There is a razor-thin margin between safe and insanity in the outdoors and Judge James L. Smith crossed the line.
In hypothermic wind and rain, the then-74-year-old Los Angeles Marathon legacy runner slips, smashes face-first into pavement and with blood streaming down his head shakes off any suggestion to stop.
"I'm gonna finish this," he growls.
Such is the mystery, the magic and, yes, the mania of putting one foot in front of the other for 26.2 miles.
Now 82 and preparing for his 34th consecutive LA Marathon on Sunday, Smith laughs off the memory. But he also admits his decision was more than nuts.
Doctors later diagnosed Smith with an acute subdural hematoma — meaning a clot of blood was sloshing inside his skull.
Smith — who continues to work as an arbitrator on complex litigation, often for free — promises his partner and love of his life, Judy, that he won't fall down this year.
But with 24,000 athletes jostling their way along the streets of Los Angeles, almost anything can happen. And that is just one of the lures of running.
To see the natural world through Smith's eyes is to explore things that are known and unknown.
Things like jumping space and time.
It is 6 a.m. on a cold December morning and Smith gathers at a Denny's in Santa Ana with a bunch of police officers and federal Judge David O. Carter.
The mission is to clear out a homeless camp along railroad tracks and offer cozy shelter and warm beds or jail. Surprisingly, some choose jail. But there's something even more surprising.
Watching Smith and Carter, who is 74, practically dance along rough railroad tracks is a treat — especially if you're an aging runner.
Carter admits he's more of a walker these days than a runner. But Smith, well, Smith has a variety of things that keep him running.
He says it's not genetics and points out his parents died relatively young, his mother at age 58, his father at 64. He says he has no natural gifts.
But what he does have is a concrete commitment to exercise, to be able to live life in full.
It's a disarming comment, but it's also an excellent and honest point.
In college at the University of Redlands he was a 5-foot-9 point guard on the basketball team. In law school, studying was all consuming. But when UC Hastings College of the Law gave way to being a lawyer, Smith returned to the court of basketball.
He played in city leagues. He played pickup games. And when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed Smith, at age 34, to the municipal bench, the new judge switched to running because he could pack in a tougher workout in less time.
First elected to the superior court bench in 1981, Smith credits physical conditioning more to mind than body and if you are like most mortals the difference is worth understanding.
By problem, Smith is mostly talking about overcoming inertia. His point is that whether you were an athlete in college or a party boy there's always time to get — and stay — healthy.
"Intellectually, you don't know if you can do something," Smith coaches. "But you can't come to it with a negative attitude.
But he also doesn't let what might happen make his decisions. Some days are better than others. And some days are just plain pain.
Still, every now and then, Smith — like all distance runners if they're lucky — glimpses what once was.
Smith's first marathon was in Palos Verdes in 1974 and he estimates he's completed about 120. Some you forget, others are building blocks in your brain.
It is one decade ago, and Smith is at 8,000 feet in Big Bear. He is running something called the Holcomb Valley Trail Run, an ultra-distance race on rugged trails that dwarfs something like the LA Marathon.
That means Smith is in his early 70s — or to put it his way, "semi-advanced middle age." The thin air makes the race even more challenging.
Yet after an hour of running Big Bear, Smith finds himself in the ethereal place runners call the zone, a place where miles melt away, time collapses in on itself and your body moves effortlessly through space.
Instead of watching your step, you feel like you are watching a movie. Instead of running, you float.
Call it into the mystic.
These days, however, this resident of Orange mostly sticks to the Santa Ana River Trail or Chino Hills State Park and, at his very smart wife's request, always runs with a buddy.
"It becomes trickier and trickier the older you get," Smith admits. To stave off injury, he acknowledges he asks a little less from his body. But he pays a penalty for pulling back.
If all goes according to plan this year, Smith figures he'll finish the LA Marathon in about twice the time he ran his fastest-ever marathon, 3 hours, 8 minutes. But speed isn't the goal. It's crossing the finish line.
Smith's statement reminds me of a Dylan Thomas poem that is fuel for the final mile of any marathon at any age.


Janice Spina is an award-winning author with 17 books and counting. She has been writing since she was nine years old.
She loves to create stories for all ages. Her grandchildren are her inspiration to write.
She loves to read and review books, blog, exercise, go to the movies with her husband and spend time with her grandchildren.
She lives in New Hampshire, USA, with her husband who is her illustrator and cover creator.
The Case of the Magical Ivory Elephant is the third book in the Davey & Derek: Junior Detectives series, written by Janice Spina and illustrated by John Spina. While celebrating their eleventh birthday at the Pizza Palace, Davey and Derek Donato's festivities are suddenly interrupted when restaurant staff discover a would-be thief breaking into their gaming machines. The twins later visit their Aunt Gigi, where they learn the story of Tamba – the beloved elephant of an African village, which died after living a full life. Aunt Gigi's living room is filled with mementos of her visit to Africa, including a magical elephant figurine, carved from the elephant's ivory tusk in honor of Tamba's incredible life. On returning home, Davey and Derek find Peter Reynolds – the party-crasher from their pizza party – waiting at their front gate. Peter asks for the twins' assistance regarding the theft of an ivory figurine from the local museum – carved from the same tusk as Aunt Gigi's figurines. With so many suspects to choose from, all with alibis, Davey and Derek are pushed to the limit, trying to solve the case.
Janice Spina's adventurous tale of twins just coming into their magical powers is one of excitement, suspense and mystery. With each chapter's header carrying its own unique illustration, the story is one which can easily be enjoyed by children and adults alike. No stone is left unturned as Davey and Derek are given all the tools they need in order to fully investigate the case. Many exciting surprises are brought to light in The Case of the Magical Ivory Elephant, with more and more magical characters being disclosed as the story progresses. Having read all three of the Davey and Derek novels, I find myself being lured into the story more and more, almost as if ... by magic! I thoroughly enjoyed The Case of the Magical Ivory Elephant, and recommend it to readers of all ages who enjoy the fun, thrill and adventure of two gumshoe detectives, each of whom has the world of magic at their fingertips, whilst trying to solve the most difficult of cases.


