can also be used if available. Making Power Connections For purposes of this article, we will assume the unit is being placed on a concrete slab with electrical stub feeding wires through the bottom of the unit. In most installations, which don’t include the concrete slab, your contractor will need to drill a hole in the access panel located in the lower part of the cabinet for electrical leads. Be sure to drill the hole in this area, and not through the upper part of the cabinet. Kohler generators come with a field-connection terminal block, streamlining the wiring process. Route the AC leads through flexible conduit. Then feed the wires through the opening drilled in the cabinet. If installing a model RDT automatic transfer switch, connect the emergency source to the terminal block labeled “load leads.” Also, connect the automatic transfer switch (ATS) or remote start/stop leads. If connecting a model RRT transfer switch, be sure to route low-voltage communication leads through a separate conduit. Connect the leads from the utility power for accessories. Then connect the neutral and ground leads from the ATS and the main panel. Ground the generator according to methods that comply with NEC and local codes. All Kohler generators come with a factory-installed battery charger that’s designed to keep the starting battery fully charged. Plug the battery charger’s power cord into the AC receptacle on the bottom of the controller junction box. Utility leads brought to the customer connection terminal block that supply this receptacle should be on a circuit that is backed-up by the generator. You will need to place a 12-volt battery in the controller. Once these steps have been completed, verify that the generator is off. Make sure the “OFF” LED on the controller is flashing. Also, verify that the battery is fully charged before placing it in the unit. Kohler typically recommends an optional carburetor heater for improved starting in locations where the temperature drops below freezing. The heater requires a continuous source of power. Plug the carburetor heater into the other AC receptacle. Some generators may also recommend battery warmers, or other cold weather aids.  Check the manufacturer’s guidelines for your particular climate. Connecting to Fuel Sources Your generator operates on either natural gas or liquid propane (LP) vapor fuel. It is EPA-certified for both types of fuel. When shipped, the unit is typically set for natural gas, with the loose LP orifice tied near the fuel solenoid valve. To convert to LP vapor, install the orifice and disconnect the spark advance leads as described in the installation manual. Then verify that the output pressure from the primary gas utility – or LP tank pressure regulator – is adequate. Also, check that the utility gas meter flow rate is sufficient. Have your contractor refer to the manual for guidelines. Once all the pipe connections are made, check for fuel leaks. Pre-Start Checks Before starting up the generator, go through the items in the pre-start checklist. Inspect the air cleaner, air inlets and make sure there are tight connections on the battery. Also inspect the exhaust system for leaks and blockages. Be sure to check oil levels on a regular basis. Oil should be at or near the “Full” mark on the dipstick – not over. Once you’ve completed the pre-start checks, start the generator by pressing the “Run” button on the control panel. Then turn the system off. Press the “Auto” button on the control panel. At this point, the unit is in “Auto,” and is monitoring the utility – ready to react in the event of a power outage. Kohler Generators are faster than most brands and can restore power to the home within 10 seconds of an outage.  Most other brands will restore power in 20-30 seconds. The automatic transfer switch (ATS) transfers electrical load from a normal source of electrical power (utility) to  an emergency source (generator). Refer to the manual for compatibility between ATS modes and Kohler generator sets. The ATS can be wired to supply all of your home’s electrical load, or just essential systems, such as the furnace, refrigerator and sump pump. If the generator powers the whole house, you will want an ATS without a load center. If you’re planning to power only the essential systems in your home, choose an ATS with a built-in load center. A load center allows you wire just the circuits from your main distribution panel that you want to power during an outage. The 100 amp Model RRT transfer switch shown in this picture includes a built-in load center with room for up to 16 single-pole circuit breakers. Verify that the total rating for all breakers in the load center does not exceed the rating of the transfer switch. Connect the “Normal Source,” which is typically the utility power, to the lugs labeled NA and NB. Connect the “Emergency Source,” which is typically the generator, to the lugs labeled EA and EB. Then connect the neutral from the main panel to the neutral in the ATS enclosure.  Ground the system according to NEC and local codes and connect the start wires from the generator set. To test the system, simulate a disruption of power from the utility by turning off the breaker that feeds the normal side of the ATS. The ATS will send a signal to start the generator. When the generator reaches its rated voltage and frequency, the ATS will transfer generator power to the emergency load. At this point, the generator will power all loads in the essential loads sub-panel. To simulate utility power coming back on, close the breaker in the main panel. There will be a short delay as the unit verifies that utility power is back on and flowing strong. When this is verified, the ATS will transfer back to the main source of power. The generator will continue running for a cool down period. This should take no longer than five minutes based on engine oil temperatures. Basic Maintenance Refer to your installation and operation manuals for recommended maintenance and service intervals. In general, if your generator is running for extended periods of time, you should check your oil regularly and add oil as needed.  The service schedule will address how often oil, oil filters, spark plugs and air cleaners should be changed as well as other cleaning, inspection and service suggestions. Some home owners may be comfortable with the basic maintenance, while others will prefer to set up a service contract with a professional to take care of it all for them. Remote Monitoring Now that your generator has been properly installed and tested, it’s important to monitor its functionality. This is particularly important for those who are routinely away from home and want to make sure a generator is working properly. A couple of generator manufacturers like Kohler now offer remote monitoring capabilities. Kohler’s OnCue™ Home Generator Management System software loads directly onto a PC, laptop or smart phone. Once installed, you can check the status and test your system from anywhere in the world. You can even set up text message or email alerts to keep you informed while on the move. The OnCue Home Generator Management System also makes it easy to implement service contracts. The service provider can monitor and test the generator from their business and see any fault codes and history prior to going out for a service call. This gives you a higher level of attention and service while creating efficiencies that ultimately cut costs. For more information on how to install a residential generator, consult the installation manual that came with your system, or call your nearest distributor. You can also learn more about residential generators and the installation process at KohlerSmartPower.com . Source: Kohler Generators If you have specific questions and would like to contact a residential generator expert, click this link to find a Kohler power professional in your area.

