text stringlengths 211 577k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 371 | file_path stringclasses 644 values | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.93 1 | token_count int64 54 121k | score float64 1.5 1.84 | int_score int64 2 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
When the first European explorers arrived on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast in the late fifteenth century, they named it As Areias do Inferno ("The Sands of Hell").
More from TODAY.com
Dachshund 'Milo' is lion's best friend — and dentist
Milo is an 11-pound dachshund and Bonedigger is a 500-pound lion. But that didn’t stop these two from becoming the best of...
- Man behind 'Why I Don't Have a Girlfriend' theory to marry
- Paralyzed pig Chris P. Bacon gets a book deal
- Who the Bluth are you?! Meet the 'Arrested' gang
- Amanda Bynes freed; says bong was 'a vase'
- Dachshund 'Milo' is lion's best friend — and dentist
In those days, they weren’t exaggerating.Where in the world is Matt Lauer? The Skeleton Coast in Africa
Over the centuries, sailors shipwrecked on this treacherous coast would sometimes find alluvial diamonds lying in the sand at their feet. Then, after filling their pockets with the equivalent of a lifetime’s wages, they usually died of thirst within days.
Today, thankfully, even visitors on a tight budget can experience Namibia’s extraordinary desert coastline in considerably more comfort — or, for those with enough dollars to spare, in luxury.Video: Trip to Skeleton Coast kicks off Where in the World (on this page)
Westerners first arriving here tend to find that this is far from the Africa of movie clichés like vast herds of migrating wildebeest or bored-looking professional dancers dressed up for tourists in gaudy traditional costume. Instead, the very harshness of the landscape here is what makes it unique, a blend of grandeur in some places, emptiness and stark beauty in others — and sometimes just sheer oddness elsewhere.
The Namib Desert stretches the entire length of the coast, nearly a thousand miles from the South African border in the south to the exclusive Skeleton Coast Wilderness toward the Angolan border.Video: Meet Namibian tribesmen who bathe in smoke (on this page)
Between the two lies a breathtaking coastline of surprising contrasts, from vast orange dune fields (including "Big Daddy," the world’s highest sand dune at Sossusvlei) and lunar landscapes to genteel colonial settlements and comfortable lodges. Further north, ghostly shipwrecks litter the Skeleton Coast, with great rusting hulks stranded between cold Atlantic breakers and a shoreline described by 19th century explorer Charles Andersson as one of "frightful desolation."
How to explore Namibia
Predictably, things have changed along the Namibian Coast since the early seafarers first struggled to survive. Activities for visitors now include just about everything humanly possible on a desert coast, from boat-fishing trips, bird-watching and desert golf to balloon flights over the dunes, dolphin-watching trips, canyon-hiking, kite surfing, 4-wheeling, sand boarding and surf skiing. In short, there are enough adventure activities to exhaust the hardest-bitten adrenaline junkie or wilderness trekker.
The ideal base for exploring the coast is the town of Swakopmund, easily reachable by road or rail, and a delightfully odd place to visit in its own right. The 2009 television miniseries "The Prisoner" starring Jim Caviezel was filmed in the area, a perfect location to suggest incongruity and desert isolation.
Part of the former German colony, the town still retains its strong Germanic influence, which makes for a bizarre contrast against the harsh African desert coastline. Colonial buildings from charmingly colorful private houses to a full-on neo-baroque church stand alongside German bakeries, cafés and bars, fine restaurants (especially for seafood and game dishes), tour operators and the full range of accommodation from backpacker hangouts to luxury hotels.
But for many visitors, the desert itself is what makes a visit here so unforgettable. Take, for instance, the Fish River Canyon in the south (at 1,800 feet deep second only to the Grand Canyon) and the strange "roaring dunes" of the northern Skeleton Coast, which produce bizarre acoustic effects, thought to be caused by electrically charged sand particles.Video: Matt takes birds-eye tour of the ‘sands of hell’ (on this page)
It’s not all jaw-dropping vistas, however. At first glance, for some stretches of the Namibian coast one can see little life in the landscape. Yet on closer inspection, at different times of day, one realizes that life goes on here after all, cunningly adapted to cope with an annual rainfall of almost zero.
What initially seems ugly and odd soon looks ingenious, with its own strange beauty, like beetles that perform handstands to collect condensed mist (their only source of moisture here) and the "fossil plant" Welwitschia, which can live up to two millennia. There are flora so curious-looking that Bushmen legend insists they grow upside down with their roots pointing skywards.Video: Getting to know Namibia’s exotic creatures (on this page)
The treacherous ocean holds its own rewards. The cold Benguela Current sweeping northwards supports the best fishing on the southwest coast of Africa, and in season South African anglers flock here to catch steenbras, galjoen and blacktail.
Nature at its rawest
But all the comforts of the coastal settlements and tourist lodges rarely disguise the fact that nature in some of its rawest forms is all around you. What at first appears still and timeless is in fact in constant motion, the dune landscape steadily shifting and transforming before the ocean breeze, inch by inch. This is nowhere more evident than the "Ghost Town" of Kolmanskop near Luderitz in the south, a spooky colonial diamond settlement finally abandoned half a century ago and since slowly consumed by the desert.
