Thursday, July 2, 2009

Y! Alert: The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

Dr. Josh Dines and Dr. Rock Positano: Jumpers knee affects tennis players Top
As Federer battled in London to earn a record 15th grand slam title, his timing could not have been better. Rafa Nadal, the Wimbledon defending champion and tireless groundstroker, had been plagued by chronic patellar tendonitis that has forced his withdrawal from the tournament this year. Since 2002, Nadal has experienced persistent anterior knee pain and bilateral patellar tendinitis that has limited the durability for his tireless style of year-round play. Patellar tendinitis, affectionately known as jumper's knee, is an overuse injury that most commonly affects the patellar tendon where it attaches to the inferior aspect of the patella (or knee cap). The repetitive, often explosive forces imposed by the quadriceps muscle on the patella can precipitate microtears and degeneration at the tendon's attachment to the patella. Unfortunately, the microtears and associated inflammation exceed the body's intrinsic capacity to heal the injury until the provocative activities are stopped. Some evidence suggests that some athletes with "long" kneecaps and a prominent inferior pole may be predisposed to injury secondary to impingement of the tendon with knee flexion. While basketball players are perhaps most vulnerable to this injury, athletes of virtually every sport can be affected. Males appear to be slightly more affected than females, although a variety of extrinsic factors appear to play a role in developing this injury, including playing on hard surfaces or training for excessively long periods of time. Athletes with patellar tendinitis will usually complain of anterior knee pain. There is focal tenderness at the inferior pole of the patella with the knee in extension. Despite the chronic inflammation, the knee is rarely swollen. The discomfort, however, can diminish the strength of the quadriceps, limiting mobility and potentially predisposing to secondary injuries. Magnetic resonance images or ultrasound of the proximal tendon typically confirms the diagnosis, demonstrating degenerative changes and characteristics of overuse injury. The mainstay of treatment for patellar tendinitis is predicated on rest of the extensor mechanism and the avoidance of all provocative activities. Unfortunately, healing of the microtears can often take months. Chopat straps or braces may provide symptomatic relief by theoretically unloading the tendon. After pain has resolved, physiotherapy focuses on strengthening of the quadriceps and balancing the force couple with the hamstring muscles. In rare circumstances, pain may persist despite these measures. Recently, platelet rich plasma or PRP, has been used in recalcitrant cases. This involves drawing the patients own blood and spinning it down on a centrifuge to isolate the growth factors responsible for the healing process. These growth factors are then injected into the site of the tendonitis to enhance the bodies own healing process. Though it is a newer treatment option, we have had a good degree of success using PRP for this indication thus far. When all conservative measures fail, surgery can be a successful option. Surgery focuses on excision of the damaged portions of the tendon with or without the distal pole of the patella to relieve the inflammation and/or impingement and stimulate a healing response. For Nadal to miss his chance to defend his Wimbledon title, he is clearly in a significant amount of pain from the tendonitis. Hopefully it will respond to the conservative treatment options in time for the US Open Series.
 
Lloyd Garver: A Straight-Shooting Pastor Top
Whenever I write a column about guns, I get at least a few responses from people who don't call me names, who use proper grammar, and present their arguments in a reasonable manner. So when I heard that a pastor in Louisville, Kentucky had a "Bring Your Gun To Church Day" last Saturday (June 27th) I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't easy. (Before you start firing your angry emails at me, let me make a few things clear: I'm not saying this was illegal, and I'm not calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. I'm trying to understand why a pastor would want guns in church, because well, it seems a tad inappropriate to me). I spoke to Pastor Ken Pagano of the New Bethel Church, and he seemed like a nice, intelligent guy who just happens to think guns are a very important American tradition, an excellent means of self-defense, and are not out of place in a church. He pointed out to me that you could see paintings of ancient, medieval, and Revolutionary times in which people who were at church had weapons with them. I reminded him that there were many things that were done hundreds of years ago that aren't done today - like sacrificing goats, having slaves, and avoiding baths. I had read that people were supposed to bring unloaded guns to the church. He clarified this. If you didn't have a license to carry a concealed weapon, you could bring a "cold" (unloaded and holstered) gun. If you legally could carry a concealed weapon, of course, you could bring that gun. Pastor Pagano said that since concealed weapons are concealed, he had no idea how many people in church were armed. And all these guns make the pastor feel safer for his congregation. Obviously, it's an individual thing, but would you feel the calm and peace that you want in a house of worship, knowing that some of the people around you might be carrying hidden guns? A house of worship is not just a building like any other, as Pagano implied before the gun gala. That's one of the reasons why when there is violence in a church, a synagogue, or a mosque that it may seem that much more disturbing to us than when it happens on the street or in a bar. A sanctuary is a special place. That's why they call it a sanctuary. I'm no expert on Christianity, but I believe Jesus was known as the Prince of Peace, not the Prince of Carrying A Piece. One of the purposes of the event was to celebrate the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. The pastor feels the church was an appropriate place to do that. I pointed out that since he loved the Constitution and American traditions so much, what about the "separation of church and state?" Is a church really an appropriate place for making a political statement about weapons? Here's another thought: How would people have reacted if an Imam at an American mosque asked people to bring guns to a service? In fact, how would those same people who went to Pagano's church have reacted? Would they have said, "Good for those Second Amendment-loving Muslims. America needs more Muslims to be carrying guns?" Uh, probably not all of them would have said that. Some would have condemned the act: "You see what a violent people they are? Muslims even bring guns into their house of worship!" But if it takes place in the New Bethel Church in Louisville, Kentucky, it's okay? I had my Bar Mitzvah in a temple in Chicago which, coincidentally, was also called Beth El. Perhaps it's a geographic or a cultural thing, but I can't imagine anyone bringing guns to a service at the Beth El I went to. Maybe some people might sneak in half a sandwich, maybe someone would carry in a picture of that good-looking guy their daughter's engaged to, but a gun? No way. So I guess for me it comes back to inappropriateness. In Hebrew, "Beth El" means, "House of God." It doesn't mean, "House of Guns" in any language. Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from "Sesame Street" to "Family Ties" to "Home Improvement" to "Frasier." He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He can be reached at lloydgarver@gmail.com . Check out his website at lloydgarver.com and his podcasts on iTunes.
 
