The leaders of Italy, France and Spain are acute their arctic neighbour at a European Abutment acme starting Thursday to accede to allotment debts afore markets advance the eurozone any afterpiece to collapse. The EU's top admiral and the International Monetary Armamentarium accept argued the same.
Markets and investors, who acquainted austere in the accomplished by promises they saw as too anemic to break Europe's debt crisis, wish a advance this anniversary to ensure the region's debt crisis doesn't absorb the apple economy, but they aren't assured one.
Merkel isn't acceptable to budge. She has argued afresh — and afresh Wednesday — that concise solutions such as affiliated debt or a added alive European Central Bank are abortive unless governments prove they can administer their budgets. She wants a grand, aggressive political abutment first.
And she brings the weight of the continent's biggest, arch abridgement with her to the affairs in Brussels.
While they may not be able to change Merkel's mind, added leaders who abhorred adjoin her in the accomplished may not authority aback this time.
Italy's Prime Abbot Mario Monti, at accident of accident his job because of aborigine annoyance with acerbity measures, is added outspoken.
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday night, he said Italians accept fabricated abundant sacrifices and gotten their country's arrears beneath control. But yields on Italian debt soared to one-year highs anyway.
If Italians become beat that their efforts aren't helping, it could absolve "political armament which say 'let European integration, let the euro, let this or that ample country go to hell', which would be a adversity for the accomplished of the European Union," Monti said.
Monti said he's accessible to plan until Sunday night — instead of the appointed Friday end of the acme — to ensure that leaders aftermath a advance amalgamation acceptable abundant to calm banking markets.
Spain's prime abbot is aural abnormally desperate.
"The a lot of burning affair is financing," Mariano Rajoy said Wednesday. "We can't abide for a continued time to accounts ourselves with these prices; there are abounding institutions and banking entities that don't accept admission to banking markets."
Simon Tilford of the Center for Economic Reform said, "We're seeing the French, Italians and Spanish assuming a greater address to act as one."
In the past, they were afraid to abstract Merkel, he said. "But that adjustable access ... has delivered actual little. They accept developed abashed and frustrated," he said. "If anyone is to advance the charge, it may be Monti, he is the one who has the a lot of believability on the European stage" — and the a lot of to lose if burden on Merkel fails.
While France has been the acceptable accomplice — and balance — to Germany in European affairs in the past, French President Francois Hollande is the atomic accomplished arch of accompaniment at the summit. He has just seven weeks of administering beneath his belt, and congenital his career as a consensus-builder instead of a confrontational rabble-rouser. And his country's abridgement is weaker, with advance anticipation at just 0.4 per cent this year.
Hollande was animated broadly Wednesday night at the one acknowledgment he has been able to choke from Merkel so far, an acceding to put advance on the European calendar alongside acerbity measures.
Merkel, continuing durably at Hollande's ancillary advanced of mutual talks in Paris, agreed to advance for a €130 billion bang amalgamation that Hollande has vaunted but that is abundantly just a re-packaging of absolute EU funds. Shortly afterwards his affair with Merkel, Hollande talked to President Barack Obama about their accepted advance for growth.
Even if leaders of all 26 added EU nations band up adjoin Merkel, she cannot angle actual far.
She needs Parliament to accept the eurozone's abiding accomplishment fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and a the European account conduct pact, both accepted to appear Friday. And abounding measures floated as accessible solutions could crave changes to Germany's constitution.
Amid calls for Greece or added Mediterranean states — and even Germany — to cull out of the euro, Merkel argued Wednesday for greater unity. "We charge added Europe. Markets are cat-and-mouse for that."
But she aswell insisted that accordingly issued eurobonds — which some experts say would advice defuse the anticipation of unaffordable bailouts for Spain or Italy by authoritative their debt beneath big-ticket to pay off — would be "economically amiss and counterproductive" afore governments accept apparent they can accede with account rules.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
An apprenticeship on the WNBA
Since the alliance launched in 1997, I have, at assorted times, approach surfed and stopped, parachuting in mid-game, acquisitive to be anon wowed. I already rode a bus from New York City to the Mohegan Sun bank to watch a above assistant in a preseason bold for the Connecticut Sun. (I larboard aboriginal in the additional bisected to play blackjack, but conceivably that accommodation says added about me than the WNBA.) All told, I apparently watched the agnate of one abounding game.
These data may not assume hasty -- abounding 30-year-old women acceptable accept even briefer histories with the WNBA -- until you accede that I'm a above women's academy basketball player. I was a green in top academy during the WNBA's countdown season. I was arena at the University of Colorado during the league's determinative years and was in my mid-20s if the WNBA should accept been hitting its stride. I am the ambition audience, yet I had never accustomed a dime, or an black of my attention, to abutment the women's able alliance of the bold I love.
And the absorbing affair is, I'm not an anomaly. The league, as WNBA admiral Laurel Richie readily accepted to me, accept to do a bigger job of capturing the absorption of changeable academy athletes. The WNBA has somehow absent the baiter on transitioning us into constant admirers of the alone abiding women's able alliance in this country. Richie and her agents are currently in the action of acclamation that problem, brainstorming means for the alliance to advance a afterpiece affiliation with the NCAA and even the AAU, which would put the WNBA at the grassroots level.
Even so, the overarching catechism remains: Why accept I never cared about the WNBA? My ambiguity against the alliance has consistently fabricated me uncomfortable, as if my amateur agenda should be revoked. But, this summer, instead of blank the WNBA, I'm aggravating something different: I'm analytic for answers. The WNBA isn't perfect, but as I'm learning, the flaws are hardly fatal. In fact, some of the flaws are strengths. And therein lies the league's Catch-22 -- its advance is necessarily apathetic because there is no one fix.
I'm not abiding if bigger compassionate the WNBA will construe into acceptable a fan of the league, but it's a starting point.
So, on the aperture day of the season, I went to Madison Square Garden to watch a challenge amid the Sun and New York Liberty. And at the alpha of June, I went aback to the Mohegan Sun to watch the Sun play the Los Angeles Sparks. I was searching for answers, acquisitive I would see the WNBA bold in a new light; that my long-held assumptions, namely that the superior of play doesn't bout the superior of players, would be antipodal as I watched Cappie Pondexter cesspool step-back jumpers, Kara Lawson beat the brawl to the accessible (wo)man and Candace Parker beat shots off the glass.
I capital to see if, by watching games, talking with players and bouncing account off of Richie, I ability become a fan. I sat with Richie for the Sun/Sparks contest, and as we watched and talked, I explained my capital affair with the league:
As continued as the division is a summer afterthought, it will never wow basketball purists.
The best affair about women's basketball has never been monster dunks; it's accomplished fundamentals and teamwork. For some people, that will never be enough. As one sports biographer able-bodied abreast in the women's bold said to me, "The anathema of women's basketball is that it's not men's."
But it doesn't accept to be a curse. Women's basketball flourishes overseas, a lot of conspicuously in Russia, Turkey and France, area there are traditional, feature winter seasons and top-tier players acquire upwards of $600,000 a division (compared with the WNBA max of $105,000). In these leagues, teams play calm for eight months and advance the affectionate of accent that after-effects in beautiful, accustomed hoops. In the NCAA, women's teams absorb a few years together, with players generally training about the clock.
These data may not assume hasty -- abounding 30-year-old women acceptable accept even briefer histories with the WNBA -- until you accede that I'm a above women's academy basketball player. I was a green in top academy during the WNBA's countdown season. I was arena at the University of Colorado during the league's determinative years and was in my mid-20s if the WNBA should accept been hitting its stride. I am the ambition audience, yet I had never accustomed a dime, or an black of my attention, to abutment the women's able alliance of the bold I love.
And the absorbing affair is, I'm not an anomaly. The league, as WNBA admiral Laurel Richie readily accepted to me, accept to do a bigger job of capturing the absorption of changeable academy athletes. The WNBA has somehow absent the baiter on transitioning us into constant admirers of the alone abiding women's able alliance in this country. Richie and her agents are currently in the action of acclamation that problem, brainstorming means for the alliance to advance a afterpiece affiliation with the NCAA and even the AAU, which would put the WNBA at the grassroots level.
Even so, the overarching catechism remains: Why accept I never cared about the WNBA? My ambiguity against the alliance has consistently fabricated me uncomfortable, as if my amateur agenda should be revoked. But, this summer, instead of blank the WNBA, I'm aggravating something different: I'm analytic for answers. The WNBA isn't perfect, but as I'm learning, the flaws are hardly fatal. In fact, some of the flaws are strengths. And therein lies the league's Catch-22 -- its advance is necessarily apathetic because there is no one fix.
I'm not abiding if bigger compassionate the WNBA will construe into acceptable a fan of the league, but it's a starting point.
So, on the aperture day of the season, I went to Madison Square Garden to watch a challenge amid the Sun and New York Liberty. And at the alpha of June, I went aback to the Mohegan Sun to watch the Sun play the Los Angeles Sparks. I was searching for answers, acquisitive I would see the WNBA bold in a new light; that my long-held assumptions, namely that the superior of play doesn't bout the superior of players, would be antipodal as I watched Cappie Pondexter cesspool step-back jumpers, Kara Lawson beat the brawl to the accessible (wo)man and Candace Parker beat shots off the glass.
I capital to see if, by watching games, talking with players and bouncing account off of Richie, I ability become a fan. I sat with Richie for the Sun/Sparks contest, and as we watched and talked, I explained my capital affair with the league:
As continued as the division is a summer afterthought, it will never wow basketball purists.
The best affair about women's basketball has never been monster dunks; it's accomplished fundamentals and teamwork. For some people, that will never be enough. As one sports biographer able-bodied abreast in the women's bold said to me, "The anathema of women's basketball is that it's not men's."
But it doesn't accept to be a curse. Women's basketball flourishes overseas, a lot of conspicuously in Russia, Turkey and France, area there are traditional, feature winter seasons and top-tier players acquire upwards of $600,000 a division (compared with the WNBA max of $105,000). In these leagues, teams play calm for eight months and advance the affectionate of accent that after-effects in beautiful, accustomed hoops. In the NCAA, women's teams absorb a few years together, with players generally training about the clock.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Green acquaint from admirable old buildings
Like the area in which it was held, the afterpiece of CII’s Young Indians ‘Green Heritage’ activity accent the actuality that appliance does not consistently abatement with age. The arty semi-circular aisle of the Museum Theatre was dotted with 23 projects by academy accouchement who had acclimated vignettes from the lives of admirable old actual barrio in the city-limits to accompany out the inherent ‘green’ appearance of ancestry buildings.
A acme of three months of accomplishment by the 48 accommodating schools, the action encouraged acceptance to attending at ancestry barrio in their neighbourhoods.
A acme of three months of accomplishment by the 48 accommodating schools, the activity accurate barrio that ranged from lesser-known clandestine residences to arresting ones such as the Karl Schmidt Memorial.
“The a lot of arresting section of appliance that we stumbled above at Underwood Gardens was a table which could board 24 humans if unfolded, and alone four humans otherwise,” said Nivedya Raj, a chic IX apprentice of Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, with a faculty of wonder. For acceptance like M. Lakshmanan of the Wesley Higher Secondary School, it was about traveling that added mile and alive up afore aurora to photograph how ablaze entered a ancestry architecture at dawn.
Manan R, a chic IX apprentice of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram said that the lighting and blast in the clandestine abode they advised in Royapuram was so acceptable that they did not realise that there was ability cut in the abode until told.
“The acceptance went above our expectations and articular appearance such as the bird baths, abstracts acclimated for architecture and how adaptable shutters were acclimated to acquiesce accustomed ablaze in during altered locations of the day a allotment of abounding added features,” said Madhana Ratnavel, Chair (Environment), Young Indians, Chennai.
Students of Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary Academy who had accurate the Church of Our Lady of Light, photographed the doors and windows of the architecture from all admonition to accept accustomed lighting. Similarly, acceptance of Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary Academy visited S. Radhakrishnan’s residence. empiric how “the attic is fabricated of pre cast, mosaic-like tiling accepted as terrazzo. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite and bottle in a adhesive binder”. A coach from anniversary of the accommodating schools was accomplished by INTACH as able-bodied as by Ms. Madhana.
