By Michael Brick, Austin Bureau Dec. 5, 2014 Updated: Dec. 5, 2014 6:30 p.m.
AUSTIN — On midterm election night, under a steady drizzle, the Craddicks of Midland split up in front of the W Hotel.
The old man, Tom, once among the most powerful figures in Texas, waited below the awning. His daughter went looking for a space to park. They were running late to a celebration.
Tom had been a state representative since the 1960s, when he could count on both hands his fellow House Republicans. His six-year tenure as a legislative leader had been tumultuous, but he had held onto his seat and his skills of persuasion. Securing a space in the valet lot, he notified his daughter, who soon returned in an SUV with license plates that said SO, for State Official.
"What's your name?" the valet asked.
"Craddick," said Christi Leigh Craddick.
She all but leapt from the car, raven hair trimmed above the shoulders, wearing a skirt and jacket with thick buttons and a triangular collar strikingly redolent of the pink suit made famous by Jacqueline Kennedy in the early 1960s, when Democratic ideas were nationally ascendant and Democratic machines still held clout in Texas. Hers, though, was sparkling red, the color of the faction on the rise in 2014.
As Railroad Commission chairman — the term she prefers over chairwoman or chair — she controls permits for the oil and gas industry, a primary source of the state's economic might. As a woman holding statewide office, she provides the only dose of diversity aside from the Hispanic lineage of newly elected Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Last spring, the state party appointed her to lead this year's campaign, dubbed Victory 2014.
Built on close ties to her father's political operation, her career has long drawn criticism. As she seeks to establish an independent identity, defining herself against the more strident fringes of the Republican Party, her admirers say she will lean on the values instilled during her childhood in West Texas.
Her job, which pays $137,500 yearly, often involves explaining the task of the agency she leads. The Railroad Commission, despite its name, has not had any role in regulating the railroads for nearly a decade.
At a time of divisive politics, she presents herself as a keeper of an open door and an open mind. On Twitter, she has been known to send critics her phone number. So far, her overtures have done little to dispel the image of an industry apologist.
For a politician operating at a time of conservative purity tests, though, she has taken some remarkable positions.
When the North Texas city of Denton voted to ban hydraulic fracturing, the petroleum extraction technique that has propped up the state economy for half a decade while raising bitterly contested concerns about pollution, health and safety, she joined her fellow commissioners in a statement expressing disappointment. But she alone issued a separate essay calling for a more cooperative dialogue.
"Let me be clear: The voice of the people of Denton should not be overruled," she wrote, even as the state's main oil and gas trade association filed court documents seeking to do just that.
Christi Craddick would see none of it. She went home early, to a two-story stone house in the lakeside neighborhood of Tarrytown, where she spent the night checking on her daughter, who'd been home sick with a nanny, and watching more election returns.
For all her genuine conservatism, Craddick defines "traditional family values" in a manner progressive enough to include pursuing a high-profile career while raising a child alone by choice. At 44, she has never married.
Her own childhood, in a modest ranch house in Midland, afforded few luxuries more precious than a hole in the fence to play with the neighbor children, despite her father's growing wealth. He was a loyal oilman, making a fortune on investments while listing his occupation as a sales representative for a drilling services company on West Texas Avenue. Christi rode her bike to school, accompanied her parents to St. Anne's Catholic Church and played soccer through junior high. At 12, she attended her first state political convention.


Make Robinsons Malls your shopping haven this August, as they throw in the All-Out Clearance Sale from August 1 to 31, 2010! It's a mallwide sale at all Robinsons Malls participated by tons of wonderful brands both for men and women.
Today, my being at Robinsons Galleria for the first day of the clearance sale just made me agree with my friends who call me the "shopping guy." Hello, who can resist shopping if you can get the items you like for as much as 50% off the regular price?
WORK? Check. Van Heusen is located at the middle section of the 2nd floor of Robinsons Galleria, as well as inside the Robinsons Department Store (RDS). Offering 50% discount, their polo shirts went down from Php1,290.00 to Php645.00 and long sleeves from Php3,290.00 to Php1,645.00. They also offer belts and ties at a smaller percentage discount, but are surely worth it as well.
SOCIALS? Check. Lacoste has two stores inside Galleria -- one is for footwear and another for shirts and bags. I chose Lacoste Footwear. Located a few stores away from Van Heusen, my eyes got caught up by the brilliant white Lacoste shoes (pictured above) that were on sale. FYI, I have always wanted a pair of shoes from that store, but I find items greater than 3,000 very expensive. This time, the shoes went 30% off, going down from Php4,195.00 to Php2,936.50! Great find indeed!
TRIPS? Check. For inexpensive flipflops and sandals needs, check out Hotflopz positioned at the 2nd floor of Robinsons Galleria, on the side of where Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn are located. My best find is their buy-1-get-1 Brazilliano Pria sandals (pictured below) being offered at Php1,499.95 (or Php750.00 per pair). It's not only useful for beach trips, but also a necessity for rainy seasons such as ours. Also, their Rio Punch slippers were narrowed down to Php450.00 (10% off), making it almost half of the price as that of the more expensive flipflops.
You have the entire month to schedule your shopping, but remember, the early bird catches the worms. Shop till you drop this whole August at Robinsons Malls. Check out their Facebook Fan Page to get updates and promotions.
How about you, what are your great sale finds? I would love to know!


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Velorex
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At first sight the Velorex suggests the result of a union between a frame tent and a flying helmet. Hailing from the Czechoslovakian town of Hradec Kralove, the car, which was produced between 1953 and 1971, was fitted with a rear-mounted Jawa two-stroke air-cooled motorcycle engine. Three engine sizes were used.
The 125 cc and 250 cc versions, whose engines were both single cylinder, had the motorcycle kick-starter converted for hand operation. The third type, the 250 cc twin cylinders, had, in addition, an electrical starter and 12 volt electrics. Several components came courtesy of Skoda. Built on a frame of welded steel tubing, the Velorex's "bodywork" consists of vinyl stretched over the "cage". Fenders are metal. The car has four forward gears but, since the engine is able to run backwards, no conventional reverse gear is necessary and, in fact, four reverse speeds are available too. In 1959, a four-wheeled car was produced by the same team. It was not an adaptation of the Velorex, but a completely different design. Styling was more modern, a 350 cc engine was fitted and many Skoda parts were used.
To reduce the productions costs they built their "Oskar" as a multi-tube structure covered in vinyl-like material called "Igelit", attached with turnbutton fasteners. Invalids received subsidies to buy these most primitive but well-liked vehicles, which enjoyed a very long production run.
(source: Micro Car Museum)
VELOREX CARS
1959 Velorex Oskar.
Velorex Club.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Steven Browning Sample, who served as USC's 10th president from 1991 to 2010 — a time of remarkable transformation at the university — died March 29. He was 75.
During Sample's 19-year tenure as president, the university ascended the national academic ranks. USC became a highly selective undergraduate university, recruited many nationally prominent faculty, created a global presence, completed what was at the time the largest fundraising campaign ever in higher education and built partnerships in the communities surrounding USC's campuses.
"Generations from now, those studying the history of our university will quickly find themselves learning the remarkable story of Steven Sample," said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. "So many of USC's successes, so much of our university's current stature can be traced back to Dr. Sample's dynamic leadership, keen foresight, and extraordinary prudence. Dr. Sample stood over our university — and led our Trojan Family — as it began its singular transformation, and for this we should all be grateful.
After he retired as president in 2010, Sample remained active in the life of the university. He served on the USC Board of Trustees as a life trustee, and for a time, continued to co-teach the popular undergraduate course "The Art and Adventure of Leadership" with the late management expert Warren Bennis.
"One of the many joys of my relationship with Steve was to be invited each year to join him and the late Warren Bennis as a guest lecturer in their leadership class," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, a longtime USC supporter and alumnus, who recalled crossing paths for the first time with Sample during a football game in 1991. Sample was touring the campus as a candidate for the university's top job, and Bolden was being honored upon his return from his second Space Shuttle mission.
"He was truly inspirational and visionary, and I count him as one of my many mentors and role models, as well as a cherished friend," said Bolden, who served on the USC Board of Trustees until 2009.
Sample's book, The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and was translated into five languages. He and his wife, Kathryn, donated all royalties to a scholarship fund for USC undergraduates, and shared a love and support of USC athletics. Sample liked to start speeches with the rousing statement, "Isn't it a great day to be a Trojan!" followed with his signature opening joke and news hand-picked for his audience — a new scholarship program, a research discovery, a transformative gift, a decisive sports victory. From his first day as president in 1991, it was, seemingly, always a great day to be at USC.
