Also, a critique of coverage of the Equal Rights Amendment and criticism of Democrats in Congress.
As military veterans, we are fully aware of the qualifications a member of the U.S. military must possess in a combat theater. We know what it takes for our American military to be successful in these situations.
And we can say unequivocally that President Trump’s discriminatory directive against brave American military men and women is a narrow-minded, capricious, ill-advised move, offering no substantial benefit to the preparedness of our national defense.
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow this military ban on soldiers who are transgender to proceed will do more to disrupt and harm our military by ripping thousands of fighting soldiers away from their units not because they aren’t capable or qualified, but simply because of who they are.
We have trained and served alongside thousands of soldiers. Their sexual orientation or gender identity have no bearing on their ability to serve our country, and it shouldn’t affect their ability to serve our state and our country.
We are proud to serve alongside any Delawarean and American who proudly wears the uniform and puts their life on the line to protect our way of life. We can only hope that common sense wins out over fear and intolerance.
Rep. Gerald L. Brady, D-Wilmington West, served in the Delaware National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rep. Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha, D-Wilmington North, is a U.S Army veteran.
A quarter of a century ago, I was among the University of Delaware women who wrote a letter to the editor of the News Journal. The women's basketball team had won their tournament game, and the men had lost theirs.
Guess which story was the lead in the sports section, and which got a couple of paragraphs on an inside page?
In recent weeks, The News Journal has published stories about the debate over the Equal Rights Amendment, which its editors supported. But when the bill finally passed, and women's rights were at long last protected equally with those of men, the coverage consisted of three inches on page 7A.
It's an Associated Press piece that rehashes objections to the amendment, including "clarifications" that essentially repeat the opponents' points. Not a single affirmative argument in favor of the amendment is included, nor a single celebratory quote from a supporter.
Anyone who doesn't carefully read the inside pages of the paper might well be left wondering whether that bill they read about a couple of weeks ago had ever actually passed.
Ironically, the News Journal's failure to recognize the significance of the passage of the ERA is, in itself, an excellent demonstration of the need to keep pursuing gender equality in a society that's nowhere near post-sexist.
After reading the editorial by Delaware's Congressional delegation, it is very clear that Democrats did not learn anything from the Republicans during Obama's years.
They say they offered $1.3 billion, which is 23 percent of the $5.6 billion Trump wants. That's not an offer in good faith, and this voter sees that — as I hope the rest of the voters in Delaware can see it.
I would like to see them go to a real estate agent and make that kind of offer on a property. They would not be taken seriously on that and cannot be taken seriously on the border issue.
And now they want to delay the State of the Union address. Reminds me of the kid who doesn't get his way so he takes his ball and goes home.
This kind of partisan politics serves no one and is not good for our country. I had hoped that Democrats would show that they are the grownups in the room, but they are just as petty and self-serving. These kind of actions really show the need for term limits for elected members of congress and their staff, who really run the show.


Read each question. Then mark the circle next to the letter for the answer you have chosen. If a correct answer is not here, mark the circle next to the letter for "Not Here."
1 The table shows the distance Pedro jogged each day last week.
What was the total distance Pedro jogged last week?
2 Which expression could be used to solve the problem below?
To cater a luncheon, a hotel charges $50 per hour for use of a dining room plus $24.50 per person. What is the total cost for a 2-hour luncheon for 45 people?
3 Conner’s parents asked him to save 2/5 of his allowance each week to help pay for summer camp. What percent of his allowance did Conner’s parents ask him to save?
4 Susan has 3 siblings: Ted, Kathy, and Jake. Susan is older than Jake. Ted is younger than both his sisters but older than his brother. What information is needed to determine the order of the siblings from oldest to youngest?
F Is Kathy older or younger than Ted?
G Is Jake older or younger than Susan?
H Is Susan older or younger than Kathy?
J Is Ted older or younger than Jake?
5 The top, side, and front views of a solid figure made of cubes are shown below.
Which solid figure matches the views above?
6 Which of the following CANNOT be used to find the perimeter of a square with side length s?
7 The enrollment at Clifford Junior High from 1997 through 2001 is shown below.
If the enrollment trend shown in the table continues, which is the best prediction of the enrollment at Clifford Junior High in 2004?
8 The net profit of a company for each of 5 consecutive years is shown in the table.
Which statement is supported by the information in the table?
F The net profit in 1987 was 20% greater than the net profit in 1986.
G The greatest increase in net profit for 2 consecutive years occurred from 1984 to 1985.
H The greatest decrease in net profit for 2 consecutive years occurred from 1985 to 1986.
J The sum of the net profits for 1984 and 1985 was greater than the sum of the net profits for 1986 and 1987.
9 A jewelry box is shown below. Use the ruler on the Mathematics Chart to measure the dimensions of the jewelry box in centimeters.
Which best represents the volume of the jewelry box?
10 Which expression can be used to find the maximum number of 0.2-meter lengths of rope that can be cut from a 6.5-meter length of rope?
11 Mrs. Cotera wants to estimate the monthly operating expenses for the car she just bought, not including maintenance and repairs. Insurance will cost about $200 per month, and Mrs. Cotera expects to drive an average of 225 miles per week. What additional information does she need to estimate her monthly operating expenses?
12 Mr. Gordon asked 39 students how many times they used the dictionary last week in his class. The responses are shown in the table.
Which measure of the data represents the most common number of times the students used the dictionary?
13 If angle T and angle U are supplementary and the measure of angle T is 70°, what is the measure of angle U?
14 Kira drew a circle with a radius of 20 inches and another circle with a radius of 10 inches. What is the approximate difference between the areas of the 2 circles?
15 Art’s Department Store is having a sale. The table shows the regular price, r, and the sale price, s, of several items.
Which formula can be used to calculate the sale price?
16 Which problem situation matches the equation below?
F Chang collected 120 foreign postage stamps last year. He gave 15% of them to his friends. What is x, the number of stamps Chang did not give away?
G Cece exercised 120 minutes each day for 15 days last month. What is x, the number of hours Cece exercised last month?
H Demetria drove a total of 120 miles this week. She drove 15 miles more this week than she drove last week. What is x, the number of miles Demetria drove last week?
J Adam charges $15 per hour for labor to repair lawn mowers. What is x, the number of hours Adam worked if he charged $120 for labor?
17 The cost of Matt and Natalie’s dinner was $27.35. They want to leave a 20% tip. Which of the following is closest to the amount of the tip they want to leave?
18 At Kingston Junior High School, 200 students were asked to name a career they would like to pursue. The results are shown in the table below.
Which of the following statements is supported by data in the table?
F More than 25 % of the students would like to pursue a career in acting or music.
G The least number of students chose teaching because of the college preparation required.
H The mode of the data is 30.
J Exactly 10% of the students would like to pursue a career in politics.
19 During a week in December in Anchorage, Alaska, the daily high temperatures were 20°F, 18°F, –10°F, 15°F, –15°F, 25°F, and 11°F. Which expression can be used to find the average daily high temperature during that week?
20 Jeffrey spent ½ of his Saturday earnings on a pair of shoes and ½ of the remaining amount on a CD. After he spent $5.35 on lunch, he had $10.85 left. How much did Jeffrey earn on Saturday?
21 Mr. McCrea is building a toy box like the one shown below.
What is the volume of the toy box in cubic feet?
Record your answer in the space below. Be sure to use the correct place value.
23 Pilar spends a total of 60 hours per week at school and at her job. She attends school from 8:45 A.M. until 3:45 P.M., Monday through Friday. Which equation can be used to find t, the maximum number of hours Pilar works at her job each week?
24 Lily played a game where she spun each of the spinners shown below once.
Which choice shows all the possible unique combinations of an odd number on Spinner 1, an A or a B on Spinner 2, and a II on Spinner 3?
25 Margarita traces a circle with a radius of 20 centimeters like the one shown below. She will color in the shaded region.
What is the approximate area of the shaded region?
26 The fraction 5/8 is found between which pair of fractions on a number line?
27 In which data set are the mean, median, mode, and range all the same number?
28 The prices of 3 different bottles of shampoo are given in the table.
Which size bottle of shampoo has the lowest price per ounce?
29 Which of the following has 2 parallel bases that are not polygons?
30 What is the value of the expression (3 + 3)² ÷ 6 – 2 × 4?
31 The model below represents the equation 3x + 6 = 15.
What is the first step in finding the value of x?
32 A company published 110 books last year, and 8 of them became best-sellers. Which best represents the percent of books the company published last year that did NOT become best-sellers?
33 Cassie draws the following 4 figures.
Which 2 figures have the same area?
34 A recipe that makes 18 cookies calls for ¾ cup of sugar. How much sugar is needed to make 2 dozen cookies using this recipe?
35 Which description shows the relationship between a term and n, its position in the sequence?
36 The data in the table below represent the relatioship between the length of a side of a square in centimeters, x, and the area of a square in centemeters squared, y.
Which graph best represents the data in the table above?
37 Mrs. Gutiérrez bought 2 dozen cans of soda priced at 6 cans for $1.98 and 18 bottles of water priced at 6 bottles for $2.16. What is the total amount she spent, not including tax, on soda and bottled water?
38 Triangle RST and triangle JKL are similar.
Which choice shows the equations that can be used to find the area of triangle JKL?
39 The model below represents .
Which arrangement of small squares can be used to model a large square that represents ?
40 Which statement is always true about an equilateral triangle?
F It has 3 congruent angles.
G It has 1 right angle.
H It has exactly 2 congruent sides.
J The sum of any 2 angles is 180°.
41 Aaron polled 15 classmates to find out what kinds of pets they have. Which of the following gives the most detailed information about individual students and their pets?
42 The table below shows what 7 students charge per hour for tutoring.
What is the median fee per hour for tutoring by these students?
43 Luis is in charge of making props for a school play. He needs to make a large circular wooden clock that measures about 6 feet in circumference. Which equation can he use to find r, the radius of the clock?
44 If point K is translated 4 units to the left and 3 units down, what will point K’s new coordinates be?
45 Patrick drew a map of his neighborhood. He used a scale in which 1 inch equals 2 miles. What distance on Patrick’s map should represent the 1.5 miles between his house and the nearest gas station?
46 Which net can be used to make a cylinder?
47 Mr. Zimmerman started a 6-week exercise program. The first week he jogged 1 mile each day, the second week he jogged 1¼ miles each day, and the third week he jogged 1½ miles each day. If the pattern continues, how far will he jog each day of the sixth week?
48 A bowler scored between 195 points and 215 points per game. Which is the best estimate of the total points she scored in 8 games?
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Why Blind Faith and superstition are so much Prevalent in India?
From my childhood, I have noticed one thing in people that blind faith and superstition are very common in most parts of India. The blind faith in people is so strong that they don't want to accept the truth even it is brought in front of their eyes. After spending so many years of my life, I still find many people highly dipped in blind faith and superstition. Blind faith can be of many types and it can be on fake Babas, orthodox beliefs or black magic.
I hope that nobody must have forgotten the women hair cutting episode reported from many parts of India. This news recreated a lot of panic among the common people and soon, the number of such news from different parts of India increased. Due to superstition, people started blaming all this on a witch, and the crowd even killed an old woman because they thought she is a witch.
The recent episode of Baba Ram Rahim is another example of the blind faith of people on fraud Babas. This fake guru was sentenced to 20 years rigorous punishment, however, his blind followers restored to violence and caused damaged to public and private property in protest to the judgment. To stop the agitating people, police opened fire and more than 30 people got killed and around 1000 got injured.
On the other hand, this fake Baba was making lots of money by fooling his innocent followers who once had blind faith in him. As more investigations are coming into light, we are learning many new tricks used by him to increase his wealth. This Baba followed no law, and authorities found many irregularities in his ashram. He was running some illegal factories and he has his own currency.
When such Babas don't follow the right path in life, then how they can tell their followers to move on the right path and do good things in life. But strangely, still there are many people who don't want to accept this truth and they believe that their Guru is innocent.
I believe that there is some issue is our conditioning and from childhood, we are forced to move on the path which is surrounded by blind faith and superstition. Even today, education has failed to reach many people in India and moreover, there are no such topics added in schools education which can tell students about the dangers of blind faith and superstition.
The main blame of all this must be put on our leaders and politicians who use such Babas and fake Gurus for their benefit.
Unless we are able to eradicate the poison of Blind faith and superstition from our system, we can't hope to create a good society.
Are our children safe in Indian Schools?


