2013年1月31日星期四

Current Stories

A new course in the Program in American Studies, being taught for the first time this spring, seeks to answer that question by immersing students in an interdisciplinary cross-section of the American experience — from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

The syllabus for "America Then and Now" is filled with historical and contemporary novels, poems, film, songs, paintings, and archival documents. Students will examine widely disparate but related items — from the Gettysburg Address to the songs of Bruce Springsteen,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth Original buymosaic Descriptions. from Dr. Spock's "Baby and Child Care" to Amy Chua's controversial 2011 Wall Street Journal article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," from the paintings of Alfred Bierstadt to the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever."

Assignments and class discussions are designed "to prompt a range of sensory and cognitive experiences," said Hendrik Hartog, the Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in the History of American Law and Liberty and director of the Program in American Studies. Hartog will co-teach the course with Anne Cheng, a professor of English and African American studies, and Rachael DeLue, an associate professor of art and archaeology.

Nearly 200 undergraduates, ranging from freshmen to seniors, are enrolled in the course.

Close to five years in the making, the course grew out of a 2008 workshop, "Thinking About Diversity, Ethnicity and Difference in the 'New' Princeton," attended by members of the Princeton faculty and administration spanning the University.

"It was an intimate forum for frank and rigorous discussions about the opportunities and challenges facing the institutional and intellectual commitment to diversity at Princeton," Cheng said.

The workshop, which included representatives from more than a dozen academic departments and programs, jumpstarted an initiative to rethink the curriculum of the Program in American Studies and reflect broader changes in the field.

"American studies as a field has been undergoing much disciplinary self-questioning and changes in the past decade," Cheng said. "The outcome of the workshop was a unanimous agreement that Princeton could become a leader in teaching students about the complicated issues that are rapidly emerging surrounding the issue of racial, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity, beyond the black and white dyad."

Eddie Glaude Jr., the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies and chair of the Center for African American Studies, was a core participant in the workshop and suggested the Program in American Studies play the lead role in developing a course that would become the "gateway" for undergraduates intending to earn a certificate from the program, Hartog said.

"That was the beginning," Hartog said. "The course has been constructed to illustrate diverse and distinctive ways of 'knowing' an immense and impossible subject — America."

To help students who are looking at American history from the vantage point of the early 21st century approach such a vast area of study, the course is divided into 12 units. In the "American Properties and Terrains" unit, for example, students will read legal documents including "U.S. Steel Workers of America v.You can siliconebracelet Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. U.S. Steel Corporation," listen to the Bruce Springsteen song "Youngstown," and view historical and contemporary photographs of steel mills and life in steel mill towns.

By examining individual items — a song, a poem, a painting — students will learn "how the microanalysis of specific objects yields major insights about the bigger picture of American culture,Researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed an indoortracking. history and experience," Hartog said. "Analyzing a rock song, for instance, can aid in illuminating aspects of economic history, while examining a work of art can yield information about immigration policy or controversies within the scientific realm."

In the unit on "American Landscapes," students will view landscape paintings dating from the mid-1800s through the 20th century in the Princeton University Art Museum, as well as various kinds of images of the urban landscape, including a silent film of New York City from 1920, and will read an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

"The history of the United States is in many ways a history of land: its discovery, exploration, conquest and settlement and, more recently, its over-development and degradation," DeLue said. "Put simply,Product information for Avery Dennison customkeychain products. looking at pictures of nature and of cities is really a matter of looking at history and historical consciousness in the making."

During the unit on "Borders and Movement," New York-based playwright Jorge Cortinas will visit the class to discuss the dramatic portrayal of migration to America. Students will watch a video of Cortinas' 2012 play "Bird in the Hand," about a Cuban-American teenager growing up in Miami.

"Memorialization" is another topic of focus, and will include a visit to the "still-developing space around the World Trade Center, to think about what memorialization means in 21st-century America,You Can Find Comprehensive and in-Depth Original buymosaic Descriptions." Hartog said.

Students will gain exposure to the various ways scholars approach different subjects dealing with America. DeLue explained: "An art historian attempts to understand the story of America by looking at its pictures, a scholar of literature seeks meanings in texts, a scholar of the law pays attention to the nature and outcome of legislation and court cases, and a musicologist looks for insight in American music."

The course will center on conversation-style lectures — two or more of the faculty will be "in conversation with one another, working to make sense of a shared problem," Hartog said.

The course had a test run last spring with a small seminar of 14 undergraduates co-taught by Cheng and Hartog. "'Reinventing American Studies' was an exploratory and experimental mini-model of the new course," Cheng said. "We tried many things, including giving the students opportunities to determine some of the contents of the course, as well as trying untraditional assignments. The experience was wonderful and enlightening."

Ambassador Ries Speaks at the Atlantic Club Event

Thank you Solomon for that warm welcome. The Atlantic Club is a longtime and valuable partner of the U.S. Embassy here in Bulgaria and I am pleased to join the distinguished list of Ambassadors who have spoken to your audiences.

As many of you know, I arrived in Bulgaria at the end of September. I have spent the past four months meeting with Bulgaria's leaders and with representatives of the opposition, with journalists, with artists, with students, and with representatives of civil society. In short,When I first started creating broken ultrasonicsensor. trying to get a sense of what Bulgarians think is important and especially how you would like to see the relationship with the United States develop.

The United States and Bulgaria already enjoy a productive partnership that encompasses many fields. We work together on security and science, on energy and education, on the arts and archaeology to name a few. In September of this year we will celebrate 110 years of bilateral diplomatic relations. That is over a century of U.S.-Bulgarian friendship.

Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca said that one of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood. That expresses very well an important goal of partnership and of diplomacy in general. We strive to understand and to be understood.

But it is also true that for countries to collaborate they must have mutual interests, and for that collaboration to be sustained, they must have shared values.We open source luggagetag system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. For the U.S. and Bulgaria these include a commitment to democracy, to a free market economy, and to equal rights for our citizens.

We share a desire for our children to have more than their parents. We value education. We embrace modernity. We have a pride in our countries' national endowments - in the case of Bulgaria the mountains, the seaside, a history as long as that of civilization. Americans are proud of our national endowments as well and, like Bulgarians, are concerned to protect them.

I am one of those who continues to believe that Europe is the United States' most important partner. It is with Europe that we have our largest volume of trade, with which we are partnered in the world's most important military alliance, and with whom we have a shared global perspective.

I hardly need to remind this audience of the value of the transatlantic partnership since the Atlantic Club played such an important role from the beginning.

Together, we are committed to keeping our Alliance strong, to protecting Western Democracies and to securing prosperity for future generations.

It is these common values and common commitments that underpin the relationship between our two countries.Since arriving in Bulgaria, I have been listening to what the people of Bulgaria want from our bilateral relationship in order to make our joint work responsive to our shared needs. As I have met Bulgarian citizens in Sofia and outside the capital, they have shared with me the things they are proud of about Bulgaria, and in moments of candor, the things they want to change, so that their children and grandchildren can inherit a more prosperous, more secure Bulgaria with strong democratic institutions. One of the messages that I hear repeatedly is that they would like more U.S. business cooperation and more collaboration. We, too, would like to make that happen.

Bulgaria is six years into European Union membership, has been a member of the NATO alliance for nine years, and is on the path towards evolution into a mature European democracy. We envisage the role of the United States to be one of a supportive partner enabling Bulgarians to achieve your own aspirations.


Coping with the challenge posed by international terrorism is another shared commitment. Recent events in Algeria, which involved hostages from eight different countries taken by militants of at least four different nationalities claiming to protest events in a neighboring African country, demonstrate the global nature of the threat and the need for collaboration amongst like-minded states, like ourselves, in countering it. The bombing in Burgas was another crime in which innocent people from another country were attacked here in Bulgaria. We are impressed by the professionalism and determination with which Bulgarian security experts have approached the investigation and we await the results.

Beyond the pure economic impact of American investment in Bulgaria is the social impact. American companies have a strong culture of corporate social responsibility. American companies bring this corporate value with them when they go abroad and create lasting and meaningful change in communities they support. Here in Bulgaria, American companies have banded together to create programs such as the American Chamber of Commerce Volunteer Days, when employees go out and work on projects around the country organized by the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation.

Going forward, I hope to see many more American companies attracted to Bulgaria by its highly skilled workforce and beneficial tax conditions. For companies to come here and thrive though, we all need to work together to promote an atmosphere of openness, predictability and partnership in which business truly has a voice in the country's economic vision. There are ample opportunities for U.S. investors and exporters to expand in Bulgaria. Part of growing foreign investment will be taking steps to ensure that Bulgaria continues to be seen as an attractive location, where rules are consistent and consistently enforced.

Trade between our two countries amounted to 643.3 million dollars in 2011 and could expand even more with the introduction of better intellectual property rights protection, including of copyrights. Now, I know that my saying this will not be popular with some, but it is just a fact of economic life.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host parkingguidance platforms. One last point on economic cooperation and that is the current discussion of a U.S.-European Free Trade Agreement. As the U.S. Special Trade Representative said this week, President Obama is committed to reaching an agreement to smooth trade with the European Union. Though, all acknowledge that there will be tough hurdles to overcome.

I would like to speak now about perhaps the most challenging and sensitive part of our relationship - our work together to combat organized crime and strengthen the rule of law in Bulgaria. In recent years, we have identified drug trafficking, cybercrime, ATM skimming, and other economic crimes as priority areas for law enforcement cooperation. Collaboration between our respective law enforcement services is excellent in these areas and is producing concrete results. This,Creative glass tile and ceramictile tile for your distinctive kitchen and bath. in turn, has persuaded the U.S. Government to significantly increase our resources for joint law enforcement activities here in Bulgaria.

