Apple firestorm leads artist to change his show

In this undated image released by The Public Theater, Mike Daisey is shown in a scene from "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in New York. Daisey, whose latest show has been being credited with sparking probes into how Apple's high-tech devices are made, is finding himself under fire for distorting the truth. The public radio show ?This American Life? retracted a story Friday, March 16, 2012, that it broadcast in January about what Daisey said he saw while visiting a factory in China where iPads and iPhones are made. (AP Photo/The Public Theater, Stan Barouh)

In this undated image released by The Public Theater, Mike Daisey is shown in a scene from "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in New York. Daisey, whose latest show has been being credited with sparking probes into how Apple's high-tech devices are made, is finding himself under fire for distorting the truth. The public radio show ?This American Life? retracted a story Friday, March 16, 2012, that it broadcast in January about what Daisey said he saw while visiting a factory in China where iPads and iPhones are made. (AP Photo/The Public Theater, Stan Barouh)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Mike Daisey, the off-Broadway performer who admitted that he made up parts of his one-man show about Apple products being made in Chinese sweatshops, has cut questionable sections from the monologue and added a prologue explaining the controversy.

Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater, where the monologue is being performed, said Saturday that Daisey has "eliminated anything he doesn't feel he can stand behind" from the show and added a section at the beginning in which he addresses the questions raised by critics.

Eustis called the prologue "the best possible frame we could give the audience for the controversy" and said Daisey agreed to make the changes himself, which are "his and his alone."

"Mike is a great storyteller, not a journalist. I wish he had been clearer about that distinction in the making of this piece," Eustis said after seeing Saturday's matinee performance. "If we had understood the rules Mike was using to make the show, we would have framed it differently from the outset."

Daisey portrayed his work as fact during a media blitz to promote his critically acclaimed show, and he misled dozens of news and entertainment outlets, including the popular public radio show "This American Life," The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC and HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

But in an interview with "This American Life" host Ira Glass broadcast Friday, Daisey acknowledged that some of the claims in his show, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," weren't true. The show retracted its Jan. 6 episode because Glass said he couldn't vouch for the truth of its claims.

Daisey, who admitted Friday on his website that the work is a mix of fact and fiction, did not respond to questions sent to his personal email account, and his publicist did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The controversy is unlikely to lessen the media scrutiny of the Chinese factories that make Apple products, since news outlets including the Times have reported about the dangerous working conditions in them, including explosions inside iPad plants where four people were killed and 77 were injured.

But some of Daisey's older monologues might get a second look.

"If he had only chosen to actually utilize what theatre allows you to do ? which is to transform fact into something that retains an emotional truth," said Howard Sherman, a former executive director of the American Theatre Wing and an arts administrator and producer. He didn't see Daisey's show but said he thought it might "call into question people who do this in the future."

Daisey is just the latest artist to apparently get tripped up by the truth ? joining a list that includes James Frey, who admitted that he lied in his memoir "A Million Little Pieces," and Greg Mortenson, who is accused of fabricating key parts of his best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea."

The controversy raised once again the question of the artist's role in society and what his or her responsibility is to the truth. And has Daisey ultimately hurt or harmed the very people he was trying to help?

Terry Teachout, chief theater critic for The Wall Street Journal, called Daisy a talented artist but said the episode was "unforgivable," and Peter Marks, the critic for The Washington Post, tweeted that Daisey's "zeal seems to have gotten the better of his judgment." Chris Jones at the Chicago Tribune suspected Daisey "was seduced by the glare of attention."

The controversy put The Public, where the work ends its second run on Sunday, in a difficult spot ? protective of artists and their right to free expression but also sensitive to audience concerns.

"We do not and cannot fact check our artists; we're a theater, not a news organization. The vast majority of what occurs on our stages is fiction. If we didn't believe fiction could reveal truth, we would have to give up our profession. With that said, it obviously matters a great deal to me that our audience understands what they are seeing," Eustis said.

Daisey, who performs his monologues seated at a desk and using notes, has previously tackled everything from dysfunctional dot-coms to the international financial crisis. A movie has been made of his monologue "If You See Something Say Something," and in a weird twist, he did a 2006 show called "Truth" about how art and fact mix. In it, Daisey admitted he once fabricated a story because it "connected" with the audience.

Daisey told Glass he felt conflicted about presenting things that he knew weren't true. But he said he felt "trapped" and was afraid people would no longer care about the abuses at the factories if he didn't present things in a dramatic way.

In an interview with the AP last year when his show was first in New York, Daisey's passion for humane treatment of Chinese workers was evident. "Artists are people who are called to action," he said. "If they're not active then they're probably asleep."

An Apple spokeswoman declined again Saturday to comment on the revelations about the monologue. The company has been rebutting Daisey's allegations for months, to little effect.

Before he scrubbed the monologue, Daisey described traveling to the Chinese industrial zone of Shenzhen and interviewing hundreds of workers from Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer. Daisey said he stood outside the gate with a translator and met workers as young as 12 and some whose joints were damaged because they performed the same action thousands of times a shift.

"I talk to people whose joints in their hands have disintegrated from working on the line, doing the same motion hundreds and hundreds of thousands of times. It's like carpal tunnel on a scale we can scarcely imagine," he says, according to a transcript of the show. Later in the monologue, he said he met workers poisoned by the chemical hexane, used to clear iPhone screens.

But "This American Life" reported Daisey's Chinese interpreter disputed many of the artist's claims when contacted by Rob Schmitz, a China correspondent for the public radio show "Marketplace." Among them, the translator said guards outside the factory weren't armed, Daisey never met workers from a secret union and he never visited factory dorm rooms.

Daisey told Glass he didn't meet any poisoned workers and guessed at the ages of some he met. He also said some details he used were things he read about happening elsewhere.