Attracting stellar faculty members was another one of Sample's key priorities. During his presidency, endowed chairs and professorships rose from 152 to 403, USC faculty member George Olah won USC's first-ever Nobel Prize — for chemistry in 1994 — and faculty member Elyn Saks won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2009.
USC's international outreach grew exponentially during the Sample years, particularly in the Pacific Rim. He co-founded the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a consortium of 45 leading research universities in the Pacific region, and promoted USC's role in positioning Los Angeles as the de facto capital of the Pacific Rim.
USC became a leading destination for international students during Sample's presidency. He opened international offices in Asia and convened USC's first international conference in Hong Kong in 2001.
Steve Sample had the idea and was a major leader among all of the presidents in American higher education to recognize the growing importance of the Pacific Rim.
Among Sample's achievements was a remarkable ability to attract the resources the university needed to build endowment, develop academic programs and support campus improvements.
USC's Building on Excellence campaign raised $2.85 billion, and the university became the first in the U.S. to receive five gifts of $100 million or more. During this time, USC also secured naming gifts for seven schools.
A cornerstone of Sample's administration was building alliances and transforming USC's neighboring communities. He launched the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, asking USC faculty and staff to contribute funds to transformative programs, such as the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative, which prepares low-income students from the surrounding areas for admission to USC and other universities.
Community leaders took notice. "The University of Southern California has been a point of convergence. I think that's one of the brilliant points of the diamond of Steve Sample," said the Rev. Cecil B. Murray, then pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, upon Sample's 10-year mark as president. Murray today is the John R. Tansey Chair in Christian Ethics and professor of religion at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
USC students also embraced Sample's passion for community service during "Friends and Neighbors Days" throughout the year. In recognition of his civic achievements, he received the Distinguished Business Leader Award from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Heart of the City Award from the Central City Association of Los Angeles.
At his retirement from the presidency, the Samples gave USC a bronze statue of USC's mascot, Traveler, which stands overlooking the university's central Hahn Plaza. Steven and Kathryn Sample Hall is named in their honor, as is a special Renaissance Scholar endowment.
Steven Sample was a man of many talents — an electrical engineer, musician, inventor, outdoorsman, author and teacher.
He was born in St. Louis, Mo., on Nov. 29, 1940. His mother was a civic activist, and his father worked as a sales manager for an electric motor company. He married his college sweetheart, Kathryn Brunkow of Park Ridge, Ill., while both were undergraduates at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
By age 24, he had earned three degrees there, a bachelor's, master's and PhD in electrical engineering. He accepted a faculty position at Purdue University, continued his academic career at the University of Illinois and the University of Nebraska, and, at age 41, was named the 12th president of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
During his tenure, SUNY Buffalo was elected to the prestigious Association of American Universities, of which Sample later served as chairman.
A member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Sample invented and patented several devices, including digital appliance controls and touch pads, used in more than 300 million microwave ovens and other home appliances worldwide.
He received honorary doctorates from Canisius College, Buffalo (1989), D'Youville College (2011), Hebrew Union College (1994), Northeastern University (2004), Purdue (1994), SUNY Buffalo (2006), the University of Nebraska (1995), the University of Notre Dame (2005) and the University of Sheffield, England (1991).
A resident of Pasadena, Sample is survived by his wife, Kathryn Brunkow Sample, daughters Michelle Sample Smith and Elizabeth Sample, son-in-law Kirk Smith and grandchildren Kathryn and Andrew Smith.
Several hundred gather around the Tommy Trojan statue to honor the university's late president.
Story details how USC has become a front rank university during Sample's ten-year service at the helm.
The effort is building the endowment for faculty, research and student scholarships as well as advancing the university's academic priorities.


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Can Rejection Rates be Lowered via Referral?
By Ryan Weeks on 18th May 2015
A digital loan exchange has launched in the US with a view to streamlining the functionality of the alternative lending ecosystem.
Cloud Lending Solutions is a technology platform that is automating decision-making for financial institutions of various shapes and sizes via the cloud. The company has just launched Cloud Lending Exchange (CLE) – a bounce-point for rejected consumer loans.
Not so long ago in the US, the FICO score of a prospective borrower was just about the only factor in determining his or her suitability. But now we're seeing an increasing number of providers turn to non-traditional data sources in order to support lending decisions. The likes of SoFi and Upstart in the US, for instance, both cater to young professionals who lack an established credit history by focusing instead on such metrics as earning potential.
But in spite of this, Snehal Fulzele, CEO of Cloud Lending Solutions, perceives a marked and pervasive disconnect between the underwriting criteria of alternative lenders and borrower demand. The CLE boss pointed to the fact that on Prosper – one of the world's largest and most rapidly growing P2P platforms – somewhere in the region of 90% of loan applications are rejected.
Can it really be the case that 9 in 10 borrowers are unworthy of credit? For Snehal, the answer is a resounding no. And the solution is Cloud Lending Exchange:
"Most of these loan applications are not approved because of some other criteria that these lenders have in place such as term, concentration in the portfolio (geography, asset class), loan size, type of loan, or even regulatory constraints. The loans don't fit that lender's credit box. It's an issue of credit box vs. credit score.
Once we realized conventional wisdom had overlooked that important distinction, we innovated fast."
The idea is simple: an online platform that allows financial institutions to share the loan applications that they're unable to fund. Those applications may then be bid upon by the host of financial institutions that are plugged into the portal. The "currency", if you will, is the interest rate on offer – the hope being that competition within the exchange should serve to drive down the cost of finance. I quizzed Snehal on whether he might consider integrating other forms of competitive advantage into the marketplace. Speed of access, after all, has often been cited by borrowers (via various surveys and studies) as equally if not more important than price. He conceded that CLE will have to investigate that angle.
There are clear comparisons between what Cloud Lending Exchange is setting out to achieve and the efforts of the many "finance platforms" based here in the UK. By "finance platforms", I refer to the matchmaking portals that connect stray SME borrowers with alternative finance providers. The first of these – "Alternative Business Funding" (ABF) – in fact began life as an exclusively SME loan-oriented version of Cloud Lending Exchange: a digital basin into which 7 alternative finance providers could dump and scoop up loan applications.
ABF is in the running for "designated point of referral" status under the mandatory bank referral scheme. But much like its many UK competitors, ABF will also be looking to carve out fresh origination channels of its own. Snehal suggested that, in time, this too may be an avenue that Cloud Lending Exchange looks to explore.
For now though, the focus will be on financing rejected loan applications. Snehal was keen to labour the point that these are not simply loan leads, but complete loan applications. The actual originator of the application will earn itself a referral fee for directing a prospective borrower towards the exchange. Such kickbacks help lending businesses to drive down their acquisition costs, in that unsuitable loan opportunities may nonetheless prove to be revenue generating. More importantly, the presence of Cloud Lending Exchange means that alternative lenders needn't give borrowers a flat rejection. The capacity to work with borrowers towards a successful resolution may work wonders in terms of relationship building and customer care.
CLE is by no means moving in a vacuum. There are various forms of borrower-facing alternative lending intermediaries in the States. Lendio, for example, is an SME loans facilitator that allows a range of alternative lenders to bid on borrowing requests via a sophisticated technology interface. The platform has a partnership in place with Staples (the stationery giant) and is offering access-to-credit assistance to its millions of SME clients. Lendio and other varieties of intermediary in the US may well choose to turn their attentions to the consumer space in time.
We'll keep a watchful eye on the progress of Cloud Lending Exchange, and indeed on the quoted rejection rate of 90% amongst the likes of Lending Club and Prosper; a rate which CLE hopes to bring tumbling down.
Snehal Fulzele
Cloud Lending Solutions


Grief comes in all forms and flows through all areas of our lives. Sometimes we may feel sad or overwhelmed and not understand why or where the feelings are coming from. Every change that occurs in our lives can create some form of grief and/or loss, even if it's a positive change. We may recognize the obvious loss, but not know how to move forward without stuffing the emotion. There is no timeline for grief and at Four Branches Therapy & Wellness, LLC, we understand just that. Each of the Private Practice Therapists are trained to help you identify the source of your pain & help resolve your grief, by providing a safe place for your to process, and let go of the discomfort. Feel free to contact one of the Private Practice Therapists to discuss Grief/Loss Therapy or Life Transition Therapy.


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The Streets of Italy
Train Travel in Italy
Italian Junk Shops
Street Markets of Naples
Travel Guide to Italy
Rent a Villa
See Hotels
Best Airfares
Military Discounted Flights
Espresso Italians Drink
The Amalfi Coast Treasure Hunt
The elderly man walking toward me is holding out his hand. It seems he wants to give me something.
We are the only two people on this stretch of beach, and have been quietly lost in our own musings until now.
