health tea

H.R. 3, the so-called “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” is back and scheduled for floor action in the House on Wednesday. And so at the risk of… whatever it is you risk when you put a giant video of yourself in a front page post… I want to take you back to the discussion of just how bad this thing is, and why it threatens American values on both the left and the right.

Among the sea of vindictive bills chasing irrelevant Republican pipe dreams, even in the face of the overwhelming demand for action on jobs, H.R. 3 stands out as the worst of the worst—a giant tax hike on people who dare to believe that abortion ought to remain a legal and available option in America, and a back-door assault on the narrow exceptions to abortion bans that even most abortion opponents accepted as morally and medically necessary.

I discussed with you back in February just how dangerous and far-reaching H.R. 3′s provisions were. And we’ll hear plenty today and tomorrow about how there’s a Republican war on women, about how the redefinition of rape is sneaking back in, and about how federal law already bans the use of taxpayer funds for abortion. All of which is true.

But H.R. 3 is much, much worse than even all of that, combined. And what makes it so bad is that in their zeal to “get” people who believe abortion should be legal and available, Republicans (and some Democratic enablers) are betraying the supposed “small government values” they claim to live by, and doing it in the most dangerous possible way. Because in order to make their punishment scheme work, they have to redefine the generally accepted public understanding of what separates “your money” from “the government’s money.” And they do it in a way that ends up giving the  government the power to literally reach into every wallet in America and federalize every dollar inside.

You really couldn’t gut the supposed “Tea Party values” any worse if you tried.

In order to make their “no taxpayer funding for abortion” scheme work, Republicans use H.R. 3 to disallow tax deductions for your health care expenses if your private insurance plan covers abortion. Not if you actually get an abortion. And not if a member of your family does. All it takes for you to see your taxes hiked is if the private insurance plan you selected and paid for with your own money permits coverage of abortion at all. For anyone. Even if you never get one and never plan to. If you bought a plan that agrees to cover abortion if someone else totally unrelated to you needs one, then you lose eligibility for any tax deductions for the cost of your insurance, and your tax bill shoots up. Republicans take your cash, because you agreed to buy a plan that might someday pay for someone else’s abortion.

After all, fair’s fair. Right?

Because if you’re allowed to take a deduction for money you paid to a private insurer to cover routine check-ups for your kids, but the premiums you pay might one day cover the cost of a stranger’s abortion, well… Republicans know that means that “governmen money” paid for that abortion. Because it was the government that gave you that money to pay your premiums with. If they had just kept it instead of allowing you to deduct it, well, maybe it never would have been paid to that private insurance company in the first place. So it wouldn’t have been there to pay for that other person’s claim.

Get it?

“Small government!”

Yes, it’s the government’s prerogative to favor or disfavor certain activities using the tax code. But of course, just last month, the Supreme Court’s conservative wing went out of its way to preserve state tax breaks for donations made to funds that underwrite religious school tuition in Arizona by holding that tax credits aren’t “government spending.” And yet now, here are Congressional “conservatives” insisting that they are. And that since money is fungible, that means every dollar you have might be in your wallet only by virtue of a tax credit. Which means the government can keep every dollar you have on a string, telling you you can’t spend it on things they don’t like, or else they’ll raise your taxes for making them mad.

Small government.

In my opinion, that’s the outrage of H.R. 3.

This past Friday night, Newt Gingrich announced at a GOP dinner in Georgia that he was officially entering the race for president in the upcoming 2012 election. Gingrich addressed the party faithful stating that the 2012 election will be the most consequential since the 1860 election that elected Abraham Lincoln and plunged America into the great civil war. It sounds like Newt Gingrich is longing for slavery to come back. It’s an obvious pander to a room full of Georgia confederates.

Gingrich stated that Pres. Barack Obama’s “radical left wing” policies will plunge the country into complete chaos and ruin. Where does Mr. Gingrich get such ideas? Pres. Obama is one of the most centrist, moderate Democrats in politics. He [Obama] bailed out the banks, rescued Wall Street and took out Bin Laden. How in the world is this president a “left wing radical?”

Ironically, it was Newt Gingrich who worked with former Pres. Bill Clinton and the Democrats to reduce the budget deficit, which led to a large budget surplus when Clinton left office in the late 1990’s. Mr. Gingrich is more moderate than he’s letting on. He’s having to get more conservative and hateful in his rhetoric to appeal to the hard core conservatives and the Tea Party wing of the Republican party.

Newt Gingrich knows that the election of 2012 will not be a cake walk. Pres. Obama will be a formidable opponent; and he [Gingrich] knows it! Now that Pres. Obama has got his mojo back after the killing of Bin Laden, things seem to be going Obama’s way. Gingrich is so concerned about taking on Obama that he stated, “if the race were fair the Republicans could win.”

What does Gingrich mean by fair? In his mind the “liberal media” will side with Pres. Obama and help him get re-elected. Let’s not forget that the Republicans are intimidated by Pres.Obama’s phenomenal fund raising ability. Many pundits speculate that Pres. Obama will harness the power of social media and the Internet; again to raise incredible amounts of money. Some estimate over a billion [that’s right, with a B] in campaign contributions. It’s easy to see why the GOP is concerned; they can’t compete with that!

Continued on the next page

http://organicrooibostea.org/african-red-bush-tea.html

health tea

Used Material from:Organic Rooibos Tea

This week I was honored to guest lecture at the prestigious Monterey Institute for International Studies. The topic was nation building but because I am the founder of MicroCredit Enterprises, which finances microloans for poor women in the developing world, the discussion shifted to people building.

My talk was open to the public (what a splendid idea for all universities!) and in the audience a raised hand came from a gentlemen with deep faith convictions. He described how his church addresses the multidisciplinary nature of poverty in African villages by drilling wells, building schools, erecting health clinics, etc. while also distributing bibles and proselytizing the gospel.

photo credit: Danny Gallant

As I suggested to the class (pictured here) that all economic development promotes one sort of gospel or another. Microfinance, for example, inherently proselytizes the virtues of free market capitalism. Microfinance embeds gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights — development for the whole person, if you will. Enduring economic development upsets the status quo.

What disturbed me about this particular gentlemen was not his faith motivation which was genuine, but his unwavering conviction that his church’s time and money is actually doing good on the African continent. Whether it is or not, he is never going to know because he is not asking any self-examining questions about his impact on the lives he purports to save.

From beginning to end, he unconditionally follows the personality cult of his Savior and the doctrine of his religion. He is a change agent without doubts.