"I'm not going to say that I didn't take a few shortcuts in my passion to be heard," he told Glass. "But I stand behind the work. My mistake, the mistake that I truly regret is that I had it on your show as journalism, and it's not journalism. It's theater."

In the edited monologue, Eustis said Daisey acknowledges "that his translator, Cathy, does not remember things which he does remember."

Apple's popularity among consumers and investors alike has only grown while Daisey has been railing against the company. Since Daisey's one-man show hit the stage in the summer of 2010, Apple has sold more than 74 million iPhones, more than 35 million iPads and more than 29 million iPods.

Propelled by the surging sales of Apple's devices, the company stock price has climbed nearly 70 percent to create an additional $220 billion in shareholder wealth. Apple now reigns as the world's richest company, with nearly $100 billion in cash and a market value of $546 billion.

Daisey's embellishments threaten to set back the efforts to improve the working conditions in China and other countries where many trendy gadgets are made, said veteran technology analyst Rob Enderle.

He fears Daisey's tainted credibility will embolden more U.S. companies to turn a blind eye to how the assembly-line workers are being treated in the overseas factories run by their contractors. "It will make it more difficult to correct these labor injustices in China," Enderle said. "Daisey tried to make this out to be an Apple problem, but it really wasn't. It's a China problem."

Eustis hopes audiences will not let the controversy distract them for Daisey's main points. "The subject matter of this piece ? the way we allow working people who make our objects elsewhere in the world to be treated ? is incredibly important, and it is vital that we not be distracted from that subject by this controversy."

Daisey ? a performer in the vein of Spalding Gray and John Leguizamo ? has performed the monologue for more than 50,000 people from Seattle to Washington, D.C. He was expected to take the show on tour after its run at The Public Theater.

___

AP Technology Writer Mike Liedtke contributed to this report.

___

Online:

This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction

Mike Daisey: http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-03-17-Apple-Theater%20Critic/id-113b1a5d683d495396c2bc876e11f7f7

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Big Meadow, Skyline Drive ? morning mist

Image by D.Clow ? Maryland
Friday
Entry One

Flew out of work, the fleet flight of Friday before a holiday weekend. Everyone cracks a smile upon stepping out of the concrete and glass coffin of the corporate work week. The motorcycle is quickly gassed and loaded, I leave Washington DC at three-thirty, vowing not to check the time for the rest of the adventure. Adventure, the American adventure of the open road is what I seek. The road, my cameras, and escape.

Right turn off of 15th St. NW and I?m motoring past the Washington Monument and the White House. Harleys and clones are already lining the Mall for the annual Memorial remembrance that is Rolling Thunder. I?m soon over the bridge and on I-66 west. I plan on avoiding major highways when at all possible. Preferring scenic byways to drab highways. 66 is a necessary evil to flee the DC metro area as quickly as possible. At the start, 66 is a good quick run, for awhile anyway. Loads of Rolling Thunder riders are heading in 66 eastbound.

I keep the ubiquitous two fingers down to the side salute to fellow bikers out for extended stretches of time. In my experience, HD guys return the acknowledgement about 30-40% of the time. No big deal, some animosity exist though between different bike cultures. Motor-ism two-wheel stereotypes. However with the Rolling Thunder guys there is a noticeable increase in response, perhaps due to no longer just one biker acknowledging another, but a patriotic sharing of support and remembrance for those left behind, POW-MIA.

Traffic worsens further out 66 and I come up on a full HD dresser. Screaming Eagle back patch worked in with POW-MIA covers his vest and is topped by a ?Run for the Wall? patch. I keep back a pace and we adopt the natural offset positioning of multiple riders.

After some 66 backup, stop-and-go, we strike up a staccato conversation in the pauses of the traffic flow. Where you been, where you going, see the rain coming? I tell him I?m headed out to the mountains, Skyline Drive and West Virginia. He says he?s just in from there recently, was in DC for Rolling Thunder for the day and will be coming back in on Sunday again. His license plate is obscured by luggage, so I?m unsure of his port of origin.

Later on we part ways and my thoughts turn. Of my parents friends only my step-dad was drafted for Vietnam. Luckily, for us, he only went as far as Ft. Hood, TX, and came back with some good stories about army life and venturing into Mexico (at least the ones he?s shared with me). I think about all the life he?s lived since then, all his experiences and joys. Thinking about what all those who didn?t return gave up, lost, when they didn?t come home. The loss felt by those who loved them, families that have a name on the Wall.

Rain is sprinkling before Manassas. Enough to cool you off but not enough to get you worried yet, at least for a bit. Whooooo. Then come the big drops. I head off the ramp to gear up with the rain paraphernalia under the gas station pavilion. Finally get it all on and get strapped back up and out pops the sun and the rain stops. Too funny. Now I have wet clothes on under the raingear. Rain gear now keeping the wind out that would dry me. I motor on as more rain is promised on the horizon.

This brings up a point about rain. People always ask, ?What do you do when it rains and your on the motorcycle?. I reply simply, ?I get wet?. Duh. Rain riding has never bothered me. On the straight highways it?s no big deal. Just give more cushion to the cars in front of you. Drive like grandma on the exit ramps.

My turning point is finally reached. Off of 66 west and onto 647, Crest Hill Rd. at The Plains, VA. Crest Hill Road is my first slice of motorcycle heaven to be had this weekend. I?m delighted to find that the squiggly line I traced out on the map when planning this trip has translated so well in reality. The road is still wet from the passing rain clouds, and I give a small rabbit and then a chipmunk a near death experience. My first of many animal crossings this weekend. The road is fantastic. A mixture of hilltop road and tree lined canopies that create forest tunnels. Speed limit is 45mph, 55-60 feels comfortable on most parts. Keeping an eye out for a hilltop barn to photograph that I?ve seen in my minds eye, lit by the sun breaking through the clouds and backed by the mountain vista. No luck on any of the barns actual placement to fit the mental picture I have framed.

