The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But
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CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
Stanford plays the bully in taking down UConn
By Tim Kawakami
Mercury News Columnist
Posted: 12/30/2010 10:38:06 PM PST
Updated: 12/31/2010 07:45:47 AM PST
They ended the Streak with elbows flying, minds racing, voices bellowing and hearts pounding.
They did it with their arena rocking and rolling, their grand opponent crumbling and a nation watching.
The Stanford women didn't merely put on an almost-perfect performance on Thursday to end No. 1 Connecticut's majestic 90-game winning streak, though they surely did that.
The ninth-ranked Cardinal did something larger, stronger and perhaps more lasting on its way to a towering 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion.
On the big stage, in the rowdiest atmosphere possible, Stanford shoved and thumped UConn, the most dominant team in existence and Stanford's deadliest arch nemesis.
Exploding from the gates and cresting with the crowd's emotion, Stanford (9-2) never trailed. Stanford never came close to backing down.
"It's always fun to play a physical game," Cardinal forward Nneka Ogwumike said. "It's December, but it's the Final Four in December."
And, in a mini-championship moment after it was over, coach Tara VanDerveer called her team back out onto the floor to salute the crowd and praise the effort expended and focus displayed in this performance.
This was not just another game. Not even just another huge game. It was the game, at least of the past decade of Stanford basketball, and probably longer than that.
The way the Notre Dame men are still remembered for ending UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974, this victory will be eternal for Stanford and its fans.
When you dent a dynasty, it's forever.
"I'm really proud of our team for stepping up and not being intimidated by the streak or whatever and just going out and playing the game," VanDerveer said later.
Oh, they played the game all right. Wrestled, scrapped, tussled and body-slammed, too, on Stanford's way to its 52nd consecutive victory at Maples.
Jeanette Pohlen poured in 31 points, Kayla Peterson grabbed 11 rebounds and freshman Chiney Ogwumike keyed a harrying, rotating defensive focus on UConn superstar Maya Moore, who scored only 14 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
This wasn't about precision, it was about Stanford utilizing its superior size and strength and wiping away everything UConn wanted to accomplish.
Stanford ended the longest streak in the history of Division I basketball by being the bully. By moving into the spotlight, and growing larger because of it.
By jumping to a 13-point lead midway through the first half, then continually bumping away the Huskies' efforts to come back.
"They hit at us," said UConn guard Kelly Faris, "and we didn't hit hard enough back."
UConn coach Geno Auriemma rubbed his face wearily as he faced questions a few minutes later. But he expressed little sadness at the expiration of the streak, which began after Stanford defeated UConn in a 2008 national semifinal game, and included back-to-back national titles.
"This losing stuff's getting old, man," Auriemma said dryly a few minutes after it was over. "I hate it."
Then he paused and smiled, and credited the Cardinal and the spirit in Maples on this night.
"There's a disappointment in the fact that we didn't play well," Auriemma said. "In the real world, when you don't play well and the other team plays well, you're supposed to lose. "...
"At some point, reality has to set in. And today reality set in. I'm OK about it. I'm not distraught about it, don't get me wrong. I think winning that many games in a row is just unheard of."
Even after this game, UConn is still the prohibitive favorite to win its third consecutive national title this spring.
Stanford still is only one of the secondary contenders, because everybody is secondary to UConn in women's basketball.
But Stanford had come close to knocking off the Huskies in a few previous attempts during the streak, including last season's national title game, and hadn't done it.
As VanDerveer pointed out, Stanford lost only eight times during UConn's 90-0 streak, and three of them were to UConn. Now the Cardinal's turned it around, and it's the arch-nemesis of the dynasty.
UConn is 87-0 vs. all other teams. And 3-2 vs. Stanford.
"It's not a national championship," VanDerveer said. "But it's a really big game and we're excited about it."
It was a giant game. An essential, electric game that won't be forgotten, by either UConn or Stanford, for decades and maybe a lot longer.
By Tim Kawakami
Mercury News Columnist
Posted: 12/30/2010 10:38:06 PM PST
Updated: 12/31/2010 07:45:47 AM PST
They ended the Streak with elbows flying, minds racing, voices bellowing and hearts pounding.
They did it with their arena rocking and rolling, their grand opponent crumbling and a nation watching.
The Stanford women didn't merely put on an almost-perfect performance on Thursday to end No. 1 Connecticut's majestic 90-game winning streak, though they surely did that.
The ninth-ranked Cardinal did something larger, stronger and perhaps more lasting on its way to a towering 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion.
On the big stage, in the rowdiest atmosphere possible, Stanford shoved and thumped UConn, the most dominant team in existence and Stanford's deadliest arch nemesis.
Exploding from the gates and cresting with the crowd's emotion, Stanford (9-2) never trailed. Stanford never came close to backing down.
"It's always fun to play a physical game," Cardinal forward Nneka Ogwumike said. "It's December, but it's the Final Four in December."
And, in a mini-championship moment after it was over, coach Tara VanDerveer called her team back out onto the floor to salute the crowd and praise the effort expended and focus displayed in this performance.
This was not just another game. Not even just another huge game. It was the game, at least of the past decade of Stanford basketball, and probably longer than that.
The way the Notre Dame men are still remembered for ending UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974, this victory will be eternal for Stanford and its fans.
When you dent a dynasty, it's forever.
"I'm really proud of our team for stepping up and not being intimidated by the streak or whatever and just going out and playing the game," VanDerveer said later.
Oh, they played the game all right. Wrestled, scrapped, tussled and body-slammed, too, on Stanford's way to its 52nd consecutive victory at Maples.
Jeanette Pohlen poured in 31 points, Kayla Peterson grabbed 11 rebounds and freshman Chiney Ogwumike keyed a harrying, rotating defensive focus on UConn superstar Maya Moore, who scored only 14 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
This wasn't about precision, it was about Stanford utilizing its superior size and strength and wiping away everything UConn wanted to accomplish.
Stanford ended the longest streak in the history of Division I basketball by being the bully. By moving into the spotlight, and growing larger because of it.
By jumping to a 13-point lead midway through the first half, then continually bumping away the Huskies' efforts to come back.
"They hit at us," said UConn guard Kelly Faris, "and we didn't hit hard enough back."
UConn coach Geno Auriemma rubbed his face wearily as he faced questions a few minutes later. But he expressed little sadness at the expiration of the streak, which began after Stanford defeated UConn in a 2008 national semifinal game, and included back-to-back national titles.
"This losing stuff's getting old, man," Auriemma said dryly a few minutes after it was over. "I hate it."
Then he paused and smiled, and credited the Cardinal and the spirit in Maples on this night.
"There's a disappointment in the fact that we didn't play well," Auriemma said. "In the real world, when you don't play well and the other team plays well, you're supposed to lose. "...
"At some point, reality has to set in. And today reality set in. I'm OK about it. I'm not distraught about it, don't get me wrong. I think winning that many games in a row is just unheard of."
Even after this game, UConn is still the prohibitive favorite to win its third consecutive national title this spring.
Stanford still is only one of the secondary contenders, because everybody is secondary to UConn in women's basketball.
But Stanford had come close to knocking off the Huskies in a few previous attempts during the streak, including last season's national title game, and hadn't done it.
As VanDerveer pointed out, Stanford lost only eight times during UConn's 90-0 streak, and three of them were to UConn. Now the Cardinal's turned it around, and it's the arch-nemesis of the dynasty.
UConn is 87-0 vs. all other teams. And 3-2 vs. Stanford.
"It's not a national championship," VanDerveer said. "But it's a really big game and we're excited about it."
It was a giant game. An essential, electric game that won't be forgotten, by either UConn or Stanford, for decades and maybe a lot longer.
Hatshepsut
Crusader
Ted, I like Barbara Streisand.
It's 11:33 and counting.......down.
It's 11:33 and counting.......down.
CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
San Francisco selected to host America's Cup
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco will host the next America's Cup, heralding a potential renaissance in the sport of sailing and a major boon to the local economy, sources told The Chronicle.
A formal announcement has yet to be made, and last-minute talks with lawyers continued after 2 p.m., but sources close to the selection process told The Chronicle that San Francisco will be picked. A spokeswoman for race organizers, though, said reports of a win "are just speculative."
"No decision has been made," event spokeswoman Stephanie Martin said. "And no city has been ruled out."
Newport, R.I., Italy and potentially other suitors are vying to host sailing's premier regatta in 2013, an international sporting event whose projected economic benefit is eclipsed only by the Olympics and soccer's World Cup.
San Francisco had been the early front-runner to host the 34th Cup after BMW Oracle Racing, owned by billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, captured the trophy in February off the coast of Valencia, Spain. The team is sponsored by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the winning syndicate gets to pick where it will defend the Cup.
Within a week of capturing the oldest trophy in international sports, Ellison said San Francisco Bay "has always been my favorite place to sail ... It's a fantastic place to hold a sailboat race, especially America's Cup."