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Too many American workers aren't getting the education and training they need to compete in the 21st century. We need to revamp the entire system of educating and employing people. And that system needs to ensure equitable access to opportunities and lifelong learning.
Learning Is a Lifelong Process: Q&A with V. Darleen Opfer
As vice president and director of RAND Education and Labor, V. Darleen Opfer oversees a research portfolio that ranges from early childhood education to retirement planning. In this interview, she discusses what she learned from being a teacher, the need for evidence-based practices, and the importance of lifelong learning in today's labor market.
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Syrian Skills: A Missed Opportunity
Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon are finding ways to get by. But many refugees are not able to fully use their skills, and that is a lost opportunity both for the Syrians and the host countries.
What the Shutdown Revealed About the Fragility of American Life
The government shutdown highlighted the lack of resilience many suffer from when they encounter unexpected economic events. The median American family has been losing ground for decades. Policy responses to address this situation will be complex and difficult, but are much needed.
State of the Union, OxyContin, Appalachia: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on insights from RAND after the State of the Union, public-health impacts of reformulating OxyContin, STEM jobs in Appalachia, and more.
Educators and Employers Could Align Efforts to Fill STEM Jobs
Middle-skills STEM workers are in high demand in the oil and natural gas industry, but they need the proper training and credentials. Better collaboration between employers and colleges could bridge the gap between the skills and knowledge employers seek and what instructors emphasize.
Understanding Researcher Mobility
This research brief sets out the results from a 2017 survey of researchers in the UK and a review of the literature around patterns, drivers and barriers, and benefits and consequences of international mobility for researchers.
Supporting Middle-Skills STEM Workforce Development: Analysis of Workplace Skills in Demand and Education Institutions' Curricular Offerings in the Oil and Gas Sector
In this report, researchers examine the alignment of college STEM education with the needs of employers in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, as well as STEM areas in which college students need more support.
Work vs. Family: How Some Countries Lead the Way in Flexible Working
Many families in the European Union struggle to balance their professional and domestic responsibilities. Harmony between work and home could be an important way to help children and adults and promote a more prosperous society at large. More action could be taken to support work-life balance for working parents.
The Effect of Lower Transaction Costs on Social Security Disability Insurance Application Rates and Participation
We compare Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) application rates across counties with varying degrees of access to high-speed internet beforehand after iClaim, a 2009 innovation that streamlined the online application process.
Don't Lose Sight of the Nameless Government Workers
There are 800,000 government employees that aren't being paid during the partial U.S. government shutdown. These workers play a critical role in making America safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.
Design of Air Force Human Resource Management Governance Board Membership and Processes for Optimal Force Management: Preliminary Discussion and Recommendations
The Air Force has employed two governance structures to oversee human resource development and human resource management. This Perspective reviews the two structures, with analysis of strengths and weaknesses informed by viewpoints of experts.
Supporting the Development of a Vision and Strategic Plan for Zhejiang University's Academic Medical Center
This report identifies and assesses potential models of organization to help achieve the goals of Zhejiang University's academic medical center.
Access to Medical Treatment for Injured Workers in California: Year 2 Annual Report
This Year 2 report updates the trends in care for injured workers in California that were examined in a Year 1 report -- all part of a three-year state effort. This study uses data from claims, a physician survey, and Medical Provider Network listings.
Wage Loss Monitoring for Injured Workers in California's Workers' Compensation System: 2014–2015 Injury Year Findings (Second Interim Report)
This report presents new estimates of wage loss for workers in California who suffered a workplace injury or illness in 2014-2015 and compares these estimates with trends before, during, and after the Great Recession.
For One Syrian Refugee, the Research Strikes Close to Home
Fadia Afashe came to the United States to study public policy in 2011, with every intention of eventually going home to Syria. But when her fellowship ended a year later, the possibility of returning home had vanished. She became a refugee success story, but a path for others is needed.
Training in Psychotherapy (TIP) Tool: Supporting the Availability of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies in Community Settings
Evidence-based psychotherapies improve symptoms and speed recovery from mental health conditions. The Training in Psychotherapy (TIP) tool helps ensure that psychotherapy training meets the needs of providers and supports competent delivery.
Unequal Opportunity: Barriers to Employment in the Department of Defense Civilian Workforce
Summarizes results of research into representation of Hispanic people and people with targeted disabilities among the Department of Defense civilian workforce.
Win-Win Solutions for Syrian Refugees—and Their Hosts
Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan have generously received the majority of Syrian refugees. Many are working, but their sheer numbers have strained local labor markets, public services, and social harmony. Which policies might help create new economic opportunities for both the refugees and host-nation workers?
Representation of Persons with Targeted Disabilities: An Analysis of Barriers to Employment in the Department of Defense Civilian Workforce
This report identifies employment barriers within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that persons with targeted disabilities (PWTD) may experience and recommends actions DoD can take to increase employment of PWTD in its civilian workforce.
Syrian Refugees Can Add Value to Middle Eastern Labor Markets
Over 5 million Syrian refugees entered Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan due to the civil war. This has placed a severe strain on the host countries' labor markets, public services, and social cohesion. The future prosperity and stability of the region rests on creating mutually beneficial economic opportunities for Syrian refugees and host-country workers.
Syrian Refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon Can Add Value to Local Economies
Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon could better contribute to local economies if they were trained for middle-skill jobs and were able to relocate to areas with manufacturing firms that need trained workers.
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Logic and fairness might suggest if a farmer buys soybeans from a feed mill then plants them to grow a new crop, he'd be within his rights.
After all, seeds are seeds, and he did pay for them.
But the U.S. Supreme Court this week disagreed on both counts, ruling that patent law protects the rights of the original producer of the genetically engineered seeds that produced the soybeans the farmer bought and planted.
In their ruling issued Monday, the justices said Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman essentially denied Monsanto's right to a profit by not buying its patented Roundup Ready seeds. Instead, he used their offspring to grow his crops for eight seasons.
Monsanto controls 90 percent of the genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybean market in the United States. Bowman wanted to avoid paying for Monsanto's bean-seed technology sold under license by various seed companies. He guessed correctly that bean plants sprouted from common feed mill seeds containing Monsanto's patented genetic alterations would be resistant to the weed killer like their parent seeds.
Buying soybeans from a mill or using the prodigy of your crop is much less expensive than buying patented and licensed seed beans each year. But it's not legal, the courts now have declared.
In 2007, a lower court also sided with Monsanto and ordered Bowman to pay the company $84,456 in damages.
The farmer appealed, and the Supreme Court concluded Monsanto's patent for its genetically modified bean seed extends through multiple generations, including beans sold for feed or other commercial uses.
Writing for the court in a rare unanimous decision, liberal Justice Elena Kagan said, "Bowman planted Monsanto's patented soybeans solely to make and market replicas of them, thus depriving the company of the reward patent law provides for the sale of each article. Patent exhaustion provides no haven for such conduct."
The court deliberately chose not to overstep the narrow issues the Monsanto case raised. Justices thus declined to apply their support for Monsanto's patent rights to other challenges involving genetic modifications that inevitably will end up before the court some day. Those questions include who owns self-replicating technologies involving altered DNA and the emerging field of nanotechnologies.
Not everyone is happy with the court's decision. But farmers, many who are struggling to get their crops in the cold, wet ground this May, seem willing to accept the price of buying patented seed each year for the advantages they get from genetic engineering, from bigger yields to lower costs for chemicals.
As one southeast Iowa farmer explained it, the general consensus seems to be "you have to pay to play."


The speed is a major factor that can influence your search engine rankings. If your website loads fast, Google may place your pages on the top of the results and send more traffic to them.
Page loading time is crucial not just for the search engines. It is applicable to your direct traffic too. People will wait for a few milliseconds to load a webpage. After that, they will move to another destination having similar contents. Such a sudden departure will affect your user experience negatively and increase the bounce rate.
There are several things that cause slow speed issue on your site. The quality of hosting, image size, database optimization, and junk files are the common reasons for slow speed. Choose a fast and reliable hosting company who can deliver pages in lightning speed across the device types with 99.99% uptime. If your hosting provider does its job, we can tweak other parts with the help of plugins.
Today we're going to list 10 best WordPress plugins to speed up your website and rank higher in 2019. These plugins are of top-quality and can optimize your pages for ultimate performance to provide a better user-friendly experience to your readers. They will optimize your database, clear cache, reduce image size and do much more to improve the page speed and traffic.
WP Rocket is a premium caching plugin for WordPress. It is packed with several exceptional features like various types of caching, database optimization, minification, lazy load, and many others. The plugin is easy to set up and you will see improvements in the page speed within a few seconds.
W3 Total Cache is the most comprehensive caching plugin that you can use in WordPress for free. It provides several ways to optimize your website for enterprise-level performance and reduce the page loading time. You can clear cache, minify files and page types, and reduce download times using CDN integration of the plugin. It is a perfect tool to rectify Google Page speed insights errors and improves the user experience across the devices.
WP Fastest Cache is a simple cache cleaner for WordPress. It is easy to use and you can clear cache, minify files, and perform other tweaks to reduce page loading time and speed up your WordPress blog. The plugin will delete your junk files when a post is published, updated or you can do it manually in one-click through the admin bar menu.
Borlabs Cache is another premium catching plugin to increase the speed of your WordPress website. It is simple, clean, and configure the plugin as own. It can cache your files, optimize database, lazyload images, and do several other things to reduce your page loading time and boost rankings.
Hummingbird is a popular plugin to optimize your WordPress database and speed up the website. It comes with advanced controls to cache, minify, and compress files, optimize images and other assets to improve the user experience on your site.
WP-Optimize is a great plugin to remove unnecessary data from your WordPress installation and run it at top gear. It can detect the garbage files that consume your server space and reduce the page speed. Set a schedule to clear them automatically or do it yourself in a single click from top of your admin menu.
WP Super Cache is another popular and light-weight caching plugin for WordPress. It will generate static HTML files from your blog contents and serve those files instead of processing heavy PHP scripts. Thus this plugin can reduce your server response time and speed up the site.
Smush is an intelligent solution to compress your images automatically and reduce their size. Set a default image size for different parts of the website and the plugin will do the rest. It will optimize your images in lossless quality and reduce their loading time significantly. Unlike other image optimization plugins, it also allows you to compress images in bulk quantity without spending a single penny.
a3 Lazy Load is a simple plugin to speed up your WordPress website instantly. You can use it to lazy load images, video, scripts, and others which will become visible only when a reader scrolls down to them. It is highly customizable and lets you define the lazy load behavior in each part of the site like content areas, widgets, post thumbnail, gravatars etc.
Autoptimize is a perfect plugin to optimize and speed up your WordPress site easily. It can minify, aggregate and cache your template files, defer scripts to the footer, optimize images and videos, combine Google fonts and remove query strings to enhance the performance of your website.


When I took Anthropology at university, I studied the text Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman.
I learned that '!' denoted the sharp clucking sound Nisa and members of her tribe made, which was a feature of their language system.
On this occasion, many exclamation points would be appropriate, although they would have no relevance to the !Kung tribe's vocalisations. Instead, the many exclamation points I'd want to use in this post but won't (because it would be tacky and unprofessional) would symbolise my utter joy and excitement.
Filmspotting mentioned Love, Canberra in the latest episode of their podcast!!!!!! That's Episode #577: Knight of Cups / FS Madness / May Marathon #3 - Mikey and Nicky!!!!!
The back story to this is, having been a listener of Filmspotting for the past year or so, I was well aware that Filmspotting is sponsored by Squarespace. In being so, Adam and Josh are in the habit of giving sites created using Squarespace a plug. So I wrote in, told them about the short-lived film podcast a friend and I did that had been inspired by Filmspotting, and said that I would be extremely grateful if they could give Love, Canberra a shoutout - because I've used Squarespace to create the website.
And I noticed a massive spike in my listenership.
The power of podcast sponsorship!


