In retrospect to a recent blog I read, I thought long and hard about the Patriot Act that was recently defeated in the Senate Halls. I thought long and hard about the underlying dilemma of the Patriot Act. Are Americans scared shit-less or are we all (us fellow Americans) crazy, introverted homebodies that would be considered sleeping giants that would not want to meddle with affairs outside the comforts of the living room?
I have often presumed that American and the Chinese are very much a like. Besides, us Chinese (Americans) aren't even considered a minority group anymore. I mean, we practically make up the majority in the Top 50 university and technological programs in the nation. Joking, aside, the Chinese were very isolationist people that shun western society until Great Britain and Portugal came in confiscated land during the Opium War and forced the Far Eastern society to not be so private anymore. In the other hemisphere, the Monroe Doctrine strived Americans to be they're own masters of their domains without interference of European influence (Namely Napoleon) Together, with destiny of the Manifest Destiny, us American grew to be expansionistic pigs. Well, the topic about McDonalds and obesity is another blog subject.
So now how are we as American respond to privacy issues? Don't forget, we're greedy pigs that shun other society out. We don't want black-boxes in our cars, we don't want pop-ups and telemarketing, and we certainly don't want big brother to check out neighbor or homes, regardless if it's part of Neighborhood Watch. So we also shun the Patriotic Act.
Personally by all means I'm opposed to the Patriotic Act, namely because I do not have the legal capacity to pick-it over with a fine-tooth comb. I understand that some practices may seem out of hand, absurd, and even like a strip-search without the cold, latex hands. I wish I had more time to read about the actual legislation turn to simple notes and paper of history, and to give more of an honest response, but the purpose of my blog today is to find out how private are we and defendable are we for our right to privacy, are afraid of the Patriot Act.
I should mention, I have read nothing but attacking articles, except for one pro-sided piece about the Patriot Act, so some misnomers and one-sided thinking is present. So, what's Jessica Simpson up to these days? Serious, we all want to know about the divorce. Who’s going to get the alimony? How about Kate and Tom, or even Bennifer?
Now how about the tragedy of Princess Diana. Now, that's privacy gone deadly. Then how about reality television? Real World Chicago, Big Brother 10, Survivor Jumanji-Style. Granted reality television is fake, but still we private Americans that shun telemarketers by storming the Do Not Call directory want our 15 minutes of fame. Now how about this, we want privacy and piece at weddings and funerals, but we announce the terms and story in the newspaper and OB. We also have webcam action for a cost of $14.95 a month for those over 18. We sign up for Martins, Safeway, Giant, and Dominick's grocery cards and other frequent diner, buyer, or seller cards with our personal information away. We use our Social Security numbers in public like a locker combination to apply for credit and more credit. The blog about debt-bleeding Americans will come soon.
So do we want to know where rapists, murders, and felons are in the neighborhood are? Yes, so screw their privacy. We want to know how our children are doing in school. Sure, until they go to college where their failures are kept from you. (HINT: Going to school for 7 years does not mean you're a doctor of gen. Ed) We want to build in new developments that will be more affordable and pleasant because they're closer to nature. So, screw you "Natural Habitat" and "Bambi"! Oh, have I mentioned that celebrities are screwed too?
So what is the comfort level for privacy? I'm willing to put an automotive black box in my car if it means lower insurance premiums. I'm willing to get a Banana Republic card if I annually get a $25 off card. I'm willing to have my library card history, purchase, and credit history check to make sure that this .aC (because my name is like the Chinese version of John Smith) isn't the one whose plotting the next terrorist attack, to killing someone, to building a bomb, or the rapist next door. Ever seen those Citibank ads about identify theft, privacy is not private anymore. What is it in it for me? To me, a Patriot Act with a value proposition will fly with me. What about you?
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Barnes and Noble
GET YOUR TEXTBOOKS HERE!!!
Barnes & Noble.com Home Page
aC. Sidebar
In my history of cheapness and thrift, B&N has been my primary source of textbooks at DePaul and Northwestern. College bookstores are definately over priced, but B&N offers very competitive rates. Plus, I'm a B&N member, so I can get you an additional 10% if you want.
Barnes & Noble.com Home Page
aC. Sidebar
In my history of cheapness and thrift, B&N has been my primary source of textbooks at DePaul and Northwestern. College bookstores are definately over priced, but B&N offers very competitive rates. Plus, I'm a B&N member, so I can get you an additional 10% if you want.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Crazy Deers
Five Deer Leap to Deaths From W.Va. Garage
Tue Dec 6
Either they misjudged the distance or they couldn't take the traffic. For reasons that mystify authorities, five deer that made their way onto the top of a five-story parking garage suddenly leaped to their deaths Sunday.
Police Cpl. Steve Cox found the does' bodies on a service road to the Charles Town Races & Slots, next to a security van they'd narrowly missed.
"They took the plunge," he said. "It was just absolutely weird."
A woman called police when she saw the deer falling, and Cox said he found scratches and animal hair on the fifth floor, indicating that's where they had been.
It's unclear how the deer got into the garage, but Cox said they may have become frightened after getting trapped. Cars moving through the garage may have spooked them, he said.
Or they could have been fooled by trees that can be seen from the top of the garage, mistakenly thinking they were close to home.
The carcasses were given to passers-by for butchering.
aC. Sidebar
The interesting thing about this story is the pleasantry of deer meat. At least it's not road kill, or should I say, self-inflicted plunge. I wondering if deer taste like chicken?
Tue Dec 6
Either they misjudged the distance or they couldn't take the traffic. For reasons that mystify authorities, five deer that made their way onto the top of a five-story parking garage suddenly leaped to their deaths Sunday.
Police Cpl. Steve Cox found the does' bodies on a service road to the Charles Town Races & Slots, next to a security van they'd narrowly missed.
"They took the plunge," he said. "It was just absolutely weird."
A woman called police when she saw the deer falling, and Cox said he found scratches and animal hair on the fifth floor, indicating that's where they had been.
It's unclear how the deer got into the garage, but Cox said they may have become frightened after getting trapped. Cars moving through the garage may have spooked them, he said.
Or they could have been fooled by trees that can be seen from the top of the garage, mistakenly thinking they were close to home.
The carcasses were given to passers-by for butchering.
aC. Sidebar
The interesting thing about this story is the pleasantry of deer meat. At least it's not road kill, or should I say, self-inflicted plunge. I wondering if deer taste like chicken?
Monday, November 21, 2005
Comic of the Week
aC. Sidebar
Make sure your son or daughter isn't bring home to his or her's room:
a) His or Her 40-yld gym or language arts teacher
b) Psycho 18-yld with 50 guns at home, who plays Grand Theft Auto and like trench coats
c) Barbie or Miss Teen of Little Town of Paw-Paw type that's superfacial and has a face of a ghost
d) His or Her's First, Second, or equivalent cousin or other family members
e) Pee-Wee Herman or R. Kelly
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Math Formula of the Week
Bayes' theorem
Simply put, Bayes’ theorem gives the probability of a random event A occurring given that we know a related event B occurred. This probability is noted P(AB), and is read "probability of A given B". This measure is sometimes called the "posterior", since it is computed after all other information on A and B is known.
According to Bayes’ theorem, the probability of A occurring given B will be dependent on three things:The probability of A occurring on its own, regardless of B. This is noted P(A) and read "probability of A". This measure is sometimes called the "prior", meaning it precedes any other information – as opposed to the posterior, defined above, which is computed after all other information is known.
The probability of B occurring on its own, regardless of A. This is noted P(B) and read "probability of B". This measure is sometimes called the normalising constant, since it will always be the same, regardless of which event A one is studying.
The probability of B occurring given that A occurred. This is noted P(BA) and is read "probability of B given A". This measure is sometimes called the likelihood, since it is the likelihood of A occurring given that B occurred. It is important not to confuse the likelihood of A given B and the probability of A given B. Even though both notions may seem similar and are related, they are quite different.
Example
To illustrate, suppose there are two bowls full of cookies. Bowl #1 has 10 chocolate chip cookies and 30 plain cookies, while bowl #2 has 20 of each. Our friend Fred picks a bowl at random, and then picks a cookie at random. We may assume there is no reason to believe Fred treats one bowl differently from another, likewise for the cookies. The cookie turns out to be a plain one. How probable is it that Fred picked it out of bowl #1?
Intuitively, it seems clear that the answer should be more than a half, since there are more plain cookies in bowl #1. The precise answer is given by Bayes' theorem. But first, we can clarify the situation by rephrasing the question to "what’s the probability that Fred picked bowl #1, given that he has a plain cookie?” Thus, to relate to our previous explanation, the event A is that Fred picked bowl #1, and the event B is that Fred picked a plain cookie. To compute Pr(AB), we first need to know:
Pr(A), or the probability that Fred picked bowl #1 regardless of any other information. Since Fred is treating both bowls equally, it is 0.5.
P(B), or the probability of getting a plain cookie regardless of any information on the bowls. In other words, this is the probability of getting a plain cookie from each of the bowls. It is computed as the sum of the probability of getting a plain cookie from a bowl multiplied by the probability of selecting this bowl. We know from the problem statement that the probability of getting a plain cookie from bowl #1 is 0.75, and the probability of getting one from bowl #2 is 0.5, and since Fred is treating both bowls equally the probability of selecting any one of them is 0.5. Thus, the probability of getting a plain cookie overall is 0.75×0.5 + 0.5×0.5 = 0.625.
Pr(BA), or the probability of getting a plain cookie given that Fred has selected bowl #1. From the problem statement, we know this is 0.75, since 30 out of 40 cookies in bowl #1 are plain. Given all this information, we can compute the probability of Fred having selected bowl #1 given that he got a plain cookie, as such.
As we expected, it is more than half. ((.75 * .5) / .625)
Simply put, Bayes’ theorem gives the probability of a random event A occurring given that we know a related event B occurred. This probability is noted P(AB), and is read "probability of A given B". This measure is sometimes called the "posterior", since it is computed after all other information on A and B is known.
According to Bayes’ theorem, the probability of A occurring given B will be dependent on three things:The probability of A occurring on its own, regardless of B. This is noted P(A) and read "probability of A". This measure is sometimes called the "prior", meaning it precedes any other information – as opposed to the posterior, defined above, which is computed after all other information is known.
The probability of B occurring on its own, regardless of A. This is noted P(B) and read "probability of B". This measure is sometimes called the normalising constant, since it will always be the same, regardless of which event A one is studying.
The probability of B occurring given that A occurred. This is noted P(BA) and is read "probability of B given A". This measure is sometimes called the likelihood, since it is the likelihood of A occurring given that B occurred. It is important not to confuse the likelihood of A given B and the probability of A given B. Even though both notions may seem similar and are related, they are quite different.
Example
To illustrate, suppose there are two bowls full of cookies. Bowl #1 has 10 chocolate chip cookies and 30 plain cookies, while bowl #2 has 20 of each. Our friend Fred picks a bowl at random, and then picks a cookie at random. We may assume there is no reason to believe Fred treats one bowl differently from another, likewise for the cookies. The cookie turns out to be a plain one. How probable is it that Fred picked it out of bowl #1?
Intuitively, it seems clear that the answer should be more than a half, since there are more plain cookies in bowl #1. The precise answer is given by Bayes' theorem. But first, we can clarify the situation by rephrasing the question to "what’s the probability that Fred picked bowl #1, given that he has a plain cookie?” Thus, to relate to our previous explanation, the event A is that Fred picked bowl #1, and the event B is that Fred picked a plain cookie. To compute Pr(AB), we first need to know:
Pr(A), or the probability that Fred picked bowl #1 regardless of any other information. Since Fred is treating both bowls equally, it is 0.5.
P(B), or the probability of getting a plain cookie regardless of any information on the bowls. In other words, this is the probability of getting a plain cookie from each of the bowls. It is computed as the sum of the probability of getting a plain cookie from a bowl multiplied by the probability of selecting this bowl. We know from the problem statement that the probability of getting a plain cookie from bowl #1 is 0.75, and the probability of getting one from bowl #2 is 0.5, and since Fred is treating both bowls equally the probability of selecting any one of them is 0.5. Thus, the probability of getting a plain cookie overall is 0.75×0.5 + 0.5×0.5 = 0.625.
Pr(BA), or the probability of getting a plain cookie given that Fred has selected bowl #1. From the problem statement, we know this is 0.75, since 30 out of 40 cookies in bowl #1 are plain. Given all this information, we can compute the probability of Fred having selected bowl #1 given that he got a plain cookie, as such.
As we expected, it is more than half. ((.75 * .5) / .625)
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Friday, November 11, 2005
Trim the mortgage-interest deduction
By Froma Harrop
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The deduction for mortgage interest is the "third rail" of tax reform. President Reagan tried to get rid of it in 1986, but real estate interests stopped him. Now, President Bush's tax advisory commission suggests limiting its use. Good idea, I say, and good luck.
The mortgage-interest deduction is bad economic policy. It encourages consumption, rather than saving. People take out big mortgages to free up spending money. (They convince themselves not to worry about all the borrowing because the interest on the loan can be tax-deductible.) An unhealthy economic incentive, the deduction is also expensive. It cost the Treasury $63 billion last year in needed revenues. The entire budget of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development was $35 billion.
The deduction is bad social policy. It discriminates against renters, and even homeowners of moderate means. "The people who have the biggest homes, who make the most money are the greatest beneficiaries of this tax subsidy," says Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "If you rent, you don't get the deduction. Even if you own a home and have a modest income, you're likely to take a standard deduction, which means you don't get it."
The mortgage-interest deduction is a boulder in the stream of tax reform. A lot of people say they want a "flat tax" - a single rate for all incomes, with no deductions, exemptions or loopholes allowed. A flat tax could cure the annual migraine of filling out IRS forms. But there can be no honest flat tax that makes an exception for a break that benefits the well-to-do.
In recommending tax reform, Bush's advisory panel has to offset any cuts with new revenues. It rightly wants to kill the alternative minimum tax, and suggests limiting the mortgage-interest deduction as a way to replace some of the lost revenue. (The alternative minimum tax was designed 35 years ago to ensure that the rich pay their share. Not adjusted for inflation, the tax is rampaging through the middle class and has to go.)
The commission has been talking about ways to limit the mortgage-interest deduction without stepping on too many toes. Right now, Americans can deduct all the interest paid on mortgages written for up to $1 million. The panel is considering whether that cap might be reduced to the size of the biggest mortgage currently insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Nowadays, that means a mortgage of about $313,000 in expensive communities, or a national average of $244,000.
The average American mortgage weighs in at about $155,000, so this lower limit would not change the calculus for most of us peasants. However, the cap would pinch some nerves in trophy house territory. The real estate industry would not like that at all. The bigger the mortgage people can afford, the more they can pay for a house, and the more real estate brokers and developers rake in.
A more noble concern over altering the mortgage-interest deduction centers on America's wildly divergent costs of living. The median price of a home is about $220,000 in the United States, but $550,000 in San Francisco. A $400,000 mortgage, while amazing to most Americans, would not be a rarity on Nob Hill. Any proposal to limit the mortgage- interest deduction has to be very sensitive to these issues.
But should we even bother thinking about the details at this point? The odds are not wonderful that Congress will summon the courage to trim this deduction. If the past is any guide, the meekest attempt will fire up the real estate industry's propaganda mills. Soon, Americans not even remotely affected by the proposed changes will believe in their bones that they are losing some beloved tax deduction.
That's a cynical view, but unavoidable. Our government seems incapable of asking the smallest sacrifice of the biggest incomes. Here is a tax break that favors the upper brackets while hurting economic growth, and we can't get a consensus in Washington that it is a bad thing.
Reagan was right on this one. And so is Bush's tax advisory commission. Is there a brave political soul out there looking for a good policy?
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The deduction for mortgage interest is the "third rail" of tax reform. President Reagan tried to get rid of it in 1986, but real estate interests stopped him. Now, President Bush's tax advisory commission suggests limiting its use. Good idea, I say, and good luck.