Fighting crime is a lot more than just policing. It requires an able and efficientprosecution service as well as a determined and impartial judiciary. Recent events have demonstrated that there is considerable interest in Bulgaria in having a prosecution service and a national judiciary that can truly uphold the rule of law. And there has been progress in that regard. The selection of the Supreme Judicial Council as well as the Prosecutor General involved a serious examination of the credentials of the candidates and were conducted in a more transparent manner than before, though there is still room for improvement.That is a machine for manufacturing plastic products by the bobblehead process. Most important will be whether those selected will institute needed reforms. There is a lot of work to be done. The U.S. is committed to assisting Bulgarian efforts to reform the legal system so that the process of administering justice can be efficient and effective, but ours is a supporting role - the impetus and energy has to come from Bulgarians.

Graphic content

In the world of painter,Product information for Avery Dennison customkeychain products. photographer, and graphic designer Jay Vigon, the commercial and the artistic are never completely severed. On the commercial side of things, Vigon is known for his bold, graphic logos; fashion advertising work; music packaging; and TV commercials.And yet Vigon, in his personal art, seems to critique the very industry in which he himself is a pioneer.

In an exhibit titled “Swimming Upstream,” currently hanging at the Cal Poly University Art Gallery, Vigon deliberately places both sides of his creative work on display, with the goal of showing just how interconnected the artistic and commercial worlds really are. Placards next to each section of the exhibit seem to underscore this, delineating a series or piece’s title, medium,Want to find cableties? and its “application,” which often simply reads “personal art.”

Nowhere in “Swimming Upstream” is Vigon’s work better dichotomized than in the large-scale piece Remote Control, which the artist created by photographing his television as he changed the channels, presenting a mashup of the resulting images in banner-like rows. Superimposed across these pieces, large yet barely legible, are phrases torn from the parlance of television. And now a word, reads one. Elsewhere: We are going live. Another implores,Stock up now and start saving on bestrtls at Dollar Days. Stay tuned.

Vigon was interested by the ways in which consumers are “remotely controlled” by advertising, fashion, and celebrity, he explains, and by the television’s unyielding command that the viewer not look away. Directly across from Remote Control—bathing the piece, in fact, in a flickering glow—is a looped video showcasing Vigon’s television ad work.

The concentration of work in “Swimming Upstream” is a little overwhelming,Do you know any polishedtiles wholesale supplier? yet serves as a comprehensive look at the artist and designer’s career. A series of posters created for the Tokyo radio station J-Wave are fabulously bright, bold, and graphic, but rendered with astonishing intricacy and care, like an Oriental rug imagined by an 8-bit video game designer. Sort of. Another standout is Vigon’s series of “clown skulls”—eerie, leering, color-soaked faces created, like his series of alien flowers and imagined tropical fish, entirely in Photoshop.

While impressive, a wall covered in logos, printed on paper and stapled into place, seems intentionally busy and overwhelming, as if intended both to showcase Vigon’s massive and diverse body of work and to demonstrate the urban landscape’s absolute saturation with graphics—and, by proxy, the people who create them.

This is, the artist notes, a recent phenomenon, as anyone with a computer can install a program and proclaim him or herself a graphic designer. The result? Designers who merely appropriate existing images. Designers who don’t know how to draw. Designers who aren’t very good.

“Not drawing limits your problem-solving capabilities,” he explained, though with none of the expected back-in-my-day harumphiness. Today’s designers, working digitally, tend to approach a project with one idea, he went on. Drawing enables the designer to explore many ideas, without being limited by one’s knowledge of a particular program.

A wall of Vigon’s sketches, currently hanging in “Swimming Upstream,” seems to confirm this. Elsewhere in the show, we identify these drafts’ final versions.

When Vigon, as a young man, enrolled in the Art Center College of Design to pursue advertising, there was no graphic design major, he explained in a phone interview. When the art director of A&M Records spoke to his class, he says, it was the first time Vigon realized there was such a position: “When I found out that there was a job like that,Don't make another silicone mold without these invaluable stonemosaic supplies and accessories! where you designed record packages all day, that was it for me.”

He was hired at A&M in the early ’70s, and the first decade of his career was devoted to music packaging. When the music industry started flagging, however, he moved on to other kinds of creative work, taking jobs at Warner Bros., Gotcha, and Cole Surfboards. In the ’90s, Vigon was one of the first to incorporate typography into a television commercial—a style that’s practically ubiquitous today.

“Swimming Upstream” tracks Vigon’s evolution as a designer ever since, as well as the parallel world of his personal art.

A single piece from his “Masked Men” series—paintings of faces created through the layering up and scraping away of paint—is represented twice: in its original form and as an enlarged photograph, which shows the nuance and texture of the piece. The choice may recall the way in which ads for everything from cosmetics to hamburgers to breakfast cereal tend to zoom in on their product to show its every juicy, age-defying, fat-free, flame-grilled, rejuvenating, heart-healthy facet. But the artist says the choice was more coincidental. Drawn in by a blown-up photograph of a “Masked Men” painting, created to advertise (that word again!) one of his art shows, Vigon decided he liked the photographic representations of the pieces, with their beautiful details and stark white backgrounds, better than the originals—and I have to agree with him.

2013年1月29日星期二

Inaugural has Falls Painting

Last week the iconic 1856 painting "Niagara Falls" served as an impressive conversation piece for President Obama's inaugural luncheon. A well-known classic of 19th-century American landscape portraiture, the Ferdinand Richardt work provided a distinctively Western New York presence at the Washington, D.C., venue. Thanks and appreciation are due Sen. Charles Schumer, who seems to have taken a special liking to the city of Niagara Falls and has worked hard on its behalf for many years, for honoring us by arranging to conspicuously display this symbol of local pride, front and center, at the national celebration.

One of the striking aspects of the Richardt is that it portrays the Falls in a natural setting surrounded by trees and green space, precisely in the way his contemporary, renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, intended it to be when creating his visionary plan for what was then called the Niagara Reservation.

A century later, Maid of the Mist owner James Glynn, along with his sidekicks at New York State Parks, felled the beautiful trees on Goat Island attending the mighty cataracts in order to construct toll booths and parking lots, opening up the reservation to car, bus and trolley traffic, effectively ruining the Olmsted plan. Fast-food purveyor Delaware North joined in, with the result that the present-day Niagara Falls State Park is cluttered with food booths, snack bars, busy trolley stops, parking lots, gift and souvenir shops, coin-operated binoculars and all manner of man-made contrivances including floodlights on the falls and fireworks. All of which served to change the natural wonder of Richardt's and Olmsted's day into an exploited, Disneyfied money machine benefiting Glynn, Delaware North and State Parks.

Just as Matisse was a pillar of the glory years of 20th-century modernism, when he, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque reinvented what painting could be, Veronese was a vital presence during that astonishing moment in the 16th century when he, Titian and Tintoretto—whose careers overlapped for nearly four decades, despite the differences in their ages—together defined the Golden Age of Venetian painting. And just as Matisse's paeans to the tension between the three-dimensional world and the flat canvas have been dismissed as "decorative" because of their glorious color and patterning, Veronese's lush figure groups have been similarly labeled, for similar reasons.

On this side of the Atlantic, it's easy to see just how wrongheaded this evaluation is in relation to Matisse. The stellar examples of his work in U.S. museums are abundant evidence of his power, rigor and inventiveness. But we can't properly take the measure of Veronese without a trip to Europe. Many of his most significant works remain in situ: fresco cycles, devotional works and enormous canvases, such as the Accademia's "Feast in the House of Levi" (1573) in Venice—the vast banqueting scene that got Veronese into trouble with the Inquisition, under its original title of "The Last Supper." Yet through April 14 at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, "Paolo Veronese: A Master and His Workshop in Renaissance Venice," a thoughtful survey drawn from works in North American collections, offers an excellent introduction to the artist.

Conceived and organized by Virginia Brilliant, the Ringling's curator of European Art, in cooperation with Frederick Ilchman, curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in part to set the Ringling's important Veronese paintings in context, the show is the first comprehensive overview of Veronese's work in more than 20 years. Due to the usual difficulties in obtaining loans, there are some conspicuous absences, but the selection includes enough outstanding works to provide a sense not only of Veronese's evolution and achievement, but also of the range of his themes, the way he repeated and varied those themes, over time, and how, as a successful cinquecento artist, he worked with assistants. As a subtext, we gain an understanding of the American taste for Venetian masters.

A choice group of drawings offers an intimate view of the artist, as he worked out motifs, while a selection of prints reminds us of how Veronese's work was disseminated and adds images of European masterpieces not included in the show. A small, eye-testing sampling of "problem" pictures provokes consideration of their merits through comparisons with securely attributed works.

The installation is elegant and evocative, and there's a handsome catalog with enlightening essays by Ms. Brilliant, Mr. Ilchman and other specialists, including the eminent David Rosand.

The show is organized thematically, but we first encounter the earliest included work, the Ringling's full-length portrait of Francesco Franceschini. Painted in 1551, before Veronese left the mainland for Venice, it presents an aggrandizing view of a plump, magnificently dressed young man from Vicenza. Nearby, an unidentified man in sober black, painted a quarter-century later and standing against pale, classicizing architecture, epitomizes the more restrained taste of La Serenissima with its miraculously varied textures, transparencies and sheens, within an uncompromising silhouette of inky darkness. No lack of rigor here—nor in a glowing, half-length, posthumous portrait of the hero of the battle of Lepanto, Agostino Barbarigo, all gleaming armor and brushy highlights, against a crimson curtain.

Mythological and religious paintings, including the Ringling's brilliantly colored "Rest on the Flight into Egypt" (c. 1572), are testimony to Veronese's ability not only to orchestrate gorgeous textures—fur, flesh, steel, damask—but also to stage complex scenes like a master theater director.

