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Video: Helping the Community Have a Happy Holiday!
Video: The Red Kettle Returns!
Video: One Man's Story
Video: Doing Good for Children
Video: Visit a Salvation army Family Store!
Video: Making Seasons Brighter
The Salvation Army is dedicated to meeting human needs in His name without discrimination. We are committed to doing all we can to demonstrate God's love in the communities we serve by providing a listening ear, a hot meal and a hand up to those in need.
The latest census data confirms there are more than 22,000 homeless men, women and children living in Hillsborough County alone. Thousands more families struggle to make ends meet, and often must make the impossible decision between putting food on the table or gas in the car.
The Salvation Army's social service programs encompass a wide range of safety net, rehabilitation and relief programs to help individuals and families overcome daunting obstacles. The Salvation Army's social work approach has always been one of empowerment, enabling those in need to change their life's circumstances and overcome challenges that stand in their way. Services include children's services, food for the hungry, emergency and transitional housing for the homeless, emergency assistance with rent and mortgage payments, self-sufficiency training, character-building programs, counseling and case management, nursing home visits, services for the elderly, referral services and much more. | <urn:uuid:254e7e2c-7cd5-4313-a499-5edec130cfed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=281681 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930993 | 277 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Fiat 500s, Dan Gilbert's basement, skateboards, bikes, the side of a barge in Northern...
Low-emissions Chevrolet Volt models shipped to California
Californians won't have to wait much longer to take their Chevrolet Volts in high-occupancy vehicle lanes. General Motors began shipping a special version of the range-extended sedan to the state this week.
The cars will arrive with a special Low Emissions package that makes it legal to drive them in the Golden State's carpool lanes. The Volts also will qualify for the state's $1,500 rebate through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project.
Previously, the Volt didn't qualify for any of California's incentives because the car uses a four-cylinder engine when the battery runs out. This new version spits out less pollutants, even when running on gasoline.
Commuters in the Golden State who use the HOV lanes save an estimated 36 minutes per day in traffic, according to GM. California has more than 1,400 miles of carpool lanes, which were originally restricted to vehicles carrying more than one occupant.
Now, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is making 40,000 Clean Air stickers available for registered vehicles that meet state emissions standards.
GM sold 7,671 copies of the Volt last year in the United States, while the Nissan Leaf--which already is allowed in California's HOV lanes--sold 9,674 units. More than 60 percent of Leafs sold were delivered in California, while only about 30 percent of the Volts went to the state.
Get more car news, reviews and opinion every day: Sign up to have the Autoweek Daily Drive delivered right to your inbox. | <urn:uuid:0808ec0a-cd64-4cdf-b9f0-f6646aaf9782> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120223/CARNEWS/120229913/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94302 | 348 | 1.5 | 2 |
- Oct 06, 2008 9:23 PM EST
- [num] Comments
Ecotourism is not a new concept--but with the renewed focus on nature conservation and the preservation of green spaces, more people are making the trip to national parks and outdoor resorts to experience the beauty of the natural world. If you're looking for the perfect hiking trip or for a luxury vacation in a place with beautiful scenery and natural wonders, Whole Travel can help you find the vacation that works for you. Simply type in a keyword that describes what you're looking for in a vacation, and the service returns suggestions of places to go and things to see that are both good for you and good for the planet.
It's important to note that ecotourism doesn't necessarily entail outdoorsy activities, short-distance travel, or flying on hybrid jets; the point of ecotourism is to provide support for environmentally friendly businesses, national parks and conservatories, and preservation groups. For example, in some African countries safaris are actually beneficial to the local economy and provide money for conservation groups working to protect endangered species.
Whole Travel wants to connect you with environmentally friendly and ethical travel opportunities that meet your expectations. If you're looking for a place to go diving, the service can provide you with destinations that are great for scuba diving but are also environmentally friendly, and with hotels that work with preservation groups or work to serve the local community.
The beauty of the Whole Travel is that in addition to providing keyword searches for specific types of travel, like "hiking" and "fishing" and "biking," the service's search engine is also smart enough to understand terms like "inspiring" and "beautiful view." Simply type in a term for the type of vacation you're interested in, however vague the term may be, and Whole Travel can likely provide some suggestions. The service features a lot of undiscovered and small destinations, so if you're looking for a vacation without swarms of other people, for example, Whole Travel can help.
As you browse the search results, you'll see the names of the resorts and hotels along with a legend of the types of activities and amenities each offers. If a nightly rate is available, it's listed, and if other Whole Travel members have rated the location, you'll see the the ratings. You can hover over any of the amenity icons to see whether the location offers things Internet access, air conditioning, and so on. Click the Details button to read about the destination's background, story, environmental contribution, and view photos and maps. If you like what you see, just select the destination to be routed directly to its Web site.
Whole Travel makes money by connecting prospective travelers with the locations that list with them. In the future, the service wants to add sustainability ratings and traveler reviews to the destination profiles, so you can read more at a glance from people who have actually visited. In the meantime however, if you're thinking about taking a vacation and want an incredible experience without leaving a massive footprint, Whole Travel can connect you with destinations. | <urn:uuid:0e1ee032-329e-49dd-b1d3-3a79253049d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goodcleantech.pcmag.com/none/280307-whole-travel-become-an-eco-tourist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946246 | 632 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Originally Posted by myKroom
Honestly...just jump on in!!! I had a chance to volunteer in K while in HS which was the best experience. Try to get into some K classes here and there if possible. I'm not sure what size school you are in, but could you do some collaborative projects with your 7th graders and the K kids? Your kids could create some tech projects for the kids (books, games, etc.) and then the kids could try them out. These little guys LOVE seeing the "big kids". Summer jobs with young kiddos are good. Talk to your P about some summer tutoring opportunities or camps you could get into to help you get familiar with the little ones.
I'm scared to let the principal at my middle school know that I want to teach kindergarten... Since I coach 2 sports and teach technology, that means she might have to hire more than just one person to replace me, or else another teacher here will have to coach those 2 sports. I'm nervous! When teachers make a grade switch like this, do they usually let their P know?? Well, in my case it might be a tiny bit more complicated too because I also want to switch to the district by my house
The idea of having my 7th graders help out at an elementary school in this area sounds so good!!! We have an elementary school directly across the street from us, so we could literally walk there! I taught my students earlier this year how to make a math game in excel, and the funny thing is that we used elementary level math, since my focus was on them learning the formatting skills for Excel. I could have them make a better one, now that they know what they are doing. It was a little game where you have a simple multiplication problem (which I could switch to basic addition, 1+1, 1+2, etc.), and you have to type the correct answer in the right spot to reveal a segment of a picture. If you answer them all correctly, you get to see the surprise picture, which could be anything.
Sorry...I'm starting to type way too much because I'm excited about this idea you gave me! I teach a semester class, so in 2 weeks we will leave for xmas break, and in January I will have all new kids. This is something I will probably do with my next semester class. Although.....I might have time in the next 2 weeks.... | <urn:uuid:fa95bf59-4b65-4167-9646-d241148063bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politicsmagazine.com/showthread.php?p=1713052 | 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 | 0.976735 | 497 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Well, not so fast.
Sure, the IPO market has slowed in the last couple of months, after thousands lost money on Facebook's poorly managed debut in mid-May. But the market remains far from dead.
Even in this kind of weak, choppy climate we see right now, innovation always comes to the top.
America is still brimming with lots of entrepreneurs who want to change the world around them. And help line the pockets of some savvy investors.
Winning IPOs keep the tech sector moving forward. That, in turn builds the base for the next round of startups with big ideas looking to go public someday.
And when you look at the most successful tech IPOs of 2012, you can see, these ideas are big.
Imagine a new system that cuts air pollution at a coal-fired plant while the flame is still burning - providing cleaner output for any type of fuel.
Or consider a platform that gives viewers the ability to watch any TV show they want, anytime, anywhere, on any device, from a laptop to a smart phone, all with one simple login.
And if you can take a known drug and tweak a little bit so it fights depression, well, that will be a godsend for millions of Americans.
I mention these cutting-edge breakthroughs because they represent the tech behind stocks that have gone public this year with big gains for investors.
By the way, I'm calculating the "best" returns based on one simple stat - how much the price has risen since the stock began trading through the market close on Wednesday.
Let's take a look...
The Top Five Tech IPOs of 20121) Synacor Inc. (NASDAQ:SYNC) went public on February 13 and has gained 156% in five months.
Synacor targets the big global trend toward cloud computing. That's a fancy way of saying that end users don't store content on their PCs or smart phones. Instead, the data, voice, or video lives in the "cloud," which loosely means the Internet.
With the flood of new devices and Web-streaming services for TV and movies, this is a model tailor-made for the digital era.
Let's say a cable TV client wants to watch The Big Bang Theory on a laptop on Monday, on a smart phone on Tuesday, and on a tablet on Wed. No sweat. Synacor has a service that allows people to do just that - and all with an easy setup. It also supplies a user-friendly home page that's simple to navigate.
Here's the thing. The firm gets nearly 86% of its sales from these start pages and display ads. And talk about high traffic... Synacor had 21.3 million unique visitors in this year's first quarter - visitors who made 271 million search queries. On average, people click on the ads some 2.8 billion times a month.
2) Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SUPN) went public on May 1 and has rallied 172% in 11 weeks.
This is a boutique drug firm looking to create and sell products that treat central nervous system (CNS) disorders. As such, it is at work on a number of drugs in the fields of neurology and psychiatry.
Armed with 20 years of research, Supernus seeks to address unmet needs for:
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
So far, it's working.
In late June, the firm said it had received a tentative approval from the FDA for its Trokendi XR™ epilepsy drug. Though the firm still needs to address some marketing issues before the FDA will allow the drug to hit the market, it doesn't need to test the drug on any more patients.
3) WageWorks Inc. (NYSE:WAGE) went public on May 11 and gained 35% in two months.
Taking the firm public in late May was a risky move for the leaders at WageWorks. After all, their IPO could have gotten lost in all the hoopla over Facebook, which began selling shares to the public just a week later.
Not only that, all eyes in the healthcare sector were on the U.S. Supreme Court as it got ready to issue a ruling on ObamaCare. The high court struck down some parts of the law but upheld the key part that forces people to have health coverage or pay a tax.
But the market has certainly liked the IPO timing. WageWorks helps its clients manage health and other accounts for their workers - hence the name.
The Silicon Valley firm provides a cloud-based platform to manage tax-advantaged health programs and other perks. These on-demand service makes it easy for workers to manage their accounts from a Web browser. No wonder WageWorks has 5,000 clients that cover some two million people - it sells to 42% of the firms on the Fortune 100 list of the largest U.S. firms.
4) Guidewire Software Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) went public on January 25 and ran up 56% in six months.
Not every piece of high-tech has to dazzle the average person as being "cutting edge" to rake in the cash. Just look at Guidewire. It's a firm that sells software to insurance firms.
Fact is, making software that's as simple as this is very tough to do. Think of it as putting a big V8 race engine under the hood of a ho-hum Ford Taurus.
Guidewire sees a big market for its products. Property and casualty insurers are in the early stages of swapping out clunky software systems that, in many cases, are decades old. So Guidewire meets their needs with a robust software suite that integrates details about policies, billing, and claims.
That laser-like focus explains why firms like Nationwide Insurance, CAN, and SafeAuto have joined Guidewire's client list. Despite years of red ink, the firm worked hard to cement its status as best of breed. It's racked up solid profits in each of the last two years.
5) Clearsign Combustion Corp. (NASDAQ:CLIR) went public on April 25 and is up 35% in 11 weeks.
Clearsign launched in 2008 as a green-energy play that offers a low-cost, cutting-edge way to reduce air pollution while also getting higher energy output.
A big market awaits. Experts say the pollution-control market totals more than $40 billion with a yearly compound growth rate of 6%. The U.S. has 163,000 gas-fired boilers, and China has 500,000 that burn coal.
Now you know why burning fossil fuels accounts for nearly two-thirds of the global energy produced. At the same time, energy producers face constant pressure to lower the amount of harmful matter that goes into the air.
No doubt, the science behind Clearsign's approach is complex. Simply stated, the system relies on a computer-driven high-voltage process to suppress pollutants at the flame source. That means it can provide cleaner output for any type of fuel. We're talking both coal and natural gas, which account for the bulk U.S. energy for homes and industry.
Though Clearsign made the top five IPO list, its stock has come under extreme pressure of late. It reached a high of $9.39 on May 7. The stock has rallied three times since then, but has yet to find solid footing.
As you can see, there's just no shortage of great ideas in the Era of Radical Change.
Six stocks are currently lined up to make their debuts as early as this week. Of those, two are in high tech and a third is a biotech issue.
So stay tuned. I'm going to keep telling you about hot new startups I believe will change the world - and successful IPOs that will make tech investors rich at the same time.
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These Teen Geniuses are on a Path to Change the World | <urn:uuid:79098101-7008-4bbf-be6c-5738fbb6ac85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moneymorning.com/2012/07/20/best-high-tech-ipos-this-year/ | 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 | 0.954654 | 1,716 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The EU budget summit, which could turn into a marathon as it tries to nail down monies for the next seven years, begins today. With the euro zone repeatedly failing to nail down a Greek deal, the EU would be well advised not to let this negotiation fall apart too. Having said that, there is little sign of great concern in market pricing – presumably the ECB’s pledge to buy government bonds in whatever amount it takes to steady the bloc continues to suppress investor nerves and short sellers.
Net contributors to the budget including Germany, France and Britain want to cut 100 billion euros from the European Commission’s draft budget proposal, but differ over which areas to cut. Meanwhile, the main beneficiaries of EU funding such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic oppose cuts. The meeting is intended to lay the groundwork for political agreement on the budget by EU leaders at their final summit of 2012 in December. It will last two days, maybe more and it could well be that no agreement is reached. Officials say only a cut in real terms – for the first time ever – is likely to do the trick.
Back to Greece and prime minister Samaras will meet Eurogroup chief Juncker in Brussels although he is now largely a passive, angry bystander in this process. While Juncker’s assertion in the early hours of Wednesday morning that a deal was only held up by complex technical matters has some truth to it, there is a far deeper split to be closed. | <urn:uuid:cfb06eca-2053-49cd-a09e-38f44e0eaab3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/tag/imf/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972757 | 298 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Investors have become familiar with the term “contagion” in recent years, but most are accustomed to hearing the phenomenon discussed in relation to sovereign debt defaults in Europe or across U.S. municipalities. But in recent days the Middle East has seen a wave of revolutionary protests and rallies spread across the region, as what began as calls for democratic overhauls in Cairo has quickly spread to a handful of other countries.
U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the President’s Day holiday, with investors focusing on overseas developments anyways. Yemen’s president shot down calls for his resignation that have intensified during ten days of demonstrations throughout the country. “Why do they want to return to chaos?” said Ali Abdullah Saleh, who also offered to sit down to discussions with protestors inspired by movements that forced out leaders in Egypt and Tunisia [see also Examining International Dividend ETFs].
In Bahrain, an oil rich island nation that is among the fastest growing economies in the Arab world, protests against the government moved into their second week. At least eight people have been killed and hundreds injured in Bahrain, with rallies to remove the monarchy clashing with riot police. The demonstrations have begun to impact the country’s economy; next month’s Formula One grand prix has been canceled, and S&P has now cut the government’s credit ratings due to concerns over the conflicts.
In the north African country of Morocco, looting broke out in the midst of protests calling for changes to the constitution. The protests against the Moroccan monarchy were generally peaceful, though reports indicated that at least five people had died and more than 100 buildings had been damaged in the wake of the looting [see also Middle East ETFs Head-To-Head: GULF vs. MES].
But the most troubling reports came from Libya, where government supporters and protesters met in deadly clashes in the streets after the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi issued a rambling speech on state television that, among other things, blamed recent unrest on foreign agents and Islamic radicals. Reports that the Libyan leader had fled for South America continued to swirl on Monday as Gadhafi loyalists and protesters clashed throughout the country. Al Jazeera reported Monday night that land and mobile communications from the country had been cut, and Human Rights Watch said that it had confirmed more than 230 deaths.
The Arab League is set to hold an emergency summit on Tuesday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Libya, suggesting that international intervention may be coming in the days ahead.
Middle East ETFs In Focus
With geopolitical tensions flaring throughout the region, equity markets around the globe have been hammered in recent sessions thanks to the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the oil rich corner of the world. While many Western companies have closed operations and could be impacted adversely by the developments of recent days, funds offering exposure to the Middle East have become quite volatile in the past few trading sessions. Below, we profile a handful of options for investing in the Middle East [for more ETF insights, sign up for our free ETF newsletter]:
Market Vectors Egypt ETF (EGPT)
Though Egypt’s political situation is clearer now than it was a week ago, the outlook for the country’s economy remains murky. The re-opening of the Egyptian stock market has been delayed multiple times, frustrating international investors who have been locked into positions for three weeks now. The exchange indicated over the weekend that it would soon announce an opening date and that it was taking steps to ensure a “gradual return to normal operation.” Those include limiting trading to three hours a day and freezing action if the base price moves by more than 5% [see also 11 Rapid Fire ETF Ideas For 2011].
Egypt’s benchmark index slid by about 17% in the two sessions before protests halted trading in late January. While the underlying stocks haven’t traded since then, EGPT has been incredibly active–despite having only about $25 million in assets. The fund recently closed at a premium of about 19% to the last recorded NAV, and about 40% of the fund’s assets are cash [see Deciphering The Oddities Of The Egypt ETF].
WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF)
Unlike EGPT, this dividend-weighted fund spreads its holdings across multiple countries–some of which have experienced turmoil and some of which remain relatively stable from a political perspective. Qatar (28%), Kuwait (24%), and the UAE (22%) make up a big slug of assets, with smaller weightings going to Morocco, Egypt, Oman, and Jordan. Expect GULF to trade on the headlines in coming sessions; this fund could perform well if protests begin to fizzle but could get hammered if revolutionary efforts accelerate [see also ETFs To Watch As Egyptian Drama Plays Out].
Market Vectors Gulf States Index ETF (MES)
This ETF offers heavy exposure to the relatively stable Gulf State economies of Kuwait (44%), Qatar (25%) and the UAE (20%), while peppering in smaller allocations to markets such as Bahrain and Yemen. Like many funds offering exposure to the Middle East, MES is heavy in the financial sector; banks and financial services companies make up more than 55% of assets [see MES holdings].
iShares MSCI Israel Investable Market Index Fund (EIS)
Another country-specific ETF, EIS offers exposure to Israeli equities. Israel’s political establishment isn’t in danger of crumbling, but the country has found itself at odds with other regional powers in recent weeks. The post-Mubarak government in Egypt recently authorized two warships to pass through the Suez Canal–a move within its rights (the canal is an internal body of water) but sure to irritate Israel. The overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt has sparked some concerns over the future of relations with Israel, which have been relatively peaceful for the last three decades thanks to the Camp David peace treaty [see also Time For An Africa ETF?].
SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa ETF (GAF)
Though it’s name may suggest otherwise, GAF is actually more similar to the iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund (EZA) than it is to the other ETFs on this list. This SPDR allocates about 88% of its assets to South African stocks, splitting the rest between Egypt and Morocco. This serves as a good example of the value from looking under the hood of an ETF before investing; GAF’s name suggests that it stands to be impacted by recent events, but is in fact largely insulated from the tumultuous protests in the Middle East [see GAF holdings].
Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
ETF Database is not an investment advisor, and any content published by ETF Database does not constitute individual investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. From time to time, issuers of exchange-traded products mentioned herein may place paid advertisements with ETF Database. All content on ETF Database is produced independently of any advertising relationships. Read the full disclaimer here. | <urn:uuid:8ba0b21e-a988-4d4a-8bc8-feb0a834e3f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://etfdb.com/2011/middle-east-etfs-under-pressure-as-protests-intensify/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95764 | 1,473 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Childbirth confinement for a new mother is an essential matter and should not be taken for granted. Should it not be well taken care of, it would affect the physical conditions of the mother.
Que Xiu Hwa said, in general mothers would take ginger liquor chicken and should stay away from cold water and hair-blowing or it could lead to intermittent headaches.
Tonic supplement two weeks later
"Normally tonic supplements should only be taken two weeks after the confinement," said Que.
Confinement lady would normally prepare a variety of cooked food based on the mothers' appetite, such as ginger liquor chicken with sweet potatoes leaves, kai lan and choy sum. Fish such as pomfret or ma you are also indispensable dishes for mothers in confinement.
With regard to the news reported on newspapers about the sudden death of an infant from choking milk, Que said confinement ladies were under constant stress overseeing infants at night and had to pay attention to every move of the babies.
At this point, Que provided an optimal way to avoid suffocation from milk ingestion: to let the babies rest on their sides while sleeping.
Infants diagnosed with jaundice should be bathed with iron cloth leaves, at the same time breast feeding mothers should stop taking ginger liquor chicken to avoid the yellowish skin color on their infants from getting worse.
Herbal medicine as secret formula
The issues of bathing for mothers and their newborn babies within the first month after confinement should not be neglected. In general, the traditional secret formula of using dried herbs as bath water is commonly practised to expel wind.
Hawkers at Bentong market used to sell dried herbs for such purposes. Da Feng Ai (bluemea balsamifera) is the herb for mothers while Bu Bu Grass (physalis angulata), Chuan Xin Lian (andrographis paniculata) and She Cao (clinacanthus nutans) are widely used to drive away toxic heat and cold.
75-year-old hawker Zhang Fook Zhen told Sin Chew Daily modern mothers still adhere to traditional herbal baths during confinement.
"It is quite difficult to buy herbs in big cities nowadays, and as such many people have to get their relatives to buy the herbs from Bentong or Chinese medical shops."
The herbs are quite cheap, selling only at RM1 to RM1.20 each bundle. Mothers in confinement would normally buy up to ten bundles each time.
Zhang said many people were rushing to give birth to dragon babies this year, resulting in robust sales for herbs and ginger. | <urn:uuid:3847a4f7-41b9-4864-9df4-983c3e19f6ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20120516-346235.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958953 | 531 | 1.703125 | 2 |
By Tom DeWeese
web posted November 17, 2008
There is no question that election day, 2008 was a dismal one for those who believe in limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty - the principles of freedom upon which this nation was founded. There is carnage on the battlefield; despair in our hearts; and fear for our future. What does the future hold? Where do we go from here? Can we survive?
Well, call me Pollyanna, but I see opportunity - lots of it. The fact is the American electorate did not reject the principles of freedom as they elected Barack Obama. They rejected the failed policies of George W. Bush. Period. The issues of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty weren't on the table. Neither McCain nor Obama mentioned them.
Barack Obama ran a brilliant campaign. He used the word "change" and that word means many things to many people. There is one solid truth in the election results. The American people wanted change. The big question is whether average Americans and Barack Obama mean the same thing when they say "Change." I think not.
I do not believe that the American people rejected the principles of freedom in exchange for the change Obama is prepared to give them. Americans rejected the cost and pain of endless wars and a world that has come to hate us for it. They rejected an economy that collapsed on their heads. They rejected $4.00 per gallon at the gas pump. They rejected open borders for illegals. They rejected the massive spending and intrusive government brought on by Republican rule. They rejected polices that have created a nation of fear with our personal privacy open to government surveillance. They rejected a failing medical system of skyrocketing costs and reduced level of care. And they rejected gross bailouts for the guilty. In short, Americans rejected George W. Bush and all the big government he stood for.
According to a post-election analysis from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), "voters chose prudent stability - not radical change - when it came to matters affecting their pocketbooks." Financial security was a big issue. "In most ballot measure contests, Americans rejected higher taxes, opted to keep existing tax limits in place, and imposed accountability measures on elected officials. Furthermore, in Congressional races there may be less evidence of a stampede toward bigger government than many pundits would have us believe," said NTU spokesman Pete Sepp. The same trends were found in State and local issues as voters showed no support for a wave of new tax and spend policies.
It is clear, Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats did not get a mandate to impose Socialism on America. And that gives those of us who advocate limited government opportunity to hold the line and even make progress in the fight for freedom. While being ignored and marginalized by the Bush Administration for eight years, we have the real answers to the crisis now facing the new Obama Administration. We have nothing to be ashamed of. No reason to hang our heads. The greatest threat we face is our natural masochistic tendency to take the blame for something we didn't do.
Barack Obama won, and he did it with an arrogance that assures Americans he has the answers to fix the country. The mess of America is now his mess. Of course he will fail because his polices are the same big government intrusions that brought us to disaster in the first place. And the blame will shift to him. In four years it will be Obama's failed economy; Obama's misery on society; Perhaps "Obamavilles?" At the very least Barack Obama is a Socialist. American is not.
And that's exactly why the opportunity to expand the cause of freedom and succeed is ours for the taking. Our assets are huge. First we have the new, energized legions of Ron Paul's revolution chomping at the bit to get in the fight, many who have never before been involved in the political process. We have the massive forces of Americans who stood up and fought illegal immigration amnesty. A full 80% of the American people opposed that legislation and still do. In addition, a vast, angry majority of Americans opposed the bailout of Wall Street, and still do. As the crisis deepens they are becoming increasingly angry at politicians - including Barack Obama - who voted for it against their wishes. Gun advocates are on alert and ready to charge. Abortion opponents are as well. Even business, not always an ally of limited government, understands the stakes and may well become a valuable force against socialist-driven regulation policies.
The greatest obstacle we face may be the increased Democrat majority in Congress. Yet, here too, the threat may be overblown. We must not forget that a full 30% of Democrats in the House voted with us to stop some very dangerous global warming legislation based on the UN's Kyoto Accord. That legislation was introduced by Democrat Barbra Boxer and supported by Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But they couldn't get it passed, even with all that firepower. Nor did all the Democrats support illegal amnesty legislation.
Just because someone like Obama is elected does not mean his agenda is a done deal. We do not live in a vacuum. Actions are more important than words. No politician, not even Barack Obama, is going to take actions that will endanger their position. Politicians hate defeat. No matter how much they want to move forward, they will back off in the face of major opposition. The illegal amnesty legislation is the prime example. And had there been more time in the bailout debate, we would have won that battle too. Our job is to build that opposition, again and again.
However, our forces must be very careful to not just focus on Congress and the White House. That has been our mistake throughout recent history. In so doing, we have taken our eyes off the long-term strategy - local organization.
First, now that George Bush is gone and John McCain lost, we have a real opportunity to fix the Republican Party, just as Ron Paul has advocated. Had McCain won, the neocons would have been even more solidly entrenched and the Republican Party would have continued to be the party of big government, globalism, public/private partnership monopoles, and endless wars for democracy. Republics don't do that.
Local activists fighting in the trenches must have much more influence on the Party. The old order leadership and politicians who present fuzzy or wrong policy must be replaced. We must present an agenda that doesn't leave any doubt as to where we stand. Our troops must take over local leadership, run for office on the local level, from dogcatcher to county commissioner. To accomplish that means we must also become precinct captains and ward leaders. We must be in positions to decide who the candidates will be. That can only be accomplished if we can also guarantee successful get out the vote drives. That can only be done though effective local organizations.
Our Republic was created to give local government more power than Washington and so our revolution must begin in the communities. We must be driven to succeed. That is exactly what the Democrats did. After losing control of the Congress for the first time in 50 years in the 1990s, and seeing the election literally taken from them in 2000, Democrats thrived on an anger and determination that simply could not be stopped this year. The attitude was aptly summed up by comedian Jimmy Kimmel in a headline on the cover of a magazine last month when he said, "Come on, vote Obama and finish this." It was destiny. The Democrats practically willed it so. So must we. It starts at the local level with local involvement as preparation for the national elections. Our lack of attention for local involvement must change.
A major reform that must be made before the next election is the Republican primary system. The winner-take-all format is the reason John McCain won. He simply won a few primaries by very thin margins. But no other candidate got any delegates from their votes they received, no matter how close the tally. McCain took them all. That was the reason for Romney's sudden and unexpected early departure from the race. It was the reason Ron Paul could have no impact on the Republican National Convention. The Democrats have no such system. They give each candidate the percentage they earned in the vote. That is the reason Hillary Clinton could hang in there until the end, almost stopping Obama in a last minute surge. Had she desired, there could have been a heck of an old-fashioned floor fight at the Democratic convention because she had the delegates to wage it. The winner-take-all Republican primary system must be changed.
As many are helping to reform the Republican Party, third parties must take the same steps to organize on the local level. Again, they spend all of their effort running candidates for president, while making little effort to elect local candidates. Then, when the national election comes around, they begin to prepare about four months in advance, trying to organize, recruit workers, or even get on the ballot. It's much too late at that point. It must be done now. And it does not dilute the pot to have strong third party candidates running against Republican candidates. It drives the debate. And wouldn't it be great to have two or three candidates advocating limited government and lower taxes. Imagine what that would do to the Democrat's campaign message. In fact, there is a growing crop of conservative Democrats popping up across the nation. It wouldn't hurt to get involved and help them.
Local activism should also focus on obtaining statewide ballot status for "None-of-the-above" as a means to officially reject bad candidates. I have written extensively on this issue and it should be seriously considered as an organizing theme over the next several years.
Finally, we must learn to frame our message differently to appeal to a broader audience. I am not saying we must compromise any of our principles - I'm suggesting that we put it in new packaging that the average American can understand. Most Americans have little knowledge of what our Founding Fathers stood for or of the difference between a Republic and Democracy. We have to find a new way to say it.
It may surprise many Conservatives to know that most Americans don't really know the difference between a liberal and a conservative. They make pick the label and vote Democrat because they learned it in school. Today's classrooms are little more than liberal factories, teaching only that Conservatives are mean and nasty people who want to pull the bread out of the mouths of babies.
Most Americans are honest, compassionate people who want to help the downtrodden and do some good in the world. They also have homes, families and jobs and they want them to be secure. How they vote becomes a matter of perception. A problem exists and Americans want it solved. Liberal politicians use a few words in a sound bite to proclaim "fix it now!" Conservatives spend ten minutes explaining the economic fallacies of the liberal's solution. Who are they going to listen to?
The fact of the matter is, as we well know, liberal solutions actually cause more pain and misery in the long run. America's standard of living is being reduced as government control of the economy tightens. Government health care intervention is actually the cause of rising costs and diminished quality of care. We know full well that government intervention as a solution actually creates massive problems, only to have more liberal solutions imposed to fix the problems they created. Massive government bureaucracies expand to more spending, higher taxes and very little progress in fixing the original problem. But you can't say all of that in a sound bite.
Another lesson I've learned from talking with liberal friends is that they speak in terms of programs, while we pontificate in terms of philosophy. Their's is just a matter-of-fact outlook with the attitude of "Well, let's solve this problem." Conservatives run from government like the plague, shouting something about Jefferson as we flee. We leave the battle ground to the liberals, spawning yet more programs.
We need to change how we present our ideas. Liberals talk of compassion while actually imposing damaging polices that take away hard-earned income, while placing the poor in group categories, robbing them of their individuality. Yet, they get away with it because they have "compassion."
Our ideas have true compassion, advocating that everyone has equal opportunity to achieve their own for prosperity, hopes and dreams. We need to say that, but we must express our concern in terms of compassion. For example, recently I was discussing the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) with a liberal friend. She had actually worked on a "program" dealing with transportation in which she encountered pieces and parts of the TTC. I mentioned the growing opposition to the corridor and she asked if the opposition was a result of some mismanagement she had encountered when working on the project. No, I explained, people are about to lose their homes through eminent domain just for the benefit of big corporations. She then understood our opposition immediately. It would have done no good to discuss the violations of our national sovereignty or the encroachment of government where it didn't belong. But she understood the plight of the "victims." Oh, she said, someone must do something to help them! Compassion.
Such is the way we need to sell our solutions to the average, perhaps self-described liberal American. We must condemn government redistribution programs in terms of compassion for the poor. Such programs are robbing them of their dignity, forcing them into life-long bread lines. Instead we must explain how to provide opportunity for them to build a life of their own. That solution of course, is private property ownership. It's not just a rich man's "capitalist" solution to line his own pockets - but one of compassion for the victims - a way for them to achieve hopes and dreams. It worked for me during my debate at Cambridge speaking to a sea of students educated on liberal claptrap.
The point is this. Today is not the time for despair or defeatism. We are free of the chains of the defeated, discredited neocons and their global agenda. Americans rejected it. But they have not rejected ours. Now we are free to finally restore our Republic, if, as Ben Franklin admonished, we can keep it. I would clarify to say, if we want to keep it, it's ours.
Today, while Obama and his ilk celebrate their victory, believing they are on the verge of "shaping a generation of globally-conscious leaders," actually they are about to show the nation such blather doesn't work. It's on their shoulders now and it's the beginning of their end. It's the beginning of our opportunity.
Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report. The DeWeese Report is now available online.
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Popular radio has been as source of entertainment for a century. It has developed from the main focus in a 1920’s household to 1960’s road trip soundtracks to today, where we can tune into our favorite stations digitally, online, or even through our televisions. Radio has been there for us when we wanted to tape shows to our cassettes, when we needed the rundown of the latest chart hits, to listen to audio debates with your Grandma in the car – it’s taken us on a journey.
Nowadays, ‘radio’ can come in the form of actual radios, digital shows, television programs, live online broadcasting, podcasting and pre-recorded videos. And the lucky thing here is that everyone can give it a go. Whereas in years gone by radio presenter positions were saved for the select few lucky enough to get their ‘big break’, today resources are available for anyone to try their hand at attempting to become a radio personality.
Perhaps you have an idea you want to share with the world, maybe you want to discuss a niche topic or provide an audience with an insight into an interest of yours. An internet talk radio show is a great way to develop an audience online, create a radio persona for yourself and produce a show that suits exactly what you’re looking for. People create online talk shows for business, campaigning, music, debate, information – a whole host of reasons; and all targeted at a different audience.
So getting started is easy. You just have to follow a few simple steps, make sure you’re all planned out and then take the plunge:
Get a Theme on the Go
Being an online success with an internet talk show doesn’t come easily. With millions of people online every day and thousands of them testing the water with their own talk show, you need to make sure you know where you want to go with yours. Picking your theme is crucial to shaping your persona, the direction of your show and finding the right target audience.
Without a theme, your show will deviate, seem vague and appear unprofessional and disorganized to listeners. People want to know what they’re listening to and they’ll come to your show for a particular reason. If you can’t offer any solid background concerning the nature of your broadcast, people will find something more suited to their needs on more specific terms.
Planning, Prepping, Preening
Planning is key; it’s as simple as that. Although radio shows often seem chatty and ‘off the cuff’ they’re actually very well schemed with speakers knowing the basic rundown of what they have to say. Penciling down an outline of the order of your shows will be useful for you to keep track and ensure focus throughout your broadcasting. It will prevent deviation and will help you to keep in mind what you’ve already said, where you’re heading next and where you mean to end up, without repeating yourself.
Although scripting your show can force it to sound rehearsed and often stiff or monotonous, having a rough outline can be beyond useful. It stops with deviation and reminds you, even if you do go a little off topic, where exactly to come back to. That’s why the professionals do it!
And the Star of the Show Is…
Be daring, be bold, be enticing. If you want people to listen to your show, you have to force them into it. Make them have a reason to listen to you and no-one else in your field.
Having high profile guests is an excellent way to do this. Just because it seems unlikely that Barack Obama will come on your show, give it a whirl anyway. There is no harm in asking, and sometimes big names may just surprise you. With social networking so widely open, it’s generally quite easy to get in touch with the A-listers these days.
Alternatively, find guests who are prepared to make the show exciting. Ones who will cause a spark of controversy and make a debate worth listening to. Find a guest who will intrigue and entice your audience.
Make sure you prepare your guests. Run through what you’re going to say with them. You don’t want any unfortunate incidents of offense or awkward silences from asking the wrong questions. You need to be sure that your guests are comfortable with everything you have in store for them and that they know the general order. A confused or disgruntled guest can make your show look unprofessional and unplanned.
Testing 1,2, Testing
Recording you talk show should be the easiest part to the whole process. With a whole host of DJ equipment online, it’s just a click of a button to get the process underway.
DJ equipment online and programs such as Audacity will allow you to record, edit and mix your audio in order to produce a piece that gives the impression of professional quality. It enables you to add an intro and outro as well as sound effects and other music to provide your audience with a fully polished piece, synonymous with a real radio station show!
About the Author:
Emily Jenkins is a freelance writer who never stops talking. She loves to give advice, share anecdotes and encourage others to do the same. Many people have told her to try her hand at radio presenting and even sent her tips from www.dj-tips-and-tricks.com to get her started! | <urn:uuid:4b5fcea9-cf72-46dc-96f2-b731e1ed9b2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jamesmartell.com/blog/calling-yourself-an-internet-talk-radio-show-host/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957584 | 1,134 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is committed to protecting the safety and security of our community. Emergencies, disasters, accidents and criminal activity can occur at any time without warning. We continually review and update preparedness measures to address evolving threats. Preparedness at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign involves collaboration between the leaders of our campus units, schools, colleges and departments.
The Office of Campus Emergency Planning provides resources, guidance and training to the University community in matters related to prevention/mitigation, planning, response and recovery. We take great pride in the relationships established between critical stakeholders and those who work in the Division of Public Safety. These relationships continue to facilitate trust and increase critical communication during emergency and non-emergency situations.
We would like to remind our community that being physically and psychologically prepared for emergency situations is an individual, as well as an organizational, responsibility. Safety and security is a shared responsibility, and only by working together can we establish an environment that is ready to respond to emergency situations. We invite you to use this Web site as a resource to prepare yourself as well as your workplace. If you have questions or need additional assistance, please contact Todd Short at email@example.com.
Lieutenant Todd Short
University of Illinois Police Department
Office of Campus Emergency Planning | <urn:uuid:d5e32379-5465-4838-b3c9-61e966a243e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dps.illinois.edu/emergencyplanning/index.html | 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 | 0.955542 | 272 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Words of a future genius?
At the age of nine few children know what they will go on to do with their lives. But for a scientist involved in one of the most revolutionary medical operations of recent times, his destiny appears to have been spelled out in a letter written 35 years ago, to a BBC children's programme.
It had been a heck of a year for Professor Anthony Hollander. In 2008, after 20 years of research into helping arthritis sufferers he unexpectedly found himself being asked to urgently adapt his skills to help save the life of a woman in Spain.
The groundbreaking treatment, by a team of scientists and surgeons, gave the woman a new windpipe using her own stem cells. He had helped save a dying woman and the successful operation made headlines around the world. It was, by any measure, a career high.
Boy to man: Prof Hollander says his child-like enthusiasm remains
After it was all over Mr Hollander got to thinking, and suddenly made a connection. In 1973, a nine-year-old Anthony Hollander had written to Blue Peter to tell them he had a "strange" belief that he knew how to "make people or animals alive".
The letter, which by his own admission today was "eccentric", went on to ask the programme to help him acquire the necessary materials to carry out these life-saving tasks.
The shopping list included a "model of a heart split in half" and "tools for cutting people open".
Thousands of children wrote to the programme every week, but each one received a personal letter back, and Anthony was no exception.
The response from then editor, Biddy Baxter, was "fundamental" to his future, he now believes. She encouraged him to seek information for his idea from the family doctor.
It was not so much the advice itself that left an impression on the boy. It was that whisper of encouragement that he gleaned from having received a reply at all, and that the letter did not dismiss his idea.
"If her letter had shown any hint of ridicule or disbelief I might perhaps never have trained to become a medical scientist or been driven to achieve the impossible dream, and really make a difference to a human being's life," he says.
Now aged 44, with three children of his own, Mr Hollander's realisation of how he had foretold his future prompted him once again to fire off a missive to the BBC - although this time it was an e-mail.
Remarkably, unbeknown to Mr Hollander, Baxter had only recently selected his letter to be published in her book, Dear Blue Peter, which charts the programme's correspondence over its first 50 years.
She remembered his "funny" letter very well, and the two have recently discussed its significance.
"It was a letter full of enthusiasm which is, of course, the hallmark of the pre-pubescent child - the audience for whom Blue Peter was and still is intended," she told him.
Reflecting on this unlikely sequence of events, Baxter says: "It was tremendous to find out how Anthony had got on in life. When I got his e-mail I knew exactly who it was."
What Baxter couldn't have known at the time was that it had all started with a stricken bird.
One day in 1973 Anthony - a "sickly child" - was off school and at home with his mother, when he found a fatally injured bird in the paved area of their garden in north London.
Biddy Baxter kept hold of all correspondence from the viewers
"It was in some distress," he recalls today. "My mum was too squeamish to deal with it, so I put it out of its misery. For a nine-year-old it was hard to have to do that."
As he remembers it he got to thinking, about death, and about how he might be able to keep people alive.
"So I did what all sensible children do when in need of practical help with an idea. I wrote to Blue Peter," he said.
"I can vaguely remember I was thinking about re-routing the blood out of the heart and recirculating it. Then they could fix up the heart and it would be alright again. I just didn't want that death stuff to happen."
An intensely curious child, Anthony says he was obsessed with the world around him. But school exams didn't go as well as he'd hoped and it wasn't until he was ensconced in the world of academia that he really flourished. A lack of sufficient grades had meant he couldn't study medicine, but he went on to gain a first class degree in pharmacology.
His childlike notion of dreaming that every part of the body was fixable has never really left him, he says.
Mr Hollander's colleagues at the University of Bristol's School of Medical Sciences, would probably recognise his adult self in the Blue Peter letter - not least his poor spelling - he says, and he expects a "ribbing" about it.
"As adults we can tend to lose the capacity to dream and think big. Children will dream unselfconsciously. I still do that - I still go around telling people 'these are the things I want to do'. I don't have time for any kind of scepticism."
Last week the professor - who is to be honoured with a Blue Peter gold badge - told Baxter: "I remember being thrilled at the time to have been taken seriously. Actually, even nowadays I am thrilled when people take my ideas seriously. I know that might sound strange to you. But my way of doing science is to think up a hundred theories, however mad, and work through them until I find one that fits the data."
He added: " If you had failed to reply, or had treated my letter as a joke (as perhaps others might have done) it could well have altered the course of my life.
"You had a very precious role to play in dealing with the many and varied child-minds presented to you and that important work is now being continued."
Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
What a brilliant tale of enthusiasm, passion and encouragement in these otherwise dark times. Small, seemingly insignificant things we adults do or say to children can have such a far-reaching impact. As adults we have a duty to encourage, not disparage children.
Helen, Bedale, Yorkshire
What a fantastic story. It must bring a smile to every reader's face, and a warm feeling to go back in time and dwell on that place we all shared as children, devoted to Blue Peter… Our programme that was serious telly for kids.
