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News Blog In-Depth Report: 40 Years Later, the Journey of Apollo 8 Still Inspires

On Dec. 21, 1968, Apollo 8 was launched on one of the greatest journeys in the history of human exploration.

Imagine If Columbus took only the Santa María, sans lifeboats, 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Unable to go ashore without landing craft, he circled it and recorded his observations in log books. Returning later with his three-ship flotilla to plant the flag would still be dramatic, but also a tad anticlimactic.

It's hard to believe that Apollo 8's voyage around the moon had originally been scheduled as a less audacious Earth-orbit mission to test the whole moonship "flotilla": the monstrous, still problem-prone Saturn 5 booster, along with the recently redesigned, and only once flown by astronauts Apollo command ship fashioned to carry a three-man crew round-trip from Earth to moon orbit in tandem with the lunar lander, which ferries two astronauts to and from the moon's surface.

In 1968 the command ship was ready, but the lander was behind schedule, and if NASA were to wait for it to test the whole system in Earth orbit before heading moonward, then the goal set by Pres. Kennedy of a landing there by the end of 1969 would be near impossible. Not only was the clock ticking, but also the CIA had informed the agency that it believed the Soviet Union was on the verge of launching cosmonauts on a moon mission.

In August 1968, NASA's Apollo Spacecraft Program Office manager, George Low, proposed making Apollo 8 a mission to circumnavigate the moon some 234,000 miles (376,585 kilometers) away. Working out the details in secret, the Apollo team realized they could do it and, while there, go into  orbit.

Orbiting made the stakes even higher: If a failure of the spacecraft's rocket engine left astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders stranded, NASA Administrator Jim Webb feared we would have "ruined the moon" for poets, lovers, and everyone who would look at the orb and know there were three dead astronauts circling there. And, if the new navigational, communication or reentry components had failed, the crew could have been lost in space or have burned up in Earth's atmosphere on returning home.

That year, public enthusiasm for manned spaceflight was as high as it ever would be, but a failure might have dampened enthusiasm, thereby slowing or even stopping the U.S. from fulfilling its attempt to fulfill Kennedy's goal.

Apollo 8 realized many firsts, including the first time human's had set their eyes on the moon's far side as well as the fastest astronauts (or, for that matter, anybody) had ever traveled—25,000, or 40,230 kilometers, per hour—through space and into Earth's atmosphere during reentry.

But what stands out for many is that it was also the first time people back on Earth had been able to see their world as a sphere floating in the pitch-black void of space. The iconic Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photo taken over the lunar horizon is credited with inspiring global environmental consciousness and the cultural viewpoint of our world as a unique and extremely fragile planet that must be preserved.

What started as a gamble became one of humanity's greatest moments in exploration—and a public relations coup for NASA. Not only that, but people needed a moment like this in a year like 1968—one shattered by antiwar and race riots; the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy; as well as war, both hot and cold.

So, there it was, just what the doctor ordered: On Christmas Eve, pajama-clad kids who normally would be looking skyward for eight tiny reindeer were glued to their TV sets, along with an estimated half a billion people around the world, gaping at the moon's surface hurtling by just 69 miles (111 kilometers) away and listening to awe-inspired astronauts who read Genesis and sent yuletide greetings to "all of you on the good Earth"—the same good Earth they had seen on their black-and-white TVs as a fuzzy, cloud-veiled, gibbous globe, like they had never seen it before. Small wonder then that when Frank Borman got back, someone had sent him a message: "Thanks for saving 1968."

For more on Apollo 8, see our In-Depth Report. NASA's Christmas Eve "Genesis" transmission video is here.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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2013: a round-up of wrap-ups

When we return to a new year in school and approach the customary looking back and thinking forward rituals, here are a few models that might inspire reflection and creativity.

Google’s #Zeitgeist2013 shares trends relating to the stuff we searched.  You may also explore the Zeitgeists by categories.  Use the pull-down menu to shift to a global or country-specific focus.

Flocabulary presented its annual Year in Rap for 2013.

Time’s Top Ten of Everything 2013 surveys the the good and the bad of the past 12 months in 54 interdisciplinary categories that will easily inspire student debate and argumentative writing.  Pop Culture and Social Media present some particularly interesting rabbit holes!

Speaking of rabbit holes, Pinterest recently shared a list of 29 categorized boards, but largely extracurricular, Top Pins of 2013.  (Check out the History board for your students; share the others with your buddies.)

Tumblr reviews the year in an attractive array of Tumblr blogs covering news, food, fan art, the government shut-down and much more.

Among the news quizzes out there are:

Wall Street Journal offers a 2013 Business News Quiz

The Chicago Tribune shares a slide-show-driven Year in Review

My personal favorite, The New York Times Learning Channel’s Farewell, 2013, reviews while it quizzes and links back to related articles and obituaries. In fact,  clicking on the blank takes you to the original Times source for answer checking.

Also from the New York Times Learning Channel is this fabulous list of instructional Ideas for Reflecting on and Teaching About the Year That Was.

Infographics presented a strategy for graphically summarizing the year.

All this got me thinking about how students might create their own wrap-ups.

While these last infographic examples may not direct connect to your curricula, imagine how they might be adapted as creative student expressions challenging them to summarize, prioritize, analyze, organize data, defend arguments, and improve design and communication skills.

How might we inspire students to use infographic platforms or timelining templates or digital storytelling or publishing or slideshow or curation tools like Storify, or (used recently for the Edublogs Awards) or Pinterest to create a look back at such topics as: science breakthroughs, community news, their clubs, their own learning or reading journeys?

Joyce Valenza About Joyce Valenza

Joyce is the teacher-librarian at Springfield Township High School, a technology writer, and a blogger. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza

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Harlem Avenue red light cameras on - Tinley Ties
Where the town comes to talk

Harlem Avenue red light cameras on

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Three red light cameras are being  activated this week in Tinley Park.
The cameras will monitor red light traffic violations north and south at 171st Street and Harlem Avenue.

The camera monitoring traffic southbound at 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue also will be turned on this week.

Another camera will be at 159th Street and Harlem Avenue.

The cameras will record the time of a violation, the place and the car's license plate number.
Police then review the violation and decide if a ticket should be issued to the car's registered owner.

Information about alleged violations will be posted on a Web site

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Chicago Sun-Times
A dialog between Sun-Times opinion writers and our readers

Mr. Quigley goes to Washington

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Mike Quigley, the Chicago congressman who won Rahm Emanuel's old seat in a special election, today celebrated his first year in office as the representative of Illinois' Fifth District.

Seniority plays a big role on the Hill, and already Quigley has moved up 10 spots to No. 425 because of various resignations. Not that he's counting.

Looking back a year, Quigley says it was something of a culture shock to be sworn in and suddenly find himself voting on legislation he hadn't had time to read up on.

"It's something akin to one of two things: Being parachuted into the middle of a firefight or being transferred in your senior year in high school and having to meet 434 new kids," he said.

One thing Quigley said he has learned is that the Hill is all about relationships.

"To get anything done or to learn what's happening, the relationship you have with the chairman of committees, for example, is vital," he said. "Your staff is vital. The institutional memory is vital."

And even the most avid new U.S. representative is going to be awed by the new job, he added.

"There's a 'gee whiz' quality ... sort of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Quigley said. "I promise you there is that feeling. You walk under the dome, you go to the White House. I was on Air Force One - once. It's striking."

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Chicago Sun-Times
Stray Casts will intelligently report and observe, hopefully with a touch of wit, on daily occurrences, reports and releases related to Chicago-area outdoors from bucks to bass to birds to bugs

Chicago Wild Weekend Wanderings: Perch, berries & joysticks

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Perch fishing on the lakefront headlines Chicago Wild Weekend Wanderings. They're here.

The crowd filled in slowly on the south side of Montrose harbor at 5 a.m. Thursday, but that will be different this weekend. Thousands will be perch fishing at Montrose, Belmont, Diversey, Burnham, Northerly Island, McCormick, 39th, Casino Pier and 95th by the weekend.

LAKEFRONT PERCH: They're late, but they're here.

And it will be worth being up at dawn to catch them. Carl Vizzone reported measuring three 15-inchers on Thursday.

NORTHERLY ISLAND PERCH DERBY: I think Steve Palmisano was right when he said conditions look perfect for the fifth annual Northerly Island Perch Derby on Saturday. It's free with medals and prizes. Fishing is 5-9 a.m., registration begins at 4:30 a.m. Call (312) 225-8538 or go to Henry's will open at 4 a.m. for those seeking bait.

This dawn shot at Northerly Island was taken four years ago when perch came in better at the end of May, a good three weeks earlier than this year. But at least they're here.

BERRY PICKING: Norm Minas mentioned that in his ramblings around the Kankakee last weekend, he found his first mulberries on Sunday. i picked and ate my first on Wednesday. And I one upped him when my kids picked their first raspberries on Thursday. Mulberries are here across the area. Raspberries will be ripening from south to north across the area this week too. Don't know about wild blueberries. I have never had luck finding them around Chicago.

