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Tag Archives: economy

Perspective vs. Experience: A Presidential Conversation

So I published a post titled A Lack of Perspective on Monday about why I believe that Mitt Romney shouldn’t be president because he can’t understand what it’s like to be poor. That’s dumbing it down a bit, but that’s the general premise.

In response, one of my favorite Facebook critics, Mark Ashley*, asked me whether I really believed that someone had to be poor to understand what poverty is and stated that a person’s actual policies show a lot more about a politician than their life experiences.

I’ll restate his argument here:

Had this been written in 2004, it would have been a great argument against John Kerry. Of course, the alternative was Bush, who also came from wealth, but you have effectively disqualified the likes of JFK, FDR, and a lot of other presidents.

The idea generally that one ought to have been poor at one time to be a good political leader seems odd to me. How poor is poor? Does one’s family have to have begged at one time to qualify? Been on government assistance? Or is simply struggling to make ends meet enough? I’m not being facetious in asking these questions, and I am well acquainted with living below the poverty line. My expectation is that any person running for president would be long past poverty–nobody is interested in electing a person who has never been successful in life–and many up-from-the-bootstrap people are not particularly sympathetic to the poor either.

Ultimately, there are a lot of people who have been poor whom I’d not trust to run an office lottery pool, let alone the country, and there are a lot who have been rich about whom I’d say the same. Likewise, many who have been poor and who have never been poor have genuinely good perspectives on poverty and even sometimes good policy proposals. What matters more is how a person has processed those life experiences and what a person chooses to do with them.

I’m not about to offer any defense of Romney, and I do think that life experiences matter, but I am skeptical of the notion that someone has to be/have been [poor, rich, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, female, male, etc.] in order to empathize with, represent, and lead people who fall into those categories. Show me a person’s actual policies. That, to me, is much more revealing of how a politician thinks.

First, let me address the idea that this argument would have disqualified JFK, FDR, and a lot of other presidents. On its face, that’s a valid argument, but I believe that there is one important factor that makes this argument moot:

Thanks to Mother Jones for the graph

The income equality gap is higher now than it has been at any time since the Great Depression.

When FDR came to power, despite coming from old New York money, he set out New Deal Legislation, got us through World War II (I am not going to debate the wisdom of either New Deal legislation or his policy decisions in WWII right now) and worked with civil rights organizations like the NAACP. Point being: He wanted to help.

On to JFK. Was he wealthy? Yes. Was he from a wealthy family? Great. But he seemed to understand the problems and priorities of this country in a way that Romney does not. (Kennedy also wasn’t a draft dodger, but that’s another kettle of fish.) Kennedy genuinely wanted to better the lives of his countrymen. I can’t say I’ve seen any indication of that from Romney since his campaign began.

When Mark says “The idea generally that one ought to have been poor at one time to be a good political leader seems odd to me,” I have to say that it’s not to me. He goes on to say that “My expectation is that any person running for president would be long past poverty” and that “there are a lot of people who have been poor whom I’d not trust to run an office lottery pool, let alone the country, and there are a lot who have been rich about whom I’d say the same.”

Does my argument come down to attitude and life experience as much as it does money? Absolutely. But there’s such a huge gap now between rich and poor that I really feel that Romney and other people in his income bracket just simply don’t get it. He has not ever had to worry about a single thing I do on a daily basis.  And his comments about the 47% being “dependent on government” and that a middle class income is “$200,000 to $250,000,” just for a few examples, show how out of touch he truly is.

This baffles me, considering healthcare and gay marriage in Massachusetts, but I don’t trust that he’ll revert back to being a ‘progressive moderate’ once he takes office.

Obama came up from relatively nothing. His mom, while educated, was not rich. He lived in parts of the world where not many people are rich by anyone’s standards. He went to prep school on scholarship and then to Columbia and Harvard the same way most people in my income bracket would, by shelling out for student loans. He worked as a community organizer in Chicago and organized African-American voter drives.

I could go on and on, but my point is that he gets it. He gets what my problems are. He’s worried about money. He’s had to pay off student loans. He’s worried about health care for his family. He’s experienced the problems of being a minority in this country. And the policies that he’s tried to implement (again, the merits of those are a different argument) reflect that.

So while, yes, a lot of it comes down to empathy and policy, I don’t believe Romney has enough of either to lead our country.

Maybe, until the income gap goes down to levels that make sense, we should only allow people who came up from nothing to run. It might help.

*Mark Ashley is a buddy of mine who is also working to be tenured at a university and so doesn’t want his name associated with silly political blogs at this time. Due to his needing to use a pseudonym and then coming up with one as silly as Mark Ashley, I am dubbing him Professor Who, Master of Mystery. (Feel free to insert a booming voice worthy of that title here.) Prof. Who for short. You’ll be seeing a lot more of him, as he’s been set into a contract to write me 8 blog posts by the end of the year.

Fixin What Ain’t Broke – Voter ID Bill

So yeah, its been a month or so since I’ve posted. Oops.

I don’t really have much of an excuse, except that working full time over break and then starting school has taken a lot out of me. Also, normally I take my politics break over winter break, (there’s only so much I can take before I need some time off and this election cycle was rather insane), and didn’t do so this time. So I’ve been a bit out of the loop. Confession: Still have not watched/listened to/read the State of the Union address. That’s how bad it is. At least I’m still Tweeting.

I’d like to focus on something a little closer to home than national politics today. Shocking, I know! Instead, I want to focus on Wisconsin Attorney General Van Hollen’s proposed Voter ID bill.

To give you some background: This bill is intended to cut down on Wisconsin voter fraud. An admirable goal, for sure. For example, in the 2008 election, there was a huge stink over ACORN in the US and other smaller pieces of fraud in Wisconsin. But in reality, according to a study from Van Hollen’s office, there were only 18 fraudulent votes out of all 3 million votes cast in the state. Big deal? Maybe, but not huge.

So before we beg  the question of whether this bill is necessary at all, here’s how he wants to do it: by requiring all users to show a photo ID before being allowed to vote. And not just any photo ID, but only drivers licenses, state IDs and military IDs.  For example, UW students could no longer use their UW identification cards along with proof of a current address to vote.

Now, we all already know that getting voters to the polls is a problem. If you’re poor, you’re less likely to vote. If you’re a minority, you’re less likely to vote. If you’re young, you’re less likely to vote. If you’re too old, you’re less likely to vote. If you’re disabled, you’re less likely to vote. Less than half of the people in Wisconsin voted in the 2008 election, and even less in the 2010 midterms. So now, all of a sudden, if you decide, “Hey, I might go vote today!” but you’ve been too poor to get a state ID, you can’t.  If you’re a student from out of state and your license hasn’t been switched over, you can’t vote. If you’re elderly and don’t have a license anymore because you don’t drive, you can’t vote. And if you don’t live close to a DMV or work during business hours? You’re SOL.

One Wisconsin Now keeps pointing out the problem, as does the Government Accountability Board.

See the problem?

But it gets even more confusing. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, to make sure this doesn’t amount to a poll tax, state IDs will no longer cost money. But wait, you say, isn’t there a budget deficit? Doesn’t even that small amount of money help the state? Well, yes, yes it does. Thanks for noting that. You forgot to mention cost of training for state employees to learn the new rules, training for everyone else to make sure it’s enforced, and special exceptions for students, elderly, etc.

In fact, according to the Sentinel, in 2009 this was estimated to have an annual 2.9 million dollar price tag. That’s not counting the training costs (estimated at 2 million by the Government Accountability Board), the loss of DMV revenue, or anything else. That’s just the cost of the program itself.

So while I know the Republicans are trying to put some trust back into the political system, I don’t see how this is going to help. You know that saying, if it’s broke, don’t fix it? Here’s another, if it’s broken, don’t spend money to make it worse.

Teh Commerz Clawz: NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp

A belated Happy New Year to all! After a wonderful 5 day weekend, in which there was much drinking and debauchery, I am back to work and back to blogging, and can’t wait to start a whole new year of law, politics, and journalism!

So without further ado, welcome to Teh Commerz Clawz: National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, which fittingly marks the turning point in the history of Commerz Clawz interpretation, and begins the start of the Major Expansion Era of the Teh Commerz Clawz.

bored lolcat

(How I imagine most ppl feel about law.) It gets moar interestin soon, I promiz!

So if you remember from last time, we’ve established some precedent for what commerce is prior to 1937:

1. Commerce is only goods moving in interstate commerce. There is a stream of commerce (Swift) with both a beginning (Schechter) and an end (Carter.) If goods have not yet started shipping or have reached their final destination, the federal government can’t touch them. This also applies to rules that attempt to set minimum wage or other requirements based on the Commerz Clawz.

2. There are things that have direct and indirect effects on commerz. Things like manufacshuring and wages only have an “indirect” effect on commerce, and so can’t be regulated. Things like stockyards, even though nothing is directly sold there, are so much a part of the streem of commerz that they fall under govt control.