The mortgage-interest deduction is bad economic policy. It encourages consumption, rather than saving. People take out big mortgages to free up spending money. (They convince themselves not to worry about all the borrowing because the interest on the loan can be tax-deductible.) An unhealthy economic incentive, the deduction is also expensive. It cost the Treasury $63 billion last year in needed revenues. The entire budget of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development was $35 billion.
The deduction is bad social policy. It discriminates against renters, and even homeowners of moderate means. "The people who have the biggest homes, who make the most money are the greatest beneficiaries of this tax subsidy," says Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "If you rent, you don't get the deduction. Even if you own a home and have a modest income, you're likely to take a standard deduction, which means you don't get it."
The mortgage-interest deduction is a boulder in the stream of tax reform. A lot of people say they want a "flat tax" - a single rate for all incomes, with no deductions, exemptions or loopholes allowed. A flat tax could cure the annual migraine of filling out IRS forms. But there can be no honest flat tax that makes an exception for a break that benefits the well-to-do.
In recommending tax reform, Bush's advisory panel has to offset any cuts with new revenues. It rightly wants to kill the alternative minimum tax, and suggests limiting the mortgage-interest deduction as a way to replace some of the lost revenue. (The alternative minimum tax was designed 35 years ago to ensure that the rich pay their share. Not adjusted for inflation, the tax is rampaging through the middle class and has to go.)
The commission has been talking about ways to limit the mortgage-interest deduction without stepping on too many toes. Right now, Americans can deduct all the interest paid on mortgages written for up to $1 million. The panel is considering whether that cap might be reduced to the size of the biggest mortgage currently insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Nowadays, that means a mortgage of about $313,000 in expensive communities, or a national average of $244,000.
The average American mortgage weighs in at about $155,000, so this lower limit would not change the calculus for most of us peasants. However, the cap would pinch some nerves in trophy house territory. The real estate industry would not like that at all. The bigger the mortgage people can afford, the more they can pay for a house, and the more real estate brokers and developers rake in.
A more noble concern over altering the mortgage-interest deduction centers on America's wildly divergent costs of living. The median price of a home is about $220,000 in the United States, but $550,000 in San Francisco. A $400,000 mortgage, while amazing to most Americans, would not be a rarity on Nob Hill. Any proposal to limit the mortgage- interest deduction has to be very sensitive to these issues.
But should we even bother thinking about the details at this point? The odds are not wonderful that Congress will summon the courage to trim this deduction. If the past is any guide, the meekest attempt will fire up the real estate industry's propaganda mills. Soon, Americans not even remotely affected by the proposed changes will believe in their bones that they are losing some beloved tax deduction.
That's a cynical view, but unavoidable. Our government seems incapable of asking the smallest sacrifice of the biggest incomes. Here is a tax break that favors the upper brackets while hurting economic growth, and we can't get a consensus in Washington that it is a bad thing.
Reagan was right on this one. And so is Bush's tax advisory commission. Is there a brave political soul out there looking for a good policy?
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
The Need for Speeds...
Pharmacist Shortage Worsens Nationwide
Associated Press
Unlike most college students nearing graduation, Clarissa Hall isn't worried about finding a job — she's already considering several offers, including some with possible starting salaries of at least $80,000. Hall is benefiting from a nationwide shortage of pharmacists, which has prompted fierce competition between employers for new pharmacy graduates.
"Pretty much everyone in my class has people calling them left and right about jobs," said Hall, a University of Missouri-Kansas City student from Poplar Bluff. "I've had several people calling me and I don't even graduate until May."
The shortage of pharmacists, though, is not good for others in the medical field, or their patients, say those who have been watching the shortage worsen over the last decade.
It was fueled by several factors, especially changes in insurance policies and federal regulations of pharmaceuticals, which made drugs available to more people.
Add to that an aging population and more drugs being manufactured and advertised to the public, and the number of prescriptions has increased from 2 billion to 3.2 billion in the last decade. That problem is expected to worsen after the new Medicare prescription drug program begins Jan. 1, pharmacy officials said.
Independent and chain pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes are scrambling to find people to fill orders.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores reported about 5,950 full- and part-time openings in July in its 37,000 member stores. The American Hospital Association reported a 7.4 percent vacancy rate for pharmacists as of December, 2004, with 38 percent of its members saying it was harder to recruit pharmacists last year than in 2003.
The National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents independent pharmacies, does not keep track of job openings.
A consortium of pharmacy groups called the Pharmacy Manpower Project issued a report in 2002 predicting 157,000 unfilled pharmacy openings by 2020.
The need to fill all those new prescriptions has been partially addressed by an increase in technology and the use of pharmacy technicians, said Dr. David Knapp, dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland.
But that hasn't addressed increasing pressure on pharmacists to become more involved in helping patients manage their drugs, especially elderly patients who may take several medicines, said Knapp, who coordinated the conference that released the Manpower report.
"Every hour of every day, dozens if not hundreds of prescriptions are coming across the counter," he said. "They are trying to do that while at the same time counseling patients, calling physicians, helping diabetic patients manage eight or 10 medicines, teaching parents how to help their child use his new asthma inhaler. It's a real stressed out situation for pharmacists."
Around the country, universities are opening new pharmacy schools or expanding existing programs, but it likely will take years for supply to meet demand. Some schools have reported 10 applicants for every pharmacy opening, although that figure includes people applying to more than one school, Maine said.
"It is a great job market for those who get in," Maine said. "But we also have a lot of disappointed people who are being turned away."
Many universities have opened satellite programs, and about 20 new pharmacy schools have opened in the last five years, Knapp said. That should increase the number of graduating pharmacists to more than 10,000 in 2007, compared to about 8,000 graduates in 2003-04, Maine said.
"There is such an astonishing interest," said Lucinda L. Maine, executive vice president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in Alexandria, Va. "It's the highest level I've seen in my 30 years in pharmacy admissions."
But even new schools and expansions will not help in the short-term, which raises concerns about whether patients will get the information they need about their medications, said Robert Piepho, dean of the Missouri-Kansas City pharmacy school.
"If patients don't have access (to pharmacists), they run the risk of adverse effects from drug interactions."
aC. Sidebar
To my friend Trish, I'm looking forward to you taking me out and paying for lunch one of these days. Seriously, though, I'm proud of her and other pharmacists-in-training. Baby boomers need their drugs and you can't really outsource it either. Thank you for your hard work and we know that anytime you can come out and let the world know of our Viagra, Prozac, and Vicadin habits.
Associated Press
Unlike most college students nearing graduation, Clarissa Hall isn't worried about finding a job — she's already considering several offers, including some with possible starting salaries of at least $80,000. Hall is benefiting from a nationwide shortage of pharmacists, which has prompted fierce competition between employers for new pharmacy graduates.
"Pretty much everyone in my class has people calling them left and right about jobs," said Hall, a University of Missouri-Kansas City student from Poplar Bluff. "I've had several people calling me and I don't even graduate until May."
The shortage of pharmacists, though, is not good for others in the medical field, or their patients, say those who have been watching the shortage worsen over the last decade.
It was fueled by several factors, especially changes in insurance policies and federal regulations of pharmaceuticals, which made drugs available to more people.
Add to that an aging population and more drugs being manufactured and advertised to the public, and the number of prescriptions has increased from 2 billion to 3.2 billion in the last decade. That problem is expected to worsen after the new Medicare prescription drug program begins Jan. 1, pharmacy officials said.
Independent and chain pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes are scrambling to find people to fill orders.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores reported about 5,950 full- and part-time openings in July in its 37,000 member stores. The American Hospital Association reported a 7.4 percent vacancy rate for pharmacists as of December, 2004, with 38 percent of its members saying it was harder to recruit pharmacists last year than in 2003.
The National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents independent pharmacies, does not keep track of job openings.
A consortium of pharmacy groups called the Pharmacy Manpower Project issued a report in 2002 predicting 157,000 unfilled pharmacy openings by 2020.
The need to fill all those new prescriptions has been partially addressed by an increase in technology and the use of pharmacy technicians, said Dr. David Knapp, dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland.
But that hasn't addressed increasing pressure on pharmacists to become more involved in helping patients manage their drugs, especially elderly patients who may take several medicines, said Knapp, who coordinated the conference that released the Manpower report.
"Every hour of every day, dozens if not hundreds of prescriptions are coming across the counter," he said. "They are trying to do that while at the same time counseling patients, calling physicians, helping diabetic patients manage eight or 10 medicines, teaching parents how to help their child use his new asthma inhaler. It's a real stressed out situation for pharmacists."
Around the country, universities are opening new pharmacy schools or expanding existing programs, but it likely will take years for supply to meet demand. Some schools have reported 10 applicants for every pharmacy opening, although that figure includes people applying to more than one school, Maine said.
"It is a great job market for those who get in," Maine said. "But we also have a lot of disappointed people who are being turned away."
Many universities have opened satellite programs, and about 20 new pharmacy schools have opened in the last five years, Knapp said. That should increase the number of graduating pharmacists to more than 10,000 in 2007, compared to about 8,000 graduates in 2003-04, Maine said.
"There is such an astonishing interest," said Lucinda L. Maine, executive vice president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in Alexandria, Va. "It's the highest level I've seen in my 30 years in pharmacy admissions."
But even new schools and expansions will not help in the short-term, which raises concerns about whether patients will get the information they need about their medications, said Robert Piepho, dean of the Missouri-Kansas City pharmacy school.
"If patients don't have access (to pharmacists), they run the risk of adverse effects from drug interactions."
aC. Sidebar
To my friend Trish, I'm looking forward to you taking me out and paying for lunch one of these days. Seriously, though, I'm proud of her and other pharmacists-in-training. Baby boomers need their drugs and you can't really outsource it either. Thank you for your hard work and we know that anytime you can come out and let the world know of our Viagra, Prozac, and Vicadin habits.
Only In America..
Ex-cheerleaders get offer to pose, report says Adult magazine Penthouse reportedly wants Thomas, Keathley to bare all
NBCSports.com news services
TAMPA, Fla. - The two former Carolina Panthers cheerleaders arrested after allegedly having sex with each other in a bathroom stall at a nightclub have been approached by Penthouse to pose nude for the adult magazine, MSNBC-TV reported Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a fugitive arrest warrant was issued for one of cheerleaders who allegedly gave a false name during her arrest at a bar where witnesses said she had sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.
Renee Thomas was charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Tuesday.
Thomas, 20, was released before police learned she had given them a driver’s license belonging to another Panthers cheerleader, who was not in Tampa.
“She was bonded out on the false name she gave us,” McElroy said, adding that detectives are trying to determine how Thomas got the license.
McElroy said witness accounts that Thomas and fellow cheerleader Angela Keathley, 26, were having sex with each other in a bathroom stall “led to the commotion, but they have nothing to do with the charges.”
“The charge is that she (Thomas) punched someone in the face and then she chose to give police a fake ID,” she said.
Keathley was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Repeated attempts to reach the women were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The cheerleaders were not in town to perform at the game, and the team said both were fired from the TopCats squad for violating a signed code that bans conduct embarrassing to the Panthers.
Nurse Melissa Holden told WCAU she walked into the bathroom and found Thomas and Keathley in an occupied stall and in a compromising position.
Holden said it was another woman in line to use the bathroom who allegedly angered Thomas.
"I didn't say a word to (Thomas)," Holden said.
"The woman behind me in line somewhere, I didn't even turn to look, confronted her and said what the heck took you guys so long," Holden said. "And (Thomas) reared back and hit me."
Holden laughingly said the black eye she received was from Thomas' "boney hand."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
aC. Sidebar
This is an obvious proof of our educational system not doing its job. Look on the brightside, NFL cheerleaders only make like $75 bucks a game, but careering in stripping or posing for Playboy or Penthouse should be around $75,000. I should become an enterpenuer in the likes of Hugh and Larry and give back to the community.
NBCSports.com news services
TAMPA, Fla. - The two former Carolina Panthers cheerleaders arrested after allegedly having sex with each other in a bathroom stall at a nightclub have been approached by Penthouse to pose nude for the adult magazine, MSNBC-TV reported Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a fugitive arrest warrant was issued for one of cheerleaders who allegedly gave a false name during her arrest at a bar where witnesses said she had sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.
Renee Thomas was charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Tuesday.
Thomas, 20, was released before police learned she had given them a driver’s license belonging to another Panthers cheerleader, who was not in Tampa.
“She was bonded out on the false name she gave us,” McElroy said, adding that detectives are trying to determine how Thomas got the license.
McElroy said witness accounts that Thomas and fellow cheerleader Angela Keathley, 26, were having sex with each other in a bathroom stall “led to the commotion, but they have nothing to do with the charges.”
“The charge is that she (Thomas) punched someone in the face and then she chose to give police a fake ID,” she said.
Keathley was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Repeated attempts to reach the women were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The cheerleaders were not in town to perform at the game, and the team said both were fired from the TopCats squad for violating a signed code that bans conduct embarrassing to the Panthers.
Nurse Melissa Holden told WCAU she walked into the bathroom and found Thomas and Keathley in an occupied stall and in a compromising position.
Holden said it was another woman in line to use the bathroom who allegedly angered Thomas.
"I didn't say a word to (Thomas)," Holden said.
"The woman behind me in line somewhere, I didn't even turn to look, confronted her and said what the heck took you guys so long," Holden said. "And (Thomas) reared back and hit me."
Holden laughingly said the black eye she received was from Thomas' "boney hand."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
aC. Sidebar
This is an obvious proof of our educational system not doing its job. Look on the brightside, NFL cheerleaders only make like $75 bucks a game, but careering in stripping or posing for Playboy or Penthouse should be around $75,000. I should become an enterpenuer in the likes of Hugh and Larry and give back to the community.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Something in Washington (State)
Guest columnist
I-330's damage limits won't lower insurance rates
By Gary Locke
At first glance, the arguments for I-330 seem pretty logical: If you limit, or cap, the amount of pain-and-suffering damages a mistreated patient can receive, malpractice-insurance rates for doctors will decline. Evidence from around the nation, however, proves this logic is simply not true. When you couple this flaw with all of the problems found in the fine print of I-330, it becomes clear this initiative should be rejected.
As governor, I was well aware of the drive for reform in our medical system. We took steps to help our doctors stay in business — and more steps are needed. But I consistently avoided the approach of limiting monetary damages for pain and suffering because such limits simply do not work.
Let's look at the facts. Overall, insurance for doctors in states with caps is almost 10 percent higher than in states without caps. In 2003, every state experienced medical-malpractice insurance-rate increases — whether or not damages were capped. Three states with caps, Hawaii, Texas and Florida, saw rate increases of more than 20 percent. New Mexico has caps and rates there went up more than 30 percent. Virginia has caps — rates went up more than 40 percent. In Washington, without caps, rates only increased 8.35 percent. Clearly, damage limits are not the answer to lowering medical-malpractice insurance rates for doctors.
The evidence is even clearer when we look closely at a state that long ago implemented damage caps. During the first 13 years with limits in place, California medical-malpractice premiums increased 26 percent annually — faster than premiums rose nationally during the same period. It wasn't until 1988 when voters approved Proposition 103, which enacted the strongest rate regulations in the nation, that doctors' malpractice premiums decreased. I-330 includes no such regulation of the malpractice-insurance industry and does not help our many good doctors.
So why would someone support such a policy? Well, the primary supporters of I-330 are insurance companies. The insurance industry has spent $2.3 million in an effort to pass I-330 — $900,000 of which came directly from Physicians Insurance, the largest medical-malpractice insurance company in the state. And no wonder. Insurance companies receive higher premiums in states with caps and pay out less in damages to injured patients. Apply simple logic: Higher premiums plus lower payouts equal higher profits for insurance companies. That's why they are so supportive of I-330.
Medical-malpractice insurance companies in Washington hardly need such help. A recent report by the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner showed that the total amount paid in medical-malpractice claims dropped 14.7 percent in the past two years, while insurance companies in Washington brought in record profits. If I-330 passes, they still don't have to lower doctors' insurance rates. Ironically, insurance rates aren't even mentioned in I-330.