How can I guess the correct answer for a question in a multiple-choice exam, if I do not know the right answer? On any number of blank multiple choice questions, is it better to fill in each answer with the same answer (e.g., "C" over and over), or fill... Tips on answering multiple choice questions: Read the question before you look at the answer. Come up with the answer in your head before looking at the possible answers, this way the choices given on the test won't throw you off or trick you.
Don't be persuaded by fancy terms in the question; don't say to yourself, "That sounds impressive, so it must be the right answer." As you read through the possible responses, mark off �... Using my many years of experience in writing exams, I have put together a structured system of "guessing" multiple choice questions (MCQs). Many questions in exams provide you with hints as to which is the correct answer.
Fact or Fiction: Is C the Most Common Answer on the ACT? The idea that C is the best answer to choose when guess-answering a question on a multiple choice test rests on the premise that ACT answer choices are not truly randomized.... Ideally, multiple-choice exams would be random, without patterns of right or wrong answers. However, all tests are written by humans, and human nature makes it impossible for any test to be truly random.
A multiple choice quiz consists of 6 questions each with 4 possible answers If a student guesses at the answer to each question then the mean number of correct answers is? If there are four possible answers to a question, then a guessed answer would have a probability of 1 in 4.
A multiple choice test has 8 questions that has 3 possible answers only one is correct If Judy who forgot to study for the test guesses on all questions what is the probability that she gets 3 right? The probability that she gets exactly 3 right is 8 C 3 *(1/3) 3 *(2/3) 5 = 0.2731 approx.
Though eliminating one answer and making a guess might be worth it in the long-term (as in, you must do so over the course of several questions), you should really only make a guess when you can eliminate two or more answer choices.
For each question, there is a probability of #1/4# of guessing the right answer. One the first question, therefore, we have the probability of #1/4#.


Should we apply for a fiancé visa or get married and apply for an immigrant visa?
When a U.S. citizen is in a relationship with a non-U.S. citizen who is not present in the U.S. and the couple wants to get married and live in the U.S. permanently, they are often confused about the best immigration process to pursue. Typically, the couple will have two options: 1) pursue the fiancé (K-1) visa, which allows the non-U.S. citizen to enter the U.S. on a visa for the purpose of getting married in the U.S. within 90 days, so that the non-U.S. citizen spouse then can apply for permanent residency; or 2) get married outside the U.S. so that the non-U.S. citizen spouse can apply for an “immigrant visa” to enter the U.S. as a permanent resident.
The fiancé visa process is a three step process. First, the U.S. citizen files a petition with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). This petition is the I-129F petition. The primary requirements of the I-129F petition are to prove that: (1) the petitioner is a U.S. citizen; (2) the petitioner is in a bona fide relationship with a non-U.S. citizen; and (3) the couple intends to get married within 90 days of the non-U.S. citizen entering the U.S.
After approval of the I-129F petition, the second step is for the non-U.S. citizen to apply for the K-1 visa at a U.S. consulate abroad. In connection with this application, the applicant must obtain police certificates, undergo a medical examination, and attend an interview with a consular officer.
After the K-1 visa is issued, the non-U.S. citizen may enter the U.S. The couple then must get married within 90 days of entry. After getting married, the non-U.S. citizen must complete the third step in the process by filing an application for permanent residency with USCIS. This application for permanent residency is the I-485 application.
In contrast to the fiancé visa process, the immigrant visa process is a two step process. After the couple is married, the U.S. citizen spouse files a petition with USCIS. This petition is the I-130 petition. The primary requirements of the I-130 petition are to prove that: (1) the petitioner is a U.S. citizen; (2) the couple is legally married; and (3) the petitioner has the financial means to support the spouse.
After the I-130 petition is approved, the non-U.S. citizen spouse files an application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad. In connection with this application, the applicant must obtain police certificates, undergo a medical examination, and attend an interview with a consular officer. After the immigrant visa is approved, the non-U.S. citizen will enter the U.S. as a permanent resident.
In most cases, the decision whether to pursue the K-1 visa or an immigrant visa simply is a question of preference or convenience for the couple. For many couples, it is not practical to get married in the non-U.S. citizen’s home country, and therefore, they choose the K-1 process. However, in certain circumstances the K-1 process is the better option.
The primary occasion to select K-1 processing rather than immigrant visa processing is when the non-U.S. citizen has children who are over the age of 18. When the couple gets married and pursues immigrant visa processing, the U.S. citizen spouse may file I-130 petitions for the spouse as well as all children of the non-U.S. citizen spouse who were under the age of 18 when the couple married. Any children who were over the age of 18 at the time of the marriage will not be able to immigrate with their parent. However, under the fiancé visa laws, any unmarried child of the non-U.S. citizen who is under the age of 21 years at the time the application is filed, may obtain a K-2 visa and come to the U.S. with the parent. Assuming the couple marries within 90 days, the children may apply for permanent residency, even if they turn 21 in the meantime. Therefore, the age of the non-U.S. citizen’s children may necessitate pursuing the K-1 visa process rather than immigrant visa processing.
Another reason couples may want to pursue the K-1 visa process rather than immigrant visa processing is that the processing times may be shorter. It is important to understand, though, that both types of cases involve processing at a U.S. consulate in a foreign country. Each consulate has slightly different procedures and processing times. For that reason, there may be occasions where processing of the K-1 will not be significantly faster than immigrant visa processing, if at all. Generally, however, immigrant visa processing will be slower because of the substantial involvement of a third government agency, the National Visa Center (the “NVC”). Immigrant visa cases require the NVC to process a significant part of the visa application, which tends to increase the risk of delays at the NVC. Although the NVC does play a minor role in K-1 processing, K-1 visa cases typically get through the NVC quicker than immigrant visa cases.
Finally, if the non-U.S. citizen has minor children who will be immigrating to the U.S., the total cost of the government filing fees may be less if the couple pursues the fiancé visa process. For immigrant visa processing, the U.S. citizen must file a separate I-130 petition for each individual, including each of the children. The children then must obtain separate immigrant visas. Each of those petitions and applications has a separate government filing fee. In contrast, when the K-1 process is used, the U.S. citizen files just one petition for the fiancé. After approval, the children may obtain separate visas based upon that petition. However, this cost savings should be weighed against the additional cost of applying for permanent residency after entry to the U.S. and the couple marries. As described above, the K-1 process requires this additional application and its associated filing fee, for each individual.
The immigrant visa process may save government filing fees and reduce the time required for the non-U.S. citizen to obtain permanent residency because it is a two-step, rather than a three-step process. This is one reason why couples who are able to get married overseas may choose to pursue the immigrant visa process rather then the K-1 process. In addition, though, in cases where the couple may not have significant evidence of the bona fide nature of their relationship, or where there are factors, or red flags, that may lead the consular officer to believe that the relationship is not bona fide, already being married may help persuade an officer that the relationship is bona fide. A marriage outside the U.S. may be the factor that convinces a reluctant consular officer that the couple has a bona fide relationship.
Regardless of whether K-1 or immigrant visa processing is pursued, the non-U.S. citizen must undergo an interview with a consular officer before issuance of the visa. Although the interview is required to review a variety of issues (such as whether the petitioner is a U.S. citizen, whether the couple is free to marry each other, whether the applicant has a criminal record, etc.), the primary purpose of the interview is to persuade a consular officer that the couple has a bona fide relationship. In addition to presenting documentary evidence of the relationship, such as written correspondence and cards exchanged by the couple, phone records showing telephone calls between the couple, pictures and travel itineraries showing the couple spending time together, etc., the non-U.S. citizen must be able to talk in a relaxed manner about the couple. The non-U.S. citizen must be able to explain how they met, how often they communicate, what their future plans are, etc. The most important advice we can give to prepare for this interview is to review the filed application(s), ensure that the information is accurate, and be able to talk about the relationship. In addition, the non-U.S. citizen should know significant facts about the petitioner, such as date of birth, where his or her parents and siblings live, and basic details about the petitioner’s employment.
The determination of whether to apply for a fiancé visa or to pursue immigrant visa processing is based on the facts of the particular situation. Numerous factors including timing, costs, travel, children, and evidence of the relationship must be considered in deciding which option to select. To assess the best option for your particular situation, contact an experienced immigration attorney.