Enormous congratulations to Professor Hollander, and massive thanks and respect to Biddy Baxter for all that she did and brought to several generations.
Martin Giblin, Formby, Liverpool, UK
What a beautiful story, so inspiring. It made me think of how impressionable children are and that if all of us were to look back on our lives there would have been someone who inspired us at some point. I do hope that with all the PC forced onto teachers and alike that we don't forget to 'think outside the box' and empower children to turn their dreams into reality.
Nicola Weaver, Basingstoke, England
A great story. One that serves to remind us that you shouldn't stop dreaming. You've just brightened my day.
Great article. It really shows just how important it is to encourage children to follow their dreams and ideas. We should all take note.
It comes as no surprise that Mr Hollander expressed his desire to go into medicine at so young an age. I was five when I told a family friend that I wanted to do something in music when I grew up and 12 when I informed my cello teacher that I wanted to teach the cello. I came from a working class, non-musical family and am doing just what I said I would.
K Tucker, Horsham
Great story indeed. I have an old junior school essay (written when I was around eight or nine) that states "when I grow up I want to be an artist". I'm now 46 and have been a graphic designer all my working career.
Steve Edwards, Hampton, UK
Amazing. It is amazing what a little direction and positive encouragement of a child can do. Perhaps it's not Professor Hollander saving lives, but the ethos of Blue Peter. It is so good to hear some good news for once about children's TV.
What a superb and heart warming account. It goes to show how a little encouragement and belief goes such a very long way. Parents and employers take note.
What a wonderful inspiring letter -It reminds us that often the small things we do can have an enormous impact on others. Thank goodness for Biddy.
Cheryl Morgan, Raglan, Wales
The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. | <urn:uuid:7a5bcca7-5420-4bc8-a1c2-b16f57099df2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7845518.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985705 | 1,869 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Once it was the Humanitarian Bowl — that contest played between Western Athletic Conference and Mid-America Conference teams.
Its claim to fame — if you could call it that — is that it is the longest-running, cold-weather bowl played outside. The Boise game has been going on since 1997.
Enter the Idaho Potato Commission, which signed a six-year naming-rights deal. And that created the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
In announcing the Spud Bowl, it was noted that other bowls have commodity names: Orange, Cotton, Sugar.
But let’s face it, they are not the Incredibly Tasty And Good for You, Too, Orange Bowl or the Sweet but Not Corn Syrup Sugar Bowl.
And how about that logo with mashed spuds spilling out of the old pigskin?
Nothing says football like chives. And what about the sour cream?
The Spud Bowl and Spud Commission offer this:
As part of the package, the bowl will be featured prominently in national and regional marketing campaigns conducted by the Commission. Four of the top five potato-consuming states are represented by the WAC and MAC conferences: New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
“We’re proud to support a bowl that has become a national showcase for the State of Idaho,” said Frank Muir, president and CEO of the Idaho Potato Commission. “It’s the perfect opportunity to reinforce the health and quality benefits of Idaho potatoes to a national audience while supporting a game that has generated significant funds for the local economy and associated charities.”
“Our new title sponsor ensures the longevity of the Bowl and means that fans around the country will continue to see exciting games on the blue turf in Boise,” said Kevin McDonald, executive director of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. | <urn:uuid:8f7d6579-eeb1-48bf-a190-5c49400b58f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2011/08/04/wheres-the-gravy-idaho-will-have-famous-idaho-potato-bowl/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953963 | 376 | 1.5625 | 2 |
As predicted, the House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions and guarantee Americans a polar bear in every pot, so long as that pot is made from 75% post-consumer granola. Now the measure heads to the Senate, where at least one man has the carbon-based stones to ask: What, exactly, is the Environmental Protection Agency trying to hide?
A top Republican senator has ordered an investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency's alleged suppression of a report that questioned the science behind global warming.
"[Report author Alan Carlin] came out with the truth. They don't want the truth at the EPA," Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla, a global warming skeptic, told FOX News, saying he's ordered an investigation. "We're going to expose it."
Yes! Transparency, that's what we need in these matters; just think how much time we've wasted on "evolution" because people keep planting those hoax fossils underground. Anyway, kudos to Jim Inhofe for standing up to the EPA on behalf of skilled scientist Alan Carlin…
An EPA official told FOXNews.com on Monday that Carlin, who is an economist — not a scientist — included "no original research" in his report. The official said that Carlin "has not been muzzled in the agency at all," but stressed that his report was entirely "unsolicited."
"It was something that he did on his own," the official said. "Though he was not qualified, his manager indulged him and allowed him on agency time to draft up … a set of comments."
Oh, what, now you have to be a "scientist" to write policy reports about science? Who gets to decide what makes a person a "scientist," anyway? That's right, other "scientists." See how this sham works?
And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go draft up a report disproving calculus. I just have a hunch, is all, and I hated that crap in school.
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Wellington, May 15 NZPA - Toll Rail, which Australian owner Toll Holdings has agreed to sell to the Government for $665 million, said today it had signed a major contact with dairy giant Fonterra.
The two-year contract is to transport coal from Eastern Coal Holdings Takitimu mine in Southland to Clandeboye, 32km north of Timaru, one of Fonterra's two biggest South Island dairy factories.
But if the coal is to go directly to the plant, a new branch line will have to be built from Ontrack's network - at present the coal sold to the dairy factory by Solid Energy is only railed as far as Temuka, and is trucked from there.
Ontrack has said that funding the branch line would need to be done by other parties. This would potentially include not only Fonterra but the regional council and roading authorities, on the grounds that the rail link could remove huge numbers of truck movementsfrom highways.
And a direct rail connection to the dairy complex, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, is expected to open up opportunities for Fonterra to move more raw milk between factories for processing efficiencies, to give it more choice in moving product to ports, and to significantly reduce its carbon footprint for transport.
In framing its 10-year rail network development plan to 2015, Ontrack looked at not only building a new branch line to Fonterra's Clandeboye factory, but a better spur line to its equally big dairy factory at Edendale, where it did a lot of work several years ago to cope with the huge expansion of dairying in Southland.
In the Waikato dairying region, Fonterra has taken over 50,000 truck movements off the road by building a huge warehouse at Te Rapa serviced by a rail line, and is now apparently pushing for tunnel heights to be increased on the line from its big Taranaki complex at Hawera, to Te Rapa.
The Canterbury Regional Land Transport Committee, co-ordinated by Environment Canterbury, has previously urged the Government to consider paying for the branch line to Clandeboye, one of Fonterra's biggest manufacturing sites with a processing capacity of over nine million litres of milk a day.
Direct rail links to both the southern mega-sites would not only help with the "import" of fuels and raw milk, but would give the company greater flexibility in being able to switch raw milk to alternative processing plants at the peak of the season, and to improve the costings to be considered when it sends product to ports. When growing pains struck the southern dairy industry in 1999, Edendale was able to send 8.6 million litres of milk north from Southland to be processed at Clandeboye. The new coal supply contract will entail Toll Rail moving about 120,000 tonnes of coal a year. This is expected to be handled by five daily trains a week, with additional capacity available as required.
Toll Rail's general manager, Joe Garbellini, said the deal, which started with the redevelopment of the Takitimu mine during the coming dairy season in September, followed Fonterra transferring its coal supply arrangements to Queensland-owned Eastern Coal Holdings.
In March, Eastern's auditors, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), said there was significant doubt over Eastern's ability to continue as a going concern because it needed more shareholder funds, and had problems servicing existing and potential supply contracts and achieving cash flows to meet its obligations.
Eastern said its New Zealand bankers had made available a term loan of $3.42 million.
The Takitimu mine, in the Ohai/Nightcaps area, last year sold 12,477 tonnes for $869,715.
Mr Garbellini said Toll had been in close negotiations with Eastern over several months and after an extensive evaluation process continued railing of the coal prevailed as the most sustainable and efficient transport option.
As Toll has previous experience in servicing Fonterra's requirements in this area, he said the switchover to Eastern would create little operational change.
At the time the Fonterra contract to Eastern was announced, Fonterra chief operating officer Barry Bragg said the company would have to downsize its mine at Ohai, where 58 people worked.
The mine, near Takitimu, supplied Fonterra with 100,000 tonnes of coal a year, and its viability was underwritten by the Fonterra contract, he said.
NZPA WGT sml kca ob mgr
Compare Credit Cards - Independent interest rate and fees comparisons for New Zealand banks. | <urn:uuid:8c91c161-9e90-49f7-b9f5-698a8eaa401e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guide2.co.nz/money/news/business/toll-carriage-of-coal-supply-for-clandeboye-may-spur-new-line/11/993 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968397 | 971 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Norway will contribute up to NOK 25 million towards cancelling Liberia’s debt to foreign private creditors. The announcement was made by State Secretary Håkon A. Gulbrandsen on 26 June at the Liberia Poverty Reduction Forum in Berlin.
"The people of Liberia are paying a heavy price for old debts. We will contribute NOK 25 million to prevent Liberia’s debt to private creditors from hampering the country’s fight against poverty,” said Mr Gulbrandsen.
So-called vulture funds buy up the debts of the poorest and most heavily indebted countries and then sue the countries for the whole outstanding debt and the accrued interest. Norway is now helping to buy back and cancel NOK 8 billion worth of Liberia’s debt.
“The vulture funds are the scavengers of the financial world. They buy up developing countries’ debts cheaply and then collect the debts plus compound interest in order to fill the bank accounts of the rich. Norway is helping to eliminate these vulture funds,” said Mr Gulbrandsen.
At the Forum, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf presented her new poverty reduction strategy. Norway is one of the main cooperation partners. In the space of one year, Liberia’s debt has been reduced by NOK 5 billion, but its remaining debt is still five times that amount.
Norway recently contributed NOK 110 million towards cancelling Liberia’s defaulted debt to international financial institutions. The Government will also cancel 90% of Liberia’s debt to Norway this year.
Liberia’s has been through a 14-year-long civil war, which ended in 2003. It is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Read State Secretary Gulbrandsen’s statement at the Forum.
Press contact: Information Adviser Ragnhild H. Simenstad, mobile phone 917 17 459. | <urn:uuid:0eb5d802-ffa8-4114-8f06-678fc6cd9852> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud/press/news/2008/norway-pledges-nok-25-million-towards-ca.html?id=519892 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942371 | 399 | 1.585938 | 2 |
But like any other tool, he said, its effectiveness really depends on the
"Nothing beats on-the-ground reporting, just being the person at that meeting reporting on what they are saying," he said. "Social media has definitely become a way that you can do that instantaneously. There are all these anecdotes that may not fit into a story, but people are interested in hearing about them."
Past sessions, he said, featured lots of tweets from people who were observing the session. Now, he said, tweets more often are coming from advocates, organizations and agencies.
While the individuals and organizations with the most social media contact seem to be on the political left, they no longer hold a monopoly on the tools. GOP Twitter handles and those from more conservative perspectives in New Mexico generally have fewer followers and make fewer posts -- @GOPHouse last made a post Feb. 5 -- but they are present.
Among examples of regular users are former Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who is now an administrator for the Secretary of State's Office and who challenged journalists and Democrats with a confrontational style on Twitter.
Rob Nikolewski, who produces New Mexico Capitol Report, said he gets classified on the right side of the political spectrum but really considers himself a libertarian. He said it's true that people on the left side of the political spectrum in New Mexico historically have been more active on social media but the right is likely to catch up.
"I was a little reluctant at first but I was sort of told 'do it and that it would help your site,' which was true," he said, "So I imagine that anybody -- left, center, right -- if they are starting something or they've got any kind of media presence, they are begin told from on high 'Use this stuff. Use the social media to get your stuff out.' I think it's almost universal now."
In the Senate Republican press office, Diane Kinderwater said the focus was on a new website, as well as Facebook and YouTube. Rather than connecting with constituents, she said, those tools have mostly been for outreach to media outlets that aren't reporting from Santa Fe.
"We updated our press releases on Facebook and provided digital interviews that we posted on YouTube," she said, noting that radio stations in the rural reaches of the state often used content for on-air soundbites.
"It's not always what you put out," said JD Gins, who worked during the session as a spokesman for House Democrats and tried to juggle a presence on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for his bosses. "You can also use Twitter as a barometer for what reactions are happening to different announcements or to things passing."
Individual lawmakers got in on the action, with House Majority Whip Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, often sending tweets during floor sessions and committee hearings. Others said they used social media to keep tabs on committees in other rooms while sitting in hearings of their own. Riechbach noted that using social media is a way for lawmakers to directly communicate without the filter of traditional news media reporting.
"They can just tweet exactly what they want to say and everybody sees it," he said. "I think a lot of people in power like that."
Gins said that's likely to become more common here, as it already is in other states where he's worked.
"You can't really have a press shop or you are not really fully communicating with your constituents or with the press in general if you don't exercise in that arena," he said.
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The Oscar winner has joked about being part of a triangle of man-love along with The King's Speech director Tom Hooper and costar Geoffrey Rush. But that might not be the only highly praised team he's been playing for.
There's a rumor buzzing in Britain that Firth was the driving force behind a recently published academic paper about the relationship between the brain and one's political leanings. Er, he may be the son of college lecturers, but hasn't Firth been rather busy lately, you know, winning a zillion awards and shooting new films like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Gambit?
Well, hang on to your gray matter, kids, because this random story is...
The Colin Firth is indeed credited as one of four authors of "Political Orientations Are Correlated With Brain Structure in Young Adults," published in the scientific journal Current Biology.
According to the BBC, the actor commissioned the research while serving as a guest editor on Radio 4's Today, a news and current affairs show that's been on the air since 1957.
Though really, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Firth's inquiring mind leaned in the direction of neuroscience. While his scholarly background is in music and, duh, the dramatic arts, he is also a published author and is active in various political and human rights causes, including Oxfam and Survival International.
Apparently, he just wanted to know if a liberal brain is distinguishable from a conservative brain! And, according to Firth and his partners in scientific advancement, they are!
"It is a useful contribution because it builds on and extends previous work," John Jost, an NYU professor in political psychology, told The Psychologist.
"It will probably be several years before we understand the full meaning of these results. In the meantime, the field of political neuroscience could do worse than having Colin Firth as a scientific ambassador." | <urn:uuid:f6f53031-931a-420c-b46e-7647ae5b5c76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eonline.com/news/245739/so-true-so-false-did-colin-firth-really-coauthor-a-paper-on-neuroscience | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971055 | 393 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Falls Detail: Located in CFB Gagetown, Lindsay Falls are approximately 200 meters from the Lindsay Valley Cross Country Ski Lodge. Although named Lindsay Falls they are not found on Lindsay Brook, nor are they on Falls Brook. The falls are located on a third brook that is not identified on the map but joins Lindsay Brook just above the small bridge spanning the brook.
This brook plunges over an abrupt escarpment running east to west and are located in a small ravine cutting through a ridge. The main ski trail runs parallel to the brook. Large pine, spruce and cedar trees make the area damp and dark, cover the small ravine containing the falls. This coverage also provides an ion rich environment, fostering quick decay of the many falling trees in this mature woodlot.
Visit Detail: My sister, Glenda and I walked down the hill from the Lindsay Valley Cross Country Ski Lodge across Lindsay Brook and followed the main trail up to the right with the stream on our right shoulder. Jason Bennett, a waterfalls enthusiast, informed me that there was a falls located near the ski lodge, so I decided to drive down from Fredericton to photograph the falls. The brook has overrun its banks due to several days of heavy rainfall and I suspected the falls would be thunderous. We could hear the falls well before seeing them.
After spending a few minutes looking at the falls from the lookout we made our way gingerly down to the bottom of the ravine to photograph the falls. From here we climbed back to the top and then followed the ski trail up to the top of the ridge and then crossed over the bridge 100 meters above the falls. From here we made our way down along the west side of the brook to a point below the falls where I used an existing rope to rappel down to the brook.
Considering the terrain I was surprised that the falls would be 5 meters.
Falls Detail: Acker Creek flows in a westerly direction into the Saint John River near the small hamlet of McKenna, which is approximately halfway between Woodstock and Hartland on the eastside of the Saint John River. The falls is named for the Jennings family an Irish family who homesteaded along the creek. The road leading to the falls is also called Jennings. Over time the water cut through a ridge of bedrock oriented horizontally and running perpendicular to the creek. The timeless energy etched a narrow notch for the top falls and then found a second fissure to the right; and it cut a second notch for the stream to drop over and into a larger pool before continuing towards the Saint John River.
From Woodstock, cross the Saint John River to Grafton and take a left onto Route #105 towards Hartland. Travel approximately 5 km until the Acker Creek Bridge (a concrete structure). After the bridge turn off to the right onto a dirt road called the “Jennings Road”. Drive up the road approximately 2 km until an open field on the right. There is a camp along the edge of the field next to the woods. It’s called Blacks Field, park here. The coordinates for the field are N46° 13.257′ / W067° 28.814′.
Follow the woods road on foot, as the walk is not more than 2 km. On the way in, there is two side roads on the left but continue straight. There is an old abandoned car on the right and a side road leading down to right but once again, stay straight. There is a slight uphill through an old apple orchard and then a small clearing under a large pine tree with remnants of an old campfire. The coordinates for this location are N46° 13.191′ / W067° 28.277′.
From the large pine face east (right) and follow the narrow path over and down a very steep incline into the ravine.
Visit Detail: On Friday, October 24th I scrambled down into the Jenning Falls Ravine with Paul Inman and Stan Ebbett both of Fredericton as well as Richard & Grace Beazley of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Twice a year these fine Haligonians travel to Fredericton to meet up with Paul and Stan to go WATERFALLING. Through the kindness of Paul I was invited to tag along. Earlier in the day the group lead me Coac Falls, near Nackawic and in return I directed the crew to Jennings Falls.
Almost, weekly I receive information about waterfalls. I received information about and directions to Jennings Falls from Nancy Prosser. So thank you ever so much.
Jennings Falls are spectacular and a must for waterfalls enthusiast to visit. The trek down into the ravine was a task but we all managed to make it down and out unscathed. It was such a treat to share the visit with such fine people.
Falls Detail: Rapide de Femme is one of the many streams in the area etching deep ragged ravines through the Appalachia on its passage to the river Saint John. The ravine is located just south of the town of Grand Falls in an area known as Argosy and is relatively unknown to many of the locals due to the falls and gorge at Grand Falls. At one time the province operated a fish hatchery at Rapide de Femme and in doing so constructed a structure to divert water from the stream to supply the hatchery. The remains of this structure remain at the top of the falls.
Rapide de Femme has its headwater in the State of Maine and flows in a southeasterly direction. The stream is spanned by the original TCH and the new TCH tracks along side a portion.
To see these falls drive towards Grand Falls and take the Argosy Road exit from the new TCH. Follow the directions to the Argosy Road and drive down this road towards the West River Road. Turn left and drive approximately 3.5 km up river. Look for a cluster of apartment buildings on the left. There is a cabinetmaker next to the apartments. Park here. Walk up past the building to the NB Trail behind the building. Head up river towards the old fish hatchery. There are old concrete fishponds on the left. Look for the trail leading up between the ponds towards the trees. The 100-meter trail is very easy to find.
Visit Detail: It just began to rain as I emerged from the path to the stream. I could hear the falls from a long way off, informing me that I was in for something special. The waterfall is simply spectacular in both height and stature. I wanted to hike up closer to the base but due to the rain and mist from the falls I decided to photograph the falls from my vantage point. Rapide de Femme has cut a deep ravine into the bedrock forcing the water to careen off the large outcrops on either side of the main channel. The falls and stream are surrounded by evergreens that maintain high level of moisture. I drove past the stream twice without locating it because trees and bushes heavily shroud it. At this point I decided to stop at the cabinet manufacturing business.
Before accessing the waterfall, I spoke with the co-owner of the cabinet manufacturing business for permission to park and directions to the falls. She provided both parking and directions and indicated that she wasn’t the owner of the property around the waterfalls.
Falls Detail: Middle Pitch is located on the North Branch Meduxnekeag River 200 meters down from Briggs Mill Falls and is somewhat larger. The path leading to the falls is from the eastern side of the river and is located at the first notch along the edge of the farm field. The property belongs to Andy Bell and permission should be requested. The Bells do not mind if people walk along the edge as longs as no vehicles are used.
See Briggs Mill Falls for driving directions.
Visit Detail: Middle Pitch was thunderous and could be heard from a distance. The river was boiling over the granite bedrock with such velocity and power that large flumes of mist where issued far down stream. Before entering the property I stopped and spoke with Andy & Louise Bell to ask permission to walk along the edge of their property to access the falls. Trekking down river past the access trail to a vantage point that provided a bird’s eye view of the pitch. From here I feel the wind currents produced by the water velocity. I then made my way back to a path that leads down to the base of the falls.
From the base I moved along the edge to a location providing an excellent vantage point to photograph the falls.�
Falls Detail: Pokiok Falls is not large but has a unique character that embraces the area and visitors. It is located in hilly country just west of Nackawic on property developed into a small park by the St. Anne Nackawic Pulp & Paper Mill. The stream has its headwaters in Lake George as well as the wetlands at the base of Flat Top Mountain. The nature park has several marked and maintained trails to access the falls and stream.
The original Pokiok Falls and gorge, was located at the mouth of the stream and is now submerged under the Mactaquac Headpond. The fall was a natural attraction for many locals and visitors from afar. I want to thank Bob Kenyon of Fredericton for providing an excellent slide to reproduce.
To see these falls, take the Nackawic turnoff from the new TCH and head towards the bridge across the Saint John River. Look for the first road after crossing over the Pokiok Stream. From here drive out this private road a distance of 3 km to the nature park. There is a parking area on the left side of the road just after the small wooden bridge spanning the stream.
Visit Detail: The morning I hiked up along the stream to the falls the water was just teeming with excitement. The heavy rain the night before rushed downward to the Saint John River. Autumn is everywhere along this beautiful stream. The cool, damp air along with the dropping temperature has turned the leaves to reds and yellows.
Working with situation I wanted to show the power of this little falls after the heavy rain. I guess my intention with all my photographs is to capture the spirit of the waterfalls and the area at a particular point in time. On this day I was fortunate to have a kaleidoscope of colors and a teeming stream. I spent one hour enjoying the scenery and the cool morning air.
Falls Detail: Upper Henderson Brook Falls is the second of two falls on Henderson Brook. This beautiful waterfall flows through a narrow channel and then slides over the rock face forming a veil. There is a large shallow pool at the base collecting the brook before it accelerates towards the lower falls.
See the Lower Henderson Brook Falls for driving directions.
From the top of the stairs to the lower falls follow the trail up through the large pines to the upper falls.
Visit Detail: I was aware of one set of falls but when I arrived to find a second set it was very providential. The upper falls is drastically different from the lower falls and are equally unique in structure and character. To have two beautiful waterfalls in close proximity is fortunate. This is also a must see waterfall that is very assessable. The area around the falls is very clean and neat with a soft cushion of pine needle to walk upon. Again I want to thank the owners for sharing this waterfall.�
Falls Detail: Lower Henderson Falls is one of two falls on Henderson Brook. The brook is situated in Henderson Settlement a small cluster of homes and farms along Route 710 approximately half way between Cambridge Narrows and the Belleisle Bay. This beautiful waterfall drops over an escarpment spanning the entire width of the brook, providing a unique location.
From the antique store in at the intersection of route 695 in Cambridge Narrow drive south on Route 710 looking for Shaw Road on the left. The road provides the southern boundary of a farm. Turn left onto the gravel road and drive 1 km to a red cottage (No. 105). The trail down to the falls is on the immediate right. Follow the short trail to a set of stairs leading to the base of the lower falls. Look for the unique cedar tree knotted up with the escarpment near the stairs.
Visit Detail: I drove by Shaw Road without noticing the sign and was almost to Cambridge Narrows before realizing my mistake. The short trail leading down to the falls is very well maintained. There are also signs asking visitors to pick up trash and not to break bottles as the pool at the base is used for refreshing swims in midsummer. This enchanting waterfall surprised me. The amount of water flowing over the escarpment along with the angle of the sunlight escaping through the trees provided a bluish tinge while the entire scene encapsulated by the bright autumn colors made for a excellent photo opportunity.
This is a must see waterfall that is very assessable to both young and old. The positive side to this site is that the owners do not mind visitors as long as the site is maintained. Thank you to the owners for sharing this waterfall.
Falls Detail: Mooney Ridge Falls is on an unnamed brook that drains both Rabbit and Fowler Lakes in Quarries New Brunswick. It is nestled at the base of Mooney Ridge and surrounded by beaver ponds and an abandoned granite quarry. Unique to the waterfalls is a granite block building along side the brook. The falls is located approximately 300 meters from the highway.
The hamlet of Quarries is located between Hampstead and Evandale on Route 102 in Queens County. From Fredericton drive to the Village of Gagetown and then continue south along Route 102. Access to the quarry is on the right side of the highway and is chained off.
Visit Detail: I parked at the entrance to the quarry and followed a path along the left ridge of the cut to an old path that led through the woods to a large beaver pond. From here I skirted along the east edge of the pond to the brook and then up to the falls. I was very surprised to find the abandoned granite structure. At the time I speculated that it was constructed to provide storage for rock cutting equipment.
The waterfall is unique in that it appears to flow over large granite blocks that where placed strategically to provide energy to operate rock-cutting equipment. Up above the falls is another large beaver pond that restricts the natural flow of the brook. On the way back to my car I walked through the quarry and noted that stone was cut with pneumatic equipment and wondered when the quarry was established.
Thanks to the Queens County Historical Society I was informed that the pillars at the old Gagetown Court House were constructed from granite blocks cut from the quarry in 1837, as well as stone used to construct the Government House in Fredericton in 1825.
Falls Detail: Flaglor Brook is fed by numerous streams and brooks flowing down from Flaglor Mountain which is located just northwest of the falls. The falls is approximately 6 meters in height. The falls has a large rock outcrop with a small tree in the center splitting the flow of water. The brook flows into Marley Creek and eventually into the Saint John River near Central Greenwich. Named for Simon Flaglor a loyalist grantee of 1200 acres in 1783. In Maliseet, Keewoolatamotik, in reference to invisible Indians who did wonderful things.
There are several roads that will provide access to the brook but the most direct is to take the Paisley Road and drive up the hill staying to the left at the Y in the road until reaching a large sandpit. At the back of the pit there is an NBPower Hydro line. The pit is on private property so respect the property. Drive in a westerly direction until a well used ATV trail is visible on the left. Hike down this trail for approximately 10 minutes towards Flaglor Stream. The sound of the falls will be heard from some distance away. The trail will emerge at the brook about 20 meters up from the falls.
Visit Detail: The walk down the ATV trail towards Flaglor Falls was clear and cool with numerous moose and deer tracks in the soft sandy soil along the trail. The access to the falls is relatively easy. After emerging out into the clearing up stream from the falls, I skirted along the east side of the brook and then into the coverage of several large pines to the base of the falls. The area surrounding the falls is open without much foliage shading the brook. Far off in a marsh along the Saint John River I could hear gunshots of duck hunters trying their luck. After spending 30 minutes enjoying the falls, the autumn colors and warmth from the midday sun, I pried myself from my content and walked back to the Honda and my next waterfalls.
Falls Detail: Goose Creek flows down from the Nerepis Hills towards Nerepis marsh. The upper falls are located adjacent to the unpaved section of Brittian Road and are not visible from the road. This is a mixture of hard and softwood trees along the banks of the creek a picturesque location that shades goose creek and the falls along this section. Just at the base of the falls is an oddly shaped silver birch tree that is twisted out across portion of the falls.
From Westfield cross over the Nerepis Marsh and head towards Brown Flats along highway 102. Just after crossing turn left onto Campbell Road and drive approximately 6 Km to Keating’s Corner. There is sufficient parking area at the corner. To see the falls walk up Brittian Road approximately 150 meters to a small bridge crossing the creek. Follow the path down along the creek to the falls.
Visit Detail: Upon returning to the area where I parked my vehicle after visiting the lower falls I could hear the rush of water off to the east. It sounded like waterfalls so I decided to walk up along the gravel road until I arrived at a wood bridge from there I followed the path along the creek down to a second waterfalls. This was just plain luck as I was not aware of a second falls so near. The upper falls is also a very easy waterfall to access and is relatively safe area for all to visit. | <urn:uuid:fc302348-7371-44db-8bd0-66e19b6633df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://waterfallsnewbrunswick.ca/?cat=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961213 | 3,803 | 1.570313 | 2 |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly re-elected President Barack Obama will use a White House appearance to set the tone for upcoming talks with congressional Republicans on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff.
Republicans continue to draw a line in the sand against higher tax rates for upper-income earners as they seek to topple the conventional wisdom that Obama has the upper hand in upcoming negotiations on averting the potentially economy-crippling set of tax increases and automatic spending cuts due to hit in January.
Obama faces a tough, core decision: Does he pick a fight and risk a prolonged impasse with Republicans or does he rush to compromise and risk alienating Democrats still celebrating his victory?
Many of his Democratic allies hope Obama will take a hard line when he addresses the matter Friday. Republicans warn that a fight could poison efforts for a rapprochement in a bitterly divided Capitol and threaten his second-term agenda.
Obama has been silent since his victory speech early Wednesday morning, but Capitol Hill Republicans have filled the vacuum with vows to stand resolutely against any effort by the president to fulfill a campaign promise to raise the top two income tax rates to Clinton-era levels.
"Raising tax rates is unacceptable," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared Thursday on ABC. "Frankly, it couldn't even pass the House. I'm not sure it could pass the Senate."
A lot is at stake. A new Congressional Budget Office report on Thursday predicted that the economy would fall into recession if there is a protracted impasse in Washington and the government falls off the fiscal cliff for the entire year. Though most Capitol-watchers think that a long deadlock is unlikely, the analysts say such a scenario would cause a spike in the jobless rate to 9.1 percent by next fall.
Some analysts believe that the fiscal cliff is more like a fiscal slope and that the economy could weather a short-term expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and that the government could manage a wave of automatic spending cuts for a few weeks. But at a minimum, going over the fiscal cliff would mean delays in filing taxes and obtaining refunds and would rattle financial markets as the economy struggles to recover.
The CBO analysis says that the cliff — a combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts — would cut the deficit by $503 billion through next September, but that the fiscal austerity would cause the economy to shrink by 0.5 percent next year and cost millions of jobs.
The new study estimates that the nation's gross domestic product would grow by 2.2 percent next year if all Bush-era tax rates were extended and would expand by almost 3 percent if Obama's 2 percentage point payroll tax cut and current jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed were extended as well.
All sides say that they want a deal and that now that the election is over everyone can show more flexibility than in the heat of the campaign.
Obama is not expected to offer specifics immediately. His long-held position — repeatedly rejected by Republicans — is that tax rates on family income over $250,000 should jump back up to Clinton-era levels.
Republicans say they're willing to consider new tax revenue but only through drafting a new tax code that lowers rates and eliminates some deductions and wasteful tax breaks. And they're insisting on cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps, known as entitlement programs in Washington-speak.
The current assumption is that any agreement would be a multistep process that would begin this year with a down payment on the deficit and on action to stave off more than the tax increases and $109 billion in across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon budget and a variety of domestic programs next year.
The initial round is likely to set binding targets on revenue levels and spending cuts, but the details would probably be enacted next year.
While some of that heavy work would be left for next year, a raft of tough decisions would have to be made in the next six weeks. They could include the overall amount of deficit savings and achieving agreement on how much would come from revenue increases and how much would be cut from costly health care programs, the Pentagon and the day-to-day operating budgets of domestic Cabinet agencies.
Democrats are sure to press for a guarantee that tax reform doesn't end up hurting middle-income taxpayers at the expense of upper-bracket earners. Republicans want to press for corporate tax reform and a guarantee that the top rate paid by individuals and small businesses goes down along the way. | <urn:uuid:4626b888-0b29-49ff-9875-6e3290738893> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/obama-approaches-fiscal-cliff-days-victory-160104999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970604 | 914 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Hugin is a free panorama photo stitcher offered under an open source license. The main purpose of the software is to allow users to easily blend together a series of overlapping photos of the same scene to produce a larger single image.
While the software is offered for free, it is a very powerful application that offers more possibilities than just stitching a number of overlapping photos. It can also be used to correct perspective within a photo, such as occurs when taking a photo of a building from close-up. In that case the vertical lines of the building will appear to converge, but Hugin can be used to make the lines appear parallel.
Stitching multiple photos together to produce a larger photo could, on occasion be invaluable to a Graphic Designer, particularly when designing for larger format print projects.
Highlights of Hugin
Hugin may look a little intimidating at first, but despite its powerful feature set, it is a suitable tool for users of all skill levels.
- Free for everyone to download and use
- Available for Windows, OS X and Linux computers
- Assistant mode makes it very quick and easy to achieve results
- Large number of manual controls for more advanced users
- Stitch together many photos in different rows into one large photo
- Remove the effects of perspective and correct lens distortion
Why Use Hugin
While my first look at the user interface made it appear quite daunting, using the Assistant feature breaks the process down into three simple steps. However, reading some of the basic tutorials shows how the software uses a series of actions to produce stitched photos and that even new users should be able to take manual control of the process relatively quickly.
Hugin may be an attractive software option for enthusiast photographers as well as professionals looking for high quality results. While its prime purpose is to stitch together panoramic images that can be very aesthetically pleasing, it can extend a photographer's tool kit in other ways also.
Where image quality is mission critical, the ability for Hugin to correct lens distortion could be every bit as useful as the application's stitching capabilities. It also has the ability to compensate for perspective to produce results similar to those produced by expensive Perspective Control Lenses, also known as Shift and Tilt-Shift lenses. While professional architectural photographers may never choose software correction over specialist lenses, for the rest of us, software correction is really the only realistic option available to use.
Limitations of Hugin
Before going further, I must say that I haven't used Hugin extensively and have only used it for its photo stitching capabilities.
Its user interface can seem a little intimidating at first glance, though the beginners' tutorials can quickly dispel initial concerns over complexity and for those wanting the simplest path, the Assistant feature makes it very easy. The only other potential issue that I could possibly see during my time using Hugin is that if you want to stitch many high resolution photos together, this could take some time, particularly on less powerful computers. For each image being stitched, Hugin may look for tens of thousands of control points, that help it accurately blend photos, and that obviously may require a lot of your computer's processing power.
Help and Support
Hugin is more intuitive to use than you may at first think, meaning that many users will be able to jump in and produce stitched panorama photos very quickly. That said, however, if you want to get the most from the application, then it would be a good use of your time to work through some of the tutorials on the Hugin site. Within the interface, there is a Help menu that includes a link to full help files that you can view in a web browser and the Hugin site has a page of documentation, including a link to frequently asked questions. The links page also offers a range of useful resources, including user forums, that will help you get the very most from using Hugin for panorama photo stitching and other purposes.
You can download your own free copy of Hugin from their SourceForge site. | <urn:uuid:4fa86d84-0b82-4b35-9a2b-a54f2dc12c1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freesoftware/a/Hugin-Panorama-Photo-Stitcher.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950108 | 818 | 1.820313 | 2 |
In forex trading there are two prices on a currency pair at any given time. There is the ask price and the bid price. The spread is the difference between those two prices. For example if you made a long trade, you would pay the bid price on the pair. When you close or "sell" that trade, you would close at the asking price.
The spread is the constant difference between the bid price and the ask price. | <urn:uuid:4a89321c-6b59-4f36-b45b-b3b706bf66d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forextrading.about.com/od/forexglossary/g/spread.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964491 | 90 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Commentary & Perspective by
Jeffrey N. Katz, MD, MS, John Wright, MD, and Elena Losina, PhD, MD*,
Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Patient Decision-Making and Total Joint Replacement
The benefits of total joint replacement are the most dramatic of any contemporary surgical procedures, yet fewer than 10% of patients who are appropriate candidates are willing to undergo this procedure1. Total joint replacement is especially underutilized in African American and Hispanic patients as well as in patients who have little or no income2. In this issue of The Journal, Clark et al. report a qualitative analysis of interviews with patients with lower-extremity arthritis who were deemed to be appropriate candidates for total hip or knee replacement but who were unwilling to consider having the joint replaced. The authors found that the decision to undergo total joint replacement reflects a dynamic balance, with the pain and disability imposed by lower-extremity arthritis on one side of the scale, and the perceived risks and costs of surgery on the other. The authors observed that the patients appeared to accommodate to pain and disability over time, which led to an upward shift in the threshold at which they would choose to undergo surgery.
The authors suggest that this threshold is highly individualized and is influenced by a person's perceptions of the burden of pain and disability as well as his or her evolving ability to cope with these burdens and garner social support. The authors contrast this subtle decisional balance with the rational, informed, utility-maximizing decision-maker of classic economic theory. They note that critics view decision and policy models that are based on classic theory as overly reductionistic and prescriptive.
This qualitative analysis of the decision-making process provides critical insight into the reasons that many patients refuse total joint replacement. We comment here on the substantive findings, their relevance to clinical care, and implications for research.
The principal finding—that patients obtain information on risks and benefits from health-care professionals and peers, weigh these risks and benefits, and rebalance them over time—is consistent with several theoretical models of decision-making3 that emphasize the balance between the perceived benefits and drawbacks of a behavior, the perceived barriers to moving forward, and the role of important persons who influence the decision-making of patients. The authors' observation that this balancing process is dynamic, with shifting thresholds over time, is an important finding that moves us forward in this field of knowledge.
We would add that perceptions of risk and benefit may be influenced by a wide range of factors, including literacy, educational attainment, income, race, and gender. The well-educated neighbor of an orthopaedic surgeon may feel entirely at ease with the prospect of a total knee replacement, whereas low-income, minority, or other vulnerable populations may view total joint replacement as beyond their horizon of possibility4. The primary-care provider is another key informant and advisor. Primary-care providers may overestimate the risks and underestimate the benefits of total joint replacement, thereby fueling underutilization.
This research has important implications in terms of improving the ways in which physicians communicate with patients with arthritis. Surgeons must appreciate the dynamic nature of decisional balance, and the importance of input from the primary-care provider, family, friends, and other valued advisors. The traditional discussion between surgeon and patient about whether to undertake joint replacement is typically done one-to-one, in a rushed office visit, with little time for questions and reflection. If we recognize, as Clark and colleagues suggest, that these decisions require ongoing reflection, reconsideration, and input from others, alternative models emerge to support the decision-making process.
First, several visits may be necessary before patients truly have processed the information regarding the risks and benefits of surgery and developed an awareness of their own preferences. Patients should be given an opportunity to speak with persons who have had surgery, with others who have deferred it, and with still others who are actively considering the operation. Discussions between physicians and patients regarding surgery could be conducted among groups of patients and could include family and friends. Formal sources of decisional support could also help patients with these choices5. Discussions between physicians and patients should be disease focused rather than procedure focused, encompassing the trajectory of arthritis progression with its attendant functional limitations, and evidence-based assessments of the risks and benefits of surgery and other options. Referring physicians should enter such discussions informed about the risks of complications, the likelihood of functional benefit and pain relief, the likely longevity of the implant, and the role of factors that may affect the short and long-term outcomes. In particular, referring physicians should be aware that patients whose functional limitation is advanced by the time of surgery may have worse outcomes than those who have surgery at an earlier point in the trajectory of functional decline6.
Finally, from a research standpoint, we agree that these findings help illustrate that the rational, informed decision-maker of classic economic theory is largely a theoretical construct. Our preferences, perceptions—and ultimately our decisions—are influenced by cultural, social, emotional, and other inputs. However, the role of policy models and cost-effectiveness analyses is not to prescribe individual decisions but rather to understand the results of current practices by quantitatively accounting for recognized outcomes and costs of health decisions. Modeling can anticipate decisions, even before all of the appropriate data are available, and can assist in optimal allocation of resources. In the end, each patient will make his or her own decision on the basis of a delicate weighing of perceived risks, benefits, and preferences. Models do not substitute for this nuanced process but rather serve to aggregate the effects of thousands of such decisions on the costs and benefits of a wide range of practices. This quantitative weighing of costs and benefits is critically needed in an era of increasingly limited resources.
*The authors did not receive grants or outside funding in support of their research or preparation of this manuscript. They did not receive payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity. No commercial entity paid or directed, or agreed to pay or direct, any benefits to any research fund, foundation, educational institution, or other charitable or nonprofit organization with which the authors are affiliated or associated.
1. Hawker GA, Wright JG, Coyte PC, Williams JI, Harvey B, Glazier
R, Wilkins A, Badley EM. Determining the need for hip and knee arthroplasty:
the role of clinical severity and patients' preferences. Med Care. 2001;39:206-16.
2. Escalante A, Barrett J, del Rincon I, Cornell JE, Phillips CB, Katz JN. Disparity in total hip replacement affecting Hispanic Medicare beneficiaries. Med Care. 2002;40:451-60.
3. Glanz K, Lewis FM, Rimer BK. Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1997.
4. Katz JN. Patient preferences and health disparities. JAMA. 2001;286:1506-9.
5. Deyo RA, Cherkin DC, Weinstein J, Howe J, Ciol M, Mulley AG Jr. Involving patients in clinical decisions: impact of an interactive video program on use of back surgery. Med Care. 2000;38:959-69.
6. Fortin PR, Penrod JR, Clarke AE, St-Pierre Y, Joseph L, Belisle P, Liang MH, Ferland D, Phillips CB, Mahomed N, Tanzer M, Sledge C, Fossel AH, Katz JN. Timing of total joint replacement affects clinical outcomes among patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. Arthritis Rheum. 2002;46:3327-30. | <urn:uuid:b1277b33-53cd-43d5-a17e-2ae5a4e26616> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jbjs.org/data/Journals/JBJS/878/cp_jul04_katz.html | 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 | 0.938803 | 1,615 | 1.539063 | 2 |
NAILS’ own contributing editor Erin Snyder Dixon was one of 50 lucky @NASA Twitter followers to be selected to participate in the NASAtweetup on November 8 hosted by NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
NAILS’ own contributing editor Erin Snyder Dixon was one of 50 lucky @NASA Twitter followers to be selected to participate in the NASAtweetup on November 8 hosted by NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. We asked her about her exciting glimpse behind the scenes.
How did you get selected to attend?
Erin Snyder Dixon poses with astronaut Mike Foreman.
