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lundi, juin 30, 2008

Obama candidate colporteur loses in November

Their team will start with weeks of warm biographical ads touting
McCain's heroism and leadership. These ads carry divisive, don't be
surprised, images of a financial moral crisis, the real estate
collapse, victim's families, troops, firefighters, gas prices maybe a
terrorist or two and a body.

Enter a newly compiled mountain of money at the convention. Pay a
black talking head to bowdlerize. Throw in dollars to Nader-Matt
Gonzalez for viability seasoning. Vicious, tasteless rounds of
negative ads targeted at Youtube. 30 second spots where Obama is
wrong on the economy, wrong on taxes, wrong on defense, a possible
terrorist of questionable gender orientation who lacks courage and
can't be trusted. He'll make Muslims happy. He is no friend to women.
He will take jobs and important opportunities from white workers and
white children. Latinos and Jews should worry. The seared weak link
for us is in the swing states between August and November -- there
will be no time to get to the truth. You know how easy it is to stick
a black male face with a negative association,
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ ?

We won't be able to stop it. Unflattering photo after photo of Obama,
his wife, his family, ministers, old friends, pepper media outlets.
Co-branding bad with black people should be easy enough to do.
Disinformation, even Mrs. Clinton used the technique effectively
against Obama. If you can't convince them confuse them. Gore was a
RAT. Kerry the decorated hero a coward. At best Obama is a young
"just a speech maker", naive enough to give this country to the
terrorists and apologize and stain the name of the men and women who
have fallen in valor.

Go forward months in time. Am I lying to you? Look at the polls.
There are no rules. Imagine the red meat strategists who served with
our opponents before. Can you see their faces? We should do
everything we can. Don't get me wrong. Fight to the end. Give what
you can afford. But please pray every day. Only the sidereal
metaphysical motions of God can put those two little black daughters
of Obama's playing on the White House lawn as the first family. Pray
that Republicans will find it in their hearts to join with us.

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

London & Bay Area California going gaga for artificial lawns - by grassestimate.com California's synthetic grass leader

British turf wars take a turn for the faux - by grassestimate.com
California's synthetic grass leader

Installers say artificial lawns, like this one outside a residence in
Victoria, B.C., can be an economical choice.

In a land that's always been gaga for gardens, frankly fake grass is
making inroads

London–For the English, gardening is more than just a weekend pastime
or a chance to get some fresh air. In some quarters, gardening ranks
higher than soccer players or Royal Family shenanigans when it comes
to national obsessions.

The Chelsea Flower Show, held in one of London's toniest
neighbourhoods each May, draws royalty, rock stars and the nation's
leading fashion and literary figures.

The BBC provides four straight days of wall-to-wall live coverage of
Chelsea, not out of a sense of service from a public broadcaster, but
because the prime-time ratings are there to justify the attention.

Britons are tuned in and turned on to their gardens like few others.

How then, to explain the sudden surge in demand for fake grass?

At the esteemed Royal Horticultural Society, which runs Chelsea along
with other major gardening shows, there are neither gasps of shock nor
sharp intakes of breath at the notion of fake grass.

Helen Bostock, a horticultural adviser who answers queries from the
society's thousands of members, says the horticultural society has
recently used artificial grass in one of its demonstration gardens at
Wisley Gardens in Surrey.

"We don't get that many inquiries about it, but I do think that is
because people somehow feel guilty for even thinking about it,"
Bostock says of the trend.

"It's as though they feel we'll think they are cheating."

But, she notes, the horticultural society's information leaflets
include details of four suppliers and she sees demand growing for a
variety of reasons.

"People have second homes more now, which means they have two gardens
to maintain."

She also points to the aging population as a market for fake grass.

"The maintenance aspect of a grass lawn is high and it is difficult
for people as they get older. An unkempt lawn can make older people on
their own more vulnerable."

Barry Evans agrees. His London company, Easigrass, has just installed
an artificial lawn at the home of an 87-year-old woman who was
struggling to keep up the maintenance.