3. Manufacshuring is not commerz.  It comes before commerz, and leads to it,  but is not a part of it (E.C. Knight.)

Now I know that’s all realllly boring, but to understand why Jones & Laughlin is so full of impoartant, you have to remember what came first. Also, remember that the last two cases were trying to regulate economic evils that led to the Great Depression. Roosevelt (FDR, not Theodore) kept trying to pass laws for things like minimum wage and health codes, and failing.

At this point, teh Supreme Court had set themselves up as a kind of super-majority. If things didn’t go along with their laissez-faire philosophy, they’d shoot the law down quicker than you can say “bread line.” Which was fine with big business, not so fine with starving people who wanted living wages and food.

fdr court packing plan

See? No onez happie.

After a couple years of this, FDR was really, really mad. He just couldn’t seem to beat Teh 4 Horsemen, who could usually find one justice willing to join them for a majority. So he came up with an idea. Instead of waiting for the Court to come around, he was going to add moar juztices instead. Tons moar juztices.

The general idea was that any juztice over the age of 70 would lead to a new seat on the Court, up to six new seats at any given time. At that point, 6 of the justices were over 70 years old, including all of teh 4 Horsemen. Though Roosevelt said he was trying to create less work for an overstaffed judiciary, everyone knew better. FDR merely wanted enough ppl supportive of Teh New Deal on the Court that they’d quit overturning all his laws.  No one was very happy about it. Matter of fact, it was a big enough deal to be the subject of the first fireside chat of Roosevelt’s second term.

Congress and FDR fought about this for a while, 6 whole months in fact, and then suddenly, Juztice Owen Roberts switched sides. It’s called “the switch in time that saved nine.”

So remember all those things we just talked about? About how manufacshuring and commerz aren’t teh same? How manufacshuring and wages only count as having an indirect effect?

Enter National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation.

FDR set up the NLRB in to help workers get bettah wages, primarily in the form of being able to “collectively bargain,” or rather, the right to not be kicked out of your job for joining a union.

NLRB: Strikes affect commerz. If workrs get mad at companys and no work happenz, then that “restricts the free flow of commerce.” Iz bad, and we can regulate it. U must b good to workrs nao. We haz precedent.  (Not discussed here, but the case is Stafford v. Wallace, which is also states the stream of commerce doctrine.)

Jones & Laughlin, one of the biggest steel companies in the country, was sued for discriminating against union workers, and, as usual, instead of just treating their workers better, Jones & Laughlin complained about it.

J&L: No! Manufacshuring iz not commerz, and wages and labor relations izn’t either. U said so alredy. Duh. Screw off, FDR.

All the lower courts agreed with J&L. Obviously, this had already been settled before. But when the NLRB appealed to the Supreme Court, something funny happened. Union Kitteh shall explain:

union cat

Da Ali iz 2 lazee to design her own lolcatz today. Thanks icanhazcheezburger.com!

“So, suddenly, dings changed. Straight up, yo. Teh Court didn’t agree wit teh big business no moar. Instead, teh majority turned all teh way around and agreed wit FDR’s stuffs. All of a sudden, FDR and Congrez gets 2 say what commerz iz, not the Court.

“Chief Juztice Hughes used teh bill written by Congrez, which said that “commerce means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation or communication among the several states…or between points in the same state…” and that dings that affect commerz can includez “tending to lead to a labor dispute burdening or obstructing commerce or the free flow of commerce.”

“Normally, dat would no be right. But the court agreed with that definishun! Hughes then reminded ppl that teh right to organize iz an essential right, and that teh govt haz teh right 2 safeguard it. Iz not interfering in statez rights.

“Third, teh Court saiz that manufacshuring iz nao so cloze to commerz that the 2 can be regulated together. “Although activities may be interstate in character when separately considered, if they have such a close and substantial relation to interstate commerce that their control is essential or appropriate to protect that commerce from burdens or obstructions, Congress cannot be denied that power….”

“Last, obviously, if steel work stopped, that would haz a ginormous impact on teh economy and on teh commerz, and becuz of that, unions are part of commerz and can b regulated. Iz not teh same as E.C. Knight.”

So, in case you hadn’t noticed, a few things changed here. (The 4 Horsemen noticed too. Their dissent can basically be summed up in two words, “Dudes, WTF?”) Suddenly Congress can regulate manufacturing, and wages. The stream of commerce idea is practically done. So now what happens?

Well, a couple different things. In our next case, Wickard v. Filburn, we find the lowest lows of the court’s wishy-washy nature. Then, things go back to normal a little more in the New Federalism Era, which started somewhere around Rehnquist (70s or 80s). Only 4 more cases! We’re almost there!

Teh Commerz Clawz: Carter v. Carter Coal

Hello again everyone!

lolcat quit

If writinz waz cough medicine, that'd be mee.

After a very long hiatus where I think I passed all my finals and such, I am now finally back and ready to finish this giant project I started back in the day called Teh Commerz Clawz, where I explain the precedent to the states’ challenge to the health care bill in super simple speak. Also with lolcats.

I have to admit I almost dropped this project. But then a Virginia judge ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the federal government is quite possibly overstepping their Commerz Clawz boundaries. So I decided a) quitting is for quitters, and b) this is honestly too much fun to stop now.

When we left off, we were talking about the end of a “stream of commerce.” In Swift and Co., the court came up with the idea of the stream of commerce doctrine. If something is part of this stream of commerce, even if it seems like intrastate commerce, Congress can regulate it. In Schechter, the court decided that once things, even sick chickz, quit moving, they’re no longer part of the stream of commerce. In Carter, the Court decides where the stream of commerz starts.

So, if you remember, the Court and Roosevelt were embroiled in a royal battle of laissez-faire economics vs. (in my opinion) needed common sense. The Court kept striking down New Deal packages, which made Roosevelt and most of the starving country pretty mad, but was pretty awesome for big business.

hard luck kittehs

We can haz warmth nao?

Right after Schechter, Roosevelt passed the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act, which established a commission to watch over the coal industry. It was paid for with a mine tax, and if the mines complied, they got 90% of the tax waived.  Carter challenged this, suing his own company to say they shouldn’t pay the tax because the law was a violation of Teh Commerz Clawz.

Carter: This tax iz unconztitushunal. ‘Member Knight? Manufacshuring iz not commerz! This iz 4 da states onli, not 4 teh federal government. Iz not a direct effect, onli an indirect one. U said so alreadyz!

US govt: No! Iz not! We iz not onli regulating coal manufacshuring, but labor too. Wages r important, and big busness onli cares cuz they can haz moar monies when they don’t pay workers good. This law allows 4 unions and wage negotiations, and this directly affects commerz. Besides, if there iz doubt about if something iz commerz or not, teh Court should rule for us, not against us.

Teh Court was pretty split, but in the end the 4 Horsemen plus Juztice Roberts ruled for Carter. A 1930s lol-scribe shall explain.

kitten writing

Old lol-cats r 2 cute!

Lol-scribe: “We haz already told u in Knight dat manufacshuring iz not commerz. Coal iz not interstate commerz, because it haz not started moving yet. Just cuz somethin will evenshually be sold, does not maek it commerz nao. Teh coal has not entered teh streem of commerz, but instead iz at the head, before it begins.”

US Govt: That’s not all we iz doing, tho! Unfair wages affect commerz lotz. When ppl don’t get paid fair, then teh company can haz lower prices, and that affects interstate commerz. So iz commerz after all.”

Lol-scribe: “Nope. U iz wrong. Iz all interstate commerz. Juztice Sutherland saiz “Working conditions are obviously local conditions…Such effect as they may have on commerce, however extensive it may be, is secondary and indirect.” Teh onli difference between this case and teh sick chickz case iz that while one was after teh streem ended, this one iz be4 it begins. U still lose.”

So now we know. There is a start and an end to the stream of commerce. Also, anything that only indirectly affects commerce doesn’t count. It has to be obviously in transit between states to be interstate commerce, or be such a big part of it that it doesn’t matter if the transaction was intrastate.

But, you’re saying, that can’t be right! Teh Commerz Clawz is now used to regulate things like medical marijuana within a state. It’s used for tons and tons of things! What happened?

Stay tuned for Jones and Laughlin Steel, coming soon, and find out exactly how President Roosevelt convinced the Court it was time to stop making the Great Depression worse… (Also, we’re only a few cases away from explaining enough precedent to understand this health care bill challenge! Its proof of how much of a geek I am that I’m almost sad to be getting close to the end.)

Also, all old lol-cats were created by a guy named Harry Whittier Frees, who was actually pretty cool. Check it out.

Teh Commerz Clawz: A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Co v. US

Om nom nom!

Welcome back to Teh Commerz Clawz, where I explain the precedent to the states’ challenge of the Health Care Bill in super simple speak. Also usually with lolcatz. Because boring law is far more entertaining when there are cute kitties saying silly things.

