President-elect Barack Obama hasn't named a secretary of state yet and the Obama family hasn't decided which breed of dog will get to romp on the White House lawn. But at the Shifman Mattress Co. in Newark's Ironbound section, there's hope that the new president will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and choose one of their hand-tufted luxury mattresses to lay his head on.
Both the Kennedy and Clinton administrations purchased Shifman mattresses for the White House, so this isn't just wishful thinking, said company president Bill Hammer. The purchases may date back even further, to the Teddy Roosevelt administration.
"We never send a product out that's not 100 percent right, so he'd be sleeping on the best," said production manager Nick James. "To run a country like this, you need a good night's rest."
Employees of the Shifman Mattress Co. assemble quilted mattresses Tuesday at the firm's newly renovated facility in Newark's Ironbound section.
Yesterday, the 115-year old company unveiled a 24,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar expansion at its Mott Street factory that will allow it to produce mattresses for U.S. presidents -- or consumers with presidential budgets -- well into the future.
The hand-tufted mattresses, which can cost $3,500 to $21,000, are stuffed with multiple layers of cotton and can take up to 81/2 hours each to build. The company also produces furniture-quality box springs complete with titanium rods and 8-way hand-tied steel coils. Shifman additionally produces lower-cost mattresses, starting at $699, that still get more attention than similar products from their competitors, Hammer said.
"It's fantastic that someone of the president's stature would consider selecting us. It would make us very proud and happy if President-elect Obama went with our bedding," he said.
Company CEO Michael Hammer said as one of the few remaining symbols of Newark's past as a leader in the textile and furniture industry, the business remaining in Newark was almost as important as continuing to produce the handmade mattresses. Hammer -- who had worked at Simmons and Sterns and Foster -- applied for a job at Shifman 24 years ago. Six months later, he purchased the business.
"Our employees are the main reason we stayed put in Newark," Michael Hammer said. He said the firm's seven-year process of "combining a 19th century company with a 21st century production process," all while not shutting down the manufacturing process, was incredibly challenging but worth it in the end.
Inside, the new additions and renovations try to keep the style and mood of the brick buildings dating to 1897 and 1918. From a window on the fourth floor, the Passaic River, where cotton used to be shipped to the plant, is visible. An old Singer sewing machine sits next to a modern, computerized one.
The changes improved the circulation of the supplies within the building -- creating separate delivery and shipping areas -- increased the size of the warehouse that holds up to 2,000 mattresses and added extras for the employees such as a cafeteria and locker rooms.
Mayor Cory Booker described the company's commitment to providing jobs in Newark as almost patriotic.
"They are opening for other families a wide pathway for them to get a small piece of the American dream," said Booker, who co-chaired Obama's New Jersey campaign and volunteered to serve as an unpaid spokesman.
"I will be speaking to the president-elect's transition team today and I will be sure to recommend a Shifman mattress," he said with a laugh.
Bloomingdale's is the largest retailer of Shifman mattresses. The retailer's website lists plush, pillow-top and superfirm mattresses ranging in price from $3,500 to $8,800. On the higher end, the Marseilles, Belize and St. Germain Pillowtop Plush run from $7,000 to $21,000.
Michael Hammer said the high-end, handmade mattresses are worth the cost because of the effort that goes into building them. In various areas of the factory, employees do the type of handiwork that just isn't that common anymore, said Bill Hammer, his son.
On the lower level, raw bales of cotton are cleaned and processed into the layers of cotton that are used in the mattresses and box springs. The luxury mattresses can get up to eight layers of 11/2-inch-thick cotton. On the same level, another worker hand-bolted box springs into place and then used Italian twine to hand tie the springs to keep them from moving from side to side.
Upstairs, a worker used a giant needle to hand tuft a mattress. The process takes 90 minutes for a queen-sized mattress and two hours for a king. Nearby, women sewed the handles onto the mattress cover.
"We take pride in what we do," said Dennis Rajab, a 10-year employee who was closing a mattress cover.
So what type of mattress would Bill Hammer recommend for the president-elect? It depends, he said.
In a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday, Michelle Obama said that her husband sometimes like to sleep in. Obama said one of the great things about not being on the road anymore is that he can wake up and have his young daughters come in and bounce around on the bed.
"I would tell him to buy the one that feels the best for him," Bill Hammer said before plugging his own product. "But if you are the type of person that likes to sleep, you will love sleeping on a Shifman."


People's Park Protest Go Viral?
As the one-man tree-sit in a 40 year old Redwood at the northeast corner of People's Park enters its 74th day, its mastermind, Running Wolf, 47, is considering his options as the original demands fail to catch on and the protest struggles for support.
The original protest was in response to proposals for changes in the park by candidate George Beier in the recent District 7 council election—changes perceived to displace the present park population. But since Beier's defeat, the protest has struggled to widen the issues.
Zachary Running Wolf Brown (the surname of his adoptive Berkeley family) employs the cunning of a wolf as he discusses strategy from the balcony of the Caffe Mediterraneum near the park.
Organizing a protest is more complicated than you might think. All sorts of planning, logistics, and media management matters must fall into place, as most Berkeleyans think they know.
But when it comes to successful tree-sits, Running Wolf has a lot to howl about. He planned what is considered the longest urban tree-sit in the nation. The protest in the Oak Grove at Memorial Stadium lasted more than two years. Although the protest failed to stop the university's plan to level the Oak Grove, it was hardly a failure.
Running Wolf's message inspired articles in the New York Times, the Economist, and the New Yorker. Around the bay, it was hot copy for months on end. Helicopters aloft and reporters on the ground created crowds of their own. The Oak Grove protest attracted the attention of Tony Serra, the famous civil liberties attorney, who represented arrested protesters—Running Wolf among them—pro bono.
What was gained? An ABC opinion poll showed Berkeleyans almost equally divided between approval and disapproval. Most Cal students preferred their books over the trees. Still the Oak Grove protest received much more than fifteen minutes of fame world-wide.
Can Running Wolf do it again—in People's Park? He tells me he can, drawing parallels to the Oak Grove protest at Memorial Stadium. "That protest started much like the present one," he says. "I didn't know someone would do the research on an Ohlone village buried beneath the grove," he said.
"I didn't know about the location of the Ohlone village in the early stages of our protest. The case for our cause just continued to improve," he says.
"We developed our strategies as we went along."
"The weather has hurt us," he says, reducing his network of supporters. "But we are connected with many tree people who will show up if we need them."
Financial support available during the economic boom years of the Oak Grove protest has dried up, he acknowledges. And bad weather has reduced revenues from the Berkeley Flea Market which donates to park causes.
"That's why I'm keeping this small at this time," he says, "and I am not talking to major media." If it gets too big too fast, we might not be able to finance it, he says.
"If it weren't for the food we get from food not bombs in the park, we'd have a harder time," he says.
He says he's using money from his own income from the Blackfeet Nation, his tribe in Montana, where he is an elected Elder, to finance the tree sit.
"Could there be a burial ground or village beneath the park?" I ask. "After all, it's not that far from the Oak Grove site; a suburb or something?" Running Wolf breaks into a grin. "Who knows," he says, a twinkle in his eye; "anything could happen."
In the meantime, he and Midnight Mat, 52, who's doing the tree sitting in freezing temperatures, play cat and mouse with U.C. and Berkeley police. "They're staking us out from a building across from our tree" Running Wolf says. "But we are video taping," them hassling us.
Also, he's added a new issue. The tree-sit challenges the park curfew. "The land belongs to the people," he says and they should be allowed to stay overnight in bad weather and in a bad economic period."
"We'll be developing issues, as we go along," he points out again.
A "celebration," of Midnight Matt's hundredth day in the Redwood, which occurs February 6, is planned at the occupied tree. Running Wolf requests donations be sent to Zachary Running Wolf; 542 25th Street, Apt. 209, Oakland, Ca, 94612.
Ted Friedman reports from the Southside.


text:
Q: basic template not loading in Django I am really new to Django. Problem is that i can't load my template which consists of two basic html files.
Here is the Location for my template file:

/home/usman/Django Project/django-black/luckdrum/templates/

Here is my View function:
from django.shortcuts import render
from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.template.loader import get_template
from django.template import Context
def hello_template(request):
    t=get_template('signup.html')

    return HttpResponse(t)

Here is url.py file:
from django.conf.urls import include, url
from django.contrib import admin

urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^admin/', include(admin.site.urls)),
    url(r'^hello/','blog.views.hello'),
    url(r'^signup.html/','blog.views.hello_template'),

]

I have also added the path in my settings.py as TEMPLATE_DIRS.
The server shows an error as Template Doesnot Exist. Please help me out!