KIDS AND JOYSTICKS: Brunswick, the locally-based company, is helping launch Mayor Daley's Fish N' Kids program at 10 Monday morning. For each kid who successfully docks a boat with Brunswick's new joystick technology near the Chicago River and Lakeshore Drive, Brunswick will donate $100. That joystick technology is something, if you had a chance to try it at the boat show or a dealer.

SHABBONA LAKE BASS OPEN: Saturday is the bass open (heaviest single legal bass). Go to or call (815) 824-2581.

BULLFROGGING: Bullfrog season opened Monday: I had one offer to go bullfrogging with a bow. I would also like to get out and try some other ways. If you don't mind some company, contact me

Here's the details from the IDNR regs:

A sport fishing license is required to take bullfrogs. Bullfrogs may be taken by hand, pole and line fishing methods, pitchfork, landing net, bow and arrow or bow and arrow device, spear or gig. Firearms, air guns, gas guns or commercial fishing devices such as dip nets, hoop nets, traps or seines are not allowed in the taking of bullfrogs. Bullfrogs may be taken from June 15 to August 31 (both days inclusive). The daily limit is 8 bullfrogs with 16 bullfrogs being the possession limit.

BEGINNING FLY TYING: Trout Unlimited Oak Brook chapter's ``Learn to Fly Fish'' will be held at Oak Brook Park District Dean Property in one-hour sessions from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Go to or contact Jeremy Slade at

PERSONAL PICKS: I usually get the afternoon of Father's Day to myself. My hope had been to get in a good three hours of wet wading the Kankakee. Considering conditions, I don't think that will happen. So plan B will be wandering around Mazonia, unless my buddy Pete Riedesel talks me into something more exotic.

I will be berry picking throughout the weekend.

And if weather holds and I muster the energy for another 3 a.m. wakeup, I will be poking around the Northerly Island perch derby Saturday morning. Might even fish it for a change.

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WATCH: Live video of Philadelphia building collapse, rescue

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Groupon's tribute to Chicago cyclist Bobby Cann donates to protected bike lanes is the next entry in this blog.

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Chicago Sun-Times
We're watching TV. You're watching TV. Let's get on the same channel.

TV Talk Today: Wednesday's chat-show lineups

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A selection of guests scheduled on today's talk shows:

"Live With Regis and Kelly" (9 a.m., Channel 9): Guest co-host Anderson Cooper; actor James Marsden; actress Maura Tierney.

"The View" (10 a.m., Channel 7): Actor Tony Curtis; comedian David Alan Grier.

"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (3 p.m., Channel 5): Actress Dakota Fanning; volleyball medalist Misty May-Treanor.

"The Tyra Banks Show" (4 p.m., WPWR-Channel 50): Actress Leighton Meester.

"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (10 p.m., Comedy Central): Comedian Richard Lewis.

"Late Show With David Letterman" (10:35 p.m., Channel 2): Comedian Martin Short; sportscaster Marv Albert.

"The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (10:35 p.m., Channel 5): Actor Zac Efron; musician Kenny Chesney.

"Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" (11:35 p.m., Channel 2): Actress Eva Longoria Parker; actor Neal McDonough.

"Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (11:35 p.m., Channel 5): Actor Bill Murray; actor Rob Corddry; musician Ray LaMontagne.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" (12:05 a.m., Channel 7): Comedian David Alan Grier; actor Amaury Nolasco; musician Jessie Baylin.

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KC Lemson

By KC Lemson [MS]

June, 2011

  • Photo book of photos taken with WP7

      I made a Shutterfly photo book of photos I’ve taken with WP7 phones running Mango in the last few months and made a photo book with some of my favorites. Some of them are artsy, some funny, some family, etc. Several of them were edited with apps...


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polaroid – Telegraph Blogs

Friday 3 July 2015 | Blog Feed | All feeds

Blogs Home » Culture » Archives for polaroid

Posts Tagged ‘polaroid’

October 9th, 2009 18:09

Goodbye Polaroid

Forget Barack Obama and Nobel prizes, today is the day that Polaroid died. The last batch of Polaroid film passes its use-by date today, bringing to an end an extraordinary exploration in the creation... Read More

August 14th, 2009 18:41

Missing Polaroids?

Yesterday, my colleague Lucy Davies was mourning the demise of Polaroids and explaining how you can create Polaroid transfers in Photoshop. Well thanks to James Moore I have discovered you can make Po... Read More

August 13th, 2009 17:31

Polaroid Transfer without the Polaroid

2008 saw Polaroid film suffer its much lamented extinction. Pockets of promising research have sprung up in some quarters – speculation has it that Fuji, which produces a similar colour product ... Read More


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Eastern European politicians are lecturing us about xenophobia. That's a bit rich – Telegraph Blogs

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Sean Thomas

Sean Thomas is a novelist, journalist and travel writer. He also publishes thrillers under the name Tom Knox. He is currently writing a memoir of his extremely misspent youth, and similarly misspent adulthood, and tweets under the name @thomasknox.

Eastern European politicians are lecturing us about xenophobia. That's a bit rich

Romanian schoolgirl fascists, 1940

One of the many good things about Britain’s membership of the European Union is the chance it offers us, as Brits, to learn from nations more advanced in political life.

Witness, for instance, the latest intervention from Laszlo Andor, the Hungarian EU Employment Commissioner. Following his recent criticism of the UK’s "nasty and hysterical" attitude to foreigners, Andor has also reproved David Cameron for "posturing" on immigration and thereby pandering to xenophobia.

Nor is Andor the first European to give bigoted Brits a ticking off. In December 2013, famous Polish anti-communist Lech Walesa expressed disdain at the way we act irrationally over EU incomers. Likewise, back in October, the foreign minister of Romania made clear his outrage at "xenophobic, populist" politicians in the UK. In the Spring of last year the Bulgarian ambassador to Great Britain, Konstantin Dimitrov, launched a fierce tirade against “certain political quarters and the media” in the UK, for “scape-goating a tiny nation” with our "offensive" attitudes.

With that kind of consensus, there seem little doubt that Britain is firmly on the naughty step of European racial politics – we are the nasty, snarling, insular country, way out on a limb with our xenophobia, our disrespect for human rights, our lack of democratic values.

So I say let’s learn to be better, fairer, non racist Europeans: just like our neighbours.

One country with a lot to teach the ugly Brits about tolerance and human rights is, assuredly, the home of Bulgarian ambassador Mr Dimitrov. After all, Bulgaria has been a democratic country for all of 25 years, before which it was a malignant communist dictatorship. Not that becoming a democracy made so much difference for certain Bulgarians. In the 1980s and 90s 300,000 Turks were forced to leave the country and “return” to Anatolia, or face forced assimilation; in 2006 Bulgaria seriously considered a law aimed at lowering birth rates in minority communities; in 2013 racist and anti-Semitic abuse in Bulgarian sport got so bad that the nation was forced to play international matches in front of empty stadiums.

As for Romania, if only we could live in that land of racial harmony and ethnic enlightenment! This is the same Romania which had an independent Fascist government by 1940, the same Romania which actually conducted its very own Holocaust, in which 400,000 Jews and Roma were slaughtered in grotesque atrocities like the Odessa massacre, the same Romania which then became a communist tyranny in which an estimated two million people were murdered.

Finally, we could definitely gain enlightenment from Hungary, the culturally harmonious homeland of Laszlo “Britain is nasty” Andor.

Yes, you know – Hungary. The Hungary whose quasi Fascist government sought collaboration with Hitler’s Germany before Hitler even asked, the Hungary which allowed 430,000 Hungarian Jews to perish in the gas ovens at Auschwitz, the Hungary which then became a Stalinist dictatorship known for its brutality (though of course there was a heroic attempt to overthrow it), the Hungary which gave the far right Jobbik party third place in its general elections of 2010, the Hungary where, a few months back, Zsolt Bayer, the founder of its ruling conservative party, said:  "A significant part of the Roma are unfit for coexistence. They are not fit to live among people. These Roma are animals, and they behave like animals.”

Really – what have we Brits got to compare to any of that? OK, we may have founded human rights with Magna Carta and the Putney Debates, we may have abolished slavery across the world, yes we stood firm against the Nazis when other countries were defeated or neutral, and we may quietly boast that have never elected a far Right party into our national parliament through four centuries of continuous democracy.

But so what. These are piffling matters when compared to the momentous political achievements of our European neighbours, from Germany to Romania, from Hungary to Poland, who have managed not to conduct a single racist pogrom for well over a decade, and all of which have been democratic since at least lunchtime last Wednesday. So let us be humble – and listen to our new moral arbiters.