As if this weren't bad enough, I-330 contains many other benefits for insurance companies, at the expense of the people. For example, I-330 allows the insurance industry to pay the money it owes you over a period of 20 or 30 years or longer. If you die before the companies pay what they owe you, they get to keep your money instead of paying it to your family.
I-330 also abolishes a patient's right to seek compensation for damages that result when managed-care companies withhold or deny appropriate care — the heart of Washington's Patient Bill of Rights.
In 2000, the state Legislature passed, and I signed, this law to address concerns about the quality of health care in our state. I am very surprised to see many of the same medical organizations that supported the Patient Bill of Rights now support I-330 and seek to limit patient rights, including the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Hospital Association and the Washington Academy of Family Physicians.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am an attorney. Before I entered politics, however, I served as a criminal prosecutor, not as a trial lawyer. My work now is in the area of international business. This initiative does not affect my legal practice, but I am concerned because this issue is of great importance to all of us who receive medical care.
We need to pass policies that work to benefit the state as a whole, not just narrow interests. I-330 will not help make malpractice insurance more affordable. It will only further enrich the already highly profitable medical-malpractice insurance industry. Vote No on I-330.
Gary Locke served as Washington's governor from 1997 to 2005. He is currently a lawyer in private practice at Davis Wright Tremaine law firm in Seattle
I-330's damage limits won't lower insurance rates
By Gary Locke
At first glance, the arguments for I-330 seem pretty logical: If you limit, or cap, the amount of pain-and-suffering damages a mistreated patient can receive, malpractice-insurance rates for doctors will decline. Evidence from around the nation, however, proves this logic is simply not true. When you couple this flaw with all of the problems found in the fine print of I-330, it becomes clear this initiative should be rejected.
As governor, I was well aware of the drive for reform in our medical system. We took steps to help our doctors stay in business — and more steps are needed. But I consistently avoided the approach of limiting monetary damages for pain and suffering because such limits simply do not work.
Let's look at the facts. Overall, insurance for doctors in states with caps is almost 10 percent higher than in states without caps. In 2003, every state experienced medical-malpractice insurance-rate increases — whether or not damages were capped. Three states with caps, Hawaii, Texas and Florida, saw rate increases of more than 20 percent. New Mexico has caps and rates there went up more than 30 percent. Virginia has caps — rates went up more than 40 percent. In Washington, without caps, rates only increased 8.35 percent. Clearly, damage limits are not the answer to lowering medical-malpractice insurance rates for doctors.
The evidence is even clearer when we look closely at a state that long ago implemented damage caps. During the first 13 years with limits in place, California medical-malpractice premiums increased 26 percent annually — faster than premiums rose nationally during the same period. It wasn't until 1988 when voters approved Proposition 103, which enacted the strongest rate regulations in the nation, that doctors' malpractice premiums decreased. I-330 includes no such regulation of the malpractice-insurance industry and does not help our many good doctors.
So why would someone support such a policy? Well, the primary supporters of I-330 are insurance companies. The insurance industry has spent $2.3 million in an effort to pass I-330 — $900,000 of which came directly from Physicians Insurance, the largest medical-malpractice insurance company in the state. And no wonder. Insurance companies receive higher premiums in states with caps and pay out less in damages to injured patients. Apply simple logic: Higher premiums plus lower payouts equal higher profits for insurance companies. That's why they are so supportive of I-330.
Medical-malpractice insurance companies in Washington hardly need such help. A recent report by the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner showed that the total amount paid in medical-malpractice claims dropped 14.7 percent in the past two years, while insurance companies in Washington brought in record profits. If I-330 passes, they still don't have to lower doctors' insurance rates. Ironically, insurance rates aren't even mentioned in I-330.
As if this weren't bad enough, I-330 contains many other benefits for insurance companies, at the expense of the people. For example, I-330 allows the insurance industry to pay the money it owes you over a period of 20 or 30 years or longer. If you die before the companies pay what they owe you, they get to keep your money instead of paying it to your family.
I-330 also abolishes a patient's right to seek compensation for damages that result when managed-care companies withhold or deny appropriate care — the heart of Washington's Patient Bill of Rights.
In 2000, the state Legislature passed, and I signed, this law to address concerns about the quality of health care in our state. I am very surprised to see many of the same medical organizations that supported the Patient Bill of Rights now support I-330 and seek to limit patient rights, including the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Hospital Association and the Washington Academy of Family Physicians.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am an attorney. Before I entered politics, however, I served as a criminal prosecutor, not as a trial lawyer. My work now is in the area of international business. This initiative does not affect my legal practice, but I am concerned because this issue is of great importance to all of us who receive medical care.
We need to pass policies that work to benefit the state as a whole, not just narrow interests. I-330 will not help make malpractice insurance more affordable. It will only further enrich the already highly profitable medical-malpractice insurance industry. Vote No on I-330.
Gary Locke served as Washington's governor from 1997 to 2005. He is currently a lawyer in private practice at Davis Wright Tremaine law firm in Seattle
Friday, November 04, 2005
Gas Price Update 11-4-05
Cheap: Villa Park, Marathon on St. Charles and Ardmore @ $2.299
Hold-Up: Chicago, Shell on Lawrence and Ashland @ $2.999
Soft Drink News
Coke to phase out Vanilla Coke in U.S
AP
Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft drink maker, said on Friday it would phase out its Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Diet Coke and Diet Coke With Lemon beverages in the United States by end of this year.
Coca-Cola shares were down 1.1 percent in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The announcement came a day after Coca-Cola said it would phase out Vanilla Coke and Vanilla Diet Coke in the United Kingdom early next year. The company said sales have declined.
Coca-Cola added that it plans to introduce Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Black Cherry Vanilla Coke in the United States in January 2006.
The company said Vanilla Coke, which was introduced in the United States in 2002 and Diet Vanilla Coke in 2003, could return sometime in the future. Details about whether Diet Coke With Lemon, which made its U.S. entry in 2001, would be brought back were not available.
"I don't know if we have ever taken out a flavor and brought it back to the market, but the landscape continues to change and we want to be as flexible as possible to adapt to the changing landscape," said Scott Williamson, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola.
The phase out follows declining sales for the brands in the United States. Vanilla Coke sales slipped to 35 million unit cases in 2004 from 90 million unit cases in 2002, while Vanilla Diet Coke sales dropped to 13 million unit cases last year from 23 million unit cases in 2003, according to Beverage Marketing, a beverage research and consulting firm.
Sales of Diet Coke with Lemon have fallen to 9.9 million unit cases in 2004 from 24 million unit cases in 2001, data showed.
Analysts have said that one of the keys to the company's future is to innovate new products that will help Coca-Cola capture more consumers who have moved away from sugary soft drinks to diet versions, or to healthier low-or no-calorie beverages such as water and orange juices with reduced sugar.
Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Inc., the No. 2 soft drink company, are battling for the allegiance of increasingly picky U.S. consumers. The United States is the largest market for the soft-drink companies.
"It is a rapidly changing beverage landscape and it is important for Coke to move quickly to deliver on what the consumer wants," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of Beverage Marketing. "The competition for shelf space is intense."
Shares of Dow Component Coca-Cola were down 44 cents at $42.15 on the NYSE.
aC. Sidebar
Maybe, we'll get to see chocolate coke or may be peppermint pepsi? Any takers?
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Man Versus Machine
by Charles Wheelan, Ph.D.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
I'm not often moved by numbers, in part because of several tragic math experiences in high school, but also because statistics and equations can often obscure the more interesting big ideas. But I recently stumbled across a number that is the big idea when it comes to the 21st Century American economy.
Answer this: Between 1979 and 2002 (the latest year for which we have data), what happened to the median weekly earnings of American men without a high school degree? These are full-time workers, and the comparisons have been adjusted for inflation.
I'll give you some context. For college-educated men, the median weekly wage rose 20 percent in real purchasing power from 1979 to 2002. Women with college degrees did even better -- up 34 percent.
Now, back to the guys who dropped out of high school. What's happened to their typical paycheck over the past two and a half decades?
A. Up 10 percent -- only half what the college grads enjoyed, but, as my dad would say, still better than a sharp stick in the eye.
B. Up one percent -- or basically flat, meaning that the typical male low-skilled worker has not seen any improvement in his standard of living in two and half decades.
C. Down nine percent -- a standard of living almost 10 percent worse than a generation ago.
D. Down 27 percent -- meaning that over a 23-year period of relatively robust economic growth, low-skilled workers have seen more than a quarter of their purchasing power disappear and are now significantly worse off than they were in 1979.
The answer is d. Women who dropped out of high school did better, seeing their real wages fall only seven percent over the same period.
You Can Learn a Lot at the Movies
To understand the essence of what's going on, let me tell you about my night at the movies. I saw "Grizzly Man", a documentary by Werner Herzog about a guy who spends 13 summers in Alaska living among grizzly bears only to be eaten in the end by one of the animals he loved. That's not the relevant part of the evening, but it is an extraordinary film.
Here's the insight: As I parked my car in the garage, a mellifluous voice was saying repeatedly something along the lines of: "Please take your ticket with you. There is no attendant on duty. Pay for your parking at any of the kiosks inside."
I then bought my movie ticket at a different electronic kiosk (similar to the self check-in machines that most airlines are now using). Not only did the machine allow me to avoid waiting in line, but it also told me what percentage of the seats had been sold for every film at every time.
Both the automated parking and the automated ticket machine were new since the last time I'd been to that theater, no more than a few months ago. And that is why America's low-skilled workers are taking it on the chin. Forget the guy on the phone in Bangalore telling you how to use your new computer. He's a red herring. The job loss statistics tell the same story as they always have: Technology replaces far, far more low-skill jobs than foreign workers do. Think voice mail, ATM machines, automated customer service lines, self-serve gas, online bill paying, automated package tracking, and on and on.
Not one of those innovations is bad for the U.S. economy. Every one of them creates jobs -- albeit for people with skills in business strategy, engineering, software, marketing, and sales. And every one displaces people, like the guy who takes your $10 and gives you a movie ticket and $.50.
Want to Protect Your Job? Develop Your Skills
The 21st Century economy is not about jobs; it's about skills. After all, highly-educated people lose their jobs, too. What do you think happens when JP Morgan Chase merges with Bank One? Bruce Springsteen doesn't sing about those people because they are adaptable enough to turn around and do something else. At the time this column was written, the unemployment rate for college-educated workers was 2.1 percent, compared to 4.9 percent for the nation as a whole and 7.6 percent for workers with less than a high school diploma.
So what do we do for the people Bruce Springsteen does sing about? I'll be the first to tell you that the research on everything from job training to systemic school reform is relatively discouraging. Then again, so were the early attempts to put a man on the moon. The most important first step is to create the political will for massively upgrading the skills of those at the shallow end of the labor pool. Thinkers across the political spectrum have some clever and original ideas, but they need help getting past the baggage of their respective parties.
The Republicans need to ditch the absurd notion that tax cuts alone will help those at the bottom. The numbers are pretty darn clear: After 25 years of significant tax cuts and a steadily growing economy, there's not a lot trickling down to low-skilled workers that wasn't excreted by birds. Hence the Ukrainian proverb: A rising tide is good for those in big boats and bad for those standing on the bottom in heavy shoes. (Okay, that's not really a Ukrainian proverb, but doesn't it sound like it should be?)
The Democrats need to stop confusing things that lessen the pain in the short run with real solutions for the long run. Raising the minimum wage, for example, doesn't make anyone more skilled. It just charges more for the same increasingly outdated skills, which can be counterproductive. How? Just imagine that you own a movie theater and the minimum wage goes to $9 an hour. Would you be more or less likely to invest in automated ticket kiosks?
And, of course, there is some profoundly irrational individual behavior going on. Dropping out of high school is financial suicide. We can argue over whether it is a personal failure, a social problem, or some combination of the two, but let's agree on the key point: It's bad. Even finishing high school and skipping college is looking increasingly foolish. The median weekly wage for men with high school diplomas but no college fell 13 percent between 1979 and 2003.
The overriding lesson is simple: If your job can be done by a machine, then it soon will be. So try to be the guy who sells the machine.
aC. Sidebar
Stay in school, take your Flintstone vitamins, do your homework, and don't do drugs. The typical 80's and early 90's parental marquee that's some how is still deserving in this generation. I love school, that's why I’m in graduate school. I'm still planning on my International MBA degree from some school in Europe once my career takes off to a point that enables me too. Retooling one's self isn't a hard thing to do. Do what you like and love. Everything changes in the work-world, but if you have the passion for auto racing or becoming a lawyer, these worlds are changing. You have to anticipate the Danica Patricks or restrictor-plate challenges to dynamic governmental and global laws or diversity growth.
Nothing ever stays static in the corporate or blue-collar world, as shown from this article. Just as computer systems have to be more "agile" from IBM commercials, so should you. Changing times does not call for static people. Keep in mind this is in terms of academics and career motivation. You can still be the same high school jock that terrorized the nerds and the frizzy haired girl that always knew everything about life. You can still embody these personal traits, but personal traits don't pay for utilities, rent, mortgage, or insurance. Unless, you’re a stripper. Ummm....strippers. Okay, unless you're Homer as well.
Moral of the story? Do what my parents have been saying to me since the 80's. After all, aren't parents always right?
by Charles Wheelan, Ph.D.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
I'm not often moved by numbers, in part because of several tragic math experiences in high school, but also because statistics and equations can often obscure the more interesting big ideas. But I recently stumbled across a number that is the big idea when it comes to the 21st Century American economy.
Answer this: Between 1979 and 2002 (the latest year for which we have data), what happened to the median weekly earnings of American men without a high school degree? These are full-time workers, and the comparisons have been adjusted for inflation.
I'll give you some context. For college-educated men, the median weekly wage rose 20 percent in real purchasing power from 1979 to 2002. Women with college degrees did even better -- up 34 percent.
Now, back to the guys who dropped out of high school. What's happened to their typical paycheck over the past two and a half decades?
A. Up 10 percent -- only half what the college grads enjoyed, but, as my dad would say, still better than a sharp stick in the eye.
B. Up one percent -- or basically flat, meaning that the typical male low-skilled worker has not seen any improvement in his standard of living in two and half decades.
C. Down nine percent -- a standard of living almost 10 percent worse than a generation ago.
D. Down 27 percent -- meaning that over a 23-year period of relatively robust economic growth, low-skilled workers have seen more than a quarter of their purchasing power disappear and are now significantly worse off than they were in 1979.
The answer is d. Women who dropped out of high school did better, seeing their real wages fall only seven percent over the same period.
You Can Learn a Lot at the Movies
To understand the essence of what's going on, let me tell you about my night at the movies. I saw "Grizzly Man", a documentary by Werner Herzog about a guy who spends 13 summers in Alaska living among grizzly bears only to be eaten in the end by one of the animals he loved. That's not the relevant part of the evening, but it is an extraordinary film.
Here's the insight: As I parked my car in the garage, a mellifluous voice was saying repeatedly something along the lines of: "Please take your ticket with you. There is no attendant on duty. Pay for your parking at any of the kiosks inside."
I then bought my movie ticket at a different electronic kiosk (similar to the self check-in machines that most airlines are now using). Not only did the machine allow me to avoid waiting in line, but it also told me what percentage of the seats had been sold for every film at every time.
Both the automated parking and the automated ticket machine were new since the last time I'd been to that theater, no more than a few months ago. And that is why America's low-skilled workers are taking it on the chin. Forget the guy on the phone in Bangalore telling you how to use your new computer. He's a red herring. The job loss statistics tell the same story as they always have: Technology replaces far, far more low-skill jobs than foreign workers do. Think voice mail, ATM machines, automated customer service lines, self-serve gas, online bill paying, automated package tracking, and on and on.
Not one of those innovations is bad for the U.S. economy. Every one of them creates jobs -- albeit for people with skills in business strategy, engineering, software, marketing, and sales. And every one displaces people, like the guy who takes your $10 and gives you a movie ticket and $.50.