A: Put your templates in templates/<app_name>/ or <app_name>/templates/<app_name>/. They will be automatically found by Django.
Django will look in the main templates folder templates/<app_name>/ and after <app_name>/templates/<app_name>/.
And then in your view :
from django.shortcuts import render

def hello_template(request):
    return render(request, '<app_name>/signup.html')

Here is what your Django project should look like (as it's recommended by Django to write reusable apps) :
mysite/
    manage.py
    mysite/
        __init__.py
        settings.py
        urls.py
        wsgi.py
    polls/
        __init__.py
        admin.py
        migrations/
            __init__.py
            0001_initial.py
        models.py
        static/
            polls/
                images/
                    background.gif
                style.css
        templates/
            polls/
                detail.html
                index.html
                results.html
        tests.py
        urls.py
        views.py
    templates/
        admin/
            base_site.html

Read django documentation : Organise templates and How to write reusable apps

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home › Europe › News › News › Province of Zuid-Holland takes further steps in the digitisation of cultural heritage
Province of Zuid-Holland takes further steps in the digitisation of cultural heritage
In 2018 and 2019, the Province will invest €150.000 in the digital accessibility of cultural heritage collections in Zuid-Holland, to promote knowledge sharing.
The Digitisation Cultural Heritage programme will start on 1 January 2018. All cultural heritage institutions with a collection have a great need of more basic knowledge on digitising their collection. Together with the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund department Zuid-Holland and the Cultural Heritage House Zuid-Holland, the Province plans to encourage cultural heritage institutions to unlock their collection digitally. The digitisation project consists of three programme parts that support, professionalise and promote the digital availability of cultural heritage collections.
Theme Funds Digitisation Cultural Heritage Collections Zuid-Holland
On 1 January 2018, the Theme Funds Digitisation Cultural Heritage Collections Zuid-Holland will be established. This theme fund is being co-financed and managed by the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund department Zuid-Holland. The fund challenges people to make new connections with groups of people who would normally not be so familiar with the institution. Applications for financial support for projects can be made four times per year. There are four application time slots and these close on 1 January 2018, on 15 March 2018, on 15 June 2018 and 15 September 2018 respectively. Apply here.
Support centre for the digitisation of cultural heritage collections
Commissioned by the Province, the Cultural Heritage House Zuid-Holland is organising a support centre for cultural heritage institutions. The support centre is meant to increase the basic knowledge on digitisation and to promote the sharing thereof. In 2018 and 2019, various trainings and services will be offered to support staff and volunteers of cultural heritage institutions in the area of digitising their collection or collections. More information at www.erfgoedhuis-zh or email digitalisering@erfgoedhuis-zh.nl.
Accessibility of cultural heritage collections
To make Zuid-Hollands' cultural heritage collections accessible to the public, they are linked to the digital platform of the Canon of The Netherlands and the Canon of Zuid-Holland, in which local and regional themes have been added. Participation in the website is free, on condition that the data become available via the collection registration system.
The Provincial programme Transparent and Open Province (TOP) supports other initiatives regarding the digitisation of the cultural heritage as well.
The Province wants to collaborate on the protection of cultural heritage, and make it fit to be experienced and used, to give it a valuable future. Digitisation is a good example. By unlocking cultural heritage collections digitally, and making them accessible to the public, our cultural heritage will remain preserved for the future as well.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I've started doing photography in 2007 and I was dreaming to become a photojournalist.
In 2009 I photograph my first wedding and at the beginning I took it as a challenge. I've never thought I was going to like it, but I change my mind completely after that. I start to love it and I knew this it the path I want to follow.
I love to photograph people who are not afraid to show they're in love in front of the camera, act naturally, enjoy the day.


The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) announced today that Datalynx have won a place on the Government's Digital Marketplace. This procurement framework reduces barriers to entry into the public sector market, making it easier for suppliers to sell to government, supporting local economies and creating new jobs.
Charles Spinks, Managing Director of Datalynx, said "The Crown Commercial Service continues to offering flexible procurement options that allows the government to get best value whilst maximising the use of SMEs. We are delighted to be involved".


text:
Doris Wishman, född 1 juni 1912 i New York, död 10 augusti 2002 i Miami, var en amerikansk filmregissör, verksam inom olika exploitationfilmgenrer. Hon var flitigt aktiv mellan 1960 och andra halvan av sjuttiotalet och gjorde senare film endast sporadiskt.

Wishman regisserade sin första långfilm, Hideout in the Sun 1960 och fram till sin död hann hon göra ett trettiotal filmer. De tidiga filmerna var i den vid denna tid populära nudist-film-genren, till exempel Blaze Starr Goes Nudist och Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls. Wishman gjorde dock även en crossover mellan nudistfilm och science fiction, med filmen Nude on the Moon (1961), i vilken astronauter åker till månen och upptäcker att den är bebodd av nakna kvinnor. Under andra halvan av 1960-talet inriktade hon sig mest på vanliga sexploitation-filmer, oftast i svartvitt.

På 1970-talet gjorde hon två filmer med skådespelerskan Chesty Morgan: Double Agent 73 och Deadly Weapons (båda 1974). Handlingen i dessa filmer kretsade kring Chesty Morgans enorma bröst. Under detta decennium gjorde hon också ett par pornografiska filmer. 1978 gjorde hon en sensationsdokumentärfilm om transsexuella, med titeln Let Me Die a Woman.

Under 1980-talet gjorde hon enbart en film, slasherfilmen A Night to Dismember (1983). 2001 gjorde hon comeback, nästan 90 år gammal, med filmen Satan Was a Lady. Den kom att följas av ytterligare två filmer, Dildo Heaven och Each Time I Kill, som färdigställdes efter hennes död. Wishman avled i lymfom i augusti 2002.

Filmografi (urval)

Referenser

Externa länkar

Födda 1912
Avlidna 2002
Amerikanska filmregissörer
Kvinnor
Personer från New York

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
MADRAS 1914-1918 WAR MEMORIAL, CHENNAI
Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery record
Map links
View location and nearby cemeteries
View worldwide locations associated with casualties in this cemetery
Casualty Records
Loading casualty records
Private George Henry Appleyard G/22300 Royal Sussex Regiment 08/09/1918 (aged 35)
Quartermaster Serjeant Edward Leopold Bamberger 8866 Royal Engineers 29/01/1921 (aged 36)
Private Bartlett 180712 Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) 10/11/1920
Private Herbert Beecham 19432 Lincolnshire Regiment 23/07/1916
Regimental Serjeant Major Charles Edward Berry 9701 Cheshire Regiment 07/03/1917
Private Ernest William Binding 240385 Somerset Light Infantry 12/10/1917 (aged 25)
Driver Frederick Bertie Blackmore TF/1197 Royal Field Artillery 28/09/1916 (aged 20)
Private Bousie 24133 Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 10/07/1916
Private Arthur George Brixton 24146 Bedfordshire Regiment 05/08/1917 (aged 33)
Private Joseph Burns 10164 King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) 19/09/1914
Lieutenant John Hunter Cameron Indian Army Reserve of Officers 14/03/1918 (aged 28)
Major Cloete 92nd Punjabis 29/02/1920
Serjeant Leonard Alfred Cole 550263 Royal Engineers 12/10/1918
Lieutenant Collins 38th Dogras 28/10/1918 (aged 23)
Engineer Motor Launch Clifford Curnow 10406 British Red Cross Society 21/04/1918 (aged 32)
Staff Serjeant Reginald John Dilloway 0746 Dorsetshire Regiment 08/06/1920 (aged 30)
Private John Dolan 20273 Lincolnshire Regiment 01/05/1918 (aged 49)
Private Walter Joseph Evans 2254 Hampshire Regiment 15/05/1915
Driver Richard Fair 1492042 Royal Garrison Artillery 05/06/1921
Serjeant Anthony Francis Fernandes Military Accounts Department, India 08/09/1919
Private Montague Ferris 20954 Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 01/11/1918
Private Thomas Lewis Finney 20009 Lincolnshire Regiment 24/08/1918
Captain Fordyce 84th Punjabis 05/12/1916
Private Harry William Godden 1867 Wiltshire Regiment 29/04/1915 (aged 19)
Private Arthur Joseph Gower TF/2423 Middlesex Regiment 05/06/1915 (aged 19)
Rifleman Greig 70 Indian Defence Force 22/02/1920
Private Adam Gunn 24672 Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 17/11/1918
Conductor Hambleton Indian Military Works Services 24/08/1915
Drummer George Harris 10325 Welsh Regiment 11/08/1914 (aged 22)
Rifleman James Hegney G/784 Royal Irish Rifles 25/05/1916 (aged 32)
Private James Hill 20295 Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 04/08/1917
Private Edward Charles Hoddinott 202431 Wiltshire Regiment 07/06/1918 (aged 31)
Private Bertram Charles Honour 4170 Devonshire Regiment 18/11/1916 (aged 26)
Private Hourigan 35678 Royal Irish Regiment 01/07/1920
Private Howell 19992 Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 15/06/1919
Serjeant Reginald J. Jones 22114 Royal Garrison Artillery 14/06/1917
Private William John Jordan 2804 Devonshire Regiment 12/05/1915
Private Arthur Knowles 9371 King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) 07/09/1914 (aged 26)
Gunner Lakin 147962 Royal Garrison Artillery 05/12/1918
Private Robert Lewis 3902569 South Wales Borderers 03/08/1921
Private Alfred James Long 201096 East Surrey Regiment 27/05/1917 (aged 23)
Serjeant Thomas Lund S4/144871 Army Service Corps 30/10/1918 (aged 25)
Captain Laurence Oliphant Mccurrich Indian Army Reserve of Officers 25/10/1918 (aged 30)
Squadron Serjeant Major Percy Martin 3828 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling) 25/08/1918
Private Miles M/16931 Royal Army Service Corps 27/05/1921
Private Mills TF/2452 The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 20/08/1915 (aged 38)
Major George Gordon Mosley 37th Lancers (Baluch Horse) 07/08/1918 (aged 33)
Captain Ollett Royal Engineers 20/08/1919
Private Ernest Albert Parker 241400 Somerset Light Infantry 21/10/1918
Private Charles William Parsons 4357 Somerset Light Infantry 17/05/1916
Lance Corporal Thomas William Pelfrey 1972 Hampshire Regiment 16/05/1915 (aged 40)
Captain Petts Indian Army Reserve of Officers 14/12/1918
Gunner Phelon Royal Garrison Artillery 25/12/1920
Colonel Samuel Cowell Philson Royal Army Medical Corps 04/11/1918
Private Pinkerton 32609 Lincolnshire Regiment 21/07/1918 (aged 27)
Private Thomas Alfred Pullinger T/1557 The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 26/08/1916 (aged 22)
Private Purcell 31302 Royal Irish Rifles 06/10/1919
Lance Bombardier James Reilly 27778 Royal Garrison Artillery 05/07/1919
Private Frederick George Edwin Rozaro 656 Madras Guards, Auxiliary Force (India) 11/07/1919 (aged 23)
Corporal Ernest Swain M2/202866 Army Service Corps 31/10/1918 (aged 34)
Private John Henry Talbot 21118 Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 31/10/1918 (aged 29)
Corporal Tickner Royal Garrison Artillery 05/07/1919
Private Thomas Henry Tipler 5193 Dorsetshire Regiment 27/10/1914
Orderly Turner 311 St. John's Ambulance Brigade 28/03/1918
Able Seaman William Tweddle J/39209 Royal Navy, HMS Gnat 21/08/1917 (aged 28)
Captain Gordon James Turnbull Walsh Indian Army Reserve of Officers 02/07/1919 (aged 33)
Private Arthur Frank Way 2276 Hampshire Regiment 21/05/1915 (aged 17)
Gunner Alexander Dalziel Wrightman 230742 Royal Garrison Artillery 20/09/1920
Serjeant Robert Brayfield Langley 200356 Border Regiment 28/08/1919
Gunner George Frederick King 9592 Royal Garrison Artillery 03/07/1920 (aged 43)
Loading regiments list
Royal Garrison Artillery 8
Indian Army Reserve of Officers 4
Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry 4
Lincolnshire Regiment 4
Royal Engineers 3
Somerset Light Infantry 3
Hampshire Regiment 3
Wiltshire Regiment 2
Devonshire Regiment 2
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 2
King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) 2
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 2
Dorsetshire Regiment 2
Royal Irish Rifles 2
Army Service Corps 2
Bedfordshire Regiment 1
Royal Navy, HMS Gnat 1
92nd Punjabis 1
Middlesex Regiment 1
Royal Army Medical Corps 1
St. John's Ambulance Brigade 1
Border Regiment 1
British Red Cross Society 1
Royal Army Service Corps 1
Indian Defence Force 1
Royal Sussex Regiment 1
37th Lancers (Baluch Horse) 1
Cheshire Regiment 1
Welsh Regiment 1
Indian Military Works Services 1
Royal Field Artillery 1
Royal Irish Regiment 1
38th Dogras 1
Madras Guards, Auxiliary Force (India) 1
South Wales Borderers 1
6th Dragoons (Inniskilling) 1
East Surrey Regiment 1
Military Accounts Department, India 1
Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) 1
84th Punjabis 1
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Tuesday 11 August 1914 1 1 0
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Saturday 19 September 1914 1 0 0
Tuesday 27 October 1914 1 1 0
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Wednesday 12 May 1915 1 1 0
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Thursday 28 September 1916 1 1 0
Saturday 18 November 1916 1 1 0
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Wednesday 7 March 1917 1 1 0
Thursday 14 June 1917 1 1 0
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Sunday 5 August 1917 1 1 0
Friday 12 October 1917 1 1 0
Thursday 14 March 1918 1 1 0
Sunday 21 April 1918 1 0 0
Wednesday 1 May 1918 1 1 0
Friday 7 June 1918 1 1 0
Wednesday 7 August 1918 1 0 0
Sunday 25 August 1918 1 1 0
Sunday 8 September 1918 1 1 0
Saturday 12 October 1918 1 1 0
Monday 21 October 1918 1 1 0
Wednesday 30 October 1918 1 1 0
Thursday 31 October 1918 2 2 0
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Zeals Wiltshire 1 1 0
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Potterne Wiltshire 1 1 0
Dawlish Teignbridge 1 1 0
Watchet Somerset West and Taunton 1 1 0
Dartmouth South Hams 1 0 0
Bridgwater Sedgemoor 1 0 0
Lakes South Lakeland 1 1 0
Glassary 1 0 0