Fifty people who interact with the NASA Twitter account were selected lottery-style from applicants all over the country. It was exciting to see how many people flew in to experience something right in my own backyard. [Erin lives in nearby Newport News.] I was thrilled to be chosen since NASA has played a big part of my life. My grandfather Pinky was an electrical engineer, spending some of his time at the wind tunnels there, so I went armed wearing his space capsule pin. I also brought photos of my grandfather Tip, who worked in the materials lab.What were some of the highlights of the event?Snyder Dixon:
After a tour of the hanger, we were treated to a session of autographs and information with astronaut and shuttle pilot Susan Kilrain. I had to chuckle when she said motherhood was harder than flying the shuttle. During the presentation, it came up that they don’t wear shoes in the space shuttle — they don’t even pack them. And yes, of course someone had to ask about the infamous diapers.
When it came my turn, I wanted to know if they took nail files to space ... and makeup. Hey, nails still grow and she looked pretty darned good in all the photos! She said they pack nail clippers but no file. Hmmm. And, yes, they take some makeup along. She also shared that the great thing about zero gravity is no wrinkles. How cool is that? Maybe
There’s time to goof around a bit during the behind-the-scenes tour.
we could learn something about beauty from these shuttle missions.What else was memorable about the visit?Snyder Dixon:
I was captivated about how much the research facility had touched my life in ways I never knew. They do crash tests to ensure safety, they developed little winglets for the tips of planes that save gas, pioneer nonstick coatings, help predict weather, research lower emissions fuels ... the list went on and on. After touring the Inflatable Lunar Habitat (think camping in space) and the Transonic Facility (where we were treated to a snack of deep frozen Cheese-its), we wrapped up the day by witnessing the Orion splashdown test at the Hydro Impact Basin. | <urn:uuid:51859096-c4ad-4451-91c3-bdc56083bc40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nailsmag.com/article/94711/are-there-nail-files-in-outer-space | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970897 | 584 | 1.5 | 2 |
EDC Says Fed Stimulus Will Give Greater Boost to Canada Exports and Growth
Export Development Canada, the country’s export financing arm, raised its forecasts for the global and Canadian economies for this year, and predicted the nation’s exporters will benefit from additional U.S. stimulus.
Canada’s economy will grow 2.7 percent this year, according to a statement by the Ottawa-based agency, up from the 2.2 percent pace projected in October. Export volumes will rise by 5 percent, EDC said, up from a previous forecast of 4 percent growth.
The U.S. stimulus is a “game-changer,” Peter Hall, the agency’s chief economist, said in a Jan. 25 interview at Bloomberg’s office in Ottawa. “We have a reprieve from what was otherwise a tenuous year.”
Federal Reserve policy makers said yesterday they are maintaining plans to buy $600 billion of Treasuries through June to support the U.S. recovery. The Fed has acquired $261 billion of Treasuries since it started carrying out the second round of so-called quantitative easing on Nov. 12. President Barack Obama signed an $858 billion measure in December that extends tax cuts for two years.
Hall said he’s more optimistic than the Bank of Canada about the potential impact on Canada of the U.S. stimulus. The central bank said last week the effect on the Canadian economy will be “attenuated” because the measures focus on stimulating personal consumption, rather than the capital goods and non- energy commodities that comprise the bulk of Canada’s exports.
The Bank of Canada’s report last week forecast growth of 2.4 percent for 2011, saying the U.S. stimulus would contribute about 0.2 percentage point to growth this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:d5310898-ad03-43a4-bc2c-86ad2719c704> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-27/edc-says-fed-stimulus-will-give-greater-boost-to-canada-exports-and-growth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932809 | 459 | 1.5 | 2 |
Still need to stop the yield-robber
We have come a long way since the early years of managing soybean cyst nematodes in the early to mid-90s, when the SCN Coalition’s motto was: “Take the test, beat the pest.”
At that time, the retail company I was working for was on the front edge of sampling for SCN and working with our seed companies to market the few emerging resistant soybean varieties we had to sell.
First: SCN awareness
Land-grant universities in the Midwest partnered with the Iowa Soybean Association and other state soybean checkoff organizations in the region. ISU also did a tremendous job educating seed companies, agronomists and growers about nematodes, the devastating yield losses they could cause and how to manage them to reduce their impact.
But persuading growers to plant the rather unimpressive-yielding nematode-resistant soybean varieties was a struggle. In fact, in the early years, unless SCN levels were very high, we couldn’t afford the yield hit we took with the early SCN-resistant varieties, so we planted our higher-yielding varieties and watched SCN numbers climb.
Next: SCN varieties
Today, most growers, hopefully, have identified the fields with soybean cyst nematodes and are using the latest SCN-resistant varieties to manage nematodes.
Most of today’s resistant soybean varieties yield as well as or better than the non-SCN-resistant soybeans, in side-by-side yield comparisons, even in the absence of SCN. These varieties also do a pretty good job of decreasing nematode reproduction compared to non-SCN-resistant varieties.
However, not all bean varieties are created equal. I recommend checking out Iowa State University’s SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trial Program. The program assesses the agronomic performance of three SCN-resistant variety groups (maturity groups I, II and III) and determines their effects on SCN populations and yields. Results from the ISU SCN-Resistant Soybean Variety Trial Program are posted online at www.isuscntrials.info.
I urge growers to choose varieties based on both yield and their ability to suppress nematode reproduction.
With SCN-resistant bean yields in the ballpark of where we need them to be, a more relevant question today is: Are our SCN-resistant soybean varieties as effective as they used to be?
The most common source of SCN resistance we have is PI 88788, but reports are increasing about it not controlling nematodes as well as in the past. This potential decrease in effectiveness is believed to be due to selection for SCN populations that can reproduce on the PI 88788 resistance over time — not to a decrease in the quality of soybean varieties being grown.
Managing SCN resistance
Checking SCN-resistant varieties in the field may help answer this question, and a good place to start is a midsummer root dig. (Nothing says summer fun like digging plants in July and August!) Because SCN females are easily seen with the naked eye, looking for them on the roots of resistant plants is a crude but useful way to check the effectiveness of resistant soybean varieties in infested fields.
Select the plants to be studied; then start 8 inches from the plant stems and dig about 6 to 8 inches deep. Don’t pull the plants up as this can strip females off the roots. Gently break the soil away from the root system and look for nematode females. They are about the size of a period at the end of a sentence and will appear as small, round, white dots on the roots. Checking plants a few times through July and August is better than doing it once.
If numerous females are observed on roots of resistant varieties, consider doing an HG type test on the nematodes in the field. This is a greenhouse test that assesses nematode reproduction on the different sources of resistance used in breeding SCN-resistant soybean varieties.
Detailed information about type tests for SCN populations can be found in an ISU Integrated Crop Management Newsletter article titled “What’s your type? An HG type test for SCN populations.” To view the article, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews and search for “HG type test” (it will be listed first in the results).
McGrath is partnership program manager of ISU’s Corn and Soybean Initiative.
TINY THIEVES: Check fields for SCN by looking for white SCN females on soybean roots at this time of year. Guidelines were discussed in ISU’s June 2011 ICM Newsletter article “Females now apparent on soybean roots.”
This article published in the August, 2011 edition of WALLACES FARMER.
All rights reserved. Copyright Farm Progress Cos. 2011. | <urn:uuid:266494a5-7763-45f5-927c-03af65949117> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmprogress.com/indiana-prairie-farmer/library.aspx/still-need-stop-yieldrobber-41/49/1172 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930516 | 1,051 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Tips for Facilitating a User Story Mapping Session
User Story Mapping Series
* How to Create a User Story Map
* Tips for Facilitating a User Story Mapping Session
Tip #1. Silent Brainstorming isn't mandatory.
While using silent brainstorming is great for creating a map, you don't always need to use it. Sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where a full set of requirements has been written or the app is a re-write of an existing and well known application. In those cases I often skip the silent brainstorming and create the map from the existing documentation. Of course, I still do this with the team.
Tip #2. For your first map, reference the email map.
When you are creating your first map you may find that some people have difficulty finding the right level of detail for the second row in the map ("things people do" - the user tasks). In order to reduce the confusion walk them through the first two rows of the email map first. You can simply write the basic map on a few post-its as an example:
Finally, as they are writing their 'things people do', walk around and take a look at what they are writing. Encourage them when they are writing the correct level of detail ("Compose Email") and ask questions when they are getting into too much detail ("Set an email to High Priority").
Tip #3. Tear horizontally, not vertically
There are two ways to tear a post-it note off of the pad. If you tear it off horizontally (left to right or right to left) the post-it note will lie flat when it is stuck onto the wall. If you tear it off vertically (bottom to top) then it will have a curl.
Tip #4. Big Post-its
Quite often it isn't possible to create your map in the team room. If this is true for you then create your map on the large 3M Easel pads so that it can be transferred back to the team room.
Tip #5. Use name brand post-its
Post-its made by 3M seem to stick longer than other brands.
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.) | <urn:uuid:21dacb24-e93a-4e5f-ba34-dc86bf55b8d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://java.dzone.com/articles/tips-facilitating-user-story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940067 | 475 | 1.726563 | 2 |
International: Are Women Occupying New Movements?
The women's movement must argue against a de-historicized understanding of new social movements in the African region, profiling examples of women’s active participation and leadership and situating these movements in the history of African people’s struggles for building alternative world orders, says Hakima Abbas.
At the recently concluded OpenForum, held in Cape Town South Africa, I was asked to speak to the question of whether ‘women are occupying new movements'. There are a number of implicit assumptions in this framing. One of which is that the mass civil resistance that the world has recently witnessed in various places around the globe, including in Africa’s North and North America, constitute movements rather than moments in a continuous process of transformative change. There has been a focus on acts of civil resistance rather than the process of change due to the spotlight and interests of corporate media, as well as the massive uprising and impact of popular mobilization achieved in Tunisia and Egypt.
Yara Sallam of Nazra for Feminist Studies poignantly stated, “we see the overturn of the Mubarak regime as the spark of revolution, not the completion of it. The Egyptian peoples’ revolution has just started.” OpenForum 2012, South AfricaAs this statement suggests, the moments of significant shift to democratize society in Africa’s North are part of a larger process of change – not only does the struggle continue, it is part of a long history and trajectory of people- centered African struggle for liberation. Indeed Egypt’s leaderfull revolution was the culmination of decades of popular resistance primarily centered around the labor struggle and its formations.
Activist and writer Arundhati Roy, speaking at the People’s University in Washington Square Park stated, “The Occupy movement has joined thousands of other resistance movements all over the world in which the poorest of people are standing up and stopping the richest corporations in their tracks. Few of us dreamed that we would see you, the people of the United States on our side, trying to do this in the heart of Empire.”
Occupy, as an anti-imperialist movement led largely around anarchist principles, is indeed following the multitude of people around the world from Mozambique to Senegal, Greece to Honduras, who have opposed a neo-liberal onslaught which has strangled nations and citizens into entrenched poverty and dependency. Because of (our)stories of centuries of resistance against occupation, part of the struggle of the 99% in the United States must be to dismantle the power and privilege which keeps them in the 1% in relation to 99% of the world’s people.
It seems evident, if only demographically, that no movement could thrive without the active participation of women. Despite this, what is consistently disputed is the participation of women in acts of civil resistance and while the question of role is posed, an important question of power remains. In the age of Twitter, Facebook and rapid diffusion of images around the world, the participation of women on the front lines of protest and in acts of mass civil resistance can no longer be disputed. However, the power of women evidenced by our leadership within movements, the actions committed, and the ensuing change remains to be assessed. Further, the feminist perspectives, theories, practices that shape the movements lack analysis. Indeed, assessments of the ways in which patriarchal power within the movements is or is not destabilized are needed.
Bibi Titi MohammedIt is our responsibility as women in the struggle to not only document our presence and analyze our modes of participation in movements for change, but we must also seek to understand how our theory (individual and collective) informs movements, deconstructs patriarchy within movements, and shapes the collective vision for liberation for all. Even people’s (our)stories have rested on the narrative of men in the struggle—men who have access to tools of documentation and have been positioned in formal leadership. So while the political thought of independence struggle in Ghana, for instance, is largely documented through the writings of Nkrumah, the invisible political process, thought, and tactics of the market women who were central to liberation remains obscured with recognition relegated to participation rather than leadership of thought, knowledge, ideas and strategies. Even the political thought of women who have held formal leadership positions in our liberation struggles, like Field Marshal Muthoni in Kenya, Bibi Titi Mohammed in Tanzania, Thenjiwe Mtintso in South Africa, has yet to be archived. We need to know how their knowledges shaped the movements in which they held active leadership roles.
Long before people took to the streets of Tunis and the squares of Cairo, two important acts of mass civil resistance tipped the balance of power and forced concessions for democratization in Guinea (2007) and Madagascar (2009). Women maintained visible leadership roles within the top tiers of the mobilizations in Guinea and in Madagascar. In Guinea, Rabiatou Serah Diallo, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers was one of three leaders of the general strike and in Madagascar Mamy Rakotondrainibe is the president of the ‘Collectif pour la Défense des Terres Malgaches’ which was active in the protests against land grabbing that sparked the mass protests of 2009. Without the corporate media spotlight on this civil resistance, the gains and losses have not shaped the popular imagination of Egypt and Tunisia and allowed for the proliferation of lessons learned. And as with the field marshals of liberation, no significant attempts to document the political thought of these women and the countless foot soldiers have been made.
In both our past and present struggles, the documentation of women’s political thought must not be a purely academic exercise but rather a feminist movement building process, which allows women’s contributions to create and build an alternative world order. As Shereen Essof points out, “In an environment of deepening polarisation, alienation and misogyny, when the world’s socio- economic and political paradigms are failing us, it is important that as feminist activists we re-evaluate our strategy in order to be clear about which platforms allow us to engage in activism that contributes to building a free world for all people by dismantling patriarchy and its brother ideologies.”
We are the solution
Importantly, the growing movements for democratization of Africa are pushing organizing outside of the NGO space, the dominance of which was strangling resistance into logframes. The leadership of women in multiple sites of struggle creates important conversations about where transformative processes percolate and whether the revolution can create self-determination from the body to national borders. The unique protest of Aliaa Magda in Egypt whose near naked photos stood as a singular reclamation of embodiment spoke eloquently to this nexus.
Let us bring together multiple people, groups, and communities from and in various spaces to redefine and create alternatives based on past and present community-based knowledges, principles of equity, and value for plurality. Not merely as an intellectual exercise, but as a profound community process of building a different world. As Paulo Freire says: “Critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action, must be carried on with the oppressed at whatever the stage of their struggle for liberation. The content of that dialogue can and should vary in accordance with historical conditions and the level at which the oppressed perceive reality. But to substitute monologue, slogans and communiqués for dialogue is to attempt to liberate the oppressed with the instruments of domestication.”
As the people of Africa take to the streets, at the vanguard are those most disempowered and marginalized from the dominant project, it is indeed time that African women, and peoples broadly, create our world in our image reclaiming our power and self-determination. The term “North Africa” has become associated with the division between so-called sub-Saharan Africa and the north of the continent. I use Africa’s North as a reclaiming formulation which places the north of our continent as inherently part of the whole.
Yara Sallam, Nazra for Feminist Studies, during Open Forum, May 2012, Cape Town, South AfricaThe Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings in 2011 are often referred to as “leaderless revolutions.” I posit here that these, more accurately, can be described as leaderfull civil resistance.I use (our)stories throughout in an attempt to gender neutralize the terms history or herstory, which is more commonly used in feminist activism, in recognition of gender plurality rather than a binary and an attempt to reclaim the past in the narrative of the people rather than the powerful. | <urn:uuid:1b4baad5-7aab-4d29-8f5b-90c4ae0f4950> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wluml.org/ru/node/8232 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955573 | 1,772 | 1.765625 | 2 |
By Jeff Walsh
As it starts, "A Jihad For Love" has a familiar feeling for anyone who's ever seen movies about issues of sexuality and spirituality. We learn that the only reference to homosexuality in the Qur'an is about Sodom and Gomorrah. And that, though not part of the Qur'an, several Hadith (sayings attributed directly to Muhammad) directly condemn homosexuality. So, we're in familiar ground here, in a debate that continues about how to rectify sexuality and spirituality.
From the beginning, if you interchanged the words Qur'an and Bible, it would seem to make a lot of the same arguments with which many Americans are familiar. But as the film plays on, the familiarity washes away. People are imprisoned. Their backs bearing the marks of 100 bloody lashes. They leave their home and wait as refugees seeking asylum from a country they love, families they miss, and a religion that is still an important and meaningful part of their lives.
Muslim filmmaker Parvez Sharma isn't out to poke holes in Islam, or quote scripture back and forth with scholars (in fact, every scholar in the movie without fail just says homosexuality is wrong). But he is clearly interested in showing the depth of purpose that many gay Muslims feel, and the disconnect that causes with their culture. Sharma is also showing many sides of Islam, but none resembling the Al Qaeda caricature we usually see.
By Jeff Walsh
I'm not an unbiased viewer of "Every Little Step," the new documentary about the Broadway show 'A Chorus Line.' It is my favorite Broadway show ever. It is one of the first Broadway shows I remember having an impact on me. The cast recording has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have never once applied for a job without singing 'Who am I anyway? Am I my resume?' I've been known to sing about getting plastic surgery on my 'tits and ass' in public at karaoke bars.
On top of all that, I am still friends with Jason Tam from the Chorus Line revival cast, who I met (of course) because he was in the show, so just seeing him on screen is delightful. He gets a lot of praise in other articles about this documentary, as his audition is prominently featured and simply amazing. He leaves the producers crying, and is hired on the spot. But I'm way too biased about how talented Jason is to say any more. You'll have to watch this film and find that out yourself.
By Jeff Walsh
"Outrage," a new documentary playing select cities beginning this weekend, is taking on the hypocrisy of anti-gay politicians who are also closeted homosexuals. In each case, there seems to be a direct correlation between the closet and their anti-gay voting records.
Unlike the trailer for the movie (embedded below), the movie names the people in closets of power, interviews their former sexual partners, talks about where they go out to meet people, and makes a strong case for the homosexuality the men, such as Senator Larry Craig, still deny to this day.
I suppose outing has become a generic word in the culture, so we should go back to explore its historic roots. In an age where Perez Hilton "outs" Neil Patrick Harris, it is important to know that outing in the political arena is not about playing a gotcha game for people who merely deny their sexuality but enjoy secret gay lives. It is about people who deny it and actually cause harm to every gay person who has to live with the laws they pass to prove the lies they tell themselves and others are real.
Never Never Land is where my head is. And Mary Poppins is an annoying, pretentious, perfectionist bitch. I
you are obbsessed with cock and to u it is like
Click read more..... Click read more.... Click read more....
daaaaahhhhhhhhh...stupid blog disappeared.
Mania, Presidents's day, and unpreparedness, oh my!
I see you and I'm overwhelmed with anger
I don't pretend to understand it
I can't tell you why
I am pondering if i should give up my life in Oasismag by writhering away into thin air or I could activily post my non gay ramblings elsewhere and keep you update on the no boyfriend status??? | <urn:uuid:1e25f745-6fca-400a-bbe3-6467e94c8531> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oasisjournals.com/home?page=19%2C5666 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971114 | 894 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Upworthy, a viral media site, is less than a year old but already has more than 9 million monthly viewers. That outpaces the early days of other viral sites like BuzzFeed and Business Insider, and makes Upworthy the fastest-growing media company on the internet. It’s also one of the most unusual.
If you’re not familiar, Upworthy adds splashy headlines to photos and videos it culls from across the internet, and encourages viewers to share them on Facebook and other social media sites. This is akin to what sites like BuzzFeed do but with two major differences: Upworthy doesn’t have advertising and it focuses exclusively on political and social issues like gender equality and climate change.
So far, the site has made a splash with fare like “If this video makes you uncomfortable, then you make me uncomfortable” (advocating for gay marriage) and “Bully Calls News Anchor Fat, News Anchor Destroys Him On Live TV.” Upworthy also stands out for its editorial process: curators prepare 25 versions of each headline and engages in extensive A/B testing to find out which version is most likely to go viral.
“When we look at the media landscape, we see there being more of a demand problem than a supply problem – how do you get people to care about important stuff amidst the avalanche of content we all face each day?” said co-founder Peter Koechley.
So far, Upworthy is off to a roaring start and not just thanks to its millions of visitors. The press has praised Upworthy for using viral tricks to promote content unrelated to cats, while high-profile media figures like BuzzFeed co-founder John Johnson and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes have put their own money into it. The site has also received $4 million from venture capital firm NEA.
All of this has made Upworthy a darling of the startup scene. But what is the company’s business model? As noted, Upworthy has no advertising income, nor does it plan to have any. Meanwhile, the company is in the midst of a mini-hiring spree, while also maintaining a high-gloss website and social media operation.
Upworthy says it earns money by connecting “readers with non-profits and other organizations who are looking to grow their memberships via the sign-up boxes” on its site. In other words, the company is collecting email addresses and social media profiles for “lead generation.”
The company adds it will not work with just any organization — only those that “create positive social change.” In response to an email query, Upworthy co-founder Peter Koechley declined to provide financial figures but did say the site has been taking in revenue since its third month of operation.
It seems far-fetched, however, to build a major media venture on the backs of the Sierra Club, the American Worker or other social-change groups. Unless, that is, Upworthy’s primary goal is instead to build a political operation aimed at gathering voter data and boost the Democratic party in upcoming elections.
Recall how the Obama administration won the 2012 race by using big data to identify and energize individual voters. The Democratic Party’s campaign, which relied heavily on Facebook connections and custom email messages, ran circles around Mitt Romney’s TV-based campaign. Now, with the help of Upworthy, the Democrats could be in a position to do it all over again — the site could not only help identify passionate supporters of liberal issues, but also be a laboratory to experiment with headlines and marketing messages like the ones used in an election.
Some members of the Upworthy team certainly have the pedigree for it. Koechley’s co-founder is Eli Pariser, the former head of Moveon.org, a liberal activist group closely tied to Democratic presidential campaigns. Meanwhile, Upworthy staff also include Zane Shelby and Ryan Resell, who worked on analytics and tech for the Obama campaign. And, according to Wired, Koechley is closely connected to Obama’s chief digital strategist, who gained fame for focus-tested emails like “I will be outspent” and “Do this for Michelle.”
Koechley told me: ”We don’t view ourselves as a political organization, although some of us do have backgrounds in politics,” he said. “Some of the most popular stuff on Upworthy is about the wonders of science, building women’s self esteem, or feel-good stories about overcoming adversity.” He also pointed to the site’s own description of itself as a “mission-driven media company.”
There is no reason to doubt Koechley and Upworthy’s sincerity about using viral media to advance social change. And it’s hard not to support much of what they’re doing; I don’t like homophobia or bullying either. But it’s also pretty easy to look at the company and see the seeds of something far more potent than just another viral media site.
Correction: This story was updated at 12:08pm to say that BuzzFeed co-founder John Johnson is an investor in Upworthy; an earlier version listed BuzzFeed co-founder Jonah Peretti.
(Image by SoulCurry via Shutterstock) | <urn:uuid:099cbdbe-4d60-49b4-8f48-fe5651b072cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paidcontent.org/2013/03/06/how-the-fastest-growing-media-site-could-help-democrats-win-the-next-election/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957039 | 1,122 | 1.625 | 2 |
Scope and Content
Title: Martin (Freddy) Collection, Pt. 2,
Date (inclusive): c1930-1980
Collection number: Mss280
Creator: Fred Martin Jr.
Extent: 222 linear ft.
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Martin (Freddy) Collection, Pt. 2, Mss280, Holt-Atherton
Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Martin, Freddy (1906-1983)
Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Big bands -United States
Big band music -United States
Band musicians -United States
Big bands -California
Band musicians -California
Los Angeles (Calif.) -History -Sources
Freddy Martin (1906-1983) was a band leader/saxophonist during the Swing Era and after.
He was known for his beautiful tone. Raised in Ohio orphanage, Martin learned instruments
in the orphanage band. Encouraged by Guy Lombardo, he formed his own group (1932) and
began to play dance clubs in New York and Chicago. Martin appeared on several radio
programs during the 1930s and became identified with dance arrangements of popular
classics, the most famous of which was probably his theme song, "Tonight we love,"
derived from the opening melody of Chaikovskii's First Piano Concerto (1941). Martin came
west in 1941, first establishing himself at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco and
later at the Cocoanut Grove of the Amabassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where he remained
for more than twenty-five years. In later years, Martin helped foster a nostalgia craze
for the "Big Band Sound." He toured the nation with his group playing arrangements made
famous by the many bands of the Swing Era (1965-1980). More a performer and administrator
than an arranger, Freddy Martin farmed out the work of creating a "Martin Sound" over
fifty years to many arrangers. Among those represented in this collection, Bob Ballard
was certainly Martin's principal arranger from 1950 to 1983, but others, including Murray
Arnold, Ray Austin, Elmer Feldkamp, Del Lampe, Terry Shand, Eddie Sheasby and Fred Van
Eps are also well-represented.
Scope and Content
The Freddy Martin collection consists largely of the arrangements Martin's various bands
played over the nearly fifty years of his career as a band leader. Series I consists of
more than 4000 manuscript band scores with parts. Series II consists of other types of
music, including published sheet music, published arrangements and manuscript lead
sheets. Series III consists of Freddy Martin biographical materials, including
correspondence, lists of arrangements, photographs, programs and memorabilia.
NUMBERS ON ARRANGEMENTS IN SERIES I BOXES CORRESPOND TO NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO INDIVIDUAL
ARRANGEMENTS BY FREDDY MARTIN'S LIBRARIAN. Martin used several numbering systems over the
lifetimes of his various bands. The dominant system (Boxes 1-115) was apparently
developed in the mid-1950s. The 3,529 arrangements in this group were numbered
consecutively as they entered the band's repertoire. Martin's librarian produced an
alphabetical file on 3x5 cards that connected the user to the appropriate number. NUMBERS
IN THIS DOMINANT SYSTEM ARE GIVEN IN THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARRANGEMENTS
SIMPLY AS NUMBERS WITHOUT ANY QUALIFYING LETTERS OR OTHER SIGNS.
Some ten years earlier a Martin librarian took previously alphabetized clumps of
arrangements then in use and numbered them consecutively. The earliest of these
arrangements bearing a date was created in 1936. Oddly, this numbering sequence begins
with titles beginning in the "T"s, proceeds backwards into the "S"s, then jumps to the
"H"s and so on without apparent logic. None of the titles in this group (Boxes 116-124)
is found in the newer lists. Here numbers are penciled into the upper lefthand corner of
the score and then circled. Occasionally numbers are given as "G-#," "A-#," or "B-#."
What these letters signify has not been determined. NUMBERS IN THIS SYSTEM ARE PRECEDED
IN THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARRANGEMENTS BY THE LETTER"E"(for "early").
Several of the scores in this group numbered 200 and higher bear titles or other markings
indicating that they were used on the Jack Carson Radio Show. These arrangement numbers
are preceded by the letters "JC" (for "Jack Carson"). Martin conducted the "house band"
on this program for at least two seasons (1943-44 and 1945-46). There are 424 "early"
numbers and of these 9 arrangements are missing. There are also 4 repeated numbers, thus
the total number of surviving early numbered arrangements is 419. (Boxes 116-124).
In the early 1950s the Martin Band had its own television shows. The first of these,
probably a local show originating in Los Angeles, was called Band of Tomorrow
(1950-1951?). Martin's librarian marked arrangements in this series "BofT-#." The
arrangements were placed in rough alphabetical order before being numbered consecutively
from BofT-1 through BofT-75. Titles of 18 of these arrangements are known only because
they were found on a handwritten list in Martin's papers. Nothing at all is known about
another 38 of the "BofT" series. Indeed, more than two-thirds of these arrangements were
missing when Holt Atherton Special Collections acquired the Martin Collection. Altogether
there are 19 surviving "BofT" arrangements (BOX 125).NUMBERS IN THIS SYSTEM ARE PRECEDED
IN THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARRANGEMENTS BY THE LETTERS "BofT".
For one season Martin appeared weekly on a national television program sponsored by Hazel
Bishop Lipstick (1951). His librarian assigned Hazel Bishop Show arrangements numbers
roughly corresponding to the order in which the arrangements were used on the shows and
marked them "HB-#." There are 209 extant arrangements in this group, although a
handwritten list confirms the former existence of others (Boxes 127-130). NUMBERS IN THIS
SYSTEM ARE PRECEDED IN THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARRANGEMENTS BY THE LETTERS
Sometime probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Martin's librarian began a
supplementary numbering system for use on road trips and at nostalgia concerts. This
system renumbers arrangements in the dominant alphalist mentioned above and is easily
identified by its use of large stamped numbers in the upper right hand corner of parts
and scores The clustering of certain functional types of music around certain
numbers---Latin dance tunes, ca 300-325; Show Tune medleys, ca 500-550; and Waltzes, ca
600-614---suggests that this numbering system was created for quick "subject" access to
key portions of the larger collection. Although some arrangements in the "stamped numbers
list" date from the 1940s, the list also contains nearly all of Bob Ballard's last
arrangements for FM dating from 1975 through 1980. Many of the parts bear the smaller
pencilled numbers of the dominant alphalist as well as their stamped numbers and it
therefore seems best to assume that the two lists were used in tandem. NUMBERS IN THIS
SYSTEM ARE PRECEDED IN THE FOLLOWING ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARRANGEMENTS BY THE LETTER "S"
(for "stamped"). The best sources for titles on the "stamped numbers list" are two
documents in Series III, Box 1: "Freddy Martin Library Index" and "Florida Index." Titles
on these lists seem to indicate that they were prepared as recently as the mid-1970s.
Both of the "indexes" arrange titles by tempo and/or type of dance. The highest number
occurring in either index is "612" and together the two indexes list 195 arrangements. Of
this complement only twenty titles do not occur on the dominant alphalist. Most of these
are songs that became popular after 1965. The stamped numbers arrangements that came to
Holt Atherton in the Freddy Martin Band's traveling cases have been boxed as a separate
group even though most of them could have been interfiled with the dominant alphalist
parts and scores. They apparently constitute Freddy Martin's last repertoire (Boxes
There is also, as one might expect, a substantial quantity of unnumbered arrangements in
the Freddy Martin Collection (BOX 126). One bloc of these, seemingly dating from the
1930s, consists largely of waltzes and Latin American dance pieces. It is possible that
Martin's band played this kind of music less frequently after the War and that the music
was factored out of the band's repertoire before Martin's librarian adopted any numbering
system. No scores exist for any of these earely unnumbered arrangements. Although a few
of the "newer" unnumbered arrangements date from somewhat earlier, many of them were done
in the 1970s by Martin's principal arranger of that decade, Bob Ballard. Judging by the
frequency with which TV and film title themes occur in this list, it seems likely that
several of the arrangements were prepared ad hoc for awards ceremonies. At least some of
the others were probably items in the FM Band's standard repertoire that were simply
never numbered. Several of this group are characterized on their scores as "disco"
arrangements. These must have been among the last arrangements prepared for the Martin
orchestra. Many of these arrangements feature scores as well as parts. ARRANGEMENTS IN
THIS GROUP ARE INDICATED BY THE DESIGNATION "NO#". | <urn:uuid:bcdbcb66-b378-45a8-a8bd-2a066e8749ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0t1nb1c6/admin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93519 | 2,213 | 1.640625 | 2 |
John Boehner, in an interview with Fox News:
The president’s economic policies have failed. I would argue they actually have made things worse. And as a result, the president has turned to the politics of envy and division...
America can’t live for four more years with Barack Obama as president. His policies will turn America in a direction that we may never recover from...
It’s sending America down a path that will look a lot like what we see in Europe: A big social welfare state, high unemployment, slow economic growth and a government that is overly large.
If you have a government that can give you everything that you want, you have a government that can take everything that you have.
No one is advocating for a government that will “give you everything that you want,” of course. So I suppose there’s no need to fear that government will be taking away “everything that you have” anytime soon.
This is really crazy stuff, but such lurid invocations of impending Big Government Apocalpyse have become par for the course among today’s Republican leaders. Paul Ryan, who has become the intellectual leader of the party on fiscal matters, claims we are approaching a ”tipping point beyond which the nation will be unable to change course.” Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain GOP nominee, frequently argues that Obama favors government-enforced “equal outcomes.”
Obama wants to return to Clinton-era tax rates on the rich, and to tax millionaires who pay lower tax rates than middle class taxpayers at a rate of 30 percent. His policies would barely put a dent in long term trends that have exacerbated inequality for decades.
Yet as Jonathan Chait recently noted in a different context, when Republicans respond to Obama’s prescriptions to combat inequality and tax unfairness, they aren’t attacking his actual policies, they’re attacking socialism. They’re attacking an imagined plan for mass seizure and redistribution of wealth in service of mass government-enforced equality.
This type of talk is as out of touch with reality as it is all-pervasive. And yet the press never even remarks on it at all.
Update: The “take away everything that you have” quote is an allusion to something Gerald Ford said in a joint address to Congress in 1974. Used in the context of a discussion of Obama’s policies and reelection, of course, it takes on whole new meaning. | <urn:uuid:5076c29a-05f9-4693-a8d9-69fa6a57a312> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/john-boehner-if-obama-is-reelected-government-may-be-able-totake-away-everything-that-you-have/2012/04/24/gIQAz9KneT_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946063 | 519 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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WL Vermont | "Folks this Ain't Normal"
Posted by admin on 6/24/12 in Uncategorized
By Kate Lamie
Joel Salatin (you may recognize that name from the Food Inc documentary) wowed the crowd in the Speakeasy this morning. A passionate, farming advocate and third generation farmer himself, Joel talked about how out of touch our culture is with the fact that food comes from the land.
Here are 7 points I found super interesting:
1.) We've created a lot of food we can't physically metabolize, like TV dinners and products that contain HFCS and MSG.
2.) 30% of all food is eaten in automobiles in our culture. Whoa!!
3.) Grain used to be considered the holy grail of agriculture because of all the tillage required and the fact that it had to be hand sown. Today we try and expedite that process, and we lose enzymes when gentle fermentation practices are cut out, contributing to celiac disease and problems digesting gluten.
4.) When we think about the biodiesel needed to ship certain organic products to far away destinations or the cost to truck compost matter to processing stations sometimes the best intentions can't have the desired effect because we haven't brought the farm model close enough to home.
5.) We can't continue to segregate our food system. Our lawns can be used for farming; chickens can be right in our backyard.
6.) The weak link is participation! We need to find ways to get actively involved, and pointing the finger is not the answer. The best plan is to ask yourself how you can participate and challenge your current habits.
7.) Think about the planet when you purchase! Joel talks about the concept of ecological profits and losses to really drive the idea home. | <urn:uuid:6ad2285e-c4c8-40fa-ada6-ee69f0e4e7a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://squaw.wanderlustfestival.com/connect/blog/wl-vermont-folks-aint-normal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940172 | 388 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Fri March 8, 2013
What Happened When Humans Met An Alien Intelligence? Sex Happened
Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 2:50 pm
We have dreamed about it for so long. We've told stories, made movies, imagined what it would be like when we humans have our first "close encounter" with an intelligent alien, a creature about our size, who can gaze back, talk (even if we can't understand what's being said) who can scare us, thrill us, make us feel its mind. Who wouldn't want a moment like the one in E.T., when the little alien puts out his finger? But that's the movies.
We now know how big the universe is, how far the stars are from each other. Just as I was getting used to the idea that even if there's intelligent life out there, there's no way we'll ever be able to find the light years to get together, I opened Chip Walter's new book, Last Ape Standing, and discovered — it's already happened.
We've already met our intelligent alien. We almost certainly had sex with them. And we did it here, right here on Earth, not so many generations ago.
In Chip's book, he describes one such encounter: We're in Europe, in a forest, maybe. It was an ordinary day, around 40,000 years ago, and a small band of Homo sapiens, some hunters, slender, looking much like us, their families nearby, are moving through the woods, looking for a boar, rabbits, something to eat, when all of a sudden "they" appear.
"Imagine this encounter, and its shattering effect," writes Walters. "Each group must have gazed at the other in bewildered amazement."
In an instant they would have seen that these creatures resembled them, but were clearly not one of them. Why didn't they communicate in the same way or even make the same sounds? This wasn't simply a different tribe ... this was another creature altogether, perhaps a god or an animal, or something in between.
God? Animal? Something In Between
On one side of that meadow stood ... us, or rather our ancestors, a group we now call Cro-Magnon (after the cave in France where their bones were discovered). We were modern humans 40,000 years ago, emigrants from Africa, baby-faced, scant of hair, but loaded with brain. We were smart. We probably carried sharp hunting tools of our own design, flint knives and spears for throwing and we had taught ourselves to kill animals from a distance — animals like those aliens making mysterious noises on the other side of the meadow.
What did the other group look like? They looked kind of like us, but stronger. Their hands were huge, their shoulders big, rounded with muscle, their faces, ah, their faces came with enormous noses, rich with nasal membranes that could warm the cold, dry air they breathed up north, where they lived.
We were more recently up from Africa, still dark skinned. They'd been 200,000 years in Europe, had grown fair, freckled and some of them had red or blond hair. And while you wouldn't know it from looking, their brains were even bigger than ours, at over 1700 cubic centimeters. "That's about 300 ccs larger than your brain or mine," says Walter. We had never seen their like, but you, you reading this, you know them from photos and magazines. They were Neanderthals. And Neanderthals have gotten a bum rap for the last hundred years.
Caveman With A Club?
We think of Neanderthals as primitives, stooped, brutish, club bearing — one of those not-quite-upright apes in a standard Evolution of Man cartoon. But they weren't stooped. That was an error. In 1908, a prominent French scientist, Marcellin Boule, examined a set of Neanderthal bones found in Southern France, put them together, and discovered an apish, bowed figure. He decided that's what all Neanderthals looked like, but he was wrong.
Boule's specimen was 40 to 50 years old, seriously old for a Neanderthal. He had suffered from chronic arthritis, "a disease that had cruelly twisted the man's spine," Walters writes. (Thus, the stoop.) "Walking must have been agonizing given the state of his bones. He died with no more than two teeth, which would have made eating the normal rough, Neanderthal diet nearly impossible. Yet this man's fellow tribesmen must have carried and fed him specialized foods for years, otherwise he would never have lived to such a ripe age."
So these people (and they were "people" — we share a common ancestor; living up north for 200 thousand years had changed them and made them a different species), they were hardly "brutish." At the very least, they were gentle to their elders. They must have carried, fed and cared for that old fellow for years. What's more, there's evidence they thought about life in complicated ways.
There's a gravesite in Iraq where a Neanderthal was found, "positioned fetal-like, as though he were sleeping." Neanderthals buried their dead before we Homo sapiens did, and on this site, the skeleton appears to have once surrounded by flowers and evergreens. Investigators found traces of pollen below and around him, as if to say, "We didn't abandon this man. We too knew how to love, to grieve, and we laid him here with the same tenderness you have for your people, and like you, we wished him soft passage ..."
Neanderthals, says Steven Mithen of Reading University, may have spoken a more musical, tonal language, a mix of cooing and keening, singsong beats, accompanied by gestures. Chip Walter likes to think that in their speech, and early on with their burial practices, they may have been a touch "more softhearted than we are," but we really don't know.
So what happened that afternoon in our meadow, in that moment of very first encounter? Did we think, "Food!" and attack? Did we flee? Did they? Or did we watch them, wait, take tentative steps toward each other, wondering, "What are they? Can we get closer? Can we trust them?" "The big and primal question — the mastodon in the room so to speak," writes Walters, is the simplest one: "Are they a friend or an enemy?"
Killing Them With Kindness?
Anthropologists differ on what happened. There is some evidence, but not a lot, that we regularly attacked and eventually annihilated the Neanderthals. There's evidence too, that we crowded them out of the best hunting sites, making it harder for them to earn a living (and they needed to eat more than we do to stay alive). But the third possibility, writes Chip Walter, is that "if we killed them at all, we killed them with kindness. We neither murdered them nor outcompeted them. We mated with them and, in time, simply folded them into our species until they disappeared."
Love The One You're With
About 35,000 years ago, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals lived within shouting distance of each other in France and Spain for, at the very least, a few thousand years. If they mingled, some might have gone farther. There is a skeleton of a boy, found in Portugal, who lived after the last Neanderthals died in southern Spain, whose body seems to be a hybrid, part them, part us.
But the clincher is in your cells. I'm talking about you, you reading this, unless you are 100 percent Yoruba or San (groups that never emigrated from Africa). In 2010, scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, discovered that most humans on Earth, especially if they descend from Europe and most of Asia, carry about 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA in their cells. Proportions will vary. British comedian Eddie Izzard, discovered he's 2.8 percent Neanderthal. You don't carry Neanderthal DNA unless someone up your family tree coupled with one.
So that's our proof: that our first encounter with an intelligent alien led to ... umm, well ... more.
Chip Walter's Book is Last Ape Standing: The Seven Million Year Story of How and Why We Survived. It's the story of our family tree, which includes, amazingly, 27 (and still counting) different varieties of walking, upright humans. Nature produced many, many different human species, only one line of which led to us. The rest just blinked out. Here's a gorgeous look at some of our predecessors:
As for close encounters, Neanderthals aren't the only intelligent humans who lived alongside us. In Siberia, a separate species called the Denisovans hunted and settled in the Altai Mountains 40,000 years ago. Another group, the Red Deer Cave people lived in south central China as recently as 11,500 years ago. And a mini-version of humanity, Homo floresiensis, often called "hobbits" may have been on an Indonesian island as recently as 17,000 years ago. Henry Gee, of Cambridge University, likes to think they may still be with us, hiding in some remote cave or forest in Indonesia. | <urn:uuid:1c5bc7e8-7a6d-4213-90c5-4ae8eff0ed74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wdiy.org/post/what-happened-when-humans-met-alien-intelligence-sex-happened | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979476 | 1,962 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Published March 22, 2012
BOULDER CITY, Nev. – President Obama visited a dusty, desert town 30 miles outside Las Vegas Wednesday to declare he's doubling down on federal efforts to boost the solar industry.
Republicans believe Obama is gambling with taxpayer dollars as he continues to aggressively push alternative forms of energy after the failure of Solyndra, which resulted in the loss of half a billion dollars in taxpayer dollars.
"This is one of those interesting left-wing ideas which works theoretically as long as it's not real," Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich charged on the campaign trail Wednesday. "And then you put in a half billion dollars and you go, 'Oh that didn't quite work.'"