Crest Hill Road and Fodderstack Rd is a long stretch. I take shots of a church and other buildings along Zachary Taylor Highway. Fodderstack gives more of the same as Crest Hill, just a narrower road. The asphalt is of my favorite variety, freshly laid. Washington, VA is a tiny town of historic bed and breakfasts. Local wineries appear to be an attraction here too. Right after Washington the rain returns while I?m in route to Sperryville. Then it really starts to come down, a full on summer thunderstorm. Visibility is down. Road and parking lots soon resemble rivers. Rain drops of the monster variety explode on the pavement, and you know it hurts when they hit you.

I quick soaking circuit of Sperryville confirms there are no local hotels. I duck into a barn shaped restaurant to wait it out. My drenched gear takes on bar stool and I occupy another. There?s a few flying pigs about. The bartender get me a hefeweizen, and recommends the angus burger. Locally raised and grass fed, we exchange jokes about my passing the burgers relatives on the way in.

Don?t freak about the beer. I have a one only rule when riding. It was followed by a meal (best burger of the weekend!), several coffees, and this bar top journal entry.

Somewhere along Crest Hill road I decided to keep the cell off for the weekend. In addition no tv, newspapers, internet, or e-mail sound like a good idea. Of course I now am studiously avoid eye contact with the two beautiful plasma?s above the bar.

Entry Two

Hazel River Inn, Culpepper, VA, has the coolest street side seating in town.

The downpour let up at the Shady Farms bar in Sperryville and due to the deficiency in local lodging I quiz the bartender for options. Over the other side of the mountain, the opposite side of Skyline Dr via 211 is Luray with lots of motels, but I want to save the mountain for the morning. The waitress suggest Culpepper, there being a Holiday Inn etc.

Stepping outside the sun has broke through the clouds again. Enough for some shots of Shady Farms Restaurant and a bridge. Heading down 522, the Sperryville Pike, I keep an eye out for photo ops to catch the next morning as I?ll be rerouting back through. Following the mantra of Dale Borgeson about tour riding in the US, I aim to avoid large chain establishments, whether they are restaurants or hotels, and explore the mom-and-pop local variety businesses. I have a dive-ish roadside motel in mind, Culpepper comes through with the Sleepy Hollow Hotel.

Before check in I ride through downtown historic Culpepper. It?s a cool place. The Shady Farm bartender had recommended the Culpepper Thai restaurant. I see it but don?t visit, still full from the meal earlier. Cameron Street Coffee looks like a great place, located in an old warehouse. Unfortunately their closed for the night.

Shower and changed, room 102 at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel. I hop back on the bike, refreshed and dry and ride through the warm night air back downtown. The coffee at the Hazel River Inn comes with a sweet fudge confection on the side. The peach and blackberry cobbler with vanilla sauce is divine.

The reconfigured plan for this getaway is to shed. Shed worries about the job, career, housing, and relationships. My motorcycle is therapeutic. It?s 600cc?s of Zoloft on two wheels. The road lifts my spirits. This wasn?t supposed to be a solo run, and there are stretches of road where I feel the emptiness behind me.

The cobbler is finished and I can hear the sound of a band doing their sound check. The banging of the drum requires investigation.

Entry Three

I found Brown Bag Special in the cellar pub of the same restaurant I was in. On my way to the door the noise of the sound check floated up the stairs and directed my feet downward. Brown Bag Special opened the set, appropriately enough, with ?I drink alone?. The ol? man, Big Money, would have loved it. Drink alone started off a Big Money Blues trifecta to include ?The Breeze? and ?Mustang Sally?. Then they made the mistake a lot of bands make that have a great lead guitar player. They let him sing. The lead guitarist karaoke sucked his way through a Tom Petty hit. He was so off key in his singing it made you appreciate the guitar solo?s all the more for the relief they provided. Thankfully the regular singer soon resumed his duties and the night went on. More good stuff from the band.

Freebird
Folsom Prison Blues
Cheap Sun Glasses

?can?t you see, can?t you see, what that woman, what she?s done to me?

Off to bed now at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel with the ghost and shades of dead hookers and overdoses past.

150 miles today.

Saturday

Entry Four

Morning breaks on the Sleepy Hollow Hotel, a hot shower and I?m back on the bike. A quick stop downtown to shoot the Hazel Inn, then it?s back on the Sperryville Pike. More stops to capture some sights seen yesterday. Mr. & Mrs. Pump. The open mouth caricatures are an accurate representation of the current gas cost and the pumps eating your wallet.

I keep telling my daughter that her first car, college car, will be a hybrid. She thinks they are ugly. The bike isn?t so bad, averaging around 40mpg. At about 180 miles on the tripometer I start to look for a refill, although I?ve pushed it to 211 miles before.

A quick left in Sperryville on 211 and up into the mountain, Blue Ridge Mountains and Skyline Drive. Heading up the mountain I get the first bite of the twisties I?ve been craving. The fee at the gate to Skyline Drive is well worth the price. Great scenery and fantastic views. The only drawback is the 35mph speed limit that is well enforced by the park rangers.

I shoot some self-portraits at Pollock Knob overlook. They?re funny in that with all the scrambling and hurrying to be the camera timer, then trying to effect a relaxed pose. I?ve also broke out my old friend this trip, the Lubitel 166, a medium format, 120mm film, twin lens camera. I?m like Jay-Z with this camera, I have to get it in one take. There is no digital review after the click for instant gratification. As a fellow photographer it?s ?Point, Push, and Pray?. I?ll be interested to see the results. Not that I?ve left digital behind. Carrying both cameras, I?m an analog/digital double threat.