He not much different than the donors, journalists and other apostles who believed in Greg Mortenson, best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea and founder of a school-building program in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His compelling (but allegedly hyped) personal story created a media blizzard of belief in him and a dearth of data about his impact.

For two very thoughtful commentaries read Three Cups of BS by Alanna Shaikh and It’s Not About The Tea by Kevin Starr.

One regrettable defense for Mortenson is that he is simply a bad manager. This narrative feeds an urban legend pushed by ideologues and market fundamentalists who want to believe an alternate reality. Nonprofit is a tax status, nothing more. It does not establish management quality or results. It is certainly not an excuse for anything.

Yes, some nonprofits are poorly run, as the Mortenson dustup and opulent church altars surely suggest. However, by the same fuzzy yardstick, British Petroleum confirms the mendacity of all corporate chieftains and Donald Trump is an icon of political truth-telling. We can reject the charlatans of social change without concluding that dedicated nonprofit executives don’t care a whit about the efficacy of what they do, wantonly waste money or poorly evaluate programmatic results.

Let’s reject social change by personality cult and embrace empowering the poor to speak up, speak out and speak for themselves. That’s what good nonprofit leaders have always done.

Ron Paul was Tea Party before Tea Party was cool.

A candidate of the fringe and the Libertarian college-age set in 2008, the 75-year-old representative from Texas announced his second run for the Republican nomination for president during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday.

But if Mr. Paul remains the same, blunt-spoken, small-government rabble-rouser that he was four years ago, he and his top aides are betting that the times — and the Republican primary electorate — have changed in the interim.

“Time has come around to where the people are agreeing with much of what I’ve been saying for 30 years,” Mr. Paul said on ABC. “The time is right.”

The rise of the Tea Party movement offers Mr. Paul an opportunity to be embraced as a kind of mainstream candidate that he never was while running last time around.

Well, not mainstream, exactly. He still advocates the legalization of heroin, the elimination of half of the federal agencies and an immediate end to virtually all military “adventures” overseas. Plenty of Tea Party activists would say they are uncomfortable with many of those positions.

His path to the nomination, much less the Oval Office, is still difficult to imagine — perhaps even for Mr. Paul himself — given his apparent disregard for the niceties of political accommodation or any obvious effort to woo the party’s leaders.

And despite Mr. Paul’s remarkable ability to raise millions of dollars from his committed followers, it remains unclear whether he could raise tens of millions — if not hundreds of millions — from the nation’s wealthiest interests to compete with his Republican rivals and, ultimately, President Obama.

But there is no ignoring the sense that Mr. Paul’s timing may be spot on for the political times. And running for president gives him a national platform for the issues he has cared about for decades, as well as a chance to spotlight the new leaders of the movement, including his son, the new Republican senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.

The new energy in the Republican party appears to come from the Tea Party activists whose primary issues are close to Mr. Paul’s: a rabid desire to cut government spending, a fear of the mounting national debt, a dislike of the politics of compromise and a distrust of the Republican establishment that goes almost as deep as their disgust with Democrats.

In fact, Mr. Paul claims to be the founding father of the movement.

“Of course, the Tea Party movement was started during the last campaign when there was a special day where they raised $6 million spontaneously,” Mr. Paul said during a debate among potential Republican candidates last week in South Carolina. “And that was the beginning of it.”

The reference was to Dec. 17, 2007, when supporters of Mr. Paul’s raised more than $6 million for his presidential candidacy on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Issues of spending, taxes, debt and freedom helped fuel the fund-raising “moneybomb” that kept Mr. Paul in the 2008 race well into June.

But even that infusion of cash didn’t make Mr. Paul a real contender in 2008. With no real campaign infrastructure and a reputation as a fringe candidate, Mr. Paul did not win a single state during the primary process.

And while he entered the Republican convention with close to three dozen delegates (he came in second place in a dozen or so states), Mr. Paul was never taken seriously by those running the convention on behalf of the party’s nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona.

In 2012, Mr. Paul enters a presidential race that is, if anything, even more unsettled than the 2008 Republican campaign was at the same point in time.

His supporters say he is poised to make a more serious run at the nomination. Drew Ivers, a member of the central committee of Iowa’s Republican Party, is a committed supporter of Mr. Paul’s.

“The spending. The war. The financial crisis,” Mr. Ivers said recently. “That’s how snowballs develop, you know. They start small, and they get bigger as they roll downhill.”

And while it may seem unlikely that the Republican Party would choose an irascible man in his mid-seventies to be their standard bearer, Mr. Paul tends to shrug off all the second-guessing with an affable humility.

Asked at the debate whether he was suggesting that heroin and prostitution are an “exercise of liberty,” Mr. Paul thought for a moment — clearly recognizing the political trap — and then barreled ahead.

“You put those words someplace. But yes, in essence, if I leave it to the states, it’s going to be up to the states,” Mr. Paul said. “Up until this past century, you know, for over 100 years, they were legal.”

He went on, clearly enjoying himself: “What you’re inferring is, you know what, if we legalized heroin tomorrow, everyone is going to use heroin. How many people here would use heroin if it were legal? I bet nobody would put the hand up, ‘Oh, yeah, I need the government to take care of me, I don’t want to use heroin so I need these laws.’ ”

The sarcasm was evident, and the transcript of the debate accurately captures what happened next: Cheers, applause.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 13, 2011

The Web summary for an earlier version of this post stated incorrectly that this was Ron Paul’s second run for president. He has run three times for president, twice for the Republican nomination and once as the Libertarian Party candidate.

business

Material from: openixxx.ru

Fresh off of an $8.5 million round of funding that was announced earlier today, Acquia co-founder Dries Buytaert is feeling pretty good about the open source business model. The company that he co-founded in 2007 sells software and products that leverage Drupal, the open source project he started in 2000.

Drupal has grown from Buytaert’s experiment with new technologies into a worldwide group project that includes thousands of programmers. The White House, Harvard and MTV all use Drupal to run their sites. Acquia is just one of many companies profiting from the volunteer project.

Buytaert recently spoke with Mashable about the value of open source projects and the role that commercial interests play in their success.

• 1. What do you think makes an open project successful?

  In the case of Drupal, it’s really the community of people who are contributing to the project. We have a large community; we have thousands of developers, and each of those developers helps design modules. Just to give you an idea, we have 7,000 modules on the website. And it’s the fact that all of these people contribute these modules that allows us to get both scale and reach.

• 2. How did you build such a strong community?