What led to the historic election result � and where does Malaysia go from here?
On the evening of May 10, just one day after the historic election, people were spontaneously gathering and chanting these slogans around Istana Negara, the Sultan�s Palace in Kuala Lumpur, where Mahathir Mohamad was about to be sworn in as Malaysia�s seventh prime minister. These opposition slogans had frequently been heard as anguished cries during the harsh campaign period. This time, however, the people�s chants were rather filled with joys and hopes for the country�s future.
Around the capital, not just in this one place, people celebrated the historic electoral result that would bring Malaysia�s first democratic change of government by waving flags representing the opposition or honking their horns. It is a really historic moment considering the country�s history since independence, which has been characterized by six decades of rule by one political coalition, Barisan Nasional (the National Front or BN).
Looking back, last two general elections � in 2008 and 2013 � were precursors. The decline of BN had become clear since the election in 2008, when they lost their two-thirds majority, which is required to amend the constitution. In addition, at the state level, BN lost their rule in five states, though only one state had been under the opposition control before this election. This event was remembered as a �political tsunami� as the decline of the then-ruling coalition was more than expected.
In the next election, held in 2013, BN further lost seats while still maintaining a simple majority in the national parliament. At this point, however, BN lost the popular vote to the opposition. While facing unpopularity, BN had managed to maintain its power through authoritarian measures such as incumbent-favored gerrymandering and media controls.
Besides the authoritarian nature of the regime, Malay support to the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), a core component of BN, had sustained its reign. The ruling coalition consists of more than 10 parties, including UMNO, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), and local parties of Sabah and Sarawak state. Though the coalition is supposed to represent each of these ethnic groups, it has promoted policies that could be regarded as favoring Malays or indigenous people (Bumiputera), and observers have often characterized Malaysian politics as �ethnic politics� for this reason. While Malays, particularly in nonurban areas, seemed to have remained loyal to BN, non-Malays, particularly ethnic Chinese and Indians, had broken away and started to take the opposition�s side, particularly from around 2008, when the �political tsunami� happened.
Based on these recent trends, the steady support for Pakatan Harapan (PH), the opposition coalition formed to fight against BN, was certainly expected. Still, however, the magnitude of BN�s downfall was more than anticipated. What was behind this stunning result? What made it possible for PH to record a historic win despite the unequal playing field?
Detailed analysis remains to be done, but a major factor seems to be a shift by Malays, including those in nonurban areas. The unexpected erosion of BN support in Johor state, the birthplace and longtime stronghold of the UMNO, is one indicator of this tendency. BN lost control of Johor�s state government, keeping just 19 seats while PH won 36. In fact, at the state level, BN could defend their majority in just two states, Perlis and Pahang.
Mahathir Mohamad, one time prime minister and leader of BN from 1981 to 2003, re-entered politics as the leader of PH, criticizing the government led by Najib Razak. Mahathir, who once retired and will turn 93 this year, is regarded as the �father of modern Malaysia� and still widely respected, particularly among the Malay population. His strong commitment to PH as a leader influenced Malay votes especially in nonurban areas, those thought to be loyal to BN.
Similar opinions were heard in other places as well. In one area on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in Selangor state, one Malay voter expressed his anger toward Najib and some UMNO cadres, saying that insults to Mahathir were not acceptable. He said BN�s negative campaign against Mahathir made him decide to vote for PH. Besides the unpopularity of scandal-sunk Najib and the rise in living costs, this �Mahathir factor� seems to have a certain impact on the outcome.
As Mahathir has already been sworn in and started to form his cabinet, what is to be expected for this new government? While uncertainty definitely exists, besides Mahathir himself, some core members of PH have experience in the government, such as Muhyiddin Yassin, a former deputy prime minister who was kicked out from the then-government by Najib in 2015. Also, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (the People�s Justice Party or PKR) � both key components of PH � have experience in ruling state-level government in Penang and Selangor, respectively. Thus, the capability to run the government is there.
Having said that, coordination among groups representing diverse interests within PH could pose some challenges, including the process to install Anwar Ibrahim, a popular opposition figure who has been imprisoned, as prime minister. Mahathir has promised to obtain a pardon for Anwar to pave the way for him to assume Malaysia�s top government position. Looking at the policies that PH promised during the campaign, some of them � including the abolishment of the good and services tax (GST), the reintroduction of fuel subsidies, and the introduction of a new healthcare scheme for lower income households � would certainly be financial burdens. At the same time, to renege on the manifesto could provoke public anger, which could be another source of political crisis. Rising expectations among people for the new government will be sure to make challenges even complex and difficult.
In the long run, we may see some earthshaking changes to the country�s political landscape. For instance, East Malaysia, namely Sabah state and Sarawak state, have long been seen as �BN�s fixed deposit� and the crucial support base for BN. However, this election eroded BN seats in both states. In this situation, local parties that have been a part of BN in these states might seek to enhance relations with PH, as it is important for them to maintain relations with the federal government. There is no reason for them to stay in BN as the opposition. Moreover, BN itself would face a severe future as ethnic-based parties � particularly the MCA and the MIC � have lost support from their supposed bases. The defeat of Liow Tiong Lai, the leader of the MCA, is one clear indicator of the end of their era. The UMNO, the core component of BN, they might approach Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party or PAS) as their Muslim Malay base could somewhat overlap. From PAS�s perspective, however, there seems to be little incentive to align with BN or the UMNO without power.
As noted, one key takeaway from this general election could be the end of �ethnic politics,� which has been regarded as key characteristics of Malaysian politics. Throughout the opposition movement, even before this election�s campaign period, unity across ethnic lines has emerged. In a major PH campaign gathering held in George Town in Penang state just two days before the election, a massive crowd showed up to the park even in heavy rain. Among them, not just ethnic Chinese, a dominant ethnicity in the area, but also Malays and Indians joined together under the same PH banners.
Likewise, at the spontaneous gathering around Istana Negara, mentioned at the start of this article, people celebrated the historic moment regardless of ethnicity. One Indian boy who came with his mother and sister held a placard saying �I love Malaysia � we are all one Malaysian,� which received warm responses from fellow citizens.
While there certainly exist some challenges ahead, the country has just entered a new uncharted phase through this election.


Ever since he was a child, Dubem had hated to disappointment people; so when he reached a reproductive age and they talked him into starting a courtship, he hoped it would result in something as solid as wedlock.
There were two older men, one on each side of the man with large biceps. The one to the left wore a hat which, bent on top, rested over his right ear like a rabbit's tail. The other old man wore no hat and had a tennis ball-sized bald occiput surrounded by a ring of gray hairs.
'Did your father forget this event?' asked the old man who wore a rabbit's tail hat. Waiting for the father of the suitor had made him tired and cranky.
'He is awake and getting ready,' replied the suitor, looking back only halfway as he answered.
Quickly, he climbed in and sat in the third row of the minivan. With a splinter concealed in his fingers, he picked up the bottom part of his teeth for what seemed like eternity. Satisfied at last, he leaned forward, tossed the splinter away and spat a scum across his left shoulder. Then he put two fingers in his mouth to whistle a signal for the driver to begin the trip.
'What do we have with us?' Idoh asked after Eddy had finished maneuvering the van past the worst of the potholes and turned right.
'A keg of palm wine and a white fowl,' answered the young man with the bulging arm muscles.
Disingenuously, Idoh said, 'Any yams to go with the chicken? You can not eat fowl without yams. Yams always go with chicken. ' There was amusement in his face as he asked.
'The keg of palm wine is the size of a masquerade,' said the old man with the shiny bald head.
'The time for yams, coconuts, soap and goats has not arrived yet,' rebutted the man with the rim of gray hairs on the back of his head. The other man's irritation was beginning to smear off onto him.
'That's enough,' said the father of the suitor, separating the two warring elders. Had they looked at his face when he asked the question, they would have seen that he was only trying to crack a joke and not sow a seed of dispute. 'Is not a disagreement over a group often a bad omen?' he surprised to himself.
Although Dubem maintained silence throughout the trip, his heart was full to the brim. All the arguments his handlers had on his behalf touched and tortured him. They could decide all they wanted if they had brought enough gifts or not.
Still submerged in thought, the suitor did not realize the distance the minivan had covered. 'We've arrived at the old house of Peter the Rock,' announced the driver.
Throwing out her hand, the usher announced, 'We have seats.' The suitor and his entourage sat on the wooden chairs with wide armrests.


