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Week 23, 2006
THE BEST SELLERS (recent popular articles):
1) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: A Woman in the White House? [Une femme à la Maison Blanche ?]
2) Exams Tutor: Sources of business finance [Topo sur le financement d'entreprise. Voir le site indiqué ci-dessous pour retrouver les liens proposés.]
3) This is Travel: The sea's full of fish! [Réclamations farfelues traitées par les voyagistes.]
4) Reuters: Old computers make for unhappy workers [Le matériel informatique périmé rend les salariés mécontents.]

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THE REGULARS: Summary
5) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: Immigration proposals [Bush tente de vendre son projet sur l'immigration.]
6) Puzzle: Pilgrimage [Un casse-tête]
7) Exams Tutor: Sources of short-term finance [Topo sur le financement d'entreprise. Voir le site indiqué ci-dessous pour retrouver les liens proposés.]
8) AUDIO/Marketplace: The economics of school lunch [Emission radio sur l'économie, avec transcription et téléchargement streaming, cette fois-ci une émission sur les difficultés de certains parents américains de payer la cantine pour leurs enfants.]]

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1) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: A Woman in the White House? [Une femme à la Maison Blanche ?]
http://www.scholastic.com

A Woman in the White House?
By Genet Berhane

Is America ready for a female President? The people behind the White House Project think so. The organization recently partnered with Parade magazine to announce "8 for '08," a campaign created to promote the idea of a woman as President. As part of the campaign, they conducted a nationwide poll featuring eight leading female contenders for the Presidency—and the results are now in. With 43 percent of the vote, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is the leading candidate for the country's top job.

"Recent polls show that Americans are hungry for a new kind of leadership and are now, more than ever, ready for a female President," said Marie Wilson, founder and president of the White House Project.

The White House Project is a national organization dedicated to increasing the presence of women in leadership positions, reaching as high as the presidency. With the 2008 presidential campaign just around the corner, Wilson hopes she can help people to seriously consider qualified female candidates.

Behind Senator Clinton was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with 29 percent of the vote. Mayor Shirley Franklin (D-GA) tied Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) for third place with 6 percent of the vote. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) followed with 5 percent. Governor Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) each had 4 percent of the vote, while Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) followed with 3 percent.

According to a recent CBS News/NY Times poll, nearly 92 percent of people polled would vote for a woman for President, if she was qualified for the job. "With women serving at the helm of Fortune 500 companies, on the Supreme Court, and in the halls of Congress," said Senator Snowe, "it is no longer a question of if, but a question of when a woman will become President."

The Student Vote

The Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI), an organization that encourages students to get involved in the political process, recently partnered with the White House Project to conduct an "8 for '08" poll among middle school students. More than 13,000 students in 45 states and the District of Columbia were given the same eight leaders as candidates. The students selected Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (with 38 percent of the votes) over Senator Hillary Clinton (who received 30 percent).

"It's fantastic to see so many students voting in our mock elections," said Holly Hatcher, the assistant director of programs at the University of Virginia Center for Politics (where YLI is based). "The YLI voters are the next generation of the American electorate. They will elect our future leaders."

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2) Exams Tutor: Sources of business finance [Topo sur le financement d'entreprise. Voir le site indiqué ci-dessous pour retrouver les liens proposés.]
http://www.examstutor.com/business/

Sources of Business Finance

There is no escaping the fact that businesses need finance (funds), both in the short term, and long term, to expand, operate or just plain survive. A business represents, in many respects, a continuous flow of money in and out of the company in the form of income and expenditure. Expenditure can be classified as either Capital Expenditure, which includes the purchase of fixed assets and spending on items which are to held by the business in the long-term, and will be accounted for in the Balance Sheet, and Revenue Expenditure, which essentially relates to the purchase of goods and service which will or have already been consumed, in the day to day operations of the business.

Its important that a business is aware and willing to tap every possible source of finance available, particularly at critical stages of the firms development. We can initially segment sources of finance into those internally available to the business, and those that are available externally.
Internal Sources of Funds
Profit The business can retain profit (after tax, interest and dividend payments have been deducted), to finance the businesses intended future expenditure. To find out more about profit and the calculation of retained profit, visit our article on the Trading and Profit & Loss Account.
Depreciation By deducting depreciation from profit, the business makes provision for the eventual replacement of worn-out machinery / plant. This can be seen as a further form of profit retention, and thus an internal source of finance.
Sale of Assets Companies may choose or be forced to sell-off assets of the business in order to raise finance.

It is normally the case, that internal sources of finance are not sufficient to fund the total current and future planned expenditure of a business, and therefore the business must look externally for potential sources of finance.

We can further segment Sources of Finance into those that address Short-Term Finance needs arising out of working capital requirements, Medium-Term Finance normally involving borrowing over a period greater than one year and less than five years, and Long-Term Finance capital required for a period of borrowing exceeding five years. In the following section we will consider external sources of short, medium and long-term finance.

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3) This is Travel: The sea's full of fish! [Réclamations farfelues traitées par les voyagistes.]
http://www.thisistravel.co.uk/travel/sun/article.html?in_article_id=34511

The sea's full of fish!
By Graham Grant, Daily Mail

Travel firms are used to dealing with holidaymakers' complaints about poor accommodation or dodgy meals.

But Britain's leading tour operators revealed yesterday that travellers also try to get compensation for a variety of less obvious reasons.

In fact, some of the criticisms levelled by aggrieved customers verge on the surreal - and many are unintentionally hilarious.

One firm received a complaint from a holidaymaker angry that his rep had failed to mention that there were fish in the sea, claiming he and his children had been startled by their presence while paddling.

Another customer complained there were too many Spaniards in Spain, and one had even found fault with the colour of the beach - pointing out exasperatedly that 'the sand in the brochure is yellow, but when we got there it was white'.

