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I am trying to get the usage-percentage for a given disk in a system. The program I have to write will be a bash shell script. The script has to work on Debian, Arch, and Mac OS X.

My current approach is to do a df and grep for the usage percentage. The problem is that the output of df differs on these systems. I want to avoid if os==Arch elseif os == Debian…as far as possible.

Is there a solution which avoids distinguishing the OS?

Example output for each operating system / version of df:

Filesystem    512-blocks       Used Available Capacity   iused    ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk2     179032136  106162416  72357720    60%  13334300  9044715   72%   /

Filesystem    1K-blocks  Used     Available  %used Mounted on
/dev/hdv1       20480000 8423436  11016564   44%   /

Filesystem     1K-blocks   Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        5160576 813420   4085012  17% /

So Arch and Debian are pretty the same. It may also be a problem that the labels are maybe printed in different languages.

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Could you post the df output on the different OSs so we can compare please? –  terdon Apr 4 '13 at 10:53
Edited the post to show some examples. –  k_wave Apr 4 '13 at 11:52
It isn't so much the OS but the source of the df utility. Most (all?) linux & BSD distributions use df from the GNU coreutils package. Mac OS X doesn't. OS X was originally built from a BSD-like interface onto its kernel but the utilities don't track closely with the GNU versions. –  Doug Harris Apr 5 '13 at 14:28
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2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote accepted

This should work for all three df outputs:

df | awk '/\//{print $1,$(NF-1)}'

This is the output on each of the examples you posted:

/dev/disk2 72%
/dev/hdv1 44%
/dev/root 17%

The awk command looks for lines that contain a / (so, ignores the headers) and prints the first ($1) and penultimate ($(NF-1)) fields. If you want only the usage percentage, do this:

df | awk '/\//{print $(NF-1)}'

My answer above will give you the %iused field on the Mac df output. If you want the Capacity instead, do this (works on all three again):

df | perl -ne '/\// && do {/(.+?)\s.+?(\d+%)/ && print "$1 $2\n"}'

which also prints the first field (the non-greedy (.+?), terminated by \s) and the first percentage number ((\d+%), preceded by the non-greedy .+?).

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This does not work for the mac example, as the first number with % suffix is the capacity –  k_wave Apr 5 '13 at 13:46
@kwave, that makes no difference. I am not using the % character anywhere. What I am doing is printing the next to last field which is always the percentage used. Did you try it? It works as advertised with the Mac output you have posted. –  terdon Apr 5 '13 at 13:57
Hang on, in the Mac do you want the capacity or the inodes% ? Is that number ever different? Anyway, see my updated answer if you want the capacity and not the inodes. –  terdon Apr 5 '13 at 14:15
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A slightly messier but probably more universal solution is

df | sed -n 's/^\([^ ]*\) .*[^0-9]\([0-9]*%\).*/\1 \2/p'

which displays the first “word” on the line (the filesystem device name) and then looks for a sequence of digits followed by a %.  Specifically, it looks for the last such string.

[Oops: it will also display a mangled subset of the header (i.e., the first line, with the column headings).]

df | sed -n 's/^\([^ ]*\) .*[^0-9]\([0-9][0-9]*%\).*/\1 \2/p'

fixes the glitch with the header row, and

df | sed -n 's/^\([^ ]*\) [^%]*[^0-9]\([0-9][0-9]*%\).*/\1 \2/p'

captures the first percentage number field.  In particular, on the Mac, this will capture the Capacity column rather than the %iused column.

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This does not work for the mac example, as the first number with % suffix is the capacity –  k_wave Apr 5 '13 at 13:45
Oops. I fixed it. –  Scott Apr 5 '13 at 16:42
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I've tried using VAC virtual audio cable, as well as virtual audio streaming. Unfortunately, none of these solutions provide a way to send audio output to a microphone input. None of the virtual audio cable related posts on here or internets address this specific limitation.

The reason I want to do this is to stream audio to the microphone and set the microphone as input device for another program. This "other program" only allows microphone inputs to be used as its input device.

See how no mic's are listed as output devices: http://imgur.com/a/VBjUy

There is a software called Solicall which actually allows this. But I would like to do this through VAC virtual audio cables because Solicall only allows one instance running. Thus, I can't do my audio routing method more than once simultaneously. I have yet to find a better solution however than Solicall.

Someone please post if you found a way to do this with virtual audio cables, or any solution more elegant than Solicall. Currently, all the virtual audio cable programs I've tried do not allow microphones (real or virtual) to be selected as output.

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Maybe you should give a try at Jack. It allows all types of virtual cabling. Jack is better on GNU/Linux and Mac OS X, but it seems it's possible to run it on Windows.

Maybe Pure Data can be interesting too.

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Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I was wondering if there was an ubuntu package that adds microsoft document support and image support directly from command line.

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You can run OpenOffice from the commandline with the -p-option. That should be, what you are looking for.

soffice -p somefile.doc

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Thanks, are there any CUPS-extensions that would do this automatically? –  user2780420 Sep 29 '13 at 2:04
Sorry. I don't know. –  c0dev Sep 29 '13 at 2:06
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How to Add Third-Party OEM Network Adapters to RIS Installations

Article translations Article translations
Article ID: 246184 - View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q246184
This article applies to Windows 2000. Support for Windows 2000 ends on July 13, 2010. The Windows 2000 End-of-Support Solution Center is a starting point for planning your migration strategy from Windows 2000. For more information see the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy.
Expand all | Collapse all

Adding a network adapter that requires an OEM driver to a CD-ROM-based Remote Installation Service (RIS) image involves some of the same steps as adding one to a typical unattended installation. However, because the installation method begins by using Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) and then switches over to Server Message Block (SMB), the network adapter driver and .inf file must be available during Text-mode Setup. If they are not available, you receive the following error message:
The network server does not support booting Windows 2000. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.
When a PXE client connects to a RIS server and is running Client Installation Wizard (CIW), the network adapter is using Universal Network Device Interface to talk to the RIS server. When the installation portion begins, Windows Setup switches to SMB, the network adapter is detected, and the appropriate driver is loaded. Therefore, the driver must be available.

NOTE: This article applies only to CD-based images (those created through the use of Risetup.exe). For additional information on how to add third-party party network adapters to Riprep images, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
254078 How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows Installations

Check with the hardware manufacturer to see if the supplied network adapter driver is digitally signed. (If the drivers from the manufacturer contain a .cat file, it is likely that they have been properly signed.) Drivers signed by Microsoft have been verified and tested to work with Windows. If your driver has not been signed but you still want to use it, make sure to add the following unattended Setup parameter to the .sif file to be used for this image installation:
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore
NOTE: The default name of the .sif file is RemoteInstall\Setup\Language\Images\Dir_name\I386\Templates\Ristndrd.sif

NOTE: If the OEM driver is an update of an included Windows 2000 driver (for example, has the same name), the file must be signed or Setup uses the included driver instead.
  1. On the RIS server, copy the OEM-supplied .inf and .sys file for the network adapter to the RemoteInstall\Setup\Language\Images\Dir_name\i386 folder. This allows Setup to use the driver during the Text-mode portion of the installation.
  2. At the same level as the I386 folder on the RIS image, create a $oem$ folder with the following structure:
  3. Copy the OEM-supplied driver files to this folder. Note the folder in which the .inf file looks for its drivers. Some manufacturers place the .inf file in a folder and copy the driver files from a subfolder. If this is the case, create the same folder structure below the one you created in this step.

    NOTE: If the RIS image was created with RIPREP, you must perform these steps on both the RIPREP image and the RISETUP image that corresponds to the RIPREP image.
  4. Make the following changes to the .sif file to be used for this image installation:
    OemPreinstall = yes

    OemPnpDriversPath = Drivers\Nic
  5. Stop and restart the BINL service on the RIS server. Type the following lines at the command prompt, pressing ENTER after each command:
    net stop binlsvc
    net start binlsvc
    NOTE: Stopping and restarting the BINL service is necessary because BINL needs to read all the new network interface card-related .inf files and create .pnf files in the image. Because this is a time consuming task, it is only done once, which is when the BINL service starts.
When you use this method, you can install PXE clients with the OEM network adapters using RIS. If you have multiple network adapters that require OEM drivers, use the steps above for each adapter. Note that PXE clients that have included network adapter drivers are unaffected by these changes and can use this image for installation.

Article ID: 246184 - Last Review: March 1, 2007 - Revision: 4.4
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
kbenv kbhowto kbsetup KB246184

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Owl Prowl and Dinner

 Join us for a fun evening of dinner, live animals, and an outdoor hike. We will begin our night with dinner then a live demonstration with the predator of the night. Following our demonstration will go on a short hike to call, listen for, and watch for owls.

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Pressure switch cycling rapidly at cut in

Discussion in 'Pumps and Tanks Well Forum & Blog' started by SWMICH, Jan 6, 2009.