Today I learned that the Orchard Supply Hardware store near me is closing.
Some 4300 people* are losing their jobs. A chain of growing and seemingly profitable hardware stores, serving well their communities, is being liquidated.
OSH, as it's known, has 99 stores in California, Oregon and Florida. If you don't live in those states, you may wonder why this matters to you. But it does.
For this is not about globalization, or low-skilled immigrants stealing 4300 jobs. Instead it's Wall Street; it's about a few rich guys who need to make their numbers.
s America. The demise of Orchard Supply Hardware, announced last week, is the kind of thing I'm talking about.
OSH was a place where the community came, where people bought things with which they built their homes and yards.
The store had a rare combination in hardware these days: great customer service and smaller stores. That meant you could actually find the things you needed. This earned it $600 million in sales last year. OSH, which is owned by Lowe's, was expanding.
OSH is a chain but people I know feel like it's their local hardware store. I didn't buy hardware anywhere else. With all the crappy chain stores and chain restaurants we Americans have to tolerate stomping all over our country, here was one that people actually wanted to shop in, and felt close to.
It seemed that behind OSH was a creative idea: position it as an alternative in a world where customers are moving away from big box stores they have to drive for miles to get to. Smaller stores, easier to get to, alert and knowledgeable staff.
Sadly, Lowe's backed off this inventive positioning of OSH in July when it hired Marvin Ellison as CEO.
Ellison was the CEO of JCPenney. There, he ran the company into its worst quarter ever. In his last quarter, the company lost $69 million and its stock hit an historic low. In his three years there, JCP shares dropped by more than half. For that record, he was compensated with $10.8 million in cash and stock in 2017, then hired this year to revitalize Lowe's.
You may wonder: What about that record makes this guy worth hiring anywhere?
You may wonder: What company looking to rebound in this retail environment would hire anyone from JCPenney?
Another question that may occur to you is, why does Lowe's feel in such a hurry to boost its stock price? Well one reason, apparently, is that a big chunk of Lowe's stock has been purchased by Bill Ackman, an activist hedge-fund investor, who is hankering for change and wanted Ellison.
Why anyone would listen to Ackman's advice on business is an interesting question. His hedge fund has lost half its value in the bull market of the last three years.
Ackman is the guy pushing things to go fast at Lowe's. And he's the reason the former CEO, a guy with some long-term vision, was booted.
First idea: liquidate a growing and seemingly profitable chain of stores and its 4300 employees. Double down on big-box retailing just as consumers are rejecting it.
Mind you, this has nothing to do with improving the long-term viability of Lowe's as a business.
But I guess if I'd lost as much money as Ackman has, I'd be in a hurry to earn it back, too.
Still, you know, Ackman and Ellison might take a moment. Common folks are paying the price: the employees, the contractors and communities that rely on those stores.
In corporate America — as we've swooned over it, exalted it, praised its wealthy leaders for making themselves lots of money — the clear hunch I have is that, really, a lot of the fellows at the top are not that good. It's mediocrity on parade a lot of the time, insulated from results, from any whiff of merit pay, and from the consequences of their failures, particularly as they are felt in towns across America.
I spoke to a guy at my OSH store who said he had worked for the company for 20 years. Here's how he was told the news: On the afternoon of Tuesday last, company officials suddenly shut the store, escorted the remaining customers out, assembled the staff, and let them know their jobs were ending; the store was closing Oct. 20.
"Today you're Orchard Supply Hardware. Tomorrow you belong to liquidators," he said they were told.
Within a couple days, "Everything Must Go" signs were all over the store.
You may wonder: How is that okay?
So they're going to stock stuff that sells well. Brilliant idea.
But why does that mean OSH must close? Why not sell it to someone who actually gives a damn about Americans and their communities, and who has the creativity and energy to run such a company?
We are working hard to make this transition as smooth as possible for our associates and our customers. We will be retaining our associates through the store closure process and are encouraging them to apply for open roles at Lowe's stores, where they will receive priority status. Associates will receive job placement assistance, and we will be providing eligibility for severance. 86 percent of Orchard locations are located within 10 miles of a Lowe's store.
Instead, Marvin Ellison, escaping JCPenney, decided within less than two months to close 99 stores and lay off 4300 people.
All because? Well apparently Bill Ackman has lost a lot of money in bad investments.
As I've traveled the country, I've learned that the cost of losing Main Street has been incalculable – yet we bow to the free market as if we have no choice. That's what's happening here.
The good news? Lowe's stock price has gone up a few bucks – so I guess we can all breathe easier.
"In 2005, Sears Holdings – by then run by hedge-fund guy Eddie Lampert – announced that it would extract a special dividend of $450 million out of OSH, and that OSH would borrow the money to pay this dividend.
In bankruptcy, OSH was bought in 2013 by Lowe's, which, under then-CEO Robert Niblock, did some great things. Above all, it remodeled OSH stores. Funny what happens when you invest as if for the long run. The staff now seemed motivated. The store came to life; so apparently did the chain. In Pasadena, it became one of the city's biggest sales-tax generators.
Until that day in July when OSH's parent company hired a guy from JCPenney at the behest of a hedge-fund owner losing money in a bull market.
You may wonder at it all.
If so, here's a petition to make yourselves felt. Please share it, and this article, if you like it.
We came upon this taxi driver who started telling us of how, in order to build his family a house, he went to Texas to cut rock for housing facades, using a legal visa provided by his employer. Did this for three years, six days a week, 12 hours a day minimum.
Hope you like this video, which I did last week in Mexico.
Let me know what you think, either here on in the Youtube comment box. Please share it if you like it.
I'm in Little Rock for the Arkansas Literary Festival, a very nice book festival held downtown.
So here's what happened yesterday. Flew in, met my fellow panelists, learned that Southwest lost my bag, went to the hotel, took a quick nap, went to a festival reception, met someone with an opiate addict in the family (the family member is a woman in her 60s or so).
Little Rock is no different from every other part of the country I've visited recently.
Researching our national addiction to pain pills and heroin to write my book, Dreamland, I've been struck by the normalcy of addiction nowadays. Everywhere, strike up a conversation, you find someone with a family member or friend or co-worker addicted to opiates.
It's far more prevalent than crack use was, I believe, and certainly infinitely more deadly.
I remember starting the research, flying to Dallas a couple years ago. On the plane was an elderly couple from rural Oklahoma. We got to talking and before long, they were telling me of their oldest son, addicted to OxyContin.
Not long after that, in a tavern on New Year's Day in Covington, KY, I met a family, celebrating a young girl's birthday. Before long, we're talking about two people in that extended family dead from heroin overdoses.
First: the massive over-prescribing of pain pills nationwide. We often debate whether supply or demand drives drug plagues. This one is supply driven. Pain pills eventually lead to heroin addiction – as the pills are molecularly similar to heroin and much cheaper; in some areas, like those serviced by the Xalisco Boys I write about in Dreamland, heroin is easier and more convenient to obtain the pills.
But this is also driven by silence. There's no violence to fuel public ire. Meanwhile, though, parents are loathe to talk about their children's addiction. When they die, they camouflage it in some palatable cause of death. Some parents are going public. But far too few given the huge numbers.
The result is silence, and stories you never hear until you're sitting next to someone on a plane, or chatting with them at a cocktail party.
Cal is now dead. At 92.
Worthington, of course, was anathema to animal-rights folks, as he paraded seals, lions, tigers, hippos, etc, all named Spot before viewers of late-afternoon Westerns on Channel 11 or 9 or 5, urging them to "Go See Cal" with that Beverly Hillbilly banjo going loco behind him.
Cal Worthington was the last, or longest-lived (or both) of the Southern-accented used car dealers who came with the first waves of white migration from the South and Midwest to LA.
You might remember Ralph Williams: "Hi friends, Ralph Williams, Ralph Williams Ford." He was another.
There were more. Just can't remember them right now. One guy was not like them. Bob Spreen. Remember him, with the mellow tone? "Bob Spreen Cadillac. Where the freeways meet in Downey." Like he was from, like, Indiana or some place, but definitely not from Oklahoma.
At first, these Southern car dealers never mentioned Spanish, then as years passed they couldn't avoid it and began tagging each commercial with a roughhewn "Se Habla Espanol." Then they just faded away.
Now the South Gate Boulevard of Cars is dotted with used car lots owned by Arabs and Cubans, and staffed by Mexicans selling to other Mexicans.
And now Cal is dead. How can we go on?
I was in Compton earlier today and came upon this restaurant on Long Beach Boulevard.
El Infierno Restaurant (English: Hell Restaurant), known for its excellent menudo, was named thus by its owner, a fellow named Andres, who comes from Apatzingan in the state of Michoacan, Mexico.
Apatzingan, you may know, is in a ferociously hot part of Mexico known as the Tierra Caliente, and known for its wild ways. Frankly, I was always afraid to visit and never did.
Andres said he named it for the heat of his native region, though Apatzingan lately has become a virtual war zone, as cartels fight each other and the military.
Anyway, El Infierno Restaurant has had some tumultuous times itself.
When it was in its original spot, in a strip mall elsewhere in Compton, it was burned down during the riots of 1992. Andres rebuilt. Then earlier this year, his restaurant was shot up and then someone crashed a car into it, gutting it with fire (see photo, right).
(Reminds me of the time when, from a bus, I spotted a taqueria in Los Mochis, Sinaloa — Tacos Hitler — no lie).
The stories you hear in L.A. if you stop and ask….
I was out in South Gate recently visiting Carlos Herrera, who owns Interior Removal Specialist, a company that takes out the interior of offices that are about to be remodeled.
His mother, a Mexican immigrant, started in the junk collection business years ago, as a way she stumbled on to raise her children alone. In time, she had trucks and drivers. Carlos has continued on in her footsteps.
This place is amazing — piles of drywall, rows of desks and office chairs. Next door is a plant that recycles most of the tin cans used in LA County, most of which will end up in China, I assume.
I'm always fascinated by recycling. So much stuff that once was used — all at the other end of the economy, the one we almost never see.
It's why I like places like South Gate and Vernon. Their ruggedness makes them photogenic and their stories make them mermerizing.
Dave Gold, the founder of one of my favorite stores anywhere, has died of a heart attack at age 80, in the middle-class home he lived in for decades, despite his millionaire net worth.
His 99 Cents Stores, which he began right here in Los Angeles, spread to finally include some 300 outlets.
More than that, it opened a concept that immigrants have copied ever since: the __-Cents store — could be 98, 97, 1.29, whatever. They're all over L.A.
All of it was made possible by globalization, particularly the entry of China into world manufacturing.
I love going to 99 Cents Stores. You can buy duct tape, radishes, cat food, Halloween candy, canned beans, and books that never sold by folks like Charles Osgood or some football player.
Every store has a million things that can be used for kids' art projects. And you never have to ask anyone how much something costs, saving you time as well as money….
What's nice about the Los Angeles of today is that you can go out a meet folks with worthwhile stories almost without trying.
I was in the area once called South Central L.A. (now South L.A.) and came upon a guy named Rogelio in a truck selling plaster statues to passers-by on Vermont Street: Snow White, bulldogs, snakes, Mickey Mouse, and this naked lady pictured here, among other things.
He buys them in Tijuana and brings them in.
I stopped to chat. He didn't let me take his photo, but I shot other stuff.
Rogelio is from Apatzingan, Michoacan. He was 16 in 1970 when he arrived in LA about 1 pm one day. He had a job by midnight.
month ago to visit family. The police refer all problems to the local drug cartel — a pseudo-Catholic group of drug traffickers called the Knights Templar. Wonder how anyone would want to remain a cop under such conditions — or join the force at all.
At one corner, he said, there were two groups of headless bodies.
Still, he said he wants to return. This apparently has something to do with the fact that after 42 years in the country, he's unable to find work that feeds anybody.
This, seems to me, is what LA is right now. If a Mexican immigrant has spent his time here learning new skills — English, welding, painting — he has a better chance of rolling with the economic bad times. But many people did not, assuming that the few skills they always had would be enough, as work had always been so plentiful that you could find a job in a few hours.
Those are the folks who are more likely to be leaving LA — some for other parts of the US, but mostly for Mexico, as it's cheaper to be poor in Mexico, particularly if you have a place to live.
I told him about Craigslist as a place to put advertise his statues, and told him to give me a call if he needed help.
He said his daughter has a computer, but that maybe he'd call.
LOS ANGELES: Dunkin Donuts coming to town…Cambodians unimpressed?
A new doughnut chain will be coming to Los Angeles. Dunkin' Donuts has announced that it will open stores in 2015 here in L.A. and around California.
The question is whether it will fare better than other chains who've had difficulty competing with the vast Cambodian-immigrant doughnut-shop network that dates to the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I told the story of how it is so many independent doughnut shops in Southern California are owned by Cambodians (well, Chinese-Cambodians really), from a country where doughnuts do not exist, in a tale about Ted Ngoy, the ill-fated Cambodian Doughtnut King, whose ambition led to his great rise and spectacular fall from grace.
Doughnut shops allowed those Cambodians who owned them to work their way into America — forcing them to speak English, deal with city halls and business licenses and landlords — in a way that other (mostly Khmer) Cambodians often did not.
Cambodian doughnut shops almost led to the downfall of Winchell's. It's also possible that Cambodians may be tiring of doughnut work, which requires owners to get up at 2-3 a.m. and where the profit margins are slim. Still, everywhere I go, independent doughnut shops remain owned by Cambodians.
I've been reading The Radicalism of the American Revolution by historian Gordon Wood lately. The book talks about the ways in which colonists were breaking from dependence on each other and from Britain, from traditions of England, from old religions to a new, individualistic Great Awakening and new ways of thinking, making a living and doing business.
This break from the Old World and creation of the New has always intrigued me.
Thus I was fascinated to listen to the story of Juan Gutierrez, a Zapotec Indian from a village in Oaxaca, and the owner of Panaderia Antequera in Santa Monica, which was the first Oaxacan-owned business in the LA area when it opened in 1985 or so.
We spoke in his bakery (17th and Ocean Park) the other day.
He and his wife began baking in their house, then found the small shop that was barely surviving and took it over. With the huge population of Oaxacan Indians on LA's west side (the reasons for which are themselves fascinating, but which I'll go into later), business has been great almost from the start, and this has encouraged other Oaxacan Indians to start their own.
Living and doing business here, far from the traditions and customs of his village, Gutierrez has had his own awakening, new ways of viewing what's possible.
Running a business in Santa Monica, he was at the same time dealing with the 17th Century, in the form of demands by villagers back home that he return to do what's known as his tequio or servicio. Indian villages in Mexico require members in good standing to perform a servicio, unpaid for three years.
This communal custom goes back hundreds of years and has been essential to the functioning of Indian villages. Those who don't perform it can have their land, houses and property confiscated.
Now, though, many villagers live in the US, with responsibilities up here. Even if they have legal residency, it's still expensive to go home; if they do not have papers, it's even more so to return. Plus, they no longer are thinking like the young migrants they were when they arrived from the village as teenagers.
Mr. Gutierrez noted that the village depended on remittances from paisanos in the US, who had also donated money to the annual fiesta each year and funded improvements to city hall and the local school.
He offered to pay someone to do his servicio, saying he had a family and business up here and both needed his attention.
But the village authorities, in his view motivated by envy and believing him rich because he owned a business, insisted he come personally, to be a city councilman for three years.
So for three years he lived in the Old World and the New.
More later on what happened.
I've just begun a story on the large number of Oaxacan business owners you find now in Los Angeles, particularly in Pico-Union, Hollywood and Koreatown.
I remember in the late 1990s coming to LA and not seeing any of this. But Oaxacans have lost a little of their fear of business. So now there are restaurants, markets, beauty salons, bakeries, a hardware store — all mentioning their Oaxaca connection and drawing on the vast Oaxacan population in those areas.
It's an entire business community that started without anyone walking into a bank for a loan.
I met Ramiro, who owns a butcher shop and market on Pico.
He told me years ago he worked at Pizza Hut, where all the Mexican employees formed a tanda — an informal savings/loan network, in which each member contributes money each month, then receives a large payout a year or two later. When it came his time to get the payout, he bought a house in Inglewood not because he wanted a house but really because he wanted a garage he could control. In the garage, he started a meat truck business.
That was 10 years ago. Now he's got three butcher shops/markets.
In large parts of the LA economic ecosystem, immigrants alone participate.
The other day I happened on El Payasito, one of the great stores in LA. It sells all that anyone needs for a Mexican birthday party.
It's owned by an Iranian immigrant named Sam, who wouldn't give me his last name and didn't want to be photographed.
He was a civil engineer in Iran and left after the Iranian Revolution. He owned an auto shop with a cousin for a while. Then saw that a much larger shop had burned on Pico Blvd, in Pico-Union, bought it and was renovating the place. He put a few things out for sale, and people snapped them up.
So instead of a auto shop, it became a kind of thrift store for a few years, selling remainders. Then a salesman for a party supply shop came by and begged him to let him open up two aisles of the store to his products. Sam did and they sold immediately. He opened more aisles, and sold out again.
He renamed the store El Payasito (Little Clown) and learned some Spanish and that's how he's spent the last 25 years: selling candy, cups, plates, toys, tortilla holders, candles, pots, pans and a lot more from his converted body shop on Pico. Dozens of pinatas — which he gets from Tijuana, and some from LA, and are the only thing in his store not from China, apparently — hang from his ceiling.
I'm fascinated by the immigrants who've made a living here selling Mexicans the most intimate parts of their culture: parties, food, clothes. I wrote a story years ago for the LA Times on just this. Had I known about El Payasito then, I would have included it.
Sam's is worthy of a Chekhov short story. An immigrant engineer, fleeing political upheaval comes to a new land and ends up selling party supplies to Mexicans. Man, I love that story.
"You get into what you have to get into to survive in this country," he said.