Karen Luniw: Where is He? Where is She? How to Attract the Love of Your Life Top
Where is who? (I know, you're probably asking that question right now!) Where is the man or woman of my dreams?!!! Heavens to betsy, I have been doing everything right (haven't I?) to attract that elusive being that is going to make all my dreams come true! Now, where the heck are they? I'm getting tired of this and something has gotta give. (insert sound of exasperation here) At least once a week I get emailed a question and statement along these lines. Long days and nights getting to you? I hear you -- I've been there and it was one of the most excruciatingly tough emotional times of my life. By the way, it was also one of the most fun times of my life...how does that work? You know what it's like, you have your single friends and you have your couple friends. Your single friends are the light of your life -- they're available to have fun with and to cry on their shoulder -- they're always there for you. Until they're not. (Insert new boyfriend or girlfriend here.) On the flip side, you have your couple friends who serve a dual purpose. They offer the hope of couple-dom, two peas in a pod that were meant for each other -- just what you're looking for, wishing for....praying for!! Some of your couple friends also serve as poster children for the type of relationship you don't want. These friends are always there for you, too, except when they're doing couple things with other couples. Hrumph. It's in the 'tween zone when your friends aren't available, it's night time or they are not quite enough to keep you distracted from what's missing. A-ha! When we start to focus on what's missing and then start letting all those little negative thoughts creep in (insert 'I'm not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, skinny enough, young enough...blah, blah, blah) such as fear, doubt and worry, we start shifting our energy. This shift in energy is NOT GOOD! And, more importantly, none of it is true!! Did you hear me? Oh, what was that? Riiiiiight, I wasn't sure if I heard that right or not, but I think I heard you arguing for your perceived limitations. You really don't want to go there with me! At all!! With the Law of Attraction, when we're focusing on lack, in this case the lack of the relationship, guess what we get more of? You got it...we witness (and create) more lack. When we start to fear we'll be alone forever, what will be attract? Exactly! More opportunities to be alone. You see, we can only take actions that are in alignment with our thoughts, feelings and beliefs. If we believe we're not attractive, we'll act unattractive. If we believe we're too old, we'll act too old. If we believe the right person isn't here, we'll act as if they're nowhere to be found. How do you shift from the reality that the love of your life isn't in front of your face? I talk about this a lot in my book Attraction in Action and here are some tips you can use today... 1. Give up . LOL. I know, not your regular advice, huh? Hear me out, though! No, I'm not asking you to give up hope that you'll find someone to share your days and nights with...not at all. Rather, I encourage you to give up the chase and expect that the right person will show up at the right time. After all, we're talking about the Law of Attraction, not the Law of Chasing. 2. Get a life . Shift from the feeling that everything will be better 'when' your Brad Pitt or Megan Fox look-a-like shows up and move to living your life and having fun NOW. Don't put off your fun - that alone, will make you far more attractive. Neediness is just not cool. Being needed...cool. Remember in my comment above that I mentioned that my single days were excruciatingly tough and fun. It's true...after a point, I just decided to have fun, to heck with it. Why not? It was at that point that I had this thought often "Wow, I'm having more fun than anyone has a right to!". I'm not suggesting going out and being an over-the-top party girl (boy) but rather choosing what fun means to you and then going and doing it. When you allow yourself that time to get to know yourself that much better, you're more likely to attract the person you truly want AND deserve. Click here for the Podcast version More on Happiness
 
Noel Alumit: Letter to a Recent High School Graduate Top
Dear Norbert, Congratulations on completing high school. You did it! I saw the pictures you posted on Facebook. You look happy amidst your other high school chums. You were among the thousands and thousands of young people who graduated last month. It's an important right of passage. I graduated high school in 1986 and remember throwing my cap into the air. It was such a feeling of incredible glee and freedom. In 1986, you weren't even born then. I did not know that I would have a much younger cousin. Indeed, back then there was a lot I did not know. I did not know there would be such a world as this. I did not know in 1986 that I would witness the inauguration of our first black president so quickly. I knew it would eventually happen. I just didn't think it would happen so soon in my lifetime. I thought I might see it at 61 not 41. I was born in 1968, the year that Martin Luther King was assassinated. The year I graduated was the first year that the United States observed the first MLK holiday. I do believe people are willing to look past superficial details like skin color if your character is in good working order. Mr. King hoped that we will not be judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. I hope you strive to better your character at every opportunity. As you embark on a new chapter in your life, I hope news of late hasn't depressed you. Iran is experiencing civil unrest due to their political situation. People took to the streets of Tehran. It's inspiring seeing people protesting the powers that be, hoping for a better life. In 1986, Norbert, it was the country of our lineage, The Philippines, that experienced similar trials. People took to the streets of Manila to protest President Ferdinand Marcos. The people had their way and Marcos had to flee. Even in the most difficult times never forget that you have a voice and have the power to change things. At the very least, vote wisely. You are now of voting age. Don't just vote for yourself, vote for the generation before and after you. I like to think that my time at the ballot box had made positive strides for you, me, and our parents. I know you've graduated into a calamitous world. There's war, famine and plague. That was true when I graduated high school in 1986. That was also true when I was born in 1968. The fact of the matter is there will always be calamity. Somewhere in the world someone is fighting a war or starving or dying of disease. This is true of any time. Therefore, we must find joy where it exists. Dance as much as you can. Savor every delicious bite. And fall hopelessly in love. Someday you'll look back at your high school pictures, perhaps peruse your year book. You'll see your young, lineless face filled with hope and wonder. You might wonder where did that young man go? Remember that you started with that optimism and no matter where the road takes you, you can always return to that optimism. I look forward to your graduation party this month. You did it! Noel
 
Matt Petersen: What if MJ Fans Left a Legacy Rather Than Flowers Top
What if the images from the tribute(s) to Michael Jackson in the days ahead told another story besides the love of millions of fans for the music and the moves of the King of Pop? In the week since Michel Jackson's unexpected death, hundreds of thousands -- a number that will doubtless grow to millions -- of his fans have been seeking ways to pay tribute to the man and his music. Armies of Jackson admirers and journalists made the pilgrimage to his Neverland ranch after false reports of a Friday public viewing made headlines. Elsewhere around the world Jackson fans have been dancing and holding candlelight vigils outside US embassies. There is now a public memorial planned for Jackson at the 20,000 capacity Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7 with overflow in the Nokia Liva "public square." What if instead of spending $20 on flowers to leave behind on tribute sites, or tying $10 Mylar balloons to fences, Jackson's fans instead honored his humanitarian streak by making a donation to charity? Outpourings and love and grief are natural and cathartic, but Jackson, of course, was among other things a well-known and longtime supporter of many charitable causes. His We Are the World project which supported famine relief efforts in Africa may be his best known philanthropic work, but the Guinness Book of World Records Millennium Edition listed Jackson as the world's most charitable pop star, who supported 39 charitable organizations through donations, sponsorships and by participating in auctions. Some of the charities he supported were the Make A Wish Foundation, Minority Aids Project, American Cancer Society, Heal the World Foundation, among many others. What if the incessant MJ news coverage in store for us the week ahead spoke of an incredible spike in charitable donations, with billions of dollars going to humanitarian organizations around the world -- ideally fighting child abuse and pornography, stemming violence in Africa including against women and girls (not to mention Mother Earth), and other similar critical issues -- rather than panning the camera to show endless fields of flowers and balloons at Neverland, US embassies, the Jackson family home, and elsewhere? Surely the planet would breathe a sign of appreciation as tons of waste would be averted from landfills (and the ocean would be spared a mountain of balloons), and I would also venture to guess that the famous philanthropist's children will one day thank his millions of fans for leaving a lasting and sustaining legacy for the truly best of their father's memory. More on Michael Jackson
 