Visual Discrimination: the ability to distinguish similarities and differences between objects such as letters or shapes. In reading, this skill helps children distinguish between similarly spelled words, such as was/saw, then/when or run/ran.
Visual Sequencing: the ability to determine or remember the order of symbols, words or objects. This skill is very important for spelling. A child with a problem with sequencing may add, omit or switch letters within words. He or she may subvocalize (whisper or talk aloud) while writing. Recognizing and remembering patterns may prove difficult.
Figure-Ground: the ability to locate a single object within a complex background. This skill helps children from getting lost in details. A child with poor figure-ground becomes easily confused with too much print on the page, affecting his or her concentration and attention. He or she may also have difficulty scanning text to locate specific information.
Visual-Motor Processing: using feedback from the eyes to coordinate movement of the other parts of the body.
Visual Memory: the ability to recall what is seen. This skill helps children remember what they read and see by processing information through their short-term memory and filter that information into their long-term memory. Children with poor visual memory may struggle with comprehension. They often subvocalize, or softly whisper to themselves, as they read in order to help auditory compensation. They may have difficulty remembering what a word looks like or fail to recognize the same word on a different page. They may also take longer copying assignments because they must frequently review the text.
Visual Closure: the ability to know what an object is when only parts of it are visible. This skill helps children read and comprehend; their eyes do not have to individually process every letter in a word for them to quickly recognize the word by sight. This skill can also help children recognize inferences and predict outcomes. Children with poor visual closure may have difficulty completing a thought. They may also confuse similar objects or words, especially words with close beginnings or endings.
Visual Spatial Relationships: understanding the position and relationship of objects to oneself and knowing right and left. Improving these skills improves laterality and directionality. This skill helps children in understanding relationships and recognizing underlying concepts, and is closely related to the problem solving and conceptual skills required for higher-level science and math.
Visual Form Constancy: the ability to mentally manipulate forms and visualize the resulting outcomes. This skill helps children distinguish differences in size, shape and orientation. Children with poor form-constancy may frequently reverse letters and numbers. This impedes the ability to learn the alphabet, recognize words, and the understanding of basic math concepts.


The Centro de Preservação Cultural (CPC) was established in 2002 as an organ of the Pró-Reitoria de Cultura e Extensão Universitária of the University of São Paulo. The CPC inherited from the former Comissão do Patrimônio Cultural, established in 1986, the role of promoting actions and reflections about the preservation of the University's cultural heritage, including its monuments, collections and memories. It is responsible for the formulation of guidelines and policies for the preservation of the university heritage; the inventory of USP's cultural property; fostering and developing upgrading programs and documentation about it and advising processes of restoration, intervention, incorporation and alienation.
In 2004, CPC-USP headquarters – formerly located in the University campus – moved to a historic building in Bixiga, which enabled the increase in cultural activities and university extension, and has since introduced on its agenda actions of museum comunication, heritage education, dissemination of expertise and cultural socialization through research, workshops, courses, lectures, symposia, exhibitions, guided tours and artistic performances. These activities have been contributing to deepen and diversify the links between the university and society.
To access the Centro de Preservação Cultural, click here.
Its current headquarters, the Casa de Dona Yayá, a building labeled by municipal and state authorities, was transferred to USP in 1969 as part of the inheritance of Sebastiana Melo Freire, known as Dona Yayá. The domicile has an eclectic style, which was typical of the architecture from the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century; it was built on the remains of a brick cottage from 1870. In the 1920's, this property became Dona Yayá's household, who, since then, showed signs of psychological disorders. The house was adapted to her particular medical conditions, and turned into a private psychiatric asylum, until her death in 1961. Since the house was incorporated into the University's patrimony, surveys and historical studies were developed, guiding its preservation and culminating in the CPC-USP proposal, which aimed at ensuring its public destination as a place of memory, where its uses and activities should necessarily be linked to its historicity. Its restoration earned the Prêmio Rodrigo Mello Franco de Andrade, an award given by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico Nacional (IPHAN), in 2004.
The CPC-USP was recently reorganized and structured in areas that facilitated the division of responsibilities, the coordination of investments, the continuity and coherence among actions, the compatibility between the organ's objectives and the competencies and talents represented in its staff: Construction, Sets and Sites; Archives and Collections; Education and Memory; Promotion and Cultural Interaction; Documentation and Information.


I suffer from anxiety. When I was 15 I started having panic attacks. One day I was just sitting at the table and I started stressing.
I blame my father. He's in jail and he's never really been in my life. It's always just been me and my mother, and I feel neglected as his only daughter. Why does he do more for other people than he does for his own child? So I started shutting people out and I became more distant. I don't associate with anybody at school. I sit by myself. I just want to be left alone. My grades started going down because of the pressure, too. Then sometimes I can't deal with my emotions and it affects my work. I can be sitting then I get, like, overexcited. I remember one time I was writing and someone told me something and it made me mad. I felt my hand shaking and they just kept going on. I tried counting to 10 - it didn't work. Eventually I just walked out of class and called my mom to come get me. I wonder if my teacher had a clue of what was going on with me?
People will tell me stuff about my father and I defend him so much. Everybody knows him - I just don't know the true him. Most people at school push me. I've already been in two fights over my father! Why push somebody when you know they're at their limit? At my school, there are academic counselors, but not a regular counselor you can talk to. They don't even have a nurse! They'll just give you some water to calm you down. My mom is very helpful, though. She'll be like, "You can't fight everyone who says something about your dad!"
I did go to the hospital once. I sat there for what felt like forever. I was just waiting around like, somebody come see me. I'm about to lose my mind up in here! In my mind, I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, I can't calm myself. I feel like I'm about to die.' They had all these things hooked up to me and the doctor said my problem comes from stress. He said if it got any worse there was the possibility of death, but he couldn't do much because I was too young to prescribe meds. So what do I do? Sometimes I write poetry; it calms me. I also like to be outside with beautiful scenery...the breeze...the water. I love being surrounded by water - even though I can't swim. I started taking kickboxing classes, too, because I built up so much hatred in my heart. It was a way to get out my anger, frustration, and depression.
The stress is less of what it was now that I'm 18, but every now and then when I think about my dad, that's when it affects me the most. I had a best friend that used to help me with everything. But when we were freshman, she died in her sleep on her 16th birthday. After Katrina when I evacuated to Texas, I had a counselor in elementary school. But since I've been back in New Orleans, I haven't had anyone like that to talk to. My school probably would rush me to a hospital or something, but really we need a nurse. I've been there since 5th grade and I've never heard of us having a nurse. I've thought about going to see someone to talk to, cause I need the help. I want to feel better. I want to get all the things off my chest. But I'm worried I'll get too emotional. The other big problem is that I don't really know where to go to get help.