How to move a variant of a photo to another album without copying all the other variants along with the original image as well?
I do a lot of Headshots and provide my clients mostly with 3 different crops of one image. When I have my final images and do the 2 other variants I want to organize them in different locations/albums like an place where all the tight cropped images are a place where all the original crop is and so on. In LR I used for this the collections where I had 3 different folders for each cropping variant/virtual copy of the image.
Is this possible somehow? Because like now I copy an variant and have to delete all the other variants each time which gets a little bit cumbersome.
There are plenty of features I'd like to see. This is one that I think was not done properly. Adding specific variants to albums that match them *is* a requirement of a feature like that IMHO. At any rate it is not there currently. May I suggest logging a support case requesting this be added. Phase One monitors the number of requests something gets so it could actually help.
This sound like you are duplicating the original image which may be excessive in terms of storage requirements.
I would assume that you wish to processes images out to different folders according the crop - so 3 folders for 3 different crops.
Are the output file dimension different as well? Or are all crops produced to the same size?
And then there is the option to see them in Capture One in sets by Crop1, Crop2 and Crop3.
I can't recall whether there are significant differences between C1 V9 and later versions but for example in V11 the Token offers some considerable flexibility for automating output to group images into folders.
So, for example, you can use the Variant Position (1,2,3, etc.) as the basis for creating a folder for the output. So long as your different crops are created as variants in a consistent order then the output process grouping within a recipe would put them in the appropriate folder.
More commonly used, since it has dual purpose, might be a colour tag since each variant has its own colour tag.
Again your output could use the colour tag to create separate folders.
This could also be an identifier that would work with Smart Albums to select variants by colour tag.
For Smart Albums (but not process recipe output) you could also use a keyword - crop1, crop2, crop3 for example - and select variants accordingly. Applying the keywords to all variants, selected by Variant Position, would be quick and easy.
There are, potentially, a number of other alternatives to make the task easier than it seems to be at the moment based on the principles described but perhaps using different metadata fields or, for output, multiple process recipes (especially if you wish to offer different sizes as well as different crops). However it may be best to avoid making these initial suggestions over complicated at this time.
I would add that these are options that I THINK you should be able to apply in V9 BUT, if not, you may need to consider the need to upgrade. The token system has been enhanced a few times since it was introduced and details may vary.


Password Protect Files and Folders?
I just finished reading Tuesday's Gazette article, 'restricting access to portions of the start menu', for the sake of security. My question is this: can a folder or certain file be password protected? I am running Windows XP. "
If you own more than one computer and have a local area network, you can can restrict who has access to what by setting the "share" privileges on Folders.
On the other hand: if you only own 1 computer and have more than 1 person sharing it, Windows XP does not offer any way to password protect files or folders unless you choose to Compress the folder using ZIP.
The last statement perked my interest, as I'm well rehearsed when it comes to DOS. It wouldn't make much sense to password-protect something in Windows if I could get around it easily by entering in a few DOS commands.
Pretty simple. You can also right-click a folder at any point and choose to Lock / Unlock it.
Folder Password Expert: how strong is the Lock?
Just as a chain is only as good as its weakest link, a Folder Lock is only as good as its ability to keep prying eyes out of your protected data.
Attempting to rename a Locked folder resulted in a "file is in use" error message. (Correct).
Attempting to access a Locked folder over the network was not possible. Without having Folder Password Expert installed on my Laptop (networked computer), the Locked folder only appeared as a shortcut with an oddly named extension. However, even with FPE installed onto Laptop, I was refused access to the Locked folder over the network. (Not Quite Correct).
Attempting to access the Locked folder via an MS DOS command line resulted in a "The system cannot find the path specified" error message. (Correct).
Attempting to access the Locked folder directly through Explorer prompted me for a password. I purposely entered the wrong password and FPE did not grant me access to the folder. (Correct).
Attempting to reboot Windows using Safe Mode and logging in as my account (with Admin access), Folder Password Expert prompted for a password. (Correct). Attempting to access the folder under the Administrator account also prompted me for a password. (Correct).
Attempting to reboot the computer into pure DOS mode, still didn't allow me access the folder, resulting in a "Bad command or filename" error message. (Correct).
Was I impressed at this point? (Correct).
FPE works on Windows 98, ME NT, 2000, and XP.
Folder Password Expert does exactly what the title implies. Although there is a slight networking 'glitch', I still wasn't able to find a way to permeate Folder Password Expert's locking mechanism. Even so, this program is extremely robust and comes highly recommend for anyone wishing to maintain a level of security.
In short: Folder Password Expert is a 'must have' utility!


Liverpool news: Reds to be Premier League title FAVOURITES if they do this?
LIVERPOOL will be the favourites for the Premier League title this season if they beat Chelsea and Manchester City in their next two matches - and Jurgen Klopp would relish it.
That’s the opinion of former Premier League striker Dion Dublin.
The Reds continued their perfect start to the season with a 3-0 defeat of Southampton last Saturday.
A Wesley Hoedt own goal set Jurgen Klopp’s men on their way to a sixth straight top-flight victory to start the campaign with Joel Matip and Mohamed Salah also on the score-sheet.
The Merseyside outfit are two points clear at the top of the table after Chelsea, their next opponents, slipped to a goalless draw at West Ham on Sunday.
Liverpool have overcome two significant tests over the last week by beating Tottenham at Wembley in the league and defeating French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
But their tough schedule continues with back-to-back games against Chelsea, in the Carabao Cup at Anfield tomorrow night (7.45pm) and in the league at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
A trip to Napoli in Europe is then followed by a monumental clash with reigning top-flight champions City at Anfield a week on Sunday with Liverpool's credentials set to be put well and truly under the microscope.
Pep Guardiola’s City remain the favourites for the title after amassing 100 points last season but Liverpool have justified their billing as their closest contenders so far.
They’re not too far away from being favourites at the moment for me.
And Dublin - who scored over 100 Premier League goals in spells with Coventry City and Aston Villa - thinks Liverpool will surpass City and become the favourites to win the league if they beat both them and Chelsea and that if they do, manager Klopp will revel in the pressure of being the team to beat.
“They could quite easily do that. I would think so [that they would be favourites then],” Dublin told Premier League Today.
“They’re not too far away from being favourites at the moment for me.
“City are still the standouts but Liverpool to beat Chelsea and City, I would definitely put them favourites [if that happened].
“I think Klopp would like to be favourites you know.
“He’d like to be chased, he’d want to be the top man and be chased.
Liverpool are expected to make mass changes for their clash with Chelsea in the Carabao Cup tomorrow with Xherdan Shaqiri, Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno and Nathaniel Clyne among those hoping to start.


How do you choose which book(s) to buy?
There are thousands of great books published every year; some by big-name publishers, some by smaller publishers and some self-published. Which do you buy? What is pushing you towards a particular book?
Maybe you've seen rave reviews about a book in a magazine. Are they genuine? Have the staff of the magazine read ALL of the new books released that month and these five or six are genuinely the best in their opinion? I'm suspecting that the answer to that is 'no'. I'm suspecting that these are the books they've been sent by the big publishers and possibly some of the smaller publishers. I'm basing that on the fact that in the magazines that I read, none of the books they recommend are published by anyone other than the main publishers. Okay, but there are loads of other, excellent books that have been released; you're just not being told about them, so maybe the recommendations aren't everything.
You go into the local bookshop (congratulations if you have one!). There are tables near the front, piled with books on offer - buy one, get one free/half price. Buy three for £10. We've all seen them. We've all been suckered in. But again, why are those books the ones on offer? Because they're the best? I've certainly read some cracking books bought off the big tables, but I've also read a couple of howlers. Again, what is being put in front of you is decided by the big publishers because they've bought the prime locations for their books.
How does the independent author compete? They'll never be on the tables inside the door of the bookshop. They may not even be on the shelves for those more adventurous readers who make it past the tables. They're not in the magazine recommendations either. So how do you ever know they are there?
Well, the large on-line shop that sells a lot of books and which begins with A, whilst having the disadvantage that it demands enormous discounts on physical books to such an extent that it can be almost impossible for an indie author to make any money off a print-run of less than 1000, does have the advantage that its recommendations are tailored. They are not decided by who has paid the most for the virtual 'table by the door' but are based on what you've bought in the past, and on what other people with the same shopping basket as you have also bought. It shows you things you may never have heard of, but don't dismiss them - they may be just what you're after!
Okay, so you click on one of these recommendations and see it may well be just what you're after, but there are almost no reviews of it so you're not sure.
At this point I'm going to make three suggestions to you, which apply to any book you're considering taking a punt on - whether it's one you see mentioned on your recommendations, a book you see mentioned on Twitter or one you see anywhere else.
If you'd spend more on a coffee and a snack than the book costs, buy it. It will last longer than the coffee or snack and you may well love it. It certainly won't make you put on weight.
If you read the book, leave a review. Good or bad, your opinion matters. You spent hours reading the book. It will only take a few minutes to leave a review. If you're reading on Kindle, even just completing the stars on the page you're presented with, the second you've finished reading, will help and all you have to do is touch the screen/click a button. Likewise on Goodreads - if you're logging that you've read the book, at least give it your stars out of five rating if nothing else.
If you enjoyed the book, tell everyone you know.
If we do these things, we all benefit! We read something we may not have chosen because it's not on the table by the door (and this goes for any work really - from self-published to published by a big publisher and all the smaller presses in-between). The more reviews that are left, the better for everyone - readers and writers alike - because choices become more informed. And telling everyone you know about a great book you've read... well, surely we all do that anyway? And everyone's a winner - your friends get to read great books and the writer gets more sales and that might just be the tipping point they've been after - the one that helps them move from being a published book, to a successful published book.
Obviously, please buy books from anyone - big publishers, small publishers or self-published - but let's all try and read at least some books this year from self-published authors. After all, just because we are small fish in a huge ocean, it doesn't mean we're not great.
Reading speeds: Kindle or paperback?
Settings: why is a book where it is?