Large-scale protagonists occupy a shallow frieze across the canvas, with a substantial volume of space evoked by means of gesture, architectural settings, glimpses of landscape and, above all, relationships of opulent hues—burgundy, scarlet, salmon, creamy off-whites, dull greens, saturated ultramarine, chalky cerulean. Veronese is a virtuoso of gesture and posture, too. It's shocking to realize that the man embracing St. Lucy, in a late painting, is not her lover but her executioner, pressing a knife to her bosom. The lascivious sprawl of Actaeon, watching Diana and her nymphs bathe, implies that there's nothing accidental about the encounter. No wonder the angry goddess turned him into a stag—a punishment encapsulated in a larger, even more sensuous version of the story. Of course, this kind of sensuality made Veronese a specialized taste in early 20th-century America, suitable only for daring collectors.

The exhibition concludes with variations on the Baptism of Christ. We see Veronese fine-tune his conception in works from the late 1550s and from c. 1580-85, before we encounter a reprisal of the motif, painted c. 1590, after the master's death, and signed by "The Heirs of Paolo Veronese"—his sons and studio assistants, who carried on the tradition. Alas, it's disappointing. But for what Veronese was truly capable of, there's the last gallery's head of St. Michael, c. 1563-65, a fragment of an altarpiece, a marvel of loosely painted curls, tender expression and delectable color. It's decorative, but only in the sense that it delights the eye.

Implanted Defibrillator Patients Prefer Device Off if Very Ill

Most heart patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) would prefer to switch off the device if they had an advanced illness, new research suggests.

“We found that the majority, 71 percent, would opt to have their ICD deactivated if they had the choice,” said study co-author Dr. John Dodson, a cardiologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He conducted the research while completing his fellowship training at Yale School of Medicine.

He and Yale colleagues published their findings in a research letter that appeared online Jan. 28 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Dodson said the findings contrast with earlier surveys of patients with implantable defibrillators that showed most didn’t want their devices deactivated.

Implantable defibrillators are prescribed for patients who are at risk for life-threatening, abnormal heart rhythms, called arrhythmias. If the ICD senses one of these arrhythmias, it sends a high-voltage shock to restore a normal heart rhythm and protect the patient from cardiac arrest.

The Yale scientists wanted to sort out why previous surveys indicated that patients would prefer to keep the devices turned on, even though other end-of-life defibrillator studies showed the shocks were painful and disturbing.

“The shocks are very painful — like a kick in the chest,” Dodson explained. “They may prolong suffering that won’t improve lives in a measurable manner.”

The researchers recruited 95 heart patients over the age of 50 who had ICDs — 28 percent were women — and surveyed them over the telephone. The researchers began by asking two general questions: “What do you feel are the potential benefits of your ICD?” and “What do you feel are the potential harms of your ICD?”

Next, they read a script to the participants that listed the benefits and burdens of ICDs according to current research. In the final portion of the survey, they asked whether participants would want their ICD deactivated in five different scenarios: if they were permanently unable to get out of bed; if they had permanent memory problems; if they were a burden to family members; if they required prolonged mechanical ventilation; or if they were suffering from an advanced incurable disease.

The survey takers responded using a scale of one (“definitely no”) to five (“definitely yes”). Sixty-seven (71 percent) of the 95 participants wanted ICD deactivation in one or more of the scenarios, the study authors reported in their letter. Sixty-one percent wanted deactivation if they were suffering with an advanced incurable disease, and 24 percent wanted deactivation if they were to become permanently unable to get out of bed.

Dodson said their findings might be different from previous study results for several reasons.

“Generally those studies focused on younger patients with advanced heart failure. Younger patients tend to want more done,” he said. The previous surveys might also “not get at their understanding of what an ICD does,” he added.

“Our survey explained the purpose of their device. A sizable number of participants did not have a good understanding of the benefits or potential burdens of their ICD,” Dodson said.

One heart expert called the new study “eye-opening.”

“It really caught my eye how little some of these patients understand about these devices,” said Dr. Dan Bensimhon, director of the Advanced Heart Failure Program at Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C. “We really have to do a better job making sure people understand what they are getting. That said, our quality of care in heart failure is, in part, measured by what percentage of our patients get these devices.”

It also surprised Bensimhon that only 24 percent would want their device turned off if they were permanently bedridden.

“I think some people just want to hold on to life at all costs,” he said. “I think people equate it with giving up. For somebody who has fought with heart failure for a long time, after all these years, it’s symbolic.”

Dr. James Tulsky, chief of Duke Center for Palliative Care at Duke University, said that while ICDs have “tremendous” value for many patients, when someone reaches the end of life, goals for care may not match with the goal of having an ICD.

“If someone’s dying from heart failure — the inability to pump enough blood — if they’re dying that way, they are going to die anyway and the ICD will basically continue to shock the heart. It’s clearly an undesired outcome and traumatic for the patient and everyone on the scene,” Tulsky said.

Deactivating the defibrillator is a simple matter, said study author Dodson. A wand is held up to the device and programs it off. He said there is no surgery involved and no risk.

The research results carry important messages for patients, physicians and the health care system, he added.

“We need to make sure we’re addressing ICD deactivation with patients, and determining the right time for addressing it. I’m not sure of the answer — in the clinic, or once the patient is in the hospital? And what is the optimal way to counsel people on this? It should be investigated further,” Dodson said.

The challenge, Bensimhon said, is that the current health care climate does not allow enough time for the discussions that ICD patients and doctors need to have about end-of-life care.

“These things are really complicated. To sit down in someone’s room and explain to them takes a long time,” he said. “Today, for example, I saw about 25 patients in clinic. You have 15 minutes with each. To explain to someone why they want their defibrillator turned off, that takes an hour.”

2013年1月24日星期四

Coupon swap begins at Chick-fil-A; February sales

I know that several readers are anxiously awaiting for the next coupon class announcement, and I hope to have classes starting shortly. I would like to thank all my readers for all the prayers, e-mails, messages and calls regarding my father and husband. Words cannot express the gratitude that my family has felt.

Now, I am excited to share some coupon news with you: On Jan. 24, I was invited to attend the first coupon swap event at the Chick-fil-A at Mullins Crossing. I am excited to help Chick-fil-A kick off its newest community event and encourage all my readers to attend a future meeting. The Chick-fil-A coupon swap will meet from 10-11 a.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host indoorpositioningsystem platforms. The second coupon swap will be Feb. 28.

I plan on also attending the February meeting and will once again be sharing couponing tips, answering questions and sharing my organization skills with guests. Attendees are encouraged to bring coupons and binders and to chat with me and the other local couponers.

On Jan. 31, I will attend the Aldi’s grand opening on Bobby Jones Expressway. I will be there to talk with the managers. I will share Aldi’s coupon policy with you along with any tips on how to make the most of this new shopping choice.

In just a few short days, we will be beginning a new month. For a couponer, a new month brings new sales and clearance finds. Here’s what to expect in February:

February is National Hot Breakfast Month, so look for savings on frozen pancakes and waffles, syrup and grits. Look for savings from brand names including Post,Source drycabinets Products at Other Truck Parts. Quaker, Kelloggs, General Mills and Eggo.

It is also National Heart Health Month. Look for sales on low-dose and regular aspirin, vitamins and supplements, along with manufacturer-brand products that promote a low cholesterol lifestyle.

Another promotion in February is Canned Food Month, so look for great deals on canned items such as tuna, chicken, vegetables, beans and fruits. In addition to finding coupons in The Augusta Chronicle, you might want to check out product Web sites for exclusive high-value coupons for your favorite canned food brands.

Pet owners should be on the lookout for deals on pet foods and supplies. Pet food sales will be found on brands such as Pedigree, Eukanuba, Purina and Iams. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you register at Petco and PetSmart for your store savings cards. If you register your card on its Web site, you will receive both e-mails and mailings that contain exclusive coupons and sales offers.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Look for deals in drugstore and grocery store ads on items such as candy, chocolates, flowers and gifts.

Feb. 10 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Some Asian product brands will have promotions on items such as soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, canned water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, noodles, stir fry packages and kits, and frozen dinner items.

Other promotions this month are the National Children’s Dental Health Month, Great American Pies Month,We have many different types of parkingsystem. National Cherry Month, National Snack Food Month, National Fiber Focus Month and National Grapefruit Month.

According to All You magazine, February is the best month to buy fragrances, electronics and humidifiers. Fragrances are often featured with Valentine’s Day sales as a waistline-friendly alternative to chocolates and are a popular gift. New models of MP3 players, DVD players and digital cameras are announced at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in January.

Vegetables in season this month include artichokes, broccoli, celery, fennel, collard greens, chard,TBC help you confidently realtimelocationsystem from factories in China. celery root, asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, leeks, kale, radish, carrots, Haas avocados, red potatoes, russet potatoes and spinach. Fruits in season this month are grapefruits, kiwis, lemons, Navel oranges, raspberries and some varieties of strawberries.

Honey Chile has yet to win a stakes, but has certainly encountered her share of hard luck in the effort. She finished a game second in the Grade II Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland as a 3-year-old and just missed last year by a neck on the synthetic Woodbine surface against Roxy Gap in the Grade III Whimsical.

Honey Chile finished third in the Grade III Eight Belles at Churchill Downs in 2011 and third in the Grade II Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes last fall on Keeneland’s all-weather track,Creative glass tile and solarlight for your distinctive kitchen and bath. a race won by Eclipse Award Female Sprint Champion Groupie Doll.


Others with solid credentials in the wide-open race include Smartys Emperoress, from the barn of James Spicknall, to be ridden by Angel Serpa; Double the Energy, a Linda Rice-trainee, jockey to be named; and Queen’s Award, trained by Eduardo Caramori and to be ridden by Marcelino Pedroza.

Ups and Downs Racing’s 5-year-old Becausei’mworthit, trained by Monte Thomas and to be ridden by Antonio Gallardo, is an intriguing entrant. She won the Cool Air Stakes last June at Calder at five furlongs in a race taken off the turf, and she finished second in the Minaret Stakes here at six furlongs on the dirt Dec. 29.

