To say the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton will be a massive media revelry is, at best, an understatement. Every major U.S. and international news organization and cable channel is jockeying for position. • Thirty years ago, Prince William's parents' wedding was the quintessence of royal watching. At the time, some 750 million people were said to have tuned in. This month, estimates of those who will be watching William and Kate tie the knot are as low as 1 billion viewers to as many as 2 billion. And it's happening in the early morning for U.S. royal watchers.
Television rundown What to expect, how to see it
Broadcast networks
PBS 3 to 8:30 a.m.
Public television stations will carry the BBC's live, commercial-free coverage as led by BBC veteran Huw Edwards. The BBC plans to cover the royal family's arrival at Westminster Abbey, the ceremony itself, the newly married couple's return to Buckingham Palace and, finally, the moment when Prince William and Princess Catherine greet the crowds from the palace balcony. BBC.com will stream the wedding live at bbc.com/royalwedding.
ABC 4 to 10 a.m.
Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters anchor coverage from Buckingham Palace.
NBC 4 to 10 a.m.
Today begins coverage from London at 4 a.m.
CBS 5 to 9 a.m.
After anchoring the evening news for a third straight night from London, Katie Couric leads live coverage beginning at 5 a.m.
Cable networks
BBC America 3 to 8:30 a.m.
The cable network will carry a direct simulcast of BBC One's commercial-free coverage.
MSNBC from 3 a.m.
Martin Bashir and Chris Jansing lead coverage from London until 5 a.m., when Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist take the reins.
CNN from 4 a.m.
Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Anderson Cooper, Kiran Chetry and British broadcaster and fashion expert Cat Deeley anchor CNN's coverage from London.
2011年4月28日 星期四
Bungling robber jailed for Headington bookies' raid
AN ARMED robber who raided a city betting shop was caught after his swag bag snagged on a phone box and spilt its contents.
Robert Kelly, who claimed he was kidnapped and forced to commit the crime, thrust an imitation revolver at staff at Betfred in London Road, Headington, before demanding they put £1 coins in a bin bag.
As the 25-year-old ran away from the shop, the plastic sack caught on a phone box and ripped open, sending the money scattering.
Kelly, of Green Road, Headington, was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting robbery and possession of an imitation firearm with intent.
Roger Coventry, prosecuting, said Kelly and another man went into the bookmaker’s just after 8pm on February 15 this year.
He said: “One stood by the door and was clearly armed, and the second approached staff.
“His face was masked, he had what is described as a silver long-barrelled revolver and was saying words to the effect of ‘give me the money’.”
Mr Coventry said the man, who he said was Kelly, “banged on the counter and leapt on the counter” before taking about £150 in a bag.
He added: “The bag got snagged on a nearby phone box. It is from that the forensic evidence is linked.”
A second man, 25-year-old Aaron Gardner, of no fixed address, had also been charged with the robbery, but the case against him was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Charles Falk, defending Kelly, who has 22 previous convictions, said his client was kidnapped by a gang and pressured into the offence.
He said: “The reason he got involved with these people was he had been growing weed (for them) on a small-scale basis.”
Mr Falk said Kelly’s girlfriend destroyed the cannabis, angering the gang.
He added: “(Kelly was) taken to a shed in Green Road and once inside he was punched and kicked, tied with cable ties and made to kneel, and left in the shed for a day.”
After temporarily freeing himself he was then tied up again and left for another day, Mr Falk said.
He added: “He was ordered to commit this offence in this betting shop. He was not to profit. Anything he received was to be given to these men.”
Mr Falk, who said his client did not use duress as a formal excuse for the crime due to his growing of the cannabis, said police were continuing to investigate the alleged kidnap.
Judge Anthony King called the robbery an “extremely serious offence”.
Robert Kelly, who claimed he was kidnapped and forced to commit the crime, thrust an imitation revolver at staff at Betfred in London Road, Headington, before demanding they put £1 coins in a bin bag.
As the 25-year-old ran away from the shop, the plastic sack caught on a phone box and ripped open, sending the money scattering.
Kelly, of Green Road, Headington, was jailed for five years at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting robbery and possession of an imitation firearm with intent.
Roger Coventry, prosecuting, said Kelly and another man went into the bookmaker’s just after 8pm on February 15 this year.
