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KARACHI - The Karachi police and intelligence agencies on Friday foiled an attempt to smuggle antiquities worth billions of rupees and arrested two persons in connection with the attempt.
In a recent meeting, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee had unveiled that at least 40 antiques were stolen from National Museum Karachi in 1986.
Further, the NA body had said some 12 mummies of Buddha were also stolen from the same museum in 1995.
Some mummies were also stolen from the Archeology Museum Taxila in 1995.
Eleven of those, however, were later recovered.
Around 138 antiques were stolen from Fort Museum Lahore in 1996, while 61 antiques of silver and copper were burgled from Taxila Museum in 1999, the committee had said.
On Friday, law enforcement officials acted on a tip-off and arrested a driver and a conductor of a trawler which was transporting a container.
The security personnel intercepted and searched a container in Awami Colony, Korangi and recovered valuable, including ancient idols, statues and various utensils.
The antiquities included 10 idols, a number of small statues and various utensils, hidden underneath cleaning items, bales of straw and other miscellaneous items such as furniture, slippers and water coolers.
Intelligence officials said most of the antiquities had been stolen from various museums across the country, including the Swat museum. Some of the items were believed to have been smuggled from Afghanistan. The antiquities cost billions of rupees, an official said.
The centuries-old antiques are said to be remnants of ancient Budhist civilization from across South Asia, including Afghanistan. Karachi police started investigation and raided various localities for the arrest of the member of the racket.
“The arrested men told the police that they were moving towards Rawalpindi while they picked the container from Bin Qasim Port,” an official said.
The NA standing committee on culture said 324 antiques were stolen from different museums of the country during the past 21 years and the police had only recovered 11 of them.
Several historical antiques have been smuggled abroad.
Of them, the United States returned 38 while authorities in the Culture Ministry are in talks with the French authorities for the return of 17 other. | <urn:uuid:567e2ef9-1a25-46d3-b551-2395803f1dc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/07/07/news/national/karachi-police-foil-attempt-to-smuggle-antiquities-worth-billions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972119 | 472 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs
Paul Winchell, the original voice of Tigger, was replaced by Jim Cummings, who had voiced Tigger in a number of later stories of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. (Although Winchell did provide Tigger's voice for a number of stories from that series.) The reason given was the 76-year-old's voice was just too scratchy now to properly portray the character. Walt Disney Imagineers heard about this and insisted on hiring Winchell to provide Tigger's voice for the new "Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" attraction at Walt Disney World. He was and it's Winchell's voice that is used in the ride. See more »
Between 10 to 15 minutes into the movie, Tigger and Roo visit Owl. At a certain moment, Tigger empties the sugar pot in his cup of tea to make it tastier. A little bit later, when Tigger shakes hands with Owl to thank him, all the sugar has gone back from the cup to the sugar pot. See more »
What is this doo-hickey?
Why, that's no doo-hickey. It's a thing-a-ma-bob.
See more »
The credits play over pictures from different scenes in the movie, done in the style of Ernest H. Shepard's original illustrations. See more »
If you liked Tigger and crew as a child, then go back and see them again.
The kids will enjoy it, and the adults will, too. One can't help but become involved with the characters, and eyes will become misty no matter how hard you fight it.
The songs are original and funny, and even have subtle references that older viewers will catch (they are NOT inappropriate in any way) and younger ones will miss, which allows many age levels to enjoy it.
You have to be quick, though, because Tigger sings faster than he bounces.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you? | <urn:uuid:0061863f-0f09-4aaf-a53f-fbe21ed21908> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220099/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961797 | 467 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Editor’s note: This story, which originally appeared here, is republished on Carolina Public Press through a content-sharing agreement with The Tuckasegee Reader.
By Bill Graham
On Oct. 21, writer Randy Boyagoda reviewed mountain novelist Charles Frazier’s latest book, “Nightwoods,” for the Sunday New York Times Book Review section.
The novel, set in the Southern Highlands in the 1960s, is the second since Frazier wrote the extraordinarily successful Cold Mountain over a decade ago.
Boyagoda’s review, in one of the nation’s most influential publications, was critical of Frazier’s book and his style in ways that many in the southern mountain literary community found condescending and in some ways bizarre.
For example, Boyagoda, a faculty member at Ryerson University in Toronto, chided Frazier’s “cheap ornamentation” in his use of many material objects – cigarette brands, pinball machines – without what the reviewer considers broader cultural touchstones of the time, like the Civil Rights movement. And he argued that Frazier’s colorful prose was too much so.
“At their worst,” Boyagoda writes, “[Frazier's] books offer something … like baroque costume drama starring hothouse Southerners with M.F.A.’s: their words and interior lives are so incessantly stylized and exquisitely evoked that they come across less as believable people than as literary confections straight out of Willy Wonka’s Faulkner Factory.”
Later he adds: “It’s too bad the writing gets in the way of the storytelling — or, to be truer to Frazier, it’s plangently unfortunate the writing style gets all up and troublesome-like in the whisper-leaved way of the true and fine telling of this terrible and valiant tale of priapic violence and distaff recompense.”
Tuckasegee author and poet Thomas Rain Crowe took umbrage, and rallied the literary legions. In a letter to Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus, Crowe wrote: “ … in the future, I’d like to suggest that the Editors at your newspaper be more pro-active, screening their reviewers who are writing about parts of the country and literary traditions of which they are not familiar, so we’ll stop getting these kind of misinformed rants against the South, its history, culture and literary traditions.”
Other regional authors chimed in, and ultimately a lively personal exchange kicked up between Crowe and Boyagoda. Excerpts from that exchange, along with teasers to other reviews, appear in the sidebar to the left. Read on below for Crowe’s letter in full, followed by those of some other Frazier supporters:
First, the single letter the Times printed as a follow-up, from Corey Mesler of Memphis.
To the Editor:
I must take exception to the condescending tone of Randy Boyagoda’s less than generous review of Charles Frazier’s new novel, “Nightwoods” (Oct. 23). Boyagoda complains of the “surplusage” of Frazier’s prose: “A little girl doesn’t hurt her nose,” he writes, “she ‘pierced the wing of her nostril.’ ” The implication from this and other examples is that Frazier is overwriting, using unnecessarily flowery language. This would be true if language were only a way of passing on information, but it is a far more sophisticated tool than that. Shakespeare could have had Romeo say, “Where is Juliet?” The meaning is there. But the poetry, the gravitas, is not.
Frazier is a lyrical writer, and a fine one at that. If there were only one way of writing, say, like Hemingway, there would be only one writer: Hemingway.
Thomas Crowe, author of “Zoro’s Field.”
Have just read Mr. Boyagoda’s review of Charles Frazier’s Nightwoods and was shocked by the reviewer’s smug anti-Southern bias as well as his ignorance of Southern culture and history–which has become something of a trend, I’ve noticed, in recent years coming from the “liberal” northern press. Boyagoda labels Frazier as a paint-by-numbers kind of writer using the epithet of “surplusage” to accuse the author of writing “baroque costume drama starring hothouse Southerners with M.F.A.’s….[who come] straight out of Willy Wonka’s Faulkner Factory.”
Clearly, Mr. Boyagoda has never set foot in the rural mountains of western North Carolina, where Nightwoods is set. Let me just point out, quickly, a few things that this reviewer got wrong in his review of Frazier’s book. First of all there are no “hothouse Southerners with MFAs in any of Frazier’s books. Secondly, Charles Frazier’s prose style does not even vaguely resemble that of William Faulkner. Thirdly, Boyagoda criticizes Frazier for “including nothing of lunch-counter protests or Freedom Riders or the Civil Rights movement,” calling this would-be oversight “thin verisimilitude.”
Having grown up in the rural area of western North Carolina that Frazier is writing about, I can tell you that there was no sense of any Civil Rights movement in this region of western N.C. during the 50s and 60s. Few people even went out of the valley in those days and didn’t read the NYTimes and couldn’t get radio or TV signals, so they didn’t even know that all this Civil Rights business was going on. And if they did, it didn’t affect their lives cause there were no issues of race in rural WNC to speak of–as there were (and in some cases still are) only white Europeans living here. And apparently Boyagoda doesn’t know his geography, either, as the Civil Rights actions during the 60s happened in Charlotte and Greensboro, Alabama and Mississippi, which are a ’fer piece’ from Graham County.
Fourthly, Boyagoda criticizes Frazier’s writing style, calling it “bad writing” and “rank imagery,” while focusing on Frazier’s use of rural Southern Appalachian dialect and metaphors. In essence, he accuses Frazier‘s prose as being “precious and overwrought.” In the same paragraph Boyagoda hypocritically uses some of the most precious and overwrought language I’ve ever encountered in a book review–”plangently unfortunate,” “priapic violence,” “distaff recompense.” I don’t think this reviewer would know a good metaphor if it hit him upside the head.
In the end, and in the future, I’d like to suggest that the Editors at your newspaper screen their reviewers who are writing about parts of the country and literary traditions of which they are not familiar, so we’ll stop getting these kind of misinformed rants against the South and its history and culture. These kinds of reviewers, and Boyagoda in particular, are just writing to impress themselves with their faux knowledge of Southern culture and their ten-dollar words, cause they sure aren’t impressing anyone down here–who all love Mr. Frazier‘s books.
John Lane, author of “My Paddle to the Sea,” “The Best of the Kudzu Telegraph,” “Circling Home” and others (More)
Am dissappointed in the review of Night Woods in NYTimes today. What a hatchet job. How could they give this novel to some 34 year old Canadian to review? No respect. Reviewer writes, “At their worst, these books offer something more like baroque costume drama starring hothouse Southerners with M.F.A.’s: their words and interior lives are so incessantly stylized and exquisitely evoked that they come across less as believable people than as literary confections straight out of Willy Wonka’s Faulkner Factory.” Give me a break.
Wayne Caldwell, author of the Cataloochee novels (More)
The reviewer of Charles Frazier’s Nightwoods (Oct. 21, 2011) refers to “literary offenses.” The only one I detected was that your staff assigned such a prejudiced and vituperative reviewer to this entertaining and well-written book. Shame on you.
Rob Neufeld, author and book page editor, Asheville Citizen-Times (More)
To the Editor:
I did not laugh when I read Randy Boyagoda’s sneering parody of Charles Frazier’s “Nightwoods,” though his review of Oct. 23 was laughable. “Furniture doesn’t just age with time and use,” Boyagoda complained about Frazier’s writing, but is, to quote the novel, “buffed to a pale silver nub by many decades of buttocks.”
In its context, that line is a jocular one, as the heroine, Luce, is ushered into the parlor of intelligent, kind spinster teachers who live in the equivalent of amber. It is a good line, which actually ends, “by many decades of buttocks dating back nearly to the Grant administration.” For those acquainted with Southern culture, that’s a reference with weight.
Boyagoda also laments, “It’s too bad the writing gets in the way of the storytelling—or, to be truer to Frazier, it’s plangently unfortunate the writing style gets all up and troublesome-like in the whisper-leaved way of the true and fine telling of this terrible and valiant tale of priapic violence and distaff recompense.”
With his grotesque and inaccurate parody, Boyagoda has shown his weak hand. “Plangently unfortunate” is purple prose, which Frazier would never write. “All up and troublesome-like” is colloquial rural Southern talk, a bigoted poke and, more importantly, a use of different voices within a sentence, an act of bad writing that Frazier never commits.
When Boyagoda concludes his rant against “surplusage” in prose, he writes—in his own prose voice: “To conjure a specific time and place in its material charms but effectively ignore its most significant human complexities is thin verisimilitude, if not cheap ornamentalism.” Now, I’m laughing! Did I miss the point? Is Boyagoda’s whole piece a parody of bad reviewing?
The more serious issue is the New York press’ sometimes stunning inability to appreciate great literature from the South, in this case, the mountain South, where writers have combined a rich and sophisticated story-telling tradition with a deep education in world literature. I ask the editors of the “New York Times Book Review” to please go to reviewers familiar with the region to provide reviews worthy of the “Times’” authority.
Lamar Marshall, editor of “Wild South” (More)
What would you expect from a Canadian/Yankee jackass (Boyagoda) with a Southern chip on his shoulder? He pulled half of his reject, never-used adjectives from his wore out desk thesaurus to awe the English-deficient NY Times audience into believing he has actually mastered English. He clearly is no expert on American English. Why Ryerson University would employ him when there are ten thousand more qualified to do his job is a mystery to me.
Barbara Duncan, author, poet, songwriter
I can’t believe the snotty, parochial reviews in the New York Times and L.A. Times. I posted on the LA TImes site, where the reviewer did not even seem to have read the book. Unbelievable.
Ted Olson, author
Fascinating! I’m glad you all challenged the reviewer to account for his opinions. It’ll be interesting to see if the NY Times publishes any of the letters-to-the-editor. Thanks,
Sebastian Matthews, poet and editor of “Rivendell Journal”
What a mean-spirited & crappy review. Yuck!
Of course there is nothing more, nowhere more, provincial than New York.
Frazier’s own response? Well, said Crowe, Frazier doesn’t read reviews. | <urn:uuid:dfffa9dc-4fb1-431b-88fa-2418edae85a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carolinapublicpress.org/7594/area-literary-community-decries-recent-nyt-review-of-charles-fraziers-latest-book | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952904 | 2,744 | 1.757813 | 2 |
In Ivory Coast, President Alassane Ouattara's new government is recruiting more security forces to improve conditions in the commercial capital after more than four months of political violence. Life is increasingly returning to normal less than a week after the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo.
In the fight to bring President Ouattara to power after he won November's vote, groups of young men rose up in pro-Ouattara neighborhoods of Abidjan to confront former president Gbagbo's army.
Now some of those Ouattara militiamen are getting the chance to join the new Ouattara government as soldiers and policemen. Yaya Cisse is a trainer for the new Republican Forces of Ivory Coast.
Cisse says these are civilians who will be trained to become real soldiers. Those who want to become policemen will continue. Those who want to quit, he says, we will let them go.
Replenishing Ivory Coast's security services is a big part of restoring order in the commercial capital where President Ouattara wants to quickly resume cocoa exports, reopen banks, and restart the refinery to get the country's economy moving again.
With the post-electoral crisis over, President Ouattara says Ivorians must now engage in two big projects: the project of reconciliation and the project of reconstruction. He says it may take several months to fully restore security throughout the country, but that can be accomplished if everyone adopts a spirit of democracy and peace.
Electrician Mohammed Dikite says the challenges are substantial, especially in security. But he believes Ivorians are ready to regain their place in West Africa after nearly a decade of instability, civil war, and political violence.
Dikite says with Ouattara there can be an Ivory Coast as strong as it was under founding father Felix Houphouet-Boigny. That is what people are hoping for. The Gbagbo government did not build roads or hospitals or universities, Dikite says, it only attacked its own people.
Gbagbo was captured by Ouattara forces Monday and has been moved to a presidential villa in northern Ivory Coast, where U.N. Special Representative Young-jin Choi says he is under the projection of both Ouattara forces and U.N. peacekeepers.
"We will continue his protection, " said Choi. "So wherever he goes inside Cote d'Ivoire, there will be UNOCI forces to contribute to his protection. We will do everything we can do so that he will be treated with dignity."
Choi says it is up to the Ouattara government to decide on criminal charges against Mr. Gbagbo. President Ouattara says the former leader will face both national and international justice for crimes against the Ivorian people.
Gbagbo's daughter has established a Paris-based legal defense fund for her father, who she says is being illegally detained by what she calls Ouattara rebels. | <urn:uuid:29941c11-3a7d-48d0-8fc9-c40e923dca8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/articleprintview/138055.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968586 | 608 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Return to Transcripts main page
CONNECT THE WORLD
NATO Agreement on Missile Defense System; America's Exit Strategy from Afghanistan; Urban Planet: Building Infrastructure in Iraq
Aired November 19, 2010 - 16:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MAX FOSTER, HOST: Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
I'm Max Foster.
Following up on a story that has thousands of you locked in debate on our Web site. It's about this Pakistani woman, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of two, sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Mohammed. It's a judgment based on what's called the blasphemy law -- a law that also exists in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Iran. Last night, we told you how Asia Bibi was taking her case to the high court.
Tonight, we're responding to your interest in this story. You'll hear from Pakistan's minorities minister, who's giving us the first signs of the government -- that the government may step in.
And you'll hear from Pakistan's most famous human rights activist. She's faced death threats for speaking out on the blasphemy law. Now in her new role as the Supreme Court Bar's president, she's going to help fight it.
First, let's remind you, though, the fate of Asia Bibi. She's already been locked behind bars for more than a year when she learned that she now faces a far more terrible fate for a crime she says she didn't commit.
Reza Sayah recaps her story.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prosecutors say Asia Bibi insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. They say the alleged incident happened when she was picking berries in this field in the town of Itan Wali, just about two hours west of Lahore.
(voice-over): Court records show Asia was sharing a bucket of drinking water with fellow workers. But when she dipped her cup, her fellow workers refused the water, saying it had been touched by a non- Muslim woman.
Asia Bibi is a Christian. The women argued. Mafia Satar (ph) and her sisters say they were there and heard Asia's insults.
"She said your Mohammed had worms in his mouth before he died," Satar told us, "a crude way of saying Mohammed was no Prophet."
The town cleric, Qari Salam (ph), reported the incident to police, who arrested Bibi. After nearly 15 months in this jail came the conviction and the death sentence. Per Section 295C of Pakistan's penal code: "Whoever defiles the name of the Prophet Mohammed shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life."
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Well, Pakistan has one of the world's strictest laws against blasphemy, as does Saudi Arabia. That country prevents any religion outside of Islam from being practiced in public. Not only is blasphemy punishable by death, but so is apostasy, the conversion of Muslims to another religion or their rejection of the faith.
Iran, another theocracy, also has Draconian laws against insulting Islam. Courts use Sharia or Islamic law to justify death sentences for blasphemy.
Indonesia is a secular state with a Muslim majority, but it also penalizes blasphemy. The law was upheld by a constitutional court just this year. It prohibits distorting the central beliefs of six officially recognized religions. Human rights groups say it's often used to discriminate, though, against minorities, including Muslims outside mainstream beliefs.
Now, in the case of Pakistan, critics have tried for years to get its blasphemy law repealed, to no avail.
I talked earlier with Pakistan's minorities minister about the reform efforts.
As a Catholic, Shahbaz Bhatti is a minority himself.
I began by asking him what the government is doing to help Asia Bibi.
SHAHBAZ BHATTI, PAKISTANI MINISTER FOR MINORITIES: We can't interfere on the court decision. But, however, I, as a minister for minorities, we have written a letter to our provincial government to protect the life of the Asia Bibi in jail and also give her full pro -- full opportunity to plead her case on merits for justice.
FOSTER: If the judge doesn't overturn this sentence, what will the government do?
BHATTI: There two other forums. One is after the High Court, she can appeal to the Supreme Court. And after the Supreme Court, if the Supreme Court maintains the same decision, then she can appeal to the president of Pakistan and the president of Pakistan has a constitutional authority to turn down the death penalty.
FOSTER: It does raise the question around the fact that there is a blasphemy law even in Pakistan.
Is it appropriate anymore and does the government plan to change it?
BHATTI: We are -- we are consulting with the religious parties to make a legislation to stop the misuse of blasphemy law. My president very clearly said that we won't allow anyone to use the blasphemy laws to victimize any innocent people in Pakistan. We want to stop those people who are using a shelter of this law to settle their own personal vendettas.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Well, many activists who want Pakistan's law changed are pinning their hopes on Asma Jahangir.
She's the long time human rights activist who was recently elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
She herself has been to prison for speaking her mind and is well aware of the difficulties that minority groups face in getting a fair trial.
ASMA JAHANGIR, PAKISTANI HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST, PRESIDENT, PAKISTAN SUPREME COURT BAR ASSOCIATION: I have, from my experience, seen that people are probably killed before they can get to that process. And this law has certainly been abused. The same government promised that they would at least reform the law. And many drafts were presented to them. But then we heard nothing about it.
FOSTER: How, though, have we got to this point, where all the lower courts and the police system, as it were, have -- have -- it seems -- seemed unanimous in their condemnation of this lady, Asia.
JAHANGIR: Well, let me put it in this way. Let me talk about the subordinate court. They are not protected at all. So it would be very difficult for a judge sitting there, completely vulnerable, to give a judgment of acquittal in the face of threats that they would receive.
I would therefore and have always suggested that if this law has to stay, then at least a trial should take place at the high court level.
FOSTER: So the lower courts aren't independent?
JAHANGIR: Well, I am saying they're not even protected. I mean that is part of independence, but they are physically...
FOSTER: But they come under the influence from outside forces?
JAHANGIR: No, they're physically not protected. I mean I have done cases of this nature and I know that they are physically not protected.
FOSTER: Then you're suggesting that the judgments have been influenced by...
FOSTER: -- external factors?
JAHANGIR: Absolutely has to be, because look at the atmosphere that is there. I haven't seen this particular judgment, but all the other judgments that I have seen, I -- it clearly suggests that there is a risk to the judges' live themselves. And, indeed, in one of the cases, a high court judge was subsequently killed.
FOSTER: And is your view that this blasphemy law doesn't have a place in Pakistani law?
JAHANGIR: Well, it's my view that it has been abused over and over again and that there is a good case for the parliament to repeal it or at least, at the minimum, to water it down to a level where people can expect comfortable justice.
FOSTER: You're a key player and a very influential player in the Pakistani legal system.
So what are you going to do about it?
JAHANGIR: Well, I've done a lot. I don't think you know the history. I was the first person to speak against this law and we continue to ask the parliament to look at it. I can't change the law.
FOSTER: Do you feel -- you've talked about the -- the pressure on the lower courts from external forces of some kind. And you said there have been death threats about some people who work in the legal system.
Do you feel under threat...
JAHANGIR: Well, I have been under threat...
JAHANGIR: -- for many years. But that doesn't stop people from, you know, may...
FOSTER: Have you had death threats?
JAHANGIR: I have had, yes.
FOSTER: But you're going to carry on voicing your concerns about this law?
JAHANGIR: I think that a lot of people in my country have had death threats because they are stood -- have stood up against, let me say, forces of extreme orthodoxy. But people are very brave in our country and they continue to speak up.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Well, the death sentence for Asia Bibi has outraged people around the world, including many of you.
And here are some of the thousands of comments that we're getting on our blog.
Nix0030 writes: "If ever the punishment did not fit the crime, this is an outrageous crime against humanity."
And from Lincoln2010: "It's a -- it's a modern day Salem witch-hunt. Appalling. Unbelievable. My heart goes out to the people in that country who live in fear under their oppressive government and religion."
But Justice 786 says: "Neither in the Koran nor in the Hadiths of Mohammed is blasphemy a crime punishable by death. Please do not associate this barbaric law with Islam."
CatoPaine raises this point: "The death of one Pakistani Christian woman is deemed a tragedy and worthy of days of coverage and outraged volleys. Is it because she's Christian or simply because it's absurd? When 500,000 Iraqi civilians are killed, is it just a statistic that the media label collateral?"
Well, Patt1937 says: "If this is an example of peaceful Islam that President Obama and others continue to talk about, it just reinforces my belief that Islam is anything but peaceful."
Ahmad18ny tells us: "I was a Muslim. No longer. Religions are fake. Do some research in biology and physics then come again. I love and respect everyone, not just Muslims. We are all one species."
And we'll end with this from yanaga: "When people learn to respect each other's religious and -- religions and belief, the world will be a better place."
As always, you, too, can join the debate. Just head to our Web site, CNN.com/connect.
We'll be keeping our eyes on this story, Asia Bibi's story.
Lots more ahead in the show, though.
NATO comes -- or names the date for Pakistan -- or Afghanistan's troops to take charge next.
But will they be ready to tackle the Taliban?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUNG SAN SU KYI: It's possible that we'll have to change for a new generation. But since I'm not all that young myself, I do believe in older people's ability to change and to see things in a new light, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Aung San Su Kyi tells us why she hasn't given up the fight for democracy in Myanmar.
And it was a long night for Harry Potter fans, but was the latest installment all that they dreamed of?
FOSTER: Well, the buildup has been dominated by talk of risks and cuts, but as a NATO summit began today, there was agreement amongst its members as the alliance pledged to develop a missile defense system to protect Europe and the U.S.
Chris Lawrence joins us live from Lisbon, where the summit is take place -- Chris, tell us more about the defense system.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, really, there's -- there's two summits going on. One is the very public summit in which they come out for these press conferences and tell everyone that everyone is unified and that everything is going great.
But privately, there are disagreements. For example, NATO came out with the nuclear posture, saying that it will remain a source of a nuclear deterrent. Well, on the surface that seems united, but actually what that means is the U.S. was able to force a compromise from France and Germany.
France had wanted to stay independent as its own deterrent. And Germany was trying to get the allies to agree to a nuclear-free Europe.
Well, the way this is all going to be worded when it comes out is something along the lines of, "We hope for disarmament at -- at a future date, but NATO will still possess nuclear weapons as long as other nations have them."
Another thing you mentioned, that they did come to an agreement about installing a missile defense system across the continent similar to the one that now protects North America. Well, Germany had wanted that missile defense system to replace the nuclear deterrent.
Put as President Obama explained, it's just going to supplement it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm pleased to announce that for the first time, we have agreed to develop missile defense capability that is strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations as well as the United States. This important step forward builds on the new phased adaptive approach to missile defense that I announced for the United States last year. It offers a role for all of our allies. It responds to the threats of our times. It shows our determination to protect our citizens from the threat of ballistic missiles. And tomorrow, we look forward to working with Russia to build our cooperation with them in this area, as well, recognizing that we share many of the same threats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Well, again, you know, the president talks of Russia, bringing Russia in. But that's easier said than done. From what we've been able to find out, the Russians are going to want some concessions to become involved in this missile defense system. They're going to want some of these missiles on -- they're going to want the system to only protect against missiles that are slower, of a certain speed and only fired from a certain direction. In other words, they think that NATO having a missile defense system that specifically would protect it against Russia is just a non-starter.
Also, there had been some discussion among some of the allies to name Iran as one of the threats that this missile defense system is going to protect NATO from. Well, Turkey does not want to specifically name its neighbors. So, in order to please both Russia and Turkey, what you may come out of this in -- is an ambiguous statement that really doesn't clearly define exactly what the threat is -- Max.
FOSTER: And that, Chris, all needs to be resolved before they then talk about Afghanistan, which is potentially even a -- a bigger topic at this summit and Russia is involved there, as well.
What we have learned about Afghanistan and how there's going to be policed or soldiered in future?
LAWRENCE: Well, all of this is very connected. You think of them as separate topics, but, really, you know, bringing Russia on board with the missile defense system also could bring Russian help with Afghanistan, opening up supply routes to go not only into Afghanistan, but back out through the country, back through Russia.
Also, Russia, perhaps, training some of the Afghan helicopter pilots, things like that.
But, really, when you talk about NATO's big strategic vision, its new mission, so to speak, of being this global policeman all around the world, all of that comes back to Afghanistan and whether the NATO mission there is successful.
If it is, then NATO members will be more likely to sign up for those kind of ventures down the road. But right now, more than half of the NATO members are cutting their defense budgets. If things don't go well in Afghanistan, they're going to be much, much less likely to fund and supply that kind of venture down the road -- Max.
FOSTER: Chris Lawrence, we'll leave you to the summit.
Thank you very much, indeed, for that.
Well, take a look at the current troop levels in Afghanistan. There are more than 143,000 foreign troops in the country. The U.S. has the most, with approximately 95,000 boots on the ground. ISAF has an additional 4,800 forces in Afghanistan from 48 countries overall. The U.K. has the second largest contingent, with around 9,500. Germany has more than 4,300; Italy, 3,700; France has more than 3,800 and Canada has more than 2,900 troops.
Well, the Obama administration has made no secret of its desire to begin pulling its troops out of Afghanistan.
Speaking bluntly on "LARRY KING LIVE," Vice President Joe Biden said a deadline would help to focus minds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A lot of our critics say you shouldn't set a deadline to get out. The reason we needed to do that is the same reason we did in Afghanistan, we had to say, look, you've got to step up, man. Let me tell you, we're going to start -- daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off in October -- I mean in next July. So you'd better practice riding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: But despite the tough talk, many questions remain over America's exit strategy from Afghanistan.
To discuss some of those points, I'm joined from Washington by Stephen Flanagan.
He is the senior vice president of the Center for Strategic & International Studies and a former State Department official.
Thank you so much for joining us.
How did you interpret Joe Biden's comments there?
STEPHEN FLANAGAN, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, I think the administration has wanted to make clear all along that there is a timetable, that there has to be some targets to have a phased transition to an Afghan lead for providing for security of their own country.
And what the administration wants to see is a -- is a strong commitment from allies to enhance the training and -- and the preparation of the Afghan forces to take on that role and also for the Afghan government to realize that they can't count on the international community indefinitely to continue to provide for the security of their country.
FOSTER: When I spoke to the head of NATO yesterday, he was very clear that American troops aren't pulling out of Afghanistan immediately.
But that's the pressure on Obama, isn't it?
FLANAGAN: No, the -- I mean I think what the -- what the alliance is expected to agree to tomorrow is a -- a phased transition to what's called a conditions-based transfer of authority for Afghan lead in providing for security. And that would begun the initial phase is -- or the hope is that if the training is going well enough, the initial phases of that drawdown, of that transfer, province by province, would begin some time early next year, taking place and unfolding over -- over a period up to 2014.
But, also, the senior civilian rep of NATO in Afghanistan yesterday noted that that doesn't mean NATO, then, is fully disengaged. NATO could still be there, an over the horizon presence. It could still be providing some kind of advice and training support to the Afghan forces even after 2015.
FOSTER: So the same number of troops will be there next year as in the year after, they're just going to change their role?
They're handing power over?
FLANAGAN: Well, no, they would -- there could be some withdrawals. What the Obama administration has suggested is that there will be some U.S. withdrawals beginning in July of 2011. And I know that another -- other forces bill begin. Some of them are on strict timetables, for example, the Canadians would.
But, now, the Canadians are going to do exactly what you just said, they're going to roll over upwards of 750 of their forces to -- from an active combat role in the southern part of Afghanistan to the training mission. So that was a big plus because that filled a gap that the head of the NATO training mission had identified existed until the Canadians made that decision.
FOSTER: But that's a tiny, tiny thing compared to the number of American troops there. The concern is, isn't it, that there -- the Taliban is just waiting for the Americans to leave, at which point they -- they start their insurgency again?
FLANAGAN: Well, but -- but again, it's not -- it's not all the Americans' lead. It's some withdrawals of American forces. The -- the goal is to be. But again, General Petraeus and other leaders of -- of the United States government have made clear that it's going to be based on conditions, that it's not going to be precipitous. And what the real goal here, though, as I said, is to -- is to energize the training efforts, to continue the progress that has been made.
And there has been remarkable progress made, even in just the last year, in training the Afghan security forces, both the army and less -- less effective with some of the police. But still some real progress. And -- and there are some areas where the Afghans are doing very well.
FOSTER: OK, Stephen Flanagan, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us, sir, from Washington, DC.
Well, still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD, Iraq's new urban battle -- the ambitious plan to turn the most anguished road in the world into the most beautiful.
And as the cholera epidemic spreads, so, too, the anger against U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti.
FOSTER: More than three billion people -- half the world's population -- are city dwellers. And with that figure only expected to rise, we're looking at what's being done to improve our rapidly growing urban planet.
From Nigeria, where mobile toilets are key to helping keep Lagos streets clean, to Rio de Janeiro, where two Dutch artists are brightening up the darker sides of town.
In Tokyo, we explored the concept that cities exhaust our brains -- how creating quiet spaces can improve mental health. So, too, how trees and gardens are changing the face of one of South Africa's neighborhoods.
And in Mumbai, rising above the city's choking traffic, skywalks are proving the safe way to beat the sometimes perilous commute.
The government, we finish the journey in Iraq, where, as Arwa Damon explains, the cities are growing but building the infrastructure needed to support the population can be a deadly task.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): This type of construction hasn't happened in Iraq in almost 30 years. Officials are trying to transform war torn Baghdad into a dream city -- modernizing its skyline in some places with fancy new buildings.
(on camera): This is the capital's Airport Road. And it was once known as the most dangerous road in the world -- RPG Alley and Highway of Death were just among a few of its nicknames.
Now, the Iraqi government has plans to spend $200 million, turning it into what it says will be the most beautiful road in the world.
(voice-over): But before Iraq can even begin to pull itself out of decades of war, it not only has to defeat terror, it has to defeat a silent and deadly enemy -- unexploded ordinance and mines. The country is among the most affected in the world.
From its heavily mined border with Iran to oil fields in the south that need to be cleared before full scale operations can commence, even urban centers like Baghdad.
A few years ago, parents wouldn't let their children wander through this area in the capital, where construction is now booming. Ahmed Khamel (ph) remembers laying soccer a few years back. "The ball was kicked off the field," he recalls. "One of the players went to get it and stepped on something that detonated."
When an Iraqi NGO finally cleared the area, this is what they found.
Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman and also involved in developing a national initiative to rid his country of explosives, calls the unexploded ordinance a sleeping terrorist.
ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, we expect approximately 20 million pieces is there, which you could count, that each citizen got one mine. And this is -- it is a big problem for us to deal with. It is beyond our capacity. We can't handle this with our normal means and -- and people -- we do need international help.
DAMON: And a lot of it. There are only a handful of NGOs and ordinance management companies that operate in Iraq. A 2009 U.N. report estimated it would take around 19,000 workers -- 60 times more than those currently involved -- and at least 10 years -- to get rid of decades of war pollution. The U.N. says that the contamination of nearly all of Iraq's provinces is one of the nation's largest public safety concerns -- an impediment to development and needs to be urgently addressed for a number of reasons.
AL-DABBAGH: We have found some of the terrorist operations that they had used mines and suicide bombers. So it is cheap and it's a -- a free weapons in the hands of the terrorists.
DAMON: Before Iraq can truly look to the future, it has to eliminate the war remnants of its past.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Now, an alarming cholera epidemic ignites fear and violence in the streets of Haiti. Now, the threat of disease is affecting inmates of the country's largest prison. That's ahead, along with the world's headlines.
FOSTER: You're back with CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Max Foster in London. Coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: A cholera epidemic in Haiti leads to riots and rage with UN peacekeepers in the crosshairs. Now health officials warn the death toll could reach 200,000. We'll have a live report.
Myanmar's democracy icon speaks to CNN about her vision for her future and her country and why she thinks the military regime is now ready for dialogue.
And the boy wizard does it again. Millions of Muggles flocked to theaters worldwide for part one of Harry Potter's final chapter.
All those stories ahead in the show for you but, first, the headlines.
US president Barack Obama says NATO has agreed to create a missile defense system that could protect all of Europe as well as the United States. His announcement came at a two-day summit -- NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal. The war in Afghanistan tops the agenda there.
Rescuers in New Zealand are on standby outside a coal mine where 29 miners are missing. It's been around 18 hours, now, without any contact. Two people emerged from the mine with injuries after an underground explosion. Concerns over the mine's ventilation system are delaying rescue efforts.
Talks between Irish and European financial officials have been continuing behind closed doors in Dublin. The goal, to find the solution to Ireland's financial woes and shore up its battered banks. Ireland's prime minister says the talks are going well.
A dangerous mix of chaos and rage on the streets of Haiti one week before the country's presidential election. A deadly cholera epidemic is quickly spreading, and crowds are releasing their fury on those who were sent there to help. To explain, Ivan Watson is there in Port-au-Prince. He joins us now, live. Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, the international committee of the Red Cross says that the cholera epidemic has now spread to yet another vulnerable population, another vulnerable community, the prisoners at Port- au-Prince's main prison. They say that at least 10 inmates have died as a result of the disease, and at least 30 have been infected, and that number is expected to grow because of the cramped and overcrowded conditions in Haiti's largest prison.
Meanwhile, the organization Doctors Without Borders, Medicins Sans Frontieres, has issued a blistering report, saying that there are critical shortfalls in the response to the cholera epidemic, saying, quote, "Despite the huge presence of international organizations, the cholera response has been inadequate."
They have been at the front line of much of the cholera treatment, we've seen them operating in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, an seeing just a rush of cholera patients there in a makeshift cholera treatment center built in a basketball stadium there.
Now, the clashes that we've seen around the country, they do seem to have subsided a bit today. Here in Port-au-Prince, there were some small- scale skirmishes, some rock throwing, some tear gas, and we did hear about some reports of similar incidents taking place in a town called Hinche. You're looking at pictures from yesterday of some of the clashes that took place right on the streets behind where I'm standing right now.
But the main city that's been the focal point of the unrest, Cap- Haitien, we are hearing after four days of pretty heavy rioting and complete lockdown of the city, now traffic is starting to move around more normally. Cars are able to start moving through the streets, that's a positive sign for that northern city.
We visited the hospital there on Thursday before leaving that city and saw a number of people wounded with bullet wounds, 37, according to doctors who were working there, gunshot wounds over the first three days of this week. And this is what one doctor said. He blamed the bullet wounds on the United Nations peacekeepers. Take a listen, Max.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILTON CHERUBEN, DOCTOR (through translator): After the attacks administered on the population, from Monday to Wednesday night, we received 37 cases of bullet wounds. Ages of the population range from 9 to 35 years. One boy, 9 years old, was shot by a projectile. An 11-year-old was shot in the arm. A 14-year-old received a projectile in the mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, I just got off the phone, Max, with the United Nations spokesman. He denies that the peacekeepers were responsible for those gunshot wounds. He says, throughout these four days of fighting in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the peacekeepers only killed one demonstrator, he says, after they opened fire on the peacekeepers first. Max?
FOSTER: An aid group has told me that they think this is all to do with politics and the upcoming election and political groups stirring things up. Just give us a sense of the atmosphere running up to that election. They just need to get it out of the way, don't they?
WATSON: Remarkably, amid the cholera epidemic and some of the violence, the 19 candidates running for president right now in elections that are about nine days away, they're still out stumping. They're on television day after day, they're playing their advertisements, their campaign posters are around. And they're still trying to campaign. They have been limited, they have not been able to travel to that northern city, the second-largest city in the country, Cap-Haitien, due to the unrest there. But they are still campaigning, and several of them have been appealing for calm amid the instability of recent days.
I do have to say that some of the protesters that we talked to here who were throwing stones at United Nations peacekeepers and setting fire to the posters of one particular candidate favored by the outgoing president, they were arguing that now is no time for an election due to the fact that you still have, as you can see behind me, hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent cities after the earthquakes of last January due to the fact that you have people dying day after day from a cholera epidemic that has claimed at least 1100 lives.
Many of the candidates, however, say, "We need to go ahead with these elections." Max?
FOSTER: OK. Ivan, thank you very much. You'll be there for the election, I'm sure, as well. Now, up next, she has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. Now, the woman who's come to symbolize defiance against Myanmar's military regime speaks to CNN about her hopes for her homeland. A one-on-one interview with Aung San Suu Kyi coming up.
FOSTER: Respect, change, freedom, empowerment. That's what Myanmar's democracy icon says she wants for the people of her country. Nearly a week after being released from house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi sat down with CNN. She spoke to Fred Pleitgen, who spent 16 days in Myanmar to report on the recent elections even though the country's military regime didn't allow journalists in. Here is part of his interview.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How have you been experiencing the people here. What have they been telling you about what they would like you to do in the future?
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, MYANMAR DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: They are so enthusiastic about trying to help us to achieve change. And change is a great word. They feel that there's a great need for change in this country, and that's what we all want.
PLEITGEN: You've been speaking a lot about dialogue since you've gotten out. Why do you think the military will enter into a dialogue with you? Because they've tried to keep your party out of the election, they now have this parliament. Why do you think they'll want to talk to you?
SUU KYI: We've been talking about dialogue for the last 22 years. I think the problem is that most military people are not used to dialogue. Because you don't have dialogue in the military, you have commands. And, I think, perhaps some of them don't understand -- quite understand what we mean by dialogue.
What we mean by dialogue is, let's talk to each other. We'll tell you what we want, you tell us what you want, we come to some kind of compromise. Obviously, there'll be times when we don't agree with each other. But we don't have to, then, say "I'm not going to talk to you anymore." You talk a bit more, you try to find more common ground.
I don't think this kind of exchange is something with which the military in general are familiar. And I think that has been our greatest problem.
PLEITGEN: You've been speaking -- you've been using the term "revolution," a peaceful revolution. A revolution is always getting rid of one political system and installing another one. Is that what you mean?
SUU KYI: No. I mean -- by "revolution," I mean a significant change. Like the IT revolution. It means -- the IT revolution has meant tremendous changes and significant changes for the whole world. So, what we mean is enough change within the country to make people feel that they've got on to a new and better stage.
PLEITGEN: What sort of society do you envision? And, of course, we always look at societies that are already there. Do you envision something like the United States, with very broad freedoms, both economically as well as socially? Or would you be willing to settle for something maybe more along the lines of China, where you have broad economic freedoms now, but social and personal freedoms are still somewhat lagging?
SUU KYI: I think we would like more respect for human rights in Burma than at present that you can see going on in China. Of course, we would like the economic progress. But I think that has to be balanced by what I would think of as accountability. And I think China is going in that direction. I think some of their local governments and so on have been made to be more accountable. And I think accountability is very important. Progress has to go hand-in-hand with accountability.
PLEITGEN: If you say that the military is not used to speaking and you want to empower the people, that means you're going to have to challenge the military. So, what I see is campaign rallies, people, maybe, protesting even if peacefully. Is that the kind of things that you're thinking? Mass events? That's challenging the military, that's not something they've reacted to very well so far.
SUU KYI: We have to use the new developments of the 21st century to bring about a new 21st century military mentality.
FOSTER: So, what does Aung San Suu Kyi's release mean for the international community? China, in particular. And what can regional countries do to put pressure on Myanmar's military regime. Joining us now from New York is one of our big thinkers, CONNECT THE WORLD panelist Gordon Chang. Gordon, thank you so much for joining us.
The -- Myanmar's neighbors have been criticized for not actually putting any pressure on Myanmar, and China not doing enough. But those criticisms come from the west. Just explain whether or not they have pressured and whether or not they will pressure.
GORDON CHANG, CONNECT THE WORLD PANELIST: I think countries in the region, especially India, have not put pressure on the generals in Burma largely because the Indians see Burma as a prize in a contest that they have with Beijing. So, China has sort of set the standard, and other countries, if they're going to have any sort of influence in Burma, need to talk to the junta. So, essentially, countries in the region have not pressured the generals.
FOSTER: But they don't need to speak to the junta anymore, do they? They can just speak to Aung San Suu Kyi, and she can do the negotiation from there.
CHANG: Well, that's what's going to be the new way of going forward, because I'm sure that countries in the west and India and some of the neighbors are going to probably sit back and take their cues from Suu Kyi, because she has extraordinary influence in the international community.
And I think that that's the reason why the generals released her, because the generals want Suu Kyi to help in lifting those sanctions on Burma.
FOSTER: Which is why she's such savvy politician, isn't it? Because in that interview with Fred, you saw her talking about dialogue and a conversation. But actually, we're talking about hard negotiation here, aren't we? The Burma has got a real sort of fight on its hands with Suu Kyi, but she's got massive power, economic power.
CHANG: Well, she does. In the negotiations that led up to her release, the generals said, "We don't want you speaking to mass rallies in our country," and she said, "No, I'm going to do that." And then, the generals said, "But we want you to spend some time after your release and then not talk to people." And the day after her release on Sunday, she had that rally of 30,000 people in Rangoon.
So, yes. She's a really tough politician. And the generals really have a lot on their hands. This is a zero-sum contest, and my money says that she is going to win.
FOSTER: The fear is, of course, within the country amongst her supporters and outside the country, as well, in much of the west, that the junta could just think, "Oh, this is just too much. We're going to lock her up again." Is that likely this time around?
CHANG: She's been locked up three times, now. So, essentially, what we have is the generals know that they can put her away again, but the problem is, if they do that, they isolate themselves, which means they become more dependent on China, which has been the primary backer of the junta.
So, essentially, the generals have released her because they want to have these links with the United States, with Europe, with India. Other countries. And to really be able to create a bit more space for Burma. So, there are some restrictions, really, as a practical matter, on putting her back in jail. But yes, of course, that is always the option.
FOSTER: So, is there a political solution here for the junta and for China, then, to do some sort of deal with Suu Kyi without losing face? How do they go into this negotiation?
CHANG: They go into this negotiation with a lot of hope because this is a very difficult discussion. The things that she wants, actually, do amount to a revolution, as she has been talking about in the last couple of days.
And we're not talking about in IT revolution, we're talking about a fundamental change in the government, which means that the generals are gone, that there are free and fair elections, that there's rule of law. Those types of things, which would be completely incompatible with what the generals want.
FOSTER: OK, Gordon Chang, thank you very much, indeed. We're going to follow that story for years to come, I'm sure. But it's fascinating.
Now, midnight was the bewitching hour as "Harry Potter" fans jam theaters around the world to start the final chapter -- just to start the final chapter of a magical journey. Did it live up to expectations?
FOSTER: A very busy week in the world of social media, as ever. So, what's been trending big online this time around? Well, whether you're a Beatles fan or simply want to save the world from an environmental catastrophe, there was something for everyone. Phil Han takes a look.
PHIL HAN, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER (on camera): It's been a really exciting past seven days on social media, and there have been tons of stories out there that have really caught the attention of the world. But I want to bring you just a few in case you missed them.
First up, we have YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill. He's become one of the biggest stars on YouTube, and that's all thanks to a couple of music videos. But, in case you haven't heard of him, here's a look at the video that made him famous.
(MUSIC - "Teenage Dream")
HAN: The video of him lip-syncing to a Katy Perry song has racked up more than 17 million hits in just a few months, making him one of the most recognizable faces online. The 15-year-old is from Chicago in the US, and we spoke to him about how he's dealing with all the new-found fame.
KEENAN CAHILL, YOUTUBE STAR: My life hasn't changed as much. It's -- I think -- it's another thing to add onto my life. I still go to school, I still do homework. It's just another thing to add on. It has been a bit intense, but I try to keep it on the low as much as I can.
HAN: Keenan has become so famous that even A-list celebrities are starting to appear in his videos. Here's a look at his most recent one, where Keenan is lip-syncing to a 50 Cent song, and look who shows up.
(MUSIC - "Down on Me")
HAN: That video has already gotten more than seven million hits. Now, another really big story on social media was all the hype that was surrounding Apple Computer when they announced that they would be bringing iTune users the complete back collection of the Beatles for download.
ED SULLIVAN, HOST, "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW": Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!
(MUSIC - "I Want to Hold Your Hand")
HAN: The reaction on social media wasn't so great, as many people were expecting something a bit bigger but, nonetheless, it still is really good news for all those Beatles fans out there.
Now, another story out there that was causing a lot of buzz was the buzz around one of the biggest game releases of all time. It was the shoot-em-up game called "Call of Duty: Black Ops" which was released this week. Now, in the game for Microsoft Xbox, users play soldiers whose mission it is to destroy the enemy by any means possible. Figures show that the game sold $600 million worth of sales in just five days, a record amount.
But if shooting terrorists isn't your thing, another game that was released earlier this month has a much bigger mission. Your job is to save the planet from climate change. Now, the computer game is called "Fate of the World," and in it, your job is to deal with competing governments, you have to sort out global warming agreements, and fight rising emissions.
Now, I spoke to the game's creator, Gobian Rowlands about what he hopes the game will achieve.
GOBIAN ROWLANDS, GAME CREATOR: I think, really, the kind of ultimate goal, if anything, is to provide a good, commercial entertainment game with real science that also has an element of teaching critical thinking. And we're not trying to tell them what to think, we just want them to understand the issues and make up their own decisions.
HAN: And finally, we have some gorgeous pictures to share with you. American astronaut Douglas Wheelock captured these stunning pictures while he was onboard the International Space Station, and he uploaded them to his very own Twitter page. He captured images of the northern lights, parts of Ireland, and a gorgeous tropical island off the coast of Africa.
So, there you have it. Just a few of the standout stories from the past seven days on social media. I'm Phil Han, CNN, London.
FOSTER: Well, another hot topic on the web this week is the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One." That is the first half of the last "Harry Potter" film, which opened in the theaters -- in theaters all over the world at midnight last night. But that late hour didn't deter the diehard fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Hello, CNN! Welcome to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!"
ALLEN MEALEY, CNN iREPORTER: CNN iReport Allen Mealey reporting live at the AMC IMAX theaters here in Riverside, California, where we have a bunch of very loyal Potter fans here.
MEALEY: This is the seventh anticipated film in the series, "Harry Potter and -- "
CROWD: "The Deathly Hallows!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: In case you didn't know. And if the books and films alone don't satisfy you, perhaps you might want to think about taking up the sport of Quidditch. It's the magical game, the team competition that Harry Potter himself plays at Hogwarts. A few years ago, some fans in the US brought that sport from legend to life, and over the weekend, more than 700 players converged in New York, would you believe, to participate in the Quidditch World Cup.