Lily Riahi: Should Renewable Energy Include Nuclear? Top
By Lily Riahi and Lisa Desai The Christian Science Monitor from the June 29, 2009 edition Berlin - A new global effort that aims to make renewable energy more accessible to every country in the world launched on July 1st. Governments are lining up to join the first agency that will advise them on how to make a renewable energy transition. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has attracted 108 countries, including the United States and China, which are both expected to announce their membership this week, in a move that experts say could boost the agency's credibility, since both countries are leaders in renewable energy. But supporters worry that IRENA could be undermined by countries that are trying to promote nuclear power as a solution to climate change and dwindling oil reserves. Today, members will meet in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt to vote on a director general for the group and decide which country will host the agency's headquarters. Currently, a leading alliance between France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is forming. French ministerial official Helene Pelosse is a nominee for IRENA'S director general and the UAE is lobbying to host its headquarters in Abu Dhabi. IRENA advocates say if the alliance succeeds, the agency would become "nuclear tainted." France pushes nuclear as 'low-carbon technology' France generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. It's also one of the world's largest providers of nuclear technology and expertise. Since 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has signed multibillion-dollar nuclear deals with the UAE, Qatar, Algeria, Libya, and Morocco. At the same time, France is promoting nuclear as a form of renewable power because it emits low levels of carbon dioxide. When the European Union defined its long-term target for renewable energy production last year, it tried to include nuclear power in the definition of renewable energy, a move that was rejected by EU members. France is also advocating to power the Mediterranean region using "low-carbon technology." IRENA supporters worry that under French leadership, the agency will support both renewables and nuclear options together. Most discussions separate the two because renewable energy is defined as naturally replenishing resources, like solar or wind, which don't produce waste. Nuclear power is dependent on finite uranium resources, and produces radioactive waste that has to be isolated and stored for thousands of years. "Advocates of nuclear try to avoid these essential differences by linking these two forms of energy under the umbrella term 'low-carbon technology,'" says Dr. Doerte Fouquet, Director of the European Renewable Energy Federation. "People forget that emitting zero CO2 is only one of the characteristics that defines a renewable source of energy." Renewables tied to oil The US, Japan, Britain, and France are actively signing nuclear power cooperation agreements with the UAE and they're expected to back Abu Dhabi's bid to headquarter the agency, analysts say. "Their support for Abu Dhabi as IRENA's headquarters is linked to these agreements and a secure supply of oil," says IIda Tetsunari, advisor to Japan's Minister of Environment and executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. IRENA supporters say that would contradict its founding purpose to set the foundations for a renewable energy economy. "Are the original goals of IRENA being co-opted so that renewables get pushed aside by a nuclear agenda - 'sprinkling some renewables on top of our nuclear power'?" asks Dr. Eric Martinot, an international expert on renewable energy markets and former World Bank energy officer. The UAE has a 7 percent future target for renewable energy and is planning to build Masdar, a city powered only by renewable resources. The Emirates claim that their vast solar potential is not enough to power the rest of the UAE and are looking to nuclear power to fill the gap. "Since the 1970s, scientists have shown that renewable energy can satisfy the energy needs of the entire world, but these studies get systematically ignored. IRENA will change this," says Hermann Scheer, a member of the German Parliament, and pioneer of the agency. The case for Germany Many supporters say the better picks to host and lead the agency are Bonn, Germany, where the concept of IRENA was born, says Hans Jurgen Koch, member of Denmark's climate and energy ministry. In both countries building new nuclear plants is illegal. Instead, they've focused on introducing new policies to encourage renewable energy generation. Germans can access interest-free loans to buy solar panels and get paid to feed renewable energy to the grid. The country has 300,000 green jobs, and is hoping to double its share of renewable energy power to 30 percent by 2020, four times more the UAE's target. Dr. Scheer, who has been fighting to establish the agency since the 1990s, says the founding of IRENA took off when the German government sought support of like-minded countries. "This was the only way to avoid the veto power of countries with strong nuclear or fossil interests, who have stopped IRENA in the past," he says. "IRENA could be designed as a lame duck or it could promote renewable energy acceleration everywhere. This is the case for decision." More on Japan
 
Patricia Zohn: Culture Zohn: A Girl's Guide to Love and Shakespeare: Twelfth Night Top
The full title of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is Twelfth Night or What you Will now in a joyous production by Daniel Sullivan at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and though scholars apparently believe the subtitle confers the meaning of Christmas merriment or underscores the entitlement of the noble characters, I think that Shakespeare meant to remind us of the capriciousness of love. For often, what we will in matters of love is not necessarily what we get. And that theme resonates in multiple directions as females take on the attributes of males as in the case of Viola slash Casario (Anne Hathaway) or vice versa in the case of Malvolio or "Black in my mind but yellow in my legs"(Michael Cumptsy). We've all had occasion to wonder what the men who love us but complain of our feminine failings (obsessiveness, fickleness, indecision et al) might do if we were stripped of the very things that define our differences. Viola has a chance to find out when she dons a blue waistcoast, beige pants and high black boots, much more than she ever desired or imagined. Her impulsive scheme to get employment backfires when she finds herself falling for Duke Orsino (Raul Esparza). Anne Hathaway, Jon Patrick Walker, Jay O. Sanders, and Hamish Linklater in The Public Theater production of Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Daniel Sullivan, running through July 12 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Photo credit: Joan Marcus That doesn't mean Shakespeare minces words. Though Orsino says "I have turned into a heart" of his early declaration for Olivia, he also later offers proof of the lesser ability of females to feel love because they lack "retention" and instead of deep feelings, have "appetite". Hmmm. It's always summer that's the Public Theater's finest hour -- the yearly line waiting for tickets an event in and of itself, the chatty patrons getting to know each other's small victories as the prolonged wait often usurps an entire day. (If you donate you can go line-free). People seem not to actually mind too much, and reports of hired line waiters are offered up with only a tinge of cynicism. A happy New Yorker, therefore, is a New Yorker with a ticket to Twelfth NIght , especially as the run ends on July 12th. The extra music by HEM (if you don't know Leave Me Here already then this is your chance to catch up with this dreamy group) and the sprightly on stage musicians as well as the vocal capabilities of this cast makes this a play with music if not quite a musical: along with Hathaway , Audra Macdonald (Olivia ) is mostly known as a powerful songstress, and David Pittu (Feste) too can put a song over. If music be the food of love then, this ensemble rocks on. And the gift for comedy shines most notably in the bumbling team of Sir Toby (Jay O. Sanders) and Sir Andrew (Hamish Linklater ) whose blonde dreds and mustard breeches make him look a bit like the Ensors that I had seen at MoMA earlier in the day. In fact, the lurid greens, the plumed hat and the cross dressing make an afternoon at the Ensor show an evening at the Delacorte seem uncannily of a piece. Many actresses aspire to be like Audrey Hepburn with her perfect combination of gamine and sexy; few achieve it. Hathaway really does: her charming way of shaking off a spontaneous kiss or re-asserting her "masculinity" with a sudden baritone after a high pitched shriek threatens to betray her guise is very funny and fast. Here is an actress we can see thinking on her feet. Anne Hathaway and Audra McDonald in The Public Theater production of Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Daniel Sullivan, running through July 12 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Photo credit: Joan Marcus Why indeed have words disappeared as weapons of love? We can't blame the advent of email for everything as wordsmiths are often relegated to the sidelines of song or poetry. Why isn't the art of artful dialogue promoted more in school as a way of getting a leg up on a rival? If only we could encourage courting with cleverness. But there is some truth to this very different way we process love. For example, the famous male ease in putting out of sight out of mind. I'm thinking that I might try to find a blue waistcoat just to find out what it feels like to have this marvelous facility for forgetting. Though the Christmas present motif is a good one for there could be no greater present than sitting under a purple, rainless sky; occasionally, while watching the talented, exuberant cast cavort on a green carpet I felt as if they'd all fallen into a magical sand trap on the eighteenth hole. By my troth, come Hob Nob at the Delacorte! The Sweet Lady Ho Ho! Welcome Summer! The company in The Public Theater production of Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Daniel Sullivan, running through July 12 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Photo credit: Joan Marcus
 