"Her daughter lives in France and they thought this would be the best
solution," Evans says. The past year or so has seen demand for his
products soar, he says.

In his largely residential corner of southwest London, he deals with
hundreds of inquiries a week.

"I had one client install it about a month ago and now I've got four
other jobs from friends of her who came round and saw it," he says.

Evans and Bostock agree that the key reason is the better quality of
the fake grass that has recently become available.

In the demonstration at Wisley Gardens, Bostock says, "Most people
walked right by. They did not spot what was different about it. It is
very convincing."

The new generation of fake grasses includes different shades for
different climates and strands of brown grass to give it an air of
authenticity, Evans says.

His supplier also provides an underlay made of recycled tires.

Most people turn to artificial grass because they have children or
dogs and find it difficult to keep a tidy lawn, he says.

"People just get tired of a boggy mess every spring that you cannot
use," he says. "It's about reclaiming your garden as a room."

His clients are not limited to families short on time to mow on
weekends; his company just installed a fake lawn in a $12 million
house on Belgrave Square, one of London's most desirable addresses.

The newer fake lawns have improved drainage and do not stain, Evans
says. His grass comes with an eight-year guarantee, but most
artificial lawns will last 15 to 20 years.

"I don't know of too many gardeners who give an eight-year guarantee
on their work," he says.

A city-sized garden that is about 25 metres deep would cost about
$2,500 to have fake grass professionally installed, Evans says.

With gardeners charging $20 to $30 an hour just to mow a lawn in
London, he says a maintenance-free fake lawn looks increasingly
attractive to homeowners.

Award-winning landscape designer Tony Smith's company, Hortus
infinitus, uses artificial grass in its work on school playgrounds.

"We do a proper garden design and incorporate the things that kids
need, including grass to play on that is soft underfoot," he says. The
frequent wet weather turns real grass into a muddy mess when kids play
on it for hours, he notes, whereas fake grass drains well.

Smith says such is the appeal of the new artificial lawns on the
market that he knows of several colleagues in the competitive world of
garden design who have opted for it in their own backyards.

"I, personally, would much rather have proper grass because it is a
natural habitat for insects and animals," he says. In some situations,
he notes, fake grass is a sound choice, especially if it is replacing
paving stones or concrete.

On the question of whether it is a good idea to use a plastic product
to replace an organic one, Nick Heywood of Greenlinks, another fake
grass supplier, says his product offers at least two environmental
benefits:

"You're not putting petrol in your mower or using electricity, and you
are not watering it, so you are saving on water."

Heywood did mention that year-round green grass that is the norm in
Britain might stand out a bit should the trend hit big in Canada,
where most grass goes dormant over the winter.

Even so, Rob Hodichak, of Artificial Grass and Landscaping in Stoney
Creek, says his residential business took off three years ago because
of demand.

"Every time I installed a sports ground I'd have people involved in
the project asking me to install it in their backyard. Before too
long, the light bulb went on and we set up this residential division,"
he says.

The company now gets 10 to 15 calls a day and Hodichak says they sell
an artificial lawn a week at a cost of $3,000 to $15,000.

The product has a two-tone colour, he says, which means it does not
stand out too much from neighbouring lawns, and the cost is comparable
to interlocking brick and cheaper than installing a deck.

by grassestimate.com California's synthetic grass leader

European credit union or non-profit financial institution

What would you recommend? Is anyone keeping money in a non-profit in
euros abroad? What credit unions in which countries are the best?

Best,
Perry

perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

jeudi, juin 26, 2008

Re[8 days later]: Where are the Black Americans at Cal?

The discussion we've had these past 8 days has Cal trying to make
changes with the Regents. Thank you.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/26/MN8K11E9CN.DTL&hw=uc+considers+changing&sn=001&sc=1000

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Perry Gregg <perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:51:18 -0800
Subject: Where are the Black Americans at Cal?
To: harvard-bay-area@ushow2.org, harvard-bay-area@yahoogroups.com,
harvardla@yahoogroups.com, harvardla@ushow2.org,
cal-bay-area@ushow2.org, stanford-bay-area@ushow2.org

Harvard's college class next year is 11% African American. How did UC
Berkeley become a school without Blacks? How is it we may have a Black
man be President and Cal no longer has the quixotic racial dream to
educate his family?