J Nucl Med. 2003 Jun;44(6):915-9.
Calf flow reserve with H(2)(15)O PET as a quantifiable index of lower extremity flow.
Schmidt MA1, Chakrabarti A, Shamim-Uzzaman Q, Kaciroti N, Koeppe RA, Rajagopalan S.
Section of Vascular Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Objective measures of recruitable blood flow are of importance in angiogenesis trials. We validated a new PET-derived flow reserve (FR) measurement in healthy subjects and subjects with peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Five healthy volunteers and 5 subjects with PAD underwent cannulation of the femoral artery and vein. Basal and maximal flow (100 micro g/kg/min of adenosine infused intraarterially) in the lower extremity was determined using thermodilution (TD) techniques. Subjects then underwent plethysmography (PL) followed by PET measurements of blood flow at the calf level. For the PET studies, a transmission scan followed by injection of 1.85 GBq (50 mCi) H(2)(15)O and dynamic scanning for 5 min were acquired in five 1-min frames. Regions of interest were drawn on successive PET image slices, and radioactivity was quantified from the first-minute scan after injection. FR for each of the 3 modalities was expressed as the ratio of adenosine to basal flow.
PET-derived FR correlated strongly with TD (r = 0.82; P = 0.004) but not with PL (r = 0.17; P = 0.85). The mean average difference in FR between healthy volunteers and PAD subjects was 13.0 with PET and 4.5 with TD. The intra- and intersubject variability for PET expressed as the coefficient of variation was 10.5% and 29.0% for healthy subjects and 7.0% and 52.9% in PAD, respectively.
As expected, FR was significantly lower in PAD subjects compared with healthy subjects as assessed with TD and PET but not with PL. PET-derived FR appears to be reproducible and generates sharper and higher indices of recruitable flow in healthy subjects and PAD. These findings have implications for the use of PET-derived FR as a sensitive index of recruitable flow in angiogenesis trials.