Part of the attraction for race organizers is San Francisco's unique position to grow the sport of sailing.
Rather than holding the races miles off shore, which was the case in Valencia and in Newport, where the Cup was held from 1930 to 1983, San Francisco Bay offers a natural amphitheater. Spectators in Financial District high rises, along Crissy Field, on Angel Island and in the Marin Headlands will be able to view the action.
Race organizers have picked a new class of boats for the contest, swift 72-foot catamarans, and some enthusiasts are gushing at the thought of the crafts ripping around Alcatraz, cantilevered at an angle as sailors lean off the side, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
It's a made-for-TV image that could easily appeal to sailing's largely untapped market in this country, and Ellison's group has said it wants to boost the sport's popularity, visibility and sponsorship potential by utilizing new media and having cameramen onboard the boats.
The next Cup will include qualifying matches and pre-event races around the world. San Francisco will see at least 43 days of racing spread over more than a year before culminating in a final match in September 2013.
The races are projected to infuse $1.2 billion into the city's economy while generating the equivalent of more than 8,000 jobs.
San Francisco almost had the Cup slip through its fingers after the city changed the financial terms of its proposal and race organizers voiced displeasure. That touched off race organizer's eleventh-hour courtship of Newport.
Mayor Gavin Newsom's administration tweaked its bid but largely stood pat on its offer to give race organizers long-term development rights to up to three piers and another waterfront parcel south of the Bay Bridge in exchange for paying up to $80 million to shore up aging piers to house race facilities.
The deal calls for race organizers to pay $55 million to repair city-owned piers and get development rights and a 66-year lease on Piers 30-32 and title to Seawall Lot 330 across the Embarcadero. The team will also have the option of paying at least $25 million more to shore up nearby piers 26 and 28 in exchange for 66-year leases on them. It will pay rent on the properties but be given credit for infrastructure work done.
Rhode Island officials said they couldn't finalize their bid by today's deadline race organizers had set to notify competitors of the location.
E-mail John Coté at [email protected].
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/31/BAQ11H1QRE.DTL#ixzz19l1Dcfkw
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco will host the next America's Cup, heralding a potential renaissance in the sport of sailing and a major boon to the local economy, sources told The Chronicle.
A formal announcement has yet to be made, and last-minute talks with lawyers continued after 2 p.m., but sources close to the selection process told The Chronicle that San Francisco will be picked. A spokeswoman for race organizers, though, said reports of a win "are just speculative."
"No decision has been made," event spokeswoman Stephanie Martin said. "And no city has been ruled out."
Newport, R.I., Italy and potentially other suitors are vying to host sailing's premier regatta in 2013, an international sporting event whose projected economic benefit is eclipsed only by the Olympics and soccer's World Cup.
San Francisco had been the early front-runner to host the 34th Cup after BMW Oracle Racing, owned by billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, captured the trophy in February off the coast of Valencia, Spain. The team is sponsored by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the winning syndicate gets to pick where it will defend the Cup.
Within a week of capturing the oldest trophy in international sports, Ellison said San Francisco Bay "has always been my favorite place to sail ... It's a fantastic place to hold a sailboat race, especially America's Cup."
Part of the attraction for race organizers is San Francisco's unique position to grow the sport of sailing.
Rather than holding the races miles off shore, which was the case in Valencia and in Newport, where the Cup was held from 1930 to 1983, San Francisco Bay offers a natural amphitheater. Spectators in Financial District high rises, along Crissy Field, on Angel Island and in the Marin Headlands will be able to view the action.
Race organizers have picked a new class of boats for the contest, swift 72-foot catamarans, and some enthusiasts are gushing at the thought of the crafts ripping around Alcatraz, cantilevered at an angle as sailors lean off the side, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
It's a made-for-TV image that could easily appeal to sailing's largely untapped market in this country, and Ellison's group has said it wants to boost the sport's popularity, visibility and sponsorship potential by utilizing new media and having cameramen onboard the boats.
The next Cup will include qualifying matches and pre-event races around the world. San Francisco will see at least 43 days of racing spread over more than a year before culminating in a final match in September 2013.
The races are projected to infuse $1.2 billion into the city's economy while generating the equivalent of more than 8,000 jobs.
San Francisco almost had the Cup slip through its fingers after the city changed the financial terms of its proposal and race organizers voiced displeasure. That touched off race organizer's eleventh-hour courtship of Newport.
Mayor Gavin Newsom's administration tweaked its bid but largely stood pat on its offer to give race organizers long-term development rights to up to three piers and another waterfront parcel south of the Bay Bridge in exchange for paying up to $80 million to shore up aging piers to house race facilities.
The deal calls for race organizers to pay $55 million to repair city-owned piers and get development rights and a 66-year lease on Piers 30-32 and title to Seawall Lot 330 across the Embarcadero. The team will also have the option of paying at least $25 million more to shore up nearby piers 26 and 28 in exchange for 66-year leases on them. It will pay rent on the properties but be given credit for infrastructure work done.
Rhode Island officials said they couldn't finalize their bid by today's deadline race organizers had set to notify competitors of the location.
E-mail John Coté at [email protected].
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/31/BAQ11H1QRE.DTL#ixzz19l1Dcfkw
afaceinthecrowd
Gold Meritorious Patron
Happy New Year to all y'all here on this thread.
As I count my blessings over this last year all of you here posting and sharing your "takes", wisdom, humor, wit, brilliance, stories and honesty, and your dialoguing with me since my "arrival" in February, have truly enriched me and made my life better.
Thank you.
Thank you from my the bottom of my heart.
My Very Best New Year Wishes to Each and Every One Posting, Reading and Lurking Here,
Face
As I count my blessings over this last year all of you here posting and sharing your "takes", wisdom, humor, wit, brilliance, stories and honesty, and your dialoguing with me since my "arrival" in February, have truly enriched me and made my life better.
Thank you.
Thank you from my the bottom of my heart.
My Very Best New Year Wishes to Each and Every One Posting, Reading and Lurking Here,
Face
CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVy4gaJ6kv0&feature=related
Moving to Mexico: How-to and why not
Gary M. Chandler
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
I may as well address the look of supreme incredulity spreading across your face at the mere title of this article.
Moving to Mexico?
Now?
True, parts of Mexico are in the grips of a god-awful drug war, and many travelers are reluctant to even spend a long weekend there, let alone move down permanently. But while you certainly shouldn't ignore security concerns, you also shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Mexico is a huge country and there are myriad desirable destinations well-removed from the violence, with crime rates far lower than typical U.S. cities. For many, Mexico remains a terrific place to stretch a pension or modest income, with affordable housing, modern comforts, and easy access to the U.S. and Canada.
You might be surprised at the wide range of people who take the plunge. Retirees and snowbirds are still the largest contingent, but more and more young couples, some with school-age kids, have happily and successfully relocated. Many are contract programmers, graphic designers, freelance writers, or other professionals; if you're working remotely anyway, why not do it from Mexico? Others simply want a unique experience for themselves and their kids, and come up with plans to open a B&B or other small business. That's a tough undertaking, no doubt, but the point is, you don't necessarily have to wait for retirement to move abroad.
Fortunately, there are a lot of resources for people considering a move to Mexico. One is the aptly named website MoveToMexico.com, with extensive online information, a 130-page downloadable e-book (US$15) and a variety of personalized for-pay consulting services. Founder David Simmonds (who has written for this column in the past) advises would-be transplants to explore several towns and areas, even if you're already head over heels for a particular location. There's simply no substitute for being in a place: strolling the main plaza, wandering the neighborhoods, braving the markets or striking up a conversation. And you may surprise yourself — people who are sure they want to be near the beach may well find they prefer inland colonial cities (I'm one of those). Or those who've dreamed of small-town life find themselves enthralled by Mexico City. At some point, a place will just "click," and you'll know you've found home.
Or you won't. Moving to Mexico isn't for everyone, after all. That's why Simmonds also recommends spending at least six months in a place before buying a house (or selling yours back home). The fact is, the place you fell in love with on a two week winter holiday may not be the same place in the summer. Simmonds says he's seen plenty of people move to, say, Puerto Vallarta after a lovely Christmas holiday or two, but "then the rainy, hot, humid, buggy season arrives, and they can't handle it." Six months will also give you ample exposure to the idiosyncrasies of your chosen location, and Mexico in general. Be open to the possibility that moving to Mexico isn't what you're actually looking for.
Nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico
No matter where you go, as a foreigner there are some practical issues to consider. For Mexico, some of these include:
Visas: Tourist visas (FM-T) are issued at the border or airport, and are good for up to 180 days. Technically you're not allowed to be in-country for more than six months of any 12-month stretch, but I know people who have spent years in Mexico on tourist visas, leaving and re-entering every six months in order to get a new stamp. A better option is to pursue an FM3 visa, which is good for a year and can be renewed without leaving for up to five years. The FM3 application requires proof of income (around US$1000 per month, or US$1500 for married couples) and a current address in Mexico, among other things, and is a popular and logical status for foreign émigrés. Other options are the FM2 visa and Inmigrado status, which offer greater freedoms but have stricter requirements.