He said: “One stood by the door and was clearly armed, and the second approached staff.
“His face was masked, he had what is described as a silver long-barrelled revolver and was saying words to the effect of ‘give me the money’.”
Mr Coventry said the man, who he said was Kelly, “banged on the counter and leapt on the counter” before taking about £150 in a bag.
He added: “The bag got snagged on a nearby phone box. It is from that the forensic evidence is linked.”
A second man, 25-year-old Aaron Gardner, of no fixed address, had also been charged with the robbery, but the case against him was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Charles Falk, defending Kelly, who has 22 previous convictions, said his client was kidnapped by a gang and pressured into the offence.
He said: “The reason he got involved with these people was he had been growing weed (for them) on a small-scale basis.”
Mr Falk said Kelly’s girlfriend destroyed the cannabis, angering the gang.
He added: “(Kelly was) taken to a shed in Green Road and once inside he was punched and kicked, tied with cable ties and made to kneel, and left in the shed for a day.”
After temporarily freeing himself he was then tied up again and left for another day, Mr Falk said.
He added: “He was ordered to commit this offence in this betting shop. He was not to profit. Anything he received was to be given to these men.”
Mr Falk, who said his client did not use duress as a formal excuse for the crime due to his growing of the cannabis, said police were continuing to investigate the alleged kidnap.
Judge Anthony King called the robbery an “extremely serious offence”.
US, Turkey split over views on Syria, cables say
The United States administration expressed skepticism toward Turkish government attempts to mend ties with Syria to encourage the Arab country to enact reforms and showed no interest in entering tripartite dialogue, according to leaked U.S. cables from 2005.
“Our correspondents within the Turkish government say that Bashar al-Assad’s stranglehold on the regime is too weak to sustain anything beyond economic reforms,” read the cable link from Robert Deutsch, a U.S. diplomat in Ankara, published by the Turkish partner of WikiLeaks, daily Taraf.
The cable went further to say that the leaders of the Turkish government were trying to position Turkey in the role of a liaison between the United States, Israel and Syria, while encouraging economic reforms that could later lead to political reforms.
Calling the renewal of ties between Syria and Turkey a “lovefest,” the U.S. diplomat interpreted the Turkish government’s views on Syria as a combination of “wishful thinking and neo-Ottoman nostalgia.”
According to the cable, Deutsch also reminded an official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry that Turkey’s military threats against Syria in 1998 to expel Abdullah Öcalan, the now imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, had worked. Such concrete messages would be more effective against Syria, said Deutsch, according to the cable.
Another cable sent by the U.S. acting ambassador in Ankara, Nancy McEldowney, also revealed American reservations about the Turkish government’s belief in encouraging reforms in Syria by strengthening al-Assad’s hand. According to the cable, the U.S. diplomat expressed the American administration’s anxiety over a seeming lack of consensus in the international community regarding Syria’s behavior. McEldowney said rapprochement between Turkey and Syria could be used by the Syrian regime as a tool to gain further legitimacy.
McEldowney also said Turkish President Abdullah Gül felt “used” by the Syrian regime and was looking for ways to turn down a visit by al-Assad and his wife to Turkey, according to the cable.
“Our correspondents within the Turkish government say that Bashar al-Assad’s stranglehold on the regime is too weak to sustain anything beyond economic reforms,” read the cable link from Robert Deutsch, a U.S. diplomat in Ankara, published by the Turkish partner of WikiLeaks, daily Taraf.
The cable went further to say that the leaders of the Turkish government were trying to position Turkey in the role of a liaison between the United States, Israel and Syria, while encouraging economic reforms that could later lead to political reforms.
Calling the renewal of ties between Syria and Turkey a “lovefest,” the U.S. diplomat interpreted the Turkish government’s views on Syria as a combination of “wishful thinking and neo-Ottoman nostalgia.”
According to the cable, Deutsch also reminded an official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry that Turkey’s military threats against Syria in 1998 to expel Abdullah Öcalan, the now imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, had worked. Such concrete messages would be more effective against Syria, said Deutsch, according to the cable.
Another cable sent by the U.S. acting ambassador in Ankara, Nancy McEldowney, also revealed American reservations about the Turkish government’s belief in encouraging reforms in Syria by strengthening al-Assad’s hand. According to the cable, the U.S. diplomat expressed the American administration’s anxiety over a seeming lack of consensus in the international community regarding Syria’s behavior. McEldowney said rapprochement between Turkey and Syria could be used by the Syrian regime as a tool to gain further legitimacy.
