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12 dizin , iran , feb. 5— in summer , when the grass grows silky green and the spray of wildflowers on the slopes of the alborz mountains evoke a persian carpet , bagher kalhor herds his family 's 500 sheep high , high up toward the nearly 11,000-foot summit . in winter , when snow blankets the mountains , kalhor , a strapping 22-year-old , dons skis and cuts down those same slopes faster than anyone else in iran . that speed is taking him from this little village nestled along a burbling stream to salt lake city , where he and a cross-country skier , mostafa mirhashemi , constitute the entire olympic team from the islamic republic . as late as last week , when president bush lumped iran with iraq and north korea in an axis of evil , everybody involved in iran 's olympic effort doubted the team would go . but on sunday , the fax machine at the olympic committee headquarters in tehran whirred to life with a letter from their brother organization in the united states . the letter announced that the justice department had granted the team a waiver from the much-reviled regulations demanding that all iranians entering the united states be fingerprinted and photographed . the american organizing committee cautioned that the wheels of immigration bureaucracy in the united states might grind slowly , however , stating , in the event there are any questions , please gently remind the officials that you have received a waiver and ask them to double-check . the iranian team scrambled to depart by wednesday to ensure that it would march in friday 's opening ceremony , anticipating the usual surprise that a country more associated with vast deserts and oil managed to field even two competitors in the winter games . people are always amazed that there are skiers from iran , kalhor said , recalling his most recent qualifying races in italy . the minute the names were announced over the loudspeakers , everyone stared at us with curiosity . he is actually not the only family member expected to compete in utah this winter . a few weeks after the olympics , his twin brother , sadegh , will ski for iran in the games for the disabled . from the time they were 7 until they were 17 , the inseparable boys entered every race together , with sadegh always edging out bagher . it got to the point where people organizing the race would say : 'why bother ? let 's just hand them the trophy , ' their father , ali , said with a grin , noting some 50 trophies and medals adorning the family 's small house furnished solely with rugs and cushions along the walls . a gruesome accident five years ago changed that . taking a last practice run down a racecourse , sadegh slammed at full speed into a weighted guide wire for a piece of mechanical equipment that lay hidden under the snow . the wire sliced through his right leg , severing it below the knee . he was lying on the snow yelling : 'pick up my leg ! pick up my leg ! ' his mother , khanoum darbandsari , recalled , pulling her flowered chador closer around her as she described what witnesses told her about the day . everyone was afraid to touch it . bagher lost every race he entered for an entire year afterward . then sadegh returned from austria , where a good-samaritan coach had gotten him back on the slopes using short skis on his poles for balance . i thought if he was skiing so well on one leg , i should be able to ski that well on two legs , bagher said . i thought my skiing well would encourage him . i think i owe 90 percent of my success in going to the olympics to my brother , who also pushed me . the kalhors are something of a skiing dynasty in iran , with about half the 20 or so members of the national team in various categories -- men and women -- related to each other . each of bagher 's four brothers are either current or former members . it started with ali kalhor , their father , who in his youth tied a few boards to his boots and slid down the local mountains , using sticks cut off trees for poles . i always thought that even with the wooden skis i made i was a great skier , so i encouraged my children to ski , he said . in 1969 , dizin , a mountain hamlet 72 miles north of tehran , officially became a ski resort . the head of the iranian ski federation , stunned that local children were slaloming on twin boards , showed up one day and distributed 100 pairs of skis free . the kalhor household never looked back . by the late 1970 's , iran was sending its best skiers to france for the entire winter and usually 4 of its 10 or so internationally ranked skiers competed in every winter olympics . then came the islamic revolution in 1979. skiing was identified as a sport of the rich and decadent . the toppled shah had loved to ski . throughout the 1980 's , during the war with iraq , the government slashed the sports budget and no iranian skier competed internationally . that is only now beginning to change , but difficulties remain . one iranian woman qualified for alpine skiing in the 1998 nagano games in japan , but none made it this year . in recent years the international ski federation has changed the rules for olympic skiers to make sure they are all roughly competitive . those ranked in the top 500 worldwide qualify automatically . others get a certain number of points for each international competition ; the better a skier does , the lower number of points awarded . for the slalom , 120 points is the maximum allowed . countries not exactly in the ski-power category , like iran , can each send one qualified skier . kalhor squeaked into the slalom races on feb. 23 in utah with 118 points . he scored a fraction over the limit for the giant slalom but hopes to prevail on officials in salt lake city to let him enter that event . neither he nor his coach want to rate his chances for a medal . they point out that he is strong both from consuming dairy products like cheese and yogurt , which he helps make from the family herd , and from spending summer months scrambling over the scenic mountains . ( i 've never been to paris , but i think dizin is as beautiful as paris , the elder kalhor interjects into the conversation . ) the problem , notes iran 's alpine coach , qorbanali soloughani , is that skiers in other countries can afford to train all year , whereas the iranian skiers started practicing in earnest with the first snowfall two months ago . the coach admits that the iranian team 's main concern is primarily the kind of reception it will get in the united states . but he and his team are taking the waiver of the fingerprinting rule for iranians as a sign that sports will prevail . we were a little nervous , said soloughani , summing up his thoughts with an iranian expression indicating someone has perhaps woken up in a bad mood . now the trip will go smoothly unless bush has another dream . photo : the iranian skier bagher kalhor with his father , ali , and his mother , khanoum darbandsari , near their home in the mountain hamlet of dizin . ( neil macfarquhar/the new york times )
24 , the swedish app developer that makes digital products for children , is slowly building a formidable library of apps . the company , which has offices in san francisco and stockholm , hit a milestone in november when it reached 50 million downloads in apple 's app store , less than three years after its first product came out . toca boca now has 23 apps , which are aimed primarily at children ages 4 and up . none of the apps have advertising or in-app purchases , and most cost $ 3 , but some are free . some apps are also available on android devices and for kindle fire . with the help of my niece , i checked out a few of the company 's apps , including toca house , in which players do household chores like sweeping , gardening and other simple activities that children often mimic their parents doing . at 10 years old , my niece is above the intended age for the app , but she enjoyed ironing shirts with the swipe of a finger . she much preferred the more age-appropriate toca hair salon 2 , in which children wash , cut and style the hair of salon patrons . like other toca boca apps , the game is open-ended , with no points to accrue or time to beat . it includes tools like a razor , a curler , a blow dryer and a hair-growth tonic for stylists who change their minds . when children are satisfied with the results , they can send their customers to a photo booth . the latest version of the app , toca hair salon me , includes the ability to upload photos , which allows children to put their friends , parents and even their pets in the salon chair for a trim . other titles include toca lab , in which children are introduced to science and the elements of the periodic table , and toca cars , a cruising and crashing game . toca boca says its apps are intended to help children develop in a noncompetitive environment , a focus that has earned the company accolades from parenting groups , something that this uncle can appreciate .