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

June 26th the hand of God?

Acedia toned comments from a side liner -- not a religious person. In
the back of an office supply isle Albany, CA, two black sales people
were talking to each other yesterday. "$50 for gas for you know that
[old horrific small] car I have to get to work." "I can't afford that
and make my payments." "I'm going to go on. Keep trying no matter how
bad it gets." "You know we know how to do that."

Earlier today a guy I work with confided in me that though he and his
wife both work, if the Bay Area real estate market keeps collapsing
and his association fees keep going up, he'll lose his condo. He
doesn't want that to happen.

Doesn't the force of this strike you in the heart? I asked an Italian
friend couple last weekend what they thought of Obama maybe being
President. They did hand gestures over their hearts (Italians have
many signs), they "said everyone knows it is time." "Everyone knows
it here [pointing to their hearts] it is time and a good thing for a
black American to lead."

Close your eyes. Do you see the quaquaversal confluence of events
here? American after American is being embarrassed and humbled.
Events abroad, then our injured troops brought home without the best
heath care, few jobs and no homes. Our throttlebottom team rushed
them to judgment and hung a man named Hussein. On their return an
unrelated man whose middle name is Hussein may win his seemingly
impossible bid to be President. What is the universe trying to tell
us?

On our path to resurrection, the rest of America meets black America.
The hardscrabble outcasts. The down trodden. The jailed, stopped,
Ralph Ellison invisible people amongst them. So many mothers of
different creeds never let humiliation stop them from raising their
children with hope. Even when we didn't succeed, we tried again. Rest
of America meet black America. We each know many things the other
needs. Reach out your hand. Shake. We may need to sing a Negro
spiritual together about grace before this is over. If the best of us
step up (and I mean you Republicans too please), we are going to get
it back. We are going to set it right. We have a chance to change
ourselves to be healthier than ever. Pat your heart as the Italians
do.

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

mercredi, juin 25, 2008

[Read King P.S. quote] 50 Obama events in the Bay Area this Sat., you pick?

Here's an interactive map, addresses and the URL to pick the gathering
closest to you.

http://bayareaobama50.notlong.com

Perry

P.S. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in
a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but
by the content of their character." [Martin Luther King, Jr.] We can
do it. Yes we can. Yes we can.

samedi, juin 21, 2008

Working Class Voters

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Evans <d...@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 4:33 PM
Subject: Working Class Voters
To: perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu


Perry,

Vermont is essentially an all-white state; hence, it's not a stretch
to assume that the vast majority of working citizens who recently
wrote to their senator, Bernie Sanders (Ind., VT), about their
economic plight were white. If their experiences reflect state-wide
economic stress, then surely it affected some of the Vermonters who
voted for Senator Barack Obama when he defeated Senator Hillary
Clinton by 20.7 percentage points on March 4, 2008. I would wager,
too, that there were working-class citizens who cast their ballots for
him in Alaska, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming where he also won and the
demographics are similar to Vermont.

Doesn't this merit a reexamination of the flawed-but-fashionable
analysis that Barack Obama cannot attract white working-class voters.
This unfortunate assessment was especially popular after the returns
from rural Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky where there might
have been other issues at play.


