This week  in history, 1873, the steamship Ville du Havre was struck by an iron sailing vessel while crossing the Atlantic. 246 people died, including the four daughters of Chicago lawyer Horatio Spafford. His wife Anna survived. Just two years earlier their four-year-old son died of scarlet fever, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 financially ruined him.

Horatio Spafford was no stranger to suffering and tragedy – a life marked by the loss of 6 of his 8 children among other calamities. In midst of his greatest sorrows he penned the words “…whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well with my soul.’” Here is a little more about his life and testimony.

The original manuscript of "It Is Well"

If you are collecting data, what are you doing with it?

What does it tell you?

How do you use it?

Does your data save money, resources, time, and/or lives?

Does it contribute to innovation?

This is the story of clipper ships, the Navy and Matthew Maury, a man who by thinking differently about data, managed to create innovative tools that forever changed the shipping industry and in turn, the global economy.

On Saturday, I received a surprise gift in the mail: The Race,a book on non-stop global circumnavigation high-speed yacht racing.

The Race starts out at a fast pace, complete with rogue ice and giant waves. Its thrilling right from the start.

Then, it abruptly shifts, to the history of ocean crossings. Specifically, the history of technological improvements that enabled faster and faster ocean crossings.

In the mid-nineteenth century, global trade between China, England, Australia and the United States was exploding. Clipper ships represented the pinnacle of transportation technology of the time. Tea, employment, travel, commodities and all else were in demand. It was up to the clippers to safely and swiftly deliver the goods.

Prior to the clipper, ships were twice as slow. It could take four or five months for a transport ship to complete a 15,500 mile voyage. The clipper could complete that voyage in 74 days, or roughly half the time.

With their speed, the technologically superior clipper ships drove commerce. The only way for the clippers to gain speed on their journeys, was for the captains and crew to press the ships to perform as fast as they were capable by pushing the technology as far as it could go (e.g.full sails at all times and less rest for the crew to keep going 24/7.).

(Sound familiar?)

This provided for incremental increases, but did not provide any real innovation for dramatic improvements until the sailor Matthew Maury figured out a new way to analyze and synthesize naval data.

According to The Race:

In 1839 a Navy man, Matthew Maury broke his leg. While he convalesced, Maury managed to write under a pseudonym, a series of articles criticizing the Navy’s position on various controversial topics. Unfortunately, the articles irritated the Navy’s higher ranks.

When his identity was revealed, the Navy appointed Maury to the Depot of Charts and Instruments, the archive that contained all of the Navy’s warship logs and navigational instruments.

The logs contained daily, and sometimes hourly reports of ships’ tracks and locations as well as observations about winds, currents, and other ocean phenomena.”

No one had used this data.

It had sat there.

For years.

In fact, the book goes on to say that they almost sold the archive logs for scrap paper. But they didn’t. They Navy kept them and when Maury was in charge:

Maury realized the value of the logs and quickly he, and his staff, first collated the logs by area and then converted them into pictorial representations of the currents, average wind speeds, and wind directions experienced by U.S. Navy ships over the routes they had sailed since the service’s inception.

Maury assembled these pictorial representations into easily readable charts, using arrows of various sizes to depict average wind speeds, strengths, and directions of specific locations during different seasons of the year.

Maury’s first Wind and Current Charts were produced in 1847. They were accompanied by an explanation and analysis that came to be called Sailing Directions.

At first Sailing Directions was only offered to US Navy ships, but a few commercial captains began to request copies–one being Captain Jackson, of the W.H.D.C. Wright, who used Sailing Directions for a trip from Baltimore to Rio de Janeiro in 1848. Jackson returned more than a month ahead of schedule.

Word of his journey spread and the first edition print of Sailing Directions was for 5,000 copies. They were given away, and the recipients were asked to complete an abstract log that Maura had designed. (Maury wisely used the new logs to reincorporate data into future versions.)

The most stunning statistic from The Race:

by 1854 Maury’s Sailing Directions was saving American Ships $2.5 million a year and the global fleets perhaps more than $10 million a year.

Maury’s story is a terrific example of great data interpretation, innovation and application.

Sailing Directions not only provided captains with a better user interface of the ocean–it also changed the way they thought about navigation. It enabled them to learn from the logs and patterns of others before them, to not repeat dangerous and costly navigation mistakes.

Maury and his team had to filter piles and piles of data–coding, sorting, mapping, and analyzing it, to come up with the meaningful data, that created the guide. If Maury hadn’t been a sailor himself, he might not have known to value the data, or the contexts in which it would be helpful.

The Naval data was disregarded for years because no one was able, or wanted to, or thought of how to interpret it in a meaningful way. The Navy dutifully collected the data and then abandoned it to their archives.

In my opinion, data isn’t worth much to collect, unless something meaningful and useful can be done with it.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for data collection, but I’m opposed to data stagnation.

Trend: We’ve got some great data that is likely just as buried as the Navy’s. How can we think differently about data analysis?

I officially registered for the Flying Pig Marathon tonight! There’s no backing out now. My heart and stomach flipped over when I got my confirmation email. This is really happening, folks.

I am also doing the Hyannis Half in February, as a warm-up race.

Now I had better get off my butt, go outside, and do a little running.

(omg.)

Here is yet more evidence that you are a reflection of the company you keep.  In this case there isn’t much of a reflection since floating excrement in a cesspool doesn’t reflect very well.

Here’s more insight into the long laundry list of thugs, murderers, socialist, and communists with whom our pretender to presidency CHOOSES to associate.