More from Telegraph Blogs:
First Capital Connect's trains aren't fit for cattle
Ukip needs to do something about its online nutters
The SNP is suddenly in disarray

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Wyclef Jean lands ‘Nashville’ role

(photo: www.twitter.com/wyclef)

So far, outside of cast member JD Souther and a few subtle cameos, "Nashville" has stuck to putting fictitious musical stars on screen rather than real-world ones. That's set to change soon, as Wyclef Jean will appear in a multi-episode role on the ABC drama later this season.

Jean - a singer-songwriter and producer best known for co-founding rap group the Fugees - will play a record label head on the show, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Jean shared the Nashville news (and photo of him on set with co-stars Clare Bowen, Jonathan Jackson, Rya Kihlstedt and Sam Palladio) last week, and returned to town on Monday to resume shooting.

Nashville returns for its third episode this Wednesday at 9 p.m. CT on ABC.

Tennessean Music

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Archive for February, 2012

Dozier, Wisniewski among College Football HOF candidates

February 28th, 2012

The 2012 ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame was released today, and if you haven’t read it, book some time.

There are 76 former players on it.

To save you the trouble, there were two former Nittany Lions on the list: RB D.J. Dozier and OL Steve Wisniewski.

For those reading in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, former Wilkes-Barre Meyers star Raghib Ismail is also on the list. Personally, I think The Rocket deserves a vote. Most exciting player I’ve ever seen in person.

Here are the other candidates:

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Freshman DE dismissed from team

February 28th, 2012

Penn State’s department of Intercollegiate Athletics released this statement tonight:

Penn State freshman defensive end Shawn Oakman has been dismissed from the football team due to a violation of team rules.

The next time Oakman played would have been the first time he played, but he was still one of the more highly touted young defensive players the Nittany Lions had. No reason was given for his dismissal.

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Lions show well at Combine

February 27th, 2012

I didn’t see much of the NFL Combine this weekend. Some of you may know that my wife and I are expecting a baby in March, so we’ve been working our hardest these last few weeks to get some of the final touches done around the house and elsewhere to get ourselves ready. So, my days off lately have been devoted less to watching sports than they are to shopping for baby clothes and bedding.

The Combine, though, is not something I’m actually sure you need to see to understand. They don’t wear pads to work out. They don’t play competitively, one-on-one. And outside of the player interviews that we’re not allowed to see anyway, I’m not sure what really great information you can get from sitting in front of the TV and watching 40-yard dashes. I mean, is your opinion of Derek Moye going to change much if he rips off a 4.28 in the 40? No. You’re going to wonder why that didn’t translate a little better onto the field. Bottom line is, what you’ve seen for four years on the field is what these guys are as players. Not what you see in Indy during glorified workouts.

Still, that doesn’t change the fact that people like to know how those glorified workouts went. So, I’ll give them to you for the Penn State players who worked out here:

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PSU hires new head athletic trainer

February 17th, 2012

The Nittany Lions have a new man in charge of keeping athletes healthy.

Former Chicago Bears head trainer Tim Bream, a Penn State graduate, will be returning to Happy Valley as the university’s new Director of Athletic Trainer Services.

He will work with all sports, and he will be the head athletic trainer for football.

Here’s the announcement from Penn State.

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Penn State remembers Mickey Bergstein

February 17th, 2012

If you were a Penn State fan back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, then you certainly are familiar with Mickey Bergstein’s work as an anaylst on football broadcasts. He also broadcast basketball games and wrestling matches, and the school announced today that Bergstein passed away on Feb. 14.

I, for one, am too young to remember Mickey’s work, unfortunately. But I know quite a few fans who quite enjoyed his voice and his take on the games. He was also the host of the Quarterbacks Club luncheon for many years. Thoughts are with his family.

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Finally, O’Brien completes coaching staff

February 17th, 2012

It’s official.

Penn State has its coaching staff.

Coach Bill O’Brien announced Friday morning that he has hired former Miami (Ohio) passing-game coordinator Charlie Fisher to be Penn State’s next quarterbacks coach.

Fisher was the passing-game coordinator and wide receivers coach for nine seasons at Vanderbilt, where he worked with Jay Cutler and receiver Earl Bennett, who are now an NFL catch-and-throw tandem with the Chicago Bears.

Before that, Fisher was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Temple, and also worked with the receivers (including Torry Holt) at N.C. State.

He will start officially tomorrow, which is a good thing for Penn State because several blue-chip prospects at quarterback will be visiting the school.

There will be more on the Fisher hiring in Saturday’s Times-Tribune, but his hiring brings Penn State to the limit of nine assistant coaches on O’Brien’s staff. In case you lost track of the others:

Asst. head coach/Receivers: Stan Hixon
Offensive Line: Mac McWhorter
Running backs/Recruiting coordinator: Charles London
Tight ends: John Strollo
Quarterbacks: Charlie Fisher
Defensive coordinator: Ted Roof
Defensive line: Larry Johnson
Linebackers: Ron Vanderlinden
Secondary: John Butler

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Penn State completes Strength and Conditioning staff

February 14th, 2012

You probably have never heard of Dwight Galt IV, Sean Hayes or Steven Williams Jr. before. But they’re going to be pretty important guys at Penn State.

Galt, Hayes and Williams were officially announced Tuesday as the three assistants hired to work with strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald as assistants.

I have a story ready to run in the newspaper about the changes with the strength and conditioning program at Penn State since Bill O’Brien took over as head coach, and I’ll link to it when it does run. But suffice to say, the changes are significant, and the men who are going to oversee it are now officially in place.

Read more…

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Football, Valentine’s Day and a love story

February 14th, 2012

I know a lot of people don’t particularly care for this holiday, but you almost have to love this story, which was made for Valentine’s Day.

Penn State linebacker Nate Stupar, according to this terrific story published by the Altoona Mirror, proposed to his girlfriend under the goalposts at Beaver Stadium on Sunday.

I don’t want to spoil the story, but Stupar is pretty creative when it comes to devising ways to propose marriage. He said that he and his new fiancee had been dating since August of 2008, and both are recent Penn State graduates literally starting their lives together.

Here’s wishing them the best of luck. (Nate is one of the best kids I’ve ever met covering this program.) And here’s wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day.

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A story that all should hear

February 10th, 2012

You’ve heard of Matt McGloin, of course. You’ve also heard of Eric Shrive and, if you follow college football in Pennsylvania or know a little something about Pitt, you know Hubie Graham too.

But unless you live in Scranton, you probably have never heard of Chase Passeri.

This is the story of why.

Passeri was a receiver on those West Scranton teams that McGloin, Shrive and Graham have become the faces of the last few years through their work at Penn State and Pitt. But trust me, Passeri was pretty darn good. McGloin has been asked a few times in the past few years about playing under pressure and making big plays when it counts, and he always talks about a touchdown pass he threw in the final 10 seconds of a District II Class AAA championship game against Crestwood. It went for a touchdown and West’s first-ever district title. I believe it was Passeri that caught the pass.

Passeri had his demons, though, and like many immature kids, he made a series of bad decisions that led to a horrible mistake. This mistake nearly cost himself and three friends their lives.

Now, after spending time in prison, Passeri is trying to atone for his mistakes the best way he knows how: By encouraging high school students not to look at life the way he did. My longtime colleague David Falchek wrote the piece I linked to above. I think it’s a must-read. It’s a sad story, in a lot of ways. But maybe, Passeri is on the road to rewriting the ending.

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JayPa thanks Penn Staters for support

February 10th, 2012

I’m an avid reader of Jay Paterno’s columns on — I think his place is in the media, actually — and this week’s piece was a stirring letter he wrote to Penn Staters in response to the events of the last month or so.

You can read it here.

Say what you want about Jay — and many of you have. But I’ve always maintained that he’s a smart, decent, kind guy. He knows football. He knows it well. But he knows people better. He has such a unique perspective on the world and on life that I always found it to be such a shame that he was known by so many as a mediocre quarterbacks coach. Jay and his family have been through the ringer the last month or so, with his father’s death, the early mishandling of that by the media and the sadness of how much the Paternos’ world changed, so quickly. He addresses a lot of that in his letter, and on a personal note, I’m happy to see that fans who knew him only as the quarterbacks coach are seeing him in a different light now. This is a classy man who represents his family and Penn State well. Always has been.

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The Business & Pleasure of Sports

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Marlins say adios to "Florida" on road uniforms

NewUniforms3.jpgIn preparation for becoming the “Miami” Marlins when they move into their new ballpark in 2012, the Florida Marlins are dropping “Florida” from their gray road uniforms this season and replacing it with “Marlins.” They’re also dropping the ‘F’ from the left sleeve. See photos at left.

Symbolic for now, of course, but a significant move nonetheless.

"This is just the first of many re-branding initiatives that will be introduced during the transition to the new ballpark in Miami," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said in a statement released by the team. "We believe this change will better reflect the team’s commitment to the South Florida community and will provide an enhanced look to the Marlins brand that fans will embrace."

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About the author
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
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Gophers football: WR McDonald, QB Gray, OL Olson don’t make Iowa trip

As expected the Gophers traveled to the Big Ten opener at Iowa without quarterback MarQueis Gray (ankle), wide receiver Andre McDonald (undisclosed) and offensive lineman Tommy Olson (ankle).

