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The Company of Radicofani
(THE COMPANY OF RADICOFANI - From left, front row: Cornelio, Gilbert, Angela, hostel host; back row: the author, Elvizea, Anna at the church at Radicofani)
Twenty years ago this month, my mother deposited me in Nowhere, North Carolina, at Davenport Gap on the Appalachian Trail, my goal Fontana Dam, some 75 miles distant along the "green tunnel" that links Georgia to Maine. I had never hiked such a distance and had spent only a few nights on the trails of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I was overconfident and underprepared.
The beauty of the Smokies and the hope for adventure drew me. The simplicity of just walking, of my days becoming mostly about finding water and a place to camp, of, as Thoreau put it, "fronting only the essential facts of life," drove me to the mountains to seek sanctuary from a world of haste and hurry. Two decades ago, I sought answers to life's questions.
Everything is different now but nothing has changed. Late in 2009, I learned of an ancient pilgrimage route across the north of Spain, the Camino de Santiago, "the way of Saint James." For 1,000 or so years, pilgrims from Europe (and around the world) have made the trek from their homes to the tomb of the Apostle James who, tradition has it, evangelized Spain after Christ's resurrection and whose body lies in Santiago de Compestella in the Galicia region of Spain.
Some went for adventure. Some for penance. Some for piety. Charlemagne, Saint Francis of Assisi and Pope John Paul II walked the Camino. It is said there are 25,000 pilgrims on the lonely road to Santiago every day of the summer months. Last summer, my son, Reed, and I joined the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of pilgrims who had gone before.
When another opportunity to make a business-related trip to Europe arose this year, I picked Italy and began planning to walk the Via Francigena (pronounced "Fran-che-je-na"), the pilgrims' road to Rome, before the business meeting began. Again, I walked for adventure - the countryside of rural Italy, especially the vineyards and olive groves and wheat fields of Tuscany, held a romantic allure - and again I sought time to reflect and find answers.
On my first day out, leaving the town of Buonconvento, just south of Siena, I took a wrong turn toward a field of sunflowers - acres and acres of sunflowers - that turned providential. Before going too far astray, I met three Italians, a man and two women in their 60s. I asked if I could walk with them for a while, realizing I was a bit underprepared and a bit overconfident again.
With my very, very limited Italian and the man's limited English, we conversed as we walked the 18 kilometers (11 miles) to San Quirico. Cornelio, a retired hotelier, was walking the Francigena with his sisters, Elvezia and Angela. This family had walked on the Camino de Santiago last year, too. They had been walking the Francigena for almost a month.
I had planned a light first day to give my jetlagged mind a chance to acclimate and my body a chance to adjust to the backpack and a full day of walking. I needed it. San Quirico, like every Italian town, it seems, is built on a hill and the last stretch was no easy climb, but we made it to the steps of an 8th-century church before noon and found lodging in a pilgrim hostel attached to the church. Gilbert, a Frenchman from Le Pau, was already there. Later came Anna from Denmark and Christina from Poland, all of us over 50. I had walked from Bunoconvento. They had walked from their homes.
The next day we tackled Radicofani, 30 kilometers (almost 19 miles) away. From early in the morning, the tower of Radicofani, an 800-meter (about 2,500 feet) elevation gain from the Valley of Orcia, taunted from a distance. As I wrote in my Wednesday column, the last 8 kilometers (5 miles), were uphill, with no water supply, on hot, hard asphalt. I was exhausted when I finally arrived.
We had no plans to stay together that night, but Cornelio, Elvizea and Angela as well as Gilbert and Anna were already at the Saint Peter and Saint James House of the Confraternity of San Jacopo di Compostella when I hauled myself up the two flights of stairs into the pilgrim house. The volunteers at the house welcomed us wonderfully, fed us fabulously and bolstered our spirits. We attended mass at the 10th-century Church of Saint Peter, a church with artwork by Michelangelo and where the artist once worshipped.
That night, as Angela made arrangements by cell phone for the next night's accommodations, she asked if I wanted to stay with them at a hostel in Acquapendente. I said, "Yes," and, just that simply, the Company of Radicofani was formed - the three Italians, the Frenchman and I would walk together the rest of the way to Rome. Essentially, they took me in.
The walking was sometimes pleasant, sometimes awful. We were up at 4:30 a.m., walking by 5:00 a.m. to beat the heat of the oppressive Italian sun. In the cool of the day, we walked through national parks, along Roman roads built around the time of Christ, beside lakes and rivers, on country lanes and unhurried back roads as we saw the sun rise. But every day had its heat and hurts. Some of our journey took us along the historic Via Cassia, now a busy two-lane highway where cars and trucks whizzed past. Every Italian town we walked through was built on a hill (for protective purposes during feudal times) which made days end with an uphill push under a cloudless, blazing sky.
After each day's walk, we found food, showered, did laundry, napped and planned the next day's course. In Italian, French and Appalachian English we discussed the day just past, the day ahead and the road to Rome. With gestures, with a few words of Italian, some French and a word or two of English, we joked and gibed and, in the universal language, we laughed. In our common trials, our common cause, our common convictions, we found ways to communicate, ways to cooperate and ways to live together.
Gilbert, retired from the French army, has an arm that does not function well, but he moved without complaint and with amazing efficiency. He started walking from his home in the south of France on 26 April. Cornelio, who had a plate inserted in a leg he severely broke a few years ago, walked 300 kilometers along the Camino de Santiago last year until his leg swelled and he could not continue. Elvezia, a retired government economist, and Angela, a retired teacher, kept walking to Santiago after Cornelio was safely on his way home. This year, the family of pilgrims made it from the north of Italy to Rome in a bit more than a month.
My 150-mile trek took eight days. Did I find answers? Yes. But I found more questions, too. However, I gained a most valuable thing. As we walked into Saint Peter's Square, I remembered our shared adventure and the beauty of Italian towns and countryside. When we entered Saint Peter's Basilica, my spirit soared, glad our goal was grasped and the walking was done, sad, though, that the Company of Radicofani, an unplanned, unlikely community, would soon be disbanding. For on Italian roads and lanes and trails, in the first light of day and the first heat of the afternoon, over meals with mixed languages, we all found the most precious of things - friends. | <urn:uuid:4b6837f6-2f53-4d88-8fe5-c6e97e206690> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.knoxnews.com/johnson/2011/07/the-company-of-radicofani.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971761 | 1,692 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Watchfire recently worked with the Ponemon Institute to survey U.S. adult online users about their attitudes towards their bank's privacy and security commitments. The results of the 2005 Privacy Trust Survey for Online Banking show that even in an era of widely-reported privacy and security issues, online banking is still trusted by those who use it and that when it comes to privacy and security, most online bankers have more confidence in online banking than branch banking.
But the findings of this study show that online privacy and security measures taken by certain financial services providers may be especially effective in promoting customer trust. We examine here issues the study raises and ways banks and other financial services providers are addressing these issues today.
To put these issues in context, let's consider that the survey showed customers find issue with both the protection of their information from fraudsters and the use of their information by the bank and/or marketing partners in ways the customer may find annoying, such as telemarketing. But they also realize these issues crop up in other channels, while the Internet can empower in their effort to limit the undesirable uses of their personal information. In short, customer fears regarding abuse of personal information cover both legitimate and illegitimate issues, but customers are capable of viewing the online channel as an ally in their effort to protect their personal information.
Turning to specific study findings, let's start with how banks can increase customer trust in the online channel. The survey offered seven actions banks could take to increase this trust. The action online bankers rated most important was for the bank to set limits over the sharing of personal information with third parties. There are two laudable approaches banks are taking that address this concern.
Juniper, the card issuer, takes another approach by allowing customers to specify whether they are interested in hearing about offers from Juniper by email, phone or postal mail and to specify the same for Juniper marketing partners. Customers who are therefore interested in reviewing offers that might come by email but who find telemarketing irritating can turn channels on and off accordingly.
The action online bankers ranked as second most important for their bank to take was to offer fewer annoying or relevant ads or marketing promotions on their website. Interestingly, though, this concern can transcend the misuse of personal information. Let's consider Wells Fargo, which is taking two steps relating to this issue while also accomplishing other goals. First, it is disassociating itself from pop-up advertisements that might come with spyware. Wells Fargo clearly indicates on its site that it has nothing to do with pop up ads that might appear while the user is at its site. Second, Wells Fargo is pushing more personalized, pre-approved advertisements. Historically, Wells Fargo's online banking offering featured often irrelevant banner ads (such as one promoting a first-time homebuyer mortgage on the same page displaying the balance of the customer's jumbo mortgage). Paradoxically, by using personal information in a targeted way, Wells Fargo may be improving the experience of online bankers.
Now let's consider how online bankers would react to a breach of personal information. While 55% of online bankers fear unauthorized access to their accounts through online banking, the study shows online bankers fear identity theft more, with 82% citing this as a prime concern. We have seen a lot of progress in addressing this sensitivity: The Q4 2004 Watchfire GómezPro Banker Scorecard, covering 30 large, medium-sized and Internet-centric banks, shows 90% offering educational links on the site to information about identity theft and 60% giving customers specific instructions on how to reach the bank to report an incident.
All these customer concerns regarding both legal and illegal use of personal information come with an upside: The study found that respondents who have a high level of confidence that their bank is committed to protecting their personal information are more likely to do complex banking transactions online than are other respondents. Consider again that most online bankers already consider online banking better than the branch when it comes to preserving the sanctity of their personal information. In these findings, there appears to be opportunities for banks that address the most pressing customer privacy issues with online solutions to actually boost customer confidence through the online channel and to profit from doing so.
Chris Musto is Vice President, Research, for Watchfire GómezPro, based in Waltham, Mass. | <urn:uuid:1e9da388-d7c2-4bcb-a968-916af8454a04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.banktech.com/building-trust-by-responding-to-online-b/160902530 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951609 | 876 | 1.796875 | 2 |
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Is Gold Money?…
Don't Ask Ben Bernanke, Examine the Federal Reserve
BY PETER KRAUTH, Global Resources Specialist, Money Morning
If you really care about your financial future, here's something you need to know.
It's about a story that received almost zero coverage from the mainstream press. I can't say that I am surprised.
It involves gold.
Thanks to requests by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Reserve has revealed unprecedented details concerning the personal holdings of its regional bank presidents.
What they found is nothing short of stunning ...
....Nearly 2,000 years ago Aristotle laid out what characteristics make for good money. According to Aristotle:
• It must be durable.
• It must be portable.
• It must be divisible.
• It must be consistent.
• It must have intrinsic value.
So it's no accident that the most common basis for money – in all of human history – has been gold.
Barclays: Gold fundamentals intact,
target $1800 on breakout above $1675
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Given that real interest rates are expected to remain negative for longer while concerns over currency debasement and inflationary pressures have resurfaced, the backdrop remains fertile for gold. However, gold still has hurdles to overcome, such as the further strengthening of the dollar, technical resistance levels and profit-taking.
The macro-environment is positive on the back of a stronger than expected US non farm payroll data, lower unemployment and solid growth in factory orders for December. The Eurozone has started 2012 in a good note, with January PMI coming out positive.
Dollar Weakness "Creating Gold Demand"
after Greek Deal, Time for American Austerity
"Is Not Now" says White House
By: Ben Traynor, BullionVault - Goldseek.com
SPOT MARKET gold prices touched $1733 per ounce Monday morning – 0.5% up on last week's close – as stock markets, commodities and the Euro all rallied following Greece's vote in favor of new austerity measures.
Silver prices meantime hovered around $33.90 per ounce – 0.8% up on the end of last week – while government bond prices dipped and the Dollar fell on the currency markets.
"The weakness in the Dollar...creates a bit of demand for gold," reckons Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal dealing at Swiss precious metals refiner MKS.
Iran presses ahead with dollar attack
Last week, the Tehran Times noted that the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in currencies other than the dollar from March 20. This long-planned move is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vision of economic war with the west.
By Garry White - Telegraph.co.uk
"The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is nothing more than a convenient excuse for the US to use threats to protect the 'reserve currency’ status of the dollar," the newspaper, which calls itself the voice of the Islamic Revolution, said.
"Recall that Saddam [Hussein] announced Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil purchases in November 2000 and the US-Anglo invasion occurred in March 2003," the Times continued. "Similarly, Iran opened its oil bourse in 2008, so it is a credit to Iranian negotiating ability that the 'crisis’ has not come to a head long before now."
Let's Return to the Gold Standard
By GEORGE MELLOAN - The American Spectator.org
Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman have been right all along, never more so than in this age of massive debt.
The futile search for El Dorado, the city of gold, is the stuff of legends, among them a sardonic poem by Edgar Allen Poe about a knight who wasted his life in that pursuit. At first glance, the quest for something far more substantial, an international gold monetary standard, might seem equally Quixotic in today's world where those who govern are disdainful of standards of any kind, including those laid down by the United States Constitution.
But first glances can deceive. The popular pressure for serious monetary reform is building as consumers see their buying power eroded by the sinking value of the dollar. Congressman Ron Paul, despite his naïve foreign policy views, is doing well on the presidential campaign trail on the strength of his demand for abolition of the Federal Reserve Board and a return to sound money. His message is getting a surprisingly receptive response from young audiences on college campuses.
The Final Tipping Point: Sheeple Meet Cliff
BY D SHERMAN OKST - FinancialSense.com
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." ~Einstein
When I began seriously researching for the book I'm working on, "Psychopathic Economics," two principles really surprised me.
The first was a much deeper review of the '80/20 Rule', which states that 80 percent of the profits come from just 20 percent of the product line. Most often, 80 percent of the business generated is created by 20 percent of the work force (usually the sales team). In many cases 80 percent of the product line is purchased by 20 percent of the customer base. When businesses wind up on the ropes, 80 percent of the time they cut into that 20 percent muscle.
US-China trade deficit now largest in world history
By Gene J. Koprowski - DailyCaller.com
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is meeting U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House on Feb 14, Valentine’s Day. Their talks are likely to turn on Tibet and trade. But China’s veep isn’t expected to deliver a box of chocolates to the American president. China’s enormous trade advantage, now the largest nation-on-nation trade deficit in the history of the world, has put it in the enviable negotiating position of being able to say "bu" — that is, "no" — to most American demands.
The U.S trade deficit with China today is 28 times larger than it was during the Reagan era, according to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. That daunting deficit has grown by 18 percent per year since China first entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.
Greece Is Burning and Nobody Cares
By Alex Planes - Fool.com
Greece is burning. Not that this is a new phenomenon. But it sounds so sinister, so ominous.
When you find out why it's burning, it becomes a tragicomedy. The Greek government -- led by unelected economist Lucas Papademos -- promises to slash the safety net of many Greek citizens for a big sack of bailout money. Ordinary Greeks, whose futures are being mortgaged, are very angry. Things burn. Then everyone goes home and waits for the money to arrive.
The process repeats with such frequency that a lengthyWikipedia page has sprung up to catalog each outburst, hence the tragicomedy. And why shouldn't the country erupt in flames every so often? The country is a tinderbox with half its young people unemployed and 20% of the broader populace jobless.
Athens in Flames
Violent Clashes as Parliament Passes Austerity Bill
The Greek parliament has passed an austerity package that clears the way for a 130-billion-euro EU/IMF rescue package intended to save Greece from default. Violent protests against the austerity measures took place in Athens and elsewhere, with at least 120 people injured.
In the end, the Greek government managed to get its controversial austerity packagethrough parliament, but the price was high. Coalition parties had to deal with a number of rebel lawmakers, while at least 120 people were injured in some of the most violent protests Athens has seen in months.
A majority of 199 members of parliament voted to approve the package on Sunday night, with a total of 74 lawmakers casting votes against it. The tough austerity package details €3.3 billion ($4.35 billion) in budget cuts for this year alone, including public-sector layoffs, cuts in the minimum wage and reductions in some pensions.
Greece faces death by a thousand cuts
unless it leaves the euro
Lucas Papademos was suitably apocalyptic. If the terms of the second Greek bailout were not approved, the Greek prime minister warned over the weekend, there would be a "disorderly bankruptcy that would create conditions of economic chaos and social explosion.
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
"The savings of the citizens would be at risk. The state would be unable to pay salaries, pensions, and cover basic functions, such as hospitals and schools, and … the country - public and private sector alike - would lose all access to borrowing and liquidity would shrink.
"The living standards of Greeks would collapse. The country would drift into a long spiral of recession, instability, unemployment and prolonged misery. These developments would lead, sooner or later, to exit from the euro."
A Death Sentence for Greece
What's Inside the New "Austerity Measures"
by MIKE WHITNEY - CounterPunch.org
"We are facing destruction. Our country, our home, has become ripe for burning. The centre of Athens is in flames."
– Costis Hatzidakis, conservative parliamentarian
On Sunday, the Greek parliament approved a new round of austerity measures that will further deepen the 5-year depression and sever the last fraying threads of social cohesion. In order to secure a 130 billion euro loan, Greek political leaders agreed to comply with a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) that will not only intensify the sacrifices of ordinary working people, but also effectively hand the control of the nation's economy over to foreign banks and corporations.
Marc Faber -
Is Greece Irrelevant for global Markets - 10 feb 2012
Greece Becomes a Third-World Country
The news media has given a great deal of coverage to the austerity programs Greece has accepted in order to get it another 130 billion in aid, the riots in the streets of Athens that are part of protests against these measures, and the high unemployment in the southern European nation. The effect of these events, and others that include a five-year recession, is that Greece is on the brink of moving from a developed nation to the equivalent of a third-world one.
The usual trend for national economies, if they are advancing economically, is that they make the transition from the third world to the level of "developing nations." China and India are usually considered to be at this level. The next and last level of advancement is to the status of "developed nation." The U.S., Japan and much of Europe are among those countries. Their gross domestic products rarely grow as fast as those of developing nations, but developed nations have high GDP per capita, high levels of education among their citizens, and strong consumer middle classes. Economists argue that those middle classes have lost ground over the past several years because of the bite of the recession, but they are still present and drive a great deal of economic growth.
SPIEGEL Interview with George Soros
'Merkel Is Leading Europe in the Wrong Direction'
Global investor George Soros considers the German government's policies in the euro crisis to be disastrous. In a SPIEGEL interview, he warns of a vicious circle triggered by Chancellor Angela Merkel's strict austerity measures and pleads for more money to be pumped into the countries most plagued by the debt crisis.
SPIEGEL: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is praised globally as "Mrs. Europe" and at home she is more popular than ever in polls -- partly thanks to her strong refusal to constantly pledge more German money to the euro rescue effort. Why do you feel her policies are wrong?
Soros: I admire Chancellor Merkel for her leadership qualities, but she is leading Europe in the wrong direction. To solve the euro crisis, I advocate a two-phase policy -- which is first austerity and structural reforms as Germany implemented them in 2005, but then also a stimulus program. If you do not provide more stimulus in Europe, you will push many European countries into a deflationary debt spiral. And that would be extremely dangerous.
Why America’s Bailout Won’t Look Like Greece’s
By: Rick Ackerman - GoldSeek.com
Americans can take comfort in the likelihood that the showdown between mortgage lenders and homeowners will not resemble Greece’s battle-to-the-death with its creditors. In the U.S., the banks are slowly losing ground to a populist, election-year tide that eventually will force lenders to accept a moratorium on mortgage debt for tens of millions of homeowners. In the rapidly escalating legal battle to bring this about, last week’s $25 billion settlement between the banks and the U.S. did not settle much of anything, since the banks in theory can still be sued into oblivion by aggrieved homeowners. The plaintiffs will be claiming in effect and with a straight face that they got in over their heads because lenders forced them to borrow more than they could repay. Who would have imagined just a decade ago that an army of reckless borrowers would seek the protection of the courts under the remorseless deadbeat’s battle flag "Kick me, beat me, make me write bad checks"? That’s what it’s come down to, evidently, and woe to any bank that asks the court for help in turning a family out onto the street. The five big banks that signed onto the deal are undoubtedly running scared, since the legal latitude afforded those who could conceivably claim "questionable lending practices" has been widened to include just about anyone who lives in a home – including, presumably, tens of millions more homeowners who are not yet underwater but eventually will be. Keep in mind that the costs of the yet-to-be-unveiled Homeowner Bailout Act of 2014 have already been socialized, since the GSEs have been originating 90% of all new mortgage loans.
The Empire Of Liberty:
Thomas Jefferson, Ron Paul
And The Sacred Fire Of Freedom
By Ralph Benko - Forbes.com
Who stands in opposition to "the [central] bank of the United States, public debt, a navy, a standing army, American manufacturing, federally funded improvement of the interior, the role of a world power, military glory, an extensive foreign ministry, loose construction of the Constitution, and subordination of the states to the federal government"? Hint, these words were not written about Rep. Ron Paul.
This is Garry Wills's description of Thomas Jefferson. The elite political class looked with disdain, and now looks with a certain measure of bemusement, upon Dr. Paul. Paul represents the re-emergence of a great American tradition. That tradition reawakens in the person of Ron Paul, who has a fair claim to be our era’s Thomas Jefferson. As Jefferson’s heir he commands deep respect if not always (as in the case of this Supply Side, Hamiltonian, writer) complete fealty.
White House Economic Adviser:
'We Need a Global Minimum Tax'
Gene Sperling, director of the White House's national economic council, said today at an official meeting that "we need a global minimum tax"
BY DANIEL HALPER - WeeklyStandard.com
"He supports corporate tax reform that would reduce expenditures and loopholes, lower rates for people investing and creating jobs in the U.S., due so further for manufacturing, and that we need to, as we have the Buffett Rule and the individual tax reform, we need a global minimum tax so that people have the assurance that nobody is escaping doing their fair share as part of a race to the bottom or having our tax code actually subsidized and facilitate people moving their funds to tax havens," Sperling said.
The White House adviser then said that more details would be forthcoming, though "not in gory detail."
WH Economic Adviser:
"This Is A Democratic Budget"
And "We Need A Global Minimum Tax"
Trouble for Online News Sites
One of the challenges traditional news media face is that advertising has begun to move online. As its turns out, the news media does not do much better on the internet than in the old world of media ads. Marketers like search, and perhaps sports and entertainment. These marketers have not flooded to news sites. That means the news industry is likely to be crippled even more than in the past because it has failed to actively target its online readers.
A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism shows that excellence in journalism in the news business is terribly threatened. News organizations have been unable to keep up with much of the rest of the content industry online in terms of growth, because their sites fail to provide good targeting for advertisers who spend the most money — brand marketers. As Pew puts it:
Obama unveils $3.8 trillion budget
By Charles Riley @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- President Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget request Monday that hikes taxes on the rich, spends new money on infrastructure and education, but does little to reform the entitlement programs that pose the biggest long-term threat to the federal budget.
"We built this budget around the idea that our country has always done best when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules," Obama said in his budget message.
What Matters in President Obama's 2013 Budget
The budget released today isn't about to become the law. It's a multi-trillion-dollar conversation piece that's designed to get people talking about the president's priorities. So let's talk...
By Derek Thompson - Telegraph.co.uk
The reason President Obama's 2013 budget matters is not that it's a preview of the year's laws. The vast majority of its provisions are dead-on-arrival. It includes $1.5 trillion in tax hikes that won't happen and $350 billion in immediate stimulus that can't pass.
The White House's budget matters for two other reasons. First, it forces the president to put numbers next to his priorities. Second, it gives everybody in Washington something to look at and talk about. It's an expensive, ornate conversation piece, like a Fabergé egg for policy wonks.
Volcker defends namesake rule against banks
By Jennifer Liberto @CNNMoney
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- The namesake of the so-called Volcker rule defended the policy in a letter to the Federal Reserve on Monday, and criticized banks for lobbying against it.
"With active cooperation among the agencies and with constructive consultation instead of futile stonewalling, an important reform can soon be put into place," said Paul Volcker, a former Fed chairman, in an essay accompanying his letter. Both documents were attained by CNNMoney.
Getting to the naked truth - The Economist.com
A regulatory probe sheds light on manipulative shorting
SHORT-SELLERS perform a valuable function in financial markets, exposing managerial incompetence, corporate fraud or plain overvaluation. Their reward, all too often, is calumny. Witness regulators’ rush to ban shorting in 2008 in response to sustained political attacks on the practice.
Like any form of trading, however, shorting is open to abuse. Some firms claim to have been victims of illegal “naked” shorting, where the seller does not arrange to borrow the shares in time to deliver them to the buyer within the standard settlement period. This, they say, has long been a favoured tool of unprincipled traders looking to launch bear raids—usually on small stocks but also, in times of turmoil, on bigger fish like Lehman Brothers. Hedge funds and the prime brokers that serve them have tended to counter that such accusations are smokescreens put up by bosses to mask their own failings.
U.S. Taxes Really Are Unusually Progressive
By Clive Crook - TheAtlantic.com
If you ask me, Jonathan Chait, a writer I respect, has made an ass of himself in a fight he picked with Veronique de Rugy over taxes and progressivity. She offended him by saying that America's income taxes are more progressive than those of other rich countries. Chait assailed her "completely idiotic" reasoning, called her an "inequality denier", "a ubiquitous right-wing misinformation recirculator" and asked if it was really any wonder he cast insults now and then at such "lesser lights of the intellectual world". (Paul Krugman said he sympathises. With Chait, obviously. The only danger here is in being too forgiving,Krugman advises. Chait may think the de Rugys of this world are only lazy and incompetent, but we know them to be liars as well.)
Just one problem. On the topic in question, De Rugy is right and Chait is wrong.
Mortgage Settlement Will Plunge Real Estate Values
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
It is official. State and federal governments have condoned forgery, perjury and fraud in what’s been called the "robo-signing" foreclosure debacle. Last week, the five biggest banks in America signed on to a $26 billion deal that, basically, lets them off with a slap on the wrist for fraudulently foreclosing on homes in the last few years. I am not going to go on and on about how unfair and unjust this deal was or how the rule of law has been thrown down the stairs. I am going to focus on the fallout of this morally corrupt deal.
Why Are Record Numbers Of Young Adults
Jobless And Living At Home With Mom And Dad?
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
In the United States today, unemployment among those age 18 to age 34 is at epidemic levels and the number of young adults that are now living at home with Mom and Dad is at an all-time high. So why are so many of our young adults jobless? Why are record numbers of them unable or unwilling to move out on their own? Well, there are quite a few factors at work. Number one, our education system has completely and totally failed them. As I have written about previously, our education system is a joke and most high school graduates these days are simply not prepared to function at even a very basic level in our society. In addition, college education in the United States has become a giant money making scam that leaves scores of college graduates absolutely drowning in debt. Many young adults end up moving back in with Mom and Dad because they are drowning in so much debt that there are no other options. Thirdly, the number of good jobs continues to decline and this is hitting younger Americans the hardest. Millions of young people enter the workforce excited about the future only to find that there are hordes of applicants for the very limited number of decent jobs that are actually available. So all of this is creating an environment where more young adults are financially dependent on their parents that ever before in modern American history.
Fox closes Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano
Google-Motorola Mobility deal approved by U.S. regulators
By Jessica Guynn - LATimes.com
Google Inc. may be on the verge of closing the biggest deal in its 13-year history -- one that will escalate competition with Apple Inc.
Its $12.5-billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility got approval from U.S. and European antitrust regulators Monday, bringing it significantly closer to manufacturing phones, tablets and other consumer devices such as a home entertainment system for the first time.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment but said the Internet search giant hopes to close the deal early this year.
Although officials in Washington and Brussels concluded that the Motorola deal would not stifle competition, U.S. and European regulators warned they would monitor to make sure none takes place.
The Big Transition Looming at Ford
By John Rosevear - Fool.com
Despite some breathless headlines, shares of Ford didn't fall significantly after the automaker announced the departure of two senior executives last Thursday. (The stock did fall on Friday, but then so did most of the market.)
At first glance, some Ford shareholders might have been inclined to agree with the headline-writers -- the departures of CFO Lewis Booth and Global Product Development chief Derrick Kuzak, both key drivers of Ford's remarkable renaissance, certainly look like major losses for the Blue Oval.
Frontier Airlines to cut 446 more jobs in Milwaukee
Denver Business Journal by Rich Rovito, Reporter
Frontier Airlines, which has been slashing flights at Milwaukee's airport as it refocuses its operations on Denver, signaled Monday that it plans to lay off another 446 of its Milwaukee-area workers.
The layoffs at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport are expected to occur between April 15 and April 30, according to a notice filed Monday with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development by Frontier’s parent company, Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc.
Feds shut down Amish farm for selling fresh milk
By Stephen Dinan-The Washington Times
The FDA has won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh, raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington region, after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyerfrom selling his milk across state lines, and he told his customers he’ll shut his farm down altogether.
The decision has enraged Mr. Allgyer’s supporters, some of whom have been buying from him for six years and who say the government is interfering with their parental rights to feed their children. But the Food and Drug Administration, which launched a full investigation complete with a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and a straw-purchase sting operation against Mr. Allgyer’s Rainbow Acres Farm, near Lancaster, said unpasteurized milk is unsafe and said it was exercising its due authority to stop its sale from one state to another.
America's Pipe Dream
By Aimee Duffy - The Motley Fool
When Americans clamor for energy independence, the focus of said clamoring typically falls on increasing oil and gas production. But what most advocates and proponents don't realize is that energy independence is impossible right now -- not because of natural resources, but because we lack the midstream infrastructure to process and transport our domestic energy supply.
Midstream assets, specifically pipelines and processing centers, are more crucial than we think and will play a key role in America's energy future.
5.6 earthquake felt across California's north coast
By Ken Schwencke and Dalina Castellanos - LATimes.com
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake was felt across a wide swath of California's north coast but there were no reports of damage.
The temblor was reported Monday afternoon six miles from Weitchpec, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It occurred at 1:07 p.m.
According to the USGS, the epicenter was 17 miles from Westhaven-Moonstone, 18 miles from Trinidad, 31 miles from Eureka and 218 miles from Sacramento.
U.S. plans new talks with North Korea
By Guy Taylor-The Washington Times
The State Department said Monday that U.S. officials will engage in direct talks with North Korea later this month, signaling the first major development in the tense relations between the West and Pyongyang since the death of longtime North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.
Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative forNorth Korea policy, will meet with Kim Kye-gwan, North Korean first vice foreign minister, on Feb. 23 in Beijing, State Department officials said.
Ten Things President Obama
Needs to Hear From China’s New Leader
BY JOSEPH A. BOSCO - WeeklyStandard.com
Chinese leaders announced that Vice President Xi Jinping, the Communist Party’s designated successor to Chinese president Hu Jintao, will try to correct "the trust deficit" when he visits Washington this week. Xi told a gathering of Chinese and U.S. officials commemorating the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s opening to China that he hoped his visit "can play a positive role in advancing the Sino-U.S. cooperative partnership."
To build mutual trust and become genuine partners, here are ten things Xi could say to President Obama:
Taiwan. We in Beijing and you in Washington successfully intervened in Taiwan’s recent presidential campaign to ensure the reelection of pro-China incumbent Ma Ying-jeou. We will express our appreciation to your administration and to Taiwan’s voters by permanently renouncing the use of force to compel unification and by withdrawing our 1,500 missiles targeting the island.
The alliance between Mexican cartels
and U.S. gangs may be the most serious threat
to our national security
by Richard Valdemar - Borderland Beat Reporter Chivis
Like the unwanted dandelions that sprout in lawns, cartel and gang partners continue to adapt and survive. Whatever code of conduct that may have restrained them in the past has disappeared.
Their terrible acts of violence and cruelty continue to escalate. The systematic corruption of our police, courts and political system is their goal. Those who they cannot corrupt, they murder. Journalists, police, judges, soldiers, religious leaders, women and children are all potential victims.
Nixon Then, China Now
By Minxin Pei - Project-Syndicate.org
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – When US President Richard Nixon embarked on his historic trip to China 40 years ago, he could not have imagined what his gamble would unleash. The immediate diplomatic impact, of course, was to reshape Eurasia’s geopolitical balance and put the Soviet Union on the defensive. But the long-term outcome of America’s rapprochement with China became visible only recently, with the economic integration of the People’s Republic into the world economy.
Had Nixon not acted in 1972, China’s self-imposed isolation would have continued. Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening of China to the world would have been far more difficult.
Road to Damascus… and on to Armageddon?
Western politicians and media are not yet fighting World War III, but they are talking themselves into it.
by DIANA JOHNSTONE - CounterPunch.org
Paris - What if pollsters put this question to citizens of the United States and the European Union :
"Which is more important, ensuring disgruntled Islamists freedom to overthrow the secular regime in Syria, or avoiding World War Three?"
I'll bet that there might be a majority for avoiding World War III.
But of course, the question is never framed like that.
That would be a "realistic" question, and we Westerners from the heights of our moral superiority have no time for vulgar "realism" in foreign policy (except the eccentric Ron Paul, crying out in the wilderness of Republican primaries).
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Archived Page Link
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | <urn:uuid:67d76559-d022-4ef5-9fcc-cc71267d5f0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://heartlandcoingallery.com/2012/feb/tues-14.html | 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 | 0.950576 | 6,519 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The School Lunch Revolution
Early in Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, author Janet Poppendieck quotes former Texas Secretary of Agriculture Susan Coombs, who famously declared that “it will take 2 million angry moms to change school food.”
Based on what we now know of the dreary state of our children’s cafeteria fare, there must be at least that many mamas, as well as a good number of papas, who are ready to storm the barricades. Fortunately for them and America’s 55 million students, they’ve been joined by Poppendieck, a sociologist at Hunter College, who gives us the best reasons yet for unconditional school food reform.
We are already indebted to Poppendieck for her earlier works Knee Deep in Breadlines and Sweet Charity, where she employed her sleuthing skills to unravel the historical contradictions and compounding irrationalities associated with feeding our nation’s neediest citizens. As she did then, Poppendieck combines her talents as historian and sociologist with those of an institutional psychologist to help us get in touch with our nation’s school food neurosis.
Why, for instance, have we developed three different ways to pay the lunch lady—one for the poor students, one for the nearly poor, and one for those who supposedly drive BMWs to school? The logical answer might be because that’s fair; the rich kids should pay more and the government should subsidize the cost of feeding lower income children, as it currently does to the tune of $11 billion annually. But as Poppendieck peels back the layers of the onion, we find the issue has always been less about compassion for needy children and more about accommodating political and commercial interests. Harry Truman (school lunch is good for national security), Ronald Reagan (ketchup is a vegetable), nutritionists (it's nutrients that count, not the quality and taste of food), and various agricultural lobbies wanting to unload their farm surpluses are just a sampling of the agendas that have driven the school food agenda. Somewhere low on the totem pole, you’ll find concern for the health and well-being of boys and girls.
Like any parent, I love to regale my own children with tales of the good old days. I tell them about my high school cafeteria, which had exactly one vending machine in the 1960s: a mechanically operated metal box that dispensed an uncut, unpackaged, and unadorned fresh apple for 25 cents. Far from feeling deprived (my children asked me if my school was the same one attended by Abe Lincoln), we were a healthy and reasonably bright group of young people. But today, vending machines (I once counted 51 in just one Albuquerque, New Mexico high school) are as ubiquitous as dog droppings in the melting snow. What has happened during the intervening decades?
Poppendieck’s jargon-free narrative takes us step-by-step through the deals, concessions, and compromises that have bureaucratized the school food process while simultaneously dumbing down the food. Why is so much processed food used to prepare school meals? Because taxpayers are spending billions to subsidize corn and soybeans, the prime ingredients in processed food, and because “cooking from scratch” kitchens have been removed from the schools. Why do we worry about price when talking about feeding our children? Because the federal government (or anyone else for that matter) will not provide enough funding to enable schools to buy fresh, whole ingredients. Why do we have so many junk food items sold “a la carte” in our schools? Well, using a French culinary phrase to disguise what is otherwise crappy food, schools must sell these items to students with discretionary cash—supposedly the ones driving the BMWs—to compensate for the low reimbursements they receive for meals that meet mandated USDA health standards. And on it goes.
Perhaps what I found most astonishing, and central to Poppendieck’s thesis, is the evolution of the three-tiered payment system. While the free, reduced-price, and full-pay categories are the “wins” secured by anti-hunger advocates over many years of legislative battles, Poppendieck argues that the cure may have been worse than the disease. The high cost of determining student eligibility, the administrative reporting burdens imposed by USDA, and of course, the stigma that falls on poor students all exact a high toll. On this last point, Poppendieck has this to say: “The biggest problem is the stigma that comes from being different, from being marked as poor, from being unable to pay in a culture that places excessive value on being able to pay.”
Poppendieck has a solution that is as elegant as it will be hard to achieve: universal free meals for all students K through 12. She acknowledges the cost, an additional $12 billion per year (our present wars, please note, are costing about the same amount each month) that would not only feed all students for free, but also improve the quality of the food.
If the arguments for universal school meals—efficiency, equity, no one excluded—sound eerily familiar, then you’ve probably been paying attention to the arguments for universal health care. If nothing else, it’s certainly ironic to consider the consequences of removing each system’s respective middlemen: processed food purveyors for school food, and private health insurers for health care. Might we all be healthier as a result?
Smarter School Lunches
"Renegade Lunch Lady" Ann Cooper is starting a revolution in school cafeterias.
In a long chapter called “Local Heroes,” Poppendieck acknowledges the pioneering work of many innovative school food directors like Ann Cooper, as well as movements to connect schools to local farms and even create school gardens. These and others have made important contributions, she says, but they all need to be “scaled up” by becoming institutionalized (my word choice here would be “naturalized”) into the system. This, by the way, is the role of public policy, and it is why everyone who cares about what our children eat should be in touch with their members of Congress. The future of school food will be decided in the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization now before Congress.
Free for All is well researched and written. While Poppendieck studies her subject with the thoroughness of a sociologist, she (fortunately) doesn’t sound like one. We are treated to a careful review of the facts that flow through a lively and personal narrative. The reader is kept closely by her side as Poppendieck travels through school cafeterias and pores over government reports. Along the way we observe, touch, and taste what 55 million American children consume each school day. Most importantly, she tells us why the school food system is the way it is, and how—if we could somehow put ourselves in the little shoes of our children—we would do everything we could to make it better.
Mark Winne is the author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty (Beacon Press, 2008). His second book Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas will be released in October.
- Fresh from ... the City
Citizens bring fresh foods into schools and neighborhoods.
- 8 Ways to Join the Local Food Movement
How to turn your lawn into lunch, swap preserves, glean, boost your food security, live the good life.
- School Lunch is a Social Justice Issue
"Renegade Lunch Lady" Ann Cooper on what we're teaching kids about food and nutrition—and how to change it.
That means, we rely on support from our readers.
Independent. Nonprofit. Subscriber-supported. | <urn:uuid:bf89e18f-6f84-4776-aa41-84978adcbb82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/the-school-lunch-revolution?icl=email_wkly20100611&ica=tnWinne | 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 | 0.959788 | 1,654 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Installing Encarta Premium 2007 via DVD took about 15 minutes in our tests. This program also includes five CDs, in case you lack a DVD drive. You'll need a Windows XP SP2 computer with at least 1.2GB of hard drive space free; and 512MB of RAM is recommended. Microsoft was polite to not force us into installing a desktop shortcut. When the setup process asked whether we wanted our usage of Encarta to be monitored, we declined.
Once installed, Encarta's bright interface offers more blank space and pictures than Britannica's. The Home page lists subjects, such as Arts & Literature, and a search field. The function icons are sparse, preventing clutter. As with a Web browser, back and forward arrow buttons and the keyboard let you navigate. You can trace recently viewed pages by clicking a tiny drop-down arrow underneath the back arrow, but Britannica's tabbed organization of pages was more obvious to us. However, we liked being able to jump to various tools from any page via Encarta's Features drop-down menu. And along the right edge, the program stacks up best matches, articles, photos, Web links, dictionaries and maps related to your query. Encarta also serves up a Visual Browser that rotates subjects so that you don't have to scroll up and down to find them.
The Explore features encourage you to check out hundreds of videos, including some from the Discovery Channel, along with timelines, and virtual tours of landmarks, natural wonders, and the like. Videos include encyclopedic staples, such as the first moon landing, to quirky stuff such as "machine-shaped kaiser rolls." Encarta's 2,500 audio files let you hear music from around the world, such as that of Grandmaster Flash, classical sitar melodies, and excerpts from Beethoven's 9th Symphony. And we prefer Encarta's rich Timeline to Britannica's, although it's almost too visually overwhelming to digest at first.
Other goodies include World Atlas's political, physical, and statistical views, as well as satellite imagery of the planet by night and day. But Encarta doesn't offer the equivalent of Britannica's GeoAnalyzer for comparing countries' statistics, although you can use Encarta's Customizer to fine-tune views of places. A dictionary and thesaurus are embedded within Encarta, but make sure to install the free Macromedia Shockwave to check out World Languages.
If you're buying Encarta to help a child with classwork, you might consider paying a bit more for the $69.95 Student 2007. Student includes Encarta and on top of that, adds homework help, such as term-paper tutorials, foreign-language verb conjugations, a graphing calculator, and step-by-step assistance with equations, complete with answer keys. | <urn:uuid:41a6bab1-73ef-4ea9-9349-0ee6435c2757> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviews.cnet.com/general-reference/microsoft-encarta-premium-2007/4505-3642_7-31975361.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932426 | 580 | 1.640625 | 2 |
A man was seriously burnt when he allegedly cut through 400-volt power lines in Northland on Friday, in what was believed to be an attempt to steal copper earth wires to sell for scrap.
The 18-year-old was flown by the Northland Electricity Rescue Helicopter to Whangarei Hospital and was later transferred to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital in a serious condition.
Northpower, which owns the lines and is also the principal sponsor of the rescue helicopter that transported the man, said someone had climbed a transformer pole and cut the 400-volt line.
A spokesman said it was believed this line had then come into contact with the parallel 11,000-volt line to the small town of Tinopai, causing it to trip.
It was also possible the man had been shocked by 11,000 volts, and it was likely he had fallen at least four metres to the ground.
"Whoever is responsible is extremely lucky to be alive as 400 volts is easily enough to kill a person - let alone 11,000 volts.''
Earlier this month, Northpower issued a statement saying copper had been stolen from live power lines in Whangarei six times in the last fortnight.
Network manager Graham Dawson said at the time the thieves might get only $5-$10 for the metal from a scrap dealer, yet they were putting their own lives and the lives of others at risk.
It costs Northpower between $500 and $1000 to repair the damage and replace the stolen copper each time there was a theft.
Police would not confirm whether the man had been trying to steal the wires.
A spokeswoman said he was yet to be interviewed. | <urn:uuid:ea32db2c-b884-4861-9713-2ac8f0459156> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10805806 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986887 | 338 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Why does Facebook care about private cloud deployments at other companies, including potential competitors?
It doesn't. What it cares about is improving its own server, data center and storage hardware designs, making them run more efficiently in order to trim costs. In exchange for making its blueprints publicly available, Facebook is hoping other companies will contribute with their own innovations, open-source software style.
The social networking site generates a lot of buzz for new features and privacy controversies. Its less-sexy Open Compute Project, or the "open-sourcing" of its custom-built server and data center technology, made far less of a splash when it was unveiled last April. But over the last few months, the project has quietly made headway. Facebook says its community of contributors has grown to over 1,000. About 250 non-Facebook employees attended its first-ever Open Compute summit last month. The next one is scheduled for October, and you can bet Nebula will be there.
