Everything you need to know about sharing iPhoto images
In our last lesson, I walked you through the process of creating printed books, cards, and calendars from within iPhoto. While printing your images is a great way to pass around your photos, some people prefer sharing via digital means. And that’s exactly what we’ll focus on in this lesson.
Exporting your images
In the earliest versions of iPhoto, the tried-and-true method of moving images out of iPhoto was to use the Export command found in the File menu. That command remains and, when selected, reveals an Export window that contains three tabs—File Export, Web Page, and Slideshow. Here’s how they break down.
When you drag an image out of your iPhoto library and onto the desktop, it will be copied in its native format (unless it’s a Raw image, in which case it’s converted to the JPEG format). If you’d like the image to be in a different format, quality, and/or size, turn to this tab. Within it you can choose to export your image in original, current, JPEG, TIFF, or PNG format. If you decide to export it as a JPEG, you can choose a quality setting—Low, Medium, High, or Maximum. And if you opt to export your images in either the JPEG or PNG formats, you can choose to include a title and keywords as well as location information.
You can also select from among a handful of sizes—Small, Medium, Large, or Full Size. Or if you’d like to use a custom size, choose Custom and you can configure the image’s dimensions.
This tab also offers naming choices. Click the File Name pop-up menu, and you’ll find these options: ‘Use title’, ‘Use filename’, ‘Sequential’, and ‘Album name with number’. ‘Use title’ will, of course, use the title you’ve assigned to the image. ‘Use filename’ will instead use the title assigned by your camera—DSC_1129, for example. In the case of ‘Sequential’, your images will be assigned numbers, as in 01.jpg, 02.jpg, 03.jpg, and so on. If you choose sequential titling, you have the option to add a prefix for your images in the ‘Prefix for sequential’ field below. You might, for example, add “Borneo” if all the images were from your recent trip abroad. When you choose Album name with number, the image will be assigned the name of the album in which it lives, along with a number. For instance, if you’re exporting two images selected in your Rhumba Lessons album, the images would be titled ‘Rhumba Lessons – 01’ and ‘Rhumba Lessons – 02’.
When you select more than one image, a Subfolder Format pop-up menu will appear in the Export window. Here you can choose to export without a subfolder or, when you choose Event Name from the menu, have a folder created that’s named after the image’s host event—‘Jul 11, 2012’, for example.
In this age of photo-sharing sites and easy-does-it website creation tools, the idea of creating HTML pages and links that you can then upload to a website seems almost quaint. But if that’s a course you wish to pursue, you’re welcome to.
Within the Web Page window, you can name your page, choose the number of columns and rows per page, select a Plain or Framed template, choose background and text colors, determine the size of the thumbnails (and whether they show titles and descriptions), and configure the dimensions of the “full sized” images you’ll export (as well as choose whether to show title, description, metadata, and location information).
When teaching you how to view your images, I mentioned the iPhoto feature where you can view your images as a slideshow. I can now admit that I was holding something back. Not only can you view slideshows, but you can also export them in the form of movies.
One simle method for doing this is to click this Slideshow tab, choose a size (Mobile, Medium, Large, or Display), and then click Export. The result will be a movie that employs the Ken Burn’s “pan and scan” effect accompanied by a tinkling jazz piano track. This is an easy way to create an enjoyable slideshow, but you can do far more. Read on to find out how.
Configuring shared slideshows
The slideshows you export can be more interesting than what I’ve described. To make them so, close the Export window and instead select the images you wish to include in your slideshow, click the Create button at the bottom of the iPhoto window, and choose Slideshow. If you were to then click the Play button at the bottom of the window, you’d see your slideshow with the pan-and-scan effect and hear that same jazz track. But let’s move beyond the basics.
Click on Themes at the bottom of the window, and a Slideshow Themes sheet appears. Here you’ll find 12 themes, including Ken Burns (the default), Origami, Reflections, Vintage Prints, Snapshots, Sliding Panels, Scrapbook, Photo Mobile, Holiday Mobile, Shatter, Places, and Classic. Part of the fun with these themes is discovering what they do, and I don’t want to spoil that fun. So go ahead and give them a go. Just know that each has its own effects and soundtrack.
But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be configured. For instance, you may want to accompany your slideshow with a song other than the default—a tune from your iTunes library, for example. That’s easily done. Just click on the Music button (or, when a slideshow is playing, move your cursor to expose the slideshow tools and click on the Music button). In the resulting window, you’ll see that the Play music during slideshow option is checked. Uncheck it you want a silent slideshow.
Below this is the Source pop-up menu. Click it to select a track from Apple’s Theme Music collection, a GarageBand track, or your iTunes library (or a playlist within it). In the list below are all the tracks that belong to whatever you’ve picking from the Source pop-up menu. To preview a track, just double-click it (or select it and click the Play button). You can also use the Search field to search your music by title. If you have a long slideshow and you don’t want the same track to repeat over and over, enable the Custom Playlist for Slideshow option and drag tracks into the field that appears. The songs will play in order during your slideshow.
“Yeah, but…” I can hear you yeah-butting, “I’d really like my slideshow to end when the music does rather than cut off a tune midway through.”
Apple is one step ahead of you.
Click the Settings button at the bottom of the screen, and there’s your answer. You have two options in regard to timing and music. The first—Play each slide for a minimum of x seconds—allows you to set a specific time for each slide to play (5 seconds, for example). However, if you enable the Fit slideshow to music option, iPhoto will do the math and create a slideshow that lasts the approximate length of the soundtrack.
It’s also within this All Slides tab that you can choose to Show Title Slide, Repeat Slideshow, and choose an aspect ratio for your slideshow (options include This Screen, HDTV, iPad/TV, or iPhone). In addition, when you click on the This Slide tab, you can elect to apply a Black & White, Sepia, or Antique filter to the slide currently displayed in the main iPhoto window. (You can move between slideshow images by clicking on the slideshow’s thumbnails at the top of the window.)
Finally, if you want to create breaks in your slideshow that display a bit of text—“Later that day…” or “The crocodile slowly approached…” for example—select a thumbnail image above and then click Text Slide below. Depending on the theme, either a slide that contains nothing but editable text will appear or a slide will be created that has a text field appended to it. Highlight the default text and enter whatever you like. You can change that text’s style by choosing Edit > Font > Show Fonts (or by pressing Command-T); selecting your text; and choosing a different font, typeface, and size.
Once you have things tweaked in exactly the way you like, click the Play button to see how your slideshow looks. If you like what you see, click the Export button and choose an export format in the sheet that appears. If none of the formats suit you and you know something about QuickTime’s export settings, click the Custom Export button in this sheet and then ultra-tweak your movie via the Export pop-up menu and its accompanying Options button.
Which sharing format to pick? Apple does its best to provide clues via the sheet’s devices table. If you know that your intended victi… er, audience is likely to view the slideshow on an iPhone, the Mobile setting is the one to use. If you’re making the slideshow for yourself—to show on your Apple TV, for example—Apple suggests you choose Medium or Large.
If you need more specific information about the format and size of the resulting slideshow, just hover your cursor over the Info button that appears to the right of each setting. A yellow tooltip will appear that provides the movie’s settings as well as how much storage space it’s likely to consume. (This is particularly helpful information when you intend to attach the movie to an email message. If the slideshow weighs in at over 10MB, it may be too large an attachment for your Internet service provider’s email gateway. In such a case, you’d want to choose a smaller setting or find some other way to share your images.)
And speaking of other ways to share your images… (continue on to the next page)
The Share menu
iPhoto provides a very broad clue that its images can be shared with others. That clue comes in the form of the Share menu in iPhoto’s menu bar and the Share button that appears at the bottom of the window. Each of them contain Photo Stream, Messages, Email, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter entries. We’ve already covered Photo Stream, so there’s no need to go there.
In the case of Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook, you’ll first need an account for the service you choose to use. Once you have that account, just enter your username and password, and you’ll be able to post your images to the service.
When you choose Email, a new empty email message will be created within iPhoto and the image will be attached. On the right side of the message, you’ll see a number of templates. Select one that you want to use. From the Photo Size pop-up menu at the bottom of the template pane, choose an appropriate size—Optimized (designed so that the message will fit through an email gateway), Small, Medium, Large, or Actual Size. To send your message, fill in the To field, change the subject heading if you like, enter some text in the appropriate areas, and click Send.
You don’t have to email photos using iPhoto, however. To choose a different email client, select Photos > Preferences and then click the General preference. Click the Email photos using pop-up menu and select a different email client—Mail or Microsoft Outlook, for example. When you do that, a window will appear that prompts you to choose a size for your images and that gives you the option to include titles, descriptions, and location information. To complete the process, click the Compose Message button. The selected email client will open, and the images will be attached to a new email message.
To send images via Messages, you may select no more than 10 pictures and then choose Share > Messages. The images will be compressed and added to a message window that appears. Just choose the person you’d like to send the message to, enter some text if you like, and click the window’s Send button.
Other share options
When you click the Share button at the bottom of the window, you’ll additionally find the Order Prints option. Select some images and choose Order Prints, and a sheet appears. In this sheet choose the size of the prints and the number you’d like to order. Click Buy Now and you’ll be walked through the payment and shipping process. When that’s complete, the images will be uploaded to Apple, printed by the company Apple deals with for this sort of thing, and shipped to you when they’re done.
Click the Share menu that appears in iPhoto’s menu bar, you’ll see two other entries—Burn and Set Desktop. In order for the Burn command to do anything other than send up an error message, you must have a CD/DVD burner attached to your Mac. New Macs don’t have such devices built into them, but if you add an external disc burner, you can use that. If you have an older Mac that does carry such hardware, choose Burn and you’ll be prompted for a disc to record the images to.
Note that this command creates discs that can be used only in iPhoto. If you want to create a picture disc that can be used by a photo processor (or read by a Windows PC), you’ll have to copy the images you want to burn to a folder in the Finder, select that folder, and then choose File > Burn [name of folder] to Disc.
Clicking the Set Desktop command allows you to select an image and then use that image for your Mac’s desktop image.
Creating the top-secret digital project
Before closing out the lesson, here’s one final tip for sharing your images digitally. I’ve told you how to create printed books, cards, and calendars. If you’d like to “print” digital versions of them for free, here’s how.
Create the project and then choose File > Print. In the resulting Print window, click the PDF button in the bottom-left corner and choose Save as PDF. In the sheet that appears, name your project and click Save. A PDF version of your project will be saved to the location you’ve chosen. While not exactly an ebook, it’s a way to present your friends and family with interestingly formatted projects that cost neither of you a nickel.
Next week: iPhoto’s Faces and Places features