After the self-portraits and some dead tree shots I?m about to pack back on the bike and leave when I meet the preacher and his wife. He offers to shoot me with my camera and I return the favor with theirs. Conversation flows and in a ?small world? moment it turns out that he works for same Hazel family that owns the restaurant I was at last night for his Monday thru Friday job. I get a friendly ?God bless? and I?m heading south on Skyline Drive. I make several more stops and break out the cameras again at Big Meadow.

There is a gnarly dead tree in the middle of the meadow. It has burn damage at the base, either the result of some wild fire or perhaps a controlled burn done to maintain the field. I spot and shoot a few deer, they probably won?t turn out as they?re to far away for my lens on the D100. I shoot a bunch of shots of the tree with the D100 and then totally switch processes with the Lubitel. The picture setup with the Lubitel takes about a minute-and-a-half. Manual zoom, i.e., walking back and forth to get the framing I want. Light meter reading. Then dealing with the reversed optics of the look-down box camera. It is fun though, to switch it up, change the pace and the dynamics. Just one click though, hope I caught it.

It?s a long but enjoyable ride to the south end of Skyline Drive. Unless you really like slow cruising I would suggest picking which third of Skyline Drive you?d like include in your trip and leave the rest. I drop off the mountain and into Waynesboro. Finding Mad Anthony?s coffee shop for a late breakfast. I overhear that it?s around noon. The Italian Roast coffee is good, in fact, it would prove to be the best coffee of the trip.

One of the pleasures of traveling by motorcycle is that it?s an easy conversation starter. People ask you where your coming from, where you?re heading, ask about your bike, tell you?re about their bike or the one they wish they had. One of the peculiarities of these conversations is that if the person even remotely knows of anyone that has died on a motorcycle, they will be sure to share this fact along with details. These stories usually involve a deer, a car pulling out, or someone taking a corner to fast. The conversation goes something like this:

Stranger?nice bike?
You?thanks?
Stranger?my cousin Bob had a friend that hit a deer and died on his bike?

Short silence.

You?yeah, deer are dangerous, got to be careful?

I?m not exaggerating when I say I?ve held variations on this conversation many times. Luckily this isn?t the conversation I have with the owner of Mad Anthony?s. He?s a former sailboat instructor who now finds the same release and head clearing on his motorcycle that he used to get from his sailboat.

This brings to mind the same wave ? don?t way dynamic that occurs between sail boaters and power boaters, very similar to the sportbike & HD crowd.

The proprietor is a coffee guru, we discuss roasting (my Italian roast was just roasted Wednesday this week). We talk about the good and the evil of Starbucks. We?re both in agreement that they over roast their regular coffee, but I think their foo foo drinks are tasty. He has in his shop both the Bodum press and the Bodum vacuum coffee pot that I got my mom for x-mas. A shameless plug here, the Bodum vacuum coffee pot makes the best home coffee ever. It?s also an entertaining crowd pleaser, no joke.

Leaving Waynesboro the plan was 340 northward to 33, then into Harrisonburg, VA (home of the Valley Mall and JMU). 340 proved to be boring so I jumped on 256, Port Republic Road, for a better ride to Harrisonburg. I don?t know if the coffee wore off or if I was just worn out. I pull over at Westover Park, pick out a spot of grass, and take a good nap in the sun.

I had my motorcycle bug handed down to me by my step-dad. My kindergarten year of school we moved right at the end of the school year. Rather than switch schools at this inopportune time my Dad stuck me on the back of his Honda and rode me to school and back again for the last month or two. Even earlier than that I have a great photo of me in 1973-4 sitting on his chopper with him. Me in a diaper and him with his long hippy hair. The wild side of the Reverend indeed.

Refreshed from my nap it?s back on 33 westbound. Heading out of the Shenandoah Valley and Rockingham County is more glorious twisty roads and the George Washington National Forest. GW is a beautiful tree canopy lined road with a river off to one side. Franklin, WV is the destination, a return to the Star Hotel.

I stayed at the Star a few years prior when they first re-opened the historic Star Hotel. The owner, Steve Miller, is a great guy, friendly and conversational. I told him I?d be back again, but it?s been a few more years than I thought. Late lunch at the Star is pesto grilled chicken on ciabatta bread with roasted red peppers. Not the type of fare one might associate with West Virginia, but people have misperceptions about everywhere. Steve promises a prime rib later at dinner tonight to die for.

So that there is no misunderstanding, in as much as the Sleepy Hollow Hotel was a dive, the Star Hotel is a dream.

Dump the gear in the room back on the bike for some roaming around. I head back to explore a river road I passed on the way in, Rock Gap. It?s a gravel affair and I follow it back a little ways. Photo some river shots. Down further there is a large cliff face with some college aged kids de-gearing after a day of climbing. I?ll try to stop back in tomorrow and shoot some climbing action, as well as some fly fishing.

I pick up a bottle of Barefoot Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, and drop it off with Steve at the Star to keep for later. I?ll enjoy that bottle later tonight from the 3rd floor front porch. South out of town I head, into some very secondary roads. I shoot an old decrepit cabin that would be right up Bobby Sargent?s alley. I put it in the metal folder for a possible future model shoot location, along with the river spots I?ve seen.