Money: Foreign-issued debit and credit cards are accepted widely throughout Mexico, and with online banking you can manage your accounts with ease. (When's the last time you went into a branch office anyway?) That said, foreign transaction fees can add up fast. Some banks waive ATM fees if you use the machines at their partner banks in Mexico, or if you link your checking account to a money-market account. Some ex-pats set up Mexican checking accounts, in either dollars or pesos, and periodically transfer money from their "home" bank; again, do some research to be sure you're getting the best deal for your particular circumstances.
Property: Mexican law restricts foreigners from owning property within 30 miles of the coast, which, of course, is precisely where the majority of transplants want to live. Fortunately, you can now establish a fideicomiso (real estate trust) under which the bank technically owns the title but you have all the legal rights of ownership, including to improve, sell or will the property. Financing has also become more available, with the advent of American- and Canadian-backed "cross-border mortgages." Terms aren't stellar, but it's a huge improvement over the situation back in the 1990s, when more than 95% of real estate purchases involving a foreign buyer were still made in cash. Despite the improvements, it's highly recommended that you hire a lawyer, and possibly a buyer's representative, to navigate the many bureaucratic requirements.
Health care: Most of Mexico's major cities and tourist/ex-pat destinations boast first-rate hospitals and doctors. Routine care can be especially good; my wife happened to be pregnant the last time we were in Playa del Carmen, and she was due for a check-up during our stay. Not only did we get an appointment the same day we called, the clinic had far more advanced equipment than the one back home, the doctor spent more time with us, and the whole visit, including blood work, cost less than US$75. Many ex-pats maintain catastrophic policies back home (including evacuation coverage) but pay out of pocket for day-to-day care. If you have an FM2 or FM3 visa, you may qualify for coverage through IMSS, the government health and social security system. Granted, some IMSS hospitals get quite crowded, but service is decent and the price can't be beat: around US$100 to $250 per year, depending on your age, for full coverage, including prescriptions. You can also purchase private coverage from a Mexican insurance company or, in some cases, directly with a local hospital.
Top spots to consider
Here are a few locations to get you started. All have nascent or established expatriate communities, which are an invaluable resource for anyone considering moving abroad. Each location has its unique appeal — guidebooks and websites are a great place to start your research, and when you've narrowed down the choices, start planning some reconnaissance missions!
Coastal areas:
Playa del Carmen:In "Playa," choose from modern beach front condos, colonial townhouses, and exclusive gated communities. One of the Riviera Maya's fastest growing cities, it's got great beaches, restaurants, and shopping (from boutiques to WalMart) plus easy access to Cancun (1 hour by car or bus), Cozumel (30 minutes by ferry), and inland archaeological sites.
Puerto Vallarta: An international destination that's managed to retain its colonial charm, Puerto Vallarta's centro has cobblestone streets and whitewashed houses, while the lush surrounding hillsides boast airy colonial homes with spectacular views. Fine beaches, gay-friendly, with fascinating spots to explore north, south and inland.
La Paz: Everyone's heard of Los Cabos, but for most Baja-buffs, La Paz is the peninsula's most appealing large city. Best known for its laid-back atmosphere and lovely waterfront promenade (or malecón), La Paz also boasts first-rate scuba diving, sport fishing and kayaking, and is within easy reach of beautiful uncrowded beaches.
Also:Los Cabos, Mazatlán, San Carlos (north of Guaymas), Zihuatanejo
Inland:
Mérida: Gorgeous colonial mansions are a labor of love for many of Mérida's expats, and just one of Mérida's many charms. The city bursts with culture, with free dance, music and other performances 365 days a year (really!). Easy access to some of the Yucatan Peninsula's most remarkable sights, including Maya ruins and flamingo reserves, though be prepared for hot weather.
Oaxaca City: Oaxaca City could hardly be more charming, with its mild weather, stunning colonial architecture, and rich artistic and cultural traditions. The city is easily explored on foot, and the surrounding villages, many of them indigenous, produce wonderful folk art. Easy air and road access to Mexico City and the Pacific beach towns of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido.
San Miguel de Allende: Home to the Instituto Allende and blessed with a mild mountain climate, San Miguel has drawn writers, painters, sculptors and philosophers (and not a few psychics and die-hard bohemians) from the world over, lending it a rich artistic and international flair. But this small city retains a distinctly Mexican feel, with leafy plazas and fine colonial architecture, and is reasonably close to the cities of Guanajuato, Queretaro and Mexico City.
Also: Guadalajara/Lago de Chapala, Mexico City area, San Luis Potosí
Up-and-coming:
San Cristóbal de las Casas: High in the mountains of Chiapas, San Cristóbal is resfreshingly cool and boasts an appealing mix of artists, aid workers, and everyday folks, including a large autonomous Maya population. The city has gorgeous churches, plazas and other architecture — old colonial homes make rewarding fixer-uppers for many expats — and is an ideal base for exploring the state's many indigenous villages, national parks, and more.
Valladolid: Expats are finally starting to appreciate the appeal of this lovely and well-located colonial city. In Valladolid, you're within a quick drive of hotspots like Cancún, Tulum and Mérida, yet pay a fraction of the housing and living costs. And the city is itself a growing destination, with a charming central plaza and easy access to nearby Maya ruins and cenotes, beautiful underground caverns filled with cool clear water.
Also: Campeche City, Colima, Guanajuato
Gary M. Chandler is a freelance travel writer based in Denver, and has worked on numerous guidebooks, including the Yucatán Handbook, Cancún & Cozumel Handbook, and Chiapas Handbook, published by Moon Handbooks. He wrote about Chiapas for the Mexico Mix last month.
SLIDESHOW:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2010/12/29/mexico_mix_moving.DTL
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/12/29/mexico_mix_moving.DTL&ao=3#ixzz19l6leQKC
Moving to Mexico: How-to and why not
Gary M. Chandler
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
I may as well address the look of supreme incredulity spreading across your face at the mere title of this article.
Moving to Mexico?
Now?
True, parts of Mexico are in the grips of a god-awful drug war, and many travelers are reluctant to even spend a long weekend there, let alone move down permanently. But while you certainly shouldn't ignore security concerns, you also shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Mexico is a huge country and there are myriad desirable destinations well-removed from the violence, with crime rates far lower than typical U.S. cities. For many, Mexico remains a terrific place to stretch a pension or modest income, with affordable housing, modern comforts, and easy access to the U.S. and Canada.
You might be surprised at the wide range of people who take the plunge. Retirees and snowbirds are still the largest contingent, but more and more young couples, some with school-age kids, have happily and successfully relocated. Many are contract programmers, graphic designers, freelance writers, or other professionals; if you're working remotely anyway, why not do it from Mexico? Others simply want a unique experience for themselves and their kids, and come up with plans to open a B&B or other small business. That's a tough undertaking, no doubt, but the point is, you don't necessarily have to wait for retirement to move abroad.
Fortunately, there are a lot of resources for people considering a move to Mexico. One is the aptly named website MoveToMexico.com, with extensive online information, a 130-page downloadable e-book (US$15) and a variety of personalized for-pay consulting services. Founder David Simmonds (who has written for this column in the past) advises would-be transplants to explore several towns and areas, even if you're already head over heels for a particular location. There's simply no substitute for being in a place: strolling the main plaza, wandering the neighborhoods, braving the markets or striking up a conversation. And you may surprise yourself — people who are sure they want to be near the beach may well find they prefer inland colonial cities (I'm one of those). Or those who've dreamed of small-town life find themselves enthralled by Mexico City. At some point, a place will just "click," and you'll know you've found home.
Or you won't. Moving to Mexico isn't for everyone, after all. That's why Simmonds also recommends spending at least six months in a place before buying a house (or selling yours back home). The fact is, the place you fell in love with on a two week winter holiday may not be the same place in the summer. Simmonds says he's seen plenty of people move to, say, Puerto Vallarta after a lovely Christmas holiday or two, but "then the rainy, hot, humid, buggy season arrives, and they can't handle it." Six months will also give you ample exposure to the idiosyncrasies of your chosen location, and Mexico in general. Be open to the possibility that moving to Mexico isn't what you're actually looking for.
Nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico
No matter where you go, as a foreigner there are some practical issues to consider. For Mexico, some of these include:
Visas: Tourist visas (FM-T) are issued at the border or airport, and are good for up to 180 days. Technically you're not allowed to be in-country for more than six months of any 12-month stretch, but I know people who have spent years in Mexico on tourist visas, leaving and re-entering every six months in order to get a new stamp. A better option is to pursue an FM3 visa, which is good for a year and can be renewed without leaving for up to five years. The FM3 application requires proof of income (around US$1000 per month, or US$1500 for married couples) and a current address in Mexico, among other things, and is a popular and logical status for foreign émigrés. Other options are the FM2 visa and Inmigrado status, which offer greater freedoms but have stricter requirements.
Money: Foreign-issued debit and credit cards are accepted widely throughout Mexico, and with online banking you can manage your accounts with ease. (When's the last time you went into a branch office anyway?) That said, foreign transaction fees can add up fast. Some banks waive ATM fees if you use the machines at their partner banks in Mexico, or if you link your checking account to a money-market account. Some ex-pats set up Mexican checking accounts, in either dollars or pesos, and periodically transfer money from their "home" bank; again, do some research to be sure you're getting the best deal for your particular circumstances.
Property: Mexican law restricts foreigners from owning property within 30 miles of the coast, which, of course, is precisely where the majority of transplants want to live. Fortunately, you can now establish a fideicomiso (real estate trust) under which the bank technically owns the title but you have all the legal rights of ownership, including to improve, sell or will the property. Financing has also become more available, with the advent of American- and Canadian-backed "cross-border mortgages." Terms aren't stellar, but it's a huge improvement over the situation back in the 1990s, when more than 95% of real estate purchases involving a foreign buyer were still made in cash. Despite the improvements, it's highly recommended that you hire a lawyer, and possibly a buyer's representative, to navigate the many bureaucratic requirements.
Health care: Most of Mexico's major cities and tourist/ex-pat destinations boast first-rate hospitals and doctors. Routine care can be especially good; my wife happened to be pregnant the last time we were in Playa del Carmen, and she was due for a check-up during our stay. Not only did we get an appointment the same day we called, the clinic had far more advanced equipment than the one back home, the doctor spent more time with us, and the whole visit, including blood work, cost less than US$75. Many ex-pats maintain catastrophic policies back home (including evacuation coverage) but pay out of pocket for day-to-day care. If you have an FM2 or FM3 visa, you may qualify for coverage through IMSS, the government health and social security system. Granted, some IMSS hospitals get quite crowded, but service is decent and the price can't be beat: around US$100 to $250 per year, depending on your age, for full coverage, including prescriptions. You can also purchase private coverage from a Mexican insurance company or, in some cases, directly with a local hospital.
Top spots to consider
Here are a few locations to get you started. All have nascent or established expatriate communities, which are an invaluable resource for anyone considering moving abroad. Each location has its unique appeal — guidebooks and websites are a great place to start your research, and when you've narrowed down the choices, start planning some reconnaissance missions!
Coastal areas:
Playa del Carmen:In "Playa," choose from modern beach front condos, colonial townhouses, and exclusive gated communities. One of the Riviera Maya's fastest growing cities, it's got great beaches, restaurants, and shopping (from boutiques to WalMart) plus easy access to Cancun (1 hour by car or bus), Cozumel (30 minutes by ferry), and inland archaeological sites.
Puerto Vallarta: An international destination that's managed to retain its colonial charm, Puerto Vallarta's centro has cobblestone streets and whitewashed houses, while the lush surrounding hillsides boast airy colonial homes with spectacular views. Fine beaches, gay-friendly, with fascinating spots to explore north, south and inland.
La Paz: Everyone's heard of Los Cabos, but for most Baja-buffs, La Paz is the peninsula's most appealing large city. Best known for its laid-back atmosphere and lovely waterfront promenade (or malecón), La Paz also boasts first-rate scuba diving, sport fishing and kayaking, and is within easy reach of beautiful uncrowded beaches.
Also:Los Cabos, Mazatlán, San Carlos (north of Guaymas), Zihuatanejo
Inland:
Mérida: Gorgeous colonial mansions are a labor of love for many of Mérida's expats, and just one of Mérida's many charms. The city bursts with culture, with free dance, music and other performances 365 days a year (really!). Easy access to some of the Yucatan Peninsula's most remarkable sights, including Maya ruins and flamingo reserves, though be prepared for hot weather.
Oaxaca City: Oaxaca City could hardly be more charming, with its mild weather, stunning colonial architecture, and rich artistic and cultural traditions. The city is easily explored on foot, and the surrounding villages, many of them indigenous, produce wonderful folk art. Easy air and road access to Mexico City and the Pacific beach towns of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido.
San Miguel de Allende: Home to the Instituto Allende and blessed with a mild mountain climate, San Miguel has drawn writers, painters, sculptors and philosophers (and not a few psychics and die-hard bohemians) from the world over, lending it a rich artistic and international flair. But this small city retains a distinctly Mexican feel, with leafy plazas and fine colonial architecture, and is reasonably close to the cities of Guanajuato, Queretaro and Mexico City.
Also: Guadalajara/Lago de Chapala, Mexico City area, San Luis Potosí
Up-and-coming:
San Cristóbal de las Casas: High in the mountains of Chiapas, San Cristóbal is resfreshingly cool and boasts an appealing mix of artists, aid workers, and everyday folks, including a large autonomous Maya population. The city has gorgeous churches, plazas and other architecture — old colonial homes make rewarding fixer-uppers for many expats — and is an ideal base for exploring the state's many indigenous villages, national parks, and more.
Valladolid: Expats are finally starting to appreciate the appeal of this lovely and well-located colonial city. In Valladolid, you're within a quick drive of hotspots like Cancún, Tulum and Mérida, yet pay a fraction of the housing and living costs. And the city is itself a growing destination, with a charming central plaza and easy access to nearby Maya ruins and cenotes, beautiful underground caverns filled with cool clear water.
Also: Campeche City, Colima, Guanajuato
Gary M. Chandler is a freelance travel writer based in Denver, and has worked on numerous guidebooks, including the Yucatán Handbook, Cancún & Cozumel Handbook, and Chiapas Handbook, published by Moon Handbooks. He wrote about Chiapas for the Mexico Mix last month.
SLIDESHOW:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2010/12/29/mexico_mix_moving.DTL
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/12/29/mexico_mix_moving.DTL&ao=3#ixzz19l6leQKC
CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
Auld Lang Syne
According to TLC, the song is an "extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s." The poet Robert Burns often gets credit for the words.
People often sing their own lyrics. A site dedicated to the great poet explains, "In spite of the popularity of 'Auld Lang Syne,' it has aptly been described as 'the song that nobody knows.' As for the the music, it's more of a traditional folk song."
So, what do the words actually mean? Basically, the words "auld lang syne" translate into "for days past," "days gone by," or "for the sake of old times," depending on whom you ask. But no matter what the literal translation is, the sentiment is the same. It's a song that aims to honor the good old days on a night that's all about ringing in the new.
According to TLC, the song is an "extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s." The poet Robert Burns often gets credit for the words.
People often sing their own lyrics. A site dedicated to the great poet explains, "In spite of the popularity of 'Auld Lang Syne,' it has aptly been described as 'the song that nobody knows.' As for the the music, it's more of a traditional folk song."
So, what do the words actually mean? Basically, the words "auld lang syne" translate into "for days past," "days gone by," or "for the sake of old times," depending on whom you ask. But no matter what the literal translation is, the sentiment is the same. It's a song that aims to honor the good old days on a night that's all about ringing in the new.
Ted
Gold Meritorious Patron
Streisand is hard to beat.
I posed the question because I cannot decide. Karen Carpenter's voice resonates in my heart chakra. I love it.
Diana Krall resonates my root chakra. Sultry cool.
Ella? What a voice!
I looked for some male versions, but not for too long. Seems I'd rather hear the ladies sing that one.
It's 1:54. Once again I fell asleep and missed the 12 midnight hour and Times Square celebration. There's always next year, right?
CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
lkwdblds
Crusader
Dittos to you Face
Thank you Face for your unique participation on this thread. Your role was invaluable in helping to understand the enigma of Hubbard. Your personal story was and is an inspiration and your writing style and brilliance also deserves comment. You are sort of the Will Rogers of this thread.
Carmerlo, your article on Mexico is intriguing. I could probably live there like a king just on my Social Security stipend. As a 26 year old, I traveled in Mexico and fell in love with the City of Taxco. It was then a small city of about 25,000 nestled in the mountains at about 6,000 ft. altitude with a large cathedral befitting a city ten times its size. The city is known as a center for silver goods and also leather goods. Back in 1966, the streets were running free with pigs and chickens and the people were totally friendly and mostly in spirit of play.
My Hotel welcomed us with a banquet which actually featured a cooked pig with an apple in its mouth. We hotel guests dined on this sumptious banquet buffet style in an all you can eat set up while a small group of musicians serenaded us mariachi style with lovely Mexican and Spanish music.