If you remember, when we left off last week, we were talking about how teh lolcows in Swift v. US established that there is this thing called a “stream of commerce.” This stream means that if things in intrastate commerz are part of the stream of commerz running through the states, like cows stopping at a stockyard, then they count as interstate commerz. But, now the question becomes, where does that stream stop and start?

I actually put off talking about this case until long enough after Thanksgiving that I could stomach it again. Literally. (Anyone who has read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle knows what I’m talking about.)

This case places us square in the middle of the Great Depression. FDR passed a bunch of laws meant to turn around the failing economy, including laws on wages, fair trading procedures, unions, etc. Big business wasn’t happy about it.

Roosevelt: Teh country iz dieing. I will regulate all teh shizz, and so no onez will be hurt any moar! Yay!
Big business: No! You canz no do that! Iz bad for business! Iz too much powr for u! U iz only Prezident, u can no taek all teh powr 4 urself!

What loyality to laissez-faire economics looked like in the Great Depression

Matter of fact, the Supreme Court wasn’t either. They kept striking down piece after piece after piece of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Supreme Court: No! We liek teh laissez-faire economicz! We thinkz u iz trying to taek 2 much powr for u! We will taek away all ur bills! No bills 4 u!

Enough that at one point FDR tried to implement his famous court packing plan, leading to the saying “the switch in time that saved nine.” Thankfully, Justice Roberts changed his mind last minute, but point is, the Supreme Court and FDR were not buddies for quite a while.

In the fight leading up to the court packing plan, enter A.L.A Schechter Poultry Corp v. US.

Roosevelt passed this bill called the National Industrial Recovery Act. In it, he regulated the sale of sick chickens. See, people liked to sell sick chickens to butchers for the regular price, then people would eat them and get sick while other people still made a ton of money. Not so good, right? Besides, who wants to eat a sick chicken? Gross.

The law also did other things like regulating working wages and setting prices for things. People didn’t like that either. Too much government intervention and socialism and such (sound familiar?) But anyway, Schechter got charged with, among other things, “sale to a butcher of an unfit chicken.”

Schechter decided to take the government to court over it instead of paying the fines. Schechter held that NIRA was unconstitutional, in part because it overextended the powers of teh Commerz Clawz.

Schechter: I onli sellz mah chickens to intrastate ppls, and I onli buy mah chickens frum intrastate ppl. There iz no interstate commerz. Congress and teh Prez can no regulate this. Iz onli for teh states, iz not part of teh streem of commerz!
U.S.: This haz a direct effect on commerz. Ppl being sick affects commerz. Bad business practices affect commerz. So we can haz regulation, yo!

supreme court justices with cat heads

Om nom nomz!

Teh Supreme Court agreed with Schechter. If you remember last time, we were talking about how while there’s a stream of commerce, at some point there’s a beginning and an end to every stream. Teh Court held that the sick chicks are at the end of the stream.

Juztice Sutherland (evil wolf kitteh at right): “When defendants had made their purchases, whether at the West Washington Market in New York City or at the railroad terminals serving the City, or elsewhere, the poultry was trucked to their slaughterhouses in Brooklyn… The interstate transactions in relation to that poultry then ended.” Basically, when teh chickenz reached New Yoahk, they were onli soldz in New Yoahk. No moar interstate commerz.

This means that there iz no way teh govt can argue this iz interstate commerz. We kno it when we seez it, and this iz not it. “The mere fact that there may be a constant flow of commodities into a State does not mean that the flow continues after the property has arrived and has become commingled with the mass of property within the State and is there held solely for local disposition and use.” After something goez into teh state, and iz not leaving again, then it iz not interstate commerz. Teh end.

U.S.: NO! Iz not teh end! These practices affect interstate commerz! Iz bad for business and for eberything!

Juztice Sutherland: Rong! Member? We toldz u b4! Some things haz a direct effect on interstate commerz. You can haz regulation of that. But sick chickz onli has an indirect effect on commerz. Even if this iz bad for business, that is for teh state to taek care of. Iz no for you. Go ‘way!

So now we’ve established that not only is there a stream of commerce, but it has a definite end. Once something is not going back out of the state to be sold, it’s then part of intrastate commerce. Tomorrow, or the next day depending on my schedule with finals coming up, we shall discover where this stream of commerce starts! (There’s more that goes into these challenges than you thought, isn’t there?)

You can’t get something for nothing.

“America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.”

Boehner Unveils GOP "Pledge"

Boehner Unveils GOP "Pledge" photo courtesy of USA Today

Good enough. Fair enough. Absolutely right. Also the introduction to the G.O.P.’s new “Pledge to America,” a 48 page manifesto that states what the GOP hopes to accomplish if/when they take back Congress.

In their introduction alone you’d think the Republican half of Congress would have agreed with Obama’s policies and pushed things through in the last two years. For example, even if you ignore the fact that “any man or woman” includes the poor, the uninsured, the homeless, immigrants, minorities, or the LGBT community, you’d think that helping the middle class  and small businesses with stimulus money or controlling big spending that killed the middle class in the first place would make sense. Let me give another example:

“America is an inspiration to those who yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine their own destiny.

“Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course.”

True. And guess what? With 66% of the vote, in 2008 we did just that. We elected our first black president. We overwhelmingly elected Democrats to Congress. We wanted our elected officials to cooperate for once and finally GET SOMETHING DONE. We believed that those of us that ‘yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine our own destiny’ would get health care, would get help getting an education, would get help finding jobs, would get help with housing so that we could figure out our destiny. That’s hard to do while living hand-to-mouth. We wanted our sons and daughters home and for the billions of dollars we’re spending building other country’s economies to benefit us.

And guess what you did, Republicans? You stalled everything! You made sure there was so much misinformation, so much infighting, so much sheer ridiculousness that people still don’t know how the health care bill works. (Now granted, that’s not all your fault. Obama wasn’t helpful either. But he was busy trying to get the damn thing through in the first place.) People honestly think that Obama isn’t an American citizen. That he’s a Muslim even though he goes to a Christian church (not that that should matter in a country built on religious freedom). That he’s going to send old people to “death camps.”

And even those of you who know this isn’t right, know that laws like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell discriminate against those brave enough to serve our country, won’t stand up! (I’m looking at you Senator Susan Collins of Maine.)

And you want to issue a manifesto?!?

So here’s what it says, in brief: They want to repeal the health care bill. They want to extend the Bush era tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year. They want to freeze stimulus spending. They want to freeze hires in government departments. They oppose taxes on carbon fuels. They oppose government regulation of Freddie and Frannie.

How will this help our economy?!?

So, you’re going to take health care away from children with incurable conditions that are no one’s fault. From those, like me, working 3 jobs and still unable to afford health insurance. From kids finishing college and looking for a job in this horrible economy who get sick or hit by a car, that under the new bill are now allowed to stay on their parent’s health insurance another few years. I think you get the idea.

You want to extend tax cuts from the old administration that got us in this mess in the first place. That’s not going to help the disappearing middle class. I hope they realize the wealth gap is reaching Great Depression era standards.

You want to freeze spending, and freeze hiring? You really, really, truly want to stop the government from HIRING PEOPLE THAT NEED JOBS? Wow.

And oh, you want to stop regulation of the banks that got us into this mess in the first place. Double wow.

Here’s a newsflash: You can’t get something for nothing. You can’t take away health insurance and expect people to be able to contribute to a thriving economy. You can’t be a world leader when others are pushing ahead with green initiatives and we’re not giving companies the economic push they need to do it. You can’t have a healthy economy by taxing those that currently have no money and foreclosed mortgages. You can’t stop hiring people and expect your economy to grow. You can’t ensure this doesn’t happen again without some oversight into those who got us here in the first place, since they obviously can’t be trusted to read the signs themselves.

As you say yourselves: “In town halls and on public squares, in every corner of this country, people have gathered and spoken out – in small groups and larger crowds, through phone calls and in letters, through websites and new technologies.

Though these petitions come from different walks, their message is uniform: Washington has not been listening.”

Hey GOP, it’s time for you to listen.

An Argument Against Calling a Pot a Kettle

Before I begin this rant, remember that primaries are on Tuesday! Don’t forget to vote! And if you lean my way, live in Wisconsin and aren’t sure who to vote for, Fair Wisconsin Education Fund has put together a great list of LGBT-friendly politicians across Wisconsin! Check it out, and again, DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

Twin Towers Burning

Twin Towers Burning on 9/11, courtesy of encephalus.com

Over the last week, I’ve had several conversations with members of my age group about 9/11. It’s amazing that it’s been nine years since my parents, glued to the radio, tried to explain the importance of hijacked planes and burning buildings to my baffled 13-year-old self. (I was home-schooled. No TV for me.) And most of my friends and I, discussing 9/11 in bars and between classes and during smoke breaks, have agreed: we’ve moved on. It’s a tragedy, and one we will never forget, but the world has continued to turn. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Airport security is still a bitch. We voted in a half-black man whose middle name is Hussein, for chrissake. We just want him to help us find a job.