Fred Whelan and Gladys Stone: How Rude! Top
You've interviewed with a few people for a job you really want. Everyone's been great until this individual. This person is asking questions to "trip you up," isn't smiling and is enjoying the fact that you are on the "hot seat." This interviewer is hostile to you for some reason. Whatever the reason, you can be almost certain that it has nothing to do with you. He or she may be the type of person that's always negative, finding fault everywhere. They might be an egomaniac on some power trip. They may not like the idea of hiring someone for this position or they might have someone else in mind for this job. The worst thing you can do is confront the person and ask them why they appear to be "out to get you." As difficult as it may be, you want to stay focused on doing well because, after all, you want this job and why should you let some jerk stand in your way? So, how do you hold up during 60 minutes of squeezing from a total stranger? Stay Cool - As tempting as it may be, don't take the bait and react negatively. The best thing you can do is to keep your responses even keeled. Even if the interviewer says something that "pushes your buttons" you want to remain professional and in control. If you react negatively, the situation could escalate and you can be sure they'll report back on that. While you can't control how they interact with you, you can certainly control your reaction to them. So, don't take it personally, because it isn't. Play Back Their Ideas - If they talk about what needs to be done to make the company successful, play that back somewhere in the conversation when it's right. If you can use their words or phrases, all the better. For example, if they said "the key is to bridge these two warring groups," then use that phrase to sell your experience, like "we had our warring groups at company x and here's how we brought them together." As artificial as this may seem it works like a charm. It does two things: lets them know that you are listening and that you also have a similar communication style. The more you're like them, the more they'll like you. Look for Ways to Bond - As they're speaking, listen for things you share in common, like where they grew up, went to school, people you might know in common or why they got into this business in the first place. If you're able to bond with them in the interview, that's going to signal that you'll be able to bond with them should you get the job. Compliment Them - You know the saying "flattery will get you everywhere". Find a way to compliment them that's genuine. For example, "I like your directness" or "What's been your key to success here?" That will indicate to them that you view them in somewhat of a positive light. It's only human nature for them to have similar feelings about you. To the extent that it feels comfortable, smile. Move Them In a Positive Direction - Ask things that will elicit positive responses like "What do you like most about working here?" That will get them focused on talking about their favorite subject "themselves" and shift the mood from negative to positive. They'll start feeling positive and attribute that to you. Even if you follow all the above, there's no guarantee this interviewer will give you the thumbs up. However, you can feel good knowing that you have done everything possible to maintain a positive demeanor in a negative environment. What's also important to remember is that this hostile interviewer's feedback will be tempered by the fact that they have a reputation for being negative, "Yeah, but that's Bob." If you've done well with the others, there's no reason to believe that this one interview is going to ruin your chances. Fred & Gladys Whelan Stone Executive Search and Coaching Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success
 