    SWMICH New Member

    History: Water line was struck in yard causing well to discharge completely. Repaired, restarted and several days later began losing house pressure. A well driller friend of the family heard my daughter complain about her showers and showed up to fix the problem. He adjusted the pressure switch way up and added air to the tank. Pressure reduced again days later but this time I bypassed the water softener and the pressure was fantastic. (Well problems released rust sediment and clogged the Mediaguard filter in the softener.)

    Present: The pressure switch began cycling rapidly at cut-in shaking the plumbing furiously until it settled in to cut-out. After some research I discovered the air pressure needed to be 2# under cut-in setting. Made the correction (too much air pressure) and cycling had stopped...until today. Now it cycles two or three times before settling in. I replaced the pressure switch and it still does it. I did like the increased water pressure so I set the cut in back at 65# where the well guy had set it. I have now tried dropping the pressure a bit with no help.

    Observing the pressure gauge I notice just as the gauge arrives at cut-in their is a quick drop in pressure. Followed by the switch cycling and so on. The pump used to run for forty seconds to fill the tank but now fill time is much shorter. Maybe 10 seconds. By increasing the pressure have I displaced so much water from the tank that it is now undersized? Or is their a problem with the tank. The submersible pump has always moved vast amounts of water. Tank age is probably more than 15 years old. My last thought as I send this off is that each time I get the switch to stop cycling it later reappears - taking longer and longer to settle down. I think I answered my own question...believing the well tank is degrading daily. Can someone confirm or deny my suspicions?
  2. Cass

    Cass Plumber

    Sounds like when your friend pumped up the tank pressure he may have burst the need someone who can diagnose the problem and fix the bladder tank water logged???

    Maybe call the friend back and have him fix the problem again...

    SWMICH New Member

    If it is waterlogged, it isn't completely waterlogged yet. Their is some pump run time. When I said the switch was cycling I meant that rather than cutting in with a single switch closing the contacts repeatedly open and close before finally seating for pump run.

    I think the troubling part was each time I would adjust the air in the tank to coincide with the cut-in pressure I could get it to stop but over a day or so it would start again. If a tank can be partially waterlogged that might explain why its erratic or intermittent.
  4. Gary Slusser

    Gary Slusser That's all folks!

    Yes it can be a broken bladder with a small leak and the tank above the bladder won't be full of water. Drain the tank, check the air pressure against what you set it at the last time and rick the tank to see if it's heavy and if you can hear water sloshing around it in. If so you need a new tank.

    You want a small tank and a CSV or, a tank that will allow the pump to stay off for 60 seconds or more from cut out to cut in at the pressure switch settings you want to operate at.
  5. valveman

    valveman Moderator Staff Member

    Lubbock, Texas
    I think your bladder is busted and over time, more water gets on top of the bladder and increases the pre-charge pressure. Like Gary said, check your pre-charge pressure again. That pressure will not increase by itself. If the pressure is higher than you left it last time, the bladder is busted. That being said, your tank was too small to start with. You should get a minimum of 1 minute of run time to fill the tank. 40 seconds means your tank is too small.

    However, big pressure tanks are the old way of doing things. Constant pressure systems with very small pressure tanks are becoming the norm. A Cycle Stop Valve gives you the run time required and eliminates cycling, so big pressure tanks are no longer needed. Cycling is what destroyed the bladder in your tank, and you should be aware that you pump has cycled enough to also be on it's last leg as well.

    Attached Files:

    SWMICH New Member

    Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate your experience. I'll investigate the change to the constant pressure system. The tank was due to fail. The pump is long overdue but still serving us well. (pun intended...)

    Side question...

    I knowingly built a barn near the well head effectively barring a derrick truck access. With 12' walls and a distance of 6 or 7 feet from the sidewall would there be any hope of building a davit off the barn side to pull the pump for replacement? (Wishful thinking...)
  7. WV Hillbilly

    WV Hillbilly New Member

    How deep is your well & what kind of pipe is your pump hung on ?

    SWMICH New Member

    It is a 4" well, probably 30 years old and it is not plastic. I suppose that means it would be cast iron but truth be known I don't know. When I bought the house I seem to remember 150' being discussed.
  9. hj

    hj Moderator & Master Plumber Staff Member

    Cave Creek, Arizona
    Tank pressure

    The tank is an accumulator storing the water until it is needed. IF the air pressure is zero, there is nothing to push the water out of the tank. If the pressure is higher than the pump shutoff point, there is no way that water can enter the tank. When either of these happen the pump will start instantneously when you open a faucet and either run continuously or turn on and off rapidly, depending on the pump's capacity and the flow from the faucet. If the air pressure is somewhere between the pump's turn on and turn off points, then you will get some flow from the tank, but at the pressure point where the air pushes all the stored water out of the tank until the pressure in the system continues to drop to the turn on point, usually a second or so, your flow from the faucet will stop. Between zero pressure and the cut in point, the pump will push water into the tank until the air is compressed to the same pressure as that on the water side. The lower the air pressure, the more water in the tank, but the less volume of air to push it out. That is why the air pressure in the tank should be equal to the cut in point, because that will give the maximum volume without causing the lack of water just before the pump starts. But since mechanical devices can be less than accurate, the air pressure is actually set just below the cut in point as a "fudge factor".
  10. Gary Slusser

    Gary Slusser That's all folks!

    The air is set at 1-2 psi less than the cut in setting of the switch so you don't run out of water before the pump comes on and delivers more.
Similar Threads: Pressure switch
Forum Title Date
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TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems. It's 100% free, no registration required.

In pdf export the AvantGarde font is used a lot for heads and subheads. I would like to use a modern font like Helvetica. Is it possible to just exchange AvantGarde with Helvetica.

If possible I would like to just change the conf.py file (latex preamble).

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 2 '13 at 1:05

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

Does this question work for you? The default set-up of sphinx uses the standard latex classes, and the titlesec package works for those. –  Andrew Swann Jan 2 '13 at 11:30
I found out that Sphinx uses fancychap, Bjarne style by default. Once I use /titleformat as suggested I use all the formating. –  mark Jan 2 '13 at 19:48
Better late than never. Welcome to TeX.sx! More information on this site can be seen in the faq and the Unofficial TeX-SX FAQ meta.tex.stackexchange.com/q/1144/19384 as well as the markdown help tex.stackexchange.com/editing-help. Welcome to the community! –  Peter Jansson Jan 2 '13 at 21:46
\usepackage{sectsty} \allsectionsfont{\fontfamily{BebasNeue}\selectfont} ...this does almost what I want. But it does not change the chapter heading. I suspect this has something to do with \pagestyle{fancy}. Any suggestions on how to approach this situation? –  mark Jan 2 '13 at 23:43
Have a look at the documentation for fncychap. There you will see the formatting is controlled by \ChNameVar etc. The first example "Sonny" shows how to switch various parts to sansserif; the other examples should also be useful. –  Andrew Swann Jan 3 '13 at 9:58
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up vote 2 down vote accepted

The sphinx latex output uses facychap Bjarne style by default (see comments to question). I did not like the default layout, especially the fonts did not suite my book. Once I found out how to modify facychap I was able to make the layout changes to the preamble (in conf.py). Here is what I did:

% load BebasNeue font

% use BebasNeue font for headings

% modifications to the the part page
\ifnum \c@secnumdepth >-2\relax
 \interlinepenalty \@M
 \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >-2\relax
   \fontfamily{BebasNeue}\selectfont\huge \partname\nobreakspace\thepart
   \vskip 20\p@
 \fontfamily{BebasNeue}\selectfont\Huge \bfseries #2\par}%

% modifications to fncychap style Bjarne
  \CNV\FmN{\@chapapp}\space \CNoV\thechapter\par\nobreak
  \vskip -1\baselineskip\vskip 5pt
  \vskip 20\p@
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First case of West Nile reported in Texas

Number of Confirmed West Nile Cases by County in 2012

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) confirmed the state’s first 2013 case of West Nile in an adult male from Anderson County, whose county seat is Palestine. The patient is recovering from West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND), the more serious of the two possible contractions — the other being West Nile Fever (WNF). Additional details about the patient are not being released to protect the patient’s identity, according to a DSHS press release.

DSHS is urging people to take precautions to reduce the risk of contracting West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness.

“This is a serious illness that can take a long-lasting toll,” said Dr. David Lakey, DSHS commissioner. “Last season was unprecedented, with record numbers of cases and deaths reported in Texas. People need to do all they can to protect themselves from mosquito bites.”

Last year Texas accounted for almost half of U.S. cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With 1,868 reported infections and 89 deaths, state health officials were prompted to improve response capabilities.

Dallas County alone had 270 cases of West Nile virus, with 11 deaths, which prompted officials to declare a state of emergency in August 2012. Previously, from 2003 through 2011, Dallas County only saw 10 total West Nile deaths.