There are a couple more stops on this little ride. Once for what appears to be a feral chicken, and then for middle of the road stare down with a young doe. She?s camera shy though and is off before I can get a shot. Sportbike probably isn?t the best conveyance for nature photography. The pavement stops and gravel begins, I motor on. Rick & I once spent a full day just about on gravel roads, crisscrossing the back country around Cumberland, MD. So I?m comfortable with the less than ideal riding surface. A few miles on the road dead ends at a pair of chicken houses (source of the feral chicken?s ancestors perhaps?) and I turn around and survey the valley I?ve just ridden through. I have to stop the bike and soak in the scene. A picturesque farm is nestled in the corner of the valley, up against the hills. I meet some inquisitive cows, along with the farmer and his wife.

It seems that when you are in WV and you pass a sign that says ?snow removal ends here? that the already suspect road conditions are going to quickly deteriorate and will soon resemble somewhat more of a logging road. I motor on through some back country, no houses, no farms, just mountains, steep roadside cliffs, and wicked gravel switchback curves. The part that gives you the willies are the downhill corners where the road grade is slanted to the outside of the curve and to the drop below. Yikes!

I creep along where a four wheeler would be much more functional. Although I still hit it a bit in the straights. Pavement arrives again and I?m unsure of my exact location. I follow the chicken farmers directions and soon discover myself back in Brandywine, intersecting the same stretch of 33 I rode on my way into Franklin.

Back at the Star Hotel it?s a shower and fresh clothes before heading down for dinner. Downstairs I find the prime rib to be as good as promised.

Entry Five

How beautifully staged is this. Barefoot on the 3rd floor patio, wine to ease the back and the ache in the knee.

205 miles today, the last 30 after check in, just to explore.

Sunday

Entry Six

Out early in the morning. I find no climbers at Rock Gap, unsure of the hours they keep. Out of Franklin on 33 west, looking for another squiggly line I had seen on a map. Bland Hill Road name is a misnomer. A single lane country road winding through German Valley. I got a few shots of German Valley from the 33 overlook before turning on Bland Hill. Now I find myself in the same location I had shot from above.

The road cuts through some open pasture land and I meet some cows standing in the road after rounding one bend. They?re pleasant enough, if in no particular hurry to cross, and don?t mind posing for a shot or two before meandering on. People talk about the danger of hitting a deer, a cow would really ruin your day! Off of Bland Hill and on down into the valley. I come up on the rock formation I had seen from the overlook previously. It?s not Seneca Rocks, but a formation of the same ilk. I get some more photos, then onto German Valley Road. I?m still staying at the Star, there is no real destination today. It?s relaxing to stop as much as I like.

German Valley Road puts me back on 33 west and not long after I?m ordering breakfast at the Valley View Restaurant. Dale Borgeson warns of places that advertise home cooking, but that?s about all you see in these parts. There are a fair number of cars here and that?s usually a good since the food will be alright. Hell, even the Army could make a good breakfast. It all works out and it?s a hell of a deal, for toast, two eggs, hash browns, bacon, and coffee.

From 33 I hit 28 and turn off on Smoke Hole Road, just because it?s there and looks interesting. Boy, what a find it is. Combining the curvy one lane country road with nice wide smooth pavement (gravel free in the corners). It?s great. Smoke Hole Road turns out to run from 28 across the Seneca Rocks National Forest to 220 on the other side. Going west-to-east it starts out all curves and hills, then ends by winding along the south branch of the Potomac. There are lots of fly fishermen here enjoying the catch-and-release section of the river.

Up 220 to Petersburg, I run into some Ducati guys at the gas station. We swap riding info and I?m soon on 42 north towards Mayville. Hanging a left when I see a sign for Dolly Sods. I?m back on secondary roads and I soon pass another prophetic ?no snow removal? signs. It?s gravel the rest of the way up the mountain til it breaks out on top at Dolly Sod.

I?m real happy with today?s roads, as both Smoke Hole Road and Dolly Sods were unplanned ?discovered adventures?. I do some rock scrabbling at Dolly Sod and enjoy the cliff top views. A fellow tourist snaps a shot for me an I hike out well past the distance that the casual tourist and families go. Shot some more shots of the rock formations with both the digital and film camera. Do some more self-portraits. I then sit down to relax in the sun with the cliff side breeze steadily blowing and update this journal.

Entry Seven

Well, fellow traveler, if you?ve made it this far I am duly impressed. I thank you for your perseverance. The rest of the day was spent riding without incident. Just more fantastic roads. You don?t have to be an explore on par with Lewis & Clark to find great rides in West Virginia. Just be curious in nature and unafraid to leave the beaten path. Drop off the numbered roads and take the route less traveled. Soon you?ll be in your own undiscovered country. Blah blah blah.

Out of Dolly Sod and I find myself on 32. Rough calculations put the dirt road travel around 25 miles for the day. While we are on stats, here?s today?s animal road count:

1 rooster
1 dead fox
2 cows
8 chipmunks
7 alive
1 dead
3 dead possums
1 squirrel
1 dead blob (undistinguishable)
No fearsome deer
1 dog

I guided myself today by a rather non-descript map put out by mountainhighlands.com

Leaving Dolly Sod on 32 puts me in Dry Fork and back on familiar 33 west to Elkins. I cruise around Elkins on the off chance I?ll run into a guy I know named Dallas. Now all you need to know about Dallas is the following:

I don?t know his last name
I once gave him a hair cut with dog grooming clippers
I know he works at a bike shop making choppers

You figure the odds of me finding him, near zero.

If your curious it wasn?t the first time I cut hair, albeit the first time using dog shears. In Korea I cut in the latrine for a cut or for a 6 pack. Everything was barter in the Army. We had a cook that would make you a great custom birthday cake for a case of beer or feed you food out of the back of the chow hall at 3am when you staggered in drunk from the ville for the promise of a future round to be bought. Korea stories could fill another journal.

Anyway, out of Elkins and south to Beverly. Scott, if your reading this you were on my mind as I went through town, never forgive, never forget.