9 los angeles , april 23— the recording industry and electronics manufacturers are trying to hammer out a universal , pirate-proof technology for distributing commercial music to a new generation of portable digital music players . but the two sides are at such loggerheads that it may not be possible for manufacturers to meet the record industry 's goal of getting authorized players onto store shelves for the christmas season . that could be a losing proposition for the recording industry . several electronics manufacturers said they would ship players anyway , without safeguards against illegal copying . and analysts predict that with or without a secure standard , american consumers will buy about one million of the devices , which enable users to record music off their computers , largely from the internet . as powerful computers and high-speed internet connections become common among consumers , the recording industry has seen direct electronic distribution as a potent new market . but as with the emergence of earlier products -- the videocassette recorder , audio cassette decks and digital audio tape -- the entertainment industry is concerned about losing sales because of unauthorized copying . its fears have been realized with the emergence of a technology called mp3 , which packs a great deal of music into a relatively small computer file but offers no protection against unauthorized copying . quickly spreading from college campuses to a broad base of internet users , mp3 has become something of a de facto standard for distributing music , legally or otherwise , on the internet . that makes it the bane of the recording industry , which fears that increasing numbers of computer users will copy their favorite cd 's to mp3 files and pass them out free on line or transfer them to mp3 players already on the market . it was that fear that prompted the recording industry association of america , which represents the major music labels , to mount a counteroffensive . its secure digital music initiative is a consortium of computer companies , electronics manufacturers and major record labels formed to create a secure way to deliver music over the internet . that is turning out to be a tricky quest . at a meeting last week in los angeles , several participants said , it became clear that consumer electronics companies were bent on developing a class of portable music devices that would be free of restrictions and easy to use , while the recording industry wanted a player that one participant from the on-line industry described as a digital fort knox . the goal of the music consortium is to have these secure , approved portable players in stores by christmas , which means giving electronics manufacturers specifications by june 30. after last week 's meeting , their third with record company representatives , some manufacturers were already expressing frustration . a number of issues divide the two industries , participants said . among the most contentious was whether the new devices should be able to play not just music recorded with a new secure standard but also recordings made with the mp3 format . while participants from both sides were interviewed for this article , most refused to allow their names to be used , saying the industry association has pressured them to keep details of the negotiations from leaking . one consumer electronics industry executive involved in the negotiations , alluding to the fee participants must pay the industry association to be a part of the consortium , said : they said , 'pay us $ 50,000 and present your proposal , and we 'll get back to you with something . ' this is n't a democratic standards organization . this is the music industry acting out of fear . the major labels deny that they are running scared and insist that negotiations are running smoothly . still , they find themselves in uncharted territory as they struggle to restrict or supplant mp3 , which is already available to a mass market . the music industry has substantial leverage in the form of what both sides refer to as content -- vast archives of music by most of the century 's best-known artists . electronics manufacturers say they assume that once the major record labels agree to release their music on the internet , the nascent market for digitally distributed music will increase exponentially . by joining the consortium , they are hoping to temper the music business 's more restrictive proposals and come up with a compromise that will be easy to sell to consumers . but at the same time , they are impatient with what they see as an overly cautious recording industry terrified of losing its lock on distribution . for example , creative labs , whose sound blaster card became a de facto standard for computer audio in the early 1990 's , is a consortium member , but it is not sitting around waiting for a green light from the recording industry . the company is well into development of its own portable mp3 player , the nomad , which it plans to begin selling this summer . as for releasing a player by christmas that is compliant with the digital music initiative , the company now says it is undecided .