Kevin Sexton, director of Jefferson County Mosquito Control District (JCMCD), said he believes that drought conditions were responsible for our northern neighbors’ woes.

“A lot of times when you have drought conditions, it makes it worse with your underground storm stores and your stagnant pools because there’s nothing to wash them out,” he said. “Water has time to sit there and stagnate, and it attracts these mosquitoes. If water is running and constantly flushed out, they can’t breed in that. They have to have standing, nasty water to breed.”

Sexton also said that he doesn’t believe Dallas County uses larvicide on a regular basis like Jefferson County.

“They don’t have the normal surveillance that we do underground to see if there is something breeding down there,” he said. “All during the summer, we have a crew that goes larviciding trying to treat these particular larvae before they can reach adulthood. We’re actually concentrating on those (West Nile-bearing) mosquitoes. We have the tools to take care of everything.”

While state health officials said there is no way to predict the severity of this year’s season, JCMCD is not waiting around to find out. The county had four cases of WNND and six cases of WNF in 2012.

“We’re doing trapping for those mosquitoes, and we’re doing testing,” he said. “I don’t know when we are going to see the first positive pool, and I hope we don’t. But I’m not naïve enough to think that we won’t. We’re going to continue doing what we’re doing.”

Sexton said inspectors go underground twice a week to check the progress of the larvicide program and to see if any adult mosquitoes are present. If a large concentration is found, JCMCD dispatches planes to the area to spray. The county recently sent planes to Pleasure Island, Procter Street and Atlantic Road in Port Arthur, and Groves, LaBelle and Sabine Pass to spray for salt-marsh mosquitoes, which, unlike the Culex, do not carry West Nile.

“We flew quite extensively last week,” he said. “I think we knocked ‘em down by Saturday because our counts yesterday were extremely low.”

JCMCD is also dispatching trucks to spray for mosquitoes on a regular, rotating basis, Sexton said.

“They worked their way all through the county last week, and I started them again last night back in Port Arthur. Tonight (May 29) they’ll be in Mid-County,” he said. “We spray with the trucks Monday through Thursday evening. We don’t do Friday evening because of the weekend traffic situation. If there is some special circumstance and we need to do it on the weekend, we will.”

Sexton said that pools of mosquitoes were collected May 7 from Beaumont and May 14 from Port Arthur and Mid-County to be sent to Austin for West Nile testing. JCMCD has not yet received the results of these tests.

For updated West Nile case counts by county, visit Case counts will be updated weekly.

Kevin King can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 225, or by e-mail at kevin [at] theexaminer [dot] com.

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Matt Rich and Zoe Perry-Wood

Fascinating rhythms
By GREG COOK  |  April 13, 2012

STACKS Matt Rich's rhythmic abstractions suggest Frank Stella in their formal design and street art in their gritty surface textures.

If street art made a baby with Frank Stella's 1960s geometric abstractions, the offspring would look something like Matt Rich's show "Ghost Muscle" at Samson (450 Harrison Ave Boston, through April 28). The Cambridge artist choreographs and weaves swatches of cut-out paper, slathered and sprayed with paint, into handsome triangles, color bars, and one curious, busted star that all float on Samson's big, open white walls.

Rich's geometric designs resemble Stella's. In Stacks, you can feel the thought going into the careful placement of each stripe to create harmonies of various blues and browns, each band angled down, one perpendicular to the next, to become a series of Vs, the pattern slightly syncopated so that it never repeats the same way twice. Rich's textures bring to mind the grit of the streets. In reproduction, the painted paper abstractions appear flat. In person, the colors have fades or are painted one atop the other in ways that bring to mind those found Rothkos you see where graffiti in underpasses has been painted over with rectangles of paint that don't quite match the original wall. And the paper in Rich's show is scuffed and ripped, dented and bent, like something you'd find wheatpasted to a wall.

One of the things that's easy to overlook about Rich's work is its delicacy. When his paintings were exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art as one of the 2010 Foster Prize finalists, the supersized galleries dwarfed his pieces, making them seem both physically and intellectually small. Back at Samson, where his 2009 show got people to stand up and take notice, Rich's works look great again. And increased painterliness gives them more juice. Scribble — which stands out because it's the one piece to eschew hard geometry — features blue, purple, white, and yellow paint scraped and scribbled atop paper strips and sheets taped and pasted together into a bumpy shape that resembles a charmingly goofball cartoon cloud.

For some years, Zoe Perry-Wood of Lexington has been photographing creative community spectacles — Provincetown's Carnival, cross-dressing in Oaxaca, Mexico, Halloween costumes — activities often overlooked by the art world, but created by artists who insist on expressing and asserting their communities nonetheless.

In "The BAGLY Prom Series" at Gallery Kayafas (450 Harrison Ave, Boston, through May 12), she documents the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth's annual prom at Boston City Hall, which is billed as the oldest (since 1981) and largest event of its kind in the country (attracting some 2000 people). The next prom is scheduled for May 19.

From 2008 to '10, Perry-Wood shot candid photos in the middle of the revelry — dancers bumping and grinding, a girl arranging her fingers into a heart on her chest. Last year, Perry-Wood set up lights and a dark photo backdrop to create more traditional, formal prom portraits. The results (which also include portraits from the BAGLY Halloween Party) are awkward and kind of detached in the way that posed prom photos often are. You feel more the people's wariness, their defenses up, than Perry-Wood connecting with who they are. But it's a tantalizing glimpse into a huge event, happening in plain sight, that often goes unnoticed by the rest of the city. Meet the leather boy in vest, short shorts and military cap; the girl with her wrists decorated by colorful bracelets and her arms striped red with cuts; the female couple, one in a gown, the other in a tuxedo; and two guys with their foreheads pressed together, intimate.

Read Greg Cook's blog at

  Topics: Museum And Gallery , Arts, Matt Rich, galleries,  More more >
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  •   SEEING ANEW  |  July 09, 2014
    The aim of the RISD Museum’s eight newly renovated galleries for its permanent collection of fashion and Egyptian and Asian art seems to be “quiet contemplation.”
  •   BRIGHTNESS AND DARKNESS  |  June 25, 2014
    Constellations of mirror ball clouds dangle from the ceiling on pink cords at the center of the room and slowly rotate and sparkle. You’re invited to peer though weird, lumpy crystal-telescope-things.
  •   FIGHTING THE POWER  |  June 18, 2014
    It was around 1983 when Providence artist James Montford and a friend posed as photographers to check out the Ku Klux Klan rally in Norwalk, Connecticut.
  •   'VERY PROVIDENCEY'  |  June 11, 2014
    “World building” is an idea that percolates — perhaps unconsciously — through the visionary end of the Providence art scene.
  •   HISTORY LESSON  |  June 04, 2014
    The portrait of the sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890-1960) that emerges from the small exhibit “Delicious Sensation of Rightness,” at the John Brown House, is fuzzy.

 See all articles by: GREG COOK


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A cut above

The Books, live at the ICA, April 10, 2009
By MICHAEL BRODEUR  |  April 14, 2009

From out of blearily luminous pools of spiraling orange fractals, the disembodied head of a stately-looking man emerged, coaxing us to attention with little more than his calming gaze and an invitation to “a new beginning.” This wasn’t a scene from that time I tried mescaline at Whalom Park; it was the Books’ brand new opening song — though “song” seems to cheat things. A brand new integration of precision-damaged audio salvage and context-exploding visual editrickery is more like it. But, as the Western Mass duo demonstrate again and again with their sound-and-video montages, there’s a reason language isn’t always cut out for the task of saying things.

Cobbled together from aphoristic fragments uttered by dozens of floating VHS self-help therapists, “Group Therapy” was one of only a handful of new songs among a hearty helping of old favorites (made old favorites by the Books’ 2007 Play All DVD). Another, “Cold Freezing Night,” was assembled from collected soliloquies offered by (surprisingly violent) children of the early ’90s into their respective Talkboys (now rescued from thrift stores — and the realm of the private — by the duo). Still another (title unknown, but “about geese, male geese” according to Paul de Jong) found two hunter types gently honking at each other through their goose calls; it’s an oddly tender extended moment until the sweet nothings work and the sky darkens with impending goose doom.

The first movement of a still-untitled triptych (done in collaboration with a North Adams film archivist) was prefaced by Nick Zammuto’s warning that we might be entering downer territory. But its carefully skewed montage of stunning disaster footage and small, long-gone interpersonal gestures was truly moving — in several directions. An encore performance of Nick Drake’s “Cello Song” (which they recently recorded with José González for the Dark Was the Night compilation) shimmered coolly along with its understated visuals. A/V marvels aside, it was Zammuto’s trickling acoustic-guitar figures and de Jong’s groaning cello notes that gave the songs their blood and guts — others might simply have settled for clips and cuts.