Sophomore Max Shortell will get his first Big Ten start Saturday, Sept. 29, since replacing Gray at quarterback in the 58-0 loss at Michigan last year. Shortell and freshmen backups Philip Nelson (No. 2 on the depth chart) and Mitch Leidner (No. 3) made the trip to Iowa.

McDonald, who was hospitalized last week to evaluate a possible heart issue, was cleared to practice Wednesday, according to Coach Jerry Kill. McDonald has not played since the season opener at UNLV. But the former Hopkins standout isn’t eligible to redshirt, unless the Gophers pursue a medical redshirt.

Replacing Olson as the starting left guard will be redshirt freshman Jon Christenson, who replaced Olson in the 17-10 win against Syracuse on Sept. 22. Junior center Zach Mottla, who opened the season as the starting center, will play behind sophomore Zac Epping for the third straight game.

Minnesota’s offensive line is as banged up as it has been all season with Mottla and Joe Bjorklund coming off ankle injuries and Olson and redshirt freshman Foster Bush (undisclosed) out for Saturday’s game. Expect Iowa to put pressure on the Gophers up front to see if they can protect Shortell consistently.

— Junior linebacker Joey Balthazor, who is normally No. 59, will be wearing No. 51 Saturday to honor former Gophers linebacker Gary Tinsley, who died in April of an enlarged heart. The linebackers have rotated Tinsley’s number for every game this season.

— Junior running back James Gillum will switch from No. 21 to No. 28 because he could be on the kickoff return team with junior safety Brock Vereen (also No. 21). That would be a good sign for the Gophers because Vereen was listed as questionable on the injury report with a knee injury. Sophomore Ced Thompson will replace Vereen as a starting safety alongside sophomore Derrick Wells.

Posted By Marcus Fuller

Pioneer Press reporter Marcus R. Fuller takes you inside Gopher sports with news, features and analysis.

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IRB Reaccreditation

From the desk of Dr. Vahid Lotfi, Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Programs:

The University of Michigan-Flint Institutional Review Board (IRB) is pleased to announce that the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) has granted the University of Michigan reaccreditation status, valid through March, 2016. Site visitors were particularly impressed by UM-Flint’s research partnerships with the greater Flint community. We are deeply appreciative of the expertise and ethical conduct of all faculty, students and staff who conduct human subjects research on our campus.

Special kudos go out to Psychology professor Dr. Marianne McGrath (IRB Chair), Mary Mandeville (Research Compliance Specialist, Sr.), and the entire IRB for your hard work during this reaccreditation process!


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Ultra high definition televisions on display at CES. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images )

Your best password could be hacked in a matter of seconds.

That’s a warning contained in Deloitte’s Canadian Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions for 2013 that predicts more than 90 per cent of user-generated passwords will be vulnerable to hacking.

Even that mix of upper and lower-case letters, symbols or numbers that can be so hard for you to remember won’t be enough to protect your data, according to Deloitte.

“Passwords containing at least eight characters, one number, mixed-case letters and non-alphanumeric symbols were once believed to be robust. But these can be easily cracked with the emergence of advance hardware and software,” Duncan Stewart, director, Deloitte Canada Research and co-author of TMT Predictions 2013, said in a release.

“A machine running readily available virtualization software and high-powered graphics processing units can crack any eight-character password in about five hours.”

The solution, according to Deloitte, won’t be in longer passwords since people probably won’t use them and we tend to re-use passwords, making it easier for the hackers. Instead, the report suggests the answer will be in multifactor authentication that uses tokens, cellphones, biometrics or other solutions.

While that may be unwelcome news for computer users, there is bright news in the report for companies like Shaw and Telus that provide television subscription services. Despite services like Netflix, Deloitte predicts Canadians will continue to pay for their TV programming services.

“Our research suggests that Canadians who want to watch the three key pillars of TV: reality shows, sports and news are unlikely to cut the cord,” Richard Lee, Deloitte Canada’s National Managing Partner for TMT said in the release.

However, while existing subscribers may not join the ranks of ‘cord cutters,’ according to Deloitte, upcoming generations will be the ‘cord-nevers,’ starting their own households without a subscription to traditional TV services.

Though 2013 will see very few “cord-cutters,” “cord-nevers” will begin to emerge as young people establish households without ever paying for traditional pay TV subscriptions.”

Also in the television world, while the recent Consumer Electronics Show highlighted the new 4K televisions that have four times the resolution of the current highest standard in high definition TV, Deloitte doesn’t see a rush on sales.

The new 4K TVs are high priced plus there are no 4K broadcasts to take advantage of that resolution. Clearly a TV for the very early adopters.

Here is the complete top 10 list for Deloitte’s 2013 predictions:

1. The end of strong password-only security

2. 99 per cent of North Americans will stick with their pay TV subscriptions but the first generation of ‘cord nevers,’ is setting up households without such subscriptions.

3. Two of the top three over-the-top (OTT) TV and movie services will likely be provided by existing broadcasters or distributors.

4. 4K high definition televisions will land on store shelves in Canada but at $15,000 to $20,000 a pop and with no 4K broadcasts in 2013, they won’t be a high demand item.

5. Don’t write the obit for the PC just yet. More than 80 per cent of Internet traffic as measured in bits will continue to be generated by desktop and laptop computers and in considering the total time spent on PCs, tablets and smartphones combined – 70 per cent will be using PCs. That figure seems high considering the proliferation of tablets and smartphones but maybe all those users are also still tapping away on personal computers as well.

6. Crowd-funding – an increasingly popular way to raise money will generate $3 billion globally, a 100 per cent hike over 2011.

7. Mobile advertising, including tablets, smartphones and feature phones, will grow by 50 per cent to $9 billion globally.

8. More than 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies will have an Enterprise Social Network – either fully or selectively implemented – by the end of this year.

9. BYOC. Your employer may let you bring your computer to work but don’t bother submitting an expense report hoping the company will pay. While 50 per cent of Fortune 500 companies will let employees bring their own computers to work, that’s if the computers are paid for by the employee. Deloitte says very few companies will adopt a BYOC policy in which they pay for the computer.

10. Bad news for wireless users in Canada – expect slower speeds and even dropped calls in urban areas as the demand for wireless bandwidth outstrips supply. Deloitte called it “increased spectrum exhaustion.” Wireless consumers may have a not-so-polite description for it if they start losing calls or dropping data connections.

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Westbound I-70 Ramp to Northbound I-465 Closing This Weekend for Pavement Repair

July 23rd, 2014 at 4:53 am by under Traffic

Westbound I-70 Ramp to Northbound I-465

Closing This Weekend for Pavement Repair

INDIANAPOLIS – Contractors for the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) plan pavement repairs this weekend requiring closure of the westbound I-70 ramp to northbound I-465 on the city’s east side.

Beginning Friday, July 25 at 9 p.m., crews will close the ramp to remove and replace damaged pavement. Westbound I-70 access to southbound I-465 will remain open.

Dynamic message signs and detour route markers will direct traffic to continue west on I-70 to Shadeland Avenue (Exit 89) and return eastbound on I-70 to access northbound I-465. The ramp is expected to open by 6 a.m. on Monday, July 28.

These repairs are recurring and additional weekend ramp closures should be expected. Only one of the two ramps—northbound or southbound—will be closed at a time each weekend through August. Weather permitting, a ramp will close at 9 p.m. Friday and is expected to reopen by 6 a.m. the following Monday. Specific ramp closures will be updated weekly as crews progress with repairs.

Drivers are advised to practice safe habits, especially in highway work zones. Motorists are urged to always comply with speed limits, maintain safe distances from other vehicles and avoid all distractions. INDOT partners with the Indiana State Police to provide increased work zones patrols and promote public safety.

The statewide TrafficWise traveler information webpage includes updated reports for all state roads, U.S. highways and interstates across Indiana. Motorists can learn about traffic conditions, road closures, construction information, and crashes by going to www.TrafficWise.in.gov or calling 1-800-261-ROAD (7623).

Subscribe to receive INDOT email updates for Marion County here. News and information are also posted on the Indiana Department of Transportation: East Central Facebook page and on Twitter @INDOT_ECentral.

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2:56 pm ET
Oct 24, 2013

Taking Your Phone Into a Meeting? Read This First.

    • All over the world Mobile phone is used in highest stage in following which is most important in modern life to reduce burden distant travelling on a business, move with many family relations ,kith and kin , friends , life partners and in many ways . not only this but also marketing people follow mobile phone marketing and what not many leading Social Media like Face book, , Twitter, Google follow as an important source of communication and also follow guide line support through mobile phones. mobile phone play and important Role all over the world in both private, business, marketing, , high communication process where people stay far from each other to avoid travelling a long distance to meet.My opinion mobile phone takes ans important place in private life, business life may be the use of gender may change in percentage. Good Reasearch.