Clearly his intense scrutiny of the sand has revealed a treasure he would like to share with me. Speaking in Italian, he smiles and drops a tiny shell into my hand.
I can't understand what he is saying, but I'm charmed he wants to gift me with the snail shell, and I would like to reciprocate.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a recently found treasure and offer it to him. A piece of green ceramic, it is the only colored chip I have found so far on the beach.
His reaction surprises me.
He chuckles and shrugs, walking away to continue his search without taking my gift.
It occurs to me this man has probably lived here in Vietri sul Mare for many years. Strolling the beach, smoking his cigar and quietly scanning the sand is not a new past time for him.
The busy season of sunshine hasn't arrived yet and it is the perfect time of year for locals to enjoy their quiet waterfront devoid of the crowds who will flock to this beach in June.
I decide rebuffing my gift with a shrug is actually his way of saying that the bits of Italian pottery on the beach are familiar to him. I am just a silly American who may not have realized that.
Continuing my stroll a few feet from the surf, I wrap my scarf around my neck and pull up my collar, shivering in the breeze coming off the Mediterranean.
I am here on the gateway to the Amalfi Coast in March, alone on the beach with one Italian man, peacefully searching the sand. This part of the coast – a lesser traveled one by tourists, is exactly what many people dream of seeing in Italy.
The colorful character of the people and charming homes with laundry lines almost an art form; the wonderful smells of pizza and Italian coffee – it is abundant here.
Suddenly I see one.
Grabbing up the bright stone from the beach, I examine the intricate floral design, still bright yellow on the orange pottery worn smooth by the tide. For the Italians who live in Vietri, a visitor's fascination with colorful bits of ceramic washed up by the tide probably seems silly.
To an American coveting most things Italian, the bits of colorful scrap spit out from the majolica factories in Vietri and coughed up by the sea are tiny treasures that represent the artistic magic of a town known for the ceramics produced here.
At one end of the Amalfi Coast, Vietri is the first small town between Salerno and the official beginning of the iconic Amalfi Coast drive. By-passed by cruise ships and bus tours, it is colorful and claustrophobic, a gem in the shadow of the better known towns of Amalfi and Positano.
The "Ceramica Artistica Solimene" is a large family-owned factory built in 1951 by Vincenzo Solimene, whose family began producing ceramics here in 1947. The factory has exhibitions and conducts art classes in the traditional method of creating ceramics.
Although the largest factory, it is one of many in this small coastal town that supplies the hotels, shops and restaurants along the Amalfi Coast
with a huge variety of pottery and tile art. Short of a sofa, there isn't much of anything that Italians won't construct into ceramic.
The Vietri shops are laden with decorative ceiling lights, wine cups and decanters, sink basins and cabinet treatments. Some shops feature traditional Italian colors and designs, while others specialize in modern décor or fanciful figurines.
High above the village, St. John's church has a distinctive green and yellow ceramic dome that speaks to the artesian roots of Vietri. Visible from miles away, it marks the tiny spot on the Italian coast where you can find a one-of-a-kind ceramic in an idyllic place tourists often overlook. Add the adventure of beach combing for colorful scraps of pottery polished by the sea, and you have an authentic Italian treasure hunt.
Posted by Thestreetsofitaly at 1:26 PM
Italy's Magical Island
A black cat with green eyes, sprawled on a window ledge is watching me.
Twitching the tip of her tail, she gazes at my frantic scramble to grab my camera and attach a lens. The sun is moving rapidly toward the waterline, and in the small canal next to me, a liquid canvas of brilliant color is coming to life like an exploding rainbow on the water.
Suddenly, art is emerging all around me, like an animated movie that is a Sunset in Italy. Crayon colored boats are bobbing in the canal water creating ripples that twinkle with crimson, purple, electric blue, pink and yellow.
A small island four miles from the shores of Venice, Burano is a tiny fishing village with a storybook feel. The island's narrow canals are lined with brightly colored homes painted according to district. For visitors watching the local residents go about their daily routine, hanging laundry, off-loading fish from their boats and cooking meals, it is like watching a living canvas. The artistry of daily life here epitomizes everything romantic about Italy.
The history of Burano is unremarkable compared to the neighboring islands of Murano - where famous glass work is created, and Torcello, one of the first islands populated in Venice.
A fishing settlement with bright homes that legend describes as "vivid enough for the fishermen returning home to see them," Burano eventually became prosperous for exporting hand-crafted lace starting in the 1600s.
Another legend – and there are many – explains this origin of lacemaking with yet another romantic spin. It is the story of a fisherman who was engaged to be married to a girl on the island, and managed to resist the call of a siren while out bringing in his catch.
Impressed with his resistance of her and devotion to his betrothed, the siren swatted his boat with her tail creating white foam that became a wedding veil for his soon to be bride. That veil was gifted to his betrothed and replicated with needle and thread by the women of the island who later exported their handicrafts throughout Europe for more than three hundred years.
A lace making school opened on the island in the 19th century, but today, the time-consuming tradition has given way to modern methods, and anyone seeking an authentic piece of Burano lace will have to pay a substantial amount.
Walking past the bits of lace displayed in shop windows, I stop to photograph the Church of San Martino and its leaning campanile. Aside from setting up an easel to paint the view, or more realistically, visiting the lace museum, the third most compelling reason to visit Burano is to eat.
There are only ten restaurants – and two pizzerias – on Burano, and I have come to the island to experience one in particular. Strolling along one of four streets that frame the canal as it twists through town; I am looking for Trattoriael Gatto Nero. Translated, it is the "Restaurant of the Black Cat" owned by the same family since 1965 and rumored to be home to some of the finest seafood dishes in the Venice.
It occurs to me the green-eyed cat watching me earlier might have be a clue. Returning to the place of my first photograph on Fondamenta della Guidecca, there is a sign for El Gatto Nero I had overlooked while distracted by the wild rainbow unfolding in the sea.
Stepping inside the trattoria, I see my husband already seated, drinking a glass of wine, grinning from ear to ear. Tonight is the restaurant owner's anniversary, and Ruggero and Lucia Bovo have shut down early to celebrate with friends and family. But hearing how far we have come to experience their restaurant, we are ushered to a table and are watching the boisterous celebration.
Pouring wine from a small white jug on the table, we feel privileged to be part of the intimate gaiety of an Italian family celebrating 50 years of marriage. The music and laughter are infectious. It is some of the best wine and most intimate atmosphere we have experienced in all of Italy.
Our appetizer, the "Antipasto Gatto Nero" arrives, and the salient colors of the village were beautifully replicated on the plate. A colorful depiction of Burano and the resident black cat are painted around the edge of the porcelain, the village design circling our meal – a succulent array of scallops and razor clams. This is art on a plate. This is what you hope to experience in Italy.
Our main course is "Branzino al forno," a sea bass baked in parchment paper, fileted at the table and served with island grown vegetables. The delicate white meat is the best I have eaten anywhere in the world.
Lingering after dinner to watch the festivities, we offer Ruggero one of the fine cigars my husband carries with him when we travel. Appreciative and surprised, Ruggero graciously reciprocates, placing a tiny black glass cat in my hand.
Stepping into the last ATV boat back to Venice, I am clutching the tiny black cat like a lucky charm. As the lights of Venice approach, I know I have fallen even more in love with Italy - again.
Where Angels Fear to Fly
I know that look.
It is the grim expression of a woman on a horrible date with her best friend's brother. It is the resigned expression that means this is a situation with no easy way out. The pinched smile hides an effort to stay cheerful and enthusiastic.
Nicky is wearing that look.
But Nicky is not on a date. She is strapped vertically, belly down and head first into a canvass harness connected with four metal clips to the highest, and one of the fastest zip lines in the world.
A three-hour drive from Naples, Italy, in the heart of Basilicata, Volo dell Angelo is an adventure experience called "Flight of the Angels."
Nicky was about to fly - zipping from one mountaintop to another on a cable strung between the villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa. Her husband Joe is applauding her courage from the landing pad where eight of us are standing after our own headfirst flight from one mountain to another. Our adrenaline is still pumping.
Braking wildly above us like a giant sling shot suddenly stopped, her first exclamation echoes my thoughts exactly. "That was terrifying!"
This is so terrifying, that two in our group have declined to fly the zip line after hiking up the steep trail to the first flight station platform. The fear is easy to understand, which is why I went first.
The operators said that no journalist has ever done the zip line with a still camera. I felt challenged to photograph firsthand such a thrilling, albeit intimidating experience, and I did not want any time to ponder a worst case scenario.
Cinched into my harness face down, the zip line disappeared ahead into thin air with no end in sight.