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  •   FOLK ACT  |  June 26, 2010
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  •   BOSTON PRIDE WEEK: OFF THE MAP  |  June 07, 2010
    We may seem a little cranky, but us local gayfolk just love a parade, and we’re actually heartened by this annual influx of brothers and sisters from every state of New England and every letter of our ever-expanding acronym.
  •   THE NEW GAY BARS  |  June 02, 2010
    If I may channel the late, great Estelle Getty for a moment: picture it, Provincetown, 2009, a dashing young man with no discernible tan and an iffy T-Mobile signal languishes bored upon the sprawling patio of the Boatslip Resort.
    If the gradual polishing of Ariel Pink’s sound — and it’s not all that much more polished — puts his loyalists at odds with his albums, I count that as good news.
  •   MORE THAN HUMAN  |  May 26, 2010
    It’s hard to talk about Janelle Monáe when your jaw’s fallen off.

 See all articles by: MICHAEL BRODEUR


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verb appoint as a deputy

Antonyms for deputize

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Complexity sorts synonyms based on their difficulty. Adjust it higher to choose from words that are more complex.
Length ranks your synonyms based on character count.
Common words appear frequently in written and spoken language across many genres from radio to academic journals.
Informal words should be reserved for casual, colloquial communication.
noun output, work rate

Antonyms for productivity

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Complexity sorts synonyms based on their difficulty. Adjust it higher to choose from words that are more complex.
Length ranks your synonyms based on character count.
Common words appear frequently in written and spoken language across many genres from radio to academic journals.
Informal words should be reserved for casual, colloquial communication.
verb elevate, inspire

Antonyms for uplift

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Jenelle EvansJenelle Evans' new husband Courtland Rogers just sold a story to the tabloids saying the Teen Mom is pregnant, and already people are calling BS. Thanks in no small part to a trove of information Jenelle herself has put out on Twitter, there's already a contingent of the scandal-plagued reality star's critics who claim she's faking the whole thing

It's a pretty serious accusation! So, would she? Could she? Let's take a look at the so-called evidence, shall we?

1. She's too broke to be pregnant -- Not that it's stopped people before, but just this week Jenelle was telling people she has put off college because she is trying to be responsible and pay off her debts. Having a child when you can barely pay your bills hardly fits into the responsible category, does it? But it does make you look for creative ways to make money ...

2. She just got a tattoo -- Jenelle shared images of a new skull tat the other day. It's not impossible to get inked when you're pregnant, but doctors tend to advise you wait until after you've delivered.

3. Courtland said she wasn't pregnant last week -- The story the couple was likely paid for came out today, but on January 11, Courtland denied that Jenelle was pregnant and that she was on the pill. Maybe he was just trying to save the deal with the magazine, but clearly he lied at some point -- the question is when.

4. Jenelle herself said she wasn't pregnant -- Back on January 5, she was asked, and the answer was no. Hmmm.

5. She's got ovarian cysts -- Less than a month ago Jenelle was complaining about all the pain from her ovarian cysts. It's not impossible to get pregnant when you have these, but they are definitively linked to infertility.

More From The Stir: 'Teen Mom' Star Complains MTV Only Shows Half the Story

6. She said she wasn't having more kids -- Right around Christmas, Jenelle was asked if she was having more kids, and she said not anytime soon. Maybe she didn't know yet. Then again ...

7. Her "due date" is September 4 -- According to the math, that's nearly nine months away. It's awfully early to announce a pregnancy.

8. Courtland's birthday surprise was supposed to come today -- He had a birthday last week, but Jenelle alluded to a surprise expected to come today. A big check from a tabloid, perhaps?

Of course, this is all conjecture, and the people making these accusations don't like Jenelle to begin with -- they have a motive to be pretty mean. Making up a pregnancy would be pretty darn crazy, and there are plenty of reasons to believe she IS expecting baby number two.

So what do you think? Is Jenelle really pregnant?

Image via MTV


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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Ex-Nobel winner: Choice of Mo Yan a 'catastrophe'

February 19. 2013 6:51PM
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(AP) Herta Mueller, the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, says the choice to give this year's award to Mo Yan is a catastrophe that never should have happened, and accuses the Chinese writer of praising the Asian country's tough censorship laws.

In an interview published in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday, the Romanian-born author whose struggle under Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship has influenced most of her works says she wanted to cry when she learned of the 2012 laureate choice. She says she feels it's a catastrophe, and an incredibly upsetting choice.

Mo, the first Chinese writer to win the literature award, has been criticized for compromising his artistic and intellectual independence by being a Communist Party member and vice president of the official writers association.

Associated Press

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Jedi Mind Tricks | Violence Begets Violence

It's a daily struggle to avoid murdering Drake fans who bump that trash on the train in front of me, cliché Auto-Tune hooks leaking from their Skull Candy and polluting my perimeter.
Enemy Soil (2011)
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  November 11, 2011

Vinnie Paz | Season of the Assassin + Reef the Lost Cauze vs. Guns-N-Butter | Fight Music

We all needed a break from Jedi Mind Tricks — you, me, gay-rights activists, and even Stoupe and Vinnie Paz.
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Medeski Martin

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Sam Shain and the Scolded Dogs won’t mind

No, seriously, have you been up to Hallowell?
You can dance if you want to
By SAM PFEIFLE  |  March 01, 2013

Keyed up

Johnny Lingo just may be the unabashed king of piano-pop ditties here in Li'l Rhody, as showcased on his recent full-length debut Shake It Off.
Piano man
By PROVIDENCE MUSIC STAFF  |  January 27, 2009


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Bank Stress Tests (Supervisory Capital Assessment Program)

News about Bank Stress Tests (Supervisory Capital Assessment Program), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Highlights From the Archives

How We Tested the Big Banks

The strategy of the stress tests was to lift the fog of uncertainty over bank balance sheets and to help ensure that the major banks had the capital to continue lending.

May 7, 2009 opinionOp-Ed

Banks Need Funds, but Taxpayers May Not Have to Pay

Stress tests to be released Thursday suggest some banks still need money. But additional funds won’t necessarily come from the government.

May 7, 2009 businessNews

Government Offers Details of Bank Stress Test

Banks that fail the test would have to provide securities that could be converted to common stock in order to get additional government funds.

February 26, 2009 businessNews

Stress Test for Banks Exposes Rift on Wall St.

Investors in the stock market and big banks are increasingly at odds over the type of capital the banks will need to withstand a severe economic downturn.

February 25, 2009 businessNews

The Hot Seat

Former Treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner’s memoir offers an inside look at the government’s response to the financial crisis.

May 25, 2014, Sunday

Geithner Book Reveals Consensus, Not Vision, During Financial Crisis

The flaws in Timothy Geithner’s tenure turn out to have replicated themselves in other Obama appointees.

May 21, 2014, Wednesday
MORE ON THE SUPERVISORY CAPITAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND: Obama, Barack , Geithner, Timothy F , Books and Literature , Federal Reserve System

Bankrupt Housing Policy

A memoir from Timothy Geithner offers the chance to look back on the financial crisis and ask: Why didn’t the government do more to help homeowners?

May 20, 2014, Tuesday

Averting Disaster, but at What Cost?

Timothy F. Geithner, former Treasury secretary, takes credit for what most experts agree was largely a success. But it came with a price: more cynicism and distrust toward both government and the big banks.

May 19, 2014, Monday
MORE ON THE SUPERVISORY CAPITAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND: Treasury Department , Obama, Barack , Washington (DC) , Geithner, Timothy F , Banking and Financial Institutions

Springtime for Bankers

The government saved Wall Street but left the real economy behind.

May 19, 2014, Monday

Geithner, Staying on Script

A new book from the former Treasury secretary doesn’t resolve a big question about the financial crisis: How could such a huge regulatory army miss the economy’s buildup of risk?

May 18, 2014, Sunday

A Mixture for Geithner: The Moral Hazard

Given how much ink we spilled on him and his new book this week, it seems appropriate that we dedicate this week’s drink to Timothy Geithner.

May 17, 2014, Saturday
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A Unified Theory of Timothy Geithner

The former Treasury secretary is not captured by Wall Street. Mostly, he seems captured by the art of what’s possible.

May 15, 2014, Thursday

A Rescue That Worked, but Left a Troubled Economy

A book reignites questions over how the Fed and the Obama administration handled the fiscal crisis, especially whether they went too easy on banks.

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What We Learned From Tim Geithner’s Book

Countless moments of crisis and broad themes are chronicled in the 580-page book, but there are a few smaller parts that we found particularly revelatory.

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Grading the Banks’ Stress Test

Experts discuss whether the "stress" test shores up confidence in the nation's banks or merely papers over the problems.

Results of the Bank Stress Tests

A breakdown of the financial health of the country’s 19 largest banks, 10 of which require additional capital.

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A report from the Federal Reserve on the government’s “stress tests” of the nation’s 19 largest financial institutions.