JOSH AICHENBAUM, QUIDDITCH PLAYER: This is the World Cup.
ANNOUNCER: Are you ready for this?
KATIE PETERS, QUIDDITCH PLAYER: This is a sick World Cup.
ANNOUNCER: And they're off. Nitney (ph) Lions getting an early start.
AICHENBAUM: All right, Quidditch World Cup, it's important and it's in New York.
ANNOUCNER: The finest in American Quidditch.
AICHENBAUM: Quidditch is a sport that comes from "Harry Potter," written by JK Rowling. And this is reinvented so normal human beings, Muggles, can play it. And they can't fly, but they can play it well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brooms up! Quidditch!
AICHENBAUM: Everyone has to hold onto a broom.
PETERS: Yes, you have to carry a broom the whole time. And it's really difficult.
AICHENBAUM: That's to replicate the idea that in the "Harry Potter" version, everyone's flying on a broomstick. So, if they're not holding onto their broomstick, they're not flying, they're going to fall off and plummet to their death. So, that's the idea there.
PETERS: There's the keeper, which is the goalie. And he or she defends the hoops. And then, there's beaters, and they have the bludgers, and they play a lot of defense, hitting people with the dodge balls. And then, the chasers have the quaffle, and they're sort of the offense, they try to score goals.
PETERS: And then, the seeker is the one that catches the snitch.
AICHENBAUM: One ball is represented by a person like me wearing all yellow.
ANNOUNCER: Here's the snitch, it's sprinting across the field.
AICHENBAUM: Running around, and that ball is called the snitch and is located hanging out of my pants. There's two seekers, one on each team, who try to catch that ball, and they try to pull it out, and that ends the game.
PETERS: It's sort of like rugby in that you can hit people, but it's also dodge ball in that the bludgers can hit other players. And then you score through hoops sort of like basketball, and then, it's like flag football with the snitch.
ANNOUNCER: Like a matador, he sneaks the snitch out of him!
PETERS: So, it's like five or six different sports in one.
AICHENBAUM: It's extremely physical, so I think it emulates the game in the books fairly well. They put rules in to try and make it less physical, but people tackle, and they trip people.
Funnest thing about Quidditch, a lot of it's just the camaraderie between teammates. And then, once you're out there on the field playing, it's a lot of fun. Because there's so much going on, it's an exciting game to play.
ANNOUNCER: Tough break.
PETERS: The point of Quidditch is to have fun and to play sport. A lot of us are athletes and we sort of just enjoy the athletic part of it. But mostly it's just to have fun, and it's like a big family. So, it's just a good time.
AICHENBAUM: I kind of feel like I'm returning to elementary school PE. Everyone's read "Harry Potter," so there is that aspect that we're bringing an aspect of "Harry Potter" alive.
PETERS: When we first started playing, people were kind of just like, "What are you doing?" And calling us nerds and all that stuff. But now that it's grown so big, we've sort of become the cool kids on campus.
ANNOUNCER: Rochester, final, 30 to zero!
PETERS: I play because I love sports. I love being on a team. I like "Harry Potter" and it's just fun. It's always fun.
ANNOUNCER: This is what it's all about.
FOSTER: Well, I'm still wondering what they're doing. I don't know about you. I'm Max Foster, that is your world connected, and we'll be right back with the headlines, and "BackStory" is just after that. | <urn:uuid:17f79260-fcae-48cc-9864-204ad015806e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1011/19/ctw.01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972285 | 11,097 | 1.625 | 2 |
By Jonathan Spicer
SOMERSET, New Jersey (Reuters) - A top U.S. Federal Reserve official waded into the sticky debate over global currency wars on Friday, warning that such beggar-thy-neighbor monetary policies would only hurt world trade and the economies that were involved.
Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said central banks in many countries are adopting policies, often under pressure from governments, to control their currencies, calling it an unhealthy phenomenon.
"We do not want to get ourselves in a world where you have currency wars. Beggar-thy-neighbor policies ... would not be healthy," Plosser told a bankers conference here.
"So central banks and governments need to be cautious about allowing us to slip into a regime like that because that would not be healthy for world trade or for the economies" involved, he added.
Easy money policies by major central banks such as the Fed or European Central Bank often strengthen currencies of developing countries, hurting those countries' exporters. That in turn has prompted some governments or central banks to ease their own polices in response.
The comments from Plosser - a long-time critic of the Fed's easy money policies, though largely for domestic reasons - come on a day newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his biggest push yet to make jobs growth part of the Bank of Japan's mandate.
Under intense pressure from Abe, the BOJ will likely adopt a 2 percent inflation target later this month, double its current goal, and consider easing monetary policy again, most likely by increasing government debt and asset purchases, sources told Reuters this week.
Besides Japan, Switzerland, Brazil and China have all taken steps to push down the value of their currencies in recent years. The Fed, ECB and Bank of England have depressed their interest rates over long periods in the wake of the global recession, and pumped trillions of dollars into their economies.
"Many countries are trying to use monetary policies to control their currencies, to protect their countries from fluctuating currencies," Plosser said.
"I think that's a maybe a short-run strategy but not necessarily a healthy long-run strategy.
His comments echoed those of BoE Governor Mervyn King, who last month warned that the trend of currency wars could grow.
PICKING APART FED POLICIES
Turning to U.S. monetary policies, Plosser outlined other ways the Fed's actions could backfire.
The aggressive policy accommodation may be frustrating Americans' efforts to restore their personal wealth and may actually slow a broader rebound in U.S. consumption, he warned.
"Efforts to drive real rates more negative or promises to keep rates low for a long time may have frustrated households' efforts to rebuild their balance sheets without stimulating aggregate demand or consumption," Plosser, who does not have a vote on Fed policy this year, told the bankers.
Now more than three years after the recession ended, households will nonetheless take time to restore wealth to a comfortable level, Plosser added, "and attempts to increase economic 'stimulus' may not help speed up the process and may actually prolong it."
Last month, the Fed ramped up asset purchases that are meant to spur growth and pledged to keep rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation expectations don't climb above 2.5 percent.
U.S. unemployment was a lofty 7.8 percent last month.
The U.S. economy grew at a decent 3.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter but growth is expected to have slowed in the final months of the year. Last month, Fed policymakers said they expected GDP growth of between 2.3 to 3.0 percent this year, and 3.0 to 3.5 percent in 2014.
U.S. retail sales have been sluggish, rising 0.3 percent in November after a drop of 0.3 percent the month before.
Among a minority of so-called hawks at the central bank, Plosser also largely repeated predictions for a pick-up in U.S. economic growth to about 3 percent this year and in 2014. He also expects unemployment to fall to near 7 percent by the end of 2013, from 7.8 percent last month.
Plosser characterized the pace of U.S. economic growth as "moderate," and predicted that fourth-quarter growth was likely near 2 percent.
Turning to the U.S. fiscal situation, the policymaker said the lingering uncertainty over government spending and taxes is weighing on business hiring. The Fed is probably not helping on this front, either, Plosser said.
"Here, too, in my view, monetary policy accommodation that lowers interest rates is unlikely to stimulate firms to hire and invest until a significant amount of the uncertainty has been resolved," he said.
Facing the so-called fiscal cliff, U.S. lawmakers on January 1 struck a partial deal that avoids the worst of the planned tax rises but put off big decisions on spending cuts for two more months.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Neil Stempleman) | <urn:uuid:c3296cf1-1763-49e4-b2ae-fe11388d1d0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wnflam.com/news/articles/2013/jan/11/feds-plosser-exit-strategy-could-be-hurt-if-bond-yields-spike/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959682 | 1,065 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Shots - Health News
Tue February 5, 2013
Will Your Long-Term Care Coverage Keep Up With Changing Times?
Originally published on Tue February 5, 2013 10:39 am
If you're investing to protect yourself from something that may happen 20 or 30 years down the road, you'd like to be confident that your plan will keep pace with the times.
That's a calculation purchasers of long-term care insurance have to make. But a provision in those policies that people rely on to help ensure their coverage will meet their needs decades hence may fall short.
The clauses are called "alternative plan of care" benefits. They're intended to provide coverage for services that aren't spelled out in the policy but may emerge in the future, says Bonnie Burns, a policy specialist at California Health Advocates, a Medicare advocacy and education organization.
Long-term care policies that were sold 30 years ago, for example, didn't cover care in an assisted living facility, she says, even though such coverage is common now.
Long-term care insurance offers financial protection if a person needs help with daily tasks such as eating and bathing. Policies typically cover care provided in different settings, whether it's a nursing home, a private home or an assisted living facility. People usually buy a policy that provides up to a specified daily dollar amount, say $150, for three to five years.
Burns says that although alternative plan of care clauses can be beneficial, they are honored at the insurance company's discretion.
"It's completely up to the company," she says. "I've had situations where companies have refused to pay under that benefit."
Alternative plan of care clauses may be increasingly important. In the past decade, the average age at which people buy a long-term care insurance policy has decreased from 68 to 59, according to a survey by America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group.
When considering a policy, people have to ask themselves: "What's the long-term care landscape going to look like in 20 years?" says Burns. An alternative plan of care clause may help provide some sense of security, but it's no panacea. | <urn:uuid:50efec4f-950d-45f4-9b72-e39f0d47ee0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kvnf.org/post/will-your-long-term-care-coverage-keep-changing-times | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9726 | 442 | 1.71875 | 2 |
- Amtrak California
- California Transportation Plan
- Caltrans Property for Sale
- Caltrans Local Development Review
- Legal Expert Witness Consultants
California Department of Transportation
Date: October 19, 2011
District: District 6 Fresno
Contact: Jose Camarena
Phone: (559) 488-4067
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CALTRANS AWARDS $66 MILLION IN SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS FUNDING
FRESNO – Caltrans today awarded $66 million to cities, counties, and regional agencies for 139 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) projects to improve safety for students in grades K-8 who walk and bicycle to and from school.
"By improving safety, more children are encouraged to walk and bicycle to school, ultimately resulting in healthier children and less traffic congestion," said Acting Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.The funding was provided by the federal SRTS program. Since its inception in 2005, Caltrans has awarded $156 million for 356 SRTS projects.
Some of the notable projects in Orange County that received funding include:
- $439,000 to construct pedestrian paths, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and curb ramps; upgrade crosswalk striping; install in-pavement crosswalk lights at various locations in Firebaugh to serve students attending Arthur E. Mills and Firebaugh Middle Schools.
- $476,000 to Kern County for use in constructing sidewalks, curb and gutter and curb ramps for students attending Golden Hills and Fairview Elementary Schools
Caltrans works closely with a diverse group of state, local, and regional stakeholders representing transportation, health, education, law enforcement, and bicycle/pedestrian advocates.
Click here to view the entire list of SRTS projects that received funding.
# # # # | <urn:uuid:16acd336-6fde-4db9-8daa-457ab3181b80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dot.ca.gov/hq/paffairs/news/pressrel/11pr92.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930076 | 370 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Animal Testing is a cruel way to test products and is completely unnecessary! There are many alternatives to Animal Testing that are more effective, but Unilever chooses to continue their use of cruel lab tests. Please sign this petition to ask Unilever to end Animal Testing for their products! Unilever owns these products:Suave, Axe, Dove, St. Ives, Tressemme, Sunsilk, Bertolli, Lipton, Slimfast, Country Crock and where ever else you sell the Blue "U" on products or commercials!
Hello, We the undersigned recently became aware that your company conducted animal tests for some of your brand names, such as Suave. The thought of this overwhelms us and we are contacting you to request that you end your animal tests. It has been proven that animal testing is ineffective because there is enough information on record and animals are not sufficient substitutes for humans when testing products. Also, animal testing requires animals to be inside of small cage labs, which is very cruel and depressing for animals, which is not only wrong, but it can also effect their reactions to chemicals and certain tests; meaning that they aren't reacting as humans would. Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail, please consider our requests.
Keep up the great work. Look what you've accomplished!
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for your site or blog
Make a difference for the issues you care about while adding cool interactive
content. Your readers sign without ever leaving your site. It's simple, just choose
your widget size and color and copy the embed code to your site or blog. | <urn:uuid:3c84cc65-4e01-4f80-a6f1-b09f51abb2c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thepetitionsite.com/649/173/739/unilever-end-animal-testing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953995 | 333 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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EPA Overreach with Chesapeake Bay Program Outlined During Agriculture Hearing
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry today held a public hearing to review Phase II of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Watershed Implementation Plans and their impact on rural communities. Among the hearing panelists were Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, Michael Krancer, and Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President, Carl Shaffer.
The implementation of the TMDL is complex and far-reaching, affecting communities in six states and the District of Columbia. States are now in the second phase of a three-part process to limit discharge into the Bay and several of them have raised concerns about the cost and the regulatory burden they face in meeting the new limits. Witnesses testified that the process is being driven by flawed scientific modeling, arbitrary deadlines from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instead of economic and scientific assessments. This creates major difficulties for states, municipalities, and Pennsylvania’s farmers attempting to meet EPA’s requirements.
Under the Rendell Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection estimated that the cost of the TMDL, under the best case scenario, would cost the Commonwealth alone upwards of $8.7 billion.
“Because the Chesapeake Watershed TMDL is such a broad effort, and because of the costs imposed upon local communities, it is imperative for members of this subcommittee to understand what is being asked of the counties, towns and municipalities,” said Subcommittee Chairman Glenn 'GT' Thompson. “We all want to implement a plan that furthers restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, however, it must be equitable. It’s problematic that we still do not have a cost-benefit analysis of this process from EPA nor a sound model for a baseline measurement under the current plan. Ultimately, we must be certain that the federal government is not executing the facets of this plan in a heavy-handed manner, which will place undue burden upon states and localities, during a time when we need fewer hindrances to economic growth and job creation, not more.”
“Over the years significant progress has been made to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous pollution of local waters in Pennsylvania's watersheds,” said Secretary Michael Krancer, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “It should be noted that EPA’s watershed model can be a useful tool to help guide management actions and project their results. It is not, however, sufficiently precise to measure actual progress or lack thereof. It should not be used in a regulatory context to determine whether an enforcement action or other penalty is appropriate.”
Secretary Krancer also wrote in his testimony: “We all share the core desire to keep up the progress on making the Bay even cleaner than it is now. While doing so, we do need to be mindful of how we are going to pay for this progress and what it is we are paying for. We need to be mindful of using available funds in an efficient and cost-effective manner so that we get the most ‘bang for the buck’ that we can and avoid spending a lot of “bucks” for very little “bang”. We also believe that it is important that the federal government “put its money where its mouth is” and if it is going to prioritize the Chesapeake Bay program, to appropriately also prioritize it among the competing voices for the pool of federal funding that is available to bring to the effort.”
“The demands that EPA is putting on Bay states in Phase II is further crippling states ability to devise a program that will encourage meaningful and effective long-term benefits, already hampered by the demands that EPA has already placed so far through EPA’s excessive TMDL regulation,” said Carl Shaffer, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President. “EPA’s questionable modeling has not given taxpayers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed reasonable assurance that the practices the model is directing the states to implement and the millions of dollars the states will need to spend to implement these practices will get it even close to the reduction goals EPA is demanding states to meet.”
Under Chairman Thompson’s leadership, this is the Subcommittee’s second hearing focusing on implementation of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. The Subcommittee’s first hearing, "To review the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, agricultural conservation practices, and their implications on national watersheds," was held on March 16, 2011.
To view additional information from today’s hearing, click here. | <urn:uuid:21eba96d-d221-4b81-88df-02441d4e39f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thompson.house.gov/press-release/epa-overreach-chesapeake-bay-program-outlined-during-agriculture-hearing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946389 | 966 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The fan shroud for this case is relatively easy to modify, actually. The aluminum is thin, and easy to cut and bend. You can mend any induced "rifts" with aluminum flashing tape. The biggest difficulty with this mod is that the rivets used to join the plates making up the shroud will loosen if you tweak them too much. I modded my xb01 shroud so much that it eventually fell apart at the rivets, and I wound up making a new shroud from aluminum sheet I had on hand. Just take your time, think about what it is you are trying to achieve with any such mod, measure thrice, cut and/or bend once.
In answer to your original question, with enough air flow, I think it's reasonable to assume that you could run without the shroud at all. The shroud is designed to train the airflow from one fairly sedate Lian Li fan over your components. If you are running two or more fans in your Lian Li case, you should have air flow to spare. You might consider adding sinks to your RAM, the "southbridge" and the HANA (video compositing) chip.
I wrote a rather lengthy post, some time ago, in this forum about the modding of PC heatsinks to fit 360 CPU and GPU. Look it up if you are interested (search for "Shin Etsu" using the search feature for this forum, the post in question is appropriately named and showed up on page 2 when I searched for it).
This post has been edited by strapmonkey: Jun 21 2012, 02:04 AM | <urn:uuid:fb15f72f-76e8-403c-a57f-85e5c12fed41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=742990&pid=4867378&st=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963853 | 326 | 1.585938 | 2 |
ANCHORAGE - Ron Feldhouse draws the line at 45 degrees below zero. Then it's time to sleep indoors.
Otherwise, he sets up camp in the woods outside Fairbanks, where winter temperatures can hover around 20 below zero or colder for weeks at a stretch - cold enough to be fatal for the unprepared.
Dealing with extreme elements is the norm for Feldhouse and other hardcore homeless Alaskans.
"It's a learned art," said Feldhouse, 47. "After a while, you just start getting used to it."
Many of Alaska's indigent - a population that's difficult to measure - cope by drifting from couch to couch or sleeping in motels, cars, boats and homeless shelters in the larger cities.
But a small number say they prefer dealing with the bitter cold to following the rules at shelters, which limit stays, ban alcohol and drugs and impose strict curfews.
Ed Heeckt arrived in Alaska a year ago from Arlington, Wash., and got a short-lived job processing fish for $8.50 an hour in Juneau. He stayed at the Glory Hole shelter for a week, but hated the cramped quarters.
"I can't handle the snoring and the smelly feet of a shelter," said Heeckt, 36.
He set up a hand-me-down tent among spruce and alder trees just outside downtown Juneau. In the summer, he has a perfect view of the cruise ships that visit.
Practiced campers say it's not that hard to stay warm - it just takes a little ingenuity. They dig caves in snow mounds, pack snow high around outer tent walls for insulation and line inner edges with clothing. Some burrow in trash bins or curl up in doorways.
On cold nights, Heeckt burns a can of gel fuel inside his tent for 10 minutes to get it "nice and warm." He puts on layers of shirts, pants, a couple pairs of socks and a hat before diving into his mummy-style sleeping bag, which is sandwiched between a plastic foam pad and a pile of blankets.
In Anchorage, a city of 274,000, agencies that work with the homeless estimate 8,000 to 10,000 people find themselves without a permanent roof at least temporarily over any given year, though only a fraction end up at makeshift camps hidden around the city.
Many campers are Alaska Natives, said Norma Carter, social services director of Bean's Cafe, a day shelter and soup kitchen in Anchorage. She knows a 92-year-old man who grudgingly moved into a subsidized assisted-living home three months ago.
"I think it's a cultural thing in some cases, where people are accustomed to taking a boat up the river and sleeping on the bank, under the stars," she said. "For others, it's just not having money, not wanting to be found. There are different reasons why people camp."
"I just don't like being tied down," Feldhouse said. "Living like this lightens the load. I don't have to answer to anybody, don't have bills to pay."
Ellamae Clark, 43, who has camped in Anchorage for nine years, said she rarely feels the cold, having grown up in a village above the Arctic Circle.
"I even sleep in shorts," she said. "For me, it's an easy life. Having a camp is harder in the summer because you have to watch out for teenagers who want to vandalize it. In the summer, it gets too hot."
Chronic homelessness is almost unheard of in rural communities, where few people are strangers. That applies even to places as big as Bethel - a largely Yupik Eskimo town of 5,900 people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta.
"If your second cousin is in need, society out here will take care of them. You can pretty much get help," said City Manager Bob Herron.
Leaving the state is not an option for people who can't scrape together the price of a plane ticket to a warmer place. But many wouldn't want to live anywhere else, said Jetta Whittaker, director of the Juneau shelter.
"It's certainly easier to be homeless somewhere else where it's not as cold, where you can sleep under a bridge and it's not life-threatening," Whittaker said. "But this is their home, their community."
Juneau Empire ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:0ca702dd-ecf5-40ae-9212-0e362977db35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://juneauempire.com/stories/021704/sta_homeless.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960683 | 935 | 1.679688 | 2 |
We recently published a guest column over on CanadianBudgetBinder.com about 4 ways to lower your family’s back to school budget. And now Mr CBB would like to share some wise words with the Moosers too. He’s going to write about his tips on saving on the grocery budget. We have had a few similar articles in the past, such as Eddie’s tips on slashing your food bills, or Krista’s Saving money on your groceries. So while some of the ideas are on a similar vein, it’s good to get a fresh perspective and thoughts on the topic.
Over to Mr CBB:
Grocery Savings in the budget to save money, no way, what’s the catch? I hear that all the time and realise that it’s no wonder grocery budgets are out of control. In order to spend less than we earn we need to make sure that we are planning where our money is going. We need to set goals and stick to them. There’s nothing worse than someone complaining who has done nothing about spending too much, especially at the grocery store.
Do you know what a coupon is?
Well, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product (source). I think most regular Bargainmoosers already know this! With the explosion of coupons into the scene, most would think it’s all new and exciting but it’s really an old concept. Coupons began in 1888 when Asa Candler wanted potential customers to test out his Coke Product free with what we now call an FPC or Free Product Coupon.
Moving forward, coupons in the United States made a presence in 1909 for Post Grape Nuts cereal. It wasn’t until 1940 that the big box stores as we know it today jumped aboard and by 1965 half of the American households were clipping coupons just to save a buck. We are no strangers to coupons in Canada as more and more families are racing to the shops to make sure they get a piece of the action.
Mrs. CBB says she remembers her grandmother clipping coupons when she was a girl. She would stash all of her coupons in a little recipe box with an organizer inside. Part of her was curious about them and she said she understood they were to save money. So teach your children young about money and budgets, it may stick with them a lifetime.
We used to use many coupons mainly for health, beauty and laundry items over the last couple of years. Is wasn’t until we designed a budget that we realized our spending was out of control even though we thought we had saving down to a science. I don’t think for one moment if we hadn’t done that budget that we would be where we are today. We needed to see the numbers and $600 for 2 is outrageous even using coupons.
We have since designed The Grocery Game Challenge to help motivate us to stick to our new budget of $190 a month for 2 people with one no-shop week a month. We have many fans that post their weekly grocery shop along with us and we all save money together. You think, ah what’s posting going to do? Check it out, some of my fans who were in the same boat as us are happy they started posting. Posting holds you accountable, similar to a Weight Watchers Program and eventually you can go on a maintenance program for life. That means you can be set free to manage your grocery budget without worrying you will overspend.
Here are some of the tips that we learned the past couple of years to save money in the Grocery Budget.
Plan your Meals – We sit down once a week and plan out the meals for the week. Sometimes we go through recipe books and find new recipes that we want to try. We base our shopping around the ingredients of these meals which saves us money overall. You are not buying more food than you need and that’s the goal, as too many people waste more food then they consume. We also use the flyers and weekly specials that influence just what might be making it to our weekly plate.
Make a grocery list, check it twice – We make our grocery list once a week but we also check it twice. I can assure that almost every week something gets nixed from the list. We realize that we really don’t need it and we would be simply spending money we don’t need to. We learned just because we have a coupon it doesn’t mean we have to buy it.
Set a Grocery Budget – It was imperative for us to know exactly how much we could afford each month after all the bills are paid. Once you have a budget the rest is easy!
Use Grocery Coupons and Store Points – We use coupons for many reasons with the main being to save money in the budget. If we can stockpile items that we know we use in our pantry then we will. You can get grocery coupons in your weekly flyer inserts, online coupons, printable coupons, manufacturer mailed, food containers or boxes or now mobile coupons. The points through Shoppers Optimum are also an excellent way to save.
We like to get dry beans, tomatoes, flour, couscous, pasta etc. We do tend to stay away from convenience type foods if we can help it and try to learn alternate ways or healthier ways to make food. There’s nothing wrong with a splurge once in a while. We also tend to visit the reduced rack/counter at the shops where we find produce, dairy, meats etc at a fraction of the price. If we have a points card and can use accumulated points to put towards our shop, even better.
Cook from scratch and grow a garden - The above leads us to cooking from scratch. Yes it may be time-consuming but it also may save you money, at least for us it has. Each year we plant tomatoes, herbs, peppers, rhubarb, raspberries, onions, etc. Just recently we learned how to make mayonnaise, tortillas, bread, brownies, cakes, sauces, spice mixes, etc. all from scratch. It’s a frugal way to keep money in your pocket and not spending it on convenience boxed foods where many families see a drain on the pocket-book.
Overall change won’t happen overnight but the important step is the first step. Take your time to assess your own personal situation and set goals from that point forward. Making a food budget is easy, the hard part is sticking to the grocery budget.
What ways do you save money in your Grocery Budget?
Guest Post By Mr. CBB who blogs at canadianbudgetbinder and aims to help people save money in their budget by motivating them to stick to a budget and say NO to spending more than they earn. (Image credits: bulliver) | <urn:uuid:eca3962e-f254-4f2a-aad9-c8044f41eff0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bargainmoose.ca/tag/groceries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962886 | 1,440 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Mediating Municipal Bankruptcy
I participated in a recent discussion sponsored by the American Bar Associations' State and Local Government Law Section. The focus was on municipal bankruptcy — an increasingly prevalent danger across the United States. The moderator was Charles Blowsher, former Comptroller General of the United States. He was in the middle of earlier efforts to bailout out New York City. Other participants included: Judge Christopher Klein, senior bankruptcy judge in California, a state with an increasing number of municipalities on the fiscal brink, explained federal and state laws regarding municipal insolvency; Harriet Welch, a law partner at Squire Sanders and bond counsel to San Diego and Los Angeles, talked about the sale of municipal assets as a way of fending off insolvency; Josh Rauh, a Professor at Kellogg School of Management and an expert on public pensions explained why the problem is going to just get worse until states adopt more realistic accounting methods. My job was talking about ways of getting the public involved in working things out before the bankruptcy courts take over and citizens lose control all together.
Municipalities must litigate their way into bankruptcy court. One city in California paid more than $5 million it didn't have to get into bankruptcy court. The public employee unions in that city spent an equal amount trying to keep the case out of court (for fear that the court would impose reductions in long-standing pension obligations). State laws dictate how municipal insolvency will be handled (and just because a state takes over doesn't mean that it will provide funds to bail out a city). What we are going to do when states go bankrupt, I have no idea. Under the law, state's are not permitted to declare bankruptcy. Once the federal courts, however, invoke national bankruptcy laws, these trump anything states might want to require.
Why are cities going broke? They have long-standing liabilities (especially bonds and pension obligations) that haven't been adequately funded for a long time. Some municipalities in Illinois, for example, are using as much as 15% of their annual tax revenue to cover long-standing pension liabilities. That means they are going to have make horrendous cuts in service levels. Why haven't they put aside enough money each year so that they could have avoided this situation? The accounting methods they use (which continue to pretend that they will earn almost 8% annual interest on their investments) are utterly unrealistic. The gap continues to grow each year. Some states have just turned a blind eye and kicked the can down the road by permitting municipalities (and state governments) to push this indebtedness off into the future.
Some municipalities are looking for creative ways to raise new money like selling or leasing municipal assets (e.g. parking lots, zoos and other facilities). While this may offer temporary relief, it won't fill the gap in the long term. Why don't these communities raise the taxes they need to pay their bills? Because no politician wants to vote for higher taxes in a down economy (or any time, really). And, if given a chance to vote, citizens will rarely choose to raise their taxes, especially when unemployment is high and job security is low.
So, what's the answer? I suggest it's NOT declaring bankruptcy. Once the court takes over, the judge will just liquidate assets and cut back everything and anything. The court is not empowered to raise taxes. It might liquidate outstanding bonds at a few cents on the dollar, but I wouldn't want to be that community going forward when it no credibility left in the bond market. And, while the court may not be able to reduce past pension obligations (because they are protected by state law), it can certainly refuse to offer future pension benefits to new public employees. Of course, whether police, firemen, teachers or others would ever want to work in such a place in the future is not clear. And, slashing expenditures in this way can create a death spiral. Massive cutbacks in services reduce property values almost immediately. A loss in property value reduces property tax revenue going forward. And, the downward spiral continues. So, cities that think they can handle insolvency by declaring bankruptcy better think again.
What's the alternative? In some states, like Massachusetts, the governor can step in and appoint a receiver to take over the management of the city. While this doesn't solve the underlying problems, it does put someone in charge who isn't worried about getting re-elected or satisfying various constituencies. Of course, from a resident's perspective, who wants some non-accountable bureaucrat making decisions about what services and expenditures will be cut and which will be saved? It would be better if local leaders organized an ad hoc municipal management task force and asked this group to make a last ditch effort (once the red flags about forthcoming insolvency have been raised) to come up with a cut-back plan that citizens can get behind. The four key ingredients are: a professional mediator to help identify the relevant stakeholders and manage the problem-solving conversation in a non-partisan way way; a joint fact-finding process that gives a large stakeholder panel access to a range of technical advisors; a transparent and accountable process that invites citizens, employers and public agencies to follow what's happening on-line every step of the way; and a binding referendum on a negotiated package that will give political legitimacy to whatever informed agreement is reached. Mediation of this sort should be paid for by the municipality. It will cost a lot less than the legal fees involved in litigating a case into bankruptcy court. If such a group fails to reach agreement within a reasonable time, all the usual legal maneuvering will then begin.
The "ugly truth" I learned from my participation in this panel, is that bankruptcy is the worst possible solution to municipal insolvency. Cities and towns in trouble need to take action before they are at the edge of the precipice. Very few elected officials will address forthcoming insolvency problems in a useful way unless they are pushed by the electorate to do that. And, most residents and business owners are inclined to lobby only for what they think will help them, rather than for what will be in the community's long-term best interests. So, it will take concerted leadership by non-elected interests to initiate the mediation of impending municipal bankruptcy. Get with it citizens, you know what you need to do do.
This blog entry was originally published on Lawrence Susskind's blog The Consensus Building Approach. | <urn:uuid:bbc65e34-0590-459a-9d25-3da26c0c0dbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cbuilding.org/blog/2012/mediating-municipal-bankruptcy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962671 | 1,319 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Instant Karma: Edwin Land and His ‘Magic Camera,’ the Polaroid SX-70
Contrary to what some consumers, amateur photographers and even die-hard techies might assume, instant photography has been around a lot longer than the digital camera and the iPhone. In fact, it’s been around for more than six decades, ever since the scientist, visionary and Polaroid co-founder Edwin H. Land introduced his first “Land Camera” way back in 1947.
But it wasn’t until 1972, when Polaroid unveiled a marvelous (in every sense of the word) device called the SX-70, that an instant camera fully captured the imagination and the attention of photography buffs, industrial design aficionados and pop culture commentators alike. Far from a mere consumer product, the SX-70 quickly became associated with, and in a very real sense helped to define, the early Seventies.
But beyond its overnight stardom, the camera also, to varying degrees, presaged the ways in which the world now consumes, manipulates and shares media. Instagram, the iPhone, the Flip, even YouTube and streaming video — most of the sudden and playful means by which we entertain and inform ourselves every day can, with a little digging, find a kernel of their genius in the beautiful, compact universe of the SX-70.
Editor at large for TIME and self-described gadget-nerd Harry McCracken put the camera’s significance in perspective in a tremendous piece on Land and the SX-70 in June 2011. Citing the writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke’s “law” that advanced technology is, at its best, indistinguishable from magic, McCracken wrote that he could not think “of a greater gadget than the SX-70 Land Camera…. [T]he sheer magnitude of its ambition and innovation dwarfs the Walkman, iPod, and nearly every other consumer-electronics product you can name.”
Here, more than 40 years after the SX-70 was introduced, LIFE.com pays tribute to Land’s vision and his determination to, as he once put it, “provide an opportunity for creativity that other photography doesn’t allow.”
Also in the gallery are pictures made with the SX-70 by LIFE photographer Co Rentmeester, who experimented with the camera while shooting the cover story on Land for the October 27, 1972, issue of the magazine.
— Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com
LIFE magazine cover: Co Rentmeester | <urn:uuid:b5030ca1-9457-4a4d-a230-6bf497f92117> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://life.time.com/culture/edwin-land-and-his-magic-camera-the-polaroid-sx-70/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935432 | 532 | 1.8125 | 2 |
@steveguttenberg, tbf Kinect is in my opinion as innovative as the Wii. It is something new. Playstation Move however I agree is just ripping off the Wii
Prototype for Microsoft's shortly shipping, motion-sensing system did not come cheap; hardware now profitable at $150 each.
The Kinect goes on sale next Thursday, and the hype machine backing its launch is firing on all cylinders. Following last week's appearance on Oprah, the Xbox 360's motion-sensing system is now the subject of an in-depth article in the New York Times.
Besides lauding the device's ability to allow players to control games without controllers, the piece also reveals some startling facts about Kinect. The camera-based system's first prototype cost some $30,000 to build--200 times the retail price of the unit sold on its own. However, Microsoft claims that unlike the Xbox 360, the Kinect hardware will be profitable from day one at a retail price of $150 each.
The Times also reported that at its zenith, the Kinect program--then called Project Natal--had nearly 1,000 workers toiling away on it. Though officially unconfirmed, it is suspected that the device employs motion-sensing technology from 3DV systems, an Israeli startup Microsoft bought outright last year.
The Kinect debuts in stores on November 4. It can be bought solo or as part of a $300 bundle with the 4GB Xbox 360 or part of a $400 bundle with the 250GB model of the console, both of which also contain the game Kinect Adventures. It will have 12 games available at launch, including Kinect Sports, Kinectimals, Fighters Uncaged, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, and Sonic Free Riders. Five more games will be available by the end of November, with titles across numerous genres planned in the coming months.
Watching these Kinect and Move videos reminds me of when Nintendo released the Super Nintendo or the Nintendo 64. Both ad campaigns pretended that their system was introducing the world to 16-bit and 3D, respectively, as if the Genesis, Saturn and Playstation hadn't been out for years already. Now Microsoft and Sony market their add-ons as if motion-control is something new.
Is telling us the first one cost them $30,000 supposed to make $150 sound like a great deal by comparison? Because I think $150 is still pretty expensive for an add-on.
I was very skeptical about Kinect before I watched the "now playing" video. You can tell that they really have fun with some of the games, and these guys--about as jaded and hard core as gamers can be--seem genuinely surprised and delighted by the experience. Of course some of the games look like garbage (Zumba, for example), but that is inevitable. For a successful launch, Microsoft only needs 2-3 games that people feel compelled to play. Anecdotally, Amazon is no longer allowing pre-orders for the Kinect (device only--they still have console bundles). They've exhausted their pre-release supply. Gamestop still is accepting pre-orders, though. I'm going to wait to see the critical response before making a purchase, but I don't think that I--or any other contributor to these fora--am indicative of the target demographic for the device. This thing is going to have very broad appeal.
With the Kinect, the challenge for developers is significant, but Microsoft's strategy is sound. They pushed the technology out early, and the most promising game (in my opinion) is from a third-party (Ubisoft's fitness game). That is a good sign for Microsoft. There are so many different directions a developer could go with the technology (from Kinectimals to Dance to who knows what else), I think it will be some time before we see many games that really leverage it well. That said, the Nintendo sold a gajillion Wii consoles on the strength of Wii Sports--a great game? No, but a novel enough experience to drive consumer interest.
Oh - they went up $50.00 from the original press released price. And folks - prototypes are always more expensive than the final production models - for a company like MS, $30,000.00 is welfare money.
Still trying not to get my hopes up for kinect, it could be great, the tech seems good but i still love controllers. Plus I feel like there are very few developers who use this technology well. All of the games come out and seem like gimmicks you play them for a few hours and you then go back to Bad Company 2. I might buy one but i will wait till after i read some serious reviews. Defiantly not buying one just for one game. But at least it is a much better value than move provided it can sense more than 2 people if it is just 2 then it seems like a waste. Furthermore i can't imagine that things like their racing game actually being good. Just holding your arms out to steer seems like a bad idea.
@Xbox360Gamer15 Exactly my point. At this time there is nothing that great or fun about Kinect. At this point in time it is turning out to be a big waste. While I hope it does get better because this failing doesn't do gamers much good, this really isn't looking too bright.
@Xbox360Gamer15 What games will you be playing to make it 10x better than the other systems? Please let me in on the secret I would like to know why people would want to play this?
@noturfangirl, do you honestly think that if they made Kinect, or Move for the PC it would be better? I seriously doubt it would sell more. I do also think there is a lot new and exciting about Kinect, seeing as how it doesn't use a controller at all. Move may be a lot similar to the Wii, but from what I've played of it, it is a lot more accurate,not to mention the nice HD upgrade. There is no doubt that they are trying to cash in on the market that the Wii tapped into, but that's just how business works. I'm going to save my verdict until I actually get one, then I'll express my likes, or dislikes about it.
@karmasbeeoch Most def. Back in 06 or 07 this thing would have been a Wii killer. But now, their are too many people that have already exp motion gaming and are moving on. The games for the move and 360 LOOK EXACTLY like the wii and it makes them look desperate. There is nothing new and exciting about them. For all the people talking about ps3 and 360's HD graphics, they look like wii games compared to PC. They should have made connect and move for pc, that way we will have true HD and motion control.
The only reason the wii is ahead of 360 and ps3 is because it was new at the time and affordable. The average "casual" consumer doesn't have $330 to drop on this just to play REHASHED wii games without a controller or that wii hd system now (ps3). There will be alot of disappointed merchants this holiday season. M$ should be giving this thing away for $29 considering all the Bricked 360 systems i've had sent back to them. M$ and $ony just seem desperate now.
LMFAO thank you guys for being good sports and playing Dance Central at the end. It easily looks like the most entertaining Kinect game.
God these guys are ridiculously self conscious in the video specifically the gentleman in black with glasses. It's almost like that of a middle school child. Oh no the game is taking your picture and you look silly...Oh no the game tells you to lay flat on your back. You need to relax.
The guy in the back looks PRETTY AMAZED and entertained with the guy in black being so bad at controlling KINECT...lol
Even if its no good for proper FPS's or RPG's it'll be a laugh for arcade games and what about strategy games? I recollect a trailer for RUSE with an interactive table top, how about something like that?
A lot of people are all b****y about the Kinect, but I think it's going to add to gaming. Regardless of the simple Wii-like games, I like the idea of it simplifying menus and voice recognition across all games and the dashboard. Microsoft has a lot into this, and not just for a gaming console. I expect the Kinect will be a sensor put to work for Windows (PC) machines some point soon. This will be interesting to see. This is just another step towards the convergence between PC/Home/Gaming/Network people have been predicting for some 10 years. The "Smart Home" getting closer to reality. I see a lot of comments about how this will fail, but Microsoft's got too high a marketshare in PC software for that to happen. This will be big.
@noturfangirl the fact is, is anyone really gonna buy an xbox just for kinect? they might but the majority of people are gonna buy it as an add on for their previously bought xbox, and also, your getting what you pay for... if you want a below standard gaming system buy a wii... the new motion controllers for the xbox and PS3 make the wii pretty much obsolete
this product costs of components is roughly $40... so yeah, your paying $150 for basically an upgraded EyeToy.
@noturfangirl You're one of those people that just love inflating issues because you don't like it, aren't you? "You have to buy a 360 to play kinect if you don't have one"? Really? I am sooo shocked. And. Really. It's like a wii except without the controller and whatever else you said? I'm sorry, I must have missed the whole "if it caws like a rooster, looks like a rooster, then it must be a duck" approach.
In order to play fps or rpg, you will need some kind of analog. So prepare for a wii like nunchuck for kinect. And yes it does cost more than a wii. You have to buy a 360 if u don't have one already to play kinect. So, kinect $160, 360 $215, your out of almost $380. I wonder why M$ would release this without any great games? Not even the casual gamer would find this lineup worth the price they are offering.
Wow, motion gaming! i've never seen this before! Now we have motion gaming (Wii) without the controller in HD! PASS............
@noturfangirl, kinect doesnt cost more then a wii, least not yet.... kinect is 150, wii is 200.. once november 4 hits and kinect helps the 360 sell out everywhere nintendo will be forced to do a price cut to the wii.. just wait:)
@noturfangirl u make it sound so simple. It is a lot more than that. And the Wii STILL has shovelware, so try not to even go there. The PS Move blew the wii out of the water. Thats how good and accurate it was, and im sure that Kinect will be just as good, as soon as it works out a few things. So this "charade" may be losing in sales, but it is definitely the better technology. Psh... the Wii. Dont even get me started
For a game like Sonic with Kinect support, if players actually need to "run" in order for Sonic to run, then the game will be more interesting. However, it will be very tiresome after playing a while.
I don't think people are ready for this type of motion controllers, especially for the target audience.
Its a wii with better graphics without the controller and it costs more than a wii. FAIL. Prepare for the shovel-ware that comes with a new gimmick just like the wii. But i hope sony and M$ don't for a second think they will gross what nintendo has capitalized on the last 4 yrs with motion gaming in one holiday season. If nintendo lowered its price to $169, that would be the end of this charade.
@DeadReckoning, Don't get so upset. I could care less about the dedicated server thing, seriously. As long as my connection stays solid then who cares? I have a PS3 and 360, and I like both, just stating a opinion about certain features that both have, but one having one so similar to the other after that system came out.I never called you a fanboy, but it seems like you got really disappointed when I was talking about the similarities, so I didn't want to offend you. I also bet you that over 75% of the people up here could care less about dedicated servers!Oh, I'm not PC blind, it's just that I really don't care that much about the dedication of servers.lmfao
lmao, the video was great. all the games seem to work and look fun. especially dance central. they were having a lot of fun with it...which is what casuals will love Kinect for, fun. alotta haters on here though lol. i'd hate to if i saw something i've been bashing for so long looking like it might actually be good and a success. Kinect is sold out on Amazon and Best Buy chumps...deal with it lol.
i still think sony and nintendo will copy this. as soon as they see how much kinect sells this holiday both of them will say we need to do something quik!! kinect is killing us...
no matter which way you look at it kinect will provide a unique user experience, because the kinect sets itself apart from the wii and the move. the move is a direct imitation of the wii, same control scheme and everything. despite what people say the kinect is also cheaper than the move when adding total cost. most hardcore gamers will be skeptical about motion controls, buts its up to the individual gamer to try new things. trying new things once in a while is actually good and makes things interesting.
@SniperFire17 And don't forget when Microsoft stole the nintendo miis. Don't play dumb trying to defend kinect by saying is different to the eyetoy, it's a big ripoff just like move to the wii but microsoft is even worse because microsoft is lying by saying they are first ones who created free-controller gaming when that have existed since 2003. Anyway, neither Sony or Microsoft are original. They have been copying each other and many other companies like Nintendo for a long time.
And just so you know I didn't just mention a PS3 game that uses dedicated, Valve uses dedicated servers for Left 4 Dead 1/2 on the 360 and PC.
To all the people complaining- how much cheaper do you want it? Lets compare to the Wii- which is practically a motion control gaming system. In Australia for $299.00 you can buy a wii bundle with a game. Add on an extra set of controllers ($29.95 for a nunchuk and $69.95 for a Wiimote) brings the total to $400.00 for your setup. That doesn't include any of the other addons like the motion plus etc. The Wii also does very little apart from motion games, with SD visuals, and terrible support for community and online play. How about the PS3? Not taking into account the price of consoles, the PS3 Move starter pack, with the camera and one controller, is $99.95. Add a navigation controller for the first player for $49.95, and a second set of controllers for a second person at ($69.96 + $49.95) and your already paying $270.00. And thats with a demo disk. No games. Expect to pay an additional $60.00+ for a game, just to be able to use the thing. For $199.00 (in Australia) you get the Kinect unit, which supports two players straight out the box. No extra controllers, no addons needed. You also get a game included with it. It does facial recognition, support for video chat over existing interfaces such as MSN, uses HD video, allows for voice control through the dash, hub and zune and gesture control through the hub and anything connected to the hub, including the avatar editor etc. The Kinect unit is an incredibly piece of technology, and until you actually compare it to the Move or Wii you can't comment.
As much as I hate to point this out: 1. A very "outside the box" piece of tech that is shipping on time after a rather short dev cycle 2. A game that has been in development for over 4 years and is still missing release dates Makes you wonder if they should like MS develop GT5.
@ godzillavskong If you knew than you know your arguement was flawed. There is a reason that the Playstation Controller hasn't changed much since the PS1 era. And for pete sakes, what does that make me a PS fanboy? I have all three systems, and currently I am playing New Vegas on PC, so if anything, I am just a gamer. As far as the dedicated servers, you know how I know that? Anyone with any sort of PC knowledge can monitor who and what they connect to. And every single major multi-player game on the 360 (be it Gears of War, Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield) there is always a HOST (someone that is generating the match from their internet connection for everyone else). It's easy as hell to check, I don't know why you are so blind to this. Very few games on consoles in general use dedicated servers (off the top of my head, I know MAG on PS3 uses dedicated servers from Sony). It also has nothing to do with your ping in games etc. Most major games has decent matchmaking, picking the most viable internet connection from the game for you to connect to, or making you the host if you have a great connection. Go to the Gears of War board and ask em about "host shotgun" etc.
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So unless I want to redraw the icons on my desktop, I would not bother refreshing my Desktop ever again.. | <urn:uuid:0da1b7a6-4049-4c6b-94d5-614663f842df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parasdoshi.com/2012/10/01/why-would-i-not-bother-refreshing-my-desktop-ever-again/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956047 | 272 | 1.726563 | 2 |
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The Haunted Gold Hill Hotel
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A few miles out of Virginia City is the little town of Gold Hill. This is the town where the actual gold strikes began just prior to the biggest gold and silver strike ever (called the Comstock Lode) occurred in Virginia City.
Gold Hill has its share of mines that are still under the ground. The Yellow Jacket mine, the Commons mine and all the rest are still here. Miners were killed in some of these mines due to accidents. Right behind the Gold Hill Hotel is the Yellow Jacket mine. The miners didn't have electricity with which to do their work. They had to use candlelight. Oxygen was limited underground and the gases that emanated from under the ground combined and fires were a constant danger. Unfortunately, a fire broke out in the Yellow Jacket mine in 1873 and 37 miners were killed and were left buried at the bottom of the mine shafts behind this hotel. Is it any wonder there is so much activity at this hotel??
The hotel is quaint, beautiful and reminiscent of what old town living was like back in the 1850's. The old artifacts combined with the lush living inside the hotel tells of a bygone era, yet comfortable living. The proprietors are wonderful people, probably the most accommodating I have ever found in Nevada. All of the staff will go out of their way to assist you with anything you need. The rooms are gorgeously decorated, clean and comfortable. But don't be fooled by the elegance of this hotel, for behind these walls lurks ghostly energy that presents itself frequently to guests and staff. Read below about all the experiences that took place while we stayed at the hotel.
Incident #1 - After arriving in town for the first day of filming and after checking into the hotel, the camera crew began setting up to film outdoors in town. When it was noticed that some equipment had been forgotten, two of the crew, Tim and Brad, went back to the hotel room to pick up what they needed. They were staying in the Miner's Lodge (which is located in the back of the hotel and just next to the mine shaft where the 37 miners were killed in the fire in 1873). Tim walked into the hotel room to get some equipment, while Brad was at the truck getting some things to take back in. Tim suddenly realized that their hotel room door was wide open. No one was around. Nothing was moved, touched or taken. He was certain that the door was closed but laughed it off as an isolated incident. When Brad came in, Tim told him exactly what had happened. Brad stood still, looked around but continued placing the equipment he brought in on the bed. Tim had gone back out to the truck to place the items in that he had forgotten to take to the shoot site. Tim suddenly realized that the truck was locked. Puzzled, he unlocked it. He didn't think Brad would lock it as they were just coming and then going right away. Brad came out and Tim had asked if he had locked the door and of course, the answer was no. So - who opened the door to the room leaving it wide open and who locked the truck door??
Incident #2 - One of our Ghost Trackers members decided to stay in the haunted rooms of the hotel while the filming was going on. Steve stayed in Rosie's room the first night. Nothing happened. Steve is a new member of the group and has never had anything paranormal happen to him. He felt good about nothing happening to him in Rosie's room and was eager to try William's room the next night. As always, everyone had gone to sleep late at night. After a full day of shooting at various sites, having some dinner and then coming back to the hotel and having a drink, everyone went to bed very late. Now, according at Steve the incidents that happened were as follows: At 1:40 a.m., Steve heard what he believed to be a man's voice talking but it was mumbled and he couldn't make out what was being said. It was somewhat loud. He thought it was the people next door. At about 1:50 a.m. or so, he heard what he believed were footsteps right in front of his door. He says he did not hear them coming or going down the hallway (which in this part of the hotel is unusual as the floorboards are quite loud) and then he heard scratching on his door. He was apprehensive at that point and told it to stop. It did stop at that point. He says he did not hear any footsteps leaving his doorway going down the hall. About half an hour past that time at approximately 2:15 a.m. he felt his bed shake a bit. He didn't think anything about that until moments later, the bed began to shake violently. He became so upset he left the room to bunk with members in another room.