Below me was a rock cliff dropping off to a deep canyon. The push from the ramp came, the ground fell away, and the thrill of "flying" 74 miles per hour at an altitude of 3,200 feet for almost a mile trumped the fear. Fighting to keep my head up against the wind, I had tried to capture the experience through the lens.
Euphoric after our wild ride on the "Peschiera" zip line from the town of Castelmezzano to Pietrapertosa, we are shuttled a short distance into the second village. The return flight on the "San Martino" zip line is going to take us back across the canyon, and it's a short hike to the flight station.
Now I am opting to fly last so I can watch the Volo dell Angelo crew prepare each of my companion "angels" for flight. Part of that preparation involves attaching a small parachute to each flyer that enables a stop from high speed at the finish. Accurately relaying our weight in kilos determines the size of our parachute and I am debating overstating mine for the first time.
Everyone has flown, screaming at the top of their lungs, back across the canyon.
I am the last flyer geared up, standing on the platform overlooking the mighty Dolomites and a deep ravine scattered with colorful villas, winding rural roads and tiny farms.
I feel myself smile.
But this time it is not the frozen grin of a terrified American, dreading the launch off a little platform on a mountain in Italy, but the joyful smile of another angel ready to fly.
Lording Over Naples, Italy
Sitting in the back seat of a Honda Accord that has seen better days, my forehead is pressed against the glass of the rear passenger window as we whip abruptly left and right through the streets of Naples, Italy. The colorful street life is going by in a blur. Three women clinging to a scooter brush past us and the two passengers grin gleefully at me while the driver, talking on a cell phone, blasts through an intersection barely missing a city bus. An elderly woman walking a tiny dog is scolding a shopkeeper for something related to the fruit and vegetables he has in crates on the sidewalk, and four men are playing cards on a folding table a foot from the busy street.
It's fascinating chaos that I'm grateful to witness without driving. Five of us are packed into the small sedan, and our driver, Jerry Gathof, a civilian oceanographer for the US Naval Sixth Fleet Command in Naples, is at the wheel. A resident of Campania for the last four years, Gathof has no idea what streets will take us to our destination, but he is confident nonetheless, and we are enjoying the wild ride.
Swinging up a steep boulevard into the toney neighborhood of Vomero – often described as one of the better places to live in Naples, our drive becomes a hill climb as we ascend a residential street. Finally a tiny brown sign indicates we are within walking distance of our destination, and our driver deftly squeezes the Honda between two vehicles parked alongside the street.
Jumping out on the street side, I hurry to shut the door and duck an on-coming car tearing down the hillside. Groans of disgust emanate from the sidewalk and I look over to see my travel companions frantically working to remove doggie deposits from their shoes. The entire sidewalk is littered with animal waste for two blocks as we climb up closer to the top of Vomero.
This is Naples, not Florence or Rome, and with the character, color and striking personality of a city that has survived despite a lack of favoritism or tourism, Naples comes with grit. It is a sometimes edgy landscape that you must embrace, or just bypass for more pristine pastures.
Hiking up the hill and around a corner, we arrive at the vast Castel Sant Elmo. A medieval fortress believed to have been built as a palatial private residence sometime in the 12th century, the fortress morphed over the centuries into a military installation. Re-invented as a huge, hexagon shaped castle surrounded by a moat, the castle was constructed for the marines by a controversial architect during the 1530's, but was later restored several times and continued to serve as a military outpost and prison for centuries. Eventually the property was turned over to the Provence of Campania and underwent a seven-year restoration in the 1970's that restored the original parapet walkways and internal chambers of the castle.
Now the home of a museum, 700-seat auditorium and art gallery, the most outstanding feature of Castel Sant Elmo is its lofty position lording over Naples. The view is a 360 degree circle that stretches from Sorrento on the coast, to the shores of Gaeta in the northwest. The islands of Capri, Ishia and Procida are framed by an expanse of ocean stretching to infinity. From the southern view over the city, the historic street of Spaccanapoli, derived from the original grid of the Greco-Roman city of Neapolis, is dramatically obvious and it's easy to see why it is described as the street that "divides" Naples simply because of its conspicuous appearance.
From this vantage point, Mt. Vesuvius is regal as part of the backdrop, and on a clear day the volcano that devastated the area centuries ago is both handsome and forbidding. Watching the cruise ships floating below in the Port of Naples, I wonder how many passengers will ever experience this place. The land excursions of Naples typically include Pompeii and the Island of Capri. Which means many visitors to southern Italy will never get to see the magnificent coast line from the medieval fortress that has lorded over Naples for centuries.
Dangerous Curves
The tour bus is coming straight at me. Just inches from the bumper of my tiny car, all I can do is wait and watch. Several cars are snuggled up tight in my rear-view, and a three foot rock wall is almost touching my folded mirror on the right. I am firmly stuck.
Beyond the old stone wall, a steep cliff drops several hundred feet to the beach below. This is it. This is the drive I've coveted for years, and the reason I shipped my Miata to Italy. I wanted this experience firsthand. I am rolling rubber on one of the most coveted driving destinations in Italy and possibly the world; the Amalfi Coast.
But reading about the coastline is very different from actually driving it. It occurs to me many of the people who photograph this road are probably in a helicopter, coming off a cruise ship, or riding in a giant air-conditioned tour bus like the one trying to squeeze past me now. Without a choice, I'm going to surrender to the experience.
Pulling out my camera, I photograph the bus driver's skillful attempt to squeeze past me. Around him, passengers are looking down at me, watching the wild maneuver and laughing. Their expressions are incredulous at the seemingly impossible task their driver is working to accomplish.
Amazingly, the bus inches past me. I can breathe again, and I'm pretty sure the tourists in that bus are having more fun than I am right at this moment.
Driving the Amalfi Coast is an adventure best done on or in, something very small. The Italians know this and scurry confidently along the stretch of winding, narrow turns on scooters and in tiny Fiats, never once glancing out at the view, splitting lanes where there are no lanes and passing slow pokes without any regard for safety.
For visitors who have traveled to Italy dreaming of seeing the post card pretty towns of Amalfi and Positano, watching the view unfold is the whole point of being here. But this stretch of coast is treacherous for shutterbugs distracted by snapping that once-in-a-lifetime picture.
Thousands visit the coast every year, but those industrious enough to drive it are easily identified. The wide-eyed and terrified crawl of newbies in awe along the sometimes path-like drive is a frequent sight during the peak summer months.
Yet, I keep coming back.
This isn't my first cruise of the coast; it's the third in a month. Why? Because like anyone who loves to drive or ride, who exalts on twisty turns, I'm trying to master it. Like anything challenging, driving this road to achieve pure enjoyment - devoid of freaking out- takes practice.
Practice watching the huge mirrors in every blind turn, practice breathing and achieving calm when a head-on collision seems eminent, practice sharing one lane with both on-coming traffic and a scooter riding shot-gun.
My first practice was on a motorcycle. Not a quiet, maneuverable BMW, but a loud, bigger-than-a-smart-car Harley Davidson Street Glide. It was a first lesson in the disgust scooter riders have for larger, "real" motorcycles. In addition to dodging cars, we were sandwiched on both sides by scooters buzzing around us impatiently.
It was easier to share the road on a bike, but a conspicuous way to get the attention of Italians who have little patience with anyone moving under 40 miles-per-hour on this 15-mile-per-hour road. We were shoved onto the shoulder – where there is no shoulder- innumerable times.
Despite that first heart-stopping ride, I'm back again and again. As a native Seattleite who has enjoyed a San Diego field office for 20 years, I've both ridden and driven the entire west coast of Washington, Oregon and California a dozen times. For years I thought nothing compared to Highway 101 along the Pacific Ocean, and it didn't.
Then I moved to Italy and the Amalfi Coast drive stopped me like a baby deer on a piece of gravel road stops a sports car.
I was blown away by the beauty. Buoyed by the challenge. Ready to master this stretch of Italy and go home to the United States one day knowing I'd driven one of the most incredible stretches of road in Italy, been behind my own wheel doing it, and mastered some of the world's most dangerous curves.
Posted by Thestreetsofitaly at 2:26 AM
The Thin Line Between Heaven and Hell
The last thing I remember before my helmet hit the pavement was my husband's profile superimposed against a backdrop of black roadway as we fell to the right. The last thing I remember hearing was his voice shouting, "We've hit oil, we're going down!"
My first reaction was disbelief.
We'd ridden our 2011 Harley Davidson CVO Street Glide 20,000 miles safely in the United States - California to both Washington D.C. and Washington State without so much as a close call. We rode 600 miles across Texas in one day enduring 110 degree temperatures with nothing more than a sunburn.
Now we live in Italy. All of our friends envy us. We're supposed to be living the dream. It's supposed to be Heaven here. Dammit.
We're going down.
