http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2010-02-08-creditcards08_CV_N.htm
Emily Maddox, 24, of Knoxville, Tenn., is the kind of customer credit card companies covet. She has a good job as an Internet marketing coordinator, and she lives within her means. But she's never had a credit card, and she has no plans to apply for one.
Credit cards, she says, "make me really nervous, and I've never felt comfortable having one."
In a country where the average consumer owns five credit cards, Maddox may seem somewhat quaint, like an Amish farmer who drives a horse-drawn buggy. But proponents of a no-credit-card lifestyle say there's nothing old-fashioned about their choices. And they're convinced that their numbers will grow as consumers become increasingly disenchanted with credit card industry practices.
Louis Rosas-Guyon, 37, a business technology consultant in Miami, says his life has become less stressful since he stopped using credit cards 10 years ago. "My life has gotten substantially easier because I've offloaded 10 to 12 different credit cards that I no longer have to make a payment on."
A decade ago, consumers who didn't want to use credit cards had two choices: carry a lot of cash or write checks and hold up the supermarket line. Today, debit cards blend the discipline of cash with the convenience of plastic and are accepted by most merchants that accept credit cards. In recent years, their popularity has soared.
"There's quietly been a debit card revolution," says best-selling personal finance author Dave Ramsey, who urges fans of his radio and Fox Business TV show to cut up their credit cards. Now that debit cards are broadly accepted, he says, using a credit card "with all its fees and interest rates and traps with customer service is really stupid."
12.31
Tim McFarlin, a consumer bankruptcy attorney in Irvine, Calif., 34, stopped using credit cards eight years ago because he thought the industry's business practices were unfair to consumers. "Any time there's even a hint of a financial issue in the consumer's life, the credit card company will raise the interest rate to the high 20s, or 30%," he says. "They'll do anything they can to make life as difficult as possible."
Some consumer experts say consumers who have sworn off credit cards are misguided. Among the reasons:
If fraudulent charges show up on a credit card bill, the card holder can simply refuse to pay them. Federal law limits credit card holders' liability to $50 of fraudulent charges, and most card issuers have zero-liability policies for victims of identity theft.
Federal laws also limit liability for debit card theft, but resolving the problem is more complicated. Money used with a stolen debit card is immediately drawn from the holder's account, which means the consumer must fight to get the funds reimbursed. In the meantime, outstanding checks could bounce.
It's also more difficult to dispute a defective purchase that has been paid with a debit card. Credit card holders can refuse to pay for the item; debit card holders have to battle for a refund.
"We still live in a credit-dominated society, and even if a person chooses to live on a cash basis, most of us are going to need credit when it comes time to buy a house or a car," says Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. "This means having a thick credit file and a high credit score, which can only be accomplished by having some degree of credit and treating it responsibly."
2010年12月27日 星期一
12.27 -12.29
http://www.africaresource.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=506:tracing-human-diversity-through-the-ages&catid=117:science&Itemid=361
12.27
A coalition of Stanford scientists has released the most detailed road map yet of human diversity, offering insight into the emergence and restless migration of the world's populations...
A group of Russian people called the Yakuts, native to the cold, dry tundra of Siberia, share genetic similarities with people indigenous to South and Central America - such as the Mayans, the Pima and even the Surui of the Brazilian jungles. This supports theories about human migration from Siberia across the Bering Strait to the Americas
12.28
Chinese fall into northern and southern groups. People who live along the northern border near Mongolia are genetically distinct from the Han Chinese of the southern part of the nation
...
In the future, they hope to have access to samples from even more populations, adding to the map.
12.29 (Silk Road mummies provide clues to history)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-18-silkroadmummies18_ST_N.htm
The mummies from western China's arid Tarim Basin are so well-preserved that the viewer can see their intricate clothing and eyelashes, and also that they are distinctly non-Asian in appearance.
One mummy, affectionately dubbed the "Beauty of Xiaohe" by archaeologists, is so lifelike that she looks as if she's taking a nap. She has fair skin, round eyes, and a felt hat resembling an alpine head covering with a long feather stuck in the top
The mummies' Caucasian appearance suggests that Bronze Age nomads speaking Indo-European languages from perhaps Russia and Ukraine brought culture, physical features and genes to parts of western China and may have also been the first to domesticate the horse, says Spencer Wells, who has studied the Tarim mummies and is director of the National Geographic Society's The Genographic Project.
"I was shocked when I saw them. I thought, 'My goodness, they look like Europeans,' " says Victor Mair, a Chinese language and literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the mummies since 1993 and is a co-author of The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples From the West.
Some artifacts found with the mummies, including bronze and sheep bones, hint that Europeans brought technologies such as metallurgy and some domesticated animals to China, which may explain the European appearance of the mummies and suggest that trade between Europe and Asia existed nearly 4,000 years ago, Mair says.
Although the artifacts imply that trade between Europe and Asia existed during the Bronze Age, the Silk Road, a trade route between different parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, did not formally develop until about 138 B.C., during the Han Dynasty.
Western archaeologists have only discovered these mummies relatively recently. It's a very exciting thing."
12.27
A coalition of Stanford scientists has released the most detailed road map yet of human diversity, offering insight into the emergence and restless migration of the world's populations...
A group of Russian people called the Yakuts, native to the cold, dry tundra of Siberia, share genetic similarities with people indigenous to South and Central America - such as the Mayans, the Pima and even the Surui of the Brazilian jungles. This supports theories about human migration from Siberia across the Bering Strait to the Americas
12.28
Chinese fall into northern and southern groups. People who live along the northern border near Mongolia are genetically distinct from the Han Chinese of the southern part of the nation
...
In the future, they hope to have access to samples from even more populations, adding to the map.
12.29 (Silk Road mummies provide clues to history)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-03-18-silkroadmummies18_ST_N.htm
The mummies from western China's arid Tarim Basin are so well-preserved that the viewer can see their intricate clothing and eyelashes, and also that they are distinctly non-Asian in appearance.