In order to stand out when he applied for work experience in journalism, Jonathan Frost created an infographic CV. Here, he explains how it's done

A friend had warned me to expect repeated disappointment when seeking work experience as a journalist. I was determined to secure some short-term placements, though. I realised that in such a busy and competitive industry, employers simply do not have the time to read through piles of long, written applications all begging for a placement. I needed to stand out, but didn't want to try anything too imaginative and come across as immature, so played to my strengths and designed an infographic CV.

The purpose of an infographic is to consolidate a large amount of information and present it in an appealing and insightful way, making it easy and interesting to digest. I took the principles and applied them to my CV, creating a tailored infographic for each publication to which I submitted.

It was effective – far more so than I had expected. I sent it via email to four publications: T3 , The York Press, Stuff, and also to a reporter for the Guardian's Technology section. Using bitly, I monitored the links that I placed in the emails to see which applications had been viewed and which hadn't. The two applications that registered clicks quickly replied, offering me placements.

I think the reason this worked for me is because the CV showed I had good design skills. More importantly it demonstrated that I'm willing to try something different. Others have had greater success: US graduate Chris Spurlock posted his infographic CV online, only to have it go viral when the Huffington Post got their hands on it. Since its posting, it has accrued thousands of views, and Spurlock was then hired by the Huffington Post as infographics editor.

How to create your own infographic CV

Planning

As with any graphic work, the first thing you should do is plan. Planning your content should be fairly easy – you just need to look back over your text-based CV. Try to choose the most important features to display visually and consider cutting back on less essential details. In my case, I chose not to talk about my graphic design experience as I felt that it wasn't relevant, but you can always include additional information in some accompanying text.

I chose to dedicate a lot of space to talking about my experience working on student newspapers. I placed it near the top of my graphic and thought about where I was placing other elements, where someone's eyes were going to look first and arranged my content accordingly. Anything I was particularly proud of I made big, bright, and central. Don't hide important stuff away in an obscure position.