The catalogue of bizarre complaints was revealed yesterday as travel operators warned holidaymakers not to waste reps' time with trivial or silly concerns.

Airtours - which deals with 17,000 complaints every year - is now using a catalogue of 'left-field' moans to help trainee reps and travel agents prepare for some of the stranger complaints or queries they are likely to encounter this summer.

An Airtours spokesman said genuine complaints are always taken seriously but some were 'slightly strange'.

He said: 'We provide holidaymakers with as much information as possible about their trip, yet it seems that sometimes these details are taken far too literally by customers.'

A company insider said: 'People are much more aware of their rights nowadays and much more tempted to blame someone if something goes wrong. We have noticed a surge in weird complaints over the last few years.

'Their instinct is to lash out and blame someone, and because it's such a litigious culture, people always think the travel company must be to blame.'

The Association of British Travel Agents said recently that a couple cancelled a two-week break in Majorca and demanded a refund because of the risk of contracting the SARS virus.

It was pointed out to them that Majorca was not affected by SARS, but they insisted on cancelling anyway.

They were charged a cancellation fee and now they are trying to sue for compensation.

An ABTA spokesman said: 'People are travelling so much more nowadays - but they're not prepared to put up with shoddy standards, whereas in the past going abroad was a real treat.'

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4) Reuters: Old computers make for unhappy workers [Le matériel informatique périmé rend les salariés mécontents.]
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/10052006/325/old-computers-unhappy-workers-survey.html

Old computers make for unhappy workers - survey
Reuters Wednesday May 10, 06:38 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - Dealing with the frustrations of ageing and unreliable office computers contributes to workers' unhappiness and more sick-leave, a survey showed on Wednesday.

A poll conducted by Tickbox.net of over 2,700 European office workers from the UK, France and Germany found that workplace dissatisfaction increased significantly with the age of computer equipment. British and French respondents said working on outdated computers was the most irritating aspect of office life.

"Overall we do know that job satisfaction is in decline in Britain and in most advanced nations," said Stephen Overell, a spokesman for The Work Foundation, a think tank and consultancy specialising in the working life. "The actual reasons for this are the subject of very intense debate. It's certainly one interesting theory that technology may be the cause of this in some way," Overell said, noting that computers have become a part of most jobs.

Almost 40 percent of workers surveyed in the three countries were using computers at least three years old, with clerical and administrative workers among those using the oldest equipment. About a third of Britons polled said they work on office equipment that was three years old or more. Just under a quarter of those using outdated computers in Britain - defined in most cases as five years or more - said they were "quite" or "very dissatisfied" with their everyday job compared to 16 percent of those benefiting from up-to-date technology. Overall, 75 percent of those working with old equipment agreed that an upgrade would lead to more productivity, the independent survey commissioned by computer screen maker ViewSonic found.

The survey also said that among workers dealing with outdated equipment, there was a 35 percent greater likelihood they would take six or more days of sick-leave per year compared with the average worker. In France, where more workers use older computers, the likelihood jumped to 55 percent. About two-thirds of those polled also complained of problems like eye fatigue, headaches, and repetitive strain injury (RSI). The number was highest in France. Results also showed that women in all three countries were consistently more likely to be using outdated equipment. In the UK, where more workers have up-to-date computers than in the other countries surveyed, the number of women using old equipment doubled that of men.

The Work Foundation's Overell pointed out there were two sides to the problem, noting that constantly having to deal with new technology and new equipment can also be a source of stress. "Old and faulty equipment is a major cause of organisational strife, there's no question about it, but you also have to say that constant change is also, or could be, a significant cause of dissatisfaction."

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5) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Scholastic: Immigration proposals [Bush tente de vendre son projet sur l'immigration.]
http://www.scholastic.com

Immigration Proposals
By Ezra Billinkoff

May 16, 2006—The President presented his immigration proposals to the American people on Monday night. He gave a 16-minute televised speech from the Oval Office outlining proposals for improving the security of the border between the U.S. and Mexico. One of the proposals would give illegal immigrants a way to work toward citizenship.

Immigration has been a hot topic lately. On May 1, organizers led nationwide strikes and rallies by immigrant workers in large U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago. By some estimates, more than 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States.

"The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions," President Bush said. "And in recent weeks, Americans have seen those emotions on display."

Border Security

President Bush talked first about stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the country by strengthening security along the U.S.-Mexico border. He told viewers that he would deploy 6,000 National Guards to the border to help the 12,000 Border Patrol officers who are already there. He also discussed using high-tech surveillance devices such as unmanned drone airplanes, motion sensors, and new security fences to prevent illegal border crossings.

Many politicians—both Democrats and Republicans—support Bush's plan to boost security along the border. However, some leaders have expressed concern about deploying National Guard troops. Many members of the National Guard already serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many more are still helping the Gulf Coast recover from last year's hurricane season.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said he had some doubts about the plan, which he sees as a temporary solution. "It remains unclear what impact only 6,000 National Guard troops will have on securing the border," he said. "It's a Band-Aid solution and not the permanent solution we need."

The Path to Citizenship

Another key focus of the speech was a controversial proposal to allow illegal immigrants to slowly earn American citizenship. The President said his proposal was different from automatic amnesty, which grants all illegal immigrants residency.

"I believe that illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law, to pay their taxes...and work in a job for a number of years," he said. "People who meet these conditions should be able to apply for citizenship, but approval would not be automatic, and they will have to wait in line behind those who played by the rules and followed the law."

Part of the "path to citizenship" proposal says that illegal immigrants can come into the United States as temporary workers. Some conservative politicians oppose this guest-worker plan because they say it would mean fewer jobs for Americans.