One mummy, affectionately dubbed the "Beauty of Xiaohe" by archaeologists, is so lifelike that she looks as if she's taking a nap. She has fair skin, round eyes, and a felt hat resembling an alpine head covering with a long feather stuck in the top
The mummies' Caucasian appearance suggests that Bronze Age nomads speaking Indo-European languages from perhaps Russia and Ukraine brought culture, physical features and genes to parts of western China and may have also been the first to domesticate the horse, says Spencer Wells, who has studied the Tarim mummies and is director of the National Geographic Society's The Genographic Project.
"I was shocked when I saw them. I thought, 'My goodness, they look like Europeans,' " says Victor Mair, a Chinese language and literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the mummies since 1993 and is a co-author of The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples From the West.
Some artifacts found with the mummies, including bronze and sheep bones, hint that Europeans brought technologies such as metallurgy and some domesticated animals to China, which may explain the European appearance of the mummies and suggest that trade between Europe and Asia existed nearly 4,000 years ago, Mair says.
Although the artifacts imply that trade between Europe and Asia existed during the Bronze Age, the Silk Road, a trade route between different parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, did not formally develop until about 138 B.C., during the Han Dynasty.
Western archaeologists have only discovered these mummies relatively recently. It's a very exciting thing."
12.23-12.25 Christmas
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20081224/1agoodholiday24_cv.art.htm
In his classic short story, The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry tells of an impoverished young husband and wife who each sacrifice something precious to buy the other the perfect Christmas gift.
...
(X)
Only one in five say they expect it to be less happy. "We're a glass-half-full people," says Kathy Moakler of the National Military Family Association, which helps servicemembers and their relatives.
That optimism begets generosity. "We spend what we can spend, and it hasn't been a hardship in our house," says Suzanne Lemmons, a secretary at M&S Turquoise in St. George, Utah, who donated gifts for children of low-income families at the Paiute tribe's Christmas party.
"As long as we're helping others, we haven't wanted for anything."
Who are the magi?
They're the ones who've tried to make this blue Christmas bright, not in hopes of receiving, but through plans to give ?sometimes to their closest loved ones, sometimes to strangers, sometimes anonymously.
12.24
The magi are the ones who, foten because of their own trials, approach Christmas most thankfully and throughtfullly
Some magi give sacrificially.
Ray and Aileen Copeland, a recently retired couple from Naperville, Ill., say they donated the money for each others' gifts to a food pantry.
"It's nothing extraordinary," he insists. "We're fortunate we could spare it."
Some give empathetically.
Edwin Messikomer of Chadds Ford, Pa., a retired naval officer, says a Christmas memory led him to volunteer to stuff shoe boxes with goodies for international merchant seafarers at the Seamen's Center at the Port of Wilmington, Del.
"I spent one Christmas at sea," Messikomer says. "I know little things mean a lot."
Some give on orders.
Tom Bosch, a hotel manager in Sioux Falls, S.D., says an idea came to him in a dream: Open the place to homeless families on Christmas Eve. So this year the Holiday Inn City Centre will give 200 rooms and a free breakfast to the needy.
Bosch says his Christian faith compels such generosity: "If we can make their Christmas brighter and more cheery, well, that's what it's all about."
In December 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt went to the South Lawn of the White House to light the national Christmas tree. He brought a special guest: Winston Churchill.
"Here, amidst all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home, and in each generous heart," the British prime minister told the crowd. What we have, he said, is "happiness in a world of storm."
12.25
But those who study the history of the holiday are struck by its durability.
Through war and peace, feast and famine, "people have kept doing what they were doing at Christmas," says Karal Ann Marling, a University of Minnesota art historian who wrote Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday.
"In hard times, people try harder," she says. "Nothing has really put a dent in Christmas."
Not the Great Depression nor World War II, when some Americans gave necessities ?razor blades, tires, cigarettes ?as gifts.
Not the Civil War, during which Christmas traditions ?the tree, the stockings, the visit from Santa ?spread nationally. "The idea was to keep the home fires burning," Marling says.
"Christmas has survived all sorts of things," says University of Massachusetts historian Stephen Nissenbaum, author of The Battle for Christmas. "People reinvent it all the time."
In The Gift of the Magi, Della secretly sells her long, beautiful brown hair to buy a platinum chain for Jim's prized gold watch. He, meanwhile, has secretly sold the watch to buy combs ?"tortoise shell, with jeweled rims" ?for Della's hair.
When they discover their folly, they see in their mutual sacrifice a love that both epitomizes and transcends Christmas.
This season finds many couples in the same spot as the pair created by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910). They include Brandon and Morgan Faulkner of Indianapolis; Tony Glasier and Kathryn Logan Glasier of Visalia, Calif.; and Kate and Tim Frye of Chandler, Ariz.
The couples have suffered economic setbacks. They have agreed to spend little or nothing on each other for Christmas. And they have schemed, individually and secretly, to break that vow.
The fruits of such plotting cannot be revealed until Dec. 25. But the impulse to give a little more ?maybe too much ?is more traditional than mistletoe.
As Della tells Jim in Magi, "I couldn't have lived through Christmas without getting you a present."
Sometimes, keeping Christmas in hard times means having the wisdom to change it.
In his classic short story, The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry tells of an impoverished young husband and wife who each sacrifice something precious to buy the other the perfect Christmas gift.
...
(X)
Only one in five say they expect it to be less happy. "We're a glass-half-full people," says Kathy Moakler of the National Military Family Association, which helps servicemembers and their relatives.
That optimism begets generosity. "We spend what we can spend, and it hasn't been a hardship in our house," says Suzanne Lemmons, a secretary at M&S Turquoise in St. George, Utah, who donated gifts for children of low-income families at the Paiute tribe's Christmas party.
"As long as we're helping others, we haven't wanted for anything."
Who are the magi?
They're the ones who've tried to make this blue Christmas bright, not in hopes of receiving, but through plans to give ?sometimes to their closest loved ones, sometimes to strangers, sometimes anonymously.
12.24
The magi are the ones who, foten because of their own trials, approach Christmas most thankfully and throughtfullly
Some magi give sacrificially.
Ray and Aileen Copeland, a recently retired couple from Naperville, Ill., say they donated the money for each others' gifts to a food pantry.
"It's nothing extraordinary," he insists. "We're fortunate we could spare it."