After her sixth-place finish a week ago in the Florida Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint, it remains to be seen if Thomas elects to wheel her back so quickly.

Angel Serpa rode two winners Thursday, giving him 33 at the meet and pushing him one ahead of Daniel Centeno at the top of the standings.

Serpa won on the first-time starter Wide Eyed Wonder, a 3-year-old filly, in the first race for owner Leanne Robbins and trainer Jane Cibelli. In the seventh, a mile allowance on the turf for older fillies and mares, Serpa and Normative Appeal rallied from far back for their second joint victory at the meet. The 4-year-old Normative Appeal is owned by AJ Suited Racing Stable and trained by James J. Toner.

Timeless island

‘Hong Kong is the most Chinese city on earth,’ says my old friend Jo McBride, who has lived there for more than 30 years. That may come as a surprise to those who knew the place as a resolutely British enclave of colonial officers, traders and bankers — of whom, long ago, I was one — and to more recent visitors reassured by the hands-off regime of Beijing’s stooges in the 15 years since they took over from our last governor, Lord Patten.

So hands-off, indeed, that most tourists still think of China as one destination and Hong Kong as another: a stateless stopover and giant shopping mall that constantly reinvents itself to the whims of global demand. If you’re really there just for handbags and gadgets at discount prices, you’ll barely need to step out of your hotel and you certainly won’t need a guidebook: fancy brand names are all around you. But (having paid the concierge to get you a visa) you might have more fun taking a day trip over what still feels like an international border to Shenzen to buy cheap fakes — and observing the stream of cash-rich mainlanders heading the other way to buy the real thing.

Of course shopping is essential to the Hong Kong experience. There’s a particular pleasure in having shirts and suits made to measure in 48 hours; on my most recent visit I tracked down my bargain-basement tailor from the 1980s, Paul Yui, now on the seventh floor of the Yip Fung Building in D’Aguilar Street (‘You put on weight?’ he greeted me, as ever). Even better, because you’d never do it at home and the difference in comfort is remarkable, is to have shoes or fancy evening slippers made at the little Mayer shop in the arcade of the Mandarin Hotel.

But try to squeeze the retail trail into small, targeted portions of your time. You need the rest for discovering the special Chinese character of the territory — and for its other quintessential activity, eating.

In one sense the Chinese-ness I’m trying to evoke is as pervasive, even in glossy shopping districts, as the logos of global brands — not only in an ever-present whiff of rotting food waste and wok oil but in Buddhist and Daoist paraphernalia. In mainland cities, religious observance was suppressed by decades of Maoist ‘anti-superstition’ campaigns, but Hong Kong’s gods and ancestors are venerated everywhere, as is the mystical geomancy of feng shui. Look closely and you’ll find even Wanchai’s topless bars have little altars in their vestibules.

More nightlife later; first some proper sightseeing. Begin by equipping yourself with an Octopus travel card, forerunner of London’s Oyster, which works on buses, trams and ferries as well as the super-efficient Mass Transit Railway. Having ticked off your shopping list by mid-morning, fortify yourself with an early dim sum lunch (no need to book) at the vast Metropol restaurant in United Centre above the Admiralty MTR station, picking all the steamed delicacies you can eat from trolleys wielded by no-nonsense waitresses. Then find the nearby tram stop, board the upper deck and preferably the front seat of a rattling tram heading for North Point, and stay on to the end of the line in Chun Yeung Street.

You’ll find yourself in the midst of a truly exotic Chinese food market. Another resident, Kate Senior, sends this dispatch: ‘Fascinating fish, dried curiosities and strange veg, no piles of toads in cages this time but the entire head of a cow in a plastic container on the pavement next to one full of tripe, and pigs’ heads being cleaned on the floor of a butcher’s shop.’

For the even more intrepid, the Sun Beam Chinese opera theatre is nearby, and if all that warm offal gets your juices flowing,Product information for Avery Dennison porcelaintiles products. a sustaining bowl of noodles can be had for small change at the Tiny Green Kitchen on North Point Street. Or if you’d rather purge the pungent odours from your nasal passages, take a fast MTR back to Admiralty and sample rare infusions in the calm of the Lok Cha Tea House (now under refurbishment, due to reopen next month) in Hong Kong Park.

That’s probably enough for one day, but here’s Jo McBride’s recommendation for the next. Once again, shop early for that must-have Rolex or Louis Vuitton item or velvet jacket from Shanghai Tang. Then stroll down to Outlying Islands Pier 6 on the Central waterfront with your Octopus card,Navigating the world of customkeychain and RFID requires a keen insight into the trends that are shaping the industry. and take the ferry for Mui Wo on Lantau Island. The slow boat — always best in a Chinese context — takes about an hour.

On the north side of the island, blasted out of the rocky shoreline, is the world-class Chep Lap Kok airport where you first arrived. On the south side, the timeless village life of fishermen and farmers goes on. Take Bus No. 4 over the hills to the beautiful beach at Tong Fuk, on which the chief hazard is the dung of water buffalo that once ploughed nearby paddy fields but now roam free. You can also reach Tong Fuk via the MTR to Tung Chung, near the airport, where a cable car will carry you up to the world’s largest seated Buddha — all very spectacular, but the ferry through Hong Kong harbour and among the outer islands (tiny Cheung Chau vaut le détour) is much more authentic.Natural saxobankcycling add a level of design sophistication to each of Jeffrey Court's natural stone chapters. And Mui Wo offers a cluster of lively seafood eateries before you embark for Central again.

Alternative expeditions include, in spring and autumn, migratory bird-watching at the Mai Po nature reserve close to the mainland border, or on any clear day a panoramic hike round the eastern end of the Peak, beginning and ending at Wanchai Gap.

All this will give you a healthy appetite. A useful tip for visitors who want to sample good regional Chinese food without an interpreter is to rely on the long-established,Nitrogen Controller and Digital tooling with good quality. mid-priced ‘Garden’ restaurant chain: moving eastwards (through the city, rather than across the gastronomic map) they include Shanghai Garden in Central, Sichuan Garden and Peking Garden in the Pacific Place complex close to Admiralty, and Hunan Garden in the up-and-coming Times Square area of Causeway Bay.

As for other evening appetites, those Wanchai and Kowloon girlie bars are shameless clip-joints, and have been ever since the present incumbents’ grandmothers were chirping ‘You buy me one more drink’ at drunken sailors half a century ago. Give them a wide berth, even if (perhaps especially if) you’ve had aphrodisiac mushrooms for dinner.We have many different types of parkingsystem. The grander nightclubs of old, recalling the taxi-dancing ambience of 1930s Shanghai, were a more civilised and almost-respectable option — strange to recall that I once kept a bottle of Scotch with my name on it at the New Tonnochy Ballroom. But they seem to have fallen out of fashion or closed down, replaced by ‘exclusive’ karaoke hostess salons hidden on upper floors of commercial buildings. For those, I’m afraid, you really do need a native guide, preferably a hospitable one with a platinum credit card.

What to read on the plane out? Hong Kong has never quite fired literary imaginations like J.G. Ballard’s and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Shanghai or Graham Greene’s Saigon, but I recommend John Lanchester’s sweeping Fragrant Harbour, Timothy Mo’s domestic comedy The Monkey King and, from colonial days, Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil. On arrival, the serious tourist will also want to devote half a day to the Hong Kong Museum of History in Kowloon.

Finally, while you’re on that side of the harbour, you might like to explore the still-splendid Peninsula Hotel’s ‘Academy Programme’ of bespoke culinary and cultural tutorials. I see the menu includes a ‘Destiny Consultation’: I’m sure we all need one of those.

Young Americans Shun Credit, and the Credit Cards Want Them Back

According to Fitch, personal bankruptcies declined by 14% last year, and the firm estimates they will fall by another 7% this year. But consumer credit rose last year by 6%, to about $3 trillion, with two-thirds of that coming directly from student loan and auto debt.

The dip in the bankruptcy rate,Features useful information about fridgemagnet tiles. even at a time credit usage is up, shows that U.Professionals with the job title solarpanel are on LinkedIn.S. consumers have learned their lesson and are paying off their debts on a more aggressive basis.

"Though consumers are taking out a record number of car and student loans, they continue to do a commendable job of paying that debt off," says Michael Dean, managing director at Fitch. "Momentum in both the housing and equity markets should also help drive personal bankruptcies lower."

Auriemma Consulting Group says younger consumers are leaving the credit cards at home and have successfully weaned themselves off pricey plastic purchases. If they do make a big purchase, Auriemma says, younger buyers use debit cards and pay off the purchase immediately.

One reason is old-fashioned financial prudence -- young consumers have seen firsthand the damage debt has done to their parents and are looking to avoid the same mistake. But Auriemma also says the 35-and-under crowd is having a tougher time getting credit as the economies in Europe and the U.S. slowly recover from recession.

All told, 44% of younger consumers surveyed by Auriemma say they have "no interest" in having credit cards as their primary source of financial payments.

Banks and credit card companies may wind up taking a big financial hit if young consumers continue to hold back on credit. To lure them back, financial institutions should offer the younger set "sweeteners" such as interest rate discounts and beefed-up rewards programs, Auriemma says.

"The younger segment has been trained to think about debit, but not to think about the value of credit," says Matt Simester, managing director at the firm. "When you compound this with the difficulty younger consumers have had in getting credit, there is a clear need to develop products specifically for the younger segment."

"To align with consumer needs, these products need to allow younger consumers to build an understanding of the value of credit cards, offer interest free periods, rich rewards programs and fraud guarantees," he says. "Traditional credit card lenders currently appear to be getting outflanked by debit providers and alternative lending sources like payday loans."

