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Anti-Coal Protesters Take Message To Top Oregon Officials
Originally published on Mon April 9, 2012 2:12 pm
SALEM, Ore. – Environmental groups are mobilizing against proposals to export coal through Northwest terminals. Protesters rallied outside a land use meeting in Salem Monday. They're asking Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber to block permits for several coal terminals.
There are about a half-dozen proposals to bring coal mined in Wyoming and elsewhere to Northwest ports to be shipped to Asia. Some of the coal would be brought through the Columbia River gorge by train or barge.
Critics say the coal-laden trains would spew dust and block traffic. And environmental groups oppose the use of coal as an energy source regardless of where and how it's shipped.
"It's just craziness," says Andy Harris, He is with the group Physicians for Social Responsibility.
"We have no business moving backwards to export coal when we should be moving forward to export sustainable, clean energy sources," he says.
The protesters delivered about 7,000 signatures to Governor Kitzhaber, who spoke briefly with them after the meeting. The governor has said any coal terminals should "have to obey all state and federal laws to protect public health and the environment.”
On the Web:
“Desperate” To Export: A Coal Industry Close-Up: http://ecotrope.opb.org/2012/04/desperate-to-export-a-coal-industry-close-up/
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network | <urn:uuid:63c0b84e-0e1f-4411-b805-a4b60f2781ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kplu.org/post/anti-coal-protesters-take-message-top-oregon-officials | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933256 | 329 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Posted by Jennifer Belissent, Ph.D. on April 12, 2011
Twenty three years ago I arrived with a backpack and my best friend. Last week I went back. The city was as welcoming this time as it was the last, although the circumstances of my visit – and certainly my accommodations – were vastly different.
Pamplona is a city of about 200,000 inhabitants in Navarra, in the North of Spain. It is best known for the running of the bulls or, as it is known locally, the Festival of San Fermin, which many of us were first introduced to in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
The bulls were not what brought me to the region this time (although they were the principal reason for my first visit). Last week I participated in e-NATECH, a tech industry forum organized by ATANA, an association of local ICT companies in Navarra. From what I saw in both the audience and across the city, Pamplona is clearly a front-runner in terms of ICT (and bulls as I recall from my first visit).
The city, as described by Councilman José Iribas Sánchez de Boado, is focused on innovation, a big part of which is technology-based – from free Wi-Fi in the city center, including 21 hotspots in bus stations, public parks, and the main square, to pneumatic garbage repositories throughout the old town (see photo) to a paperless administration (or almost) and an e-government and Web 2.0 strategy, including (of course) the city website, as well as a Facebook page and presence on Twitter. These new channels expand the “The Council Listens” service or Citizens’ Information Services, similar to the US 311 services. While social media expand access to younger generations, they also serve as cheaper channels to citizens than some of the alternatives such as Pamplona’s new “registrars” or town hall extensions across the city.
The city offers a number of services via SMS such as emergency notifications by neighborhood and notification prior to the towing of your vehicle (presumably with time to react before incurring the expense of recovering your car from a city lot). The latter seems to be particularly useful and potentially lucrative if the city chooses to charge for the service.
Crosswalk signs throughout the city count down time until crossing is safe. And, the city is implementing public transportation arrival prediction, and a program in which downtown residents can sublet their parking spaces during the day when they are empty and there is need for parking in the center.
But financial times are not great. How do they fund these initiatives?
Given the state of the Spanish finances and pressures on government budgets at all levels, how has the city undertaken these new initiatives? How are they able to invest in new technology infrastructure and applications? As discussed in my report “Getting Clever About Smart Cities,” there are a number of creative business models that enable tech adoption. Pamplona has been rather entrepreneurial and has leveraged several of them: external funding, revenue sharing and concessions to vendors/developers, and shared services.
External funding. The Region of Navarra received Structural Funds from the EU as part of a regional development program. With the funds the region has focused on:
- Restoring the basis for competitiveness.
- Strengthening potential for growth and productivity.
- Strengthening social cohesion through research, innovation, and the development of its human resources.
Many of the Pamplona initiatives have been showcase projects.
Revenue sharing. The city has also been creative in revenue sharing, giving concessions to developers of parking and other infrastructure projects throughout the city. These agreements alleviate upfront capital costs and share risk across stakeholders in a project.
Shared services. Here Pamplona is certainly out in front. Back in 1985 the cities of Pamplona and Lodosa founded ANIMSA, the Navarra Association for Municipal Information Technology, as a shared services provider. The association has grown to provide shared ICT infrastructure and applications across municipalities in the region, with about 130 cities currently participating – sharing the costs of technology adoption and ongoing operations and maintenance. Shared services include: purchasing management, technology infrastructure management, organizational and process consulting in support of new projects, various technology solutions for e-Government including web projects, as well as user support and training, and a center for remote services. ANIMSA is currently also implementing a cloud computing capability. And, while always subject to competitive procurement processes, it is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. So join me in wishing a happy anniversary to shared services in Pamplona.
I’d like to thank all involved in organizing my visit to Pamplona including the ATANA and the City of Pamplona.
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Wealth-X, the research outfit that keeps its eye on the doings of the ultra wealthy, has come up with a list of the next 20 mega donors “based on their efforts to emulate forebears of modern major giving, such as Carnegie and Rockefeller.”
Four of these emerging mega philanthropists are Americans, while seven come from India and China. During the past three years, they have contributed a total of $250 million, Wealth-X said.
These donors were focused on causes related to higher education, followed by health and social programs and support for the humanities. Fifty-six percent of Asian emerging mega donors and 55% of the top 20 donors gave to educational causes.
Forty-five percent of the elite donors are from Asia. They gave on average a larger proportion of their income to philanthropy than the average American.
Wealth-X said mega donors prefer “organized philanthropy,” and many are actively involved in causes they fund.
Following are the Top 20 New Mega Donors in order of percentage of wealth donated:
(Solomon Lew, No. 18, of Australia and his wife, Rosie. Photo: AP)
India: Indu Jain, 77, has a net worth of $2.2 billion, amassed in the media sector. She contributes 0.01% of her wealth to higher education.
Greece: Philip Niarchos, 58, has a net worth of $2.6 billion. The investor donates 0.02% of his fortune to education and humanitarian aid.
Australia: Solomon Lew (above), 67, has a net worth of $1.2 billion made in retail and distribution. His philanthropic focus is arts, culture and the humanities to which he contributes 0.02% of his wealth.
China: Xiangjian He, 70, made his $5.9 billion fortune in manufacturing. He donates 0.04% to humanitarian aid.
(Image of India's Dr. Kallam Anji Reedy, No. 14, from his corporate website.)
Sweden: Hans Anders Rausing, 86, has a net worth of $10 billion made in the packaging sector. He directs 0.08% of his wealth to health issues and his foundation.
Taiwan: Wan Tsai Tsai, 83, has a net worth of $4.7 billion amassed in the financial services sector. He contributes 0.13% of his fortune to higher education.
India: Kallam Anji Reddy (above), 72, made his $1 billion fortune in pharmaceuticals. He gives away 0.27% of it to health-related causes.
Brazil: Aloysio de Andrade Faria, 91, has a net worth of $4 billion from the financial services sector. He donates 0.33% to health-related causes.
(No. 12 Bruce Kovner of the U.S.. Photo: AP)
U.S.: Bruce Stanley Kovner (above), 67, has a net worth of $3.5 billion. The hedge fund manager gives away 0.57% to higher education.
U.S.: Adolph Alfred Taubman, 88, made his $2.5 billion fortune in real estate. His philanthropy focuses on higher education to which he contributes 0.6% of his wealth.
China: Ka Yan Hui, 54, has a net worth of $5.6 billion made in real estate. He donates 0.68% to public, social benefit and higher education.
China: Dongsheng Chen, 55, amassed $2.2 billion in the insurance sector. His charitable focus is higher education to which he donates 0.79% of his wealth.
(No. 6 Tom Golisano of the U.S. holds a $5 million check annoucing the
formation of his New York PAC in 2008. Photo: AP)
Canada: N. Murray Edwards, 53, has a net worth of $1.4 billion from the oil and gas sector. He gives away 0.86% to education and health causes.
Singapore: Peter Eng Hock Lim, 59, has a net worth of $1.8 billion from investments. His charitable-giving focus is public, social benefit, youth and education to which he contributes 0.86% of his fortune.
U.S.: Blase Thomas Golisano (above), 71, has a net worth of $1.4 billion from payroll outsourcing. He gives away 1% to health causes.
China: Jianlin Wang, 58, amassed $10.7 billion in hotels and real estate. His philanthropic focus is arts, culture and humanities to which he contributes 1.7% of his fortune.
(No. 3 Terry Pegula of the U.S., after his purchase of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres
in 2011 from Tom Golisano, who is No. 6 on this list. Photo: AP)
Ukraine: Gennady Borisovich Bogolyubov, 50, has a net worth of $2.6 billion. The banker donates 2.9% to arts, culture, humanities and humanitarian aid.
U.S.: Terrence Pegula (above), 61, amassed $3.3 billion in the oil and gas sector. He gives 3.03% of his wealth to higher education.
Germany: Hans-Werner Hector, 72, has a net worth of $1.8 billion from the software sector. He gives away 3.5% to arts, culture, humanities and higher education.
China: Wenzai Huang, 59, has a net worth of $1 billion, made in real estate. His philanthropy focuses on public and social benefit to which he contributes 6% of his fortune.
Check out more Top 10 lists at AdvisorOne: | <urn:uuid:47f1c55e-efac-4e40-9ffa-b2948404ac25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advisorone.com/2012/10/08/top-20-new-mega-donors?t=philanthropy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959869 | 1,215 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Jennifer Tyrrell, shown with her 7-year-old son, Cruz, wrote a petition… (Bebeto Matthews, Associated…)
For decades, the Boy Scouts of America has weathered anger, petitions and lawsuits over a long-standing policy that bans gay Scouts and troop leaders.
But the dissent that erupted this week is different. It's coming from a group that's exclusively its own.
A group of Eagle Scouts has banded together to form Scouts for Equality, a group aimed at challenging the century-old policy.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, June 10, 2012 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 News Desk 2 inches; 87 words Type of Material: Correction
Boy Scouts: An article in the June 9 Section A about a Boy Scout policy that bans gay troop leaders and scouts said the group's national executive council would vote next May on a resolution to change the policy. The council will receive a report on the resolution by May, but a vote may or may not be held at that time. The article also said that the resolution was prompted by a petition drive against the ban. The resolution was crafted before the petition was launched.
Its formation comes on the heels of an announcement from Boy Scout top brass: They will examine a recent resolution that would reverse the policy. But group leaders also say the resolution probably won't pass.
"We are not making a social commentary," Boy Scouts spokesman Daron Smith said. "We do not believe that the issue of same-sex attraction should be discussed in our youth program. That right belongs to families."
Scouts for Equality is not the first group to fight the rule, but it is the first composed entirely of Eagle Scouts, the highest honor a Boy Scout can attain.
The group's co-founder is Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout from Iowa with lesbian mothers. His emotional speech before state lawmakers who were debating same-sex marriage went viral last year.
"Eagle Scouts are very connected to each other -- we're a fraternity in many ways," Wahls said. "We're providing a sounding board for the scouting community, where we can assess our support and mobilize people to end the policy."
Wahls also helped spearhead a petition calling on the Boy Scouts to end the ban. The petition began when Ohio mother Jennifer Tyrrell was fired from her volunteer Cub Scout leader position in April because she is a lesbian.
Tyrrell had not discussed her sexuality with her Tiger Scout troop, she said, because discussions related to sex are not part of the scouting mission. Some children had asked Tyrrell why her partner was a woman. She simply answered that their son, Cruz, had two moms.
"All they knew was that I was den leader Jen, not gay den leader Jen," Tyrrell said. "Children don't know discrimination until they're taught."
Tyrrell wrote the petition on change.org, and a month later, Wahls delivered nearly 300,000 signatures to Boy Scout executives at their annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
The change.org petition also spurred an anonymous writer to submit the proposed resolution, which would allow local troops to choose whether to admit gay troop leaders and Scouts.
A subcommittee will review and analyze the proposal. The organization's executives will vote next May.
Should the resolution fail to pass, Tyrrell, Wahl and other supporters plan to file a lawsuit.
Smith said the resolution is one of several the organization has seen since 2000, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Boy Scouts in a lawsuit brought by a fired troop leader who had been outed. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the Boy Scouts have a right to exclude gay leaders because opposing homosexuality is part of the group's "expressive message."
"This is an important social discussion," Smith said. "There have been a lot of people who disagree with this policy. But they just don't see that Boy Scouts is a place to reconcile divergent opinions in society."
The Boy Scouts have seen support from a number of organizations and nonprofits, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the conservative American Civil Rights Union.
Other organizations that have tried to change the policy include Scouting for All, a San Diego-based organization run by former Scout Howard Menzer.
Menzer quit around the time of the Supreme Court ruling after 54 years as an Eagle Scout, troop leader and district volunteer, saying he could not tolerate any more discrimination against children.
"Groups appear, and make some noise, and then they disappear," Menzer said. "You can't know until you start trying to change something how hard it's going to be."
He has organized pickets and circulated petitions against the policy for nearly 15 years.
He says he wishes Scouts for Equality well, but isn't optimistic that its efforts will be different.
Menzer said he couldn't pay dues to an organization with which he did not agree. Wahls remains active as an Eagle Scout, and says he hopes to create change from the inside. | <urn:uuid:d8e1c12e-ffe6-4431-bbda-d973c8c80d66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/09/nation/la-na-boy-scouts-20120609 | 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 | 0.976596 | 1,036 | 1.625 | 2 |
City officials in New Orleans have a new tool to keep track of empty homes.
The tool will give neighbors a window on the fight against blight.
Neighbors in the St. Roch area said they're tired of seeing structures in disrepair, overgrown yards and damaged roofs in their neighborhood.
City officials said it's a top priority for Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration, and information on blight is now just a click away.
"This website is an unprecedented resource (to) learn more about the blight process," Landrieu said.
The blight status work tool allows someone to enter an address, a street or look at a map to search for blighted properties and see what's being done to remedy the problem.
The website was created in partnership with Code for America with one goal in mind.
"To make city governments more open, more efficient and better engage them with their citizens," Code for America representative Amir Reavis-Bey said.
"This is what innovation and change looks like," Deputy Mayor Andy Kopplin said. "You called on us to fight blight, and we organized ourselves around doing it."
The Landrieu administration has committed to removing 10,000 blighted or vacant properties in four years. Landrieu said 8,000 have been torn down so far, but there is still a long way to go. | <urn:uuid:9d1100dc-4106-444c-a0b2-5033c71867df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/New-Orleans-gets-high-tech-tool-to-track-blight/-/9853400/16955448/-/item/0/-/2t926i/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966074 | 279 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Ask most exercisers what they would like to change most about the way they look, and dollars to doughnuts they'll say they want better abs.
Men and women alike strive for that tight, toned set of abs that could be put on display at the Smithsonian Institution. The fitness product industry makes billions of dollars producing the next great "ab-worker" thing that, as usual, overpromises and under delivers.
Many popular "fitness celebrities" sell out their integrity to promote an ineffective technology that they know won't get you any closer to six-pack abs.
It takes hard work and disciplined eating to get that chiseled six pack, but if you use these four tips, I promise you that you will begin to have tighter, stronger abs in no time.
Ditch the sit-ups
Doing full sit-ups can cause neck damage, lower back injuries and shortened ab muscles. None of this is good.
Unless you are an elite level athlete in supreme condition, take the sit-up completely out of your exercise list.
Stick with crunch and plank variations.
For best results, do crunches and planks variations performed on a stability ball.
Rotational movements are some of the most neglected in most peoples fitness programs. You will rotate a lot more often than you'll perform a crunch-type movement, you why aren't you doing it in the gym?
Rotation movements activate a ton of core muscles, which translates into a powerful set of abdominal and back muscles.
Give 'em a rest
Whuppin up on your abs on a daily basis won't get you any closer to a six-pack than only training your abs two or three times a week.
The muscles in your core need the same amount of rest between workouts that other muscle groups do.
A 24- to 48-hour rest between workouts is ideal for muscle recovery. You'll actually give your abs a chance to rest up and come back stronger next time.
Work the "B" side
Don't overdo the ab work and neglect your lower back. Get out of balance, and you'll pay for it with injuries.
Trust me, a back injury is the last thing you want on your path to better abs.
Developing a strong lower back actually helps pull your abs in, giving you the appearance of flatter abs.
These four tips are a great foundation for some solid ab training.
Getting a nice set af tight, toned abdominal muscles is a marathon, not a sprint, so do it right.
Chad Smith is a Hagerstown personal trainer, and FTNS Radio personality. Visit his blog: www.hometeamfitnessblog.com for more of the "Fitness Answer Man."
Looking for something to do this weekend? Find what you need in our Weekend Entertainment Guide newsletter. | <urn:uuid:36abee61-3a22-4df6-a8a5-5b87040b7e43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.herald-mail.com/lifestyle/hm-four-tips-for-better-abs-20110902,0,611748.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944884 | 588 | 1.539063 | 2 |
GUATEMALAN WEATHERby SurfinGuatemala.com
Wind On the beach most of the time wind is off shore from 5:00 am to 10:00, after that the onshore wind is going to start blowing. In the afternoons wind tends to settle down.
Water Temp Water temperature is amazing, 64F to 74F or 19C to 28C all year round. You just need you’re board shorts also water its very clear during summer time. Don’t forget to bring your mask and snorkel. During raining season water gets mixed with the rivers but remains clean and warm.
Rain Usually rains 6 months starting on May to October. At the Beach most of the rain it’s at night and occasionally during the day. From September to November we have off shore storms that will make you smile and have and extra surf session.
Weather Guatemala has some of the nicest weather in the world. Trends from 65 F to 78 F all year. At the beach it’s warmer, especially in summer time. | <urn:uuid:1cfecba4-fd1c-434e-b599-f3ec139d64bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surfinguatemala.com/weather.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960195 | 221 | 1.539063 | 2 |
KABUL (Reuters) - A decision on immunity for U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan after the 2014 planned withdrawal will be made by the end of the year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday.
"The issue of immunity is under discussion (and) it is going to take eight to nine months before we reach agreement," Karzai told a news conference in the capital, Kabul, after returning from meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.
The Afghan government rejected an initial U.S. proposal regarding the question of immunity and a second round of negotiations will take place this year in Kabul, he said.
Those negotiations could involve Afghanistan's Loya Jirga, a "grand assembly" of political and community leaders convened for issues of national importance, he added.
When asked if security would deteriorate in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the NATO-led force, Karzai replied: "By no means... Afghanistan will be more secure and a better place."
The Obama administration has been considering a residual force of between 3,000 and 9,000 troops in Afghanistan to conduct counterterrorism operations while providing training and assistance for Afghan forces. But the administration said last week it did not rule out a complete withdrawal after 2014.
The United States is insisting on immunity from prosecution for any U.S. troops that remain.
(Reporting By Hamid Shalizi, writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman and Dylan Welch; Editng by Robert Birsel) | <urn:uuid:1edff124-384d-4f62-bee5-a05bead5a97c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whtc.com/news/articles/2013/jan/14/immunity-for-us-troops-in-afghanistan-to-be-decided-by-year-end/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949406 | 306 | 1.703125 | 2 |
When it comes to getting promotions, pursuing career advancement or making a great impression, being the silent worker bee oftentimes won’t cut it. One has to stand out among the pack to be noticed and rewarded.
Inc.com offers six habits of memorable employees who do just that, allowing their talents to shine and actively going for what they believe they deserve in the workplace.
Don’t see. Do.: Can you speak intelligently about how clothing provides a window into the inner lives of Mad Men characters? Do you find yourself arguing about how the degree of depth lost in the Game of Thrones TV series as compared to the books?
Anyone can share opinions about movies or TV or even (I’ll grudgingly admit) books. That’s why opinions are quickly forgotten. What you say isn’t interesting; what you do is interesting.
Spend your life doing instead of watching. Cool things will happen. Cool things are a lot more interesting and a lot more memorable.
That’s especially true when you…
Do something unusual: Draw a circle and put all your “stuff” in it. Your circle will look a lot like everyone else’s: Everyone works, everyone has a family, everyone has homes and cars and clothes….
We like to think we’re unique, but roughly speaking we’re all the same, and similar isn’t memorable.
So occasionally do something different. Backpack to the next town just to see how many people stop to offer you a ride. (Don’t take them up on it, though. Unless you appear to be in distress, the people who want to give you a ride are the last people you want to ride with.) Try to hike/scramble to the top of a nearby mountain no one climbs. (Trust me; take water.) Compete with your daughter to see who can swim the most laps in three hours. (If you live in my house you’ll lose. Badly.)
Or work from a coffee shop one day just to see what you learn about other people… and about yourself.
Whatever you do, the less productive and sensible it is, the better. Your goal isn’t to accomplish something worthwhile; the goal is to collect experiences.
Experiences, especially unusual experiences, make your life a lot richer and way more interesting. You can even… | <urn:uuid:f02593d3-71ca-4bd9-bf9a-4cd27d1bed98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/6-habits-of-memorable-employees/ | 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 | 0.944339 | 500 | 1.65625 | 2 |
| When I run quote themes, I prefer them to be funny. If they aren't, then I
think they need to be especially poignant or clever. Compared to conventional themes with several different theme answers, a quote theme gives the solver only one big thing to discover in the puzzle--the "Aha," as Will Shortz calls it. We want to be sure solvers aren't let down by that lone "Aha."
I believe that quotes shouldn't be altered to fit the grid, because even the slightest alteration makes them nonquotes. Thus, you need to find a quote that fits symmetrically without any tweaking. You can't change THERE'S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE to THERE ARE SUCKERS BORN EVERY MINUTE just to get a balanced grid out of it.
If the quote author is famous, it's a nice touch to work his/her name into the grid--also symmetrically, if possible, though that's not essential.
Last but not least, verify the exact quote in several reliable sources. It's startling how many inaccurate quotes there are on the Web. | <urn:uuid:360d9498-42d5-40e9-8fd1-56eb2a2de1ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cruciverb.com/index.php/articles/htmlpages/index.php?action=ezportal;sa=page;p=50 | 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 | 0.951003 | 233 | 1.546875 | 2 |
By Laurie Burkitt
With Chinese contemporary art continuing to command record prices at auction, global auction houses are looking to sell other forms of creativity from the country, from jewelry to furniture.
In its first ever international exhibit featuring China’s young emerging talent, Sotheby’s London is currently showing 21 works—including furniture and ceramics, jewelry and photography– made by designers from the School of Design of Beijing’s China Central Academy of Fine Arts. The London selling show, called “Unfolding Landscape,” gives a glimpse of how a younger generation of Chinese craftsmen interpret the country’s modern era and its traditional history, said Sotheby’s Asia chairman Patti Wong.
The auction house tapped influential British design curator Janice Blackburn to spot China’s rising talent, in the hopes that the exhibition will whet the appetite for new Chinese voices and stimulate market demand. Ms. Blackburn is known as the global tastemaker who spotted Olympic torch designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, and whose past shows have boosted emerging designers from Israel and the Netherlands.
The talent pool from China is still small, said Ms. Blackburn, adding that it has potential to grow as people uncover some of the work.
She pointed to a piece in the exhibition called “My Recycling,” whose designer Kong Fanfan created a collaged traditional gown out of compact discs and their cases, and to artist Huo Yijin’s “Colorful Tea Tray,” which is made of a temperature-sensitive coating that changes colors with the touch of a hot teapot or cup. While a tea tray may be nothing new in China, Ms. Blackburn said the materials being used—lacquer, resin and flowers—are unlike any she has seen emerging now from other parts of the world.
“Most Chinese perspectives have yet to be explored,” she noted.
Sotheby’s Ms. Wong said the company is not only looking to build demand for Chinese designers overseas, but also back home. Chinese collectors have elevated China to become the world’s largest art market, ahead of the U.S., which ranks as No. 2 according to 2012 data from the European Fine Art Foundation.
Lately, Chinese consumers have taken more of an interest in functional art such as furniture, according to Ms. Wong. The London show includes artist designer Gui Ying’s “Freeze,” a carved wooden chair bolstered with colored resin, which takes aim at this budding interest.
Ms. Wong said that tastes in China are evolving quickly, as are artists’ ingenuity. “This is really only the beginning of what we’ll see being born from contemporary Chinese creativity,” she said.
“Unfolding Landscape” is on show at Sotheby’s London through Nov. 8 | <urn:uuid:14f3bc3f-1984-4744-a9ae-680280b57a08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/11/06/sothebys-london-spotlights-chinese-design/ | 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 | 0.959407 | 604 | 1.507813 | 2 |
AT&T EO 440 (1993)
AT&T's EO 440 was the first true phablet, and part of PC Magazine's first roundup of PDAs in October 1993. Fully kitted out with a phone, a fax modem, and a 20MB hard disk, it cost as much as $4,000. When PCMag reviewed the AT&T EO in 1993, we said that "the EO has numerous features that mobile professionals may desire, like faxing or communicating from practically anywhere, but as a whole it is less than the sum of its parts. To tick off a few of its shortcomings, it has no print or fax preview, and limited printer support. System performance is slow, and there are few connectivity options." While we noted that "EO assures us that future EO machines will be more powerful and less costly," no future products appeared, and the company shut down in 1994. | <urn:uuid:7987a8ff-d92c-4727-a302-3d13e6f2c522> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/294004/enter-the-phablet-a-history-of-phone-tablet-hybrids/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969185 | 189 | 1.664063 | 2 |
How can the Cuban government, all but obsessive about its need for secrecy, protect the privacy of the cellphone used by one of Fidel Castro’s best-known sons?
And how can it prevent embarrassing leaks when it needs to send a camera crew into Havana prisons to shoot a film promoting the high quality of its prison labor?
Both those questions may have been answered after a German newspaper reported earlier this month that furniture giant IKEA had contracted for Cuban prison labor to make thousands of sofas and tables in 1987.
The report lifted part of the veil of secrecy that the communist government has long cast over information from economic data to the details of the emergency surgery that led Castro to pass power to brother Raúl in 2006.
Cuba’s side of the IKEA deal was identified as EMIAT, an import-export firm owned by the Interior Ministry, in charge of national security. MININT runs two of Cuba’s key spy agencies, the Directorates of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
EMIAT also is the owner of record of the cellphone number used by Fidel Castro’s son, Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, in 2009, according to a once-secret list of more than 70,000 telephone numbers for important government officials and offices.
The list shows 1,543 numbers assigned to EMIAT. It does not list Antonio Castro’s name, but does include his cell number and the notation: “Client Classification: Especial Services Defense.”
Miami blogger Luis Dominguez obtained the number when he passed himself off as a Colombian woman on the Internet and flirted for eight months with Castro, a physician well known for his involvements with Cuba’s baseball teams.
The cell numbers for two of Fidel Castro’s less well-known sons were also on the list, but without the secrecy. Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle was listed under his own name, and Alex was listed as “Alex Castro Soto del Valle MININT.”
The list of sensitive numbers was briefly published, accidentally or on purpose, on the Web pages of Cuba’s state-run telephone monopoly, ETECSA, a few years back. Dominguez and others made copies before it was removed.
A man who answered Antonio Castro’s cell number Thursday said “He’s no longer here” and hung up. There’s been no indication that Castro had any business dealings with EMIAT or IKEA. El Nuevo Herald calls to EMIAT offices in Havana seeking comment were cut off when the caller identified himself.
“The Cuban government tries to hide all the information, but in the age of the Internet it can’t do that well at all,” said Dominguez, whose Web page, Secretos de Cuba, publishes the private telephone numbers and addresses of government officials.
An Internet report on the IKEA deal for Cuban prison labor also led a defector from the film section of MININT’s Counterintelligence Directorate (DCI) now living in Florida to contact El Nuevo Herald last week.
His DCI bosses ordered him to shoot a 10-minute film showing the high quality of the manufacturing shops at the Combinado del Este prison for men and Manto Negro prison for women, both in Havana, in 1986 or 1987, the defector said in an interview.
A DCI camera crew was put on the job because it could be trusted to keep quiet about what it saw or heard in the prisons, he added. Cuba does not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit its estimated 200 prisons.
“If they had sent in a regular government film crew, the word would have been all over Cuba the next day,” said the man, who provided evidence of his MININT work but asked to remain anonymous for personal reasons.
The defector said his crew — two cameramen and one person who handled lighting —shot for several days as male prisoners made furniture, like stools with designs burned into the leather, and women inmates sewed jeans and made tourist-type handicrafts.
Prison factories throughout the island are run by Provari, a firm also owned by MININT that makes everything from clay and cement building blocks to playpens and insecticides, El Nuevo reported earlier this month. | <urn:uuid:87dc41fa-2e15-48a0-8863-697ef385f6b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/27/v-print/2820258/some-of-cubas-secrets-are-not.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961075 | 912 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Though this subject is not one that directly concerns the JREF, I'm very frequently asked if I'll turn my skeptical eye to it. As a year-end fling, I'll give it a try. To wit:
An unfortunate fact is that scientists are just as human as the rest of us, in that they are strongly influenced by the need to be accepted, to kowtow to peer opinion, and to "belong" in the scientific community. Why do I find this "unfortunate"? Because the media and the hoi polloi increasingly depend upon and accept ideas or principles that are proclaimed loudly enough by academics who are often more driven by "politically correct" survival principles than by those given them by Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and Bohr. (Granted, it's reassuring that they're listening to academics at all -- but how to tell the competent from the incompetent?) Religious and other emotional convictions drive scientists, despite what they may think their motivations are.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- a group of thousands of scientists in 194 countries around the world, and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize -- has issued several comprehensive reports in which they indicate that they have become convinced that "global warming" is and will be seriously destructive to life as we know it, and that Man is the chief cause of it. They say that there is a consensus of scientists who believe we are headed for disaster if we do not stop burning fossil fuels, but a growing number of prominent scientists disagree. Meanwhile, some 32,000 scientists, 9,000 of them PhDs, have signed The Petition Project statement proclaiming that Man is not necessarily the chief cause of warming, that the phenomenon may not exist at all, and that, in any case, warming would not be disastrous.
Happily, science does not depend on consensus. Conclusions are either reached or not, but only after an analysis of evidence as found in nature. It's often been said that once a conclusion is reached, proper scientists set about trying to prove themselves wrong. Failing in that, they arrive at a statement that appears -- based on all available data -- to describe a limited aspect about how the world appears to work. And not all scientists are willing to follow this path. My most excellent friend Martin Gardner once asked a parapsychologist just what sort of evidence would convince him he had erred in coming to a certain conclusion. The parascientist replied that he could not imagine any such situation, thus -- in my opinion -- removing him from the ranks of the scientific discipline rather decidedly.
History supplies us with many examples where scientists were just plain wrong about certain matters, but ultimately discovered the truth through continued research. Science recovers from such situations quite well, though sometimes with minor wounds.
I strongly suspect that The Petition Project may be valid. I base this on my admittedly rudimentary knowledge of the facts about planet Earth. This ball of hot rock and salt water spins on its axis and rotates about the Sun with the expected regularity, though we're aware that lunar tides, solar wind, galactic space dust and geomagnetic storms have cooled the planet by about one centigrade degree in the past 150 years. The myriad of influences that act upon Earth are so many and so variable -- though not capricious -- that I believe we simply cannot formulate an equation into which we enter variables and come up with an answer. A living planet will continually belch, vibrate, fracture, and crumble a bit, and thus defeat an accurate equation. Please note that this my amateur opinion, based on probably insufficient data.
It appears that the Earth is warming, and has continued to warm since the last Ice Age, which ended some 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. But that has not been an even warming. Years of warming followed by years of cooling have left us just a bit warmer than before. This conclusion has been arrived at from data collected at some 1,200+ weather stations in the USA, though bear in mind that there are very few weather stations over the vast oceans that cover 70% of our planet, or on the continents Africa, South America, and especially Antarctica.
We can now record temperatures with much better than the former fraction-of-a-degree accuracy we had just a decade ago, but that temperature change appears to be just about half a degree Centigrade.
Our Earth's atmosphere is approximately 80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen. Just .04% is carbon dioxide -- a "trace" amount. But from that tiny percentage is built all the plants we have on Earth. CO2 is a natural molecule absolutely required for plant life to survive, and in the process of growing, those plants give off oxygen. We -- and all animal life -- consume that oxygen and give off CO2. (No, this is not an example of Intelligent Design.) If that balance is sufficiently disturbed, species either adapt or perish. And the world turns...
Incidentally, we have a convenient phenomenon that contributes to our survival. Doubling the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere will not double the temperature rise, small though it is. The basic principle of what's known as the "greenhouse effect" is quite simple: in a glass-enclosed environment, sunlight enters through the glass and strikes a surface, where it is transformed into longer infrared rays which do not easily reflect back through the glass; they're trapped. and raise the temperature. However, the greenhouse effect as applied to our planet is more complicated. The infrared rays that are reflected back from the Earth are trapped by the greenhouse gases, water vapor and CO2 -- a process that warms those gases and heats the Earth. This effect makes Earth habitable, preventing extremes of temperature. The limit of the influence of CO2 is dictated, not by the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but by the amount of solar radiation reflected back from the Earth. Once all the infrared rays have been "captured" by the greenhouse gases there is no additional increase in carbon dioxide.
Yes, we produce CO2, by burning "fossil fuels" and by simply breathing. And every fossil fuel produces CO2. Some products produce more than others, varying with their chemical composition. Methane gas produces less CO2, wood produces more. But almost paradoxically, when wood burns it produces CO2, and when a tree dies and rots it produces yet more CO2. Oceans are huge storage tanks for CO2, but as they warm up, they hold less of the dissolved gas. They release it into the atmosphere, then more of it is absorbed back into the oceans. And as far as humans are concerned, ten times more people die each year from the effects of cold than die from the heat. This a hugely complex set of variables we are trying to reduce to an equation...
It's easy enough to believe that drought, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes are signs of a coming catastrophe from global warming, but these are normal variations of any climate that we -- and other forms of life -- have survived. Earth has undergone many serious changes in climate, from the Ice Ages to periods of heavily increased plant growth from their high levels of CO2, yet the biosphere has survived. We're adaptable, stubborn, and persistent -- and we have what other life forms don't have: we can manipulate our environment. Show me an Inuit who can survive in his habitat without warm clothing... Humans will continue to infest Earth because we're smart.
In my amateur opinion, more attention to disease control, better hygienic conditions for food production and clean water supplies, as well as controlling the filth that we breathe from fossil fuel use, are problems that should distract us from fretting about baking in Global Warming. From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 A Scandal in Bohemia, I quote:
Watson: "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that it means?"
Holmes: I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts... | <urn:uuid:c57999c5-b70d-46a4-8ad1-57e21fdf5fee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/805-agw-revisited.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961337 | 1,675 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
John Christoffersen / The Associated Press
NEWTOWN, Conn. — They relocated the entire student body to a new school unstained by blood. They brought in counselors to soothe shattered nerves, and parents to comfort the distraught.
Snowflake artwork adorns windows at the new Sandy Hook Elementary School. Three months after the Newtown massacre, children and teachers who survived remain on edge.
But authorities know they cannot erase the lingering effects of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School – students and faculty members still on edge, still traumatized by the sounds of gunshots and by the horrors they survived.
In the new school building in the neighboring town of Monroe, police remain a presence. Signs ask people to close doors softly and not to drag objects across the floor.
"There are reactions to noises, doors slamming, things being dropped have a strong startled response," said Newtown School Superintendent Janet Robinson. "We're really just trying to have the whole school be as calm as possible."
A group of Sandy Hook Elementary School third-graders attending a Brownie meeting on a recent day heard a loud noise and looked around nervously. Though the troop leader assured them it was probably just someone pushing a cart, one girl began to cry.
"You can tell that every little sound that is made in that school, the kids are still extremely scared," said Brenda Lebinski, parent of a third-grader who witnessed the episode.
At home, Robinson said, parents say children have cried and asked, "Is the bad man coming back?"
"Having your safety shattered for everyone involved — kids, parents, teachers, administrators — I think it's going to be very difficult to recapture that sense of safety," Robinson said.
Parents have been volunteering as hall monitors and aides to help comfort the students. Teachers, still coping with their own trauma, also struggle to make the children feel safe.
"I think they're exhausted, mentally, physically," said Wendy Davenson, a therapist working with school staff. "It takes ages to create a safe environment after something like this. I think the teachers are trying so hard to do that for the students and yet some of them may not really feel particularly safe either."
On the morning of Dec. 14, a 20-year-old gunman entered the school and slaughtered 20 first-graders and six staff members before killing himself. Gunshots resounded through the school on the public address system; teachers hid with students in classrooms until they were rescued by police, and some passed the carnage on their way out.
When the students returned to school on Jan. 3, it was in a different building — the former Chalk Hill Middle School. It had been refurbished, and desks and other equipment were brought in from Sandy Hook.
But there was no way to pretend that the shootings did not happen.