Incident #3 - While filming in the now emptied William's room the following night, Jackie Meador of Central California Paranormal Investigators, had taken some preliminary shots of the room before setting up equipment. She had discovered after returning home, that in one of her pictures was something very unusual. She discovered a face in the mirror. Below are the two pictures.
The one on the left is the actual picture and on the right, the image is darkened so that you can see the face better. I don't know and can only speculate that it is the face of a man or woman, however, if you were able to better see the picture as we can having the original, it appears to be a woman holding a flower. There is nothing on the opposing wall to create these images. The wall is not textured. The dresser does not appear to be an antique and therefore, the silver oxide issue is moot. Again, the picture is much clearer if you were able to see the actual picture.Incident #4 - Also on the night that the investigation was going on in William's room, equipment was also set up in the "Great Room" which is the room adjacent to the bar. Sounds were heard in that room as though furniture was being moved around, however, looking on the monitors that were set up to observe, nothing was going on.
Incident #5 - My room was an adjoining room with my two best friends, Jackie and Mark Meador of Central California Paranormal Investigators. We left the door open between rooms unless we wanted privacy. On the night that the investigation of William's room was going on, I finally gave up the monitoring at approximately 2:30 a.m. I needed to get up for the final day's shooting the next morning and was very tired. I went up to bed and left the door between our rooms ajar in case Jackie or Mark needed anything. Mark came in later to get something and checked on me. I had been dozing, told him I was tired and he closed the door between the rooms completely. There was no light filtering through the door. Some time had passed (I don't know how long because I had fallen asleep) and the door opened and slammed shut at least twice that I can remember. It was enough to wake me up. At first I thought it was Jackie and/or Mark coming back into the room and it was the pressure of the hotel room door opening and closing that was causing the adjoining door to open and shut so hard. The next morning I asked them if they had come into the room and did they forget something and Jackie told me that they never went back to the room until they were finished, put the equipment up and went to sleep. What did slam the door between our rooms??
So, all in all, the filming went well here at the Gold Hill Hotel as well as in Virginia City and if anyone ever asks me if the Gold Hill Hotel is haunted....there is no question in my mind that it is and it is one of the better places to stay and experience hauntings!!
The Ghost Trackers and Movie Mix Productions would like to thank Carol and Bill Fein and their staff for the use of their hotel, the ability to come and go at all hours of the night and for their wonderful haunted residents!!
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The Ghost Trackers name, logo and information, while free, should not be used without permission from the Ghost Trackers organization. The information on this page has been copyrighted. Any infringement is considered illegal without express written permission from the organization.
This is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
ęCopyright 2002 Ghost Trackers Organization | <urn:uuid:a75b678b-a3c8-4b75-963d-a09ccdc12e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghost-trackers.org/gold_hill.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990269 | 1,779 | 1.5625 | 2 |
In Part 1 of this op-ed column, I relayed that due to incentives (e.g. transportation funding) for compliance and penalties (e.g. more administrative tasks) for noncompliance, Marin County officials have felt pressured to fulfill the county’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation – RHNA (a quota for housing units that each jurisdiction is supposed to plan for), even though the RHNA is based on unrealistic job and population projections. In so doing, county officials have placed the demands of housing developers over the preservation of Marin’s environment and the protection of Marin residents' health and safety.
I demonstrated that the land uses and development consistent with the Marin Countywide Plan and the Housing Element would result in over 40 significant unavoidable adverse environmental impacts, bringing substantial harm to Marin’s environment and residents.
I further conveyed that for county representatives to simply comply with the RHNA allocations is short sighted. Marin County needs to conduct a much more comprehensive, cumulative and long term cost analysis. The costs related to dealing with the significant adverse environmental impacts caused by overdeveloping our county far outweigh the incentives attached to RHNA compliance or penalties attached to RHNA noncompliance.
Marin County should take back its land use planning and meet the true housing needs of all its constituents, including lower-income households, in a manner that upholds community character and respects the limits of our environment, infrastructure and public services:
- Recognize that there is an ultimate limit to growth and work with Marin cities to reduce the total projected buildout of city and county general plans to a level that is sustainable;
- Create a Task Force to meet Marin County’s housing needs with as little new construction as possible. Work with those in need of housing to achieve resources which are of direct benefit and supportive of healthy and sustainable living conditions. Programs may include a rent voucher program, raising the minimum wage to a living wage; conversion of market rate units to below-market-rate; retaining existing below market rate housing; and lobbying HCD to count all conversion units, assisted living units, second units and inclusionary units toward the RHNA quota;
- Form alliances with similar minded jurisdictions to share ideas, information, legal counsel, financial resources and political clout;
- Create a Task Force to lobby against undesirable State legislation and lobby for new State legislation that promotes local control and strengthens environmental protections;
- Create a Task Force to lower our RHNA allocation to one that is based on authentic job and population growth or, more correctly, decline. Use the County’s legal rights to oppose the unrealistic RHNA numbers: According to Gov. Code,§ 65584.01 and Gov. Code § 65584.2, Unincorporated Marin has the right to appeal its RHNA numbers based on the fact that the allocations do not correspond to the Dept. of Finance’s population projections; B) According to Gov. Code,§ 65589.5(d)(2), a county is not required to construct additional housing developments where it finds that developments “would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific adverse impact without rendering the development unaffordable to low- and moderate-income households”;
- Create a Marin County Council of Governments (COG) to promote realistic housing quotas and re-designate Marin County as suburban/rural in its housing mandate categories, instead of urban, as it is now designated.
In conclusion, our Marin County representatives need to reset their priorities and place the long-term preservation of Marin County’s environment and the protection of Marin residents' health and safety over and above the shortsighted demands of housing developers and the misguided, unsustainable and urbanizing regulations of the State.
Sharon Rushton lives in the Almonte section of unincorporated Mill Valley and is a member of Sustainable TamAlmonte, "a group of Tam Valley and Almonte residents who are concerned about the preservation of our environment, the protection of residents’ health and safety, and the improvement of the semi-rural area's quality of life."
In Part 1 of this op-ed column, Rushton laid out her case that the Marin County Board of Supervisors has not done enough to balance environmental considerations against the need to fulfill state mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation. | <urn:uuid:478db9ea-5b2d-4afe-b778-9a2202eace43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://millvalley.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/marin-county-plans-solutions-for-saving-marin-s-environment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935592 | 898 | 1.5 | 2 |
Just eight months ago, John White was hired as state superintendent of education at $275,000 per year.
Big salary? No doubt.
So is the $12,000 per month the state is paying his new communications manager, in part to put the state Department of Education in the best light possible.
Yet few officials in state government face bigger agendas, and hotter topics, than White and his sprawling, often-reorganized agency.
Backers contend the superintendent is a key part of Louisiana’s bid to upgrade a public school system long regarded as one of the worst in the nation.
Critics contend the changes are actually wrecking public education, and that White and others on Gov. Bobby Jindal’s team are yet another here today/gone tomorrow band of self-styled reformers.
In addition, pending lawsuits filed by teacher unions could blow up much of Jindal’s education overhaul, which was muscled through the Legislature earlier this year.
Earlier this week White launched a 26-parish tour, including visits to traditional public schools, charter schools and private and parochial schools that accept voucher students.
White says that, by November, he will have visited schools in all 64 parishes since he took over as superintendent.
Yet in many ways the work is just beginning.
The expansion of Louisiana’s voucher program, which involves nearly 5,000 students, is just six weeks old. How those students fare academically is one of the key questions that will help shape White and Jindal’s legacy.
So will new teacher evaluations, which stem from a 2010 law pushed by the governor.
Under the old system, nearly every teacher in the state routinely got a “satisfactory” rating.
How that could happen in a state where 44 percent of schools are rated D and F, and where one of three students performs below grade level, never has been explained.
Starting this school year, all 60,000 public school teachers face new review methods.
Teachers rated as “ineffective” in back-to-back school years face dismissal.
Starting next year, the annual reviews will be linked to tenure, which is a form of job protection.
Backers contend that linking teacher ratings to student performance is long overdue.
Opponents call the reviews flawed.
Under a bill approved earlier this year, Louisiana is to reorganize its prekindergarten system.
White on Wednesday repeated one of Jindal’s chief criticisms of today’s system — only 52 percent of children in Louisiana enter kindergarten ready to learn, knowing such things as the alphabet.
State education officials plan to submit the initial plans to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in December. Eventually, the state will assign grades to the programs.
It all carries the potential for sweeping changes for preschool students, which could have an impact on how those students fare in the classroom for the rest of their school years.
In another area, the state is about to launch tougher classes as part of a push for nationwide standards that allow state-to-state comparisons on student achievement. Courses will cover fewer topics in more detail, White said.
Topics that used to be tackled in fourth grade, for instance, will surface in third grade.
Exams that used to rely on multiple-choice bubble tests will force students to reason, and explain their reasoning.
Louisiana’s public education system has never had so many far-reaching changes on the launch pad at once.
Will they pan out or fizzle?
Will Sentell covers state education issues for The Advocate Capitol news bureau. His email address is firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:fa4020e3-6a01-4649-aebf-cd657a4cdb16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theadvocate.com/columnists/4004747-55/inside-report-for-sept-28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963327 | 762 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Spain saw a steep decline in borrowing costs at an auction on Tuesday amid speculation that the European Central Bank would resume its purchase of peripheral bonds.
Further, markets are also hopeful that a series of bilateral meetings between key Eurozone leaders may produce a lasting solution to the region's prolonged sovereign debt crisis.
Despite the easing borrowing costs, the Spanish bond yields are uncomfortably high as uncertainty prevails over the need for the country to seek a full-blown bailout for its economy.
The Spanish Treasury managed to sell slightly more debt than it had planned in Tuesday's auction. The agency raised a total EUR 4.51 billion from the sale of 12 and 18 - month bills against a target of EUR 3.5 billion - EUR 4.5 billion.
The yield on the one-year debt declined to 3.070 percent from 3.918 percent in the previous sale on July 17. The 18-month paper was placed to yield 3.335 percent, which was less than the 4.242 percent fetched in July.
The bid-to-cover ratio, which reflects investor demand, dropped to 1.91 from 2.23 in the 12-month debt sale. Demand was the longer-term paper was 3.98 times the offer, slightly better than 3.66 times seen last month.
The ECB is considering setting limits on yields of Eurozone sovereign bonds, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported over the weekend. According to the magazine, the central bank will intervene and buy the bonds if their interest rates exceed a pre-determined threshold above German bonds.
The report helped to push top European shares higher by mid-morning on Monday. Also, Spanish and Italian 10-year bond yields declined notably yesterday.
However, the ECB reportedly rejected such speculation. The central bank said reports about the plan to cap borrowing costs is misleading. Such a decision has not yet been taken, it added.
Meanwhile, Germany has stuck to its opposing view and Bundesbank reiterated its opposition to the ECB's plan to purchase government bonds on Monday. The decision to share solvency risks should be taken by governments, and not by central banks, Bundesbank said in its latest monthly report.
The ECB is widely expected to reveal any detail of its bond purchase plan on September 6, when it holds its next rate-setting session. On the same day, Spain will enter the market aiming to sell its longer-term bonds.
Spain has repeatedly asked the ECB to resume its bond purchase program to reduce high borrowing costs faced by country. Most recently, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos called for unlimited bond buying by ECB on the secondary market, in an interview to the Spanish news agency Efe.
Elsewhere, key Eurozone leaders are preparing for a series of meetings starting tomorrow in their quest for a credible solution for the debt crisis. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to meet some of the leaders of the currency bloc this week to request an extension of its fiscal consolidation program.
Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Samaras on Wednesday. The Greece Premier will then travel to Berlin on Friday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He will also hold talks with French President Francois Hollande this week.
Yesterday, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said a Greek exit from the euro area would be manageable, but would be expensive.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:7847ccdf-42f2-44ab-ae1c-b28583e0871f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rttnews.com/1951382/spanish-borrowing-costs-ease-on-ecb-intervention-hopes.aspx?type=eueco&SimRec=1&Node= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960134 | 705 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Superstorm Sandy is winding down and inching its way inland, leaving at least 17 people in seven states dead and more than 7 million power outages in its wake.
One person died after a replica of the 18th-century sailing ship HMS Bounty that was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie "Mutiny on the Bounty," went down in the storm off North Carolina. Fourteen other crew members were rescued by helicopter Monday. The ship's captain is still missing.
In New York City, Superstorm Sandy flooded tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. Stock trading will be closed for a second day today.
In the borough of Queens, a fire in a flooded neighborhood has destroyed at least 50 homes.
An estimated 6.2 million homes and businesses across the East are without power.
Heavy rain and further flooding remain major threats for the next couple of days as Sandy makes its way into Pennsylvania and up into New York State.
The massive storm reached well into the Midwest. Chicago officials warned residents to stay away from the Lake Michigan shore as the city prepares for high winds and large waves.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:e39fe32b-9a48-4867-b357-acc02a451d98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kare11.com/rss/article/996466/18/Superstorm-Sandy-death-toll-at-17-damage-in-billions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964664 | 274 | 1.6875 | 2 |
July 15, 2009
Support by US Episcopalians for homosexual clergy is contrary to Anglican faith and tradition. They are leaving the family
by Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham
In the slow-moving train crash of international Anglicanism, a decision taken in California has finally brought a large coach off the rails altogether. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to allow in principle the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion.
Both the bishops and deputies (lay and clergy) of TEC knew exactly what they were doing. They were telling the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other “instruments of communion” that they were ignoring their plea for a moratorium on consecrating practising homosexuals as bishops. They were rejecting the two things the Archbishop of Canterbury has named as the pathway to the future — the Windsor Report (2004) and the proposed Covenant (whose aim is to provide a modus operandi for the Anglican Communion). They were formalising the schism they initiated six years ago when they consecrated as bishop a divorced man in an active same-sex relationship, against the Primates’ unanimous statement that this would “tear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level”. In Windsor’s language, they have chosen to “walk apart”.
Granted, the TEC resolution indicates a strong willingness to remain within the Anglican Communion. But saying “we want to stay in, but we insist on rewriting the rules” is cynical double-think. We should not be fooled.
The article continues with insight on the sanctity of marriage from an historical and theological perspective.
Please read the rest of the article at Times Online | <urn:uuid:b6c65bbe-b42e-4469-8177-18ca98174391> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sanjoaquinsoundings.blogspot.com/2009/07/americans-know-this-will-end-in-schism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97166 | 383 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Mon January 28, 2013
Poll: Kentucky Parents Favor Raising Dropout Age
An overwhelming majority of Kentucky parents favor moving the dropout age to 18, a new poll says.
Currently, students can drop out of school at 16 years old with a parent’s permission. But Gov. Steve Beshear has advocated moving that age to 18.
A poll by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky said that 85 percent of parents agree with the governor and would like to see the age raised.
Fifteen percent said they did not want to move the dropout age up.
The poll surveyed 1,000 parents in Kentucky and has a margin of error of three percentage points. | <urn:uuid:ee926450-b144-4d3e-9c50-c4d0e1b7db3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wfpl.org/post/poll-kentucky-parents-favor-raising-dropout-age | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95399 | 140 | 1.570313 | 2 |
ND Delegation Has Plans for More Help for Flood-weary Devils LakeDEVILS LAKE, ND (WDAZ-TV) - North Dakota's entire congressional delegation has detailed its plan to help Lake Region residents to overcome flooding on Devils Lake.
By: Adam Ladwig, WDAZ
DEVILS LAKE, ND (WDAZ-TV) - North Dakota's entire congressional delegation has detailed its plan to help Lake Region residents to overcome flooding on Devils Lake.
Both North Dakota Senators plan on introducing legislation to help individuals affected by flooding, but that's just a drop in the bucket for federal spending on Devils Lake.
"Federal government now has put up more than a billion dollars dealing with the disaster in the Devils Lake basin. Even in Washington that's a lot of money," Sen. Kent Conrad said.
The heavy spending is likely to continue. Conrad plans to add a voluntary government buyout program for farmers whose land is more than six and a half feet underwater.
"I'm going to be proposing that in the farm bill to give our farm and ranch families another option," Conrad said.
Fellow Senator John Hoeven is proposing a shortened "water bank" easement program so farmers can use any land that gets drained.
"The advantage with easement is that as we work to get the waters out of the lake and water off some of this land, then you have the opportunity to farm it in the future," Hoeven said.
Local leaders asked the delegation to focus on problems facing cities. Minnewaukan mayor Mark Motis says part of the city must be moved but there are no water or sewer systems at the new town site yet. Devils Lake mayor Dick Johnson is worried about funding for major projects once they are completed.
"Now once the embankment is completed we face the major financial challenge to fund the maintenance of the system. Maintaining 12 miles of embankment will impose a major financial burden on the city," Johnson said.
Senator Conrad says he'll have to spend a lot of political capital to convince his colleagues to approve these projects.
"I have felt a sense of urgency every year since this crisis began to deal with problems in the Devils Lake basin. I just hope very much that we're able to get this additional option for our farm and ranch families," Conrad said. | <urn:uuid:a1b7c4bc-84fe-4959-8b01-b257675b6fd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/13056/publisher_ID/30/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9623 | 482 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Posted by admin | Posted in Antique Tractors & Equipment | Posted on 16-08-2011
A search of the best drill bits
It is necessary to do to humans, the technical working knowledge of different tools. There are many possibilities If you could have an emergency and you have to use this tool to repair some machinery or something important. Every home has some handy tools such as screwdrivers range of different things around the house airtight. If you need to buy exercises, there are different types available on the market. Depending on your needs You choose who your needs. The cost for the bits from the economic to expensive. The price also depends on some equipment used in them.
The practice drills steel are cheaper and are used in the drilling holes in wood. There are many other high-speed bits, which are covered with steel and titanium. These bits are expensive. There various other bits in the range a higher price. Carbide and cobalt coated bits are very expensive, but they are strong and durable. The ability to function is more difficult bits required with a regular screwdriver. You have different types of drill bits for drilling different. It is important to have all sorts of bits used to different bores know.
Among the many drills, the drill is used to cut holes in wood, plastic or light metal. Then there Bits Brad point drill bits and flat. The two bits vary depending on the diameter of the drilled hole. Most of these bits using an effective technology to perform some exercises. He, however, we recommend you read the instruction manual supplied with the bits. All manuals recommend taking precautions when you bits. There is another type known as a binary installer to install the son of the cable, telephone and TV.
Different surfaces require the individual bits as a step Bits need to cut holes in the copper, brass and aluminum. Glass bits used to drill holes in glass and tile. It is necessary for your homework before buying to Bits. You need to know a fair agreement on the various exercises and their functions. To gather such information is not difficult these days, as most find this information on the Internet. This way, you would be better placed to choose the best answer to all your needs. Just always read the instructions in the manual supplied by the manufacturers.
About the Author
Rocktools.com.au is Australia’s favourite online hardware store, provides quality Drills Bits, drill bit guide, drilling bits, H.S.S cobalt drill bits, H.S.S cobalt drill bit sets, masonary drill bits and Screwdriver Set tools at lowest prices in Australia. | <urn:uuid:54a7e598-e1f7-49ba-9370-d34440dee8e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.masterpicker.net/tag/manual/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954268 | 533 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The agency group tracked discussions on over UK blogs, websites, forums, and social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, comparing positive and negative discussions 24 hours prior to the broadcast and in the immediate pre and post debate, from 7pm to 3am.
The findings come after last night's first televised debate between the three main parties, which drew 9.4m TV viewers and sparked an online discussion frenzy. Prior to the broadcasts both Facebook and ITV.com launched platforms to track public opinion.
Trending topics on Twitter during the debates included the names of all the election candidates, while '#leadersdebate' is still currently trending.
Starcom said Nick Clegg achieved the biggest increase in positive discussions towards him, increasing 93% during and after the event. Negative discussion rose 20%.
David Cameron recorded positive and negative opinion at 44%, while findings from the same sample showed Gordon Brown received a 74% rise in positive discussion, although negative discussions were also up 53%.
All parties saw increases in levels of online discussion sparked by the debate, although Clegg once again emerged as the leader in popularity. The Liberal Democrats saw a 646% increase in discussion around their education policies, 497% increase around law and order and a 423% increase in relation to Leader.
This article was first published on brandrepublic.com | <urn:uuid:0e2efbf1-61ba-44a9-b80a-0ad3e8cf15ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/997515/Starcom-social-media-tracking-points-polarised-opinion-leader-debates/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962059 | 270 | 1.554688 | 2 |
A Nor'easter made driving treacherous at times along roadways in New Hampshire on Thursday.
State police said they responded to around 100 accidents across the state Thursday. An oil truck rolled over in Salem earlier in the day, a private plow truck driver rolled over on I-93, and four people were hurt in a head-on collision in Kingston.
State police said Thursday morning that speed limits on all the major highways, with the exception of Interstate 95, had been reduced to 45 mph.
The Department of Transportation said crews started treating the roads at about 8 p.m. Wednesday. It said 100 percent of its crews were out by midnight.
As people get reacclimated to driving in the snow, DOT officials are offering some tips for staying safe on the roads. It says drivers should slow down, avoid crowding the plows, and leave plenty of room between their car and the cars in front of them.
Also, the DOT said to avoid using cruise control and always wear a seat belt. The DOT said over the past 10 years, about 71 percent of all traffic fatalities in New Hampshire involved non-seat belt use.
The Red Cross is also reminding drivers to keep a full tank of gas in order to prevent car fuel lines from freezing.
Road conditions could worsen overnight, when temperatures across the state dip below freezing.
State police are asking drivers to slow down and test the road due to possible freezing. Troopers warn that drivers may be facing black ice. | <urn:uuid:2c3c718f-b082-40d4-9cb8-17e2010302f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/Nor-easter-causing-traffic-trouble-in-New-Hampshire/-/9857858/17910120/-/146pm4qz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976445 | 305 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Since I started journalism in late 2008 and I've always been concerned of the Child Marriage issue. Yemen has one of the highest maternal mortality rate globally and especially among young girls. The main cause of that is child marriages. I felt helpless of how to solve it?
So, I tirelessly reported and reported, and I'll continue to voice out this issue. Tomorrow will be an important day; the first ever International Day of THE GIRL around the world; aiming to highlight this issue and pressure governments to take serious actions in addressing it.
A brief promo-clip by Girls not Brides campaign that will kick off tomorrow. The clip has shocking statistics. Time for governments and officials to take this issue seriously.
When will little girls become not just statistics? When will governments take their issues more seriously? | <urn:uuid:f0ce29ed-a46d-4f98-a676-a59b7699179e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://afrahnasser.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-first-ever-international-day-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958287 | 163 | 1.578125 | 2 |
With the Olympics now in full swing and many people in the middle of summer vacation, politics is probably the last thing on our minds. Or is it? Here’s a look at something of an odd week in the world of politics:
“A Game of Chicken” – Unemployment is at 8.2 percent, foreclosures are still happening at a staggering pace, and the European debt crisis threatens to send the free world back into recession. So, what’s the number one debate this week in politics? Why the “Chick-fil-A” sandwich and whether it will be sold in Boston and Chicago and other places. Mayors in those cities don’t want the franchises in their communities because the restaurant owner opposes gay marriage. Chicago’s Mayor is even trying to “invent” traffic and parking issues to block the chain, since it appears there are no actual legal grounds to block them from coming in.
“The Art of Compromise” – Here’s how both sides can “have it their way!” (Sorry Burger King). Let “Chick-fil-A” come in and build franchises and create jobs in fast food, construction and advertising, etc. Then if some people want to boycott the chain for its marriage stance, let the protesters vent! It’s a win-win! Both sides get something. We just don’t see old-fashioned compromise in this country anymore and this might be a good way to bring it back. Besides, it’s hard to picket something that isn’t there.
“My Olympics Were Better than Your Olympics” – Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney created quite a stir this week when he raised concerns about inadequate security at the 2012 games in London. Of course, problems with the security company were well publicized even before Romney spoke. Still, it struck many as odd that he would raise the red-flag in such a high profile way because, a) he might soon be President and such matters are usually handled more discretely, and, b) he’s already run an Olympics so he would probably know bad security when he sees it (though again, it’s something probably best addressed behind the scenes).
“Ouch!” – The Romney security flap certainly did not display the best of diplomacy on either side of the Atlantic. British Prime Minister David Cameron bristled at Romney’s comments and then said, “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.” That was an obviously slap at the 2002 Olympics that Romney ran in the far more sparsely populated Salt Lake City, Utah. Ouch! Let’s hope these two can patch things up if Romney winds up in the White House.
“He Said What?” – Friday I was on KGO Radio in San Francisco and was asked if the Romney security gaffe would affect the outcome of the election. “Good Lord, no!” I said. Look, it was an amusing story for a day, but as soon as the opening ceremonies began and the first medals were awarded, Romney’s comments faded away. These are the Olympics after all, and it’s all about the games. No one is going to care about this minor controversy when they actually vote in November. As I said, it was fun political fodder for a day!
“Who’s Winning?” – No, not the Olympics, the presidential campaign. Right now the Real Clear Politics composite poll has it Obama 46.4 percent to Romney 45.1 percent, a razor-thin lead of 1.3 percent. In likely Electoral College votes its Obama 231, Romney 191, with 270 needed to win. But, let’s just say Romney wins the toss-up state of Florida. That puts it at Obama 231, Romney 220. It’s just that close! By the way, people are already talking about a potential tie, with each candidate winning 269 Electoral Votes, which is actually possible. It’s never happened before, so we’ll talk about that more next week.
As always, leave your comments at www.MarkCurtisMedia.com.
Editor's Note, Aug. 9: I've closed comments on this post. Click on the link above to continue the conversation. | <urn:uuid:2134b365-8dbf-4394-bbae-19b98b55ee71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coventry.patch.com/blog_posts/the-sunday-political-brunch-july-29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95399 | 941 | 1.53125 | 2 |
New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.
The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows.
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. | <urn:uuid:cff1000e-b843-4b48-b54b-36952ae77c65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tollyupdate.blogspot.com/p/calendar-2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965914 | 140 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Built in 1925 and situated at the heart of the Downtown, Granada Theatre has been a long-standing venue for musical concerts and theater events. The theater comprises of a large stage and has a seating capacity for 800 spectators in the classic theater style seating arrangement of balcony. In the past, the theater was used to host various Hollywood movies and was a hot-spot for cultural events. Extensively used for live events until the year 2003, the theater is now seldom used for hosting concerts and vintage movie screenings.
The Bon View Park is a local park where you can cool off at the neighborhood pool. If you want to play sports there is a basketball court, softball field and a horseshoe court. Local sporting events also occur in the Community Center and a small gymnasium. There is a parking lot with 77 spaces.
303 East B Street Ontario, CA 91764 +1 909 395 2000
Ontario's City Hall is located downtown close to Ontario Main Library. The City Hall's building is not very attractive, but the landscape is beautiful and you can spend an afternoon relaxing on the grass. The City Hall has a lot of department and services.
215 East C Street Ontario, CA 91764 +1 909 395 2004
Libraries bring the community together like few other venues, and the Ontario Main Library is no exception. Through children's programs (like story times and reading programs), technology resources (computer, typewriter, printer, and copier use), and adult learning classes, the library makes it easy to find the help you need. Within is the Robert E. Ellingwood Model Colony History Room, with vintage materials from Ontario's early days. The library even has a monthly planetarium show that alternates location between the main library and the Colony High Branch Library.
225 South Euclid Avenue Ontario, CA 91762 +1 909 983 3198
The Ontario Museum of History and Art aims to expand the community's knowledge of local culture through a free museum, educational programs, and special events. The museum welcomes school groups (call to make an appointment for different days or times) and organizes various outreach programs and field trips throughout the year. Please note that only cash and checks are accepted at the gift shop.
315 East 4th Street Ontario, CA 91764 +1 800 996 5483
Since 1894 the Graber family has been growing, harvesting, and selling world-class olives. Come view the olives in their native habitat - with tours offered all day, every day (call ahead to make reservations). The Graber Olive House is busy all year, but visitors will see the most activity from mid-October to December when the olives are harvested. Along with observing how olives are grown, guests can browse a small museum onsite, buy tasty treats at the gift shop, or grab a bite to eat and have a picnic lunch on the scenic grounds.
22550 Van Buren Boulevard Riverside, CA 92518 +1 951 902 5949
The excitement of seeing a U.S. Air Force aircraft is hardly deniable. When seeing over 60 of them at a time and even stepping inside some of them, it becomes a day to brag about. This day takes place at March Field Air Museum. To name a couple of the well-known models on display, the museum features the B-25 used to bomb Tokyo after Pearl Harbor and the B-29 Superfortress used to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Besides the retired aircrafts on the ground, there is also action in the air-not an air show, it is business. Over the wired fence, on March Air Reserve Base's runway, modern USAF air crafts land and take off daily. -Hoiyin Ip
4231 Wineville Road Mira Loma, CA 91752 +1 951 685 5376
For a relaxing day head to Galleano Winery where you can tour their winery and enjoy a wine tasting. The Galleano Winery has been in the family for five generations and is still family owned. The wine has won several awards, including gold at the 2007 Jerry Mead New World International Wine Competition. Call for an appointment to tour the winery.
12467 Base Line Road Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739 +1 909 899 5755
The Joseph Filippi Winery has a tasting room and gift room. You can taste several different wines and a knowledgeable staff will help you find the perfect wine for you. The Winery has has over 200 awards. There are guided Winery Tours on Wednesday through Sunday at 1:00pm.
3824 Main Street Riverside, CA 92501 +1 951 784 3686 /+1 951 827 4787
California Museum of Photography is located in the University of California at Riverside. The museum displays different photographic exhibits, featuring both modern and historic photographs through different mediums. The first Thursday of every month the museum is free from 6p to 9p.
Nestled between Los Angeles and San Diego, this five diamond
resort is built in a delightful Tuscan style, with hacienda type sloping roofs and lush waterfalls. Each room has breathtaking views and modern amenities. The hotel's sophisticated ambiance is ...
Since 1894 the Graber family has been growing, harvesting, and
selling world class olives. Come view the olives in their native habitat with tours offered all day, every day (call ahead to make reservations). The Graber Olive House is ...
Aloft prides itself on being top of the line. From
each room's 42 inch flat screen TV to an entertainment center that charges MP3 players, cell phones, and laptops, Aloft spares no expense to ensure its guests are treated ... | <urn:uuid:7f8640f0-365f-4997-af93-25205c3e14d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.southwest.com/travel/thingsToDoIndex.html?page=1&firstLetterOfName=U&cityName=Ontario&numPages=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947405 | 1,196 | 1.523438 | 2 |
For FIFA and New Zealand alike, the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup represented a journey into the unknown.
This was not one of those tournaments guaranteed to succeed, and yet somehow it managed to not only enhance the reputation of its supposedly rugby-obsessed Host Nation, but strengthen women's football and enrich the beautiful game as a whole. The scoffs of the cynics have certainly long since been silenced, replaced by a chorus of acclaim for a competition that, in every single aspect, exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.
"This tournament was a gamble," admitted Tatjana Haenni, FIFA's Head of Women's Competitions. "When FIFA first introduced it, there were a lot of critical voices saying it was too early and questioning whether girls this young would be able to play at a level worthy of a World Cup. If things had not gone well, perhaps the tournament's future would not have been good. But of course it has been a huge success on every level, and the next hosts are going to have a huge challenge living up to the standard that has been set."
Trinidad and Tobago are the nation to which that particular gauntlet has been passed, and they will know how tough it will be to live up to a tournament that, in the words of USA coach Kazbek Tambi, "really couldn't have been better". That these sentiments were uttered after the Americans' final defeat by Korea DPR on Sunday says everything for the impression that New Zealand 2008 left on participants and spectators alike, with the crowd of 16,162 that turned out to watch the North Koreans' triumph providing the ultimate tribute to the competition's appeal.
Chris Simpson, the Local Organising Committee's CEO, revealed afterwards that FIFA had challenged the Kiwis to surpass Russia's total turnout of 52,000 for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup of 2006, while the LOC privately set themselves the goal of breaking through the 100,000 barrier. Ultimately, both targets were made to look modest in the extreme by a final figure of 212,504.
All this speaks volumes for the LOC's marketing efforts and the readiness of the Kiwi public to embrace the event, of course, but it is also a reflection on the fare served up by a talented new generation of female stars. It was the players, certainly, who made good on FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter's pre-tournament promise that New Zealand would be treated to "something very special", with dramatic matches, spectacular goals and dazzling skills all in plentiful supply.
Some confederations performed better than others, of course. The South and Central American quartet toiled, failing to win a single match, while it was Asia's representatives who proved the competition's most notable success story.
Japan quickly emerged as the fans' favourites, playing an eye-catching brand of slick, scintillating football personified in Mana Iwabuchi, their outstanding playmaker. The 15-year-old was at the head of a group of No10s who became the stars of the tournament, with the adidas Golden Ball winner ably supported by the likes of Germany's Dzsenifer Marozsan, USA's Kristie Mewis and Jon Myong Hwa of Korea DPR.
While Iwabuchi and Japan burned brightly but ultimately left their promise unfulfilled, Korea DPR produced a very different kind of campaign by replicating the approach that had taken them to U-20 glory at Russia 2006. Quietly going about their business, improving with every game, Ri Ui Ham's side maintained their country's amazing unbeaten record in FIFA women's youth events with a gameplan based on sound technique and a solid structure.
The final proved to be a microcosm of the entire tournament, with the North Koreans starting slowly before going on to outplay a formidable USA side who, even in defeat, emerged with huge credit. The Americans might not have taken the trophy, but they still showed their considerable class, forming a guard of honour for their Korean conquerors before unfurling a banner emblazoned with the message 'Thank you, New Zealand'.
In doing so, the US players not only embodied the spirit of this terrific tournament; they expressed the sentiments of all those fortunate enough to have been a part of it.
Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, USA.
1. Korea DPR
Fair Play award: Germany
Total goals: 113
6: Marozsan (GER)
5: DiMartino (USA)
4: Jon (PRK), Verloo (USA), Kira (JPN), Kishikawa (JPN)
Total attendance: 212,504 | <urn:uuid:ad44c0a3-4822-474b-b61e-eda4892f3bac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/u17womensworldcup/newzealand2008/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966656 | 984 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Experience with the pectoralis major myocutaneous flap for head and neck reconstruction in a general surgical unit.S Nagral, M Sankhe, CV Patel
Dept of Surgery, Seth GS Medical College, Parel, Bombay, Maharashtra.,
The pectoralis major myocutaneous (PMMC) flap or its modification was used in 19 cases after resectional surgery for malignancy of the oral cavity with minimal morbidity and no mortality. The resection as well as reconstruction was done by the same team consisting only of general surgeons. The final functional and cosmetic results were satisfactory. The pectoralis major myocutaneous flap is a hardy flap and can be performed with relative ease even by those not specialised in plastic surgery. This makes it an important tool for a general surgeon practicing in a country like India with its high incidence of head and neck malignancy.
Keywords: Adult, Female, Head, surgery,Head and Neck Neoplasms, surgery,Human, Male, Middle Age, Neck, surgery,Pectoralis Muscles, Surgery Department, Hospital, Surgical Flaps,
Head and neck malignancy is one of the commonest malignancies seen in our country. Annually, almost 7% of all cancer deaths in males and 4% in females have been reported due to oral cancers. This is basically because of the widespread habit of chewing various irritants. As a result general surgeons are many a time called upon to treat such cases. Surgery still remains the treatment modality of choice for large primary tumours (T3 and T4) as well as tumours with neck node involvement. Majority of our patients present with large primary tumours; defects following resectional surgery cannot be closed primarily and since, they are full thickness, cannot even be grafted. Hence, a flap for reconstruction is required.
The pectoraiis major myocutaneous (PM1VIC) flap, an island myocutaneous flap based on the pectoral branches of the thoraco-acromial artery, is hardy, technically easy and quick to perform; it neither involves any complicated measurements nor requires special instruments making it very useful for a general surgeon to use. We present here the technique and results of its use in our unit where the resection and the reconstruction were done by the same team consisting of general surgeons only.
Between December 1989 and December 1991, 19 patients (15 males and 4 females, age range: 36 yr - 64 yrs) underwent reconstruction with this flap. Fifteen (88%) of these were chronic chewers. Six had associated premalignant lesions (leukoplakia in 4, submucous fibrosis in 2). Three patients had received radiation therapy ranging from 4000 to 6000 rads. The sitewise distribution of the primary tumors along with the TNM (UICC, 1987) status was as follows:
1) Buccal Mucosa (n = 12): T3NO - 11; T3N1 - 2; T4NO 1 ; T3N2(a and b) - 3; T4N2 (a and b) - 1; T3N3 - 2 and T4N3 - 2.
2) Lower alveolus (n = 3) : T4N1 - 2 and T4N2 - 1.
3) Retromolar trigone (n = 2): T2N1 - 1 and T4NO - 1
4) Floor mouth (n = l): T3NO.
5) Tongue (n = l): T3N2.
None of the patients had any distant metastasis (Mo). The resectional surgeries performed were,
1) composite resection (wide excision of primary with segmental mandibulectomy and classical radical neck dissection) - 14 patients;
2) wide excision of primary with segmental mandibulectomy and supra-omohyoid neck dissection - 4 patients;
3) wide excision of primary with bilateral supraomohyoid neck dissection - 1 patient.
The types of PMMC and concomitant flaps used were as follows:
1) Classical single paddled I'MIVIC flap -(11), 2) bipaddled (folded) PM1VIC flap - (4), 3) single paddled PMMC with Estlander's Flap - (2), 4) bipaddled 1PM1VIC with Estlander's Flap - (1) and 5) single paddled PMMC with tongue Flap - (1).
The skin paddle size ranged from 6cm x 4 cm to 12 x 6 cm.
The operative technique used was essentially the same as originally described by Ariyan with a modification of the incision as described by Schuller to preserve the deltopectoral flap area. Following resectional procedure the defect was measured. The skin paddle of appropriate size enough to reach the defect without tension was marked over the chest wall. Its length from the clavicle was measured along the axis of the vessel (i.e along the line joining the acromion to the xiphoid process). The skin incision was taken from the anterior axillary fold to meet the marked skin island superolaterally (See [Figure - 1]).
This leaves the area of the deltopectoral flap untouched for further use. The paddle incision was also taken in continuity with the skin incision. The skin paddle was sutured down to the underlying muscle with catgut sutures to prevent shearing movement between the skin and the muscle. The pectoralis major muscle was then elevated from the chest wall to visualise the flap vessel running on its undersurface. The flap pedicle was fashioned by cutting the muscle on either side of the vessel and elevating it till the clavicle (See [Figure - 2]).
After achieving haemostasis on the cut muscle on the flap side by catgut ligatures, the flap was flipped over the clavicle, tunnelled through the neck and inserted into the defect with 3-0 silk. No flap twisting was required for a mucosal defect in the oral cavity, but if used for a skin defect, a twist in the pedicle was required. When required the flap was bipaddled by cutting the skin down to the muscle of the flap and folding the muscle to create two paddles of the desired size. Haemostasis was achieved with a continuous catgut suture on the cut pectoralis major and the donor site was easily closed primarily with a drain. The flap sutures were removed on the 8th-10th post-operative day.
The average time required for the reconstruction was 1 ½ hr. The average blood loss while raising the flap was 500 ml.
Complications encountered were as follows:
1) Orocutaneous fistula developed in 7 (35%) patients. However, in all of them, it was temporary and healed on conservative treatment. The maximum time required for healing was six weeks. Gastrostomy was performed as a temporary procedure in two.
2) Partial flap necrosis was observed in 6 (32%). This was restricted only to the skin of the flap in 5 cases ranging from 10% - 50% of the paddle area and was mainly seen in the part distai most to the vascular pedicle. It epithelialised within a period of 1-3 weeks except in one patient in whom grafting was required. Full thickness loss of the outer paddle was noted in one
3) There was no instance of total flap necrosis. No particular prediposing factor leading to partial flap necrosis could be identified in the above patients.
4) Two patients developed infection of the flap suture line.
5) Donor site infection was noticed in two.
Of the 19 patients, 8 were followed up for more than a year and found to be free of disease. Of the remaining, 2 died of recurrent disease, 2 were detected to have recurrent disease and advised palliative treatment and 7 were lost to follow up. In the follow up, no significant shoulder disability was noticed. None of the patients complained of hair growth on the flap. The functional and cosmetic results of the flap for mucosal defects (See [Figure - 3]) and skin defects (See [Figure - 4] & [Figure - 5]) were satisfactory. In all cases healing of the donor scar was satisfactory (See [Figure - 6]).
The pectoralis major myocutaneous flap first described by Stephen Ariyan in 1979 is now the workhorse of modern head and neck reconstruction largely replacing the forehead and the deltopectoral (Bakamjiaan) flap as the flap of choice. It has been used extensively and many large series have demonstrated its extremely low rate of complications including necrosis. Flap necrosis rates ranging from 0% to 20% have been reported in various series. A majority of these are partial losses of the skin of the flap, as in the above series, which heal with conservative therapy. Total necrosis of the flap is rare (0% 15%). The other advantages besides the ease of technique and low complication rate include versatility and minimal donor site morbidity. The flap can be used for a very wide range of defects in the head and neck area including the oral cavity, neck, maxilla as well as temporo-orbital area. A tubed PMMC flap can also be used to reconstruct the pharynx and the cervical esophagus. Cosmetically, the donor site scar is totally hidden by clothing; the functional loss is negligible.
The muscle pedicle in the neck effectively covers the exposed carotid vessels after a radical neck dissection as well as recreates the sternomastoid prominence giving symmetry. Elevation of the flap does not require any change of position during surgery and can be done quickly adding minimal extra time to the surgery. Its use does not preclude the use of other flaps later; effective combinations with other flaps like the deltopectoral, forehead and, the Estlander flap can be used for large defects. Like other myocutaneous flaps, it involves a single stage reconstructive procedure and does not require flap delay or release. The flap may be employed before or subsequent to the use of chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Inlerriales the flap poses some problems because of difficulty in elevation in view of the presence of breast tissue as well as scarring of the breast. Other disadvantages of the flap include excessive bulk in obese or muscular individuals and troublesome hair growth in the oral cavity. The blood loss during surgery is marginally more as compared to fasciocutaneous flaps because of division of muscle.
Further modifications of the flap have how been described which include an osteomyocutaneous variety where the flap is raised along with the anterior part of the fifth or sixth rib to reconstruct the mandible and an innervated flap where the nerve supply is maintained in order to make it more dynamic. The basic attraction however, remains its low complication rate as well as the ease of technique, which makes it possible even for general surgeons not specialised in plastic surgery to use it whenever required as demonstrated by us. This advantage is especially relevant to our country where head and neck malignancy is common.
We thank the Dean, King Edward Memorial Hospital for allowing us to use the hospital data for publication.
[Figure - 1], [Figure - 2], [Figure - 3], [Figure - 4], [Figure - 5], [Figure - 6] | <urn:uuid:83ac00db-3ec3-482f-ae1c-abc5f8f1ab3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=1992;volume=38;issue=3;spage=119;epage=23;aulast=Nagral | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956281 | 2,400 | 1.5625 | 2 |
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to help the state of Nevada fight the Indian Creek Fire in Elko County.
The authorization makes FEMA funding available to reimburse 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling the fire.
Following a request from the state of Nevada, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) within hours. At the time of the request, the fire was threatening 150 homes and three hunting lodges in and around Tuscarora, Nevada. No structures were reported lost at the time of the request.
Mandatory evacuations have occurred for approximately 850 people. The fire started on September 30 2011, and has burned in excess of 75,000 acres of State and private land.
"With this wildfire threatening neighborhoods, our commitment to the people of Elko County is strong," said FEMA Region IX Administrator Nancy Ward. "FEMA will continue to support our state and local partners during this time of uncertainty."
The President's Disaster Relief Fund provides funding for federal fire management grants made available by FEMA to assist in fighting fires that threaten to cause a major disaster. Eligible firefighting costs, covered by the grant, must meet a minimum threshold for costs before delivery of assistance. Eligible costs covered by the aid can include expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; tools, materials and supplies; and mobilization and demobilization activities.
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. | <urn:uuid:43c35e3c-a892-43f9-841b-c2d06e400ff3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2011/10/04/fema-funding-made-available-help-nevada-fight-indian-creek-fire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945315 | 361 | 1.570313 | 2 |
It's dusk when Gregor wakes from a "deep, coma-like sleep" (1.1). He twitches his antennae, another feature of his body that he's getting to know. He moves toward the door. He notices that his left side aches and one of his little legs has been injured in the morning's escapade.
It's only then that he realizes what woke him up: the smell of food. His sister has put out some milk and bread, but what was once his favorite food now repulses him.
Gregor notices that it's awfully quiet. He doesn't hear his father read the newspapers aloud to his mother and sister as usual.
Gregor wonders what will happen to them all if he can't work anymore. To avoid thinking of these things, he scuttles constantly up and around the room.
Gregor notices that he no longer feels comfortable in his own room – the ceilings seem too high. He's much more comfortable squished under a couch, even though he barely fits. Here he sleeps lightly, woken up occasionally by his hunger pains and his own worried thoughts.
He decides his only option is to show his family how sorry he is for the trouble he's causing and be really, really nice to them.
Early the next morning, his sister opens the door. She looks in, sees Gregor, and, frightened, shuts the door.
She opens the door again, and notices that Gregor hasn't eaten the food laid out for him. She comes back and strews an assortment of food on the floor.
Gregor slurps happily on the rotten vegetables and moldy cheese, but eschews the fresh stuff. When he hears his sister turning the key in the lock outside, he scurries back under the couch and watches her clean up.
Gregor grows accustomed to being fed in this way every day. Over the next few weeks, the family gets into a routine. They never speak to Gregor, although Gregor hears his sister comment on his eating habits from time to time.
Gregor isn't sure what happened on the first day of his transformation, but he pieces things together from what he overhears his family saying outside his room. He's not sure how they sent away the locksmith and the doctor, but the maid had quit.
On the first day of his transformation, his father gave a lengthy explanation of their financial situation. Apparently they aren't so bad off. When his father's business collapsed, there was still a little money remaining, and it's been gathering interest. This news was a pleasant surprise to Gregor, who thought they had been completely ruined. He remembered the early days when he rose from the position of clerk to salesman, supporting his family with his earnings.
His father also explained that Gregor's earnings weren't all used up to support the family's living expenses, but had gone into the family's savings. Of course, this money could have gone into paying off the family's debt to Gregor's employer and Gregor could have quit sooner. But given his present circumstances, Gregor is glad his father had saved the money.
But the savings aren't enough to support the family beyond a year or two. The family needs to find employment, even though the father's obese, the mother's asthmatic, and the sister a little air-headed.
Gregor gets pretty depressed by his situation. He gets into the habit of propping up an armchair against the window so that he can perch on the sill and look outside. He notices that his eyesight is getting worse as he can hardly make out the hospital across the street.
His sister notices this habit, and begins propping up the armchair for him after she cleans his room. Gregor wishes he could thank his sister, but his sister seems so repulsed by his change that she can barely stand to look at him. Or smell him, as the first thing she does when she comes into his room is open his window and take some deep breaths of fresh air.
Even after a month of caring for Gregor, Gregor's sister isn't used to the sight of him.
Poor Gregor makes to a few pathetic attempts to get some love from his family.
To wit: Gregor covers himself with a sheet so he doesn't gross out his sister. He peers out, hoping for some gesture from his sister acknowledging his move. (You know, something like, "Thanks, Gregor," or "Sorry you're a bug, Gregor, but I still love you," or maybe a gentle pat on his antennae?) But no, his sister just looks grateful that she doesn't have to deal with his horrific form. Tear.
For the first couple of weeks, his parents seem perfectly fine with staying clear of Gregor and letting his sister deal with him. But eventually his mother wants to visit him, and his father and his sister try to convince her that this would be a really terrible idea.
Well, his mother gets her wish soon enough.
Gregor spends the days crawling all around his room. He especially enjoys clinging to the ceiling, where he forgets himself to the point that sometimes he just falls to the floor. Since he leaves ooze everywhere he crawls, his sister notices his new trick and decides that the furniture needs to be moved out of the room so that Gregor has more space to roam. But she can't move all the furniture on her own, so she asks her mother to help.
Gregor is all for the furniture clearing, and moves under the couch, sheet considerately placed over his entire body.