  I’ve been working on Drupal for 10 years. There’s no quick-rich formula. It definitely takes a lot of time to build a community. I spent 10 years working on Drupal and getting Drupal where it is today. For us, a big part of building the community was offline events. We started doing meetups for example, and we also started organizing Drupal conferences.

• 3. When you started Drupal, why did you decide to make it an open source project?

  To be honest, it was sort of by accident in a way. I started working on Drupal really for two reasons. One, around the time 10 years ago, I wanted to learn more about PHP and MySQL…And secondly, I had kind of an itch to scratch, which was that I needed a message board. And so I figured I’ll write it with MySQL and PHP so I can learn more about it. And then I started adding to it, restructuring it, changing it to a modular framework. I added a lot of experimental features like blogging. And this was the time when blogging wasn’t really called blogging yet. And so the feature was called public diaries at the time, and RSS feeds were just being defined at the time. In a way, for me Drupal in the early days was an experimental platform to dabble around in different kinds of technologies.

  I built a website with that that was called Drop.org, which was kind of the public-facing site of those experiments. And that attracted an audience of people interested in the future of the web who were excited about the latest and greatest things… At the time, Drop.org worked exactly like Digg works; everybody could submit stories and we could vote on the stories and the best stories would go to the main page. And people started to leave suggestions like, “If you change the algorithm like this and this the voting will work better.” At some point, I basically said, “Thank you for all of the suggestions, but I have my own agenda –- I want to work on the things I want to work on –- but it would be great if you would work on the things that you’re passionate about.” So we decided to make the source code behind my website available as open source.

• 4. If the concept of open source were to disappear tomorrow, how would it affect the Internet?

  I think that would be terrible. Obviously, so much of the Internet is powered by open source. One of the things that we did at Acquia was we built a crawler to crawl all of the websites that exist and do some kind of fingerprinting to see how many of those sites are using Drupal versus WordPress versus Joomla versus a whole bunch of other CMSs. More than 10% of all the websites in the world are run by Drupal, WordPress and Joomla — just these three. And all three are open source CMSs, so if you just count those three CMSs, you would lose 10% of the websites.

  And its not just the CMSs; I mean, most websites run Apache or MySQL. Even in the large companies like Google, even though they may not make available the code behind their search algorithms and stuff, a lot of those things have code that uses open source components. Some of the largest companies in the world are really taking advantage of open source.

• 5. You mentioned some of the other self-publishing websites that are similar to yours. What do you see as Drupal’s niche in CMS?

  I think what sets Drupal apart from the others is that it’s truly a platform. If you look at WordPress, it’s really good at blogging. If you look at Joomla, it’s really good at building smaller, corporate websites. That’s what those technologies excel at. It doesn’t mean they can’t be used in other ways… but I think that Drupal is unique in that it scales from really small to really large on one dimension. There are a lot of people who use Drupal on sort of the $10-per-month hosted accounts, and they use it for blogging, they use it for all sorts of different kinds of things. But also it scales up to some of the largest websites in the world — like the White House website runs on Drupal, which I think would be a stretch on some of these other systems.

  What all of these vendors have in common is that they’re changing the way people run websites. All of these open source CMS systems are really disturbing commercial CMS vendors. We used to win on price, because open source is cheaper, but I think recently we started to win on features as well… And the reason is that the open source development model allows us to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation online. It’s really hard for a commercial organization that has 30 developers or even 50 developers to keep up with the developments on the web. There are new services launching every day. And having a developer community of thousands and thousands of people allows us to keep up with that pace of innovation.

• 6. You’re the leader of Drupal, which is a volunteer open source project, and you’re also the founder of Acquia, which is a company that sells products and services related to Drupal. How do you balance those interests?

  At the end of the day, it’s very easy. What is best for Drupal is going to be best for Acquia. I mean, Acquia will never be a successful company unless Drupal is successful. So our interests are very much aligned.

• 7. You recently wrote a blog post about the role of commercialization in open source projects. What do those interests add or detract from the project?

  One of the things I’ve learned from Drupal is that commercial interests are a really good thing. But they have to be managed properly. For example, I think that the reason Drupal is successful is the community. I think the reason we have such a large community is because so many people make money with Drupal. They use Drupal to build websites for their customers. So it’s a tool that allows people to make money, and because they’re making money with Drupal, they’re invested in the project and they contribute to the project because their business depends on it.

  What that means is that development is often driven by commercial interest. That’s a very good thing because that gives us the velocity that we have. What’s important is that decision making and leadership is not influenced by commercial interests…we need to make decisions based on technical merits, because they’re important for the long-term success of Drupal, not because it’s commercially interesting. And that’s something we’ve always been aware of and I think I’ve always balanced that very well. Every decision with Drupal is discussed in a democratic manner.

What do you make of Buytaert’s comments? Open source in general? His approach to Drupal? Let us know in the comments below.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

– WordPress Founder on the Key to Open Source Success
– 7 Questions With AOL Co-Founder Steve Case
– Yelp Co-Founder on Recovering From Legal Controversy
– 5 Tips for Startup Success From a Co-Founder of HootSuite
– 6 Tips on Starting a Digital Business from the Founder of Pandora

For more Business coverage:

• Follow Mashable Business
• Subscribe to the Business channel
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

AOL Earnings Beat Expectations

AOL has released its Q3 2010 earnings, reporting total revenue of $563.5 million, higher than analyst predictions of $557.04 million. This is good news for AOL CEO Tim Armstrong who has missed his targets in each of the last two quarters.

While AOL’s net income was up, it’s not all sunshine and roses. AOL’s ad revenue continues to tank, down 27% compared to the year ago quarter. Most startling is the company’s international display ad revenues, down more than 54% year-over-year.

AOL also announced that it paid $97.1 million in acquisitions of 5min, TechCrunch and Things Labs.

Former eBay and HP CEO’s Lose Political Bids

The overarching success of Republican candidates in U.S. mid-term elections did not extend to California, not even with former tech CEOs running for office. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman lost the race for governor to Democrat Jerry Brown, and Carly Fiorina — the former CEO of HP — lost her race for the U.S. Senate, being defeated by incumbent Barbara Boxer.

Both women ran loud, glitzy campaigns, buoyed by their own personal fortunes. As VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi notes, “The pedigree of being an executive at a major tech company isn’t necessarily a winning background for California politics.”

The one bright spot for politicians with a Silicon Valley bent is the win by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in his race for lieutenant governor.

Palm Pre 2 Pre-orders May Start November 8

Are you interested in webOS 2.0 and the Palm Pre 2? If you’re a U.S. Verizon customer you might not have long to wait.

