I wrote a song called “I Belong to a World That’s Destroying Itself” in 1969. That was 20 years ago. It’s getting worse, not better. People are victims of habit. It’s very difficult to break behaviour patterns. Not many people are able or willing to take the effort to do that. Unless it becomes a socially accepted lifestyle to change your behaviour patterns very quickly, I can’t feel too positive.
SPIRIT óTHE GROUNDBREAKING L.A. COMBO EQUALLY swayed by moody jazz and Hendrix-style rockíní rollówas born to record movie soundtracks. Unfortunately, they cut only one, for the seldom-seen 1969 Jacques Demy film Model Shop, but what a triumph it is: a magical blend of John Lockeís eerie keyboards, the soaring guitar of Randy California and Jay Fergusonís impassioned vocals and percussion, backed by the rock-steady bass and drums of Mark Andes and Ed Cassidy. Itís mindboggling that something as dazzling as the Model Shop soundtrackórecorded by the classic Spirit lineupó has been languishing unreleased in the vaults for over 35 years! The stuff of longplaying-legends and vinyl-myths, this full-length album was recorded in late 1968, but the completed master was shelved before release. Rescued from obscurity at last by Sundazed, this much rumored film-score gem is now center-stage where it can take a much deserved bow.
New York Times
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Published: May 13, 2005
Two one-ton horses broke loose near the Meatpacking district this morning, galloping down sidewalks among startled morning commuters, after the stagecoach they were pulling tipped over and the drivers were flung from their seats.
The horses were caught unharmed several blocks away, but one coach driver, Kazim Palaz, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital complaining of shoulder pain.
The red stagecoach, promoting a new Shania Twain fragrance by Stetson’s, was heading east on 14th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues about 9:30 a.m. when it was struck from the rear by a white van, Mr. Palaz told the police.
The stagecoach tipped over, letting the horses slip free of their harness and bolt east, past a Starbucks, Gristedes and Papaya King. The van sped off, too.
The horses, named Princess and Hero, charged down sidewalks as one of the drivers gave chase, yelling at people to get out of the way. Shocked pedestrians darted into the street and took refuge in building entryways.
“I heard someone screaming, ‘Look out! Watch out!’ ” said Carla Morreale, a software company employee, who had just come out of the Subway stop when she saw the horses bearing down on her. She ducked into a building entryway with two other women. “You don’t expect horses to be charging towards you on your way to work on the sidewalk in Manhattan,” she said.
Chester Burroughs, 62, was sitting at his desk just inside the lobby of the Teamsters building on 14th street when he saw the horses run by. “I had to get up and look again,” he said. “It was strange to see two horses loose on 14th Street.”
Hero was corralled at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue by police officers who happened to be in Union Square for an anti-terrorism drill. They tethered him to a lamppost, surrounded by yellow police tape.
But Princess continued on, galloping east to Fifth Avenue, where she made a right turn, and then another right turn at 13th Street.
“It was flying with the flow of traffic,” said Bob Di Giorgio, a crane operator, who was working behind a barrier at a construction site when he first spotted Princess.
But then the light turned red. As the cars came to a stop, Princess skidded to a halt herself, right behind a sedan, Mr. Di Giorgio said.
He saw his opportunity. “I leaned over the barrier, grabbed the reins and restrained the horse,” he said, describing a move that would have been far more practiced a century ago, when horses were still commonplace on city streets.
A motorist leaped out to help. “It was a joint effort,” Mr. Di Giorgio said of the effort to restrain and calm the animal. They tied Princess to a tree and waited for help.
“Luckily, the light turned red,” Mr. Di Giorgio said, reflecting.
While horses were still familiar fixtures of urban American life early in the 20th century, stagecoaches, used mostly for long-distance travel, were virtually phased out of New York City by the 1830’s, superseded by trains, according to Kathleen Hulser, the public historian of the New York Historical Society. However, they continued to be used in western states, where lower demand for transportation meant railways were not an economic option.
UC-Industry Networks of Expertise
Homeland Security
Strengthening Californiaís R&D leadership
This online tool brings together UC researchers and California companies to understand whoís doing R&D in homeland security or related areas, what they are doing, and where, in order to facilitate large-scale R&D collaborations and strategic planning. aligned against the funding targets defined by the Department of Homeland Security and allied federal agencies.