Posts Tagged ‘ninja crafts’
It has been one crazy week here at my house so I haven’t had a chance to be very crafty. I thought about crafts as I cleaned up after sick kids. I also thought about crafts when I sat in the doctor’s office waiting for him to tell me that my baby does have R.S.V. And I thought about crafts while I washed loads of laundry. I did not actually do any crafts though, so no blog post this week, right? Wrong! I’m going to tell you about the ninja birthday party I hosted for my 7 year old’s birthday.
First, a disclaimer: I have never attended a kids birthday party, not even as a kid. Thus, I was really nervous about what to do. The Boy wanted a ninja party so I started searching the web for and thinking of ideas. I started with Chinese lanterns just like I remember making in elementary school. My kids were able to help, which makes them extra fun. Then we hung them from banisters and things.
The guests were sent invitations to a ninja training. We rolled up the invitations like a scroll and tied them with red ribbon. When each child arrived at the party they were given a ninja head band so they felt more like ninjas.
I assumed that there are games at a typical party so I set out to think of some for the party . I remembered that my brother used to make paper ninja stars when we were kids so I found instructions online and made each child their own color of stars. We played a game where we improved our aim by throwing them at pictures of dragon faces on the wall.
I found an idea online for a game where you try to keep a balloon afloat using ninja swords, so my quest for cheap ninja swords began. I searched dollar stores and party stores but alas no swords. I also didn’t want to spend $1 per kid for them because I was doing other stuff too. Then my brain came up with a great idea (this doesn’t happen all that often). I made these ninja swords by rolling up sheets of newspaper from corner to corner. Then I taped it so it wouldn’t unroll. I folded up the bottom to make the handle a bit more substantial then wrapped it in electrical tape. Finally I wrapped the sword in tin foil. I love the results. The kids did too. They weren’t awesome at the game. They just wanted to pop balloons with their swords, but that kept them busy.
Instead of cake we had candy sushi. It turned out so cute and super tasty. I keep trying to think of other things to do with rice krispy treats covered in fruit roll up. For party favors I wanted take out boxes from a restaurant. I looked at party stores but they were so expensive. Then my sweet husband brought home the perfect boxes that he asked for at a restaurant where he had lunch. They gave them to him for free, but he said he left a big tip.
We filled the boxes with fortune cookies, Chinese finger traps, and plastic ninjas that I got at the dollar store.


Innovative public-private partnerships to maximize the delivery of anti-malarial medicines: lessons learned from the ASAQ Winthrop experience
1 Sanofi-Aventis, Access to Medicines Department, 74- 82 Avenue Raspail 94255 Gentilly Cedex, France
2 Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, 15 Chemin Louis-Dunant,1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Malaria Journal 2011, 10:143 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-10-143Published: 23 May 2011
This case study describes how a public-private partnership initiated to develop a new anti-malarial combination, ASAQ Winthrop, has evolved over time to address issues posed by its effective deployment in the field.
In 2002, DNDi created the FACT project to develop two fixed-dose combinations, artesunate-amodiaquine and artesunate-mefloquine, to meet the WHO anti-malarial treatment recommendations and international regulatory agencies approval standards. In 2002, Sanofi-aventis had started a development programme for a fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine, to replace its co-blister combination. DNDi and sanofi-aventis joined forces in 2004, with the objective of developing within the shortest possible time frame a non-patented, affordable and easy to use fixed-dose combination of artesunate and amodiaquine adapted to the needs of patients, in particular, those of children. The partners developed Coarsucam®/Artesunate Amodiaquine Winthrop® ("ASAQ Winthrop") which was prequalified by the WHO in 2008. Additional partnerships have since been established by DNDi and sanofi-aventis to ensure: 1) the adoption of this new medicine by malaria-endemic countries, 2) its appropriate usage through a broad range of information tools, and 3) the monitoring of its safety and efficacy in the field through an innovative Risk Management Plan.
Discussion and evaluation
The partnership between DNDi and sanofi-aventis has enabled the development and pre-qualification of ASAQ Winthrop in a short timeframe. As a result of the multiple collaborations established by the two partners, as of late 2010, ASAQ Winthrop was registered in 30 sub-Saharan African countries and in India, with over 80 million treatments distributed in 21 countries. To date, 10 clinical studies, involving 3432 patients with ASAQ Winthrop were completed to document efficacy and safety issues identified in the Risk Management Plan.
The speed at which ASAQ Winthrop was adopted in the field shows that this drug fits the needs of patients and health authorities. It also demonstrates the power of partnerships that combine different sets of strengths and skills, and that evolve to include additional actors to meet new global health challenges for poverty-related diseases.