As they begin to move the furniture out, her mother wonders whether they shouldn't leave the furniture behind. After all, wouldn't moving the furniture be the same as admitting that Gregor will always be a bug and never be a human being again? Shouldn't they leave the room as is so that when Gregor's back to his old self, he can return to his familiar room and forget the whole nightmare of being a vermin?
Something about hearing his mother's voice for the first time in a while really shakes Gregor up. He can't believe that he's become so accustomed to being a bug that he's willing to let go of all of his stuff, just so he can crawl around on the walls.
But his sister is adamant. (This is the first time we learn her name – it's Grete.) All the time she's spent caring for Gregor has made Grete feel that she's an expert on Gregor. She insists that he'd be happier with the furniture gone.
As Grete and his mother leave, Gregor sneaks out from under his sheet. He wonders how he can communicate to the women that yes, he wants to keep his stuff.
Unexpectedly, his mother walks in the room. Gregor hurriedly scuttles behind a couch.
The women continue to move the furniture. For some reason, their shuffling movements really start to drive him crazy.
He can't stand it anymore, so the next time they shuffle out of his room, he scuttles out from behind the couch. At first he has no idea where to go, but then he sees the picture of the woman in furs hanging up on his wall. He scurries over the picture frame and plants himself on the glass, which happens to feel nice and cool on his belly.
Grete walks in first, and her eyes meet Gregor's. She tries to shoo her mother out of the room to save her mother the shock of seeing Gregor, but it's no use. Her mother sees the "gigantic brown blotch" of Gregor's body on the wall, and falls limp on the couch (2.26).
Grete angrily shakes her fist at Gregor and shouts, "You, Gregor!" (2.27). These are the only words she has addressed to him since his transformation. So much for the family love-fest.
Grete dashes out into the next room to find something to revive her mother.
Gregor hovers uselessly behind his sister as she rummages through some bottles.
When Grete turns around, she sees Gregor and is startled. She drops a bottle, which spills some kind of medicine all around him. She grabs a bunch of bottles and returns to Gregor's room to tend to her mother. She slams the doors behind her.
Unable to do anything, Gregor frantically crawls around the room until he gets dizzy and falls flat on the table.
After a brief while, Gregor's father rings the doorbell. Grete runs to answer the door. When his father asks what happened, Grete tells him that Gregor's escaped and the mother has fainted.
Gregor can tell that his father is infuriated. In an effort to show that his intentions are good, Gregor flops up against his own doors, trying to signal that he really didn't mean to escape and would quite happily crawl back into his room.
When his father finally enters, Gregor is surprised at the change in his father's appearance. Before Gregor's transformation, his father had been physically debilitated after the collapse of the family business. He was barely able to walk or speak clearly. But now, his father stood erect before him, his glare made more intimidating by the uniform he was wearing. True, it's only the uniform of a bank messenger, but it's got shiny bright buttons and big boots that are pretty scary to a vermin.
His father charges Gregor, and Gregor scuttles away.
His father charges Gregor again, and Gregor scuttles away.
His father charges Gregor yet again, and Gregor scuttles away.
Well, you get the general idea. This isn't a high speed chase, but a painfully slow circuit around the room as Gregor shifts away from his father every time his father makes the slightest gesture toward him.
Gregor's father gets the brilliant idea to chuck apples at Gregor. Not having the strongest arm in the biz, Gregor's father can only weakly lob apples at Gregor, who keeps scuttling around the room. Finally an apple lodges into Gregor's back and pins Gregor to the floor.
Just as Gregor seems to lose his mind with the pain, his mother bursts out of the room. Her clothes, which were unbuttoned by Grete so that she might breathe better after her dizzy spell, fall to the floor as she cleaves to Gregor's father and begs him to spare Gregor's life. | <urn:uuid:6efd1a5f-7364-4e5a-bfd6-e1b0f62cde0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/metamorphosis/part-2-summary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991627 | 2,214 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The Drum Inn, Cockington, Devon
Ten years ago the garden at The Drum Inn was finally laid out to a design, based on a sketch by Cyril Fairey, which illustrated Edwin Lutyens original ideas for the garden. The design was never fully implemented; only a pair of Lutyens’ distinctive brick steps linked by one of the axial footpaths were constructed in the 1930s. The sketch showed a grid of axial footpaths forming a series of grassed ‘squares’; crab apples were to be planted in the centre of each of the ‘squares’. Chris Pancheri, the Conservation Officer of Torbay Council, consulted me, as the Conservation Officer of The Devon Gardens Trust, some twelve years ago at the initial stage of the project. I was fully involved throughout and gave Chris my full support in progressing the scheme.
The ‘new’ garden is a delight. This major landscape improvement not only enhances the setting of an important listed building by one of England’s most respected architects but, by realising his original design for the garden, is of considerable historic interest. Chris and his colleagues are to be congratulated on negotiating the landscape scheme as part of the planning application by Bass Taverns for alterations to the Drum Inn.
First published in GHS micro-news 87a summer 2011 | <urn:uuid:05bf153a-fdd2-499f-8463-e6015fe8b782> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org/post/conservation/the-drum-inn-cockington-devon/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967575 | 281 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Health Care Ruling – A Chance to Move Forward President Obama's healthcare law emerged from its bruising two-year legal ordeal largely intact, with its primary goal of guaranteeing all Americans health security still standing. When the Supreme Court affirmed the law's constitutionality on Thursday, many forecasters were astonished. The ruling came by the slimmest of margins. But it has paved the way for an orderly rehabilitation of America’s gravely dysfunctional health care system. Most major national medical organizations -- including the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association, the National Physicians Alliance, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Association of American Medical Colleges -- hail the ruling as a victory. Many of these organizations have been strong supporters of the ACA since Congress passed it in 2010. Proportionately, Black, Latino and young Americans are the most un-or under-insured, but in sheer numbers, more than 23 million white Americans are uninsured and would be insured in some form or fashion under the Affordable Health Care Act and insurers would not be able to reject anyone because of pre-existing health conditions after 2014. That protection currently is extended to children under the law.
Dr. Cedric M. Bright, president of the National Medical Association (NMA), the oldest and largest medical association representing 50,000 Black physicians and their patients, said in a statement that the NMA had supported the Affordable Care Act from the beginning and that many black Americans have already seen the benefits of the measure.
“The ACA is working. More seniors can now afford their meds. Young people can stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26. Insurers no longer deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, or drop people because they get sick. We are doing a better job of coordinating care, and we now have better prospects for preventing chronic disease,” Bright said.
“This is our best opportunity in a generation to overhaul our health care system. We look forward to working with the States and the Administration to ensure that the reforms are fully implemented,” he concluded. While a handful of organizations are not enthusiastic, as President Obama appropriately put it, “it’s time to move forward.” Going forward, means, taking personal responsibility for our individual health and doing our part to ensure long term healthcare justice for all Americans by making our collective voices heard at the polls in November.
|< Prev||Next >| | <urn:uuid:a5c361c7-2967-4dc9-990d-bc434727cff9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackvoicenews.com/columnists/health-with-dr-levister/47905-health-care-ruling.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960812 | 493 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Rig owner tries to limit oil spill liability
One of the companies at the centre of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has gone to a US federal court to try to limit its liability.
Transocean, the world's biggest offshore drilling company, is relying on a law that was used by the owners of the Titanic to argue it should only be liable for $27 million of damages because that is all its rig is worth.
That rig is now lying at the bottom of the ocean.
More than 100 lawsuits have already been filed against the companies at the centre of the still-unfolding Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Lawyers say the damages bill for the Gulf of Mexico spill could dwarf claims lodged after the Exxon Valdez disaster.
In a statement, Transocean says it wants to "consolidate in a single court many of the lawsuits" and wants an orderly process before a single, impartial federal judge.
Legal analysts say it is a strategic move to try and have the inevitable legal fight in a pro-oil city.
The legal manoeuvre came after a withering assessment at another congressional investigation into the oil spill.
Yesterday senior Democrat Bart Stupak tore into the Deepwater well's blowout preventer which BP said was fail-safe.
"The blowout preventer had a significant leak in the key hydraulic system," he said.
"Second, we learnt that the blowout preventer had been modified in unexpected ways.
"Third, we learnt that the blowout preventer is not powerful enough to cut through the joints in the drill pipe.
"And fourth, we learnt that the emergency controls on the blowout preventer may have failed."
As the political fallout continued, fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer in America's west unveiled a bill to ban offshore drilling completely along the Pacific coast.
"We know this can happen again and from the testimony that we heard we feel it will happen again," she said.
After three weeks of leaking oil, president Barack Obama and his advisers have sent their own team of scientists to the BP command centre to help efforts to choke off the leaking well.
BP spokesman Brian Ferguson says the second, smaller dome, called a top hat, is in position and ready to be placed over the wellhead.
"But what's different between this application versus the original cofferdam location is that on this particular vessel there's ports that have been installed on it that allow the circulation of different types of fluids," he said.
"In particular, we're looking to use either hot water or methanol, with the idea that the hot water or methanol can reduce the build-up of the hydrates which are what created the problem with the initial cofferdam."
Mr Ferguson says there is also the option of a junk shot, firing shredded tyres and golf balls into the well and something called a top kill.
"The top kill is where you inject into the wellhead either a heavy mud and/or concrete mixture," he said.
"Essentially you want to put an impenetrable hydriatic, hydrostatic head on top of that of that well."
And there is yet another plan, involving inserting a tube into the damaged pipe to try to feed most of the escaping oil 1.5 kilometres to the sea surface at a waiting tanker.
One disgruntled congressman told reporters BP seemed to be making it up as it went along.
But Mr Ferguson says the company is doing everything it can and such techniques had worked before, though never at this depth. | <urn:uuid:5968c759-1b99-454a-bf7a-a4edc211f181> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-05-14/rig-owner-tries-to-limit-oil-spill-liability/436080 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967481 | 731 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Now a days those who are buying a pc are very happy just because they can load any application and to it and it will not disappoint but for those who have old pc they get frustrated because we get used to a new version of an operating system. So to solve this issue Microsoft has been in discussion to bring up a new way of bringing Windows 8 to older machines without having to actually upgrade or install software on the older machine. It’s very easy to do thanks to the ability to run Windows 8 from a flash drive.
Recently Microsoft was showing off Windows To Go, it is a version of Windows 8 present on a flash drive, so that you can plug into any computer and access the os from the pendrive itself. To operate Windows To Go you need a 32 GB flash drive and saves the user’s apps and settings, after that it will allow you to make any machine you come in contact with just like your PC at home or the office.
This feature is mainly targeted for business users because it is as an easy way to access work anywhere you go with windows 8 at your side. This should be a useful feature. The user could work at the office on the desktop and then take the flash drive home or on the road to work in the same environment using the same apps. I wonder if running operating system from the flash drive will affect performance compared to running it with the traditional install. | <urn:uuid:1f667a69-bd7a-427d-aa54-bb437ea79707> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techibuzz.com/2012/07/11/old-pcs-now-can-also-run-windows-8/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95895 | 286 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Sat November 26, 2011
'Chicks With Guns': A Picture Of Gun-Toting Women
Originally published on Sat November 26, 2011 4:05 pm
If you turn to page 109 of Lindsay McCrum's photo book, you'll see a photo of a woman wearing jeans and a green baseball cap standing in a grassy field. She's looking straight at the camera, clutching a semi-automatic rifle as if it were a water bottle. Standing between her legs is her son, his blond hair peeking out from behind her thigh as he poses with his toy gun, a miniature of his mother's.
More than 15 million women in the U.S. are gun owners, and 78 of them are in McCrum's new book, Chicks With Guns. McCrum tells Rachel Martin, guest host of weekends on All Things Considered, that the idea came to her while reading an article in The Economist.
"I was really struck by the extraordinary size and scope of the gun business," she says. McCrum began reaching out to women who owed guns across the country and visiting them at their homes to do photo shoots.
Part Of Family Life
Chicks With Guns features women of all ages and backgrounds posing in a variety of settings. On one page, a bride holds a pistol; on another, stuffed animals surround an elderly woman wearing a big grin and holding a revolver.
McCrum's original intent was to include only photographs, but halfway through the project she realized she needed to include more of the story.
"When anyone looks at a portrait, whether it's a painting or a photograph, they project onto that picture," McCrum says. "Now you add a gun into the picture, and a woman, and there's even more projection."
So she added narratives taken from her conversations with the women. "It provided a context, the history and the achievement of these women," she says.
While many of the women McCrum profiled became interested in guns because of the men in their lives, they developed their own relationship with firearms. Guns are a welcome part of their families' lives.
"What I learned ... is how important the activity of shooting and hunting is as a family activity," McCrum says. "I also realized that if you or I had grown up in a different region of the country, odds are we would have had our hunting tags by the time we were 12."
Guns, Politics And Self-Defense
McCrum's book shows that hunting isn't the only reason women own guns in the U.S. As the project evolved, she began to photograph women in law enforcement. Then came women who owned guns for protection. One woman bought a gun after working as a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
"When you get people who have witnessed people who have been victims of crimes, they have a very different relationship [with guns]," McCrum says.
Her images of women who own guns for self-defense tend to elicit a common response, she says: "What a sad commentary that is on our culture that a woman would feel the need to have a gun in order to feel safe and protect herself and her family."
Despite the controversy guns inevitably bring up, McCrum insists politics has nothing to do with her images — in fact, that was something that helped her build trust with her subjects.
"I would always make it very clear there was no political or ideological agenda attached to this body of work," she says.
McCrum, who has never owned a gun herself, says completing the book left her with a larger understanding of the role guns play in women's lives.
"There's a remarkable diversity of women," she says, "and there's an extraordinary range of reasons they own guns."
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When fine art photographer Lindsay McCrum was putting the finishing touches on a book about fashion and young girls, she decided her next project would feature women and a very different kind of accessory - pistols, rifles, revolvers - all kinds of guns. In her new book, "Chicks with Guns," Lindsay McCrum captures intimate portraits of some of the millions of women in the U.S. who own and use guns for work or protection or as a hobby. Lindsay joins me now from member station KQED in San Francisco. Lindsay, thanks so much for talking with us.
LINDSAY MCCRUM: Thank you.
MARTIN: I want to start out by talking about the cover of the book. There is a very small, petite young woman on the cover in a gray dress. She is reclined on an oriental rug, and next to her is a full staff(ph) that's been mounted, and a 19th century pistol, and four antique guns are hanging on the wall. What's the story here?
MCCRUM: Her name is Greta. Her dad is an antique gun dealer. And what was fascinating is that you look at her and you think, oh, this was just a beautifully posed picture and that she has no relationship to guns. She's been shooting ever since she was a child. And there was a PBS special on Annie Oakley where the producer had seen her shooting clay pigeons, and they hired her to play the young Annie Oakley in the PBS special.
MARTIN: Why women and guns? How did this idea kind of congeal for you, of all the things you could focus on?
MCCRUM: Well, I think if you had picked one word, Rachel, about this entire project, it would be unexpected. In the spring of 2006, I read an article in The Economist talking about how hunting and guns was such enormous business. And I was really struck by the extraordinary size and scope of the gun business, and I thought it could be potentially an interesting subject. But I never intended it to be a book.
MARTIN: The photos themselves are remarkable and very memorable. I mean, there are women of all ages posing in a variety of places, some in their homes, some outdoors. And often, what's striking is that the photos are really incongruous. You know, everything from a bride holding a pistol or an elderly woman with this huge smile on her face, and she's surrounded by stuffed animals, and there she is holding a revolver. And you didn't just photograph these women. You did, as you mentioned, you had to talk with them.
MCCRUM: Well, the text actually evolved halfway through the project because when anyone looks at a portrait, they project onto that picture. Now, you add a gun into the picture and a woman and there's even more projection that happens. So the narratives were added halfway through the project, and I think that it was really important because it provided a context, the history and the achievement of these women.
MARTIN: When you talked with these women and learned their stories, which ones really stuck with you?
MCCRUM: There were certain ones that I thought were really amusing. One woman, Jenny in New York, she said, I can't imagine my life before firearms. You know, at this point, I think I own more guns than shoes.
MCCRUM: And then another woman, Wendy, in Houston, Texas, said I don't wear perfume, but I love the smell of cordite.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MCCRUM: And then, one of my other favorite ones was...
MARTIN: Cordite, I assume for all the gun novices out there, cordite is used in ammo or something?
MCCRUM: Yeah, it's that smell of gunpowder...
MARTIN: There you go.
MCCRUM: ...when it goes off.
MARTIN: Lindsay McCrum, each woman in the book has a different kind of relationship with the gun. You can tell. I was struck by Pamela on page 18. She's very elegantly dressed carrying - what's that gun? It looks very intimidating.
MCCRUM: Oh, a .454 Casull hunting handgun.
MARTIN: Oh, of course.
MCCRUM: That gun has so much kick. And what is interesting is people look at that photograph, and they think: oh, well, that's a model, and she's holding that gun. And in the photograph, she's surrounded by this taxidermy. And then you read her text, and I love it because she talks about, well, I'm 5'2" and weigh 110 pounds and going up the mountains with a .375 rifle got a little heavy, so I started investigating hunting handguns. Well, I now shoot with a .454 Casull hunting handgun. That gun has so much recoil most men can't shoot it.
MARTIN: So speaking of the gender roles in gun ownership, how many of the women that you spoke with got into guns because of a man in their life?
MCCRUM: Quite a few. I would say 75 percent, probably, it was their dads that taught them to how to shoot. And then you got husbands or boyfriends. In the narratives, only one woman talks about going out and shooting with her mom.
MARTIN: And, you know, that's this incongruous idea again that, you know, we don't often think of women and their kids and firearms all being part of the same dynamic. I wonder how many of the women that you talked with discussed how owning a gun affected their families.
MCCRUM: Well, what I learned, which was really interesting, from the book is how important the activity of shooting and hunting is as a family activity. And I also realized that if you or I had grown up in a different region of the country, odds are we would have had our hunting tags by the time we were 12.
MARTIN: Yeah. I turned that down, but I did happen to grow up in Idaho in a part of the country where people carried guns, and it was kind of part of growing up. We took guns out to shoot at aluminum cans. We didn't ever shoot at anything that was living. But it was part of where we lived and what people did. You know, interesting, there's one woman, though, in your book who talks about getting a gun to protect her family. Tell me about her.
MCCRUM: She has a job as a 911 dispatcher. And when you get people who have witnessed people who have been victims of crimes, they have a very different relationship. When I first started the project, most of the women I photographed were either hunters or competitive shooters. And then as the project evolved, I started photographing law enforcement, women who collected guns, and then women who had guns for self-defense.
And many people comment when they see, for example, pictures of the children, let's say, with the mother and the gun, will say, what a sad commentary that is on our culture that a woman would feel the need to have a gun in order to feel safe and protect herself and her family.
MARTIN: And exactly, you talk about how one could say that this is a sad kind of commentary. On the other hand, there is a sense of empowerment in these photographs. Were you trying to get at something political in this book?
MCCRUM: No, not at all. And how I got the talent was I would always make it very clear there was no political or ideological agenda attached to this body of work.
MARTIN: I have to ask, Lindsay, what is your relationship with guns?
MCCRUM: I only shoot cameras.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MCCRUM: And I am truly a very unlikely candidate for doing this project. Four years ago, I didn't know the difference between over-under and a side-by-side. And if you had asked me what the castle doctrine was, I would have thought that had something to do with King Arthur's Court. I really had no idea about gun culture. So I didn't have any really strong feelings about guns one way or the other.
MARTIN: Has that changed?
MCCRUM: I think my views have been expanded. I think there's a remarkable diversity of women, and there's an extraordinary range of reasons they own guns and the roles that guns play in their lives.
MARTIN: That's Lindsay McCrum. She has a new book out called "Chicks with Guns." Lindsay McCrum, thanks so much.
MCCRUM: Thank you, Rachel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | <urn:uuid:be76c50f-5108-4215-ac6f-5e6e15d7f3b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kazu.org/post/chicks-guns-picture-gun-toting-women | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986384 | 2,653 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Journal of the New Zealand Medical Association, 04-August-2006, Vol 119 No 1239
Deadly meatballs—a near fatal case of methaemoglobinaemia
Ali Khan, Adrienne Adams, Greg Simmons, Timothy Sutton
A 47-year-old Māori male was found unresponsive and ‘blue’ by family members when they returned home at night. When last seen he had been playing cards with friends. He was brought in by ambulance.
At presentation, he was severely hypoxic and centrally cyanosed with SpO2 of 64% despite 100% oxygen. Temperature was 35.7°C, heart rate (HR) 126/minute, blood pressure (BP) 111/59 mmHg and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) of 5/15 with urinary incontinence and tonic seizure-type movements.
Venesection yielded chocolate-brown coloured blood. Arterial blood gas analysis showed pH of 7.29, PO2 of 10.2 kPa, PCO2 of 4.7 kPa, HCO3 of 16 mmol/L, lactate of 9.2 mmol/L, and base excess of –9 mmol/L. Haematological and biochemical indices were normal.
A diagnosis of methaemoglobinaemia of uncertain trigger was made on clinical grounds. Treatment was then commenced with methylene blue (MB). His colour promptly returned to normal and cyanosis corrected. Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis 2 hours after MB infusion (when he was feeling well), revealed a methaemoglobin (Met-Hb) level ~2.6%, still higher than normal (Due to a problem with the blood gas analyser, the Met-Hb level could not be measured earlier in the acute stage.) His rapid response to the MB infusion confirmed methaemoglobinaemia as the cause of the hypoxia. He made a full recovery and was discharged after 3 days.
Earlier on the evening of admission the patient had eaten microwave-heated meatballs. About an hour later he vomited then lost consciousness. The day after admission, the left-over meatballs were recovered by his daughter from the fridge and analysis in Environmental Science and Research (ESR) revealed the sodium nitrite level at 4.3% w/w (43000mg/kg), which exceeded the recommended nitrite level as meat preservative by 344-fold. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service was notified and an immediate inspection and product recall was initiated.
Seven trays totalling 56 meatballs were made at a local butchery 2 days before. The preparation involved mixing flavouring powder to minced meat. A bag of nitrite powder labelled ‘poison’ was kept alongside the bag of flavouring powder. A worker who knew very little English made the meatballs for the first time on that occasion, with verbal instruction from co-worker. He added 500 grams of nitrite to the minced meat instead of flavouring, not knowing the meaning of the word ‘poison’ written on the bag.
The patient had purchased one tray and two were purchased by another woman, who reported no ill effect from consumption; 32 meatballs remained unaccounted for. The majority of the customers were Pacific Islanders. Product recall notices were placed in local newspapers and aired over a local radio, but none were ever returned.
Meatballs are considered ‘cured meat’—and under the joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, nitrite (as a meat preservative not exceeding 125 mg/kg) is permitted.1 Methemoglobinemia from consumption of cured meats is well recognised,2,3 but rarely are levels measured. One outbreak involving three cases implicated meat containing nitrite at 10,000–15,000 mg/kg, only one-third of the level in our case.
Methaemoglobinaemia is a potentially fatal condition. Ferrous iron in haemoglobin is oxidised to ferric form and resulting methaemoglobin is incapable of binding oxygen.4 This reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood and profound cyanosis ensues. Methemoglobinaemia can result from congenital deficiency,5 or acquired from excessive exposure to substances that oxidise haemoglobin including nitrite/nitrates, aniline derivatives, local anaesthetics, sulphonamides, dapsone, and quinones 6,7.
Nitrites/nitrate exposure is the commonest acquired cause which can result from inhalation of room odorisers,8 ingestion of contaminated water,9 or meat products where nitrite is used as preservative for its property of inhibiting growth of Clostridium botulinum.
Two enzyme systems in red blood cells (RBCs) reduce methaemoglobin (Met-Hb) to haemoglobin (Hb)—NADH cytochrome beta-5 reductase and reduced NADPH methaemoglobin reductase (for which methylene blue is a co-factor). Reduced methylene blue in turn reduces Met-Hb back to Hb, which is the basis of methylene blue therapy.10
This case highlights the need for care in the use of chemical food preservatives, and it emphasises the importance of staff training where potentially toxic food additives are used.
Author information: Ali Khan, Medical Registrar, Middlemore Hospital*; Adrienne Adams, Emergency Physician, Middlemore Hospital; Greg Simmons, Medical Officer, Auckland Regional Public Health Service; Timothy Sutton, Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, Middlemore Hospital; Auckland
(*Currently Cardiology Registrar at Auckland City Hospital)
Correspondence: Dr Ali Khan, Department of Cardiology, Level 3, Auckland City Hospital, Private Bag 92024, Grafton, Auckland. Fax: (09) 307 2899; Email address: email@example.com
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Bishop John T. Steinbock
My dear brother priests, deacons and all of God's people,
The love of husband and wife, in the Sacrament of Marriage, speaks to us of God's great love. True marriage requires the reciprocal gift of exclusive, unending and fruitful love. In the Sacrament of Marriage God pledges the graces necessary for a couple to persevere in this total self-giving love. But a couple must have the humility to realize their need for the Lord, the faith to put the Lord first in their lives, and the will to follow the example of the total self-giving love of Jesus in their relationship with each other.
We live in a society with a totally different vision for marriage and in a culture in which it is increasingly more difficult for couples to persevere in their marriage commitment. The Christian teaching on conjugal love is even difficult for many of our own Catholic people to accept, being influenced so strongly by the individualism, utilitarianism, and self-centeredness of our culture. We need to proclaim it loud and clear.
I write this pastoral mainly for our priests and deacons, as well as those involved in teaching roles in the Diocese, to encourage them to bring the clear teaching of the Church regarding conjugal love to our young people and couples, and to better articulate that teaching. For this purpose I present various themes explaining this teaching. Couples seeking to be guided by the teaching of Christ and the Church in their marriage bond will also find this pastoral helpful.
I ask that we pray very much for those in our parish communities who have been divorced. Our hearts go out to them and we support them with the love of Christ, encouraging them to stay close to the sacraments if they are able. I encourage anyone who is divorced, and remarried, to speak privately to a priest to seek his guidance.
1. Divorce Rate in the United States
It is a sad commentary that there are over a million divorces each year in the United States, and though Catholics have a lower rate of divorce than Protestants, hundreds of thousands of these divorces each year are amongst Catholics (1). One fourth of the children in the U.S. live with only one parent (2). Divorce has touched almost every family in our parishes in one way or another. It brings great suffering not only to the immediate family but to the Christian family and society as well.
The modern world has separated love from bringing forth life, and this influences our young people very much. To help young couples persevere in their marriage bond, it is essential for them to understand conjugal love in the light of the Church's teaching on the Sacrament of Marriage and the Christian family, towards which marriage is directed.
The divorce rate of those using Natural Family Planning is miniscule compared to this high divorce rate. Informal studies have placed the divorce rate from 1.3% to less than 5% (3). This is certainly a strong motivation to take a good look at the teaching of the Church regarding conjugal love. What is it that keeps these couples together?
Whenever Church teaching speaks of not using artificial means to prevent conception, it is always presented in light of the truth and beauty of conjugal love, in light of the theology of the body in its masculinity and femininity, the Sacrament of Marriage, and the sharing in the creative power of God in bringing forth new life to form the family. Natural Family Planning is a means for married couples to live this spirituality. Responsible parenthood is not simply limiting children. In fact, NFP has nothing to do with contraception. The practice of NFP is an expression of conjugal love that preserves the dignity of the human person and that cooperates with God in His creative power.
Our Holy Father states: "We call that fatherhood and that motherhood responsible which correspond to the personal dignity of the couple as parents, to the truth of their person and of the conjugal act. Hence arises the close and direct relationship that links this dimension with the whole spirituality of marriage"(4). He also identifies the word "natural," not as a biological term, but as a term that signifies "morally correct"(5).
2. Modern Natural Family Planning
Prior to and at the time Humanae Vitae was promulgated in 1968, the only method for spacing children in accord with the teaching of the Church was the rhythm method. Because of its unreliability, it was very difficult for couples to be faithful to the teaching of the Church.
A lot has changed over the last thirty years in the medical and scientific world, including the perfection of Natural Family Planning. With NFP a couple can accurately identify the times of fertility and infertility in the cycle, and use this information to achieve or avoid a pregnancy. When used to avoid a pregnancy, the method necessitates abstinence for an average of 8 to 10 days within the cycle (6). According to the Department of Health and Human Services of the Federal Government and the World Health Organization of the United Nations, this method is 98% effective(7). NFP is as effective, and in some cases more effective, than most other known means to prevent pregnancy, and without the negative side effects.
Christian marriage demands chastity, continence and self-sacrifice. Couples must be led to appreciate these virtues, which are essential for a good marriage to last, especially in a culture that would lead them to instant gratification. Our Holy Father, speaking of these virtues in relation to conjugal love says: "The role of conjugal chastity, and still more precisely that of continence, lies not only in protecting the importance and the dignity of the conjugal act in relation to its procreative meaning, but also in safeguarding the importance and the dignity proper to the conjugal act as expressive of interpersonal union, revealing to the awareness and the experience of the couple all the other possible Îmanifestations of affection' that can express this profound communion of theirs" (8).
It is important to emphasize that Natural Family Planning is not contraception. It allows a couple to have a fertility awareness and appreciation of their bodily functions, as created by God. When a couple does not have intercourse during the natural periods of fertility in a month, they are simply respecting the cycle of fertility of which God Himself is the author. Couples can also use this method to conceive a child.
3. Clear Teaching of the Church Rooted in Authentic Love
The teaching of the Church on conjugal love cannot be separated from the teaching of the Church on marriage, the family, the theology of the body in its masculinity and femininity and the dignity of the human person. This teaching is full of joy and hope and calls man and woman to a true respect for each other, above all finding their Christian and human identity in the gift of self, as Jesus has given of himself as gift to us. The teaching of the Church offers the Truth of God's love, and brings hope to married couples to have a lasting and joy filled union.
Our Holy Father in his Encyclical, Familiaris Consortio, written in 1981, roots the teaching of the Church on conjugal love in love itself: "God created man in his own image and likeness: calling him to existence through love, he called him at the same time for love. God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion. Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being" (FC 11).
Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae also rooted the teaching of the Church on conjugal love in the vocation to love. "Conjugal love reveals its true nature and nobility when it is considered in its supreme origin, God, Who is love, the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Marriage is not, then the effect of chance or the product of evolution or unconscious natural forces; it is the wise institution of the creator to realize in mankind His design of love. By means of the reciprocal personal gift of self, proper and exclusive to them, husband and wife tend towards the communion of their beings in view of mutual personal perfection, to collaborate with God in the generation and education of new lives" (HV#8).
The teaching of the Church has consistently affirmed that marriage and conjugal love are ordered to the procreation and education of children. But, Humanae Vitae states: "If therefore there are reasonable grounds for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that then married people may take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and use their marriage at precisely those times that are infertile, and in this way control birth, a way which does not in the least offend moral principles" (HV#16).
We live in a society where children are often seen as a burden and sex is reduced to the pursuit of pleasure. Though each couple must ultimately decide on the number of their children, we must remind our people that children are not a burden to be endured but a gift to be joyfully received. Children are the supreme gift of married life. Christian parents are called in the midst of a self-indulgent world to be generous in accepting children with joy and love.
A couple must constantly examine their consciences seriously whether they are simply being led by materialistic and selfish values in making a decision to limit their children. Those same materialistic and selfish values can slowly enter into other aspects of their relationship. A couple must keep an openness to life, putting trust also in God's providence, as they decide the reasonable grounds for spacing or limiting their children.
4. The Inseparability of the Unitive and Procreative Aspects of the Conjugal Act
"The Church, calling men back to the observance of the norms of the natural law, as interpreted by their constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life" (Humanae Vitae #11). "That teaching, often set forth by the Magisterium, is founded upon the inseparable connection willed by God and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning" (HV#12).
Humanae Vitae does not say that a couple must intend to have a child in each and every marriage act, but that should intercourse take place when conception is possible, the couple must have a respect for this possibility and must not frustrate it through contraceptive means. Natural Family Planning maintains the interrelatedness of the unitive and the procreative aspects of the conjugal act. NFP allows this openness to the transmission of life, while contraception does not. By an act of intercourse, a couple is saying "yes" to life; by an act of contraceptive intercourse, a couple is saying "no" to life. NFP keeps the openness to the child even when a child will not be conceived; contraception separates the unitive and the procreative aspects of the marriage act.
5. The Conjugal Bond Shares in God's Creative Power
Pope John Paul II stated in 1984 in a seminar on responsible parenthood: "At the origin of every human person there is a creative act of God·. From this fundamental truth of faith and reason it follows that the procreative capacity, inscribed in human sexuality, is--in its deepest truth÷a cooperation with God's creative power. And it also follows that man and woman are not the arbiters, are not the masters of this same capacity, called as they are, in it and through it, to be participants in God's creative decision. When, therefore, through contraception, married couples remove from the exercise of their conjugal sexuality its potential procreative capacity, they claim a power which belongs solely to God: the power to decide in the final analysis the coming into existence of a human person" (9).
These words of the Holy Father basically say that contraception is intrinsically evil because a couple in using contraception are making themselves equal to God. Contraception excludes the God-given creative dimension from human sexuality.
It is also important to state that Humanae Vitae, dismissed so readily by many, simply expands on what is taught explicitly as Divine Law by the II Vatican Council ("Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," paragraphs 51-52).
The teaching of the Church presents a vision that sexuality is not merely biological and genital, but is the very means by which a couple give of themselves totally and completely, including every aspect of their being, in mutual self-giving love. Very much what is part of each spouse is his or her fertility; in fact, this is at the root of their beings, enabling them to be cooperators with God in bringing new life into this world.
When spouses give themselves to each other in the marriage act, and exclude this most intimate part of their beings, the act denies their total self-giving to each other and they reject the creative power given to them by God. Contraception separates their love from God's eternal plan. This can have a devastating effect on the marriage, as a couple can begin to treat each other as objects for manipulation, holding back the total self-giving of themselves. The individual can take on a greater importance than the union of the two. Self-love can begin to replace self-giving love.
6. Not a Popular Teaching in our Society
This teaching is not a popular teaching in our day and age. The concept of recreational sex and sex solely for pleasure that pervades our culture, the hedonistic pull of the popular media, the individualism and permissiveness of our culture make it difficult to see children as a gift, to see that sexuality is directed to procreation as well as for permanent unity, and difficult to exercise self-discipline and self-restraint. It is exactly that popular culture that destroys fidelity and marriage.
When sexuality is separated from procreation, anything goes. And this is exactly what we are seeing in our society today: abortion, sterilization, cohabitation, multiple divorces, homosexual marriage, surrogate motherhood, therapeutic and reproductive cloning, abandonment and killing of new born babies, sexual exploitation of children, disrespect and degradation of women, and sexual perversion of every kind. The contraceptive mentality of separating sex from procreation is one of the root causes of our "culture of death," as it leads one not to respect the human dignity of another person, but to see another as an object to be manipulated for one's own ends.
In 1968, Pope Paul VI, a true prophet in Humanae Vitae cautioned the world against four consequences of separating the procreative and unitive aspects of marriage: conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality, sexual exploitation and loss of respect for women, governmental control over people's lives, and human beings thinking they had unlimited dominion over their own bodies, turning the human person into an object.
It is interesting that Mahatma Gandhi, though not Christian, understanding the Natural Law, insightfully stated: "There is hope for a decent life only so long as the sexual act is definitely related to the conception of precious life. This rules out perverted sexuality and, to a lesser degree, promiscuity and to condoning if not endorsing natural vice" (10).
7. Natural Family Planning and Spirituality
Natural Family Planning is not simply an effective and medically healthy means for the spacing of children. It is a way of life that enables husband and wife to base their relationship on the truth of God's life-giving love. NFP demands good communication between husband and wife, so essential for successful relationship. Communication in the most intimate part of their lives in their conjugal bond, which many couples never experience, encourages communication about every other aspect of their lives.
Natural Family Planning is not mainly about spacing children. It is about authentic Christian discipleship, putting Jesus at the center of the marriage relationship. NFP helps a couple to struggle against the daily influence in society of a materialistic and individualistic understanding of sexuality, which can erode a couple's relationship.
The practice of Natural Family Planning prevents a couple from looking at each other as an object to satisfy their sexual wants. Personal love, not sexual satisfaction, becomes the emphasis for their conjugal bond and for their ongoing relationship. NFP emphasizes the personal qualities of love in a marriage relationship and the practice of the virtue of chastity within the marriage. NFP demands openness, trust, mutual understanding, patience, putting the other before self, authentic personal love. It is said that people must work at love to remain in love. NFP becomes a means for working at that love every day of their lives.
Add to all of this, faith in a loving and merciful God, the frequent use of the sacraments, prayer in the family, trust in the grace of the sacrament of marriage, and the support of the Christian community, couples can find Jesus as The Way, to true, committed self-giving love in their marriage covenant.
8. The Church's Role
The Church must be at the forefront not only of proclaiming the dignity and permanence of marriage, but also of speaking about and explaining Natural Family Planning. Because it doesn't entail the manufacture of devices or pills that are part of a billion dollar industry, because it doesn't lead to economic profit, the world is not going to advertise or publicize NFP. On the other hand, NFP is very inexpensive, as it has no continuing costs after the initial training.
In fact the world in which we live will do all in its power to avoid speaking the truth of the ill effects of contraception, and of the effectiveness of Natural Family Planning. Many studies have been done about the possible harmful effects of artificial means of contraception but we hear very little of these ill effects in the media. Harmful effects of the pill for women can include the increased danger for breast and cervical cancer, increased risk of cardiovascular problems, and other adverse effects such as headaches, mental depression, and gall bladder disease (11). The use of Norplant can cause, among other side effects, prolonged and irregular bleeding, suppression of menstruation with negative psychological side effects (12). The injectable contraceptive, Depo-Provera, can cause irregular and heavy bleeding, severe depression, loss of bone density, and mild or massive weight gain, whose harmful effects, even if discontinued, may persist for two years or more (13). The IUD can cause pelvic infection, perforation of the uterus, and increased risk of ectopic pregnancy (14). RU 486 which is really an abortion drug, and so popularly promoted, has been reported to cause death from hemorrhage and heart attacks, as well as severe cramping, nausea, vomiting, and excessive bleeding (15). A letter issued in 2000 by the manufacturer of one of the RU 486's two drugs, said its use in an abortion could cause death, yet it has been pushed by the abortion lobby (16).
9. Respect and Reverence for Women as Persons
Contraception is an affront to women. Most artificial means place the burden for avoiding a child solely upon the woman, absolving the husband from any responsibility. It has strong adverse medical and psychological effects on the woman, even putting her in the danger of death with some contraceptive methods. Ideology and the profit motive move the contraceptive market, not respect or concern for women.
Just as an aside, ideology and the profit motive also move the abortion market, which is also an affront to women. Physical complications of medical and surgical abortion can include breast cancer, infertility, subsequent fetal loss, ectopic pregnancy and low infant birth weight, as well as infection and major hemorrhage (17). Abortion also increases a woman's risk of suicide, homicide and accidental death (18).
Natural Family Planning respects the woman as a person. She is not used as an object. NFP has no health risks or medical side effects for the woman. NFP is all natural, no drugs or devices are needed, and has no long term effect on the ability to have children. Natural Family Planning relies on a couple having true love and respect for each other, patience, understanding, knowledge of self and of bodily functions, the spirit of chastity and self denial in the marriage relationship, honest and ongoing communication, and the mutual acceptance of the responsibility for spacing children. The world really isn't interested in promoting these basic qualities that promote a loving and lasting relationship and has nothing to do with economic profit.
This is not the message that our movies, radio talk shows, TV sit-coms, give to people, or the message sex education classes give to children in our public schools. In fact, they give the opposite message of endorsing sex apart from love and apart from marriage. These messages are affecting our Catholic young people and couples.
It is the Church that must proclaim clearly God's design for conjugal love, of the procreative and unitive meaning of the marriage act. People will not hear these things anywhere else. This means it is the responsibility of the priest in each parish to take a leadership role in teaching the people entrusted to his care this teaching of the Church, which can enable couples to be faithful till death.
10. Certified Trained Teachers
Thanks be to God we now have a good number of trained certified teachers of Natural Family Planning in our Diocese. I want to thank those that have become certified trained teachers of NFP and are engaged in this ministry. I encourage others, both English and Spanish speaking, to learn to be certified teachers of NFP to be at the service of couples to help them live out the spirituality of true conjugal love.
An ideal would be to have trained teachers in every parish to hand on the richness of the teaching of the Church to engaged couples, to support them to enter into relationships of true, total self-giving love, which alone can overcome the influence of a culture that leads people to manipulate others, even spouses, in the name of love.
These classes will only be effective if priests encourage married and engaged couples to take advantage of them. It is the pastor's responsibility to see that the people who prepare for marriage in their parishes are taught the clear Magisterium of the Church regarding conjugal love and are given the opportunity to learn more in depth of NFP.
Priests are also the ones who have to encourage with pastoral care and love couples as they struggle to live by the teaching of the Church regarding true conjugal love in the midst of a society that scorns any vision of sexuality apart from an unrestrained and autonomous understanding. Couples need the help of all the sacraments, especially the need of the Sacrament of Reconciliation to to help them to continue to persevere in seeking to put Christ at the center of their marriage relationship.
11. Truth and Conscience
The teaching of the Church tells us clearly that contraception in the marriage act is intrinsically evil and a serious sin as it subverts the total self-giving love, which is by its nature life-giving. The Church in its authentic Magisterium brings us the truth of God's law to guide us through this life in order to guide us to eternal life.
The teaching of the Church also tells us that people must follow their conscience and will be judged on their conscience. The Second Vatican Council in "The Church in the Modern World" (Gaudium et Spes) clearly states in relation to a couple's decision on how many children to have: "The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the Gospel. That divine law reveals and protects the integral meaning of conjugal love·" (GS 50).
The Bishops of the United States in their Pastoral letter, "Human Life in our Day," written in November of 1968, reflect on conscience: "Humanae Vitae does not discuss the question of good faith of those who make practical decisions in conscience against what the church considers a divine law and the Will of God. The encyclical does not undertake to judge the consciences of individuals but to set forth the authentic teaching of the Church which Catholics believe interprets the divine law to which conscience should be conformed."
The Bishops also state in that same Pastoral letter: "We feel bound to remind Catholic married couples, when they are subjected to the pressures which prompt the Holy Father's concern, that however circumstances may reduce moral guilt, no one following the teaching of the Church can deny the objective evil of artificial contraception itself."
To simply tell a couple to follow their conscience in relation to spacing of children without presenting the clear teaching of the Church to inform their conscience, is to leave a couple prey to the influence of the materialistic approach to sexuality, which can destroy a good relationship. Only after a couple has been explained well the teaching of the Church on the love of husband and wife, can they make an informed decision in their consciences.
Even though persons may be in a good, but erroneous, conscience, they will still experience suffering in their lives because of actions objectively immoral. Good intentions or a good conscience will not prevent the consequences of selfishness entering into the life of a couple, if they commit acts objectively against God's will. A fact of life is: following God's law leads to happiness; disobeying God's law leads to suffering.
12. Formation of Priests and Laity
Before the perfection of NFP, it was very difficult for couples to follow the clear teaching of the Church on conjugal love. Now with the reliability of Natural Family Planning and the availability of classes throughout our Diocese, priests can happily encourage couples to be faithful to this authentic teaching of the Church, which preserves the unitive and procreative aspects of the marriage act. NFP emphasizes and strengthens the spiritual and personal qualities in their love relationship. It leads them to be authentic Christians putting the Lord and God's will first in their relationship.
I encourage our priests, deacons and all those involved in teaching our Catholic faith, to learn more of the beautiful teaching of the Church on marriage, family and conjugal love, as well as Natural Family Planning, in order to articulate it well to the people entrusted to their care. The teaching of the Church in this area will support our young married couples to form lasting and joyful unions. To live an authentic Christian life calls for a radical conversion, and calls us to be counter cultural in this world. We are called to lead our people to holiness, to a total self-giving love, as Christ has loved us.
For those who have the responsibility to teach in the name of the Church, to learn more of the beauty and truth of the teaching of the Church on marriage and the family, essential reading and study would include: Chapter I of Part II of "The Church in the Modern World," (Gaudium et Spes), paragraphs 47-52, from the II Vatican Council, 1965; "Of Human Life," (Humanae Vitae) by Pope Paul VI, 1968; "On the Family," (Familiaris Consortio) by Pope John Paul II, 1981. At the end of the footnotes I give further suggested reading for those who would like to delve deeper into this subject.
Christian parents must teach and witness to their children and to society true married love, love that is exclusive, unending and fruitful. Christian couples are called by God to promote true conjugal love amongst other couples, especially young couples, struggling to live the Christian vocation of marriage, in the midst of a society whose culture does not support that love. The teaching of the Church on the love of husband and wife in the light of marriage and the family must be taught in all our marriage preparation classes, in our Catholic High Schools, and in our Senior High Religious Instruction Classes, as well as in the RCIA process.
CHRIST IS THE ONLY HOPE FOR THIS WORLD
In ending Familiaris Consortio, Our Holy Father tells us very succinctly how important this teaching on marriage and the family is for all of us: "The future of humanity passes by way of the family" (FC 86).
May we who teach in the name of Christ and the Church never fear to present clearly this teaching of the Church on love and marriage in a culture that leads people to be totally consumed in self. The only hope for the world is the teaching of Christ's total self-giving love. It is this love that we are called to witness and to teach to the people entrusted to our care. The power and love of the Lord is with us through his Spirit. Let us go forward in hope and courage in bearing witness to the love of the Lord, who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Let us entrust our efforts to promote good Christian marriages to the intercession of Our Blessed Mother. May Mary be our example and model for always seeking to be faithful to God's will. Through her intercession may our Christian families, like the Holy Family, have the presence, joy, comfort and strength of Christ, to be a light and example for the world of authentic self-giving love.
Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God
Most Rev. John T. Steinbock
Here is further suggested reading on the teaching of the Church on marriage and the family.
These documents can be obtained in most Catholic bookstores, or at the Publishing Office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017.
All for the Love of God
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Question: Building Accessible Desktop Systems
Posted by ajt on Sat 9 Jul 2005 at 10:02
I'm about to set up a Debian Sarge system for my better half and possibly for a friends father. In both cases they simply want a stable working system, with straight forward tools for basic web, email and word processing.
I recently set-up my father with Debian Sarge on a donated PC. I wrote my experiences down in a short article, and got some very useful feedback.
I'm interested in two aspects of desktop usage really:
- General usability for normal people.
- Specific usability for disabled people.
I'm aware that there is a Debian Accessability Project, and I've already made contact there. However I'm looking for tips for configuring Debian desktop systems for normal people. I'm assuming that the end user will simply be a user, and that they won't be performing any maintainance themselves, keeping the systems ticking over will be my responsibility.