Obama sharply disagrees and used the world's largest solar power plant of its kind -- with one million solar panels dotting the desert here -- to assert it is his critics who are out of touch with reality.
In a nod to Solyndra, Obama said "some companies will fail, some companies will succeed." But he also lashed out at Republicans who make jokes about the promise of solar and wind power as people who have a "lack of imagination" as the nation debates how to deal with rising gasoline prices.
"One member of Congress who shall remain unnamed called these jobs 'phony' -- called them phony jobs," Obama said. "I mean, think about that mindset, that attitude that says because something is new, it must not be real. If these guys were around when Columbus set sail, they'd be charter members of the Flat Earth Society."
The problem for the President is that job growth is flat here too. There are only 10 full-time employees here at the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility, the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in the nation, although company officials note there will be more jobs if two other proposed plants move forward.
There are also questions about the electricity output here. This plant cranks out just 58 megawatts per hour to power 17,000 homes, while a typical coal-fired power plant can produce 600 megawatts an hour and about seven times the electricity.
Obama responds that solar is just one piece of his "all-of-the-above" strategy, and declared he will not back down from pouring in more taxpayer money since the payoffs from new technologies do not always come right away.
"Sometimes, you need a jumpstart to make it happen," Obama said. "That's been true of every innovation that we've ever had. And we know that some discoveries won't pan out. There's the VCR and the Beta and the -- all that stuff."
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the panel that has been investigating the Solyndra matter, begs to differ and told Fox News the administration is too focused on getting taxpayer assistance to green companies that may not deserve the help.
"They are a green-energy focused agenda and they can't get to the heart of the matter, which is that we need to increase supply," said Jordan.
Jordan also raised eyebrows at the White House by suggesting in an interview with Energy and Environmental Daily that the Congressional probe of Solyndra is at least in part a push for votes in November.
"Ultimately, we'll stop it on Election Day, hopefully," Jordan said of the Solyndra probe. "And bringing attention to these things helps the voters and citizens of the country make the kind of decision that I hope helps them as they evaluate who they are going to vote for in November."
A White House official told Fox the administration believes it's noteworthy that a member of the committee probing Solyndra "now acknowledges that election-year politics is driving a taxpayer-funded investigation." | <urn:uuid:73d181af-9bbb-48d8-9d10-c387efb33623> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/21/president-obama-doubles-down-on-efforts-to-boost-solar-industry/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966901 | 759 | 1.632813 | 2 |
More Canadians Staying At Home For Summer Vacation
A recent BMO Bank of Montreal survey has found that more Canadians are taking “staycations” as opposed to spending big bucks on extravagant vacations abroad.
“Staycation”, the act of staying at home for your vacation as opposed to traveling, was recently added the the Oxford English dictionary. It’s also gaining in popularity with Canadians, as 43 per cent of Canadians decided to stay close to home this year, spending money on movies, concerts or sporting events. Only 17 per cent of Canadians surveyed traveled abroad.
Depending on your backyard setup, a staycation can be the perfect way to enjoy the sumer without spending too much. However, BMO also recommends homeowners try to cut out unnecessary spending like dinners or lunches out as well as that daily venti caramel macchiato, putting the funds in an automatic savings plan instead to save up for that trip abroad.
This site is owned & operated by: Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd Johnston & Daniel Division,477 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, Ontario, M4S 2L9, 416.489.2121. The content is provided by a number of sources as referenced in the contribution list. | <urn:uuid:f3187cd8-b73b-49f3-ad55-f90fdd6213e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muddyyork.com/2012/08/31/3693/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954812 | 255 | 1.625 | 2 |
meeting agenda (Item No. 20), at 1 a.m. the City Council reviewed two
possible schematics for the proposed civic center complex at the
existing Newport Beach City Hall location, which includes 0.62 acres
for a new fire station with three bays. The schematics reflect in
part efforts to find the best solution for the fire station.
Fire Chief Tim Riley said that ideally a fire station with three
bays, with potential use as an emergency operations center, would
generally be on about 1.2 acres. He also stated that it is imperative
to have a fire station at or near the current location in order to
provide appropriate response times to residents, businesses and
beachgoers, which is a point I can agree with.
What was clear is that the fire station is being shoehorned into
an unsuitable location and that compromises are being made to the
proposed civic center complex design in order to accommodate the
three uses -- City Hall, parking structure and fire station. As
Councilman Don Webb pointed out, the proposed basic plan creates a
four-story concrete wall of buildings, with all three structures
fronting 32nd Street. Is this the world class design that residents
and businesses want and expect for Newport Beach?
So this begs the following questions.
Why have the City Council and members of the city staff dismissed
any serious study of alternate sites for one or more of the project's
pieces? And if the current site is the only option, my reading of the
feelings of the general plan advisory committee shows a clear
willingness to support more multi-use development and an interest in
redevelopment of the entire Lido area, so how about a civic center
complex combined with other revenue generating uses, which could
support purchase of other property for a fire station?
Do the residents and City Council really want a fire station that
is jury-rigged onto a site 50% the size of an optimum site? Would any
of us accept a 50% solution in our business lives for a site that may
be designated as an emergency operations center? How do you explain | <urn:uuid:e718e5df-3287-41af-9bec-89c6ff917a27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2005-10-06/news/export236_1_fire-station-newport-beach-city-hall-fire-chief-tim-riley | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946754 | 452 | 1.5 | 2 |
NEW YORK – Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta partnered with a group that promotes world government to co-chair an initiative to regulate U.S. oceans and cede them to United Nations-based international law, a new book reveals.
Panetta also keynoted the conference of a pro-Soviet, anti-war group during the height of the Cold War, and has previous unexplained close ties to the Institute for Policy Studies, a pro-Marxist think tank accused of anti-CIA activity.
And that’s just the start of Panetta’s controversial background and radical associations exposed in the recently released book, “Red Army: The Radical Network that must be defeated to save America,” by New York Times bestselling authors Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott.
The book also charges Panetta with anti-CIA activity. Panetta served as CIA chief under President Obama until his appointment to the secretary of defense post earlier this year.
Panetta caught in 1-world scheme
Until his ascent to CIA director in 2009, Panetta co-chaired the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, which is the partner with Citizens for Global Solutions in a push to ratify U.S. laws and regulations governing the seas.
The oceans initiative, dissected in the “Red Army” book, bills itself as a bipartisan, collaborative group that aims to “accelerate the pace of change that results in meaningful ocean policy reform.”
Among its main recommendations is that the U.S. should put its oceans up for regulation under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
That U.N. convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment and the management of marine natural resources.
Other recommendations of Panetta’s Joint Ocean Commission Initiative include:
- The administration and Congress should establish a national ocean policy. The administration and Congress should support regional, ecosystem-based approaches to the management of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes.
- Congress should strengthen and reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act.
- Congress should strengthen the Clean Water Act.
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Leadership Council includes John Podesta, president and CEO of the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress, which is reportedly highly influential in advising the White House on policy.
Podesta served as co-chair of Obama’s presidential transition team.
“Red Army” found Panetta’s oceans initiative is a key partner of Citizens for Global Solutions, or CGS, which, according to its literature, envisions a “future in which nations work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms and solve the problems facing humanity that no nation can solve alone.”
CGS states it works to “build the political will in the United States” to achieve this global vision.
The organization currently works on issues that fall into five general areas: U.S. global engagement; global health and environment; peace and security; international law and justice; and international institutions.
CGS is a member organization and supporter of the World Federalist Movement, which seeks a one-world government. The World Federalist Movement considers the CGS to be its U.S. branch.
The Federalist movement openly brings together organizations and individuals that support the establishment of a global federal system of strengthened and democratized global institutions with plenary constitutional power accountable to the citizens of the world and a division of international authority among separate global agencies.
The movement’s headquarters are located near the U.N. building in New York City. A second office is near the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
The locations are significant, since the movement heavily promotes the U.N. and is the coordinator of various international projects, such as the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and the Responsibility to Protect military doctrine.
Soviet agents, propaganda
Panetta, meanwhile, has unexplained ties to the Institute for Policy Studies, or IPS, which has long faced criticism for positions some say attempt to undermine U.S. national security and for its cozy relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
A review of the voting record for Panetta, a member of Congress from 1977 to 1993, during the period in question shows an apparent affinity toward IPS’s agenda.
The IPS is funded by philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
Panetta was reportedly on IPS’s official 20th anniversary committee, celebrated April 5, 1983, at a time when the group was closely aligned with the Soviet Union.
In his authoritative book “Covert Cadre: Inside the Institute for Policy Studies,” S. Steven Powell writes: “April 5, 1983, IPS threw a large twentieth-anniversary celebration to raise funds.
“On the fundraising committee for the event were 14 then-current members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Leon E. Panetta, D-Calif., chairman of Budget Process Task Force of the House Committee on Budget (chairman of Subcommittee on Police and Personnel, Ninety-ninth Congress).”
Powell wrote that in the 1980s, Panetta commissioned the IPS to produce an “alternative” budget that dramatically cut defense spending.
“The congressional supporters for the Institute for Policy Studies included many of those who biennially commission IPS to produce an ‘alternative’ budget that dramatically cuts defense spending while increasing the spending for social welfare to levels only dreamed of by Karl Marx,” wrote Powell in the November 1983 issue of the American Opinion.
“In this pact of IPS intimates [are] such luminaries as … Leon Panetta, D-Calif., chairman of the Budget Process Task Force,” wrote Powell.
The IPS has long maintained controversial views and a pro-Marxist line on foreign policy. It was founded in 1963 by two former governmental workers, Marcus Raskin and Richard Barnet.
In his 1988 book “Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today,” Harvey Klehr, professor of politics and history at EmoryUniversity, said that IPS “serves as an intellectual nerve center for the radical movement, ranging from nuclear and anti-intervention issues to support for Marxist insurgencies.”
The FBI labeled the group a “think factory” that helps to “train extremists who incite violence in U.S. cities, and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue, and political agitation.”
The IPS has been accused of serving as a propaganda arm of the USSR and even a place where agents from the Soviet embassy in Washington came to convene and strategize.
In his book “The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider’s View,” Ladislav Bittman, a former KGB agent, called the IPS a Soviet misinformation operation at which Soviet insiders worked.
Brian Crozier, director of the London-based Institute for the Study of Conflict, described IPS as the “perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB.”
“Red Army” documents how Panetta keynoted the conference of a pro-Soviet, anti-war group during the height of the Cold War. Panetta also honored the founding member of that group, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, or WILPF, which was once named by the State Department as a “Soviet front.”
On April 11, 1984, Panetta, then a California congressman, entered into the congressional record a tribute in honor of WILPF’s founding member, Lucy Haessler.
In the record, Panetta praised Haessler as “one of the most dedicated peace activists I have ever known.”
Panetta later stated he was not aware of the WILPF’s communist background and was merely praising Haessler’s anti-war actions.
Still, in his congressional praise, Panetta recognized that Haessler traveled to the Soviet Union as a member of the WILPF:
“She has also participated in peace conferences conducted by WILPF and the Woman’s International Democracy Foundation in France, the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany,” read Panetta’s congressional praise.
Panetta hailed Haessler for her activism against the pending deployment of U.S. missiles to counter the Soviet build up:
“She joined thousands of dedicated peace activists where she expressed her concern about the impending deployment of Cruise missiles and Pershing II missiles in Europe,” he noted.
Haessler’s WILPF took on a pro-Soviet stance. It sponsored frequent exchange visits with the Soviet Women’s Committee and against “anti-Sovietism” while calling for President Reagan to “Stop the Arms Race.”
Panetta’s relationship with Haessler and the WILPF goes back to at least June 1979, when was the keynote speaker of WILPF’s Biennial Conference at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The conference was arranged by Haessler.
WILPF’s literature notes the conference honored Ava and Linus Pauling, who were prominent supports of ending nuclear proliferation.
“Red Army” reveals that Panetta, former CIA chief under Obama, once proposed allowing Congress to conduct spot checks at its discretion of the country’s sensitive intelligence agency.
In 1987, Panetta, then a California congressman, introduced the CIA Accountability Act, which would have made the CIA subject to audits by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
Panetta’s legislation would have allowed the comptroller general, who directs the GAO, to audit any financial transactions of the CIA and evaluate all of the agency’s activities either at his own initiative or at the request of the congressional intelligence committees.
The CIA is the only government agency that contests the authority of the comptroller general to audit its activities, citing the covert aspects of its operations.
Panetta’s bill followed the Iran-Contra affair, which came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. The weapons were intended to help secure the release of six American hostages being held by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group.
Panetta’s bill suggested ways to protect CIA secrecy, including the maintenance of all work papers at CIA-controlled locations and a provision allowing the president to exempt any CIA officer or agent from GAO access.
Still, the act allowed for the comptroller to “inspect and copy any relevant books, documents, papers, records, and other information, including written or recorded information of all kinds, and property which belongs to, or is in possession or control of the CIA.”
Obama accused of deliberately overloading U.S. economy
Klein and Elliot’s “Red Army” charges Obama and progressive Democrats with deliberately overloading the U.S. financial system.
The book purports to expose the radical socialist network that seized political power in Washington over decades, shaped Obama’s presidential agenda and threatens the very future of the U.S.
“Red Army” takes aim at such personalities as George Soros, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and groups such as the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Center for American Progress and the Institute for Policy Studies.
Some other highlights from “Red Army”:
- The existence of a powerful “Marxist-socialist” bloc in Congress (explicitly formed as an arm of the Democratic Socialists of America) and how it is behind legislation in areas that affect all Americans, including the complete socialization of health care and comprehensive immigration reform, which, the book exposes, seeks to change the very nature of the American electorate.
- The book exclusively reveals the radical origins of Obamacare and exposes the shocking misinformation campaign behind Obama’s economic policies, discussing the crafting of the massive “stimulus” legislation, as well as his plans for future economic “reform.”
- In two chapters that every American must read, entirely new information is laid bare on the left’s unprecedented assault on our already over-liberalized education system.
- The multipronged policy offensive aimed at disarming America by emboldening our enemies within and without, spurning traditional allies, subjecting us to the authority of foreign tribunals, and systematically dismantling the U.S. military. | <urn:uuid:3342db5b-6fb9-4107-963d-930b73c2ce3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2011/11/366637/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94791 | 2,631 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Now one of his friends is making a way more important request. You see, Amit is going to need a bone marrow transfusion to battle leukemia, and not just any transfusion will do. Amit is of South Asian descent, and this is a minority underserved in bone marrow donations.
Tony Bacigalupo, who runs NYC coworking space New Work City asks you to help Amit now:
Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If someone is determined to be a match, that person would have to be willing to undergo an outpatient procedure in which marrow is extracted from bones in the back by a special needle. It’s not a fun procedure, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.
That’s why, starting now, we are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent between the ages of 18 to 60 to take a test to see if you’re a match.
You can register online for your test, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th, for a special party we are throwing to rally support.
You can help Amit, and many others, by becoming a bone marrow donor. Visit Marrow.org today and get tested.
Having been through a bone marrow biopsy, I can confirm that it can be painful. The three minutes of pain however is well worth helping someone out, especially Amit. You can also help by sharing this link, perhaps a friend of yours will help too.
Thank you for the heads up @jacquelineslife | <urn:uuid:39f323fd-b34a-471f-a8b9-03cb5505686b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2011/10/07/help-amit-defeat-cancer-with-a-cheek-swab-and-brownbones/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953981 | 330 | 1.71875 | 2 |
AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to millions of articles from top publications available through your library.
(From Newcastle Evening Chronicle)
FOR Louis Chevrolet, the Swiss-born co-founder of the famous automobile marque which bears his name, his motto was simple: "Never Give Up".
And that same philosophy has been the cornerstone of the company's way of thinking throughout it 100-year history.
With the reintroduction of the brand in Europe in 2005, Chevrolet took the decision to showcase their products on the racetrack by entering the world of touring car racing, first with the Lacetti then with the new Cruze saloon.
Back-to-back World Touring Car Championship titles in 2010 and 2011 for Frenchman Yvan Muller helped make the racing Cruze a firm … | <urn:uuid:246d5909-3587-4031-83fc-a25dedf82751> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-283259024/chevrolet-cruze-vcdi-hatchback.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941304 | 160 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The Importance of APS in Demand Planning
Facts & Figures
In today’s volatile business environment, it is necessary to predict demand with as much accuracy as possible in order to be successful in a competitive marketplace. As supply chains become more complex, increased pressure is placed on the functions that are responsible for demand planning. Hence, there is a need for tools that support such functions. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) is becoming a more common characteristic of companies at the forefront of demand planning, as an essential supporting tool. BearingPoint conducted a survey, summarised in this collateral, with the purpose to identify the extent to which companies are using APS within their demand planning process and what they identify as improvement areas. | <urn:uuid:3e3ca762-4006-4bb0-a57d-efb4cb10034a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bearingpoint.com/en-nl/7-1620/the-importance-of-aps-in-demand-planning/?p=548%3B610 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965634 | 148 | 1.578125 | 2 |
No matter how fast or slow China is growing, don’t cheer nor mourn13 April, 2012, 1:59. Posted by Zarathustra
Tags: Economy, Hard Landing
China will be publishing its GDP growth figures within hours. I am sure that a better-than-expected growth rate would trigger waves of cheering that the concept of a hard landing is bunkum, while a worse-than-expected growth rate would trigger comments that the end of the world is nigh, but fear not: there will be easing.
The problems China is facing are complicated. While I have already discussed that at great length on my Chinese economy 2012 and beyond series, further readings and thoughts give me further insights.
The first one, as I briefly elaborated a few days ago, is that while population ageing should force working age people to spend as dependency ratio rise, that will be offset by the fact that this group of spenders will be a shrinking group going forward, making the idea that consumption growth will greatly outpaced the rest of the economy is very problematic. I have also pointed out that given the over-building in the real estate market (see all these empty properties in Hainan, Shanghai, and more), and given that many households store their wealth in real estate, the burst of the real estate bubble (which is happening right now, I believe) will be hugely negative to consumption as their wealth shrinks. One positive thing to consumption, as I have discussed previously, is that population ageing will sooner or later lead to labour shortage, that might push wages up, but I will discuss below some doubts from my second thought.
To approach the question on future wage growth, we start by giving some thoughts on the corporate sector. On the corporate sector, the pessimistic view on consumption will mean that one should cast serious doubt on corporate profitability as the top-line revenue growth will be, on the whole, disappointing. Indeed, corporate earnings for Chinese companies have been very disappointing for the year 2011, so disappointing that only view of the macro-oriented people would have expected that (including myself, which is partly lucky). But at the same time, we also have to acknowledge the fact that part of the disappointment on the bottom-line arose from rising wages in the past few years. The question here is whether wages will continue to rise rapidly that it might have a chance of supporting consumption growth more strongly in the years to come.
If we do not assume increase of government expenditure and trade surplus, I think there will be a number of forces pulling in different directions. First, as said, the labour shortage should exert upward pressure on wage, which will be good for consumption (and that is the bullish argument for consumption as the size of middle class grows). Second, the propensity to consume out of income for working-age population will rise, but this group is going to be a shrinking one, so the overall net effect could end up be rather neutral. Third, the wealth effect on the consumption function, which will be hugely negative. At the same time, the shrinking wealth from the burst of real estate bubble will feed in negative impact to wages through reduced consumption and poor corporate profits. While it is difficult here to pinpoint exactly how the end result would be given this rather qualitative discussion of a stock-flow consistent kind of thinking, it is fair to say that the combined impact of wage and consumption will at best be neutral, and I would lean towards the negative side.
Over-investment in the economy is evident in various sectors, and with lower private consumption, companies will find themselves in a situation where they have more inventories and fixed asset than they would like to given the poor consumption demand. Investment, which has been the key growth driver for the economy (particularly in the last 2 or 3 years), will slow dramatically given lower demand, and that will be negative both for GDP growth as well as consumption growth.
As you can see, no matter what GDP growth rate currently is, the above problems are still there for the years ahead. The more reflections are done, the more likely it seems that China’s GDP growth will slow to 5% or less by the end of the decade given above issues. Of course, one could argue that the Chinese government can run a huge budget deficit to plug the gap, but that could mean running trade deficit going forward, and that will in no way solve the problem of over-capacity within the economy, thus I am not a fan of huge deficit spending for the sake of maintaining GDP growth, even though there is chance that it is a possible solution.
To conclude, whatever the GDP growth rate might be at the present moment, the problems confronting the country is so huge that economic growth rate will be slowed down to way below what people think is possible, no matter what. | <urn:uuid:84625534-4006-4ebe-add7-ab5a68b72e7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alsosprachanalyst.com/economy/no-matter-how-fast-or-slow-china-is-growing-dont-cheer-nor-mourn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963978 | 977 | 1.5 | 2 |
The month of August — like, basically, every month for the past 10 years — has not been kind to the music industry.
Between August 8th and 14th, only 4.95 million albums were sold, the lowest weekly level since Neilsen Soundscan starting tracking sales in 1991. This past week, sales were up, but just barely: just over 5 million albums were sold, an increase of only 2 percent from the record low.
As you can see from the chart below, album sales have been on a steady decline since their peak in 2000. Digital album sales are growing, but not fast enough to make up the decline in sales of CDs.
So far this year, album sales are down 12 percent compared to the total sales at this time last year, according to Billboard
Music industry execs blame the dropping sales numbers on illegal downloads.
Musicians should be happy with poor music lovers reallocating music wealth.. | <urn:uuid:d642a958-f39e-4b25-9c5a-822d2af823f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moodyeyeview.com/2010/08/28/music-industry-in-the-tank-thanks-to-reallocation-of-illegal-music-download-wealth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973987 | 191 | 1.53125 | 2 |
PARDUBICE – German fans at the 2011 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship call it the “Russian Unit”, following Scotty Bowman’s successful Russian Five in Detroit. The German roster features four players born in the Soviet Union.
The history of Germans in the area of the former Soviet Union dates back to medieval merchants, but the emigration of German specialists rose especially during the tsarist era of the Russian Empire in the 18th and 19th century, with the Volga Germans that used to live around the area of Engels in the Saratov Region.
Two million German people were living in the Soviet Union and the Volga Germans even had their own republic. But being suspected of collaboration with the Hitler regime during World War II, they were deported to labour camps in remote areas of the Kazakh and Siberian regions.
Many ethnic Germans were allowed to go back to Germany some decades later, and the so-called repatriates also left their marks in hockey.
While only few players with Germanic family names play in these areas – including Kazakh women’s national team veteran Yelena Shtelmaister – lots of players from the Soviet hockey schools tried their luck at different levels of the German hockey system since the ‘90s.
Most of them come from the two traditional hockey towns in Kazakhstan. They include goalies like Dimitri Pätzold, who hails from Ust-Kamenogorsk, or Dimitri Kotschnew from Karaganda, who have both represented Germany internationally after returning to the country of their ancestors.
The roster of the German national inline hockey team even includes four repatriates that formed the first unit at the start of the tournament. The unit has since broken up as the most famous player of the quartet, Eduard Lewandowski, had to leave for undisclosed reasons following the first game.
While the forward from the Russian city of Krasnoturinsk, who played in the KHL finals with Atlant Mytishi in spring, will surely be missed, three players hailing from Karaganda remain with the team.
Vitalij Aab, Boris Blank and Alexander Dück all left their hometown as teenagers to try their luck in Germany. Dück left earlier than the other two to play for junior teams in Schwenningen in the Black Forest, while Aab and Dück went to Northern Germany, playing in the second and third division for Wilhelmshaven before being discovered by top-league teams.
All three now play in the DEL and also had some experience with national ice hockey teams, but the way to fame was a long one after having grown up in a different society more than 4,000 kilometres away.
“In Kazakhstan and the Soviet Union I wasn’t made feel that I’m German, but it was different for my parents,” Blank remembers the stories he heard. “They were sent to Siberia and my grandpa died at 33. They were in a closed city and then later deported to Kazakhstan. They were often called Nazis by the Russian population, but luckily when I grew up it was different.”
Then the family moved to Wilhelmshaven in the ‘90s, same as his Karaganda teammate and good friend Aab, who continued to play together in their new city.
“I came to Germany without knowing a word of German,” Blank says. “I learnt a bit at school as a kid, but I wasn’t doing very well at school, so I had to learn everything in Germany.”
That was a long time ago. Meanwhile only a slight Russian accent reveals that he’s not of German mother tongue.
“I’ve been living there for 17 years now and I feel at home,” Blank says.
The 32-year-old forward has played 558 games in the top league DEL and has been with Krefeld Pinguine for six years. In the era of Hans Zach he even participated in three IIHF World Championships (2002-2004).
Forming a line of Russian speakers with his good old friend Aab was surely something special, although it just lasted for one game, but he’s not worried about the new situation either.
“We often have contact with people who came from Kazakhstan and Russia, but I don’t make a difference between people as long as they’re good,” he said.
Germany, a four-time bronze medallist in inline hockey, hasn’t had a good tournament so far and lost all games in the preliminary round.
Due to their placement the Germans got reigning champion USA in the quarter-finals, which proved to be a mission impossible that ended with a 16-1 hammering.
“We have to improve day by day,” Blank said. “It’s difficult because we didn’t have a preparation camp and the other teams are really strong.”
Only one players was used more often than the Karaganda connection: Thomas Greilinger, who staged a fabulous comeback in top-level ice hockey after a break between 2005 to 2008 (see separate story).
Now the Germans have to fight for the ranking positions in the placement game against Slovenia before hosting the event next year in Ingolstadt. | <urn:uuid:d86420f8-523e-4b19-8753-36d0395acb42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iihf.com/de/channels1011/inline/news/news-singleview-inline/recap/5936.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=4895&cHash=4b533e04d2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980315 | 1,105 | 1.820313 | 2 |
What is the key to smarter decisions?
My question to the TED community is what is the key to smarter decisions?
As individuals, how can we make smarter decisions in everyday life?
How is this different in business decision making?
Can we help others make a better decision or should this be done out of own will? | <urn:uuid:0a1dbd7d-e804-4411-a296-857284d62d56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/conversations/14160/what_is_the_key_to_smarter_dec.html?c=551247 | 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 | 0.933646 | 67 | 1.523438 | 2 |
|Monday, 01 November 2004|
Please forward your comments to the Editor, Daily News.
Email : email@example.com
Snail mail : Daily News, 35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Telephone : 94 11 2429429 / 94 11 2421181
Fax : 94 11 2429210
Taking the peace process forward
President Kumaratunga's reassuring words to visiting Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi that peace talks should begin soon, establishes the bona fides of the Government as regards the peace process.
These words should also have the effect of raising the hopes of the public that a concerted and consistent effort would be made by the Lankan State to take the peace process forward.
Coupled with these encouraging words by the President comes the news that the first meeting of the National Advisory Committee for Peace and Reconciliation's (NACPR) Political Committee would be held today followed subsequently by meetings of the Religious Committee and Civil Society Committee.
We are of the opinion that the formal peace process should be resumed with utmost speed with talks between the Government and the LTTE taking pride of place in this effort, but it is also of vital importance that every effort is made to arrive at the hitherto elusive Southern consensus on a solution.
This is where the NACPR could prove its worth. While the fundamental terms of peace should be thrashed out between the government and the LTTE, Southern opinion in particular should be receptive to these terms which would invariably involve the empowerment of minorities within a united and geographically intact Sri Lanka.
Here's usually where the rub is. Most sections are enthusiastic about peace and are thankful for the continuing ceasefire but tend to be apprehensive about some of the gut issues in the peace process.
The empowerment of minorities is one of these. As we see it, there is no ducking the issue of granting a degree of empowerment if the ethnic issue is to be resolved peacefully. After all, the ethnic conflict is all about power or the lack of it.
The fundamental premise, however, on which peace needs to be built is the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. On this issue, the Southern public, at least, is agreed. On other finer issues a Southern consensus needs to be built and this task could be achieved by the NACPR, if all goes well.
Past peace efforts foundered largely because the Lankan body politic was unprepared for the crucial terms of making peace. Power devolution, for instance, which is a perfectly democratic exercise is still being seen by some as a stepping-stone to a separate state.
Such misleading notions must be proved as being without a basis and it is in tasks such as these that the NACPR could prove its worth. The South - in particular - should, ideally, be in one mind on peace. This climate of opinion needs to be built.
Whales are the biggest animals on Earth. Graceful and alluring, whales have become a big tourist attraction in all the places they frequent. Sri Lanka has a special place in whale lovers' hearts thanks to Trincomalee, known as the Whale Capital of the World.
The East also has an abundance of elephants, another big hit with tourists. An area which can offer both these attractions has the potential to become a major tourism hot spot.
The Government is planning to promote 'the place where elephants meet whales' as a major tourist draw. The City and the port, the biggest natural harbour in the world after Sydney, will be developed up to international standards. It will also become the place for conducting whale research.
The Cabinet has already approved a paper submitted by Tourism and Investment Promotion Minister Anura Bandaranaike on the Trincomalee development project. Ecotourism, land and sea management, community development, wildlife and nature conservation and maritime activity management will be included in the plan.
The proposed plan includes an international scientific research centre, ecotourism resorts and hotels, nature reserves, aquatic parks based on the 'ridge to reef' concept, shopping malls and theme parks.
This is good news for Trinco in particular and the Eastern Province in general, emerging from the wounds of war. With the ceasefire in place, local and foreign tourists are flocking to Trincomalee in large numbers. Domestic flights have re-commenced to this Eastern city, giving affluent locals and foreigners an opportunity to savour its many delights without any travel travails.
Focusing on ecotourism will boost these tourist numbers further. Whales and elephants, coupled with the area's natural and historical attractions, will indeed be a big draw. A modern passenger terminal at the Trinco port will enable cruise ships to dock there, opening yet another avenue to boost tourist numbers.
International hotel chains should also be invited to build resorts in Trincomalee. Local travellers must not be forgotten - there should be more hotels and rest houses with a reasonable fee structure. Improving the transport and telecommunications network in Trincomalee and the Eastern Province is also essential.
Preserving the serenity and environment of Trincomalee should be a priority. The Trinco beaches are still unpolluted for the most part and they should remain that way. It would be a pity if this aspect is neglected in the development plans.
The rest of the Eastern Province should be developed concurrently. Batticaloa, Arugam Bay, Passikudah and several other areas have their own unique claims to fame. A tourism promotion campaign that highlights the beauty of the Eastern Province should be launched. Permanent peace will make the East even more accessible and tranquil.
Produced by Lake House | <urn:uuid:298f3d4a-05a5-4de5-a3e0-2df38288e8ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/11/01/editorial.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943911 | 1,171 | 1.773438 | 2 |
San Francisco has Mark Twain; Oakland has Jack London. Berkeley has had its share of literary lights as well. Some—George R. Stewart, who memorably destroyed the town in Earth Abides; Robert Hass, Maxine Hong Kingston, Josephine Miles, Ishmael Reed—had, or have, university connections. The town has also been hospitable to Beat poets, speculative-fiction writers, and other non-Establishment types. Heyday Books has an entire anthology (Berkeley! A Literary Tribute) of fiction, poetry and memoir set in Berkeley, with contributors running the gamut from John Kenneth Galbraith to Thomas Pynchon.
For most of what follows, I’m indebted to Don Herron’s The Literary World of San Francisco and its Environs (City Lights, 1985).
Just after writing Howl in 1955, Allen Ginsberg moved from San Francisco to 1624 Milvia St. in Berkeley, now the site of a nondescript apartment building. Jack Kerouac described the cottage that once stood there in The Dharma Bums, as the home of poet “Alvah Goldbook.” Shopping for produce in Berkeley inspired Ginsberg to write “A Supermarket in California,” with its vision of Walt Whitman “poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.”
At 1943 Berkeley Way, now swallowed by an apartment complex, Kerouac first saw On the Road in print. Kerouac’s mother and the legendary Neal Cassady were there when he opened the package from Viking Press. Yes, Beat icons had mothers, and Jack Kerouac had a close, if troubled, relationship with his.
1325 Arch St., in the hills north of campus, was the home of anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and his second wife, Theodora Kroeber, author of Ishi in Two Worlds. Their Bernard Maybeck-designed house is also the birthplace of their daughter, science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. LeGuin (The Left Hand of Darkness).
Another genre fiction landmark is Greyhaven, in the first block of El Camino Real, where Marion Zimmer Bradley, creator of Darkover, presided over a communal sanctuary for fantasy writers.
Anthony Boucher (real name William Anthony Parker White), a key figure in fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction as author and editor, lived in the tan stucco house at 2805 Ellsworth St., and later on Dana near Derby. It was Boucher who first introduced the work of Jorge Luis Borges to American readers, in a short story he translated for the unlikely venue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
Then there’s Philip K. Dick, dubbed “our own homegrown Borges” by LeGuin. Dick, who moved around a lot, was at 1126 Francisco St. for a while, in a frame house, now painted yellow, with a pine tree in front. Long before Blade Runner and Minority Report became hit movies, Dick—living hand to mouth—had to subsist on not-for-human-consumption frozen horsemeat from the Lucky Dog Pet Shop at 2154 San Pablo Ave. (several changes of ownership ago). There was talk at one point of creating a Lucky Dog Award for rising science fiction writers, but I don’t think this ever got off the ground. | <urn:uuid:e783b519-0512-4fa7-b224-99330d37282c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2004-08-20/article/19484?headline=Worshipping-at-City-s-Literary-Shrines-By-JOE-EATON-Special-to-the-Planet--By-JOE-EATON-Special-to-the-Planet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941588 | 703 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Obama White House book faves: "Green Eggs and Ham," "Horton Hatches The Egg"
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama gave a rousing joint reading of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham to a gang of about 25 super excited kids at the White House Easter Egg Roll today. The President told the kids the Dr. Seuss book is "a classic."
"I'm going to try to do the best rendition ever of Green Eggs and Ham," President Obama said.
And he did, with much gesticulating, and First Lady Michelle Obama acting as a one-woman Greek chorus, leading the kids in a call-and-response to the book. Mrs. Obama also tossed in sound effects and echoed the green-eggs promoting character, Sam I Am: "Try it! Try it!"
Mrs. Obama is very familiar with the classic: She read it to a group of pre-schoolers when she visited the Department of Labor in January, as part of her "thank you" tour of agencies. (Above: POTUS & FLOTUS reading)
When he was done, President Obama re-explained the book to the kids, and embroidered on a theme of the day: Eat your vegetables.
"When your parents tell you to eat your broccoli, you don't know whether you're going to like them or not. You've got to try it," President Obama said. "When your parents tell you to eat your peas, eat your peas."
The President exited the stage to go play basketball with other Rollers, and Mrs. Obama and daughter Malia read "Horton Hatches the Egg," which she called "another favorite in the Obama White House." It was an especially apt book for the day, given the 19,000 hardboiled eggs in use for the festivities. Horton received a dramatic reading to equal the first book, and the kids cheered for Horton, and the egg, and listened raptly.
Mrs. Obama warned the kids before story time started that everyone must "keep our tushies on the ground or in our seats." Mission accomplished.
*Photo by Obama Foodorama | <urn:uuid:3e5da2f1-e2ce-41cd-a5ff-4cd2ab504931> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/04/2010-easter-egg-roll-president-first.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975715 | 444 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Pawleys Island Police Chief Mike Fanning, top, and his buddies from the Coastal Carolina Shields collected supplies for victims of Hurricane Sandy earlier this month.
The local chapter of the American Red Cross and other local groups are doing their part to help victims of Hurricane Sandy that hit the Northeast last month.
Other groups include Midway Fire and Rescue, Journeychurch, The Grand Theatre and Coastal Carolina Shields.
According to Nanci Conley, executive director for the American Red Cross, Coastal South Carolina Chapter, nearly 5,900 Red Cross workers are assigned to operations from North Carolina to Rhode Island, with the majority still in New York and New Jersey.
Currently, there are 12 local volunteers deployed, helping the Red Cross provide food, shelter, supplies and comfort, she said.
“The Red Cross has sent thousands of blankets and hand warmers to New York and New Jersey, and will be supporting some warming centers in the area,” Conley said.
“Shelters are open throughout the impacted area where people can escape the cold, get a hot meal and get the latest information on help available to them. An extensive feeding operation is underway to get hot meals to residents in New Jersey and all five boroughs of New York. As we learn about specific neighborhoods in need, we are immediately putting plans in place to provide people with food, water, relief supplies and comfort.”
To make donations, call the local chapter of the Red Cross at 843-477-0020, or visit redcross.org.
— From American
Midway Fire and Rescue
That’s the word Lt. Henry Hulit of Midway Fire Rescue uses to describe the week he spent aiding Hurricane Sandy victims in the Northeast.
“You watch it on the news and it’s awful, but it’s impersonal,” Hulit said. “When your feet are actually on the ground there and you’re talking to people who were devastated by the storm, that’s a whole different thing.”
Hulit was in New York for 12 days earlier this month as part of South Carolina’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team (SC-1 DMAT). He was stationed for most of that time at Nassau Community College in Garden City, N.Y., where he provided medical assistance in two shelters, including a nursing facility for the displaced elderly and invalid population. There were 80 patients there in need of constant care.
The other shelter he worked in was run by the Red Cross and had 1,200 beds, of which 843 were occupied.
Hulit was tasked with helping people get prescription medications they needed, stitching up injuries and tending patients with ailments such as asthma. But he was also a listening ear for many of those he encountered.
He recalls his third night in New York, when he listened to a former Marine who was in tears because his home was destroyed by floodwaters. The man had just returned from two tours in Afghanistan only to find himself homeless, Hulit said. Another couple he talked with had been together 56 years. The storm claimed everything they owned except the clothes on their backs and some prescription medication.
“It was nonstop like that for seven days,” Hulit said. “These people’s whole lives have been changed. Before, they got up, went to work and came home. Now, they wake up in a shelter, figure out which bus to take to get back to their house and how much time they have before the 5 o’clock curfew. They have to decide whether to get more groceries to bring back to the shelter or figure out how to wash their clothes in the time they have. Their lives are completely turned upside down.”
It was impossible for Hulit not to think about how easily his friends and neighbors back home could find themselves in a very similar position with the next hurricane season.
“It really hit home, the fact that it could happen to us,” Hulit said.
Hulit has been notified he may be recalled to New York with SC-1 DMAT, but hasn’t received confirmation.
Georgetown County employees are raising money for the Red Cross’ Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.
Donations will be collected at Midway’s headquarters station in Litchfield on Nov. 28.
The public is welcome to drop off contributions. Checks may be made payable to the American Red Cross. Donations can also be made online to http://american.redcross.org/georgetownpublic-emp.
— From Midway Fire and Rescue
Coastal Carolina Shields
Pawleys Police Chief Mike Fanning was part of a relief effort for Sandy victims on Nov. 4 and 5 across from the Beaver Bar in Murrells Inlet.
The Coastal Carolina Shields, a group of retired law enforcement officers, collected items with help from the public and sent three truckloads of food and supplies to areas in New York and New Jersey.
Fanning said the group may do another drive closer to the Christmas holiday.
— From Chief
and The Grand Theatre
Journeychurch and The Grand Theatre in Surfside Beach are partnering with Operation Blessing and collecting disaster relief items for victims of Sandy.
Storage pods have been set up in two locations, and the items will be delivered to coastal New Jersey on Nov. 30.
“We have many church members, theatre patrons, and friends with connections to the area devastated by the hurricane,” says Pastor Tom Wallace.
“We also have a very visible location with which to attract attention of those who want to help. It is always our desire to help the community however we can, and the northeast is an extension of our community.”
Suggested items to provide include non-perishable foods, paper products, baby care items, blankets, towels, batteries, coats, hats, gloves, socks, undergarments, and garbage bags. New items are preferred according to The Salvation Army.
Drop-off locations are at The Grand Theatre (home of journeychurch), 301 Highway 17 South in Surfside Beach, and Waterbridge Sales Center, 473 Starlit Drive just off Carolina Forest Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.
Items should be dropped off to either location by Nov. 26. Ticketed patrons who bring items to any show at The Grand Theatre will receive a free popcorn and drink at the concession stand.
Questions can be directed to the journeychurch office at 843-357-2100.
— From Journeychurch
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The Miller County Judge’s Office released a statement Tuesday showing the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department granted both the county and Texarkana, Ark., its state right of way to place a sign designating the Arkansas side of the bridge as the “Kyle Brandon Stout/Zainah Creamer Memorial Bridge.”
Earlier this year, Texarkana, Texas, posted its sign on its side of the bridge, honoring the two veterans who died in combat while serving in the Middle East during the war on terror.
The effort began when Twin-Cities’ Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 278 started circulating a petition last October asking the bridge be named in honor of the two local vets.
“This will be a unique memorial to two of our heroes — a bridge straddling a boundary between two states. A bridge named after two heroes—one from Texas and one from Arkansas,” the petition stated.
Upon hearing the news, Arkansas-side Public Works Director Paul Hackleman said his department would be happy to make the sign and post it.
“We will have no problem installing the sign,” Hackleman said.
The bridge is being named in honor of Army Sgt. Kyle Brandon Stout, 25, of Wake Village and Zainah Creamer, 28, of Texarkana Ark.
Stout died in late July 2010 while serving near Kandahar, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom.
A 2003 Texas High School graduate, Stout, born Nov. 2, 1984, joined the Army in 2006 and served with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Creamer, an Arkansas High School class of 2000 graduate, also served in Operation Enduring Freedom and became the first, and so far only, female dog handler killed in action.
“I think this is an excellent idea,” said Ernie King, a VVA Chapter 278 member, who also serves as senior vice chairman of the Texarkana Area Veterans Council and senior vice commandant of the local Marine Corps League Chapter 1149. “Preserving and memorializing these two heroes has now finally come to fruition.” | <urn:uuid:5aeceaf1-3575-49a8-968a-f36aa63271ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/19733052/article-Texarkana-to-dedicate-bridge-for-2-fallen-soldiers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955827 | 445 | 1.578125 | 2 |
China Lays First Charges Over Xinjiang Riots
China announced the first charges to be laid in connection with violent unrest in July that shook China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs.
Twenty-one people had been charged with murder, arson, robbery and damaging property during ethnic riots that erupted in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, on July 5, Xinhua news agency said.
A total of 197 people were killed over several days of rioting in the ethnically divided city, most from the Han Chinese majority.
Of the eight “leading” suspects identified in the report, six appear to be Uighurs. Investigations continue.