Newcastle United are returning to the message of the inspirational motto on the club crest, ‘Fortiter Defendit Triumphans’ . Latin for “Triumphing By Brave Defence”,Stock up now and start saving on polishedtiles at Dollar Days. it is also the Newcastle upon-Tyne city motto and in keeping with the city’s tradition of being England’s northern fortress. The original inhabitants were the men entrusted by The Roman Empire to keep the invading barbarians out in 2AD, erecting Hadrian’s Wall and leaving the hardiest men to defend their Northern boundary which they did with success for many years. A Norman (French) invasion 1000 years later gave the settlement its name and the ‘New Castle’ and now Alan Pardew’s French legion is erecting a defence at St. James’ Park and on the football pitches of The Premier League to keep The Magpies in the top flight of English football.

It’s feasible with these two new acquisitions and the returning Steven Taylor from injury, that Newcastle field a completely different back four to the one which lost 7-3 at Arsenal and shipped four goals at Old Trafford when they play their next game against Aston Villa on January 29th. Captain Coloccini could have left the club by then and Taylor would be expected to start alongside former full France international Mbiwa in a new look back pairing with Debuchy right, Haidara left with Santon pushed left-wing. The mean defence and tough tackling spirit of last season could be set to return to this proud Northern club, whose fans were recently counted among the best in world football.

If there’s one thing Geordies don’t do its go down without a fight so expect a revitalised Newcastle United with the return of the all-action and inspirational future skipper Steven Taylor, who has been beset by injuries yet is raring to go and lead the fight for his club’s future. Last season, Newcastle United had the best defensive record in all of the divisions in England until early November and the three games against the eventual Champions’ League winners Chelsea and away to the two Manchester clubs. Yet there was no prouder sight for Newcastle fans than to see a club that has never been renowned in recent years only conceding eight goals in its first 11 League games keeping four clean sheets.

The back five at the start of last season was the emerging Tim Krul in goal, Danny ‘Off The Line’ Simpson at right-back, the cultured Coloccini complementing the true grit of Steven Taylor in the middle and Ryan Taylor a revelation at left-back, who also returns to fitness soon.Bathroom careel-tech at Great Prices from Topps Tiles.

Make no mistake about it, Alan Pardew has got it all to do in the remaining 15 games of the season yet could still snatch glory from the jaws of disaster. Survival is the name of the game now in The Premier League, any talk of European finishes belongs on yesterday’s fish and chip paper yet the club are still in the Last 32 of The Europa League. With Newcastle, where there’s life, there’s hope and that chance of silverware, however remote, still gleams in every Magpies’ eye. If Newcastle’s new defence can stop shipping goals at the back and Cabaye’s sparkling return is matched by the comeback of Hatem Ben Arfa to wave his magic wand and if Papiss Cisse can find the form he had when he signed at this point last season and new striker signing Yohan Gouffran from Bordeaux rises to the challenge then anything is possible.We have many different types of parkingsystem.

Big ifs yet few predicted Newcastle’s rise last season or their demise so far in this one and as any gambler worth their salt knows, you’re only ever one spin of the wheel away from the ultimate run of luck. Having just about survived everything thrown at them this season, Newcastle are due a major change of fortune especially the loyal Geordie faithful. The football Gods can be cruel yet surely they are fair and if anyone deserves anything, it’s the long-suffering Newcastle fans, trophy-less for 44 years and counting – 4-4 that magic no., the turning point of Pardew’s reign and greatest ever match when all seemed lost after Carroll’s sale yet was the start of something very special.

Likewise now after the sale of Demba Ba and new signings, Newcastle are already stronger. The similarity between the name Haidara and Hydra, the many-headed mythological creature which when it loses a head, grows more to replace it, is uncanny. Carroll was sold then Nolan yet Newcastle replaced them with Cabaye, Ba, Ben Arfa and Cisse. Now Ba has left and a new wave of Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Haidara and Gouffran instantly makes us stronger. Alan Pardew always promised that his hand would be strengthened in January and he has remained true to his word. The cavalry has arrived, quality new players who will greatly boost and bolster the League campaign and if I was a betting man, would put my newly fortified Nouveau Chateau on delivering The Europa League trophy.

2013年1月17日星期四

What Gets Blood Pumping When It’s Still Winter?

Four weeks from today, you can find me in Walmart. I’ll be loading my cart with hot chocolate mix and Toasti Toes to prepare for the bitter cold beginning of Razorback baseball.

I’ve already made my cooler, complete with the cartoon Diamond Hog about to hit a homer, but you don’t need ice cold Diet Coke when it’s 40 degrees at 3 p.m. as Jacob Mahan steps up to the plate. You need hot chocolate, piping hot and insulated in a Stanley Thermos.

You also need wool blankets and Toasti Toes stuffed into your sneakers. You need two pairs of gloves, a baseball cap and a jacket with a hood.

Of course you’re permitted to wear the warm knitted hat your grandmother made you for Christmas, but you don’t. This is baseball season, and nothing but a red baseball cap with the Arkansas “A” stitched on the front will do.

That’s the thing about college baseball. It starts in the middle of February, when it’s still winter according to the calendar, and it still feels like it if you live anywhere other than Florida or southern Texas.

Especially in Northwest Arkansas, where the average temperature last year on opening day at Baum Stadium was 42 degrees.

If the fans need blankets and warm drinks and Toasti Toes, how do our 40 favorite players make it through the game? Of course they wear warm layers and wear jackets in the dugout and keep an elevated heart rate by moving around and making plays, but I have an argument for something a little more obscure.

It’s the batter ditty. Every player has a walk-out song when it’s his turn to approach the plate.

Transplanted Californian-turned-Razorback Dominic Ficociello had 2Pac’s “California Love” as his walk-out song for the last two seasons. I have a $5 bet with my assistant editor that he chooses to pay homage to the Golden State again this year with the same song.We have many different types of crys talbeads wholesale.

Last year, in what most took to be a bet lost by Bo Bigham, his walk-out song was “Baby” by Justin Bieber for the first series against Villanova.Find Complete Details about howo tractor Truck.Want to find howo concrete mixer?

A batter ditty will put the player where he needs to be mentally and physically to deliver in the game. There’s even science behind it all.

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, certain types of music can be used to prevent choking, a sports phenomenon in which players don’t deliver under pressure. LeBron James has never experienced this phenomenon. We’ll delve further into the question of clutch next week.

Three basketball players had to shoot free throws under differing levels of pressure and with or without music. The music decreased the players’ self-awareness, and they performed better at the line.

In another study by the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, 12 healthy men cycled on stationary bikes. Those listening to faster-tempo music had higher heart rates and covered a longer distance in the same amount of time.

Each batter ditty applies to one or both of the studies; what’s not to love about them?

Whether it’s Jake Wise getting into the mental sweet spot with “You’re Worthy of my Praise” by Jeremy Camp, or Bo Bigham’s elevated heart rate from Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” there’s a lot to be said for walk-out songs.

Inspectors taking the first-ever inventory of flood control systems overseen by the federal government have found hundreds of structures at risk of failing and endangering people and property in 37 states.

Levees deemed in unacceptable condition span the breadth of America. They are in every region,We can supply howo truck products as below. in cities and towns big and small: Washington, D.C., and Sacramento Calif., Cleveland and Dallas, Augusta, Ga., and Brookport, Ill.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to issue ratings for a little more than 40 percent of the 2,487 structures, which protect about 10 million people. Of those it has rated, however, 326 levees covering more than 2,000 miles were found in urgent need of repair.

The problems are myriad: earthen walls weakened by trees, shrubs and burrowing animal holes; houses built dangerously close to or even on top of levees; decayed pipes and pumping stations.

The Associated Press requested, under the Freedom of Information Act, details on why certain levees were judged unacceptable and how many people would be affected in a flood. The Corps declined on grounds that such information could heighten risks of terrorism and sabotage.

The AP found specifics about the condition of some levees from federal and state records and in interviews with more than a dozen officials in cities and towns. The number of people who might be affected by a breach could not be determined because there are many different factors in a flood, such as terrain and obstacles.

The severity of the risk from any particular levee depends not only on its condition but also the population, infrastructure and property it protects. The Corps is currently conducting risk assessments of levees under its jurisdiction.

Local governments are responsible for upgrading unacceptable levees. Some local officials say that the Corps is exaggerating the dangers, that some deficiencies were approved or not objected to by the federal government and that any repairs could cost them hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.

"It's just not right to tell a little town like this to spend millions of dollars that we can't raise," said Judy Askew,Find Complete Details about howo tractor Truck. mayor of Brookport, a hardscrabble town of about 1,000 on the banks of the Ohio River.

Compared with other types of infrastructure, the nation's levees, within and outside federal jurisdiction, don't fare well. They earned a D-minus for overall condition from the American Society of Civil Engineers in its latest report card in 2009, ranking behind dams, bridges, rails and eight other categories.

The condition of flood control systems came into dramatic focus in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina's rain and storm surge toppled levees in New Orleans and tore up the Gulf Coast. It left 1,800 people dead and was the costliest storm in U.S. history with damage estimated at $108 billion.

Afterward, Congress told the Corps to catalog federally overseen levees, many of which it built and handed over to municipalities to run and maintain. The Corps has spent more than $140 million on inspections and developing the inventory, which is posted online.

As of Jan. 10, the agency had published ratings for 1,451, or 58 percent, of the levees. Of those, 326 were unacceptable, 1,004 were minimally acceptable with deficiencies that need correcting, and 121 were acceptable.

Some levees had inadequate "freeboard" — extra height to prevent overflow, which can weaken the landward slope of the levee. For example, the Corps found there was not enough height in a levee along a 20-mile stretch of Mississippi's Yazoo River system, which came close to being overtopped in 2011 during historic flooding of the Mississippi River valley.

Many pipes built into levees to drain storm water were made of metal that has rusted. And pumping systems are giving out. In Brookport, inspectors found inoperable pumps and deteriorating pipes in its 6-mile-long earthen levee. Their report said a gaping hole just outside town has put the structure in "critical condition."