Some 18 year old young man who spoke good English, offered to be my guide and tour the city with me for a ridiculously low fee of $5. I went to his favorite hang outs; I remember a coffee house where all his friends gathered and watching two of his friends play chess. I was only 26 and he introduced me to his friends including several beautiful lady friends. I was tempted to stay but the logistics would have been difficult and I had my job at IBM to return to so I decided not to stay. As the Lakey of today, I would take an extra few days vacation from work, change my plane tickets and stay in Taxco a extra few days. Had I done so, I'll bet that I would have made some long term friends and gone back to visit them over the years. I have never forgotten that wonderful city and have always longed to return.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g150803-Taxco_Pacific_Coast.html
Male vocalists - I love Elvis the most, then Bing Crosby, then Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison and Fats Domino. I have a soft spot in my heart for Rick Nelson, just based on nostalgia, but in terms of shear talent, he was not in the class of the above singers, although he was very good.
It is now midnight in Southern California. Happy New Year to you all!!
Lakey aka Gary Hart
Happy New Year to all y'all here on this thread.
As I count my blessings over this last year all of you here posting and sharing your "takes", wisdom, humor, wit, brilliance, stories and honesty, and your dialoguing with me since my "arrival" in February, have truly enriched me and made my life better.
Thank you.
Thank you from my the bottom of my heart.
My Very Best New Year Wishes to Each and Every One Posting, Reading and Lurking Here,
Face
Thank you Face for your unique participation on this thread. Your role was invaluable in helping to understand the enigma of Hubbard. Your personal story was and is an inspiration and your writing style and brilliance also deserves comment. You are sort of the Will Rogers of this thread.
Carmerlo, your article on Mexico is intriguing. I could probably live there like a king just on my Social Security stipend. As a 26 year old, I traveled in Mexico and fell in love with the City of Taxco. It was then a small city of about 25,000 nestled in the mountains at about 6,000 ft. altitude with a large cathedral befitting a city ten times its size. The city is known as a center for silver goods and also leather goods. Back in 1966, the streets were running free with pigs and chickens and the people were totally friendly and mostly in spirit of play.
My Hotel welcomed us with a banquet which actually featured a cooked pig with an apple in its mouth. We hotel guests dined on this sumptious banquet buffet style in an all you can eat set up while a small group of musicians serenaded us mariachi style with lovely Mexican and Spanish music.
Some 18 year old young man who spoke good English, offered to be my guide and tour the city with me for a ridiculously low fee of $5. I went to his favorite hang outs; I remember a coffee house where all his friends gathered and watching two of his friends play chess. I was only 26 and he introduced me to his friends including several beautiful lady friends. I was tempted to stay but the logistics would have been difficult and I had my job at IBM to return to so I decided not to stay. As the Lakey of today, I would take an extra few days vacation from work, change my plane tickets and stay in Taxco a extra few days. Had I done so, I'll bet that I would have made some long term friends and gone back to visit them over the years. I have never forgotten that wonderful city and have always longed to return.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g150803-Taxco_Pacific_Coast.html
Male vocalists - I love Elvis the most, then Bing Crosby, then Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison and Fats Domino. I have a soft spot in my heart for Rick Nelson, just based on nostalgia, but in terms of shear talent, he was not in the class of the above singers, although he was very good.
It is now midnight in Southern California. Happy New Year to you all!!
Lakey aka Gary Hart
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SweetnessandLight
Crusader
We made it!
Happy New Year to all my dear friends on this board, and to all our lurkers. I wish you all the best in the coming year...everything you would wish for yourself and your friends and loved ones, and much more!!!
I am so grateful to be alive to see in this new year, and am anticipating a great deal of joy and happiness to come in the year ahead. Challenges will come, but I feel well-equipped to confront them with so many wonderful friends at my side, both IRL and online. God bless you all! 
A heartfelt thank you to all the contributors to this thread!
We are closing in on 250,000 views!
Happy New Year to all! A big hug to all of our regular posters, as well as mis amigos Lakey and Carmelo!
Excelsior!
Happy New Year to all my dear friends on this board, and to all our lurkers. I wish you all the best in the coming year...everything you would wish for yourself and your friends and loved ones, and much more!!!
I am so grateful to be alive to see in this new year, and am anticipating a great deal of joy and happiness to come in the year ahead. Challenges will come, but I feel well-equipped to confront them with so many wonderful friends at my side, both IRL and online.
God bless you all! A heartfelt thank you to all the contributors to this thread!
We are closing in on 250,000 views!
Happy New Year to all! A big hug to all of our regular posters, as well as mis amigos Lakey and Carmelo!
Excelsior!
SweetnessandLight
Crusader
Oh! And Happy Anony New Year to our Anon Friends Around the World!
Here's wishing a Very Happy and productive New Year to all our Anonymous friends!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdus8rTz-Yo
Here's wishing a Very Happy and productive New Year to all our Anonymous friends!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdus8rTz-Yo
RogerB
Crusader
On With The New Year . . .
Yes, I concur with the sentiments expressed about the old year and the new . . . . particularly Face's post. Nice!
For me, 2010 was great and I expect 2011 to be stupendous . . . looking forward to it so much I started celebrating the old becoming the new with Sydney . . . way early in the process for New Yorkers.
But I do that each year. I start on the bubbly with the Sydney celebration and continue on throughout the day doing a toast to all the cities I've been in or lived in as the clock moves forward.
I think it's a good system I've developed. Err, umm, only LA and Hawaii get missed: I'm not up to a 24 hour long vigil, even if with the best of bubblies.
So, here's to you late risers!
Happy New Year . . . .
RogerB
Yes, I concur with the sentiments expressed about the old year and the new . . . . particularly Face's post. Nice!
For me, 2010 was great and I expect 2011 to be stupendous . . . looking forward to it so much I started celebrating the old becoming the new with Sydney . . . way early in the process for New Yorkers.
But I do that each year. I start on the bubbly with the Sydney celebration and continue on throughout the day doing a toast to all the cities I've been in or lived in as the clock moves forward.
I think it's a good system I've developed. Err, umm, only LA and Hawaii get missed: I'm not up to a 24 hour long vigil, even if with the best of bubblies.
So, here's to you late risers!
Happy New Year . . . .
RogerB
lkwdblds
Crusader
Happy New Year Sweetness & Light
Happy New Year Sweetness! I am happy to hear that you are doing well! You deserve accolades from the Apollo thread for your continuous and unflagging participation plus your strong presence on many other threads as well. Your own Golden Quotes thread is a classic!!
Ah yes, 250.000 hits. I believe that last New Years we were pretty smug either nearing or just having passed 20,000 hits. Well, when we took over #1 all of our goals had been exceeded, 10,000 hits, then 20,000, to be in the top ten list, then 50,000, then 100,000, and finally #1 after a tough battle with the FCDC thread, edging ahead of them when we were both in the 149.000's. After that no one cared anymore what our total was.
I guess our next milestone would be 500,000. Nowadays, most of the reading of our thread is being done by non members and lurkers. At a typical moment, we may have 3 members reading the thread and 9 lurkers.
Lakey
Happy New Year to all my dear friends on this board, and to all our lurkers. I wish you all the best in the coming year...everything you would wish for yourself and your friends and loved ones, and much more!!!
I am so grateful to be alive to see in this new year, and am anticipating a great deal of joy and happiness to come in the year ahead. Challenges will come, but I feel well-equipped to confront them with so many wonderful friends at my side, both IRL and online.
A heartfelt thank you to all the contributors to this thread!
We are closing in on 250,000 views!
Happy New Year to all! A big hug to all of our regular posters, as well as mis amigos Lakey and Carmelo!
Excelsior!
Happy New Year Sweetness! I am happy to hear that you are doing well! You deserve accolades from the Apollo thread for your continuous and unflagging participation plus your strong presence on many other threads as well. Your own Golden Quotes thread is a classic!!
Ah yes, 250.000 hits. I believe that last New Years we were pretty smug either nearing or just having passed 20,000 hits. Well, when we took over #1 all of our goals had been exceeded, 10,000 hits, then 20,000, to be in the top ten list, then 50,000, then 100,000, and finally #1 after a tough battle with the FCDC thread, edging ahead of them when we were both in the 149.000's. After that no one cared anymore what our total was.
I guess our next milestone would be 500,000. Nowadays, most of the reading of our thread is being done by non members and lurkers. At a typical moment, we may have 3 members reading the thread and 9 lurkers.
Lakey
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lkwdblds
Crusader
Beating a dead horse?
This may be overkill but for the sake of thoroughness and to back up a claim I made, I am reprinting this little blurb about Wolfgang Mozart's Horn player friend Leutgeb. It confirms my post that Mozart wrote Leutgeb many sarcastic remarks even though Leutgeb was his good friend and he wrote music for him to play without charging him a fee.
The extent of these remarks was major since it has caused later historians to assume that Leutgeb was "slow of wit".
Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb (1732-1811)
Because of many written sarcastic remarks by his good friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it has been assumed that Ignaz Leutgeb was "slow of wit." Whether or not this is true is not certain, however Leutgeb was without doubt a fine horn player. Many critics of the time wrote about his superior musical and technical abilities.
In 1773, after playing first horn in the band of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg and touring various European cities, he settled in Vienna. With a loan from Leopold Mozart he opened a small cheese shop and in time, he became a very successful merchant.
HERE IS SOME MORE ON LEUTGEB AND A SAMPLE OF HOW MOZART TREATED HIM IN PRINT
I found this sample of how Mozart treated Leutgeb in writing by Googling "Leutgeb": -
Leutgeb and Mozart Leutgeb was most likely the adult Mozart's favorite horn player, as a number of the composer's works were written for him. These include the Horn Concertos K. 417, K. 495 and K. 412/386b (514) and "probably" (New Grove) the Horn Quintet K. 407/386c. These date from Mozart's time in Vienna, after his move there in 1781. The concertos are at the core of the solo horn literature and are widely performed today.
These works were written for natural horn, the valved instrument not being invented until about 1810. Leutgeb thus needed to exercise great lip control, as well as using the hand-stopping technique (hand in bell) to play chromatic notes.
Mozart had a curious joking relationship with Leutgeb, seen for instance in the mocking comments he placed in Leutgeb's horn parts. K. 417 bears the mock dedication: "Wolfgang Amadé Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna, March 27, 1783".[7] In one place he marks the orchestra part "Allegro" and the solo part "Adagio", perhaps mocking the tendency of horn notes to come in late, dragging the tempo.[8] For another possible instance, see K. 412. The multicolored inks in K. 495 are often taken to be a kind of joke, though Mozart biographer Konrad Küstler has claimed they had a purpose, specifically "to make some musical suggestions to the interpreters."[9]
Letters from the end of Mozart's life suggests that Leutgeb didn't mind the teasing and that the two had a good friendship. A letter by Mozart of 6 June 1791 indicates that, while his wife Constanze was away, he stayed for several nights at Leutgeb's, "because I had discharged [the maid] Leonore and I would have been all alone at home, which would not have been pleasant."[10] Later the same year, after the highly successful premiere of his opera The Magic Flute, Mozart repeatedly took friends and relatives to performances, and wrote in a letter (8–9 October) "Leutgeb begged me to take him a second time and I did so."[11]
This completes my defense of Mozart being a sexist. He treated Leutgeb,a very close male friend with insults and disrespect in print as well as his female cousin. I believe the only people he did treat in this manner were family and very intimate friends. Only with them did he feel enough familiarity to use scatalogical writing on them. He knew they would enjoy his foul humor and he looked forward to the other party, male or female, firing back scatalogical remarks at him to help put him is his place.
Mozart was a very child-like man, his entire life, loving to play games and practical jokes and trade insults with his intimates. Back in my high school days, we had "chopping contests" where we would insult our best friends with invectives and they would fire back trying to outdo us with more clever invectives. The idea was to chop the other person down to size. My friends and I outgrew this tendency after college, Mozart never outgrew his tendency to "chop" his friends, be they male or female.
Lakey
This may be overkill but for the sake of thoroughness and to back up a claim I made, I am reprinting this little blurb about Wolfgang Mozart's Horn player friend Leutgeb. It confirms my post that Mozart wrote Leutgeb many sarcastic remarks even though Leutgeb was his good friend and he wrote music for him to play without charging him a fee.
The extent of these remarks was major since it has caused later historians to assume that Leutgeb was "slow of wit".
Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb (1732-1811)
Because of many written sarcastic remarks by his good friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it has been assumed that Ignaz Leutgeb was "slow of wit." Whether or not this is true is not certain, however Leutgeb was without doubt a fine horn player. Many critics of the time wrote about his superior musical and technical abilities.
In 1773, after playing first horn in the band of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg and touring various European cities, he settled in Vienna. With a loan from Leopold Mozart he opened a small cheese shop and in time, he became a very successful merchant.
HERE IS SOME MORE ON LEUTGEB AND A SAMPLE OF HOW MOZART TREATED HIM IN PRINT
I found this sample of how Mozart treated Leutgeb in writing by Googling "Leutgeb": -
Leutgeb and Mozart Leutgeb was most likely the adult Mozart's favorite horn player, as a number of the composer's works were written for him. These include the Horn Concertos K. 417, K. 495 and K. 412/386b (514) and "probably" (New Grove) the Horn Quintet K. 407/386c. These date from Mozart's time in Vienna, after his move there in 1781. The concertos are at the core of the solo horn literature and are widely performed today.
These works were written for natural horn, the valved instrument not being invented until about 1810. Leutgeb thus needed to exercise great lip control, as well as using the hand-stopping technique (hand in bell) to play chromatic notes.
Mozart had a curious joking relationship with Leutgeb, seen for instance in the mocking comments he placed in Leutgeb's horn parts. K. 417 bears the mock dedication: "Wolfgang Amadé Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna, March 27, 1783".[7] In one place he marks the orchestra part "Allegro" and the solo part "Adagio", perhaps mocking the tendency of horn notes to come in late, dragging the tempo.[8] For another possible instance, see K. 412. The multicolored inks in K. 495 are often taken to be a kind of joke, though Mozart biographer Konrad Küstler has claimed they had a purpose, specifically "to make some musical suggestions to the interpreters."[9]
Letters from the end of Mozart's life suggests that Leutgeb didn't mind the teasing and that the two had a good friendship. A letter by Mozart of 6 June 1791 indicates that, while his wife Constanze was away, he stayed for several nights at Leutgeb's, "because I had discharged [the maid] Leonore and I would have been all alone at home, which would not have been pleasant."[10] Later the same year, after the highly successful premiere of his opera The Magic Flute, Mozart repeatedly took friends and relatives to performances, and wrote in a letter (8–9 October) "Leutgeb begged me to take him a second time and I did so."[11]
This completes my defense of Mozart being a sexist. He treated Leutgeb,a very close male friend with insults and disrespect in print as well as his female cousin. I believe the only people he did treat in this manner were family and very intimate friends. Only with them did he feel enough familiarity to use scatalogical writing on them. He knew they would enjoy his foul humor and he looked forward to the other party, male or female, firing back scatalogical remarks at him to help put him is his place.
Mozart was a very child-like man, his entire life, loving to play games and practical jokes and trade insults with his intimates. Back in my high school days, we had "chopping contests" where we would insult our best friends with invectives and they would fire back trying to outdo us with more clever invectives. The idea was to chop the other person down to size. My friends and I outgrew this tendency after college, Mozart never outgrew his tendency to "chop" his friends, be they male or female.
Lakey
Last edited:
FoTi
Crusader
It's 1:54. Once again I fell asleep and missed the 12 midnight hour and Times Square celebration. There's always next year, right?
I missed it too. I think it's the first time I ever missed being awake at 12 midnight New Years Eve. I was up really late Thurs night....didn't go to sleep until around 5am Fri morning (New Years Eve Day). I didn't get up until around 7:30am this morning...New Years Day. I think I'm turning into Rip Van Winkle.
Carmelo.....Mexico sounds very inticing.
Happy New Year everybody!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_9bx6U8_0
lkwdblds
Crusader
News flash! A Phil Spickler video has some real Wisdom
I played the following video given by Old Time Scientologist and Mission holder Phil Spickler, a good friend of Carmelo's by the way.
At the 1:50 mark into the video, Phil desccribes a clearing method in which no money need be paid and no meter nor any special commands or paraphanalia are required.
Would it does require is a lot of confronting, caring and some hard but usually satisfying and enjoyable work. I believe that many of us on this thread our already applying this technique without even knowing it. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBojmmeepa4
Lakey
I played the following video given by Old Time Scientologist and Mission holder Phil Spickler, a good friend of Carmelo's by the way.
At the 1:50 mark into the video, Phil desccribes a clearing method in which no money need be paid and no meter nor any special commands or paraphanalia are required.
Would it does require is a lot of confronting, caring and some hard but usually satisfying and enjoyable work. I believe that many of us on this thread our already applying this technique without even knowing it. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBojmmeepa4
Lakey
CarmeloOrchards
Crusader
from the Wall Street Journal
American Cities That Are Running Out Of People
by Michael B. Sauter
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The population of the United States has increased steadily by roughly 2.5 million people every year since World War II. Throughout prosperity and hard times, Americans continue to have families. Many of the country's regions have expanded to accommodate this population increase. Some cities have grown faster than others as the result of being at the center of some important new technology or job market. Others have lost residents because of failing industries and migration. Nevertheless, some of these cities have continued to grow slowly, or at least remain relatively stagnant, buoyed by the rising tide of the national population.