    • Oh heck no. I'm not 20 nor am I 50, but it's a major pet peeve of mine when people answer their phones, text, or send an email while having a business meeting. It's rude, shows little respect for the other people's time, and really can wait a few minutes. Nobody is that important that they need to bring their cell to a meeting, and that starts with the top officers setting the tone. I've definitely been in meetings where the president right down to the admin thought they were more important than the topic being discussed.

    • Honestly, these numbers are very discouraging. Even if it's described as informal, a "meeting" implies that colleagues are gathering for the distinct purpose of discussing and/or coming to a consensus on a specific issue or set of issues. Any activity that either prevents an individual from actively participating (listening is an active process) in the discussion or giving those who are speaking their full attention is unacceptable -- and unprofessional -- with very few exceptions.

    • Interesting research. This is a hot topic in China where I teach Business Courses, including Meeting and Presentation Etiquette...I have seen people actively using Smartphones, Ipads and computers in meetings and presentations.

    • Life is the epitome of sadness and happiness. Death- information always pushes one into the ditches of sadness.If you are attending a very important meeting and all of a sudden some one approached you with the information that your very close relative/mother or wife expired last night in train-accident, what will you then do at the same moment. So, I mean attending the phone during meeting hours should depend on situations. We should be thankful to the founder of this great discovery. Now mobile is the most appropriate device through which we receive information from outside. Only in one condition, it's no need to attend the calls when you control the Death-Attacks but I contemplate you can't have your control over the death. From this point of view, the researchers of the said university should think again about the matter of receiving calls during the meeting.It would be better to put your call during your meetings in silence to see the miscalls after the gate of the meetings. Maintain manners and do whatever your heart says under the situation.Take decision from your heart because your heart is positively a judgement center and always better than thousands of the supreme courts of this mortal world.
      Please mail this comment to : (tarique.sohrab@gmail.com)

    • My view on usage of cell phone in meetings is that it would be a distraction for others who are dealing a very serious situation.Hence mobile phones should not be allowed in meetings .But an exception that the chairman must use as his decision is dependent on the latest information which is possible only through the phones.Let the text come participant can glance ,no reply ,because he will loose his concentration.In marketing meetings the mobile phone is a must.but see that the ringing of the phone should not disturb others.

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Yes, Jon Stewart Is the Most Powerful Economic Force in the U.S.

It is official. Funnyman Jon Stewart has jumped from fake news to real power broker.

Associated Press

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in early April held a private meeting with Stewart, according to Geithner’s appointments calendar released by the Treasury. And Geithner even came to him, holding court in Stewart’s office at the world headquarters of “The Daily Show.” There it is on Geithner’s calendar from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on April 2: “Off-the-Record Meeting with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart’s Office, 604 West 52nd Street.”

“Jon Stewart is influential in America, so we took the opportunity for the two to meet and to discuss the economy,” a Treasury spokesman told Bloomberg News, which earlier had ferreted out the Stewart meeting.

Stewart sits down every night to both lambast political officials and the media, and to interview them mostly politely about their latest book or project. But he has long been much more than a bland news reader. His satirical take on the news has a hand in shaping public opinion on the coverage of the financial crisis and the election season. Even President Obama sat down recently with Stewart, who at one point addressed the Leader of the Free World as “dude.” Still, powwowing with the Treasury secretary on the economy does seem like a whole other level of power.

Stewart long has declared that he isn’t a journalist and has he talked down his influence. Now, it is time to give up the pretense. Face it, Jon Stewart, you are a major cultural and political force in America. Dude.

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    • perhaps you should know that is brother is one of the most important men in America as the Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange,

    • People don't enter and become successful in the arts, of which comedy is a part, because they're stupid and don't know anything. They do so because they are smarter than most, including and especially the unfeeling panderers and cutthroats who run DC and Wall Street. Artists see the world with its injustice and suffering more clearly than the rest of us and it breaks their hearts. That's why they do what they do. Successful political and social satire, which Jon Stewart is an expert at, requires the clearest understanding and eye. It can only make us laugh by piercing through the BS and straight to an essential truth that shocks and surprises and that we either didn't recognize before or didn't dare to say. Stewart demonstrates his smarts and his clear eye with his wit and with his interviews of power brokers, which are generally more thoughtful and insightful than political interviews anywhere else these days.

      All of this is meant to refute the unexamined assumption that a comedian such as Stewart couldn't possibly have any kind of important or insightful perspective on politics, government, or the economy. It is not, however, meant to suggest that he should exchange his current role for that of a "serious" commentator or political player. His current role is too important and he does it too well to move into a lesser role. There is no more serious or important critique of politics and society than the kind that Stewart and Colbert practice with their satire. And, as many weak attempts to either fight back against or ignore their lampooning have shown, there is no good defense against the truths that their comedic critique pierce to and shed light on.

    • He is definitely brighter than any stooge in dc, including those at the fed.

    • wonder if it was stewart who came up with the idea of selling GM back to the people who own it. that's pretty funny no ??

    • This explains everything!!!! Our Treasury Secretary is getting advise from a COMEDIAN!!! No wonder our economy is a joke! So out of all the people he could have spoken to about the economy he chose Jon Stewart. Not Bill Gates. Not Warren Buffet. Not Michael Bloomberg. Wow. 2012 cannot come soon enough for me.

      Oh - and Roger Latham - I tell like it is to but I certainly would not want the TreasSec to come to ME to discuss the economy. Why? Because I don't know jack about the economy and neither does Jon Stewart. How many companies has Jon Stewart started? Ran? Worked for?!?!? WTF would he know about how to fix the economy?!?!?

      God, I'm sick to my stomach now.

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Hybrid and low-cost devices are taking the spotlight at this year’s Computex trade show, but the jury’s out on whether they can help PC makers revive flagging sales.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Asustek displayed the Transformer Book Trio at the Computex trade show.  See more Computex photos.

Major PC makers like Dell Inc Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. previewed their new products Monday, generating buzz on the eve of the four-day show’s opening.

Of the gadgets displayed, Asustek’s Transformer Book Trio stands out as one of the most innovative. The 11.6-inch tablet with detachable keyboard transforms into a desktop PC once it is connected to a docking station. The whole device is powered by two Intel Corp. CPUs — a high-performance Haswell chip for the desktop and low-cost Atom processor for the tablet — and can also switch between Windows and Android operating systems.

Asustek didn’t disclose the price for the three-in-one machine, but said it will likely be launched for the year-end holiday season Credit Suisse analyst Thompson Wu said in a research report Tuesday that for a “dual-CPU, dual-OS, dual-storage” device, the price “could near, or eclipse the US$2,000 price range.”

“We are concerned with shrinking consumer wallets on PC and price points,” Mr. Wu wrote.

Acer unveiled an eight-inch Windows 8 tablet, the smallest of its kind to date.

UBS analyst Arthur Hsieh, commenting after some hands-on time with the device Monday, said the product is far from perfect and consumers may find a price tag of US$329-US$349 unjustified. A 16-gigabyte wi-fi only iPad mini retails for US$329 at Apple Inc.’s online store.

“The loading of the Office software like Word and Excel is pretty slow. After all, the current Windows 8 is not made for a screen this small. The operating system is not optimized for this gadget,” Mr. Hsieh said.

“Consumers will likely expect more at that price range,” he added. “Pricing is probably the key to determine who is going to win.”

He said Asustek’s low-cost Android tablet, dubbed the Memo Pad, will likely see brisk sales. An eight-gigabyte version will be sold at US$129 at retail, and a 16G one at US$149.

PC makers are also showing more interest in “phablets”  — smartphones that have larger screens and share the functions of a tablet computer.

Acer’s phablet offering is a 5.7-inch Android model called Liquid S1, which runs the low-cost MediaTek quad-core chip. Asustek also showcased a six-inch Android-based Fonepad Note that runs on Intel’s Atom processor.

Laptops—once the centerpiece of portable computing devices–have been sidelined. Acer launched only two upgraded Ultrabooks, the Aspire S3 and S7. Both will run on Intel’s Haswell chips and have touch capability. Asustek’s Computex lineup didn’t include laptops.

Though the new products are drumming up interest, PC makers are still grappling with record declines in traditional PC sales.

“We stay conservative on recommending PC shares due to low demand visibility regardless of the improved hybrid products,” HSBC said in a research note Tuesday.

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Across the U.S., police increasingly use license-plate reading technology that can track the movements of cars. And according to documents released Wednesday, local authorities have a patchwork of rules for storing and using the data, with some deleting it almost immediately and others keeping it indefinitely.

The documents, which were obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through public records requests, raise questions about whether laws and regulations are keeping up with new surveillance technologies.

Information from hundreds of state and local law enforcement agencies shows a variety of rules governing the use and storage of the license-plate reader data, which typically includes a photo of the car, along with geolocation information and the time the plate was scanned.