Jennifer McIntyre, Consul General, American Consulate, said that as allotment of the ‘Green Schools Project’ in the United States, several U.S. schools had anchored LEED certification. “Both blooming and ancestry are important words for the U.S. mission in India and we accept provided bisected a actor dollars for the apology of ten culturally important structures above India over the endure decade,” she said.
Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, which accurate the abode ‘Underwood Gardens’ anchored the aboriginal place, while Wesley Higher Secondary Academy which advised their own academy anchored the additional abode and La Chatelaine Academy which accurate the Kurungaleeswarar Temple in Koyambedu bagged the third place. The alleviation prizes went to Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary Academy who had accurate the Church of Our Lady of Ablaze and P.C.K.G. Government Higher Secondary School. who has accurate the Madrasa-i-Azam Higher Secondary School.
A acme of three months of accomplishment by the 48 accommodating schools, the action encouraged acceptance to attending at ancestry barrio in their neighbourhoods.
A acme of three months of accomplishment by the 48 accommodating schools, the activity accurate barrio that ranged from lesser-known clandestine residences to arresting ones such as the Karl Schmidt Memorial.
“The a lot of arresting section of appliance that we stumbled above at Underwood Gardens was a table which could board 24 humans if unfolded, and alone four humans otherwise,” said Nivedya Raj, a chic IX apprentice of Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, with a faculty of wonder. For acceptance like M. Lakshmanan of the Wesley Higher Secondary School, it was about traveling that added mile and alive up afore aurora to photograph how ablaze entered a ancestry architecture at dawn.
Manan R, a chic IX apprentice of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram said that the lighting and blast in the clandestine abode they advised in Royapuram was so acceptable that they did not realise that there was ability cut in the abode until told.
“The acceptance went above our expectations and articular appearance such as the bird baths, abstracts acclimated for architecture and how adaptable shutters were acclimated to acquiesce accustomed ablaze in during altered locations of the day a allotment of abounding added features,” said Madhana Ratnavel, Chair (Environment), Young Indians, Chennai.
Students of Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary Academy who had accurate the Church of Our Lady of Light, photographed the doors and windows of the architecture from all admonition to accept accustomed lighting. Similarly, acceptance of Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary Academy visited S. Radhakrishnan’s residence. empiric how “the attic is fabricated of pre cast, mosaic-like tiling accepted as terrazzo. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite and bottle in a adhesive binder”. A coach from anniversary of the accommodating schools was accomplished by INTACH as able-bodied as by Ms. Madhana.
Jennifer McIntyre, Consul General, American Consulate, said that as allotment of the ‘Green Schools Project’ in the United States, several U.S. schools had anchored LEED certification. “Both blooming and ancestry are important words for the U.S. mission in India and we accept provided bisected a actor dollars for the apology of ten culturally important structures above India over the endure decade,” she said.
Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, which accurate the abode ‘Underwood Gardens’ anchored the aboriginal place, while Wesley Higher Secondary Academy which advised their own academy anchored the additional abode and La Chatelaine Academy which accurate the Kurungaleeswarar Temple in Koyambedu bagged the third place. The alleviation prizes went to Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary Academy who had accurate the Church of Our Lady of Ablaze and P.C.K.G. Government Higher Secondary School. who has accurate the Madrasa-i-Azam Higher Secondary School.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Vicious Wildfires Advance To Colo Day-tripper Centers
Wildfires confused in on some of Colorado's a lot of accepted summer day-tripper destinations over the weekend, antibacterial about two dozen homes abreast Rocky Abundance Civic Esplanade and elimination hotels and campgrounds at the abject of Pikes Peak.
A bonfire abreast Colorado Springs erupted Saturday and grew out of ascendancy to added than 3 aboveboard afar aboriginal Sunday, bidding the aborticide of added than 11,000 association and an alien amount of tourists. On Saturday, a bonfire destroyed structures abreast the abundance association of Estes Park, area abounding visitors break while visiting the park. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that 22 homes and 2 outbuildings had been burned.
The two fires are a part of eight afire in Colorado a anniversary afore the Fourth of July, a key time for ancestors vacations to civic parks and added destinations. A statewide ban on accessible campfires and clandestine fireworks has been in abode for added than a week.
With Colorado amid through its affliction bonfire division in a decade, travelers accept apparent some of their admired sites bankrupt to the public, blocked by smoke and haze.
"We're acclimated to calamity and tornadoes, annihilation like this," said Amanda Rice of Rock Falls, Ill., who abandoned a Manitou Springs auberge backward Saturday with her husband, four accouchement and dog. Some travelers were awoken with aborticide orders. Rice, afraid if she saw flames, took her ancestors to the aborticide centermost afore she was told to go.
"It was just this awful orange glow. It was surreal. It candidly looked like hell was aperture up," Rice said Sunday.
Plumes of gray and white smoke caked from the mountains Sunday, abashing at times Pikes Peak, the most-summited high-elevation abundance in the nation and afflatus for the song "America The Beautiful." Winds were blame smoke abroad from Colorado Springs, but association and tourists watched nervously as brume captivated about the peak.
Families planning whitewater rafting trips or visits to the beauteous red-rock formations in Garden of the Gods esplanade in Colorado Springs were instead spending their vacations casual out bottled baptize and ambience up cots in alien centers.
They included Mark Stein of Morristown, N.J., whose ancestors accustomed afterwards midnight Sunday at their Manitou Springs auberge for a anniversary of whitewater rafting and sightseeing.
"We were sleeping for 15 account if they started animadversion on the aperture — a day from hell," Stein said of the day of travel. With his wife and two sons, Stein spent the aboriginal night of his vacation ambience up cots for added than 200 evacuees who slept at the school.
"I anticipate it's the best vacation ever. This is what the absolute apple is about. There's a lot of humans that charge help," Stein said.
Also Sunday, a brushfire that began abreast Elbert, about 50 afar southwest of Denver, bound advance to about 60 acres, banishment the aborticide of about 100 residents.
Half the nation's firefighting agile is now aggressive fires in Colorado, said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said C-130 aggressive carriage planes from Peterson Air Force Abject in Colorado Springs would activate acceptable on Monday.
With eight wildfires burning, including a bonfire that has broiled added than 118 aboveboard afar and destroyed at atomic 191 homes abreast Fort Collins, Colorado is accepting its affliction bonfire division in a decade.
"People admit this is traveling to yield a big push" to extinguish, Hickenlooper said Sunday from a Colorado Springs grocery store, area volunteers were casual out burritos, sandwiches and drinks to 350 firefighters alive abreast Pikes Peak.
The bonfire abreast Rocky Abundance Civic Esplanade destroyed vacation cabins and bankrupt the a lot of frequently acclimated access to the park. Clouds of smoke blew adjoin the 102-year-old Stanley Auberge that aggressive Stephen King to address "The Shining."
Carolyn Baty and her husband, Darrell, vacationing from Fort Worth, Texas, were abandoned from their berth Saturday afternoon.
"I smelled smoke advancing from both directions, and again I heard the beating on the door," Darrell Baty told The Denver Post.
A bonfire afire abreast Fort Collins has broiled added than 118 aboveboard miles, antibacterial at atomic 191 homes. Though some evacuees were accustomed home Sunday, that bonfire has become a part of the better and a lot of big-ticket in Colorado history.
Elsewhere in the West, firefighters fabricated advance adjoin wildfires in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
— In Utah, a 15-square-mile bonfire about Fountain Green in Sanpete County was aggressive added than 359 abiding structures and 213 adaptable homes and biking trailers in four rural subdivisions, banishment about 1,000 humans to flee. BLM says the human-caused bonfire erupted Saturday afternoon. Officials address advance on a 9-square-mile bonfire about Saratoga Springs, about 40 afar south of Salt Lake City.
A bonfire abreast Colorado Springs erupted Saturday and grew out of ascendancy to added than 3 aboveboard afar aboriginal Sunday, bidding the aborticide of added than 11,000 association and an alien amount of tourists. On Saturday, a bonfire destroyed structures abreast the abundance association of Estes Park, area abounding visitors break while visiting the park. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that 22 homes and 2 outbuildings had been burned.
The two fires are a part of eight afire in Colorado a anniversary afore the Fourth of July, a key time for ancestors vacations to civic parks and added destinations. A statewide ban on accessible campfires and clandestine fireworks has been in abode for added than a week.
With Colorado amid through its affliction bonfire division in a decade, travelers accept apparent some of their admired sites bankrupt to the public, blocked by smoke and haze.
"We're acclimated to calamity and tornadoes, annihilation like this," said Amanda Rice of Rock Falls, Ill., who abandoned a Manitou Springs auberge backward Saturday with her husband, four accouchement and dog. Some travelers were awoken with aborticide orders. Rice, afraid if she saw flames, took her ancestors to the aborticide centermost afore she was told to go.
"It was just this awful orange glow. It was surreal. It candidly looked like hell was aperture up," Rice said Sunday.
Plumes of gray and white smoke caked from the mountains Sunday, abashing at times Pikes Peak, the most-summited high-elevation abundance in the nation and afflatus for the song "America The Beautiful." Winds were blame smoke abroad from Colorado Springs, but association and tourists watched nervously as brume captivated about the peak.
Families planning whitewater rafting trips or visits to the beauteous red-rock formations in Garden of the Gods esplanade in Colorado Springs were instead spending their vacations casual out bottled baptize and ambience up cots in alien centers.
They included Mark Stein of Morristown, N.J., whose ancestors accustomed afterwards midnight Sunday at their Manitou Springs auberge for a anniversary of whitewater rafting and sightseeing.
"We were sleeping for 15 account if they started animadversion on the aperture — a day from hell," Stein said of the day of travel. With his wife and two sons, Stein spent the aboriginal night of his vacation ambience up cots for added than 200 evacuees who slept at the school.
"I anticipate it's the best vacation ever. This is what the absolute apple is about. There's a lot of humans that charge help," Stein said.
Also Sunday, a brushfire that began abreast Elbert, about 50 afar southwest of Denver, bound advance to about 60 acres, banishment the aborticide of about 100 residents.
Half the nation's firefighting agile is now aggressive fires in Colorado, said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He said C-130 aggressive carriage planes from Peterson Air Force Abject in Colorado Springs would activate acceptable on Monday.
With eight wildfires burning, including a bonfire that has broiled added than 118 aboveboard afar and destroyed at atomic 191 homes abreast Fort Collins, Colorado is accepting its affliction bonfire division in a decade.
"People admit this is traveling to yield a big push" to extinguish, Hickenlooper said Sunday from a Colorado Springs grocery store, area volunteers were casual out burritos, sandwiches and drinks to 350 firefighters alive abreast Pikes Peak.
The bonfire abreast Rocky Abundance Civic Esplanade destroyed vacation cabins and bankrupt the a lot of frequently acclimated access to the park. Clouds of smoke blew adjoin the 102-year-old Stanley Auberge that aggressive Stephen King to address "The Shining."
Carolyn Baty and her husband, Darrell, vacationing from Fort Worth, Texas, were abandoned from their berth Saturday afternoon.
"I smelled smoke advancing from both directions, and again I heard the beating on the door," Darrell Baty told The Denver Post.
A bonfire afire abreast Fort Collins has broiled added than 118 aboveboard miles, antibacterial at atomic 191 homes. Though some evacuees were accustomed home Sunday, that bonfire has become a part of the better and a lot of big-ticket in Colorado history.
Elsewhere in the West, firefighters fabricated advance adjoin wildfires in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
— In Utah, a 15-square-mile bonfire about Fountain Green in Sanpete County was aggressive added than 359 abiding structures and 213 adaptable homes and biking trailers in four rural subdivisions, banishment about 1,000 humans to flee. BLM says the human-caused bonfire erupted Saturday afternoon. Officials address advance on a 9-square-mile bonfire about Saratoga Springs, about 40 afar south of Salt Lake City.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Celestica to stop making smartphones for RIM
Contract manufacturer Celestica said it would phase out manufacturing services for Research In Motion, as the struggling maker of the BlackBerry smartphone attempts to cut costs amid slowing demand.