Want to Protect Your Job? Develop Your Skills
The 21st Century economy is not about jobs; it's about skills. After all, highly-educated people lose their jobs, too. What do you think happens when JP Morgan Chase merges with Bank One? Bruce Springsteen doesn't sing about those people because they are adaptable enough to turn around and do something else. At the time this column was written, the unemployment rate for college-educated workers was 2.1 percent, compared to 4.9 percent for the nation as a whole and 7.6 percent for workers with less than a high school diploma.
So what do we do for the people Bruce Springsteen does sing about? I'll be the first to tell you that the research on everything from job training to systemic school reform is relatively discouraging. Then again, so were the early attempts to put a man on the moon. The most important first step is to create the political will for massively upgrading the skills of those at the shallow end of the labor pool. Thinkers across the political spectrum have some clever and original ideas, but they need help getting past the baggage of their respective parties.
The Republicans need to ditch the absurd notion that tax cuts alone will help those at the bottom. The numbers are pretty darn clear: After 25 years of significant tax cuts and a steadily growing economy, there's not a lot trickling down to low-skilled workers that wasn't excreted by birds. Hence the Ukrainian proverb: A rising tide is good for those in big boats and bad for those standing on the bottom in heavy shoes. (Okay, that's not really a Ukrainian proverb, but doesn't it sound like it should be?)
The Democrats need to stop confusing things that lessen the pain in the short run with real solutions for the long run. Raising the minimum wage, for example, doesn't make anyone more skilled. It just charges more for the same increasingly outdated skills, which can be counterproductive. How? Just imagine that you own a movie theater and the minimum wage goes to $9 an hour. Would you be more or less likely to invest in automated ticket kiosks?
And, of course, there is some profoundly irrational individual behavior going on. Dropping out of high school is financial suicide. We can argue over whether it is a personal failure, a social problem, or some combination of the two, but let's agree on the key point: It's bad. Even finishing high school and skipping college is looking increasingly foolish. The median weekly wage for men with high school diplomas but no college fell 13 percent between 1979 and 2003.
The overriding lesson is simple: If your job can be done by a machine, then it soon will be. So try to be the guy who sells the machine.
aC. Sidebar
Stay in school, take your Flintstone vitamins, do your homework, and don't do drugs. The typical 80's and early 90's parental marquee that's some how is still deserving in this generation. I love school, that's why I’m in graduate school. I'm still planning on my International MBA degree from some school in Europe once my career takes off to a point that enables me too. Retooling one's self isn't a hard thing to do. Do what you like and love. Everything changes in the work-world, but if you have the passion for auto racing or becoming a lawyer, these worlds are changing. You have to anticipate the Danica Patricks or restrictor-plate challenges to dynamic governmental and global laws or diversity growth.
Nothing ever stays static in the corporate or blue-collar world, as shown from this article. Just as computer systems have to be more "agile" from IBM commercials, so should you. Changing times does not call for static people. Keep in mind this is in terms of academics and career motivation. You can still be the same high school jock that terrorized the nerds and the frizzy haired girl that always knew everything about life. You can still embody these personal traits, but personal traits don't pay for utilities, rent, mortgage, or insurance. Unless, you’re a stripper. Ummm....strippers. Okay, unless you're Homer as well.
Moral of the story? Do what my parents have been saying to me since the 80's. After all, aren't parents always right?
Friday, October 28, 2005
Oh no, not Captain Sulu!!!
'Star Trek' Actor George Takei Comes Out
AP
George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.
Takei told The Associated Press on Thursday that his new onstage role as psychologist Martin Dysart in "Equus," helped inspire him to publicly discuss his sexuality.
Takei described the character as a "very contained but turbulently frustrated man." The play opened Wednesday at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles, the same day that Frontiers magazine featured a story on Takei's coming out.
The current social and political climate also motivated Takei's disclosure, he said.
"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."
The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.
Takei, a Japanese-American who lived in a U.S. internment camp from age 4 to 8, said he grew up feeling ashamed of his ethnicity and sexuality. He likened prejudice against gays to racial segregation.
"It's against basic decency and what American values stand for," he said.
Takei joined the "Star Trek" cast in 1966 as Hikaru Sulu, a character he played for three seasons on television and in six subsequent films. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986.
A community activist, Takei ran for the Los Angeles City Council in 1973. He serves on the advisory committee of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and is chairman of East West Players, the theater company producing "Equus."
aC. Sidebar
Serious, this month is Coming-Out Month, which is funny because October is also Breast Cancer Month too. So, sex and boob. That's the topic of the month. I'm surprised to hear about all of these people that are coming out. I'm very proud of my sexuality and I'm proud that these people are proud of their sexuality. Granted there are some homophobic tendencies in me, but in overall sincereness, the accomplishments and the value of a person in Sheryl Swoops and George Takai should not be misinterpreted by their sexuality. What I mean is, the American Coalition for Family group should not be saying, "Ban All WNBA and Star Trek film. Boycott for family values!"
Give me a break, the family dynamics are changing. Unfortunately, not like these conservative groups. Yes, I'm bashing my own peers in a way, but I realize that the TV dinner generation and the TV reality show generation shows that we may not always be a big happy family. The happiness is in the extended family. Divorced parents, same-sex partners, single-parents, and other non-traditional family nucleus are becoming more of a focal point in today's family dynamics. I'm not saying that one kind of nuclei is correct, political correct, or even preferable. I'm saying that respects is in the order and if there is a same-sex core family dynamics next door to your traditional white picket fence style family, you should go over there and say, "Hi, I'm Anthony, this is my wife, and my kids. Welcome to the neighborhood." Granted this situation is different if you’re slightly more modest and those neighbors have been next door for a long time. Still, hospitality, generosity, and respect should not deter you from build a Wisteria Lane situation. You should be in a Tom Hanks situation in the movie The 'burbs.
Because if you saw the movie, the consensus group drove him nuts, granted the neighbors were killers, but seriously, same-sex couples or by-product children will not try to kill you and your family or convert you or you family. Your fear should be in the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Well, I apologize to these last groups. They've done nothing wrong or for that matter much in their religious dynamics for hundreds of years. May this is something we should look at in our own religions and upbringings.
Why do we truly fear or subjugate to suppress people that are "different". I could go on, but I'm mentally ill-prepared and scholarly untrained to answer this question. Even a computer science student can be well-versed in socio-cultural matters. I'm disappointed that Scotty will never beam me up again, but knowing Sulu is having fun in the sun on Risa gives me some comfort that boldly going where now man has gone before is not a quote, but something someone can follow. Now, about those Pricedot.com ads with Spock and Kirk...
AP
George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.
Takei told The Associated Press on Thursday that his new onstage role as psychologist Martin Dysart in "Equus," helped inspire him to publicly discuss his sexuality.
Takei described the character as a "very contained but turbulently frustrated man." The play opened Wednesday at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Los Angeles, the same day that Frontiers magazine featured a story on Takei's coming out.
The current social and political climate also motivated Takei's disclosure, he said.
"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."
The 68-year-old actor said he and his partner, Brad Altman, have been together for 18 years.
Takei, a Japanese-American who lived in a U.S. internment camp from age 4 to 8, said he grew up feeling ashamed of his ethnicity and sexuality. He likened prejudice against gays to racial segregation.
"It's against basic decency and what American values stand for," he said.
Takei joined the "Star Trek" cast in 1966 as Hikaru Sulu, a character he played for three seasons on television and in six subsequent films. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986.
A community activist, Takei ran for the Los Angeles City Council in 1973. He serves on the advisory committee of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and is chairman of East West Players, the theater company producing "Equus."
aC. Sidebar
Serious, this month is Coming-Out Month, which is funny because October is also Breast Cancer Month too. So, sex and boob. That's the topic of the month. I'm surprised to hear about all of these people that are coming out. I'm very proud of my sexuality and I'm proud that these people are proud of their sexuality. Granted there are some homophobic tendencies in me, but in overall sincereness, the accomplishments and the value of a person in Sheryl Swoops and George Takai should not be misinterpreted by their sexuality. What I mean is, the American Coalition for Family group should not be saying, "Ban All WNBA and Star Trek film. Boycott for family values!"
Give me a break, the family dynamics are changing. Unfortunately, not like these conservative groups. Yes, I'm bashing my own peers in a way, but I realize that the TV dinner generation and the TV reality show generation shows that we may not always be a big happy family. The happiness is in the extended family. Divorced parents, same-sex partners, single-parents, and other non-traditional family nucleus are becoming more of a focal point in today's family dynamics. I'm not saying that one kind of nuclei is correct, political correct, or even preferable. I'm saying that respects is in the order and if there is a same-sex core family dynamics next door to your traditional white picket fence style family, you should go over there and say, "Hi, I'm Anthony, this is my wife, and my kids. Welcome to the neighborhood." Granted this situation is different if you’re slightly more modest and those neighbors have been next door for a long time. Still, hospitality, generosity, and respect should not deter you from build a Wisteria Lane situation. You should be in a Tom Hanks situation in the movie The 'burbs.
Because if you saw the movie, the consensus group drove him nuts, granted the neighbors were killers, but seriously, same-sex couples or by-product children will not try to kill you and your family or convert you or you family. Your fear should be in the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Well, I apologize to these last groups. They've done nothing wrong or for that matter much in their religious dynamics for hundreds of years. May this is something we should look at in our own religions and upbringings.
Why do we truly fear or subjugate to suppress people that are "different". I could go on, but I'm mentally ill-prepared and scholarly untrained to answer this question. Even a computer science student can be well-versed in socio-cultural matters. I'm disappointed that Scotty will never beam me up again, but knowing Sulu is having fun in the sun on Risa gives me some comfort that boldly going where now man has gone before is not a quote, but something someone can follow. Now, about those Pricedot.com ads with Spock and Kirk...
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
New York Times Editorial...
In White Sox Nation, the Boders Are Secure
Lawrence Downes (Sunday New York Times, 10/23/05)
In the next week or so, if God lightens up and lets Chicago win its first World Series since 1917, who knows what else might happen? Last time it was the Russian Revolution, followed by a global flu pandemic. This time might be completely different. Packs of rabid wolves sweeping down from Canada, maybe. Sinkholes swallowing Nebraska. An asteroid. Whatever it is, it seems safe to say this: In half of the city - the Cubs half - nothing much will happen.
Chicago's divided baseball loyalities - Cubs vs. Sox, North Side vs. South Side, the oldest vs. the second oldest championship droughts in baseball - look quaint from a distance, like the rivalries that energize high school pep rallies or cause politicans to make lame wagers with one another on the TV news.
But in Chicago, team affiliation is form of ethnicity, passed on to sons and daughters like genetic disease or silverware. You would think a city that never wins at baseball might suspend hostilities for the World Series, an event it sees roughly once every World War or Great Depression.
But no. When the Sox and Huston Astros opended the Series last night at U. S. Cellular Field, the concentrations of people going bonkers were highly localized. Many in the larger, more visible Cubs tribe conspicuously went on with their lives. This reinfoced the outward impression, at least, of a city that was handling the World Series like a really big trade convention - accommodating the fuss, but not caring all that much.
This is sad, especially when you consider the large-scale affection other teams enjoy. The Red Sox Nation covers all New England, from Maine down to the edges of Yankee territory in southwest Connecticut. The St. Louis Cardinals own the alligiance of several rectangular and trapezoidal states. In New York, the city is so big and playoff games so frequent that Met-Yankee tensions can be quite tolerable. Fans live and work side-by-side, and newspapers and TV stations are nonaligned.
White Sox turf by contrast, extends only a few square miles south from Madison Street in the Loop, through neighborhoods like Bridgeport and Hyde Park and into the south suburbs. The Cubs hold pretty much everything to the north, and much in the wide world beyond, thanks to their lucrative yuppie branding and the media hegemony of the Tribune Company, which owns the team, major TV and radio stations, and a big local newspaper.
So you can forget the lofty example set by Abraham Lincoln ("A house divded against itself cannot stand"), Mayor Harold Washington ("Chicago is one city") and Senator Barack Obama ("There is no conservative America and liberal America"). Many Chicagoans are down with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has said he "bleeds Cubby blue" and will not wear a Sox cap to a Series game.
The Great Rift, as Mr. Obama, a White Sox fan, desribed it, has left the Sox and their fans feeling pretty much alone in a big, oblivious world - baseball's Little Red Hen.
"Who will help us win the division?"
"Not I," said the North Side.
"Who will help us sweep the Red Sox, eliminate the Angels, and polish off the Astros?"
"Not I," said the North Side.
"Then we will do it ourselves."
A World Series triumph may not happen, of course. Chicago has an old and sturdy tradition of losing, and the Astros are an impressive team. But if it does happen, you can't blame Sox fans if teir celebration is invitation-only - no bandwagons allowed.
On that amazing night, when the cold wind whistles off Lake Michigan and rattles windows along the empty streets of Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park, where people are indoors making lattes or banking online or whatever it is Cubs fans do in October, the party on the South Side will go on and on. And that, it seems, will sui this strange, severed city just fine.
aC. Sidebar
F**ked the borders, from a Cubs fan, "Good Soxs, lets see a parade!"
Lawrence Downes (Sunday New York Times, 10/23/05)
In the next week or so, if God lightens up and lets Chicago win its first World Series since 1917, who knows what else might happen? Last time it was the Russian Revolution, followed by a global flu pandemic. This time might be completely different. Packs of rabid wolves sweeping down from Canada, maybe. Sinkholes swallowing Nebraska. An asteroid. Whatever it is, it seems safe to say this: In half of the city - the Cubs half - nothing much will happen.
Chicago's divided baseball loyalities - Cubs vs. Sox, North Side vs. South Side, the oldest vs. the second oldest championship droughts in baseball - look quaint from a distance, like the rivalries that energize high school pep rallies or cause politicans to make lame wagers with one another on the TV news.
But in Chicago, team affiliation is form of ethnicity, passed on to sons and daughters like genetic disease or silverware. You would think a city that never wins at baseball might suspend hostilities for the World Series, an event it sees roughly once every World War or Great Depression.
But no. When the Sox and Huston Astros opended the Series last night at U. S. Cellular Field, the concentrations of people going bonkers were highly localized. Many in the larger, more visible Cubs tribe conspicuously went on with their lives. This reinfoced the outward impression, at least, of a city that was handling the World Series like a really big trade convention - accommodating the fuss, but not caring all that much.
This is sad, especially when you consider the large-scale affection other teams enjoy. The Red Sox Nation covers all New England, from Maine down to the edges of Yankee territory in southwest Connecticut. The St. Louis Cardinals own the alligiance of several rectangular and trapezoidal states. In New York, the city is so big and playoff games so frequent that Met-Yankee tensions can be quite tolerable. Fans live and work side-by-side, and newspapers and TV stations are nonaligned.
White Sox turf by contrast, extends only a few square miles south from Madison Street in the Loop, through neighborhoods like Bridgeport and Hyde Park and into the south suburbs. The Cubs hold pretty much everything to the north, and much in the wide world beyond, thanks to their lucrative yuppie branding and the media hegemony of the Tribune Company, which owns the team, major TV and radio stations, and a big local newspaper.
So you can forget the lofty example set by Abraham Lincoln ("A house divded against itself cannot stand"), Mayor Harold Washington ("Chicago is one city") and Senator Barack Obama ("There is no conservative America and liberal America"). Many Chicagoans are down with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has said he "bleeds Cubby blue" and will not wear a Sox cap to a Series game.
The Great Rift, as Mr. Obama, a White Sox fan, desribed it, has left the Sox and their fans feeling pretty much alone in a big, oblivious world - baseball's Little Red Hen.
"Who will help us win the division?"
"Not I," said the North Side.
"Who will help us sweep the Red Sox, eliminate the Angels, and polish off the Astros?"
"Not I," said the North Side.
"Then we will do it ourselves."
A World Series triumph may not happen, of course. Chicago has an old and sturdy tradition of losing, and the Astros are an impressive team. But if it does happen, you can't blame Sox fans if teir celebration is invitation-only - no bandwagons allowed.