So far I?ve only tried to write about the positive food experiences of the trip without throwing anyplace under the bus. C&J in Beverly however, served only barely functional burgers and the vanilla shake was of the worst chemical prefab variety. There are some things that I am stuck on, good vanilla ice cream is one. The others that I?m picky about are beer, whiskey, steak, cheese-steak, and coffee. It?s just so disappointing when something you usually enjoy turns out to be sub par.

After C&J it?s 250 east to 28, which heads back towards Seneca Rocks and Franklin. It?s a good haul through the Monongahela National Forest. A road of the scenic variety, with good twisties up the mountain and through the scenery. These type road have become quite a common occurrence here in WV. Back in Seneca Rocks and 33 east into Franklin. I never shoot Seneca Rocks, the light is never right, number one can tell you how I get about my light.

The Star?s restaurant is closed on Sunday, dagger, so I shower and head into Franklin by foot. About Franklin, WV. It?s a nice little town, quiet and sleepy. No bars other than the VFW that I could see. Everybody I?ve met and spoken too has be pleasant, friendly and conversational, both here in Franklin and elsewhere in WV. I?m sure there are a variety of characters much as anywhere, this is just my observation from the tourist level.

Following last night precedent I grab another vino from the Shell station. The Star being closed is a dilemma; I?m in need of a cork screw (having borrowed the restaurants the night before). I wander back down to the hotel, wine in hand, and past the hotel just a bit til I meet an old man sitting out front. I explain my situation, wine without access, and he says he?ll sell me a corkscrew. He goes in the house, shortly to return with the necessary implement in hand. I figure I have it for -4 or maybe rent it for a one time use for . That proves unnecessary however, he says just to take it, and keep it for any future need.

The sole booking for the hotel tonight, I?m like a wraith as I glide through the halls. On the front porch with my bottle of vino in hand. I have some cheap cigars I also picked up and there?s nothing to do but kick back and watch the sunset.

It?s been a great trip. Somewhat lonesome at times. The lack of someone to talk to surely let to the length of this journal. It was a trip to getaway, to reflect. There was no great revelation or anything, just time to get to know yourself. The road gives you time to think. I know who I am and I like being me. I know what?s missing.

I?m resolved to take more bike trips in the future. It?s definitely my preferred way to travel and vacation. Motorcycling is the way to go.

Tomorrow I have my route generally planned out, more scenic byways for a winding route home.

Miles today, 240.

Monday

Entry Seven

Just a short postscript. 20 miles east of Washington DC, on 66, the chain popped off the bike. It?s never easy.

Carrie Skulley and Kevin Slourney
For six years following, they managed a long-distance relationship at different colleges and took turns pursuing higher education, while the other took a supporting role. Skulley, now 29, had begun classes for her masters in Political Science at ?
Read more on Los Angeles Times

Anna Wood goes to Hollywood
?We often find ourselves in a long-distance relationship. It can be a challenge, but it is also a constant reminder of how much we love each other, and that our relationship is worth fighting for.? In LA, Wood traveled to 1986 ? in two different roles, ?
Read more on Mount Airy News

Dr. Bonnie Gives Startling Advice for Making Commuter Marriages Work:
How to Make Long Distance Relationships Sizzle and How to Manage a Narcissist When couples take time apart to nourish their own friendships and interests, it's a sign of a healthy relationship. But what to do when facing a "commuter marriage" or long ?
Read more on PR Web (press release)

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Source: http://getting-back-your-ex.com/articles/newest-starting-long-distance-relationship-news/

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How Acupuncture Weight Loss Can Keep Off the Flab | Fitness and ...

Squeeze yourself into a tiny white bikini. Show off your chiseled abs on the beach. If you are looking for alternative and non-invasive ways to get ready for summer, then consider using acupuncture for weight management. While it may seem completely unbelievable for some people that needles placed on various parts of the body can do something about your weight, believe it or not, this is actually an acceptable weight loss treatment in China. For so long now, the Chinese have been using acupuncture as a way to cure sickness and various ailments in the body. If you are wondering if this weight loss method is for you, here is a quick overview of how it works and what you can expect.

The Concept of Qi or Chi
The Chinese believe in the concept of qi or chi, which is life energy that flows through the body. Throughout a person?s existence, his chi may get imbalanced, leading to sickness. When it comes to weight, it is said the Chinese believe that it is the digestive system that has energy obstructions. Even if Western medicine is still skeptical about?acupuncture for weight loss, the sheer number of people who say that it has helped them is a testament to its resounding success.

How Acupuncture Works
Acupuncture for weight management is more than just needles. Because the goal is to balance the digestive system, the acupuncturist may prescribe a series of breathing exercises, herbal teas, and diet modifications. Just like getting a check-up, you will have to undergo some tests so the acupuncturist can figure out what is wrong with you.?

Usually, the he will ask you about your dietary patterns and if you have problems with your digestion. He will check your pulse for the general state of your qi, and will try to zero in on problems relating to your stomach. He will ask you to open your mouth so he can inspect your tongue for abnormal signs like peeling, cracking, or coating. When he is done with all of this, he can then write up a treatment protocol for weight loss.?

The number of actual needle treatments you have with the doctor will depend on how fast you want to drop the pounds. It may look painful, but the truth is that you will hardly feel a thing. The doctor will also talk to you about pressure points that you should be squeezing or pinching throughout the day. You may also be asked to drink herbal mixtures that are designed to increase the speed of your body?s metabolic furnace. Last but not least, you will also be asked to watch the calories and do moderate exercise.?

Like any other kind of weight loss program, acupuncture weight loss treatments will work for you if you are willing to devote time and energy to it. It takes time to work, and it will require your full participation. Follow the treatment protocol by your acupuncturist faithfully, and acupuncture for weight management will get you a beach body just in time for some summer fun.

