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...Stephen Suzman and Lisa Guthrie of Suzman & Cole Landscape Architects about how to work best with your landscape architect, what is important, and what isn't.
1. Is "voice" important when looking for a landscape architect?
Landscape architecture primarily needs to respond to the site. The landscape architect needs to understand the site, its opportunities and constraints, its microclimate, and the preferences of the client.
Planting a formal French garden that is not responsive to the site is not a valid solution. Voice is possible, voice can be a fashion, but the opportunities and constraints of the site need to guide you.
We do not specialize in a particular vernacular, what we are is perceptive, inventive, and resourceful. Our goal is to produce a hybrid design--a new response that avoids endless repetition and sterility. The Bay Area is an extremely conservative place (from a design perspective) where firms that provide only one voice limit their options.
The client's personal preferences, colors, plants and styles, are essential to identify early on, through an interview or a questionnaire process.
2. What three questions should an Owner ask you when you first sit down?
- Are you available?
- Is this something you would be interested in?
- Have you worked in this jurisdiction before?
- Are you familiar with the microclimate?
3. What are the fundamental elements that you work with, in terms of complexity and cost?
- Water--extremely expensive to provide from a budget perspective. (Ted: $300 to $500 per square foot of surface area for custom pools and spas). Maintenance and room for pumps and filters is needed.
- Grade changes and retaining walls--retaining walls are very expensive (Ted: $35 to $70 per SF of wall) and steps and stairs need to be developed to circulate through the site. Rise and run of these steps are critical.
- Paving, parking, and tennis courts--paving can be expensive (Ted: can range in cost from $15 to $200 per square foot). The wrong surface can easily degrade in the environment. Grade changes for the automobile are difficult to manipulate without creating a bunker feel. Automobile turnarounds, fire department requirements on rural sites. Tennis courts can be a challenge.
- Drainage--more plants succumb to bad drainage than any other malady. Leaky pools. Drainage needs to be addressed by the civil engineer.
- Dialogue, early and meaningful, with the building architect to review site, grades, retaining walls. With the client, to make sure we understand their preferences.
- Safety--stairs and lighting. Providing a comfortable rise and run on steps. Stair and pathway lighting.
- Transplanting Trees--some plants will be lost, it is a fact, and something we can recover from. Trees need to be pruned for safety.
- Color--sample matches on pool plaster, hardscape, and paving are very important.. Samples need to be approved and archived and used to accept built finishes. There is a wider palette to work with today than previously--materials are sourced worldwide. No mica. Porous stones need to be dark to hide staining.
- Lighting--safety lighting is critical, pathway and stair lighting. Pool lighting.underlighting rather than overlighting. Avoid high contrast--transitions from inside to outside are critical.
4. How do you relate to the buildings existing or proposed on the site?
Site planning is a chicken and egg process between the Architect and Landscape Architect to identify opportunities and constraints. Sloping sites are particularly important to understand early on. Siting the building properly makes a huge difference.
Outdoor program should be an early product of the design process. Outdoor rooms are different--the solar aspect, the fact there is no ceiling, and they change through the day and the season. Interior space is much more finite.
5. Views are critical to owners in the Bay Area. How do you respond to this need?
Borrowing views in an urban property, minimizing views from offsite and maximizing privacy is one of our key tasks. Developing view corridors on rural properties comes out during our initial discussions with the architect and Owner.
6. And plants?
Owners usually start with plants, but that is typically the last thing you work through on a site. You don't really know what wants to go where until you have developed your grades, circulation, and view corridors.
7. How important is a site survey?
A complete, topographical survey with two foot contours is critical. A complete site survey is the best $10 to $20K that you can spend to understand grades. (Ted: AGREED!!).
8. What are the more difficult needs you have to respond to?
People want what they haven't got. Its never what you can, its what you can't. Flat sites want to be elevated, sloping sites want to be flat (Ted: see retaining walls, above).
Building Codes. Owners ask me to skirt building codes on their projects. Code compliance is very important and a reality that you have to deal with all the time.
9. What is the one thing that needs to be understood, but is tragic if it isn't?
Wind. People don't like it, and it picks up in the afternoon when you want to be outside entertaining. Critical in San Francisco, and on any high elevation site. Very important to design around it, but if not understood early enough, responses are too late and not effective.
10. What seems important, but really isn't?
Whether you have done this garden before is not an issue. It is understanding the site--not providing the same solution to different problems. | <urn:uuid:3283e8ce-fb2f-4b0a-a35e-68b303cb76a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.antaeus.com/2006/08/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9448 | 1,191 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Weekly Buyer's Guide: Overclocking System - April 2004by Evan Lieb on April 8, 2004 10:47 AM EST
- Posted in
IndexToday, we release our eighth Buyer's Guide in the past 8 weeks. You can look forward to Buyer's Guides in the middle of every week, and then, after the end of each month, we will retool our guides to reflect the new hardware and pricing of that particular time period. Today, we are continuing the refresh of our Buyer's Guides to see what has changed, if anything, in the past 4 weeks. In case you haven't read our new Buyer's Guides yet, here's the basic format of them to be released on a weekly basis:
Week 1: Entry Level System
Week 2: Mid-Range System
Week 3: High End System
Week 4: Overclocking System
For every component that goes into a computer, we offer our recommendation for a piece of hardware as well as our alternative on that type of hardware. We've added alternative hardware picks to our guides because it allows AnandTech to recommend a wider variety of hardware (especially for those willing to spend a little more than what we budget for a particular system). Alternative picks tell you just that - your alternatives, which in some cases will be better suited for your needs, and in other cases, will not be. But at the same time, we can still be assertive enough with a first place recommendation so that new buyers aren't indecisive or confused about what to purchase. Most of the prices listed for the hardware that we recommend can be found in our very own RealTime Pricing Engine. Any prices not found in our engine can be found on pricewatch.com. We list pertinent parts of our RealTime pricing engine at the bottom of every page of our Buyer's Guides so that you can choose the lowest prices from a large variety of vendors all by yourself.
We are always taking suggestions on how to improve our Buyer's Guides. If you feel that we are not including a wide enough variety of systems in our guides, please let us know and we can see if it warrants an additional weekly Buyer's Guide.
OverclockingWhat we're going to tell you here are probably things that you already know. For example, if you're considering overclocking, you're probably someone who has at least an interest in computer technology and most likely, someone who just wants to squeeze as much performance as possible from their system without spending big bucks. If you're considering overclocking, you probably also know that overclocking hardware is never guaranteed; sometimes you'll receive components that overclock through the roof and sometimes you'll receive a dud. What you should know and keep in mind is that overclocking can damage your hardware and your data, and usually isn't covered under warranty, often times voiding warranties. Also keep in mind that this isn't an overclocking system meant for people who have cash to burn, so you're not going to see elaborate water cooling setups or ridiculous liquid nitro cooling solutions; our overclocking systems are cooled by air (fans). Granted, we're recommending the best air cooling available.
Keeping that information in mind, our overclocking systems always put stability before performance. While that may sound contradictory, knowing that the whole point of overclocking is to basically gain more performance from your system, a high performance system is nothing if it's unreliable and crash happy. Therefore, with stability first and performance a very close second, price is a more distant consideration. Remember, though, that price is still important enough that this is not meant to be a high end system, even though it'll perform better than one. For more information on our picks for high end components, take a look at last week's High End Buyer's Guide. | <urn:uuid:b733d3e4-d2e6-4070-a04c-524f1cfd384d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://anandtech.com/show/1291 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958245 | 782 | 1.5 | 2 |
Poland needs to focus on quality support for renewable energy -regulator
January 4, 2013
Poland should reform the system of support for renewable energy as the current system renders investments in conventional energy hardly profitable, energy market regulator URE head Marek Woszczyk told industry portal wnp.pl.
"A worrying situation is occurring in Poland in which as a result of subsidies for renewable energy sources wholesale prices of electricity are falling to a level that is hardly profitable for investments in conventional energy," Woszczyk said."
Poland should focus on quality rather than quantity support for renewable energy, Woszczyk said. | <urn:uuid:485ec2c1-8796-403d-b225-7be49f844d71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/23348/news | 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 | 0.951584 | 132 | 1.585938 | 2 |
It is time for another cookbook giveaway! This week I am giving away a free copy of Almost Meatless by Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond. The premise of this book fits perfectly with this week’s real food mini-pledge where we are focusing on eating locally raised meat and eating less of it. The authors have the right idea when it comes to reducing (but not giving up) meat, which will have a positive impact on both our health and the environment. With close to 70 recipes, each dish features meat such as chicken, turkey, pork, or lamb as an enhancement rather than the centerpiece of the meal.
Title: Almost Meatless
Retail: Available for $15.30 on Amazon
Summary: A collaboration between Manning, a former vegan, and Desmond, an unabashed meat lover, the aim is to help Americans, who they believe eat far more meat than is healthy or good for agricultural sustainability, compose meals that are both tasty and filling without having a slab of meat as the overbearing star ingredient. Instead, meat appears in smaller quantities supplemented by layers of flavor in the form of additional savory ingredients that should keep people who usually expect lots of meat from noticing the difference.
- Chicken: Chicken and Curried Cauliflower Salad Sandwiches, Thai Coconut Curry Soup, Chicken and Biscuit Pot Pie
- Turkey: African Peanut Stew, Turkey and Pinto Bean Cornbread Pie
- Seafood: Corn and Cod Cakes, Roasted Salmon Citrus Salad
- Pork: Potato Corn Chowder, Pork Pot Stickers, Red Beans and Rice
- Beef: Beefed-Up Bean Chili, Spinach and Chickpea Pouches, Chimichurri Fajitas
- Lamb: Shepherd’s Pie, Almond Gnocchi with Lamb Ragu
- Eggs: Grits Roulade, Pizza Strata
How to Enter
If you would like to enter the contest please read and follow these rules…
- The contest is open to those with a U.S. shipping address only.
- To enter the contest leave a comment below sharing your most favorite “almost meatless” dish that you make at home.
- Only one entry is allowed per person UNLESS you “follow” 100 Days of Real Food on Twitter. If you are a Twitter follower (or become one) you are allowed two entries!
- The contest will end at midnight EST on Sunday, April 3.
- The winner will be selected at random and announced on Twitter and Facebook (as well as emailed directly so make sure your address is entered correctly in your comment below!). The winner will have 3 days to respond before they are disqualified, and a new winner is chosen.
Please note: Your email address will not be shared or used for any other purpose. | <urn:uuid:9816205a-291d-4ee9-b2bd-adeb56dc390a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/03/30/free-cookbook-giveaway-almost-meatless/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936635 | 584 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Grande Prairie Teen's Artistic Talents Support Local 'Enbridge Conquer Cancer' Riders
The shot will sound tomorrow morning to signal the start of the 200-kilometre Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer.
Some people bike, while others work quietly on the sidelines.
15 year-old Hailey Allison's presence will be there, even though she won't be - through the sale of tickets to win her original paintings, she has helped Grande Prairie area rider Tracey Schockenmaier raise over $3,500.
She says her life has been touched in more ways than one by the disease.
"And also last month, someone who was a really good mentor for me when we moved here to Grande Prairie--he's a photographer and he really helped me grow. He was diagnosed with throat cancer. And hte feeling[of hearing that news] just makes you crumble when you find out that you could lose them."
She adds that she lost her grandmother to ovarian cancer and her grandfather to throat cancer, but they're not all sad stories - another grandmother of hers fought and survived breast cancer.
This will make Allison's third year lending her talents to help out the Enbridge Ride and their fundraising efforts.
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Popular Blog Articles | <urn:uuid:c480a4e3-906a-4501-b273-3ace5f13aa93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hqgrandeprairie.com/home/entertainment/news/v/Local/78495/Grande-Prairie-Teen-039-s-Artistic-Talents-Support-Local-039-Enbridge-Conquer-Cancer-039-Riders | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959031 | 276 | 1.578125 | 2 |
2005. Ąžuoliukas. All rights reserved.
The summer camps are an inseperable part Ąžuoliukas’ life. They started soon after the establishment of the choir: the first camp took place in Grigiškės in 1960. Since 1961, the summer capital of the members of Ąžuoliukas was Šventoji – a town, in which the camps have been organised for almost four decades. Now, every summer the members of Ąžuoliukas are camping by the lakes of Molėtai district.
During the camps, the music activities – rehearsals and concerts – are being organically combined with the choirists’ recreation. Festivals, theme nights and sports competitions are being organised every day. For the education of the boys and teenagers the “self-government” introduced in the camps is very important: the junior singers are being led by the senior members of Ąžuoliukas, who in their turn are being led by the teachers.
Ąžuoliukas’ teachers reasonably repeating: the children who went to a camp gather to the first rehearsal in September as a team united by emotions and experiences gained together, whereas those singers who did not go to the camp have to be “implanted” into the group again. | <urn:uuid:c33447f4-82ea-4191-82dc-f9fa8494ac99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.azuoliukas.lt/index.php/azuoliukas/tradition/226 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959685 | 291 | 1.84375 | 2 |
MESA, Ariz. -- The ultimate fighter series on Spike TV has catapulted mixed martial arts, or cage fighting, into the national spotlight. Now a group of Valley fighters say the violent, often bloody, sport should be classified as therapy.
At the American Pankration Academy, a mixed martial arts studio in Mesa, Kyle Dubay is a regular. But behind his warm smile looms a level of darkness, remnants of his three tours in Iraq.
"Every time that we were hit, it was always an ambush," he said. "It became the norm to get blown up, to get shot at."
When the former combat medic returned, he found himself spiraling out of control. It took months to realize he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"I get a lot of energy in my chest and it's a negative energy, but it builds up and it's powerful and I don't know how to get rid of it until I come in and I fight," Dubay said.
Jeff Funicello owns American Pankration Academy.
"Just recently it came to a head that this may be a really good form of therapy."
Funicello not only trains vets, he's also seen them heal.
"These guys don't want to be treated like victims," he said. "They don't want to be treated like broken merchandise."
As coach Chuck Markos explains, "People need to be pushing the envelope and looking at things that might be non-traditional and alternative."
Which is why many at American Pankration Academy believe the Department of Defense should research mixed martial arts as a credited therapy for PTSD.
As Markos points out, "They had a lot of money to fight the wars and they need to find some money to help the veterans who are now suffering with the problems the wars caused."
"I think that it's definitely worth exploring," said Dr. Angela Breitmeyer, a psychologist at Midwestern University.
Breitmeyer said while it sounds counter-intuitive to expose vets to even more violence, it makes sense.
"Exposing that particular individual to violence again in a more safe, controlled environment can be beneficial as long as that individual is able to process and work through the trauma," she said.
Trauma that many vets say vanishes once they begin training.
Dubay explains, "Go out there and try to think about your day while someone is trying to kick you in the head, it's not going to work."
Luke Ochsenfeld, a former Marine sniper said, "Some guys will have the shakes or be stressed out and then you'll notice as time goes on, they get a lot more relaxed and they just cope better."
And Funicello admits, "We get tons and tons of thank yous and all these people saying that this has been the greatest thing for their healing and for them facing their demons and getting through their PTSD."
The anecdotal feedback continues to inspire Funicello and so many others.
"Whether we get government contracts and get agencies involved, we're going to keep doing what we're doing, whether we're paid for it or not."
In September, the Department of Defense and the VA announced it will spend $100 million to research PTSD and traumatic brain injuries in hopes of improving treatment and diagnosis. | <urn:uuid:3e9f1fde-e9be-4734-8241-a420c4c2264f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.azfamily.com/news/Cage-fighting-possible-treatment-for-PTSD--181858521.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978736 | 685 | 1.734375 | 2 |
"My home state since June of 2009 created 40 percent of the new jobs in America."
Rick Perry on Friday, September 30th, 2011 in a speech
Is Perry right on Texas job growth?
Republican presidential frontrunner Rick Perry visited the Atlanta area Friday to talk to a group about what his state has done to help businesses flourish.
The Texas governor proudly did so amid some verbal shots at President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney.
Perry made a Texas-size claim about job growth in his state during his 12-minute speech at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
"My home state since June of 2009 created 40 percent of the new jobs in America," Perry told the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, an organization that researches and advocates for fiscally conservative ideas to promote the Peach State’s economic growth. June 2009 is when economists believe the "Great Recession" ended.
Was Perry right? We wanted to find out.
Perry has based his candidacy -- in part -- on all the people working in Texas, saying policies like the state’s lack of an income tax and his efforts to get out of the way of businesses are part of the reason for the job growth.
In June 2009, there were nearly 10.3 million Texans on payrolls, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In August 2011, the most recent federal data available, slightly more than 10.6 million people were working in Texas. The increase was about 323,000 jobs.
Nationally, the number of additional Americans working increased by nearly 837,000 during that same time span. If you do the math, Texas accounts for 38.6 percent of that increase. Perry’s camp calculates the increase at 39.2 percent. It came up with the same amount of new workers in Texas but said the job increase was 824,000.
Either way you slice it, the percentage of additional workers in Texas in comparison to the rest of the nation is impressive. So what’s going on in Texas?
Some economic experts say Texas has some natural advantages, such as its oil, its ports and its proximity to Mexico. Thomas Saving, the director of Texas A&M University’s Private Enterprise Research Center, noted several other factors -- such as it being a right-to-work state and having low debt -- that draw businesses to the state.
Saving, who teaches at Perry’s alma mater, said much of the job growth is in education and health care. The state’s population is growing, which means it needs more teachers. Texas, he said, has more people on the Medicaid rolls because of that population growth, which requires more health care professionals.
Saving noted that the governor’s office in Texas does not have as much power as other states, so Perry should not get all the credit for the job growth. He also noted the simple factor of the additional people moving into the Lone Star State is another explanation for the job growth. That state’s population grew by nearly 4.3 million people between 2000 and 2010, more than any other state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. California was second, with a population increase of about 3.4 million. Texas is now third in U.S. population, behind California and New York.
Economist Doug Hall also pointed out the state’s population growth and its unemployment rate, which has risen from 7.7 percent in June 2009 to its current rate of 8.5 percent.
"That’s a pretty significant number that [Perry] doesn’t mention," said Hall, director of the Economic Analysis & Research Network for the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute.
Our friends at PolitiFact Texas tackled a similar topic when Perry boasted about the state’s job creation during a GOP presidential debate. It noted that moderator Brian Williams pointed out that Texas has the highest-in-the-nation share of minimum-wage workers.
Perry’s numbers are on target, but there is some context to consider here. Some of the growth may be attributable to Texas’ regulations, but there are other factors, such as the state’s major population growth and the large number of minimum-wage workers. We rate his claim Mostly True.
Published: Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 6:00 a.m.
Email from Perry for President, Sept. 30, 2011
PolitiFact Texas, "Rick Perry says that with what ‘we have done,’ Texas created 1 million jobs while rest of nation lost 2.5 million jobs," Sept. 7, 2011
Telephone interview with Thomas Saving, professor, Texas A&M University, Sept. 30, 2011
Telephone interview with Doug Hall, Economic Policy Institute, Sept. 30, 2011
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics database
U.S. Census Bureau, "Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010"
We want to hear your suggestions and comments. Email the Georgia Truth-O-Meter with feedback and with claims you'd like to see checked. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise. | <urn:uuid:d5877b8e-d4b9-487e-b0c8-e4656979b58a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2011/oct/04/rick-perry/perry-right-texas-job-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96848 | 1,083 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Masters of middle distance
Masters of middle distance
By Jack Pennington
In this article I ignore the Kenyan masters of middle distance, who are genetically suited to middle distance, [ because of living at altitude] and also because in general they do not live in our modern society with all our distractions and transportation.
We are familiar with such as Herb Elliott, Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, John Walker and Peter Snell. Especially when they have published books about their training and racing.
For brevity I will concentrate on the two best John Walker and Sebastian Coe.
From 1973 to 1984 John Walker ran ninety one times under four minutes for the mile and was the first under 3minutes 50 seconds. He not only set world records but also won the Olympic 1,500mtrs in 1976.
In his book "John Walker"-1984 he writes his winter endurance training amounted to 60 miles per week-100k-.
[Walker was coached by Arch Jelley -who used a mini -Arthur Lydiard approach.] Likewise Seb Coe in his biography "Running Free" of 1981 writes-page 35-
"In the winter of 1979 prior to my three world records, I ran no more than fifty miles per week-80k-.His father Peter was his coach and adds-"Quantity is no substitute for quality".
On page 36- Seb Coe writes-"The 800\1,500m demands leg speed I do not risk my feet and knees on roads.
Coe won the Olympic 1,500m in 1980 and 1984 and in both those Olympics he placed second in the 800mtrs-He was the world record holder in 800 with 1m41.8s and the 1,500m with 3m 26s.
Herb Elliott voted the greatest of all time as a 1,500m \mile runner -was also a world record holder at the Olympics at 1,500m- writes in his book-"The golden mile"- -Percy Cerutty brought out in me a force which I did not know existed".
Percy Cerutty's creed was -"There is no gain without pain".
Since those early days science has proven that middle distance running is so different to marathon running as to be considered a different sport.
In the marathon the liver stores sufficient energy to last about two hours and then relies on stores of fat, it produces work by combining with oxygen.
In distance running at an even pace there is always plenty of oxygen, at least until close to the finish where it may need middle distance speed.
The waste product of distance running is water and carbon di oxide.
Distance running is totally aerobic. Science has shown that in middle distance at best effort work is produced even though maximum oxygen uptake is about 50% deficient especially in the 800mtr. The work load in the 1,500\\5,000, and 10k reduces with the slower pace and so the oxygen debt reduces in relation to the drop in speed. However in all these distances there is proof that an additional source of energy has been used because the waste product detected in the blood is Lactic acid in addition to the expiration of water and carbon di oxide.
Middle distance running produces a waste product of not only water and carbon di oxide but it also produces lactic acid, Which clearly indicates that there is an additional source of energy used. This is anaerobic training
[You may need a degree in chemistry to understand this process within the muscles?] Sports science has confirmed that all the middle distance runners mentioned, learned to train in such a way as to enhance this process of using this third energy and that distance running does not do so.
However the type of training required, to produce this energy, requires a background of distance running.
Homo Sapiens were born to run, but in our society we need to run to improve our health and to reduce our weight, both of which will improve performance.
However when we no longer improve we can improve further by introducing shorter efforts at a faster pace , and we can also include a weekly session of short sprints up hills, those efforts will make legs stronger and strides longer, because it is part of middle distance training.
[Incidentally when doing experimental training in1964-1970-under the supervision of a Professor of Biology and Zoology,--, I was introduced to sessions of short sprints up Black Mountain.-ref. my book "A Life on the run" 1995]
To get back on track, science tells us that to improve at middle distance we need to reduce distance training and introduce at least three sessions per week of interval training to be run at maximal efforts.
Variety is the spice of life and so grass and bush land should be the training venue. The intervals should start with maximal efforts over about 200mtrs because the first one will not need oxygen and therefore if you jog until recovery is complete the next one will also not need oxygen so that it becomes aerobic training at a faster pace than distance training.
The next stage is to reduce the recovery jogs and to put up with the heavy breathing because it has become anaerobic middle distance training.
This will certainly improve performances over all distances.
If you become serious and ambitious you can now promote yourself to a 300mts interval and gradually introduce 600mts and now and then for a change a 1,200m. The most important intervals are the 600m sessions..
When you have decided to become a middle distance specialist you should still enjoy early morning runs of a half hour or so, and also a weekend run in the forest with other runners. In fact in winter it would be an advantage to compete in crosscountry, [but not on roads] but you must still include sessions of speed work.
When the track season is approaching, one session -on Fridays -would need a stopwatch to time 200m intervals at the pace of the race you wish to compete at. Because if you do not have pace judgement you will find the early pace so easy that you will run too fast. A good idea is to run a 600m or a 1,200m in training as if it were a race and you can rest assured an 800m or 1,500m race will be faster. Sprinters do not use oxygen and they do not like going past 200mts, they improve their speed by becoming stronger. Marathon runners are the weakest of all, they carry the least weight. Speed is leg speed and strength.
The bible of running is "The Lore of running" by Tim Noakes MD who is the Professor of Sports Science at the University of Cape Town-913 pages published by The Oxford University press.-Noakes is also a distance runner. I reviewed his book in 2005. The experimental training I did at ANU was published in "The biology of effort" by 'The National Symposium of fitness and recreation' by ANU and National Fitness March 1969. | <urn:uuid:1131a3cd-926e-4fef-b93f-5a0f4d776a98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tuckerbox.blogspot.com/2011/04/masters-of-middle-distance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961877 | 1,423 | 1.625 | 2 |
As chief elected officer of the Society, ASSE's president promotes the advancement of the Society and the safety profession, and represents ASSE before members, other relevant professional societies and various governmental agencies. Professional Safety shares his latest thoughts on the Society, the profession and its practice.
Read past messages in the President's Message Archive.
Thanks to your involvement and support, awareness of the key role occupational safety and health plays in keeping people safe and helping businesses deliver world-class results continues to grow.
|2004-2005 ASSE President Gene Barfield, CSP|
SH&E professionals work day in and day out to ensure that the millions of people who go to work each day return home safely. We use many resources to accomplish this task. Special-emphasis campaigns such as North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week are just one of the resources I have found very useful. Over the last few years, NAOSH Week has greatly increased awareness-among employers, employees and the public—of the importance of workplace safety and health.
During NAOSH Week 2005—slated to run May 1-7—ASSE, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, OSHA and many other organizations and communities across North America will focus attention on the importance of working safely. Our members are committed to protecting people, property and the environment and do it very well. I ask you to join us in using NAOSH Week as another tool to help us educate our friends, neighbors, students, community leaders, corporations, legislators and others that it's no accident when tragedies don't occur.
The world continues to change rapidly as do the risks and methods we use to control them. Through our dedicated efforts, many of these risks are identified and remedied before they can endanger employees. NAOSH Week is a good opportunity for us to share how SH&E practitioners keep people safe and healthy at work-whether in an office, on the road, at a construction site, in a plant or in one of the many other locations we endeavor to protect each day.
To participate, ASSE members can contact their chapter president, chapter public relations chair, regional vice president or area director. ASSE's Diane Hurns (email@example.com) can send you a NAOSH Week kit or you can visit www.asse.org/naosh05 to find more tools to help you develop a successful NAOSH Week activity or event. The 2005 kit includes a NAOSH Week guidebook and backgrounder; SH&E factsheets; draft proclamation in support of NAOSH Week; news release template; technical papers on how safety pays; and ASSE brochures on roadway safety, HazMats and young worker safety.
With these tools, you can design activities around your community's needs. For example, in the northwest U.S. and in Louisiana, members will focus on transportation safety—an important area given the fact that highway incidents were the leading cause of on-the-job deaths in 2003. To support their efforts, they will distribute ASSE's Roadway Crashes brochure. In Oklahoma City, activities will include a Safety Day at the state capitol and the traveling Work Zone Safety Memorial. In Texas, Kansas and Missouri, members will distribute ASSE's Workplace Safety Guide for New Workers brochure and factsheets, and share member expertise to emphasize the importance of training new workers.
As part of its national efforts, ASSE again sponsored the NAOSH Week Kids' Safety-on-the-Job poster contest. The contest is a fun way to teach our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews about the importance of workplace safety and health. The four winning posters are featured on the NAOSH Week poster that was distributed in March, and the winners will be recognized during the kickoff event to be held at U.S. Dept. of Labor headquarters in Washington, DC, on May 2.
I want to thank you for making NAOSH Week a success. Through your support and involvement, awareness of the key role occupational safety and health plays in keeping people safe and helping businesses deliver world-class results continues to grow.
Your efforts to anticipate and control work-related risks are not new to you, but they are to many others. Take this opportunity to educate them about the occupational SH&E profession, what its practitioners do and why it is so important—for those who work, their families, co-workers, friends and the organizations in which they work. This year, ASSE will present the NAOSH Champion Award to those who help the Society meet the goals and objectives of NAOSH Week. So join us and help make NAOSH Week 2005 our best yet.
Gene Barfield, CSP | <urn:uuid:36a1d627-fbe5-4cbc-a9b6-51a21276c40a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asse.org/professionalsafety/pres-archive/0504.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957198 | 965 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Answers remain in development for finding spots for displaced programs meeting inside the Sequim Community School.
About 50 community members and school officials gathered inside the school’s commons on Nov. 30 to discuss plans for district programs and possible solutions for non-mandated educational programs in the school.
A facilities committee recommendation has most of the school closing except for proposed renovations to the commons and the 1979 addition. No action has been taken yet.
Superintendent Bill Bentley told the audience the school might look fine but, “Everything we see is not what we know about the building.”
The committee recently recommended closing the school built in 1950. This would save the district about $75,000 a year, Bentley said.
In discussion groups, people asked questions about rejected options for program space and what solution the district is seeking.
Tim Wilkinson, a teacher at Olympic Peninsula Academy, a district-funded program, said they have more than 80 students in eight classrooms throughout the week in the school with less-than-ideal conditions.
“It’s not uncommon for classrooms to be 40 degrees in the morning and 85 degrees in the afternoon,” he said.
His projector has fallen off the wall more than once due to drywall issues, too.
The facilities committee’s plan proposes $150,000 of renovations in the commons space and the 1979 addition where Snap programs and the district’s maintenance workshop are.
School board member Virginia O’Neil told her group that the school has been falling apart a long time and students have to come to class some days with gloves on.
“This isn’t a band-aid,” she said. “It’s a phased project for a building that’s falling apart.”
School board member John Bridge said they held the meeting to receive as much input as possible and see if there are any other options.
The school board tentatively makes a decision about the school’s future on Jan. 17, but there are two meetings for public comment before then, on Dec. 19 and Jan. 3.
“There’s still time to talk,” Bridge said.
Programs like Head Start, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Snap, First Teacher, Peninsula College’s GED and English Language Learners programs might become homeless if the board decides to close and/or use those spaces in the school.
Bonne Smith, a Snap instructor, said they’ve moved forward knowing there isn’t space for the program in the district.
“It made our board take a good comprehensive look at needs and uses,” Smith said. “They are trying to creatively find something that’ll work as quickly as possible.”
Anna Wilson, board president of Snap, said they are making progress with Paratransit to extend their hours later in the day to accommodate students.
Dr. Cynthia Martin, founder of First Teacher, said at the meeting she felt there was a lot of empathy toward the program, particularly with the loss of First Teacher’s playground.
She plans to let the search for a new space go for a while.
“I empathize with the phenomenal problem the district must deal with,” Martin said.
She’s going to check on a few options, but is not hopeful they’ll find a space near a playground again.
Evelyn Short, dean of basic skills for Peninsula College, said her students use the school for one classroom for 36 hours Monday-Thursday each week. Nearly 60 students take courses in one GED class and two ESL classes.
She said they are waiting to find a new space: Budget discussions must happen with the Legislature first because more budget cuts could come to community colleges.
“I don’t have the go-ahead if we would rent or what we do,” Short said. “We’re just watching the Legislature and waiting.”
Contact the Sequim School District, 503 N. Sequim Ave., at 582-3260. | <urn:uuid:80a3d44f-7a3e-4f27-bfaf-7231cc3d69c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classified@sequimgazette.com/news/article.exm/2011-12-07_sequim_community_school_options_remain_open | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949471 | 860 | 1.585938 | 2 |
| ||Healthy Heart || |
Angioplasty Or Bypass Graft Surgery?
Last reviewed on April 18, 2011
By Thomas H. Lee, M.D., M.P.H.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
You are in the hospital after being admitted with a bad episode of chest pain. Your doctors tell you that, fortunately, you do not seem to have had any damage to your heart but it was close. All the evidence suggests that you have coronary artery disease, and a coronary angiogram confirms the diagnosis. You have narrowings in two of the three major blood vessels supplying the heart.
At first, you hope that medications will solve your problems, but you have another episode of pain while doing practically nothing in the hospital. Your doctors tell you correctly that most patients with pain at rest need bypass surgery or angioplasty in order to control their symptoms and reduce their risk for a heart attack. You agree to go with a more aggressive approach.
But which procedure do you have? Bypass surgery, which requires opening up your chest? Or angioplasty, which is performed via thin catheters inserted into a blood vessel in your groin?
If the choice between these two procedures was just based upon its discomfort alone, there is no question that everyone would choose angioplasty except, perhaps, the most dedicated masochists. People who have bypass surgery usually need at least two months before they can resume their usual activities, and during that recovery period, their chest hurts intensely every time they laugh or cough. People who have angioplasty can often go back to work in a day or so.
But there are plenty of other issues that make the choice much more complex. The first is "durability" that is, the likelihood that the procedure will "fix" the problem once and for all. On that count, bypass surgery wins hands down. Over the next six months, hardly anyone who has had bypass surgery needs another procedure because of recurrences of chest pain. It is a very different story with angioplasty, because recurrences of the narrowings (restenosis) occur in about one-third of patients. That rate has decreased with the new drug-coated stents that are increasingly common in the U.S. marketplace, but these devices are still so new that no one knows for sure if they prevent restenosis, or just postpone it for a few years.
For people with very severe disease, bypass surgery is often the better choice, since it is more likely to allow restoration of blood supply to all the areas of the heart that are threatened. This may be the reason that several studies have shown that people with diabetes tend to do better with bypass surgery than angioplasty. In addition, there are many patients who have narrowings that just do not lend themselves to angioplasty. For these patients, bypass is the only option.
Whatever advantages bypass surgery may have had in the past, there is a strong sense among many physicians that angioplasty is catching up and surpassing it as the procedure of choice for more and more patients. First, angioplasty is getting better and better technically, with clever new devices and wire stents that help prop vessels open. Researchers have learned how to use new drugs to prevent blood clots from forming after an angioplasty, causing sudden blockages of the coronary arteries.
In addition, physicians have become increasingly aware of problems with memory and depression after bypass surgery. At least some of these problems are believed due to showers of debris from inside the blood vessels reaching the brain not an attractive prospect for a patient contemplating this operation. Many hospitals now offer off-pump bypass operations, in which the patient does not have to have his or her normal blood circulation stopped. This approach is technically more difficult, but many experts believe it can reduce the risk of neurological problems after bypass. Still, its long-term benefits are far from proven.
Because of the rapid rate of progress in angioplasty technique, the number of angioplasties today is more than double the number of bypass graft operations. That margin may widen in the years ahead. A key factor for any patient offered a choice between the two is the experience of the physicians involved. Regardless of which procedure is chosen, physicians who do the procedure often and have a record of good outcomes are more likely to perform the operation without complications. Dont be afraid to ask about this issue, or to ask your doctor to help you weigh the concerns about safety and effectiveness described above.
Thomas H. Lee, M.D., is the chief executive officer for Partners Community HealthCare Inc. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an internist and cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Lee is the chairman of the Cardiovascular Measurement Assessment Panel of the National Committee for Quality Assurance. | <urn:uuid:353eda4b-f633-41cd-af82-53060d80bd24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC256/35320/35324/357683.html?d=dmtHMSContent | 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 | 0.971492 | 1,009 | 1.71875 | 2 |
SEELEY: We need to do whatever we can to promote enrollment in clinical trials, because that's the way we are going to get answers
about off-label use. That's really going to be worth a lot more to payers and patients than anything else that we do.
And Everything Price
CLINTON: Many companies have been drawn into the oncology field by the specter of very high prices—with payers willing to
reimburse them. But that's not always the case today. How is the environment surrounding pricing changing?
SEELEY: More oral therapies coming down the pipeline has driven the need for industry to emphasize alternative payment methodologies
like access, co-pay assistance, underinsured programs, and various other supports to tackle the financial need for oral therapies.
AYERS: In the case of the Pfizer drug Sutent, we haven't actually had payers who were refusing to pay for it. Instead, in the United
Kingdom, the NICE Commission has been slow to complete its evaluation. They're postponing the review of the data. And until
they come out with the health–economic analysis, no budgets are apportioned to it.
And the patients are beginning to protest. We've also seen NICE rejecting Tarceva, Avastin, and Altima because they consider
anything that costs over £30,000 [sterling] per quality-adjusted life-year as not good use of National Health Service expenditures.
They've put a cap on what they're willing to pay, and anything that's more than that, they don't consider cost effective.
The worrying thing is that there are now more European countries that are considering adopting that kind of health–economic
cost-effectiveness approach. We just have to see how far that goes.
There's also much less willingness to pay for off-label use now. Going back to 10 years ago, it would have been very rare
for anybody to challenge what an oncologist wanted to give to his patient if he believed the data was there. Now, there are
a lot of countries that only will pay for a drug to be used within its strict-labeled indication, even if there is really
good data about its activity.
CLINTON: How does the United States compare to Europe?
SEELEY: In the United States, we are not seeing the same sweeping NICE type of judgments regarding oncology reimbursement. But there
is no doubt that the pricing of oncology drugs and the overall expense is a very big concern of payers. Now, they're paying
much more attention to it, and they are hiring specialists who deal with oncology within their organizations.
NAEYMI-RAD: Europe is just so much more difficult. If we were to look at the United States, there is more choice in terms of payer coverage.
US payers are going to be very selective about where they focus in oncology, and they're going to look for worthwhile wins—which
will be in the large-tumor types. They're probably going to look in areas where there is a lot of competition and choice,
because that's how they can encourage cost savings.
CLINTON: What are the most important pricing issues for companies to keep their eye on?
SEELEY: Once your product is approved and on the market, drug development doesn't end there. In fact, it's really just beginning.
Drugs are in a continual state of development in oncology, and yet we price at a single point in time. | <urn:uuid:26771854-a602-455b-904e-b21887e158e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pharmexec.com/pharmexec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=423217&sk=&date=&pageID=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975402 | 742 | 1.625 | 2 |
1. INTEREST Upon seeing the teacher and the qualities evinced by spiritual practice, and by hearing the Dharma, you naturally become aware of how nice it feels. There is a calm, soothing vibration which is very special. Effortlessly, you feel attracted and drawn closer. This state is known as interest. You are moved in a direction that nobody forced or pushed you into. Simply contacting the presence of the Three Jewels through seeing their qualities and hearing the teachings brings a very peaceful feeling and an intimation of something beautiful. You might feel like you're coming home.
2. LONGING The initial interest becomes intensified into strong motivation in this second step. In Tibetan gö-pa means longing. This is when you think, 'I really should do this.' You feel you must finish the journey home, walk through the door and step inside. You have a joyful feeling about getting inside. This leads to a strong practice and a meaningful response to the teaching. Having opened oneself, one becomes intimate with the Dharma, continually deepening and maturing in that understanding.
3. CONFIDENCE This comes from practical acquaintance with the Dharma, like the familiarity experienced when you arrive home. You feel very relaxed and have certainty regarding what is true. When you were initially interested, you simply thought, 'How nice...' then through inspiration, you became determined to move in that direction. The level of confidence is when you've really come home for good. You no longer have any doubt or hesitation. You've settled into your own space and reached the point of relaxed confidence. No longer do you have to search and wander, driven by feelings of poverty or insufficiency. You are at peace. You feel full and comfortable, finally able to enjoy the wealth and riches within your own home.
Confidence is very important. Without it you're not going to attain enlightenment or be able to help other beings. Confidence encourages you to settle down, to relax into the fullness of what you already have so that you can see what is still to be realized or accomplished. You are able to feel at ease while learning to work with the whole situation, to creatively participate in the world and be of benefit to others. This effort is sustained by meditation.
Realization comes through meditation, not just by studying and analyzing. Too much thinking and intellectual analysis only leads to more conceptions, following one upon another to the point where you're merely hovering over the actual experiences of life, carried away by endless mentalizing.