For many, the highlight of the Namibian coast is the incredible peace and beauty of the Namib. But this is peace and beauty with a slight edge to it. Even close to the settlements, once the sand-boarders and 4-wheelers have retired for the evening to the coastal bars and restaurants, the silence in the desert can be enjoyably eerie — especially when dense fog creeps inland from the ocean, or on clear nights when the Milky Way and Southern Cross above the desert shine with extraordinary brilliance.
Even visitors not generally given to reflection have found themselves setting aside their sand-board or bottle of Windhoek Lager, and instead questioning their place in the grand scheme of things. Despite the fragility of its precious ecosystems, the Namib Desert — the oldest in the world — has been here for a very long time.
Best catch it while you can.
If You Go...
With its temperate climate, the Namibian coast can be visited at any time of year (fishing is best November to March). Bring sunblock. Nights can be chilly, and inland temperatures can soar. English is widely spoken in tourist areas.
Tours and activities
For many activities and trips you can make arrangements after arrival in Namibia, either in the capital Windhoek or in Swakopmund on the coast. Hotels, guesthouses and lodges can often make arrangements for you. However, if time is limited or you're set on some of the more exclusive destinations, such as the Skeleton Coast Wilderness (fly-in tours only, numbers strictly controlled), book well in advance before leaving home. Contact the Namibian Tourist Board or your preferred travel agent at home for advice on tour companies, trips and permits.
For exploring the coast you’ll need to hire a vehicle or arrange a tour. Most operators in Swakopmund or Windhoek can tailor your itinerary. One of the best is Wilderness Safaris, which also has exclusive access to some parts of the Skeleton Coast Wilderness.
For colonial luxury in Swakopmund try the Hansa Hotel, built in 1905. Aristotle Onassis stayed here, and the restaurant is highly recommended. Cheaper and more modern is the quiet and tasteful Sea Breeze Guesthouse in Swakopmund. If money is no object, for an exclusive luxury retreat the Skeleton Coast Wilderness Camp (run by Wilderness Safaris) is unbeatable. Camping is also possible in many parts of Namibia.
In Swakopmund, The Tug is actually built around a tugboat, with excellent seafood, ocean views, and very popular with the locals, so advanced booking is essential. A favorite bistro pub is the Swakopmund Brauhaus, serving German and Namibian game and seafood dishes.
Fran Sandham is the author of "Traversa: A solo walk across Africa from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean," published by Overlook.
© 2013 NBCNews.com Reprints | <urn:uuid:9c114a87-7f3a-4a8a-b5a7-16d7febb284f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.today.com/id/45167964/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931221 | 1,893 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Operated by a trained therapist who first gets to know the veteran, the technology is designed to let the service member relive events that are likely to be at the root of their PTSD. Working slowly and methodically, the therapist and the veteran discuss what might have been the cause, and then try to work through it.
The software is designed so that a wide variety of scenarios can be played out, from roadside bombs going off, to someone firing into a Humvee, to being on patrol at night using night vision, and much, much more.
July 2, 2012 4:00 AM PDT
Photo by: Daniel Terdiman/CNET
| Caption by: Daniel Terdiman
Conversation powered by Livefyre | <urn:uuid:0a0badce-b400-4cf7-b5ba-fee05c21b2c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/2300-13576_3-10012811-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971999 | 152 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Top 10: Reasons To Train In The Morning
No.2 Sleep better
Working out regularly results in better sleeping patterns and better sleep quality. Your body will tell you that it's time for bed, but knowing that you have to get up to train the next morning will also help you hit the racks at a decent hour. It is very important to give your body the time and rest that it needs to recuperate from your training; it'll be difficult to build mass and improve your cardio if you don't rest properly. | <urn:uuid:3fc21e6b-068c-4ec1-ab4c-7be6dafdb683> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/top-10-reasons-to-train-in-the-morning_2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964893 | 107 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Self improvement is great -- but for CEOs it's vital. Unlike at home -- where a mistake bruises our egos -- at work a CEO's mistakes hurt other people. When we screw up, an investor can lose her retirement. A worker can lose a job that would have paid for their kids' college. The stakes are higher. The tolerances are smaller.
We cannot be perfect -- but we can cut our preventable errors. We can learn faster.
The two biggest root causes of problems for CEOs are blind spots and false beliefs.
If you've ever felt "stuck" -- convinced that the biggest obstacle to your success is you -- welcome to the human race. Let's get started on making you even better. | <urn:uuid:5e239f2d-0916-4e43-832b-563a6da15028> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://coxbusinessconsulting.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968811 | 148 | 1.742188 | 2 |
• By the bestselling author of Career Anchors (over 431,000 copies sold) and Organizational Culture and Leadership (over 153,000 sold)
• A penetrating analysis of the psychological and social dynamics of helping relationships
• Offers specific techniques for determining what type of help to offer and how best to offer it
Helping is a fundamental human activity, but it can also be a frustrating one. All too often, to our bewilderment, our sincere offers of help are resented, resisted, or refused—and we often react the same way when people try to help us. Why is it so difficult to provide or accept help? How can we make the whole process easier?
Many different words are used for helping: assisting, aiding, advising, caregiving, coaching, consulting, counseling, guiding, mentoring, supporting, teaching, and many more. In this seminal book on the topic, corporate culture and organizational development guru Ed Schein analyzes the social and psychological dynamics common to all types of helping relationships, explains why help is often not helpful, and shows what any would-be helpers must do to ensure that their assistance is both welcomed and genuinely useful.