When those affected by the September 2004 flood born out of the last vestiges of Hurricane Ivan begin to talk about those dark days five years ago, they recall the shock, the devastation and the frustration.
But usually, they can also find something to smile about.
For Ellen McVicar, a first-grade teacher at Marietta's Harmar Elementary School, that smile comes when thinking about her late aunt, a retired teacher living at that time in the Westerville area. When she heard her niece's classroom, located in the basement of the west side school, had been filled with nearly two feet of water, she and a friend, Pam, got together a group to help.
EVAN BEVINS The Marietta Times
Harmar Elementary first-grade teacher Jean Caldwell, left, talks to a student Friday in her basement classroom. Five years ago, the room’s wall was damaged by nearly two feet of water in the building, resulting in the lower portion being removed. Until it was replaced, Caldwell covered the opening with paper to keep her students from being distracted by their peers passing in the hallway.
"Pam and my aunt Ann came down with this van-load of supplies," McVicar said.
Floodwaters entered the building through backed-up drains and came up to the bottoms of the first-graders' desks. The water sloshed into the compartments, soaking and ruining supplies like crayons, paper and painting shirts.
"The kids didn't realize we had lost everything," McVicar said. "They were reaching into their desks and there's nothing there."
The worst flood in 40 years
Five years ago Saturday, a good portion of downtown Marietta was under water.
Businesses and homes from Belpre to Macksburg were inundated by the worst flooding in 40 years. Matters were made worse by the fact that many of those hit hardest went to bed two nights earlier thinking there would be little, if any, problems.
The impact of the September 2004 flood can still be seen today - whether it's the "Ivan was here" markers on Front Street or the nearly empty town of Elba.
This edition of The Marietta Times looks back on those days and the community's efforts to rebuild and recover.
Anatomy of a disaster
More than a week earlier, the remnants of Hurricane Frances dropped nearly 4 inches of rain on the region. In Frances' wake came Hurricane Ivan, once again battering the southeastern United States.
As early as Sept. 14, the National Weather Service began issuing flood watches for the Ohio River as Ivan moved across the Gulf of Mexico.
What was left of the storm reached the Mid-Ohio Valley three days later, dumping almost 5 inches of rain. The National Weather Service predicted the Ohio River at Marietta would crest just above the 35-foot flood stage.
That afternoon, however, the forecast called for the water to crest more than a foot below flood stage. Many people breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the area had dodged a bullet.
It was 10 p.m. when the weather service issued a new forecast, this one predicting a crest at 41.5 feet.
On the morning of Sept. 18, the rain had passed, but the water kept rising, fueled by heavy rains to the north.
Water spilled over the banks of the Ohio, the strong current tearing away riverbank sediment and depositing it in homes and businesses. Nearly 1,000 structures in Washington County alone were affected, with Monroe, Morgan and Noble counties and Wood and Pleasants counties in West Virginia also battered by flooding.
When the river finally crested on Sept. 19, it reached 44.97 feet. It was the worst flooding in Marietta in 40 years.
And that was only the beginning of the story.
For a couple of days, the students shared supplies. But then McVicar's aunt and her friend arrived, bringing enough items to supply both first-grade classes and stock the school's supply room. A group from the Barlow-Vincent area also donated books, some of which McVicar still has in her classroom today.
"That's what people should do in a tragedy," McVicar said. "It would have been a real hardship for some of the families to purchase those supplies again."
The donors' actions also provided an opportunity to teach the students, McVicar said.
"I think it was a lesson learned that way too, that people were very giving toward us," she said.
Home and work
Belpre resident Barbara Griener can also see positives when she thinks back to five years ago.
She and her husband, Doug, received a "double whammy" as water filled the basement of their Blennerhassett Avenue condo and their business Turqoise Spirit, on Front Steet in Marietta.
Then it kept going.
"The river basically was coming in the front door and flowing out our back door," Griener said of the scene at Turqoise Spirit.
The shop was closed for six weeks as carpet, tile and drywall were replaced.
"We had loads of wonderful people helping us," Griener said, citing friends, family, customers and fellow church members. "We couldn't've done it by ourselves. And they also helped with our house, too."
Through that time, she said, they never thought about not reopening.
Sticking it out
Tonya Robey, co-owner of Mad Hen Primitives in Marietta, admits she did consider throwing in the towel a couple of times, and not just because of the September flood.
The building had been struck by a fire in November 2003 at its Pike Street location. A flood followed in January 2004.
"Giving up is one of the first things that goes through your head," Robey said.
The September flood helped the owners of Mad Hen decide to move to their current Front Street address.
Then the January flood hit.
Since they hadn't finished moving into their new space, a loss of inventory wasn't a problem, Robey said.
"But we did have another cleanup to go through," she said.
The support of friends and customers helped Mad Hen keep going.
"They're always right here at the door waiting to help us," Robey said.
Churches pitch in
With the water rising, churches swung into action, including First United Methodist Church in Williamstown.
"We fed a lot of people," said church secretary Kianna Anderson. "Three meals a day at the church were available."
The food, provided mainly by families from that church, as well as First Baptist and First Presbyterian in Williamstown, was also taken out to people working on the cleanup.
Anderson recalled one young family who lived near the Ohio River and lost everything. The church provided them transportation to stay with relatives in Parkersburg and other forms of support.
"We had entertainment for the kids and a safe place for them to be while other people were trying to clean and find what they could to salvage," Anderson said.
That was another key function of the church, she said - to provide a place for people "to get out of all the mud and the muck" and be able to relax, if only for a little while.
"It was such a horrible experience, but I think the community came together to make sure everyone was taken care of," Anderson said.
Back to school
Harmar Elementary also had plenty of help in getting things back at least closer to normal in the wake of the flood.
On Monday, Sept. 20, Cheryl Cook saw the school, where she had been principal since 1982, standing on "an island of green" in the receding floodwaters. Inside, she found the 23 1/2 inches of water standing in the basement.
"I just wanted to sit down and cry," Cook said. "But I didn't. I started calling."
The silver lining in that day's clouds was the response from the community, the principal said.
"The fire department from Devola came with a pump and then AEP came with a gigantic pump and workers," she said.
The Marietta City school district divided its maintenance workers between Harmar and Phillips, the other school hit by flooding.
Although most staff was kept away for health concerns, Cook insisted on helping with the cleanup. She was joined by fifth-grade teacher Todd Caltrider, who, with his wife, owns Simply Regal Cleaning Service. The Caltriders donated their time to the effort.
"The most devastating thing was thinking about all the kids' desks and all of the things you'd lost," said Caltrider as he recalled throwing away wet and muddy papers and tests students had taken. "It was heartbreaking."
Marietta schools were closed for the entire week after the flood. They reopened the next Monday.
"It was a major cooperative effort so that the following week we were clean and ready to begin," Cook said.
More work to do
Even so, repairs at Harmar went on for more than a year. Insurance money covered most of it, although there were some challenges along the way.
The lower portion of the wall between first-grade teacher Jean Caldwell's classroom and the hallway was so damaged by water it had to be replaced.
"For several months, I taught with only the top part of the wall" in place, she said.
Caldwell's students were quite curious about the legs they saw walking by their room. Often, students on the outside were none too shy about stooping to take a peak into the classroom.
So Caldwell had to improvise, using a large roll of purple paper.
"I took paper off of the roll and made a paper wall for the months that it took to get it repaired," she said.
Eventually, Caldwell's wall was replaced and the school's library, also located in the basement, was remodeled. A custodian had stacked many of the books in the library on tables before the flood, sparing many of them from the muddy waters.
Five years later
Schools reopened in a week. Most businesses reopened within a month or two. Many people were able to return to their homes eventually.
Others decided to move on, either after the September flood or when the follow-up came in January. At least then, the water didn't rise quite as high and the lessons learned four months earlier - as well as better advance warning - helped head off some problems.
Today, McVicar still uses the same desk she had in 2004. The change in its coloration about halfway up provides a physical mark of how high the water was in their classroom.
For most of her students, it's the only reminder of something that happened just a year or so after they were born.
"That's something that's kind of hard for them to fathom," McVicar said.


The fresh fruits and vegetables on your family table may be from the farms of Portugal, having made the six-day trip across the ocean in refrigerated containers
hips from Lisbon to the States. And nearly 2,000 passengers recently steamed into Venice aboard the Grand Princess, which, running the length of two and a half football fields, is the largest cruise ship in the world. About 90 percent of its passengers that day, as is the case every day on most cruise ships, were Americans.
In Pennsylvania, hundreds of our products - among them Cannondale bikes, Cove shoes, JLG lifts, Freedom Forge Wheels, Letterkenny ammunition, and Empire chickens - travel by rail or truck to our ocean ports for shipment across the oceans of the world.
With the growth of the global economy, coupled with better transportation systems, the hills and valleys of central Pennsylvania are as close today to Europe and the Far East as Pittsburgh was to Philadelphia a hundred years ago. Pennsylvania is now ocean-shipping $5.3 billion annually around the world. Most of it in 20- or 40-ft. containers on giant ocean ships. The U.S. container trade has nearly tripled in the past 20 years from 48 to 137 million tons, and is projected to more than double again in the next 20 years.
Thousands of Americans now depend on that trade. Our prosperity is tied to our ability to transport our products effectively and economically to their destinations. Our maritime transportation system moves over two billion tons of foreign and domestic cargo annually, contributing $742 billion to our economy, and generating 13 million jobs.
The great containerships of the world each carry over 6,000 20-ft. truck-like containers, requiring ports with depths of about 50 ft. Yet six of America's largest container ports, which handle 80 percent of U.S. container traffic, do not have depths that great. They cannot handle the giant ships, which are increasingly diverting to ports in Nova Scotia, Canada and the Bahamas. Our harbors need to be dredged, and our terminals and intermodal connections to trucks and rails need to be modernized. Not only are American port jobs in jeopardy, but the increased cost of shipping U.S. products overseas puts all our export-related jobs at risk.
The good news
is that a Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund already exists, receiving fees from users. The bad news is that, while it has collected about $733 million annually, it has spent only about $500 million each year, leaving a balance of $1.3 billion. Instead of investing at the level the Trust Fund can support, much of the money is withheld to offset unrelated government spending. Further compounding the problem, the Supreme Court
has ruled a portion of the fees unconstitutional. We must both unlock the fund and restructure it to pass constitutional muster so it can be used to modernize our maritime infrastructure.
Likewise, the products flowing through our inland waterways - our rivers, lakes and canals - many on their way to loaded onto ocean carriers for shipment overseas, suffer from both our outdated ports and harbors and an antiquated system of locks and canals.
Barges move 800 million tons of cargo on these waterways each year, representing 15 percent of the nation's freight for less than two percent of the nation's total freight cost
. Yet, over half of the 270 locks making navigation possible are antiquated, well beyond their 50-year design lives. A 15-barge grain tow moves the equivalent of 870 trucks or 255 railroad cars, but because of outmoded locks, must be broken apart to pass in smaller clusters, raising the cost of shipping and slowing deliveries.
Without modern navigation systems - such as electronic charting and transponders - the vessels on our inland waterways are needlessly unsafe. If the fog-blinded tow that hit a bridge, causing an Amtrak train to plunge into the Mobile River in 1993, killing 47 people, had had modern navigational equipment, the tragic accident could have been avoided.
Again, the good news is that an Inland Waterways Trust
Fund, paid into by the users, already exists to help modernize the system. But it is not being spent for its intended purpose. Last year, the fund invested only $77 million, about 25 percent of the $304 million available, for improving the 25,600 miles of our inland and coastal waterways.
Just as we have unlocked the Highway Trust Fund to invest the money paid into it to improve American highways and transit systems, and as the U.S. House this year has overwhelmingly passes legislation to unlock the Aviation Trust Fund, it is time to begin the battle to rededicate our harbors and inland waterways trust funds so they, too, can be used for their intended purpose to help rebuild the nation's maritime and river systems. -- (By Congressman Bud Shuster,U.S. House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee Chairman)
Congressman Shuster recently led a delegation to inspect ocean shipping and shipbuilding facilities in Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. His article is based, in part, on knowledge gained on that trip.