"Nebula has some very significant engineering talent," says Facebook's Frankovsky. "And they'll actively contribute back."
Nebula also has some very significant financial backers (again, the company won't disclose the exact dollar amount it managed to raise). Its list of investors includes Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Five pilot customers from energy, finance, biotech and media industries will begin deploying private clouds using Nebula's appliance in early October.
"Our business model is simple, you just buy a box and plug servers into it," says Kemp. "We want to disrupt the existing economies here."
Of course, while the use of open-source software and hardware could enable Nebula to offer a cheaper solution for private cloud deployments, the very definition of open-source technology means that it's also available to any other company interested in utilizing it. Dell's just-launched OpenStack Cloud Solution is also being touted as an alternative to existing cloud options that are based on proprietary, licensed software. And with both OpenStack and Facebook's Open Compute Project still in their infancy, you can count on many more open-source cloud infrastructure "alternatives" hitting the market in coming years. | <urn:uuid:5faff0f7-5b7a-411d-b645-e2fe4bf159ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fortunechina.com/technology/c/2011-07/29/content_64855.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95804 | 462 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Our Mission To build better futures for young children by promoting and providing quality early childhood education and services for families, early childhood professionals and the community.
Our Vision For every young child to succeed* and for families to be self-sufficient as a result of quality early childhood care and education. * Success means that childrendo not have internalized barriers causing school failure after age six.
Children are the most important asset in our community
Healthy growth, learning and development begin at birth
Our services benefit all families, especially those with limited resources
Parents need to be supported in their role as parents and as their children's first teachers
The most important determinant of quality early childhood education is the caregiver
Inclusivenessand diversity are vital to the community
Our Strategic Priorities
As ECA celebrates its 60th year of operation, we are proud of our heritage, positioned to continue in our leadership role, and excited about our future opportunities. ECA's strategic priorities are to:
Increase our impact throughout our region by collaboration with others and expansion of services to assist parents and child care providers in delivering quality early care and education
Model the highest standards of quality early care and education by managing child care centers that prepare children to enter school ready to learn
Serve as the key resource and chief advocate for the region for quality early care and education for young children
Early Childhood Alliance is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and service provider.
Children are born curious and eager to learn. During the first years of life, significant growth occurs as children begin to develop intellectually, physically, emotionally and socially. Quality early childhood experiences in a safe, healthy, nurturing environment are the foundation for successful school readiness.
Children are the most important asset in our community. With the combined efforts of parents, teachers, legislators, media, friends and supporters, we can all make a difference for our young children, a difference which will be reflected in years to come in the young adults who lead our community.
Early Childhood Alliance has enjoyed a successful half-century of providing services for thousands of children, families, child care professionals and the community. Throughout northeast Indiana, we have been a leading advocate for quality early care and education for children from birth to age six.
If we can be of assistance to you in your role as a parent, child care professional or employer, please contact us. We hope you will join us in building better futures for all our young children.
Click the button to the left to take part in our convenient online Child Care Search. After you have completed the registration and entered your search criteria you will be shown a list of child care providers.
Our services for families include:
We help families find quality child care.
Child Care Resource and Referral Service - helps parents understand how to select and moitor the quality of care.
Consultation with our Infant/Toddler Specialist or Inclusion Specialist
We offer early care and education in state-licensed and nationally accreditated centers located in Fort Wayne:
Downtown, North, and Parkview
We offer parent programs to assist parents in improving their parenting skills, focusing on the developmental needs of children.Improving Parenting Skills
Parents as Teachers
Parent Book Club
For Child Care and Early Education Professionals
We offer services for child care professionals to strengthen teachers' skills and to improve the quality of child care.
Workshops, seminars and conferences on a veriety of topic
Ongoing classes to earn the Child Development Associate credential
Management training for child care administrators
Our Professional Programs
On-site mentoring and technical assistance to help programs advance on Paths to QUALITY
Training/consultation with our Infant/Toddler Specialist or Inclusion Specialist
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SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — Iran is poised to double its output of higher-enriched uranium at its fortified underground facility, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday — a development that puts Tehran within months of being able to make the core of a nuclear warhead.
In its report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was ready within days to ramp up its production of 20 percent enriched uranium at its plant at Fordo using 700 more centrifuges.
That would double Iran’s present output and cut in half the time it would take to acquire enough of the substance needed to make a nuclear weapon, reducing it to just over three months.
Iran says it has no interest in making nuclear arms, just nuclear power for its citizens, but the United States and other nations believe otherwise. Iran refuses to give up enrichment despite international sanctions and offers of reactor fuel from abroad and for years has stalemated an IAEA probe of suspicions that it worked secretly on developing such arms.
The IAEA report, which was circulated among the IAEA’s 35 board member states, was obtained by The Associated Press. It said between the last IAEA board report in August and now, Iran had put nearly 700 centrifuges that were installed but not ready to operate at Fordo under a vacuum to make sure they are airtight.
That is the last step before uranium gas is fed into the centrifuges and the process or enrichment begins — an activity that can produce both reactor fuel, or at high levels the fissile interior of a nuclear weapon. It takes only a few days to start enrichment with machines that are under vacuum.
The centrifuges, “having been subjected to vacuum testing, were ready for feeding” with uranium gas, the report said.
About 700 centrifuges have been producing 20 percent uranium at Fordo since early this year — the same number as those the IAEA said were under vacuum and ready to enrich. Another 1,400 or so have been installed but are not yet believed operational — about 2,800 total.
The finding confirmed information the AP obtained Thursday from diplomats accredited to the IAEA. It also called into question recent comments by Israeli officials suggesting that Iran has slowed the timetable for reaching the ability to make such weapons.
The discrepancy is important because the comments carried the implication that Israel would therefore have more time before deciding whether to hit Iranian facilities in an attempt to slow Tehran’s perceived efforts to make nuclear weapons. | <urn:uuid:7acbd049-91f1-484e-9884-2aaa16230f51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fortmeadeleader.com/sunnews/desoto/4545104-452/sunnewspapersunnuclearagencyiranpoisedtoexpandnukes.html.csp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973631 | 518 | 1.820313 | 2 |
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Parents at one local elementary school are frustrated with the amount of time it takes to pick up their kids, after a new student pick up plan is implemented.
Previously, parents of Thunder Mountain Elementary School pulled into the bus lane to pick up their kids, which caused the overflow of cars to park on the narrow two lane road and block traffic.
Any cars that were trying to get through would go around the parked cars, heading straight into oncoming traffic.
It wasn’t only the wait time that concerned the parents and District 51 before, but also their kid’s safety.
"We were concerned about kids darting out into traffic and not being seen by vehicles that were having to go all the way around the ones that were parked in the middle of the road," said Tim Leon, with District 51.
"It creates a hazard for any vehicles that need to get here for emergencies, it makes it impossible to get through," said Kathy Nelson, a concern parent.
Now parents are directed into the school’s parking lot.
It hasn’t decreased the waiting time for parents, but it has made it safer for the students.
The school's traffic increased after District 51 had to cut transportation funding, leaving Thunder Mountain Elementary School with only two buses.
Also, the school was originally built for a smaller crowd; new subdivisions came along, adding more kids after it was built.
To help speed along the pick up process, district officials suggest parents carpool, walk to school to pick up their kids, or delay picking them up by 5 or 10 minutes.
Teachers will stay with the kids until they are picked up.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Hemophilia, a disease linked with legends of European monarchs, frail heirs and one flamboyant charlatan called Rasputin, still afflicts many people today.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s consumer confidence fell in March by three points to 70 as the state’s bleak unemployment rate cast doubts about the long-term health of the economy and people’s ability to make major household purchases, according to a new University of Florida survey.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Current school reform efforts, like No Child Left Behind, emphasize teacher quality as the most important factor in student success, but University of Florida researchers have identified another, stunningly accurate predictor of classroom performance — the student’s home address.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida engineering researchers have found they can ignite certain nanoparticles using a low-power laser, a development they say opens the door to a wave of new technologies in health care, computing and automotive design.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Sunshine State has an untapped industry close to home, says a University of Florida researcher studying how rural areas can attract Floridians hungry for relaxation away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Doctors have a clearer picture than ever before of how much radiation reaches sensitive tissues during routine X-rays and similar imaging, thanks to sophisticated models of the human body being developed at the University of Florida. | <urn:uuid:808bad07-a6ec-4ba1-b461-bb0a08d7752f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.ufl.edu/research/2010/03/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932307 | 318 | 1.578125 | 2 |
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Why Spain Is A Riot
J. Luis Martin
October 7, 2012
Why Spain is a riot
The reason why Spain is a riot both financially and socially goes beyond matters of economic policy. Spain faces a graver problem, its political institutions.
Over the past few weeks, Spain has received worldwide attention due to its deteriorating economy and growing outbursts of massive social protests. Most notably, US presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in his debate with President Barack Obama last week that he did not want his country to “go down the path to Spain.”
As the world fixes its eyes on the eurozone’s fourth largest economy, analysts continue to offer suggestions as to how to best tackle the Iberian country’s economic woes. However, the reason why Spain is a riot both financially and socially goes beyond matters of economic policy. Spain faces a graver problem, its political institutions.
Spain’s political establishment: stale and clientelistic
Perhaps the most lamentable element in Spain’s political class is that it is hard, almost anecdotal, to find elected officials with a track record outside the public sector. For too many years, the country has been governed by bureaucrats who have no experience whatsoever in the real world of business. The majority of Spain’s politicians do not know what it is to conceive an idea, to risk one’s own wealth, to deal with banks, workers and suppliers, and, ultimately, to experience failure and success. Sadly, the Spanish taxpayer-financed political establishment understands failure and success only in terms of which side of the aisle their members are seated in parliament.
Furthermore, Spain’s political system is extremely sectarian and clientelistic. The concept of merit among the political class has been perverted into allegiance to the apparatus – and to the right leader within. Future political promises are embraced by parties when they are young and, years later, the chosen ones find themselves making decisions on public policy without ever setting foot in the real world: a group of individuals whose only interest is that of the party which keeps them fed and spoiled. Unfortunately, and to use Daron Acemoglu’s term, this type of “extractive” political institutions have contaminated other areas of civil society as well and have distorted a free society’s vital values of meritocracy and personal accountability from the educational system all the way to the business fabric.
A country governed by the unfit
If former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, an inexperienced attorney who joined the Socialist party at the age of eighteen, repeatedly made a fool of himself and of his country by his clumsy appearances abroad and flawed policies at home, it is simply because he was unfit to hold the office to which he was elected. Indeed, Zapatero’s incompetence would be exposed early on his rise to power.
It was in 2003, during his first electoral campaign to Spain’s highest office, when Zapatero’s incompetence to lead the country would be exposed for the first time. A nearby media microphone caught him privately acknowledging not having a clue as to the economic concepts he had discussed in a speech a few minutes earlier. The microphone caught Zapatero’s then economic advisor in the Socialist party, Jordi Sevilla, pointing the errors the would-be prime minister made during his speech while assuring him that all he needed to know about the economy could be learned over “a couple of afternoons.” The Socialist candidate then responded that, despite his ignorance, he “liked” matters of economic affairs.
After the socialists’ disastrous leadership, the bureaucrat with less-than presidential stature and charisma, Mariano Rajoy, was seen by many as a major ‘upgrade’ to replace Zapatero at the La Moncloa palace. Rajoy entered public service at the age of 23 and served as minister of education and deputy prime minister under the leadership of tax collector-turned-politician José María Aznar.
The Popular party’s leader to succeed Zapatero promised less red tape, lower taxes, an overhaul of the regional government system to limit its size and do away with the – literally – thousands of state companies plaguing the economy, provide tax incentives to entrepreneurs and, all in all, all of the right-sounding policies voters wanted to hear. It took Rajoy exactly ten days since formally being appointed prime minister by the Spanish parliament to begin to betray each and every single one of those promises.
While we have been covering Rajoy’s sinking rate of approval and the questioning of his democratic legitimacy, perhaps it would be best to illustrate how one of his government’s flip-flop policies have resulted in the country taking a deeper dive into economic abyss and fueling social outrage: the fiscal devaluation that never happened.
Broken promises breaking up the country
During his political campaign, Rajoy promised not to raise taxes, but to actually lower them (while in the opposition he criticized Zapatero, quite rightly, that raising taxes in the midst of an economic recession was irresponsible). A few months after imposing a severe income tax hike across the board, Rajoy’s government announced an increase in the national Value Added Tax (VAT) that would raise such a levy to as much as 21 percent in most goods and services (there are reduced rates for certain types of products and services, but those have also suffered increases). The government would later follow up such a tax increase with a lowering of social security charges for employers. All in all, given the impossibility of executing a policy of currency devaluation, a fiscal devaluation would make the country more competitive in foreign markets and boost exports.
The increased VAT measure is hitting domestic consumption – already suffering from the previous hikes and wage cuts. However, the lowering of social security charges for employers is nowhere to be found. In line with Rajoy’s government’s language, everything is either temporary (tax increases), or soon to come (tax cuts and major reforms). The reality is, however, that the fiscal devaluation that never happened has exacerbated the economy’s downturn: higher taxes have led to higher inflation and lower domestic consumption, which in turn has led to an increasingly stalled economy and higher unemployment.
If, besides an incoherent economic policy, we take into account Rajoy’s poor handling of the ‘banking sector reform’ (an euphemism for a bailout of insolvent banks), his incomprehensible maneuvering around an imminent European sovereign bailout, and the separatist calls coming out of the Basque and Catalonia regions, in less than ten months the Spanish premier may have inflicted more harm to the country than his Socialist predecessor did during his 7-year mandate. In addition, Rajoy is doing a terrible disservice to the solemn ideals he and his political party claim to represent: limited government, economic freedom and meritocracy.
While nobody knows exactly what Rajoy’s economic strategy is, what is hurting the country the most – even risking breaking it apart – is the widespread sentiment that Rajoy simply has no idea of what he is doing.
The Spanish civil society is wise
Many observe that the excesses of the past, for which Spain and other European countries are now paying dearly, largely stem from an imperfect monetary union: a currency which produced a mirage of equality and harmony among highly divergent market competitors. In the case of Spain, the most damaging effect the euro-bubble has caused, however, is that it has helped to mask many of country’s structural problems and has made it possible for a cancerous political class to spread and infect virtually all areas of society. Spaniards, however, are wise and seem to have arrived at the correct diagnosis as to why their country is failing.
Last years’ protests in Madrid’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square gained global attention as then Prime Minister Zapatero was ready to call snap elections and hand over the power to Rajoy. Then, one of the demonstrators’ popular rally cries was “they don’t represent us.” Last week, on September 25, Spanish demonstrators did not protest in a square or sought to “occupy” a bank or the stock market. Instead, they took their protests to the entrance of the national parliament.
When the government tried to criminally prosecute the organizers of such demonstrations before parliament, the judge assigned to the case dismissed it. The judge in question, Santiago Pedraz, wrote in his ruling that the protesters were exercising their right to freedom of speech, and that it was no crime for citizens to call for the members of parliament’s resignation, or even the abolition of the current regime, even when such calls questioned Spain’s current constitutional system. To the surprise of many, Judge Pedraz took his legal argument one step further and framed his decision in the context of the current “decay of the so-called political class.”
Spaniards are now rejecting the cynical notion that the current confiscatory policies that aim to bailout an insolvent system managed by morally-insolvent politicians is anything but “austerity,” and that a petulant government which systematically does the opposite to what it says does not have a place in a free and democratic society.
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Copyright © 2013 Infowars. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:50787efd-7de1-4232-a367-d6761d134056> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infowars.com/why-spain-is-a-riot/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971984 | 1,993 | 1.632813 | 2 |
|1.||call an audible|
To decide what to do at the last second after seeing all possible options and obstacles that come up.
Comes from football, seen when the quarterback goes up to the line of scrimmage, sees a defensive alignment he wasn't expecting, and adjusts by yelling out a new play.
I'm thinking of going jogging but if it rains I'll have to call an audible and go to the gym instead.
|2.||call an audible|
To "call an audible" is when you are on a date, or trying to pick someone up at a bar and the other party is not interested in you. The uninterested party will then "call an audible" on you by working in an interjection / rejection into their dialog in order to possibly soften the blow of rejection. This will allow them to state their judgement on you, or their actual position without them outright explaining to you that you need to back off.
(after a date, a buddy is talking to his friends and describes a meet up at a bar as follows):
Man 1: I met this girl at the bar, we had a few drinks, had a few laughs and just when I thought things were going well she totally called an audible (call an audible) on me!
Man 2: What?! That is messed up. How'd she do it?
Man 1: We were talking about different beers we liked and she said "Oh yeah my boyfriend and I love Hefeweizen" | <urn:uuid:812122b6-61e3-499d-bc7a-2caf3004f9c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=call%20an%20audible&defid=864769 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98025 | 309 | 1.75 | 2 |
PLAY-DOH sculptures of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney by Ian Williams
Gearing up for the presidential debate November 4, 2012 some very interesting PLAY-DOH sculptures of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have surfaced. Molded by Ian Williams, a fourth year student at Rhode Island School of Design and “Official PLAY-DOH Artist of the Year.” Used 100% PLAY-DOH to compound these bust of the two 2012 presidential running mates. Hasbro offered RISD students majoring in Sculpture and Ceramics a chance to compete for the exclusive opportunity to become the “Official PLAY-DOH Artist of the Year,” and Williams won based on his realistic sculptures, knowledge of design and ability to mold using PLAY-DOH compound. Entries were judged based on five criteria including realism, craftsmanship, creativity, presentation, and incorporation of the PLAY-DOH brand personality. Williams received a $5,000 tuition stipend and will work with Hasbro to create a variety of original PLAY-DOH creations for use on the brand’s digital channels. Fans can keep up with Williams’ work at Facebook.com/PlayDoh. What do you think of the sculptures?
“I’m passionate about sculpting and grew up playing with PLAY-DOH so I’m truly honored to be chosen as the ‘Official PLAY-DOH Artist of the Year,’” said Williams. “Working with Hasbro is a wonderful opportunity and I look forward to sharing my creativity with the PLAY-DOH online community.”
“Our PLAY-DOH compound is a wonderful creative medium that inspires artists of all ages and skill levels,” said Jerry Perez, Senior Vice President and Global Brand Leader. “The ‘Official PLAY-DOH Artist of the Year’ is the first-ever program that invites art students to showcase their talents using our iconic compound. We are excited to work with Ian to deliver outstanding PLAY-DOH sculptures to our fans.” | <urn:uuid:2054e44d-d120-4d8e-a31c-2e63c475254a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moresay.com/2012/10/play-doh-sculptures-of-barack-obama-and-mitt-romney-by-ian-williams/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942682 | 424 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979. Founding members Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards) and Geordie Walker (guitars) have been the only constant members.
A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and John Dougan as "quasi-metal ... dancing to a tune of doom and gloom", which gradually evolved over the years, incorporating elements of electronic music, synthpop, gothic rock, and alternative rock, though always emphasising Coleman's "savagely strident vocals".
Finding modest commercial success, Killing Joke have influenced many later bands and artists, such as Nirvana, Ministry, Amen, Lamb of God, Nine Inch Nails, Porcupine Tree, Napalm Death, Behemoth, Amebix, Big Black, Slipknot, Opeth, Murderdolls, Godflesh, Scorn, Hole/Courtney Love, Dead by April, Marilyn Manson, Tool, Helmet, Prong, Metallica, Primus, Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, Faith No More, Nick Harper, Blacklist, Shihad, Pitchshifter, Das Oath, Rammstein, and Korn, all of whom have at some point cited some debt of gratitude to Killing Joke.
"Big" Paul Ferguson was drummer in the Matt Stagger Band when he met Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman (from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) in Notting Hill, London. In October 1978 (or early 1979), after Coleman was briefly keyboard player in that band, he and Ferguson left to form Killing Joke. They placed an advertisement in the music press which attracted guitarist Kevin "Geordie" Walker and bassist Martin "Youth" Glover. According to Coleman, their manifesto was to "define the exquisite beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and form".
By September 1979, shortly before the release of their debut EP, Turn to Red, they began the Malicious Damage record label with graphic artist Mike Coles as a way to press and sell their music; Island Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G. Records (then aligned with Virgin Records) in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke's early singles were primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with electronic ("Nervous System" and "Turn to Red"). Turn to Red came to the attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who was keen to champion the band's urgent new sound and gave them extensive airplay. They quickly progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more akin to heavy metal, as heard on their first two albums, Killing Joke (1980) and the more abrasive What's THIS For...! (1981). They toured extensively throughout the UK during this time, and both fans of post punk and heavy metal took interest in Killing Joke through singles such as "Follow the Leaders" (1981).
Killing Joke became notorious largely due to the controversies that arose from their imagery. Typically the images that appeared on their records and on-stage while performing live were bizarre and potentially shocking and inflammatory. One promotion poster featured an original photo, erroneously believed to be of Pope Pius XI. The picture was of German abbot Alban Schachleiter walking among rows of Nazi soldiers offering Heil Hitler salutes and appearing to return the salute, and was later used for the cover of the band's compilation album, Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!. Shortly afterwards, the band was banned from performing a concert in Glasgow, Scotland. At the same time, some journalists were suspicious about Killing Joke's image and wrote that "Killing Joke's music includes certain fascist tendencies...". Killing Joke had various 'run-ins' with a number of music journalists at the time.
Killing Joke's third album, Revelations, produced by Conny Plank, was released in 1982, and supported by a pair of performances on BBC Radio's The John Peel Show and by the singles "Chop-Chop", "Empire Song", and an unofficial release of "We Have Joy". The LP reached No. 12 in the UK Top albums.
By 1982, members of Killing Joke, especially Coleman, had become immersed in the occult, particularly the works of occultist Aleister Crowley. In February of that year, Coleman, with Geordie and Youth following shortly after, moved to Iceland to survive the Apocalypse, which Coleman predicted was coming soon. While in Iceland, Coleman and Geordie worked with musicians from the band Þeyr in the project Niceland. After a few months, Youth decided there was no indication of the Apocalypse, and decided to move back to England. Youth then began the band Brilliant with Paul Ferguson, but the latter defected and travelled to Iceland to rejoin Killing Joke with new bassist Paul Raven (previously of Neon Hearts and the rock / glam band Kitsch) in tow. After spending some time in Iceland, Killing Joke returned to England and began touring and recording again.
The new line-up soon produced, again with Conny Plank, the single "Birds of a Feather / Sun Goes Down / Flock the B-Side" and Ha!, a six-track 10" EP of a live performance recorded live at Larry's Hideaway in Toronto in August.
Killing Joke's fourth album, Fire Dances (1983), contained music that, like that heard on the "Birds of a Feather" single, was artier and relatively calmer than before, which began a new direction. This was continued with the non LP singles "Me or You" (1983, b/w "Wilful Days") and "A New Day" (1984, b/w a dance remix or dub mix of the same), the latter promoted with a music video.
Mixing their sound with a slightly pop style, and with Coleman singing and not growling, Killing Joke had developed a variation of New Wave on their fifth album, Night Time (1985). They achieved mainstream success with the single "Love Like Blood" which covered all ground from goth to dance: it peaked at number 16 in the UK and number 8 in the Netherlands. Night Time also included the singles "Eighties" (1984) and "Kings and Queens" (1985), which both reached the UK Top 75. The album itself reached number 11 in the Uk.
The music on Killing Joke's sixth album, Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1986), was mostly similar in sound and mood to "Love like Blood". While no less aggressive and heavy than their older work, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns diverged musically in ways that led to controversy among listeners. In this case, disagreements between fans and critics alike included opinions on whether the band was conforming with pressures from EG Records to develop a more commercial sound, to whether the songs were relevant for those listeners more comfortable with their proto post-punk beginnings. The record was a commercial failure compared to the previous effort: it didn't go in the top 50 in the UK charts. However, two singles were released from the album - "Adorations" and "Sanity" - and the band continued touring successfully until the end of the year.
In 1987, Coleman began plans for a solo record of unusual music, and he made demos of his songs, on which he performed with Geordie's assistance. The project ran way over budget and so, despite Coleman's objections, the record company decided that the music would be released under the name "Killing Joke" in order to best recoup the costs. Attempts were made to include Killing Joke rhythm section members Raven and Ferguson, but it didn't work out, and tensions ultimately led to both being dismissed from the band. Session player Jimmy Copley was then brought in to provide the drumming on the songs, along with percussion player Jeff Scantlebury.
The resulting album, Outside the Gate (1988), is Killing Joke's most controversial album, due to its synth-led sonics and disagreement over the quality of the material. Sounds said of the album: "It's a stodgy, inconclusive LP that fails in all but the most basic of senses to achieve its end, leaving us feeling soured and unimpressed." NME shared the same point of view and depicted it as "a private breakfast of ideas, depicting poor old Jaz wading through quicksand with his jeans rolled down yet again. Worse ... he seems to be wandering off in exactly the same direction." Outside the gate is not signature-sound Killing Joke, being built around Coleman's orchestral keyboards instead of Geordie's distinctive guitar riffs, which were all but drowned out in the final mix. Two singles, "America" and "My Love of This Land", were released from the album but did little to improve its fortunes, although the b-sides were live versions of old material. The video for the former features Coleman and Geordie with drummer Jimmy Copley and session bassist Jerome Rimson, who never actually recorded with the band. No live dates were played to support the album and the band spent much of 1988 in a legal battle as they tried to split from their management and record company, E.G. This struggle resulted in Coleman suffering a nervous breakdown.
On 19 September 1987 Coleman had delivered a lecture at London's Courtauld Institute outlining the thinking behind the then-unreleased Outside the Gate album, touching on numerology and the occult. Geordie and percussionist Jeff Scantlebury provided a minimal musical backing at the event. A recording of the lecture was eventually released under the title The Courtauld Talks on Martin Atkins' Invisible Records in 1989.
Towards the end of 1988, Coleman and Geordie decided to get Killing Joke up and running again as a live band, and they began looking for full-time bass players and drummers. First on board was drummer Martin Atkins, who had gained notability in Public Image Ltd. and later Ministry and Pigface. A suitable bass player proved more difficult. Former Smiths man Andy Rourke was hired, then dismissed after only three days. Eventually the band settled on Welsh bass player Dave "Taif" Ball, and played their first gigs in almost two years in December 1988. These were seen as a return to form, and featured the best of their 1980 to 1985 work, alongside powerful new material which alluded to the band's earlier, harsher sound. Nothing from Brighter Than a Thousand Suns or Outside the Gate was played (and indeed, never has been since). Touring continued across the UK, Europe and the US until August 1989, when the band took a break to record its new material in Germany, and to allow Jaz Coleman time to record Songs from the Victorious City with Anne Dudley of Art of Noise, which was released the following year.
For reasons which remain unclear, the German Killing Joke sessions were shelved and bass player Taif left the band to be replaced by old hand Paul Raven. The revised line-up began recording again, this time in London, and the result was Killing Joke's eighth album, the ferocious Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, released on the German Noise International label in 1990. It included some of the heaviest, noisiest and harshest music ever to appear on a Killing Joke record, although the progressive musical spirit of the previous two albums remained as well. The many highlights included "Solitude", "Slipstream", "Age of Greed" and the single "Money Is Not Our God". Once again, the band toured Europe and North America, but by the middle of 1991 this promising new line-up had imploded. Coleman emigrated to New Zealand to live on a remote Pacific island, and it looked as though Killing Joke was over for good.
Geordie Walker, Martin Atkins, Paul Ferguson, Paul Raven and the band's live keyboard player John Bechdel (Ministry, Fear Factory, Prong, Pigface, Abstinence, False Icons, Ascension of the Watchers) added Scottish vocalist Chris Connelly (Finitribe, Revolting Cocks) and continued as the short-lived Murder, Inc., releasing a self-titled album in 1992.
A Killing Joke anthology, Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!, was released in 1992, and during its production, Geordie was re-acquainted with Youth, who suggested that they reform the band with himself back on bass. That same year, two singles (on cassette and CD) appeared featuring the early songs "Change" and "Wardance" in several new versions remixed by Youth, by then a very successful producer.
Coleman had produced the 1993 debut album Churn by the New Zealand Band Shihad and Shihad drummer Tom Larkin played drums on some of the songs on Pandemonium. Relations later soured between Coleman and Shihad due to a dispute over Coleman's production fee for Churn, and the fact that Shihad considered him a "megalomaniac". Shihad's second album, 1995's Killjoy, includes a song about Coleman and the dispute: 'Silvercup'. Coleman has also made a number of disparaging remarks about Shihad in the media. Shihad singer and guitarist Jon Toogood says his band have since put the dispute behind them.
Killing Joke also sued Nirvana during this phase, alleging that the riff for the latter's song "Come as You Are" was copied from the riff for their song "Eighties". The lawsuit was dropped after the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
The reactivated Killing Joke released two strong and well-received albums on Youth's Butterfly Recordings label, Pandemonium and Democracy, which saw the band shift back to the simpler arrangements of their early albums whilst also (on 12 inch remixes) employ young talent, the likes of Waxworth Industries in order to provide an alternative inroad to the bands new and evolving sound. Pandemonium (1994) wove a metallesque ritualistic sound with mosh beats and loops and provided Killing Joke with a memorable Top of the Pops performance for the single 'Millennium', which was a UK Top 40 hit (the album itself made the Top 20). The title track was also released as a single and made the UK Top 30. Democracy (1996) successfully introduced acoustic guitar into the mix, as well as adopting more of a "live band" sound again. The title track was again released as a single and made the UK Top 40. Much of Pandemonium and all of Democracy featured session drummer Geoff Dugmore. He also played live with the band throughout this era. Nick Holywell-Walker joined the band on keyboards and programming for 11 years from 1994–2005, notably on Democracy and XXV Gathering (live). Youth bowed out of live performance early in the Democracy tour and was replaced by Troy Gregory, ex Prong.
After the Democracy tour, the band went on an extended hiatus. Jaz Coleman and Youth produced a string of well-received orchestral rock albums based on the music of legends such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Doors. Coleman became Composer-in-Residence for New Zealand and Czech symphony orchestras. He seems to have become something of a celebrity in the Czech Republic and made his acting debut with the main role in the film Rok ďábla (Year of the Devil) by Czech filmmaker Petr Zelenka (who later would direct the video for "Hosannas from the Basements of Hell").
Coleman, Geordie and Youth reformed Killing Joke in 2002, and recorded their second self-titled album. Produced by Andy Gill and released to much acclaim in 2003 on the Zuma/Sony label, it was heralded as a powerful addition to Extremities and other visceral 1990s albums, and considered one of their finest recordings. In 2003 the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400,000 - 500,000 rock fans every year) - Przystanek Woodstock in Poland. The War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq were cited as major factors in their reforming, and this is reflected in the lyrical content of much of the album, based on themes of war, government control and Armageddon. The album, which almost reached the UK Top 40, was their heaviest to date and spawned two singles, "Loose Cannon" (a UK Top 25 hit) and "Seeing Red". The songs are all credited to Coleman/Walker/Glover/Gill, although Raven's name is also on the list of musicians on the liner notes, marking his return to the band after more than a decade. It remains unclear who actually played bass on which tracks on the album, and in some interviews with Geordie, he hints that it may have been he who actually played bass on most of the songs, with occasional contributions from Youth. Raven played on the subsequent tour, with Youth appearing to have retired from the band by this point. Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Probot, Them Crooked Vultures), a longtime fan of the band, occupied the drum stool for all tracks. The original plan had been to use many different drummers on the album, including Grohl, but he was so enthusiastic about the material that he persuaded the band to let him do the whole thing. The album was accompanied by a tour of the United States, Europe and Australia in 2003/2004, with ex-Prong drummer Ted Parsons on board.
In February 2005, now with young Twin Zero and Sack Trick drummer Ben Calvert, Killing Joke played two consecutive shows at London's Shepherds Bush Empire to commemorate their 25th anniversary. DVD and CD recordings from these concerts were released in on Cooking Vinyl in the fall of 2005 as XXV Gathering: The Band That Preys Together Stays Together.
In June 2005, remastered and expanded editions of their two 1990s Butterfly Recordings albums, Pandemonium and Democracy, were released by Cooking Vinyl. These were followed in July by their first four albums (Killing Joke to Ha!) on EMI, who by then owned the E.G. Records catalogue. (The second batch of EMI remasters would not appear until January 2008.)
In mid-2005, Frontman from Industrial band, INERTIA, Reza Udhin, joins the band on Keyboards and they supported the British leg of Mötley Crüe's world tour and then began work on their next album in Prague. It was at this time the contribution to the world of rock was recognised when they were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2005 Kerrang Awards.
Opting for simplicity and raw energy, the band recorded the new album in the basement rehearsal space of Faust Studios, going for live takes with the minimum of overdubs. The result was Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, released in April 2006 on Cooking Vinyl, which made the UK Top 75.
Killing Joke began a European tour in support of the album in April 2006. Bass player Paul Raven abruptly departed after a few dates to tour with Ministry and was temporarily replaced by Kneill Brown. The tour included an appearance headlining the MySpace stage of the Download Festival on 10 June 2006, which received four K's from Kerrang! magazine. Other highlights of the summer included a memorable set in Japan at the Fuji Rock festival where there were joined on stage by Orb frontman Alex Paterson (once a Killing Joke drum roadie) and headlining the Beautiful Days festival in the UK. The band's momentum suffered another blow, when health problems caused the autumn leg of the tour to be cancelled.
In October 2006, it was announced that Coleman had been chosen as Composer in Residence for the European Union. As Composer in Residence he will be commissioned to write music for special occasions.
Early in 2007, Killing Joke released three archival collections via Candlelight Records. The first, Inside Extremities, is a double CD of material taken from the band's preparations for the Extremities album: rehearsals, rare mixes, a previously unheard track, "The Fanatic", and a full live show from the Extremities tour. This was followed by Bootleg Vinyl Archive Volumes 1 & 2, each of which is a 3-CD box set of live-in-concert bootleg recordings originally released on vinyl in the 1980s, plus the Astoria gig from the Pandemonium tour which was voted one of the greatest gigs of all time by Kerrang.
In October 2007, the classic 1990 album Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, which had long been out of print, was reissued in remastered form on Candlelight Records.
On 20 October, Paul Raven died of heart failure prior to a recording session in Geneva, Switzerland. In his honour, Coleman composed a lament for a 21st century Englishman (The Night Raven, the Tower and the Cenotaph).
On 28 January 2008 the albums Fire Dances, Night Time, Brighter than a Thousand Suns, and Outside the Gate were finally re-issued in remastered form with bonus tracks by EMI. Each of these carries the message "Dedicated to our brother Paul Vincent Raven 1961–2007".
After the death of Paul Raven, the original line up of Jaz, Youth, Geordie and Paul Ferguson announced they were to reunite. Coleman told Terrorizer magazine that:
The original line-up of Killing Joke assembled in Granada, Spain, to prepare a world tour consisting of two nights in various capital cities of the world, playing a programme of four complete albums. The rehearsals will be immortalised on Duende - The Spanish Sessions, released in 2008 on Estworld Recordings. The first nights were dedicated to their first two albums, Killing Joke and What's THIS For...!, while the second night featured large parts of 'Pandemonium' plus some early singles released on Island records. The world tour began on 11 September in Tokyo and concluded in Chicago on 14 October.
Killing Joke released an album of radio session recordings, "The Peel Sessions 1979-1981", on 8 September 2008. This is the second time all 17 tracks were released in their live session form. According to Discogs.com, the tracks on this disc were originally unofficially released as a CD-R by Pontiac Records, titled Unspeakable. Legal distribution outside of concerts did not apply, and only 1000 copies were sold in 1985 at Top of the Pops, when Killing Joke performed Love Like Blood.
The band continued its reformation by playing the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2009. They performed at the Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, UK on 2 August and headlined the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. Killing Joke performed in The Big Top Tent at the 2009 Isle Of Wight Festival after being hand picked by Tim Burgess, frontman for The Charlatans.
During October and November 2009, Killing Joke recorded their new CD with the original line-up. All members of Killing Joke have commented that this is the single most important work that Killing Joke have ever done. The new album was released on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and Japan, and on 1 October in Europe on Spinefarm Records under the title Absolute Dissent, marking the 30th Anniversary for Killing Joke. It was preceded by the In Excelsis EP released on 23 June 2010, and followed by a tour in the UK, Europe and North America for promoting the album.
In November, the band was honoured with the trophy for Innovator at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2010 marking their unique evolution of sound over the last 30 plus years which has incorporated electronic, synth and alternative rock and influenced a generation of rock acts including Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Faith No More and Tool. They were awarded the honour at the Roundhouse in London by longtime fan of the band Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. On 26 November 2010 Killing Joke released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 2-CD set called, Absolute Dissent (Deluxe Edition) for independent record stores.
The band's new album was critically acclaimed all round, and they embarked on a European and UK tour culminating in a performance at the Hammersmith Apollo London. This was followed by a performance at London's Royal Festival Hall in the New Year, and this was recorded for an upcoming live album and a headline slot at the UK's largest urban festival, the Camden Crawl. The band were also honoured at The Metal Hammer annual awards, receiving The Album of the Year award. Summer festivals followed including a memorable performance at Sonisphere Knebworth with the band retiring to Spain to record a new album for 2012.
On 2 April 2012 Killing Joke released a new album titled MMXII on Spinefarm Records / Universal. It reached No. 44 upon its first week of release, the band's highest UK chart-placing since their eponymous album of 2003.
- Studio albums
- Killing Joke (1980)
- What's THIS For...! (1981)
- Revelations (1982)
- Fire Dances (1983)
- Night Time (1985)
- Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1986)
- Outside the Gate (1988)
- The Courtauld Talks (1989)
- Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions (1990)
- Pandemonium (1994)
- Democracy (1996)
- Killing Joke (2003)
- Hosannas from the Basements of Hell (2006)
- Absolute Dissent (2010)
- MMXII (2012)
Killing Joke are the subject of a feature length documentary film The Death and Resurrection Show scheduled for release in 2012. Two preview trailers have been released combining archive footage of Killing Joke over the last 31 years with new and unseen footage of recent live tours, recording sessions including the Great Pyramid and interview subjects including Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth, Jimmy Page, Peter Hook, Chris Kimsey, Mike Coles, Dave Grohl, Alex Patterson and Laurence Gardner discussing Killing Joke, UFOs, mysticism, religion and the end of the world. Locations featured in the trailers include the Egyptian Pyramids, the Nazca Lines in Peru, Snæfellsjökull glacier in Iceland, Iona in Scotland, Glastonbury Tor in England and numerous venues, bars, outdoor locations and rainforests in New Zealand, LA and England. The film is produced by New Zealand's ILC Productions, UK indie Coffee Films and Jaz Coleman, with filmmaker, photographer and lifelong Gatherer Shaun Pettigrew directing.
- Murder, Inc.
- The Damage Manual
- The Fireman
- Also in 1982, GC Green & Paul Neville first came together as Fall of Because, named after the first track on What's THIS For...! and were later joined by Justin Broadrick, setting the foundations of Godflesh, who covered "Requiem" live, with Raven on bass.
- Justin K. Broadrick cited Killing joke as an important influence in his use of melodies in his music.
- In 1987, Metallica covered Killing Joke's "The Wait" for their E.P. Garage Days Re-Revisited. James Hetfield picked Jaz as one of his top 20 favourite singers for a poll in Rolling Stone.
- In some early interviews, the members of Soundgarden cited Killing Joke as one of the bands they listen to most.
- In 1989, a German gothic band was named after Killing Joke's song "Love Like Blood". They also covered the song on the Love Like Blood EP and on the Snakekiller album.
- The main riff of Nirvana's song "Come as You Are" bears a striking resemblance to the riff of Killing Joke's single, "Eighties". The band did not file a copyright infringement lawsuit, which, according to Rolling Stone, was "due to personal and financial reasons."
- In 1993, Helmet covered Killing Joke's "Primitive" for the B-side to the single "Born Annoying".
- In 1994, Hoppy Kamiyama used a looped sample from "Exit" that was used in his God Mountain Orchestra project on the track "Lebanon", released on the Japanese compilation, "Neu Konservatiw".
- In 1995, Icehouse covered "Love Like Blood" on their album The Berlin Tapes.
- In 1997, the Foo Fighters covered Killing Joke's "Requiem" for the B-side to the single "Everlong". Dave Grohl, leader and guitarist of Foo Fighters, played drums for the recording sessions of Killing Joke's second self-titled album in 2003.
- In 2001, Amen covered Killing Joke's "Europe" during a session on BBC Radio One in 2001. The recording of this song was later the B-side for their single "Too Hard to Be Free".
- In 2002, Blacklight (Oliver Heydt, Olaf Wollschäger) made a double 12" with their five remixed versions of "Love Like Blood".
- In 2002, Finnish band Kotiteollisuus released an EP ±0 containing a "Tappava Pila remix" of their song "Valtakunta", meaning 'killing joke remix', as tribute to Killing Joke's "Millenium". Kotiteollisuus also appears on the Killing Joke Tribute album performing their Finnish language cover of "Pandemonium".
- In 2002, LCD Soundsystem released "Losing My Edge" which is based around b-side "Change".
- In 2003, German band Blackmail covered "Love Like Blood". It was released as a download track on their homepage and as a bonus track on the Japan edition of their album Friend or Foe? as well.
- In 2003, the German death metal band Disbelief covered "Democracy" on the album Spreading the Rage.
- In 2005, Swiss band MXD covered "Pandemonium" on their album Frustration Is Fuel.
- In 2005, Fear Factory covered Killing Joke's "Millennium" on their album Transgression.
- In 2009, Swiss cyber-metallers Sybreed covered "Love Like Blood" on their album The Pulse of Awakening.
- In 2009 Behemoth (band) covered Killing Joke's "Total Invasion" off of their 2003 self-titled album Killing Joke.
- In 2010, Dead By April covered "Love like Blood" and released it as a single.
- A Killing Joke tribute album by artists such as Foo Fighters, Metallica, and many others was released as the second CD of the Deluxe Edition of Absolute Dissent.
This biography is from Wikipedia, the free collaborative encyclopedia. Used under licence and subject to disclaimers. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors, and recent changes might not appear just yet. See the latest version of the article.
Image from Discogs | <urn:uuid:bccc69b6-845c-4538-9884-0716127fa929> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetrock.com/music/artist/killing-joke/bio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96626 | 6,461 | 1.5 | 2 |
The "Herstory" of the Women's and Gender Studies Program
The Women’s Studies Program was legislated into existence by the faculty in April of 1990; it was officially launched in the academic year of 1990-1991.
This program was initially offered as a minor with Elizabeth Brusco serving as the first Chair of the Department. As academic awareness and interest in the program emerged, it was submitted for approval as a major in the academic year of 1995-1996. It was officially offered as a complementary major the following year.
Due to the overwhelming amount of classes that featured gender and sexuality as a topic in addition to classes focusing on women, the Women's Studies Executive Committee petitioned for the titular transition to Women’s and Gender Studies in 2001. | <urn:uuid:7dcd6571-6be4-47a7-9886-e43aa0cecc4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.plu.edu/womens-studies/herstory/home.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981051 | 156 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Thai Work Permit Basics
If you are an expatriate working in Thailand, a Thai Work Permit should be one of your basic must-haves. As a matter of fact, it would be illegal to work in Thailand without your Work Permit. As an employer or employee, it would be best to be well-informed about the process of applying for and retaining a Work Permit.