The moment of asking for and offering help is a delicate and complex one, fraught with inequities and ambiguities. Schein helps us navigate that moment so we avoid potential pitfalls, mitigate power imbalances, and establish a solid foundation of trust. He identifies three roles a helper can play, explaining which one is nearly always the best starting point if we are to provide truly effective help. So that readers can determine exactly what kind of help is needed, he describes an inquiry process that puts the helper and the client on an equal footing, encouraging the client to open up and engage and giving the helper much better information to work with. And he shows how these techniques can be applied to teamwork and to organizational leadership.
Illustrated with examples from many types of relationships—husbands and wives, doctors and patients, consultants and clients—Helping is a concise, definitive analysis of what it takes to establish successful, mutually satisfying helping relationships. | <urn:uuid:4271b6ce-254b-4856-8410-abf5d1b72a39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bkconnection.com/BB/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9781576758632 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937872 | 431 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Biography Of President John Evans Fifii Atta Mills
President John Evans Fifii Atta Mills, born 21 July 1944, was the third President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, after winning the 2008 election. He was Vice-President from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry John Rawlings, and stood unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The 68-year-old died a few hours after being taken ill at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.
Early life, education and academic career
Mills was a Fanti from Ekumfi Otuam in the Central Region of Ghana. He was born in Tarkwa on 21 July 1944, located in the Western Region of Ghana. He was educated at Achimota School, where he completed the Advanced-Level Certificate in 1963, and the University of Ghana, Legon, where he received "Black man of the month" several times.
In 1968, Mills studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received a PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Thus began the journey of the next twenty years of Mills' life, which was largely spent with spells both in Ghana and internationally as an academic. Mills earned a Ph.D in Law from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS) after completing his doctoral thesis in the area of taxation and economic development.
He was married to Ernestina Naadu Mills, an educator and had a son, Sam Kofi Atta Mills, with Ruby Addo.
He was a good friend to Prophet T.B. Joshua of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria and regularly visited his church. He said following his inauguration that T.B. Joshua had prophesied to him there would be three elections, the results would be released in January, and he would emerge victorious.
Career as a lecturer
Mills' first formal teaching assignment was as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana Legon. He spent close to twenty five years teaching at Legon and other institutions of higher learning, and rose in position from lecturer to senior lecturer to associate professor, and served on numerous boards and committees.
Additionally, he traveled worldwide as a visiting lecturer and professor at educational institutions such as the LSE, and presented research papers at symposiums and conferences. In 1971, he was selected for the Fulbright Scholar program at Stanford Law School in the United States Of America.
At the age of 27, he was awarded his PhD after successfully defending his doctoral thesis in the area of taxation and economic development. He returned to Ghana that year, becoming a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana. He became a visiting professor of Temple Law School (Philadelphia, USA), with two stints from 1978 to 1979, and 1986 to 1987, and was a visiting professor at Leiden University (Holland) from 1985 to 1986. During this period, he authored several publications relating to taxation during the 1970s & 1980s.
Outside of his academic pursuits, Professor Mills was the Acting Commissioner of Ghana's Internal Revenue Service from 1986 to 1993, and the substantive Commissioner from 1993 to 1996.By 1992, he had become an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Ghana. Mills was also a Fulbright scholar at Stanford Law School.
Vice-President of Ghana
For the inaugural Presidential Elections in 1992, the National Convention Party (NCP) had formed an alliance with the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Former Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Chairman, and leader of Ghana, Flight-Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings chose the NCP leader, Kow Nkensen Arkaah, as his running-mate for Vice-President. Having been elected in the 1992 elections, Arkaah served between 1992–1996.
However, on 29 January 1996, the NCP broke with the NDC, merging with the People's Convention Party (PCP) to form a rebirth of the Convention People's Party (the formerly outlawed political party of Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah). Thus, in a bitter split, Arkaah would stand as candidate for the reborn CPP in the 1996 Presidential Elections against Rawlings. Rawlings selected Mills for the vacated Vice-Presidency in his bid for re-election to a second term in Ghana's 1996 Presidential Election. Rawlings was re-elected to his second term in office, and Mills became Vice-President of Ghana between 1996 to 2000.
Seeking the highest office in Ghana
In 2000, Mills became the NDC's candidate for the 2000 Presidential elections after Rawlings had served his constitutionally mandated terms as president. At the time, and after essentially two decades of PNDC/NDC rule, the NDC's war chest for the upcoming elections was certainly much stronger than that of the NPP. The result would clearly between the NDC's popularity with the people, and Vice-President Mills' track-record alongside President Rawlings, and the veteran political experience that the NPP candidate would bring to the campaign. The main rival for Vice-President Mills' own bid for the Presidency was a veteran politician, John Agyekum Kufuor, who was running as the candidate for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Ghana's presidential elections in the year 2000 went into two rounds: In the first round, held on 7 December 2000, Mills gained 44.8% of the vote, Kufuor won the first round with 48.4%. This result forced the elections into a two-party run-off vote on 28 December 2000, where Kufuor defeated Vice-President Mills with a result of 56.9% of the vote. The NPP won the election, and Kufuor was sworn in as President of Ghana on 7 January 2001.