Can roofs be “perfectly” constructed? Under most circumstances, the answer to that question would be no. Minor aesthetic imperfections, that have no bearing on performance, will always develop due to the materials used and the conditions under which they are installed.
Modified bitumen membranes, with their relatively thin protective surfacing (primarily ceramic granules or metal foils), can be particularly susceptible to the occurrence of these blemishes. Unlike traditional built-up roofs, these membranes are not “hidden from view” by a heavy top pour of asphalt and gravel. The reflective properties of their protective surfacing will allow many minor anomalies, such as deck or insulation unevenness, to readily telescope through to the roof surface. Over time, due to natural weathering and aging, these aesthetic imperfections will become increasingly visible. There are, however, distinct benefits to this aspect of modified bitumen membranes. Some manufacturing defects, such as poor surfacing embedment and uneven or insufficient backside coating, may be detected through an inspection of the rolls prior to installation. Serious errors in application will be apparent almost immediately allowing timely remedial action to take place.
The decision to repair a modified bitumen roof should, as with every type of roofing system, be made only after careful thought and should be based primarily on performance consequences. Open seams, fishmouths at laps, large unbonded areas of the membrane and areas where overheating has resulted in distortion to the reinforcing should be corrected as soon as possible. Trivial anomalies, on the other hand, such as minor wrinkling and ridging are to be expected as a function of the physical characteristics of these materials and their required application methods. Patching a minor blister or a small wrinkle because of visual impact alone is not justified and, in most cases, the repairs will look far worse than the blemish they were intended to correct.
As contractors have become more experienced with modified bitumen membrane installation, application techniques have evolved that have proven to reduce the occurrence and severity of these “blemishes”. These techniques, however, will not eliminate these minor anomalies entirely. In addition, it should be realized that they may significantly increase the cost of a roofing project due to added labour costs and lengthened construction schedules, with only marginal benefits for the owner and no meaningful increase in performance value.
Modified bitumen membranes have proven to provide satisfactory performance in most regions of our country. As with any product, however, they have their limitations. One should not forget that their primary purpose is to be a barrier to moisture. Although they are available in a variety of coloured surfaces and textures, their inherent physical properties make an absolute flawless appearance impossible under most circumstances. A reasonable level of expectation is required by those who specify these membranes together with a reasonable level of care and skill in their application.
The opinions expressed herein are those of the CRCA National Technical Committee. This Technical Bulletin is circulated for the purpose of bringing roofing information to the attention of the reader. The data, commentary, opinions and conclusions, if any, are not intended to provide the reader with conclusive technical advice and the reader should not act only on the roofing information contained in this Technical Bulletin without seeking specific professional, engineering or architectural advice. Neither the CRCA nor any of its officers, directors, members or employees assume any responsibility for any of the roofing information contained herein or the consequences of any interpretation which the reader may take from such information.