4 moscow , jan. 14— president clinton plunged into a nationally televised `` town meeting '' today to urge russians to stay the course toward a free market and democracy and to find a `` new definition of russia 's greatness . '' clearly stimulated by candid and provoking questions from a live , youthful audience at the ostankino television center in moscow and similar groups linked by television from other cities , mr. clinton was alternatively professor , politician and preacher as he counseled russians to `` choose the future . '' `` i come here as a friend and supporter of the democratic changes going on in this nation , '' he said . `` i hope that my nation and i can make a positive contribution , in the spirit of genuine and equal partnership . in the end , you will have to decide your own future . i do not presume to do that . '' supporting yeltsin the telecast was the first such extemporaneous appearance by an american president in moscow , and it offered mr. clinton a nationwide audience for the central theme of his visit -- to declare america 's support for russia 's embattled reforms and struggling president , boris n. yeltsin . president reagan , during a trip to moscow in 1988 , also got considerable attention from a speech to students and faculty at moscow state university . if any reminders of the russian struggle were needed , the opening days of the new parliament provided a constant drumbeat . today , while the presidents were meeting in the grand halls of the kremlin , the new lower house of parliament elected a devoted communist as its speaker , while the demagogic nationalist vladimir v. zhirinovsky was the center of another furor , this time when he was punched in the face by another deputy , who resented mr. zhirinovsky 's demanding and being given preferential treatment at the parliament canteen . accord with ukraine the main agreements that emerged from the summit meeting dealt largely with the troublesome arsenals left over from the cold war . the major bonus of mr. clinton 's journey was realized at the start of the day when president leonid m. kravchuk of ukraine joined mr. clinton and mr. yeltsin to sign a statement in which ukraine agreed to turn its strategic nuclear warheads over to russia for dismantling in exchange for security assurances and compensation in the form of nuclear fuel . all three presidents hailed the `` trilateral statement '' as a break in what a senior administration official described as ukraine 's `` stall mode . '' parliament dragged its feet though mr. kravchuk has signed agreements at least twice in the past to surrender the weapons , which are blocking the carrying out of major disarmament treaties between the united states and russia , the ukrainian parliament has dragged its feet on ratifying the pacts , convinced that without the missiles ukraine would become irrelevant to the west and vulnerable to russia . there was still no certainty that the ukrainian parliament would be any less stubborn than in the past . but parliamentary elections are scheduled for march 27 , and mr. kravchuk may have calculated that new deputies might be more amenable to approving the agreements , especially after so public an endorsement . the statement specifically called on ukraine to turn over the warheads on its most modern and deadly weapons -- 46 ss-24 missiles , each with 10 warheads -- within 10 months . in exchange , ukraine would receive immediate compensation in the form of nuclear fuel for its nuclear power plants . in a related agreement , the united states agreed to buy 500 tons of highly enriched uranium extracted from former soviet missiles over the next 20 years . at current prices , 500 tons is worth about $ 12 billion and amounts to the world demand for three years . a russian official said it represents about 20,000 warheads . no mutual targeting a third agreement dealing with the leftover arsenal of the cold war was a pledge by the american and russian presidents that by may 30 none of their strategic nuclear weapons would be targeted at each other , or for that matter at any other country . officials agreed that the measure was more symbolic than practical , since it carried no verification procedures , and since most missiles can be rapidly retargeted in any case . before today 's agreement , mr. yeltsin had declared that no russian missiles were targeted at american cities . but following his statement russian arms control specialists said that there had been no change in russian targeting and that missiles were still aimed at a variety of united states targets . a central political issue of the summit meeting was the clamor by some east european and baltic states to join the north atlantic treaty organization , an idea that riles russia . mr. clinton 's solution has been to invite alleast european and former soviet nations to join in a vague `` partnership for peace . '' mr. yeltsin heartily embraced the proposal . `` i think that the initiative of president bill clinton and also of some europeans not to accept countries into nato on a case-by-case basis , but to proclaim all of them to be partners in maintaining peace and security is a good formula , '' he said at a joint news conference , `` because drawing one more line , dividing all into white and black anew , no , this wo n't do . ''