Kiki Leyba, a teacher who survived the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, spoke last month to about a dozen Sandy Hook staff members. Leyba said he told them how he couldn't sleep, jumped at noises and looked for exits wherever he went, even church.
Sandy Hook educators shared similar experiences, describing how they were jumpy around noises and had trouble sleeping and concentrating, Leyba said.
"I just can't say it strongly enough, if they spare no expense taking care of that staff, no one will ever regret it," he said. "The students will feel the benefits of that, the parents will feel the benefits of that. That staff is so traumatized."
Mental health services have been available from the beginning and will continue to be offered, Robinson said. Specialists trained in child trauma have been brought in, she said.
(Continued on page 2) | <urn:uuid:f43d3605-8021-479d-92be-0065614ae4c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kjonline.com/news/On-edge-at-times-Newtown-school-tries-to-cope-.html | 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 | 0.980909 | 776 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Iceland halts EU talks as elections loom
14.01.13 @ 21:06
BRUSSELS - Iceland's government has suspended negotiations to join the EU ahead of parliamentary elections in April that could see a eurosceptic government elected with a mandate to halt membership talks.
The government said in a statement that a deal would not be reached in time, commenting that "it is now clear that the negotiations will not lead to an Accession Treaty during the present electoral term."
Elections are scheduled for April 27, with opinion polls indicating that the centre-left coalition government is lagging around 15 points behind the conservative Independence party, which opposes EU membership and is widely expected to form a coalition with the liberal Progressive party.
The governing coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats and the Left-Green party swept to power in 2009 in the aftermath of a banking crisis which saw Iceland's three main commercial banks collapse in 2008 with liabilities of over ten-times the size of the country's annual GDP.
Since the crisis, Iceland's debt to GDP ratio soared from 25 percent in 2007 to 130 percent in 2011 after needing an €8 billion euro bailout to avoid defaulting on its debts.
The country is also still facing court actions in the court of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) over the compensation of over 500,000 EU depositors who lost their savings in Icelandic banks following the crisis.
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir submitted the country's EU membership application in July 2009, promising to hold a referendum on the completion of negotiations.
Iceland membership of EFTA already requires it to adopt large chunks of EU single market law, but it has faced difficulties in reaching an agreement with EU officials over fisheries policy - traditionally the main branch of the Icelandic economy - and the Common Agricultural Policy.
The government said that it had addressed 29 of the 33 chapters of the EU's rule-book known as the acquis communautaire in relation to the membership talks. However, it acknowledged that "there have been delays in opening negotiations on important chapters such as fisheries as the EU has postponed finalising work on its screening report on the chapter for many months."
"Regarding the 16 chapters which now stand open, Iceland‘s negotiating committee and experts will continue their cooperation with the EU," said the government statement but added that this would not require "further government or parliamentary decisions."
Peter Stano, spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, said that the EU executive was hopeful that talks would resume.
The commission "continues to be convinced that the EU accession of Iceland would be of mutual benefit and remains committed to accompanying Iceland on its path towards EU membership," he said. | <urn:uuid:fc30ba93-b076-42c5-a58b-61389cdc9234> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://euobserver.com/political/118728 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966215 | 558 | 1.726563 | 2 |
I first wrote about Dr. Ben Carson here after his outstanding speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last month. Dr. Carson is a pediatric neurosurgeon who has lived a life of incredible accomplishment defying seemingly impossible odds.
Watching the video, of his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, I couldn’t help but wonder if Dr. Carson might not have a greater contribution to make outside the field of medicine. The Wall Street Journal, for one, declared rather forcefully that he does. I also couldn’t help but wonder what Obama was thinking. My guess was he was thinking: this is a dangerous guy.
Dr. Carson appeared at CPAC yesterday. “In 106 days I will be retiring,” Dr. Carson announced. “I’d much rather quit when I’m at the top of my game. And there’s so many more things that can be done.” We will stay tuned.
Although the video has a slight glitch or two, it is limited to Dr. Carson’s remarks without the introductions that preceded them. (The whole program including Eric Metaxas’s remarks is posted here. Hot Air has posted it here.) I believe that somewhere along the line Dr. Carson picked up the principles of ethos, logos and pathos that define compelling public speaking.
UPDATE: At NRO, Patrick Brennan reports on Dr. Carson’s appearance on CNN this morning. I am not sure what to make of it. | <urn:uuid:23a387de-124c-4ba2-935d-15d8c04b9846> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/03/ben-carson-at-cpac.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967847 | 310 | 1.507813 | 2 |
It has been a fairly busy week for patristics this week. Perhaps the run-up to Trinity Sunday inspires thoughts of the Fathers. Or not. Not many of these posts deal with the Trinity. Whatever the reason for it, enjoy the offerings for this week!
Joe Heschmeyer on the Shameless Popery blog, in part of a post discussing why Protestants become Catholic, notes the historical Evangelical avoidance of the Church Fathers and the impact that the Fathers have on many Evangelicals. Interesting notes about the historical blindness of Evangelicals (clear to anyone who visits a Christian bookstore run by Evangelicals- very little history or even high end theology. It just doesn't sell), but one wonders what to do with the admittedly modest Evangelical Resourcement which has been going on for almost ten years.
Alin Suciu on his self-named blog discusses Coptic fragments of Isaiah of Sketis and a fragment of St. John Chrysothom's Homilies on Romans which gives the apocryphal names of the two thieves crucified with Jesus.
mjhoskin on the pocket scroll blog picks up a comment in the May 30th-June 4th TWP about next steps after introductions to patristics and discusses his recommendations. He also discusses the Roman Catholic ressourcement, beginning from the 1920s, and the monastic resourcement. Both give an excellent review of the scholarship which came out of these ressourcements.
Roger Pearse on his self-named blog discusses manuscripts at Rodosto which included a copy of Eusbeius' treatise against Porphyry with a follow-up discussion on the fate of these manuscripts and his concerns about the authenticity of these manuscripts, a reference to Theodoret in St. John of Damascus, and St. Ambrose's mentions of the cult of Mithras,
Kevin Edgecomb on the biblicalia blog discusses the importance of canonicity (here, the rule of faith) against the 'quest for the historical Jesus'.
Rod (of Alexandria) on the Political Jesus blog discusses
Cynthia on the per caritatem blog discusses St. Augustine's political activism as suggested by his letters in two parts (part one, part two). Thanks, Rod for pointing this one out!
That is all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the entries and keep them coming! | <urn:uuid:b5e48c7b-2914-426a-8384-6bb26ee47700> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uperekperisou.blogspot.com/2011/06/this-week-in-patristics-june-12th-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953245 | 481 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Three high school friends reunited after World War II founded Kenmore Air in 1946. With one airplane and a single hangar near a swamp at the North end of Lake Washington, Bob Munro, Reg Collins and Jack Mines created what was to become one of the largest and most respected seaplane operations in the world. As with many great companies, Kenmore Air Harbor's beginnings were modest. The company experienced many anxious moments in its infancy. From re-zoning the shingle mill site to a commercial seaplane base to petitioning the Kenmore community for support, it was a struggle at times to keep the Air Harbor afloat. Working sixteen-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week left them little time to ponder the future; however."Other than Jack's ideas about a hotel we didn't have much of a plan other than Reg and I would fix planes and Jack would give flying lessons. We just assumed it was going to work." - Bob Munro From the beginning, Kenmore Air's business philosophy was based on the foundation of integrity and exceptional customer service. The company kept it simple: "Do the right thing". Increasing ReputationIn the 40's, Kenmore Air became a Seabee dealer for the Northwest and quickly the Republic Seabee amphibian became a huge success in the area. Kenmore Air also became the experts on Seabee repairs and maintenance for the local Seabees and developed a number of modifications to improve their performance.By the early 1950's, Kenmore signed on as an aircraft and parts dealer for the popular Cessna and expanded into the charter business with flights and hunting spots throughout the Northwest.Several years later, Kenmore furthered their expansion with a new hangar and office building and in 1963 Kenmore acquired its first Beaver, leading to a rebuilding and modification program specifically for this plane.Over the next two decades, Kenmore Air significantly expanded their scheduled service offerings, and acquired two airlines: Otter Air, a small seaplane company offering scheduled service to Victoria, BC, and Lake Union Air. With the acquisition of Lake Union Air, Kenmore acquired its Seattle seaplane terminal and all but one of its aircraft. Several more Turbo Otters were added to the fleet to meet increased passenger demand. Kenmore TodayToday, Kenmore Air is among the best-known and most respected seaplane operations in the world, flying an eclectic mix of piston Beavers and turbine Otters and Caravans, landing passengers on glaciers, lakes and harbors among the mist-shrouded fjords and islands of the U.S. and Canadian northwest. Kenmore Air continues to set the world standard by which floatplanes are judged and is renowned for its superior expertise in plane maintenance and construction. Kenmore Air currently has 25 aircraft in operation, 52 pilots on staff and more than 250 employees in peak season. The company's philosophy has remained unchanged since its establishment in 1946: “Do the right thing”. | <urn:uuid:a7c3e717-fcb1-4184-acac-18df1857c4e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kenmoreair.com/Our-History | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967813 | 600 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Alberta, badlands, campground, Camping, campsite, Canada, cottonwood, Dinosaur Park, Dinosaur Provincial Park, hike, Hiking, Hoodoos, kayak, Kinbrook, Kinbrook Island, lake, nature, Newell lake, Photography, Prairie Rattlesnake, Provincial Park, Rattlesnake, thunderstorms, Toddler
The badlands, and Dinosaur Provincial Park in particular, is one of our favourite destinations during shoulder season. While the mountains still sport a layer of snow, it’s a great time to explore the badlands… before they start to broil in the summer heat. We had all but decided to camp under the cottonwood trees at Dinosaur PP. However, at the last minute we decided to stay at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park instead. Located 45 minutes south of Dinosaur PP on Lake Newell, choosing Kinbrook Island PP meant that we’d get to go kayaking as well as hiking… and as you’ll see, we were lucky in our choice.
We arrived Dinosaur Provincial Park to find a bit of commotion outside the visitors centre. A rattlesnake had decided that the signpost would make a great place to warm himself in the sun. Prairie rattlesnakes are native to the badlands and a very good reason to wear sturdy hiking boots and not to stick your limbs into dark holes. After a bit rattlesnake watching, a snack and walk on the Coulee Viewpoint trail, we headed to the trailhead the Cottonwood Flats Trail. Our plans to hike this trail was quickly kaboshed by a swarm of 10,000 or so mosquitoes. While we could have endured them, it was making us grumpy and we decided it wasn’t worth it. A beautiful trail, with lush cottonwoods and an abundance of wildlife, I highly recommend it either in the spring before the mosquitoes have hatched or in the fall. The mosquitoes hatching this past week was one of the reasons we lucked out by camping at Kinbrook Island.
When we got to our campsite at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, we found that we had scored huge! Literally. We had a small field behind our tent as part of our site… perfect for a toddler to run, jump and play to his heart’s content. Adjacent to the marsh, flocks of pelicans and ducks flew overhead while red-winged blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds sang in the rushes. Though the clouds threatened, they only provided a little sprinkle and a brilliant backdrop for the sunset over the lake… Dinosaur PP wasn’t so lucky and was hit full force (the second reason that we lucked out with our choice for camping sites).
Sunshine greeted us Sunday morning and we spent the morning on the lake in our kayaks. M loved watching all the wildlife… a beaver, loons, ducks, red-winged blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds to name just a few I recognized. We took a break played on the beach and at the playground. We then took advantage of the relatively calm water and tried M in the hatch instead of on our lap… he loved his new viewpoint and more importantly the boat was stable even when hit by the wake of the power boats.
After lunch back at our site, we packed up our gear and headed back to Dinosaur PP for hike on the Badlands Trail. One of my favourite toddler hikes in the park, the trail takes you through the hoodoos and the interpretive signs reveal information about the formation of the hoodoos as well as the wildlife of the area. M put his new hiking boots to the test on the rough terrain and pronounced them “comfy” (watch for an upcoming review once we put them through their paces). After a finally visit to the dinosaur playground, we then headed home through the backroads we love.
With a weekend of exploring, hiking, kayaking and camping over, we arrived home tired but satisfied. What will the next adventure hold? As explorers we have no idea… who knows which direction will entice us next weekend.
What adventures have you been enjoying? Share your stories below.
Reservations for both Kinbrook Island Provincial Park and Dinosaur Provincial Park can be made through Alberta Parks. For more family adventures and ideas at Dinosaur PP please visit Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies recent post on the park. | <urn:uuid:cc5faae9-db25-43c0-bc34-522ffd4c2e72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebigpicturecalgary.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/camping-adventures-kinbrook-island-provincial-park/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958038 | 905 | 1.59375 | 2 |
With the long queues of motorists, honking horns and blocked intersections, one would think it was a few days before Christmas with the perennial Greenwich gridlock of last-minute shoppers.
But the long lines of cars are motorists—some with short tempers—in search of gasoline. With regional gas supplies depleted, many stations out of gasoline or station closed because they don't have power, drivers from New York and New Jersey are flooding Greenwich in search of fuel.
Judy Moretti, co-owner of Putnam Shell on West Putnam Avenue said she ran out of gasoline about 11 a.m. Thursday, and had only 1,500 gallons of diesel. Despite an confirmed delivery for 4 a.m. Thursday, she was still waiting for it about 8 p.m. Thursday, Moretti said.
The Coast Guard had not released the barges and flooding issues in major ports including Bridgeport and New Haven apparently are preventing barges from arriving, Moretti said.
"People are coming from New York and New Jersey. They're on a half-tank are really upset," Moretti said. Some drivers were filling several gas cans and putting them in the cars, she said. "They feel so crippled without it."
What's adding to the wait in line, Moretti said, are "People from New Jersey where they don't have self-serve stations ... we needed to teach people lessons on how to dispense with the nozzle." Motorists also are in search of firewood and propane gas tanks. Moretti said she sold 50 bundles of wood in little more than a day and 20 tanks of propane on Thursday.
Greenwich Police are monitoring the lines and directing traffic at stations located at major intersections. On Thursday afternoon, eastbound motorists on West Putnam Avenue waited through 6 traffic light cycles to pass through the intersection with Weaver Street.
Overnight Thursday, officers directed drivers to other stations where gas was available. Friday morning, officers continued their efforts advising the emergency dispatch center of the number of cars lined up waiting to get their fill of petrol.
About 7 a.m. there about 30 cars lined up along West Putnam Avenue to get gas at the Putnam Shell Station; about 30 waited for the LeMans Citgo station on East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob, and another station in Riverside ran out of gas, according to radio transmissions. | <urn:uuid:ffd58e7d-4831-403d-b93a-db5e6a84efb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greenwich.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/growing-gas-lines-creating-greenwich-gridlock | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97611 | 487 | 1.789063 | 2 |
With a Restive Arab Minority
Sept 22, 2006- The New York Times: At Home,
With a Restive Arab Minority
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN — “Help my young child — please help me,” cried
Yabrra Banitamim, 65, in a conference room in the north of
this city crowded with a dozen relatives of two men found
guilty of participating in a string of deadly bombings in
The men, Malek Banitamim, 30, and Ghasem Sallamat, 42, are
Khuzestan Province , in the country’s southwest. They
are Arabs in a country that is predominantly Persian and
that is accused by segments of its Arab population of
treating them like second-class citizens, thereby creating a
Iran wants to be a leader in the Islamic world, spreading
its reach and influence among Arabs and Indonesians, Sunnis
and Shiites. And with its support for Hezbollah in
Lebanon and its defiance of the West, it has made some progress.
But at home, Iran has often had to labor to unify its own
people under one national identity, restricting the
_expression of ethnic variations — like languages — that it
views as undermining that unity. The problem is often most
apparent with its Arabs.
“There is a contradiction in Iran ’s behavior toward Arab
countries and toward the Arabs in the south of
Iran ,” said Mustafa el-Labbad, an expert in Iranian affairs who is based in Cairo .
Iran is a multiethnic nation. More than half of its 70
million people are Persian, and about 3 percent are Arabs.
Other groups include the Azeris, Kurds, Turkmen, Baluchis
Iran has recently faced strong protests from some
ethnic groups, like the Azeris, with several demanding
greater autonomy and cultural freedom.
In the Arab region, the authorities say, separatist groups
became violent last year, setting off a string of terrorist
bombs that killed or wounded many people. Mr. Banitamim and
Mr. Sallamat were convicted and ordered hanged for their
involvement in those attacks.
But to relatives of these men it is impossible to talk only
about the crimes they were charged with. Their families see
the acts of terrorism as intimately linked with the
frustration and lack of hope that stems from the poverty
that they say is forced on them by a majority that
discriminates. This is a reality that the Iranian
authorities have tried, but not succeeded, in reconciling.
“The Islamic Republic is dealing with its own terrorism
problem the same way the
U.S. is dealing with Al Qaeda,”
said Emad Baghi, a former cleric who now heads the
Tehran-based Organization for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights.
What he meant, he said, was that both governments were using
force rather than understanding.
Mr. Banitamim and Mr. Sallamat were arrested on March 11,
along with 15 other men and two women. Six of that group
remain under investigation, while the rest have been
convicted and sentenced to death, the relatives said.
Fearful and frustrated, more than 150 family members and
friends of the convicted came to
Tehran to urge the
authorities to lift the death sentences. Their first stop
was to visit Mr. Baghi.
“The prisoners are sentenced to death because of their
confessions,” said Mr. Banitamim’s older brother Yaghoub, as
he opened the conversation with Mr. Baghi. “Their
confessions were made under torture. They didn’t do anything.”
Mr. Baghi, who spends his days listening to the sorrows of
prisoners’ families, gently asked if, indeed, the men were
part of the organization that had been connected to bombings
in Ahvaz , the capital of Khuzestan. “We don’t know,” the
brother said, his gaze cast down.
Then, perhaps aware that Mr. Baghi already knew the answer,
that the men were members of the group, he said: “They can
sentence him to life in prison. We just want to stop the
Iranian officials insist that there is no discrimination
against Arabs or, for that matter, any of
Iran ’s ethnic minorities. They note, for example, that classical Arabic is taught in schools. They point out that the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is of Azeri descent.
And they accuse Western governments of financing and helping
to incite groups responsible for the violence in
Ahvaz . That charge may sound self-serving, but a European diplomat in Tehran said intelligence reports from the diplomat’s home
capital confirmed that there was Western support for at
least one of the separatist groups.
But that has not diminished what many Iranians say is the
broader need to address the social, political and cultural
concerns of many ethnic groups, including Arabs. “I
believe,” Mr. Baghi said, “that instead of labeling people
terrorists, we should also try to understand the reason why.”
Khuzestan is a place that illustrates the contradictions
that can breed anger. The region sits atop most of the
country’s oil wealth, yet its Arab residents are mostly
poor. At the same time, many Arabs complain that they see
their country’s wealth helping to rebuild Lebanon .
The London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Sharq al Awsat
recently reported that in Khuzestan, “residents launched
slogans condemning Hezbollah and the government and asked
for the rebuilding of their own destroyed homes instead of
interference in the internal affairs of
Similar grievances could be heard from the relatives of the
condemned men. “We suffered a lot because of the war with
Iraq ,” said Mr. Sallamat’s wife, Samira, referring to
Khuzestan’s proximity to the border with
Iraq . “This is not fair. We have done nothing wrong. God knows we’ve done nothing wrong.”
Mr. Baghi could do no more than advise her on a strategy.
But he represented an authority figure, a bridge from the
deprivation of Ahvaz to the power of
Tehran . Her anger exploded. “Our problems are not only economic, they are cultural,” she complained. “They even find fault with the
way we dress.” The “they” she was referring to were her
The complaints, the crying, the charges of discrimination
went on around the room. A child’s eyes filled with tears
every time someone mentioned that his father was to be
hanged, or that his relatives could not find work because,
the charge went, they were Arab.
When the relatives left, Mr. Baghi cautioned against
sympathy. He said that the terrorists had taken a video of
the explosions and that it had fallen into the hands of the
But it is also often much easier to make friends with
strangers than to settle differences with people living
under the same roof. Mr. Labbad of Egypt said that was
exactly the case with Iran . When Iran addresses Arabs
outside its borders, he said, it can focus on common enemies
in the United States and Israel . It has no obligation beyond
giving voice to feelings that already exist.
But when it comes to its own Arab population, its first
responsibility is to provide life’s essentials — food, work
and shelter. And that is what the families of the two
condemned men tried to say, why the grievance over the
sentence had become a catalyst for venting their frustrations.
“I have nine brothers and sisters, and out of all of us one
brother — the brother who was arrested — was working,” said
Yaghoub Banitamim. “What is the reason? Only because we are | <urn:uuid:63379f8e-40b5-46ef-805e-f5f641aec7da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emadbaghi.com/en/archives/000806.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966408 | 1,760 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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After her warm bath, Claudia Stubin said she was relaxed and her skin felt healthier. But seaweed, not bubbles, was responsible. Stubin, a Huntington Beach resident, was a first-time customer Tuesday at Seaweed Sok, a Newport Beach bathing facility...
Tags: Psoriasis, Homes, Personal Service, Arthritis
ReutersNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with chronic gum disease seem to be slightly more likely to develop the skin condition psoriasis, according to a new study. Taiwanese researchers found that in a group of more than 230,000 people, those with gum disease...
Q: My poor chihuahua has suffered from skin problems her whole life. We've taken her to the vet numerous times and have tried every treatment the vet has given us. Most of them work well enough to get rid of the worst of it, but it always comes back. I...
Tags: Itching, Tinea Cruris
The answer to why some obese people develop diabetes and other health problems may be found not in just a love for junk food, but in the bacteria that thrive deep in the human gut. Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have...
Premium Health News ServiceDEAR MAYO CLINIC: Both of my children have been diagnosed with molluscum contagiosum. What's the best way to get rid of it quickly? Is it still OK to have sleepovers with other children, or are they contagious until the bumps are gone? ANSWER:...
Tribune Media ServicesEstheticians are part of a growing segment of the health care industry – cosmetic health care. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that opportunities for estheticians will grow about as fast as the average for all occupations...
Premium Health News ServiceHave you had a bit too much sun for your own good? Decades of boating, fishing, hiking, golfing, and just plain drowsing on the deck contribute to your lifetime exposure and risk of developing skin cancer. But there are simple steps you can take now to...
Zinc oxide would be the perfect sunscreen ingredient if the resulting product didn't look quite so silly. Thick, white and pasty, it once was seen mostly on lifeguards, surfers and others who needed serious sun protection. But when the sunscreens are...
South Florida ParentingWhile there is no cure for acne, this chronic skin condition can be managed very effectively. Dermatologists have a wide range of treatment options, including medications, chemical peels and laser light applications. That’s important to...
CW33 NewsSkin care products and cosmetics--a dab here, a coating there and the next thing you know you have cocktail of product on your face. Southlake, Texas dermatologist Naila Malik sees the results of overuse and misuse all the time. "It's unbelievable,&...
Special to the Los Angeles TimesImagine having the fountain of youth as close at hand as the bathroom. We're not there yet — but there's a burgeoning number of at-home, high-tech beauty gadgets that claim to smooth wrinkles, whiten teeth and remove hair without the need to...
Special to the Los Angeles TimesCracked heels, chapped lips, scaly legs, fissured hands, skin so tight and parched it practically hurts to smile. All can be brought on by dry, hot Santa Ana winds common in the fall or by the cold weather and heated rooms of winter — and...
Oct 11, 2012 |Story| Daily Pilot
Oct 4, 2012 |Story| Reuters
Sep 5, 2012 |Story| King Features Syndicate
Sep 2, 2012 |Story| Baltimore Sun
Aug 15, 2012 |Story| Tribune Media Services
Jul 28, 2012 |Story| Tribune Media Services
Aug 8, 2012 |Story| Tribune Media Services
Jul 10, 2012 |Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 13, 2012 |Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jun 26, 2012 |Story| KDAF-LTV
Jul 24, 2011 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Nov 13, 2011 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Original site for Skin Conditions topic gallery. | <urn:uuid:274d64c0-bfb4-4ca2-884a-8be61561bc7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcall.com/topic/health/physical-conditions/skin-conditions-HEDAI0000039.topic?page=3 | 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 | 0.930022 | 894 | 1.601563 | 2 |
When opposition to constructing the Ground Zero Mosque was blunted by promises that its builders would construct Park51 Cultural Center instead, protesters were finally shamed into silence (or ignored) and the construction began.
Now, two years later, one word best sums up the cultural center -- and that word is mosque.
In other words, in what appears to have been a classic bait and switch, the builders put aside their original plans to build a 16 story mega-mosque in order to keep things civil. And then, in the guise of a cultural center, they simply built a smaller facility they're using as a mosque.
As the New York Post puts it: "While the developers of Park51 insisted for two years that the project was more than a mosque, it now appears to be just that. [As] dozens of worshipers gather at Park Place Friday for prayer services."
Moreover, such prayer "is the only activity in the building."
What does this mean? This means that those who intended to put a mosque as close to the ruins of the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on American soil have succeeded. There is a mosque at Ground Zero, and to make things even worse, it is a located in a building -- the Burlington Coat Factory -- that was badly damaged during the 9/11 attacks.
I don't know if this was intentionally done as part of the stealth jihad that's slowly but methodically progressing into and throughout the United States. But one thing's for sure: they said they were building a cultural center, and so far we've got a mosque. | <urn:uuid:8f992cfb-37c7-4128-9d25-6cb0d05f985f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/10/Adding-Insult-To-Injury-Ground-Zero-Cultural-Center-Is-Really-Ground-Zero-Mosque | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983156 | 324 | 1.828125 | 2 |
A brief story about two young women, young women we will name Ophelia.
The first Ophelia lived in a small, isolated community. Though she has gifted hands, she was never allowed to think much about becoming something other than what she was raised to be in her community, a young bride and mother. Until the day the police came, when new men in uniform told her that the men she’d listened to her whole life were abusing her and the other women and girls in the only home she’s ever known. She has no more choice now, it appears, than she did then ... a man sitting behind a bench, and men in lab coats swabbing inside her cheeks for her DNA, will let her know what her future is to be.
As always, men will decide.
The second Ophelia lives just to the north, in a big city. She had her first child while still a teen, and two more followed shortly thereafter. She and her children have limited options. She’s has a mind for numbers, but her strict parents and her indifferent teachers never told her that she could become so many things with that gift, perhaps an engineer or scientist or computer programmer. She was raised to believe that motherhood for a girl like her would be a blessing. She would have someone who loved her unconditionally. Later this year, when she finds herself pregnant again, the men in her state want to force her to have an obstetric ultrasound before she can have the abortion that she feels she needs to have, a new demand on top of all of the other delays and obstacles that those “righteous” men have placed in her way. She can’t make such decisions for herself, silly woman, any more than she could have benefitted from more encouragement when she was in school.
As always, the men know best.
It is not for either Ophelia to question any of this. They have a role, after all, a role that has been determined for them by men based upon what those men read in a book written by other, deader men. The Ophelias are supporting characters, plot points in men’s grand stories, pawns to be pushed and sacrificed for a higher good, to serve the King/Prophet/God/Senator/Minister, even to their deaths.
Neither Ophelia could make choices for herself, develop her natural talents, become her own story. They are, after all, only women.
I wish my story was fiction, but it’s all too real, not just in Texas, not just in Oklahoma, but in far too many villages, towns, cities, states ... COUNTRIES. Yes, even in this country, which likes to proclaim itself a land of freedom and equality and opportunity. The Ophelias of the world are left to sink or swim, to serve the demands and rules and madness of the men around them. | <urn:uuid:ce626f51-5d19-4653-8a24-388ce2250fc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.liberalstreetfighter.com/ee/index.php?/weblog/comments/ophelia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987674 | 608 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Trojan.Comronki!rts is a malicious Trojan which enters its victim’s PC surreptitiously, firmly rooting itself in the system before starting its attack. This Trojan is particularly nasty as it has the ability to exhibit changing and morphing symptoms, and no one infection is the same as the next.
This threat slyly enters the system without alerting the user to its presence. It will go on to perform its actions in the background, avoiding detection by the PC owner. Because of this, users will find it difficult to detect and remove Trojan.Comronki!rts without some help. There are many reported symptoms associated with this threat, including Trojan.Comronki!rts opening ports on the system to allow for unauthorized backdoor access to the infected PC, and for remote control of the system.
Trojan.Comronki!rts will also download and execute other malware and applications, without the PC owner’s permission. It will disguise its actions and malicious behavior by patching memory processes, and by disabling any installed security products and applications. Trojan.Comronki!rts has also been known to copy itself to system-protected folders, and modifies the system entries so as to allow itself to run each time Windows starts.
It will also attempt to bypass detection from security systems, by modifying access lists. What is more, Trojan.Comronki!rts installs unsigned drivers and is distributed by a known malicious packer. It is clear to see from the above evidence that Trojan.Comronki!rts is an unwanted and harmful infection.
In order to limit the damage this dangerous Trojan will cause to your system, get rid of Trojan.Comronki!rts immediately. This can safely be achieved by using a powerful security tool which will not only destroy Trojan.Comronki!rts but also protect against similar future threats.
Danger level: 1 | <urn:uuid:c319270d-d828-4432-94ac-e6d7b0ae9853> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcthreat.com/parasitebyid-20122en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932599 | 397 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Human Subjects Research
The All-College Review Board for Human Subjects Research (HSR) is a standing committee at Ithaca College responsible for reviewing all College research and teaching activities conducted by faculty, staff, students that involve the use of human subjects to ensure that these activities minimize the potential for risk.
To comply with federal and state laws for protection of human subjects in research and Ithaca College policies, all research that involves human subjects must be reviewed by and must receive approval from the HSR Board prior to data collection.
- Links on the left sidebar provide access to application forms, meetings dates and submission deadlines, as well as answers to frequently asked questions.
- Additional information about federal regulations affecting HSR may be found in the DHHS Belmont Report as well as the Ithaca College HSR Guidelines.
- Should your research receive federal funding, you will be required to complete CITI training.
The Office of the Provost provides staffing and administrative assistance to support the HSR Board. Direct all inquiries to email@example.com or call extension 607-274-3113. | <urn:uuid:5336a7b0-d459-491d-bbbe-f30bafaa26b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ithaca.edu/provost/hsr/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931344 | 229 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Pressure : 29.82 in
Dewpoint : 44.1 °
Wind : Northwest
Farmers prepare for next year at Gateway Farm Expo
It's been a tough year for farmers, but that's not stopping people from preparing for next year. Thursday is the last day for the 43rd annual Gateway Farm Expo in Buffalo County.
The Gateway Expo gives farmers a chance to look at the newest technology and equipment in the AG industry.
The event features some of the newest innovations. Many farmers lost profit because of the drought this year, but they're not letting it deter them too much.
"I'm sure, probably a little more conservative because of the lack of funds from the drought crop. So, we're not necessarily cutting back a great deal, but we aren't as aggressive or looking at a lot of new things this year," said farmer Terry Woollen.
The show purposely happens after harvest is complete. By this time, farmers generally have a good handle on their performance and a fresh perspective on what they want to do next year.
KHASTV on Facebook | <urn:uuid:beb567ed-bbb6-4073-859c-d9a2a02d3afb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.khastv.com/news/local/Farmers-prepare-for-next-year-at-Gateway-Farm-Expo-179581351.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941411 | 223 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Active years: 2009
Brawn GP was formed after Honda pulled out at the end of the 2008 season.
Run by Ross Brawn, the team used the car designed for Honda to race in 2009, but fitted with a Mercedes engine. Designated BGP 001, it was instantly competitive and the team won both the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ title, the latter going to Jenson Button.
At the end of 2009 the team was taken over by Mercedes to form Mercedes Grand Prix for the 2010 F1 season. Brawn existed for just 17 races, of which it won eight.
Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Major team personnel
Chief executive officer: Nick Fry
Team principal: Ross Brawn
Head of aerodynamics: Loic Bigois
Deputy technical director: Jorg Zander
Books about Brawn GP | <urn:uuid:525c9be4-68b9-4b6f-a996-717a1b0212f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/f1-information/f1-teams/brawn-gp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941649 | 182 | 1.703125 | 2 |
I am thrilled to be hosting this special event this year as the message behind the Christmas story is so important to us as a Christian family, and we aim to make that a focus of the holiday season each year.
It can be SO easy for the ever increasing commercialism of Christmas to creep up and over-take the whole reason for our celebrations and we are trying to build up our own simple traditions to make sure we keep our focus on Jesus, not just as a babe in the manger but as a perfect Saviour, the servant-King.
Here are 4 simple ways we are trying to do this at home:
[No doubt we will adapt and add to these as the girls get older!]
Nativity Story Advent Calendar
We love advent calendars (in fact I think I might be a little obsessed by them) but we make sure that whatever type we have, be it chocolate or a toy one, we also use our gorgeous bible story book version called The Story of Christmas. This has 25 little numbered hardback books in it that tell the story slowly and carefully, including a lot of details that are often skipped over in today’s retelling. The girls love finding the right number each morning and hearing the new part of the story over breakfast! Here is the link below.
This is a new activity this year that we are currently working on together. It is designed like our Advent Activity Tree from last year, but with a more Biblical emphasis on the nativity story. Each day there is a star shaped paper hanging on our tree branch with a Bible verse on one side and an accompanying simple activity on the other. For example, on Day 2 we read a few verses about who Mary is, then made a little character of Mary from a cardboard tube, fabric and pens. We are building up a whole set of characters for story telling and it is really helping to bring it all to life! When we have completed it I will out together a full post of 25 activities for you.
Nativity Story Telling
Setting up the crib scene with all the characters and a little straw lined box is one of my fondest memories from childhood of the build up to Christmas. Last year when the girls were 3 and nearly 2, we made this Nativity Scene Small World Play box together, using Playmobil characters and simple props. The girls played with it and retold elements of the story that they had been learning in our family devotions and reading time. This sort of retelling helps to consolidate the important events and to teach it in a meaningful way through play.
Nativity Stories & Singing
We have put all our Bible story books about Christmas into a story basket for reading together and talking about throughout the month of December. These books don’t just come out at Christmas time, of course, as the message isn’t confined to one month per year, but this is a particular focus for these weeks. We try and read these together when daddy is at home, in our family devotions time. They also serve as a great springboard into questions and further discussions. At the same time we sing some favourite hymns and choruses, taking time especially to learn Away in a Manger and Who is He in that Poor Stall?
These are our simple, achievable and adaptable ideas that we are focusing on at the moment. As the children grow up I’m sure the list will adapt and we will be inspired to try new activities too!
Speaking of which, check out the linky list below for a wonderful collection FULL of incredible ideas for activities, traditions, books and more ways to take time to teach the nativity story and it’s message to our kids. Please take a look at all of the efforts of the amazing bloggers who have linked up and visit their sites to leave a comment too!
Here are the 28 fabulous bloggers taking part in the Focus on the Nativity event today!
The Imagination Tree Living Montessori Now Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers My Nearest And Dearest Life At The Zoo Creative Connection for Kids This Reading Mama Adventures in Mommydom Train up A Child Rainy Day Mum 3 Dinosaurs Crafty Mom Share The Magic Of Play Sun Hats and Wellieboots The Fairy and The Frog Housing a Forest The Iowa Farmers Wife Preschool Book Club Craft To Art The Golden Gleam Here Come The Girls Mamas Like Me In Lieu Of Preschool Kids Creative Chaos My Small Potatoes Love Play And Learn Kids World Citizen
Do YOU have a post you have written about any aspect of the Nativity story? It could be an activity, a play, puppet show, storytelling, lesson idea etc. Link it below so we can all find you too! | <urn:uuid:e1bf1da0-1e5c-42e9-9ee3-9f2669852761> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theimaginationtree.com/2012/12/focus-on-nativity-celebrating-christmas.html?showComment=1354873047327 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93835 | 972 | 1.796875 | 2 |
posted on TUE 26 JUN 2012 5:11 PMAdoption of Golan Heights Resolution
Tomorrow morning (27 June) the Council will adopt a draft resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months. (UNDOF was established in May 1974 to monitor the ceasefire between Israel and Syria.) The draft resolution is a joint US-Russian text and was circulated to Council members last week under silence procedure and was put in blue yesterday.
It seems the current draft resolution is essentially a technical one. However, it concurs with the findings of the most recent UNDOF report by the Secretary-General (S/2012/403) that the Syrian crisis has impacted the mission’s ability to operate. Last Thursday (21 June), Council members discussed the report in consultations. They seem to have taken note of several incidents detailed in the report that are highlighted in the preambular paragraphs of the draft resolution, including: the 26 February incident where Israeli soldiers fired shots into the area of limitation; the 1 March incident where Syrian armed forces entered the area of separation (where neither Israeli or Syrian military presence is allowed); and the 12 March incident where a Syrian soldier fired shots at UN personnel in the Syrian area of limitation.
Some members felt there should have been a more explicit reference to the Israeli Defence Forces in the preambular paragraph regarding the 26 February incident. However, silence was not broken over this issue so as to not jeopardise the compromise between the US and Russia on the draft.