First of all, you will need to have a Non-Immigrant Visa before being able to apply for a Work Permit. The Thai Work Permit can be granted to expatriates who satisfy any or most of the following conditions:
- Working for an establishment with a registered capital of at least 2,000,000 Baht. One expatriate can be hired for every 2,000,000 Baht of capital but not more than 10 expatriates.
- Working in an establishment, which has already paid income tax to the Revenue Department in the past 3 years not less than 5,000,000 Baht. For every 5,000,000 Baht tax payment is allowed to hire 1 expatriate.
- Working for an establishment, which engages in export business and remit foreign currency of at least the equivalent of 3,000,000 Baht last year. For every 3,000,000 Baht, an establishment is allowed to hire 1 expatriate but not more than 3 expatriates.
- Working in an establishment, which employs 50 Thai employees. An establishment is allowed to hire 1 expatriate for every 50 Thai employees but not more than 5 expatriates in total.
- An expatriate who has an income and duty to pay personal income tax to the Revenue Department of equivalent or more than 18,000 Baht, or already paid personal income tax in the past year of equivalent or more than 18,000 Baht.
Thai Immigration may consider work permit approval, renewal, and modification of employment descriptions regardless of the previous requirements as stated if you are under the following conditions:
- If you are an expatriate working for a representative office conducting quality control, procurement, or marketing research.
- If you work for investment consulting, administrative consulting, technical and technology, or periodical internal audit.
- If you are a Tourism representative who brings in foreigners to travel in Thailand.
- If you are employed under International financial institutions approved by the Bank of Thailand.
- If you are in the temporary business of entertainment, religious, social welfare, cultural or sporting without intention to make profit and paying income tax to the government.
- If you are working as a contractor on projects with any government bodies or state enterprises.
- If you work using mostly local raw material as an essential component in the production process or work that can reduce the use of imported raw material.
- If your work involves supporting export of Thai products.
- If you are working to bring in new technology, which Thai people are not capable of, in order to distribute and transfer to Thai people.
- If you work in the area where there is a shortage of Thai labour.
- If you can provide certificate of residence in Thailand.
- If you are married to a Thai citizen with a legalized marriage registration, publicly cohabiting as husband and wife, and with a legal profession.
Once you receive your Thai Work Permit, you must follow these regulations:
- You must carry your work permit or keep it in the office during working hours to show to government officers any time. A fine of not more than 1,000 baht will be paid by those who violate this.
- You must only perform the work according to the occupation stated in your work permit. You should apply for the revisions should you change occupation or office address. If you violate this rule you can be imprisoned for not more than a month or fined not more than 2,000 baht or both.
- You must apply for an extension before the expiration date if you intend to continue working in Thailand. Should you fail to do this, you can be imprisoned not more than 3 months or fined not more than 5,000 baht or both.
- If your work permit is damaged or lost, you must apply for its replacement within 15 days from the date he/she knows about the damage or disappearance of the work permit. If you fail to do so, you will be fined not more than 500 baht .
- You need to inform the Employment Service office to update your personal information should you change any of it as stated in your Work Permit.
- In case of resignation, you must return your work permit within 7 days from the date of your resignation. If you are found violating this, you will be fined not more than 1000 baht. | <urn:uuid:756d003d-193c-4434-aa4d-571666a221f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/work-permit-basics.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935199 | 983 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Posts tagged food.
Canada International Development Agency (CIDA) is a government agency that assists developing countries with disasters, food security, education, health, and sustainability. It is now a conduit for selling military equipment.
The Harper government is merging Canada’s foreign aid agency with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
It also plans to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter.
The two moves, revealed in Thursday’s federal budget, put to sleep any doubts about the government’s desire to use all means possible to advance Canadian business and commercial interests throughout the world.
The government says its decision to roll the Canadian International Development Agency into Foreign Affairs was a reflection of increased “linkages between our foreign policy, development and trade objectives.”
The new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development will continue to tackle poverty in developing countries, the government said, and there were no immediate signs it was planning to implement new cuts to Canada’s approximately $4.5-billion aid budget.
The government will also retain a minister for development and humanitarian assistance, and said it plans to strengthen the minister’s position by enshrining its roles and responsibilities in law for the first time.
teavelo asked: I'll ask the same question I see many NYT commentors did: where the heck is China going to grow food!? Their country is already so polluted you can't breathe and the rivers are filled with dead pigs... and farmland is going to what? What will they eat? Are they counting on their emerging middle-and-upper-classes to want to import the best of everything from around the world, which I guess is already popular in Hong Kong and other affluent areas?
No worries. The Chinese are very smart, and planned for that years ago… The only thing westerners can do is be armchair-appalled.
One of the Pentagon’s top strategists said climate change is fundamentally altering how the Defense Department (DOD) evaluates future conflict areas. Daniel Chiu, the deputy assistant secretary of DOD strategy, said climate change has the Pentagon thinking about impacts on global food and water scarcity, mass migration and the potential for those issues to ignite clashes around the world.
This is a sweet moment between mom and son. I think a lot of parents have this same conversation, when their child connects their food to viable creatures. An old friend of mine has 5(!) kids, and I was there when one of them discovered that the chicken on her plate was from a “real chicken.” O’ the horror that ensued… This kid’s mom is quite level-headed, but other parents, unfortunately, have a more forceful “eat your food!” response. Well worth your time, especially if you’ve hung out with kids and witnessed their incredible perceptions.
Heartbreaking and absolutely infuriating. Click through for article and video.
Like basmati rice? There may be less of it soon. Climate change is altering monsoon seasons in India, meaning less rice and more corn is being planted.
Food safety, bee keepers, and environmental groups sue EPA over honey bee deaths, blame some insecticides ›
(Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators are failing to protect honey bees and their role in pollinating important food crops, and should immediately suspend use of some toxic insecticides tied to the widespread deaths of the bees, a lawsuit filed on Thursday charges.
On Thursday four professional beekeepers and five environmental and consumer groups said they would try to get a court to order the EPA to take action. The groups filed their lawsuit against the EPA in the Northern District Court of California, demanding that the regulatory agency suspend the use of pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam.
The pesticides, which are part of a class of systemic insecticides known as neonicotinoids, are absorbed by plants and transported throughout a plant’s vascular tissue, making the plant potentially toxic to insects, the groups said.
Clothianidin and thiamethoxam first came into heavy use in the mid-2000s, at the same time beekeepers started observing widespread cases of colony loses, leaving beekeepers unable to recoup their losses, they said.
“Beekeepers and environmental and consumer groups have demonstrated time and time again over the last several years that EPA needs to protect bees. The agency has refused, so we’ve been compelled to sue,” said Peter Jenkins, a lawyer for the Center for Food Safety who is representing the coalition of plaintiffs.
The groups said they have obtained records that show several “legal violations” by EPA officials connected to the approvals for clothianidin and thiamethoxam products.
The case also challenges the EPA’s use of “conditional registrations,” which expedite the approval process for chemical companies seeking to bring new products to market. Since 2000, over two-thirds of pesticide products, including clothianidin and thiamethoxam, have been brought to market as conditional registrations, the groups said.
I don’t see the suit being won, but will be interesting to follow during 2013.
Meet John Bunker. He wants to bring back the thousands of apple varieties that made American great.
Great article. Click through! Here in Western Mass., I enjoy dozens of apple varieties. Fresh, cider, pies, cider, and turnovers forever! (also cider)
Could one of life’s simple pleasures, the apple, be endangered by changes in our climate?
It could, according to some experts, who maintain that apples, like other fruit, depend heavily on a certain amount of what is called “winter chill,” before they bloom in the spring.
“If there’s not enough winter chill that happens in a certain year there can be anywhere from a decreased production of fruit to a complete crop failure,” says Evan Girvetz, the senior scientist on climate change for the non-profit Nature Conservancy.
If that were to happen, it would be troubling news for the state’s apple industry, which according to the Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Program is the fourth biggest apple producer in the country.
Starbucks tiny-mini-rant P1
- This advertisement was on my G+ page. It’s called “The Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino.” How, how, how does it have four types of caramel? FOUR!
- Who drinks this stuff? I feel so detached from reality right now. Like, what type of person is this targeting?
Floating agriculture in Bangladesh. Bangladesh experiences severe flooding every year, mostly in the south. Residents are pretty much stranded. For weeks, sometimes months, kids are blocked from going to school and parents lose income and access to food. The above shows one method for dealing with food shortages. A floating mat is created, soil piled on top, and crops planted in the soil. After harvest, the mat and soil are used as fertilizer for regular land cultivation.
It’s a clever solution, but keep in mind doesn’t scale up to meet the needs of 100’s of thousands of people affected by the floods.
More doom reality:
Bottled Water Sales: The Shocking Reality
The Beverage Marketing Corporation, which tracks sales and consumption of beverages, is reporting that sales of bottled water grew nearly 7 percent between 2011 and 2012, with consumption reaching a staggering 30.8 gallons per person.
Despite having one of the best municipal tap water systems in the world, American consumers are flocking to commercial bottled water, which costs thousands of times more per gallon. Why? Four reasons:
- First, we have been bombarded with advertisements that claim that our tap water is unsafe, or that bottled water is safer, healthier, and more hip, often with celebrity endorsements. (Thanks a lot, Jennifer.)
- Second, public drinking water fountains have become increasingly hard to find. And the ones that exist are not being adequately maintained by our communities.
- Third, people are increasingly fearful of our tap water, hearing stories about contamination, new chemicals that our treatment systems aren’t designed to remove, or occasional failures of infrastructure that isn’t being adequately maintained or improved.
- Fourth, some people don’t like the taste of their tap water, or think they don’t.
Some people, including the bottled water industry, argue that drinking bottled water is better than drinking soft drinks. I agree. But that’s not what’s happening. The vast increase in bottled water sales have largely come at the expense of tap water, not soft drinks. And even if we pushed (as we should) to replace carbonated soft drinks with water, it should be tap water, not expensive bottled water.
This industry has very successfully turned a public resource into a private commodity.
From the Atlantic: | <urn:uuid:9563d017-6335-4fb9-9915-e1cd3e943666> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://climateadaptation.tumblr.com/tagged/food | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956947 | 1,862 | 1.671875 | 2 |
LewAllen at the Santa Fe Railyard presents an unlikely pairing for a duo exhibition, since aesthetically, Veruska Vagen and Steve Klein could not appear more dissimilar. On one hand, you have intricately composed renditions of portraits by the masters, made of twice-kiln cast glass in a deeply involved process called “dot a verre.” And then there is what appears to be the definition of abstract sculpture. Shape, color, and design fused together in a way that appears fluid, int. Each artist presents a body of new work in a show titled “Homage” which runs through Sunday, August 26th.
While Vagen and Klein present their notions of “homage” in vastly different ways, they draw on much of the same inspiration for creation. Klein refers to the artists Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich, and Hans Hofmann in his architectural and riotously colored sculptures. Klein describes the conceptual nature of his work as such: “In life, there are moments that require compromise, resolution and action to create balance. I am challenged by that act of balancing and this is what my work addresses.” Knowing this, it is more than evident in his pieces that set a starkly cylindrical form atop a base with quilted color and and unsteady form.
In contrast, Vagen’s portraits are replicas of works by masters such as Van Gogh, Waterhouse and Klimt. “Dot a verre,” the technique used to recreate the pieces, involves painstakingly applying 3-milimeter wide glass beads to a glass backing with a forgiving adhesive row by row. These are then kiln-fired on low heat—the temperature activates the adhesive without melting the beads or distorting their shape. The result is a combination of mosaic, pointillism, and portraiture.
While each artist’s aesthetic utilizes a highly specific form, the joint exhibition provides a refreshing variation in styles that showcases the wide possibilities in the material.
-Katharine MoralesIF YOU GO:
Veruska Vagen and Steve Klein
Through August 26, 2012
LewAllen Galleries at the Railyard
1613 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501 | <urn:uuid:b573b2a9-3583-4013-a9c6-7300cc156cfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.glassquarterly.com/2012/08/15/steve-klein-and-veruska-vagen-make-an-unexpectedly-rich-pairing-in-santa-fe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936334 | 476 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The federal government on Friday took a populist but an economically unviable decision of procuring 7.7 million metric tons of wheat from farmers at Rs1,050 per 40 kilogrammes. This will ensure an injection of Rs210 billion into the economy but it will also cause a surge in price inflation.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The procurements will be made by borrowing money from banks at exorbitant interest rates and the federal government will provide sovereign guarantees to the banks.
The ECC also decided on adjusting petroleum prices on a fortnightly basis, against the current practice of a monthly determination, despite strong opposition by the finance ministry and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). “Some of the cabinet members warned the ECC chairman that fortnightly adjustments would encourage hoarding, resulting in a shortage of petroleum products in the country, leading to public riots,” an official said after the meeting.
The provinces protested against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s decision to increase wheat prices from Rs950 to Rs1,050, an increase of 10.5% without consulting them, an official said. According to the findings of the finance ministry a 10.5% increase in wheat prices would result in a 3% hike in inflation.
The government took the decision to acquire 7.7 million metric tons of wheat despite having 4.5 million metric tons in stocks. This may create storage problems and also increase the federal government’s incidental charges, the official added. For the current year, the estimated production is 25 million metric tons. According to the decision, an amount of Rs209.6 billion will be borrowed from banks. Usually, they charge the Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (currently at around 12%) plus up to 3% in interest, making it one of the expensive borrowings.
Till the end March, the federal government and the provinces owed Rs179.6 billion to banks on wheat purchase borrowings. The fresh lending will increase the volume to Rs398 billion. Punjab will procure 4 million metric tons of wheat at Rs105.3 billion, Sindh will acquire 1.3 million metric tons at Rs34.2 billion, Khyber-Pakthunkhwa will purchase 325,000 metric tons worth Rs8.6 billion, Balochistan will purchase 100,000 metric tons worth Rs2.6 billion and the federal government will procure 2 million metric tons costing it Rs59 billion.
In what appeared to be a controversial move, the government overruled a previous decision of the ECC and extended a seven and a half year tax holiday to the Byco Oil Refinery Company.
The extension was granted despite the fact that the company failed to meet the basic condition set by the commission in March 2009. The then chairman of ECC Shaukat Tarin had granted the tax holiday on the condition that the refinery would be operational by the end of 2011.
The petroleum ministry argued that the refinery could not be commissioned on time due to the absence of capital and cost overruns, seeking another year’s extension which the ECC approved. The tax holiday will become effective from the date of its commissioning.
The ECC also decided to exempt taxes and duties on materials to be imported or locally produced for the construction of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, liquefied natural gas projects and other such ventures.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2012.
More in PakistanJSQM chairman Bashir Khan Qureshi passes away | <urn:uuid:4f69aa0b-9925-47af-a9e6-e2aea18c59cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tribune.com.pk/story/360987/ecc-meeting-petroleum-prices-to-be-adjusted-every-fortnight/ | 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 | 0.945223 | 746 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Congratulations! Today was the day that everything fell into place. The stars lined up for you and so you finally felt great about yourself!! You know what I am talking about. You noticed in your calendar today was the day to apply Frontline to your four legged friend, so you lured him/her over to you with a handful of treats, parted his/her fur and applied Frontline directly on their skin. Yes, you are feeling good!!! You applied the treatment just like the directions said and can’t wait to do it again next month. Plus it only took 10 minutes out of your day and now he/she is outside frolicking in the yard and playing with the kids. Thus you can move onto your next project…what a great day this is going to be.
That is, until an hour later, when your four legged friend shows up at the back door covered in mud, leaves and grass. He/she looks like a walking compost pile, you think to yourself, as you grab your camera and start taking a couple of photos to share with your friends. These are great shots!
Then it dawns on you that only an hour or so ago you put Frontline on your pet. Now apprehension is closing in as you remember something in the instructions about not washing your pooch for 48 hours? What to do, what to do, what to do? Should you bathe him/her and reapply Frontline or does your four legged friend have to spend the next 48 hours outside barking at the neighbors? Or should you buy a flea and tick shampoo and just wash the dog with that?
To answer that question, you should know a little about Frontline. The main ingredient in Frontline, fipronil, stores itself in the dog’s oil glands, reapplying itself constantly through the hair follicles. Though the manufacturer claims their product is waterproof, some dog owners have found that the treatments do seem less effective after bathing.
Notice I said less effective, not ineffective. So before you decide to use the flea and tick shampoo on your dog’s skin, keep on reading. Do you really want to add more chemicals to your dog’s skin in addition to what you just applied? How long have you been using Frontline? Does your dog currently have fleas and ticks? Is he or she going to bark all night if they are not sleeping in bed with you?
First things first. Make sure your pooch has plenty of water outside and can lay in a place with shade. Even though he/she is muddy and wet they still need water. Second, give Aussie Pet Mobile a call and we will come out to address the situation.
Usually, when a situation like this happens, we wash the dog in an Yucca Shampoo which is designed to help moisturize their skin while cleaning their coat. Then we recommend a couple of alternatives if you discover fleas such as:
- Garlic and brewer’s yeast tablets. The scent is secreted through the skin and keeps bugs away. It is not as bad as it sounds and can be used at anytime in conjunction with Frontline.
- Use essential oils. Be careful. Some oils can cause irritation when applied directly to your dog’s skin. Instead, add a few drops to your pets collar or dilute it in water and spray a few squirts on their coat. Cedar, lavender, citronella and rosemary are great for this.
Another option is a homeopathic treatment called Capstar. Capstar is a tablet you can give to your pet. This stuff works fast. Normally with in 30 minutes to an hour you can actually see fleas fall off your cat or dog. Capstar is safe for pets that are 4 weeks of age and older and over 2 pounds of body weight.
Lastly, you can use a natural Yucca based shampoo to wash your pet. It uses yucca’s super water softening ability to penetrate the shells of fleas and ticks causing their natural, instant and safe elimination.
At Aussie Pet Mobile we use Yucca shampoos or a Neem based shampoo for pets with really bad fleas. Neem based shampoos are actually recommended by the department of agriculture for the treatment of flea infested pets.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to hearing from you. If I can ever be of help to you or your pet, give us a call. Aussie Pet Mobile Alpharetta | <urn:uuid:1e01e112-3d6a-4d24-a79f-56b427f92119> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mobilepetgrooming.wordpress.com/tag/pets-atlanta/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960637 | 931 | 1.53125 | 2 |
On this date in our family history . . . the 9th day of February . . . in the year 1800 . . . Elisha Roberts and Patsey Gill were married in Green County, Kentucky . . . this Elisha and Patsey are 4th great-grandparents of the Keeper of this family history blog . . .
Know all men by these presents that we Elisha Roberts and John Abney are held and firmly bound unto his Excellency the Governor of the Governor [SIC] of Kentucky in the sum of L50 current money for the true payment where of to be made to the said Governor and his successors we bind ourselves our heirs etc. Jointly and Severally firmly firmly [SIC] by these presents. The Condition is such that whereas a Marriage is shortly intended between the above bound Elisha Roberts and Patsey Gill. Now if there be no lawfull cause to obstruct the said Marriage then this obligation to be void else to remain in full force. | <urn:uuid:13c79490-5aa8-47a0-9e1b-4b5de3b7e8ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.benotforgot.com/2011/02/1800-marriage-of-patsey-elisha.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974851 | 203 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Eat This, Not That is a great blog dedicated to well-being through proper eating. Their tagline is "The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution." Admittedly, that sounds like something straight out of a late-night infomercial. But Eat This, Not That is nothing like an infomercial. Rather, it's a frank and honest site, examining how what we eat affects how we live and shapes (literally) who we are.
Published through Men's Health, Eat This, Not That doesn't want anyone to starve to death. They simply want people to think before they eat. Obviously, this goes against many facets of American culture. After all, this is the country of hot-dog-eating contests, super-sized fries and the KFC Double Down. But this is also the country facing a massive public health crisis in the form of obesity.
Eat This, Not That is looking to help inform people. They're not trying to make anyone a vegan. A recent post on their blog informs the reader on how to "Eat Healthy at the BBQ Shack." There's also a "How to Eat Healthy at the Burger Joint" post. Probably my favorite post, however, is the one on the 20 Worst Drinks in America. Here they photograph these liquid offenders alongside their sugar equivalents. For instance, one orange soda has as much sugar as six (6!) ice cream sandwiches. Gross.
But at no point are the folks at Eat This, Not That saying NOT to eat at these places; they're just suggesting we be a little more thoughtful about our choices. And that's what's so great about Eat This, Not That. They present the facts ... and they're never sugar-coated. | <urn:uuid:f254ea50-0706-4c7c-849e-fbc528eaab9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.profnetconnect.com/tomhynes/blog/2011/05/19/a_brief_blog_profile:_eat_this,_not_that | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971366 | 352 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Challenge of Residency at Sage College, 1900s-1920s
Cornell Senior Photograph of Sara Winifred Brown, Class of 1897.
Sara Winifred Brown of Winchester, Virginia, arrived at Cornell in 1894 and lived at Sage College her entire college career. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1897 and went on to graduate from Howard University Medical College in 1904, becoming, like her siblings, a medical doctor. During World War I, she was a member of the flying squadron of fifty women physicians appointed by the Womens War Work Council, and in 1925, she was chosen as the first alumna Trustee of Howard University. She was fatally injured when struck by a bus in 1948. | <urn:uuid:1e762115-34d4-4dc6-b9e3-29d0043967ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/earlyblackwomen/challenge/challenge_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985823 | 147 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Thought for the Day
“You can complain because a rose has thorns, or rejoice because thorns have a rose.”
Q: What’s more economical in the long run as far as the cost of a single printed page, an inkjet or a laser printer? Or is it less expensive to have your copies done at a copy place?
A: While the average per piece cost of a color copy made on a laser copier is considerably less, the question of whether it is better to get one than the other depends more on how often you need to make copies and what quality you need.
If you are in the market for copies or photos once in a while and not dozens at a time it might actually make more sense or have an inkjet printer as opposed to a laser printer. An inkjet printer is less expensive to buy and maintain. Inkjet printers range from under $100 to $1000+ while laser jet printers range from $300 to $6000. The cost of cartridges is also an important factor. A typical laser cartridge may cost $70 and yield 2500 pages, or about 2.9 cents per page. A typical inkjet cartridge may cost $35 but yields only about 250 pages, resulting in a per piece cost of 14 cents per page. Obviously the actual cost of the pages you print will depend on the printer you have and the cost of the cartridges. I looked mine up on line and the manufacturer says a black and white copy on my laser costs $.025 while a color copy is about $.06 per page. My inkjet printer costs $.09 for black and white and $.142 for each color page I print. As far as printing color copies at a copy shop, I recently priced an 850 piece mailing at one of the big stores and was quoted at more than $400 for the job.
Having done the research now, I changed my primary printer to the laser. The office prints many copies every day so even though it seems that it’s more expensive to operate due to the high cost of the cartridges, the cost per print is a lot less. Another nice feature of a laser printer is that each color has it’s own cartridge, so if your logo has a lot of a single color in it, that cartridge can be replaced separately, unlike an inkjet printer having a single cartridge for all the colors. If you use a lot of one color the rest of your ink gets wasted in an inkjet.
An additional note when printing photos. There are separate cartridges for some printers meant especially for photos. The cost per photo is from $.25 to $.49 each. And that doesn’t include the price of the special paper you need to have a photo printed. In that case it might be wise to see what it costs to print your photos at your local kiosk. Often the kiosks have 4”x6” photo deals for as low as $.15. If you want larger prints however, doing it at home is still the least expensive way.
Have a question, or is there something you’ve always wondered about? Ask Madalyn invites your questions. | <urn:uuid:27fcaabb-9ddb-4dfb-ad68-bd4f22b77cbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patriotnewspaper.com/index.php/features/ask-madalyn/item/printing-inkjet-or-laser | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93829 | 652 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Friday, August 17, 2012
Indian Railways – Safety Bet!!!
The oldest Public sector undertaking inIndia. Connecting parts of India that would otherwise be inaccessible if left only to roads. The largest network of rail links have ensured parts of Indian remain connected and functioning bringing people in contact with the various peoples India constitutes.
In times of the worst tragedy and disasters associated with railways and trains, The railway board response strategies are one of the most archaic and of remote relevance. This has been well taken cognizance of the lower officials. The ingenuity of the lower personnel have saved more lives then the protocols the railway board prescribes in its manuals andperiodic reports. The functioning of railways when it comes to policy of transport policy is felt as populist.
Every year the minister for railways would in pompous display of pro-people would go ahead and announce crores of worth of railways links and projects which at best are pompous declarations never to be implemented. The good days and baddays of railways are consistently attempted to be defined by the dedicated personnel of railways. The ministry under Mr. laloo Prasad yadav was said to be better, but the truth is better accounting and freight traffic management led to the limited success the railways achieved. The successive guidance from Ms. Mamta Banerjee, and her entourage of party cadres are taking the railways inch by inch into an abyss the railways have known to have survived for a very long time.
The increasing targeting of railways by criminal elements of the extremists have taken a toll on the morale of the cutting edge bureaucracy in the railways. Without basic tools of functioning. The lighting on signaling system do not function, The gate opening and closure are not being timed , and consistent failure of the railway police to tackle crime and the tracks and along track are appalling. The crime against women on moving trains. In state of karnataka a woman was thrown out for resisting molester. Similar incidents of women and victims being thrown out of moving trains after enduring molestation, rape , robbery have only strengthen the fear in minds of the vulnerable folk.
Train is the only accessible mode of long distance travel in India. From employees to travelers India can be said to move because of railways. The once pride of India is now a reminiscence of a past glory. The political control and manipulations of the administration coupled by the manning of administrative and operational posts being by bureaucrats have made rail travelers exposed to risks of serious lapses that has endangered their lives and livelihoods.
Riots and Derailment are the most commonest thing about railways citizens are to endure. The successive patronizing by the politicians and bureaucrats coupled with the armyself-congratulating on number of dead bodies they recover from debris is ridiculous and most painful to read and digest. For too long now the opinion is directed towards privatization of the railway sector. At least if not privatization of the railways at-least allow fro some Private participation so as to push the bureaucrats to function into competition and performance. Insiders disillusioned by the state of affairs commented – Railways has lost its professionalism every decision in the railways is taken based on caste and religion., political affiliations and nepotism rule the roost. They say. Corruption has been so severe it has incapacitated the railways torespond to grievances of the people. The frustration among railway users are so severe that in state of bihar and uttar pradesh where the situation far worse then in other parts of the country. The cases of people ransacking the offices of railways officials is very high leading to injuries to railway officials and further demoralization of the employees.
Ridiculous was the spate of political motivated appointments in railways when Union minister of railways was replaced by a party loyalist from the same party when the Union minister angered his party boss by increasing fares for the railways. Such policy ambivalence have encouraged senior bureaucrats to be extremely lax on their supervision, Further encouraging unsavory characters to exploit the situation endangering the security and safety of the passengers and the officials. The railways officialdom is a classic example of the self-perpetuating bureaucracy that have eaten itself to fatten the structure with extensive avoidable hierarchy. A RTI application into the processes of the office will reveal to the reader that the labyrinth a file for basic supplies has to take in-order for clearance is the example and call for full privatization of railways. The public sector may function alongside the private but should be competitive engagement in its endeavors and not allowed to slumber as has been the case till now.
Lets set this right.........its alreadylate...
Investigative partnership organized by Wikileaks
Obtained By Wikileaks. | <urn:uuid:3b839904-5d06-414c-9eaa-33a0f75a068d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://counterclects.opinionmaster.co.in/2012/08/railways2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957657 | 952 | 1.804688 | 2 |
|The most important skill in choosing a good self-defense program is being able to act on your intuition without being stopped by feelings of confusion or fear. It can be hard to stay clear about what your needs are or what the needs of your children are when you are bombarded by often conflicting advice from experts. If something someone does seems wrong to you, even if you can't justify your feeling logically, walk away rather than staying in a potentially bad situation. Keep looking until you find the type of program that answers to your satisfaction the kinds of questions described above.
To make the importance of choosing the right training clear, I want to share with you a personal example from my own life. Many years ago, my husband, Ed, and I signed up for a class organized by our hospital to prepare prospective parents for childbirth. After the first session, Ed said emphatically, "We are NOT going back to this teacher!"
"But she was a nice lady and knew a lot!" I protested. "She must be okay if the hospital recommended her. And we don't have enough time to find another teacher! Besides, it will be embarrassing to stop after we started!"
"That doesn't matter," Ed said. "This woman spent more time talking in a graphic way about all the things that can go wrong with a birth than on practicing the skills we want to learn. You are extremely suggestible. I'm afraid that just listening to her stories will give you trouble. I'll call the teacher and make a polite excuse and figure out where to look for a better class for you."
We ended up finding a wonderful positive teacher who led workshops out of her home and we were lucky enough to be able to have natural births with both of our children. Years later, I learned that our hospital ended up asking their teacher to leave because an extremely high percentage of her students had problems with their births.
Whether you are looking for a self-defense class or any other important training, pay attention, like Ed did, to uncomfortable feelings you have about someone's approach, no matter how highly-recommended the person is and no matter how much you like the teacher as a person. Often very well meaning knowledgeable people try to teach through talking about what can go wrong rather than through helping their students practice how to do things effectively. Remember that what programs actually do is more important than what their literature or representatives say they are going to do.
In KIDPOWER TEENPOWER FULLPOWER International, we do our best to uphold high standards for all of our services. Please let us know if ever we do not follow through on this commitment. | <urn:uuid:83b7305a-a16f-48dc-aa46-49856e334623> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.safetygearhq.com/choosing-a-self-defense-program.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978186 | 537 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Air Force Provides Convoy Security for Army, Marines in Iraq
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
CAMP BULLIS, Texas, Feb. 8, 2005 When Master Sgt. William Chapman joined the Air Force transportation field 20 years ago, he never dreamed he'd use his skills far beyond the flight line or base cantonment area.
Airmen train in the combat-type skills they will need during
convoy operations in Iraq. Photo by Robbin Cressell
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Recently returned from Iraq, Chapman is teaching his fellow airmen critical skills they'll need to conduct convoy security missions there.
It's a nontraditional mission the Air Force hasn't carried out since Vietnam but took on again early in 2004 to help ease the burden on the Army and Marine Corps, explained Air Force Master Sgt. Phil Coolberth, who helped establish the Air Force's new Basic Combat Convoy Course here, outside San Antonio.
Today, the Air Force is a full partner with the Army and Marine Corps as it runs convoys throughout Iraq in support of military operations there, with more than 1,000 transporters, special police and medical and personnel specialists trained to help provide security, explained Air Force 1st Lt. Leo Martin, course commander.
To ensure airmen are prepared, the Basic Combat Convoy Course, or BC3 for short, packs into just four weeks the combat skills airmen will need to stay alive as they carry out the mission: weapons, tactics, maneuver and small-unit leadership skills, among them.
That's no small task, considering the limited ground combat training most airmen receive. Airmen typically receive just one week of field experience during basic training and fire their weapons only once every two years. "Unless your specialty is security forces or special operations, our knowledge of field skills is pretty limited," Martin said.
While acknowledging that the training represents a real "cultural switch," Master Sgt. Phil Coolberth said airmen's lack of field combat skills when they enter the training isn't all bad. They come to the course without ingrained bad habits and are open to the course material as they undergo training specifically geared to the convoy mission, he noted.
"We're building the perfect set of skills for this exact mission," Coolberth said.
He was among the first airmen who deployed to Southwest Asia to conduct convoy security. He received a patchwork of training stateside and at Camp Virginia, Kuwait, before moving into Iraq.
Coolberth said he and his colleagues, backed up by senior Air Force leaders, quickly recognized the need for a comprehensive, standardized training program geared specifically for the mission in Iraq.
Coolberth sketched out the basic training plan on a restaurant napkin, then worked with members of the 342nd Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to create a full-blown course to prepare airmen for the threats they are likely to encounter.
Students qualify on M-4 assault rifles and M-249 machine guns and learn to shoot long distances at night, learn the rules of engagement and laws of armed conflict, and train in land navigation and tactical communications. They practice convoy maneuvers, learning how to react if their vehicle comes under fire, hits a roadside bomb or breaks down, and how to protect themselves if they're forced to abandon their vehicle. One-quarter of the students receive basic combat lifesaving training so they can come to the aid of their fellow troops if needed.
Then the airmen go to the field for a four-day tactical exercise that puts their new knowledge to the test under realistic conditions.
"We train them on the basic skills sets so when they get into a situation, they can make split-second decisions and make them right," Coolberth said. "We instill confidence in them and make sure they're mission ready."
"Our emphasis is on small-unit leadership," said Staff Sgt. Walter Voltz, the student first sergeant who earned a Bronze Star while conducting a convoy mission in Iraq. "This is an exercise in teaching these young kids how to make sound decisions using a model that's tried and true."
After completing the training at Camp Bullis, the BC3 students head to Fort Hood, Texas, to validate their skills, then deploy to Southwest Asia "within days," Coolberth said. This ensures "very motivated students," he said. "We don't have any trouble keeping them awake in the classroom."
Airman 1st Class Todd Martin, who's more accustomed to driving tractor trailers and forklifts around Kadena Air Base, Japan, than in providing convoy security in a combat zone, said the training he and his fellow airmen are receiving here "is preparing us for everything that could come our way."
Now in his final week of training here, Martin said the BC3 course is giving him "a lot more confidence" for the mission he will soon carry out in Iraq. "We're learning a lot here," he said. "They're teaching us as much as they can, and most of the instructors have been there. That's as good as it can get."
The cadre at the BC3 course, many of whom have conducted convoy security missions in Iraq, use their experiences to prepare the airmen following in their footsteps. But they're quick to acknowledge that with the ever-changing situation on the ground, they can't rely on past experience alone.
To keep the training up-to-date, Coolberth said, the staff constantly taps into the latest intelligence from Iraq and incorporates that information into their program. "Our exercises mirror scenarios on the ground," he said. "We're constantly changing the curriculum to match the intelligence. Intelligence drives the operations, and operations drive the training."
Of all the information presented to the airmen before they deploy to Iraq, the cadre agreed that the most important lessons are in focusing on the mission, paying attention to detail, and being flexible to the situation at hand.
If there's any measure of the success of the Air Force's BC3 training program, it's how students are received in the field. Voltz admits he ran into "a little skepticism at first from Army units on the ground." But after seeing the airmen perform, he said, the soldiers "were asking for them by name."
Voltz calls the BC3 program a major step forward in the Air Force's ability to work jointly with its sister services and to prepare its people as they take on new, nontraditional missions.
"This is a proven course that saves people's lives," Voltz said. "We try to put these guys in the right frame of mind so they can focus on the mission and survive the rigors of combat."
The BC3 course will soon be conducted at a new training facility under construction at Camp Bullis. It will be named Camp Anderson-Peters, in memory of two airmen killed in Bayji, Iraq, while conducting convoy security missions: Airman Carl Anderson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Peters. | <urn:uuid:4f6c7a20-90a0-496c-b3ae-38254c58fedc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=25955 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970804 | 1,458 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Like many software developers in New York City, I've done my time in the financial district. I was working on the 17th floor of the JP Morgan bank on 60 Wall (the building is now occupied by Deutsche Bank) when I started LitKicks, and I often used to write about life on Wall Street in those days. Since then I've left downtown Manhattan to develop websites for magazine publishers, record companies, television networks and litigation consultants, yet somehow these days I find myself back again in the skyscraper jungle on Manhattan's lower tip. I'm writing this from an office a couple of blocks north of Wall Street, where (in case you hadn't heard) they've been having a hell of a rough time.
From my vantage point as a Java coder in a cubicle, I can't tell what's wrong with Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and the entire industry. I listened to televised sound bites last night from John McCain (who says America's economic structure is fundamentally sound, but charges that an "alphabet soup" of regulating bodies has the credit industry confused) and Barack Obama (who says we need better and more effective regulation). It's not because I work here, but rather because I have common sense, that I know Obama's answer is better than McCain's. We are dealing with the classic tradeoff between laissez-faire deregulation (McCain) and governmental oversight (Obama). Investment banks are collapsing due to bad loans, and I'd rather strengthen the regulating bodies than criticize them.
Why do banks make bad loans? Because loans are a source of profit -- both long-term profit (interest) and immediate profit (fees). As long as banks are issuing loans for long-term profit, they are likely to make good decisions. The problem arises when the short-term reward -- the money that changes hands whenever a deal is made -- becomes more of a motivation than the long-term reward. In recent decades, the USA's banking industry has moved significantly beyond sensible, earthbound business practices towards an unprecedented emphasis on perpetual growth and unnatural profit. The problems this trend has created transcend politics, and will not be easily solved. But at least Barack Obama's statements identify and address the problem. McCain's notion that our economic habits are fundamentally sound and that the problems can be solved by "cleaning up" governmental regulation rather than increasing the level of regulation amounts to complete denial that there is a serious problem that needs to be fixed.
2. Richard Wright, who played sublime keyboard solos and sang harmony vocals for Pink Floyd with a placid smile on his face, has died. Wright's proudest moment may have been the composition of "The Great Gig in the Sky", Pink Floyd's most heavenly song.
3. Frank Mundus, a Long Island fisherman who inspired the character Quint in Peter Benchley's novel Jaws, has also died. | <urn:uuid:b045c023-76d3-45b9-939b-a448c3d79a88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.litkicks.com/WallStreetTuesdayNoon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958349 | 587 | 1.507813 | 2 |
House on the Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
Fran Silvestre Arquitectos has completed work on a grand contemporary home perched on a cliff high above the Iberian Sea. The House on the Cliff is a monolithic work of architecture, one built to feature the environment as central to its design. The view of the surrounding nature can be taken in from every point in the home, from the protruding living space above to the pool below and the individual rooms within.
While the shape of the home is complex, guided by the topography of its plot, the styling of the home is simple. Its walls are clean and white, the result of stucco over concrete, and this canvas continues both inside and out across nearly every inch of the home. The exception is in the windows, where floor-to-ceiling glass brings the exterior view indoors, and even the rear-facing kitchen windows are focused on the rocky cliff a few feet away.
The surprise for such a stunning home is its low cost. It was built for just over $832,000, a price that of course excludes the cost of the land itself. Waterfront property in Alicante, Spain can be hard to come by, but fortunately Fran Silvestre Arquitectos just capped it off with a one-of-a-kind contemporary casa. We’re left with one question– is there a vacancy? [via notcot] | <urn:uuid:533661ec-feab-4718-876c-027f8276a12d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecoolist.com/house-on-the-cliff-by-fran-silvestre-arquitectos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94619 | 299 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Born in India to an Indian mother and an Indo-Irish father, Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson spent an impoverished childhood in the subcontinent, before coming to England in 1928 where, among other things, she worked as a dance hostess before starting to pick up bit parts in movies in the early '30s, beginning with Alf's Button (1930). It was Hungarian-born film mogul Alexander Korda who first spotted Oberon's screen potential, and began giving her parts in his pictures, building her up toward stardom with role such as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Although she was an actress of very limited range, Oberon acquitted herself well in movies such as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), as Sir Percy Blakeney's wife, and her exotic good looks made her extremely appealing. She was cast opposite Laurence Olivier in the 1938 comedy The Divorce of Lady X, which was shot in Technicolor and showed Oberon off to even better advantage. Seeking to build her up as an international star, Korda sold half of Oberon's contract to Samuel Goldwyn in America, who cast her as Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939). She moved to America with the outbreak of war, and also married Korda (1939-1945), but despite some success in That Uncertain Feeling, The Lodger, and A Song to Remember, her star quickly began to fade, and the Korda vehicle Lydia (1941), a slow-moving melodrama that had her aging 50 years, didn't help her career at all. Even a good acting performance in the Hitchcock-like chiller Dark Waters (1944) failed to register with the public. Oberon re-emerged only occasionally after the early '50s, until 1973 when she starred in, produced, and co-edited Interval, a strange romantic drama that costarred her future husband Robert Wolders, that failed to find good reviews or an audience. | <urn:uuid:528220df-0bbd-47c2-b86f-7151952be572> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moviefone.com/celebrity/merle-oberon/2164091/biography | 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 | 0.974739 | 419 | 1.585938 | 2 |
(NaturalNews) It's not normal to die at age 32 of a heart attack. To make that happen, you normally have to be taking chemical substances of some kind, either recreational drugs or prescription drugs. Actress Brittany Murphy, who died this last weekend from a heart attack, was reportedly taking prescription drugs to treat the symptoms of the flu (not to actually treat the flu itself, mind you, just the symptoms
of the flu). She was found collapsed in her shower after her heart gave out.
If prescription drugs are the cause, this would be just the latest celebrity death caused by pharmaceuticals. Other celebrity deaths recently caused by pharmaceuticals include:
• Heath Ledgerhttp://www.naturalnews.com/022602_drugs_Heath_Ledger_cause_of_death.h...
• Patrick Swayzehttp://www.naturalnews.com/027030_cancer_chemotherapy_Patrick_Swayze....
• Bernie Machttp://www.naturalnews.com/023817_Bernie_Mac_immune_system_doctors.ht...
• Michael Jacksonhttp://www.naturalnews.com/026517_Michael_Jackson_drugs_pharmas.html
• Farrah Fawcetthttp://www.naturalnews.com/026511_cancer_chemotherapy_doctors.html
And from the realm of politics and the media, the following celebrities have also been killed by pharmaceuticals:
• Tony Snowhttp://www.naturalnews.com/023626_cancer_chemotherapy_colon_cancer.ht...
• Tim Russerthttp://www.naturalnews.com/023434.html
• Peter Jennings
If you add it all up and include all the non-celebrities killed by Big Pharma, these dangerous prescription medications are racking up a body count that makes terrorists look like amateurs.
Pharmaceutical industry is a giant fraud
The pharmaceutical industry, as operated today, is based almost entirely on scientific fraud, bribery of doctors, misleading advertising and corrupt regulatory agencies like the FDA. Most prescription medications simply don't help most people
. They only mask symptoms while ignoring the underlying causes of disease.
Nearly all pharmaceuticals are sold with the Big Lie
... the implied (but false) promise that "These drugs
will make you healthier." That's why drug ads always show happy, healthy people popping their pills. (Well, technically they never even show them popping the pills. They just show them doing yoga, hiking in the woods, or whatever looks good.)
I can't think of a single pharmaceutical that actually makes you healthier. Almost universally, prescription medications cause long-term damage to the heart, liver, kidneys and nervous system. Over time, they erode
, accelerate your apparent aging and promote chronic degenerative disease.Nutrients
can make you healthier and prevent disease, but pharmaceuticals
have no such abilities. That's because the human body was never designed to digest patented chemicals. It was, as you probably learned in high school health class, designed solely to digest natural
foods and nutrients provided by Mother Nature.
Of course, pharmaceuticals are very seductive. The idea that you can pop a pill and have all your health problems corrected is very appealing to many people. This is perhaps what got into Brittany Murphy
. She mistakenly believed FDA-approved drugs would protect her health when, in reality, they took her life.
NaturalNews mourns her death and hopes that others will learn the truth about dangerous prescription drugs and seek out safer, more natural alternatives that can save their lives.
Why celebrities need really good nutrition
Being a celebrity is extremely stressful and demanding. The long work hours, lack of time in nature, sunlight deficiency, frequent travel and poor sleep quality all add up to a lifestyle that can devastate your health. That's why celebrities, more than almost anyone, need to pursue a super clean diet with lots of superfoods.