In December 2002, John Atta Mills was elected by his party to be its flag bearer and lead them into the 2004 elections.
In 2002, former Vice-President Mills was again selected as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress for the upcoming presidential elections in 2004. He was however defeated again by President Kufuor, who won by a margin of 52.45%.
On 21 December 2006, former Vice-President Mills became the NDC's candidate for the 2008 presidential elections, winning his party's ticket by an 81.4% result. Early polls showed that Mills was the favourite, but in another poll taken just months before the first-round voting, Nana Akufo-Addo emerged as the favourite. Election campaigning was strong, particularly with advertising, which was clearly much heavier with the NPP candidate.
The first round of voting occurred on 7 December 2008. In a very close result amongst all parties, Nana Akufo-Addo's NPP finished with 49.13% of the vote, close to the outright margin required to win in the first round, while Mills' NDC finished with 47.92%. The other parties garnered 2.37% of the votes.
The result forced a second-round of voting between NPP and NDC on 28 December 2008. The result was a slim margin held by Mills, but due to problems with the distribution of ballots, the Tain constituency, located in the Brong-Ahafo Region, was forced to re-run its voting on 2 January 2009. The voting in the Tain constituency led to a landslide victory to the NDC.
For several days, the Electoral Commission of Ghana did not call the result to the NDC, and the NPP filed a lawsuit, claiming that "the atmosphere in the rural district was not conducive to a free and fair election". Eventually, the NPP bowed to the inevitable, and on the morning of 3 January 2009, the election result was finally announced. Former Vice-President John Atta-Mills, who had failed to win in two previous campaigns, made history by winning the 2008 presidential election, becoming the third President of the 4th Republic Of Ghana.
Mills produced several publications during his life, including:
Taxation of Periodical or Deferred Payments arising from the Sale of Fixed Capital (1974).
Exemption of Dividends from Income taxation: A critical Appraisal (1977) In: Review of Ghana Law, 1997, 9: 1, p. 38–47
Report of the Tax Review Commission, Ghana, parts 1–3 (1977).
Ghana's Income Tax laws and the Investor. (An inter-faculty lecture published by the University of Ghana)
Ghana's new investment code : an appraisal (1993) In: University of Ghana Law Journal, 1993, vol. 18, p. 1–29
He also held examiner positions with finance-related institutions in Ghana, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Bankers, and Ghana Tax Review Commission.
Contribution to sports
He contributed to the Ghana Hockey Association, National Sports Council of Ghana, and Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club. He enjoyed hockey and swimming, and once played for the national hockey team (he remained a member of the Veterans Hockey Team until his death).
On 21 December 2006, Mills was overwhelmingly elected by the NDC as its candidate for the 2008 presidential election with a majority of 81.4% (1,362 votes), far ahead of his opponents, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, and Eddie Annan. In 2008, he was elected president of Ghana, after a keenly contested three round election. He died on 24 July 2012 while still in office. | <urn:uuid:603735a8-a067-43d1-a195-c2ee73b7705d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.peacefmonline.com/tools/printnews/news.php?contentid=125610 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982764 | 2,008 | 1.78125 | 2 |
A woman who was injured during a shooting at a pool hall is carried into the Catalino Rivas Public Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. / Esteban Felix, AP
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Every Saturday morning, one of my taxi drivers pays about $12 for the right to park his cab near a hospital, about two blocks from a police station.
But it's not the government that's charging.
An unidentified man pulls up in a large SUV, usually brandishing an AK-47, and accepts an envelope of cash without saying a word. Jose and nine other drivers who pay the extortionists estimate that it amounts to more than $500 a year to park on public property. During Christmas, the cabbies dish out another $500 each in holiday "bonuses."
Meanwhile, Jose pays the city $30 a year for his taxi license.
"Who do you think is really in charge here?" Jose asked me.
It is an interesting question, one I have been trying to answer since I arrived here a year ago as a correspondent for the Associated Press. Is the government in charge? The drug traffickers? The gangs? This curious capital of 1.3 million people is a lawless place, but it does seem to have its own set of unwritten rules for living with the daily dangers.
Jose, who did not want his last name used for fear of reprisals, says his extortionists are from "18th Street," a powerful gang that started in U.S. prisons. The taxi drivers don't bother to report the crime, he says, because they suspect police are involved in the racket. In the first six months of 2012, 51 taxi drivers were killed in Tegucigalpa - most of them, Jose's colleagues believe, for failing to pay extortionists.
When I moved to Tegucigalpa last March several friends back home in Spain wanted to know why. The big story was in Egypt, Libya and Syria; what was I planning to do on the other side of the globe? "Bear witness," I said, "to the most violent place in the world, to a country in crisis."
I am the only foreign correspondent here, with no press pack to consult on questions of security, or to rely on for safety in numbers. I fall back on instincts honed in war zones, but they are not always sufficient when you are covering a failing state.
When you are in the trenches of Libya, you generally know where the shooting comes from. But in Honduras, you never know where danger lurks.
Three weeks after I arrived, I attended a ceremony in the capital where U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield delivered 30 motorcycles to President Porfirio Lobo to help Honduras fight crime. A neighborhood leader, however, had complained to me that the narcos had bribed some police officers to look the other way. I asked the officials if they weren't afraid the motorcycles would end up in the hands of the bad guys.