When the cracking sound of your own head on asphalt is something you actually hear and remember afterward, it's a good thing. As I looked up from my prone position on the A-1 Autostrada, I knew I had survived, and thankfully, had not lost consciousness. I could feel my helmet was intact but blood was dripping down my nose.
I wasn't dead. I could see. But what I saw were the blurred images of cars headed right toward me.
Facing backward, I had slid on my back away from the oily surface where our bike had pitched out from underneath us. Lying on the center line, my mind quickly went to the irony of surviving only to be hit by a traffic.
It was the first time I felt fear.
I heard my husband yell somewhere behind me, asking if I was alright. That meant he was, and I felt relief. We were both alive. I yelled back that I was OK, but honey, get us out of the road. Like Bambi staring at headlights, I couldn't move.
I felt Scott dragging me under the arms across the pavement. He propped me up against a rock wall and begged me to tell him over and over again that I was OK. A combat medic with training to handle injuries on the battlefield. I could tell he was panicked. I wasn't a soldier, I was his wife, and he was desperate.
We were OK. We'd gone down at maybe 65 miles per hour, and we were staring at each other incredulous that one or both of us wasn't dead. Looking around in a daze, I saw the Street Glide on its side far down the Autostrada on the right shoulder. Scott ran for the first aide kit and I yelled after him to retrieve my camera from the tour pack.
We needed pictures.
Pictures of this Hell. The hell where a journalist on assignment for three publishing clients is sitting on the side of the road with blood on her nose and oil on her boots, realizing everything has just changed in a flash of bad luck.
We were the accident causing a traffic jam on two lanes of the A-1 Autostrada northbound at Florence. Our destination had been Brescia, Italy, the starting line for the historic Mille Miglia race. For five days and four nights we were slated to be the first Americans on a Harley Davidson press bike following and photographing the race for American publications.
It had been a dream for years to see the Mille Miglia - covering it for clients was an added bonus and riding it on a Harley was the dream gig. My version of Heaven. Not a bucket list entry for most women - but certainly near the top of mine. So what the hell had just happened?
I would find out.
Setting my camera down next to me, my overwhelmed husband was dabbing at my wounds, eyes wide with fear. An Italian woman in a black Mercedes stopped and was calling the Italian version of 911. Cars were still roaring by us, but the police had also arrived and were keeping traffic away from the shoulder.
It was chaotic.
I asked the Italian woman to photograph me with my camera.
I tried to reassure my husband that I was OK, then asked him to do exactly what I knew he didn't want to do - leave me and go do my job, which was to photograph the scene. Never try to dissuade a reporter when they smell a need for information. Reluctantly he walked back a hundred feet and was shocked to find an entire lane and half of another black with oil.
Like the husband of a photographer, he shot it from every angle, just like he'd watched me do at car shows, races, rallies and events.
Sitting on the shoulder inert, I felt gratitude for the kind woman who had stopped. While she spoke rapidly in Italian on her cell phone, I looked down the road at our bike still lying on its side far down from me on the shoulder, and up the road toward where Scott was shooting.
It was a long distance.
How long? I guessed two football fields. Maybe more. Maybe 300 yards.
The ambulance arrived and four people tried to load me into it and hurry off to an Italian hospital where I knew more hell awaited. I live in Italy, so I know. I knew I'd arrive taped to a backboard only to wait and wait some more. There would be confusion, delays and frustration. I would be in a hospital in a foreign country without a phone, a passport or anyone who speaks English.
I wouldn't go.
They kept insisting that we must leave. I demanded that we wait. I wasn't leaving without my passport, my husband, and dammit, I wanted my iPad. It has a translation app. They were frustrated, but arguing with them took time, which is good. Italians like to argue, and they like to take their time.
I was winning.
During our debate the Polizia had joined Scott in photographing the oil spill. Suddenly a road construction worker in an orange vest appeared and confided to Scott the oil is a product they put down first when resurfacing the road with asphalt. A large truck full of it was bumped and spilled dozens of gallons on the roadway earlier that day.
They left it. No signs, no warning, no cones.
Why? Because it's Italy. Italy where it's "Va Bene" if you sideswipe a car and "Domani" if your basement is flooded and you need a plumber. It is the Italy of my dreams and the Italy of my nightmares. A country where people are passionate beyond reason about minutiae - and don't care at all when they should.
Finally my husband, my equipment and all our belongings were piled into an ambulance that seemed to bounce over cobblestones for an hour after exiting the Autostrada. Inside the hospital, it was everything I anticipated it would be and worse.
It didn't matter at all. We were grateful.
Sitting in our hospital room that night, we thanked God and agreed that there must indeed be a heaven. A heaven where adventurous angels live. Some of them must love to travel, because we are sure two decided to ride shotgun on a motorcycle in Italy just for fun, and we each carried one on a shoulder. Their wings must have been beating pretty hard to keep us safe when we hit the ground.
It's rarely visited, but we've been on that fine line between Heaven and Hell.
#Italy #Harley Davidson #Motorcycle #Autostrada #Tours #Mille Miglia #Motor Valley #Florence
Walking Florence at Night
Hopping public transportation on the Grand Canal in Venice
Riding to Matera on a motorcycle
Walking the Island of Burano
Exploring Inside the Colosseum in Rome
Boating from the town of Amalfi
Taking the bus to Sorrento is easy with big views along the way
Crossing the Bridge of Angels in Rome
Soaking up the view from our favorite hotel in Rome
Local Pizza in Sorrento
View of the Mediterranean from home in Italy
Ceramics from beachcombing in Vietri
Laura Coffin-Byrd
The Streets of Italy on Twitter
Tweets by @TheStreetsOfIta
Pizza in Rome
Fountain at my home in Italy
Gelato in Florence
Streets of Italy
Follow Laura's board The Streets of Italy on Pinterest.


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HomeHeadlinesMorocco
Coronavirus: China Vows to Ensure Safety of Moroccan Expatriates; No Case in Morocco
North Africa PostJanuary 27, 2020 5:26 pm
The government of China has vowed to spare no effort to ensure the safety and protection of Moroccans living in China, especially in the city of Wuhan and Hubei province, said Sunday evening the Moroccan embassy in Beijing.
The Chinese government will do "everything to ensure the safety, health and well-being of Moroccan nationals residing in China, particularly in the city of Wuhan and Hubei province," the embassy said.
The embassy also said it is in direct connection with members of the Moroccan community, and that it urged them to remain cautious and to follow all the preventive measures recommended by the Chinese authorities.
The embassy also set up, on Saturday, a crisis cell to follow up the situation of the Moroccan community in China. The crisis unit can be reached at the following numbers: +8618701156920/ +8615652198381, and at the following e-mail address: sifama.beijing@moroccoembassy.org.cn.
No case of Coronavirus has been reported in Morocco. Yet, authorities have activated sanitary monitoring at entry airports and ports as of Saturday Jan. 25.
The move came after three coronavirus cases were confirmed in France.
"In view of the latest developments in the global epidemiological situation, marked by the confirmation of the new virus in other countries, especially in Europe, Morocco has established health control at international ports and airports, with a view to ensure early detection of any possible case and stop the spread of the virus, if necessary," said the health department in a statement released on Saturday.
On Friday, the Ministry of Health reassured citizens that no cases were reported in the country and that the risk of the virus spread remains low.
In its Saturday statement, the Ministry of Health said "it continues to consider the risk of the virus spread nationwide as low, and confirms, once again, that no suspected or confirmed cases have been registered so far."
It also reassures public opinion that the national system for epidemiological surveillance has been strengthened and that the virus diagnosis and care system for possible patients is operational.
Reports of a coronavirus case in Chefchaouen were denied by the regional delegate of the Ministry of Health in the city, Khaled Amal, who assured that a Chinese tourist admitted to the hospital was only suffering from a common cold.
Medical tests ruled out the possibility of the deadly disease, and the Chinese tourist left the hospital in good condition after receiving appropriate treatment, the delegate said.
Since December 2019, China has been battling the outbreak of Coronavirus, a deadly disease that has now claimed the lives of at least 81 people, while the number of coronavirus cases has risen to 2,744.
Several other countries have confirmed cases of Coronavirus including France, Canada, Australia, the US, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Nepal.
CATEGORIES AsiaHeadlinesInternationalMorocco
AUTHORNorth Africa Post
North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers.
NEWER POSTMorocco's Agricultural Exports Rise 97% in 2010-2019
OLDER POSTMorocco: FIFA backs 2020 AFCON futsal tournament in Laayoune


Since 2010, Galerie Binome (Paris) is dedicated to contemporary photography. Member of the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d'art, the gallery collaborates with various curators and institutions. Its annual program of exhibitions is open to emerging artists from contemporary art, who explore the boundaries of the medium and the supports. This selection leans more specifically towards visual arts in search of new forms of photography. To define the domain of photography, its scope, and limits, as well as the post-photographic condition, are at the centre of the research carried out by the gallery.