On that amazing night, when the cold wind whistles off Lake Michigan and rattles windows along the empty streets of Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park, where people are indoors making lattes or banking online or whatever it is Cubs fans do in October, the party on the South Side will go on and on. And that, it seems, will sui this strange, severed city just fine.
aC. Sidebar
F**ked the borders, from a Cubs fan, "Good Soxs, lets see a parade!"
Monday, October 24, 2005
God Bless You...
Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Dies at 92
16 minutes ago
Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday. She was 92.
Mrs. Parks died at her home of natural causes, said Karen Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Conyers D-Mich. Mrs. Parks was 42 when she committed an act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title "mother of the civil rights movement." At that time, Jim Crow laws in place since the post-Civil War Reconstruction required separation of the races in buses, restaurants and public accommodations throughout the South, while legally sanctioned racial discrimination kept blacks out of many jobs and neighborhoods in the North.
The Montgomery, Ala., seamstress, an active member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was riding on a city bus Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man demanded her seat. Mrs. Parks refused, despite rules requiring blacks to yield their seats to whites. Two black Montgomery women had been arrested earlier that year on the same charge, but Mrs. Parks was jailed. She also was fined $14. Speaking in 1992, she said history too often maintains "that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long."
Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
"At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this," Mrs. Parks said 30 years later. "It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."
The Montgomery bus boycott, which came one year after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark declaration that separate schools for blacks and whites were "inherently unequal," marked the start of the modern civil rights movement.
The movement culminated in the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations.
After taking her public stand for civil rights, Mrs. Parks had trouble finding work in Alabama. Amid threats and harassment, she and her husband Raymond moved to Detroit in 1957. She worked as an aide in Conyers' Detroit office from 1965 until retiring Sept. 30, 1988. Raymond Parks died in 1977.
Mrs. Parks became a revered figure in Detroit, where a street and middle school were named for her and a papier-mache likeness of her was featured in the city's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Mrs. Parks said upon retiring from her job with Conyers that she wanted to devote more time to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. The institute, incorporated in 1987, is devoted to developing leadership among Detroit's young people and initiating them into the struggle for civil rights.
"Rosa Parks: My Story" was published in February 1992. In 1994 she brought out "Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation," and in 1996 a collection of letters called "Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth."
She was among the civil rights leaders who addressed the Million Man March in October 1995.
In 1996, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to civilians making outstanding contributions to American life. In 1999, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Mrs. Parks received dozens of other awards, ranging from induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor to an NAACP Image Award for her 1999 appearance on CBS' "Touched by an Angel."
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum opened in November 2000 in Montgomery. The museum features a 1955-era bus and a video that recreates the conversation that preceded Parks' arrest.
"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver asked.
"No," Parks answered.
"Well, by God, I'm going to have you arrested," the driver said.
"You may do that," Parks responded.
Mrs. Parks' later years were not without difficult moments.
In 1994, Mrs. Parks' home was invaded by a 28-year-old man who beat her and took $53. She was treated at a hospital and released. The man, Joseph Skipper, pleaded guilty, blaming the crime on his drug problem.
The Parks Institute struggled financially since its inception. The charity's principal activity — the annual Pathways to Freedom bus tour taking students to the sites of key events in the civil rights movement — routinely cost more money than the institute could raise.
Mrs. Parks lost a 1999 lawsuit that sought to prevent the hip-hop duo OutKast from using her name as the title of a Grammy-nominated song. In 2000, she threatened legal action against an Oklahoma man who planned to auction Internet domain name rights to http://www.rosaparks.com.
After losing the OutKast lawsuit, attorney Gregory Reed, who represented Mrs. Parks, said his client "has once again suffered the pains of exploitation." A later suit against OutKast's record company was settled out of court.
She was born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Ala. Family illness interrupted her high school education, but after she married Raymond Parks in 1932, he encouraged her and she earned a diploma in 1934. He also inspired her to become involved in the NAACP.
Looking back in 1988, Mrs. Parks said she worried that black young people took legal equality for granted. Older blacks, she said "have tried to shield young people from what we have suffered. And in so doing, we seem to have a more complacent attitude.
"We must double and redouble our efforts to try to say to our youth, to try to give them an inspiration, an incentive and the will to study our heritage and to know what it means to be black in America today."
At a celebration in her honor that same year, she said: "I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die — the dream of freedom and peace."
aC. Sidebar
Today America has lost its courage and humanity its compass. You were my hero and this generation is proud to have known you. May your courage and inspiration continue to inspire preceding generations. Thank you, and God Bless You. St. Peter is waiting with the gates open.
16 minutes ago
Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern civil rights movement, died Monday. She was 92.
Mrs. Parks died at her home of natural causes, said Karen Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Conyers D-Mich. Mrs. Parks was 42 when she committed an act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title "mother of the civil rights movement." At that time, Jim Crow laws in place since the post-Civil War Reconstruction required separation of the races in buses, restaurants and public accommodations throughout the South, while legally sanctioned racial discrimination kept blacks out of many jobs and neighborhoods in the North.
The Montgomery, Ala., seamstress, an active member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was riding on a city bus Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man demanded her seat. Mrs. Parks refused, despite rules requiring blacks to yield their seats to whites. Two black Montgomery women had been arrested earlier that year on the same charge, but Mrs. Parks was jailed. She also was fined $14. Speaking in 1992, she said history too often maintains "that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long."
Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
"At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this," Mrs. Parks said 30 years later. "It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."
The Montgomery bus boycott, which came one year after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark declaration that separate schools for blacks and whites were "inherently unequal," marked the start of the modern civil rights movement.
The movement culminated in the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations.
After taking her public stand for civil rights, Mrs. Parks had trouble finding work in Alabama. Amid threats and harassment, she and her husband Raymond moved to Detroit in 1957. She worked as an aide in Conyers' Detroit office from 1965 until retiring Sept. 30, 1988. Raymond Parks died in 1977.
Mrs. Parks became a revered figure in Detroit, where a street and middle school were named for her and a papier-mache likeness of her was featured in the city's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Mrs. Parks said upon retiring from her job with Conyers that she wanted to devote more time to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. The institute, incorporated in 1987, is devoted to developing leadership among Detroit's young people and initiating them into the struggle for civil rights.
"Rosa Parks: My Story" was published in February 1992. In 1994 she brought out "Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation," and in 1996 a collection of letters called "Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue With Today's Youth."
She was among the civil rights leaders who addressed the Million Man March in October 1995.
In 1996, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to civilians making outstanding contributions to American life. In 1999, she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Mrs. Parks received dozens of other awards, ranging from induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor to an NAACP Image Award for her 1999 appearance on CBS' "Touched by an Angel."
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum opened in November 2000 in Montgomery. The museum features a 1955-era bus and a video that recreates the conversation that preceded Parks' arrest.
"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver asked.
"No," Parks answered.
"Well, by God, I'm going to have you arrested," the driver said.
"You may do that," Parks responded.
Mrs. Parks' later years were not without difficult moments.
In 1994, Mrs. Parks' home was invaded by a 28-year-old man who beat her and took $53. She was treated at a hospital and released. The man, Joseph Skipper, pleaded guilty, blaming the crime on his drug problem.
The Parks Institute struggled financially since its inception. The charity's principal activity — the annual Pathways to Freedom bus tour taking students to the sites of key events in the civil rights movement — routinely cost more money than the institute could raise.
Mrs. Parks lost a 1999 lawsuit that sought to prevent the hip-hop duo OutKast from using her name as the title of a Grammy-nominated song. In 2000, she threatened legal action against an Oklahoma man who planned to auction Internet domain name rights to http://www.rosaparks.com.
After losing the OutKast lawsuit, attorney Gregory Reed, who represented Mrs. Parks, said his client "has once again suffered the pains of exploitation." A later suit against OutKast's record company was settled out of court.
She was born Rosa Louise McCauley on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Ala. Family illness interrupted her high school education, but after she married Raymond Parks in 1932, he encouraged her and she earned a diploma in 1934. He also inspired her to become involved in the NAACP.
Looking back in 1988, Mrs. Parks said she worried that black young people took legal equality for granted. Older blacks, she said "have tried to shield young people from what we have suffered. And in so doing, we seem to have a more complacent attitude.
"We must double and redouble our efforts to try to say to our youth, to try to give them an inspiration, an incentive and the will to study our heritage and to know what it means to be black in America today."
At a celebration in her honor that same year, she said: "I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die — the dream of freedom and peace."
aC. Sidebar
Today America has lost its courage and humanity its compass. You were my hero and this generation is proud to have known you. May your courage and inspiration continue to inspire preceding generations. Thank you, and God Bless You. St. Peter is waiting with the gates open.
Japan Delays Decision to End U.S. Beef Ban
Associated Press
A Japanese government panel on mad cow disease delayed a decision Monday on whether to recommend easing a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef imports, despite preparing a draft report concluding the risk from American beef is very low.
The panel had been widely expected to send the report to the Food Safety Commission, setting in motion a process that could lead to the reopening of Japan — U.S. beef's most lucrative overseas market — to the imports by the end of the year.
Japan bought about $1.5 billion worth of U.S. beef in 2003, making it the most lucrative overseas market for American beef products. The delay risked flaring tensions with the United States ahead of a visit in mid-November by President Bush. U.S. beef producers and their supporters have argued that the ban was unnecessary and have accused Japan of dragging its feet on lifting it.
Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, chairman of the panel, said he hoped the panel would reach a final decision as early as at the next meeting, which is expected later this month or early next month.
"In today's meeting we were not able to reach an agreement," Yoshikawa said.
He said the decision was delayed because two key members were unable to attend, and other members said they wanted more information about two other diseases in the United States that could be related to mad cow disease.
Japan imposed the ban on Dec. 24, 2003, after the discovery of the first case of mad cow in the United States, in Washington state. After lengthy negotiations, the two governments this year agreed that Japan would reopen its markets to meat from American cows of less than 21 months old. Mad cow disease has never been detected in cows that young.
The panel had already prepared a draft report concluding that the difference in risk between Japanese and American beef was very low, as long as proper precautions were taken. Japan has discovered 20 domestic cases of mad cow disease since 2002, but tests every cow going to market. Several panelists, however, raised questions about reliability of U.S. safeguard measures and how they can be ensured.
"The risk would be very low, if proper precautions are strictly followed," Yoshikawa said. "And even if imports are resumed, we must consider halting (imports) once again if those conditions are not met."
After the panel's failure to reach conclusion, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that "I think the conclusion should be reached from the viewpoint of food safety."
Scientists agree that beef infected with mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, causes a fatal brain disorder in humans. Since the 1990s, the death toll from the disease topped 150 people, mostly in Britain.
The U.S. frustration over the import ban and Tokyo's dragging examination of U.S. beef safety has been building up recently. Earlier this month 20 U.S. senators sent a joint letter to U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), formally asking "to employ retaliatory economic measures against Japan" if its import barrier is kept in place.
On Monday, visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said officials in Washington — from members of Congress to officials in the Bush administration — were growing impatient with the slow process.
"There is a great deal of frustration in the United States that this problem has not been resolved after such a long time," he told reporters in Tokyo, calling for a quick resumption of beef imports.
aC. Sidebar
What would an extra 1.5 billion dollars do for this economy? It would not solve everything, but at least it would help. What would you do with an extra 1.5 billion dollars?
Associated Press
A Japanese government panel on mad cow disease delayed a decision Monday on whether to recommend easing a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef imports, despite preparing a draft report concluding the risk from American beef is very low.
The panel had been widely expected to send the report to the Food Safety Commission, setting in motion a process that could lead to the reopening of Japan — U.S. beef's most lucrative overseas market — to the imports by the end of the year.
Japan bought about $1.5 billion worth of U.S. beef in 2003, making it the most lucrative overseas market for American beef products. The delay risked flaring tensions with the United States ahead of a visit in mid-November by President Bush. U.S. beef producers and their supporters have argued that the ban was unnecessary and have accused Japan of dragging its feet on lifting it.
Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, chairman of the panel, said he hoped the panel would reach a final decision as early as at the next meeting, which is expected later this month or early next month.
"In today's meeting we were not able to reach an agreement," Yoshikawa said.
He said the decision was delayed because two key members were unable to attend, and other members said they wanted more information about two other diseases in the United States that could be related to mad cow disease.
Japan imposed the ban on Dec. 24, 2003, after the discovery of the first case of mad cow in the United States, in Washington state. After lengthy negotiations, the two governments this year agreed that Japan would reopen its markets to meat from American cows of less than 21 months old. Mad cow disease has never been detected in cows that young.
The panel had already prepared a draft report concluding that the difference in risk between Japanese and American beef was very low, as long as proper precautions were taken. Japan has discovered 20 domestic cases of mad cow disease since 2002, but tests every cow going to market. Several panelists, however, raised questions about reliability of U.S. safeguard measures and how they can be ensured.
"The risk would be very low, if proper precautions are strictly followed," Yoshikawa said. "And even if imports are resumed, we must consider halting (imports) once again if those conditions are not met."
After the panel's failure to reach conclusion, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that "I think the conclusion should be reached from the viewpoint of food safety."
Scientists agree that beef infected with mad-cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, causes a fatal brain disorder in humans. Since the 1990s, the death toll from the disease topped 150 people, mostly in Britain.
The U.S. frustration over the import ban and Tokyo's dragging examination of U.S. beef safety has been building up recently. Earlier this month 20 U.S. senators sent a joint letter to U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), formally asking "to employ retaliatory economic measures against Japan" if its import barrier is kept in place.
On Monday, visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said officials in Washington — from members of Congress to officials in the Bush administration — were growing impatient with the slow process.
"There is a great deal of frustration in the United States that this problem has not been resolved after such a long time," he told reporters in Tokyo, calling for a quick resumption of beef imports.
aC. Sidebar
What would an extra 1.5 billion dollars do for this economy? It would not solve everything, but at least it would help. What would you do with an extra 1.5 billion dollars?
Friday, October 21, 2005
WARNING: Low-Brow Humor Below...
Idiot of the Day...
Man Allegedly Robs Bank With Pay Stub Note
Thu Oct 20
A note handed to a bank teller demanding $20, $50 and $100 bills "the quicker the better" was written on a pay stub that led police to a robbery suspect even though the name and address were crossed out with a marker.
"It wasn't a huge forensic undertaking," Steven Moran, Bensalem director of public safety, said Wednesday. "We just put it under a light."
The FBI charged Michael Drennon, 26, of Philadelphia, with robbing the Wachovia Bank in Bensalem on Friday. Drennon, who had been living in a halfway house while on probation, was being held at the federal detention center in Philadelphia pending a hearing scheduled for Friday. It couldn't immediately be determined if he had an attorney.
The man who slipped the teller the note Friday left the bank with about $2,500, authorities said. Police said Drennon had about $1,800 on him when he was arrested.
aC. Sidebar
Where did our educational system go wrong? Were the afterschool specials not enough to help this guy when he was young? I do have say one thing, he's making money. Seriously, he had a pay stub, so you know he's not a drain to Welfare. That's the only light at the end of this tunnel. Have fun in jail Michael. He's a word of advice for you, if your cell mate is named Nasty Nate, you're the bitch.
Thu Oct 20
A note handed to a bank teller demanding $20, $50 and $100 bills "the quicker the better" was written on a pay stub that led police to a robbery suspect even though the name and address were crossed out with a marker.
"It wasn't a huge forensic undertaking," Steven Moran, Bensalem director of public safety, said Wednesday. "We just put it under a light."
The FBI charged Michael Drennon, 26, of Philadelphia, with robbing the Wachovia Bank in Bensalem on Friday. Drennon, who had been living in a halfway house while on probation, was being held at the federal detention center in Philadelphia pending a hearing scheduled for Friday. It couldn't immediately be determined if he had an attorney.