President Bush said his plan strikes a balance between other more extreme proposals. Some of these more radical proposals include sending all illegal immigrants back to their home countries. An opposing plan is to automatically grant them citizenship. Some fellow politicians and anti-immigrant groups criticized the President's proposal as being too soft, saying it was the same as granting immediate amnesty. Others in Congress and many who support immigrant rights found his proposal to be too harsh.

The Next Step

Now that President Bush has described his vision for immigration reform, the U.S. Congress will vote on it. Passing the President's proposals may sound simple, but because the issue is so controversial, it may not be easy to get any laws passed that are exactly to President Bush's liking. For example, the U.S. House of Representatives has already approved a harsh bill that includes federal criminal penalties for people who are living illegally in the U.S. and for individuals who are helping people to enter or stay in the country. It does not mention a path to citizenship or a guest-worker program, both key parts of the President's plan.

The U.S. Senate will begin debating a less stringent reform bill soon, but even if it is passed, the differences between the House and Senate versions will then have to be ironed out in what is called a conference committee, and this conference process can take some time. Even after those differences are dealt with, the bill has to get the President's approval before becoming law. If the bill that emerges from Congress is not what he wants, he can veto it, or reject it. It may be quite a while before any real changes start taking place.

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7) Exams Tutor: Sources of short-term finance [Topo sur le financement d'entreprise. Voir le site indiqué ci-dessous pour retrouver les liens proposés.]
http://www.examstutor.com/business/

Sources of Short Term Finance
Trade Credit

Trade credit represents one of the main sources of short-term finance for a business, current assets such as raw materials may be purchased on credit with payment terms normally varying from between 30 to 90 days. As such, trade credit represents an interest free short-term loan, and constitutes approximately 60%, of current liabilities in the average non-financial business ( this percentage is often far higher for small businesses ). In a period of high inflation there are clear advantages to purchasing via trade credit, however these advantages must be weighed against the discount incentives suppliers offer for early payment.

Loans and Overdrafts

Overdrafts are the most important source of short-term finance available to businesses. They can be arranged relatively quickly, and offer a level of flexibility with regard to the amount borrowed at any time, whilst interest is only paid when the account is overdrawn. In comparison loans normally involve higher rates of interest, and are inflexible in terms of the emphasis they place regular installment payments being made. Barclays offer a range of products and services to businesses, their site is worth a visit as it contains some excellent information for those considering starting a business.

Factoring

Instead of waiting for customers to pay invoices within the payment period, a company may enlist the services of a Debt Factoring firm. The factoring company provides the business with a percentage of the face value of the invoice, commonly 80%, within days of a invoice being raised. The factoring company then assumes responsibility for collecting payment of the invoice, on receipt of payment the factor will pay the business the remaining 20%, whilst charging a fee for the service they provide. There are many firms offering this service, one example being Independent Commercial Finance Limited, whose site also includes an interest calculator.

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8) AUDIO/Marketplace: The economics of school lunch [Emission radio sur l'économie, avec transcription et téléchargement streaming, cette fois-ci une émission sur les difficultés de certains parents américains de payer la cantine pour leurs enfants.]
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/06/01/PM200606018.html

KAI RYSSDAL: I was a brown-bagger when I was a kid. Usually brought a sandwich and chips to school for lunch. Most of my friends, though, were the hot lunch kind. Their moms gave them a buck or two and they ate the daily cafeteria special. It doesn't quite work that way any more. In some public schools today kids are showing up empty handed and hungry. And that's leaving lunchrooms in the lurch. Here's Alex Cohen.

ALEX COHEN: It's lunchtime here at Bastrop Middle School in Central Texas. A cashier rings up each lunch and tells students how much is left on their tab.

Just like public schools across the country, the food services department here is an independently run non-profit business — their budget is separate from the school's. So when a kid's account runs dry in Bastrop, it's food service director Albert Gaines' problem. He says at first he'll give a child two opportunities to "charge" a meal.

ALBERT GAINES: If at the end of the year those charges are not paid, they carry over to the next year. It stays on there.

Gaines says after two charges, his cafeteria does what a lot of others do. Students get a barebones meal of a peanut butter or cheese sandwich. Then, Gaines sends a note home to parents.

GAINES: We print it, give it to the teacher, the teacher then puts it in the backpack. Then the student has to take it home, take it out of the backpack, and give it to the parent. So there's a lot of area for . . . miscommunication we'll say.

Some parents just can't remember to pay the lunch bill, others just can't afford it. As of this morning, Dawn Hurley's daughter Georgia had a negative $1.85 balance on her meal account. Hurley has less than $20 in the bank right now. That means she can't get anything from the ATM.

So she hit up her daughter's piggy bank

DAWN HURLEY: This is supposed to be her college fund, but we're digging into it to make sure she can eat in the cafeteria for the last two days of school.

Hurley says cash has been tight since she's been staying home to care for the toddler she holds on her hip. She says her daughter's meals don't cost much, but they have a lot of other expenses…

HURLEY: We have car payments, over $300, car insurance on two cars, and then there's always something going on with Georgia's school because the schools just don't get enough money so the parents have to help out with everything that happens.

As the cost of living increases for everyone, lunch debt is on the rise . . .

MARY HILL: We see it as a growing problem across this country.

That's Mary Hill, vice president of the School Nutrition Association which represents school cafeteria directors nationwide. For some lunchrooms, the outstanding balance is just a few hundred dollars. For others it's hundreds of thousands. One school board in Tampa, Florida went so far as to authorize the use of a collection agency.

But, Hill says, teachers and cafeteria workers will often pay out of pocket to make sure a child doesn't go hungry.

HILL: Because they believe that that is a part of the total growth in school and that students need that nourishment in order for them to be successful in the classroom.

What's really needed, she says, is a long-term solution, ideally providing government subsidized lunches for every child.

But to start, Hill and other food service directors have asked Congress to change the nation's reduced lunch program. That program currently allows nearly 3 million low-income students to eat at a cost to parents of 40 cents per meal. Instead, Hill says, let those kids join the nearly 15 million others participating in the federally subsidized FREE lunch program.