Although for many years the UNDOF mandate was renewed without change, the conflict in Syria added a new dimension. The US in June 2011 wanted extensive references to the political situation in Syria, while Russia preferred to keep the simple technical language used in past resolutions renewing UNDOF. This led to two draft resolutions being circulated - the first by the US and a later one by Russia. Since then an interesting working method has evolved where although the US has the lead on UNDOF it works with Russia on the initial draft. This is the second joint draft with Russia and appears to be a way of avoiding a repeat of the June 2011 scenario.
Follow us on Twitter | <urn:uuid:27db8030-af3a-4641-977d-c765322c3af8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whatsinblue.org/2012/06/undof-adoption.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964826 | 450 | 1.59375 | 2 |
When you are up to your neck in alligators, you might forget that your original intention was to drain the swamp.
The job of President Barack Obama Thursday night was to convince us that he knows the economic recovery he pledged four years ago is far from accomplished, that unemployment is still too high, that health care still costs too much, that the federal deficit is still far too deep.
But he also wanted us to believe, as civil rights leaders of the 1960s used to say, "We're not where we want to be. We're not where we ought to be. But, thank God, we're not where we used to be."
We aren't. We aren't. And we aren't.
The question now before the American voter, the argument that will continue to be made in debates, stump speeches and an interminable amount of TV spots, is whether the sitting administration has made enough progress, adopted the right policies, even holds the correct values, to dig us the rest of the way out of the hole we have found ourselves in after a long recession, a painfully slow recovery, two wars and one presidential term of severe partisan gridlock.
Or whether the Republicans, who last week chose former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to lead their ticket, should be handed the power to attack those problems in a very different way.
Obama made a good and heartfelt case for his own re-election. He contrasted his own approach with those of his opponents in ways that an incumbent who was doing better in the polls might have found beneath him.
In Obama's favor were his argument that we are all in this together. His call for citizenship. His feeling of accomplishment at having rescued the American automobile industry. His respect for, and pledge to stand by, those who have served their county in combat. His willingness to face the fact, not the hoax, of global climate change.
The president cleverly turned around the controversial remarks he made, and that were taken out of context, about saying that businessmen "didn't build that," by crediting the whole of the American people for the progress that has been made, saying to them to us "You did that."
What remains for Obama and Romney to argue, and for the American voters to decide, is whether the progress made over the last four years has been enough, whether the degree of difficulty Obama has faced was so deep, that America would be wiser to stay the course, or try a new one.
Pay attention over the next few weeks. It is now in your hands. | <urn:uuid:4e4dc02f-a7c0-4f77-bded-4ce1a26877d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54845736-82/obama-american-whether-aren.html.csp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983759 | 525 | 1.5 | 2 |
In the summer of 2002, Erin McLaughlin and her husband were driving around Loveland looking for a home when she first spotted Loveland Feed and Grain. She said, "Look at that place! Awesome!"
Although she knew nothing of its history, she reasoned that this was a great historic building.
The McLaughlins settled in Loveland as a place to live and raise their family because of its friendly atmosphere.
At the time, the Andersons were still operating Loveland Feed and Grain and in 2006, it was closed. Quickly, a developer had eyes on the property, but not to preserve the old mill but to raze the structure and replace it with an apartment complex.
McLaughlin, Sharon Anhorn and others were driving to work and
She started a massive publicity campaign as a last minute reprieve for Loveland Feed and Grain by creating an email media list. This campaign led to a series of articles and television coverage.
McLaughlin passionately presented her case before the Historical Preservation Commission as well as the Loveland City Council. She cited the municipal code on historic preservation and emphasized that she did not want to infringe on the Andersons' property rights to sell the structure to the highest bidder. She demonstrated that there were potential sources of funding.
A poll was taken on public sentiment on preserving one of Loveland's last remaining connections to its agricultural economy. With overwhelming support by the community, others joined the cause as her email list grew. Over the course of 13 months, she sent out 75 notifications keeping residents up to date on fund raising events and progress.
To provide a nonprofit for fundraising, McLaughlin and her husband formed Novo Restoration.
In July 2006, Barry Floyd purchased the building from the Andersons.
A study of the building by architectural students led to a book on its design. During the summer of 2007, the many broken windows were covered by sheets of plywood.
Megan Tracy started using the building for her installation shows, drawing in a number of different artists and introducing a new form of art to the Loveland community.
All of this activity drew the attention of ArtSpace as it became interested in expanding its holdings into Colorado.
ArtSpace has restored and managed historic buildings throughout the United States dedicated to the arts. It plans to purchase Loveland Feed and Grain. Part of the development will include low cost housing for artists (in a new separate structure) as well as restoration of the old mill for events and studio space. | <urn:uuid:48e79c82-30cc-42e2-85e4-405830db82da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reporterherald.com/loveland-art/ci_22328764/erin-mclaughlin-organized-effort-save-loveland-feed-and?source=most_emailed | 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 | 0.980407 | 507 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Airplay 101 - Reporting vs. Charting
As you start doing more radio, you'll get more opportunity to choose between "reporting" and "non-reporting" stations, and also between "charting" and "non-charting" campaigns. One is not better than the other; they are just meant for different purposes... like a car versus a bus.
"Reporting" is when a station fills out a form (or an email), and sends it to a chart magazine... telling the magazine that the station is adding or playing your record. "Charting", on the other hand, is either (1) when you appear in that station's "most-added" or "most-played" chart, or (2) when you appear in a MAGAZINE'S "most-added" or "most-played" chart. The station's chart is only for that ONE station; the magazine's chart is an average of all similarly-formatted stations across the country.
The advantage of a station reporting you is this: People will SEE your name. And the people who see your name will be the same people in the music/radio business that you need to impress, such as labels, managers, booking agents, music writers, club DJs, retail buyers, and (especially) other stations who will not add your record until they see that other stations have done so first.
The disadvantage of trying for a reporting station is that they are much more difficult to get (compared to non-reporting stations), due to the increased competition these stations garner because of their (generally) larger listenerships. Everyone wants to show up in the trade magazines (the "trades"), and thus these reporting stations are the first ones that people select, including every major label. So in the car-versus-bus comparison, reporting stations are the bus... they carry many more results, and the cost to get them is proportionately higher. Non-reporting stations, however, are much easier (and thus lower cost) and are more suitable for the beginner. The largest labels, however, will work both the reporting and non-reporting stations together.
Now let's talk about "campaigns". A radio campaign is when you work a large group of similar stations at the same time, so as to create a "hit". A hit is simply a particular artist that is being played on a large number of stations AT THE SAME TIME. If half the stations play it now, and the other half play it a year from now, you do not have a hit. Hits have to be on all pertinent stations at the same time. On top of this, the stations that are chosen for charting campaigns HAVE to be reporting stations, even if you also have chosen non-reporting stations.
And thus the difficulty. When you work a charting campaign, you not only have to work all reporting stations at the same time, but the stations that you are working are the more difficult ones. So in terms of money, a charting campaign (say, for non-commercial radio) is going to cost about twice what a non-charting campaign would cost. And for commercial radio, a charting campaign... even in small markets only... is going to cost twice to ten times that of a non-charting campaign, and in medium markets, charting is going to cost five to one hundred times that of non-charting.
Finally, there is the regional option. Many times, people will want to go after just a few stations in their own city or state, and this "regional" effort does have some merit... mainly lower cost... but it is not referred to so much as a "campaign", as it is just a "push". Regional is useful since all the stations are selected to be close to the artist, but the push is not very impressive to other stations because (1) most of the stations will be small, (2) there will be no chart action, (3) there will be no trade reviews, (4) there will be no stations near other stations in the rest of the country, and (5) you will have very few station-success stories to tell. But considering the cost, many smaller projects will have no choice but to opt for a regional effort.
Next topic: BDS / Mediabase
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For a complete description of our airplay campaigns, including
pricing, send an email to email@example.com | <urn:uuid:34c13000-9111-4f3d-b0b4-f743444241d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.radio-media.com/song-album/articles/airplay25.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970673 | 926 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The NY Times tells the riveting story of the last hours of people who died in the World Trade Center.
Washington Post on Radio: "The program, its templates and other elements work smoothly, and you can go from downloading the program to publishing your thoughts on the Web during a coffee break." Thanks!
Wired: "Some [ads] even crawl over content, forcing you to simply wait helplessly for the nightmare to end."
Jeff Barr gathered statistics on the use of various elements in RSS feeds processed by his Syndic8 service.
If Mr X says A, he must also mean B.
This is an example of inference in conversation.
But look closely at "must also mean" before you hold X responsible for B.
If your own filters, your point of view, lead you to the inference, it's probably wrong.
Never has this been more clear when the only form of communication is electronic.
Likely facts: The two parties have different points of view. Mr Y, the observer, has a different set of experiences and expectations than Mr X.
So if we want to get somewhere, avoid concluding that B follows from A.
As Dan Gillmor says: "If your mom says she loves you, check it out."
Software and standards work requires this discipline.
"You can't lie to a compiler."
The West Wing
A dozen stories beautifully woven together. A stage play as the backdrop. Fantastic music. An ill-fated love affair. The characters ooze integrity. The president makes the right decision.
The best line when the president meets his adversary. "I decided to kick your ass when you said.." We cheer for President Bartlett, as we would have for Bill Clinton, had he faced Dubya in the Y2K election.
New characters enter left, and old ones exit right. We are in awe. Simply put, the season finale of The West Wing was the best single hour of television ever.
Written without coffee!
Good morning sports fans. Another local story. Went to the grocery store to get some coffee and food and wine. At the checkout counter the clerk says "Oh the tourists." I said "Tourists? I didn't know we got tourists here." It turns out we do. They stop in and ask if there's anything to see. She says "Oh yeah, there's highway 280, go check it out."
I had the same experience on the other side when I came to Silicon Valley for the first time in the late 70s. I kept driving around looking for something to see. There's nothing to see. A lot of freeways, Denny's, and not a whole lot more. Stanford has a couple of museums. Winchester Mystery House. Lots of geeks. Ask Scoble, he was born here.
My trip to Google on Friday was great. First I took the tour. Lots of geek toys. Lots of press clippings. A nice graph showing flow. Then we sat down and talked software. This is not Netscape. They're playing long-term, they've got real technology (Netscape's was all quick hacks). I pushed six things and gave them a heads-up on an seventh. Here they are. 1. Spell-checker web service. 2. Pings from CMSes for more currency. 3. Google On The Desktop. 4. An API to access page rank. 5. OPML and directories (instead of two or three directories, millions). 6. RSS feeds for their news flows. 7. Gnutella as a decentralized distribution method.
© Copyright 1997-2005 Dave Winer. The picture at the top of the page may change from time to time. Previous graphics are archived. | <urn:uuid:f8488815-4933-4fa9-8509-f17675f2b5b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scripting.com/2002/05/26.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964538 | 774 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Author: Eduardo Jardim ()
July 27, 2011
When you talk about Super Mario, what comes to mind, primarily, are video games. But what many people forget — even knowing that some fans do it on purpose — is the Super Mario Bros. movie, launched in the summer of 1993. Target of a series of negative reviews, the film suffered from the lack of a sharper script and from the producers' indecision regarding its age group. For the fans, the movie gave the Mario series an exaggerated realism instead of exploring the fantasy world that everyone expected, which, in the process, caused a distortion of many facts that were already established in that particular fictional world — turning them into something interestingly unique. The Thwomp Stomper is a good example of that.
There is certainly plenty to talk about the movie, but the mechanical boots given to the Mario Brothers as a way to explain their superhuman leaps in a recently-created realistic world would stand out one time or another. Even indirectly, the boots remind us of a series of references to video games that are almost imperceptible to those who are not so close to the series — one of the factors that led to the downfall of the film in the arms of criticism. In the final version of the boots, the small cartridges used to propel the user into the air remind us of the infamous Bullet Bills, the missiles from the Mario series. However, it takes an extra imagination to relate them with the actual enemies from the game. The image you see on the left is a conceptual art that has not been fully applied to the film: there was still something more "Marioesque" that was needed in order to relate it with the Mushroom Universe; in short, it lacked details in red.
The boots are obviously based on Thwomps, the rock-like enemies which first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. By analysing some models of the initial design of the Thwomp Stompers, we notice that the contour of the boots shares a huge similarity to a Thwomp. Also, we can read the name of the enemy at the sole of the boot, written in stylized form. Mirrored, the name shows the initial purpose of the creative team behind this idea: to leave a "Thwomp" mark stamped across the tracks. The thought brings us to the next conceptual art:
Do you realize something else? Well, there is another detail hidden in the design of the boots. It's an original Thwomp, as we see him in Super Mario World! The above version is closest to the final product, except for the inner and outer colors, which are reversed. Added to this, the Thwomp Stompers may have been loosely based on Kuribo's Shoe — the Power-Up from Super Mario Bros. 3, known in Brazilian dubbing for the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 as "seven-league boots". The weirdest thing ever is: why would a gadget like this to be in possession of a terrifying humanized version of Big Bertha?!
Copyright: Eduardo Jardim (Reino do Cogumelo) April 14th, 2011 — Nintendo Blast | <urn:uuid:ac887afb-8122-402e-aa14-63b8ab67a47d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smbmovie.com/SMBArchive/specials/editorials/marioBits_stompers.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951325 | 652 | 1.679688 | 2 |
The Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (the Foundation’s publishing house) began compiling a unique catalogue in the human and social sciences in the 1970s. It brings together high-level scientific publications, most of which resulted from collaborations with other institutions, both French (EHESS, CNRS, INRA, Institut de France, and the Ministries of Culture and Communication, National Education, and Research) and foreign.
With more than 1,000 titles, 26 collections, 18 journals (14 of which are online), the various publications embody the scientific policy of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, which is recognized as being of public utility. This policy of openness is reinforced by an official status and missions that make the FMSH a place that is increasingly conducive to encounters and exchanges between nations, cultures, institutions, and disciplines.
Today, the Éditions de la MSH is expanding its activities in the framework of the reflection and initiatives promoted by the Foundation to adapt itself to the profound transformations brought about by new technologies and to use them to their full potential in order to ensure faster, more effective, and broader diffusion of scientific information and findings of individual and collective research.
While traditional publishing must remain a reference point, it needs to be carefully reshaped and must henceforth coexist with other diffusion methods.
Regarding the diffusion of this research, it must meet the requirements of scientific communities, the configurations of which are increasingly international and less national: no matter what thematic area or discipline is concerned, information must be able to reach its readers wherever they may be, and readers must be able to compare, in real time, the results of their research with those of their colleagues.
As part of its goal to ensure quality publications by attentive and rigorous preparation procedures, the Éditions have opted to diversify their fabrication, diffusion, and distribution techniques to keep abreast of the evolving market of scientific publications.
It is through this image of diversity that we invite you to discover our publishing house, an image that accurately depicts our initiative and our Foundation, a veritable crossroads of knowledge and man. | <urn:uuid:32c3189d-1481-47ac-abc7-1798a4f94158> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.msh-paris.fr/en/distribution/publications/?taillepolice=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934786 | 444 | 1.679688 | 2 |
General News of Thursday, 12 January 2012
The First lady, Dr. (Mrs.) Ernestina Naadu Mills has called for the need for governments to focus on women empowerment issues in alleviating poverty world-wide. She said that the world has come far in major sectors yet women involvement and participation in major policy decisions continue to remain a challenge.
The first lady made these remarks during a meeting with a delegation from CARE; a global humanitarian organization from the United States of America in Accra. The group comprised congressmen and senior US representatives who are in the country on a five-day learning tour to focus on the issues of health, governance, education, gender, and nutrition.
They are expected to experience at first hand how critical United States investments are making a difference in the lives of developing nations. The first lady expressed her delight at the visit as it provided her an opportunity to share some of the major government interventions in addressing challenges facing women and children.
Particularly in the area of increasing women participation in decision making, the first lady noted that more workshops have been held in all ten regions of Ghana to advance the call for women inclusion in decisions that affect them. Dr. Mrs. Naadu Mills also shared her thoughts on reducing the alarming number of girls who leave their homes especially those in the three northern regions of Ghana in search of non-existent jobs in Accra. This development has compounded the issue of streetism with its attendant problems.
She further stressed that it is important for the state and individuals to provide the needed incentives and enabling environment to discourage these girls from embarking on such risky journeys.
The first lady used the occasion to brief the delegation on her just ended nationwide campaign on reducing pregnancy related deaths which she described as very successful. The campaign she said formed part of the first phase of her tour which was to bring policy makers to a round table to dialogue on ways of encouraging society to take maternal health issues serious.
The group however expressed gratitude to the first lady for championing these major issues in society and serving as a strong voice for the vulnerable. They pledged their commitment to trumpet extensively the good works of Ghana’s first lady to the rest of the world. | <urn:uuid:84c0b248-09f4-4364-b0e6-1ad8eb628cc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=227543 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961984 | 446 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Video:DIY Magazine Tablewith Julie Edmonds
By recycling a few old magazines, you can make a modern-looking side table or stand that will be a unique element to your home. Find out how to fold magazines into a fun, DIY table.See Transcript
Transcript:DIY Magazine TableHey everybody! This is Julie Edmonds for About.com. At our house we love reading and get new magazines every week - and though the magazines are great after a while we find a large buildup of back issues.
Recycling Magazines Into a TableMost of these end up going into the recycling, but wouldn’t it be great if you could make something out of them for the house without too much work? Well one thing you can do is make magazine stands out of them, so you are saving the magazines from the trash without creating more clutter.
Magazine Table Supplies NeededYou'll need just a few things to make this project happen:
- at least 4 old magazines (the thicker the better)
- glue stick
Prepare the MagazinesFirst things first, pull out all of the subscription cards and perfume samples, really anything made of paper stock that is different then the magazines pages. Next, open the magazine and lay it on its back with all the pages to the right and only the cover to the left.
Form the First Magazine Table LayersNow take a bunch of pages, approximately 10 or so including the front cover, and run the glue stick along the front and back edge of the grouping, then fold them all together to the right (toward the back cover.) sticking the outer edge into the magazines spine. Like this. Don’t crease the fold-- you want it to make an arc. If you do it right when you look at the end it will make a kind of tear drop shape.
Next you are going to repeat this for the whole magazine, until the last 10 pages or so. Those pages should be folded in the other direction so that you have some spine to tuck them into. When you are done you have what looks like a puffy paper rainbow. Now repeat this with at last 3 more magazines.
When you have them all done take two and place them back to back. Do the same with the next two being sure to offset the seam where the covers are back to back on the second layer. By offsetting them it will make them much more stable. They should be strong enough for putting plants on top of them.
Use the Magazine TableIn our house we use these as plant stands so our cat can’t get at the dirt and so the plants get enough light from the window, not to mention we love their literary look in our office. By recycling old magazines you save waste, and create something useful and attractive for your house.
Thanks for watching! To learn more, visit us on the Web at about.com.
About videos are made available on an "as is" basis, subject to the User Agreement. | <urn:uuid:65c526c8-b750-42a7-9401-74c8532c58b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://video.about.com/budgetdecorating/DIY-Magazine-Table.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93213 | 617 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Legendary UK musician, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, has reiterated his strong support for the Palestinian campaign for self-determination in a statement announcing a forthcoming conference in Brazil to support and expand the global movement for Palestinian rights.
Waters’ is a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel.
The World Social Forum Free Palestine will take place in November 2012 in Porto Alegre.
“The object will be to create an international gathering there,” said Waters, “that will encourage the basic human instinct in all men and women of good faith to unite in support of the Palestinian people in their struggle for self determination.”
Waters visited Palestine in 2006 and painted graffiti on Israel’s apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank.
Since that time, Waters observed in his statement, “All over the world, our movement is growing.”
Full statement by Roger Waters
Rio de Janeiro Wednesday 28th March 2012
Since visiting Israel and the occupied territories in 2006, I have been part of an international movement to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
I am honored to have been asked by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, to announce an initiative, to hold the World Social Forum Free Palestine in Porto Alegre, Brazil in November of this year, in cooperation with the Brazilian social movement and international civil society networks.
The object will be to create an international gathering there, that will encourage the basic human instinct in all men and women of good faith to unite in support of the Palestinian people in their struggle for self determination.
All over the world, our movement is growing.
Encouraged by events like the one coming here to Brazil, our voice will grow.
We will continue our call for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, for the tearing down of The Walls of colonization and apartheid, for the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem, for the granting of full and equal rights to the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel and for promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes as required by the Geneva convention, as stipulated in UN resolution 194, in 1949 and as restated by the International Court of Justice on the 9th of July 2004.
I find myself greatly encouraged by the growth of this movement in Israel, particularly among young Jewish Israelis, not least ‘Boycott From Within,’ With whom I am in contact.
We stand with you.
Events in Israel and the occupied territories are not widely or accurately reported in the west. The coming World Social Forum Free Palestine in Porto Alegre will help to break down The Walls of misinformation and complicity.
I urge people of conscience to support this forum and help make it a turning point in the international solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The truth will set us free | <urn:uuid:b7cbd3f3-a0be-4a99-97a8-33f501a61b00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://electronicintifada.net/comment/4117 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933672 | 594 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Few cars carry as direct a link between motorsports and the showroom as the Boss 302. Parnelli Jones drove a Mustang, powered by a canted-valve, hand built, 5 liter engine and four speed manual, and you could go to your local dealer and have one, too! Hey—the production cars even ran his stripes! A big carb, a big intake, big heads opened a lot of eyes to small block power, and the power waiting to be unleashed with a simple set of headers and an aggressive cam are the stuff of legend. This example here is quite the street fighter, packing the Boss engine, 3.91 gears and little else. It’s as close as you could get to a Mustang race car with license plates in 1970! Click on Read more for more!
Posts Tagged ‘carb’
Since its introduction in the early 60’s, the Ford Mustang has experienced periods of highs and periods of lows. The good thing about the Mustang is that Ford has never taken its eyes off this iconic car. It is a testament to good old-fashioned engineering backed by powerful engine muscle. There have been many variations of the Ford Mustang during the years, and we’ll have a look at a few that seemed more special than the others. Some of these cars are limited-edition (less than 5,000 units) and some have large production numbers (more than 100,000) but they have one thing in common. They are the among the best muscle cars in the world.
Originally an open track car, this 1968 Ford Mustang has been returned to road spec whilst retaining a number of race car features. It still has the full roll cage, although the side impact bars have been removed to ease getting in and out. The motor is a small block screamer that happily spins the wheels in the first three gears! Suspension is all Global West’s finest making the car handle better than any 45 years old car should. It actually handles better than a number of modern sports cars! This is helped by the power rack and pinion steering and awesome Baer brakes which benefit from a Hydratech hydraulic power unit and P-Zero tires. Read more! | <urn:uuid:0a1b594b-b437-4c03-bf10-210999f8ca72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.musclevehicles.com/tag/carb/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966861 | 452 | 1.59375 | 2 |
When the bell rings, they calmly make their way to class, passing by her as they go from one building to another. One student even stops long enough to greet her with a “Good morning, officer.”
Officer Figueroa said it's about being a presence at the school to help keep everyone safe.
The Tyler native, who works as a school resource officer, was hired in July and is the only female officer in the Whitehouse Police Department. She represents a growing trend of females entering the profession.
Michael Ferguson, deputy director of the East Texas Police Academy, said women consistently are in basic academies, and an estimated four or five women were going through as of October.
The number of women is “steadily getting better. We're very proud of the fact that it's becoming such a good profession. It used to be people didn't want to get into it because it was seen as male only,” he said.
Ferguson attributed the increase in women officers to the fact that gender equality became more accepted, and people now see role models on TV for female officers.
As far as women going to a larger department versus a smaller department, he believes gender is irrelevant and that both have their benefits.
Regardless of what department an officer goes to, gender shouldn't be a factor for women who want to enter the profession, Ferguson said.
“In my opinion, this is the greatest career you can have. You get to give back to the community. You still get to make a difference in the world,” he said.
Female officers stumbled upon that career in different ways.
At first, Figueroa wanted to be a paralegal. However, she was sponsored through the police academy and became an officer.
Some female students “won't go to a male and say 'I've been sexually assaulted' or 'I'm having a problem,'” he said. “They're more apt to go to a female officer and talk to her.”
He said not having a female officer was also an issue in other situations. For instance, he said when a female needed to be patted down, it was difficult because the department had to call another entity, such as the Smith County Sheriff's Office, to come in, and they weren't always available.
Officer Figueroa said being a woman is a concern because it can be a little more challenging to be taken seriously. But she said it can be done, and she's enjoyed Whitehouse.
“I haven't really encountered anyone not respecting me because I'm a female…” she said. “I did train in the field and patrol, (and) I (didn't) encounter anyone being angry or hard to handle. Everyone's been welcome actually to the idea of a female working in Whitehouse.”
Officer Debra Daily, the only female officer in the Troup Police Department, said being in the Army National Guard convinced her to go into law enforcement.
“I'd wanted to do it for a long time, but I, just about three years ago, joined the Army National Guard, and that's what made me do it. (It was) appealing. You get to help other people,” she said.
In Troup, officers do the hiring. Chief Pat Hendrix said 54 candidates applied for the position that eventually went to Daily, who stood out because of her military experience.
“Over half our department is ex-military, which means they have discipline, stability (and) maturity,” he said. “She's still a rookie, but she just made probation and is doing a good job.”
Overall, Daily said she wasn't concerned about being a woman in the profession.
“We're pretty close here,” she said. “There (are) not a lot of us, (and) we all have each other's backs. If there's a problem, we can go to anyone in the department. There's not a lot of bickering and fighting. It's like a big family.”
She said she also noticed that children are more apt to speak with her than some male officers.
She said when several girls in high school have asked her about being a female officer, she tells them to, “Go for it.”
“It's a great job. It's a great experience. It's just going to make them stronger,” she said.
Jacksonville patrol officer Amanda Lewis worked as a dispatcher before becoming an officer. After 10 years as a dispatcher, she said she realized the potential of the officer position.
“I could effect change and put a positive impact on my community,” she said via email. “I would have the power to be someone's voice when they thought they could not speak after being in a neglected or abusive situation.
“I could give someone just a bit of hope to hold onto when they felt like giving up on looking for help. I was the public's lifeline for so many years, just behind the glass. I came out to the streets because I am a servant of the Lord and this is what He has called me to do.”
As far as being a female on the force, she said she works with men that she respects and adores, and is treated “just as one of the guys” without any special treatment.
“It took us time to gain each other's trust and respect. Out on the streets, all you have is each other. They all know I will always have their backs, and trust me so at the end of the day we can all go home to our families,” Lewis said via email. “I have learned so much from observing them over the past year and about myself too. I have evolved, and taken my place in this department. I think we all have something special we bring to the table, which makes us a great team.”
Female officers in the Tyler Police Department shared the same sentiments as those in smaller departments.
Community Response Officer Toska Graham, who has been with the department four years, said while working at the Children's Advocacy Center of Smith County, she met a lot of police officers, who convinced her to apply with Tyler police.
She said she's sure the fact that she would be a woman in the field crossed her mind, but detectives were extremely polite and encouraged her to go into the field.
“It didn't seem like anything that would be a detriment or hindrance to me,” she said.
Since coming on, she said she doesn't think there's any big difference between being a male or female on the force.
“I don't feel like I don't fit in or that there's any kind of segregation,” she said. “I just feel like I'm part of the group.”
As an officer doing educational and child fingerprinting programs, she said there are male and female officers who work great with children, and everybody tries to capitalize on their strengths.
Tyler Police Department spokesman Don Martin added, “I think it is an advantage that, especially the young school children, associate with all of the above. In other words, they're going to see a female officer, and a little girl may say 'Well, I want to do that too one day…' They identify with the female officer versus the male officers or it could be vice versa, so it's a compliment of all. When we're out dealing with them, they're going to see what they like or don't like, and that's what gets them interested in law enforcement.”
Assistant Tyler Police Chief Diannia Jackson, a 28-year veteran of the department, started as a dispatcher and moved up the ranks.
Working in dispatch, she said she interacted a lot with police officers, and that helped lead her to further her career.
She said she too wasn't concerned about being a female in the profession, which may be because she knew it wouldn't be an issue being female.
“There's not really a distinction between saying male and female that you're treated differently, especially here. We're just officers. We train the same, and where one has a weakness, the other one may be stronger in that area and be able to help out,” Jackson said.
She said female officers will sometimes run into conflicts with alleged offenders, but that happens to male and female officers. She said on patrol, residents who are rude will be rude no matter the gender.
“All of our females do an outstanding job here and work hand in hand with our male officers,” she said. “We're just officers, and we do the best we can to protect the citizens of Tyler.”
She added, “You can look at my career and what all I have been blessed to do here and see that there's not a glass ceiling for females in this profession. There (are) a lot of opportunities, a lot of things available. So if you're female, if you're male and want to get into the police department, it would be a good career for anyone who's interested in being a law enforcement officer.” | <urn:uuid:7d488269-faf6-4b6a-8d95-b0002167e51e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tylerpaper.com/article/20121125/NEWS01/121129906/0/BUSINESS0509 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988694 | 1,932 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Jaxter was born to steal. Seriously. His family is good at it and he’s learned from the best. The Grimjinx family knows how to swindle, forge, heist, pickpocket and burgle. It’s their way.
But just because you are BORN to steal, just because you have been taught HOW, doesn’t mean you are GOOD at it. Jaxter has butterfingers. He’s clumsy. Frankly, he’s not that interested. What he DOES know though, is plants. Yes, plants, but not just ANY plants, magic-resistant plants. In the world he lives in, knowing how to resist bad magic is an important skill. When the fate of his family, even his whole town, rests on his shoulders, Jaxter uses his head and relies on his friends to think his way out of a prophecy that seems destined to predict their demise.
A laugh outloud, unpredictable journey across a magical land full of memorable characters and original magical creatures, powers and rules. Author: Brian Farrey
The Newbery Medal book for this year, announced in January, was The One and Only Ivan…a story based on a real gorilla who used to live at Zoo Atlanta. Today at 3:30pm zookeepers at Zoo Atlanta will be presenting a webcast to remember Ivan, who died August 20, 2012. Ivan was a beloved zoo resident missed by many.
From Zoo Atlanta : “We’ll discuss the real Ivan, who called Zoo Atlanta home for 18 years. From the jungles of Africa to the shores of the Pacific Northwest to The Ford African Rain Forest at Zoo Atlanta, his life has become a symbol of the way animals shape our lives — and the power we have to shape theirs. We’ll be joined by our educator instructor Carvel Bennett and primate keeper Jodi Carrigan, who was Ivan’s close friend for 10 years.”
Ivan the gorilla lives at the Exit 8 Bigtop Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan lives in a small glass domain with nothing but a food bowl, a stuffed toy and a television…and the humans that come and press their faces to the glass and point and stare. The zoo owner sometimes gives Ivan a crayon or paint. Ivan likes to draw pictures.
Hello. I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It’s not as easy as it looks. People call me the Freeway Gorilla. The Ape at Exit 8. The One and Only Ivan. Mighty Silverback. The names are mine, but they’re not me. I am Ivan, just Ivan, only Ivan. (pages 1-2)
Doesn’t that remind you of Harry Potter when he says to Hagrid in the Sorcerer’s Stone movie, “But I’m just…just Harry!”
Ivan does have a couple friends, an old elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob that sneaks into Ivan’s cage every night to sleep on his warm belly. The three of them get by. They don’t talk much about what could be better, they just deal with every day. When the Exit 8 Big Top owner realizes attendance is way down he buys a baby elephant, a terrified baby elephant named Ruby, to make more people want to visit.
We’ve got a new arrival. This is Ruby, folks. Six hundred pounds of fun to save our sorry butts. This gal is gonna sell us some tickets.” (page 69)
Ruby’s arrival makes Stella and Ivan see their situation in a different way. Stella, in particular, can’t stand the idea of Ruby growing up at the mall. While Ivan and Stella have grown old and gotten to the point where life at the mall is good enough, they don’t think life at the mall is good enough for Ruby. So, in the spirit of Charlotte’s Web, Ivan hatches a plan hoping to save Ella from a lonely life at the mall, a plan that just might save the others too. You’ll cry and cheer both. It’s cool to see Ivan get his Mighty back. He isn’t just Ivan. He’s Ivan the Mighty Silverback. Author: Katherine Applegate
Ivan’s story is based on a real gorilla that lived for 27 years in a mall zoo but now lives at Zoo Atlanta in a habitat made especially for gorillas. Ivan will turn 50 this year! You can read about him and the effort it took to move him to his current home.
NPR: Ivan Dies at 50 – a Gorilla Life Remembered Best Quote “Ivan’s story has touched thousands of people. He reminded us that even as we must face the “big” conservation and environmental problems with an ecosystem approach, we can’t forget the individuals, each of whom has a story, a personality and a history.” ~Barbara J. King Now Katherine Applegate’s book will help Ivan’s story touch thousands more.
If you like Ivan here are some more stories that imagine what life would be like from the animal’s point of view. We can never really know of course, but it IS interesting to imagine. You also might like to read about the gorilla Koko. Koko learned sign language, which makes you wonder if we CAN learn a little about what animals think. The last four books are about scientists who study gorillas in the wild or in captivity. Really, really fascinating. And I’m warnin’ ya…the animal stories will make you cry, just like Ivan. If you have a pet you’ll go hug it and think more about your responsibility and what it means to have an animal friend.
A picture book biography telling the story of Sylvia Earle’s growing passion for the wonders of the sea and how her ocean exploration and advocacy have made her known around the world. Author: Claire Nivola
Try to imagine swimming with whales, walking the ocean floor, and spending over seven thousand hours underwater. This beautiful picture book biography introduces young readers to a woman who has done all that and more. Sylvia Earle has been a scientist about as long as she can remember. When she was a little girl her laboratory was the pond and woods on her family’s New Jersey farm. At the age of twelve Sylvia moved with her family to a new home in Florida bringing the Gulf of Mexico right up to her backyard. The ocean became Sylvia Earle’s new laboratory where she has dedicated her life to exploring what she calls, “the blue heart of the planet”.
Recommended by: Catherine Lutholtz Bridge – The Learning Curve at Central Library
Ever since they were Snotsippers, Jack and the girl have fought, until one day she steals his bike and as he and the Amigos try to recover it, Jack realizes that he is growing up and must eventually leave the “goodlands and badlands of Hokey Pokey.”
“Readers who love the classic Peter Pan, will be fascinated by Newbery Medalist, Jerry Spinelli’s latest book, Hokey Pokey.
Only children live in Hokey Pokey. Here Newbies, Snotsippers, Gapper Gums and Big kids spend endless days playing at what they like most. There’s the Doll Farm, Trucks, Playground, watching cartoons on the Big Screen and riding bikes. Jack, the oldest, smartest, and fastest bike rider is their leader. He can answer any question, settle disputes and rescue the helpless. One day Jack’s beloved bike, Scramjet is stolen and something is different. He discovers an unexpected outcome. “
Recommended by Beverly Elrod, Haughville Branch Library
Clara is a lonely only child growing up in a grief-filled house. Her parents are overwhelmed with sadness after the deaths of all of brothers and sisters. Not just one. ALL of them. Every holiday, every Sunday even, the family walks to the cemetery and remembers “the Others”. It’s very hard for Clara to have so many days of her life taken up with mourning. And it isn’t that she doesn’t miss her brothers and sisters. She does. But she is having trouble figuring out how to LIVE now that they are gone.
For her 12th birthday Clara begs to have a puppet show. She longs for something fun because there is just so much sadness in her house. She pleads. She cries. She gets her way! And when Grisini and his assistants, two orphans named Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, come to perform they are SO good the show seems like MAGIC! It’s like the marionettes have no strings. They move just like people!
When Clara disappears after the puppet show Grisini is suspect #1, but no one can find him. Lizzie Rose and Parsefal can’t even find him…but they do notice a new puppet, one that looks really, really familiar. Can you guess where this is going? Lizzie Rose and Parsefal are tough and street wise and know how to take care of business, even when the business gets a little creepy. And in this book, it sure DOES.
Lizzie Rose and Parsefal follow this mystery to a creepy old country house as well as the creepy old lady who lives there. Again, I mean CREEPY. They need to be brave and smart and resourceful. They also have to know how to be a good friend. Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
This is a great read for lovers of Coraline or The Graveyard Book. Spooky. Spooky wonderful! It has a creepy old mansion like The Secret Garden, and ghostly characters like The Aviary and The Shadows. If you like to read stories with just a little bit of shiver in them…try Splendors & Glooms or one of these: | <urn:uuid:ed1772a7-c5d9-4eab-a943-e57b16bcc58e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imcpl.org/kids/blog/?tag=2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96115 | 2,107 | 1.5 | 2 |
Amazingly detailed and gracefully beautiful, Alasia's tempera-on-papyrus paintings meld the stunning style of ancient Egyptian art with the mysteries of the Tarot. To shape the interpretations, Alasia relied on the conceptions of Jean-Baptiste Pitois, who linked the The Classical Tarots cards are a feast for the eyes, employing delicate, detailed line work and deep, rich colors. Lush and vibrant, these cards illustrate the drama, the complexity, and even the humor and weirdness of life. This deck is authentically reproduced from the original, with the modern addition of a white border with a key word in English, Italian, French, and German for each card.