Colour

Colour can be a hurdle for those unfamiliar with infographic design, and it took me several attempts to settle on my own choice. Complementary colours are a must – I used blue and orange to add vibrancy. Try playing with kuler, a colour scheme tool with plenty of existing combinations, or seeking advice from a more artistic pair of eyes if you're struggling.

Consider the medium

If you plan to print your infographic, design it to fill the space available. If you're keeping things digital, think about the space on the screen, and make sure it's easy to view it all, even if the person has a smaller screen than you. I opted for a scrolling infographic, but have seen lots of good landscape options that fill the screen and look very impressive as a result. The beauty of designing on a computer is that you can tweak and edit as you go along, but ensure you set out knowing what you're trying to achieve. Try looking at this blog, 25 Examples of Super Creative Resumé Design, for inspiration.

My own design drew inspiration from other designs. My personal style has developed over my graphic career, and I enjoy playing with a range of styles, but felt keeping the CV clean was the best choice. I wanted it to appear ordered and simple to take in, and was eager to avoid cluttering things up. I think using a white background and not too many colours is a good way to achieve this.

Picking the right programme

I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 when putting my applications together and would recommend using it. Adobe Illustrator would also be suitable, however both are very expensive and require a level of skill and experience to use.

However, there are other free alternatives online. Wordle and Tagxedo both allow you to play with text in visual ways, and may be a good starting point for some who don't have design skills. They are easy to use, and could easily be put to good use as part of an application. For those seeking a more comprehensive free tool for a building an infographic CV, I would recommend playing with Gliff, an online diagram package, which could be used for building an infographic CV. It is intuitive to use with its drag and drop functionality.

For the more computer literate, I would try downloading Gimp, a much simplified version of something like Photoshop. It is more complex, but yields far more visually interesting results and gives you free reign over your design, where the other tools may restrict you.

Design tips

Striking the right balance between text and visuals can be hard. My own design has been criticised for high amounts of text in places. Try to let your images do the talking. Images and graphics should be varied, colourful, and large, while focusing on the important stuff.

Get it out there

I've shown my infographic off. I think it's important to get as many people to look over it as possible, just as you'd ask for a critiquing of any written CV. A quick and easy way to do this is to push it out on social networks, and see what people have to say. I posted mine to twitter, and mentioned @GuardianCareers, as I'd made it following some advice in one of their live Q&A; sessions. As previously seen with Spurlock, these kinds of applications do have a tendency to get passed around the web, so embrace that.

When I next come to apply for something, I'll be responding to any criticism I've received so as to improve. On top of my text/visuals balance, it has been commented that my ordering may be slightly wrong, and that I should have my photo and profile at the top. Other suggestions have included toning down my use of humour if I was applying for a job, and to try including some references from employers. There really isn't a rule book to follow for infographic CVs, so think of it as an ongoing project, and be willing to learn.

An infographic CV may not be appropriate for every person or every job, and those that do choose to try one should think carefully about the role they are applying for and what's appropriate. For me, it complements my skills, highlighting them to an employer, and I feel it makes me a more appealing choice.

To get more content and advice like this – including links to forthcoming Q&As; – direct to your inbox, you can now sign up for our weekly Careers update

Although they’re faring a bit better of late, the Red Sox’ performance has been fairly dismal this season, Given their ultra-high (although not quite Yankee-level) payroll, there were great expectations at the season’s start that they would, if not win every game, then most of them. Out of the batter’s box, that didn’t quite happen. Big swing and a miss, you might say. (As I write this, they’re playing under .500 ball.)

Given the tribulations of the Olde Towne Team, and the early season’s skewed payroll-performance ratio, I’ve been reluctant to point fingers at the business peccadillos of other major league teams. Even when Major League Baseball grabbed the reins of the Los Angeles Dodgers because they were spinning out of financial control.

