Friday, February 27, 2009

Dems (Minus Three/Plus One)



Council meeting on public meetings held in secret

Philadelphia City Council President Anna Verna and at least nine of her colleagues locked reporters out of a secret meeting yesterday.

The meeting's topic: How to hold public budget hearings.

Verna seemed surprised after the meeting, held in her office, to learn that reporters considered the closure a violation of the state's Sunshine Act.

"If this is against the law, that's news to me," Verna said.

The Sunshine Act defines a public meeting as: "Any prearranged gathering of an agency which is attended or participated in by a quorum of the members of an agency held for the purpose of deliberating agency business or taking official action."

With 17 members, Council reaches quorum when nine are present.

Verna said that the Council members, all Democrats as far as reporters could tell from out in the hallway, were discussing whether to move some public hearings on the budget out into community forums instead of holding them only in City Hall.

Council's Democratic leaders also met with Mayor Nutter yesterday to discuss that and other scheduling issues, Verna said, emphasizing that there was no deliberation on budget finances.

"You have as much information as we have at this point," Verna told reporters. "We have no information on figures in the budget."

Council Majority Leader Marian Tasco and Whip Darrell Clarke said there was no need to let the public attend the meeting.

"We're not deliberating on an issue that impacts the people," Tasco said later. "It's administrative work as far as I'm concerned."

Reported By CHRIS BRENNAN & CATHERINE LUCEY
Philadelphia Daily News

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Fumo trial near end, claims Case 'Overblown'

After a four-month trial filled with startling revelations from estranged family members, former staffers, loyal friends and the former lawmaker himself, both sides will finally wrap up the Vincent J. Fumo saga this week with closing arguments.

Fumo, 65, is accused of embellishing his lavish lifestyle with purchases, favors, and boat rides funded by taxpayers and a local nonprofit he controlled, all while serving as one of the state’s most powerful senators.

A jury will soon decide what happens to Fumo and whether his pattern of behavior is enough to convict him on any of the 139 counts he faces.

“I think he’s got an uphill battle,” said Marc Neff, a defense attorney and former prosecutor for white-collar crimes. “I think it is a very difficult thing for him to win all the counts in this case.”

Neff expects prosecutors to be very analytical in their closing, while defense attorney Marc Cogan could try to paint a broad brush about his client, he said.

During six days on the stand, Fumo’s testimony ranged from bragging about “a victory” for customers when he received a multi-million dollar PECO settlement, to admitting that he had Senate staffers work on his girlfriend’s computer, to expressing regret that he’d ever been elected.

If Fumo is convicted, he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Buddy Cianfrani, who was sent to jail for abusing his office as a senator, which opened the door for Fumo.

Reported by Solomon D. Leach
Metro Newspaper

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PAC accused of breaking finance rules faces fines

A political action committee supported primarily by Gov. Rendell stands accused of circumventing city campaign-finance rules and failing to disclose contributions to, among others, three of five Democratic candidates in the 2007 Philadelphia mayor's race.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics went to court Tuesday to compel the PAC - Pennsylvanians for Better Leadership - to pay $30,000 in fines and amend its campaign-finance reports to show the missing information.

"You have a politically connected and well-funded PAC that has been operating outside of the law by failing to make the required disclosures," said Shane Creamer, executive director of the ethics board. As a result, he said, "The public hasn't had an opportunity to understand what this PAC has been doing."

Kevin C. Watson, the PAC's treasurer, was also named in the lawsuit. He did not return a call yesterday. Watson works as a legislative aide in the Philadelphia office of Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.

The lawsuit, which the ethics board filed in Common Pleas Court, alleges 20 violations committed in 2007. The board did not allege any wrongdoing by Rendell, a Democrat, who donated $160,000 to the PAC in 2007.

Specifically, the suit cited 13 instances in which the PAC did not reveal $49,000 worth of donations it made to city, state, and federal candidates. Among them were U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (who received $5,000 on March 1, 2007); U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah ($2,000 on March 9, 2007); and state Rep. Dwight Evans ($10,000 on March 1, 2007). All were candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Creamer said the ethics board learned of the unreported donations through bank records it subpoenaed from the PAC.