Only through very powerful, potent foods can celebrities hope to maintain anything close to a healthy life while under the stresses of celebrity existence. (And make no mistake, being a celebrity is harder than you think. The stresses are unbelievable...)
The smart celebrities are already on natural diets -- Woody Harrelson, Suzanne Somers, Daryl Hannah and so on. They will tend to far out-live others who pursue extremely stressful lifestyles while trying to survive on a diet of processed foods and FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.
There is no doubt in my mind that Brittany Murphy's life could have been saved by reading NaturalNews
. If she had been taking vitamin D supplements, immune-boosting herbs and following a diet of healthy superfoods, she would very likely still be alive today. That's just my opinion, of course, as I don't yet know all the medical details about her death, but for someone to die of a heart attack at age 32, their health has to be severely compromised in one or more significant ways.
The sad part is that the conventional medical industry never tells people the truth about nutrition and disease prevention, so even people who consider themselves to be "well informed" are lacking basic knowledge about vitamin D, minerals, phytonutrients, living foods, superfoods and so on. To my knowledge, Brittany was not known as a health food person, so she most likely followed conventional health information (junk food, drugs and surgery). And that's almost certainly what killed her.Sources for this story include:http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977957199&gr...http://www.benzinga.com/general/68975/murphy-on-prescription-drugs-be...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6856073/Br...
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the CEO of a highly successful email newsletter software company that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article. | <urn:uuid:74921056-6e3c-49be-9e44-bdf7ca993b18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naturalnews.com/027781_Brittany_Murphy_drugs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945512 | 1,566 | 1.773438 | 2 |
I started a series on the Freemium business model a couple of days back since this seems to be one of the most misunderstood business model among startups. Today we get into number crunching that one needs to do to make the Freemium model work.
As with every business, the ultimate goal is to make money, be profitable, grow revenues and become self-sustaining and cash-flow positive at the earliest. However, depending on which stage the business is in, the metrics that you use to decide for or against Freemium can be different.
The only number that really matters when you are starved for cash
For an early-stage bootstrapped business, it is very important to stay afloat and stay cash-flow positive. In such a case, one really needs to have a compelling reason to implement Freemium. For such a business, it is extremely important that
Marginal cost to maintain a user = 0 (or close to it)
It is important to note that marginal cost is the delta that an extra user adds to your operations and will not, in general, include costs which go into maintaining the user base but are not a function of it as such. E.g. in case of Youtube, bandwidth costs per user are marginal for viewers and storage costs are marginal for contributors. One of the reasons Freemium might not be a great model to start with at an early stage is that it is very difficult, near impossible, to have marginal costs close to zero.
Segmenting and Pricing correctly to have a profitable user base
While analyzing new ventures as part of what I do, I have a bias towards always starting with analyzing the per-user economics before I look at any other numbers. After all, if the per-user economics themselves don’t make sense, it is impossible for the business to turn profitable and stay cash-flow positive.
In case of Freemium, the per-user economics maps out as follows:
ARPU: (No. of paid customers*Price per customer) / (No. of paid + No. of free users)
Compare this with the average cost of maintaining a user. Note that this is NOT the marginal cost! To be talking about the right numbers, it is very important that one understands the difference between these two.
Hence, the first step is to ensure that
ARPU > Cost of maintaining a user
An important point here is that while the ARPU calculation may look fairly straightforward, it is an extremely tricky proposition when a business is still planning on going Freemium since one needs to estimate the percentage of the user base that will actually pay for the product to work out this calculation.
Estimating the paid user percentage can be as much of an art as it is a science. There are two key elements to doing this correctly:
1.Segmenting your market correctly
Segmentation of your market is more important than ever in case of a Freemium product. Firstly, it is important to figure out upfront the exact user profiles who will want to pay for the Freemium product. Secondly, it is very important to size exactly those user segments. After all, you need to be sure that there are going to be a certain number of user segments who clearly will be compelled to pay for your product and that their numbers lead us to the kind of ARPU that we would like to have given our costs.
2.Finding the right price point
More often than not, your paid% can really change with the price point that you set. Firstly, it is important as a business owner to understand whether your market is a price-sensitive market. Second, irrespective of whether the market is price sensitive or not, it is important to get the pricing right so that you cover your costs well (per user as well as for the business as a whole) and are still perceived value for money. I could go into a long discussion about the various ways pricing is done depending on your market, product and operations but we’ll save that for another post. In a nutshell, cover your costs and talk to customers often to reach at the right price point.
An important point is that this is not just a one-time activity. This number crunching needs to be done over time because average costs, unlike marginal costs, will definitely change over time as the business develops scale and efficiencies.
Also, per-user economics is only a starting point. Over time, the business should show signs of profitability as a whole (i.e. profitable on the entire cash base).
So far so good! We now have some of the numbers that make a sustainable operating business with the Freemium model. However, we’ve left a third important element.
What about the cost of Customer Acquisition?
Maintenance costs are important but often, the biggest cost bucket for a growth business without a brand to leverage is the cost of customer acquisition. Simply defined, the cost of customer acquisition is the amount of money that the company needs to invest to get a paying customer.
If you think about it, Freemium is not just a business model; it is also a marketing channel. “Try and Buy” has been an age-old marketing technique ever since hawkers started giving out samples of the food they cooked to passers-by (which also makes it my favorite marketing technique from a consumer perspective ).
Most models on Freemium eventually want to entice users into paying for it. Hence, it is important to see that the cost of customer acquisition via Freemium is lower than the cost of customer acqiosiiton in a pure subscription model where the business would have indulged in other marketing, tiral and awareness activities. In this regard, there are 3 important numbers to look at
1. Number of Paid Customers
2. Number of Free Customers who wouldn’t pay if the free service ceased to exist
3. Number of Free Customers who would probably start paying if the free service ceased to exist
It is important to make the distinction between 2 and 3 because by running a Freemium, you are possibly losing out on revenue that you would have got from customers in 3.
Hence, the final very important calculation that you need to do is:
Cost of maintaining Freemium user base < Customer acquisition costs through other channels + Revenue that could have been generated from customers in 3
The RHS is essentially the opportunity cost of implementing Freemium. You need to have an estimate of customer acquisition costs from other channels. There is no general rule to that and it really is about how much of marketing, branding and other activities you would need to do to get to the same customer base.
About the Author: Sangeet Paul Choudary is a leader in the New Ventures group at Intuit Asia-Pac
First published at Venturati | <urn:uuid:69f15d87-1a1c-4ccc-84d4-555ad542f6e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nextbigwhat.com/number-crunching-venture-capital-freemium-297/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966995 | 1,396 | 1.648438 | 2 |
US billionaire investor George Soros said he has agreed to set up an official base for his philanthropic work in Burma after meetings with the country’s president and Aung San Suu Kyi.
The financier, one of the world’s richest men who funds pro-democracy initiatives in Burma, travelled to the army-dominated country “in his capacity as a philanthropist”, according to a statement seen on Thursday.
Soros said he planned to establish an “official presence” in the country to aid “the transition from a closed to a more open society”, following the 26 December to 3 January trip to Burma.
He added that talks with opposition leader Suu Kyi included “a wide ranging discussion about the reform process”.
“My foundations have been supporting the democracy movement for 20 years, but this was my first meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi. I have been and remain very much guided by her vision in my involvement in Burma,” Soros said.
Burma, which remains subject to tough Western sanctions, was left impoverished and isolated by nearly half a century of military rule.
Despite the continued dominance of the army, the new government has shown promising signs that it is willing to reform since taking over from the ruling junta in March.
President Thein Sein, a former general, has held talks with Suu Kyi, opened dialogue with ethnic rebels and indicated a wish for warmer ties with the west.
But the country has yet to meet expectations over key issues like the release of all political prisoners. Authorities caused disappointment this week by announcing a cut to jail terms for all inmates without issuing a much-anticipated amnesty for detained dissidents.
“While I am greatly encouraged by signs of political opening in Burma, the reforms are in early days. There is a big gap between the good will at the top and conditions on the ground,” Soros said, in the release from his Open Society Foundations group.
Other recent high-profile Western visitors have included US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, who travelled to the country on Thursday. Both represent the highest-level envoys from their nations in half a century.
Soros, who made a huge fortune from speculating, has given away billions of dollars to philanthropic causes in recent years.
Open Society Foundations have funded a number of projects in Burma since 1994, with a focus on increasing international awareness of conditions in the country and providing assistance to marginalised ethnic minorities, women, and young people. | <urn:uuid:cc97fe26-2714-4617-886b-fc4643bbd450> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dvb.no/news/george-soros-to-open-first-burma-office/19469 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966359 | 533 | 1.578125 | 2 |
"A not terribly high turnout is desirable. It may have been said in the past that 'for the LDP, a high turnout, is all to the good.' But in recent years, [a high turnout] is rather frightening."While the LDP talks about policies (Seikyoku yori seisaku - "Policies before political maneuvering" -- the phrase Prime Minister Asō trots out whenever the Democratic Party of Japan demands that he stop stalling and hold the election) it is, in the aggregate, a patronage organization. The party has seen to it that a favored fraction of the electorate is showered with benefits and contracts. In return, that favored fraction votes for the LDP.
This is a minority strategy, with a small group being bought off with the surpluses produced by the population at large. Perpetuating the dominion of a party whose acts benefits only a minority requires effort. The LDP has proven itself more than up to this task -- if not any of the other tasks associated with a modern political party.
The key to winning is to supercharge the votes of LDP clients while disenfranchising the average voter. This has been done on the grand scale through the perpetuation of House of Representative district boundaries that trample on the principle of voting equality. Rural districts, where a significant proportion of the voters are LDP clients, receive up to twice as many seats in the House of Representatives -- on a proportional basis -- as urban and suburban districts. In terms of representation, it is as if one quarter of the electorate has no vote at all (or, to look at it another way, as if one quarter of those holding district seats in the House of Representative do not actually represent anybody).
Disenfranchisement is done on the petty scale by a number of means -- my personal favorite being the old trick of paying citizens with the same names as the opposition candidates to run in an election -- thereby guaranteeing that some voters end up voting for the dummy candidate by mistake.
Scheduling elections at inconvenient times - times when most voters would likely be somewhere other than in their regular homes, ready to trudge on down to their local elementary or middle school on a Sunday and take part in the grand festival that is democracy -- is another favorite form of disenfranchisement. The scheduling of the House of Councillors elections in particular have to be viewed with great skepticism, with a suspiciously high percentage of those elections initially set for the first weekend after the children are let out for summer vacation.
Holding the House of Representatives election in the second week of August would be a trifecta: the children are out of school, the weather will be unbearably hot and it would be the beginning of the Obon traveling season, when a significant number of urban dwellers return to their ancestral family homes in the countryside. Voter turnout for a Sunday, August 9 election would be miserably low -- meaning that the votes of minority parties with fanatically high voting rates (the New Komeito) or with rural and patronage machines (the LDP) would end up with a higher percentage of the voting totals.
Thank you Koga Makoto. Thank you for confirming our worst fears about your party's willingness to put its own interests over those of the nation. | <urn:uuid:24c67c0b-82ec-4ccd-b81c-93a996ed594a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shisaku.blogspot.com/2009/05/koga-makoto-tries-honesty.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960882 | 670 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Are you too old to buy affordable life insurance?
If you're a senior citizen, it's a mistake to buy a life insurance policy before you weigh the costs of coverage against the benefits it will provide for you and your heirs.
When you're an adult with a spouse, young children or others who depend on you, it makes sense to have a policy that will replace your income if you die. As you age, however, life insurance quotes can become prohibitively high.
Is there ever a point when life insurance is so expensive that it's no longer is appropriate?
"The short answer is yes," says Matt Rowles, a director in advanced marketing for individual life insurance at Prudential Financial. "Old age and poor health will certainly drive up the cost of insurance. If it drives it to a point where it makes little financial sense, that is probably the point where life insurance is not appropriate."
James Miles, a consulting fellow for the Society of Actuaries, agrees. Many middle-income people eventually reach a point of diminishing returns when it comes to life insurance, he says.
You may reach a point where no one is counting on you for financial support. In most cases, grown children eventually become self-sufficient. You may find that your savings and home equity are adequate to provide for a spouse or domestic partner if you die.
In such instances, many people maintain a life insurance policy as more of a bequest than a necessity. If you want to leave a legacy, "life insurance is an excellent way to do that," says Rowles.
Leaving a legacy
Gail Linn, a Certified Financial Planner with MetLife, says creating a legacy for a charity or a loved one is a common reason why seniors continue to pay into a life insurance policy when they no longer have dependents.
"It could be someone you care about, like your children or grandchildren," she says. "Since life insurance death benefits are income-tax free, it is a great way to leverage your dollar and leave money to someone you care about. Not only will that give a child a start in life -- between taxes and inflation and everything else that is happening in this economy -- but they could think kindly of you."
Larry Dahl, vice president at Allstate Financial, says going without life insurance is a serious financial decision, even for the very old. Before you do so, you should sit down and carefully review your finances to determine what your needs are.
Long-term care insurance can preserve estates
You will get the best deal on a life policy by shopping around for life insurance rates, but if you are trying to preserve your current wealth for your heirs, long-term care insurance -- which provides for you when you are too ill to take care of yourself -- may make more sense.
The cost of nursing home care can quickly erode the value of your estate in your final years.
Like life insurance, long-term care insurance becomes more costly as you age, and your general health at the time of your purchase will also impact your premiums. Your 50s is still a good age for purchasing long-term care coverage. Here are the basics of long-term care insurance.
Many insurance choices
If you decide to buy a life insurance policy, you'll need to choose between term life insurance -- which insures you for a specific period -- and permanent life, which covers you for as long as you live if you pay your premiums. Permanent policies build cash value over time. Term policies typically are much are cheaper, but many companies don't issue them to the very elderly.
"Term might not be an option," says Rowles. "With Prudential, the oldest we can issue term insurance coverage is age 75. There are a few carriers who will do it at 80. If someone is in pretty good health at age 75, the odds are strong they will live beyond age 85."
Permanent or "whole life" policies usually are more readily available for older people than term life policies, but be prepared to pay for that access, says Rowles. And for seniors with health problems, seeking a new permanent policy can be prohibitively expensive.
For more details on policy choices, read Insure.com's life insurance basics.
Dahl says seniors frequently buy small life insurance policies simply to take care of their burial and funeral expenses. "Many times seniors will do that to make sure they are not a burden on their family," he says. "It is one more worry they can take off their checklist."
Such policies may be called pre-need, burial or funeral expense policies, says Miles.
"It is almost like prefunding your funeral," he says. "You go into the funeral director and you are sold a life insurance policy typically for a single payment, sometimes for three payments. If the funeral expenses go up, most policies would cover that. Then when you die there isn't out-of-pocket expense for your family."
On the downside, such policies often are expensive compared to the benefits they pay out, he adds.
What if you outlive your money?
Some people with long life expectancies choose to buy longevity insurance to make sure they do not outlive their wealth, Dahl notes. "There are insurance products that say if I give an insurance company 'X' dollars today, I will get nothing unless I live to age 85, and then at age 85 I start getting payments that are really, really good. There are a handful of companies that are offering those types of insurance policies."
The amount you are paid on this deferred annuity depends how much you've invested and the interest rate you receive. The Consumer Federation of American warns that you need to make sure the policy's long-term interest rate is high enough to be adequate. You may be able to do better with a different type of investment, but it likely won't have the tax deferral that's available with insurance products.
A personal choice
In the end, life insurance choices for seniors often are limited by the size of their disposable income, Miles says. Be prepared to make trade-offs. If you choose to purchase long-term care insurance, for example, you may have less money available for providing a legacy to your children through life insurance. It often comes down to personal preferences.
"There is a balance, unless you have unlimited funds," he says. "You are going to have expenses before your death that have to be taken care of somehow. Where do you want to put the emphasis? Where is the greater need?"
More from Emmet Pierce here | <urn:uuid:f8c02608-e24d-4d47-8e7a-66c63f5f529a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insure.com/articles/lifeinsurance/too-old-to-buy-affordable-life-insurance.html?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-49194010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968073 | 1,355 | 1.546875 | 2 |
- Posted December 21, 2011 by
Cagayan de Oro City
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Aftermath of TS Washi - 2
These are photos taken on Tuesday, 20 December, 2011.
Although it has been a few days since Tropical Storm Washi hit our city of Cagayan de Oro, you don't have to go far to still see the damage that it caused. People here are still coming to terms with the magnitude of this disaster as it's one of the worst the city has ever seen. This event came as a shock for many people, and hardly anyone had prepared for it.
It'll take a long time for things to get back to normal. | <urn:uuid:a0dbcd05-7f05-481c-b6e0-044d923c9356> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-720374 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976963 | 144 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Everyone likes peanut butter. You know the health food that we all learned about as being created by George Washington Carver, even though the Aztecs were known to have made it in the 15th century.
Too many people try to use commercialized peanut butter that is made with sugar and other usually hydrogenated oil. What I found out a long time ago was that people did not want to give up on the sugars so few switched to the natural kind.
Others worry about peanut allergy, a very real issue, but one that may be more associated with aflatoxin or too many childhood vaccines.
I was lucky to have grown up on the natural kind. I used to go with my father to the nut place. Right there they would grind peanuts. There would be freshly roasted peanuts going in one part and the yummy smelling spread fell into a five pound tub from another. Carrying it home it would still be warm. My kids, now grown up and living in West Seattle, ate this kind of peanut butter too.
Now some 30 years later I came to taste a peanut butter mixed with coconut oil.
I try to get a spoonful in the morning and another one at bedtime. It seems to help stave off the hungries. I’ve done this for years because of my belief in an old study about how peanut butter is so very heart healthy. It keeps your arteries clean and flexible too. Carver did find that peanuts are more nutritious when ground.
My favorite nutrition site tells you more about how good peanuts are for your health.
When not being able to get a mess of boiled peanuts, I know what will be a mainstay in my cupboard shelves. And I have no fear of the two saturated fats in this combination of peanuts and coconut oil.
Something truly different. Organic. No aflatoxin. Gets hard as a rock in the frig just like the label says (trust me, I test everything). Separates but easy to stir in the coconut oil on a warm day. Smooth tasting. Great consistency. Lots to like about the texture. Truly, less is more. Perfectly peanut, and yummy too.
The different delicacy: Coconut peanut butter from Tropical Traditions. | <urn:uuid:b241cd59-2cd1-4e8d-bd9c-a32900c079e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.seattlepi.com/naturalnotes/tag/coconut-oil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970439 | 457 | 1.546875 | 2 |
WASHINGTON -- As they attempt to forge the much-anticipated tax-cut bill, negotiators for the Clinton White House and the Republican-led Congress are deeply divided over what new benefits, if any, should go to the working poor.
Each side frames the issue differently. Republicans insist that the heavily burdened middle class, which they say hasn't had a tax break in 16 years, should have first claim on family tax cuts -- not workers so poor they hardly pay any taxes at all.
The White House, in response, argues that it is unfair for a family with four children making $80,000 a year to get a $2,000 credit while a family with four children living on $18,000 a year gets nothing at all.
The rhetorical flourishes on both sides far exceed the actual differences between the proposals. But the political symbolism of appearing to help the rich at the expense of the poor may be powerful enough, some Republicans say, to push the GOP President Clinton's way.
Republicans argue that low-income working families -- making roughly $12,000 to $30,000 a year -- already benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit program, which for some means a refund check bigger than what they paid in taxes.
"Any expansion of that would be welfare, and people already being stretched to the limit should not be asked to pay for that," said Rep. John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican in charge of crafting the party message.
But Clinton and his Democratic allies in Congress are confident that they can make a more persuasive case: that no working American, particularly parents struggling at the low end of the income scale, should be left out of the tax bill's long-awaited largess.
"We are happy to have a national debate about whether a $23,000-a-year police officer -- or teacher or secretary -- with kids should get tax relief," said Gene Sperling, a top White House economic adviser. "If the Republicans want to say that is welfare, we are happy to take that to the country."
Erosion of the GOP position is already apparent in the Senate.
Limited concessions to low-income families were included in the tax bill approved by the Senate last month.
Sen. Pete V. Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who heads the Budget Committee, joined Democrats at that time in an unsuccessful attempt to win further concessions for poorer taxpayers. He predicted his GOP colleagues would ultimately compromise on the issue.
"There is some logic" to the argument that only those who pay income tax should get a tax break, Domenici said. "But as far as New Mexico is concerned, a tax-cut bill that doesn't help the working poor isn't worth very much."
Debate over family tax breaks is taking place in the context of shaping a total tax cut bill worth $135 billion over five years, and $341 billion over 10 years. The bill also includes as major elements cuts in the capital gains and estate taxes.
But the features probably offering the greatest assistance to families are a proposed $500-per-child credit and a package of breaks intended to help students attend college or acquire other training after high school.
Many Republicans -- particularly the social conservatives -- would be happy to extend the family credits as far and wide as possible. But those credits are very expensive, and total tax cuts were limited to $135 billion in the balanced-budget agreement Congress struck with Clinton in May.
The Clinton and House versions of the tax-cut proposals devote about half the total tax cuts -- or $70 billion over five years -- to the child-tax credit. The Senate child-tax credit proposal would cost more than $83 billion.
Each package is structured differently, though, in terms of the ages of children covered, the income of families who are eligible and the dates that the credits take effect.
Both the House and Senate bills extend the upper income limit to couples earning $110,000 a year. Clinton's proposal would stop the family credits at couples earning $75,000 annually for the first two years, and raise the ceiling to $100,000 after that. But he fully covers those at the low end of the scale.
"As a practical matter, the difference between the president's proposal and Congress on child credits amounts to splitting hairs," said Robert D. Reischauer, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "Looked at from 100 yards away, they are hardly visible, except that they have a tremendous amount of symbolic significance."
A key question is how to treat low-income families who now get most or all of their federal tax debt wiped out by the Earned Income Tax Credit.
That credit was established in 1975 to help low-income people shoulder the burden not only of income taxes, but also of the so-called "payroll" taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare.
For families earning less than $18,000 a year, the earned-income credit exceeds their total federal taxes. They get a check from the Treasury Department for the additional amount. | <urn:uuid:86168cd1-0e51-419d-b74b-4e5f27d6525d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-07-13/news/1997194076_1_tax-relief-tax-cuts-family-tax | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971 | 1,037 | 1.703125 | 2 |
I don't think this appeals to me any more than it does to you guys, but it does remind me of a few things from Japan (where I did a postdoc).
When I was obliged to go to a fast food burger place by nostalgic fellow westerners, I would skip the burgers and instead get a very lightly cooked vegetable thing between two grilled sticky rice things. I think this is it: http://www.mos.co.jp/menu/rice/kinpira/
. My original aim was to avoid the most blatantly treif items, but even now I think this item was actually pretty decent, and not only because of the contrast with the rest of the menu, which was even less appealing to me than McDonalds et al. The rice things that substitute for hamburger buns are clearly adapted from a common Japanese food, yaki onigiri, grilled rice triangles. The Japanese put mayonnaise on a dismayingly (from the perspective of someone who doesn't like mayonnaise) large number of foods, such as, for example, pizza (along with katsuobushi, dried bonito shavings), so I can see where the inventor of the sushi hamburger got the idea for mayonnaise. | <urn:uuid:d9466821-1ac8-4ae0-afd7-1d62bb230291> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?p=303799 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966688 | 254 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Posted: Jun 2, 2010 7:39 AM by Bea Karnes, News First 5
Updated: Jun 2, 2010 7:39 AM
Preston Weber isn't just allowed to play with fire and knives, he's encouraged to.
The 11-year-old from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida is the world champion in his age group for Samoan Fire Knife Dancing. He won the title at a competition in Hawaii on May 13.
So how did a kid from South Florida, with no family ties to Samoan culture, learn fire knife dancing in the first place? Preston picked it up on YouTube.
"After I saw it at a local restaurant, I looked it up on YouTube and just mimicked what they did," he said. And less than a year later, Preston was on YouTube himself, but only after hours of practice in his front-yard.
First with sticks, then with knives, and then after getting it exactly right ten times in a row -- he added fire.
"Everybody thinks we wear lotion or something to keep from getting burned," Preston explained. "But we only put water in our hair, that's it, to keep it from poofing."
Even a world champion messes up sometimes. And Preston's got the scars to prove it.
Dad isn't worried. "He's very coordinated, he's very talented, so I was OK with it," said Doug Weber. | <urn:uuid:cf98712e-fbf8-4ed5-910b-b1e0900d9cfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.koaa.com/news/11-year-old-claims-world-fire-knife-dancing-title/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981476 | 295 | 1.65625 | 2 |
'This truly rich advent feast is performed wonderfully well on all counts and can be highly recommended' (Organists' Review)
Every year on Advent Sunday St Paul's Cathedral in London holds an Advent Carol Service. This recording captures the mood and structure of this event, presenting a selection of the music which might be performed in its liturgical order.
The Church's preparation for the coming of Christ begins in contemplative mood with the plainchant processional Laudes Regiae and the famous Mattins Responsory ('I look from afar …'). The wealth of music that follows is typical of the approach of this choir: traditional favourites such as Hosanna to the Son of David and the Parsons Ave Maria rest alongside contemporary works from composers such as John Rutter, Richard Lloyd and Philip Wilby. This album—and the hypothetical service—comes to an end with a joyous arrangement of the great hymn O come, O come, Emmanuel; an organ toccata on the same theme by Andrew Carter acts as the voluntary.
The season of Advent heralds one of the most dramatic parts of the Church’s year. On Advent Sunday each year an Advent Carol Service is held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. This liturgy begins in semi-darkness as the candle-lit clergy and choir move in a tripartite procession from the west end of the cathedral. This recording documents some of the music which might be sung at St Paul’s at an Advent Carol Service, tracing the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Christ as the Church waits with new hope and expectancy for the coming of its Saviour.
The procession from west to east is a symbolic journey: it is a symbol of the spiritual journey the Church makes each year to greet the Son of God; it is also a spiritual journey through the readings and hymns together with the choir’s music (both old and new) which it sings on behalf of the congregation—music which accompanies the sacred texts to illustrate and illuminate the faithful; furthermore, the procession is a physical journey as the Church moves from the west to the east to await Christ’s birth.
The two sides of the cathedral choir move from the west—cantoris along the north aisle, and decani along the south aisle. The clergy, cantor and acolytes process down the centre of the building. As the great processional cross moves, the cantor begins the monodic Laudes Regiae.
Laudes Regiae was sung in the Norman Abbey of Fécamp when royalty entered for worship. A manuscript was brought by Osmund to Old Sarum which was discovered on the flyleaf of an eleventh-century manuscript in Salisbury Cathedral Library. The version sung here is based on a modern edition and some of the text has been adapted for use in Advent. The music, edited by Christopher Dearnley, was written before the Norman Conquest and provides a dramatic and declamatory opening to this recording.
The so-called Mattins Responsory by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26–1594) is, in fact, an adaptation of a Magnificat, together with words which are a translation of the First Responsory of Advent Sunday in the Office of Mattins in the early medieval Roman rite. This adaptation has become widely known through its usage at the Advent Carol Service at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. At St Paul’s Cathedral the Responsory is sung at the west end of the building before the procession moves. It is complemented at the end of the service by the Vesper Responsory which is found towards the end of this sequence.
Jacob Handl (1550–1591) was a Slovenian composer who resided in Austria and Bohemia. He stayed at the Benedictine abbey at Melk and went on to Vienna in or around 1568. By 1574 he is known to have become a singer at Maximilian II’s imperial chapel. From 1575 he spent the next four or five years travelling and learning and was then engaged as a musician by the Bishop of Olomouc before moving to become Kantor of Saint Jan na Brzehu in Prague. Handl was clearly a master contrapuntalist, although his music suffered some criticism in its day on account of its complexity.
The anthem Ecce concipies is a setting of words from the first chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke. The text, which forms the Gospel reading for the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, proclaims that Mary will conceive and bear a son. In the secunda pars of this anthem, the tempo changes to triple time, boldly to announce that Jesus ‘will sit on David’s throne, and rule his kingdom’.
Martin Peerson (c1572–1651) was a Vicar Choral and Almoner at St Paul’s Cathedral in the early seventeenth century. He took the BMus degree at Oxford in 1613 and may have worked as sacrist at Westminster Abbey between 1623 and 1630. As Almoner at St Paul’s (from 1624 or 1625) he would have had responsibility for the choristers and may have been made a Minor Canon. In 1642 at the outbreak of the Civil War (when services had been stopped at St Paul’s) Peerson, along with the other Vicars Choral, had special financial provision made for him. He was buried in St Faith’s Chapel in the cathedral crypt.
This five-part setting of Blow out the trumpet in Sion, the words being from the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, achieves its effect by contrasting fanfare-like chords with a series of jostling, exciting short melodic fragments. The declamatory bass line at the words ‘Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble’ has the qualities of a madrigal and this is also evident as the word ‘cometh’ is bandied about between basses and altos. This reappears, but the second time the tenors are answered by the rest of the choir before a reprise of the words ‘and sound an alarum’, ending with an English cadence. The music is found in no fewer than six contemporary sources which may indicate that this anthem might have been widely performed in its day.
As the clergy and choir process during the St Paul’s Advent Carol Service they move to the west side of the dome before moving to the chancel step to face west and from there into the choir stalls in the chancel. It is from the west side of the dome that the choir might sing Lloyd’s setting of the Advent prose, still facing east on their journey.
Richard Lloyd (b1933) was a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral and later became organist of Hereford Cathedral before moving to succeed Conrad Eden at Durham Cathedral. Drop down ye heavens is a setting of the Advent Prose, sometimes known as Rorate, caeli. The piece was designed to be used at the atmospheric candle-lit Advent Carol Service held in Durham’s mighty cathedral; it makes use of the spaciousness of that building and its acoustic. It is, therefore, almost perfectly suited for performance in the vast spaces of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Lloyd retains the flexibility of rhythm of the original plainsong, uses a repeated refrain (sung remotely by a soloist in a high gallery), but presents simple yet dramatic new harmonies. The sense of suspense in the music is achieved by the high voices from afar and the hint of a whole-tone scale.
After the choir have sung from the west side of the dome, they move to the chancel step as the cathedral is illuminated. Here they might sing music of a more celebratory nature. One such piece is Byrd’s Laetentur caeli.
William Byrd (1539/40–1623) learned his art from Thomas Tallis and became one of the most successful of Tudor composers. Byrd worked as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral between 1563 and 1570 before moving to London to become a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal following the accidental death of Robert Parsons. At the chapel he worked jointly with Tallis. In 1575 Tallis and Byrd secured a royal patent for the printing and distribution of part-music. The five-part anthem Laetentur caeli, from their first publication Cantiones Sacrae, is a setting of the Processional Respond for Advent Sunday in the Sarum usage. It is virtuosic in its command of florid, imitative counterpoint and seems to have been composed with the utmost ease. Little wonder that Squire remarked that Byrd ‘seems rapidly to have made his way’ after his arrival in London.
Philip Wilby (b1949) was educated at Keble College, Oxford, and studied composition with Herbert Howells. He was appointed Lecturer in Composition at the University of Leeds in 1970. In recent times his compositions have mostly been concerned with music for brass band and for the church. The Echo Carol was published in 1989 and uses a similar idea to his setting of the Evening Canticles for boys’ voices, in which a pencil is used to hold down the note G on the organ keyboard. In the Carol this note is also sustained—this time by the organist—to underpin the music’s texture.
The Echo Carol is a setting for boys’ voices of the plainsong hymn Creator of the starry height, introduced by the organ and answered in turn by two echo parts, both invisible to the listeners and set at different distances from the choir.
Hosanna to the Son of David by Thomas Weelkes (1576–1623) is a composite paraphrase setting of the text from the Gospels according to Matthew (Chapter 21) and Luke (Chapter 19) where Jesus makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The words form part of the Gospel reading for Advent Sunday. This is another dramatic anthem which might be used at St Paul’s as the building is illuminated. The pauses in the music allow the sound of the choir to resound in the cathedral’s vast acoustic.
Recent scholarship has pointed out that this music does not survive in any liturgical sources which may indicate that the anthem was intended for secular use. Furthermore, the text is corrupted to read ‘Hosanna in excelsis Deo’ which also may suggest that it was not intended for liturgical use—although there are many other examples of this in music of this period. These points, together with the unusual scoring for two means, two basses, together with alto and tenor, suggest an origin to the work which, as yet, remains a mystery.
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) made a significant contribution to church music. The Hymn of St Columba is, literally, a setting of words by that great Saint. It was published in 1963 and is unusual in its use of the ostinato in the organ pedals. This gives the music a sense of unease—as if something dramatic is about to happen. Britten has, therefore, succeeded in painting the text which tells of the impending Judgement Day. The Second Coming is one of the Advent themes, and the Christmas season is a reminder to all Christians to be ready for that day.
The anonymous sixteenth-century anthem Rejoice in the Lord alway (formerly attributed to John Redford) is a setting of the fourth chapter of St Paul’s letter to the Philippians which forms the Epistle reading for the Fourth Sunday in Advent in the Book of Common Prayer. The only known source of this anthem is in the Mulliner Book which is held in the British Library. The rhythms in the music make it apparent that the words originally set were from the 1594 Prayer Book. The music—a careful setting of the words—varies between imitative passages and homophonic sections as, for example, at the words ‘Let your softness be known unto all men’.
The Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sundays of Advent deal with different themes. The Third Sunday in Advent has as its Gospel part of the first Chapter of the Gospel according to John. These words are set by Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625) as This is the record of John, one of the most remarkable of all Tudor verse anthems.
Gibbons sang in the choir at King’s College Cambridge with his brother, became a student at the University and went on to sing at the Chapel Royal when James I was on the throne. By 1625, the year of the composer’s death, Gibbons had become the senior organist.
The music—originally set with an accompaniment provided by viols—seems brilliantly matched to the words: the question ‘Who art thou?’; the long notes at ‘and said plainly’; the florid reply ‘I am not the Christ’; the rising figure at the question ‘Art thou Elias?’. There are three sections for the soloist; each is answered in turn by the choir ending with the step-wise phrase sung immediately by all: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’.
John Rutter (b1945) wrote his double-choir anthem Hymn to the Creator of Light for the cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester and their respective conductors at that time: John Sanders, Roy Massey and Donald Hunt. The work is dedicated to the memory of Herbert Howells and was sung at the dedication of the Howells memorial window by Caroline Swash which adorns Gloucester Cathedral. This anthem occasionally uses musical gestures reminiscent of that composer’s style.
The mysterious, quasi-plainsong opening sung by the second choir is answered as if from on high by the first choir. This eventually leads to a central section, Allegro energico, in which the two choirs continue to answer each other. This subsides in turn to a quieter final section where the chorale Schmücke dich by Johann Crüger (1598–1662) is delicately reharmonized by Rutter, bringing the work to a peaceful conclusion.
The fourteenth-century Irish carol Angelus ad virginem is performed here in a cheerful arrangement by Sir David Willcocks (b1919). The bright organ introduction is answered by the choir who sing the Latin hymn and tell the story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, found in the first Chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. In the third verse the second choir provides the accompaniment whilst the first choir sings the melody before all join together for the final verse.
Walter Buzin recorded that the mixed-voice motet Virga Jesse floruit by Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) has been referred to as ‘the crown of [his] shorter choral works’. He goes on to note that ‘it bespeaks the spirit of romantic and ecstatic mysticism’ and that ‘in this glorious and exalted composition we see reflected the very soul of its composer’. The dramatic contrasts are well suited to the acoustic of St Paul’s. The composer uses a gradual crescendo in the opening phrase to depict the words ‘The rod of Jesse has flourished’. The text—a setting of the Alleluia for the Feast of the Annunciation—culminates in the powerful Alleluias which eventually give way to the gentle ending.
Robert Parsons (c1535–1572) was sworn in as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in 1563 and met an unfortunate accidental death drowning in the River Trent. Of all the musical works written during this period, the five-part Ave Maria surely shines as one of the most impressive. It has been described as the most perfect Marian motet. The balance of the thematic counterpoint and the rich harmonic framework support the top line which rises to the high notes in the most delicate and thoughtful manner, betraying a broad melodic sequential plan. Thereafter the texture changes (at the words ‘benedicta tu’) returning to the melismatic style for the Amen. Thus the overall design, plan and shape of the work leave musicians to contemplate what other riches Parsons might have left had he lived beyond his fortieth year.
The Mattins Responsory finds its counterpart in the Vesper Responsory which has been adapted to suitable words by Christopher Dearnley. The music is virtually the same as for the Mattins Responsory and is a call-to-arms, as it were, for the congregation at the Advent Carol Service.
The setting of O come, O come, Emmanuel by Andrew Carter (b1939) is an effective arrangement of the well-known Advent hymn. The words are adaptions by J M Neale of the so-called ‘Great Advent Antiphons’, sometimes known as the ‘O’ Antiphons as each of the texts in Latin begins with the word O. These are sung as follows:
O sapientia: O wisdom—December 16
The inclusion of this great Advent hymn is, therefore, a neat summary of the various elements of the Advent message.
Andrew Carter was invited by Oxford University Press to write a Christmas piece for organ based on a seasonal theme. The composer writes about the Organ Toccata on Veni Emmanuel:
As everyone had used the best tunes, I felt my favourite Advent hymn might work well. I had just returned from France having heard Jean Guillou playing the mighty organ at Saint Eustache in Paris and had the notion of a Grand French Toccata in my mind. So I chose the tune ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’ which I had also set as an Advent anthem. I thought I would use the same key and adopt the Toccata idiom and allow the tune to weigh in played by the pedals. After a short development section in an imitative style, the theme returns, this time with the notes disposed more than two octaves with the glittering manual figurations above.
The work was first performed by John Scott at York Minster on 29 July 1995.
William McVicker © 1997 | <urn:uuid:6b8a289c-90f5-40c0-90e2-adad588f247d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66994&vw=dc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963371 | 3,834 | 1.59375 | 2 |
WILL DURST FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Astronomers have a name for the phenomena of an object appearing to be in different places, depending on the perspective from which it is viewed. It’s known as the parallax view, and could be seen on display for the Second Inauguration of the Forty Fourth President of the United States. Speaking of it, folks described events occurring on different planets. Some called it a disaster, some a triumph. Crime scene in a cave versus ascension on a mountain top. White knight to the rescue- Darth Vader choking off a windpipe.
No one denies it was an auspicious ceremony, with Beyonce lip syncing and Michelle Obama resurrecting a 25 year old haircut, but Barack H. Obama’s last Oval Office induction ceremony was totally defined according to which side of the aisle you watched it from. Seen through the blue lens was one thing but through the red lens, something semi- similar only inside out, upside down and backwards. With poopy on it.
For Democrats, the January weekend of celebration was even more momentous than the first time around. Proving indubitably that America is the land of opportunity, where hope never dies and lots of little money for campaign coffers never hurts either. And if you ever get the chance to give a bunch of old people rides to the polls on fleets of rented buses, go for it.
For Republicans it was a three- day salt in the wound reminder of wasted opportunity. Exactly how bad a candidate Mitt Romney actually was. Think of it; in a lousy economy the guy managed to lose to a black incumbent, whose middle name is Hussein. The incumbent, not the economy. Permanent bruise; right above the knee, where the fist automatically slams down. At least twice a day.
Nobody could deny the emotional depth precipitated by the occasion of oath- taking on the Capitol’s west side in front of freezing multitudes. So much so, that even John Boehner seemed moved to tears. Which, admittedly, isn’t all that unusual. And kind of creepily, they were orange tears. Who sheds tears of Tang?
And while the event itself may have been polarizing, it paled like the cover of Sue Grafton’s “A is for Alibi” in the front window of a west- facing bookstore in Equatorial Guinea- compared to the speech. The president waxed eloquent about a pursuit of progressive ideals; mentioning marriage equality, climate change and even slamming Paul Ryan’s claim that society is being ruined by the takers. So as you can imagine, right after the President was sworn in, he was sworn at.
Oh my. The hew and the cry. He was called a socialist. A banana head. A foreign born evildoer attempting to destroy the country. Unveiling a left wing manifesto that finally reveals his true colors as a socialist usurper of all that is good and right and true and just. So… looks like, everything’s back to normal.
We the people, were given the impression that this time around the rebooted Obama 2.0 will be less likely to roll over on his back begging Mitch McConnell to rub his belly. After getting poked with a sharp stick for four years, this dog may have grown some teeth. But that’s where the parallax view kicks in again. Some see them as incisors and some vampire canines that enable him to suck the souls right out of our skulls. | <urn:uuid:739be55b-207b-4ed6-867b-eac31bdf1176> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17775-the-parallax-inaugural | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962494 | 732 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Zombies, Batman and Samurai Come to Life in Cinematic Cutout Photos
- 6:30 AM
It’s comforting to know that even now Photoshop can be rivaled with some construction paper, an X-Acto knife and a few lights.
These are the tools David Reeves uses to produce his highly dynamic series of cutout silhouette photos that are based on his favorite comic books, movies and videogames.
“I just try to keep it simple,” says Reeves, 28, a photography major at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada.
Reeves, who came up with the idea because he needed a final project for school and didn’t want to be photographing out in the Canadian cold, has only been doing cutouts for a couple of months but has already created several artful and expressive scenes that have struck a chord with viewers across the world.
He makes them by tracing the characters off his laptop or TV and then transferring the tracings to black construction paper. After cutting all the figures out he glues them to different holds (including old Nag Champa boxes) and arranges the scene so there are various foreground and background elements.
For the gun smoke he uses cotton balls and the clouds in the background are made out of paper towels. When he needs fog or mist he uses a little incense smoke and the grass in some of the scenes is made from paper clips with paper taped to it.
“Everything is jury rigged,” says Reeves.
All the scenes are backlit to create the silhouette and Reeves shoots with a Canon 85mm f1.8 that creates a super shallow depth of field and intensifies the sharpness of the foreground characters.
His first cutouts were based on the videogame LIMBO, which is where he got the idea for his lighting technique. Since then he’s drawn inspiration from Frank Millers’ The Dark Knight Returns comic book, used zombies from the videogame Resident Evil and picked off samurai and cowboy characters from random movies and paintings.
From concept to finished photograph Reeves says the process usually takes six to eight hours. Most of them are done in one day because he can’t leave them for fear they’ll get destroyed.
“It his has to be quick and dirty,” he says. “Because my cat has jumped up an annihilated everything.” | <urn:uuid:e2c2492c-2f89-4f10-8f94-e50c4d08b9ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/10/zombies-batman-and-samurai-all-come-to-life-in-artful-cutout-photos/ | 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 | 0.961774 | 499 | 1.617188 | 2 |
For lack of a better name, I call these “bottle squash”. Their name in Arabic is “kareh-ah”, where the last syllable is pronounced as if you just received a gentle blow to the stomach. They are a summer vegetable that is commonly found in Arab produce markets here. Until I started spending time in the Nazareth kitchen of Balkees, my friend and culinary guide, I was clueless about them.
Kareh-ah’s container-like shape makes them perfect for stuffing, which is how I generally have eaten them at Balkees’ house – filled with a mixture of rice and chopped meat. After they are cooked, you cut them open in your bowl and pour some of the tomato sauce in which they were cooked over the filling.
Yesterday Balkees offered me some of the “baal” bottle squash she’d brought from Um Salekh’s field (see last few blog entries for more about “baal ” vegetables). I declined, explaining that I didn’t want to do the whole stuffing thing. But there is more than one way to cook a bottle squash, and she promised to teach me, sending me home with two big specimens in a bag with a few tomatoes for good measure.