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http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/7949/

If You Are Known by the Company You Keep, What do Obama’s Associates Say About Him?

In the Aesop’s Fable, The Ass and His Purchaser, a man looking to buy a donkey wanted to test the animal before completing the purchase. So he put the donkey in his field with the other donkeys to see what would happen.

The donkey immediately strayed from the majority of the herd and cozied up to the laziest donkey of all.

Seeing that, the man led the donkey back to his owner. When the owner asked how he could judge the donkey’s character so quickly the man explained, “I didn’t even need to see how he worked. I knew he would be just like the one he chose to be his friend.”

A person is known by the company he keeps.

Fables are popular because they tell the story of the way things in life really work. In business, when someone takes over a department or company, that person promotes those he or she likes to positions of authority. The new manager seeks out those who have a philosophy, work ethic and disposition similar to his.

One would expect a president to do the same thing. After all, a president is elected—supposedly—based on the vision, ideas and proposals he championed during the campaign. It would then make sense that he would put in place those who supported his vision and would therefore be enthusiastic in working to achieve it.

So who are President Barack Obama’s friends, and who has he put in charge of the effort to enact his policies? And what do the friends he has chosen and the people he has put in position of authority in his administration say about him?

Following, in alphabetical order, is a list of some of Obama’s friends, advisors and people charged with enacting his policies:

• William Ayers—Now a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Ayers spent 10 years as a fugitive in the 1970s when he was part of the domestic terrorist organization known as the Weather Underground. In the early 1970s the Weather Underground was responsible for bombing the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., and setting a bomb that didn’t go off at a military induction center in Oakland, Calif. The group also murdered two policemen and a Brink’s truck driver in a botched armored car robbery, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) website. Ayers surrendered to face charges in the 1980s, but the charges were dropped because of improper surveillance. Coincidentally, on Sept. 11, 2001, Ayers was being interviewed about a book he had written and he told the interviewer he didn’t think the Weather Underground had done enough. Ayers and Obama first crossed paths in Chicago in the 1990s and served together on the board of the not-for-profit Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a boondoggle to spend tens of millions of dollars for their pet “education” projects. Obama downplayed his friendship with Ayers as casual, but evidence indicates their relationship was much more. Many now believe that Ayers penned Obama’s “autobiography” Dreams from My Father.

• Carol Browner—Obama’s Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, Browner is an avowed socialist. She served as one of 14 leaders of Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for global governance and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change, according to an article in The Washington Times. The group supports socialism and has been harshly critical of U.S. policies. She is also a supporter of smart growth policies, as we have described previously. Browner also served on the board of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, though her name was scrubbed from the site after Obama tapped her for the director’s position. Not surprisingly, Obama’s transition team told The Times Browner’s membership in a socialist organization was not a problem.

• Frank Marshall Davis—You won’t find Davis’ name on an organizational chart of White House staff, but he was instrumental in forming the political philosophy of Barack Hussein Obama. Called “Uncle Frank” in Dreams from My Father, Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), according to a 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii. Obama has admitted to spending time with Uncle Frank—who he cryptically describes as being a person of some modest notoriety at one time—and listening to his poetry and getting career path advice. Davis may also have been a pedophile. Writing under the pseudonym Bob Greene, Davis wrote a debased pornographic novel entitled, Sex Rebel: Black (Memiors of a Gash Gourmet), in which he describes group sex encounters and sex he and his wife had with a 13-year-old girl named Anne. Davis died in 1987.

• Anita Dunn—As White House Communications advisor, Dunn has been seen a lot lately as the face of the Obama administration’s strategy to try and discredit Fox News. She is described on Politico.com as a veteran Democratic strategist and top advisor on Obama’s presidential campaign. As the war between the Obama White House (see more under Rham Emmanual) and Fox has escalated, videotape has surfaced showing Dunn gloating over how the campaign “controlled” the media. Another videotape surfaced showing Dunn speaking at a June high school graduation ceremony where she praised Marxist/Communist Chinese Premiere Mao Zedong as one of her favorite philosophers and one of the two people she turns to most. It’s difficult to understand how Mao had time to philosophize as he was busy killing somewhere between 50 million and 70 million of his country’s citizens during his 27-year reign of terror.

• Ezekiel Emanuel—The president’s Special Advisor for Health Policy, Ezekiel is brother to White House Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel. Ezekiel is the source of Sarah Palin’s death panel idea. This Emanuel has written that he believes many healthcare treatments should be denied to those under 15 and over 65 to save money, the rationale being that only people between 15 and 65 are beneficial to society.

• Rahm Emanuel—Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, Emanuel is a thug Chicago politician who once sent a two-and-a-half foot long, dead and decomposing fish to lobbyist Allen Secrest to express his displeasure. He’s known for his full-time use of gutter language and once told then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair just before an appearance with Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal: “This is important. Don’t f**k it up.” He also coined the phrase, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” He’s also behind the ridiculous policy of starting a fight with television news agency Fox News.

• Chai Feldblum—Nominated by the president to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Feldblum signed a radical 2006 manifesto which endorsed polygamous households and argued traditional marriage should not be privileged “above all others,” according to a report in Catholic News Agency. According to a statement from the White House, Feldblum has worked on advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights…” She is co-director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, which she described at a UCLA symposium as a homosexual rights group that aimed to change the American workplace and revolutionize social mores, according to a report on the WorldnetDaily website.