Except midterm elections have appeared and, since the economy isn’t going to revive itself in the next 2 months, politicians and the media need something, anything else to talk about. Cue the “Terror Mosque.” Cue some guy in Florida holding “International Burn a Koran Day.” Cue the Tea Party Movement. Cue a 24-hour news cycle. Cue an over-flowing of intolerance. And here we are.

Now before I begin talking about the complete difference between the Park51 site, a debate with some actual merit, and an idiot with a handlebar mustache making Christians and Americans look intolerant and uneducated, let me acknowledge how much all this intolerance makes sense. Not logical sense, but in the sense of two wars draining our resources, a government and media that have scared the spit out of gullible Americans about terrorism, more failed terrorism attempts (think Times Square and the Underwear Bomb), and most of all, a failing economy. America is tired. America is scared. America just wants someone to blame, because honestly, we’re still not sure how we got here in the first place. Republicans can’t blame Bush, Democrats can’t yet fully turn on Obama, Independents are blaming everyone. So let’s blame the people that started this mess in the first place by disrupting our happy economy and lives and killing over 2,000 innocent people: Muslims.

Now I fully understand the inaccuracy of that last sentence. But put short and sweet, it makes sense, doesn’t it?

Now, on to the difference between Park51 and Pastor Terry Jones.

International Burn A Koran Day

International Burn A Koran Day sign, courtesy of the NYT

In case you’ve been living without technology, human contact, or any interest in America for the last few months, a man in Gainesville, FL with a ridiculous handlebar mustache proclaimed that “Islam is evil” and he has a right to burn the Koran because it’s “full of lies.” (I reserve the right to burn his pamphlets for the same reason.) The media picked it up and suddenly Mr. Jones caused a giant stir, causing even President Obama to call him off, and inciting riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan complete with burning effigies. Intolerance at it’s height.

But here’s the thing about Mr. Jones and his 50 fundamentalist parishioners. While they obviously need to learn about the Koran, it’s origins, and the common tie between Islam and Christianity, they’re well within their rights to burn the Islamic Holy Book, (assuming the city granted their burning permit, which it didn’t). If you can burn a flag, you can burn a Koran. They’re allowed free speech just like the rest of America. The End.

To me, they proved a point they weren’t trying to make. Namely, that just as Terry Jones doesn’t speak for all Christians, the members of Al-Qaeda don’t speak for all Muslims. The world mourned with us during 9/11. And that includes Middle Eastern countries.

Well, you’d think that would be the point. But looking to the Park51 site, it’s obvious that most people haven’t thought about it that way, though some, like those in Gainesville, have. Instead, somehow Terry Jones has become equated with a supposed mosque site by Ground Zero. Which really just makes the whole thing worse. It’s legitimate, at least in some ways, for people to worry about having a mosque so close to the site of a horrific tragedy caused by Islamic extremists. It becomes less legitimate when this worry is associated with people like Terry Jones. Now even those actually concerned with the feelings of the 9/11 survivors just look like, how to put this, intolerant blanking blanks. The two should NOT be compared!

Does that mean that every single person complaining about the Park51 site is just concerned about hurt feelings? Absolutely not. Many do think just like Terry Jones. Case in point: the site is not just a mosque, but part of an entire community center complete with a pool, and somehow that gets neglected a lot.

But it’s an important debate to have within our nation, and one long coming. Can we finally begin to put aside the suspicion, the fear, the us vs. them mentality, or are we going to make some of our citizens move their place of worship to a less unsettling arena? The answer remains to be seen. But I believe Park51, if built on the planned site, could give people a chance to see that building a mosque, along with a pool and community center, will not blow up New York City. Neither will it in any way endanger our right to pursue life, liberty and a thriving economy.

Instead it will provide construction jobs, give neighborhood kids a place to play and learn life skills, and offer some of our citizens a place to worship the God of Abraham in the manner they see fit. As they did in the World Trade Center and the Twin Towers. As is their right.

Disagree with me? Want to offer another opinion? Have better links than I do? Comment below!


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Taking Flight in Turkey

December 10, 2015

Today marks an historic occasion for the Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company (LHTEC) and the CTS800 engine in Turkey.  Turkish Aerospace Industries and LHTEC, a 50-50 partnership between Honeywell and Rolls-Royce, have signed an agreement to supply CTS800 turboshaft engines for the Turkish Light Utility Helicopter (TLUH).  The deal, which confirms a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year at Paris Air Show, consists of a five-year development program to integrate and certify the CTS800-4AT engine model for the TLUH programme.

As part of this exciting agreement LHTEC plans to industrialize production and maintenance of the engine in Turkey, boosting the Turkish aerospace market by providing local opportunities for manufacturing and depot repair.  Specifically this will see local assembly, parts manufacturing, inspection and test and depot repair capability established for the CTS800 engine in Turkey.

The CTS800 will provide the TLUH with a well proven and familiar engine, which is already powering the T129 ATAK helicopter currently in use with the Turkish Land Forces.  The high performing, fuel efficient engine extends mission range and payload, meaning helicopters can fly further, faster and more efficiently especially in hot and high environments.

Commenting on the deal, Daryl Mastin, President LHTEC said, “For TAI’s new locally developed helicopter, the LHTEC CTS800 engine is a clear choice thanks to its proven capabilities in the most challenging environments.”  He went on to say, “The synergy between the ATAK and TLUH fleets will allow for greater efficiency in logistics, maintenance and familiarity for engineers, with a streamlined support network compared with other engines on the market.”

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Afternoon Tea Online

Afternoon Tea in Leicestershire

The county of Leicestershire has a renowned heritage in cuisine, with Stilton, Red Leicester cheese and the pork pie amongst the most notable complements to English (and worldwide) cuisine. Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered marketplace in the whole of Europe and the annual East Midlands Food & Drink Festival (held in Melton Mowbray, home of the pork pie) is the largest regional food festival in the UK.

There is a long list of famous people associated with the county. Biddy Baxter, the former editor of long-running BBC programme Blue Peter, was born in Leicester. Perhaps most well known are Richard and David Attenborough, who both spent their formative years at University College in Leicester. A rich tradition of broadcasting and journalism is complemented by associations with Julian Barnes, Sue Townsend, Gok Wan and David Icke among others. Most famously of all, the reburial of King Richard III in March 2015 attracted worldwide media coverage.

Places to take Afternoon Tea in Leicestershire

Find Leicestershire afternoon tea venues on the map below. Click on any icon to view details.


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Slicing seismic arrays

Scientific computing is largely made up of doing linear algebra on matrices, and then visualizing those matrices for their patterns and signals. It's a fundamental concept, and there is no better example than a 3D seismic volume.

Seeing in geoscience, literally

Digital seismic data is nothing but an array of numbers, decorated with header information, sorted and processed along different dimensions depending on the application.

In Python, you can index into any sequence, whether it be a string, list, or array of numbers. For example, we can index into the fourth character (counting from 0) of the word 'geoscience' to select the letter 's':

>>> word = 'geosciences'
>>> word[3]

Or, we can slice the string with the syntax word[start:end:step] to produce a sub-sequence of characters. Note also how we can index backwards with negative numbers, or skip indices to use defaults:

>>> word[3:-1]  # From the 4th character to the penultimate character.
>>> word[3::2]  # Every other character from the 4th to the end.

Seismic data is a matrix

In exactly the same way, we index into a multi-dimensional array in order to select a subset of elements. Slicing and indexing is a cinch using the numerical library NumPy for crunching numbers. Let's look at an example... if data is a 3D array of seismic amplitudes:

timeslice = data[:,:,122] # The 122nd element from the third dimension.
inline = data[30,:,:]     # The 30th element from the first dimension.
crossline = data[:,60,:]  # The 60th element from the second dimension.

Here we have sliced all of the inlines and crosslines at a specific travel time index, to yield a time slice (left). We have sliced all the crossline traces along an inline (middle), and we have sliced the inline traces along a single crossline (right). There's no reason for the slices to remain orthogonal however, and we could, if we wished, index through the multi-dimensional array and extract an arbitrary combination of all three.

Questions involving well logs (a 1D matrix), cross sections (2D), and geomodels (3D) can all be addressed with the rigours of linear algebra and digital signal processing. An essential step in working with your data is treating it as arrays.

View the notebook for this example, or get the get the notebook from GitHub and play with around with the code.

Sign up!

If you want to practise slicing your data into bits, and other power tools you can make, the Agile Geocomputing course will be running twice in the UK this summer. Click one of the buttons below to buy a seat.

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Behind the scenes: shooting the video for ‘Arena’

July 25, 2012 § Leave a comment

On the 4th of July two things close to my heart materialized: the Higgs boson and the video for the upcoming single ‘Arena’. Kristian, who originally helped me compose ‘Arena’ and is singing the backing vocals, was home from New York for the Roskilde Festival, so we hijacked him for the video. Snap. The dancers Elematronics (Maria Miz Gold Guldmann & Julie Joules Kunz) did a spot on choreography and dance for the video, we were blown away. These girls are so young and have a great future ahead of them. Talk about talent.