HILL: And of course when you look at what we're asking for they say it's not a very cheap venture but a very worthwhile venture.

Several lawmakers have asked for about $29 million to try phasing out reduced price lunches in favor of free lunches in five states. So far, Congress hasn't approved the funding.

I'm Alex Cohen for Marketplace.

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9) The Onion: Suicide PowerPoint presentation [C'est de l'humour... un salarié laisse son mot de suicide sous forme d'une présentation PowerPoint de haute qualité.]
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30903/print/

Project Manager Leaves Suicide PowerPoint Presentation

February 9, 2005 | Issue 41•06

PORTLAND, OR—Project manager Ron Butler left behind a 48-slide PowerPoint presentation explaining his tragic decision to commit suicide, coworkers reported Tuesday.

"When I first heard that Ron had swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills, I was shocked," said Hector Benitez, Butler's friend and coworker at Williams+Kennedy Marketing Consultants. "But after the team went through Ron's final PowerPoint presentation, I had a solid working knowledge of the pain he was feeling, his attempts to cope, and the reasons for his ultimate decision." "I just wish he would've shot me an e-mail asking for help," Benitez added.

Butler broke his presentation into four categories: Assessment Of Current Situation, Apologies & Farewells, Will & Funeral Arrangements, and Final Thoughts. According to Williams+Kennedy president Bradford Williams, finalgoodbye.ppt was "clear, concise, and persuasive." "After everyone left the room, I sat down and went through Ron's final presentation in slide-sorter view," Williams said. "Man, I gotta tell you, it blew me away. That presentation really utilized the full multimedia capabilities of Microsoft's PowerPoint application." "We're really gonna miss Ron around here," Williams added.

In the presentation's first section, a three-dimensional bar graph illustrated the growth of Butler's sorrow during the two years since his wife and only child died in a car accident. "We all got Ron's message loud and clear when that JPEG of his wife wipe-transitioned to a photo of her tombstone," coworker Anne Thibideux said.

The first section closed with a review of key objectives and critical success factors. The two-column text display was enlivened by colorful background wallpaper and clip-art question marks depicting Ron's confusion over his choice.

The second portion of the presentation comprised an ordered list of goodbyes to colleagues and apologies to friends. "The colors in Apologies & Farewells were perfectly calibrated for digital-projector display," I.T. director Bill Schapp said. "I think Ron was the only guy at W+K who understood the importance of running the Gretag-Macbeth Eye-One Beamer on presentations."

The third segment, Will & Funeral Arrangements, included a list of Butler's friends and family indexed with phone numbers, a last will and testament, and scrolling-text instructions for the dissemination of his ashes.

"To Ron's credit, it was one helluva way to go out," human resources manager Gail Everts said. "Ron clearly spent a lot of time on that presentation. If the subject matter weren't so heavy, we'd probably use it to train his replacement."

Copywriter Gita Pruriyaran said the presentation "had room for improvement." "I felt some of the later transitions were weak," Pruriyaran said. "The point of a transition is to maintain audience interest and lighten the mood. To me, the door-closing sound effects in Will & Funeral were repetitive and heavy-handed. But Ron's choice to end with that Hamlet quote and then fade to black was really powerful. There wasn't a dry eye in the room when Hector flipped off the projector and brought up the lights."

Coworkers were shocked to learn that Butler's document was initially created on Aug. 8, 2004. "I should have seen this coming, but I didn't," Benitez said. "When Ron started deleting all of his old files last week, I thought he was worried about another hard-drive crash. I never imagined he was, you know, preparing." "If only we'd all paid more attention to Ron during the Microsoft Project workshop he held last month," Benitez added.

Butler is survived by his parents Gerald and Martha Butler, who described their relationship with their son as "distant." "Ron would e-mail us photos and home movies, but we're not very good with computers," said Gerald, 71, a retired postal worker. "We tried to stay close, but we just never learned how to open up those files. At the very end, Ron was sending us his suicidal thoughts, but we didn't get the instant message—until it was too late."

Williams+Kennedy vice president Vivien Esterhaus said Butler "will not be forgotten." "We have made arrangements for his PowerPoint presentation to be stored in the W+K off-site secure file-storage archive," Esterhaus said. "Barring a virus or major computer malfunction, his final words will always be accessible. If only Ron could've been saved, too."

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10) CNN/Cottage Living: Mackinac Island [Le festival des lilas sur la splendide île de Mackinac dans le spendide état du Michigan.]
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/06/01/mackinac.island/index.html

Wander the fragrant streets of Mackinac Island
Bike, stroll or take a horse taxi to annual Lilac Festival

By Alison Engel
Cottage Living

My first morning on Michigan's Mackinac Island, I thought I had wandered onto a Hollywood back lot.

Horse-drawn carriages paraded down Main Street, driven by men in top hats and tails and carrying beaming brides and grooms, waving as they passed. Often they were trailed by a perspiring photographer furiously pedaling a bicycle, camera cases strapped to his basket. Every once in a while a young man in vintage military regalia would stride by, all gold braid and epaulets and shiny boots.

The bustle of commerce was everywhere. A florist made a delivery on a bike. A young man wearing a striped apron pushed a cart piled with new mattresses. Guests drank coffee on the gingerbread porches of bed-and-breakfasts, talking over the pleasant clip-clop of horses' hooves and the faint jangle of harness bells. Wafting over this soundtrack was the powerful aroma of bubbling sugar, mixed with the heady fragrance of lilacs in bloom.

But it wasn't make-believe. There was a logical explanation for everything.