McEldowney also said Turkish President Abdullah Gül felt “used” by the Syrian regime and was looking for ways to turn down a visit by al-Assad and his wife to Turkey, according to the cable.
2011年4月26日 星期二
Biden invites Putin to Washington
Vice President Joseph Biden invited Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to visit Washington during a phone call between the two leaders on April 21.
A White House official confirmed to The Cable that "the vice president said he would welcome seeing Prime Minister Putin in the U.S." The Russian press reported that Biden said President Barack Obama is also interested in seeing Putin if he visits. Biden saw Putin during his visit to Moscow last month.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin neither accepted nor rejected the offer due to "complex scheduling issues." The visit would be the first by Putin to the United States since Obama took office. The White House didn't provide any other details -- such as whether Biden would take Putin to Ray's Hell-Burger, where Obama took President Dmitry Medvedev for lunch last year.
Last year, during the debate over New START, Biden suggested that the U.S.-Russia reset was being pushed by Medvedev and that Putin was less enthusiastic about mending U.S.-Russia relations.
"Medvedev has rested everything on this notion of a reset. Who knows what Putin would do? My guess is he would not have gone there [in terms of committing to the reset], but maybe," Biden said.
For Putin's critics, who believe that the prime minister is an autocrat and is vastly overstepping his position in preparation for a return to the presidency in 2012, an official visit to Washington and meetings with Obama and Biden would send the wrong message.
"It's very puzzling that Mr. Putin is being invited to Washington, because in Russia the prime minister does not have any foreign policy role whatsoever," said Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., a member of the federal political council of the Russian opposition party Solidarity.
"It's the wrong signal, especially given the speculation that Mr. Putin wants to run in next year's election. It could be misinterpreted as support for Putin's plans," he said. "Everybody understands that Putin is the puppet master behind the puppet Medvedev, but I don't think that Washington should be playing Putin's games."
If and when Putin comes to town, the top issues will be Russian accession to the World Trade Organization, Russia's drive for visa waiver status, and the Obama administration's desire to pursue missile defense cooperation with Russia. Only one of those agenda items, WTO accession, seems even remotely likely. However, the Jackson-Vanik amendment, a U.S. law meant to punish Russia for its treatment of Jewish emigrants in the 1970s, stands in the way.
An official read out of the April 21 Biden-Putin phone call stated that the two leaders discussed "the Obama Administration's commitment to terminate Jackson-Vanik's application to Russia."
But the administration needs Congress to actually change the law, and it will be a tough slog to convince Russia skeptics that the deal is a net gain for U.S. interests. Russia hawks on Capitol Hill may also oppose the repeal of Jackson-Vanick due to their view that there has been a negative trend in Russia regarding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
Last week, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) reintroduced The Magnitsky Act, which "imposes visa and economic sanctions on Russian state officials who are responsible for human rights abuses, torture and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky in November 2009." Congressional Republicans are preparing their own version of legislation to impose sanctions on specific Russian officials accused of human rights violations.
Meanwhile, allies of the Russian Federation are looking for ways around Congress to repeal Jackson-Vanik. Last week, President of the American University in Moscow Edward Lozansky filed a lawsuit against Obama in U.S. District Court attempting to force the administration to repeal Jackson-Vanik without Congressional action. The complaint can be found here (PDF).
"Lozansky's business interests are directly affected by the trade relationship between the United States and the Russian Federation," the lawsuit states. "The continued treatment of the Russian Federation as being subject to Jackson-Vanik stifles trade between the United States and the Russian Federation."
Unfortunately for Russia and Lozansky, a 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service stated that granting Russia "Normal Trade Relations" status, which includes repealing Jackson-Vanik, will have little direct impact on U.S.-Russian trade.
"In a possible debate on [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] for Russia, members of Congress may very well consider whether their concerns regarding Russian regulations on agricultural imports, intellectual property rights protection, or limitations on foreign investment have been sufficiently addressed in the bilateral agreement," the report stated. "Other issues regarding overall Russian economic or foreign policies, such as Russia's economic ties to Iran, could also emerge."