Volkswagen is one of the world's largest car makers. A like the globe's other big players, it once looked longingly toward Russia when the auto industry began a robust recovery about five years ago.
But VW has gotten burned. The company will reduce shifts and lay off at least 150 workers at its Russian car plant to try to cut costs in a market downturn.
The European auto industry has stumbled during the recovery from the financial crisis. The US market, by contrast, has been booming. Latin America has been iffy. China has weakened of late, but it's still the world's largest market for autos.
Russia, however, has turned into a catastrophe.
Car sales there dropped sharply last year as the economy was hit by a fall in oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine. The rouble also weakened, hurting demand.
General Motors said last week it would shut its Russian factory and wind down the Opel brand in the country, while Nissan Motor Co. suspended Russia production for 16 days this month.
"In the first months of 2015 the Russian auto market continued to feel the impact of a weak economy, significant price increases and high interest rates. We don't expect that to change in coming months," Volkswagen said in emailed comments.
The company said its car plant in Kaluga, south of the capital Moscow, would work four days a week from April to July this year and starting from May the number of shifts would decrease to two from three.
As part of measures intended to help the company adapt to the current economic environment, the production would be suspended for two weeks on May 5-8 and May 12-15, it added.
The company also said it would not renew contracts with at least 150 employees and would offer some others the chance to move to its new auto parts warehouse in the Moscow region or an engine plant. Both are scheduled to open later this year.
It will also offer compensation packages to employees who will give up their jobs by mutual agreement.
Volkswagen's Russian sales fell 40 percent in January-February, year-on-year, while the broader market was down 32 percent, according to Moscow-based lobby group the Association of European Businesses.
However, the German carmaker said its Russian investment plans were intact, with the construction of the engine plant and the auto parts warehouse on schedule.
"The Russian market still has a significant growth potential long-term," it said in the statement.
In the short-term, however, the story is completely different.