Some give empathetically.
Edwin Messikomer of Chadds Ford, Pa., a retired naval officer, says a Christmas memory led him to volunteer to stuff shoe boxes with goodies for international merchant seafarers at the Seamen's Center at the Port of Wilmington, Del.
"I spent one Christmas at sea," Messikomer says. "I know little things mean a lot."
Some give on orders.
Tom Bosch, a hotel manager in Sioux Falls, S.D., says an idea came to him in a dream: Open the place to homeless families on Christmas Eve. So this year the Holiday Inn City Centre will give 200 rooms and a free breakfast to the needy.
Bosch says his Christian faith compels such generosity: "If we can make their Christmas brighter and more cheery, well, that's what it's all about."
In December 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt went to the South Lawn of the White House to light the national Christmas tree. He brought a special guest: Winston Churchill.
"Here, amidst all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home, and in each generous heart," the British prime minister told the crowd. What we have, he said, is "happiness in a world of storm."
12.25
But those who study the history of the holiday are struck by its durability.
Through war and peace, feast and famine, "people have kept doing what they were doing at Christmas," says Karal Ann Marling, a University of Minnesota art historian who wrote Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday.
"In hard times, people try harder," she says. "Nothing has really put a dent in Christmas."
Not the Great Depression nor World War II, when some Americans gave necessities ?razor blades, tires, cigarettes ?as gifts.
Not the Civil War, during which Christmas traditions ?the tree, the stockings, the visit from Santa ?spread nationally. "The idea was to keep the home fires burning," Marling says.
"Christmas has survived all sorts of things," says University of Massachusetts historian Stephen Nissenbaum, author of The Battle for Christmas. "People reinvent it all the time."
In The Gift of the Magi, Della secretly sells her long, beautiful brown hair to buy a platinum chain for Jim's prized gold watch. He, meanwhile, has secretly sold the watch to buy combs ?"tortoise shell, with jeweled rims" ?for Della's hair.
When they discover their folly, they see in their mutual sacrifice a love that both epitomizes and transcends Christmas.
This season finds many couples in the same spot as the pair created by O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910). They include Brandon and Morgan Faulkner of Indianapolis; Tony Glasier and Kathryn Logan Glasier of Visalia, Calif.; and Kate and Tim Frye of Chandler, Ariz.
The couples have suffered economic setbacks. They have agreed to spend little or nothing on each other for Christmas. And they have schemed, individually and secretly, to break that vow.
The fruits of such plotting cannot be revealed until Dec. 25. But the impulse to give a little more ?maybe too much ?is more traditional than mistletoe.
As Della tells Jim in Magi, "I couldn't have lived through Christmas without getting you a present."
Sometimes, keeping Christmas in hard times means having the wisdom to change it.
12.20-12.22
12.20
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/22/business/la-fi-facebook-20100722
Facebook Inc. on Wednesday issued its own eye-popping status update: The world's most popular social networking site had surpassed 500 million users.
And now, the Internet phenomenon that has transformed how the world communicates is eyeing another distinction — connecting one out of every seven human beings on the planet.
Six years after getting its start in a Harvard dorm room, Facebook said it was aiming to have 1 billion members, matching the reach of Internet search giant Google Inc.
If it can keep up its current breakneck pace, a feat that would defy predictions from analysts, Facebook could reach that goal by next year.
"We all love to dream big around here," said Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who handles marketing. "We are going to take a day or so to celebrate 500 million users before we start thinking about going beyond that."
The site's runaway growth is nearly without precedent. Last summer, Facebook had 250 million users. It has amassed 100 million new members since February alone. Now if Facebook were a country, it would be the world's third largest.
All of which has lent credibility to Mark Zuckerberg's confident assertion that his company could almost "guarantee" growing to 1 billion active users despite a recent spate of privacy concerns and increasing competition from Google and others. Facebook defines active users as people who have logged onto the site within the last 30 days.
Two years ago, Facebook was available only in English, making overseas expansion more of a challenge except in English-speaking countries such as Britain and Australia.
Under Javier Olivan, who joined Facebook as head of international growth three years ago when the site had 30 million users, Facebook has encouraged its users to translate the site into more than 70 languages. Now Facebook is pulling even or overtaking social networking services in country after country, gaining traction in Europe, Latin America and beyond. Some 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.
12.21
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-09-23/news/0909230201_1_social-networking-motoblur-home-computer
The outlook for the wireless industry is getting cloudier.
...
"When you have a laptop or a netbook, those are true computers and have great processing power and data storage," said Mark Beccue, a senior analyst at ABI Research. "But anything from a smart phone down does not. Mobile cloud computing says: 'What if you can enable these devices to access applications and data in the cloud?'
最後接
Analysts say faster networks will dovetail with proliferation of smarter devices. "This is going to be much more accesuble to a lot of us on affordable phones,; Beccue said.
12.22
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/business/la-fi-ct-digital-comics-20100723
Technology, which has already upended the music, television and movie businesses, is now gripping the comic book world. ...
Enthusiasts dismiss such fears as nonsense. Digital distribution is not only bringing a desperately needed infusion of young comic readers but also giving birth to a renaissance of innovation in a medium that some say badly needs updating
Motion comics account for only a fraction of the digital comic market and are expensive to produce. Though early versions have been given a thumbs-down by many critics, growth of the motion comics sector is continuing to grow.
Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics and a well-regarded artist and writer, says the move to digital is altering the creative process.
As readers become more familiar with reading digital comics, it will affect the way we think about producing the comics," Lee said. "We start to think about constructing our pages differently. Some publishers have asked artists to create layouts specifically for the iPad, for instance. We also think about the length of our stories because people with smart phones have shorter bits of time to consume media.... I see a lot of experimentation with the art form."
"Every time we undergo a change in technology, people say we're losing something," said Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor in chief. "I see it as gaining something.... Comic creators will learn how to tell their stories in new ways."
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/22/business/la-fi-facebook-20100722
Facebook Inc. on Wednesday issued its own eye-popping status update: The world's most popular social networking site had surpassed 500 million users.
And now, the Internet phenomenon that has transformed how the world communicates is eyeing another distinction — connecting one out of every seven human beings on the planet.
