storm brewing
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terça-feira, 31 de janeiro de 2012
Peak of Light
Peak of Light
I got encouraged to go down to Coalcliff this morning, the clouds were really awesome.
I was waiting for the big burst of colour, but it just did not happen this time. Instead the sun lit up the sky above and I got some great reflection on the rock in front of me.
Steve and I had a great fun this morning, with noone around we felt like we just entered some deserted paradise.
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PS: Yesterday I had to send my tripod to Melbourne for a repair, one the legs got broken so I had to use my old backup tripod (nicknamed: toothpick) today....awww.....adjusting the legs for the horizon is painful :(((
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segunda-feira, 30 de janeiro de 2012
20120129-0013-Sunday Sunset
20120129-0013-Sunday Sunset
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sexta-feira, 27 de janeiro de 2012
Strife Closer to Home in Damascus
DAMASCUS—In a country roiled by protests and violence, Syria's capital remains an island of determination to go about life as always. But the country's 11-month old uprising now is lapping up against Syria's biggest and most-important city.
Armed clashes in the eastern suburbs of Damascus have jolted many in the capital into acknowledging a conflict that—until last week—had swept through suburbs but otherwise remained as much a YouTube phenomenon for them as for outside observers.
Photos: Conflict Approaches Capital
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![[SB10001424052970204661604577185063452207608]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uIU_J7qfPsGZRzADTNnu3uGd5x5cdeejYFVNXJSrtSrNvEVKQ6D3deLBdZH2QTaQmZ_pb7qOBqwj84mCk8d80mwOtnNt3rZkbS7I4SjH4LHkPHNa00HlhPrPElxfZdsnpSti5OkO50NUAzINbEmPqZ=s0-d)
Reuters
Syrian soldiers who defected to join the Free Syrian Army posed in Douma Wednesday.
On Thursday, defected troops in two suburbs of eastern Damascus—no farther than four miles from the old city—held their ground for hours after fighting government forces. Activists said the military stormed Douma, another close suburb, after the armed opposition temporarily took over the town last week.
In a hotel lobby, businessmen fielded phone calls appearing to describe a government counteroffensive in Douma after the military had lost control. "Empty words," one of them said, brushing his hand in the air and dismissing the news as a myth.
Early Friday, activists reported in the besieged city of Homs that forces loyal to the president barraged residential buildings with mortars and machine-gun fire, killing at least 30 people, including a family of women and children, according to the Associated Press. The violence reportedly erupted Thursday, but details trickled out Friday, with video posted online by activists showing the bodies of five small children, five women of varying ages and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment.
But as the protest movement edges closer to the capital each week, the violence on both sides becomes more difficult to ignore. Activists said government forces have killed more than 120 people in protests across the country this week, gaining traction as the longtime barrier of fear falls away and the regime continues its clumsy handling of discontent.
At a border post just a mile in from Lebanon, customs officers complain about the winter chill and growing power cuts at home—a commonplace grievance for their Lebanese neighbors, but a hallmark of how quickly life has changed for the roughly five million people living in Damascus and its suburbs.
"Last week it was two hours a day, this week four hours every day in the dark," one officer says, plugging an electric boilerplate into a corner to help warm the concrete room.
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The unrest has penetrated households far from the protest hubs. Many neighborhoods now experience regular power cuts, with the government saying it is unable to transport fuel to power plants amid clashes and sabotage on some of the routes. Hotels are closing. Those still open have shut entire floors. Cut off by sanctions from credit-card providers, they accept only cash.
Once-bustling restaurants that booked reservations weeks in advance now welcome walk-in diners. International schools, the first choice for many of Syria's elite families, are closing as expatriates and, increasingly, the locals themselves, pick up and leave.
The economy, along with confidence, has gone into free fall, despite a nearly continuous succession of emergency meetings between government and business leaders to save it.
"How long can we cope? It's hard to know," said Nabil Sukkar, an economist who recently moved his consulting business into the basement of his home to reduce costs.
The fate of Damascus, along with the country's second-largest city Aleppo, is critical to the fortunes of Syria's beleaguered ruling family. The two cities, Aleppo in the north and Damascus south of the center, are home to business interests that have underpinned the four-decade rule of President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him. And they harbor the most important contingent of what regime supporters refer to as "the gray," a silent majority they say still supports the president.
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Thousands of demonstrators loyal to President Assad chant an oath to protect Syria during a rally in Damascus's Sabe Bahrat Square on Thursday.