I got no answer. Instead a Honduran reporter wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered, "We don't ask questions like that here." If I wanted to survive in Honduras, he said, "Keep a low profile."
More than two dozen Honduran journalists have been killed in the last two years. Some reporters carry weapons to protect themselves, others use the armed guards that President Lobo offered after a prominent Honduran radio journalist was assassinated last May - reportedly in retaliation for a government crackdown on cartels.
It is not hard to become a fatality. A few months ago, I interviewed a lawyer, Antonio Trejo, who was defending the peasants of Aguan Valley in a land dispute against agribusiness tycoon Miguel Facusse, one of the most powerful men in the country. Trejo had warned repeatedly that he would be killed for helping the campesinos. Two days after I interviewed him, he was shot six times as he was leaving church by two men on a motorcycle.
In August, I took a walk on a Sunday with a couple of friends in a sad dilapidated park - one of only two in the city. I got a call on my iPhone. I stepped away from friends and began to walk as I talked, as you would in a normal city, a normal park. Suddenly two teenagers approached me, asking first for a cigarette, then for the phone. I hung up, put the phone in my pocket and shouted over to my friends, who helped me chase the young men away - once we realized they weren't armed.
But I learned my lesson. Unwritten rule: Do not walk around talking on an iPhone, which costs about three times a monthly salary in Honduras. And forget the park.
Like most Hondurans who can afford it, my family and I live behind high gated walls with a guard out front. After the park episode, I gave up my morning ritual of newspapers and espresso at an outdoor cafe. I don't go out at night.
In the daytime, I use trusted drivers like Jose to guide me through Tegucigalpa's chaotic streets, past its barbed-wire fences, mounds of garbage and packs of dogs. I keep the tinted windows up, the doors locked, and we don't stop at the lights, so we won't get carjacked.
I vary my routes. I try not to fall victim to the permanent sense of danger that hangs over the capital, where the conversation is invariably about whose relative was just killed, or what atrocity happened on the corner. Yet I constantly check the rear and side mirrors of Jose's car for approaching motorcycles. Honduras has the world's highest murder rate, and paid gunmen almost always travel by motorcycle to make a quick getaway through impossible traffic.
The violence is a stark contrast to the friendly feel of a land where many have a Caribbean attitude about life, happy and easygoing. Once you leave the cities, the landscape is amazing - wild, healthy, and savage, from the waterfalls of La Tigra National park, just half an hour from the capital, to the islands of the Caribbean and the world's second largest coral reef.
Crime in the barrio
Our babysitter, Wendy, sells Avon products door-to-door to make extra money after her child's father disappeared on his clandestine journey to the U.S. to find work.
Last month, she was on her way to deposit her Avon earnings in the bank when a robber pointed a knife at her waist and told her to hand over the cash. He took 5,000 lempiras - about $250 - which was everything she had earned, including the money she owed Avon.
Again last week, Wendy encountered thieves, this time as she left my house about 7:30 p.m. Half a block away, she passed a group of basketball players just as three gunmen threw them up against a wall, stealing their money and phones. "They looked like police," she said of the gunmen.
Two days later, a neighbor in Wendy's poor barrio of ramshackle huts and dirt roads was robbed by an armed drug addict. The neighbor escaped, went home for his own gun and returned to kill the drug addict. "Police thanked him for the favor," Wendy said.
Violence not limited by class
My best friend here is a man named German who studied art and opened a tattoo parlor with a business partner. They were talented and developed a good clientele, particularly among youths looking to leave the street gangs and get rid of the signature tattoos. German learned how to convert numbers such as 18 into pirate ships, and to turn other gang symbols into random designs. He saw this as a kind of social service, removing a stigma from the skin of a gangster who wanted to return to civilian life, and he asked to borrow a camera of mine to take pictures of their work.
Some days later, German's partner was walking home when a black car drew near. He tried to run until the front-seat passenger screamed at him to halt. "Get in and put this on," the man said, handing him a black hood.
They took him to a dark room where they removed the hood and claimed he spied on them. They tortured him for several hours before letting him go, with a broken rib.
My friend closed his shop and moved to a new house. He knows they are looking for him.
German comes from a family of means. Here, violence is democratic.
Night filled with carnage
Honduran officials receive aid from the U.S. to fight the trafficking of cocaine headed for the U.S. market. The country has 400 miles of northern Caribbean coastline, with plenty of tree cover and great uninhabited stretches for moving drugs. It is flanked by the port town of Puerto Lempira in the east and San Pedro Sula in the west.
While Hondurans blame their police for much of the crime, police say they are overwhelmed and outgunned by the drug traffickers and criminals. AP photographer Esteban Felix and I decided to see this for ourselves, and rode with police in San Pedro Sula, the country's largest and wealthiest city.
In one night, we saw the bodies of two bus drivers who had been killed for refusing to pay a cut to gangs, a police officer executed on a highway with a single shot to the head, and three people shot dead in a pool hall for what was described as "a settling of accounts."
The hospital emergency room looked like a scene out of a civil war, with mop-wielding orderlies failing to keep up with the blood pooling on the floor.