The eagle-eyed PreCentral watchers noticed that HP’s FacebookFacebook Page for students noted that pre-orders for the Palm Pre 2 will begin on November 8.

Although HP’s Facebook Page has since been changed to simply say “coming soon” — a November pre-order date would jive with some internal Verizon documents that previously indicated that the next-generation webOS device would hit the U.S. in November.

Other News

• GoogleGoogle E-mails Users About Buzz Settlement — Check your inbox, Google has sent out a message to every Gmailgmail user informing them of the settlement in the class action lawsuit over Google BuzzGoogle Buzz. Our big question: How long before Buzz goes the way of Wave?
• Apple Triples the Length of iTunes Previews — You know that episode of The Office where Michael plays that James Blunt song over and over again and you realize he’s just playing the 30-second iTunes preview? Well, soon Steve Carrell’s hapless manager will be able to enjoy triple the song preview length. Hey, if this doubles again, iTunes might sort of start to resemble Lala!
• Foursquare Businesses Can Oust Cheating Mayors — Hey, dude that never comes into my Starbucks but is inexplicably the mayor, your days are numbered thanks to a new tool Foursquarefoursquare is offering business owners.

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

business

Material from: openixxx.ru

Fatima was 15 when she launched her own business—a construction company in war-torn Afghanistan. On a visit to New York, after graduating from Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women program, she talked about the future of her country, and the challenges ahead.

At an age when other kids have barely graduated from the lemonade stand, Fatima started her own business. She was 15 years old—and headstrong. Not only did she choose a line of work not normally associated with teenage girls—heavy-duty construction work—but she started her company in Afghanistan, the war-torn country where she'd grown up.

Today, eight years later, Fatima—an engaging, clear-spoken woman now 23—employs 76 engineers and construction workers who are spread out across Afghanistan's restive provinces. And although she is reluctant to talk dollars and cents, it is clear that her business—rebuilding her country's roads, among other things—is booming.

Almost a decade into the U.S. occupation, Afghanistan remains a country infested by corruption and riddled by a lack of reliable electricity and infrastructure. There is also the ever-present threat of kidnapping and violence. And for women in Afghanistan, the future is especially uncertain.

“If the U.S. leaves,” Fatima predicted, “the situation will be very bad.”

After a Wednesday luncheon in New York to honor graduates of Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women program in Afghanistan, Fatima spoke on a panel with Dina Powell of Goldman Sachs and Gayle Lemmon, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow and contributor to The Daily Beast.  Tina Brown, founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, moderated the panel.

“It's hard enough to launch a new business anywhere—but try doing it in a place where, thanks to decades of war, pretty much everything is imported, where women are constrained by their culture—frequently not allowed to work outside the home, or travel without a male escort,” Brown said. She added that Fatima and three other Afghan women who took part in the event—Masooda, Malalai, and a second Fatima—had all overcome those obstacles. (The Afghan women could only be identified by their first names because of security concerns.)

“Every morning, stand in front of the mirror and say, 'I am a woman and I am powerful.'”

In Washington, there has been much talk about July 2011—the date that President Barack Obama has set as the deadline for the beginning of American military withdrawal.

But what that means for Afghan women, such as Fatima, is rarely discussed in foreign-policy circles. And women have not been invited to sit at the table during much debated reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, even though one of the original fig leafs for the U.S. invasion was the liberation of Afghan women. As Lemmon wrote recently: “The question Afghan women ask now is: In the world's rush for an exit from their war-scarred nation, will they again lose their rights?”

“It's very, very hard right now,” said Powell, who runs the 10,000 Women campaign, adding that the Afghan women's hope and courage “need to be doubly recognized” because of it.

Doing business in Afghanistan as a woman is complicated not only by security and logistics but also by traditional gender roles. Many women find they have to take on a male business partner as the meet-and-greet required by marketing products carry stigma for a woman—and possible danger. “I get treated as a second-rate person,” said Fatima, later adding that she had not been threatened directly but had received several anonymous emails warning her that it wasn't right for a woman to do what she was doing.

Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for enabling us to bring you the latest social media news and resources. Mashable’s sponsors are as social media savvy as our readers!

Advertise with us and get noticed.

MashableMashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users, venture capitalists, early adopters, developers, bloggers and many more. You’ll receive hundreds of thousands of views per day in addition to weekly recognition as part of our “thank you” to our premium sponsors. Are you interested? Contact us for more information and to receive our media kit and rate card.

This week, our valued sponsors are:

Honda

Material from:http://911p.ru

This past week, as the sun came out after several rain-plagued days, the areas around my Southern California neighborhood were filled again with the usual suspects. They were the runners from all over the city (I'm near one of those “domestic canyons”) including walkers, joggers and their pets, all planning to revel in the welcome early-morning warmth – and poop on my lawn – but soon we were all knocked back into the realities of daily life.

Knocked back by, of all things, Honda and Toyota.

Why, we So Cal-types love Honda and Toyota! It's in the handbook and the contract you sign when you head west across the 405 Freeway! How could this happen – yet again?

New vehicle sales in California, both import and domestic, are not booming yet, but have been on a solidly upward trend in the midst of this “recovery.”

That dancing should have been found, especially, at the national headquarters of both Toyota and American Honda, barely a quarter-mile away from each other. Easy walking distance.

2005's Toyota Highlander; many will visit their birth dealerships over the next month or so.

As you read this, it may be the weekend: so for those of you near the 110 and 405 Freeways, start the eggs, play with the kids, take Fido and Fluffy for a stroll… and warm-up the engines.

Specifically, the engine in the Honda and/or Toyota minivan/crossover you've been driving faithfully since you bought it between 2004 and 2007 (depending on the model). Why? Because you're going back to your dealer.

You see, there's another, uh, recall.

Pack the little ones, too, because you're probably going to stop at some fast food place. Heck, the dealer might even have fast food in his store! You know how eager they are to please these days!

But, yes, you've guessed it. Some of the people who engineer our massively complicated cars and trucks seem to have blown it… again.

Both Toyota and Honda consider their respective situations serious enough that they are instituting “voluntary recalls,” which are basically what a smart car company does right before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decides to do it for you.

And here are the recall totals (announced so far): about 1.5 million worldwide for Toyota (728,544 in the US). Honda? They're saying about a half-million total Odyssey minivans and Acrua RL sedans will get caught-up in the excitement.

There are a bunch of other vehicles from these two which might be involved as well. Here's the Miami Herald list as of October 21 of the affected cars sold by Toyota and Honda in the U.S. (the number of cars on either list might shrink or grow).