Henry Henderson: Chicago River: From open sewer to crown jewel? Top
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham’s iconic Plan of Chicago .  The Plan re-imagined the American industrial city, identifying and prioritizing open space, cultivation of natural areas, and public access to water resources as keystones for the City’s health and quality of life. We are all the richer for this vision of how to integrate the natural and built environments into a rich urban ecosystem.  From the Plan comes the parks, tree lined boulevards, and, most notably, Chicago’s glorious Lake Michigan shoreline.  And while the “open, free and clear” Chicago Lake front is a central part of our inheritance from the Burnham Plan, the vision for the City’s second shoreline---that of the Chicago River---has yet to be fully realized.  The Chicago River is an essential part of Chicago’s  identity, and but for the River, it is unlikely that the City would have risen to be a major metropolis. (See, e.g., William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West , p. 23). The front page of Sunday’s Chicago Tribune featured a look at the waterway , in which architecture critic Blair Kamin notes: Chicago was born by the river and named for the wild onion plants that once thrived on its banks. But in the boom years of the 19th Century, businessmen turned the river into an artery of commerce and a sewer for dumping industrial waste. The river became a forbidding trench, an "On the Waterfront" landscape of piers, bulkheads and bollards for tying up ships. Buildings turned their backs to it. Today, our view of the river has changed, and the opportunity to recover it as an environmental amenity, incorporating nature, culture and commerce in accord with the vision of the Burnham Plan is within our reach. But several things need to be done. Kamin’s excellent feature looked at the $22 million dollar riverwalk extension project which is the culmination of a long-term, multigenerational commitment to turn the river into another beautiful amenity for Chicagoans. Just as the lakefront provides gorgeous open parkland along the eastern edge of the City, the river has always offered visionaries from Burnham’s generation a way to extend that greenery into the heart of the City and its neighborhoods.  You need only look at the stretch of river where NRDC’s new Chicago office sits to see how this evolution of thinking has played out.  Two buildings built in 1929 face each other, but deal with the river in completely opposite ways. On the east side of the river stands the Civic Opera House , which was built with its back to the river (as much of the river front building had resolutely done up to that time). NRDC’s office is on the west bank of the river in the old Chicago Daily News Building (now called 2 N. Riverside Plaza), a building that took a different view of the river---the modern view of the river as an amenity, and stepping back to create a broad, open plaza, facing directly onto the river and embracing its shores with a public space and built-in water taxi stands. Over the years, the embrace of the river has gained support. Development along the river in both the central business district and in the neighborhoods has increased dramatically, and in recent decades   use of the river itself for something other than an open sewer for industrial and other waste has seen dramatic increases. From my window on the river, there never seems to be a point where the waters are not being plied by a water taxi, pleasure boat, or even the occasional rowing team. Canoes and kayaks are a common sight on the north and south branches of the river---and even the central branch which runs through the heart of the Loop is a boating destination. But while the City and residents have embraced the river, the governmental agency responsible for the waterway continues to turn its back to the river and consider it an open sewer. I am talking about the interestingly named Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD). It is an independent government authority, with taxing authority, an elected board, and the responsibility of overseeing waste water issues in Cook County, Illinois. It is clearly the biggest roadblock to fulfilling the vision of the City of Chicago to transform this once blighted river into a highly valued part of the urban environment, contributing to the quality of life of the City and its region. You see, the MWRD is polluting the river with human waste . And putting all those on its waters in harms way. The MWRD owns and operate sewage treatment facilities along the Chicago River that dump undisinfected sewage into the river waters. Both the City of Chicago and State of Illinois have urgently called upon the District to stop dumping of this polluted sewage into the river and the state has proposed regulations prohibiting it. Civic advocates, including NRDC, have pressed hard for adoption of the regulations by the Illinois Pollution Control Board. Yet the MWRD continues to release harmful viruses and bacteria associated with un-disinfected sewage into the river that flows past homes, parks, businesses, boats and swimmers. Instead of complying with the regulations proposed by the Illinois EPA, MWRD is pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into fighting them. Certainly, disinfecting billions of gallons of effluent will come with costs. But they are significantly less than one would expect ---dwarfed, in fact, by the continued real estate investment and recreation time being spent along the waterway. The Trib puts the investment into proper perspective, returning to that vision of the River as an extension of Chicago’s lakefront: One might have reacted with cynicism in 1909 when, in the Plan of Chicago, Daniel Burnham urged Chicago's leaders to turn their chopped-up assortment of lakefront parks into a sparkling and continuous public space. Yet for the last 100 years, completing that vision has been Chicago's grand civic project. For the next 100 years, in the downtown and beyond, the city has its work cut out for it: turning the riverfront into an equally great public space. Absolutely correct, Mr. Kamin! The city’s embrace of Lake Michigan is world-renown. And the Chicago River could extend that grand vision INTO the city itself. But MWRD’s dumping will prevent this vision from coming to fruition (even as the City and State push them to act otherwise). Until the District modernizes its management of the River, and adopts disinfection practices standard in civilized communities, the people and environment of Chicago will suffer, and their taxes used to defend a wholly out-of-date approach to public health and resist modernization. Perhaps the saddest result of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s small-thinking is not that the citizens of Chicago will be prevented from fully enjoying the fruits of investments already made on the riverfront---but that a broader City-changing vision of the riverfront could be prevented from ever coming into existence.   This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog . Under the Michigan Avenue Bridge 2 image by jmogs via Flickr
 
Andrea Chalupa: StyleCaster: A Free Personal Stylist, Only Nicer Top
We all have those friends who dress like they should be hung up in the MoMA. I'm certainly not that friend to anybody. But I do have this idea that style empowers you and, as we've shown right here on WalletpopTV , gives you an edge, especially if you're interviewing for jobs. Meet StyleCaster , an inspiring guide to looking your best. Can't afford a personal stylist? Not friends with Rachel Zoe? Then StyleCaster will provide you with the dream cyber closet of ideas and network you with stylists, models, and other fashionistas with similar tastes. It's Facebook meets Elle. "At the end of the day it's about discovery. You don't have to buy the products on StyleCaster. It's about discovering the things you already have and how to wear them better," says Ari Goldberg, the site's young, energetic C.E.O. and co-founder. Mr. Goldberg is in an especially inspired-mood today, given that his company just scored $4 million in funding. If investors see the potential in this, especially in a deep downturn, what can StyleCaster do for your look and closet? Having a particularly rutty day ( please see this video, I promise I clean up nice), I was eager to get out of my blahs by cruising the StyleCaster site. On first look, the site has a nice, clean editorial layout, providing the latest fashion, retail, and muse news -- from a look at Gucci's "breezy bohemian" Spring/Summer '09 show to info on Beyonce's upcoming concert stop in Atlanta, Georgia. But if you want to go deeper into the site, to get StyleCaster's DailyLook, Community access and the weather forecast, and advice on dressing accordingly, then you have to sign up an account. But it's painless. Once you do, your user profile page looks like a dream closet, complete with an interactive guide to that day's user-generated DailyLook. "Our battle cry is: style to the people," says Goldberg. "It's an organic hybrid of community, commerce, and content." The big money maker, for StyleCaster, is that the more you use the site, the more it can feed you tips, looks, and ads that correlate with your tastes. Shortly after logging in for the first time, I clicked on an ad for "Blow-Dry Boot Camp," because the way I blow-dry my hair resembles performance art and head-banging. So on that one, the ad got lucky, which normally never happens. The success comes with it seamlessly fitting in with the rest of the content. Goldberg is driven to provide intelligent technology, which is the engine of StyleCaster's parent company, Sociocast Networks, headed by internet entrepreneur Dan Gilbert. Today it's style, but the company expects to roll out food and sports centered sites soon. "Steve Jobs said the first generation of computing was the early 80s, second generation was the early 90s, now we're in the digital hub -- where the computer is the center of everything. I don't believe, and I think Jobs would agree, that the future will look as different as it does now. You'll have a digital hub, but it'll be smart and know who you are." The real magic is in the technology and Goldberg is inspired by the mall scene in Minority Report , where every ad in the shopping mall is calling out to Tom Cruise's character by name. As long as I can talk back to the ads, especially when having a bad day, that wouldn't be so nightmarish. "I want to see kiosks in Soho. [More] events, conferences, monthly cocktail parties. StyleCaster is a media company, we're not a website," explains Goldberg, citing the analogy of how salespeople at TopShop are called "stylists." The dream for him is, "I can't wait till you can walk into a TopShop and a Saks and a Barneys, Bloomingdales, and there's a nice shiny Mac where you can log into StyleCaster and right then and there the stylist knows who you are. When I walk in, the salespeople don't know a thing about me. Think about the utility you're creating." This story originally appeared on Walletpop.com More on Tom Cruise
 
Andrea Chalupa: Poll: What's the Best Fast Food Value? Top
Do you grab a coffee from Starbucks (still) or has Dunkin' D become your staple? Best fries in our fast food nation? It's road trip season, so vote now in Walletpop's poll, What's the Best Fast Food Value?
 