The owner of the bus company urged his employees to remove the drivers' bodies and collect the fares from the bloodied bus before police did. Once again, I made the mistake of asking a question, this time of the owner of the bus company. He turned in anger and ordered me not to publish what I had seen, while asking me repeatedly, "Where are you staying?"
Needless to say, I did not stay the night in San Pedro Sula.
I returned to the capital, which, despite the violence, has become my home. My 2-year-old daughter can say Tegucigalpa - which is not easy. And every time she sees the flag, she waves and says "Honduras," as she was taught in her preschool.
Somehow, we already belong to this country. After 10 months living here, I have learned the rules of survival. If Jose pays his weekly extortion fee, chances are he'll survive.
And since I'm usually sitting in the passenger seat, chances are so will I.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read the original story: Letter From Honduras: Who's really in charge here? | <urn:uuid:8af986a1-be2c-4d0b-a19b-469a95dea231> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetowntalk.com/usatoday/article/1798947 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978455 | 2,258 | 1.578125 | 2 |
LOS ANGELES - An ambitious development project aimed at revitalizing the historic theater district along Broadway through affordable artist housing and commercial gallery and theater spaces today received a boost in the way of a $470,000 grant award from ArtPlace, a coalition of national and regional foundations, banks and eight federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts.
The money will help the proposed Broadway Arts Center move from a concept phase into a planning phase, including determining a potential site for the development.
Despite an influx of new restaurants and residential units in other parts of the city's historic arts district, Broadway continues to struggle. The street that houses Los Angeles' first movie and stage theaters has a 15 to 20 percent ground floor vacancy rate and more than one million square feet of vacant space on upper floors, according to Councilman Jose Huizar's office, which created the Bringing Back Broadway initiative to rejuvenate the area.
"The fact that the Broadway Arts Center is one of only 47 award recipients out of thousands of applicants nationwide exemplifies the importance of this project, not only for historic Broadway and downtown Los Angeles, but on a national level," Huizar said. "The Broadway Arts Center will be a model for utilizing the arts as a catalyst for revitalization in historic districts and we're proud of the public-private partnership making this a reality."
The Broadway Art Center grant is part of $1.5 million in total for four Los Angeles-area projects. SCI-Arc, the art and architecture school in downtown's
industrial northeast corner also received a $400,000 grant to design and build two community art stages and programming for a third art space. Cornerstone Theater Company and Esperanza Community Housing Corporation also received funding. | <urn:uuid:da27c957-2bee-4d6b-8cfd-4d159579a4b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_20837793/effort-revitalize-historic-theater-district-along-broadway-gets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933948 | 352 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This retro recipe was from my mother's 1956 Betty Crocker Cookbook, and she made butter dips at least once a month. Butter dips later became a family favorite with my own kids. They are very fast and easy to make because there's no shortening or butter to cut in. Simply combine the dry ingredients and add the milk to form a dough. The kids always enjoyed helping with rolling the dough strips in butter.
Somewhere between a biscuit and a breadstick, these are very tasty served with a bowl of homemade tomato soup or a hearty bowl of stew.
1/2 cup butter
2 1/4 cups sifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
Heat oven to 450°F.
Melt butter and pour into oblong baking pan.
Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Add milk and stir slowly with fork until dough forms. Turn dough out onto lightly floured board; knead lightly 10 times.
Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick into 8 x 12 rectangle. Cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 1 inch strips. Dip each strip in melted butter on both sides and place in pan close together in two rows. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
In the original recipe, variations included:
- Cheese: add 1/2 cup grated sharp cheese to the dry ingredients.
- Garlic: Add 1/2 clove finely minced garlic to the butter before melting. | <urn:uuid:0088b174-8fef-4e46-b660-8f58d8e61354> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edibleparadise.com/vintage-recipes/883-butter-dips.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931879 | 314 | 1.601563 | 2 |
An uproar erupted when iPhone users discovered a so-called remote kill switch on their phones -- will it spur the same reaction in users of the G1, the first Android phone?
In the Android Market terms of service, Google expressly says that it might remotely remove an application from user phones. "Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement ... in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion," the terms, linked to from the phone, read.
That item is one of a few hints of things to come in the "About phone" section of the device, which also alludes to some hitherto unknown people and companies that were instrumental in developing the software.
The G1, the first phone to run the Android software developed by Google, goes on sale Oct. 22, and many people are getting their first in-depth look at it because T-Mobile has loaned the devices to reporters. The Android Market is the online store accessible from the phone where users can download applications.
Android users might be more receptive to Google's remote kill switch than iPhone users were to Apple's for a couple of reasons. First, Google is being upfront about it. Apple didn't confirm the capability for the iPhone until days after a developer discovered it.
In addition, Google says that if it does remotely remove an application, it will try to get users their money back, a question that iPhone users have wondered about in the case of an iPhone application recall. Google said that it will make "reasonable efforts to recover the purchase price of the product ... from the original developer on your behalf." If Google fails to get the full amount back, it will divide what it gets among affected users.
Google may have more need to use a kill switch than Apple. That's because Apple vets applications before putting them into its Apps Store. Anything goes in Google's Android Market, opening the chances of malicious or otherwise unwanted applications appearing in the market.