Four other alleged violations stem from contributions that the PAC included in a campaign-finance report but that were never actually made. For instance, the PAC reported a May 4, 2007, donation of $10,000 to One Step Closer, a group that funded TV ads attacking Mayor Nutter during the primary campaign. But according to the petition, no record of that contribution existed in the PAC's bank records.

The ethics board also said the PAC failed to list three contributions it received. Two, totaling $30,000, were made by insurance executive Andre Duggin, a Republican and one of Rendell's longtime financial backers. A third contribution, for $15,000, came from the campaign committee of Allegheny County Executive Don Onorato, a Democrat.

Rendell, the PAC's biggest funder by far, donated $70,000 on April 3, 2007. That contribution is not in question because the PAC disclosed it.

However, the governor also gave the PAC an additional $85,000 in December that year. The PAC did not report that donation, but also has not filed a campaign-finance report since November 2007.

"The governor has always given financial support to candidates both directly and indirectly," Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. "The governor believes the PAC officers knew the rules and he assumed they followed them in the same way he always has. He had no way of knowing about the alleged wrongdoing."

Pennsylvanians for Better Leadership was first registered with the state in 2003.

To date, though, it has not registered with the city, which may constitute another violation, according to Tim Dowling, a document specialist with the City Commissioner's Office.

Dowling also said the PAC would be fined an additional $500 for missing the filing deadlines for two 2007 reports.

According to campaign-finance records, the PAC made 12 donations in 2008 but filed no reports with the city or state. Among those receiving money: Evans, who took in a total of $11,000, and South Philadelphia union leader John Dougherty, a former state Senate candidate. He received $1,000.

Reported by Marcia Gelbart
Inquirer Staff Writer

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President Obama’s Budget: Some Honesty About Taxes — Finally

President Obama’s first budget recognizes what most of Washington has been too scared or ideologically blind to admit: to recover from George W. Bush’s reckless economic policies, taxes must go up.

Mr. Obama’s blueprint, released on Thursday, commits to cutting by more than two-thirds, by 2013, the $1.75 trillion budget deficit that Mr. Bush dumped on the nation.

A credible pledge to reduce the deficit is imperative. Without it, foreign lenders — who financed the Bush-era deficits and are now paying for the stimulus and bailouts — could lose faith in the nation’s ability or willingness to repay in anything other than rapidly depreciating dollars. That would send interest rates up and the economy down, the worst-case scenario. Controlling the deficit is also necessary to sustain a recovery — when it comes.

The collapse of the Bush-era economy is ample and awful evidence of the folly of unconstrained debt-fueled growth. The Obama administration has acknowledged the need for deficit spending to stimulate the economy but has vowed that unpaid-for government will not become the norm. Judging from the blueprint, Mr. Obama is not just talking the talk.

A lot of the projected budget improvement is premised on economic recovery beginning in 2010, which may or may not happen. But much of it is premised on raising taxes. The proposed increases signal a serious attempt to tame deficits in a way that restores fairness to a tax code that has for too long been tilted in favor of the wealthiest Americans, resulting in budget shortfalls that disproportionately burden everyone else. At the same time, Mr. Obama has proposed a separate, targeted increase to help pay for health care reform in a way that doesn’t dig a deeper budget hole.

All of the proposed increases apply to couples making more than $250,000 ($200,000 for single taxpayers) — about the top 3 percent of taxpayers. None are big enough to derail an economic recovery. And contrary to Republicans’ knee-jerk protests, they impose no outsize burden on small businesses: Most sole proprietors and other small-business owners do not make anywhere near a quarter-of-a-million dollars a year.

To combat deficits, Mr. Obama proposes to let Mr. Bush’s high-end tax cuts expire in 2011, raising the top rate from 35 percent to as high as 39.6 percent. He would also impose a 20 percent rate on investment income, up from the current super-low 15 percent. And he would reinstate a tax provision enacted by the first President Bush, but undone by his son, that limited tax write-offs by high-income taxpayers for dependents and other expenses, like mortgage interest on vacation homes.