Johann Hari: The Other 9/11 Has Returned to Stalk Latin America Top
The ghost of the other, deadlier 9/11 has returned to stalk Latin America. On Sunday morning, a battalion of soldiers rammed their way into the Presidential Palace in Honduras. They surrounded the bed where the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was sleeping, and jabbed their machine guns to his chest. They ordered him to get up and marched him onto a military plane. They dumped him in his pyjamas on a landing strip in Costa Rica and told him never to return to the country that freely chose him as their head of state. Back home, the generals locked down the phone networks, the internet, and international TV channels, and announced their people were in charge now. Only sweet, empty music plays on the radio. Government ministers have been arrested and beaten. If you leave your home after 9pm, the population have been told, you risk being shot. Tanks and tear-gas are ranged against the protesters who have thronged onto the streets. For the people of Latin America, this is a replay of their September 11th. On that day in Chile in 1973, Salvador Allende -- a peaceful democratic socialist who was steadily redistributing wealth to the poor majority -- was bombed from office and forced to commit suicide. He was replaced by a self-described "fascist," General Augusto Pinochet, who went on to "disappear" tens of thousands of innocent people. The coup was plotted in Washington D.C., by Henry Kissinger. The official excuse for killing Chilean democracy was that Allende was a "communist." He was not. In fact, he was killed because he was threatening the interests of US and Chilean mega-corporations by shifting the country's wealth and land from them to its own people. When Salvador Allende's widow died last week, she seemed like a symbol from another age -- and then, a few days later, the coup came back. Honduras is a small country in Central America with only seven million inhabitants, but it has been embarked on a programme of growing democracy of its own. In 2005, Zelaya ran promising to help the country's poor majority -- and he kept his word. He increased the minimum wage by 60 percent, saying sweatshops were no longer acceptable and "the rich must pay their share." The tiny elite at the top -- who own 45 percent of the country's wealth -- are horrified. They are used to having Honduras run by them, for them. But this wave of redistributing wealth to the population is washing over Latin America. In the barrios and favelas, I have seen how shanty-towns made out of mud and rusted tin now have doctors and teachers and subsidised supermarkets for the first time , because they elected leaders who have turned the spigot of oil money in their direction. In Venezuela, for example, the poorest half of the country has seen their incomes soar by 130 percent after inflation since they chose Hugo Chavez as their president, according to studies cited by the Nobel Prize-winning US economist Joseph Stiglitz. Infant mortality -- the number of dead babies -- has plummeted . No wonder so many Latin American countries are inspired by this example: the notion that Chavez has to "bribe" or "brain-wash" people like Zelaya is bizarre. It was always inevitable that the people at the top would fight back to preserve their unearned privilege. In 2002, the Venezuelan oligarchy conspired with the Bush administration in the kidnapping of Hugo Chavez. It was only a massive democratic uprising of the people that forced his return. Now they have tried the same in Honduras. Yet the military-business nexus have invented a propaganda-excuse that is being eagerly repeated by dupes across the Western world. The generals claim they have toppled the democratically elected leader and arrested his ministers to save democracy. Here's how it happened. Honduras has a constitution that was drawn up in 1982, by the oligarchy, under supervision from the outgoing military dictatorship. It states that the president can only serve only one term, while the military remains permanent and "independent" -- in order to ensure they remain the real power in the land. Zelaya believed this was a block on democracy, and proposed a referendum to see if the people wanted to elect a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution. It could curtail the power of the military, and perhaps allow the president to run for re-election. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that it is unconstitutional to hold a binding referendum within a year of a presidential election. So Zelaya proposed holding a non-binding referendum instead, just to gauge public opinion. This was perfectly legal. The military -- terrified of the verdict of the people -- then marched in with their guns. The hypocrisy in Latin America about term limits is almost comic. When left-wingers like Chavez and Zelaya try -- democratically -- to repeal term limits, they are described as "dictators." Yet when right-wingers like President Alvaro Uribe in Colombia do exactly the same thing, the same people applaud him as "bold" and "brilliant." But there has been progress since the days of 1973, or even 2002. The coups against Allende and Chavez were eagerly backed by the C.I.A. and White House. But this time, Barack Obama has said: "We believe the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras." He called the coup "a terrible precedent". His reaction hasn't been perfect: unlike France and Spain, he hasn't withdrawn the US Ambassador yet. He supports the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which are vast brakes on Latin American democracy, and he bad-mouths Chavez while arming the genuinely abusive Colombian government. But it is a vast improvement on Bush and McCain, who would have been mistily chorusing "We are all Honduran Generals now." The ugliest face of the Latin American oligarchy is now standing alone against the world, showing its contempt for democracy and for its own people. They are fighting to preserve the old continent where all the wealth goes to them at the end of a machine gun. I have seen the price for this: I have lived in the rubbish dumps of the continent , filled with dark-skinned scavenging children, while a few miles away there are suburbs that look like Beverley Hills strewn with white mansions and armed guards. This weekend, Zelaya will return to the country that elected him, flanked by the presidents of Argentina and the Organisation of American States, to take his rightful place. Whether he succeeds or fails will tell us the children of the rubbish dumps have reason to hope -- and whether the smoke from the deadliest 9/11 has finally cleared. Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here . You can email him at johann -at- johannhari.com To read Johann's interview with Hugo Chavez, click here . To read Johann Hari's latest article for Slate magazine - about the life and death of the Asian babe - click here . More on Honduras Coup
 
The Yes Men: Why the Yes Men Said "No" Top
From Andy (the floating head on the left above the green letters): A few weeks ago, I was telling an Israeli filmmaker friend how excited I was to be going to Jerusalem. Why are you coming to Jerusalem? he asked. Our film is in the Jerusalem International Film Festival, I told him excitedly. You can't go, he said, and then explained why. It was like a bucket of freezing cold water had been poured on my head. I lived in Jerusalem many years ago, and loved it for all kinds of reasons. I was really looking forward to going back. But over the next several days, we spoke to many Israelis and others who either supported or didn't support the boycott . And we came to realize that we had to boycott the festival, which, incidentally, is run by a progressive bunch of people and attracts a progressive audience. Some friends asked us why we didn't boycott the U.S. instead. After all, the U.S. has done and is doing things abroad that are every bit as bad as what Israel is doing. Or why not direct our efforts at the Congo, for example? There are war crimes occurring every week in the Congo, ultimately fueled by U.S. consumerism, that absolutely dwarf any that are alleged against the IDF and, incidentally, any that have ever occurred in Darfur ( search on "Congo" and "massacre" and you won't sleep at night). One answer, of course, was that we haven't been invited to the Kinshasa Film Festival (and we wouldn't have been able to afford the private security force if we had been). More importantly, changing U.S. policy (and the direct and indirect results of that policy, e.g. in the Congo) is going to take a lot more than a boycott—whereas in Israel, a boycott could actually work. Why? For one reason or another, unconditional public support for Israeli government policies is eroding among the American public (and today's Amnesty report won't help). This changing weather has not yet been clocked by the Israeli public, who are the only ones who have ultimate control over what their government does. The sooner it becomes clear to the Israeli public that we in America don't like their government's policies, the sooner those policies will have to change. A boycott—cultural and economic—is one way to send the message to the Israeli public that things aren't normal, and that things need to change. Especially if the message is sent not in blind anger, but with consideration, hope, and even love, it might have a chance of coming across. We know our decision won't get us too many friends in Israel, even among progressives—after all, 94% of Israelis supported the war on Gaza, which means that most progressives did too. But we have to do what seems right to us, and hope the message gets through. Here is the text of our letter to the Jerusalem Film Festival, that more fully explains our decision. More on Palestinian Territories
 