The Android Market business and program policies also include an item that says users can return any application for a full refund within 24 hours of the time of purchase. In the absence of a trial version of applications, this offer will let users return an application that might not deliver exactly what they expected.
Android Market users can also reinstall as many times as they wish an application that they buy, another useful feature in case a phone fails.
For now, all applications in the market are free because Google hasn't yet set up the mechanisms to allow developers to offer them for purchase.
People around the world -- phone users or not -- might also be pleased to learn about this item listed in the Android Market terms of service, in all caps for extra effect: "None of the products are intended for use in the operation of nuclear facilities, life support systems, emergency communications, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control systems or any other such activities in which case the failure of the products could lead to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage."
That's not the only bit of levity to be found on the phone. The G1 comes with a text-only scrolling video listing contributors and offering special thanks. After a pause, at the very end, Google assures us that "no robots were harmed in the making of this product."
While the contributors video refers to the Open Handset Alliance -- the group of companies backing Android -- without naming all the members, it thanks contributors that many industry observers may not have known were involved in the creation of Android.
Andy Missan and Jason von Nieda are the only people called out by name under the special thanks section. According to Missan's Web site, he has worked as legal counsel for MobiTV, ReplayTV and WebTV. He also worked for Danger, the company recently acquired by Microsoft and founded by Andy Rubin, who later started a mobile software company called Android that Google acquired.
On his Web site, von Nieda describes himself as a Seattle-based "computer programmer, systems administrator, network engineer and all around good guy."
Other companies listed as contributors or given special thanks include Swedish software technology and design company The Astonishing Tribe; Swiss engineering company Noser Engineering; media player developers Hooked Wireless; Indian consultancy Satyam; mobile software and services providers Core Mobility; and designers Mike and Maaike. | <urn:uuid:b014c2b3-cf8f-46c7-b7f2-49f3565b6651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-lifestyle/google-reserves-right-remove-users-apps-from-android-g1-phone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953326 | 893 | 1.5 | 2 |
German industrial output rebounded more than economists forecast in May as construction buttressed Europe’s largest economy against the sovereign debt crisis.
Production rose 1.6 percent from April, when it dropped 2.1 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said Friday. Economists forecast an increase of 0.2 percent, the median of 36 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey shows. Production was unchanged from a year earlier when adjusted for working days.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low yesterday as the worsening debt crisis threatens to tip the euro area, Germany’s largest export market, into recession. While German business and investor confidence have slumped amid signs growth is slowing, record-low unemployment and demand from outside the region have helped insulate the economy. Factory orders unexpectedly rose 0.6 percent in May, the Economy Ministry said Thursday.
“German factories are still doing quite well, but we’ll see some skid marks as a result of the euro region’s debt crisis in the coming months,” said Andreas Scheuerle, an economist at Dekabank in Frankfurt. “In the euro area, everything points toward recession and the global economy has slowed to an extent that it can’t compensate for the weakness in Europe.”
Spanish industrial production fell for the ninth month in May as the recession in the euro area’s fourth-largest economy worsened amid rising borrowing costs. Output at factories, refineries and mines fell 6.1 percent from a year earlier, after an 8.3 percent decline in April, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said Friday.
German manufacturing output gained 1.8 percent in May, driven by a 3.8 percent jump in production of consumer goods, Friday’s report showed. Investment goods production rose 1.7 percent and construction activity was up 3.1 percent.
Construction gained 7 percent over April and May compared with the previous two months, the ministry said. “Overall, the chances for a stable second quarter in the industrial sector have improved, despite ongoing risks from the euro area,” it said in a statement.
The Bundesbank last month raised its 2012 growth forecast to 1 percent from 0.6 percent, citing domestic consumption.
German carmakers Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG are likely to report increased vehicle deliveries this year, though “the second half of 2012 is certain to become more difficult and challenging for the automotive industry as a whole,” Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said on June 25.
Siemens AG Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser indicated on June 26 that it will be more difficult to meet financial targets set for 2012 as demand tapers off at some industrial automation units and Chinese growth fails to pick up.
In the euro area, there are signs of “a renewed weakening of economic growth and heightened uncertainty,” ECB President Mario Draghi said Thursday after policy makers cut the benchmark interest rate to 0.75 percent and the deposit rate to zero.
“We still expect a gradual, slow recovery around the end of the year,” Draghi said. “The baseline scenario hasn’t changed, although the downside risks are now materializing.”
Euro-area economic confidence slumped to the lowest in more than 2 1/2 years in June, services and manufacturing output contracted for a fifth month and unemployment rose to a record in May. The European Commission predicts the 17-nation economy will contract 0.3 percent this year.
© Copyright 2013 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:c69263d1-5a05-414b-b77e-bbd2d3d01778> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/german-industrial-production-rebounds/2012/07/06/id/444554 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939086 | 729 | 1.632813 | 2 |
If you're heading to the International Space Station, try to bunk in the Japanese section. It's as quiet as a Zen temple.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recently went aboard the ISS and has been recording what it sounds like. It's not quite the elegant "2001: A Space Odyssey" experience you might expect. It's more like a noisy tin can.
After recording last week the ambient sounds of the U.S. lab, with its noisy air pumps and fans, Hadfield managed to get samples of what the ISS toilet sounds like, as well as the relative serenity of the Japanese Experiment Module (aka Kibo).