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Very easy to deal with. Answers all your questions. Felt confident in his care.
We really appreciate Dr Raed. He takes time to explain things to patients and their parents instead of prescribing treatment as though we are incapable of understanding any medical concepts. He engages in discussion about all options as well as answers any questions you might have. We have seen him twice now, years apart, and he is kind, great with children (our son was 2 and then now 6) and found him to be a wonderful professional both times. Wouldn't it be great if all doctors in Doha had this much respect and care for their patients?
very kind and careful with children.
I am a psoriasis patient. Without me telling him, Dr Raed said I must have joint pain as well, and I do. That is so convincing. I have seen many doctors and tried many ways of treatment with little improvement. I have used Dr Raed's prescription for 3 days so far, and my situation is under control. I have seen huge improvement with my scalp in particular. Dr Raed has great bedside manner, explains things clearly and thoroughly, and even shares with me further treatment options I might be interested. I recommend Dr Raed.
Great doctor. Would highly recommend him. A true professional in his discipline.
د. رائد يفسر للمريض الحالة التي يعاني منها بالتفصيل.


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Jingle most of the way
Posted: December 14, 2013 in music, Record reviews
Tags: Applause, Artpop, Billie Joe Armstrong, Black Panties, Boston, Eminem, Foreverly, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Life Love & Hope, Lightning Bolt, New, Norah Jones, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, R. Kelly, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, The Everly Brothers, The Marshall Mathers LP 2
Greetings, Honorable Ones! It's Christmas, so naturally I'm thinking about Pearl Jam. They have a new album, Lightning Bolt. Do I have to listen to more of their repetitious, snoozy arena rock? I haven't liked a Pearl Jam album since their debut, Ten, and that was in 1991, before we had phones implanted in our heads. Why did they call their first album Ten? There are 11 songs on it. Why not 1 or First or We Wrote 11 Songs or Hey Hey We're Pearl Jam? Ten has "Jeremy," "Even Flow," "Black," and "Deep," and that about does it for me. Aren't they just AC/DC, except that they've read some books since leaving high school?
But it's Christmas, and I don't want to be visited by creepy ghosts, so let's be positive here, OK? What is it with you people? Stand up right now, face in the direction of Seattle, and bow because Pearl Jam is the only band that ever went head-to-head with Ticketmaster over that company's greedy service fees. The good guys lost, but they fought the law.
While I'm on the topic of Christmas, it's equally natural that my thoughts would turn to Lady Gaga, who also has a new release, Artpop. Lady Gaga's third album has been lauded for being "autobiographical" and "mature." Stefani Germanotta is only 27 – how much autobiography does she have? As for the maturity of these songs, she started in a hole. She has a long way to go before she writes anything of interest to adults.
Artpop comes nowhere near the dance-floor success of The Fame Monster or Born This Way. The best songs on Artpop, "Applause" and "Gypsy," are good, but they sound like refugees from Flashdance.
But it's Christmas! Forget Artpop. I've been listening to "Born This Way" for two years now, and I have to say that this song is FN awesome. It's the biggest pop anthem since "Smells Like Teen Spirit," plus it's easier to understand. (Both songs were wickedly parodied by Weird Al.) So wrap yourself in your feather boa to honor Lady Gaga's achievement.
Did you know that it's Christmas? It is, and that can only mean one thing: Boston! They have a new album, Life, Love & Hope. No no no no, I don't care that it's Christmas, I refuse to listen to anymore Boston. So how about instead: Paul McCartney!
McCartney has a new album. He calls it New. Come on, Macca, you could've done better there. On this release, Sir Paul imitates all the bands from the '80s and '90s who imitated him. Which is pretty much everyone. This exercise is pleasant, but on a handful of songs – "Queenie Eye," "I Can Bet," "Get Me Out of Here," and especially "Hosanna" – he reminds me that this is Paul Fucking McCartney of the Major Fucking Leagues I'm listening to.
New was released in October, so it doesn't qualify as holiday music, but this is the season for gratitude. Sir Paul is 71 and his voice is shot, but let's give our Beatles bobbleheads a pat on their bobbly heads and be thankful that this man is still around to remind us that rock 'n' roll is supposed to be fun, dammit.
I see by the calendar that it's Christmas, and when it's Christmas, who is never far behind? You're right: Eminem! Et voilà: The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Poor little white rapper! Perpetually outraged that he's gotten rich by making his life harder than it has to be. Yo, loyal readers around the world: If you can't handle Eminem at Christmas, how about R. Kelly, who sets out his philosophy of life on the sensitively titled Black Panties. R. Kelly is a sex "Genius." How do I know? Silly rabbit, he says so right in the song. Is "Genius" the kind of slow number where you hold your baby close and think of what you mean to each other? No.
Well, it turns out it's the holidays, and because I don't believe in making war on Christmas I give you: The Everly Brothers! Yes, though Don and Phil haven't released any new material since 1989, they're still just what the season calls for.
If you like The Everly Brothers, you'll love the Everly Dad
I can't claim I'm an Everlys fan. I like "I'm Not Angry," "Burma Shave" (a rockabilly "Wipe Out"), and "Lord of the Manor," their mid-'60s attempt at psychedelia. It was news to me that, in 1958, while riding the success of their 1957 debut (which featured "Wake Up Little Susie," "I Wonder If I Care as Much," and "Bye Bye Love"), the brothers returned to their roots and recorded Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.
The Everlys performed these songs with just their acoustic guitars and other-worldly voices. These are not songs I would play often; they're Appalachian blues verging on gospel and country, in which the characters are bound for death or something close by. The one song I'm likely to replay is "Roving Gambler." The first time I heard it, I felt I was listening to the birth of Springsteen's Nebraska.
Meanwhile, here in 2013, we now have Foreverly, Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones's loving tribute to Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. What attracted them to this set? The subject matter, surely; Armstrong is the son of Okies and Jones grew up in rural Texas. "These are songs about family," Jones said in an interview. "Dead family."
I haven't much to say about Norah Jones, other than that she's talented, sings beautifully, makes music too mild to interest me, and is pretty good in an interview.
Billie Joe Armstrong, I thought, was a typical singer in a punk band: a strong voice (a nasal voice), limited range, often resorts to shouting. I wasn't into him or Green Day until they released their rock opera, American Idiot (2004), which is now a musical. (Those last five words are the most unreal words I've ever written.) I admit I'm a sucker for a rock opera. I still remember how excited I was after reading about Tommy in Rolling Stone. I remember bringing the LP home. I remember my Dad threatening to punch multiple big holes in it.
Tommy didn't disappoint me and neither did American Idiot, though both suffer power failures in the middle. The highlight of American Idiot, for me, is "Jesus of Suburbia." Green Day spends the first half of the song pretending to be a punk version of the '50s, a punk version of Queen, and then they briefly do something horrible to Deep Purple. Starting at the 6:30 mark (this song is 9 minutes long) they swing into the tune from "Ring of Fire," with their own words –
and not to breathe
is to die
in tragedy
To run,
to run away,
to fight
what you believe
– and with a nod to "My Way" and a hint of Ravel's Bolero, topped off with a guitar lick they stole from Yes. Jesus! Why don't I ever hear this at Christmas instead of all the stupid Christmas songs written by Jews like me?
On Foreverly, this odd pairing of punker and crooner is dynamite on a china plate. Unlike the Everlys on Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, Armstrong and Jones bring a band to the studio. This gives the songs hope to go with their innate despair. (Some of the songs, anyway.) Their version of "Kentucky" is haunting, but now also with a touch of calypso, or maybe Los Lobos in their quieter moments. They turn "Oh So Many Years" into a hoedown, "I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail" into a funeral march (OK, that's not hopeful), and "Barbara Allen" into a track from Songs of the Civil War or a Camper Van Beethoven outtake.
There's a lot of heartache in the love affair in "Roving Gambler," a song that may be unique in having three points of view, the gambler, the mother, and her daughter:
Mother, oh dear mother, I'll tell you if I can
If you ever see me comin' back, I'll be with the gambling man.
Be with the gambling man.
But in their performance, Armstrong and Jones give it an unexpected buoyancy. You finish the song thinking, sure, the gambler is goin' down to George to gamble his last game, but maybe this will work out!
"Rockin' Alone (in An Old Rockin' Chair)" is a manipulative tear-jerker no matter how you slice it ("It wouldn't take much to gladden her heart/just some small remembrance on somebody's part"), and "Long Time Gone" and "Lightning Express" are way too country, but overall I rate Foreverly as a Buy – but ONLY if you also buy Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. Happy holidays, Don and Phil, and I hope you liked this gift from Billie Joe and Norah.