The video was shot at photographer Bo Egestrøm’s studio in Copenhagen. We felt like kids in a candy store. Bo had everything we needed and he is just awesome.

Tommy did an amazing job directing and shooting, staying cool, calm and creative all day. Elematronics aka Maria & Julie, runner Gustav.

The tools of the brilliant and lovely makeup artist Dana Mario.

Don’t smile to the camera.

Kristian and Firebird.

Black or blue? Blue or black? Testing colours on Gustav before they end up on me.

Cake break.

Elematronics doing their magic. These girls rock.

It’s a wrap because the makeup is a mess.

Me and one of my favorite instruments, the jew’s harp. Just a little show-off for a dear friend of mine.

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yes Executive Inn Giddings 4.5 49.95 USD
yes Ramada - Giddings 5.2 63.00 USD
yes Americas Best Value Inn & Suites 14.7 54.49 USD
yes Days Inn Bastrop 16.0 48.70 USD
no Super 8 Bastrop Tx 16.8 46.74 USD
no Best Western Plus La Grange Inn And Suites 18.1 95.00 USD
no Hampton Inn La Grange 18.4 105.00 USD
yes La Grange Executive Inn and Suites 19.0 65.00 USD
yes River Valley Motor Inn 19.1 59.00 USD
no Tropicana Motel 21.1 49.99 USD
yes Bastrop Inn 21.3 57.95 USD
yes Quality Inn Bastrop 21.4 59.00 USD
no Hampton Inn And Suites Bastrop 21.5 101.15
yes Comfort Suites Bastrop 21.6 80.00 USD
no Holiday Inn Express Bastrop 21.6 95.00 USD
no Best Western Bastrop Pines Inn 22.8 74.99 USD
no Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Elgin 26.2 103.06 USD
yes Lost Pines RV Park 26.2 65.99 USD
no Sunset Lodge of Elgin 27.1 59.00 USD
yes Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort 28.5 110.00 USD
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Casher talks official visit

Joshua Casher, four-star center from St. Paul's Episcopal School in Mobile, Ala., talked of the experience in Tuscaloosa for the official visit this past weekend.

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Download Data for Export Price Index (Harmonized System): Machines to harvest, thresh, mow, sort, and clean fruit, and parts (DISCONTINUED)" (ID8433)

Select or enter vintage dates to download data for this series that actually existed on those past dates in history. In general, economic data for past observation periods are revised as more accurate estimates become available. Entering vintage dates allows you to retrieve past revisions of economic data that were actually available as of specific dates.

Read Download Data Help for more information about the options on this form. Note that files may take a while to download depending on the number of observations and vintage dates.

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Saudi Arabia dangles lucrative arms deal in front of Russia in exchange for dropping Assad (RT- 07/08/2013)

Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to buy arms worth up to $15 billion from Russia, and provided a raft of economic and political concessions to the Kremlin – all in a bid to weaken Moscow’s endorsement of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The diplomatic initiatives were anonymously voiced to Reuters by multiple Gulf state diplomats and senior leaders of the Syrian opposition, in the wake of last week’s meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi National Security Council chief Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. The Saudi politician has orchestrated his country’s foreign policy in recent months. « Bandar offered to intensify energy, military and economic cooperation with Moscow, » a senior Syrian opposition figure told Reuters.

« Bandar sought to allay two main Russian fears: that Islamist extremists will replace Assad, and that Syria would become a conduit for Gulf, mainly Qatari, gas at the expense of Russia. »

The $15 billion figure was touted by a representative of the anti-Assad opposition, which Saudi Arabia has strongly backed throughout the rebellion in Syria which has lasted more than two years. Meanwhile, a Gulf source claimed that no specific figure was involved.

Moscow and Riyadh, which traditionally acquires its arms from the United States, have had a massive contract on ice since 2008. Under Saudi Arabia’s terms, Russia would supply a huge assortment of equipment, including 150 T-90 tanks and more than 100 attack helicopters.

In the past, Moscow has supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to Assad, as well as maintained a naval base in Syria. Together with China, it has consistently blocked UN Security Council resolutions, saying they do not place any demands on the opposition – only on Assad. Sources indicate that Bandar asked Putin to not oppose any future Security Council resolutions on Syria.

Bandar also reportedly assured Putin that Gulf states will not challenge Russia’s dominant position in the European gas markets, and promised him that extremist Islamic forces – which have gained prominence in the conflict – will not attempt to monopolize power in a future Syrian state.

While diplomats involved in the talks described them as “inconclusive,” one Lebanese emissary close to the delegation said its Saudi members were “elated.”

A Western diplomat told Reuters that Russia’s position was more a matter of prestige and geopolitics, and that the country was unlikely to publicly back down for the sake of mere economic incentives.

There has been no comment from the Kremlin on the outcome of the visit, other than to say that the delegates discussed a “wide range of issues” with President Putin.

A long-scheduled peace conference in Geneva, proposed by Russia and the US, has been pushed back and is currently under threat of cancellation. The meeting was supposed to achieve an immediate ceasefire and govern a political transition in Syria.

The conflict has largely hinged on whether President Bashar Assad will be banned from playing any political role in post-conflict Syria – a condition the opposition has demanded before it sits down at the negotiating table.

More than 100,000 people have perished in the conflict, according to UN estimates.

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Drood Inquiry

Here are some pictures I was commissioned to produce for the Drood Inquiry, an interactive website based around Charles Dickens’s final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. There are character portraits, objects of importance and a 6 installment comic which aims to summarise the story. Read more about The Drood Inquiry here: http://droodinquiry.com/ and on this blog too:  http://cloisterhamtales.wordpress.com/

Characters from Droodobjectslow

developmentPart One WEBPart Two WEBpart 3 WEBpart 4 WEBpart 5 WEBpart 6 WEB

poss logo copy

I was asked to talk about illustrating Drood at the Drood conference at Senate House. We had a lot of the illustrations set up, so it looked a little bit like an incident room at a police station. It felt like an appropriate setting in which to try and solve the mystery of Edwin’s murder (or was it…?!).2014-09-20 18.12.362014-09-20 09.28.23All Work (C) Alys Jones 2014

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Swagger Wagon

We’ve officially joined the “Swagger Wagon” club, and I couldn’t be happier!  Nick and I have had our eye on the Honda Odyssey minivan for a few years now.  Over Christmas, we told Nick’s aunt and uncle from Minnesota about our dream car, and that’s all it took to launch Uncle Dave into his search for the perfect van for us.  Once we found out we were pregnant with baby #2, we called Uncle Dave and Auntie Grace and shared the news with them by asking them to pick up their search because we would be needing the extra space sooner than expected.  Well, Uncle Dave took us seriously, and within a few weeks, found us a great van at a great price in Minneapolis (their hometown).  Unfortunately, this was during a really busy time at work for both Nick and me so we were unable to fly up there to see or purchase the van.  Yep, that’s right.  We bought the van without ever seeing it!  AND…my in-laws flew up to Minnesota and drove it home for us.  We are so very blessed!  We’ve had the van for almost a month, and I. LOVE. IT.  Reuben is in heaven riding in the van.  He loves being able to climb into his own seat, and have room to stretch his legs.  The DVD player is a great addition too, although we’re currently in negotiations as to how much it will be utilized while driving around town.  I’m looking forward to having it for long road trips, though!

This is a stock photo, but our van looks exactly like this 🙂

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UKIP Resignation

As it is likely that I will be taking up a new post later this month I have resigned my membership of UKIP. I stand for anti-corruption whereas UKIP are corrupt to the core, further evidence of which I have received recently from various Yorkshire UKIP branches.

Andy Strangeway UKIP Membership Card

Further Information

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[HorribleSubs] Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon - 01 [720p].mkv

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Apes and Evolution Combo

Featuring Dr. David Menton
List Price: $25.98
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  • Format: Pack
  • Dimensions: 5.25" x 7.5"
  • Technicality: Layman
  • Ages: 12 and up
  • Publisher: Answers in Genesis
  • Published: 2014
  • SKU: 90-7-708
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This combo features Dr. Menton as he uses practical illustrations and enjoyable wit to speak on the feasiblity of both evolution and the transition from apes to humans.

What’s Included $26 value

  • Evolution: Not a Chance

    Using practical illustrations, popular scientist Dr. David Menton captivates viewers with fascinating illusions as he explains that evolution doesn't stand a chance when compared to the truth of science, and most importantly, God's Word.

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  • Three Ways to Make an Ape Man

    Only the award-winning Dr. David Menton can take a human skeleton and a table covered with skulls, and immediately make them fun for the average home-schooler. With his trademark witt, this world-class anatomist debunks popular ape-to-man skull restorations. See "hard evidence" that confirms the truth of the Bible. We are NOT evolved apes!