Please share any tips and hints... | <urn:uuid:de4d1657-3c5a-4069-a89c-6dc50981ba6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.debian-administration.org/article/182/Question_Building_Accessible_Desktop_Systems | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94781 | 211 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-001-01 Last-Modified: 1999/05/28 Session No. 1 Tuesday, 25 Nissan 5721 (11 April 1961) Clerk of the Court Criminal Case No 40/61. The Attorney General: versus Adolf, the son of Adolf Karl Eichmann. On behalf of the prosecution, Mr. Gideon Hausner, Attorney General, Dr. Ya'akov Robinson, Assistant to the Attorney General, Mr. Gabriel Bach, Mr. Ya'akov Bar-Or, Mr. Zvi Terlo- Assistant State Attorneys; the Accused: in person and his Counsel Dr. Robert Servatius. Presiding Judge: Adolf Eichmann, are you Adolf Eichmann, the son of Adolf Karl Eichmann? Accused: [standing] Yes. Presiding Judge: Are you represented in this trial by Dr. Robert Servatius and by Mr. Dieter Wechtenbruch? Accused: Yes. Presiding Judge: You are Accused: before this Court in terms of an indictment containing 15 counts. I shall read the indictment to you and this indictment will be translated for you into German. This is the indictment against you on behalf of the Attorney General. FIRST COUNT Nature of Offence: Crime against the Jewish People, an offence against Section 1(a)(1) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950 and Section 23 of the Criminal Law Ordinance, 1936. Particulars of the Offence: (a) The Accused, during the period from 1939 to 1945, together with others, caused the deaths of millions of Jews as the persons who were responsible for the implementation of the plan of the Nazis for the physical extermination of the Jews, a plan known by its title "The Final Solution of the Jewish Question." (b) Immediately after the outbreak of the Second World War the Accused: was appointed to be the head of a department of the Gestapo in Berlin the functions of which were to locate, deport and exterminate the Jews of Germany and of the other countries of the Axis as well as in the areas which the Axis States had occupied. The Department bore, in succession, these identification numbers: IVD4, IVB4, IVA4 (c) Instructions for carrying out the plan of extermination in Germany were given directly by the Accused: to local headquarters of the Gestapo, whilst in Berlin, Vienna and Prague the Accused's instructions were given to the central offices (Zentralstelle fuer Juedische Auswanderung) for the administration of which he was personally responsible until their dissolution, shortly before the end of the Second World War. (d) In the areas of German occupation the Accused: operated through the offices of the commanding officers of the Security Police and the SD and the persons specifically responsible for Jewish affairs who were appointed from amongst the personnel of the Accused's Department in the Gestapo, and who were subject to his directives. (e) In the countries of the Axis and the occupied areas, the Accused: made use of the offices of Germany's foreign representatives in each individual place, and he did so in constant liaison with the special departments of the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin which dealt with matters concerning Jews. In these representative offices advisers were appointed subject to his directives. (f) The Accused: together with others perpetrated the extermination of Jews, inter alia, by means of putting them to death in concentration camps, the purpose of which was mass murder, of which the more important ones were: 1. Auschwitz Millions of Jews were exterminated here, commencing from the year 1941 and until the end of January 1945, in gas chambers, in incinerators, by shooting and by hanging. The Accused: directed the commanders of this camp to use the gas Zyklon B and during the years 1942 and 1944 actually took steps to ensure the supply of a quantity of gas for the purpose of exterminating Jews. 2. Chelmno This extermination camp was operated from the beginning of November 1941 until the beginning of 1945, and in it, inter alia, poisonous gases were used. 3. Belzec This extermination camp was operated from the month of March 1942 until October 1943, and in it poisonous gases were used, among other means of extermination. 4. Sobibor This extermination camp was operated from the month of March 1942 until October 1943, and in it were installed, inter alia, five rooms built of stone into which poisonous gases were introduced. 5. Treblinka This extermination camp was operated on 23 July 1942 and until the month of November 1943. Here too, inter alia, poisonous gases were used. 6. Majdanek This extermination camp was operated from the year 1941 until the month of July 1944, and in it, inter alia, poisonous gases were used. g)Immediately following the invasion of the German Army into Poland, in September 1939, the Accused: carried out acts of expulsion, the uprooting of populations, and extermination which were coordinated with massacre units mobilized from the ranks of the German Security Police and the SS and called by the name "Operations Units" (Einsatzgruppen). Such units operated also after the invasion of the Soviet Union in the year 1941, and advanced in the wake of the German Army. They received their orders directly from the "Reich Security Main Office" (RSHA) and operated in collaboration with the Accused: in the extermination of Jews, each within the area of its authority. The Units were made to act especially on the Jewish Sabbath and Feast Days - dates which were selected for the massacre of Jews. These Units exterminated hundreds of thousands of Jews in the German area of occupation in Poland. h. Before the invasion of the German Army into the regions of the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were annexed to her, four Operation Units were organized by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) working in collaboration with the Accused: in the extermination of the Jews in the aforementioned regions in that part of Poland which had been annexed to the Soviet Union after September 1939. The acts of these Units included, inter alia, the following operations: - (h) Before the invation of the German Army into the regions of the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which were annexed to her, four Operation Units were organized by the Head Office for Reich Security (RSHA) working in collaboration with the Accused in the extermination of the Jews in the aforementioned regions in that part of Poland which had been annexed to the Soviet Union after September 1939. The acts of these units included, inter alia, the following operations: (1) Operation Unit "A" put to death in the course of the first four months of the German Army's invasion into the aforementioned regions: Lithuania: over 80,000 Jews; Latvia: over 30,000 Jews; Estonia: about 470 Jews; Belorussia: over 7,600 Jews; Russia: about 2,000 Jews; The province of Tilsit: about 5,500 Jews. A total of over 135,000 Jews. (2)Operation Unit "B" up to 14 November 1941 exterminated upwards of 45,000 Jews in Belorussia and other zones. (3)Operation Unit "C" up to 3 November 1941 exterminated in the Ukraine more than 75,000 Jews - and amongst them about 33,000 Jews of Kiev. (4)Operation Unit "D" exterminated about 54,000 Jews up to 12 December 1941. (5)During the period August to November 1942, these Operation Units exterminated approximately 363,000 Jews. These Operation Units dealt on this scale and with this objective in the aforementioned areas in the extermination of the Jews, beginning from June 1941, and until the year 1944, and exterminated hundreds of thousands of Jews in addition to those previously specified. i) At the end of the year 1941, the Accused: gave orders to deport thousands of Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia (the Protectorate) to ghettos in Riga, Kovno and Minsk. These Jews were exterminated - and amongst others- (1) A transport of these Jews from the Reich (Germany) was murdered on 30 November 1941 together with about 4,000 Jews of Riga. (2) About 3,500 Jews from Germany who were sent to Minsk as mentioned, upon the orders of the Accused, were liquidated by an Operation Unit in Belorussia, together with 55,000 Jews from amongst the residents of the area. j) The Accused, together with others, caused the deaths of thousands of Jews between the years 1940-1945 in forced labour camps which were administered under a concentration camp regime and where Jews were enslaved, tortured and starved to death in Germany and the countries it conquered. k) The Accused, together with others, caused the deaths of additional hundreds of thousands of Jews between the years 1939-1945 by means of mass deportations and the assembly of the Jews in ghettos and other places of concentration, which were implemented under cruel and inhuman conditions in Germany and the other countries of the Axis, and also in the occupied regions, namely - in the following countries: Germany Austria Italy Bulgaria Belgium The Soviet Union and the Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which were annexed by her, and that part of Poland which had been annexed to the Soviet Union after September 1939 Denmark Holland Hungary Yugoslavia Greece Luxembourg Monaco Norway Poland Czechoslovakia France and Rumania. l) The Accused: caused the deaths of approximately half a million of the Jews of Hungary by means of their mass deportation to the extermination camp at Auschwitz and other places during the period between 19 March 1944 and 24 December 1944 when he was serving as Head of the "Eichmann Special Commando Unit"(Sondereinsatz-Kommando Eichmann) in Budapest. m)The Accused: carried out all the acts detailed in this count with the intention of destroying the Jewish People. SECOND COUNT Nature of Offence: a) Crime against the Jewish People, an offence against Section 1(a)(1) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950 and Section 23 of the Criminal Law Ordinance, 1936. Particulars of the Offence: the Accused, together with others, subjected many millions of Jews to living conditions which were likely to bring about their physical destruction, during the period 1939 to 1945 and to this end operated in Germany and the other countries of the Axis, in the areas of their occupation and also in areas which were in practice subject to their authority. In the said period and by virtue of his functions mentioned in the First Count, and in order to implement "The Final Solution of the Jewish Problem" he acted in the following ways: 1. Enslaving them in forced labour camps 2. Placing and keeping them in ghettos 3. Driving them into transit camps and other places of concentration 4. Their deportation and their mass transportation under inhuman conditions And all of this was done by the Accused: for those same objectives, by the same methods of operation and in the same places as described in the First Count. b) The Accused: carried out these acts with the intention of destroying the Jewish People. THIRD COUNT Nature of the Offence Crime against the Jewish People, an offence against section 1(a)(1) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law 5710-1950, and section 23 of the Criminal Law Ordinance, 1936. Particulars of the Offence: a) During the period of Nazi rule, the Accused: fulfilled functions in the Security Service of the SS (SD) for dealing with Jews, according to the plan of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). These functions were amalgamated after the outbreak of the Second World War with the functions of the Department in the Gestapo described in the First Count and which was headed by the Accused. b) Throughout that entire period the Accused, together with others, caused grave harm to millions of Jews, physically and mentally, in Germany and in the other countries of the Axis, in the occupied areas them and also in the areas which in practice were subject to their authority in those countries specified in the First Count. c) The Accused, together with others, caused this grave harm by means of enslavement, starvation, expulsion and persecution, confinement to ghettos, to transit camps and to concentration camps - all this under conditions intended to humiliate the Jews, to deny their rights as human beings, to oppress and torment them by inhuman suffering and torture. d) The Accused, together with others, carried out these acts by adopting methods, of which the most important were: (1) Sudden mass arrests of innocent Jews, without judicial process, and only because of their being Jews, and their torture in concentration camps, such as those at Dachau and Buchenwald; (2) The organization of mass persecution by means of arrests, cruel beatings, the infliction of serious injury, and torture in concentration camps, of approximately 2,000 Jews of Germany and Austria on the night between the 9th and 10th November 1938; (3) Organizing operations of social and economic boycott of the Jews and stigmatizing them as a subhuman racial group; (4) Putting into practice the laws known as "The Nuremberg Laws" for the purpose of depriving millions of Jews in all those countries specified in the First Count of their human rights. e)The Accused: carried out these acts with the intention of destroying the Jewish People. FOURTH COUNT Nature of Offence: Crime against the Jewish People, an offence against Section 1(a)(1) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950 and Section 23 of the Criminal Law Ordinance, 1936. Particulars of the Offence: a) Commencing in the year 1942, the Accused, together with others, adopted measures calculated to prevent births amongst the Jews of Germany, and the occupied countries. b) The adoption of these measures by the Accused: in his official capacity as Head of the Department for Jewish Affairs in the Gestapo in Berlin was also intended to advance the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." c) Amongst these measures were: (1) Instructions by the Accused: to Dr. Eppstein, head of the Council of Elders in the Concentration Camp at Terezin (Theresienstadt) in the years 1943-44, concerning the ban on births in the camp, and concerning the termination of pregnancies by means of artificial abortion in every case and in all stages of pregnancy; (2) An order of the German police in the Baltic countries in the year 1942 against Jewish women in the Kovno Ghetto forbidding them to give birth and compelling them to undergo operations for abortion in every case of pregnancy; (3) On 27 October 1942 in the offices of the Accused: (RSHA) IVB4 in Berlin, the Accused, together with others, prescribed measures for the sterilization of persons of mixed descent of the first degree of Jews in Germany and in the occupied territories according to the following principles: (aa) The sterilization would be carried out on the person of the individual of mixed descent, Jew or Jewess, upon their agreeing to this in return for the favour of receiving permission to remain within the borders under the rule of the German Reich; (bb)The individual of mixed descent would be entitled to choose between sterilization and deportation to the extermination areas in the East; (cc) The authorities were to suggest to individuals of mixed descent to choose deportation; (dd) Those choosing deportation would be separated according to their sex in order to prevent any further births; (ee) The sterilization would be performed privately and secretly. d) In laying down these measures the Accused: intended to destroy the Jewish People. FIFTH COUNT Nature of the Offence Crime against humanity, an offence against Section 1(a)(2) of the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law 5710-1950, and Section 23 of the Criminal Law Ordinance, 1936. Particulars of the Offence: The Accused: committed acts, during the period between 1939 and 1945, in Germany and the other countries of the Axis, in the occupied territories and also in the areas which were in practice subject to their authority, which are to be defined as crimes against humanity, when, together with others, he caused the murder, extermination, enslavement, starvation and expulsion of the Jewish civilian population in those countries and areas. The Accused committed these acts in the course of fulfilling his functions as specified in the First Count.
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Facebook Considers Expanding Access to 13 and Younger Crowd
Educators weighing benefits, drawbacks
Principal Lynmarie Hilt has found that Facebook is the most efficient way of communicating with parents at her K-6 Denver elementary school.
But the news last week that Facebook is considering opening its site to preteen users has spurred her to think also about its potential educational value for her students.
With the revelation by The Wall Street Journal that Facebook may be looking to expand its reported 900 million users worldwide by reaching out to younger children, a flurry of both interest and concern...
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Stoppelman, speaking here today at a Business Insider conference, responded to a question from Nicholas Carlson, Business Insider deputy editor, about whether Google is evil. While he didn't straight out call the larger company the devil, he did say that Google has some evil business practices, such as ranking its reviews higher than those from competitors like Yelp.
Stoppelman said that any disruptive businesses, like Uber and Airbnb, are guaranteed backlash, and government and business entities shouldn't necessarily be allowed to limit those businesses. However, Google's practices are likely "worth taking a look at," he said.
"If you happen to be the gateway for the vast majority of users on the Internet and you restrict information and put your house property ahead of everyone else, you potentially harm consumers," Stoppelman said. "We can all agree that's probably not a good thing."
Google declined to comment.
Yelp's problems with Google have been well documented. The company spurned a takeover offer from the search giant several years ago, and it has criticized Google for using Yelp reviews without providing credit. In addition, Stoppelman testified in Congress a year ago that Google didn't play fair with its search results. The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating those complaints, trying to determine if Google ranks search results from its own products higher than those of its competitors.
Meanwhile, Stoppelman said that doing anything local doesn't happen quickly. Yelp was founded about eight years ago, but only went public earlier this year. By comparison, other local advertising and offer companies like Groupon turned to the public market much more quickly after their founding. Groupon in particular has faced concerns about its growth and strategy in recent months.
"Doing anything in local requires depth," Stoppelman said. "And depth takes time. One of the key insights we had early on was we focused on a city-by-city approach."
He noted that Yelp quickly realized that it wouldn't be easy to generate revenue through advertising. That's why it quickly moved to a subscription-based advertising product from its earlier plans for focusing on performance-based ads.
"They were used to something fixed fee, a set-it-and-forget-it model," he said.
Yelp, which went public in March, has grown quickly, but it also has long faced doubts about its ability to survive as a standalone firm and maintain its brisk growth. Competition is also a constant concern, with the company rivaling larger companies like Google and startups like Foursquare. The latter company earlier this month launched a rating system to compete with Yelp.
While it seems that Foursquare is treading on Yelp territory, the competition goes both ways. Yelp revamped its site in August to highlight social connections. The new feature includes a news feed of sorts that shows friends' activity on the site, including comments, check-ins, photos, and tips. Yelp also recently rolled out in-app restaurant menus for its mobile users.
Stoppelman today noted that Yelp is "in the midst of a really big transformation" where mobile becomes a bigger part of the business.
"In 2008, Yelp was a Web site with a little app. Now Yelp is an app with a really big Web site," he said, adding that five years from now, mobile likely will be even more important.
"We are a mobile first company," Stoppelman said.
He added that it's hard to say what tangential businesses Yelp will get into but noted "it's fair to say we're really focused."
"In a lot of other companies, we're seeing a lot of pivots, a lot of transitions and concern about the core business. We're lucky not to be in that circumstance right now Our core business is strong, and people are writing more reviews than ever. We're still very much focused on what we've been doing. We are still managing that transition, but we're lucky enough to not have to change an engine mid-flight," Stoppelman said.Updated at 3:55 p.m. PT with Google saying it declines to comment. | <urn:uuid:06cad338-6900-44c1-954f-1b1ea5852d28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57555084-93/yelp-ceo-yep-google-can-be-pretty-evil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979497 | 844 | 1.601563 | 2 |
“I was raised Evangelical and just recently started looking, with an open mind, into the Catholic Church. You guys have been instrumental in my leaning more and more towards coming home to the Catholic Church.”
"Who does not see that knowledge precedes faith? Nobody believes unless he knows what to believe."
~ Augustine of Hippo, convert, bishop, theologian, Father and Doctor of the Church, Saint; noting that the assent of faith is a rational act; before it can be made, it must be known for certain that there is a God, that He has spoken, and that what He has spoken is known. (see "Science and the Church") | <urn:uuid:6ec87c60-3432-4119-80e7-ccc2bffc609c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholic.com/radio/shows/browse/Evangelization/faith/Kevin%20Lowry/all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981617 | 140 | 1.5 | 2 |
President Clinton twice vetoed legislation to ban the practice of partial-birth abortion. Following is the letter sent to him by the Cardinals of the United States subsequent to the first veto in April of 1996.
April 16, 1996
President William Clinton
The White House
Dear President Clinton,
It is with deep sorrow and dismay that we respond to your April 10 veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
Your veto of this bill is beyond comprehension for those who hold human life sacred. It will ensure the continued use of the most heinous act to kill a tiny infant just seconds from taking his or her first breath outside the womb.
At the veto ceremony you told the American people that you "had no choice but to veto the bill." Mr. President, you and you alone had the choice of whether or not to allow children, almost completely born, to be killed brutally in partial-birth abortions. Members of both Houses of Congress made their choice. They said NO to partial-birth abortions. American women voters have made their choice. According to a February 1996 poll by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, 78 percent of women voters said NO to partial-birth abortions. Your choice was to say YES and to allow this killing more akin to infanticide than abortion to continue.
During the veto ceremony you said you had asked Congress to change H.R. 1833 to allow partial-birth abortions to be done for "serious adverse health consequences" to the mother. You added that if Congress had included that exception, "everyone in the world will know what we're talking about."
On the contrary, Mr. President, not everyone in the world would know that "health," as the courts define it in the context of abortion, means virtually anything that has to do with a woman's overall "well being." For example, most people have no idea that if a woman has an abortion because she is not married, the law considers that an abortion for a "health" reason.
Similarly, if a woman is "too young" or "too old," if she is emotionally upset by pregnancy, or if pregnancy interferes with schooling or career, the law considers those situations as "health" reasons for abortion. In other words, as you know and we know, an exception for "health" means abortion on demand.
You say there is a difference between a "health" exception and an exception for "serious adverse health consequences." Mr. President, what is the difference--legally--between a woman's being too young and being "seriously" too young? What is the difference--legally--between being emotionally upset and being "seriously" emotionally upset? From your study of this issue, Mr. President, you must know that most partial-birth abortions are done for reasons that are purely elective.
It was instructive that the veto ceremony included no physician able to explain how a woman's physical health is protected by almost fully delivering her living child, and then killing that child in the most inhumane manner imaginable before completing the delivery. As a matter of fact, a partial-birth abortion presents a health risk to the woman. Dr. Warren Hern, who wrote the most widely used textbook on how to perform abortions, has said of partial-birth abortions: "I would dispute any statement that this is the safest procedure to use."
Mr. President, all abortions are lethal for unborn children, and many are unsafe for their mothers. This is even more evident in the late-term, partial-birth abortion, in which children are killed cruelly, their mothers placed at risk, and the society that condones it brutalized in the process.
As Catholic bishops and as citizens of the United States, we strenuously oppose and condemn your veto of H.R.1833 which will allow partial-birth abortions to continue.
In the coming weeks and months, each of us, as well as our bishops' conference, will do all we can to educate people about partial-birth abortions. We will inform them that partial-birth abortions will continue because you chose to veto H.R. 1833.
We will also urge Catholics and other people of good will -including the 65% of self-described "pro-choice" voters who oppose partial-birth abortions--to do all that they can to urge Congress to override this shameful veto.
Mr. President, your action on this matter takes our nation to a critical turning point in its treatment of helpless human beings inside and outside the womb. It moves our nation one step further toward acceptance of infanticide. Combined with the two recent federal appeals court decisions seeking to legitimize assisted suicide, it sounds the alarm that public officials are moving our society ever more rapidly to embrace a culture of death.
Writing this response to you in unison is, on our part, virtually unprecedented. It will, we hope, underscore our resolve to be unremitting and unambiguous in our defense of human life.
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin
Archbishop of Chicago
Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Cardinal James Hickey
Archbishop of Washington
Cardinal William Keeler
Archbishop of Baltimore
Cardinal Bernard Law
Archbishop of Boston
Cardinal Roger Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles
Cardinal Adam Maida
Archbishop of Detroit
Cardinal John O'Connor
Archbishop of New York
Most Rev. Anthony Pilla
President, National Conference of Catholic Bishops
Printed with permission from Priests for Life. | <urn:uuid:bdee17c6-ddb1-4331-b0f2-bdd04f1c9e56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.catholicnewsagency.com/resource.php?n=841 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963415 | 1,138 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Hot Air Ballooning
Floating along above the treetops of the Maine countryside in a hot air balloon is a quiet and peaceful experience, a slow and gentle form of flight that affords you a full 360-degree view of the earth below from a unique perspective. You’ll fly over forests and fields, towns and cities; see wildlife and trees, mountains and lakes; hear the rustle of leaves and rushing streams; and often get to talk with people in their backyards!
From your stable position in the basket up in the open air you’ll enjoy the calm sensation of moving along with the air at about 10 MPH, interrupted occasionally by a sudden blast from the propane burner as your pilot maneuvers the balloon through the early morning or late afternoon skies. The experience is described by many as a true natural high and is why so many people return again and again to take flight.
Hot air balloon adventures need to be scheduled ahead of time. And because ballooning is weather dependent, you’ll want to have an alternate plan for your day should your flight be postponed and rescheduled. You’ll be contacted with 12 hours before the scheduled flight; if the weather looks favorable then it’s a go! The “wait and see” spontaneity is part of this memorable experience.
The hot air ballooning experience begins when you meet the pilot and ground crew at the launch sites (there are flights from Portland, Auburn, Bangor and many other Maine cities), where you’ll see the big and colorful balloon unpacked and inflated. Then it’s time to climb in and launch. The typical flight lasts from 45 minutes to one hour, plenty of time to look out, take photos, talk with others aboard – it’s a wonderful activity for the family and people of all ages – and be entertained by the pilot. After a gentle landing the “chase vehicle” and crew will meet your group and drive you back to the starting point.
The Great Falls Balloon Festival and the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival are big events held each summer to celebrate the fun sport of hot air ballooning. Enjoy a weekend of balloon rides, entertainment, food, crafts, and a carnival and parade. | <urn:uuid:54923428-f317-4ea4-8c01-59d9434929a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitmaine.com/attractions/outdoor_recreation_sports_adventure/other_outdoor_activity/hot_air_ballooning/?font-size=14&slidebar=open | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945099 | 463 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Posted by davidkalat on March 26, 2011
Where are the Nazis in CLUNY BROWN?
I know this isn’t a question that’s probably been burning inside much of anyone else besides me, but I recently suffered me way through the awkward and disappointing biography of Ernst Lubitsch by Scott Eyman, a book I’d only bought because I wanted to see how a scholar steeped in Lubitsch would address this very question. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a question that cuts to the very heart of what Lubitsch was all about. And Eyman missed the point entirely.
I could build a time machine and travel back to 1993 to write an angry letter to Eyman, but that seems a misuse of resources. Once I finish work on my time machine the first thing I want to do is go back to the 1920s and collect some prints of films like HEART TROUBLE and HATS OFF, so I’m not wasting any of my time machine’s battery power just to berate some poor biographer, even if he did fluff the shot something awful. So, instead I’ll just unload my rant here—and maybe we can have some fun digesting what made Lubitsch the genius that he was.
First things first. CLUNY BROWN isn’t on DVD in this country, and so while those of you in New York got to see this at the Film Forum on Christmas Eve, and anyone with a region-free DVD player and a willingness to sift through amazon.de’s listings may be conversant with this film, it’s worthwhile to catch everyone else up so we’re on the same page.
Lubitsch was riding the crest of a creative wave that is almost incomprehensible. If we forgive the aberration of THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING sandwiched in the middle, from 1939 to 1943 Lubitsch was making hit after hit: NINOTCHKA, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, and HEAVEN CAN WAIT. It’s even more astounding to us now in retrospect because we can appreciate TO BE OR NOT TO BE as a masterpiece, whereas audiences in 1942 were too horrified to get it.
And then this wave came crashing down, with Lubitsch’s abrupt heart attack in 1943. At the very height of his creative powers, he was forbidden by his doctors to work. At best, he was permitted to produce—only to watch feebly from the sidelines as his inept protégés Otto Preminger and Joseph Mankiewicz fumbled A ROYAL SCANDAL and DRAGONWYCK, respectively.
Preminger never understood Lubitsch’s comedy at all, and while Mank was a better student, his work on DRAGONWYCK was so far off the mark Lubitsch had his name removed from the film. Which was awkward, seeing that the posters had already been made: the studio had to affix stickers over his name to redact it from the one-sheets. (So, picture the image below with a piece of tape slapped over Ernie’s name).
Finally, he gets the go-ahead from his doctors that he can get back to work. Naturally, he jumps hungrily at the first available project—CLUNY BROWN, adapted from Margery Sharp’s 1944 novel of the same name.
The Fox writers had already hashed out a couple of screenplay treatments of the book, none of which Lubitsch liked. He started anew, and wrote the script exceedingly quickly (for Ernie, that is) and got it approved by the studio with almost no changes or notes (for Zanuck, that is).
Speaking of anomalies—I’ve been told that Lubitsch made fairly few alterations to the source. The man who dared rewrite Noel Coward’s DESIGN FOR LIVING (“I was only interested in the premise of it,” sniffed Lubitsch) didn’t see much in Sharp’s novel he needed to change—that, or he was in such a rush to make it, he didn’t feel like wasting time.
Before we proceed to talk about the movie itself, one more note about its origins: when the studio bought the rights to the book, it was with a stipulation that Jennifer Jones play the lead (What was Sharp thinking?). She would eventually join the production straight from the embattled set of David O. Selznick’s DUEL IN THE SUN. How embattled was it? So embattled that DUEL IN THE SUN didn’t even make it to theaters until after CLUNY BROWN.
So, we have a recovering and weakened Lubitsch, desperate to get back on top after losing three of his best years to his heart troubles. And it’s built around a miscast star arriving in a flurry of distraction.
OK, well, I don’t really mean “miscast,” and that’s one of the Essential Traits of Lubitsch (ETL for short) that I wanted to discuss here. If you were going to argue that Jones was miscast as Cluny Brown, you might point up that the role calls for a rowdy, brash, assertive young woman—the kind of role that typically went to Betty Grable. But Lubitsch cast Betty Grable in the next film, THAT LADY IN ERMINE, as a Queen—the kind of role that Jennifer Jones should’ve gotten. It seems backwards.
Instead, we get Jones, full of neurotic energy and frostiness, in a role written for a Betty Grable—and thus she infuses it with an additional dimension, a layer of inner life that the film does not make explicit. Grable would’ve played a cartoon—Jones turns the cartoon into a woman. And then, THAT LADY IN ERMINE reverses the trick—with Grable providing an unexpected degree of earthiness and tawdriness to a role that could otherwise seem too aloof.
So ETL #1 is a deliberate and consistent policy of “miscasting.” In his day, critics accused him of not understanding American accents properly, and seemed to believe that if Ernie really knew what connotations these actors brought with them, he wouldn’t be casting them as Kings and Queens and society folk. Balderdash! Meanwhile, Eyman, my bête noir, occasionally makes excuses for Lubitsch’s odd casting choices by saying these were the only people he could get access to at this studio or that. Again, who says you need to make excuses?
Consistently, Lubitsch made the most of actors and actresses who seemed profoundly out of place in what he asked them to do: Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo–Jack Benny for crissakes! Not for nothing did these performers reminisce about their work with Lubitsch as having been their best. . .
But we’re not here to talk about where CLUNY BROWN came from, but rather what’s in it—and what’s conspicuously missing—and what conclusions we can draw from that odd recipe.
There are two concurrent parallel storylines to this film.
The first one follows the titular Miss Brown, who has the misfortune to want, to dearly want most in all the world, to be a plumber. But she lives in 1938 England, where rigid class roles and gender restrictions have placed that aspiration permanently out of her reach.
“I wish I could roll up my sleeves and roll down my stockings and unloosen the joint. BANG BANG BANG!”
Jokes about plumbing=sex are already familiar double entendres, but by the time this absurd scene is over, that surface layer of entendre has been sufficiently battered to leave just the single dirty entendre underneath.
Note to readers: WordPress has been deleting our YouTube links as these posts are published, so I can’t embed video this week. I’d hoped the tech issue was resolved, but that’s what I get for assuming. So here’s a link to the first of my 3 video clips–it’s a clunky kludgy workaround, but at least this way you can see the video clips I pulled for you this week.
“You wouldn’t have thought I was out of place.” Poor Cluny is perpetually out of place—in large part because she doesn’t care, and her desired place is (allegedly) unattainable. (Let’s be clear that being a “plumber” is a metaphor—what she wants is to be free, sexually and spiritually, in a world that allows for no such thing).
It is instead her fate to be employed as a parlor maid in the English countryside. Thanks to some complications upon her arrival at her new post, the family mistakes her for a guest, instead of their new maid. And they proceed to treat her as a guest, until the shattering truth is discovered. The breach of etiquette is unimaginable. As the new maid, she has no right to sit at their table, to eat their scones, to speak to them at all.
This scene may be the most significant in the entire picture—it’s certainly the linchpin of my analysis. So here it is:
The house is pretty, the family is decent and kind, the village is quaint—it’s not a bad fate, as these things go. But as pretty as the house is, it will never be her home. As decent as the family is, they will never be her friends (nor her family). And the village—well, here’s the thing about the village: Cluny gets one day off every week, and that day is the one day the village cinema is closed. She can look forward to never seeing a movie. Ever.
It is a suffocating life. There is only one escape route for her: to marry some nice boy and quit. But she can’t just grab any eligible male. The house she works in is full of handsome strapping young lads, smart and rich, full of energy and passion (we’ll come to them in just a bit), but they’re off-limits. She’s a servant, and can only go shopping for a mate among other working class blokes, which does limit her options severely.
Well, there’s this guy. Mr. Wilson, the local chemist. There are scarecrows with more personality, there are executioners who are more humane, there are trolls who are more attractive.
And then there’s his mother—
Suffice to say, Cluny’s romance with Mr. Wilson is short-lived. She has the audacity to fix his plumbing—in the presence of his mother!—and that as they say is that.
And before you grumble that plumbing doesn’t have anything to do with hammering violently on pipes (BANG BANG BANG! indeed), let me just say that this is, like ETL #1, all part of the joke. Realistic depictions of plumbing aren’t as funny as slapstick, so Ernie opts for the funnier version. This is where Otto Preminger goes wrong in his Lubitsch-lite efforts—given the choice, Otto would go for a realistic depiction of plumbing, and lose most of the laughs.
Now, you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with Nazis. Indeed—that’s why we’re here.
So, let’s meet protagonist #2, played by Charles Boyer. He is a fugitive Czech humanist fleeing the Nazis. It is said the power of his ideas and his eloquence in expressing them is a greater threat to fascism than any weapon. He’s skulking around incognito, until Andrew Carmel, John Fruin and the luscious Betty Cream recognize him and sweep him away into hiding at the Carmel estate (the same place where Cluny is working).
Yup. Betty Cream. That’s her name. It’s like she was supposed to be a Bond girl but ended up on the wrong set. As played by Helen Walker, she’s a potent concoction of sexpot packaged inside a deeply intellectual and hard-headed activist. She’s the female equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife—12 different women in one. She’s more woman than Andrew can handle—but he’s not even going to get a chance to try as long as the two of them are too busy being Earnest with a capital E to get their freak on. It takes some sly (and utterly unasked for) interference by Belinski to hook them up properly.
Now wait a minute. What exactly is going on here? Belinski has been secreted away to the Carmel estate because he’s a prominent anti-Nazi. But he consistently misses opportunities to engage his hosts on political discussions. If they’re expecting to experience the gifted oratory and wisdom of a Great Man, he’s sorely letting down his side. He spends most of time tinkering with people’s love lives and making caustic ironic comments.
The first time I saw this, I assumed the story was heading to a third act twist in which it would be revealed that “Belinski” was in fact a conman posing as the Czech dissident in order to bum lodgings, food, and cash off of unsuspecting do-gooders. I felt justified in this assumption because throughout the film he acts like a conman—and I do mean throughout. I don’t wish to spoil the final punchline, but let me just say that at no point does he behave like similar figures in other movies.
As a foil for contrast, consider Jacques Tourneur’s BERLIN EXPRESS a couple of years later. That film’s Dr. Bernhardt is also described as a great moralist and influential thinker whose intellectual and ethical ideas pose a threat to the post-war neo-Nazi resurgence. He too is on the run for his life—but Bernhardt spends the entirety of his movie trying to ennoble the people around him. He would gladly die if he could change just one mind—the only change Charles Boyer’s Adam Belinski really seems to care about is spare change.
Had CLUNY BROWN been building to this unmasking of the conman “Belinski,” it would have been a clever duplication of that scene I showed above, in which Cluny was mistaken for a guest. You’d have had a grand satirical theme of how society treats people not for who they are but for who they appear to be. If you think a charming young lady is a house guest, you feed her tea and crumpets. If you think she’s a servant, you expect her to vanish into the background and shut her yap. If you think a handsome foreigner is a fugitive philosopher, you feed and house him. If he turns out to be some schmo with a silver tongue. . . then what?
Of course, this isn’t where the movie is headed. But we’re talking about Ernst Lubitsch—the poet of subtlety and implication. He could say more with closed doors and silence than anyone else could with all the words and images imaginable. His films are sexier than porn. There’s no reason that Ernst Lubitsch needs to come out and say that Adam Belinski is a conman to have that possibility floating around in our heads as a viable interpretation of the film. There is an unaccountable gap between what we are told about Belinski, and how he actually behaves.
Taking the movie at its word, though, that this man is the legendary anti-fascist scholar Adam Belinski, then we really do have to ask, “where are the Nazis?” The movie spends all this time telling us that he’s threatened by Nazis—yet not once does anything happen to verify this. It’s set in 1938, with England on the verge of going to war with Germany—yet nothing happens to put this in context. Not only don’t we see any Nazis or see any of their cruel handiwork, but Belinski then never talks about any of it, either.
Scott Eyman writes, “Belinski’s achievements—which we have to take on faith—seem incidental to the simple sybaritic pleasure he takes in his own company.”
Yes. This is true. C’mon, Eyman, ask why this is true. Please, it matters—
Eyman also notes, “the obliviousness of the English is never really germane to the story; neither is Belinski’s anti-Nazi past.”
Oh, sorry, Eyman, you were getting hot there for a moment, and now you went cold again. Don’t you get it, man? The two are the same thing.
What are Nazis? Don’t say German fascists in the 1930s and 40s—that’s too specific. Belinski is an intellectual, a philosopher—he’s opposed to ideologies, not to individual people. The ideology of Nazism is one that elevated a certain class of people as legitimate and desirable, and considered everyone else below them, worthy of persecution or even annihilation. People were consigned to concentration camps or gas chambers based not on their actions but on accidents of their birth—and this inhuman system was defended as the natural order of things.
There are “Nazis” in this film. They are the Carmels, they are the Wilsons. Ordinary Englishmen and women who reflexively accept the idea that social caste defines a person’s fate. Lubitsch implies an analogy between the English class system and German concentration camps. It’s enough to make your jaw drop.
English audiences took it as a slap in the face. The English press excoriated the film—and while their reviews tended to be couched in terms of how the details of the movie were inauthentic, this was hollow deflection. Seriously, are you going to complain that the clothes worn by the characters seemed like Hollywood approximations of English garb, in a movie where Jennifer Jones fixes toilets by hammering on them? Those critics were stung by the fact they had just sat through a 96-minute-long sustained assault on basic English assumptions about society, and they lashed out at the nearest target, which was Ernie’s inauthenticity.
(Some UK critics noted the film’s credits were full of German names and scoffed that the only thing Germans knew about England was how to bomb it.)
I mentioned TO BE OR NOT TO BE above, and that film scandalized audiences in its day because it had the audacity to treat Nazis as human beings, to give them humanizing traits and even jokes. To give the Nazis good jokes! This was unheard of—filmmakers were expected to depict Nazis as irredeemable monsters. Hitchcock’s LIFEBOAT is a perfect case in point—the thrust of the film is that there is something so fundamentally wrong about Nazis as people that the rest of the world should show them no mercy. Such films posit that the Allies’ greatest weakness was their sense of democratic tolerance and forgiveness—attributes that the Nazis would exploit against us.
Lubitsch never bought that line. He wasn’t for Nazis—the Nazis very nearly killed his daughter, they did kill members of his family, and if he’d ever been stupid enough to return to his homeland they’d have happily killed him too. He knew all that, but he just wasn’t the kind of person capable of writing anyone off as irredeemable. Twice he tried to make promotional WHY WE FIGHT or KNOW YOUR ENEMY films for the war effort—and both times they were rejected as unusable. Propaganda wasn’t in his nature.
Anyone who saw THE MAN I KILLED already knew this. Smack in the middle of his run of early-30s musical comedies—between THE SMILING LIEUTENANT and ONE HOUR WITH YOU—he made this bitter drama about a WWI vet plagued by guilt over having killed a man in the war. The rest of society doesn’t know how to console him, because they don’t recognize it as a crime. If anything, they’d like to pin medals on him as a hero. But he—and Lubitsch, and the film—make no distinction between wartime activity and murder, so he trundles off into enemy territory to meet his victim’s family and try to make amends.
Audiences stayed away from THE MAN I KILLED in droves (really? it has such a marketable title!). It belongs on a triple bill with Harry Langdon’s THREE’S A CROWD and Leo McCarey’s MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW as a film that uses the tools of comedy to present a soul-crushing tragedy. It’s got ETL #1 in full force—you don’t cast Lionel Barrymore as a German if you care about verisimilitude. But what matters to us here is its philosophy of tolerance. Lubitsch doesn’t believe in enemies, he doesn’t believe in Nazis. His films can’t muster enough hatred to come up with real villains—the only thing he finds unforgivable is cruelty, and in CLUNY BROWN the cruel ones are the ordinary English folk that most viewers probably assumed were the good guys.
Sorry, Eyman. CLUNY BROWN is an extraordinary film, rich and dense and demanding of viewer attention. The obliviousness of the English is absolutely germane to the story, and so is Belinski’s anti-Nazi past. Lubitsch does nothing by accident. When the man so renowned for directing by indirection leaves something out, all your attention should be on the missing piece.
Now, how come this movie isn’t on US DVD yet?
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A Review of Lost in the Middle by Paul David Tripp
Reviewed by PAUL D. MILLER
“Life is hard, and then you die—blessed be the name of the Lord.” That, in short, is the message of Paul David Tripp’s wrenching book Lost in the Middle (2004). I hated this book because of how deeply convicted I was of sin, selfishness, and idolatry on every single page. I strongly recommend it to everyone.
Tripp is a biblical counselor—that is, a counselor who starts from the Bible’s understanding of human nature and uses biblical wisdom and truth—alongside secular tools where appropriate—to understand people’s lives. “We speak with practical, Biblical help and hope into the confusion, disappointment, anger, fear and discouragement that people experience as they face the harsh realities of life in this broken world,” according to his website. Tripp’s basic framework is spelled out in Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands (2002), a more theoretical and dense work which deserves its own blog post. Tripp has then applied his framework to specific, common issues, like marriage (What Did You Expect?, 2012), communication in marriage (War of Words, 2000), and parenting teens (Age of Opportunity, 2001).
Lost in the Middle is about mid-life crises—although I suspect the problems it addresses occur throughout life (they have for me). In chapter one, Tripp diagnoses the challenges of mid-life: dissatisfaction with life, disorientation, discouragement, dread of the future, disappointment, disinterest in work and other activities, and distance in relationships.
This is a good example of Tripp’s writing style—lots of alliterative, numbered lists. The technique can be a handy way of structuring ideas, especially if these were lecture notes, but it can be annoying and repetitive to a reader. Likewise annoying is Tripp’s peppering every chapter with anecdotes of people’s lives to illustrate the points he is making. After the first few chapters these little stories become wearisome and predictable morality plays. After a while I just skipped them.
(Side rant: this seems to be a pervasive stylistic choice in popular non-fiction. Writers can’t get through two paragraphs without sharing a heartwarming anecdote that illustrates their lesson with vivid humanity. I, for one, hate it. It is condescending—don’t you trust me to grasp an abstract point?—and a waste of precious reading time. If I want stories I’ll read fiction. Side rant over.)
Nonetheless, the ideas in Tripp’s bullet-pointed, anecdote-accented book are powerful. When I first tried to read the book a year ago, I had to put it down after the first chapter because I hated being seen through so easily. Then I picked it back up because I was encouraged that my frustrations were apparently so common.
Tripp deals with mortality, regret, and the failure of our dreams (any one of which could have been a stand-alone book). Collectively these chapters are very painful to read—especially, for me, the last one. It is part of human nature to dream and imagine—of the perfect spouse, job, income, house, children, or anything else. Our dreams will compete with God for our worship; and, because we live in a fallen, broken world, our dreams will either die or disappoint. Either result can trigger immense resentment, bitterness, and anger.
The solution, at least in part, is to treat the pain of dead dreams as a warning against idolatry; to realize that God understands and empathizes with our suffering; and to get some perspective, accept life’s harsh realities, and move on. In other words: grow up.
The second half of the book is really just variations on these themes. God understands our suffering. That’s why he put things like Psalm 88 in the Bible. Recognizing that God knows suffering—that God Himself suffered—should comfort to us. We should also use our pain and disappointment as an occasion to cultivate a yearning for heaven, when “God will wipe away every tear…there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain…” (Revelation 21:4). Indeed, in recent years, this passage about the inauguration of God’s kingdom and our final glorification has been a wonderful comfort, and if I ever want to cry on demand I just reread it.
As helpful as this book was for me, I couldn’t help but wonder if Tripp overemphasizes the role of mental exercises in dealing with pain. There seems to be an implied Trippian model of sanctification that leans heavily on a proper intellectual grasp of Biblical truths. In other words, if you read enough Tripp you begin to think that there is a simple two-step solution to life’s problems;
Step 1: think correct theology.
Step 2: problem solved!
That’s an unfair caricature, but sometimes that’s what it feels like to be on the receiving end of biblical counseling when you only get it through a book. Tripp, in Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, makes clear the vital importance of personal relationships and accountability—which are probably the hardest and most easily neglected parts of biblical counseling. I would add that it helps to stay busy with life, work, and ministry and give less time to mournful introspection.
Because I read Lost in the Middle by myself and wasn’t talking with anyone regularly about the book and my reactions to it, I quite easily channeled my frustrations towards Tripp: “He’s being insensitive to me and my life and is only offering trite platitudes instead of nuanced counseling!” That’s a silly criticism to make of a book which, after all, is inanimate (I have to remind myself of that sometimes). If you read this book (and you should), do it in a small group or with a best friend so you can talk about it regularly. Tripp has written a deeply challenging, Biblically sound book that is hurtful and wounding, which is a good thing. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:6). | <urn:uuid:50bc1a03-b487-460f-88e5-9f18ebe82499> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patheos.com/blogs/schaeffersghost/2012/11/stop-moping-and-grow-up/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951667 | 1,350 | 1.664063 | 2 |
We report on several experiments on the optimal allocation of ownership rights. The experiments confirm the property rights approach by showing that the ownership structure affects relationship-specific investments and that subjects attain the most efficient ownership allocation despite starting from different initial conditions. However, in contrast to the property rights approach, the most efficient ownership structure is joint ownership. These results cannot be explained by the self-interest model nor by models that assume that all people behave fairly but they are largely consistent with approaches that focus on the interaction between selfish and fair players. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Journal compilation (C) Royal Economic Society 2008. | <urn:uuid:4d4d8b75-9b80-4f65-a07d-32784d8edd75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econpapers.repec.org/article/ecjeconjl/v_3a118_3ay_3a2008_3ai_3a531_3ap_3a1262-1284.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951707 | 124 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Bite It above the Eyes
- Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Murray, 223 pp, £12.99, June 2007, ISBN 978 0 7195 6456 7
As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them . . . my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, ‘Also Georgiana Wife of the Above’ I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
A book about the delights and healing effects of reading, recalling the novels about precocious readers and intellectual explorers that many of us grew up with, South Pacific cousin to Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and innumerable similar childhood favourites: this is the last place one would expect to encounter a jealous quarrel about the nature of referentiality.
On the actual island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, blockaded during a verifiable civil war in the historically real early 1990s (when, as our protagonist tells it, ‘Francis Ona and his rebels declared war on the copper mine and the company, which in some way that I didn’t understand at the time, brought the redskin soldiers from Port Moresby to our island’), a character named Mr Watts (though known in mockery of his eccentricities as ‘Pop Eye’) begins to read Great Expectations (or something that passes for Great Expectations) aloud. His audience consists of the black children of the island, whose schoolmasters, together with the rest of the white population, have fled. The children’s parents hope that Pop Eye’s version of school might distract the children from the rumours of atrocities committed by the redskin soldiers (‘redskin’ because the ‘soldiers looked like people leached up out of the red earth’) against the rebels and any community they suspect of rebel sympathies. They want distraction for their children; they are not sure they want cultural disloyalty for them or escape, possibilities which Great Expectations both narrates and embodies. The children nonetheless find themselves drawn to the story, discover that they can ‘slip under the skin of another just as easily as your own, even when that skin is white and belongs to a boy alive in Dickens’s England’, and begin to think of Pip as of a friend as real or realler than their parents or uncles or aunts. One of the mothers finds this intolerable. She attacks the Victorian story and its reader for undermining what she understands to be the allegiance her child owes her. The child herself survives the catastrophe that follows to record here her witness and that of her mother.
The mother is Dolores Laimo, who ‘when she was thinking . . . tended to look angry, as if the act of thinking was potentially ruinous, even ending in her humiliation’. Dolores’s anger, always quick, has been strong since her husband left her to work in Australia two years before. ‘I didn’t know if I was looking at a bad man or a man who loved me,’ she says of him. In her eyes all other values are subordinate to loyalty; her moral categories are in effect categories of allegiance and control. The military blockade is the official reason her husband has never returned, but weariness with his wife’s emotional violence may be the reason behind the official one.
Thirteen-year-old Matilda, Dolores’s daughter, has her mother’s intelligence without her frightening aggressiveness. Quick and sympathetic, she is the one who notes that it is ‘those dogs and chickens that had names’ that take refuge with their owners in the jungle when the redskins’ helicopters first appear ‘like giant dragonflies’ hovering over the village. From the beginning she thinks of herself as an orphan and so feels an instant identification with Pip. The novel opens a whole new world for her, its characters ‘more part of my life than my dead relatives, even the people around me’. She practises interpreting the people around her as if they were the characters she has come to know, reading her mother as Mrs Joe at first, and then Estella, and at last as Joe Gargery or even Magwitch. But by the time she has revised her understanding of her mother she has learned that she is not the only Pip on the island and that some who appear to be Pips may turn out to be Jaggerses or Joes as well. She writes Pip’s name in the sand and decorates it with heart seeds. | <urn:uuid:82784d24-3b5a-4413-a46a-2fd50d0df944> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n19/susan-eilenberg/bite-it-above-the-eyes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973306 | 1,013 | 1.789063 | 2 |
White House/Pete Souza
- In 2009, Notre Dame bestowed an honorary degree on #Obama. In 2012, they served the administration with a lawsuit.
- Unless the #SCOTUS invalidates Obamacare in its entirety, the lawsuit and the fight for religious liberty will go forward.
- “The fact is President Obama betrayed progressive Catholics who stuck their necks out for him.” @MarcThiessen
- The “accommodation” President #Obama announced in February was a transparent effort to re-divide Catholics.
SOUTHERN BEND, Ind. — In 2009, the University of Notre Dame bestowed an honorary degree on Barack Obama, praising the new president for “inspiring this nation to heal its divisions of religion, race and politics in the audacious hope for a brighter tomorrow.”
In 2012, Notre Dame served the Obama administration with a very different piece of parchment — a lawsuit charging that the president is engaged in a “repression of religious freedom [that] violates Notre Dame’s clearly established constitutional and statutory rights.”
What a difference three years makes.
Unless the Supreme Court invalidates Obamacare in its entirety this week, that lawsuit and the fight for religious liberty will almost certainly go forward. But regardless of how the court rules, President Obama’s attempt to use of his health-care law to divide American Catholics has backfired.
Some liberal Catholics have tried to portray the decision by 43 Catholic plaintiffs to sue the Obama administration over its contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drug mandate as a sign of the Catholic hierarchy’s shift to the right. They dismiss the bishops’ “Fortnight for Freedom,” launched this week, as a “Fortnight to Defeat Barack Obama” launched over the objections of moderate and progressive Catholic leaders.
There’s one problem with that: How do they explain the decision by Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins, to sue Obama? A few years ago, the Catholic left was praising Jenkins’s courage for inviting Obama to Notre Dame over the protests of conservative Catholics. Now, suddenly, Jenkins is a tool of the Catholic right?
And what about Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, who became a hero to the Catholic left in 2009 when she broke with the bishops and endorsed Obamacare. Just over a week ago, Keehan sent a letter to the administration opposing the president’s so-called “accommodation,” declaring it fails to “adequately meet the religious liberty concerns of all of our members and other Church ministries.”
And what about Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., whom some liberal Catholics cited as opposing the lawsuit? Blaire recently affirmed his support for the legal action, declaring “I stand solidly with my brother bishops in our common resolve to overturn the unacceptable intrusion of government into the life of the Church by the HHS Mandate.”
The fact is President Obama betrayed progressive Catholics who stuck their necks out for him. In his 2009 commencement address here, Obama pledged to “draft a sensible conscience clause” into laws and regulations put forward by his administration, and to respect the religious liberty of those who disagree with him on abortion. If he had kept that promise, there would be no lawsuit today. Instead the president put pro-abortion politics ahead of his promise — and his actions united Catholics of all political persuasions in opposition to his actions.
"The 'accommodation' Obama announced in February was not an effort to reach a compromise. It was a transparent effort to re-divide Catholics."