Of course, Russia would also need Georgia to agree to its WTO accession, but that's a whole other story.
A White House official confirmed to The Cable that "the vice president said he would welcome seeing Prime Minister Putin in the U.S." The Russian press reported that Biden said President Barack Obama is also interested in seeing Putin if he visits. Biden saw Putin during his visit to Moscow last month.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin neither accepted nor rejected the offer due to "complex scheduling issues." The visit would be the first by Putin to the United States since Obama took office. The White House didn't provide any other details -- such as whether Biden would take Putin to Ray's Hell-Burger, where Obama took President Dmitry Medvedev for lunch last year.
Last year, during the debate over New START, Biden suggested that the U.S.-Russia reset was being pushed by Medvedev and that Putin was less enthusiastic about mending U.S.-Russia relations.
"Medvedev has rested everything on this notion of a reset. Who knows what Putin would do? My guess is he would not have gone there [in terms of committing to the reset], but maybe," Biden said.
For Putin's critics, who believe that the prime minister is an autocrat and is vastly overstepping his position in preparation for a return to the presidency in 2012, an official visit to Washington and meetings with Obama and Biden would send the wrong message.
"It's very puzzling that Mr. Putin is being invited to Washington, because in Russia the prime minister does not have any foreign policy role whatsoever," said Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., a member of the federal political council of the Russian opposition party Solidarity.
"It's the wrong signal, especially given the speculation that Mr. Putin wants to run in next year's election. It could be misinterpreted as support for Putin's plans," he said. "Everybody understands that Putin is the puppet master behind the puppet Medvedev, but I don't think that Washington should be playing Putin's games."
If and when Putin comes to town, the top issues will be Russian accession to the World Trade Organization, Russia's drive for visa waiver status, and the Obama administration's desire to pursue missile defense cooperation with Russia. Only one of those agenda items, WTO accession, seems even remotely likely. However, the Jackson-Vanik amendment, a U.S. law meant to punish Russia for its treatment of Jewish emigrants in the 1970s, stands in the way.
An official read out of the April 21 Biden-Putin phone call stated that the two leaders discussed "the Obama Administration's commitment to terminate Jackson-Vanik's application to Russia."
But the administration needs Congress to actually change the law, and it will be a tough slog to convince Russia skeptics that the deal is a net gain for U.S. interests. Russia hawks on Capitol Hill may also oppose the repeal of Jackson-Vanick due to their view that there has been a negative trend in Russia regarding democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
Last week, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) reintroduced The Magnitsky Act, which "imposes visa and economic sanctions on Russian state officials who are responsible for human rights abuses, torture and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky in November 2009." Congressional Republicans are preparing their own version of legislation to impose sanctions on specific Russian officials accused of human rights violations.
Meanwhile, allies of the Russian Federation are looking for ways around Congress to repeal Jackson-Vanik. Last week, President of the American University in Moscow Edward Lozansky filed a lawsuit against Obama in U.S. District Court attempting to force the administration to repeal Jackson-Vanik without Congressional action. The complaint can be found here (PDF).
"Lozansky's business interests are directly affected by the trade relationship between the United States and the Russian Federation," the lawsuit states. "The continued treatment of the Russian Federation as being subject to Jackson-Vanik stifles trade between the United States and the Russian Federation."
Unfortunately for Russia and Lozansky, a 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service stated that granting Russia "Normal Trade Relations" status, which includes repealing Jackson-Vanik, will have little direct impact on U.S.-Russian trade.
"In a possible debate on [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] for Russia, members of Congress may very well consider whether their concerns regarding Russian regulations on agricultural imports, intellectual property rights protection, or limitations on foreign investment have been sufficiently addressed in the bilateral agreement," the report stated. "Other issues regarding overall Russian economic or foreign policies, such as Russia's economic ties to Iran, could also emerge."
Of course, Russia would also need Georgia to agree to its WTO accession, but that's a whole other story.
X-POSITION: Nick Lowe on "Schism," "X-Cutioner's Song" & "Vengeance"
The X-Men have always been a team that's remained busy, but looking at events on their horizon (according to upcoming solicitations), I'd recommend that the team stock up on Red Bull! Currently, they are embroiled in "Age of X," but in the coming year they'll have to deal with "Fear Itself," fallout from "Avengers: Children Crusade" and a split among the team in "X-Men: Schism." And all this doesn't even take the X-members' individual adventures and crossovers into account!