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Kyle Austin Embraces Single Lifestyle on New Album 'Out-Law'
If you're reading this and following the "status quo," there's a good chance society expects you to be settled down right about now, with a ring on your finger and building a life with your significant other.
But what if that's not where you fall? Kyle Austin has delivered an album that doesn't fall into the trope of wallowing in sorrow over being single, it embraces it. Things can't be rushed, and if the right one hasn't come along yet, sometimes it's best to wait things out.
In doing that, Austin marries a myriad of influences on his self-produced album, ranging from traditional country to rock to punk and beyond. Having played all of the instruments on the album himself as he navigated through quarantine, Austin's touch is all over Out-Law, and to that point, makes it feel genuine.
We chatted with Austin about his family ties in music, recording during quarantine, all about Out-Law and what he hopes listeners take away from it, his plans for the rest of the year and more!
Pro Country: Who are some of your biggest musical influences that have shaped your sound?
Kyle Austin: A lot of my country influence comes from traditional country, but I have lots of genres that I love. I try to make it all relevant in the music that I make, because if I'm not making music I enjoy myself, then why am I making it, you know?
I'd say out of the modern country scene, a lot of my influences are Eric Church, HARDY, Morgan Wallen, Tyler Childers and Colter Wall. I also receive influences from Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Keith Whitley, as I've been playing country music by names like that since I first picked up a guitar.
PC: Your bio mentions that you began playing music in high school. What was it about music that connected with you at that point in your life?
KA: I actually got my first guitar when I was 10 years old. My grandfather played and wrote country songs, and him and I would perform every week at some different retirement village in South Western Kansas, as well as putting on a show once a month at our local Community Building for anybody who would want to come and listen or join in! He and I picked our guitars just about every night together, and he showed me everything he knew about music, writing, or anything really.
I started performing with my brother around high school age, in a rock band, playing in local bars and stuff. We continued to do that through college for a bit until I fell back to my roots, writing and performing country.
PC: At what point did you realize that you wanted to pursue a career in music?
KA: I've always wanted music to be my career, but I viewed it as such an unattainable goal, unless I was massively famous somehow. Telling myself that lie led me to move down other pathways to what I viewed as "real jobs." I did construction for a while and had my own company until I was on my way to a jobsite when it was raining, my trailer hydroplaned and pulled me off the highway. I broke my back in two places, and was on bed rest for a while. I started making videos of me playing and singing, and I was getting some attention from it during that time. After a few months, I tried to get back into construction, but it was difficult. I had picked up a few shows here and there and that started paying my bills, instead of my construction. At that point, I knew I couldn't go back to construction knowing I could pay my bills doing what I love, so I've dove in head-first ever since!
PC: What emotions were you feeling as you were preparing to release your first full-length album, Out-Law, this July?
KA: I was completely overwhelmed at the time. Quarantine was going strong, I was out of shows, and I was doubling down on my internet presence, trying to make sure I could pay my bills somehow, or keep growing even though I wasn't out performing for people. I was doing fully-produced covers and videos for YouTube, on top of writing skits, shooting and editing videos for that, doing three Tik Toks a day, shooting and editing a vlog, doing live performances on Instagram and Facebook, as well as a morning show I started on Twitch every weekday morning from 9-11am called "Coffee Chords and Country." I had set the deadline for July 15th, and it had come to the end of June, and the only song I had started or finished was the single I had already released. I was so overwhelmed and stressed, I just had to stop everything. I put a halt on everything and recorded/wrote the rest of the album, finishing on July 12th, I think? The last three days, I had three unwritten songs, so I had to write and fully produce three songs in those three days. One of which became the title track "Out-Law." Looking back, it honestly wasn't handled in the best manner, but given my circumstances, I am extremely proud of how everything came out, as I produced and performed all the instruments on the album!
PC: What went into the decision to release "Kearny County Kid" as the lead single from Out-Law?
KA: "Kearny County Kid" is what I call my autobiography song. It's all about growing up and living in a small town. The way people talk about everything that they've watched pass them by, be it opportunities, girls, whatever the case. Being stuck back there, it's hard to let go of the past because it's all you have to hold on to. There's also nothing to do back there but drink, so that's all we do. We sit in a circle, drink and talk, so it's kind of surprising to people when they drink with anybody from our town, because it's hard to keep up. We're born and bred drinkers, because that's all we ever did for fun.
This song also talks about my grandfather, who was sheriff of my hometown for 20 years or so, and his and I's experience together. Playing guitar most nights, writing songs together. He taught me how to play guitar, and write and sing country songs, so it's only right I included him in a song that talks about where I come from.
PC: "Anything but Being Here" is the top-streamed song from Out-Law so far. What do you think it is about the song that is allowing it to connect with listeners the way it has?
KA: It's an extremely fun song about golfing, fishing and drinking; three things that I'm sure anybody who listens to country music probably enjoys. It's also about self-care in a way, like there's too many things out there in the world dragging you down, so when it's your time to be free, do what you want to do, do what makes you relax and enjoy yourself. Every situation has a bright side if you look for it, like a girl leaving you or getting let go from a job. You have more free time for yourself! Who doesn't want that? It's also the first song on the album, which has really helped it's play count.
PC: "Out-Law" is one of the standout tracks on its album. Why did you decide to make that song the title track for the album?
KA: It was by stroke of luck, really. There's a lot of cowboy imagery in the album, with "Tie One On," "Lone Rider" and "Out-Law." I grew up watching westerns with a real-deal, tried and true cowboy, my grandfather. It had a lot of influence on me, and it was mostly what he sang about, being a cowboy.
This song just came to me in an instant. I thought of the idea of breaking a girl's heart, so her family doesn't want you around anymore, so you're no longer an in-law, you're an out-law. And I just thought about her family members being full of hate about me, "Her daddy says I'm gonna get it bad, Her sister says she's twice as mad, her mamma don't wanna see me around…" and by that four seconds of thinking of just her family members hating me, I had pretty much the entire chorus written!
It's a song about being single, and also included the cowboy imagery like I said with a lot of the phrases like, "now I'm an unWANTED man" and "Dead or alive, she don't care at all" stuff like that, that pertained to outlaws from the wild west that I could tie into being about a girl and her family not wanting me around anymore. It's REALLY similar to what it's like breaking up in a small town also, because the whole town picks a side.
So with the cowboy imagery, the song about being single and everything in between, it seemed like the best candidate to really speak what the album was about.
PC: "Lone Rider" is one of our favorite songs on Out-Law. Can you talk about the inspiration behind that song?
KA: I've had my heart broken a few times (as anybody has), but it seemed like in the relationships I've had, the girl didn't want me for who I was, they wanted me for who they thought they could change me into. Most times, I'd give into their wishes and change things about me that I knew they'd like, but ultimately, it wasn't me. So that's tainted my views in a way about how to go about relationships; they have to like me for who I am. People need to change and grow of course, but you also have to stay true to yourself. But it's kind of developed a viewpoint of "maybe there's not somebody out there for me," and I know other people have felt this way too. So the song really talks about it from the perspective of, "Maybe I don't have a shotgun rider, I'm just a lone rider, and girls think they can change my mind, but I'm not who they want me to be," kinda thing. It's the most personal I've ever been in a song; this one was a tough one to write/put out there, but I'm really glad I did, because with this song specifically, I can tell when it resonates with someone, and they really understand and feel the lyrics as if I wrote it about them. That's an extremely good feeling to receive on my end; that I connected with somebody in that way through my music.
PC: Throughout Out-Law, you feature a classic, 90s country-esque sound, while on other moments, you feature a sound that feels closer to southern rock. Is it at all important for you to have that level of sonic diversity in your music at this point in your career?
KA: I think so. I think it's important to show all of your sides and let the music speak for itself. I get a lot of inspiration from other genres like pop-punk, pop music, traditional country, 90s country, 90s rock, rap; you name it, it's in my Spotify, so I like to show that kind of diversity, because like I said, I'm also making the music for myself, you know? How can you create music you don't like? I think it makes it to where you have a song for everybody, and you can connect with more people that way. It's also interesting to see which ones are people's favorites, because it's always a different answer from everyone!
PC: What do you hope listeners take away from Out-Law after listening all the way through?
KA: This whole album is about being single (and drinking of course), and the not so hidden message behind it all is it's okay to be single. Don't rush into something because society tells you you're supposed to be married by 24. You're not. There's no "supposed to," take your time, learn to love yourself, find the person who loves you for who you are, because going through life miserable is the most absolute worst thing on the planet you could do.
I think I covered a lot of what it's like emotionally being single, whether it be loneliness, acceptance, freedom, sorrow, pride, whatever it may be, you can find it on this album, as well as bangers about partying or getting drunk [laughs].
PC: 2020 has altered many plans of artists so far. Of the things you can control, what are your plans for the rest of the year?
KA: I'm gonna try to really push this album, build my live show and build my social media platforms. I have an amazing band backing me with really great, talented guys, and I just hope to grow more and more with them. I really love creating and sharing my process, as well as the behind the scenes of projects I'm working on, or even just hanging out with my friends. I also really love to make people laugh, so if I can get a chuckle out of somebody, or make somebody smile, I did something right that day.
*Images courtesy of Kyle Austin Facebook page*
**Visit Kyle's website**
***Find Kyle's music featured on The Best of Pro Country playlist!***
Dave Fenley Releases Moving Cover of "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days)"
Drew Moreland Offers Honest Life Perspective on New EP 'Feeling Good Again'


Upon learning of her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, Lyn had so many questions and concerns rushing through her mind. One of the biggest was … "how do I tell my children?". You are sure to laugh (and maybe even cry) as you travel on the roller-coaster journey with this high-spirited mother daughter team, hearing from both of them about how the breast cancer ride affected their relationship. The special bond between this mother and daughter is unquestionable.
Lyn Cusick is a Brisbane native; born and raised in Brisbane's beautiful north. After completing high school and spending a decade working at a local accounting firm she took a sabbatical and travelled abroad where she met her husband, settled in the USA and had two children.
During her 14 years in America she studied, became a special needs teacher and worked at an Elementary School in a diverse region of Southern California.
Upon her return to Australia in 2007 she took a different direction and dove into the world of real estate where she currently is enjoying her role as an executive assistant at Raine & Horne Commercial.
Liv Cusick is 13 years old and came to live in Australia as a 4 year old. She is in her first year of high school at St John Fisher College and loves the Brisbane Broncos, Justin Bieber, spending time with her friends and playing netball. She hopes to be a lawyer or vet when she finishes school.
This event is proudly sponsored by BNCC member Maureen Cuskelly, Michael Hill ChermsideAll raffle proceeds will go to National Breast Cancer Foundation.