Mackinac (MACK-in-awe) Island, between Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the rest of the state, is famous for prohibiting (non-emergency) motorized vehicles. That explains the array of alternative transportation: bicycles, pushcarts piled high with boxes reined in by bungee cords and horse-drawn carriages and taxis. There's even a horse-drawn shuttle that ferries golfers and their clubs between the Grand Hotel's Grand Nine course and its Woods Nine a mile away.

Costumed soldiers spend their days at Fort Mackinac, built by the British in 1779 on a cliff perched above Haldimand Bay, at the eastern end of the island. Fife and drum playing, cannon firing and guided tours are daily events, requiring a cadre of period-perfect actors. Five buildings downtown that played a part in Mackinac's early-19th-century history are also open to visitors. John Jacob Astor made his first million dollars trading furs here.

And the lilacs? The island boasts hundreds of varieties, and their blooms are celebrated for 10 days each June. This year's festival runs June 9 through June 18. The festival includes a low-key parade with homemade horse-drawn floats, walking tours, children's activities in the park and purple lights twinkling on boats in the marina.

While you can stay on the mainland and ferry over for the day, I opted for full immersion in the festive atmosphere. Charming hotels and inns are everywhere downtown. Most famous of all is the Grand Hotel on historic West Bluff with its sweeping front porch, the largest in the world. The grounds are fastidiously groomed -- the floral displays are replanted three times a year -- and the hotel charges nonguests $10 to enter, to discourage hordes of sightseers. I chose to stay further afield, in a rental cottage "up island," as locals say.

The first thing to do was rent a bicycle. Bike shops abound, but the island is not about competitive racing or fancy rigs. Most bikes are strictly utilitarian, and no one locks them in the racks downtown.

Once I had my wide-tired beauty, I rode around the entire island, which wasn't nearly as daunting as it sounds: The trip is only 8.2 miles, and the terrain is blessedly flat. Pedaling steadily, I did it in only an hour. I admired the lady's slipper orchids, the lilies of the valley and the lilacs along the way, but I stopped short of picking them. (I knew that I should leave them for others to enjoy, plus I wanted to avoid paying a stiff fine.) As a sign posted along the way admonishes, "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints."

Within a day it seems completely natural to ride or walk everywhere. It's no wonder there aren't any street addresses; I already knew my way around. After a memorable dinner at Woods restaurant, a quirky, secluded hunting lodge complete with a one-lane duckpin bowling alley, I walked back to my cottage by starlight, feeling I was now on the set of a different movie, "The Last of the Mohicans," as I glided silently through the pines. I followed the footpath, my senses alert in the darkness. Slowing down to a carless pace on an island full of blooming lilacs was as motion picture perfect as it sounds.

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11) Yahoo/AFP: Progress in Diana crash investigation [Du nouveau dans l'enquête britannique sur la mort de Diana.]
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060602/19/z7ll.html

Diana crash probe makes 'extraordinary' headway: investigator
AFP Friday June 2, 01:41 AM

LONDON (AFP) - The probe into the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana is benefiting from a computer-generated reconstruction and is making "extraordinary" headway, the top investigator said in remarks.

Sir John Stevens told the Daily Express that revolutionary technology has allowed police to construct a virtual reality film of what happened when Diana left her hotel in Paris in August 1997 until the time the car crashed. "We're using the latest technology that the French didn't have obviously seven or eight years ago. Even they're impressed by what we're doing," said Stevens, a former head of London's Metropolitan Police.

"We can use reality television in terms of what the car did, how it performed on that day -- the forensic side of this has advanced massively," he was quoted as saying. The video reconstruction will be part of a preliminary report presented to the royal coroner in August. It is yet to be decided whether it will ever be presented to the public, the newspaper said. Stevens added that it was "quite extraordinary how things are advancing," according to the newspaper. "We've got new witnesses and we're going through new techniques and the rest of it and we're just absolutely determined to make sure that this is a thorough job and we're not going to be hurried into it," Stevens said.

Stevens also revealed for the first time how British officers have now dismantled the ill-fated Mercedes S280 "bolt by bolt," with every part tested, before being reconstructed again, the newspaper said. The French authorities turned the car over to the British several months ago after completing their own probe.

In reports on Wednesday, the Daily Express and other newspaper quoted Stevens as saying that fresh witnesses and new evidence had been found in the investigation. Stevens was quoted in The Guardian Wednesday as revealing that he met Mohammed Al Fayed, the millionaire Harrod's owner whose son, Dodi, also died in the crash, every two months.

Speculation continues that the Princess of Wales' death was not the result of a straightforward car accident. The probe was ordered in 2004 by the royal coroner, Michael Burgess, amid continuing conspiracy theories.

But Stevens -- who is promoting his autobiography -- assured his audience at The Guardian-sponsored literary festival where he made the comments that "each and every conspiracy theory" is being investigated. "We will go where the evidence takes us and I intend to finish the job. It is a complex business and it is taking time," he added.

Diana married Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, in 1981 but the pair separated 11 years later. She was killed with Dodi Al Fayed and their chauffeur Henri Paul on August 31, 1997. The French probe blamed Paul for losing control of the car because he was high on drink and prescription drugs and driving too fast.

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12) Chicago Tribune: Can Southern culture survive low-fat diets? [Alors qu'on lutte contre l'obésité, comment les gens du Sud des USA vont-ils faire pour laisser tomber leurs plats préférés, les uns plus gras que les autres.]
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/diet/sfl-522southern,0,2320581.story?track=mostemailedlink

The deep-fried dilemma: Can Southern culture survive low-fat diets?
By Dahleen Glanton
Chicago Tribune

May 22, 2006, 6:34 AM EDT

ATLANTA -- During a typical week, the Busy Bee Cafe serves more than 700 orders of fried chicken, 500 pounds of collard greens, 300 pounds of fried pork chops, 400 gallons of sweet tea and about 85 pans of peach cobbler.