Some areas have laws or rules limiting the use of license plate readers or the amount of time the data can be kept. Arkansas, for example, requires data that isn’t part of an ongoing investigation to be deleted within 150 days. Ohio’s State Highway Patrol requires the data to be thrown out “immediately” unless the plate shows a “hit” on a car that is sought by the patrol.

Others allow data to be kept for years or permanently. New Jersey requires law enforcement to keep the data for five years so that it can be data-mined. Yonkers, NY, and Mesquite, TX, have indefinite retention, according to the documents.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has distributed more than $50 million in federal grants for automated license plate readers to law-enforcement agencies. The agencies receiving these grants range from those in large cities like Los Angeles to rural areas such as Crisp County, Ga., which has a population of 23,000.

The government also is able to get data from private companies that scan hundreds of millions of plates across the country for repossession agents, the Journal reported.

Proponents of collecting and storing large amounts of license plate data point to the fact that the readers are simply taking photos of things that are already public. Courts have often found that people don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in something like that.

“I take absolute exception to any government telling me that I can’t go into public and take video,” Scott A. Jackson, founder of license-plate tracking firm MVConnect, told the Journal last year.

But new technology enables such comprehensive data collection that people’s privacy could be affected, the ACLU said.

“The fact that some jurisdictions delete the records quickly shows that it is a completely reasonable and workable policy,” said Allie Bohm, an ACLU strategist, in a statement. “The police should not be storing data about people who are not even suspected of doing anything wrong.”

Related Video: Your Car Is Being Watched

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• By
  • Douglas MacMillan

Without the life jacket of Alibaba, can Marissa Mayer stay afloat?

Marissa Mayer
Associated Press

In the week marking Mayer’s two-year anniversary as Yahoo ’s chief executive, investors may cast their vote on whether they believe her attempt to turn around the aging Internet portal is working.

Yahoo’s second-quarter earnings, expected after the close of New York trading Tuesday, will likely be the first time in more than a year the company announces results without simultaneously disclosing any materially new numbers related to Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant in which it owns a 24% stake. (Alibaba already opened its books in May, when it filed for an initial public offering.)

That means Mayer will no longer be able to hide sluggish growth in Yahoo’s core business, which analysts expect to produce revenue of $1.08 billion, up 1% from a year ago, and 38 cents a share in profit, up from 35 cents a year ago.

Mayer and finance chief Ken Goldman will appear on a video conference call with analysts at 5 p.m. ET. Any details they share about the planned sale of 40% of Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba in its IPO, and any hints about what they plan to do with the proceeds, will be closely watched.

Here are the key issues to watch for:

Advertising growth. Yahoo in April reported growth in its core business of display ads for the first time since Mayer took the reins in July 2012. Now we’ll see if that was a fluke or if the CEO is winning back the marketing dollars her company has lost to Google and Facebook and moving ad growth further into the black.

Video. Some of Mayer’s biggest bets of the year have gone toward building an online video portal to rival Google’s YouTube, such as her acquisition last week of video-streaming startup RayV and her high-profile move to bring the sixth season of beloved TV sitcom “Community” exclusively to Yahoo. But she still hasn’t said much about how soon this effort could generate material returns.

Alibaba proceeds. Analysts have estimated Yahoo could net as much as $10 billion from the sale of its Alibaba stake, and investors are thirsty for any indication of what Mayer intends to do with that money. While the CEO has only said the company plans to be “good stewards” of the capital – a hint that she’s likely to distribute much of it to shareholders through buybacks or a dividend – she could tip more of her hand now that the IPO is coming into view. Is a multibillion-dollar acquisition, such as AOL , in the offing? “There will be a lot of people trying to read the tea leaves,” said Brian Wieser, analyst at Pivotal Research.

Alibaba tax bill. Yahoo paid a hefty tax bill the last time it sold a portion of its Alibaba stake in 2012, and analysts expect it will again have to pay a full 35% rate on its capital gains. But CFO Goldman has said he’s researching tax-avoidance schemes that could lower this bill, and shareholders will be listening closely on Tuesday’s call for any suggestion Yahoo is pursuing one of these strategies.

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Bigger businesses are better bets for offering employee benefits than smaller ones. The latest report from the Labor Department on benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans and paid vacations or sick leave found that 88% of employees at private-sector establishments with a workforce of 500 or more were likely to have access to health-care benefits. That percentage declined along with the size of the workforce. At enterprises with between 50 and 99 employees, 69% of workers had access to such benefits. The same trend largely held true for state and local government employers.

The Labor Department’s annual report on employee benefits, issued last week, gives a snapshot of how many workers are offered—and participate in—employer-sponsored programs for insurance and retirement. For both retirement benefits as well as paid sick leave and vacations, workers at larger private or government enterprises continue to have more access than their counterparts at smaller operations. The government’s report, which examines the state of benefits in the U.S. during the month of March, also notes the “take-up” rate, or the percentage of workers who actually participate in the programs their employers offer.

The latest findings continue a long-time trend. The take-up and access rates seldom change by more than a percentage point year-to-year, said Paul Hughes-Cromwick, senior health economist at the Center for Sustainable Health Spending of the Altarum Institute. The Ann Arbor, Mich., nonprofit studies and consults on health-systems. However, Mr. Hughes-Cromwick noted that some differences from the previous year won’t show up in the data: “Every year the benefit package can change and has changed.”

The employee benefits report comes less than a year before major provisions of the Affordable Care Act are to take effect. (Early this month, the administration delayed by one year financial penalties on employers of 50 or more full-time workers who fail to offer them affordable health insurance.)

Economists, studying national employment and unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are weighing in on whether factors such as the ACA are affecting the nation’s jobs picture. Thus far, a number of analysts aren’t persuaded that the data show that a shift to more part-time and less full-time employment is afoot.

Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, wrote, “I find little evidence in the data to support [the] claim that the quality of job growth is in steep decline, or that the majority of jobs being created in this expansion are part-time jobs.  If anything, the quality of job creation has improved over the course of the expansion.  The reality is we are in a typical, though lackluster, jobs recovery that seems to be getting better over time.”

He continued: “Part-time employment is quite volatile and it is not unusual to see it rise and fall by hundreds of thousands of jobs over a short period of time. But as a share of total employment, part-time jobs have been very stable, comprising between 18.5% and 20% of total employment since January 2009.”

Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote, “The payroll data and hours data do not support the idea that Obamacare is changing employers’ behavior. …In short, the part-time job surge is a myth…This does not mean for sure that the full implementation of Obamacare will have no effect on the labor market at all, but it was always an odd idea to think it would have a visible impact already.”

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• By
  • Emre Peker

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s financial regulators certainly have been keeping big banks’ compliance staff busy in the opening days of this year.

At the end of December, the country’s parliament released new rules to be implemented by financial regulators, declaring that “those who provide untruthful, wrong or misleading information, start rumors, provide news, comment or prepare reports, or spread them with the intention of influencing prices, values of capital-markets instruments or investor decisions will be punished with two to five years in prison.”

Naturally, for economists and strategists who “prepare reports” relating to capital markets for a living, getting a rocket from the boss is one thing. Getting sent to a Turkish jail is another entirely. Cue a flurry of press reports in recent days suggesting banks are scrapping their coverage of Turkish markets, only to be followed up with a fresh flurry suggesting they’re not. Confusion abounds. But what is clear is that a number of big banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co Citigroup Inc. Commerzbank AG and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS, have set their legal and compliance people on the case to see whether their economists are safe to offer their honest thoughts on the Turkish economy.

The confusion is to be expected as Turkey seeks to plug regulatory holes in a maturing market, economists and lawyers say. The legislation may be poorly worded, they say, leaving a broad window for speculative interpretation while also providing ammunition to overzealous prosecutors.

Seeking to disperse fears about the new measures, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey said Monday that the changes “will provide more room for good-willed market commentators whose purpose is not in doubt.” The Ankara-based regulator added that “the new CMB rule is more objective and clearer compared with the old regulation,” and that just because “there are some statements in the new regulation that were not included in the old rule does not mean that the scope of criminal acts has been widened.”

Some commentators are happy to state it’s business as usual where they are.

“I don’t think that an economist in an international bank will be sent to jail for writing that inflation will increase. Let me state this very clearly, there’s no impact of this law on me,” said Yarkin Cebeci, a J.P. Morgan economist in Istanbul. “As far as we’re concerned, other than a few changes to the wording, it’s pretty much the same law as the previous one. So, it’s business as usual for us.”

Still, Ankara hasn’t been shy in expressing distaste for speculative investors and economists, especially when they argue that higher interest rates would be the best cure against high inflation. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that lower interest rates would help to lower inflation–contrary to established economic theory.

Mr. Erdogan’s aversion to analyst commentary was on display about a year ago, when the Turkish lira plummeted 20% against the dollar as the current-account deficit, or the country’s short-term international funding needs, ballooned to an unsustainable 10% of gross domestic product. The currency’s drop also pushed inflation to a three-and-a-half year high of 11.1% by April.