• Patrick Gaspard—White House Political Director, Gaspard was formerly a lobbyist for Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the organization that sent its thugs out to disrupt Tea Party protests and stir up trouble at town hall meetings in August. Prior to that, Gaspard worked as national field director for American Coming Together (ACT), a sub-group of the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACT was fined $775,000 in civil penalties by the federal government for various voter fraud offenses. You can read more about ACORN here.

• Eric Holder—The Attorney General of the United States is an anti-gun racist who earlier this year referred to the United States as “a nation of cowards” on race relations. He also has an interesting take on justice. He worked to convince President Clinton to pardon billionaire fugitive Mark Rich (convicted of fraud and racketeering), Weather Underground (where have we heard of that organization before?) terrorists Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans, and he declined to prosecute New Black Panther brutes who stood over a Pennsylvania polling station with baseball bats intimidating voters. Oh yes, he also wants to bring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States.

• John Holdren—Obama’s Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is not only an abortion supporter, he is an abortion nut who believes that compulsory abortions could be sustained under the existing U.S. Constitution if a population crisis arose. He also supports mass sterilization of the U.S. population through lacing the country’s water supply with drugs. Holdren authored with two other people a book called Ecoscience promoting their loony ideas about population control and One World Government—or what they called a Planetary Regime—to regulate international trade, the food supply and determine the optimum population for the world.

• Valerie Jarrett—The New York Times called Jarrett, Obama Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, the ultimate Obama insider. She has also been called the other half of Obama’s brain. She’s another one of those Chicago thug politicians who has gamed the system—including operating as a slum lord—for her own benefit. Her company, Habitat, Inc., managed the Grove Parc housing complex which was located in the district represented by State Senator Obama. As state senator, Obama coauthored a bill to give tax credits for developers which Jarrett used on the complex. As U.S. senator, Obama pressed for increased federal subsidies for like projects. Despite receiving government funds and tax credits, Grove Parc was ordered demolished because of its deplorable condition. She also served the administrations of Chicago mayors Harold Washington and Richard Daly, both scandal-plagued. Washington, by the way, was backed in his bid for mayor by Chicago’s Communist Party and the local branch of the Democratic Socialists of America. Called by the Washington Post a tutor to Obama and his wife Michelle, Jarrett is the step-daughter of Chicago journalist Vernon Jarrett. Vernon Jarrett was an associate of Frank Marshal Davis, Obama’s mentor, when Davis lived in Chicago prior to moving to Hawaii.

• Kevin Jennings—This former school teacher and long-time gay rights activist was named Obama’s Safe Schools Czar. He has accused Baptists, the Boy Scouts and sports fans of anti-gay bias, and advocates a special high school for gay teens and gay-straight alliance clubs for every high school in America, according to a report in CNSNews.com. He believes that kindergartners should be taught to respect all sexual orientations while insisting that “ex-gay messages” and “Christian values” are misused to isolate or denigrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and have no place in the nation’s public schools, CNSNews.com reported. Oh yeah, he also supports pedophilia. While Jennings was a teacher, a minor student told Jennings that he was having gay sex with an adult. Jennings covered it up. He also has praised Harry Hay, a defender of the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which promotes legalization of sexual abuse of young boys by older men.

• Van Jones—Once Obama’s White House Environmental Advisor, Jones was fired in the dead of night on a holiday weekend after a video surfaced in which he called Republicans a bodily orifice, and after a controversial document he signed was revealed. That document accused former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of either planning or knowing about ahead of time the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In addition to being a 9/11 Truther, Jones is an avowed Communist. He was appointed to his position by Valerie Jarrett, who has been seen on video praising Jones and saying she and Obama had been watching Jones for a long time.

• Mark Lloyd—FCC Diversity Czar, is also known as the man who wants to stifle free speech in America like Hugo Chavez does in Venezuela. He has been videotaped saying the Chavez revolution in Venezuela was almost lost because of the privately-owned media. Chavez, of course, is the Marxist dictator of Venezuela, personal friend to Communist dictator Fidel Castro of Cuba and Islamic terrorist dictator Mahmoud Ahmadenijad of Iran. In 2006, while at the liberal Center for American Progress, Lloyd wrote a book entitled, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America. In it he presents the idea that all private broadcasters should be charged licensing fees at a rate equal to their operating expenses and that money should go to the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). In a 2007 report entitled The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio, Lloyd complains about the fact that people want to listen to Christian and conservative talk radio rather than liberal radio, and lists ways the Federal government can fix the “problem.” His solution would include caps on the number of local stations a corporation can own, ensure greater local accountability on radio licensing and require owners who fail to fulfill their obligations to pay a fee to support PBS.

• Cecelia Munoz—Now White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, Munoz was previously Senior Vice President of The National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic lobbying organization in the country, which has called national anti-immigration groups “hate groups.” La Raza, which literally translates The Race, funds extremist groups and supports illegal immigration as a way of obtaining political power. The group advocates taking the Southwest U.S. for the purpose of creating a new Hispanic state.

• Cass Sunstein—Recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Administrator of the White House Office of Administration and Regulatory Affairs, Sunstein is a Harvard Law School professor and dingbat who has—in writings and speeches—called for a ban on all hunting and claims that animals should be represented by lawyers in animal abuse cases. He is a socialist who has advocated for gun control and heavy regulation of the Internet. He also wrote in his 2008 book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, that he believes people’s organs can be harvested without their consent. Sunstein would like to see personal email communications regulated by the government and believes the Internet is anti-democratic because of the way users can filter out information of their own choosing.