First I was to peel them and cut then lengthwise in quarters. Then I should cut away the seeds before chopping the squash into bite-sized pieces. I was expecting the interior with the seeds to be woody and inedible but when I took a tentative taste, surprise surprise, it was delicate and lemony – like a soft and delicious cucumber.
I had chopped and sautéed some onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then added the squash. According to Balkees’ instructions, it was supposed to cook until all the liquid evaporated, but no liquid was coming out so I hoped I was doing things right. Then I had to peel the tomatoes – yes, no shortcuts – before chopping them into pieces, saving all that flavorful juice. When the squash was soft, I added the tomatoes and juice and cooked it all for another few minutes. A perfect summer dish – soft and soothing, yet intense with summer flavors.
So now, if you run across those lovely, pale bottle squashes, you know an easy way to cook them. And if you can pronounce them in Arabic, more power to you. | <urn:uuid:359cdbf5-ac24-4e3c-811b-a60540d1a89c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://galileecuisine.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/kareh-ah-another-waterless-wonder/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974781 | 502 | 1.570313 | 2 |
You’re thinking of starting a business? Hooray! Cool idea, and good luck. There are a few things that you can do to get started, and the first ought to be something counter-intuitive: don’t build your business plan. Yet.
The first thing you’ll need to do before you decide to really go for it is to figure out who your customers are and to learn more about what they need.
Then, try out your ideas on them.
Prepare a Pitch
What would someone like to know about your business in a very short piece of information? When someone says “What is ….” if you can respond with [my widget or service] is … and make it short, compelling, and interesting then you’ve gained their interest in having a larger conversation. Here are a few tips.
If you think your pitch is good right now and you’ve never delivered it before, you’re probably wrong. A great way to find the holes in your customer pitch is to tell about 40 people about your idea. You can use friends, family, or a coffee shop to get going. A particularly good place to do this is at an industry event or “speed networking” night.
Make a Survey Based on What You Learn
Now that you’ve tested your idea, make a survey (a short one will work better – people hate long surveys) and try to get answers to the 5-10 questions that will help you to move forward. There are great tools to help you to do this, including Google Docs, Wufoo and Survey Monkey. Get at least 30 people to answer your survey and you’ll be on your way to getting some actionable data.
Build an “Up and Stumbling” Prototype
When you think you have a better idea of what to build, go ahead and build a prototype – it doesn’t need to work but it does need to share the essence of your idea quickly (if you’re a business person, code in index cards or code in Powerpoint. If you’re a dev, build in whatever language you like that’s fast.) Balsamiq is a cool tool for this purpose, giving you enough information to show what you want to do, but not limiting you by creating an enormous prototyping framework.
Talk to Customers and Get Their Best 1 Piece of Feedback
People love to talk about your idea when you get a chance to ask them what they think. Because that feedback doesn’t always cost them anything, they might not focus on the one thing that matters to them about your product or service. So ask customers for their best 1 piece of feedback, not every piece of feedback they have – this will challenge them to refine their advice and you’ll have a better shot and finding out what really engages or bothers them about your idea.
Now, think about your Business Plan
Once you define your customer, pitch your idea, learn and build a prototype, and get some feedback, you’ll be a lot further along in the information you’ll need to build your business plan. Steve Blank lists some great tools for startups that will help you in this effort. | <urn:uuid:27268b27-31e7-46ee-bdc5-274df8ed1b50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gregmeyer.com/2011/05/22/you-dont-need-a-business-plan-yet-7-ideas-for-customer-development/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951876 | 674 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Welcome to the Black Cultural Center
The Purdue Black Cultural Center is a vibrant element of campus life offering a wealth of programs and services for the campus and Greater Lafayette community. The BCC brings together the wonderful diversity of the Purdue family by nurturing and presenting the rich heritage of the African American experience through art, history and cultural understanding. The BCC fosters student learning and success. We host intellectually stimulating lecturers, seminars and culturally relevant workshops. The BCC sponsors student performing arts in dance, drama, choral music and creative writing. The BCC library and computer lab are available to promote personal growth and development. | <urn:uuid:c89fec89-dac1-4a99-b86d-83c9bf67f733> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.purdue.edu/bcc/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932303 | 120 | 1.5 | 2 |
Fedora keeps the PowerPC faith
Yes, it only comprises a half of a percent — that’s 0.5 percent, if you’re keeping score at home — of all the Linux users. Yes, that translates to a microcosm of Linux users within a microcosm of overall computer users. So I understand if Linux on PowerPC does not apply to you.
But it might.
Regular readers of this blog know I have a soft spot for PowerPC architecture. I was a Mac guy before I was a Linux guy, and I became a Linux guy using Linux on PPC architecture before I finally — finally — warmed up to Intel, AMD and others. You’ve probably read here how well this processor works, and how fondly I remember Steve Jobs doing the Adobe Photoshop demonstration during every Macworld keynote while the PPC processor kicked Intel’s sorry butt time and time again.
While major distros have been making a bee line away from developing for the PowerPC architecture since Apple dumped the processor for the Intel one now in newer Macs, Fedora skipped its development of a PowerPC version of it’s current release, Fedora 14. They joined OpenSUSE in recently saying a hasty “adios” to an architecture that, sadly, is being used less in the hardware world.
[Currently, I have two iMacs at Redwood Digital -- a flavored G3 333MHz and an iMac G4 "desk lamp," both running Debian. Of all distros, Debian has remained consistent in its commitment to updating its PowerPC version of their distro. They also remain committed to developing for Commodore 64 and Atari architectures as well, while we're at it, but I digress.]
But there is good news for those who use the PowerPC: Fedora will be back in the PowerPC fold with Fedora 15, scheduled for release in May.
On behalf of the microcosm within the microcosm, thank you Fedora. | <urn:uuid:2f03a434-a004-42b4-8c10-c75489623dba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://larrythefreesoftwareguy.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/fedora-keeps-the-powerpc-faith/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=f5309b4960 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939861 | 412 | 1.5 | 2 |
Penn Museum Presents Peripheries 2012-13 Documentary Series
Monthly Film Screenings with Expert Commentators
On Second Sundays Beginning September 9
PHILADELPHIA, PA 2012—Peripheries, a new Penn Museum Second Sunday Culture Films series, explores the lives of people on society’s margins through a wide range of recent documentary films. Faculty experts from the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions introduce each film, with open discussion following the screenings. Presented in association with the 2012-2013 Penn Humanities Forum on Peripheries, Penn Museum’s Second Sunday Culture Film Series runs from October through February, beginning at 2:00 pm in the Museum’s Rainey Auditorium, 3260 South Street. The series is free with Museum admission.
September 9 Smokin' Fish, Cory Mann & Luke Griswold-Turgis (2011)
Tlingit filmmaker Cory Mann is both co-director and subject of this film about retaining a very traditional indigenous lifestyle in the Northwest, while running a 21st century cyber business. Student group Natives at Penn leads a post-film discussion. The program is sponsored by the Penn Center for Native American Studies, Natives at Penn, Penn Cinema Studies, and the Greenfield Intercultural Center.
October 14 I for India, Sandhya Suri (2006)
On immigration to the UK in 1965, Mr. Suri makes his first purchase, a super 8 camera and reel to reel recorder for himself, and another set for his family back in India. At least once a month he films his family and records a soundtrack, then ships them back home, and receives the same from India. The film is a unique record of a family’s experience as outsiders to a larger society, and how this changes in the next generation. Dr. Amardeep Singh, English, Lehigh University, facilitates a discussion. The program is sponsored by Penn Cinema Studies and the South Asia Center, University of Pennsylvania.
November 11 In Pursuit of Happiness, Ray Ono (2009)
After the initial grand economic bust in Japan, the homeless population has grown. This short film takes viewers to the lives of men who live on the outskirts of the city, and of Japanese society, but on another level speaks to the nature of happiness. Dr. Kyle Cleveland, Sociology, Temple University in Japan, leads a post-film discussion. The program is sponsored by Penn Cinema Studies and the Center for East Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania.
December 9 Excavation, Ellen Knechel (2011)
The small family farm in the Midwest has become exotic and peripheral to the majority of Americans who live on the coasts. In this highly personal essay Knechel's grandmother is moving out of her home as the family farm in Indiana begins closing down its operations. The question of what to keep, and what to leave behind, when the work of several lifetimes come to a close, is central to this subtle and poignant film. Director Ellen Knechel and Kate Pourshariati, film archivist, Penn Museum, facilitate a post-screening discussion. The program is sponsored by Penn Cinema Studies.
January 13 A Hospice in Amsterdam, Steef P.M. Meyknecht (2005)
For his research, Steef Meyknecht worked for three years as a volunteer in The Veerhuis Hospice. This film offers an unblinking, empathic look at a time of life often hidden from view. Dr. Nora Jones, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania, leads a post-film discussion. The program is sponsored by Penn Cinema Studies and the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania.
February 10 El Olvido (Oblivion), Heddy Honigmann (2008)
The filmmaker introduces viewers to Highland Inca people, having relocated to the capitol city of Lima, Peru, who give a startlingly personal view to recent political history and the effects of emigration on their lives. This film is highly original and steeped in love, and should not be missed. Dr. Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Pennsylvania, facilitates a post-film discussion. The program is sponsored by Penn Cinema Studies and the Latin American and Latino Studies Department, University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2012, is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind's collective heritage.
Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn's campus, across from Franklin Field). Public transportation to the Museum is available via SEPTA's Regional Rail Line at University City Station; the Market-Frankford Subway Line at 34th Street Station; trolley routes 11, 13, 34, and 36; and bus routes 12, 21, 30, 40, and 42. Museum hours are Tuesday and Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Wednesday, 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, with P.M. @ PENN MUSEUM evening programs offered select Wednesdays. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $12 for adults; $10 for senior citizens (65 and above); $10 for U.S. Military; $8 for children (6 to 17) and full-time students with ID; free to Members, PennCard holders, and children 5 and younger; "pay-what-you-want" the last hour before closing. Hot and cold meals and light refreshments are offered to visitors with or without Museum admission in The Pepper Mill Café; the Museum Shop and Pyramid Shop for Children offer a wide selection of gifts, books, games, clothing and jewelry. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call 215.898.4000. For group tour information call 215.746.8183. | <urn:uuid:9ffb5c28-1e2e-4a57-bc4b-d06e96c46a55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://penn.museum/press-releases/880-peripheries-documentary-series-features-monthly-film-screenings-with-expert-commentators.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936236 | 1,291 | 1.53125 | 2 |
One afternoon in late autumn in a park. The trees are leafless almost all, suggesting the complex ramifications of their branches. The light of the Sun is already raking in this season. But it is at the time of sunset shadows of the trees that are growing the most on the lawn of the park. Some leaves on the grass that have not yet been picked up remind that we’re still in autumn.
This photo is made in a park when the sun was setting behind the canopy of trees in the background. Framing the picture with a tree right in front of the sun, to hide the sun, can develop these shadows and leafless trunks and branches of trees, while hinting at the soft and warm light of the sun sunset. Taking pictures at this late hour gives a nice light, and let enjoy in the background a nice sky tinged with pink and orange. | <urn:uuid:d055cb1b-4c5a-445c-a4d9-d20816b12983> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.landscape-photo.net/blog-uk/tag/sunset/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953688 | 180 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Plugged-In Parenting comes at a time when parents find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They want to protect their children from the increasingly violent and sexualized content of movies, TV, the Internet, and music as well as cyberbullying and obsessive cell phone texting. But they fear that simply “laying down the law” will alienate their kids. Can parents stay connected to the media while staying connected to God and to each other? This book makes a powerful case for teaching kids media discernment,...
Plugged-In Parenting comes at a time when parents find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They want to protect their children from the increasingly violent and sexualized content of movies, TV, the Internet, and music as well as cyberbullying and obsessive cell phone texting. But they fear that simply “laying down the law” will alienate their kids. Can parents stay connected to the media while staying connected to God and to each other? This book makes a powerful case for teaching kids media discernment, but doesn’t stop there. It shows how to use teachable moments, evidence from research and pop culture, Scripture, questions, parental example, and a written family entertainment constitution to uphold biblical standards without damaging the parent-child relationship. Tyndale House Publishers
My cell phone began its vibrating "ring," but this was an important meeting. I let the call go to voice mail. When I listened to the message shortly afterward, the caller was insistent: "Bob, call me back as soon as possible." It was a man I'll call John (not his real name).
I dialed his mobile number. "What's up, John?"
He explained that as he'd walked through his living room the previous evening, he'd noticed his 15-year-old daughter watching a Disney Channel program he didn't know much about. But it made him uncomfortable. He angrily ordered her to turn off the television, saying, "I just don't like the boy-girl thing" on that show.
His daughter promptly burst into tears and grudgingly turned off the TV.
But that was just the beginning. Soon the incident escalated into the family version of World War III.
John's wife, disagreeing with his decision, heatedly and in no uncertain terms expressed how she felt. A fight ensued, with both spouses insisting they were handling the situation appropriately. But before heading off to bed irritated, the couple agreed on one thing: John would call me in the morning and ask my opinion about the whole matter. Both would abide by my decision.
I would be the tiebreaker. No pressure!
I'll tell you where I came down later in this book. At this point, I just want to assure you that family entertainment-related battles are common—although most parents don't call me to arbitrate them.
You know the kind of clash I mean. Perhaps it's arguing over how much time your preteen or teen spends on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Maybe it's your daughter's decision to watch that horror film at last weekend's slumber party even though she'd promised to call if that temptation ever arose. Or it could be borrowing your 16-year-old son's car, turning on the ignition, and getting blasted with profanities from the CD he left in the stereo, a disc you had no idea he even owned.
So here's the question: Since disagreements over what to watch, play, text, listen to, click on, download, and read cause so much conflict, is all the stress worth it? Why not just adopt a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to your family's media diet?
To Tell the Truth
At this point you may be thinking, I know where this is going. This guy has an ax to grind. He wants to make the media look as bad as possible. That's how he makes a living. How can I trust him?
I understand. I've faced that challenge before.
Trust was an issue recently when my wife Leesa and I were looking for a used car with decent gas mileage. Turning to Craigslist, we found one. As I read the online listing, I was determined that if the vehicle was as advertised, I wanted it. When I called, a young man answered and explained that he was helping his mother sell her car. What I didn't know was that the mother and son had emigrated from China just four years before. The teenage son had picked up English rather quickly, but his mother had not.
"Well, would you take a personal check?" I asked.
"No," was the response.
"Well, we're coming up anyway and we'll figure it out later," I said. At Leesa's suggestion I ran to our bank and withdrew the cash.
Arriving several hours later to inspect the vehicle, we saw it had been represented accurately. "Yes, we want it," I declared, "and I have the cash to seal the deal."
The young man said I'd need to talk to his mother at work. Going to her place of employment, I told her I wanted to buy the car. Despite the language barrier, she clearly understood. But when I pulled the wad of cash from my pocket and explained how we would be paying for it that very day, the deal suddenly was in jeopardy.
"Could be ... counterfeit," she blurted.
Standing there with more cash in my pocket than I'd ever carried before, all in $100 bills, I had a major dilemma: How could I convince this lady that I wasn't trying to cheat her, that the money was genuine? I tried assuring her the bills were real, that I'd just gone to the bank. I smiled politely and tried to look like an honest man (a challenge in itself). Nothing seemed to work.
In broken English she explained that in China it was very common for people to cheat others using counterfeit currency. As a relatively new person in the United States, she was determined not to get swindled.
I can't blame her. Fortunately, Leesa soon joined me after doing some shopping. Instantly the Chinese lady trusted her—not me—and said she would accept our cash and sign the paperwork!
I tell that story because in this book I'm doing my best to offer what's real, genuine, and true. But I'm afraid some readers won't buy it, believing what I'm offering is counterfeit.
Maybe you, like the Chinese lady, have had experiences that make it hard to trust anyone who comes bearing a pocketful of $100 bills—or arguments and warnings and advice about how the media might affect your kids. Perhaps you've made some assumptions about whether your family's media diet really matters, and whether it's worth the stress of making that diet a healthier one. Maybe you've even been believing a myth or two or three.
Since I can't bring my wife along to convince you, may I ask that you read this book with an open mind? I'll try to earn your trust. My message may not always be pleasant—but it's the real thing.
The Waliszewski Experience
Speaking of honesty, I have to say the following in the interest of full disclosure: As our children grew up, my wife and I seldom battled with them over entertainment decisions. I'm thankful for that, but realize I run the risk of alienating and discouraging you if your experience is different. You might feel our family somehow lived above the fray—something you believe is totally unrealistic for you. I hope you won't see it that way; instead, I hope you'll take heart that although entertainment can be a battleground, it doesn't have to be a bloody one.
I believe the major reason my wife and I didn't regularly bicker with our children over media decisions was our effort to follow the principles I'll share in this book. But we weren't exempt, either.
For instance, when our daughter Kelsey was in middle school, a certain R rated film came out that was the talk of her classmates—and the rest of the nation. As R rated films go, it was on the lighter side, but still contained enough objectionable content that we just weren't comfortable letting her see it. According to our daughter, "all" of her friends had viewed this particular movie (which of course wasn't true, but many had). She was convinced she should see it, too.
If you've dealt with a similar situation, you can imagine how Kelsey felt—that her status as a maturing young adult was on the line. She certainly didn't want a reputation for being the girl who was only allowed to watch Cinderella, TV Land reruns, and movies filmed in the 1940s and '50s.
I'd love to say this challenge had a happy ending at the time. But it didn't. Even though many, many Christian parents were allowing their kids to see this one, we believed we were making the right decision by putting our foot down. There was no compromise that would make her happy and allow us to stay true to our values. The answer was no. End of story.
Well, not quite. Kelsey is in her early twenties now; recently my wife and I talked with her about her growing-up years. I asked her to describe the most difficult "media moment" in her upbringing. She recalled the situation I've just described. Then I asked, "Knowing what you know now, what would you change if you had to live this time all over again?"
"Not a thing," she replied. Chuckling, she recalled how badly she'd wanted us to let her see that film. But she's glad now that we drew a line in the sand and didn't waver. Whew! It took almost a decade to discover that even from our daughter's perspective we made the right decision.
Setting healthy entertainment boundaries in your home may mean you won't see much buy-in from your kids—at least in the present. But stay the course. Don't waver. A better time probably is coming.
Why is this important? Because navigating today's entertainment successfully is a big deal even though we live in a culture that says it's not. For millions, media decisions are made as casually as buying a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. I can't tell you the number of deeply troubling R and PG-13 movie screenings I've attended that included parents with young children—even toddlers and those around four or five! Sadly, these parents don't have the gumption to walk out and take their children with them when things decline from risqué to soft porn or from violent to gruesome. I can't even imagine the battles these children will face with issues like sexuality as they grow older.
Chances are you already know, deep down, that helping your kids make wise entertainment choices is important. But it's easy for many of us to avoid taking action. That's because we've latched on to some convenient untruths that seem to excuse us from tackling our responsibilities as parents.
Media Myths that Matter
As ridiculous as it now seems, there was a time I believed I could beat Billie Jean King in a game of tennis if given the opportunity. This wacky thought occurred to me during the much publicized 1973 match between King and Bobby Riggs.
That wasn't the first time I'd made a questionable assumption. After being exposed to Greek mythology in kindergarten, I became convinced that human beings could fly if given the right amount of feathers (never mind that I'd never seen anyone do that). I also believed that if I read a book by candlelight, I would eventually lose my vision.
All of us can point to things we once believed that we now know are totally false. I'm glad that many years ago I accepted the fact that I'll never be able to fly. Nor do I stand even the slightest chance of returning the serve of Billie Jean King—even in her later years—much less coming out victorious in a match. And I've read many things by low light; my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but I can't blame the lack of lumens.
Living successfully involves the ongoing process of sorting out fact from fiction. There are several myths about the impact of entertainment, the nature of biblical discernment, and the parent's role. Some sound quite appealing. A few may appear to work. Others may look spiritual on the surface. But believing them can have unintended consequences. I'd like to highlight seven of them.
Myth #1: "It's No Big Deal"
Focus on the Family received a letter from Larry, a Michigan father, who accompanied his correspondence with 13 CDs. All but one were stickered with Parental Advisory warnings. Among other things, Larry wrote this: "My son is hooked on degrading, offensive music. After 14 years of Christian schooling, church, and Sunday school, he is rejecting Jesus and Christianity—please get the word out [before] more children fall for this God-insulting music."
Ask Larry if it's true that a child's media diet is no big deal. I guarantee he'll eloquently make his case to the contrary. For him, and many parents like him, this myth was shattered by personal experience and heartache.
Can the choices Larry's son made regarding music be blamed for his abandoning the faith? Yes and no. Music is a powerful influence. But there may have been other factors, too—like peer pressure, his relationship with his parents, a traumatic loss, a lack of real friends, bullying, poor self-image, experimentation with drugs or the occult, a sexual relationship, or false theology. But I agree with Larry that, at the minimum, his son's media choices played not only a role, but a significant role.
Maybe your child is not battling the same issues as Larry's son. But the chances are great that your young person's faith has been marred somewhat by what he or she listens to, watches, or plays—if those media choices lean toward the unsavory side.
If you do have a child like Larry's in your home, you know that any attempt to "meddle" can get messy. You've heard the advice that we should pick our battles carefully—and we should. Is this one to skip?
I don't think so. Not only should we stand our ground; we need to come fully armored and prepared for the long haul. Entertainment really is a big deal—especially when it has immediate consequences and eternal ramifications.
Myth #2: "Just Get 'Em Saved"
Many parents—though they wouldn't state it quite this way—believe that if they can just bring their young person to Christ, good media choices will naturally follow.
It's true that some spiritual conversions include new convictions about objectionable entertainment. But frequently this isn't the case. When most kids accept Jesus as Savior, it's their first step in a lifetime of maturing spiritually. It's not a magic, protective dynamic. Nor does the salvation experience impart a new understanding of media, any more than it imparts the ability to windsurf, fly-fish, or snow ski.
In fact, it may come as a surprise that evangelical teens seem to consume media much as their non-Christian peers do—at least according to a limited number of studies. One such study appeared in The Barna Report 1992-1993, making the disturbing discovery that "Christian young adults are more likely than others to have watched MTV in the past week" (42% compared to 33% respectively). More recently, a February 2011 online survey of 240 ethnically diverse 10- to 15-year-olds—admittedly a small sampling—found that evangelical tweens were more likely to have viewed an R rated movie in the past three months than their non-evangelical peers were (35% compared to 26% respectively). This survey also found that one of every four evangelical tweens watched MTV's Jersey Shore, 38 percent said they watch the sexually obsessed Two and a Half Men, and 35 percent viewed Glee—roughly the same percentage as non-Christian tweens.
At best, beginning a relationship with God helps the new believer want to please Him more deeply. That can bring a new openness to honoring Him with choices that never seemed important before. But it's far from automatic.
Myth #3: "They'll Learn by Osmosis"
Many moms and dads seem to assume there isn't a whole lot to teach about making wise entertainment decisions. They seldom bring the subject up and have never had a pointed conversation about media and its influence.
If asked, they'd admit that they've done little in the way of verbal training. For them, it's all about modeling. They believe that if they practice media discernment themselves, their children will soak in all the right ingredients to make wise entertainment choices.
I can't underscore too many times how important setting a positive example is. But it's simply not enough. Our children also need to hear regularly from our own lips how important it is to guard our hearts. They need to understand from us verbally what's expected, and why the Lord's heart aches when we disobey and dishonor His commands.
Myth #4: "The Youth Group Can Do It"
A lot of parents feel that if they get their youngster to regularly attend the youth group at their church, that son or daughter will become media savvy. It's true that some youth leaders are quite knowledgeable about media discernment and teach along those lines at youth group meetings. But a number of them don't.
Frankly, some youth leaders simply don't get it when it comes to honoring Christ with their personal entertainment choices. As a result, they don't teach on the subject. I know this firsthand; as a former youth pastor myself, I was halfway through my youth ministry "career" before the Lord got hold of this area of my life.
A rock-solid youth group can make a huge, positive difference in your young person's life. But you can't assume this particular job is getting done. I'd suggest sharing a cup of coffee with your church's youth pastor to find out his convictions on a number of issues—media included.
Myth #5: "I Survived, So My Kids Will, Too"
Plenty of parents can recall making all kinds of poor decisions regarding entertainment during their middle and high school years. Yet somehow they survived the onslaught. These parents put a lot of confidence in their kids' resiliency.
While all that sounds wonderful, there are no guarantees about "bouncing back" in the Bible or in the world around us. Some young people—like Larry's son—turn their backs on God because of the influence of media in their lives. A number of these eventually return, but others tragically don't.
Keep in mind, too, that times have changed since your childhood and adolescence. Much of today's entertainment is darker, more sexually explicit, profane, and gory than what was popular when you were growing up.
Excerpted from Plugged-In Parenting by BOB WALISZEWSKI Copyright © 2011 by Focus on the Family. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
part 1 Deciding Where You Stand as a Parent
1 Is This Stress Necessary? 3
2 Answering Your Child's Objections 19
3 Doing Your Child a Favor 41
part 2 Making Rules Without Making Enemies
4 It Starts with the Heart 63
5 Preparing Them with Principles 81
6 Ten Things You Can Do to End Fights over Family Entertainment 97
7 Your Family Entertainment Constitution 111
8 Frantically Asked Questions 123
part 3 Keeping the Peace and Passing It on
9 Getting Technology on Your Side 153
10 Reaching Out to Other Families 171
Posted September 1, 2011
Author , Bob Waliszewski wrote this great book called "Plugged In Parenting." This book is all about how parents find themselves between their kids and a culture that breeds an ever growing media driven society for children. Parents want to be able to protect their children from bullying, sexual content, texting, profane language and violence, but this culture allows children to get anything at their finger tips. This is an awesome book for parents. I highly recommend it! It allows parents to understand how to connect to media and allows great discussion between parents and children.
I think this book will make parents aware of how much screen time their kids are having and will allow them to have an open discussion. It makes many valid points on different types of Media and how parents need to be actively aware of what their child is watching, listening and seeing. This book is parent friendly and written with godly concepts in mind. The book also helps you navigate unchartered waters such as dealing with schools when they show a movie that you do not want your student to see. He gives advice for both the parent and child. Bob does this with many other topics that arise. This book is great and allows for an open discussion between parents, children and God about making appropriate entertainment options.
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Posted August 11, 2011
Plugged-In Parenting is a great book for parents or to be parents. It's like a guide to it. It's a great book that teaches an informs parents about things in parenting plus media stuff with parenting. A great book for parents!Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Posted August 8, 2011
After reading Plugged-In Parenting by Bob Waliszewski, I now know there are more better ways to supervise my teenagers' screen time and entertainment choices. With book sections on "Deciding Where You Stand" (as the parent), "Making Rules Without Making Enemies," and "Keeping the Peace and Passing It On", the author shares his principles and possible scenarios for implementing them. The author's conversational-style of writing make this book easy to read and understand. It is as he is sitting in the room with you answering any questions that may arise. I enjoyed this book and was able to garner better ways to oversee my teenagers' entertainment choices. I like the way he teaches us to look at the heart-issue, instead of just making rules. Since I am a rule maker, this is something I really needed to hear. He guides you through the principles of why choices are good or bad, and how to work with your family to minimize arguments over them. Bob Waliszewski includes a chapter on the technology of today that our youth are using. He discusses the different types, cyber bullying, appropriateness of its uses, and how to monitor their time on the electronics. Overall, this book gives parents a good starting point to raising "media-savvy kids with love, not war." My star rating 4.5 out of 5 stars. Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Posted July 16, 2011
Plugged in Parenting: How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids with Love, Not War is a book for parents on how to navigate the world of technology that sometimes seems foreign to adults. In this book Bob Waliszewski does not lay definite rules of "Good" and "Bad" for media, but suggests parents get involved with their children's choices of websites, video games, and even texting. One thing he didn't mention was books. I know children and teens don't read today like they once did, but books still send messages, good or bad, and I'm sure the author believes this or he wouldn't have penned a book himself!
As the book began, I thought it was going to be one where the parents make the rules and lay down the law. In fact, I still thought this a couple chapters in, but then it seemed to take a change. One thing the author suggested was a family media contract where any new media must be approved of by the parents, and if it doesn't meet the guidelines agreed upon in advance, the child is out the new CD/video game/DVD, and also is out the money they spent on that item.
Waliszewski gives advice on how to deal with situations when schools or other parents want to show a movie you don't approve of. He gives advice for both parents and the child in that situation.
This book is adaptable, so it will be relevant in a few years as it is today. Just because there is some yet-to-be-invented media down the road won't make the principles of this book any less relevant because he discusses how to have an open and honest dialog with your children so they learn good decision making skills about entertainment choices.
FTC disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review. The opinions of it are my own.
Posted July 30, 2011
No text was provided for this review. | <urn:uuid:d120c3a3-aff8-40f5-9d1b-df50af9a1c7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/plugged-in-parenting-bob-waliszewski/1102466170?ean=9781589976245 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978256 | 5,353 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Rep. Brown is to be applauded for attempting to reintroduce proper perspective into the legislature. Proper perspective illustrates the legislature as a body of servants put on a sacred errand to enact laws that are beneficial to the state and fair to its citizens. By the vote of the people these select few are chosen and entrusted to act on behalf of the people without the people having to watch their every move. When it is discovered that the chosen servants have voted themselves a benefit which cannot be provided to the citizens as a whole, perspective is twisted and the people’s trust is violated. Follow Rep. Brown’s lead and fix it, ye public servants of the people, and regain our trust.
2) 2011 House Bill 4575 (Require legislators pay 25 percent of health fringe benefit ) by admin on January 1, 2001 | <urn:uuid:659bd70f-60c0-406d-94a7-36c5bb4561c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.michiganvotes.org/2011-HB-4575 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967351 | 167 | 1.515625 | 2 |
c.1972 Triumph 750cc Trident Racer Project
Although up-staged in the showroom by Japanese rivals, the Triumph and BSA 750 triples did more than enough on the racetrack to ensure their place in motorcycling history. BSA-Triumph's Chief Engineer Doug Hele supervised engine development throughout 1969 while frame builder Rob North devised a chassis that would stand the test of time like few others. The team narrowly missed victory at the 1970 Daytona 200, its first major event, when Gene Romero finished second on a Triumph. Dick Mann's BSA won at Daytona in 1971 and John Cooper, also BSA-mounted, at Mallory Park's Race of the Year, vanquishing the hitherto unbeatable combination of Giacomo Agostini and MV. Percy Tait and Ray Pickrell had won the 24-hour Bol d'Or endurance race the preceding week on another Triple, and Cooper wrapped up a memorable international season for BSA-Triumph with victory in the 250-mile race at Ontario in October. As a production racer the Triple was equally dominant, as the number of important production race victories achieved (most notably by the famous works Triumph known as 'Slippery Sam') is eloquent testimony. After the dissolution of BSA-Triumph, race shop foreman Les Williams continued to develop the Triples, producing the acclaimed, limited edition Legend and constructing a number of replicas of the multiple TT-winning 'Slippery Sam'. Williams having led the way, 'Sam' has remained a popular subject among replica-builders ever since.
This part-dismantled Trident was purchased as a 'basket case' in 1990/91 with the intention of restoring it. Nothing is known of the machine's history or who built/raced it. The vendor advises us that it is complete, including the fairing and various parts in wooden boxes, and that the engine has been stored inside his house since purchase. (It should be noted that there are no identifying numbers on either the frame or engine). There are no documents with this Lot, which is sold strictly as viewed.
- Added lot - c.1972 Triumph 750cc Trident Racer Project
Auction terms and conditions | <urn:uuid:d811a2fb-b9bd-47a0-9258-dca294d79c6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/18295/lot/197/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956577 | 450 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Mainstream Media Covering So-Called "Ex-Gay" Programs
So I've spent the better part of today sifting through, watching, and re-watching various clips of the mainstream media discussing the idea of so-called "ex-gay" therapy.
We've had our problems this year with various outlets trying to tackle this topic, some less successfully than others - with only Anderson Cooper really nailing it. Before yesterday, there was something missing from much of the discussion - namely, the concrete harms that even attempting to change one's orientation can cause, and the fact that this idea has been discredited and discouraged by the America's mainstream (and impartial) medical, counseling and mental health communities.
Yesterday, the mainstream media largely did a solid job of pointing out that this type of "therapy" or "counseling" can be extremely dangerous and damaging, and is not accepted by knowledgeable experts in those fields. MSNBC in particular did a great job of letting its viewership know where those experts stand, which is one of the things we asked that the media take into consideration yesterday. You can see much of the coverage that resulted here, at Towleroad.
But, this information - however crucial - also set up a bit of a framing problem, that the media did not do such a great job of dealing with. Namely, when you're putting forth the expert opinions of the mainstream medical, counseling and mental health communities on one side - and you're putting forth the opinions of members of the anti-gay industry who identify as being "faith-based" on the other - you end up making this seem like both sides are in complete agreement. "Doctors versus The Church."
And while the communities of professionals and experts who oppose the idea of trying to change a person's orientation ARE in fact, united - on the faith side, it's a very different story.
The reality is, not only are medical, counseling and mental health professional organizations against this idea – but so are millions upon millions of people of faith. It's fantastic that the media let its audience know about the secular organizations who tell families to love and accept their LGBT children rather than try to change them. But what about the religious organizations that have the same message? As we said yesterday,
Three-quarters of the country identifies as Christian, but more than half of Americans say we need laws to protect the gay community from discrimination. (CBS Poll, June 2010) Among young people (18-29) 72% are supportive of gay and lesbian relationships. Even on the issue of marriage equality, the latest polls show the country split evenly, or with a slight majority in favor.
You can be Christian and gay, and you can be Christian and support equality for gay people. Many Christian denominations embrace lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people just as they are, including the United Church of Christ, The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church (USA); many other denominations have congregations and clergy that welcome gay and lesbian people.
There's another part of the framing problem, which is a bit simpler to explain - namely, the media loves things that rhyme. Like this here.
And while the content of this segment did an excellent job of putting forth the facts, and making sure the audience that was listening knew about the harms this idea can cause ... this headline can cause problems. I don't know how many people at home were flipping through the channels, caught this out of the corner of their eye on their way to another show, and came away with the idea that one actually could do what this title implies. I sincerely hope the answer is none.
There was one more problem - Why bring on someone who supports so-called "ex-gay therapy?"
I can only assume it's because the media loves the 'debate' format and has a hard time breaking from it, even when a purely investigative approach would do an infinitely better job of informing its audience.
So who to bring on? Who else but Peter Sprigg from the the Family Research Council.
Okay - where do we begin with this.
Late last year, Chris Matthews had to take time out of a later show to clarify that the "research" being cited by Sprigg's boss, Tony Perkins, was not coming from a legitimate scientific organization, but rather a group of conservatives who banded together specifically to fight against LGBT equality.
Jeremy Hooper at the blog Good As You has an exhaustive list of some of the Family Research Council's greatest hits:
...it is our duty to remind America of the kind of crude things that FRC staffers so routinely and unabashedly say about our lives and loves. Things like: Positioning us as a kid-threatening disaster in need of "ex-gay" therapy, churning out brochures that compare same-sex marriages to those bonds which might exist between a man and a horse (complete with horse photo), directly likens us to terrorists, calling LGBT rights a battle of "good versus evil," saying DADT repeal proponents are "willing to jeopardize our nation’s security to advance the agenda of the radical homosexual lobby,"…saying the gay activists who challenge FRC are "held captive by the enemy," writing that same-sex marriage will be "opening the door to all manner of moral and social evil, and calling on U.S. gays to be either "exported" or criminalized (to name just a few FRC eyebrow-jackers).
Joe My God reader Dave Evans put together a video of some more "highlights."
And there's even more that hasn't been mentioned. Wondering what FRC's take is on the issue of bullying and harassment of LGBT young people? From the FRC blog:
"The most effective way of reducing teen suicide attempts is not to create a 'positive social environment' for the affirmation of homosexuality. Instead, it would be to discourage teens from self-identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual." – Peter Sprigg
What about the proposed legislation that would create the death penalty for gay people in Uganda? Even FRC would agree that's too extreme and should be opposed, right? Again, from Joe My God:
Below are three screencaps of the 20-page Family Research Council lobbying report supplied to me by Duncan Osbourne at Gay City News. Among the other items they lobbied against are the overturn of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense Of Marriage Act, which is to be expected. But it's almost astounding, almost, that they would lobby the members of Congress against denouncing the death penalty for LGBT people.
Yes, Family Research Council believes that opposing a bill that would allow Ugandans to be executed just for being gay equates to "Pro-homosexual promotion."
Family Research Council has not studied this issue scientifically. These are not impartial experts, or scholars, or "researchers" on the issue of so-called "ex-gay" therapy. They are a group of anti-gay activists whose only qualification is their persistence. It makes sense to have R Clarke Cooper or any other Republican strategist on to discuss the potential political impact of this story. It makes sense to have neutral experts who have studied this issue and can speak to the science behind it. But it makes no sense to have FRC on to talk about this.
So now I'm asking myself, "Why, if I categorized the coverage as 'solid' and even 'great' ... did I spend the next dozen or whatever paragraphs talking about the problems with the coverage?" And here's the answer.
The idea that a person needs to change their orientation to live in accordance with their faith is 100% false. The idea that a person COULD change their actual orientation if they wanted to is also 100% false. Anything that implies that either of these statements is anything but completely and utterly false is dangerous, damaging, and could have dire consequences.
If even one parent who thinks his or her child might be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, sees media coverage of this issue and comes away with even a sliver of doubt as to whether so-called "ex-gay therapy" is a terrible idea - if even one parent thinks they don't need to love and accept their child exactly the way they are and that they can try to change them - if even one young person or adult sees one of these stories and decides to try it out for themselves - then the media has failed to cover this issue accurately.
That's why it's so important to get this story right - and to point it out every single time someone gets it wrong. | <urn:uuid:d866be83-8a54-4fae-aaf1-db332038ce13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.glaad.org/comment/12184 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96756 | 1,782 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Article Archive >> Business
Financial Focus: Use "Ladder" to Climb above Interest Rate Worries
Use "Ladder" to Climb above Interest Rate Worries
Interest rates are constantly changing. But how do rising or falling interest rates affect your investment strategies?
There's no simple answer, of course. If you own stocks, higher interest rates could be a cause for concern, because when interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive for companies to borrow to expand their operations. As a result, these businesses may feel a squeeze on their profitability - and their stock prices. And yet, some businesses are much more affected by rising interest rates than others, so, as an investor, you can't really base your actions on a blanket statement such as: "Higher interest rates are bad for all stocks."
The situation is a little different if you own fixed-income vehicles, such as bonds. When interest rates rise, the value of your bonds will fall. That's because no one will want to pay you the full price for your bonds when he or she can buy new ones issued with a higher interest rate. To sell yours, you'd have to offer them at a "discount" to their face value. On the other hand, if interest rates fall, the value of your existing bonds will rise, so if you were to sell them, you could get a premium price.
Of course, if you're like many people, you don't buy bonds just to sell them. You want to hold them until maturity, when you can expect to get your principal back, assuming it's a quality bond and the issuer doesn't default. And, along the way, you've gotten regular interest payments, which you can use to supplement your cash flow or to reinvest.
However, even if you do plan on holding bonds or certificates of deposit (CDs) until maturity, you might want to pay some attention to what's happening with interest rates. After all, if you depend on bonds or CDs for some of your income, and rates are down when these investments mature, you could face a difficult choice: Should you purchase new fixed-income vehicles at current rates, or should you "park" your money somewhere and hope for rates to rise again soon?
Fortunately, you can find a better solution than either of these options. How? By building a "ladder" of fixed-income investments. To build a ladder, you purchase a variety of fixed-income vehicles [any combination of corporate bonds, U.S. government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and/or Treasury securities, municipal bonds or certificates of deposit] with a wide range of maturities - short-, intermediate- and long-term.
Once you have established a bond ladder, you are prepared for both rising and falling interest rates. When rates are rising, the proceeds from your maturing bonds can be used to invest in new ones at higher levels. When market rates are falling, you'll continue to benefit from the higher rates offered by your longer-term bonds.
In addition to helping you productively reinvest your maturing bond proceeds in all interest rate environments, a well-structured bond ladder may, over time, help you increase the income you earn on your fixed-income portfolio. And, at the very least, by regularly reinvesting part of your portfolio in all market conditions, you may be able to smooth out your returns.
See your financial advisor for help in putting together a fixed-income ladder that can help you meet your needs.
This article was submitted by local financial representatives of Edward Jones.
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<< back to All Articles | <urn:uuid:86604f26-14f6-41a2-9d4c-cdd379401b89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.picketnews.com/archiveDetail.asp?cID=2&id=5201 | 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 | 0.951478 | 745 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Linux Magazine: MySQL Performance Tuning, Part 2
Apr 02, 2002, 11:00 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Jeremy Zawodny)
[ Thanks to Jeremy D.
Zawodny for this link. ]
"In the open source world, truly great software starts in the
hands of enthusiasts and hobbyists. Given time, it matures and
develops a more robust community. Then, before most of us realize
what is happening, it gains critical mass and moves into the
broader industry. Companies that were using expensive commercial
software just a year ago are suddenly using a free product -- one
of the rising stars from the world of Open Source.
"We're all familiar with software products that have followed
that pattern recently: Linux, Sendmail, Perl, Apache, and so on.
Few people who have worked with MySQL will tell you that it is any
different. MySQL is becoming an increasingly popular choice for
building business-class database applications on Linux.
"As a result of MySQL's growing role in larger organizations,
its use is becoming more high-profile. This means, of course, that
MySQL needs to provide responsiveness, high performance, and
reliability. Already known in the industry for being a
lightning-fast database server, MySQL is often up to the task
straight out of the box. However, there are quite a few things that
can easily slow it down. Sometimes it's the result of poor
application design. Sometimes MySQL's default configuration simply
isn't good enough for the task at hand. And sometimes all you need
to do is throw a little more hardware at the problem..." | <urn:uuid:39ca6ec6-f897-4f83-b065-cafabb88b652> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/2002040200526NWSWDV | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933984 | 354 | 1.78125 | 2 |
From Bias magazine, July 27, 1954, pages 14 and 15.
Razing of the old Elms hotel, 527 St. Louis, once one of Springfield's finest homes, has a special nostalgic meaning for Mrs. Claud Rathbone. Mrs. Rathbone, the former Elizabeth Cooper, and her sister Mary, who's now Mrs. Risdon McBride, were born in the house, lived there many years with their mother and grandmother and recall the gay socials once held in the spacious white frame structure.
Mrs. Rathbone's mother is Mrs. George Cooper, who'll be 88 this fall and who now is visiting Mrs. McBride in Orlando, Fla. She'll return this winter to the Rathbone home at 1530 Washington. Mr. Cooper and his brother, the late Harry Cooper, owned the Cooper Brothers Plumbing Co., (now the Harry Cooper Supply Co.) and George Cooper died of pneumonia while visiting in England when daughter Elizabeth was 16 years of age.