There are some cities, however, that have experienced such severe hardship and decline that their populations have actually decreased significantly. New Orleans has lost more than a quarter of its population in the past 10 years as the result of Hurricane Katrina. The rest of the cities that have lost major parts of their population have seen their flagship industries, which include coal, steel, oil, and auto-related manufacturing, fall off or completely collapse. America moved away from its status as an industrial superpower in the second half of the 20th century as the services sector rose to replace it. Millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs have moved overseas. Cities such as Rochester, Cleveland and Buffalo declined in population because they were trade hubs, and new modes of transportation removed their geographical dominance. Cities like Flint, Mich., have economies based on a single major industry. In Flint's case, that industry is auto manufacturing. When that industry began to decline, Flint was unable to diversify to prevent a population exodus.
All of the cities on this list experienced at least one of these devastating problems, which have caused tens of thousands -- and in some cases, hundreds of thousands -- of its residents to leave the region for other jobs and other homes. While it has been the primary focus of these cities to create new sources of employment for their residents, it may be years before people return, if they do at all.
Unfortunately, the populations of most of the cities on this list continue to decline and the situation could get worse for years. This loss of residents has caused severe drops in the social services that many of these cities can provide. Property and other taxes have fallen so much that the support that residents of other cities take for granted is at risk in the municipalities on this list. There is no longer any guarantee that they can maintain police and fire departments at reasonable levels. Some of these cities cannot continue to manage large neighborhoods that have become almost deserted as residents have left unoccupied homes behind. Home vacancy rates tell a great deal about how much a city's population has dropped.
24/7 obtained its population data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Division. Housing vacancy came from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. This is a list of the seven American cities that have lost the most people in the past decade:
1. New Orleans
Population: 354,850
Population Change 2000-2009: -128,813
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -26.63%
Home Vacancy: 21.5%
New Orleans is unique in that its presence on this list is not due to industrial decline, but from natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina flooded 80% of the city, caused by some estimates more than $80 billion in damage, and displaced tens of thousands of residents. The period of widespread homelessness, severe crime, and slow recovery has left the city as a shadow of its former self. While people are trickling back into the city, many will likely never return, and the city has lost more than a quarter of its population in just 10 years.
2. Flint, Mich.
Population: 111,475
Population Change 2000-2009: -13,266
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -10.63%
Home Vacancy: 18%
While most of the cities on this list are here as the result of a general decline in industry, Flint's woes have come almost entirely from one sector -- the auto industry. Flint became a boomtown at the turn of the century as it became a divisional headquarters to the major American auto manufacturers, including Chevrolet, Buick, and General Motors. Between 1910 and 1930, the population had more than quadrupled due to the success of the American car business. Since the American auto industry began its decline in the 1980s, Flint has consistently lost at least 10% of its population each decade. Massive layoffs and plant closings have devastated the city, and unemployment rates remain well into the double digits.
3. Cleveland
Population: 431,369
Population Change 2000-2009: -45,205
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -9.49%
Home Vacancy: 17.5%
Cleveland, the largest city on our list, was once a thriving manufacturing center, as well as an important point of trade because of its connection to several key routes, particularly Lake Erie. The city was once home to a sizable auto industry. Most of the largest companies that were once based in Cleveland no longer exist. These include Peerless, People's and Winton. Cleveland also served as headquarters for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, as well as a key import location for coal and iron shipped from the South and Midwest. The decline of industrial American has hit the city particularly hard, and poverty, a default on municipal debt in the '70s, and pollution have earned the city the nickname "the mistake on the lake." In 1948, the city had over 910,000 people; it now has less than half of that.
4. Buffalo, N.Y.
Population: 270,240
Population Change 2000-2009: -21,970
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -7.52%
Home Vacancy: 17.2%
Another victim of the Erie Canal boom and bust, Buffalo was the 13th largest city in the country just before WW II. It is now the 70th. Like Rochester, the city was once a premier mill town due to its location to the canal. Massive electricity generation from Niagara Falls improved Buffalo's industrial capacity, and the city referred to itself as the "City of Lights" for a time because of its power production. The collapse of the canal and improvements in the energy industry that made Niagara Falls less important led to the mass migration from the city which continues to this day. In the 1970s alone, Buffalo lost more than 100,000 residents, roughly a third of its current population.
5. Dayton, Ohio
Population: 153,843
Population Change 2000-2009: -11,961
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -7.21%
Home Vacancy: 18.9%
For its size, Dayton, Ohio, was once one of the most productive and creative cities in the U.S. It produced more patents per capita at the turn of the century than any other. The city was home to several former great Fortune 500 companies, including National Cash Register, Mead Paper and Phillips Manufacturing. Through the first half of the 20th century, Dayton had one of the healthiest manufacturing industries. It had more GM autoworkers than any city outside of Michigan during World War II. In the past 50 years, Mead has merged with West Virginia Paper and moved to Richmond, and GM has closed one plant after another in the city.
6. Pittsburgh
Population: 311,647
Population Change 2000-2009: -22,056
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -6.61%
Home Vacancy: 14.1%
Known as the "Steel City," Pittsburgh was once the forge for the American industrial engine from the late 1800s through the late 1970s. At its peak, the city was home to more than 1,000 factories, including the mills owned by Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, which by itself employed over 340,000 workers during World War II. As the American steel industry collapsed in the 1980s, Pittsburgh suffered severe unemployment problems. In the past few decades, the city changed to a technology-based economy, but the population is still on the decline. Since 1950, Pittsburgh's population has declined by more than 50%.
7. Rochester, N.Y.
Population: 207,294
Population Change 2000-2009: -12,180
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -5.55%
Home Vacancy: 15.3%
Rochester was once a booming trade center largely due to its location at the midpoint between Albany and Buffalo on the Erie Canal. At its peak, the city was the major flour processor in the country, and was home to several key corporations including Xerox and Eastman Kodak. Rochester declined as the usefulness of the canal went out with the advent of railroads and its flagship companies began to lose their relevancy in the larger global economy. Rochester has yet to produce an important replacement industry to drive up the population, and even the success in the 1990's of Xerox has faded. Between 1950 and 2000, Rochester lost 34% of its population.
American Cities That Are Running Out Of People
by Michael B. Sauter
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The population of the United States has increased steadily by roughly 2.5 million people every year since World War II. Throughout prosperity and hard times, Americans continue to have families. Many of the country's regions have expanded to accommodate this population increase. Some cities have grown faster than others as the result of being at the center of some important new technology or job market. Others have lost residents because of failing industries and migration. Nevertheless, some of these cities have continued to grow slowly, or at least remain relatively stagnant, buoyed by the rising tide of the national population.
There are some cities, however, that have experienced such severe hardship and decline that their populations have actually decreased significantly. New Orleans has lost more than a quarter of its population in the past 10 years as the result of Hurricane Katrina. The rest of the cities that have lost major parts of their population have seen their flagship industries, which include coal, steel, oil, and auto-related manufacturing, fall off or completely collapse. America moved away from its status as an industrial superpower in the second half of the 20th century as the services sector rose to replace it. Millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs have moved overseas. Cities such as Rochester, Cleveland and Buffalo declined in population because they were trade hubs, and new modes of transportation removed their geographical dominance. Cities like Flint, Mich., have economies based on a single major industry. In Flint's case, that industry is auto manufacturing. When that industry began to decline, Flint was unable to diversify to prevent a population exodus.
All of the cities on this list experienced at least one of these devastating problems, which have caused tens of thousands -- and in some cases, hundreds of thousands -- of its residents to leave the region for other jobs and other homes. While it has been the primary focus of these cities to create new sources of employment for their residents, it may be years before people return, if they do at all.
Unfortunately, the populations of most of the cities on this list continue to decline and the situation could get worse for years. This loss of residents has caused severe drops in the social services that many of these cities can provide. Property and other taxes have fallen so much that the support that residents of other cities take for granted is at risk in the municipalities on this list. There is no longer any guarantee that they can maintain police and fire departments at reasonable levels. Some of these cities cannot continue to manage large neighborhoods that have become almost deserted as residents have left unoccupied homes behind. Home vacancy rates tell a great deal about how much a city's population has dropped.
24/7 obtained its population data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Division. Housing vacancy came from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. This is a list of the seven American cities that have lost the most people in the past decade:
1. New Orleans
Population: 354,850
Population Change 2000-2009: -128,813
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -26.63%
Home Vacancy: 21.5%
New Orleans is unique in that its presence on this list is not due to industrial decline, but from natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina flooded 80% of the city, caused by some estimates more than $80 billion in damage, and displaced tens of thousands of residents. The period of widespread homelessness, severe crime, and slow recovery has left the city as a shadow of its former self. While people are trickling back into the city, many will likely never return, and the city has lost more than a quarter of its population in just 10 years.