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How To Make a Lush Floral Centerpiece

by Meg Keene, CEO & Editor-In-Chief

As I told you when I did my own wedding flowers, creating full floral centerpieces is a Project. It’s not that centerpieces are hard, it’s that there are many of them (unlike a bridal bouquet, where you have, at max, two). So if you’re undertaking this project: A) Get help (and realize you may need some quality control), B) Allot time for it, and C) Do your bouquets first, because chances are you care more about them.

If you remember a million years ago (ok, two months ago) when we did the wild floral bouquet, the key to making these arrangements is to have a whole bunch of different types of florals (think six to ten types). We bought the flowers from the San Francisco Flower Mart, so we could have access to as big a selection of flowers as possible. We selected flowers all in the same color story, with a wide variety of textures. But if you’re going to use a variety of colors, keep the textures similar. Remember to always select a few highlight flowers from across the color wheel to make your main colors stand out and not fade together.

First focus on the middle: create the height that you want, with a mix of florals. Don’t worry about making it perfect, or filling it in. Then, move to the edge. Create a line of flowers dripping over the edge (hint: select some drippy flowers at the flower market). Then start placing some filler among the brighter flowers. Once you’ve set up this structure fill in the flowers (and have fun… it’s flowers, not a midterm).

Walk around the arrangement and make sure it looks good from all sides. Then BAM, lady friend, you rocked it. Don’t let anyone convince you that this is way too hard for you. It’s not, but it may take a little bit of time (and possibly a tiny bit of practice). But man, the results are lovely.

Photos by Emily Takes Photos, Crafting by Elizabeth of Lowe House Events, Graphic Design by Michelle Edgemont

Meg Keene

Meg is the Founder and EIC of APW. She has written two best selling wedding books: A Practical Wedding and A Practical Wedding Planner. Meg has her BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two children. For more than you ever wanted to know about Meg, you can visit #NASTY

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  • ooh i love this. i was thinking about doing our centerpieces, but sometimes it’s just better to pay someone to ease my burden, ya know? but thanks for the tutorial for the future! :)

    • meg

  • Hannah

    That is super, SUPER pretty!!! It makes me almost second guess the very simple centerpieces that we’re doing (mirror base, 3 sizes of cylinder vases (mostly from the dollar store, whoop!), with silk flowers floating inside, topped with floating candles) because that centerpiece is GORGEOUS.

    • meg

      But yours are easy and cheap. Stop second guessing!!

    • MDBethann

      I agree with Meg – stop second guessing yourself. If you come up with an idea you love, go with it. Early on I came up with the idea of combining my favors with my centerpieces – I used small, foil wrapped potted (a mix of various perennials and annuals in various colors) plants, one for each couple. I used florist tridents to hold the placecards containing the table assignments. Guess what? Everyone took their favor, they were comparatively green, and can all be used at home. It didn’t hurt that the restaurant had mirrors and candle goblets in the center of the table, but working with my local nursery allowed me to rather inexpensively bring the May garden into my reception without a lot of work.

      It was my first idea, I loved it and stuck with it. It’s your wedding – do what you like and what works for you!

  • The older posts on Meg’s experience doing all her own flowers were part of my inspiration to do my own, and my evidence that it was not a stupid idea, no matter how much my grandmother (and sometimes my mother) doubted it would work. And it was totally worth it. So that’s why this part of this post is my favorite:

    “Don’t let anyone convince you that this is way too hard for you. It’s not, but it may take a little bit of time (and possibly a tiny bit of practice). But man, the results are lovely.”

  • We kept it real simple and did fake flowers with a mix of dried flowers (we used dried oregano stalks, which smelled delicious!)…my mom bought vases and bowls months in advance, and did the whole flower foam thing, made the arrangements, and stuck them in my bedroom with a plastic covering until we were ready! They looked gorgeous, and best part: they didn’t die, they were ready to go, and we gave each woman in the family a vase full of my wedding flowers to take home! No loss of money there.

    For my bouquet, and my sisters, we took hydrangeas from my aunt’s house, and the night before the wedding, bunched them up into a bouquet, fastened them with gardening tape, and ribbon, stuck them in the fridge overnight…and they were ready!

    But, also…I didn’t care as much about the flowers. I handed the job over to my mom, mostly. I just didn’t want to waste any money on flowers that would die!

    • rys

      Dried herbs — what a great idea!

  • This is gorgeous.

    My sister and her best friend did our centerpieces. She was in London for gradschool until 3 weeks before the wedding so her one responsibility, besides getting a dress, was to pick up antique metal pitchers and other containers to use as centerpieces. They were smallish so we used two or three with some candles to fill the center of the table, but their small size made them much less intimidating to complete and their different shapes and sizes lent to different heights easily. Our florist picked up the flowers for us in bulk since there was no mart near us and she helped us figure out that you always need more than you think. It took them about two hours to put them all together and they looked freaking amazing.

    • “You always need more than you think” – yes! I ended up feeling like I wanted more actual arrangements as well as more flowers in each one. No big deal, since they were still lovely and worked really well with the simple, classic look I was going for, but I would have more if I could do it over.

    • Jen

      good advice. will try to remember this when panic mode and/or wedding zen has set in the day before the wedding!! :)

  • carrie

    LOVE. That is all.

  • Leslie

    Stunning! Love the basket as the container. Really wishing we had a flower market on the scale of San Francisco here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

  • Sharon L

    My husband and I helped our friends with their flowers (7 bouquets and 20 centerpieces). They bought daisies and other variety bouquets at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, and Thursday before the wedding 5 of us rocked out the flowers. The centerpieces were just mason jars, stones from Home Depot, and random flowers. The bouquets were also simple but lovely. I definitely used the APW Trader Joe’s bouquet tutorial as a reference! I don’t think it would have been possible without all the manpower, but DIY flowers turn out wonderfully if you have the time and labor available.

    • meg

      God, depending on the season, LOVE ME some Trader Joes flowers. So affordable and often a killer selection.

  • Jade

    These are beautiful! We are planning on using classic board games and card games as centerpieces for the tables, but I may have to make a few of these for the side tables…

  • “It’s flowers, not a midterm.”

  • Rachel

    Thanks for telling us that doing your own flowers is possible. Your experience gave me the courage to do mine (despite my mum’s horror) and they turned out awesome. It was the thing I chose to do just for me in the wedding, and it helped me get through the not-so-fun parts!

  • I did my own flowers (times ~15 tables- who remembers?!, 1 bridal bouquet, 1 wrist corsage, 2 BM bouquets, 1 FG bouquet and maybe 7 bouts). I had awesome helpers in my mom and a family friend who arranges flowers (for competitions! for fun!) and wins gardening awards. It wasn’t hard, it was just time consuming. I seriously was the first one ready to go to the wedding, sitting there in full hair and makeup, wrapping stems.

    The $0.02 I’d add to the about tutorial is that you want to soak the floral foam for at least a day, two is better. It will make your arrangements last longer and avoid any sloshy water.

  • julia murphy

    This arrangement is just beautiful…I love the casual style. What are the names of the different flowers that you used. I love the weepy ones as well as the filler flowers..but I would have to order the flowers through a wholesale market. Thanks!!!! I’m going to try to make one!!

  • jessica

    These look absolutely amazing–how far before the wedding can you put these together?

  • Dea

    So here’s a question. If you don’t live by the San Francisco Flower Mart (and I wish I did), where do you get your flowers? I’m in Atlanta, and I’ve looked at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, two grocery stores, and the Dekalb Farmer’s Market, and NONE of them have the cool, different, (and trendy) flowers I love looking at. Mostly it’s roses, carnations, those little lily looking things, baby’s breath, gerbera daisies….sometimes tulips… kinda standard stuff. Is that just how it is? Or is there some other option I’m missing?

    Oh, I should mention, I am having a tiny wedding and only need enough for me and my partner’s bouquets, not a whole shebang, so ordering from a flower wholesaler online doesn’t really make sense.

    • Suzy

      You might have luck at an independent flower farm, depending on the time of year. Here are some in Georgia:

      They will often let you come and pick your own or they’ll get some buckets ready for you. I wanted to do this but we ended up using a florist for everything due to parent anxiety.

  • What a beautiful floral centerpiece – and in purple – my favorite color!

    I also have a great DIY centerpiece project I would love to share.

    It shows you step by step How to Arrange Flowers on a Candelabra (you know those candle holders that hold lots of candles)

    I would love to give ‘A Practical Wedding’ fans a FREE copy of this DIY e-book

    Can you tell me where I can submit the link so they can download it?

  • I love thiscenterpieces ideas.this centerpieces definitely play an important role at every occasion such as weddings. It’s the best way to send your heartfelt gratitude to your guests for being a part of your special day. Giving them something that can remind them of you and your partner will surely make them happy.
    By the by, thank you for this nice post.


text:
Tiny Transistors for Extreme Environs

U Engineers Shrink Plasma Devices to Resist Radiation

March 20, 2014 – University of Utah electrical engineers fabricated the smallest plasma transistors that can withstand high temperatures and ionizing radiation found in a nuclear reactor. Such transistors someday might enable smartphones that take and collect medical X-rays on a battlefield, and devices to measure air quality in real time.