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New film looks at late-in-life coming out
The gay-father/straight-son comedy-drama "Beginners" is far too twee in its opening reel. In several scenes, Oliver (Ewan McGregor) talks to his late dad Hal's (Christopher Plummer) adorable Jack Russell Terrier (who answers in too-cute subtitles). When he describes in a smug voiceover, "This is the president" or "This is what beauty is," the screen shows an image of who/what he explains. Much of it is too clever by half. But stick with it. "Beginners," opening today at the Ritz Theatres, is one of those rare films that actually improves as it unspools. By the end, viewers may need tissues.
The film, written and directed by Mike Mills (see sidebar Q&A), is based on Mills' own experiences with his father, who came out at age 75 and, a few years later, succumbed to lung cancer. The strength of "Beginners" is in the believable exchanges between parent and child as they each navigate love, sex and dating. By the time Hal calls Oliver to ask him about the house music he heard in a nightclub, the film has moved beyond its preciousness. Hal is attempting to bond with his adult son, even if he sometimes embarrasses Oliver.
Whether audiences laugh or groan at such moments will likely depend on their own experiences. "Beginners" is a highly personal story. Mills tries to make it universal, even if at times he tries too hard.
Hal doesn't quite come screaming out of the closet, but he is out and proud, sporting a rainbow scarf around his neck. A later discussion Hal and Oliver have over the meaning of a rainbow flag is, on the surface, about gay awareness. But this scene has considerable power when Oliver finds the flag while he's cleaning out his father's papers. Such moments plumb the unexpected emotional depths of "Beginners." Things that seem silly or corny at first often take on greater significance when remembered.
Another exchange that is initially, well, queer, involves Oliver trying to inform Hal's younger boyfriend, Andy (Goran Visnjic) about Hal's stage-four cancer. However, Andy disarms and distracts Oliver by talking about sex and the fear straight men have of gay guys. It's an awkward moment but, later, the two men share a touching embrace that overcomes the gulf between them.
Mills nicely parallels Oliver and Hal's respective romances (which unfold years apart) by juxtaposing moments such as Hal and Andy kissing with Oliver kissing Anna (Mélanie Laurent), an actress he starts seeing. The way both father and son start coming out of their shells is the film's not-so-subtle theme. Oliver fears commitment because of how he viewed his parents' marriage. Observing Hal's new romance, Oliver learns how to love and be loved. It's effective and affecting.
And the emotional pull of the story stems from the way the characters are presented; there is no pandering to stereotypes. When Anna talks to Oliver about his sadness, it is genuine; he is in mourning. Hal's candid speech about his wife proposing to him is revelatory. When Hal talks about wanting to "fix" his sexuality, it is an experience many gay men who get married, or date women, share. Mills displays a perspicacity in "Beginners" that sneaks up on viewers.
This is not to say the film doesn't have unwieldy moments. Scenes of young Oliver with his mother (Mary Page Keller) seem too ready to vilify her, which is unfair.
However, "Beginners" is absorbing because viewers will care about the characters. They will want Oliver and Anna to be together. And it's hard not to tear up in an almost-throwaway moment in which Oliver observes his father's nurse rubbing gel into Hal's hair. The unspoken love between father and son here is undeniable.
The performances by McGregor and Plummer also contribute to the film's value. McGregor is entirely unselfconscious as Oliver, and his everyman quality conveys the emotions he has some trouble articulating but no difficulty expressing with his body language. Plummer is also fantastic, never making Hal a camp caricature. His feelings about (gay) liberation may be a bit in-your-face, but the actor never makes them over the top.
Ultimately, "Beginners" is the kind of warm film gay parents should see with their kids and queer kids should see with their parents. It illustrates the power of acceptance without ever being cloying — even if it is a bit twee.


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Home Politics Foreign Policy US Revealing Its Ugly Face by Cracking Down on Anti-Racism Protests: Iran
US Revealing Its Ugly Face by Cracking Down on Anti-Racism Protests: Iran
A senior Iranian military official has hit out at the United States for discriminating against the people of colour as well as its police brutality.
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi touched upon US President Donald Trump's racist behaviour as well as US police's inhumane violence against its citizens and black people.
"Unlike its false human rights slogans, the arrogant US government has revealed its ugly and inhumane face more than ever these days by confronting public protests, and has destabilized the pillars of its false democracy by resorting to the most violent methods," said General Shekarchi, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
"The arrogant US Establishment is witnessing widespread unrest and riots across the nation these days while White House officials are contributing to many problems in the region and across the globe by pursuing interventionist policies," he added.
The top general touched upon false news spread by some Western media where they blamed Iranian border guards for the deaths of a number of Afghan nationals on the Iranian border.
"Such false reports are aimed at harming cordial relations between Iran and Afghanistan," he noted.
"Iran has hosted more than three million Afghan refugees over the past three decades, and deep-rooted religious and ethnic bonds [between the two nations] have left no doubt that some divisive moves cannot serve as a hurdle to the sustenance of these bonds," he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, General Shekarchi referred to the US Treasury Department's farcical move to put on its sanctions list the name of several Iranian officials and military commanders, including the interior minister and the police chief.
"Such troublesome moves which are made out of desperation will not be able to harm, even slightly, the willpower of people and officials of the Islamic Establishment when it comes to countering the hegemonic and domineering temperament of the US," he said.
"The hollow grandeur of the United States is falling apart, and the sound of its bones breaking is heard more clearly than ever," he noted.
General Shekarchi said the widespread unrest across the US and the divergence of Washington's traditional allies are a testament to the truthfulness of his remarks.
Iran-US Relations
US 'Political Isolation' Legacy of Trump: Iran President
Biden Has Chance to Open Up New Horizon for Ties with Iran: Spokesman
Iran Blacklists Trump, Nine Other US Officials for 'Acts of Terror'
Biden Must Return to Commitments as First Step to Win Iran's Trust: Spokesman
Iran Not After War with US: FM Zarif
Ebony June 1, 2020 At 02:14
Black people been living in hell in America, with a systematic racist government that only care about cheap labor. When the corona virus first met our shores, the health system failed to meet the needs of the most vunerable populations which was disproportionately people of color. As a result many black people died and left in trucks for weeks due to overcrowded morgues. The continuation of mass confusion is the norm and the total opposite of what the current president cabinet's motto is. If that's not enough we have watched time and time again the police kill black men and women in our streets. Perpetuating violence in communities of color is all too common so much that many black youth loss the will to live. It breaks my heart considering we are nothing to America after our ancestors fought and built on a land that was taken from Indians. We have to act like nothing is happening only to live. Thanks for reporting our fight for life and basic rights. #FeelTrapped


Being able to quickly and easily determine which preventive maintenance is due and overdue is one of the most important issues in tracking and controlling preventive maintenance. A complete schedule of preventive maintenance, for any time period, can be pulled using EZ Maintenance Web equipment maintenance software. A user can easily view Maintenance Due schedules By Equipment, By Date or By Usage.
Clicking on "Maintenance Due" brings you to this screen, which defaults to displaying equipment by name.
Maintenance Due Sorted By Equipment lists the equipment to be maintained, and the preventive maintenance due for each equipment unit. For any Equipment Name selected, you will see a list of all its pending preventive maintenance. Projected maintenance due and open Work Orders are viewed here.
Search functions assist in quickly finding equipment from the list. Clicking on "Search" brings you to a page with a wide variety of possible search criteria.
Quick Search You can utilize the "Quick Search" functions on the right hand side of the screen to search for equipment by work order number, internal control number, serial number. You can even further refine your results by displaying the results by selecting to view equipment that is Due Today, Due Previous, or all Maintenance Due equipment.
Scan a Barcode to Locate Select the Barcode scan format, then scan the equipment Barcode, and click Locate. The particular equipment piece you've scanned will be displayed.
Create or edit a Work Order for a preventive maintenance event by first selecting the event from the list, then clicking the Create/Edit Work Order button. A preventive maintenance Work Order is then created and a Work Order Number is assigned automatically.
Clicking on a piece of equipment displays the previously created work orders in the bottom half of the screen. You can assign these work orders to individuals from the drop-down list provided.
Calendar creates a visual agenda of preventive maintenance events, which are past due, due today, this week, this month, etc., by selecting the specific date range you wish to view.
Next Due Date You can see when the next maintenance due event is scheduled for a particular piece of equipment by selecting it. In the bottom half of the screen, you will see the list of open work orders. The far right column is labeled for the next maintenance due event.
Notes & Exceptions fields allow the supervisor to enter notes as to what was done, or if there were any variances. Both fields accept a great deal of typed information for precise note sharing.
Performed By establishes accountability for the equipment's preventive maintenance history.
Approved By Only a supervisor with the proper password may sign off or close a Work Order.
Assigned To allows a manager to assign the work order to a specific employee.
Labor Hours, Materials Cost & Equipment Down Time are entered by the supervisor closing out the Work Order.
Materials, Operations, Parts are automatically entered based on set up of the Maintenance Profile.
1. How do we track what work was actually done and when?
All completed work orders in EZ Maintenance Web go into the maintenance history. In the maintenance history, you can look up work orders and see, among other things, what materials were used, what parts were serviced or replaced, what operations were performed, and who performed and who approved the work.
3. Can we enter both detailed instructions on how the scheduled maintenance or service is to be performed and the parts and materials required?
Yes, and a work order can be printed listing all the procedures taken, the materials used, and the parts that were serviced or replaced.
4. Can we bar code various equipment so operators can simply swipe the bar code when they're working on a specific item to bring up that item in EZ Maintenance Web?
Yes. EZ Maintenance Web will not only let you scan equipment with barcodes into the software, but also has a feature that allows you to print barcodes for easy scanning into the application in the future.