With such a full calendar, the editors of the X-books keep extremely busy. Still, they manage to find the time to come and share the love here at X-POSITION and answer all of your well-worded questions. Today, Senior Editor Nick Lowe joins us to tackle all your adoring emails. He's got his shoulder pads on and is ready to go!
Well, we're right in at the climax of "Age of X" and in the middle of "Collision" (Daken and X-23), so we'll probably give small crossovers a little breather right now.
That's fine with Kellen, who just needs to know where their favorite character ends up during the big event.
Is Storm going to be caught in the middle of the Cyclops/Wolverine break-up in "Schism" given that she knows both men so well? What direction will she be taking within the X-Men in the upcoming year?
Storm is going to have a lot of tough decisions to make in the next year, but I promise Storm fans (especially X-Editor Daniel Ketchum, #1 Storm fan) that she's going to be a huge part of X-Plans.
Marcus was also curious about another mutant's opinion of the upcoming split, and had a few questions about other Marvel heroes too:
With such a full calendar, the editors of the X-books keep extremely busy. Still, they manage to find the time to come and share the love here at X-POSITION and answer all of your well-worded questions. Today, Senior Editor Nick Lowe joins us to tackle all your adoring emails. He's got his shoulder pads on and is ready to go!
Well, we're right in at the climax of "Age of X" and in the middle of "Collision" (Daken and X-23), so we'll probably give small crossovers a little breather right now.
That's fine with Kellen, who just needs to know where their favorite character ends up during the big event.
Is Storm going to be caught in the middle of the Cyclops/Wolverine break-up in "Schism" given that she knows both men so well? What direction will she be taking within the X-Men in the upcoming year?
Storm is going to have a lot of tough decisions to make in the next year, but I promise Storm fans (especially X-Editor Daniel Ketchum, #1 Storm fan) that she's going to be a huge part of X-Plans.
Marcus was also curious about another mutant's opinion of the upcoming split, and had a few questions about other Marvel heroes too:
Get your home office wired for success
Luckily for me, the move she has in mind won't involve lawyers or packing bags. She wants me to move out of the home office we share. She works neatly. I, on the other hand, leave a trail of debris and clutter behind like some especially messy snail.
I do have another office down in the daylight basement. But I often find myself sitting at a desk in the upstairs office Mary uses. She profits from that: I offer witty remarks about things I have found on the Web and sometimes I even turn on a spare ham radio I keep up there to add to the entertainment. So you can see, even if she does not, that I bring a lot of value to the table.
To convince Mary of my good intentions -- and perhaps maintain my seat in the upstairs office -- I have embarked on a decluttering mission to convince her of my worth. I'll take you along with me today as I attack a maze of wires clumped together like especially amorous snakes that trail under desks and along the walls of our home office.
There's value in this for you, since there are reasons beyond neatness for straightening up the growing number of cables and wires in any home office. Computers breed wires like rabbits breed young ones. There will be times when you need to replace one of your home office devices or work on one of them. The worst part of the job often is finding which cable in the tangle goes where.
Unless you've paid close attention to your own growing collection of wires you may be surprised at what you'll find under your desk (not even counting the Coke bottles and candy wrappers I found).
It's not unusual to see, in one room, a couple of computers; a router for networking your home office; a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) to provide back-up power for your computers; a telephone or two; maybe even an old-fashioned fax machine like we own; external hard disks that connect to your computers for making back-ups; a high-speed modem; a paper shredder; cables used to connect a smart phone to the computer; a card reader device to transfer photos to your computer, a table lamp or two; and various wall warts used to power modems, hard disks, telephones and the like.
Making sense of all those wires and cables can let you quickly connect and reconnect your gadgets when something goes haywire. You'll also avoid tripping over one of the wires and hurting both yourself and the devices attached to the wire. And, not so incidentally, the office will look a lot better when you’re done.
Decluttering your wires isn't difficult, although it can be time consuming. So let's get started.
First, we will put a label at both ends of every wire and cable. If you have a label-making machine, you can do an especially neat job of things. If not, I suggest using your printer to create the labels. You can attach them using clear tape; I recommend the extra sturdy clear tape used for taping shipping boxes since it's more likely to stick around. It'll do a better job than the transparent tape you keep on your desk. However you do things, tape the labels on securely and in a way that will let you read them easily.