This reading—actually four short readings done as a group—was inspired by the Kabbalist concept of the four worlds, with their four Trees of Life and the connections to the four suits of the Minor Arcana. You can actually do this reading as a ritual, though it is not required. Here is how to set up the ritual part: You will need a room with enough space to lay cards out on the floor in four...
The Mibramig Magical Tarot is created by an artist named Mabramig; I know very little about him except that he is male; lives in Italy; and has a whimsical, surreal style.
I also know that he has been influenced by great ethologists, such as Konrad Lorenz (said to be the father of ethology). Ethology is the study of animal behavior in natural... read this article | <urn:uuid:d2c9e161-6588-403c-bff9-6500253031fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738700151 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954263 | 322 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Dr. Hezikiah Johnson of Sears Optical conducts an eye exam during a vision clinic Tuesday at Sherwood Acres Elementary School. The clinic was facilitated by the Samaritan Clinic in Albany to target uninsured children.
ALBANY — Samaritan Clinic, a non-profit community health care provider, continued its partnership with the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation Kids Program with a focus on serving children in the Dougherty County School System by facilitating a vision clinic at Sherwood Acres Elementary School this week.
Students who had no insurance of any kind were eligible for the free vision program. All eye exams were performed in the school beginning at 7:30 a.m., at which time eligible children had a fully dilated eye examination and the chance to choose their own eyeglass frames if they needed them.
There were up to 30 permission slips that came back from parents expressing interest in the clinic, but a majority of the children were not seen because it was targeted specifically to those who were uninsured, officials say.
There were roughly 10 children seen at the clinic, with the exams being conducted in one room by Dr. Hezikiah Johnson of Sears Optical with frame fittings being done in another room across the hall.
The clinic at Sherwood Acres was the first one to be conducted in a Dougherty school, said Nedra Fortson, executive director of the Samaritan Clinic in Albany. Officials hope others will follow.
“We hope we can make this a countywide initiative,” Fortson said.
Since May, the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation Kids Program has provided 200 children with eye exams and/or eyeglasses across the state, officials say. Traditionally, children with vision needs in Albany were served through the Samaritan Clinic office located on North Jefferson Street. However, on the heels of Lighthouse’s 2011 success of providing access to vision services to elementary, middle and high school students in one community, the school-based, youth vision program came to life.
“Georgia Lions Lighthouse started a kids program that proved to be successful. They decided to bring it down to Albany,” said Fortson. “As a result of that, a few kids will have an eye exam (in the area’s schools).
“The need is definitely here.”
Not only does it have the benefit of providing care the children might not get otherwise, it helps it close the achievement gap from the standpoint that students who see better are better able to do well in school, coordinators say.
“They wouldn’t be able to get glasses otherwise,” said Lois Reed, a volunteer with the Samaritan Clinic. “This is why we provide glasses for children.
“We don’t always realize how many children are uninsured.”
The Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to vision and hearing services to those in financial need. Last year alone, the Lighthouse Foundation served 6,000 uninsured and underinsured Georgians, officials say, and is able to maintain a statewide reach by setting up mobile equipment in 23 clinic locations across the state on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
The Samaritan Clinic has been the Lighthouse’s vision partner in Albany since 2008. Through this partnership, 212 Dougherty County residents have received 15 eye surgeries, 113 eye exams and 147 pairs of eyeglasses. Due to the in-kind services of its medical providers and volunteers, these services total $108,533, officials with the clinic say.
Officials also say that the Samaritan Clinic further provides medical, breast and cervical cancer screenings, diabetes monitoring and education, medication assistance and emergency dental services for patients who qualify. | <urn:uuid:cb16bcea-99a5-417d-8ed1-58db2a96de74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2012/dec/14/needy-kids-receive-eye-examinations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968865 | 768 | 1.820313 | 2 |
By Gina Trapani
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
In an excerpt from "Out With It: Gay and Straight Teens Write About Homosexuality," Gina Trapani recalls her own difficult days as a teen trying to reintroduce herself to family and friends.
(WOMENSENEWS)--I remember sitting on the couch next to my Dad watching the news on television when I was about 10 years old.
There was a report on about the gay and lesbian parade going on in Manhattan. I did not know what it meant to be gay.
I asked my father and he told me, "That's when two men or two women love each other like a boy and a girl do."
"Why would someone want to do that?" I asked.
Without ever looking at me, he answered, "Well, they can't help it. Gay people are just born like that, like having brown eyes."
"Oh," I said, thinking that it sounded really weird. But then I became worried. What if I turned out to be gay?
So I said to my Dad, "What would you do if I was gay, daddy?"
He jumped up and looked at me and said, "Why?"
"I was just wondering," I answered, sorry that I had asked at all.
"Well, you would still be my daughter," he said, sitting down again. But for some reason his answer didn't make me feel any better.
A few years later, during my freshman year in high school, I met Jennifer.
We became very close, but I knew that the way I felt about her was different from the way I felt about my other close friends.
I was very possessive of Jennifer and didn't want to share her with anyone else. At times I even felt jealous of the guys she liked.
Soon I began to realize that I liked her as more than just a friend. It was very scary for me to think about it, because I'd heard how the girls in school would talk about "lezzies" and the disgusting things they did.
It was hard to figure out whether or not I was just confused, or if I really was a l-e-s . . . Yuck, I couldn't even say the word.
That summer, because of how out of control I felt, because I couldn't handle the feelings I was having, I ended my friendship with Jennifer. I never told her why.
Marilyn and Elaine were my two best friends. We had been in school together since first grade.
They were always there for me and always understood me when I had a problem. I was sure that after they got used to the idea they would open up to me and everything would be the same as it had always been between us. So I just said straight out, "I think that I am a lesbian."
They were shocked. They asked me a couple of questions. But after that one time, they never mentioned it again.
Soon we started to talk less and less about anything at all. I don't know if who I am caused that to happen. But I do know that it made me feel really bad.
I learned the hard way that they were not my real friends, and I also learned that I had to be very careful about who I told and who I absolutely could not tell.
Finally I decided that it was time I went out and found people who I could talk to, who would understand how I felt: other gays and lesbians my age.
I remember standing outside the door of a drop-in center for gay teens in Greenwich Village, afraid to go inside. I had no idea what to expect, and I was petrified that I wouldn't fit in there, either.
Finally, I just walked in. A funny-looking girl with a baseball cap came up to me and said, "Hi, I'm Marie."
Marie became one of my best friends; a real best friend, because I know that she loves me for who I am, completely.
Marie told me about a group that was forming for lesbian and bisexual women who are under 21.
The next week I went to one of their meetings and the women there made me feel right at home. It felt great to be able to goof around with them, joking about ourselves and the people around us. If I talked like that with my straight friends, they wouldn't understand.
Ever since that first meeting, I've gone back every week. I've finally found a place where I can be myself and belong.
Excerpted with permission from "Out With It: Gay and Straight Teens Write About Homosexuality" (Youth Communication), edited by Al Desetta.
Gina Trapani, now 33 years old, wrote this story when she was 17. After graduating from college, she became a tech writer and Web developer. She is the founding editor of http://www.lifehacker.com.
Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at | <urn:uuid:259400bf-5304-4329-a528-f5b5c507ba3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womensenews.org/story/our-daily-lives/090520/her-teens-coming-out-meant-finding-new-friends | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994182 | 1,039 | 1.5625 | 2 |
While running for U.S. Senate against the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, Willard Mitt Romney famously told the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, "I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent."
Now as a candidate for president, former Gov. Mitt Romney faces off against a pair of culture warriors: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who is steadfast in his support for so called "traditional marriage" despite having cheated on at least two of his ex-wives, and Rick "don't Google me" Santorum who talks about gay sex more than I do and I'm an out and proud gay man.
So, what's the former Massachusetts governor to do?
Talk out of both sides of his mouth of course.
During his campaigns for the Republican nomination, Romney has been quick to note his record of opposing marriage equality in his home state before pivoting to
he opposes "discrimination against gay people."
Before we get any deeper into his views on the LGBT community whom he claims he'd oppose discriminating against, it's worth reviewing the legal discrimination gays and lesbians currently face in this country. Some facts Romney may find surprising:
- Gay people like me can be fired from my job simply for being gay in 29 states.
- Gay people like me can be denied housing simply for being gay in 30 states.
- Gay people like me cannot jointly adopt a child in 34 states if they find that special someone and want to start a family.
- Gay kids in school are not protected from anti-gay bullying and harassment in 33 states.
- It is even worse in each of these categories for transgender men and women.
While Romney opposes marriage equality, it's worth pointing out these numbers as well:
- Gay people like me can enter into a loving, legally and equally recognized relationship in only 6 states and DC though none of them enjoy federal benefits or recognition. (Note: Marriage equality may soon be coming to Washington, Maryland, Maine, and New Jersey.)
That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the state sanctioned discrimination against LGBT people in America. There are many other examples where the gay community is relegated to second-class citizenship status at the local, state, and national level.
Having a Republican leader like Romney say he opposes marriage equality while also opposing discrimination against gays and lesbians should sound like progress even if only a little. Unfortunately, as is often the case with the former Massachusetts governor, Romney has taken public positions in direct conflict with his claimed opposition to LGBT discrimination.
Most notably, Romney opposes the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which would protect LGBT people from being fired simply for being who they are.
It's no wonder Evangelical conservatives are uneasy with Romney given his pandering throughout the 1990s. LGBT people should feel just as uneasy given his lip service and inability to back up his words with sound public policy positions that clearly show his supposed opposition to LGBT discrimination.
Romney is trying to have it both ways—he claims to be both opposed and supportive of us at the same time. It may be the best we can expect from a leading national Republican but it's not the best we should expect from a president.
- Read an interview with the first openly gay U.S. ambassador James Hormel.
- Washington Whispers: Michelle Obama's SOTU Guests Feature Trailblazing Lesbians
- Vote: Should the Defense of Marriage Act Be Repealed?
Note from the author 1/30/2012: This entry was originally titled, "Mitt Romney Goes 'Bi' for Gays," a play on words used again within the post. In retrospect I now see that my attempt at humor through word choice was not only in bad taste but perhaps even deeply offensive to the bisexual community. At no time did I intend to hold the bisexual community up for ridicule. To the contrary. My ire was reserved for Mitt Romney and the post has been updated accordingly. | <urn:uuid:9683c450-dc0b-4b8d-92ae-d2a46f3e4de8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/karl-frisch/2012/01/27/having-it-both-ways-mitt-romney-goes-bi-for-gays?s_cid=rss:opinion-blog:having-it-both-ways-mitt-romney-goes-bi-for-gays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976773 | 821 | 1.796875 | 2 |
By Julia Lundberg
A “new occupation” set off Tuesday at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland: a group of people started up a 24/7 vigil outside City Hall. Kicking things off, a group yesterday attempted to erect a symbolic tee-pee (a conical Native American tent) to remind the public of historic struggles, while also commemorating the former Occupy camp. It quickly became obvious that the city will not allow anything resembling an encampment, as they rushed to stop the protesters. After some legal negotiations, the tee-pee was issued a permit to be erected between 6 am and 10 pm for the coming three days.
Wednesday evening will see more action. The scene for Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly, which typically is held at Frank Ogawa plaza, will instead be at the Fruitvale Bart station. It will be accompanied by a rally to protest what demonstrators call the criminalization and incarceration of people in poor communities, and it is in solidarity with Occupy Phoenix’s attempt to shut down ALEC, America Legisative Exchange Council. | <urn:uuid:a15a0a49-7b2c-4e38-b153-ad0c663bcaeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://informant.kalwnews.org/2011/11/occupy-oakland-the-new-occupation-begins/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949238 | 217 | 1.6875 | 2 |
I was wondering if anyone can answer a question for me. Is there a difference between Autodesk PLM 360 and Autodesk 360? I am attending Autodesk University and I am debating about taking the PLM 360 class because the company I work for uses Autodesk 360. Is it the same program with a new name or is it a totally different program? Would taking the PLM 360 classes benefit me at work or will it not help? Thanks!
Solved! Go to Solution.
Welcome to the forums! In response to your quest, yes PLM 360 is a different program than Autodesk 360.
PLM 360 is a web based Product Life Management Application (you can learn more at http://www.autodeskplm360.com/ )
Autodesk 360 is a web based app for storage and collaboration for design work (you can learn more about it here https://360.autodesk.com/landing)
Hope this helps and Make sure you stop by and say hi at AU.
Yes and no, Yes taking the PLM 360 will not help you with Autodesk 360. However, since you’re already there, and if you have the time, taking an intro class to PLM 360 might be worthwhile. Many companies have found PLM 360 a very useful tool to help manage a variety of operations with in their current processes and have found other great uses for it as well. | <urn:uuid:cf64f292-710d-48f4-a2ca-91f083ccdaa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Autodesk-PLM-360/Difference-between-PLM-360-and-just-360/m-p/3646434 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937542 | 299 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Last week, Indiana became the third state to allow domestic abuse victims to apply for wallet-sized cards intended to help police take action against abusers who violate court orders.
The free Hope Cards will include the abuse victim’s information and details about protective orders or restraining orders they have obtained, along with the name, photo and description of the abuser it covers.
This is a major safety move for domestic abuse victims. When police are called, officers immediately know that a protective order is in place, and they can act accordingly.
Without evidence of a protective order, the officers are placed in an almost untenable position. They can’t simply rely on a person’s word in those cases. They must respect the rights of each party.
A Franklin woman who was the victim of an abusive husband carried her papers with her wherever she went in case her ex-husband showed up in violation of the restraining order the court issued against him. Fortunately, she never had to produce the sheaf of papers. Had she been able to carry a Hope Card, she wouldn’t have been forced to tote around the documents.
In announcing the program, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said that in crisis situations, such as a confrontation with an abuser, victims can’t always find or access the multipage court orders police must see before arresting someone for violating an order. Hope Cards will allow abuse victims to more quickly give officers the essentials of their order — and specifics about the person it covers, he said.
Zoeller said between 10,000 and 12,000 Indiana victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking likely would meet the criteria to obtain one of the cards.
“It’s not a small problem. It’s a significant thing for the courts and for law enforcement,” he said.
Indiana is the third state after Montana and Idaho to offer victims the cards. The program is open only to people who have been under protective orders for a year or longer.
Michelle Bumgarner, director of victim advocacy programs for the attorney general’s office, said more than 75 victim advocates and others who aid domestic violence victims already have received training to help eligible residents apply for the cards.
She said her father, a retired police officer, told her the cards would be a valuable tool for law enforcement to quickly confirm information in volatile domestic abuse scenarios.
“Time is of the essence in those situations,” Bumgarner said.
The Hope Cards are not an absolute guarantee of a victim’s safety, no more than the protective orders they represent. But they do offer a more practical and transportable way for victims to show police whose word can be trusted during emotional confrontations.
We urge all victims of domestic abuse who are eligible to apply for a Hope Card and to carry it. It could help defuse a potentially life-threatening situation.
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All content copyright ©2013 The Republic, a division of Home News Enterprises unless otherwise noted. | <urn:uuid:397420bb-8c3c-41bc-9c46-c536a8b5952c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.therepublic.com/view/local_story/New-cards-give-hope-for-abuse-_1345611092 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959497 | 635 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Bad facts make for a troubling decision in United States v. Tony Mix, __ F.3d. __, Slip. Op. 3577 (9th Cir. Mar. 30, 2006), decision available here. In Mix, the Ninth upholds a Booker sentence above the guidelines, to life in prison. The case is consistent with a national trend; sentences are actually higher after Booker. (See chart, above, from new USSC report).
Players: Judge Arthur Alarcón writes for the panel.
Facts: Tony Mix was convicted of kidnaping, agg sexual abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon on the res. Slip. Op. at 3580. Three women testified about Mix’s physical and sexual abuse over several years – the injuries to his live-in companion “were so severe that her examining physician testified that she had never seen so much trauma to a sexual assault victim who survived.” Id. The district court characterized Mix’s acts against women as “perhaps one of the most brutal, if not the most brutal, set of circumstances that the . . . Court has had the misfortune to preside over.” Id. The district court imposed a life sentence under Booker. Id. at 3581.
Issue(s): “[Mix] contends that the imposition of a life sentence was unreasonable and inconsistent with the requirements of 18 USC § 3553(a).” Id.
Held: “We affirm because the sentence imposed by the district court was reasonable.” Id.
Of Note: [Ed. note: It is disconcerting to read an important new Booker decision on a life case, where the panel did not permit oral argument. Id. at 3577.]
The Mix decision makes some big statements with little analysis. First, the district court found that two of the § 3553(a) factors were “subservient” to the other requirements of the statute. Id. at 3583 fn.1. The Court in Mix tolerates without comment this (novel) weighting of the factors, with the flat reassurance that “the district court expressly considered the factors set for in § 3553(a).” Id. at 3588.
Second, the opinion claims – without support – that “guideline sentences are reviewed for violations of law and incorrect application of the Guidelines, not reasonableness.” Id. at 3586 at n.2. Appellate review of the “reasonableness” of a guideline sentence is still very much in play, and deserves more than a flat assertion in footnote dicta. If guideline sentences are exempt from “reasonableness” review, then the guidelines have been elevated to becoming presumptively reasonable. When the Ninth gives that much deference, it courts another Booker challenge to guidelines which are far more than “advisory.” Moreover, Berzon’s Plouffe panel is now considering the Court’s jurisdiction to consider the reasonableness of a guideline sentence. United States v. Plouffe, 437 F.3d 917 (9th Cir. Feb. 13, 2006), ord. (requesting briefing). Mix jumps the gun; Plouffe was first in line. Footnote two should go, pending Plouffe.
How to Use: S.D. Fla FPD Chief of Appeals Paul Rashkind warned us of Mix. Before Booker, he argued that unfettered sentencing discretion would hurt defendants more than help. At least at the national level, Paul was right. Consider this quote from the new Sentencing Commission report: “The severity of sentences imposed has not changed substantially across time. The average sentence length after Booker has increased.” See report here, at vii. (emphasis added).
Nonetheless, the defense must make the most with what we have. Bad (very bad) facts in Mix has the Ninth bending over backwards to endorse the district court’s discretion. That same, very broad exercise of discretion applies with equal force to a district court that imposes a Booker sentence below the guidelines. After Mix, it is hard to imagine a below-guideline sentence that wouldn’t be immune from “reasonableness” review – a Court just needs to “explain why . . . this defendant deserves more or less.” Mix, Slip. op. at 3588. “[A] checklist recitation of the section 3553(a) factors is neither necessary nor sufficient for a sentence to be reasonable.” Id.
For Further Reading: As mentioned above, the Commission has a new Booker tome: the “Final Report on the Impact of United States v. Booker on Federal Sentencing.” It is fascinating reading for sentencing wonks. Note the N.D. Cal. earns a special mention for its high rate of government-sponsored departures. Id. at 92.
Thanks, ND Cal USAO!
Steven Kalar, Senior Litigator N.D. Cal. FPD. Website at www.ndcalfpd.org | <urn:uuid:06db5825-e6f8-4fd0-b489-47e4d5e90b34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://circuit9.blogspot.com/2006/04/case-o-week-mix-ed-booker-decision.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941474 | 1,062 | 1.5 | 2 |
MAYBE ECONOMIC THEORY CAN shed some light on the Tiger Woods situation. Even though I never felt entirely comfortable with the subject, I did get a degree in economics from San Diego State. I admit I don’t remember much, but I do recall that our textbooks were jammed with graphs used to explain relationships between things such as unemployment and inflation, demand and price, guns (military spending) and butter (school lunches).
Maybe a graph can explain the relationship between Tiger Woods and the world.
Since the day after Thanksgiving (and even before), I’ve noticed an inverse relationship between Tiger and those who take an interest in his on- and off-course activities. Tiger is in scarce supply—consider him to be “X” on the graph, the horizontal axis. The media, fans, everybody are “Y,” the vertical axis, and have provided enough chatter to fill the solar system. As Tiger went into seclusion and said nothing, the world was compelled to say more and more and more—it’s the way inverse relationships work. Logic would dictate that more Tiger was needed to achieve some sort of equilibrium.
That’s where it breaks down, unfortunately. Here’s why. More Tiger hasn’t seemed to help. Even as he’s begun to say more—for example, his 13-minute public apology and Sunday’s dueling five-minute speed interviews—we appear to be no closer to any kind of equilibrium, and the world is still incessantly chattering away. (Thanks a lot, economics.)
Just to give it the old college try, one more graph.
For the longest time, people wanted Tiger to talk about his problems, to come clean. (More Tiger.) Now that he’s talking (at least some), it’s not doing a thing for many of those same people who wanted to hear from him. In fact, for them and others, the more he talks, the less he says. That, my friends, reminds me of the law of diminishing returns.
Tiger doesn’t want to talk. (We know this.) And when he talks, he doesn’t want to reveal much. (We know this.) Can anyone be surprised anymore?
By the way, Tiger also studied economics, at Stanford. I doubt that he could have ever imagined that his personal scarcity would create so much demand.
−The Armchair Golfer | <urn:uuid:82b00863-3640-4ec2-b30d-d1046cbf790a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://armchairgolfblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/economic-theory-as-explanation-for.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969953 | 514 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Judith A. Bell, DVM, PhD
Veterinarian, Author, Internationally recognized expert on ferrets
Dr. Judi Bell graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Canada in 1971, and for 2 years worked in a primarily equine (horse) practice in Ottawa, Ontario. She then joined a large practice in Peterborough, Ontario, where she treated food producing animals, horses, and small animals, worked occasionally as track veterinarian at a standardbred racetrack, did meat inspection in small abattoirs, taught animal husbandry courses at a community college, and judged competitive trail rides. In her free time, she rode her horses, both for relaxation and competitively, and drove and showed Shetland and Hackney ponies.
In 1978, Judi returned to the Ontario Veterinary College for a Master's degree, studying transmissible gastroenteritis, a contagious disease of baby pigs. For 5 years, starting in 1980, Judi had her own large animal practice in the Peterborough area, and performed surgery two days a week at a small animal hospital.
In 1985, she entered a PhD program in the Veterinary Science Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying a bacterial intestinal disease of mink and ferrets. While there, she and her graduate committee advisor, Dr. Dean Manning, maintained a colony of approximately 100 breeding ferrets, learning a great deal about reproduction and nutrition, raising the world's only germfree ferrets, publishing articles in several scientific journals, but best of all, falling in love with ferrets. Homes were found for all the breeders in the colony when the research was completed. Judi has had ferrets in her home since 1986, as many as 13 at a time. After receiving her doctorate, she became staff veterinarian for a commercial ferretry in New York State for 7 years, surrounded by thousands of ferrets and in contact with ferret owners, breeders, and researchers across the world. In those years, she gave many presentations on ferret husbandry and diseases at local, national, and international meetings of veterinarians, researchers, and ferret clubs; consulted with state officials in several states, testifying on behalf of ferrets to hasten their legalization as pets; and wrote The Pet Ferret Owner's Manual in 1995.
She returned to Canada in 1997, with six old ferrets, three cats, an aged Arab mare and a Hackney pony. Until recently, she raised germfree pigs at the University of Guelph. Judi is Associate Editor of the Journal of Swine Health and Production, does freelance medical writing and editing, consults with owners of breeding and research ferrets, and continues to contribute articles on ferrets to textbooks such as Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery (Saunders, 2nd edition). The six little ferrets that came from New York now lie beneath the pines at the edge of a field where Judi rides her horse, but two lively young ones are making their marks on her home and her heart. | <urn:uuid:055c6c91-fb8a-42b5-966c-1abeffe9b31b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peteducation.com/author.cfm?c=11+1280&aid=500&ath=13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964814 | 629 | 1.765625 | 2 |
If you practice Zen, you have a relationship to what is often referred to as “the forms” or sometimes just “form.” The forms are the rules, procedures, conduct, traditions and paraphernalia we encounter in our particular religious practice. Even if you are ambivalent toward form and engage in it simply because it is part of the package and generally try to avoid thinking about it too much, you still have a relationship with it.
For most of us, our relationship to form changes over time and occasionally makes big evolutionary leaps. In my case, I converted to Zen from religious non-conformism and spent many years devouring the details of the forms in an effort to perfect them. Then, even though I had become a monk, I began to think the forms were stupid, pointless, and a big cramp in my style. Rather ironically, then, I was put in the position of shuso, the one who helps to maintain the container of form for the whole sangha. I knew that whenever I approached someone to correct or instruct them about a form, they could see me as a glowing bodhisattva, a bigoted tyrant, a nit-picky irritant, or simply as a fixture of their practice environment, like the hot water pot or the bell calling them to zazen. To face these possibilities calmly, I have not relied on confidence in myself. Rather, I have relied on a growing confidence in the wisdom of these forms.
I want to roughly describe a series of different relationships to form, based on my own experience and my observations of others. I don’t mean to suggest this is an exhaustive list, or that the different relationships always unfold in this order. However, I hope these descriptions might be useful for understanding and accepting the viewpoints of others, and for reminding us that our own viewpoints are subject to change. Whatever category or categories you might fall into, engage that relationship wholeheartedly: explore it, question it, feel it, accept it, and do not compare it to others. The most important thing I have learned is that the form works its own magic on us, below the level of our conscious minds.
First, new practitioners of Zen often engage the form as if The Form Is the Key. At some level we hope that if only we can bow in all the right places at all the right times (gracefully and reverently, but also without any ego involved), finally fold our oryoki cloth in a perfect rectangle, finally zing the teacher with our understanding in sanzen with just the right mix of deference and attitude, the reward of Zen will be ours! This big, complicated, puzzling, frustrating spiritual practice will yield to our efforts (we hope). Sometimes we see the teachers or fellow practitioners that inspire us performing some simple action like putting their shoes straight and our heart almost breaks. We had no idea there could be so much subtlety to placing one’s shoes, or that we could be so very far from embodying our own ideals.
Later, such practitioners have either given up Zen because they felt they could never master all those forms, or they have come close to mastering them and realized they still don’t have It. Eventually, no matter how difficult you find it to learn forms, you can move through a Zen environment performing complicated and graceful maneuvers (that look really good to newcomers) and still feel dead inside. You can practice diligently long enough to earn a fancy name or vestment, yet still feel like these are pasted on over your anguish.
Then we arrive at a rather tense relationship with form: I’ll Do It Only Because You Make Me. Many people start here, and never go through a honeymoon with form. Here we can feel a bit like our deepest longing is being held hostage. Some aspects of Zen have changed our lives or touched us so deeply that we know we must keep coming back. But then our teachers and seniors insist that we engage in certain activities, and surround ourselves with various paraphernalia, that may be meaningless to us at best and repulsive to us at worst. We are constantly on our guard against being bamboozled into something that compromises our integrity, independence, values or self-image. It can be extremely difficult for some of us to participate, for example, in a ceremony if we suspect it is getting everyone all worked up emotionally to the point that they are losing their better judgment. Some people absolutely cannot practice where the kyosaku (“encouragement” stick) is used to strike people during meditation, even when it is totally voluntary, because of the suggestion of violence, punishment or intolerance. Others are repulsed by the system of ordinations, wagessas, rakusus, and kesas, seeing it as being ripe for abuse by egotistical competitive types.
This can be a very difficult relationship to have with form, and many people stop practicing Zen because of it. Some of us strive to find ways to practice only those parts of Zen that seem pure, or fundamental, or at least acceptable to ourselves. We dream about how wonderful practice must be at centers where no-one gets ordained, or we only feel comfortable meditating if there is a beautiful rock on the altar instead of one of those troubling, baggage-laden (usually male) Buddha images. Or we participate at a traditional center, but duck out right before the irritating or aversive form is about to start.
If we decide to stick it out, though, we may arrive at yet another relationship with form, perhaps best called, Whatever. This is the “whatever” that is said with a small shrug. It is not tuning everything out, nor is it a bleak indifference. It is more good-natured than that. We can say this about the forms when we begin to notice how impermanent and ephemeral our small selves are, how often we are wrong, how limited is our view, how profoundly we change over time. Then we start to take ourselves less seriously. It is not that we shrug and say, “Ah, violence? Who cares?” It’s more like we shrug at ourselves. When our inner champion for social justice is on her soapbox, crying out against the patriarchy we are helping to perpetuate, we smile gently at her and say, “Hmm. You may have a point there. But is this really about justice, or is it about you? What are you so afraid of?” Because we are holding ourselves more lightly, we can start to take the risk of experimenting. Reciting the lineage of male dharma ancestors one more time is not likely to forfeit all the gains women have made, so what happens if we do it wholeheartedly, just once?
In a particularly open and quiet moment, we may come to see the forms as an Existential Lifeline. Just for a moment, we see what is right in front of us as if we were seeing it for the first time – fresh, without filters, without judgment. If our eyes happen to rest at that moment on a sunset or a stoplight or a coffee mug, we may have a very interesting experience. If we happen to be sitting, or bowing, or chanting, or putting on our wagessa, or caring for an altar, or reading a scripture, or facing a teacher, we may receive a piece of the transmission from our dharma ancestors. It is almost like they have left their initials carved into the rock next to particularly stunning, remote waterfall. The message is: we were here, isn’t this place amazing? Then all of the forms appear to serve one purpose, and that is merely to call our attention to the wonder of our existence. In themselves, the forms are indeed empty and many of them are utterly arbitrary, but they are also profound and precious.
It is probably this aspect of the form with attracts us to begin with. Many of us grew up without being exposed to the practice of taking care without any underlying motive. Sure, we knew how to take care of something expensive, or how to take care when we were about to take a big test. But to carefully place our shoes straight or eat mindfully so our silverware doesn’t bang noisily against our bowls? Personally, when I first encountered Zen, I found the concept completely radical. The reverence and appreciation these Zen people seemed to have for their lives! I wondered, “How do I get some of that?”
Later, even the stoplight and the coffee mug may begin speak the dharma of the ancestors to us. Everything becomes (at least in some moments) rich and luminous and poignantly precious. Putting on our coat becomes as reverent and important an activity as putting on our robes. Having dinner with a difficult relative becomes as engaging as a koan. Learning to dance reveals as much about ourselves as reflecting on the precepts.
Ironically, although it is often Zen practice that has allowed us to experience life this way, this is also one of the times when we are most likely to give it up, or at least find ourselves drawn further and further away from it. Our response to form becomes It Is All The Same. Everything is dharma, everything is practice, so why limit ourselves to a prescribed set of acceptable behaviors? Why spend our vacation time staring at a wall, when we can explore the dharma through passionate sex? Why continue to perform the same stale rituals over and over, when there is a world full of spiritual traditions out there to explore? Many of the people in the world who describe themselves as Zen Buddhists, but do not affiliate themselves with any group or particular lineage, preach the dharma of “it is all the same.”
When we recognize the truth of sameness, when we gain faith that everything, in a sense, is holy, we may also experience a fair amount of anger towards our spiritual traditions and advisors. It can seem as if they have tricked us by convincing us there was something inherently lacking or defiled about the world or about ourselves. Perhaps they just wanted to recruit more followers, or perhaps they are much less wise than we thought, but they have distracted us for too long with all their forms and ideals. Now we have discovered the inherent purity of ourselves and of all things, and no one is going to put us back in that prison of shame!
Once again, though, if we still stay with the form, our relationship to it can shift in a very significant way. We may notice that our spiritual advisors were not imprisoning us in shame. We were imprisoning ourselves. Having discovered that there is nothing inherently lacking in ourselves or in the world, we have liberated ourselves from ourselves. If there is anyone that needs to be carefully watched lest they capture us again, it is ourselves.
Yet, even when proximity to the form is no longer threatening, there remains an important question: why would we bother to keep holding the form after it no longer seems to serve any purpose for us personally? Why would we continue to enter into the formal spaces, which often just cramp our styles? This was a critically important question for me, as a monk. I realized that as a religious non-conformist, my personal definition of “conform” was “to give up one’s intelligence and will; to lack creativity; to huddle together like sheep out of fear.” I was shocked to look up the word and find it meant “to act in accord or harmony with a standard or norm.” What was I missing here?
When our view broadens, we create space for regarding form as The Creation of Sangha. This is about conforming with each other so that we create something in common and move in harmony together. In order to create anything together, we have to compromise with each other. Each of us has to sacrifice some of our independence, willfulness, personality and flavor not because those things are bad, but because we value and want to support our common endeavor. Imagine what it would be like if the temple was simply open on Sundays for several hours for “spiritual practice,” and no other forms were applied. Imagine people coming into the zendo, doing fast or slow walking meditation here and there, bowing in the corners, doing yoga, coming and going, perhaps carrying on conversations and strumming on guitars. Perhaps that sounds like heaven on earth to you, but ask yourself how supported you would feel in your spiritual practice, especially when the going got hard. Would you be able to meditate as deeply if the person next to you was doing Chi Gong, or reading a book of poetry?
Every sangha and its attendant forms is an imperfect package. Some of its forms may be deep, beautiful and meaningful, and some of its forms may be anachronistic, awkward and inefficient. When we have invested deeply in the sangha over time, we may be able to negotiate to change some of them. Most of the time, though, we simply engage in the forms because that is the way we do things when we are together. In one sense, the more standardized the form, the more inclusive is the group. It is a very moving experience to go to Japan and see Zen Buddhists straightening their shoes, bowing, and sitting zazen just like we do. We belong to the same group.
Over the long haul, do you believe the sangha is important, to you and to others? If so, then support it. Every time you straighten your shoes, you are addressing the sangha: “I value being a part of this community.” When you come to sit with others, even though your practice at home is strong, you are saying, “This community has been of great benefit to me, and I want it to continue for my sake and for the sake of others.” Especially when you compromise something of yourself by following a form, you are saying, “Though my community is imperfect, it is doing the Buddha work.” | <urn:uuid:80ca98c2-0516-412f-ba56-d3f876afc40b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sweepingzen.com/conformity-and-freedom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972223 | 2,905 | 1.734375 | 2 |
As one of the founders of the original Napster and CloudMark (an anti-spam service), Jordan Ritter, has always been fascinated by the idea of combining the power of the cloud and the potential of human capital. Last April, he met up with Alex Edelstein, a former CloudMark executive, to hammer out their next business plan.
Over a round of beers, the idea for CloudCrowd was born.
Like CrowdFlower and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, CloudCrowd is trying to bring labor into the cloud, by creating a vast network of workers around the globe. Today, there are roughly 25,000 workers, who have completed more than a million tasks since the site’s launch in October 2009. That represents a small fraction of CrowdFlower’s claim to 500,000 workers, but CEO Edelstein says their force is quickly expanding, with some 2,000 additions each week. Although it took 7 months to reach the one million task mark, Edelstein predicts they’ll reach 2 million jobs in 8 weeks. See video above.
CloudCrowd has two main segments. The bulk of its business is client-driven work: a company submits tasks to CloudCrowd and the service will farm that out to eligible workers. Workers access CloudCrowd through a Facebook app, where they can pick available tasks and arrange payment.The tasks can be as simple as checking the quality of an image or involve the translation of entire web pages. Because pricing is determined by the level of difficulty, the payouts range from one penny to several dollars. Once a task is completed, a different user will check the finished product for an additional fee, creating a level of quality control.
The second part of their business is a new layer of consumer-facing services.
CloudCrowd recently launched EditZen, a simple web site, where consumers can submit pages for editing at $4 a page. The company will soon launch TranslationZen, which will offer translation services at $19.95 a page (far cheaper than some alternatives which are priced at $60 a page).
Aside from their consumer services, CloudCrowd’s cut varies widely depending on the job— ranging from a 20% cut to as high as 80%. The average worker doesn’t get paid handsomely for their task, but it can be a nice source for supplemental income— especially for workers in developing countries where salaries are generally well below America’s mean. In fact, the company now attracts more workers outside of the US, with a heavy concentration in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe (many from Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore).
The startup, which has yet to reach profitability, is a 15 person operation in San Francisco with modest funding. So far Edelstein is their sole investor, with $1.5 million in the project, but they are talking to major VC firms about a Series A round.
The main challenge for a company like CloudCrowd is keeping pace with its ever-growing workforce. Edelstein admits that feeding the machine with sufficient volume and variety is a difficult endeavor in this early stage. The company has not spent a significant amount of capital on marketing and courting clients, instead, CloudCrowd still relies on word of mouth to attract new business.
“Well it’s true that the number one complaint of our workers is give me more work, I want more availability of jobs. In both of the previous outsourcing, disruptive eras, the era of manufacturing moving to China and developing nations and the era of white collar work moving to India it took years of explaining, educating and showing corporations and all sorts of people who had work how much they could benefit…how consistent the work quality could be,” Edelstein says. “We don’t expect that overnight every single company in the Fortune 500 is going to outsource significant amounts of their work to the internet cloud but we’re sure that it’s going to happen over time.”
The key to their success (and beating rivals like CrowdFlower) lies in the credibility of their workforce and amassing as much information as possible on the skills of their workers. According to Ritter, the system is structured to create dynamic profiles on each user. Every time a user completes a task and that task is reviewed, CloudCrowd will learn how reliable that user is and which skills they excel at. If all that information is organized properly, that could be highly valuable for a client who needs to finish a targeted task in a short time frame.