Merlin staff collected more than £1,500 in arrears from customers in its first ever arrears blitz day, as the housing association continues to drive down its arrears levels.
Local housing provider seeks building and maintenance contractors to help it turn empty houses into quality homes.
The date's set, the venue's booked and this year's summer fun day promises to be our best ever, so book your place now to come and join in the fun.
Have you got what it takes to make us world class?
We're looking for highly skilled individuals to join our Board as Non-Executive Directors.
A group of young people have spent a day making food parcels for the homeless in the first phase of a new initiative designed to improve their money management skills.
Merlin staff have been racing, dancing and baking to raise more than £2,000 for its chosen charity over the past ten months. Now it's asking for suggestions for a local charity to support next year.


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Rackley Considers AM Radio Order Changes
Engineering firm addresses nighttime, daytime and critical hours protections
By Susan Ashworth ⋅
A prominent broadcast engineering firm is asking the Federal Communications Commission to take a closer look at two areas within the AM revitalization order.
In reply comments, du Treil, Lundin & Rackley addresses several wide-ranging issues, including potential changes to Class A protections as well as protections to Class B, C and D stations.
Principal Ronald D. Rackley wrote in support of changes proposed in the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, with the important exception of changes to Class A nighttime and "critical hours" protection standards.
Rackley said the firm stands with the AM Radio Preservation Alliance regarding Class A nighttime and critical hours. He said critical hours protection should not be eliminated for Class As, and suggested a compromise for critical hours at the 0.5 mV/m level that would recognize modern day noise and interference in our comments.
"We believe that such protection, at the 0.5 mV/m level, will preserve the principle of 'service over an extended area' for Class A stations in comparison with other classes of station — without unnecessarily sacrificing primary service that should be possible for other stations because of obsolete requirements for protection of intermittent (in the daytime) and secondary (at night) Class A station contours," Rackley wrote.
Also, he argues, interference at night is overstated when compared to daytime interference. Nighttime interference protection in the United States is based upon a 10 percent-of-the-time skywave propagation model and, therefore, is exaggerated relative to how things are done in the rest of the world. Outside of North America, a 50 percent-of-the-time skywave propagation model is used to calculate interference, he noted.
In reality, good reception is possible in many locations much of the time within secondary nighttime coverage areas of Class A stations despite the presence of calculated or "on paper" interference levels within areas overlapped by 0.025 mV/m 10 percent-of-the-time contours from other stations, the firm said.
Rackley said it is clearly time to eliminate 0.1 mV/m protection requirements for Class A stations, for both daytime groundwave and critical hours propagation modes, from FCC rules. #8220;This will have the effect of allowing improvement in daytime primary signal coverage of other classes of station instead of continuing to protect intermittent 0.1 mV/m service of Class A stations."
However, regarding changes to daytime protection of Class B, C and D stations, the engineering firm said comments by the alliance contained "false and misleading information" about interference potential of the service and interfering groundwave contour changes that are proposed in the FCC's FNPRM.
It emphasized that it was not suggesting the alliance intended to be misleading but said it used an incorrect definition of interference on the maps of Exhibit Q in its comment filing and in references to groundwave-to-groundwave interference elsewhere in its comments. Similar comments questioning the alliance's interference definitions were filed with the FCC by Crawford Broadcasting last week.
"The end result is that much larger areas are claimed to receive interference, under the FCC's proposed plan to change the definitions of groundwave service and interfering field strength levels, than will actually be the case," Rackley wrote.
The group incorrectly labeled all areas within the intersection of the defined service and interfering contours as an interference area, the firm said.
"There is a strong consensus among many consulting engineers who are experienced experts in radio frequency propagation and signal coverage analysis that the daytime protected contour level needs to be increased above the present 0.5 mV/m level."
Instead, Rackley said it would be a fair compromise to have the protection standard for 2 mV/m daytime groundwave service specify avoidance of overlap with co-channel interfering signals of 0.05 mV/m. The engineering firm urged the FCC to adopt this standard for daytime protection along with the other changes proposed in the FNPRM.
"To have a proper perspective on whether concern over station-to-station interference should be the primary consideration for daytime protection changes that are adopted in this rulemaking, one needs only to consider this question: How often do listeners to AM radio stations in the daytime wish to tune to another station, or turn off the radio, because of irritating buzzing and noise instead of because they can hear programming of another station in the background?" Rackley asked.
The firm also replied to comments from DTS and the broadcast consulting engineering firm of Cohen, Dippell and Everist.
Reply comments on the AM revitalization order were due to the FCC on April 18.
Susan Ashworth
John Kean Explores Technology's Pathways
FCC Seeks RF Harmony With OSHA
Guest Commentaries
College Radio Is Not a Right, It's a Privilege
Radio by the (FCC) Numbers