“These plasma-based electronics can be used to control and guide robots to conduct tasks inside the nuclear reactor,” says Massood Tabib-Azar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Microplasma transistors in a circuit can also control nuclear reactors if something goes wrong, and also could work in the event of nuclear attack.”

A study of the new transistors by Tabib-Azar and electrical engineering doctoral student Pradeep Pai appears online Thursday, March 20 in the journal IEEE Electron Device Letters, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The study was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Transistors are the workhorses of the electronics industry. They control how electricity flows in devices and act as a switch or gate for electronic signals. Billions of transistors are typically fabricated as individual but connected components on a single computer chip. The most commonly used type of transistor is called a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, or MOSFET.

Transistors control the flow of electrical charge through a silicon channel using an electric field to turn the transistor on or off, similar to a valve with the electric field as its control knob and electric charge as its current flow. Silicon-based transistors are a crucial component in modern electronics, but they fail above 550 degrees Fahrenheit – the temperature at which nuclear reactors typically operate.

Plasma-based transistors, which use charged gases or plasma to conduct electricity at extremely high temperatures, are employed currently in light sources, medical instruments and certain displays under direct sunlight (but not plasma TVs, which are different). These microscale devices are about 500 microns long, or roughly the width of five human hairs. They operate at more than 300 volts, requiring special high-voltage sources. Standard electrical outlets in the United States operate at 110 volts.

The new devices designed by the University of Utah engineers are the smallest microscale plasma transistors to date. They measure 1 micron to 6 microns in length, or as much as 500 times smaller than current state-of-the-art microplasma devices, and operate at one-sixth the voltage. They also can operate at temperatures up to 1,450 degrees Fahrenheit. Since nuclear radiation ionizes gases into plasma, this extreme environment makes it easier for plasma devices to operate.

“Plasmas are great for extreme environments because they are based on gases such as helium, argon and neon that can withstand high temperatures,” says Tabib-Azar. “This transistor has the potential to start a new class of electronic devices that are happy to work in a nuclear environment.”

A conventional transistor is made with two active layers, one on top of the other. Electricity flows through one of the layers, called the channel. The other layer, called the gate, controls current flowing in the channel. If sufficient voltage is applied to the gate, the transistor turns on.

For the new study, Tabib-Azar and Pai deposited layers of a metal alloy to form the gate on a 4-inch glass wafer. A layer of silicon then was deposited on top of the gate.

Unlike typical transistors, the Utah microplasma transistor “channel” is an air gap that conducts ions and electrons from the plasma once a voltage is applied. To achieve this unique design, the team etched away portions of the silicon film using a chemically reactive gas. This etching process leaves behind cavities and empty spaces to form the transistor’s channel and expose the gate underneath. The channel tested in this new study was 2 microns wide and 10 microns long, and helium was used as the plasma source.

“Although the length scales are much smaller here, we came up with an innovative way to make these structures three-dimensional,” Tabib-Azar says. “We are currently connecting these devices to form logic gates and computing circuits that we will test in our experimental nuclear reactor at the University of Utah, a facility not found in most other universities.”

Traditional MOSFETs require metal to connect circuits, says Tabib-Azar, but the Utah microplasma devices will use a plasma-based connection to enable communication. As a result, these circuits will only be operational when powered up and will disappear otherwise, making them suitable for defense applications.

These plasma devices could also be used as an X-ray imaging source in the next five years, says Tabib-Azar. Because the device dimensions are so small, X-ray images from a wounded soldier in the field could be collected on a smartphone equipped with transistors that also generate the X-rays, says Tabib-Azar.

In another five years, the devices could be used to detect and identify aerosol pollutants based on the color emitted when the substance passes through the device. “These chemical sensing devices could be used to quantitatively monitor air quality in real time and enable researchers to construct an accurate air-quality map,” he adds.

In the nearer-term, these new transistors could be used to generate X-rays to draw fine lines in silicon to pattern microscale devices for the electronics industry. With this new X-ray technique, Tabib-Azar says, “you can do the same thing you would with laser printing, but instead you can use these tiny X-ray sources to print on a silicon wafer. This gives engineers the ability to do X-ray lithography without having to use very heavy lenses and X-ray beam shaping devices.”

Media Contacts For This Story

professor of electrical and computer engineering
Office Phone: 801-581-8775
Email address: azar.m@utah.edu
senior communications and marketing officer, University of Utah College of Engineering
Office Phone: 801-587-9038
Cell Phone: 213-400-5815


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Scientific Method —

Surprise virus in child mummy unravels thousands of years of disease history

The oldest sample of smallpox is younger than we thought, bucking ancient reports.

From the pockmarked mummified pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the epic triumph of complete global eradication, smallpox had a remarkable history. But that lengthy history may be in for a massive revision, thanks to a little mummy found in the crypt of a Lithuanian church.

The mummy, thought to be of a child between the ages of two and four who died sometime between 1643 and 1665, teemed with the genetic remains of the bygone virus. That smallpox DNA was the oldest ever found—yet it was quite young, evolutionarily speaking. In fact, genetic analysis of the preserved smallpox blueprints, published Thursday in Current Biology, suggests that smallpox is just hundreds of years old, not millennia as many had thought. The finding stands to rewrite the virus' storied past.

Reports of blistering, puss-packed rashes have speckled historical records for thousands of years. The dimpled pharaohs and spotted plagues in China during the 4th century were considered proof that the smallpox virus—aka Variola—plagued humankind for a long, long time. Smallpox caused massive outbreaks throughout Europe in the 17th century and devastated populations in the New World. But, in 1796, it became the first disease for which there was a vaccine. And in 1979, smallpox was declared the first—and still only—infectious disease of humans to be globally eradicated. (Rinderpest, an infectious disease of cattle and some other animals, has also been eradicated.)

The latter part of smallpox's history is still solid, thankfully. But the ancient past may crumble to dust.

The study in Current Biology, led by researchers at McMaster University in Canada, came to the historically startling conclusion by piecing together the entire, crumbling genome of the virus collected from the Lithuanian mummy's skin—which was not pocked, oddly. To their surprise, the smallpox of the mid 17th century looked very similar to smallpox from the 20th.

The researchers next created an evolutionary family tree of the old smallpox with 42 younger relatives, plus ancient ancestors. (The other smallpox strains had been sequenced previously for research purposes from preserved isolates.) The tree revealed the pace at which the smallpox virus evolved. Knowing that rate, the researchers calculated backward to figure out when smallpox first came into existence, pegging the killer's birth to sometime between 1530 and 1654.

That's just in time for it to cause the large outbreaks in Europe during the 17th century and wreak havoc in the New World. But 1530 is long, long time after the Chinese reports and the scarred pharaohs. The authors argue that these ancient cases could easily have been misidentified cases of other rash-causing diseases.

In a press statement, co-author Henrik Poinar, the director of the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster, said:

So now that we have a timeline, we have to ask whether the earlier documented historical evidence of smallpox, which goes back to Ramses V and includes everything up to the 1500s, is real. Are these indeed real cases of smallpox or are these misidentifications, which we know is very easy to do, because it is likely possible to mistake smallpox for chickenpox and measles?

To settle the issue, more research is necessary, of course. In particular, Poinar and his colleagues hope to track down when exactly in the 16th or 17th century smallpox appeared in humans and from where it came. A variety of pox viruses circulate in animals, but it’s unclear which one jumped to humans and what animal it was in before.

Current Biology, 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.061 (About DOIs).

This post originated on Ars Technica

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Technology Lab —

Zune HD promo videos posted early, 3D gaming is a go

Seven Zune HD videos were posted early and one of them shows a glipse of the …

The Zune HD release is two days away, and yet there are still final details trickling in. Over the weekend, Buy TV posted six Zune HD promotional videos and a Zune HD commercial. The videos have already been taken down, likely at Microsoft's request, but not before they were grabbed and reuploaded at various sites like YouTube. The most important detail revealed is in the Portable Perfection commercial (it doesn't look like something that would air on TV though, so maybe it's meant for the official website?). At around the 30 second mark, you catch a quick view of what appears to be a racing title as the narrator notes the ability to play games on the device.

As you can see in the screenshot above, it's pretty clear that the Zune HD will have 3D gaming capabilities. Remember all the rumors about a portable gaming device from Microsoft that started in 2006 and just never seemed to die off? Well, three years later we're finally getting a (first?) taste. To get a glimpse of the action yourself, check out the ad embedded below:

The good guys over at Neowin snatched and posted the other six videos on their YouTube account:

Most of what is shown in these videos we've already seen before, but you can catch glimpses of apps, the new Zune Marketplace, and other goodies here and there.

Last week, Microsoft confirmed that it currently had no plans to release the Zune HD outside of the US despite previous indications of an international launch. Earlier this month, the software giant announced that all the remaining Zunes (4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 80GB, and 120GB) were going the way of the dodo with the launch of the Zune HD this Tuesday in 16GB ($220) and 32GB ($290) flavors.