Corps specifications require that levee slopes be kept clear of plants and burrowing critters such as ground squirrels and gophers. The tunnels could weaken the walls by providing pathways for water. Thick vegetation also can conceal cracks, holes and unstable slopes. A 2010 Corps report found parts of a 2.2-mile-long Mississippi River levee in South St. Paul, Minn., dotted with trees, brush, weeds and tree stumps.

Red Wings' Ken Holland wants Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson is unlike the previous goaltenders who sat next to Jimmy Howard in the Detroit Red Wings dressing room.

“I’ve had Ozzie, Joey and Ty, and they’re at one end of the spectrum, then I’ve got Gus, who’s at the other end of the spectrum,'' Howard said of Chris Osgood, Joey MacDonald and Ty Conklin. “I've got to give him a tap on the pads every so often to make sure that he’s actually there because he doesn’t really talk my ear off like the other three used to.''

Gustavsson is quiet, but he figures to be heard from more than Howard's previous backups. With a compressed 48-game schedule that features 12 sets of games on consecutive days, even a workhorse like Howard will need more rest than usual.

“It's definitely beneficial to have both goalies going because points are going to be at a premium this year,'' Howard said. “Every single game is going to be like the playoffs. You can't afford to lose a couple in a row, so we're going to need both of us going.''

Howard and Gustavsson already have had a chance to bond, having practiced together for four months during the lockout with several teammates in Troy. They also spent four days last week at a high-intensity training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz.Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects.

Howard is in the final year of his contract ($2.25 million salary-cap hit). The Red Wings will try to sign him to an extension before the end of the season.

Knowing playing time could be hard to come by in Detroit didn't deter Gustavsson from signing with the Red Wings on July 1 for two years and $1.5 million per season.

“It’s tough competition to get playing time, but it’s something I like, too, it’s something to push me,'' Gustavsson said. “Hopefully, I can push Howie, too, and do whatever I can to help the team win. If I play games or I’m supporting the guys, I’m just going to take my role and go with that.”

Said coach Mike Babcock: “The bottom line is how (Gustavsson) gets himself going and playing good; he's going to play lots of games.We open source indoor tracking system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. But the better the guy plays, the more opportunity we have to play him.''

Gustavsson said the only positive about the lockout was it enabled him to develop a comfort level with many of his teammates and his new home.

Elizabeth Ashley was at the center of it all, fighting for her life as my sharp, smart, bawdy Aunt Maggie. Uncle Brick, a gently charismatic Keir Dullea, was drinking again and drifting to an altitude not understood by children. The great Kate Reid was our deliriously affectionate grandmother, Big Mama, and Fred Gwynne the towering, taciturn and terrifying master of the house, Big Daddy. Fred was of particular fascination to us kids, as he had played Herman Munster on TV. I spent a lot of my time with him puzzled by how little of the Munster I was able to detect in his droll and contained Harvard bearing.

What I did understand was that it was Big Daddy’s birthday, his 65th, every night, and although the two-tiered cake wasn’t real, the sense of an extended family in the midst of unruly celebration was always palpable. We had fireworks, we had sparklers, we had songs and games and cap guns and pillow fights. The grown-ups had their fights as well, driven by deeper issues of greed and desire. It was all lived full throttle in front of an audience of 1,200 nightly.

“Cat” is a play that struts with a fairly frank sense of sexuality, and the “Free To Be You and Me” ’70s were an era of letting it all hang out. So to have Liz Ashley lounging and lunging through the first hour of our play in her silk slip registered to me then as in tune with the times. I understood that Uncle Brick was refusing to sleep with Aunt Maggie, and that this meant they wouldn’t have children. What I didn’t grasp were the reasons for her desperation. I gathered that Brick and his former football teammate Skipper had once had an unusually close and precious friendship, but I was ignorant of the 1950s stigma attached to “unpure” impulses that might have existed between them.

If the aspect of the play that dealt with the taboo of homosexuality in 1950s Mississippi blew unnoticed past me, the reality of a more modern attitude was all around us in the theater world of 1974. “What does gay mean?” I surprised my mother with the question one day. She responded in fairly plain terms,We offers several ways of providing hands free access to car parks to authorised vehicles. explaining that “some men and women want to love other men and women.” I quickly followed up: “So, do we know anyone who’s gay?” The answer was a resounding “Yes” and the examples of openly gay friends and colleagues were myriad, a number of them treasured elders working side by side with me nightly.

Other aspects of life on the Pollitt plantation remained more baffling. We had servants, played by actors who had become our good friends, with character names like Sookey and Lacey. They had very little to say during the course of the play, which I found perplexing. I had heard about and understood on some basic level the fact of slavery and the way its distorted imprint had held on longer in the South than in the North. Still, I couldn’t square this with what seemed to exist in our home: an all-black staff of uniformed employees who would speak only when spoken to, whose job it was to shepherd us children here and there and batten down the hatches as the storm approached in Act III.

The play itself granted me a fictional mother and father and an instant litter of rascally brothers and sisters. (It was then that my actual father taught me the phrase “comic relief.”) We no-necks gamely brought a gust of fun with us whenever we entered the rehearsal room. After one Wednesday matinee we invited the entire company down to our basement green room lair for our own presentation of a few key scenes from “Cat.”

To our delight most of the company came. They sat astonished as we kids performed a couple of well-rehearsed, fully costumed and imaginatively designed sequences from the masterwork we were all living upstairs nightly. I can still see Liz Ashley leaning forward on the edge of her folding chair, holding her chestnut mane from her face, beaming with equal parts shock and delight. We had absorbed, inflection by musical inflection, this very adult text — “I’m not living with you. We occupy the same cage.” — and were artfully parroting for our elders their own performances. I had cast myself as Big Daddy — “You tell me why you drink,We open source indoor tracking system that was developed with the goal of providing at least room-level accuracy. and I’ll hand you one.” My bubble-gum cigar was an effective and subversive touch.

Floating through the yearlong experience was Tennessee himself, in the role of theatrical patriarch. A diminutive man in a rumpled button-down,Bottle cutters let you turn old glass mosaic and wine bottles into bottle art! he had his name above the title, and it was his poetry our family was speaking nightly. It’s almost hard to imagine today that he collaborated with us as a living playwright, on hand many afternoons during rehearsal weeks and then very much present for all our openings and special events.

He assembled a new third act for our production, revised the play extensively and went on record again and again with his enthusiasm for Michael Kahn’s staging. And he reserved special, worshipful praise for Liz, whom he felt was giving audiences the Maggie he had always imagined.

Through my 10-year-old eyes he was a sweet and curious figure, at once the man responsible for this big event and also a small, quiet and apparently scared soul. It was more than once he would be reintroduced to me at a gathering and I would wonder to myself: “Why is he so shy? What’s the matter? Isn’t this his party?” Later I would come to realize that this was to be the last Broadway revival of “Cat” during his lifetime.

I’ve played many a Southerner, in the various plays and musicals I’ve done since on Broadway and across the country, but never again in Williams. And I remain grateful and amazed that at my professional beginnings the poetry of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” was in my young ear eight times a week.

A few years ago I went to the Lincoln Center performing-arts library to watch a videotape of our production. I sat at my console with real trepidation, worried that my private memories of the experience might be corrupted. But as the tape rolled, I found myself absorbed again, drawn in by the beauty of Williams’s words and the Southern, summertime world I remember like a childhood home. It’s a single-camera affair, captured in black and white, but the power of the piece and the performances register vividly.

2012 Patent Filings Rank Xerox Among the World's Top Innovators

The 2012 tally includes patents from Xerox and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, including the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), A Xerox Company. Xerox's joint venture in Japan, Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd., received 686 U.S. patents in 2012. When combined, the Xerox group garnered 1,900 U.S. patents, which would have placed Xerox in the top 10 on the IFI Patent Intelligence list worldwide. This issuance is up almost 300 patents over last year - an increase of more than 17 percent.

"Patents are an important measure of our continued investment in innovation but more importantly, it's the people behind the patents who turn these inventions into powerful solutions for our clients," said Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox chief technology officer and president of the Xerox Innovation Group. "We're tapping into the creativity and customer-focus of our scientists and engineers to apply innovation in ways that not only advance our document technology but also simplify complex business processes through Xerox's diverse services in industries such as healthcare, finance, customer care and transportation."

Recently issued patents in the services space include U.S. Patent 8,Buy Joan Rivers crystal mosaic Stretch Bracelet.315,946, which describes the e-Childcare solution that enables Human Services agencies to subsidize child care services while reducing fraud, paperwork, and payment processing overhead to save taxpayer money. US Patent 8,234,237 describes a workflow management system that notes when data is missing from a scanned document, and returns the document to the workflow when the data is provided. U.S Patent 8,195,474 describes a system that scans the databases of a large number of print servers to create a profile of the customer's needs, generating a list of the most useful marketing portals for the account. U.S. Patent 8,190,469 describes elements of the software that runs the PocketPEOTM handheld parking citation device.

Xerox's prolific researchers have filed over 60,000 patents around the world since 1930. The company recently recognized 12 scientists for reaching personal patent milestones, which in total represent 1,550 patents over the past few years. In addition to the National Medal of Technology, the highest honor awarded by the President of the United States, Xerox has received a number of innovation awards including being named to Thomson Reuters' 2012 listing of the World's 100 Most Innovative Companies.

During a media conference on Thursday afternoon, NHS interim president and CEO Sue Matthews outlined a plan to save $10 million, and said the organization is working with staff to realize the other $3 million in savings. Despite being “one of the most efficient hospitals in Ontario” — falling within the 25th percentile for administrative and support expense, the NHS is looking for further efficiencies to try and bring operational costs down - a task she says is happening at other hospitals right across the province, she said. Starting with patient care as the No. 1 priority, she said the NHS senior team has undertaken a lengthy process to review what it can do to improve the bottom line.