What might happen this time out for two of the world's top auto companies? And their customers? Your brakes could fail.

From the Department of Irony: last recall time, on the Toyotas, the cars would not stop accelerating. Now, the accelerator works fine, but the braking could be seriously, even dangerously, degraded.

So why all the hubbub for something which seems (and is, in reality) a list of very simple symptoms, fast diagnosis and fix? Any 17-year-old high school auto shop student should have been able to spot this one coming down the road (even smell it coming — no joking).

Brian Lyons, Toyota's Director of Safety and Quality Communications, told me that both the Toyota and Honda problem, as similar as they seem, could be related to the same parts coming from the same supplier. This weekend is only the most recent of 16 recalls for Toyota garnering worldwide attention.

And while nothing has been officially announced, don't be surprised if a company called “Advics” in Aichi Prefecture (state), Japan, becomes water cooler talk over the next few weeks (then just magically goes away); they might supply both Honda and Toyota with the same offending parts.

Here's what they think causes the trouble for both companies (based on, Lyons told us, the research they've done so far, and from Toyota's point of view): Brake fluid is bubbling and leaking out of the brake system's master cylinder, degrading the fluid, making the brake pedal feel spongy (you know that feeling) and possibly robbing stopping power from the system as a whole.

Has Toyota gotten a little “once bitten, twice shy” when it comes to their own in-house investigations? That fluid is the single key ingredient vital to stopping the car; it needs to be as free as possible from any air and/or other contamination. Brake fluid (aka hydraulic fluid) is created with special properties (“Straight to the laboratory, Igor!”), including the ability to not absorb moisture. When water gets in, braking ability gets out.

Around five years ago, the first reports of “spongy brake pedals” started trickling into Japan's Toyota dealerships. Then more and more reports, though there's been a slowing in the most-recent time period.

This 2006 Acura RL is feeling the Call of the Congress… well, maybe not yet

Toyota says that's probably because dealers and/or customers have been making their own “fix” and/or owners are pouring in upgraded, thicker brake fluid on their own, which can work for a time. It's like using thicker engine oil to cut back on leaks out of an engine's top end… but kids, please don't try this at home.

Toyota, it must be said, stepped right up to the plate (once, that is, they felt they actually had something to say).

Toyota was using different brake system parts and fluids from one supplier. The problem was showing up in one of the master cylinders on the cars, using a specific, single type of brake fluid (of the two Toyota was using in these cars).

This time out, Toyota found the fluid in one kind of cylinder contained polymers (extremely sophisticated lubricants) of a certain type and quality.

After a time following purchase, this brake fluid's level was dropping, the brake warning light came on, some people visited their dealers and a fix was developed. And all was well with the world and master cylinders. Ignore the light (admit it — you've done that!), and the fluid leaked more and dropped to a point where the pedal gets spongy and the potential for a failing hydraulic system is possible.

This all gets very complicated as there are questions about all the cars affected by the recall. Do they merely lose their anti-lock brake systems, whereupon everything reverts back to simple, safely-working hydraulics? And what about the high-techy brake-by-wire systems?

All this will come to light as the story unfolds.

One thing in Toyota's favor: they got right out in front of this one, taking the lead in “coverage” of “their problem.” Toyota's Safety Communication Manager Lyons told me right off the bat during our lengthy conversation that, “We never stop investigations in our systems,” and even if it's ultimately found the problem lies with the brake system or fluid manufacturer, these types of things are “not supplier based, but ours.”

And there will be stories. Remember when Toyota felt it necessary to trot out 54-year-old Akio Toyoda, grandson to company founder Kiichiro? Even his kind of money and power could not fully protect him from the wrath of a vengeful U.S. Congress just wanting to talk!

Again, the fix takes two hours, is absolutely free and involves new fluid, one small part and odds and ends.

All dealers ask is you make a reservation with them; you and the dealer should determine absolutely that your car is among the damned… uh, I mean, recalled.

Registered owners will begin getting those dreaded recall notices within the next two weeks. Don't wait; be aggressive. Call today or go to www.NHTSA.gov, armed with your vehicle's VIN. If you don't know what that is, Google “Finding VIN” and you'll get more info than you need (or want). Then follow the instructions.

More than a hint of arrogance was, unfortunately, whiffing through the campfire the past two days, familiar to any journalist who has spent 45 minutes, much less 45 years, covering the worldwide auto industry.

Some reports today (Saturday) said PR reps from both Toyota and Honda essentially blamed the entire problem on the car-owners: (from Chris Woodyard, USA Today): “…this recall was unusual in that both automakers said the problem wouldn't occur if owners had simply followed automakers' recommendations to use only their branded brake fluid.”

So now they're telling us where to shop, too?

I don't care if it might even be true. It's a stupid thing to say and way below the standards to which both these companies have adhered that have allowed them to lead the way.

Saturn used to throw BBQs at their recalls. Whatever happened to those days? Oh, yeah… there's no more Saturn.

American Honda Announces Release of the Much-Anticipated CB1000R

Torrance, CA: American Honda Motor Company's Powersports Division announced to its dealers today the release of the CB1000R, a high-performance and versatile “naked bike.”

“Last week we introduced the all-new entry-level CBR250R and we're just as excited about this addition to Honda's lineup for 2011,” said Powersports Press Manager Bill Savino. “The CB1000R fills a great position in today's market as we now bring a very capable sport machine packed with high-performance features to riders who focus on street use-wherever and whatever their destination may be. Whether it's a quick trip down a favorite backroad, a weeklong ride through a few states, or anything in between, the CB1000R is versatile enough to do it all.”

More detailed information and images of Honda's model line can be found on powersports.honda.com or see your local Honda powersports dealer.

- CB1000R: A Distinctive High-Performance Honda

When you look at the new CB1000R, you see a motorcycle with roots that stretch back to the seminal four-cylinder classic CB750K0 introduced by Honda in 1969. Yet at the same time the CB1000R carries a sporting heritage so modern that it will attract many of today's most sophisticated and demanding street riders.

Credit its clean, essentials-only styling, and a fuel-injected four-cylinder 998cc powerplant tuned for loads of right-now power. Sophisticated Gravity Die-Cast technology creates a mono-backbone aluminum frame that is strong yet features thin-wall construction for light weight. The distinctive single-sided aluminum swingarm features a single rear shock with spring preload and rebound-damping adjustability for excellent rear suspension action. And there's a fully adjustable 43mm inverted fork and radial-mounted dual 310mm disc brakes up front. Perhaps best of all, the roomy seating position delivers excellent rider comfort and tremendous versatility for long-distance travel and two-up riding. With all these features and more, the 2011 CB1000R is the most modern iteration of a long line of much-respected high-performance unfaired four-cylinder bikes-the classic hot-rod Hondas. Available in Pearl Black beginning in Spring 2011.