The Canadian manufacturer said in a statement on Monday it will wind down its manufacturing services for RIM over the next three to six months. Further details will be provided in the company's second-quarter results press release and conference call, scheduled for July 27, it added.
"We do not normally comment on specific supplier relationships," RIM said in an emailed statement. "As we outlined in our Q4 earnings call, we are making changes to our supply chain as part of wider efforts to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of RIM's operations to help meet our strategic objectives and to deliver long-term value to our stakeholders."
RIM, which has other manufacturers, was Celestica's largest customer, and in the first quarter of this year accounted for 19 percent of the manufacturer's revenue. The share of RIM business in total revenue was however down from 21 percent in the first quarter of last year. The company manufactured some smartphones models for RIM from facilities in Mexico, Romania and since March from Malaysia, besides providing certain after-market services to RIM primarily from Mexico.
Celestica said in April that as RIM had recently announced its intention to conduct an evaluation of its global supplier base with intentions to reduce the number of production locations, there was significant uncertainty ahead, including the possibility of not having business from RIM.
RIM has seen its market share decline in the smartphone market because of competition from Apple's iPhone, and phones running the Android operating system. Research firm IDC reported in May that 9.7 million phones running the BlackBerry operating system shipped in the first quarter for a market share of 6.4 percent, which was far lower than shipments of 13.8 million units for a market share of 13.6 percent in the first quarter of last year.
The company, which has also witnessed a management shakeup, said revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter ended March 3, 2012 at US$4.2 billion was down 25 percent from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011. The company's net loss in the quarter was $125 million.
RIM said in May that its financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters, and cautioned that competition could lead to an operating loss in its first quarter ended June 2.
Celestica said it estimates that its restructuring charges prior to any recoveries will not exceed $35 million, a figure it had mentioned in April when it discussed its relationship with RIM.
The Canadian manufacturer said in a statement on Monday it will wind down its manufacturing services for RIM over the next three to six months. Further details will be provided in the company's second-quarter results press release and conference call, scheduled for July 27, it added.
"We do not normally comment on specific supplier relationships," RIM said in an emailed statement. "As we outlined in our Q4 earnings call, we are making changes to our supply chain as part of wider efforts to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of RIM's operations to help meet our strategic objectives and to deliver long-term value to our stakeholders."
RIM, which has other manufacturers, was Celestica's largest customer, and in the first quarter of this year accounted for 19 percent of the manufacturer's revenue. The share of RIM business in total revenue was however down from 21 percent in the first quarter of last year. The company manufactured some smartphones models for RIM from facilities in Mexico, Romania and since March from Malaysia, besides providing certain after-market services to RIM primarily from Mexico.
Celestica said in April that as RIM had recently announced its intention to conduct an evaluation of its global supplier base with intentions to reduce the number of production locations, there was significant uncertainty ahead, including the possibility of not having business from RIM.
RIM has seen its market share decline in the smartphone market because of competition from Apple's iPhone, and phones running the Android operating system. Research firm IDC reported in May that 9.7 million phones running the BlackBerry operating system shipped in the first quarter for a market share of 6.4 percent, which was far lower than shipments of 13.8 million units for a market share of 13.6 percent in the first quarter of last year.
The company, which has also witnessed a management shakeup, said revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter ended March 3, 2012 at US$4.2 billion was down 25 percent from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011. The company's net loss in the quarter was $125 million.
RIM said in May that its financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters, and cautioned that competition could lead to an operating loss in its first quarter ended June 2.
Celestica said it estimates that its restructuring charges prior to any recoveries will not exceed $35 million, a figure it had mentioned in April when it discussed its relationship with RIM.
Monday, June 18, 2012
S. Dakota death row inmate says justice
A convicted murderer said in a letter written from death row that the South Dakota Supreme Court owes it not only to him but to the family of the prison guard he killed to allow his execution to take place in a timely manner. It’s the only way, he said, the guard’s family can get justice.
Eric Robert, 50, pleaded guilty to killing Ron Johnson during a botched prison escape at the South Dakota State Penitentiary and asked to be put to death. A judge determined in October that the crime merited the death sentence, and Robert was scheduled for execution the week of May 13.
But the state Supreme Court postponed the date in February to allow more time for a mandatory review to make sure the death penalty was proper, even though Robert hadn’t appealed the conviction or sentence. The review could take up to two years.
In a three-page letter to The Associated Press, Robert detailed why he believes the death sentence is appropriate in his case and described his aggravation with the delay. The letter represented Robert’s first public comments since his October sentencing.
He said justice works differently in death penalty cases than in others.
“Victims of non-capital offenses receive their justice when the perpetrator is placed in custody. Victims in capital cases receive their justice when the perpetrator is executed. Give the Ron Johnson family their justice, they have been forced to wait too long. I finish where I started — I deserve to die,” he said, alluding to a statement he read during his trial that started with “I deserve to die.”
Robert, a chemist who worked for the Environmental Protection Agency before overseeing a city water treatment department, was serving an 80-year-sentence on a kidnapping conviction when he attempted to escape April 12, 2011, with inmate Rodney Berget.
Robert contends he was drunk and trying to rob an 18-year-old woman of $200, not sexually assault her, in the kidnapping case. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison and would not have been eligible for parole until he was 83. He focused obsessively on getting his sentence reduced, but his appeal was denied in 2009, leading to what the judge at his death penalty trial called an “internal war” that eventually left Johnson dead.
Johnson was working alone on the morning of his death — also his 63rd birthday — in a part of the prison known as Pheasantland Industries, where inmates work on upholstery, signs, custom furniture and other projects. Prosecutors said after the inmates killed Johnson, Robert put on the guard’s uniform and tried to push a large box on a cart containing Berget to the prison gate. The inmates were apprehended before leaving the grounds.
In his letter, Robert noted that everyone agrees he is mentally competent.
“Yet, as recently as May 8, 2012, the (South Dakota Supreme Court) was still nosing around this issue. They just can’t seem to fathom that a defendant would accept a just fate,” he wrote, later adding he has a right to plead guilty and receive the death penalty. “I am free to admit my guilt, as well as acknowledge and accept society’s punishment just as I am free to proclaim innocence in defiance of a verdict. I believe that the sentence of death is justly deserved in any murder and should be carried out.”
Robert said the issue at hand is not about him wanting to die. Instead, it’s about the Legislature providing the South Dakota Supreme Court with adequate guidance on how to handle a sentence review when there’s no appeal.
In court briefs recently filed by his lawyer, Robert proposed the Legislature consider changes to the law, allowing death penalty proceedings to be given priority in the state Supreme Court or, absent an appeal, requiring the court to review the case in a set number of days before the execution date.
The briefs noted the state Supreme Court has reviewed numerous cases, including a civil dispute between actor Kevin Costner and an artist about whether sculptures were appropriately displayed at a Deadwood resort, while Robert’s case is still pending.
The justices noted in their February decision that unless a proper review is done before Robert is killed, the execution could be found unconstitutional under death penalty guidelines established by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The other inmate who tried to escape, Berget, 50, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, although he is now appealing both his conviction and sentence. A third inmate, Michael Nordman, 47, was given a life sentence for providing the plastic wrap and pipe used in the slaying.
The penitentiary boosted security after Johnson’s death, including adding officers, installing more security cameras and mandating body alarm “panic buttons” for staff.
Eric Robert, 50, pleaded guilty to killing Ron Johnson during a botched prison escape at the South Dakota State Penitentiary and asked to be put to death. A judge determined in October that the crime merited the death sentence, and Robert was scheduled for execution the week of May 13.
But the state Supreme Court postponed the date in February to allow more time for a mandatory review to make sure the death penalty was proper, even though Robert hadn’t appealed the conviction or sentence. The review could take up to two years.
In a three-page letter to The Associated Press, Robert detailed why he believes the death sentence is appropriate in his case and described his aggravation with the delay. The letter represented Robert’s first public comments since his October sentencing.
He said justice works differently in death penalty cases than in others.
“Victims of non-capital offenses receive their justice when the perpetrator is placed in custody. Victims in capital cases receive their justice when the perpetrator is executed. Give the Ron Johnson family their justice, they have been forced to wait too long. I finish where I started — I deserve to die,” he said, alluding to a statement he read during his trial that started with “I deserve to die.”
Robert, a chemist who worked for the Environmental Protection Agency before overseeing a city water treatment department, was serving an 80-year-sentence on a kidnapping conviction when he attempted to escape April 12, 2011, with inmate Rodney Berget.
Robert contends he was drunk and trying to rob an 18-year-old woman of $200, not sexually assault her, in the kidnapping case. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison and would not have been eligible for parole until he was 83. He focused obsessively on getting his sentence reduced, but his appeal was denied in 2009, leading to what the judge at his death penalty trial called an “internal war” that eventually left Johnson dead.
Johnson was working alone on the morning of his death — also his 63rd birthday — in a part of the prison known as Pheasantland Industries, where inmates work on upholstery, signs, custom furniture and other projects. Prosecutors said after the inmates killed Johnson, Robert put on the guard’s uniform and tried to push a large box on a cart containing Berget to the prison gate. The inmates were apprehended before leaving the grounds.
In his letter, Robert noted that everyone agrees he is mentally competent.
“Yet, as recently as May 8, 2012, the (South Dakota Supreme Court) was still nosing around this issue. They just can’t seem to fathom that a defendant would accept a just fate,” he wrote, later adding he has a right to plead guilty and receive the death penalty. “I am free to admit my guilt, as well as acknowledge and accept society’s punishment just as I am free to proclaim innocence in defiance of a verdict. I believe that the sentence of death is justly deserved in any murder and should be carried out.”
Robert said the issue at hand is not about him wanting to die. Instead, it’s about the Legislature providing the South Dakota Supreme Court with adequate guidance on how to handle a sentence review when there’s no appeal.
In court briefs recently filed by his lawyer, Robert proposed the Legislature consider changes to the law, allowing death penalty proceedings to be given priority in the state Supreme Court or, absent an appeal, requiring the court to review the case in a set number of days before the execution date.
The briefs noted the state Supreme Court has reviewed numerous cases, including a civil dispute between actor Kevin Costner and an artist about whether sculptures were appropriately displayed at a Deadwood resort, while Robert’s case is still pending.
The justices noted in their February decision that unless a proper review is done before Robert is killed, the execution could be found unconstitutional under death penalty guidelines established by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The other inmate who tried to escape, Berget, 50, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, although he is now appealing both his conviction and sentence. A third inmate, Michael Nordman, 47, was given a life sentence for providing the plastic wrap and pipe used in the slaying.
The penitentiary boosted security after Johnson’s death, including adding officers, installing more security cameras and mandating body alarm “panic buttons” for staff.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Expect the unexpected from Danforth's 'Community of Artists'
Most visitors go to museums to look at art. Leslie Hammond knew she was seeing something special when “Giulio’s Eyes, 2’’ looked back at her at the Danforth Museum and School of Art.
“It’s like a mosaic, maybe from the Mediterranean or Italy,’’ said the nurse practitioner from Woburn, approaching the striking pointillist image of gazing, multi-colored eyes by Nina Fletcher of Essex. She stopped just in front of it and did a double take. “It’s buttons. Thousands of buttons. All different.’’
Several visitors cited similar surprises, excitement, even amazement on viewing “Community of Artists,’’ a deeply satisfying exhibition juried by Danforth Director Katherine French into subtly cohesive groupings within four differently sized galleries that tantalize the eyes and senses in singular ways.
“I am just amazed at the variety, imagination and real talent of the art I’m seeing here,’’ said first time visitor Mary Hoffmann of Arlington. “I didn’t know what to expect. It’s exciting and fun to be surprised.’’
Visitors can see 153 works by 136 artists in varied media, including numerous pieces by local artists, ranging from traditionally realistic paintings and photos to abstract images in both genres all the way to several striking boundary-busting sculptures and installations.
French chose the works in “Community of Artists’’ from more than 1,200 works submitted by more than 400 artists for the companion exhibit, “Off the Wall,’’ which was juried by Cody Hartley, of the Museum of Fine Arts.