“We’re building sort of what we call the credibility graph of known reliable people on the internet,” Ritter says. “If there are particular customers who… say, ‘I want a thousand reliable people on the internet to do a particular job for me.’ Well today you really can’t find that. Where would you find 1,000 reliable people on the internet.”
CloudCrowd is one of the leading online workforce platforms, distributing millions of pieces of work to more than 200,000 workers. With projects ranging from high-end writing to quick-and-easy 10 second verification tasks, CloudCrowd provides the most advanced opportunity for individuals to find good work and get paid well. The workers of CloudCrowd are independent contractors who set their own schedules and choose their own tasks. CloudCrowd offers individuals new ways to make money, achieve recognition, and fit work into busy...
CrowdFlower is the leader in enterprise crowdsourcing. CrowdFlower’s technology platform offers quality-ensured crowdsourcing at massive scale. The company solves problems ranging from product categorization to business lead verification to content creation. Clients from startups to the Fortune 500 enjoy increased flexibility, faster turnaround time and cost savings. Enterprise crowdsourcing offers the ability to distribute tasks to a massive group of contributors with automated management and quality control in order to streamline many large-scale business projects. CrowdFlower takes large, data-heavy projects and...
Jordan is an accomplished software architect and technical entrepreneur. In 1999 Jordan co-founded the original Napster, developing the technology with Shawn Fanning before the company was officially funded in August. Until his departure in November of 2000, Jordan primarily served as Chief Server Architect and was responsible for the server backend software and infrastructure, helping lead the technology to support 60 million users worldwide in less than a year. In 2001 Jordan co-founded Cloudmark with Vipul Ved Prakash, building the... | <urn:uuid:26e3d2dd-d449-425b-8302-4f0f7f586fe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/13/inside-cloudcrowd-betting-on-credibility-video/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95831 | 1,345 | 1.59375 | 2 |
June 18, 2012
In the summer of 2007, visual artist Sue Kolstad rode the Amtrak from Minneapolis to Washington state, and what she saw along the way changed the focus of her art for the next five years.
Kolstad is a member of the Vine Arts Center, a nonprofit housed in the historic Ivy Arts building in the Seward neighborhood. With a mission to support arts and crafts by connecting artists with patrons and the wider public, the Center provides studio and gallery space, free exhibits, and sale space in its on-site store. The Center will host its 4th Spring Member Show in June, and Kolstad’s work, inspired by her Amtrak journey, will be among the exhibited works.
“The Vine Arts Center was very helpful to me as an artist mainly because of the encouragement I got from the members when I applied to join. For example, they were very definite that I should get my work framed well, and gave me information about a frame shop to go to. Then, I put two framed pieces in the Vine Arts store, and they sold within a week.”
This is “supporting your local artist” at its best.
The Vine Arts roster of artists is a portrait in artistic diversity. From Richard Bonk’s spiritual healing images to Judy Bracci’s nuanced black-and-white photography, Vine Arts opens its doors to creative minds. Vine Arts artists are painters, potters, photographers, graphic designers, jewelers and sculptors. Past gallery exhibitions have included works by Minnesota Muslim women and a photographic survey of the Longfellow neighborhood.
Kolstad, who received her B.A. in studio arts from the University of Minnesota in 1969, painted figurative oils until 2001, when she began experimenting with collage. Her first collages depicted figures and faces formed from sheets and scraps of newspaper, napkins, colored paper—any type of paper she had available.
She was still working representationally when she made that train journey through the western states, and the coincidence of climate and travel opened up new possibilities for her art.
In late September 2007, about 43 percent of the country suffered from a record-setting drought. As Kolstad rode through North Dakota and Montana, her artist’s eyes saw beauty where others saw desolation. “I was impressed by the miles of vast horizons, and the browns and golds of the drought-ridden plains,” she said. Although she had not tackled this subject before, she was now drawn to the colors and spaces of these strangely beautiful arid landscapes.
Her first attempts at landscape art were pastel sketches, but these soon developed into larger collages depicting the land in a clean, abstract way—wide bands of muted color oriented around an horizon line to evoke a feeling of vastness and emptiness. While we know that these are scenes inspired by drought, the harmonious colors and balanced composition have a calming effect, reassuring us that nature, whatever its present state of disruption, is in it for the long term.
Most often, Kolstad doesn’t begin a painting with a specific image in mind. She starts with a background, places her horizon, and then creates the space around it according to her sense of color and design. But some of her collages clearly reveal Kolstad’s commitment to the environment. In “Fracking,” the unity of the earth mass is fractured by break lines, alluding to the destructive effects of hydrofracking—the process of drilling into rock to extract petroleum and natural gas.
View Kolstad’s work, along with other Vine Arts artists, in the Member Show at the Vine Arts Gallery through June 23. For more information, visit the Vine Arts website at: www.vineartscenter.com
Contact Sue Kolstad at: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:e5bcd5b5-a19b-4dfd-a83c-0f0d05ad10ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artsminnesota.com/reviews/sue-kolstads-abstract-landscapes-at-vine-arts-gallery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971061 | 797 | 1.671875 | 2 |
White House officials denied Thursday that they are responding too slowly to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s crackdown on rebels in his country. Obama administration officials say they are moving quickly to address a fluid and dynamic situation.
President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, told reporters that the United States and its allies are steadily increasing pressure on Mr. Gadhafi through military and non-military means.
“We have isolated Gadhafi, denied him resources, ensuring accountability, building and maintaining international support, building capabilities to assist the Libyan people," said Donilon. "It is a fluid situation, and it is not going to be resolved overnight.”
Donilon announced that the United States will send disaster relief teams to eastern Libya through non-governmental organizations. He said the aid “can in no way, shape or form be seen as military intervention.”
The national security adviser said the United States is considering numerous military options, including imposing a no-fly zone on the Libyan military.
He said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has agreed to send more ships to the Mediterranean Sea near Libya, and that it is considering further action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that she would meet with Libyan opposition representatives next week on her trip to the Middle East.
U.S. officials have suspended Libya’s embassy in Washington, no longer recognizing representatives of the Gadhafi government.
National Security Adviser Donilon said the pressure applied during the past three weeks has isolated Mr. Gadhafi, and has emboldened people throughout the Middle East who are pushing for democracy.
“People, especially young people, and it varies from country to country, have confronted regimes that are not performing for them or that have been repressing them, and the fear dynamic has been lost," he said.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers Thursday that he believes the Libyan government will prevail over time. The chief of the U.S. intelligence community told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Mr. Gadhafi’s forces have superior weapons and logistical capabilities.
Clapper’s comments led Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to twice call for his resignation.
National Security Adviser Donilon said Clapper’s comments were based strictly on Mr. Gadhafi’s resources, and that they did not take into consideration the increasing pressure on the Libyan government.
“The loss of legitimacy matters," said Donilon. "The isolation of the regime matters. Denying the regime resources matters, and this can affect the sustainability of their efforts over time. Motivation matters and incentive matters. The people of Libya are determined to affect their future.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney rejected the calls for Clapper’s resignation, saying the Obama administration retains full faith and confidence in its intelligence director. | <urn:uuid:08f04003-c349-43c6-89d9-0cf6efab4a9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/white-house-defends-libya-response----117765583/136300.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965059 | 584 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Over the last few days I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with Justin Samuel, who has recently authored a new module called RequestPolicy that has some pretty wide reaching security implications for anyone who is concerned with cross domain related exploits. Here’s a snippet of our conversation:
RequestPolicy gives users full control over the cross-site requests made by their browser. It has a default deny policy and allows easy whitelisting of origins, destinations, and origins-to-destinations.
The website is here:
You can probably imagine the various security issues this helps with (not just CSRF, but that’s a big one). We have a security page here with some details:
I see RequestPolicy as fulfilling an essential role for privacy and security in our browsers. I believe that a truly secure Firefox install is running at a minimum both RequestPolicy and NoScript. (RequestPolicy is not a competitor to NoScript, obviously, but unfortunately a large number of people immediately think this because they are unaware of threats that aren’t from scripts and objects.)
Justin has a bunch of things on his to-do wishlist, including improvements to the UI, more granular control over what gets blocked, a blacklist of subnets (similar to localrodeo), and so on. Of course there are a few small issues that I ran into almost immediately, like the fact that subdomains are always allowed, which means an attacker could subvert that protection by assigning a subdomain to RFC1918 (assuming LocalRodeo wasn’t installed) or to a target domain that required no cookies to be submitted for the exploit to function since the wrong hostname would be sent. So perhaps for the time being a combination of LocalRodeo, NoScript and RequestPolicy is the safest bet.
It’s also fairly easy to detect that this module is installed, and for most users, it will be a very tough user experience to get used to, unless they whitelist everything. Still, very cool module to prevent most of the crossdomain/cross website client side hacking, and I bet it will become even better with time! | <urn:uuid:01254d68-42df-496e-b772-f9005d7df9d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20090117/request-policy-firefox-extention/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951402 | 443 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Accessing relevant, up-to-date intelligence about gang members and their criminal activities is a common problem for partnering jurisdictions that want this information. One place that lacked unified and sharable data was Houston, which has at least 10,000 documented gang members in the city limits and the suburbs.
In a project to improve information sharing between public safety agencies, a task force of state, local and federal partners devised StopHoustonGangs.org - a public-facing site to educate Houston area residents and a back-end portal for law enforcement to share information. Launched in September 2010, the website is a one-stop destination for gang-related information. Officials envision the site will become an outlet where law enforcement can educate the community about gangs and residents can submit anonymous tips about gang activity.
"We were trying to figure out a vehicle in which we could inform the public about gang crimes and heighten awareness of gang activities occurring within the city and surrounding areas," said Lt. Craig Williams of the Houston Police Department.
The website is a project of the Multi-Agency Gang Task Force, an FBI-led partnership that encompasses 14 other agencies, including: the Houston Police Department; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The task force seeks to identify members and leaders of violent street gangs and target them for prosecution.
Enlisting the Community
But some people believe that targeting and tracking gang members and crime isn't solely the responsibility of public safety agencies. Residents usually have a better sense of when abnormal activity is occurring in their neighborhoods than police do, so StopHoustonGangs.org is more than just an informational website. It's a community policing initiative.
The website provides information residents should look for - like gang signs, hand symbols, clothing, colors, tattoos and graffiti - and a Web-based form for them to anonymously send gang-related tips to the task force.
"The law enforcement component that we were really excited about was creating a mechanism in which we can solicit information on gang activity from the public," Williams said. "This vehicle allows us to get it from anyone who knows how to turn a computer on."
Citizens who have information about criminal gang activity happening anywhere in the region can submit their clues and tips. "And we will assign someone to investigate it," Williams said.
The tip form doesn't capture the reporters' IP address or require them to provide contact information. However, they can include their name, phone number or e-mail address if they're OK with a law enforcement officer contacting them to follow up. Williams said after just more than a month of the site being live, about half of the tips submitted included the reporter's contact information.
As of late October, the website received 30,000 hits, and community members submitted more than 80 tips through it, according to Williams. Even more impressive: Those tips led to 10 arrests.
Also notable about this community policing initiative is that the public is watching how the Houston Police Department and other partner agencies are responding to the tips. Williams said one of the first tips received via the website was that gang activity was occurring on Friday nights in a certain location. "We went out on Saturday night and there was no activity," he said. "And the next week he e-mailed back and said, 'I told you guys to come on a Friday night. You guys came on a Saturday night; there's nothing happening on Saturday nights.'"
The police officers went to the location the following Friday night and made multiple arrests.
"The people submitting the information probably live in the area or are close to the activity, so they know what's going on," Williams said. "They know if we're doing anything." He said this is why the task force responds to all tips that warrant further investigation.
Besides sharing gang-related data with law enforcement officials, the website also facilitates information sharing between the Multi-Agency Gang Task Force members. A login function allows them to securely access the back-end portion and view facts related to gang investigations. Brian Ritchie, the FBI supervisory special agent in charge of the task force, said before the website, information was exchanged through e-mails and in-person meetings. Although that communication hasn't stopped, the site has become a central digital archive.
"In this day and age, the Internet is a part of everyone's daily life," Ritchie said, "and this just makes it a lot quicker and more effective to make sure everyone involved in these types of investigations has the information, so that we can try to do our job more effectively."
The agencies alternate monitoring the site in one-month increments, Williams said, so everyone gets to see the submitted tips, however, task force - supervisors can always view them and agencies can follow up if a submitted tip aligns with their investigation.
The 15 agencies represented in the task force span all levels of government, as well as different law enforcement sectors such as homeland security, drug enforcement, and immigration and customs enforcement. "We all need each other to fight the problem. We really do; none of us can do it by ourselves," Williams said. "Obviously the [Houston Police Department] has more 'boots on the ground' than any of the other agencies. So a lot of the agencies will look to us for manpower while we look to them for the technological issues where we can do wiretaps on different organizations or surveillance."
The idea for StopHoustonGangs.org originated during the task force's meetings, when members were searching for a way to provide the public with gang-related information. Williams said initially the agencies were going to start a 1-800 number, but realized it wouldn't be feasible due to the cost and manpower required.
"There was not one thing that really led to the start of the website," Ritchie said. "It was over many meetings and several months that we came up with the idea to solicit information from the public to try to make Houston a safer place."
The website's educational component seeks to build community awareness by showing residents what to look for, and contains material on who's vulnerable to being in a gang and how to get out of one.
The site wasn't modeled after other projects. Williams said the task force took into consideration comments from the members, police personnel and civilians. An FBI contractor with experience building law enforcement-related websites designed StopHoustonGangs.org. And it may be setting the standard for similar sites. As of press time, the webmaster had received eight invitations from other public safety agencies to build similar projects for them, according to Williams.
"We feel very fortunate that it's caught on," Ritchie said. "We've had a lot of success since the website's been up, and we think other cities will as well." | <urn:uuid:d8cfde16-9603-4d6e-a39f-761ed4b651b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stophoustongangs.org/(X(1)S(32c4v03ddb2a31qycz5kbb55))/default.aspx/act/newsletter.aspx/category/Stop+Houston+Gangs+-+In+The+News/Startrow/6/MenuGroup/Stop+Houston+Gangs+Videos+-+In+The+News/NewsletterID/40.htm | 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 | 0.97029 | 1,395 | 1.820313 | 2 |
EMC2 CNC keyboard labels
If you’ve got a dedicated computer running EMC2 for CNC control you may be interested in these keyboard labels. [Rich] mentions that they use the labels for their engraver at the Connecticut Hackerspace. Just print them out and glue them in the face of the keys.
Dev board seminars and freebies
[Mike] wrote in to tell us STM is giving away samples of the STM32 F3 Discovery again. But you can also get in on some free seminars. One is an online webinar for TI’s Launchpad family, the other is for the F3 Discovery board and is being held all around the US.
Replacing batteries with USB power
[Johan] didn’t want to use batteries for the light on the microscope he uses when working with SMT parts. He added a few components with let him power the device from USB instead.
MSP430 VU meter uses FFT
Here’s an MSP430 using Fast Fourier Transform for signal processing. There’s very little explanation, but apparently this collection of FFT related material was used heavily in the project. [via Reddit]
If you’re looking for a new office game you might consider Cell Racr. It pits your cellphone’s vibrating motor against everyone else’s. Just place the phone on an incline and repeatedly dial its number to advance toward the finish line. | <urn:uuid:0a3ec6e4-5702-4f9a-943b-2b5209bd0421> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2012/11/29/hackaday-links-november-29th-2012/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=019c5482d9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93179 | 307 | 1.726563 | 2 |
- Chapter 1 Reflections
- Chapter 2 Reflections
- Chapter 3 Reflections
- Chapter 4 Reflections
- Chapter 5 Reflections
- "How do you grow closer to God?" "By making the choice to deny ourselves something that is permissible but not beneficial. And making this intentional sacrifice for the sole purpose of growing closer to God. After all, Jesus said, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'"
- "Yes, I want to lose weight. But this journey is so much more than just that. It really is about learning to tell myself no and learning to make wiser choices daily. And somehow becoming a woman of self-discipline honors God and helps me live the godly characteristic of self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is a list of godly characteristics: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In the end, pursuing self-control does help my heart feel closer to Jesus and more pure to receive what he wants for me each day...."
- "....live with the willingness to walk away when the Holy Spirit nudges you and says, 'That food choice is permissible but not beneficial - so don't eat it.'"
- Prayer to pray: "I need wisdom to make wise choices. I need insight to remember the words I've read in Scripture. I need power beyond what I can find on my own."
- When the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:18-19 that "'their god is their stomach', he means that food can become so consuming that people find themselves ruled by it. [....we find that certain foods are impossible to wlak away from - we can't or won't deny ourselves an unhealthy choice in order to make a healthier one - then it's a clue we are being ruled by this food on some level. Being ruled by something other than God diminishes our commitment and will make us feel increasingly distant from Him."
Chapter 6 was titled "Growing Closer to God". The reflection questions are:
1. What is your response to the idea that we grow closer to God when we deny ourselves something that is permissible but not beneficial? Have you ever had an experience of denying yourself that helped you grow closer to God? Do you believe this could be true for you in your battle with food?
I would definitely agree that we grow closer to God when we are sacrificing something that we've made a priority in our life. It makes total sense. I would say that people who experience addiction can attest to this. If you're trying to kick that habit (smoking, alcohol, drugs, food, whatever!), you know how incredibly hard it is, especially taking that first step. You need God's help to get you through those critical moments.
I cannot say I've had an experience where I've denied myself of something and it has resulted in a closer relationship with God. Though, that is what I have gotten out of reading this book. If I want to be truly successful at weight loss, I need to start asking Him for help - because I prove to myself almost daily that I'm not capable of doing it alone! By seeking His guidance, the relationship will flourish from there.
2. The apostle Paul lists self-control among the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Are there areas of life in which you experience self-control and feel that your self-discipline and wise choices honor God? For example, in your spending decisions or how you manage your time? What insights about your strengths in those areas might help you to honor God and grow in self-control with your food choices?
I have thought about this exact concept over and over in my weight loss journey. I am so disciplined with finances & concentrating on my studies, why cannot I not be that disciplined when it comes to weight loss? I don't live beyond my means financially. When school is in session, I don't procrastinate with studying. Why, when it comes to weight loss, can I not translate that same level of self control to my journey? I don't know!
The way I've approached school and money management is simple: I will not fail. I will not spend more than I make. I will not procrastinate/not do my homework. Failure to abide by my goals for those two things scares the crap out of me. Yet, with weight loss.... ugh. So, I know I have it in me to be disciplined. I know how to do it. I just have to figure out how to apply that to my weight loss journey.
3. Have you ever had the experience of the Holy Spirit nudging you in connection with your food choices? If so, what was that like? If not, how do you hope the Holy Spirit might help you now?
I think God is that little voice in the back of my head saying, "Hilary, you don't need to stuff your face with x, y and/or z." Yes, I know I've heard that voice many times telling me I didn't need more of what I was eating at the time. While there have been a few times that that voice was enough to stop me, sadly, more times than not, it hasn't.
4. As Christians, our calling - and our source of spiritual nourishment - is to do God's will and finish His work (John 4:34). To what degree have consuming thoughts about food impacted your ability to pursue your calling and receive spiritual nourishment?
I've definitely had days where I start off completely focused on my weight loss journey, ready to tackle the mountain of to-do's I have, and then something negative happens. This could be a stressful situation at work. A disagreement with Joel. Whatever the case might be - something goes awry. And then, sometimes, the way I deal with that negative emotion is to eat. Then everything quickly goes south. I can no longer focus on what I originally had planned to do that day because now I'm swimming in a pool of guilt for having just eaten away a day's worth, if not a week's worth, of Points. This is just a small example. I've had "fat days", where I just feel like such crap about myself, I cannot even get out of bed to go to work. Now, I try not to make a habit of this (for so many reasons!), but it has been known to happen on occasion. It's sad. And it is getting in the way of living my life to its fullest!
5. Would you say you are spiritually well fed, spiritually malnourished, or somewhere in between? Have you ever tried to use food to satisfy your feelings of spiritual hunger? What was the result?
I would definitely say I'm somewhere in between. I've definitely eaten out of all sorts of emotions on SO many occasions. And I'm doing that to try to find happiness. The result is the similar to the phrase "Money doesn't buy happiness". Well, food doesn't provide happiness either. It just digs that emotional hole even deeper.
6. If we find certain foods impossible to walk away from, this is a clue that we are being ruled by food on some level. Are there foods you can't or won't deny yourself in order to make healthier choices? Why are these foods especially important to you? What thoughts and feelings arise when you think about potentially giving them up?
My major problem is sugar. I love sweets. I've tried giving them up in the past and it does bad things to me. And what I mean by that is, I've given them up entirely with the hopes of losing weight. What ends up happening is that I just substitute one addiction for another. So while I've given up sugar, I end up consuming larger quantities of other things that I normally wouldn't. Then I really gain the weight!
One thing I have to come to terms with about one of the main points of this book is "deprivation". Lysa, in my opinion, says that if we deprive ourselves of certain foods, we then form a closer relationship with God (not automatically of course). That might be the case. I'm not opposed to a closer relationship with Him. However, I don't believe that that is the answer for me. Yes, I know I need to limit the quantity of food I eat daily. Yes, I do believe there are foods that I should cut out of my life completely because there is just no nutritional benefit to them. However, I don't want to give up sweets entirely. I just want to learn how to have them in moderation. I believe that God can help me achieve that as well.
I don't know why sweets are so important to me. When I think about giving them up for eternity, I'm afraid I'm going to miss out on some epic tasting food! Frankly, it just seems wrong to live without chocolate. I'm not even being funny! It's how I feel!
I just want to do the best that I can with what I've been given. And right now, I am fully willing to admit that I cannot go it alone. | <urn:uuid:9771dd7e-7df4-4a95-ab22-1b3a8cee6874> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97783 | 1,903 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Q: My colleague is a prominent doctor, and I recently noticed that his son has some obscene postings on Facebook. They have the same name, so an online search of the father inevitably turns up the son's reports on his adventures in the bedroom, drinking stories, etc. I know my colleague has no idea. Do I tell him?
A: If you're accessing the Facebook page by googling his name, so are potential patients—jeopardizing his credibility. For professional reasons, it's always a good idea to do a search on yourself. Point this out to your colleague and he'll see for himself what comes up. — Lisa Caputo, chairman and CEO, Citi's Women & Co.
Parents should avoid snooping in their kids' Facebook pages except in extraordinary circumstances, but if inappropriate content shows up through a Google search, all bets are off. Absolutely tell Dad. I'm a Junior myself, and long ago my father told me that he had worked hard to make a good name and I had a duty not to mess it up. Your colleague's son needs to be given the same speech. — Jack Marshall, president, ProEthics
Golden rule test: Would you want to know? I would. You can alert him without going into detail or explicitly mentioning his son. Say, "Dr. Luddite, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but when people google you, they find some rather obscene Facebook postings under your name. You might want to check it out." — Faith Salie, host, public radio's Fair Game podcast
Q: I keep getting invited to join LinkedIn and Facebook by various people, some of whom I know I'm going to run into. How do I gracefully decline the invitations?
A: Don't worry: You're not that special. And neither am I. By which I mean, lots of people invite lots more people to join these networks. Odds are no one will notice if you simply don't respond. (I never accept the invitation.) And if a connection-craving acquaintance happens to bring it up, assure her, "Please don't take it personally—I never join any social networks."
— Faith Salie, host, public radio's Fair Game podcast
If you're already on a social network, identify your purpose for being there: It could be date finding, friend making, marketing, voyeurism, sheer entertainment, or some other reason. If it's just to keep up with family, for example, then that's the explanation you give if you run into an acquaintance. My daughters see social networking as a way to stay in touch with their closest friends. So they believe it's perfectly normal to reject a request for friendship and to delete people they wouldn't hang out with in everyday life. On the other hand, I rarely decline requests from people who want to be friends, because that's how I live every day.
— Rudy Rasmus, pastor, St. John's United Methodist Church, Houston Q: My sister-in-law is posting pictures of my infant son on Facebook. I understand that they're accessible only to her "friends," but it makes me uneasy. Is there a nice way to ask her to take them down, or am I overreacting?
A: Yes, there is a nice way for you to ask her to take them down???by copping to overreacting. Because you are a little, and you need to recognize her lovely intention. Try saying: "It means so much to me that you love your nephew and want to show him off. I know I might sound like a crazy-protective mom, but I feel uncomfortable having photos of him out there. Would you humor me by taking them down or using a more private service?" — Faith Salie, host, public radio's Fair Game podcast
There are very good reasons to be wary about anything posted on the Web. You have no control over what kind of people she may permit to "friend" her or who might eventually see the photos. But call her to deliver the message; don't use Facebook. That will establish that you're serious. — Jack Marshall, president, ProEthics | <urn:uuid:08728958-9d1e-4ecf-adc2-a012922664de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Facebook-Etiquette-Advice/print/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970926 | 862 | 1.664063 | 2 |
U.N. vows tough action after N.K. nuke test
China says it 'resolutely opposes' the N. Korea's latest test
North Korea's nuclear test prompted united condemnation and a vow of tough action from the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
The council issued a statement slamming the underground nuclear test that jolted the already fragile security situation in Northeast Asia.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, repeating a statement to reporters outside council chambers, said the test violated council resolutions, and "there continues to exist a clear threat to international peace and security."
Kim said council members will start work "on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution" and that "North Korea will be held responsible for any consequences of this provocative act." The council is chaired this month by South Korea.
The Security Council last month promised "significant action" if another North Korean nuclear test occurred.
The test probably took place near P'unggye and yielded "several kilotons," according to assessments cited by the U.S. director of national intelligence. It drew condemnation from around the globe and prompted the emergency Security Council session Tuesday morning.
It is the first nuclear test carried out under the North's young leader, Kim Jong Un, who appears to be sticking closely to his father's policy of building up the isolated state's military deterrent to keep its foes at bay, shrugging off the resulting international condemnation and sanctions.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said North Korea told the department "through our usual channel" of its "intention to conduct a nuclear test without citing any specific timing prior to the event."
After Kim Sung-hwan spoke, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters outside the council chambers that the panel met to discuss what she called a "provocative test" and an action that council members regard as "regrettable."
The test violates North Korea's obligations under several unanimous council resolutions, she said.
The council "must and will deliver a swift, credible and strong response" in a resolution to deal with Pyongyang's missile and weapons programs, she said. The goal, she said, is to tighten and augment measures, such as sanctions, against the country.
North Korea "does not and will not benefit from violating international law," said Rice, who stressed that the country has "isolated and impoverished its people from its ill-advised pursuit" of weapons of mass destruction and weapons delivery systems.
The council's actions make it clear that such actions are "not acceptable" and "will not be tolerated," she said.
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
For the past year, Nuland said, world leaders, including those in China, have signaled to North Korea that if they want to end their isolation and meet their people's needs, they can go down another road. But she said North Korea has spurned an "open door" and chose "one provocative action after another."
"The question now, for all of us, is how we can get their attention," she said, adding that "it is fair to say that we are looking at the full suite of options to try to get the DPRK to try to change course."
Although Pyongyang had announced plans for the test in recent, vitriolic statements, its decision to go ahead with it provided a stark reminder of a seemingly intractable foreign policy challenge for U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of his State of the Union address later Tuesday.
The test was designed "to defend the country's security and sovereignty in the face of the ferocious hostile act of the U.S.," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said, referring to new U.S.-led sanctions on Pyongyang after the recent launch of a long-range rocket.
"This nuclear test is our first measure, which displayed our maximum restraint," KCNA said. "If the U.S. continues with their hostility and complicates the situation, it would be inevitable to continuously conduct a stronger second or third measure."
Tuesday's nuclear test had greater explosive force and involved the use of a smaller, lighter device than previous detonations by the North in 2006 and 2009, KCNA reported.
North Korea's nuclear program is shrouded in secrecy, so it's almost impossible to independently verify many of the details of the test. But its claims play into fears among the United States and its allies that Pyongyang is moving closer to the kind of miniaturized nuclear device that it can mount on a long-range missile.
The United States will try to determine if North Korea has tested a uranium weapon for the first time, a senior White House official said. The first two were plutonium bombs.
Despite the North's claims of progress Tuesday, analysts say they believe it is still years away from having the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead on a missile.
"This test isn't going to do that in and of itself, but it is a significant step forward," said Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California's U.S.-China Institute.
Condemnation across the globe
After Pyongyang confirmed it had gone ahead with the test in defiance of international pressure, world leaders responded with condemnation.
Among those countries criticizing North Korea were the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea -- the five nations that had been in talks with North Korea for years over its nuclear program.
"This is a highly provocative act" that threatens regional stability, breaches U.N. resolutions and increases the risk of proliferation, Obama said in a statement.
"North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a threat to U.S. national security and to international peace and security," he said, calling for "further swift and credible action by the international community."
Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the test appeared to be timed to coincide with Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
"They had several other holidays this week that they could have taken advantage of. They tend to like to do this on holidays," Carter said.
South Korea said the test presented "an unforgivable threat to the Korean peninsula's peace and safety."
"North Korea should be responsible for all the serious consequences brought by such an action," said Chun Young-woo, national security adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is near the end of his term in office.
Obama and Lee spoke Tuesday "to consult and coordinate on the response" to the test, the White House said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding that North Korea refrain from any nuclear missile program and adhere to U.N. Security Council guidelines.
It condemned the test as an affront to the community of nations: "It's doubly sad that we are talking about the state with which our country has a long history of good neighborliness."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the testing a "grave threat to the safety of Japan and a serious challenge against international disarmament framework based on the non-nuclear proliferation treaty."
Military jets in Japan were monitoring radioactive fallout, but all appears to be fine, authorities said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the test "a clear and grave violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions."
The China question
Perhaps the most closely watched reaction came from China, North Korea's main ally and the source of crucial economic and political support to the regime in Pyongyang.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it "resolutely opposes" the North's latest test, which it noted had taken place "despite the international community's widespread opposition."
Beijing summoned the North Korean ambassador to China over its "dissatisfaction" with the test, the ministry said.
It said it "strongly" urged North Korean officials to "abide by their promise to denuclearize and take no further action that will worsen the situation."
The real question, though, is whether Beijing will support significantly tougher measures against its smaller neighbor following the test, something it has refrained from doing in the past.
"The Chinese don't like the idea of international sanctions and coercing other countries," Chinoy said. "They still have a strategic interest in maintaining a viable separate North Korea as a buffer against a pro-U.S. South Korea, and that has only become more important as tensions between the U.S. and China have increased."
Recent opinion articles published in the state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times suggested Beijing's patience with North Korea may be wearing thin and raised the prospect of reducing support to Pyongyang.
But with fears in Beijing of what a possible collapse of the North Korean regime could bring, strong measures appear unlikely for the time being.
"I think the key with China right now is that they are necessary to a solution, but we can't expect them to solve the problem for us," said Philip Yun, executive director of the Ploughshares Fund, a U.S.-based foundation that seeks to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Indications that the test had taken place first emerged when U.S. seismologists reported a disturbance Tuesday morning in North Korea centered near the site of the secretive regime's two previous atomic blasts.
The area around the epicenter of the tremor in northeastern North Korea has little or no history of earthquakes or natural seismic hazards, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps.
The disturbance reported Tuesday had a magnitude of 5.1 -- upgraded from an initial estimate of 4.9 -- and took place at a depth of about one kilometer, the USGS said.
Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, said the magnitude of the "artificial tremor" suggested the size of the blast could be in the order of 6 to 7 kilotons, more powerful than the North's two prior nuclear tests.
That calculation, though, was based on the USGS's initial estimate of a 4.9-magnitude seismic disturbance, he said. A 5.1-magnitude tremor could indicate a 10-kiloton explosion.
News breaks amid key dates in Northeast Asia
The test took place at a time when several East Asian countries, including China, North Korea's major ally, are observing public holidays for the Lunar New Year, which began Sunday.
It also comes ahead of significant dates in both North and South Korea.
On Saturday, North Koreans will celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong Il, the former North Korean leader who died in December 2011 after 17 years in power and was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un.
And on February 25, the South Korea president-elect, Park Geun-hye, will take office. She had campaigned on a pledge to seek increased dialogue with the North, but Pyongyang's recent moves have left her little room for maneuver.
In a statement Tuesday, Park condemned the nuclear test, saying it harmed ties between the two Koreas.
North Korea announced last month that it was planning a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches, all of which it said were part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States.
It made the threats two days after the United Nations Security Council had approved the broadening of sanctions on the reclusive, Stalinist regime in response to the North's launching of a long-range rocket in December that apparently succeeded in putting a satellite in orbit.
Pyongyang said it carried out the launch for peaceful purposes, but it was widely considered to be a test of ballistic missile technology.
Threats against the U.S.?
The North's recent propaganda has used words and images that imply a threat to the United States, but analysts dismiss the prospect that Pyongyang is willing or able to carry out a military attack on U.S. soil.
The latest nuclear test is worrying in military terms, Chinoy said, "but does this mean they can drop a nuclear weapon on Los Angeles? Absolutely not. The notion that they are going to target the U.S. is way off the mark."
U.S. analysts say North Korea's first bomb test, in October 2006, produced an explosive yield at less than 1 kiloton (1,000 tons) of TNT. A second test in May 2009 is believed to have been about 2 kilotons, National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate committee in 2012.
By comparison, the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was a 15-kiloton device.
The North's latest test on Tuesday suggests the country has made a notable step forward in terms of power, said Jeffrey Lewis, East Asia director at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, part of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
"They were pretty clear they were going to up the yield a lot," Lewis said, and it "looks like they've done that."
He also warned that Kim Jong Un's regime may not be ready to relinquish the headlines yet, suggesting that a second test remained a possibility and could happen within a few days.
In a commentary last week, the North's KCNA said that Pyongyang had "drawn a final conclusion that it will have to take a measure stronger than a nuclear test to cope with the hostile forces' nuclear war moves."
It didn't elaborate on what would be stronger than a nuclear test.
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:94b06d9e-6603-4453-9dad-d36fe7590ead> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kxly.com/news/U-N-vows-tough-action-after-N-K-nuke-test/-/101270/18505996/-/view/print/-/ow8j3iz/-/index.html | 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 | 0.963176 | 2,800 | 1.789063 | 2 |
(Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune)
You know how you can tell when someone or something is having a moment?
When a line gathers behind that something to not only make fun of it but lovingly make fun of it — gently prodding at the soft spots and sensitive places only a true fan would know. For instance, the ambitious talk, the innovative conference, the online seminar, the high-minded soapbox of hard-won wisdom. Think Silicon Valley-born “TEDTalks.” The New Yorker Festival. Even the Chicago Humanities Festival's smorgasbord of lectures. None of the formats is particularly new, but the online ubiquity and popularity of heady talks and panel discussions has led to the inevitable:
“We are always looking for experts. It's just not our circle,” said Seth Dodson, co-creator of the satiric “NED Talks,” which is committed to the spread of worthless ideas — frankly, stupid subject matter. Someday soon, for example, “NED Talks” hopes to address: “You Say Hoarding, I Say Caring Too Much.” Then there's “The Show 'N Tell Show,” a popular, periodic semi-satiric design conference held at Lincoln Hall; and the monthly “Encyclopedia Show” at the Vittum Theater, which asks artists to write songs, poems and stories and develop a verbal encyclopedia entry for, oh, obsolete diseases, serial killers, Schaumburg.
Also, let's not forget the stand-up economist coming to Chicago next month.
"A monstrosity that turns scientists and thinkers into low-level entertainers" -- that's how statistician Nassim Taleb described the worldwide “TEDTalks” in his recent book, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” (Random House). And to an extent, that criticism -- along with mumbled charges of creeping pretense — is on the tongue of many mock-ference creators. On the other hand, as Chicago Humanities Festival artistic director Matti Bunzl put it: "I don't see these things as incongruous to what we do. 'The Daily Show' is satire. And it's giving information. I think a lot about this. The ironization of self-importance is what keeps the (more serious) formats fresh."
Bono gave a "TEDTalk." So did Billy Graham. Others delivered "TEDTalks" on religious intolerance, species extinction, public health, gardening, why people are happy and how to defend the Earth from an asteroid.
Blah, blah, blah.
Like a year ago or something, Kellen Alexander had a pretty powerful idea too. It was the last time he had a pretty powerful idea, but it was a doozy: He created "NED Talks" with his comedy partner, Seth Dodson — whom he met several years ago while studying improv at the Playground Theater in Lakeview. They held it at a bar, The Whistler in Logan Square. They asked comedians, writers, performers and actual scholars who know stuff to come up with funny, quasi-meaningful lectures. For instance, "How do I make this projector work?" Or, "How can I protect my head from hypnotism?" Or, "Nature versus Nurture versus Math versus Lightning versus a Cyclops."
Go figure — a genius idea.
Though so far, there have only been two installments of "NED Talks," the satiric lecture series has been popular enough to already outgrow The Whistler, and the third "NED Talks" will be Sunday at The Hideout. (Northwestern University also hosts a "NED Talks," but it's not funny.)