As for me, I'm still waiting to hear "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" on the radio, plus I suspect that R. Kelly is bluffing. I think I might give Norah Jones another try. Why not? I hear it's Christmas.
RIP: Lou Reed, who I hope is taking one long walk on the wild side.
Postscript, 3 Jan 2014: RIP Phil Everly. Bye bye love.
Verlierer says:
Nice to read your words again. Does the diminished blogging equal increased novelizing?
I think I'd be more interested in Norah Jones' part from Songs Our Daddy Taught Us if it really was her daddy, Ravi Shankar, the Eddie Van Halen of sitars.
I don't like Eddie Van Halen or sitars! Though I wouldn't mind hearing "Panama" on a sitar.
Thanks for asking. I'm novelizing, slowly but surely. My main resolution for the new year is to finish the book already, preferably by my birthday in July.
What? You forgot Vince Guaraldi? Oy how could you? That and the sultry Dianna Krall?
My top 3 jazz pianists are Howard Silver, Vince Guaraldi, and Herbie Hancock. But as I've told you like about a billion times, this is not a jazz blog! I don't know enough about jazz to write well about it, and anyway jazz is nowhere near as funny as rock (except for Kenny G).
William (Bill) F Seabrook says:
Do you know its Christmas?…here's to you, raise a glass for everyone.
It's the most wonderful time for a beer!
Not everyone can have genius lyrics like the B-52's, Stevie!
I'm waiting for June 21 so I can start singing "It's the summer of love love love/it's the summer of love love love/Love energy/is giving us a shove…"
Let me count the ways: Enough is enough!


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Home » News » Microsoft: Open source is now the accepted model for cross-company collaboration
Microsoft: Open source is now the accepted model for cross-company collaboration
Microsoft said that it has learned a lot from its increased engagement with the open source world, adding that open source is also now the "accepted model" for collaboration between companies.
Microsoft was once one the purest purveyors of proprietary software, but it has gone some way toward shedding that image over the past decade. Spearheaded in large part by Satya Nadella, who oversaw .NET's open-sourcing, Microsoft's joining of the Linux Foundation and the open source initiative, Microsoft has pushed hard to convince the world that it's "all-in on open source."
The year 2020 continued on a similar footing with Microsoft open-sourcing more of its own technologies, while the company also created (and joined) the Open Source Security Foundation (OSSF) alongside old foes Google and IBM, and it emerged as the top external contributor to Google's open source Chromium project.
In a blog post published today, Microsoft said that an industry-wide embrace of open-source technology has encouraged cross-company collaboration, particularly among the tech giants which can bypass much of the lawyering to join forces in weeks rather than months. This highlights the role that open source plays in bringing the big tech behemoths of the world together.
"A few years ago if you wanted to get several large tech companies together to align on a software initiative, establish open standards, or agree on a policy, it would often require several months of negotiation, meetings, debate, back and forth with lawyers… and did we mention the lawyers?," noted Sarah Novotny, Microsoft's open source lead for the Azure Office of the CTO. "Open source has completely changed this: it has become an industry-accepted model for cross-company collaboration. When we see a new trend or issue emerging that we know would be better to work on together to solve, we come together in a matter of weeks, with established models we can use to guide our efforts."
The company highlighted several ways that it's learning from its investments in open source, including the importance of listening to community feedback; the need to help employees find a balance between autonomy and adhering to company policy; and why "over communicating" can help remove uncertainty and stress.
The rise of open source
A quick peek across the open source sphere over the past few years reveals how pivotal open source now is to businesses of all sizes, with IBM snapping up open source software maker Red Hat for $34 billion, Salesforce buying Mulesoft for $6.5 billion, and Microsoft itself doling out $7.5 billion for GitHub. Moreover, all the big technology companies these days rely on — and contribute to — open source projects, while simultaneously making many of their own tools available under an open source license.
In a year fraught with challenges for most of the global workforce as they rapidly transitioned to remote work, Microsoft said the world can learn a lot from the open source realm, which has always had to embrace a remote-first and "digital-first" mindset due to its inherent global distribution.
"For those of us who have been deeply engaged in open source, remote work has been our norm for many years because open source communities are large, globally distributed, and require effective collaboration from developers around the world," Novotny said.


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01/19 19:25 Medvedev mentions import substitution, low inflation rates, working amid crisis, sanctions, as his govt's achievements
01/19 18:58 Medvedev says doesn't view appointment as Russian Security Council deputy chairperson as unexpected for him
01/19 18:55 Russia urges Turkey, Greece to settle disagreements in Aegean Sea via dialogue
01/19 18:27 Al-Sarraj, Haftar unlikely to wish to talk to each other - Russian diplomat (Part 2)
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Sacrificing Angelo de la Cruz
Filipino worker Angelo de la Cruz could be dead by now, free, or still in the hands of his captors.
Whether he has been killed or not, the Iraqi group that was holding him used violence, first, by holding him against his will, again by threatening to kill a non-combatant by decapitating him to force the Philippine government to withdraw its 51-person "humanitarian contingent." If de la Cruz has been killed, it would add only to the crystal clarity of the fact that it used terrorist methods to help it achieve its aims.
Those aims are apparently to force United States occupation troops, workers and officials, as well as all the other countries colluding with them out of Iraq, and to expose the Iraqi Interim Government for what it is—a creature and puppet of the United States incapable of running Iraq.
We don't know if this group has done the same thing in the past, or if its abduction of de la Cruz is rare in its arsenal of means to achieve its aims. But it is very likely also involved in attacks and ambushes on US troops and Iraqi officials and policemen collaborating with the occupation forces. The latter are legitimate responses to the continuing occupation of Iraq, despite US claims that these are "terrorist attacks."
But this same group would fit the media's (both local and foreign) tagging it a terrorist group if it has repeatedly and as a matter of policy used terrorist means.
Terrorism has been defined as the indiscriminate use of violence in the furtherance of political ends. It is a method—only one of many—for the achievement of certain political goals.
Every resistance movement to foreign occupation and most social and political movements over the last 200 years has used some form of terrorist means or another, but that does not make them terrorist organizations. It requires consistent reliance on terrorist methods, sometimes sole reliance on them, for groups and movements to qualify.
Every terrorist act is nevertheless condemnable for the violence it wreaks on non-combatants, not only because it is unjust to punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, or because of the anguish it causes their immediate kin and communities. Terrorism must be condemned and opposed also because its use poisons even the noblest motives. The means one uses to achieve one's ends usually reshape those very same ends in the process. The killing of innocents in furtherance of the political aim of seizing state power has all too often resulted in the same indiscriminate killing later, in the process distorting the most valid aims.
The United States has been described as a terrorist state both because it has used violence indiscriminately for political ends. While those ends have been loudly proclaimed as noble, they have turned out to be masks to conceal exactly the opposite goals. It seized the Philippines at the turn of the century and killed and tortured civilians to "Christianize and civilize" the natives. It carpet-bombed Vietnam and killed over a million Vietnamese to "hold the line" against "Godless communism". And it killed some 14,000 civilians–it is killing civilians still—and imprisoned and tortured hundreds of non-combatants, in violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners, "to bring democracy to Iraq".
This is not to place those groups fighting for independence, or resisting foreign occupation that use terrorism (such as certain Palestinian groups), on the same level as the United States. The US is first of all a state whose policies over the last 100 years have led it to commit terrorist acts that have affected vast numbers of people all over the planet. There is a moral difference between those forced by desperate circumstances into bombing restaurants and buses—or kidnapping foreign workers—from those whose interests have led them into "wars of choice" unmindful of civilian casualties.
Almost every one of the US wars in the second half of the twentieth century after World War II, and in the beginning of the 21st , have been wars of choice, in the sense that they were waged not to defend the United States from attack, but for profit and political advantage. These wars have taken various forms, among them that of supporting right- wing coups against democratically-elected governments (Chile); colluding in the murder of hundreds of thousands (Indonesia); and supporting death squads (El Salvador). But it has also taken the form of naked military aggression, as in Vietnam and Iraq.
Iraq is only the very latest of these US wars of choice. Based on a vast arsenal of lies propagated by the compliant US media, and intended to secure that country's oil resources and to establish a major military presence in the Middle East, that war has resulted not only in the destruction of the Iraqi state and the massive breakdown of an entire society. It has also cost countless lives among the civilian population, the 14,000 figure usually cited being an estimate. This number also excludes those who have died from lack of medical care because of the destruction of the health infrastructure, from diseases because of the water and sewage systems, and from malnutrition because of the collapse of the economy.