“In no way are the works in (Community of Artists) second tier. I looked at everything with a fresh eye,’’ said French. “There is a range and breadth in this show that reveals the technical expertise of members who submitted works.’’
While Hartley broadly chose works that explored the connections between people and places, French said she chose work that “explores the vision of a growing number of diverse artists’’ who are Danforth members.
Organizing the show, French placed by hand individual works throughout the galleries to “create conversations’’ among pieces in widely varying media that shared — or revealed contrasting — themes, imagery or styles.
“Today’s artists challenge the viewer to look beyond mere categories to consider the work itself,’’ she said.
Like decoding the Rosetta Stone, part of this show’s fun is trying to decipher French’s reasons for showing works in groupings within the separate galleries.
Many visitors will enter the exhibit through the smaller Landman Gallery which usually holds works by African-American sculptress Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller who lived in Framingham.
“It’s like a mosaic, maybe from the Mediterranean or Italy,’’ said the nurse practitioner from Woburn, approaching the striking pointillist image of gazing, multi-colored eyes by Nina Fletcher of Essex. She stopped just in front of it and did a double take. “It’s buttons. Thousands of buttons. All different.’’
Several visitors cited similar surprises, excitement, even amazement on viewing “Community of Artists,’’ a deeply satisfying exhibition juried by Danforth Director Katherine French into subtly cohesive groupings within four differently sized galleries that tantalize the eyes and senses in singular ways.
“I am just amazed at the variety, imagination and real talent of the art I’m seeing here,’’ said first time visitor Mary Hoffmann of Arlington. “I didn’t know what to expect. It’s exciting and fun to be surprised.’’
Visitors can see 153 works by 136 artists in varied media, including numerous pieces by local artists, ranging from traditionally realistic paintings and photos to abstract images in both genres all the way to several striking boundary-busting sculptures and installations.
French chose the works in “Community of Artists’’ from more than 1,200 works submitted by more than 400 artists for the companion exhibit, “Off the Wall,’’ which was juried by Cody Hartley, of the Museum of Fine Arts.
“In no way are the works in (Community of Artists) second tier. I looked at everything with a fresh eye,’’ said French. “There is a range and breadth in this show that reveals the technical expertise of members who submitted works.’’
While Hartley broadly chose works that explored the connections between people and places, French said she chose work that “explores the vision of a growing number of diverse artists’’ who are Danforth members.
Organizing the show, French placed by hand individual works throughout the galleries to “create conversations’’ among pieces in widely varying media that shared — or revealed contrasting — themes, imagery or styles.
“Today’s artists challenge the viewer to look beyond mere categories to consider the work itself,’’ she said.
Like decoding the Rosetta Stone, part of this show’s fun is trying to decipher French’s reasons for showing works in groupings within the separate galleries.
Many visitors will enter the exhibit through the smaller Landman Gallery which usually holds works by African-American sculptress Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller who lived in Framingham.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Cement-at-the-doorstep pilot project unveiled
South African cement manufacturing giant Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) has officially launched its PPC Cement Express Outlet pilot project with ten local entrepreneurs. The launch took place at one of the entrepreneurs’ premises, Riverside Hardware, in Orlando West, Soweto.
The company reports that the community of Soweto will now have access to high- quality cement at its doorstep. The project, in partnership with Mobile Payment Corporation (MPC) and First National Bank (FNB), is aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, using PPC’s corporate social investment (CSI) model.
Speaking at the launch, PPC executive for transformation and government rela- tions Nolwandle Mantashe said that the pilot project is the end result of innovation that began at the PPC leadership academy. “At PPC, economic empowerment is a key focus area and we are committed to uplifting the lives of those who live around us.
“We are also planning to roll the project out in other areas where PPC is operating, which is basically the whole country,” she said.
The project will offer beneficiaries the opportunity to start their own cement outlets. These express outlets are mobile business solutions for small, micro- and medium-size enterprises (SMMEs), which are cost effective and secure.Each beneficiary receives a start-up package which includes a PPC-branded container; a pallet of 40 bags of Surebuild cement; a training programme on PPC cement products, training on supply chain management processes, and methods to sustain their businesses; as well as a toll-free number to ensure ordering and dispatch efficiencies.
All ten beneficiaries will now liaise directly with PPC, with no intermediary, which will become a cost benefit to them.
PPC CSI manager Francie Shonhiwa said that the company had identified a gap within the retail sector where emerging SMMEs were struggling to expand their businesses. “As opposed to providing handouts to supplement their incomes, PPC opted to empower people and tackle long-term social needs by starting cement supply outlets, affording emerging entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in the formal economy. Playing an active role in contributing towards job creation and infrastructure development is core to the way we conduct business,” she added.
The business owners went through an intense screening process and were selected based on the following criteria: ownership of an existing operating business, business acumen for operating an SMME, strategic location and adequate space.
MPC chairperson Clive Rice said: “We at MPC are enthusiastic about this initia- tive as it provides the necessary sustainable empowerment required in South Africa, during this time when unemployment is at its highest. This initiative will provide the emerging market with First World banking facilities and infrastructure to operate a small business in an efficient fashion, which will lead to job creation.”
FNB will open a bank account in the name of the entrepreneur, which will be used to order and pay for stock through a mobile phone. The solution integrates directly into PPC’s systems and provides the entrepreneur with an acknowledgement of the order and payment having been made.
FNB global transactional services head Chris Kotze noted that FNB is committed to making it as easy as possible for entre- preneurs to start their own businesses. “Whether you are a start-up or your business is well established, FNB offers a variety of innovative products and services. Our innovative retail banking channels, combined with real-time receipting, provide a sophisticated supply chain payment solution for clients such as PPC.”
Over the next few months, the project will be closely monitored. Also speaking at the event, beneficiary and Riverside Hardware owner George Makama said that there was a growing dilemma in society in that people believe in handouts. “This will never make people grow economically. We have to start creating our own wealth, and the partnership with PPC has provided us with the leverage to enable this,” he noted.
The company reports that the community of Soweto will now have access to high- quality cement at its doorstep. The project, in partnership with Mobile Payment Corporation (MPC) and First National Bank (FNB), is aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, using PPC’s corporate social investment (CSI) model.
Speaking at the launch, PPC executive for transformation and government rela- tions Nolwandle Mantashe said that the pilot project is the end result of innovation that began at the PPC leadership academy. “At PPC, economic empowerment is a key focus area and we are committed to uplifting the lives of those who live around us.
“We are also planning to roll the project out in other areas where PPC is operating, which is basically the whole country,” she said.
The project will offer beneficiaries the opportunity to start their own cement outlets. These express outlets are mobile business solutions for small, micro- and medium-size enterprises (SMMEs), which are cost effective and secure.Each beneficiary receives a start-up package which includes a PPC-branded container; a pallet of 40 bags of Surebuild cement; a training programme on PPC cement products, training on supply chain management processes, and methods to sustain their businesses; as well as a toll-free number to ensure ordering and dispatch efficiencies.
All ten beneficiaries will now liaise directly with PPC, with no intermediary, which will become a cost benefit to them.
PPC CSI manager Francie Shonhiwa said that the company had identified a gap within the retail sector where emerging SMMEs were struggling to expand their businesses. “As opposed to providing handouts to supplement their incomes, PPC opted to empower people and tackle long-term social needs by starting cement supply outlets, affording emerging entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in the formal economy. Playing an active role in contributing towards job creation and infrastructure development is core to the way we conduct business,” she added.
The business owners went through an intense screening process and were selected based on the following criteria: ownership of an existing operating business, business acumen for operating an SMME, strategic location and adequate space.
MPC chairperson Clive Rice said: “We at MPC are enthusiastic about this initia- tive as it provides the necessary sustainable empowerment required in South Africa, during this time when unemployment is at its highest. This initiative will provide the emerging market with First World banking facilities and infrastructure to operate a small business in an efficient fashion, which will lead to job creation.”
FNB will open a bank account in the name of the entrepreneur, which will be used to order and pay for stock through a mobile phone. The solution integrates directly into PPC’s systems and provides the entrepreneur with an acknowledgement of the order and payment having been made.
FNB global transactional services head Chris Kotze noted that FNB is committed to making it as easy as possible for entre- preneurs to start their own businesses. “Whether you are a start-up or your business is well established, FNB offers a variety of innovative products and services. Our innovative retail banking channels, combined with real-time receipting, provide a sophisticated supply chain payment solution for clients such as PPC.”
Over the next few months, the project will be closely monitored. Also speaking at the event, beneficiary and Riverside Hardware owner George Makama said that there was a growing dilemma in society in that people believe in handouts. “This will never make people grow economically. We have to start creating our own wealth, and the partnership with PPC has provided us with the leverage to enable this,” he noted.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Analysis concludes Md. can support 6th casino
Maryland's gambling market could support a casino in Prince George's County and generate more money for the state by allowing the new site and table games there and at five casinos currently allowed under state law, state analysts and consultants concluded in a report released Tuesday.
The joint study by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the amount of gambling expected to occur in Maryland is well within the thresholds met or exceeded in other metropolitan areas around the nation.
"And on top of that, our analysis does conclude that significant additional revenues could be generated by the addition of gambling outlets," said Warren Deschenaux, the General Assembly's chief budget analyst. "The question then is: What we do with those additional revenues?"
It's hard to know how much money a new casino and table games would bring in. Lawmakers are considering changes in the state's unusually high 67 percent tax on gambling revenues.
The report projects the state could receive about $101 million more annually for education and lottery revenue with no additional compensation to operators beyond new table game revenues and a regular Prince George's facility. It's also unclear how much would be made from table games, because lawmakers would need to decide how much they would tax those. A 20 percent tax rate on table games would raise about $50 million a year for the state at the five currently authorized locations and $60 million with a Prince George's facility.
"It would be hard not to get to $100 (million) making reasonable allowances," Deschenaux said, after he was asked to consider whether the projections turn out to be high.
A work group comprising mostly lawmakers and members of Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration is examining ways to expand gambling. The governor has indicated he would hold a special session next month to take up the issue, if the group can reach a consensus.
Deschenaux said the analysts who made the projections were working in a peculiar environment. That's because they do not have a lot of hard data on actual revenues. Only two of the five now-legal casinos have been open for more than a year, one in Perryville and another in Berlin. The state's largest, in Anne Arundel County, only opened last week. Two more casinos -- one in Baltimore and one in western Maryland -- are still in the works.
"So what we will be sharing is our best judgment in a world of uncertainty," Deschenaux said.
While pondering expansion, the work group heard Tuesday from William Rickman, the owner of the Ocean Downs casino in Berlin, which lost $2.5 million in its first year of operations. Rickman told the panel that the demographics of his location near Ocean City is strongly susceptible to seasonal dropoffs. He said he did not believe his casino would remain in business with only 33 percent of the gambling proceeds. He said Ocean Downs needs more like 50 percent to make a decent return.
"If you want us to only limp by, we need to be about 45 percent," said Rickman, who said he expects significant loses again this year. "If you want a failure in the future, it would stay where it is now and there would be a failure in the future."
A key part of the debate will involve how much lawmakers lower the tax rate to help allay losses at other venues caused by a casino in Prince George's. For example, the report released Tuesday estimates the Anne Arundel casino would lose $37 million in slot machine revenue, and Baltimore would lose about $21 million.
The joint study by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the amount of gambling expected to occur in Maryland is well within the thresholds met or exceeded in other metropolitan areas around the nation.
"And on top of that, our analysis does conclude that significant additional revenues could be generated by the addition of gambling outlets," said Warren Deschenaux, the General Assembly's chief budget analyst. "The question then is: What we do with those additional revenues?"
It's hard to know how much money a new casino and table games would bring in. Lawmakers are considering changes in the state's unusually high 67 percent tax on gambling revenues.
The report projects the state could receive about $101 million more annually for education and lottery revenue with no additional compensation to operators beyond new table game revenues and a regular Prince George's facility. It's also unclear how much would be made from table games, because lawmakers would need to decide how much they would tax those. A 20 percent tax rate on table games would raise about $50 million a year for the state at the five currently authorized locations and $60 million with a Prince George's facility.