This small storefront restaurant in a black community on the edge of downtown Atlanta is where serious lovers of Southern cuisine have come for their regular fix of comfort foods for more than half a century. It also represents the kind of eateries all over the South that provide the greatest challenge to doctors and nutritionists fighting to change the calorie-laden, fat-filled diets of Southerners.

``We don't cook the way they cook downtown,'' said Otis Sutton, 78, who has prepared meals at the Busy Bee since it opened in 1947. ``We've got to put some soul into it.''

As the country wages a war on obesity, health officials have sought to encourage Americans to exercise more and eat healthier, giving up foods high in cholesterol and fat. But despite the region's ``Stroke Belt'' label _ because of the above-average number of strokes _ health officials have had difficulty persuading Southerners to drastically change their artery-clogging diet.

Other regions of the country, including the Midwest with its cheese, brats and pizza, also have challenges. But in the South, a meal of fried chicken smothered in gravy, collard greens and buttered cornbread is as much a part of the culture as front-porch rockers and a Southern drawl.

Changing the way people eat, experts said, could mean changing an important part of Southern culture.

``Food is a strong emblem of identity for Southerners. It is one of the few cultural artifacts that both black and white Southerners embrace and hold in high esteem,'' said John Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. ``Segregation remains in many aspects of our daily lives in the South, but there is no segregation of our black-eyed peas and our collard greens.''

Restaurants such as the Busy Bee take pride in serving authentic cuisine, and over the years some have tried to make healthy changes. Vegetables, for example, are no longer cooked with pork but with smoked turkey wings at the Busy Bee. Other restaurants, however, have gone out of their way to create concoctions that could literally take your breath away.

One of the most popular items on the menu at Mulligan's bar in suburban Decatur, Ga., is the ``hamdog,'' a half-pound of hamburger meat wrapped around a hotdog, which is deep-fried and served on a hoagie topped with chili, bacon and a fried egg. The bar also offers the ``Luther,'' a half-pound burger served with bacon and cheese on a Krispy Kreme donut, and, for dessert, fried Twinkies, two deep-fried Kap'n Crunch-coated Twinkies topped with chocolate and cherry sauce.

Bar owner Chandler Goff, 35, said there is no practical way to measure the fat or calories in those dishes. He has added a notation at the bottom of the menu urging diners to ``have the sense to realize that although delicious, we do not recommend eating fried foods every day.'' He also reminds people to exercise regularly and get an annual physical.

``These are great pleasures,'' Goff said. ``You don't want to eat this every day.''

The South was labeled ``the Stroke Belt'' because 11 states and the District of Columbia, from Washington to Florida and west to Texas, have the highest incidence of and mortality from stroke in nation, according to Dr. Mark Alberts, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University Medical School.

``It is extremely difficult everywhere in the country to get people to adopt a healthy lifestyle,'' said Alberts, who heads the Stroke Belt Consortium, a group of health care professionals and organizations working to educate the public about the risk of stroke. ``There are some things like hush puppies, pig's feet and the quantity of fried foods that are significant in the South. Diet has a central role in many risk factors that directly lead to stroke.''

While the stroke rate is higher among all races in the South, more Southern blacks die of it than whites in the South or blacks in other parts of the country. That, in part, could be due to a lack of access to healthy foods, some experts said.

``In poor communities, there are sometimes no grocery stores nearby and people shop at convenience stores where they can't get fresh fruits and vegetables. But the odd thing is the ice cream truck drives through the neighborhood every day,'' said Dr. Daniel Blumenthal, a professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. ``If you have to find transportation to get to the supermarket, it is more expensive. And it costs more to buy fresh foods.''

Since the mid-1990s, groups such as the Stroke Belt Consortium have been working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent heart disease and strokes in the South, focusing primarily on eliminating obesity.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on programs in churches, schools and community centers to educate the public about health risks and teach people how to cook healthy meals without losing the flavor.

Every Friday morning at the Lou Walker Senior Center in Lithonia, Ga., CDC nutritionist Annie Carr teaches participants how to make things like sauteed collard greens, egg white omelets and homemade turkey sausage. Each week, she said, more people show up, indicating that there is growing interest in learning how to prepare meals without excessive grease and sugar.

``Their mother and grandmother cooked with a lot of fat and that's the only way they know how to cook,'' said Carr. ``If we can show them healthy recipes that look good and taste good, they will try it. But if it is bland, they are not going to eat it.''

The dietary changes have been particularly tough for soul food restaurants like the Busy Bee, which opened in 1947 in the shadows of the city's predominantly black colleges and universities. During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the Busy Bee and other black-owned restaurants served as meeting centers for organizers.

``For our customers, this is home,'' said Tracy Gates, 47, whose family bought the Busy Bee in 1982. ``They want fried chicken, barbecue ribs and oxtails on the menu every day. They are not concerned about transfats. If they were, I would be out of business.''

While Gates said she does not pay attention to trends such as low-carb diets, she does listen to the concerns of her patrons. Chitlins are only on the menu during the winter holiday season, she cooks fried chicken in peanut oil rather than vegetable oil, and she has added items such as green salads to the menu.

But when customers such as Ron Burks of Conley, Ga., come in three to four times a week, they know exactly what they want, and it is not a fresh salad.

``I come in here to treat myself,'' said Burks, 48, over a plate of smothered turkey wings, dressing, giblet gravy, yams and green beans. ``My mother died of diabetes and all my sisters and brothers have high blood pressure. Most of the time, I try to eat healthy, but this is my falling-off-the-wagon place.''

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EUROPEANS have mixed feelings about class. They deplore the idea that people may remain mired in poverty, and they have large welfare programmes to help them move up. They also resent the sight of rich families staying at the top for generations, and so impose high taxes to redistribute wealth and income.