2011 Specifications

Model: CB1000R

Engine Type: 998cc liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder

Bore and Stroke: 75mm x 56.5mm

Compression ratio: 11.2:1

Valve Train: DOHC; four valves per cylinder

Induction: PGM-FI Fuel Injection with automaticenrichment circuit and 36mm throttle bodies

Ignition: Computer-controlled digital transistorized with 3-D mapping

Transmission: Close-ratio six-speed

Final Drive: #530 O-ring chain

Suspension
Front: 43mm inverted HMAS cartridge fork with spring preload, rebound and compression damping adjustability; 4.7 inches travel
Rear: Single gas-charged HMAS shock with spring preload and rebound damping adjustability;
5.0 inches travel

Brakes
Front: Dual radial-mounted four-piston calipers with 310mm discs
Rear: Single 256mm disc

Tires
Front: 120/70ZR-17 radial
Rear: 180/55ZR-17 radial

Wheelbase: 56.9 inches

Rake (Caster Angle): 25.0°

Trail: 99mm (3.9 inches)

Seat Height: 32.5 inches

Fuel Capacity: 4.5 gallons, including 1.0-gallon reserve

Color: Pearl Black

Curb Weight*: TBD

*Includes all standard equipment, required fluids and full tank of fuel-ready to ride.

Meets current EPA standards.

Models sold in California meet current CARB standards and may differ slightly due to emissions equipment.

Formula 1

Material from:http://911p.ru

They used to be each other's competition, and now Fernando Alonso leads the Championship…

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

When I say Red Bull, you think what?

Energy drink? Formula 1 team(s)? Mobile phone provider? Hanger 7? Purveyor of sexy parties?

Red Bull, is many things, but Formula 1 Champions they are not. 

It seems Austria’s answer to the Playboy brand is at an impasse. After years of having their logos adorn the mid-pack Sauber, and (briefly), former back-markers Arrows, they find themselves at the cusp winning both the drivers’ and the constructors’ championship.

And they’re doing it with their own team.

It was only six seasons ago that Red Bull Racing emerged from the ashes of what was once Jaguar Racing (In what actually started out as Stewart Grand Prix). Apart from an increased number of sexy parties and charming ladies in the paddock, nobody was sure what to expect from the team.

One thing was for certain, unlike other independent constructors, they had the money to buy success.

But would they spend it wisely?

Red Bull started off by revolutionizing the concept of the mobile hospitality unit. Unlike other teams, whose units can be as depressing as two trailers joined by a cheap canopy, Red Bull introduced one with both a patio and a swimming pool.

That’s well and fun, but keeping your partners refreshed and slightly drunk means nothing for on-track performance.

Red Bull is also on their third engine supplier in six seasons. They grandfathered in Cosworth from the old Jaguar days, dropped them for Ferrari, and then passed the Ferrari onto the juniors at Toro Rosso in favour of a Renault.

There were even reports that Red Bull was looking to swap Renault for Mercedes this season.

If they had pulled this off, then Red Bull would have had the distinguished honor of being the only team to have been powered by every single active engine supplier on the current grid.

Was there any truth to the Mercedes rumour? Probably, but don’t utter this around Vettel. I’m sure he’s wondering where he’d be in the points if he had said engine behind him. 

A long with changing engines like spoiled rich kids, Red Bull made their biggest coup d'état when they signed renowned designer, Adrian Newey. Ironically, it was Red Bull predecessor, Jaguar, who had once unsuccessfully tried to sign him. 

The combination of Newey and Renault seemed to work. And why wouldn’t it? Look what it did for Williams back in the 90s. 

But this success has come at a price. There are two Grand Prix remaining and Red Bull needs to decide once and for all which driver they are going to support.

Christian Horner has gone on record by saying they’ll keep supporting both drivers. This, of course, is all BS. If Horner were to say the opposite, then that would “suggest” team orders, which of course are banned in Formula 1.

And if he were to say this then it’s almost a given that Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo would have the FIA throw the book at Red Bull, even though the FIA should proactively feed Ferrari the same section before every Grand Prix.

Red Bull needs to look at the facts: Massa will support Alonso, and Button, even though he still has delusions of 2009, will no doubt be told to do the same thing for Hamilton. And yes, I do realize that McLaren is saying otherwise, but refer to the previous paragraph on why no team can be open about this.

If Red Bull is serious about winning this championship, then they need to come to a decision soon.

Time isn’t something they have, as Alonso can actually clinch this weekend.

To do this, though, he’ll need Webber to hit a wall, and for Vettel’s Renault to say, “Au revoir.”

Don’t laugh; there’s a good chance this could happen.

Would you like to have these great bargains delivered right to your inbox? Join over 60,000 fellow deal seekers and subscribe to Deal Seeking Mom. Also become a fan of Deal Seeking Mom on Facebook for more conversation, additional deals and a peek at the freebies I receive in the mail. Thanks for visiting!

Rite Aid has refreshed the Video Values coupons with lots of new printable coupons, including a new $4 off $20 Rite Aid purchase coupon that I’m sure will come in handy this month.

November Video Values Coupons:

• $5/1 Accu-Chek Aviva Meter
• $5/1 Accu-Chek Comp Plus Meter
• $2/1 Activation Fee
• $1/1 Advil Cold and Sinus (10-40 ct.) and Advil Congestion Relief
• $1/1 Aleve (40 ct.+)
• $1/1 Alka Seltzer Plus
• $2/1 Almay Intense I-Color Collection
• $5/1 Bayer Contour Meter
• $4/1 Bayer Contour USB Meter
• $1/1 Benefiber
• $1/2 Betty Crocker Mashed Potatoes
• $1/1 Biggest Loser Shape Wear
• Buy 50 greeting cards and get 25 Free (Value $13.00)
• $2/1 Chia “Prove to Be”
• $1/1 Children's Advil (4 oz.)
• $2/1 Classic Pen Set
• $0.50/1 Clorox Items
• $1/1 Colgate 360 Toothbrush
• $1/1 Colgate Total products (4.0 oz.+)
• $1/2 Cottonelle Moist Wipes (42 ct.)
• $0.55/1 Darrell Lea Liquorice (7 oz.)
• $0.50/1 Del Monte Pears, Peaches or College Inn Chicken Broth
• $2/1 Discovery Kids Play Tent
• $1/2 Dove Chocolate
• $1/1 Ensure Muscle Health
• $1/1 Ester C
• $1/1 Finish or Lysol Products
• Free FlavoRX Flavoring for Children's Liquid Medication from the Pharmacy
• Free Freestyle Lite Blood Glucose Monitor (19.99 Value) When you Buy Freestyle Lite Test Strips 50ct.
• $2/1 Fructis Anti-Dandruff items
• $1/1 Fructis Color Shield Shampoo, Conditioner (13 oz. and 25.4 oz.) or Color Shield Leave-in Gel
• $5/1 Fructis Sleek and Shine Blow Dry Perfector Kit
• $2/1 Garnier Herbashine Hair Color
• $2/1 Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Care
• $2/2 GE Reveal bulbs
• $0.50/1 Glad Items
• $1/1 Glucerna
• $1/1 Greenworks Items
• $0.50/1 Hall's (30 ct.)
• $1/1 Hershey Kisses Bagged Candy
• $1/1 Hershey's Candy Pouch
• $0.50/1 Holt Hosiery diabetic or compression socks
• $0.50/1 Hormel Bacon Bits
• $0.50/1 Hormel Chili or Corned Beef Hash
• $0.50/1 Icebreak Tin
• $1/1 Imodium
• $1/3 Kleenex Facial Tissue
• $2/1 Kusyfoot item
• $0.30/1 Libby's Fruit
• $5/1 Luster Whitening System (1 pc.)
• $7/1 Magnivision MicroVision Reading Glass
• $2/1 Maybelline Cosmetic Item
• $1/1 Monster Spinning Car
• $1/1 Motrin PM (20-80 ct.)
• $1/1 Mucinex
• $3/1 MultiClix Lancets (102 ct.)
• $0.50/1 Nabisco Cookies
• $2/1 Nature Made Item
• $2/1 Nature Made Natural Sleep Aid (30 ct.)
• $10/1 Neuragen (0.5 oz.)
• $5/1 Neuragen Gel (0.28 oz.)
• $5/1 Neuragen PN (0.17 oz.)
• $4/$20 non prescription purchase when you earn 20 Video Credits
• $1/1 Non-Prescription Purchase
• $1/1 Non-Prescription Purchase
• $5/1 One Touch Delica Lancet (100 ct.)
• $3/1 Osteo Bi-Flex Item
• $2/1 Ove Glove
• $1/1 Passport Photo
• $1/1 Phillips Items
• $1/2 Progresso Soups
• $1/1 RA M5 Magnum Razor or Refill (4 ct.) or Disposable (3 ct.)
• $2/1 Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipcolor
• $2/1 Revlon PhotoReady Makeup
• $1/1 Rite Aid Loratadine (30 ct.) or Loratadine-D (15 ct.)
• $5/1 Rite Aid TrueTest Strips (50 ct.)
• $2/1 Rite Aid Tugaboos Infant Formula Powders
• $1/1 Rite Aid Tugaboos Large Size Baby Wipes (184-240 ct.)
• $1/1 Scott Bath Tissue (12 pk.)
• $5/1 Shakira Fragrance Item or Shakira Fragrance Gift Set
• $0.25/1 Skittles
• $1/4 Snickers Marathon Bars
• $1/5 Soy Joy Bars
• $1/1 Stainguard Deodorant
• $1/1 Sundown
• $1/1 Thermacare
• $1/1 Tylenol Cold Cough (8 oz.)
• $0.30/1 Uncle Bens Rice
• $5/1 Vicks Vaporizers and Humidifiers

Since Video Values coupons are considered Rite Aid store coupons, they can be stacked with manufacturer’s coupons for even bigger savings!

Corrie from “Cents”able Momma is the Deal Seeking Mom Store Expert for Rite Aid. At “Cents”able Momma, she helps others be “able” to save their “cents” by sharing great deals, coupons, freebies, money saving tips, and even a few methods to earn a little extra money.

book

Material from:
Self Publish Children's Book

Wall Street Journal Starting a Book Review Section

The Wall Street Journal is really taking this “anything the New York Times does we can do better” fantasy very seriously! The latest shot across the NYT's bow: a WSJ book review section. Is the world ready for that?

John Koblin reports that the section will be headed by New York Sun vet Robert Messenger, and will launch within the “next few weeks.”

The book review will be a pull-out section that will be inserted in one of the newly created sections for The Weekend Journal that will launch later this month. It is unclear how many pages will be dedicated to the new book review, but one source said it will be “significant”

• Well, this is good for books, and authors, and book readers, and especially the book publishing industry!
• But does it make any business sense? Most of America's major papers save the NYT have folded their book review sections in the past few years. Rupert Murdoch is clearly willing to throw money at the WSJ in order to try to grab market share from the NYT—witness the launch of the WSJ's New York section, an expensive and probably unnecessary endeavor from a strictly bean-counting perspective.
• Let's clarify that: it doesn't make financial sense at all in the short term. And Murdoch certainly doesn't care. And if Kindles and their kin lead to a new explosion in book-reading over the next decade, this will look prescient. But it won't put the NYT out of business.
• Also good if you write book reviews! Pitch em! Drink from the trough of a billionaire's ambition, while you can!

Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.

DOMESTIC use of SPY Satellites
Law Enforcement gets new access to secret imagery

“The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.

A program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security will allow broader domestic use of secret overhead imagery beginning as early as this fall, with the expectation that state and local law enforcement officials will eventually be able to tap into technology once largely restricted to foreign surveillance.

Administration officials say the program will give domestic security and emergency preparedness agencies new capabilities in dealing with a range of threats, from illegal immigration and terrorism to hurricanes and forest fires. But the program, described yesterday by the Wall Street Journal, quickly provoked opposition from civil liberties advocates, who said the government is crossing a well-established line against the use of military assets in domestic law enforcement.”

cont…
—
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502430.html

writers

Material from:

Book Publishing Service

Which ebook sellers will allow publishers and writers to opt out of DRM?

Cory Doctorow at 11:22 PM Sunday, Aug 29, 2010

My August Publishers Weekly column reports in on my experiment to see which of the major ebook stores would carry my books without DRM, and with a text disclaimer at the beginning that released readers from the crazy, abusive license agreements that most of these stores demand as a condition of purchase. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo were all happy to carry my books without DRM, and on terms that gave you the same rights you got when buying paper editions. Sony and Apple refused to carry my books without DRM — even though my publisher and I both asked them to.