The member database is organized around ten major homeland security R&D focus areas, aligned with the funding targets defined by the Department of Homeland Security and allied federal agencies. Clicking on an R&D focus area below will give a brief description of that area:
CNN.com
Army to order 1-day break from recruiting
Move comes amid reports of inappropriate sign-up methods
From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Washington Bureau
Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Posted: 12:04 PM EDT (1604 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. Army plans to stop recruiting activities for one day this month to review procedures that its 7,500 recruiters use, an Army official said.
Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, head of the Army Recruiting Command, is expected to make the announcement, which could come as early as Thursday.
The move follows a CBS News report of least two allegations of recruiting abuse.
In one case, the network reported a recruiter suggesting how a potential volunteer might cheat to pass a drug test, and in another, a sergeant threatened a prospect with arrest if he didn’t report to a recruiting station.
The Army said it is investigating the allegations.
A senior Army officer said Wednesday that the “stand-down” is being ordered not only because of possible misconduct but also because the service has had a difficult time attracting volunteers. The Army wants to assess the stress facing recruiters.
With the war in Iraq, recruiters face increased pressure to meet their recruiting goals. The Army has missed its recruiting targets for three months, and the National Guard and Army Reserve also have fallen short of their goals.
The purpose of halting recruitment for a day is to refocus recruiters on their mission, reinforce the Army’s core values and ensure its procedures are carried out consistently at all 1,700 stations, an Army spokesman said.
The procedure is highly unusual for the Recruiting Command, but “safety stand-downs” are routinely ordered in military aviation following a series of accidents that appear to have a common thread.
In the case of aviation, pilots and air crews are grounded for a day while they review proper procedures. An Army official could not say whether a recruiting stand-down has been ordered before.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Posted: 10:43 AM EDT (1443 GMT)
GEMSSTOCK, Switzerland (Reuters) — Alarmed by the retreat of its Alpine glacier, a Swiss ski resort on Tuesday wrapped part of the shrinking ice-cap in a giant blanket in a bid to reduce the summer melt.
If successful, officials at the Gemsstock resort above Andermatt in central Switzerland expect the example to be followed elsewhere in the Alps, where scientists say glaciers are under threat from global warming.
“We think it will become common practice to cover parts of the glaciers,” Urs Elmiger, a board member of Andermatt Gotthard Sportbahnen, the cable car operator behind the project, told Reuters.
A thin protective layer of artificial textiles, including polyester, was laid over an area of 3-4,000 square meters (yards). The fleece-like material, hard to distinguish with the naked eye from snow, will reflect the rays of the sun.
The 100,000 Swiss franc ($83,000) blanket will protect one of the main glacier access ramps, which has to be rebuilt each autumn at the start of the ski season to cover a yawning 20-meter gap opened up by the ice melt.
“It needs a lot of work, energy and money to rebuild. And one day, if the melt increases, the cost of rebuilding the ramp will be very, very high,” said Elmiger.
But scientists stressed that while such defensive actions could prove valuable in selected spots, such as access areas or cable car installations, they were not a solution to the overall problem of the vanishing ice fields worldwide.
“It may be useful very locally, but it would be totally unfeasible — economically and ecologically — to cover completely even a small glacier,” said geography professor Wilfried Haeberli of the University of Zurich.
The Alpine glaciers — also in Austria, France and Italy — are losing one percent of their mass every year and, even supposing no acceleration in that rate, will have all but disappeared by the end of the century.
More hot, dry summers like that of 2003 in Europe, when the loss speeded to five percent, could cut the life expectancy to no more than 50 years, Haeberli added.
“We estimate that by the end of the 21st century, with a medium-type climate scenario, about five percent of what existed in the 1970s will have survived,” he told Reuters.
For Martin Hiller, spokesman on climate change for environmentalist group WWF International, who was on hand to witness the Alpine experiment, the move was positive but offered no real answer to ice loss.
“The solution is to switch to clean energy, we need to cut down on harmful pollutants, such as CO2 (carbon dioxide),” he said.
Arthur Magazine 