Dwelling in conceptions is an inherently unstable condition. You won't find anything there. Eventually the imbalance of an overly intellectual approach gives rise to more doubt. The energy of your initial interest and longing is lost in the proliferation of abstraction and analysis. By clinging to conceptions, we end up in doubt. There is a saying in Tibet, 'Expertise can become another form of stupidity.'
By over-indulging in intellectual analysis and conceptualization, we will be constantly plagued by doubt and hesitation. In clinging to concepts, we merely skim across the surface of knowledge and life-experiences, obscuring the original qualities of meaningful, participatory awareness. This prevents us from being of benefit to either ourselves or other beings.
To have confidence in the Dharma and faith in the wisdom of love and compassion is wisdom itself......http://www.turtlehill.org/khen/devo.html | <urn:uuid:aab3339f-3c45-4460-97bf-7d99c9590bb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?p=116920 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960342 | 695 | 1.664063 | 2 |
|Pregnancy and hiv testing
Apr 18, 2012
If i tested negative in my pregnancy for hiv at 20 weeks could my pregnancy crossreact with hiv rapid testing later? Im paraniod and looseing my mind im 29 weeks and they will repeat it at 36 weeks please help me with my concerns
| Response from Ms. Southall
HI Depending on what type of testing they ran, if they did a PCR test and it was negative then you are negative. If they ran an HIV antibody test this is one where you can be positive and the test come back negative and then when you are tested later in the pregnancy it can be positive. I would ask what type of test they ran and request a PCR if that is not the type of test they ran. It is not a usual one they do because it is quite expensive, most insurance does cover it.
If for some reason you are positive, there are medications they can put you on at any time during your pregnancy that will prevent your child from being born positive.
Be well and stay safe, Shannon
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This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.
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:40031fbc-16fe-470a-8d2b-f6b7bfc9c0a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/SafeSex/Q221345.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941273 | 339 | 1.671875 | 2 |
When it comes to creating streams of income outside of the day job, investing in property is generally regarded as a safe and worthwhile option, as property usually at the very least holds its value and in most cases, increases in value over time. There are also opportunities to benefit from investment properties through rental returns, as well as capital appreciation, and depending on your personal circumstances and financial goals, strategies such as the cash flow positive one may be right for you.
A cash flow positive investment property is a type of investment whereby the money received from rent exceeds the mortgage repayments; that is, you are left over with extra cash after your mortgage obligations have been met. A cash flow positive investment strategy, also known as positive gearing, is a great way to increase one’s cash flow and expand their passive income streams, in order to help with various other factors.
Investors usually seek a cash flow positive investment strategy for several reasons, one of them being to diversify their property portfolio alongside the typical negative gearing strategies. With the passive income created by a cash flow positive investment property, it can be used to pay off your primary mortgage, help with the children’s school fees, weekly grocery shopping, or just about anything else you can think of to do with the extra cash. The main draw of cash flow investment properties are the supplementary incomes that they create, which can ease the burden of everyday living and help one to alleviate financial worries, as they pertain to short term obligations or wants.
In essence, investing in a cash flow positive investment property is immediate gratification as the financial returns are instant. While negatively geared properties are tailored to reward one later down the track, cash flow positive aims to provide extra income in the on-going short term. Effectively, owning one is a lifestyle option to increase wealth. Negatively geared properties appreciate more, but generally do not provide cash flow for years. The added advantage of investing in a negatively geared property is that the equity created say, ten years from today, can be used to buy multiple cash flow positive investment properties and thus, create multiple steams of income.
Cash flow positive investment properties generally have a high rental return, and lower capital growth over time, therefore they are great investments for those looking to add ease to their lifestyle for everyday living. While over time the properties do appreciate, they do not appreciate as highly as a negatively geared property- however, negatively geared properties generally have a lower rental return. There is no ‘better’ strategy, or better type of investment property. Instead, property expert groups such as AllianceCorp recommend a mixture of both, so that as a property investor, you can enjoy the benefits that are associated with both.
This article was provided by AllianceCorp. To find out more about cash flow positive investment properties in Australia, visit AllianceCorp’s website
or call 03 8669 0629. | <urn:uuid:2fc6ab4b-a728-4c89-9dba-1502bbf3254c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeiown.com/what-is-a-cash-flow-positive-investment-property/ | 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 | 0.958948 | 586 | 1.726563 | 2 |
A tax abatement is out, but commissioners can help with infrastructure money.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Even though the Lordstown General Motors plant is north of the border, in Trumbull County, Mahoning County commissioners say they'll do what they can to keep it there.
"Sometimes we forget that job retention is just as important as job creation," said Commissioner Ed Reese.
Reese said Mahoning commissioners should follow the lead of their Trumbull colleagues, who recently approved a 100-percent tax abatement for Android Industries, which plans to build a plant that would supply engines to the GM assembly plant there.
The plant, to be built on Ridge Road near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township, is expected to employ about 185 people within a year. The abatement was approved in late April by Trumbull County commissioners and Vienna Township trustees.
The move comes at a time when Mahoning Valley officials are trying to persuade GM executives to keep the Lordstown plant open.
Work together: "I think it's really important to help out in this and show Detroit that we can come together on this," Reese said. "That plant is such an important part of our Valley. It's the main thrust of our economy."
He said many county residents work at Lordstown, so commissioners have a vested interest in retaining those jobs. Austintown has a particularly high concentration of Lordstown employees, he said.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said the loss of the plant would devastate the local economy, so she says Mahoning County should do what it can to prevent it.
What county can do: Mahoning County can't offer tax incentives because the plant is in Trumbull County, but Reese said commissioners can offer other help like money for infrastructure improvements, if needed.
"They have to tell us how we can help them," Reese said, noting that it's important for the two counties to work together. "Regionalization is so important." | <urn:uuid:7c8f6b7a-9648-44de-9764-97707cf9c938> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vindy.com/news/2001/may/11/mahoning-county-officials-offer-help-to-keep-gm/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969216 | 428 | 1.757813 | 2 |
A University of Massachusetts Dartmouth education is a foundation from which graduates continually engage and impact their community, both locally and globally.
In all aspects of their lives, UMass Dartmouth graduates skillfully locate, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information and can communicate their knowledge effectively and creatively. They have depth in a field of study and broad knowledge across many areas of inquiry, and they continue after graduation to explore and to acquire understanding within and beyond their field of study.
UMass Dartmouth graduates think critically and possess the confidence to integrate and apply their learning to solving complex problems. They have excellent interpersonal skills and a sense of purpose.
Guided by empathy and integrity, UMass Dartmouth graduates respond constructively to changing personal, professional, and societal challenges in a diverse world.
Recommended by votes of the Faculty Senate and Student Senate | <urn:uuid:090935c9-47fb-459e-81ab-e5e4006e3d59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umassd.edu/studentaffairs/officeoftheassociatevicechancellor/integratedstudentlearningoutcome/ | 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 | 0.954927 | 166 | 1.640625 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) – In recent days, Hillary Clinton supporters have been pushing this notion that the Democratic presidential candidate who has won the states with the most Electoral College votes should get the party’s super delegates and the party’s eventual nomination. We’ve heard it from Democratic Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Democratic Governor Ed Rendell - among many others.
They make this argument because Barack Obama remains the leader so far in pledged delegates, the popular vote and the most states won.
Clinton’s supporters note that Obama may have won more states - 27 to 14, excluding both Michigan and Florida whose delegates so far are not being counted because those states moved up their primaries against Democratic party rules. But they argue that her 14 states have a total of 219 Electoral College votes and his 27 states have 202 - and insist that makes her more likely to win the general election in November.
Among the big states she has won are New York and California.
Obama supporters argue that any Democrat likely will capture those states if recent presidential elections are a model. That may be true but John McCain and his supporters are arguing that he might actually have a chance in California given his supposed “maverick” reputation and the strong support of the state’s popular Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Clinton supporters also argue that she has a better chance of beating McCain in swing states like Florida and Ohio - which they say Democrats would need to win in November. They say it’s all about the Electoral College - not the popular vote - as was made clear in 2000, when Al Gore won hundreds of thousands of more votes than winner George Bush.
It’s a controversial point that the Clinton camp makes. | <urn:uuid:f6680420-4c54-45d9-b9af-0707dccdaa94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/07/blitzer-is-clinton-ahead-in-the-only-count-that-matters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970414 | 352 | 1.65625 | 2 |
For What, All These Wars?
"I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident. ... I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies."
As President Obama sent this letter of apology to Hamid Karzai for the burning by U.S. troops of Qurans that were used to smuggle notes between Afghan prisoners, two U.S. soldiers were murdered in reprisal.
Saturday, a U.S. colonel and a major working in the Interior Ministry were shot dead by an Afghan protesting the desecration of the Islamic holy book. All U.S. officers have been pulled out of the ministries in Kabul.
Sunday, seven U.S. troops on base were wounded by a grenade.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. John Allen, commander in Afghanistan, have also offered their apologies.
Remarkable. After fighting for 10 years, investing $500 billion, and losing nearly 2,000 dead and many more wounded and maimed to save Afghanistan from a Taliban future, America is issuing apologies to the regime and people we are fighting and dying to defend?
And how has Obama's apology been received?
Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a member of Parliament, stood with 20 other members to declare, "Americans are invaders, and jihad against Americans is an obligation." He urged mullahs to "urge the people ... to wage war against Americans."
In what other war would we have tolerated this from an elected leader of a government we had sent an army of 100,000 to protect?
Undeniably, the soldiers who burned the Qurans blundered. Yet there is no evidence that it was malicious. If vandals desecrate a Bible in America, burning and replacing the holy book would not be regarded a valid excuse for mayhem and murder.
If Afghans cannot understand this mistake and have no other way to express their rage than rioting and ranting, "Death to America!" what kind of raw material are we working with in building a Western-style democracy in any foreseeable century?
Two pertinent questions needs to be put.
While keeping Afghanistan free of the Taliban is a desirable goal, what vital U.S. interest would be imperiled should the Taliban take over again, now that al-Qaida is largely gone?
What price in blood and billions should we expend on what appears a dubious enterprise at best — creating a pro-American democracy in a country that seems mired in some distant century?
It is time we took inventory of all of these wars we have fought since the Army of Desert Storm restored the emir of Kuwait to his throne.
That 1991 war was seen as a triumph of American arms and a model of the global cooperation to come in establishing the New World Order of George H.W.
But the savage sanctions we imposed on a defeated Iraq and the planting of U.S. bases on Saudi soil that is home to Mecca was a casus belli for Osama bin Laden. Ten years after the triumph of Bush I, he brought down the twin towers.
This atrocity caused us to plunge into Afghanistan to dump over the Taliban and eradicate or expel al-Qaida. We succeeded, then decided to stay on and build a nation. After 10 years, what have we accomplished to justify the immense price we have paid?
In 2003, George W. Bush, seeking to complete the work begun by his father, invaded Iraq. But Saddam had no role in 9/11 and was no threat to America. Iraq did not even have weapons of mass destruction.
Today, after eight years of war, 4,500 dead, 35,000 wounded and a trillion dollars sunk, the 15,000 Americans we left behind are largely holed up in the Green Zone, as Iraq descends into sectarian, civil and ethnic war.
What did it all profit us?
How goes Libya after the U.S.-NATO intervention to dethrone Moammar Gadhafi?
Here is the Rand Corp.'s Frederic Wehrey:
"A weak transitional government confronts armed militias. ... Defiant young men with heavy weapons control Libya's airports, harbors and oil installations. Tribes and smugglers rule desert areas south of the capital. Clashes among various militias for turf and political power rage. ...
"Libya teeters dangerously on the brink."
Now we see a push for intervention in Syria from Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman. That would make us allies of al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, all of which also seek the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the rise of a Sunni regime in Damascus.
But it is the clamor for a U.S. war on Iran that grows loudest.
But why, when the U.S. intelligence community still claims to have no hard evidence Iran has even decided to build a bomb?
Since Ronald Reagan went home, the United States has attacked or invaded Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq again, and Libya.
How have Americans benefited from all this war? How have the Chinese suffered these 20 years by not having been in on the action?
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?"To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM | <urn:uuid:a6891666-ffe0-43ae-b1dd-a91ff709b3ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creators.com/conservative/pat-buchanan/for-what-all-these-wars.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953812 | 1,134 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Do you enjoy being outside? Are you energized by the fresh air and sounds of nature? The call of the wild draws humans and animals alike into the warm sun every spring and summer, but personal preferences may prevent you from rushing into the woods. Additionally, health conditions may keep you from taking up a strenuous outdoor sport. If you enjoy being outside but prefer relaxing entertainment options, consider three low-impact but popular outdoor activities.
Enjoy a leisurely morning cup of coffee or entertain guests after work without leaving the comfort of your patio. Attractive and comfortable patio furniture entices you to sit outside and listen to the birds sing, read a good book or chat with a neighbor without getting your feet dirty.
When purchasing outdoor furniture, consider your needs. How big is your patio? How many people will be sitting outside? What style and colors do you prefer? After you answer these questions, find the furniture that fits your outdoor space and personal style. A small bistro patio set provides an intimate setting for conversation or you can purchase a larger set that seats your extended family. Consider investing in durable, all-weather material that withstands the weather conditions in your area and lasts for years to come.
Enhance your outdoor experience when you move a television onto your patio. Watch the big game or your favorite weekly shows while enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Install an umbrella or retractable awning for shade and comfort while you sit comfortably outside. The more amenities you add, the more “inside” you will feel while still enjoying beautiful weather.
Experience the joys of camping minus the hassle of a port-a-potty when you camp in your backyard. Assemble an outdoor raised campfire pit on your patio, and roast marshmallows and hot dogs to perfection. Enjoy the outdoorsy smell and relaxation of an open fire while staying within reach of modern conveniences like electricity and refrigeration. Campfires are fun for cooking, but also keep off the evening chill. Having a warm fire can add weeks of use to your deck or patio. The smoke also helps keep bugs at bay.
You could set up your recreational vehicle or tent in your yard for a close-to-home camping experience. Instead of navigating an RV on the highway, parking in a tight spot in the campground and fighting off the bugs at night, stay home and camp out in your own backyard. Sleep in your sleeping bag under the stars with your family, and enjoy the benefits of home. Use air mattresses, cushions or even your own bedding. When all the amenities of home are a few strides away the outdoor experience is anything but rough.
Enjoy (Garden) Wildlife
Your local library or bird watching society can give you tips about bird watching in your backyard. Discover the best methods for enticing and feeding birds, attracting migrating species or watching local species build nests and hatch their young. With a pair of binoculars and patience, you can watch all types of bird species from the comfort of your backyard patio or living room window. You’d be surprised the diversity of beauty that will fly through your yard just by adding a birdbath or the right feeder.
Having a beautiful garden can also attract beauty. You could focus on plants that attract butterflies, dragonflies or other attractive critters. Gardens can be as low or high maintenance as you prefer. A bed of perennials or bulbs will yield beautiful blossoms year after year with little effort.
Participate in outdoor activities from the comfort of your home, and receive the best of both worlds. From your patio, entertain friends and enjoy fresh air. Build a fire in your patio fire table or set up a tent in your backyard. Watch birds flock to your backyard all year long. You don’t need to hike or bike to enjoy nature. These low-impact outdoor activities keep you involved in the great outdoors without the inconveniences and provide you with pleasure year round.
(This is a guest post by Jessica Stark.) Jessica is interested in fitness and outdoor activities. She enjoys DIY projects and writing in her free time. She is also admin for www.eatbreatheblog.com and a number of other blogs.
Image Credit: by Jackal of all trades | <urn:uuid:5159c9ec-7b47-49e7-9641-5a6cf25f64a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wvoutpost.com/2012/04/12/enjoy-the-great-outdoors-with-low-impact-activities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933573 | 866 | 1.5 | 2 |
openSUSE Medical is a distribution of openSUSE made especially to address the needs of doctors. It is based on openSUSE 11.3. It is distributed in the form of ISO image files and VirtualBox/VMWare images. It includes carefully selected software for doctors' practices, clinical environments, and medical students. The software selection encompasses everything required to make computers productive for either home or medical use. This distribution includes a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack that is needed for developing or hosting PHP-based Web sites and all other major development tools. The aim of this distribution is to provide complete resources for medical doctors, clinics, and medical students as well as IT admins running labs at educational institutes. | <urn:uuid:4150fbb1-9c55-4f54-b9c1-a13405c8fa0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/opensuse-linux?page=1&with=3954&without= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948937 | 151 | 1.734375 | 2 |
"It takes two people to couple up and get married," says Harriet Lerner, PhD, celebrated author of The Dance of Anger, "but only one to make a relationship better." Waiting for your spouse to change first, she believes, is a recipe for unhappiness and divorce. Her new book, Marriage Rules, lists 100 clear-cut, everyday ways to improve your marriage—starting with you and your own behavior. This week, we spoke with her and gleaned the ten most surprising:
1. Describe it in three sentences (or less). Your partner might say things like "I don't want to talk" or "I'm not good at talking." Usually, the real issue is that he gets easily flooded with too much information and shuts down. So, when bringing up an issue, end your description after three sentences. For example, cut off your point at "You said you'd clean up the kitchen, and you didn't." Don't add on all those extra but related issues like: "You don't do what you say you're going to do. I can't trust you. I can't even trust what you're going to do next. And by the way, I saw that you also left the dog out in the yard."
2. Disorient him with praise. Surprise your spouse with praise just when he's most expecting you to criticize him. For example, if he has a tendency to be overbearing with his younger brother, and the two of you have fought about this, repeatedly, wait until you hear them on the phone together. After he hangs up, say something like: "I so admire the way you used humor to lighten things up with your brother. You can be so funny with him." It's disarming. It's unexpected, and it encourages new behavior—from both of you.
3. End the phony I-statements. Many of us know about the value of an "I-statement," a technique that requires you to talk about your feelings instead of your partner's behavior. For example, if your partner is frequently late, instead of saying to him, "You're always late. It's so rude," you might say, "It's more difficult for me when you're late because I don't know how to plan the dinner." This way, you can talk about the issue without attacking him. But be warned: Not all statements that begin with the word "I" are I-statements. Tacking on an "I think" does not necessarily mean you are talking about yourself. Avoid comments like "I think you're controlling," or "I think you're treating me like your domineering mother." That is, unless you want to start a big fight.
4. Invite what you dread. If you're sick of hearing, say, your partner's repetitive worry about putting his mother in a nursing home, you need to initiate that very conversation. You may worry that you will open the emotional dams and have to talk about what you least want to hear about—for forever. But in fact, your partner will dwell on the issue less if you really invite him to tell you everything in one fell swoop. You don't have to come up with solutions or cheer him up. You just have to listen.
5. Never say the word "foreplay." Yes, it's true...very true. Most couples need to talk more about sex. But not with clunky '70s The Joy of Sex vocabulary. Not only is the term "foreplay" not sexy, but worse, it also suggests that whatever you do short of intercourse isn't "the real thing" and is just something you do to get ready.
Next: Why it's important to put limits on your listening plus more advice
Most Popular Today | <urn:uuid:af70006e-806d-4914-a55f-fcc57234bf7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/relationships/10-Unexpected-Ways-to-Save-Your-Marriage?SiteID=cnn_201201_saving_your_marriage | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97763 | 775 | 1.523438 | 2 |
New video games are bewitched by mazes, caves, devils, and more
This week, we have four games to fall in love with: an insanity-inducing puzzler, an old-school adventure, an excessive hack-and-slash effort starring the product of a demon and an angel, and a more subtle role-playing game about loss.
Antichamber (Alexander Bruce; Windows; not rated)
To play Antichamber, you need to forget that Newton and Einstein ever existed. To succeed in this first-person puzzle game from Australian indie designer Alexander Bruce, you’ll have to learn an entirely new set of physics rules. And the only way to learn them is to play and experiment and restart levels again and again. The controls are dead simple: you move and you jump. The sparse environment is mostly white with black edges; colour accents help you navigate and provide clues to some of the rules. As you progress through the maze toward the exit, you’ll collect pictographs and their associated hints, which try to be helpful. Antichamber is a mad genius of a game in which up can become down, left can become right, and when you turn around, what you see isn’t where you came from.
The Cave (Sega; Mac, PS3, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360; rated teen)
Like the adventure games of old, The Cave provides no tutorial, instead tossing players into the heart of things and requiring them to explore possibilities. The game is set in a cave, natch. Players choose three characters from a cast of seven—adventurer, hillbilly, knight, monk, scientist, time traveller, twins—with which to wander the labyrinth. You switch from one character to another (when playing with up to two friends you each control a character) and each of the characters has a particular ability. The adventurer has a grappling hook, for example, and the knight can create an aura of invincibility. The explorers are able to carry a single object at a time that’s used to manipulate the environment, all in the service of solving the puzzles that await. The cave is also a character, and it provides witty and referential narration. But while the game is clever, players may find that they spend too much time wandering around The Cave and not enough time engaged with it.
DMC: Devil May Cry(Capcom; PS3, Windows, Xbox 360; rated mature)
This reboot, from the able developers at Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword, Enslaved), is appropriately over-the-top. The franchise, which is loosely about a war between angels and demons that takes place among mortals, has always been presented in the most extreme fashion. The gothic sensibility has been updated here, as has the plot. Dante, the son of a demon father and an angel mother, hacks and shoots his way through enemies in the nightmare dimension of Limbo using a sword named Rebellion and two pistols he calls Ebony and Ivory. The combat is furious yet simple enough for casual players, with layers of chaining complexity for those wanting a more difficult task. There are constant nods to the original games, released between 2001 and 2008, most of them downright sarcastic. That tone infects the script, too. This new Dante may have black hair, instead of being a bleach blond, but he’s still the same arrogant and sardonic smart aleck he always was. This is a new DMC for, ostensibly, a new audience. They’re bound to like it, even if older fans complain.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Namco Bandai; PS3; rated everyone 10+)
This adventure role-playing game boasts animation from Studio Ghibli, the creative studio of Hayao Miyazaki and the source of movies such as My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. In it, a young boy named Oliver hopes to bring his mother back from death by travelling to a parallel dimension and saving her counterpart in that world. He’ll save the other land while trying to save his mother, by roaming around the open world, helping others by casting spells, and battling enemies. Oliver can summon familiars to send into battle against enemies in a turn-based combat system based on the one used in the Pokémon games. Ni no Kuni isn’t in a rush, so players used to fast-paced games will end up chewing their nails waiting for the chance to do something. But with a little patience, the charms of this elegant game are a ready delight. | <urn:uuid:58a769d3-275e-454f-8e02-0b9bb373d57d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.straight.com/life/358871/new-video-games-are-bewitched-mazes-caves-devils-and-more | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9425 | 953 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Press conference regarding the call Proposal for financing of Youth projects for Zaječar County was held on Monday, May 20th 2013 at ZA Media Center in Zaječar.
You are here
In order to achieve its goals, TOC implements the following programs:
- Youth Ombudsman – TOC acts like public service for its users (young people), providing free legal, health based and other advices on the topics that are of interest for young people, advocating and lobbying for Youth interests and initiatives – in order to find solutions for diminishment of problems and fulfillment of needs of young people in their local communities, as well as to uphold human rights (primarily Youth rights).
- Youth at risk - Development of institutional framework for care on youth at risk
- Advocacy for resolution of Youth problems and reinstatement of their trust in public offices
- Peer Education Program – young people adopt skills and knowledge on specific topics through peer education, courses, seminars, training and other forms of informal education in order to achieve positive change in behavior and reflections of individuals and groups.
- Prevention and protection children and young people from sexual harassment and exploitation on Internet
- Prevention HIV/ AIDS and sexual transmitted infections among vulnerable groups
- TOC provides services of prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexual transmitted infections among the population of sexual workers. TOC provides public services for its users by providing free legal, health and other advices on the topics of interest to them. TOC outreach workers contact sexual workers on the territory of South East Serbia and provide counseling services, distribution of health and informative material and VCCT (Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing) and refer them to the Drop In Center.
- Development of local economical growth through creative industries
- Click Green – Development of sustainable ecological concept on Internet and increase of awareness about ecological imprints that are left behind web presentations.
- Usage of Internet and social network as basic marketing tools.
Timok Youth Center and Youth of JAZAS Zaječar, with the support of Institute for Public Health “Timok” Zaječar, have organized Candlelight Memorial Day on Sunday, May 19th on Cit
Timok Youth Center marked the beginning of the implementation of project entitled “Youth Career Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship Networking and Transfer” in April 2013. | <urn:uuid:81a284c7-e3a9-4032-8b17-e40d6cfcea25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toc.rs/?q=en/sadrzaj/programs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936289 | 485 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Malaysia: New ISA detentions show U-turn on reform promises
|Publication Date||18 November 2011|
|Cite as||Amnesty International, Malaysia: New ISA detentions show U-turn on reform promises, 18 November 2011, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4ecca2942.html [accessed 21 May 2013]|
|Disclaimer||This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.|
The Malaysian government must halt detentions under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), Amnesty International said today, after the authorities said they had used the law to detain 13 people this week.
Police arrested the detainees on 13 and 14 November in Tawau, a town in Sabah in eastern Malaysia. Seven are Malaysian, and the other six are foreign nationals.
The ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without charge or trial, has been used to imprison critics of the government and opposition politicians as well as suspected militants.
The detentions were the first since Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in September that his government would repeal the law and replace it with new security legislation.
"The Malaysian government has made a mockery of its plan to scrap the Internal Security Act by using it to detain people once again," said Sam Zarifi, Asia director at Amnesty International.
"Promises to abolish ISA detention are not enough. Prime Minister Najib needs to end it in practice."?
The inspector-general of police, Ismail Omar, today told state news agency Bernama that all 13 detainees are being held under Section 73(1) of the ISA. This provision allows for police to arrest anyone without warrant whom they believe might "act in any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia."?
The ISA is also contrary to international human rights standards including the right to be free from arbitrary detention and the rights to due process and a fair trial.
"If the Malaysian police have grounds to suspect these 13 detainees of a legitimate crime, they should charge them or else release them. Locking people up without charge or trial shows flagrant disrespect for the rule of law," said Sam Zarifi. | <urn:uuid:afb48ce5-e099-4e0b-b11d-571fc4e07453> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=publisher&publisher=AMNESTY&type=&coi=MYS&docid=4ecca2942&skip=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947283 | 493 | 1.554688 | 2 |
All Kindergartners Getting iPads in Lower Merion
About 400 tablet computers, costing almost $500 apiece, will be deployed throughout the school district to the youngest students.
Every student in the Lower Merion School District's 14 kindergarten classes this fall will have an Apple iPad tablet computer for lessons, district technology director George Frazier told Patch.
The iPads would stay in the classrooms, which was the arrangement this year for "pilot classes" that used the devices: a kindergarten class at Belmont Hills Elementary School and a first-grade class at Cynwyd Elementary School, Frazier said.
Classrooms with morning and afternoon kindergarten classes would have morning students sharing iPads with their afternoon counterparts, according to school officials.
Those students had some of the approximately 150 iPads deployed in the district this year. About 250 more will be bought in bulk for the coming school year, at $488 per iPad, Frazier said.
"We found them beneficial for engagement," Frazier said. Many students using the devices demonstrated more interest and involvement with lessons than their peers following more traditional curricula, he said.
"There's clearly going to be more engagement (from) the student on something that's interactive," Frazier said. "More engagement translates to more learning."
On a recent Monday morning, Belmont Hills Elementary had a power outage of almost an hour. But teacher Carrie Mink's kindergartners had virtually no trouble focusing. She gave them a word, and the children first drew the word in one iPad program, then "mixed and fixed" the letters of the word in another program that simulated a magnet board.
The district began contemplating large-scale tablet programs in 2010, Frazier said. The North Penn school district is following suit.
This spring, the school district used reserve funds to trim a planned tax increase for 2012-2013, but the average household still stands to pay more than $100 above the previous annual tax bill. Most district employees' contracts are up for renegotiation at the end of June.
Frazier knows an iPad program costing more than $120,000—just for the new ones—is a considerable expense, but one he believes is a strong investment.
"People are asking, 'Will it save money?' It's less expensive than a laptop, anyway,'" Frazier said.
High school students each have their own laptop computers.
As with the laptops, "we hope to get four years out of them," Frazier said. "And many of the applications lend themselves to younger children."
The iPad program is not increasing the technology budget, according to Frazier. The district allots money each year to replace outdated equipment, and this year officials found they had enough working laptops at the high school level and elsewhere that they could use the replacement budget for a new technology initiative instead.
The school board is set to approve a final 2012-2013 budget, including the expanded iPad initiative, at 8 p.m. Monday, June 11, at the administration building next to Lower Merion High School.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify how iPads and laptops are purchased and assigned in the school district. | <urn:uuid:903a820a-4d44-439c-aaf2-4f05ce420f50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://balacynwyd.patch.com/articles/all-kindergartners-getting-ipads-in-lower-merion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961734 | 638 | 1.742188 | 2 |
You are in Artists > Banksy
Place(s) of work: London (gb)
The anonymous mascot of today's street art movement, Banksy rose to international fame as a self-proclaimed "art terrorist," creating mordant stencil-based works that have broadcast their social and political critiques from walls around the world. Because Banksy has kept his identity closely guarded, little is known about his biography other than that he was born in 1974 or 1978 in Yate, a town near Bristol, England. (There have been plenty of conjectures about his background in the media, however--see below.)
What is certain is that in the early 1990s Banksy's art, then freehand graffiti pieces, began turning up on train cars and city walls around Bristol. Heavily influenced by French street artist Blek Le Rat, Banksy began using stencils toward the end of that decade, depicting satirical subject matter that ranged from two policemen kissing to flower-hurling anarchists to his trademark black-and-white stenciled rats (which, as in Blek Le Rat's work, are meant to function as teasing anagrams for "art"). Banksy is often quoted calling graffiti the highest form of artistic endeavor and the one with the most potential to effect change. "Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors," he has said. "Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to."
A brief stint in commercial art, including designing the cover art for Blur's 2003 album "Think Tank," turned Banksy off of that practice--forever, he has said--but served to gain the attention of the art world, leading to his first gallery show outside of England, at L.A.'s 33 1/3 Gallery in 2002. A series of art pranks then gained the artist a new degree of notoriety: in 2003 he surreptitiously installed one of his own paintings on the walls of the Tate, an infiltration that was only discovered when the work--a country scene crisscrossed with police tape--fell to the floor hours later; in 2004 he pulled off a similar stunt at the Louvre. In 2006 he snuck into British record stores and planted 500 doctored copies of Paris Hilton's debut album, with topless photos of the socialite, remixed music, and such new song titles as "What Am I For?" In the years to follow, Banksy's commercial success grew exponentially, with his stencil works--sometimes still attached to a wall--being sold at auction for exorbitant sums; Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera are now among his many celebrity collectors. In an attempt to make his work even more accessible and to preserve the otherwise vulnerable outdoor pieces, photographs of his art have been compiled into sought-after books, the most recent being Wall and Piece (2005).
Since capturing the public eye, Banksy taken his acid commentary around the world, stenciling works on the wall separating Israel from Palestine--including trompe l'oeil pieces depicting beautiful beaches visible through holes in the wall--and to post-Katrina New Orleans. "The possibility I find exciting," Banksy explained of his work in Israel, "is you could turn the world's most invasive and degrading structure into the world's longest gallery of free speech and bad art." These radical gestures have earned Banksy a following among the public as well as among many of his fellow street artists. Shepard Fairey, for instance, has called Banksy "the most important living artist in the world."
Banksy's speedy rise to international commercial success has been at the heart of much criticism rallied against him, with many attributing the phenomenon to slick promotion. “I think there’s some wit in Banksy’s work, some cleverness—and a massive bucket of hot steaming hype,” wrote Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones. As the most famous street artist working today, Banksy also embodies the tension between the "authentic" practice of his peers who work illegally on urban walls and the more market-driven approach of those who aim for gallery success. But despite this criticism, Banksy has continued to branch into the museum and gallery world, expanding into new mediums as well. In 2008 he set up a pet-store-themed show at a New York gallery that featured animatronic hot dogs and chicken nuggets in cages; in 2009 he took over his home town's Bristol Museum with a show featuring paintings, other animated sculptures, and large-scale installations. Whether Banksy's work has the staying power to survive beyond the novelty of his provocations remains to be seen, but either way he is unquestionably one of the most talked-about artists working today.
Watch a video of Banksy in Palestine:
Watch a news clip about Banksy's works at a New York Gallery:
Take a video tour of Banksy's 2008 "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill" show in New York:
Watch a "trailer" for Banksy's 2009 show at the Bristol Museum:(read less)
Techniques & Media: Installation, Mixed Media, Mural Art, Painting, Sculpture
Inspirations & Key Themes: Anti-capitalist, Anti-establishment, Anti-war, protest, Satire, The Situationist International, Surrealism
Influenced : HuskMitNavn (RememberMyName)
Influenced by : Blek le Rat | <urn:uuid:5c85c3c7-5c74-422d-bc6b-5fb49ba5a36a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artwelove.com/artist/-id/963df264 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965705 | 1,144 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Why is the Frown Cat Frowning?
Meet Tardar Sauce, the latest explosion of adorableness on the Internet. She goes by “Tard” and will brighten your day even if her mood may not have that intention (although if you named me Tard, I wouldn’t be smiling either). If you haven’t seen her yet, don’t worry; someone has started a meme, so there will inevitably be much more to come.
But what a lot of people don’t know is that “The Frown Cat” may actually have a few reasons to be frowning after all. According to the original Reddit poster and son of Tard’s owner, the cranky feline was adopted as a kitten with her brother, Pokey, who appears to be in a slightly better mood. He stated that Tard suffers from multiple genetic defects, such as dwarfism, which is likely due to careless inbreeding. He also mentioned that Tard is very slow, has a strange meow and that her legs don’t work well, which often causes her to fall over.
A commenter at Pawnation believes Tard’s breed to be Snowshoe Siamese. Here’s a picture of what a Snowshoe Siamese is supposed to look like. While Tard may not look exactly like that, she definitely has her own brand of beauty going for her.
However, despite few genetic difficulties, Tard is actually a very pleasant, healthy girl. She lives with a kind family who takes great care of her and is now one of the most loved faces on the Internet. I literally get chest pains from cute overload while watching this video. How could you deny this face anything?! | <urn:uuid:2aeb57c3-fab1-4e5d-891b-ab2875fae27a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://929jackfm.com/why-is-the-frown-cat-frowning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981446 | 371 | 1.671875 | 2 |
By Brendan O'Brien
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker and his challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett drew sharp ideological differences on Friday during the first of two debates before a special election to recall the governor on June 5.
Walker faces a special election after he angered Democrats and labor unions by pushing through the state legislature a law that strips public sector labor unions of much of their power. Walker would become the third governor in United States history to be recalled if he loses.
During the one-hour debate in Milwaukee, Walker touted his efforts to balance the state's budget by curbing the power of public sector labor unions, while Barrett painted the first-term governor as untrustworthy.
"This election is not a rematch or do-over because we can't do over the decisions of Scott Walker to start a political civil war," Barrett said.
The two candidates are familiar foes, with Walker defeating Barrett by five points in the 2010 gubernatorial race. A recent poll conducted by St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Public Radio showed Barrett trailing Walker by a similar margin, 50-45 percent.
The polls continue to show an extremely small number of undecided voters. As a result, both candidates need to motivate their supporters to turn out to vote.
"What Barrett did tonight for himself is he came out very assertive," said Tim Dale, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
"Walker also did what he needed to do ... appear strong and almost non-responsive to Barrett," he added.
Walker's changes to organized labor last year forced state and local government workers like teachers to pay a portion of the cost of health insurance and pensions, capped wage increases and required unions to be recertified every year. Walker said the reforms were needed to close a budget gap, while Democrats and unions said they were an effort at "union busting."
Walker said during the debate that the state now has a $154 million surplus and has experienced more than $1 billion in savings due to his reforms.
"We balanced (the) budget without raising taxes, without massive layoffs and cuts in programs," Walker said. "The good news is that our reforms are working and that is why our opponents don't talk about them anymore."
The candidates also debated over Walker's record in creating jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that Wisconsin had lost more jobs than any other state between March of 2011 and March of 2012. But earlier this month, Walker aides released the state's Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data, which suggests an increase of 23,321 jobs in the state between December 2010 to December 2011.
"Those numbers have never been verified and he knows they have never been verified," Barrett said. "It's clear what's going on, he can't defend his record on jobs."
Barrett also criticized Walker over an investigation into corruption during the governor's time as Milwaukee County Executive. The probe has resulted in criminal charges against five former aides and close political associates.
Walker blasted Barrett's record as Milwaukee mayor for the last eight years. The city has become one of the poorest in the nation with an unemployment rate of 28 percent, Walker said.
"We don't want Wisconsin to become Milwaukee," Walker said.
The two candidates will square off again for another debate Thursday.
(Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker) | <urn:uuid:c07d2e7d-f129-41a9-a5b3-63cf9a1f0b87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://941theedge.com/news/articles/2012/may/24/democrats-rush-money-to-wisconsin-for-walker-recall/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981195 | 693 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The time has come. After more than a century of thriving in Clinton, the Unilever branch has officially closed its doors and, though it has been more than a year since the closure was announced, the town is still adjusting to the news.
"Unilever has been part of Clinton's history for over 100 years now, starting as Pond's and then Chesebrough-Pond's, then becoming Unilever International. They've always been a very community-oriented company," said First Selectman William "Willie" Fritz. "Many people that live in town worked at Unilever and it's going to be tough to see them go. They were really, really good to the town."
On July 14, 2011, Unilever announced to the public that the company's Clinton plant would be closing by the end of 2012. The plant had more than 100 years of history in town, beginning as the original Pond's plant and later merging and becoming Chesebrough-Ponds in 1955. The branch then changed to Unilever in 1987.
In announcing the closure, Plant Manager Paul Reiland stated, "An extensive and careful analysis has shown that greater efficiencies can be achieved by shifting production to other company plants in the U.S. This decision in no way reflects the dedication or performance of our colleagues at the Clinton facility."
The factory provided approximately 200 jobs in town. The decision to close the plant eliminated about 50 salaried and 135 hourly workers. Additional, temporary workers also lost an income.
Unilever representatives have repeatedly declined opportunities to discuss possible buyers of the building. When the plant was operating, it was the town's second-highest taxpayer with an assessed value of $26,100,040.
Though the goodbye was bittersweet, longtime employee Gloria McQueeney, who began working for the company in 1965 while still at The Morgan School through its work-experience program, said she wanted to especially thank the representatives at Unilever for making the leave as swift and bearable as possible.
"Our plant manager Paul Reiland and our [human resources] manager Meg Smith were really wonderful in how they brought us through the last 15 months," McQueeney said. "They brought us through with respect, compassion, and humor and of course all the employees, too, they were so professional and did everything they had to do to make sure it was a smooth transition, so they deserve a lot of thanks."
The loss of the company will mean more than the loss of jobs and tax revenue. As Clinton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ellen Cavanagh noted in a letter to the editor, the history of Unilever's generosity to the town traces back to 1914 with a donation of a compressed air horn and in 1919 with the donation of a fire engine to the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department. The company was a strong supporter of troops overseas, sending needed supplies to conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan.