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Home Care Assistance Healthy Longevity Webinar Series: Sharing health knowledge. Promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. Changing the way the world ages.
At Home Care Assistance, we believe in empowering people to be proactive and informed when it comes to their health. Our Home Care Assistance Healthy Longevity Webinar Series brings experts from a diverse spectrum of health and wellness fields to our clients and the wider community in an engaging and informative format. The webinars are offered free to the public as part of our broader education initiative, through which we actively provide information and resources around topics related to aging, wellness and quality of life. The premise driving our webinar series is that individuals who are well-informed will make better health decisions, become active partners with their healthcare professionals in promoting their own health and encourage loved ones to also engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors.
For ALL Latest Webinars: See More
August 2014 Webinar:
Living from the Heart: Everything You Need to Know to Live a Heart-Healthy Life
The webinar was presented by Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, attending cardiologist and Director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, National Spokesperson for the American Heart Association's Go Red Campaign, and author. Dr. Steinbaum discussed the issues surrounding women and heart disease, what heart disease is and what to do about it. She also covered the lifestyle changes linked to heart health as presented in her recently-released book Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum's Heart Book: Every Woman's Guide to a Heart Healthy Life.
Dr. Steinbaum has devoted her career to the treatment of heart disease through early detection, education, and prevention. She has done fellowship training in both Preventive Cardiology and Cardiology, and is currently a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. Often cited in newspapers and magazines, such as Self, Glamour, More, Fitness, The Wall Street Journal and Family Circle, she has written on the topics of cardiac prevention and nutrition, and lectured nationally on the topics of coronary artery disease, women and heart disease, natural and alternative ways of treating heart disease, and the prevention of heart disease. Dr. Steinbaum is also regularly interviewed for breaking news in U.S. News and World Report, Healthday and WebMD, and featured on network news health segments for ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and FOX as a leading consultant in the field of women and heart disease, preventive cardiology and topics of lifestyle management. She has been awarded a New York Times Super Doctor, and a Castle and Connolly Top Doctor for Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Steinbaum is currently the host of Focus on Health, a weekly magazine news show spotlighting health topics on WLNYTV, and a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, Dr. Oz, Bottomline Health and Sharecare. Her unique perspectives on health, wellness and overall vitality by living a heart-centered life can be found at www.srsheart.com.
July 2014 Webinar:
The Mindful Caregiver: Helping Caregivers Recognize that Self-Care Matters
The webinar was presented by Nancy Kriseman, licensed clinical social worker and author. Nancy discussed how caregivers can prevent burnout and maximize wellness by becoming more self-aware. There was a special focus on how to help caregivers who struggle with unrealistic expectations and have difficulty letting go of how their loved ones used to be.
Nancy has a Masters in Social Work, a Specialist in Aging Degree from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Florida. As a licensed clinical social worker, Nancy has worked with older people and their families for more than 30 years. She is currently in private practice and presents workshops on caregiving and dementia across the country. As an adjunct faculty member at Kennesaw State University, she taught courses on aging, and death and dying. She has published two books, The Caring Spirit Approach to Eldercare: A Training Guide for Professionals and Families, which has won national awards from the American Society on Aging, Hunter College and National Council on Aging, and more recently, The Mindful Caregiver: Finding Ease in the Caregiving Journey.
June 2014 Webinar: Let's Talk Dementia – With a Splash of Humor
The webinar was presented by Carol Howell, Certified Dementia Specialist and best-selling author. During the webinar, Carol discussed various forms of dementia and caregiving tips presented in her latest book, Let's Talk Dementia – A Caregiver's Guide, an Amazon #1 best-seller. A caregiver herself, Carol provided hands-on tips for coping with the challenges and emotions that come with caring for a loved one with dementia.
After her husband's closed-head injury in 1996 and her mother's diagnosis of Alzheimer's in 2006, Carol began her study of the brain and the various forms of dementia that exist. Through her company, Senior Life Journeys, she is actively involved in the lives of individuals who are caring for a loved one with dementia. An Endorsed Music Therapy Coach, Carol works with dementia patients through Choral Music Therapy, Memory Music Therapy, and Hospice Music Therapy. She also wrote the best-seller If My Body Is A Temple, Why Am I Eating Doughnuts?
November 2013 Webinar:
For Couples and Caregivers: Coping with the Complexities of Chronic Illness
In observance of Family Caregivers month, the November webinar on the topic of caring for a loved one with a chronic illness was presented by Barbara Kivowitz and Roanne Weisman, co-authors of the book, In Sickness As In Health: Helping Couples Cope with the Complexities of Illness. Using personal experience, real families' stories, and input from medical, legal and psychological experts, the co-authors shared practical guidance for family caregivers on navigating and balancing the medical and relational mazes that often develop when a loved one is diagnosed with a chronic illness. Though most of their research focuses on couples, the tips and insight they provided is applicable to all relationship dynamics.
Barbara is a therapist, organizational consultant and advisor to several health systems. Her articles on couples and illness, and on living with pain have been published in Women's Day and the Journal of the American Pain Foundation. Roanne is an award-winning author of seven trade health books published by McGraw Hill, Harvard Medical School and Health Communications, Inc. Her feature stories have appeared in magazines including Prevention, Country Living, Alternative Medicine, and Body and Soul, as well as magazines from Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, both teaching institutions of Harvard Medical
September 2013 Webinar:
The Longevity Project: What Science Can Tell Us About Living Long and Well
The September webinar was presented by Dr. Leslie Martin, professor at Loma Linda University's School of Public Health and leading researcher on pathways to health and longevity. During the webinar, Dr. Martin discussed the psychological and behavioral correlation of healthy longevity presented in her latest book, The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study, offering useful tips from which everyone can benefit.
The book, co-authored by Dr. Howard Friedman, is based on the fascinating findings from a study that began in 1921 by Stanford University professor Dr. Lewis Terman and tracked 1500 men and women from childhood. Drs. Martin and Friedman, picked up the study 20 years ago, following remaining participants to the end of their lives to discover why some people thrive into old age while others fall ill and die prematurely. What is interesting is that many of the findings go against conventional health recommendations and intuition.Over the course of her career, Dr. Martin has published three dozen scientific papers and co-authored three books on health, behavior change and longevity.
June 2013 Webinar:
Stroke Prevention and Care
The June webinar on the topic of stroke prevention was presented by leading stroke neurologist and head of the Cleveland Clinic Stroke Program, Muhammad Shazam Hussain, MD. Dr. Hussain discussed opportunities for reducing the risk of stroke, identifying early warning signs of stroke in others, and best practices for stroke care.
Dr. Hussain is an assistant professor of neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and director of the Cleveland Clinic Stroke Program. Appointed in 2010, Dr. Hussain's leadership and expertise in the diagnosis, treatment and early rehabilitation of stroke patients contributed to the Cleveland Clinic's receipt of the 2012 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With the Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. A Primary Stroke Center, the Cerebrovascular Center provides services that foster better outcomes for stroke care. Dr. Hussain's specialties include acute stroke therapy, cerebrovascular conditions, and neuroimaging and he has authored nearly 100 published works.
January 2013 Webinar:
Preventing Alzheimer's Disease
The January webinar in our Healthy Longevity Webinar Series was presented by New York Times best-selling author and world renowned memory expert Dr. Gary Small. The webinar covered Alzheimer's disease prevention and brain health. The webinar will be held on January 24th at 11 AM Pacific, 2 PM Eastern and will cover the topics of Alzheimer's disease, healthy aging and lifestyle strategies that are linked with a reduced risk for dementia.
Dr. Small is a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute and director at the Memory and Aging Research Center and the UCLA Center on Longevity. He is also an award-winning author, having published six books, including The New York Times best-seller, The Memory Bible, and The Alzheimer's Prevention Program. For his work in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease and brain aging, Scientific American Magazine named him one of the world's leading innovators in science and technology. Dr. Small was also the recipient of the 2012 Kathy N. Johnson Award Achievement Award. Developed by Home Care Assistance to recognize leaders who are making meaningful and groundbreaking contributions in the areas of healthy longevity and aging, Dr. Small was honored with this award at the company's Annual Convention for his innovative approach to Alzheimer's prevention and care.
Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers: The Unsung Heroes
In honor of Alzheimer's Awareness Month, the September webinar in our Healthy Longevity Webinar Series featured renowned dementia expert Dr. Judith London. Dr. London is a licensed psychologist with over two decades of experience in the field of Alzheimer's and related dementias and the author of Connecting the Dots: Breakthroughs in Communication as Alzheimer's Advances.
Dr. London has focused on the physical and mental manifestations of Alzheimer's and dementia and best practices for family and professional caregivers to promote optimal quality of life. She also offered advice on understanding root causes of problematic behaviors common in adults with dementia and tips to improve outcomes. While caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's can be a physically and emotionally trying experience, following Dr. London's "ABC Approach" can equip caregivers with the knowledge and skills to provide the best possible environment for care recipients.
May 2012 Webinar:
Caregiver Burnout and How to Protect Your Health
The webinar was presented by Dr. Hoblyn, chief medical officer of eTherapi.com, which offers access to professional psychotherapy via online video conferencing for adults seeking to improve their emotional and mental wellbeing. Dr. Hoblyn is a psychiatrist with expertise in treating adults with mental health conditions. She currently oversees the Inpatient Mental Health Services at the Palo Alto VA and is on Faculty as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Hoblyn also has a background in public health and is very committed to improving global access to mental health services for all. She has practiced in the US and Europe and has a comprehensive understanding of healthcare service delivery models. She has degrees from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin Ireland and the University of California at Berkeley. She has authored and co-authored over 30 papers, books and book chapters in the field and is an investigator on several funded research studies examining mental health outcomes and cognitive functioning.
February 2012 Webinar:
Heart Health 101
In honor of Heart Month, the webinar for the month of February featured renowned heart experts Drs. Marc Gillinov and Steven Nissen. Drs. Nissen and Gillinov are authors of the new book Heart 411-The Only Guide to Heart Health You'll Ever Need. The book has been described as the definitive guide to heart health from two of America's most respected doctors at Cleveland Clinic, the leading hospital for heart health in America. Their book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in heart health that provides answers to common questions such as "Can a high stress job really lead to a heart attack?" and "What are the most important medical tests to run to check on heart health?" in an accessible way and provides useful health tips from which everyone can benefit.