Six years after getting its start in a Harvard dorm room, Facebook said it was aiming to have 1 billion members, matching the reach of Internet search giant Google Inc.
If it can keep up its current breakneck pace, a feat that would defy predictions from analysts, Facebook could reach that goal by next year.
"We all love to dream big around here," said Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who handles marketing. "We are going to take a day or so to celebrate 500 million users before we start thinking about going beyond that."
The site's runaway growth is nearly without precedent. Last summer, Facebook had 250 million users. It has amassed 100 million new members since February alone. Now if Facebook were a country, it would be the world's third largest.
All of which has lent credibility to Mark Zuckerberg's confident assertion that his company could almost "guarantee" growing to 1 billion active users despite a recent spate of privacy concerns and increasing competition from Google and others. Facebook defines active users as people who have logged onto the site within the last 30 days.
Two years ago, Facebook was available only in English, making overseas expansion more of a challenge except in English-speaking countries such as Britain and Australia.
Under Javier Olivan, who joined Facebook as head of international growth three years ago when the site had 30 million users, Facebook has encouraged its users to translate the site into more than 70 languages. Now Facebook is pulling even or overtaking social networking services in country after country, gaining traction in Europe, Latin America and beyond. Some 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.
12.21
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-09-23/news/0909230201_1_social-networking-motoblur-home-computer
The outlook for the wireless industry is getting cloudier.
...
"When you have a laptop or a netbook, those are true computers and have great processing power and data storage," said Mark Beccue, a senior analyst at ABI Research. "But anything from a smart phone down does not. Mobile cloud computing says: 'What if you can enable these devices to access applications and data in the cloud?'
最後接
Analysts say faster networks will dovetail with proliferation of smarter devices. "This is going to be much more accesuble to a lot of us on affordable phones,; Beccue said.
12.22
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/business/la-fi-ct-digital-comics-20100723
Technology, which has already upended the music, television and movie businesses, is now gripping the comic book world. ...
Enthusiasts dismiss such fears as nonsense. Digital distribution is not only bringing a desperately needed infusion of young comic readers but also giving birth to a renaissance of innovation in a medium that some say badly needs updating
Motion comics account for only a fraction of the digital comic market and are expensive to produce. Though early versions have been given a thumbs-down by many critics, growth of the motion comics sector is continuing to grow.
Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics and a well-regarded artist and writer, says the move to digital is altering the creative process.
As readers become more familiar with reading digital comics, it will affect the way we think about producing the comics," Lee said. "We start to think about constructing our pages differently. Some publishers have asked artists to create layouts specifically for the iPad, for instance. We also think about the length of our stories because people with smart phones have shorter bits of time to consume media.... I see a lot of experimentation with the art form."
"Every time we undergo a change in technology, people say we're losing something," said Joe Quesada, Marvel's editor in chief. "I see it as gaining something.... Comic creators will learn how to tell their stories in new ways."
12.17-12.18
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/25/1581501/mystery-of-familys-art-unraveled.html
A cache of art stolen at the end of World War II is finally back ...
(X)
"It was kind of a family secret," says McFadden, 45, a legal assistant. "We weren't supposed to talk about it."
...
(X)
And after they died, the artwork went to McFadden's sister in West Windsor, N.J., who kept them in her basement. In November, when the sister was moving, the paintings came to McFadden.
(X)
She didn't know whether they were important. A family friend, Barry Pedersen, and his partner in their Mooresville architectural millwork company, Gary Dunne, both of Davidson, offered to help find out.
....
On March 22, 1945, U.S. troops occupied Pirmasens and on Sept. 19 the museum announced that "about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh School during the war have been lost during the arrival of the American troops."
12.18
For 60 years, the paintings were missing. Then on Oct. 25, 2005, an auction company in Pennsylvania advertised three of them.
...
They were told by the woman who was trying to sell them that they were given to her by Gursky's wife, Florence, years ago. That case is still under investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office says.
On McFadden's behalf, Dunne sent an e-mail to Pirmasens' mayor, Bernard Matheis, a few days before Christmas asking whether the city would like the paintings back. At a ceremony at the Goethe-Institut in Manhattan with federal authorities and German Consul General Horst Freitag, the paintings were formally returned.
"It is thanks to your integrity, foresight, your firm belief in justice and your joint effort with ICE that these paintings could be traced and now returned," Freitag told McFadden.
As the Nazis moved across Europe in World War II, they systematically looted an estimated 20 percent of the continent's artwork. German dictator Adolf Hitler chose the best for himself and other high-ranking officials amassed collections as well - Hermann Göring took 594 pieces for himself in Paris alone.
But art thefts by U.S. servicemen were all but unknown. Charles Mo, director of fine arts for the Mint Museum, says he's never heard of a single case, while the plunder of the Nazis was well documented.
Experts estimate the recovered Buerkel paintings are worth $50,000 each. Others in the cache are valued at $4,000 to $10,000.
McFadden says she never had any interest in making money off the works.
"They didn't belong to me and were of sentimental value to someone else. I wouldn't want anyone else to take my stuff."
A cache of art stolen at the end of World War II is finally back ...
(X)
"It was kind of a family secret," says McFadden, 45, a legal assistant. "We weren't supposed to talk about it."
...
(X)
And after they died, the artwork went to McFadden's sister in West Windsor, N.J., who kept them in her basement. In November, when the sister was moving, the paintings came to McFadden.
(X)
She didn't know whether they were important. A family friend, Barry Pedersen, and his partner in their Mooresville architectural millwork company, Gary Dunne, both of Davidson, offered to help find out.
....
On March 22, 1945, U.S. troops occupied Pirmasens and on Sept. 19 the museum announced that "about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh School during the war have been lost during the arrival of the American troops."
12.18
For 60 years, the paintings were missing. Then on Oct. 25, 2005, an auction company in Pennsylvania advertised three of them.
...
They were told by the woman who was trying to sell them that they were given to her by Gursky's wife, Florence, years ago. That case is still under investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office says.