Business Day Live | March 12, 2012

Stephen Gallagher, chief market strategist of Société Générale, on market risk from Europe and what the results of stress tests might mean for the banking industry.

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Today, Tropical Storm Bonnie halts spill response efforts, European banks face a stress test, and New Orleans gender-bending bounce rap scene breaks out and goes national.

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Howard, Tim

  • Belgium v USA: Round of 16 - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
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SALVADOR, BRAZIL - JULY 01: Kevin De Bruyne of Belgium shoots and scores his team's first goal past Tim Howard of the United States in extra timeduring the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Round of 16 match between Belgium and USA at Arena Fonte Nova on July 1, 2014 in Salvador, Brazil. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)


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New 'Most Wanted' Man for Unlawful Use of Weapon

To report a sighting of any of the following St. Louis County Most Wanted Fugitives, please call 314-615-4692 or contact St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477 (TIPS).

The St. Louis County Police Department website updates its Most Wanted list as fugitives are apprehended. The list currently includes suspects wanted for statutory sodomy, robbery, resisting a lawful stop, child kidnapping, stealing, forgery, statutory rape, domestic assault, and armed criminal action.

Among new suspects is Ibraheem Yasin, whose photo accompanies this article. He is wanted for first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. His last known address was 2081 Central Parkway, St. Louis. He is 32 years old.

Click here to see photos and details about the other top nine suspects wanted in St. Louis County.

To provide information on the whereabouts of anyone on the Most Wanted list for St. Louis County, call the St. Louis County Police Department confidential tip line at 636-797-5518 or the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477 (TIPS).

Editor's Note: Since Patch started publishing St. Louis County's Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives early in 2012, four of the original top 10 suspects completely dropped off the list. Patch now will highlight new fugitives being added to the list.

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Ben Shapiro

Soon-to-be Justice Sonia Sotomayor will sail through her Senate confirmation hearings this week, barring some sort of implosion. Republican senators are afraid to vote against her, lest they be labeled racist; Democratic senators are all too happy to vote to place a "wise Latina woman" on the highest court in the land, particularly one with a record of judicial activism.

The senators agree, however, that they will not use any "litmus" test in determining Sotomayor's fitness for the Supreme Court. Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) expressed the sentiment well in his opening statement during the Sotomayor hearings: "As senators, I believe we each owe you a decision based upon your record and your answers to our questions. That decision should not turn on empty code words like 'judicial activist,' or on charges of guilt by association, or on any litmus test. Instead, we should … determine whether you have the qualities that will enable you to serve well all Americans, and the rule of law, on our nation's highest court."

This, to put it mildly, is silly. We all use litmus tests when we determine the fitness of every job candidate. Some of us will reject job candidates who show up to interviews wearing no pants. Others will reject job candidates who wear earrings, tattoos and baggy sweatpants. Still others reject job candidates if they can't speak English.

The fact is: there are certain qualifications to being a Supreme Court Justice. The chief qualifications are impartiality between parties and deference to the Constitution as written. And while judges like Sotomayor can lie and mouth slogans, their legal positions betray their true judicial philosophies. That is why legal positions are an excellent litmus test for judges.

Here, then, are three litmus tests the senators should have used this week to determine Sotomayor's fitness for the Supreme Court:

-- Does she believe that Roe v. Wade (1973) was rightly decided? If she believes that abortion is a constitutional right, then she is clearly unfit for the Supreme Court. The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868. Abortion was illegal in most states up until the 1970s. The idea that any of the writers of the 14th Amendment or the Bill of Rights intended women to be able to kill their babies is ridiculous and insulting in a purely legal sense.

-- Does she believe that Kelo v. City of New London (2005) was rightly decided? That case found that the clause in the Fifth Amendment allowing "private property [to] be taken for public use" means that the government can hand my property over to you because you pay more taxes. If she believes that, she isn't just legally wrong, she's clinically insane.

-- Does she believe that Lawrence v. Texas (2003) was rightly decided? There is no right to sodomy in the Constitution, and there is no right to privacy more generally. Justice Anthony Kennedy says in Lawrence that "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives." The Constitution does not guarantee respect for anyone's private life, and anyone who believes that is either illiterate or willfully blind.

Sotomayor fails each and every one of these tests. She backed the Court's nonsensical rulings in all of these cases, and expressly cited stare decisis -- the principle that future Supreme Courts are bound by previous Supreme Court judgments. In defending the Court's egregious Kelo decision, for example, Sotomayor said, "I must give it the deference that the doctrine of stare decisis would suggest." In commenting on Roe v. Wade, Sotomayor said it was "settled law."

Stare decisis is an easy way for judges to confirm decisions with which they agree while discarding decisions with which they disagree. Sotomayor presumably would not have cited stare decisis if judging Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the case overturning the pro-segregation decision Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Stare decisis is only to be cited if you like the Court's previous decision. If not, judges utter the magic words: "circumstances have changed," then proceed to utterly overthrow the previous decision.

The simple fact is: Sotomayor, for all her bluster about applying the law and judging impartially, is a liar. Her support for decisions that completely remold the law at judicial discretion demonstrates her desperate wish to be a second legislature. But this is why we have the advice and consent process by which the Senate confirms judicial nominees: to weed out the worst, like Sotomayor. Unfortunately, our senators are too gutless to set up real litmus tests, instead falling back on "empathy" and "life stories" and "judicial temperament" in order to boost their political allies to power.

Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro is an attorney, a writer and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center. He is editor-at-large of Breitbart and author of the best-selling book "Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV."
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text:
Debra J. Saunders

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, endorsed adopting some aspects of Sharia law for Muslims, lest, he told the BBC, British Muslims be forced to choose between "the stark alternatives of culture loyalty and state loyalty."

Williams' remarks followed a report in the London Telegraph that the British government has made official the practice of paying welfare benefits for multiple wives in polygamous marriages.

The paper reports there are an estimated 1,000 polygamous marriages in the United Kingdom, although no one is sure how accurate that number is. Polygamy is illegal in the United Kingdom. Yet the British government rewards polygamous families who had married outside the United Kingdom -- not with deportation to countries that recognize polygamy, which would make sense -- but with extra welfare payments for extra wives.

Great Britain prides itself in its multiculturalism and inclusion. But when the British government subsidizes polygamy and the Anglican leader promotes Sharia, they risk conferring upon extremist Muslim men special status, while relegating Muslim women to second-class status.

Western democracies function because all citizens are deemed to be equal. Polygamy is inherently unequal for women. Period. Yet in the name of tolerance, in a bid to make sure they will not be seen as Islamophobic, they enable discrimination.

The timing of the archbishop's comments couldn't be worse. While Williams is enraptured with the rich theological disputes of Muslim scholars, he fails to note that British women are suffering as radical Islamists have been beating up on mainstream Islam.

A new report, "Crimes of the Community, Honor-Based Violence in the U.K." by the Centre for Social Cohesion, catalogs the horror of forced marriages -- often after unwitting girls are sent abroad for a "vacation" -- female genital mutilation, domestic abuse and an estimated 10 to 12 honor killings in the United Kingdom each year.

The archbishop tried to soften his position by explaining that he does not want to see "extreme" Sharia punishments (especially against women) endorsed by the British legal system. The Islamic Sharia Council already augments divorce settlements -- although the honor-violence report suggests that these panels often shortchange women and try to pressure them into returning to life-threatening marriages.

It's not only Our Betters in Europe who, in the name of political correctness, become apologists for polygamists. In 2005, then-Canada Prime Minister Paul Martin commissioned a $150,000 study to debunk the notion that same-sex marriages could lead to legalized polygamy -- only to watch the three law professors on the panel recommend that Canada repeal its anti-polygamy law. Because: "The parties most likely to suffer from this rule are the left-behind wives."

If secular Western nations had bedrock values, maybe there would be no need to worry about Values Creep. But when, as the honor-violence report noted, even womens activists defend female genital mutilation, its clear that the only absolute in liberal societies is doubt.

Up against fanatics with barbaric ideologies, we are outgunned. We don't even care if they want to hurt us.

"If you had a map of the U.K. showing the location of Islamist groups -- or terrorist cells -- and you had another map showing the incidence of honor-based violence and you overlaid them, you would find that they were a mirror," noted Nazir Afzal, the Crown prosecutor on honor-based violence.

It makes you wonder if Western nations have a death wish.

Debra J. Saunders

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Michael Medved

Despite the recent spate of major bestsellers touting the virtues of atheism, polls show consistent, stubborn reluctance on the part of the public to cast their votes for a presidential candidate who denies the existence of God.

A typical result came from the Zogby Poll of January 21, 2008, indicating that 50% of voters rule out supporting “a presidential candidate who doesn’t believe in God”; only 20% said they could definitely vote for such a contender. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of 78% (86% of women and 67% of men) say they take a “positive view” of candidates citing Scripture when discussing political problems.