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Should Doctors Prescribe Death?
Words matter, and so, obviously, does policy. Yesterday, both met at a Joint Commission on Health Care (JCHC) work group meeting studying the question of legalizing "Medical Aid-in-Dying."
What is that, you ask?
It's a soft euphemism being used to describe physician-assisted suicide.
Theoretically, the goal of the study is to answer some key questions about the ramifications of enacting such a policy in Virginia, and at yesterday's meeting, various stakeholders were given the opportunity to weigh in, including Family Foundation VP of Government Relations, Chris Freund.
Our position was made clear: any effort to legalize physician-assisted suicide will be met with our fullest and strongest opposition.
Currently, only six states have statutes permitting physician-assisted suicide, which is defined as the "ability of a patient to obtain (or a doctor to prescribe) a medication to end their (a patient's) life if [the patient is] competent, terminally ill, and over 18." The movement to enact such legislation is gaining ground around the nation. Supporters argue that terminally ill patients deserve the right end their own suffering, but their focus on "death with dignity" typically paints over the vast potential for abuse allowed by physician-assisted suicide laws, and the kind of society we are building if we allow physician-assisted suicide to become a reality throughout the Commonwealth.
And while "terminally ill" is clearly defined in medicine, most state laws that allow the killing of the terminally ill prescribe stipulations such as a patient must have fewer than six months to live. We raised the question, "How accurate are doctors when they predict how long someone has to live?" One doctor on the work group admitted, "Doctors are notoriously terrible" at predicting the length of a terminal illness.
This is one of the hundreds of philosophical and practical questions that arise when we discuss allowing people to commit suicide.
There is no question that intentionally causing the premature death of another human being violates the oath that physicians take to "do no harm." Terminally ill patients deserve our love and support, they deserve unrestricted access to proper hospice and palliative care, and they deserve the dignity that comes from life. What they do not deserve is a system that endorses the deliberate hastening of their death. If we as a society are willing to accept the idea that physicians can be complicit in causing death in some circumstances, there is no telling where the line will be drawn.
There will be an opportunity for public input in this discussion in the coming weeks. We will update you so that you can make your voice for life heard!
On another note, the study is the result of a letter from Delegate Kaye Kory submitted a letter to the JCHC requesting a study reviewing the issue. With the financial limitations faced by the Commonwealth and the cost to taxpayers of these studies, it seems more than reasonable that for a commission to spend time and taxpayer money on a study, it should require legislation from the General Assembly. Many do, but all should.
The NEA Finally Admitted It!
Last month the National Education Association (NEA) adopted Business Item 56 that makes official its support for abortion – something we have suspected for years. Once again, the NEA, and by extension the Virginia Education Association (VEA), have shown us that they are less about education and more about advancing an ideologically liberal agenda. This has become abundantly clear in their VEA fund endorsements made earlier this year, a list where you won't find a single pro-life candidate.
Business Item 56 states the following:
"Furthermore, the NEA will include an assertion of our defense of a person's right to control their own body, especially for women, youth, and sexually marginalized people. The NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade."
On average, a public school teacher pays the NEA $192 in annual dues. In return teachers are able to take advantage of benefits like shopping discounts, life insurance plans, and student loan forgiveness programs. The NEA, despite their best efforts to convince us otherwise, uses the dues to pay for political activities that often conflict with a teacher's personal convictions. Now with the adoption of Business Item 56, the NEA will use a percentage of teachers' dues to fund its political activities to specifically promote abortion.
The NEA, the largest teachers' union in the United States with 2.2 million members, says its mission is to "advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world." Clearly their adoption of an organizational policy supporting Roe v. Wade and the abortion industry is inconsistent with its stated mission and elevates a liberal ideology above the interests of its members. The position expressed by the NEA will be in direct conflict with the values and principles that many teachers hold regarding the sanctity of life.
But there are several alternatives to the NEA without the political agenda. That's right, a public school teacher doesn't have to join the NEA to receive helpful benefits and be part of a network of likeminded teachers dedicated to teaching our youth.
Instead public school teachers should consider joining one of the following groups:
1. American Association of Educators (AAE) - AAE is a non-profit professional association that serves thousands of teachers across the country. They describe themselves as a "national, non-union, professional educators' organization, advancing the profession by offering a modern approach to teacher representation" that seeks to promote professionalism, collaboration and excellence without a partisan agenda." (Emphasis added.)
As a member of AAE, a teacher will receive many of the same benefits that the NEA "promises," including liability insurance, shopping discounts, scholarships, grants, and legal services, but with a lower annual membership fee.
2. Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) – A teacher interested in being part of a Christian-based organization should consider CEAI, which offers many of the same benefits but with a missional component. In addition to membership benefits such as legal services, insurance and store discounts, CEAI provides a ministry to equip teachers to be "missional educational leaders."
3. Virginia Professional Educators - VPE is a nonprofit professional group for Virginia teachers that also provides many of the same benefits the VEA offers, but at a lower cost and without the "partisan politics and controversial social agendas of teacher unions." VPE is a growing professional group for teachers with several thousand members.
It's time to dismantle the illusion that the only professional group for teachers is the NEA. Teachers should be made aware that there are other groups that offer professional development without the stress of being connected to political positions that may conflict with their personal beliefs.
Changing Hearts and Minds About Abortion
A majority of Americans are decidedly not "pro-choice." This is according to a recent Gallup poll in which 49% of respondents reported that they consider themselves pro-life, compared to 46% who identify as "pro-choice." This marks the first time since 2013 that a majority of survey respondents in a major poll identify as pro-life.
The notable shift in polling shows that hearts and minds can be and are being changed, which is arguably more important than any law we could pass. You see, we don't have to wait until the legislature passes laws that limit abortions or until Roe v. Wade is overturned in order to end this scourge on our society, though we should still work diligently to make those happen. We can actually have an immediate impact in our communities by changing the hearts and minds of people on this issue.
That being said, public opinion on abortion has no doubt had a significant impact on abortion policies across the country, resulting in a flurry of laws aimed at either curbing abortion or expanding it.
The ideological Left and abortion advocates nationwide are going crazy over new laws in Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri that establish important restrictions on abortion in those states. So much so, that they are passing their own radical abortion-on-demand bills in states like Illinois and New York that will allow abortion for any reason up until the moment of birth.
The issue of abortion has become so heated of late that in response to Georgia's "Heartbeat Bill", Hollywood is actually boycotting the state. Hollywood elites and abortion proponents seem to be concerned about the strong possibility that a case will come before the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges its current Roe v. Wade precedence, especially as the makeup of the Court is trending more and more strict constructionist.
Last month we concluded our "No Pink Lights Over Richmond Tour" around the Commonwealth in which we discussed legislation concerning the sanctity of life. We were encouraged to receive positive feedback and great participation. During the Q&A Session following one of the presentations, a participant asked what our thoughts were on the recent heartbeat legislation being pushed in other states and whether we could expect something like that here in Virginia. Given what transpired in Virginia this year, it would not be surprising to see "Heartbeat" legislation introduced next year. But let's more fully unpack the context of the heartbeat legislation.
In an attempt to start the process of challenging Roe v. Wade, Alabama passed a law that makes it a felony to perform an abortion except in cases when the mother's life is in danger, effectively eliminating the practice of abortion in the state. Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill into law on May 15, 2019 and issued the following statement:
"No matter one's personal view on abortion, we can all recognize that, at least for the short term, this bill may similarly be unenforceable. As citizens of this great country, we must always respect the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court even when we disagree with their decisions. Many Americans, myself included, disagreed when Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973. The sponsors of this bill believe that it is time, once again, for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit this important matter, and they believe this act may bring about the best opportunity for this to occur."
The Alabama law sets in motion what will inevitably become a contentious and long legal battle that will take years to traverse the court system. Only time will tell if the case ever makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Regardless, this law was clearly a bold move to return the issue of abortion back to the states by forcing the Supreme Court to finally reconsider (and overturn) the landmark 1973 decision.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) introduced the "Abortion is Not Health Care Act", which could disincentivize some abortions by disallowing taxpayers from deducting abortion costs from their taxable income. Under Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code, abortion expenses paid during the taxable year that were not covered by insurance, by the taxpayer, his/her spouse, or a dependent may be deducted from income if they exceed 7.5% of their adjusted gross income.
These legislative actions represent two important approaches to policy-making with slightly different intended purposes. The first approach, which is the primary purpose of the Alabama law, is to impose certain restrictions on abortion that would trigger a legal challenge that is intended to reach the Supreme Court. The second approach is a pragmatic form of policy-making meant to restrict, defund, and limit abortions. While the later approach doesn't strike at the heart of the abortion issue like the Alabama law, it is extremely valuable for keeping an abortion industry that desperately wants conduct its activities uninhibited in check.
For example, the legislature in Virginia has incrementally imposed vital protections for mothers, such as informed consent, 24 hour waiting periods, requirements that second trimester abortions to be performed in hospitals, and ultrasound requirements, to name a few. These pragmatic laws force abortion providers to follow strict rules so as to at least ensure the safety and informed consent of vulnerable women considering such a consequential decision. For the abortion industry, however, they are seen as an impediment to more profit. These achievements didn't happen overnight, and they could easily be eliminated if legislation like Delegate Kathy Tran's bill (HB 2491) is ever passed.
We know these vital protections and safety standards work because they were vigorously challenged by the abortion industry in Falls Church Women's Center v. Oliver. For a summary of this case and what happened during the bench trial, you can read our blog posts "Falls Church v. Oliver", "The Plaintiffs Rest", "Defense Makes Its Case", and "Case Closed".
The reality is that until the Supreme Court is filled with the right-minded judicial philosophy necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade precedence, we must continue to share our hearts for the unborn and exercise compassion for mothers struggling with this decision.That's where the greatest change is going to happen.
Case Closed. Decision Still to Come.
Yesterday, abortion industry and the private counsel hired to defend Virginia's laws made their closing arguments in federal district court in Falls Church Medical Center v. Oliver, wrapping up a grueling two-week trial in which nearly all our state's pro-life laws hang in the balance. My team and I, including our five new summer interns, were in the courtroom to witness every word.
After failing year after year to pass legislation to achieve their ultimate goal of unfettered access to taxpayer-funded abortions performed by anyone in facilities with no oversight up until the moment of birth, the abortion industry turned to the courts – targeting Virginia to be its precedent-setting case in that goal. For a quick refresher on the overall case and some of what happened before and during the trial, be sure to look back at our blog posts. ("Surprise Miracle", "Falls Church v. Oliver", "The Plaintiffs Rest" and "Defense Makes Its Case")
In yesterday's closing statement, the lawyer for Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and Whole Women's Health gave frankly an overstated, over-confident, and oversimplified summary of the facts in this case and how the U.S. Supreme Court's precedents supposedly require the judge to totally throw out all of the following Virginia laws (some on the books since 1975):
- "Window to the Womb" ultrasound law providing a woman the opportunity to view her ultrasound and hear the fetal heart tone if she wishes
- Abortion informed consent materials
- A 24-hour wait period after the ultrasound and prior to an abortion
- All abortion center health and safety regulations
- The requirement for 2nd trimester abortions to be done in hospitals, and
- The requirement for having actual physicians perform the abortion procedure
Despite how reasonable these safeguards are for ensuring the health, safety, and informed consent of vulnerable women facing this permanent – and often conflicted – decision, the abortion industry has proven its willingness to sacrifice anything, and anyone, for the sake of money and power. It's quite revealing that the same industry that purports to be about women's health is doing everything it can to strip away things like health and safety standards, informed consent, and requirements that medical doctors be the ones to perform an invasive surgery. We pray that Judge Hudson sees right through the hollow (yet slick) legal arguments of the Plaintiffs. If his questions from the bench were any signal, we sense that on most of the issues involved, he does.
The attorney defending our laws kept her closing much more direct, succinct, and generally had solid legal arguments. The Defense's closing highlighted the evidence throughout the trial, even brought forward by some of the Plaintiffs' witnesses, that safety standards have greatly improved the facilities doing the invasive surgery of abortion, that ultrasound is a critical element of the abortion procedure, and that physicians are uniquely qualified to perform all types of abortion and deal with all potential complications.
Significantly, the Defense pointed out that the Plaintiffs did not put forward even a single Virginia woman of child-bearing age who could demonstrate any burden whatsoever in her ability to obtain an abortion as a result of these laws. "If there were such a woman," said the Defense attorney, "surely the Plaintiffs, who perform abortions all across the Commonwealth every single day, would be able to provide one." But they couldn't. That is more than a little problematic for the Plaintiffs when the legal standard they must demonstrate is an "undue burden" on an actual woman pursuing abortion.
While some important points were omitted from her closing and several points were conceded unnecessarily (this was the Attorney General's hired counsel, mind you), the attorney definitely put forward a laudable and even compelling defense of the laws. And that was encouraging.
Now that the trial is over and all the documents and evidence are in, we are left only to pray for Judge Hudson's wise discernment, his respect for our laws and the Constitution, and that he has a true appreciation for the gravity of his decision in terms of its impact on the lives and health of women, unborn children, federalism and the rule of law. Please join us in that prayer over the next several weeks.
Whatever the outcome of this case, The Family Foundation will remain ever-vigilant on behalf of Virginia families for the protection and promotion of every human life, and especially those most vulnerable among us. As soon as we learn of a decision in this case, we'll let you know.