On McFadden's behalf, Dunne sent an e-mail to Pirmasens' mayor, Bernard Matheis, a few days before Christmas asking whether the city would like the paintings back. At a ceremony at the Goethe-Institut in Manhattan with federal authorities and German Consul General Horst Freitag, the paintings were formally returned.
"It is thanks to your integrity, foresight, your firm belief in justice and your joint effort with ICE that these paintings could be traced and now returned," Freitag told McFadden.
As the Nazis moved across Europe in World War II, they systematically looted an estimated 20 percent of the continent's artwork. German dictator Adolf Hitler chose the best for himself and other high-ranking officials amassed collections as well - Hermann Göring took 594 pieces for himself in Paris alone.
But art thefts by U.S. servicemen were all but unknown. Charles Mo, director of fine arts for the Mint Museum, says he's never heard of a single case, while the plunder of the Nazis was well documented.
Experts estimate the recovered Buerkel paintings are worth $50,000 each. Others in the cache are valued at $4,000 to $10,000.
McFadden says she never had any interest in making money off the works.
"They didn't belong to me and were of sentimental value to someone else. I wouldn't want anyone else to take my stuff."
12.15-12.16
http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-01-14/features/dp-life_homefitness_0114jan14_1_exercise-equipment-exercise-program-sweat-home
12.15
A few years ago, in January, Barb Lito and her husband decided to bite the bullet and buy some home exercise equipment.
"We both had gym memberships, but with demanding jobs and family commitments, we were not making that time to get to the gym," said Lito, who works as superintendent of recreation programs for Newport News Parks and Recreation.
(X)
Their daughter, who was 10 at the time, was too old for the nursery but too young to turn loose at the gym.
(X)
That doesn't mean that it's necessary to spend thousands of dollars to get a good workout at home. Local experts and enthusiasts we interviewed, including Lito, told us what to look for in home exercise equipment in all price ranges.
(X)
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up, beginning with what you tie on your feet.
Running Shoes ...
(X)
Hand weights
(X)
"With free weights or a stability ball, there are a lot of things you can do without spending a lot of money," said Andre Moore, senior director of wellness and membership at the Newport News YMCA.
(X)
"With dumbbells, you have a choice of neoprene-covered or just iron," he said. "It's just personal preference and comfort." He said the price shouldn't be more than a couple of dollars per pound. "If someplace is asking you to pay $5 or more a pound, go somewhere else."
(X)
For those choosing how much weight to use, Moore suggested using this test: Do two or three sets of 12 to 15 lifts, such as a curl. "If you are straining on the last couple of reps, that's probably a good weight for you."
(X)
Typically, people just starting out use hand weights of 3-5 pounds.
12.16
Exercise balls...
DVDs ...
Exercise Machine...
(這邊 網頁的文章有部分被修改 這裡就不仔細列出了)
12.15
A few years ago, in January, Barb Lito and her husband decided to bite the bullet and buy some home exercise equipment.
"We both had gym memberships, but with demanding jobs and family commitments, we were not making that time to get to the gym," said Lito, who works as superintendent of recreation programs for Newport News Parks and Recreation.
(X)
Their daughter, who was 10 at the time, was too old for the nursery but too young to turn loose at the gym.
(X)
That doesn't mean that it's necessary to spend thousands of dollars to get a good workout at home. Local experts and enthusiasts we interviewed, including Lito, told us what to look for in home exercise equipment in all price ranges.
(X)
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up, beginning with what you tie on your feet.
Running Shoes ...
(X)
Hand weights
(X)
"With free weights or a stability ball, there are a lot of things you can do without spending a lot of money," said Andre Moore, senior director of wellness and membership at the Newport News YMCA.
(X)
"With dumbbells, you have a choice of neoprene-covered or just iron," he said. "It's just personal preference and comfort." He said the price shouldn't be more than a couple of dollars per pound. "If someplace is asking you to pay $5 or more a pound, go somewhere else."
(X)
For those choosing how much weight to use, Moore suggested using this test: Do two or three sets of 12 to 15 lifts, such as a curl. "If you are straining on the last couple of reps, that's probably a good weight for you."
(X)
Typically, people just starting out use hand weights of 3-5 pounds.
12.16
Exercise balls...
DVDs ...
Exercise Machine...
(這邊 網頁的文章有部分被修改 這裡就不仔細列出了)
12.13-12.14
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-11-01/news/0910300086_1_ipod-touch-wi-fi-iphone
12.13
Some people consider devices like iPhones and laptops to be a roadblock to an enjoyable vacation ...
While Google's walking directions came in handy many times, they weren't always correct (they are still in beta), so it's smart to keep an old fashioned paper map as well. When you get back, cancel the international data plan immediately and make sure that AT&T didn't mistakenly charge you for data roaming like it did in our case. You'll also want to carry an iPhone charger with you, or spare battery for when you run out of juice.
按下一頁
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-11-01/news/0910300086_1_ipod-touch-wi-fi-iphone/2
Wi-Fi is plentiful in Europe, so it's wise to carry a portable Wi-Fi enabled device with you such as an iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry or netbook so you can look up information, get directions, check your e-mail and even make low-cost international phone calls. ...
In some cases, we skipped the museum guides and downloaded free high-quality podcast audio tours from well-known travel author and TV host Rick Steves. The free audio tours can be downloaded from ricksteves.com or iTunes, and they feature pictures for each stop on the tour so you can make sure you are in the right place.
12.13
Some people consider devices like iPhones and laptops to be a roadblock to an enjoyable vacation ...
While Google's walking directions came in handy many times, they weren't always correct (they are still in beta), so it's smart to keep an old fashioned paper map as well. When you get back, cancel the international data plan immediately and make sure that AT&T didn't mistakenly charge you for data roaming like it did in our case. You'll also want to carry an iPhone charger with you, or spare battery for when you run out of juice.
按下一頁
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-11-01/news/0910300086_1_ipod-touch-wi-fi-iphone/2
Wi-Fi is plentiful in Europe, so it's wise to carry a portable Wi-Fi enabled device with you such as an iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry or netbook so you can look up information, get directions, check your e-mail and even make low-cost international phone calls. ...