“At the moment the interest-rate lobby is on attack. We’re going to harshly counter the interest-rate lobby as necessary because we won’t let them work with such ease,” Mr. Erdogan said in January 2012. Around that time, analysts increasingly were calling for higher interest rates to prevent an economic crisis.

At the same time, the central bank did raise the effective borrowing cost to as high as 12%. Along with subsequent rounds of liquidity-tightening through June, this helped curb Turkey’s current-account gap to 6.5% of GDP and bring down inflation to 6.2%. The lira gained 5.6% against the dollar by the end of 2012.

The latest change in the capital-markets law mirrors regulations enforced by financial watchdogs such as the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. and the Financial Services Authority in the U.K., analysts said, adding that their eventual adoption will be a positive development for Turkey.

“What is clearly unworkable is the attempt by the Turkish authorities to stop analysts from influencing investors–that’s our job,” said Tim Ash, head of emerging-market research at Standard Bank Plc in London, in a note to clients. “Now, either the Turkish authorities really don’t want us to influence investors or markets, or those who drew up this legislation don’t really understand investors or markets … I prefer to give the Turkish authorities the benefit of the doubt for the time being, and assume that this legislation was simply poorly formulated in the first iteration.”

– Jessica Mead in London and Yeliz Candemir in Istanbul contributed to this article.

– Follow WSJ’s @EmergingEurope on Twitter


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Six-Pack Surgery: From Puffy to Buff

Despite spending a few years in Miami, land of cosmetic surgery, the Health Blog hadn’t heard of doctors carving out the washboard abs that some old-fashioned guys still get by following grueling exercise routines.

So we couldn’t help but notice these before and after pictures among the studies being presented this week at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ annual conference. (Click on the image at right to see a bigger version.) The technique, called abdominal etching, is a kind of precision liposuction. The doc sucks out the fat that’s standing between the patient and, if everything goes well, the six-pack.

The suction six-pack costs between $4,000 and $7,000 and is only suitable for certain patients, Aldo Benjamin Guerra, the Arizona plastic surgeon who authored the abstract, told us. “I probably turn down about twice as many patients as I work on,” he said. “You have to have a certain amount of fat. If you have too little or too much you’re not going to get the definition.”

The magic number, he said, is one to two centimeters of pinchable belly fat. Patients also have to be in good physical shape, and if they’ve already dropped a lot of weight, they’ll probably have too much extra skin for the procedure to work.

The technique has been around for more than a decade, but abdominal etching has never really taken off, Guerra said. One reason, he thinks, is because it’s more popular among men, who tend to be in the minority of cosmetic surgery patients. You’d also have to really, really want flashy abs to go through the whole process.

The procedure takes an hour or two. But pain can persist for days afterward. Swelling can last for weeks or even months. (The after picture above was taken a little over a year after the surgery.) And there can be complications, such as infection and bleeding.

Guerra’s paper looked at the experience of 32 patients. Several had post-operative complications. Six of them had a buildup of fluid known as seroma, which can be drained with a needle. Three had scarring serious enough for Guerra to give them a shot of cortisone. And two patients needed a second surgical procedure to get the desired results.

Eighty-six percent of the patients were satisfied with the results.

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    • what a joke get in the gym fools. Looking tuff aint being tuff

    • hey there im 40 years off age 5,10 88 kilo and need my six pack back , the rest off me looks good
      how did you do it with and how do you find the right doctor , is there any thing extra when your under , would love to hav a bigger chest
      its it better money for pocket going over seas

    • i have a homer simpson stomach..i have a 8 months prego stomach and im a man..also.spare .tiire around
      back area......i weigh 230 lbs 5ft 7 inch..i never had a 6 pack even in my younger skinney days..
      had a pot belly malnutritioned 3rd world tummy.when i was 13 yrs old..
      i also curious do you do the surgury that makes the penile look bigger and blood flow better??
      and does the fat grow back after surgury>>im 55 years old

    • Yo I got this done. My junk is stacked like a mac truck. Girls drool all over my chest! Get dis done as soon as you can my man. One.

    • I got it done about a year ago. It dosent look like nothing like the man in the picture. Mines look real. Maybe because I was 28 when I got it done. But the pain after the surgery was mild. Of course I took pain killers but it was tolerable.Just a lil discomfort.But it was one of the best decisions I've made. I was in the club a week later.

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    It includes contributions from staffers at The Wall Street Journal, and Dow Jones Newswires. Write to us at

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Police want to speak to this motorcyclist, who allegedly beat an SUV driver Sunday.

    By Sarah Armaghan

    The family of the 33-year-old Range Rover driver who was chased through Manhattan and beaten by a group of motorcyclists said in a statement issued Thursday that the SUV driver was justified in hitting some of the riders with his vehicle because he feared for his family’s life.

    Alexian Lien allegedly struck motorcyclist Christopher Cruz, 28, during an altercation on the West Side Highway Sunday when the biker slowed down in front of his SUV. All of the vehicles came to a full stop on the highway, and motorcyclists surrounded Mr. Lien’s car. He accelerated away, hitting biker Edwin Mieses, 32, who has been hospitalized and may be paralyzed, his family has said. That set off a high-speed chase that resulted in Mr. Lien’s alleged assault in front of his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

    Portions of the incident were caught on a video camera affixed to the helmet of one of the motorcycle riders. The footage was later uploaded to YouTube.

    “Our plan last Sunday was to celebrate our wedding anniversary by having a nice family day out with our two-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, instead, we were placed in grave danger by a mob of reckless and violent motorcyclists,” read the Lien family statement, released by lawyer Frank Panetta of Massimo & Panetta P.C.

    Police want to speak to this motorcyclist, who allegedly beat an SUV driver Sunday.

    “Our sympathies go out to the injured motorcyclist and his family. However, we were faced with a life-threatening situation, and my husband was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family,” the statement continued.

    Mr. Lien pulled off the highway at 178th Street and was forced to come to a stop at a red light between Wadsworth and St. Nicholas avenues because his tires had been slashed, police have said. A motorcyclist, who police released a photograph of on Wednesday, is seen in the video taking off his helmet and smashing in the SUV’s driver-side window. Mr. Lien was then beaten, suffering two black eyes and lacerations to his face and torso, police have said.

    “Our fear for our lives was confirmed when the incident ended with the ruthless and brutal attack on my husband, me, and, most importantly, our two-year-old child. We know in our hearts that we could not have done anything differently, and we believe that anyone faced with this sort of grave danger would have taken the same course of action in order to protect their family,” the Lien family statement said.

    “We would like to thank the brave citizens who risked their own safety to intervene on our behalf. They truly helped save our lives and prevented my husband from suffering further injury. We also appreciate and are moved by the outpouring of love and support so many have expressed here in New York and around the country,” the statement concluded.

    On Wednesday, police released the photos of two motorcyclists wanted in connection with the assault.


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US Airways Crash: The Hazards Of Sharing The Skies With Birds

    • «Engines are tested during certification to be able to withstand ingestion of a four-pound bird without breaking up.»

      Do they use real birds and throw them in engines? Is this an animal rights issue?

    • Have nt you heard about this about bird testing on engines:

      The FAA has a device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. They point this thing at the windshield of the aircraft and shoot a dead chicken at about the speed the aircraft normally flies at it. If the windshield doesn't break, it's likely to survive a real collision with a bird during flight.

      The British had recently built a new locomotive that could pull a train faster than any before it. They were not sure that its windshield was strong enough so they borrowed the testing device from the FAA, reset it to approximate the maximum speed of the locomotive, loaded in the dead chicken, and fired. The bird went through the windshield, broke the engineer's chair, and made a major dent in the back wall of the engine cab.

      They were quite surprised with this result, so they asked the FAA to check the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA checked everything and suggested that they might want thaw the chicken first and repeat the test.

      Anyways that is an urban legend. The whole story is here:

    • I believe they use frozen turkeys... at least they did when testing the boeing 777

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About The Middle Seat Terminal

  • Scott McCartney writes The Middle Seat every Thursday. The Wall Street Journal’s Travel Editor, Scott has been on the airline beat since 1995 — long enough to see it go from bust to boom and back to bust. He also writes a blog on travel at The Middle Seat Terminal.

    Scott won the Online News Association award for online commentary in 2003 for “The Middle Seat,” the George Polk Award for transportation reporting in 2000, and has been honored by the Deadline Club and New York’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Before joining the Journal in 1993, he spent 11 years at The Associated Press.

    Scott, a native of Boston and graduate of Duke University, is the author of four books, includingThe Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel: How to Arrive with Your Dignity, Sanity, and Wallet Intact, which was published in 2009. He’s also an instrument-rated private pilot.

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    The Widjaja family, whose Sinar Mas Group owns some of the world’s biggest palm-oil plantations, is among those planning initial public offerings of assets they own. In coming months, say bankers and the companies themselves, the Widjajas, Indonesia’s second-richest family after the Hartonos, according to Forbes; the Riadys, the country’s 11th richest; and the Purnomo family, which controls 26,000 taxis, are together slated to raise $1 billion.