19 joanna smith rakoff is the author of the novel my novel , “ a fortunate age , ” starts in 1998 , and my characters — who graduated from college four years earlier — are very much rooted in the music of the early- and mid-1990s , which formed a sort of soundtrack to their coming of age . while i was writing the novel i alternated between working in complete silence and obsessively listening to the same songs and albums over and over again ( bright eyes , portastatic , broken social scene ) . like many writers , i use music to help me enter the emotional landscape of a scene . but i also used it , in this particular novel , as research : in writing about my characters ’ college years — and those shortly thereafter — i immersed myself in the music they would have listened to at the time . here are some of my favorite songs from that era , songs that , at the time , felt as if they defined and shaped my experiences . 1 ) is she weird , pixies . nowadays , when people talk about the 1990s , the first band they mention is nirvana , but for me — and most of my college-radio-station-dj , record-store-regular friends — that era was all about the pixies , with their irresistible , genre-busting sound : the slow , precise bass , the shifting tempo , the eerie hiss and scream of black francis . in 1990 , when “ bossanova ” came out , i listened to it endlessly — even though it wasn ’ t on the level of “ doolittle ” or “ come on pilgrim ” — thrilled by this brief , odd song , a freaky gloss on macbeth : “ is she weird ? / is she white ? / is she promised to the night ? / and her head has no room. ” i was 18 then , and felt very weird and very white . 2 ) hear me calling , bob mould . i first heard bob mould ’ s solo albums — “ workbook ” and “ black sheets of rain ” — in a cinderblock dorm room in ohio , about a year after the latter came out . though i owned husker du ’ s entire oeuvre , i ’ d somehow missed the fact that its lead singer and lyricist had produced these two brilliant albums after the band split up . for me , mould ’ s solo work was a revelation : a phil spector-style wall of sound , in which the sound is feedback , the melody is in a minor key and the lyrics are restless articulations of loneliness and anger . a few years after college , the friend who ’ d played those albums for me died suddenly , and the lyrics of this beautiful , plaintive song , which we ’ d listened to together approximately a million times , took on a whole different meaning . “ can ’ t you hear me calling you out ? / can ’ t you see me falling to the ground ? ” 3 ) water , p j harvey . a slow , meditative thing that swells into hysteria , this song sent me into fits of ecstasy as a 20-year-old . i listened to it — and to harvey in general — while writing the chapters concerning sadie peregrine , a character waylaid by her inchoate longing for a more meaningful life , whose prim demeanor masks an anger as brute as harvey ’ s . 4 ) summer babe ( winter version ) , pavement . with its evocative , cryptic lyrics — “ minerals , ice deposits daily , dropped off / the first shiny robe / i ’ ve got a lot of things i want to sell ” — this has always struck me as the weirdest love song ever . and also the sweetest — “ you ’ re my … summer babe ” — distortion and all . 5 ) mesmerizing , liz phair . all the songs on “ exile in guyville ” capture the baffling experience of being a young woman in the 1990s — slowly realizing that relations between the sexes were not quite as simple as we ’ d been led to believe by childhood viewings of “ free to be you and me ” — but none more so than “ mesmerizing , ” in which phair coolly admits that she longs to be alluring , though she knows it ’ s “ unwise , ” that she should be thinking about more important things . which pretty much sums up my daily existence , then and now . 6 ) i just wan na get along , the breeders . oh , the wild , gorgeousness of kim deal ’ s bass , her sandpapery voice , and her tear-inducing harmonies with her twin sister , kelley . this fast little song , from 1993 ’ s “ last splash , ” always makes me feel as if my heart might burst open with joy : “ we were rich once , / before your head exploded . / imagine doing just what the big bang did . / the whole world and it was loaded. ” i played it while i was writing about a character named beth , who moves to new york and finds herself both overwhelmed by , and desperately in love with , the city and all its possibilities . 7 ) i am a scientist , guided by voices . much is made of robert pollard ’ s “ absurd ” lyrics , so i ’ ve long wondered what it says about me that i find them perfectly logical . this song , which i sang to my son as a lullaby , strikes me as a pitch-perfect riff on the ethical dilemmas of contemporary american life ( seriously ! ) : “ and i know what ’ s right / but i ’ m losing sight / of the clues for which i search and choose … to just unlock my mind / yeah , and just unlock my mind. ” 8 ) just about glad , elvis costello . i ’ ve been accused , at times , of being elvis costello ’ s biggest fan , and the fact that i ’ m including this minor song from a mostly forgotten album — “ brutal youth , ” from 1994 ( which includes the cringe-inducing “ my science fiction twin ” ) — most likely confirms my super-groupie status . but so be it . even the worst declan macmanus album contains a gem or two , like this insanely catchy bit of pop , an ode to an affair never had — and an antidote to the gloominess of much of the music of this period . 9 ) numb , portishead . with their lush atmospheric sound — punctuated by electronic blips and bleeps and wah wahs and scratching that should come off as hopelessly cheesy but somehow do not — portishead ( and similar bands , like drugstore and morcheeba ) seemed like a cool drink of water in 1995 , after the guitars and more guitars of the previous years . i was living in london when “ dummy ” came out , and would sit in my tiny room in my crumbling student house , scribbling papers on d. h. lawrence and dickens , listening to beth gibbons delicately wail , with her crisp british diction , about “ still feeling lonely / feeling so un holy … / just want to leave me alone . ” while writing the novel , i imagined one of my characters , a frustrated pianist named dave , padding around his apartment , half-drunk , listening to this song , and falling in love with gibbons , despite ( or because of ) her garbo-esque requests to be left alone . 10 ) st. ides heaven , elliott smith . i came to elliott smith late — in 1998 , a few years after his second album ( from which this song comes ) — but that same character , dave most definitely did not : he basically wants to be elliott smith ; to make music so innovative , so moving , that it changes listeners ’ lives in some fundamental way , music that manages to be both melancholic and brimming with life , makes one see the world anew . when writing the dave sections of the novel , i had this song — and , honestly , all of elliott smith — on repeat . “ high on amphetamines / the moon is lightbulb breaking. ” even without amphetamines , it is indeed .