The company was also a large donor to the community, contributing to organizations including Junior Achievement, Clinton Flood Relief Committee, restoration of the Town Hall clock, Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries, Boys and Girls Clubs, United Way, Valley Shore YMCA, Clinton Education Foundation, Henry Carter Hull Library, Project Graduation, Middlesex Hospital, Bluefish Festival, Fire Department, Clinton Lions Club, Clinton Rotary Club, several churches, playgrounds, and child care centers, Families Helping Families, Friends of Hammonasset, Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross, and Shoreline Community Women.
Most recently, Unilever donated its unused, left over supplies to both the Clinton Public Schools and the Town Hall, including office supplies and furniture.
A booklet called Glory Days, commemorating the history of the Clinton branch, is currently for sale, but only about 100 copies are left. Proceeds from the $20 detailed booklet will go toward the town's 350th Anniversary Celebration and can be purchased at the 350th headquarters located on 30 East Main Street and at Technique Printers located at 36 Old Post Road.
McQueeney will be spending the next few weeks at the Clinton Historical Library, organizing a large section of historical items dedicated to the Clinton Branch. Any former Chesebrough-Pond's and Unilever employees who would like to volunteer their time to assist her should email | <urn:uuid:412a6b30-e5c5-4156-a09d-304235c37866> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shorepublishing.com/article/20121224/NWS01/312279825/1006/zip06details | 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 | 0.973698 | 893 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A few recent events prompt some reflections on the rise of app stores and the implications for developers and for the IT industry.
One is Apple’s OS X Lion release, available only through the Mac App Store; and the removal of the optical drive on the Mac Mini, making it hard to install shrink-wrap software.
Another is Adobe’s closure of its InMarket service and AIR Marketplace app store. Some app stores are doing better than others.
A third is TechCrunch reporting that book apps such as Nook and Kindle are being hobbled or removed from the Apple iOS store. While I cannot verify this at the moment – I still see the Kindle app in the store, and it still has a link to the Kindle web store – it is in tune with Apple’s announcement in February:
… publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app.
Enforcing this on an app such as Kindle promotes Apple’s own iBooks app and store.
There are lots of app stores out there, though one fewer with the forthcoming closure of AIR Marketplace, but how many of them matter? Here is my pick of the top three:
- Apple iOS and Mac App Store – arguably two different stores, but since you access them with the same account I bracket them together.
- Google Android Market – not a lock-in like Apple’s store, but still the primary store for Android.
- Windows vNext marketplace – how this will work is not yet public, but the existence of a new app store in Windows 8 is widely rumoured and might be expected to tie in with what is already in place for Windows Phone 7.
Perhaps I am overstating the importance of the Windows 8 marketplace, given the failure of the Windows Vista marketplace, but given that Apple has now shown the way I find it hard to see how Microsoft can fail with this one.
Note that an app store is not just a marketing ploy. It is a software deployment and update tool.
App Stores score well in terms of usability. Another advantage is that users have a centralised mechanism for software updates, managed by the operating system. That is good for security, because it is unlikely to be disabled, and good for usability as it should mean fewer third-party updaters like those from Adobe, Oracle Java, Symantec and others.
App Stores typically enforce certain conditions on developers. In essence they must be well-behaved. For examples, the Mac App Store prohibits apps that request escalation to root privileges. Apple also rejects apps that use “deprecated or optionally installed technologies”, including specifically Java and by implication Adobe Flash or other runtimes.
This is great for security. In principle, if you decide that you will only install apps from the App Store, you can be confident that all your apps are well-behaved. On the Mac this is interesting; on Windows it would be a revolution.
What are the business implications though?
- First, it is a significant source of new revenue for the operating system vendor. It gets a cut of everything.
- Second, it gives tremendous empowerment to user ratings and reviews. On iOS or Android, if you want an app, you automatically search the app store and take note of factors such as user ratings and popularity. Most of us can figure that if there are few ratings or reviews, the app is not popular.
If you are a software company, getting high ratings and good reviews on app stores is now a key challenge, even more so than it is already with the likes of Amazon.
- Speaking of Amazon, the third point is that app stores will not be welcomed by software resellers. They are simply being bypassed. Amazon is addressing this with its own App Store for Android; but can it really win against the official Google Android Market? Its MP3 store is better value than Apple’s iTunes, but has smaller market share.
Amazon has other business to fall back on, but specialist software resellers will be watching the growth of app stores nervously. Apple resellers in general are already hurting and diversifying, thanks in part to Apple bypassing them with releases like OS X Lion.
The app store revolution is good for users in many ways, especially as prices seem to end up lower than before, but there are worrying aspects. In particular, the ability of the operating system vendor to tilt the store in its own favour is a concern, and we will hear more complaints about that.
Finally, it is interesting to speculate how this may impact enterprise software deployment. Will Microsoft aim to link its forthcoming Windows app store to other deployment mechanisms such as System Center Configuration Manager? What about volume licensing sales, will resellers be able to keep hold of those? Maybe we will learn more of Microsoft’s story on this at the Build conference in September.
- Succeeding in an App Store world: lessons from the Angry Birds story
- Mac App Store, Windows Store, and the decline of the open platform
- No Java or Adobe AIR apps in Apple’s Mac App Store
- Apple’s Mac App Store – and the forgotten Windows Marketplace
- Microsoft unveils Office 365, wins vs Google in California. What are the implications for its future? | <urn:uuid:a0e8b406-312d-4bd8-9c24-8e717b178cb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itwriting.com/blog/4692-living-in-an-app-store-world-what-are-the-implications.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941443 | 1,100 | 1.8125 | 2 |
"I committed to public financing; (Obama) committed to public financing."
John McCain on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 in a news conference in Columbus, Ohio
McCain says "accept;" Obama says "pursue"
Sen. John McCain says Sen. Barack Obama committed to a campaign restricted to public financing and suggests the Illinois senator is reneging on that promise.
"I committed to public financing; he committed to public financing," McCain told reporters Feb. 20, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio. "It is not any more complicated than that. I hope he will keep his commitment to the American people."
First, some basics: When we talk about public financing, we're talking about candidates agreeing to skip private fundraising and instead run their campaigns using a pot of public money that comes from taxpayers who pay a voluntary $3 on their tax returns. The upside is that candidates don't have to spend time seeking contributions, but the downside is that their spending is limited to an amount determined by the Federal Election Commission. This year's general election limit is $84.1-million per candidate, but the spending period is limited to the two months between the nominating conventions in late August and early September, and the Nov. 4 election.
Keep in mind that $84.1-million is less money than Obama raised in January and February 2008 combined, according to campaign estimates. And, given his longshot status in early 2007, this prolific fundraising was not foreseen.
To the question of whether Obama committed to public financing as McCain asserts, we have to back up to one year ago, when the two candidates were vying to break out of a crowded candidate field. This is how we got here:
• On Feb. 1, 2007, Obama requested an opinion of the Federal Election Commission on whether he could privately raise money for the general election but reserve the right to use public financing if he returned what he had raised.
• On March 1, 2007, by a vote of 5-0, the FEC approved an advisory opinion: "Senator Obama may solicit and receive private contributions for the 2008 presidential general election without losing his eligibility to receive public funding if he receives his party's nomination for president, if he (1) deposits and maintains all private contributions designated for the general election in a separate account, (2) refrains from using these contributions for any purpose, (3) refunds the private contributions in full if he ultimately decides to receive public funds."
• The same day, McCain's campaign said he would commit to public financing. "Should John McCain win the Republican nomination, we will agree to accept public financing in the general election, if the Democratic nominee agrees to do the same," Terry Nelson, McCain's campaign manager, tells the New York Times.
• And Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded by saying: "If Senator Obama is the nominee, he will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
The next key development in this saga is a questionnaire sent to all presidential candidates in the fall of 2007 by the Midwest Democracy Network. McCain didn't respond, but Obama did and his answer to the question of whether he would participate in public financing was clear:
"Yes. ... In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. ... The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Sen. John McCain has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
It would appear then, from public statements, that Obama and McCain both wanted a publicly funded general election.
In the midst of this developing dispute over the general election fundraising, McCain filed a letter with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 6, 2008, saying, "I ... am withdrawing from participation in the federal primary-election funding program." McCain was one of the few candidates to seek public money during the primaries and as such, his spending is limited through the convention in September. His campaign apparently has nearly reached the limit already.
Problem is, the FEC cannot rule on McCain's request because the six-member commission has four vacancies. Chairman David M. Mason sent a letter to McCain on Feb. 19, 2008, saying he needs four members seated to make a ruling.
Against this backdrop, the McCain-Obama dispute has grown hotter. The League of Women Voters and other reform groups wrote to Obama on Feb. 15, 2008, urging him to renew his commitment to public financing.
And Obama wrote an op-ed for USA Today, which his campaign now says is the clearest explanation of Obama's position. "I propose a meaningful agreement in good faith that results in real spending limits," Obama writes in the Feb. 20, 2008, piece. "The candidates will have to commit to discouraging cheating by their supporters; to refusing fundraising help to outside groups; and to limiting their own parties to legal forms of involvement. And the agreement may have to address the amounts that Senator McCain, the presumptive nominee of his party, will spend for the general election while the Democratic primary contest continues."
Then in a Feb. 26, 2008, debate in Cleveland, Ohio, moderators pushed Obama to explain why voters shouldn't consider his position on public financing to have changed. "What I've said is, at the point where I'm the nominee, at the point where it's appropriate, I will sit down with John McCain and make sure that we have a system that works for everybody."
Stephen Weissman, associate director for policy at the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute affiliated with George Washington University, says Obama is hedging his bets.
"The hedges that he's raised are very considerable because he's mentioned two things — outside groups and pre-convention spending by McCain," Weissman said.
"I think that what's happening is someone said to Obama, 'We think we can raise $150-million or something, or $200-million, through the election and you never know what the Republican will throw at us, so be careful, don't commit yourself to this. We have a possibility here for really winning this election and restoring the Democrats.' "
Evaluating the truthfulness of McCain's statement, "I committed to public financing; (Obama) committed to public financing," it's clear that McCain committed to public financing in March 2007, and reiterated that commitment in February 2008.
It's also clear that Obama has committed to "aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." And in answering the question, "Will you participate in the presidential public financing system" on the Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire, Obama said, "Yes."
But every comment Obama makes is in the context of reaching an agreement with the Republican nominee. It is not a blanket commitment to public financing.
For this reason, we rule McCain's statement to be Mostly True.
Published: Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
CQ Transcripts Wire, Sen. McCain holds a media availability, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 20, 2008
Federal Election Commission, Advisory Opinion Request: General Election Funding, letter filed on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama and the committee, the Obama Exploratory Committee, Feb. 1, 2007
Federal Election Commission, Draft advisory opinion, on request on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama and the Obama Exploratory Committee, Feb. 22, 2007
Federal Election Commission, Certification of FEC vote, March 1, 2007
Federal Election Commission, FEC responds to Obama campaign, advisory opinion on request, March, 1, 2007
Associated Press, Federal regulators rule candidates can return donations for general election, by Jim Kuhnhenn, March 1, 2007
New York Times, McCain and Obama in Deal on Public Financing, by David D. Kirkpatrick, March 2, 2007
Midwest Democracy Network, Presidential candidate questionnaire, released Nov. 27, 2007
New York Times, McCain and Obama Skirmish on Financing, by Elisabeth Bumiller, Feb. 15, 2008
League of Women Voters, Letter to Sen. Barack Obama, Feb. 15, 2008
USA Today, Opposing view: Both sides must agree, by Barack Obama, Feb. 20, 2008
Associated Press, McCain Knocks Obama Over Public Financing, Feb. 20, 2008
Federal Election Commission, Re: John McCain 2008, Inc., letter from John McCain to FEC commissioners, Feb. 6, 2008
Federal Election Commission, Response to Sen. McCain from FEC chairman David M. Mason, Feb. 19, 2008
Associated Press, FEC chair: McCain can't drop out of public financing system, Feb. 21, 2008
New York Times, Democratic debate transcript, Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 26, 2008
Federal Election Commission, Public funding of presidential elections, published in August 1996 (updated February 2008)
Opensecrets.org, Race for the White House, Barack Obama, last report Jan. 31, 2008
Interview with Tom Vietor, Obama campaign spokesman, March 3, 2008
Interview with Crystal Benton, McCain campaign spokesman, March 3, 2008
Interview with Stephen Weissman, associate director for policy at the Campaign Finance Institute, March 3, 2008
Interview with Kenneth A. Gross, campaign finance lawyer, former associate general counsel of the Federal Election Commission
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- Shop the PolitiFact store for T-shirts, hats and other PolitiFact swag | <urn:uuid:50af5999-5662-44d1-9d0f-d4ce9aaccc9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/mar/03/john-mccain/mccain-says-accept-obama-says-pursue/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95021 | 2,216 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Langevin Recognizes Rhode Islander's Remarkable Efforts to Raise Spinal Cord Injury Awareness
Ten years ago, Trent Theroux of Barrington was nearly paralyzed in an accident in Narragansett Bay when a powerboat propeller sliced into his back four times. Fortunately, his spinal cord remained intact, and Theroux, now 44, was rehabilitated through hard work and perseverance. In the past decade, he has not only demonstrated his determination by competing in triathlons and Ironman competitions, but also in his commitment to improving the lives of those with spinal cord injuries by working with the non-profit RISE above paralysis, which supports injured individuals and their families.
Today, Theroux joined Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) at the Congressman’s Rhode Island Office in Warwick to address spinal cord injury issues and outline initiatives to improve treatments. On September 8, the ten-year anniversary of his accident, Theroux plans to complete a “Back to Block” backstroke swim of 13 miles from Point Judith to Block Island to raise money and awareness. More information is available on his website at www.backtoblock.org.
Langevin, the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress after a gun-related injury left him paralyzed at the age of 16, offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Department Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856) that would add $15 million to the Department’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Program, bringing the total allocation to about $30 million. Severe cuts to the initiative in the years since its inception have threatened progress of groundbreaking medical interventions and treatments. The amended bill passed the House last week.
“I commend Trent’s tireless and selfless dedication to this cause,” said Langevin, who co-chairs the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus in Congress. “People with disabilities, including victims of paralysis, can still make incredible contributions to our society if given the opportunity, and Trent’s inspiring work will help give those with spinal cord injuries the chance to make the most of their abilities. I personally want to thank him for putting his amazing spirit into this effort.
“We have recently seen significant progress in spinal cord research, but without sufficient funding, the recently discovered therapies will not undergo further development or clinical trials. It is my hope that by providing resources to continue research and expanding partnerships with people like Trent, many will soon benefit from major medical breakthroughs.”
According to a study by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, approximately 5.6 million people report some form of paralysis, over 1 million of whom are paralyzed as the result of a spinal cord injury. Because spinal cord injuries predominantly occur in people under the age of 30, including military service members, the human cost is high. Major improvements in emergency and acute care have improved survival rates, but have also increased the numbers of individuals who have to cope with severe, chronic disabilities. The societal cost, in terms of health care, disability payments, and lost income, is disproportionately high compared to other medical conditions.
“During my rehabilitation following a spinal injury, I faced the stark reality that most durable medical goods necessary for basic life functions were not covered by health insurance,” said Theroux. “I created Back to Block as a means to help those whose lives changed as quickly and dramatically. The fund developed through RISE Above Paralysis will benefit those living with spinal cord injuries and their needs for durable medical goods.
“While my cause benefits those currently living with spinal cord injury, Congressman Langevin’s recent amendment seeks to improve their quality of life through medical research. I applaud the Congressman for his leadership in assisting this underserved community. Medical advancement in the spinal cord field will ultimately yield a more vital and vibrant population.”
Langevin’s amendment to increase research, which is fully paid-for by a reduction in defense operations and maintenance funding, and Theroux’s work have coincided with an opportunity to capitalize on recent scientific advances. Last year, a paraplegic man in Kentucky was able to stand on his own with the help of an implanted “pacemaker-like” device and rehabilitation. In the United Kingdom, researchers have produced a treatment that has allowed rats to walk, run and climb stairs after suffering serious spinal cord injuries.
Specifically, Langevin’s measure would add $15 million to RDT&E (Research Development Test & Evaluation) in the Defense Health Program for the purpose of augmenting the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program. In Fiscal Year 2009, SCIRP received $35 million, but in subsequent years that level was reduced significantly to $11.25 million in FY 2010, $12 million in FY 2011 and just $9.6 million in FY 2012. This decline has risked researchers’ ability to continue their progress and even their presence in this field. | <urn:uuid:59a6aae9-26c1-48ad-bc67-3b9539083c7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://langevin.house.gov/press-release/langevin-recognizes-rhode-islanders-remarkable-efforts-raise-spinal-cord-injury | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964962 | 1,031 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Norwich - The Norwich Municipal Ice Rink is expected to open within the next two weeks using a rented chiller from the Carrier company, and may never need to replace the damaged compressor cooling system that caused an ammonia leak and forced the evacuation of the rink last week.
The leak, which occurred last Wednesday evening, sent a salty liquid into the compressor system, causing damage to the equipment.
As rink officials and contractors flush out the estimated 4,000 gallons of contaminated liquid and install the temporary chiller this week, the Ice Rink Authority is poised to vote Thursday on whether to go forward with a $1.1 million proposal to build a geothermal heating and cooling system at the city-owned rink.
During a special meeting on Saturday, the authority decided to rent a temporary chiller at a cost of $14,000 per month to reopen the rink as soon as the damaged system can be flushed, the ice subsurface repainted and the new ice formed.
Rink Manager Mia Sanca estimated Monday it could take another 10 to 14 days before the rink can reopen. Meanwhile, the rink is losing revenue from planned hockey tournaments, hockey practice sessions and other skating programs.
Authority Chairman Francois "Pete" Desaulniers said Monday that the authority is expected to vote Thursday on the proposal from the Michigan-based geothermal system company Thermo Source to make the Norwich rink the first in New England to use its technology. A rink in Plymouth, Mich., and one in Jamesville, Wis., currently use the technology.
The authority meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the rink.
Desaulniers said it likely would be cheaper for the rink to continue to rent the chiller system than to repair the damaged system, estimated at anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 depending on the extent of the damage.
If the authority accepts Thermo Source's proposal, installation could take eight weeks. The plan calls for drilling 15 feet down into the ground near the rink and extending the geothermal line horizontally for 500 feet beneath the rear parking lot.
City finance officials, however, said the proposal would have to be put out to bid before the rink could accept a specific company's proposal.
The authority did get some good news over the weekend. After testing the brine, officials at Norwich Public Utilities determined the liquid could be accepted at the city sewage treatment plant, avoiding the need for expensive disposal costs. NPU spokesman Michael Hughes said the utility will store the liquid and release it slowly into the sewer system at no additional cost to the utility.
Desaulniers said he does not have an estimate from NPU on the cost of the disposal to the authority. He also asked the city Public Works Department to clear snow away from the ice rink building to allow contractors easier access to the building to install the temporary system. Public Works will bill that work to the authority as well.
The leak and equipment damage came at a time when the financially troubled rink was turning the corner after years of losing money. The rink was expected to turn a small profit at the end of this fiscal year.
The city's insurance carrier is reviewing the equipment damage and loss of revenue during the shutdown. Desaulniers said he did not have answers yet on those inquiries. | <urn:uuid:4eec8bfe-e29f-45f9-a613-ce21d0a6cf90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shorepublishing.com/article/20130219/NWS01/302199974/1070/Women-senators-getting-it-done | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949798 | 674 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Staring at the plain walls of Christchurch Hospital while his baby daughter was treated in intensive care, Kelly Dugan was struck with an idea – to help sick children smile again.
When baby Lucia was born last September to Dugan and his partner, Lucy Styles, she had brain injuries that required long hospital stays and treatment for the rest of her life.
The family spent weeks at Christchurch Hospital and noticed some of the areas in the paediatrics department were dull.
One night, waiting for Lucia to be treated, Dugan began complaining to Styles about the "horrendous walls".
Styles told him that if he hated them so much he should do something about it. So he did.
Dugan started the Smile Dial initiative, which aims to create a pleasant environment at the hospital for families and patients and bring smiles to sick children's faces.
"I just thought they were awful and it wouldn't take much to make the place a bit brighter and nicer for the families and patients," he said.
The first Smile Dial project is close to completion.
Artist Shaugn Briggs has painted a mural in the waiting area using paints supplied by Paint Tech and donated lights from Lighting Plus Moorhouse Ave, while award-winning artist Ruth Killoran has donated a painting.
The mural had received some amazing feedback, Dugan said.
Charge nurse manager Robyn Richens said the projects had made a big difference to the department.
"The work that Kelly has organised and the painting by Shaugn Briggs has really brightened up what was a rather dull and uninspiring area," she said.
Dugan wants to find sponsorship for the next project – local artist Tony Cribb will paint a hallway of the children's wards.
Anyone keen to assist can contact Dugan through the Facebook Smile Dial page.
- © Fairfax NZ News
Palmerston North's proposal for a city-wide smoking ban is:Related story: Council mulls city-wide smoking ban | <urn:uuid:9370818c-2f0d-4eab-9639-677904a14654> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/6821475/Brighter-atmosphere-for-childrens-wards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981533 | 408 | 1.65625 | 2 |
0nce upon a time a miller's daughter was given an impossible task by a cruel and greedy king. She had to spin straw into gold. And who should show up to help her but an odd little man named Rumpelstiltskin.
According to tradition, the gold-bedazzled king and the miller's daughter are wed. But wait just a minute! This king is definitely not husband material, and there's someone else who is--a hardworking guy who's supportive and nice looking, and who really comes through in a pinch.
Why not marry Rumpelstiltskin?
In Diane Stanley's merry rethinking of the traditional tale, Rumpelstiltskin and the miller's daughter are wed...and then sixteen years later their only daughter is stuck in the same dilemma: She's been locked in a room full of straw to spin for a greedy king! She could call for help from her father, but this fairy-tale heroine has some canny plans of her own.
How Rumpelstiltskin's daughter sets things to rights in the troubled kingdom, while achieving a unique place for herself, makes for a wise and witty tale of kindness and cleverness rewarded. Diane Stanley's wickedly funny text and zesty illustrations put a delightful new spin on a classic fairy tale.Rumpelstiltskin's daughter may not be able to spin straw into gold, but she is more than a match for a monarch whose greed has blighted an entire kingdom.
2000-2001 Georgia's Picture Storybook Award & Georgia's Children's Book Award Masterlist
01-02 Land of Enchantment Book Award Masterlist (Gr. 3-6)
99-00 Children's Book Award
About the Author
Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including The Silver Bowl, which received three starred reviews; Saving Sky, winner of the Arab American Museum's Arab American Award and a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year; Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editors' Choice; The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy; The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine; and A Time Apart. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for the body of her work.
Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales: The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. | <urn:uuid:4f3e996f-c30c-4a30-bf41-03f0170b70ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookpassage.com/book/9780688143282 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938417 | 572 | 1.820313 | 2 |
A raging human rights battle is being waged on PEI in an ongoing battle for legitimacy between old and new media, as well as accessibility issues for the press
Wayne Thibodeau, Guardian no room in the inn for journalists in wheelchairs (Facebook photo)
By Chris Benjamin, OyeTimes – A raging human rights battle on PEI that highlights an ongoing battle for legitimacy between old and new media, as well as accessibility issues for the press, has garnered surprisingly little media attention.
It began in the fall of 2009, when the explosion of news blogging was a mere gathering of volatile gasses. After unanimously voting controversial news blogger Stephen Pate their secretary/treasurer, members of the Island’s press gallery booted him from their ranks. They claimed the issue was spurious content; Pate says it was his association with a disability advocate group—a violation of human rights law. Continue reading →
Windows 8 app developers will have to work harder to convert people to dumb down for Metro
Wikipedia Windows 8 Metro
Four months since the Consumer Preview of Windows 8, most of the Metro apps available on the Windows 8 Store are nothing more than page turning.
If you want to browse the pages of a magazine, Metro apps are for you. Otherwise, Metro apps are the antithesis of the Web 2.0 experience. With the world poised to be in the Semantic Web of Web.3.0 Microsoft is not delivering on the promise. Continue reading →
Massive blackout of internet sites on Jan 18 influences lawmakers
The media stories have Hollywood corporate fat cats reeling from Wednesday’s shutdown or blackout of more than 12,000 websites like Wikipedia, Reddit and Wired. NJN Network did its small part by wearing black all day. Continue reading → | <urn:uuid:b9a925d7-bba7-4950-b4d3-79c1c20932c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://njnnetwork.com/category/entertainment/media/social-network/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94167 | 359 | 1.546875 | 2 |
How to organise a conference ... and live to tell the tale.
The Perl Community is a wonderful thing. It is a collective of people who share a common interest, the Perl programming language, but express that interest in so many different ways. The projects, user groups and events all capture a different part of the community, but it wasn't until the late 90s that the community started to co-ordinate their activities.
In 1998 the first Perl Workshop took place in Germany, and in 1999 the first YAPC Perl conference took place. These were the beginnings, but the events themselves have grown and become further reaching than the initial core developers that came along to those first events.
Perl Jam aims to collect together the knowledge and experience of organising some great Perl events, and order them in such a way that anyone wishing to do the same, can follow the footsteps of those who have gone before, and prepare themselves for what will hopefully become a great event.
This book has undergone several private drafts, but now we are opening up the book source to a wider audience in order to allow others to review and contribute to the contents. If you would like to review the book, please fork a git repository from our GitHub Perl Jam repository. You can send pull requests if you wish to add or amend content, and be sure to include your name in the contributors section.
We accept donations through PayPal. Proceeds and donations from this book will go towards funding development and hosting of the YAPC Conference Surveys, as well as this book. | <urn:uuid:4a8f1ad0-5e08-48bf-b241-a49d2071c575> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perljam.info/index.html?act=diary-meta&data=life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962321 | 313 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Amputee Pitts Pilot: Peter Loeffler
Text by Budd Davisson, Sport Aerobatics , March 2007, Photos: Budd Davisson, Helen Loeffler
Where There's a Will, There Really IS a Way
"So much for the mystique of the Pitts "
Calvin Coolidge is one of those presidents (1923-1929) who history has nearly forgotten. One of his most enduring legacies, however, is a quote that should guide those who have a dream. He said:
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
When old Cal was penning the above, he could have been speaking about any one of those hundreds of pilots amongst us who have fought against the forces of luck and nature to make their way into the cockpit. One such pilot is Pete Loeffler of Bend, Oregon.
We’d like to share Peter’s story not because he’s unique (he’s not) or a hero (he’ll definitely say he’s not) but because he’s the living embodiment of the Coolidge quote. He’s proven that persistence and determination will conqueror all and there’s something we can all learn from that
“I don’t honestly remember getting hit,” he says. “I got out of my Cardinal to break a stuck starter bendix loose and I remember moving the prop. The next thing I remember I’m laying on the ground in a pool of blood.”
Between the two conscious moments was a violent instant where the already-primed engine started, caught him by the right leg and, according to Dan Sullivan, who was driving past in a fuel truck, picked him up off the ground and actually thrashed him around the nose at least twice before throwing him nearly fifteen feet in the air.
“Getting hit,” says Peter, “felt like getting slammed onto the round, but I have no perception of being spun on the propeller or thrown into the air.
“Dan saved my life. There’s no doubt about that. He is ex-Navy and, after calling for help, applied his first aid training. My leg was nearly severed above the knee and he pinched off the main artery with his fingers until the paramedics arrived. I was conscious but definitely in no shape to do it myself.”
Lesson number one for the rest of us: “I can only blame myself for what happened. I’d been flying for a long time, but at that point, I was clearly distracted by having been dumped by a girl friend and wasn’t totally focused on what I was doing and simply forgot to turn the mags off. Luckily, the mixure was out, so it ran out the prime and quit.”
We’ve all seen movie scenes where the hero is laying bed contemplating a drastically altered future and it’s impossible not to wonder how we’d all react to the same situation. Hopefully, we’ll never have to find out, but Pete did.
“For what ever reason, I reacted in what I now know is an unusual way. Once I knew I wasn’t going to die, some part of my brain knew that I’d get through this and come out the other side okay. It never really got me down and I was amazingly ‘up’ most of the time. In fact, the paramedics came by to see me a number of times in the hospital and I think the fact that I was in such a good frame of mind, made them feel good too. I can’t explain why I reacted that way. I just knew I couldn’t let it get me down or it would drag me down for the rest of my life.
“While I was going through therapy,” he says, “I just assumed I wouldn’t fly again. But, as I got better at hobbling around on my new prosthesis, I realized I liked LOVED flying too much to quite. So, two months after the accident and wearing a temporary leg, I got back in the Cardinal with an instructor and went for it. It turned out to be one of the most important moves of the entire experience.
It’s pretty clear that Peter thrives on a challenge because he’d he had been ready for his commercial check ride before the accident and picked up where he left off as soon as he could. He also didn’t miss the SCUBA trip to Cozumel he had previously scheduled. As much as possible, his life was going to proceed on the schedule he’d had before fate stepped in.
It’s important for the rest of us to understand exactly what losing a leg above the knee means to a pilot. If the amputation is below the knee, the primary limitation is that the ankle/foot flexibility isn’t there. The foot and lower leg act as a unit, but the pilot can still push rudder more or less normally and can use his leg to reposition the foot up to get the brake. If the amputation is above the knee, that’s not the case. With no knee to direct the prosthesis, most of the pushing motion has to come from the hip. He has to twist to move the entire leg forward as a unit. Also, to get the brake, the leg can’t pick up the prosthesis and relocate it on the brake pedal. He has to reach down and manually relocate it or come up with another way to apply brake. Peter did both.
“I was in the process of being checked out in a rental Bonanz,” he says, “when the CFI, Wanda Collins offered me a ride in her Pitts S-2B. She said, if I’d pay for the gas, we’d stay up as long as my stomach could take it. It was absolutely the coolest thing I’d ever done but I remember thinking I couldn’t possibly do this.”
That was in the early 1990’s and he began to re-evaluate his own capabilities in 2002 when he was invited to be a partner in a Decathlon.
“Parker Johnstone gave me my tailwheel endorsement and aerobatic check out, including the entire spin series. Up until that point I’d been flying with a ‘walking’ foot that had a shoe on it, but found it didn’t work as well as one of those L-shaped carbon fiber feet. I hadn’t flown for yearly ten years at that point and it turned out the lay-off caused more problems than my prosthesis did.
“I had dabbled in aerobatics before, but flying the Decathlon made me aware of how much I really liked akro. I decided I was going to keep at it and eventually fly local contests at the Sportsman level. It was as if I’d discovered flying all over again and I was loving it! The more I flew the Decathlon, the more I began to think back to my one hour flying the Pitts a decade earlier. I began to wonder whether flying a Pitts really was beyond me, so, I decided to find out and called Budd Davisson in Phoenix. He advertises that he can teach anyone to land a Pitts and I figured I might as well take him up on that.”
Right here is where writing this article gets a little complicated because, as the writer, I’m not sure how to work myself into this thing. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll just start speaking in the first person and tell my side of the story.
When Peter called me he assumed he’d be the first amputee with such a request, but I’d already checked out at least two others in Pitts. However, both of them had lost their legs below the knee, so working with an above-the-knee amputee would be something new. I was fairly certain we could work it out but we wouldn’t know until we tried and I’m game to try virtually anything along that line in my airplane, a Pitts S-2A. Neither of my past amputee students had any problems whatsoever. Better yet, both had an attitude about learning that couldn’t be beat and I sensed the same from Peter. If he was willing to try, I was certainly willing to work with him.
Peter says, “I stayed at Budd and Marlene Davisson’s B & B, which helped as the ground schooling never stopped. Also, in many ways, Budd was going to function as a physical therapist, which means you can’t hide anything from them and staying at the B & B helped in that regard.
“Our first challenge was getting me in the airplane. Fortunately, his airplane doesn’t have the long, double canopy, but is open in the front with a sliding bubble in the back. So, I’d climb up on the right wing walk, balance on the prosthesis and swing my leg over the canopy and into the back seat. It must have looked odd to by-standers, but, getting into every airplane involves some sort of special dance that this is what worked with the Pitts.
“I have to admit to being a little intimidated walking up to the airplane and the thought crossed my mind ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ but, Budd seemed confident we could do it.
“Once in the cockpit, finding a position for the L-shaped foot took some doing and it was obvious a custom designed foot would be the hot ticket, but we didn’t have one. In fact, after each hop during that first week-long session, I’d go into Budd’s workshop and grind away on the foot, making small modifications to make it fit better and clear obstacles.”
Peter and I found right from the beginning that his biggest problem, besides getting in the airplane, was going to be the simple fact, that the design of that prosthesis gave him an either-or decision on the right pedal. It was either rudder or brake and the difference involved him changing hands on the stick and picking up the leg with his right hand to reposition it on the brake pedal. When taxiing it was extremely jerky at first, because when he’d go for that brake, he’d just jab at it. However, eventually, he worked out a way that he could pressure the right brake and balance that with the other rudder and brake so, although he wasn’t as smooth as he’d like to be, he at least wasn’t rocketing off the taxiway into the lights.
As a flight instructor, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t paying a little more attention than normal, but I’d also be lying if I said Peter’s initial tries were scary. They weren’t. In fact his first takeoffs were at least as good as I’d see from a lot of students who weren’t challenged. After 35 plus years in the pattern in the same airplane, I’ve seen a lot of “interesting” things, but during that phase of his training he didn’t run the pucker meter any higher than at least half of my students do.
Peter remembers, “By the time we got ready for that first takeoff, we had done a bunch of taxiing down the runway at increasingly higher speeds. Budd had the throttle and controlled the speed and I had the airplane. My job was to keep the airplane going straight and the tail on the ground. At first I was jerking it all over the place, but eventually figured out how to get the rudder in and then get off of it quickly, so I didn’t over control. Budd said had me running down the runway as fast as 45-50 mph, which felt as if we were riding a rocket.
“I can’t begin to tell anyone how I felt the first time we did it for real. Budd was in front, so I couldn’t see his face, but I know I probably was gritting my teeth as I focused on the sides of the runway and brought the power up. The acceleration was terrific and, as the tail came up the airplane started a slight swing to the left, I thought ‘This is it!’ This is where I would find I couldn’t do it. I gingerly put a little right rudder into it and was more than a little amazed, when the airplane straightened out.
“Budd had me holding a constant, slightly taildown attitude, and in a few seconds, during which the sides of the runway became a blur, it left the ground and I broke into what had to be the biggest grin I’ve ever had. Of course, a second later, Budd’s voice was in my headset saying, ‘Right rudder, get that ball in the middle, right rudder.’ I had forgotten his warning about the P factor right after takeoff and the airplane was sliding sideways to the left. A little rudder put the ball back in the middle and the airplane climbed away like it knew what it was doing. A part of me was still on the runway watching it.”
In the years I’ve been checking pilots out in the Pitts, I’ve found they have more trouble flying a good approach and setting up a good touchdown than they do controlling the airplane on the ground, after landing. If a Pitts touches down square, with no drift, it has not much more tendency to head for the bushes than any other airplane, although you have to be thoughtful about the amount of rudder used to correct any divergencies. If you put it on crooked, however, you’ll be a busy little bear right down to turning off the runway. Like every other pilot, Peter’s salvation lay in making a perfectly straight touchdown. That way all he’d have to correct for would be the smaller turns that are generally the result of crosswind or unnecessary movements by the pilot.
On that first trip down here, he proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could fly the airplane. However, the leg made smooth braking difficult, although he eventually got it down to acceptable levels. Since he lived not far from Steve Wolf of Wingover Aerobatics in Creswell, Oregon, I suggested he hook up with Steve, whom I consider to be one of the best, if not the best, Pitts instructor on the planet.
Peter says, “I went over to see Steve and he picked up where Budd left off. We were flying his S-2B and Steve worked me pretty hard: he would introduce swerves on roll-out forcing me to deal with larger and larger problems.
“In the course of flying with Steve, my confidence continued to increase and I began looking for an S-2B with Steve looking over my shoulder to make sure I got a good airplane. I was doing this with a partner from the Decathlon. To make sure I was ready, I went back down to fly with Budd again.
“When I arrived at Budd’s I have to admit that I was feeling pretty proud of myself and I wanted to show off a little for him. Then, I got my first set back: I made one landing where I flat lost it. The airplane went one way and I way over controlled and, for the first time, Budd had to save my bacon. It was no big deal to him, and he said so, but it was a real blow to my confidence.
“I’m really careful about what I do and I recognize the limitations the leg places on me, so I tend to be too hard on myself, which is just part of my nature, leg or not. I left to go back to fly with Steve with my tail between my legs.”
Steve got all the kinks worked out for Peter and got him up to speed on the S-2B he had purchased, when Peter had another setback: After he had soloed the airplane and logged four hours in it, his partner (with two legs) lost it on landing and put it on its back totaling it. Peter was right back where he started.
“On the one hand, I was devastated, on the other, I had proven I could fly the airplane, which was my goal all along, but I was definitely aeronautically depressed and started looking for a Decathlon, but this time I’d do it on my own, as the last one was also torn up by a partner.
“As I looked for Decathlons, I couldn’t get the Pitts out of my mind. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I guess I like a challenge and I also now know I don’t like being beaten by a challenge. So I started talking to Steve and Budd about the practicality of me flying a single-place Pitts, which were much cheaper and I could afford by myself. Both of them said the airplane was too quick to handle with the current leg, but I’d already started coming up with a Mk.II prosthesis.
“The Mk.II Pitts-Prosthesis had a flat foot on it that pivoted at the ankle and had a lever on the knee joint that could pivot it forward. I could change hands on the stick at the end of the roll out, grab the lever and put the right brake on smoothly without any jerks or grabbing. The first time I flew with Steve with that foot, it was obvious to both of us, that it was a huge improvement and he felt I’d have no problem with a single-hole Pitts.
Peter’s search for a single-hole airplane found him owning a homebuilt S-1S fitted with Sparcraft wings and a hopped up 0-320. Steve gave the airplane a thorough going over and said pilot and airplane were ready to go.
Peter remembers, “I was nervous as a cat on that first takeoff, but it went okay. Then, the first approach so pretty good and I was straight on touchdown, so I stopped. That first flight was from Creswell bringing the airplane home to Redmond, so I had 45 minutes, or so, to calm down and get used to the airplane prior to landing. Before going back down to see Budd, I logged four hours in the airplane, including a bunch of touch and goes. I even got one good landing in it. The rest were ugly but acceptable.
When Peter came back down to fly with me the last time he had the Mk. II prosthesis and it was a huge improvement. As I told him, from my perspective, I couldn’t tell he was flying with a prosthesis. There was no difference between him and any one else. None. We had some mild crosswinds from both directions, including the left, which would challenge him more than ones from the right and he handled them fine.
Because of the way the leg is configured Peter always has to fly in shorts and I have to admit it is huge fun watching the faces of the fuel guys or anyone standing around as he gets in the airplane because his right leg looks like the Terminator’s.
It’s obvious to everyone that he’s doing something that most would agree is totally impossible. But he’s doing it. He knows there’s a risk, but from what I’ve seen of him, as a pilot, his risks are the same as anyone else flying the little buggers. He has to pick the days that match his talent and can’t go out to fly with anything other than a totally focused attitude. And that’s true of any Pitts driver. Since the airplane will only do what you tell it to do, you have to make sure your mind is not distracted by anything. Peter has already found that out the hard way.