"It would be hard not to get to $100 (million) making reasonable allowances," Deschenaux said, after he was asked to consider whether the projections turn out to be high.
A work group comprising mostly lawmakers and members of Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration is examining ways to expand gambling. The governor has indicated he would hold a special session next month to take up the issue, if the group can reach a consensus.
Deschenaux said the analysts who made the projections were working in a peculiar environment. That's because they do not have a lot of hard data on actual revenues. Only two of the five now-legal casinos have been open for more than a year, one in Perryville and another in Berlin. The state's largest, in Anne Arundel County, only opened last week. Two more casinos -- one in Baltimore and one in western Maryland -- are still in the works.
"So what we will be sharing is our best judgment in a world of uncertainty," Deschenaux said.
While pondering expansion, the work group heard Tuesday from William Rickman, the owner of the Ocean Downs casino in Berlin, which lost $2.5 million in its first year of operations. Rickman told the panel that the demographics of his location near Ocean City is strongly susceptible to seasonal dropoffs. He said he did not believe his casino would remain in business with only 33 percent of the gambling proceeds. He said Ocean Downs needs more like 50 percent to make a decent return.
"If you want us to only limp by, we need to be about 45 percent," said Rickman, who said he expects significant loses again this year. "If you want a failure in the future, it would stay where it is now and there would be a failure in the future."
A key part of the debate will involve how much lawmakers lower the tax rate to help allay losses at other venues caused by a casino in Prince George's. For example, the report released Tuesday estimates the Anne Arundel casino would lose $37 million in slot machine revenue, and Baltimore would lose about $21 million.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A place to walk and ride
Nine months after helping close Madison’s former License Plate Agency at the Western Rockingham Chamber of Commerce office, Becky Scotton opened the door to her own LPA on Tuesday morning.
“This has really been an overwhelming experience,” Becky said. “I’ve had people ask me about doing this ever since the old office closed. Then people started stopping me to thank me for opening this one as soon as they heard it was coming.”
Ironically, the new office is located at 101 East Murphy Street – just one block away from the previous location. But the new location has special significance to Becky. It’s inside Scotton Shoe Shop – the business that has been in her husband Brian’s family since 1934.
“Brian and I thought about this and prayed about it for a long time,” Becky said. “We knew there was not a lot of commission for these DMV transactions, but we had the advantage of owning our own building. So there wouldn’t be the extra expense of rent and utilities.”
Another advantage was having all the renovation work to prepare for the new agency completed by family and friends. Everything from refinishing the building’s original wood floors to constructing new counters, office space and a storage room was handled in-house.
“I even did most of the painting myself,” Becky said. “It was a labor of love by all concerned.”
Becky was hired to work at the former LPA in June 2005 by the late Donnie Joyce, who was executive director of the WRCC at that time. She said she was comforted by the realization that she was able to let Joyce know the new LPA was going to open before he died in April.
“He was so happy to hear we were going to do it,” Becky said.
Joyce’s sentiment seemed to be universal Tuesday morning as folks who had been waiting for the new office to open began to pile in to handle their DMV business. The office opened promptly at 9 a.m. and handled the first 10 customers by 9:10. That ease of getting in and out quickly was what most customers missed since the old Madison office closed last September.
“I have spent as long as two hours in line at the Reidsville office and I’ve heard some people say they waited longer in Greensboro,” Tanya Dickerson said. “I couldn’t wait for this new office to open.”
Dickerson, from Sandy Ridge, was one of a half-dozen people waiting for the door to open Tuesday. Dickerson said she made several trips to Reidsville during the last few months, usually to help out some of her elderly friends.
“I’ve taken as many as five registrations to get new tags for people I knew could never stand in line for so long over there,” she said. “To be able to have this Madison office open again is a real blessing.”
Madison resident Bobby Burrows agreed. Burrows was getting close to the expiration date for his vehicle’s tag, but was determined to wait for the new location to open.
“Becky goes to our church and I’ve been keeping tabs on when I could expect to come get my renewal,” Burrows said.
Within moments of the time Becky opened the door for business, the lines in front of the two service windows at the newly built counter were five-deep with customers. Debra DeLancey, the other LPA clerk working with Becky, also worked with her at the former Madison LPA.
“Debra and I did have the advantage of experience working in a license plate agency,” Becky said. “When we had to go to the training classes in Raleigh, at least everything wasn’t new to us. There were some new forms and procedures that had been added in the last nine months, but most of the material was at least familiar to us.”
While Becky and DeLancey waited on customers Tuesday morning, Brian Scotton also waited on a few customers of his own. He said adding the LPA to his shop’s front waiting area would not interfere with continuing the 78-year tradition of operating Scotton Shoe Shop.
“It really just gave us an excuse to do a little remodeling and fixing up,” Brian said.
Brian said he had heard from several other downtown business owners that they were anxious for the new LPA office to open. Many of them had experienced a decrease in customer traffic since the former office closed.
“It’s only natural that things would slow down when you have a place close that was drawing folks from two or three counties to your town,” Brian said. “I know there were people coming to that office all the time from Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and northern Greensboro. I think we’ll get that traffic back when word gets out Madison has a new office.”
In the meantime, Becky and Brian will be working at different jobs in the same office – one handling vehicle tag and title problems and the other footwear problems.
“We have a new motto for the building now,” Becky said. “It’s the place where you come to ride and walk. Brian can fix your shoes while I take care of your tag and get you on the road again. We’re a full-service family.”
“This has really been an overwhelming experience,” Becky said. “I’ve had people ask me about doing this ever since the old office closed. Then people started stopping me to thank me for opening this one as soon as they heard it was coming.”
Ironically, the new office is located at 101 East Murphy Street – just one block away from the previous location. But the new location has special significance to Becky. It’s inside Scotton Shoe Shop – the business that has been in her husband Brian’s family since 1934.
“Brian and I thought about this and prayed about it for a long time,” Becky said. “We knew there was not a lot of commission for these DMV transactions, but we had the advantage of owning our own building. So there wouldn’t be the extra expense of rent and utilities.”
Another advantage was having all the renovation work to prepare for the new agency completed by family and friends. Everything from refinishing the building’s original wood floors to constructing new counters, office space and a storage room was handled in-house.
“I even did most of the painting myself,” Becky said. “It was a labor of love by all concerned.”
Becky was hired to work at the former LPA in June 2005 by the late Donnie Joyce, who was executive director of the WRCC at that time. She said she was comforted by the realization that she was able to let Joyce know the new LPA was going to open before he died in April.
“He was so happy to hear we were going to do it,” Becky said.
Joyce’s sentiment seemed to be universal Tuesday morning as folks who had been waiting for the new office to open began to pile in to handle their DMV business. The office opened promptly at 9 a.m. and handled the first 10 customers by 9:10. That ease of getting in and out quickly was what most customers missed since the old Madison office closed last September.
“I have spent as long as two hours in line at the Reidsville office and I’ve heard some people say they waited longer in Greensboro,” Tanya Dickerson said. “I couldn’t wait for this new office to open.”
Dickerson, from Sandy Ridge, was one of a half-dozen people waiting for the door to open Tuesday. Dickerson said she made several trips to Reidsville during the last few months, usually to help out some of her elderly friends.
“I’ve taken as many as five registrations to get new tags for people I knew could never stand in line for so long over there,” she said. “To be able to have this Madison office open again is a real blessing.”
Madison resident Bobby Burrows agreed. Burrows was getting close to the expiration date for his vehicle’s tag, but was determined to wait for the new location to open.
“Becky goes to our church and I’ve been keeping tabs on when I could expect to come get my renewal,” Burrows said.
Within moments of the time Becky opened the door for business, the lines in front of the two service windows at the newly built counter were five-deep with customers. Debra DeLancey, the other LPA clerk working with Becky, also worked with her at the former Madison LPA.
“Debra and I did have the advantage of experience working in a license plate agency,” Becky said. “When we had to go to the training classes in Raleigh, at least everything wasn’t new to us. There were some new forms and procedures that had been added in the last nine months, but most of the material was at least familiar to us.”
While Becky and DeLancey waited on customers Tuesday morning, Brian Scotton also waited on a few customers of his own. He said adding the LPA to his shop’s front waiting area would not interfere with continuing the 78-year tradition of operating Scotton Shoe Shop.
“It really just gave us an excuse to do a little remodeling and fixing up,” Brian said.
Brian said he had heard from several other downtown business owners that they were anxious for the new LPA office to open. Many of them had experienced a decrease in customer traffic since the former office closed.
“It’s only natural that things would slow down when you have a place close that was drawing folks from two or three counties to your town,” Brian said. “I know there were people coming to that office all the time from Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and northern Greensboro. I think we’ll get that traffic back when word gets out Madison has a new office.”
In the meantime, Becky and Brian will be working at different jobs in the same office – one handling vehicle tag and title problems and the other footwear problems.
“We have a new motto for the building now,” Becky said. “It’s the place where you come to ride and walk. Brian can fix your shoes while I take care of your tag and get you on the road again. We’re a full-service family.”
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Radical Theory of Evolution That Explains Democrats
Why does the United States have two political parties that espouse such opposing philosophies? The Republicans fight for the conservative ideals of "individual rights -- and the responsibilities that go with them," from which flows the belief in limited government and few regulations. Democrats argue for the liberal notion that "we also rise or fall as one nation ... I am my brother's keeper, my sister's keeper," from which derives the support for social-assistance programs and universal access to health care. Why do these two parties -- and the divided populations they represent -- see "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" so differently? Is it cultural, or is there something innate in our biology that explains these differences?
Scientists have spent the last decade examining the physiology of political thought, but they have only succeeded in identifying the symptoms and not the root cause. So, forget about the MRI studies showing that Democrats and Republicans respond differently to fear, with greater or less blood flow to specific parts of the brain. Ignore the finding that conservatives have enlarged amygdalas, the part of the brain associated with anxiety and emotions, but that liberals have a larger anterior cingulate, which is associated with optimism. Skip over the research that says we inherit our politics from our parents. They all tell us the "how," not the "why."
The underlying reason for the eternal conflict between Republican "individual rights" and Democratic "we're all in this together" is explained by a radical and magisterial theory of evolution outlined in Edward O. Wilson's groundbreaking new book The Social Conquest of Earth. Wilson, who has dominated evolutionary thinking for the past 40 years, has synthesized a lifetime of work into a "theory of everything". Greatly simplified, his argument is that two rival evolutionary forces drive human behavior: first, individual selection, which rewards the fittest individuals by passing along their genes; and second, group selection, in which the communities that work best together come to dominate the gene pool. Wilson argues that these two evolutionary forces are at work simultaneously, so that both self-serving and altruistic behaviors are constantly competing at the individual and at the group level. As he explains, "Members of the same group compete with one another in a manner that leads to self-serving behavior .... At the higher level, groups compete with groups, favoring cooperative social traits among members of the same group." In other words, individuals with self-serving behaviors beat altruistic individuals, while groups of altruists beat groups of individuals with self-serving behaviors.
Extending this evolutionary theory, two competing forces are at work within the political organism: the "Republican genotype," which favors individualistic behaviors, and the "Democratic genotype," which favors altruism. Both forces are simultaneously at work at the individual and group levels. Different individuals -- and different groups -- will respond more or less to each of these forces depending upon the political and economic environment. The physiological differences between Democrats and Republicans in fear response, anxiety, etc., are simply symptoms of these competing genetic influences, and not the root cause of their divergent political beliefs.
Scientists have spent the last decade examining the physiology of political thought, but they have only succeeded in identifying the symptoms and not the root cause. So, forget about the MRI studies showing that Democrats and Republicans respond differently to fear, with greater or less blood flow to specific parts of the brain. Ignore the finding that conservatives have enlarged amygdalas, the part of the brain associated with anxiety and emotions, but that liberals have a larger anterior cingulate, which is associated with optimism. Skip over the research that says we inherit our politics from our parents. They all tell us the "how," not the "why."