"'TEDTalks' are awesome in general, but there's an eliteness to them, a certain assumption that everyone is on board with whatever the person is talking about," said comedian Christina Boucher, who is performing in "NED Talks" on Sunday. "So there's a lot there to parody."
Here's a brief talk with Dodson and Alexander about their talk, which is about a talk.
Q: How did "NED" come about?
Alexander: I was watching a "TEDTalk" on my computer. This guy was heavy breathing through his entire lecture. I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying, but all I could hear was his breathing. I thought it was something we had to do. Maybe a show, maybe a sketch. I asked Seth if he had seen any "TEDTalks."
Dodson: And I love them too. Pretension is always ripe for comedy.
Q: And yet "NED" is affectionate toward "TED."
Dodson: Because we're nerds. And "TED" picks really cool topics. Even when you don't think they'll be compelling, they are. The great (lectures) really dig in and take dramatic pauses and make it sound super important. I like when they come off self-satisfied and arrogant. When they inhale deeply and kind of make a face that says, like, "Oh, my God! There you go, people! Important idea! I did it!" But we also both really believe in the message of "TED," that good ideas really can change the world. I just find them so ... optimistic.
Alexander: I remember one "TED" where this woman said, "And that's when we found this out!" And she said that like 30 times in the course of the lecture. And each time it was more and more dramatic.
Q: What do you mean by "optimistic"? | <urn:uuid:2b069b35-fde2-4330-8324-07e22ee002e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-12-08/entertainment/ct-ott-1209-ned-talks-20111208_1_matti-bunzl-formats-lectures | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967495 | 1,189 | 1.617188 | 2 |
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activist Yashar hopes the security agents who tormented him during five months of detention will one day be put on trial. In detention, he says, he was locked naked in a tiny box for a week, beaten daily during marathon interrogations and blindfolded for 45 days.
A whole range of groups have accelerated a campaign to gather evidence of war crimes including torture, massacres and indiscriminate killings in the Syrian regime's war against rebels, hoping to find justice if President Bashar Assad falls. Some talk about referring the cases to the International Criminal Court or forming a special tribunal, but many in Syria hope that it's all laid out in the country's own courtrooms.
"I want to take my case to a Syrian court and a Syrian judge who will put my torturers in the same jail where I was held," Yashar, 28, told The Associated Press. He declined to give his full name for security reasons.
Some 70,000 people have been killed and thousands of others maimed, injured or missing in Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, according to the United Nations. Both the U.N. Human Rights Council and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria have published multiple reports documenting crimes committed during the civil war, including the slaughter of more than 100 civilians in the central region of Houla last May blamed on pro-regime militiamen.
A recent U.N. report accuses both sides in the war of atrocities but says those committed by rebel fighters have not reached the "intensity and scale" of the regime's.
The amount of data is massive, and the challenges are immense. The Syrian government has not given permission to the U.N. commission to visit Syria and has largely closed the country to independent journalists, further complicating the work of rights groups.
Even so, groups of determined Syrian activists continue quietly to collect the evidence.
One group, the Violations Documentation Center in Syria, has documented 49,763 deaths excluding soldiers, 35,508 detentions and 982 people missing in lists that include the name of the deceased, status, the region they come from, date of death and cause of death.
Razan Zaytouni, the general coordinator, said the group collects its material through interviews with families, eyewitness accounts and activist videos as well as photos documenting evidence of beatings, torture and other violence.
Among the difficulties her group and others face is getting people inside Syria to come forth, particularly in Damascus where the regime is still strong, and obtaining evidence that would stand up in court.
"All these lists and information would serve two purposes in the future," Zaytouni, who has been living in hiding since shortly after the uprising began, said via Skype. "First is to prosecute the criminal regime and second to keep our country's collective memory and history alive through videos, photos and names."
Representatives from Zaytouni's group along with others doing similar work held a meeting in Turkey last month during which they launched the National Preparatory Committee for Transitional Justice, tasked with collecting all the dates and information available from all the groups.
"Collecting evidence in Syria is now being done by activists, and there is a need for practitioners to categorize the crimes," such as torture, rape, arbitrary arrest and random shelling, said Radwan Ziadeh, the Washington-based director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.
David M. Crane, a former prosecutor at the Sierra Leone tribunal, which indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor in 2003, said among the challenges is the multitude of inexperienced activists collecting a flood of evidence in an uncoordinated way.
To help with building a case for a future prosecutor, Crane created an organization called the Syrian Accountability Initiative.
"We have mapped the entire conflict, we have built a crime base and we have actually sample indictments for whoever will get the case, be it a Syrian or international prosecutor," said Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University in New York state. He said that the information is being shared with the International Criminal Court, the United Nations and the Syrian opposition.
On Feb. 18, U.N. investigators called on the Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. Because Syria is not party to the Rome Statutes that established the ICC, the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council, which has been paralyzed by divisions when it comes to Syria.
Some Council members argue that such a move would further encourage Assad's regime to dig in and resist to the end. Continued... | <urn:uuid:27854b3a-42ec-4d7b-a1b2-11417c9adb63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://srnnews.townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2013/02/26/as-atrocities-pile-up-syrians-collect-evidence-n1520908 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96411 | 956 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Santiago's long journey to big league ball
Tigers infielder grew up on fields of Domincan Republic
Monday starts our week-long package of stories looking at Tigers Latin-American players and how they grew up around baseball. The package leads up to the Tigers' annual Fiesta Tigres celebration Saturday at Comerica Park.
DETROIT -- Ramon Santiago can still remember how to roll a sock tightly into a makeshift baseball. That was pretty easy. Then they'd find something to use for bat.
It wasn't much, but where he came from in his native Dominican Republic, it was the start of a ballgame. As it turned out, it was also the start of a career.
Before Santiago had his own fan club, before he earned a share of the Tigers' shortstop job, before he even started playing organized baseball back home, he had the makeshift ball and bat. They'd play around the apartment, in the street, maybe on the field next door.
In the Dominican, of course, baseball is an obsession. And Santiago was all about baseball, eventually outgrowing the sock and stick.
"Sometimes we'd play near our apartment," Santiago said. "If anybody hit it over the building, it was a home run."
If anybody hit it against the building?
"A double, maybe a triple," Santiago said. "You just keep running until they catch the ball."
If anybody broke a window?
"Everybody run," Santiago laughed.
It was on the streets of Las Matas de Farfan, and later on the rocky infield of the city's organized league, where Santiago honed his sure-handed fielding. The town of just over 20,000 people, located in the western mountains near the border with Haiti, isn't the fabled baseball hotbed of other Dominican cities, but has produced a fair number of Major Leaguers, from Juan Encarnacion to Odalis Perez, Roberto Novoa to Victor Santos. Santiago is the one player of the bunch still in the Major Leagues this season.
Santiago spent a good portion of his childhood in the field, but not always baseball. While his mother worked in a pharmacy, his father was involved with farming. One of his favorite pictures as a kid isn't of his baseball exploits, but as a five-year-old on top of a burro, a small donkey.
"Somebody had to hold the burro," Santiago said. "They can be mean sometimes, start throwing you around."
His dad didn't want him doing a lot of work around the farm, only to help out a little bit. He still has a mark from where he cut open his leg once while hauling grain around.
His family wanted him to focus on his studies, and on baseball. Once he started playing organized ball at age nine in the local leagues, he became a mainstay in town as a shortstop.
There was one field in town for the league to use, and it wasn't a particularly good one. He got the bumps and bruises to show for it. But by playing there, he learned the discipline to keep his eye on the ball and be ready for a last-second adjustment.
"That's why when I play in the fields here, it's like paradise," Santiago said. "That field was so hard, you're maybe afraid to lose your teeth. That's how bad it was. When you see the fields here, how they treat it, that's like playing in paradise on the Major League fields."
During the day, after school, he would be watching for bad hops on that field. Once evening came, he would often be home, watching Major League games on television. However, he didn't have a lot of choices.
"Young players, they always have somebody they like, they want to be like him," Santiago said. "When I was watching baseball, the only channels I watched were the Braves [on TBS] and the Cubs [on WGN]. We didn't have many more channels then. We're a little town in the Dominican."
He remembers watching Rafael Belliard as a utility infielder with the Braves, and admiring him for his glove. But one of the biggest influences on his career from those games wasn't even Dominican.
"Chipper [Jones] was why I started switch-hitting," Santiago said. "Chipper, I liked, and he was a switch-hitter. But I only hit right before. So from then, I said I want to hit like him. I tried it one game, hit it good, so I kept hitting like that."
He was around 15 years old when Jones got him to switch-hit. A year later, the Tigers signed him in December of 1995 and sent him to their developmental academy, where he made enough of an impression to crack the Tigers' farm system in 1999.
He barely knew a word of English at the time, but he worked with Tigers instructors and teammates to learn the language, to the point where he's now one of the more fluent Latin-American players on the team. He and teammate Placido Polanco work with young players when they get to Detroit to make the adjustment.
There's another way he wants to give back.
"Maybe when I go back home, I want to try to help fix the field, for my league," Santiago said.
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | <urn:uuid:d2bfa69f-4f9f-45af-9995-7a7605bebe2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090804&content_id=6237126&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det | 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 | 0.990076 | 1,140 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Making Sense of Transformation
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2001 The U.S. military must transform to meet the threats of the 21st century. So how does that happen?
Transformation needs a destination. The president and his advisers set the National Security Strategy. From this comes the National Military Strategy. These documents detail the threats facing the United States and what the military should do to combat them.
The last revision of these documents was in 1995. Now there are new threats. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the United States must be prepared to defend against asymmetric threats such as terrorism, cyberattacks, rogue states firing missiles tipped with weapons of mass destruction, and so on.
These threats demand changes in the U.S. military.
The people at the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., are working these transformation issues.
Dave Ozolek is the deputy director of the Joint Futures Lab at the Joint Experimentation Directorate at the command. He said there are six elements the U.S. military must consider during the transformation process.
"In transformation, you have to have foresight," Ozolek said. "You have to have the ability to look far enough into the future that you can imagine a brighter future." DoD must define the threats and detail the steps needed to combat them.
The second element needed is depth in the perception of the threat. "You have to see the issues in sufficient detail that you understand the implications of the consequences of the change that you're contemplating," Ozolek said.
"In addition, you need a worldview," he continued. "You have to imagine how things are changing around you in a greater sphere than just your local community." But even with a worldview, planners still must maintain contacts with those around them. Changes made in one area will affect others, and lines of communication must remain open.
While foresight is important, so is hindsight, Ozolek said. "You have to be able to consider the cultural imperatives that got you where you are today, because you can't really walk away from them," he said.
Finally, transformation requires flexibility. "The farther out you look in the future, the less certain things are, so therefore perhaps the bolder or the greater are your assumptions," he said. "And so you have to have the capability to confirm or deny your assumptions as you continue to move forth."
But it takes objective testers to test these theories and prove these assumptions. Someone has to develop scenarios and put the ideas through their paces. Someone also has to take the transformation ideas the military services are generating and see how they fit together.
"This way, the department can make objective, informed decisions based on the outcome of evidence," Ozolek said, "as opposed to a consensus-building approach, and a compromise approach that's kind of characterized the Department of Defense for the last 54 years."
Gaining this objective, substantiated data is the job of the experimentation directorate. Planners there use a combination of actual exercises and computer simulations to test various strategies and theories. The directorate also integrates all transformation work the services accomplish.
The main test bed is the Challenge series of experiments. The first, held last year and called Millennium Challenge, focused on how the U.S. military takes the current set up of the services -- personnel, equipment, logistics, technology -- and changes it for different missions. "We were not looking at future systems," said Jack Klevecz, chief of the Futures Alliance Department at the directorate. "We were looking at how to take the stuff we have today and use it more effectively. Our focus was primarily in the realms of doctrine and organization."
All the services participated in Millennium Challenge, and it ran from boots on the ground to electrons on screens. Some exercises were in North Carolina and others were only real on a computer screen. Another experiment will take place next year.
"We want to pull forward what we learned about doctrine and organization and then begin to look at the tough decisions we'll have to make in terms of equipment, facilities, bases and how we change our training and leadership development institutions," Klevecz said. "We will work with an eye on what we need to do in the second half of this decade to really develop the force that we need to conduct rapid decisive operations in the next decade."
Rapid decisive operations is the tactical representation of how the U.S. military wants to work in the years ahead. Essentially, it means get to a trouble spot with enough of the right capabilities, fast enough to make a difference. The mere appearance of such a force may be enough to stabilize a situation, DoD officials said. But if force is necessary, the joint task force would be able to deliver it.
Building this force and experimenting with the configuration of such a tactical concept is the main business of the Joint Experimentation Directorate today. Officials are working with the service battle labs to make the transformation. Klevecz coordinates the work of the 24 battle labs and two integration offices involved in the effort.
The labs are staffed with experts from across the service. "In the Army you'll have a signal officer, and you'll have an infantry officer, and an armor officer working on a problem," Klevecz said. "And in the Air Force, you might have navigators and pilots, and the pilots are strike and lift. And you'll have a weather officer. So you'll have a variety of skills.
"The solutions they are after are not just materiel solutions," he continued. "They'll look at, 'OK, what are the organizational changes that have to go in? What are the organizational impacts of fighting the way we want to fight or prosecuting the war in these effects-based operations? What new pieces of equipment? What manners of fighting? What are the doctrinal implications? What are the organizational implications? What are the training implications? What are the leadership implications?"
Service battle labs are small -- about 25 people each -- and work at the direction of their service chief.
"They generally are all designed as multifunctional organizations that are centered around an enduring warfighting principle," Klevecz said. For example, the Army battle lab at Fort Gordon, Ga., deals with the electronic systems. A lab at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., studies intelligence gathering. The Battle Command Battle Lab at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., takes their input and tests command and control of the operating systems.
The experts at Joint Forces Command would look at the results of this effort and see how they fit into the overall DoD transformation. JFCOM officials would see how various service systems work together and ensure they are interoperable. The Futures Alliance also serves as a clearinghouse for information. This alliance of all service battle labs volunteers to study a concept together.
"We'll gather them about every three or four months," Klevecz said. "We've created an open environment to debate the issues of the joint experimentation."
The Futures Alliance also creates opportunities for the various battle labs to identify problems and team up to solve them. "For example, there is currently an experiment that the Air Force's Force Protection Battle Lab is working with the Army's Maneuver Support Battle Lab," Klevecz said. "They're working an issue of protection of fixed-site facilities."
In another arrangement, the Air Force Space Battle Lab is working with the Army's Air Mobility Battle Lab, and the Army's Air and Missile Defense Battle Lab. "They're all working space issues: theatre ballistic missiles and missile defense issues," he said. "All these things, they have orchestrated themselves."
Right now, the Futures Alliance is principally devoted to information exchange. JFCOM officials are putting together an information-sharing network. "(The battle labs) can post whatever they want … and everybody would have open access to shared information," Klevecz said.
In addition to the service interaction at the lab level, Joint Forces Command has people working on science and technology solutions.
"We're working with research development engineering centers, working with commercial research and development and working with academic centers of excellence" Klevecz said. "I've got also our people working with all of the commanders in chief, both regional and functional, around the world, and our multinational partners." | <urn:uuid:4ad989e6-74e3-47a4-a2b1-04fe2ffa0a0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=45896 | 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 | 0.967469 | 1,723 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Christian authors Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz believe more skeptics might be willing to search for the truth if only some Christians would get out of the way. In I'm Fine With God . . . It's Christians I Can't Stand: Getting Past the Religious Garbage in the Search for Spiritual Truth, Bickel and Jantz (who are also co-authors of the Christianity 101 series) express their frustration with how Christianity has become entangled in side issues such as politics, science, "judgmentalism" and more. These issues, they argue convincingly (and with more than a touch of humor), are harmful to Christians and nonbelievers alike, and have little basis in Scripture. Just as Christ didn't hold back when confronting the hypocritical legalists, Bickel and Jantz don't hold back either. They pull no punches, excoriating everyone from proponents of the "prosperity gospel" to Christian media that tries to cover abysmal artistic efforts under a faith-friendly veneer. Bickel and Jantz challenge believers to return to the true fundamentals of the faith—love for God, love for others and a life that mirrors the compassionate, forgiving spirit of Christ. Their book isn't likely to win friends among dogmatists. But as a call to Christians to make their actions reflect the true character of Christ, I'm Fine With God . . . is a fine book.
In the beginning
In What Jesus Meant and What Paul Meant, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Garry Wills brought a historian's eye to Christianity's most important figures - the Messiah on whom the faith is built, and the saint who wrote most of the New Testament. In What the Gospels Meant, Wills trains that scholarly eye on the gospels - who wrote them, when they were written and why. Wills is no slave to tradition; he is more than ready to question whether the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are really the work of their assigned namesakes, and whether certain passages were inserted by later editors. But at the same time, he is no self-appointed skeptic out to cast aside the whole if one account differs from another. Instead, Wills shows how the four gospels are the results of independent writers with varied though harmonious goals, each highlighting aspects of Christ's life, death and resurrection to emphasize specific themes important to the faith.
As with his earlier books, Wills' scholarship in What the Gospels Meant is impeccable, placing the gospels within their original cultural and religious context. That scholarship is rounded out by Wills' exceptional writing skills, creating a book that offers profound spiritual and historical insight in an accessible and intriguing format.
Thinking things through
Where Garry Wills primarily writes for the thoughtful believer, Timothy Keller writes for the thoughtful skeptic. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism is an answer to the recent polemics from atheist authors such as Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great), Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Samuel Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation), though it is hardly in the same vein. This is no reactionary screed, but a thoughtful, probing and erudite examination of the Christian faith.
Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, answers skeptics with understanding, compassion and compelling logic. He deftly refutes the arguments of Hitchens et. al, revealing their underlying fallacies, while encouraging the reader to examine his or her own assumptions for similar false premises. Yet throughout The Reason for God, Keller never resorts to smugness or presents his views as necessarily infallible - a refreshing approach in a world so often divided by unfounded claims of certainty.
The publisher compares Keller to the great Christian writer and thinker C.S. Lewis; the comparison is apt. Like Lewis, Keller offers clarity of thought in an engaging, readable style. And like Lewis, Keller calls readers - believers and skeptics alike - to an active examination of their own motivations, purpose and faith. The believer will find as much to challenge his understanding of God as will the skeptic - and both will leave the book the richer for it.
After years of skepticism, Jon Spayde came to Christianity because of alcohol. Left with no will of his own to combat his desire for liquor, Spayde turned his will over to a higher power - and in the process, discovered Christ. This life change led Spayde to talk with Christians from across the spectrum of the faith, to learn how each had come to relate to God. How to Believe: Teachers and Seekers Show the Way to a Modern, Life-Changing Faith offers interviews with ordinary (and not so ordinary) Christians - including retired bishops, hospice workers, ministers, former executives and others who have found or are seeking the path to religion. Some are on the very fringes of the faith; some are solidly in its traditional center. All have varied understandings of Christ and His meaning to the believer.
Spayde is a gifted writer and interviewer, with an openness that allows him to approach disparate believers whom more traditional Christian writers might have ignored. No reader will likely end up agreeing with every person who shared their thoughts with Spayde. But the insight into the diversity of faith is worth a look, and the result is a challenge to consider the meaning of your own faith - a challenge worthy of the Easter season. | <urn:uuid:7455a872-ef53-411d-b6cb-4f031680168f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookpage.com/review/i'm-fine-with-god-.-.-.-it's-christians-i-can't-stand%3A-getting-past-the-religious-garbage-in- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953312 | 1,113 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Patrick Radden Keefe: A Mass Shooter’s Tragic Past : The New Yorker
A biochemist named Debra Moriarity watched Bishop from across the table. Moriarity knew all about Bishop’s tenure woes; they had developed a friendship since Bishop had arrived on campus as an assistant professor, in 2003. They often talked about their families: Bishop had four children (her oldest, Lily, was a student at Huntsville); Moriarity had recently become a grandmother. Moriarity had voted against Bishop’s receiving tenure, and Bishop knew it, but they had remained cordial, and Bishop had confided in Moriarity about her professional despair. “My life is over,” she had said at one point. Moriarity reassured her that she would find another position. “It’s just a matter of the fit,” Moriarity said. During the meeting, she made a mental note to ask Bishop how her search for a new job was going.
For fifty minutes, Bishop said nothing. Then, just as the meeting was concluding, she stood up, pulled out the gun, a 9-mm. Ruger semiautomatic, and shot Podila in the head. The blast was deafening. She fired again, hitting a department assistant, Stephanie Monticciolo. Next, Bishop turned and shot Adriel Johnson, a cell biologist. People screamed and ducked for cover, but Bishop was blocking the only door. Moriarity did not fully register what was happening until she saw Bishop—her jaw set, her brow furrowed—train the gun on a fourth colleague, Maria Ragland Davis, and shoot her.
Moriarity dived under the table. With gunshots ringing out above her, she flung her arms around Bishop’s legs, looked up, and screamed, “Amy, don’t do this! Think of my daughter! Think of my grandson!” Bishop looked down—then turned the gun on Moriarity.
Click. Moriarity, in terror, stared at the gun. Click. The weapon had jammed. Moriarity crawled past Bishop and into the hallway; Bishop followed her, repeatedly squeezing the trigger. As Bishop tried to fix the gun, Moriarity scrambled back into the conference room and another colleague barricaded the door. The room, a prosecutor later said, looked “like a bomb went off. Like a war zone.” Six people had been shot, three of them fatally. The entire episode had lasted less than a minute.
. . .
The morning after Bishop was taken into custody, the sheriff’s department in Huntsville received a phone call from a man named Paul Frazier, who said that he was the chief of police in Braintree, Massachusetts—the Boston suburb where Bishop had grown up. Frazier said, “The woman you have in custody, I thought you’d want to know: she shot and killed her brother back in 1986.”
. . . | <urn:uuid:c5f01d0a-8276-4975-98fe-f18e23409aeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.poormojo.org/pmjadaily/archives/cat_kulture.php?page=28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988326 | 618 | 1.75 | 2 |
The first time Griselda laid eyes on Clint Barton, he was a twig of a thing. Too skinny, too fidgety, eyes too sharp, with a habit of nesting in high, out of the way places, but in his eyes was a spark she knew would get him through his future. He was eleven and had already witnessed so much bad, but there would be plenty more, she knew, she always knew. So instead of ignoring the too skinny, too loud child like the rest of the circus, she invited the boy into her caravan and let him have tea and think through his problems, and when he needed help, she always helped him, but her help always came with a price. A cabinet that needed fixing. A few days' worth of pay. Chores that needed to be done. Nothing he couldn't do. And she watched him grow until he was eighteen, when he flew from her nest to a college he'd managed a scholarship to. She'd never been prouder of her sharp eyed hawk. | <urn:uuid:feea43e0-8b24-4551-a138-6f7a5f3f5916> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vent-monster.polyvore.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.995078 | 211 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Remote Captcha for iOS v1.2
February 24, 2012 in Utilities
[prMac.com] Cordoba, Argentina - Just when you thought that there was no more apps to make for the iPhone, Remote Captcha comes in. Originated from a "many users real need", Remote Captcha was made so the user can leave his computer on, downloading thousands of files from popular file hosting sites, without having to be in front of the computer to enter the CAPTCHAs that jDownloader prompts him. These CAPTCHAs are sent to the user's iOS device, and get notified through Apple Push Notifications so he can solve it, right there on his iPhone. Downloads continue normally on the user's computer.
The new v1.2 introduces a free trial period so users can test the App before they buy a subscription. It also includes Twitter and Facebook badges, so users have a direct access to follow and/or like Remote Captcha in their preferred social networks. This is also good because every announcement referred to the App is done via Twitter and Facebook, so users can be more in touch with important App news.
One good thing about this App, besides its utility, is that is simple for the user. In the App side, the only thing the user has to do is to register with a user name and password. That's all. In the computer side, the user has to extract a few files inside the jDownloader application directory, and to enter the user name and password in a text file. There is no need to set up obscure router configurations like many remote utilities require doing.
Simple, useful and effective, this is, Remote Captcha. Check the video for a demonstration about how this App works.
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.0 or later
* 0.6 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Remote Captcha 1.2 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Utilities category.
ZabaSoft is a new iOS development company. Its main product is Remote Captcha, however it is planned to develop several more Apps. Copyright (C) 2012 ZabaSoft. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. | <urn:uuid:4056aa11-d685-4b62-af1a-a73b8be397a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prmac.com/release-id-38843.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932637 | 482 | 1.539063 | 2 |
LA PAZ (AFP) — President Evo Morales said Saturday he has rejected a request from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to fly over Bolivian territory, and alleged that such flights were a cover for US spying.
"Two or three days ago I was told we had a DEA request for overflying Bolivia," said Morales at a meeting with coca leaf growers.
"We do not accept that. No DEA or American (agency) can be overflying our national territory."
"Under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, under the pretext of monitoring coca leaf crops they want to overfly, and we are going to make it clear that we monitor domestically," the president added.
"We don't need anyone spying."
His remarks came as relations between South America's poorest nation and the richest country in the Americas hit a new low with a mutual expulsion of ambassadors.
Coca leaves are the raw material from which cocaine can be processed. But they are used in traditional remedies and for tea that fights altitude sickness, and growing small amounts for such purposes is legal.
UN reports say coca growing has been on the rise.
The leftist Morales is majority indigenous Bolivia's first indigenous president, and a staunch ally of US critics Venezuela and Cuba.
The United States is the main funding source of Bolivia's fight against illegal drugs, contributing 66 million dollars a year.
Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More » | <urn:uuid:4dbaf274-a3b1-43da-89c3-490cfb0d2716> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5igkZkMf2dvC_LEKUliFjGe6NsupA | 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 | 0.962798 | 296 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary said Thursday that a ban on file-trading networks is urgently required but agreed to work with tech companies concerned that devices like Apple Computer's iPod would be imperiled.
As Cnet reports
"...Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he intended to move ahead with the highly controversial Induce Act despite objections from dozens of Internet providers and Silicon Valley manufacturers. The Induce Act says "whoever intentionally induces any violation" of copyright law would be legally liable for those violations.
Hatch added, however, that he welcomed comments from critics. "If you help us, we just might get it right," he said. "If you don't, we're going to do it. Something has to be done. There's no way to solve these problems so everyone's totally pleased."
The Induce Act, which enjoys broad support in the music industry and from a handful of software companies, is designed to overturn an April 2003 ruling from a California judge that said StreamCast Networks, which distributes Morpheus, and Grokster were not liable for copyright infringements that took place using their software. Critics of the bill warn that it could make hardware makers like Apple and Toshiba--and even journalists--liable for products and reviews that could "induce" the public to violate copyright law..." | <urn:uuid:97efd469-e61e-4046-983d-8378c1c821f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=9822 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971728 | 280 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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Advisory extended for water near Sandsprit Park in Stuart
The FDEP can start by going after the Army Corps of Engineers for dumping billion of gallons of polluted water from the lake into our river. Oh and why are we spending millions on restocking oyster beds that are destroyed by the fresh water releases when the releases continue?
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Tillman's BBQ tasting success | Photos
If you've been the victim of a scam, we'd like to hear from you.
Join us June 26 as we discuss recent pillowcase burglaries. | <urn:uuid:2509d719-06e3-4a6d-a6a5-edcbfedd5dd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcpalm.com/comments/reply/?target=61:385303&comment=761419 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932616 | 175 | 1.617188 | 2 |
News Release 280
Roarke Holzschuh named August 2009 employee of the month by Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Volume 37-280 (For Immediate Release)
Contact: Philip J. Tremblay
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, AUG. 26, 2009 --- Recognized for his commitment and leadership in conducting the ongoing School Lab Chemical Cleanout Project, Roarke Holzschuh has been named August 2009 Employee of the Month by the Department of Natural Resources. Holzschuh is an environmental specialist and on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Emergency Response Section. He works out of the Kansas City Regional Office, Field Services Division. Funding for the chemical cleanup project came from a partnership between the Department and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
In nominating Holzschuh, Alan Reinkemeyer, director of the Department's Environmental Services Program, and Brian Allen, chief of the EER section, cited Holzschuh's personal initiative and dedication to the project. "Roarke has needed little direction to make it a success," said Reinkemeyer. "He has never asked for anything in return, but has instead focused on the impact this project has to make Missouri's schools much safer."
The state agency partnership funded the 2008 project, a one-time removal of dangerous, unwanted or expired chemicals from school science labs. Two hundred and twenty-six K-12 schools applied for cleanup funds. The program is ongoing, but so far, 23,917 pounds of liquids, 2,226 pounds of solid material, 1,035 pounds of mercury, 21 pounds of aerosols, 48 pounds of metal powders and 2,084 pounds of other material have been removed from the schools for proper disposal.
"The average cleanup cost per school has been $1,660.95, which is much below the market rate and provides significant savings to Missouri taxpayers, should each school have attempted this on their own," said Allen.
Input from the Department's Environmental Services, Solid Waste Management and Hazardous Waste programs helped make the project happen. Holzschuh, who already served on a statewide Safe Schools Workgroup with Dr. Russ Thompson of the Center for Safe Schools, was selected as the Department's project coordinator. The work group first helped create a science safety CD for schools that volunteered to participate. Funding for the CD was acquired through insurance sources and the Department's Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority.
Holzschuh then coordinated with the Office of Administration and disposal contractors -- who were invited to bid on statewide or regional disposal -- to assist schools with the removal of chemicals. He also helped prepare news releases, gave presentations and generated progress reports for the state legislature, public safety officials and others.
Holzschuh has given presentations to the Governor's Homeland Security Advisory Council and will be a guest speaker at this year's State Emergency Management Conference in Branson. He has worked for the Department since January 1995 and lives in Kansas City.
Editor: Photo is available at http://www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/images/holzschuh-EOM.jpg. | <urn:uuid:00b6f8df-50dd-4bbd-83e6-685df9fdf69f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dnr.mo.gov/newsrel/2009/nr09_280.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952552 | 638 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Best value colleges: Which schools pay off?
Parents and college-bound students know the cost of a 4-year university is going up, up, and up! However, the authors of a new study say don't let the sticker shock scare you off. The Princeton Review found many of the nation's most selective colleges and universities are able to provide a top-notch education and their graduates have student debt loans below national average.
"College-bound students and their families are understandably scared about paying for college, but a lot of people never make it past the sticker price," says Robert Franek, senior vice president of The Princeton Review, a New York-based education services company that is not affiliated with Princeton University. "It's such an avoidable mistake."
The Review had now released its 2013 Best Value Colleges. It includes 150 schools total: 75 public and 75 private. It says these institutions offer the best deal for your money.
The top three universities are University of Virginia in Charlottesville, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and New College of Florida in Sarasota.
The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor came in at number 9.
Here's a link to a longer USA Today article: www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/02/05/princeton-review-best-value-colleges-interactive/1890969/ | <urn:uuid:0b790225-32d7-41b5-9bf3-79ab13501bbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clickondetroit.com/money/Best-value-colleges-Which-schools-pay-off/-/1719116/18417394/-/format/rss_2.0/view/print/-/dbgdrgz/-/index.html | 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 | 0.959856 | 289 | 1.5 | 2 |
November 30, 2011
Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposed settlement with Facebook, addressing its assertion that Facebook deceived users by failing to uphold its privacy promises. As we said elsewhere, the proposed settlement has one major step forward: it prohibits the company from “begging forgiveness instead of asking permission” by changing its privacy settings to make data more public or share it with more people. But it doesn’t cure all of the outstanding issues with Facebook privacy.
Here’s a quick rundown of the plusses, a minus and outstanding questions of the proposed settlement. (You can read the whole thing here.)
- Asking Permission, Not Begging Forgiveness. No more Beacon fiascos; no more “privacy transitions” that make more information public. Facebook must now obtain a user’s express consent before taking any information previously covered by a privacy setting and making it more public than it was before, and it promises not to “misrepresent in any matter, expressly or by implication,” its privacy protections for names, photos, location history, and other information.
- What’s Gone Is Really Gone. Once you delete a photo from Facebook, Facebook will ensure that no one else can access it within 30 days. (It still can’t help if your friend copied the photo and reposted it on Facebook or elsewhere, however.)
- Comprehensive Privacy Program. Facebook is required under the proposed settlement to establish a “comprehensive privacy program” that will protect the privacy of identifiers, photos, and location information in both new and existing products. Facebook has already announced that it will be appointing two new privacy officers in response to the proposed settlement.
- Still Out of Control? The proposed settlement makes it very clear that Facebook must ask permission before increasing its sharing of information that currently has a privacy setting, but it does not explicitly put the same requirement on information that currently has no privacy setting at all (including information like your name and profile picture that used to have such controls). This is particularly important as the company continues to collect information about its users activities outside of Facebook itself, such as its log of every visitors to Web pages that include a Like button.
- Privacy by Default? The settlement agreement also doesn't explicitly address how Facebook will deal with new kinds of information from future products, since that information is also not covered by an existing privacy setting.
- The FTC's Future Role? The FTC is empowered to ensure that Facebook complies with the settlement, and Facebook has made a broad promise not to "misrepresent" its privacy protections in the future. But it’s not entirely clear whether the FTC would use this authority to challenge new Facebook products or services that aren't dealing with information currently covered by a privacy setting.
Learn more about dotRights: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:a2a19969-2033-4731-858a-1ab7ac3f26fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aclu.org/print/blog/technology-and-liberty/facebookftc-settlement-proposal-whats-new-whats-not | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950748 | 608 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Thu March 7, 2013
Startup Wants To Redefine How Local Foods Get To Your Door
Originally published on Thu March 7, 2013 2:13 pm
Rising consumer demand for local foods has changed the job description for ranchers like Doniga Markegard.
Markegard, co-owner of Markegard Family Grass-Fed in San Gregorio, Calif., loves working with cattle, but she's not fond of the hours of phone calls and emails it can take to sell directly to a customer.
"What I want to be doing is the part I love — working with the animals and raising my kids on the ranch," says Markegard. "But I also need to be marketing our product, going to markets and talking with customers. There are a lot of administrative aspects to running a small family ranch, and they are time-consuming."
Now a San Francisco startup is looking to act as the middleman, handling the logistics of gathering and delivering local goods to consumers' doorsteps so small farmers like Markegard don't have to.
Good Eggs began a year ago as a place where local food producers could sell their foods directly to consumers online, says CEO Rob Spiro. But producers needed more.
"We kept hearing the same thing from the producers," Spiro tells The Salt. " 'This is great,' they told us, 'but as I become more successful, I'm becoming a full-time distributor.' "
So Spiro and his business partners decided to step in. "What we need is a last-mile delivery system for our producers," says Spiro.
The problem is that whether you live in San Francisco or Des Moines, Dallas or Wichita, the modern food system is based on economies of scale: To keep food inexpensive and delivered predictably, regardless of the season, you need mass production and the mass movement of goods from large-scale farm to national distributor to superstore.
But similar networks for moving locally produced foods to market are sorely lacking, according to a 2010 report from the USDA's Economic Research Service.
To that end, Good Eggs acquired three trucks and a warehouse and, as of last Thursday, it will now deliver fresh local fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and prepared foods right to consumers' doors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It plans to create a similar food hub in Brooklyn this spring.
The Good Eggs system works like this: Consumers order from a wide variety of locally made, artisanal products online — from baby food to cheese, oranges to muffins. Items are then baked or harvested fresh to order and sent to the Good Eggs' warehouse, where each individual order is put together manually.
The idea is to keep costs down by using an Amazon warehouse model of efficient distribution — except nothing is stored there. The warehouse is used instead for aggregating goods on delivery days. By bringing all the products together in one location and distributing them together, Good Eggs hopes to relieve producers of the logistical headache of direct sales, while earning them higher profit margins than they get from grocery stores.
And while the price of jam on the Good Eggs site is far higher than a jar of Smuckers at Safeway, the cost of most goods is comparable to those at boutique markets like Whole Foods.
Yes, other companies have tried, with some success, to deliver groceries to homes and offices. Giant grocers like Safeway now offer home delivery. Fresh Direct makes home deliveries in the New York area, and Spud will drop off items to your front door in cities across the U.S. and Canada. But all of these companies function as full-scale grocers, and keep fully stocked warehouses full of nonlocal and nonfood items.
More similar is Farmigo, with a mission to also deliver only local produce and meats directly to consumers in New York and California. But Farmigo only delivers to offices and other group drop-off points. Home delivery, the company found, was too costly to make it work.
Good Eggs is looking to get around that problem by charging $3.99 for home deliveries. Depending on whether a customer orders from the Good Eggs site or from a producer's own website, the company also takes a percentage cut from each sale.
An impressive team of investors and advisers are working with Good Eggs, including Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Michael Dearing of Stanford and Damon Horowitz of Google.
Even so, the challenges of reconstructing a 21st century local food delivery system are formidable. How the company will deal with the logistical complexity of coordinating 120-plus producers and potentially hundreds of drop-off points, and how consumers will react to limited drop-off days and times, remains to be seen. (Some also question how far a food can travel while still being "local.")