Best regards,

David

Want to laugh at Perry, quaff this

In sales they teach you win broadcast, loss recovery. There is no way
I should share this document according to that rule? Apparently Dr.
Daniel Guhr from Oxford & Brandeis, founder and managing director of
the Illuminate Consulting Group, is teaching a course (with 5 breakout
sessions?) on alumni networking. I am the featured case story after
Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, YouTube of what not to do in
alumni social networking. Hardly what I dreamed of becoming (he says
embarrassed), but at least I made the list. Read page 38 of his
"academic analysis" PDF and then page 5. Dr. Guhr is the former
President of the Oxford University Society San Diego Branch?

http://www.alumnifutures.com/files/icg_case_online_communities_seminar_pdf_08_03_12.pdf

Perry

P.S. Remember the blaxsploitation films of the 70s. Dr. Guhr (cc-ed
above) has me realizing I seem to be the social networking
Harvardploitation version of one of those movies. Remember John
Shaft, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaxploitation . I loved that
guy. You know the question in an interview "what negative things
would 'so and so' say about you?" Thanks to Dr. Guhr, I don't think I
can miss on that one.

vendredi, juin 20, 2008

Green and clean, time to take a new look at artificial grass by grassestimate.com

Time to take a new look at artificial grass

Landscape contractor Wade Petrini of Scotts Valley pounds a final
stake Tuesday into the recycled polyethlene "grass" in front of Scotts
Valley Water District's reclamation plant office.

Most people still cringe when someone mentions Astroturf, the plastic
grass from the 1970s.

Wade Petrini, however, winces when he sees vast housing developments
with big lawns of real grass.

Ask him about Astroturf, and he smiles.

"Astroturf was the mother concept," he said. "There were water
restrictions then, and they saw the need for a lawn substitute that
didn't need water."

Astroturf had largely commercial applications, such as in sports
stadiums. At the time, homeowners turned up their noses at the idea of
a fake-looking "lawn."

But artificial lawns have changed, said Petrini, a landscape
contractor and owner of Artificial Lawns Direct of Scotts Valley,
which installs Pregra artificial grass.

Because of technological advances, an artificial lawn can be so
real-looking that it fools the casual observer, Petrini said.

A close-up shows the more realistic look of today's artificial turf
compared with the original Astroturf of the 1970s. Lucjan
Now made of mostly recycled polyethylene — tested and found "safe" by
the Synthetic Turf Council — it has other advantages, too, he said.

An artificial lawn saves on water, lawn-mower gas, insecticides and
weed killers, as well as discouraging gophers and being kid friendly
and durable enough to be used in dog runs, he said.

Grass stains become a thing of the past, as well, he said.

Petrini said increased demand has knocked down the cost.

"Five years ago, we charged about $13 a square foot," he said. "I've
become a factory-direct dealer, and now I charge $7 to $7.50 a square
foot."

He said business has quadrupled in the past two years, a jump he
attributes to the cut in water use and the product's low maintenance
level.

Typically, he said, his crew will replace a damaged lawn with
artificial grass and install a drip watering system for remaining
plantings in a yard. In a recent project, a garden's water demand
dropped from 2,000 gallons a month to 85, he said.

mardi, juin 17, 2008

Want to see what our media genius Martin Perlmutter is up to, hireme.tv?

"ShoutOuts" and "Video Vitas", Marty really has produced the cure for
the common resume. For Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo Hotjobs this company
has acquisition target written all over its back. Great work dude.

http://www.hireme.tv

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

samedi, juin 14, 2008

Private Atherton Estate Fund Raiser -- Organic Farming Cause 6/21

Location: Private Atherton Estate
Address will be sent to those who register, Atherton, CA US
View Map |
When: Saturday, June 21, 6:00PM
Phone: 650-856-8041

We'd like to invite you to the hottest party of the season on the
longest day of the year-- a private benefit concert and dance party to
benefit Hidden Villa and Old Skool Cafe.

6 PM : VIP Reception
7 PM : General Admission
8 PM : Concert
9:30 PM - 2:00 AM: After Party and Dancing

Tickets:
-- $150 VIP Backstage (meet & greet with artists)--
-- $100 VIP (includes dinner, concert and dance party)--
-- $60 General Admission & dance party--

No one will be admitted to the event without a ticket. Thisis a
private benefit event; exact address will be sent to ticket holders.
There will be approx. 400 people at the event, but buy your tickets
early as it will sell out.