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You Have Diversity. Now What?
Women frequently say to us, "The women I work with are just plain nasty," or "The senior women act like queen bees; they only care about protecting their positions."
But there's plenty of evidence that shows the "queen bee" syndrome is a myth. When we conducted research for our new book, It's Not You, It's the Workplace: Women's Conflict at Work and the Bias That Built It, we discovered that women's often fraught relationships with the women they work with have nothing to do with women being predisposed to be antagonistic to or competitive with other women. To the contrary, we became convinced that women often find it difficult to achieve satisfying, positive same-gender workplace relationships because of the nature of those workplaces.
THE GENDERED NATURE OF AMERICAN WORKPLACES
By and large, American workplaces are highly gendered, by which we mean that they are dominated by men and steeped in masculine norms, values, and expectations. In such workplaces, women have fewer career advancement opportunities than men. As a result, women frequently see career advancement as a zero-sum contest with other women to gain access to limited resources, opportunities, and the visibility needed to get ahead. They often feel a need to identify with the men leading their organizations and to distance themselves from other women. As a result, they can come to believe they must adopt a masculine management style that can be highly off-putting to other women.
But if gendered workplaces are a principal cause of women's same-gender interpersonal difficulties, how do we "de-gender" these workplaces? In our view, we can only do this by having a critical mass of senior women leaders who can influence organizational policies and procedures. Of course, this has been the goal of the ubiquitous diversity and inclusion efforts undertaken by business and professional organizations over the past 30 years—often with little or no effect. Women occupy only 10 percent of top management positions in S&P 1500 companies, constitute only 11 percent of the top earners in Fortune 500 companies, and serve as only 12.1 percent of chief financial officers and the next three highest-paid executives at Fortune 500 companies.
Today, many companies pay lip service to diversity but don't go very far in taking meaningful actions. The problem is that gendered workplaces are gendered cultures, and cultures don't change just because of a new policy or a series of diversity workshops. Cultures change when conditions change, and the gendered perceptions of our workplaces are unlikely to change until more women share the power to shape and direct these workplaces.
Of course, this means we have a chicken-or-egg dilemma. To de-gender our workplaces, we need more women in senior leadership. To get more women into senior leadership, we need to de-gender the workplace. Here are some ideas on how we can move forward.
A significant impediment to increasing gender diversity is that many of the men leading our major organizations believe that their organizations are true meritocracies. But this is a false and dangerous belief. Until everyone acknowledges the hurtful reality of gender bias and the structural impediments to women's career advancement, we're not going to move forward.
2. INTERRUPTING BIAS
Gender bias is not going to be "eliminated." It's like the Müller-Lyer optical illusion of two equal parallel lines looking unequal because one has arrows pointing out and the other has arrows pointing in. It doesn't matter that we know the lines are equal in length; we still don't "see" them as equal.
Gender bias works in the same way. It doesn't matter that we consciously believe women are just as competent, ambitious, and competitive as men. Our implicit stereotypes don't let us "see" them as equal. That's why we need to prevent stereotypes from having a discriminatory effect on assignments, training, evaluations, compensation, and promotion. We can do this by employing (and designing) systems that take as much subjectivity out of these processes as possible.
3. FLEXIBILITY
Women are not going to move up as fast (or as far) as men if their workplaces continue to operate as though work and home were separate, nonintersecting life spheres. Men may be able to thrive in such workplaces, but women—who still bear most of the burden when it comes to domestic responsibilities—cannot. Workplaces need to be flexible and open to new arrangements, one that allows both men and women to balance their home demands with their work responsibilities.
4. CELEBRATING THE SMALL WINS
We won't get a critical mass of women in leadership positions overnight. That's why we need to approach diversity like we approach programs for CO2 emissions. Companies need to set a long-term goal and commit to taking incremental (but consistent) steps to get there.
5. STOP SEEING IT AS A ZERO-SUM GAME
Diversity isn't a zero-sum game that requires men to lose for women to gain. True diversity improves creativity, productivity, and profitability for everyone. Once men become convinced this is true, they are typically prepared to participate in the effort to make diverse leadership a reality. It's only fair that we expect men to take responsibility. After all, they have a lot to gain when we see more women in leadership positions.
By Andrea S. Kramer and Alton B. Harris
Source: Fast Company
Embracing the new normal as women leaders in business
LinkedIn Twitter FacebookThe time has come for women leaders to embrace our greatness. Today, more than ever before, women in business are taking their rightful places as global leaders. According […]
5 strategies for creating an inclusive workplace
LinkedIn Twitter FacebookWomen of color are entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, bringing education, ambition, and diverse ideas and experiences with them. As a result, they offer […]
Challenging our gendered idea of mentorship
LinkedIn Twitter FacebookThere's so much buzz about male allies. Conversations, studies, and presentations about mentors and sponsors are almost always about how leaders who are men can help women. These […]
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Home/Featured/Sweden Crushes Kazakhstan at the 2016 World Championships
FeaturedWorld Championship
Sweden Crushes Kazakhstan at the 2016 World Championships
Igor Burdetskiy May 11, 2016
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 11: Sweden's Adam Larsson #5. John Norman #37 and Mattias Sjogren #15 celebrate after a first period goal against Kazakhstan while Artemi Lakiza #87 and Vadim Kransnoslobodtsev #62 look on during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)
Sweden eased to a comfortable 7-3 victory over Kazakhstan as Gustav Nyquist's hat-trick took him to the top of the goalscoring chart at this World Championship.
Nyquist had a power play goal, an equal strength marker and a short-handed strike to take his tally to five for the competition, one ahead of Finnish prodigy Patrick Laine.
The Kazakhs enjoyed lively support in Moscow, with their traveling fans augmented by a contingent of Russians hoping to see a medal rival stumble. That helped prompt a bright start from the outsider, but it wasn't long before Sweden got on top.
Mikael Backlund's third of the season opened the scoring in the 13th minute, firing in a shot from the top of the circle past the heavily screened Vitali Kolesnik.
Kazakhstan carved out a great chance to tie it up seconds later, but Nikita Ivanov couldn't get a stick on Yevgeni Rymarev's pass and the moment was lost. Then a quick line change caught out the Kazakhs and Linus Klasen doubled the lead with a thumping one-timer off a Nyquist feed.
Barely one minute later it was already 3-0 and the outcome of the game was all but decided. Adam Larsson got it, capitalizing on a turnover inside the Kazakh zone.
Larsson, who was also named Sweden's best player of the game, saw signs that Sweden is getting its game together in this tournament.
"We didn't start out well against Latvia, but I think we've taken steps in the right direction since then," he said after the game. "But we can't relax. We have to find a way to win the next three games to put ourselves in the best position for the play-offs."
A Swedish penalty allowed Kazakhstan a brief flicker of hope right on the hooter when Dustin Boyd squeezed home a power play goal. That prompted the biggest cheer of the night, but in truth there was little sign that the spirit in Andrei Nazarov's team could match the clinical skills available to Par Marts.
The middle stanza was one-way traffic, with Sweden dominating the shot count 18-3 and adding three more goals. Nyquist got two of them, converting a power play in the 25th minute to chase Kolesnik from the net before welcoming Pavel Poluektov to his first action of the competition with the 5-1 marker soon after.
Kazakhstan's night was not destined to get any better when Nyquist took a penalty: even with Sweden's main man sitting it out, the Tre Kronor added a shorthanded goal thanks to Alexander Wennberg. Poluektov finally had something to celebrate in the last minute of the second stanza when he stopped Linus Omark's penalty shot but by that stage damage limitation was all his team could hope for.
Larsson added that Sweden was viewing this game like a knock-out battle as it tightened the screws on the opposition in a dominant middle session.
"We haven't played great so far but I thought we created a lot of chances tonight, so we're going in the right direction," he added.
There were opportunities for Kazakhstan in the third: Oscar Fantenberg got caught in possession deep in his own zone, provoking a massive scramble on the slot before Viktor Fasth took control of the situation. Then Brandon Bochenski forced a smart pad save from the Swedish goalie as the Kazakhs probed on the power play.
That enterprise was rewarded in the 47th minute as Vladimir Markelov pulled a goal back with a slap shot from the point and when Roman Savchenko found the net to make it 6-3 Marts called his team to the bench for a time-out. Savchenko, who scored a spectacular goal from his own blue line against Switzerland, added another to his highlight reel: already off his feet he produced an acrobatic shot from the blue line to slide the puck beyond Fasth.
Johan Fransson admitted that the team was disappointed with the way it let Kazakhstan compete in the final stanza: "We made a couple of mistakes and they scored unnecessary goals. They were down, so they had to try something. We have to play a little bit better. We made a few bad decisions, but it's hockey. It happens. We have to minimize the mistakes."
Kazakhstan's rally enlivened the atmosphere in the closing stages but inevitably that man Nyquist had the final word, scoring Sweden's second short-handed goal of the night to complete his hat-trick.
Igor Burdetskiy
Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & CEO at Hooked on Hockey Magazine
I grew up playing Ball and Roller Hockey day and night somewhat religiously throughout elementary and middle school. The two don't compare though when I lace up the skates and hit the ice. I live and breathe hockey beyond the perspective of "it's just a game" and I will gladly talk hockey for hours with anyone. Hockey is more than just a lifestyle, it's a culture of passionate people who make memories every time the puck is dropped. Hockey has not only helped me get through some of the hardest times in life but has created some of the best memories to date. Want to talk hockey with me? Shoot me an email: iburdetskiy@hookedonhockey.com and let's talk some hockey!
@igorburdetskiy
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When I heard about the new Quaker Overnight Oats, I was excited to try them. I've never had oatmeal cold, so it was a bit odd for me. At night, you simply add milk, place in the fridge to cold-steep, and leave overnight until the morning. Then breakfast will be ready when you wake up.
I wake up in the morning, always feeling a rush to get ready to head out and then remembered my overnight oats. I didn't really like the texture too much. The oats were a bit chewy when it's cold. I would've prefered it warm. Instead, what I did was pour the contents into a microwaveable bowl and warmed it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds. After having it heated, it was a lot better! I tried both flavors on different days and they both tasted good.
If you want it creamier, add a few tablespoons of yogurt. You can also adjust the amount of milk used to achieve your desired consistency.
Disclosure: I received samples of the above product(s) for my review in this post as part of the Influenster Campaign. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of other consumers. No other compensation was given.
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"Roast Busters" needs wider conversation
Tuesday, 5 November 2013, 9:24 am
Press Release: Stop Demand
Man Up !
Men stepping up to stop sexual violence against women and children.
Media Release 5 November 2013
That a group of young men could "celebrate" their sexual exploitation of young women shows how far we have to go before we have a society in which women are respected, say leaders of Man Up!, a programme encouraging men to speak out against sexual violence of women and girls (see http://bit.ly/LFPOCh).
The self-styled "Roast Busters" targeted young women who were drunk for group sex and then posted details on a Facebook page. The group's victims are understood to be as young as 13 years old. The group's male members are believed to be aged 17 and 18 years old.