To download Bob Richard's PowerPoint presentation (about 8 megabytes) click here. These slides will be updated as the presentation is improved over time. They were last revised on March 30, 2015.
Douglas Amy, Behind the Ballot Box: A Citizen's Guide to Voting Systems (New York: Praeger, 2000). Out of print but available through used book sites. Also available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Electoral Systems Design: The New International IDEA Handbook (Stockholm, 2005). Download for free at www.idea.int.
British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, Making Every Vote Count: the case for electoral reform in Britishi Columbia (Victoria, B.C., 2004). The Citizens' Assembly website has disappeared. To download the 16 page final report click here. To download the 264 page technical report, click here.
Welcome to Marin Ranked Voting. We were formed in 2005 to promote instant runoff voting (IRV) and proportional representation in Marin County, California. Our website is currently off-line for a major overhaul, but will be relaunched soon. Please check back often. Meanwhile, you may reach us at:
Marin Ranked Voting
PO Box 235
Kentfield, CA 94914-0235
Please visit these election reform organizations and resources.
Last updated April 1, 2015


Criticism can be difficult to take, especially from a customer. But for any business to survive, negative comments must be addressed, and promptly, no matter how they’re received.
Word of mouth used to spread to only a handful of people—usually the customer’s friends and family. Now, customers can broadcast their experiences to the world via social media, amplifying the reach of your company’s service, good or bad. This can also lead to additional publicity when social media messages go viral.
A strategy for handling public complaints should be part of any integrated marketing program, especially given the growing number of new media channels for customers to air their grievances. The fact is, negative reviews can be seen as valuable opportunities to convert unhappy customers into enthusiastic brand evangelists.
Here are eight principles to keep in mind in order when dealing with bad online reviews.
1. Don’t Delete or Fake
Deleting negative comments only infuriates the disgruntled, causing them to redouble their efforts and vitriol. By the same token, don’t try to write your own positive reviews. Review websites can find out when someone is writing multiple positive reviews for one business. Eventually you’ll get found out. That would be negative.
2. Respond Promptly
Your customers are living at Internet speed, always plugged in and connected. The longer it takes to respond to a negative (or potentially false) representation of your business, the more time it has to spread. Then the proverbial genie is out of the bottle.
3. Show You Care
When you get a negative comment or review, don’t ignore it. Reply respectfully and sincerely. But rather than emailing privately, use the same forum in which the negative remark was received to post your response publicly. Show other readers and prospective customers that you are listening and acting accordingly.
4. Take Serious Complaints Offline
Once you’ve responded publicly to let everyone know you’re addressing the situation, take the details offline. After apologizing, ask the customer to email you so you can resolve the matter. This helps to protect the privacy and dignity of both sides and reach a more positive outcome.
5. Monitor the Conversation
You don’t have to subscribe to every blog or forum to see what people are saying about your company online. Sign up for Google Alerts. It’s a free service that notifies you with an email alert every time your name or any other key phrase you specify is used on the Web. People pay big money for focus groups to get the kind of consumer opinion that’s now available free online.
6. Make It Right
Acknowledge the mistakes. Apologize—even if it’s not your fault. Then make it up to the customer somehow. This is the opportunity, the chance to exceed expectations with a huge potential return on investment. Do whatever it takes to turn that frown upside down.
7. Bury the Bad
If you don’t have a website, LinkedIn profile, or any social media presence, then any negative reviews have a higher likelihood of rising to the top of search results. By consistently generating your own positive online content through blog posts, press releases, videos, and social networks, it’s possible to bury the negative results further down in the listings.
8. Watch for Trends
One bad review could be a fluke or an off night for someone. Or it could be an early warning sign of an operational problem. Investigate the incident carefully. Ask open-ended questions of your customer to learn more than they may have been willing to write in a public forum.


Outlook for solar cells is sunny
An assembly line of solar cells at SolarWorld, the largest solar-cell manufacturing plant in the Western Hemisphere, which just opened in Hillsboro, Oregon, near Portland.
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Rakde: How are you supposed to feel these days if you're in the renewable energy business? There has been a big push for new energy sources because of high oil prices, Mideast tensions and climate change. But now oil has gotten much cheaper, which hurts the renewable business. And it's harder to borrow money now to expand production and research. As Mitchell Hartman reports, a newly open solar-cell plant in Portland, Oregon, is trying to take all these developments in stride.
Mitchell Hartman: How big is the biggest solar manufacturing plant in the Western Hemisphere?
Well, SolarWorld VP Bob Beisner walked me down one corridor a quarter-mile long. At one end:
Bob Beisner: This is our growing room floor. We melt down raw polysilicon at 1,400 degrees centigrade, then . . .
At the other end of the plant, 100,000 solar cells, each about the size of a CD case, will come off the line every day. That's as much solar-energy capacity as the entire U.S. produced back in 2003.
Bob Beisner is American, but his boss isn't. SolarWorld is a German company. Its biggest competitors are Kyocera, Sanyo, and Sharp from Japan, and Q-Cell, another German firm.
Marc Tarpenning scopes out renewable energy prospects for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. He says countries like Germany and Japan are way ahead.
Marc Tarpenning: Other countries say for the next 20 years, here are the investment tax credits, or the feed-in tariffs, or whatever it is that they're using to stimulate alternative energy.
That's given foreign businesses the edge up until now. But the outlook for solar entrepreneurs here has improved with Congress's extension of renewable energy tax credits for eight more years. That's good timing, because the solar industry faces a squeeze right now-with financing tougher to come by, and oil prices down from historic highs.
SolarWorld's Bob Beisner says his company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in solar production.
Beisner: This is what drives the cost of solar down. So that actually, in the not-distant future, we'll be at a grid-parity. That it would cost you about the same amount of money to get a solar array up as it would to be buying it from your local utility.
When could we reach that point? Ron Pernick crunched the numbers for his research firm, Clean Edge. He says in some places, we're already there.
Ron Pernick: If I live in San Diego and I'm paying 28, 32 cents-per-kilowatt-hour, solar can look pretty good. Especially if I can get some rebates from California, which are available, and a tax credit. Then it's already at cost-parity."
Pernick predicts cost-parity nationwide as early as 2012.
I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.


A bill was recently introduced in the Senate which would prohibit corporations from including arbitration clauses in their standard contracts with consumers and non-union employees. Though the Federal Arbitration Act, passed in 1925, was originally intended to cover only certain types of disputes, such as those between merchants and where a specialized knowledge of a particular industry would aid in deciding disputes, arbitration clauses have proliferated to the extent that it is now nearly impossible to find any standard customer agreement that does not include an arbitration clause. This means that anytime a consumer signs up for a credit card, phone service, or otherwise seeks to obtain some service or product from a corporation, the fine print will most likely include an arbitration clause which deprives the consumer of important rights. Namely, the consumer almost always is forced to give up the right to pursue a class action or to even join his or her claim with other consumers who may have been subjected to the same unfair or deceptive trade practices by the corporation. The customer agreements almost always require that any dispute be submitted to binding arbitration and prevent a consumer from pursuing a lawsuit in court. An arbitrator, who may regularly decide cases involving the corporation, would hear the dispute and the result may be confidential and subject to only limited review by a court.
Nowadays, whenever a consumer has a grievance against a company over a service or product obtained through any standardized agreement, the consumer may only pursue his or her claim on an individual basis and only in arbitration. In most cases, the consumer would not be able to find a lawyer who would take on the case, meaning the consumer would have to pursue his or her claim against a large corporation and its team of attorneys in an arbitral forum in which the corporation is well-familiar because it has required any and all disputes with it to be heard in that setting. Corporations are now very frequently including arbitration clauses in their employment agreements with their employees, meaning that any employment issues would also be decided by an arbitrator as opposed to a jury of one's peers.
The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 would prevent corporations from requiring that consumer disputes and employment cases be heard in arbitration. Employees and consumers would have the right to have disputes heard in court if they so chose, with that choice being made after the dispute arose so that an informed decision about the individual's options could be made. The rights at stake with consumer and employment disputes are too important, both for the nation as a whole and for the individual employee or consumer, to have those matters decided by an arbitrator with little oversight and without the openness that accompanies court proceedings. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 would serve to protect critically important rights of employees and consumers. Concerned citizens should contact their representatives to urge support for the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011. A copy of the draft of the bill can be accessed here.