Although a far from crucial partner in the ravaging of Iraq, by sending a so-called "humanitarian mission" there the Philippines has inevitably been identified with the continuing US occupation, the fraudulent "turnover of sovereignty" last June 28, and the crimes against humanity and civilization that have been committed in Iraq by the United States.
This was a decision which, from considerations of its national interests, it need not have made. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo nevertheless made it, and she made it two years before the US attack on Iraq.
When she pledged unconditional support in 2001 for any US initiative to retaliate for the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, and even volunteered to send troops without being asked, there was no shortage of analysts who warned that she was unnecessarily committing the country to all future US actions, whatever they may be. When she decided, even against the advice of some of her political allies, to send the 51-person "humanitarian" team to Iraq a year ago, still others warned that her decision could endanger the lives of the millions of Filipino workers in the Middle East.
In making that decision anyway, Arroyo became a partner in the US war of choice in Iraq, although like the United States, she too tried to make it seem necessary, for both the US as well as the rest of the world.
"The war against terrorism" was the excuse. The real reason lay elsewhere, primarily in Mrs. Arroyo's belief that she needed US approval to be elected.
Nevertheless, "national interest"—in the form of the jobs that will be available for Filipino workers, as well as US military and economic aid—has since been the mantra of the Arroyo administration to justify its policy on Iraq.
Over the weekend, its former National Security Adviser, Roilo Golez, was insisting that "national interest" demanded that the Philippines keep the mission in Iraq despite the possibility of de la Cruz's being beheaded, and that it would be a sign of weakness to pull out the Philippine contingent before the end of its tour on August 20.
In the Middle East, Philippine national interest is premised on preserving the health and lives of the millions of Filipino workers there, not because of the remittances they send to keep the economy afloat, but because it is the basic responsibility of any half-way decent government to do so. And yet, despite being aware of the dangers, the Arroyo government did not heed predictions that its support of the United States as manifest in, among other acts, its sending a "humanitarian mission" to Iraq, could lead to precisely the danger de la Cruz is now in, and which has killed at least three other Filipino workers.
Government apologists—some write columns in certain newspapers—argue that pulling out the Philippine mission before August 20 will encourage other acts of terrorism against Filipinos. Like Roilo Golez and his successor, Norberto Gonzalez, they think it better to allow de la Cruz to be beheaded rather than to "encourage" similar acts of terrorism in the future.
And yet it is the presence of the Philippine contingent—and it doesn't matter what it's called, because its presence amounts to support for the illegal and immoral US attack and occupation—that has precisely led to de la Cruz' life's being endangered. Once the contingent is out of Iraq, what would put other Filipino workers in the same peril?
It is supremely easy to act the policy-maker, to look at lives in the abstract and in the service of even the most malign state policies. Nothing can be easier than to condemn those fighting for their country, their families and their very lives for resorting to the most desperate means in opposing the violence and brutality that US power has unleashed.
It is equally easy for those who ignore US responsibility for the vast injustice and inhumanity that has been inflicted on Iraq to instead call those resisting it names: to describe them as "unbalanced," "ruthless," "contemptuous of decency and yet so cowardly"—epithets that apply with greater validity and justice on the tormentors of Iraq who go by such names as Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, the US military, and those who support them.
What's not so easy is to see Angelo de la Cruz as an individual with dreams and hopes, with a wife, children, kin and community. No one, especially governments run by moral half-wits, has the right to sacrifice a single Filipino in behalf of a stupid, subservient, short-sighted policy based on sheer self-interest and deception.
(Today/abs-cbnNEWS.com)
Consider yourselves lucky
Still faithful after all her fears
0 thoughts on "Sacrificing Angelo de la Cruz"
Ederic
Angelo de la Cruz is expected to be freed tonight. I'm waiting for news about his release while browsing your site.


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HotWorks.org Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show Jan 21 & 22 23
Phillippi Estate Park / Creek / Mansion
Pricing/Ticket Info
https://artsandeducationinc.org/events/sarasota-open-air-fine-art-show/
Register/Get Tickets
Event Dates and Times
Time Zone (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Join us for HotWorks.org Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Shows located outdoors at Phillippi Estate Park, 5500 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 34231 with five upcoming great dates:
November 19 & 20, 2022 – 10th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show™
January 21 & 22, 2023 – 11th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show™
February 11 & 12, 2023 – 12th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show™
March 11 & 12, 2023 – 13h Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show™
April 1 & 2, 2023 – 14th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show™
The event features quality professional fine art and fine craft artists with all discipline for sale – paintings, clay, glass, sculpture, fiber, wood, jewelry and more – all juried by art professionals. All work is original and personally handmade in America by the artist who is present at the show. Great food and music add to the ambiance of this beautiful show.
COVID safety precautions in place such as the art show is held 100% outdoors and super wide aisles for social distancing.
The associated 501c3 non-profit arm, Institute for the Arts & Education, focus is on visual arts, cultural diversity, community enrichment and fostering art education among youth. As part of our commitment to bring art education into the community, the Youth Art/Budding Artist Competition for ages 5-13/9-19 or grades K-8/6-12 is integrated within the art show with a 10x20 space. Sponsored by Institute for the Arts & Education, this program encourages students to enter his/her original art that is publicly displayed in the art show the entire weekend. On Sunday at 3pm, there is $250 Youth Art Awards presented at the show as young artists are exposed to the rules and entrepreneurship of doing art shows for a living.
Free Admission; $5 Parking supports IA&E and helps to pay the costs of producing the show. Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm. See Art, Love Art, Buy Art! More info at hotworks.org
Hot Works, LLC Fine Art & Fine Craft Shows
Patty Narozny
Sarasota FL 34230
Hot Works produces award-winning fine art and fine craft shows and Institute for the Arts & Education is the associated 501c3 non-profit organization with focuses on visual arts, cultural diversity, community enrichment and fostering art education among youth.
Since 2003, Hot Works has produced top-notch fine art and fine craft shows in Michigan and Florida and has established a national outstanding reputation with three shows voted in the top 100 art shows in America – out of several thousand other shows. All art is original and personally handmade by the artist who is present at the show, which is juried by art professionals who have an art education and/or experience with art shows. Our focus is quality, not quantity. There is something for everyone, in all price ranges – as especially new collectors are important to build. If you are looking to reach a patron with money to spend on 'Luxury' items, this is the show for you.
Hot Works fine art and fine craft show schedule is as follows:
July 24 & 25, 2021 – 18th Orchard Lake Fine Art Show
Outdoors, heart of West Bloomfield, MI
October 23 & 24, 2021 – 26th Estero Fine Art Show
Outdoors, JetBlue Park, Fort Myers, FL
October 30 & 31, 2021 – 5th Naples Fine Art Show
Outdoors, Naples Italian-American Club, Naples, FL
November 6 & 7, 2021 – 14th Boca Raton Fine Art Show
Outdoors at Mizner Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton, FL –
November 20 & 21, 2021 – 5th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show
Outdoors at Phillippi Estate Park, Sarasota, FL
January 1 & 2, 2022 – 15th Boca Raton Fine Art Show
Outdoors at Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton, FL
January 15 & 16, 2022 – 6th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show
*January 22 & 23, 2022 – 16th Boca Raton Fine Art Show
Outdoors, Downtown Boca Raton, FL
January 29 & 30, 2022 – 27th Estero Fine Art Show
Outdoors at JetBlue Park, Fort Myers, FL
February 12 & 13, 2022 – 7th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show
March 12 & 13, 2022 – 8th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show
March 26 & 27, 2022 – 6th Naples Fine Art Show
Outdoors Naples Italian-American Club, Naples, FL
April 2 & 3, 2022 – 9th Sarasota Open Air Fine Art Show
*These shows are voted in the top 100 juried art shows in America!
As part of our commitment to bring art education into the community, each show integrates a Youth Art Competition for grades K-8 or grades 6-12, depending on the event. Produced by Institute for the Arts & Education, we reach out to the local school art teachers and encourage students to enter their original and personally handmade art that is publicly displayed in the art show all weekend. The unique and one-of-a-kind program exposes students to the entrepreneurship of doing art shows for a living, and brings families to the art show who may not have otherwise attended, and exposes them to great art. We are looking for a sponsor for this area.
All Hot Works shows have a major media campaign to bring affluent patrons to purchase high quality art. Broadcast TV, radio, print, digital marketing (including Google Ads, YouTube, Facebook & Instagram), postcards and posters help get the word out – but each show has its own design within the communities.
We would be happy tailor packages to fit your marketing and community relations goals. Please find general information to start.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. I will follow up with you soon, In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me at 941-755-3088.
Executive Producer, Hot Works, LLC Fine Art & Fine Craft Shows
President, Institute for the Arts & Education, Inc.
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