Such supporters clearly exist. The welcoming expression of a housewife in her living room in Damascus's old city drained away as she took note of prolonged negotiations between the military and armed regime opponents who last week wrestled control of Zabadani, a resort town no more than a half-hour drive from the capital.
The president was being patient and reasonable, to a fault, in dealing with the outlaws, as she sees them. "Do you think he couldn't have them all in coffins in a week?" she said.
Inside a nearby church, scribbles over dozens of pages in a prayer book reflect a city anxious about the future. "Oh Jesus, our nation is in pain," a recent entry reads. "Help save our leader, save our precious country Syria."
But the most hardened battle line in Damascus isn't between the Sunni-majority protest movement and change-wary minorities like the Christian population. For many, the critical political position—stripped bare of arguments on the pace of change and how necessary the government's military campaign against opponents has been—is loyalty to President Assad.
Damascus is the public face of support for the president. At one roundabout, a digital billboard quotes lines from the president's last speech. Behind a crystal-sharp image of Mr. Assad on the Damascus University podium briefly run the words: "I won't give up responsibility."
Rumors of secret and planned defections among business leaders abound. But in private, and some more public conversations, many at the very least remain resigned to supporting the regime as the best way to avoid chaos. Many are vehemently committed to President Assad, even some who readily admit frustrations with the lack of change over the decade since he succeeded his father.
"We want reforms, drastic reforms," said Fares Al-Shehabi, chairman of the Aleppo Chamber of Industry. "People don't like the (ruling) Baath Party. They don't like the government. But they are with the president."
Others, though, have developed deeper doubts.
One merchant in the restive district of Midan described how he joined openly defiant crowds: On a Friday a few months back, he allowed a handful of protesters inside his shop to escape the thick clouds of tear gas unleashed by riot police. He said he helped a teenager stumbling around with a bloodied face wipe up and sit down until he could safely walk down the street.
Within days, he found himself detained by security services for assisting the demonstrators. Outraged, he joined the protests the next Friday, he said.
Other merchants in the neighborhood described a similar dilemma.
Regime opponents pressure them to close their stores in solidarity with the protests. If they do, security services break down the doors and force them to open, they said.
"Either way it's bad for business," said Omar, another shopkeeper, who shut his copper workshop in a suburb where the opposition has called several general strikes. He said he pre-emptively built an iron gate around his home, three streets away from Midan. "It's chaos there already. Everyone is afraid [of] what comes next."
Ministry employees say they have worked weekends since what many in the government dub "the events"—likely unknowingly using an ominous term used in Lebanon to describe that country's 15-year civil war.
To be sure, grievances that ignited protests in Syria's rural south or across the overcrowded suburban belt aren't totally concealed from the capital. In one government office, a young man—looking at the floor in embarrassment— pleaded with the secretary for a meeting with the minister. Saying he hadn't heard back on his request for weeks, he was told the appropriate committee was looking into the matter. "The committee never got back to me," he said quietly. "You know it will never get back to me."
The newly unemployed, people out of jobs as business slumped this year, drink tea on sidewalks and discuss "the security situation," another common description for the violence roiling many of the country's other cities. Locals estimate some 70,000 people were laid off in the private sector last year. Social and family networks have kept people partly employed, but even those are starting to wear thin under the business freeze and sanctions.
The business elite, including a younger generation who had built their profiles along the image of a young and reforming Mr. Assad, are moving abroad—but quietly. They are increasingly critical of what one young entrepreneur called "the chaos in the decision making." A recent supporter of the president, he now says: "You can't wipe away blood with reforms."
Pressured by the opposition to take a stand, and by regime insiders—many of them current or former business partners—to show more vocal support, they are forced to go about their business ever more quietly. Others pack up and leave. In his office, one businessman mocked the paranoia by looking over his shoulder through the window before peering through the wall across the room to say—"We don't care to be on either side. We just want to get to and from work."