Buy Tickets by going to www.hosv.org/events.shtml


STEERING COMMITTEE: Anna Alioto . Maria Hermanussen . Celina Lopez .
Charles Marsala . Jeff Pollock . Yvonne Wolters

HOST COMMITTEE: Sheila Ash . Stephanie Block . Gwyneth J. Borden .
Robbie Bradford . Annette Giambronio . Teresa Goines . Todd Greenberg
Hala Hajazi . Kimberly Hathaway . Sam Leftwich . Amy Lesnick . Dave
Morris . Erinne O'Hara . Charleston Pierce . Beth Schnitzer . Lisa
Sonsini Marita Vargas . Eric Wasman


THE MUSIC: Narada Michael Walden
Drummer, Producer, Songwriter, Hitmaker (R & B, Soul &Funk)
Narada's smoldering R&B pop hits introduced such superstars as Whitney
Houston and Mariah Carey to the spotlight. Aretha Franklin, Wynonna
Judd, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and scores of others have sought
Narada out to fashion some of the biggest hits of their careers.
Narada has earned equal acclaim as a recording and performing artist
in his own right and will release his 12th album later this year.
www.naradamichaelwalden.com

THE CAUSES: Hidden Villa is a nonprofit educational organization that
uses its organic farm, wilderness, and community to teach and provide
opportunities to learn about the environment and social justice.
www.hiddenvilla.org

Old Skool Cafe is a one-of-a-kind, youth-run supper club featuring
talented young chefs, waiters and entertainers. They're using a fresh
approach to violence prevention-focusing on rehabilitating and giving
hope to at-risk and previously incarcerated youth.
www.oldskoolcafe.org

PRODUCED BY: Heart of Silicon Valley is a volunteer-run non-profit
that produces intimate concerts to bring professionals,
philanthropists, musicians, and businesses together to give back to
our community in a unique and meaningful way. www.hosv.org

Perry
perry.gregg@post.harvard.edu

lundi, juin 09, 2008

Artificial turf's possible health risks come into play

Artificial turf's possible health risks come into play
grassestimate.com artificial turf leader

NEW YORK - They're always green, never need mowing and can be used by
young athletes in fair weather and foul.

But in many places across the country, artificial turf fields are
becoming as hotly contested as some of the soccer and football games
that are played on them.

A new generation of synthetic grass, made in part with ground-up
rubber from used tires, has proved increasingly popular for schools
and parks as a way to reduce maintenance costs and raise the usage of
athletic fields. In addition to needing no mowing, they require no
watering, fertilizing or weeding, and they dry faster after rain and
hold up to wear and tear better than grass.

But in communities from Connecticut to California, some
environmentally conscious parents have raised questions about the
fields, focusing on the possibility that children could be exposed to
toxins from used tires and to lead in the dyes used in many types of
artificial grass.

"I don't want my kid inhaling that or bringing it home on his shoes,"
said Patricia Taylor, a Connecticut woman who became concerned about
artificial turf fields when her 12-year-old son, Liam, came home with
rubber crumbs in his hair and black rubber dust on his skin.

Questions about the safety of the fields have led legislators in
Minnesota, New Jersey and New York to introduce bills that would bar
the installation of additional artificial turf fields until those
states complete health and environmental studies. Less sweeping bills
in California and Connecticut call for health studies but would not
prohibit new fields.

Industry representatives defend the fields as safe and say the
concerns about health and environmental effects are based on
hypothetical risks.

"For over 40 years, there has never been a case of human illness or
environmental damage arising out of any of the materials used in
synthetic turf," said Rick Doyle, president of the Atlanta-based
Synthetic Turf Council.

Unlike the first generation of artificial turf, developed in the 1960s
and marketed as AstroTurf, newer fields are not hard mats of nylon
grass, which many professional athletes have said can cause increased
knee and foot injuries.