Mrs. Cooper was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J.R. Smith and Mrs. Smith was Fannie Keet, daughter of Thomas Josiah Keet, Springfield pioneer. T.J. Keet at one time owned property extending from the Elms hotel site east to Kimbrough and it was through him that his daughter, Mrs. Smith obtained the handsome home which became known as "the Smith place". [Note: The location would have been on the North side of St. Louis Street about half way between N. Benton and Kimbrough Ave according to the 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, page 65.]
Mrs. Smith and the Cooper family lived there together. Both ladies loved to entertain and as the Cooper girls grew up there were many parties for "the high school set" held there. As Mrs. Rathbone recalls it, the lower floor included a front parlor, sitting room, library, music room, large dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and bath and the second floor, reached by a beautiful stair extending up from the wide front hall, held exactly as many rooms-all bedrooms.
When Mr. and Mrs. Cooper decided to move into the home with their mother, they remodeled the house extensively. An old barn on the place was whitewashed and made into living quarters for the family while the remodeling was in progress "just like a garage apartment today" Mrs. Rathbone said.
Mrs. Rathbone doesn't recall just when the Coopers decided to move to a more modern home on Cherry Street but the property was rented for a time then sold. It's been purchased now by Postmaster C. Arch Bay at a sheriff's sale for $47, 500. Mr. Bay said the site will be made into a parking lot; it's convenient to the Shrine Mosque and the new Sears-Roebuck building.
As far as Mrs. Rathbone can remember the house was never occupied by the Crenshaw family, notwithstanding statements published to the contrary. The Crenshaws, she said, lived up the street where the American Laundry is now located. [Note: In the 1953 Springfield City Directory the American Laundry was at 720 St. Louis Street, which was just east of the Kentwood Arms hotel. These homes and businesses can be found on the Sanborn Fire Insurence Maps online.]
Find this article at | <urn:uuid:286b7d81-2c6d-4e58-a70e-8a1ca7fab81e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=822&lid=62 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974252 | 693 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Beneath the despair at the lack of serious global action on climate and more broadly on sustainability, there is a quiet but exciting revolution happening on the ground. While the politicians talk, the market is preparing for the inevitable failure of the old economy by starting to build a new one. That’s why I’m excited to be part of this RenewEconomy venture. While there is a great deal of focus on the failures of our global political system, there’s a bunch of people out there who, as Tom Friedman in the New York Times puts it, didn’t get the message that we’re not acting, didn’t get the message that the old economy is fighting back, didn’t get the message that we’re sticking with our old ways.
That’s the thing we often forget about people and markets – no one is in charge. Not government, not the financial markets, not even the corporate sector. While we focus, for good reason, on all the bad sides of Wall St greed and stupidity along with the frustrating corporate corruption of our political process, we forget there are millions of people out there who are ignoring all that and are instead hard at work creating the future. These people know that, ultimately, the world is driven not by politics, but by physics. That if you increase the thickness of the earth’s greenhouse blanket it gets warmer, despite those who vainly wish it weren’t so. They know that while our political processes can be painfully slow, we are not as a species stupid and we will respond. They also know that when we do, fortunes will be made, new industries built and billions of people will lead better lives for it.
So they want to be part of the action. They want to build a new energy infrastructure, they want to transform personal transport, they want to dramatically change the way we grow our food, build our homes and use our energy. Whereas many of us look at the rapidly worsening rate of climate change and see disaster, these people see further scientific evidence that the market will just have to shift.
The exciting thing about this moment is that after decades of talk and forecasts, we are now entering a period of reality hitting the ground. Even the IEA, for a long time a resisting, conservative force aligned to the fossil fuel industry’s world view, is now imagining a world where solar could provide over 1/3 of end energy use after 2060 at an affordable cost. The opportunity in such solar growth is mind boggling in scale. Perhaps more importantly we are seeing dramatic growth today in installed solar with many utility scale solar renewables projects already in operation and many more under construction.
Prices are falling as expected with such dramatic growth and with continued price reductions we will see grid parity as an emerging reality for solar in many countries over the next few years. While such rapid change will inevitably lead to a chaotic market, with volatile share prices and bankruptcies alongside the rapid growth, the trend is clear and such high-risk growth is where markets come into the own sorting the good from the bad.
But aside from these and other exciting technologies there is a deeper and more important transformation going on, that’s why the name RenewEconomy is so appropriate for this site. As I’ve written before, the Occupy Wall St movement and the debate it has sparked suggest there is something much deeper happening. It is now clear that the challenge we face is not a technological one but a human and economic one. Our global economic model, framed around the delusion of the possibility of infinite growth on a finite planet, is not delivering. It is destroying the life support system of humanity, the ecosystem, and it is no longer delivering improved quality of life for those in Western countries who have their basic needs met. The result will not be a gentle process of change but a crisis driven transformation more akin to a war mobilisation than anything most people are expecting.
Another indication that change is well underway is that investors are observing the emerging crisis and resulting transformation of the global economy that I write about, and seeing an investment framework. This view is argued by Paul Farrel in this piece on WSJ’s Market Watch where he says “Wall Street’s mutant capitalism is destroying our world. We must make a choice. Save Wall Street? Or save the world? We can no longer do both. Only one will survive.”
Many argue the change coming is not this dramatic, others that it is even more so. Whatever the result, it’s a debate no one can afford to ignore and in these pages I will be exploring these deeper questions alongside the exciting market and technology developments. So welcome to RenewEconomy and welcome to your future. | <urn:uuid:cd01f4c3-287b-4727-a019-70977e655d7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/reality-dawns-a-fortune-to-be-won-in-new-economy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948431 | 977 | 1.609375 | 2 |
By Mark Miller
CHICAGO (Reuters) - There will be good and bad news next year for seniors using Medicare's prescription drug program.
Overall, enrollees can expect a year of flat or decreasing Medicare prescription drug costs, according to data released last week by the federal government. The government said Medicare's per-beneficiary drug costs fell 4 percent last year. As a result, some of the most important numbers in the program's 2014 Part D will drop by roughly the same amounts.
The number that will matter most to seniors is the standard annual plan deductible. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which administers Medicare, said last week that it will be $310, down from $325 this year (the numbers are proposed, and still could be revised).
And insurance plan premiums - which won't be known until this fall - could reflect the decline in drug prices. Although some Part D premiums jumped sharply in 2013, average rates have been flat for several years, ranging from $37 to $40, according to Jack Hoadley, research professor at the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University.
"Premiums are driven by insurance plan estimates of what their average cost will be to treat a patient, so it's fair to say we're likely to see relatively flat premium growth next year," he says.
WHY COSTS ARE GOING DOWN
The moderation in drug costs is in sync with a broader slowdown in healthcare expenditures. The Congressional Budget Office said earlier this month that Medicare per-beneficiary spending rose only 0.4 percent in fiscal 2012, and overall Medicare spending was up just 3 percent.
The lower spending on prescription medicines results mainly from the expiration of patents on some of the most widely used drugs, such as Lipitor, made by Pfizer Inc.
"There's been a major shift to much less expensive generics," Hoadley says. "It's not just the drugs that went off patent, but also competing drugs that are still on patent, but where the patient can switch to a generic."
The exception, he notes, has been new biologic drugs used to treat conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Those drugs remain relatively expensive, but may save healthcare dollars in other areas. "Biologics could put upward pressure on drug costs in the years ahead, but that could still be a good thing if it leads to better treatment and outcomes."
THE BAD NEWS
The wrinkle in the outlook is that because of the lower prices, for the first time in the Part D program's history, beneficiaries will enter the infamous "donut hole" more quickly than before. And that will likely cause confusion and consternation among the 19 percent of seniors affected by it.
Seniors fall into the "donut hole" when spending on drugs (the combination of what the individual and the insurance company spend) reaches a predetermined threshold. This year, the number is $2,970; after that point, the senior pays 50 percent (a new change this year from the Affordable Care Act) of brand-name drug costs, until individual spending exceeds $4,750.
But for 2014, the CMS has proposed that beneficiaries enter the hole when combined spending reaches $2,850 - $120 less than in 2013. That means seniors would start paying more out-of-pocket at a lower level of spending. That will surprise seniors, since one of the key touted benefits of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law is the gradual closing of the donut hole entirely between now and 2020.
What is going on here?
The donut hole entry point isn't related to the ACA at all. It is determined by a formula tied to per-capita total Part D drug expenses - that 4 percent decline. Meanwhile, the out-of-pocket maximum is determined by the ACA and it also will be smaller next year - $4,550, down $200. Overall, the size of the donut hole shrinks by $80.
With me so far? Good - because the big thing going on with the donut hole under health reform is the reduction in the share of drug costs borne by seniors who enter the gap.
Before passage of the ACA, seniors in the gap paid 100 percent of all drug costs. Now, they pay 50 percent out-of-pocket for brand-name drugs, with the rest made up by insurers and discounts from pharmaceutical manufacturers. For generics, they pay 79 percent. Enrollees' out-of-pocket burden for brand-name and generic drugs will gradually fall to 25 percent by 2020 - the same percentage applied for standard coverage.
"More people could reach the coverage gap next year, but there will be better coverage in the gap once you get there," says Tricia Neuman, vice president of Kaiser and director of the foundation's Medicare policy work.
(The writer is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. For more from Mark Miller, see http://link.reuters.com/qyk97s)
(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance. Editing by Beth Pinsker and Dale Hudson) | <urn:uuid:68fecf27-b49f-472c-8864-ba669f460ed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ktwb.com/news/articles/2013/feb/21/medicare-drug-costs-to-fall-in-2014-but-donut-hole-widens/ | 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 | 0.949552 | 1,073 | 1.578125 | 2 |
A fix to a program that is denying healthcare coverage to an estimated 100 HIV-positive residents in Iowa passed in the Iowa Senate this afternoon, resurrected after the House rejected the measure
The bill, Senate File 2293, generally updates law to the state’s insurance division.
But it also includes what some say is a fix to a $35 million state program charged with insuring Iowans with pre-existing conditions that is denying coverage to HIV-positive residents.
Health advocates criticize the way Iowa has administered its program, officially known as the Iowa Comprehensive Health Association, or HIPIOWA-FED.
The program uses rules in place from an existing state high risk pool and prohibits so-called third-party payers from picking up the costs for individuals’ premiums. The result is that participants in the federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program can’t have their premiums paid by that program.
Senate File 2293 as passed by the Senate allows third-party payors. The House stripped the measure but the Senate today added it back, sending the bill bouncing between chambers. The bill will likely conclude in what is known as a conference committee, where members of both parties meet to find a compromise
The bill as passed today by the Senate would also require Iowa’s insurance commissioner to launch a health insurance and cost containment bureau. The group would create methodologies to ultimately hold insurance companies accountable for affordable health care throughout the state, which advocates say would make billing more transparent and fair.
Some Republicans contend the effort and its $500,000 to $2 million estimated price is cost prohibitive with little guarantee that it could ultimately help Iowans save health insurance costs. | <urn:uuid:72c61017-599a-4deb-84c1-d9917be8f528> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2012/05/01/iowa-senate-insists-on-hiv-insurance-fix | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958785 | 343 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A construction worker cuts a piece of wood on the top of a home under construction at a new housing development on in Petaluma, California. A recovery in housing is developing in the state, according to UCLA economists. But it's geographically uneven.
For a while now, the economists at the UCLA Anderson Forecast have been arguing that California is experiencing a two-track economic recovery from the Great Recession. The coastal side of the state is doing relatively well, while the inland regions are struggling. Other economists dispute this analysi; they maintain that the recovery is more robust in Northern California than it is in the Southern California.
A key lens to look through when trying to figure out which analysis is right (and really, both have some merits) is real estate. The UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and the Anderson Forecast have just released an brief report on the housing situation, written by economist Jerry Nickelsburg. He notes that prices appear to be moving up in California:
The aggregate California home price statistics are encouraging....The S&P Case-Shiller
Index for San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles is the highest it has been since June 2011 and the median sales price is now the highest since 2008.
But then he examines the sales statistics:
In fact home sales are basically flat. Volumes moved up from January to May of this year, but that was just the normal seasonal increase. Since May volumes have been basically stagnant at about 40,000 units per month. One might argue that inventories are low and demand is increasing with the result that two are cancelling out in the sales figures, but it is hard to make that case over a 9-month period.
In somewhat roundabout fashion, Nickelsburg comes back to the "two Californias" thesis, emphasizing that although the recovery might have serious legs along the coast, it's still learning to crawl in the inland regions:
[L]ooking behind the aggregate statistics that combine very different market data, one finds a mixed picture. California housing markets are both recovering and that recovery should accelerate, and they are still in the doldrums at the same time. The expectation is that the aggregate data should begin to reflect much stronger housing growth in the coming years, but as we look at the data we need to keep in mind that some local markets will not yet have come to the party.
Nickelsburg is zeroing in on a key factor in the housing market — something we're feeling pretty keenly right now in Southern California. The market isn't "normal." Banks are working through the $25-billion mortgage settlement while they simultaneously try to avoid flooding the market with foreclosures. Because we didn't build very many houses in the last four years, there's an inventory shortage. Waves of buyers are jumping at low prices and historically low interest rates. This has created a price bubble in the L.A. area.
Meanwhile, inland California is lagging. That's unfortunate, because as Nickelsburg points out, homebuilding is a bigger part of the economy there. Simply put, rising demand for housing in California is concentrated in the wrong place to spur a broad recovery in the market. | <urn:uuid:de660b54-7a7f-4aa4-8b6b-7e1561c7387e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scpr.org/blogs/economy/2012/11/19/11151/tale-two-california-housing-recoveries-coastal-and/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966854 | 661 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Question: “My husband accepted a job that has him living and working in Alberta while our family home is in British Columbia. He rents a hotel by the week while he is working and receives a living allowance from his employer to cover his expenses while he is away. However, the allowance does not quite cover the costs. Will he be able to claim any moving expenses? Will he be able to claim any work expenses over his living allowance? Will he be able to choose his province for taxation?”
These are excellent questions. I’ll address each of the issues in sequence.
Normally your province of residence for income tax purpose is where you were living on December 31st of the tax year. However, in this case the determining fact will be the location where he ordinarily resides. The determining factor here would be where you reside, the family home is, bank accounts etc. It would appear the province of residence would be British Columbia.
Moving expenses are deductible if there is an official move of ore than 40 KM closer to the place of employment. This would involve moving the family home to Alberta near where your husband works.
The receipt of the allowance itself must be included in income as employment income. If certain conditions outlined in the next section are met, then deductions may be claimed for the travel expenses. However, the allowance would not be taxable if it were reasonable and was to cover costs to work away from the location where the employer is normally located.
Travel & Motor Vehicle Expenses
Travel and motor vehicle expenses may be deducted under subsections 8(1)(h) and 8(1)(h.1) of the Income Tax Act respectively. To make a claim under these provisions of the act your husband must meet the following conditions:
1. He must be required to pay his own travel expenses, accommodation expenses, and motor vehicle expenses as well as have a T2200 signed by his employer.
2. He must be ordinarily be required to carry out his duties away from the employer’s place of business.
3. He must not be in receipt of an allowance.
If the first two conditions are met, we could assume that the allowance is not taxable. In this case he may claim that the allowance was unreasonable, add the value of the living allowance to his income, and claim deductions for travel and motor vehicle expenses.
The above assumes that your husbands’ employer is local but he is required to work away from their normal business location. If the circumstances are different then the tax result could be different as well. I would strongly suggest that your husband meet with an accountant in your area to discuss your circumstances. | <urn:uuid:e42333f2-2e27-4a5e-b8c6-4fd2bfc6674a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.taxresource.ca/working-in-another-province/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982741 | 537 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Let me start by explaning who Dana is. Dana is one of the Tuatha De Danann. According to some, Tuatha De Danann translates to The People of Dana and because of this she has been thought to be a Goddess of the Tuatha. Other translations feel their name means People of the Arts, since they were considered highly skilled in "the Arts" which at that time included: healing, astronomy, divination, blacksmithing, and many others.
According to Dana she was not a Goddess, any more than the rest of the Tuatha were. They were people, heros of the time. They were brought here from their home world of Tara after it was destroyed by dark forces motivated by greed and corruption. Dana fought along side her good friend Nuada to help the suvivors escape. She gave her life for her people, so The Children of Light became The People of Dana to honor her and Nuada became their first king.
The suvivors of Tara came to Earth via what Dana called a "Crystal Ship"; a ship capable of inter-galactic travel powered by a crystal and the sun. Their planet "Tara" orbited the star Antares in the constellation Scorpio and a chunk of Tara became the planet Pluto in our star system which is thought to be the ruler of the astrological sign of Scorpio. Which is rather appropriate.
The Tuatha De Danann arrived here on Earth during some of the last days of Atlantis. They saw what was happening and tried to do all they could to help. The Tuatha tried to stop the destruction by bringing the ways of light back to the people but it was too late. As on Tara a group of dark priests had taken over and filled the peoples heads with promises of prosperity and immortality. They practiced sacrefice first with animals then human sacrefice and claimed their ways were would transform the followers into gods themselves and make them better than those who did not believe as they did. The people were blindly led astray by greed; forsaking nature, balance, equality and the true paths of light and unconditional love. Their disregard for nature and self-centered greed eventually threw off the balance of the entire planet which began the cataclysmic storms, volcanic activity, earthquakes, and tidal waves that eventually destroyed their entire continent and caused it to sink beneath the ocean. Those who listened to the warnings and prepared for the disaster survived to start what they hoped to be a new and better world. They created messages in stone to leave to help future generations avoid making the same mistakes again. They told stories of the great destruction. They set aside a date to honor all who had died.
Let me start off by saying that many sources list Dana as Danu. When she came to me in meditation she introduced herself as Dana, and that is how I refer to her out of respect.
On the planet of Tara there were four great cities with centers of knowledge where many of their people studied. The cities were Gor, Finn, Mur, and Fal, the Romans added latin suffexes to them listing them as Gorias, Findias, Murias, and Falias. Each Center of Learning had a High Master and the students spent time at each school to aquire a well rounded education in all the arts. Tara was very much like our Earth, with vast seas, tall stately forests and blue skys. There was day and night, summer and winter, planting and harvesting. The people of Tara grew numerous crops, and raised livestock; including cows, sheep and chickens. They used horses and carts or wagons for transportation, and many walked. There were crystal lights that stored the power of the sun to light the dark hours, they did not rely fossil fuels as we do here. Cooking was done on wood fires, in fire pits, places or stoves. Everything was made by hand, by gifted and tallented crafts persons. There were no factories or industry. Most goods were traded for, using barter systems, for other goods or services. Every one was valued and respected. There was very little crime until the greedy forces of darkness began to invade and attempted to take control.
At each of the Centers of Learning there were huge stone libraries of manuscripts. Each manuscript was hand written by well trained scribes recruited from the schools upon graduation. Many pages were bound together in thick wood and leather books and were kept on tall shelves that required ladders to reach.
Buildings were made of wood or stone, with roofs of thatch or wood slab shingles. In hilly areas many were partially dug into the slope with grassy berm roofs. Most people grew much of their own food, even the Centers of Learning had gardens and livestock that the students tended. Nature was highly revered as a gift from the sun and the land. All gifts were to be cherished and honored, no matter how large or how small.
Men and women were equal on Tara. Both trained together at the Centers of Learning, both worked as crafts persons, and either could become a master or high master. At most times there actually were two males and two females who held the positions of High Master, in order to maintain equality of knowledge. Also Tara was governed by numerous teams of Kings and Queens who worked together in equal partnerships for the good of all the people.
For many, many millenium Tara was a haven of peace and beauty where her people thrived and were happy.
This post was modified from its original form on 18 Jul, 20:52 | <urn:uuid:202c1f60-8d7c-40d5-ade1-0ae137b58fd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=18438&pst=1094869 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989363 | 1,130 | 1.578125 | 2 |
American Visionary Art Museum 800 Key Highway Baltimore, MD
Art and Remembrance is a non-profit, arts and educational organization that seeks to change people's hearts and minds by illuminating the experience of war, oppression, and injustice through the power and passion of personal narrative in art.
WE WILL ALL PERISH
(From the picture):
"October 15, 1942. We left our house for good and walked down to the road. Mottel sat in the front wagon holding the Torah. My parents went to join him while my brother helped my little sisters settle into the rear wagon with my aunt Trushel, her sister Golda, my uncle Ruven, and my five little cousins. Suddenly Mottel's daughter-in-law stood up and cried to my mother, 'Rachel, we will never come back! We will all perish!' Everyone began to cry. Mania and I followed quickly behind the woman who was to take us to Dombrowa and the house of Stefan, my father's friend. The wagons left for the Krasnik station, and we never saw our family again." | <urn:uuid:ab5cd9ac-4e8d-4851-ba97-35e06a12c173> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artandremembrance.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.showGalleryPiece&galleryID=4&pieceID=32 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960168 | 227 | 1.8125 | 2 |
The debate surrounding San Diego International Airport has now spanned six decades and stymied many a San Diego County resident, elected official and community leader. But recently, significant progress has been made regarding the future of this region's only international airport.
An unprecedented regional yearlong planning effort called “Destination Lindbergh” successfully convened policy-makers from the city of San Diego, the San Diego Association of Governments and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority as the three lead agencies, along with the county of San Diego, San Diego Unified Port District, Metropolitan Transit System, North County Transit District and the Department of Defense. Led by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, these agencies engaged in developing a long-range concept for the airport and the airport's “ultimate build-out” that meshes with future ground transportation improvements both for downtown San Diego and for the region.
The Ad Hoc Committee reached consensus on a plan for Lindbergh Field over the next 20 years that would utilize effectively its limited acreage while ensuring the airport continues to provide superior customer service to travelers in the interim. The ultimate “build-out” envisions that the airport's passenger processing, including check-in, eventually will be moved to the north side of the airfield, adjacent to Pacific Highway, which would make for more streamlined airport traffic patterns, and easier ingress and egress from the airport.
Key to the Destination Lindbergh plan is an “intermodal transit center” on the north side of the airport, which would better connect the airport to San Diego County's transit network. The intermodal center would coordinate trolley, Amtrak and Coaster stops, and serve as a central node stop for high-speed rail when it comes to San Diego. This would result in one of the first transportation hubs of its kind in the United States and would position San Diego as a leader in forward-thinking transit planning.
Contemplated in an early phase, a consolidated rental car facility would be constructed on the north side of the airport, a one-stop shop for all rental car operations. This development would alleviate traffic on Harbor Drive and free up waterfront property for more thoughtful community use.
We highlight the significance of Destination Lindbergh: For the first time all interested regional agencies have reached agreement on plans for tying together San Diego County's transportation network and San Diego International Airport. This is a big step forward for our region and establishes a coherent framework for moving ahead.
What are the next steps and how would this plan take shape? The San Diego City Council and the SANDAG board of directors have accepted the proposed Destination Lindbergh plan, and have recommended it to the Airport Authority. The Airport Authority board will consider the proposal on Monday.
If the Airport Authority board accepts the concept plan, it would commence work this year on a terminal development program. These improvements would add 10 gates to Terminal 2, a dual-level roadway to separate arriving and departing passengers and on-airport improvements including additional overnight parking for airplanes.
Destination Lindbergh ensures that these short-term improvements would not conflict with or constrain longer-term developments. The Ad Hoc Committee's work keeps options open on both the north and south sides of the airport; it preserves maximum flexibility for taking future circumstances, including technological innovation into account. | <urn:uuid:5a650a25-2676-4ee1-bfab-a09e0df22759> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/mar/20/lz1e20sanders214627-plan-lindbergh-fields-future/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935235 | 680 | 1.828125 | 2 |
California Town to Vote on ‘Fiscal Emergency’
Atwater, California, is going broke under the weight of public employee costs, lost revenue and a stagnant economy, pushing it toward becoming the state’s fourth city to seek bankruptcy protection.
The city of 28,000, situated among Merced County’s dairies and almond groves about 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, has a $3.3 million deficit that may leave it insolvent before year’s end, according to budget documents.
Atwater’s City Council is set to vote Oct. 3 on a fiscal emergency declaration that would permit it to follow other California cities – Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes – into bankruptcy court. Across the state, the recession and the foreclosure crisis have depleted property-tax revenue at the same time municipalities are burdened with rising costs including pensions. | <urn:uuid:b2550712-55d8-439a-a7e0-170437a86ebc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloombergbriefs.com/2012/09/26/california-town-to-vote-on-%E2%80%98fiscal-emergency%E2%80%99/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941176 | 183 | 1.59375 | 2 |
I had a great idea for a new business today. It came to me as I watched a young female driver dangerously tailgate a number of vehicles (to include a fuel truck). There was no way she would have avoided a rear-end collision if the person in front of her had braked suddenly (and I don’t mean stopped – I mean braked and slowed). My temptation, after the fuel truck incident, was to roll down my window at the next stop light and tell her to drive more carefully. I thought that her mother would probably be upset if she saw how perilously close she was following other drivers. Then it struck me – the mother of all ideas – so to speak.
What if there was a service that parents could subscribe to that provided bumper stickers with a toll-free number and a personalized vehicle identification number s for their kids’ cars? The stickers could say:
How’s My Driving? Call 1-800-TELL-MOM . I’m #27.
Operators could capture the telephone comments and send them via email to the parents who subscribe to the service. Operators could even capture and send on photo messages that show offending behavior. Kids wouldn’t love the sticker on their car, but they’d endure it to be able to drive. Hopefully just the presence of the sticker would even have the effect of reminding young drivers to drive more carefully.
It’s brilliant right? The roads are safer, parents are better informed about their child’s driving behavior, and young drivers are safer. It is an idea whose time has come.
Day nine hundred and sixty-three of the new forty – obla di obla da | <urn:uuid:2a51ddb0-40b3-4b25-bf30-12897cd0bf5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenewforty.areavoices.com/2012/02/24/1-800-tell-mom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977918 | 352 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Monday, December 15, 2008
Eyes 3: Eyes and how versatile they can be (if you let them)
There are different cliques of animators and cartoonists, each of who have learned a handful of eye shapes and expressions. There are Disney eyes, Cal Arts eyes, Prime Time eyes, Anime eyes, Deviant-Art eyes etc. There are imitation-Spumco eyes.
Each of these sets of eye expressions is extremely limiting. They don't allow for spontaneous invention. Artists memorize their handful of expressions from the style they like and for the rest of their careers can only express symbols of the simplest emotions - using the same symbols and flat emotions that have been beaten to death for years. What fun or creativity is there in that?
As Frank and Ollie say, cartoon acting can't compete on the same level as live action acting:
this last sentence seems like a big contradiction to me. "we must concentrate on acting" - after admitting that cartoons lacks "the subtle shadow patterns...."
Disney took 30 years or so to create a few approved Disney expressions, always weighing them against whether they are appealing (their type of appealing) or not. This severely restricted the range of their acting - in my opinion.
While I agree with Frank and Ollie that we can't compete directly with realistic subtle live action acting, we can more than make up for it with cartoon license if we think liberally.
Having to do limited animation for most of my career, while really wanting to do lush full animation, has made me make practical choices in what to focus on.
In this series of layout poses from "Stimpy's First Fart", a lot of the body poses are held so I could concentrate on the facial expressions. If I was stuck with a handful of eye expressions off a model sheet to work from, I would be completely handicapped in trying to get any specific subtle emotions out of my characters. Because I admire lots of different drawing styles and I absorb techniques and shapes from many different schools of thought, I can draw from a larger pallette of expressions than you will find in most cartoons. I am not afraid to make up shapes on the spot as needed - and then never use them again.
I don't actually memorize a thousand expressions and then summon them up for the appropriate emotions taking place in the stories. I don't think about what eye and mouth shapes to use at all - for the most part. Instead, I act out the scene as I go and draw what I'm feeling. The shapes of the eyes change and bend almost without my conscious control. Somehow my pencil just knows the shapes that will convey the emotions I'm feeling. It isn't random weirdness just to be weird - it's all in context of the story.
The eyes and pupils will grow, shrink, change shape - whatever it takes to tell the ever changing emotions of the characters. The poses that come easiest are the ones generally with the most appeal. Now and then there is a particularly hard subtle emotion to capture, and I have to analyze what my own facial muscles are doing - and those poses tend to come out less appealing - even ugly. I would rather they all be appealing but worry more about the whole scene in its continuity.
Ren is actually a lot cuter in these scenes than Stimpy. Stimpy is experiencing ugly emotions and he is not used to them. He is usually happy. On the few occasions that he doesn't feel blissfully and idiotically happy, he has a hard time releasing his new unfamiliar emotions. They hurt him and I feel him struggling them to contain themselves, but they burst through against his will.
In general I want the overall effect of a scene - even if it is intense and theoretically ugly - to be cute - to be making fun of ugliness. This is different than just being ugly for the sake of it. There are many actually unappealing drawings in Ren and Stimpy and I cringe whenever I see them - but it's never my intention. To me, even gross can be appealing - as in Basil Wolverton's drawings.
Some of Stimpy's uglier expressions on these sheets appear in countless cartoons on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and have become stock expressions just like the ones I rebel against that come from other house styles.
The important thing to me is not to memorize stock shapes and expressions, but to be able to summon up any shape imaginable that suits the emotional idea I need to convey. This means I have to be a fan of many many styles and many other mediums, so that I am not bound by a small handful of animation shortcuts and visual cliches.
The other trick is to able to wrap unfamiliar shapes around your characters' constructions so that the expressions don't just float on a 2 dimensional plane in front of the head shape. Not always easy! That's why "solid Drawing" is the most important fundamental tool we have. | <urn:uuid:200084fa-693b-413e-991e-46c3ec0d6b4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/12/eyes-and-how-versatile-they-can-be-if.html?showComment=1229386140000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961663 | 1,015 | 1.742188 | 2 |
When looking into housing options for our rabbits, we weren't able to find something that fit our needs. This lead us to investigate building our own. We heard of NIC condos and decided we would build one. NIC stands for Neat Idea Cubes and are sold by Fellowes. They are the wire frames used to build crate like cubes commonly used in dorm rooms or by a teenager. These wire frames are sold under other names too and are the basic building blocks for creating our rabbit condo. Stores such as Staples, Wal-mart and Sams Club carry them.
The effort was a little time consuming, but not overly difficult. Condos are easily customized. The two main supplies are the wire frames and plastic electrical ties (or "tie wraps") to hold them together. You will also need latches to hold the doors shut. Snap shackles or 1 1/4" binder clips work well. For shelves, we used pegboard covered with indoor/outdoor carpet placed on top of the wire frames with some wood underneath to provide extra support.
Instead of using the wire for the bottom of the condo, we built a wood base and
covered it with linoleum. The assembled wire condo frame can be
seated on the wooden base, within a wood rim.
First you need to figure out the dimensions of your condo. The wire frames are 14"x14" and most condos are 2 frames deep, 3 frames wide and 3 frames tall. We had extra supplies and vertical space wasn't an issue, so we chose to make ours one layer taller. Shelves are used to jump to different levels in the condo and my rabbits prefer them to ramps. The first shelf is smaller, only one frame wide by 2 frames deep. Additional shelves are 2 frames wide by 2 frames deep. We used 6 wire frames for the roof, while some people prefer to create a wood top. Traditional size with roof, one small shelf and one regular shelf requires 42 frames. Our larger size with one more layer in height and one more shelf used 56 frames.
Most of the wire frames come in boxes which also contain connectors. We never tried them as we heard that they were not sturdy enough. Common consensus is to tie your frames together using electrical ties. We laid out the sides of our condo and tied them together. We also created our shelves. This was time consuming, but not difficult. When you first start assembling the entire structure seems wobbly; however it really firms up once you have it together. Don't worry about doors right now as you can always just snip ties to create one or add ties to take one away. When you get your walls created you will start to tie the walls together. Before you tie all the walls together, you need to put the shelves in. This can be tricky as the framework doesn't have much stability yet and may require two people; one to hold and one to tie. We placed the lower shelf at the top of the lowest wire frame, at 14". The larger shelf we put on the opposite side, 2 grids below the top of the second wire frame, at 24". Once we had the shelves in place we placed the pegboard on top. You can always place the shelves where they make sense for your rabbits.
When the walls were all tied together, we added some wood beneath the shelves to provide extra support. Some people purchase dowels. We found regular wood to be cheaper and the buns love to chew on it! Just measure to fit inside the wire frame holes. We cut them 29" so that they just stuck out past the edge. If you have litter box-trained rabbits and you aren't worried about your floor, you don't even need to build a bottom floor for your condo. We decided to take some plywood, put sides around it to keep hay, etc., inside, and then covered it with linoleum. If I had to do it over again, I would place the walls inside the wire frame as this would make it easier to clean.
Here are links to other sites with information about NIC Condos
Copyright 2002-2005 Suzanne Trayhan
Suggest this page to a friend! | <urn:uuid:0cefe45f-b49b-4287-a786-dc96a949db31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/NIC.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957088 | 850 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Patent overhaul may help Alabama universities
Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 7:00 AM
Casting themselves as the inventive little guys besieged by patent-stealing big technology corporations, public universities say protecting their professors' inventions from infringement was becoming a cumbersome, lengthy and expensive process.
"You can have a struggling new company with a great idea and then some giant corporation decides it is great and throws a wrench into the works, so now that young company is dragged through a litigation process that is basically frivolous. And that company is now struggling in Birmingham rather than surviving," said Richard Marchase, vice president of research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The comprehensive legislation is designed to reduce the backlog of patent applications at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and bring U.S. patent law more in line with the rest of the world. But its sections on the handling of patent challenges is of particular interest to university researchers.
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, announced the details of their bipartisan bill earlier in March.
A key change would be to the standard for allowing a challenge to a patent to be heard. Under the proposal, if someone wants to challenge the validity of a patent through an administrative procedure known as inter parties review, they would have to demonstrate up front that their challenge has a "reasonable likelihood" of success. This would be a higher standard than current law, which is that a "substantial question" was raised.
"Now the standard is so low that many people believed they were being filed more (for) leverage or to intimidate than really with the expectation they would win," Sessions said. "This legislation will reduce some of the abuse."
The plan also would impose a one-year deadline for the completion of challenges, with a possible six-month extension.
Sessions, the top Republican on the committee, negotiated the agreement with the Democratic chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. They promoted it as a rare opportunity for bipartisanship and a way to help the economy.
"This compromise may not be everything that everyone wants, but it makes important reforms and innovations, which will translate into jobs and economic growth in Vermont and across the country," Leahy said in a prepared statement.
At UAB, a professor's patent is assigned to the UAB Research Foundation, which then becomes responsible for transferring the idea into the marketplace. If the patent is delayed or devalued by drawn-out challenges, jobs don't get created.
"This whole patent process, as arcane as it may seem ... is really crucial as we try to transform the local economy into a knowledge economy," said David Winwood, CEO of the UAB Research Foundation. Early drafts of the proposal favored the high-tech private sector, Sessions said.
"The universities were worried about it. I felt like the system should protect the classic individual inventor, and in reality the universities share that same position legally," Sessions said in a recent interview. "You want that professor working night and day and weekends to push through something."
In the past two years, the three campuses of the University of Alabama System applied for a total of about 450 patents; during that time, 78 were awarded, and licensing agreements were executed on 55, according to reports from the campuses in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville.
Kannan Grant, director of the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Alabama Huntsville, had not seen the compromise legislation and was reserving judgment. But he warned lawmakers against doing anything to stifle innovation.
"I hope they keep in mind the interests of small businesses and universities who are in the forefront of innovation," Grant said.
Six major higher education associations, including the Association of American Medical Colleges, endorsed the bill because it would provide a faster, less costly alternative to civil action to challenge patents; improve patent quality by eliminating invalid patents; and reduce abusive challenges and litigation costs, the coalition said in a statement.
The Leahy-Sessions bill still could be in for significant revisions. Last week, Democratic and Republican leaders on the House Judiciary Committee said "a number of changes are essential" before the House would consider the Senate deal. | <urn:uuid:7445c267-8ba7-4dbf-bd21-9c8c1bbc9e88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.al.com/sweethome/2010/03/patent_overhaul_may_help_alaba.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9709 | 869 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Traditionally the "Quaich", which originated in the celtic highlands was used both for a "Cup of welcome" and also when offering a farewell drink.
The quaich is used as a loving cup in Scotland and is given as a gift at weddings and christenings and many other occasions.
In modern times it has been used in weddings for the bride and groom to toast there union.
This Quaich measures 3 inches from handle to handle, and is made from solid pewter.
This would make an ideal gift, or a wedding day accessory. | <urn:uuid:f18d4b64-f1c2-4974-b485-efe1ed6bb869> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.celticdesign.com.au/p/4964673/celtic-cross-quaich---qa30c.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967649 | 123 | 1.625 | 2 |
Never read a graphic novel before? Haven’t read a comic book in years?
Here’s some brand new stuff that came out the week of November 4 that I think is worth a look-see for someone with little to no history with comics. That means you should be able to pick any of these up cold without having read anything else. So take a look and see if something doesn’t grab your fancy. If so, follow the publisher links or Amazon.com links to buy yourself a copy. Or, head to your local friendly comic book shop.
Disclaimer: For the most part, I have not read these yet, so I can’t vouch for their quality. But, from what I’ve heard and seen, odds are good they just might appeal to you.
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics is an unprecedented collection of the greatest comics for children, artfully compiled by two of the best-known creators in publishing and the field of comics–Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly.
This treasury created for young readers focuses on comic books, not strips, and contains humorous stories that range from a single-page to eight or even twenty-two pages, each complete and self-contained. The comics have been culled from the Golden Age of comic books, roughly the 1940s through the early 1960s, and feature the best examples of works by such renowned artists and writers as Carl Barks, John Stanley, Sheldon Mayer, Walt Kelly, Basil Wolverton, and George Carlson, among many, many others.
Organizing the book into five categories (Hey, Kids!; Funny Animals; Fantasyland; Story Time!; and Wacky & Weird), Spiegelman and Mouly use their expertise in the area of comics to frame each category with an introductory essay, and provide brief biographies of the artists. The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics is essential reading for kids of all ages.
Great for kids, and the supplemental essays and historical context should make this entertaining for parents, too. The artists mentioned in the blurb were masters and are still huge influences to modern comic and graphic artists. And it’s sturdy enough for repeated reading. The publisher link above includes a great preview that shows just how charming and delightful this stuff will be to experience. Lots of fun!
Donald Duck and Friends #347 – $2.99
By Fausto Vitaliano & Andrea Freccero
32 pages; published by Boom! Kids
The Quack is back in this first BOOM! Kids issue! He’s no double “o” seven, he’s Double Duck! Donald shows us his dashing, adventurous side as a secret agent on a mission to stop a dangerous ice-melting machine and save the world from rising oceans! This is a Donald Duck like you’ve never seen! A brand new start at a brand new company for one of the world’s most iconic characters and longest-lived, most-published comic book series!
Speaking of those influential artists, you can pretty much draw a direct line from Carl Barks to this new issue (translated from the original Italian edition). Another great comic for kids. Here’s a 5-page preview.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective Sherlock Holmes returns in all-new adventures! Sherlock finds himself involved in a mystery that has him fighting for his very life and Watson putting the pieces together to either save his friend or condemn him! Written by Leah Moore and John Reppion with reverence and a modern edge, artist Aaron Campbell completes the Victorian mood under the striking and iconic John Cassaday covers. Also contains bonus material such as script pages, annotations, a cover gallery, and a complete Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle with new illustrations.
I’ve been looking forward to this. It’s supposed to be a pretty faithful take on Sherlock Holmes. There’s a 10-page preview at the publisher link above.
One man’s heartfelt and irreverent record of his time on this rock, Zak Sally’s unflinchingly veracious book, Like a Dog, is both direct and oblique, which we find rather miraculous considering the messy and murky waters of human experience it manages to navigate. Like a Dog is among the few comic book testimonials burdened by the yen to understand and articulate the mundane and the magnificent. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself laughing and crying as you claw your way through each hard fought page!
Of all of Sally’s creative pursuits (including a career in music spanning 15+ years), Like a Dog is the one he’s been working a lifetime toward. This hardcover book collects the best of his acclaimed short stories from the past 15 years, created in between band tours and recording sessions, published in his Eisner-nominated self-published seriesRecidivist (the first 2 issues of which are reprinted here in their entirety) and in publications like Mome, The Drama, Your Flesh, Dirty Stories, and more.
Like a Dog spotlights Sally’s uncanny ability to create emotional havoc out of claustrophobic images, situations and dialogue. Stories like “Don’t Move,” “The War Back Home,” and “Two Idiot Brothers” share little in common on the surface but are united by Sally’s forbidding style, creating a sense of dread that permeates almost every page.
Sally also turns his eye towards nonfiction in Like a Dog, including “At the Scaffold,” the story of the imprisonment and trial of Fyodor Dostoyevsky for allegedly subversive behavior, and “The Man Who Killed Wally Wood,” a story about Sally’s brush with a former publisher of the legendary comic artist (who, contrary to the title of this strip, took his own life after a long battle with alcoholism). It also includes two collaborations: “Dread,” written by NEA Fellowship recipient, Edgar Award finalist, and O. Henry Award winning author Brian Evenson (Altmann’s Tongue); and “River Deep, Mountain High,” co-created with fellow cartoonist Chris Cilla.
Like a Dog also includes extensive “liner notes” by the artist, previously unpublished material, an introduction by John Porcellino (King Cat), and other surprises.
I really loved Zak Sally’s Sammy The Mouse, so it sounds like I have a good reason to buy this. And so do you. To give you an idea of what’s in store, there’s a neat Flickr video of someone flipping through the book, which serves as a de facto preview of sorts, and there’s also a 10-page preview as a PDF file.
Stumptown #1 – $3.99
By Greg Rucka & Matthew Southworth
40 pages; published by Oni Press
Superstar writer Greg Rucka (WHITEOUT, DETECTIVE COMICS) embarks on his first creator-owned series since the Eisner Award-winning QUEEN & COUNTRY!
Dex is the proprietor of Stumptown Investigations, and a fairly talented P.I. Unfortunately, she’s less adept at throwing dice than solving cases. Her recent streak has left her beyond broke—she’s into the Confederated Tribes of the Wind Coast for 18 large. But maybe Dex’s luck is about to change. Sue-Lynne, head of the Wind Coast’s casino operation, will clear Dex’ debt if she can locate Sue-Lynne’s missing granddaughter. But is this job Dex’s way out of the hole or a shove down one much much deeper?
Burn – $9.99
By Camilla D’Errico & Scott Sanders
160 pages; published by Simon & Schuster’s Simon Pulse; available at Amazon.com
Burn was once human.
He also had a family and friends, until a metallic angel of death took everything from him. This mechanical monster, Shoftiel, was one of many living machines made to help humanity that revolted and declared war on their creators. It tore through Burn’s home and wreaked havoc on his city until the buildings collapsed, crashing down upon them.
Emerging from the rubble, Burn and Shoftiel discover their once separate bodies have become one — neither human nor machine, but a freak union of both. Internally their minds are caught in a raging battle for control. Just as mankind must struggle against the sentients for survival, Burn must find the strength to overcome Shoftiel’s genocidal programming to retain whatever’s left of his humanity.
Here’s a 5-page preview (you have to click through a bunch of “who cares” before you get to the actual story). | <urn:uuid:d1f1bdae-98c5-48d7-84c8-55b080edb02e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comicsobserver.com/tag/basil-wolverton/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946243 | 1,873 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Lack of personal space is a major obstacle to sexual liberalization in Asia, but randy Chinese kids have discovered the "one-night motel":
In China, the first time a man and woman are likely to kiss is at age 23, according to Pan Sui-ming, director of the Institute of Sexuality and Gender at Renmin University, who says that “Chinese are still some of the most conservative people in the world.”