One night a policeman is waiting in his car near a very busy bar. At 1 am, he can see a man who is walking out of the bar. The man goes slowly. He looks very drunk. He tries his key in five different cars. Then he finds his car. He sits in the front seat and he tries to start the car with his keys for 10 minutes. Everybody from the bar goes home. When he starts his car, he begins to drive.


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Cashing in on social media
Facebook is finalising plans to launch its own crypto-currency next year and pioneers in the sector believe the move will bring more devotees to the banking disruptors and make FinTech a mainstream payment choice.
The social media giant is planning to set up a digital payments system in about a dozen countries by the first quarter of 2020, as highlighted on GDN-online, the popular portal of our sister newspaper.
A new digital payments system would be launched in about a dozen countries, starting early next year, the BBC reported on its website.
Previous reports have said Facebook has been taking a serious look at block chain technology under its Project Libra, in part to tackle doubts about privacy among its many users following a series of scandals.
But the targetted date appears new. The BBC said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg met Bank of England governor Mark Carney last month to discuss the opportunities and risks involved in launching a crypto-currency, plus officials at the US Treasury.
Facebook's currency, which has been referred to internally as GlobalCoin, would be a digital unit pegged to the dollar in contrast to more anarchic means of virtual payment such as bitcoin.
With more than two billion users across its platforms, which include WhatsApp and Instagram, Facebook could have the clout to take a crypto currency mainstream, analysts' suggest.
Garrick Hileman, a researcher at London School of Economics, said the GlobalCoin project could be one of the most significant events in the short history of crypto-currencies. Conservatively, he estimated that around 30 million people use crypto-currencies today. That compares to Facebook's 2.4 billion monthly users.
Entrepreneur Jamal Al Mutawa, the man behind the only live crypto-currency automated teller machine (ATM) in the MENA region, couldn't agree more.
"It will bring practical awareness to many more people about crypto-currencies, their use and convenience," he said. "If Facebook does it right, it will also set the standard for a more friendly, easier user experience, right now the crypto wallets are all right but might scare or confuse some people.
"I see it similar to the introduction of the Web Browser that opened the internet to everyone-else, when previously it was an area only for academics and some corporations."
The Crypto ATM from Basket SPC at Bahrain FinTech Bay, inside the Arcapita Building, allows people to buy and sell crypto-currencies or coins using cash.
Jamal, a former business support systems / operations support systems director at Zain Group, said that although his new business was still in the Central Bank of Bahrain's 'sandbox process', he is confident that once the bank sees the operation as 'competent and following the conditions set forth by the CBB', Basket will be allowed to operate in Bahrain, as reported in FinTech Focus.
"Distribution is a challenge especially for the unbanked," he said. "A crypto ATM is the perfect on-boarding tool for the unbanked or small amounts."


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What is Fair to Expect from Henrik Zetterberg Next Season?
By Peter F.@pflynnhockey Aug 22, 2017, 9:00am CDT
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Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Henrik Zetterberg seems to defy Father Time. He had his best full season since 2011-12 last year at the age of 36. Without his performance in 2016-17, it's a bit scary to think how much worse the team could have been. My two previous articles showed that even at 37, he still leads the way on the ice in many respects.
At the same time, as the saying goes, Father Time is undefeated. There will come a time where he just can't make his body do what he wants it to do. Just like all of you, I imagine, I hope that day is far in the future. Unfortunately, it's likely that it will be here sooner than we hope.
For this article, I'm going to take a look at two metrics to predict a reasonable expectation for Zetterberg for the 2017-18 season.
5v5 P60 and the Standard Age Curve
In 2014, Eric Tulsky wrote an article explaining his research into establishing an age curve. Most people think that NHL players peak later in their career than they actually do. Tulsky found that, in terms of scoring, forwards peak at 24 on average. The drop off is not very severe from age 24 until about 29 (roughly 90% of peak), after which it tends to drop more severely, reaching about 50% of peak at age 37. Zetterberg will be 37 this season.
Eric Tulsky - @NHLEricT
There are a few things to remember here. The first is that this is an average. Some players will drop off faster, and some players will maintain a higher level of production longer. The second is that this is 5v5 points per 60 minutes of ice time, so this is predicting their rate of 5v5 scoring, not necessarily their total number of goals and assists (due to a potential change in ice time).
The latter point is important to remember because Zetterberg played a large amount of minutes last year, and it seems likely that he will be asked to do that again this season. Dylan Larkin is not ready to take over 1C duties, and unless he has a major regression this season, Zetterberg will be more able to fill that role than Frans Nielsen.
Each of the last 3 years, his 5v5 ice time has increased. It seems unlikely that it would increase much more than last year, but even if it decreased to the average of the last three seasons, he would still be averaging 14.71 5v5 minutes.
Data: Corsica
Last year, Zetterberg led the forwards in overall TOI, playing 1616 total minutes. Tomas Tatar was second with 1416, two hundred minutes behind. At 5v5, Zetterberg played 1241 minutes, while Tatar was second with 1116 (1st and 2nd among forwards again).
Even though he logged a ton of minutes the past three seasons, is it reasonable to expect that again? The older he gets, the greater the chance of injuries from that amount of ice time.
Rob Vollman, author of Hockey Abstract, has 5v5 data going back to 2006-07. In 2006-07, Zetterberg was 26, which is right about 96% of peak according to the age curve. Using this as a starting point, I overlaid the aging curve over Zetterberg's actual 5v5 P60 for those seasons.
Age Curve: Eric Tulsky; Data: Rob Vollman; Chart: @pflynnhockey
The age curve says that Zetterberg should score 1.46 points per 60 minutes at 5v5 next year. If you look at the overall trend of his actual numbers, you will see that his performance last year was much higher than you would expect. The two seasons prior, he was 0.5 P60 below the age curve, while last season he was 0.7 above it. To put that in perspective, that 1.2 P60 difference is a difference of 20 5v5 points a season (based on Zetterberg's average 5v5 TOI over the last three seasons)
What we see here is a downward trend with a few outliers, last year being the largest. While we don't want to ignore last season—he certainly earned the numbers he put up—the chance of him outperforming expectations that significantly is less than the chance of him regressing.
So by looking at this data, the likely expectation will be for him to regress closer to the age curve. But by how much?
On August 14th, Prashanth Iyer wrote an article for The Athletic (paywall) that looked at projections for the Red Wings forwards by using a Marcel projection for the 2017-18 season. Since it is paywalled, I can't give you the full chart, but I can provide his model's projection for Zetterberg next year, which is 1.90 5v5 P60
If you look at the chart above again, that projection would be between his performance last year and what the age curve projects. I think that 1.90 is closer to a reasonable expectation than 1.46. If he plays 82 games like he did the past two seasons and using the three year average of 5v5 TOI, that would project him to score 38 points at 5v5 down from 55 last season.
GAR and a New Age Curve
One of the reasons that I've been using GAR so much lately is that the model looks at multiple components instead of just scoring. So let's take a quick look at Zetterberg's GAR components since 2008-09.
As a reminder, DRW = penalties drawn; EVD = even-strength defense; EVO = even-strength offense; FC = faceoffs; PPO = power play offense; and TKE = penalties taken.
Each component shows Zetterberg's value to the team in that component in terms of goals the team scored above what would be expected if you replaced Zetterberg with a replacement level player.
Data: @DTMAboutHeart; Chart: @pflynnhockey
Every year, Zetterberg has been negative in only one category: penalties drawn. That means he draws fewer penalties than you would expect a replacement level player to draw. Each season, he provides the most value to the team through EVO. Last year he provided more EVO than the two prior years, though his PPO took a sharp decline. Because of the negative values, it can be a little tough to see how his totals add up each season, so this next chart illustrates his overall GAR for each seasons since 2008-09.
2012-13 (lockout) and 2013-14 (major injury) are pro-rated to 82 games. He played 46 and 45 games respectively in those seasons. He was performing on a higher level than normal in the 45 games he played in 13-14, but it's impossible to tell if he could have kept that up for a full season.
Just like with P60 in the first section, we see a general downward trend, with a few outliers. Again, just like with P60, we see that last season was above what was likely for Zetterberg to produce.
Since Tulsky published his article in 2014, others have worked on age curves. Stephen Burtch, hockey Analytics writer for Sportsnet.ca, recently released GAR projections for next year based on a quadratic projection using existing GAR data and a parabolic aging curve.
Burtch made an interactive dashboard that you can use to look up any player. It doesn't have a projection for every player, as he needs data from several seasons to calculate the estimate. Even for those players, you can still see their actual GAR totals.
In this graph, the dark-blue dotted line represents the trend for next season solely based on previous seasons. The light-blue dotted line represents Burtch's model's projection for next season. The model projects him at 12.92 for next season, down from 13.5 this season.
It's important to note that the blue shaded area represents a 95% confidence interval. So, the projection is 12.92 +/ about 3.1. That's a significant range.
Stephen Burtch
Are These Reasonable Projections for Zetterberg?
I feel that yes, both Burtch's GAR projection and Iyer's 5v5 P60 projection are reasonable expectations for Zetterberg next season. Over time, everyone regresses. The great players are often able to keep producing at a higher level for longer than the average player, but eventually they take a step or two back. One thing I think these two stats show is just how impressive Zetterberg's performance was last year.
The captain could defy the odds again and perform like he did last season. It is, however, more likely that he helps the team less on the ice than he did last year.
This serves to highlight how important it is that other players step up this season. Even if Zetterberg does regress, if the other forwards take a step (or two or three) forward, the team will be better as a whole.
Again, regardless of what Zetterberg is able to accomplish this season, I think it's worth taking a moment to realize just how good he was last year at the age of 36.
Interactive charts from this article can be found here.
Quick Hits: The Ask Better Questions Edition
Quick Hits: The New Formulas Edition


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