On the other hand, compared with Americans, Europeans cling to a somewhat static view of society. They dislike the extremes of wealth and poverty that accompany America's supposed free-for-all meritocracy. They look askance at “excessive” job mobility, which breeds insecurity. Polls show that, compared with Americans, Europeans are more likely to dislike unfettered market competition and to believe that success is outside their own control. With some exceptions (eg, Dick Whittington), they lack the equivalent of Horatio Alger's myth of rags to riches. In short, in the European view, social stability is desirable, and if a certain amount of inflexibility is needed to underpin it, that is a price worth paying to avoid the restless uncertainties of America's market-driven model.

Yet the curious thing is that European society—at least in the Nordic countries—is far less stable than America's. Two new research papers* confirm that, if one compares the incomes of children with those of their parents, or considers how long people in one income group stay there, Nordic countries emerge as far more mobile than America. Britain shows more class stability than its northern neighbours, but it is still a lot closer to them than it is to America.

The authors rank countries on a scale from one to zero, with one meaning no mobility at all (ie, a child's income is identical to its parents') and zero meaning perfect mobility (ie, a child's income bears no relation to its parents'). The Nordic countries score around 0.2 for sons, Britain scores 0.36, and America 0.54 (meaning that a son's earnings are more closely related to his father's in America). These figures are roughly in line with the conclusions of other studies, though they have the advantage of using standardised data, thereby minimising problems of definition that usually bedevil cross-country comparisons.

The biggest finding of the studies is not, however, about overall social mobility, but about mobility at the bottom. This is the most distinctive feature of Nordic societies, and it is also perhaps the most significant difference with America. Around three-quarters of sons born into the poorest fifth of the population in Nordic countries in the late 1950s had moved out of that category by the time they were in their early 40s. In contrast, only just over half of American men born at the bottom later moved up. This is another respect in which Britain is more like the Nordics than like America: some 70% of its poorest sons escaped from poverty within a generation.

The Nordic countries are distinctive in one further way: the sons born at the bottom (into the poorest fifth) earn roughly the same as those born a rung above them (the second-poorest fifth). In other words, Nordic countries have almost completely snapped the link between the earnings of parents and children at and near the bottom. That is not at all true of America.

Social mobility at middle-income levels is more similar everywhere (it is a bit higher in most European countries, but not by much). That may partly explain why Americans think their society is more mobile than it is (the middle classes tend to set the political agenda, and mobility is genuine enough for them). It may also explain why few Europeans appreciate quite how much movement up and down the income ladder there is, because much of it takes place off the radar screen of the politically influential.

Unwrapping the Scandinavian model

The obvious explanation for greater mobility in the Nordic countries is their tax and welfare systems, which (especially when compared with America's) deliberately try to help the children of the poor to do better than their parents. One might expect social mobility and economic flexibility to go together—in fact, to be two sides of the same coin. But to the extent that redistribution is an explanation, it implies the opposite: that social mobility is a product of high public spending, a bit like the low incidence of poverty or longer life expectancy (on both of which Europe also does better than America). But greater public spending tends also to be associated with less economic flexibility—which is why Nordic countries have sought to limit the more arthritis-inducing features of their tax-and-spend programmes.

Yet redistributive fiscal policies cannot be all there is to it. If they were, Nordic countries would not do as well as they do (their welfare states are not appreciably more generous than Britain's). The other part of the explanation seems to be their superior education systems. Education has long been recognised as the most important single trigger of social mobility—and all four Nordic countries do unusually well in the school-appraisal system developed by the OECD.

That in turn may explain why the bigger continental European countries, notably France, Germany, Italy, are not as mobile as Nordic ones. With relatively poor education systems, they are bound to perform more like Britain. But that still makes them socially (if not economically) more flexible than the land of the free. For Europe, the secrets of greater social mobility are, first, tough redistribution policies that particularly benefit those at the bottom; and, especially in Nordic countries, a more supple and less class-ridden education system, running from top to bottom. America could learn something from that.

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I Hear Ringing and There's No One There. I Wonder Why.
By BRENDA GOODMAN

SIX minutes 39 seconds into the Richard Thompson song "Calvary Cross," Mike Pelusi, a music reviewer in Philadelphia, will almost invariably check his cellphone. Minka Wiltz, an actress in Atlanta, has tried to answer her phone to the thrrrrup, thrrrrup, thrrrrup of a truck bouncing down a pothole-pocked street.

Others say they thought they heard phones ring while taking a shower, using a blow-dryer or watching commercials. What they are hearing is a barely discernable sound — perhaps chimes, a faint trill or an electronic bleat — that they mistake for the ringtone of their cellphone, which isn't ringing. This audio illusion — called phantom phone rings or, more whimsically, ringxiety or fauxcellarm — has emerged recently as an Internet discussion topic and has become a new reason for people to either bemoan the techno-saturation of modern life or question their sanity.

Some sound experts believe that because cellphones have become a fifth limb for many, people now live in a constant state of phone vigilance, and hearing sounds that seem like a telephone's ring can send an expectant brain into action.

"My experience has been hearing just a few notes that are similar to my phone's ring, my brain will fill in the rest," said David Laramie, a doctoral student at the Los Angeles campus of the California School of Professional Psychology, who is writing his dissertation about the effect of cellphones on behavior.

He plans to send questionnaires this summer to learn when and how often phantom rings happen and who is most likely to experience them. A few notes in the background of a television commercial can fool him, he said. Other times the culprit will be the sound effects in a song on the radio. "Another place I hear it is running water, so I sometimes hear it while I'm shaving," Mr. Laramie said.

Phantom rings are a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" related to the way the human brain interprets sound, said Rob Nokes, president of Sound Dogs, a sound effects company in California.

The ear gives unequal weights to certain frequencies, making it particularly sensitive to sounds in the range of 1,000 to 6,000 hertz, scientists say. Babies cry in this range, for example, and the familiar "brrring, brrring" ringtone hits this sweet spot, too. (Simple ringtones are more likely to produce phantom rings than popular music used as a ringtone.)