Write to Nour Malas at nour.malas@dowjones.com and Bill Spindle at bill.spindle@wsj.com
Online.wsj.com
kite surfing in Cuba.JPG
kite surfing in Cuba.JPG
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Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States. Georgetown administers 180 academic programs in four undergraduate and three graduate and professional schools, and the programs in international affairs and law are particularly selective and well regarded. In addition to its main campus, renowned for the neo-Romanesque Healy Hall, Georgetown operates a law center on Capitol Hill, as well as auxiliary campuses in Italy, Turkey, and Qatar.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University
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www.MadGrin.com
Georgetown neighborhood, Georgetown, UniversityGeorgetown University, Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown, academic programs, Catholic university in the United States, Washington, D.C., international affairs, Healy Hall ebook download, professional schools, campus, Capitol Hill
quinta-feira, 26 de janeiro de 2012
quarta-feira, 25 de janeiro de 2012
Obama points to income inequality, calls for millionaires' tax in address
President Obama appears before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday in his third State of the Union address. (Michael Reynolds/EPA)
Reporting from Washington —
President Obama opened his reelection year with a combative State of the Union speech, proposing to require millionaires to pay at least 30% of their income in taxes and to eliminate deductions that save companies money if they move jobs overseas.
He also proposed rewards, in the form of lower corporate rates, for businesses that manufacture and create jobs in the U.S.
Heavily emphasizing income inequality and its causes, Tuesday’s speech included several ideas that have already gotten a cold reception in Congress, including a program to upgrade roads and bridges and a fee on banks to help “responsible” homeowners refinance their mortgages. The proposals drew lines for a year of partisanship between now and the November election.
But the opposition of Congress may end up being part of the Obama message as he sets out to sell his blueprint for “An America Built to Last.” Obama’s sharpest points preview the election year narrative to come, about an endangered middle class suffering under an unfair system.
If Americans want to make it through the tough times and build a stable economy, goes the Obama line, the affluent should shoulder more of the burden and government should play an active role in spurring at-home job growth.
“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by” or adopt proposals to strengthen middle-class jobs and futures, Obama told a joint session of Congress gathered in the chambers of the House of Representatives. “What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.”
Withdrawal from two wars and the success in the fight against Al Qaeda will be key parts of the Obama reelection campaign -- he opened the speech by paying tribute to service members as he listed those accomplishments -- and also the rare cases in which he talks to voters about foreign policy.
The balcony of the House chamber provided an illustration of the narratives Republicans and Democrats will be telling as the election year unfolds. First Lady Michelle Obama was surrounded by characters in the Obama story, among them veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan; the admiral who led the operation that killed Osama bin Laden; and a gay Air Force intelligence officer, allowed to serve openly because of the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule.
The Republican list of invited guests included oil company managers, including one from Conoco Philips, and backers of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that Obama has shelved, for now, pending further study.
There were unnamed characters in the evening’s stage play too. On the same day that Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney disclosed that he pays roughly 15% in taxes on millions in income, Obama’s legislative agenda spelled out a change that would make sure millionaires and billionaires pay at least 30%.
Most of all, Obama wants to see Congress undertake a rehabilitation of the tax code, something he pushed for last year without success. Months after coming up with the “Buffett Rule,” which says high earners like billionaire Warren Buffett should carry the same share of the tax burden as those who earn less, Obama added the 30% target to his wish list.
Seated in the balcony for the announcement was Buffett’s secretary, who, as Buffett and the president frequently point out, pays a higher income tax rate than her boss.
“You can call this class warfare all you want,” Obama said. “But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”
The 30% minimum rate would probably mean a tax hike for many top earners. The average effective tax rate for the top 1% of earners last year was 26%, according to a study by the Tax Policy Center. The average rate overall was 19.4%.
Republicans showed little sign of warming to Obama’s version of the path to stability. Their focus is on the struggling economy and on Obama policies they say have failed to steer things in the right direction.
“The president's policies have made our economy worse,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “And you know, the president's policies, again, are just going to double down on what hasn't worked.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, echoed that theme, suggesting Obama’s proposals for the future should be weighed against his record of the last two years.
As he did last year during the payroll tax fight, Obama is taking his proposals to the public, a move that reversed a slide in his approval ratings as he chided a "do-nothing Congress." Obama plans to leave Wednesday morning for a three-day trip around the country, unveiling more details about central elements of his plan as he visits Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan.
The president’s blueprint calls for spurring manufacturing through a number of changes to the tax code. He wants to wipe out the deductions that many companies get for the costs of shutting down a factory in the U.S., such as for mothballing the building or doing environmental remediation.
If those companies open factories overseas, administration officials say, they shouldn’t qualify for deductions.
President Obama, Obama ebook download, Michelle Obama, joint session of Congress, joint session of Congress, Congress, Warren Buffett
segunda-feira, 23 de janeiro de 2012
domingo, 22 de janeiro de 2012
Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate
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sábado, 21 de janeiro de 2012
TILBNIR SLAGINN / ACTION READY
TILBNIR SLAGINN / ACTION READY
A nearby lamp post provided the illumination for this shot and the on cast light gave me some problem making it look natural, but who cares ;-)
To make this presentable I had to exclude a building behind the cars and the lamppost earlier mentioned.