In some cases, we skipped the museum guides and downloaded free high-quality podcast audio tours from well-known travel author and TV host Rick Steves. The free audio tours can be downloaded from ricksteves.com or iTunes, and they feature pictures for each stop on the tour so you can make sure you are in the right place.
12.09-12.11
http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/article_03705fe0-b786-5ccc-9cb2-87fab21da4d0.html
12.09
-- A Lego brick is a Lego brick is a Lego brick.
Except when it's a Lego Star
...
(X) Lego controls the construction-toy rights to licensed properties such as "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones" and "Toy Story" whereas its rivals operate in the less overtly edifying sphere of games, dolls, action figures and vehicles.
...
Considering their stellar results so far this year were achieved in a lousy economy and up against difficult growth comparisons from a year ago, I'd say the future should be even better," said Sean McGowan, an analyst at Needham & Co., in reply to e-mailed questions.
(X) But the future wasn't always so bright.
There was a period around the millennium when, after more than 50 years of unbroken sales growth, this iconic, mild-mannered, privately-held Danish toy firm had lost its way.
It may have succeeded in putting, on average, five plastic bricks into the homes of each and every one of us on the planet, but it was also trying to be all things to all comers by moving away from products that exemplified the creative, open-ended imaginative play on which it cut its teeth.
In 1998 the firm posted its first-ever loss. Profitable licensing agreements with Hollywood buoyed the business for a few years, but when another loss in 2004 signaled a more sustained slump, it was time to start rearranging the bricks.
12.10
Enter Knudstorp, a former kindergarten teacher and McKinsey consultant tasked with halting a sales decline, reducing debt and focusing on cash flow -- all classic turnaround stuff.
...
"The 'retro' aspect is definitely powerful," said Needham's McGowan. "What dad with a 10-year-old son doesn't have fond memories of Lego?"
12.11
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Lego claims that their classic product lines such as Lego City featuring diminutive scenes of fireman, police and hospital workers -- and more recently Lego Power Miners -- give children an insight into how the adult world is organized.
...
As for growth, Knudstorp has a stackable line on that too. At the moment, Europe remains its top market, with Germany alone accounting for 20 percent of sales on the Continent, but Lego has its sights set on the U.S. where it wants to gain on rivals like Hasbro and Mattel, and so move beyond its current 3.5 percent share of the U.S. toy market.
(X)
"We want to make North America our second core business. We are growing strongly there, we want to continue doing that despite the economics in North America right now," said Knudstorp.
"In the U.S. you now have a minister of education and indeed a president who recognize that children need 21st century skills, that they need to become creative problem solvers. We can help with that, which is a completely new way of doing business for the well-established Lego brand."
12.09
-- A Lego brick is a Lego brick is a Lego brick.
Except when it's a Lego Star
...
(X) Lego controls the construction-toy rights to licensed properties such as "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones" and "Toy Story" whereas its rivals operate in the less overtly edifying sphere of games, dolls, action figures and vehicles.
...
Considering their stellar results so far this year were achieved in a lousy economy and up against difficult growth comparisons from a year ago, I'd say the future should be even better," said Sean McGowan, an analyst at Needham & Co., in reply to e-mailed questions.
(X) But the future wasn't always so bright.
There was a period around the millennium when, after more than 50 years of unbroken sales growth, this iconic, mild-mannered, privately-held Danish toy firm had lost its way.
It may have succeeded in putting, on average, five plastic bricks into the homes of each and every one of us on the planet, but it was also trying to be all things to all comers by moving away from products that exemplified the creative, open-ended imaginative play on which it cut its teeth.
In 1998 the firm posted its first-ever loss. Profitable licensing agreements with Hollywood buoyed the business for a few years, but when another loss in 2004 signaled a more sustained slump, it was time to start rearranging the bricks.
12.10
Enter Knudstorp, a former kindergarten teacher and McKinsey consultant tasked with halting a sales decline, reducing debt and focusing on cash flow -- all classic turnaround stuff.
...
"The 'retro' aspect is definitely powerful," said Needham's McGowan. "What dad with a 10-year-old son doesn't have fond memories of Lego?"
12.11
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Lego claims that their classic product lines such as Lego City featuring diminutive scenes of fireman, police and hospital workers -- and more recently Lego Power Miners -- give children an insight into how the adult world is organized.
...
As for growth, Knudstorp has a stackable line on that too. At the moment, Europe remains its top market, with Germany alone accounting for 20 percent of sales on the Continent, but Lego has its sights set on the U.S. where it wants to gain on rivals like Hasbro and Mattel, and so move beyond its current 3.5 percent share of the U.S. toy market.
(X)
"We want to make North America our second core business. We are growing strongly there, we want to continue doing that despite the economics in North America right now," said Knudstorp.
"In the U.S. you now have a minister of education and indeed a president who recognize that children need 21st century skills, that they need to become creative problem solvers. We can help with that, which is a completely new way of doing business for the well-established Lego brand."
12.06-12.8
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/145/look-whos-curing-cancer.html
12.06
For the past four years, Lauren Moran has devoted herself to groundbreaking cancer research, chronicling the fickle interaction between molecules and proteins. Despite having a full...
Moran's laptop displays a screen saver of her latest WCG assignment, but the science, she admits, is "way over my head. I just know when I'm not using my computer, it's crunching numbers that could lead to a cure."
12.07
Most of us use our computers about as efficiently as we use our brains: We scratch the surface, never tapping the full potential. WCG exploits this unused computing power by borrowing ...
WCG, which hosted one project its first year, now runs a half dozen or more simultaneously. The latest: In hopes of discovering new organic electronic materials that could lead to cheaper solar cells, Aspuru-Guzik is screening about 2 million chemical compounds for photovoltaic properties. That's roughly 20,000 times more compounds than he could analyze on a single computer. And the project will take only a couple of years, instead of two decades.
12.08
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/145/look-whos-curing-cancer.html?page=0%2C1
The IBM team is acutely aware that its public grid is only as effective as the public allows it to be....