Peter says, “I would like the add that none of this has been a solo effort. I have had a lot of help. From Dan Sullivan, who truly saved my life and without whome two great boys, Christopher and Nick, would have never made it into this world. From Park Johnstone who took me from a very rusty tricycle gear pilot to the point where I was comfortable landing a Decathlon from the rear seat and doing inverted spins. From Budd Davisson who gave me a very firm foundation in landing the Pitts as well as a lot of encouragement. From Steve Wolf who built on the landings and aerobatics and spent a lot of time setting up the S-1S so that I fit in it with my prosthesis. Las, but not least, my wife Helen who has put up with my obsession with the Pitts and loved me through all the ups and downs.”
At the very least, I’d say that Peter has definitely laid to rest the old wives tales that surround the Pitts Special. So, the next time you think a taildragger or a Pitts is beyond you, think about Peter Loeffler and others who have risen to the challenge. If they can do it, so can you. Period. | <urn:uuid:749c0f1f-5f62-4b19-a4eb-d53729b5341f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.airbum.com/Pitts/PittsAmputee.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983283 | 4,525 | 1.796875 | 2 |
7 prayers for a more restful eveningWritten by Andy Lang
Adapted from the "Carmina Gadelica", a collection of the oral traditions from the western islands of Scotland, and from "Compline"—ancient monastic prayers at the close of day.
O Christ, watch over me through the night.
Christ with me sleeping, Christ with me waking, Christ with me watching through the night until the dawn.
Seek the One who made the stars, who turns darkness into morning, who darkens day into night. (Amos 5:8)
O Being of wonders, shield me.
O Being of wonders, shielding me with might. O Being of stars and story, surrounding me this night.
I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; my heart teaches me, night after night. I will keep the Lord always before me. Because God is at my side, I shall not fall. (Psalm 16:7)
Jesus, watch over my sleeping.
In your name, O Jesus, who died and rose, I lie down to sleep. Watch over my sleeping. Hold me in your hand.
O God, yours is the day, yours also the night. You established the moon and the sun. You fixed the boundaries of the earth. You made summer and winter. (Psalm 74:17)
Guide my waking, O God, and guard my sleeping, that awake I may watch with Christ, and asleep I may rest in peace.
I praise you, O God, when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night. (Psalm 63:6)
Bless the moon above me, the earth beneath me.
Bless for me, O Lord, the moon above me. Bless for me, O Lord, the earth beneath me. Bless for me, O Lord, the ones who love me, and bless my neighbors near and far.
If I say, "Surely the shadows will cover me, and light around me turn to night," to you even the night is filled with light; night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light to you are both alike. (Psalm 139:11)
Jesus, you are the wisdom of dreams.
Jesus, you are the glow of the setting sun. You are the stillness of the night. You are the surprising star. You are the dark wisdom of dreams.
Jesus said: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)
God, you are the guiding star in the night.
Shade are you in the heat, O God. Shelter are you in the cold. Eyes are you to the unseeing. Hands are you to the fallen. Island are you in the storm. Guiding star are you in the night.
For God who said, "out of the darkness let light shine," has caused light to shine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) | <urn:uuid:3678b590-33c1-4ba8-aaa9-3abbd9f25bff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/your-life-better/sleep-prayers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952867 | 653 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Enlarged Prostate Treatments
Symptoms and the need for treatment vary with each man's enlarged prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). And every treatment has its own benefits and risks. These factors must be weighed as you decide how to treat your BPH symptoms.
Your Quality of Life With an Enlarged Prostate
If your enlarged prostate symptoms are mild and not bothersome, there's likely no need for treatment. One-third of men with mild BPH find that their symptoms clear up without treatment. They may just practice watchful waiting.
However, when enlarged prostate symptoms are bothersome or are affecting your quality of life or overall health, it's time to talk to your doctor about the treatment options. Together you will determine if you would benefit most from medication, a minimally invasive procedure, or surgery.
It's important to talk with a doctor when you begin noticing changes in your urinary function. You need to find out what's going on so you can be treated for enlarged prostate if necessary. For many men, especially those who are young when the prostate starts growing, getting early treatment can head off complications later on.
Assessing the Symptoms of Your Enlarged Prostate
To help your doctor understand how bothersome your enlarged prostate symptoms are for you, the American Urological Association (AUA) has developed a BPH Symptom Index. This is a brief questionnaire that asks about specific symptoms and how frequently they occur. Each answer is assigned a number -- and your total is ranked on a scale ranging from mild to severe.
A score of 0 to 7 is considered a mild symptom score; 8 or over is considered moderate to severe.
The AUA recommends the following treatment for an enlarged prostate based on the severity of symptoms:
Mild symptoms that don't bother you (AUA score 0 to 7): If you are not bothered by your symptoms, and they don't affect your daily life, watchful waiting is the best option for you. You should get regular checkups to make sure that you are not developing complications.
Moderate to severe symptoms (AUA score of 8 or more): If you are not bothered by your symptoms, you may choose watchful waiting. However, if your symptoms do start to interfere, you may choose medication, a minimally invasive procedure, or surgery.
Moderate to severe symptoms (AUA score of 8 or more) with complications: If symptoms are bothersome and you have developed complications such as inability to urinate, you may need a catheter, surgery, or another treatment.
Questions to Ask Yourself About Enlarged Prostate Treatment
When you discuss the treatment options for an enlarged prostate with your doctor, keep these points in mind:
- How much are my symptoms bothering me?
- Do they keep me from doing things I enjoy?
- How long do I want to deal with them?
- Am I willing to accept small risks to improve my symptoms?
- Do I understand the risks?
- Am I ready to do something about this problem? | <urn:uuid:63ae07b1-dd6f-404b-a446-5ff6214c9e45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://men.webmd.com/guide/treatments-enlarged-prostate-bph | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952196 | 632 | 1.71875 | 2 |
This election year for many of us was marked by firsts: the first woman candidate with a good chance of winning faced the first African-American candidate with ... well, no one believed he had a chance, really, till he won. It was also the first time (in our lifetime) that citizens participated so eagerly, with crowds in the tens of thousands showing up to see &mdash well, some of &mdash the nominees.
The misogyny of the media and the Powers That Be revealed itself to a degree that surprised most of us. The racism, likewise. But this past Saturday, Senator Hillary Clinton did herself proud, conceding the race to Obama with unmatched grace, wit, brilliance, charm, and a terrific speech. Nothing in the struggle became her like the leaving of it. We're actually very sad because we've been wanting her for President for many years now.
She has always been a champion of women's issues, and deserves plenty of respect and kudos for that. More to the point, her candidacy, and her loss, had many people worried. Who will speak for women, in the coming Administration? Gee Dumbya and Dick made it clear that, in their book, women keep their mouths shut and their heads down. From the attacks on working women's pay, benefits, families, rights, and bodies it was clear that the Republicans are no respecters of women.
Once Clinton bowed out, it was time to look for evidence of what the candidates had to offer women. We were pretty sure that McCain would not have a lot to offer women. He's a Republican, after all, and most Republicans don't like or respect women enough to trust them to decide on their own damn bodies, for goodness' sake.
Well, here's some
of the evidence. McCain opposes the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay for Equal Work act because "it'll lead to lawsuits." Hey, dumbass, there wouldn't be any need for lawsuits if employers paid women equally for equal work.
See for yourself. Pertinent snippet:
McCain skipped the vote to campaign in New Orleans.
"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters.
The Arizona senator said he was familiar with the disparity but that there are better ways to help women find better paying jobs.
"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.
"It's a vicious cycle that's affecting women, particularly in a part of the country like this, where mining is the mainstay; traditionally, women have not gone into that line of work, to say the least," he said.
Yeah, well, that was then, Johnny. These days, women work at coal mining too. Sheesh.He's insane. What century does this guy live in? What does he mean, "women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else"? The dog is also a co-head of the household? What, the cockatoo? The cat?
And what about single women without children? Are they not also part of the workforce? Should they be forced to accept lower pay? What about Lily Ledbetter, after whom the damned act was named, who HAD the requisite education and training and was STILL paid less? Doesn't he realize that if you make less during your working years, your pension, retirement, social security benefits will be lower than someone who made more? What an idiot.
The SPTimes thinks women should worry about McCain taking power. No shit. Here's snippets from their article
on the issue:
Due to McCain's reputation as a maverick, many voters seem to attach more moderate abortion views to him. In Florida's primary, for example, 45 percent of those Republicans who said abortion should be legal voted for McCain. Whereas the prochoice Rudy Giuliani won over only 19 percent of the prochoice Republican vote.
But McCain's voting record is solidly antichoice. He said directly in South Carolina that Roe "should be overturned" and strongly reiterates that position on his campaign Web site. He told the American Conservative Union that one of the three most important goals that he wants to achieve as president is to promote "a nation of traditional values that protects the rights of the unborn."
In accordance with these views, McCain promises to "nominate strict constructionist judges," which is code for "will overturn Roe if given half a chance."
The article goes on to say that McCain supports the global gag rule, one of the most hideous things to come out of the religious right's attitude towards women as uteri with legs (but not brains, hearts, or minds). Basically, the food crises we're seeing? The starvation, the fierce competition for water, fuel, and other resources? These all result from the death of the Zero Population Growth
Back in the late sixties, people all around the world looked at themselves and the planet they lived on and came to the conclusion that we were soon going to exceed our planet's capacity to feed, shelter, and care for us. The ZPG movement was born with the intent of keeping the world's human population at sustainable levels. Then along came the Religious Right, those fundies who won't spend a penny to feed hungry children or even give their possibly illegal immigrant parents amnesty or an education so that they can afford to feed the fruit of their collective womb.
One of the first rules they forced through was the gag rule. In essence, what the gag rule
does is, it prevents providers of women's healthcare services from offering, or even discussing, any alternative options other than forced birth. Clinics or even "barefoot doctors" who offer information about birth control can lose all their funding. Even if their sole abortion-related activity is to lobby to legalize abortion in their own country, or to refer their patients to other providers of services that might include abortion, and even if that activity is funded by other monies, they lose any money that they might otherwise receive from the U.S.
What this has done is turn the world and millions of women into one vast forced-birth experiment. Denied the ability to control the size of their families, women who become pregnant must give birth. While the gag rule contains a supposed exception for rape and incest, anyone who has lived or worked in the Third World knows how unlikely a woman is to allege rape or incest if she becomes pregnant.
In many countries, rape laws don't exist; in those where they do, they are selectively enforced; often, social opinion turns against the victim of the crime, not the perpetrator. Women brave enough to publicly allege rape or incest face penalties including jail, beatings, loss of their family, loss of their children, if any, loss of livelihood, and, often, death.
Thus, they are forced to birth unwanted children. If a woman does not want her child, forcing her to give birth to it can only have bad consequences for the child. Parenting is a tremendously difficult task, and requires a great degree of self-sacrifice. The same mealy-mouthed hypocrites who force women to birth unwanted children cry the biggest tears when asked to fund food, shelter, and education for such children. Even when wanted by their mothers, such children are at a tremendous disadvantage, especially in poor communities where they start off with a single parental income instead of two. In countries where the maternal mortality rate is high, they might not even survive their childhood. A child without a mother
is at greatest risk of death through neglect or abuse.
Small surprise that parents who have many children that they cannot feed sell their children as slave labour. Thus is their misery perpetuated, the misery of their parents who have to give up their child, the misery of the children who are exploited by cruel and greedy people.
Now that we are in competition for the very basics of life, and world population has increased by 50 per cent since the ZPG movement, we see how much suffering and misery the Religious Right's attitude towards women's reproductive bits has caused.
John McInsane will perpetuate
leading to even greater overpopulation, greater competition for scarce resources, more death and suffering.
An intelligent person might think that someone as rabidly antiabortion as McCain would be backing approaches to prevent unwanted pregnancies, thereby, ipso facto, fewer abortions. Well, think again.
McCain is an antagonist of sensible family planning and effective sex education. In 2005, he voted "no" on a $100-million allocation for preventive health care services targeted at reducing unintended pregnancies, particularly teen pregnancies. In 2006, he voted against funding for comprehensive, medically accurate sex education for teens.
Those women who claim they will vote for McCain need
to look at some
of the linked
sites here. They might change their minds in a hurry.
Some women have said that McCain's positions on women's reproductive rights and health don't concern them since they're past the age of reproduction. Fine, whatever. What about your kids and grandkids? Is it OK if they die from back-alley abortions? What about your sons and grandsons? Is it OK if they get killed in a war
? And unless you're as rich as Mrs. McCain, what about your job? Is it OK if you don't have one, or yours gets shipped overseas
? What about your retirement benefits
? Is it OK if they tank like the Dow, and our economy
? What about your house
? Is it OK if you have to live in a cardboard refrigerator box? Is it OK if he privatizes
Now, what's Barack Obama's position on women? We went to the candidate's Web site to find out. Here
We already know that he earned a 100% lifetime rating from Planned Parenthood and NARAL, that he is committed to equal pay for equal work for women, that he wants an end to the war in Iraq, that he wrote
to Ben Bernanke about the dangers of the subprime housing loan market a year before it collapsed, that he plans to work with Elizabeth Edwards on universal health care
, that he plans to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and give the middle class and working poor a tax break ... What's not to like?
Labels: 2008 elections, conservatives, economy, feminism, health care, misogyny, politics, republican "family" values, republicans, social justice, women's rights, workers | <urn:uuid:12f63e34-4dc4-4960-a30e-d6665338a126> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kalimao.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977779 | 2,219 | 1.59375 | 2 |
In my quest for further understanding as to why so many Christians (and non-Christians, though I am mainly looking at Christians for this study) are adamant pro-spankers, I have begun a journey into some of the darker history of Christianity and the harsh treatment of children starting as young as infancy. My purpose in doing this study is to uncover some of the main Christian advocates of harsh treatment of children in order to show that spanking came from man and not from God as so many truly believe.
Sadly, as I pointed out in Part 7 of my “Spanking is NOT God’s Will” series, brutality of children can be traced back to Biblical times which is why Jesus radicalized the way He wanted society to view and treat children. Despite Jesus placing such a high value on children and never once advising the people to harshly punish young children when He had ample opportunity to do so, Christians have, for centuries, used the Holy Bible to advocate and justify spanking and abusing young children. For some unknown reason, at least to me as of now, physical punishment runs deep within the roots of Christianity, especially within the sects of the Protestants, Fundamentalists, and Evangelicals. It is important for me to note here that I proudly consider myself an Evangelical Christian and have always taken the Bible quite literally. It appears to me as I continue my study of God’s Word and the history of this subject that pro-spankers seem to focus more of their attention on the God of the Old Testament. Yes, God is the same today, tomorrow, and forever (See James 1:17 & Malachi 3:6a). However, the God of the Old Testament was quite harsh at times in His righteous anger allowing men, women, and children to be killed because of their sins against Him. But, as I point out in Part 8 of my series, “Spanking is NOT God’s Will,” we also see God’s grace and love for His people. The minute His people cried out to Him in the Old Testament, God forgave them and had mercy on them. “So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty” Malachi 3:6b-7. With the coming of Jesus Christ, God allowed His grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to be much more accessible and evident to mankind. Through Jesus, we can now have a very personal relationship with the God of the Old Testament. [Read more...] | <urn:uuid:0abb9b13-adf6-440d-9a89-3e15e792df09> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whynottrainachild.com/tag/native-americans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967419 | 551 | 1.78125 | 2 |
According to Ch 8 there has been 8 deaths in San Diego county related to the H1N1 flu.
The latest victims were 44-, 46-, 47- and 67-year-old men and women aged 35, 41, 42 and 48, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.
All but one of the victims had underlying medical conditions, according to the HHSA. Three of the victims were not San Diego County residents.
All tested positive for H1N1, but the virus might not be the cause of death, the HHSA reported.
So far, there have been 45 deaths in San Diego County linked to the H1N1 influenza, according to the HHSA. Thirty-eight of the victims were from San Diego County and seven were visiting.
There have been 659 people hospitalized with the virus locally, according to the HHSA.
Have a great Thanksgiving! | <urn:uuid:130bde3e-c89a-43d7-bf12-548fc7bfe7ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theleucadiablog.com/2009/11/your-h1n1-local-update.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979644 | 187 | 1.734375 | 2 |
As in life, the famed math teacher, who died of bladder cancer March 30 at age 79, welcomed them all. Friday's wake in a lecture hall at Garfield High School had an atmosphere that was part memorial, part church social: somber and festive at the same time, with mortuary workers and mariachis mingling on the school's sunlit front lawn.
Students were let out of class early for the event. Scores stayed to see Escalante's casket.
The line stretched halfway across the front of the red, white and blue high school made famous in the 1988 movie "Stand and Deliver." Teenagers and former students with their own children in tow waited alongside retired teachers, swapping memories.
"He was always pressed, always in long-sleeved shirts, very formal," recalled Angela Fajardo, a former student. Fajardo, 37, now teaches herself.
"I had him for three years and I can truly say he molded me," she said.
In death, Escalante has again received national attention. He became known after his teaching methods propelled a group of Garfield students to surprise success on the 1982 Advanced Placement calculus test. Their performance prompted accusations of cheating, silenced after most of the students passed the test a second time.
Friday's wake was organized in part by Edward James Olmos, who played Escalante in the film, and, pro bono, by Montebello's Risher Mortuary.
Olmos said that hours before he died, Escalante told him he regretted leaving Garfield in 1991, and Olmos felt the school was the place for the wake. "This was his base, the best part of his life," said Olmos, who stood outside, agreeing to autographs or cellphone photos from whoever asked.
Guests who made it through Friday's line into the lecture hall found Escalante's shiny black casket in the teacher's place at the front of the room, overflowing with red roses and white lilies. Photos of the teacher in his trademark newsboy cap -- which he is to be buried in -- were posted around the room, alongside banners touting the ease of calculus. A blackboard was covered with equations.
Near the casket sat Raul Escalante, the teacher's brother, and sisters Olimpia and Berta, who had flown in from La Paz, Bolivia, the previous night.
Raul Escalante, an accountant, remembered his brother's childhood curiosity and intellect -- how he puzzled over devices such as radios, determined to understand their workings.
He was inspired to teach math by his mother, who was also a math teacher. "He taught with the same style as my mother," Raul said. "Charismatic. Organized."
To Ali Gardea, 45, an affirmative-action consultant, Escalante was the uncompromising teacher who made sure his students shared his priorities. "He would get so angry when we were in the marching band and something would take us away from class," she recalled, laughing. "He would say, 'How are you going to support your family on marching band!' "
In fact, Gardea stuck with band -- all the way through college at the University of California. Now, she said, she appreciates how Escalante used his fame not for his own advancement, but to obtain more resources for students.
Alejandra Herrera, 15, had no memories of the teacher to draw on as she waited. "I wanted to come and show respect," the Garfield sophomore said. "I'm not sure where Garfield would be without him, and I've seen his movie so many times."
Math, she added, "is my favorite subject."
Escalante's casket will leave Garfield in a procession up South Atlantic Boulevard at 9 a.m. Saturday before an 11 a.m. service in Weingart Stadium at East Los Angeles College. | <urn:uuid:019b0516-f9f5-4f07-86e7-9deb881dff70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-escalante17-2010apr17,0,7196329.story?track=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985044 | 810 | 1.53125 | 2 |
WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (IPS) — President Barack Obama has given military commanders a free hand to determine the size and composition of a residual force in Iraq up to 50,000 troops, apparently including the option of leaving one or more combat brigades or bringing them from the United States, after the August 2010 deadline for the ostensible withdrawal of all combat brigades now in Iraq.
Although the ostensible purpose of the combat brigades remaining in Iraq would be to protect other U.S. troops in the country, they would also provide the kind of combat capability that U.S. commanders have wanted to maintain to deal with a broad range of contingencies.
The fact that the commanders have the option to nullify Obama’s pledge to removal all combat brigades raises serious questions about whether he has given up control over his Iraq policy.
Obama declared, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina that by Aug. 31, 2010, “[O]ur combat mission in Iraq will end.” But he confirmed earlier indications from administration officials that the residual force would be from 35,000 to 50,000 troops — far higher than Democratic congressional leaders had previously been led to expect by Obama.
Obama did not refer to the possibility that combat brigades would remain in the country after Aug. 31, 2010, but Defence Secretary Robert Gates admitted as much in a question and answer session with reporters after the speech.
Obama also stated, “I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.” But Gates, and the top commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, have both indicated on the record that they wanted to keep U.S. troops in Iraq even after that date, based on the assumption that the Iraqi government will renegotiate the Status of Forces agreement.
NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported just before Obama’s speech that discussions had taken place in the Kirkuk area between some U.S. military commanders and Iraqis “to establish what could end up as a permanent air base, U.S. air base, in Kirkuk.”
Obama’s claim that the U.S. combat mission will end in August 2010 raises the question whether he will call a halt to combat patrols by U.S. personnel embedded with Iraqi units. The sweeping concession made to CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus and Iraq commander Gen. Odierno on the residual force suggests that he will not demand the end of such operations by U.S. troops.
The freedom granted to Odierno and Petraeus on the residual force overshadows his concession to the generals and Gates in accepting the recommendation for 19-month timetable for withdrawing combat brigades.
Obama had appeared to be leaning toward the 16-month withdrawal of combat brigades he had pledged during the campaign as recently as a Jan. 21 White House meeting with Gates and Petraeus.
Obama provided no further details on the residual force. According to the Washington Post report published Friday, two unnamed “senior officials” — one of whom was presumably Secretary Gates – told Congressional leaders Thursday that Obama would let commanders decide not only the exact schedule of withdrawal of combat brigades but the size of the residual force.
In a teleconference with reporters Friday afternoon, Gates appeared to confirm indirectly that he and field commanders have discussed either keeping combat brigades in Iraq but calling them “non-combat” forces or actually sending new combat brigades to Iraq from the United States during the drawdown of the brigades now in Iraq.
A reporter asked Gates, “You have said they’re not going to be combat brigades, but are you going to take combat brigades that are in the United States and sort of rename them, redesignate them, or are you going to create new units for this specific mission?”
Gates first sidestepped the question entirely. “[W]ith respect to the 35,000 to 50,000,” he said, “I think that that’s a question probably better directed at General Odierno.” But he then added, “[I]n terms of whether those are new units or whether they are re-missioned units that are already there, I think remains to be seen.”
CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin, reflecting the leaks from Pentagon officials, reported Feb. 24 that the residual force would be organised in “training and assistance brigades” that would be capable of conducting combat operations and calling air strikes from carrier or land-based aircraft. In a comment to CBS News Political Hotsheet, Martin said the units would be “fully combat capable”, suggesting that they would be drawn from combat brigades.
Some leading Senate and House Democrats were clearly taken by surprise by the size of the residual force to which Obama had agreed. On the Rachel Maddow Show Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “I don’t know what the justification is for 50,000, a presence of 50,000 troops in Iraq.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee, both indicated that the figure was higher than they had expected. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said, “I do think we have to look carefully at the numbers that are there and do it as quickly as we can.”
Defeated Republican presidential candidate John McCain, on the other hand, sounded like a loyal supporter of Obama’s decision, saying it is “reasonable” and that he is “cautiously optimistic that the plan that is laid out by the president can lead to success.”
Obama even took a step toward committing himself to reversing the whole withdrawal policy if violence in Iraq resumes anytime before the end of 2011. Rep. John McHugh, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama had assured him that he would “revisit” the withdrawal plan “if the situation on the ground deteriorates and violence increases.”
The decision on Iraq policy announced by Obama Friday ended a four-month period of maneuvering by Gates, Odierno and CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus aimed at getting Obama to change his Iraq policy.
Gates and the two generals had wanted to keep a large residual force, including combat brigades, in Iraq not only through 2011 but for at least another four years beyond that. They had presented a 23-month draw-down plan to Obama at the Jan. 21 White House meeting as an alternative to his 16-month drawdown plan.
Later, they settled on 19 months as an acceptable compromise. It is now clear, however, that the primary objective of the trio was to get Obama to approve complete control by the commanders over the residual force up to 50,000.
The Washington Post reported that the senior administration officials who briefed Congressional leaders Thursday said that Obama’s “senior civilian and military advisers” — meaning Gates and Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen — had recommended both the 19-month drawdown plan and the size of the residual force.
The Post reported the “senior officials” as suggesting that the reason for both recommendations was to avoid “jeopardizing Iraq’s still-fragile security.” However, a source who was close to Obama during the campaign and maintains ties to his advisers said Obama’s acceptance of the 19-month plan was to “defuse the conflict with the Pentagon.”
Not mentioned in either Obama’s speech or briefings by Gates is the question of whether U.S. pilots and planes will be part of the residual force after August 2010. The silence on that matter suggests that U.S. airpower will continue to participate in combat, despite the supposed end of the U.S. combat mission. | <urn:uuid:1df8bfd6-90cb-4a96-82d5-acfc8a591527> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/02/drawdown-plan-may-leave-combat-brigades-in-iraq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969168 | 1,637 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A nuclear power plant in Luzerne County is on Alert after officials report that a toxic gas was released inside the building. It happened around 10:30 Wednesday night at the PPL plant along the Susquehanna River in Salem Township near Berwick. Emergency Management Agency officials stress that the gas is not nuclear, and did not get airborne. There are reports that the gas is for fire safety. As a precaution every emergency operations center within a 10 mile radius has opened. But officials stress there is no public safety hazard. | <urn:uuid:00f909f0-c587-401c-8f3f-6f6b0c85e0f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pahomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=14146 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96027 | 106 | 1.773438 | 2 |
I've gone awhile without salt now, but I just had some with my dinner last night and I noticed it once again: Every time I eat some salt since being on this lifestyle (which is NOT often) I just feel better for some reason. Just more awake and more calm.
Do I have an iodine deficiency perhaps?
Have you read the thread before answering? Humans don't need salt.
This is not meant as a harsh reply, but an invitation to check what's already been said before adding your contribution.
I'm not sure who you're talking to but I will say this...salt is necessary to the body for electrical impulses. So there is a mininum requirerment however its very little. And if you are referring to my statement, no I didn't read the threads before adding mine. I base my statement on facts and don't normally refer to what others have said when making a statement based upon fact. I don't know where you're getting your facts from.
Do you mean salt as in sodium-chloride? Or just natural sodium from plants?
Marco seems to think that you are referring to sodium-chloride when you state that "salt is necessary to the body". You are right about this, if you're talking about natural sodium, but not if you're talking about sodium-chloride aka. table salt.
And btw. 1500 mg of sodium is a lot - I think most people on 30BAD gets less than 1000 mg, maybe even less than 500 mg a day. Maybe some HCRV endurance athletes needs to consume more than that, but it seems that a lot of people thrive on less than 500 mg.
Of course I'm referring to natural sodium from plants of course. Some individuals feel better having closer to the mininum salt requirement Which is 1.5 grams per day equal to approximately 600mg not 1500mg...not sure where you got that figure from. while others will thrive on less. I myself feel much better on less. Very good of you to bring that to my attention.
your organs are like the soft tender tissue of a slugs body
have you ever seen what happens to a slug when you pour salt on it ?
its very painfully fatal
im sure you can put 1+1 together
i think it's somewhat stimulating to your adrenals. don't be a junkie! ;) | <urn:uuid:8271a988-3368-4fb7-8abd-f882d5b5a0ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.30bananasaday.com/forum/topics/why-do-i-feel-better-when-eating-salt?commentId=2684079%3AComment%3A2632123&xg_source=activity | 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 | 0.966319 | 490 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Frontline offers another powerful investigation with "The Silence" (UNC-TV, 9 tonight), an examination of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.
It's a tough half-hour report showing the devastation left behind when three men who worked for the church along Alaska's far west coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s abused boys and girls, 80 percent of those who lived in the parish, pretty much an entire generation.
The abuse went on for years, leaving adults who grew up battling drugs and alcohol, but mostly fighting shame and anger.
Reported by Mark Trahant, an independent journalist who has covered Native American communities for his entire career, the piece manages to show the victim's palpable pain with a lot of grace. More importantly, it shows the moments when the area's bishop, as part of a settlement, comes face-to-face with the survivors and apologizes. At a time of the non-apology, there's a poignant to the simple power of asking for forgiveness.
The piece also features one courageous survivor who now works to help others tell their stories and be free from their painful burdan.
There's not a happy ending to this story, but there is the beginning of one. "The Silence" bears witness to a shameful moment in religious history. | <urn:uuid:1302cab7-d85c-483b-943d-9d7b0a5b0b21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.newsobserver.com/tv/the-silence-bears-witness-to-abuse-of-catholic-native-americans | 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 | 0.968551 | 266 | 1.65625 | 2 |
January 22, 2013
As a sign of modern times, locations all across the globe are starting to discuss alimony reform. This particular release discusses the discussion of Florida alimony statutes during the upcoming 2013 legislative session. The Family Law Section of The Florida Bar has helped create “some of the most progressive alimony laws in the nation” that is both “fair and equitable to all parties.” One of their goals is to educate public policy makers and the general public about Florida’s alimony statutes, as there are many misconceptions.
Read more here.
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People have no idea how many people are affected by unfair Divorce Judgments. It effects all of your family and significant others. This is injustice at its worse. The laws must change. The Judges follow the law and the legislators must enact law that reflects 21st century norms. And first and foremost the Court System is fostering adversarial relationships between the mothers and fathers which deeply affect our children. The Court System is, in effect, abusing our children by issuing unfair Divorce Judgments.
Posted by: We The People | Jan 29, 2013 4:18:52 AM | <urn:uuid:11cafc13-a580-4123-962f-bb9272fed989> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/family_law/2013/01/alimony-reform.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938184 | 257 | 1.773438 | 2 |
14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
14:2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
14:3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
14:4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
14:5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
14:6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
14:7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
14:8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.
14:9 And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.
14:10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
14:11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
14:12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
14:13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
14:16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
14:17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me.
14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
14:21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
14:24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
14:28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
14:29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
14:32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
14:33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
14:34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
14:35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;
14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. | <urn:uuid:14184a63-c209-4dc6-8821-ab3d28135814> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianityoasis.com/Bible/BIBLE/matthew_14.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988755 | 1,022 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The difference between independent contractors and employees is sometimes difficult to distinguish when it comes to workers’ compensation insurance.
California courts and state agencies typically use a number of tests to determine whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor. A crucial factor in determining employment status is the employer’s right to direct and control the work being performed. If you have the right to control the manner and means of the work performed, the courts have routinely decided that the “independent contractor” is actually your “employee”.
There are many other considerations, but the answer to any one factor does not necessarily determine status. Among them, whether the person performing the service:
Other factors include:
If there are questions, the Labor Code assumes a worker is an employee for workers’ compensation purposes. The burden of proof to support the independent contractor status of a worker falls on the employer. The Labor Code also requires that any subcontractor who does not have an active valid contractor’s license be treated as an employee, not an independent contractor. However, even though a worker may have a valid license, the worker may still be an employee depending on the factors as discussed above.
A good rule of thumb: as an employer, always protect yourself.
If proper documentation is not maintained and presented to our auditors, we are obligated to charge premium for any liability that may exist under your workers’ compensation insurance policy.
If you are unsure of your worker’s status as either an independent contractor or your employee, please contact your local State Fund office and speak to a representative. | <urn:uuid:84fcd246-8226-4bc4-b9fb-ff747ce78156> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.statefundca.com/news/FeatureArticles2010/070210-ContractorVsEE.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946852 | 327 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Singapore Museum Guide
Although Singapore is Southeast Asia's most popular city destination, less than a few visitors are familiar with its outstanding museums, and while the city doesn't boast the likes of the Louvre and The Metropolitan, its museums do offer a unique experience to their visitors, which cannot be found elsewhere on earth... This mini-guide will take you to Singapore's 25 most visit-worthy museums.