Xinhua shares more:
The six cases are:
— Alleged intentional homicide and arson committed by Abdukerim Abduwayit;
— Alleged intentional homicide, arson and robbery committed by four suspects whose leader was Gheni Yusup;
— Alleged intentional homicide, arson, robbery and intentional damage to properties, committed by 11 suspects led by Ahmatjan Moming;
— Alleged intentional homicide, robbery and arson committed by Alim Metyusup and Tayirejan Abulimit;
— Alleged intentional homicide and arson committed by AzizijanYasin;
— Alleged intentional homicide committed by Han Junbo and Liubo. | <urn:uuid:a2389a80-0443-4158-891e-cfdf11cd39c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/09/china-lays-first-charges-over-xinjiang-riots/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951526 | 286 | 1.5625 | 2 |
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Disability and sensory impairment
Lincolnshire County Council and partner agencies provide a range of services and information for children and young people who are disabled and / or sensory impaired and their families.
Advice about services in your area, such as those provided by other agencies, including health, education and the voluntary sector.
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View the Carers A-Z Guide here. | <urn:uuid:22fae948-746e-44a9-b751-d0f4540e44e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/parents/disability-and-sensory-impairment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961177 | 103 | 1.75 | 2 |
March 31, 2006 | Tips from Us >
Quesnel, Kayaking & Canoeing
Find more information about Quesnel - Kayaking & Canoeing
Last night I attended a slide show presented by 3 members of the Blackwater Paddlers Club. The slide show titled “Spring into Paddling” showed photos taken of rivers and lakes in and around the Quesnel area. Stunning images of the Cottonwood River, Blackwater River and Quesnel Lake, all showcasing the beautiful, natural, unspoiled environment we live in.
Paddle members John Marien, George Ryan and Jerry McFetridge set off in July 2005 for their ultimate paddle adventure. They toured the Horton River in North West Territories and paddled to the Arctic Ocean and shared with us photos from their 26 day voyage. They were without human sight or contact for 25 of the 26 day tour, having the company of rain for 21 of the 26 days and sighting 11 Grizzly Bears. The wildlife appeared abundant especially the bird population. The water in the river was so clear you could see the rocks on the river floor from the back row of the Correlieu Theatre where I was seated.
I was really surprised to see such a diverse range of ages and interests in the audience that evening. Over 200 Quesnel and area residents came for a glimpse of an adventure only few would dare to dream about. It really made me think about adventure, exploring and the next canoe I see I’ll buy!
For more information on the Blackwater Paddlers Club; log onto www.quesnelpaddlers.com or swing by 337 Reid St Quesnel and talk to John Marien at Quesnel Ski & Outdoor. | <urn:uuid:7de031a1-4567-4e3e-a82a-a42c4e2df703> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hellobc.com/british-columbia/blog/march-2006.aspx?LOCID=496&CATID=52&BLGCATID=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944957 | 358 | 1.648438 | 2 |
|Issue: Volume: 23 Issue: 12 (December 2000)
CAD Versus Collaboration
|Back in February in this column I noted that a new wave of design software—created expressly for Web-based collaboration—was about to fundamentally change the face of the CAD industry. Now, looking at events over the past year, it appears that this observation has turned out to be grossly understated. The face of CAD has not only changed, it seems to have completely dissolved into Web-based “solutions” from vendors hoping to tap the power of the Internet
A number of industry observers have also noted a radical shift. In fact, some experts, such as Wayne Collier, president of the engineering, manufacturing, and design consulting group at D. H. Brown Associates, are making even bolder pronouncements. "There is no CAD industry anymore," Collier contends. "There is an industry of total product delivery, and anybody who doesn't get that is going to be history in three years."
Speaking at the D. H. Brown Implementation Road Map 2000 Conference-held in conjunction with the International Manufacturing Enterprise Technology (IMET) Expo this past October-Collier explained that the goal for manufacturing enterprises is no longer simply to make engineers more productive in their own space. Rather, it's about using Internet-based architectures to make sure that anyone in the product-delivery supply chain can add value at any step in the traditional engineering process. Indeed, he says, the supply chain will be nothing less than "the foundation of wealth creation over the next decade, at least." (For an excerpt of Collier's presentation, visit the Computer Graphics World Web site at www.cgw.com.)
Merrill Lynch vice president Jay Vleeschhouwer agrees. "The industry formerly known as CAD/CAM/CAE [which he now calls mechanical design automation] is in dramatic transition," he says. "We are moving from an age of information creation and capture to one of information leveraging." As a result, vendors are reinventing themselves to extend their capabilities beyond design automation by adopting collaborative product-development technologies. Examples of products addressing this new challenge, he notes, are PTC's Windchill, SDRC's Metaphase, Dassault Systemes' Enovia, and Autodesk's iDesign.
There are countless other examples of new products and services designed to meet the demand for collaboration. At the IMET Expo, for example, a host of Web-based design tools were introduced, including new CAD application service provider (ASP) features from Alibre and CollabWare and enhanced business-to-business/e-commerce platforms from Ariba, Ingenuus, and PlanetCAD.
But are reports of CAD's death greatly exaggerated? I believe so. Leveraging information for Internet-based collaboration is a laudable goal, but CAD is still central to the process. In fact, more individual CAD work is being performed than ever before; it's just that a greater percentage of it is being done by lower-tier suppliers.
What's more, along with this increased usage is an ever growing need for better CAD software. While it's easy to understand why traditional CAD vendors have their eyes on the extended enterprise, they should not abandon efforts to enhance the performance of individual CAD designers, just as designers should not refrain from pressing vendors to improve their tools.
Phil LoPiccolo: Editor-in-Chief
|Back to Top | <urn:uuid:0c1ab917-6ae9-4183-a699-b47978e306f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cgw.com/Print.aspx?Page=%2FPublications%2FCGW%2F2000%2FVolume-23-Issue-12-December-2000-%2FCAD-Versus-Collaboration.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957766 | 717 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Hou Hai (pronounced HO-hi) is a manmade lake—the largest of three consecutive lakes lined with willow trees and surrounded by a rambling maze of hutongs, shops, and cafes. Start at (1) the former residence of Madame Soong (46 Hou Hai Beiyan), on the northwest bank, just east of Deshengmennei Dajie. The wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen ("the father of modern China"), Soong Ching Ling's life was a soap opera: Her younger sister married Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the Nationalist Party and until 1949, Mao's greatest opponent), and her political loyalties were questionable. Eventually, she aligned with the Communists and Mao rewarded her with this house in 1963. The house and grounds are beautifully manicured. Badminton players practice here throughout the day and wedding parties often use the grounds to pose for their photos on weekends. (Dusk is also a beautiful time to visit, since the courtyard stays lit through the evening.)
Avoid the pedicabs and their pesky salesmen, and walk south along the northern edge of the lake to (2) Silver Ingot Bridge (Yinding Qiao). Before crossing the bridge, turn left and then a quick right onto (3) Yan Dai Xie Jie, or Slanted Pipe Lane, an alleyway formerly known for a shop that sold long Chinese pipes. The pipes that are left are souvenirs, but the street—with its wooden pushcarts, snack vendors, and courtyard homes with lacquered red doorways—is still a charming way to reach (4) the Drum Tower (Gulou) on Gulou Dajie.
If you're hungry along the way, stop at any of the street vendors on Yan Dai Xie Jie and try Beijing treats, from pork dumplings to CD-sized scallion or meat-stuffed pancakes (xiao bing), to a multilayered, crispy-chewy crepe (jian bing), to the steamed giant flatbread that could feed four (da bing). If you're thirsty, walk north along Jiugoulou Dajie and turn right onto Doufuchi Hutong. Number 43 is (5) Café Sambal, a breezy, trendy bar and restaurant good for an iced tea or cocktail.
A nominal admission fee (about $2.50) gives you access to the Drum Tower, and the steep, ancient steps leading to the fabulous view of the lakes at the top. Find your way back to the Silver Ingot Bridget, a white marble bridge that divides Hou Hai from Qian Hai ("front lake").
Cross the bridge and turn right onto Hou Hai Nanyan, Hou Hai's willow-shaded southern frontage. Turn left onto Liuyin Jie; your final destination is Number 17 (6) Prince Gong's Mansion (Gong Wang Fu), the former home for a Qing dynasty emperor, Qianlong, as well as Heshen, his corrupt eunuch. The house and grounds are extensive, although not entirely accessible (Heshen's pleasure palace is closed off). The pricier admission fee (about $8) includes a performance of opera and acrobatics in the Mansion's Grand Opera House.
Shop National Geographic | <urn:uuid:05fd1ef9-178e-4f84-ace1-dac06e1bb27f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/beijing-walking-tour-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946244 | 682 | 1.546875 | 2 |
When I was in elementary school, I was a girl scout, complete with the little green dress and a sash full of badges. One of those badges was for child care. A Mom of a girl in our troop had many children, eventually nine. So, she knew the ins and outs of diapers and baby care. She had a set of boy/girl twins and they were our guinea pigs for this class. We learned to change their diapers and care for them. They enjoyed all the extra attention from our eager troop of girls.
Their Mom also taught us about feeding. She made homemade purees of fruits and vegetables, including bananas, peas and carrots. She put each of these purees into a separate bowl. Next to each fresh puree, she put a bowl of store bought baby food. She then mixed them up so we would not know which was fresh and which was jarred and had us taste them. We wrinkled our noses as we tasted the bowls of store bought baby food and enjoyed the fresh purees. Wow, what a difference. She then posed the question, "which would you rather eat?" She went on to discuss the nutritional benefits of fresh baby food.
You never know, in all the lessons of childhood, which ones will stand out. For whatever reason, this left a big impact on me. I knew I would not subject my future babies to what I perceived to be yucky jarred food. I was going to make fresh purees. While my adult lens is different than my elementary school lens, once the babies came, I was still committed to making their food. It was more cost-effective, environmentally friendly and had a fresh taste. I wanted to make them food that I would eat if, for some reason, I had to eat purees.
I took it one step further than the troop Mom. While I was pregnant, I planted vegetables in the garden that I envisioned turning into baby food purees. After work, I nurtured the plants with visions of the babies enjoying the freshest of fresh food. I followed through and made them fresh vegetable purees from the garden. I discovered that I could mix fruits with vegetables in a way that would make adults wrinkle their noses at the thought of such a combination, and the babies loved it. Carrots are sweet and livened up more bland vegetables such as zucchini. Bananas or tomatoes added a touch of sweetness to just about anything. Will these fresh purees make a big difference in the lives of the babies? No. I am a happy product of jarred baby food. Any healthy food given with love, whether it is jarred or fresh, is what matters.
What are your thoughts and experiences with baby food? What early memories impacted your decisions as a parent? Comments, as always, are welcome. | <urn:uuid:51322e23-7cbf-4c61-b114-5a380081aa08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.multiples-mom.com/2012/01/fresh-baby-food-from-grown-up-girl.html?showComment=1327939447609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988 | 577 | 1.742188 | 2 |
British Find St.Louis Attractive
16 November 2012
The seventh-inning stretch was minutes away, but
the crowd at the Busch Stadium had itchy feet. Throughout, spectators
had been filing to and from the hotdog stands, or making come-hither
gestures to the peanut vendor. Everyone was distracted.
It got stranger still when the red-clad St Louis Cardinals supporter beside me pulled out ice-cream from an ice box, before turning the pot upside down. Nothing fell from it. He explained: “It’s Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, made right here in St Louis since 1929. The key is to turn it and ensure there isn’t any movement. Then, you get a spoon and dig at it like a sculpture.”
St Louis is well known for having its name mispronounced: it’s Loo-wis, not Loo-wee. But the Missourian city stands out through its trade-friendly, money-spinning location, sitting at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. These two elements once helped qualify St Louis as the all-important “Gateway to the West” and if it later lost out economically to rival Midwestern cities (Chicago is 300 miles away) there is nevertheless steadfast value given to “the firsts” that over the years have given this city eminence.
Charles Lindbergh certainly helped with one. As the first pilot to fly across the Atlantic in 1927 (in a single-engine monoplane from which he could only see out from two side windows) Lindbergh is regarded as a hero of modern aviation. The cash-strapped airmail pilot had turned to friends – particularly the St Louis Chamber of Commerce’s Harold Bixby – for financial help to perform his feat. A generous $20,000 came his way, raised by St Louis citizens who become sponsors through Bixby’s encouragement. In a show of gratitude, Lindbergh named his aircraft The Spirit of St Louis.
On the morning of the ballgame – having driven the Lindbergh Boulevard into the city centre – I headed for the Missouri History Museum to learn more. The various cabinets contained newspaper clippings, Lindbergh’s Flying Cross, his French Legion of Honour medal and flight suit. A replica of The Spirit of St Louis hung from the ceiling.
The 1,371-acre Forest Park, where the museum is situated, is a hotbed of other more modern attractions, including the Muny Theater, known as the “nation’s oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre” and the Jewel Box greenhouse, a beautiful Art Deco conservatory. Indeed, the park is itself another of St Louis’ “firsts” – it played host to various events in the the 1904 Summer Olympics, the first ever staged outside Europe.
I jumped on the Downtown Trolley, an easy-to-use hop on, hop off bus which passes an array of other city-centre landmarks such as the City Museum and The Old Courthouse, with the aim of reaching the 630ft Gateway Arch, with magnificent views from the top, accessible via tram. Then I opted to board the 19th-century paddle boat which calmly plies up and down the Mississippi. The experience was unmistakably and patriotically Missourian: the Captain punctuating his tales with the 1904 song “Meet Me in St Louis, Louis”, which became celebrated in the 1944 Judy Garland musical.
After the game that evening, where the Cardinals had romped to victory in three hours, I felt compelled to seek out Ted Drewes’s. Concrete custard as a late-night snack? Yet another St Louis “first”.
- St Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium (001 314 345 9600; stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com)
- Ted Drewes Frozen Custard (001 314 352 7376/ 314 481 2652; teddrewes.com)
- Missouri History Museum (001 314 746 4599; mohistory.org; free)
- Downtown Trolley (001 877 982 1410; $2/£1.25)
- City Museum (001 314 231 2489; citymuseum.org; $12/£7.50)
- Old Courthouse (001 314 655 1700; bit.ly/STLoldcourthouse; free)
- Gateway Arch (001 877 982 1410; gatewayarch.com; $10/£6.25)
- Riverboat Cruises (one-hour cruises $14/£8.75)
Short URL: http://stlouiscore.com/?p=146244 | <urn:uuid:1d1fd5ed-0384-43b5-9943-b6ab753704c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stlouiscore.com/blog/2012/11/16/brit-finds-st-louis-attractive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936954 | 1,000 | 1.664063 | 2 |
How Effective is Hyoscyamus Supplement in Treating ADHD
There have been a lot of debates on whether a Hyoscyamus supplement is able and safe to be used in treating an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, it does seem like the people who believe in this kind of medication are the ones winning the debate in the end.
There are proven records and studies that indicate that supplements made from this herbal ingredient do really work in treating the symptoms of ADHD. This medication has been found to work best at treating the root cause of the problem other than the symptoms as other supplements are prone to.
At the same time, it is still good to know the kind of medication that one is taking when suffering from this condition so that only the most effective treatment can be sought for.
No Cure For ADHD
One important thing to remember is that there is no absolute cure for ADHD. Most of the treatments on the market today, only help to manage the condition. Therefore, it is impossible to find a single supplement that purports to cure the condition completely.
There is, however, a way to ensure that the person or child suffering from ADHD does get effective treatment. This is only possible if the child or adult suffering is made to take several different medications to find out which one does work for an individual.
There is no one correct treatment of ADHD and in most cases, they are often combined to produce effective treatments. It is possible to find the Hyoscyamus supplement being used in conjunction with behavioral therapy and dietary control, all of which have positive effects of an individual kind.
When combined, all of these treatments provide maximum results. All the treatments will work to restore balance to the child or adult with ADHD and get rid of any deficiencies and help achieve recovery.
The reason that this kind of medication is used is because it is a natural supplement. What this means is that the hyoscyamus supplement is made of pure congenital ingredients from the hyoscyamus niger plant .
The main ingredient of this medication, in this case, is the Hyoscyamus, which has been used for generations to help cure the cases of imbalance and restlessness of the mind. The fact that most of the adults and children who suffer from ADHD have symptoms of aggressions and impassioned imbalance, the use of this treatment will help subdue these emotions and restore balance to the patient.
Another reason this herbal treatment is commonly used by individuals suffering from this condition, is because it is safe to be used by both children and adults. The best kinds of ADHD natural treatments are those that have been tested and proven to have more of the healing powers.
This kind of natural supplements has been approved as a homeopathic medication. Therefore, it has been endorsed as a more effective treatment for ADHD.
The one way to ensure that this herbal medication works effectively is to have the child or adult diagnosed with ADHD live a healthy lifestyle. It has been established that those who suffered from the condition and had taken to eating a healthy diet, showed a quick recovery from the condition.
Discover Bright Spark Hyoscyamus Remedy
Bright Spark by Native Remedies is a herbal Hyoscyamus supplement made specifically for sufferers of ADHD. It has been tested and proven to provide many benefits, and to help people with ADHD live a happy normal life.
Bright Spark has been getting rave reviews amongst sufferers of ADHD and as there are no side effects becasue it is all natural, it is the product people the world over are now choosing to take. | <urn:uuid:8791f6ec-9931-4d5b-ab42-88c23f31953d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hyperactivity-resource.com/hyoscyamus-supplement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962436 | 723 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Cornelius, NC – A SWIMMING ADVISORY was issued on Friday, Sept. 16, 2011 for a single cove on Lake Norman between Springwinds Drive and Peninsula Cove Lane in Cornelius (see attached map). It is being recommended that swimming not occur in this cove until further notice due to potentially elevated bacteria levels associated with a sewer leak.
The SWIMMING ADVISORY was issued after approximately 225 gallons of sewage discharged to the cove on Lake Norman during the afternoon of Sept. 16, 2011 due to a broken sewer line on John Connor Road in Cornelius. The discharge was stopped by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities shortly after being reported.
Water samples were collected by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services staff on Sept. 19, 2011. Sampling will continue until levels of fecal coliform bacteria fall below 200 colonies/100 ml, which is the level determined to be safe for swimming. When bacteria counts reach this level, the no swimming advisory will be lifted.
Rusty Rozzelle, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services’ Water Quality Program Manager, said the advisories are standard procedure. "It was necessary to close the areas to recreation because of the potential risk to human health as Lake Norman is designated as recreational waters,” said Rozzelle.
Media Contact: Rusty Rozzelle Office: 704-336-5449 Rusty.Rozzelle@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov | <urn:uuid:0b63504e-1580-4b0a-8a42-42be6f5fb6f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/MediaRoom/PR/2011/Pages/SwimmingAdvisory.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953731 | 304 | 1.8125 | 2 |
A 'privacy notice' spreading on Facebook claiming to protect a user's photos and posts from being copied has been outed as a hoax.
Thousands of Facebook users around the world have posted the fake disclaimer text to their profile pages in a bid to protect their data against pilfering.
The text begins: "In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, graphics, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!"
It then goes on to claim that anyone who copies and pastes the disclaimer to their Facebook wall will be protected against copying and dissemination of their data.
The viral message started spreading earlier this week shortly after Facebook posted its new privacy guidelines, Mashable reports.
In signing up to Facebook, users agree to privacy terms allowing the social media giant permission to use, distribute and share the things you post.
According to PC World blogger Tony Bradley, users who post a disclaimer to their wall cannot retroactively negate the conditions of their Facebook account.
"If you’re using Facebook then you’ve already agreed to abide by the legal terms laid out by Facebook," wrote PC World blogger Tony Bradley.
The notice closely resembles text from a similar hoax which spread in July this year after Facebook publicly listed. | <urn:uuid:5d79c29f-81d9-4ab0-bd96-dc285e7479c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sitecore/content/news/news/technology/2012/11/27/07/52/facebook-privacy-notice-a-hoax | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935643 | 291 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The art major offers students an opportunity for the unique development of their talents in a wide range of visual arts courses and concentrations. A full spectrum of studio courses affords students the development of their personal talents in the visual arts. An assortment of methods, techniques, materials, and philosophies challenge art majors to express themselves to their fullest potential. It is the underlying philosophy of this major that students maturing as artists have a responsibility to share and lead in developing a better and more meaningful society. This commitment to artistic and social responsibility by the Visual and Performing Arts Department, its faculty, and its students is the essence of the Springfield College humanics philosophy.
Students may also pursue licensure as a teacher of art at the 5-8 and/or 8-12 grade levels by completing the secondary education licensure core in addition to requirements for the major.
For more information about the art major, contact Professor Martin Shell, chairperson of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at (413) 748-3443 or the Admissions Office at (800) 343-1257.
Related programs at Springfield College include: Art Therapy, Art Therapy and Studio Art/Teacher Preparation, and Computer Graphics. Click here to learn more about the program. | <urn:uuid:e92d4e06-1d41-4fab-833f-53032f086b63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spfldcol.edu/academic-programs/visual-and-performing-arts-vapa/art/index | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941732 | 253 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Today is Palm Sunday, and so begins our journey with Jesus from Jerusalem’s gate to Golgotha’s cross to Easter’s triumph.
In this Holy Week, we begin with “Hosanna,” walk solemnly toward “Crucify him,” and finish elatedly with, “He is risen!”
Here we see Jesus’s love for us in every intentional step. In one sense, every step he ever took was for us. He was born to die. He came to give his life. His public ministry was ever a steady drumbeat toward Calvary. But in his last week, the quickly moving story begins to run in slow motion. Roughly half the Gospel accounts are dedicated to chronicle these final days.
Five years ago, John Piper wrote a memorable Holy Week meditation on Jesus’s inte… | <urn:uuid:ec21054b-bc9b-4616-bec1-7f75452ba689> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/years/2013.html?page=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975615 | 188 | 1.703125 | 2 |
AMORY, Miss., February 29, 2012 – February is National Heart Health Awareness Month, and Gilmore Memorial Regional Medical Center is encouraging women to become proactive about their health.
“As women, we often put the needs of our family before our own,” said Mary Franklin, Chief Nursing Executive. “Gilmore is encouraging women to take time for themselves so that they will have time in years to come to spend with those that they love.”
Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of women. According to the American Heart Association, more women die of heart disease than of all forms of cancer combined. This means mothers, sisters and friends are dying at the rate of one per minute. To break the silence surrounding heart disease, Gilmore hosted the Lady In Red Fashion Show and Heart Health Luncheon at the River Birch Ballroom.
The event featured twenty local women modeling the latest spring fashions from retailers in Amory and Aberdeen. Prior to the fashion show, Dr. James Woodard will addressed the most common factors affecting women’s heart health along with warning signs every women should know.
A heart healthy luncheon was provided at no cost to attendees. Each participant also received a thank-you gift for their attendance. | <urn:uuid:c3475ef9-d02d-4fc2-889b-a0b9f55bfa29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gilmorehealth.com/about/news/gilmore-promotes-heart-health-awareness-through-lady-red-fashion-show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962951 | 255 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Google has expanded - dramatically - its search capabilities with new developments in real time, mobile and language technologies that will be available on both the desktop and mobile phone.
In Real Time
Google Real Time Search is a feature that merges the public updates from social media sites Twitter, Facebook and MySpace with Google's general search results. These real time, 'everyman' updates, which will be available on the iPhone and Android devices as well as on the desktop, are invaluable when searching for information on events that are unfolding quickly, such as a natural disaster or a politician's speech.
On a day-to-day basis, the feature will alert readers to news they might not have been aware of, Google said. A major story about GM's stabilizing car sales, for example, would appear under "News results" followed by a breaking story - GM's CEO stepping down - in the "Latest results" section.
Google signed partnership with Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku and Identi.ca - as well as a previously announced deal with Twitter to develop this feature.
Search-By-Sight, Other Enhancements
Google also unveiled an experimental search-by-sight feature, called Google Goggles. A brainchild of Google Labs, Google Goggles can recognize books, album covers, artwork, landmarks, places and logos - the latter being a feature of key interest to companies that want to maintain control of their brands online.
The search engine giant is also forging new ground in voice-drive search with its plans to introduce near-real time translation for mobile devices in 2010. Besides posing as a potential category killer for voice translation services, this functionality will further solidify Google's global reach. | <urn:uuid:b9a80645-da84-4747-9e5f-159d3e663818> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketingvox.com/google-shakes-up-search-with-real-time-voice-and-image-045712/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939714 | 350 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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24. Chapter XXIV
They reached the hotel rather early in the afternoon, so that most people were still lying down, or sitting speechless in their bedrooms, and Mrs. Thornbury, although she had asked them to tea, was nowhere to be seen. They sat down, therefore, in the shady hall, which was almost empty, and full of the light swishing sounds of air going to and fro in a large empty space. Yes, this arm-chair was the same arm-chair in which Rachel had sat that afternoon when Evelyn came up, and this was the magazine she had been looking at, and this the very picture, a picture of New York by lamplight. How odd it seemed--nothing had changed.
By degrees a certain number of people began to come down the stairs and to pass through the hall, and in this dim light their figures possessed a sort of grace and beauty, although they were all unknown people. Sometimes they went straight through and out into the garden by the swing door, sometimes they stopped for a few minutes and bent over the tables and began turning over the newspapers. Terence and Rachel sat watching them through their half-closed eyelids-- the Johnsons, the Parkers, the Baileys, the Simmons', the Lees, the Morleys, the Campbells, the Gardiners. Some were dressed in white flannels and were carrying racquets under their arms, some were short, some tall, some were only children, and some perhaps were servants, but they all had their standing, their reason for following each other through the hall, their money, their position, whatever it might be. Terence soon gave up looking at them, for he was tired; and, closing his eyes, he fell half asleep in his chair. Rachel watched the people for some time longer; she was fascinated by the certainty and the grace of their movements, and by the inevitable way in which they seemed to follow each other, and loiter and pass on and disappear. But after a time her thoughts wandered, and she began to think of the dance, which had been held in this room, only then the room itself looked quite different. Glancing round, she could hardly believe that it was the same room. It had looked so bare and so bright and formal on that night when they came into it out of the darkness; it had been filled, too, with little red, excited faces, always moving, and people so brightly dressed and so animated that they did not seem in the least like real people, nor did you feel that you could talk to them. And now the room was dim and quiet, and beautiful silent people passed through it, to whom you could go and say anything you liked. She felt herself amazingly secure as she sat in her arm-chair, and able to review not only the night of the dance, but the entire past, tenderly and humorously, as if she had been turning in a fog for a long time, and could now see exactly where she had turned. For the methods by which she had reached her present position, seemed to her very strange, and the strangest thing about them was that she had not known where they were leading her. That was the strange thing, that one did not know where one was going, or what one wanted, and followed blindly, suffering so much in secret, always unprepared and amazed and knowing nothing; but one thing led to another and by degrees something had formed itself out of nothing, and so one reached at last this calm, this quiet, this certainty, and it was this process that people called living. Perhaps, then, every one really knew as she knew now where they were going; and things formed themselves into a pattern not only for her, but for them, and in that pattern lay satisfaction and meaning. When she looked back she could see that a meaning of some kind was apparent in the lives of her aunts, and in the brief visit of the Dalloways whom she would never see again, and in the life of her father.
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For information about public domain texts appearing here, read the copyright information and disclaimer. | <urn:uuid:c1049865-4e28-47df-bee4-f614c445d9d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.literaturepage.com/read/woolf-voyage-out-327.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99285 | 918 | 1.53125 | 2 |
It's a sad day for local news fans. NBC News has shuttered EveryBlock, a hyperlocal news site that pulled in and mapped useful information from a variety of rich sources, including Craigslist posts, police reports, restaurant inspections and Yelp reviews.
NBC announced the shutdown in a blog post on Thursday and it is effective immediately. The post has already racked up more than 630 comments, mostly by surprised loyal users who made up the active commenting community.
Launched in 2008 in Chicago by Adrian Holovaty, EveryBlock started as an exciting experiment with a two-year $1.1 million grant from the Knight Foundation. The company was acquired by MSNBC.com a year later, and in 2012 NBC News bought MSNBC.com.
The maps plotted a mix of commercial, government and nonprofit feeds. You could see Flickr photos, recent muggings, local news stories and home foreclosures on your street, viewed as a map, list or RSS feed.
Over the years the site expanded beyond Chicago to deliver local news for 19 cities, including San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. Chicago always remained the most popular EveryBlock city, accounting for more than half the site's traffic, according to Alexa rankings.
Unfortunately for the committed users and 10 employees working on the project, the model wasn't profitable enough for NBC News to keep it open.
"We looked at various options to keep this going, but none of them were viable. It was a tough call to make," NBC News' chief digital officer Vivian Schiller told Poynter.
Schiller said EveryBlock wasn't a good fit with the company's growth strategy.
"EveryBlock was among the more innovative and ambitious journalism projects at a time when journalism desperately needed innovation and ambition. RIP," wrote a shocked Holovaty, who was no longer with the company, in a post on the closure.
"Within the world of neighborhood news there's an exciting pace of innovation yet increasing challenges to building a profitable business," said the EveryBlock team in a blog post. "Though EveryBlock has been able to build an engaged community over the years, we're faced with the decision to wrap things up." | <urn:uuid:d3c8bcc0-7c56-4931-a60d-42b3a67ee7a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koat.com/news/project-economy/technology/NBC-shuts-down-hyperlocal-news-site/-/9153518/18458210/-/bs6r3r/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96746 | 450 | 1.585938 | 2 |
June’s book of the month is “Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s True Love” by Elizabeth Norton, published by Amberley Books. I have just read it and here is my review:-
“Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s True Love” by Elizabeth Norton (2009)
As an Anne Boleyn fan and armchair Tudor historian, I felt that it was important to get the “low-down” on Henry VIII’s third wife, the one he called his “true wife” and the woman he is buried next to. Jane Seymour is the woman who “usurped” Anne Boleyn’s place as Henry VIII’s true love and the one that may even have caused Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage – Anne was said to have lashed out at Henry after finding her maid, Jane, on his lap.
Whatever we think of Jane, finding out more about her helps us understand Henry VIII more and gives us a fuller understanding of the fall of Anne Boleyn.
I read the book in just a couple of days – I was desperate to know about Jane! However, I nearly did give up on it as I thought that it started badly. Much of the information at the beginning was based on assumption and “maybe”s, rather than actual evidence, and I found this slightly hard to swallow. I am glad that I didn’t give up though because the book definitely got better and really did build up a picture of this queen who gave Henry VIII exactly what he wanted but at an awful price.
We think of Jane as being a boring fuddy duddy. A woman who really had nothing about her to attract the King, apart from being the exact opposite of the intelligent, feisty, passionate Anne Boleyn who seemed to exude sex appeal from every pore. Elizabeth Norton does agree that Jane was not particularly attractive or charming but that she was anything but the mild-mannered, meek and demure English rose that we associate her with. Norton says of Jane:
“the real Jane was a shrewd politician and a strong character. Jane could not have won the king without a ruthless streak and her ambition was as great as Anne Boleyn’s”
According to Norton, Jane Seymour apparently learned a significant amount about Henry VIII and being his wife by being a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She learned that Anne Boleyn had snared Henry by protecting her virtue and dangling it as bait to get the king to marry her and that she had then lost the King’s love by airing her opinions, arguing with the King and saying “no” far too many times. Jane learned to keep her virtue and be the traditional subservient queen that Henry actually wanted.
We’ll never know if Henry would have tired of Jane over time, after all, he is said to have made comments early in the marriage about how he wished that he’d chosen a prettier companion, but Jane’s place would have been pretty secure after giving birth to Henry’s longed for son. Norton points out though that Henry seemed to look back on his very short marriage to Jane with rose tinted glasses and when she was dead she suddenly became the ideal wife and his true love. Jane’s claim to fame will always be that she provided Henry VIII with a prince and that she didn’t live long enough for him to tire of her! As Norton says:
“Jane spent her entire marriage trying to prove to Henry that she was his ideal woman and, posthumously, she succeeded”.
Elizabeth Norton’s “Jane Seymour: Henry VIII’s True Love” is published by Amberley Books and is on sale in the UK now and is due out in the US in July 2009. | <urn:uuid:3f486b1b-c9dd-4401-94b5-4c6e3000b893> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/resources/books/previous-books-of-the-month/book-of-the-month-june/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985132 | 820 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The story of Steven is amazing. Scripture says when he ended praying he fell asleep. Act 6:8 – 15 Stephen didn’t die a horrible death through stoning. Rather he was rocked to sleep in the arms of Jesus! And so it was with all the Martyrs. Fox reports in his books of martyrs that this experience is the same with all the Saints for God has promised never to leave or forsake us and his grace is sufficient to all our needs. PTL!
Let’s look more closely and see who was really being tortured here –Verse 54 says, “they were cut to the heart, and gnashed on him with their teeth.”This “gnashing of teeth” is a term used in the NT to describe the horrible pains of the dammed burning in Hell fire. Apparently his persecutors were the ones suffering the most!
His enemies were in a storm, Steven was calm
They were howling, He was smiling
They were tormented, He was tranquil
They were vexed, He was composed
They were full of madness, He was full of gladness
They were enraged, He was enraptured
They were full of fury, He was full of glory
They were quivering, He was rejoicing
They were exasperated, He was rejuvenated
They were constipated, He was vindicated
Their fury imprisoned them, His faith freed him
THE QUESTION FOR TODAY IS WHAT MADE STEPHEN’S FACE SHINE AND HOW CAN WE GET OUR FACES TO SHINE?
Whatever made Steven’s face to shine so? Because he stood amazed at God!
It was his KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THAT LED TO HIS CONTEMPLATION OF GOD. A lot of people have a great knowledge of God but never meditate on that knowledge. They never ruminate and relish that knowledge. As soon as we hear or read a sermon we are off to other things. The birds of the air come and snatch away the seed before it takes root. There is no waiting on God! It’s contemplation of God, not knowledge of God that makes hearts burn and faces shine.
A face shining with the glory of God is the greatest sight on earth you can ever hope to see! The very word “Grace” comes from a Hebrew expression of a smiling face. When you receive grace from God it is because he is smiling at you. When you smile at others you are giving them grace. When you don’t you are withholding it.
If there was one sight that I wish you could all see it was the sight I had in Africa of the shining face of a preacher friend of mine who had a face to face encounter with Jesus. His name was Gerishim Milimu. As he told the story his face shone with a radiant smile and his entire body exuded such energy and enthusiasm that he was drenched with sweat.
Steven’s face began to shine when he saw Jesus as the “Son of Man” standing. Oh, that we could get this vision! By faith, Stephen looked up and snapped the chains that bind men to the world of flesh. Piercing through the veil separating time and eternity he saw Jesus, the son of Mary, now exalted to his original and eternal position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He now stood infinitely high above all the power of Roman legions, above all the authority of Jewish Sanhedrin, above all the influence of demon forces, above all the clout of angels and archangels. However desperate things looked in the present, however dark and discouraging, the future looked brighter than a billion suns. Suddenly nothing on earth mattered anymore. All the trials he faced as well as the temptations of a thousand kingdoms couldn’t compare with the ravishing beauty of Heaven. Earth’s fatal attraction dissolved the instant Steven caught a glimpse of Jesus standing and waiting to receive him to his eternal home in glory.
Read more articles by Kim Robarge or search for articles on the same topic or others. | <urn:uuid:7d7b1192-224d-4276-8d3f-df5a5e58a69a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=128219 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984429 | 848 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Labels of Convenience
Why, hello there. I’m Belle, and I am one of the new writers for Queereka. Will should be along at some point to announce the others and introduce us, but I’m not patient enough to wait to post, the reason being this topic has been on my mind for a while now, and I feel I should share.
I’ve been open about my sexuality since high school. I grew up in a gem of a midwestern town that was surprisingly accepting of LGB people—not so much the T part—but I found it difficult to explain my sexuality. Most people, even those in the LGBT community, are neither versed or even exposed to queer theory and ideas. Explaining androsexuality—androsexuality is the sexual attraction to masculine gender presentations—was difficult to impossible. In fact, I wasn’t versed in queer theory at the time either. I identified as bisexual for a bit, but it didn’t accurately describe my sexuality. I’m not sexually attracted to femininity or female gender representations; I’m sexually attracted to masculinity and male gender representations. So, I started to identify as gay. I was using it as a Label of Convenience.
I became exposed to queer ideas during my senior year of high school. I found a term that more accurately expressed my sexuality: androsexual. I found it difficult to explain this to my close friends. The response was, unanimously, “So, you’re bi then?” In response to the confusion, I continued to identify as gay, and called female people that caught my attention “exceptions.”
I’ve continued to use the Label of Convenience, but there’s a problem that I’ve slowly started to recognize. I still feel closeted because I still am closeted. Those “exceptions” aren’t exceptions! They fall well within the bounds of my sexuality. By continuing to use a Label of Convenience I am being a bad skeptic, and not being completely out about my sexuality. As a skeptic, I should patiently take the time to explain my and other sexualities and gender identities. I think that’s one of the primary goals of being a skeptic: educating the public.
I know that I’m not alone in using Labels of Convenience. I have friends who have and continue to do so. I know it’s not my place to tell anyone how to publicly identify, but I would urge any of you using a Label of Convenience, as skeptics, to more fully come out—iff (if and only if) you feel safe in doing so. It’s important to educate the public to promote understanding and acceptance, but also to give a word to some kid who is confused about their sexuality or gender identity. While science/skeptic/queer proselytizers do good work, the real fight to educate the public is done by us taking the time to expose and explain things to our friends and family.
Be Queer, and be proud of it! | <urn:uuid:4f43ed7f-3d1b-4807-9daf-0bf5ac68ed00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://queereka.com/2012/12/04/labels-of-convenience/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965927 | 664 | 1.554688 | 2 |
TGIF Readers! I feel like this is Friday #2 this week, with the holiday on Wednesday. Speaking of the 4th of July, since I am still coming down from my post-fireworks euphoria, I have decided to theme today’s Fantasy in honor of our recently passed holiday. As you may know (or may not, as I do have some foreign readers), Independence Day (often better-known as the 4th of July, for the date the holiday falls on) is an American Holiday in which the citizenry celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, by which the Founding Fathers of our nation stated that America was its own country and should be free of British rule. This act of treason led to war between Britain and the American colonies, which eventually led to the creation of the country we know today… and it all began on July 4, 1776 (granted, that’s the thumbnail sketch of the founding of the United States, as there were many acts of rebellion that led up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, not to mention some confusion among when the Declaration was actually signed, but to avoid writing a book that’s been written several times over, I’ll leave us with the understanding that the holiday is on July 4th and we’re celebrating America).
Today, the 4th of July represents patriotism and love of country, both of which I can wholeheartedly support. In honor of those sentiments, today’s Fantasy is tied to one of America’s most beloved Presidents: Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was America’s 16th President, responsible for leading the Union through the Civil War, writing the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation, and he was also assassinated. What many people don’t know about President Lincoln is that, although he loved the White House, he actually dearly loved another house in Washington, DC, more. This other house was a seasonal retreat for Presidents. It was (and still is) a cottage on the grounds of what was known as the Soldiers Home (Now known as the armed forces retirement home).
(Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) Photo, by way of wikipedia)
The Cottage was built in 1842 for George Washington Riggs (who later went on to found Riggs National Bank… Yeah, I’ve never heard of that bank either, but the guy had enough money to found a bank, so there you go….) in the fashionable Gothic Revival style. However, it did not remain a private home for very long, as President Lincoln had taken up residence there by the summer of 1862. It is even said he wrote preliminary drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation in the cottage. (Photo from lincolncottage.org and Armed Forces Retirement Home)
The cottage underwent a major restoration beginning in 2005, and opened to the public for the first time in 2008. The site was declared a National Monument by President Clinton in 2000, as well as a being included in the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark. Today is is maintained and run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Photo from National Geographic)
Hope you enjoyed this look at President Lincoln’s Cottage. If you are in Washington, D.C., you should check it out. If you won’t be in the D.C. area anytime soon, you can visit the Cottage Website here.
Have a great weekend!
Read Full Post » | <urn:uuid:4792194f-ff8b-414c-b55d-3ad6e97b90fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thesecondempire.wordpress.com/tag/architecture/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977504 | 730 | 1.539063 | 2 |
I've been concentrating on researching Mark's family, rather than mine, as it is so much to find records that pertain to them. I did a little happy dance today when I discovered the family of John William Ashton, Mark's maternal grandfather (father of Constance Mary Ashton), in the 1911 Census of England and Wales!
I had previously found them in the 1901 Census of England and Wales and, following much jubilation then too, I had been able to really increase the number of branches in the Eden family tree: Mary's father had seven siblings! Many Branchings indeed, as the possibility of seven more branches of investigation were opened up to me. I didn't give this aspect of the family much further thought at this point, however I noted that I still didn't have a maiden name for John Ashton's mother, who was listen only as Rachel M Ashton, nor did I know her full name. However I ordered birth certificates for both Mark's grandparents - John William Ashton and Gertrude Constance Musk - from the General Register Office (GRO) on the 15th of May and I am hoping (much) more will be revealed when these arrive (ETA is first week in June!).
The 1911 Census revealed loads more information about the family, including that Rachel's middle name was Mary. This name was passed on to their first-born daughter, Ethel Mary Ashton, and subsequently by John to his daughter, Constance Mary Ashton (who in turn passed it on to Mark's sister). It's so wonderful to see that continuity, and the realisation made me pause for thought and really appreciate the history of this family and the people represented by these names on a piece of paper (or on my computer screen, as the case may be). Interestingly the name that is passed down on the male side of the family, even though it appears to have skipped a generation, is William: it is Mark's middle name, and it was the middle name of both his mother's father and grandfather. More continuity.
I decided to find out what was happening in the UK at the time this family was filling out their census form (and it was so special to see Thomas Ashton's handwriting, as the head of the household, on the form) and discovered that the suffragette movement was in full swing... and getting quite violent! I had already read that some women were refusing to fill out the 1911 Census form as a means of protest, choosing to be invisible in the population count as they were invisible in terms of their political choices and right to vote, but I had no idea how heated and dangerous it became. One article I found particularly fascinating I discovered on website of The Guardian newspaper, called 'When Suffragettes Were Out For The Count'. | <urn:uuid:8d7444a8-bb70-4742-aace-17790ed3850a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://manybranchings.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/suffragettes-ashton-family-in-1911.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988163 | 560 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS Supports the Launch of the OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA) applauds the launch of the OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test, the first and only rapid over the counter HIV test approved in the U.S.