Worldwide, there are several dozen large public grids, says Berstis.Their membership tends to top out in the tens of thousands, while WCG continues to grow by several thousand members a week. Although IBM promotes the effort on Facebook, at conferences, and internally, the volunteers themselves are the best recruiters. Some 400 companies and schools that have signed on as partners receive marketing tools to spread the word. Today, people on some 24,000 teams -- from Slashdot Users (3,953 members) and Facebook (382) to Team Boulder (413), run by teenage brothers Grant and Max Buster in Colorado -- blog and post Web videos about the grid.
12.06
For the past four years, Lauren Moran has devoted herself to groundbreaking cancer research, chronicling the fickle interaction between molecules and proteins. Despite having a full...
Moran's laptop displays a screen saver of her latest WCG assignment, but the science, she admits, is "way over my head. I just know when I'm not using my computer, it's crunching numbers that could lead to a cure."
12.07
Most of us use our computers about as efficiently as we use our brains: We scratch the surface, never tapping the full potential. WCG exploits this unused computing power by borrowing ...
WCG, which hosted one project its first year, now runs a half dozen or more simultaneously. The latest: In hopes of discovering new organic electronic materials that could lead to cheaper solar cells, Aspuru-Guzik is screening about 2 million chemical compounds for photovoltaic properties. That's roughly 20,000 times more compounds than he could analyze on a single computer. And the project will take only a couple of years, instead of two decades.
12.08
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/145/look-whos-curing-cancer.html?page=0%2C1
The IBM team is acutely aware that its public grid is only as effective as the public allows it to be....
Worldwide, there are several dozen large public grids, says Berstis.Their membership tends to top out in the tens of thousands, while WCG continues to grow by several thousand members a week. Although IBM promotes the effort on Facebook, at conferences, and internally, the volunteers themselves are the best recruiters. Some 400 companies and schools that have signed on as partners receive marketing tools to spread the word. Today, people on some 24,000 teams -- from Slashdot Users (3,953 members) and Facebook (382) to Team Boulder (413), run by teenage brothers Grant and Max Buster in Colorado -- blog and post Web videos about the grid.
2010年12月26日 星期日
12.03 -12.04
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/12/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712
12.03
For Ma Silang, the long descent into forgetfulness began after he graduated from high school, went off to London ...
(X)"People don't write anything by hand anymore except for name and address," admitted Ma.
...
Almost any Chinese person you meet will confess to a lapse of memory, almost like a senior moment. The hand clutching the pen or pencil is poised above a sheet of paper about to write a character learned in childhood and memorized in countless repetitions when — suddenly — an embarrassing pause.
12.04
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/12/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712/2
(點選下一頁 就會到上述網址)
In China, the situation rises to the level of a cultural crisis since the characters, more than any other facet of life, epitomize thousands of years of tradition.
Writing, moreover, is not merely about communication — in Chinese culture, it is an art form and spiritual ...
"These characters are in the soul of every Chinese person," said Wang Jianxue, a 38-year-old calligraphy teacher from Harbin who was lovingly leafing through the stacks at a bookstore in Liulichang, a street of quiet shops that sell brushes, ink stones, rubbings, scrolls and curios. "The nation has to maintain its personality through its characters. They are our cultural heritage. The computer is just a tool."
Many young Chinese are sufficiently concerned that they have taken it upon themselves to study calligraphy.
"It will take a lot of effort to preserve our Chinese characters. It is the same way they try to preserve these old hutongs," said Zhu Linfei, 24, a Beijing graduate student, referring to the traditional Beijing alleys, now rapidly succumbing to the wrecking ball.
Zhu, who was touring the old bookstores of Liulichang with her classmates to buy calligraphy books, estimated that she had already forgotten about 20% of the characters she knew in high school.
"But it's not such a big problem," she said. "If I don't know a character, I take out my cellphone to check."
12.03
For Ma Silang, the long descent into forgetfulness began after he graduated from high school, went off to London ...
(X)"People don't write anything by hand anymore except for name and address," admitted Ma.
...
Almost any Chinese person you meet will confess to a lapse of memory, almost like a senior moment. The hand clutching the pen or pencil is poised above a sheet of paper about to write a character learned in childhood and memorized in countless repetitions when — suddenly — an embarrassing pause.
12.04
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/12/world/la-fg-china-characters-20100712/2
(點選下一頁 就會到上述網址)
In China, the situation rises to the level of a cultural crisis since the characters, more than any other facet of life, epitomize thousands of years of tradition.
Writing, moreover, is not merely about communication — in Chinese culture, it is an art form and spiritual ...
"These characters are in the soul of every Chinese person," said Wang Jianxue, a 38-year-old calligraphy teacher from Harbin who was lovingly leafing through the stacks at a bookstore in Liulichang, a street of quiet shops that sell brushes, ink stones, rubbings, scrolls and curios. "The nation has to maintain its personality through its characters. They are our cultural heritage. The computer is just a tool."
Many young Chinese are sufficiently concerned that they have taken it upon themselves to study calligraphy.
"It will take a lot of effort to preserve our Chinese characters. It is the same way they try to preserve these old hutongs," said Zhu Linfei, 24, a Beijing graduate student, referring to the traditional Beijing alleys, now rapidly succumbing to the wrecking ball.
Zhu, who was touring the old bookstores of Liulichang with her classmates to buy calligraphy books, estimated that she had already forgotten about 20% of the characters she knew in high school.
"But it's not such a big problem," she said. "If I don't know a character, I take out my cellphone to check."
12.01- 12.02
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2010-06-21-justinbieber17_CV_N.htm
12.01
It's not much past 6 a.m., and Justin Bieber looks like any 16-year-old should at such an hour ...
(X)
If you had landed here from another planet, it would be easy to think that Bieber is some sort of local deity. But often it's Bieber who feels like the alien, teleported from the galaxy Obscurity — aka Stratford, Ontario— directly into the maw of the American music machine.
(X)
"It's crazy," Bieber says during a rare respite as he prepares for his aptly named My World tour, a six-month headlining run whose sold-out first leg kicks off Wednesday at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. "Sometimes, I can't believe I'm doing this. I wake up and I think, where am I?"
(X)
Relaxing in a Midtown hotel, playing video games on his iPad the day before his Today appearance, Bieber looks every bit the average teen — admittedly, one who has been blessed with no acne, a pixie-like grin and a mop of sandy hair that covers all but his face.