It’s no accident that all three remaining Presidential contenders speak passionately and extensively about their faiths and all three (McCain, Obama, Clinton) identify themselves as serious, faithful, regularly praying Christians. Meanwhile, the members of Congress may hardly qualify as saintly or angelic, but of the 535 men and women in the House and Senate, only one (the shameless radical rabble-rouser Fortney “Pete” Stark of Oakland, California) openly describes himself as an atheist.

Of course, some non-believers respond to this state of affairs by decrying the American people as backward and benighted, while dismissing our politicians as hypocritical, falsely religious blowhards. These skeptics and humanists point to the huge popularity of anti-religious books (by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and others) as evidence that the public resistance to atheist ideas and candidates may be overstated. Now that we’ve broken barriers with history’s first viable female and African-American candidates, opponents of organized religion hope for a new campaign in which a brave politician makes a credible run for the highest office even while proclaiming his non-belief.

Actually, there’s little chance that atheists will succeed in placing one of their own in the White House at any time in the foreseeable future, and it continues to make powerful sense for voters to shun potential presidents who deny the existence of God. An atheist may be a good person, a good politician, a good family man (or woman), and even a good patriot, but a publicly proclaimed non-believer as president would, for three reasons, be bad for the country.

Michael Medved

Michael Medved's daily syndicated radio talk show reaches one of the largest national audiences every weekday between 3 and 6 PM, Eastern Time. Michael Medved is the author of eleven books, including the bestsellers What Really Happened to the Class of '65?, Hollywood vs. America, Right Turns, The Ten Big Lies About America and 5 Big Lies About American Business
TOWNHALL DAILY: Be the first to read Michael Medved's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com daily lineup delivered each morning to your inbox.


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Robert Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When exit polls for the Pennsylvania primary came out late Tuesday afternoon showing a puny lead of 3.6 points for Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Democratic leaders who desperately wanted her to end her candidacy were not cheered. They were sure that this overstated Sen. Obama's strength, as exit polls nearly always have in urban, diverse states. How was it possible, then, that Sen. Clinton, given up for dead by her party's establishment, won Pennsylvania in a 10-point landslide? The answer is the dreaded Bradley Effect.

Prominent Democrats only whisper when they compare Obama, the first African-American with a serious chance to be president, with what happened to Los Angeles' black Mayor Tom Bradley a quarter of a century ago. Exit polls in 1982 showed Bradley ahead for governor of California, but he actually lost to Republican George Deukmejian. Pollster John Zogby (who correctly predicted Clinton's double-digit win Tuesday) said what practicing Democrats would not. "I think voters face-to-face are not willing to say they would oppose an African-American candidate," Zogby told me.

If there really is a Bradley Effect in 2008, Zogby sees November peril ahead for Obama in blue states. John McCain is a potential winner not only in Pennsylvania but also Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and can retain Ohio. But there seems no way Clinton can overtake Obama's lead in delegates and the popular vote. For unelected super-delegates to deprive Obama of the nomination would so depress African-American general election votes that the nomination would be worthless. In a year when all normal political indicators point to Republican defeat on all fronts, the Democratic Party faces a deepening dilemma.

The escape route from this dilemma only a few months ago seemingly was indicated by the sudden emergence of Obama as an extraordinary candidate who could transcend race and ideology. But as Bill Clinton sought to label Obama as his wife's black opponent, he increasingly also has been identified as bearing the same ideological burdens that brought down Democratic nominees George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. It has gotten worse for Obama, losing every high-population state to Clinton except his own Illinois.

Robert Novak

Robert Novak (1931-2009) was a syndicated columnist and editor of the Evans-Novak Political Report.

©Creators Syndicate


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By Scott DiSavino

(Reuters) - At least two major New Jersey nuclear power plants are likely to shut on Monday as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall as a Category 1 storm and more plants could reduce power as the storm triggers precautionary safety measures.

In Connecticut, Dominion Resources Inc already reduced the output of its Millstone 3 reactor from full power to about 75 percent as a precaution due to high water levels caused by Sandy, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said.

Sandy, centered over the Atlantic Ocean about 175 miles southeast of New York City, was expected to hit near Delaware and south New Jersey later Monday as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of up to 90 miles per hour.

The nuclear reactors in Sandy's current path include units at Public Service Enterprise Group Inc's 2,332-megawatt (MW) Salem and 1,161-MW Hope Creek plants in New Jersey, which were likely to bear the brunt of the storm before it moves inland. Those PSEG reactors combined account for about 19 percent of the state's total electric capacity, although New Jersey also draws supplies from the whole Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland (PJM) power region.

PJM is the biggest power grid in the United States serving more than 60 million people in 13 U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states and the District of Columbia.

Electricity traders said if Sandy continues on her expected path it was likely PSEG would have to shut the Salem and Hope Creek reactors later Monday, but they were mixed on whether the storm's winds would still be strong enough to force the shutdown of reactors in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

PSEG spokesman Joe Delmar said the company would take the Salem and Hope Creek reactors offline if wind speeds reach greater than 74 miles per hour onsite for more than 15 minutes or the river water level reaches 100 feet. Sandy's maximum winds were at 90 mph earlier on Monday.

The mean river water level at the Salem-Hope Creek site was 89 feet and the site grade was about 102 feet. The highest river level ever recorded was 97.5 feet, Delmar said.

But Sandy was expected to lose some punch as she moves over Pennsylvania and Maryland, crossing near Constellation Nuclear Energy Group's 1,705-MW Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland, Exelon Corp's 2,244-MW Peach Bottom, 805-MW Three Mile Island and 2,264-MW Limerick in Pennsylvania, and PPL Corp's 2,450-MW Susquehanna in Pennsylvania.

All U.S. reactors have procedures that require operators to shut the units when hurricane-force winds reach their sites or when floodwaters reach certain levels.

Nuclear power represents about 18 percent of the generating capacity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. One megawatt powers about 1,000 homes.

A few reactors in the area were already shut for refueling or other maintenance, including Exelon's Oyster Creek in New Jersey, PSEG's Salem 2 in New Jersey, PPL's Susquehanna in Pennsylvania and Dominion's Millstone 2 in Connecticut.

Both Salem Unit 1 and Hope Creek were at full power Monday morning and the refueling work on Salem Unit 2 was suspended by 6 p.m. EDT Sunday, Delmar said.

Delmar said only essential personnel were required to report to the Salem and Hope Creek site on Monday.

He said PSEG was in Phase 2 of its severe weather plan.

Phase 1 included inspecting, removing and securing objects outside that could become airborne and putting emergency equipment and supplies in place.

Phase 2 of the plan includes visual inspections of equipment, verifying weather tight doors, checking on emergency diesel availability, and ensuring water intakes are prepared for severe weather.

Power companies from North Carolina to Maine have been preparing for Sandy for days and urged customers to be ready for the possibility of days without electricity. More than 700,000 homes and businesses were already without power Monday afternoon.

The Long Island Power Authority, which serves 1.1 million people on Long Island, New York, and others said outages could last as long as seven to 10 days.

The last big storm to hit the U.S. East Coast was Hurricane Irene in 2011, which made landfall in the Outer Banks in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm. Irene caused billions in property damage as it ran up the coast from Carolinas to Maine.

Irene left more than eight million homes and businesses without power, some for a week or more in the hardest hit areas. It forced many power plants to shut, including at least two reactors, at Oyster Creek in New Jersey and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland.

Several other reactors had to reduce power primarily due to debris in their cooling water intakes and other reasons, like Duke Energy Corp's Brunswick in North Carolina, Dominion's Millstone in Connecticut and PSEG's Salem in New Jersey.

The biggest utilities in Sandy's path include units of Duke, Exelon, FirstEnergy Corp, National Grid Plc, Consolidated Edison Inc, Northeast Utilities, Dominion, PSEG, PPL, Pepco Holdings Inc and Iberdrola SA.

(Reporting By Scott DiSavino; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Grant McCool and Bob Burgdorfer)


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In response to:

Chuck Todd: If Lincoln Were Dealing with These Republicans, We'd Still Have Slavery

Cleombrotus2011 Wrote: Dec 05, 2012 12:09 AM
Todd, take up jogging for crying out loud. Your jowls are an embarrassment.

Not his words, you must understand.  Just a "depressing" observation from a "very smart" White House aide:

Joe Klein -- last seen beclowning himself on Benghazi -- gets a big laugh at this line because it's so true, right?  Republicans are just the worst.  Lincoln would have never been able to handle this bunch of radicals.  Maybe this "very smart" White House source should go re-watch Lincoln, or re-read his history books.  Congressional Republicans were the ones who


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In response to:

Inside Team Romney's Plans To Win

DumpTheDems Wrote: Sep 18, 2012 4:55 PM
Just think if it were Romney who said such a thing................ the media would be plastering it all over.