The proposal also calls for taxing private equity partners just like the rest of us. Under current law, multimillionaire buyout mavens pay tax on much of their income at about the lowest rates in the tax code. Under the Obama budget, their earnings would lose favored status and be taxed as the ordinary income of ordinary mortals.

No one who really believes in fiscal responsibility could object to the proposed tax increases. And yet, each one presages a political fight. At issue is not only the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans or election-year debates, but the real-life difficulty of weaning people hooked on unsustainable debt — whether it is unpaid-for tax breaks or over-leveraged buyouts or junk mortgages. It’s a challenge avoided for too long.

New York Times Editorial
published February 27, 2009


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Bonus Round:

Shocking

A fair number of people, including some editors I know, are amazed that Barack Obama is actually trying to do what he said he would do during the campaign. And, I must admit, I wasn't convinced he would go all the way with programs like cap-and-trade limitations on carbon emissions. But he is. And, I suspect, the public is ready for it.

Republicans, stunned that what passed for conventional wisdom for thirty years is no longer operative, are still attempting arguments like this one:

“The risks are too much too soon, and piling on, and triggering class warfare,” said Kenneth Khachigian, a former aide to Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

In truth, class warfare is what the Reagan Era gave us: thirty years of tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of the common weal, thirty years of lax regulations which enabled the bankers to strip-mine the savings of average Americans while reaping huge rewards in Ponzi schemes, like the micro-dividing of mortgage assets that were really debits.

Once again, I'm not sure Obama's proposals will work--some will surely be more successful than others, there's a good chance that rather than being too bold, he isn't being bold enough--but I am absolutely certain where the continuation, or augmentation, of Reagan-Bush policies would leave us: even worse off than we are now.

Posted by Joe Klein

Update: E.J. Dionne has more on this theme, laying out the real stakes of the game.

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Note: Editorial Cartoon by Pat Oliphant

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Catholic Elephant In The Room



GOP Flipside:

In praise of priests who dare to teach and enforce By Rick Santorum

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-proclaimed "ardent, practicing Catholic," had an opportunity last week to meet a fellow ardent Catholic, Pope Benedict XVI.

It appears that the pope used the visit to educate a confused Pelosi about the Roman Catholic Church's long-held position on the life issue.

Appearing on Meet the Press just prior to the Democratic National Convention, Pelosi told the country that, over the centuries, the Catholic Church had been unable to define when life begins. "We just don't know," she chirped.

The Vatican's statement after last week's meeting between Pelosi and the pope began: "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death."

Pope Benedict did not allow any photos of the meeting, making a second and equally bracing instructional point: Dissenting Catholic politicians who deliberately mislead others about the church's core teachings will not be given another chance to do so by having their picture taken with the vicar of Christ.

The pope heads a long list of church leaders who have used the speaker's comments to teach the faithful. It includes our own Cardinal Justin Rigali.

Pelosi made it easy for the bishops to confront an offense against church teaching, because, rather than state her own position, she misstated the church's position. To the church, this is akin to wearing a "Kick me" sign on your backside.

Sadly, the church hierarchy has been less assertive when public figures' policy positions openly dissent from core teachings.

That's why Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino got so much national attention last fall. Martino, formerly the auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, made the welcome decision to publicly bar then Sen. Joe Biden and other abortion advocates from receiving Communion in the Scranton Diocese. Then, after the November election, he admonished his brother bishops for their reluctance to deal with the issue faithfully.

Last month, Martino took on the most influential family in his diocese, the Caseys. He excoriated Sen. Bob Casey, who claims to be pro-life, for voting to give taxpayer dollars to overseas organizations that perform abortions. He warned that Casey was "formally cooperating with evil."