    The pending share sales should make 2013 rank close to 2010, when companies raised more than $11 billion through sales of stock, including IPOs, according to Dealogic.

    The tycoons are selling at a good time: Indonesia’s stock market is now up 17% this year, ranking behind only Japan and the Philippines as one of the region’s most buoyant markets.

    Bilionaire Sandiaga Uno told The Wall Street Journal he is planning to list the private-equity firm he co-founded, Saratoga Capital, because the “businesses are growing and we need to raise capital to grow our businesses.”

    The family of Edwin Soeryadjaya, the other founder of Saratoga Capital, has already launched an IPO of PT Mitra Pinasthika Mustika, the only retailer of Honda motorcycles in most of Indonesia. The share price for the $150 million deal was set last week; the company plans to list the stock in Jakarta by the end of this month.

    For investors, of course, the fact that a tycoon is selling shares isn’t a guarantee of a successful listing. Some deals do well: Peter Sondakh, the country’s eighth-richest man, raised around $60 million by listing his taxi company PT Express Transindo Utama , in November last year. Its shares have more than doubled since, reflecting investor interest in the country’s fast-growing consumer sector.

    Mining IPOs haven’t fared as well because resource prices have fallen. Billionaire Samin Tan raised $581 million in an IPO of his mining company PT Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal Tbk, in November 2010, but its shares are now down 64% from their IPO price.

    “Investors are attracted to companies that are producing 30%-40% earnings growth per year and are willing to pay a high premium to participate in this kind of growth,” says Vineet Mishra, Southeast Asia head of equity capital markets at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

    Indonesia has come a long way since it was devastated by the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Stocks in the country are now seen as a must-have for institutional investors, while economic growth has exceeded 6% in four of the past five years. The country earned investment-grade credit ratings from Moody’s early last year, and from Fitch Ratings in 2011.

    Among those planning offerings is the Widjajas’ Sinarmas Land, a property developer and real-estate investor, which is planning an IPO of a flagship Indonesian project that could raise up to $300 million, a person familiar with the matter said last week. The Widjaja family’s fortune has been estimated at around $7.7 billion, according to Forbes.

    Billionaire Theodore Permadi Rachmat’s palm-oil plantation firm, PT Dharma Satya Nusantara, said this month it is planning an IPO meant to raise more than $110 million this year.

    The Purnomo family’s Blue Bird Group, the country’s largest taxi operator, is seeking to raise around $200 million, people with knowledge of the deal said. Blue Bird spokesman Teguh Wijayanto confirmed the IPO plan but declined to specify the size of the offering.

    The Riadys are planning to sell part of their stake in PT Bank National Nobu, which lends to small-to-medium-size enterprises. That IPO could raise $89 million, Ferry Tanja, chief executive of PT Ciptadana Securities, the lead arranger for the IPO, said during a meeting with prospective investors in late April.

    For now, analysts say that while valuations continue to rise, appetite for Indonesian stocks remains, especially if the companies cater to the growing middle class. Private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners’ $1.3 billion March share sale of half its stake in PT Matahari Department Store attracted buyers such as Government of Singapore Investment Corp., the sovereign-wealth fund, and financier George Soros, bankers said. The deal was five times oversubscribed, they said.

    Analysts say the buoyant market is key. “The stock market will have more influence on demand for IPO shares than macroeconomic conditions,” said Yuganur Wijanarko, a senior analyst at PT HD Capital .


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• By
  • John Letzing

Swiss lawyer Edgar Paltzer

Edgar Paltzer, the Zurich-based attorney who pleaded guilty earlier this month to helping American clients evade taxes using Swiss bank accounts, has posted bail with a unusual bit of property: A 19th-century painting valued at roughly half a million dollars.

According to a court filing, Mr. Paltzer has posted bail using a painting he owns entitled “La Gardeuse de Chevres,” which has been valued by an appraiser at between $450,000 and $550,000.

The painting is to be held by Mr. Paltzer’s defense attorney, and turned over to the government “if requested,” according to the filing.

Mr. Paltzer has been allowed to return to Switzerland, and is scheduled for sentencing in February of next year.

Thomas Ostrander, Mr. Paltzer’s attorney, said there’s nothing terribly unusual about posting bail with an asset. “In this case the agreed security was this work of art,” Mr. Ostrander said, adding that the painting is currently in the possession of his law firm in New York. Mr. Paltzer did not respond to a request for comment.

Charles Francois Daubigny’s “La Gardeuse de Chevres” was completed in 1862, according to public records. The dark, moody work depicts an obscure figure slumped beneath the shade of a forest near a flowing stream.

Until he was indicted in April, Mr. Paltzer was a partner at high-profile Zurich law firm Niederer Kraft & Frey Ltd. According to the indictment, Mr. Paltzer helped American clients hide money in offshore accounts between 2000 and 2012. His prosecution comes as the U.S. and other countries continue to crack down on Swiss bank secrecy in order to dig up undeclared assets.

As part of his court proceeding, filings also note that Mr. Paltzer and his wife have consented to have five safe-deposit boxes held in Mr. Paltzer’s name at a UBS AG branch in Zurich sealed.

Mr. Paltzer faces up to five years in prison on a conspiracy charge, but is likely to receive a shorter sentence.


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After the passage of the Senate bill on immigration reform, which may or may not die in the House, I went back and reread some of my immigration columns from 2006 and 2007, when the last big bill came up. What is striking to me is that the basic facts and arguments haven’t really changed. What was pertinent then is pertinent now, especially in terms of the larger forces at play.

In April 2006, a look at the facts of immigration.

In November 2006, a survey of the immigration picture and some pushback against the Bush administration’s bill.

In May 2007, more on the Bush immigration bill, and an answer to the charge that those who oppose it support deportation.:

Here is the truth: America has never deported millions of people, and America will never deport millions of people. It’s not what we do. It’s not who we are. It’s not who we want to be. The American people would never accept evening news pictures of sobbing immigrants being torn from their homes and put on a bus. We wouldn’t accept it because we have hearts, and as much as we try to see history in the abstract, we know history comes down to the particular, to the sobbing child in the bus. We don’t round up and remove. Nor should we, tomorrow, on one of our whims, grant full legal status and a Cadillac car. We take it a day at a time. We wait and see what’s happening. We do the small discrete things a nation can do to make the overall situation better. For instance: “You commit a violent crime? You are so out of here.” And, “Here, let me help you learn English.”

Let’s take time and find out if the immigrants who are here see their wages click up and new benefits kick in as the endless pool stops expanding. It would be good to see them gain. Let’s find out if it’s true that Americans won’t stoop to any of the jobs illegals do. I don’t think it is. Years ago I worked in a florist shop removing the thorns from roses. It was painful work and I was happy to do it, and I am very American. I was a badly paid waitress in the Holiday Inn on Route 3 in New Jersey.

The young will do a great deal, and not only the young. The dislike for Americans evinced by the Americans-won’t-do-hard-work crowd is, simply, astonishing, and shameful. It says more about the soft and ignorant lives they lived in Kennebunkport and Greenwich than it does about the American people.

In June 2007, an assault on the Bush administration’s bill, coupled with an argument for breaking immigration legislation down into a series of smaller bills, in part because no one will trust Washington with anything comprehensive. This was on target:

I suspect the White House and its allies have turned to name calling because they’re defensive, and they’re defensive because they know they have produced a big and indecipherable mess of a bill—one that is literally bigger than the Bible, though as someone noted last week, at least we actually had a few years to read the Bible. The White House and its supporters seem to be marshalling not facts but only sentiments, and self-aggrandizing ones at that. They make a call to emotions—this is, always and on every issue, the administration’s default position—but not, I think, to seriously influence the debate.

They are trying to lay down markers for history. Having lost the support of most of the country, they are looking to another horizon. The story they would like written in the future is this: Faced with the gathering forces of ethnocentric darkness, a hardy and heroic crew stood firm and held high a candle in the wind. It will make a good chapter. Would that it were true!

If they’d really wanted to help, as opposed to braying about their own wonderfulness, they would have created not one big bill but a series of smaller bills, each of which would do one big clear thing, the first being to close the border. Once that was done — actually and believably done — the country could relax in the knowledge that the situation was finally not day by day getting worse. They could feel some confidence. And in that confidence real progress could begin.

A piece on the modern immigrant experience.

I’ll throw in a column from three years ago. In May 2010, I looked at the logic of certain states’ attempts to control the border, in the absence of a credible federal commitment. This is still acutely true:

Every state and region has its own facts and experience. In New York, legal and illegal immigrants keep the city running: They work hard jobs with brutal hours, rip off no one on Wall Street, and do not crash the economy. They are generally considered among the good guys. I’m not sure New Yorkers can fairly judge the situation in Arizona, nor Arizonans the situation in New York.

But the larger point is that Arizona is moving forward because the government in Washington has completely abdicated… Read More »