BOSTON, Mass. – Behind the façade of a nondescript building in Beantown’s north end, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign headquarters is buzzing with activity. Campaign placards, detailed maps of swing state media markets, and other flair adorn the walls. Recycling bins are loaded with telltale empty cans of diet soda. Caffeine might as well be oxygen here. Televisions in the rapid response bullpen are tuned to President Obama’s latest speech in Ohio. As the president thunders about “roads and bridges,” aides watch attentively, exchanging notes and coordinating the campaign’s reaction in real time. Columns of cubicles break up the expansive ground...


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In response to:

Hillary: Riding Off Into the Sunset Or Bound For Glory

jwilson804 Wrote: Feb 09, 2013 7:24 AM
America will be so sick of democrats by the time Obama is through being president,Hillary Clinton will not have a chance of getting elected. Besides,I think we all will learn about more of her lies concerning Benghazi. In that case,she and Obama were complete failures.
robinsky2 Wrote: Feb 09, 2013 9:58 AM
History will prove the the Clintons are the biggest liars right next to obama. Time is on the truths side now as more curious people will finally get the rest of the story on Benghazi, etc.. We can hope can't we?

Last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped down from her lofty position amidst a sycophantic outpouring of hot air as journalists and fellow politicians abandoned their roles and assumed positions as Hillary courtiers, duly attending to the bidding of their lord and mistress. This would include, but was not limited to singing praiseful odes to her ladyship, ignoring her errors, helping to cover up her mistakes, and attempting to damage the reputations of any person who refused to play along with the charade. At the center of the love-fest was the former Secretary herself, appearing before a Senate panel to...


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In response to:

The Spendaholics' Offensive

Kibitzer Wrote: Feb 22, 2013 12:55 PM
"Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recently took up the refrain, telling Chris Wallace on Fox News, 'It is almost a false argument to say that we have a spending problem.'” Almost a false argument means that it isn't a false argument. I never expected Fancy Nancy to acknowledge that we have a spending problem, but she clearly didn't say we do not have a spending problem.

A primary meme of the Democratic Party in 2013 is that the federal government doesn’t have a spending problem. That is what President Obama reportedly said to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in their January budget negotiations. Acting on that assumption, Obama’s State of the Union address signaled his desire to scuttle the 2011 sequestration deal that appears to be the American people’s last best hope to trim federal spending.

The president’s partisan allies have rushed to take up the cause. Two days after the State of the Union, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) stated, “I want...


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In response to:

Thanks Obamacare: 83% of Doctors Surveyed Say They May Quit

M.K. Wrote: Jun 28, 2012 11:18 PM
When you can't find a doctor to treat you please thank Obowow and the democrat party.

The Doctor Patient Medical Association has released a new survey of about 700 doctors, and the results are bleak. Scary bleak. Among other dismal figures, Doctors' Attitudes on the Future of Medicine: What’s Wrong, Who’s to Blame, and What Will Fix It found that 83% of respondents are contemplating leaving the industry if Obamacare is fully implemented, owing to its disastrous projected consequences. Indeed, they openly blame the healthcare law for their industry's woes:

  • 90% say the medical system is on the WRONG TRACK
  • 83% say they are thinking about QUITTING
  • 61% say...


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In response to:

Jay Carney: Spending Cuts Are Deeply Irresponsible, or Something

Marc_H Wrote: Nov 30, 2012 2:52 PM
so it is ok with you that we destroy the United States? that we continue to spend more that we can EVER repay thanks for showing us what a POS traitor you and your kind is/are

Shortly before President Obama told Republicans his $1.6 trillion tax increase wasn't "complicated" today at a toy manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that spending cuts are deeply irresponsible.

Q: One of the things Speaker Boehner said this morning was that any increase in the debt limit would have to be matched by or exceeded by further spending cuts. That's the same kind of rhetoric that we heard in 2011. Are you concerned that that is being used as leverage again in a way that could be damaging to the United...


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Culture of Rudeness Contributing to Government Dependency

Sean245 Wrote: Sep 20, 2012 9:16 AM
We have had a systematic lowering of standards in this country. It’s the affirmative action of morality; at first we were told that bad behavior by some groups was in response to years of oppression and they just can’t help it. With no expiration date on grievances that coarseness was later labeled as “culture” and questioning it was a sign of bigoted intolerance. The culture of coarseness became prevalent among athletes, musicians and actors and our children started to emulate that behavior. As parents and teachers we were afraid to correct our children because doing so is to make a judgment on another culture and as such seen as “soft bigotry”. Any member of a worshiped grievance group who sets a positive example is called a sellout, or
Sean245 Wrote: Sep 20, 2012 9:17 AM
...or worse, accused of acting white. Remove the two parent home, religion, and standards and all of us, black, white, Latino and Asian are in a race to the bottom.
As rudeness is becoming increasingly common in our culture, Americans are finding it more difficult to work with each other. Far too many people now lack morals and manners. The U.S. has become a materialistic culture full of self-interest and lacking in respect for humanity. The outward manifestation of this is an inability to get along with others.

This culture of rudeness has deeply impacted the workplace environment. Too many Americans cannot hold jobs because both employers and employees refuse to behave civilly towards each other. There is less forgiveness and there are fewer efforts being made to solve...


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Obama's Hate Couture Divas

Summers Wrote: Oct 24, 2012 11:59 PM
A loss by Obama will cause a wardrobe malfunction by Michelle.
Talk about wearing your politics on your sleeve. An elitist clique of fashion designers has banded together to raise money for celebrity-in-chief Barack Obama and browbeat their customers into supporting him. Even worse, the Beautiful People who dress the Powerful People are putting increased pressure on conservatives to stay out of the business altogether.

Out: Haute couture. In: Hate couture.

In February, high-dollar bag-makers, cosmetics gurus and clothiers offered their services to help fill Obama's campaign coffers. Nearly two dozen gurus billed their enterprise as "Runway to Win: A Project by Fashion Designers in Support of the Obama Victory Fund." Campaign finance experts...


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Frank1802 Wrote:
Dec 19, 2012 9:24 AM
First you have to start at the recognition that Pelosi is a moron, incapable of logical thought, I would have thought that she proved that conclusively with her infamous statement "we have to pass the Bill in order to find out what is in the Bill". Second this is a further dilution of the avowed intent to control weapons. Third it isn't rocket science. Limit weapons to hand guns for protection, and hunting guns to bolt action, or pump action rifles. Job done. The people can hunt AND protect themselves.


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Dorothy152 Wrote:
Dec 22, 2012 12:45 PM
The entitled, welfare, medicare, ss receivers etc., recipients want to tax the 'rich' and those that are being asked to pick up the bill want to cut spending. Since when did we evolve to a government where taking 50% of a persons dollar was not enough as we have come to in California today when Federal and State taxes are assessed based on Brown's proposition and Obama's offer?.


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Kate Hicks

John Roberts is not a “traitor to his philosophy.” He is not a liberal. He is, above all else, a very strict originalist, and the Chief Justice of a Court that is acutely aware – and wary – of its role in politics. Understand that his opinion, though certainly not ideal for the Right, contains more good news for conservatives in its pages than it does on its face.

So let’s take a look at his surprising opinion – the controlling opinion, as it’s called, which sets precedent and “say[s] what the law is,” as Marshall said so long ago.

The Good News

First: let’s give credit where it’s due. Roberts made it abundantly clear that he’s not a fan of the actual policy. Moreover, he shifted responsibility for this policy back to the American people, and revealed his respect for the separation of powers:

“Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.

Unhappy with the ruling though you may be, the wisdom contained in that paragraph alone ought to cheer you. And I promise, there’s more!

Now then. What hath he wrought?

“Commerce Clause” is everywhere in the news today, and if you’ll recall, that was considered the basis for both upholding and striking down the mandate. Roberts threw out the government’s argument that it could regulate inactivity because of the “substantial effect” abstention from the market would have on the market as a whole. This, he said, was way too much power:

“Allowing Congress to justify federal regulation by pointing to the effect of inaction on commerce would bring countless decisions an individual could potentially make within the scope of federal regulation, and—under the Government’s theory—empower Congress to make those decisions for him. […] Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority.

Moreover, he created a new precedent in Commerce Clause jurisprudence that limits its scope significantly, by accepting the distinction between activity and inactivity. In so doing, he created a concrete definition of Federal power that will influence the way Congress makes law in the future, and the way the Court interprets future Commerce Clause cases. Here’s the key passage to that effect:

“People, for reasons of their own, often fail to do things that would be good for them or good for society. Those failures—joined with the similar failures of others—can readily have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. Under the Government’s logic, that authorizes Congress to use its commerce power to compel citizens to act as the Government would have them act. […] The Government’s theory would erode those limits [on the Commerce Clause], permitting Congress to reach beyond the natural extent of its authority, ‘everywhere extending the sphere of its activity and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.’ The Federalist No. 48, at 309 9 (J. Madison). Congress already enjoys vast power to regulate much of what we do. Accepting the Government’s theory would give Congress the same license to regulate what we do not do, fundamentally changing the relation between the citizen and the Federal Government.