Source: http://fitnesshealthtoday.com/how-acupuncture-weight-loss-can-keep-off-the-flab/

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New data fuel debate over prostate cancer screening

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Updated results from a long-term study concludes that regular prostate cancer screening cuts the risk of death from prostate cancer.

But there was no overall difference in death rates between men who got screened and those who didn't. And the lower chances of dying of prostate cancer came at a high cost.

To prevent just one death, researchers found,1,055 men would need to be offered screening and 37 would be diagnosed with cancer and forced to make tough decision about whether or not to undergo treatment.

What's more, only two of the eight countries involved in the study saw fewer prostate cancer deaths, while the others six did not.

Screening is done with a simple blood test that measures levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA.

The new findings come just months after a large American study found no benefit of screening men at average risk and are unlikely to quell the current controversy over PSA testing.

Three years ago, doctors with the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) reported that PSA testing, found 1,410 men would need to be screened to prevent one prostate cancer death.

In the process, 47 men would be diagnosed with cancer, risking side effects from treatment without benefiting.

The new results from the European team extend the follow-up period from the earlier study to 11 years on average for more than 162,000 men ages 55 to 69.

The updated study shows slightly more benefits in terms of cancer deaths than the earlier data.

Dr. Fritz Schroder, who coordinated the study, said he expects future updates to show even bigger differences between screened and unscreened men.

"On the other hand, the main downside is overdiagnosis," Schroder told Reuters Health by email, referring to the dozens of tumors that would be detected by screening, yet would never have become deadly if left alone.

Men with prostate cancer have different treatment options, ranging from a wait-and-see approach to radiation or surgery. The invasive treatments may have complications and often lead to impotence and incontinence.

The new results were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Two of Schroder's co-authors hold a patent for a PSA test, and one is receiving royalties from it.

One in six American men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, although only a minority of them will die from the disease.

The PSA test is given annually to millions of American men, but more and more experts question whether it's worth the money and the false alarms it triggers in about half the people flagged by the test.

The government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has proposed a recommendation against prostate cancer screening for men with no symptoms.

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the European study is actually eight studies in eight countries, and only in Sweden and the Netherlands did PSA testing significantly reduce the risk of death from prostate cancer.

"Screening saves lives if you live in the Netherlands and Sweden, but not the other six places," he told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

One factor that may have skewed the Swedish data, he said, is that men who were screened were treated at an academic medical center, while men in the control group who developed cancer were treated elsewhere in the community. That alone might account for the lower mortality rate in the PSA population.

In all, there were 299 prostate cancer deaths in the screening group compared to 462 in the control group that was not screened.

Brawley said PSA testing is being widely promoted because "there's a huge profit in screening and treatment" for prostate cancer, even though most studies have failed to show that screening saves lives.

In part because the risk from pursuing false alarms is so high," no professional organization recommends routine screening for people over 50, regardless of family history," he said.

Schroder said guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the European Association of Urology, and American Urological Association "provide a sensible recommendation: men who wish to be examined need to be carefully informed with balanced views and answers to their questions before they take a decision to be screened."

In an editorial, public health expert Dr. Anthony Miller of the University of Toronto, said it would be "unwise" to intensify PSA testing.

"I think it would be advisable to follow the preliminary recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force," he wrote.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/yM7UPB New England Journal of Medicine, online March 14, 2012.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/data-fuel-debate-over-prostate-cancer-screening-213639325.html

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U law professor traces roots of same-sex marriage debate ...

As voters consider amending Minnesota?s constitution to define marriage as exclusively a heterosexual right, a University of Minnesota constitutional law professor dives into the U.S. Supreme Court case that led the nation to the doorstep of the issue of same-sex marriage in a just-released book.

For Dale Carpenter, a Republican who is active in trying to defeat the marriage amendment, the high court?s decision in 2003 to strike down the nation?s sodomy laws was the end of a story full of characters and legal drama. In his critically praised book, ?Flagrant Conduct, The Story of Lawrence v. Texas,? Carpenter explains a perfect case with a serious flaw and one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in 50 years.

In 1998, Houston police arrested John Lawrence and Tyrone Garner for having consensual sex in a private home, a crime under Texas law.

?Those are the most sympathetic gay rights cases,? Carpenter said. ?It was like a strike of lighting ? the best possible scenario in which to bring a case.?

Carpenter discovered the weaknesses of the case in eight years of research and writing as he developed the book from what started as a law review article.

?The men were not actually having sex,? he said. ?They were not a loving couple arrested in their home. The circumstance involved a false report to police.?

The police officers, as interviewed in the book, disagreed as to what they had witnessed. Carpenter writes that the defendants? lawyers knew that fact and had to proceed delicately so the case would not look like a set-up.

Their legal finesse moved the case successfully from one judicial level to the next. The lawyers had as their advantage the fact the police initiated the case with an arrest. Then, rather than dispute what the police observed, the defendants did not contest the claim so they could test the constitutionality of the law. Finally, because the defendants were arrested, they could eventually demonstrate that had actually been injured by an unconstitutional law.

High-wire act

Carpenter describes the incremental moves toward the U.S. Supreme Court as a high-wire act. ?The main fear was that if litigation were not successful it would reinforce a bad precedent,? an earlier Supreme Court decision upholding a sodomy law in Georgia, he said. ?And it would be used politically against gay men and lesbians. And when would you get this kind of chance again??

Plus, the legal team had to avoid what Carpenter calls the ?M? word. ?When you make an argument, you don?t want to instill fear in the justices that if they strike down the sodomy law, the next thing they must do is uphold same-sex marriage claims,? he said.