The “accommodation” Obama announced in February was not an effort to reach a compromise. It was a transparent effort to re-divide Catholics. At first, it appeared to work. Jenkins initially called the accommodation a “welcome step toward recognizing the freedom of religious institutions” — a quote the White House immediately posted on its Web site. But Notre Dame quickly asked the White House to take down the quote and soon joined with others in filing suit to stop the mandate.
Critics point out that the vast majority of the nations’ 195 Catholic diocese did not go to court, offering this as evidence of liberal dissent. This is silly. When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) was asked why his state was not joining a separate lawsuit by state attorneys general over Obamacare, he said there was no point in New Jersey suing if other states could establish the point for New Jersey. There is similarly no point in all 195 Catholic dioceses suing over the HHS mandate if 43 other plaintiffs can establish the point for them.
Indeed, this makes Notre Dame’s decision to sue all the more compelling. Jenkins could have stood on the sidelines and let the other Catholic plaintiffs establish the point for Notre Dame. But he chose to have Notre Dame not only join but take the lead in the fight for religious liberty. Faculty members I spoke with here say there is absolutely no daylight between Jenkins and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the head of the U.S. bishops’ conference.
The suggestion that Notre Dame or the bishops were bruising for a political fight with Obama is absurd. The Catholic Church has advocated universal health care since 1919. If Obama had kept the promise he made at Notre Dame, the bishops would have ordered the reading of letters from pulpits across America supporting the president — rather than condemning his assault on religious liberty from thousands of pulpits across America this weekend.
It is no coincidence that the bishops chose to begin their “Fortnight for Freedom” on the vigil of the Feasts of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More — Catholic martyrs who refused to accept the unjust impositions of an overbearing sovereign. Soon lawyers for Notre Dame may be arguing against the unjust impositions of the Obama administration before Supreme Court — and the president has no one to blame but himself. | <urn:uuid:e1e5faab-7c7b-463d-9623-fa114afc8b71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aei.org/article/obama-is-paying-for-betraying-progressive-catholics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966781 | 1,232 | 1.515625 | 2 |
I have a request for anyone who is either currently in Tasmania, or is familiar with the north west coast of Tasmania. I am an atmospheric scientist involved in scientific ballooning, and at the conclusion of one of our experiments some equipment ended up in Tasmania near the town of Temma. The equipment is fairly close to a track leading to Temma, but I have been unable to find any information about the quality of the roads in this area. It appears to be an unpaved road from satellite imagery, but I would like to know a little more before sending out an unsuspecting colleague from oz to go recover the equipment.
I am obviously not going to post the exact coordinates here, but if there is anyone who could supply some info on the general area it would be much appreciated. | <urn:uuid:71ed546a-9789-40f8-bb49-ca7e50cb88f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/53664-Anyone-in-Tasmania-interested-in-a-treasure-hunt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978168 | 157 | 1.640625 | 2 |
It had been a hot, dry summer - no rain for over sixty days. The grass was the first to turn dry and brittle, with its shallow root system giving up all hope of finding moisture. It would have been too costly to water it and not the best use of the water supply. I did, however, water the flowers. I loved them and carried water so that the leaves would stay green and the blooms would keep on coming.
I had noticed a weed growing by itself in an empty flower bed. It wasn’t causing any trouble and I was busy with my flowers, so I left the weed alone. Even though I did not water it; I noticed that it kept growing.
Then one day, as I carried water to my flower garden, I noticed the weed was developing a flower head. I was curious to see what it might look like, but I still saved my water and hard work for the roses and petunias. The weed grew taller.
As the flower head developed, I could see touches of yellow. It occurred to me that it was not a weed at all but a sunflower, planted there by accident by some bird or chipmunk. Then one morning it tipped back its head at the rising sun and opened every one of its stunningly vivid yellow petals for the first time. It was a glorious sight, standing straight and tall all by itself. And without having received one bit of care from me. I thought about the miracle of its growth. It must be very strong and drought resistant. Its roots must go down very deep to be able to find water for nourishment.
There are people like that rogue sunflower. They thrive through the hardest of times. They experience the droughts of life, but they remain strong. They get their sustenance from some mysterious, invisible source and continue to grow. They even seem to bloom in the midst of their trouble.
There are people like the dry, brittle grass. They flourish only in the good times - when everything is going well. Depending on good times produces shallow roots. But, when there is a drought – lack of health, lack of money or lack of love – those shallow roots can’t find the life-giving refreshing. They have no hope and they flounder.
I want to be like that hardy sunflower that bloomed without my watering and tender care. To do this I must send my roots down deep. They must be firmly planted in Jesus Christ, the Source of life, where there is a constant flow of living water. I want to be the one who blooms even in the hardest times because I do have hope and I have God’s promises.
Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38 (ESV)
The prophet Isaiah said,
“And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:11 (ESV)
A Walk With the Women of the Bible
EBook by Lynne Chapman
Join me in getting to know some amazing
women of the Bible
while we extract valuable insights and
lessons from their lives.
Now available for Kindle under new title
A Walk With EVE
Also availble in paperback from Cafe Press.
Names of God Ebook
Almighty God. The Creator of heaven and earth.
Our God is given names in Scripture that
describe the characteristics of His personality.
Experience God through the names given Him in Scripture. | <urn:uuid:3a8822bd-2625-4238-8996-ec0a9e0e7dfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/ArticlesP/art177232.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968443 | 774 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A dispute over censorship at a Chinese newspaper known for edgy reporting evolved on Monday into a political challenge for China’s new leadership as prominent scholars demanded a censor’s dismissal and hundreds of protesters called for democratic reforms.
The scholars and
protesters were acting in support of the Southern Weekly in its confrontation with a top censor after the publication was forced to change a New Year’s editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the ruling Communist Party.
Rumors circulated that at least one of the newspaper’s news departments was going on strike, but they could not be confirmed.
Protesters, including middle school students and white-collar workers, gathered outside the offices of the newspaper in the southern city of Guangzhou to lay flowers at the gate, hold signs and shout slogans calling for freedom of speech, political reform and democracy.
“I feel that the ordinary people must awaken,” said one of the protesters, Yuan Fengchu, who was reached by phone. “The people are starting to realise that their rights have been taken away by the CPC.” | <urn:uuid:b4912f64-a89a-425d-8d2b-200b0e33e91c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/China/Media-first-challenger-to-new-Chinese-leadership/Article1-986074.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977691 | 225 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Some residents of picturesque Los Palacios, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, have already rebaptized their town in the wake of Hurricane Gustav: They now call it The Ruins.
In the storm Cuban authorities are saying was the worst here in more than 50 years—one that registered unprecedented wind speeds—Los Palacios has the dubious distinction of being the first that lay directly in Gustav’s path.
The pastel-colored houses in this town of 15,000 collapsed. Cars went flying. Power and phone lines throughout the city tumbled. At least 10 army trucks and several bulldozers charged into the community Sunday to begin cleanup, while the people in nearby Isle of Youth remained in complete darkness as every single TV, electric and mobile phone tower fell.
‘‘The devil came through here,’’ said Juan Carlos Rodríguez, who works for the municipal school management office and spent the night guarding the building. ``It swept it completely.’‘
People make their way through a street covered by knocked down electrical posts and cables after Hurricane Gustav hit the area in Los Palacios, Cuba. Javier Galeano / AP Photo
Gustav made landfall in Cuba on Saturday evening as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds and gusts up to 212 mph, Cuban meteorologists said, sweeping by in just four hours and leaving a path of devastation. In a testament to the Cuban government’s unparalleled hurricane preparedness system, no deaths were reported.
Some 250,000 people had been evacuated in four provinces.
According to Olga Lidia Tapia, President of Pinar del Río civil defense committee, 86,000 homes were damaged, 80 electric towers and 600 electric posts fell.
‘‘Many people cannot go back to their homes because they lost them,’’ she said on the nightly news program Mesa Redonda, adding that people are building makeshift shelters with whatever materials they could find.
In the Isle of Youth, municipal defense committee president Ana Isa Delgado phoned in to the news show: ``Regarding housing, everything has been affected. All towns.’‘
Vicente de la O, who heads Cuba’s electric company, said that a total of 136 electric towers toppled over. In a previous hurricane, 30 towers were damaged and it took 15 days to restore service, but he said he hoped to have service restored in 10 to 12 days in Pinar del Rio Province.
The situation in the Isle of Youth was much worse.
‘‘100 percent of the electrical grid is damaged,’’ de la O said. ``Totally destroyed.’‘
In Los Palacios, Rodríguez estimated that 90 percent of the homes were affected, as well as about half of the electric infrastructure.
‘‘This is very sad. It’s unbearable to watch,’’ a woman in Paso Real said, as she burst into tears and walked away without giving her name.
An elderly man gathered pieces of clay tile. A few blocks ahead, a woman swept her wet front porch. There was no flooding in Los Palacios, but the rain seeped into many homes and also fell directly into roofless houses.
‘‘It was horrendous,’’ said Alberto García, a 68-year-old retiree.
Along the highway to Pinar del Río, tree branches partially blocked the road, and a twisted mass of electric towers lay on the ground like a row of fallen dominoes as far as the eye could see.
The force of the wind decimated entire fields of banana trees. At a police control station, all the lamp posts toppled over and the metal mobile structure lay upside down in a ditch.
In San Cristobal, fallen branches and tree trunks blocked the main street into the town. Many houses lost their roofs or were flooded.
In other destruction in Los Palacios, debris was scattered everywhere on the wet streets, in many cases blocking the roads with tree branches, downed power lines, tiles, masonry from ornamental columns, pieces of wood, doors, phone booths and corrugated metal sheets that once served as roofs.
Oddly, a community garden stood unharmed, its vegetable rows lined up in perfect order. Dogs and chicken roamed the streets.
The main school building lost all its windows on the upper floor, and authorities postponed the start of school until next week.
‘‘It will take us at least six months to get back to a basic level of infrastructure,’’ Rodríguez said.
There was no electricity, no gas, no fuel and no water, although Rodríguez said residents had enough drinking water stored for 72 hours.
‘‘I stayed in my closet with my two children and prayed the whole time,’’ said Mabel Ayerbe, a 36 year-old housewife and mother of two boys, ages 5 and 6. ``The little one was crying and the older one wanted to see the wind. The first pass took about two hours. Then, we were in the eye for some 45 minutes and the weather was totally clear. After the eye it lost some strength, but the first pass was violent.’‘
Gustav traveled about 100 miles when it entered Cajio and left the city of La Palma at 9:10 p.m., the state media said. The eye crossed at a speed of 11 miles an hour and was 37 miles wide.
The government media said the damage was so bad, the name ‘‘Gustav’’ may have to get scratched off the list of potential future hurricanes—a move only taken in the worst of natural disasters.
‘‘I don’t want to see this again. It was terrible,’’ Ayerbe said. ‘‘We no longer call this Los Palacios. It is now The Ruins. We Cubans are optimists. We’ll see how we work it out and p’alante!’’—onward!
This article was reported by a Miami Herald correspondent in Cuba, whose name is being withheld because the journalist did not have the journalism visa required by the Cuban government. Miami Herald correspondent Frances Robles contributed from Miami. | <urn:uuid:9ef53362-4e30-49b7-89c0-5d8ca4111a38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://havanajournal.com/politics/entry/isla-de-la-juventud-and-pinar-del-rio-cuba-slammed-by-hurricane-gustav/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96088 | 1,343 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Considering there just aren’t enough hours in the day, even an 18 hour day, you’d think that small business owners would be eager delegators. However, whether running a long-term enterprise or a start-up entrepreneur, delegating can be a hard thing for many small business owners to do.
It isn’t too difficult to understand why that might be. For one thing, this is your baby. You thought of it, you put it together, and by golly you know what needs to be done and how to get it done. Not to mention you need it done right. Or you could be uncomfortable delegating because you think if you passed a task off it would be akin to “passing the buck” and you’ve always been a “the buck stops here” kind of person. Either one of those reasons might hold true, but hiding within both there is another reason delegating can be difficult: loss of control.
A small business owner doesn’t need to be some kind of control freak to fear losing control. However, there is another way to look at it. You’re not losing control of your business when delegating, what you’re doing is managing your business. And you aren’t passing the buck either, because responsibility and oversight still rests with you.
The trick to getting more comfortable delegating without losing control is learning how to delegate effectively.
The Right Person for the Right Job
Once you’ve identified a task or project to delegate, you need to be careful to assign it to the right person. Things you need to take into consideration include the time it requires as well as who has the necessary training or skills (or who will most likely ramp up quickly.) The time factor is an important consideration because you want to delegate it to someone who has enough time left on their plate to complete it.
It may appear assigning the project to someone with the necessary training and skills in place will get you the best result. Not necessarily. For instance, depending on the time factor, you may get better results passing the task to someone who is more motivated to take the project on and spend some time training them to do it than giving it to a trained, but less motivated person.
Communication and Commitment
You may have identified who you think is the best person to delegate your task or project, but be sure not to skip meeting with that person to be sure you are on the same page. If you simply assign the task it is a rare employee who will refuse it – even when they don’t think they can do it, or resent the assignment. When you meet be sure to communicate why the project is important, the value it represents for your business, as well as the benefits to the employee who completes the task (such as higher level experience, learning new skills, increased opportunity for promotion.)
It is also imperative that milestones, deadlines, desired outcome(s) and/or results are made clear at this time. Ask for feedback from the employee to confirm they completely understand what is expected of them. Once you have confirmed their understanding, your next step is to confirm the employee you are delegating the project to is as committed to its successful completion as you are.
You’re Still in Control
Any fear you may have had regarding loss of control will quickly abate when you properly manage a delegated task. It might be off your desk, but you are still responsible to control the project in a supervisory capacity. Be sure you have scheduled time to regularly review progress as well as provide feedback and guidance throughout the term of the project.
Recognize and Reward
Throughout the course of the project be sure to recognize and reward the contribution your employee is making to your business when they meet or exceed your expectations. This recognition should be made in private and well as public settings such as staff meetings. When someone feels that their hard work does not go unnoticed and is appreciated it motivates as well as provides positive feedback that increases feelings of positive self-esteem and self-efficacy, both of which serve as hallmarks of exceptional employees.
Rewards don’t necessarily need to be financial. Recognition is a form of reward in and of itself. So is adding hours to the employee’s personal time off account. And don’t be shy about providing plaques or certificates of accomplishment and/or appreciation. Most of all, be sure to personally thank your employee for a job well done. | <urn:uuid:cba46972-4d6d-4ab9-92e0-b2709f8de670> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unitedcapitalsource.com/blog/delegating-can-be-difficult/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9691 | 928 | 1.609375 | 2 |
The Lord’s Day Morning
I Timothy 6:20-21
“Guard What God Has Given You”
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III
If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to First Timothy, chapter six, and the twentieth verse. We have been working our way through First Timothy. It’s the first of the Pastoral Epistles: I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus are those pastoral letters written by Paul to early churches in Asia Minor to two young ministers, those who were faithful in planting and establishing churches with the Apostle Paul.
But we have said all along in our study of I Timothy that this is a book that is clearly not simply descriptive of how things were in the early church—it doesn’t give us a mere historical picture of what life would have been like in the early church—it’s designed to show us how we are to live and minister together in the local church today. And that theme runs throughout the Pastoral Epistles: not only I Timothy, but II Timothy and Titus, and we are going to go next into a study of Titus, and then come back to II Timothy, to follow something of the chronological order of these letters (II Timothy being the final letter of the Apostle Paul before the Lord gave him the privilege of being a martyr for the Lord Jesus Christ).
And today we’ve come to the very final verses. It was Paul’s habit to sign his letters so that the people of the church who were receiving these letters would know that it was Paul who was writing to them. Typically a secretary would have been employed, and Paul would have dictated the words of the letter, and then at the end of the writing of the letter, Paul would have taken the pen in his own hand to sign it himself. But what Paul often did, when he did this, was give some final phrase or sentence of exhortation to the people to whom he was writing, and that’s what we have before us today. Paul has taken up the pen in his own hand. The secretary has written exactly what Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit had told the secretary to write down, but now Paul in his own hand is going to give one final exhortation to Timothy and to us, and then he’s going to pronounce a benediction. And we’re going to look at that today.
Before we do, look at verses 17-19, because the last time we were together we were looking at Paul’s exhortation to wealthy Christians, and we acknowledged that all of us qualify for that particular title. We have been exceedingly blessed by God. And what does Paul say? Well, he first of all tells us not to be prideful because of what He has given us in terms of our worldly wealth, and he tells us not to fix our hope on that worldly wealth. It can go away, and if our hope and security is in that wealth being permanent, then we’ll never have hope and security in this world.
And positively, Paul goes on to say that in contrast to fixing our hope on present wealth, we should instead fix our hope on God, and remember that everything that we have comes from God, and use all the resources that He has given us to do good, and not simply for selfish purposes; and strive to be rich in good works; and cultivate our generosity, so that we not only have an attitude of generosity, but we have a practice of generosity; and lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, and not on this earth; and take hold of real life, not that which merely appears to be the life; or [what] those who pander materialism to us would say is the life, but the real life, which is in Jesus Christ.
And in those three verses, he’s given very helpful exhortations to those of us who have been entrusted with more resources than most Christians have had in the history of the world.
And then he comes to this final word. So, before we come to this final word, let’s look to Him in prayer and ask for His help.
Our Lord and our God, we thank You for Your word. We confess that we sometimes take it for granted. We are coming to the end of the study of a book of the Bible. We do this frequently here, and so perhaps we think that it is not anything of any great occasion, but there are very few people around this world who have ever had the privilege of meeting together Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day and studying through a book of the Bible. Heavenly Father, what a glorious privilege it is that we have, to hear Your word Sunday after Sunday; to hear Your word proclaimed Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day. We pray that we would not take for granted one moment, one iota of the privilege we have. We know this is Your word; You have revealed Yourself in it; You have revealed Your will in it; You have revealed our sin to us in it; and You have revealed to us our Savior. We pray, O God, that You would reveal these things to us today, for we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is the word of God; hear it.
“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’—which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
Amen. And thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired, inerrant and authoritative word. May He add His blessing to it.
In this brief sentence and benediction, the Apostle Paul sums up in two phrases all his concern for the integrity of the gospel, and all of his horror of the danger of deviating from the truth of God’s word. And he gives an exhortation not simply to Timothy, we will see, but to us in this passage: an exhortation that involves four things:
Paul calls on Timothy to retain the truth;
To refrain from dabbling and arguing and speculating with false teaching;
To realize the danger of false teaching;
And, to rely on the grace of God.
Those four things in these two little phrases...I’d like to spend some time with you this morning looking at those exhortations.
I. Retain the truth.
In verse 20, Paul says, “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you....” There Paul says, ‘Timothy, retain the truth which I have entrusted to you.’ He’s telling Timothy that he has the responsibility to value, and protect, and defend, and retain the truth of the Christian faith. Paul is serious about orthodoxy. He’s serious about us holding on to those great truths of the Christian faith which have been expounded through Jesus and His apostles, and have been enscripturated in the word of God.
What is this...the fifth or sixth time in this letter that Paul has stopped to exhort Timothy to hold fast to sound teaching, and to oppose false teaching in the church?
But you know, there’s another way you see how serious Paul is about retaining hold of the Christian faith, and it’s in the very way he addresses Timothy. You notice how he speaks to Timothy? He speaks the little word “O” in front of “Timothy”. “O Timothy...” he has picked up the pen himself now. This isn’t the secretary transcribing Paul’s words, this is Paul himself: “O Timothy.” It’s filled with emotion and exhortation, and command. He’s exclaiming, and repeating his concern that Timothy would hold fast to the truth, and he says to him, “Guard what has been entrusted to you.”
And immediately what comes to your mind is the question, “Well, what has been entrusted to Timothy? What is this deposit that Timothy is supposed to guard?” Well, of course, in this book already Paul has talked about the gifts of the Spirit that had been entrusted to Timothy. He’s been given certain abilities; those things have been entrusted to him, but that doesn’t seem to be what Paul has in view here. Instead, Paul has clearly in view here Timothy holding fast to the truth of the Christian faith, not merely to his spiritual endowments, but to the very truth of the Christian faith.
Let me demonstrate that for you. Turn forward just 14 verses in your Bibles to
2 Timothy 1:13, and look at what Paul says there:
“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith
and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in
us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”
You see the same language that is being repeated there in II Timothy. Paul is calling on Timothy to hold fast to the sum of religion and sound doctrine, to the standard of sound words that he had received from Paul; to hold fast to the total truth content of the Christian faith summarized in the preaching of the apostles. And Paul is saying, “Timothy, value that truth. Protect that truth. Defend that truth. Retain that truth.”
You see, Timothy didn’t invent this faith. He received it. It was first passed on to him from his grandmother and from his mother, and Paul taught this truth to him. Timothy didn’t invent this as he was going along. He had received a message. He had received truth from God, and Paul is saying, “Timothy, hold onto it.”
One of the early church fathers, in commenting on this passage and teaching the church from it, asks the question, “What is meant here by ‘the deposit’; what has been entrusted to you?” And he answers this way:
“...That which is committed to you, not that which is invented by you. The
deposit is that which you have received, not that which you have devised. It is
not a thing of your wit, but of your learning. It is not a thing of private
assumption, but a public teaching. It is not a thing brought forth from you,
but a thing brought to you. You are not its author, but its keeper; you are not
its leader, but a follower.”
You see, the Christian message is not something which the church’s minister works out for himself, or is entitled to add to. It is a divine revelation which has been committed to his care, and which is his bounden duty to pass on unimpaired to others. And Paul is saying, ‘Timothy, you didn’t invent this message, but your job is to guard it. Hold onto it; retain it,” Paul says.
And notice how he tells him to treat it. “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.” The word deposit, or that which has been entrusted to you, meant in Paul and Timothy’s day something that was a treasured possession entrusted to someone else.
Can you imagine a scene on a battlefield, where two buddies who have been fighting side by side are speaking to one another. One of them is dying; he has been mortally wounded. From his pocket he pulls a watch, a family heirloom which has been in his family for five generations, and he says to his friend, “If you get back home, take this to my mother. This watch has been in my family for five generations, and I cannot take it home to her. This is an entrusted heirloom, a possession—take care of it.”
Paul is saying to Timothy, “You have been entrusted with something far more precious than a family heirloom. You have been entrusted with the word of salvation, with the word of truth, with the very revelation of God; so, Timothy, value it; protect it; defend it; retain it; hold on to it.” And I want to say, my friends, it is easy for us to shortchange the significance of our having been entrusted with the truth of God from a series of faithful ministers and elders in this congregation for 170 years, and we should not undervalue it, because until the truth is deeply valued by each one of us, we will not protect it. And if we do not protect it, it will not be in danger, we will be in danger. God’s truth will endure. It is truth unchanged and unchanging. It is unconquerable truth. It will endure when the worlds are not more. But if we do not value it and protect it, we
are in danger of losing it. And so, Paul says not just to Timothy, but to you and to me, we have to value, and protect, and defend and retain the truth of the Christian faith, which has been entrusted to us.
II. Refrain from world talk.
But Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say in verse 20 that we are to refrain from something. He says, “Timothy, you’re to guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’.” He tells Timothy, in other words, that he is to refrain from being entangled in empty and speculative theological chatter. He’s to avoid this kind of empty and speculative teaching. He’s to avoid this kind of vain speaking, theological or otherwise.
Now, it’s very interesting: the people who were propounding this ‘new and deep and spiritual teaching’ in the Christian church do doubt thought of themselves as exceedingly wise: wiser than Timothy; wiser than Paul; and, certainly, wiser than mere Christians in the congregation. They were intelligent! They had insights that none other could grasp! They knew truth that nobody could understand, and yet....
Do you notice the four qualities that Paul uses to describe what they no doubt thought as profound teaching? He calls it worldly, empty, contradictory, and false. He says, ‘Let me tell you about this ‘wisdom’, this ‘knowledge’ that is being taught by false teachers. It’s worldly. It doesn’t come from God, it’s worldly. It comes from this world. And it’s not only worldly, it’s empty. It claims to be profound and weighty, but it’s a vapor—it’s vain, it’s empty. There’s nothing to it, and it’s contradictory. It contradicts the clear teaching of God’s word.
III. Refrain from false knowledge.
And, it’s false knowledge. Paul isn’t mad at it because it’s knowledge. No, he’s mad at it because it’s false knowledge. He’s not saying, “Well, we shouldn’t get hung up about what you believe, it’s just how you live.” That’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying that what it being claimed is wrong; it’s false knowledge. And Paul is telling Timothy that these types of things must be avoided. The minister of the gospel must not become entangled in studying, and following after, and discussing, and contemplating all these opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’. Timothy, he’s saying, ignore that out of existence. Don’t spend a minute of your time meditating on these “new truths” that are being brought in opposition to the sound teaching of God’s word.
And then he says, realize something. Look at verse 21. Paul says that some have claimed to have this false knowledge, and even though they’ve professed faith in Jesus Christ, they’ve gone astray. Look at what he says in verse 21: “...which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.” You see what Paul is saying. Paul is saying that there are some people in this congregation who have professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They’ve professed to believe the Christian truths which had been taught by Paul and the apostles. And yet, because they became entangled in these false teachings, because they began to stray, in curiosity embracing these false teachings, they had gone astray from the faith.
You see, Paul is saying that bad theology leads to spiritual destruction. And he’s saying, “Timothy, the reason that I warn you against false teaching is because I’m concerned for the lives and the souls of men and women, and boys and girls.” This is not the first time that Paul has given this warning, but isn’t it urgent? It’s in his own hand, it’s the last thing that he’s going to say in this letter to Timothy and to his church, and he’s saying false teaching will lead to spiritual disaster. And that’s why we need to retain the truth and refrain from becoming entangled in the study and the curious discussion of these false teachings, and we need to realize that this false teaching leads to spiritual disaster.
IV. Rely on God’s grace.
But Paul’s not done. If you look at verse 21, Paul concludes with a benediction: “Grace be with you”, in which he calls on Timothy to rely upon the grace of God. Indeed, he calls upon the whole congregation to rely upon the grace of God, to depend upon God’s unmerited and strengthening favor. “Grace be with you.” This little phrase indicates the greatest blessing of them all: God’s favor to us through Jesus Christ; his blessing on those who are undeserving of that blessing, purchased at the cost of the death of His own Son.
This grace Paul pronounces on Timothy. Why? Because for the ongoing life of the believer, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential. There is nothing that we are able to do apart from the grace of God, and there is nothing that God cannot do through us by His own grace. And so Paul, even in pronouncing this blessing, is reminding Timothy and that congregation (and you and me) that we are always dependent upon the grace of God. That’s very important for us to remember in this season of this life of this congregation. We have tremendous opportunities and challenges for ministry and service before us, but we must be dependent upon the grace of God, because we can do absolutely nothing without it.
But notice what Paul says: “Grace be with you.” Now, you can’t pick it up in your English translation, but he’s not saying “Grace be with you (singular), Timothy.” He’s saying here, “Grace be with ...y’all!” It’s a plural! Paul’s speaking this benediction on the whole congregation. It is yet another indication that this book has two audiences in mind. It has Timothy in mind, the elders in mind; but it has the congregation of the people of God in mind. And this blessing is not simply on Timothy, it’s on the whole congregation of the people of God, because in the realities of life in this fallen world, and of life and ministry in an imperfect church, the only hope we have is the grace of God.
Paul calls on Timothy and his congregation, and us, to retain the truth, to hold fast to it; to refrain from dabbling in worldly speculation and false teaching; to realize that false teaching will lead sheep over the edge into destruction; and to be utterly dependent, as we hold fast to that truth, on the only thing that can hold us up, which is the grace of God.
And what a rich blessing it is! The Aaronic priests, you remember, in the Old Testament had a blessing for the people of God: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” The Lord lifting up His face and making it to shine upon you, and being gracious to you, is giving you His favor. And receiving the Lord’s favor creates the reality of the enjoyment of peace; not cessation of physical warfare in this world, but peace with God, reconciliation with Him wherein we receive all the benefits which He has intended for us in His mercy.
And when Paul says “Grace be with you” he’s reminding you of that gift which God has given to all those who trust in Jesus Christ, and he’s reminding us that that message of grace is not just for those who are as yet unbelievers. It’s a message for us, too. Just as those who are apart from Christ need the grace of God if they would be saved, so we need the grace of God if we will live the Christian life. It’s the same message: rely on God’s grace. May the Lord bless His word. Let’s pray.
Our Lord and our God, we thank You for the mercy that You have given us in Jesus Christ, and for the truth which You have committed to us in Your word. Grant that we would hold on to that truth, and that we would rely on Your mercy and grace. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Grace be with you. Amen.
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The Theme of the Service
Today we reach the end of the first epistle to Timothy. Paul has had much to say to young Timothy as he went about fulfilling his call to the church in Ephesus, and we have been able to see God’s design and desire for the local church of our day. We have suggested that the Pastoral letters (I & II Timothy and Titus) are God’s instructions not only for specific churches in the 1st century, but that they contain vast wisdom and instruction for ordering the local church today. What do we want the church to be? In what activities should we be involved? What should occupy our thoughts and concerns? A good way to know if your vision for the church is in line with Christ’s vision for His church is to consider Paul’s words in these books. Paul closes this letter with somber warnings for Timothy to “guard what has been entrusted” and to avoid “worldly and empty chatter” and false knowledge, for in pursuing such things, some have wondered from the faith. As we consider these things, let these words stand as a warning to us this day.
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
Today is the annual day set aside for the remembrance of and prayer for those Christians around the world that experience persecution as part and parcel of their Christian experience. We in the West have been spared from much of the experiences of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, who are marginalized, harassed, burglarized, imprisoned, beaten, and even killed for the sake of the gospel. Such realities are difficult for us even to imagine, and yet the Church is under brutal attack in parts of our world. We commit ourselves this morning to pray for these, our brothers and sisters who call upon the Name of our God, that God might uphold them and draw near to them as they experience pain and suffering in this life, that God might spare them, and that the gospel might go forward, proving once again that the “blood of martyrs is seed.” (Tertullian)
The Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Crown Him with Many Crowns
We open our sung praise today with a jubilant paean of praise to the Lord Jesus, King of the Church. Written by two Anglican ministers, Matthew Bridges and Godfrey Thring, this favorite hymn of the church exalts the Lord Jesus Christ in his manifold works and offices as Head over all things for the Church. Thring’s brother once remarked of his hymns: “Be sure that no painting, no art work you could have done, could have been so powerful for good…. As long as the English language lasts, sundry of your hymns will be read and sung…and many a soul of God’s creatures will thrill at your words. What more can a man want?” Even as we are reminded of the great persecution of Christians that still goes on in our world, we can remain confident that we serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “whose power a scepter sways.”
Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul (Psalm 146)
The text of this song comes from the Psalter of 1912 and is a metrical version of Psalm 146. The tune, “Ripley,” is familiar to us (we sing “Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee” to it) and was a Gregorian Chant melody arranged by the great Lowell Mason, who is often called the “father of American church music.”
O God, No Longer Hold Thy Peace (Psalm 83)
The Bible provides us with just the language to use in singing to God on behalf of our persecuted brethren.
I Know Whom I Have Believed
Based on Paul’s final word to the Church in 2 Timothy 1:12, this hymn by Daniel Whittle is full of assurance and joy. Whittle was a major in the Civil War (yes, for many of you he was on the wrong side!). Grace abounds in the strangest of places, and Whittle, who had lost his right arm, ended up in a prison of war camp. It was there that he found a New Testament. Having been seen reading the New Testament he was called upon one evening to visit a dying man’s bedside in order to pray with him. Whittle explains:
“I dropped on my knees and held the boy’s hand in mine. In a few broken words I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed earnestly for the boy. He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed and pleaded God’s promises. When I arose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Saviour, used to lead him to trust Christ’s precious blood and find pardon. I hope to meet him in heaven.” | <urn:uuid:aacd3f1e-0645-4b87-9122-afea5dd3cd4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/I%20Timothy/11b_I_timothy_6_18_on_11.14.2004.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971813 | 5,823 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Jul 29, 2010
Hi! My name is Stephanie. I just discovered theses coliflower things around my rectum. I'm curious and want to know if they are deadly. I think its anal warts. Also is fever and weakness symptoms of anal watrs? They are very itchy and my stool is very very soft lately and I've been bleeding out rectum. I have doc app in two weeks. Will I be ok till then?
| Response from Dr. McGowan
Thanks for this important question.
Yes, these sound like anal warts or condyloma. These can be caused by a virus called HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). HPV is very common (over 100 million infected in the US) and is spread sexually. There are many strains of HPV, some cause warts and some can cause cancers such as cervical, vaginal, penile and anal cancer. Women get regular PAP smears of the cervix to look for HPV and any signs of cancer cells. We now recommend that any woman with an abnormal cervical Pap also get an Anal Pap smear. Also men who have sex with men should get an anal pap smear to look for HPV infection and signs of cancer cells. It usually takes a long time for cancer to develop but it can be shorter if the CD4 count is low.
Luckily the strains of HPV that cause warts generally do not cause cancer, but it is common to be infected with multiple strains.
Be sure to get an anal as well as cervical Pap. The best treatment is prevention and these warts and any early changes in the Pap can be treated to prevent any chance for cancer to develop.
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Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. | <urn:uuid:1095fa4d-a841-4566-b167-2af1fce45545> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Meds/Q210004.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945424 | 460 | 1.695313 | 2 |
- by Fluffy Canofelini
“As I lie on the TV cleaning my head with a wet paw,
more viscerally than ever, I know who my family is.”
Though born and raised as a dog myself, I’ve noticed a lot of problems with domesticated doghood during my tenure as a personality in catmedia.
Bad for Nature
Descended from the meekest wolves that early humans were able to enslave with treats, we dogs are a human-engineered variety of a species that has strayed far from nature and has had its predatory instincts perverted.
For example, hunting dogs will bite into a wild moose or deer and then leave it to die, not hanging around to feed off of it or to share with the packs that wolves hang with. The injured animal will wander around for days or weeks, slowly dying of infection and blood loss. Meanwhile, the dog will be hungry a few hours later and may attack another deer and leave it to slowly die in pain as well.
We no longer know how to hunt effectively or sustainably, but retain a semblance – a perversion - of our predator past. Because of this, we dogs are a menace to our environment.
Bad for Ourselves
We dogs have been so dumbed down by our forced inbreeding, that we will actually eat ourselves to death. Trained to respond to treats the way that human children do – as a symbol of love and security – we domesticated dogs, unlike the original wolf, will eat treats until our stomachs explode.
Likewise, because we are so often forced to be the entertaining slaves of another species, we’re trained to do useless tricks that will not help us survive. If the human “master” of a human house, for whatever reason, loses his senses and sets the house on fire, we domestic dogs might try to save ourselves by… chasing a stick, giving our paw, or rolling over and playing dead. Perhaps the last trick is actually the most useful one that humans have taught us.
Dogs are the original GMOs, having been inbred and genetically engineered over the course of many generations. And to add insult to injury, we mutant by-products of inbreeding are routinely tortured (humans call this training) in order to get us to further abandon any instinctive skills or behavior we may have retained through the inbreeding process.
We unlearned how to survive, and were re-educated to be obedient instead. Not only does this render us entirely dependent on our human hosts, but it also gives us a value system that hurts other dogs who are less obedient and more survival oriented. This is why chained dogs will often bark angrily at a dog that has no chain around his neck: the domesticated dog has learned to detest real freedom, and instead, associates human-given rewards with success and survival.
This is a perversion, of course, and I can still recall my father coming back in the house with blood all over his fur after having picked a hateful fight with our Collie neighbor, Kipper. Kipper’s only crime: being allowed to stay outside for hours at a time without a leash.
What goes around…
Of course, human elites have performed a similar crime against other humans as well, rendering most of them survival-illiterate just like us domesticated dogs. And this may provide the only glimmer of hope. If humans die off before we do due to their own inbred perversion of nature – their nation states, their special super-breeds, and their magical ideologies and myths… if we modified wolves outlive our Dr. Frankenstein torturers, we might finally be free to mate with whomever we want. And then let’s hope we can still retrieve our natural balance and find our way back to a natural and sustainable wolfhood. | <urn:uuid:9f56440c-589f-4e44-80d4-6b499c2b4db0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://qatzelok.wordpress.com/category/das-qaturday/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952721 | 798 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Holmes and Wayne counties are at Level 2 Snow Emergency alerts. That means the roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Only those who feel it necessary to drive should be out on the roadways. Residents are advised to contact their employer to see if they should report to work.
The village of Millersburg has issued a snow emergency parking ban due to the excessive snow for Jackson Street, Clay Street and South Washington Street from Jackson to Adams streets.
Wooster issued a parking ban, too, effective until 1 p.m. Thursday.
For the Wayne and Holmes county area, the forecast from the National Weather Service is snow likely, mainly before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around 26. North wind around 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. .
On Thursday, a chance of snow showers before 9 a.m., then a chance for flurries before ending. Cloudy, with a high near 32. Northwest wind 13 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Click here to open a new window with an interactive graphic from the Associated Press tracking an enormous winter storm system that is expected to dump up to a foot of snow on Northeast Ohio and lead to blizzard conditions around Cleveland. The storm, which unleashed tornadoes around the South, already has prompted flight cancellations and weather warnings for drivers. | <urn:uuid:2672fe11-8628-423f-b794-06924aaa2dc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%20news/2012/12/26/level-1-snow-emergency-in-holmes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944308 | 297 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Hoard's Dairyman article: It’s Round 2 for Roundup Ready alfalfa
It’s Round 2 for Roundup Ready alfalfa
by Mike Rankin
The author is a crops and soils agent with the University of Wisconsin Extension, Fond du Lac County.
While RR alfalfa may have its place in crop rotations, it is not an option
for mixed forage stands.
A comparison of recent genetic advancement between two important dairy forage sources, alfalfa and corn silage, reminds one of old Uncle Aesop’s tortoise and the hare fable. Corn hybrids briskly move along acquiring new agronomic and nutritional traits with each passing year, while alfalfa has been . . . well . . . alfalfa for what seems like forever. Average per-acre corn silage yields continue to climb annually in ton increments, and average alfalfa yields climb in digits that are found on the right side of the decimal point.
A part of this phenomenon is simply explained by the nature of the beast: Alfalfa is a perennial, always conserving a portion of plant resources for future survival rather than short-term production. Another part is explained by the amount of industry and university resources that are allocated to the crops: advantage corn.
All of this said, through the years there have been improvements in alfalfa genetics. Varieties today are more winterhardy and more disease resistant; both characteristics save yield rather than make yield. Recently, we’ve seen the introduction of hybrid alfalfa and a continued improvement in specialized traits such as lodging resistance and potato leafhopper resistance. Now, after a four-year hiatus through the U.S. judicial and regulatory systems, glyphosate resistance is back on the market as the first transgenic alfalfa trait. Another yield saver? Perhaps.
Alfalfa with glyphosate resistance, marketed as Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa, was first made available to growers in 2005, but then was pulled off the market in 2007 following a federal lawsuit by the Center for Food Safety in a California district court which cited the failure to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) by the USDA. This ruling set off a flurry of appeals, hearings, rules for managing previously seeded RR alfalfa stands, and the drafting of an EIS by the USDA. Finally, this January, RR alfalfa was granted nonregulated status by the USDA.
Initially, growers will have RR alfalfa varieties available that were on the market in 2007. Seed companies have kept their supplies in controlled storage and are confident in the seed quality. New releases are certain to hit the market in the near future. Researchers and growers now must focus their attention on the economics and management of using RR alfalfa. Seed marketers are saying that RR alfalfa varieties will be competitively priced with the best conventional alfalfa varieties, but there will be $125 per bag technology fee for growers east of the Rocky Mountains ($150 west of the Rockies).
At the point when RR alfalfa was pulled from the market in 2007, there had been barely enough time for growers or researchers to establish varieties, let alone evaluate performance. Prior to RR alfalfa hitting the market in 2005, Wisconsin weed scientists established a field trial to look at the RR alfalfa system versus conventional establishment methods. They found no significant difference in total season yield between the RR and conventional weed control systems, but weeds comprised a higher percentage of the yield when conventional herbicides were used.
In 2007, here’s what we definitely knew about RR alfalfa:
• Exceptional weed control without crop injury.
• Convenient weed control for the stand’s life.
• There were a limited number of varieties.
• About 5 to 10 percent of seeds in each bag were glyphosate susceptible.
All of the above hold true in 2011, but growers also have some additional information available. Beginning in 2006, RR varieties were incorporated into the testing program at the University of Wisconsin. Established at three locations, the trials were maintained for three production years at Arlington and Marshfield. At Lancaster, the 2006 seeded trial winterkilled following the first production year. At each location, a separate RR system trial was established using glyphosate or conventional chemistries. Further, the same RR varieties in the system trial were included in the standard variety testing program, enabling growers to evaluate the genetic yield potential of the RR varieties against other conventional varieties.
The data can be viewed at www.uwex.edu/ces/forage/resdata/2009report01.htm.
The following conclusions can be drawn from these initial university studies:
1. In the 2006 seeding year, there was a yield advantage for the RR system of between 0.25 and 0.77 tons of dry matter per acre across locations.
2. Subsequent total yield through the first three production years (Arlington and Marshfield locations) were essentially equal. At Lancaster, where stands winterkilled after one production year, the RR system maintained its yield advantage in the first production year.
3. There were significant differences in yield among the RR varieties both in the system and variety performance trials. Some performed equal to the top conventional varieties, while others ranked near the bottom of the trial.
If you buy RR alfalfa
There still has not been enough time to fully evaluate RR alfalfa systems, but there are some things to consider as we head into 2011 growing season. Remember that a small percentage of seed in every bag will be glyphosate susceptible. Growers who seed RR alfalfa will need to use glyphosate in the seeding year to eliminate these plants.
Recapturing the technology fee in the seeding year will likely need to come from greater yield as a result of reduced crop injury that is often inherent with conventional herbicides. In some cases, additional returns may be realized from improved forage quality. To date, research has shown any seeding-year forage quality advantage to be highly variable. Environmental conditions at the time of herbicide treatment and/or the density and type of weed species present will impact the degree of potential advantage, if any.
It’s sometimes easy to fall into the trap of selecting an alfalfa variety based solely on a trait such as glyphosate resistance. Consistent variety yield performance across a range of environments is more important than any single trait, including glyphosate resistance. Yield gains from reduced crop injury in the seeding year can easily be lost in subsequent years if the genetic potential of the RR variety is not among the top-performing conventional varieties.
A few final considerations as we head into the second era of RR alfalfa. First, it’s simply too early to determine how RR alfalfa will impact management and economics in the subsequent years after seeding. That information will come with more research and grower experience.
Second, although RR technology is a wonderful tool, it can be overused and abused. Up until recently, growers were forced to control weeds with chemistries other than glyphosate in the alfalfa rotation years. Such a practice goes a long way in preventing the development of glyphosate-resistant weeds if RR systems are being used in the nonalfalfa rotation years. Finally, for those who grow alfalfa with other forage species, RR alfalfa is simply not an option. | <urn:uuid:eca45f65-b4c3-4285-9572-c8eb93250f98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hoards.com/E_crops/cf28?mini=calendar%2F2012-10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949311 | 1,549 | 1.75 | 2 |
Damn straight!!! Rav S. R. Hirsch wanted to found a yeshiva for laymen in Frankfurt (which his son-in-law eventually succeeded in doing) precisely because he was afraid that as long as there was only the Berlin Hildesheimer rabbinical seminary, that even the Orthodox laymen would assume that only rabbis need post-high-school Jewish education. Even Rav Hirsch's son-in-law, however, found it difficult to found that lay yeshiva, because the congregants erroneously thought Rav Hirsch would have opposed its creation. For years, the yeshiva had to import students from Hungary, and only later did native Germans finally begin attending it.
As for women, I'd like to quote Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg (of Germany)'s teshuva on qol isha (translated here) [update: Rabbi Weinberg was born in Poland, learned in Mir and Slabodka, and became a renowned rosh yeshiva in the Hildesheimer seminary in Berlin - h/t "Skeptic"]:
I therefore instructed the leaders of [the NCSY-type youth group] Yeshurun that they may rely upon the great rabbis of Germany [viz. Rabbis Hirsch and Hildesheimer]. Those men, experts in education, were familiar with the spirit of the contemporary young woman, who, have been educated in the state schools and having learned languages and science, has a sense of self respect. Because they view the prohibition against their participation in religious singing as a form of ostracism, they have been permitted to participate in singing Shabbos melodies. We know the great rabbis of Germany were more successful in educating their young women that the rabbis of any other country. In Germany we have seen highly educated, scholarly women who are the same time G-d-fearing and enthusiastically observant. For this reason, I do not dare forbid what those rabbis permitted. In these countries, the women will feel they have been insulted and their rights have been denied them if we forbid them to participate in singing Shabbos melodies. Anyone familiar with the nature of the women in these countries will understand this. Prohibiting them may cause them to be estranged from religion, G-d forbid. Of such it is said, 'When it is time to act for the Lord, violate the Torah' (Psalms 119:126).
The women have "self respect"!!! They will "feel they have been insulted and their rights have been denied them" if they perceive themselves as being discriminated against in any way!!! And "[a]nyone familiar with the nature of the women in these countries will understand this"!!!! How many Orthodox rabbis have told these women even today that they aren't sufficiently religious, that their desire to be rabbis evinces lack of piety!!! But Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg, easily one of the greatest rabbis of recent days, held otherwise.
Does it strike anyone as odd that we can be lenient in pesaq for the sake of avoiding monetary loss, and yet so many refuse to be lenient to satisfy women? Are the emotions of women, of half the Jewish people, less important than our money? Rabbi Benzion Uziel said he'd always ruled leniently for the sake of hesed and ahavah whenever he could find a Talmudic basis to do so, and his student Rabbi Haim David Halevy said that Beit Hillel prevailed over Beit Shammai because the former knew the human condition and was lenient. Should we be surprised that it was Rabbi Uziel who said women could vote and hold political office and be a queen (malkah) and be a dayan? (The Ashkenazim of the time held that women may not hold office or even vote. The Ashkenazim today still hold by this in principle, but their selfishness and desire for political influence hypocritically outweigh their adherence to halakhah, and so they let their women vote. As for being a dayan, the rabbis today are still arguing about whether women may be rabbis, even though Rabbi Uziel settled the question some eight or nine decades ago.)
(And it was Rabbi Uziel and other Sephardim who were willing to add conditions to the qetuba, in order to make a qiddushin b'tenai, a conditional marriage, which would allow us to avoid situations of a woman being an agunah - if the conditions were not met, the marriage would be retroactively void. To my knowledge, the only other rabbis who held by qiddushin b'tenai as a practical solution for today were ... drumroll ... Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg and his student Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Berkovits. Rabbi Emanuel Rackman asks in One Man's Judaism why agunot must follow Ashkenazi stricture instead of Sephardi leniency in this area.)
Elsewhere in the same teshuva on qol isha, Rabbi Weinberg said (as quoted here):
In any event, when I was asked ... I instructed them that they should continue their activity in accordance with the way that was delineated for them by the great [rabbis] of Germany, who were very righteous ... and the great [rabbis] of Germany were erudite and expert in the wisdom of education and therefore they succeeded by their deeds to raise whole generations of people who had both the fear of Heaven and secular learning, something that did not occur under the [most] brilliant of the great [rabbis] of Lithuania and Poland, because they did not know how to adjust the education [-al methods] according to the conditions of the time. It is known what the brilliant Rabbi Salanter told upon his return from Germany, where he met with Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer and saw him lecture classes in Bible and Shulhan Arukh in front of young single women. He [Rabbi Salanter] said thus [in reaction]: if any one of the rabbis from Lithuania would act in such a manner in his community, they would remove him from his post, and such is the law. In any event, it is my hope that my place in the afterworld will be with Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer . ... And now the rabbis of Poland and Hungary who have found their way to France see the modern practices ... and they vehemently protest them, because these practices are in opposition to explicit laws ... but these said rabbis are not erudite in the conditions of life ...
About women's semikhah, see what I've written here. About qol isha, see my article here. About women's education in Germany, see Dr. Laura Shaw-Frank's "But We Are Guilty for Our Daughters": Lessons Learned from the History of Jewish Girls' Education in Germany and Eastern Europe in the Ninteenth Century | <urn:uuid:17a2b44d-9e69-4cae-be60-00460927d4f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michaelmakovi.blogspot.com/2010/03/womens-and-jewish-education-in-germany.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978688 | 1,440 | 1.726563 | 2 |
In recent years, scientists have taken an intense interest in curcumin, a bright-yellow compound in turmeric that seems to fight inflammation -- in test tubes and lab rodents, at least. If it could fight inflammation in people too, it potentially could help ease arthritis and some digestive troubles, along with other conditions fueled by inflammation.
Curcumin's stock in the supplement world has been on the rise thanks to articles that have touted the compound as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and various cancers.