But don’t expect that to last much longer. Driven by China’s opening to the west and the flourishing of western ideas, as well as a flood of communication by cellphone, social websites and instant messaging, Chinese youth are finding unprecedented access to each other, with the anonymity of online conversation emboldening youngsters to be much freer than if they were interacting in person, and it’s freaking out older teachers who are supposed to teach sex education but get embarrassed by questions.
Take Jo Xue and her boyfriend, who decided to consummate their relationship. Then in their first year of college in Tianjin, just south of Beijing, the couple thought about spending the night together in their dormitory. But Chinese dormitories are separated by gender and under strict curfews. Also, given the sheer number of students at university, most dormitories have six people living in each room, which hardly allows for privacy.
“We had nowhere to be alone,” said Xue, 24. “And a hotel was too expensive.” So she decided to call the number on one of the advertisements often found hanging on walls near universities around China. It was for a one-night motel, where rooms can be rented for two hours at a time for 40 yuan or for 80 for the entire night. Extended stays are not allowed.
“I called and a man said he had a room for us,” Xue said. “But when we got there the man acted very shy to us, like he was running an illegal business. It made me feel weird. But, actually, I felt very excited because we were going to spend the entire night together.”
In neighboring Burma, couples sit on benches placed around public ponds and attempt to hide themselves under parasols. Under these conditions a seedy hotel is a major improvement. | <urn:uuid:755f107e-9f95-4cc5-901b-5799ccdc57e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/blog/2008/07/03/one-night-in-beijing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976131 | 475 | 1.546875 | 2 |
willieH: Hi Syndicated...
I understand the part about mankind betraying God, hence being able to be called 'Traitors', however...
Let him that is WITHOUT SIN (which is "BETRAYAL" to the COMMAND of GOD, and which "betrayal" resulted in the DEATH of JESUS CHRIST), ...cast the 1st stone at the "traitor", ...JUDAS...
I thought that Jesus stated this to the crowds that were about to stone an adultress woman, not at Judas... I don't understand how that statement can be made in reference to Judas.
Why not? The WORD
dispenses with ALL (unjust) JUDGES except himself, and in the GRACE
of the WORD
, is found forgiveness for that which deserves no forgiveness... (the unjust - both the doer of deeds and the "JUDGES" of those deeds)
The statement made to the Pharisees was making a point to ALL sinners, which propose judgment of another sinners ...SIN...
JUDAS actually FULFILLED a prophecy the WORD
made of him -- Psalm 41:9 / Acts 1:16 / John 13:18
-- so did he really have a choice to abstain? I think NOT
... What is WRITTEN in God's WORD
shall not be CHANGED by ANY MAN... it shall be FULFILLED.
He could NOT have done anything other than that which he DID, for the WORD
had "written" of him, his destiny... and the Scriptures CANNOT BE BROKEN -- John 10:35
Also, I understood that the phrase 'Without Sin' meant being blameless in ANY aspect, not just to betray the command of God.FIRST
-- the passage (one of my favorites, for I have written a song about it) that you refer to, does NOT mention being "blameless" -- John 8:3-11
-- It notes to them any WITHOUT SIN
(essentially the same as "blameless", but specific in reference to sin
-- John 8:7
-- so when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them: he that is WITHOUT SIN among you, let him first cast a stone at her.NASB
-- 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is WITHOUT SIN among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."NIV
-- 7 But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is WITHOUT SIN, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."ESV
-- 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, (A) "Let him who is WITHOUT SIN among you(B) be the first to throw a stone at her."ASV
-- 7 But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is WITHOUT SIN among you, let him first cast a stone at her.SECOND
-- If you have BETRAYED the COMMAND of GOD -- which is conveyed by HIS WORD
... then you have BETRAYED ...HIS WORD
... and are therefore NOT
"blameless" and NOT "without sin
Can you clarify that for me? I don't think I understand what it is you're trying to convey here.
Hope what I have noted helps you understand what I am trying to convey.
What JUDAS did was fulfill prophecy... How can that be considered by another as an act which is unacceptable?
the "fate" or "destiny" of JUDAS, by writing of him, that destiny, in the ETERNAL WORD
... not JUDAS...
And as I have maintained within this discussion... WITHOUT JUDAS (or someone like him)... we would not have SALVATION, for his act of BETRAYAL was necessary for the plan to go forth, which was WRITTEN of CHRIST
and His redeeming sacrifice for US... | <urn:uuid:7a4aa7dc-1bfc-4664-86b2-f52191784d0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tentmaker.org/forum/bible-threatenings-explained/judas-better-if-he-had-not-been-born/msg93340/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978273 | 896 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Toh EnJoe's stories are known for their scientific lucidity and literary impenetrability. His language and his writing style, however, belie his background as a physicist: topics woven into his stories include science, but also linguistics, literary theory, and philosophical approaches to the imagination. His complicated narrative structures are the subject of heated discussions and have even evoked harsh reviews calling his work 'indigestible', 'sleep-inducing,' and 'reader-unfriendly'.
Harlequin's Butterfly, which eventually won the 2012 Akutagawa Prize after a long, vehement argument among the judges, is also hard to digest. The novel explores, among other things, issues of translation and how to put imagination into practical forms. A critic admitted that she tried twice to read it and fell asleep both times, whereupon the book was jokingly labeled as a 'Best Read When You Can't Sleep', a reference to one of the book titles in the story.Negative comments notwithstanding, few critics would disagree that EnJoe's works tend to stick in readers' minds, often leaving the reader (who has fallen overboard his luxury cruise ship, say—another reference to the section excerpted in this very issue) in a sea of self-questioning.The comments of Yoko Ogawa, one of the Akutagawa Prize judges, were in a similar self-doubting spirit: "Even if the language I use could only be understood by myself, would I still write a story? The pattern that emerges in the end, to my eyes, is this very important question." Another judge, Masahiko Shimada, more specifically said that the novel was on the one hand a requiem to the whims and ideas that come to us in dreams (and are thereafter ever lost), and on the other hand a great work of value-for-money entertainment.Granted the opportunity of an interview, I started out from one of EnJoe's key themes: translation while simultaneously developing her own line of questioning: regarding the 'to whom' and 'how' of articulation, storytelling, and translation.
: Could you introduce yourself in uninflected Latin or in its Japanese translation, please?Toh EnJoe
...sorry, Japanese is all I've got, really.ASYMPTOTE
: The opening chapter of Harlequin's Butterfly
in the Jan 2013 issue of Asymptote
) is supposed to be a Japanese translation of 'Best Read Under a Cat', written in the simplified language Latino sine flexione
, which was invented in 1903. Did you refer to any works in this language while composing this chapter?TE
: No, I just looked briefly at a summary. I don't even know much about orthodox Latin to begin with. At my level of the language, I can't point out the awkwardness of a text in Latino sine flexione
compared to the same text written in Latin, though I'd be able to tell the difference between texts in Basic English
and English. I guess the Latin of a novice learner who doesn't perfectly memorize inflections would somewhat resemble Latino sine flexione
I believe there aren't many Japanese translations from artificial languages. So if asked what my references were, I would name my own non-mothertongues: bits and pieces of foreign languages.ASYMPTOTE
: What about translated literary works in general? And how would you describe the characteristics of the 'imported' literature you read in Japanese?TE
: To begin with, the Japanese I write tends to be a bit odd, and it's simply because I've read more translated literature and scientific essays than Japanese literature. I'm aware that my style or tone seems, as it were, a Japanese translation of scientific textbooks written originally in English. I'm familiar with, and feel sympathy for, the style of translated literature, whereas so called 'natural Japanese' seems far from me.
For instance, I'm aware of my language in this interview being very much like a 'translation', though it might be because I'm writing, not speaking, these words; but this is anyway not intentional. Whenever I write, my writings naturally tend to resemble translations. In this sense, you might say the first chapter of Harlequin's Butterfly
is written in my most natural, relaxed manner.
As for the feature of translated works, I think it's their heterogeneity, their otherness. They make me feel as if I'm listening to someone speaking in another person's voice, and that the second person who is supposed to be behind the speaker is blurry, as if I'm buzzed...ASYMPTOTE
: What about the characteristics of 'exported' literature?TE
: In the first place, not that many Japanese novels are exported and translated, especially works of the 21st century.
I can imagine several reasons for this, but I am conscious of, and a bit worried about, the fact that we've had few novels produced for the aim of export. The idea of aiming at foreign markets has long been regarded as wrong or taboo, but the virtue of 'aiming at nothing' was thought of too much in our literary tradition. Like it or not, this is a certain feature of Japanese literature, but we don't need to be too reserved, given that we aren't all Zen Buddhist monks.
One characteristic of Japanese literature in general is, in a word, 'weakness'. A lot of it is written on manners, rules, language within the community, and it's inward looking. It's rich internally, but I suspect it's somewhat difficult to look at from the outside and find it attractive.ASYMPTOTE
: You've written on themes which are not confined to any one country, and your language is, despite the complexity of its themes, comparatively direct, which makes translation easier. Given these features, how would you divine the future of the 'export' of your own works?TE
: I've written un-local novels, which can also mean they are 'strange' even for local readers. It's because of my character, and I think I have to take a chance on 'export' for the sake of my life as a writer. As the saying goes, some prefer nettles, and my work will only attract a relatively small number of readers: I think a few thousand readers in each country, at most. So I have to choose either writing easy-to-digest works to attract local readers more, or translating the un-local pieces for those few thousands in other countries. The ability to enjoy strange things is not given to all of us, and we must prevent this sensibility from becoming extinct. And so, I naturally keep the 'translation' option open.
I'm not sure whether my works are easy to translate. People often ask me, "How did your works get translated? They aren't easy to tackle even in Japanese!" And I too am wondering the same.ASYMPTOTE
: You've worked as a physicist and published several academic essays in English. Is there any possibility of writing novels in English? What would be a possible obstacle if you tried?TE
: No, really, I can only write, speak and understand Japanese, though I can read English, barely.
I've thought of writing my novels in English, but maybe that's not so realistic given my current level of English. It's possible that I might live in an English-speaking country tomorrow, or have to call somewhere home where other languages are spoken, and this is what people are dealing with everywhere today. Actually, American modern literature has witnessed this through its evolution, and to write in a second language or a third, or to then steer its influence back to one's mother tongue, this is one of the universal themes of contemporary literature.
On the other hand, it occurs to me that even English is just another language, and that to agonize over whether or not I should write in English is somewhat absurd. Just write. That's what I'd say to myself.
Whether or not there would be any friction between Japanese and English in particular, I'd say no. There would be no more problems there than what already happens between English and other languages.
There are of course technical/practical concerns: For instance, we can depict conversation without giving any subject pronouns or names in Japanese. In other words, we don't need to specify the gender (he or she) of a speaker until it's really necessary. We can therefore play the trick of switching speakers halfway, taking advantage of this no-gender-indication feature of the Japanese language; but I think it's difficult to translate this trick. Conversely, the translation of languages that always make the subject's gender clear is tricky in Japanese.
I think, though it depends, Japanese fiction in general tend to disclose the trick at the end of the sentence as there the tone often alters according to the speaker's gender or class. I'm particular about this kind of language feature, and my writings tend to be highly dependent on the character of the language in question. If I wrote in English, I would play with its system and try to make use of its fragility, but since I have no real clue about it, I may end up, at best, with a bunch of awkward puns.ASYMPTOTE
: Did you ever think of translating your own works? Have you worked on any translation?TE
: Translation is a matter of the balance between time and cost. I'd like to be able to translate my own work, but I know there is someone better qualified for it. Even before that, though, I'm not competent at all when it comes to translation.
What I can do and have done so far is to introduce interesting works I've come across to the publishers. In the future, I want to embark on a translation myself: the translation of a novel which would attract only a thousand readers per country. But, you know, a novel of such kind is 'difficult' to work on realistically (laughs).ASYMPTOTE
: In a conversation with Masahiko Shimada
, you talked about the effect of novels. What did you mean in saying 'effect'?TE
: In that conversation, we discussed the very practical side of the effect of novels. Harlequin's Butterfly
is often said to be a novel which has the effect of inducing sleep, and I said "then we might as well promote a book which has some practical function" and that "then the book is to be positively evaluated as effective for insomnia." (laughs)
It was, however, a sardonic proposal. Imagine how a book generally works: A row of letters moves the reader and this is where the magic of literature lies. We don't evaluate or gauge a book in term of its effect, saying, "the effect of this book is to move you to tears," even though the book has really made you cry.
In this sense, and in most of the cases, the effect of a translation must be different from the original's. For instance, the song "Auld Lang Syne" is titled "Hotaru no hikari" (The Glimmer of A Firefly) in Japanese and it's known as a song of nostalgia or homecoming; it brings you back to your childhood, evokes nostalgia, or suggests the scene of you returning home, saying goodbye to your playmates. But I'm sure it's different in English-speaking countries.
I think lines requiring a certain cultural understanding, or jokes making use of local language are all difficult to translate. In comparison, complicated plots or structures are easier to deal with. The effect of a translated piece might not be exactly the same as the original; but if the impact were equivalent, it would be enough.
Supposing a phrase which invokes sadness in Japanese appears funny in English, what would the problem be, and who would realize it? This question comes to my mind when I go to the cinema in other countries. I often wonder why people are laughing and crying at a scene where I'm not. But the important thing is that I perceive something
. I may say this is an effect of the scene: it's telling me something. While I was writing Harlequin's Butterfly
, I was thinking about such things all the time.ASYMPTOTE
: In the same talk with Shimada, you said, "At the end of the globalization of literature, when the borders are crossed and regional differences are ironed out, what stands out as trustworthy piece would be a story handed down by word of mouth or a community-based one." The irony, however, is that these trustworthy pieces can't cross regional borders unless they are translated.TE
: Translation is, so to speak, the customs duty to literary trade. It's an obstacle, and the goods must be worth the high tariff. If you can replicate the same stuff in your country, you don't need to import it paying a high tariff, no matter how useful the item is. It's certainly an irony that being special is a prerequisite of trade, but that being too special hinders it.
But I don't think translation can perfectly convey the very effect of the original, no matter what. It often happens that a frog jumps away from one land to appear on another as a lizard, and I'd call such a transformation 'creation'. In this sense, the key is whether a translator can include as much of the 'worth' of the original into his writing as a writer does. In this sense, translation and creative writing are the same thing.ASYMPTOTE
: You used to say that you were suspicious about the competitiveness of literary works in the international market. What do you think is this 'international competitiveness'?TE
: In reality, so called 'national literature' tends to lack this 'international competitiveness'. I'm thinking of writers such as Ryotaro Shiba, Shotaro Ikenami, Futaro Yamada
. I reckon it's quite difficult to translate their works, and ironically the very charm, the deliciousness of their works is what hinders translation. So one possible definition might be 'translatability'.
In another sense, 'international competitiveness' might be the power to overcome 'the tariff obstacle'.
As for me, I'm a man on the fence: I'm the traditional-style sushi chef who can, however, also make international-style California rolls. What is served on the table will be proof of my strengths, though I might end up being reproached for serving un-Californian California rolls (laughs).ASYMPTOTE
: Talking about reproach, you've criticized, in an interview, a certain group of readers for their blind belief in consistency
, and apparently Harlequin's Butterfly
sets out an antithesis to this faith in consistency and its adoption in reading fiction.TE
: To recognize consistency, we need to remember. Without remembering things, we can't think about coherence. In novels, you'd stop and wonder about inconsistency if a character who has died earlier on would reappear in the story. For those who don't notice and just read on, consistency wouldn't be an issue.
Human beings, by nature, tend to believe we are rational, logical, and consistent. We make up memories, rationalize at our convenience, and believe in baseless rumors. And it doesn't mean that sensible, cautious people are safe. Cognitive psychologists, brain scientists, and behavioral economists have recently shown that everyone is susceptible.
What then is the difference between fiction that seems to be consistent and a life that appears to be coherent? There is no difference: Both of them just seem to be so. What I meant in that interview was that fiction will inevitably be inconsistent if it tries to depict our nature. Fiction has the effect of fabricating a powerfully consistent world, and at the same time, it can also bring the incoherence of our being to light; and I feel there is more reality in fiction that comes out of the latter.ASYMPTOTE
: Modern fiction sees the rise of a style that focuses on formal construction rather linear plot. What do you think about the development of this style in Japan?TE
: The concern is that there are probably only a few thousand people in each country who'd enjoy reading such novels. But it's quite understandable that fiction is now thinking about form, given how our daily life is; we're used to jumping from one thing to another using hyperlinks and dealing with miscellaneous fragments of information gathered in one place as search results. I'm sure the amount of information we receive a day has already surpassed what people in the Victorian age received in a lifetime. It would be difficult to imagine that the way we deal with information hasn't evolved despite the technology.
On the other hand, we should be careful about the received notion that a consistent plot is somehow suited for the print medium, or that the amount of information contained in a novel, with the support of the word processor, is somehow a suitable amount for achieving consistency. It might be interesting to stop and think why novels have come to restrict themselves to more or less the same number of pages.
The reaction of literature to our current situation has been very slow. Our society relies largely on engineers, but I often wonder if there have been any novels that excite these engineers. And so, I think I'll keep writing evenly, at my own pace. In the end, all what we can do is to blindly present more variations of style, many of which are nothing more than rehashes of something which has been done before and forgotten.ASYMPTOTE
: In Harlequin's Butterfly
, we come across several motifs relating to handwork, such as a custom-made butterfly net, knitting with three hands, and semi-professional cooking, or related to the dexterity of gestures of the analog realm. Why this focus?TE
: As the expression 'to weave a story' implies, creating a plot has something to do with handwork, including the fact that you have to repeat the same simple action over and over again. What we see in our daily life nowadays are mostly processed things beautifully made up on the surface, but what lies behind the surface is really a chaotic creative process. Our computerized society has produced a lot of engineers immersed in this chaos behind the curtain, but what they are doing there is, in the end, manual work.
Behind Harlequin's Butterfly
was my growing interest in this issue, for one thing. But to be honest, it was also a kind of experiment. I've been so often described as a writer who writes incomprehensible novels using a lot of mathematical terms or scientific theories, that I started thinking it would make my novel easier to approach if I replaced the science with cooking or handicrafts. So I tried it.
The result was, well... Nothing much changed.ASYMPTOTE
: Do you cook or knit yourself? I remember you said in an interview you had no ear for music or poetry...TE
: I do cook, but it's nothing that I'd serve other people. Knitting is not my forte either, and I am not very good with my hands (for example, I still can't move to the second row when crocheting). Whenever I do handwork, I always wonder why I am doing this, knowing that there definitely are people who can do it quicker and better. But I still try, because I might come up with some good ideas for my story while moving my hands; a 'four-dimensional knitting pattern', for instance.
I like to work with my hands. When I do handwork, I'm aware of the 'slowness' of reality, in contrast to the 'speed' of thought, and it helps me feel that the world exists, that I am inexorably involved in it. I have an inclination to 'speed' in general, but I've come to realize the need for 'slowness', to keep a good balance.Asymptote
: Inconsistency and unpredictability are words that are often used to describe the character of your works. I'm looking forward to having your unpredictable work surprise us again soon, any plans?TE
: I'm basically a contrarian. I'd turn right if I were told to turn left, and I can't tell what my future work will be like myself either. I hope you'll discover and enjoy my work again in some unexpected place. | <urn:uuid:f0b482e5-8cf7-4bec-96da-85767fa996e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asymptotejournal.com/article.php?cat=Interview&id=16&curr_index=32&curPage= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971312 | 4,223 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Labor Economics with Walter Block
[Walter Block will be presenting the webinar How to End Unemployment in One Day Friday, January 27, 2012 at 7 p.m. EST.]
How could unemployment be ended in one day? The short answer is, Pass a law making unemployment illegal, punishable by the death penalty; that will reduce unemployment to zero, heck, not in one day, but in one second. Who would be willing to declare himself unemployed under such a legal regime? Not I, not I.
A more politically relevant question is, Why do we have jobs in the first place? This is because we live in a world of scarcity: we want more goods and services than we have available to us. If we lived in the Garden of Eden, where things fell slowly upon us, anything our hearts desired, there would be no need for work or employment. Unhappily, if we want more things than are now available to us, we must labor to create them. (These and other such considerations are based on my book Labor Economics from a Free Market Perspective: Employing the Unemployable.)
But why jobs? Why don't we each work for ourselves? Or in syndicalist communities? That is the goal of our "progressive" friends on the liberal Left. This is because the entrepreneur, the residual-income claimant, brings three things to the table that workers greatly value. First, he bears risk. If the items produced by the workers cooperatives do not sell, they are plumb out of luck; in contrast, if what the worker produces for the capitalist is rejected by the consumer, the capitalist may not come to the workers and demand back the wages already paid. Second, the much reviled businessman offers time, in the form of capital goods. If 100 workers band together in a syndicalist venture, and the product will not come off the assembly line for a year, they must feed and clothe themselves for this entire duration. As well, they must have among them enough savings to purchase the machinery, the raw materials, and the marketing services necessary for a final sale. In contrast, the entrepreneur provides all this to the workers, who, all too often, do not appreciate his efforts on their (and of course his) behalf. Third, the owner of the business firm provides leadership, in setting up the entire enterprise.
What determines the level of remuneration in labor markets? In a word, productivity. If a man can create $15 worth of product in an hour, his wage will tend to equal that level of compensation. If he is initially paid only, say, $8, this means that the employer will earn $7 from the sweat of his brow. But, assuming the worker is equally productive for many firms, some other entrepreneur will come along and offer this laborer $8.01. Another one will raise the bid to $8.02. Where will this process end? At the point where no additional profits can be made by attempting to hire this worker away from his present employer. On the other hand, if the wage for such a person gets pegged at a higher level, say $20 per hour, the firm paying him will tend to go broke. This wage level cannot either long endure.
Why do we have unemployment? One major source is when wages are pegged at higher rates than productivity. Minimum-wage laws and union legislation are responsible for this situation. Another cause of unemployment is unemployment insurance. The more you pay for something, the more of it you will have. If you subsidize unemployment, its rate will rise. Yet another cause of it is the Fed, Ron Paul's favorite institution. By artificially lowering interest rates to virtually zero levels, this central bank leads entrepreneurs to invest in excessively roundabout methods of production for items that take a long time to produce (houses, cars, mines, etc.). But, in so doing, the Fed increases the danger of inflation. Eventually they have to stop this mad policy, or slow it down, lest too high inflation, or hyperinflation, ruin the economy. At this point the malinvestments made in these earlier orders of goods are shown to be unsustainable.
This calls for a jettisoning of many of these investments, with concurrent unemployment. Also, policies such as the Community Reinvestment Act, Obamacare, Fannie, Freddie, HUD, affirmative action, continually changing regulations and tax policies, and lack of support for private-property rights all play a role in creating unemployment.
Why do males earn more money than females? Is this due to the intrinsic sexism of the free enterprise system? In the webinar to be presented on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 7 p.m. EST, I will explore these and other related issues. | <urn:uuid:a819cf84-b3e5-47ac-975e-f0a98838cdfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mises.org/daily/5874/Labor-Economics-with-Walter-Block | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949648 | 973 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Egypt’s government (such as it is) tells its people to eat less:
We are watching something unique and terrible in modern history, namely the disintegration of a society of 80 million people, with the prospect of real hunger–a self-made famine brought about by social and political disaster rather than crop failure or war. It is horrific and dangerous. Those (like the Council on Foreign Relations’ Steven Cook) who maliciously accuse me of wanting Egypt to fail might as well accuse oncologists of wanting their patients to die of cancer. No-one proposes to cough up $20 to $30 billion a year to bail out Egypt — the taxpayers have enough troubles of their own. Instead, the establishment goes through the motions of prescribing macroeconomic measures to the Egyptian government which imply starvation at the micro level — and wonders why all the parties in Egyptian politics won’t play together nicely.
Sadly, Egypt isn’t the only country with problems in the Arab world. | <urn:uuid:2895eedb-11bd-466b-a150-86fa68a05d3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=47592 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947018 | 202 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Time Life Medical: Healthy HeartUnknown
Year Released: 1996
Categories: Floor Aerobics/Hi-Lo/Dance , Special Health Conditions
Video Fitness reviews may not be copied, quoted, or posted elsewhere without the permission of the reviewer
This video focuses on cardiovascular fitness, though it is not intended for cardiac rehabilitation except under a doctor's guidance. The "Better Understanding" segment of this video contains interesting animated graphics of the heart and circulatory system and how they are positively affected by exercise. It also teaches you how to take your own pulse and how to use a perceived exertion scale to judge how hard you are working.
This workout features the same instructors listed above: Ken Alan, Leora Myers, Joy Prouty, John Shropshire, and Valerie DePena. The workout consists of a 10 minute warm up, three 10-minute low impact aerobic sections, a 5 minute cool down, 7 minutes of strength training, and 8 minutes of stretching.
As with the rest of the videos in this series, the choreography consists of extremely basic, easy to follow moves like step touches, heel digs, and marches. The third aerobic section is a little more aerobically challenging, but still very basic. Throughout the workout, the participants show two different levels of aerobic intensity, and modifications of the aerobic steps, strength exercises and stretches are always shown.
At some points the male instructors didn't seem to follow the musical phrasing, and weren't always on beat, but the choreography is so simple it didn't really matter.
This workout might be a good bet for someone who is older or hasn't worked out in a very long time, but who doesn't have any specific health problems. It would be best for people who hate complicated choreography--others might find it too easy. | <urn:uuid:f556033c-a110-487a-b23a-291faaea34d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.videofitness.com/reviewsdb/disp_review.php?id=1349 | 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 | 0.937042 | 373 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The role that search engines play in today’s online world cannot be ignored or underestimated for that matter. With ever increasing competition there are millions of great website that already exist for every kind of product and the few hundred which keep coming up every single day. With such stiff competition obtaining targeted traffic is no child’s play and the only route to achieve the traffic quotient is through the pages of the various search engines.
Search engine optimization is not only pertinent for any business but effective search engine optimization techniques also work in delivering results. A good and efficient SEO company will try every way to raise search engine rankings for web pages. Today everything has become highly technical and there are various new strategies which come into play for effective search engine optimization.
Persuasive SEO copywriting is one such new trend which major SEO companies follow today. As search engine love content, the web designers fill the webpage with exactly that and they place the strategic key words at some places on the website. These strategic keywords are the ones which are most commonly used for searches in their particular niche. A lot of research goes into discovering which keywords are the best and most commonly used by customers when looking for a particular product and service. These targeted keywords are prone to change with newer words and better phrases being picked up by online customers to look for whatever they require online.
A qualified SEO company will make the webpage content rich by using the various targeted keywords without over stuffing them in the webpage. Persuasive SEO copywriting involves writing for search engines as well as human readers. It is not only about placing the keywords just anywhere and in any form all over the webpage. To achieve the desired results the targeted keywords and key phrases should be placed in predetermined positions on the webpage to qualify for search engine rankings.
Some of the other latest trends in SEO include text optimization, image optimization and flash optimization. All these trends are broadly classified under onsite optimization. Geographical optimization is one of the latest techniques which a SEO professional would use on demand. This technique looks to include web pages in search engines based on the searches made by internet users for products and services in a particular geographical area. Creating content rich blogs on BlogSpot, blog flux and other blogging tools are some the latest trends which have been proven to enhance search engine rankings. | <urn:uuid:ce3ab90d-a10e-46c6-b12a-2e86787342fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://submitqueen.com/blog/tag/website-marketing/ | 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 | 0.952228 | 463 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Norwich High School’s juniors and seniors witnessed the aftermath of a horrific collision between a car and a motorcycle which left one of their classmates dead, four more fighting for their lives and another in police custody.
None of it, of course, was real. Rather it was part of a demonstration staged last week by Students Against Destructive Decisions with the help of the Norwich City Police and Fire Departments to remind students of the dangers of drinking and driving.
According to SADD Co-Advisor Tricia Della Porta, the mock crash is done every two years to coincide with prom and graduation.
“This situation will be very real,” Norwich Fire Chief Tracy Chawgo told the student audience, as a tarp was removed to reveal the carefully staged scene.
In the scenario, a motorcycle driven by Senior Jordan Dietrich had collided with a car driven by Senior Sam Distefano. Dietrich and his passenger, twelfth-grader Abby Dean, were thrown from the bike and sustained critical injuries. The car’s passengers, Junior Casey Edwards and Seniors Cara Frink and Karissa Hubbard, were all injured in the crash.
The cause of the accident became obvious when a staggering Distefano exited the car and tried in vain to get rid of a bag of empty beer cans. | <urn:uuid:83738a3d-3732-4a3e-8fb8-eb26d86478d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.evesun.com/news/stories/2009-05-29/7076/Norwich-students-get-a-reality-check-with-mock-crash-demonstration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973702 | 275 | 1.5625 | 2 |
“We actors are completely oblivious of ourselves and our surroundings while we perform and even when we watch our work in the rushes shown to us, our senses and vision are trained to detect shortcomings more than accomplishments. That’s the only way we know to improve and render performances that come close to our own satisfaction. And it is always the audience who have the absolute right to acclaim or reject our work, however hard we may have worked to achieve perfection and excellence.” – Dilip Kumar in a letter to Amitabh Bachchan on 14 December 2011
One article alone is not enough to write about the profound impact which Mr Dilip Kumar has had on many people and on Indian films. He himself may not have been aware of the fact that working in films would someday result in him being branded by film personalities and by fans worldwide as one of the greatest actors to have ever surfaced in Hindi cinema. Dilip Kumar has starred in some of the most spectacular films which India has produced, and he became a very successful and popular star of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Dilip Kumar, perhaps subconsciously, revolutionized modern acting, and is referred to by many as ‘the tragedy king of Hindi cinema.’ The legendary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray dubbed him as “the ultimate method actor.” His acting technique has been the awe of many of today’s artistes, who probably wish that they could pull off a Dilip Kumar style of performance. Dilip Kumar has inspired great actors like Mr Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, who regularly cite him as their role model. To celebrate his 90th birthday, BollySpice reflects on the magic that is Dilip Kumar!
Born as Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922 in Peshawar, British India, Dilip Kumar was discovered in 1944 by Devika Rani, who along with her husband owned the famous Bombay Talkies production house. The scholar Ashok Raj intriguingly reveals in his book Hero: The Silent Era to Dilip Kumar (2010), how Dilip Kumar came to be noticed by a woman who would be the one to give him his big break in films. “Devika Rani had gone out for shopping to a local market. At one fruit shop, she looked keenly at the young man engrossed at selling his merchandise. It was by mere chance that the shy shopkeeper had only replaced his father that day. Devika Rani found this young man with a sensitive face and expressive eyes quite unusual. She gave him her visiting card and asked him to meet her at the studio.” Though he was born as Yusuf Khan, he became ‘Dilip Kumar’ for the big screen.
Dilip Kumar was launched by Devika Rani in the film Jwar Bhata (1944), which unfortunately did not fare well at the box office. Yet his talent did not go unnoticed and following India’s independence and partition, Dilip Kumar would go onto make his mark in Hindi cinema. One of the films which elevated him to superstardom was Mehboob Khan’s Andaz (1949). The film saw him paired opposite Nargis and Raj Kapoor, who would also transform into prominent figures within the industry after the release of this landmark film. A story revolving around a love triangle, interspersed with drama and tragedy, Andaz has a unique place in the history books since it the only film which sees Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor sharing screen space. It became an instant hit at the box office and enabled Dilip Kumar to establish himself as one of the reigning figures of the Indian film industry. The film is certainly one of the highlights of his career and he enacted his character with ease and conviction.
Dilip Kumar went onto star in big hits like Babul (1950), Daag (1952) and Aan (1952), the latter being the first ever Indian film to be made in colour. Yet it was in 1955 that he managed to successfully tug on the heartstrings of the audiences in Bimal Roy’s remake of Devdas (1955). Based on the novel by Bengali author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Devdas is one of Dilip Kumar’s key films and one where he managed to deliver one of the finest performances of his career as the classic alcoholic lover. Despite a successful third remake having been released in 2002 with Shah Rukh Khan as the leading man, Roy’s version is considered to have greater substance and emotion and is now consider a classic. The exceedingly tragic performance which Dilip Kumar delivered helped to consolidate his position within the industry and won him enormous critical acclaim and awards also.
At a press event in February 2012, Shah Rukh himself admitted to the Indian media who were gathered there that Dilip Kumar is the ultimate Devdas Mukherjee. Although he gave a respectable performance, Shah Rukh does not consider his portrayal as Devdas to be within the same league as Dilip Kumar’s. “I was a fool to say I will do Devdas. I feel I shouldn’t have done it. I have a very deep regard for the fact that my parents loved Devdas. I was young and it was very stupid of me to do it. But I had the blessings of Dilip Sahib.” When asked by a journalist if he was trying to emulate Dilip Kumar in the film, Shah Rukh responded with the following answer: “You can’t imitate Dilip sahib. No one can dare copy him and whoever does so are idiots like me.” Devdas sees Dilip Kumar perform alongside Vyjayanthimala and Suchitra Sen and most critics consider this version to be as close to the original story. It is a must watch for anyone who wants to see Dilip Kumar at his best!
Dilip Kumar made an excellent pairing with Vyjayanthimala and together, they dished out classics such as Naya Daur (1957) and Gunga Jumna (1961). However, perhaps their most memorable film as an on-screen couple is Bimal Roy’s Madhumati (1958), which skilfully deals with the concept of reincarnation. This is another one of Dilip Kumar’s great works and he manages to exude the precise sentiments when his character is placed in specific situations. Madhumati went on to become one of the highest grossing films of that year and won countless awards for its gripping storyline and performances. As a director, Bimal Roy indeed played a fundamental role in sharpening Dilip Kumar’s qualities as an actor. Dilip Kumar himself admits this and stated the following on a website which pays tribute to this pioneering filmmaker. “To me it was an education to work with him (Bimal Roy). In my formative years, it was important to work with a director who led you gently under the skin of the character. Today we have institutions, they teach cinema, acting etc. We did not have these in our times. We had instead directors like Bimal Roy.”
In addition to Vyjayanthimala, Dilip Kumar made a wonderful pairing with Madhubala, who is considered to be India’s equivalent to Marilyn Monroe. They have worked together on films like Tarana (1951) and Amar (1954). However, it was really K.Asif’s masterpiece Mughal-E-Azam (1960), which enabled Dilip Kumar and Madhubala to showcase sizzling romantic chemistry. Mughal-E-Azam took ten years to create, but you only have to watch this beautifully crafted film to know that it was indeed worth the time and money that was invested into this project by the entire team. Filled with exquisite costumes, grandeur sets, eloquent dialogues and an iconic soundtrack, Mughal-E-Azam is a delicious historical epic. It is rightly considered by many to be one of the greatest films to have ever been made in the history of Hindi cinema. Only Dilip Kumar and Madhubala could have played the roles of Salim and Anarkali, with Prithviraj Kapoor as the fiery Akbar. Reportedly at the time of its release, Mughal-E-Azam was panned by some critics, who felt the film was too long. However, this did not deter the public from seeing and enjoying K.Asif’s magnum opus on the big screen and it became a sensational hit. Mughal-E-Azam went onto become the highest grossing Indian film of all time, before it was overthrown by the masala epic Sholay in 1975. It is one of Dilip Kumar’s most triumphant films and he essayed the role so perfectly by giving his character the masculine spark and detail that it needed. It can be safely said that you are not a true fan of Hindi cinema until you have witnessed the beauty that is Mughal-E-Azam!
During the 1960s, Dilip Kumar continued to charm the audiences and also experimented with alternate roles. This is evident when you view his light and comic characters in Kohinoor (1960) and Leader (1964). Moreover, for the first time in his career, Dilip Kumar took on a double role in the cult classic Ram Aur Shyam (1967), which emerged as the highest grossing film of that year. Apparently, Dilip Kumar was suffering from depression due to performing numerous tragic roles. He was advised to adopt some less intense characters in order to come out of it. These light hearted films did work towards Dilip Kumar’s favour professionally, as he went onto win the Filmfare Best Actor Award for all three of these films. Dilip Kumar did manage to project a humorous personality on the big screen with these films and they prove that he is very versatile as an actor. However, many will agree that Dilip Kumar is at his finest when he plays a melancholic character, which is why film experts and scholars intuitively refer to him as the ‘tragedy king.’
During the 1970s, Dilip Kumar lost popularity since a wave of new actors like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan came to dominate this particular decade. However, during the 1980s he signed up to a number of films where he played a senior figure. In particular, Shakti (1984) and Mashaal (1984) gave Dilip Kumar the ideal platform to execute poignant performances as a senior character. He won the respect of the critics and his fans for these two films and they proved that he was capable to doing anything and playing anyone on the big screen. He eventually retired from films in the 1990s, with Qila (1998) being the last ever film he starred in.
Dilip Kumar is definitely a pioneer when it comes to the craft of acting. Though he was in competition with his contemporaries like Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar effectively popularised the tragedy genre in Hindi cinema during his illustrious career. He has set the foundation for current and future actors when it comes to exemplifying intense sorrow on the big screen. As we prepare to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema, it should be emphasised that Dilip Kumar’s contributions towards the industry are incredibly significant. Hopefully, his legacy will be greatly appreciated and revered by future generations to come. To forget about a talented actor like Dilip Kumar is like forgetting to put salt in your food. His style of acting has given Indian cinema the exact flavour that it needed! | <urn:uuid:dde9331c-1a64-4530-bbd5-f4d654b81c74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bollyspice.com/52575/dilip-kumar-the-greatest-of-the-actors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985643 | 2,427 | 1.703125 | 2 |
"We don't have to put drivers in that position," Sale said last week. The driver who killed his daughter and another woman and injured three others was fired, and "she got a life sentence the day she hit my daughter," Sale said. "She'll have to live with that every day for the rest of her life."
Sale met with SEPTA bus drivers last week and traveled to Harrisburg with officials of the drivers' union to lobby legislators for the change.
SEPTA officials acknowledge mirrors create temporary blind spots, but they have resisted refitting mirrors on their fleet of 1,400 buses, saying that could cause other safety issues. Instead, SEPTA has increased driver training to teach operators how to reduce blind spots.
From 2000 through 2011, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 462 pedestrians were killed by transit buses in this country.
Last year, 13 SEPTA pedestrian accidents involved left-turning buses, down from 17 in 2011 and 19 in 2010, and up from six in 2008, said Michael R. Liberi, chief surface transportation officer.
"Collisions involving buses turning left and pedestrian contact usually result in serious injuries and, sometimes, fatalities," Liberi wrote in a memo to drivers last year, urging them to adjust mirrors, seats, and steering wheels and to move around in their seats to improve visibility.
Drivers are especially critical of the left-side mirrors on SEPTA's New Flyer buses, which make up the bulk of the fleet. Those vertical mirrors, about 14-by-7 inches, are bolted next to the roof pillar and can obscure drivers' views of people or cyclists.
Yolanda Snowden, a driver with 15 years' experience, bent low in the driver's seat to demonstrate how she peers under the mirror to see if pedestrians are in a crosswalk when she makes a left turn.
"A mirror up high would work better," Snowden said. "This really blocks the person. It's not the driver's fault; it's the mirror."
Ted Warner, a driver for 30 years, recalled a near-miss several years ago.
"I was going to make a left onto Cheltenham, and I saw the people on the sidewalk and thought it was clear. Then, someone screamed, 'Oh my God,' and this woman ran ahead of the bus. She was in the crosswalk, and I never saw her. It scared the [expletive] out of me."
Drivers said they preferred smaller, square mirrors that are installed on other bus models.
But Liberi said changing the mirrors, which cost $266 each, could cause other problems.
"The size of the mirror is for clear visibility toward the back of the bus," he said. "If you make it too small, are you creating another hazard?"
And he said roof-mounted "euro-style" mirrors could draw a driver's eyes up and away from the road.
"The operator has a fundamental responsibility to make sure the pathway is clear," Liberi said.
The issue is a national problem, said Greg Hull, director of operations, safety, and security for the American Public Transportation Association.
Devices such as cameras, sensors, flashing lights, and audible signals have been tried by other transit agencies, with varying degrees of success. But Hull said too many alerts can be an additional distraction for drivers.
Last year, Cleveland's transit agency won a national safety award for its efforts to reduce pedestrian accidents.
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority shifted bus mirrors, improved training, outfitted buses with beeping signals and flashing lights, and introduced a "talking bus."
A recorded voice on all 400 buses now warns: "Caution, pedestrians, bus is approaching."
After the changes, Cleveland buses hit no pedestrians between March 2009 and January 2011, saving millions of dollars on accident claims.
Contact Paul Nussbaum
at 215-854-4587 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:bf13fdcb-3c82-4caf-9720-8344f25d563c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.philly.com/2013-02-12/news/37041367_1_bus-drivers-septa-officials-three-pedestrians | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96934 | 826 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Major construction at the interchange will effect San Juan Capistrano and neighboring cities
By Brian Park
Traffic has long been a concern of many San Juan Capistrano residents, but in the coming year, those concerns will be shared with residents of cities to the south, including San Clemente.
Caltrans is scheduled to begin major construction for the massive Interstate 5/Ortega Highway Interchange project in mid-February. It’s a project that’s been on the minds of traffic officials, San Juan Capistrano city leaders and residents for more than a decade and will likely stay that way for at least two more, when it’s scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2015.
The $86.2 million project will completely rebuild the Ortega Highway bridge over I-5, construct a new northbound loop on-ramp, reconfigure the northern portion of Del Obispo Street leading to the bridge and apply several changes to existing on- and off-ramps.
“It’s a pretty substantial project,” said Gloria Roberts, chief spokesperson for Caltrans’ local District 12. “We’re doing demolition and building a whole new bridge.”
Traffic engineers identified the interchange as a major choke point and initiated a study of the area in 2000, according to Caltrans’ 2009 project report. At the time the report was published, the overburdened interchange carried about 99,000 cars per day. Engineers said the current configuration could not accommodate a projected increase in traffic of around 121,000 cars by 2030.
Within the project’s scope area, studies also showed that accidents along Ortega Highway occurred at twice the rate of the state average and “at a much higher rate” on the I-5 southbound off-ramp for similar areas. According to the report, the roadways in the area featured nonstandard lane widths—10 and 11 feet, when Caltrans requires 12 feet—and that Ortega Highway, which predates I-5, did not have the required shoulders—about 8 feet—for bridge separation.
“This is a whole reconfiguration,” Roberts said. “Part of this project is to relieve congestion because the area is growing.”
Although San Juan Capistrano will bear the brunt of construction, increased congestion along detour routes make this a local problem for all motorists traveling through the city.
“It is a regional challenge,” former city council member Laura Freese said. “Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and our other neighbors to the north and south are definitely going to feel it because they use that interchange and they use Del Obispo and our other streets to get to the freeway. They’re all going to have to figure out alternate routes.”
One of Freese’s last acts as a council member included establishing the Economic Preservation Committee, a group made up of city officials and local business owners that aim to curb the adverse effects of the project on business, especially in downtown.