• Rev. Jeremiah Wright—Obama sat in Wright’s church for 20 years yet claims to have never heard any of the hate-filled racism that crossed his lips. Wright’s anti-Semitic, anti-American sermons came to light during the campaign. Among his claims: the U.S. government was responsible for infecting blacks with the virus that causes AIDS, America was responsible for the 9/11 attacks—“the chickens have come home to roost”—and Jews are responsible for ethnic cleansing in Gaza and are pressuring Obama associates to keep Wright and Obama separated.

These are just a few of the folks who have occupied or currently occupy Obama’s inner circle. He was passed off by the mainstream media as being a centrist and moderate, but many of friends are anything but that, and some are quite radical. And when you parse some of his words or find video or audio from several years ago you know that Obama himself has some radical views.

But the media ignored Obama’s ties to radicals and communists. That, and Obama’s soaring rhetoric led many otherwise thoughtful and good people down the primrose path, and they voted for him without realizing what they were getting.

But as the truth gets out about his associates, the cover is coming off. He’s becoming known by the company he keeps, as well as his own deeds.

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The tree outside my apartment is dying. It’s not like the other trees, that are blushing crimson and gold as they strip off their summer leaves to meet the winter naked and unadorned. No, the tree outside my apartment is actually dying. The leaves aren’t turning colors, they are an ugly brown, covered in little growths. Maybe it has cancer, I don’t know, do trees even get cancer?

The groundskeeper keeps bitching, because he’s going to have to cut it down. Has to make sure when it comes down that it doesn’t hit an apartment, or smash someone’s tea-cup poodle (there are two different people in this place that have them, tells you about my neighbors). He’s got to rent a chainsaw because the apartment complex doesn’t keep one on the grounds. Every day he must spend a good hour scowling up at that big, ugly, dying tree. Well not every day.

On Tuesdays he has chemo, poisoning his body and hoping the growth on his prostate gives out before the rest of him does. He wears a big Bears hat to cover up the lack of hair, and his rugged face dares you to ask what happened to his beard. He should be home, he should be in a hospital. But he’s been the groundskeeper here for over thirty years (I asked the front desk, he wouldn’t talk to me, I’m a liberal hipster to him). He’s dying, he’ll tell you, without even pausing afterwards to watch your response. Most dying people, they wait to see how you handle that information, see whether you show pity, discomfort, or incredulousness. The groundskeeper doesn’t, he just throws it out to the few people who bother to ask between passes on his riding mower.

Every day that old man gets thinner, more gnarled. Arthritis is taking his joints, his hands are warped and twisted with it. His eyes are blue like the sky though, and they aren’t filtered through eyelashes. It’s startling to look at eyes without that familiar ring. So he stands there, every day (except Tuesday), a skeletal man, his hair falling out and his body gnarled. He stands there and he scowls at that tree, bare and wilting; wishing, hoping, that it dies before he does.

Cupcakes for a Cause

8-4pm @ Bread Winners Cafe and Bakery

From September 21 – 27, 2009, Bread Winners Café & Bakery will team up with CancerCare for the sixth annualCupcakes for a Cause, supporting children affected by a cancer diagnosis.

Bread Winners Café & Bakery will sell specially decorated cupcakes at all three locations and donate a portion of the proceeds from their sale to CancerCare for Kids, a program that provides free, professional support services to children affected by cancer.

Autumn at the Arboretum

Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Free – $9.50

The Great Pumpkin Festival – Everyday from 9am – 5pm

This fall festival, which runs September 19th through November 1st, boasts of more than 150,000 fall blooming flowers including chrysanthemums, salvia, coleus, ornamental grasses and impatiens. Always a favorite spot for the family photo, The Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch and the gardens are filled with over 25,000 decorative pumpkins and gourds. Also in the Pecan Grove is the walk-through 15′ pumpkin house constructed out of the finest pumpkins in the patch and a 10′ pumpkin topiary decorated with orange marigolds.

BNI Park Cities Weekly Meeting

11:30-1pm @ PoPoLos, $15

The networking group meets for lunch every Tuesday. For more information, contact Joie Turner at 972-788-2676

North Texas Commission 38th Annual Membership Luncheon

Jerry Jones and Roger Staubach to speak about regional impact of a Super Bowl on North Texas

11:30am @ Texas Stadium, $75

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will provide the keynote address with a special update from Roger Staubach and Bill Lively with the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee and Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Dwaine Caraway.

Established in 1971, the North Texas Commission is a regional non-profit consortium of businesses, cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development entities and higher education institutions in the North Texas Region.

Brad Williams

5-7pm @ The Library Bar, 3015 Oaklawn Ave

Twist it out Tuesday

5:30-6:30pm @ Lululemon Athletica (Galleria) – FREE

Join lululemon for a complimentary yoga class every week. Every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., come by the store and unwind from a long day.

The class is taught by instructors from our Studio of the Month (SOTM). The August SOTM is Twist Power Yoga, off of Marsh and Forest.

Mitchel Musso

6:30 @ House of Blues – $15-50

Open Mic Night

7-10pm @ Opening Bell Coffee (Southside)

Live Broadcast on Pirate Radio

Erik Barnes

7pm-12am @ The Library Bar

Catena Zapata Wine Dinner

6:30pm @ Craft Dallas – $140

Enjoy a five-course dinner prepared by Chef de Cuisine Jeff Harris & Pastry Chef Laurel Wimberg paired with six wines from Catena Winery in Mendoza, Argentina & one port from Warres.