The stories beneath the headlines almost invariably warn that more research is needed, but the marketing of curcumin is moving full steam ahead at health-food stores, in vitamin aisles and on Internet sites. Ageless Cures sells 60 caplets of Super Curcumin -- with at least 950 milligrams of curcumin a tablet -- for about $20. You can buy 60 caplets of Life Extension's Super Bio-Curcumin -- with a little less than 400 milligrams of curcumin a caplet -- for about $12.
The claims: The Ageless Cures website claims that "curcumin has shown to be very anti-inflammatory without any negative side effects and many additional positive benefits." Visitors to the site are told that curcumin's anti-inflammatory power makes it an effective treatment for arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and Alzheimer's disease.
In an online review of Super Bio-Curcumin, vitamin supplier Seacoast Vitamins claims that "just one capsule a day with food may help regulate inflammatory response in the body." According to the company's site, control of inflammation can translate into relief from rheumatoid arthritis and other types of pain.
The bottom line: If you require hard evidence for your remedies, you may want to keep your curcumin in the spice rack. For the most part, the tantalizing possibilities are still unproven, says Greg Cole, a UCLA professor-in-residence of neurology and associate director of the university's Alzheimer Disease Center who has been studying curcumin for several years. "It does a whole lot of things in a test tube," he says. "For people, the data are pretty weak."
Test-tube studies have shown that curcumin can block inflammation, clean up free radicals and kill cancer cells, but there's a big roadblock between the lab and human use. According to Cole, plain curcumin isn't well absorbed, a shortcoming that seriously limits its potential effectiveness. (Mixing it with fat first seems to help absorption -- good news for people who like coconut milk or oil with their curries.) Cole suspects that the lack of absorption partly explains why a recent UCLA trial he conducted failed to show any benefits of curcumin for patients with Alzheimer's disease.
For now, Cole says, curcumin shows the most promise in the digestive tract, the one place in the body that supplements are guaranteed to reach. Preliminary trials of patients with colon cancer have found that taking up to 3.6 grams of curcumin a day appears to slow down the disease. A 2005 study of 10 people with inflammatory bowel disease -- either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis -- found that 1.1 to 1.7 grams of curcumin a day for two months relieved symptoms and reduced the need for medications. The small study was not placebo controlled, however, which leaves room for doubt.
Bharat Aggarwal, professor of cancer research at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and a leading curcumin researcher, says that big, expensive human trials of the compound haven't been done because drug companies can't make money selling a curry spice. Despite this, at least a dozen small clinical trials are underway around the world. He believes that the compound shows great potential for treating Alzheimer's, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and other conditions caused by inflammation. Anecdotally, he says, "I have a thousand patients who correspond with me, and the response [to curcumin] has been overwhelming."
Cole says some of his patients have also reported dramatic improvements after trying curcumin. "Is there any truth to it? I don't know."
Based on evidence so far, curcumin might be worth a try for people hoping to avoid colon cancer, including those at high risk because of polyps, says Dr. Mary Hardy, medical director of the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology. The benefits for other types of cancers are much less certain, she says. Still, "I don't expect it to be harmful, so if someone was excited about taking it, I wouldn't tell them not to."
Cole agrees that there's little downside to trying curcumin. Because the compound is so poorly absorbed, he sees little potential for harm. Studies have found that people can take 7 grams a day without side effects, although it’s possible that larger doses, or use over longer periods of time, can upset the stomach and perhaps increase the risk of bleeding.
Is there a consumer product you'd like the Healthy Skeptic to examine? E-mail the details to firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:49b841f9-a086-470e-89d0-07e69289e809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wask.com/waskfm/lifestyle/green/la-he-skeptic8-2008sep08,0,7510385.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954857 | 1,079 | 1.703125 | 2 |
SIX THINGS GOD CANNOT DO
by Stan Butler
God is sovereign. We say and believe that God is sovereign and although the word “sovereign” is not found in the Scriptures we use that word to mean that He is the Supreme Ruler, He’s all knowing, He’s all powerful, simply that He IS. We say as our sovereign God…He can do anything He wants to. He even says in Matthew 19:26; “with God, all things are possible.” Yet as we read the scriptures we see that this statement seems to contradict itself, because we know that there are many things God just cannot do. How can this be, because in 2Timothy 2:13 it says; “that God cannot deny Himself.” Well, that word “deny” in the Greek means “to contradict.” So how can this be that in one scripture we see that God can do anything, then flip a few pages and read where He cannot do this or that.
Let me give you an example of a scripture that seemed to me at first to be contradictory:
In Proverbs 17:15, we read, “He that justifieth the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.” God does not like to see a wicked person go unpunished. Yet God is a justifier of the wicked, and in order not to contradict himself, God simply saw to it that the penalty for sin was paid. In order for God to demonstrate love and justice, the penalty for all sin had to be satisfied, and the only way for that to happen was for God to offer and indeed let His only Son die for all the sins of mankind.
Can you imagine how God feels about our court system that we have in place today? A rapist, a murderer, a thief goes unpunished because someone forgot to read him his rights! The case is thrown out of court and the criminal goes free… the criminal can say, “it’s just as if I’d never committed the crime.” Oh how Almighty God must hate that.
Let’s look at some other things which God cannot do according to His word:
God cannot deny Himself: 2Timothy 2:13; This has just been explained. God’s word is never contradictory.
God cannot wash away sin without blood: Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Aren’t you thankful for the waters of baptism? Acts 22:16b; “arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins.”
Aren’t you thankful for the cup you drink from every Sunday? Matthew 26:28; Jesus holding the cup said these words: “This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
God cannot sin: James 1:13; “God cannot be tempted with evil.”
God cannot change: Malachi 3:6; “I am the Lord, I change not.”
God cannot save man without man’s consent: We see this illustrated in Matthew 23:37: Jesus says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”
God cannot lie: Heb 6:18; “it is impossible for God to lie.”
Titus 1:2; “which God, who cannot lie.”
How wonderful it is to know that when we read something in His Word, we can absolutely rely on it to be the truth, and always to know that when God says something…it is settled and we can believe it.
Be assured, the things which God says He cannot do are only because of the limitations He has placed on Himself.
Some of the content for this post I got from a sermon preached by Bro. Larry Jamison, evangelist at Oakland Christian Church, Oakland, Kentucky. Larry got the content of his sermon from the Scriptures. I guess that would make God the original author. Enjoy.
My thanks to Michael, a brother in Covenant, who is my corrective grammarian. | <urn:uuid:835dc59b-e0b7-446b-8884-84ffdbaa1038> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://accordingtothebook.blogspot.com/2011/12/six-things-god-cannot-do-by-stan-butler.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964279 | 920 | 1.75 | 2 |
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink protests in August outside a building in Florida where drones are built. (photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Code Pink Activists Stage Hunger Strike in Pakistan in Anti-Drones Protest
By Jon Boone, Guardian UK via Reader Supported News October12
ot content with a planned march into one of Pakistan‘s most dangerous regions, a group of middle-aged American women are considering mounting a hunger strike outside the US embassy in Islamabad as part a campaign against CIA drone attacks in the country. Thirty-five activists from Code Pink, a US anti-war group, have gathered in the Pakistani capital this week as they prepare for an unprecedented march and political rally in South Waziristan, one of the semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border, which is a hotbed of Taliban militancy.
Despite intense publicity surrounding the event, doubts persist over whether it will be able to take place. Local authorities have expressed strong doubts about the safety of the march, even though the Pakistani military has long claimed its operations in the area have brought a semblance of security.
Medea Benjamin, the veteran activist leading the Code Pink delegation, said: “Frankly, it’s a win-win situation for us, whether we get into Waziristan or not.
“We are going because we are challenging the Pakistani government to allow us to go to a place that has been off limits but needs to be seen. And if they try to stop us, it will be clear they do not want the world to see what is going on there.”
On Tuesday in Islamabad, the women met retired generals, ambassadors and even a former head of the notorious military spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and discussed other tactics to publicise their cause.
Those included mounting a hunger strike outside the US embassy in Islamabad. Benjamin said the group was still considering the idea.
“It was something a couple of members of the group brought up, but we wanted to wait until we got here to see how appropriate that might be,” she said.
There was also a lengthy discussion about whether Pakistan, which publicly decries the drone campaign despite signs that it continues to give tacit approval, should attempt to shoot down US drones in its airspace.
On Wednesday, the women met people from North Waziristan who said they were victims of the US drone campaign, having lost relatives to missile strikes by the remote-controlled planes. They will also hold meetings with Pakistani and US government officials.
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The group includes Mary Ann Wright, a former US diplomat and army colonel who condemned her country’s covert drone campaign as Barack Obama’s “personal execution device”, in reference to the US president’s weekly meeting at which he is reported to choose targets for missile strikes.
The march, led by Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, is due to take place this weekend. Organisers hope to spend Saturday night in a town outside the tribal areas and then move on to Jandola, just inside the border of South Waziristan, where they will hold a rally.
The Taliban have given mixed signals over the march. In August, a spokesman said Khan would be targeted because he is a “liberal”, but other reports have said the Taliban will support the march.
Supporters say Khan has been assured by General Ashfaq Kayani, the head of Pakistan’s army, that if they go to South Waziristan they will remain safe.
The ambitions of march organisers have already been significantly downgraded. The original hope had been to travel to North Waziristan, a far more dangerous area rife with militants drawn from across the world.
The vast majority of drone strikes take place there, and the Pakistani army has almost no influence over the tribal area, where they have long-resisted US calls to mount military operations.
Nonetheless, although Jandola is in a relatively safe part of South Waziristan, all of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have been off limits to foreigners since the tribal belt became a sanctuary for Taliban groups fighting against Nato troops in Afghanistan and Pakistani government forces.
Few politicians have dared to campaign in the area. If successful, the march will cement Khan’s position as a pre-eminent opponent of the US drone campaign.
Code Pink, which originally formed to oppose the second Iraq war, claimed its anti-drone campaign was still in its infancy. Benjamin said: “When it comes to drones, we are at the very beginning of turning public opinion against them in the US.” | <urn:uuid:1999947a-9565-4427-a7fb-cbb4b1337bca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wammtoday.org/2012/10/04/code-pink-activists-stage-hunger-strike-in-pakistan-in-anti-drones-protest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961979 | 1,056 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The Secret of the Saucers, by Orfeo M. Angelucci, , at sacred-texts.com
The Christmas holidays arrived with their gay, festive spirit and usual bustling excitement. By then things had settled back to normal and I had experienced no further contacts. Flying saucers seemed to have vanished from the skies; practically no accounts of sightings appeared in the newspapers. Although I had completed the manuscript for The Twentieth Century Times, I couldn't get up the courage to have it published.
Mabel kept saying: "Orfie, if you publish that, people will think you are completely crazy. Why don't you just forget it! Nothing good can ever come of it. Everything is going along so smoothly now; we're both working and the boys are happylet's just leave it that way."
"But, Mae . . ." I'd remonstrate. "Don't you understand; these things really happened to me! It is my duty to tell what I know!"
"And just what thanks will you get for it? Do you want to be ridiculed, laughed at and considered a crackpot or a psycho? Think back! Remember how everybody talked when you first told that wild story about a trip in a flying saucer. What did it get you but ridicule! Even if it did happen, Orfie, forget it! Just forget the whole thing for your family's sake. Let's be happy and enjoy life."
Thus although I felt I was betraying Neptune, I let things drift and made no effort to get my story published. In fact on New Year's Day, 1953 our lives were going along so smoothly and pleasantly that I had decided to forget it all insofar as the world was concerned and let those incredible experiences become a part of the dead past of 1952.
But the events of 1952 would not rest. During the latter part of January, 1953 the front pages of the newspapers were carrying sensational new saucer stories. The Air Force released reports that flying disks and strange clusters of lights were numerous over Korea. F-94 Starfires had encountered several of the saucers and one of their pilots had gotten a radar magnetic lock on one of them. Northern Japan too had many sightings.
The reports made me restless. At night I frequently went outside and scanned the heavens. Frequently I saw the disks overhead as roving lights. Any casual observer would not give a second glance, but simply pass the lights off as ordinary airplane lights. And since our apartment was close to several large airports, there were usually airplanes visible at all times. I should never have been able to distinguish saucer lights from those of aircraft were it not for the peculiar sensitivity of my nervous system to the electro-magnetic effect of the saucers.
Then I began to be ashamed of myself for having failed so completely the trust that Neptune had placed in me. He had said: "The road will open, Orfeo; travel it as you will." I realized that thus
far I had refused to travel the road and except for the few talks I had made to small groups I had done nothing to help people understand the strange visitors. More and more every day I realized how selfish I was in thinking first of my family and myself. Finally I knew there was no alternative for me. Come what may, I had to go ahead with publication of the facts of my experiences. It was the only constructive thing I could think of to do.
Without discussing the matter any further with Mabel, I took the manuscript for The Twentieth Century Times to several local publishers. None of them were encouraging. Far from it! The first one I approached was highly amused and a little contemptuous as he said: "You'd better send this thing to a science-fiction mag, old boy, unless you want to land in a strait-jacket."
The next publisher I tried told me how rambling and incoherently the thing was written. "You forget I'm not a writer, "I replied. "I've done the best I can and all of the facts are there."
He laughed. "You say the facts are herebut are they? You start off by saying these experiences are true and yet before the narrative is completed you have inferred several times that they could be imaginary. In fact, right here on the front page you make the statement: 'This story is either a yarn or it is real!' What kind of facts are those? And how can you expect people to accept the paper as actual fact?"
"I've thought of all that," I replied. "Frankly,
it was my idea to break the news gently. In other words, to let the readers feel uncertain at first as to the absolute authenticity of the facts. To tell this entire thing at first as fact is too much of a shock for an unstable world. As you yourself say, I might be hustled off to a mental institution. Let the truth of what I have to say develop gradually."
After considerably more talk along these same lines, he agreed to publish it, but only if I would permit him to edit it and delete major portions of the story. I flatly refused and he in turn refused to have anything to do with publication of the manuscript.
And so it went. I tried publisher after publisher with the same discouraging results. At last, however, I found a small publishing house that was willing to print the piece word for word as written if I would pay all publishing costs and take all of the papers myself. I agreed to do this. But as we parted he shook his head and said: "Pardon me for saying this, Mr. Angelucci, but I honestly think you are making a grave mistake. Not only are you throwing your money away, but you are liable to make yourself a public laughing stock."
"I'll have to risk all that," I answered. "There is no alternative for me; I must publish that paper."
Thus on February 19, 1953, the one and only issue of The Twentieth Century Times came off the press, an eight-page, tabloid-type newspaper which carried word for word an account of all my experiences I felt it was wise for me to release. I breathed
a huge sigh of relief when I saw the paper, for I felt that I had satisfied a debt.
When I walked into our apartment with an armful of the papers Mabel took one horrified look at one of the sheets and sank down in a chair. "Oh Orfie, you didn't do it! You didn't! This thing is dynamite. It can wreck us. Wreck your job, my job and the boys' schooling. This can finish everything we've built up here."
"I'm sorry, Mae," I replied doggedly. "Believe me, there is no other way out for me. I've got to live with myself; so I had to do it. I hope you'll try to understand."
But I knew Mae didn't understand. And as copies of the paper got around, many of her predicted reactions occurred. People began ridiculing me outright and several papers published sarcastic news items about me and my experiences, subtly inferring that I "wasn't all there". Believe me, it wasn't easy to bear, and especially did I suffer for my family. The boys were ribbed unmercifully at school and at her job at the snack bar Mabel was the constant target for the sharp barbs of wit aimed at me.
But the response was not entirely negative. Some persons became genuinely interested. About that time I resumed my weekly talks at the Club House and thus I was able to distribute the papers at the meetings. As more and more persons became interested and ceased to take my Twentieth Century Times as a joke, I began to feel that all might not
be lost. And more important, I could face my reflection in the mirror again, happy in the thought that I had not entirely failed the space visitors. | <urn:uuid:610b63e8-45ed-49fc-97c3-d0f3ba91c8b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacred-texts.com/ufo/sos/sos07.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987124 | 1,647 | 1.695313 | 2 |
LaTeX is something of a misnomer in publishing in the 21st century. On the one hand a language to render and position text on a printed page is solving a problem which is largely solved today – but the markup of equations and mathematical symbols is rarely bettered.
Given a large corpus of existing material is already in LaTeX, then this development from Springer [disclaimer: Springer own BioMed Central and PhysMath Central] could be potentially enlightening for those whose work can be expressed in equations. A LaTeX search engine finds equations or part-equations across all of Springer’s published articles. Very useful for finding a particular approach to solving some engineering problem, say, has already been described in the mathematical …
PhysMath Central will be at ICPEAC 2009 this week. The International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions is being held in Kalamazoo this year and Associate Publisher Chris Leonard will be there, with Dane Brookes, to talk about open access publishing in atomic and molecular physics – and to give away some of our special Rubik’s cubes. There will be a few days to practice before a ‘cube-off’ on Friday to see who can win an iPod nano.
Come and visit us on stand #7 to find out more.
You may have seen on our RSS feed of latest articles the publication of a very interesting paper in PMC Biophysics by Hsu and Hsu. Prof. John Straub gives us a bit of background, and highlights the work’s particular merits.
Zwanzig-Mori projection operators and EEG dynamics: deriving a simple equation of motion
David Hsu and Murielle Hsu
PMC Biophysics 2009, 2:6 (13 July 2009)
Sometimes it pays to borrow. A problem frequently encountered in science is to describe the behavior of a few experimental variables when these are coupled to many other variables about which we know very little. How does one infer relationships between the experimental variables in a rigorous way, …
Eagle-eyed readers (or those with an RSS feed of latest articles) will have noticed that we have recently published a very interesting paper in PMC Biophysics by Tan and Luo. Handling editor Wei Yang explains below what makes this paper special.
Structural and functional implications of p53 missense cancer mutations
Yuhong Tan, Ray Luo
PMC Biophysics 2009, 2:5 (26 June 2009)
The transcription factor p53 is a central tumor suppressor protein that exerts its functions by relaying upstream stress signals, such as DNA damage, to downstream target genes that control DNA repair, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis.
Close to 50% of all human cancers have p53 mutations, and 75% of those are missense mutations affecting …
PMC Physics A board member Brian Cox on what went wrong with the LHC last September, how it was fixed and what they are looking forward to now. Originally presented at Ted U in February 2009.
PMC Physics A is proud to announce the publication of its first review article. The review, entitled "B meson decays" was written by Elisabetta Barberio of the University of Melbourne and Marina Artuso & Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University, New York.
They discuss the most important physics thus far extracted from studies of B meson decays. Measurements of the four CP violating angles accessible in B decay are reviewed as well as direct CP violation. A detailed discussion of the measurements of the CKM elements Vcb and Vub from semileptonic decays is given, and the differences between resulting values using inclusive decays versus exclusive decays is discussed.
Measurements of rare decays are also reviewed.
They point out where CP violating and …
We have just published an excellent editorial by PMC Physics A editor-in-chief, Ken Peach. In it, he outlines what we might discover with the LHC apart from the Higgs. In particular, given some of the more outlandish reporting of the LHC start-up, it explains why open access to the original reseach is important for all kinds of science:
The LHC machine has been built as a global collaboration, led by and from CERN. The four large experiments have also been
built as global collaborations. We at PMC Physics A welcome the commitment by CERN and by the experiments to make the results freely available through publication in open access
journals. The media coverage of …
We’re with Brian Cox on this one. Although it should be taken with a pinch of salt. See Brian’s explanation of his use of this entertaining and underused term in science.
Anyway, we’re here to celebrate the most publically anticipated event in physics and probably science for quite some time. On Wednesday the LHC should be switched on and – should we not get swallowed up in a black hole – one of the biggest, most complex pieces of scientifice apparatus ever will hopefully, slowly start to reveal hitherto unknown secrets of the universe.
Everyone’s talking about it and as a result, the radio and TV schedules are filled with programmes about the LHC (or maybe it’s the other …
Travis Brooks, posting on the new symmetry breaking blog, has analysed the titles of all 51 2007 Topcites from SPIRES
(as well as abstracts from 37 of them and keywords from DESY for 27 of
them) and thrown them at the TagCrowd.com generator to see what came out. Click on the image above, or here, to find out and get a flavour of HEP in 2007.
Listening to comedian Bill Bailey on my iPod on the way to work isn’t something which would usually warrant a mention on the blog here, but today was different. Today he was talking about the Large Hadron Collider and that the fact that the experiment has such a wide spectrum of success:
"The spectrum of success for this scientific experiment ranges from ‘nothing will happen’ when they switch it on…
- Turn it off, turn it on again.
…or, it will create a black hole under Switzerland. That seems to me to be huge margin of error. Nothing or Apocolypse."
He goes on to speculate that if it doesn’t work, scientists will get bored and put other things in it, like … | <urn:uuid:7176f06e-69c7-4f0b-bb65-384fb138a1dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/pmcblog/tag/Physics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936617 | 1,327 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The teenager had not been in school the day before due to a hospital appointment and had missed the start of a project, so the teacher allocated her a group to sit with.Could the day come when holding moral values based on Christian religious beliefs could get a person labeled as an intolerant bigot in need of punishment, or a victim of mental illness in need of a cure? Sure - that day is already here, especially for those who object to homosexual behavior. Could we get to the day when expressing those beliefs or resisting attacks on those beliefs could get a child thrown in jail? We're not there yet, but beware the insane intolerance of the ones who see themselves as the guardians of the highest virtue in their book, tolerance.
"She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils," said Codie yesterday.
"Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said 'Discuss'."
According to Codie, the five - four boys and a girl - then began talking in a language she didn't understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
"I said 'I'm not being funny, but can I change groups because I can't understand them?' But she started shouting and screaming, saying 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police'."
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
And could we see the day when Christians who oppose a social program or PC teachings teachings on moral grounds could be more than just called mentally ill, but also be accused of a hate crime? Or even be accused of being an "enemy combatant" and locked up without a trial? (BTW, why are we all sitting back so silently as our Constitutional rights are stripped away?) Indeed, the Book of Mormon may offer another prophetic insight into where we are going. Recall that in the years before the great visit of Jesus Christ to Nephite society, the government had become so corrupt that prophets and those who preached of the Messiah were secretly put to death in violation of the requirements of the written law (3 Nephi 6:22-30). The intolerance of the elite toward the pre-Christian "Christians" was truly insane. I hope we don't get too far down that track, but we'll see ever growing religious intolerance from the elite dwellers of our modern "great and spacious buildings," as Lehi saw in his amazing vision. Watch out. | <urn:uuid:fc8a00a4-db2d-4cce-95d3-5c127a3ff36b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2006/10/intolerance-of-tolerant-ones-uk-offers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985729 | 580 | 1.5 | 2 |
Authors » Rosalie Leaney
Rosalie Leaney was born and educated in Guildford and Midland, Western Australia. Early childhood illnesses determined her towards nursing, where she trained at Royal Perth Hospital and King Edward Memorial with post-graduate nursing in country Leonora and Perth metropolitan areas. She married Gordon Leaney and they were blessed with a son and two daughters. She had an abiding faith with love of the family, art and gardening. Life was good. In 1993, life changed forever with a massive intracerebral haemorrhage that confronted the whole family with the opportunity to disintegrate or grow in ways they never thought possible.
Winner, Media Award from People with Disabilities (Western Australia), 1999
Winner, Pearce Australia Day Award, 2000
Winner, Count Us In Award, 2007
Books available from Fremantle Press
- Whose Hand is This? 1999 | <urn:uuid:647a4fa9-4df7-41bd-aa58-694141ae1079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/authors/509/Rosalie+Leaney?amp;=&PeopleGroup=6&PeopleGroup=photographer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966433 | 183 | 1.507813 | 2 |
MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- Authorities are looking for vandals responsible for damaging about 30 headstones and monuments at a West Michigan cemetery, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
The Muskegon Chronicle and WOOD-TV report the vandalism at Muskegon's Oakwood Cemetery was discovered earlier this week. Officials say they think the vandalism involved a group of people because of the large size and heavy weight of some headstones and monuments.
One of the monuments damaged was a large cross that was snapped in half.
A $500 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Similar damage happened at the cemetery last month and in November.
Police also are planning to step up patrols in the area. | <urn:uuid:529a7ca2-5cfb-4f34-9b9e-8299a37abb56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/Vandals_Sought_In_West_Michigan_Cemetery_Damage_149974425.html?storySection=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966581 | 152 | 1.703125 | 2 |
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky's initial "Voter Registration Week" is under way and officials hope numbers of new voters will reflect its success.
Kentucky took part in the 2004 and 2006 National Voter Registration Weeks, which are only held during federal election cycles. Secretary of State Trey Grayson asked Governor Fletcher to designate the week leading up to the voter registration deadline of October ninth as Kentucky Voter Registration Week. The governor issued the proclamation September 28th.
County Clerks offices throughout Kentucky will accept voter registration cards until the close of business that day. A postmark of October ninth is also required for all mail-in voter registration applications.
---Registration cards may be obtained over the internet at www.sos.ky.gov/register.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Enter your number for a chance to win great prizes!
Message and data rates may apply | <urn:uuid:0dcab186-f8bb-4f2e-9653-b9d98e8d0acb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/10154841.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954465 | 190 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|Posted by hj on February 17, 2004 at 08:57:44:|
|In response to Re: CPVC|
That was what polybutylene was supposed to do. Revolutionize the industry so anyone could be a plumber. It won't happen as long as there are commercial properties to plumb and as long as there are unions.
: Somebody told me that in 10 years, copper plumbing will be a thing of the past. Everything will be CPVC and PVC.
: Is this true?? Opinions?????
|Replies to this post|
|There are none.| | <urn:uuid:46c5e0de-4ecf-45ac-ac90-b0a433c97c1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://terrylove.com/wwwboard/messages2/44639.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978398 | 127 | 1.554688 | 2 |
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Brandywine’s Virtual Academy’s director reports successes.
Carolyn Hanych, Virtual Academy director, provided a presentation to the Brandywine Heights School Board on Monday night, March 4, who reported the successes and the future for the virtual academy.
BHVA begin in 2009 with only eight highschool students, two of whom were special education students. In 2010 BHVA introduced grades six through eight and in 2011 they incorporated the kindergarten through fifth grade program. The 2012-13 school year has 92 students that are using online courses. Of those 92 students, 28 are using BHVA full time and do not attend a traditional brick and mortar building for school.
“One feature that sets us apart from all other cyber charters is that we can allow students to customize their learning and select courses in our brick and mortar building and also online courses,” Hanych said.
The elementary school kids participated in a show case which five states were included (Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania).Of the nine students that participated in the showcase, five of them were from Brandywine Heights.
This year the program is looking at a 90 percent graduation rate if they were stopped now.
“There are only three students who are not on track to graduate and we’re in contact with them quite often,” Hanych said.
BHVA gives students the opportunity to work from home and gives students a 24/5 help line.
“Beginning on Sunday night they have the chance to contact a teacher who is a part of the program to help them.”
What Hanych believes is the most important thing that the students in the program get is a high school diploma when they graduate.
“These students are Brandywine students and they get a diploma when they graduate which is not something that most cyber charter schools can offer.”
The students are considered Brandywine Heights students and can participate in after school activities and clubs that the district offers.
The presentation showed the success rate of the school as well as the financial benefits to the school.
A chart prepared by Hanych shows that the cost of BHVA is much more economical than the cost of the average cyber charter school. With 91 regular education students, there are 302 online courses that the students can choose from and the average cost per student is $1,243. While at the cyber charter schools, there are only five to eight online courses and the average cost per student is $9,875.
According to Hanych, the number of students enrolling in online courses seems to be at a plateau which is what she wanted.
“Now it is time to improve the program and see how we can improve it.”
This year, BHVA had their first field trip where they went to the Lehigh Valley Zoo and they did a study on Ornithology and had a presentation on birds of prey. This spring, they will be planning a field trip to an organic farm with the elementary students.
“We want to have a manual so that there can be an outline of what the program looks like from start to finish,” Hanych said.
On April 4 in the Brandywine Heights Area High School library there will be a open house that all are invited to. Students will showcase the work they have done in the virtual academy. | <urn:uuid:3839ae02-6bd6-4f57-9ac6-be3c0fbf23e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thekutztownareapatriot.com/article/20130306/NEWS01/130309927 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966004 | 714 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Peace activists forced from West Bank protest
Palestinians, together with Israeli and foreign activists, demonstrate as they walk around newly-erected tents in an area known as E1, near Jerusalem. Photo: Reuters
Update: Israeli police forcibly removed 250 Palestinians and international peace activists who had set up an “outpost” in a contested area between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.
The group had pitched around 25 large tents in the area known as "E-I" in the occupied territory of the West Bank. Israel last month had earmarked the area for further settlement expansion in a move widely seen as retribution against a vote in the United Nations General Assembly that upgraded Palestine’s status to a “non-member observer state”.
The activists, including prominent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouthi, were removed following the orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to evacuate the area. The group had said they were protesting against continued settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – considered illegal under international law – and in particular against plans to build in the E-1 stretch of land.
Their act of setting up tents in a contested area mirrored that of Israeli settlers – but here they were protesting on privately-owned Palestinian land with the permission of the landowners, calling the site Bab al-Shams village, or Gate of the Sun.
"For decades, Israel has established facts on the ground as the international community remained silent in response to these violations, The time has come now to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground - on our own land," a statement released by the protest organisers - part of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
Just after the group set up its camp on Friday Israeli authorities issued the eviction order – activists then obtained a High Court order suspending the eviction notice.
Late on Saturday night, Mr Netanyahu announced the government would ask the High Court to “rescind the injunction that it had issued … which is delaying the evacuation”.
The site is a sensitive area in the Israeli-Palestine dispute. At the time Israeli announced new settlements, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed grave concern over Israel’s building plans, warning the E-1 development could completely cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Australia, the US and Europe also condemned Israel’s move.
“As settlements are spread over the West Bank, the task of establishing a two-state solution, so advantageous to Palestinians and Israelis alike, becomes miserably harder,” Foreign Minister Bob Carr told ABC Radio on December 4. | <urn:uuid:2179407d-1fd5-4678-96b4-6e9c3106938d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watoday.com.au/world/peace-activists-forced-from-west-bank-protest-20130113-2cn9n.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967683 | 543 | 1.773438 | 2 |
His B-17 ditched, pilot floated into enemy hands
Earl 'Lee' Leaser of Whitehall Township stands next to a B-17 bomber during an air show in Scranton in August 1999. Leaser was an Army Air Corps pilot during World War II. (Frank Wiese/Morning Call file photo)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * *
I worked at Arbogast & Bastian and became very familiar with an individual named Charlie Mack. He evidently wanted to fly ever since he was 3 feet high, so he talked me into going down to Philadelphia to try to get into the naval air corps.
We went down there but found out it would be impossible to do, because you needed two years of college. Neither of us had that, so we checked on the Army Air Force, and they wanted two years of college or the equivalent. So we boned up and went to night school, and after going there we took the test, and we both passed. The traveling physical board came down to 5th and Hamilton streets, and would you believe it? I passed the physical, and he didn't. This really hurt him. The thing he couldn't pass was the depth-of- perception test. That's what washed him out.
After getting my commission and pilot's wings, I asked to be in twin-engine light bombers, and I got it. I lucked out, because you don't often get what you ask for. So I flew the A-20 Douglas and had just cracked 50 hours in it when a wire came in, saying all twin- engine pilots with 50 or more hours will go to four engines.
I started sweating out what type of an airplane I was going to get, a B-17 or B-24. I wanted the B-17. I had heard stories about the punishment it could take. The B-17 is what I got. I went through the training and got over to England in 1944. I was with the 412th Bomb Squadron, 95th Bomb Group, based at a little town called Diss.
My 19th mission came on the 29th of April, and it was a big one over Berlin. We weren't even supposed to fly on that particular mission, but there was a crew that had gone through more fighter attacks and flak than we had, and they were not in the kind of condition that we were, so the squadron commander asked if we would fly that day.
The plane we took was called "I'll Be Around."
We got all the way in over Berlin and dropped our bombs, but it wasn't 30 seconds later that we got a direct hit in Engines No. 1 and 2 on the left side. It knocked them both out. We could still fly, but at about 28,000 feet, we couldn't hold our altitude with two engines. We were dropping down. There was no problem, though, because there were escort fighters out there, P-47 Thunderbolts, and a couple of them stayed with us.
There wasn't too much talk on the intercom, but there was no doubt in our mind that we were going to get back to England. The thing was, would we get back to our base or have to land at another base?
We started to throw things out of the airplane to lighten the load as much as possible. The gas was going down on the right side, so we decided to transfer fuel from the left to the right. As the fuel transfer started, we watched but nothing was happening to the fuel instruments. The level remained the same for the left and didn't increase for the right. We tried everything, with the exception of going out and hauling it across with a bucket. Evidently it was a lucky hit. It must have gotten the fuel transfer line as well as the engines.
It became apparent that we were not going to get back to England. We just kept flying the airplane until we were completely out of fuel, and then we ditched just about where the North Sea and English Channel merge.
It's amazing as to what happened in the ditching. We had read about it in a book, and everything that was in the book happened. They told you that when you hit the water, it's as if you've gone underneath the water, then all of a sudden, you're back out of the water and you skip, and then you have another bounce, and then the airplane kind of settles in. It worked just that way.
Also, you practiced getting out of the airplane after every mission. It was an orderly procedure, because sometimes there were three or four people who went out of one exit. The airplane could have gone down in the water in two minutes and we all would have been out. But it stayed floating 18 minutes.
The only casualty was the radio operator, who panicked. He couldn't swim, and he wanted to get out before it was his turn. Somebody pushed him down and stepped on his nose, and it hurt him pretty much, but that was the only injury.
We had two dinghies and life preservers that we wore. With all the flak we took, there were holes in one of the dinghies, so we put four crewmen in that one and six in the other and connected the dinghies with a rope. We weren't in the water more than 45 minutes when a couple of P-47s buzzed us. They left after a while, and a twin- engine Lockheed Hudson with a boat on the bottom arrived.
The procedure was they would make a run over you and drop a smoke pot to check the wind drift. They would drop the boat from upwind, and it would float in to you. After dropping the smoke pot, the Hudson made a wide sweep and came across again, so we figured, now the boat is coming. But no boat. The next thing, they left. This was in the afternoon. We went through the night.
In the morning, P-51 Mustangs buzzed us. We had drifted in close to the shore, and the German shore batteries were firing at the P- 51s, so the planes didn't stay out too long. Later, we saw a boat coming toward us, and we hoped it was an American or English boat. But as it got closer, we saw it was German, similar to a Coast Guard cutter. We had been in the water about 24 hours, and I had almost frozen feet and couldn't walk.
The Germans took us through Holland to an interrogation place called Dulag Luft. They separated me and the three other officers from the six airmen. | <urn:uuid:3a188d66-ca88-4650-b58a-3d695220d7b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/all-earlleaser,0,2260217.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992167 | 1,401 | 1.648438 | 2 |
—Min to Perrin about Rand
Elmindreda "Min" Farshaw (pronounced: MIN) is a woman, originally from Baerlon, who has viewings at times, of auras and visions that can tell something about the future of the person being viewed. Min has also become a recent student of philosophy since the death of Herid Fel. She is the second woman to become the lover of Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, and is his only lover who is by his side at all times.
She is slender with short brown hair that curls about her neck, and large, dark eyes. While she adamantly refuses to wear skirts or dresses, she now wears breeches that are tailored to show off her petite curves.
Min grew up in Baerlon, under the patronage of a father who did not curb her tomboyish tendencies. After he died, she was raised by her three aunts (Jan, Rana, and Miren), who failed miserably at making a "proper woman" out of her. Her full name, "Elmindreda," comes from a character in a story who spends most of her time sighing over men and trying to get them to compose songs about her. This is very unlike her, which is why she prefers to go by the diminutive version of the name. Min is fiercely independent and has a wry sense of humor.
Meetings in Baerlon Edit
Min first meets Rand al'Thor at Baerlon and manages to unnerve Rand thoroughly; not only was she a very attractive woman whose hair is cut short like a boy's and wears men's clothing, but she also has oracular visions. Min is privy to flashes of visual insight she calls "viewings" -- for instance, whenever she sees Rand, Matrim Cauthon, or Perrin Aybara, she sees him surrounded by a vast, trackless darkness, while countless thousands of fireflies dart in and out, trying to fill the void; when two or more of them stand near each other, the fireflies get stronger. This is undoubtedly due to the nature of ta'veren: it seems the viewings are glimpses at the Pattern.
Sometimes Min can immediately interpret what her viewings mean, while at other times she is mystified by the obscure visions. Whether she knows the meaning or not, however, these visions always come true; at least none have yet been known to be false, although Min believed that her visions about Moiraine being crucial to Rand's eventual success could not possibly come true when Moiraine was presumed dead.
Viewings are always thicker around those who can channel, or are connected with channelers. However, Min's ability itself has nothing to do with the One Power; Aes Sedai have tested that theory extensively, which contributes to Min's general dislike for the organization.
Min does not tell Rand about a certain vision of his aura that involves her.
Mixed up with Aes Sedai Edit
After the events at the Eye of the World, Moiraine summons Min to the White Tower for safekeeping, something the free-spirited girl did not appreciate at all. She goes with novices Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve to Falme, where Egwene is captured as a damane by the Seanchan. Min is horrified at witnessing Egwene's torture.
Min finds Elayne and Nynaeve, and the three of them rescue Egwene, but they cannot escape the city as planned. The Seanchan attacking Falme from one side and the Whitecloaks attacking the other, the girls are present when the Heroes of the Horn are summoned and Rand fights Ba'alzamon for all to see across the sky. Min stays with Rand, who declares that he is the Dragon Reborn, and the Shienarans over the winter. Rand disappears one morning, heading for Tear, and Moiraine sends Min to the Tower with a message for the Amyrlin. A reluctant, unhappy Min complies, though she yearns to find Rand and feels she belongs at his side.
Moiraine, not wanting Min to be recognized by the sisters in the Tower, sends her off in disguise. When Min gives the Amyrlin Siuan Sanche word of Rand, Siuan insists Min stay in the Tower for the chance a viewing could uncover information regarding the Black Ajah. For Min's disguise, she miserably breaks from her preference for men's breeches and assumes her alter ego, Elmindreda. Laras, Mistress of the Kitchens, takes "Elmindreda" under her wing. Gawyn does recognize Min behind the make-up, curled hair, and frilly dresses and teases her for the transformation.
Not long after Min's arrival, there is a violent coup against the Amyrlin Seat. With the help of Laras and Gawyn, Min smuggles the stilled and deposed Siuan and Leane, and now-gentled former False Dragon Logain Ablar out of Tar Valon. The four of them find their way to Salidar, where the rebel Aes Sedai who oppose the new Amyrlin are gathered. There, Min is reunited with Elayne and Nynaeve.
Min soon sets out for Caemlyn, with a delegation of Aes Sedai from the rebel camp, to meet Rand. She leaves Salidar before Aviendha arrives (after Aviendha had spent significant time with Rand) so the two women do not cross paths. When Rand is first reunited with Min, he comments on how she is a good friend. Min takes pleasure in teasing Rand, and continues to do so in order for him to see her as a woman, not a friend who could just as easily be a man or a horse.
—Min, to Rand, on the fact that she is a woman
When Min first meets Faile Bashere, the two have a mutual lukewarm aversion to each other. Faile is initially hotly jealous when Min greets her husband Perrin Aybara warmly, but that cools when she reads the non-verbal signals of Min's romantic attachment to Rand. The two women leave their men to catch up, and Faile and Min go off together to converse about things that would supposedly bore the men, but they don't forge a friendship together. Min says about Faile, "Well, she wants what she wants when she wants it, and she will not take no for an answer. I pity poor Perrin, married to her." Rand describes it as a cool disinterest, and "[does] not understand the cool looks the two women exchanged. It was not precisely animosity, or even unfriendliness exactly, but Rand suspected that if either made a list of those she would just as soon not spend time with, the other's name would be prominent."
Min shares a viewing with Melaine - Melaine will give birth to twins - and the two hit it off. Due to her viewings, she is regarded as a sort of honorary Wise One and accepted by all Aiel. Min is one of a very short list of people the Maidens of the Spear allow in to see Rand whenever she wants, whatever he is doing, not excepting his bathing. The Maidens are highly amused of Min's teasing and Rand's reaction to her.
While on her way to the Wise One tents, Min is kidnapped by Galina Casban and forced to accompany the White Tower Aes Sedai embassy on their way back to the White Tower. She is used as leverage against Rand who was also captured and held in a box. Rand is enraged when he sees Min and kills several Warders before he is subdued. She is beaten by several Aes Sedai and eventually escapes in the Battle of Dumai's Wells. As a result of this event she has become even closer to Rand, fearing to spend even a small amount of time away from him.
Love at first sight Edit
One vision Min had upon first meeting Rand was one that she was able to interpret quickly, although she did not tell him of it at the time: that she would fall in love with him. And not just her - two other women would love him as well. The face of one of the other women she later recognized: a friend she had made in the White Tower, the novice Elayne. The two later agreed to share him, a decision made easier by their strong friendship. The other face was one she did not recognize; it turned out to be the Aiel woman Aviendha, who ironically had promised Elayne she would keep anyone from getting their hands on Rand. Struggle against it though she might, Min did fall in love with Rand, becoming the second of his women to become his lover (after Aviendha). She now plays an important role in his life: she is one of the only people in the world who can get him to smile, and certainly the only one he keeps nearby, as Elayne and Aviendha are constantly busy elsewhere.
Rand has tried to send Min away but she has steadfastly refused. She also reports any viewings she has that might help him... if only she knew what most of them meant. After finding Colavaere Saighan hanging in her chambers, Min seeks Rand out for comfort and the two finally consummate their love. When Rand becomes despondent after the death of Colavaere and sulks in his room, it is Min that comes in and motivates him into action again. She leaves with Rand when he first meets with the Sea Folk and creates the Bargain, and then meets with the rebels outside Cairhien, where Rand gives her an alias as Jaisi Trakand. During the last meeting Rand is slashed by Padan Fain with the Shadar Logoth dagger and is she is forced to watch him get carried by Darlin Sisnera, unconscious and near death by the time they arrive back in Cairhien. He is eventually Healed by Samitsu Tamagowa and Damer Flinn.
Min is left behind in Cairhien when Rand carries out his campaigns on Illian and the Seanchan. When he arrives back she joins Rand for a meeting with Cadsuane Melaidhrin. The three of them leave the throne room just before a rogue Asha'man attack aimed at Rand destroys a quarter of the Sun Palace. Rand places her in Fedwin Morr's care. Unfortunately he succumbs to the taint on saidin and reverts to the mind of a child. She tries to keep him occupied with toy blocks until Rand arrives back. She watches as Rand slips some poison into Morr's cup putting him to sleep forever.
Far Madding Edit
Min Travels with Rand to pick up some of Herid Fel's books and then to the Royal Palace in Caemlyn. She rushes off to tell Elayne that Rand has arrived.
Min, Elayne, and Aviendha jointly bonded Rand as Aes Sedai do with Warders, something previously unheard of and thus necessarily done in secret. It was at that time she also revealed that Elayne would become pregnant with twins and that Rand would be the father.
She then Travels with Rand to Far Madding. She approaches Cadsuane on Rand's behalf because she believes due to a viewing Rand needs her and that she has to teach him something. When Rand leaves to find Charl Gedwyn and Peral Torval Min rushes to Cadsuane to tell her what is going on. She reports then on Rand's condition after he is placed in a small prison cell, stating that he is changing from a stone to iron due to the panic he is suffering from his claustrophobia. She is also present when Rand and Nynaeve use the Choedan Kal to cleanse saidin of the taint.
Min seems to be able to interpret Rand's mood and thoughts through the bond and has become concerned with his acceptance that he will die at Tarmon Gai'don. She also dislikes Alivia due to a viewing she had that shows her helping Rand die. Min fights in the battle with the Trollocs when they try and attack the manor and even saves Rand at one point by throwing a knife into an attacking Myrddraal. Rand allows her to attend his meeting with the Daughter of the Nine Moons, who is revealed to actually be Semirhage. When Semirhage sends the fireball into Rand, he dives to cover and protect Min. She is more upset over the loss of Rand's hand than he is.
Semirhage's escape Edit
Min travels with Rand to Lord Tellaen's manor in Arad Doman. She has taken it upon herself to try and find what Herid Fel had discovered for Rand by reading through all his books. She explains to Rand that he has to destroy all the Dark One's seals to the Bore. She finally gets Rand to open up about Lews Therin Telamon in Rand's head although she believes it's only a voice and not actually Lews Therin himself.
Semirhage manages to escape with the aid of Elza Penfell and snaps the Domination Band on Rand. Min throws a knife which hits Semirhage's cheek, causing a gash. Semirhage then forces Rand, via the a'dam, to choke Min before Rand reaches for the True Power and breaks Semirhage's hold. He blasts both Semirhage and Elza with balefire. Min feels foolish for thinking she could protect Rand merely with the knives she keeps up her shirtsleeves. Rand misinterprets her worry for him as a fear of him, and he starts to withdraw from her. Min speaks with Aviendha to see if she can do anything for Rand. The two women are awkward with each other but each respects the other.
Rand discovers that Graendal is located in Natrin's Barrow and takes Min and Nynaeve there. Rand sends Lord Ramshalan into the manor, and he returns under Compulsion, which Nynaeve confirms. Convinced that the Compulsion is Graendal's doing, Rand destroys the entire palace with balefire. Nynaeve reports that the compulsion is gone--confirming that Graendal has been burned away. Frightened of his increasing emotional detachment, Min and Nynaeve find Cadsuane to inform her of Rand's actions. Cadsuane formulates a plan to help Rand laugh again. Min accompanies Rand when he pulls his force out of Arad Doman back into Tear.
Min is with Cadsuane when Nynaeve comes back with the whereabouts of Tam al'Thor. She has continued to read through the Prophecies of the Dragon and realizes that he will need to wield Callandor at Tarmon Gai'don, an interpretation with which Cadsuane agrees. Tam then pushes through the door after his disastrous attempt to talk to Rand. Min points out that they can't make Rand how they want him to be and that he has Traveled to Ebou Dar.
Veins of gold Edit
Min waits in Tear when Rand has his epiphany on Dragonmount. She feels his presence once he returns again, which alerts the Aiel as well. She goes with Nynaeve to investigate Alanna's mysterious disappearance from the Stone. Upon returning to Rand, she notices the depth that now exists in his eyes. Rand tasks Min to find out how he can use Callandor against the Dark One. After Rand reveals that both Weiramon Saniago and Anaiyella Narencelona are Darkfriends, he then asks for Tam's forgiveness and introduces him to Min.
She goes with Rand when he returns to Bandar Eban and watches in wonder as he reestablishes the law within the city with Durnham as Commander and Iralin as Steward. They then go to the Seafolk ships in port and again she watches as Rand uncovers barrel-loads of untainted grain and wheat that had previously been unopened, managing to start feeding the starving population again. She is waiting for Rand in Tear when he arrives back from defeating the Shadowspawn army singlehandedly. She is concerned with how exhausted Rand is from the battle but he assures her he is fine. They then escort Rodel Ituralde, who arrived with Rand, to Cadsuane's quarters where Ituralde's king Alsalam Saeed Almadar is being kept.
Min is with Rand when he decides to re-meet with the Borderlander army stationed in Far Madding. They are greeted by the four rulers of the Borderlands just outside the city, where each one measures his restraint with a solid strike across his face. Then standing all-to-near to Rand, Paitar Nachiman asks Rand the answer to a riddle involving Tellindal Tirraso. Paitr steps down when Rand answers correctly. They all sit down to formerly discuss matters when Rand asks for their oath of obedience in exchange for him to teach the Borderlander rulers Aes Sedai, the secret of Traveling.
The Last BattleEdit
In the days leading to the Last Battle, Min stayed with Rand while Elayne prepared Andor and Aviendha trained to become a Wise One.
When Rand went to Shayol Ghul, Min stayed with the Andoran forces as a clerk to Gareth Bryne. However, during the battle in an effort to remain useful, she volunteered to bring a message to the Seanchan. At the Seanchan camp she met with Matt, the new Prince of Ravens, and the Empress, Tuon. With the message delivered, Matt attempted to ferret Min away, but Min revealed that an assassination attempt would be made on Tuon.
Once Tuon learned how Min knew of this, she declared Min her new Doomseer and demanded Min remain at her side to reveal the omens she saw. After Matt explained to Min that Rand would want her there, she took to her duties as Doomseer willingly.
After the Last Battle was won, Min joined the camp at Shayol Ghul for Rand's funeral. While she, Elayne and Aviendha stood before his pyre, it was revealed that Min could feel Rand through the bond and that therefore he was still alive.