"Let's be really clear about this", said Neville Robertson, a member of Man Up! "Sex with a person under 16 is a crime, as is sex with someone who is too intoxicated to give their consent."
"And in naming themselves 'Roast Busters', the young men are clearly communicating their desire to reduce women to pieces of meat."
While the behaviour of these young men has drawn wide condemnation, Man Up! believes it is too easy to dismiss it as the extreme behaviour of an aberrant few.
"These young men are not growing up in a vacuum", says Robertson. "They got the idea that this was okay from somewhere."
"In fact, Man Up! believes that 'Roast Busters' are the logical outcome of widely held misogynist attitudes reflected in the ready availability of pornography, the sexual objectification of women and the everyday sexism which surrounds us on a daily basis."
Man Up! is calling for the exposure of Roast Busters to be the opportunity for a serious conversation about these issues.
"Outrage about this behaviour is understandable and justified", says Robertson. "But we also need to direct our outrage against the social conditions which helped to create it."
Note: Man Up! is a programme of Stop Demand Foundation, which calls for action to stop sexual violence, sexual exploitation and sexual denigration of women and children.
Find more from Stop Demand on InfoPages.
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Tipping Comp
UEFA Champions League Preview: Wednesday 15th March 2017
Horse Racing Tips - Betinfo24 blog > BetInfo24 Blog – News | Tips | Updates > Football Tips > UEFA Champions League Preview: Wednesday 15th March 2017
March 12, 2017 Dan PettitFootball Tips, Latest Betting NewsLeave a comment0
Monaco vs Manchester City – Wednesday 15th March 2017 – 19:45 - BT Sport 2
Monaco are 8/5 with Falcao at 9/2 to score first.
Monaco welcome Manchester City to the Stade Louis II in a huge Champions League match, with a place in the Quarter-Finals at stake.
The French side come into this match on the back of a 2-1 win at home against Bordeaux.
Mbappe Lottin (68) opened the scoring for the hosts midway through the second half, after a cagey opening forty five.
Joao Moutinho (74) doubled the hosts advantage just six minutes later, with the hosts going two to the good.
Bordeaux pulled one back through Diego Rolan (84), with just six minutes of normal time remaining.
Although it made the remaining six minutes uncomfortable Monaco held out for all three points.
Tie Of The Round
Monaco have been in excellent form since the first leg defeat to City, with four successive wins.
Wins against Bordeaux, Nantes, Marseille and Guingamp have seen them take a three point lead at the top of Ligue 1.
The first leg against Manchester City was the tie of the round, with an incredible eight goals scored in 90 minutes.
Monaco will feel like it was an opportunity missed, with the visitors 3-1 up at one stage but a 2-0 win will see them progress.
The match against City sees Monaco emerge as underdogs, despite home advantage and their excellent first half showing at the Etihad.
A 2-0 win will mean they progress to the Quarter-Finals, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich confirmed.
This is the second meeting between the two sides, with Man City winning the only meeting between the sides.
City Stroll Into Semi's
Pep Guardiola's side come into this match on the back of a 2-0 win away against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
They got off to the perfect start, with David Silva opening the scoring for the visitors in the 3rd minute.
Sergio Aguero (67) doubled the scoring for the visitors in the second half, with Middlesbrough creating nothing of note.
It was another fantastic result for Manchester City, who continue to to battle on three fronts in Guardiola's first season.
City In Great Form
Manchester City come into the match in great form, they are unbeaten in their last six matches.
They have beaten Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Huddersfield, with draws against Stoke and Huddersfield in between.
A win in this match will mean they are in the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup and the Quarter Finals of the Champions League, as well as third in the league.
It will take a great effort from Monaco to overturn the 5-3 deficit, with a 2-0 win their only hope of progression.
City Favourites
Manchester City go into this match as the favourites, with their first leg win informing the bookies.
They will be looking to register their sixth win in the competition, with a place in the Quarter-Finals at stake.
City will be looking to maintain their 100% record against Monaco, having won the first leg 5-3.
Man City are 7/5 with Sergio Aguero at 7/2 to open the scoring.
Atletico Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen – Wednesday 15th March 2017 – 19:45 - BT Sport 2
Atletico are 8/13 with Antoine Griezmann at 100/30 to score first.
Atletico Madrid welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Vicente Calderon in a huge Champions League match, with a place in the Quarter-Finals at stake.
Diego Simeone's side come into this match on the back of a 1-0 win away against Granada.
Antoine Griezmann (84) scored the only goal of the game for the visitors, with just six minutes remaining.
To add insult to injury Mubarak was sent off for Granada in the 94th minute, ensuring it was a miserable day for the hosts.
The win moves Atletico up to fourth in La Liga, they have failed to perform consistently in the league this season.
Atleti In Driving Seat
Atletico Madrid have been in excellent form of late, with four wins in their last six matches.
They have lost just one match during that period, with a 2-1 defeat against Barcelona their only blemish.
Simeone's men scored four in the first leg at Leverkusen, barring a miracle they will be through to the next round.
They come into the tie in complete control, having scored four away goals in Germany without reply.
The match against Bayer sees Atletico emerge as favourites, with their excellent European form finding favour with the bookies.
Another win will mean they progress to the Quarter-Finals, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich confirmed.
This is the sixth meeting between the two sides, with Atletico winning the last two meetings between the sides.
Bayer In Poor Form
The German side come into this match on the back of a 1-1 draw at home against Werder Bremen.
They got off to the perfect start, with Volland opening the scoring for the hosts in the 7th minute.
Claudio Pizarro (79) equalised for the visitors late in the second half, with just 11 minutes of normal time remaining.
To add insult to injury Wendell was sent off in the 90th minute, it was a mixed result for the home side.
Bayer Need Win
Leverkusen come into the match in poor form, having lost three successive matches prior to that draw.
They have won two during that sequence but that was prior to the first leg of this tie, with wins against Augsburg and Frankfurt.
Since that defeat they have suffered two losses, including a heavy 6-2 loss against Dortmund and the recent draw.
It will take a Herculean effort to overturn the 4-2 deficit, with a 3-0 win their only hope of progression.
Bayer Underdogs
The Germans go into this match as the underdogs, with their first leg defeat informing the bookies.
They will be looking to register their second win in the competition, with a place in the Quarter-Finals at stake.
Bayer will be looking to draw on last seasons 1-0 win, their only win against the Spaniards in five attempts.
Bayer are 17/4 with Javier Hernandez at 15/2 to open the scoring.
Tip 1 – Falcao to score first @ 9/2 and Monaco to win 2-1 @ 9/1
Tip 2 – Gameiro to score first @ 4/1 and Atletico to win 2-1 @ 15/2
Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Monaco, UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League Preview: Tuesday 14th March 2017
Europa League Preview: Manchester United vs Rostov
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Chris Marshall demonstrates his process for using a few pieces of scrap wood to create some attractive wood handles for a folding knife. Click here to purchase the Sarge kits mentioned in the video.
Chris Marshall: Start by resawing and planing a piece of stock for the scales down to about 1/4″ thick. Make it long enough to lay out two scales end-to-end and a little wider than necessary. Since this is thin material, it's a good idea to tape the stock to a carrier board with double-sided carpet tape to keep the wood flat as it gets thinner. The two pieces of scrap wood along the edges of the carrier board make it easier for the planer's feed rollers to pull the scale stock through.
On this folding knife, the flat ends of the scales fit against these raised metal bolsters here. The intersection of the wood and metal forms about a 7° angle, so I crosscut the two ends of my scale blank to this angle. That way, it will help keep the grain pattern of the wood running parallel to the knife body. And that's a concern for me here with this very uniform-grained cocobolo I'm using. If your scale stock doesn't have strong grain like this, you could skip the angle cuts.
This knife blade is razor sharp, and we'll be handling the blade throughout the building process. So, do yourself a favor and wrap it with several layers of electrical or duct tape for safety. Work smart here.
Now lay the knife on your scale blank so the bolster is snug against the angled end of the wood. Trace around the edge of the liner to form two opposing scale shapes. Draw the shapes on the side of your workpiece that will face out when the knife scales are completed, and mark the scales with an "L" and "R" to keep clear which scale is which.
CM: Each scale will be attached to the metal liners with two tiny machine screws and epoxy, so drilling for those screws is your next step. Use a finish nail or 1/16″-diameter drill bit to mark a centerpoint for each screw hole, tapping the nail or bit through the liner holes as a reference.
To drill these screw holes, you'll need a 3/16″ brad-point bit to counterbore the screw heads and a 3/32″ twist bit for drilling the screw shank pilot holes. Now, it's important when drilling these screw holes that the screws don't protrude through the scales on the backside more than 5/64″. So, I drilled a couple of pilot holes through my scale stock, then experimented with the counterbore depth until I got the drilling depth just right. Slip a screw into the test holes and measure the amount of protruding thread to check it.
Once you've got an accurate test hole, drill the four counterbores into the two scales at the centerpoints you marked previously. Then switch to the 3/32″ bit and, aligning it with the spur centerpoints created by the brad point, drill a pilot hole through each counterbore.
It's time to cut out and shape the scales. You can use a coping saw, scroll saw or your band saw and a narrow blade. Just make sure you cut about 1/16″ outside of the two tracings so there's a bit of extra material all around the scales for the shaping process.
CM: Now you're ready to start sanding the scales down to their final shape for the knife grips. First, screw the scales to the liners temporarily, and wrap the bolters with more tape to protect the metal during the sanding process. Then install a coarse-grit sanding sleeve in your spindle sander (or sanding drum in your drill press) to sand the two scales until they're flush with the edges of the metal liners. Keep the knife moving to prevent divoting the wood.
At this point, you can bring down the scale thickness so the front end of the scales is even with the metal bolsters and the handle has a uniform contour that's comfortable to hold. I found the quickest way to shape the scales was to invert and clamp my belt sander in a bench vise and use it like a stationary sander. I started the sanding process by holding the leading end of each scale down flat against the moving belt near the sander's front wheel, and rocking the knife slowly from front to back to form a gentle arch. I continued until the ends matched the bolster thickness but left the centers much thicker.
When the front-to-back curvature is done, soften the sharp edges of the scales at the spindle sander and then add more contour across the handle's width. It's easy to do by holding the knife perpendicular to the belt's travel and rolling the knife gently across its narrow width.
Whether your like it or not, it's time to start hand-sanding to remove all the scratches from rough shaping, and to do some final contouring. Start with 100-grit until the handle fits comfortably in your hand, then work up to 400-grit, without skipping grits. Look closely for scratches. Now's the time to make these scales as smooth as possible.
When you're satisfied with your sanding, go ahead and apply finish to the scales. I started with a coat of dewaxed shellac to seal the oily cocobolo I used for my knife scales, then followed with two coats of oil-based poly. After it thoroughly dried, I buffed the finish to a shine on a cloth wheel in the drill press.
After you're done polishing them, you're ready for final assembly. I'm epoxying the scales in place here, just to make sure they never come loose. Remove the scales and clean the liners with some acetone to get rid of any manufacturing contaminants on the metal. Install the screws and put the belt clip on. You're new knife is all finished.
This was a simple and fun afternoon project, and you get a handsome knife in the end. Give one of these kits a try. Thanks for watching!


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I'm looking to trade for HKs, Sigs, Walters, and CZs. I'm open to plus cash on either your side or mine if the deal is right.
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