Together, the group has already formulated several ideas and voiced some of their concerns with Caltrans and the department’s contracted project management firm CALTROP. Following Caltrans’ closure of a Chevron and Jack in the Box, both on the corner of Del Obispo Street and Ortega Highway, the committee submitted their own design for a welcome banner to be wrapped around raised chain-link fences. Caltrans combined their own design standards with the committee’s suggestion to produce the current banners, which serve to welcome and inform motorists.
The committee has also reached out to the city and the Orange County Transportation Authority to consider lowering rates to use Historic Town Center Park for events, creating a trolley service to carry passengers from JSerra Catholic High School into downtown and decreasing Metrolink fare prices.
Caltrans is bound by strict rules that prohibit promotional projects that do not focus on traffic, according to Roberts. Caltrans and CALTROP have both taken on community outreach efforts, however, through informational meetings, publishing reading material and social media tools, like Facebook (www.facebook.com/ortegainterchangeproejct) and Twitter (@OrtegaHighway), to inform residents of construction updates.
By the end of the month, Caltrans expects to have a complete project schedule, according to Roberts. For now, the city and the committee has been told that construction work would be limited to evening and early morning hours. Full closures are expected on the northern portion of Del Obispo Street, going as far west as El Camino Real, for two separate periods of three and four weeks. Proposed dates and times of the closures will be included in the project schedule.
For more information about the I-5/Ortega Highway Interchange project, visit www.dot.ca.gov/dist12/5-74EIR.htm. | <urn:uuid:3af538be-e7ac-4aba-8932-31e404953fe9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sanclementetimes.com/blog/2013/01/10/caltrans-interchange-project-to-effect-south-county-motorists/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943205 | 1,030 | 1.765625 | 2 |
If you cross the 520 bridge without a Good to Go pass, keep your eyes peeled for the bill. You could easily miss it.
Toll bills are being mailed in plain white envelopes with no marking that say a toll bill is inside or that it's from the Washington state Department of Transportation.
Some people have mistakenly thrown them out.
State officials say if drivers don't pay the toll bills delivered in the mail, they may face civil penalties. For every bill that goes unpaid, drivers face a $5 fee for every reminder bill. And if it goes past 80 days, drivers face a $40 civil penalty.
WSDOT says they're keeping an eye on the issues surrounding the tolling envelopes.
"We are monitoring the situation," said Craig Stone, WSDOT. "The question is, should we put stickers or stamps on them. We're going to be able to work through envelopes we have. Our next order, we'll consider putting Good to Go on them ... It's actually fairly expensive for us to put the stickers onto them. Ask people, just respect the toll bill."
WSDOT is asking drivers to pay attention to your mail. If you cross the bridge and haven't received a bill in two weeks, call WSDOT.
For drivers forking over the money, Stone said they'll soon be able to see what they're getting for their toll. Pontoons will be brought into Lake Washington from Aberdeen and barges will soon be on Lake Washington.
"People will start seeeing the real construction. That's what the tolls are for. They're paying towards a billion dollars to get a new bridge in place and have that improvement," said Stone.
KING 5's Natasha Ryan contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:40ccf2a7-154c-4d93-a6e3-aa4cc1823d0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.king5.com/traffic/news/520-bridge/Mailed-520-toll-bills-in-plain-envelopes-being-tossed-by-drivers-147915315.html?ref=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965556 | 363 | 1.609375 | 2 |
ICC issues arrest warrant for Sudanese president
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Wednesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. According to Reuters, the court said it did not find sufficient grounds to include the count of genocide in Bashir's arrest warrant, but indicted the Susanese leader on seven counts for war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, forcible displacement and other crimes.
Sudan dismissed the ICC decision, with a presidential adviser telling state television that it was part of a "neo-colonialism" scheme. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in central Khartoum to protest against the arrest warrant.
Bashir has dismissed the allegations made by the ICC as part of a Western conspiracy. "They can eat it (the warrant)," he told a crowd of cheering supporters in northern Sudan on Tuesday. | <urn:uuid:4aa786ad-c98b-4ade-b1b7-22b1833dc981> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albawaba.com/news/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-sudanese-president?quicktabs_accordion=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959059 | 183 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Libya after Qaddafi
A new timetable
With Muammar Qaddafi out of the way, a totally new system has to be built
WHEN Libya's new rulers declared on October 23rd that their country, with the fall of Sirte and the death of Muammar Qaddafi, had definitively been liberated, a constitutional-cum-electoral clock began to tick. First, within a month, the chairman of the current National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, is to appoint an interim government. Within three months it should pass preliminary electoral laws. And within eight months Libyans are to elect about 200 delegates to an assembly charged with drafting a constitution to be approved by a referendum within another year, meaning mid-2013. Once the constitution is endorsed, elections for a parliament and later for a president will follow. This should all take a couple of years.
Unlike neighbouring Tunisia, which already had a constitution worth amending, Libya is starting from scratch, since the colonel abhorred such things. In a speech to announce Libya's liberation, Mr Abdel Jalil said the country's laws would be based on sharia, that “usury” would be banned and polygamy allowed. This raised eyebrows among some of the council's Western backers and dismayed many secular-minded Libyans, who chided him for pre-empting decisions that will be the purview of the constituent assembly.
Mr Abdel Jalil commands respect both from Islamists, towards whom he is sometimes said to tilt, and the secularists. But he may find it hard to maintain harmony between factions as they draft a constitution. Proceedings in the council have been tense since the killing in July of Abdel Fatah Younis, the then commander of the anti-Qaddafi forces. His murder was widely blamed on an Islamist militia and prompted Mr Abdel Jalil to sack several ministers. Since then, the avuncular chairman has held things together. “It is very important that the council sticks to its timetable and that no one prolongs it,” says Guma el-Gamaty, its London representative.
But rushing things may create problems, too. Libya has no licensed political parties and no formal forum yet for discussing the future in a constructive way. They cannot be created overnight. As elsewhere in the region, the Islamists seem better organised than their secular rivals.
The first step must be reining in the plethora of paramilitary forces that are basking in their triumph over Colonel Qaddafi and integrating them into a fledgling national army. This too will take time. Many of the militias have ferocious local loyalties, especially those from Sirte and Misrata and from the Nafusa mountains south of Tripoli, where Berber pride has revived. Differences between groups from cities such as Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata could get ugly if one or other thinks they have been bested in the power game. Abdel Hakim Belhaj, an Islamist who commands Tripoli's anti-Qaddafi forces, has proposed a plan to draw the revolutionaries into a new army and police force.
Meanwhile Mahmoud Jibril, who has been the de facto prime minister in his role as head of the council's executive committee, stepped down on October 23rd. His deputy, Ali Tarhouni (pictured with Mr Abdel Jalil behind him), who holds the oil and finance portfolios, is set to replace Mr Jibril. But the Misrata faction is also lobbying for one of its own to have the job. Mr Abdel Jalil's future is also unclear. He previously said that he too would step down once the liberation was declared. But many people, including Western diplomats, hope—and guess—he can be persuaded to stay on as a calming influence.
Rivalry between Benghazi and Tripoli for control of the oil sector persists. Libya's oil men are getting production back on stream a lot faster than many expected. Investors are already returning in droves but it is not yet clear who is empowered to oversee the contracts. Such uncertainties are inevitable in the early days of the new order. But some ministries, including those in charge of energy and finance, are already running quite well. Compared with Iraq in the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Libya is in much better shape. | <urn:uuid:8640ae76-5778-4d1f-9624-a071c1c6775d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/node/21534813 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974916 | 870 | 1.632813 | 2 |
“They ate the earth”. One of the most troubling lines from the documentary.
The GLF is devastating. In the beginning as the communes came into being, quotas were put on each commune that were quite high, but promised the peasants if the made them they would be doing such extraordinary things for China and the Revolution that they not only exhausted themselves and their supplies but they lied. If the quota was 100kg they would promise 120kg and claim they made it. So the Government would say, “fine, you raised 120kg of produce, give us 100 and keep the rest for yourselves”. The problem was there wasn’t a “rest” for themselves and they shipped away all their food.
Mao and others toured the countryside to see the incredible harvests for themselves. They were greeted by visions like the picture below;
carefully orchestrated and in no way reflective of reality. In one sad account in the film a farmer, newly introduced to petro-chemical fertilizer, digs a giant pit, pours in all the seeds he has, all the fertilizer he has… and grows nothing. They shipped away what they had. They ate roots, and bark, and ultimately even the earth. Death tolls range from 20 to, in the book at the top, 40 million persons.
In another tragedy of the day, steel production needs to be increased so the peasants are encouraged to build back yard steel furnaces;
as seen above. The unfortunate reality, as shown and testified to in the the film, is that they take all their bed frames, pots and pans, and everything useful made of metal, and melt it down into useless pot-metal. They didn’t have the sophistication to make real steel. Apparently for sometime these furnaces could be seen lighting up the countryside for miles around, and they were literally melting their future away.
I’ll leave it to you to google the grissly images of the famine. I couldn’t bring myself to reproduce one here. Needless to say the GLF appears to have been the height of human suffering, and like some other famines, as in the Ukraine, or Ireland, a result of government policy, more than any natural circumstance.
The Sino-Soviet split has traces going back to the 1920s. Here you simply get a fine tuning of the point near the center of the circle and the mysteries of the cultural revolutiopn and death of Lin Biao are explored further.
Happy New year!
Remember to get your Rough Drafts in! | <urn:uuid:5459d6cf-0f08-4d15-a754-a135af7f1ce8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibhistorytopics.com/?p=1551 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97176 | 531 | 1.695313 | 2 |
WANTED: A sharp set of pearly whites for this agency
With small businesses across Australia increasingly under threat from the games that can be played by shopping centre landlords, franchisors and larger businesses, it’s certainly time for all small businesses to have access to an independent small business commissioner in their particular state or territory.
With Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and New South Wales all having a state-based small business commissioner to help their small businesses, businesses in Tasmania, Queensland, the North Territory and the ACT are certainly missing out on the considerable benefits that a state or territory small business commissioner could bring at very little cost.
And no one should get too excited about the so-called new federal Small Business Commissioner. We have had lots of talk of a federal small business commissioner during the year, but it has only just been created. Obviously the Federal Labor Government is a big talker.
No promise is to too big to make. The only problem is that the end result doesn’t generally match the talk. In fact, much is promised with much fanfare, but little is delivered with even less substance.
That’s certainly the case with the new federal small business commissioner. After much promise and even greater fanfare, the new commissioner won’t be given any legislative powers…. which sadly means it will have no teeth.
No doubt the new cCommissioner will work hard in the role. After all, there are certainly lots of things that can be done to assist small businesses in their inevitable disputes with Federal Government agencies. Who do small businesses turn to when they have a business related dispute with a Federal Government agency? The Ombudsman is there for administrative or process related issues, but doesn’t readily get involved in business related disputes.
A state or territory based small business commissioner can’t help small businesses with Federal Government agencies so it’s up to the Federal Government to ensure that the federal small business commissioner can do something meaningful about the very real problems that small businesses have with Federal Government agencies.
What does the Federal Government’s failure to give the new federal small business commissioner any legislative powers mean for small businesses?
Well quite simply, it will be a missed opportunity to help small businesses in a real and practical way.
More dangerously, the Federal Government’s failure will mean that the new federal small business commissioner will be too busy trying to give the role some substance at a federal level to even think about how he can help Tasmanian, Queensland, Northern Territory and ACT small businesses.
For starters don’t expect the new Federal commissioner to set up a new office in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory or ACT.
And forget about trying to get help from the Federal Commissioner with any dispute that a small business may have with a landlord or franchisor. And don’t even think about the Federal Commissioner helping small businesses who may have a commercial dispute with State Government agencies or Local Councils.
The simple fact is that the Federal Commissioner is likely be swamped with issues small businesses have with Federal Government agencies. That would have been a good thing, but the Federal Commissioner will lack the statutory independence that’s so critical to State-based Small Business Commissioners.
Unless the Federal Commissioner has legislative backing it runs the risk of not being as effective as he could have been. It’s hard for a Federal Commissioner as a public servant to deal with an uncooperative Federal public servant or Department giving small businesses grief.
That’s why we give the Ombudsman statutory independence. And that’s why the Federal Commissioner will not be able to fulfil its full potential in the same way that for example the South Australian Small Business Commissioner has been able to do.
The point is very simple.
Small businesses in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT need state or territory based Small Business Commissioner to assist them with any disputes they may have with larger businesses.
All those small business retailers who have had a problem with their landlord know how it is when there’s a dispute. Taking legal action can be prohibitive and the lease tends to be stacked in favour of the landlord. Changes to leases and rent increases can sadly be offered on a take it or leave it basis.
Who does the small business retailer turn to? The ACCC will generally not get involved in individual business disputes. Members of Parliament often help and the state or territory Minister for Small Business can certainly be a passionate advocate for small businesses generally, but the problem is that these are often ad hoc responses and may be of little help where the small business retailer is facing a nasty landlord.
The same goes if a franchisee in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT is the victim of a nasty franchisor, or the small business is up against a difficult state or territory government department or local council.
A state or territory small business commissioner may not guarantee a result for the small business, but a small business commissioner in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT would be immediately available to assist and could adopt the alternative dispute resolution processes which in South Australia have led to disputes being successfully resolved in up to 86 per cent of cases.
That’s up to 86 per cent of cases that can stay out of the courts and where the commercial relationship between the small and large business can be preserved.
Having a small business commissioner in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT would give small businesses in the state or territory an independent person to help resolve business disputes through processes such as meditation.
Such a commissioner also could identify emerging issues and trends that could be addressed through mandatory industry codes of conduct.
The use of mediation to resolve business disputes is a well recognised and long accepted process that helps keep matters out of the courts.
Mandatory industry codes of conduct could usefully provide for a formal alternative dispute resolution framework that small businesses in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT could use in the event of a dispute with a larger business.
That’s the model adopted in South Australia and could easily be adopted in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT.
As for the cost of a setting up a state or territory small business commissioner the role could be established in a very cost effective manner. Initially, the commissioner could be a part-time appointment with just a small number of full time staff members. Formal mediations could be done by an external panel of mediators with individual mediators being appointed as required.
Importantly, having an effective small business commissioner in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT backed by meaningful legislation could help promote the resolution of business disputes in a timely, reasonable and cooperative matter.
Over time, that could actually reduce the commissioner’s workload and lead to significant cost savings in the commissioner’s operation.
Given the obvious benefits all we need now is bipartisan political support for a small business commissioner in Tasmania, Queensland, the Northern Territory and ACT. And we just need the Federal Government to give its new federal small business commissioner some legislative teeth otherwise the new Federal Commissioner might end up being all bark and no bite.
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TranscriptQuestion: How do the Internet's many distractions affect workday productivity?
Clay Shirky: There are several different trends at work on the work day. My friend, Dalton Conley over at NYU, the sociologist, in fact, has just written a book about the way in which the formerly relatively sharp dividing line between work and home has blended. That was a tradition in a way that started long before the Internet, although the Internet has certainly accelerated it. In a way, Mine Sweeper, right, the old time-waster, has been replaced by Facebook, the new time-waster. But Facebook is a certainly more pleasantly addictive pastime use of the service than Mine Sweeper was.
But to the larger point about going into your workday, spending all day answering emails, dealing with interruptive things, and then leaving feeling as if you’re getting nothing done... it seems to me that we are at the crux of a fairly, fairly significant social change in the way we conduct ourselves in the workplace because, to make a bold prediction, things that can’t last, don’t. Right? Since it takes longer to answer a question than to ask one, we can actually all make each other too busy to get anything done by just asking each other a bunch of questions. And the initial assumption when email, later instant messaging, and other forms of group communication came into the workplace, is that now, finally, we could be better coordinated. The better coordination means more and more communications interfaces, thus leaving your friends, and in fact, all of us leaving the workday feeling like, oh my god, all I did today was communicate but I accomplished nothing.
What we’ve seen in the kind of vanguard of social movement—the open source software movement is the largest sort of collection of participatory tools—is that open source software projects have consistently grown to such a size that they can’t actually host all of the internal communications. And what they do is they then subdivide themselves and they develop tools, not to help them communicate, but rather to help them not communicate. Which is to say, tools which allow individual workers to get their job done with a minimum of coordination. And there’s going to be a competition among businesses to who can create the best environment for their workers that minimizes interrupt logic and minimizes coordination. Because I think that the pain your friend is feeling, and again, that all of us feel, is really indicative of something quite deep, which is we can now communicate as much as we always thought we needed to in the business environment and it turns out to be catastrophic.
So, in large-scale enterprises, the trick is not starting to be to figure out which kinds of communication are critical and which are just sort of “cover your ass” constantly “cc” everybody occupational spam uses of the tool. And to start fairly rigorously stamping out that second category of them because if we all have each other communicate with one another as much as we think we need to, we’ll all swamp each other. Right? The source of your friend not getting anything done is other people, including him, on instant messages and email threads. But he is also himself the source of other people not getting anything done. And it’s going to take coordinated action, probably by the leadership of those companies to put the company back on a footing where you can minimize coordination and collaboration to the critical moments rather than having it swamp everybody.
Question: How should companies deal with these online distractions?
Clay Shirky: You know, different companies deal with it differently. I think increasingly, between the cultural expectations and the difficulty of shutting off access, this is becoming like the personal computer, like email, like instant messaging. Every one of those things—and you know, now Facebook and Twitter—every one of those things was brought into the business. Not because somebody in the executive suite said, “Now we have to have personal computers.” They were dragged into the business because the accountants hated talking to the mainframe guys. And so, once Visicalc came along, they just brought their own PC’s into the enterprise and hid it for a while.
If you went and talked to somebody about email in the mid-‘90s, you’d you know, maybe they heard about it, maybe they hadn’t. You know, there would be some, “oh, maybe some day we’ll get an email address.” Right? You go down and you talk to the sales guys and their business cards all have AOL addresses on them because their clients have demanded it.
Instant messaging, if you talk to the Wall Street guys about instant messaging in the late ‘90’s, “do you ever talk to your clients on IM.” Oh, no, no. The FCC would never let us do that.” Right? The brokers have an ICQ number. So, the second phase of all of that is the business then panicking and saying our employees are doing something that we didn’t allow them to do. At which point the hurdle the technology has to cross is, this is embedded enough in the cultural and business logic of this company, you can’t not do it.
People in call centers will lose that battle. Right? If you’re in a call center and it’s gonna be you’re in a cubicle farm and you’ve got your script, and if you’re, you know, spending a lot of time on Facebook when you should be on the phone, they’re going to shut that down. People in magazines, people in newspapers, people in the media are at the other extreme. Of course they’re going to have maximum access. But my guess is, that as with the personal computer, e-mail and instant messaging, participating in social networks as a way of figuring out what your customers are doing, figuring out what your vendors are doing, figuring out what you’re clients are doing, recruiting new hires, all of these kinds of characteristics are going to be... are going to seem to have enough value that after awhile most companies are going to capitulate and reopen the firewall inasmuch as they’ve shut it down.
Recorded on May 26, 2010
Interviewed by Victoria Brown | <urn:uuid:488aaaf3-c4c7-4ac3-9f0b-96ecaf5d4f21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bigthink.com/videos/facebook-valuable-business-tool-or-waste-of-time | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974069 | 1,335 | 1.710938 | 2 |
In February, Shirley Sherrod filed a complaint against Andrew Breitbart, initiating a defamation lawsuit over the release of an edited video that portrayed her as racist and caused her to lose her job. When the full video was released, it became apparent that her speech was actually about racial tolerance, and the administration apologized to her for the error. In April, Breitbart officially responded, predictably, with a motion to dismiss the case. What's surprising is one of the arguments Breitbart used to get the case thrown out.
In the suit, Sherrod must prove that Breitbart released an edited video of her with "actual malice," legalese for knowingly promoting false information or recklessly disregarding whether something was true. One line of defense for Breitbart could be, for example, to claim ignorance that the video had been edited.
Instead, Breitbart and his lawyer Larry O'Connor filed a complaint using a surprising strategy: They argue that their video was wholly appropriate because Sherrod really is racist. As a public-relations stunt, this puts the public attention back on Sherrod and continues to smear her name. Rather than debate Breitbart's conduct, he wants to keep up the conversation – a perennial favorite in conservative circles – that various groups discriminate against white people. One way they portray Sherrod as racist in the complaint is by citing the fact that she urged African Americans to apply for government jobs:
Sherrod's invitation to her audience to apply for USDA jobs from which they cannot be fired evidences her continuing determination to advance the interests of African-Americans at the economic expense of people of other races and provides a clear, truthful basis for the view that as a USDA official "she discriminates against people due to their race."
The idea that attempts to diversify the workplace – official policy both at the USDA and many workplaces around the country – is evidence of racism is ludicrous. Legally, that doesn't matter. What's so interesting about this defense is that not only does it shift the debate from Breitbart's actions to Sherrod's character, it is also an effort to shield Breitbart under the actual malice standard. In other words, if Breitbart actually thinks Sherrod is racist, than he didn't knowingly or negligently misrepresent her.
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(If there's one thing we know about comment trolls, it's that they're lazy) | <urn:uuid:ee154531-d0fd-48ac-a9c8-22e1f683aea2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prospect.org/article/breitbart-defense | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971352 | 476 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A few years ago while interning at Farm Sanctuary’s Animal Acres, my roommate and I decided to take a trip with the sanctuary’s manager to see the truth behind the dairy industry. Chino, California, was the destination.
When we arrived in Chino, the smell in the air was very strong. It was the smell of dairy farms.
While checking out the area, we found two dead calves on the side of the road. This is not an uncommon sight at dairy farms. The dairy industry is so hungry for money that it often won’t allow calves to have their mother’s milk.
No animal deserves to be neglected, abused, and exploited. It may be too late for these babies, but lots of others need your help! Pledge to save babies by ditching dairy products, and educate yourself on the many delicious, cruelty-free nondairy options available. | <urn:uuid:26c2facd-cc73-4b44-9973-ce8aa9462a45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peta2.com/blog/graphic-the-lives-of-cows-in-california/?send_to=alexblue%20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962574 | 187 | 1.59375 | 2 |
There has been a lot of talk about MUD, LRC, DoJ and the other members of the alphabet soup but the one question every apartment owner is asking is “What does it mean for me?”
The MUD legislation is proposed law which greatly improves the rights of apartment owners, both present and future. It stops developers abusing their power and clearly lays out their rights and responsibilities. It improves the relationship between owners and their management company by controlling what can be charged for, how the service charge is calculated and forces the management company to hold a meeting where owners can vote on the budget each year.
What does it mean for developers?
The first and major part is that developers of new estates have to hand ownership of the land over before they can sell any apartments. You may see a line in your lease saying that they will “vest no later than 30 days after the sale of the last unit”. This legal technicality means that after all the apartments are sold, the developer will transfer ownership of the land and stairwells (called the common areas) to the company. Too many developers have held onto one apartment to avoid this but they can’t avoid it any longer. Existing developments (completed or in progress) must be handed over within six months of the bill becoming law.
The next major part is that developers cannot have majority shares, golden shares or any other sting in the tail used to ensure that they can out-vote everyone else in the estate. For example, in an estate with 50 apartments, the developer may make his share worth 51 votes so he can never be outvoted. This is no longer possible so owners will finally have a proper say in the running of their apartment block. It also stops developers signing long-term contracts so they cannot influence the running of the company (or give jobs to their friends) before they resign. The caveat at the moment is that owners of multiple apartments (or developers who have unsold apartments) have multiple votes.
One of the best parts to this bill is that developers must pay the full service charge for all un-sold units. This means that management companies won’t start off on a bad financial footing like so many did at the moment. The only caveat is that it only covers units which are available for sale so there could be some problems but we’re still looking at that.
Lastly, if a developer stops working and leaves the site abandoned, a vote of 60% of the owners can be used to remove them. If they leave the site in an unsafe condition – the management company can make repairs and bill them for the work.
What does it mean for owners?
To make the running of the management company more transparent, the directors have to produce an annual report. This must show the money coming into and going out of the company, any assets or liabilities, how much is in the sinking fund (rainy day fund), insurance cover and any contracts the company has. This report must be given out 10 days before the AGM. Meetings must be held close to the apartment and must have 21 days notice.
The AGM is also used to vote on the budget. The directors have to calculate the budget in a fair and transparent manner. If the directors want to change the budget, a vote must be called and 75% of the owners at the meeting must not vote against the change. If it cannot be agreed, the old budget stays in effect. If the budget is especially unpopular, the old one remains in effect for 4 months and another vote on a new budget must be held. This means that owners have more involvement in the running of the company and money is not being spent without their consent and understanding.
The bill says that every company must have a sinking fund and owners must contribute to it after the third year of the companies existence. The minimum figure was €200 but it has now been changed so the directors can decide on the amount.
The directors can also suggest changes to the House Rules. These must also be voted on at an AGM and agreed by a majority of the owners present. This gives the house rules more power than they currently have. It also forces landlords to make their tenants sign a copy of the house rules when they move in.
Last but not least is Dispute Resolution and Recovery. The new law moves the jurisdiction for management companies from the High Court (read: expensive) to the District and Circuit courts (read: less expensive). It also introduces out-of-court mediation which is even cheaper again. This is designed to make it easier and more affordable to resolve problems in management companies. It has far-ranging powers that can even be used to alter company documents and your lease agreement if the judge agrees. It means owners have a more affordable manner of tackling misbehaving developers or management companies.
Finally, if a management company breaks company laws (for example, by not sending a copy of the annual accounts to the CRO), it can be struck off. This has devastating consequences for owners and can even block the sale of your apartment. Currently the time-limit for this is 1 year but it has been extended to 6 years, give you more time to sort out the problems. This applies to existing developments as well so it should help thousands of apartment owners.
What’s not covered?
Apartments in mixed management companies (where there are shops, offices and apartments together) are covered by the bill but because of their complexity, they’re not fully covered.
The big sore point at the moment is completion. It’s very hard, under Irish law, to force a developer to properly and fully complete an estate. If they decide to stop working without putting the final road surface down, without doing any soft landscaping or leaving the site like a construction site, there’s not a lot you can do. If you find build problems with your apartment or with the common areas, you just have to hope you have a professional builder who will fix them. The bill talks about a contract between the owners management company and the developer. Ideally the developer would sign a contract agreeing exactly what needs to be done and can be brought to court if they fail to do so. This was introduced at a late stage so it’s unclear exactly how it would work.
What needs fixing?
By now, most of the things on our wish list have made it into the bill. (We’re as surprised as you!) There are still some things left to fix. The completion needs to be fleshed out or a better alternative found. The lack of enforcement for house rules is understandably legally difficulty but still a disappointment and the possibility for the developer or large investors to take control of the company isn’t ideal either.
We’re still talking to everyone who will listen about these issues so they might still go away before it becomes law.
It’s okay though….
On the whole though, it’s a huge step forward for apartment owners. Together with the proposed regulator for managing agents (the NPSRA) and the new DoEHLG guidelines on apartment construction, it should make apartment living less stress and more attractive to everyone.
If you have any questions on this document, email us at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:26ce3d54-052b-4699-b576-0e0e1c341cfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.apartmentowners.ie/clear-as-mud/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969163 | 1,501 | 1.773438 | 2 |
After living in Boulder for 25 years I am dismayed at how things have changed in winter.
I speak of the increasing use of highly corrosive and damaging rock salt that is being spread in heavy concentrations on more places every year.
It started with small amounts on only few main streets but now is heavily applied parking lots, sidewalks and on low-speed side streets.
People might think this chemical "goes away" but in fact it pollutes ground water and runs off into streams, ending up in the Platte River where downstream users such as farmers are having to irrigate their land with salt water. The salt is blown in the wind and kills nearby trees and other plants.
Salt is cheap but the damage to vehicles costs billions every year. Its a cheap solution that is foolish in the long run. Boulder was pristine in winter, but now it is heavily polluted for no good reason. Too bad. | <urn:uuid:f7484588-dbc5-4a55-9d5c-659bdb145f52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_22531473/bob-waber-winter-driving-salt-is-causing-much | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974177 | 185 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Hurricane Sandy Now a Category 2 Storm
As Hurricane Sandy heads toward the Bahamas, both the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and the VoIP Hurricane Net are supporting WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC). As of 8 AM (EDT) on Thursday, October 25, Sandy was moving toward the north between the northeast coast of Cuba and the Central Bahamas (about 130 miles south of the Bahamas and 75 miles northeast of Cuba) with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour.
On Wednesday, October 24, both the HWN and the VoIP Hurricane Net activated their nets. According to HWN’s Stan Broadway, N8BHL, HWN are active on 14.325 MHz, as well as 40 and 80 meters, depending on propagation. “Amateur stations in the affected area should be aware of the storm and be prepared to operate from a place of safety,” Broadway said. “We are looking for condition reports from stations in the affected area. We do appreciate the consideration of amateur operators in keeping the frequency clear and listening for possible relays.”
The VoIP Hurricane Net secured its operations at 10 PM (EDT) on October 24, but is considering resuming net activations should conditions warrant. “With the passage of Sandy into areas with no EchoLink stations, our support operations of WX4NHC and the National Hurricane Center will end for this operational period,” VoIP Hurricane Net Assistant Director of Operations Dennis Dura, K2DCD, explained. “As Sandy emerges off the northern coast of Cuba and into the Bahamas, the Net Management Team, in consultation with WX4NHC, will determine our next operational period of support. WX4NHC is planning to commence operations at 12 PM (EDT) on October 25.”
As of 8 AM (EDT) October 25, Sandy is moving toward the north at speeds near 18 miles per hour and should continue throughout the day. A turn toward the north-northwest, as well as a decrease in forward speed, are expected Thursday night and into Friday. The center of the storm will move near or over the Central Bahamas late on Thursday and move near or over the Northwestern Bahamas on Friday. Sandy is expected to gradually weaken over the next 48 hours, but should remain a hurricane as it moves through the Bahamas.
A hurricane warning is currently in effect for the Central and Northwestern Bahamas, the Ragged Islands in the Southeastern Bahamas and the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Guantanamo. The hurricane warning for Jamaica that was issued on Wednesday has been discontinued.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Florida’s eastern coast from Ocean Reef to Flagler Beach, Lake Okeechobee, Haiti and the remainder of the Southeastern Bahamas. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Florida’s eastern coast from north of Flagler Beach to Fernandina Beach, the Florida Upper Keys from Ocean Reef to Craig Key and for Florida Bay.
A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 24-36 hours. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area.
The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters. The water could reach the following depths above ground if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide. The Florida coast within the warning area is expected to receive a storm surge of 1-2 feet, while the Bahamas could receive up to 8 feet. | <urn:uuid:d50fecfb-1eeb-4f20-8847-9b5d02162e87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arrl.org/news/view/hurricane-sandy-now-a-category-2-storm | 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 | 0.953712 | 769 | 1.5625 | 2 |
From the moment she joined the Wallingford school district, food service director Sharlene Wong was determined to start a garden. Her dream has become a reality: a community garden is now flourishing at Highland Elementary School.
Wallingford students will not only be eating the many vegetables grown on school grounds, they'll also be planting, tending and harvesting them.
To encourage families to serve these healthy vegetables at home, Sharlene is planning a series of culinary classes for district parents and students. She'll demonstrate how to harvest, clean, store and prepare these vegetables — and will provide a variety of recipes.
Meredith Lowe works for a public relations firm that helps raise awareness of the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut. Her local station is WNPR. | <urn:uuid:72d8156b-4e70-440a-a6fe-227b535fbf31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wamu.org/news/12/08/20/kids_garden_in_wallingford_conn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958679 | 153 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The summer film season began in earnest with the rapid-fire multiple punch of horror meets action meets medieval tea-partying, polished off with a dose of ultra-violence. The remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street squandered the serious social commentary of the original (one of the first popular films to try to face the consequences of normalizing family breakdown) in favor of ever more horrifying depictions of killing beautiful, plastic young actors. It manifests what the original warned about: This is what happens when a generation reared by people who don’t care to parent, or don’t know how, grows up and makes movies.
The following week came Iron Man 2—a satire of U.S. military might and the political game. Bunker-busting weapons fail, senators take the superficial word of big business instead of actually thinking, the easy acceptance of violence in the U.S. is explained with a simple “this isn’t Canada,” and the hero, Tony Stark, becomes the axis of power on earth precisely because he threatens the greatest violence. Far more is going on under the surface of Iron Man 2 than most critics have allowed.
Which may also be the case for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, a medieval action film that attempts to be pro-tea party and pro-liberal at the same time. Alas, what it’s most in favor of is killing people to teach them a lesson.
While Freddy, Tony, and Robin left me alternately bored, amused, and horrified, antidotes appeared in the form of three smaller films. The Philosopher Kings
, a documentary about the wisdom of blue-collar workers, manages to be both amusing and moving, and never patronizes its subjects. (You can request a local screening at philosopherkingsmovie.com
, the artful British director Nicolas Roeg’s astonishing 1971 film about coming of age, masculinity, and becoming aware of our roots in ancient traditions, was rereleased on DVD. The DVD includes a documentary about David Gulpilil, the leading Australian aboriginal actor, who embodies an indigenous national tradition and carries the honorable burden of representing his culture to the rest of the world. And I Am Love
enthralled—an Italian film that explores how the human impulse toward freedom must be contended with, or it will kill you.
Freedom, of course, is what all these films are about—it’s ironic that the explosive, high-budget thrill rides understand so little about their own themes. The $225 million Robin Hood climaxes with a nefarious king’s refusal to endorse the Magna Carta, leaving his people shackled to feudalism, countered by a rebel thief who believes the best way to get rid of a tyrant is to fire an arrow through his neck. In contrast, the janitors in the microbudgeted The Philosopher Kings know that their freedom derives more from their inner state than from whomever happens to be president. Freedom starts with thinking, not killing.
Gareth Higgins is a Sojourners contributing editor and executive director of the Wild Goose Festival. Originally from Northern Ireland, he lives in Carrboro, North Carolina. | <urn:uuid:1810051a-328d-4760-910a-720a80095f52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sojo.net/magazine/2010/08/paths-freedom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934435 | 654 | 1.570313 | 2 |
SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame students were getting their hands dirty Saturday. The University hosted CommUniversity Day. It was an opportunity for students to participate in dozens of different service projects throughout the area. Notre Dame Sophomore Austin Holler was one of more than 700 students who were getting involved Saturday. He was going door to door collecting donations for the food bank. Holler participated CommUniversity Day. "We describe it as a day of building relationships, fellowships and partnership in the community," says Rachel Roseberry a Junior at Notre Dame and the event co-director. CommUniversity Day brought together hundreds of Notre Dame students and members of the local community for service projects -- from collecting donations, to helping restore a historical landmark, to beautifying the neighborhood. There were 37 different projects on the to-do list for students. "Hoping to teach some students about where they live and hoping to teach some community members a little bit about Notre Dame students. Maybe a side they haven't seen before," says Denise Baron, a Senior Notre Dame student and the event co-director. South Bend officials say projects like this help to make the community a better place, and help grow the partnership between the City and the University. "That that many students are interested in working with others says a lot for our future, doesn't it," says Ann Puzzello, a South Bend City Council Member. This is the 2nd year for CommUniversity Day and organizers hope the number of students getting involved grows larger. "The message is we have a great community. And the Notre Dame students and the community members want to work together to better that," says Roseberry. The event was sponsored by the Notre Dame Student Government and the University's Center for Social Concerns. | <urn:uuid:b9520f38-edda-4b9f-b155-21ac36428188> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.wsbt.com/2010-04-10/notre-dame-students_24802375 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980347 | 353 | 1.640625 | 2 |
LONG BEACH - More residents and visitors than ever are riding bikes as Long Beach secures its spot as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the nation.
Officials say the increase in ridership has many positives, including both health and economic benefits citywide, but it has also brought an increase in the number of bicyclists riding on sidewalks - which is illegal in business districts.
"I'm delighted to see the increase of residents using their bicycles to travel within our city, and I encourage safety and respect for everybody," Mayor Bob Foster said in a statement. "As we continue to work toward being a bike-friendly city, we also want to ensure that we are still pedestrian-friendly."
As more riders are taking to the sidewalk, Bike Long Beach and the Long Beach Police Department are teaming up to remind bicyclists to "Walk it or Lock it" on the sidewalks in business districts.
Long Beach business districts include downtown, the East Village Arts District, 4th Street Retro Row, Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls and Cambodia Town. Each district has bike racks on the sidewalks, with more than 1,300 public bike racks citywide.
The partnership will include police officers handing out cards, which explain laws and encourage pedestrian-friendly behavior.
"We're committed to ensuring the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists," said Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell, "and will continue to provide enforcement and education
Other efforts to promote "Walk It or Lock It" include new signage in the downtown areas and new sidewalk stenciling in business districts reminding people to "walk your bike on the sidewalk."
"Bicyclists need to respect the rights of pedestrians just as we expect motorists to respect the rights of bicyclists," said Allan Crawford, bicycle coordinator for the city of Long Beach.
"We applaud and appreciate the work of police officers to help educate everyone in our city about the rules for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians."
Additional information about bicycle safely in Long Beach, along with some suggested local rides, a calendar of bike-related activities, and other related information can be found at the newly redesigned www.BikeLongBeach.org website.
firstname.lastname@example.org, 562-714-2128, Twitter: @KelseyDuckett | <urn:uuid:3c3a0cc9-056b-44c5-b644-1f5d0aa40330> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.presstelegram.com/rss/ci_22045681/long-beach-reminds-bicyclists-not-ride-sidewalks-business?source=pkg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957948 | 477 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Sunday Night Unplugged, a service of quiet meditation, music, inspirational readings, and prayer, is a monthly offering by St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.
This Sunday evening at 5 p.m., Sunday Night Unplugged will feature a meditation service that has its roots in Taizé, France. It will be led by St. Patrick’s Choir under the direction of Sally Neel, and by saxophonist, Bill Gottschalk.
In 1940, Roger Louis Schutz-Marsauche, known as Brother Roger, felt the need to help refugees of World War II. He found a village in Taizé, France that was close to the demarcation line that divided France, where he and his sister, Genevieve, took in people who were fleeing the terror of the war. Eventually, the threats of the Nazis caused their community to flee to Geneva until the war ended.
Following the war, a lawyer set up a foundation to help children who were orphaned during the war. He asked Brother Roger to take the children into the community. Genevieve agreed to live in Taizé and adopt the children and raise them as their mother. In 1949, a group of seven men vowed to live a simple monastic style life and founded the ecumenical community. Since that time people from all over the world, from every Christian denomination and many cultures and religions, have gathered at Taizé to meditate and pray.
Tragically, in August 2005, the 90-year-old Brother Roger was stabbed to death during a prayer service. His death strengthens the community’s commitment and resolve to pray for peace and justice. Today, the community consists of 100 protestant and catholic monks drawn from 30 countries around the world The community is a point of pilgrimage for many seeking spiritual renewal and reflection.
The service of mediation that was formed at Taizé is one that has been utilized by churches and organizations all over the world. It is one of silence, prayer and music. Simple songs of praise and prayer are sung by the choir and congregation in a repetitive fashion as a form of meditation.
“We hope that this simple service modeled after the one at Taizé will offer our guests an opportunity for quiet reflection during this Holy season of Lent,” says Fr. Doug Neel, rector of St. Patrick’s. “As at Taizé, the service is ecumenical and open to all,” he said.
Saxophonist Bill Gottschalk, a former high school and university music instructor from Houston, Texas, is an accomplished jazz and classical musician and a longtime resident of Pagosa Springs. He frequently offers his musical talents to Music Booster productions as a member of the orchestra and often brings his sonorous tones to morning services at St. Patrick’s. He will accompany Sally Neel and St. Patrick’s Choir in enhancing the music for Sunday Night Unplugged.
Sunday Night Unplugged is offered to the public the second Sunday of each month at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 225 S. Pagosa Blvd.
For more information call 731-5801. | <urn:uuid:f3f71ded-3eec-46a1-bd1a-ff975eaca52b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pagosasun.com/archives/2011/04April/040711/relsundayunplugged.html | 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 | 0.969523 | 661 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Five easy appliance fixes you can do yourself
By Tom Phelan - ReminderNews
Featured Article - posted Thu., Jan. 5, 2012
How many of us DIYers are willing to tackle almost anything when it comes to building, repairing, decorating and the like, but recoil from the specter of a non-functioning appliance? Here are five easy appliance repairs you can do with confidence.
When it comes to the stove or oven, it's easy to scratch your head, wince and admit, “I don’t really know how this thing works.” So when the burner lights, but the oven or broiler doesn't work, you will opt for a repair service. You might convince yourself to just buy a new one. Pull yourself back from that rather expensive precipice of despair.
Let's assume that the gas unit is plugged in and your oven does not heat up. In older units, you might know enough to look to see if the pilot light has gone out for some reason. In newer units, turning the oven on either fires an ignition spark or heats up a glow coil, which in turn ignites the oven's burner. The latter is more common these days, and easy to diagnose and fix.
If a bright glow does not appear in less than a minute after turning the oven on, the glow coil is almost certainly the culprit. Lift out the pan that covers the bottom of the oven. There you will see a small, rectangular holder, affixed to the burner. Remove the retaining screws, and replace it.
The second appliance problem is closely related. In the top of the oven is another burner for the broiler. It uses the same type of unit. If you turn the dial to “broil,” and the glow coil does not glow brightly, your burner will not fire. It can be replaced just as easily as the one for the oven.
If your oven is electric, solving the same problem is not much more complex. First, be sure the circuit breaker (240-volt) to the unit is operational. With the unit unplugged, unscrew the heating element from the back of the oven. Gently bring the wires connected to the element through the back wall of the oven. If the wires or the connector looks burnt or damaged, replace them. If the connection looks good, then the culprit is almost certainly the heating element itself. Test the element with a multimeter or bring it to your appliance parts provider. Reassemble the unit with new parts, plug it into the receptacle, and test the new element.
Let's carry the information already provided over to another appliance - your clothes dryer. A gas dryer uses the same type of unit the oven uses to ignite the burner. When the dryer is turned on, the tub rotates, and after a short while, the burner kicks on. In that short interval, the glow coil is supplied with electricity to make it glow and light the burner. If your dryer seems to run well, but the clothes come out wet, it is not producing the heat to dry your clothes.
This unit is usually accessible through a small panel at the bottom of the dryer. This panel may be held in place by a concealed screw, or it may have a spring clamp that can be released by sliding a putty knife into one of the seams. You should see a long cylinder in which the burner produces the heating flame. Somewhere on that cylinder the glow coil is attached. Test the dryer the same way you would test the oven. If the coil does not glow brightly, replace it.
One other malady that dryers experience is a worn or broken drum belt. In this situation, the drum will turn slowly or not at all. You can see what is happening inside your dryer by opening the top. Slide a putty knife in the seam between the top and the front of the unit at both corners and lift the top. You may also need to remove other screws that hold the lint trap in place.
If the belt stretched around the drum is loose or comes right out, it needs to be replaced. You will need to remove the rear panel, which is held on by several screws. Once the back is open, you will be able to see the route the belt travels, from the drive motor, passing over a tensioning pulley and around the drum.
Parts for appliances are readily available at appliance stores, as well as from Internet sites. Working with a local store is more convenient and timelier, and you might get some friendly advice and directions. | <urn:uuid:5c4e7113-2b3d-420c-b694-93a7e3ec677c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.remindernews.com/article/2012/01/05/five-easy-appliance-fixes-you-can-do-yourself | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945178 | 946 | 1.625 | 2 |
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