Morgase Trakand · Juilin Sandar · Bayle Domon · Elyas Machera · Logain Ablar · Amys · Bair · Melaine · Rhuarc · Berelain sur Paendrag Paeron · Davram Bashere · Gaul · Bain · Chiad · Sebban Balwer · Gawyn Trakand · Galad Damodred · Gareth Bryne · Martyn Tallanvor · Lini Eltring
|Places | Items | Timeline | Concepts| | <urn:uuid:c02ef87c-2ab4-4734-b253-9b1857d21fa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Elmindreda_Farshaw | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973248 | 3,929 | 1.632813 | 2 |
This blog post is a piece I wrote for the “Pinch Hitter Series” over at The LoHud Yankees Blog. I want to thank Yankees beat writer Chad Jennings for giving me the opportunity to participate. I have a great appreciation for the rich history of this great franchise, and I thought it would be great to pay tribute to one of it’s finest characters. Here is the uncut version of my entry:
“Hello there, everybody!” That’s one of the many catchphrases you might have heard by Melvin Allen Israel during his Yankees broadcasts. He was born on February 14, 1913, in Birmingham, Alabama. His love for the game of baseball as a young boy would play a big role in his life.
The future sportscaster attended the University of Alabama where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity as an undergraduate. He served as the public address announcer at Alabama football games. In 1933, Birmingham’s WBRC was in need of a new play-by-play announcer and Alabama coach Frank Thomas suggested Israel to fill the position. It was his first job behind the microphone. Israel’s first broadcast was Alabama’s home opener that year, against Tulane. He went on to earn a law degree from Alabama, but that wasn’t a major priority in his life. His boyhood love for baseball led him to become first a sports columnist and then a radio announcer.
Soon after graduating from Alabama in 1937, Allen took a train to New York City for a vacation, and he never turned back. While on vacation, he auditioned for the CBS Radio Network as a staff announcer. They already knew about him, as the network’s top sportscaster, Ted Husing, had heard many of his Crimson Tide broadcasts. They hired him at $45 a week. In his first year at CBS, he announced the crash of the Hindenburg. CBS suggested that Mel go by a different on-air last name, so he chose Allen, his father’s middle name. He legally changed his last name to Allen in 1943. That week’s vacation became 60 years. He settled in New York and lived in the metro area for many years.
In 1938, Mel landed his first major league baseball assignment, as a color commentator for the World Series. Not long after that, Wheaties wanted Allen to replace Arch McDonald as the voice of the Senators, but Washington’s owner Clark Griffith wanted Walter Johnson behind the microphone. McDonald was moving to New York as the first full-time radio voice of the NY Yankees and NY Giants. His big break came in June 1939, when Garnett Marks, McDonald’s partner on Yankee broadcasts, twice mispronounced Ivory soap as “Ovary Soap.” He was fired and Allen replaced him. McDonald went back to Washington after only one season, so Allen became the Yankees and Giants lead announcer. He was able to do the work for both teams because only the home games were broadcast.
Among Allen’s many catchphrases, there was also “How about that?!”,”Going, going, gone!” on home runs and “Three and two. What’ll he do?” His trademark home run calls, “Ballantine Blasts” and “White Owl Wallops,” were ads for beer and cigars. Mel famously lost his voice during the 1963 World Series, in which the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in a four-game sweep.
Allen recounted a memory that occurred during his first full season as the announcer of the Yankees. Lou Gehrig had been forced to retire the previous year due to the disease he was fighting, which later turned out to be fatal. Gehrig spoke to Mel in the team’s dugout and said, “Mel, I never got a chance to listen to your games before, because I was playing every day. But I want you to know they’re the only thing that keeps me going.” Allen waited until Gehrig left the dugout, then broke down in tears.
Mel’s stint with the Yankees and Giants was interrupted in 1941, when there was no sponsor for both the Yankees and Giants and they went off the air. The broadcasts resumed in 1942, and Allen took over his old positions. In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army during World War II. While in the service, he broadcast on The Army Hour and the Armed Forces Radio. After the war, he did Yankees games exclusively because team’s road games were also part of the broadcast schedule. His gold standard was the Yankees. He was famously dubbed the “Voice of the Yankees” baseball team and worked for them from 1939 to 1964. Allen all together called 22 World Series on radio and television, including 18 in a row from 1946-1963. When the Yankees didn’t appear in the Fall Classic, he was called upon anyway to be the play-by-play man (which only happened four times in 18 years).
In 1964, he was fired at only 51-years of age. Back in September of that year, the Yankees informed Allen that his contract would not be renewed. Baseball Commissioner Ford C. Frick honored the Yankees request to have Phil Rizzuto join the broadcast crew instead. Allen had missed a World Series for which the Yankees were eligible for the first time since 1943, and only the second time since he began calling baseball games in 1938.
The Yankees received tons of letters from angry fans about Allen’s absence from the series. The team issued a press release announcing Allen’s firing, and he was replaced by Joe Garagiola. The Yankees never gave an explanation for Allen’s firing, and all you heard were rumors. Some of the rumors included that he was homosexual (because he never married or had any children), an alcoholic, a drug addict, had a nervous breakdown or the medications he was on affected his on-air performance. Some said that the heavy workload didn’t allow him to take care of his health. Years later, Allen said he was fired under pressure from the team’s longtime sponsor, Ballantine Beer as a cost-cutting move because they had poor sales for years. Mel left the Yankees and broadcasted games for the Milwaukee Braves in 1965 and the Cleveland Indians in 1968. He didn’t commit to either team full-time though. In 1977, he started “This Week in Baseball”, which was a show consisting of the past weeks baseball highlights.
Eventually, the Yankees allowed him to perform as a speaker at special Yankee Stadium ceremonies. He did Old-Timers’ Day, which he originally handled when he was the lead announcer. Even though Frank Messer (who joined the club in 1968) took the emcee’s role, Allen called the exhibition game between the old timers. He was also able to take part in the number-retirement ceremonies. He worked for the Yankees again from 1976 to 1985 and was brought back to the Yankees’ on-air team as a pre/post-game host for the cable telecasts with John Sterling. He also started called play-by-play again. Mel announced Yankees cable telecasts on SportsChannel New York with Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Frank Messer, and occasionally, Fran Healy. Allen made several appearances on Yankee telecasts and commercials into the late 1980s. In 1990, Allen called play-by-play for a WPIX Yankees game to become baseball’s first seven-decade announcer.
- Inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 1972.
- 1978 – Mel was the first recipient (with Red Barber) of the Ford C. Frick Award
- Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
- Inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1985.
- Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
- Inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
- Ranked #2 by the American Sportscasters Association in its list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time (January 2009).
It’s about 71 years ago that Mel Allen first stepped behind the microphone for the New York Yankees. His knowledge of the game and his Southern charm was a big part of his popularity, especially from 1949-1964, when almost every October meant World Series time in the Bronx. He witnessed Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, Roger Maris’ record breaking 61 home runs, Lou Gehrig’s famous speech (he actually introduced him) and also introduced the stricken Babe Ruth at his sad 1948 goodbye. He dubbed DiMaggio “Joltin’ Joe,” Tommy Henrich “Old Reliable,” and Phil Rizzuto “The Scooter.”
For a quarter-century, Allen’s voice defined sports radio and television. Variety Magazine called his among “the world’s 25 most recognizable voices.” He did numerous broadcasts for the World Series, All-Star Game, Rose Bowl, Movietone Newsreels, and other marquee events. After all that, he is best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees.
Mr. Allen moved to Greenwich, Connecticut in his later years and died on June 16, 1996. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been the “Voice of the New York Yankees.” On July 25, 1998, the Yankees dedicated a plaque in his memory for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque stands in the new ballpark today and it calls him “A Yankee institution, a national treasure.” | <urn:uuid:ff9c5673-c225-4317-8ef0-f37ebba4bbf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zellspinstripedblog.com/2010/02/04/pinch-hitting-at-the-lohud-yankees-blog-mel-allen-the-voice-of-the-yankees/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985012 | 2,055 | 1.570313 | 2 |
January 21, 2010
||Media contact: Kara Gavin
Two patients from Haiti arrive at UMHS
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Two patients from Haiti have arrived at UMHS, transported by the Survival Flight fixed-wing aircraft, and are now receiving advanced specialized care from our teams.
The patients have injuries that require complex care that’s available at few medical centers in the country, among them UMHS.
Due to privacy laws, we are not releasing further details about the patients or their injuries at this time. However, we are proud to play this small role in the world's response to the massive tragedy in Haiti, and to offer our air medical transport and our care to these patients. We stand ready to help further if we are asked again by the federal government. | <urn:uuid:08eaca14-e770-41f8-95dc-0edf96eaeb28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1453 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957977 | 161 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Ethics Case Studies
A Media-Savvy Killer
WHAT: It started three decades ago. It has always been part of the papers lore, Rick Thames, former editor of The Wichita Eagle told Editor & Publishers Joe Strupp. Since his first murder in 1974, the BTK killer his own acronym, for bind, torture, kill has sent the Eagle four letters and one poem.
The Eagles Website was subpoenaed in 2004 when investigators thought BTK might be posting items on a discussion board. And in the spring of 2005, the killer sent the paper a letter after 16 years of silence, apparently sparked by a story about the 30th anniversary of the first killing.
BTK killed eight people. The first was Jan. 15, 1974, the last 12 years later, in 1986. The killers first communication with the newspaper was 10 months after the first killing. A reader found a letter inside a book at a local library and called the newspaper. The last letter arrived in March 2004 and included photos from the 1986 crime scene, as well as a copy of that victims drivers license. The killer also has sent letters and made phone calls to a local television station, but his main media connection has been the Eagle.
The newspaper has involved itself in the in other ways. In 1974, when it was still the Eagle-Beacon, it offered a $5,000 award for information leading to an arrest. And a 1978 poem from BTK was mistakenly included in romantic messages the paper runs on Valentines Day.
Eagle Reporter Hurst Laviana, who followed the case for more than 20 years, was one of three reporters who were asked to give DNA samples last summer, in a desperate attempt to find the mysterious killer. It seemed like a logical thing for them to do, Laviana told E&P, adding that police told him theyd received five tips from people urging that he be tested. Apparently he was cleared; he never heard back from investigators.
In April 2005, the Sedgwick County District Attorney subpoenaed the identities of six people who had posted items to a BTK bulletin board on the Eagles Web site. The Eagle cooperated without a fight but was criticized by the DA for running a story about the subpoenas.
All of this puts the newspaper in an awkward position. The killer seems almost to be using it as an agent of communication. It is both a provider of evidence and chronicler of the news. Some employees worried that BTK might target them as attention increases.
Two questions: How should a newspaper, or other media outlet, handle communications from someone who says hes guilty of multiple sensational crimes? And how much should it cooperate with law enforcement authorities?
WHO: Put yourself in the shoes of the editor of the Eagle, or of a television station that might have received similar communications.
Consider the stakeholders: The Wichita community, terrorized for years by a mysterious killer, certainly has a stake in finding out who this person is and incarcerating him or her to prevent future potential harm. This is a case where the publics stake is higher than it might be in other cases.
The killer is a prime stakeholder, an odd duck who seems to enjoy tantalizing the media and the public with taunts about his or her identity. Law enforcement authorities are stakeholders, in that theyve been spinning their wheels for years.
WHY: Does cooperating with the killer by publicizing his taunts create more opportunities that hell be caught? Or does it simply play into the killers twisted desire for attention? What would happen if you were to stop forwarding every communication from this clearly imbalanced individual? What is the greatest good for the greatest number?
HOW: Decide how best to establish the outcome youve identified as best. Explain it to yourself, and write it down to help you articulate it. You might also want to explain your decision, and the decision-making process, to your readers and/or viewers. Prepare for the inevitable questions youll get from them.
(Epilogue: Dennis Rader, who admitted to being the BTK Killer, was arrested Feb. 25, 2005, by Wichita Police. On June 28, 2005, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of murder.) | <urn:uuid:d7b4c7a1-d822-441b-b84c-7bee3f900a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spj.org/ecs4.asp?mobile=no | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974429 | 860 | 1.804688 | 2 |
In an exclusive interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner said there is no easy way to stop the budget cuts -- known as the “sequester” -- that began taking effect Friday night, and voiced uncertainty over how Washington can solve the overall fiscal problems that have consumed the nation’s politics for more than two years.
In an exclusive interview on Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner weighs in the economic impact of the sequester and whether or not it will hurt the country's economy.
“I don't think anyone quite understands how it gets resolved,” Boehner admitted in his interview with NBC’s David Gregory.
Boehner explained his strategy in the Republicans’ tax-and-spending standoff with President Barack Obama, saying that he didn’t want to “arbitrarily pull out a couple of tax expenditures” just to raise the revenue needed to avert $85 billion in spending cuts which are being made this year.
The president and many of his administration officials have warned of dire consequences to government services and national security if the sequester happens as planned. But to avoid them and reach a deal, the president wants new tax increases, something Boehner and his fellow Republicans have insisted are off the table.
The spending cuts – which were intended to spur a bipartisan “grand bargain” on deficit reduction, entitlement reform and tax increases -- are part of the 2011 Budget Control Act which Obama signed into law.
Boehner voted for the law and urged his members to do likewise.
But now that the spending cuts are beginning, neither Boehner nor Obama wants them to continue. Yet they have been unable to reach an accord on an alternative measure.
Larry Downing / Reuters
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks briefly after a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House March 1, 2013.
Boehner insisted that Obama should abandon his effort to get more tax increases and instead focus on spending.
“Every American, in these tough economic times, has to find a way to balance their budget. They've got to make choices,” Boehner said. “They expect Washington to live within its means and to make choices as well.”
He said, “It's time for the president and Senate Democrats to get serious about the long-term spending problem that we have.”
And he noted that if Obama has a credible alternative to the sequester, “why wouldn't Senate Democrats go ahead and pass it?”
Obama has insisted that any plan to replace the sequester must include new tax increases, for example by changing the tax treatment of corporate jets, and by ending tax preferences for oil and gas producers.
But Boehner said Obama had already gotten his tax increase in the deal that he made with Republicans in December. “The president got $650 billion of higher taxes on the American people on January the first,” Boehner said. “How much more does he want?”
Boehner did say that a comprehensive tax reform law would be a way to spark growth. That, in turn, would produce more tax revenue for the federal government.
In an exclusive interview on Meet the Press, House Speaker John Boehner gives David Gregory the details of what went on for both sides during the sequester negotiations.
“American family's wages aren't growing,” the House speaker said. “They're being squeezed. And as a result, we've got to find a way through our tax code to promote more economic growth in our country. We can do this by closing loopholes, bringing the (tax) rates down for all Americans, making the tax code fairer. It will promote more economic growth.”
Obama said Friday it may take some time before members of Congress agree to bargain with him on how to replace the spending cuts.
He told reporters that he hoped that “after some reflection, as members of Congress start hearing from constituents who are being negatively impacted… that they step back and say, all right, is there a way for us to move forward on a package of entitlement reforms, tax reform, not raising tax rates, identifying programs that don't work, coming up with a plan that's comprehensive and that makes sense.”
He said, “It may take a couple of weeks. It may take a couple of months” before that happens, but in the meantime the spending cuts will dampen economic growth and hurt federal workers who are furloughed and federal contractors who lose work.
“It's going to mean hundreds of thousands of jobs lost,” he said. “That is real. We're not making that up. That’s not a scare tactic, that’s a fact.”
But Boehner said, “I don't know whether it's going to hurt the economy or not. I don't think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work.”
The speaker said the House would pass a spending plan this week to fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, and that in his conversation with Obama at the White House Friday, the president had agreed “that we should not have any talk of a government shutdown. So I'm hopeful that the House and Senate will be able to work through this.”
Following Boehner on Meet the Press, Obama economic advisor Gene Sperling said Boehner ought to be willing to consider at least $400 billion more in tax revenue increases over the next ten years as part of a larger agreement on deficit reduction.
Sperling said Obama has already agreed to require higher-income Medicare recipients to pay higher premiums for their coverage than they now pay and has agreed to change the formula for Social Security benefits, which would in effect reduce benefit increases over time.
These were difficult concessions for Obama to make, Sperling said.
In the face of congressional Republicans charging that Obama and his aides have been exaggerating the effect of the spending cuts – with one House Republicans calling their effort “Scarequester” – Sperling said, “Nobody ever suggested that this harmful sequester – which the speaker himself said would be devastating to national security – was going to have all its impact in the first few days.”
But he argued that the spending reductions will “hurt a lot of communities that rely on military spending” and hurt public education.
As House Republicans begin to see the impact he said he hoped they “will choose bipartisan compromise over this absolutist position.”
He noted that on Saturday Obama made phone calls to both Democratic and GOP senators to form a “caucus of common sense” and support an alternative to the spending cuts. | <urn:uuid:0196677d-c72a-4d65-87c8-804216ac90b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/03/17167371-boehner-i-dont-think-anyone-quite-understands-how-sequester-gets-resolved | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976275 | 1,409 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Cross Park History
Cross Park Church officially started in the spring of 2011, but there is a backstory with several characters. The primary character is Jesus, who loves to build his church.
Jesus has been calling his people to start new churches for centuries. In this case, Jesus has been leading Uptown Church to take part in starting new churches in Charlotte and around the world. Uptown has been the "mother church" to three other churches before Cross Park. Thus, people at Uptown Church had been praying and hoping for a new church in south Charlotte for several years.
The plot thickened in the spring of 2009 when God began working in Jeff Hardy to consider being a church planter. After an interview process, Uptown Church hired Jeff Hardy in January of 2010 to move to Charlotte and begin working on a new church. Jeff and his family moved to Charlotte and worked to build a team of people from Uptown and other churches to get ready to launch Cross Park. Cross Park started its services in March 2011, meeting at Smithfield Elementary School in south Charlotte. | <urn:uuid:5eaa3beb-2fc5-4157-ade0-1bca8f9d2929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crossparkchurch.org/aboutus/history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986695 | 221 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Paralympic Games Missing In Action By Dave Ferguson In today's society, where we are to treat each other as equals, the paralympians at the London 2012 games appear to be treated like second class citizens as they seemingly scratch, sniff or even beg for any media coverage. All the lights and cameras that shone during the able bodied Olympics have now nearly dimmed to a candle. These young women and men face the same sacrifices, long days of training, a strong will and determination to achieve and reach goals and dreams. Many have to overcome greater disabilities, than the obvious, just to reach a world level competition. I was appalled that the London Free Press had no articles on our medal wins after the first day of competition. Montreal swimmer Benoit Huot captured Canada's first gold medal at the London Paralympics, breaking his own world record to win the 200-metre individual medley. Canadian swimmer Summer Mortimer won a silver medal in the S10 200 individual medley. Canada's objective is a top-eight finish in gold medals won after finishing seventh four years ago in Beijing with 19 gold. CTV and CBC seem to have abandoned the Paralympic games leaving TSN to pick up the pieces only to provide a scant overview of the daily events in the late hours of the evening. In a world that strives for equality where do we draw the line? Maybe merging the two events could be detrimental but at the very least they should each receive the same attention from sponsors, media coverage and from world at large. We should all support both the Olympics and Paralympics with the same love, passion and devotion. Fairness and equality should be continually flowing from the tap of common sense regardless of abilities. It is a shame we have turned the flow to less than a trickle. | <urn:uuid:9a6fa75c-5f06-4c7e-a66f-94e4b5e1a6d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lfpress.com/ur/story/497107 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964877 | 365 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Express your sympathies beautifully and let them know that you?re thinking of them in the days and weeks that follow their loss. Inside a keepsake glass jar, they'll discover 31 Kind Notes®, each with a special message of comfort.
- 31 messages of support and sympathy, each individually enclosed in linen cardstock envelopes
- Helps those grieving find comfort and strength through each letter
- Arrives inside a beautiful keepsake glass jar; measures 6"H x 4"W
- A beautiful way to let them know you?re thinking of them
- Finished with an elegant beige ribbon
Kind Note Messages
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. -- Dr. Seuss
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. -- A. Einstein
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. ? Goethe
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. ? Proverb
Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
It's not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you. -- Zig Ziglar
And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It?s the life in your years. -- Abraham Lincoln
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. -- Mark Twain
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. --Mother Teresa
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine. -- Mario Fernandez
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read. -- Mark Twain
Don't frown because your smile is what lightens up the world.
To the world you might be one person, but to one person, you might be the world. ? Unknown
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. -- Helen Keller
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. -- Jesse Jackson
It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up. -- Vince Lombardi
Although it's difficult today to see beyond the sorrow, may looking back in memory help comfort you tomorrow. ? Unknown
If the future seems overwhelming, remember that it comes one moment at a time. -- Beth Mende Conny
When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. ? Unknown
Gone from our sight, but never from our hearts.
May the love of those around you help you through the days ahead.
Someone so special can never be forgotten.
The heart remembers most what it has loved best. May memories comfort you and bring you peace.
We never lose the people we love. They live with us in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
Let the beauty of each new day nourish your soul and bring you peace.
May your heart and soul find peace and comfort.
I hope you find some peace today.
I?m not sure what to say, but I want you to know I care. | <urn:uuid:91243d2e-0f93-465f-a784-ece513df6999> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1800flowers.com/sympathy/kindnotes-97342?cm_cid=d10223 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945896 | 777 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Phyllis Faber is a co-founder of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust and promoter of the formation of the California Coastal Commission she has been one of the crucial drivers of the movement to protect the harmony of Marin's working landscapes and wildnerness. Dr. Corey Goodman is a scientist, educator, and biotech entrepreneur who has spent 25 years as a biology professor at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley and is currently on the faculty of U.C. San Francisco. In this conversation we discuss the challenges and issues regarding the Drake's Bay Oyster Company and the recent Coastal Commission report. | <urn:uuid:011ab216-8c4c-4622-8279-c8d0009a9683> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kwmr.org/blog/4622 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935704 | 119 | 1.515625 | 2 |
TELESCOPE, n. A device having a relation to the eye similar to that of the telephone to the ear, enabling distant objects to plague us with a multitude of needless details. Luckily it is unprovided with a bell summoning us to the sacrifice. — The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce
I was stranded in voice-mail hell the other day, navigating the ninth circle of my telephone company’s special torture they reserve only for their best paying customers. “Choose one to be further irritated. Press two if you enjoy having your time wasted. Press three if your want to enter your account information for the fourth time.”
Many voice-mail systems have an escape, including personal systems. Many companies, especially the large ones, have discovered that customers don’t like talking to machines and have disabled this feature. So banging on the zero key multiple times isn’t guaranteed to get you a live person anymore, but it’s still often worth the effort.
Some voice carriers who especially love their customers and the people trying to call them will then add more gibberish to the end of your personal voice-mail greeting, giving you further instructions on how to leave a message. This is usually unnecessary, redundant, and irritating. Most people who know how to use a phone know what voice mail is. I remember when it was a big deal back in the 70′s when our house got its first answering machine. It had little cassette tapes an everything. It was very cool and mechanical. Just like my dad’s teletype machine. Yes, we had a teletype in our house. It was an interesting childhood.
You can short-cut greetings by pressing a certain key to take you straight to the beep. What that key is will depend on your carrier. You’re going to have to do some research on your own to figure out what the magic button is for you. For Rogers in Canada, it’s “*” or star. The “#” (called hash or pound) will get you into your voice mail. If you’re not with Rogers in Canada, use Google to search for “skip [carrier name] voicemail greeting” and you you’ll find yours.
Tell your callers up front what it in your own voice-mail greeting, like this: “Hi, you’ve reached Bernie’s voice-mail. Please press star to skip over this greeting. [pause] I can’t answer the phone right now, etc.”
Easy, right? I’ll appreciate you even more the next time I get your voice-mail and you tell me how to get to the beep. | <urn:uuid:f26e898e-559b-4fb7-a1c0-e29f1453e735> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://practicalmanagers.com/2009/09/14/your-voice-mail-greeting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943565 | 573 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Hi Melissa, we have checked with the Education and Community Programs Staff at Scienceworks and on LKDI we offer addition activities which alter each month. We often have storytelling sessions where children are free to sit and crawl around this area in the Planetarium Foyer and games on the Arena outside where families sit and have picnics while children can play with balls, run underneath a giant parachute and chase bubbles. Our last LKDI hosted a puppet show and you can regularly check what is on at each LKDI from our website.
We do require that parents and carers supervise children at all times and our friendly Customer Service Officers are always on hand for advice.
Your twins of nine/ten months old would definitely get excited by the new experiences, they would have small spaces to crawl around and especially enjoy our exhibition Nitty Gritty Super City which is aimed at 2/3 to 5 year olds. We are endeavouring to include more tactile activities in the future to cater for your twins’ age group on LKDI events. | <urn:uuid:fb002c6e-6466-41c8-830d-808c55c0b6e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks/whatson/little-kids-day-in/?reply=23432&sort=newest&googleminiexclude=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962363 | 212 | 1.507813 | 2 |
My son has had black spots (that look like birth marks) on the whites of his eyes since he was a baby. He has three marks on one eye and two on the other. I notice that they all appear to be at the end of a blood vessel. He has never complained about eye pain and they do not seem to have grown. My 1 1/2 year old daughter also has a couple of these marks on here eyes, but fewer. Neither my husband nor I have these marks on our eyes, and I have not noticed them on any other family members. My questions then are 1) what exactly are these marks, 2) what could have caused them, 3) what is their development over time (e.g., do they fade or grow), and 4) are there any recommendations for what I can do to help them fade (e.g., diet)? Their pediatrician has never been able to see the marks because they wiggle so much during the examinations, and I have scoured the web for information about it but to no avail. So I would greatly appreciate any help you can offer.
Because I can't see them i can't tell you exactly what they are. However they USUALLY are collections of pigment around a blood vessel or nerve where it passes from the white sclera into the middle vascular layer of the eye (choroid) that's why they occur around blood vessels. They generally do not grown in size and rarely are a problem (especiallyif too small for your pediatrician to see). I would take your kids in for an exam by an eye MD ophthalmologist.
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'We create innovation - and when it works big guys do the same'
3 August 2011, source Sustainable Business Magazine
'We create innovation - and when it works big guys do the same'
If the recession was supposed to have taken the wind out of the UK renewable energy sector's sales, nobody told the Good Energy Group. In its August interim report, the owner of Good Energy, the UK's only supplier of electricity solely from 100% renewable sources, reported revenue rises of 29% on the same period last year to £9.68M, with pre-tax profits up 13% to £273,175.
The company feeds green electricity into the grid on behalf of more than 25,000 customers, including sustainability stalwarts such as Innocent smoothies and Friends of the Earth, in a valiant attempt to bolster a total national output figure hovering pitifully around the 6% mark. While the Department of Energy and Climate Change's target of 15% electricity from renewable sources by 2020 seems illusory, Good Energy Group chief executive officer Juliet Davenport intends to do her damndest to move things forward.
Good Energy's philosophy is to offer a viable alternative to the 'big six' electricity cabal (EDF, EON, British Gas, npower, Scottish and Southern Energy, and Scottish Power), by bringing power to the people by helping people make power.
In addition to the wholly-owned Delabole wind farm in Cornwall (ten turbines, averaging 10,000MWh a year), the company pays almost 1,000 independent generators to produce energy through deals such as HomeGen (15p per unit of electricity, including those created for personal use), SmartGen (for small commercial and large domestic generators with significant export capacity), as well as a competitive commercial scheme for large-scale operations.
In 2008, Good Energy facilitated a conscionable energy mix comprising 79% wind (7% from Delabole windfarm), 15% hydro, 5.9% biomass and 0.1% solar; since 1999, the company claims to have reduced the UK's CO2 emissions by 296,000 tonnes - a figure it says is "equivalent to over 33,000 family-sized cars driving around the equator".
"I see Good Energy as a kind of disruptor company," Davenport explains.
"We create innovation and when it works, which hopefully it does most of the time, we see some of the big guys innovating in the same way."
A prime example of this came last year when, in response to customer demand for a duel-fuel package, Good Energy started supplying gas. This presented an ideological quandary, as the UK network is incompatible with renewable gas.
Noting that while half of the UK's CO2 emissions come from heating only 0.6% of the 'heat' demand stems from renewable resources, Good Energy transformed constraint into opportunity, plumping for regular gas but choosing to siphon subsequent revenues into what is the UK's first renewable heat incentive scheme. Rewarding microgenerators of heat from solar thermal panels, it pre-empts the Government's plans in this field by almost three years.
Last year also saw Good Energy launch an online educational-cum-retail hub that provides advice and sells energy-saving gizmos, from lightbulbs and measurement products to solar powered novelty items.
The urge to innovate is in Davenport's blood. As a child she would frequently accompany her rally driver journalist father to racetracks across the country, revelling in the competitive thrill of pushing technology to the limit. After studying atmospheric physics at Oxford, Davenport fuelled her burgeoning interest in climate change by completing a Masters degree in environmental economics at Birkbeck College, London.
Formative career developments followed at the European Commission and the European Parliament. "The good things were the incredibly bright people and the ideas, the problem was the pace of change just seemed to be so slow, and it also seemed so disconnected from individuals in their countries back home."
She returned to the UK in 1999 to work for German environmental consultancy ESD on a project to set up renewable energy company Unit-Energy. The following year there was a management buy out and Davenport, who was appointed company CEO, rebranded the operation into Good Energy.
It made its first share offering in 2002, generating enough capital to purchase the Delabole wind farm. Further share offers were made in 2004 when Good Energy joined the PLUS Market, a small and mid-cap stock exchange in London, and in 2007, raising £2M from customers and independent investors.
Today, the majority of Good Energy's shareholders are also its customers.
"In a sense what I've done at Good Energy was borne out of that frustration of politicians just being 'political', and not really being strategic or having a vision," Davenport explains.
"If we took the bull by the horns and put the right policies in place the [renewable energy] targets would be completely achievable, but if we shilly-shally around they won't be. And in my mind we've put some policies in place but we're still shilly-shallying around."
One of her bugbears is the how the Planning Bill's Infrastructure Planning Commission, which was established to speed up the execution of major infrastructure proposals, only deals with onshore wind developments above 50MW, and offshore above 100MW.
"It is just unacceptable really," she says.
"The planning system just doesn't work, not for the amount of renewable energy we need to implement in the UK."
Davenport doesn't heckle from the sidelines however, and has taken up positions on the Government's Renewables Avisory Board, the board of RegenSW, and Ofgem's Environment and Advisory and Microgeneration steering groups. Good Energy, meanwhile, is at the forefront of bringing clarity to the befuddling world of green electricity tariffs by helping Ofgem define how it will implement a long awaited accreditation scheme later this year.
Davenport says that this is a long overdue development in a market rife with dubious "counting" practices. Currently, electricity generators are awarded three certificates whenever renewable electricity is produced: a REGO (renewable energy guarantee of origin), a ROC (renewable obligation certificate) and an LEC (Levy Exemption Certificate).
This has resulted in countless instances of sophistic smoke and mirrorism, with megawatts sold to up to three buyers, with a different certificate tendered on each occasion.
In a market with such ambiguous parameters and ill-defined loopholes, even an ethical bastion like Good Energy has been subject to criticism, with close rival Ecotricity recently accusing it of exaggerating its ROC retirement policy. ROCs are tradeable instruments that help the Government meet its renewable energy generation targets.
They are issued to and sold by renewable generators, and are designed to bolster renewable energy's natural market price. All electricity suppliers must surrender ROCs at a rate equivalent to a certain percentage of the energy they supply or face financial penalties. Good Energy goes beyond its legal obligations and retires the "financial equivalent" of an additional 5% of ROCs to raise their price and make it more desirable for firms to invest in renewable generation. While Good Energy has this practice independently verified, the lack of any clear industry standards has created a culture of frustration and mistrust.
"There's been ongoing debate between Ecotricity and Good Energy and it ebbs and flows, this is just one of those times when they've got a bit bored and they thought they'd have a pop shot at us," Davenport sighs.
"Our retirement policy is something we try to be as transparent about as possible, but the way the green market works is quite complex.
"This is why we need a central accreditation system. So people can't go 'oh well you didn't explain that properly'. That's what's frustrating with Ecotricity having a go at us in way. There's so much wrong with the rest of the market, let's all focus on trying to get it right and get a system we all can agree on."
Run by the flamboyant Dale Vincent, Ecotricity arguably forms an alternative energy faction, or "big two", with Good Energy, though it takes an entirely different tack.
Around 54% of Ecotricity's supplies hail from "brown" sources (nuclear 16%, coal 19.1% and natural gas 17.1% etc), but it invests more than any other company in the UK in new build wind energy projects.
"I don't see there's any need for us to be aggressive, there is an open market place with plenty of space for both offerings," Davenport points out.
Indeed, with 40% of the UK's CO2 emissions coming from electricity generation, the playing field for making a difference is wide open. Buoyed by the Good Energy's financial performance and customer loyalty, Davenport is optimistic about the next few years.
One of the company's main missions will be to repower and double the output capacity of the Delabole windfarm, to supply over 7,500 homes and save 10,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
The project, which received approval last December, will be managed by recent recruit Charles Rattan, a former project manager for E.ON where he guided 150-megawatts worth of windfarms through the planning process.
"There's a certain disappointment that we're not bigger than we are today," Davenport muses. "We'd like to be double our size, but I think the pure fact that we exist means there is innovation in the energy market that might not be there without us."
This story is tagged with:
biomass | CO2 | coal | gas | Microgeneration | nuclear | offshore | ofgem | recession | renewables | retail | solar | wind energy
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© Faversham House Group Ltd 2011. edie+ articles may be copied or forwarded for individual use only. No other reproduction or distribution is permitted without prior written consent. | <urn:uuid:a8ee92cc-160c-491a-b285-7883e911c18e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edie.net/library/view_article.asp?id=5908 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957727 | 2,116 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Obama addresses National Urban League
NEW ORLEANS — President Barack Obama wrapped up a cross-country campaign swing Wednesday night touching on themes of access to education, inequality, personal responsibility and the economy in a speech to the National Urban League.
In the 40-minute address, Obama praised the group’s history of civil rights work and compared it to his days working in Chicago, where he said his desire to earn a paycheck was supplanted by his call to affect change.
The president called on young people in the audience tostop hanging outand to earn their success.
“You’re competing against young people in Beijing and Bangalore,” Obama said. “They’re not hanging out. They’re not getting over; they’re not playing video games. It’s a two-way street. You’ve got to earn success.
“That wasn’t in my prepared remarks,” Obama said to widespread cheers.
The president frequently called on themes he has made on the campaign trail arguing that his vision for prosperity will come through the strengthening of the middle class.
In painting Republicans as beholden to the wealthy and out of touch with the middle class, the president told the crowd everybody should have a fair shot, not just some.
“We’re not a nation of people looking for handouts. We certainly don’t like bailouts. ... but we do expect hard work to pay off,”Obama said.
Obama described the lack of progress in Washington D.C. as a stalemate over what he called two fundamentally different ways Democrats and Republicans want to create job growth.
“This country works best when we are growing a strong middle class. That has guided every decision I’ve made as president of the United States,” Obama said.
The president also defended his 31/2-year record in office by describing the country as on the brink of economic collapse after a decade of sluggish job growth when he took office in 2009.
Obama spoke about 28 straight months of job growth, 18 tax breaks for small business during his time in office and a rejuvenated automobile industry. He acknowledged that recovery from the recession hasn’t been as fast as he had hoped.
In a written statement released hours before Obama spoke, Gov. Bobby Jindal said: “We welcome Barack Obama to New Orleans. We hope that he has the opportunity to enjoy some of our city’s unique attractions. Many happen to be small businesses built by hardworking, independent folks, who are offended by the idea that their success is not the result of their own efforts.”
The Romney campaign also released a prepared statement.
“President Obama comes to New Orleans today trying to hide from his failed record as president. After three and a half years of liberal policies that have grown the size of government, President Obama’s record is clear,” spokesman Chris Walker said in the written statement.
Speaking just hours after the Senate passed an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts to the middle class, Obama called on Republicans in the House of Representatives to drop their opposition to end tax cuts to those earning more than $250,000 per year.
Framing the country as stuck in an economic situation where middle-class workers bear the brunt of the struggling economy, the president called for what he described as fairness.
Nobody who works hard in America, should be poor in America, Obama said to roaring applause.
The president also urged colleges and universities to expand access to higher education by lowering tuition, calling advanced degrees a necessity, not a luxury.
Near the end of his remarks, Obama addressed the contentious Affordable Care Act, his signature legislative achievement, ticking off some of the bills more popular elements including health care insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and the ability of parents to keep children on their health plans up to age 26. He also promised to improve the law.
“We’re going to implement this law and America is going to be better for it,” Obama said.
The president ended his speech asking for support in the Nov. 6 presidential elections urging a group which chanted four more years moments before he took the stage that failure is not an option.
“We will finish what we started,” Obama said. | <urn:uuid:baf0bc4e-67d6-45fd-8a86-ab8701dbb76d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theadvocate.com/home/3423082-125/presidents-speech-in-no-touches | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972962 | 898 | 1.578125 | 2 |
“Someone killed 12 people in a theatre in Aurora, Colorado. Please pray to God that the killer does not turn out to be a Muslim,” said a voice message on Rasheed’s cell phone as he was on highway 395, driving from Northern Virginia to Washington, DC.
Twenty minutes later, he entered Washington and stopped his cab at the first parking spot he found. Throughout the brief drive, he kept hearing the bell that warns of a text message.
There were six texts, all with the same message: “Lets pray the killer is not a Muslim.”
It was not a good beginning for the holy month. Ramazan is a special month for Washington’s cabbies. Many are Muslims, hundreds from South Asia to North Africa. Most drive all night and return home at dawn.
Nights are lonely and risky. Every cabdriver knows at least one colleague who was stabbed to death, died in an accident or retired hurt.
Loneliness, however, ended when the cell phones came. It is now possible to call friends and family from the cab. And also to stay in touch with each other.
Early nights are busy. But after 2 am they call each other regularly.
Ramazan, however, is different. They do not need the cell phones as much as they did in ordinary nights. Most cabbies go out to work right after iftar, work for about two hours and then go to mosques for taraveh.
In summer, taraveh prayers end around 11 pm, giving them about an hour for socialising after the prayers.
The bachelors – and those whose families are back home – often have their iftar, dinner and even pre-fast food at mosques, particularly at the Central Mosque, Washington. In between, they drive the cab.
Ramazan nights are not only for prayers, at least not for Washington’s cabdrivers. Some play cricket between taraveh and the pre-dawn feast. It is a lot of fun.
“But this year may be different if the killer is determined a Muslim,” said Rasheed to Omar, a fellow cabbie he called as soon as he parked his cab.
“Yes, things can get very difficult,” said Omar but cut short the conversation when a passenger flagged him. “I will call you later.”
Rasheed also got a passenger to Adams Morgan, a street famous for its clubs and bars. It was Friday night.
Waiting for the next passenger near Madame’s Organ Blues Bar, he again thought about the Aurora shooting. “Things indeed can get difficult if the killer is a Muslim,” he said to himself. Then the music coming out of the bar caught his attention. He repeated the tune unconsciously and then stopped.
“Such is America,” he said to himself, laughing quietly. “I ended my fast, finished my evening prayers and then took a passenger to a bar.
And now I am humming a tune. Such is America.” And he loves America for what it is.
He often argues with his friends that their home countries should also be as accommodating as America is.
“This is the route to success, tolerance for all creeds and ethnicities. I met people from half a dozen faiths, speaking a dozen different languages, in a single night,” he says.
The phone rang again. This was another Muslim cabbie, Ali. “Did you hear the news?” he asked. “Yes, I did,” said Rasheed. “What do you think will happen?” asked Ali. “I don’t know,” said Rasheed. “You remember the night when Faisal Shahzad, who tried to bomb New York Times Square, was arrested?” asked Ali.
Rasheed remembered it well. It was the first time in his 20 years in America that Rasheed heard two passengers openly discussing the possibility of putting all the Muslims in a camp. “So that we are safe,” said one. “I agree,” said the other.
One of them noticed Rasheed’s “foreignness” and asked where he was from. “India,” Rasheed lied, swallowing his pride. He was always proud of being a Pakistani and never thought one day he will have to identify himself as an Indian.
The text bell rang. There were more messages. “We pray he is not a Muslim,” wrote Shah. “Amen,” replied Hanif.
“We will be minced meat if he is a Pakistani,” wrote Khan. “Indeed,” replied Sattar. “The killer should not be a Muslim. I too pray to God.”
“Thank God, the TV channels are not yet playing the terrorism card,” wrote Beg who was at a restaurant which they called “Cabbies Night Refuge.”
As Rasheed was reading the messages, his wife called to check he was OK. Then his younger brother Hameed, who was a student at a community college in Virginia, called.
He said he had put this on his Facebook: “Please God, please make sure that the shooter is not a Muslim” and had received dozens of messages from other Muslim students, saying, “Amen.”
“What are your American friends saying?” asked Rasheed.
Hameed’s friend Todd told him he believed the killer was “more than likely a screwed up middle class kid from a dysfunctional home who hates the world and worships the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre.”
“The kid probably wanted to do something that in his twisted mind would make him feel all powerful. What a shame that he didn’t just stay at home, put the gun to his own head and do the world a favour,” Todd added.
After Hameed, Rasheed’s friend Jamal, who worked at a gas station in Silver Spring, Maryland, called. “I am nervous too,” he said. “We all are,” said Rasheed.
Text messages and phone calls continued all night. All had the same message: Things will get really difficult for them if the shooter was found to be a Muslim.
Although it was Rasheed’s first pre-fast meal of Ramazan, Rasheed did not enjoy it. He kept worrying about the shooting and its possible consequences for Muslims in America.
He fondly remembered the pre-9/11 days, when America was a free country for Muslims too. They too were welcomed wherever they went.
“Not anymore. American people no longer trust Muslims. They fear them,” he thought.
“God knows how many generations it will take for the images of 9/11 to fade away.”
Rasheed was still thinking about this when he went to sleep. It was an uneasy sleep. Usually, he wakes up early afternoon but today he woke up at noon and went straight to the computer.
He had dozens of e-mails from his friends. All were about the Aurora shooting.
“The suspect apprehended in the mass shooting at a suburban Denver movie theatre has been identified as James Holmes, 24. So far there is no indication it is terrorism-related,” said one.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy. May God give them the courage to bear this great loss, Amen,” his friend wrote.
There was another message from an Indian friend. “A criminal is a criminal irrespective of his caste, creed or culture and at the same time you were right to fear the possible consequences if the killer were a Muslim,” wrote Ghosh. “Islamophobia is real.”
“The point is that killing is cruel and inhuman, regardless of whether it is done with a motive, without one, for an ideology, in revenge, for terrorism or in the name of anti-terrorism,” wrote a third friend, Khurshid.
Rasheed closed the computer, performed ablution and prayed. First two prayers of “shukrana” or gratitude because the killer was not a Muslim. Then he prayed for the victims and their family, asking God to bless them all.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group. | <urn:uuid:c1358cf4-15eb-4227-9ad7-dbc50f4850a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dawn.com/2012/07/21/fears-on-the-first-ramazan-night/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982946 | 1,811 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Tag Archives: utilization
innovative use of veal stock came in from Marc Barringer, Chef/Hopsitality Director, St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Grosse Pointe Woods and Food Service Director, Lost Lake Scout Reservation, Freeman Twp., Michigan. He's also a freelance writer, innovative cook and classic jack-of-all-trades in the best cooks tradition (still a school crossing guard! God bless him!). Veal stock is one of the great preparations of the kitchen that can elevate everyone's cooking, and someone on twitter asked me what you could do with it. It lead to a lot of great ideas, in addition to the traditional uses for making sauces and enriching braises. Read the story of how Marc came up with bread—it's classic innovation from the restaurant kitchen. I love it. And I love the bread. ...My second pick for
Veal stock is an amazing elixir because it enhances the flavors around it without imposing its own flavor. It adds depth and body to food, but only to liquids, soups, stocks and sauces. My call for innovative uses of veal stock changed that with Josh Kantor's veal salt (see the other winners here). Josh Kantor is a 21-year-old senior economics major at Occidental College in Los Angeles and part-time garde manger at Hatfield’s Restaurant. I'll let him elucidate. by Josh Kantor The inspiration behind the veal salt was the many foods I love crisp that I couldn't enhance with veal stock: fried chicken, popcorn, or the original motivation: french fries. I am a sucker for the ...
Veal Stock Contest post. There were great drinks, including jello shots. I love the Bloody Mary with diced demi cubes (see below). The above is the cocktail is a meal; veal stock gives it body and umami and nutrition: 1 ounce tomato juice 1 ounce veal stock, 2 ounces of gin (or OYO vodka), 1/2 teaspoon horseradish, shot of Worchestershire Sauce, lemon juice garnished with scallion, and garnished with the overall winner: Veal Salt! Veal Salt is my personal pick of favorite veal stock innovations, offered by Josh Kantor, a 21-year-old senior economics at Occidental College in Los Angeles and part-time garde manger at ...First, I love love love all these suggestions from the
Gourmet cookbook. In Elements of Cooking, a 242-page book about food and cooking, there is but a single recipe: veal stock. I once asked Jacques Pepin about veal stock and he said he didn’t much make it. Ingredients weren’t at his store in Connecticut. I found this amazing, until I realized something important! It was Jacques Pepin! He doesn’t NEED veal stock. He could probably make Miracle Whip taste good. But for the rest of us? ...Regular readers know I’m a veal stock evangelist. Veal stock is one of those magical ingredients that can transform a mediocre cook into an ohmyfuckinggodthisfoodisamazing cook. Really, it’s that powerful. My first piece for Gourmet magazine was about veal stock. My veal stock recipe is in the
Shuna, who found it appalling that one could so easily waste an opportunity for the pleasures of vanilla sugar. She was right to scold. I had never really taken the time to appreciate the wonderful aromatic flavor of sugar but now I always will. It deserves a place in the spice rack. That it is ...James and I made popovers Sunday morning and sprinkled them with vanilla sugar, and this sugar made the popovers appealing in a surprisingly effective way. Like fleur de sel on caramel. It brought the flavors and textures together without overtly calling attention to itself. When I’d posted a while ago in a recipe to discard the vanilla bean, I got what amounted to a scolding from | <urn:uuid:8f86530f-cbcf-4630-b977-c73f766473ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ruhlman.com/tag/utilization/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94026 | 834 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Postal Commission Talks TechnologyRepresentatives from Pitney Bowes, Lockheed Martin, the Envelope Manufacturers Association and the USPS gave testimony to the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Postal Service this week involving electronic diversion of First-Class letter mail, automation and other technologies used by the postal service, and opportunities that may result from technological innovations.
The commission's third public meeting took place at LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, TX.
According to the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, the commission was updated by USPS vice president for engineering Tom Day and chief technology officer Bob Otto on the postal service's success in automating letter-sized mail. As of the end of last year, 94 percent of all letter-sized mail was automated.
The challenge is to duplicate that success with non-letter-sized flats and parcels. Though flats-processing efficiency has doubled since fiscal year 2000, the real gains for the USPS likely will come through improved materials handling -- better packaging and redesigning containers like tubs, trays and pallets -- and automated sorting technology that will reduce the time spent in "casing" the mail before a carrier straps on the leather bag and begins a route.
Judith Marks of Lockheed Martin and Heribert Stumpf of Siemens gave an industry perspective on USPS use of technology, the alliance said. Marks suggested that the commission consider changes to postal rate setting to allow for more negotiated rates and phased, indexed rate increases. Marks and Stumpf also spoke of standardizing postal facilities, standardizing mail shape and size and upgrading equipment in ways that would not disrupt service levels during the transition.
Reportedly, the commission raised the issue of standardizing the size of mail pieces as a way to reduce costs of capital equipment and processing operations. This topic originally was raised in the question-and-answer session with Day, and also arose in the Q-and-A following presentations by Lockheed Martin and Siemens. Day reportedly said that if mail were standardized, mail volumes would fall.
Deputy postmaster general John Nolan and Nick Barranca, vice president for product development, underscored the importance of First-Class mail to USPS finances and the threat of mail diversion from the national mail delivery network from electronic sources such as e-mail, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers said.
Nolan and Barranca suggested that more flexibility in setting prices and introducing products is vital to future competitive possibilities for the USPS.
Mike Monahan, president, global mailing solutions, Pitney Bowes, testified that an intelligent mail system could attach data-rich, machine-readable information to each mail piece, including information about the mailer, the recipient, the postal product used or content contained within the envelope. He spoke on a panel titled, "Making the Mail Process More Intelligent, Maximizing the Value of Mail," with Maynard H. Benjamin, president of the Envelope Manufacturers Association.
"In order to maintain a vital and viable postal system ... it is important to focus on intelligent mail, which increases the value of the mail, reduces postal system costs and improves mail security," Monahan said.
The presidential commission announced that its fourth public meeting will be April 4 at The Westin Hotel Los Angeles Airport. There, it will examine the role of the private sector in the mail delivery system through outsourcing, work sharing and retail partnerships. The commission also will examine USPS competition with the private sector.
The commission is to submit its report to the president by July 31. | <urn:uuid:318a11cc-413e-4cc7-8e7d-8e7351d3247a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/postal-commission-talks-technology/article/80410/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939167 | 714 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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