It’s hard to see at first glance why we should celebrate this ruling, especially because it was evidently not enough for Roberts to overturn the mandate. But what Roberts did here was establish a defining limit on the Commerce Clause, which had heretofore not really existed. Congress is now restricted in its ability to use this very broad power, in that it cannot compel individuals to participate in the market. Consider, also, the wide array of tools at Congress’ disposal under the Commerce Clause to ensure compliance. Roberts has ruled that Congress can’t criminalize not buying something because of the effect abstention will have on the market. Indeed, that was at issue in this case; the fact that it’s unconstitutional is a win for liberty.

Furthermore, Roberts narrowed the definition of “substantially effects” to encompass activity that is already occurring, and curtailed Congress’ power to presuppose, and then regulate, activity.

“The proposition that congress may dictate the conduct of an individual today because of prophesied future activity finds no support in our precedent. We have said that Congress can anticipate the effects on commerce of an economic activity. […] But we have never permitted Congress to anticipate that activity itself in order to regulate individuals not currently engaged in commerce.”

Now, think back to the time when constitutional challenges to the mandate first began to surface: every legal scholar worth his salt, conservative or liberal, believed the Court would kill the activity/inactivity distinction. Yet that was the major victory the conservatives won in this case, and it’s now legal precedent. The mandate itself lives on, but Congress may never apply the full force of the U.S. government to compel anyone to make a purchase. This, the fight for the Commerce Clause, was the real war. And the right won it. Perhaps the fruit isn’t ripe yet, but it will prove juicy in time.

So now, to turn to the legal reasoning for why the mandate remains law. In other words…

The Bad News

Here’s Roberts: “And it is well established that if a statute has two possible meanings, one of which violates the Constitution, courts should adopt the meaning that does not do so.”

You may keep your law, he says. But let me redefine it for you.

In the opinion, Roberts applies a test from an earlier case, Drexel Furniture, to determine whether the “penalty” meets all the requirements of a tax. It’s another long excerpt, but worth reading, as he’s very clear:

“The same analysis here suggests that the shared responsibility payment may for constitutional purposes be considered a tax, not a penalty: First, for most Americans the amount due will be far less than the price of insurance, and, by statute, it can never be more. It may often be a reasonable financial decision to make the payment rather than purchase insurance… Second, the individual mandate contains no scienter requirement [i.e. it’s not punitive for breaking the law]. Third, the payment is collected solely by the IRS through the normal means of taxation—except that the Service is not allowed to use those means most suggestive of a punitive sanction, such as criminal prosecution.”

So here’s how it’s going to work from now on: the mandate is now just the “tax on not having healthcare,” which I’m sure will get a snappier name in the coming days, something akin to the “gas tax,” or the “income tax,” which most of us pay. Roberts says as much:

“[A]ccording to the Government…the mandate can be regarded as establishing a condition—not owning health insurance—that triggers a tax—the required payment to the IRS. Under that theory, the mandate is not a legal command to buy insurance. Rather, it makes going without insurance just another thing the Government taxes, like buying gasoline or earning income. And if the mandate is in effect just a tax hike on certain taxpayers who do not have health insurance, it may be within Congress’s constitutional power to tax.”

So after he invalidated the Commerce Clause justification, he determined that really, the “penalty” doesn’t force participation in the market; hence, why he didn’t throw out the mandate with the Commerce logic. It’s not really forcing people into the market; after all, it didn’t criminalize not owning insurance. It just puts a tax on it, and Roberts notes that taxes are often used to induce certain behavior:

“But taxes that seek to influence conduct are nothing new. […] Today, federal and state taxes can compose more than half the retail price of cigarettes, not just to raise money, but to encourage people to quit smoking. […] That Sec5000A seeks to shape decisions about whether to buy health insurance does not mean that it cannot be a valid exercise of the taxing power.

Frankly, this doesn’t look like an expansion of the taxing power. Perhaps he’s articulating more clearly the intent behind so-called “sin taxes,” and other behaviorally-motivated taxes, but he’s not handing Congress more power. He’s just explaining a power they already had, and use.

Remember—he never said it was good policy, and in fact made it clear that he feels otherwise. What he did was invalidate an unconstitutional argument in defense of the policy, thereby banning it from future use, and then uphold a bad, but not unconstitutional statute, because it adhered to a permissible exercise of power. Congress passed a tax, he says, and it’s a bad one, and he doesn’t like it, but that doesn’t make it impermissible.

So, is this what the right really wanted to hear? Heck no! We like the dissent, where the whole thing goes. But Roberts is dumb like a fox, and it’s worth looking at the effects this ruling will have on the future, both near and far.

The Upshot

Over, and over, and over, President Obama assured us that this was not a tax. He was not raising taxes on the middle class (that’s what the Republicans were doing, remember?). Nope, says the CJ: ya raised our taxes. Politically, that’s going to prove troublesome for Obama this fall, and in a much more substantial way than having his “signature legislative accomplishment” overturned altogether.

For one, Roberts took away Obama’s ability to campaign against the Court. They upheld his law; he can’t do as he did after Citizens United and construe the ACA ruling as a massively political attack on the little guy and his uninsured plight. He has nothing to blame on the Justices. All they did was recharacterize the “penalty” as constitutional under the taxing power. Roberts robbed Obama of a scapegoat, and stuck Obama with an unpopular law in an election year. Ouch.

Second, Roberts has literally forced Obama to acknowledged that he broke a promise, and raised taxes. And tax increases don’t resonate well with the voters. Now, it’s doubtful Obama will assume responsibility for raising taxes – note that in his speech today, he didn’t acknowledge the Court’s reasoning for the ruling, only that they ruled in his favor. But the GOP has just added a major weapon to its arsenal: want to lower taxes? Then don’t reelect Obama.

This third observation is one that isn’t immediately eminent, but nonetheless just as important as those prior two, if not more so. Roberts has made it substantially easier to repeal Obamacare, and substantially harder to pass anything like it in the future. As noted above, Americans don’t like taxes. And thanks to the fact that many will opt to pay the tax rather than buy insurance (as that will cost less), the insurance problem in this country hasn’t been solved. The fact that we’ve settled the question of the mandate’s constitutionality means we can turn to the rest of the law, and address the flaws contained therein, and perhaps find a real solution to the healthcare crisis. As for future laws, Democrats lost the ability to hide behind “penalty” language. Roberts saw that the mandate waddled and quacked, and gave it the appropriate name. (He also forbade Congress from actually “mandating” anything, so that name isn’t even correct anymore.) The ACA barely passed the first time; future iterations of this theory are destined to fail, because Congress will have to stand up and say, “We propose to enact a new tax so as to influence your behavior.” If that isn’t the proverbial lead balloon, I don’t know what is.

So there you have it: it’s really not all bad. It’s not what we wanted, but then – as I suspect Obama will learn in the coming months – we must remember to be careful what we wish for.

Kate Hicks

Kate Hicks is one of Townhall.com's web editors. You can follow her on Twitter @KateBHicks.


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Matt Lewis
Despite Sen. Sam Brownback's endorsement of John McCain, FOX is calling the caucus for Huckabee.

The Kansas GOP is famously split between liberals and conservatives.  But it looks like Huckabee got something like 61 percent of the folks who caucused.  He will take home at least 24 of the 36 delegates.

McCain was favored, so this suggests that -- not only was Huckabee taking votes from Romney -- Romney was also taking votes from Huckabee ...

He's still got a long, long way to go.  But this is interesting ...  And it makes cements Huckabee as a possible emerging player in the GOP.

Matt Lewis

Matt Lewis is conservative writer and blogger based in Alexandria, VA.

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Virtual Tour: Homes for Sale in Baltimore County This Week

In the market for a new house? Just curious? Check out these recently listed homes for sale in Baltimore County.

These videos of Baltimore County homes for sale were recently uploaded to YouTube.

Each listing links to the YouTube video (also attached to this article).

For sale this week:

6607 Pebble Brooke Road, Pikesville, MD, 21208

3928 N. Rolling Road, #C-2, Pikesville, MD, 21208

10419 Greentop Road, Cockeysville, MD, 21030

20 Snowberry Court, Cockeysville, MD, 21030

215 Charmuth Road, Lutherville-Timonium, MD, 21093

303 Wynell Court, Lutherville-Timonium, MD, 21093

1221 Brook Hollow Road, Towson, MD, 21286

104 W. Overlea Avenue, Overlea, MD, 21206

8116 Ridgely Oak Road, Parkville, MD, 21234

9810 Redwing Drive, Perry Hall, MD 21128

13 Marie Avenue, Essex, MD, 21221

952 Homberg Avenue, Essex, MD, 21221

514 Bayside Drive, Dundalk, MD, 21222

63 Kinship Road, Dundalk, MD, 21222

Check back next week for more virtual tours.

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