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quinta-feira, 19 de janeiro de 2012
Lac de Vassivire
Lac de Vassivire
Lac de Vassivire...
Vous avez l'histoire de cette photo sur mon blog ici :
www.laurent-even.com/2012/01/15/lac-de-vassiviere/
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quarta-feira, 18 de janeiro de 2012
20120113-26-Anastasia Rodionova and Kateryna Bondarenko at Hobart International Tennis doubles semi-finals
20120113-26-Anastasia Rodionova and Kateryna Bondarenko at Hobart International Tennis doubles semi-finals
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terça-feira, 17 de janeiro de 2012
segunda-feira, 16 de janeiro de 2012
Funny business
Knock-knock. Who’s there?
Opportunity, as in “opportunity to work at the White House.”
And that’s just what Mark Katz did, for eight years as humorist and speechwriter for the Clinton administration.
Now the founder of the Soundbite Institute — itself an inside joke in that the “institute” is really just Katz, 47, and a few pals he bounces jokes off — the former politico and ad copywriter has carved out a unique and lucrative niche in the world of words.
He’s a ghost speechwriter who teaches a clientele of CEOs, politicians, celebs and sports-franchise owners — whose names he guards as closely as state secrets — how to use humor effectively.
Michael Sofronski
QUIP SERVICE: Since the end of an eight-year stint putting bon mots in the mouth of Bill Clinton, Katz has helped politicians, celebs and CEOs use comedy to connect.
Sound easy? You try making Al Gore or Michael Dukakis funny, as Katz has done in past presidential campaigns.
A Rockland County native who majored in government at Cornell, Katz got his start in the political world after his 1986 graduation, where the speaker was Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Taken by the veteran New York senator and with no work lined up, Katz followed him to the city and asked for a job.
Now married with a 2-year-old in Brooklyn, Katz spoke about building a career as the go-to guy for grown-up gags.
A big career step — or misstep? — was working on the Dukakis campaign in 1988.
As a humorist, these days when the Dukakis campaign is referred to as a joke, I can’t help but feel a little proud. Really, that was the professional experience of my life. I did everything from clipping papers at 5 in the morning, and then became the guy who wrote the press releases. It was in those daily press releases that I found opportunities to add humor.
I began keeping a folder of jokes — things Dukakis could or should say. I showed a few people. Next thing you know, the head of communications, Kirk O’Donnell, came down to the press office looking for me. I went to the communications staff to work on what we actually called the Rapid Response Team. Three of us, including a guy named George Stephanopoulos, sharing an office the size of a phone booth.
What were your duties?
This was pre-Internet, so we had an AP ticker. Something would come across our bow — Bush would say something about Dukakis — and we had 20 minutes to write, get approved and fax out to the world our response. Basically, we were going for sound bites — anything crystallized or pithy or designed to jump off the page and stick in your mind.
What did you do between Dukakis and Clinton?
I wanted a job that wasn’t dependent on somebody receiving 270 electoral votes, so I went into advertising. I wound up in San Francisco working on GM’s launch of the Saturn. Then I came back to work on the Coca-Cola account at McCann Erickson, and six months later, they lost the account. So, it’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I’m called into my boss’s office, and he says there’s no longer a job for me.
My first thought was, oh, s - - t. On Friday I have my 10-year high school reunion, and I have to show up unemployed.
Guess you tell everyone that you’re “freelancing.”
Well, that’s the funny story how the Soundbite Institute was born. I’d been in touch with Stephanopoulos on the Clinton campaign, and I was sending in sound bites to Little Rock. I’d get a call, find a quiet place for a half-hour and then fax them in. One time, as a joke, I wrote on the cover sheet “The Soundbite Institute.”
So, months later, I get fired and I’m pissed about the reunion and I’m sitting at my desk and I see the cover sheet. So I get an idea to have business cards made up that said “The Soundbite Institute.”
What is it exactly that you do for clients?
The Soundbite Institute is a resource at the intersection of humor and strategic communication. It’s an amalgam of my peculiar skill set — as an ex-politico, as a former journalist, as a recovering copywriter. I help my client connect with the audience. In terms of strategic communications, laughter is a form of agreement. Once you laugh at [my joke], you and I have agreed on some level, and I’ve made progress.
What were your duties at the Clinton White House?