Spending more time with his family: John Edwards in January 2008, with his wife Elizabeth and children Emma Claire, Jack and Cate.
Late on a spring afternoon last year, my wife, Cheri, and I went to watch our eight-year-old son, Brody, play in the last baseball game of the season. Out on the field was the man who had once promised me the brightest future I could imagine and then abandoned me to national disgrace. He was hiding behind his sunglasses, talking to his son, Jack. Cheri and I sat alone, ignored, as the other parents chatted. Jack and his sister, Emma Claire, who used to play with our kids, looked at us with confusion in their eyes, and we overheard one of the mothers in the crowd whisper something about "the Youngs". When the game ended, my old friend, boss and mentor walked the long way to his car so he could avoid us. It was the last time I would see John Edwards.
It's hard to recall now, in the Obama era, but at one time Edwards was heralded as a potential saviour for the Democrats. Like many others, I'd believed he was destined to lead the party and the country. Back then, he had given me an outlet for the powerful idealism I'd first felt as a small boy who sat awestruck every Sunday as my father, a university chaplain in the turbulent 70s, had challenged prejudice and small-mindedness.
Having dropped out of university the first time – a shy young man, still coping with the scandal of my father's adultery in my late teens – I went back to get a law degree and, in 1994, became part of Democratic governor Jim Hunt's campaign. By the time I volunteered to work on Edwards's campaign, I had become a fully-fledged political junkie.
In 1998, Edwards had surprised everyone by winning the Democratic party's nomination for the US Senate. A superstar lawyer, he had amassed a personal fortune by suing on behalf of those injured by corporations, hospitals or individual defendants. His most famous case involved a little girl who barely survived after being disembowelled by the suction of a pool pump. At the end of the trial, Edwards gave a 90-minute closing speech in which he evoked the recent death of his teenage son, Wade, in a car accident, in 1996. His performance won a $25m verdict for his clients.
At 45, Edwards looked as if he was in his mid-30s and brimmed with confidence. Having grown up the son of a mill worker in North Carolina, he spoke about healthcare and education with personal authority. During high school, he had worked cleaning soot off ceilings in the mill. He'd been surprised when he got into law school and surprised again when the most worldly, sophisticated and beautiful woman in his class, Elizabeth Anania, agreed to marry him. She, too, had a successful legal career, but after Wade was killed, she retired and underwent fertility treatment, giving birth, at 48, to Emma Claire, then later Jack.
Washington seemed to love John Edwards, and I worked overtime for him almost every day. I quickly became the senator's "go-to guy" and, as she got to know me as a reliable aide, Mrs Edwards couldn't have been friendlier. If it was late and she was in bed, she told me just to come on into the bedroom and put the suitcases in the closet. "It's all right, Andrew," she would say. "You're family."
Serious talk about Edwards running for national office began in June 2000 and, at a time when Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs had stirred public outrage, John and Elizabeth presented themselves as a blissfully married couple. You could see she loved him and respected him – but his candidacy, like his career, was a joint project, and he invited her criticisms. She edited every statement he issued, no matter how minor.
In 2004, John Kerry got the Democratic presidential nomination over Edwards, and while Kerry deliberated over who to ask to join his ticket, Edwards invited my family to join his at Disney World, paying for the trip. In retrospect, I'd guess we mounted this expedition primarily so the world would know the Edwardses were at the most American vacation spot if the call came for him to be vice-president, but it was a thrill for the kids. In fact, it wasn't until we were back home that Kerry finally phoned Edwards to ask him to be on the ticket. The senator called me and said, "We're in, Andrew, and we're going to win it."
We didn't win. And by the time the votes were being counted, Edwards had other concerns on his mind: his wife had been diagnosed with cancer. This news appeared in the media at the same time as it was filled with analysis of the election and articles predicting the senator's political future. Though he was widely regarded as the Democrat most likely to challenge Hillary Clinton for the 2008 presidential nomination, he downplayed his prospects, noting that for the foreseeable future he would be focused on his wife's health.
Her cancer was aggressive, and the gruelling treatment took six months. The senator divided his attention between her, their children and his own struggle to set a course for his political future. During a week when Elizabeth was between treatments and strong enough to be alone, the senator and I went away together, to rest and brainstorm.
While we were away, the senator told me his wife was certain he should mount another campaign, whether or not she was sick. He complained about her more than usual. She had been picking fights, often about staffers she didn't trust (she didn't trust most of his aides). "Sometimes I think she's crazy," he said. But it was clear that, despite the obstacles he might face, he believed he'd occupy the Oval Office in January 2009. And I'd continue to work for him as a sort of personal assistant.
When we got back, Mrs Edwards began planning the construction of her dream house. My relationship with the Edwardses had grown so close that they felt comfortable asking me to do anything. So I became informal project manager, in charge of chasing down the architect and contractors.
I believed I would work for the Edwardses for many years to come, so felt confident taking on the expense of building a new home of our own nearby. But my wife Cheri worried about how entangled my life (and hers) had become with theirs. I didn't listen when she said that I had come to identify too closely with the Edwardses, at the expense of my own priorities and hopes.
Instead, I trained myself to ignore the senator's self-centredness and overlooked incidents where he seemed hypocritical. When I heard about him having extramarital affairs, I refused to believe the stories. When he arranged for the campaign to pay $100,000 to a woman with almost no experience for a video project, this mysterious person, Rielle Hunter – a woman the senator had met in a bar – was put on the payroll.
The senator first met her in early 2006. Born Lisa Druck and raised in Florida, she had dropped out of college and moved to New York City in her early 20s, earning a reputation as a sexually liberated party girl. In 1991 she married attorney Alexander Hunter and changed her name to Rielle Hunter. She did a little acting, produced a short film and studied new age religion. By the time she met Edwards, she was 41, divorced, unemployed and living rent-free with a friend.
According to Rielle, when she first saw him, he gave off an "energy" that told her he could be a powerful force for peace and progress, like Martin Luther King Jr. She believed their souls had known each other in a previous life, and decided she'd devote herself to helping him reach this potential.
The senator introduced Rielle to me as a filmmaker who was going to make brief documentaries – "webisodes" – to air on the internet, but I soon had an idea of what was going on between them. Rielle worried me. She was flashy and loud, and I was concerned she might do something to make public her relationship with the senator.
After one trip, when the senator stumbled into the house exhausted and flopped into bed, a secret cell phone he had left in his suitcase began to ring. Mrs Edwards answered. Without hearing a "Hello", Rielle launched into a romantic monologue about how much she missed the man who was supposed to answer. After ending the call, Mrs Edwards went to the senator and demanded to know what was going on. He confessed to having had a one-night stand and she accepted this explanation, but demanded he return the call and, as she watched, end the relationship.
He did as he was told, but as soon as he was able he telephoned Rielle again to reassure her they were still in a relationship. The senator told me Mrs Edwards was being overly demanding, obsessive, even "crazy". But he also said that he would never seek a divorce. For one thing, he still loved Elizabeth. And he believed that his wife was more popular with many voters than he was, and that if he left her, he might as well forget ever becoming president. I cringed when he said this, but when I thought about how it would look if he divorced a wife of almost 30 years, who had lost a child in a car crash and was living with cancer, I had to agree with him about the political impact.
Elizabeth wrote a book about her battle with cancer and, while she was on her book tour, the senator brought Rielle to his home, where she met Jack and Emma Claire, and even interviewed them briefly on film. When I arrived, the mood in the house was relaxed and upbeat. That evening Rielle talked excitedly, saying that John's future was limitless, punctuating her observations about him with a laugh and the line, "It's good to be king." As the wine flowed and the kids went to bed, the senator and Rielle dropped the pretence that they weren't involved. At one point, they started musing about how the house seemed like a happy place with Elizabeth and her "negative energy" removed. Rielle talked about living in the mansion once Mrs Edwards was out of the way.
This worried me, but I was busy with my own problems. Cheri and I had tried to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but ended up arguing about my 24-hour-a-day devotion to the Edwards family. Though I was finally earning a good salary and getting some respect in national politics, Cheri knew I was not guaranteed a long-term position. We were dependent on the Edwardses for our income and health insurance, and they hadn't shown themselves to be paragons of stability, especially since the arrival of Rielle Hunter.
Cheri was right. I was wrong. But I wasn't going to admit it. Instead, I said what I always said: "John Edwards is going to be president one day." In the heat of the moment, and having had just wine and a little bread at dinner, I drove off. I was arrested for driving under the influence and lost my licence.
I had to hire an assistant to help me get around for work, but worse was having to tell the Edwardses. Elizabeth's response confirmed all the good feelings I had ever felt for her. "Andrew, you are family," she said. "You don't worry about this… It's going to be all right."
The senator called me about half an hour later. "We've all done something like this, Andrew. I have. I know you feel like the lowest person on earth right now, but I love you. You are like a brother to me." I felt as if a great weight had lifted.
Words like "love" and "family" make you feel a powerful bond, but this can also be a trap. With the crisis around my arrest, my loyalty to John Edwards shifted from hope for a better future to dread of being exposed and losing my livelihood.
In the autumn of 2006, Mr and Mrs Edwards travelled extensively to promote themselves (she for her book, he for the White House), and the senator saw Rielle and spoke to her by phone as often as he could. Although he had not formally declared, the senator had been operating as a candidate for the 2008 Democratic party nomination ever since the 2004 defeat. He faced two main opponents in Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Mrs Edwards was watching the senator closely, so Rielle bought a new cell phone we came to call "the Batphone". The senator and Rielle made it hard for me to ignore the affair – he let me see them kiss and Rielle recounted their sexual exploits to me – but he always used the lawyer's trick of speaking in code so he could claim "plausible deniability" if it was ever needed.
Similarly, Mrs Edwards chose to limit the questions she asked to delay a confrontation. The two women finally met face to face at a campaign event. Mrs Edwards glanced past Rielle, caught my eye, and quickly realised this must be "the other woman". The next day, I picked up the senator at his house and he told me Mrs Edwards had shouted and cried until he told her all about Rielle and promised to fire her. What I wouldn't find out for many months was that the senator had told Elizabeth that although he had indulged in a "one-night" fling with Rielle, in recent weeks she had become my mistress.
More than once after that Mrs Edwards called to interrogate me about Rielle. I felt he should be answering her questions, not me, but this angered her. "I know you are lying to me," she said, "and if you don't tell the truth to me, I'll have John fire you." During one call, I launched into a minor diatribe. "Mrs Edwards, I love you like a big sister, and I love your husband like a big brother," I said, "and after 10 years of me working for you, for you to treat me like this is wrong, utterly wrong."
She was not impressed. "Andrew, you are not family. You work for us. Nothing more. You get paid for all you do."
At this time, aside from managing the senator's personal crises, I dealt with inquiries from colleagues who knew I had Edwards's ear and understood him better than anyone else. I also looked after Rielle's travel arrangements, which required some fancy footwork. When I knew where the senator was staying, I made reservations in my own name, faxed copies of my credit card and state identification card, and told the hotel staff my "wife" would be checking in on my account. I used my credit card to book hotel rooms and flights for her, so Mrs Edwards wouldn't notice the money had gone. I even gave Edwards cash to give her – a few hundred dollars at a time – when I took him to the airport. He promised I would be repaid when a wealthy benefactor was recruited or when Mrs Edwards died. "I'll take care of you, Andrew," he said. "You know I'm good for it."
Elizabeth Edwards's cancer returned, and most people believed she was not long for this world. A few people criticised the Edwardses for their ambition, but in the main they were honoured for their courage and forthrightness. Frank Rich of the New York Times would even publish a column titled Elizabeth Edwards For President.
Although I continued to work as a fundraiser, Mrs Edwards had told the people in charge of the day-to-day campaign to take away my responsibilities and to keep me away from her husband and her house. Because she identified me with his infidelity, she obsessed over what I knew. She called me over and over, demanding information I wouldn't give her. She accused me of lying, cheating and even stealing from her household. In furious fights, she insisted her husband fire me, which he couldn't do because he needed me to take care of Rielle. I was squarely in the middle.
Meanwhile, Rielle and I were in constant communication. I had never known a woman who needed more attention, but on the day in May 2007 when I received four calls in an hour, I knew something unusual was going on. Having deflected her three times, I answered the fourth call feeling irritated. "Somebody better be dying or pregnant," I said.
Later that day, cussing and barely under control, the senator told me that since they had an "open" relationship, he thought there was only a "one-in-three chance" he could be the baby's father. He asked me to help persuade her to get an abortion.
But Rielle refused, and every once in a while threatened to go to the press and reveal the affair. She was especially outraged on 30 July when the Edwardses marked their 30th anniversary by renewing their wedding vows. Rumours were starting to swirl, though, and when National Enquirer photographers turned up outside Rielle's house, the senator decided the temporary solution would be for her to stay with Cheri and me.
"This is bigger than any of us," he said, evoking the many causes – peace, healthcare, poverty and so on – that he represented. When I finally agreed with his plan, the senator said, "Andrew, nobody has ever done something like this for me. You are the best friend I ever had in the world."
Cheri had seen so much crazy stuff where the Edwardses were concerned that she wasn't exactly surprised. She was angry and disgusted, but she trusted me enough just to shake her head in a weary way and say OK.
But within days of Rielle's arrival, there was another tabloid story, and a few months later, when photographers caught Rielle, heavily pregnant, running errands just a few miles from the Edwards mansion, the senator called. "This is bad, Andrew," he said. "You have to get her under control." The Iowa caucuses were three weeks away. Edwards was neck and neck with Obama for the lead in the polls. Clinton was a distant third.
The next day, the senator called again. He wanted to find a "way out of this thing". He talked about how he and John Kerry had lost by a few hundred thousand votes in Ohio in 2004 and said, "A black or a woman can't win the general election." Gradually, he came round to the real purpose of his call: he wanted me to issue a statement saying I was the father of Rielle's baby, then disappear with her, Cheri and the kids for a luxury vacation until the election was over.
I was dumbfounded. How, I asked, was I meant to explain to my wife that I should confess to an affair I never had, claim an unborn child that was not mine and then bring her along with our family as we attempted to disappear? The senator appealed to my commitment to the cause and our friendship. When I said he was asking me to ruin my career and my ability to support my family, he said he would make sure I had a job in the future. "You're family. A friend like no friend I've ever had," he said, before adding that I would help make Mrs Edwards's dying days a bit easier. "I know you're mad at her, Andrew, but I love her. I can't let her die knowing this."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My wife and children were caught up in this. My colleagues were shunning me, my professional contacts evaporating. And the much beloved and respected Elizabeth Edwards was telling mutual friends, donors, politicians and anyone else who would listen that I was the worst kind of scoundrel. (The senator had obviously long ago told her the lie about my being the baby's father.) In short, I was fucked, and at that moment I couldn't see any options but to continue playing Edwards's game.
Exhausted and under intense pressure, Cheri finally agreed that, even if we followed through on the senator's plan, no one who knew us would believe the story. I would work with a lawyer to craft a statement to release to the media. Then we would fly off somewhere no one could find us.
Barack Obama took Iowa, and John Edwards finished with just 1% more of the vote than Hillary Clinton. In New Hampshire, Edwards got clobbered, finishing a distant third. While some Democrats began calling for the senator to drop out, we were still hiding out with a heavily pregnant Rielle. School was starting, and Cheri and I wanted to go home. But now the senator was insisting we stay away until his part in the election was over or Mrs Edwards died.
We found a teacher who would home-school the kids, and fell into a routine of taking care of Rielle's basic needs almost as if she were our child.
The last straw for the campaign came on 26 January, when the senator finished third in the primary in South Carolina, where he was born. After this defeat, he quit the race, but even then it was impossible to get him to focus on resolving our situation. As the days passed and the birth of Rielle's baby drew closer, Cheri and I became less confident about the promises he had made.
On Wednesday 27 February 2008, Rielle's baby girl was born. I called and texted the senator, and he gave me a vague assurance that he would call her. I asked if he wanted me to send her flowers from him. "Yeah, that's a good idea." He paused. "But don't sign it from me. Someone might see it."
At that moment, a switch flicked. After watching and hearing John Edwards practise a thousand little deceptions and tell a thousand different lies, ostensibly in the service of some greater good, I finally recognised that he didn't care about anyone other than himself. A precious living, breathing human being – his daughter – had come into the world, and he wasn't inclined even to call the woman who had given birth to her. Shortly after, he asked if I could get a nappy to send for a DNA test. At one point, he even asked if we could get a fabricated DNA test, showing he was not the father.
Cheri and I finally returned, and Rielle's escape was arranged, but still Edwards would not own up. In 2009, Elizabeth published another book. In it I was no longer the young man she called "family". I was some sort of deranged groupie or "obsessed fan". I was hurt, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. The FBI and federal prosecutors had been to my home to talk about an investigation into allegations of corruption in the Edwards campaign. I began putting together the records they requested for a grand jury that had been convened.
Two weeks before my book was to be published in the US, John Edwards finally acknowledged his fifth child. This announcement fulfilled the promises he made to me, but came much too late to undo the damage done to me and my family.
My last encounter with Edwards had been in August 2008. I had no job prospects and our unfinished house was threatening to bankrupt me, but he was more concerned with his own problems. I asked him what he was going to do about me now that my reputation was trashed and I had no chance of finding a job.
"What about your promise to take care of things?" I asked. "What about you coming clean?"
"If you apply for a job, I'll give you a good reference. Just let me know who to call."
After a decade of devoted service, untold sacrifice on the part of my wife and children, and an act of extreme loyalty that left my reputation ruined, John Edwards proposed to compensate me with a good reference. As he drove away, I stole a last glance through the window of the driver's door. I saw a man I couldn't recognise at all.