Noam Unger: Beyond How Many Troops Top
Yesterday's Washington Post featured a front page article by Bob Woodward with the headline " Key in Afghanistan: Economy, Not Military ." The article focused mostly on discussions National Security Adviser James L. Jones has been having with, well, our military on the ground in Afghanistan, and it did not include a single quote from a government official or outside expert focused on economic development. Today's Post featured a front page article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran about the launch of a mission in Afghanistan's Helmand Province , the Marines' biggest operation since their invasion of Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The activities and fates of our dedicated troops should be top news in a time of war. Their service is invaluable. Sustainable security in Afghanistan and our own national security depend on much more than our military, however. If the key in Afghanistan is the economy and not the military, then the public should be demanding, and key news outlets like the Post should be providing, deeper coverage of U.S. policy and strategy related to economic development. To his credit, Chandrasekaran did write a lengthy and well-researched June 19th article headlined " U.S. Pursues a New Way To Rebuild in Afghanistan ," but most of the story was really about past blunders and how not to support much needed agricultural development. The part about Richard C. Holbrooke's forward-looking plan to revamp reconstruction efforts is a story in and of itself. Journalists should find no shortage of potential leads on the economic development front of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. For better or worse, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be the crucibles of U.S. foreign assistance reform. The high stakes of these different but connected national security challenges may provide the impetus for long-needed changes to our overall aid system. On the other hand, picking the Af-Pak border region as a place to ensure and measure fundamentally more effective assistance may be like picking the middle of the Atlantic as a good place to stay dry. That same spotlight of public and policy attention is less likely to tolerate the risks associated with experimental approaches to development. Additionally, few experts are optimistic about the prospects for large-scale investments that must be executed by a foreign assistance bureaucracy that is politically weak, incoherent, and fragmented to the point at which it is far less effective than it could be in supporting strategic goals. In keeping with my Washington Post theme, today's edition also ran a story by Ann Scott Tyson about Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's 60-day assessment of the Afghanistan campaign. She notes that McChrystal "has been advised to tell Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and President Obama, 'Here's what I need.'" We should all be reading more stories about how U.S Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, and specifically U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Afghanistan, William Frej, have been advised to tell the USAID Administrator, Holbrooke, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Obama, "Here's what we need," because hopefully that is what is happening. The fact that the president has not yet nominated political leadership at the helm of USAID poses yet another set of challenges when trying to execute an approach to national security built on the 3 D's: diplomacy, development and defense. Clinton and her deputy, Jacob Lew, have both consistently made it a point to emphasize global development efforts, and Holbrooke is surely trying to stay on top of reconstruction and development issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan, specifically, but such policy leaders are not focused on development in the same way and to the same extent as the head of USAID (or yet-to-be confirmed policy makers at Treasury and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, for that matter). In the case of Afghanistan policy, there may be a silver lining to this dark cloud in that Acting USAID Administrator Alonzo Fulgham has on-the-ground experience serving as the Agency's Mission Director in Kabul. Beyond More Civilian Personnel As Chandrasekaran's article on the Marines' operation makes clear, the State Department and USAID are not yet capable of bringing their expertise to bear in Helmand through the deployment of personnel. The issue of human capital constraints among U.S. diplomatic and development professionals is certainly highlighted in non-permissive environments like Helmand, but staffing problems cut across all contexts, not just conflict settings. Certainly State needs more diplomats. USAID needs more development professionals. The Administration seems to be working on those issues through the budget process with Congress and no less than eight former Secretaries of State spoke up just last week to support more robust funding and resources. More technical experts at USAID, for example, could help to reduce that agency's over-reliance on contracting, especially mega-contracts with insufficient monitoring and evaluation. Ultimately, however, if instability stemming from economic turmoil is the top security concern for our country, and that is what Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair believes , then our government should be looking to solutions that extend beyond beefing up personnel. In the near-term, for example: President Obama should quickly name a highly qualified USAID Administrator and enable that person to represent development policy considerations within the National Security Council; The Administration should craft a formative interagency National Strategy for Global Development to bring coherence to U.S. global development policies across aid, trade, debt and other areas; and The Administration and Congress should work together to clarify the relationship between key development assistance bodies of the government including USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and those in the State Department (eg. the Global AIDS Coordinator) as well as key objectives of U.S. foreign assistance. Thinking Really Big Perhaps, after his assessment in Afghanistan, McChrystal will explain that what he really needs in addition to more Afghan security and governance counterparts is enhanced U.S. civilian capabilities to carry out responsive and responsible development programs in partnership with local communities. To get there, he may point out that "[t]he way to institutionalize these capabilities is probably not to recreate or repopulate institutions of the past such as AID.... just adding more people to existing government departments such as Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce, Justice and so on is not a sufficient answer either - even if they were to be more deployable overseas. New institutions are needed for the 21st century, new organizations with a 21st century mind-set." If he did so, he would be quoting a 2007 speech delivered by his boss, Secretary Gates. As foreign assistance challenges from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Sudan, Palestine, Nigeria, Honduras and more arise in the news, the American public and media must take a close look at relevant policies, strategies and planning processes. We may have a tendency to do so more thoroughly when the military is involved, but whether they are or not, the non-military side of U.S. "smart power" matters at least as much. More on Afghanistan
 
Hardee's A-Hole Ad: Really Gross Commercial (VIDEO) Top
This new television commercial for Hardee's "biscuit holes" probably won't entice your appetite -- but it is likely to grab some attention. Take a look: More on WTF
 
DNC Fundraiser Bringing Obama Back To Chicago Top
President Barack Obama is expected to visit Chicago on July 23 -- his third trip here since his Jan. 20 inauguration -- when he is scheduled to attend two fundraisers in the city to benefit the Democratic National Committee ... More on Barack Obama
 
Ron Artest: Lakers Newest Player Top
Shaq can have LeBron. Ron Artest says he'll take Kobe. Artest, whose versatility and toughness have made him one of the most coveted and combustible players in the NBA, told CBSSports.com Thursday that he's signing with the Lakers. "I'm definitely going to L.A. -- to sign, yeah," Artest said in a phone interview. "Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I'm in L.A. right now." Artest said he met with Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss Thursday and previously had spoken with Lakers coach Phil Jackson. He was en route to his financial manager's office, where he planned to huddle on the phone with his agent, David Bauman, to finalize details.
 