“HIV/AIDS continues to be one of the greatest health crises facing African Americans today,” said C. Virginia Fields, President and CEO of the NBLCA. “The new OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test is an important new tool that will help increase the number of people who learn their HIV status. We are proud to join OraSure Technologies, Magic Johnson, and others who are speaking out about the significance of this new testing option and the importance of knowing your HIV status.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. that have HIV and approximately 240,000 of them are unaware of their status. Those who do not know they are HIV positive are disproportionately responsible for the 50,000 new HIV infections that occur each year. Additionally, according to the CDC, despite African Americans representing only 14 percent of the US population, they account for approximately 44 percent of all new HIV infections.
The OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test can detect antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 with an oral swab, providing a confidential in-home testing option with results in as little as 20 minutes. It is the first rapid diagnostic test for any infectious disease that has been approved by the FDA for sale over the counter. The OraQuick® In-Home HIV Test is available for purchase now at www.oraquick.com and will be available at more than 30,000 retail outlets throughout the country in October.
SOURCE The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS | <urn:uuid:66c11495-d2c8-4f9d-887f-9765e18d1f86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112710867/the-national-black-leadership-commission-on-aids-supports-the-launch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943691 | 409 | 1.742188 | 2 |
An outfit called the Presidential Prayer Team is praying that President Obama should effectively lead the fight to combat swine flu.
Meanwhile, my father went into the hospital this morning for relatively minor surgery — though at his age, no surgery is truly minor. I prayed that it should go smoothly and successfully.
The other evening after prayer services at our synagogue, the rabbi announced that the brother of a former synagogue president had been involved in a serious bicycling accident and was paralyzed. The rabbi led us in a prayer, Psalm 20
, for his healing. “That’s what a congregation does,” the rabbi commented.
In situations like these, can prayer really help heal? Assuming, of course, that the person who’s ill doesn’t know he is being prayed for — which, otherwise, could contribute to a placebo effect. Interestingly, research in recent years has given contradictory answers about the power of prayer.
So it goes. Would you really have expected anything different? My purpose here isn’t to initiate a discussion of research methodology. There are any number of ways that any or all of these studies could have been methodologically flawed.
Instead, as a Catholic friend points out to me, does anyone who’s a traditional theist of a Biblical variety seriously think that God would consent to be tested this way? I assume that prayer does work. However, doesn’t the Hebrew Bible warn pretty strenuously against testing God?
“You shall not test the Lord, your God, as you tested Him at Massah” (6:16).
The reference is to an incident after the Jews left Egypt and were traveling in the desert. The people complained of a lack of water, so: “[God] called the place Massah U’Meribah ['Test and Contention'], because of the contention of the Children of Israel and because of their test of the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ (Exodus 17:7).
They should have prayed, not complained. But it was precisely the testing nature of the complaint — “Is the Lord among us or not?” — that God found objectionable.
The exception seems to be testing God in the context of giving charity: “Bring all the tithes to the treasury, and let there be sustenance in My Temple. Test me with this, please, says the Lord, if I do not open up for you the windows of the Heavens, and pour out upon you endless blessing!” (Malachi 3:10).
But testing God by praying for sick people, coolly tallying up the results to be reported in a science journal and then in the media? It’s just impossible to believe, given what we know about Him from the Bible, that God would go along with that. | <urn:uuid:d682e18c-7fcb-4efd-8e4a-b274d934bd30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.beliefnet.com/kingdomofpriests/2009/04/swine-flu-will-prayer-help.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966756 | 595 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Miami Valley StoryCorps
Bing Davis & Margaret Peters
"I've been blessed with many blessings...two of my blessings are being born black and growing up in East Dayton."
Bing Davis is an artist, educator and cultural leader in Dayton. Born the son of North Carolina sharecroppers, his family moved to Dayton when he was just two weeks old. Bing Davis and his friend and associate – Margaret Peters – went to the StoryCorps booth to talk about growing up on Dayton's east side, and how Bing is using the lessons he's learned in life – to teach others. | <urn:uuid:85e17272-c7bc-4f5e-bf7a-3117f5fa2968> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyso.org/post/bing-davis-margaret-peters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979969 | 121 | 1.78125 | 2 |
This post is long. If you prefer a Word or PDF version, please click here to download: “The State of PR, Marketing and Communications.”
Please take your time … Read it. Breathe it in. Live the change you wish to see.
Modern public relations was born in the early 1900s, although history traces its roots and origins of practice back to the 17th century. Two years ago, the press release celebrated its 100-year anniversary.
While the communications industry has iterated with every new technological advancement over the last century, including broadcast media and Web 1.0, none, however, have forced complete transparency prior to the proliferation of the Read/Write Web, aka The Social Web, aka Web 2.0.
It is this element of fundamental transparency of social media, combined with its sheer expansiveness and overwhelming potential, that is both alarming and inspiring public relations professionals everywhere. At the minimum, it’s sparking new dialogue, questions, education and innovation, and also forcing the renaissance of the aging business of public relations itself.
While some are already predicting the death of public relations, I fundamentally believe that it’s simply the death of public relations as we know it. As long as communications professionals want to learn and improve their craft, then we are positioned for evolution. No matter how much we think we know, we’re now equalized as an industry in order to reset, learn, and define and earn an invaluable role within the business cycle — again.
Contrary to popular belief, social media isn’t killing public relations, but the business of public relations IS in a state of paramount crisis. It’s not without merit however. Perhaps up until now we have been our own worst enemy. | <urn:uuid:90e6ee5c-d378-49a7-af7e-c8d86dfd2ac6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comprehension.prsa.org/?tag=online-communications | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947677 | 362 | 1.804688 | 2 |
I didn't see it coming.
The surprise arrived when I picked up the latest issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine.
Staring back at me was a feature story called "Best of the World: Our 20 Must-See Places for 2013."
The come-on proved too tough to ignore. The article talked up places like Kyoto and Marseilles. But I almost spilled my morning coffee when I turned the page.
On the magazine's exclusive list — sandwiched between Malawi and Raja Ampat — was a glowing review of the Hudson Valley.
Don't get me wrong — living here for 40 years has made me aware of all our region has to offer. There are all sorts of places around here worth checking out.
Throw in the art shows, festivals, museums and fabulous scenery, and you've got the makings of a top-notch vacation travel destination.
Trouble is, for all of those Nat Geo Traveler readers who aren't from around these parts, getting here is not nearly as easy as it could or should be.
Our newly won claim to fame comes at a time of decline at our local airport. According to a recent report, Stewart Airport remains mired in its longest continuing passenger decrease in recent memory.
The problems — fewer flights offered by fewer airlines to few destinations, a sluggish economy and chronically high ticket prices — aren't news.
The Port Authority, which runs Stewart, has been trying to turn things around by waving an incentive plan in front of long-sought-after airlines. So far, no takers.
Susan Hawvermale, Orange County's director of tourism, would love to see the national magazine attention used as ammunition by those fighting the battle to attract more passenger service to Stewart.
She made a pitch recently for a closer working relationship with the Port Authority as a way to promote Stewart and use it to bring us more tourism dollars. Apparently, a lot more marketing work needs to be done.
Hawvermale says many who call her office in search of interesting places in the region haven't heard of our local airport — even though Stewart has been in the passenger service business for more than 20 years.
There's no denying a significant economic turnaround could help convince air carriers to make a Stewart commitment that would make it easier for us — and potential magazine reader visitors — to steer clear of the New York metro airports.
And since National Geographic Traveler thinks we're worth a look-see, maybe the "must see" label could become part of the sales pitch that's made to the airlines we've been trying to woo. It couldn't hurt.
Now that the rest of the world is getting the word that we're a place worth visiting, it would help if our local airport became a true gateway to the Hudson Valley.
I'm willing to bet Stewart would make a better impression than the airports serving Malawi and Raja Ampat.
Reach Tracy Baxter at firstname.lastname@example.org and see his NewsWatch program and online blog at recordonline.com | <urn:uuid:346e0976-7bd1-4beb-85d7-dd2db063485c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121211/NEWS/212110316/-1/NEWS0210 | 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 | 0.961827 | 626 | 1.726563 | 2 |
from essay by Chris Chocola - We have always been a nation of free enterprise. It has set us apart from most others and allowed us to lead the world in innovation and entrepreneurialism. But today, those underpinnings of our success are under threat. Government has become a behemoth that is overtaking industries and distorting markets in such a way that competition and self-reliance as we know it are barely recognizable.
The reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank is a case study in Washington bureaucrats picking winners and losers and interfering with the free market...maybe the most egregious example of how dysfunctional and misguided the Ex-Im Bank's actions really are is present in the airline industry. The bank provides financing to foreign airlines that in turn purchase American aircraft, allowing them to compete against U.S.-based carriers. These foreign companies use our subsidy to offer lower prices since American companies cannot qualify for this corporate welfare, and they, in turn, lose business.
When people talk about crony capitalism, this is an example in its purest form. Read full article here. | <urn:uuid:b143fe99-9246-4ed2-a57c-051da6cd4246> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coreprinciples.blogspot.com/2012/04/export-import-bank-crony-capitalism.html | 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 | 0.964226 | 222 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Fair and BalancedJohn Haber
in New York City
The 2004 Whitney Biennial
One could get lost at this Biennial. Perhaps one should, if only to appreciate the rootless art scene it portrays so well.
Everything you heard is true
A colorful preview, in the Sunday Times, promised a Biennial of discoveries. These young artists were going to catch the art world by surprise.
The writer could show their pictures, every artist with a different ethnic heritage. But not even The New York Times—no, not even the Whitney—could know much more until the opening. I thought of Michelangelo alone on his scaffolding, behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel. The exhibition catalog, necessarily prepared in advance, gives one page to each artist, but rarely a word to the art.
After the opening, reviews told a different story. The Whitney, for once, plays it safe. Remember, not all that long ago, when shock art was in vogue? For that matter, remember when shock art shocked?
With three curators, all from the museum itself, the 2004 Biennial brings neither a thesis nor a blow against the empire. After barnstorming the country two years ago, the Whitney, most reviewers agreed, comes home. Responding to criticism, it tries to please all its constituencies, including the best-known galleries. The Biennial may not leave a lasting impression, but what does these days? Maybe it offers a place for the Whitney—and for art—to begin.
Which version has it right? Surprise: it is all true. This Biennial promises to have it all. Even the hanging refuses to take sides. Using words too corporate for me to quote, the entry wall promises not themes but overlapping projects.
Can you please everyone? That premise, with its echo of marketing, sounds about right for art today. I had a great time, and I learned a great deal. The artists truly do come from every possible background and, often poignantly, seem cut off from their roots. If one ever felt adrift in art these days, once inside one feels much the same way. So start by following the plan: get lost.
All over the place
The Biennial snakes in and around the museum's five lowest floors, taking more advantage of those mobile walls than any exhibition I recall. It opens onto alcoves one never expected, for video and installations. It stops short only of entering the bathrooms along with "Greater New York" at P.S. 1.
It dares one to catch so much as a glimpse of sculpture on the roof and scattered the full length of Central Park. It challenges one to find a way in. The lower courtyard holds a metal chamber, like an oversized beer keg. I never found a way to enter, much less a drink.
It leaves one alone, in a small, dark room. One stands on a narrow walkway, suspended between the multiple reflections of mirrors above, electric lights seemingly everywhere, and a pool of water below. And then, in a matter of seconds, the guard opens the door and tells one to move on. There is a line, after all.
If that walkway, by Yayoi Kusama, suggests the shape of the Chelsea piers, the crowds filing into Chelsea galleries, and the glitter of downtown, it should. The 2004 Biennial wishes desperately to represent the art world. If it were any more fair and balanced, Fox would sue.
On the one hand, curators bend over backward to include mainstream dealers. The wall labels could pass for a gallery guide of West 24th and 26th Streets. On the other hand, the show may include more young artists than ever. It certainly integrates multimedia more successfully.
It does not stray much from New York and Los Angeles, but it features a solid number of women, people of color, and even national origins. Artists come from Europe, Asia, and Africa, and several really made their careers in England or Germany. Isaac Julien's videos may count as American art. They trace his roots to European painting, Caribbean music and early rock, and the black ghettos of Baltimore. He lives, however, in his birthplace, London. Yusama, no stranger to New York, lives in Tokyo.
Art's generation gap
For once, the older, white males look like the students. It may even excuse their bizarre selection.
I think of David Hockney as still famous more for his odd opinions about the Old Masters than for his art. Here he could pass for a West Coast protégé of Elizabeth Peyton, whose offhand portraits cover the wall preceding his. I remember Stan Brakhage, the pioneering filmmaker, as a dispassionate recorder of nothing. When he shares a video room with Julie Murray, however, the swirling colors and objects of perception look sensual and contemporary. I dare anyone to know within fifteen seconds whether his or her work is playing.
Robert Mangold may not leap to mind first among formalist painters. His curved lines, shallow pictorial space, and practiced departure from symmetry fit just fine, however, near Alex Hay's illusions of wood veneer and Kim Fisher's decorative abstractions. Mel Bockner's word paintings, with bright colors and bitter negatives, look less like lessons in the philosophy of art and more like street talk.
Conversely, the Biennial has a decided nostalgia for the 1960s and early 1970s. Even the catalog reprints literary icons, such as Jorge Luis Borges and Anais Nin. It suggests a generation defined by a revolution its parents could not sustain. And that revolution means not Modernism but politics and pop culture. It means not Minimalism but excess.
Some artists, in true Goth fashion suitable to the dark, private visions in many galleries, replay the past at top volume. Liz Craft's sculpture literally turns images of death into heavy metal. Dave Muller covers an entrance wall with an elaborate family tree of rock, which then replays backwards—in mirror reflection. Esthetics must have given out with Grand Funk Railroad. A collective called avaf (for assume vivid astro focus) turns a room into a party appropriate to the other kind of Chelsea days. You know, the kind with colors other than black.
In politics, too, art looks back. Sam Durant starts with grainy reproductions of antiwar demonstrations. Then he mounts the slogans as light boxes in the museum lobby. Gestures like these soften political rebellion, in more ways than one. Mary Kelly, known for a far harder line, recreates in lint an image from the 1968 Paris streets. In context, the anti-Bush scrawls from Raymond Pettibon seem downright strident.
Rootlessness and respect
Respect for a past just out of reach appears in subtler ways as well. It appears in Dario Robieto's fine, weathered objects. It appears in Harrell Fletcher's video of a nursing home, with residents barely able to suppress a smile while spouting a mix of institutional clichés and James Joyce. It appears in Laura Owens's ability to spin painting into unsettling myths.
It appears too in the frequent images from nature, often clearly despoiled, like a longing for a purer, safer Earth. As with Fisher or appealing work by Cameron Martin and Julie Mehretu, such imagery enters whenever painting veers too close to abstraction. Sharon Lockhart shoots couples hopelessly raking hay, Amy Cutler sketches a campground all but waiting for a summer movie stalker, and Katy Brannan's photos look equally ill at ease, while videos from Jack Goldstein and Peter Hutton alike depicts patterns of soft light rippling across water. Even Robert Longo, once a postmodernist of "The Pictures Generation" with an eye for yuppies at play, is painting waves. Longo calls his concurrent show in Chelsea "The Sickness of Reason." Earth Mother worried that he never calls.
If all this sounds glib, often it is. It may unite two generations, but it makes the moments of pomo outrage in the middle look toothless. Molded gray blobs by Richard Prince could pass for automobile hoods melting in the heat. If he means another example of macho culture, he has me fooled. When younger artists such as Laylah Ali and Olav Westphalen represent cultural conflict in a language colored by alternative comics, they risk turning politics and identity into a cartoon.
At the Whitney, consciousness of the past translates into rootlessness in the present. That helps explain, too, what the Biennial chooses to leave out.
It cannot get too personal or too theoretical, so forget strictly conceptual art. It cannot get too impersonal, so forget video that cannot play out in linear time. It cannot get too dogmatic, so forget abstraction for its own sake. It cannot get too real, so forget representation of actual urban or suburban America. It makes at best a token bow to photography, although Catherine Opie, Lockhart, and Grannan make good choices. Roni Horn's image, a young man repeated as tiresomely as any ad, sure looks like a pop star, but actual brand names are verboten.
Like the choice of artists, these works admit a range of voices, and they allow people of varied backgrounds to speak as individuals rather than as symbols. Is that enough to redeem the creature comforts of the exhibition as a whole? At the Studio Museum in Harlem, Eric Wesley led off a show that treated blackness "Freestyle," a predecessor to later shows called "Frequency," "Flow," and "Fore." He fits naturally here, with a huge contraption that has little to do with race or, for that matter, much else.
Softening the edges
Where the Biennial takes flight, it is because distance from home translates into a felt sense of loss. It is because the softening of boundaries can make the personal political.
A softer edge draws one closer to Cecily Brown's battered surfaces and equally battered subjects. Do her women, as if in perfect response to the battered male outlines of Jean-Michel Basquiat, look almost beautiful now? It humanizes them that much more. Does their naked flesh looks less literal? It places the burden on the viewer to feel their nudity as a construct of desire. Pairing Brown with Chloe Piene's scraggly women and bared crotches, the Whitney introduced me to a good artist and brought out at once the dark and playful sides of both.
Sue de Beer, too, has a softer edge, as in her video recollections of early America, from the plush, stuffed animals that turn the floor into a communal sofa to the quiet voices on video. Even the title, Hans und Grete, sounds comforting like a fairy tale. The environment draws one in, and it makes one deal frankly with her tales of transgression. And Eve Sussman's multiple perspectives insert illicit romance even into Old Master painting.
A softening of boundaries lets Emily Jacir treat conflict in terms of subjects rather than simply victims. She asks Palestinians what they would most want to recover if they could pay one visit to their homeland. Their stories come down not to questions of rights and possessions, but to memories of family and of love. She documents the responses in photos and in text, in more than one language. She also includes people with American and Israeli passports. They cross boundaries because of what they have lost, but not only in their imagination.
Behind a curtain, in the adjacent room, Marina Abramovic represents estrangement more darkly but without explicit violence. A mass of people form a five-pointed star around the head and four limbs of a body stretched out on the ground. Then they leave him exposed and assemble again, in an unending ritual of community and death. A skeleton leads a black choir. Women in traditional scarves stare and drone eerily, and I could not guess the language. They and Abramovic could well be articulating the dark conflict that Jacir dreams at an end.
One can see in these works a more highly charged exchange between generations. One can see that conflicts and compromises are not going anywhere fast. One can see the price art pays for failure or success.
Having it all
More often, the exhibition goes down a little too easily, even compared to contemporary art at MOMA. I left wondering if art has come free of consequences for the past, present, or future. Perhaps it has, making this Biennial even truer to the present than the curators dreamed. One has many reasons to look forward to a Biennial. This time, as with so much of the art world, one can have it all.
People go to a Biennial to complain—about who gets in, who gets left out, and who gets to decide. They go to find the next center of the art world. They go simply to learn about and to enjoy the art. And they go for a nice afternoon in a nice part of town. In short, they go for the curators behind it all, the hot galleries on display, the artists, and Central Park just up the block.
Past Biennials tended to privilege one or the other, very much as part of their time, in what one critic has called art's battle for Babylon. The 1993 Biennial had a strong point of view, befitting the vitality of critical theory. Soon, however, with irony and Soho alike officially dead, people were worrying again about galleries and the art market. In 2000, with the art market intensifying, things naturally shifted to hot artists. Finally, facing globalization and financial meltdown, the 2002 Biennial tried to forget the whole thing—and I can add with hindsight that the 2006 Biennial and 2010 Biennial will leave America even more decisively. Drawing on the blandness of art schools nationwide, plus the first outdoor installations, it offered the first biennial for spring in Central Park.
This year, the curators are again looking for signs of tradition and renewal. And they find signs of hope here in New York, as the center of a nexus of people, places, and change. It makes sense, amid Chelsea's continued boom and the global procession of Armory Shows and art fairs. It makes sense, too, as artists and dealers escape to lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island City. Most of all, it makes sense when, for now, art appears to have given up on setting an agenda.
This Biennial really does have it all. It has clear curating, in the careful arrangement of galleries and media, as well as in the loose thematic arrangement—from painterly objects on the fourth floor, through more political themes on the third, down to sheer collapse in the lobby. It has the big dealers, and it has plenty of artists I wish I knew better. It even takes over more of Central Park than last time.
Is pleasure enough? Can it live up to the true grit of those artists who escape to working in Brooklyn? Who will sustain a revolution today? I should give the show credit enough for forcing me to ask.
A postscript: the great outdoors
A few weeks after completing the review just now on the packed, winding interior, I sought out its more loosely scattered parts in New York City's finest landmark. (The 2008 Whitney Biennial will spill over, too, but to the Park Avenue Armory.) If the Biennial aims to please, its extension into Central Park carried that message to outlandish proportions. One could call it the Children's Biennial. In fact, one piece, mounted for a weekend only, sat barely a hundred yards from the actual Children's Zoo, at the Arsenal that normally houses park administration.
Dave Muller's Three-Day Weekend had some more or less random wall paintings, as well as vitrines filled with nothing in particular. Their label, "The Wrong Gallery," was on to something. The centerpiece, however, was definitely for children of all ages, a thick air mattress. During my visit, a little girl was jumping happily, but the treat for me was in penetrating the lovely old building.
The park must have timed it all for New York's unofficial early start to summer, the opening of the Sheep Meadow. The avef collective, which within the museum looks nostalgically to the 1960s, gave the pavement beneath the nearby roller-bladers the look of Peter Max on speed. Definitely easy to swallow or, just as well, ignore.
Another opening planned for the same weekend, Yayoi Kusama's takeover of the pond at East 72nd Street, was officially deferred until May. By the Biennial's close, however, I never learned if it had even taken place. However, the rest of the great outdoors continued its run. Liz Craft may have forgotten that most of the park's southeast plaza already looks like trash, but others stuck strictly to kid stuff.
Olav Westphalen introduced the zoo with a rather unthreatening tiger, while David Altmejd took an overlooked hill and his usual creepy scale, by the East Drive just north of the 103rd Street transverse, for self-proclaimed werewolf heads. (Who am I to question them—and who would answer?) The label described a tension between the desirable and the repulsive. I am guessing that the tacky, encrusted, gemlike crystals supply the first, the decaying animals the second, but when it comes to Altmejd your guess—or your pet werewolf's—is as good as mine.
Paul McCarthy's ode to Michael Jackson looked more like Mister Potatohead, and the museum did well to describe his pink inflatable doll some three miles north as "goofy and awful." Yet another McCarthy balloon rested, inconspicuous and inaccessible, on the museum's own roof. The nicest part of all? Unlike in London, where his sculpture sat in front of the Tate, here I could never get close enough to puncture them (entirely by accident, you understand) with a sharp pin. I guess that leaves only words as a grownup child's weapons.
The 2004 Whitney Biennial ran at The Whitney Museum of American Art through May 30, 2004. Some of the outdoor work is visible only in April. Robert Longo's show at Metro Pictures, actually paintings of mushroom clouds, ran though March 27. | <urn:uuid:1893f9fd-5d2d-4165-900e-ce9fa4b88d80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.haberarts.com/whitny04.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958283 | 3,795 | 1.515625 | 2 |
An Important Contribution To The "Missing Chapter" In The History Of The Formation Of West Virginia By An Eye-Witness.
Recollections And Narative [sic] Of A Member Of The May Convention Of 1861, The Restored Government And The New State - West Virginia
Copyright, 1913, by R. H. Sayre, New Martinsville, W. Va.
Published in THE BAR by permission.
This short nar[r]ative of the May Convention of 1861 is not written and published with any other object than to place both Mr. Willey and Mr. Pierpont in their true light before the citizens of the State and Nation. I think that every person who has read the history of the times from 1860 to 1865 must know and concede that if Mr. Carlile and Mr. Pierpont and their followers had had their way and prevailed, instead of the course marked out by Mr. Willey and his co-workers, we would today be part and parcel of the old State, and possibly a part of a Southern Confederacy.
The following were the accredited delegates to the May Convention from Wetzel County, Virginia:
F. E. Williams, John Murphy, Elijah Morgan, Wm. Burrows, B. T. Bowers, John R. Brown, J. M. Bell, Jacob Young, Reuben Martin, Robert Reed, Sr., Richard Cook, Andrew McEldowney, Butler VanCamp, John McCaskey, Stacey Stephens, R. W. Lauck, John Alley, Thomas McGowan, George W. Bier, William D. Walker and R. H. Sayre.
The following are the men who attended the Convention, as I recollect them:
F. E. Williams, William Burrows, John R. Brown, John McCaskey, R. W. Lauck, George W. Bier, William D. Walker and R. H. Sayre. Some other of the delegates may have attended, but I do not recall their names.
We took passage on the Wheeling and Parkersburg packet on the evening of the 12th of May, and arrived at Wheeling on the morning of the 13th, 1861, and went directly to Washington Hall, where the Convention was to be held. The convention was called to order by the Honorable Chester D. Hubbard. William P. Zinn, of Preston County, was named as temporary chairman, and George B. Latham was elected temporary secretary.
The permanent organization was made by the election of John W. Moss, of Wood County, president, and Chas. B. Waggener, of Mason County, Marshall M. Dent, of Monongalia County, and Gobson [sic] L. Cranmer, of Ohio County, secretaries.
The report of the committee on credentials showed 436 delegates in attendance. During the early proceedings of the convention, a committee on State and Federal Relations was appointed, consisting of the following named persons:
Campbell Tarr, Brooke; Waitman T. Willey, Monongalia; John S. Carlile, Harrison; General John J. Jackson, Wood; Charles Hooten, Preston; Daniel Lamb, Ohio; George McC. Porter, Hancock; Joseph S. Mathir, Mason; Daniel D. Johnson, Tyler; James Scott, Jackson; George W. Bier, Wetzel; R .C. Holliday, Marshall; Alexander Scott Withers, Lewis; E. T. Graham, Wirt; F. H. Pierpont, Marion; Spencer Dayton, Barbour; George S. Senseney, Frederick; John S. Burdett, Taylor; A. R. McQuilken, Berkeley; Friend Cochran, Pleasants; Irwin C. Stump, Roane; S. Martin, Gilmer; C. P. Rohrbaugh, Upshur; Captain Owen D. Downing, Hampshire; A. J. Foley, Doddridge.
During the first and second days of the convention, there was a great deal of excitement and ill feeling developed as between the different factions. The revolutionary element, led by Mr. Carlile and his followers, who were clamoring for the immediate formation of a new State or the division of the State of Virginia. The other element, led by W. T. Willey and others, which might be termed the constitutional or conservative element contending for such action as could be recognized by the Federal Government as being within the bounds of the constitution and the laws of the country.
During the second day of the convention there were three sets of resolutions presented to the convention outlining a certain procedure. The one presented by Colonel James S. Wheat, of Ohio County, was conservative in form, one that would meet with the approval of the government at Washington, and endorsed by and approved of by the loyal people of the State and Nation and the conservative -members of the convention.
The following is the one presented by Colonel James S. Wheat and referred to the Committee on State and Federal Affairs:
1. Resolved, That in our deliberate Judgment the ordinance passed by the Convention of Virginia on the 17th day of April, 1861, commonly known as the ordinance of secession, by which said convention undertook, in the name of the state of Virginia, to repeal the ratification of the constitution of the United States of America, by this state, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said constitution, is unconstitutional, null and void.
2. Resolved, That the schedule attached to said ordinance suspending and prohibiting the election of members of congress from this state, to the house of representatives ot the congress of the United States, required by law to be held on the fourth Thursday of this month, is a manifest usurpation of power, to which we as Virginia freemen ought not, can not and will not submit.
3. Resolved, That tthe [sic] convention of the 24th of April, 1861, between the commissions of the Confederate states and this state, and the ordinance of the 26th of April, 1861, approving and ratifying said convention, in agreement by which the whole military power and military operations, offensive and defensive of the commonwealth; were placed under the chief control and direction of the President of the Confederate States, upon the same principle and footing as if the commonwealth was now a member of said confederacy, and all the actings and doings of the executive officers of our state under and in pursuance of said agreement are plain and palpable violations of the constitution of our state, and are utterly subversive of the rights and liberties of the good people thereof.
4. Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to our fellow citizens of this state, at the approaching election to vindicate their rights as Virginia freemen by voting against said ordinance of secession, and all other measures of like character, so far as they may be made known to them.
5. Resolved, That it be also urged upon them to vote for members of congress of the United States, in their several distsricts [sic] , in the exercise of the rights secured to us by the constitution of the United States, and of Virginia.
6. Resolved, That it be also recommended to the citizens of the several counties to vote at said election for such presons [sic] as may entertain the opinions in the foregoing resolutions, as members of the house of delegates of our state.
7. Resolved, That it is the imperative duty of our citizens to maintain the constitution and the laws thereof, and all officers thereunder acting in the lawful discharge of their respective duties.
8. Resolved, That in the language of George Washington in his letter of the 17th of September, 1787, to the president of congress: "In all our deliberations on this subject, we keep steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our property, felicity, safety and perhaps our national existence." Therefore we will maintain and defend the constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, and all officers acting thereunder in the lawful discharge of their respective duties.
The other resolution, being the one presented by Mr. John S. Carlile and endorsed by him and the revolutionary element of the convention.
The following is a copy of the Carlile resolution which was before the convention during the second and third days. It was never referred to the Committee on State and Federal Relations:
"Resolved, That the committee on State and Federal Relations be instructed to report an ordinance declaring that the convention of the counties of the state composing the Tenth and Eleventh congressional district, to which shall be added the county of Wayne, with the other portions of the state is hereby dissolved, and that the people of the said counties are in full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent state in the United States and subject to the constitution thereof; and that the said committee be instructed to report a constitution and form of government for said state, to be called the state of New Virginia; and also that they report a declaration of the causes which have impelled the people of the said counties thus to dissolve their connection with the rest of the state, together with an ordinance declaring that such constitution and form of government shall take effect and be an act of this day when the consent of the congress of the United States and of the legislature of the state of Virginia is obtained, as is provided for by Section 3, Article 4, of the constitution of the United States."
At the evening session of the 14th, Mr. George McC. Porter, of Hancock County, on behalf of the committee, presented a series of resolutions comprising those offered by Colonel, Wheat, with the addition of the following:
Resolved, That in view of the geographical, social, commercial and industrial interests of Northwestern Virginia, we pronounce the policy of the convention in changing the relation of the state to the federal government, and annexing us to the Confederate States, unwise and utterly ruinous and disastrous to all the material interests of our section, severing all official ties and drying up all the channels of our trade and prosperity.
"Resolved, That should the ordinance of secession be adopted, then we recommend to the several counties with us, to hold elections in the several precincts therein, on the 4th day of June, 1861, for delegates to a general convention, to be held at Wheeling on the 11th day of June, 1861, to devise such measures, and take such action as the safety and welfare of Virginia may demand; each county to appoint a number of representatives to said convention equal to double the members to which it will be entitled in the next house of delegates; and that the senators and delegates to be elected on the 23rd instant, to the next general assembly of Virginia by the counties referred to, be declared members of said convention.
"Resolved, That inasmuch as it is a conceded political axiom, that government is founded on consent of the governed and is instituted for their good, and it can not be denied that the course pursuel [sic] by the ruling power in the state, is utterly subversive and destructive of our interests, we believe we may rightfully and successfully appeal to the proper authorities of Virginia, to permit us peacefully and lawfully to separate from the residue of the state, and form ourselves into a government to give effect to the wishes, views and interests of our constituents.
"Resolved, That the public authorities be assured that the people of the Northwest will exert their utmost power to preserve the peace, which they feel satisfied they can do, until an opportunity is afforded to see if our present difficulties can not receive a peaceful solution; and express the earnest hope that no troops of the Confederate States be introduced among us, and we believe it would be eminently calculated to produce civil war.
"Resolved, That _________ be appointed a committee to prepare an address to the people of Virginia, in conformity with the foregoing resolution, and cause the same to be published and circulated as extensively as possible."
I have a vivid recollections of the speeches made by the Honorable Waitman T. Willey throughout the three days of the convention, as he combatted the resolutions and conduct of John S. Carlile with all his power and ability, contending that to endorse them was only revolution and disloyalty to the Union, remonstrating against such action as was proposed by Mr. Carlile, asking that the convention proceed on a line of conduct as proposed by the resolutions submitted by the committee on State and Federal Relations.
I also recollect well the speeches of Carlile as he ridiculed and scoffed at the resolutions as proposed by Gen. John J. Jackson, calling them paper bullets, and what a terrible destructive effect they would have on the Rebel Government at Richmond.
During the 13th and 14th there was a great deal of excitement among the delegates and the people, both in and outside of the convention hall, the most excitable and revolutionary followers of Carlile making threats that Mr. Willey should be hung as a traitor to the cause on account of his constitutional, legal and conservative course of conduct. Not being satisfied with the threats of hanging him, they posted notices throughout the city calling a meeting at the court house to condemn him as a traitor to the cause of the Union.
If Mr. Carlile and his followers could have had full sway in the convention we would have had a counter-revolution, one that would have placed the loyal people of West Virginia at the mercy of the Rebel Government at Richmond, as the Federal Government could not and would not have recognized the Carlile revolt anything other than a counter-revolution.
During the first two days of the convention, Mr. Carlile appeared to have a majority of the delegates with him, so much so that the delegates that were opposed to the Carlile resolutions' were afraid to risk a vote on the evening of the 14th on the resolutions as reported by the committee on State and Federal Relations, for fear that they would be voted down and the resolutions of Carlile substituted in their stead. Having this in mind, as well as the fact that Mr. Willey was well nigh worn out by his labors of the last two days, it being late in the evening, and that he could not finish his speech, a motion was made and carried to adjourn until the morning of the 15th by the friends of Mr. Willey, in order that he might get some rest and that he might conclude his speech in opposition to the Carlile resolutions on the morning of the 15th; also that the delegates might have a night's rest and consider well a proper line of conduct, and not place the loyal people of West Virginia in as bad condition, if not worse, than the followers of the Richmond Government. But there was not much rest or sleep for many of the members of the convention or the citizens at large; all knew that there was too much at stake. All the delegates that were not carried away by the eloquence of Mr. Carlile knew that the passing of his resolutions meant revolution and disorder, and blasting all hopes of saving West Virginia to the Union.
The streets of the city were alive with people during the night of the 14th, many of the delegates not closing an eye in sleep, but put in all the night in arguing and pleading with the radical element of the convention not to endorse the Carlile resolutions, and appealing to all of the conservative delegates to stand by the resolutions as reported by the committee on State and Federal Relations, and thereby blast the hope of all lovers of the Union.
The morning of the 15th came, a splendid May day, one long to be remembered by the people of the State and Nation, the day of all others the loyal people of the State and Nation should not lose sight of, from which date the birth of a new State was made possible.
The convention was called to order at nine o'clock, and the secretary then read the journal of the preceding day.
Mr. Willey then resumed his argument and addressed the convention at length in opposition to the Carlile resolutions, and asked for the mode of redress as proposed by the committee's resolutions; he would never lend himself to an insurrectionary or unconstitutional means of accomplishing an object which he thought could be accomplished according to law. After Mr. Willey finished his speech, Mr. Polsley, of Mason County, spoke in favor of the Carlile resolutions. John J. Jackson, Jr., proposed to go into secret session, but this motion was opposed and he withdrew it. Mr. Pierpont spoke in favor of the committee's report. Some of the delegates spoke on various subjects. On motion of John J. Jackson, Jr., the convention adjourned.
The convention met at five p. m., and was addressed by Mr. Latham, of Taylor County, and Mr. Holliday of Marshall County, and others. The convention then adjourned until seven P. M.
The convention met at seven P. M.
On motion the journal of the day's proceedings was read.
The final report of the committee on State and Federal Relations was reported and read as follows:
"1. Resolved, That in our deliberate judgment the ordinance passed by the Convention of Virginia, on the 17th day of April, 1861, known as the Ordinance of Secession, by which said convention undertook, in the name of the State of Virginia, to repeal the ratification of the constitution of the United States by this state, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said constitution, is unconstitutional, null and void.
"2. Resolved, That the schedule attached to the ordinance of secession suspending and prohibiting the election for members of congress from this state, is a manifest usurpation of power to which we ought not to submit.
"3. Resolved, That the agreement of the 24th of April, 1861, between the commissioner of the Confederate States and this state, and the ordinance of the 25th of April, 1861, approving and ratifying said agreement by which the whole military force and military operations offensive and defensive, of this commonwealth, are placed under the chief control and direction of the president of the Confederate States, upon the same principles, basis and footing as if the commonwealth were now a member of said Confederacy, and all the acts of the executive officers of our state in pursuance of said agreement and ordinance are plain and palpable violations of the constitution of the United States, and are utterly subversive of the rights and liberties of the people of Virginia."
"4. Resolved, That we earnestly urge and entreat the citizens of the state everywhere, but more especially in the western section, to be prompt at the polls on the 23rd inst; and to impress upon every voter the duty of voting in condemnation of the Ordinance of Secession, in the hope that we may not be involved in the ruin to be occasioned by its adoption, and with the view to demonstrate the position of the west on the question of secession.
"5. Resolved, That we earnestly recommend to the citizens of West Virginia to vote for members of the congress of the United States, in their several districts, in the exercise of the right secured to us by the constitution of the United States and the state of Virginia.
"6. Resolved, That we also recommend to the citizens of the several counties to vote at said election for such persons as entertain the opinions expressed in the foregoing resolutions, for members of the senate and the house of delegates of our state.
"7. Resolved, That in view of the geographical, social, commercial and industrial interest of North West Virginia, this convention are constrained in giving expression to the opinion of their constituents to declare that the Virginia Convention in assuming to change the relation of the state of Virginia to the federal government and not only acted unwisely and unconstitutionally, but have adopted a policy utterly ruinous to all the material interests of our section severing all our social ties, and drying up all the channels of our trade and prosperity.
"8. Resolved, That in the event of the Ordinance of Secession being ratified by a vote, we recommend to the people of the counties here represented, and all others disposed to co-operate with us, to appoint on the 4th day of June 1861, delegates to a general convention, to meet on the 11th day of that month, at such place as may be designated by the committee hereinafter provided, to devise such measures and take such actions as the safety and welfare of the people they represent may demand, - each county to appoint a number of representatives to such convention equal to double the number to which it will be entitled in the next house of delegates; and the senators and delegates to be elected on the 23rd inst., by the counties referred to, to the next general assembly of Virginia, and who concur in the views of this convention, to be entitled to seats in the said convention as members thereof.
"9. Resolved, That inasmuch as it is a conceded political axiom, that government is founded on the consent of the governed and is instituted for their good, and it can not be denied that the course pursued by the ruling power in the state is utterly subversive and destructive of our interests, we believe we may rightfully and successfully appeal to the proper authorities of Virginia, to permit us peacefully and lawfully to separate from the residue of the state, and form ourselves into a government to give effect to the wishes, views and interests of our constituents.
"10. Resolved, That the public authorities be assured that the people of the Northwest will exert their utmost power to preserve the peace, which they feel satisfied they can do, until an opportunity is afforded to see if our present difficulties can not receive a peaceful solution; and we express the earnest hope that no troops of the Confederate States be introduced among us, as we believe it would be eminently calculated to produce civil war.
"11. Resolved, That in the language of Washington in his letter on the 17th of September, 1787, to the president of congress: 'In all our deliberations on this subject we have kept steadily in view that which appeared to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, and perhaps our national existence.' And therefore we would maintain and defend the constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, and all officers acting thereunder in the lawful discharge of their respective duties.
"12. Resolved, That John S. Carlile, James S. Wheat, Chester D. Hubbard, Francis H. Pierpont, Campbell Tarr, George R. Latham, Andrew Wilson, James W. Paxton and S. H. Woodward be a central committee to attend to all the matters connected with the objects of this convention; and that they have power to assemble this convention at any time they may think necessary.
"Resolved, That the central committee be instructed to prepare an address to the people of Virginia in conformity with the foregoing resolutions, and cause the same to be published and circulated as extensively as possible."
Mr. Poisley moved that the report of the committee be laid upon the table and published. The question of the adoption of the report of the committee was put, and carried with only two dissenting voices. The announcement that the motion had carried was received with tremendous cheering.
Mr. Willey, being loudly called for a speech, came forward in response to the call.
Then it was that the people heard the greatest and grandest man of his generation in the State, an orator and a statesman, a true patriot and a truly loyal and Christian citizen. That man was the Honorable Waitman T. Willey, of Monongalia County.
I can see him yet as he stepped on the platform that night to make the most eloquent, remarkable, patriotic and loyal speech that was ever delivered from any platform in the State, holding aloft the flag of his country and walking back and forth on the stage facing the delegates and the vast audience, proclaiming his loyalty to his country and her flag; he knew well that by his conservative, consistent conduct that he had saved a State to the Union; he knew that he had been threatened by a rope by a revolutionary element of the convention and the populace, to which he did not give the least thought, as he knew he was in the right; he knew that true loyalty, true republicanism, had prevailed over revolution and all that follows it; he knew that by his conduct that he had saved the convention from becoming revolutionists; he realized fully that he had been charged and accused with disloyalty to his country, which mattered little to him, as he realized the fulfillment of that which he had been battling for three long days and nights.
The following is Mr. Willey's speech in full as reported by the Daily Intelligencer on the night of May 15th:
MR. WILLEY'S SPEECH.
"Mr. President and Fellow Citizens:
"Whilst I appreciate with sentiments of heartfelt gratitude the compliment you pay me in calling me out at this period, in the deliberations of your convention, I am sure you would be disposed to excuse me If you were aware of the pain and suffering under which I am constantly laboring. Ever since yesterday morning at 7 o'clock, when I was attacked, I assure you most sincerely that I have been in the most excrutiating torture. Last night I slept scarcely one moment; and nothing but the heartfelt and deep and absorbing interest that I have felt in the deliberations of this body that has kept me on this floor until this time. But I tell you, fellow citizens, I have felt during all this trouble, from the time it began in the Virginia convention until now, something of the spirit of the noble Roman youth, who, cap a pie, mounted, armed and equipped for the sacrifice, voluntarily rushed into the open chasm of the forum, a voluntary victim to appease the gods of strife that were bringing desolation on his country. And I assure you tonight, if by laying down my humble life on the altar of my country I could bring back peace and harmony, and reorganize and restore the glorious Union which our fathers formed tor us, I would willingly as I ever sat down to partake of the dainties of life, render that sacrifice this day and this hour. (Applause.)