The company intends to offer server products on a hosted basis and merge its server products with Web properties.
LOS ANGELES--Microsoft intends to expand its hosted software offerings by blurring the lines between the company's server products and online Web properties, company Chairman Bill Gates told CNET News.com.
In an interview at the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, Gates said the company will expand its "software as a service" offerings, particularly to businesses. The idea is that customers can choose to either purchase server software from Microsoft, such as mail or portal applications, or get that service delivered over the Internet.
To get to that point, Microsoft needs to converge the capabilities of software packages Exchange, SharePoint portal and Active Directory (AD) with those of online services Hotmail, MSN Spaces and Passport.
"A lot of our services have started as very inexpensive but not feature-rich, and our servers are very feature-rich," Gates said. "As we bring AD and Passport together, Hotmail and Exchange together, and MSN Spaces and SharePoint together, we give you the richness but also the choice of having it as a server or a service."
Already Microsoft has built a common technology foundation between its MSN Messenger service and Live Communications Server, which allows customers to run the two products together.
This week, the company is offering an expanded set of application programming interfaces, or APIs, which will allow software developers to write Web applications that interact with Microsoft's Web properties, including MSN Search and Virtual Earth. The company also presented developers with an early version of the Atlas toolkit, which will include software called MSN Frameworks designed to help build these online Web applications.
The majority of Microsoft's own hosted services will be geared for corporate customers, Gates said.
"We're not just jamming a bunch of adds at people. We're giving people a choice in terms of how they do IT (so) that some of it is through services," he said. "Everything we're doing, this idea of server equals service (and) getting the symmetry there is part of our long-term architecture."
Gates' comments provide some insight into the company's long-term plans in the hosted software arena--an area that many other companies, including Saleforce.com, have championed.
In fact, Microsoft last week indicated that it intends to offer a hosted option for its customer relationship management applications to compete with Salesforce.com. In the past, it has dabbled with other services, such as a since-discontinued online Office service it offered to small- and medium-size businesses.
Microsoft's software-as-a-service strategy contrasts with that of IBM, which is aggressively pushing into the hosted software arena but relies on application partners such as Siebel to sell jointly to corporate customers.
Oracle, meanwhile, offers hosted versions of its packaged applications from its own data centers. And Sun Microsystems is focusing its Sun Grid offering on infrastructure services, such as computing power and storage, although it intends to work through partners to offer software.
Gates said that the company's hosted server products will come gradually--he noted that the first company meeting to discuss software as a service was in 1998. But a number of technology changes have made the option more realistic for both customers and software providers.
"Software as a service has been moving along. We needed the Internet. We needed low-cost connectivity. We needed some data standards like XML; that helps a lot. The scale economics of doing big server farms so you can do (hosting) well and at a low cost, that helps," Gates said. "You'll see the services thing increase."


provide an objective summary using evidence from the text.
analyze the development of the theme through the plot, setting, and characters in the text.
write an argument utiliizing strong, relevant evidence from a text.
Reading Literature 8.2: Determine the theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
Writing 8.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.