The new fields more closely resemble natural turf because sand and
"crumb rubber" made from ground-up tires are spread on the fields and
settle between the blades of artificial grass, resembling the dirt in
which real grass grows. That makes the fields softer and safer,
according to the turf council, which says 25 million tires are
recycled annually for use in the fields instead of being dumped in
landfills.

Although artificial-turf football or soccer fields can cost $1 million
to install, about twice as much as a grass field, they have proved
popular. An estimated 3,500 artificial fields of all kinds are in use
in the United States, and as many as 1,000 will be added this year,
Doyle said.

The fields have won generally good reviews from coaches and players,
but as more fields are installed in parks and at schools, some parents
have begun questioning their safety at the local and state level.

The issue attracted national attention this spring when two older
artificial fields in New Jersey were closed after the tests found high
lead levels in the fields' nylon fibers. Lead can cause brain damage,
especially in children younger than 6.

Since then, several other fields in New Jersey, New York and
Connecticut have been closed after failing lead tests, and the
Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it would investigate the
potential health effects of exposure to lead in artificial turf
fields.

Doyle said lead chromate, the lead compound used to color artificial
grass, is present in less than 10 percent of the pigments used and it
is incorporated in the plastic resin, meaning it does not wash or
flake off.

Focusing on lead misses the point, said Nancy Alderman, head of
Environmental and Human Health Inc., a nonprofit health advocacy group
in New Haven, Conn., which became involved in the issue after Taylor
and other Connecticut mothers asked it whether the crumb rubber posed
a health or environmental risk.

The group called for a moratorium on new fields after a laboratory
study it commissioned found that heated crumb rubber gives off vapors
containing at least four organic chemicals that can irritate eyes,
skin and lungs, and one of which has been linked to cancer.

On warm days, synthetic-turf fields using crumb rubber can reach
temperatures higher than 130, but it is not known how much of the
chemicals athletes are exposed to.

Alderman points to assessments in Sweden, Norway and Italy of the
compounds found in tires, which concluded that recycled tires should
not be used in synthetic turf, as additional reasons that no more
fields should be built until comprehensive research is done.

Doyle countered that numerous studies in the United States and abroad,
including one by FIFA, the international governing body of soccer,
have concluded that synthetic fields are likely to have little or no
impact on human health or the environment.

But he said his group would welcome impartial tests conducted on
fields, not in laboratories, to determine whether they give off toxic
vapors.

[grassestimate.com artificial turf leader]

David Chiu June 17 San Francisco Board of Supervisors 3rd District Event

Dear Friends – I hope you will join me on June 17th for a gathering to
support David Chiu, in his race for the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors 3rd District seat, in the North Beach/Chinatown/Telegraph
Hill/Polk Street/Nob Hill/Barbary Coast/Fisherman's Wharf area. This
is the district that Aaron Peskin, who is terming out, has represented
for the past two terms. Believe it or not, if David wins, he will be
the first Asian American to ever represent Chinatown.

You know that I rarely reach out to my personal network regarding
political campaigns – but I feel very strongly about what David could
do to help San Francisco. I have known David for many years, and
watched him use the skills he gained at Harvard Law School and the
Harvard Kennedy School to make positive change for communities around
him. David has an impressive collection of endorsements – from Mayor
Gavin Newsom to District Attorney Kamala Harris and Supervisor Aaron
Peskin himself. This reflects what an extraordinary person he is, and
what a difference he could make for our city if elected to office.

I support David, and agreed to be a co-host for this event, because I
feel so strongly that his unique voice can create constructive,
positive dialogue we need to keep San Francisco a great city, and a
great community. Please join me on the 17th at to learn more. We'll be
meeting at the Azul Lounge (1 Tillman Place, off Grant between Post
and Sutter) on Tues, June 17th from 6-8pm. It's a great opportunity
for you to meet and talk to David one-on-one.

You can RSVP to this event at the following URL:

http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=PUMTSWGPCDIWOFZDKSEN

If you cannot attend I encourage you to visit
http://votedavidchiu.org/ to learn more about David.

Please let me know if you can stop by!

All the Best,

Ben

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