"Creating new distribution channels between farmers and consumers is no easy feat," says Melanie Cheng of Berkeley, Calif., author of Building Regional Produce Supply Chains and founder of FarmsReach, a community-driven platform for improving business operations on the farm.
Picky shoppers, low profit margins and complex distribution logistics are inherent challenges in the system. "Good Eggs," she says, "have their work cut out for them." | <urn:uuid:dfaed010-012f-46e1-ad5e-d3c357dad845> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wdiy.org/post/startup-wants-redefine-how-local-foods-get-your-door | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946756 | 1,065 | 1.625 | 2 |
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Ever since the end of the boom years of the early 2000s, the housing market has struggled to hit bottom, seemingly plowing ever lower even after years of declines. As a result, millions of former homeowners have lost their homes, while millions more owe more on their mortgages than their current homes are worth. Many have bemoaned this trend as meaning the end of the American Dream of home ownership.
But when you take away the emotional response to the housing bust, the question remains: Are falling levels of home ownership really such a bad thing? For many, owning a home never made financial sense -- and avoiding the burden of having so much debt on your biggest asset can make your financial life a lot easier.
Falling from record highs
When the Census Bureau released its 2010 housing data last year, it revealed an astonishing fact: The percentage of Americans who owned their own homes fell by the largest proportion since the Great Depression. That made for good headlines at the time, as media sources proclaimed the death of the American Dream.
But a closer look at the numbers reveals a much different picture. During the Great Depression, many fewer people owned their homes -- around 45%, according to Census data. But by 2010, that rate was up to 65% -- meaning that tens of millions more American families became homeowners during that period. The rate even got closer to 70% before the housing crash happened.
The more important statistic
By themselves, these figures don't mean much. Whether someone owns a home or rents one from someone else doesn't matter in terms of overall demand -- as long as either a homeowner or an investor/landlord wants a property, the effect should be the same. What has really caused a problem, though, is the number of empty homes.
Again looking at Census data, the number of empty homes jumped by about 4.6 million over the past decade. When you consider that the total housing stock jumped by only 16 million homes, you can see that new supply far exceeded actual demand for real estate. Overbuilding was especially rampant in hot areas of the country, including the Desert Southwest and the Deep South.
Overbuilding worked out great for homebuilders at first, as it didn't cause any problem as long as there was enough demand for the homes. Between 2000 and 2006, Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV ) saw sales jump more than fivefold -- only to give back every bit of those gains by last year. KB Home (NYSE: KBH ) , which got in on the boom earlier, saw the same trend -- and its recent sales are only a third of its 2000 revenue. Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF ) and other builders in particularly hard-hit regions were especially prone to big leaps followed by inevitable declines.
The new normal
Meanwhile, the aftermath has driven many speculators out of the market -- at least those who are seeking short-term rather than long-term profits. Even though that hurts demand in the short run, it arguably makes the market healthier in that it more accurately reflects the intrinsic demand for housing as a necessity rather than simply as an investment asset.
Of course, not everyone wins in that scenario. Hamstrung mortgage banks Citigroup (NYSE: C ) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) would likely prefer more speculation in the market, since it would help those institutions get bank-owned assets and bad loans off their books more quickly.
But for people trying to decide whether to buy, the combination of low interest rates and cheap housing makes buying as attractive as it's likely ever going to be. So if your finances don't work out to allow you to buy now, they likely never will. That may sound brutal, but that knowledge should help those who can't afford a home to make arrangements that will work -- and hopefully benefit from the freedom that not being tied down to a house provides.
The dream that became a nightmare
So rather than a regretful loss of the American Dream, falling home ownership could actually be good both for individuals and for the economy as a whole. Instead of betting your entire financial life on a place to live, you can look at the housing bust as your wake-up call to consider other priorities first.
Even if you have a big mortgage weighing you down, you still need to save for long-term goals like retirement. You'll find several stocks that can help get you there in The Motley Fool's latest special report. It won't cost you a thing, but jump on your chance now before it's gone.
Tune in every Monday and Wednesday for Dan's columns on retirement, investing, and personal finance. You can follow him on Twitter here. | <urn:uuid:bfc3c39e-5321-48a8-b549-eaffe126e423> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/home/2012/01/19/why-falling-home-ownership-is-a-good-thing.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971279 | 994 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Also in This Area
Also in This Style
Posted on: September 1, 2003
Kelly "Junior" Cordes follows through the first rock band on Going Monk (V AI6 M6, 4,300'), Peak 13,790', Alaska Range, Alaska. [Photo] Jonathon Copp
On May 30, Jonny Copp and I climbed a new route from the south side of the crevasse- and serac-riddled East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier in a twenty-four-hour, round-trip push from the base. We climbed with light daypacks and, aside from the two crux pitches, simulclimbed throughout. Going Monk (AI6 M6) rises 4,300 vertical feet to the summit of Peak 13,790', which may have been previously unclimbed. We propose that this peak be named "Mt. Andrews" for our friend Bruce Andrews, who was on our minds constantly after his death two days earlier in a tragic airplane crash on a nearby glacier.
Toward the end of the ten-mile ski approach from the Kahiltna International Base Camp, we erected our tent for a preclimb rest and brew. Hidden from view until near the base, a striking ribbon of ice arises from the north-facing snow- and icefield that breaks the rock wall on the peak's west end. Hollow, gently overhanging alpine ice on the first pitch of this ice strip provided one of the route's cruxes.The ribbon rolled on above with superb climbing, depositing us on ice slopes from which we climbed directly up the west ridge through two prominent rock towers. The towers (which easily could be avoided on less-interesting ice slopes) yielded some outstanding, moderate mixed climbing with a few scrappy spots and the route's other crux pitch, a thinly-iced corner on the first tower.
High on the route, with easy climbing remaining to the summit ridge, we continued on; though we were dehydrated, tired and the forecast storm was imminent, taking the time to stop and brew seemed foolish. We reached the ridge in a whiteout and staggered upward along the seemingly endless, crevassed ridge, because our efforts just wouldn't have meant as much to us without finishing. Occasional brief glimpses through the swirling clouds disappointed us with the realization that we had farther to go. Finally, fifteen hours after starting, we stood on the summit, then hastily retreated, rappeling through increasingly wet snowfall. While skiing away amid snow and a fog of exhaustion, I plunged through a shallow bridge into a completely hidden crevasse that ran parallel to our direction of travel. It was, by far, the most terrifying part of our adventure, and the bottomless abyss looked like a horrible place to spend the rest of my life. I was still trembling when we crawled into the tent to huddle together like soggy trolls for a few hours' snoozing before finishing the ski out.
— Kelly Cordes, Estes Park, Colorado, USA | <urn:uuid:4ae622e8-4d47-4cea-a4ae-833daff99950> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP04/climbing-notes-cordes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957676 | 623 | 1.554688 | 2 |
As most marketers know by now, this week was a rough one for The Gap as their rebranding efforts were met with a lot of negativity by customers, fans, and marketers alike. The Gap does not stand alone in suffering the lash back of the social web. They now join the ranks of major brands such as Motrin, Tropicana, and Walmart in learning too late that customers and pundits are paying attention and are sharing their viewpoints.
When I say ‘what were they thinking’ I mean that I would truly like to get inside the heads of the marketing decisions makers to understand their thought processes. Or, better yet, to be a fly on the wall to see the social dynamics of the meetings that take place and steer decisions that are made.
Every day my natural marketing curiosity makes me wonder why marketers are not insightful enough to foresee the results of their actions often to the point of detriment where they are in a position of surprise or defense. The opposite also intrigues me. I am always impressed with marketers that have well thought-out plans that are executed flawlessly and with confidence. Undoubtedly, I think we can and should learn from both.
1. Harvard Business Review: The Gap Logo Debacle: A Half-Brained Mistake
“And now, recognizing the error of its ways, the Gap has decided to get radically open: to let anyone compete to design their logo, via (you guessed it) markets, networks, and communities — which is the way that 90% of design, business, and downright everything should be done in the first place”
A lot of examples of lessons learned…the hard and expensive way.
3. Social Media Explorer: Ford One-Ups Itself With Global Focus Launch
“What Ford is doing is yet another trump card to out-do the last awesome thing they did. With the Fiesta Movement and Facebook-centric launch of the Explorer, Ford created a new way of communicating with its customers and showed the world how to do social media on scale. Nothing is ever perfect, but they were both successes.”
4. Smart Blog on Social Media: How Cisco defines business-to-business social-media success … and achieves it
“Success for each program varies based on the objectives that were set at the start of the effort. To help our teams identify what to measure, we have recently put together a Social Media Measurement Framework that outlines some of the most common objectives we have for a social-media campaign and defines the data points within those objectives that we want to measure. This framework also helps to ensure that our teams are consistently measuring the same things so we can compare, apples to apples, across our initiatives.” | <urn:uuid:278e6147-5d2d-44f8-9bd0-da0f508fa86f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theharteofmarketing.com/2010/10/saturday-morning-reads-late-edition-thinking.html/comment-page-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968756 | 556 | 1.617188 | 2 |
1 And the children of Israel again did a in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead.
2 And the Lord a them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred a of iron; and twenty years he b c the children of Israel.
4 ¶And Deborah, a a, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
5 And she a under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
6 And she sent and called a the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7 And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 ¶And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
13 And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out a thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
15 And the Lord a b, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
18 ¶And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a a.
19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
21 Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the a into his b, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. | <urn:uuid:4d6baa88-74e9-4ff0-a075-c22ac09b51e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/judg/4.13-16?lang=eng&country=hk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977891 | 1,067 | 1.5 | 2 |
This fall's television offerings include Grimm, a fantasy take on the police procedural in which a homicide detective must protect humanity from fairytale evil. And Terry Pratchett has a new procedural on the way, set in his Discworld universe.
As original as these ideas might seem, television has been combining police drama and science fiction or fantasy, since the 1940s. Here's our complete history of science fiction and fantasy cop shows, including ones which scored ratings success, and the ones which the networks felt the need to shove in the back of a flying police cruiser.
Top image: GO GADGET GO by kizer180 on DeviantArt
Note: This roundup only includes cop shows — not shows about FBI agents, spies, or agents of a mysterious government agency.
Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949)
Captain Video and his Rangers patrolled the universe from a secret mountain top base, protecting our solar system and far flung colonies from villains like the evil inventor (though unintimidatingly named) Dr. Pauli and sword-wielding Murgo of Lyra.
Captain Video had a sidekick, the Video Ranger, played by Don Hastings (Dr. Bob Hughes from As The World Turns and Commissioner Gordon on Batman: The Animated Series) and a robot, I TOBOR. I TOBOR, the first robot on a live TV show, was meant to be called ROBOT I, but his name was stenciled backwards on his costume.
Captain Video preferred to solve his cases with scientific reasoning rather than violence and ray guns (though he used them when he had to), and the series benefited from the contributions of many up and coming authors. Among Captain Video's writers were Damon Knight, James Blish, Jack Vance and Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Milt Lesser, Walter M. Miller Jr., Robert Sheckley, J. T. McIntosh and Dr. Robert S. Richardson.
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (1950)
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet was based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Space Cadet". The show followed Corbett and his fellow trainees at the Space Academy, where they trained to become members of the Solar Guard, traveling to distant planets on their rocket, Polaris. The Solar Guard protected the Solar Alliance from threats as varied as asteroids and space pirates, utilizing a combination of diplomacy, space weapons and the occasional fistfight.
Tom Corbett was very popular and inspired a radio show, comic books, View Master reels, lunchboxes and other paraphernalia. The show's science advisor was Willy Ley, a scientist credited with popularizing rocketry and spaceflight in the US and Germany. Ley, who has a moon crater named after him, wrote a number of books on rocketry and animals— including one on cryptozoology.
Space Patrol (1950)
Commander Buzz Corry (Ed Kemmer, from "Earth Vs. The Spider") led the United Planets Space Patrol in the 30th century against an array of interplanetary villains through a staggering 1,010 luridly-named episodes, with titles such as "Revolt of the Space Rats". The live-action series featured multiple gadgets, such as space-o-phones and "atomolights", and real-time special effects, performed live, on cue, in conjunction with the show as it was recorded. Buzz would capture rogue aliens with a device called The Paralyzer, and later reprogram them into respectable law abiding space-farers with his "Brain-o-graph". Space Patrol began as a regional series out of Los Angeles before being picked up by CBS nine months into its run, where it aired for five years until disappearing from the airwaves in 1955. Controversially, a number of Space Patrol episodes shared striking similarities to recently aired installments of Captain Video, suggesting that for a time the series was merely a recreation of Video's latest adventure.
Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (1953)
Rod Brown and the Rocket Rangers battled crime and super-criminals (including giant lobsters and a Cyclops) from their nuclear-powered space ship, Beta. Rod Brown was "inspired by" Tom Corbett, and utilized the earlier show's director, writers, concept and special effects, leading to a lawsuit that prevented rebroadcast of the Rocket Rangers series.
Most notably, Rod Brown himself was played by Academy Award winner Cliff Robertson.
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954)
Rocky Jones led the Space Rangers, a squad of intergalactic policemen who patrolled the United Worlds of the Solar System. The Rangers flew their rocket ship, the Orbit Jet XV-2 (and later, the nearly-identical Moon XV-3), to distant moons and stars, encountering humanoid-like aliens who were easily subdued by little more than fists and stern words. Like interplanetary David Tomas, The Rangers never fired their space pistols.
Rocky Jones inspired a major marketing blitz of Space Ranger wallets, watches, comic books and records, but the production was beset by off-screen drama. Actor Scotty Beckett, an original member of Our Gang, was implicated in a robbery at the Cavalier Hotel in Hollywood, California, and fled to Mexico, necessitating a recast of his part as Rocky's sidekick Winky. In addition, Maurice Cass, who played science advisor Professor Newton, died of a heart attack. The syndicated series ceased production after 39 episodes, but not before introducing now standard science fiction tropes to television, such as automatically opening doors, forward view screens, confused aliens who worship stranded humans as gods, space pirates and a hero who is irresistible to both human and alien females alike.
Colonel Bleep (1957)
Colonel Bleep was the first color cartoon made for television, beginning as a segment on Uncle Bill's TV Club. The action took place on Zero Zero Island, where the alien Colonel Bleep was drawn by the energy from an atomic blast. With his deputies Squeek, a cowboy-puppet, and Scratch, a caveman revived by an atomic explosion, the Colonel protected Earth from interstellar criminals like Dr. Destructo, Black Patch, and the Black Knight, by absorbing the island's "butomic energy" and then using it to power both weapons and his space unicycle. Though the animation was limited, the series carried itself along with incredible visuals and an excitable narrator (Noah Tyler) who would occasionally scream at the audience (John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy, has cited the series as a major influence). Regrettably, almost no original production material of the show is known to exist today, as thieves stole a van carrying the bulk of Bleep ephemera after the series studio, Soundac, closed its doors. It was around that time Bleep was pulled from regular television rotation, and has remained in limbo, never to return, to this day.
Space Patrol (1962)
This UK marionette space opera (one of the few not produced by Gerry Anderson) follows Captain Larry Dart and the crew of Galasphere 347, an interplanetary police force in the year 2100. The cast included an elfin Venusian, a sausage-obsessed Martian, efficiency expert Colonel Raeburn, and his also-Venusian secretary, Marla.
Space Patrol was the first series to feature an entirely electronic score, composed by producer Roberta Leigh after visiting an electronics store and asking for anything that made interesting noises. The series theme song, which broadcast a full seven months before the premiere of Doctor Who, boasts the title of the first electronic theme in television history.
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski claims Space Patrol was his favorite TV show as a child.
Fireball XL5 (1962)
In this Gerry Anderson series, Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol piloted the spaceship Fireball XL5, which was manned by a diverse crew of scientists, aliens and robots-including, familiarly, a cranky Scottish engineer. The show was filmed in Anderson's patented Supermarionation, and its closing theme, "Fireball", became a hit in Britain. Sean Pertwee, (the son of the Third Doctor Jon Pertwee), can be heard belting the song out in the film Love, Honour and Obey.
8 Man (1963)
Japan's first cyborg superhero, 8 Man was an android humanized by the life force of the murdered Detective Yokoda, who used his new body to fight crime and bring his killers to justice. Under the alias Hachiro Azume, 8 Man led a double life as a police officer, with his identity known only to his boss Chief Tanaka, and the professor who created him. 8 Man replenished his power by smoking "energy cigarettes", which he carried on a cigarette case fastened to his belt.
The series aired in the U.S. as Tobor the 8th Man (once again, Tobor is robot backwards) in 1965, where legendary animator Ralph Bakshi reanimated the opening sequence.
A darker, more violent continuation of the series documenting 8 Man's successor aired in 1993, titled 8 Man After.
Green Lantern (1967)
In 1967, Filmation produced three Green Lantern animated shorts as part of the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. The shorts pitted space patrolman Hal Jordan against a despotic empress, a breakout on an alien penal colony, and Evil Star, an immortal scientist voiced by Paul Frees.
Captain Nice (1967)
Mild-mannered police chemist Carter Nash invented a secret formula that turned himself into crime-fighter Captain Nice (He chose the name so he wouldn't have to change his monogram) in the self-titled comedy starring William Daniels of Knight Rider and Boy Meets World. As with many other series in the genre, Captain Nice, created by Get Smart's Buck Henry, shared striking similarities with another show airing simultaneously, Mister Terrific, though both were responses to the superhero craze of the late sixties instigated by the success of Batman. Vic Mizzy composed the theme song.
Holmes and Yo-Yo (1976)
In this series, Detective Holmes and his android partner Yoyonivich (played by genre staple John Schuck) fought crime, while keeping "Yo-Yo's" non-human status secret from both criminals and fellow policemen alike — this was tough when Yo-Yo's electronics picked up radio signals from Russia, or when his head would violently spin on its axis when near an electronic garage door.
The series was created by another Get Smart alum, former staff writer Leonard Stern, with multiple episodes directed by John Astin. The character Yo-Yo was modeled after Hymie, the robotic officer of Stern's last gig, Get Smart.
The series, which only lasted thirteen episodes, is currently ranked #33 on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV shows and as of this writing, one of them is available to watch on Youtube.
Future Cop (1976)
Like Holmes and Yo-Yo, this show, based on a TV movie of the same name, paired a veteran cop (Ernest Borgnine) with an android partner. The series was re-piloted as Cops and Robin in 1978, but neither version was a success.
Future Cop was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Harlan Ellison, who claimed the series heavily plagiarized the Partners in Wonder Story, "Brillo", he had co-written with Ben Bova. Ellison won the case and was awarded $300,000 dollars by ABC.
Future Cop was canceled after eight episodes.
Astro and the Space Mutts (1981)
The Jetsons' dog Astro teamed up with friends Cosmo, Dipper, and the human Space Ace as an intergalactic police force, in this odd series which aired as part of NBC's Saturday morning programming block, Space Stars. Together, the quartet combatted such villains as Zodiac Man, Galactic Vac and Julie Newstar.
The Metal Hero Series (1982)
This combo platter of seventeen different Japanese series featured a variety of androids, cyborgs and metal-suited humans serving as space police, protecting Earth from robots, mutants and aliens, running from 1982 until 1999.
The first Metal Hero series, Space Sheriff Gavan, concerned an alien policeman sent to earth to battle other, more malignant invading aliens; Robot Police Jiban, the eighth, was a take on Robocop, in which a rookie cop is gunned down and rebuilt as robotic crime fighter. The thirteenth, Blue Swat, dealt with a secret alien-fighting police organization that was nearly wiped out, and had to be assisted by civilians in order to save the world.
Footage from several different Metal Hero programs were later recycled for U.S. interpretations, such as Big Bad Beetleborgs, and V.R. Troopers, which culled fight scenes from an impressive three independent shows.
Inspector Gadget (1983)
Cyborg policeman Inspector Gadget assists Chief Quimby and the Metro Police in its ongoing quest to foil the evil plans of M.A.D., the crime syndicate led by Dr. Claw. Gadget works with his resourceful niece Penny and genius dog Brain, while making good use of a never-ending supply of "gadgets" accessible by calling "Go-Go-Gadget!"
Inspector Gadget is voiced by Don Adams and is played much like Adams iconic character Maxwell Smart, with Penny in the role of 99.
Perennial voice actress Cree Summer Francks provided the voice of Penny, while Frank Welker (and occasionally Don Francks) voiced Dr. Claw.
Cree's brother, Rainbow Sun Francks, is best remembered as the ill-fated Aiden Ford on Stargate: Atlantis.
In Automan, police officer and computer expert Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.) creates a crime-fighting hologram capable of leaving the virtual world and merging with himself to become the superhero, "Automan". Alongside his sidekick, Cursor, a glowing polyhedron that could "draw" objects as needed, Automan would use his powers to not only fight the forces of evil, but give his alter ego further credibility back at the station.
Automan was heavily inspired by the film Tron, which had only come out a year earlier, so executive producer Glen A. Larson hired the film's operating producers, Donald Kushner and Peter Locke, to avoid charges of plagiarism.
Although the series' special effects were created in a completely different way than those used in Tron, the look of Automan, his Autocar, his plane and helicopter, were glowingly similar. Thirteen episodes of Automan were produced, but only twelve aired before getting the axe by ABC.
The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986)
This animated space western pitted the Galaxy Rangers, protectors of the Bureau for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs, against the forces of the Crown Empire, ruled by the Queen of the Crown in the year 2086. Created by Robert Mandell, director of the 1986 film F/X and the pilot episode of the X-Files, the series maintains a strong cult following, praised by fans for its strong characterization, unusual sense of humor, and vocal performances from its cast, which included Earl Hammond, and Jerry Orbach as the captain of the rangers, Zachary Foxx.
Star Cops (1987)
In this series, set in the year 2027, the International Space Police Force (Star Cops) protected the colonies of the Solar System, led by Commander Nathan Spring (David Calder).
"Spacemen are ten-a-penny. What they need out there is a good copper." —Commander Spring.
The Star Cops investigated crimes both conventional (murder) and paranormal (future-murder), but the series failed to find an audience and was cancelled after a mere nine episodes. Creator Chris Boucher lamented, "the series was too outlandish for crime drama fans and not outlandish enough for science fiction fans and that ultimately it appealed to neither".
In 1999, SFX Magazine compiled an expert panel, including Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, to judge the top fifty sci-fi shows of all time. On that list, Star Cops charted at unlucky thirteen.
When the mafia held Empire City in its clutches, Agent Baldwin P. Vess (Codename: Bulletproof) was sent in as a last resort. After sustaining serious injuries in a car wreck on the line of duty, Bulletproof was rebuilt with a cybernetic torso, and assembled C.O.P.S. ("Central Organization of Police Specialists") the "finest law enforcement agency there is the country" to bring down the mob. With his new team, Vess and company battled the C.R.O.O.K.S. in the year 2020 to "fight crime in a future time".
This animated series from DIC, based on a line of Hasbro action figures, ran for sixty-five episodes between September 1988 and February 1989. C.O.P.S. later resurfaced in 1993 on CBS Saturday morning's under its repackaged titled, CyberC.O.P.S.
Alien Nation (1989)
After a flying saucer crashes near LA and its alien inhabitants, slaves in their own world, assimilate into the population. One alien becomes a police detective, working with a human partner to solve crimes and protect the aliens from their "Overseers", who have returned to claim their chattel. Though the series only lasted a single season, popular demand and a change of management at Fox led to an unheard of five additional TV movies, the first airing four years after its cancellation.
Syfy is currently developing a new series with producer Tim Minear.
Twin Peaks (1990)
In this trailblazing series from executive producers Mark Frost and David Lynch, Special Agent Dale Cooper aided the local police in solving the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer in the small Washington town of Twin Peaks. The investigation led to a number of complicating supernatural elements, bringing the detective to a transdimensional confrontation with Laura's killer, and evil incarnate, " Killer Bob".
Mann & Machine (1992)
Sgt. Eve Edison (Yancy Butler) was a sincere and by-the-book gynoid partnered with wisecracking, robot-hating Det. Bobby Mann in near-future Los Angeles. The pair solved crimes while learning to respect each other under the watchful eye of Capt. Margaret Cleghorn (S. Epatha Merkerson).
Besting its similarly-themed antecedent Future Cop by one, Mann & Machine was cancelled after nine episodes, though only four aired as part of NBC's Spring schedule – the remaining five were relegated to summer filler. At the time of its release, sci-fi cop show stalwart Yancy Butler was praised for her performance, but the show reminded critics too much of Holmes & Yo-Yo.
These days, you can occasionally find Mann & Machine on Syfy, airing in all-day marathons.
Forever Knight (1992)
Eight hundred year old Vampire Nick Knight worked the night shift as a Toronto police detective, looking for redemption and a way to become human again. His special skills allowed him to solve crimes his colleagues missed, but also brought him into contact with dangerous vampires from his past who hoped to lure him back to his murderous old ways.
Essentially a Canadian precursor to "Angel" and "Moonlight", Forever Knight began as TV movie in 1989 titled "Nick Knight" and starring Rick Springfield. CBS decided not to pick up the series until three years later, recasting Knight with actor Geraint Wyn Davies in the process. Forever Knight ran for three seasons, garnering a number of awards and critical acclaim along the way. After its cancellation, the series continued with a line of original novels.
Space Rangers (1993)
In this series, a small band of "Space Rangers Corps" guarded Earth colony Fort Hope on the distant planet Avalon from intergalactic crime and space Banshees. Though starring Academy Award Winner Linda Hunt, CBS jettisoned Space Rangers after just six episodes.
Time Trax (1993)
When evil Dr. Mordecai Sahmbi used his time machine Trax to send criminals two hundred years back in time to 1993, police detective Darien Lambert was tasked to follow them back. His tools for the mission were SELMA (Specified Encapsulated Limitless Memory Archive), a supercomputer disguised as a credit card, which communicates via the hologram of a British nanny, and an MPPT (Micro-Pellet Projection Tube) able to stun the criminal and transport him back to the future.
Dale Midkiff played Lambert in this Australian/U.S. series from creator Harve Bennett, co-starring Mia Sara and Peter Donat as Dr. Sahmbi.
Time Trax, which inspired a video game adaptation for the Super NES, ran two seasons. It was the final series produced by Lorimar Television, before the company's absorption by Warner Bros.
Robocop: The Series (1994)
Although based on the Paul Verhoven film, Robocop: The Series was a decidedly less violent and more family oriented take on the character. As in the movie, the show concerned Cybernetic policeman Alex Murphy fighting corruption and crime in near-future Detroit. This time, however, Robocop's non-lethal methods meant the show's major villains could reappear regularly throughout the series.
Despite the name and brand recognition, Robocop was yet another TV show in the sci-fi cop genre unable to survive past its first season. Robocop was preceded by an animated series in 1988, which lasted twelve episodes.
Space Precinct (1994)
In 2040, former NYPD detective Patrick Brogan fights crimes committed by aliens and humans alike while running the Demeter City police force on the planet Altor. Ted Shackelford (Dallas' Gary Ewing) starred as Brogan. As with most of these shows, the series only lasted a single season, as audiences seemed confused as to whether the program was aimed at adults or children.
This BBC series, and the second featured here to be created by Gerry Anderson (his most expensive project), is one of the few directorial efforts of John Glen beyond his five EON James Bond films he helmed during the 1980's. Piers Haggard (director of The Blood on Satan's Claw) also contributed.
Crime Traveller (1997)
In this eight episode series, also for the BBC, Detective Jack Slade was an unorthodox police officer often at odds with his superiors. He discovers forensic scientist Holly Turner has inherited her physicist father's time machine, and the two team up to go back in time to witness crimes as they happen. Unfortunately, and rather counterintuitively, due to the show-specific rules of time travel, the duo cannot prevent these crimes as that would "change the past".
Crime Traveller was created by novelist Anthony Horowitz, who is slated to write the forthcoming sequel to The Adventures of Tintin, based on "Prisoners of the Sun".
Based on the Jean-Claude Van Damme film of the same name, this show followed "Time Enforcement Commission" agent Jack Logan, tracking down criminals who meant to change the past. In this series, Logan was played by Ted King (Charmed) working with a historian (Kurt Fuller) and science advisor (Christi Conaway) to avoid altering the time line. Although the show was budgeted at a then-outrageous $1,500,000 per episode, it never caught on and was cancelled after only nine weeks – around the gestation period of the average dog.
Dead NYPD Detective Zeke Stone was sent to hell after murdering the man who raped his wife, because, as the Devil, played by Smallville and Gremlins 2 star John Glover explains, "he enjoyed it." The Devil tasks Stone to return 113 (or a five-season episode order) escaped spirits to Hell by piercing their eyes —the windows to their souls.
Peter Horton played Stone, and the series also featured guest stars Teri Polo, Lori Petty and Stacey Haiduk.
Brimstone was yet another single season casualty, though the CW's 2007 series Reaper was very nearly a comedic remake. Sharing a similar premise, Reaper alchemically swapped John Glover for the equally endearingly blithe Satan, Ray Wise, and ran for two seasons.
Special Unit 2 (2001)
A super-secret Chicago police unit tracked the city's "Links" population, a collection of monsters from mythology and folklore. Jaded detective Nick O'Malley lost his first partner to "The Chameleon", and was now partnered with straight arrow Kate Benson. Special Unit 2 worked out of a Chinese laundry, and explained its cases to a confused public as toxic spills, gang fights and such.
Links included Medusa, Sandman, Jack the Ripper and the Pied Piper, who posed as a children's TV host.
Interestingly, the upcoming series Grimm is thematically similar, though limits itself to fairy tale creatures.
Special Unit 2 lasted two seasons, totaling nineteen episodes.
Nine years after Mann & Machine, Yancy Butler starred as Sara Pezzini in Witchblade, based on the comic book from Top Cow/Image. In the series, Detective Pezzini comes into possession of the Witchblade, a sentient artifact that only bonds with women. The weapon not only gives its owner extraordinary power, but also exposes her to immense danger.
Though garnering both high ratings and critical acclaim, the series was cancelled after its second season, due to series star Butler entering rehab.
Power Rangers SPD (2005)
In the eleventh incarnation of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Space Patrol Delta is set on Earth in 2025 as the planet is invaded by the evil Troobian Empire. When the SPD A squad disappears, the B squad takes over, under the leadership of the canid alien Anubis "Doggie" Cruger.
Uniquely, the S.P.D. were in possession of "Judgment Scanners", which would electronically weigh the sins of the monsters they combatted, giving the Rangers the moral advantage before blasting them with their anti-matter cannon, which transformed into a robotic dog.
Sheriff Jack Carter polices a secret town of scientific geniuses, solving crimes with the help of deputies Jo Lupo and android Andy (Battlestar Galactica's Captain Kelly) and various phenomenal inventions.
Eureka, currently in its fourth season, is the only series in the genre to remain on the air, and the longest running since the 1950's.
Life on Mars (2006)
Police officer Sam Tyler was hit by a car in 2006 and woke up in 1973. Stuck in the past, he used modern methods to solve local crimes, all the while trying to find his back to his own time.
Originally a BBC production that lasted two series, the show was remade for American television in 2008, and cancelled after one season. The British version also spawned a successful spin-off, Ashes to Ashes, in which a detective is shot and finds herself flashing back to 1982.
The Dresden Files (2007)
In this series, Harry Dresden was a wizard who consulted with the Chicago police on unusual cases involving the supernatural. Based on a series of novels by Jim Butcher, this show boasted Nicholas Cage as its executive producer. The Dresden Files ran twelve hours before Syfy dropped the axe.
New Amsterdam (2008)
NYPD homicide detective John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau - Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones) was 400 years old, blessed with immortality and unable to age until he found his one true love. He used his knowledge of history (he lived it!) to solve crimes, while looking for the woman who will set his spirit free.
Regrettably, Amsterdam must still be looking, as the series was cancelled by Fox after only eight episodes. The final episode was appropriately titled, "Love Hurts". | <urn:uuid:33966012-3413-4e79-a1a5-dc257cfcb288> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://io9.com/5803398/space-cops?tag=timecop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960091 | 5,882 | 1.59375 | 2 |
SACRAMENTO -- The California Department of Insurance advised residents statewide to watch out for fraudulent checks after officials discovered that some bogus checks bearing the department's name and a forged signature of Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones were circulated.
The checks were marked as "payment" or "refund" from the Insurance Department, which does not issue such checks. Officials warned consumers and businesses to be on alert those types of fraudulent checks.
Investigators reported that the fake checks, with values between $2,000 and $7,000, were found in two states outside of California.
Any consumer or business that questions the validity of a check or any person with information about this fraudulent activity should contact the Insurance Department at 909-919-2200. | <urn:uuid:d395bfdd-9a7e-4186-be6f-ab55f0ad808f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.record-bee.com/digitalextras/ci_22681415/california-department-insurance-warns-bogus-checks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962519 | 150 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Looking for the best laxative on the market? Below I’ll describe a few natural ways to cure constipation, but if you’re actually looking for the real deal, then I can only recommend you check out the best-selling laxatives on Amazon.
These laxatives are really the best and have had hundreds of reviews on Amazon. Furthermore, they’ve helped even more people cure constipation and become regular again.
If you’d rather try something more natural, then continue to read on. I’ll show you some home remedies that might not relieve you as quick as a laxative, but in time will do the job.
According to doctors, the best cure is still prevention. In order to prevent constipation in your toddler, there are certain foods, which are sure to keep constipation away. Researches prove that increasing the amount of fiber intake in your toddler’s diet can help get rid of constipation. According to studies, 12 grams of fiber each day is the best laxative for constipation. People, including small children will certainly benefit from eating certain foods, which are rich in fiber as it is the cheapest and the best laxative to cure constipation.
It is also important that you know that there are 2 types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is capable of absorbing water in order to produce a soft stool, while insoluble fiber increases the bulk of stool. These kinds of fiber can be obtained from different plant foods. It is also important that you drink lots of fluids in order to make fiber work as the best laxative.
The Best Laxative Can Also Be Natural
Below are some foods, which are considered as the best foods for constipation.
- Prunes. Some doctors recommend parents to give prune juice to toddlers having constipation. This is one of the most popular home remedies and also considered as the one of the best laxative. Another good thing about it is that it is easy to avail. It also has potassium, vitamin A and, of course, fiber.
- Flaxseed. These seeds from the flax plant are known to be abundant in omega-3 acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber and good fatty acids. Ground flaxseeds can be taken to relieve constipation. It can be mixed in juices or any other foods. This is also known as one of the best laxative.
- Pears. This fruit is a good source of fiber and vitamin C. It is another common natural remedy for constipation. This is known to contain insoluble fiber, which adds bulk to the stool and is much effective in treating constipation. This is also considered as the best laxative found at home.
Natural Remedies Are One of the Best Laxative for Constipation
Fruits. For your toddler to avoid constipation, give her 2 to 3 servings of fruits each day. Just avoid bananas and apples for they are known to produce hard stools.
Apple juice is also another popular cure for constipation. It is found to contain pectin, which helps in increasing the bulk of stool and helps in good bowel movements.
Whole grain foods are found to have lots of fiber and will speed up the activity in the colon and will increase the frequency of bowel movement and stool output. Remember to add whole wheat bread, rice cereals, oats and other whole grain foods to your toddler’s diet to help in relieving constipation.
One of the best laxative is also increased physical activity. It can also help to restore good bowel movements. Encourage your baby to have more physical activities. Take her with you for short walks every day. You can also give her a body massage after a warm bath in order to keep things going good again for her. Try to massage her tummy in gentle, circular motions as this can help her soften things up inside. Before looking for over the counter medicines for constipation, try natural remedies as the best laxative for constipated children. | <urn:uuid:bf745201-465e-4412-8380-38f3b86d078e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toddlerconstipation.net/tag/best-laxative/ | 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 | 0.966649 | 828 | 1.546875 | 2 |
March 9th, 2008 Richard
I have been a practitioner of mindfullness meditation for some years now, and, one of my favorite teachers is Echart Tolle. I have heard/seen a number of audio and video recordings of different talks he’s given. So I was intrigued when I heard about a 10 week live web class that Oprah Winfrey was doing with Echart Tolle, from my wife, who teaches meditation. The class uses his most recent book, A New Earth, as the text. This whole thing is really cool to me because: a) It is something that would not be possible without the World Wide Web; and b) The web is being used, in a big way, to promote a positive change in the world.
So we sat down to watch the first week of the class, and it seemed to go fine at first, but after a short period of time, it started slowing down and stalling and, finally, pretty much stopped all together. All of our friends who tried to watch, and apparently many people around the world, had the same experience. Of course, most people attributed this to the half a million people sucking up bandwidth interacting with the show’s servers – maybe the web just can’t handle this sort of thing.
… there were up to about 800,000 users when a logical error in the caching servers caused the system to crash. It is important to understand that the only way to ever find a coding error like this is to put a system truly under stress. You can’t simulate 800,000 users in the lab, you need to play with live ammo. Kudos to Oprah and her team for pushing the envelope this hard.
The crash was not caused by a lack of bandwidth, an overwhelming number of users or any infrastructure issues at all. It was a simple coding error – nothing more. The error was identified and is now fixed. It is entirely possible that next Monday’s webcast will enjoy over a million users, maybe more.