Bert A. Phillips was his name, but back in the 1940's and 1950's, fans were more familiar with Foreman Phillips.
Foreman served in the U. S. Navy during World War I. After his discharge, he began work as a salesman for radio station KFWN, selling ad time.
In 1935, he became the sales manager for Don Lee of the Mutual Network. It was then he started one of his hit radio shows, "Western Hit Parade Show".
His popularity continued to grow and perhaps peaked when started hosting his popular County Barn Dances in 1941. It appears the first venue for these events was the Venice Pier in California. Then he leased space at other locations such as Compton, Baldwin Park and Culver City.
Billboard magazine included a short mention in their 1943 yearbook that the Los Angeles County Barn Dance at the Venice Pier was so popular, it led him to open other venues in the Los Angeles area.
Janie Hamilton wrote a bit about Foreman Phillips in her "West of the Mississippi" column in 1944 that give a little insight into what he was doing on the Los Angeles country music scene back then. He was doing programs over two radio stations at the time by recording them. He was on KRKD and KPAS. In fact, one of his shows was a 30-minute 'news show' that was not the typical entertainer or disc jockey spinning records type of show it seems. Instead, it was almost promotional in one aspect - he provided a news program that revolved around the country music entertainers that were probably appearing at the several venues he was managing.
But 1944 may have been somewhat of a turning point for Foreman and his shows. Variety reported that box office receipts for venues featuring western style music had dropped for about four consecutive months. It was noted that even recordings and sales of western clothing had dropped during that time. But they also noted that promoting the western 'fad' of music made Foreman a "millionaire".
We can infer from several sources that Bert (Foreman) Phillips took advantage of an opportunity he saw during the World War II era in Los Angeles. There were many war-related industries in the area and he found that they enjoyed going to dances and especially those that featured country music. He wasn't a performer. But he reached his audiences as a disc jockey for stations in the area and gave him the ability to promote those dances.
Foreman was cited in one 1944 article in Billboard for the success he had seen. At the time he was said to have several popular programs ariing over KRKD. He wrote them in a letter, dated July 18, 1944, that he had just finished his 173rd consecutive week with his "Western Hit Parade" program. He told the magazine, that the Top Ten hits he played or mentioned each week was not based on record or sheet music sales, but rather, dictated solely by the listening audience, noting that he received 6,000 votes a week. Doing the math, that's over 1,030,000 votes in that time span. Does the success of the U. S. Post Office owe some debt of thanks to early country music radio?
Gerald W. Haslam wrote in his book, "Working Man Blues" about country music history in California that the Los Angeles County Barn Dance at the Venice Pier Ballroom was started by Foreman in 1942. He sensed he had a good thing going and soon was leasing the Town Hall Ballroom in Compton, California, the Plantation in Culver City, the Baldwin Park Ballroom and for a short time, the Riverside Rancho.
Mr. Haslam notes that Foreman booked major stars of that era that gave audiences something else to enjoy in addition to the house bands and artists that included such names as Ray Whitley, Al Dexter, Ted Daffan, Space Cooley and Hank Penny.
Spade Cooley played the Venice Pier Ballroom for Foreman for some 74 weeks according to a 1944 mention in Billboard magazine.
One of his popular dance venues was the Venice Pier Ballroom in Venice, California where he consistently drew audiences in the thousands. Artists such as Bill Boyd, Roy Rogers, Bob Wills, Roy Acuff, Bob Atcher and Bonnie Blue Eyes made appearances at the Ballroom. Ms. Hamilton writes that it was a "...the ballroom is (was) a mammoth affair". She said it was in a colorful western setting that combined new and old music and often would feature several square dances each night.
In 1944, Ted Daffan and His Texans were one of the acts that appeared at his Venice Ballroom shows.
Spade Cooley seems to be someone that was a catalyst for what Foreman developed in Los Angeles. A 1945 article notes that Spade was a large part of Foreman's success during his time at the Venice Pier Ballroom - drawing on average 5,000 to 7,000 people to his dances.
It is interesting to note that the term, "western swing' is often attributed to Foreman Phillips who used it to describe the music Spade Cooley would play, and called him the King of Western Swing, perhaps influenced by the moniker given to Benny Goodman of that era as the King of Swing. Spade gave credit to Foreman for the 'encouragement' he provided in booking him at his venues in a 1953 question and answer article.
But even though he is given credit for coining that term, he may not have really known what was behind its popularity back then. We have seen more than one reference that indicate that Foreman was quite the stickler for what he wanted the bands to play at his venues - a sign was posted "Stick to the Melody". But it is pointed out that dance bands want people to move, not just sit or stand and listen to the music, so the bands put emphasis on the beat and rhythm along with the melody.
In 1945, Foreman continued to add new acts to the venues he was operating. In June of that year, Zeke Clements had left the Grand Ole Opry and moved to the west coast. Readers will note that Zeke was the voice in a Walt Disney classic during those years. Another act that came to work for Foreman at his County Barn Dance shows was Curly Williams and His Georgia Peach Pickers. In fact, it was written that Foreman had signed Curly and his group to a long term contract.
Roy Acuff was signed to an appearance at the Venice Pier Ballroom on November 3 and 4 in 1945. This was part of a trip to Hollywood that began on October 20, 1945 to make the movie, "Night Train To Memphis".
One of the acts he had at his venues lost his job with Foreman's shows because he didn't stick to the melody and was known for his sometimes jazzy guitar licks - Hank Penny. He was eventually let go by Foreman and Hank went on to open one of southern California's legendary country music night spots - the Palomino Club on Lankershim Boulevard.
Like any business operation, one wonders where Foreman would base his promotional, musical efforts. In early 1946, he moved his County Barn Dance operations into what was known as the Spring Arcade Building in Los Angeles.
In 1947, Foreman Phillips had 20 hours of air time for his shows that aired over KRKD, KXLA and KFOX in the Los Angeles area.
Foreman was also promoting country music beyond the venues of his popular County Barn Dances in the Los Angeles area. Billboard noted in 1947 he had helped Roy Acuff finish a tour of 58 one-nighters in California, Washington and Oregon over a 60 day period.
In November of 1947, Foreman Phillips took leave of his shows over KRKD that he had hosted for nearly ten years. Cliffie Stone took over hosting the "Western Hit Parade" show.
Art Wenzel was one of the names who played for Foreman's 'County Barn Dances'. Foreman was known to either emcee the shows or just be the person behind organizing and managing the various venues he ran. Phil Brooks was a DJ on KRKD in the late 1940's and was running the County Barn Dance in Baldwin Park. Another act that worked for one of his dances was the McQuaig Twins. Hank Caldwell was another performer with links to Foreman.
Sunny Ciesla, a columnist for National Hillbilly News often covered the Southern California country music scene. More than once she bemoaned the fact that she had not been to all of the venues that Foreman had going at the time. She noted he had 'many shows'.
We turn the pages to September of 1948. Foreman was still operating his County Barn Dances at the Town Hall in Compton and in Baldwin Park. Ted Daffan was the main headliner at the Town Hall while Eddie Cletro and his Roundup Boys were the main act over in Baldwin Park.
In May of 1949, Billboard reported that Johnny Bond had been doing guest spots at the Foreman Phillips club in Compton after an extended tour with Gene Autry. This perhaps begins the blurring of the shows that eventually evolve into legendary Town Hall Party.
Foreman returned to the radio in March of 1950, again doing his four hour nightly show over KRKD.
Again, we seem to sense where history is blurred where the Town Hall venue is concerned. In August of 1951, Billboard is reporting that Foreman had a three hour show over KECA-TV in Los Angeles. The show featured such acts as Betsy Gay, Marilyn and Wesley Tuttle, Merle Travis, Bill Sutton, Jack Tusker, Mary Lou, June Ray, Jimmy Widener as well as Hank Colwell. Billboard also reported that while Johnny Bond had been working with Foreman at the time, had left on a tour in the midwest with Billy Ellsworth.
In 1952, Foreman Phillips sold the Town Hall dance venue in Compton to William (Bill) Wagnon which lead to the Town hall Party television show in later years. Gerald Haslam pointed out that the Town Hall Party was a three hour show over local Los Angeles television. Then, half-hour segments were packaged and retitled as "Western Ranch Party" when it began to be broadcast nationwide.
What gets interesting or confusing is the blur related to the Town Hall Party. Mr. Haslam notes that when Rose Lee and Joe Maphis moved to southern California in 1952, Johnny Bond and Merle Travis recommended them to Foreman Phillips and noted they became regulars on the Town Hall Party. A 1956 article by John Tynan about Joe Maphis provides a few more morsels from this time. He indicates that in 1951, they got a phone call from Foreman Phillips, inviting them to join his KABC-TV show. They accepted that offer and "..stayed with the Phillips show till he retired about four months later..." when they moved to Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree heard over KXLA. Later, they signed up with Bill Wagnon to appear on the Town Hall Party.
In his book Mr. Haslam notes the passion and efforts that country music promoters like Foreman Phillips put into bringing talent in to entertain audiences. He likened them to gamblers, risking their own money if the gate proceeds from the audience didn't cover the guarantees to the artists. Foreman was one such person, and others of that era included Cliffie Stone, Black Jack Wayne, Steve Stebbins and Stu Carnal.
There are some sources that indicate Foreman "retired" after selling his lease at the Town Hall venue in Compton. But we continue to see him mentioned on the LA country music scene after 1952. Billboard reported that Tom Brennen was appearing at the Baldwin Park County Barn Dance in late 1953.
In late 1954, another twist occurs. Les (Carrot Top) Anderson was to be the headline act on a new show led by Foreman Phillips at his Baldwin Park venue. It was to be called "County Barn Dance Jubilee" and first went on the air in November of 1954. The show was to include a cast of regular performers such as Red Murrell and his Ozark Playboys, Eddie Downs, Three Little Country Girls, Glen and Gary, Shirley Bates, Frank Simons and Tex Atchison. The show was to air over KCOP.
Perhaps by the mid-1950's Foreman was beginning to slow down and fade from the 'live' performance arena. But we still read about him hosting the County Barn Dances that were held in Baldwin Park - as late as 1956.
Hillbilly-Music.com wishes to express its appreciation to author Wayne W. Daniel for providing us with additional information based on his research of Billboard and Variety magazine articles as cited. We thank him for his long time and ongoing support and encouragement.


If you have a chance, these skywatching opportunities aren't to be missed. After this mission, which is the final flight of shuttle Discovery, there will only be two more (one each by the shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis) before NASA retires its space shuttle fleet later this year.
Appearing as a pair of very bright "stars," the space station should appear as the somewhat brighter object and will be trailing Discovery as they move across the sky. The pair should appear about 10 degrees apart on Monday evening (your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees) so expect Discovery and the station to be separated by about "one fist."
But that relatively small gap between the two will likely widen considerably so that by Tuesday evening Discovery will appear about 1-minute ahead of the space station.
A large telescope would be needed to make out details of the sprawling station. Traveling in their respective orbits at approximately 17,500 mph (28,163 kph), both should be visible anywhere from about one to five minutes (depending on the particular viewing pass) as they glide with a steady speed across the sky.
Because of its size and configuration of highly reflective solar panels, the space station is now, by far, the brightest man-made object currently in orbit around the Earth.
On favorable passes, it approaches a magnitude -5 in brightness on the reverse scale used by astronomers to measure the brightness of night sky objects. A magnitude of -5 would rival the planet Venus and is more than 25 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
Some have even caught a glimpse of the space station just prior to sunset or shortly after sunrise. And as a bonus, sunlight glinting directly off the solar panels can sometimes make the station appear to briefly flare with brilliance.
Satellites become visible only when they are in sunlight and the observer is in deep twilight or darkness. This usually means shortly after dusk or before dawn.
What makes the prospective upcoming passages so interesting is that you'll be able to see the two largest orbiting space vehicles in the sky at the same time, or within several minutes of each other.
Discovery undocked from the space station at 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) today. The shuttle flew around the space station before finally pulling away from the orbiting laboratory, although Discovery should still remain at a relatively close distance to the station until the scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 9 at 11:57 a.m. EST (1457 GMT).
Generally speaking, the tandem will be visible across southern Canada and most of the northern and central United States.
Across southern Canada and the northern half of the United States there will be two or three evening viewing opportunities. For some favored locations, like Denver and Detroit, there will be two opportunities on Monday (March 7).
In contrast, over the Deep South, below latitude 30 degrees north, the viewing opportunities will be reduced to just one or none at all. Places like Miami, New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., will unfortunately be denied a view of the "dynamic duo," because they'll appear too low in the sky and too near to sunset to be easily visible.
Meanwhile, other southern locales such as Houston, Natchez, Miss., and Jacksonville, Fla., will get their one and only chance on Tuesday evening. In most cases, southern observers will have to look quick: Discovery and the space station won't get much higher in the sky than 20 degrees above the horizon, and each will be in the sky for only about a minute (or less).
Some northern localities will be favored with exceptionally good views.
From Boston, for instance, on Monday evening the ISS and the shuttle will appear to soar to an altitude of 87 degrees … virtually overhead … during a two-minute overfly beginning at 6:59 p.m. EST (2359 GMT).
Europe can see Discovery too!
Europeans will also be favored with views in their evening skies.
Paris, for instance, will get two opportunities to see Discovery and the space station on Monday and Tuesday evening. The best of these will come on Tuesday night beginning at around 7:15 p.m. Central European Time (1815 GMT).
Discovery will appear in the west-southwest part of the sky, quickly reaching a maximum altitude of 46-degrees up in the south, then taking another minute to glide over toward the southeast horizon before finally disappearing from view in the Earth's shadow. The station will follow along the same path one minute later.
Each will ask for your zip code or city, and respond with a list of suggested spotting times. Predictions computed a few days ahead of time are usually accurate within a few minutes.
Another great site is this one, which provides real-time satellite tracking and shows you at any given moment during the day or night over what part of the Earth the space station or shuttle happens to be.
NASA's space shuttle Discovery is returning to Earth to end a 13-day mission that delivered a new storage room and humanoid robot — called Robonaut 2 — to the International Space Station. Two spacewalks were performed during the mission.
Discovery's current STS-133 mission is the 39th and final flight of the shuttle. Discovery is NASA's most-traveled shuttle and has flown the most missions of all three shuttles still flying today.


For the base: Preheat the oven to 180C, gas 4.
Grease a 20 cm spring-form cake tin and line it with baking paper, then press the crumb into the base and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
To make the filling: Turn the oven down to 130C, gas 1.