Norman Pellegrini, Venerable Arts Broadcaster, Dies At 79 Top
CHICAGO (AP) -- Veteran Chicago broadcaster Norman Pellegrini, who served as program director at fine arts station WFMT-FM 98.7 for more than 43 years has died at age 79. WFMT's general manager Steve Robinson said Pellegrini died Thursday morning. The Chicago-born Pellegrini graduated from Columbia College before joining WFMT in 1951. He served as program director from 1953 until 1996 and for decades offered commentary on live performances of Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Although classical music, particularly opera, was Pellegrini's passion, he also lent his wry presence for many years as one of the rotating hosts of the station's long running weekly folk music, comedy and satire shows. Pellegrini is survived by his longtime partner Donald Knight. --- Information from: WFMT-FM -ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Nate Silver Turns To Poker Top
I'll be boarding a plane in the next few minutes headed to Las Vegas, where I'll be for the next several days to conduct some research (yes, really!) for my book and to play in the World Series of Poker. I haven't played cards for 18 months or so, should you probably be happy if I happen to appear at your table. Nevertheless, for a period of about two and a half years starting in 2004, when the poker craze was at its peak and it was easy to find poor opponents, I was playing quite a bit and relied on poker as a secondary source of income, without which I probably would not have been able to quit my consulting job.
 
3 More Banks Fail As FDIC Mulls Rules For Private Equity Sales Top
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three Illinois banks were shuttered Thursday as government regulators proposed new rules for private equity firms seeking to take over failed banks. Regulators shut down John Warner Bank of Clinton, Ill.; First State Bank of Winchester in Winchester, Ill.; and Rock River Bank of Oregon, Ill., bringing to 48 the number of U.S. bank failures this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of all three. Deposits of John Warner Bank were acquired by Lincoln, Ill.-based State Bank of Lincoln. Three John Warner Bank branches were to reopen on Friday as branches of State Bank of Lincoln, the FDIC said in a statement. As of April 30, The John Warner Bank had total assets of $70 million and total deposits of approximately $64 million. In addition to assuming all the deposits of the failed bank, State Bank of Lincoln agreed to buy about $63 million of assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The FDIC estimated that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $10 million. The deposits of State Bank of Winchester were acquired by The First National Bank of Beardstown, Ill. Two offices will reopen on Monday under the new bank name. As of April 30, The First State Bank of Winchester had total assets of $36 million and total deposits of approximately $34 million. The First National Bank of Beardstown also agreed to buy about $33 million of assets. The FDIC says the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $6 million. Rock River Bank's deposits and most of its assets were acquired by The Harvard State Bank of Harvard, Ill. Four bank branches will reopen on Monday as Harvard banks. At the end of April, Rock River Bank had $77 million in assets and $75.8 million in deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, The Harvard State Bank agreed to buy about $72.9 million of assets. Cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $27.6 million, the FDIC said. The three closings bring to nine the number of Illinois banks closed this year. Under new rules proposed Thursday by the FDIC, private equity firms seeking to buy failed banks would face strict capitalization and disclosure requirements, but some regulators already warn the proposal may go too far. The FDIC is seeking to expand the number of potential buyers for the growing number of banks it has closed during the financial crisis. With mounting interest from private equity firms, whose methods and motives aren't always clear, the FDIC is trying to set requirements to ensure the banks won't fail again. One of the new proposals under discussion would require investors to maintain a healthy amount of cash in the banks they acquire, keeping them at about a 15-percent leverage ratio for three years. Most banks have lower leverage ratios, which measure capital divided by assets. Investors also would have to own the banks for at least three years and face limits on their ability to lend to any of the owners' affiliates. Regulators said their intent was to tap into the potentially deep source of private equity, while ensuring that banks remain well capitalized once they are sold. "We want nontraditional investors," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said at the board meeting. "There is a significant need for capital and there is capital out there." Still, some regulators worried that the rules could stifle a potentially valuable new source of investment. Bair said the proposal was "solid," but acknowledged that some details, including the high capital requirements, could be controversial. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said that the rules, which will now be subject to public comment, may be too restrictive. The Private Equity Council, a Washington-based advocacy group for firms, criticized the proposed FDIC guidelines. In a statement, the group's president, Douglas Lowenstein, said the proposals would "deter future private investments in banks that need fresh capital." The proposals will be subject to a 30-day public comment period, after which the bank regulators likely will meet again to finalize the rules, said FDIC spokesman David Barr. The FDIC monitors the health of banks to ensure that they have enough capital to stay afloat and cover their deposits. When banks get in trouble, the FDIC can seize and sell them. Prior to Thursday, the FDIC already had closed 45 banks this year, many of them community or regional institutions. That compares with 25 failures last year and three in 2007. The FDIC already has brokered two sales this year to entities controlled by private equity firms. In March, the government sold IndyMac Federal Bank for $13.9 billion to a bank formed by investors that included billionaire George Soros and Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell. But the business practices and ownership of the lightly regulated pools of investor funds often can be difficult to penetrate. The FDIC proposals include requirements meant to pry some information out of the investors, including disclosing the owners of private equity groups. The FDIC rules also would prevent the groups from using overseas secrecy laws to shield details of their operations. Under the regulations, banks also would not be sold to investors with so-called "silo" structures that make it hard to determine who is behind a private equity group. The FDIC had 305 banks with $220 billion of assets on its list of problem institutions at the end of the first quarter, the highest number since the 1994 savings and loan crisis. AP Business Writer David Pitt reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter !
 
Everyone Has A "Type" What's Yours? Top
What's your type? Talk, dark and handsome? Short, bald and chubby? Muscular, unavailable and angry? How about Explorer, Builder, Negotiator or Director? These are the four personality types that anthropologist Helen Fisher coined during her research into why we fall in love with certain people but not others. According to Fisher, interpreting these types can help you navigate the dating ocean and net the perfect tuna (or man, if that's what you prefer). More on Sex
 
Top 10 Barbecue Recipes By Huffington Post Commenters Top
We asked, you answered. When we requested your best barbecue recipes on Wednesday, the response was, well, not overwhelming, but it was enthusiastic. So after combing through them carefully--and stopping to eat a snack in the process--we've selected the top ten dishes we hope you'll make this 4th of July. Thanks to all the commenters who made suggestions, and please leave more recipes below! Happy holiday! 1. Award-Winning Ribs 2. Brew Burgers 3. Whiskey Skirt Steak 4. Mojo Beans 5. Mississippi Bacon Mayonnaise 6. Indian-Style Chicken 7. Daddy's BBQ Sauce 8. Cheesy Corn Bake 9. Maple Salmon 10. Mesquite Dry-Rubbed Cola Ribs More on Food
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)