My job was to write four speeches a year , for the Gridiron Dinner, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner and something called the Alfalfa Club. I’d take the shuttle down to DC, set up the Comedy War Room in the White House and create a speech. I’d meet with his head speechwriter, the head of communications, chief of staff, and we’d talk about what topics needed to be addressed. What is the right comic response at that particular point in time?
Can you give an example?
After Clinton became president, I was working on his speech for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Clinton had a horrible first 100 days in office, and all these articles are coming out about what a terrible start he’s off to. So the joke I write is: “I don’t think I’m doing that bad. After his first 100 days in office, William Henry Harrison had already been dead for 68 days.” You concede something, and then you can say what you’ve done and get your message out.
Soundbite Institute, Soundbite Institute, Michael Dukakis, Mark Katz, Katz, Bill Clinton, White House, Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, speechwriter, speechwriter, Soundbite, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Clinton campaign
sábado, 14 de janeiro de 2012
Spring Dreams (Edit)
I spotted this very pretty flowers on a bright sunny day at the Briggs Nursery in North Attleboro Ma this past spring. I looks forward to the warmer weather.
I edited the capture for a bit of a different look.
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sexta-feira, 13 de janeiro de 2012
quinta-feira, 12 de janeiro de 2012
City Hall (Season's Greetings)
Waiting for a serious cloudscape...
Waiting for a serious cloudscape...
the sky in my county has been so boring in the last weeks...
I really miss some clouds for my best photography... in the meantime, I post from the archive :)
Aspettando bei campi di nuvole
Il cielo dalle mie parti piatto e sereno da settimane... Mi mancano veramente moltissimo le mie nuvole per la fotografia che preferisco.. nel frattempo, ne posto qualcuna dall'archivio
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quarta-feira, 11 de janeiro de 2012
Brazil's Soccer Philosopher King
Sunday morning marked the passing of Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, better known simply as Socrates. The Brazilian midfielder was 57. He is survived by his wife and six sons. Sometimes greatness is measured through intangibles like leadership and personality, sometimes it is gauged through empirical achievement, like statistics and championships. Sometimes it's a combination of all those things. But Socrates stood on an even higher plane: Soccer will probably never again produce anyone like him.
![[soccer1204]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sMB0fQi2p3DabrvpmQ_37dBNC53ExqwGTbFUSvwr-CZrdVyUUuhRZHefFZkvsXzrkX1FsMcA6t81pVFPkxQnHRuBkBPDYEhOq8xoPNu716YbjY0oXLqT13qtKjunGPcCYe0GuwK_m0Hvf0NCF5e3lhjA=s0-d)
Brazilian midfielder Socrates, seen during the 1982 World Cup.
The 1982 Brazilian team that he captained was perhaps the greatest never to win the World Cup (along with Hungary in 1954 and Holland in 1974). It was also one of the last Brazil teams to fully embody the romantic stereotype that comes to mind when we think of the green-and-gold. Sublime touches, languid pace, creativity ... the sheer joy of what they call "jogo bonito," or the beautiful game. Zico was probably the best player on that Brazil side, but Socrates was its philosophy made flesh.
At 6-foot-4 and rail-thin, he strolled through the midfield sporting his trademark beard and headband. He could have been Bill Walton's long lost Brazilian cousin. On the ball though, he was more Magic Johnson, thanks to his signature move, the no-look backheel pass. It's one of those things that isn't particularly hard to do, but is frightfully difficult to do well, mainly because you have to weight and execute a pass to a point on the pitch you can't actually see. Plus, rather than kicking the ball with your foot, where you at least have some level of sensitivity, you strike it with the bony part of your heel. When you see it these days, it's often a hit-and-hope move of last resort. For Socrates it was his bread and butter, something he nonchalantly pulled off in congested midfields, surprising not just his opponents, but often his teammates too, who would suddenly receive assists in mid-stride.
The backheel is not something any youth coach teaches. Nor is it something any pro coach particularly wants to encourage, precisely because it is so unpredictable. But in the carefree world of 1970s Brazilian soccer it had its place, especially when used as effectively as Socrates used it.
His résumé is actually surprisingly bare. A few regional titles in Brazil, just one season in a major European league (with Italy's Fiorentina), 60 appearances and 22 goals for an outstanding Brazil team, albeit one that failed to win the World Cup. Yet that only tells part of the story.