Martino was not done. Two weeks ago, the Philadelphia native and St. Joseph's Prep graduate issued a strong statement of disapproval to a local, nominally Catholic college, Misericordia University, that had scheduled a speech on campus by someone advocating same-sex marriage. "The faithful of the Diocese of Scranton should be in no doubt," Martino said, "that Misericordia University in this instance is seriously failing in maintaining its Catholic identity."

Then, last week, Martino took on some more of the biggest guns in the diocese: the Irish clubs that organize the largest public Catholic event of the year, the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Through a letter from his Irish auxiliary bishop, Martino warned that if any of these groups went ahead with plans that in any way honor politicians who are not pro-life, he would close the cathedral where Mass is usually held prior to the parade, as well as other diocesan churches. He said he would not countenance anything that created confusion about the teachings of the church.

The reason for the letter: Scranton's St. Patrick's Day parade last year featured Hillary Clinton.

Many of his brother bishops will look at Martino as they do at other uncompromising defenders of the faith, worrying about the world's reaction. As a Philly guy, though, his excellency knows something about being booed. He also knows his job and calling: to be the good shepherd who faithfully leads and protects his flock from those who would lead them astray.

Yes, scores of people are reportedly protesting and threatening to leave the church. In the end, however, people leaving the church because of a bishop who enforces its teachings are a blessing compared with the alternative: people leaving because bishops and their priests don't teach, much less enforce, those teachings."

Published Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009
The Philadelphia Inqurirer


More:

Sad, Unemployed Young Republicans Ice Skate With Gays, Mope

More Humor:

santorum (san-TOR-um) n.

1.
The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex


Unrelated:

Bloggers and Unions Join Forces to Recruit Liberal Candidates


Note:

Editorial Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Is Genius Born or Can It Be Learned?




Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes?

How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity. In the modern era, Immanuel Kant and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wrote extensively about how genius occurs. Last year, pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell addressed the subject in his book Outliers: The Story of Success.

The latest, and possibly most comprehensive, entry into this genre is Dean Keith Simonton's new book Genius 101: Creators, Leaders, and Prodigies (Springer Publishing Co., 227 pages). Simonton, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis, is one of the world's leading authorities on the intellectually eminent, whom he has studied since his Harvard grad-school days in the 1970s.

For most of its history, the debate over what leads to genius has been dominated by a bitter, binary argument: is it nature or is it nurture — is genius genetically inherited, or are geniuses the products of stimulating and supportive homes? Simonton takes the reasonable position that geniuses are the result of both good genes and good surroundings. His middle-of-the-road stance sets him apart from more ideological proponents like Galton (the founder of eugenics) as well as revisionists like Gladwell who argue that dedication and practice, as opposed to raw intelligence, are the most crucial determinants of success.

Too often, writers don't nail down exactly what they mean by genius. Simonton tries, with this thorough, slightly ponderous, definition: Geniuses are those who "have the intelligence, enthusiasm, and endurance to acquire the needed expertise in a broadly valued domain of achievement" and who then make contributions to that field that are considered by peers to be both "original and highly exemplary."


click here for complete article by John Cloud


Bonus Round:

Friday, February 20, 2009

Free Library of Philadelphia Update

Guards required in Phila. Libraries

The new mandate is seen by critics of Mayor Nutter as a precursor to another shut-down attempt.

Philadelphia's public libraries can no longer open without a guard present, according to an internal Free Library e-mail obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Free Library says it's to ensure staff and patron safety but unions and library advocates believe it's an effort to find new ways to close libraries.

For years, Philadelphia libraries have opened without guards present, library union officials said.

The new rule, like the library's recently instituted requirement to have four workers present to open a branch instead of the customary three, is seen by some in the contentious fight over libraries as another attempt by the Nutter administration to find a way to close branches. The change was effective as of Tuesday.

"Every 15 minutes it's a new story," Amy Dougherty, executive director of the Friends of the Free Library, said yesterday.

Sandy Horrocks, a spokeswoman for library director Siobhan Reardon, disagreed. She said the change was made only to keep libraries safe and clean. (Guards also clean branches.)