The upshot is that you can now buy electronic editions of my books in the Kindle, Nook and Kobo stores in DRM-free, EULA-free editions!

In May, I cornered Macmillan CEO John Sargent and CTO Fritz Foy at the Macmillan BEA party. As the publishers of my books with Tor, I asked them if they'd be willing to try offering my e-books to all the major online booksellers–Amazon's Kindle store, Apple's iPad store, Barnes & Noble's Nook store, Sony's e-book store, and Kobo–as DRM-free products with the following text inserted at the beginning of the file:

“If the seller of this electronic version has imposed contractual or technical restrictions on it such that you have difficulty reformatting or converting this book for use on another device or in another program, please visit http://craphound.com for alternate, open format versions, authorized by the copyright holder for this work, Cory Doctorow. While Cory Doctorow cannot release you from any contractual or other legal obligations to anyone else that you may have agreed to when purchasing this version, you have his blessing to do anything that is consistent with applicable copyright laws in your jurisdiction.”

As I explained to John and Fritz, although all my books are available as downloads for free, I often hear from readers who want to buy them, either because it is a simple way to compensate me (I also maintain a public list of schools and libraries who've solicited copies of my books so that grateful e-book readers can purchase and send a print copy to one of them, thus repaying my favor and doing a good deed at the same time) or because they like the no-hassle option of tapping on their device to buy a book. I am more than happy to offer my otherwise free books for sale in any vendor's store, of course, but only if the vendors agree to carry them on terms I feel I can stand behind as an entrepreneur, as an artist, and as a moral actor.

Doctorow's First Law

6:02 p.m. | Updated Starting a search for literary gold, officials from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research combed through the cluttered Bronx apartment of the esteemed Yiddish writer Chaim Grade on Tuesday to determine how to move his manuscripts and other papers to the institute’s headquarters for examination by five scholarly groups.

Mr. Grade’s widow, Inna Hecker Grade, died in May without a clear will or immediate survivors, throwing into question the disposition of the valuable papers of her husband, who died in 1982. The apartment was taken over by the Bronx public administrator’s office, which invited four and eventually five institutions to examine the papers, including YIVO.

But according to Jay Ziffer, a lawyer for the public administrator, the second-floor apartment, just south of Van Cortlandt Park, lacked air-conditioning and was so dusty that the office decided to have the papers shipped to YIVO headquarters on West 16th Street in Manhattan where the five institutions can perform a painstaking review more comfortably. (Besides YIVO, the institutions are the New York Public Library, the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., Harvard University through its Yiddish scholar Ruth R. Wisse, and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.) Despite the work it is doing now, YIVO may not end up being the ultimate repository of the Grade collection.

Taking his first look at the apartment, Jonathan Brent, YIVO’s executive director, said papers were discovered in suitcases, bureau drawers and wrapped packages. “It looks like the apartment of a great writer, a tremendous literary mind, but there’s a pathos about the decrepitude and poverty and lack of air,” he said.

On a visit Tuesday, the apartment looked more like the stacks of a university library than a home. A conservator hired by YIVO, Ursula Mitra, estimated that there were 15,000 to 20,000 books in the apartment. She spent the day examining a sample of them to determine if there was mold or any bugs that might infest the YIVO collection.

Glowing with scholar’s elation at having made a rare find, Mr. Brent said the collection revealed Mr. Grade’s intellectual breadth and his desire to make a place for himself on the world stage, despite writing in a language with relatively few readers. The library contains volumes of Talmudic analysis and Yiddish translation of Schopenhauer and Spinoza as well as classics in English by Joyce, Proust and Trollope, but also such curiosities as “Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.”

“As a Yiddish writer he is trying to position himself with writers like Faulkner,” Mr. Brent said of Mr. Grade. “This is not the collection of a recluse. It is a collection of a writer with tremendous intellectual ambition.”

The YIVO team has so far unearthed a dozen file boxes of original manuscripts for some of Mr. Grade’s novels, stories and poems as well as correspondence, but said it was too early to determine if there was an unpublished manuscript among the papers. They did find a handwritten elegy Mr. Grade had written for one of his yeshiva mentors.

For more than two decades after Mr. Grade’s death, his widow repulsed efforts to translate or publish his works or even comb through his papers. She found reasons to object to almost every candidate. That is why her death has produced such interest among the rarefied world of Yiddish scholars.

story

Material from:finanseuro.ru

The story of Juaquin Hawkins's life changed in a single day, when he suffered a stroke and could no longer play professional basketball for the NBA.

Hawkins was able to physically heal from the stroke, but had not psychologically healed from the crisis. The story he was telling himself — and that he and his family were living — became: If I'm not a basketball player, I'm nothing.

“That breakthrough moment is when you find yourself changing your story,” says Tony Robbins. “In life there are events and there is the story of the event. And the story we come up with can either empower us or disempower us.”

The best way to break out of your story, he says, is to get yourself to do something that your story says you can't.

In episode three of “Breakthrough” (watch the full episode here), Robbins helps Hawkins change his perception and radically rewrite his story. He sent Hawkins to live in a Figi village with no phones or electricity, where they sleep on the floor and perform hard manual labor for a day's meal.

Even without a personal coach or tropical resort, you can apply this basic strategy to your life: overcome your self inflicted limitations by changing the story you tell yourself. It may be up to you to attempt something you never thought possible. Or maybe it means listening to the encouragement of friends and family, rather than shutting them out behind the echo of “I can't.”

“I was thinking about all the negative things then, but now I'm thinking about nothing but what I can do for my future,” Hawkins says. “I can't even wait to get up in the morning.”

A Story About Woz and Jobs, Actual Partners in Crime

When Steve Jobs singled out Steve Wozniak as his “partner in crime” at yesterday's event, he wasn't just speaking figuratively. Here's Woz recounting the time he, Jobs, and the infamous Captain Crunch got picked up by the police for phreaking.

And here's Jobs' take, recalling the Blue Box era with decidedly less drama. Though he does claim, true to form, that the box he and Woz made was “the best one in the world,” going on to describe it, no joke, as “magical.” Some things never change!

Big hat tip to Jason Kottke for digging up these highly enjoyable clips.

Send an email to Kyle VanHemert, the author of this post, at kvanhemert@gizmodo.com.

poem

Material from:

Book Publishing Service

Men and women in long black, hooded robes, likely to be found chanting in the vicinity of ancient runes. Words like “eldritch” come into play. Gibbous, even. You know exactly what you're dealing with: a crazy cult infestation, and man, once they get into your basement you can try going at them with traps and poison but eventually you just know you're going to have to fumigate.

–>