A rare look inside an eating‑disorder clinic reveals the hard‑fought recovery of women who've spent their lives battling anorexia and bulimia.
By Joyce Ross
Photo Editor: Claudia Lebenthal
Last August Tracey Rauh, 34, passed out in the women's locker room of the local YMCA after a swim with her 12‑year‑old daughter. She woke up a few seconds later on the wet tiles, alone and terrified. "It was the first time I thought I could die from what I was doing to myself," she says.
At 5'6", Rauh, a newspaper editor in New Hampshire, weighed 88 pounds. She admits that her behavior had become extreme. "I was paranoid," she says. "I even thought about writing to the company that made my toothpaste to see how many calories it had." Rauh has anorexia nervosa. She had been hospitalized four times before near her home in York, Maine, for her eating disorder. But this time, desperate for a treatment that would end her 18 years of starvation, she called the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida.
The manor house at Renfrew’s Philadelphia facility.
The day before she left home, Rauh biked 30 miles and began taking laxatives. "It was like, I'm not going in at 88 pounds," she says. "I knew I could drop 4 or 5 more." Though covered by a sleeping bag and two blankets in the car, she shivered as her family drove her to the airport. It was 79 degrees out. "I ate nothing on the plane," she remembers. On August 14 she checked into Renfrew weighing 85 pounds.
Until just over a decade ago, the only inpatient treatment available for severe cases of anorexia or bulimia was in locked psychiatric facilities, where women were strictly monitored, often forcibly fed, and even given shock treatments. The Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, which opened in 1985, was the first residential treatment center for women with eating disorders. The Coconut Creek location followed five years later.
Dying to be thin.
Twenty-five-year-old Anne Walsh checked into the Renfrew Center in Florida last fall weighing 102 pounds. At 17 she had sometimes lived for weeks on slices of lemon.
We try to normalize a woman's eating patterns and behavior," explains Lynn Siegel, a psychologist and the co‑clinical director of the center in Philadelphia. "But we don't believe in punishing the patients if they don't eat."
It's unsettling at first to look at these women, to reconcile their vulnerable, almost girlish features with the ravages of the disorder. Most are dressed in shorts and T‑shirts and appear to be in their 20s, but they move with none of the energy one expects to find in young women. Their faces are pale, slender, and sensitive; their bodies, frail skeletons of bulging bones and withered flesh.
A woman who weighs only 75 or 80 pounds may be in grave medical danger. She has usually stopped menstruating; she may have damaged her reproductive system and increased her risk of endometrial cancer. Some, like Rauh, develop osteoporosis, and for those with bulimia, years of purging can do permanent damage to the esophagus. "As the body continues to lose potassium and calories," 25‑year‑old patient Anne Walsh says, "it will eat at the bone. The last thing it will go after is your heart."
A patient's day usually begins around 6 A.M. with a weigh‑in call. "I hate waking up for it," says Chris, a 27‑year‑old fabric stylist who chose not to give her last name. After years of dieting too intensely, drinking too much, and clinging to a dead‑end relationship, Chris tried to gain control by not eating. At Renfrew she didn't want to know how much she weighed (she was admitted at just under 100 pounds at 5'4"). "My therapist suggested blind weigh‑ins at first," she says, "so I looked away from the scale."
The atmosphere at breakfast, where Chris goes after weigh‑in, is equally tense. The women look anxious as they reluctantly gather their silverware and confront the day's menu, sometimes tearfully. Chris was too distracted to eat during her first week in treatment, so she focused on other people compulsively. Some ate only with their fingers, crumbling bread into hundreds of pieces, or mixed everything on their plate into mush. Chris began with tiny portions of food, using a very small fork to feed herself. Finally she gravitated toward a group of teenagers, "a strong table, really serious about eating everything. The girls said, 'Eat the food; it will make you feel better."
Robyn DiDonato, a petite 31‑year‑old with dark brown hair who came in weighing 81 pounds, initially sought out the most severely ill patients. "I used to sit with the thinnest anorexic in the dining room," she says. "This woman was incredibly smart, she had gone to Yale, and she weighed around 65 pounds. I idolized her but feared her. To me, she stood for death and put some fear in me, like, 'You could end up like this."
Because those at extremely low weights may not be able to tolerate much solid food, Tracey Rauh began her treatment at Renfrew with small portions of vegetables and melon and Ensure Plus, a calorie‑and‑vitamin‑packed liquid supplement. She remembers her first glass: "I was in a room with a therapist and some other patients. Some of us were crying. I had a panic attack. I didn't want to take it. But I did."
Daring to eat
The atmosphere at the dining room can be tense, and some patients aren’t able to eat at first. They may crumble a slice of bread into hundreds of pieces or mix everything on their plate into mush.
As a woman's metabolism increases from its slower starvation level, her nutritionist will suggest that she eat more. "In order to gain 1 to 2 pounds of weight per week," says Karin Sargrad, a Renfrew nutritionist, "a woman may need 2,500 to 4,000 calories a day. When you have a woman who is going from 300 to 4,000 calories, it can be shocking."
"Your body changes very quickly," Rauh says. "It's like a speeded‑up puberty ‑suddenly you have hips again."
To help patients deal with depressive reactions and feelings of utter helplessness ‑particularly the sense that gaining weight amounts to losing control‑ Renfrew offers individual and group therapy daily from 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. For the most part, when the women aren't eating, they're in therapy. The sessions target issues like sexuality, relationships, substance abuse, and others common areas to women who have eating disorders and promote the freewheeling involvement of consciousness‑raising groups.
"I was put with people who really understood my background," says Rauh, who was sexually abused as a child. At Renfrew, she finally met others like herself. A 1993 Renfrew study found that 61 percent of its anorexic and bulimic patients had been sexually abused before the age of 19.
In a session on body image last fall, Anne Walsh, who at 17 had sometimes lived for weeks on slices of lemon, was startled when her therapist traced the outline of her body with a marker. It was dramatically thinner than the one Walsh had drawn herself, just minutes earlier.
Rauh also had no idea how emaciated she appeared to others. "Once," she says, "I was waiting in line in a restaurant and looked across the room at a woman. I thought, she must be anorexic. And then I realized that I was looking in a mirror. That's the only time I've ever seen what I looked like."
Some patients, like Tracey Rauh, are surprised that they are allowed to exercise‑albeit with restrictions‑while in treatment. "I ran two miles three times a week after I'd gained a certain amount of weight," Rauh says. Psychologist Lynn Siegel emphasizes that a patient is given permission to exercise only after careful evaluation of her weight, vital signs, and nutritional intake, and that ‑at least in Philadelphia‑ women are given a choice of a 15‑minute walk or a Stretch and Tone class.
In a session on body image, Walsh was startled when a Renfrew therapist traced the outline of her body with a black marker. It was dramatically thinner than the one Walsh had drawn herself, just minutes earlier.
Before the rise of HMOs and managed-care programs, the average stay at Renfrew was seven to nine weeks; today the usual stay is two weeks, followed by graduated levels of outpatient treatment.
According to the American Anorexia/Bulimia Association, an estimated 6 percent of American women now have eating disorders. Research done by Timothy Walsh, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute's Eating Disorder Research Unit in New York City, says that 30 to 50 percent of anorexic women will go in and out of hospitals and treatment centers, perhaps making slow, limited gains; 10 to 20 percent of the women who are hospitalized will die.
And some, like Robyn DiDonato, will live normal lives again. DiDonato had suffered from anorexia for almost five years before treatment, but she left Renfrew in 1989 "with ammunition," she says. "A meal plan." She also sees a therapist once a week and attends a 12‑step group for people with eating disorders. Her weight has been stable at 110 pounds. "Food will always be a discomfort for me," she says. "But eating doesn't pose the same threat that it used to."
Rauh, who left Renfrew last fall after putting on 21 pounds, says, "It was like saying good‑bye to your arm. I was so scared and depressed." She is continuing her therapy and is struggling to stabilize her weight. "I've lapsed a bit," she says. "I'm at 100 pounds. And I know every calorie I ate three days ago. But that doesn't stop me from eating them." When Rauh hears that anorexic voice, "You're fat, you're fat, you're fat," she still falls back on a Renfrew technique. "I write down the bad voice on one side of a piece of paper," she says. "On the other, I write down good thoughts. It helps me to see what's happening."
Rauh's body, however, may never fully recover. "My knees are so bad from the osteoporosis," she says. "But there's deeper damage, with myself, my family, and my job. I missed my child's first day of school. That's permanent."
Now that Chris is on her own, she starts her day with the same breakfast she ate at Renfrew: an English muffin, a teaspoon of peanut butter, a banana, and some orange juice or fruit. "It centers me," she says. She also keeps in touch with a dozen women she met at the center, women whose stories she knows almost as well as her own.
"Once, in a group meeting," Chris says, "a friend of mine at Renfrew who weighed 75 pounds and had terrible medical problems heard me say that I couldn't even win at anorexia, that I never got thin enough. And she said, 'This isn't winning, Chris. This isn't winning."
Everything to gain.
The day before beginning treatment, Tracey Rauh, 34, biked 30 miles and began taking laxatives. At 5’6”, she checked in weighing 85 pounds. “I’d thought about writing to the company that made my toothpaste to see how many calories it had,” she recalls now.
A Thin Line
It's been eight years since I was hospitalized in Washington, D.C, with bulimia and anorexia. Some of the women I shared time with there are dead now, others are still in and out of treatment. Had someone asked me when I weighed 95 pounds or was popping one of the 40 laxatives I took daily if I would ever be able to have a life not ruled by food, I would have said no.
I was hospitalized at the beginning of my senior year of high school. My bingeing had become so bad that I would leave class in the middle of an exam to eat. Once home (both of my parents worked), I'd inhale cartons of ice cream, whole bars of cheese, entire quiches, and boxes of cereal, allowing myself only an hour to eat so that the food would not begin to be digested. Then I'd drink a bottle of ipecac and throw up. Afterward, I'd take laxatives to remove whatever the ipecac had left behind.
During the anorexic phase of my illness, I saw vomiting as a dirty habit and imagined that I was attaining a purer state by nearly fasting ‑meticulously counting calories and dropping to the floor for 500 sit‑ups each time I was alone in a room. The feel of my rumbling stomach was like a drug high.
When I began to binge again, I gained some weight, and my parents heaved sighs of relief. They didn't know what I was still doing to my body. When I began to binge six or seven, times a day, I finally chose to enter the hospital.
The bulimics there sometimes had black gaps in their months, or their teeth were yellow and rotting from stomach acid. The anorexics looked like walking skeletons. One woman had been a nuclear physicist. Down to 65 pounds, she would weep over the food she was forced to eat and would make ten trips to the microwave per meal, always moving to burn calories.
Calories were strictly counted at mealtime, and nurses locked bathroom doors to keep women from purging. Exercise was banned, walks on the hospital grounds were chaperoned until you had earned enough "points" to stroll alone. The telephone and television were monitored, and therapy took place nearly 24 hours a day.
I needed this intense schedule. I needed to be taken out of my routine of self‑destruction. But the hospital is only temporary. I was in for more than six weeks and then the insurance ran out. My doctor said, "You'll either make it or you won't."
They don't just spit you out and leave you. There is aftercare, a once‑a‑week therapy session at the hospital in which people who've been out for different amounts of time discuss life "outside." I saw my psychiatrist from the hospital biweekly in his private office, where he continued to weigh me. I vividly remember my first trip to the grocery store after getting out. I wheeled my cart up and down the aisles, each a sea of endless possibilities of what to avoid or indulge in. I ended up buying one 32‑ounce tub of vanilla yogurt and fleeing the scene like a criminal.
I was not, by any means, instantly cured, and initially I lost a good deal of weight. I still binged, though sporadically, and I still made myself throw up. But I began to see what triggered these episodes. Stressful family arguments, college applications, anything dealing with impending adulthood sent me to the refrigerator.
It is never simply over. Eventually I stopped purging and only hinged. I gained a good amount of weight, something I was extremely uncomfortable with at first. But at some point, though I'm not sure exactly when, I made a choice to get better.
I can't remember the last time I made myself throw up. Though my friends assure me that I am still thin, once in a while I look in the mirror and hear the sick voice tell me, "You've sure got a set of thighs." But I don't diet. It’s like smoking cigarettes; just one, at night, with a drink, and I am buying cartons the next day.
I eat what I want now, even chocolate‑chip cookies. I am not a do‑gooder like some of the recovered people I know. When I go out to eat and see a woman at the table next to me picking at her undressed salad, her collarbones sticking out from her neck like the handlebars of a bicycle, I am not filled with sympathy. I do have the urge to shake her by her toothpick arms because, I believe, if she could only see a sliver of light in the dark room I know she lives in, she could recover. But I don't. It has to be her choice.