And now comes the news, which I saw in The New York Times, but which originated in the LA Times, that the Dodgers don’t have the cash on hand to make their May 31st payroll.

Based on its opening-day payroll of $103.8 million, the Dodgers' payroll for its major league roster in the second half of May will be approximately $8.25 million. The figure includes 16 days salary, but not any signing bonus payments that happen to fall due.

MLB will supposedly step in and make good, but the thought of a professional sports team as venerable, storied and long-lived as the Dodgers would make this type of whiff is pretty near unimaginable. But the Dodgers’ owners, Frank and Jamie McCourt are going through a difficult divorce, and there are all sorts of rumors of financial irregularities hovering over Dodger Stadium, so….

Personally, I don’t feel all that badly for the boys in Dodger Blue who are on the field. Even the lowliest paid guy on the squad should be doing better than living paycheck to paycheck.

But, of course, there are the front office folks and assorted other grunts on the payroll who aren’t pulling down millions a year, and you don’t want to see them going home with a couple of hot dogs and foam fingers in lieu of a check.

I have been through the wolf-at-the-door, will-we-make-payroll scenario a few times during my career.

This was during my nearly 10 year roller coaster ride with Softbridge, an oddball little software company where I spent entirely too long making myself entirely too crazy.

For my first couple of years there, I was a staffer to the CEO and Vice-Chairman, and spent most of my time writing business plans and drafting PowerPoint presentations, to be used by our CEO for the sole purpose of getting one of our long-suffering investors to throw a bit more of his good money after our bad. (Before we got clean and sober, I believe we frittered away $40M in OPM – other people’s money.)

In the nick of time, the CEO would fly off somewhere, and come back with a million bucks, which would keep us going for another while. Then, off he went again.

The CEO reminded me of Mighty Mouse.  We, the employees, were the people of Mouseville.

We’d be wringing our hands, singing, “Mighty Mouse, oh, Mighty Mouse. Save us, oh, save us.” And Mighty Mouse would fly in, “Here I come to save the day…” And damned if he didn’t for a good long while.

I ran the Mighty Mouse metaphor by the CEO one day, but it just drew a blank. That’s because our own personal MM hadn’t grown up in the States, but had been raised culturally deprived and cartoon-less in Scandinavia.

Even after our investors finally wised up and brought in a turnaround guy, and the CEO got D-CON’d, we still had occasional near misses.

At one point, we had a list of who would and wouldn’t get paid if worse came to worst. By that point, I was an “executive” – 50 person company; thus the “quote marks” – so I was living in the No-Pay Zone. Worse, I was the only person other than the President who could make financial transfers and authorizations, and I had to co-sign all checks over a certain amount, so I think I might have had some sort of shared liability for payroll tax if we’d come up short. (The things you do in and for a small company…)

As for the Dodgers, all I can say is that it’s a good thing that Manny Ramirez isn’t on the team any longer.

I can only imagine the look on Manny’s face when he realized that he might not get paid for his work.

Even when the Red Sox were paying him millions and millions and millions of dollars each year, once he decided that there was a greener pasture outfield elsewhere, Manny figured out a way to get there. That meant completely dogging it on the field – and I do mean dogging it; you really don’t see all that much goldbrickin’ in professional sports, but Manny had it mastered – so that the Red Sox wouldn’t exercise their option to keep him around for the final two years of his contract, which was locked in at some paltry amount. (Can’t remember exactly, but I believe it was between $15M and $20M per.) ManRam figured he’d do better on the open market, and managed to get himself traded to the Dodgers, who subsequently signed him to a deal for more than the Red Sox would have paid him. Multiple teams and a couple of failed drug tests later, Manny is no longer playing. But I can just imagine the look on his face if he learned he was going to get a pay packet with an IOU in it.

Meanwhile, I have a hunch there’s another McCourt-Dodgers post in my future.