11 stanford , calif.— in reorienting american foreign and defense policy , the bush administration is in danger of replacing a workable china policy with an unstable and unworkable one . partly as an unintended consequence , but mostly by design , the administration 's actions have appeared to cast beijing as america 's enemy . the expanded arms sales to taiwan , rhetoric that enlarges the commitment to defend the island , the thinly disguised decision to make chinese missiles a target of revised missile defense plans , the proposed shift in defense strategy from europe to the pacific and the call for new long-range weapons to counter china 's military power have come in stunning procession . president bush 's support for trade with china can not by itself neutralize the antagonism that beijing leaders clearly sense . mr. bush 's strategic policy is based on a serious internal contradiction . one premise maintains that china is a rising power whose interests and objectives conflict with our own and whose ambitions require immediate and long-term containment . yet the policy also presumes that china is unable to meet a forceful american challenge . the first premise exaggerates the political weight of the hard-liners ; the second miscalculates the range of beijing 's options and the importance of national pride . both premises ignore the positive and impressive changes in china over the past two decades . beijing , it should be said , has made it easy for the administration to be tougher in its china policy . the growing and dreary list of americans and others currently detained by china , its deployment of greater numbers of missiles opposite taiwan , and the vitriolic rhetoric of some of its officials and media against american global designs have conveniently made mr. bush 's policy shift seem more tenable . the administration 's policy plays into the hands of beijing 's hard-liners just as china 's political succession begins . the hard-liners denounce any further appeasement of washington . they oppose military-to-military exchanges as a plot to expose china 's secrets and to intimidate by comparison . their resistance to reduced military budgets and influence is legendary , and their demands for a slowdown in economic restructuring have intensified . most of all , they have assailed a basic plank in china 's reform platform : improved and stable relations with america . the bush administration , by abandoning a difficult but workable approach that has balanced discord and agreement , now risks stumbling into a self-fulfilling prophecy . the consequences of increased hostility between china and the united states are not hard to imagine . beijing is likely to work to enhance its authority with governments that are concerned about american high-handedness . it will act more aggressively to thwart american influence in the united nations and to blunt our efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons . current arenas of sino-american cooperation -- counterterrorism and work to fight drug trafficking and crime -- could wither . and hopes for promoting regional stability and peace on the korean peninsula would fade . none of this need happen . the vast majority of americans and chinese do not regard each other as enemies , and most americans embrace a future in which the two nations respect each other and , where it counts , cooperate . the bush administration 's caution in moving too quickly toward a strategic partnership is sensible . there will always be some degree of competition between our two countries , given the differences in our political systems and living standards . moreover , we will continue to disagree over resolution of the taiwan issue . yet wise leaders can manage those disagreements . power and wisdom are not adversaries . china is already engaged in an accelerating process of change , and only a renewed cold war could threaten that progress . the revolution in communications and the globalization of ideas have reshaped many nations , and the impact on china has been profound . the hard-liners there know that the chinese people , not they , will chart the nation 's course , though they can distort it . the realists in china also know this . they would work with an american government that pursued a china policy based on an informed understanding of the historic transformations now under way -- and on whose tide we ride together .
23 ( southern ground ) getting what you need is nice , but getting what you want is best of all . that said , how fortunate that zac brown and dave grohl have selected each other for gift exchange this year . the group that carries mr. brown 's name , zac brown band , is a taut road-tested country-rock outfit that over the last five years has been polished up and shoehorned into mainstream country , its life and vibrancy oozing out of it all the while . what mr. brown and his bandmates want is the license to rock unencumbered , to place themselves not in the lineage of anodyne country chill-bros like kenny chesney but in the rowdy southern rock pantheon alongside the allman brothers band . mr. grohl -- onetime drummer of nirvana , current front dude of foo fighters -- is a man who would prefer a life that did n't include the internet , computer-aided recording technology and possibly electricity . a man who , at the 2012 grammys , gave a speech emphasizing the primacy of what mr. grohl wants are more bands , more hands put upon instruments , more music redolent of the sounds he grew up on , and that he can be a part of making . that mr. brown and mr. grohl met was auspicious , given their desires . that the , home of overpriced and underinspired notionally rock- ' n'-roll-inspired men 's wear , says all you need to know about the flavor they share . mr. brown courted mr. grohl to work with his band , and the grohl sessions , vol . 1 is a result , the first of what 's been advertised as a pair of eps . four songs tracked live to tape , with no computers deployed -- this is the stuff of mr. grohl 's fantasies , and an opportunity for mr. brown to reframe his band before nashville hopelessly freezes it . these songs , especially the mildly bluesy all alright and the upbeat and slightly rowdy day for the dead , embody the best of all parties involved . overall , the ep has more of the rambling , sparkling energy of than has been captured on its earlier albums , and the quality of the songwriting is higher here , too . opens with pealing guitars , moving into a shimmering , celebratory tone , swiftly undercut by mr. brown 's sadness : i 'm lost as a feather in a hurricane/ there 's no way to measure/ how far i am from o.k . as is typical of his group , there are affecting male harmonies throughout the song , partnered here with arrangements that verge on uproarious southern gospel . the muse , a cover of a song by the wood brothers , has unexpected celtic flourishes . zac brown band recorded these songs in a week with mr. grohl , and the ep was released on mr. brown 's label straight to itunes . but even given all this freedom , the songs are still conservatively structured -- none are longer than five minutes , and apart from day for the dead , none sink into the reverie of an overlong jam , which is the strength of mr. brown 's band . instead , sometimes this ep highlights its weakness : mr. brown 's voice , which lacks power and nuance , and lays even flatter the goopier the lyric . that liability becomes even clearer as the musicianship around him elevates , not just by his band members , but also guests , like mr. grohl on drums , or oteil burbridge ( of the reconstituted allman brothers band ) on bass . but the gifts mr. brown receives here are plenty , and he has spun gold from far less . so happy holidays to him , and everyone else , too . ( origin ) one of the finer piano trio albums of 2013 -- Â released too late in the year , or on too small a label , to make a dent in the -- Â is george colligan 's the endless mysteries . it 's a program of original compositions , most of them sensible and sturdy . and because it was recorded in a few hours with no rehearsal , it 's the product of rough-and-ready postbop expertise , rather than the lived experience of a steady band . at least , not any band led by mr. colligan . a pianist of deep harmonic and rhythmic assurance , and sideman credits all over the map , he works here with the bassist larry grenadier and the drummer jack dejohnette . each is a long-running member of another piano trio : mr. grenadier has been in both editions of the brad mehldau trio , going back nearly 20 years ; mr. dejohnette has spent the last 30 with keith jarrett . whatever the sum of all that experience is , mr. colligan . some of his pieces on the endless mysteries seem designed for these specific partners , especially mr. dejohnette , in whose band he has played . song for the tarahumera , a scrappy modal tune , becomes a roiling drum incantation . liam 's lament , a beautifully restrained ballad , features empathic rubato work by mr. grenadier . ( it also features a theme played on melodica , an instrument that mr. dejohnette has favored on his own albums ; i had to check to be sure that it was mr. colligan doing the playing . ) mr. colligan , who turns 44 next week , favors an earthy , assertive style , putting him in a lineage that includes mccoy tyner , john hicks and mulgrew miller . but he has other affinities , as he shows in a pair of spontaneous inventions provoked by the school shooting in newtown , conn. , which claimed the daughter of a friend and sometime band mate . thoughts of ana is a softly chiming solo reflection , with a touch that brings mr. jarrett to mind ; it leads into outrage , which borrows a page from the cecil taylor playbook . none of these moves feel calculated or rigid , because mr. colligan and his partners work so fluently . and while some titles sound like the sort of exhortations that mr. colligan might use with his students at portland state university in oregan -- Â see it 's hard work ! and if the mountain was smooth , you could n't climb it -- Â he does n't seem to be straining in the slightest . he 's past that point by now .