When you're done, a typical cable might have a label that looks like this. On one end it might say: ROUTER. On the other end of the same cable: BILL'S COMPUTER. Make the same kind of labels for every wire and cable. You'll end up with labels like: iPHONE CHARGER, SPEAKER POWER, TO MODEM, FROM MODEM. You get the idea.
Do all that while the wires and cables are still connected to your devices so you don’t add to the confusion. Then, once everything is labeled, we're going to disconnect almost everything. By doing that, we'll free up the wires so we can untangle the mess beneath your desk or desks. It's almost impossible to straighten out the wires while they are connected.
You'll need several packages of cable ties. They can be found at Home Depot, Lowes or Radio Shack. Cable ties are used to bundle wires together. So, for instance, if you have several power cables that go to a UPS, you can create a neat bundle. Then you can bundle up ethernet cables. Once that's completed you'll have a neat, tangle-free group of wires.
Some of your wires may travel quite a distance. In our home office, there are both ethernet and telephone cables that start beneath Mary's desk and travel along the walls over to my desk. They're an accident waiting to happen. If they eventually creep away from the wall a bit, you can trip over them (I've demonstrated that more than once). Hardware stores sell hollow plastic molding strips specially made to solve the problem. Your wires fit in the hollow section and the molding strips can be tacked between wall and floor. That not only hides the wires, it protects them.
Once all that is done, you will have an easy time reattaching all your wires and cables, since everything is neatly bundled and labeled. And, as you reattach them, you are almost certain to make a nice discovery. I'll bet -- once everything is hooked up -- you'll find wires and cables and wall warts that are no longer used. Remove them (tuck them away in a drawer instead of throwing them away, they may come in handy some day).
Now you're done. Not only does your home office look better but it's also going to be much easier next time you need to replace a router or work on a computer. After all, the last thing you want to do in a repair emergency is to paw through a nest of wires just to find the ones you need.
I did such a good job in the upstairs office that I'm now assigned to repeat the same decluttering process in the downstairs office. At times virtue has unexpected and unpleasant rewards.
I do have another office down in the daylight basement. But I often find myself sitting at a desk in the upstairs office Mary uses. She profits from that: I offer witty remarks about things I have found on the Web and sometimes I even turn on a spare ham radio I keep up there to add to the entertainment. So you can see, even if she does not, that I bring a lot of value to the table.
To convince Mary of my good intentions -- and perhaps maintain my seat in the upstairs office -- I have embarked on a decluttering mission to convince her of my worth. I'll take you along with me today as I attack a maze of wires clumped together like especially amorous snakes that trail under desks and along the walls of our home office.
There's value in this for you, since there are reasons beyond neatness for straightening up the growing number of cables and wires in any home office. Computers breed wires like rabbits breed young ones. There will be times when you need to replace one of your home office devices or work on one of them. The worst part of the job often is finding which cable in the tangle goes where.
Unless you've paid close attention to your own growing collection of wires you may be surprised at what you'll find under your desk (not even counting the Coke bottles and candy wrappers I found).
It's not unusual to see, in one room, a couple of computers; a router for networking your home office; a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) to provide back-up power for your computers; a telephone or two; maybe even an old-fashioned fax machine like we own; external hard disks that connect to your computers for making back-ups; a high-speed modem; a paper shredder; cables used to connect a smart phone to the computer; a card reader device to transfer photos to your computer, a table lamp or two; and various wall warts used to power modems, hard disks, telephones and the like.
Making sense of all those wires and cables can let you quickly connect and reconnect your gadgets when something goes haywire. You'll also avoid tripping over one of the wires and hurting both yourself and the devices attached to the wire. And, not so incidentally, the office will look a lot better when you’re done.
Decluttering your wires isn't difficult, although it can be time consuming. So let's get started.
First, we will put a label at both ends of every wire and cable. If you have a label-making machine, you can do an especially neat job of things. If not, I suggest using your printer to create the labels. You can attach them using clear tape; I recommend the extra sturdy clear tape used for taping shipping boxes since it's more likely to stick around. It'll do a better job than the transparent tape you keep on your desk. However you do things, tape the labels on securely and in a way that will let you read them easily.