Defense lawyers had to convince the high court that Americans supported the right to privacy when it involved their intimate lives and that the justices would be following not leading the nation.

But the decision, according to Carpenter, did remove ?a huge judicial obstacle on the road to gay marriage. It described what?s at stake in the case as being about relationships.?

Carpenter explains in the book how Justice Antonin Scalia?s dissenting opinion actually underscored the argument by asking: If we decide people have the right to intimate relationships, how can we deny them the right to marry?

?In some ways, he wrote the first draft of the brief in favor of gay marriage,? Carpenter said.

Carpenter said he believes that Lawrence v. Texas is as far as Americans are going to go at this time in accepting gay and lesbian relationships.

?People believe that while gays and lesbians have the right to privacy in their personal lives, they believe that marriage is not simply the matter of one?s intimate life, it is the basis of the family structure and they believe that keeping gay couples from getting married is important to preserving families,? he said.

via U law professor traces roots of same-sex marriage debate | MinnPost.

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2. Marriage is best for raising children
3. Two Vancouver school trustees want to be removed from campaign against gay marriage
4. Marriage attacked and defended
5. Modern romance: Gen-Y is late to the wedding, but wants marriage

About or from a variety of publications on EducationViews.org

?The quality and variety of the selections you will find on EducationViews.org is second-to-none on the internet today. Since 1997 we have been providing this service at no cost to education professionals, the public in general and policy makers. Hope you enjoy the articles and commentary. Please forward us to your friends and associates. EducationViews.org is maybe the most effective way to transforming educators. The daily email offers a direct and easy way for busy teachers to grow philosophically. I was skeptical, but once you open the email and decide to read a story, you are hooked and it becomes a daily ritual to check out what?s happening. Educating teachers as to what is really going on in the schools opens up a new worldview and vision of thinking most have not been exposed to. The end result, better informed teachers who have a more effective understanding of the principles that make academic achievement a reality. Great job. The more email addresses of educators you get on your list, the bigger the impact and the more kids you will positively influence.

Source: http://educationviews.org/2012/03/14/u-law-professor-traces-roots-of-same-sex-marriage-debate/

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dagoba drinking chocolate ? Natural Aphrodisiac and Gourmet ...

If you?re feeling like updating your breakfast or bedtime drink with something sexy, we recommend this organic chocolate goodness as just the thing to take the edge off a chill in the air. The drinking chocolate is a rich, powdered drink (meant to be mixed with milk or a milk alternative) made from Fair Trade cocoa powder mixed with just enough cane sugar and chocolate to give cacao a kiss of sweetness. Even in its presentation, this drink is sensual, with directions reading, ?When vapors rise the milk will be at its most receptive to accept chocolate into its embrace.? If you need the added boost of aphrodisiac spice, Dagoba also makes drinking chocolates in Chai, flavored with ginger and chai spice and Xocolatl, blended with chile and spice to resemble Montezuma?s favorite drink (the one, as legend goes, he used to maintain his virility!)

For more information, visit http://www.dagobachocolate.com.

Source: http://www.eatsomethingsexy.com/wordpress/product-of-the-week/dagoba-drinking-chocolate/

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Spring diet and treatment with tea | medicine advice info

Spring is coming and we should think about fitting dresses with form.?In cold weather, our figure loses its elasticity and it is now time to take in hand, of course if we like to smile contentedly on what we see in the mirror.
Our body creates a protective layer of fat over the winter to protect us from hypothermia.?These are normal physiological processes that can not easily resist, but should not.?We, however, with the coming of spring to make the desired changes in the way the look and feel.

To achieve the desired weight, there are different ways, but one of the most effective and simplest is to remove all sugary foods and drink only quality tea.?It helps the body clean and speed up the absorption of food, nourishing it with vitamins and minaret, improves memory and health, improves eyesight and helps to burn fats.
Today I will show you how to lose weight with tea.
Schedule of taking tea.
Is very active morning tea stimulates the intestines and has an overall impact on the body.?Tea removes all harmful deposits, including fat, which dissolves.?After use of strong tea, you can wake up with a strong appetite.?Try to beat him, wait half an hour and have a sense of freshness and lightness.
After lunch, tea helps the absorption of food into the body.?You can use this function effectively.?During and immediately after eating it, do not drink tea because it is a liquid with low fat and dilutes the gastric juice, which creates difficulties in digesting food.?Drink tea half an hour after lunch.
Tea drinking that night, will help the food to be considered better than the body will prepare your body for sleep, dispersing the fat in it.?If you are drinking tea for 8-9 hours, sleep will be loud and wake will be easy.?Strong afternoon tea produces a strong appetite, which is a signal that does its job well.
At night, the tea act most intense and therefore create a habit of drinking tea sletobyad, at that time avoiding sweets hrani.Tyaloto will react immediately and you will feel better.
What is good tea?
Approximately 7000 different vitamins, compounds, minerals, resins, proteins and other substances contained in tea.?They have a complex impact toning and purifying your body of toxins.?Some useful compounds are formed after contact with gastric juice.?Polyphenols and amino acids are essential components of tea.
Tea blocks the synthesis of cholesterol and protects the liver and heart.
Clean and treat blood vessels, which helps prevent diabetes and malignant? tumors.?Theine in tea is very similar to caffeine, but not dangerous for the heart.Delicate tones blood vessels, without increasing blood pressure, improves muscle tone.?It lowers blood sugar is essential in the process of losing weight.
Tea contains vitamins A, E, C and E and minerals ? zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, manganese, fluoride, which are important for normal functioning of our body.?So, drink lots of tea and do not eat sugar.

Source: http://medicine-advice-info.com/medicine-advice/2012/03/13/spring-diet-and-treatment-with-tea/

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