"Your brain is conditioned to respond to a phone ring just as it is to a baby crying," Mr. Nokes said.

Why people seem to be hearing phantom rings more often now is another question. The answers range from the paranoid to the vast exposure to cellphones in people's lives — there were 207 million wireless subscribers nationwide at the end of 2005, a nearly sevenfold increase in just a decade, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.

On blogs, some cellphone users wonder if an ominous agenda is at work when a phantom ring is triggered by a television or radio broadcast. A writer posting as Koan on forumgarden.com said that at first, songs played on the radio triggered a phantom ring. "Thing is, the high-pitched sounds, although a lot fainter, are still present during announcements now," Koan wrote. "What is this? Is it subliminal advertising ... or something else?"

Peter Arnell, the chief creative officer of the Arnell Group in New York and a major force in the marketing business, said that theory might not be far off the mark. While he said he has never been asked by a client to include sounds in an advertisement that would mimic a ringing cellphone, he thinks the increasing use of high-pitched, electronic tones is very much by design.

"People are using a sound trigger to control emotions," Mr. Arnell said. "The most controlling device in our life right now is a cellphone."

He suggested that a sound trick that sent confused listeners hunting for their cellphones might be especially effective for ads ending with a call to action. (An example is a directive to "Call this toll-free number now!")

"Hollywood has always known how to use sound to control emotions, right?" Mr. Arnell continued. "But this is newer to advertising. Sound effects have become the big deal on Madison Avenue."

Michael Sweet, the creative director of Audio Brain, a sonic branding company in New York that has done work for NBC and Verizon, also said that he had never been asked to use a sound for the purpose of generating a phantom ring. But he also said he believes that the ear-brain trick isn't a mistake.

"I think it's definitely intentional," Mr. Sweet said. "Do ad agencies know they're getting your attention? Sure. Do they know it's because you're trying to answer your phone to the TV? Not necessarily."

Allen Henderson, who runs the blog AwfulCommericals.com, was bothered by a Toyota ad showing a man dragging a rusted heap of a car uphill as if it were a ball and chain. The chain eventually snaps and the man is free to drive a Toyota. Mr. Henderson lamented what he called the spot's overblown premise, but that wasn't the only thing.

"Most of all," Mr. Henderson wrote on his blog, "I hate this commercial for making me check my phone every time it came on the air." Steve R. Chavez, creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi, the Los Angeles agency that created the spot, "Ball and Chain," seemed tickled when told of Mr. Henderson's phantom ring experience.

"You know, it only took us 20 years to develop that," Mr. Chavez said impishly. "I'm soooo kidding.

"I think, as an industry, we're often accused of manipulation. It's simply not true." And after this reporter was taunted by phantom rings from "Homage," a television spot for Marriott Hotels, the ad agency that created it, McGarry Bowen in New York, said any confusion was purely unintentional. "Everyone here is kind of baffled," said Rob Kaplan, the director of music production at McGarry Bowen. "No one meant to put anything that sounded like a cellphone ringtone in the spot."

In "Homage," which was conceived as a tribute to business travelers, a series of twinkling chimes punctuate shots of hotel rooms, a traveler falling back on a bed, and shoes kicked off on the floor.

Mr. Kaplan said the spot was created before he was hired but that the sound design wasn't meant to fool the ear. "I've worked on a lot of spots that have used a lot of modern, atonal sounds," Mr. Kaplan said. "It is kind of cutting edge and compliments visuals really well."

Intentional or not, audio experts say fooling the ear into hearing a ringing phone isn't hard.

As long as it's a more traditional trill, a telephone ring is a simple tone that can be reproduced relatively easy, said Adam Jenkins, a sound effects mixer who has worked on movies like "Crash" and "Apollo 13."

"It's a 1,000 hertz tone that can be generated by just about anything," Mr. Jenkins said. And because most sounds are the result of two or more tones put together — human speech is multitonal, for example — simple tones really stand out.

Tones that are generated around 1,000 hertz have another special characteristic that helps them hoodwink those within range. It is tough to tell where they are coming from.

Because humans have ears on each side of their head, they are able to localize most sounds. The direction of high-frequency sounds is pinpointed based on their volume level in each ear, and low frequency sounds based on their arrival time in each ear.

But Guy Moore, an assistant professor of physics at McGill University in Montreal, said human ears do not do a good job finding the source of sounds around 1,000 hertz using either method, so that a noise in that range seems just as likely to be coming from the television to the right as a purse sitting to the left.

"That's also why it's so hard to tell where an ambulance siren is coming from in traffic," Mr. Moore said.

So, primed as busy people are to respond to a ring, the phone usually is the first response to the question, "Where is that coming from?"

Jonathan Wolff, a retired sound designer in Lexington, Ky., who created the theme songs for "Will & Grace" and "Seinfeld," said he has unintentionally created sound mixes that generate phantom phone rings. "But I take it out if I think its going to be annoying," he said.

While phantom rings may generate reactions from curiosity to irritation, at least explanations for the phenomenon exist. More mysterious are phantom phone vibrations, a cellphone side effect that many people said they also have experienced. It seems that having a phone set to vibrate can cause a particularly physical kind of false alarm.

Charles Maniaci, a special education teacher from Atlanta, said he used to feel phantom vibrations almost constantly. Then about a year ago he developed a lump on his thigh underneath the pocket where he kept his cellphone. "Nobody could tell me what it was," he said.

For a while, he moved his phone to a belt clip. But the vibrations eventually stopped, and he moved the phone back to his pocket. "I've thought that maybe the nerves got so irritated from the phone vibrating that this tissue grew around them," he said. "That's what the body does, it grows tissue around things to protect them. But it's exactly where I used to keep the phone."