"And, fellow citizens, much as some of yon have misapprehended my soundness on this question, In this good city of yours, feeble as I am in health,, with a constitution broken hy the anxiety of the struggle of the last two-and-a-half months for the perpetuity of that very union, for a want of fidelity to which I am suspected at this time, I am ready when the hour comes - I am ready when the constitution has been exhausted, I am ready when it has been ascertained that the great legitimate agency of republican liberty is not sufficient to bring about the revolution that is to secure to us our just rights at the ballot box; - when the law fails, - when the constitution fails in securing these rights, I am ready to stand among the foremost of those who have been here today to suspect me. It is not because I do not love the Union that I have taken the conservative position on this occasion; It is not because I do not love my fellow citizens of Wheeling; not because I am faithful and true to the common principles to which you are engaged; It is not because I love Caesar less, but because I love Rome more. (Applause.)
"I have very little of this world's goods; but I have heritage enough - about the 27,000,000th part of the prestige and glory of him who can look upon the stripes and stars and call it his country's flag, (cheers,) and who, with the infiinitesimal [sic] particle of glory, is richer by far than he who, with the richest heritage that ever fell to the lot of man, did not have the name and prestige of an American citizen. (Applause.) I do not intend to surrender it until I am compelled - until I am subdued, heart, soul, fortune, and body. (Cheers)
"I do not despair of the Republic, either. If we could have two weeks longer until the election, I verily believe, the disheartening anticipation of my friend from Harrison to the contrary notwithstanding, to use a vulgar but expressive phrase, which may be applied to this Ordinance of Secession, we would 'knock it into a cocked hat.' (Laughter.) Why, sir, I am credibly informed that these soldiers of whom we have heard .so much, and from whom we anticipate so much danger, and who are said to be quartered and posted all over this state for the purpose of public intimidation, have pledged their lives that their own blood shall crimson the street, but they will cast their votes on the 23rd of this month, against the Ordinance of Secession. (Applause.) I am informed that one company, consisting of 90 men, of whom 80 are pledged to vote against the ordinance. You heard a voice today from old Berkeley. God bless her. (Applause.) And He will bless her, and all who think like her. God has blessed this country. God has blessed all the men who have loved this Union. His hand has been manifest in all our history. He stood by Washington, its great Founder and Defender. He stood by our forefathers in the establishment of this government, and by working out our glorious destinies thus far in the space of less than three-quarters of a century. God has made the American people the greatest on the earth; and I firmly believe in the hidden councils of His mysterious providence, there is a glorious destiny awaiting an united American people still. (Applause.) I take confidence in the cause as I look at the stripes and stars, and I remember the circumstance that gave rise to the beautiful motto that is as applicable to us today as when in the moment of inspiration it was penned:
"'Triumph we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, in God is our trust.'
(Great applause). I was just trying to catch from my memory a couplet from a poem which I read the other day in regard to the banner of our country. I think I can recall it in the sentiment if not in the language:
"'Forever float that standard sheet;
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With freedom's soil beneath our feet,
And freedom's banner streaming o'er us.'
(Mr. W. pronounced these lines with great vehemence, and when he had ended, there arose one universal, loud and thrilling cheer.)
"Fellow citizens, it almost cures one's backache to hear you applaud the sentiment. (Laughter and applause.) But then the time for speeches is done. Let me exhort you never to forget the counsels my much esteemed friend. General Jackson, of Wood, delivered to us tonight. Never forget to act upon them. I think I see yet sparkling in the old hero's eyes something of the ardor which he thought it not prudent to express, yet that even he was ready at his country's call to lead his sons and the sons of his countrymen whenever it may be necessary - whenever our liberties can not be secured to us otherwise - to lead us into the battlefield; - not to be carried to the polls to whisper his vote against the Ordinance of Secession, but to fall upon the field of battle, to wrap himself in his country's flag, and pledge his gratitude to God that he was deemed worthy at last to end an honored life by falling in defense of his country. (Applause.) We have worthy sires, my woung [sic] friends. Let us be sons worthy of those sires. Those sires were law-abiding, constitution-making, constitution-keeping men. They well knew that republican liberties, that tree institutions could only be established upon the law, and preserved by keeping the law; and that is the secret of the conservative position we have taken in this convention. I believe God's blessing will rest upon our action, and if at last, in the language of the Declaration of Independence, 'we have remonstrated again and again, we have petitioned and adjured,' and our prayers are all scoffed at and scouted - why, I think I see around me here tonight the men who know their duty -
"'Who know their rights.
And knowing dare maintain.'
"Fellow citizens, the first thing we have got to fight is the Ordinance of Secession. Let us kill it on the 23rd of this month. (Applause.) Let us bury it deep beneath the hills of Northwest Virginia. Let us pile up our glorious hills on it; bury it deep so that it will never make Its appearance among us again. (Applause.) Let us go back home and vote, even if we are beaten upon the final result, tor the benefit of the moral influence of that vote. If we give something like a decided preponderating vote of a majority in the Northwest, that alone secures our rights. (Applause.) That alone, at least, secures an independent state it we desire it.
"Fellow citizens, I am trespassing upon your patience." (Cries of "Go on! go on!") I am going up to Marion county to assist my friend Hall in canvassing that county. Monongalia is a fixed fact - like the handle of a jug, all on one side. (Laughter.) - Not all on one side, either; but on all sides, all over, and under, and in, and out, and through and everywhere. (Applause and laughter.) But I want to help Hall a little. Want to take Frank Pierpont along over there too. They have threatened to hang him out there, and I am sure if he gets strung up first he will break the rope and I will escape. (Laughter.)
"We have to go to work now. We must appeal to the people; appeal to their patriotism; and let us defeat the Ordinance of Secession in Northwestern Virginia at least. My advices from the valley are ,that where, some weeks since, a Union man dare not hold up his head, he has come out now, and is shaking his fist at his adversary. They are getting bold and numerous; and I should not be surprised if the upper and lower valley, even Jefferson county, right under the shadow of - or rather casting its shadow upon - Harper's Ferry, and under the influence and intimidation of the soldiery there, and old Louden, with Janney at its head, should all give majorities against this ordinance. They say that even in Alexandria the old Union spirit is reviving. Let us hope then - 'hope on, hope ever'. Let us work In season and out of season.
"And now, fellow citizens, good-bye till we meet again, with all our hopes realized, as I trust, under fairer auspices. May we meet together with gratulation and congratulation, that our old and beloved commonwealth, the mother of states and statesmen, whose fame is as wide as the earth - every inch of whose soil I love, her mountains and valleys, from the seaboard to the Ohio border - shall be restored to peace and prosperity; until all this land in all her waters, shall reflect back peacefully the stars on the floating banner of our country, re-established as the ensign of universal liberty." (Great Applause.)
Extract from the story of the first convention at Wheeling, May 13, 14 and 15, taken from a newspaper of recent date:
"His greatest fame (speaking of Senator Willey) was as an orator, and his platform triumphs were among the most numerous and conspicuous in an age when oratory was in flower. Together with his powers as an orator, Mr. Willey combined those solid traits which go to make the real statesman."
When Mr. Willey had finished his speech, Mr. Carlile was called for and responded in a short speech as follows:
"Mr. President and Fellow Citizens:
"Unity of action and singleness of purpose, I have been taught to believe, will accomplish all that is in the power of man to accomplish., when wisely directed. I therefore concur most heartily in the suggestion made by the gentleman from Wood that this convention should not separate without first invoking the blessing of Heaven upon the labors inaugurated by it, and which will grow day by day more arduous, in order that we may have that wisdom which is so necessary to direct us through the momentuous [sic] trouble In which we are about to engage. But If we meet it as brave men should; if we meet It with a determination to accomplish our purpose or die in the effort, success will as certainly crown our efforts as that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. While it has been well remarked we have yielded each to the other for the purpos[e] of harmonizing, and have thus been enabled to come to the conclusion to which we have arrived, we must remember that the same object is still in view, and the same effort is required to accomplish the purpose, although it may be postponed a few days longer than some of us desire. And it may, gentlemen, require at our hands more arduous efforts than it would it we had earlier entered upon it. Be that as it may, let us go home with a determination to succeed, and let us inspire the same determination in the breast of every citizen in each and every county here represented, and all other counties in which we may chance to be between this and the hour of trial.
"I feel that upon us of Northwestern Virginia, and upon our efforts, depend to a very great extent, the restoration of harmony to the whole of our beloved land, and the preservation and perpetuity of those free institutions under which we have been born and reared. This is a government of love; and I can not for a moment contemplate its destruction without feeling as I never deemed myself capable of feeling in contemplating a new subject short of utter annihilation. When I left the Virginia convention, on the evening on which the Ordinance of Secession was passed, and walked solitary and alone to my lodgings, and felt that a home and a country remained not to me, I felt as sad at heart as I could have felt had I just returned from the burial ground, having deposited in their last resting place my wife and children. Entertaining these sentiments, placing this estimate upon this government, I have resolved to do all that I can, in any and every position, to preserve it, and aid and co-operate with my fellow citizens in its preservation. And I believe that preservation is to be secured through and by the agency of this portion of Virginia; by and through the erection of a new state; by and through, it may be, scenes of blood, accomplished by deeds of daring, but deeds that will result to effect its accomplishment. Let each and all determine for himself, and get his neighbors to determine with him. Be the means to be used what they may, come life or come death, it shall be accomplished. (Applause.) I have not voice to say more. I speak with much difficulty. I return to you my sincere thanks for the kindness received at the hands of each and every member of this convention; and I assure you I justly appreciate the compliment shown me by calling me to the stand. The associations I have formed here, will always be remembered by me as among the most pleasing reminiscences of my life." (Applause.)
I do not wish to detract from the great services of Governor Pierpont, neither do I wish to see the greater service of the Hon. Waitman T, Willey, which was rendered, to the State during the eventful days of 1861, passed by in silence and contempt.
I have read carefully the history of the unveiling of the Pierpont statue, and I can not understand why Governor Glasscock and Thomas C. Miller and others pervert historical facts in order to give Mr. Pierpont a place to which he is not entitled, in so far as it relates to the May convention, the restored government, and the formation of the State of West Virginia, and pass by the great services that the Honorable Waitman T. Willey rendered the State and Nation during the May convention. If other counsel than that of his had prevailed, we would not have had a restored government or a West Virginia; neither would there ever have been a Governor Pierpont.
I have also read carefully everything that I could find which has any bearing on the convention of May, 1861, the restored government and the new State, and it appears to me that in order to give Mr. Pierpont a prominent place in the establishment of the restored government and the formation of the new State, it has been a studied effort to conceal from the people the true position of Mr. Pierpont. On the 17th day of June, 1861, he made a speech in the second convention opposing the formation of a new State, but was for it at the proper time, which was when all of the State was back in the Union, and we all know when that was the case all hopes of a new State would be past, that the eastern portion would never agree to division, - we all knew that; that could only be done as it was when part of the people were in rebellion.
If Mr. Pierpont had had such definite and pronounced views as is claimed for him by his friends as to the restored government and new State, why was it not made known during the first two days of the May convention, May 13th and 14th? The truth is that he never raised his voice in opposition to Mr. Carlile's resolutions or revolutionary conduct during the first and second days of the convention, although he was a member of the committee on State and Federal Relations, and that committee made a report on the evening of May 14th in direct opposition to the line of conduct proposed by Mr. Carlile. It is also true that during the forenoon of May 15th he spoke in favor of the adoption of the report of the committee on State and Federal Relations. It is also true that during the convention of May 13th, 14th and 15th he never once raised his voice in favor of a new State. It was well known that during the night of the 14th a change had taken place in the minds of the members of the convention and the people at large,, [sic] brought about by the unanswerable speech of Mr. Willey, delivered on the evening of the 14th and morning of the 15th, as well as the pleadings, prayers and arguments of such men as the Rev. Peter T. Lashley and other conservative men with the delegates during the night of the 14th and the morning of the 15th.
Every member of the convention that had given the proceedings of the convention proper attention could see and feel that a change had come over the spirit of the convention, and the people, and that Carlile would lose out and that he could not carry his point as to his line of conduct, and the men who had been passive and silent, not combatting the position of Mr. Carlile during the 13th and 14th, were going with a majority of the convention and the people, and it did not require much nerve to endorse the committee's resolutions.
To further show that to Mr. Pierpont is not due the credit of the formation of the restored government of Virginia any more than to hundreds of other loyal people of the State, let me revert to the fact that as early as the 13th of April, the citizens of Taylor County, assembled in convention, declared their loyalty to the Union, and in case the State should secede, they were in favor of a separate State, consisting of the western portion of the State; that on the 17th day of April, 1861, the loyal citizens of Monongalia County, at Morgantown, convened in convention and passed resolutions condemning secession and disunion, and that the people of West Virginia would rise in the majesty of their strength and repudiate the act of East Virginia and dissolve all civil and political connection with them and remain true to the Stars and Stripes. They also passed resolutions thanking W. T. Willey and Marshall M. Dent for the firm stand they were taking in the convention then in session at Richmond, and in case the ordinance of secession was passed to propose a division of the State.
On the 22nd day of April, 1861, the loyal union citizens of Wetzel County met in convention, passed resolutions condemning secession, and that in case the ordinance of secession should be passed, to adopt such means as would result in a division of the State. I have a vivid recollection of this mass meeting, and remember well the one speech that was made in opposition, and the man that made it, who afterwards became a staunch Union man. I also recollect others that were in sympathy with the secession movement that afterwards became supporters of the cause of the Union; one of these men, being a justice of the peace, ordered the Pittsburgh Advocate to he taken out of the post office at New Martinsville and be burned as an incendiary publication, and the paper was accordingly burned by his orders in front of the post office on Main street by the postmaster.
It is a well known fact that the feeling throughout the western part of Virginia was in favor of a new State, at least a separation from the State of Virginia, and that to no one man is all the honor of what we are today, but that the credit is due to all the loyal people of western Virginia during the eventful period of 1861 until the surrender of the rebel army and peace was declared.
In the large history of West Virginia by Virgil A. Lewis, published in 1889, the following men are credited as being opposed to the line of conduct of Mr. Carlile: Campbell Tarr, Adam Kuhn, Nathaniel Wells, J. D. Nichols and Joseph Gist of Brooke County; John Hall and Daniel Poisley, of Mason County, and Waitman T. Willey, of Monongalia County, when in fact the report of the proceedings of the convention shows that only W. T. Willey, Campbell Tarr and Daniel Poisley were the ones who made speeches during the convention, of the above named men. Both Tarr and Polsley took sides with Carlile, Mr. Tarr attacking Mr. Willey in a most bitter speech; he declared boldly for the position taken by Mr. Carlile. Mr. Poisley made a speech endorsing immediate separation, and then did all he could to defeat the report of the committee on State and Federal Relations. The report of the proceedings of the convention shows that Mr. Willey stood alone in opposition to the Carlile resolutions during the two first days of the convention, save and except Col. James S. Wheat, of Ohio County, who combatted the course and conduct of Mr. Carlile all of the day of the 14th. General John J. Jackson made a lengthy speech defining his position, which was in opposition to that of Mr. Carlile.
The following is a part of an editorial taken from the Daily Intelligencer on the morning of May 13th, 1861:
(From editorial in the Intelligencer on May 13th, 1861.)
"Today the convention called to deliberate upon action or West Virginia, meets in this city. It is the first body of the kind ever assembled in this part of the State, and is composed of the very best men in point of ability, character and sound standing in this section of Virginia..... Now, is there a man from all the Northwest who has the nerve and the genius to lead this great -movement? Is there one who can concentrate the battered element and their chaotic fragments into form? Such an one is wanted, and wanted just now.
"We shall see whether we have such an one among us. The man who can do it will be a hero - a hero in the cause of humanity and liberty, and fame is awaiting now to write down his name and imperishable deeds."
Is there any unbiased mind at this late date who has given attention to the events of our history from May 13th, 1861, to the close of the war, who can say Mr. Willey is not the man to whom there is due more honor than to any other of those eventful times?
There is one thing to me that is most remarkable; in all of lhe speeches and publications that I have been able to find and .read, there has been a lack of information as to what took place during the first two days of the convention as to the position of some of the delegates on the Carlile resolutions. Also, as to the third, when Mr. Willey delivered one of the most eloquent, patriotic and loyal speeches in opposition to the Carlile resolutions and line of conduct, and the speech that brought about the restored government, and made possible the formation of a new State.
If Governor Pierpont should be entitled to so much credit as is claimed for him, why was he not singled out and not Mr. Willey, to be condemned as a traitor and to be hanged as such?
In his book, "How West Virginia Was Made," published 1909, Mr. Lewis, in his report of the convention of May 13th, 14th and 15th, 1861, transposes the speech of Mr. Willey and Mr. Carlile, made at the close of the convention, the night of the 15th, placing them in his book as if Mr. Carlile was called for first to make a speech, when, in fact, as soon as the resolutions of the committee were adopted Mr. Willey was first called for and responded, as well he should, as he and the conservative element had defeated Mr. Carlile and his followers after three days' heated and excited contest.
(From the Intelligencer of May 20th, 1861.)
"In the Western Virginia Convention, after the adoption of the report of the committee on Federal Relations, Mr. Willey being loudly called for came forward and said: (See speech [e]lsewhere.)
Mr. Carlile's remarks on the same occasion:
"Having been called to the stand for a speech Mr. Carlile said: (See speech elsewhere.)
THE SECOND CONVENTION, WHEELING, JUNE 11, 1861. The Re-Organized Government.
Again the subject of a new State became the all-absorbing topic, and the greatest interest was manifested in the election to take place on the 4th of June, at which time the delegates to the second Wheeling convention were chosen. There was a full vote in nearly all of the western counties, and a full delegation was returned.
The second Wheeling convention convened in Washington Hall, in that city, June 11th, 1861. The next day the committee on credentials reported that delegates were present from thirty- two counties, the same members being entitled to seats both in the convention and as members of the General Assembly elected on. the 23rd of May, 1861, or as delegates appointed to this convention.
On the 20th of June the convention proceeded to elect the following as officers of the State: Francis H. Pierpont, Governor; Daniel Polsley, Lieutenant Governor; James S. Wheat, Attorney General, as required by the ordinance for the reorganization of the State Government of the State of Virginia. An ordinance was also passed requiring the General Assembly, as soon as convenient, to elect an Auditor, a Treasurer, and a Secretary of State.
The General Assembly met July 1st, as provided for in ordinance passed June 19th. On July 9th the General Assembly elected the balance of the State officers, as well as Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile to the United States Senate. They,. together with the representatives, William G. Brown, Jacob B. Blair, K. V. Whaley, as Congressmen, were admitted to seats in the Senate and House of Representatives from the State of Virginia.
August 6th, 1861, the convention re-assembled at Wheeling. The body proceeded to perform its chief object, that of preparing for the formation of a new State, and on the 20th adopted an ordinance to provide for the formation of a new State out of a part of the State of Virginia.
The convention assembled November 26th, 1861, and proceeded to elect proper officers. The convention prepared a constitution to be submitted to the people on the third Thursday in April, 1862. The election took place as was required and the constitution was adopted by a vote of 18,862 for, and 514 against.
The convention adjourned on February 18th, 1862.
Governor Pierpont issued his proclamation announcing the result of the vote on the ratification of the constitution, and at the same time convening the General Assembly in extra session on May 6th, 1862. On the 12th the Assembly passed an Act giving its consent for the formation of a new State.
All eyes now turned toward Washington, the place of final action in the thirty-seventh congress. Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile, Senators, and K. V. Whaley, Wm. G. Brown and Jacob B. Blair, as Representatives, from Virginia, under the restored government.
The commission appointed to bring the matter before Congress was John Hall, of Mason County; James Paxton, of Ohio County; E. H. Caldwell, of Marshall; P. G. Van Winkle, of Wood; and Ephriam Hall, of Marion, who were supplied with copies of the ratified constitution and the Acts of the General Assembly, proceeded at once to the capitol, where they arrived on May 22nd, 1862. They were accompanied by Harrison Hagans, of Preston; Granville Parker, of Cabell, and Daniel Polsley, of Mason, Polsley being Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, who went at their own expense.
On the 25th of May Senator Willey laid the matter before the Senate, by which body it was at once referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, was chairman, and John S. Carlile, the other Virginia Senator, a member. To Carlile was assigned the work of preparing and reporting the bill, providing for the admission of the State. Then it was that Mr. Carlile showed himself to be a Judas. He delayed reporting the bill until June 25th, and then made such a report as would absolutely defeat the formation of a new State. From the date his report was submitted to the Senate he did all he could to defeat the new State. The most earnest friends and supporters of the measure were now almost dismayed. Carlile had thrown off the mask and openly proclaimed his opposition. Willey stood firm, but seemed almost powerless to act amid the hostilities apparent on all sides.
Determined to make yet another effort, Senator Willey, on the 1st of July, again called up the bill. A heated discussion ensued, in which Senators Wade, Hale, Callamar and Willey participated, the latter of whom closed by submitting what was known as the "Willey Amendment". This was really a substitute for the "Carlile Bill".
The State at last was admitted into the Union on June 20th, 1963, not by any active part taken by Mr. Pierpont; - outside of his official acts he did nothing to aid in a new State, save that which he was directed to do by the convention and the General Assembly.
Mr. Carlile was requested to resign from the Senate, but refused to do so and served to the end of his term, 1865. He lived as a private citizen at Clarksburg until his death, and was regarded as a man of brilliant mind, but a betrayor of a great cause, the formation of a new State.
R. H. SAYRE,
Author, and Member of the May Convention of 1861.
New Martinsville, West Virginia, Sept. 10th, 1913. | <urn:uuid:b5ba8e9d-f138-46ba-b4b7-7de3c4fa5921> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvculture.org/History/statehood/sayre.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977546 | 11,733 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Context for Review of New Orleans Seminary’s Sole Membership Charter Amendments
by D. August Boto and James P. Guenther
February 4, 2005
In the course of the discussions between the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee and the various SBC entities regarding the recommendation of sole membership amendments to their various charters, it became the practice to supply them with footnoted drafts showing the suggested, beneficial changes. In all cases, the drafts were prepared by the SBC’s lawyers and submitted to the entities, which in turn would review those drafts, ask questions, suggest changes or otherwise respond. Any differences were worked through to mutually satisfactory conclusions. Often there were no differences, and the drafts were approved as the final documents by the entities, submitted to the Executive Committee for recommendation to the Convention, and ultimately approved by the Convention. Except for there not yet being a conclusion of the matter, the above course was also followed with regard to the New Orleans seminary, and included supplying sample documents to New Orleans Seminary on several occasions:
- On September 5, 1997, a letter was sent to all the entities commending the apparent advantages of sole membership, asking for a consensus from among the entity leaders, including a draft of some possible SBC governing document changes, and indicating that the Executive Committee would be working with each entity to craft appropriate amendments.
- On January 20, 1998 a second letter was sent to all entity heads including drafts of possible SBC Bylaw amendments and asking for input.
- On September 21, 1999 a conference was held with Dr. Kelley during which he was given, as examples, copies of the sole membership charter amendments the Midwestern, Golden Gate, and Southwestern seminaries had already adopted. (All other entities except Southeastern Seminary had adopted sole membership prior to that date. Southeastern Seminary adopted sole membership in 2000).
- On December 4, 2001, Convention and Executive Committee representatives met with seminary representatives and discussed sole membership, at the conclusion of which meeting the seminary asked for, among other things, a draft of suggested charter changes adopting sole membership accompanied by a brief or footnotes referring to the effect of the changes and applicable laws.
- On January 24, 2002, the requested draft and other materials were sent to the New Orleans seminary.
The text of that 1/24/2002 footnoted draft is what the trustees of the New Orleans seminary ultimately approved in October of 2004, expressing reservations in doing so.
Read the suggested amendments, as well as the footnotes containing the opinions of SBC legal counsel.
Reservations Expressed by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Concerning a Charter Amendment Proposal
Response to reservations about sole membership posed by the New Orleans seminary
Back to Top
Printer Friendly version | <urn:uuid:d907bd1b-1598-4c80-ba93-639bd478e0a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=283 | 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 | 0.971935 | 577 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Internet in Africa is more than just Nigerian spam. There are honest African bloggers
who fight corrupt government and police to go where mainstream journalists dare not. Compare their blogging experience with your own. Imagine the government calling you over the phone at night and questioning about a particular post you just wrote.
posted by Surfin' Bird
on Jul 3, 2008 -
An Indonesian TV crew was invited to Malaysia for their Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign but encountered many problems. They write up about it
- and start a flurry of comments and controversy across the Malaysian government about blogging. [more inside]
posted by divabat
on Apr 6, 2007 -
Feds seek to gag D.C. Madam this madam threatens to spill the names about the biggies that used her services and so:
[...]government lawyers claim that some discovery documents contain "personal information" about Palfrey's former johns and prostitutes that is "sensitive." The prosecution filing does not detail the nature of this confidential information, though the identity of Palfrey's D.C. customers would surely be cloaked if the protective order was signed by Judge Gladys Kessler[...]
posted by Postroad
on Mar 7, 2007 -
Blogspot, Geocities, and TypePad blocked in India.
Indian ISPs, who had been ordered by the Indian government to block certain
, have blocked the entire blogspot.com, geocities.com, and typepad.com
(by IP), rendering hundreds of thousands of blogs inaccessible in India. The block
was ordered by the government apparently because terrorists were using blogs to
co-ordinate their activities. Indian bloggers, upset
at the blanket ban
, have started
to keep track of the situation. They have also created a mailing
to discuss the issue. Some prominent
tracking updates. Indian laws require
ISPs to install filtering equipment and follow government orders to block sites,
or the can lose their licence to operate. This is not the first time such an
incident has occurred. In 2003, the government ordered a block on a Yahoo group
that was supposedly anti-national. Indian ISPs ended up blocking
Yahoo Groups completely
. India's recently introduced Right-to-Information
, which many bloggers are planning to use, gives the government 30
days to respond to an RTI request. In the interim, despite national
and international coverage
of the issue from the likes of New York Times
(linked earlier), Washington
, and WSJ
(paid reg. required), these major blogging sites remain blocked.
posted by madman
on Jul 19, 2006 -
The Children's Internet Protection Act
is hunky dory, according to the Supreme Court
. This means that public libraries are required by law to have web filters on public terminals.
While it's great that children will now be forever protected from the evils on online pornography, the drawback is that most filters are so unreliable that just me mentioning the word "sex" in this post could get Metafilter blocked by a web filter.
posted by zedzebedia
on Jun 23, 2003 -
"You don't have to burn books now," says Thomas. "You just press the delete key."
Two unabashedly partisan reports
of the Bush administration's clandestine campaign to "tighten up" anything from online government sources dealing with the development of Alaskan mineral resources.
We've done the debate on Alaska, but what about the ability to amend online records? The old administration's sites are meant to be preserved by law, but plenty appears to have been deleted in the name of "polishing":
"We changed value-laden words like 'destroy' to 'impact.'"
Newspeak in action? Should government-run sites be required to carry a Changelog?
posted by holgate
on Apr 14, 2001 -
Here is a chance to show what you are made of. Quit your high paying job you have now, for one that will give you the opportunity to "help the children."
posted by brent
on Feb 12, 2000 - | <urn:uuid:b953bd32-f745-4f1e-8f4c-7d283a77e9a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metafilter.com/tags/censorship+government | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944275 | 848 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Dr. Brimmer, Wharton
Dr. Andrew F. Brimmer, former assistant professor of finance in the Wharton School, passed away October 7 at age 86.
Dr. Brimmer was a member of the Wharton School faculty from 1961 until 1966. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed Dr. Brimmer deputy assistant secretary of commerce for economic policy and then assistant secretary for economic affairs. In 1966, he was appointed to the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve System by President Lyndon B. Johnson, becoming the first black member of the Board.
Dr. Brimmer then served on the Wharton School’s Board of Overseers from 1973 until 1974.
Prior to joining the Wharton School, he was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1955-1958, where he advised the newly independent Sudanese government on establishing a central bank. He was also a member of the Michigan State University faculty from 1958-1961.
After leaving the Board in 1974, Dr. Brimmer taught at Harvard Business School and started a consulting firm, Brimmer & Co. In the 1990s, Dr. Brimmer was the first chairman of the District of Columbia Financial Control Board.
In 1965, he was cited for excellence during his tenure as assistant secretary and was presented the Arthur S. Flemming Award.
For over 40 years, Dr. Brimmer served on the Board of Trustees of Tuskegee University in Alabama, which named its business school for him.
Born to sharecroppers in Louisiana, Dr. Brimmer received a BA in 1950 and an MA in 1951 from the University of Washington, and a PhD in 1957 from Harvard University. He studied in India as a Fulbright Scholar.
Dr. Brimmer is survived by his wife, Doris; and daughter, Esther.
Dr. Menocal, Romance Languages
Dr. María Rosa Menocal, former assistant professor of Romance languages in the School of Arts & Sciences, passed away October 15 from melanoma; she was 59.
A native of Havana, Cuba, Dr. Menocal earned a BA in medieval Romance languages in 1973, an MA in French in 1975 and a PhD in Romance philology in 1979, all at the University of Pennsylvania. A year later, she was appointed to the Penn faculty as an assistant professor of Romance languages and also served as acting director of Penn’s Center for Italian Studies.
In 1986, Dr. Menocal joined the faculty at Yale University. She was named the R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese in 1993, and in 2005, became a Sterling Professor of the Humanities, the highest honor that Yale confers on members of its faculty. She was also the director of Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center from 2001 to 2012. Prior to that, Dr. Menocal served as director of graduate studies and chair of the department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Dr. Menocal focused her research on the literary traditions of the Middle Ages and on the interaction of various religious and cultural groups in medieval Spain. She authored several books including The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, of which a documentary is under development for public television.
While at Penn, she also served as editor of the journal Hispanic Review.
Dr. Menocal was awarded Mellon and Guggenheim fellowships and in 2011 was named a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America.
Dr. Menocal is survived by her husband, R. Crosby Kemper III; ex-husband, George Calhoun; two children, George “Harry” Calhoun and Margaux Calhoun; one grandchild, George Bishara Calhoun; parents, Enrique and Rosa Menocal; and siblings, Lucia Pernot, Enrique Javier Menocal and Elisa Menocal.
Mr. Morcom, Athletics
Albert Richmond “Boo” Morcom, Penn’s retired track and field coach, supervisor of athletics and record-setter, passed away October 3 at age 91.
After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire and serving in WWII, Mr. Morcom was appointed Penn’s assistant track and field coach in 1949. Two years later, he was recalled for duty in the Korean War. He returned to Penn in 1952 and spent another three decades here in athletics, coaching at Penn until 1974. He retired in 1983 as supervisor of Penn’s intramural sports, then continued to volunteer coach in New Hampshire at local high schools.
An accomplished athlete, Mr. Morcom was elected into seven halls of fame. He was also the National Champion in pole vaulting and was a member of the 1948 USA Olympic Team that competed in London. In 1956, he was chosen as a coach for the USA Women’s Olympic Track Team that competed in Melbourne, Australia. After retirement, he was awarded the New Hampshire Male Athlete of the Year Trophy.
Mr. Morcom is survived by his son, David, C’68; daughters, Carol and Bonney; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the University of New Hampshire Track Team, c/o UNH Foundation, 9 Edgewood Road, Durham, NH 03824.
Dr. Weiss, Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Leon P. Weiss, professor emeritus of cell biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine, passed away October 16 at age 87.
Born in Brooklyn, Dr. Weiss earned his BS from the College of the City of New York in 1944 and his MD from Long Island College of Medicine in 1948.
After serving in the Army Medical Corps, Dr. Weiss taught on the faculties of Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities.
Dr. Weiss was appointed to the Penn faculty in 1975 as a professor of cell biology in the department of animal biology. He chaired the department from 1976-1995. He also held a secondary appointment in what is now called the Perelman School of Medicine. In 1982, his chair appointment was endowed and he became the first Grace Lansing Lambert Professor of Cell Biology (Almanac January 17, 1984). That same year, he was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. His home department changed to the department of clinical studies/New Bolton Center in 1999. He became emeritus in 2009.
Dr. Weiss’ major work was experimental electron microscopic/histochemical study of the immunologic/hematopoietic systems, notably spleen, bone marrow and thymus. He also conducted research on malaria, work he continued after retiring from Penn.
Dr. Weiss helped design the medical school curriculum at his alma mater, now the City College of New York, and helped found two programs at Penn—the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society and the Center for Aquatic Animal Medicine and Pathology.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Weiss was a medical consultant and served on many committees of medical organizations. He held memberships in numerous professional and scientific societies including the American Association of Anatomists, the American Society of Zoology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also was a long-standing member of the Corporation of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Massachusetts.
He held several editorial positions, including serving as editor, in the 1980s, of a leading textbook, Histology, and illustrated many of his own pen-and-ink drawings of cells and tissue structure as seen through an electron microscope.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 24, 2 p.m., at 370 Aubrey Rd., in Wynnewood, PA. Another memorial will be held in the summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.
Dr. Weiss is survived by his wife, Ellen; children, Marisa, C’79, M’84, Philip, Stephen, Alice, C’81, V’84, Nathaniel, EAS’89 and Eve; and 12 grandchildren, Adam, Aaron, C’09, Elias, Daniel, Ethan, Henry, Isabel, C’13, Madeleine, Sara, Ella, Owen and Livia.
October 30, 2012, Volume 59, No. 10 | <urn:uuid:3c9a5f1c-a8cd-43fa-bb91-66473ca6c46d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v59/n10/obit.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972474 | 1,701 | 1.679688 | 2 |
New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Wednesday demanded that subsidised pulses and cooking oil be included in the food security bill. It also sought the coverage of all residents of the state under the bill.
"The state is providing three pulses, cooking oil and iodised salt at subsidised rates through the public distribution system at its own cost despite financial constraints. Under the food security bill, there should be a provision of subsidised pulses and cooking oil," Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.S. Bali said at the food ministers' conference here.
Pointing out that the state is not self-sufficient in food production, he demanded that the bill cover the state's entire population under the bill as against the proposal of 75 percent rural and 50 percent urban population.
Bali said a person should be provided at least 7 kg foodgrains per month under the bill against the provision of 5 kg per person. He also demanded that 25 kg rice and 10 kg wheat should be provided instead of 15 kg rice and 20 kg wheat as proposed in the bill.
The minister also asked for liberal financial assistance for expansion and upgradation of the state's foodgrain storage capacity from the existing 46,160 tonnes.
The state civil supplies corporation is providing three pulse, two edible oils and salt at subsidised prices to the around 11,00,000 above poverty line ration card holders in Himachal Pradesh. | <urn:uuid:fb5e8218-fce4-4679-8aa7-1e7ad0b7c934> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sify.com/finance/Himachal-for-inclusion-of-subsidised-pulses-in-food-bill-news-National-ncnrEufgahi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949838 | 291 | 1.507813 | 2 |
This is an article written by Shujen Wang which was published in Cinema Journal, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 25-43 by the University of Texas. This article focuses on how anti-piracy initiatives of industrial states and transnational corporations seek to maintain control over property and markets, even in the fact of technological challenges and changes. This paper provides a market oriented analysis of the purpose of anti-piracy initiatives including anti-circumvention provisions in order to extract their net effect on global markets for content and property. Wang does a good job of analyzing the relevant policies--as all of the other scholars do--but he extends his analysis a step further to show how big corporations and their subsidiaries (for example the MPAA) have a huge role in shaping national and international trade policies. This is particularly poignant in light of the WIPO standards that led to the perceived need to pass legislation like the DMCA, as well as the growing role of copyright legislation in other, prominent international talks, including the Uruguay round of GATT talks (which established the WTO), as well as the WTO's subsequent agreement on TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights).
This topic is critical to national and international governmental policies; however, an analysis of firms, consumers, producers, owners and creators alike is essential to the analysis of the direct impact of these policies on the economy. Wang's work masterfully details the size and scope of the booming technology industry--both globally and within the United States--and offers a detailed account of what their biggest goals are, and how they will wield market dominance to maintain their control and prosperity. Wang details how piracy effects large firms, and how anti-circumvention measures have deterred piracy.
This piece is unique within my body of sources, and absolutely essential to my research. It is very refreshing that Wang offers more market oriented analysis, rather than getting caught up on the legislative details. Although it is often best to conduct one's own theoretical survey of the effects of legislative language on the economy, Wang's piece provides substantive detail that is will be very beneficial to the clarity and consistency of my paper. | <urn:uuid:35b06ce9-c566-40ac-9249-86650b947147> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/markets+inefficient_technologies+consumer_rights | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95372 | 440 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The film opens by declaring it's based on firsthand accounts of actual events.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other lawmakers criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of bin Laden. Lawmakers asked Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional.
"Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue," Bigelow wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
The comments were Bigelow's most explicit reaction to the controversy so far.
"As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work," she continued. "Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn't mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn't ignore."
"War, obviously, isn't pretty, and we were not interested in portraying this military action as free of moral consequences," she added.
Bigelow wrote that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.
"I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen," she wrote.
Last week, Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal responded forcefully to a "Zero Dark Thirty" anti-Oscar campaign waged by Ed Asner and other Hollywood actors, saying "to punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent."
Bigelow and "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal had said previously that they "depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.
"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes," they said. | <urn:uuid:807b55be-bfb8-47a6-b391-b31e35f693a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_22384352/director-defends-zero-dark-thirty-torture-scenes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982769 | 430 | 1.507813 | 2 |
|Especially popular with teens are Flash cartoons, named for the software program used to create them. One very popular site is homestarrunner.com, whose host is a grammar-impaired goof. Its content mostly consists of sophomoric silliness. (An exception is "Teen Girl Squad," a ’toon with mean-girl leanings.) |
A lot of Flash content, however, is violent or obnoxious. Take, for example, "Happy Tree Friends," which makes cutesy animal pals the victims of splatter-style brutality. The site carries the faux warning Cartoon Violence - HTF is not recommended for small children or big babies while the animation style seems tailor-made for preschoolers. Brightly colored cartoon friends such as Cuddles the bunny and Giggles the chipmunk start every adventure in an innocuous way, yet within a minute or so they wind up eviscerated, decapitated or worse.
Site creator Kenn Navarro says the violence in "Happy Tree Friends" has "never been the main thrust of the show. … It’s the characters and the situations that they’re thrown in and how they react that’s funny. The violence is just the bloody result. … It’s as classic a formula as Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes and The Three Stooges; we’re just kicking it up a notch." A big notch. None of those shows featured icicles through eyeballs, intestines strewn in the snow or a childlike critter being torn limb from limb. It’s the Internet’s answer to The Simpsons’ over-the-top cartoon duo Itchy and Scratchy.
Sites such as ifilm.com feature Flash cartoons as well as live-action fare (short films, clips from TV shows, news footage). One web page posted an actual clip of an Iraqi sniper shooting an American soldier, who was saved only by his body armor.
With these sites being such a mixed bag, families face several challenges. For example, a friend might e-mail a teen the link to a funny cartoon featured on a site that also carries soft porn. Furthermore, silly Flash cartoons can be intermixed with violent videos. There’s no software capable of blocking this material (which is constantly changing), and keeping track of all the websites would be a monumental task.
If Morse were raising a teenager today, he might send out an SOS. Broadband Internet has been a boon, but like so much technology, it has made the job of parenting that much harder.
Published March 2006 | <urn:uuid:911a0d79-ea98-4bda-bcb8-5f4ec31cb959> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pluggedin.com/familyroom/articles/2006/whathathbroadbandwrought.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942358 | 543 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of a Ball State University food service employee Monday, asking lawyers questions about country music vs. Wagners operas.
But the case wasnt about music.
Racial harassment targeted at Maetta Vance, who worked for the universitys catering department, could lead to a legal precedent that would make it easier or more difficult for a worker to sue an employer.
Or maybe not.
And it all comes down to a simple question: Whos a boss?
Federal courts of appeals have issued conflicting rulings on the question. The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, which hears appeals of Indiana federal court decisions, ruled that a supervisor is someone who can hire, fire, discipline, transfer, promote or demote a worker. But other appeals courts have broader definitions, ruling that a supervisor is someone who directs anothers activities.
The question is important because U.S. civil rights law allows a worker to seek damages resulting from harassment by a supervisor. But employers are not responsible for harassment by a mere co-worker.
Justice Elena Kagan, a former dean of Harvard Law School, made an observation countless university staff members understand. Professors dont have the ability to fire secretaries, but professors do have the ability to make secretarial lives living hells, Kagan said.
Three of the justices followed a line of questioning that could have come directly from a script for The Office.
Chief Justice John Roberts asked the lawyers whether a worker who was allowed to choose the music playing in the office met the supervisor definition. He envisioned a scenario where an employee could say: If you dont date me, its going to be country music all day long.
What about hard rock, Justice Antonin Scalia wondered. Or Wagners operas, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. chimed in.
The justices then asked somewhat more relevant questions about punishing a food service employee by making her chop onions all day.
Scenarios aside, the court took the case to settle the conflicting rulings by the courts of appeals. The Supreme Courts ruling could set a precedent affecting businesses and the rights of workers not to face harassment and discrimination from their employers. No doubt, countless lawyers are also awaiting a decision that could make it easier – or much more difficult – to win damages from a business.
But the court might eventually agree with the attorney generals office, whose solicitor general believed this is not the case to settle the lower courts conflict, advising that the co-worker who harassed Vance was not a supervisor under any definition of the word.
So workers may have little recourse if the person in charge of the music selects Richard Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen – known as the Ring cycle.
The cycle is about 14 hours long. | <urn:uuid:8b554b29-dc77-4c40-af29-5c34975eb834> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://journalgazette.net/article/20121128/EDIT07/311289986/1021/EDIT | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954319 | 568 | 1.789063 | 2 |
This never should have happened. But, because we are most definitely NOT post-racial, it did.
By MELISSA TRUJILLO,
Associated Press Writer –
Tue Jul 21, 7:52 pm ET
BOSTON – Prosecutors dropped a disorderly conduct charge Tuesday against prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested after forcing his way into his own house in what he and other blacks say was an outrageous but all-too-common example of how police treat them.
The city of Cambridge called the arrest "regrettable and unfortunate," and police and Gates agreed that dropping the charge was a just resolution — though not one that quelled the anger of one of America's top academics.
"I'm outraged," Gates said in extensive comments made to TheRoot.com, a Web site he oversees. "I can't believe that an individual policeman on the Cambridge police force would treat any African-American male this way, and I am astonished that this happened to me; and more importantly I'm astonished that it could happen to any citizen of the United States, no matter what their race.