Even as a professional, Socrates was a throwback to the amateur era, one where athletes were not defined solely by the sport they played. You want to talk student-athlete? For the first chunk of his career he was playing full-time for Botafogo while going to medical school at the University of Sao Paulo's campus in Ribeirao Preto. He didn't actually practice medicine until after his retirement, but when he tucked away this rocket against the Soviet Union in Brazil's opening match of the 1982 World Cup, he became the first (and probably last) M.D. to notch a goal on the game's biggest stage.
He was also an activist who, while at Corinthians in the late 1970s, founded a movement opposing the country's military regime. A self-described Maoist and pacifist, his heroes – unsurprisingly – were Che Guevara and John Lennon, making him an instant legend among the radical chic Euro-left. After retirement in 1989, he went back to university, eventually earning a Ph.D. in philosophy.
The talent and erudition, the political views and beard-and-bandanna look, all of it meshed with his avowed taste for tobacco and alcohol to make him a romantic outsized figure: part rebel, part intellectual, part Latin hunk, part superstar. You can't definitively rule out the possibility that one day someone may match or even surpass his achievements on and off the pitch, though it may take a long while for the next doctor/political activist/World Cup legend to roll on the scene. They may even do it with a beard, shaggy hair and a bandanna.
But what is certain is that nobody will do it with the style, panache and overall "cool" of Socrates. And they certainly won't be spraying no-look backheels all over the pitch when they do.
Gabriele Marcotti is the world soccer columnist for The Times of London and a regular broadcaster for the BBC. His column appears on Sundays.
Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, Brazil, Brazil, Socrates, Socrates, World Cup, European Pressphoto AgencyBrazilian
Reflections in the Past
Reflections in the Past
Late day sky reflects in a pothole at Cataract Falls.
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terça-feira, 10 de janeiro de 2012
SNB Seeks New Leadership
ZURICH—The resignation of Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand shifted the spotlight here to the question of whether interim replacement Thomas Jordan will get the job permanently and the task of finding a third member of the SNB's three-person governing council.
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Bloomberg News
Thomas Jordan, former vice president and now current interim president of the Swiss National Bank, sits next to the empty seat of Philipp Hildebrand, the central bank's former president, during a news conference on Dec. 15.
Mr. Jordan took center stage after Mr. Hildebrand's sudden departure Monday in the wake of disclosures of currency dealings involving him and his wife last year, at a time when the central bank was intervening aggressively to curb the Swiss franc's relentless rise.
The SNB appointed Mr. Jordan as interim chairman, but the government must still decide whether to approve him as the central bank's permanent chief. Mr. Jordan, who said Monday that he is willing to accept the permanent role, is widely expected to be confirmed, but the process could take several weeks.
If confirmed, Mr. Jordan, 48, would likely provide continuity in top policies —particularly bank regulation and foreign exchange—pursued under Mr. Hildebrand, say analysts.
More:
Wife's Trades Sink Banker
Mr. Jordan, who joined the SNB as an economic adviser in 1997, has a largely academic background, having lectured at the universities of Bern and Zurich and written a post-doctoral thesis at Harvard University. He was appointed to the SNB's governing board in 2004 and named vice president at the start of 2010. He is one of the three-person governing board of the bank, along with Jean-Pierre Danthine and, until Monday, Mr. Hildebrand.
Mr. Jordan, who has gained a reputation as a hawk on issues such as inflation, is expected to maintain the SNB's policy of containing any rise in the Swiss franc—a hot-button issue given fears that the festering eurozone crisis could drive the Swiss currency higher again. Last September the bank sought to rein in a soaring franc by declaring it wouldn't let the euro fall below 1.20 francs.
While the franc rose slightly Monday after Mr. Hildebrand's resignation announcement, it quickly fell back. The SNB reiterated the same day that it would defend the limit with the "utmost determination." Currency strategists expect little change in that policy under Mr. Jordan.
"There may be some differences between the two ... but I don't think there will be any fundamental policy shifts," said Felix Brill, senior economist at Wellershoff & Partners.
"Swiss central bank monetary policy is determined by all three of the governing board members, not by a 'hawkish or dovish' individual, and that won't change under Jordan," said Caesar Lack, economist at UBS AG in Zurich.
Mr. Jordan has also overseen the issue of bank regulation at the SNB for the last two years, a period when the central bank pushed for the passage of some of the toughest rules in the world. The Swiss Parliament has largely passed the rules, which have proved something of an edge for Switzerland's two large banks – UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group – during the current financial crisis.
The bank said Monday that it intends to fill the open spot on its governing board as quickly as possible. The new member is likely to be one of the board's alternative members: Thomas Moser, the bank's head of international affairs, Thomas Widemer, head of finance and the SNB's representative on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, or Dewet Moser, head of financial markets.