When you're done, a typical cable might have a label that looks like this. On one end it might say: ROUTER. On the other end of the same cable: BILL'S COMPUTER. Make the same kind of labels for every wire and cable. You'll end up with labels like: iPHONE CHARGER, SPEAKER POWER, TO MODEM, FROM MODEM. You get the idea.
Do all that while the wires and cables are still connected to your devices so you don’t add to the confusion. Then, once everything is labeled, we're going to disconnect almost everything. By doing that, we'll free up the wires so we can untangle the mess beneath your desk or desks. It's almost impossible to straighten out the wires while they are connected.
You'll need several packages of cable ties. They can be found at Home Depot, Lowes or Radio Shack. Cable ties are used to bundle wires together. So, for instance, if you have several power cables that go to a UPS, you can create a neat bundle. Then you can bundle up ethernet cables. Once that's completed you'll have a neat, tangle-free group of wires.
Some of your wires may travel quite a distance. In our home office, there are both ethernet and telephone cables that start beneath Mary's desk and travel along the walls over to my desk. They're an accident waiting to happen. If they eventually creep away from the wall a bit, you can trip over them (I've demonstrated that more than once). Hardware stores sell hollow plastic molding strips specially made to solve the problem. Your wires fit in the hollow section and the molding strips can be tacked between wall and floor. That not only hides the wires, it protects them.
Once all that is done, you will have an easy time reattaching all your wires and cables, since everything is neatly bundled and labeled. And, as you reattach them, you are almost certain to make a nice discovery. I'll bet -- once everything is hooked up -- you'll find wires and cables and wall warts that are no longer used. Remove them (tuck them away in a drawer instead of throwing them away, they may come in handy some day).
Now you're done. Not only does your home office look better but it's also going to be much easier next time you need to replace a router or work on a computer. After all, the last thing you want to do in a repair emergency is to paw through a nest of wires just to find the ones you need.
I did such a good job in the upstairs office that I'm now assigned to repeat the same decluttering process in the downstairs office. At times virtue has unexpected and unpleasant rewards.
2011年4月24日 星期日
Windsor Hotel one of buildings lost in Bangor’s Great Fire of 1911
One of the downtown buildings lost to the fire was the Windsor Hotel, which the
1901 Bangor City Directory lists as being located at 100-120 Harlow St. Not
having the 1911 city directory at hand, I decided to see what the 1910 U.S.
Census might tell us about who lived at the Windsor. The area was enumerated in
1910 by Martin Goode as part of Bangor’s Ward 6.
The Windsor was run by New Hampshire native Frank W. Durgin, 56, hotel keeper,
and his wife, Maine-born Martha J. Durgin, 57, landlady. The Durgins had been
married 38 years — his first marriage, her second.
Daughter Lottie M. Durgin was 22. Daughter Ethel Young, 37, was married to Frank
O. Young, 37, hotel manager, and they had a daughter, Louise, 11. Also living
with the Durgins was Frank’s mother-in-law, Rose A. Kimball, 86, widowed. That’
s four generations in one census household.
Servants at the hotel in 1910 included Walter Crawford, 20; Charles Saulniel, 25,
Canadian French; Mable Allen, 27, Canadian English; Joseph Gaudette, 25, Canadian
French; Charles Bridges, 23, Canadian “Scotch”; Lucie Goldsmith, 25; Agusta
Moody, 52; and of course, many “roomers.”
The Cole Land Transportation Museum at 405 Perry Road always opens for the season
on May 1 — except this year. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great
Fire of 1911, the museum will open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 30, in Bangor.
Visitors will be interested in seeing the 1908 Amoskeag pumper, once owned by
Portland Fire Department and assigned to Engine Co. 3 on Brackett Street. It was
pulled by two horses until 1924 when a two-wheel 48-hp Christie tractor was
attached and the equipment was used to fight many Portland area fires.
The pumper is of special interest because it is very similar to the Amoskeag that
Portland Fire Department actually sent by train to help fight the Great Fire of
1911 in Bangor. The one at the museum was purchased by Cameron Bradley in 1946
and donated to the museum in 1989.
The Cole Museum’s special guest 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday will be Michael Daicy, a
member of Portland Fire Department for 31 years and its historian. He is very
knowledgeable about the equipment that Portland sent to help Bangor in 1911 and
will share a historic film showing scenes of horse-drawn firefighting apparatus
leaving and returning to the station in 1912.