21 a closer look at week 9 , with the benefit of film analysis : raiders o vs. broncos d raider fans who are worried about their team ’ s new franchise quarterback can actually feel optimistic . carson palmer was , for the most part , impressive in this game . his three interceptions were all explainable : the first was a case of a superstar cornerback , champ bailey , dominating a callow wideout , denarius moore , in bump-and-run coverage . on the second interception , moore tipped the ball over the middle ( the throw was a tad high ) . the third pick was in garbage time in hurry-up mode , with palmer being hit as he threw . these were not like the palmer misreads that led to turnovers against the chiefs two weeks ago . he showed poise , great pocket mobility and good touch . there were minor chemistry issues with the receivers . but keep in mind , moore is young and still learning . jacoby ford ( who was excellent in the first half ) has missed some time , and t.j. houshmandzadeh is a newcomer ( who supplanted darrius heyward-bey in the rotation but had trouble all afternoon getting separation ) . oakland ’ s run game was strong in the first half but tailed off after center samson satele ’ s injury reshuffled the interior front line ( stefan wisniewski had been playing well at left guard but struggled after sliding over to center ) . this , along with a flood of penalties , compromised the flow of the offense . for the broncos , a few notes : von miller was used as an inside blitzer , which proved to be a highly successful new wrinkle for this defense . the box score says that elvis dumervil , with his first 1.5 sacks of the season , came out of his slumber . he didn ’ t . the half-sack was produced by miller and the full sack was a classic coverage sack . dumervil was , however , part of a broncos front seven that bogged down the run fairly well in the second half . broncos o vs. raiders d the raiders will kick themselves after watching this film . their run defense was outstanding for much of the game but fell apart late . they gave up two big runs to tim tebow and two to willis mcgahee on shotgun read options . oakland ’ s linebacking group seemed completely unprepared for the read option , which is inexcusable given denver ’ s limited passing weapons . it ’ s surprising that the raiders did not shadow tebow the way the dolphins did . his scrambles were difference-making . hard to fathom how a defense can be ill-prepared for tebow ’ s runs . daryl blackstock , starting for injured middle linebacker rolando mcclain , was particularly bad . he was easily manipulated by the offense ’ s tactical deceits and lacked the speed to get outside or recover from his mistakes . the broncos ’ coaching staff did a great job of building a pro-tebow game plan – and he responded . tebow ran well , protected the football and , on three occasions , properly executed a throw that made the raiders pay for mistakes in man coverage . whether this sort of plan can work week to week remains to be seen . redskins o vs. 49ers d the respective approaches seemed to suggest that both teams realized that the injury-riddled redskins did not have enough firepower to outgun a staunch niners defense . the redskins did not even attempt to push the ball downfield ( though john beck , who seemed to play a tad hurriedly , did pass up a few open opportunities to do so ) . they also abandoned their run game after falling behind by two scores ( they maybe would have abandoned it anyway considering their o-line could not get movement against nose tackle isaac sopoaga & company ) . the niners were equally conservative . they blitzed sparingly and dared the skins to defeat basic 3-4 defensive zones . a great illustration of washington ’ s aerial limitations was the fact that running back roy helu set a franchise record with 14 receptions . helu is far from an accomplished receiving back . niners inside linebackers patrick willis and navorro bowman both stood out , as usual . they ’ re the first- and second-best 3-4 inside linebackers in the n.f.c . ( the hard part is determining who is 1 and who is 1-a . ) 49ers o vs. redskins d the niners are still using the same high school-style offense that they were criticized for in our earlier film reviews this season . yours truly asserted that it was not a sustainable winning formula . obviously , yours truly has been proved wrong . sunday ’ s game at washington was the epitome of effective ball-control offense . alex smith managed the game extremely well . he was not able to push the ball downfield – save for a 30-yard touchdown to fullback bruce miller on a wheel route that linebacker rocky mcintosh incorrectly guessed would be a curl in the flats – in large part because the niners sent only three receivers on routes and kept extra guys in to pass protect . when the throws weren ’ t there – and they often weren ’ t – smith bought himself a little time and threw the ball away . in san francisco , this is considered good quarterbacking . the niners can afford to play this way because they have a great defense and meat-and-potatoes run game . they showcased an array of different run-play alignments and motions out of 22 personnel ( two backs , two tight ends ) . they knew the redskins would be a tough defense to run against , so they manufactured yards through creative design . smart coaching , sound execution . that ’ s the 2011 niners in a nutshell . texans o vs. browns d this was one where you watched two series and wondered why you decided to break down this game . the stats book told the story . houston rushed for an easy 261 yards . their offensive line had no trouble moving cleveland ’ s front four off the ball . right guard mike brisiel looked like an all-pro in the first half , and center chris myers won battle after battle inside . as a defender , if you can ’ t hold your ground and force myers to play in a phone booth , you ’ ll fall victim to his shrewd ability to create angles on lateral movement in the run game . he ’ s tailor-made for a zone scheme . the browns should be concerned about their linebacking corps and really concerned about their pass rush . when jabaal sheard gets neutralized ( as he was all afternoon ) , there ’ s absolutely no pressure on the quarterback . another concern is the first-round rookie