Groom: I,____, take thee,_____, to be my lawful wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.
Bride: I,_____, take thee,_____, to be my lawful wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.
These are the traditional wedding vows read at any marriage ceremony. Husband makes vow to wife and vice versa but in my opinion think that people don’t take these vows seriously because the vows were not written personally by the couple. Chances are that it is easier to forget them when things go rough. I think couples should take time to think about the reasons why they wish to be married and what they are willing to bring to the table and then write their personal vows to each other and read it on the day of the wedding in the presence of the congregation, and after the wedding they can frame the vow in their bedroom to have as a reminder of what was promised to each other on the day of the wedding.
For instance, if you tell someone to quit a bad habit, chances are that they will agree to quit but usually may not take it seriously just because someone else asked them to do it. So in order to get the person off their backs, they say they will quit but they honestly wouldn’t. But when that same person wakes up one day and decides to quit a habit, they usually will follow through with it (not without some struggles though).
The same principles can be applied to marriages. A priest/pastor/court tells the couple to say the vow and the couple do, probably with the intention of keeping to it or not. Soon after, things go sour and the first thing anyone thinks of is leaving the marriage without first taking time to think about the vows made and the possibility of saving the marriage. Whereas if they have their personal vows on the wall as a reminder, instead of just jumping ship, there’s a conscious reminder of the need to make the marriage work against all odds.
I advise would-be couples to take some time to write a personal vow and type it out before the day of the wedding and then keep it in a safe place afterwards. This might help to curb the rapid rate at which relationships and marriages are breaking down.


This morning, MBAE issued School Funding Reality: A Bargain Not Kept, our report on school funding and spending trends in Massachusetts. We did the study to look at how the foundation budget was working and found that the explosive growth in the cost of school employee health insurance has crowded out funding for other portions of school budgets that directly impact students such as spending on books and other classroom materials as well as teacher training.
Education funding has increased by $5 billion since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, school districts all over the state are laying off teachers and cutting back on book purchases, teacher training, library services and athletics. Our members wanted to find out why and this report answers the question.
The study found that school employee health benefits are eating up school budgets. From fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2007, state education aid (known as Chapter 70) rose by $700 million per year; over that same period school spending on employee benefits rose by $1 billion per year.
In contrast, spending on classroom teachers, teacher professional development, and purchases of books, software, and other educational materials – areas of the budget that have a significant impact on student learning – when adjusted for inflation has actually been falling since 2000. Spending on instructional materials fell by 11.3% per year from 2000 to 2007.
There is almost no increase in the number of teachers and no improvement in average class size despite an almost $5 billion increase in total school spending since the Foundation Budget formula went into effect in 1996. After 11 years of education reform, the student/teacher ratio was significantly less favorable in 2007 than it had been a decade earlier.
The report also found that spending between Massachusetts school districts has not been made equal, a central goal of the Act. The neediest districts are the farthest below the state spending goal and have the lowest growth in spending. At only 2.3% per year from 2007 to 2010, their per pupil spending growth was a full percentage point less than the wealthiest suburban districts (3.4%).
The report comes at a critical time. Massachusetts faces an unprecedented education funding crisis as the slow recovery of state revenues and a concurrent drop in municipal income are compounded by the impending end of federal stimulus funding. The immediate need for financial efficiency and a recent resurgence of education reform efforts makes this an opportune time to reexamine the school finance system and evaluate what changes are needed to achieve its goals – delivering high quality public education to all students.
The Boston Foundation provided funding for this work and released the report as part of its Understanding Boston series at a forum this morning. MBAE Executive Director Linda Noonan and Board members Michael Widmer and Joseph Esposito joined MBAE co-Founder and Secretary of Education Paul Reville for a panel discussion. The research for this report was conducted by Ed Moscovitch of Cape Ann Economics and the Bay State Reading Institute. Ed worked with MBAE to establish the original foundation budget.


Who governs the information that runs your company?
Written by Thomas M. Stockwell
We've all witnessed the explosion of information within our organizations. Recent studies have estimated that nearly 15 petabytes—15 million gigabytes—of data are created every day. This data represents the backbone of how our industries interact, how they manage their businesses, how they perceive themselves, and how they position themselves to compete. It doesn't reside on any individual computing platform, application, or corporate silo, but it has an incalculable value that represents the lifeblood of our commerce.
The free service stores your passwords online using AES encryption and offers features that provide essentially one-click access to multiple password-protected Web sites.
Written by Chris Smith
Have you ever wished that passwords were easier to remember so that you could use ones that were a little stronger? And is your three-ring binder containing your list of passwords just a little too accessible for anyone actually snooping around your office? Or maybe you keep your passwords in a secret Word document with a filename that matches your daughter's Girl Scout troop. If you're not using some kind of password vault today, you might want to reassess your procedures because there are many new choices today for either free or low-cost software and hardware vaults that keep your passwords safe through AES encryption. The question then becomes which is most convenient rather than which is the most secure, since all of them are likely more secure than what you are doing currently.
Robot/SCHEDULE Enterprise runs your SSIS packages automatically.
Written by Tom Huntington
More than 90 percent of the servers running next to IBM i servers are running Windows. And more than 50 percent of these Windows servers run MS SQL Server to perform some form of reporting against data that was stored on the IBM i system. This reporting process uses SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages to bundle data and generate business reports.