"There are 1 million black men in the prison system, and on Thursday I became one of them," he said. "I would sooner have believed the sky was going to fall from the heavens than I would have believed this could happen to me. It shouldn't have happened to me, and it shouldn't happen to anyone."
Yvonne Abraham, writing in today's Boston Globe, nails it:
By Yvonne Abraham
July 22, 2009
Imagine you spent most of the day flying home from China. You’re exhausted and probably irritable. You’re at your Cambridge house, trying to open your front door, but it won’t budge. The thing needs a shoulder put to it. So you ask the guy who drove you home from the airport - a middle-aged guy like you, a guy in a suit and tie - to help you. He kindly obliges.
A woman is walking by. She sees you on the porch, a 58-year-old African-American man with a gray beard and glasses and cane, your striped polo shirt tucked neatly into your pants. Even though you are Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the most prominent academics in the country, and possibly Harvard’s most famous face, she does not recognize you, even though she works for
Harvard Magazine, even though her office is right down the street.
What she sees are a couple of guys trying to break into a house. She calls the police.
By this time, you are on the phone in your own entry hall, asking Harvard’s property managers to come and fix your front door. When you see the police officer on your porch, you assume it’s someone arriving to help you. When he sees you at ease, chatting on a cordless phone, does the Cambridge police officer conclude things look OK? Does he take note of the fact that you make no attempt to run, as a robber might? Does he say anything like this? “We got a call, sir. We’re just making sure everything’s OK. Have a lovely day, sir.’’
Most certainly not. Instead, he goes into your home with his radio and his gun in the middle of the day and acts as if he’s dealing with some perp in a back alley at 3 a.m. He wants your identification. The police officer says you get upset right away, yelling, “Is this because I am a black man in America?’’
The way you remember it, you hand over your ID, and not until he insists you go outside with him do you get upset and accuse him of treating you this way because you are black.
You’ve given him your driver’s license. You’ve given him your Harvard ID. Instead of leaving, he has called the campus police.
What would you do in Gates’s situation? Would you stand for this kind of treatment, in your own home, by a police officer who by now clearly has no right to be there? Most people might not be bold enough to say the things Gates was accused of. (Alas, the classic “I’ll speak with your mama outside’’ attributed to him in the police report was never uttered, his attorney says). But any normal person would have trouble keeping his cool. So Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.
The whole thing became huge news, because this immensely famous expert on race was charging racism.
Yesterday, trying to avert a public relations disaster over the dunderheaded moves by Cambridge police, the Middlesex district attorney announced the charges would be dropped. A wise move, but too late to stop the damage. Gates, whose great success has allowed him to transcend the racial divide, is now one very high-profile argument for its persistence.
Carol Rose, writing about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, says we're a long way from a post-racial society and that:
A review of the police report suggests that the police officer arrested Gates not because he mistook Gates for a robber but because Gates condemned the behavior of the officer as racist. His offending remark reportedly was, “This is what happens to black men in America.’’
That’s not disorderly conduct; that’s speaking truth to power - which still isn’t a crime in America. | <urn:uuid:8a96fa0a-e1b4-4d44-a4f6-c8c502e78b15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/2009/07/henry-louis-gates-returning-to-his-home.html?showComment=1248279210035 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976884 | 1,148 | 1.625 | 2 |
As you will recall from our GeForce2 MX Review, the chip itself is a 0.18-micron solution based very closely upon the GeForce2 GTS design. The only differences are that the GeForce2 MX features a 175MHz clock speed and only features two rendering pipelines while the GeForce2 GTS has a total of four.
Since the GeForce2 MX is based on the same 0.18-micron process as its older brother, it should be able to reach approximately the same core clock speed as the GeForce2 GTS, which by default ships at 200MHz. When we investigated overclocking on the GeForce2 GTS, we noticed that the highest core clock speed we could achieve was approximately 240MHz so it makes sense that the GeForce2 MX core should be able to hit at least 200MHz (GeForce2 GTS core clock) and potentially up to 240MHz (maximum GeForce2 GTS overclock).
The potential for the GeForce2 MX to hit even higher clock speeds is there because the MX isn’t quite as complicated as the GeForce2 GTS. We just mentioned that the MX only has 2 rendering pipelines versus the 4 on the GTS; fewer rendering pipelines translates into less work done per clock, which in turn means less heat produced, which definitely comes in handy when overclocking. While most GeForce2 GTS cards we’ve tested have been able to hit around 230MHz core, the potential for the GeForce2 MX could be higher as it is a less complex GPU when compared to the GTS.
One thing that you have to remember though is that, since the GeForce2 MX is only rated for operation at 175MHz, most manufacturers won’t be using any passive cooling much less any active cooling on their MX boards, meaning no heatsinks and definitely no fans. This is going to throw a bit of a wrench in our plans for overclocking the GeForce2 MX since the core is obviously only going to allow itself to be pushed so far before the lack of a heatsink/fan is going to become a limitation.
The easiest way to get around this limitation is to simply apply a bit of thermal compound to the surface of the GeForce2 MX chip and mount a heatsink or heatsink/fan combo such as one you would find on an old TNT or TNT2. You could always pull one off of a GeForce or a GeForce2 GTS but chances are that you would rather stick with one of the latter rather than attempt to overclock a GeForce2 MX. Most MX boards will probably have the heatsink mounts from your regular GeForce2 GTS board as seen below, so you could use those to your advantage as well:
Be careful if you’re using a fan from a TNT2 or any other video card because they will most likely feature a small two or three pin power connector that probably won’t be present on your GeForce2 MX board. A way around this is to simply use the heatsink from another video card and use an old 486 fan or anything else that can mount onto the heatsink.
Our reference GeForce2 MX board had no problem maxing out the overclocking slider in NVIDIA’s control panel at 220MHz, although in order to do that we had to mount a heatsink/fan we took from the Absolute Multimedia GeForce 256 card on the MX itself. With a heatsink/fan, most GeForce2 MX chips shouldn’t have a problem hitting 200MHz. Some could get lucky and may be able to hit 200MHz without a heatsink/fan but we’d recommend using at least a heatsink. We could actually run our reference board at 200MHz core without a heatsink/fan in a Quake III Arena demo loop without any problems, but at 220MHz things began to get flaky without a heatsink/fan. | <urn:uuid:90e70ef5-0ab3-4abb-9a68-28cd7ae2b3a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://anandtech.com/show/572/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954911 | 783 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Here is a topic that everyone can relate to, the dreadful habit of cribbing. And I have an aversion to cribbing collars that a lot of people use, as I have seen horses have swollen heads from them being adjusted too tight, and also there is risk of damage to the oesophagus. It can also create pressure in the bones of the neck, creating nerve pinches and even sometimes nerve damage. Horses can also get caught up in fences in them, and break their neck. So hence I never use them. Cribbing releases endorphins, and the horse had learned how to "self medicate" due to stress, stomach ulcers, over work, or pain of some kind. IF you suddenly take that away from him, by adding a collar, are we really helping the horse, or only increasing his misery?
In years past I have managed to cure some cribbers, mostly thoroughbreds off the racetrack, by keeping them outside in sheds with hay in front of them all the time. If you can figure out what is making the horse crib - it is stress or ulcers, or some kind of body pain? And if you can eliminate the pain, the cribbing usually goes with it. I have also found that living outside cures it too, as does the use of a metal mesh muzzle attached to a leather halter, so if it gets caught on something the leather will break. These make the horse have to work a little harder to eat hay or grass, but they manage and they can drink water through them. I have managed to cure a couple of older horses who were confirmed cribbers this way, with the muzzle, at the same time addressing lifestyle changes and the physical aspect, they had ulcers that were untreated. Being in constant pain would make you want to do something to alleviate it! So think twice before you buy this gadget - think from the other side of the fence for a change, try to see the horse's point of view - until next time, cheers, the Horselady. | <urn:uuid:7f10137d-9fde-4156-b8b4-7078f22b832c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://barnmice.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1773158%3ABlogPost%3A213787&commentId=1773158%3AComment%3A365012&xg_source=activity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980066 | 418 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Juliet's Story: A Mom Tells the Story of Her Toddler's Heart Surgery
A Mother's Story
You don't have to be a mother to imagine how horrible it would be to learn your toddler needed heart surgery. That's what happened to Jackie Ealy, who also happened to be six months pregnant at the time.
Ealy's daughter, Juliet, turned two on January 28, 1999. But the birthday celebration turned serious when Juliet's pediatrician recommended she see a cardiologist. Several nervous days later, the cardiologist took Juliet's blood pressure and pulse at her wrist and legs. He made his diagnosis in ten minutes: coarctation of the aorta
, a congenital defect that obstructs blood flow to the lower body. Ealy had two choices, he told her–surgery or angioplasty
"He said we could wait six months to a year–until after the baby was born. But I wanted to do it as soon as possible, while I could still devote my full attention to Juliet," says Ealy.
Ealy's desire to do what was best for Juliet meant factoring in the opinions of doctors, not just relying on them to give her answers. During the next two weeks, she learned as much as she could about her daughter's congenital heart condition. She researched hospitals and doctors, got a second opinion–and then a third one when the second doctor, unlike the first, recommended angioplasty.
"Coarctation of the aorta is a narrowing of the aorta, which causes restricted blood flow to the body. Juliet's upper body pressure was too high and her lower body pressure was too low. To compensate for her condition, her body had made collateral blood vessels and her kidneys were working extra hard," explains Ealy. "The surgery, which required a four-day hospital stay, instead of an overnight one for the angioplasty, called for placing clamps on either side of her aorta, removing the constricted section, then stitching the two healthy sections together. The doctors told me both procedures were very safe, but the angioplasty seemed more risky to me–that maybe it would cause an aneurysm."
Then Ealy did a wise thing. She took a break. "I spent a week just playing with my daughter. It really helped me put things in perspective. I realized how lucky my husband and I were that Juliet's condition wasn't an emergency. It gave us the luxury of time. We were also fortunate to live in L.A.–where we had so many top, top surgeons to choose from."
The Ealys decided on the surgery, entrusting Vaughn Starnes, M.D., with the L.A. Children's Hospital to do the 40-minute procedure.
"Juliet could be clingy, at times, but she was a fantastic little patient," remembers Ealy. "On surgery day, they gave her a sedative. Later the nurses took her, and she said, ‘Bye, Mommy. Bye, Daddy.' It wasn't a traumatic parting."
Ealy had prepared her daughter well. They had read books about the hospital and had talked about Juliet's heart. "I told her, ‘There's a little part of you, right near your heart that's crying just a little bit. You're not sick, but your heart has a little problem and it's much better to fix it. You'll have to stay in bed, but not for long. I won't be able to pick you up, but I'll be able to hold your hand and kiss you.'"
Now nearly eight months pregnant, Ealy stayed at the hospital during the day and slept there at night. "L.A. Children's Hospital is a fantastic place. I moved in during those four days," she recalls. "The hospital has about eight to 10 beds near the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. And my husband was in the hospital every evening, reading and singing to Juliet, so I could rest."
After surgery, Juliet had two IVs, one from her neck, the other from her foot. A drainage tube protruded from her chest. Leads were taped to her chest and a blood oxygen meter was taped to her foot. And along her back, just below her scapula, was the three-inch surgical scar.
What helped Ealy stay calm, she says, was seeing the damaged portion of Juliet's aorta, which Dr. Starnes had removed during surgery. "About one centimeter in length, it was filled with a thick, solid material. So instead of having an opening about the diameter of a thick pen, it was smaller than the spoke of a bicycle wheel," recalls Ealy. "It made me 100 percent positive we'd done the right thing."
As for Juliet, her recovery was remarkably quick. The day she came home from the hospital she was jumping around and climbing on furniture. A week later, she no longer needed to take blood pressure medicine. And two weeks later, Juliet was completely healed. That's when her little brother, Kyle, was born. | <urn:uuid:4a3f7b17-2680-4266-ac4d-7d307fadcbb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/CongenitalDefectsChildren&Adults/CongenitalHeartDefectsToolsandResources/Juliets-Story-A-Mom-Tells-the-Story-of-Her-Toddlers-Heart-Surgery_UCM_316802_Article.jsp | 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 | 0.990602 | 1,067 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Hong Kong 23 July, 2012 – The Observatory has issued No. 8 Northeast Gale or Storm Signal at 5.40 pm, as Typhoon Vicente moves closer to the coast of Guangdong. The storm was earlier upgraded to a typhoon after intensifying.
At 7:00 pm, Typhoon Vicente was centered about 160 kilometers south of Hong Kong (near 20.9 degrees north 114.3 degrees east) and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 20 kilometers per hour in the general direction of the coast of western Guangdong.
Vicente continues to move steadily towards the western coast of Guangdong. Local winds are strengthening further generally, with gales over offshore waters and on high ground. On its present forecast track, Vicente will skirt around 150 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong tonight and tomorrow morning. The Gale or Storm Signal No. 8 is expected to remain in force overnight.
In the past hour, the maximum sustained winds recorded at Waglan Island, Sai Kung and Chek Lap Kok were 87, 61 and 45 kilometers er hour,respectively. | <urn:uuid:6985de17-47cf-44d6-8f68-c290d5c429fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hkdigit.net/2012/07/typhoon-vicente-signal-no-8/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955001 | 221 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The unknown future of the Bush tax cuts, estate taxes and the new health care surtax make it wise to plan ahead.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., left, shook hands with Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., after bipartisan House and Senate conferees signed a compromise agreement on the short-term payroll tax cut extension in February.
The Mayans tell us the world will end on Dec. 21 of this year. If for some reason, that doesn't happen, we all may be headed for a different form of Armageddon about a week later if a chain of events in Washington, D.C., is triggered on Jan. 1, 2013.
It's being called the "Fiscal Cliff" and it refers to the pending end to the so-called Bush tax cuts, combined with legislation that drastically cuts federal spending and Medicare payments to doctors, hacking approximately $500 billion out of the U.S. economy.
In addition to the palpable possibility that such draconian legislative measures could fling us back into recession, taxpayers should be paying very close attention to their tax situation this year. This is the year to think about some serious tax planning -- the sort that is significant, both on a federal and state level, but also at times counter to traditional planning advice.
If Congress doesn't act to in some way mitigate the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, income tax rates will increase across all brackets; capital gains rates will increase to 20 percent from 15 percent, and dividends will be taxed as ordinary income rather than more favorable capital gains rates. Plus -- barring an alternate view by the U.S. Supreme Court -- 2013 marks the first year of the new health care "surtax," adding a new tax of 3.8 percent for many taxpayers.
As a result of these changes, the maximum federal tax bracket could jump to 43.4 percent from 35 percent. When combined with Minnesota's top rate, a high-income taxpayer could see a combined federal and state income tax rate in excess of 50 percent.
Both political parties are rallying support to make some changes. But until the November elections are decided, legislative action appears unlikely. The recent trend in politics is to set temporary tax policies, lasting just a few years. Your planning horizon likely extends well beyond the near term. This is especially true if you have money to preserve for future generations.
So what to do?
Accelerate income. If you can draw income, such as bonuses or incentive pay, into 2012 that would otherwise be paid in 2013, do so, and pay the taxes on it. Consider, for example, converting some or all of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This triggers income tax in the current year, but creates retirement funds that grow income tax free from then on. This could make sense for someone expected to remain in a higher tax bracket in the future. The key is to determine an optimal amount to convert today.
Re-evaluate. Consider looking at your current investment holdings and assess the impact of these tax changes. For instance, in a rising tax rate environment, municipal bonds may become more valuable if their taxable counterparts are subject to increased tax rates. If you are looking to save for college, you might take a second look at establishing a 529 college savings plan, which can provide income tax-free growth if used for qualifying education expenses.
Similar to income taxes, the future of estate and gift taxes is in flux. The current estate and gift-tax exemption is $5,120,000. But that is set to revert to $1,000,000 on Jan. 1. This concern has been recognized by political candidates, but again any changes are unlikely to happen until after the November elections.
Other considerations include:
• Don't focus solely on the federal laws. Of concern is the "decoupling" of the federal and state estate exemption amounts. The Minnesota estate tax exemption is currently $1,000,000 per person, significantly less than the federal exemption. Without proper planning, a significant amount of Minnesota estate taxes can be paid even if there's no federal estate tax. It's critically important to have flexible estate documents that recognize these differences. If your estate documents have not been reviewed by your attorney recently, it may be worthwhile to take a look.
• Consider gifts. The current annual gift exclusion is $13,000 per person, which many individuals employ for regular family gifting. If a larger gift is part of your plan, consider making those transfers in 2012 before the current exemption amount expires. A completed gift today removes future appreciation from your estate. Consider making larger gifts through an irrevocable trust which can provide protection to those assets and control in how the assets are ultimately distributed.
• Review asset ownership and titling. Even the best-drafted estate plan can be derailed by improperly titled assets and out-of-date beneficiary designations. IRAs, annuities and life insurance are examples of contracts that flow according to their beneficiary designations, not the carefully drafted language in your wills. Be sure to get your attorney's recommendation on ownership and beneficiaries and make changes where needed.
And, of course, make sure you talk to someone who does this sort of thing for a living -- your attorney or tax adviser, or both. | <urn:uuid:03f0a7ba-c24e-406d-950d-4695ec77e7e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startribune.com/business/158241795.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948954 | 1,081 | 1.585938 | 2 |
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13 The data obtained during the transfer testing are not re- solution, and (3) after an ignition process. The calcium hy- ported as a length, but instead as an average bond stress over droxide exposure (also called a lime dip) will convert sodium the transfer length. This was done to enable comparisons of soaps (e.g., sodium stearates) to insoluble calcium salts. For stress transfer behavior between the tested strand sources, example, water-soluble sodium stearate (a soap or wetting since this approach eliminates complications from strands of agent) is converted to a film of insoluble calcium stearate varying sizes and varying initial stress conditions. The aver- (a wax-like, water repellent that increases the surface energy age bond stress over the transfer length, Ut, is calculated as of the strand). This conversion reaction was chosen to simu- late the reaction of concrete with surface residues of soaps and f se Aps is intended to produce a condition where the effect of similar Ut = (Eq. 1) C p Lt calcium stearate compounds on the contact angle are com- pared, even if the original residue did not result from a calcium where fse is the effective prestress after transfer, Aps is the cross- stearate-based lubricant. The ignition process was performed sectional area of the strand, Cp is the circumferential perimeter on samples to volatilize organic compounds expected to be of the strand (4/3 db) and Lt is the transfer length. Average present in the drawing lubricants. bond stress is thus dependent both on effective prestress as well as transfer length for a given strand geometry. For the Examination under Ultraviolet Light purpose of this calculation, fse was taken as the difference be- tween the stresses in the strand before release and the elastic Certain lubricant additives (e.g., hydrocarbon oils, fluo- losses only. The elastic loss was determined based on the rescein additives, and some inorganic deposits) will fluoresce strain measured immediately after release in the central region under ultraviolet (UV) radiation. An examination under UV of the test prism over which the strain is approximately con- light was conducted using a range of light sources, the most stant, assuming no relaxation losses in the strand. promising of which was a 366-nm wavelength. Proposed Quality Control Test Methods Testing pH The test methods that were proposed and conducted as part Testing of the pH of the surface was attempted with each of the screening and correlation test program are summarized of the strand sources to see if alkalinity of a solution generated in Tables 2 and 3. These tables also list the QC levels for these by placing drops of water on the residue could be linked to tests, if applicable. These test methods consist of (1) surface and bond. Testing of the pH of the surface was conducted using chemical testing, (2) pull-out testing, and (3) transfer length indicator papers, indicator solutions, and a pH meter. testing. Since insufficient lengths of strand were available for pull-out and transfer length testing during the Screening Round Loss on Ignition from the historic sources, these tests were conducted only on the recently manufactured strand. The surface and chemical The weight loss on ignition (LOI) represents the weight of testing program has been conducted on both the historic compounds that can be volatilized or burned off the strand strand samples and on the recently manufactured samples. surface at high temperature. This property was measured with the expectation that the weight lost would consist mainly of the Surface and Chemical Testing organic component of residues, such as drawing lubricants. The surface and chemical test methods that were attempted Loss in Hot Alkali Bath are described briefly. More complete descriptions are given in Appendix B. The weight loss after hot alkali bath (LAB) represents the weight of compounds that can be washed off the strand sur- face in a hot sodium hydroxide solution. As with the LOI test, Contact Angle Measurement this property was measured with the expectation that the The contact angle is a measure of surface tension (wet- weight lost would consist mainly of drawing lubricants. ability). It was anticipated that the presence of drawing lubri- cants would affect this property. The contact angle is measured Change in Corrosion Potential on the projected shadow of a small droplet of distilled water applied to the strand surface. Measurements were taken with Past studies of the corrosion resistance of prestressing strand the strand: (1) in an as-received condition, (2) after immersing in concrete have suggested that strand with a coating of residue the strand sample in a saturated calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2] does not corrode as readily as a clean strand. To assess the
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Table 2. Test methods conducted during screening and correlation testing programs. Condition/Type QC Test Method Property Measured Objective of Test Level As received Detect presence of materials that reduce water surface tension Contact Angle Measurement After Ca(OH)2 dip I Surface energy of strand (Na-based soaps) or increase steel surface energy (Ca-based salts) After ignition Identify lubricant additives such as hydrocarbon oils, some Examination under UV Light - I Presence of fluorescing materials inorganic deposits, or possibly fluorescing-based tracers that may fluoresce under UV light Universal indicator Indicator solutions Detect presence of pretreatment lubricant residues containing pH Testing I pH of surface pH meter alkaline salts or alkalies High-res. indicator Weight of material burned off Determine amount of material that can be oxidized on the Weight Loss on Ignition (LOI) - I strand strand surface at 415°C, expected to be largely organic Method 1 Determine amount of material that can be washed off the strand Weight Loss in Alkali Bath I Weight washed off strand Method 2 surface after soak in a NaOH solution As received After Ca(OH)2 dip Assess the potential for corrosion by comparing the corrosion Change in Corrosion Potential I Average change of potential potential to a reference cell monitored versus time After ignition Surface Roughness - I Roughness parameters Ra, Rz, Pc Quantify surface profile As received Determine the shift in potential of a metal sample from a stable Corrosion Rate After Ca(OH)2 dip II Corrosion current corrosion potential due to an external current After ignition Warm water/acid- Determine amount of individual components of strand chloroform wash Weight of extracted organic Organic Residue Extraction II manufacturing lubricants from a warm/hot water wash Hot water/acid- residue procedure then an acid/solvent-wash procedure chloroform wash Sodium Calcium Atomic Absorption (AA) Potassium Concentrations of inorganic Quantify inorganic elements (sodium, calcium, potassium, zinc, II Spectroscopy Boron components of extraction residue and boron) in residue Zinc Phosphate Maximum bond stress and stress at Mechanically measure stresses required to break bond with Pull Out from Large Concrete Block - II 0.1 in. displacement (or first slip) concrete Pull Out from Portland Cement Maximum bond stress and stress at Mechanically measure stresses required to break bond with - II Mortar 0.1 in. displacement (or first slip) mortar Pull Out from Hydrocal-Based Maximum bond stress and stress at Mechanically measure stresses required to break bond with - II Mortar 0.1 in. displacement (or first slip) Hydrocal-based mortar Length over which the prestress is Directly measure bond performance in prestressed concrete Transfer Length - Analytical transferred to a concrete beam beam
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15 Table 3. Coefficient of determination (R2) Organic Residue Extraction from linear regression with average bond stress over transfer length. The tests for identification and quantification of organic drawing-compound residues were based on solvent extrac- Coefficient of tion procedures, together with gravimetric and Fourier trans- Determination (R2) from Regression form infrared spectroscopical (FTIR) analyses. Essentially, Test Method QC Level with Average Bond the amount of material extracted from a defined length of Stress over Transfer Length strand was determined by weighing the extraction residue on Concrete Pull Out II 0.98 an analytical balance. The material in the extraction residue Mortar Pull Out II 0.85 was then identified by FTIR analysis of the residue. The FTIR Hyrdocal Mortar Pull Out II 0.36 spectrum obtained is like a fingerprint of the material. The extraction procedure used is a modification of a pro- cedure found in ASTM C114 for organic materials in cement. potential for corrosion, the strand samples were placed in Multiple extractions were used to differentiate between various a solution of deionized water, and the corrosion potential forms of drawing-compound residue. The strand was first measured with a reference cell (saturated calomel reference washed with warm or hot water to remove water-soluble electrode), was monitored versus time. This corrosion poten- materials, such as sodium stearate. Then, the strand was ex- tial is determined by the amount of ferrous ions in solution posed to hydrochloric acid and chloroform to extract water- surrounding the sample, and a greater drop in this potential insoluble residues such as calcium stearate and stearic acid. is indicative of a greater tendency to corrode. Measurements At the conclusion of the Screening Round, it was observed were taken with the strand in an as-received condition, after that the water temperature had little effect in most cases, but immersing the strand sample in a saturated Ca(OH)2 solution, that the residue concentrations measured with the warm water and after an ignition process. method seemed to generally correlate better with bond tests. Therefore, only a warm-water wash was used in the Correla- Surface Roughness tion Round. In addition, to minimize the effort spent on per- forming the time-consuming chloroform organic extraction, Microscopic examinations of sectioned portions of wire the wash solutions from the warm water and acid-chloroform taken from strand have indicated that an observable difference washes were combined, and a single separation was performed. in the surface roughness of the good- and poor-bonding strand Therefore, only one FTIR scan and residue weight determi- sources exists. Based on images captured using a scanning elec- nation was made per piece of strand in this round of testing. tron microscope, the depth of the roughened surface features However, this is considered essentially equivalent to the com- is typically 3 µm (0.0001 in.) or less. Trials with a portable bination of sequential warm water and acid-chloroform washes profilometer suitable for a QC setting were conducted to de- performed in the Screening Round. Since quantifying the termine whether these physical measurements could accurately water-soluble materials was still of interest, because it might represent the surface roughness and to investigate the corre- provide insight into possible cleaning methods, separate warm lation with bond performance. water washes were performed on additional pieces of strand. This system works by measuring the deflection of a diamond This wash solution was acidified and saved for elemental probe, with a 2-µm tip radius, as it is dragged 2 mm across the analysis. surface of the sample. Corrosion Rate Atomic Absorption and Colorimetric Analysis To further explore the interaction between strand bond To identify the chemical composition of residual inorganic and corrosion, the instantaneous rate of corrosion of samples components of pretreatment chemicals and drawing com- of strand in a salt solution was measured with a polarization pounds, chemical analyses of the acidified water extract and resistance technique. The polarization resistance technique acid/solvent extract solutions, which had been obtained dur- measures the corrosion current, which quantifies the rate at ing the organic residue extraction procedure and had been which the electrochemical corrosion reaction is occurring. separated from the chloroform, were performed. Either zinc This is a much faster test than the test for change in corrosion phosphate or borax (sodium borate) is often applied to the wire potential, but requires specialized equipment (a potentiostat). before the drawing process begins to help drawing lubricants Measurements were taken with the strand in an as-received stick to the surface of the rod stock. Most common drawing condition, after immersing the strand sample in a saturated lubricants are expected to include stearate salts, particularly Ca(OH)2 solution and after an ignition process. sodium and calcium stearates. The elemental concentrations
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16 of sodium, potassium, calcium, and zinc were determined by end of the strand were monitored throughout testing. To allow atomic absorption spectroscopy. The solutions were also comparison of data among strand of different sizes, the bond scanned for detectable quantities of aluminum during the stress has been calculated from the measured loads based on Screening Round. Colorimetric analyses of the wash solutions the nominal surface area (equal to 4/3 db l, where db is the - for boron and phosphate ( PO3 4 as total phosphate) were per- nominal strand diameter and l is the embedment length) of formed using visible light spectroscopy. the embedded section of the strands. Two characterizations of performance are determined during strand bond pull-out tests. The first characterizes the early part of the bond stress- Pull-Out Testing slip relationship, while the second is based on the maximum The original project scope included the development of a stress measured throughout the test. In concrete pull-out tests performance-based test method for use in evaluating strand performed on historic strand, the early performance was char- bond. As a result, in the initial phases of this study, efforts acterized in terms of the stress at which movement is first vi- were made to develop a procedure for quantifying bond using sually observed at the loaded end of the strand, called the stress a pull-out test conducted on untensioned strand embedded in at "first observed slip" or "first slip." For the tests conducted some material. Two types of pull-out tests have been commonly as part of this experimental program, the stress selected to used to evaluate strand bond. The first method involves characterize the early part of the bond stress-slip relationship pulling untensioned strand out of a block of concrete. The is the bond stress at 0.1-in. slip, measured at the non-loaded second method involves pulling untensioned strand out of a end of the strand. This 0.1-in. slip criterion was adopted to steel cylinder filled with mortar. give a more precisely defined location on the stress-slip curve. In its current form, the concrete pull-out test resembles a method developed by Moustafa (1974). The method was pri- Large Concrete Block Pull-Out Test marily developed to judge the capacity of strand to be used as lifting loops to handle product during shipping and erection. The large concrete block pull-out test (LBPT) involves The test developed by Moustafa was modified by Logan pulling six untensioned strands bonded over 18 in. from a (1997) to judge the bond quality of strand in pretensioned large (2 ft × 2 ft × 2 ft 8 in.) block of concrete. This concrete applications. Further developments of the method have oc- was produced from a conventional mix design used by a pre- curred and are the basis for the testing reported herein. caster, and is produced with a coarse aggregate with Mohs In its current form, the mortar pull-out test method resem- hardness greater than 6.0. The strength of the concrete at the bles a method originally developed for the Post Tensioning time of the test is 3500 to 5900 psi. The test is conducted in Institute in 1994 (Hyett et al. 1994, Post-Tensioning Institute load-rate control with a load rate of 20 kips per minute. The 1996). The method was primarily developed to judge the bond bond stress at 0.1-in. slip and the average maximum bond stress quality of prestressing strand used in rock anchors. The method for each strand tested are reported and averaged. In addition, became the basis of ASTM A981-97 (2002) Standard Test for the concrete pull-out tests conducted as part of this study, Method for Evaluating Bond Strength for 15.2 mm (0.6 in.) Di- the load at which slip at the loaded end was first observed ameter Prestressing Steel Strand, Grade 270, Uncoated, Used in visually also was recorded. This "observed first slip" was Prestressed Ground Anchors (ASTM 2002). Later, this method determined because it relates back to historic pullout data was modified by Russell and Paulsgrove (1999) for NASPA recorded by Logan (1997) and others. and became known as the NASPA test. The NASPA test has been modified slightly by this research project to make it less Mortar Pull-Out Test sensitive to the test apparatus. One of the goals of this project was to try to eliminate vari- In the mortar pull-out test, each prestressing strand is em- ables by using standardized and universally available embed- bedded in 5-in. diameter by 18-in. long steel cylinders filled ment media referred to in the NCHRP Project 10-62 Request with mortar (Portland cement, sand, and water). The top 2 in. for Proposal (RFP) as a "surrogate homogeneous material." of the embedded portion of the strand is debonded, leaving Accordingly, a third type of pull-out test was attempted: 16 in. of strand in contact with the mortar. Six cylinders are pulling untensioned strand out of a steel pipe filled with a tested for each source of strand. The mortar is produced with modified gypsum plaster (Hydrocal). a Type III cement-to-sand ratio equal to 2:1 by weight, and The three types of pull-out tests were performed on the three the required mortar strength at time of the test is 3500 to sources of strand at KSU in March and May of 2005. Each of 5000 psi. The bond stress at 0.1-in. slip and the average these test procedures and their results are described briefly maximum bond stress for each strand tested are reported below. More complete descriptions are given in Appendix B. and averaged. In each of these methods, the load applied to pull out the The test was conducted in load-rate control with a load rate strand and the movement (or slip) of the non-loaded (free) of 5 kips per minute, which was reportedly similar to the rates | <urn:uuid:9f05d881-53e9-41b2-af2d-dd821c73c802> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=14206&page=13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946563 | 4,006 | 1.828125 | 2 |
ROME -- Italian fashion designer Fernanda Gattinoni, whose elaborate creations were worn by such screen stars as Audrey Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman, died Tuesday. She was 95.
Gattinoni died at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital, her fashion house said.
Despite her age, Gattinoni was still actively involved in fashion. She was working at her atelier's headquarters near Rome's Via Veneto on Monday night when she became ill and was taken to the hospital.
Gattinoni made her name as a jet-set fashion designer during Rome's cinema boom in the 1950s and 1960s. In those years, she also excelled as a film costume designer, creating, among other things, Audrey Hepburn's attire in the 1956 movie ''War and Peace.''
Born in Italy's northern Lombardy region, Gattinoni left for London at 17 to work at the Molineaux fashion house. Turning down an offer to work for famed French designer Coco Chanel in Paris in the late 1920s, she returned to Italy, where she went on to design haute couture under her own label.
A funeral was scheduled today in Rome, the fashion house said. There were no survivors.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, November 27, 2002.
Athens Banner-Herald ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:1d23e0d7-ebc4-4a2c-b322-1e08add800cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://onlineathens.com/stories/112702/fea_20021127007.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984515 | 290 | 1.726563 | 2 |
You partnered on a project with your client contact, usually a market researcher or product manager (or both) who was seeking market insights to grow or improve his or her brand, or help roll out something new. The stakes were high -- narrowing to the right decision on how to invest in the brand. The work was hard and the study had to be done right. You didn't dare talk about these projects to anyone, even family to secure knowledge that competing brands wanted to know.
Our company's business model evolved to advise B2B vs. B2C customer strategy but the brands my colleagues and I worked with thirty or so years ago are still around. Some of those are in the image to the right. Until speaking to an industry group last week, I had forgotten what tremendous companies these were.
And the main reason why these company brands have stood the test of time? The voice of the customer was sought out scientifically to anchor major product decisions -- on likes/dislikes, what outcomes the buyers were looking for and experiencing. The companies to the right, and many fast-moving consumer goods companies in the 20th century were customer focused... before it was popular. | <urn:uuid:83baf1f7-f4fc-4e43-b824-c1278af252e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.walkerinfo.com/blog/relationship-management/still-customer-crazy-after-all-these-years | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987874 | 238 | 1.75 | 2 |
Home made marmalade2012-08-18
- Prep Time : 0m
- Cook Time : 0m
- Ready In : 0m
Greek mothers as always cannot leave their children no matter how old they are (30 going to 31) and for them they will always be 7 and in need for mothers care. I am sure that all of you have seen the movie “My big fat Greek wedding” so I don’t need to explain anything more.
My mother is more or less the same, even if I am 9 years in UK she still tries to find an opportunity to send me something that I can eat… Lately after a lot of fights she has settled in sending just Jam’s, lots of them.
Even if still I have to admit I don’t eat much of them in the morning (my brother does) they are really nice and tasty. I always remember her fighting with my father whether it’s better to melt the fruits to create marmalades or eat them as they are. Anyhow, I have received any possible jam that I could imagine from any possible fruit that exists. Whatever my mom could find…she WILL make marmalade out of it…pack it…and send it to London.
So why not break down the recipe from my mother’s marmalade. I don’t think its anything that most of the people don’t know but it was and still is a basic thing of my Menu…
- 1 kilo of apples
- Lemon juice from ½ lemon
- 1 cinnamon stick
Wash the apples,clean the skins, cut them and remove the center with the seeds. Cut them in really small cubes.
Then put the apples in a bowl and let them boil until they become soft enough and in small pieces. When they are soft enough add the sugar and the cinnamon stick and continue boiling them, stirring them from time to time.
Towards the end add the lemon juice. Ideally after some time of boiling you will start to realize your marmalade being thick enough and ready.In order to store your marmalade you should beforehand take some jars and put them into the oven where you should heat them for 15 minutes. Remove them while they are hot and be careful not to burn ourselves.
Add the marmalade while it is still how to the jars and leave them upside down to cool down. You can store them for months, and only put them to the fridge when you open them. | <urn:uuid:1bba76c5-5497-42e5-94d3-e41e1525b201> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thegreekfood.com/recipe/home-made-marmalade/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964196 | 520 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Boeing teams with College of Business Administration for Boeing New Business Challenge
The Boeing Company is teaming with the College of Business Administration at UAHuntsville to give undergraduate students an opportunity to plan the launch of a new business. Teams will compete for $10,000 in scholarships winnings that can be used for undergraduate or graduate study at UAHuntsville.
“The ability to transform product, service and technology ideas into viable business concepts is essential in today’s aerospace and defense marketplace. We are pleased with the innovative approach UAHuntsville is taking with this new program and look forward to a strong competition.”
Daniel Olberding, Director of Engineering for The Boeing Company’s Huntsville Operation.
The Boeing New Business Challenge has been launched with an official announcement to all students. Interested students will form teams, develop a new business concept, and present it at a poster session in November. Judges and mentors will critique the ideas, provide feedback, and extend invitations to teams for the second phase of competition in the spring. Student teams will continue to work on their business ideas with coaching and assistance from faculty and mentors. In April, students will pitch their business plans and compete for the scholarship winnings.
There are entrepreneurship classes and senior design courses taking place on campus during the fall and spring, but all undergraduate students are eligible to compete. Students outside of the business school may take a spring course titled Entrepreneurship for Non Business Majors and focus their project efforts on their new venture idea.
“This business plan competition will be great for our students. There is a lot of entrepreneurial energy on campus and students enjoy a competition.”
Quote from Caron St. John, Dean, College of Business Administration.
BOEING NEW BUSINSS CHALLENGE
Here's How to Get Started
Poster Presentation is November 30th at 3:00 p.m. in the Business Administration Atrium
Stage One: CONCEPT Feasibility (Screening) Criteria
Students from across campus are invited to prepare a two-page (poster) executive summary of their business concept that provides the basic reasoning about their new business opportunity.
Is there a market opportunity?
- An unmet or poorly served need?
- A customer group that is willing to pay?
- Of sufficient size to warrant entry?
- With limited or weak competition?
- And reasonable profit prospects?
Is the invention, design, product or business concept able to serve this need and market?
- Is it unique or different from competition?
- Is it technologically feasible (e.g., not purely imaginative)?
- Is it economically feasible? (e.g., no prohibitive start-up costs)?
- Is entry feasible (e.g., not blocked by regulation or need for unique credentials)?
Those proposals that meet the screening thresholds are invited to make a full business plan submission. Students are encouraged but not required to register for the New Venture Challenge class.
Business Plan Presentation (Date to be announced)
Stage Two: Boeing New Business Award (Selection) Criteria
Student will be encouraged to get assistance with the preparation of these new venture plan documents – through a class or any other mechanism. In using these categories as selection criteria, we will focus on the quality and completeness of the analysis and conclusions.
- Customer: Who is the customer?
- Value Proposition: Why will the customer buy? What is the need served for customers?
- Market: What is the size of the market? Is it growing? What is driving growth (why is it expected to grow)? Is the market accessible?
- Product or Service: What is the specific product or service to be offered? How does the product/service compare to the products/services offered by competing firms?
- Competition: Who are the competitors? (Consider companies that produce a similar product/service and those that produce a different product or service that fulfills the same customer need). What are the size, market shares, capabilities, and strategies of competitors? How do companies compete with each other? Is competition intense or complacent? What is the likely response of competitors to a new entrant?
- Growth and Profit Potential: What are the conclusions about the attractiveness of the opportunity? The growth prospects? The profit potential? The ability to enter without capitalizing all profits?
II. Strategy and Advantage
- Mission/Vision: What will your company do, how, for whom, and why will they buy? What do you want your company to be in five years?
- Product/Service Difference: Will customers seek out your product/service preferentially? Why?
- Competitive Advantage: Is it possible to attain and hold a strong position in the marketplace? To block imitators? (Intellectual property, etc.)
- Entry Strategy: What is your approach for initially entering the market? How will you secure your first customer? What relationships must be in place for that to happen?
- Risks: What are the risks? What are the assumptions that must be realized for this to work?
III. Plan Execution
- Execution is the most detailed section of the New Venture Plan and translates a business concept into actions needed to be successful. To accomplish market entry, what is needed? Students should explain what needs to be done, by whom, at what cost, over the first month, first year, then second year. They should illustrate the tasks, staffing needs, and financial commitments in a timeline.
- Product Development (design, prototype test, pilot test)
- Marketing (market research, sales, marketing, channel management)
- Operations (method by which product or service will be created/delivered to customer, make or contract, supplier arrangements, quality standards, etc.)
- Human capital (the essential people needed, how you will bring them onboard, how you will reward them for their efforts)
- Regulatory requirements
- Financial requirements (start-up costs, working capital, cash flow issues, profit projections.
IV. Final Evaluation (for score)
Venture Concept (50%)
- Creativity/uniqueness of the product/service concept
- Probability of technical success
- Probability of market success
- Probability of financial success
Venture Plan (50%)
- Thorough coverage of all important topics
- High level of analysis and insight throughout
- Professionally delivered presentation
- Well-structured and written documents
- Hits: 1020 | <urn:uuid:41c14911-63e1-4b45-a949-e46a48eb9440> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uah.edu/cba/120-main/business-administration/news/4434-boeing-new-business-challenge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935306 | 1,340 | 1.546875 | 2 |
I'm taking my first steps in the language of stacks, and would like something cleared up. The intuitive idea of moduli spaces is that each point corresponds to an object of what we're trying to classify (smooth curves of genus g over ℂ, for example). Fine moduli spaces are defined to be the objects that represent the functor that takes an object and gives you the [set, for schemes; groupoid, as I understand it, for stacks] of ways that that object parametrizes families of the object we want to classify. Now, for schemes - this makes sense in the following way:
Let that functor be F, and let it be represented by M. Then F(Spec ℂ) are the families of (desired) objects parametrized by Spec ℂ (a point), so it corresponds to all desired objects (the ones we want to classify). But F(Spec ℂ) is also Hom(Spec ℂ, M), and so corresponds to the closed points of M. Thus M really does, intuitively, have as points the objects it wishes to classify.
Does this idea go through to moduli stacks? Of course, it probably does, and this is all probably trivial - but I feel like I need someone to assure me that I'm not crazy. So let me put the question like this: Can you formulate how to think of a fine moduli stack (as an object that represents an F as above; also: how would you define this F in the category of stacks?) in a way that makes it clear that it parametrizes the desired objects? | <urn:uuid:27c95249-8ec1-475b-9b43-02bb4be0fef6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathoverflow.net/questions/15202?sort=votes | 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 | 0.954319 | 339 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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