The man who slipped the teller the note Friday left the bank with about $2,500, authorities said. Police said Drennon had about $1,800 on him when he was arrested.
aC. Sidebar
Where did our educational system go wrong? Were the afterschool specials not enough to help this guy when he was young? I do have say one thing, he's making money. Seriously, he had a pay stub, so you know he's not a drain to Welfare. That's the only light at the end of this tunnel. Have fun in jail Michael. He's a word of advice for you, if your cell mate is named Nasty Nate, you're the bitch.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Intergalatic Carry-Out
The Peking Restaurant franchise is currently in negotiation with the Alpha Centauri Solar System, but NASA and the McDonald's are currently attempting to enforce the Sherman Act. Stay tuned to this intergalatical litigation.
Friday, October 14, 2005
The Next Catholic Schism...or so they say...
Scientist Wins Male Contraceptive Grant
(AP)
A Norfolk State University researcher who has worked nearly 20 years to create a male contraceptive will share in a $3.6 million grant to help him further his work.
The funding for Joseph C. Hall's research is from the National Institutes of Health. The grant, Hall said, will bring to his research the world of "computer-assisted drug design" to speed the time he can produce compounds for testing. The grant, distributed over five years, will support Norfolk State's Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences, which Hall directs.
Hall's research, which has received money from the National Science Foundation, seeks to blunt sperm's ability to fertilize eggs. His focus is the enzyme that penetrates the sugar coating that surrounds the egg. He is seeking a compound that can bind to the enzyme, deactivating the sperm. While Hall has reached a solid success rate of 92 percent, he wants his contraceptive to be 100 percent foolproof. He expects the final product to be in the form of a patch.
The university's first NIH grant in 13 years will also will be used on protein research, which could improve cancer treatments; add at least a handful of faculty positions; and provide opportunities for students and faculty members to collaborate with their counterparts at Eastern Virginia +Medical+ School and the University of Virginia.
"So often, Norfolk State has had to be the school that follows new leads that come up in generally established programs," said Hall, an associate professor of chemistry. "We decided to take an initiative role and be a leader for a change."
By supporting the emerging field of computer-assisted drug design, the NIH grant will help Hall make and test compounds more quickly.
"Right now, at the rate I'm going, synthesizing one compound at a time, it would take me five to six years to test to get the right one," Hall told The Virginian-Pilot. "This will shorten the time to six months or a year."
The grant also will pay for new supplies and equipment, lab renovations and training and travel for researchers, said Sandra J. DeLoatch, the dean of the School of Science and Technology.
"For undergraduates, it's tremendous," she said. "It allows us to provide very valuable research experience to students to hopefully motivate them to go to graduate school to continue their studies."
aC. Sidebar
So if you don't believe high school girls should be on the pill or if your against contraceptive, how do you feel about this? Would this weaken the masculinity of males? How will men take it? If this is cheaper than a pack of rubbers then i'll take it, as long as it also improve sexually performance. Nothing is more sad than not being able to raise your crane when you need to, but can't. Which is to say, ED can be a contraceptive all in itself. The male pill...I wonder what it will be called. If you have Yasmin for women what about Cobra for men, because you can't have some silly, sensitive name marketed towards men. You can't reference that it will make you BUTCH, because your little Johnnys aren't really doing anything. I think COBRA would be a good name because it does take a bite out of you, but the pill still enables you attack. Can't you just feel the sexual innuendos from the name.
Okay, it's a Friday, I can be a little silly.
(AP)
A Norfolk State University researcher who has worked nearly 20 years to create a male contraceptive will share in a $3.6 million grant to help him further his work.
The funding for Joseph C. Hall's research is from the National Institutes of Health. The grant, Hall said, will bring to his research the world of "computer-assisted drug design" to speed the time he can produce compounds for testing. The grant, distributed over five years, will support Norfolk State's Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences, which Hall directs.
Hall's research, which has received money from the National Science Foundation, seeks to blunt sperm's ability to fertilize eggs. His focus is the enzyme that penetrates the sugar coating that surrounds the egg. He is seeking a compound that can bind to the enzyme, deactivating the sperm. While Hall has reached a solid success rate of 92 percent, he wants his contraceptive to be 100 percent foolproof. He expects the final product to be in the form of a patch.
The university's first NIH grant in 13 years will also will be used on protein research, which could improve cancer treatments; add at least a handful of faculty positions; and provide opportunities for students and faculty members to collaborate with their counterparts at Eastern Virginia +Medical+ School and the University of Virginia.
"So often, Norfolk State has had to be the school that follows new leads that come up in generally established programs," said Hall, an associate professor of chemistry. "We decided to take an initiative role and be a leader for a change."
By supporting the emerging field of computer-assisted drug design, the NIH grant will help Hall make and test compounds more quickly.
"Right now, at the rate I'm going, synthesizing one compound at a time, it would take me five to six years to test to get the right one," Hall told The Virginian-Pilot. "This will shorten the time to six months or a year."
The grant also will pay for new supplies and equipment, lab renovations and training and travel for researchers, said Sandra J. DeLoatch, the dean of the School of Science and Technology.
"For undergraduates, it's tremendous," she said. "It allows us to provide very valuable research experience to students to hopefully motivate them to go to graduate school to continue their studies."
aC. Sidebar
So if you don't believe high school girls should be on the pill or if your against contraceptive, how do you feel about this? Would this weaken the masculinity of males? How will men take it? If this is cheaper than a pack of rubbers then i'll take it, as long as it also improve sexually performance. Nothing is more sad than not being able to raise your crane when you need to, but can't. Which is to say, ED can be a contraceptive all in itself. The male pill...I wonder what it will be called. If you have Yasmin for women what about Cobra for men, because you can't have some silly, sensitive name marketed towards men. You can't reference that it will make you BUTCH, because your little Johnnys aren't really doing anything. I think COBRA would be a good name because it does take a bite out of you, but the pill still enables you attack. Can't you just feel the sexual innuendos from the name.
Okay, it's a Friday, I can be a little silly.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
What Did The Smurfs Ever Do To You?
I knew it, Saddam never had any WMDs, it was acutally Gargamel. The search for Weapons of Mass Destruction are over. It's a still a sad day for the Smurfs though. Interesting enough you get to see Smurfette to the left. Was UNICEF also trying to say that whoring yourself is as bad as the consequences of war? Where's Brauny Smurf, shouldn't he be armed with an assault rifle or on a turret someplace in the background? Regardless, this is a f**ked up. Effective, but f**ked up.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
You though the Foremans had it bad...
Arkansas Mother Gives Birth to 16th Child
Associated Press
Michelle Duggar just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again.
Johannah Faith Duggar was born at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and weighed 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces.
The baby's father, Jim Bob Duggar, a former state representative, said Wednesday that mother and child were doing well.
He said Johannah's birth was especially exciting because it was the first time in eight years the family has had a girl.
Jim Bob Duggar, 40, said he and Michelle, 39, want more children.
"We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them," he said.
The Discovery Health Channel filmed Johannah's birth and plans to air a show about the family of 18 next May. The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers.
Jim Bob Duggar, who sells real estate, previously lost his bid for the U.S. Senate. He said he expects to run for the state Senate next year but isn't ready to make a formal announcement.
Michelle Duggar had her first child at age 21, four years after the couple married.
Their children include two sets of twins, and each child has a name beginning with the letter "J": Joshua, 17; John David, 15; Janna, 15; Jill, 14; Jessa, 12; Jinger, 11; Joseph, 10; Josiah, 9; Joy-Anna, 8; Jeremiah, 6; Jedidiah, 6; Jason, 5; James, 4; Justin, 2; and Jackson Levi, 1.
aC. Sidebar
Okay, I feel bad for the children. I thought all the George's and Georgina's in the Foreman family had it bad, this is like their family with a side of the Waltons. Frankly, I want 26 children myself. One for each letter of the alphabet. Maybe even more. I'll even start thinking about naming them by numbers. "Okay, number 5901234. It's time for you to go sleep."
Associated Press
Michelle Duggar just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again.
Johannah Faith Duggar was born at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and weighed 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces.
The baby's father, Jim Bob Duggar, a former state representative, said Wednesday that mother and child were doing well.
He said Johannah's birth was especially exciting because it was the first time in eight years the family has had a girl.
Jim Bob Duggar, 40, said he and Michelle, 39, want more children.
"We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them," he said.
The Discovery Health Channel filmed Johannah's birth and plans to air a show about the family of 18 next May. The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers.
Jim Bob Duggar, who sells real estate, previously lost his bid for the U.S. Senate. He said he expects to run for the state Senate next year but isn't ready to make a formal announcement.
Michelle Duggar had her first child at age 21, four years after the couple married.
Their children include two sets of twins, and each child has a name beginning with the letter "J": Joshua, 17; John David, 15; Janna, 15; Jill, 14; Jessa, 12; Jinger, 11; Joseph, 10; Josiah, 9; Joy-Anna, 8; Jeremiah, 6; Jedidiah, 6; Jason, 5; James, 4; Justin, 2; and Jackson Levi, 1.
aC. Sidebar
Okay, I feel bad for the children. I thought all the George's and Georgina's in the Foreman family had it bad, this is like their family with a side of the Waltons. Frankly, I want 26 children myself. One for each letter of the alphabet. Maybe even more. I'll even start thinking about naming them by numbers. "Okay, number 5901234. It's time for you to go sleep."
Tomb Raider for President..
Yes, I'm voteing for Angelina for the next President of the United States of Kick-Ass America. Hmm. Brad Pitt will be the first bitch. Yes! I think every straight man in America would vote for her.
Don't Get Me Wrong...
Root Cause Analysis...finding the real cause of the problem and dealing with it rather than simply continuing to deal with the symptoms.
Okay, here me out. Big companies wants to pocket a lot of money. Clear? Who wouldn't? So the question is why do companies want to pocket money from the Capitol? Symptoms? Lobbyiest, Robber-Barons, and such. Corporate greed. Arthur Anderson to Enron to WorldCom. So, what is the root cause?
People want money, but why would a CEO or President want to pocket so much money? Greed is clearly evident, but why is it at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia, and Halliburton? My reasoning is opportunity and demand. People need gas, phone lines, cable tv, security, and peace. People will pay for it. It's the greatest quick-rich scheme ever. People need to drive their cars to work. People need to heat their houses. There is a demand.
Yes, in a certain way I am defending the big oil companies. They're not the hogs of Washington. Just look at you and me. When I say you and me, I'm talking about your cousin in China, Africa, Brazil, and Soviet Russia where car drives you. We live in a colossus global economy and a very demanding environment. I'm almost finishing reading the book Collapse by Jared Diamond. The book defines the impact of human existance in respect to local and global economies and environment. Face it. Gas prices will continue to sky rocket. You know why? Because births are exceeding deaths. We have more mouths to feed, and some of our mouths have silver spoons in them.
The 5 cent hot dog at the local drive-in theater has to feed more mouths these days. That's why they're $5.00 at the local AMC. I'm taking a hard look at the world. We're simply consuming too much than that's replaceable. I'm talking about the trees in the Amazon, the water ways near the Three Gorges Dam, overfishing in every part of this earth, and the other detrimental effects of humans on our precious ecosystem.
So don't blame the oil companies if they want to pocket mega-million deals in Washington for building oil refineraries in your back yard. We need to drive our Hummers you know, and if every people wants a Hummer, Porsche, or an Escalade with 20 inch dubs then whose going to fill it up? Don't blame drug companies for wanting to inflat prices up on new drugs. You know how expensive approval and liability insurances are? I don't really know much about the drug world, but I know regulatory processes are long and agonizing. There are complex sides to every story, compliant, and pamphlet. I don't really care if you take a particular side or not, but think about it, there always are. Unfortunately I like to eat chicken, so are you going to defend the innocent chickens?
I would like to mention that tact is for me the issue. I'm an ethical man. I know the money that corporations receive do not all go to R & D, or their needed channels. I'm really upset to hear about the corporate spending and irresponsbility. I'm really upset about the sex party that Fred Smoot and the Minnesota Viking players were involved in this past Thursday. Yes, sinning is easier than doing the right thing. I digress. I don't want to see our environment or ecosystem damaged. I love Mother Earth. In fact we've hooked up several times. She provides the air I breath, the water I drinking, and the soft green grass I need to walk on when it's 3am, I'm coming home from the bars, and I'm too drunk to walk and I fall down.
So corporate raiding is okay, as long as no orgies, parties at Chanel and Louis Vuitton, or consuming a gallon of milk in under a hour are involved. Excess, that's what's all it about baby. Sorry Dick Vitel, but truely, mind the gaps. Drug, Oil, and Airline companies need your money. Frankly, they need it. I don't know if a double standard is involved or not, but i'm willing to pay for it. Just not for Ted, Mr. Ringas, Ken Lay, or any other unethical greedy bastard. That's my two cents, but because of inflation I can say your getting two dollars worth. So continue to save the world, walk don't drive, don't pee in the public pool, buy recycled paper, and drink water from the tap, because its your local Evian source.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Let's Do It...
World needs Kyoto climate pact: scientist
The world must stick with the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and the United States needs to show leadership in limiting climate change instead of being an obstacle, a top British scientist said on Monday.
Officials from 150 nations meet in Canada next month to discuss how to take the Kyoto pact beyond 2012, when its first phase ends.
The pact, which came into force this year, obliges only developed nations to meet emissions targets while developing nations, including big polluters China and India, are excluded until at least 2012.
"We are faced with a situation in which the United States is not prepared to get on board Kyoto, so taking it forward from there is difficult," said Sir David King, chief scientific adviser for the British government.
President George W. Bush pulled the United States, the world's top polluter, out of Kyoto in 2001 saying that emissions targets could threaten economic growth and that excluding large developing nations didn't make sense.
Australia refused to ratify the pact for the same reasons, while India does not believe setting targets is the right solution.
Under Kyoto, agreed by governments at a 1997 U.N. conference in the Japanese city, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries should be cut by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012.
But many countries are already well behind their targets and refusal by the United States and Australia delayed the pact finally coming into force.
Asked if he believed such disagreements meant Kyoto needed to be scrapped or amended, King said: "No, I don't."
"I think the White House is keen to push the whole technology debate forward without putting forward any global emissions plan. I don't see within the U.S. something that will bring global action into play," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a climate change forum in Singapore.
The United States, Australia and four Asian nations including China, unveiled their own pact in July that focused on harnessing cleaner energy technology to curb greenhouse emissions.
STICK WITH KYOTO
This pact, dubbed "beyond Kyoto," was described as complimentary to Kyoto but the different approaches in curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by big polluters could bog down the Montreal talks.
Last week Britain played down hopes of a breakthrough and host Canada was equally gloomy.
But King said nations should stick with Kyoto.
"What I believe is that first of all we need to get Kyoto up and running and then to go to Kyoto plus," he said, adding that emissions trading is crucial to force utilities and energy companies to become more efficient.
"I think that is absolutely crucial and it would be wrong to abandon Kyoto," he said.
Asked the best way to bring China and India into the second phase of Kyoto, he said it was crucial to recognize that both countries were heavily dependent on their own coal reserves.
"We need to recognize that and in recognizing that we therefore need to be working with them on technologies such as carbon capture and storage, on alternative energy and demonstrating the idea is not to cut their economic growth."
He hoped Montreal would yield a breakthrough or at least demonstrate a way forward.
"The point is that as we move forward, the seriousness of the issue is becoming more apparent and everyone realizes it's in all of our interests to get some agreement out of this. That has to be crucial to the process."
Crucial, too, was the United States' role. "I think it's very important that America finds a way to play a similar leadership role," he said pointing to Britain's commitment to cut emissions by 60 percent by 2050.
aC. Sidebar
Scientist including me suggests this as well. Granted, I'm a computer scientist. Conservation is the best way to save on the consumption on gas, thus slowing the demand of gas and bringing down the cost of gas (oline). Much of the the crude process of burning coal is inefficient. Although cheap, the long-term cost of maintainence is expensive. To third world countries, this approach is the old way of making money. First world nation like US, Australia, and UK, should participate in changing this. We're in the generation of outsourcing and utilizing globalization. If companies like GM, Dell, and Nike who have investments and businesses in those countries can fight for strict standards and for more strategic investments of money and responsbilities. The Kyoto Protocol can be feasible according to Bush. This change does cost money, but asking a corporation to invest in technology and more specifically technology that have no direct effect on sales and revenue is hard for management to agree with. You have to approach like project management. There is a need. You have to say that the current world of emissions and pollution is not right.