Festivals of Bangladesh have always played a significant role in the life of the people of Bangladesh.Those are parts and parcels of Bangalee culture and tradition. These festivals include traditional, cultural, religious and political. It is said that Bangladesh have Baro Mashe Tero Parbon (Thirteen festivals in twelve months). Salient features of the major festivals are given here.
Pahela Baishakh : The advent of Bengali New Year is gaily observed throughout the country ON 14 April. Colorful procession, daylong gatherings along with arrangement of cultural program at and around Ramna Park , Dhaka is a special feature of Pahela Baishakh. Fairs, tournaments, boat races etc. are held in cities and villages amidst jubilation.
21st Feb, the Language Movement Day and World Mother Language Day : 21 February is observed throughout the country to pay homage to the martyrs’ of Language Movement of 1952. Language Movement started to establish Bangla as a state language, when leaders of Pakistan declared Urdu to be the state language. Police fired to control the agitation, where at least four persons died on 21 February 1952 near Dhaka Medical College Hospital .
The Shahid Minar (martyrs monument), erected on the spot of action, is the symbol of sacrifice for Bangla, the mother tongue. Mourning procedure begins at midnight with the song Amar vaier raktay rangano ekushay February (Stained with my brothers’ blood is 21st February) and nation pays homage by placing flora wreaths at the Shahid Minar. The day has been declared World Mother Language Day by UNESCO.
Independence Day : March 26 is the day of Independence of Bangladesh. It is the biggest state festival. This day is most befittingly observed. The citizens of Dhaka wake up early in the morning with the booming of guns heralding the day. Government leaders, sociopolitical organizations, freedom fighters and persons of all ages place floral wreaths at the National Martyrs Monument at Savar. Socio-cultural organizations hold cultural functions. Public buildings are illuminated to give the capital city a dazzling look at night.
Eid-ul-Fitr : The biggest Muslim festival observed throughout the world. This is held on the day following the Ramadan or the month of fasting. In Dhaka big congregations are held at the National Eidgah and all mosques of the country.
Eid-ul-Azha : Eid-ul-Azha is held marking the Hajj in Mecca on the 10th Zilhaj, the lunar month. Eid congregations are held throughout the country. Animals are sacrificed in reminiscence of Hazrat Ibrahim’s (AM) preparedness for the supreme sacrifice of his beloved son to Allah. It is a public holiday.
Eid-e-Miladunnabi : Eid-e-Miladunnabi is the birth and death day of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He was born and died the same day on 12th Rabiul Awal (Lunar Month). National flag is flown atop public and private houses and special food is served in orphanages, hospitals and jails. At night public buildings are illuminated and religious function are held.
Muharram : Muharram procession is a ceremonial mournful procession of Muslim community. A large procession is brought out from the Hussaini Dalan Imambara on 10th Muharram in memory of the tragic martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA) on this day at Karbala in Iraq . Same observations are made all over the country.
Durga Puja : Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the Hindu community continues for ten days, the last three days being culmination with the idol immersed in rivers. In Dhaka the big celebrations are held at Dhakeswari Temple , where a fair is also held and at the Ram Krishna Mission.
Buddha Purnima : It is observed by the Buddhist community of the country, like all over the world. It is observed on the three full moon days of April, June and September.
Christmas : Christmas, popularly called “Bara Din (Big Day)”, is celebrated in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Several day-long large gatherings are held at St. Mary’s Cathedral at Ramna, Portuguese Church at Tejgaon, Church of Bangladesh on Johnson Road and Bangladesh Baptist Sangha at Sadarghat Dhaka. Functions include illumination of churches, decorating Christmas tree and other Christian festivities.
Rabindra & Nazrul Jayanti : Birth anniversary of the noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore on 25th Baishakh (8 May) and that of the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam on 11th Jaystha (27 May) are observed throughout the country. Their death anniversaries are also marked in the same way. Big gatherings and song sessions organized by socio-cultural organizations are salient features of the observance of the days. Rabindra Nath Tagore is the writer of our national anthem while National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam is famous as Rebel Poet.


Income inequality and wealth concentration have grown consistently since the 1980s, but today play a growing role in American discourse. Occupy Wall Street. Mitt Romney. A millionaire tax. The Buffet rule. Returning growth in some luxury markets. Goldman Sachs resignation letters. The list goes on.
We set out to explore opinions of Affluent Americans about these trends, and added a series of relevant questions to our February online survey of 1,017 adults living in households with at least $100,000 in annual household income. In some ways, the survey is a paradoxical, self-reflective exercise for them – affluent individuals describing how they feel about their growing collective affluence, but at a time when few feel particularly affluent as individuals.
The results are clear: for affluent Americans, issues of income inequality and wealth concentration are familiar, important, and quite polarizing.
Key take-aways include…
Familiarity with the issue is widespread: when asked about the issue of gaps between the wealthy, middle class and poor, 85% of Affluents described themselves as at least somewhat familiar with the issue, and 45% are extremely or very familiar.
The issue is widely considered important as well: 75% consider the issue at least somewhat important, and 39% consider it an extremely or very important issue.
Most Affluents support higher taxes: 58% favor higher federal income tax rates on higher-income Americans. However, polarization is stark and growing: 84% of Democrats are now in favor, compared to just 29% of Republicans.
A substantial but shrinking minority support Occupy Wall Street: 39% agree with the opinions of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, down from 49% since October 2011. Among Democrats, 68% agree, compared to just 9% of Republicans.
Affluents are split on government involvement: Our December survey found that 28% want government to have a major role in the issue, and another 23% prefer a minor government role; in contrast, 41% want little or no government involvement.
Given that income inequality and wealth concentration have grown steadily for three decades, some might argue that these issues are long overdue in playing a central role in American discourse. Despite that history, these issues now clearly shape Affluent mindsets, and influence how they think about fundamental elements of life and society such as success, taxation, equality, meritocracy, and the role of government in wealth distribution.


The Marcus Shelby Quartet is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. April 14 at UC Merced, inside the school’s Lakireddy Auditorium. According to the event’s Facebook page, Shelby will tell the remarkable story of Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave who worked in the Underground Railroad and became a leading abolitionist. Throughout her life, she worked to unite American women and men of all colors and classes in a common struggle for liberty. The event is free to the public. UC Merced is located at 5200 Lake Road.