Asia Pacific Guides™ Singapore Museum Guide A guide to city's 25 most visit-worthy museums Click here to view all our FREE travel eBooks of Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok Introduction Although Singapore is Southeast Asia's most popular city destination, less than a few visitors are familiar with its outstanding museums, and while the city doesn't boast the likes of the Louvre and The Metropolitan, its museums do offer a unique experience to their visitors, which cannot be found elsewhere on earth. This mini-guide will take you to Singapore's 25 most visit-worthy museums. Rating = OK (worth visiting only if you are interested in what this museum is all about). = Worth visiting = A real must see The 3-day museums pass costs SG$ 20 per person, or SG$ 50 for a family pass (of up to 5 people) and can save you quite a few bucks if you like museums and plan to visit most of them… Copyright © 2012 Asia-Pacific Guides Ltd. All rights reserved. The museums 1. The Asian Civilisations Museum is definitely one 2. The Arts House at the Old Parliament, right next of Singapore's top sights. As its name suggests, this to the Asian Civilisations Museum, occupies the fantastic museum displays the cultures of Asia's beautiful Neo-Palladian building which tribes and nations, with emphasis on those groups accommodated colonial Singapore's first court house that actually built the city-state. and became the seat of the Singaporean parliament in 1965, soon after the country got its independence. Housed within an impressive 19th century Neo- Palladian building, right next to the Singapore River, The historic building has been converted to an art- it displays thousands of rich and fascinating exhibits, centre more than a decade ago, where young local including ethnic costumes, traditional jewelries, artists can perform their works, and there are art ancient books, sculptures, religious artifacts, exhibitions here almost all the time, including various archaeological findings and relics, and what not... shows and music performances (and a pretty good From China and Southeast Asia, through the Indian café too). subcontinent all the way to Arabia and the Middle East… In front of the building (facing the Old Supreme Court building) there is a bronze elephant, given as a The collections are truly beautiful and the museum is gift from King Rama V of Siam (which is currently tastefully designed, so the visitor is not 'bombarded' known as Thailand) as a token of appreciation after with too much information… Moreover, every gallery his visit to Singapore in 1871 has some interactive displays and touch screens that make the whole experience more interesting and Rating: tangible (especially for the little ones...) Daily, 11am – 9pm The "Singapore City Pass" makes a good choice for those who want to explore the city by No entrance fees themselves, with a full day of unlimited Hop On Hop Off Bus sightseeing, as well as well as a trip For more information, including details on events on an amphibious vehicle. and exhibitions, visit their website. Rating: Not far from there, around the area of Hill Street, Stamford Road and Bras Basah Road (which is known English guided tours of the museum are available at as the 'Museum Planning Area'), there is a cluster of the following times: 2 pm on Mondays, 11 am and 2 a few very good museums that are well worth pm Tuesday - Friday, 7pm on Friday evening, and knowing about… 11am, 2 and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. The guided tours are at no extra cost but you'll better call 3. Singapore Philatelic Museum, near the corner of the museum's front desk in advance 6332 7798 Hill and Coleman streets, is housed in a charmingly (Information on free guided tours) restored 1904 colonial building, with red tiles roof and French louvers that once accommodated the Getting there: From Raffles Place MRT Station: Take city's Anglo-Chinese School. Exit H to Bonham Street and walk to the river bank, turn right and walk along the river for a minute or It's obviously a must see for the stamp collectors two, then cross Cavenagh Bridge. The entrance to among you, although almost everyone will find it the museum is just a few steps from the bridge. interesting. The exhibitions are quite tastefully set and make use of interactive devices. Other than rare Tuesday – Sunday : 9am-7pm (till 9pm on Friday) and precious stamps from all over the world, you will and Monday : 1pm – 7pm be able to learn about the history of philately in Singapore and to visit one nice exhibition that shows 6332 2982 / 7798 how a new stamp comes to the world... from the Website / Information on free guided tours concept stage, all the way to the final product. Rating: 'Peranakan' is a Malay term which literally means ‘locally born' and basically describes those Getting there: The Philatelic Museum is on 23-B non-Malay who were born in the region. The Coleman Street. From City Hall MRT Station: Take best known Peranakan communities are those of exit B, turn left to North Bridge Road and right to the descendants of Chinese traders who Coleman Street. After crossing Hill Street, you will migrated to Singapore, Malacca, Penang and see the museum on your left. Southeast Asia two hundred years ago, married local women and developed a distinctive culture, Daily, 9am – 7pm (from 1pm on Monday) / lifestyle and cuisine, which is like a fusion Website / Entrance fees apply between China and Southeast Asia, but there are also non-Chinese Peranakan communities, like The "Singapore Flexi Pack" allows you to save the Chitty Melaka (descendants of South Indian over 40% on Singapore's BEST attractions and Hindu merchants and local Malay women) and sightseeing. the Jawi Peranakans (descendants of South Indian Muslim traders and local women). 4. The Battle Box, in neighboring Fort Canning Park, was the bunker of Fort Canning and the headquarters of the British forces during the Battle The museum's 10 galleries boast plenty of beautiful of Singapore. You can join a guided tour here and exhibits, including costumes, traditional handcrafts, watch an interesting presentation that recaptures replicas of Peranakan homes and so on, and although the fierce battle against the Japanese invaders, it is not a particularly large museum, it is well worth during World War II. visiting, especially if ethnic cultures and traditions are your thing. Getting there: Enter Fort Canning Park through Rating: Canning Rise (a five minutes' walk past the Philatelic Museum / You can also access it through the English guided tours of the museum are available at escalator next to the National Museum of Singapore) the following times: 2 pm on Mondays, 11 am and 2 and then follow the signs within the park. pm Tuesday - Friday, and 11am, 2 and 3pm on Saturday and Sunday. The guided tours are at no Rating: extra cost (Information on free guided tours) Daily: 10am – 6pm Getting there: The Peranakan Museum is on 39 Armenian Street. 6333 0510, Website From City Hall MRT Station: Take exit B, turn right to Entrance fees apply North Bridge Road and left to Stamford Road. After a few minutes turn left to Armenian Street. After 2-3 minutes you will see the museum on your right. 5. The Peranakan Museum, one of Singapore's most recommended museums, is just a couple of minutes' Daily, 9am – 7pm (from 1pm on Monday / Until walk from the Philatelic Museum, on Armenian 9pm on Friday). Street. Website Housed within a beautiful 1910 colonial building with both Neo-Classical and French-Renaissance Entrance fees apply architectural features, this unique museum is solely How to find the best deals in Asia ? dedicated to the Peranakan culture that emerged circa the early 1800s, when Chinese migrants Instantly compare the world's leading hotel-websites married local Malay women and adopted some local and get the BEST rates for accommodation in Macau, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore, traditions, in order to assimilate into society, and Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Taipei and elsewhere in Asia! became one of Southeast Asia's richest and most influential groups. 6. The National Museum of Singapore, just a short Daily, 10am – 6pm (Singapore Living Galleries walk away, is the city-state's largest, oldest and remain open until 8pm and admission is free during possibly most impressive museum, and certainly the last two hours). justifies a long visit... 6332 3659 / 5642, Website Nestled within a beautiful structure that incorporates the original 1887 Neo-Palladian & Renaissance Entrance fees apply buildings, with new extensions that use modern architecture of steel and glass, this fantastic museum Although Singapore has one of the best public- emphasizes on the history and the culture of transport systems in the world, taking the Singapore and its main feature, the "Singapore Singapore City Hop-on Hop-off Tour is highly History Gallery", can easily be titled as one of the recommended, as it takes you directly to the best attractions in town: It is just like a 'time tunnel' various attractions and saves you the time and where the visitor walks through dozens of beautifully hassle of waiting for a bus or walking… designed life-size displays that replicate scenes from the city's past... Many of these "scenes" tell the story of a particular historic event from the eyes of an 7. Singapore Art Museum (SAM), just a quick stroll unknown person who happened to live in Singapore from the national museum, specializes in modern at that time. and contemporary art, mostly from Singapore and Southeast Asia, and boasts one of the world's largest Tip: Arm yourself with a bit of patience if you really want to enjoy the visit to the Singapore History Gallery, as there's a lot collections of contemporary art from Southeast Asia. to see... Occupying a historic building with classic Other than the History Gallery, the museum boasts architectural motifs of a Mediterranean "palazzo" the four Singapore Living Galleries, which focus on that once housed one of Singapore's oldest Catholic subjects that shape the daily life of ordinary boys' schools, Singapore Art Museum exhibits more Singaporeans, like Food, Fashion, entertainment and than 5,000 pieces of art within its 14 galleries and Photography... houses plenty of international exhibitions, mainly from Asia but also from other parts of the world There are also some pretty good temporary (click here to see what exhibitions are currently on). exhibitions every now and again (visit their website if you want to know what is currently on). Rating: Explore Singapore's less known "gems" through Guided tours in English (at no extra charge) are our range of Unique Day Trips and Guided- available at 2pm on Monday, 11am and 2 pm on Walks ! Tuesday-Thursday, 11am 2pm and 7pm on Friday, 11am 2pm and 3:30pm on Saturday and Sunday Rating: (Information on free guided tours). English guided tours of the Singapore History Gallery Getting there: The museum is right next to Bras are held at the following times: Monday – Friday Basah MRT Station (11am and 2pm), Saturday & Sunday (11:30am, 2pm and 3:30pm). These guided tours are at no extra cost Daily, 10am - 7pm (it stays open until 9pm on (Information on free guided tours) and you can also Fridays). take the self-guided tour, using your own mobile phone. 6332 3222, Website Getting there: The National Museum of Singapore is Entrance fees apply (Free admission on Friday night, on 93 Stamford Road. From Bras Basah MRT 6pm – 9pm) Station: Cross the open piazza towards Stamford Road and you will see the impressive Neo-Palladian building of the museum right in front of you. 8. Tiny Raffles Hotel Museum, on the 3rd floor of the 10. The ArtScience Museum, in Marina Bay Sands, is Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade, is where you can see the world's first ArtScience museum and one of the nostalgic paraphernalia from the history of city's main attractions. Singapore's most legendary hotel. Occupying an architecturally inspiring lotus-shaped Rating: building along Marina Bay's waterfront, this unique museum boasts over 50,000 square feet of galleries, Getting there: If coming from Bras Basah Rd., turn where the visitor is supposedly introduced to the left to North Bridge Road and enter the hotel from meeting points between art and science… there. The museum's only permanent exhibition, Daily, 10am – 7pm, Entrance is free, Website ArtScience, spreads across three galleries and is meant to take the visitor to a "Journey Through Do you know? We have a whole range of free Creativity" where he can explore the connections eBooks and mini-city-guides about Asia's most between the arts and the sciences, but although it is popular city destinations... Click HERE to view quite interesting and enchanting, it is actually the and download them. temporary exhibitions that make this museum so popular, including some world-class displays, like 9. Mint Museum of Toys, just across the street from Genghis Khan, Van Gogh Alive and Dalí: Mind of a the Raffles Hotel, is the world's first purpose-built Genius, which were all highly praised by visitors and toys museum and a must see for families with kids, critics alike. and to anyone who is still a child at heart. Discover Singapore with those who know it best! Click here to view our choice of city-tours and Occupying a tall and narrow building of five floors, activities. this fabulous museum It is not overwhelmingly big (Which is good news for those of you who museums are not their cup of tea), but is nonetheless packed Daily, 10am to 10pm (Last admission is at 9pm), with tens of thousands of nostalgic toys… From but might be closed to visitors, from time to time, vintage 19th century toys to "prehistoric" versions of due to a private function (take a look at their website Popeye, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Beatles before coming, just to be on the safe side). buttons and what not... Tickets are quite expensive for a museum, but then you have to remember it is a privately owned Rating: museum that relies mainly on temporary exhibitions (the best of which, to be more precise). What's Getting there: The museum is on 26 Seah Street. more, you are allowed to pay only for those From Bras Basah MRT Station: Walk along Bras Basah exhibitions you intend to see. Road for a few minutes, turn left to North Bridge Road and right to Seah Street, where you will see the The ticket also allows you to walk out of the museum entrance to the museum on your left. and come back later (on the same day), and if you happen to come over the weekend, you can join one Daily: 9:30am – 6:30pm of their free guided tours in English (first come first served). If you can't make it to the free guided tours, 6339 0660, Website you can take an interactive audio-visual guide from the Museum Box Office. Entrance fees apply For more details, visit the ArtScience Museum How to find the best deals in Asia ? website Instantly compare the world's leading hotel-websites How to get here? The museum is located within the and get the BEST rates for accommodation in Macau, Marina Bay Sands (Bayfront MRT Station is possibly Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Taipei and elsewhere in Asia! the most straightforward way of getting here) Rating: 11. Chinatown Heritage Centre: Narrow Pagoda Rating: Street, where Chinatown has started its life from, almost 200 years ago, was restored and the old Getting here: Corner of South Bridge Road and Sago houses where poor families of Chinese migrants had Street: From MRT Chinatown Station: Walk through to cram in tiny flats are now housing shops and Pagoda Street, turn right to South Bridge Road and cafés. after 2 – 3 minutes you will see the impressive building on your right. One of these heritage buildings has become a museum, called Chinatown Heritage Centre where The Buddhist Culture Museum and Relic Chamber you can learn about day-to-day life in Chinatown and open daily, 9am – 7pm, while the Emiment Sangha the hardships those newcomers had to deal with, Museum is open daily from 7am – 7pm including replicas of shops, houses and the unique characters who dwelled here many years ago... Website Rating: No entrance fees Getting here: The heritage centre is on 48 Pagoda St., 13. Singapore City Gallery is housed within the which is just a minute's walk from Chinatown MRT modern building of the Urban Redevelopment Stations Authority (URA Centre), just a couple of minutes' walk from Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, Daily, 9am - 8pm (last admission is at 7pm) on the other side of Maxwell Road Food Centre, and displays large models of various urban developments 6221 9556, Website across the city-state, including Singapore's Central Area Model, which is one of the largest architectural Entrance fees apply models in the world. Touch screens and other interactive devices make Although Singapore has one of the best public- the visit an interesting experience, especially for the transport systems in the world, taking the young ones, and for those who architecture and city Singapore City Hop-on Hop-off Tour is highly planning are their thing. recommended, as it takes you directly to the various attractions and saves you the time and Rating: hassle of waiting for a bus or walking… Getting here: The City Gallery is on 45 Maxwell Road 12. Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, just If coming from MRT Chinatown Station: Walk around the corner from Pagoda Street, displays through Pagoda Street, turn right to South Bridge hundreds of pieces of religious Buddhist artifacts and Road and after 2 – 3 minutes you will see the food- works of art from all over Asia... centre on your left hand side (almost opposite the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum). Housed within an imposing red Chinese-style building, the Buddhist Culture Museum is located If coming from MRT Tanjong Pagar: Take exit G, turn next to the holly chamber where the relic of the left, cross the small garden, turn right to Maxwell tooth of the Buddha is kept, in a gold stupa, and Road and after a couple of minutes you will see the although it is fairly small, it boasts quite a few Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Building on fascinating exhibits that make it well worth visiting. your right There is another small museum in the building, called the Eminent Sangha Museum, which tells the life Monday - Saturday, 9am - 5pm stories of eminent monks who have achieved great accomplishments in Dharma teachings. Website Other than the two museums, the temple itself is Entrance is free (Guided English tours are available at rich in decoration arts and sculpture work. a small fee). 14. Red Dot Design Museum is just across the street 16. Nei Xue Tang Museum is a private "house from the Singapore City Gallery. museum" that boasts an amazing private collection of Buddhist arts and crafts, including hundreds of Nestled within a long and bright-red colonial building precious statues, figurines and other pieces of art which once housed Singapore's Traffic-Police from China, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia and other Headquarters, this is one of the world's only two Asian countries. "red dot design museums", where winners of the lucrative red dot product-design award display their Rating: masterpieces. How to get there: The museum is on 235 If product design is your thing, there is no doubt you Cantonment Road. If coming from Chinatown and will love it. Tanjong Pagar: Walk down Duxton Road to the end , turn right to Craig (You can also access Craig from Rating: Tanjong Pagar Road) and immediately left to Yan Kit Road. At the end of Yan Kit, turn right to Cantonment Getting here: The Red Dot Design Museum is on 28 Road and after a minute or two you will see the Maxwell Road (almost opposite the Singapore City museum on your right. Gallery – see instructions above). 10am - 5pm daily. 11am - 6 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and 11am - 8pm on Saturday and Sunday (closed on 6372 0189, Website Wednesday and Thursday). Admission charges apply 6327 8027, Website Click HERE to find some of the best rates for Admission charges apply. hostels and low-cost accommodations in Singapore and Asia ! How to find the best deals in Asia ? 17. The Malay Heritage Centre in Kampong Glam Instantly compare the world's leading hotel-websites (Near Arab Street) is nestled within the imposing and get the BEST rates for accommodation in Macau, building that once was the palace of Ali Iskandar Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Singapore, Shah, Sultan of Johor and the son of Hussein Shah, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Taipei and elsewhere in Asia! who authorized Raffles to build Singapore. It was built in 1835 by George Coleman, one of early Singapore's most famous architects, and combines 15. The Baba House, just a few minutes' walk from Palladian style with local Malay motifs. there, is a tiny museum that replicates a 19th century Peranakan home and allow visitors to experience the Nowadays, as mentioned, there is a Malay Heritage daily life of a traditional Perankan family, back in the Centre here (which is closed for renovations at the old days. time of writing), which boasts a nice museum where you can learn about the history and culture of Occupying a classic shophouse on Neil Road, the Singapore's Malay community. museum is operated by the National Museum of Singapore (NUS) and is opened only upon request, Rating: which means you will have to write an email to them, a week in advance, and ask them to arrange a visit How to get there: From Bugis MRT Station: Take for you… Email: email@example.com , Website exit-B, turn right to Victoria and start walking along the street, crossing Ophir Road and Arab Street, turn Rating: right to Jelan Pisang (second after Arab Street) and at the end of the short street turn left to North Bridge Getting there: The Baba House is on 157 Neil Road: Road and immediately right to Kandahar Street. After From Outram Park MRT Station, take exit G, turn left a couple of minutes you will see the compound's to New Bridge Road and left again, to Neil Road. gate on your left side.. Daily, 8am – 9pm (The museum is currently The chapel, in the middle of the open courtyard, is a closed for renovations). replica of similar chapels that were built by POWs across Southeast Asia during the war. 6391 0450, Website Rating: Admission is currently FREE How to get there: From MRT-Tanah Merah: Take bus See Singapore with those who know it BEST ! No. 2 (You can also take bus No. 29 from MRT- Tampiens). Both buses stop at the museum (after Women's Prison / opposite Changi Heights 18. The Malay Village, in Geylang Serai, purports to condominium). replicate a traditional Malay "Kampong" (village), just like the ones that covered Singapore and its environs Daily, 9:30am - 5pm more than a century ago, and although it is somewhat of a kitschy cliché, it is worth a visit all the 6214 2451, Website same, especially if you are in the area anyway... Entrance is free Other than a cluster of traditional Malay houses, you can see the day-to-day paraphernalia of the villagers, a life sized scene of a traditional Malay wedding, arts 20. Science Centre Singapore, as its name suggests, and crafts and so on... There is also a small museum is a science museum, which means it is particularly and some shops and restaurants within the complex. recommended for families with teenage kids, although it is popular among people of all ages... Rating: Spreading over eight galleries, this fantastic museum How to get there: The Malay Village is on the corner displays every aspect of technology and science, of Geylang Serai and Sims Ave.: From MRT-Paya from optical illusions to space science and from Lebar: kinetic energy to robotics… Turn right to Eunos Road and almost immediately left to Sims Avenue (after you have crossed it). Walk The Centre also operates an IMAX cinema, called the along Sims Avenue for a couple of minutes, passing Omni Theatre, where you can watch some excellent an open carpark and then turn right, to Engku Aman 40 minute documentaries on various scientific topics, Road, where you will see the entrance to the like research of the deep sea, discovery of Mars and "village" on your left (All in all, it's less than a 10 more... The movies play every round hour, from minutes' walk). 10am to 8pm Daily, 10am – 10pm. Rating: 6848 7040, Website How to get there: From MRT-Jurong East: Walk out of the station through the covered walkway, to No entrance fee (Unless you want to enter the small Jurong East Street 13, cross it and proceed strait museum) along the covered path, between the buildings (Block No. 135 should be on your right) until you reach a big The "Singapore Flexi Pack" allows you to save junction. The Science Centre is on its other side (less over 40% on Singapore's BEST attractions and than 10 minutes' walk). sightseeing. Tuesday - Sunday, 10am - 6pm, closed on 19. Changi Chapel & Museum: Dedicated to those Mondays (unless a Monday falls on a public holiday). World War II POWs (prisoners of war), civilians and soldiers alike, who managed to survive the horrors of 6425 2500, Website, Information about Japanese captivity, this small museum displays their discounted combo-tickets (with Snow City) personal effects, including letters, photographs and paintings they drew while in captivity. Entry fee applies 21. NUS Museum, the museum of the National 23. The Maritime Experiential Museum & University of Singapore (NUS), specializes in both Aquarium, in Resorts World Sentosa, focuses on the ancient and modern art collections from China, history of ancient maritime trade in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Far East. The permanent and tells the story of a 9th century Arab merchant exhibitions boast Peranakan artifacts and Chinese ship which wrecked in the Java Sea, while sailing calligraphy, among other pieces… from China back to the Middle East and became known as the "Belitung shipwreck"… Rating: Other than an accurate reproduction of the Arab How to get there: From the bus interchange, next to dhow ship, there are hundreds of artifacts that were MRT-Clementi: Take route No. 96 and alight at a bus- salvaged from the shipwreck on display, as well as stop called "NUS Raffles Hall", which is just a few models of other ancient vessels, and a "Typhoon steps from the University Cultural Centre, where the Theatre" where visitors get the taste of sailing museum is. through a storm... Daily, except Monday, 10am – 7:30pm (until 6pm Rating: on Sunday). How to get there: The museum is located within FREE entry, Website Resorts World Sentosa (Click HERE for instructions on how to get there). Discover Singapore with those who know it best! Daily, 10am - 7pm, (till 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays Click here to view our choice of city-tours and and Sundays). activities. Website 22. Haw Par Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens) and Hua The "Singapore City Pass" makes a good choice Song Museum: Better known by its old name, Tiger for those who want to explore the city by Balm Garden, Haw Par Villa is a theme park where themselves, with a full day of unlimited Hop On folktales from the Chinese mythology are presented Hop Off Bus sightseeing, as well as well as a trip through nearly a thousand dioramas and life size on an amphibious vehicle. sculptures, and although many of the exhibits are fairly kitschy, the park is well worth visiting. 24. Images of Singapore, in Sentosa, is a beautiful museum that takes the visitor through the history of The garden was originally built in the 1930s by two Singapore, from the 14th century onwards, through a Chinese brothers, who amassed a fortune thanks to a series of "scenes" where life size tableaus depict popular heat rub they introduced (That is the Tiger major events in the city-state's history, as well as Balm, after which the garden is named) and there is through other multi-media displays which make the also a small museum here (quite recommended), visit more interesting and enhance the experience of which is dedicated to Chinese communities around "being there"... Legends, folktales and actual historic the world and shows how these communities events are all woven together, creating quite a developed and contributed to their new societies... unique experience... Rating: Rating: How to get there: Right next to Haw Par Villa MRT How to get there: The museum is located near cable- Station (on the Circle Line). car plaza / Imbiah Station, in the centre of Sentosa (Click HERE for instructions on how to get there). Daily, 9am - 7pm (Hua Song Museum is open daily, except Monday, from 9am to 6pm). Daily, 9am - 7pm The entrance to the garden is free, although there is Website a small fee if you wish to visit the Hua Song Museum (click here for more info). Admission fees apply 25. Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom, also in Sentosa How to get there: Located in the central part of (and just a heartbeat from "Images of Singapore"), Sentosa, next to Cable Car Plaza and just a few steps displays thousands of unique butterflies and exotic from Imbiah Station (Monorail): Click HERE for insects, including real "monsters" from Southeast instructions on how to get there Asia's fast vanishing jungles. Daily, 9am - 7pm There is also an outdoor section where you can walk amidst the lush tropical vegetation and see hundreds 6275 0013, Website of species of amazingly beautiful butterflies. Admission fees apply Rating: The See Singapore Attraction Pass can save a lot of money for those of you who wish to make the most of their precious holiday time… You can take a Singapore River Cruise, or ride the world’s largest observation wheel, visit one (or more) of Singapore's fantastic museums, see the world's largest collection of tropical orchids at the National Orchid Garden, visit Jurong's BirdPark and Singapore Zoo, join a guided walking tour and much more… Click here to view all our FREE travel eBooks of Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok Copyright © 2012 Asia-Pacific Guides Ltd. All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:e552a096-b5c7-4100-9f3d-4a0c0312ada0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119804044/Singapore-Museum-Guide | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944336 | 6,608 | 1.742188 | 2 |
McKenny Bittman, a recycling program employee, brings another tree to the pile of those waiting to be turned into mulch in this file photo.Photo by Kelly Jackson
• Bradley County Landfill. 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.
• Urbane Road. 2-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays.
• Peerless Road Recycling Center. 2-5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Recycling is a part of Christmas, too.
The annual "Chipping of the Green" starts today and continues through Jan. 7 at the Bradley County Landfill.
Landfill personnel will accept trees and wreaths and grind them into mulch. Unlimited amounts of mulch will be free to the public, said Cheryl Dunson, executive vice president of marketing for Santek Waste Services Inc.
"Recycling your Christmas tree not only makes good environmental sense, but it's also free, readily available at a number of locations and results in a valuable resource," Dunson said.
The Urbane and Peerless Road recycling centers also will accept trees during the holiday season, Bradley County Executive D. Gary Davis said.
He said the recycle centers do not have to be open for residents to drop off their trees.
"Just drop the trees outside the gate, regardless of whether we're open," Davis said. "We'll make sure they get transported to the landfill where they'll be chipped."
Davis said the recycle centers accept glass, aluminum, cardboard, mixed paper and newsprint year round.
This year the Peerless Road Center began accepting electronics. The landfill also accepts waste oils, lead-acid batteries and appliances.
In 2011, Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland urged the city to again consider curbside recycling collections. Several years ago the city dropped the service, citing low participation and expense.
But it may be time to take another look, Rowland said.
During a recent planning retreat, Steve LaFollette, division vice president for Waste Connections, explained how residential customers could use the RecycleBank if approved by the city.
Customers' recycling would be weighed and recorded through the company's system. Points earned by customers can be redeemed for coupons to be used at participating local businesses.
"It keeps the dollars in the community," LaFollette said.
The city council has made no decision on curbside recycling.
Randall Higgins covers news in Cleveland, Tenn., for the Times Free Press. He started work with the Chattanooga Times in 1977 and joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999. Randall has covered Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Alabama. He now covers Cleveland and Bradley County and the neighboring region. Randall is a Cleveland native. He has bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Technological University. His awards ... | <urn:uuid:f6e5c65f-d728-4c73-9968-c46962a10197> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/26/bradley-urges-tree-recycling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932208 | 632 | 1.773438 | 2 |
SIERRA CLUB FLORIDA TO GOVERNOR SCOTT:
TAKE A HIKE!
Club Reacts to Veto of Florida Forever Funding
Sierra Club Florida received a call today from Governor Scott’s office relaying the news that he had exercised a line-item veto removing all funding for Florida Forever in the State Budget.
Florida Forever is the state’s landmark environmental land acquisition program. These lands were proposed for acquisition because of outstanding natural resources, opportunities for natural resource-based recreation, or historical and archaeological resources. The program is also used to buy up development rights on land needed to protect endangered species.
The Florida Legislature had approved $305 million for the Florida Forever program, most of which was projected to come from the sale of surplus lands.
Sierra Club Florida lobbyist Dave Cullen called Governor Scott’s action “short sighted.”
“Governor Scott has lost touch with natural Florida and the millions of people who go outdoors to enjoy nature,” said Rudy Scheffer, Chair of the Sierra Club Florida Steering Committee. Scheffer added, “The Governor needs to take a hike!”
Governor Scott once reported to the press that he enjoyed hiking. Sierra Club suggested that the Governor needs to take more hikes and see these lands that Florida has acquired using funding from Florida Forever. Florida Forever and its predecessor, Preservation 2000, have protected more than 2.4 million acres of land. The land has many uses, from recreation to water quality preservation to protecting our military. Florida Forever has touched nearly every county in Florida and greatly improved our great state’s quality of life.
For example, The Florida Trail is an endangered trail and there are significant gaps to be closed. Florida Forever was the single best source of funding for the closing the gaps. Since 2000, Florida funded acquisitions by the state or water management districts have resulted in approximately 74 miles of trail. With the slowdown in Florida’s real estate market comes a unique opportunity to acquire critically needed conservation lands, many of which would help close gaps in the Florida Trail — gaps which otherwise would become permanent when growth and development rebounds. | <urn:uuid:cf9e00ac-d699-4024-b655-fe8059803712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sierraclubfloridanews.org/2011/05/news-release.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954673 | 443 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Mars rover driver heading to Google
NASA's Scott Maxwell will write high-reliability software
NASA's Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell shared all kinds of amazing things about himself when we last spoke in August. He's a cancer survivor, for one. And his father was a railroad engineer, passionate about driving trains, while Maxwell himself has been enthusiastically controlling vehicles on Mars since 2004.
"This is the kind of thing that I, as a kid, grew up dreaming about doing, and I have been unbelievably lucky to be able to do this with part of my life," Maxwell told me.
Given how much he loves working on Mars missions, it was shocking when he revealed on social media that he would be leaving NASA for Google.
"It's a lot like when my 15-year marriage broke up: JPL and I have grown in different directions, and I'm not a good fit there anymore," he wrote on Google+. His last day at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was Friday.
Now wait a minute: What does driving a rover on Mars have to do with working for a massive company best known for its search engine? According to Maxwell, the jobs are not as different as you think.
At Google, Maxwell will be writing high-reliability software - in other words, making sure that everything runs the way it's supposed to. For instance, when you direct your browser to google.com, you should get the Google homepage. It's critical to keep errors rare, just like with software that controls equipment on Mars.
Maxwell helped write the software that has been used for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and for Curiosity, which landed August 6 and recently got to try out its drill on the Martian surface.
"If it fails even once you maybe don't get your commands up to the rover that day," he told me. "We can't tolerate those kinds of failures. I'm proud to say that never happened, by the way, in nearly 10 years."
From a software-development standpoint, it's not a stretch to launch into highly reliable software that happens to be controlling machines on Earth rather than Mars.
The most fun parts of the Mars rover missions were living on Mars time, he said. For Spirit and Opportunity, the schedule was pretty regular: As the rover "wakes up" 40 minutes later every day, so do you, because a day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
But for Curiosity, the work day schedule had to be tied to when an orbiter would be flying overhead, which is less of a regular timetable.
"Spirit and Opportunity helped us prove that relaying through an orbiter has tremendous value for you," he said. "It greatly increases the amount of data you can send back to Earth."
Because Curiosity is a bigger, more complicated rover, the pace of the mission has been slower from Maxwell's standpoint. The expected lifetime of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers was 90 days on Mars, so Maxwell and other mission specialists packed everything they could into that short period of time. (As it turned out, Spirit lasted more than six years and Opportunity is still going. They landed in 2004).
"I loved it when we were straining to the utmost limit and doing everything we possibly could to fit in as much stuff as possible on every given sol (solar day) of operations on Mars," he said.
By contrast, it took 180 days on Mars for Curiosity to use its drill for the first time, marking the checkout of the last instrument on the rover. The projected lifetime of Curiosity is two years, although, like its predecessors, it could keep going much longer.
Although Maxwell misses the all-or-nothing, fast-paced nature of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers' first months on Mars, he has also enjoyed working with more scientists with expert knowledge on a variety of subjects for the Curiosity mission.
Maxwell will miss the tactical aspect of his job: the actual process of planning a day on Mars for the rover. His day began with problems that needed to be solved. He and his colleagues solved them and sent instructions to the rover at the end.
"I've been privileged to be one of the few humans on Earth who does that," he said.
Maxwell said he'll miss the people he has worked with at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, such as the other rover drivers and science team members.
"I'm still being invited to poker nights for rover drivers, but it's not going to be the same," he said.
For the new job, Maxwell won't have to take an airplane, let alone a space shuttle. His new role will be at a Google office in the Los Angeles area, where he is based. That's good news for his romantic life because he and fellow NASA-er Kim Lichtenberg are a ridiculously cute, science-loving couple.
"I'm not sure my girlfriend would like it a whole lot if I were moving up to Mountain View permanently, and I wouldn't want to leave her," he said.
He'll be following the Curiosity mission from the sidelines, but he wouldn't totally rule out going back into the space field one day. Should technology allow it, Mars remains his destination of choice.
"If they have a rocket ship leaving tomorrow, I'm quitting Google and I'm on it," he said.
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:0720e2da-318d-420e-940e-aa0cca66fd5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kjct8.com/news/Mars-rover-driver-heading-to-Google/-/163152/18513264/-/view/print/-/6jruloz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979831 | 1,125 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Links for Absolute Writers Voluntary Group
Writing Community Unites to Write Anthology for Disa
|Writing Community Unites to Write "Stories of Strength" for Disaster Relief
As they watched the coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, writers who had gathered on the AbsoluteWrite.com message boards decided not to sit by helplessly any longer. Instead, they set their pens and keyboards to work— writing uplifting essays, short fiction, and poetry on the theme of "strength." The result is the 316-page anthology Stories of Strength, with 100 percent of the proceeds to go to disaster relief charities, including the Red Cross, Americares, and the Salvation Army.
Headed by Jenna Glatzer, author of acclaimed Celine Dion biography For Keeps, this project attracted contributions from many well-known writers, including a story and an original hymn by award-winning science fiction novelist Orson Scott Card, an essay by famed actor Wil Wheaton (Star Trek, Stand By Me), and a short story from Christian romance author Robin Lee Hatcher.
With more than 100 pieces from writers all over the world, and the gracious efforts of prominent editors and graphic designers, Stories of Strength is a tribute to the human spirit: celebrating true stories of courage and endurance in challenging situations that range from the death of a child to living through natural disasters, to smaller-scale trials, like dealing with returning an overdue book to the local library.
Shelagh Watkins, who lives in Swansea, is one of the writers whose work was chosen for the anthology, Stories of Strength. Her poem, Hope For A Safer Place, is about gaining the strength to make the world a safer place. "I'm honoured to have my poem included," says Shelagh. "It feels great to be able to use my love of writing to help people in need. I hope this project will be a great success."
Alternating between tear-jerking and humorous, Stories of Strength is guaranteed to inspire and remind readers that the human spirit knows no boundaries.
"Many people have said they plan to order copies for everyone on their holiday list," says Jenna Glatzer. "What a fantastic way to give a present that also helps people rebuild their lives."
The writers hope to turn their words into sizeable long-term contributions to disaster relief charities. In addition to the writers’ donations, publishing company Lulu (www.lulu.com) is generously donating its profits from the project.
The book will be available direct from Lulu on November 1, 2005, and available to order from bookstores world wide soon thereafter.
Stories of Strength
Editor/Publisher: Jenna Glatzer
Publishing services provided by Lulu | <urn:uuid:a816ce83-e67d-464d-a313-2056169549ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.communigate.co.uk/wales/absolutewriters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936521 | 558 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Sunday, May 26, 2013
As our armed forces come home from the Middle East, the local Veterans Affairs benefits office is being stretched.
Returning veterans are now facing a new enemy at home—long wait times for their disability claims. The waiting times started increasing in 2010 when U.S. troops were withdrawn from Iraq causing a dramatic uptick in first-time filers, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. The data found that in most regional VA offices, not only did waiting times increase, but they vary dramatically with location: about 508 days in Baltimore, Maryland and 134 days in Fargo, North Dakota. The national average now stands at about 11 months, which is dramatically higher than in 2009 when it was 116 days. Claims sent to the VA's Boston office take on average 411.6 days to process a disability claim. That's more than 13 months before the average …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Medicare database shows how hospitals across Boston—and the nation—compare for care. Hospitals, meanwhile, criticized the data as inaccurate.
Which Boston emergency room is the most efficient? It depends on what you mean, according to data released by the Center for Medicare & Medicid Services. At the South End's Boston Medical Center, the average time patients spent in the emergency department before they were seen by a healthcare professional was 18 minutes, which is much quicker than the state and national averages of 40 and 30 minutes, but but longer than the wait at Mass. General, which is 10 minutes. Of those patients, the average time patients spent in the BMC emergency department before being sent home was 181 minutes, compared to the state average of 152 minutes and the national average of 140 minutes. Finally, the average time patients spent in the BMC emergency …
Boston's hospitals excel in different areas of emergency care. See how they stack up against each other.
Boston's famous for its medical facilities, several of which offer emergency care. But anyone who's gone to the ER in the city knows it can take a while before you get back home. The chart above compares various emergency room wait times in Boston. The data used comes from the center for Medicare & Medicaid Center's Hospital Compare web site. Learn more about the Medicare data used in this chart. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates
Monday, December 10, 2012
A Massachusetts gun owners group is lobbying for passage of a bill that would confer lifetime gun licenses.
Way too much red tape. That's the complaint of the Gun Owners’ Action League of Massachusetts, a group that is urging passage of a law that would abolish the requirement of having to renew a gun permit every six years, according to the Boston Herald. For comparison, Massachusetts vehicle drivers' licenses need to be renewed every five years. But the league says local police cannot keep up with timely gun permit renewals, and legitimate gunowners go license-less until the cops get time to do the paperwork. The law now allows 40 days for turning around license applications. In Boston, almost 1,000 people have applied for gun permits so far this year, with waits running about 10 weeks, the Herald quotes police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca as … | <urn:uuid:8ced833e-0593-4c98-8777-f2f0a85fc93f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://southend.patch.com/topics/wait+times | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956693 | 653 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The time is too short / but never too long / to reach ahead / to project the image / which will in time / become a concrete dream.--Wire, 'Lowdown', Pink Flag, 1977.
In Vanda's Room - Pedro Costa, 2000, DV
[On undramatic long-take art cinema today.]I think there's this petty fascination with what people call an image. Artists like what they’re doing as artists, or supposed artists, but you never see a bricklayer contemplating his stone for half an hour then saying: ‘oh yeah, maybe I’ll add another stone.’ That does not happen.A lot of people today, even filmmakers, have not seen what we called cinema, and are relatively unaware of its craft, its past. They don’t know it, and sometimes they despise it, saying: yeah, I don’t care, or I don’t have time to see that, times have changed, this is not the same world. But the work we’re doing, I feel, belongs to a certain reality and a world of work that has a past, and I can't escape it. And I think the only way to move forward is by not escaping it and instead confronting certain things. Not refusing Chaplin’s films is a way of moving forward, not dismissing them as bullshit, because they're about details, the way people move, where you place the camera (the height, the sound), etc. They're not about ideas, those everything-goes ideas that produce all those long shots, the contemplation of some void: a mountain, a street corner that could be in Hong Kong, Paris, anywhere...You should see Ozu, or John Ford: their shots are much longer. Three seconds in John Ford is three thousand years. Any young video artist has to work very hard if they want to tell their story in three seconds. When I was making In Vanda's Room, I had a feeling — a normal feeling — that what I was seeing and what Vanda was doing was an attempt to tell fragments, particles, centimetres, inches, seconds of a very long moment. This moment could be ten minutes, an hour, and it took ten days, ten weeks. Because it’s like Proust, or Kafka: it takes a century to tell just one second. And that’s very hard work in film.--Pedro Costa, in conversation with Craig Keller and Andy Rector, 2008, Finding the Criminal, 2010. Available via. | <urn:uuid:aec349a5-a2aa-4e9a-9bf6-bb1acd69465e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://landscapesuicide.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966138 | 528 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Washington should stay away from touching the mortgage interest tax deduction, warns the U.S. housing industry.
Lately, housing is on the mend and one of the few bright spots in a lumbering economic recovery. Taking away a key tax break could throw a wrench into home buying plans and hurt a long-sputtering recovery.
Lawmakers in both parties are on the lookout for tax revenue as a way to avert the fiscal cliff.
But the housing industry is preparing to fight against any move to get rid of the mortgage interest tax break.
Powerful housing lobbying groups are taking their fight to the grass roots, armed with granular data on the benefits of the homeowner tax break in every congressional district.
"(Getting rid of it) would throw the housing sector into turmoil... and chill the market just as it is trying to recover," said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders.
This isn't the first time Washington has taken a critical look at the mortgage interest tax deduction.
It is one of the oldest tax breaks designed to encourage home ownership, by lowering the tax bill for homeowners.
It tends to benefit upper middle class families the most, according to the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. For those earning more than $250,000 a year, the annual tax savings run about $5,460. For those with annual incomes of less than $40,000 a year, the average savings is just $91, according to the center.
The deduction is the third largest tax expenditure on the federal budget, according to the Congressional Research Service. The amount of revenue the government would forgo from those claiming mortgage interest deductions is estimated to reach $100 billion by 2014.
Several times, President Obama has proposed cutting the deduction down to 28% from 35% of mortgage interest payments for Americans in the top income bracket.
But his proposals have gotten nowhere, thanks to lobbying from home builders, the National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association.
But this time, lobbyists are worried. That's because for the first time in years, House Republicans say they are open to scrubbing any tax breaks from the books as part of shrinking federal deficits.
Housing lobbyists have spent a combined $30 million this year, up from $27 million last year, according to Center for Responsive Politics figures.
They're ensuring that leaders don't do anything "penny-wise and pound foolish," said David Stevens, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The economy "could actually move backwards" if the deduction is taken away, he warned because it has a significant impact on middle class Americans' cash flow.
Another powerful group, the National Association of Realtors, has spent a record $25 million on lobbying this year, more than any other year, federal records show. The group declined to share its plans on defending the deduction.
But earlier this month, its President Gary Thomas touted that the group had "secured 183 bipartisan cosponsors," this year to support a House resolution that would protect the current tax deduction for mortgage interest.
"We will continue to work with members of Congress on the consumer's behalf on this issue," Thomas said in a statement. | <urn:uuid:1ff66131-5b22-47f0-a6f4-53adc48c311b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news4jax.com/news/money/Powerful-interests-defend-mortgage-deduction/-/475848/17559302/-/11yiedz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969374 | 654 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Did President Obama pick a fight today with the man who could well be the decisive vote in the Supreme Court’s consideration of his health care plan?
On Monday, Obama aggressively cautioned the Court against overturning the law, warning about “unelected” judges taking an “unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” His tone was strident and his facts were wrong. It would be neither unprecedented nor extraordinary for the Supreme Court to find the individual mandate unconstitutional, and Obama’s health care plan passed with the barest of majorities and only after horse-trading that might be called extraordinary even by casual observers of the legislative process. Not surprisingly, the president’s short rant did not play well.
So today he tried to clean it up. In response to a question after his speech about the Republican budget, Obama measured his words carefully and softened his critique. “The point I was trying to make is that the Supreme Court is the final say on our Constitution and laws and all of us have to respect it. But it’s precisely because of that extraordinary power that the court has traditionally exercised restraint and deference to our duly elected legislators, our Congress. And so the burden is on those who would over turn a law like this.”
That may well be Obama’s opinion. It doesn’t appear to be one that’s shared by Justice Anthony Kennedy, widely regarded as the decisive vote on the question of the individual mandate. On the second day of oral arguments, Kennedy grilled Solicitor General Donald Verrilli on what Kennedy described as the “fundamental” changes the law would mean for the relationship between the citizens and their government. Kennedy made clear that it was the government who has the “heavy burden” to demonstrate that the law in constitutional.
“Could you help—help me with this. Assume for the moment—you may disagree. Assume for the moment that this is unprecedented—this is a step beyond what our cases have allowed, the affirmative duty to act to go into commerce. If that is so, do you not have a heavy burden of justification? I understand that we must presume laws are constitutional, but, even so, when you are changing the relation of the individual to the government in this, what we can stipulate is, I think, a unique way, do you not have a heavy burden of justification to show authorization under the Constitution?”
Obama’s comments Monday gave rise to speculation that the president was trying to intimidate the Court into upholding the law. The more likely explanation is that the White House was setting up its political argument in the event that the law is invalidated.
Whatever the explanation, Obama’s views of the burden are very different than Anthony Kennedy’s. | <urn:uuid:e73ba29a-5023-49fd-86a4-8c498faeac65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Anthony-Kennedy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972412 | 595 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The Man Who Fell to Earth (novel)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1963 novel by Walter Tevis about an extraterrestrial who lands on Earth seeking a way to ferry his people to Earth from his home planet, which is suffering from a severe drought. The novel served as the basis for the 1976 cult film by Nicolas Roeg as well as a 1987 television adaptation.
Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth seeking to construct a spaceship to ferry others from his home planet, Anthea, to Earth. Anthea is experiencing a terrible drought after many nuclear wars, and the population has dwindled to nearly 300. Like all Antheans, he is super-intelligent, but he has been selected to complete this mission for his strength, due to the harsh climate and gravity of Earth compared to the cold, small Anthea.
Newton first lands in the state of Kentucky but quickly becomes familiarized with the environment and aspires to become an entrepreneur. Newton uses advanced technology from his home planet to patent many inventions on Earth, and rises as the head of a technology-based conglomerate to incredible wealth. This wealth is needed to construct his own space vehicle program in order to ferry the rest of the Anthean population.
Along the way he meets Betty Jo, a simple Kentucky woman. She falls in love with him. He does not share these feelings, but takes her, and his curious fuel-technician Nathan Bryce, as his few friends while he runs his company in the shadows. Betty Jo introduces Newton to many customs of Earth culture, amongst them church-going, fashion, and alcohol. However, his appetite for alcohol soon invokes much emotional instability, as he is forced to deal with intense human emotions with which Antheans are unfamiliar.
His secret identity as an alien is discovered by Nathan Bryce, but Newton, aware that he has been discovered, is relieved to reveal his identity to someone for the first time. He explains that, according to readily apparent predictions, Earth will soon succumb to an enormous war when, in the upcoming presidential elections, the Republican Party will take power and transform the USA into a militaristic war-machine within ten years. The Antheans he will ferry to Earth will flourish and hopefully make use of their superintelligence to influence Earth to peace, prosperity, and safety from the apocalypse.
However, the CIA arrests Newton, having followed him since his appearance on Earth and having recorded this private conversation with Bryce. They submit him to rigorous tests and analysis, but ultimately find that, despite much conclusive evidence of his alien identity, it would be pointless to release the results because the public would not believe the truth. Such claims would also reflect poorly on the Democratic Party, responsible for the capture. The CIA releases Newton, but no sooner than he tries to exit his building, the FBI, uninformed by the CIA that Newton is exempt from further tests, commences their own brief examinations. Their final examination is ultimately an X-ray test of Newton's eyes. Newton, whose eyes are sensitive to X-rays, tries to stop them to no avail and is blinded.
The story of Newton's blinding reaches the press in a frenzy, and, ironically, the story is used by the Republican Party to depict the Democrats as being corrupt, and leads to their seizure of power, which is to inevitably lead to apocalypse.