Passed Canapés / Chardonnay, Catena

First Course (Individually Plated): Alaskan Halibut, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Pomegranate & Brussels Sprouts / Chardonnay, Catena Alta

Second Course (Individually Plated): Roasted Veal Loin, Braised Veal Cheek, Mushroom, Cipollini Onion, Country Ham & Watercress / Malbecs: Catena & Catena Alta

Third Course (Served Family Style): Dry Aged Ribeye, Spinach Gratin & Pommes Anna / Cabernet Sauvignon: Catena & Catena Alta

Dessert (Individually Plated): Sweet Vanilla Ricotta & Roasted Fig / Warres, Otima, 10 year Tawny Porto, Portugal

The Rebel Alliance Jazz Ensemble

7-10pm @ Pearl at Commerce

Preston Royal Book Club

7pm @ Preston Royal Library

An open-to-the-public book club that meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The book for September is Dreams From My Father:a Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic -Dallas Philosopher’s Forum

7:30pm @ Chic from Barcelona – $4

Fred Grinnell, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology and Founder of the Program in Ethics and Science, UT Southwestern Medical Center. Author of The Scientific Attitude.

Scientific facts often are so complicated that only experts can appreciate the details. However, the underlying practice that gives rise to such facts should be understandable by everyone interested in science. In my new book Everyday Practice of Science, I offer a plain-talk account and demystification of science as world view and life’s work. I describe how researchers bring their own interests and passions to their work. The interplay between these interests and passions becomes the dynamic of the research community. Exploring this dynamic clarifies the philosophical underpinnings and challenges inherent to the scientific knowledge-building project.

Open Mic Night

8pm @ White Rock Coffee

The road to stardom starts with a fresh cuppa joe. Weekly open mic night. Call 214-341-4774 to sign up ahead of time

Jody Binford Quartet

8pm @ Lakewood Bar & Grill

Telefon Tel Aviv, The Race, & Ishi

10pm @ The Cavern – $10

Hornitos Greed and Gluttony Event

8pm – 2am @ Hotel ZaZa – FREE

Cocktails Courtesy of Hornitos - Fabulous light hors d’ oeuvres to be enjoyed.

Attire: Classy Chic. Sounds by DJ Jose G. Complimentary Valet  *Donations Benefitting The Susan G. Komen Foundation. RSVP here.

Back to Basics

10pm @ Wish Ultralounge

A night dedicated to our friends in the Industry.

Join us every Tuesday night for Back to Basics, a night dedicated to our friends and colleagues in the industry. Every Tuesday, Wish celebrates the people that ensure you have a good time when you go out, wherever you go. DJ MARVEL of Instict Djs DJ SID VICIOUS OF HARD ROCK LAS VEGAS. Sid played a killer set last time he was at Wish and we cannot wait for him to rock the house on Tuesday.

]]> http://voilemulticoques.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/interview-de-fred-le-peutrec-partie-1/ Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:36:54 +0000 voilemulticoques http://voilemulticoques.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/interview-de-fred-le-peutrec-partie-1/

Fred Le Peutrec, grand spécialiste du multicoque (3 prépartions olympiques en Tornado, Vainqueur de The Race sur Club Med, barreur des 60′ ORMA Bayer puis Gitana 11, barreur et boat manager de Groupama 3, barreur de Smart Home) a de nouveau accepté de répondre aux questions de Voile-Multicoques.com.

Voici la première partie de cette interview qui concerne le Challenge Julius Bar qui s’est terminé ce week-end sur le lac Léman, Fred Le Peutrec a fait son entrée sur le crcuit Décision 35 cette saison à la barre de Smart Home.

L’interview a été réalisée le 15/09/2009, avant la dernière manche du challenge, Fred Le Peutrec et son équipage se sont classés 6ème du Challenge Julius Bar 2009.

© Yvan Zedda

Voile-Multicoques.com : Tu participes au Challenge Julius Bar sur le Léman cette saison. Tu occupes le poste de barreur sur le catamaran Decision 35, peux-tu nous parler de ce bateau au plan de voilure généreux et aux entrées d’eau très fines?

Fred Le Peutrec : Le bateau est très sensible à la barre, équilibré, on prend beaucoup de plaisir à le régler, parce qu’avec de petites modifications des réglages on accélère ou on s’arrête, et quand on constate un petit moins en vitesse, il n’est pas toujours facile à combler.

Voile-Multicoques.com : Le bateau semble vraiment axé petit temps, les manches sont annulées si il y a plus de 22 nœuds de vent, ce catamaran est-il inadapté à la brise ?

Fred Le Peutrec : On ne peut prendre qu’un ris sur le bateau, la réduction maximale est un ris-solent, si on imaginait avoir un 2^nd ris comme les autres bateaux et une voile d’avant plus petite, nous pourrions naviguer avec plus de vent, mais ce n’est pas forcément judicieux, la plupart des manches annulées le sont parce qu’il n’y a pas assez de vent, les manches annulées parce qu’il y a trop de vent sont finalement très rares. La spécificité du lac c’est que le vent bien établi lève des vagues très courtes sur lesquelles les bateaux basculent facilement, donc c’est assez piégeux.

Pour le reste, c’est un bateau comme tous les bateaux du monde, sauf que le plan de voilure a l’avantage de donner un bateau très vif dans le petit temps, ce qui est nécessaire sur le lac Léman. Le bateau est très vite et très tôt en action, il s’anime très vite, ce qui permet de faire de belles régates. Même dans le petit temps c’est passionnant.

Voile-Multicoques.com : Un mot sur l’équipage et la répartition des tâches ?