defensive tackle phil taylor . he has not shown up on film all season despite frequently facing blockers one-on-one . browns o vs. texans d this game was essentially over as soon as houston scored its second touchdown . no team is less equipped to play from behind than cleveland . their quarterback lacks top-level arm strength , their receivers ’ speed is bankrupt and the offensive line ’ s lack of athleticism at left guard and on the right side becomes problematic when opposing pass rushers tee off . this is what happened sunday . in the first half , texans backup defensive linemen earl mitchell and tim jamison stood out in the way they got off blocks . in the second half , outside linebackers connor barwin and brooks reed ( especially reed ) took over . they ’ re a fast , energetic duo . no games are easy supposed to be easy in the n.f.l. , but this one was . titans o vs. bengals d ( time did not permit review of titans d vs. bengals o ) after a very solid first half , the titans were taken out of rhythm and frustrated throughout the last 30 minutes . the bengals ’ defensive line , led by domata peko as he defeated one-on-one blocking in the middle , stonewalled the titans ’ offensive line and kept chris johnson bottled up . johnson had looked like his old self in the first half , turning the corner outside , juking defenders in the open field and eating up yards with relatively quick acceleration . the bengals blitzed infrequently , played a lot of traditional coverage and dared the titans ’ receiving targets to beat them . at face value , tennessee does not have a good downfield pass game . none of the wideouts have the proper combination of speed and route running polish , and matt hasselbeck is not a great precision passer beyond the underneath/intermediate levels . they ’ ve been able to manufacture a few big plays thanks to creative route combinations drawn up by offensive coordinator chris palmer , but those can only take you so far . in the end , it ’ s about having the players . the setting was favorable for tennessee , as cincy ’ s pass rush was quiet until the fourth quarter . cowboys o vs. seahawks d demarco murray looks like the real deal . he has a subtle suddenness to his game and can quickly drum up forceful downhill momentum when he hits the accelerator . he ’ s a true north/south runner with some faint hints of east-west mobility . for the second time in three weeks , murray benefited from excellent blocking . left guard montrae holland stood out on a few pull blocks , and throughout the game , all of the dallas linemen were able to successfully make contact with seattle ’ s second level defenders . tackles doug free and tyron smith rendered seattle ’ s pass rushers , including chris clemons , irrelevant . seahawks corners richard sherman and brandon browner did a solid job in press coverage , but tony romo made just enough big plays through the air . it was not a great game for seattle ’ s safeties . seahawks o vs. cowboys d it has been the same issue week in and week out with this offense : an inability to mount sustainable drives through the air . the cowboys , with their incredibly wide-ranging assortment of personnel packages and presnap looks , made tarvaris jackson think too much . jackson likes to see the receiver get open in order to pull the trigger . he doesn ’ t anticipate throwing windows well . normally that leads to sacks . but in this one , seattle ’ s front five did a good job…so jackson ’ s progressions instead led to more incompletions . the one time the cowboys did blitz and pressure jackson , he underthrew a blanketed sidney rice , resulting in an interception . the cowboys shouldn ’ t feel completely content with their performance . their defensive line did not quite make enough big plays , and their inside linebackers , playing without sean lee , looked out of place a few times in coverage and were consistently handled in the run game . andy benoit is and founder of nfltouchdown.com . he can be reached at andy.benoit @ nfltouchdown.com or
21 keeping projects in business for the long term has been a constant theme of the fixes column , and if sustainability has a poster child , it would be a water pump . travel anywhere in africa or south asia or central america , and you will find a landscape dotted with the rusting skeletons of dead water pumps or wells.. in most developing countries , these water points are installed with great fanfare by the government or a charitable group . they greatly improve the lives of villagers . having a water point in or near the village means that women don ’ t have to spend 6,8 , even 12 hours a day on perilous journeys to fetch water from rivers or lakes . the pumps allow girls to go to school instead of staying home to help their mothers fetch water or take care of siblings . they allow villagers to drink reasonably clean water instead of risking their health with every sip . then something breaks on the pump — a huge catastrophe like an underground pipe bursting , or a small one , like the loss of a bolt or a washer . and it never works again . early death is shockingly widespread for water pumps . perhaps the biggest study of this ever was carried out in 21 african countries by an organization called sustainable water services at scale . it found that 36 percent of pumps were not working . “ this level of failure represents a waste of between $ 1.2 billion and $ 1.5 billion in investments in 20 years , ” said the organization . in tanzania , mapping of water points showed that nationally , less than half the existing rural water points were working . of water points that were less than two years old , a quarter had already stopped functioning . why , when communities benefit so obviously from water , do so many water points fall out of use ? the short answer is that keeping the pumps running usually falls to the community or local government . but it requires specialized skills , spare parts , tools and funds . none of these are found in rural villages . one group taking a hard look at how to solve the problem is the british-based charity wateraid . when the organization analyzed why water points failed in tanzania , it found something interesting : the most sustainable were those maintained by private contractors . this is not a ready-made solution ; it