(X)
But it's what happens when Bieber opens the mouth that has stripped him of a normal childhood. The cute kid can sing.
"He's a one-man Beatles," says Matthew Rettenmund, editor of Popstar! magazine, who bowed to reader requests and put Bieber on the cover in January. Now he plans to include him in every cover's collage of faces this year. "Justin is the heir to that throne occupied by Shaun Cassidy and countless others, but he's also the first real example of someone discovered by the Web."
...
"It wasn't overnight, I put in a lot of time on the road going to radio stations at 6 a.m. and singing, all in the middle of my growth spurt." The 5-foot-6 singer laughs. "Thanks to the music industry, I'm going to be really short."
最後接
Of his hair, he shrugs and says: "I just kind of liked it, and now people are copying it. I used to have a buzz cut as a kid."
12.02
In 2007, when he was 12, Bieber entered a local singing competition and placed second doing Ne-Yo's So Sick. Mallette thought it would be fun to post a video of that performance on YouTube. Millions tuned in. More videos followed.
Usher is convinced Bieber can make the leap into adulthood without losing popularity, much as he and Timberlake have done.
"Justin (Bieber) is a talented child and one I felt I could nurture," Usher says. "He has a passion more than anything. I remember having that as a kid, and I see it in his eyes. ..
"I like that he stands up for himself, but also is very open to direction."
Bieber also is human. And the grind required to forge a career often gets to him. When he recently complained that he missed just being a normal kid, "I told him you have to be dedicated," Usher says. "It's about sacrifice, so be sure it's what you want." (In the end, Usher relented and flew in a gaggle of Bieber's buddies for a weekend of goofing off.)
Team Bieber consists of roughly a dozen people, including Usher, Smith and Mallette (Bieber's father, Jeremy, is remarried and has two young children). But none are around when Bieber sits down to chat while he digs into a plate of Boston Market chicken. Leaving a teen star alone with a reporter is far from typical public-relations protocol, and it speaks to the team's confidence in the star's grounded nature.
Grew up in the church
This decidedly un-MTV Cribsattitude likely has roots in his pious upbringing. Bieber says he and his mother have always attended church and "are really involved with God. He's always been like, I don't know, he's held our family together. We grew up with not a lot of money, my mom and I. She was young when she had me. We struggled, but we never blamed him."
A bit later, Bieber's mother hustles over to the Today stage in anticipation of her son's performance. A petite woman with an easy smile and a copy of the Billy Graham book Angels in her hand, Mallette shrugs to deflect a question about how she is coping with her son's sudden and outsized popularity.
"Sometimes it's crazy, sure," she says. "But we just try to take things one day at a time."
12.01
It's not much past 6 a.m., and Justin Bieber looks like any 16-year-old should at such an hour ...
(X)
If you had landed here from another planet, it would be easy to think that Bieber is some sort of local deity. But often it's Bieber who feels like the alien, teleported from the galaxy Obscurity — aka Stratford, Ontario— directly into the maw of the American music machine.
(X)
"It's crazy," Bieber says during a rare respite as he prepares for his aptly named My World tour, a six-month headlining run whose sold-out first leg kicks off Wednesday at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. "Sometimes, I can't believe I'm doing this. I wake up and I think, where am I?"
(X)
Relaxing in a Midtown hotel, playing video games on his iPad the day before his Today appearance, Bieber looks every bit the average teen — admittedly, one who has been blessed with no acne, a pixie-like grin and a mop of sandy hair that covers all but his face.
(X)
But it's what happens when Bieber opens the mouth that has stripped him of a normal childhood. The cute kid can sing.
"He's a one-man Beatles," says Matthew Rettenmund, editor of Popstar! magazine, who bowed to reader requests and put Bieber on the cover in January. Now he plans to include him in every cover's collage of faces this year. "Justin is the heir to that throne occupied by Shaun Cassidy and countless others, but he's also the first real example of someone discovered by the Web."
...
"It wasn't overnight, I put in a lot of time on the road going to radio stations at 6 a.m. and singing, all in the middle of my growth spurt." The 5-foot-6 singer laughs. "Thanks to the music industry, I'm going to be really short."
最後接
Of his hair, he shrugs and says: "I just kind of liked it, and now people are copying it. I used to have a buzz cut as a kid."
12.02
In 2007, when he was 12, Bieber entered a local singing competition and placed second doing Ne-Yo's So Sick. Mallette thought it would be fun to post a video of that performance on YouTube. Millions tuned in. More videos followed.
Usher is convinced Bieber can make the leap into adulthood without losing popularity, much as he and Timberlake have done.
"Justin (Bieber) is a talented child and one I felt I could nurture," Usher says. "He has a passion more than anything. I remember having that as a kid, and I see it in his eyes. ..
"I like that he stands up for himself, but also is very open to direction."
Bieber also is human. And the grind required to forge a career often gets to him. When he recently complained that he missed just being a normal kid, "I told him you have to be dedicated," Usher says. "It's about sacrifice, so be sure it's what you want." (In the end, Usher relented and flew in a gaggle of Bieber's buddies for a weekend of goofing off.)
Team Bieber consists of roughly a dozen people, including Usher, Smith and Mallette (Bieber's father, Jeremy, is remarried and has two young children). But none are around when Bieber sits down to chat while he digs into a plate of Boston Market chicken. Leaving a teen star alone with a reporter is far from typical public-relations protocol, and it speaks to the team's confidence in the star's grounded nature.
Grew up in the church
This decidedly un-MTV Cribsattitude likely has roots in his pious upbringing. Bieber says he and his mother have always attended church and "are really involved with God. He's always been like, I don't know, he's held our family together. We grew up with not a lot of money, my mom and I. She was young when she had me. We struggled, but we never blamed him."
A bit later, Bieber's mother hustles over to the Today stage in anticipation of her son's performance. A petite woman with an easy smile and a copy of the Billy Graham book Angels in her hand, Mallette shrugs to deflect a question about how she is coping with her son's sudden and outsized popularity.
"Sometimes it's crazy, sure," she says. "But we just try to take things one day at a time."
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