She added that the library system was hampered because it is down 11 guards. When the administration tried to close 11 libraries late last year, it transferred those guards to other city duties.

A judge compelled the administration to keep the libraries open. But Horrocks said the guards could not be recalled because the library had to slash its budget by 20 percent and could no longer afford them.


Click Here for complete article by Alfred Lubrano (Inquirer Staff Writer)


Most Recently:

FYI (II) Port Richmond Library Closed Again


Previous to that entry:


Port Richmond Branch To Be Closed Saturday

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Review

Visionaries on a Mission: Save the Earth

Scientists and environmentalists have reached a growing consensus that time is running out for Planet Earth. The polar ice caps are melting. Three-quarters of the world’s flowering plant species are at risk of extinction. One in eight bird species is vanishing. Ninety percent of big fish like cod, tuna and swordfish that once swam the oceans have already disappeared. Air, water and ground pollutants from fossil-fuel sources are poisoning major population centers.

But according to Edward Humes, author of “Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet” (Ecco/HarperCollins), there is “a secret plan to save the Earth.” This plan is being carried out by a group of “eco barons” — both men and women — who are the modern-day heroic counterparts to the villainous 19th century robber barons who originally set the nation on the path to environmental destruction.

“In an era in which government has been either broke, indifferent or actively hostile to environmental causes, a band of visionaries — inventors, philanthropists, philosophers, grassroots activists, lawyers and gadflies — are using their wealth, their energy, their celebrity and their knowledge of law and science to persuade, and sometimes force, the United States and the world to take a new direction,” Mr. Humes declares.

A writer for Los Angeles magazine and a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, Mr. Humes is the author of nine previous nonfiction books. In 1989, he won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigative series about the United States military...


click here for complete NY Times article by HARRY HURT III


related:


Otolith - Sustainable Seafood

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Time Magazine 25 Best Blogs 2009

Welcome Googlers.

click here for article


If you're already a reader of Automotive Acne (Productions), thank you.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Most Recent Cookie Fortune



You are heading in the right direction.


Daily Numbers: 0 0 6
Lotto Six #'s: 15 14 19 16 23 9


Previous Cookie Fortune:


You have a potential urge and the ability for accomplishment.


Daily Numbers: 4 2 9
Lotto Six #'s: 31 37 16 40 34 39

Saturday, February 14, 2009

E> or <3


You know you’re just as cute as a lil’ button when you can play peek-a-boo with half of your face and still look like springtime’s first daisy as rainbows splash sun sparkles all over it from heaven.




If this ever happens to you lunge at her and impale a diamond ring on that thing.




Yes, she’s a bit Eurotrashy. But is there anybody alive looking at this that doesn’t want to just sink their teeth into her perineum and wave her around in the air like a great white does to a baby seal on Discovery Channel Shark Week?




God is a goddamn asshole. Remember when you were 14 and all you did was beat off and dream of the day one of these would be in your life? What a waste of tens of thousands of boners.




Should we be thanking Mark Ronson for all these 60s chicks everywhere? All my balls, including my eye ones, want to know where to send the card.




Hang on a sec, shouldn't you be five inches tall and gyrating on some Hawaiian's dashboard instead of wrecking my ability to get anything done for the rest of the day?



Photographs/Text from the Do's section of the Do's & Don'ts at Vice.com

Thursday, February 12, 2009

On This Date in History

Today is Thursday, February 12th
The 043rd day of 2009.
There are 322 days left in the year.


Today's Highlights in History

On Feb. 12, 1973, the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

On Feb. 12, 1809, Charles Darwin, who originated the theory of evolution by natural selection, was born.


On this date in:

1554 - Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, was beheaded after being charged with treason.

1733 - English colonists led by James Oglethorpe founded Savannah, Ga.

1809 - Naturalist Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England.

1809 - Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in present-day Larue County, Ky.

1870 - Women in the Utah Territory gained the right to vote.

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in New York.

1912 - Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.

1915 - The cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C.

1924 - George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" premiered in New York City.

1993 - Two 10-year-old boys lured 2-year-old James Bulger from his mother at a shopping mall in Liverpool, England, then beat him to death.