SACRAMENTO — When it comes to campaign dollars, the May 19 special election is shaping up as a lopsided affair. Led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the campaign for a slate of ballot measures designed to shore up the state budget is outraising opponents by at least 6 to 1 — and as much as 13 to 1, depending on how you count.
But the governor and his supporters may need every cent. With early polling showing voters angry at the state's political leaders and wary of the tax increases and borrowing that the measures would authorize, opponents are gambling that it won't take much cash to sink the measures.
"People are already against them, so we don't have to convince them of anything," said Kenneth Burt, political director of the California Federation of Teachers, a leading opponent of the cornerstone measure, Proposition 1A. "It's a good place to be."
Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders drafted the ballot measures as part of their plan to close a $40 billion deficit through mid-2010. Proponents warn that the state budget will be in dire shape if the propositions fail.
The fiercest campaign is being waged over Proposition 1A. It would limit the annual growth of state spending and place unexpected revenue in flush years into a special reserve. The measure also would extend a series of tax increases that are now in effect through mid-2010 for an additional one or two years, generating $16 billion.
A companion measure, Proposition 1B, would set aside 1.5 percent of state revenue, starting in 2011, to essentially pay back public schools for the funding cuts they sustained in the recent budget deal. That set-aside would continue until public education receives $9.3 billion over and above what schools are guaranteed under the state constitution. The measure would take effect only if Proposition 1A passes also.
The governor is collecting cash from a bevy of business interests that are frequent supporters of his political causes. Among the biggest donors so far, according to campaign records: Spanish-language media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio ($1.5 million); Chevron ($500,000); developer Henry T. Segerstrom Properties ($250,000); Netflix CEO Reed Hastings ($250,000); and Constellation Brands, the beverage giant that owns Robert Mondavi wines, Clos du Bois, Ravenswood and other popular brands ($100,000).
Schwarzenegger also has transferred more than $1 million to the ballot campaign from his own political account. The Schwarzenegger-led committee pushing for the propositions also has accepted large checks from a frequent adversary of the governor: the California Teachers Association. The association has kicked in $6.7 million, although most of that has gone to a campaign committee focused solely on promoting Proposition 1B, the education measure.
Altogether, the campaigns for Propositions 1A and 1B have collected about $13 million.
The opposition campaign, by contrast, has collected just over $1 million, with about $600,000 of that total coming from the Service Employees International Union's state council. The California Faculty Association has contributed $177,000, and the California Federation of Teachers, a rival to the CTA, has given $116,000. Union opponents say Proposition 1A's spending cap would starve state programs that help the needy,
Perhaps more notable than who has given money to the opposition campaign is who has not. While Proposition 1A has come under fire from some fiscal conservatives who dislike the tax increases it would prolong, so far, two of the most vocal and well-heeled critics of the measure — state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman — have declined to open their wallets. Both are Republican candidates for governor in 2010.
"They're saying the right things," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, "but it would certainly help the cause of fiscal conservatism to have them donate something in the seven figures."
Spokesmen for both candidates responded virtually the same way: They said they are keeping their options open about a possible contribution, but suggested that spending money against the propositions would be a waste of money because voters will probably reject them anyway.
"The reality is, the measures don't seem to be faring well in the polling," said Kevin Spillane, a Poizner adviser.
A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California last month showed the key ballot measures well below the 50 percent mark — an ominous sign for any proposition early in a campaign. And a long list of factors is working against the measures, from the difficulty of selling voters on higher taxes in the midst of a recession, to the governor's and Legislature's dismal approval ratings, to the mind-numbing complexity of some of the measures themselves.
But with proponents continuing to rake in large contributions — Schwarzenegger has scheduled two $100,000-a-head fundraisers at his Brentwood mansion, including one last night — it's hardly a given that the measures are destined to fail, analysts said. Proponents plan to use their financial advantage to drive home the importance of the propositions to the state budget.
The deficit would grow by $6 billion immediately, and possibly by tens of billions more in future years, if voters reject the measures.
"We think that as voters learn the consequences if these don't pass, they'll continue to come on board," said Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the "yes" campaign.
Contact Mike Zapler at firstname.lastname@example.org or 916-441-4603.
prop. 1a supporters
Some other top contributors to Proposition 1A on the May 19 special election ballot:
California Alliance for Jobs (represents construction industry)
Brian L. Harvey, Cypress Land
Anschutz Entertainment Group
A.G. Spanos Cos.
California State Council of Laborers
Charles T. Munger Jr., Stanford physicist
E. & J. Gallo Winery
Gerald Forsythe, CEO of Indeck Energy Services
GTECH Enterprises (gaming technology)
Wine Institute of California


We hope we never have to use it, but we have a Contingency Plan for a reason.
Mercy Corps has been working in Bentiu, Unity State, since 2005, and for the past year specifically helping people make a living in the local market with small business and farming support.
Two months ago, when border clashes erupted in the area, we made the decision to move our equipment and key files to our office farther south, in Leer. Eventually, the skirmishes turned into aerial bombings — and general violence escalated in the area. We were forced to suspend our work and officially close the office to keep our two dozen staff members safe.
Most of them — guards, cooks, drivers, program officers and managers — are from Bentiu and live there. They, like all South Sudanese, have been optimistic about their country's future after its official independence from Sudan last July. But the two countries continue fighting over borders and shared resources like oil, while hundreds of thousands of people are caught in the middle.
Much of our work is about giving people the resources they need to build healthy, safe and productive lives for the longterm. To do so in areas where conflict threatens not just livelihoods, but lives, can be especially challenging.
We were able to return to Bentiu last month after the bombings stopped. The security situation is better, but there is a new normal here. Soldiers are everywhere. Bentiu is the rear military base, where the hospital is. All the wounded are treated here, and soldiers returning from the front are always streaming in. You can feel the tension in the humid air.
One bomb fell just 20 yards away from the bridge that we use everyday — Sudanese planes were targeting the strategic river overpass. It left a crater and a frail, charred tree standing alone. It's a warning to people who drive by (including us) to slow down and look at the sky before crossing the bridge.
In the market, we saw a couple of small craters and one shop entirely burned to the ground, another scarred by shrapnel. It seems there are less women and children, who escaped the danger and have not yet returned. The recent events definitely shook some confidence in the market. Trade was disrupted and prices are off the charts, fuel almost unavailable.
But the resilience of the community is quite extraordinary. Life goes on. Shop owners have reopened their doors. Farmers are tending their fields. More local production generates more local profit. And we'll keep working to help individuals build their income, thereby strengthening the economy against shocks like this.


Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin discusses benefits of neurologic music therapy at UM Bank United Center as part of the Stamps Distinguished Visitors Series.
Dr. Daniel Levitin meets with music therapy students from Frost School of Music after his lecture at the UM BankUnited Center.
Neurologic Music Therapy Research Expands Understanding of the Human Brain.
March 4, 2011—By Julia Berg
About 20 years ago, a young indie rock ‘n’ roll producer sat in a San Francisco Bay recording studio while Carlos Santana recorded a new album…and he felt goose-bumps.
Even though it is a common physical reaction, the producer, Daniel Levitin (who also worked with Stevie Wonder and such groups as Blue Oyster Cult) found himself fixated on figuring out WHY we have physical reactions such as goose bumps when listening to great music.
After the Santana project wrapped, Levitin audited a class at nearby Stanford to learn more about the field of neuroscience, and soon after entered a fascinating new field of research focusing specifically on music and the brain, ultimately earning a Ph.D.
Now a leading expert on the subject, he is the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with additional appointments in music theory, computer science and education. The author of the best-selling “This is Your Brain on Music” and “The World in Six Songs,” Dr. Levitin enthralled an audience of 400 at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center on March 3 as a guest lecturer for the Frost School of Music’s 2011 Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Distinguished Visitors Series.
Still an active guitarist, producer and songwriter, Levitin believes that music “reinvents and reinvigorates the brain.” His research is used in clinical settings to help study and rehabilitate damaged brains, and has brought significant international attention to the type of neurologic music therapy research that is being done by Shannon de l’Etoile and Teresa Lesiuk at the UM Frost School of Music in conjunction with the UM Miller School of Medicine.
During the lecture, he also summarized research findings on musical expertise, and what gives rise to the “super-genius” in music.
He notes that “all of us are expert music listeners: by the age of five, most children have internalized rules about which chord progressions are “legal” or typical of their culture’s music.”
Recognizing that the brain has a “music acquisition device” similar to the “language acquisition device” that enables the human brain to acquire language skills in any language (there are over 6,000 languages currently in use throughout the world), he notes that studies have shown that if music is denied to a young person in the first 10 years of life, he/she may never be musical, just like if language is denied during the first 10 years of life.
So, conversely, what gives rise to the rare super-genius in music?
“Music engages more regions of the brain than anything else,” Levitin explains, but “musical expertise manifests in many ways.” Those who play and study music do not all become super-geniuses, but more often develop an “expertise domain” in a dominant musical area such as rhythm, pitch, playing and instrument, composing, arranging, or professional listening (such as DJs, hit-makers and producers).
He also explains that language researchers define “expert” as being superior in things that we socially care about, such as emotions, music, art, intellect, and athletics…and not things that we don’t care much about, like being good at crossing your arms.
“Brain studies also indicate that components of expertise that contribute to superior performance include memory, attention, will power, belief in self, physical configuration and an ability to view multiple failures as necessary steps to succeed,” and that these qualities manifest themselves in musical geniuses, as well as geniuses in other fields.
So, music students…rev your engines. Activate your auditory cortex to invigorate your brain, engage your brain in all musical domains, and take your audiences on a scenic brain journey. You’ll maximize your musical expertise and invigorate your brain.
Follow Daniel Levitin’s research blog at twitter.com/danlevitin


America is Moving Beyond Coal
By MikeBloomberg.com - JUL. 26, 2012
One year ago, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club formed a partnership with the goal of retiring one-third of the remaining 500 coal-fired plants in the U.S. by 2020 and replacing them with clean energy. As the Sierra Club announced today, 112 coal plants have announced plans for retirement and America is moving beyond coal towards a cleaner energy future.
“We are clearly witnessing the end of our dependency on coal and the move toward a cleaner energy future," said Mike Bloomberg, whose Bloomberg Philanthropies has contributed $50 million to the Beyond Coal Campaign. “Coal-fired power plants and the pollution they produce—including mercury—are the number one threat to our public health and the environment. This is an issue of the American people's public health versus a narrow special interest. And we will not stop until we have achieved our goal.”
According to the Clean Air Task Force, the removal of 112 coal-fired power plants translates into the prevention of around 2,166 deaths, 3,426 heart attacks, and 35,210 asthma attacks every year.
Largely due to the decrease in coal use, the U.S. has experienced the largest reduction in carbon pollution of any country, with C02 emissions falling by 7.7 percent, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.
U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change and President of the Board of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
IN MIKE'S WORDS
There are so many facets to climate change that make it difficult to address, but you don’t give up just because it’s difficult. You work harder.
70% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from cities.
Cities also present the greatest opportunities for protecting the environment. Mayors around the world are rising to the challenge.