2. Flint, Mich.
Population: 111,475
Population Change 2000-2009: -13,266
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -10.63%
Home Vacancy: 18%
While most of the cities on this list are here as the result of a general decline in industry, Flint's woes have come almost entirely from one sector -- the auto industry. Flint became a boomtown at the turn of the century as it became a divisional headquarters to the major American auto manufacturers, including Chevrolet, Buick, and General Motors. Between 1910 and 1930, the population had more than quadrupled due to the success of the American car business. Since the American auto industry began its decline in the 1980s, Flint has consistently lost at least 10% of its population each decade. Massive layoffs and plant closings have devastated the city, and unemployment rates remain well into the double digits.
3. Cleveland
Population: 431,369
Population Change 2000-2009: -45,205
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -9.49%
Home Vacancy: 17.5%
Cleveland, the largest city on our list, was once a thriving manufacturing center, as well as an important point of trade because of its connection to several key routes, particularly Lake Erie. The city was once home to a sizable auto industry. Most of the largest companies that were once based in Cleveland no longer exist. These include Peerless, People's and Winton. Cleveland also served as headquarters for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, as well as a key import location for coal and iron shipped from the South and Midwest. The decline of industrial American has hit the city particularly hard, and poverty, a default on municipal debt in the '70s, and pollution have earned the city the nickname "the mistake on the lake." In 1948, the city had over 910,000 people; it now has less than half of that.
4. Buffalo, N.Y.
Population: 270,240
Population Change 2000-2009: -21,970
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -7.52%
Home Vacancy: 17.2%
Another victim of the Erie Canal boom and bust, Buffalo was the 13th largest city in the country just before WW II. It is now the 70th. Like Rochester, the city was once a premier mill town due to its location to the canal. Massive electricity generation from Niagara Falls improved Buffalo's industrial capacity, and the city referred to itself as the "City of Lights" for a time because of its power production. The collapse of the canal and improvements in the energy industry that made Niagara Falls less important led to the mass migration from the city which continues to this day. In the 1970s alone, Buffalo lost more than 100,000 residents, roughly a third of its current population.
5. Dayton, Ohio
Population: 153,843
Population Change 2000-2009: -11,961
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -7.21%
Home Vacancy: 18.9%
For its size, Dayton, Ohio, was once one of the most productive and creative cities in the U.S. It produced more patents per capita at the turn of the century than any other. The city was home to several former great Fortune 500 companies, including National Cash Register, Mead Paper and Phillips Manufacturing. Through the first half of the 20th century, Dayton had one of the healthiest manufacturing industries. It had more GM autoworkers than any city outside of Michigan during World War II. In the past 50 years, Mead has merged with West Virginia Paper and moved to Richmond, and GM has closed one plant after another in the city.
6. Pittsburgh
Population: 311,647
Population Change 2000-2009: -22,056
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -6.61%
Home Vacancy: 14.1%
Known as the "Steel City," Pittsburgh was once the forge for the American industrial engine from the late 1800s through the late 1970s. At its peak, the city was home to more than 1,000 factories, including the mills owned by Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, which by itself employed over 340,000 workers during World War II. As the American steel industry collapsed in the 1980s, Pittsburgh suffered severe unemployment problems. In the past few decades, the city changed to a technology-based economy, but the population is still on the decline. Since 1950, Pittsburgh's population has declined by more than 50%.
7. Rochester, N.Y.
Population: 207,294
Population Change 2000-2009: -12,180
Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -5.55%
Home Vacancy: 15.3%
Rochester was once a booming trade center largely due to its location at the midpoint between Albany and Buffalo on the Erie Canal. At its peak, the city was the major flour processor in the country, and was home to several key corporations including Xerox and Eastman Kodak. Rochester declined as the usefulness of the canal went out with the advent of railroads and its flagship companies began to lose their relevancy in the larger global economy. Rochester has yet to produce an important replacement industry to drive up the population, and even the success in the 1990's of Xerox has faded. Between 1950 and 2000, Rochester lost 34% of its population.
lkwdblds
Crusader
What about redistribution within the same Metropolitan area?
Carmelo, this post is very interesting to me. I have followed census figures and tracked this type of stuff since I was a teenager. Everything you say is correct plus I have learned much that is new from your article. Even so, however, there is one nuance that you have not touched on.
FLIGHT OUT OF THE BIG CITY AND INTO THE SUBURBS
I know that in the 1950 census, Cleveland Ohio was the 5th or 6th largest city in the USA behind New York City, 7.8 million, Chicago, 3.6 million, L.A. 1.97 million and Detroit 1.8 milliion. Cleveland and Baltimore were running 5th and 6th, both in the 900.000 range. I forget which one was larger but they were close. Now, at 431,000, Cleveland is not even on the charts. Long Beach, California at about 490,000 is larger than Cleveland!
However, not necessarily all of Cleveland's loss is to distant parts of the country, far from it. If you look at Cayuhoga County, where Cleveland is the County seat, its population has been getting larger. The census bureau tracks not only the cities but the Greater Metropolitan Statistical Areas as well and in places such as Cleveland and Dayton in Ohio, usually the counties and the Metro areas have continued to grow, even though the central cities have shrunk.
Now you take something like Flint, Michigan, in the auto manufacturing belt, and that will not be the case. With the big 3 automakers taking a bath in recent years and playing second fiddle to the Japanese and European manufacturers, who are building their American plants mainly in the Southern states, any city relying on American auto manufacturing is going to be shrinking and losing population out of their cities and also their counties and Metro areas.
Ford has been doing very well the last two years or so and has improved their quality to Japanese standards and his fielded a very successful line of cars of late and GM, emerging from bankruptcy, has recently exhibited a lot of resurgence and a much more attractive line of cars. They also, like Ford, seem to be on a mission to recapture much of their lost glory. Their new electric car, the Volt, is introducing new state of the art hybrid electric and gas technology that no one else has and if this is as successful as it looks like it is going to be, it is major enough to restore GM to its former glory. Volt technology is capable of achieving something like the equivalent of 93 miles per gallon when used as recommended while the buyer gives up very little in amenities when he switches to a Volt. To achieve mileage in this range, it is only necessary that the majority of a person's driving during the day be 40 miles or less. In this manner, they will use electric power only and can recharge the batteries at home during the night. If they do long range driving, there is enough gasoline capacity for another 300 miles, yielding a total range of 340 miles. In this mode, the Volt will still achieve around 50 mpg.
Do you think that the auto manufacturing cities in Michigan can be brought back to their former sizes if Ford and GM have a major resurgence?
Lakey
Carmelo, this post is very interesting to me. I have followed census figures and tracked this type of stuff since I was a teenager. Everything you say is correct plus I have learned much that is new from your article. Even so, however, there is one nuance that you have not touched on.
FLIGHT OUT OF THE BIG CITY AND INTO THE SUBURBS
I know that in the 1950 census, Cleveland Ohio was the 5th or 6th largest city in the USA behind New York City, 7.8 million, Chicago, 3.6 million, L.A. 1.97 million and Detroit 1.8 milliion. Cleveland and Baltimore were running 5th and 6th, both in the 900.000 range. I forget which one was larger but they were close. Now, at 431,000, Cleveland is not even on the charts. Long Beach, California at about 490,000 is larger than Cleveland!
However, not necessarily all of Cleveland's loss is to distant parts of the country, far from it. If you look at Cayuhoga County, where Cleveland is the County seat, its population has been getting larger. The census bureau tracks not only the cities but the Greater Metropolitan Statistical Areas as well and in places such as Cleveland and Dayton in Ohio, usually the counties and the Metro areas have continued to grow, even though the central cities have shrunk.
Now you take something like Flint, Michigan, in the auto manufacturing belt, and that will not be the case. With the big 3 automakers taking a bath in recent years and playing second fiddle to the Japanese and European manufacturers, who are building their American plants mainly in the Southern states, any city relying on American auto manufacturing is going to be shrinking and losing population out of their cities and also their counties and Metro areas.
Ford has been doing very well the last two years or so and has improved their quality to Japanese standards and his fielded a very successful line of cars of late and GM, emerging from bankruptcy, has recently exhibited a lot of resurgence and a much more attractive line of cars. They also, like Ford, seem to be on a mission to recapture much of their lost glory. Their new electric car, the Volt, is introducing new state of the art hybrid electric and gas technology that no one else has and if this is as successful as it looks like it is going to be, it is major enough to restore GM to its former glory. Volt technology is capable of achieving something like the equivalent of 93 miles per gallon when used as recommended while the buyer gives up very little in amenities when he switches to a Volt. To achieve mileage in this range, it is only necessary that the majority of a person's driving during the day be 40 miles or less. In this manner, they will use electric power only and can recharge the batteries at home during the night. If they do long range driving, there is enough gasoline capacity for another 300 miles, yielding a total range of 340 miles. In this mode, the Volt will still achieve around 50 mpg.
Do you think that the auto manufacturing cities in Michigan can be brought back to their former sizes if Ford and GM have a major resurgence?
Lakey
- Status