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The McCourts have been a Pink Slip topic before. Here’s a link to my post on their hiring psychic healer Vladimir Shpunt to help the Dodgers get their mojo back.  And some folks wonder why the Dodgers are having a hard time making payroll…

Seven years after leaving Underhill, Martin Allen is back and has eight games to rescue the club from Conference football

You can tell a lot about a club by its managerial appointments. The identity of the new man at the helm can show ambition, resignation, the desire for youthful inspiration or the need for an experienced hand. Martin Allen's re-appointment by Barnet this week, almost seven years after his first spell in charge ended, smacks of little more than desperation. They're saying as much themselves: announcing the move on Barnet's own website, their chairman, Tony Kleanthous, described it as "the last throw of the dice" for a club needing "to win five or six of our last eight games".

The League Two table makes grim reading, the Bees stuck in the bottom two – where they have spent the vast majority of the season – having played more games than most of their relegation rivals. Burton Albion, three points and one place above them, have four games in hand. If this is going to work, Barnet's players have to see the inspiration in Mad Dog's insanity. And fast.

"Martin is definitely an outgoing sort of chap," says Harry Redknapp, who happens to know the family quite well. Allen's father, Dennis, was also a player and a manager. When he was at Charlton in the late 1950s he would spend every Thursday afternoon coaching at a local school, where one of his pupils was a young Redknapp, then about 12 years old, who 30 years later would become Martin's manager at West Ham. "He is definitely an off-the-wall character. As his manager at West Ham, I didn't get to hear half the things he got up to. And I'm quite relieved about it."

We can assume that we only hear about a fraction of his antics as a manager, but there's still quite a list. While at Brentford he attempted to inspire his squad by diving into the River Tees before an FA Cup tie. It was January. When they won and were drawn to play at Southampton in the following round, he jumped in the Solent.

At Barnet, lacking the budget to take the first-team squad away for a pre-season tour, he made them all spend the weekend at his house. "I made up a dozen games and the winners got the beds and the losers slept on the floor," he said. "The first two to pull out a double number at dominoes had to sleep in the double bed together. We had play-offs with the winners of that getting sofas. The ultimate loser? Giuliano Grazioli had to sleep on a hammock in the woods."

At Brentford he closed the club canteen and ordered the players to make their own lunch. "Doing this keeps the players humble," he said. "Football's gone a bit crazy over the last few years but I believe this keeps their feet on the ground and in touch with reality. Some of the stuff they have been making is quite impressive." He also hired a hawk to scare away pigeons which had been pooing on the pitch. "Then we can just leave our players to do their depositing on the opposition every week."

Then there was Leicester, where he forced players to clean the toilets – "if they are not prepared to do these jobs, I don't really like them" – and rewarded those who excelled at training with Mars bars. "You might say, 'well crikey, how would that motivate professional footballers that earn good money and have played in front of big crowds?' But when I showed them the Mars bars this morning they were like little kids – they were jumping for joy!" he said. "Then out of the orange plastic bag I pulled out the Man of the Tournament award, which was, for £3.99, a summer barbeque utensils set ... they loved it, thank god, they loved it." Not everybody loved it, though: after three months and three league games, his stay was prematurely curtailed because of "differences between both parties regarding the direction of the club". His only job since then, at Cheltenham, ended in 2009 after an allegation that he racially abused a nightclub bouncer (though the club's own investigation into the incident cleared him of misconduct, and the police took no action).

"My style I'm sure some would say is a little bit different, as it is at times," Allen once said. "But quite often there is what I would call a method in the madness, and at times people may think 'what the hell is he doing that for?' But if you step back and look a little bit closer, there's often a cryptic way of doing things."

Barnet will hope that, however cryptic his methods, the players are quick to decipher them. At least the fans have decent memories of his previous spell there. When he walked out of Underhill to join the Bees of Brentford in 2004, with the club challenging for promotion to the Football League, Allen predicted that one day he would "be walking back into Barnet Football Club with my shoulders back and my head up because I am very proud of what's happened at Barnet". And so it has come to pass. Mrs Allen better get ready, she might be about to get some unexpected houseguests.