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@wsj.com
Thomas Jordan, Jordan, SNB, Swiss National Bank, Swiss National Bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand, Philipp Hildebrand, Mr. Jordan, Hildebrand, bank regulation, bank regulation, NewsThomas Jordan, central bank, central bank
domingo, 8 de janeiro de 2012
sábado, 7 de janeiro de 2012
'Can You Tell Me a Little About Your Ex-Husband?'
She seems at ease, sitting on the top step of a large front porch, her legs crossed and a long, slim cigarette between her fingers. She wears a bit too much makeup, perhaps, but her face is pleasant and gives no reason to believe that the ensuing conversation won't be the same.
"So, can you tell me a little about your ex-husband?" I ask, standing on the bottom step with a notepad and pen in hand. Her words start flowing, in a tone that could put a baby to sleep, and for a moment it seems that they may never cease.
"Cheating son of a bitch." "Selfish bastard." And worse. They are in sentences, of course, but all I hear is those phrases. I try to display sympathy and concern, but inside I'm smiling because I know, as I always have, that ex-wives, ex-husbands, ex-girlfriends, ex-lovers, ex-anythings make some of the best sources.
![[OPPORESEARCH]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sWCbcmt6a5d4LXvZCttIO0TQJyZg81JMrjb6W7-VenUlV5nleM34efnRhYv3crdO-jdh5m-vXetybQSAmy_1qrKYW879Lgo8FcHodYe3u5DxzIYr1XyCcE47UnCDGMK37czeyGqeebuFqNPh7H7UQ7pqM=s0-d)
My business partner Alan and I had received the call a few days earlier. A local politician was making noise about jumping into a congressional race against a longtime incumbent who was worried, apparently, about his job. The election was more than a year out, and the potential opponent had not yet announced. The task at hand was to try to make sure that he never did.
We get these projects every now and again. "Just see what's out there," they say, "and if there's nothing, so be it." But of all the different types of campaign research we do, this usually proves the most fruitful: local politicians rattling their chains without having thought through the whole idea—and without understanding that longtime incumbents work hard to remain longtime incumbents.
In this case, the front-porch interview isn't going very far; she just doesn't know that much about the man. His business dealings are a mystery to her. His political affairs are an unknown.
"So when you say he's a 'bastard,' I'm just guessing you're talking about your marriage?"
And then she begins. Yes, she is referring to her marriage. Yes, he was the most ill-tempered husband on the face of the earth. And yes, he had left her and started seeing another, younger, woman. They now live together, she tells me. They travel a lot, go to places he never took her. She resents him for all of it.
"Anything else?"
"Oh yeah," she says, almost as an afterthought, "I think he was arrested for beating her up."
These are the moments when a pause is not only mandatory; it is involuntary. I just stare down at my notepad and jot the words "assault" and "arrested." I scribble a big star to the side.
"So, what was that all about?" I ask in a near monotone, still looking down.
She tells me that the couple was going on a vacation out West when the incident supposedly occurred. She doesn't know where they were going, but says he "slapped her around" at an airport en route. She doesn't have much else. She then asks if it is something I can use. I tell her it's possible but that I'm not sure.
But that isn't true. I am sure.
Polling is the lifeblood of any well-funded political campaign. The information that my business partner Alan and I provide is used to develop the questions that pollsters ask of voters. And one thing polls show is that voters will tolerate an awful lot in politicians—cheating on spouses, dalliances with prostitutes, the occasional DUI. But they will never condone domestic violence.
Back at the office, I'm poring over a map, trying to figure out where the slap-down may have occurred. If such an incident did happen, there could be a report on file at one of the big Western airports. I call each of them, but with only a couple left to go, I'm striking out.
The call to the next airport security office starts the same way the others have. I tell the officer that I'm trying to track down some information on an assault that supposedly occurred at one of their gates. I have the name of the assailant and the victim, and I'm hoping for some assistance.
He asks what it's for. I say, "I'm doing some work for a client who needs to track this information down for a project they're trying to resolve in a hurry." Clear but confusing.
"Who's your client?"
"I'm not at liberty to say."
At this point, if the officer asks for additional details about the incident, you're usually golden. This one asks if I have the date of birth of the man I'm inquiring about. Of course I do. I got it from the ex-wife. Do I have the date this happened? No, just a period of time. Do I know what happened? Uh, no, that's why I'm asking.