Fred Le Peutrec : La jauge autorise un certain poids d’équipage (entre 370 et 462kg), en début de saison nous étions 5 mais nous n’arrivions pas au poids maximum, et avec 6 personnes à bord nous étions trop lourds, nous avons donc trouvé une jeune femme qui navigue avec nous.

Pour la répartition des tâches il y a Christian Wahl à  la tactique, il avait déjà ce poste l’an dernier sur  Alinghi SUI-1, Franck Citeau et Julien Cressant aux manoeuvres des voiles d’avant et aux réglages, embraque, ils soutiennent aussi l’activité tactique, notamment dans les phases de contact, le propriétaire Christian Michel qui aide Julien Cressant aux voiles d’avant : déroulage du gennaker, du code O, passage lors des virements de bord et empannages, et moi à la barre et à l’écoute de grand voile qui est sur circuit hydraulique, la pompe se situant à côté du siège de barre.

Photo : Baptiste Morel

Voile-Multicoques.com : Vous êtes 6^ème du Challenge Julius Bar actuellement (interview réalisée le 15/09/2009), il reste une manche à courir, quels étaient vos objectifs pour cette année sur SmartHome ?

Fred Le Peutrec : L’objectif de la saison était de constituer un équipage, de progresser, de fidéliser les équipiers, dans le but de prétendre à des victoires l’année prochaine.

Il y a donc eu plusieurs changements, qui peuvent paraître minimes parce qu’il n’y a parfois qu’une personne qui change ; mais la spécificité du bateau, du type de régate et des exigences de réglages et de précision sur ce bateau là, qui sont vraiment réels parce que c’est un bateau très toilé mais sans inertie, fait qu’à chaque fois nous repartions avec des choses à remettre en place.

Je pense que ça sera un peu mieux pour la dernière manche parce que l’équipage reste le même.

Faire un podium était aussi un des objectifs, ce que nous avons fait sur le Bol d’Or (2^nde position), que l’on était à deux doigts de gagner (SmartHome a terminé à 1 minute du vainqueur Foncia après plus de 19 heures de course), ça aurait été vraiment sympa de le gagner.

En cours de saison, et en voyant que les trois premiers allaient être difficiles à concurrencer, nous nous sommes dit qu’il était raisonnable de penser finir dans les cinq premiers. Là on est borderline, c’est encore possible étant donné que la plus mauvais manche saute, comme nous nous sommes  mis sur le toit, la plus mauvaise a été trouvée tout de suite (chavirage sur la Genève-Rolle-Genève). Mais nous sommes aussi menacé derrière, Banque Populaire étant à un point derrière nous.

Dans l’ensemble nous ne sommes pas mécontent, actuellement nous sommes les mieux placés pour un équipage faisant réellement sa première saison ensemble, c’est donc plutôt pas mal.

Voile-Multicoques.com : Le circuit Décision 35 regroupe bon nombre de skippers et d’équipiers qui couraient le championnat ORMA, la série est-elle devenue au fil des années une série professionnelle ou peut-on encore la considérer comme une série de propriétaires ?

Fred Le Peutrec : La série reste une série de propriétaires parce que ce sont eux qui régissent complètement l’évolution de la classe : le type d’épreuve, le fait de maintenir les bateaux sur le lac, d’avoir une relative maîtrise des coûts, même au niveau des horaires de régates ce sont eux qui décident (pas de départ après 15h30 le dimanche pour que tout le monde puisse rentrer chez soi le soir),  l’évolution de jauge : si les bateaux sont amenés à évoluer ça sera en bloc mais uniquement sur la décision des propriétaires qui se réunissent entre eux, sans que  les coureurs pros soit conviés, on peut bien sûr suggérer des évolutions, des réflexions dont ils peuvent se servir.

D’ailleurs la plupart des propriétaires sont sur les bateaux pendant les manches du championnat, le petit plus apporté par les pros, tous les spécialistes de catamarans ou de  multicoques, est que le niveau s’élève et que les régates sont plus disputées, ce qui plait d’autant plus à tous les propriétaires qui y trouvent leurs comptes avec une série où il y a de l’enjeu.

Voile-Multicoques.com : La saison des records va débuter sur le lac Léman, le Ruban Bleu (record du lac Genève-Le Bouveret-Genève) fait-il parti des objectifs de SmartHome ?

Fred Le Peutrec : Non parce que je n’aurai pas le temps puisque je vais être accaparé par la remise à l’eau de Groupama 3, son armement, les essais etc., qui plus est nous naviguons sur Groupama 2 pour des sorties RP en ce moment. Le programme Groupama est trop dense pour que je puisse rester en Suisse pour le Ruban Bleu.

La suite de l’interview sera en ligne en fin de semaine et reviendra sur la saison de Groupama 3 et l’actualité des multicoques (projet MOD ORMA, Route du Rhum, America’s Cup ).

Telefon Tel Aviv (11pm)
The Race (10pm)
Ishi (9pm)

Doors: 8pm
Cover: $10
Ages: 18+

So he’s going to create his OWN army of supporters! That’ll show those anti-Socialist legal American patriotic voting citizens. UP YOURS, AMERICA. From now ON we’ll be The Un-United Statists of AMEXica.

Obama’s next push is amnesty
President intends to install a long-term Democratic majority
Article: Washington Times

Amnesty is back, and with a vengeance. This was the dominant theme I heard at this week’s annual talk-radio gabfest in Washington sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the country’s leading anti-amnesty organization.

“As we gather here in the nation’s capital, another illegal alien amnesty bill has been introduced in the Senate,” FAIR President Dan Stein said.