The underlying reason for the eternal conflict between Republican "individual rights" and Democratic "we're all in this together" is explained by a radical and magisterial theory of evolution outlined in Edward O. Wilson's groundbreaking new book The Social Conquest of Earth. Wilson, who has dominated evolutionary thinking for the past 40 years, has synthesized a lifetime of work into a "theory of everything". Greatly simplified, his argument is that two rival evolutionary forces drive human behavior: first, individual selection, which rewards the fittest individuals by passing along their genes; and second, group selection, in which the communities that work best together come to dominate the gene pool. Wilson argues that these two evolutionary forces are at work simultaneously, so that both self-serving and altruistic behaviors are constantly competing at the individual and at the group level. As he explains, "Members of the same group compete with one another in a manner that leads to self-serving behavior .... At the higher level, groups compete with groups, favoring cooperative social traits among members of the same group." In other words, individuals with self-serving behaviors beat altruistic individuals, while groups of altruists beat groups of individuals with self-serving behaviors.
Extending this evolutionary theory, two competing forces are at work within the political organism: the "Republican genotype," which favors individualistic behaviors, and the "Democratic genotype," which favors altruism. Both forces are simultaneously at work at the individual and group levels. Different individuals -- and different groups -- will respond more or less to each of these forces depending upon the political and economic environment. The physiological differences between Democrats and Republicans in fear response, anxiety, etc., are simply symptoms of these competing genetic influences, and not the root cause of their divergent political beliefs.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Oswego County comes together to create art
In recent weeks, Hannibal High School students have been working on their part of the county-wide art project that will be presented at this year’s Harborfest.
The project, spearheaded by the CNY Arts Center, will be a stained glass mural of Van Gogh’s famous painting “Starry Night” and will consist of various colors of glass bottle fragments. The mastermind behind the concept and creation of the mural is Arts Center member Leslie Paice.
The Hannibal math students of Sally Kingsbury’s class have developed an equation for enlarging the painting, to determine the approximate number of bottles and jars needed for the mural. Using the dimensions of the mural frame, and the average size of the bottles being used, they determined that approximately 3,260 bottles will be needed to complete the mural.
Also involved in the project are the high school’s art students from Deborah Doran’s class, who have worked on laying out the painting on its new 9-by-10 foot canvas.
Doran says that all of her students are excited about the project, including juniors Samantha Familo and Kali Magnarelli. These two girls have become her go-to students for volunteering their time and doing anything that involves community service. Working diligently, Doran’s art class finished the large scale sketch in three short days.
Contributions made to the mural have even come from as far as the state of Arizona where Paice is temporarily staying. She has made frequent trips to local restaurants for their bottles, making this not only a community or county-wide project, but a bi-state effort.
“Art has a way of connecting all humanity,” said Paice.
Paice admits it has been difficult to orchestrate the project from long distance, but she has no doubts that it will be finished. “I am excited to see this idea come to fruition at Harborfest. It has taken much effort on the part of many people, to whom I am very grateful,” said Paice.
The mural has allowed different groups in the community to come together and create a piece of art while being proactive about recycling. Novelis of Oswego, a business known for strongly advocating recycling, will be constructing the cement board frame for the mural.
This is also just one of the recycled art projects that the CNY Arts Center has planned for the coming months. With their involvement in the farmer’s market this summer, the center hope to integrate fun arts and crafts for youth that involve recycled materials, such as aluminum cans.
The CNY Arts Center is still in the process of collecting the bottles necessary to complete the mural. They are currently accepting any glass bottles that are green, blue, clear, or brown, and have a circumference of three inches or less. Donations of any quantity are welcomed and appreciated.
The project, spearheaded by the CNY Arts Center, will be a stained glass mural of Van Gogh’s famous painting “Starry Night” and will consist of various colors of glass bottle fragments. The mastermind behind the concept and creation of the mural is Arts Center member Leslie Paice.
The Hannibal math students of Sally Kingsbury’s class have developed an equation for enlarging the painting, to determine the approximate number of bottles and jars needed for the mural. Using the dimensions of the mural frame, and the average size of the bottles being used, they determined that approximately 3,260 bottles will be needed to complete the mural.
Also involved in the project are the high school’s art students from Deborah Doran’s class, who have worked on laying out the painting on its new 9-by-10 foot canvas.
Doran says that all of her students are excited about the project, including juniors Samantha Familo and Kali Magnarelli. These two girls have become her go-to students for volunteering their time and doing anything that involves community service. Working diligently, Doran’s art class finished the large scale sketch in three short days.
Contributions made to the mural have even come from as far as the state of Arizona where Paice is temporarily staying. She has made frequent trips to local restaurants for their bottles, making this not only a community or county-wide project, but a bi-state effort.
“Art has a way of connecting all humanity,” said Paice.
Paice admits it has been difficult to orchestrate the project from long distance, but she has no doubts that it will be finished. “I am excited to see this idea come to fruition at Harborfest. It has taken much effort on the part of many people, to whom I am very grateful,” said Paice.
The mural has allowed different groups in the community to come together and create a piece of art while being proactive about recycling. Novelis of Oswego, a business known for strongly advocating recycling, will be constructing the cement board frame for the mural.
This is also just one of the recycled art projects that the CNY Arts Center has planned for the coming months. With their involvement in the farmer’s market this summer, the center hope to integrate fun arts and crafts for youth that involve recycled materials, such as aluminum cans.
The CNY Arts Center is still in the process of collecting the bottles necessary to complete the mural. They are currently accepting any glass bottles that are green, blue, clear, or brown, and have a circumference of three inches or less. Donations of any quantity are welcomed and appreciated.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
5 New Things at Royal Oak Clay, Glass & Metal Show
The 18th annual Clay, Glass & Metal Show takes over Washington Avenue in Royal Oak this weekend with 125 artists and 40,000 patrons expected to visit downtown for this one-of-a-kind art festival.
Unlike other art shows, this one is unique because it is unified under a central theme, according to Jennifer Clark, director of events for the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event: “Fire is used to manipulate all the art and to make them the creations they are supposed to become.”
Besides the quality artwork, there will be many interactive elements allowing visitors to make their own art, watch how art is made and participate in a community art project. There will also be lots of food from downtown restaurants and specialty food vendors, such as Ferndale’s Treat Dreams ice cream truck and Motor City Frank’s old-fashioned hot dog cart.
The two-day art fair continues to evolve each year. Here are five new things to experience this year:
Each year brings new artists and their distinctive types of art to the Clay, Glass & Metal show, according to Mark Loeb, who manages the participating artists. About half of the 125 artists will be new this year, he said, but many favorites are returning, including 17 artists who have been doing the show for more than 12 years and many local artists, such as Royal Oak’s Gretchen Kramp and Jan Bostwick.
With all those artists, visitors can expect a vast variety of types of art, from glass lamps to clay tiles and metal jewelry.
“The cool thing about only using clay, glass and metal is that people are able to compare a huge diversity of artwork made from those mediums in one place,” Loeb said. “Many people question how much can be made from those elements and they come out and realize that there is so much that can be done with it.”
Another feature that makes this event unique is that all those artists must be juried in. “Not every artist who wants to participate can,” the chamber's Clark said. “Only those who have been found worthy through the approval process are allowed in.”
That draws quality vendors and visitors from all over the country who are looking for pieces by those talented artists, she said. So shoppers can expect art priced from $20-$20,000.
“There really is something for everyone,” Clark said. “From the discerning collector to families looking for pieces for their living room and even children who can make their own artwork.”
Last year, glass blowing demonstrations returned to the Clay, Glass & Metal Show and this year the chamber decided to add clay and metal work demonstrations for patrons to enjoy.
“The glass blower was one of the most popular areas last year,” Clark said. “I think that’s because it adds an extra element of fun to the event with bringing in the excitement of fire.”
Loeb said 12 artists will be giving demonstrations this weekend, including how to make a bead out of glass and how to make clay tiles.
“Our theory is that the demonstrations allow people to learn about all the work that goes into making the art, and also it will encourage them to buy it for themselves,” Clark said.
Another great way attendees can gain an appreciation for the art creation process is to do it themselves. People of all ages can make their own glass beads, throw a pot or sign up for classes at the Creative Arts Studio located on Fifth and Washington.
Creative Arts Studios will be offering new classes this year in Raku for people to participate in and again offering classes on how to make pots using a wheel.
“It’s always a fun event with good crowds and good artists that we like being a part of,” owner David Fredenberg said. Raku demonstrations will cost around $20 and wheel lessons will be $15 for a half hour.
The Creative Arts Studio is always a great destination for children because they have the opportunity to paint ceramic pieces (mostly $9-$14), make wax hands ($7) and use a squirt gun to “squirt a shirt” ($10).
This will be the third year that the Clay, Glass & Metal Show attendees are able to be a part of the Community Mosaic Project by designing pieces for the next two panel installments to the mosaic going on the walls of the Royal Oak Public Library. People can be a part of the community effort by creating their pieces made from the broken shards of art the artists supply. Last week, the two panels from last year’s show were placed in the Children’s Area of the library.
“The goal is to go all the way from one side of the library to the other will the mosaic panels,” explained Clark.
Clark said an art coordinator will be on site at Sixth and Washington this year to help guide parents and adults in making their designs, which is new this year. Also new is the role of “guest grouter,” which is a position open to both adults and kids to help the artists attach the pieces to the panels.
“In the past this involved grouting process, which has been done by just the artists on a volunteer basis,” Clark said. “Now we are giving anyone who wants to a chance to help out.”
The Detroit School of Rock and Pop is returning to the Clay, Glass & Metal Show this year, so be sure to visit their stage at Fourth and Washington. Unlike the musical varieties the musicians performed last year, this year expect to hear only acoustic songs.
“We want to better reflect the tone and culture of the show,” explained Clark. “This is not a carnival so we don’t want really loud music and large amplifiers, and we want it to appeal to a more general audience.”
She said you could expect a lot of guitars, and a folksy tone that will fit with the culture of Royal Oak.
“With all the planning we do for the event, we want to make sure it represents the uniqueness and eclectic style that the city is known for,” said Clark.
Unlike other art shows, this one is unique because it is unified under a central theme, according to Jennifer Clark, director of events for the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event: “Fire is used to manipulate all the art and to make them the creations they are supposed to become.”
Besides the quality artwork, there will be many interactive elements allowing visitors to make their own art, watch how art is made and participate in a community art project. There will also be lots of food from downtown restaurants and specialty food vendors, such as Ferndale’s Treat Dreams ice cream truck and Motor City Frank’s old-fashioned hot dog cart.
The two-day art fair continues to evolve each year. Here are five new things to experience this year:
Each year brings new artists and their distinctive types of art to the Clay, Glass & Metal show, according to Mark Loeb, who manages the participating artists. About half of the 125 artists will be new this year, he said, but many favorites are returning, including 17 artists who have been doing the show for more than 12 years and many local artists, such as Royal Oak’s Gretchen Kramp and Jan Bostwick.
With all those artists, visitors can expect a vast variety of types of art, from glass lamps to clay tiles and metal jewelry.
“The cool thing about only using clay, glass and metal is that people are able to compare a huge diversity of artwork made from those mediums in one place,” Loeb said. “Many people question how much can be made from those elements and they come out and realize that there is so much that can be done with it.”
Another feature that makes this event unique is that all those artists must be juried in. “Not every artist who wants to participate can,” the chamber's Clark said. “Only those who have been found worthy through the approval process are allowed in.”
That draws quality vendors and visitors from all over the country who are looking for pieces by those talented artists, she said. So shoppers can expect art priced from $20-$20,000.
“There really is something for everyone,” Clark said. “From the discerning collector to families looking for pieces for their living room and even children who can make their own artwork.”
Last year, glass blowing demonstrations returned to the Clay, Glass & Metal Show and this year the chamber decided to add clay and metal work demonstrations for patrons to enjoy.
“The glass blower was one of the most popular areas last year,” Clark said. “I think that’s because it adds an extra element of fun to the event with bringing in the excitement of fire.”
Loeb said 12 artists will be giving demonstrations this weekend, including how to make a bead out of glass and how to make clay tiles.
“Our theory is that the demonstrations allow people to learn about all the work that goes into making the art, and also it will encourage them to buy it for themselves,” Clark said.