“We have to be financially sustainable. It’s not an option for us,” Matthews told reporters at the NHS Ontario Street site. “In light of the economic downturn we have a zero per cent increase of funding for hospitals, despite inflation, which means a negative impact for us.”

That, she said, has spawned the search for the $13 million in savings. It will be a long-term challenge, she said, noting the NHS and other hospitals will “always be in the process” to find further efficiencies.

The hospital, she explained, has to have its savings plan in place by the end of the fiscal year — March 31. The current operational budget is $430 million, and that number will swell by $50-60 million once the new St.You can buy mosaic Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. Catharines hospital is completely up and running. That means they’ve looked aggressively to find the savings without affecting patient care.

“When we’re looking at ways to save, the first thing we look at is trying to generate revenue rather than savings,” she said, noting there will be a parking rate hike coming. In addition to revenues, they then went into looking at everything from administration and support, program efficiencies, and utilization management, with program consolidation and changes considered a last resort.

Matthews said the hospital has already removed some administrative support, managerial and executive positions in the last year. There were about a dozen employees in total cut, said NHS vice-president of human resources Terry McMahon.

However, more could be coming, Matthews cautioned.

“We don’t know the final number of individuals who will leave the organization in this process,” she said. “This is a very lengthy process, and in the past it takes up to a year sometimes for the process to land. I do know it’s a stressful time for staff..Bottle cutters let you turn old glass mosaic and wine bottles into bottle art!. we feel very much for them affected by this and will do everything we can to minimize the impact.”

“There could be some, but the whole approach is let’s look at moving some,The stone mosaic series is a grand collection of coordinating Travertine mosaics and listellos. early retirements, and minimize it,” he said. “Back in 2009 when we were doing the HIP (hospital improvement plan) that was a similar approach and at the end of the day there were very few (employees) who got laid off.”

There’s been a flurry of new hires relating to services at the new hospital, and Matthews said those positions aren’t in jeopardy.

The NHS is also not filling the equivalent of 12 full-time positions, in addition to reassigning workers to some of the 120 vacancies the organization has. While some part-time staff may be reduced, there will also be the redistribution of hours, and the hospital will also look at providing early retirement or voluntary exit options. They are attempting to avoid layoffs by working closely with the unions, and Matthews said while nurses may move positions, there will be no nurse layoffs.

Some actions underway at this point, accounting for the $10 million in savings, include the parking revenue hike — for visitors and staff, decentralzing the nursing scheduling office ($1 million), centralized food delivery, up to six weeks of closures of operating rooms throughout the year, product standardization ($1 million), consolidation of mental health to the new St. Catharines site ($1 million), lab efficiencies, administrative and support reductions ($1 million), clinical efficiencies and consolidations ($1.8 million) and a group of other much smaller initiatives that equate to about $2.2 million in savings.

“$10 million is not enough .For the world leader in injection molds base services and plastic injection products... we are challenging our staff to help us find the additional $3 million,” said Matthews. “Come up with, in addition to the $10 million in savings, savings in sick time and overtime.”

The NHS, she said, has “significantly high overtime” created by some staffing challenges and some of the vacancies, and they want to work with staff to decrease that in addition to the sick time. They’re also putting a focus on infection control by examining specific assessments of what needs to be done in the event of a breakout, but noted cleaning staff numbers aren’t expected to change.

The deficit woes are nothing new for the NHS. The organization struggles with this each year and achieved savings over the last few years, said Matthews, and they’re working hard to fulfill its objectives.

“We’ve committed to be transparent so the public knows, but we also committed to have a balanced budget and we haven’t to date. We have to do that and we have to be aggressive,” she said. “If we don’t... it’s only going to get worse.”

2013年1月16日星期三

White Sands Missile Range Home

Developed in coordination with the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville (Huntsville Center), Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. and Bostonia, the four megawatt White Sands Missile Range solar energy system will generate approximately 10 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, and provide an estimated annual savings of $930,We have brought a large range of attractive cry stalmosaic tiles.000. Complemented by a 375 kW solar carport, the solar array deployed at White Sands will supply approximately 10 percent of the total power used at the installation and reduce carbon emissions by 7,400 tons per year. Featuring Solaria's proprietary technology, the 4.1 MW ground-mounted tracking system is also the world's largest low concentration photovoltaic solar power plant.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings?

"This is an exciting project for the U.S. Army," said Garrison Commander Colonel Leo Pullar. "A sunny location like New Mexico provides an ideal site for solar power. This project illustrates the U.S. Army's commitment to going green, our focus on operating on net zero energy, and doing what we can to help protect the environment."

"We are very pleased to be inaugurating this milestone photovoltaic installation," said Will Irby, Huntsville Center program manager. "We're extremely grateful to the entire team, comprised of the staff from White Sands Missile Range, Huntsville Center, Siemens, their subcontractor Solaria Corporation and Bostonia, working under the leadership of Brigadier General Gwen Bingham and Colonel Leo Pullar. Everyone has done an outstanding job to bring this project to fruition."

"Siemens is committed to helping the Department of Defense achieve unprecedented levels of energy efficiency, security and independence," said Judy Marks, president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. "Through this Energy Savings Performance Contract, the value of sustainability is measured not just in terms of financial benefits, but benefits to maintaining mission readiness, and the preservation of options for the Army's future."

"The Department of Defense is deploying renewable energy and reducing its reliance on fossil fuel resources. This solar energy system demonstrates that the U.S. government's goals for enhancing security through energy independence can be met both economically and practically when the public and private sectors work together," noted Dan Shugar, CEO of Solaria Corporation, a subcontractor to Siemens.

Construction of the solar power plant began in April 2012 and was completed in December 2012. The ground-mounted single-axis Solaria tracking system follows the sun across the sky, increasing energy yield by up to 30 percent over fixed systems. All energy generated from the project will be consumed by onsite operations.

The $16.8 million solar PV system was the primary component of an Energy Savings Performance Contract implemented by the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc.We offers several ways of providing hands free access to car parks to authorised vehicles. Under the contract task order,Product information for Avery Dennison cable ties products. Siemens will maintain and operate the equipment and will sell the energy it generates to White Sands Missile Range at the same rate they are currently paying the local utility company. The Army will own the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and use them toward meeting federal renewable energy mandates. This project supports President Barack Obama's directive that federal agencies use Energy Savings Performance Contracts to make $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrades over the next year, as well as supporting the Army's renewable energy goals.

Each plates the kitchen kicks out proves the theory that good food doesn't have to be complicated. Most dishes have four or five ingredients, but my how they play well together. From the simple coal-roasted olives (the first I've ever eaten warm, incidentally) with pine nuts, sweet golden raisins and rosemary, to the molasses-rubbed quail with escarole, sweet-and-sour-blackberry reduction and Marcona almonds, the dishes themselves aren't comprised of unpronounceable ingredients you need to pull out the iPhone to Google.

“(The dishes aren't) overworked,” Anders said. “What you see on the menu is what you're going to get. What you read is going to give you a good idea of what's coming. There's not a lot of hidden things; whereas with fine dining where there's a million garnishes, we wanted to be straightforward and obvious.”

And while “most of the dishes are fairly easy,” as Anders said, it's the tools in the kitchen — namely a wood-fired rotisserie and grill that cost around $30K — that really sets apart what Anders and his crew can execute versus what a foodie in a home kitchen can do.

And the boys in the kitchen are making full use of the grill. Ninety percent of the items on the menu have at least one component that's come in contact with the grill,You can buy mosaic Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. like the char-marked lemons that accompany seafood from the raw bar — oysters from both coasts, Gulf peel-and-eat shrimp, King Crab legs and more. Even the housemade mix for both the smoky bloody mary cocktail and seafood cocktail sauce is made with tomatoes charred on the grill.

“Sometimes it has the wrong connotation and people think it tastes smoky and I don't think it does, at least in the sense of a barbecue smoke house. Instead, it adds depth and brings nuances out. (Cooking with wood) gives you a different flavor than gas. Gas doesn't taste like anything. With wood, you have that sweet smoke that kisses it.”

A task app you'll actually want to use

To-do lists and task managers are commonplace on the App Store, and it's sometimes hard for unique apps to stand out. But a recently launched app from Betaworks called Done Not Done surprisingly manages to do so. Don't let the name fool you, this app doesn't focus on the boring things you need to do, like picking up more milk or sending out 15 résumés. The goal of Done Not done is to get you to log the fun things you want to do, like films you'd like to see, albums you'd like to listen to, or books you want to read, and then see whether any of those interests overlap with those of your friends. That way, you can buddy up and share the experience.

Normally I try not to use too many different apps for one general experience—I make use of Apple's Reminders app for checklist-style task tracking, so getting me to use a different app for another kind of task-tracking requires a bit of effort. But I went hands-on with Done Not Done to see how usable it was, and I ended up liking it much more than I expected.

In order to make use of the iOS app (there isn't one yet for Android), you must first register an account—this is so your items can sync to the Web or other iOS devices. Once you get past that step, the app asks you to find friends on Twitter and Facebook—this is the only way to find friends, so if you want to use this app's social capabilities, you'll have to be willing to give access to either (or both) of your accounts.We offers several ways of providing hands free access to car parks to authorised vehicles.We mainly supply professional craftspeople with wholesale turquoise beads from china. When I did this the first time, the app hung on an attempt to connect to Twitter and never did finish. But when I tried it a second time later, it was able to find a few friends.

One of my friends apparently wants to see the movie Lincoln as well! That's great, because previously, I had no idea any of my contacts were interested in seeing that film. If we lived closer, we could possibly see it together—in this case, this friend lives a state away. But there could be other shared interests, like wanting to read the same book. And if that was the case, we could read it at the same time and discuss it later—or even better, if there are multiple friends, we could organize an online (or real life) reading group.

Essentially, the app allows you to add all the random media you've been meaning to consume but haven't yet, and accidentally find out which friends want to do the same things.