1999 - The Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2000 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip, died at age 77.

2000 - Hall of Fame football coach Tom Landry died at age 75.

2001 - The NEAR spacecraft touched down on Eros, completing the first landing on an asteroid.

2002 - The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic began in The Hague.

2002 - Pakistan charged three men in connection with the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi.

2004 - Defying a California law, San Francisco officials began performing weddings for same-sex couples.

2006 - A record 26.9 inches of snow fell in New York's Central Park.

2008 - General Motors reported losing $38.7 billion in 2007 and offered buyouts to 74,000 hourly workers.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Numberology

Receipt:
_________________________________

Welcome To Wawa #119
Phone: (215) 426-8282

02/07/2008 11:33:18 TRX 987472

Register #: 4 Cashier Id#: 146

1 MARL BOX ..................$4.25 T
1 NY TIMES DAILY ........$1.50
1 CLASSIC ROLL ............$0.60 F

3 Items SUB-TOTAL .......$6.36
TAX ...............................$0.30

------------------------------

TOTAL ..........................$6.66

C U S T O M E R C O P Y

Cash Payment ................$7.00

CASH CHANGE .............$0.34

Richmond & Alleghney
Philadelphia, PA 19134

_________________________________



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Recalibration:


Statistics as of February 10, 2009 at 8:13 am CST
Site: Automotive Acne Productions

Your counter was created on October 22, 2007 at 10:05 am CDT with a starting count of 0. You currently have your counter set to increment on Unique Hits Only.

Total Hits: 3177
Hits Today (so far): 2
Hits Since Start: 3177
Average Daily Hits Since Start: 6.66


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Statistics as of February 9, 2009 at 2:36 pm CST
Site: Automotive Acne Productions

Your counter was created on October 22, 2007 at 10:05 am CDT with a starting count of 0. You currently have your counter set to increment on Unique Hits Only.

Total Hits: 3170
Hits Today (so far): 2
Hits Since Start: 3170
Average Daily Hits Since Start: 6.66


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Review:

A cup contains 50 spoonfuls of brandy, and another contains 50 spoonfuls of water. A spoonful of brandy is taken from the first cup and mixed into the second cup. Then a spoonful of the mixture is taken from the second cup and mixed into the first. Is there more or less brandy in the second cup than there is water in the first cup?


Click Here For Answer

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Stats

(*) The Earth weighs roughly 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms. A kilogram equals 2.205 pounds.

(*) Statistically, the largest numbers of UFO sightings occur when Mars is at its closest to the Earth.

(*) More than two-thirds of countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty.

(*) 39% of Americans think the Theory of Evolution is false.

(*) According to researchers, there will be no seafood left to catch by the year 2048, except for jellyfish, which will thrive in the new, collapsed ecosystem.


Note: Information via Metro Newspaper

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Bridge By Frank Stewart

A friend who teaches at a local college says that those who fail History 101 are doomed to repeat it. Those who play to the first trick without thinking are doomed to go down - repeatedly.

In today's deal, South played low from the dummy on the first spade and ruffed in his hand. He drew trumps and led the K-A and a low diamond. He'd have been safe if East had won the third diamond, but West won and led a club, and East took two clubs to beat the contract.

"It was a good save," South remarked. "Four spades was cold."

So was five hearts. South must plan at trick one - and then play the dummy's jack of spades. When East covers, South discards a diamond. South ruffs the next spade, draws trumps, takes the top diamonds and ruffs a diamond. He can then return to the dummy with a trump to discard two clubs on the good diamonds. He loses one club at the end.

If South carelessly plays low from the dummy on the first spade, East can also play low. The contract is unmakable.


(C) 2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Rain Forest Facts




(*) About 38 million acres of original rain forest are cut down every year.

(*) Globally, one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions come from the destruction of rain forests, scientists say.





Note: Info from NY Times article "New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Saving Primeval Rain Forests" by Elisabeth Rosenthal, published Friday, January 30, 2008