won ’ t work everywhere — really poor areas won ’ t be able to pay . and in some regions , problems like price gouging were associated with private operators . but wateraid felt it might be able to solve these problems . so in the north of india , it came up with an ingenious way to do just that . uttar pradesh is the most populous state in india — it is also one of the poorest and most drought-prone . the government has been aggressively installing new water pumps , but they quickly fall into disuse . in the mahoba district , south of the state capital of lucknow , there are about 12,500 community water pumps , said . k.j . rajeev , wateraid ’ s general manager for the northern region of india . “ but 40 percent of them are usually down , especially in summer , ” he said . and when they break , they stay broken — three-quarters of the repairs take at least a month , and many are never repaired at all . now things are different in mahoba . in may , lisa millman , wateraid america ’ s director of development and communications , was visiting a town called charkhari . she was sitting in a small storefront office , a shop lined with shelves of hand pump parts , when a cellphone rang . the call was from the village of kotedar , where the main hand pump had broken . a master mechanic took the call and asked some questions . this was apparently going to be a big job — five mechanics piled onto two motorbikes , along with the 10-year-old son of one of the men . they reached the village 20 minutes later . as a throng of villagers watched , they took out huge wrenches . they disassembled the pump and began pulling up heavy segments of pipe . at the tenth segment they found a hole and patched it . two and a half hours after they arrived , the pump was reassembled and working . they got on their bikes and rode off into the sunset . millman , who had followed in a car , had asked the 10-year-old if he wanted to be a mechanic like his dad . “ he was smirking and laughing , ” she said . “ but after he watched his dad repair the pump , he was in awe. ” wateraid and its local partners have set up four workshops , called community participation centers , in the mahoba district , and the project is now expanding into the neighboring state of bihar . a call to the workshop reaches a master mechanic . he or she can choose the appropriate mechanics in the group , depending on location and skills , to send to address the problem . each is is equipped with a cellphone , tool kit and a bike , moped or motorbike . including mechanics-in-training and several who work part time , the centers have 27 female mechanics . many of the women were landless agricultural laborers before they learned hand pump repair , and many were members of the dalit , or untouchable , caste — the most downtrodden in indian society . in a very traditional region , where women cover their faces and do not speak in public , it was at first hard to find women who wanted the job . even some who completed the training didn ’ t want to go out to villages and work in public , said rajeev . now , however , wherever they go , village men accept them and women embrace them . seeing a mechanic in yellow hardhat and sari has opened up the spectrum of possibilities for village women . in 14 months of work , the center mechanics have repaired more than 1,100 pumps in mahoba . ninety-three percent of the repairs were made within 24 hours of the phone call , and only 3 percent took more than two days . a simple repair costs a village 100 rupees — roughly $ 2.00 — with more complex repairs costing up to $ 6 . water quality testing costs $ 1.20 . the mechanics guarantee all work . rajeev said that the four mahoba workshops cost wateraid about $ 40,000 to set up — to train mechanics , buy parts and tools , provide bikes and cellphones and visit village councils to promote the new service . but now wateraid is tapering off financial support to the workshops , which are all operating sustainably and on the verge of meeting their profitability goals . “ we will be providing only technical assistance and hand-holding , ” he said . to keep the workshops running , the mechanic keeps 70 to 90 percent of the repair fee and deposits the rest in the workshop ’ s account . this isn ’ t the first time wateraid tried to train mechanics in the area . in 2004 , its local partner recruited men and women and trained them to do preventive maintenance and minor repairs in their own villages . it didn ’ t last . the trainees learned only the most basic repairs and often had to leave work incomplete . they also earned very little money . so wateraid then decided it needed to create a real business , using high standards of training , aggressive outreach to village governments and attractive practices like guaranteed work . why couldn ’ t the market take care of this problem ? there are hand pump mechanics in mahoba , after all . but they tend to live in major market cities . rajeev said they demanded very high fees to go out to remote villages — often too high for villages to pay . there are also information disconnects – they do no outreach to villages , so some village councils don ’ t know about these mechanics or how to call them . the market also can ’ t finance major repairs — most villagers are too poor . the center program can work because the government has a fund that village councils can use to pay for hand pump maintenance . the fund can take 45 days to pay — too long for most traditional mechanics . center mechanics , however , don ’ t mind . ( very minor repairs can usually be paid on the spot . ) and now four villages have signed maintenance contracts with center workshops , paying directly from the government ’ s fund . what ’ s happening in mahoba is promising . but the key to this process is that the indian government pays the bills . in the places where this problem is most serious , government is awol . on wednesday i ’ ll look at why it has been so difficult to keep water points running , mistakes that water groups have made and what poor villages might do to keep the water flowing . join and follow updates on . tina rosenberg won a pulitzer prize for her book “ . ” she is a former editorial writer for the times and now a contributing writer for the paper ’ s sunday magazine . her new book is “ . ”