Newton, in a final confrontation with Bryce, is bitterly unable to continue his spaceship project due to planetary alignments having changed during captivity and the troubles of his blindness. He creates a recording of alien messages which he hopes to be broadcast via radio to his home. | <urn:uuid:1f897d78-dce7-448a-a2f8-017afa8b2dc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artandpopularculture.com/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(novel) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979589 | 748 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Responsible to the End
Just a quick reflection before the weekend arrives:
My Dad died on the First Sunday of Advent. He taught me about life, all my life. He always worked hard but his last week was his hardest ... and this is really my point. Vacations are punctuations, but life and death are work. And the only way to really do it right is to show up—every day—and work. That's Personal Responsibility.
I watched a person work for his death and it reminded me that there are so many things that we just cannot abdicate to others without loosing our humanity. Not even our deathbed excuses us. It reminded me that personal responsibility is really at the heart of all personal relationships. What are we to one another if we are not responsible?
I cannot get personal responsibility out of my mind. Thank you, Dad.
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Propositions for the amendment of this constitution may be made by concurrent resolution originating in either house of the legislature, and if two-thirds of all the members e lected (or appointed) and qualified of each house shall approve such resolution, the secretary of state shall cause such resolution to be published in the manner provided by law. At the next election for representatives or a special election called by con current resolution of the legislature for the purpose of submitting constitutional propositions, such proposition to amend the constitution shall be submitted, both by title and by the amendment as a whole, to the electors for their approval or rejection. The title by which a proposition is submitted shall be specified in the concurrent resolution making the proposition and shall be a brief nontechnical statement expressing the intent or purpose of the proposition and the effect of a vote for and a vote a gainst the proposition. If a majority of the electors voting on any such amendment shall vote for the amendment, the same shall become a part of the constitution. When more than one amendment shall be submitted at the same election, such amendments shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately. One amendment of the constitution may revise any entire article, except the article on general provisions, and in revising any article, the article may be renumbered and all o r parts of other articles may be amended, or amended and transferred to the article being revised. Not more than five amendments shall be submitted at the same election. | <urn:uuid:4954d68c-9b6b-4281-afd6-55ca754c8363> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://constitutions.vlex.com/vid/proposals-legislature-approval-electors-304859 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940572 | 297 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Colombia: Aid distributed following fighting in Toribío
|Publisher||International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)|
|Publication Date||10 July 2012|
|Cite as||International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Colombia: Aid distributed following fighting in Toribío, 10 July 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50001cea2.html [accessed 23 May 2013]|
|Disclaimer||This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.|
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is distributing humanitarian aid to people injured when an explosive device went off in the medical centre in Toribío, in the north of the department of Cauca. The ICRC has expressed concern about the recent attacks on medical personnel and facilities in the region. The organization is also helping people displaced by fighting.
"The ICRC reminds all parties to the conflict of their duty under international humanitarian law to spare and protect the civilian population and medical personnel, facilities and vehicles in all circumstances," said Benno Kocher, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Cali.
In the wake of the explosion in the medical centre, the ICRC, in coordination with the Colombian Red Cross, monitored the situation of the five medical personnel who had been injured and transferred to Cali. It supported their families by providing food, accommodation and transport. It also delivered basic medical supplies to the Toribío medical centre.
"Medical personnel and facilities must be spared and protected at all times," said Mr Kocher. "Their purpose is to save lives and treat the injured. When their work is hindered, there are consequences for the whole population."
The ICRC also delivered food, personal hygiene items and household essentials to two meeting places for indigenous councils, where people have sought temporary refuge following the fighting. "Although many of those forced to flee at the weekend are starting to return home, they remain extremely anxious. They are afraid that further clashes could break out at any time, driving them from their homes again," said Mr Kocher.
The ICRC is assessing people's health-care needs and the damage done to civilian infrastructure in the fighting with a view to helping with repairs if necessary.
In accordance with its mandate to protect and assist victims of armed conflict, the ICRC is continuing to monitor the situation in other parts of Cauca department affected by the armed conflict, including Miranda, Jambaló, Santander de Quilichao and Caloto, and will deliver humanitarian aid in the El Mango area of Argelia municipality. | <urn:uuid:f145839b-7535-4987-9f8f-6822d8ba04cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=country&category=&publisher=ICRC&type=&coi=COL&rid=&docid=50001cea2&skip=0 | 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 | 0.947454 | 587 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Case for Unemployment Insurance Reform in New York State
By State Senator George Onorato
Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Labor
During this severe economic crisis, it comes as no secret to anyone that more and more New Yorkers are losing their jobs and turning to our state’s unemployment insurance system to keep themselves and their families afloat. But what may not be as well known to the general public is the fact that New York’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund – the pool of money used to pay out benefits to jobless workers – is bankrupt. This is a result of growing numbers of unemployment insurance claims, and the state’s failure, for more than a decade, to increase the required level of contributions made to the Fund. Overall, this entire state of affairs points to the dire need to reform and stabilize our unemployment insurance system, both for the sake of jobless workers and our business community, as we go forward in these difficult times.
It has now been 11 years since New York’s maximum unemployment benefit rate for jobless workers was increased, along with the taxable wage base – which is used to calculate the level of employer contributions that support the Trust Fund. Today, New York’s maximum unemployment benefit is $430 a week (temporarily raised by Congress from $405 earlier in the year), and the taxable wage base stands at $8,500.
Since the state’s maximum unemployment benefit was raised to $405 in 1998, its spending power has decreased by 20 percent to some $330. The current rate places many unemployed New Yorkers and their families below the poverty level, and is much lower than the maximum benefit paid in neighboring states. In New Jersey, the rate is $560. In Connecticut, the maximum benefit is $519. And in Massachusetts, job-seeking residents may receive up to $628 a week.
In addition, New York’s taxable wage base of $8,500, which ultimately determines the amount of money in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, is much lower than nearby states. New Jersey’s taxable wage base is $28,900, while Connecticut’s stands at $15,000 and Massachusetts at $14,000.
So what does this all mean? It means that jobless New Yorkers are having a great deal of trouble keeping their heads above water and are in danger of turning to public assistance – at an increased cost to state and local governments – if they are unable to find work when their benefits run out. It means that, without increased contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to bring it back to solvency, our state will continue to borrow billions of federal dollars to pay unemployment benefits to those in need, and be required to pay back millions of dollars in interest. It means that New York will owe the federal government more than $1.5 billion by the end of this year, and that both employers and the state will face significant new costs if the Trust Fund is not restored to solvency.
For New York employers, the continued insolvency of the Fund will result in increased federal unemployment taxes. When the Fund is solvent, employers are eligible to receive a federal tax credit reduction against the 6.2 percent tax they pay under the Federal Unemployment Trust Act, lowering their tax liability to .8 percent. But when the Fund lacks sufficient resources to repay borrowed federal money, the value of the credit is reduced, increasing taxes for employers. If action isn’t taken, these increased taxes on New York businesses could reach as high as $6.4 billion from 2009 through 2018.
To address these issues, I am sponsoring legislation, which has already been approved by the Senate Labor and Finance Committees, which would gradually increase both the maximum weekly benefit and the taxable wage base over the next five years. The unemployment benefit would initially increase to $475, and gradually rise to $625 in 2012. After that, the benefit would be calculated by the State Labor Department to equal one-half of New York’s average weekly wages. Similarly, to restore solvency to the Trust Fund, the taxable wage base would be increased in stages until 2012, when the State Labor Department would calculate the resources needed to support increases in the maximum employment benefit.
Unemployment insurance reform, whether it is achieved through this legislation or similar proposals, is crucial to the future of New York State. We must bring our Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund back to fiscal health – both for the sake of employers who will otherwise face significantly higher taxes, and for the sake of job-seeking New Yorkers who are struggling to subsist on an unemployment benefit, while they search for work, that provides them with an inadequate , sub-poverty-level income.
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Read the "Case For Unemployment Insurance Reform in NYS" at The Queens Gazette | <urn:uuid:0c7b4a25-974e-4261-b681-1e8bdccb27c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nysenate.gov/report/case-unemployment-insurance-reform-new-york-state-0 | 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 | 0.959158 | 983 | 1.710938 | 2 |
At EC&M, we know NEC issues are very important to our readers. That's why we've dedicated a monthly department to answering your latest Code questions and concerns. When you find yourself stumped by the Code, just e-mail your question to email@example.com for future consideration in Code Quandaries.
Q. I thought no foreign systems such as an air-duct system could enter an equipment room, unless that system ended in the room and served the room. Am I correct?
A. No. The NEC does not prohibit foreign systems such as a duct, sprinkler-piping, water-piping, or drain-piping system from entering or passing through an electrical equipment room. However, foreign systems must not intrude into the working space area in front of the electric equipment. The Code defines working space in Sec. 110-26 as the area in front of electrical equipment. This space is not less than 30 in. wide, 3 ft to 4 ft deep (depending on the conditions), and 6½ ft high. In addition, it prohibits foreign systems in the dedicated space area above and below equipment. Dedicated space is defined in Sec. 110-26(f)(1)(a) as the area equal to the width and depth of panelboards, switchboards, and motor control equipment, extending from the floor to a height of 6 ft above the equipment or to the structural ceiling, whichever is lower.
Q. An electrical inspector just informed me that you can't install low-voltage lighting fixtures within 10 ft of the edge of a pool or spa, even though the 110V power supply (transformer) is located 50 ft from the water's edge. Does the NEC allow low-voltage lighting closer than 10 ft from the water if the circuit for the transformer is GFCI-protected? I understand Sec. 680-6(b)(a) allows 120V lighting fixtures to be located just over 5 ft from the water's edge and GFCI protection is not required. Please clarify.
A. Sec. 411-4 specifies that you shall not install low-voltage lighting systems (operating at 30V or less) within 10 ft of pools, spas, fountains, or similar locations. There is no exception to this rule (Fig. 2). Placing the primary circuit conductors (120V) on a GFCI protection device does not protect against an electric shock on the secondary, because the primary GFCI would not sense a fault on the low-voltage secondary.
Sec. 680-6(b) does permit 120V circuits within 10 ft (but no closer than 5 ft) because 120V circuits are contained in a Chapter 3 wiring method (raceways and boxes), whereas the low-voltage cables for low-voltage lighting are not required to be within a raceway or enclosure. | <urn:uuid:0f3bcb03-f7de-42a1-8739-0bac050e05a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ecmweb.com/content/code-quandaries-19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934519 | 595 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Starting a New Year, and reflecting back over some of the joys of years past, when the children were small…
I think every family with children develops their own special vocabulary. These are the words your children invent that you simply cannot let go.
My first and very favorite wasn’t really a word; it was a sound that encompassed entire sentences. It was the sound my toddling first born made when he offered up a treasure, when he held out his pudgy little hand to share a discovery. Later, when he had more words, The Eldest would call these mysterious treasures that he felt compelled to share his ‘clues’. But at the beginning, there was just the sound…
As a new toddler (and he took his first steps a week before he turned nine months old, god help me), The Eldest developed a very special rumbling sort of purr. It was a sound that came from deep in his throat, like a precursor of Romance language, a rising ‘Bbrrrrt?’ of a noise, that seemed to end in a question mark. It was almost always accompanied by his upraised and outstretched hand, offering to share his prize with you.
As a first time parent, I didn’t really realize that these wondrous and unique vocalizations, like so many other young childhood behaviors, would miraculously appear, and then almost as quickly disappear, as new developmental delights crossed our horizons. The thing about stages and phases is that they give way to the next thing. Fantastic progress is made. But much is lost along the way. I suspect we all resisted some of these changes… I know I was slow to relinquish my babies’ age in days. Then slow to give up their weeks for months. 11 days sounds so much more tiny, doesn’t it? 11 days. 11 weeks. 11 months. You get my point.
Somewhere on an aging micro cassette (a Sony technology that was also supplanted by a later development) is a recording of The Eldest’s gift-giving purr. I have to find that cassette, and get that recording burned onto a CD, pronto…
There were other wonderful words gifted to us by our three children, and by our nieces and nephews. I treasure them still, though they have for the most part fallen out of regular usage.
The first born grandchild in our combined families arrived two years before our own son. Matthew was obsessed with fire engines. Matthew called then “Fungines”. So did we all, willingly.
Matthew was a very well mannered and well-taught toddler. He would walk around his Grandparents’ living room with his hand outstretched, self-correcting. As he passed the breakables on their un-childproofed table tops, he would repeat, ‘Matew, No. No, Matew’. And he would not touch them! Perhaps not surprisingly, he is now in law school.
Matthew was also very impressed with his Grandfather’s clocks, which were carefully wound every week. The carriage clock in the living room chimed on the quarter hour, with a different musical sound to mark each quadrant. The tall case grandfather clock in the front hall had an impressive, sonorous tone when it struck the hour. Matthew christened the grandfather clock the “Bing-Bong.” Truly said.
In our own family, my three children all developed an early word for their favorite baked good.
For The Eldest, it was a cookie, which he called a “tootie”. One day I went to lunch with my Great Aunt Suzanne, at the Colony Club in New York. I don’t know what it is about these fabled women’s clubs, but they all seem to have secret recipes for outstanding macaroons. Aunt Suzanne allowed me to take a couple of these almond macaroons home for The Eldest, wrapped up in a paper napkin. When I arrived home, The Eldest was not convinced about my offer of a macaroon. This cookie didn’t look familiar to him and was apparently not convincingly appetizing either. He cautiously accepted one of the macaroons, and toddled around the corner of our galley kitchen into the living room. He seemed to feel the need to test this weird new cookie out in private. All was quiet for a few moments. Then a little head appeared around the corner of the kitchen doorway. The Eldest said:
“Anummer one, waccawoon tootie?”
I still love that sentence.
The Girl preferred donuts, in particular, donut holes. She called them “Di-das”.
The Boy liked cookies too, but he christened them “Ga-gas”.
Go figure. Somehow we always knew what they wanted.
I miss their early names for each other as well: Don, Tarn and Ax. Can you guess?
When our children were small, we often left New York City on the weekends to visit Grandmommy’s house. Grandmommy and GrandDaddy had a swimming pool. Of course, the wonder of a pool required much teaching and constant safety supervision. The Eldest learned early on that his parents were not fooling around when they cautioned about unaccompanied access to the swimming pool.
He announced that he would wear a “Life-PreSaver”. Sounds much safer to me.
The Eldest learned to swim quite capably early on, and charmed his Uncle Bob by announcing that he would swim across the pool on the “diangular”. Notice that this dimension sounds longer than either the width or the length. Why isn’t that a real word in regular usage? You understood it right away, didn’t you?
My youngest niece has grown up surrounded by adults, by older cousins, and their social customs. As a pre-schooler, she was particularly taken with the ritual of toasting, when every family member would stretch their arms out across the table in order to touch each other’s glasses. The word she invented for this clinking of glasses was “Tink-tink”. I still use it!
My Mother even got into the act recently. She talks about surveying what’s on offer, in a shop, at the grocery store, or even when having a look-see about her garden. She says she is going to “Schoof” the garden… “Just a quick schoof.”
My grown kids have come up with a new term to describe The Dog’s preferred approach to walking about the neighborhood. They say The Dog likes to “Snoofle”. They are right. He does.
What words have you invented, in your family? | <urn:uuid:a7c7bafa-6097-4323-9301-77beafa9a438> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afterhood.com/?p=3282 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984659 | 1,450 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Students Gain Valuable On-the-Ground Experience in New Orleans
Students Successfully Acquire Legal and Non-Legal Hours for the Pro Bono Honors Pledge
For the past seven years, AUWCL has been sending a group of 30 to 40 students to New Orleans for an alternative winter break. While in New Orleans, the students provide pro bono legal services and help rebuild in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Each year, members of the student group Action for Human Rights organize the trip, obtain legal placements, and locate volunteer rebuilding opportunities for attendees. They also secure housing and work with members of the Student Bar Association to fund the trip.
This year, the students arrived in New Orleans Dec. 30 and started working on New Year’s Eve. For the first two days, they teamed up with St. Bernard’s Project to rebuild the home of a woman named Sandy who had been living in a trailer in her front yard for seven years after her house was severely damaged by Katrina. Rachel Kaplan, a 3L, said it felt good to know that she played a part in making someone’s home livable again.
“We spent the days painting the entire outside of the house,” said Kaplan. “We also spackled most of the walls and whatever else needed plastering. Sandy was so grateful for all of our help that she gave us all necklaces to thank us. It was really nice to see the person behind the house, and to know that she was going to move into a home after seven years.”
“This may be the only time that the students will be exposed to people living in poverty, and the work can remind them of why they went to law school.”
After two days of rebuilding work, the students went to different parts of the city to perform pro bono legal services. Julie Dabrowski, a 2L who helped organize the trip, worked at AIDS Law of Louisiana, a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to people living with HIV/AIDS. While she was there, she conducted legal research about HIV at-home testing kits, wrote an article for one of the organization’s publications, and worked directly with clients.
“Working at AIDS Law and getting to meet some of the clients there gave me a better understanding and a holistic view of what people are going through,” said Dabrowski. “I learned about how all of their personal and medical issues came together to create various legal problems. I think being able to go out there and actually see how it works is really beneficial, particularly for people who want to work in the public interest.”
In 2005, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast region, AUWCL students began going to New Orleans for the Alternative Winter Break to assist with recovery efforts. Lauren Bartlett ’07, Local Human Rights Lawyering Project Director at the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, was one of the people who organized the first trip. As a way to help those who had been affected by the storm, she and others raised money and went to New Orleans and Mississippi to provide assistance. The tradition lives on, and now each year more than 30 AUWCL students go to New Orleans to rebuild and provide legal assistance.
“I think that it is a good setup where you can go to a city that is fun, and has a big need for volunteers,” said Bartlett. “They are used to having volunteers, they know how to use them, and they know how to make them feel useful. This may be the only time that the students will be exposed to people living in poverty, and the work can remind them of why they went to law school and why law is a useful tool for people who are not as privileged.”
“I think it helped the people feel like they haven’t been forgotten about. I think it’s a huge success.”
Along with the daily work schedule, students had the opportunity to attend other professional development events. One of events included the Alumni, Faculty, Students and Friends Reception where the students had the opportunity to interact with Dean Claudio Grossman, several professors from the law school, and AUWCL alumni. The law school group also shared the latest news about the trip through a blog and frequent Twitter posts.
Rui Yang, an LL.M. student from China with a dual specialization in international business law and international commercial arbitration, said she thinks that the work she did really made an impact.
“I feel very satisfied because we came here and offered our help to the community. I think it helped the people feel like they haven’t been forgotten about. I think it’s a huge success.” | <urn:uuid:ae2a4929-f742-47f1-a624-6777ee8df592> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcl.american.edu/news/awbnola_2013.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976797 | 994 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Nine out of 10 Miami restaurant workers do not have access to paid sick days and nearly 50 percent of these workers have gone to work sick.
These were among the key findings in a report released Wednesday by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Miami and the Miami-Dade Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces.
Employees who came to work sick cited fear of retribution, feeling uncomfortable asking for time off and the lack of any system to find someone to replace them. But at the same time they are posing a public safety risk, cooking and serving food while sick.
The study was based on a survey of 200 restaurant workers in Miami. The Miami restaurant industry employs 72,700 workers and is the third largest industry in the Miami-Dade region. Only 8.8 percent of employees surveyed received full or partial health insurance coverage.
The release of the report is part of an effort by Restaurant Opportunities Center to urge employers to provide health insurance and paid sick days for its workers. | <urn:uuid:f1102bd7-6736-4b5a-beed-db2eb9f531c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/08/2940943/study-90-of-miami-restaurant-workers.html | 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 | 0.9683 | 199 | 1.789063 | 2 |
I'm sharing two behavior contracts today to show you a way to simplify house rules, help ensure short term goal reaching and maintain a positive atmosphere at home.
Do you ever feel like you're repeating yourself to your kids over and over and over and STILL they don't change their behavior?
Yeah, me too.
Sometimes conversations I have with my children LOOK like they're working, then a week or 5 later, everyone's back to the same patterns (or patt-rens as my 5 year old says) and I'm annoyed that no one LISTENS TO ME!
Then we might have an ugly scene where, instead of addressing the behavior that's unacceptable, I'm addressing the fact that NO ONE LISTENS TO ME! And I still don't resolve the problem.
Insert a behavior contract.
Yes, I used to be an attorney. Old habits die hard.
Even though I did fail Contracts I my first sememster, so really, if my professor knew I'd used behavior contracts with my kids he'd probably say, "Are you sure you included consideration?"
Which sometimes I don't! But shhhhhh, don't tell my kids that. They think this thing's binding as Denture adhesive.
I only reserve behavior contracts for really important things.
Like the years when one of my children couldn't attend a birthday party EVER without crying during it. I understood why, but we had to stop it.
And this year? We have two behavior hot spots in our house requiring a contract.
Volleyball and technology.
Volleyball needs a contract because the child participating isn't a real ball-handling kind of girl. She enters into this type of sport because she wants to be with her friends and/or she gets talked into it by her friends.
Notice what I didn't say there? Nothing about skill building, trying your hardest, being on a team or good sportsmanship.
All things that are part of ball-handling sports team membership.
Here is the contract for volleyball:
What isn't showing on the volleyball contract is her incentive. If she exceeds this contract, she can earn extra technology. If she meets it, she will maintain her weekly technology allowances (see below). If she falls below the contract requirements, she will lose technology. If the coach calls me? Katie bar the door – she's in deep do-do.
I've gone years without having a technology contract. But my 10 year old bought her own iPad and my 5 year old all of a sudden wants on the computer all the time. And? Our schedule this Fall, not including homework, is horrendous.
Truthfully, there is no time for technology. And there sure as heck is no time for technology battles.
So, Mom got mean this year:
I figured it wouldn't be very fair to them to ban technology so we have more time and then have me sneaking on it all afternoon and evening.
Also, notice how much time they get on weekends. That's a lot, as far as I'm concerned.
Which raises the question, how much time do you let your kids use technology (defined here as any screen time)?
In my Fall newsletter, I'll update you on how we're doing. In the meantime, in what areas do you think you'd need a behavior contract? | <urn:uuid:8ecfad88-5923-4ec4-b57e-0337bf23ac1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.literalmom.com/2012/09/school-year-behavior-contracts-and-why-to-use-them | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968336 | 689 | 1.710938 | 2 |
"Governor Christie's union busting bill signing today represents a dark day for New Jersey.
"Today, the majority of democrats in the General Assembly are forced to sit idly by, again, while the Governor reaps the benefits of his divide and conquer strategy to achieve national prominence at the expense of New Jersey's residents.
"Crushing collective bargaining was the culmination of a pre-meditated crusade pitting neighbor against neighbor in an effort to drive a conservative agenda that would appeal to even the most ardent national Republicans.
"Here in New Jersey, we are still left with a Governor presiding over unemployment numbers higher than the national average and unwilling to prioritize the well-being of New Jersey's middle class.
"We are left with a Governor fighting tooth and nail against Democratic efforts to fund education, public safety and healthcare while continuing to advocate for New Jersey's millionaires.
"When the last of the ceremonial pens have been handed out at the ceremony celebrating the continued dismantling of New Jersey's working class and the final bow is taken in front of the national media by the Governor for crushing basic bargaining rights in New Jersey, the majority of Assembly Democrats will still be here ready to fight for New Jersey's working class."
-- Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan
“While we all need to tighten our belts in order to control current budget deficits, the burden should not be placed solely on the backs of middle class workers who are already struggling to provide for their families, nor should the basic principles of collective bargaining be destroyed in the process.”
-- Sen. Bob Menendez Read more
“The health and pension reform deal that passed in the State Senate is an attack on collective bargaining and a dramatic setback for middle-class New Jersey families. The State House should be a place where the Governor and Legislature work to improve the lives of working families, not take away benefits from New Jersey's teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees. Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of middle-class New Jerseyans, the Governor and Legislature should be working to make sure the wealthiest few are paying their fair share to help fix the state’s problems.”
-- Sen. Frank Lautenberg
The Mercer County Democratic party and its team of legislative incumbents, State Senator Shirley Turner, State Senator Linda Greenstein, Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, and Assemblyman Dan Benson, have announced their opposition to any state legislation that would abolish the right of unions to determine benefit levels through collective bargaining.
According to County Executive Brian M. Hughes “The bill announced by Governor Christie would destroy workers’ fundamental right to bargain collectively for affordable health care. The Governor wants to fund his political agenda on the backs of our police officers and teachers, but here in Mercer County we disagree.”
“The Mercer Democrats want to make clear, in no uncertain terms, our unwavering support for the well-deserved right to collective bargaining by the hard working public employees of New Jersey. The Governor is leading our state down a dangerous path, and we will not stand idly by as he attempts to crush our unions’ access to affordable health care.”
Mercer County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Muoio agreed, saying “Mercer Democrats will never turn our backs on the unions and public employees that make New Jersey run. The Governor should separate any health benefit discussions from the pension reform bill.”
-- Mercer Democrats
"The Democratic Party has long been considered the party of the people. The party who cares for our neediest residents, protects the middle class and guarantees workers a prevailing wage and the fundamental right to organize. The son of a General Motors union worker I believe in these core values. I am proud to stand with the Bergen County Assembly delegation; Valerie Huttle, Gordon Johnson, Connie Wagner and Joan Voss in fighting to protect the rights of our teachers and public workers. Our state stands at a cross roads. There is without question a need to fix our pension and healthcare systems. However, the current proposal risks eliminating collective bargaining and increasing costs on the backs of middle class workers. Furthermore, these are two distinctly different issues that should be considered as such. Knee-jerk legislation is not the answer to correcting a problem which is 14 years in the making. Through collective bargaining we can find common ground with our public employees and find a remedy that is good for taxpayers and workers. I implore our Democratic state legislators to protect collective bargaining and vote NO on this legislation. "
-- Bergen County Democratic Committee Chairman Lou Stellato
Citing a strong belief in the principal of collective bargaining and protecting workers’ rights, Bergen County Assembly members Valerie Vainieri Huttle(D- 37), Gordon Johnson(D- 37), Joan Voss(D- 38) and Connie Wagner(D-38) released the following joint statement:
"We were dismayed to learn that this Monday the Assembly Budget Committee will be hearing a bill which will forever alter the way of life of NJ's low-income and middle class workers."
"Through our careers as elected officials we have stood up for those that cannot fight for themselves and for the constituents we represent. This is one of those times where we will stand together to protect our low-income and middle class families from a burden that should not be placed on their backs."
"We believe that we must find a way to lower health costs before we pass the buck to workers that cannot afford to pay more. We also believe that to save the pension systems of these hard working New Jerseyans changes must be made. It is not our belief, however, that these two issues should be dealt with in the same piece of legislation and we are calling on leadership to seperate them into two stand alone bills."
"Our Democratic Party principles are to stand with the working families that unions represent. Public workers, teachers, police officers, firefighters and the many other employees who dedicate themselves to our state, deserve a seat at the bargaining table to decide their own fate. These people are New Jersey. We must continue to preserve their fundamental right to collectively bargain."
"With respect to our colleagues, we will not support this legislation."
-- Bergen County Assembly Democrats
“Clearly NJ State Health Benefits and the State Pension Plan require reform. I commend Democratic Assembly members Nellie Pou, Elease Evans and Gary Schaer for their leadership on these important issues, and I stand by them as they continue to fight for working people. It is my strong opinion that this reform needs to be treated as two separate policy issues: health benefits reform and pension reform.
“In my 20-plus years experience as Passaic County Democratic Chairman, I have long felt that collective bargaining is a cornerstone of our Party and protects the rights of hard working men and women. The necessary reform needs to be done in a systematic and inclusive way, with two-sides negotiating across the table from one another.”
"I feel strongly that issue could be solved without the need for a legislative remedy."
-- Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie
“We understand that there were ongoing negotiations last night that broke down shortly before a deal was announced. It is our belief that those negotiations should be reopened and that discussions should continue until a more equitable compromise can be reached.
“In the meantime, we urge the sponsors of the compromise legislation in both houses to split the bills; pension reform and health benefit reform are two different discussions and should be contained within two different pieces of legislation.
“We believe that the governor and legislature must make every effort to work towards consensus with all involved to ensure the final product is in its spirit and letter, truly reflective of meaningful discussion and compromise. To do otherwise would undermine the efforts for reform.”
-- New Jersey Democratic State Chairman Wisniewski and Senator Loretta Weinberg
"I oppose S 2937 being imposed on those who have dedicated their lives to serve the public. It breaks faith with these public servants. Health benefits and pensions should be negotiated at the bargaining table, not dictated by politicians. Collective bargaining is a fundamental right and must not be undermined or discarded.
“I believe in some basic values for all New Jerseyans. If you get sick, you should count on good health care. If you put in a lifetime of loyal service, your retirement should be secure."
-- Representative Rush Holt | <urn:uuid:d6cf9f01-f5c6-4c31-b663-ce67c4c78439> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.njea.org/Home/News/2011/06/23/Thank%20you%20NJEA%20members/Legilators-speak-out | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948669 | 1,734 | 1.53125 | 2 |
One of the president's biggest domestic accomplishments in his first term was passing a sweeping health care bill through Congress in 2010. In his inauguration address, Obama acknowledged that there is still much work ahead on this issue, saying "we must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care."
According to the poll, 51 percent favor all or most of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the official name of what many people refer to as "Obamacare," with 44 percent opposed to all or most of the provisions in the law.
"That's a switch from 2011, when a CNN poll indicated that a majority opposed all or most of the provisions in the health care bill," says CNN polling director Keating Holland.
Minutes after his inauguration speech, the president signed documents making official his nominations for some top Cabinet posts, including former Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. The Nebraska Republican's nomination has been met with reservations, and even outright opposition, by some senators of both parties, who point to past positions he has taken on Israel, Iran and the war in Iraq.
According to the poll, 48 percent think the Senate should confirm Hagel.
"That's twice as high as the number who oppose his confirmation, but with three in ten uncertain of how they feel about the issue, the White House might breathe a little easier if support for Hagel were just over 50 percent rather than just under that mark," adds Holland.
The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International on Jan. 14-15, with 814 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. | <urn:uuid:402057a8-ee8f-43b3-925c-6286d99761bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbaltv.com/news/politics/CNN-Poll-Do-Americans-agree-with-Obama-on-climate-change-and-immigration/-/9379266/18221886/-/item/1/-/2l4wc0/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981505 | 336 | 1.5 | 2 |
With its beautiful views of Central Park and designer decor—not to mention high prices of up to $4500 per night—you might think that a fancy hotel like the Ritz-Carlton would be immune to the scourge of bed bugs, but no! It seems Room 1005 is the center of a bed bug infestation which has caused some guests to check out in a hurry and many more to relocate within the hotel.
Unfortunately, they didn’t inform the staff member scheduled to clean the room before she went in—she found out by discovering the pest control professionals who had been called in to deal with the infestation while they were working. Let’s hope none of them went home with her!
The management describes bed bugs as “inevitable” and to a certain extent they are right. Hotels cannot control whether bed bugs enter their buildings with guests, but they certainly should be inspecting thoroughly and often.
Bed bug inspections can take many, many hours, especially in a building as big as the Ritz-Carlton, with its 596 rooms and suites. A bed bug inspection dog could do this job much faster than human inspectors, however. Here’s a video profile of a bed bug inspection dog from Texas:
Bed bug dogs are especially good for inspections of large buildings with lots of rooms, like hotels and dormitories, finding very small infestations before they can spread.
If you are traveling there are some things you can do to try to prevent any contact with bed bugs like checking the Bed Bug Registry before you make your reservations and inspecting your room. Here is a comprehensive post about how to avoid bed bugs when you are traveling.
If you discover a bed bug infestation in your home, apartment, office building or hotel, the best treatment is high heat like Thermapure heat. Raising the internal temperature of a room or an entire structure over 130 degrees for 2 hours kills bed bugs at all stages of their development in one treatment, without damaging furnishings, leaving harsh chemicals behind, or making you move out until pesticides have dissipated. From our offices all over California, Alliance Environmental Group can eliminate bed bug infestations in an area, a room or an entire structure with just one visit.
Bed bugs can be as damaging to your psyche as they are to your skin. Don’t let them get to you! Call Alliance Environmental Group and know that your bugs are gone and won’t come back!
Wendy Stackhouse is the Online Community Manager for Alliance Environmental Group and AirTek Indoor Air Solutions. She welcomes your comments! For more news and tips or to ask questions of our experts, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! For updates on indoor air challenges, Like us at AirTek on Facebook! | <urn:uuid:df7f0ea9-2ec2-4a70-b5b9-739df177a859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alliance-enviro.com/2012/01/ | 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 | 0.955136 | 576 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Today's economy has many of the unemployed heading back to school.
Graduation is also nearing for many undergrads, but they too are facing a tough road ahead.
One doctor at Western Kentucky University says what the recession is showing us, is what most of us have already known.
More people are losing their jobs.
But many of those unemployed are becoming proactive, and looking for a chance to get ahead by hitting the books.
Dr. Bob Hatfield oversees WKU's MBA program.
It's a place he says many hit by unemployment are now finding themselves.
"You can see it's the economy that's placed them here," Hatfield said. "People do what they can to maximize, and if they can maximize earning a living, they're going to go after those jobs. If they don't have jobs, they'll go after education."
Dr. Hatfield says nationally, MBA enrollment applications are up nearly 18-percent, and WKU is seeing a healthy jump as well.
"That's not just normal growth. That has to do with the recession," he said. "The economy never just goes up and up endlessly. We have what's called an "economic cycle," and we are in the down cycle."
Courey McCubbin graduated college in 2006, and was hired in sales by a company soon after.
But with a tough economy, she says she needed an extra boost and is pursuing her
"I just felt like with the economy going the way it is right now, I needed to do something to help me be more marketable in job searches that I might pursue in the future," McCubbin said.
She's not alone.
Hatfield says many MBA classes are full, with students looking for a chance to separate themselves from the pack.
"They've hit this glass ceiling, and they've just decided they have to come all the way back and run out of the gate again into the job market--just try something different."
Dr. Hatfield says for anyone looking to pursue a masters in business, an information session is going to be held Thursday night at 5:30p.m. at the Holiday Inn. | <urn:uuid:1a42925b-a639-4bb7-b4ba-1b1a94619d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbko.com/community/education/headlines/43008337.html | 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 | 0.984306 | 451 | 1.765625 | 2 |
X-Men Coloring Pages
X-Men Coloring Pages
Coloring activities in general and coloring pages in specific have a hugh impact on little kids.
It’s not surprising that so many parents are looking for coloring activities for their growing kids.
Working with coloring sheets helps improving motor skills and stimulates the mind.
There are several actions and activities the child gain while doing coloring pages activity:
Usually the kids don’t spend so much time painting and coloring in the kindergarten, because they are occupied with other activites, there is too much noise, they need to eat, sleep or listen to a story.
That’s why it’s very important to allow them to express themselves and give them more time at home to play and paint different coloring pages.
Many researches show that kids spend a lot more time in coloring pages activities than any other domestic game.
There are several reasons for that:
Of course that there are themes that will never change. Girls will always want to paint Bratz or Barbie.
To get those coloring pages – trend or not – takes no more than a few minutes on the internet.
The Internet is full of free coloring pages for kids, Spiderman Coloring Pages and Batman Coloring Pages, all you have to do is print the pages and there you have it.
If you insist, you can always buy the coloring books, it only costs a few bucks.
Time is Money? Not in this case. Less money gives you plenty of time to enjoy with your kids.
One of the most significant adventages of coloring pages is the fact that you never runs out of subjects.
You will always have a new topic or theme to print and give to your child.
Every year there are a few superhero movies released, new books with cool characters, new TV show everybody’s talking about, famous football or basketball players – all those characters will appear immediately on the net.
And that’s just the trendy ones. Animals, flowers, superheroes, holidays, girls, flags…and the list goes on and on.
As you can already see, the main theme of this website is heroes.
The main character is Spiderman, but we are all about superheroes – Batman, Superman etc.
You can find plenty of hero games, hero movies and of course, hero coloring pages.
We hope you enjoy our site and the Hugh collection of Superhero Coloring Pages we have gathered here (and constantly adding more new stuff).
All games are copyrighted or trademarked by their respective owners or authors. OnlineSpiderGames.com is in no way affiliated with any of the creators of these games and/or the characters on this site. | <urn:uuid:b14aae37-4e27-4a2b-b6b1-e28b895d2bc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onlinespidergames.com/category/x-men-coloring-pages | 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 | 0.942724 | 559 | 1.765625 | 2 |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10314055.stmMinisters halt child abuse vetting scheme
Page last updated at 05:01 GMT, Tuesday, 15 June 2010 06:01 UK
By Sean Coughlan
The vetting scheme for nine million people working with children and vulnerable adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is to be halted.
Home Secretary Theresa May is to announce that registration, due to begin next month, is to be put on hold.
There will be a review of the entire vetting and barring scheme, with a "scaling back" likely to follow.
Children's authors and school leaders had complained that the plans were an over-reaction.
The government is now contacting 66,000 organisations, including charities, voluntary groups and education authorities, to tell them that the planned registration is being cancelled. | <urn:uuid:3e9c1f5c-7fb8-46f7-9324-cda50fe066ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=32487 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955889 | 180 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The Perltec Colibri decor is based on natural cotton material combined with high transparent glass. To produce the decor sheets, cotton is processed, transforming it from its flaky and fibrous state into a solid, transparent material, called Acetat. The transparent cotton based plastic is colored with pigments, by hand. First each single color of the final design will be pressed in a monochrome block. According the desired pattern, a single acetat colour gets cutted and combined with one of the other colours and pressed to a new block. These two-tone blocks are cut again, treated by hand and combined with other blocks, until the desired design is created. This procedure of production is based on a more than hundred years old tradition. In this way patterns are created that resemble naturally grown structures. The design Colibri interprets the splendid silky plumage of the bird. The decorative sheet is sliced from the final solid block, like a veneer. To get the finished Perltec product, the design sheets are combined through glass composite technology with Optiwhite glass plates on both sides. Each panel is a one-off. The result is a rich pearl look with three-dimensional depth effect. The design Colibri is usable from both sides. Standard sizes of the panels are 600 x 600 mm and 600 x 1200mm, with smoothed or polished edges. Standard thickness is 9 mm. Smaller customized sizes and any customized thickness superior to 9 mm is possible on request. Added designs, effects or colors inside the glass are also available on request. | <urn:uuid:ba47c665-8a1f-4a28-9c4b-fbb55ef7d026> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://materia.nl/575.0.html?user_material[material_uid]=2364&featured=1&cHash=a729ed2a25 | 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 | 0.934186 | 318 | 1.804688 | 2 |
WASHINGTON: An American national has been detained in North Korea, the country with which the US has no diplomatic relationship, the state department said today.
"We are obviously aware of these reports that a US citizen has been detained in North Korea," state department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.
"We obviously have no higher priority than the welfare of our citizens. As you may know, we have no representation in Pyongyang," she said.
The Embassy of Sweden acts as America's protecting power for issues involving US citizens in North Korea.
"I can't comment any further than that due to privacy considerations," Nuland said in response to a question.
South Korean media earlier reported that 44-year-old Kenneth Bae, a tour operator, was detained by North Korean authorities during a five-day visit to the country's coastal city of Rajin in early November, said Yonhap.
Bae was interrogated after authorities found a computer hard disk, according to Yonhap. | <urn:uuid:7570112f-6564-4ae1-b128-64124d086a07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.timesofindia.com/world/us/US-citizen-detained-in-North-Korea/articleshow/17583119.cms | 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 | 0.986153 | 201 | 1.539063 | 2 |
QUETTA, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) — An explosive device planted in a vehicle detonated near a university bus in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing five people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and rescue workers said. It comes just over a week after another attack targeting the same university.