It is no surprise that, after passing health care “reform,” President Obama plans to move on to his next big domestic initiative: granting citizenship to more than 12 million illegal immigrants. For decades, Beltway and business elites have championed a policy of open borders and unlimited Third World immigration. Amnesty is simply its logical culmination: the triumph of political and corporate interests over patriotism.

America has endured a massive invasion of millions of illegal immigrants. The southern border is a bleeding sore. Hospitals are overwhelmed, forced to provide free medical care to illegals. School systems must absorb the unnecessary costs of educating the illegal immigrants’ children. Welfare rolls are swelling with illegal immigrants taking advantage of public assistance. Nearly one-third of the federal prison population is composed of illegal immigrants. Mexican cartels import drugs, crime and human trafficking. Washington has lost control of the nation’s borders — and with it, our national sovereignty.

Moreover, the waves of illegal immigration represent an onslaught on America’s historic and cultural core. The great myth of our time, promoted by both the multicultural left and the neoconservative right, is that the United States is a creedal nation. They argue that the country was founded upon abstract ideas embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and that it is united by its commitment to universal principles such as democracy and equality. This is a historical fraud. The Founding Fathers were neither democrats nor believers in egalitarianism. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were slaveholders. John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison deeply distrusted democracy.

“Democracy … wastes, exhausts, and murders itself,” Adams wrote. “There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

In other words, the Founding Fathers were not only republicans. They were nationalists who believed they had established a distinct and unique nation based on a common language, faith, heritage and culture. America is an outgrowth of Christianity and English civilization. Its roots are European. The previous waves of immigrants who came to its shores not only deliberately assimilated, but embraced a common national identity: They became Americans.

This is not the case with the army of illegal immigrants. The combination of uncontrolled immigration with multiculturalism is a recipe for balkanization — the fracturing of America along racial and ethnic lines.

Already, many Hispanic radicals, including some in the advocacy group La Raza (“the race”), are calling for the annexation of the Southwest back into Mexico. They think amnesty will accelerate the process of reacquiring former Mexican territories. For them, demography is destiny.

Large chunks of California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida have become Spanish-speaking enclaves. They are part of the United States in name only. Immigrants are no longer required to learn English. The fastest-growing TV and radio stations are those broadcasting in Spanish. Everywhere one goes — ATMs, restaurants, state motor vehicle departments — Spanish is prevalent. Many urban schools in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York teach bilingualism. We are no longer one people who share the same language, culture, history, customs, heroes, literature and traditions. The bonds of national union are slowly being torn apart.

Mr. Obama already has shown he is the most leftist president in U.S. history. Not only have his statist policies and massive budget deficits crippled the private sector. He is erecting a corporatist state — the amalgamation of big business, big government and big labor — that represents a clear break from capitalist individualism.

Success in his drive for government-run health care would transform America into a European-style social democracy. This would permanently shift the political landscape to the left, fostering a culture of dependency and entitlement.

Mr. Obama is an internationalist socialist. His ultimate goal is to erect a liberal ruling class: to forge a Democratic majority coalition — one that would dominate for decades. Amnesty would put millions of illegal immigrants into the voting booths — and into the welcoming arms of Democrats.

Amnesty also would sound the death knell of traditional America. It would signify a cultural revolution, the establishment of a de facto bilingual, binational Tower of Babel. It would be Mr. Obama’s most radical — and destructive — achievement.

Well, what else is he supposed to do? With ACORN under serious investigation – he’s going to have to find another way to get illegal votes. He also has to prove to Joe Wilson (and the rest of the free thinking American patriots) that he’s not a liar, but he’s just an anti-American fraud instead.

I cannot feel bad when I think of art.

I am accepted when I am accepting.

I become prey when I am predatory.

I control my life when I control my thoughts.

I am brave when I don’t use  anger to cover my fear.

I can race when there is something to face.

I fear nothing when I’m not afraid of me.

I cannot worry when I don’t worry about me.

Worrisome thoughts don’t dwell on me  when I don’t dwell on worrisome thoughts.

I am not alone if I think about connecting.

My prayers are answered perfectly when I pray with perfect faith.

I choose to sit when it’s OK to quit.

I recieve when I give.

All problems are manageable when my thoughts slow down.

I love the view when I see clearly.

I have been horribly ignoring this blog, and finally too many people have complained- so I’m back to catch you up before I depart for Malibu. The last month of training has been a whirlwind. I’ve been getting in about 2 ocean swims a week, plus early morning runs and rides with friends. There have been 5am wakep calls, flat tires, learning to fix my own flat tire, aero bars added to my bike, bike accidents, mile swims, stomach aches, and far too many Cliff bars, Gu paks, and powerbar bites. There have also been lots of laughing, gossiping at 6am, fundraisers, post-workout brunches, drinks and fun. Being back on TNT has been so much fun that I have actually signed up to be a mentor for next season! That means I’ll be helping future triathletes train for the Lavaman Tri in Hawaii… I can’t wait! Before that happens though I’ve got to finish the Malibu tri tomorrow morning- and I am PUMPED. I’m leaving in about an hour to get to Malibu. The team is meeting for a quick swim and then picking up our race packets. We have a team dinner tonight and then it is early to bed, since we’re departing for the race at 4:15 tomorrow morning. I’ll report back more after the race- a few pictures of the past month of training below… wish me luck and GO TEAM!