Whew, that’s a relief. Well, I’m not too sure about he accuracy of the report, but I will say, the same thing I said last week when the class stopped, which was , whatever happened, Oprah will make sure it’s fixed by the next class (tomorrow), and we’ll be tuned it to see what the web can do.
Update: I’ve learned that, according to Information Week, the initial problem was that the web servers were overwhelmed with “throughput demands of 242 GBps”. | <urn:uuid:2aad9858-1e3a-4b83-a289-b6d6edd8ed60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://richardshow.org/blog/2008/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96754 | 537 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Yehudi Menuhin (violinist and conductor)
April 22, 1966 - March 12, 1999
Yehudi Menuhin plays JS Bach's Double Violin Concerto with David Oistrakh, the Orchestre de l'ORTF and conductor Pierre Capdevielle.
A child prodigy who recorded Elgar’s Violin Concerto as a 16-year-old, Menuhin became one of the 20th-century’s finest and best-loved musicians. He gave numerous premieres of works written for him as well as performed and recorded the major concerto and chamber repertoire. He took up conducting in the 1960s and also founded a music school that gave many young musicians a unique education.
Menuhin: a tribute by Nigel Kennedy
'Yehudi’s beliefs and disciplines were largely influenced by his father, Moshe, and the results of that influence were felt across all aspects of his life, from his profoundly philosophical musicianship (rather than a mere technical mastery), to his post-war conciliation with the German people.
'Yehudi recognised that the music of the great German and Austrian masters was the foundation of all further developments in classical music. This recognition is missing from many performers of subsequent generations and makes Yehudi’s legacy even more crucial. His open attitude to other forms of music and his lack of shyness towards the media have left an everlasting impression on my own life.'
Yehudi Menuhin talks to Alan Blyth (Gramophone, April 1976) | <urn:uuid:b119be67-6e03-4dae-b6e4-fb5548906eaa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame/ArtistPage/Menuhin | 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 | 0.978728 | 325 | 1.664063 | 2 |
It is no secret that having failed repeatedly at the trickle down aspect of QE1, QE2, Op Twist 1, Op Twist 2 (and implicitly LTRO 1 and LTRO 2) as it pertains to the man in the street (if not the man in Wall Street, who was subject to 1-2 years of subpar bonuses which have since regained their upward trendline), the last effort the central planners of the world, and the administration, have is to furiously do everything in their power to reflate housing one more time, following what is already a triple dip in home prices ever since the December 2007 start of the Second Great Depression. Which is why month after month we get seasonally fudged, conflicted and outright manipulated data from various sources how housing has bottomed, for real this time, and things are finally looking up. Remember: with any con game, the key word is confidence, and the US consumers need to regain their confidence. Sadly, as the following very simple chart and accompanying explanation, the answer to the housing question is only one: there will be no housing recovery until much more debt is eliminated. $3.2 trillion to be precise. Everything else is merely fits and spurts of upward action predicated by easy money hitting the market either directly, or via the "REO-to-Rental" stimulus program du jour, which lasts for a few months then promptly evaporates.
The chart in question:
And what it means:
The standard wealth effect does not account for the role of credit availability, which can amplify the effect. When home prices are increasing and credit conditions are easy, households can more easily realize the appreciation in wealth. We saw this phenomenon during the boom when easy credit conditions allowed homeowners to use their homes as “ATMs.”
The reverse is true as well; if credit conditions are tight while home prices are falling, households are stuck in their home and are forced to accept the decline in wealth. In addition, once home prices start to turn higher in an environment of tight credit, the ability to realize that appreciation is limited. This is the case today. Home equity lines of credit and cash-out refinancing has been minimal, even for those borrowers who are already in positive equity.
This reflects the slow deleveraging process. Housing assets plunged 29% from the peak in mid-2006, but mortgage debt only edged down 8% from its peak in mid-2008. This has left the aggregate loan-to-value ratio at 60%. Prior to the crisis, the loan-to-value ratio averaged 40% (Chart 2). To restore a normal loan-to-value at the current level of housing wealth, households would need to pay down their mortgage debt by US$3.2tn.
That's $3,200,000,000,000 in excess debt before true price clearing can commence. That's also more in debt than QE1 and QE2 combined have monetized so far. | <urn:uuid:e8e027dc-6855-427c-90d1-c2fe219ee1e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zerohedge.com/print/454200 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966682 | 614 | 1.515625 | 2 |
For most physicians, coordinating care with other doctors and staff can be a time-consuming, back-and-forth, error-prone process.
But for pediatrician Wendell Wheeler of South Park Pediatrics in Chicago, an EHR user of nine years who purchased his iPad and iPhone in January 2011, it's as easy as making a few taps with his finger.
Armed with his mobile gear, Wheeler can open patient charts at anytime, anywhere, and do everything from advising patients on medications and sending prescriptions to pharmacies, to communicating with outside physicians about specific patients.
"It's a nice extension [to the EHR]," says Wheeler. "I've been using Amazing Charts for nine years. I went into private practice and I wanted something that would make it easier for me to keep up with my patients and [my iPad and iPhone] have done that."
Wheeler's use of mobile technology to collaborate and communicate with his healthcare peers is representative of a shift in the way many physicians are practicing medicine. And it's a shift that will only continue to expand. In addition to CMS' meaningful use incentive for EHRs, new initiatives under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — including the much-publicized accountable care organization (ACO) initiative that rolled out in April — call for greater communication between physicians. Additionally, a growing number of technology vendors are rolling out mobile versions of their EHRs that allow physicians to do everything from video chat with patients to send charts to hospitals utilizing different systems.
"If you think about healthcare IT, about a world where healthcare IT is being delivered in real time, you can see how mobile devices play a larger role, because physicians have a mobile device wherever they are," says Albert Santalo, founder, president, and CEO of cloud EHR provider CareCloud.
In the future, mobile collaboration between physicians is expected to deliver even more benefits, though it requires some considerations.
Rise of the mobile physician
As with the general public, the use of electronic communications among physicians has picked up steam over the last several years.
For starters, the number of physicians who use the Internet has increased. According to our 2011 Technology Survey, 74 percent of hospital-owned and 66 percent of independent practices out of a pool of 1,013 respondents said their practice has a website. Nearly 40 percent of respondents said their practice uses e-mail to communicate with patients.
But the biggest, most obvious catalyst for the growth of electronic communications in the practice is CMS' incentive program for EHRs that launched in July 2010, offering providers who demonstrate "meaningful use" of an EHR up to $44,000 under Medicare, or up to $64,000 under Medicaid. In 2010, 48 percent of 597 respondents to our annual technology survey said their practice had a fully implemented EHR. That number jumped to 55 percent in 2011.
The timing of CMS' regulations couldn't have been more serendipitous for the mobile electronics industry. In April 2010, Apple released the first version of the iPad tablet, which is still, to date, the most popular tablet brand among physicians. Per our technology survey, 20 percent of respondents (including physicians and practice administrators) own a media tablet, and 54 percent own a smartphone. So it's no surprise a growing number of EHR providers are offering mobile device access through these gadgets.
For physicians, using mobile devices makes stuff such as e-prescribing and looking up medication information easier. | <urn:uuid:cf6cbd49-7151-4ae2-a2e7-14de1ef053bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cancernetwork.com/practice-management/content/article/1462168/2055369 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961021 | 710 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The slow, yet steady economic progress that was the anthem among economists in 2012 is expected to linger into 2013, as politics nationally and abroad continue to hinder progress.
Nationally, economic growth is not expected to be robust, as the country looks at an annual gross domestic product growth of less than 2 percent. This is slower by a couple of tenths of a percent than what was experienced last year, said Joseph Magaddino, professor of economics at Cal State Long Beach.
The country should also see some improvement in the unemployment rate, but not to where it should be, Magaddino said. Nationally, job growth should be either at 225,000 to 250,000 jobs a month.
"We're well off that mark," he said Thursday. "Right now, it's around 170,000 jobs a month."
He expects unemployment to be around 7.5 percent.
"The economy is progressing forward but at a modest and steady pace," he said. "We won't see strong growth until the end of 2014."
Part of what is affecting economic progress is tied to the political situation in Washington, D.C., he said.
"People are pretty much sitting on the sidelines until there is confirmation on what the long-term policies will look like," Magaddino said.
Also, problems in Europe persist with the euro zone still mired in recession despite recent reform measures, he said.
"That means the outlook for our growth in exports looks to be pretty small," he said.
Meanwhile, imports should see modest growth as the U.S. economy continues to recover, he said.
In transportation, the Port of Long Beach and the Long Beach Airport are expected to have solid years in terms of their ability to move goods and people, while tourism should start to look up, with hotels in Long Beach seeing even better business this year, Magaddino said.
Lastly, housing may have finally bottomed out in pricing and may start to see early signs of recovery. However, Magaddino said he does not anticipate seeing stronger growth in housing until 2014 or 2015. | <urn:uuid:9d0c00a5-ce2f-48cf-811c-61abc05370c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.presstelegram.com/rss/ci_22306324/bottom-line-slow-steady-economic-growth-predicted-2013?source=pkg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975244 | 430 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Probably the most frequent question people ask about the PSP – apart from ‘Where are all the good games?’ and ‘Why do those UMD things cost so much?’ - is ‘how do I get video on the Memory Stick?’
You are looking at one answer, albeit a pretty complicated one. The Neuros OSD is the hacker version of Apple TV, a Linux-based, open-source solution to cutting down and burning video from your DVD player, TV or VCR (remember those?), and streaming it through your house via Ethernet.
What the OSD is best at though - and which Apple TV can’t match - is putting DVD and TV on to chip. If you’re looking for something to rip from DVD to PSP this does the trick very neatly, with a minimum of complex menus and codec-wrangling.
It’s no UMD
The result is pretty decent video on your PSP’s screen, although even the highest quality is not as good as DVD, and visibly worse than UMD movies on PSP.
But considering it’s spitting out of a novel-sized box on your desktop, it’s really not bad - and the chance to record off PVRs or from TV is a neat add-on.
For nerds only
Sadly the Neuros wears its open-source heart on its sleeve: the OS is pretty grim, the recording software has various weird nooks and crannies, and the whole thing will probably unnerve you.
Unless, of course, you’re a dyed-in-the-wool h4XX0R who lives in a wireless-saturated flat full of semi-functioning open-source devices and robot slaves. In which case, don’t hesitate to snap one up. | <urn:uuid:7be24dbb-cb41-4e89-960d-acc58123f4f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stuff.tv/review/neuros-osd-media-center | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937092 | 382 | 1.664063 | 2 |
What's Not at the Museum of Broken Relationships: The Yugoslavian Six-way Marriage
The six-way marriage (of Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) lasted for more than four decades before it fell apart in the least amicable way possible.
Cross-posted from JohnFeffer.com. John is currently traveling in Eastern Europe and observing its transformations since 1989.
You can find a Newsweek cover depicting President Barack Obama with the caption, “I really wanted it to work out.” There is also a portrait of Ivo Sanader, the former Croatian prime minister. The accompanying note from Kasum Cana, the president of the Croatian Roma Forum, explains that his “emotional relationship” with Sanader failed because of the latter’s broken promises.
The Museum of Broken Relationships, located in Zagreb’s Old Town, showcases the artifacts of failed romances, from discarded teddy bears to unsent love letters. Most of these items are personal, and the “relationship” refers to a tie between two people that has been sundered. Several, like the Obama and Sanader contributions, are overtly political.
But one obvious broken relationship is missing. Perhaps I somehow neglected to visit one of the rooms of the museum, or this item is traveling to some other museum in the world.
A picture of Obama, a portrait of Sanader: but no picture of Yugoslavia? This six-way marriage (of Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) lasted for more than four decades before it fell apart in the least amicable way possible. But the Museum of Broken Relationships has no bumper stickers proclaiming “After Tito, Tito!,” no little model sculptures dedicated to brotherhood and unity, not even a missive from an abused spouse saying “I never loved you and good riddance!”
Maybe the end of Yugoslavia was just too obvious a broken relationship to memorialize. Maybe it was too controversial. Or maybe it would have generated enough items to necessitate another entire museum space. After all, “Yugonostalgia” has been all the rage among a certain class of cognoscenti over the last few years.
In Dubravka Ugresic’s novel The Ministry of Pain, the main character teaches Serbo-Croatian literature in Amsterdam to a group of mostly former Yugoslav students. At a loss for how to engage the class, she decides to ditch the curriculum and just reminisce with her students. This Yugonostalgia enables them to focus on the “good old days,” which weren’t necessarily all that good, but at least they can avoid talk of war and hatred. Instead, they go on about cartoons and favorite foods and how they reacted to the death of Tito in 1980. And they meditate on what they have lost.
“The list of things we had been deprived of was long and gruesome,” she writes. “We had been deprived of the country we had been born in and the right to a normal life; we had been deprived of our language; we had experienced humiliation, fear, and helplessness; we had learned what it means to be reduced to a number, a blood group, a pack.”
I haven’t encountered much Yugonostalgia during my travels across the northern tier of former Yugoslavia. Some people have spoken wistfully of the days when everyone seemed to have enough money for a trip to the coast during the summer, when Yugoslavia was the freest of a set of un-free Eastern European countries, when the music scene was the envy of even many Western Europeans. These virtues aside, the phenomenon of Yugonostalgia comes across as nothing more than Balkan kitsch.
“Slovenia, in fact, is the main producer and main consumer of Yugonostalgia, much more than in Croatia or in other parts,” anthropologist and writer Svetlana Slapsak told me in her apartment in Ljubljana. “Slovenians are the most prominent Yugonostalgia suckers. I really hate it. Because it’s commercialized, and it buries all the criticism in a deep concrete grave, never to be revealed again. All the former dissident culture is lost in nostalgia. Here in Slovenia it becomes a very simplified version of the reds against the blacks.”
She continued, “This Yugonostalgia serves as a placebo for desperate people. It destroys not only criticism but also freedom of mind, and it makes people non-active, just consumers of silly things. The Internet is full of Yugonostalgia objects. You can buy the old comic books, periodicals, pictures, paraphernalia, all kinds of rubbish: good for research, bad for the spirit. It’s also about being sentimental for no good reason. We could publish the memoirs of people, which would be as a rule different, diverse and rich in information. But no, we have this uniforming of the past. I’m terribly against this nostalgia, and also the Tito-nostalgia – except for satirical purposes.”
Even without an entry on former Yugoslavia – or perhaps because of it – the Museum of Broken Relationships is a very popular place.
Not so the other museums I visited in Zagreb, and that’s a shame. Because the city is a mecca for contemporary art and artists.
I had an in-depth conversation with the artist Andreja Kuluncic, who has done some wonderfully provocative work, including a set of “Bosnians Out!” posters that the Ljubljana City Council removed (and then restored after museum protests). I also talked with curator Branko Franceschi, who recently presented a show in New York on the psychedelic films, visual arts, and music of socialist Yugoslavia (a critical and zany antidote to Yugonostalgia) and currently has a show up on the surveillance-inflected work of Croatian artist Zeljko Kipke at the extraordinary fin-de-siècle Art Pavilion in Zagreb. Both interviews are forthcoming.
The enormous Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Zagreb opened just a couple years ago, and its permanent collection contains many essential works from around the region. But other than some skateboarders zooming around outside, the place was quite empty on a Sunday afternoon, and I was practically alone to wander through the first-class exhibits. Particularly powerful, Ivan Grubic’s East Side Story juxtaposes shocking footage from the anti-LGBT protests in Zagreb and Belgrade with two couples enacting their own tormented drama in public spaces before bewildered onlookers. Mladen Stilinovic’s pink banner proclaims “An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist.” And Selja Kameric’s Bosnian Girl – ugly graffiti from an unknown UN peacekeeper superimposed on the self-portrait of the artist — remains as shiver-producing as when I first saw it four years ago.
But perhaps the most remarkable piece I saw in my Zagreb museum-hopping, at the monumental circular pavilion designed by the famous sculptor Ivan Meštrović, was not from this region at all. The work by Dutch artist Jonas Staal began with a proposal in Rotterdam by a politician of ethnic Turkish heritage to erect a monument to the guest workers who devoted so much of their lives to building the city. This politician proposed the sculpture for Afrikaanderwijk, a section of the city where immigrants are now the majority and where there were terrible race riots in the 1970s.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the idea, however. The far-right party ridiculed the proposal. There should be a monument to all the hard-working native Rotterdammers, the party representatives argued, particularly the ones “chased out” of Afrikaanderwijk.
Jonas Staal set to work. The result was a mock-up of a Monument for the Chased-off Citizen of Rotterdam, a 3-D computer animation that he showed to the right-wing politicians. One of them remarked, “Well, this isn’t what we expected. I don’t know if this was done on purpose, but it isn’t really out to provoke us. It’s simply being objective. I think it is beautiful!” Beautiful it may be, but the overall project definitely challenges the assumptions of the nativists.
The work is also an important reminder that racism and xenophobia is deeply entrenched throughout Europe, not just on the eastern periphery. And nostalgia for a “simpler” and “less contentious” time is not just sentimental, but potentially dangerous as well. | <urn:uuid:8feeecf4-672b-4e55-b0bf-21ca782e4b08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fpif.org/blog/whats_not_at_the_museum_of_broken_relationships_the_yugoslovian_six-way_marriage?q=Tag%3ANuclear+Energy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964224 | 1,859 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Catholic ministry seeks to serve those who are united in Catholic life and worship, those who are attracted to the Catholic faith and the larger Tufts community. Foremost among its services is the celebration of the Catholic worship, the Eucharist and other Sacraments, along with preparation for the sacramental life of the Church. Pastoral counseling, spiritual direction, retreats, study groups, and prayer groups extend this ministry to the many dimensions of the lives of students and others in the university community. Availability and presence for students in times of crisis, personal loss, and other difficulties is a priority of this ministry. Outreach in service is encouraged through student involvement in the youth and other ministries of the Catholic parishes in the local community. The Catholic chaplain also welcomes the opportunities to participate in the academic study of religion and exploration of ethical issues on both the Medford and Boston campuses.
Hillel is the foundation of the campus Jewish community. Hillel’s concern is to foster a positive Jewish presence on campus, build Jewish identity and enhance a commitment to Jewish life that will continue beyond the campus years. Hillel is committed to putting the ethical values of the Jewish tradition into practice and providing opportunities for social action and social service, both on and off campus. Hillel is committed to building bridges to the many different religious, ethnic, and cultural groups on campus, promoting inter-group dialogue and understanding. The Hillel staff serves our students in times of personal loss and crisis both through pastoral counseling and by integrating them into a supportive community. Both the Hillel Director/Jewish Chaplain and the Associate Director welcome opportunities for both formal and informal teaching in Judaism as well as the study of ethics in the University community.
Operating under the auspices of the University Chaplaincy, the Protestant Chaplaincy at Tufts seeks to ensure that interested members of the Tufts community have opportunities to continue in, or to explore, the Protestant tradition. Recognizing the internal diversity of that tradition, the Chaplain works alongside campus groups and ministries, while providing direct programming consistent with the chaplain’s own tradition. Opportunities include worship, study, social interaction, attention to social concerns, retreat, and spiritual support. All programs offered by the Protestant Chaplain seek to be marked by inclusiveness and respect for all people; by expressions of faith that support equity, peace, and sustainability; by intellectual integrity and critical reflection; by depth of spiritual practice; by openness to what tradition positively offers in today’s world; and by respect in thought, expression, and deed for people and communities of other faith traditions, of no faith tradition, and those in exploration.
The Muslim Chaplaincy working in partnership with the Muslim Student Association is committed to promoting a positive presence and image of Islam and Muslims on campus through participation in dialogue, social activities, and community service with different religious, ethnic and cultural groups on and off campus. The Muslim Chaplaincy offers pastoral counseling, knowledge sharing, worship in community and celebration of religious rituals and feast days for the students, staff and faculty during the academic year. Participation in retreats, study groups, social services and interfaith activities supports the students as a guide to help them integrate their faith practices into their social and academic setting in the continuation of their life’s journey beyond the campus life. In time of personal loss or crisis, the Muslim chaplain serves as a resource to support the student in counseling and prayers. The Muslim chaplain provides and welcomes the opportunity to educate others about the religious and cultural aspects of Muslim life on and off campus.
The University Chaplain provides interfaith services and programs and serves as an umbrella for all religious life on campus and as the department head for all of the other recognized chaplains at Tufts. The University Chaplain works cooperatively with the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim Chaplains and administers Goddard Chapel and the new Interfaith Center, 58 Winthrop St. as university facilities. Special support is provided for traditions not represented by Chaplains, like Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The University Chaplain also reaches beyond traditional religious groups to concerns in all aspects of university endeavor and in relations with surrounding communities. This includes teaching, community service, counseling, helping to promote a positive ethical climate for Tufts as a whole and serving in an ombuds role — mediating disputes and making recommendations to the President. The University Chaplaincy upholds the Universalist tradition and commitment to inclusivity. | <urn:uuid:c2f0e546-7c9d-46d4-8c49-8f8a9f9ad25f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chaplaincy.tufts.edu/about/ministries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947646 | 921 | 1.585938 | 2 |
By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - Two wind-driven wildfires erupted in northern Colorado on Friday, prompting the evacuation of about 50 residents and signaling an early start to the wildfire season in the parched Rocky Mountain west.
The larger of the two blazes that prompted the evacuations, the Soldier Canyon Fire, has charred about 800 acres near Lory State Park, Poudre Fire Authority Captain Patrick Love told Reuters.
"We've been experiencing strong, erratic winds from the north all afternoon," Love said.
Along with the winds, unseasonably high temperatures and low humidity have fanned the fire that is burning about 75 miles northwest of Denver, he said.
No structures have been lost and no injuries have been reported, Love said, but the evacuations were ordered in case winds push the flames toward residential neighborhoods.
A second, smaller fire broke out west of the town of LaPorte, six miles north of Fort Collins, the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement. Officials had no estimate on its size.
The causes of the fires were under investigation on Friday.
The early-season wildfires could be a bad omen for drought-stricken Colorado, which had one of its worst ever wildfire seasons in 2012.
All of Colorado is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Snowpack levels in the Colorado mountains are below the annual average. The state's high-population urban corridor and farmers on the eastern plains rely on melting mountain snow for drinking water and irrigation.
Larimer County was particularly hard hit by wildfires in 2012. The so-called High Park Fire blackened more than 87,000 acres, killed an elderly woman, and destroyed nearly 260 homes.
It was the second-largest wildfire on record in Colorado.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and David Brunnstrom) | <urn:uuid:0051a695-df1c-4ff0-b4cb-8028163ea6c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wdez.com/news/articles/2013/mar/15/wind-driven-wildfires-trigger-evacuations-in-colorado/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955662 | 389 | 1.71875 | 2 |
August 19, 2012
Huma Abedin and Security ClearancesBy Eileen F. Toplansky
It is still unclear whether Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's closest aide, has been properly vetted or not. This issue rose to prominence after Michele Bachmann and four other congressional representatives expressed concerns about Huma's family's longstanding connections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Barack Obama voiced strong support for Huma Abedin during the annual iftar dinner, but Walid Shoebat has asserted that President Obama needs to "refute the facts [that have been presented about Huma Abedin] and provide answers that are void of rhetoric."
According to Cliff Kincaid, all this controversy could be resolved "by demanding access to Abedin's Standard Form 86, which she was supposed to fill out before getting her State Department job." Did Huma Abedin disclose her family's connections to the Muslim Brotherhood? How did she fill out the 127-page lengthy questionnaire when she applied for this national security position?
In Section 13A of the Questionnaire for National Security Positions, under "Employment Activities," did Abedin acknowledge that she was an assistant editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, an offshoot of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA), founded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, secretary general of the Muslim World League in Saudi Arabia, "perhaps the most significant Muslim Brotherhood organization in the world"? The Muslim World League provided funds to Osama bin Laden and "is an observer member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences, an inter-governmental coalition dedicated to 'liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa from Zionist occupation.'"
Did Abedin admit that she was a member of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) (see below)? The MSA is a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood. It resulted from Saudi-backed efforts to establish Islamic organizations internationally in the 1960s, for the purpose of spreading its Wahhabist ideology across the globe.
Did Ms. Abedin indicate her role? Was it merely overlooked by the State Department officials who reviewed the application? If so, why?
Because of the nature of security, it is understood that questions about relatives will be asked. In Section 18 of the Questionnaire, the applicant is asked if a "relative [is] affiliated with a foreign government, military, security, defense industry, foreign movement, or intelligence service[.]" In fact, Huma Abedin's mother, father, sister, and brother are all affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Sisterhood, and the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA), as well as with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). These groups espouse terrorism, anti-American policies, and anti-Semitism.
Question 18.5 asks about the "methods of contact" the applicant has with various relatives that include mother, father, stepmother, stepfather, foster parent, child, stepchild, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and guardian. Repeatedly, the candidate is asked if "this relative [is] affiliated with a foreign government, military, security, defense industry, foreign movement, or intelligence service[.]"
Continuing, "[h]as any foreign national ... offered you a job, asked you to work as a consultant, or consider employment with them? Have you had contact with a foreign government, ... its establishment or its representatives?"
Adding to the mounting evidence, Walid Shoebat made public another extraordinary finding entitled "The Abedin 'Affairs' with Al Saud," in which Shoebat claims that "the Abedins' Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs-on whose Board Huma Abedin served for years-and the Wahhabist plans of Saudi Arabia, commissioned by the House of Saud" are inextricably linked "to construct a plan to conquer the world with Islam."
Thus, as Shoebat relates, "page after page of The Muslim Minority Affairs" reveals "a Saudi foreign policy, a jurisprudence and commandment from the highest of authorities commissioned to the Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs. It [is] an entire management system using 'The Muslim Minority Affairs' as the main vehicle to bringing victory against an infidel world." Here is a small fragment of what Shoebat discovered in the Muslim Minority Affairs manifesto:
Juxtaposing the questions for National Security positions against the illuminating information discovered by Shoebat gives even greater impetus to inquire further into Huma Abedin's background.
How does one explain what "ISNA's Mohamed Magid, an entity in the Saudi manifesto, is doing in the White House, sitting across the table from Huma Abedin who was an IMMA assistant editor, another entity created by the House of Saud"?
Section 20C of the Questionnaire is of particular interest. Regarding foreign travel, "were you contacted by, or in contact with any person known or suspected of being involved or associated with foreign intelligence, terrorist, security, or military organizations?"
The tentacles of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates crisscross one another in a dizzying alphabet-soup array of groups, intent on global jihad, of which the Abedin family has been at the forefront for many years.
Additionally, "[w]hile traveling to, or in this country, were you involved in any counterintelligence or security issues not reported" and/or "were you contacted by, or in contact with anyone attempting to obtain classified information or unclassified, sensitive information?"
According to Walid Shoebat:
And finally, Section 29 asks:
Given the record of the Muslim Brotherhood, one would be hard-pressed not to answer in the affirmative, given the affiliations mentioned earlier in this piece. The evidence of the connections exists. Has Ms. Abedin foresworn the basic tenets of these subversive organizations or not? Why does the Abedin family work "with nefarious characters like Naseef and Qaradawi"?
It appears that the Saudis have created a spider web to ensnare the United States. In fact, 50 years of transforming the West through mosque-building, educational programs, and organizations like ISNA and MSA has helped "to ensure that Muslims will be an unassimilated group which then can influence the non-Muslim host nations ... to shift the demographic scale due to ... population growth in favor of this Saudi agenda."
Shoebat maintains that he is "unequivocally talking about a grand conspiracy that is no manufactured theory[,]" and he offers proof in his report. In order to counter his critics, Shoebat researched the IMMA to show "how it connects to the House of Saudi's evil plan." Thus, "the Abedins' Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA) is actually the western branch from which WAMY (World Association of Muslim Youth) was established."
Why can't we get straight answers? Why is it proscribed to discuss these items? If there is nothing to hide, it should be simple to allay concerns. If, however, there are forces in play that harm American security, it is the moral and legal obligation of Congress to continue to investigate. It is each American's duty to demand the answers.
Eileen can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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About this Site
Hello! Thank you for visiting my site. My name is Lauren and I am a vegetarian long-distance running (public) health nut, currently living and running in New England.
I started this site as a way to intersect two things I am very passionate about: public health and running.
Unfortunately, it is pretty well known that the state of America’s health is fairly poor. And even though we are bombarded with information about how to lead a healthy life, the sad fact of the matter is that our health is worse than ever. Chronic diseases (conditions like heart disease and diabetes) are now the number 1 cause of death and disability in our country. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 7 out of 10 deaths (that’s 70%!) each year are caused by a chronic condition. In addition, it is estimated that about 1 in 2 people have at least one type of chronic illness. What makes these numbers even worse is the fact that many of these conditions can be prevented. It is our own unhealthy choices, like smoking, eating poorly, and not getting nearly enough physical activity, that are leading to the majority of these problems.
One factor that has had a huge negative impact on our health is the dramatic rise in obesity over the last few decades. In fact, if you look at data that show how chronic diseases have increased over time, you will see that obesity rates across the country have grown right along with it. In the past 30 years, the amount of overweight and obese individuals in the United States has doubled! If you’ve never seen the CDC’s map of obesity from 1985 – 2008 (you have to scroll down the page a little bit), it’s worth taking a look. The speed at which the percentages increase in each state is pretty eye-opening. Today, Colorado is the only state where less than a quarter of its residents are obese.
While the weight of this issue can be overwhelming, I believe that we can start making a change for the better. Of course a lifetime of bad habits will not change overnight. But with small steps, we can choose to live each day a little better than the last. Before this can happen, however, we need to re-arrange our priorities. We live in a busy, fast-paced world where we are juggling a million and one things. With long commutes and even longer workdays, it’s no surprise that our health has suffered. At the end of the day, it is so easy to grab that quick, convenient meal at your favorite fast-food restaurant, to postpone your workout until another day when you aren’t so tired and to forget (for weeks on end) to call your doctor for that long overdue check-up. Even the best of us are guilty of not always making our health a top priority. And we get so bogged down by the ever-growing list of “dos” and “don’ts” that “healthy living” becomes synonymous with a regimented and restrictive lifestyle that is more about avoiding things (fats, carbs, alcohol, tv, relaxation) than anything else. When viewed this way, it’s no wonder that “healthy habits” don’t have much sticking power.
We need to stop thinking of health as a laundry-list of things we should and shouldn’t do and start looking at it as a type of lifestyle that allows us to be our best selves. With modern medicine helping us to lead longer and longer lives, it should be a top priority of ours to actually be healthy enough to enjoy it! The small changes we make every day can have a huge impact in the long run. Adding more fruits and vegetables to a meal, choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator, parking just a few extra spaces away from the door — these simple actions can add up! It’s all about finding the balance, and finding the routine that works for you. I don’t believe that everyone should give up meat and start running marathons in order to reach their “best health” (though I think it’s awesome if you do!). Life is meant to be enjoyed, and if you can’t bear the thought of going an entire lifetime without eating another piece of steak, than by all means — eat the steak!! Chances are you aren’t going to die from enjoying red meat once in awhile. And if you focus all your energy on completely restricting yourself from enjoying things that you love, something will eventually break.
It is my hope that this site will be a place to share my own experiences on my path to a balanced life, as well as current research and news in the health, wellness, and fitness fields. While there will definitely be a big focus on vegetarian nutrition and running (since these are things I know well), I plan on including other information as well.
Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts — you can contact me by leaving a comment below, by using the contact form on the Contact Me page, or by emailing me at: lauren[@]healthontherun[.]net.
And if you would like to actually learn more about me as a person, please click here. | <urn:uuid:7ec7a922-f008-48fc-a4db-e845bc15a9df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthontherun.net/aboutme/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962016 | 1,095 | 1.578125 | 2 |
weather warning remains in place for Burnham-On-Sea today
heavy rain and gale-force winds are forecast to hit the Burnham-On-Sea
area during today (Friday) as the Met Office's severe weather
warning remains in place.
yellow alert has been issued for the whole of the south west.
or southwesterly gales are likely to affect many parts during
Friday. The public should be aware that some damage to trees is
likely and that disruption to travel and outdoor activities could
also occur. The gales are also likely to be accompanied by some
heavy rain," said a Met Office spokesman.
should gradually ease from the southwest after about midday. | <urn:uuid:278db7f4-cfe0-4879-ba03-a33f582e7871> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2012/weather-warning-06-05-12.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971311 | 143 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Lawyers talk (and write) endlessly about what happens in the courthouses of the nation, but rare is the case where the populace at large takes much interest. In two recent cases, however, scores of Virginians hit the streets, publicly protesting what they saw as injustice in the courts.
In both cases, marchers were outraged at what appeared to be little or no punishment for brutal killings. Earlier this month, protesters in Powhatan County decried convictions of manslaughter, rather than murder, for two cousins responsible for the shooting death of high school football standout Tahliek Taliaferro. Now comes word that citizens took to the streets yesterday in Petersburg to voice disapproval of the failed prosecution of three men accused in the killing of local tire dealer Robert Braswell.
Both cases clearly involved racial issues, although the color roles were reversed. The protestors, however, apparently focused on crime and punishment issues – questions of criminal intent, sleepy jurors, and flaky witnesses.
Lest we forget, the people are watching. In the right case, they will make their way to the courthouse to say what they think.
By Peter Vieth | <urn:uuid:4f7e372d-1329-4629-8ef5-fd2c402601f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://valawyersweekly.com/vlwblog/2009/06/22/march-to-the-courthouse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965344 | 233 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This Inquiry is not about individual cases. It is not about investigating specific allegations. Nor is it about identifying individuals or holding them personally to account.
It is about understanding how it was that abuse occurred at Kerelaw, the nature and extent of abuse, and how it went undetected. The Inquiry will consider among other things management structures and processes, recruitment procedures, cultural issues, and lines of accountability both inside Kerelaw and between Kerelaw and the Managing Authority.
The Inquiry will take into account the legal and regulatory framework within which Kerelaw operated during the period covered by the review, as well as the best practice prevailing at the time. It will consider the extent to which findings and recommendations from other relevant Inquiries were considered and, where appropriate, implemented. It will also consider the requirements and guidelines laid down by Glasgow City Council in relation to children in its care, and to Kerelaw in particular. It will also consider how the investigation of allegations and the follow up to the investigation findings were handled within the Council.
The Inquiry will prepare a report for the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council and will make recommendations. In doing so it will identify what lessons might be learned from the Kerelaw experience to ensure the future safety of children and young people in care.
All personal information given to the Inquiry relating to individuals will be confidential to the Inquiry and will be used anonymously to enable the terms of reference to be fulfilled and the report to be prepared.
No individuals will be named in the report, and all information will be handled safely and stored securely, in accordance with the attached data protection policy. Although commissioned by the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, the Inquiry is independent of both, and personal information provided to the Inquiry will not be passed to any third party unless required to do so by law. Anyone raising new allegations will be advised to contact the appropriate authorities. The Inquiry is not able to pursue individual complaints. | <urn:uuid:17596b54-b7eb-49a4-96b3-ed1cc7165b27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Review/kerelaw/About/Review/engagement | 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 | 0.953698 | 392 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Being and Pretending-to-Be
The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.
THE CONVERSATION I REPORTED yesterday reminded me of myself, years ago, and of a kind of spiritual phenomenon I've observed since then.
My first two years in the classroom, as a high school teacher, were a disaster. One of the reasons for this is that I was too busy pretending to be a teacher to do any effective teaching.
I didn't realize it at the time, of course, but I was more focused on acting in a teacher-like manner than I was on teaching.
One consequence of this was a very hierarchical approach to the classroom. I wanted my authority there to be unquestionable, and so I was an absolute control freak.
This didn't mean I had any.
I was so busy chasing down every infraction that I barely got anything else done. And, in a classroom where very little is happening students get bored, which leads to more infractions.
My classes were chaotic, I was constantly frustrated, and I couldn't guess whether I or my students were more miserable.
Sometime during the second year all of that changed. I can't say I understood why at the time, but looking back, I now realize that the shift had to do with new focus. I had begun to care more about what my students were learning than whether I appeared to be a teacher.
My classes were still chaotic for a while, but the chaos developed a new tone: it was the chaos of productivity. I ceased to care whether there was total silence in the room or not, as long as there was learning in the room.
I don't really know how this internal shift occurred, or why. But over the years I've come to notice the distinction between the person who is focused on the job and the person who is focused on the position.
It shows up at every level: the boss who's more interested in obedience than productivity, the worker who's more interested in looking productive than being productive. It happens in hamburger stands and in boardrooms. It even happens in families, and in Washington, D.C..
I don't know the solution.
If someone had come to me, that first year of teaching, and told me to forget about looking like a teacher and just focus on teaching, would I have understood what they meant?
Perhaps. Perhaps if it had been someone I trusted, if they had said it not once but many times, if they had given examples, encouraged my progress.
But I'm not sure.
Not sure at all. | <urn:uuid:adb7a29f-6eeb-40dd-bd90-70148bc4568d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dailymull.com/1292/Being-and-Pretending-to-Be | 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 | 0.990247 | 620 | 1.5 | 2 |
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