The powerful explosion took place on Smuggli road on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province which borders Afghanistan and Iran, when a remote-controlled explosive device detonated just as the bus passed. The bus belonged to the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS).
“The bus was obviously the target and we think the perpetrators were waiting for the university bus as it was clearly marked with BUITEMS on the front,” a local police officer said. Photos from the scene showed the vehicle was heavily damaged by the force of the explosion, which reportedly involved around 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives.
Officials said five people were killed in the blast, including three students from the IT University, while 68 others were injured. Many of the injured victims were BUITEMS students who were on board the vehicle, but dozens of passers-by were also among those injured. Some of them were seriously injured.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which left a 3-foot (0.9-meters) crater in the road.
Earlier this month, at least fifteen people were killed and 48 others were injured when a powerful bomb exploded outside a Sunni Muslim seminary near the Balochistan University in Quetta. It occurred near the Jamia Islamia Maftah-ul-Uloom seminary, where students had gathered for a graduation ceremony. | <urn:uuid:0f956694-2f3c-4f85-87b4-526b6a6b3a7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.rickey.org/5-killed-68-injured-when-car-bomb-hits-university-bus-in-pakistan/7094 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985426 | 355 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Walcott reads works, receives Weis Fellow honor
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Award-winning poet and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott read from a collection of his poems and described how his mother and Greek literature influenced his writing before a crowd of more than 500 gathered Oct. 9 at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts.
One of just 19 living recipients of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the first to visit Bucknell University in half a decade, Walcott was honored before his talk by Bucknell President Brian C. Mitchell as the 2007 Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters.
Seated in a large chair set on the stage, Walcott read from a collection of his poems dating back to the 1940s, starting with "A Letter from Brooklyn."
"She describes my father, yet I forget her face more easily than my father's yearly dying," he read. "Of her I remember small, buttoned boots and the place she kept in our wooden church on those Sundays whenever her strength allowed; grey-haired, thin-voiced, perpetually bowed."
Walcott read a dozen or so poems, including "Blues," in which the author is beaten by thugs only to realize, "It's nothing really. They don't get enough love. You know they wouldn't kill you. Just playing rough, like young Americans will. Still it taught me something about love. If it's so tough, forget it."
He also read about loving yourself when others have stopped doing so in "Love After Love": "You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart."
Passion for literature
During the question-and-answer segment, Walcott described how his widowed mother recited Shakespeare "tirelessly" when he was young and encouraged his passion for literature. He also said his work was inspired in part by the "great stories" and imagery of Greek literature, including the many images of coastal life and fishing familiar to the Caribbean.
Bucknell established the annual Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters in 2002 to honor and recognize an individual who represents the highest level of achievement in fiction, non-fiction, or biography writing. Previous recipients have been Toni Morrison, John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Tom Wolfe, and Joyce Carol Oates.
"We are delighted to be able to honor Mr. Walcott on what will be a special day at Bucknell," President Mitchell said before the event, noting that Walcott's visit coincides with the 50th anniversary of The Bucknell Review, and the 20th anniversary of the Stadler Center for Poetry.
Shara McCallum, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry, said that Walcott looks squarely at the totality of the human experience.
"One of his many contributions to world literature is to have crafted a body of work that demonstrates how the life of the individual is played out against and within the grand narratives of history," she said. "My experience with reading Walcott’s work is that, in doing so, something in me shifts — ideas of place, of self-definition, and of the very language we use to capture experience and thought."
Walcott is the first Nobel Laureate to visit Bucknell since Toni Morrison came to campus in 2002. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Born in 1930
Walcott was born in 1930 in the West Indies of African and European ancestry and has maintained a permanent residence in Trinidad for more than 20 years.
He has published many books of plays, including Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays, which won the Obie Award for distinguished foreign play, The Joker of Seville and O Babylon!: Two Plays; Beef, No Chicken; A Branch of the Blue Nile; and The Odyssey. His plays have been produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Negro Ensemble Company.
But he is perhaps best know for his numerous books of poetry, including The Gulf, Another Life, The Star Apple Kingdom, The Fortunate Traveller, Collected Poems 1948-1984 (which won the 1986 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry), The Arkansas Testament, Omeros, and The Bounty.
His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, London Magazine, Antaeus, and other periodicals.
When Walcott received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992, he was recognized for creating "a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."
The Weis Fellowship was established through a grant from the Degenstein Foundation in honor of Janet Weis, author, civic leader, and philanthropist. Weis is trustee emerita of the University. Her late husband, Sigfried Weis, was chair of the Bucknell Board of Trustees from 1982 to 1988.
Contact: Office of Communications
Posted Oct. 10, 2007
Next story >> | <urn:uuid:56465e52-79da-45ca-a47c-df1ccf4c25c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bucknell.edu/x38450.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968586 | 1,068 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Every secondary school is to get a Holocaust specialist to ensure that the subject is taught comprehensively and sensitively.
One teacher from every school will be offered a place on a Holocaust education training course to combat racism and intolerance.
TVNL Comment: What are they so scared of? This is very disturbing. They seem desperately frightened that people are questioning the details of the Holocaust. They have made it a crime to question it, and now they are placing agents at schools. This is scary. | <urn:uuid:1de28018-f4e8-4781-9437-326cb8cb4118> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/news/of-special-interest/5648-every-school-to-get-holocaust-specialist-under-anti-racism-initiative.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980143 | 99 | 1.5625 | 2 |
While Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao are enjoying the sweet life, paid for with our tax dollars, folks like Susan Mary Collins have to be creative when seeking the health care they need.
Kentucky.Com "It was the easiest way to get myself thrown into prison without having to hurt anybody or really do anything," she said at the time.
Collins said she had suicidal tendencies, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. The structure of prison helped her cope with her conditions, she said. Read more.
It's a shame this lady has to go to prison to receive the health care she needs. Maybe if she had a health care plan like Senator Mitch McConnell she could live a normal life like Mitch and his wife Elaine do, but this is Mitch McConnell's America and Mitch and his wife Elaine have their opinions about working people:
Elaine Chao: “American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,” says Chao. “They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.”
Elaine Chao: December 27 2007 Elaine Chao quips "There is a skills Gap."
The Skills Gap
While many of us here in America are struggling to make ends meet, working two or three jobs, Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife are slopping at the Federal trough with their gaudy salaries, pension plans and health care plans, paid for by the folks working two are three jobs that can't afford and don't have any of the benefits they are providing for Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao. Yes this is Senator Mitch McConnell's America and it's too bad folks here in Kentucky don't see it for what it is. | <urn:uuid:906e30d3-0ab2-4a8b-9a4c-b919dc839377> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/4039/senator-mitch-mcconnell-helps-susan-mary-collins-get-the-health-care-she-needs-too-bad-its-prison | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983988 | 372 | 1.601563 | 2 |
You may or may not have heard of the country of Moldova. It’s a tiny country, only 34,000 square kilometers and with only three and a half million inhabitants, located in Eastern Europe, to the northeast of Romania.
But, that’s not the question right now. The question is – have you heard of Transnistria?
Transnistria is a Moldovan breakaway territory, located between Ukraine and the Dniester River in eastern Moldova, a territory that declared itself an independent state back in 1990, and has basically continued to operate as such despite not being recognized by any other country. The territory of Transnistria has it’s own President, it’s own Parliament and even it’s own currency, Transnistrian rubles. It has its own flag, it’s own license plates and all visitors to the region must pass through a heavily secured border, complete with an immigration and customs inspection.
And while fighting did take place between pro-Moldovan and Russian-backed pro-Transnistrian troops during the War of Transnistria in the early 1990s, things have been quite quiet ever since mid-1992. That is when a ceasefire was called which established a joint force of Russian, Moldovan and Transnistrian troops to control the region’s security, and the agreement has so far held up.
My Visit to Transnistria
Last week, while in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, I decided to visit Transnistria because, well, there is no way I would turn down an opportunity to visit a breakaway region, wherever I may be in the world. So, early one morning I walked down to the bus station with two other travelers I had met and within five minutes, we found ourselves sitting in a minibus, on our way to Tiraspol, the Transnistrian capital.
After filling out a form at the border, presenting it to the Transnistrian immigration official and then answering a few questions (how long will you stay, what’s your father’s name, why do you want to visit the region), I returned to the minibus and settled into my seat. There would be another forty-five minutes until we reached Tiraspol and I was eager to catch my first glimpse of this interesting destination that so few people visit.
And of course, as one would naturally expect from a breakaway region of Eastern Europe, my first glimpse involved a massive ferriss wheel, located behind some houses in the first community that we drove through.
During the rest of the drive to Tiraspol, I noticed massive Communist-style power plants, dilapidated, decades-old buses, a brand new football stadium (apparently the Tiraspol team is quite well known and good), a road block manned by a bored Russian soldier, the ruins of what appeared to be an old fortress, crumbling apartment buildings and homes, well-manicured gardens, well-maintained train tracks and more 1970s Ladas and Volgas (Russian cars) than I’ve ever seen before.
And it was generally the same contrast once we arrived in the capital. After being dropped off in front of the train station, the three of us proceeded to spend our time roaming around the town, without any idea of what to do or where to go. However, Tiraspol is very small (only 160,000 people) and we were able to walk up and down every major and somewhat major street in just a couple of hours.
The one thing I also noticed from the moment we crossed the border was that Transnistria is an exceptionally quiet place. I know there are only half a million or so inhabitants in the entire territory, but walking around Tiraspol felt quite eerie at times, with not so many vehicles and not so many people in the street at all.
During our wanderings, everything we came across gave us an interesting, but still very general, view of life in these parts. We passed simple shops, many parks, buildings in major need of repair and a sprinkling of brand-new modern buildings that were usually selling items such as farm machinery or furniture. We would also walk by the occasional soldier and the occasional policeman, but, contrary to what we had heard from other travelers, not one of them ever approached us asking for a bribe. In fact, even though few foreigners make it to Tiraspol, nobody in town really seemed to pay any attention to us at all, and we definitely stood out.
Lunch Time in Tiraspol
When we became hungry, we looked all over but couldn’t find a single place to eat. And so, I stopped a young guy, with long hair tied back in a ponytail, on a street corner and asked him if he spoke English. “Of course” he said and so I asked him if there was a cafe or restaurant nearby.
He told us about one restaurant a couple of blocks away and then, just as I was thanking him for his assistance, he pulled out a color brochure from the plastic bag he was carrying. Just like that he asked me if I would like to buy some art, showing me several photos of paintings from an apparently well-known Moldovan artist. Now I couldn’t tell if he was actually the artist or if he was working for the artist or what the deal was, but he insisted several times that I call the phone number on the back of the brochure in order to place my order.
I thanked him again, shook his hand, and off we went for lunch.
Lunch turned out to be excellent, although it did take the three of us about twenty minutes to place our order. The menu was only in Russian, the one waitress and the one chef only spoke Russian and we had no idea what was on the menu as a result. Eventually, after much laughter, a few slaps of the forehead and a great deal of hand gesturing, we somehow managed to understand that there was a chicken soup and a chicken and potato dish available. So we all quickly ordered these two items, unwilling to spend another twenty minutes deciphering more of the menu’s offerings.
This actually proved to be the situation most of the day as the local population consists of approximately 30% Russians, 30% Ukrainians and 30% Moldovans, so most of the people we met spoke Russian, making it very difficult to communicate. At least my limited Romanian language skills comes in handy when talking with those who speak Moldovan but with Russian, I’m lost.
Of course, language is not the only way to communicate and throughout the day there were plenty of smiles and handshakes exchanged. But I would have been very interested to dive into actual conversation with those who live in this territory in order to learn a little more about life in Transnistria, something I simply was not able to do.
Final Impressions From My Visit
Parts of the town, and its outskirts, seemed quite gloomy while other parts seemed a bit more cheerful. There was a good amount of construction and road-building taking place where it was common to find ancient trucks being used alongside sparkling, brand-new bulldozers. One moment you get the sense that Transnistria is much poorer than the rest of Moldova (which is the poorest country in Europe) and the next minute, you see all of the road construction, and the high quality of the roads being created, and you think the opposite. Similarly, one minute you think you’re in 2012 and then you turn a corner and you would swear you just went back in time 20 or 30 years.
And while the people I did interact with were polite, their faces generally remained expressionless most of the time, almost as if the entire city was a movie set and everyone on the streets was an ‘extra’ in some film.
Transnistria certainly didn’t feel dangerous, even though many travelers seem to be afraid to visit. While it might be a breakaway territory, so much time has passed since it did break away that a certain way of life has definitely been established, and people just go about their business as they do anywhere else on the planet. And with so few soldiers around, at least in Tiraspol, the chances of more fighting taking place any time soon seems quite slim.
As a result, while there really isn’t much to do in Tiraspol, I still think it’s a fascinating place to spend a day for any traveler who visits Moldova. Will such a visit give you a full understanding of the current situation in the breakaway territory? Not really, and in all honesty, I left Transnistria that evening only slightly more educated about the situation than when I had arrived.
But hey, it’s a breakaway territory nonetheless and how many times do you get an opportunity to visit such a region!
(Map of Transnistria by Serhio)
Have you been to this region? Have you heard of it? Would you travel there? | <urn:uuid:b035aca1-2f12-4ffe-a956-13a7005945a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wanderingearl.com/visiting-the-breakaway-territory-of-transnistria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977318 | 1,894 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The Heat is On: Enforcing Weed Control with Fire Weeding
by Melissa Ida
Spring has sprung and summer will soon be upon us. As we approach the growing season, many of us know only too well that with the abundance of vegetable gardens, lush lawns, and fecund fields there is bound to be a never-ending source of stealthy, sun-hogging weeds. The common methods for dealing with these weedy culprits have often included herbicides, hoeing, and a degree of hostility. Fire weeding, though, is an old agricultural practice which has been used to cope with this problem in a sustainable and effective manner. For those tired of squatting down and bending over in a continual tug-of-war with weeds, or for those seeking more peaceful, natural ways of weed negotiation, fire weeding may be just the perfect solution.
As was mentioned, the practice of fire weeding is a long established one. It basically incorporates the use of various fire-welding tools to kill plants by exposing them to heat, rather than actually burning them. Two main products available on the market include weed wands and flame weeders. Weed wands simply attach to gas canisters or gas bottles and are best used for small spaces and in small-to-average-sized gardens. Flame weeders, on the other hand, are much bigger and are often carried by backpack or consist of a tank and trolley. They are often recommended for vast areas, such as large seed beds, lengthy rows, allotments, and fields.
Fire weeding works on the premise that heat alone can cause enough damage to kill a living thing, all the while avoiding the scorching and carbon that comes along with burning something. In this sense, fire weeding is an organic method for enforcing weed control that is also non-intrusive. When using a weed wand or flame weeder, the flame never touches anything. It gets close enough to heat a plant at damaging levels. The heat will raise the water’s temperature within the plant’s cells just enough to break down its membranes. Once its leaves are seared, water from the root will be unable to reach them, causing the plant to wilt within a few hours. In this way, wanted plants will be left unaffected, while undesirable weeds will be unable to grow back.
Those who make use of fire weeding typically include farmers, gardeners, home-owners, or anyone who has declared war on weeds. Farmers generally make use of flame weeders for massive weed control, while those who garden and take part in lawn care more likely use weed wands. Three common practices of fire weeding are “spot-flaming,” pre-planting treatment, and treating entire plant beds. “Spot-flaming” is a rather self-explanatory practice, in which a single spot, per se, a driveway crack, is selected and targeted with the heat from an open flame. With the pre-planting treatment, weeds are attacked before germinating seeds have had a chance to unearth themselves, thus paving the way for a sunny future for low-growing plants such as carrots. The treatment of entire plant beds is common for flower beds, gardens, and other aesthetically pleasing plants. Basically, fire weeding is used between rows and on unwanted plants.
In general, fire weeding is best used for a plethora of things, including but not limited to, a list of the following: crabgrass, patios, scree, driveway cracks, around fence lines, along garden paths, around brick paths, on gravel driveways, sterilizing soil and compost, organic weed control, and pre-germination weeding along rows. The latter of this list has been found to be a particularly effective preemergent treatment for gardens. In order for this to work, weeds must be killed when crops are just about ready to germinate. To determine this, a pane of grass should be placed over a patch of the garden. A box frame can be used to keep the pane one inch off the ground. When seedlings are seen emerging through the earth, it is time to fire weed. If done immediately, the weeds will die while the submerged crops will be left unharmed. It should be noted that for rather hot and sunny days, the pane should be spared and crops should be fire weeded five days after having been planted. On a side note, this type of pre-germination weed control has worked successfully well with carrot beds, but should work well with other low-to-earth plants.
Fire weeding, as can be seen, is a very approachable and practical form of weed control. Its repercussions are far less consequential than those of herbicides and it places little to no strain on the human body. It protects your prized potatoes, dandelion-free driveways, and the exponential surplus of zucchini you can never do a thing about. So the next time you head out to the backyard garden with a weed wand in hand, just remember, the heat is on. | <urn:uuid:df25d208-40ce-486e-8ba4-dfc728741da3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asecondopinionmag.com/archives/3010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954085 | 1,049 | 1.820313 | 2 |
When I previously asked what's responsible for slow software, a few answers I've received suggested it was a social and management problem:
This isn't a technical problem, it's a marketing and management problem.... Utimately, the product mangers are responsible to write the specs for what the user is supposed to get. Lots of things can go wrong: The product manager fails to put button response in the spec ... The QA folks do a mediocre job of testing against the spec ... if the product management and QA staff are all asleep at the wheel, we programmers can't make up for that. —Bob Murphy
People work on good-size apps. As they work, performance problems creep in, just like bugs. The difference is - bugs are "bad" - they cry out "find me, and fix me". Performance problems just sit there and get worse. Programmers often think "Well, my code wouldn't have a performance problem. Rather, management needs to buy me a newer/bigger/faster machine." The fact is, if developers periodically just hunt for performance problems (which is actually very easy) they could simply clean them out. —Mike Dunlavey
So, if this is a social problem, what social mechanisms can an organization put into place to avoid shipping slow software to its customers? | <urn:uuid:3d22e5d4-1780-4559-a681-0036437ef372> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/111380/how-can-dev-teams-prevent-slow-performance-in-consumer-apps/111421 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969794 | 269 | 1.671875 | 2 |
RA Magazine Winter 2011
Issue Number: 113
David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture
Now in his seventies, David Hockney RA is characteristically breaking new ground to fill the vast spaces of his RA show with works on a colossal scale. He tells Martin Gayford why he is using the latest digital technology in innovative ways to tackle a subject that has preoccupied artists for centuries – nature
David Hockney RA declares, ‘The great thing to say is that this is not a retrospective.’ He is talking about his forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy, ‘A Bigger Picture’, and he is absolutely correct. Although a few earlier works are included to provide context, essentially this is the opposite of a career overview. Of course, Hockney has been an enormously prolific and celebrated painter for half a century, and much of his earlier work – the cool images of Californian life from the mid-1960s, the grandly naturalistic portraits of the late 60s and early 70s, the photo-collages of the 80s – has already passed into the art history books. But this exhibition is not about that. It is a more unusual, indeed unprecedented, affair.
Almost the entire space of the main galleries at Burlington House will be filled with recent work by the 74-year-old artist: much of it made within the past four years, a good deal in the past 12 months. ‘These are some of the best rooms in London to hang very grand paintings,’ he says. ‘That’s what they were made for, that’s how the lighting was designed. It’s a fantastic opportunity, and I think I’ve responded to it.’
David Hockney, 'Winter Timber', 2009. Oil on 15 canvases, 274.32 x 609.6 cm. Photo: Jonathan Wilkinson. © David Hockney
Hockney’s recent works are the product of a continuous wave of energy, making discoveries, boldly moving into artistic territory that no-one has explored before – and all from the base of an unfashionable seaside resort on the east Yorkshire coast. With great rapidity, not only has he mastered new digital means of drawing, but he has also developed a novel way of recording landscape as a moving image using nine separate cameras.
‘Since the RA approached me to do this show at the end of 2007, I have made three very large works. At that point none of them was planned even in a very remote part of my head,’ he explains. One of these comprises a sequence of 51 iPad drawings, plus one mammoth painting, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) which will form the show’s centrepiece, in Gallery III, the largest, grandest gallery at the RA. ‘When I agreed to do the exhibition, in 2007, the iPad didn’t exist,’ says Hockney.
David Hockney, 'The Arrival of Spring (Untitled, 12 April 2011, No.1)', 2011. 144.4x108.3 cm. iPad drawing printed on paper. In the winter of 2008-09, he bought an iPhone, and began to draw on it with his thumb, using an App called Brushes. That year, he started sending a stream of images to the phones and email inboxes of his friends almost on a daily basis. These images were tiny, loose, free and often ravishing. The iPhone drawings were usually of what Hockney could see from his bed – the view through his window, the shutters, the bouquets that Hockney’s partner John put on the window sill. ‘I draw flowers every day,’ he said at the time, ‘and I send them to my friends, so they get fresh blooms every morning. And my flowers last.’ He also used this new medium to depict objects – a candle, for example, and a lamp – that, like the iPhone, glow with light.
In early 2010, when the iPad was launched, Hockney quickly moved up to this larger tablet computer, and the prolific production of digitally-aided drawings continued: flowers, landscapes, still-life subjects. Towards the end of the year, he began to print them out on a larger scale than the iPad screen.
Then he decided to fill the biggest gallery in his show with iPad drawings. ‘The more I got into the iPad, the more I realised what a fantastic medium it is for landscape. There are certain things that you can do very, very quickly using it.’ In two seconds, Hockney found, he could establish the basic colour and tone of a sky, and put in some faint clouds in three seconds. He wouldn’t finish the drawing at this lightning rate but he could very rapidly fix some crucial relationships. The iPad is faster than watercolour, in which washes have to dry, or even coloured pencils. And speed counts with open-air landscape art. The paradox of East Yorkshire, as Hockney points out, is that, though the landscape is essentially unchanging, its weather is very changeable, altering the light and colour as the clouds pass overhead and the sun shifts position.
David Hockney, 'The Arrival Of Spring', 2011. 144 x 384 inches. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist/© David Hockney/Photo Jonathan Wilkinson.
‘In 2011 there was a wonderful spring, and I had planned to record it,’ he explains. ‘We got marvellous snow, the spring was early and we were ready for everything. I had begun drawing the changing scene on the iPad in the New Year, then, when I’d printed out five or six iPad drawings on a big scale, I began to realise, my God, you could do the whole room with this method.
‘As the spring developed I realised that I had to move in closer because it was all about what was happening on the ground. Grasses came up, the first campion flowers, buttercups, dandelions. The greens were building up. I kept going back to the same places.’ Eventually, he made 94 iPad drawings, from which he selected 51 for the RA exhibition. Above each will be the date on which it was drawn, and above a huge oil painting on the end wall will be the title The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – Woldgate being a road in the country outside Bridlington. ‘I wanted the floating feeling of very early spring, when the first leaves appear. They come out at the very bottom of the trees, and you don’t see very much of the branches. They seem to float,’ he says. The sequence of works that will be seen in Gallery III is the culmination, to date, of Hockney’s love affair with the English countryside, specifically with a few quiet miles of the Yorkshire Wolds.
When the RA exhibition was first proposed, Hockney had already been working for several years in east Yorkshire, with increasing obsession and ambition. After decades spent based in Los Angeles, his attention had begun to shift back towards the terrain of his youth. The result, in the late 1990s, was a series of Yorkshire landscape paintings. At that stage, however, Hockney – who is fond of heat and light – returned to southern California to avoid the dark winter months here. It wasn’t until 2002 that he became captivated by the British spring. At that time he was sitting for a portrait by the late Lucian Freud, and walked every day to Freud’s house from his own London home, through Holland Park.
Hockney found the spectacle of the changing seasons fascinating, and decided to start working on the landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds, near his house in Bridlington (a comfortable base which was once a small hotel). In a way it was a return to his roots, a landscape of memory. He had grown up in Bradford on the other side of Yorkshire, but as a teenager he had worked in the fields in the Yorkshire Wolds during school holidays. And he would visit his late mother and sister who lived in Bridlington.
David Hockney, 'A Closer Winter Tunnel, February - March', 2006. Oil on 6 canvases. 182 x 365 cm. Collection Art Gallery of New South Wales. Purchased with funds provided by Geoff and Vicki Ainsworth, the Florence and William Crosby Bequest and the Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation 2007. © David Hockney / Collection of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Photo credit: Richard Schmidt.
Hockney began this phase of his work by making drawings and watercolours, then painting oils in the open air – like nineteenth-century painters such as Monet and Constable – standing beside the road in all weathers . His pictures often came in sequences, such as the images of three trees at Thixendale at various stages from winter bareness to luxuriantly full summer foliage. A Closer Winter Tunnel, February-March (2006) too, is one of a number of works showing the same place at different times of year. All this activity culminated in Bigger Trees near Warter, which was painted to fill the vast end wall of Gallery III for the Summer Exhibition of 2007. This picture, some 40 feet across, consisting of 50 individual panels, is perhaps the largest landscape ever painted entirely outside in the landscape. Its subject is a perfectly ordinary copse of sycamores, whose canopy – an immensely complex network of interlocking branches and twigs – opens out above the viewer’s head.
Installation view of Gallery III, RA Summer Exhibition 2007, featuring David Hockney’s 'Bigger Trees near Warter'. Photo: Richard Schmidt
In the autumn of 2009, Hockney saw the ‘Turner and the Masters’ exhibition at Tate Britain, which inspired him to make a further exploration of the history of landscape painting. Turner was a lover of light who had worked on the east coast of Britain and, as Hockney points out, ‘loved spectacular effects’ (so does Hockney). The Tate show also focused on Turner’s predecessor, the seventeenth-century painter Claude Lorrain.
David Hockney, 'The Sermon on the Mount II (After Claude Lorrain)', 2010. 171.45 x 260 cm. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist/ © David Hockney/Photo Richard Schmidt. Hockney then went to the Frick Collection in New York, where he looked hard at a little known picture by Claude: The Sermon on the Mount (c.1656) darkened by time. He returned to Britain in early 2010 with an image file of this picture, producing a version of the picture as, he believes, it would have looked when it left Claude’s studio. It was the starting point for his variations on Claude’s theme, such as The Sermon on the Mount II (after Claude), 2010. This is the background to the second ‘very large work’ that Hockney made with the RA show in mind.
Many of Claude’s landscape paintings are composed in such a way that the eye is led through a deep recession into a misty distance, sea and mountains, with trees and buildings in the foreground framing the view like the scenery at the side of a stage. The Sermon on the Mount, however, is untypical – which is why Hockney was attracted to it. In the centre is a mass – the mount – with deep space stretching back from both sides of it. Consequently, the eye can choose the direction in which to travel. At the top of the mount Jesus is delivering a sermon.
Hockney’s exploration of this painting culminates in a large-scale work comprising a grid of 30 canvases painted in oil, called A Bigger Message (2010). In the exhibition this will be shown in the same room as a recent series of iPad drawings of Yosemite National Park in California, printed out 12 feet high. In these – a continuation of his engagement with the landscape of the far west of the US which goes back 30 years – as Hockney says, he was ‘reaching for the sublime’. Thus the exhibition ranges from hedgerows to mountains, from the close-focus intimacy of Constable to the majestic vistas associated with Turner (both of whom, of course, were greatly influenced by Claude).
David Hockney, 'Untitled (Woldgate)', 2010. 365.76 x 609.6 cm. Oil on canvas.
On one level, Hockney notes, his RA show is mostly about England. On another, it is concerned with what he has called, quoting Van Gogh, ‘the infinity of nature’. His recent work depicts a corner of Yorkshire, a tiny area that he is examining as obsessively as Monet did Giverny. But it is concerned with how in that microcosm you can discover the macrocosm – the endless variety of the natural world. This new work also continues his preoccupation with how human beings see, and – a slightly different matter – how they see pictures. Earlier on in his Bridlington period, Hockney spent a day drawing leaves and grasses in a Japanese sketchbook, after which he said he could see them, ‘much more clearly’. So the more you look, the more you see.
Large recent paintings such as 2010's Untitled (Woldgate) have looked equally closely at woodland undergrowth, but on an epic scale. The painting of The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) presents a similar visual paradox. It is immense, but even when seen from a distance it brings the viewer very close to objects that are actually small: the jagged blue-green leaves of nettles, yellow-green grasses. What Hockney is doing in this picture relates to abstract expressionist painting of 50 years ago. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman used large canvases in order to change the terms on which we look at pictures.
A smaller oil painting is like a window, through which we peer at a scene. A bigger picture immerses the viewer, inviting us to relate to it with our whole body. Imaginatively, we are inside it. In his very large works, Hockney is doing something similar to Pollock, but doing it with real places and objects, and on an even larger scale. Bringing us closer, putting us inside the picture. This ambition, in turn, is connected to his long love-hate struggle with photography. His objection to photography, as he has frequently stated, is that it pushes the spectator away and doesn’t show you enough. This brings us to the third very large work Hockney mentioned, which again, he hadn’t even begun to ponder four years ago: films made using several cameras simultaneously. In the exhibition there will be a room devoted to these films, made using nine high-definition cameras and shown on multi-panelled screens. These depict just what the paintings and iPad images show: the landscape and quiet roads of the Yorkshire Wolds. One recent, very beautiful sequence, in which the cameras were mounted along one side of a slow-moving jeep to film grasses and wild flowers along the verges of a road, was made specifically to help Hockney with his oil paintings.
‘The technology does not come in a kit,’ he points out. ‘We had to piece it together ourselves bit by bit.’ Eventually, he and his team of assistants came up with a system of cameras mounted on a 4x4 vehicle, with a monitor in the back, so that Hockney could ‘draw’ the image by adjusting the angle and aperture of each camera. The result is a kind of moving picture never seen before. Why nine cameras? The answer, in a nutshell, is because they make a larger picture, in every sense, than the single-lens view of conventional film and photography. Clearly, human eyes do not see in the same way as a single camera lens does. The nine cameras make up a more ‘fluid lens’ which creates a picture more like the world as we actually see it. One example in the exhibition is the sequence of multiple film stills November 7th, 2010, Woldgate, 11.30am and December 3rd, 2010 Woldgate, 11.30am. It’s a multiple image, in which there is no single perspective – because there are nine different angles of vision. It’s a picture that allows the viewer to choose which way to look, and in which they are surrounded by an extraordinary abundance of detail.
So that is the message from Bridlington to the 21st century. The world, every corner of it, is full of infinite interest, and it is possible to see it freshly – in a bigger and better picture.
- Click here
for more information on related events and lectures
- A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney by Martin Gayford (£18.95, Thames & Hudson).
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Press office (for syndication of articles only): 0207 300 5615 | <urn:uuid:216b68a4-bd82-44b7-a3e0-4fe7f706e8ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/winter-2011/david-hockney-a-bigger-picture,315,RAMA.html?action=com.othermedia.webkit.site.UserPreferenceAction&actionToken=a-TD5ql716u_2&preference=user-size-medium | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970459 | 3,698 | 1.632813 | 2 |
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Here are some helpful hints to learn and teach the exercise. The same action is involved in all exercises. First, holding the Ex-O-Wrist horizontally, arms extended, in front of you, twist the right hand in and under, in towards the chest, counter clockwise, going to vertical, while the left hand is above and stabilizing and moving against the other hand. Second, reverse the action, going back out. Third repeat with the left hand twisting and pumping in and under, while the right hand is above and stabilizes. And then back out. That is one repetition. Keep going. Use same movement for four variations.
There are four variations. They are all the same basic pumping movement, starting from different positions. The positions are, (1) In front, (2) over and behind the head, (3) over and in front of the head and (4)below the waist up. (over and behind the head is excellent when the neck is a little stiff.) A fifth move we call the baseball bat. Hold the ex-o-wrist like a baseball bat and pump in and out, change hands up and down.
Please note, try it first at a tension you are comfortable with, then turn the adjusting knob on the end a half turn or so, make it harder. Find a tension level that is difficult for you, do 4-5 repetitions or so from each position. If it is sufficiently difficult but do-able, you will be done in 30 seconds or less. Your arms will tell you about it. For more endurance do more repetitions at less tension.
Made in the USA | <urn:uuid:f48c34c3-a0ba-4318-89bd-7c811ad97d43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.comfortstoredirect.com/ex-o-wrist.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933644 | 390 | 1.71875 | 2 |
|Mick Hanzlik Mirror Handcuff replica with keys|
Recently on WILD ABOUT HARRY there has been quite a bit of interest in Houdini’s Mirror Handcuff Challenge in 1904, and the question I’d like to answer here, is “How many replica Mirror Cuffs have been made?”
Well, the best known replica is made of solid silver and is in the David Copperfield collection, along with the originals, in his private museum in Las Vegas. This replica was made by British silversmiths Hamilton & Co, and was presented to Houdini after he beat the challenge set by the Daily Illustrated Mirror newspaper.
There have been 3 people that I know of, who have built replica Mirror Cuffs, Ian McColl in Australia, Chris Gower from the UK, and also from the UK, myself, Master Locksmith Mick Hanzlik.
Chris built 2 versions of his cuff. One was cast from aluminium and used a small cabinet type key, and the other was made from heavier cast bronze, and used a Yale type key and locking mechanism. Sizing the cuffs has always been difficult, and the 3 of us have approached this in different ways. Chris used a picture made by a friend of his who drew around the original cuffs when he had the opportunity to examine them.
I’ll mention the other 2 methods later.
|Chris Gower replicas with cylinder key (left) and cabinet key (right).|
Ian made 3 variants of his cuff, all made of nickel plated brass. One used a long thin key to reach the locking mechanism at the end of the barrel. His second version was similar, but used a long Bramah (UK) key to operate a Bramah mechanism also at the end of the barrel. His third version used a shorter key, very similar in looks to the original keys, with a custom built locking mechanism at the keyhole end of the barrel. Ian sized his cuff by enlarging a picture of the cuffs from one of his Houdini books, and estimating the size of the opening for the wrists.
|Ian McColl's new replica (top left), non-Bramah replica (top right), |
and Bramah lock replica (bottom).
Now on to my replicas. I originally made the key, using the few photographs that exist. Recognising the end of the key in the photographs was identical to a Bramah key, and as the cuffs were made in the UK, it was a pretty sure bet that part of a Bramah lock was modified to fit inside the barrel, I was able to determine that the tip of the key would have had the same diameter as the Bramah one – 6.5mm. I then enlarged the photograph of the key so that the tip measured 6.5mm. I then had a photo of an actual size key, that I then made in brass and steel, and then had nickel plated.
|Mick Hanzlik's replica under construction.|
Having made the key, I decided to try to build a set of cuffs to match. I found a photograph on the Internet, which showed a perfect side-on view of the Mirror Cuffs. I enlarged the picture using the key that I made, and ended up with what I think is an actual size set of Mirror Cuffs.
It is uncertain to know exactly if I have the size correct, as I have been unable to get any information from David Copperfield’s museum.
I then designed the individual parts and got the flat pieces laser cut and then I riveted them together. The barrel was welded to the rest of the cuffs and the long process of smoothing the surfaces began. The cuffs were then sent to Ian McColl in Australia, who built the locking bolt which operated with my replica key, using a lock mechanism given to me by Jeremy Bramah. Eventually I built the secondary locking system, which can be seen when looking into the keyhole.
|Mick Hanzlik's cuff lock mechanism.|
The whole thing was then nickel plated.
So there exists 6 different replica Mirror Cuffs at this moment.
If anyone has any further information, please share it.
|The completed Mick Hanzlik Mirror Handcuff replica.|
Thank you Mick.
UPDATE: Here is a terrific video of Mick Hanzlik's replica Houdini Mirror Handcuffs in action. | <urn:uuid:52d7d5ac-41c8-43a9-805e-0a968b91205d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2013/03/guest-blog-replica-mirror-cuffs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973189 | 927 | 1.6875 | 2 |
"One has to be cautious, though, because depression waxes and wanes on its own, and it's always hard when looking at a small number of people, whether it is the effect of the drug, or if it would go away anyway," said Robbins. "We have to make sure we are careful with the studies. There is a long history of people making claims about substances helping depression."
But, he warns, taking a drug for an off-label use can be dangerous -- and not only for Cheryl's health.
"I have delayed telling my story for so many years, and the main reason is because I am risking my ability to get this drug for my own well-being," she said. "It's a federal offense. RU-486 is a schedule 1 drug, the most controlled we have."
Cheryl, who is uninsurable except in an expensive high-risk pool, said she averages about $15,000 to $20,000 a year on her drugs. Her lucrative high-tech job allows her to medicate herself.
Scottish doctors plan on injecting fetal stem cells developed from a 12-week aborted child into the brains of stroke patients.
ReNeuron, the British biotechnology firm behind the project, are waiting to get final clearance for the surgery.
When they do, Dr Muir will inject the contents of a single vial of the stem cells into the brain of the successful volunteer.
According to a poll of Russians , 41% of country favors a complete abortion ban, up from 8% in 1998. Another 25% of the country only approves of "therapeutic" abortions. | <urn:uuid:acfbceeb-6598-4983-98ab-6deb351ea5fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jivinjehoshaphat.blogspot.com/2010/08/life-links-82310.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95583 | 338 | 1.570313 | 2 |
People Of WFIT
Tue March 27, 2012
Syria Has Accepted Peace Plan, Annan's Spokesman Says
"A spokesman for U.N. envoy Kofi Annan says Syria has accepted his plan to end the bloodshed in the country," The Associated Press reports.
Ahmad Fawzi said the news came in a letter from President Bashar Assad's government to Annan, the former U.N. secretary general who has been trying to broker an end to the Assad regime's crackdown on dissent — which the U.N. estimates has led to the deaths of more than 8,000 people in the past year.
Annan, who is in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders about the situation in Syria, told reporters that in a meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao, "I indicated that I had received a response from the Syrian government and will be making it public today, which is positive, and we hope to work with them to translate it into action," Reuters says.
He added that the six-point plan deals "with issues of political discussions, withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from population centers, humanitarian assistance being allowed in unimpeded, release of prisoners, freedom of movement and access to journalists to go in and out."
As NPR's Michele Kelemen has reported, the plan was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council last week.
But even as that news is breaking, The New York Times is reporting that there seems to have been " little impact on the ground where Syrian forces were reported by activist groups on Tuesday to be moving against their adversaries in several places from the suburbs of Damascus to the northern province of Idlib." And it says that "fighting was reported to have broken out in this border region of northeast Lebanon on Tuesday between Syrian government troops and rebels."
It's also worth noting that the Assad regime has previously agreed to other peace plans, such as one proposed by the Arab League. But its crackdown on dissent has continued.
Assad, according to a Syrian state-run news agency, is visiting the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs today — a place his forces devastated in recent weeks.
Update at 7:40 a.m. ET. Fawzi's Statement.
Michele Kelemen passes along the statement sent to reporters by Annan's spokesman:
"The Syrian government has written to the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan accepting his six point plan, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. Mr. Annan has written to President Assad urging the Syrian government to put its commitments into immediate effect.
"Mr. Annan views this as an important initial step that could bring an end to the violence and the bloodshed, provide aid to the suffering, and create an environment conducive to a political dialogue that would fulfil the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.
"Mr. Annan has stressed that implementation will be key, not only for the Syrian people, who are caught in the middle of this tragedy, but also for the region and the international community as a whole. As the Syrian government acts on its commitments, Mr. Annan will move urgently to work with all parties to secure implementation of the plan at all levels.