Celebrity Run 2009

Celebrity Run 2009

3K/5K/10K/21K

October 11, 2009

Fort Bonifacio Global City,Taguig

Now, here is your chance to be the next big “star” in a race.  Philstar.com, the online arm of  The STAR Group of Publications, is inviting everyone to join its first running event.  Calling all runners to come as your favorite celebrity look-a-like and run your way to stardom! Great prizes awaits the wunners.

This is a campaign to connect Philippines’ public high schools to the world.

Registration for the Celbrity Run is P300 or P450 depending on the event you are joining. Registration form is available at the download section of  Takbo.ph.

Want to check out other races? Get the updated list on the race calendar for running events in the Philippines at Takbo.ph.

I find it ironic that a land currently occupied by immigrants can stand up and say that immigration is killing the country.  This sounds a bit familiar: Pocahontas, what do you have to say about that one?

Don’t get me wrong, I am an American, and I love my country.  But in a global age, especially as an American, shouldn’t we also be able to take a step back and look at the world outside of our own back yard.  Since when did the human factor fail to be a factor at all?  Wait, we are all human, right?  I mean, I slept through some of my education, but I think I got that part down.

I am a third generation immigrant (my grandparents moved here over 90 years ago) and am fully Americanized to the point where I can even annoy myself with my Americanness at times.  I have been the tourist taking family portraits in the middle of the sidewalk at Disney thus making everyone walk around. 

We pride ourselves on being a melting pot, but if we really look at this metaphor, we can see that we have not actually melted.  In fact, we often look at new ingredients as poison!  While I may run the risk of killing the metaphor, I like to think of America as more of a stew than a melting pot.  We don’t all add our flavor to the culture and melt together to create something new.  We are Americans, thus we love new things only if we decide that we love new things.  No decision to change should be forced upon us (isn’t that the base of the issue anyway?).  I guess it all really does come down to democracy.

Back to the abused metaphor: A stew, on the other hand, lets ingredients come in and keep their general shape: carrot, tomato, bean, meat . . . but in the end, everything ends up tasting like beef.  Carrot shaped beef, tomato shaped beef, bean shaped beef – separate but the same (note: I did not say equal, that is a whole different diatribe.)

How is it that we can say immigration is bad when we ourselves are immigrants?  I know there are people out there who disagree and for legitimate reasons: illegal immigration, crime, drugs, overpopulation, abuse of government assistance, I can go on and they have  points that I agree with whole hearted . . . but regardless of the arguments for or against immigration, I think we can all appreciate the irony in the claim that America doesn’t need immigrants because, no matter how hard we try, most of us are immigrants.

It seems like the real issue at hand in the argument regards change and power.  We feel entitled to make decisions regarding our lives.  More than any people in recent history, we have the power to choose our government, our schools, our workplace, our community, some of us can even choose whether or not the houses on our street are made of brick or wood! 

With this power comes a sense of entitlement, for better and for worse.  We feel entitled to our just rights of speech, religion, and representation.  Yet, as with many things, we also feel entitled to control those areas of our life that are merely peripheral.  If I can control the building material of my neighbor’s house, why can’t I also control the race of her babysitter?  Do you see what I am getting at? 

We take good, really good rights and spread them into other areas of our lives in such a way that hinders the rights of others.  It is sad in many ways because, to me at least, it seems we have lost sight of what the point is in having the rights to choose. 

The point was to include not exclude. 

But I may be wrong.

These guys are way young but I’m keeping an eye on how they develop. This is from their 2008 debut album.

Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.

One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”

He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.

He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”

So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”

Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten…
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.

Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?

I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”

So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy — no falling, no disgrace.

But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

In preparation for the new album, Exiles, coming out next month, The Race is sharing “Black Boat” and “Ride The High Country” as a digital single.

The album comes out September 8th on St. Ives Records which is yet another offshoot of the vast empire of Secretly Canadian. On that very, The Race embarks on a monthlong tour of the US with Telefon Tel Aviv.

09.08.09
Ann Arbor, MI
The Blind Pig

09.09.09
Toronto, ON
El Mocambo

09.10.09
Montreal, QC
Cabaret du Musee
Juste Pour Rire

09.11.09
Brooklyn, NY
The Bell House

09.12.09
New York, NY
Mercury Lounge

09.13.09
Allston, MA
Great Scott

09.15.09
Philadelphia, PA
Kungfu Necktie

09.16.09
Washington, DC
DC9

09.17.09
Chapel Hill, NC
Local 506

09.18.09
Atlanta, GA
The Earl

09.19.09
New Orleans, LA
One Eyed Jacks

09.21.09
Austin, TX
The Mohawk

09.22.09
Dallas, TX
Cavern Ale House

09.24.09
Phoenix, AZ
Rhythm Room

09.25.09
Los Angeles, CA
Spaceland

09.26.09
San Francisco, CA
Bottom of The Hill

09.28.09
Portland, OR
Mississippi Studios

09.29.09
Seattle, WA
Chop Suey

10.02.09
Minneapolis, MN
7th St. Entry

10.08.09
Chicago, IL
The Hideout

Record Release Show
9/06 – Chicago @ Empty Bottle (w/Bloodiest, Ariisk)

The Race / Telefon Tel Aviv Tour
09/08 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Blind Pig
09/09 – Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
09/10 – Montreal, QC @ Cabaret du Musee Justte Pour Rire
09/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
09/12 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
09/13 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
09/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kungfu Necktie
09/16 – Washington, DC @ DC9
09/17 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
09/18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/19 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
09/21 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
09/22 – Dallas, TX @ Cavern Ale House
09/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
09/26 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of The Hill
09/28 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
09/29 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
10/02 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
10/08 – Hideout Chicago

…