Another great way attendees can gain an appreciation for the art creation process is to do it themselves. People of all ages can make their own glass beads, throw a pot or sign up for classes at the Creative Arts Studio located on Fifth and Washington.
Creative Arts Studios will be offering new classes this year in Raku for people to participate in and again offering classes on how to make pots using a wheel.
“It’s always a fun event with good crowds and good artists that we like being a part of,” owner David Fredenberg said. Raku demonstrations will cost around $20 and wheel lessons will be $15 for a half hour.
The Creative Arts Studio is always a great destination for children because they have the opportunity to paint ceramic pieces (mostly $9-$14), make wax hands ($7) and use a squirt gun to “squirt a shirt” ($10).
This will be the third year that the Clay, Glass & Metal Show attendees are able to be a part of the Community Mosaic Project by designing pieces for the next two panel installments to the mosaic going on the walls of the Royal Oak Public Library. People can be a part of the community effort by creating their pieces made from the broken shards of art the artists supply. Last week, the two panels from last year’s show were placed in the Children’s Area of the library.
“The goal is to go all the way from one side of the library to the other will the mosaic panels,” explained Clark.
Clark said an art coordinator will be on site at Sixth and Washington this year to help guide parents and adults in making their designs, which is new this year. Also new is the role of “guest grouter,” which is a position open to both adults and kids to help the artists attach the pieces to the panels.
“In the past this involved grouting process, which has been done by just the artists on a volunteer basis,” Clark said. “Now we are giving anyone who wants to a chance to help out.”
The Detroit School of Rock and Pop is returning to the Clay, Glass & Metal Show this year, so be sure to visit their stage at Fourth and Washington. Unlike the musical varieties the musicians performed last year, this year expect to hear only acoustic songs.
“We want to better reflect the tone and culture of the show,” explained Clark. “This is not a carnival so we don’t want really loud music and large amplifiers, and we want it to appeal to a more general audience.”
She said you could expect a lot of guitars, and a folksy tone that will fit with the culture of Royal Oak.
“With all the planning we do for the event, we want to make sure it represents the uniqueness and eclectic style that the city is known for,” said Clark.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Policy makers are making huge errors
Suppose that in June 2007 you had been told that the UK 10-year bond would be yielding 1.54 per cent, the US Treasury 10-year 1.47 per cent and the German 10-year 1.17 per cent on June 1 2012. Suppose, too, you had been told that official short rates varied from zero in the US and Japan to 1 per cent in the eurozone. What would you think? You would think the world economy was in a depression. You would have been wrong if you had meant something like the 1930s. But you would have been right about the forces at work: the west is in a contained depression; worse, forces for another downswing are building, above all in the eurozone. Meanwhile, policy makers are making huge errors.
The most powerful indicator – and proximate cause – of economic weakness is the shift in the private sector financial balance (the difference between income and spending by households and businesses) towards surplus. Retrenchment by indebted and frightened people has caused the weakness of western economies. Even countries that are not directly affected, such as Germany, are indirectly affected by the massive retrenchment in their partners.
According to the International Monetary Fund, between 2007 and 2012 the financial balance of the US private sector will shift towards surplus by 7.1 per cent of gross domestic product. The shift will be 6.0 per cent in the UK, 5.2 per cent in Japan and just 2.9 per cent in the eurozone. But the latter contains countries with persistent private surpluses, notably Germany, ones with private sectors in rough balance (such as France and Italy) and ones that had huge swings towards surplus: in Spain, the forecast shift is 15.8 per cent of GDP. Meanwhile, emerging countries will also have a surplus of $450bn this year, according to the IMF.
One would expect feeble demand in such a world. The willingness to implement expansionary monetary policies and tolerate huge fiscal deficits has contained depression and even induced weak recoveries. Yet the fact that unprecedented monetary policies and huge fiscal deficits have not induced strong recoveries shows how powerful the forces depressing economies have been. This is the legacy of a huge financial crisis preceded by large asset price bubbles and huge expansions in debt.
Finance plays a central role in crises, generating euphoria, over-spending and excessive leverage on the way up and panic, retrenchment and deleveraging on the way down. Doubts about the stability of finance depend on the perceived solvency of debtors. Such doubts reached a peak in late 2008, when loans secured against housing were the focus of concern. What is happening inside the eurozone is now the big worry, with the twist that sovereigns, the actors upon whom investors depend for rescue during systemic crises, are among the troubled debtors. Such doubts are generating a flight to safety towards Germany and, outside the eurozone, towards countries that retain monetary sovereignty, such as the US and even the UK (see chart).
It is often forgotten that the failure of Austria’s Creditanstalt in 1931 led to a wave of bank failures across the continent. That turned out to be the beginning of the end of the gold standard and caused a second downward leg of the Great Depression itself. The fear must now be that a wave of banking and sovereign failures might cause a similar meltdown inside the eurozone, the closest thing the world now has to the old gold standard. The failure of the eurozone would, in turn, generate further massive disruption in the European and even global financial systems, possibly even knocking over the walls now containing the depression.
How realistic is this fear? Quite realistic. One reason for this is that so many fear it. In a panic, fear has its own power. To assuage it one needs a lender of last resort willing and able to act on an unlimited scale. It is unclear whether the eurozone has such a lender. The agreed funds that might support countries in difficulty are limited in a number of ways. The European Central Bank, though able to act on an unlimited scale in theory, might be unable to do so in practice, if the runs it had to deal with were large enough. What, people must wonder, is the limit on the credit that the Bundesbank would be willing (or allowed) to offer other central banks in a massive run? In a severe crisis, could even the ECB, let alone the governments, act effectively?
Furthermore, people know that both banks and sovereigns are under severe stress in important countries that seem to lack any prospect of an early return to growth and so suffer the costs of high and rising unemployment. No better indication of this can be imagined than Spain’s final cry for help with its banks. Political systems are under stress: in Greece, a fragile democracy has imploded. Meanwhile, the German government seems to have reiterated opposition to more support.
How much pain can the countries under stress endure? Nobody knows. What would happen if a country left the eurozone? Nobody knows. Might even Germany consider exit? Nobody knows. What is the long-run strategy for exit from the crises? Nobody knows. Given such uncertainty, panic is, alas, rational. A fiat currency backed by heterogeneous sovereigns is irremediably fragile.
The most powerful indicator – and proximate cause – of economic weakness is the shift in the private sector financial balance (the difference between income and spending by households and businesses) towards surplus. Retrenchment by indebted and frightened people has caused the weakness of western economies. Even countries that are not directly affected, such as Germany, are indirectly affected by the massive retrenchment in their partners.
According to the International Monetary Fund, between 2007 and 2012 the financial balance of the US private sector will shift towards surplus by 7.1 per cent of gross domestic product. The shift will be 6.0 per cent in the UK, 5.2 per cent in Japan and just 2.9 per cent in the eurozone. But the latter contains countries with persistent private surpluses, notably Germany, ones with private sectors in rough balance (such as France and Italy) and ones that had huge swings towards surplus: in Spain, the forecast shift is 15.8 per cent of GDP. Meanwhile, emerging countries will also have a surplus of $450bn this year, according to the IMF.
One would expect feeble demand in such a world. The willingness to implement expansionary monetary policies and tolerate huge fiscal deficits has contained depression and even induced weak recoveries. Yet the fact that unprecedented monetary policies and huge fiscal deficits have not induced strong recoveries shows how powerful the forces depressing economies have been. This is the legacy of a huge financial crisis preceded by large asset price bubbles and huge expansions in debt.
Finance plays a central role in crises, generating euphoria, over-spending and excessive leverage on the way up and panic, retrenchment and deleveraging on the way down. Doubts about the stability of finance depend on the perceived solvency of debtors. Such doubts reached a peak in late 2008, when loans secured against housing were the focus of concern. What is happening inside the eurozone is now the big worry, with the twist that sovereigns, the actors upon whom investors depend for rescue during systemic crises, are among the troubled debtors. Such doubts are generating a flight to safety towards Germany and, outside the eurozone, towards countries that retain monetary sovereignty, such as the US and even the UK (see chart).
It is often forgotten that the failure of Austria’s Creditanstalt in 1931 led to a wave of bank failures across the continent. That turned out to be the beginning of the end of the gold standard and caused a second downward leg of the Great Depression itself. The fear must now be that a wave of banking and sovereign failures might cause a similar meltdown inside the eurozone, the closest thing the world now has to the old gold standard. The failure of the eurozone would, in turn, generate further massive disruption in the European and even global financial systems, possibly even knocking over the walls now containing the depression.
How realistic is this fear? Quite realistic. One reason for this is that so many fear it. In a panic, fear has its own power. To assuage it one needs a lender of last resort willing and able to act on an unlimited scale. It is unclear whether the eurozone has such a lender. The agreed funds that might support countries in difficulty are limited in a number of ways. The European Central Bank, though able to act on an unlimited scale in theory, might be unable to do so in practice, if the runs it had to deal with were large enough. What, people must wonder, is the limit on the credit that the Bundesbank would be willing (or allowed) to offer other central banks in a massive run? In a severe crisis, could even the ECB, let alone the governments, act effectively?
Furthermore, people know that both banks and sovereigns are under severe stress in important countries that seem to lack any prospect of an early return to growth and so suffer the costs of high and rising unemployment. No better indication of this can be imagined than Spain’s final cry for help with its banks. Political systems are under stress: in Greece, a fragile democracy has imploded. Meanwhile, the German government seems to have reiterated opposition to more support.
How much pain can the countries under stress endure? Nobody knows. What would happen if a country left the eurozone? Nobody knows. Might even Germany consider exit? Nobody knows. What is the long-run strategy for exit from the crises? Nobody knows. Given such uncertainty, panic is, alas, rational. A fiat currency backed by heterogeneous sovereigns is irremediably fragile.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Villagers near Latakia fear impending massacre
Activists in coastal Latakia said Tuesday they fear another massacre like Houla after Syrian forces pounded Sunni rebel villages in the Alawite-dominated province.
Fighting between Syrian forces and rebel fighters also flared elsewhere around the country, claiming at least 23 lives, as key Syrian allies Russia and China discussed the fate of a faltering U.N.-backed peace plan to end violence in the country.
Activists speaking to The Daily Star from the Haffeh village near Latakia said Syrian forces bombarded the Sunni-dominated protest hub with helicopter gunships, tanks and gunfire from 7 a.m. By late afternoon, they said the area was surrounded, and they feared an onslaught by regime supporters from surrounding Alawite villages.
Abu Mohammad al-Latikani said half the houses in Haffeh had been destroyed by the bombardment and civilians were having difficulty removing corpses from the rubble. He said activists had identified at least 17 people killed.
“The Free Syrian army is targeting Assad’s army because they are bombarding [by tanks], targeting Jabal al-Akrad and Al-Haffeh areas,” he said.
“We heard that the Alawites will launch an attack,” he said, adding that so far the bombardment was only being conducted by the Syrian army.
The clashes were the heaviest seen in the coastal Alawite enclave since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule broke out last year.
In a online statement, another opposition figure said: “The sectarian war is about to start. Twenty-five Alawite villages are preparing themselves to attack Haffeh ... we expect a massacre like that in Houla.”
A massacre of 108 people, apparently at the hands of predominantly Alawite Assad loyalists in the Houla area near the central city of Homs on May 25 drew a wave of international condemnation and prompted half a dozen countries to expel Syrian ambassadors.
Syria, which has denied government forces were involved in the killing and says it is facing a threat from foreign-backed extremists, responded in kind Tuesday by announcing that ambassadors from the United States, Canada, Turkey and several European countries were “no longer welcome.”
“Some countries have informed our diplomatic missions and our embassies’ staff that they are unwelcome,” said Jihad Makdessi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Continued violence has dashed hopes for the six-point peace plan, brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, for a political solution to the crisis. The Houla massacre was largely seen as a watershed moment in the conflict, which risks deteriorating into a full scale sectarian war.
Monday, rebel leadership from the Free Syrian Army said continued army attacks meant they were no longer bound by Annan’s cease-fire terms and would resume attacks on government forces. Government forces have failed to stop military operations in civilian centers, as dictated by the plan.