"The Joint Special Envoy expresses his appreciation for the wide backing he has received for his mediation efforts, and appeals to key countries to support this development and help ensure its effective implementation." | <urn:uuid:1d97e164-d166-4580-be49-760aed405290> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wfit.org/post/syria-has-accepted-peace-plan-annans-spokesman-says | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98071 | 690 | 1.65625 | 2 |
The Most Unique Tips For Losing More Weight
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One helpful tip for losing weight is to practice mindful eating. Give yourself time to just eat and enjoy your food, instead of watching TV and eating or eating on the run. Although that can be tough in this fast-paced world, it will slow you down and help you focus on what you are putting into your body. Focus on the taste of the food, how you feel when you're eating it and when you feel full. Stop eating just before you are full, as it will take your brain a little time to register that you have had enough to eat. Give it a try and you will feel more satisfied with your meals if you do!
As stated in the beginning, these tips and rules will help you lose the weight, whether you are trying to fit back into your skinny jeans, or take off the baby weight from three kids! Weight loss is a tried and true result with the same basic principals to get you there.
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The doors of The Irondale Cafe were first opened in 1928 as a hot dog stand by Emmett Montgomery. Maggie Prentice came along shortly thereafter, to add hamburgers, barbecue, and a variety of sandwiches to the menu, and in 1932 Miss Bess Fortenberry purchased the business. The “stand” was renamed the Irondale Café, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Bess was a single woman with a great enthusiasm for life. She was free-hearted, loved practical jokes, and built a very successful business. In the early forties she went to Florida to work for the war effort, and while there she ran into an old acquaintance, Sue Lovelace. After the war Bess convinced Sue and a wonderful cook, Lizzie Cunningham, to come back to Irondale with her and help in the café. The trio made The Irondale Café one of the most popular places to dine around town. Their sandwiches were made to go because there wasn’t much room in the café for dining in, at the time. Thus, their sandwich business began to thrive. And they were known for miles around for their delicious meats and vegetables. The original cafe was housed in a small frame building with one step up to the entrance, with floors that sprang with you when you walked. The front room had four booths lining the outer wall, small tables in the center of the room, a long counter with eight wooden and metal Coca-Cola stools. The back room had three booths and an old Rockola. The kitchen separated the two “dining” rooms. Seating capacity for the front room was 31, packed like sardines.
In 1972 Bess suffered a stroke. About that same time Sue and Lizzie both developed health problems and were unable to continue working. So Bess decided to sell the café and retire.
A gentleman named Billy McMichael had eaten lunch at the café many times, worked at the nearby Southern Railway in Irondale, and was interested in buying the cafe from Miss Bess. Having moved from Atlanta to the Roebuck-Huffman area of Birmingham in 1963 with his wife Mary Jo, and three small children, Billy needed to convince his wife that it would be the right thing to do. When he spoke with Bess about buying the café, Bess suggested he have Mary Jo come in and talk with her. “What in the world do you want to buy this café for?” Bess asked. Mary Jo told her that it was Billy who wanted to buy it, but that she was willing to work with him. Though Mary Jo went home that night and prayed that Bess would sell to someone else, to Billy’s delight Bess decided to sell to the McMichaels.
They opened at 5:30 a.m. on January 2, 1973, and served a full breakfast six mornings a week, and lunch six days a week, then sandwiches in the afternoon. They closed at 5 p.m. to do prep work for the next day, finishing about 6:30 p.m. each day. Billy and Mary Jo continued to operate in the little frame building until the end of 1979 when the county health department began seriously focusing on old, outdated buildings that housed restaurants. Since theirs was built in 1920, the Irondale Café was part of that focus. Weighing many options, and because costs and other requirements were very complicated, Billy decided to put his building experience to good use and built a new restaurant on the same lot as the original. Because of the weather and other complications, it took seven months to complete and prepare for patrons, but on July 22, 1980, Billy and Mary Jo opened the “new” Irondale Café with seating for 100 people. They also had a private room to use for overflow and private meetings or parties. Mary Jo had her own small office, the kitchen was now larger, and they had an automatic dishwasher, two stoves, five deep fryers, and plenty of room to work. Business was back to normal in no time, and the crowds continued to grow.
Newspapers reported the café’s progress over the years and brought in new customers. Mary Jo watched a lot of children grow up at the Irondale Café, and felt good to know they had a small part in their lives. Like the young man who began coming in when he was about eight years old, and continued to eat there over the years, bringing his wife and children, it has become a place where families gather to enjoy food like Grandma prepared, and that type atmosphere as well.
In December 1990 when the old Daly Hardware Store became available next door to the cafe, Billy decided to expand. In January 1992 the movie Fried Green Tomatoes premiered at the Cobb Galleria Theatre in Birmingham, and Fannie Flagg, Bess Fortenberry’s niece and author of the book by the same name, came to the opening with many of her friends and associates. Right after it opened, tourists from all over started coming to the Café. The local newspaper ran an article that asked: “Seen the movie? Now taste the title.” The crowds grew. Everyone who comes to the café for the first time orders our fried green tomatoes! We fry 60 or 70 pounds every weekday, and more than that on Sundays.
In June 2000, Jim Dolan purchased the Irondale Café, has kept the menu the same, and has retained some of the cooks who have been with the restaurant for more than 30 years. Dolan notices folks snapping photos outside almost daily, and says that while not everyone tries the fried green tomatoes, they do serve about 600 to 800 slices daily. One of the most enjoyable festivities in which the community participates is the annual Whistle Stop Festival, held every spring. That’s when you’ll find the café open on a Saturday! | <urn:uuid:c09091be-f99a-44d1-bc96-a800c62ca8c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irondalecafe.com/history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985153 | 1,229 | 1.640625 | 2 |
HARTFORD -- The Democratic majority on the legislative Labor Committee on Thursday approved raising the state's $8.25-per-hour minimum wage to $9.75 by Jan. 1, 2015.
But Speaker of the House J. Brendan Sharkey says he's "skeptical" about adding a burden to Connecticut businesses, putting the future of the bill in doubt.
It would raise the current minimum hourly pay to $9 on Jan. 1 and the additional 75 cents would take effect a year later. Subsequent hikes in the wage would be linked to the consumer price index.
"It would help me a whole lot," said Gwynn, 38, a Stop & Shop employee. "It would help me catch up on my bills."
Rucker, a 21-year-old student, commended the Labor Committee's proposal and believes the Legislature should approve it.
"They have no problem raising taxes, they should increase the minimum wage," he said.
Bruce, 37, and Arrington, 33, were surprised pleasantly by the news.
"It will motivate people to look for work," Bruce said. "But I also think employers will want more for their buck and will add duties to the job requirements."
Rushing to a class at Housatonic Community College, June Victoria, 54, of New Haven, who is unemployed, welcomed the increase. However, she said it's difficult to survive on $9.75 an hour.
"It should be more," she said.
The committee approved the legislation along party lines, 7-4, after a brief afternoon debate, as minority Republicans said the state's economy cannot handle the added burden on business owners
Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, ranking member of the committee, said in a "normal" economic climate, he'd favor raising the wage.
"The problem with doing it now is we're in such a poor economic climate that it just seems to exacerbate the already failing system that we have here in Connecticut," Smith said. "When we say we're open for business on the right-hand side of the road it seems like we're closing for business on the left-hand side of the road because we're not helping each other. We're just making it more difficult for employers."
And Rep. Sean Williams, R-Watertown, also believes the 18-percent salary hike over two years "absolutely, unquestionably reduces the ability of small businesses to increase employment for the very people we're trying to help here."
Tanya Smith and Victoria believe the two Republicans may have something there.
"Of course people need more money," Smith said pointing out how expensive it is to live in Fairfield County. "But you have to look at the other side -- are employers going to cut jobs because they have to pay more?"
"It's possible places will fire people because they have to pay more money," added Victoria.
Even Ludd, a 26-year-old security guard, doubts companies are going to rush out and hire more people in this economy and now with a minimum wage hike.
"There are not a lot of places hiring right now," said Ludd. "If you want to work, you got to be able to travel beyond Bridgeport."
The state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses said the Legislature has to consider the impact the increase will have on small business owners already dealing with slow sales and rising costs.
"This legislation guarantees that some businesses will never catch up," said Andrew Markowski, the organization's state head said. "The cost of doing business here is very high and it will go much higher with no opportunity for small businesses to catch their breath."
But Democrats said that the state's lowest earners spend virtually all their added income within a walk or short drive of their homes, helping invest the money back into the economy.
Andrew Doba, a spokesman for Malloy said the governor supports the ideals behind the legislation, but urges the Legislature to be mindful of business's needs in the current economic climate.
"That said, he fully supports the president's effort to increase the minimum wage at the national level, and he urges Congress to pass it," Doba said.
According to a 2008 report by nonpartisan legislative staff, state labor officials estimated that 65,000 workers in the state made the then-minimum wage of $7.65. It rose to $8 an hour in January 2009 and $8.25 a year later.
A shadow was cast over the mid-afternoon committee vote, when Sharkey, speaking during an earlier, unrelated news conference, told reporters that he's not comfortable considering raising the minimum wage at this point.
"I've been hesitant about it," Sharkey said. "I'm not sure that we're still quite out of what we've been through in terms of the economic realities out there. I need to get a little bit more information as to what impacts this may have on particularly small businesses around the state, so at this point I'm skeptical about it. I want to see how it evolves and what the public hearing process will produce. I'm open to it, but I need to see a little more information about it."
Sen. Catherine Osten, D-Sprague, co-chair of the committee, said she's up for a possible compromise as the bill moves forward. "For this bill to pass it has to go through all four caucuses," she said. "I am amenable to talk about it as we go forward."
email@example.com; 860-549-4670; twitter.com/KenDixonCT; facebook.com/kendixonct.hearst; blog.ctnews.com/dixon | <urn:uuid:6b7426ff-2b77-4e25-8353-34c19d2224d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Proposed-increase-in-minimum-wage-moves-ahead-4319025.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973036 | 1,187 | 1.523438 | 2 |
25 October 2011
CEO, Fast Future
If anything, in future you'll see even more innovation around tools and applications for the sector from other vendors. I think some innovators may have been held back because they felt the iPod and iPad had gained a stranglehold on the attention of both the artists and the music consumer - particularly at the mass end of the market. With Steve Jobs' passing, even though he had already left, people outside Apple may wonder if the company will go into a prolonged period of strategic drift and lose its expected dominance of the next decade. As a result you might see other device vendors push their current offerings more aggressively. I think you'll also see a lot more competition around future offerings as rivals will have more confidence bringing to market new devices and apps for other manufacturers' devices.
Publisher, Record Of The Day
Steve Jobs always treated music itself with the greatest reverence. In his passing we can hope, as with any corporation who loses a leader, that the core values live on. Apple may not ultimately be led by one individual with his phenomenal vision, but he had many years at the company - and early warning his time was to come - to ensure the innovation culture thrives. As Jobs passes, Apple continues to push the envelope for music services with initiatives like iCloud and iTunes Match. Even without its charismatic CEO, Apple remains the dominant digital music player and unpredictable trend setter.
Professor of Music and Sound at QUT, and President of Q Music
Job’s brilliance at leading the major paradigm shifts in personal computing is broadly acknowledged. The most significant of these was a vision for the convergence of proprietary hardware platforms and content distribution. This was unfolded ahead of the curve of developments in pervasive computing and wireless technology, leading to tremendous success in the content distribution market. This resulted in a level of market concentration verging on the monopolistic, leading to questions around the fairness of deals offered to content creators and suppliers. Most record industry participants have been uncomfortable about Apple’s market domination with iTunes. The question on everyone’s lips is whether Apple will be able to continue its dominance in the music market, now that it has lost its father figure. Many industry observers doubt it will.
The technology business demands constant innovation in order for a company to hold market share. If product innovation slows, then opportunities will arise for competitors to gain traction. Within weeks of the passing of Jobs, strong rumours have been circulating that Google will shortly launch its “cloud based” music store on the Android operating system. Such an assault would seem inevitable from a company with tremendous resources and huge market penetration in related areas. Job’s passing may well create the necessary hiatus in Apple’s operation for competitors to gain ground. We may see a swing away from Apple’s market dominance in the recorded music market if a well-designed and strongly-marketed Android/cloud system is launched at a time when Apple does not have any strong cloud based offerings. This depends on strong growth and further refinement of the Android operating system. Given all of this, the loss of this visionary may well have some flow-on benefits to the record industry, but there are many contingent factors in the technology world.
Executive Editor, groovypost.com
Steve Jobs was a visionary who transformed the music business as we knew it. His vision of music distribution was as elegant as the devices he produced. With digital delivery and the success of iTunes, musicians are able to distribute their music on their terms. He inspired a generation of musicians to be their own company. Now bands and solo artists can deliver music to a global audience. They become producers, marketers and distributors of their craft, and are able to keep the profit for reinvestment into their art.
The music industry is just now starting to adopt the vision Steve had for music distribution in 2001 – when he first announced the iPod and iTunes. Ten years later, record companies realise the benefit of this model. With his passing, does it mean the success of digital music distribution goes away? Hardly.
Managing Director, Music Void Consultancy Limited
Jobs created a place for music to be purchased online amongst the scourge of piracy. With the creation of the iPod and then iTunes combined with great UX, Steve managed to secure control of the music business in the digital music realm and this all came down to control over the retail price of music. Labels only have themselves to blame for allowing Apple to devalue the price of music in the eye of the consumer. It was a master move which allowed Apple to become the global monopoly player in terms of a la carte sales. Apple has the labels by the cajones and will continue to do so for some time to come.
Jobs’ passing means labels will hopefully wise up and allow a level playing field where new music services like Google Music and Amazon are provided with equal terms to become real competitors. This should enable more consumer choice and a return to true competitive retail where even labels have a decent spread of digital music retailers - much like they did with traditional retail in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s about true competition, folks. Closed ecosystem innovation will hopefully die and a new, more open Apple will evolve...enabling a truly competitive music business in the 21st century.
CEO, All Access Group
As an Apple Insider, it’s bittersweet to reflect on the backlash that music will experience without Steve Jobs forging a path through technology. (I worked at Apple – in music – during the “dark days”, when Jobs wasn’t sitting on the throne – when our ideas weren’t held up for collaboration and launched to the universe to change the world). Once Jobs was back at Apple, with his unique passion and sense for what the consumer wanted, almost every project he took on was the right thing at the right time. Not just the likes of iPad, iPod, iPhone. The Apple stores themselves redefined retail. Even as Jobs moved music out of stores and into the digital universe -- and killed megaliths like Tower Records in a single blow -- he also understood that retail and community are vital. And the beat goes on.
With the controversy around clouds and lockers, especially in music, it is the trusted brand of Apple that will bring clouds away from the status of rebel and into the accepted mainstream, carving out legitimacy for a niche in digital that is long overdue. Perhaps music will finally stop bleeding revenue? But we have a problem. The guy that inspired this boundless thinking, creativity and risk taking, who fearlessly demanded greatness from everyone around him... simply isn’t here any more. We’ve seen Apple without Steve Jobs; I was there to see it first-hand. Will a great thinker step in and continue Apple’s impact, and legacy? It is possible. Will another Steve Jobs come along in our lifetime? Unlikely.
17 May 2013
The President of the Wee Waa Show Society, Brett Dickinson tells us more about the annual agricultural event, which starts today.
17 May 2013
We chat to the founder and CEO of Kobalt Music Group about changing the game of music publishing and copyright administration.
16 May 2013
We chat to Paul Jackson – dmg Radio’s Group Program Director – about smoothfm's impressive first year.
09 May 2013
Thom Yorke's favourite festival OutsideIn is coming back on September 21, and the curators are planning to up the ante, which probably means that Bowie will be dropping in this year. We chat to Astral People's Leron Danilewitz to find out what to expect.
09 May 2013
We put Paul Higgins, Managing Director and A&R Director, Empire Records & Publishing, also playing in pop against the majors.
06 May 2013
MusicNSW invited 16 musicians to take part in the roundtable, selecting representatives of diverse scenes such as electronic, underground and improvised music.
03 May 2013
We chat to Colin Blake, the newly-appointed head of Rdio Australia, a joint venture with DMG Radio.
26 April 2013
Lars Brandle catches up with Dwayne Cross, Director of Paperchase Sports and Entertainment and Promoter of Supafest, to find out what went wrong.
18 April 2013
We caught up with Nick Adams, Director of One to One Marketing at Telstra, to chat about their new ticketing service.
17 April 2013
Nominations have just opened for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards, which makes this the perfect time to chat to Music NT Manager Mark Smith.
16 April 2013
We heard reports of a new musical about the Rugby League State Of Origin, being penned by noted author Hugh Lunn. Naturally we had a few questions...
12 April 2013
Stephen Halpin from Cattleyard Promotions chats to TMN about Groovin' The Moo and his recent trip to SXSW.
12 April 2013
Feel Presents is behind the Dig It Up! national concert series, which starts April 18 at Brisbane’s Tivoli.
+ SHOW MORE
18 March 2013
One of the most important aspects of the policy is that some initiatives will allow the music industry to be more involved in funding and policy-making policies. We ask the industry for early reactions.
15 March 2013
We ask Jack Flanagan, co-owner of Weathermaker Music, all about their one-stop-shop setup. | <urn:uuid:b31ebcc2-01e8-4901-ba79-2fc550dec27d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-features/industry/2011/10/25/the-hook-what-does-steve-jobs-passing-mean-for-the-music-biz/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954259 | 1,941 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Young Chicago Authors
Young Chicago Authors (YCA) encourages self-expression and literacy among Chicago's youth through creative writing performance and publication. YCA provides student-centered, artist-led workshops - free to youth ages 13-19 in schools and communities. With a process that emphasizes artistic development and mentorship, YCA aims to create safe spaces where a young person's life matters. The organization and its leadership believes that through their words, young people can promote tolerance and remove barriers, transforming their lives and society.
WBEZ is proud to be a presenting partner of Young Chicago Author's Louder Than a Bomb Teen Poetry Festival. Each year, Festival Finalists are brought in studio to record their work, which can be heard here. | <urn:uuid:5e8b7bff-2b5c-4de2-aebb-874c274eedac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbez.org/users/young-chicago-authors-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933287 | 151 | 1.84375 | 2 |
There is so much to do and see here, the weather is beautiful and the sun is shining for our first day in port.. In the distance, we can see the white sandy beaches and palm trees flowing in the breeze. Looking out onto this island is like looking at a postcard.. All of the cadets on liberty are exploring and getting a feel of what they can do with their three days of liberty.
National Heroes Square is definitely a worthwhile place to visit as well as many beaches and shops. Another place where mariners like us are expected to flock is the Careenage, a natural harbor full of luxury yachts and excursion boats lined by a boardwalk.
An historical site to see is the George Washington House which is located on the southern part of the island. Here, is the only place outside of North America where George Washington ever lived. He resided here in 1751 for 2 months while his older half brother sought treatment for Tuberculosis on the island. Barbados is truly a Caribbean gem that shows great promise for four fun filled days of sun, memories, and friends.
- After leaving Barbados, George Washington went on to become what?
- What is the currency in Barbados?
- What is the exchange rate? | <urn:uuid:afa1b64a-eefb-408a-9e26-2692a4cb35ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mmaseaterm.blogspot.com/2011/02/ftv-2511.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970289 | 257 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Behind the board. All photos taken at TMF studios, New York City, during the BETTY Carnival sessions in October 1999.
Those mysterious credits on the last page of the CD booklet are often hard to understand. Just what exactly does a producer, an engineer, a mixer or (help us) an executive producer actually do?
Enter Carl Beatty, a recording and mixing engineer with more than 25 years' experience in the trenches, including work with the Stereo Society. How does he explain what he does for a living at parties? What is it that makes him tick? This is a non-nerd interview, asking the questions you never dared to, because of course everybody knows what is a producer, engineer etc etc.
Carl was interviewed by Mike Thorne on January 9, 2001
Carl Beatty at the Stereo Society:
To Carl's discography
Streaming audio of Carl's answers can be heard by clicking on the player alongside each question. For help in playing music, see our Playing Audio page in the Big Help Desk.
How do you explain what you do at parties?
I'm the guy who sets up the microphones and operates the console that resembles the cockpit of a 747. I record lots of things and then mix it all down to two tracks, stereo, which is what you get on your CDs or your cassettes. Actually, at parties I try to avoid the subject--we engineer types being traditionally behind-the-scenes personnel. The music business has that "moth to the flame" effect.
That sounds pretty boring.
Well, it actually is. Haven't you ever had your friends beg you to come down to a session? They find out that you're going to be working with somebody famous and ask, "Can I come down?" You finally find a way to get them there, they show up, and then you're busy at work listening to a song for the fifteenth or twentieth time that day. They're by the door grinning, then they've listened to the song twice and they say, "So, what's going to happen now?" Well, that's kind of it, and then about five minutes later they go, "Well, we have to go now." I think it is pretty boring work to the uninitiated. I don't find it boring, but I think because of those others experiences I have a powerful sense of how others might find it boring.
How did you come to be involved in engineering?
I took a very strange route. I enjoyed tinkering with things when I was growing up. I wasn't one of these engineer types. I was more of a gears, wheels, pulleys and rope kind of a guy. Speakers made sound but they also they gave good magnets. My move into sound was very roundabout. I was debating which major to take in college, but I really had no clue. All I knew was liberal arts and archaeology, and things I wasn't interested in. My sister was an entertainer. She's five years older than I and had some experience singing and recording. She mentioned, "What about recording engineer." I said. "Whats that?" She described him as the guy who gets the microphone and he sits at this big board with lots of knobs. That sounded way cool to me. And, I said okay. In about five minutes I decided that's what I want to do.
When I went to college there were no programs offering any kind of instruction in recording engineering. So I took courses in radio. I guess my sister picked up on the tinkering the sound thing because at some point I became an audiophileI began to hang out in stereo stores, intrigued by how my limited record collection would unfold itself before me. As they changed different components, I would hear new and better detail in my four or five records I was listening to. As you can see, it certainly wasnt for the love of music. Although, I have to say I've gained a lot of understanding and love of music by being involved with it, which was the unseen benefit. I am really excited about that aspect of it because I never saw it coming.
Surely you liked music?
Yes, I like music, but I wasn't a record collector. I wasn't a big fan. I was pretty eclectic. You know: Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, Beatles. It was kind of all over the map, certainly not diehard. I didn't have to buy every album that came out, just a few things that I liked and I'd listen to them a lot. I knew them as well as I could within the limited scope of what I was listening on. When I changed a speaker or amplifier, I heard something different. It was very intriguing and interesting. My love of music developed along with my interest for audio and turning knobs.
Is shaping sound for you similar to shaping wood for a carpenter?
No. I think sound is a lot more subjective and forgiving than wood. With wood, size matters. With sound, the smallest unit can really make the record or make the day. I guess as I've done this through the years. I seem to be arriving at a point where I don't feel so much that I am shaping sound, rather that I am yielding to the shape of sound. I spend more time trying to move a microphone or capture what I am hearing rather than just turning a knob and applying an equalizer or compressor (unless that becomes part and parcel of the mangling of the sound). I've never been "the sound makes the record" kind of guy. I'm more of a balance kind of guy. I think that sounds are so broad and variable, and they can work in so many different contexts that balance seems to be the thing that displays the sound best.
We're still circling the issue of what matters in sound and why you like it.
I think it comes from some emotional quality. When somebody buys a record or hears something on the radio, they listen to it and love it. That's based on some emotional response to the sound. I don't think it is based just on a snare drum sound or a particular guitar chord. It's a culmination of events. Perhaps I've heard too many records. The defining moment for me was Kisses on My Lips by Hall and Oates. That was a great record; a big Top Ten hit for them. I went out and got the record. This was actually after I had begun to become an audiophile, so I had my good speakers and all my good sounding stuff. I put this record on. It was one of the most horrible records I had ever heard in my life.
I was in the beginning stages of working in a studio and learning engineering. I entered the business with this kind of audiophile sensibility of 20 Hertz or 20,000 Hertz. I wanted to assure a pristine frequency response and get all the sounds. Then I heard this record which sounded really horrible and tiny. But it didn't diminish its appeal and its effect. In some way it became its character. I also think that somehow a sound intricately becomes a part of a recording, a part of its emotion. I think many people can sympathize with that idea now that we have many re-mastered albums and CDs. Re-mastered by the artist or re-mastered after the fact: people go out and buy and listen to them and somehow they're just different.
Whats lost is the relevancethe point or relevance has been removed with the soundthe point you enjoy and fell in love with now sounds totally different. The artist and the mastering engineer might have very lofty goals, but they are maybe losing part of that moment in time for a lot of people. I don't know if they realize that, and record companies can care less, but as we get older we have less high frequency response. So, generally, these things just get brighter, and that wasn't necessarily part of the original. There was something about that dull record playing through the scratches and whatever else was coming out of the grooves. But now that you can hear everything, in some way it's all there but its just not quite as organic. I do think that sound enhances mood and emotion, and that's the tricky thing with balancing. And that's one of the reasons I find sound more intriguing than video.
Video has a story line which I often find kind of flat. You're essentially being told what you should hear by your eyes, and I think it is much more intriguing to try and create three-dimensional space with just two speakers, and also to trigger that elusive emotional response. Its a challenge to try and figure out how I can create a response in somebody, and I don't think it's to do with good or bad sound. I think it is how the sounds are balanced and presented that matters.
How much experience does it take to react instinctively to sounds and their needs?
Lately, I've been trying to evaluate sounds subjectively, and balances in terms of the distraction factor. If something isn't distracting, then it is good on some level. Of course, I can spend a lot of time making each sound perfect., I don't think the average listener is buying a record for the snare sound or the cool reverb (or even returning a CD because it wasn't mixed in a particular console). My mentors taught me: "never forget your audience." I believe that is a good caveat. You can work in a room for hours, essentially be making a record for yourself but ultimatelyif you are forgetting how people are when they buy and listen to it, those first four bars or first minute of what happens when they put it onif you're forgetting that, then you're really making the record for yourself.
I tell my students [at Berklee College of Music] not to be crippled by their knowledge, for they are competing with people who haven't gone to school, but have the ability to know when to stop when it sounds or feels good. Whether the meters are pinned or whether it is the right way or not, they know when to stop. You have to be aware of where your knowledge can become a liability. Very often you are also carrying people along with you. People are waiting for you and very often don't share that kind of quest for fire, don't want to go down that road with you. They just want to get it done. They're musicians and, for the most part, working in a very spontaneous place, and time is of the essence. It's a tricky balance, making sure it's all going to be okay by the time you are ready to put it all together, but also trying to get a sound. I think soemtimes, "if we tweak this sound some more, it can be really special and kind of a centerpiece." Then there are times when somebody says, "it's good enough," Your ears have to be open to hear that when somebody says, "good enough," they really mean itits good enough.
Do you ever feel that you're stuck for too long in the same room with the music slipping away?
That's a tough question for me. I burn out people. I'm a workaholic. I can easily sit in a room for eighteen hours. I have assistants coming up to me, "Can I get you something to drink?" or "Can I go to the bathroom for you?" That's just one of those tricky things I've become very keenly aware of. To me, there is always an elusive quantity of just being on the heels of something but also knowing when to walk away. If it's a ten-minute break, it equals a thirty-minute break, for everybody else disappears and then we have to wait for them to get back. I think that part of my higher ethic is to have a good time, and in some way that just cobbles the work along. We might be spending a lot of time, but it doesn't feel like work, and it doesn't feel like we're spending a lot of time and when people feel like they need to take a break, they take a break.
I have been fortunate enough to do a lot of work with bands I really like, and I've done a lot of kind of session workyou know, hired gun, you're sitting in, basically, waiting for people to come in for their two hour stint. For example, we might be going to do the percussion overdubs, then in two hours we're going to do horns and then after that we're going to do strings and after that we're going to try lead vocal. Things are more tightly scheduled. When things are scheduled, by nature, they are broken up for the producer, and certainly for the cast of characters who are coming in, but certainly not for the engineer or for the assistant. The engineer always has a task at handdifferent mics, different goals sure, but you're always operating the console, getting sound to the tape, making sure everything goes okay.
With a band, it tends to be much more fluid and forgiving. At any given moment somebody may decide they want to hear rough, or they want to go into a different room and put a different part on while we're working on something else or just stop and have dinner. It's so much more of a social thing. There tend to be brief and intense relationships. There's not a lot of room when you are working with a band to be fake or to not. You should be the best person you can because in three or four weeks of making a record, everybody gets to know each other. You're all there for the same reason, so some sort of dynamic begins to show how to break out of the mode and how not to be so insular. So the downtime, the time when you are not obviously working, is as important to making the record because you are all still sharing.
You have an unusually broad range of styles that you have recorded, from pure pop through rock&roll, R&B and rap. Are there any differences in the mood and conduct of different session styles?
We could make some really broad and crass observations. In general, in a rock session, they do more different kinds of drugs. I guess with R&B sessions, the things that I've seen (and in some ways bothers me) is that there really doesn't seem to be much separation between life and art. A session is just an extension of a hanglots of people, lots of hangers-on, lots of women, lots of posing and not very much realization of the work ethic. We're there to get this done. Studios are expensive, and personnel are expensive. It would be to your benefit to spend your money wisely. A rock session tends to be a little more focused. There's work time, and there's playtime, and a more powerful sense of how tenuous the whole thing is.
Such experiences have informed how I deal with everything else, including the odd country record (I don't do country). But I have found myself in rooms doing country records (and I won't be doing many of them) but I know how to get through them. And then there are children's records and books on tape and orchestras, things like that. There's always an agenda. With all of them, I'm still trying to have a good time at keeping time in this very sterile, stilted environment down to a minimum. The less people waiting for me, the easier it is for them to work.
As a fan, I find it very intriguing how musicians do what they do. I am not a player; I am a good listener and am very thankful for what I have learned by listening really hard, but I play with something using the consolethe console is my instrument. They are not all that different. It really comes down to personality, and I think it's important to be confident in who you are. That's one of the things I keep telling my students. You can't be somebody who you think they want you to be, because people can sense that falseness. You're in a room with somebody for eight or ten hours, things come to the surface pretty quickly.
You're a Berklee professor as well as a practical engineer and producer. What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning in an academic or commercial environment?
In general, it has certainly been proven that one doesn't need to have an academic background for success. I can only speak for Berklees program and the kind of students we get. The business is changing so much that I think that in a lot of ways the two routes are about even. If you had asked me that question five years ago, I would have said you could easily get away with never having gone to some sort of academic program and do very well, but I think now it doesn't hurt, and it can help. We kind of force the students to work together, getting them to develop interpersonal skills. Don't forget, Berklee is really an unusual place. They are all musicians here.
There's a common thread that runs through this place. I would say that musicians, traditionally, are non-verbal people. To get them to work together and develop a sense of diplomacy, cooperation and collaboration (particularly in light of the way the technology is going, which is more and more single user either workstation or computer kind of thing). I think that is one of those things that separates our students from a lot of the other schools. However, the danger is that they go through this four-year program, and then assume (whether they are from Berklee or some other school) that they are engineers and they know it. They graduate with an attitude that no one wants to deal with. We go to great lengths to make sure they know they are not so arrogant, and I think we have been very successful.
How has the availability of cheap home recording equipment affected your profession?
In general, there's less work. It has caused people to diversify. There are lots of great engineers out there, but because of the prevalence of cheap home recording equipment, work has become more specific. Someone might track at home and then call me to mix it. Formerly, I might do the whole thing. I did a project recently (for Martin Sexton, his newest album). I recorded his first record which did pretty well. It was on an independent label and his fans really loved it, kind of acknowledging that it was his best record. The producer of that record hired me to record it. We did it very quickly.
The second record was done by Danny Kortchmar somewhere in Connecticut. Martin got permission to produce his last record, his third, on his own. He hired the producer of the first record to engineer it because the producer has his own little home-recording studio setup, but considers himself a producer not an engineer. The producer called me and asked me to set him up to engineer this record up in Bearsville, New York. So he hired me for a couple of days to consult. That is what I mean. I've had to diversify, and was happy to do that. I am always glad to be in there. I'm a fan and happy to be involved.
I went up there, set up the mics, walked them through it, and gave them some templatesjust some patterns to work (such as keep the board in this mode). I tried to see how much he could handle and gave him some simple ways to deal with it. It was just the strangest thing for me to be leaving after two days; I mean I've just never done that. I ended up getting an Assistant Engineer credit. That's a record: after so many years of Engineering I move back to Assistant. (Some of my most famous credits are for non-Engineering. I got a credit for being in the horn section on a B-52s recordI really liked that one.)
The session was just getting going when I left. It was Martin, Tony Levin on bass, Joe Bellisano on drums. The first two days were spent just getting to know everybody and hanging out in Bearsville, which is a residential studio. Then two days into it, it was, "well, see you guys! Have a great record!" I'm still happy to be involved in whatever capacity I can. The guy who mixed it, Nick De Dea out in LA, was commenting how well recorded it was. That's nice to hear.
I've long ago gotten over the issue of credits. So the cheap equipment has definitely affected the work. It doesn't necessarily imply that it's bad. People are making really good sounding records. I think the parallel is often with film-making and using Super8. Everyone bought a video camera or a Super8 camera and became a film maker. That's kind of where we are in music recording. It should be as democratic as that.
How do good records surface when anyone can do it?
There was a record I did called The Smurf. It was a huge dance record. It was when I actually started to do a lot of my work with you [Mike Thorne] in England. To my surprise, it became a huge record that everybody knew over there, and it did moderately okay in New York and dance markets, but this was a huge cult record over there. I would walk in the streets, and hear it on the radio, and it was just bizarre. The Smurfs were dolls that came out of Belgium, and they had a cartoon, like the Teletubbies. It was the flavor of the moment, and there were a lot of records that came out called The Smurfs because it was a dance. I was working with Tyrone Bronson. He was on CBS, he was going to do a Smurf record, and he went to the Legal Division and asked if it was okay to name his record The Smurf, and they said, "yeah, sure." And, he made this record. It became the biggest of the dance records, until The Smurfs people came after him and sued. They took him to court, and they trumped up charges. They brought in people saying that he brought Smurf dolls on-stage and did things to them, naughty things (which he never did). The settlement was that they pulled the record. You can't buy his biggest record.
I have no idea what comes to the top which is why I continue to take on such an eclectic range of work. To me, the challenge is to work on stuff that I don't know (and you just never know). I have two recordings which are presently nominated for Grammy's , incidental orchestral music recorded for Books on Tape. One was narrated by Liam Nieson and one by James Earl Jones (but they won't win because they are up against Harry Potter). Who could have guessed that something as fun as a seventeen-piece orchestral recording would surface--wow, I haven't done something this big in a long time. I loved doing this, and somehow it got noticed. Often, you sweat and take a lot of care over some trio rock record and yet nobody ever gets to hear it. So, I don't know; you're asking the wrong guy.
So the Grammy Awards are not the pinnacle of achievement for you? Is challenge the key?
What gives me the most charge is when the clients are happy, when the producer and artist are happy. When I set up a mix, and they walk in and go, "That sounds great! That's exactly the way we heard it." That really makes my day, particularly when I don't like it. One of the things that's very liberating is suddenly finding myself in a studio in the middle of a rock record doing a rock band out of Austin, Texas, with the producer knowing I don't do country music. I work very hard on music I don't necessarily like because I think that every music has a core balance to find. You don't have to like it to balance it. I don't necessarily say I don't like something. I have conversations with people. Where did you hear this going? Do you want to give me some examples of what you want this to sound like? I'm not afraid to do that.
I specifically said to this guy from Texas, "this isn't a country record because I don't do country. Then I'm mixing this rock record and suddenly I'm mixing a country song. It is very liberating going, "you know I really hate this crap." I just can't stand this kind of music and then to have to adhere to the value set that he wanted to mix it. He goes, "that sounds exactly the way I heard it."
I tell this story to my students a lot. Way back, I was working in a shipping room of a studio--I started at Mediasound in New York (the sequence of events was that you started in shipping and worked your way up shipping to kind of a junior assistant, then assistant and then second engineer, and engineer). Hopefully, you didn't deviate from that path. When I arrived there were five guys ahead of me. I knew that there was going to be a certain amount of time before I got out, so I was just trying to figure out how to approach it. I would always hear these guys talking: "I want to mix; all I want to do is mix. I love mixing; recording is boring, and I don't want to do that." And I figured, well, I'll do the recording they don't want to do. I just set my sights on being good all-around and so that was settled. I'll do whatever comes my way. I'll give good all-around.
What it really came down to is I like working. I like pushing faders, I like making sound, I like having control over it, and I like being asked to interpret. Somebody is going to say to me "can you make it sound brighter; can you do this?" Yeah, I'm very happy to do this. To me that's how I see my role.
I've learned from five great engineers. There were five great engineers on Media's staff, and you could pick and chose what you wanted from each one of those experts. The flow of information was very free and I learned that five guys could tell you the same way to do something and yet would be all different because it's down to your ears. It's down to the way you interpret. So I am not that possessive about "it's my sound and I'm the guy who owns it." I don't think it comes down to that. To me it gets back to that challenge that if somebody asks me for something, and I can turn a knob and make an interpretation of it and they can go, "yeah, that's it," Then I feel that I have learned something, but I have also achieved something. For me, that's the pleasure. That's where I get my thrills.
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Driving an automobile is dangerous business. Drivers cannot be counted upon for exercise of commonsense. The driver has to date been foolishly entrusted by government with access to steering and is also not forcibly restricted from exceeding the speed limit at will nor stopping when it is mandated. Those impudent drivers can go as fast as they want, steer any old way that suits them and stop only if they feel like it. This practise of laissez-faire driving MUST be halted at once for the public good.
Speed limit signs and traffic signals merely ask the driver to do certain things but these devices don’t enforce behaviour.† It’s long past due time that government put a stop to the ability of untrustworthy drivers to break the rules.
While government should keep such plans under wraps to avoid the indignant wrath of drivers until the necessary laws are in place and thus difficult to repeal, it is imperative that all motor vehicles immediately be fitted with speed limiting devices to prevent vehicles from exceeding 20km/h, the lowest legal speed limit. All roads must be fitted with padded guard rails pending installation of automatic steering systems on vehicles and burial of guide wires in roadbeds. Of course, all traffic will have to be halted while these absolutely necessary safety upgrades are installed. This may inconvenience some drivers, but after all, driving is not a right, it is a privilege bestowed by a benevolent government which must care for all citizens.
If this sounds in any way absurd, compare it to Stephen Conroy’s plans for mandatory content filtering for all Australian internet users. Even if you don’t have children in your house, you will be required to use government filtered internet services. Government is defining the banned sites and you don’t get to opt out. Such a filtering system is far too easily abused by government as you simply won’t know what you’re missing.
While it will be all too easy to circumvent Conroy’s filtering by use of offshore proxy services or especially by use of an onion-router application like Tor, proxying slows down access dramatically as a number of hops between routers are added to the response time. Filtering will be just as bad, as the filter compares content from the requested IP against a ban list. Australia already has abysmal broadband access speeds- Conroy’s plan will put us back 10 years, to dialup days.
Call or write Kevin Rudd and Stephen Conroy today. The only song these two seem to be getting, or at least are hearing, is that from the ‘won’t somebody save the children’ mob. It’s important they know that there’s a significant population of Australian internet users who either don’t need any filtering or who actually act like parents and supervise their children’s internet usage.
You don’t save children from drowning by banning water, you teach them how to swim.
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