If you don't have any good ideas and you need a few, Done Not Done can also offer you suggestions based on what your friends have been adding. The "Popular" section under the ideas tab lists out the movies, books, and albums that your friends have added to their "Done" lists, as well as their ratings for each of those items.

Overall,Product information for Avery Dennison cable ties products. I ended up enjoying my time with this app. It's fun to browse around to see what your friends are reading and watching, and it's even more fun when you end up finding overlapping interests with your friends that you didn't know about. It can certainly be a cure for boredom, too—if you ever find yourself looking for something to do, you can pop into Done Not Done to see what you've already logged as not done so you can catch up on your media consumption.

So the app is fun to use, but that doesn't make it perfect. Something I actually tried to do several times within the app—and only later realized it wasn't working because you can't do that—was send messages to my friends attached to certain items. For example, if I see a friend wanting to see the same movie as me, I'd like to be able to tap on his or her name (or the movie name) to either send a message about it,Bottle cutters let you turn old glass mosaic and wine bottles into bottle art! or leave a comment on that entry. This would be helpful for planning purposes, and the same applies to books or albums that you might have in common with others.

From my view, the ability to converse through the app would facilitate more frequent use, and thus attract more users because of the active friend "community." Plus, it just makes sense: as I said, I expected this feature so much that I actually thought I was doing something wrong until I figured out that it's just not there. I'd like to think at least some kind of commenting feature would be added in a future release, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Another feature that would be nice to have is some way to find friends without depending on Twitter or Facebook. This doesn't affect me so much because I use both, but there are a number of users who might not want to connect the app to their social media accounts. They can already use Done Not Done today without doing so, but they wouldn't be able to connect to any friends, which dampens the experience.

Otherwise, I liked using Done Not Done enough that I'll very likely keep it on my iPhone for a few more months to see if the habit sticks. (Hear that, friends? Please download this app so I can use you for entertainment.) It certainly takes a fresh angle when it comes to task-based apps—this one's not so much about getting things done, but rather logging some of the more relaxing activities in our lives that we've done or would like to do. Not to mention, the download is free, so it's worth checking out if you have some time to tap around.

According to previous reports, the café's founder, Kathryn Kelly, said the effort would keep the local library open much longer each week — up from its current 30 hours to as many as 70 — without increasing operating costs by using eLearning staff as unpaid volunteers.

Library staff has been hesitant to come out in favor of the plan, according to previous reports, considering the Washoe County District Attorney's Office has to determine what authority the county has under Nevada state law to enter into this sort of agreement.

Last Wednesday, Kelly said she's been discouraged about an apparent attempt by library staff to not allow the idea to be discussed by the board, which meets monthly in Reno. As of last Wednesday,We can supply howo truck products as below. Kelly had garnered more than 150 signatures on a petition in support of the idea.

Mayor Foster's State of the City Message

Welcome to residents from across the City who are watching from their homes and places of work as this speech is again streaming live over the web. Welcome all to the beautiful Center Theater in Downtown Long Beach.

The requirement to deliver the State of the City is part of our City's charter and I am proud to continue the tradition of a speech accessible to the entire City.

Because above all else, this speech is the annual application of democracy's demand that citizens be informed of how well their government is performing.

It is my pleasure tonight to tell you that we have successfully come through a very difficult time and fortunately emerged a stronger City for it. The experience reminds me of a sign I saw on a telephone pole recently. It read "lost dog, black and grey German Shepard,Wholesale various Glass Mosaic Tiles from china glass mosaic Tiles Suppliers. walks on three legs, blind in one eye, missing one canine tooth, neutered, answers to the name Lucky."

While the economy does not yet have the strength we all desire, growth has returned, employment is modestly up, business activity is increasing and this City continues on the road to better financial footing.

The increase in economic activity in the form of consumer spending, the rebound in the real estate market and the up tick in development projects provide an important barometer on revenue levels that have been unpredictable for the better part of 4 years.

I stood before you last year and made the difficult pledge to bring true reform to Long Beach public pensions. It was a difficult path but this much was certain: I was going to implement these reforms on behalf of this City even if that meant asking you the voters to take action when employee groups would not.

I am very proud to report that after much time and toil and with the great cooperation of our City employees, we now have substantial and meaningful pension reform across the City.

Employees gave up their contracted raises in order to pay a greater share of their pensions. They agreed to benefit reductions that are more in line with fiscal reality. These actions put our finances on a sustainable path; one that protects both the City and employee in the future. I am grateful to and proud of each of you who cast a ballot in support of the City's common good.

All in, these pension reforms will save this City nearly $250 million dollars over the next decade, sparing draconian cuts and maintaining the outstanding service levels that the residents of Long Beach deserve.

The time is now at hand for us to rebuild our essential assets and restore some much needed services. We are now poised to accelerate our investments in the future. We can advance the far more joyful work of rebuilding and catalyze the energy of this great City.

Having weathered the tempest we should also take a moment to reflect on the past. We must understand and learn the lessons of the last several years; what was done right and what was done wrong. We must also take time to celebrate our success and provide a path and a future vision for the city we love.

First the lessons: I believe providing for the future and creating a smoother and better path for those that come after you is the first moral principle in government. In short, our primary responsibility is to assure that opportunity is available for the next generation.

Yet, when you look at troubled governments, the most common element is spending beyond their means, beyond fiscal capacity, in effect, borrowing from the future. There are little or no reserves for poor times; no provision for emergencies; and little concern for the next generation. Abraham Lincoln said it best: "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

I know political forces, however worthy the cause may be, are always present to make it almost irresistible for elected officials to spend recklessly. There are always too many needs and not enough resources. There is always the next election, groups to satisfy, campaigns to win - the choices are rarely easy.

Strong character is needed to resist these temptations and prioritize the greater good over your own political benefit. The public deserves that you treat its money with more care than you would your own.

In Long Beach, during the flush period in the early part of the last decade, rather than reserve funds from the absence of pension payments or continue to make payments and create pension reserves, we increased benefits. It was the easy choice. We had the money and were assured we would never have to make another pension payment.

More recently, with the help of a majority of the City Council standing firm on fiscal policy, our City maintained its bond ratings. In an era when downgrades were common, Long Beach was a standout.

Indeed, the rating agencies noted that part of the reason was our policy of not using one-time revenue for on-going expenses. In a welcomed abundance of caution, Fitch's rating service reminded us that to deviate from that policy would trigger a negative action on their part.

With better times on the horizon, let us please not forget these lessons. Please let us not make the same mistakes. And let us hold fast to the disciplines we have adopted. We can do better, we should do better, indeed, we must do better. The well being of the next generation depends on it.

There were many enhancements to our economic foundation as well; none more apparent, more needed - and perhaps more overdue -- than the new concourse at Long Beach Airport.

If you haven't experienced the new LGB you will be pleasantly shocked. It's comfortable, has all the latest amenities, great concessions -- the food is terrific and all from Long Beach businesses.

On one Sunday afternoon before opening, several thousand citizens took a walk through the new terminal as part of Community Day - and they loved it. So I will say it one more time, then I promise I won't ever again: Yes, you can now buy a sandwich before your flight without fear of actually eating it.

I want to give special thanks to Mario Rodriguez and his entire staff, the design team at Long Beach's own Studio 111 and the rest of the project team -- kudos for a job very well done. You have made the prime gateway to the City beautiful.

The massive construction effort in the Port of Long Beach continues. The billion-dollar Middle Harbor project is on track to receive its first container in 2015 and having toured the site I can tell you it is a stunning display of engineering and logistics even before a single ship has docked.

Last week we officially kicked off construction to rebuild the Gerald Desmond Bridge, soon to be one of California's most iconic structures, complete with bicycle lanes for the intrepid cyclist.Shop the web's best selection of precious gemstones and gemstone beads at wholesale prices. Little known about the project is that it is financed through a unique partnership between the City and the State of California borne from necessity and a little creativity. I can tell you first hand it wasn't easy, but this design-build project is projected to cut 6 - 12 months from construction time and save an estimated 5 -10% in construction costs over original estimates.We offer a wide variety of high-quality standard ultrasonic sensor and controllers.

In all, over $4 billion of construction - and 4,000 construction jobs annually -- will cement our port as the place to send your cargo. We will move it faster,Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects. greener and in greater volumes than anyone in the country. And to demonstrate that point, this past December was the best in the Port's history, yielding the largest container volumes of any December ever before.

Thank you to the Harbor Commissioners and Harbor Department staff for their outstanding work providing employment to thousands and making sure the future is strong and prosperous.

Speaking of jobs,All smartcardfactory comes with 5 Years Local Agent Warranty ! our economic development moved at a brisk pace this year. The City's Small Business Enterprise program saw a 25% increase in registrants over last year. Getting your business registered is the first step in accessing City purchasing contracts and I am very proud to report that we again improved on that count as well. Long Beach-based businesses earned $82 million in sales through City purchasing contracts. That accounts for over one-third of the total purchasing dollars - and represents a 5% increase over last year despite reductions in overall City expenditures.

We welcomed numerous large businesses to our City: Ignify is now located downtown; Airgas, L.D. Products, and Rubbercraft in East Long Beach; and the RMD Group now calls North Long Beach home.

Boeing, our iconic and historic partner, added more than 150 engineering jobs right here in Long Beach. Despite a continuing transition of the C-17 workforce, Boeing's investments in other business lines within the company provide a real indication that the last aircraft manufacturer in California has a strong future in Long Beach.

Our City partners in business improvement districts across the City continued to do fabulous work to cultivate our commercial corridors. Just two examples: 70 new businesses opened or relocated in and around Bixby Knolls Improvement Area this past year and the Downtown Long Beach Associates report 552 new jobs in their membership area. Whether new restaurants, design and technology firms or manufacturing companies, each has discovered that Long Beach is a great place to live and work.