At least 23 people were killed in clashes around the country Tuesday, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission.
In the central city of Homs, activists reported that shelling and gunfire by government forces killed five civilians. The Commission also reported that heavy clashes between regime forces and Free Syrian Army opponents in southern Deraa had killed two.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four civilians were killed overnight in a “huge military operation” in the Kfar Oweid area of Idlib, a rebel stronghold bordering Turkey. Activist groups reported government forces had also set wooded areas on the border ablaze to flush out rebels.
Despite Annan’s description of the conflict as reaching a “tipping point,” most Arab and Western countries are reluctant to intervene, fearing that arming the rebels could mark the start of a broader regional conflict, and remain tentatively committed to the peace plan. Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters Monday it was “the only option on the table.”
Fighting between Syrian forces and rebel fighters also flared elsewhere around the country, claiming at least 23 lives, as key Syrian allies Russia and China discussed the fate of a faltering U.N.-backed peace plan to end violence in the country.
Activists speaking to The Daily Star from the Haffeh village near Latakia said Syrian forces bombarded the Sunni-dominated protest hub with helicopter gunships, tanks and gunfire from 7 a.m. By late afternoon, they said the area was surrounded, and they feared an onslaught by regime supporters from surrounding Alawite villages.
Abu Mohammad al-Latikani said half the houses in Haffeh had been destroyed by the bombardment and civilians were having difficulty removing corpses from the rubble. He said activists had identified at least 17 people killed.
“The Free Syrian army is targeting Assad’s army because they are bombarding [by tanks], targeting Jabal al-Akrad and Al-Haffeh areas,” he said.
“We heard that the Alawites will launch an attack,” he said, adding that so far the bombardment was only being conducted by the Syrian army.
The clashes were the heaviest seen in the coastal Alawite enclave since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule broke out last year.
In a online statement, another opposition figure said: “The sectarian war is about to start. Twenty-five Alawite villages are preparing themselves to attack Haffeh ... we expect a massacre like that in Houla.”
A massacre of 108 people, apparently at the hands of predominantly Alawite Assad loyalists in the Houla area near the central city of Homs on May 25 drew a wave of international condemnation and prompted half a dozen countries to expel Syrian ambassadors.
Syria, which has denied government forces were involved in the killing and says it is facing a threat from foreign-backed extremists, responded in kind Tuesday by announcing that ambassadors from the United States, Canada, Turkey and several European countries were “no longer welcome.”
“Some countries have informed our diplomatic missions and our embassies’ staff that they are unwelcome,” said Jihad Makdessi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Continued violence has dashed hopes for the six-point peace plan, brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, for a political solution to the crisis. The Houla massacre was largely seen as a watershed moment in the conflict, which risks deteriorating into a full scale sectarian war.
Monday, rebel leadership from the Free Syrian Army said continued army attacks meant they were no longer bound by Annan’s cease-fire terms and would resume attacks on government forces. Government forces have failed to stop military operations in civilian centers, as dictated by the plan.
At least 23 people were killed in clashes around the country Tuesday, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission.
In the central city of Homs, activists reported that shelling and gunfire by government forces killed five civilians. The Commission also reported that heavy clashes between regime forces and Free Syrian Army opponents in southern Deraa had killed two.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four civilians were killed overnight in a “huge military operation” in the Kfar Oweid area of Idlib, a rebel stronghold bordering Turkey. Activist groups reported government forces had also set wooded areas on the border ablaze to flush out rebels.
Despite Annan’s description of the conflict as reaching a “tipping point,” most Arab and Western countries are reluctant to intervene, fearing that arming the rebels could mark the start of a broader regional conflict, and remain tentatively committed to the peace plan. Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters Monday it was “the only option on the table.”
Monday, June 4, 2012
Dozens of guns seized inside Venezuelan prison
Authorities seized about 125 guns stashed inside a prison following a standoff between armed inmates and troops that ended more than two weeks ago, Venezuela's prisons chief said Sunday.
Officials are carrying out an exhaustive search of La Planta prison in Caracas and they have found some guns by destroying floors and walls where the weapons had been hidden, said Iris Varela, the government's minister for prisons. She said about 40 percent of the vast prison has not yet been fully searched.
Varela said at a news conference that the weaponry recovered included handguns, shotguns, one submachine gun, one telescopic sight, 27 explosive devices and more than 64,000 rounds of ammunition.
The three-week confrontation at the prison ended on May 17 when officials reached a deal with leaders of the inmates, who agreed to be moved to other prisons. The last of more than 1,600 inmates came out the following day. The prisoners had been holed up inside resisting authorities, and gunfire had erupted repeatedly during the standoff.
One man who lived near the prison was hit by a stray bullet and died. Varela said five other people were wounded during the shootouts, including two National Guard soldiers and three inmates.
The government shut down the prison, which had long been overcrowded, once the violence ended and the last of the inmates were moved out.
Speaking with reporters at the empty prison, Varela said officials also found 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of various types of drugs and hundreds of contraband cellphones
She vowed a thorough investigation into how the weapons were smuggled in.
"Those who end up being responsible for this whole situation are a bunch of traitors," Varela said. She said no one had been detained thus far in the investigation.
Prison unrest and crowding have become major problems for President Hugo Chavez's government. Violence is common inside Venezuela's prisons, where inmates often manage to obtain weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt guards.
The watchdog group Venezuelan Prisons Observatory says about 560 people died in Venezuelan prisons last year, up from 476 in 2010.
When Varela was asked whether inmates are armed in most of the country's prisons, she said: "There's a difficult situation, but they aren't the majority."
She also confirmed a recent news report that one prison in central Aragua state has a discotheque, and said various other prisons have swimming pools. She said such perks were allowed in the prisons starting more than a decade ago in an attempt to ease violence.
The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal recently said that inmates in Tocoron prison organized a Mother's Day concert, bringing in artists to perform at a discotheque called "Tokio."
Varela said the government plans to soon begin building eight new prisons, which are scheduled to be finished next year.
Officials are carrying out an exhaustive search of La Planta prison in Caracas and they have found some guns by destroying floors and walls where the weapons had been hidden, said Iris Varela, the government's minister for prisons. She said about 40 percent of the vast prison has not yet been fully searched.
Varela said at a news conference that the weaponry recovered included handguns, shotguns, one submachine gun, one telescopic sight, 27 explosive devices and more than 64,000 rounds of ammunition.
The three-week confrontation at the prison ended on May 17 when officials reached a deal with leaders of the inmates, who agreed to be moved to other prisons. The last of more than 1,600 inmates came out the following day. The prisoners had been holed up inside resisting authorities, and gunfire had erupted repeatedly during the standoff.
One man who lived near the prison was hit by a stray bullet and died. Varela said five other people were wounded during the shootouts, including two National Guard soldiers and three inmates.
The government shut down the prison, which had long been overcrowded, once the violence ended and the last of the inmates were moved out.
Speaking with reporters at the empty prison, Varela said officials also found 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of various types of drugs and hundreds of contraband cellphones
She vowed a thorough investigation into how the weapons were smuggled in.
"Those who end up being responsible for this whole situation are a bunch of traitors," Varela said. She said no one had been detained thus far in the investigation.
Prison unrest and crowding have become major problems for President Hugo Chavez's government. Violence is common inside Venezuela's prisons, where inmates often manage to obtain weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt guards.
The watchdog group Venezuelan Prisons Observatory says about 560 people died in Venezuelan prisons last year, up from 476 in 2010.
When Varela was asked whether inmates are armed in most of the country's prisons, she said: "There's a difficult situation, but they aren't the majority."
She also confirmed a recent news report that one prison in central Aragua state has a discotheque, and said various other prisons have swimming pools. She said such perks were allowed in the prisons starting more than a decade ago in an attempt to ease violence.
The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal recently said that inmates in Tocoron prison organized a Mother's Day concert, bringing in artists to perform at a discotheque called "Tokio."
Varela said the government plans to soon begin building eight new prisons, which are scheduled to be finished next year.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Houla massacre an 'ugly crime'
Syrian President Bashar Assad denied Sunday that his government had anything to do with last week's gruesome Houla massacre, saying not even "monsters" would carry out such an ugly crime.
In a televised speech to parliament, Assad said his country is facing a "real war" and he blamed terrorists and extremists for the bloodshed. He expressed horror over last week's massacre in the central Houla region, which killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children.
"If we don't feel the pain the pain that squeezes our hearts, as I felt it, for the cruel scenes — especially the children — then we are not human beings," Assad said in his first comments on the massacre. His last public address was in January.
Assad, 46, denies that there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and terrorists are driving the revolt.
His remarks suggest he is still standing his ground, despite widespread international condemnation over his deadly crackdown on dissent. Although his words reflected many of the same general points of his previous speeches — blaming terrorists and extremists, vowing to protect national security — his comments on Houla were widely anticipated.
"We have to fight terrorism for the country to heal," Assad said Sunday. "We will not be lenient. We will be forgiving only for those who renounce terrorism."
The opposition and the government have exchanged accusations over the Houla killings, each blaming the other. U.N. investigators have said there are strong suspicions that pro-regime gunmen are responsible for at least some of the killings.
The revolt began last March with mostly peaceful protests, but a ferocious government crackdown led many in the opposition to take up arms. Now, the conflict has morphed into an armed insurgency.
"A battle was forced on us, and the result was this bloodshed that we are seeing," Assad said.
Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, still has a firm grip on power in Syria some 15 months into a revolt that has torn at the country's fabric and threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East.
Activists say as many as 13,000 people have died in the violence. One year after the revolt began, the U.N. put the toll at 9,000, but hundreds more have died since. A cease-fire plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan is violated by both sides every day. Fears also have risen that the violence could spread and provoke a regional conflagration.
A group known as the Free Syrian Army is determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed.
Al-Qaida-style suicide bombings have become increasingly common in Syria, and Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists, some associated with the terror network, have made inroads in Syria as instability has spread.
Assad has acknowledged there are genuine calls for reform, although the opposition says he has offered only cosmetic changes that do little to change a culture where any whisper of dissent could lead to arrest and torture.
In a televised speech to parliament, Assad said his country is facing a "real war" and he blamed terrorists and extremists for the bloodshed. He expressed horror over last week's massacre in the central Houla region, which killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children.
"If we don't feel the pain the pain that squeezes our hearts, as I felt it, for the cruel scenes — especially the children — then we are not human beings," Assad said in his first comments on the massacre. His last public address was in January.
Assad, 46, denies that there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and terrorists are driving the revolt.
His remarks suggest he is still standing his ground, despite widespread international condemnation over his deadly crackdown on dissent. Although his words reflected many of the same general points of his previous speeches — blaming terrorists and extremists, vowing to protect national security — his comments on Houla were widely anticipated.
"We have to fight terrorism for the country to heal," Assad said Sunday. "We will not be lenient. We will be forgiving only for those who renounce terrorism."
The opposition and the government have exchanged accusations over the Houla killings, each blaming the other. U.N. investigators have said there are strong suspicions that pro-regime gunmen are responsible for at least some of the killings.
The revolt began last March with mostly peaceful protests, but a ferocious government crackdown led many in the opposition to take up arms. Now, the conflict has morphed into an armed insurgency.
"A battle was forced on us, and the result was this bloodshed that we are seeing," Assad said.
Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, still has a firm grip on power in Syria some 15 months into a revolt that has torn at the country's fabric and threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East.
Activists say as many as 13,000 people have died in the violence. One year after the revolt began, the U.N. put the toll at 9,000, but hundreds more have died since. A cease-fire plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan is violated by both sides every day. Fears also have risen that the violence could spread and provoke a regional conflagration.
A group known as the Free Syrian Army is determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed.
Al-Qaida-style suicide bombings have become increasingly common in Syria, and Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists, some associated with the terror network, have made inroads in Syria as instability has spread.
Assad has acknowledged there are genuine calls for reform, although the opposition says he has offered only cosmetic changes that do little to change a culture where any whisper of dissent could lead to arrest and torture.
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