I think we're all know of the need, but there isn't a global consensus on the approach. It's like needing to score a touchdown to win the game. You need to score, plain and simple. Do cut emissions and offer standards that are more strict or do you develop new technology to produce cleaner emissions. Either way, pollution has to decrease. That's the principle of the Kyoto Protocol. So, lets get a champion, in aC. we trust. Let me lead this movement, because if there is no strong willed person to direct this inititive then it won't get done.
We know, we agree, lets go with a plan. Ends always justify the means my friend. That's me talking, not the Prince.
The world must stick with the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and the United States needs to show leadership in limiting climate change instead of being an obstacle, a top British scientist said on Monday.
Officials from 150 nations meet in Canada next month to discuss how to take the Kyoto pact beyond 2012, when its first phase ends.
The pact, which came into force this year, obliges only developed nations to meet emissions targets while developing nations, including big polluters China and India, are excluded until at least 2012.
"We are faced with a situation in which the United States is not prepared to get on board Kyoto, so taking it forward from there is difficult," said Sir David King, chief scientific adviser for the British government.
President George W. Bush pulled the United States, the world's top polluter, out of Kyoto in 2001 saying that emissions targets could threaten economic growth and that excluding large developing nations didn't make sense.
Australia refused to ratify the pact for the same reasons, while India does not believe setting targets is the right solution.
Under Kyoto, agreed by governments at a 1997 U.N. conference in the Japanese city, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries should be cut by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012.
But many countries are already well behind their targets and refusal by the United States and Australia delayed the pact finally coming into force.
Asked if he believed such disagreements meant Kyoto needed to be scrapped or amended, King said: "No, I don't."
"I think the White House is keen to push the whole technology debate forward without putting forward any global emissions plan. I don't see within the U.S. something that will bring global action into play," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a climate change forum in Singapore.
The United States, Australia and four Asian nations including China, unveiled their own pact in July that focused on harnessing cleaner energy technology to curb greenhouse emissions.
STICK WITH KYOTO
This pact, dubbed "beyond Kyoto," was described as complimentary to Kyoto but the different approaches in curbing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by big polluters could bog down the Montreal talks.
Last week Britain played down hopes of a breakthrough and host Canada was equally gloomy.
But King said nations should stick with Kyoto.
"What I believe is that first of all we need to get Kyoto up and running and then to go to Kyoto plus," he said, adding that emissions trading is crucial to force utilities and energy companies to become more efficient.
"I think that is absolutely crucial and it would be wrong to abandon Kyoto," he said.
Asked the best way to bring China and India into the second phase of Kyoto, he said it was crucial to recognize that both countries were heavily dependent on their own coal reserves.
"We need to recognize that and in recognizing that we therefore need to be working with them on technologies such as carbon capture and storage, on alternative energy and demonstrating the idea is not to cut their economic growth."
He hoped Montreal would yield a breakthrough or at least demonstrate a way forward.
"The point is that as we move forward, the seriousness of the issue is becoming more apparent and everyone realizes it's in all of our interests to get some agreement out of this. That has to be crucial to the process."
Crucial, too, was the United States' role. "I think it's very important that America finds a way to play a similar leadership role," he said pointing to Britain's commitment to cut emissions by 60 percent by 2050.
aC. Sidebar
Scientist including me suggests this as well. Granted, I'm a computer scientist. Conservation is the best way to save on the consumption on gas, thus slowing the demand of gas and bringing down the cost of gas (oline). Much of the the crude process of burning coal is inefficient. Although cheap, the long-term cost of maintainence is expensive. To third world countries, this approach is the old way of making money. First world nation like US, Australia, and UK, should participate in changing this. We're in the generation of outsourcing and utilizing globalization. If companies like GM, Dell, and Nike who have investments and businesses in those countries can fight for strict standards and for more strategic investments of money and responsbilities. The Kyoto Protocol can be feasible according to Bush. This change does cost money, but asking a corporation to invest in technology and more specifically technology that have no direct effect on sales and revenue is hard for management to agree with. You have to approach like project management. There is a need. You have to say that the current world of emissions and pollution is not right.
I think we're all know of the need, but there isn't a global consensus on the approach. It's like needing to score a touchdown to win the game. You need to score, plain and simple. Do cut emissions and offer standards that are more strict or do you develop new technology to produce cleaner emissions. Either way, pollution has to decrease. That's the principle of the Kyoto Protocol. So, lets get a champion, in aC. we trust. Let me lead this movement, because if there is no strong willed person to direct this inititive then it won't get done.
We know, we agree, lets go with a plan. Ends always justify the means my friend. That's me talking, not the Prince.
I'm Carnac the Magnificent...
Psychic seeks $25 million reward for Saddam
Fri Oct 7
A Brazilian court will consider a psychic's claim that the U.S. government owes him a $25 million reward for information he says he provided on the hiding place of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Brazil's second-highest court, the Superior Court of Justice, decided Thursday the Brazilian justice system could rule on the matter and told a court in the psychic's home state of Minas Gerais to judge the case.
The lower court had earlier told Jucelino Nobrega da Luz it could not take up his claim and it would have to be judged in the United States, but the higher tribunal ruled otherwise.
"The Minas Gerais court will work with the claim," said a spokesman for the Superior Court of Justice.
"Jucelino da Luz alleges that the U.S. armed forces only found Saddam based on his letters that provided his exact location, the very hole where he was hiding in Iraq. So he filed a court case to claim the reward."
The U.S. government offered the award for Saddam in July 2003 after the U.S.-led forces occupied the country. He was captured in December of the same year.
The court said Da Luz sent letters to the U.S. government from September 2001, describing Saddam's future hiding place -- a tiny cellar at a farmhouse near Tikrit. He never received a reply.
"His lawyers attest that the author has an uncommon gift of having visions of things that will come to pass. ... Via dreams, he sees situations, facts that will happen in the future," a court statement said.
In case the court upholds the claim, it will be sent via diplomatic channels to the U.S. State Department.
aC. Sidebar
... A dark room, bars, bed, and sleeping
... Tell me where, behind what, in what and what Saddam will be doing tonight at 10:30pm?
I think I'm a psychic...where's my money?
Fri Oct 7
A Brazilian court will consider a psychic's claim that the U.S. government owes him a $25 million reward for information he says he provided on the hiding place of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Brazil's second-highest court, the Superior Court of Justice, decided Thursday the Brazilian justice system could rule on the matter and told a court in the psychic's home state of Minas Gerais to judge the case.
The lower court had earlier told Jucelino Nobrega da Luz it could not take up his claim and it would have to be judged in the United States, but the higher tribunal ruled otherwise.
"The Minas Gerais court will work with the claim," said a spokesman for the Superior Court of Justice.
"Jucelino da Luz alleges that the U.S. armed forces only found Saddam based on his letters that provided his exact location, the very hole where he was hiding in Iraq. So he filed a court case to claim the reward."
The U.S. government offered the award for Saddam in July 2003 after the U.S.-led forces occupied the country. He was captured in December of the same year.
The court said Da Luz sent letters to the U.S. government from September 2001, describing Saddam's future hiding place -- a tiny cellar at a farmhouse near Tikrit. He never received a reply.
"His lawyers attest that the author has an uncommon gift of having visions of things that will come to pass. ... Via dreams, he sees situations, facts that will happen in the future," a court statement said.
In case the court upholds the claim, it will be sent via diplomatic channels to the U.S. State Department.
aC. Sidebar
... A dark room, bars, bed, and sleeping
... Tell me where, behind what, in what and what Saddam will be doing tonight at 10:30pm?
I think I'm a psychic...where's my money?
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Welcome to Earth??? (Part 2)
Families End Up With Porn DVD by Mistake
A Utah-based film company will try to maintain its squeaky-clean image by offering compensation to customers who bought the "Sons of Provo" DVD but found "Adored: Diary of a Porn Star" inside the case.
Two families reported the problem after purchasing DVDs at Deseret Book stores, which are owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
HaleStorm Entertainment is offering $100 to anyone who mistakenly ended up with the "Adored" DVD instead of "Sons of Provo."
HaleStorm also plans to donate an additional $100 per DVD to CP80, an anti-pornography initiative.
"We are committed to producing family friendly entertainment and are devastated that some of the 'Sons of Provo' DVDs out there contain illicit material," Dave Hunter, HaleStorm's president and CEO, said in a statement.
The movies got mixed up at a Los Angeles firm that replicates both films for mass distribution.
"Sons of Provo" is a PG-rated film about the ups and downs of a Mormon boy band. "Adored" is an unrated independent film about a gay porn star's attempt to reconnect with his family.
aC. Sidebar
HAHAHAHAHA...craze Mormons.
A Utah-based film company will try to maintain its squeaky-clean image by offering compensation to customers who bought the "Sons of Provo" DVD but found "Adored: Diary of a Porn Star" inside the case.
Two families reported the problem after purchasing DVDs at Deseret Book stores, which are owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
HaleStorm Entertainment is offering $100 to anyone who mistakenly ended up with the "Adored" DVD instead of "Sons of Provo."
HaleStorm also plans to donate an additional $100 per DVD to CP80, an anti-pornography initiative.
"We are committed to producing family friendly entertainment and are devastated that some of the 'Sons of Provo' DVDs out there contain illicit material," Dave Hunter, HaleStorm's president and CEO, said in a statement.
The movies got mixed up at a Los Angeles firm that replicates both films for mass distribution.
"Sons of Provo" is a PG-rated film about the ups and downs of a Mormon boy band. "Adored" is an unrated independent film about a gay porn star's attempt to reconnect with his family.
aC. Sidebar
HAHAHAHAHA...craze Mormons.
Welcome to Earth???
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes expecting
The couple has been dating since June of this year
The Associated Press
Oct. 5, 2005
NEW YORK - Let the couch-jumping begin: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are expecting a baby.
Holmes’ pregnancy was reported Wednesday by People magazine. The couple have been dating since April and became engaged in June.
“Tom and Katie are very excited, and the entire family is very excited,” Lee Anne Devette, Cruise’s spokeswoman, told People.
It would be Holmes’ first child. Cruise has two children, Connor, 10, and Isabella, 12, from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
No further details were available. Devette added that Holmes, 26, “has never felt better.”
Cruise, 43, is now shooting “Mission” Impossible 3.”
aC. Sidebar
Okay...boy or girl? Either way the child will be the next anti-Christ. Oops, did that slip out? I guess now all young professional-aged (late 20's-early 30's) women know what it feels like to sleep with Tom Cruise. The child should be cute, it'll be a cross between Joey and Maverick.
The couple has been dating since June of this year
The Associated Press
Oct. 5, 2005
NEW YORK - Let the couch-jumping begin: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are expecting a baby.
Holmes’ pregnancy was reported Wednesday by People magazine. The couple have been dating since April and became engaged in June.
“Tom and Katie are very excited, and the entire family is very excited,” Lee Anne Devette, Cruise’s spokeswoman, told People.
It would be Holmes’ first child. Cruise has two children, Connor, 10, and Isabella, 12, from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
No further details were available. Devette added that Holmes, 26, “has never felt better.”
Cruise, 43, is now shooting “Mission” Impossible 3.”
aC. Sidebar
Okay...boy or girl? Either way the child will be the next anti-Christ. Oops, did that slip out? I guess now all young professional-aged (late 20's-early 30's) women know what it feels like to sleep with Tom Cruise. The child should be cute, it'll be a cross between Joey and Maverick.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Friday, September 30, 2005
Greatest Chinese Export
Besides money and immigrants, it's ginseng. Yes, the small miracle herb/plant with medicinal qualities. It has been used by both American Indians and the Chinese for cures, health, and preventative actions for these people. That's pretty interesting with a large body of ocean separating the two.
Did you know that the North American ginseng trade dates back to the time of frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, who made more money selling the herb than trapping furs. Folks, Daniel Boone was a friend of the Chinese. I'm sorry to say it, but it's the truth. So with this year's ethic draft, we'll take Wu-Tang Clan with our first round pick, Daniel Boone with our second round pick, and finally in our third round selection...Chris Rock.
Unfortunately we might have do a three way trade with the blacks and whites, where Chris would be returned to the black and Derek Jeter's is claimed by the whites, in exchange for Elvis. Us crazy Asians love karaoke and Elvis.
Did you know that the North American ginseng trade dates back to the time of frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone, who made more money selling the herb than trapping furs. Folks, Daniel Boone was a friend of the Chinese. I'm sorry to say it, but it's the truth. So with this year's ethic draft, we'll take Wu-Tang Clan with our first round pick, Daniel Boone with our second round pick, and finally in our third round selection...Chris Rock.
Unfortunately we might have do a three way trade with the blacks and whites, where Chris would be returned to the black and Derek Jeter's is claimed by the whites, in exchange for Elvis. Us crazy Asians love karaoke and Elvis.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
I'm Calling It...
The next Supreme Court Justice will be...
Judge Edith Brown Clement
Clement has a reputation as a conservative jurist and a strict constructionist who strongly supports principles of federalism, but she has written few high-profile opinions.
She wrote for the majority in Vogler v. Blackmore, 352 F.3d 150 (5th Cir. 2003), reducing pain and suffering damages awarded by a jury to a mother and daughter who were killed in a car accident. The basis of her ruling was the lack of specific evidence about the daughter's "awareness of the impending collision." Large damage awards to the father and husband due to the loss of society in his wife and daughter were affirmed.
In Chiu v. Plano Independent School District, 339 F.3d 273 (5th Cir., 2003), Judge Clement held that a school district's policy requiring the preapproval of fliers handed out at a school event violated the First Amendment free speech rights of would-be protestors.
In United States v. Harris, 408 F.3d 186 (5th Cir. 2005), Clement again wrote for the majority, this time reinstating the sentence of a police captain convicted for violation of federal civil rights laws in using excessive force. The captain moved to vacate, arguing that his counsel had been insufficient. Clement and the court held that the representation had been reasonable.
Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote a unanimous opinion for the 5th Circuit in Tarver v. City of Edna. She upheld officers' appeal of qualified immunity for reasonably arresting a father who was interfering with the return of a child to its rightful custodian. Qualified immunity also protected officers from the plaintiff's accusation of excessive force in using handcuffs and confining him to the police car as part of the arrest. Officers also, however, slammed the car door on his foot and head, and the plaintiff's excessive force claim under this heading was remanded.
Judge Clement has joined other conservative judges in dissenting in Commerce Clause cases that implicate federalism. In U.S. v. McFarland, 311 F. 3d 376, she argued that the Commerce Clause power did not enable Congress to regulate local robberies.
In GDF Realty Investments, Ltd. v. Norton, 362 F.3d 286, Judge Clement argued that the Endangered Species Act needed a commercial nexus to enable regulation of endemic rare species.
aC. Sidebar
As long as she keeps the Pledge of Allegiance in tact and don't take away my civil library, then she's all right with me. Then again my call could be wrong...
Colleges Offer Students Oral HIV Tests
Associated Press
West Virginia University is the latest higher education institution in the state to offer an orally administered HIV test to students that requires no blood tests or needles. The test is administered with a cotton pad or swab that is placed between a patient's cheek and gum for five minutes to draw antibodies from blood vessels in the mouth, health officials said.
Results of the confidential test are available within two weeks, according to WVU, which started offering the test earlier this month. WVU has tested about 20 students so far. "What prompted it was a long-standing desire to have more HIV prevention, counseling, education and testing," Dr. Jan Palmer, director of WVU's Student Health Service, said Wednesday.
Fairmont State University and Glenville State College also offer the test through student health services, and Marshall University offers the test to students through the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. "Testing for any potential HIV-infected individual is very important because of (the) severity of the illness and likelihood of prolonged care and potential death and because of the contagious nature of the infection," said Dr. Harry Tweel, director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.
HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex and shared needles, health officials have said. The number of AIDS and HIV cases reported in West Virginia has dropped slightly since 2003. During the first six months of this year, 65 new cases were reported in West Virginia, compared to 139 for all of 2004 and 158 in 2003, according to state health officials.
The FDA has said the orally administered test is more than 99 percent accurate. Having HIV tests available to students on site is helpful, Glenville State spokeswoman Allison Minton said. "I think it's important that if a student has a concern that they have a disease that they have access to the health care that can give them answers," Minton said.
Counseling may also be offered as part of testing services. "We want to help them change behaviors that continue to put people at risk," said Yolanda Kirchartz, director of student health services at Fairmont State.
That includes talking about how alcohol may affect behavior and stressing condom use and abstinence, Kirchartz said.
"Too often college students feel a false sense of security because they are young and appear to be healthy. They think, 'It can't happen to me,'" Palmer said "HIV affects people regardless of age, gender, race or sexual orientation."
aC Sidebar
I never knew about this statistics about my homestate. I'm glad they're doing something about it. Then again, if you think about it, won't this increase more sexual behavior. Or may worst, kid? Hmm...nothing like rednecks reproducing. "Yu'all come back now, you hear!"
Associated Press
West Virginia University is the latest higher education institution in the state to offer an orally administered HIV test to students that requires no blood tests or needles. The test is administered with a cotton pad or swab that is placed between a patient's cheek and gum for five minutes to draw antibodies from blood vessels in the mouth, health officials said.
Results of the confidential test are available within two weeks, according to WVU, which started offering the test earlier this month. WVU has tested about 20 students so far. "What prompted it was a long-standing desire to have more HIV prevention, counseling, education and testing," Dr. Jan Palmer, director of WVU's Student Health Service, said Wednesday.
Fairmont State University and Glenville State College also offer the test through student health services, and Marshall University offers the test to students through the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. "Testing for any potential HIV-infected individual is very important because of (the) severity of the illness and likelihood of prolonged care and potential death and because of the contagious nature of the infection," said Dr. Harry Tweel, director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.
HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex and shared needles, health officials have said. The number of AIDS and HIV cases reported in West Virginia has dropped slightly since 2003. During the first six months of this year, 65 new cases were reported in West Virginia, compared to 139 for all of 2004 and 158 in 2003, according to state health officials.
The FDA has said the orally administered test is more than 99 percent accurate. Having HIV tests available to students on site is helpful, Glenville State spokeswoman Allison Minton said. "I think it's important that if a student has a concern that they have a disease that they have access to the health care that can give them answers," Minton said.
Counseling may also be offered as part of testing services. "We want to help them change behaviors that continue to put people at risk," said Yolanda Kirchartz, director of student health services at Fairmont State.
That includes talking about how alcohol may affect behavior and stressing condom use and abstinence, Kirchartz said.
"Too often college students feel a false sense of security because they are young and appear to be healthy. They think, 'It can't happen to me,'" Palmer said "HIV affects people regardless of age, gender, race or sexual orientation."
aC Sidebar
I never knew about this statistics about my homestate. I'm glad they're doing something about it. Then again, if you think about it, won't this increase more sexual behavior. Or may worst, kid? Hmm...nothing like rednecks reproducing. "Yu'all come back now, you hear!"
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Three days in Rome
How to make the most of a brief stay
Special to MSNBC.com
All roads lead to Rome, and then they converge in a giant traffic jam of Mercedes vans, Mini Coopers, Smart Cars and motorbikes. For travelers trying to maximize their time during a brief three-day stay, the congested highways and streets of the Eternal City might seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The savvy traveler, however, can learn how to conquer Rome's motorways like a mighty emperor.
Tour operators can help you make the most of your time. Appian Line (06-48-78-61), an Italian company offering itineraries throughout Italy, will send a shuttle to your hotel, then transport you to its central location at Piazza dell Esquilino to purchase tickets for a half or full day of Rome sightseeing by motorcoach. Appian Line tours cover the highlights, including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.
For more independent travel, consider taking underground trains or even trolleys. "Rome's Metropolitana (subway) is underused by tourists," said Kathy McCabe, editor and publisher of Dream of Italy, a subscription travel newsletter. "It can get you to places faster than buses, which may encounter traffic — especially during rush hour." Stops on the Metropolitina include the Colosseum, Spain Square and the Spanish Steps and St. Paul's Basilica.
Also, consider the Ciao Roma Trolley Tour, which loops through the city and allows you to jump on and off at major tourist attractions. Stops include the Piazza Venezia near the Roman Forum, The Colosseum, The Vatican and the Piazza del Popolo.
Getting aroundYou may also wish to consider renting a vehicle. "Rent a scooter and take in the sights as you are waiting in traffic," said Antonia Imperoli of the Italian Government Tourist Board in New York. "Always go to the front of the traffic line, to avoid the exhaust pipes!"
Time in traffic doesn't have to be a lost cause.
"Strike up a conversation with your fellow Italian in the next car and ask suggestions of where to enjoy a typical Italian dinner that evening," Imperoli said. Travelers can also maximize their time when it comes to enjoying Rome's excellent cuisine. "Italians eat quick meals and drink espresso while standing up," McCabe said. "There are tons of pizza places on every corner of Rome. You tell the person behind the counter how big a slice you would like, and he or she charges you by weight. Grab a drink and you can have lunch in 10 minutes."
Gulping breakfast and lunch is one thing. After the day's tours are done, food fanatics may wish to linger for hours over Italian specialties. Try prosciutto and honeydew melon, tortellini with meat sauce, pizza with spicy salami, antipasti of eggplant, peppers and beans, desserts such as tiramisu or panna cotti, and the best coffee in the entire world.
Here is a suggested itinerary if you only have three days in Rome.
DAY ONE
Appian Line offers numerous half-day and full-day tours of Rome. Combine your favorite itineraries for a full day of sightseeing from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. See the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navonna with its "Fountain of the Four Rivers" by the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's Basilica, The Vatican, The Roman Forum, the Colosseum and St. Paul's Basilica. It's a long day of touring, but you'll cover many of Rome's highlights.
DAY TWO
Appian Line offers the "Vatican Museums" tour year-round every morning except Sundays and religious holidays. Here's a chance to see one of the world's great collections of classical and Renaissance art. The climax of the tour is the Sistine Chapel. Its walls feature paintings by Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Signorelli and Michelangelo, and its ceiling was painted by Michelangelo from 1508 to 1512. Among the many ceiling panels tracing the creation of the world and the fall of man is the famous "Creation of Adam." As you stroll back to the tour bus, your guide will point out the Pope's apartment building.
DAY THREE
Got walking shoes? Try an independent travel day with stops at the Borghese Museum, Villa Borghese Park, Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. First stop: The Borghese Museum. Reservations are mandatory, so show up bright and early before the 8:30 a.m. opening time to purchase tickets, or make reservations in advance on the museum's Web site. Admission is strictly controlled so that only 360 people can tour the museum within a two-hour slot. See the highlights before your time runs out. They include Bernini's statue of "David" confronting the giant Goliath with only a sling. Bernini's sculpture of "Apollo and Daphne" depicts the nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo.
After two hours of strolling the museum, take a sit-down break with cappuccinos and a quick lunch in the museum snack bar. Head out the door for a nice long walk through the rest of the green, leafy Villa Borghese Park and down a long flight of stairs to Piazza del Popolo. It leads to several pedestrian-only shopping streets. If you're feeling energetic, you can stroll all the way down Via del Babuino to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square), the most famous square in Rome. Hail a cab and call it a day!
aC Sidebar
Or you can follow my Roman Holiday Itinerary...
Day One
Arrive and head to Villa Borghese with your reservation and walk around the park afterwards. Walking eastward, you should hit the Spanish Steps and the great shopping district via, Via Condotti and Via Corso. From here, your in the heart of Rome. You'll be able to people watch and walk around Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, the Pantheon, and Fountana di Trevi, and all the delicious gelato you can eat. There's a really nice, small Chinese restaurant southeast from the Trevi Fountain.
Day Two
Walk up early and enjoy a nice breakfest either back in the downtown area or you could start near the Termini train station. Coffee, cappuccino, and delicious bakery items are a hit. Your day on this day should be Caesarian Rome. Starting from the Termini, you can walk down Via Nazionale. You'll hit Piazza Venezia and the tribute to Vittorio Emmanuele II. Now walking west would take you to Campo di Fiori, but if you go south, you'll hit the Boca della Verita where you'll try your luck and your bravery to tell a lie. From here going south and slightly southeast you'll hit the Forum, the Palantine, Circus Maximus, and of course the Colosseum.
From here after a long day of walking, walk back up Via Nazionale and enjoy pizzas off this road. You'll find some nice mom and pop places. Try the Pizza Margherita. Afterwards, scroll back toward Via Condotti for the night life. If you don't like pizza, then you can try American by going to the Hard Rock Cafe along Via Veneto.
Day Three
For your religious folk, you can travel to the smallest nation in the world, the Holy See, or Vatican City. Remember, to wear a shirt and long pants. You might be able to go in with shorts, but a full top is necessary. St. Peter's Square is at your disposal, but Pope John Paul II will not conduct mass anymore. God bless his soul. The Vatican Museum is right behind St. Peter. You'll see a lot of his art, but the Sistine Chapel and seeing Raphael's School of Athens is great. There are great restaurants around the neighborhood. Stay north and go directly east and you'll hit Piazza del Popolo.
Enjoy your trip, don't forget about Ostia Antica, Tivoli, or even Mussolini's futuristic world, EUR, on the south edge of Rome. All are bit of a trip, so if you have at least 4 days, consider all of these things.
How to make the most of a brief stay
Special to MSNBC.com
All roads lead to Rome, and then they converge in a giant traffic jam of Mercedes vans, Mini Coopers, Smart Cars and motorbikes. For travelers trying to maximize their time during a brief three-day stay, the congested highways and streets of the Eternal City might seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The savvy traveler, however, can learn how to conquer Rome's motorways like a mighty emperor.
Tour operators can help you make the most of your time. Appian Line (06-48-78-61), an Italian company offering itineraries throughout Italy, will send a shuttle to your hotel, then transport you to its central location at Piazza dell Esquilino to purchase tickets for a half or full day of Rome sightseeing by motorcoach. Appian Line tours cover the highlights, including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.
For more independent travel, consider taking underground trains or even trolleys. "Rome's Metropolitana (subway) is underused by tourists," said Kathy McCabe, editor and publisher of Dream of Italy, a subscription travel newsletter. "It can get you to places faster than buses, which may encounter traffic — especially during rush hour." Stops on the Metropolitina include the Colosseum, Spain Square and the Spanish Steps and St. Paul's Basilica.
Also, consider the Ciao Roma Trolley Tour, which loops through the city and allows you to jump on and off at major tourist attractions. Stops include the Piazza Venezia near the Roman Forum, The Colosseum, The Vatican and the Piazza del Popolo.
Getting aroundYou may also wish to consider renting a vehicle. "Rent a scooter and take in the sights as you are waiting in traffic," said Antonia Imperoli of the Italian Government Tourist Board in New York. "Always go to the front of the traffic line, to avoid the exhaust pipes!"
Time in traffic doesn't have to be a lost cause.
"Strike up a conversation with your fellow Italian in the next car and ask suggestions of where to enjoy a typical Italian dinner that evening," Imperoli said. Travelers can also maximize their time when it comes to enjoying Rome's excellent cuisine. "Italians eat quick meals and drink espresso while standing up," McCabe said. "There are tons of pizza places on every corner of Rome. You tell the person behind the counter how big a slice you would like, and he or she charges you by weight. Grab a drink and you can have lunch in 10 minutes."
Gulping breakfast and lunch is one thing. After the day's tours are done, food fanatics may wish to linger for hours over Italian specialties. Try prosciutto and honeydew melon, tortellini with meat sauce, pizza with spicy salami, antipasti of eggplant, peppers and beans, desserts such as tiramisu or panna cotti, and the best coffee in the entire world.
Here is a suggested itinerary if you only have three days in Rome.
DAY ONE
Appian Line offers numerous half-day and full-day tours of Rome. Combine your favorite itineraries for a full day of sightseeing from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. See the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navonna with its "Fountain of the Four Rivers" by the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's Basilica, The Vatican, The Roman Forum, the Colosseum and St. Paul's Basilica. It's a long day of touring, but you'll cover many of Rome's highlights.
DAY TWO
Appian Line offers the "Vatican Museums" tour year-round every morning except Sundays and religious holidays. Here's a chance to see one of the world's great collections of classical and Renaissance art. The climax of the tour is the Sistine Chapel. Its walls feature paintings by Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, Signorelli and Michelangelo, and its ceiling was painted by Michelangelo from 1508 to 1512. Among the many ceiling panels tracing the creation of the world and the fall of man is the famous "Creation of Adam." As you stroll back to the tour bus, your guide will point out the Pope's apartment building.
DAY THREE
Got walking shoes? Try an independent travel day with stops at the Borghese Museum, Villa Borghese Park, Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. First stop: The Borghese Museum. Reservations are mandatory, so show up bright and early before the 8:30 a.m. opening time to purchase tickets, or make reservations in advance on the museum's Web site. Admission is strictly controlled so that only 360 people can tour the museum within a two-hour slot. See the highlights before your time runs out. They include Bernini's statue of "David" confronting the giant Goliath with only a sling. Bernini's sculpture of "Apollo and Daphne" depicts the nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo.
After two hours of strolling the museum, take a sit-down break with cappuccinos and a quick lunch in the museum snack bar. Head out the door for a nice long walk through the rest of the green, leafy Villa Borghese Park and down a long flight of stairs to Piazza del Popolo. It leads to several pedestrian-only shopping streets. If you're feeling energetic, you can stroll all the way down Via del Babuino to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square), the most famous square in Rome. Hail a cab and call it a day!
aC Sidebar
Or you can follow my Roman Holiday Itinerary...
Day One
Arrive and head to Villa Borghese with your reservation and walk around the park afterwards. Walking eastward, you should hit the Spanish Steps and the great shopping district via, Via Condotti and Via Corso. From here, your in the heart of Rome. You'll be able to people watch and walk around Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, the Pantheon, and Fountana di Trevi, and all the delicious gelato you can eat. There's a really nice, small Chinese restaurant southeast from the Trevi Fountain.
Day Two
Walk up early and enjoy a nice breakfest either back in the downtown area or you could start near the Termini train station. Coffee, cappuccino, and delicious bakery items are a hit. Your day on this day should be Caesarian Rome. Starting from the Termini, you can walk down Via Nazionale. You'll hit Piazza Venezia and the tribute to Vittorio Emmanuele II. Now walking west would take you to Campo di Fiori, but if you go south, you'll hit the Boca della Verita where you'll try your luck and your bravery to tell a lie. From here going south and slightly southeast you'll hit the Forum, the Palantine, Circus Maximus, and of course the Colosseum.
From here after a long day of walking, walk back up Via Nazionale and enjoy pizzas off this road. You'll find some nice mom and pop places. Try the Pizza Margherita. Afterwards, scroll back toward Via Condotti for the night life. If you don't like pizza, then you can try American by going to the Hard Rock Cafe along Via Veneto.
Day Three
For your religious folk, you can travel to the smallest nation in the world, the Holy See, or Vatican City. Remember, to wear a shirt and long pants. You might be able to go in with shorts, but a full top is necessary. St. Peter's Square is at your disposal, but Pope John Paul II will not conduct mass anymore. God bless his soul. The Vatican Museum is right behind St. Peter. You'll see a lot of his art, but the Sistine Chapel and seeing Raphael's School of Athens is great. There are great restaurants around the neighborhood. Stay north and go directly east and you'll hit Piazza del Popolo.
Enjoy your trip, don't forget about Ostia Antica, Tivoli, or even Mussolini's futuristic world, EUR, on the south edge of Rome. All are bit of a trip, so if you have at least 4 days, consider all of these things.
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