He seems somewhat satisfied and asks for my phone number. He's going to do some checking and get back to me. Good, but not guaranteed.
Later, he calls back, excited to share. Yes, there is a report of an assault that occurred in one of the terminals between the ex-husband and the girlfriend. It apparently began with an argument that escalated into the slap-around. There was a busted lip, some blood and a short trip to the carpet for the girlfriend. Although the report makes no reference to an actual arrest, it is better than I had hoped.
Alan and I do not relish the pain or misfortune of victims. If you ask us, a man who's responsible for that kind of abuse should get everything that's coming to him and probably more. But it's not for us to decide. Our job is simply to find, document and collect. In our work, the judges and juries reside in the voting booths and campaign offices.
The client or candidate for whom we work generally has the next move. With a report like the one we've just provided, the scenario might go something like this:
A mutual friend of both the incumbent and his potential opponent makes a visit to the potential opponent and explains that a "situation" has arisen that could cause him some embarrassment. The friend offers a few details about the incident and says that it would probably be better if he considered backing off his intentions of running. At this point, the potential candidate acts surprised and insists that he was not involved in any such incident. He tells the friend that he has every intention of running. His insistence quickly turns to silence when the friend pulls out the incident report and hands it to him.
Within a couple of weeks of passing along the faxed report from airport security, Alan and I get an email telling us that the ex-husband has decided, in so many words, to stay put.
"Did you read this?" I ask Alan, almost in passing.
"Yep. Pretty good," he responds without looking up from his computer.
Nothing more is said.
—Mr. Rejebian is the co-author, with Alan Huffman, of the new book "We're With Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics," from which this is excerpted.
Online.wsj.com
quinta-feira, 5 de janeiro de 2012
Verizon sells 4.2M iPhones
Verizon Wireless, the largest US mobile carrier, sold 4.2 million Apple iPhones in the fourth quarter, more than doubling from the third quarter, said Francis Shammo, finance chief of the company’s parent.
The iPhone sales will decrease gross margins by 500 to 600 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Shammo made his remarks yesterday at a Citigroup event in San Francisco.
Francis Shammo, Verizon Wireless, basis points, basis point, iPhone, gross margins, finance chief, Citigroup
20090523-IMG_6369.jpg
20090523-IMG_6369.jpg
New River Gorge National River - Thurmond
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quarta-feira, 4 de janeiro de 2012
Last fireworks one ... (for now)
Last fireworks one ... (for now)
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terça-feira, 3 de janeiro de 2012
Winter Berries
Winter Berries
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segunda-feira, 2 de janeiro de 2012
Rose Bowl preview: Key issues for Oregon and Wisconsin
Quarterback Russell Wilson and Wisconsin get a shot at Oregon in the Rose Bowl one month after clinching a spot in the game with a 42-39 victory over Michigan State. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images / December 3, 2011)
Wisconsin spent the last week answering endless questions about Oregon's uniforms and team speed. Now the Badgers have the chance to prove or disprove the theory that time to prepare (and talent) can beat the Ducks. Staff writer Gary Klein examines the Rose Bowl's key issues and matchups:
Can't beat the buildup
It was a busy week for both teams but Oregon definitely had the edge in the thrill-a-minute department.
It started Dec. 26 when nine players were trapped for two hours in a hotel elevator.
The next day, running back LaMichael James became an Internet sensation not for a spectacular run but for a spectacularly hilarious photo taken on a thrill ride at Disneyland.
It continued Wednesday when offensive lineman Mark Asper assisted a choking man during the annual Beef Bowl.
"Not your average bowl week," James said. "Hopefully that can carry over to the bowl game and we can have a heroic moment there."
Historically speaking
Wisconsin is 3-4 in Rose Bowl games, the Badgers' last victory coming in 2000 against Stanford.
1953 USC 7, Wisconsin 0
1960 Washington 44, Wisconsin 8
1963 USC 42, Wisconsin 37
1994 Wisconsin 21, UCLA 16
1999 Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31
2000 Wisconsin 17, Stanford 9
2011 TCU 21, Wisconsin 19
Oregon is 1-4 and has not won since its first appearance in 1917.
1917 Oregon 14, Penn 0
1920 Harvard 7, Oregon 6
Wisconsin, Oregon, Quarterback Russell Wilson, Badgers, Michigan State
Coleman and Lee at the museum
Coleman and Lee at the museum
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domingo, 1 de janeiro de 2012
Christmas in Wisconsin, Walk in the part around Mike & Shelly's
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