Admission to the museum is $6 adults, $4 senior citizens, free to those age 18
and under.
BDN reporter Diana Bowley wrote a nice article about Bill Sawtell Day in the
April 12 edition of the paper. Sawtell for 29 years donated time and resources to
share local history, to arrange tours and to bring in speakers for Brownville
Elementary School.
As readers of Family Ties know, I appreciate the many books Sawtell has written
about small towns in the Piscataquis County area, towns that often are overlooked
because of their size. Sawtell’s most recent book, co-written with Ruth Cyr, is
“History and Stories of Milo Junction/Derby, Maine.”
Among his other books are “Schoodic Lake Revisited,” “Katahdin Iron Works and
Gulf Hagas,” “Glimpses of Greenville,” “Onawa Revisited,” “The Ron Marks
Story” and “The Wall.”
You may see some of these books in local libraries, or you can find out which
ones are still available for purchase by writing Bill Sawtell, P.O. Box 272,
Brownville, ME 04414.
1901 Bangor City Directory lists as being located at 100-120 Harlow St. Not
having the 1911 city directory at hand, I decided to see what the 1910 U.S.
Census might tell us about who lived at the Windsor. The area was enumerated in
1910 by Martin Goode as part of Bangor’s Ward 6.
The Windsor was run by New Hampshire native Frank W. Durgin, 56, hotel keeper,
and his wife, Maine-born Martha J. Durgin, 57, landlady. The Durgins had been
married 38 years — his first marriage, her second.
Daughter Lottie M. Durgin was 22. Daughter Ethel Young, 37, was married to Frank
O. Young, 37, hotel manager, and they had a daughter, Louise, 11. Also living
with the Durgins was Frank’s mother-in-law, Rose A. Kimball, 86, widowed. That’
s four generations in one census household.
Servants at the hotel in 1910 included Walter Crawford, 20; Charles Saulniel, 25,
Canadian French; Mable Allen, 27, Canadian English; Joseph Gaudette, 25, Canadian
French; Charles Bridges, 23, Canadian “Scotch”; Lucie Goldsmith, 25; Agusta
Moody, 52; and of course, many “roomers.”
The Cole Land Transportation Museum at 405 Perry Road always opens for the season
on May 1 — except this year. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great
Fire of 1911, the museum will open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 30, in Bangor.
Visitors will be interested in seeing the 1908 Amoskeag pumper, once owned by
Portland Fire Department and assigned to Engine Co. 3 on Brackett Street. It was
pulled by two horses until 1924 when a two-wheel 48-hp Christie tractor was
attached and the equipment was used to fight many Portland area fires.
The pumper is of special interest because it is very similar to the Amoskeag that
Portland Fire Department actually sent by train to help fight the Great Fire of
1911 in Bangor. The one at the museum was purchased by Cameron Bradley in 1946
and donated to the museum in 1989.
The Cole Museum’s special guest 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday will be Michael Daicy, a
member of Portland Fire Department for 31 years and its historian. He is very
knowledgeable about the equipment that Portland sent to help Bangor in 1911 and
will share a historic film showing scenes of horse-drawn firefighting apparatus
leaving and returning to the station in 1912.
Admission to the museum is $6 adults, $4 senior citizens, free to those age 18
and under.
BDN reporter Diana Bowley wrote a nice article about Bill Sawtell Day in the
April 12 edition of the paper. Sawtell for 29 years donated time and resources to
share local history, to arrange tours and to bring in speakers for Brownville
Elementary School.
As readers of Family Ties know, I appreciate the many books Sawtell has written
about small towns in the Piscataquis County area, towns that often are overlooked
because of their size. Sawtell’s most recent book, co-written with Ruth Cyr, is
“History and Stories of Milo Junction/Derby, Maine.”
Among his other books are “Schoodic Lake Revisited,” “Katahdin Iron Works and
Gulf Hagas,” “Glimpses of Greenville,” “Onawa Revisited,” “The Ron Marks
Story” and “The Wall.”
You may see some of these books in local libraries, or you can find out which
ones are still available for purchase by writing Bill Sawtell, P.O. Box 272,
Brownville, ME 04414.
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