In June 2009, Redmond confirmed that the device would be powered by the Nvidia Tegra. Microsoft officially described the Zune HD in May 2009 as a multitouch device with a 16:9 OLED screen, Web browser, HD radio, and full support for 720p video through HDMI out.

Long before then, rumors were swirling about the device, and even until now certain aspects of the device were not confirmed. It's impressive for a huge company like Microsoft to keep parts of the Zune HD covered up for this long, and in doing so to keep the hype going right up until the very end.

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Condensed Matter > Quantum Gases

Title: Mott criticality and pseudogap in Bose-Fermi mixtures

Abstract: We study the Mott transition of a mixed Bose-Fermi system of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, where the number of (spinless) fermions and bosons adds up to one atom per lattice, n_F+n_B=1. For weak interactions, a Fermi surface coexists with a Bose-Einstein condensate while for strong interaction the system is incompressible but still characterized by a Fermi surface of composite fermions. At the critical point, the spectral function of the fermions, A(k,w), exhibits a pseudo-gapped behavior, rising as |w| at the Fermi momentum, while in the Mott phase it is fully gapped. Taking into account the interaction between the critical modes leads at very low temperatures either to p-wave pairing or the transition is driven weakly first order. The same mechanism should also be important in antiferromagnetic metals with a small Fermi surface.
Comments: 5 pages, 3 figures + supplementary material. Corrected typo in Eq. (7): added previously omitted term
Subjects: Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.235304
Cite as: arXiv:1205.4026 [cond-mat.quant-gas]
  (or arXiv:1205.4026v2 [cond-mat.quant-gas] for this version)

Submission history

From: Ehud Altman [view email]
[v1] Thu, 17 May 2012 20:00:02 GMT (214kb,D)
[v2] Fri, 20 Jul 2012 21:01:06 GMT (214kb,D)


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Questions about Mr. World 2016

Read NOW all frequently asked questions about Mr. World 2016.

Latest update on topic “Mr. World 2016” was on 22 July 2016 by Faith .

Overall quantity of recently asked Questions on this topic is (1).

Find the BEST Answers on #Mr. World 2016 Questions and share them with your friends.

Stay tuned and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

Who is Mr. World 2016?

Who is Mr. World 2016?

What do you know about a man who won the title of the Mr. World in 2016? You will be surprised to learn that he is the first man to win this award for his country. Read the article to learn more.

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Augustina's Technological Blog

Technology, Perl, Linux, and a Woman's perspective on the FOSS community

Archive for the ‘Conferences’ Category

Defcon 17 Schedule Posted (+overview of Defcon 16)

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I’m not really a “hacker” in the network security sense, nor am I really into network security.  I went to Defcon last year because a coworker who was planning to attend convinced me I would have fun.  I have other friends who attended in the past and enjoyed it.  I mentioned it to a few friends, they were interested, so we went!

I discovered that Defcon is not just for Internet Security Geeks!  There are different types of “hackers” not all of them computer related.  Defcon hosts a Lockpicking lounge and a Hardware Hacking lounge in addition to a variety of talks covering a variety of subjects, not all internet security related.
Read the rest of this entry »

Written by missaugustina

June 29, 2009 at 9:59 pm

LinuxFest Northwest 2007

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I went to linuxfest this past weekend and really had a great time.  I had volunteered to help out at the Ubuntu Lo-Co team table but they had it pretty well covered.  I think a Pacific Northwest Lo-Co is a bit broad since we’re too spread out to really meet.  Several people and groups in Seattle do use Ubuntu so I think it’s a shame there really isn’t a LUG or Seattle Ubuntu Lo-Co.  Being at the conference also, to me anyways, emphasized a need for a Linux Chix chapter in Seattle, and I might just have to revive it  (as if i don’t have enough on my plate already).

My favorite sessions were Copyright, XUL, One Laptop Per Child, and Asterisk.  A few big names had sponsored some events which made it fun – SecondLife, Google, and Pogo.  I’d really love to get involved with some game programming on OLPC, especially since they are using PyGame, but I have no idea where or how to get started, there wasn’t much info on their wiki.  XUL was neat as well as an alternative to Adobe’s Apollo/Air.  When I started playing around with the samples, however I realized it’s a mess.  Air is way easier to use out of the box and is better documented.  Hopefully Mozilla works to improve this because XUL could really be a decent Free alternative.

Written by missaugustina

May 2, 2007 at 5:58 pm


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GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No.6 - Claudio Abbado and BPO

Posted By: shmily
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No.6 - Claudio Abbado and BPO

Classical | APE | 310M | 2005

DG is continuing its prestigious series of Mahler symphonies with Claudio Abbado.

Mahler's Sixth is the symphony most praised by Mahlerians and a test for the listener's hi-fi! Sometimes titled the 'Tragic', it opens with a funeral march followed by music of energetic lyricism which Mahler described as a representation of his young wife.

The quick changes from extremely lyrical to deeply dramatic and violent music are a special feature of this symphony, as well as the unusual instrumentation and effects Mahler employed, including offstage cowbells, very deep bells, and in the last movement devastating 'hammer blows' intended to sound like an axe striking into wood.

The great Italian maestro’s return to his former Berlin orchestra in June of last year was obviously a momentous occasion — I wonder if the choice of Mahler’s Sixth was influenced by the fact that it is a Rattle speciality? — and this superlative account of the most tragic of the composer’s symphonies makes it clear that the Berliners were overjoyed to have him back. The conductor’s grave illness during the final years of his Berlin regime make this an apt choice, however: Abbado, like Mahler in this symphony, has stared into the jaws of death. There is defiant anger in the whiplash gait of the allegro energico opening march and mordant sardonic humour in the dance-of-death scherzo. These movements are separated by the serene and beautiful andante. Abbado brings a chamber music-like intimacy to the symphony’s great moments of repose, while the thrillingly sustained finale finds Abbado and the Berlin orchestra at the peak of their powers, devastating in the three “blows of fate” that punctuate this music of tragic conflict. No serious Mahlerian will want to miss this outstanding live performance.
Five stars, Times

Claudio Abbado’s return to Berlin last year was clearly a major event and, rather provocatively, he conducted music that is generally considered something of a speciality of his successor in the Berlin job, Simon Rattle. The BPO played for their old music director like people possessed, and in this of all symphonies such fervour reaps huge benefits. Mahler’s love song to his wife Alma has rarely sounded this glorious.

Berliner Philharmoniker/ Claudio Abbado

1. I. Allegro Energico, Ma Non Troppo Heftig, Aber Markig
2. II. Andante Moderato
3. III. Scharzo. Wuchtig
4. IV. Finale. Allegro Moderato/Allegro Energico
5. Applause

Part 1
Part 2


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Microsoft Azure Storage samples - cross platform quick starts and more

Опубликовано 22 сентября, 2016

Principal Program Manager, Azure Storage

Getting started with new technology can sometimes be complex and time consuming. Often it requires searching for the right getting started and operational guidance that include samples and posting questions on forums.

We at Azure Storage continue to strive to improve our end-user experiences to make it easy for you to discover and try out a sample in just 5 minutes. As part of this, we want to make our samples more easily discoverable, fully functional and community-friendly.Microsoft Azure Storage samples landing page

1. Discoverable: We now have a landing page with all the Azure Storage samples listed with per language GitHub repos. You can download the zip project file or fork the sample repo that you are interested in. Most of our Storage content pages either are already updated with or will be updated with relevant sample page links for you to easily pick up the sample, compile and experiment with. Beyond specifying either using the emulator or connecting to an Azure Storage account with your credentials, the code should just work.

2. Relevant: In the samples page (image on right), we initially focused on functional code samples for the most common Azure Storage usage scenarios for Blobs, Tables, Queues, and Files written in .NET, Java, Node.js, Python, C++, Ruby and PHP. These are already available for you to use right away!  Similarly, we have invested in functional samples in scripting /tooling options (Powershell, AzureCLI).

Following this, we plan to invest in creating a few scenario samples like data movement solutions, image upload from a mobile device, designing for high availability, client side encryption working across OS platforms and languages that light up the rich service and client library capabilities on Storage and at the same time showcase patterns and best practices. Also, as we build new features, we will do our best to keep these up to date so you can see your favorite new features in action.

Microsoft Azure Storage samples page

3. Open Source: Finally, the code is open source and is readily usable from GitHub to make it possible for community contributions to the samples repository. Simply propose your change and we will review the design and code then merge it in. You can help build new samples or keep these samples up to date as the client libraries and the service evolves.

As always, we are interested in your feedback so please let us know what you think by providing comments on this post. As you start leveraging individual samples, please provide actionable feedback in the GitHub repo and/or the comments in the azure storage documentation web page.

Go ahead, navigate to the Storage samples page, get started with the samples and explore how easy it is to build cloud applications on Storage!