Check them out below, or listen to a larger selection here.
Hadfield has been very busy taking some amazing photos of Earth, updating his Facebook status, and performing the odd astro-duty like running experiments.
A couple of days ago, he received a message on Twitter from William Shatner, who asked whether he was tweeting from space.
"Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain," Hadfield replied. "And we're detecting signs of life on the surface."
That gave Trekkies, including yours truly, tribble-like quivers of delight.
Inspired by the view from the ISS cupola, the mustachioed commander of Expedition 35 grabbed a guitar and recorded an original tune, a first for the station. He titled it "Jewel in the Night" and uploaded it to YouTube. Give it a listen below.
It doesn't have the makings of a space classic like "Rocket Man" (the Shat version, of course), but it's heartfelt and quite a bit better than Spock's "Maiden Wine."
And likely a welcome relief for crewmates from all that high-tech racket. | <urn:uuid:6b3cce15-9eaa-444a-bc4e-4ef147984134> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57562156-76/what-does-the-international-space-station-sound-like/ | 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 | 0.963746 | 365 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The following appeared December 13 on LifeSiteNews.com.
Regardless of the state marriage referendum, Catholic churches in the archdiocese of Seattle may not participate in any same-sex “marriage” or recognize them in any way – including solemnizing such unions, allowing their facilities to conduct the ceremony or its reception, or providing marital counseling to homosexual couples.
Following Washington state’s legalization of same-sex “marriage,” and marijuana, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has issued a “policy refresher” to explain how the new laws will affect Catholic parishes in his archdiocese.
The archbishop wrote that he was “disappointed that so many voters failed to recognize marriage between a man and a woman as the natural institution for the permanent, faithful covenant of love for a couple, for bringing children into the world, and for nurturing and educating those children.”
“Since marriage is regulated by both civil and canon law,” he wrote, “clerics must always keep in mind the demands of both law systems. Now that any two persons regardless of gender are permitted to enter marriage as defined in the state of Washington, the law of the Catholic Church diverges from civil law.”
“This change in civil law is not in the best interest of children or society,” he wrote.
The refresher clarified archdiocesan policy on same-sex unions, based on canon law:
- No priest or deacon or lay minister may officiate at a same-sex “marriage.”
- No church facility or school facility may be offered for such an event, even if it is to be witnessed by a non-Catholic minister or civil official.
- No church facility or school facility may be used for a reception after such an event.
- No church ministers, ordained or lay, may offer “wedding preparation” for such couples.
The refresher also addressed the civil aspects of the law. The archbishop reassured priests and deacons that they are not required by the new state law to solemnize same-sex marriages. “Priests and deacons are immune from any civil liability in this regard,” it states.
The refresher further clarified that non-recognition of same-sex “marriage” must extend beyond just refusing to participate in the ceremony.
Priests and deacons, it said, should not provide any religious-based services to same-sex partners that are designed for married couples or engaged couples, such as relationship counseling, courses, retreats, or workshops.
The refresher reiterated the legality of Catholic churches’ and schools’ refusal to provide accommodations, facilities, or any services related to same-sex “marriage,” stating that churches are immune from any civil liability, and that state and local governments “cannot retaliate.”
Two men or two women, “even if permitted to celebrate a civil marriage, are not qualified by canon law to enter marriage,” stated the archbishop.
The document also addressed the legalization of marijuana in Washington state.
“Marijuana is still illegal under federal law and it is still unclear how this new state law will be treated by federal authorities,” Abp. Sartain wrote. “Until new policy is promulgated, marijuana, like alcohol, will be prohibited on parish property. The only exception to this policy pertains to alcohol at official pastor-approved parish events at which alcoholic beverages are served.”
According to Abp. Sartain, he issued the refresher because so many local pastors and church leaders had raised questions about the requirements of the new law. The refresher addressed those questions from the perspective of civil and canon law.
To read original story, click here. | <urn:uuid:342b231d-4289-4206-a698-bc1dbc523e06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2012/12/17/churches-may-not-recognize-same-sex-marriage-in-any-way/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961961 | 793 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Newscast for Wednesday, February 23, 2011
- Year: 2011
- Length: 29:01 minutes (26.56 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)
Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi struggles to remain in power and continues his crackdown on civilians
In Libya, Colonel Gaddafi continues a ferocious crackdown on protesters and many fear the death toll may be rising. Videos posted to the internet, which appears to be shot from cell phones, purport to show evidence of massacres over the last two days. One shows a crowd crying in anguish after discovering a number of charred and black remains. Another alleges the footage is of more than 18 soldiers who defied orders to kill protesters. Those bodies are shown lying face down in pools of blood, their hands tied behind their backs. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the violence.
“We join the international community in strongly condemning the violence as we’ve received reports of hundreds killed and many more injured. This bloodshed is completely unacceptable. It is the responsibility of the government of Libya to respect the universal rights of their own people including the right to free expression and assembly.”
Meanwhile thousands of foreigners are trying to flee the country. Some countries are sending military planes to pick up their citizens, others are dispatching ships.
There are reports that more parts of the country and some areas of the Capital are falling into control of opposition forces. Many people are armed and there is growing concern about more weapons and mercenaries entering the country and attacking civilians.
Libyan-New Yorkers talk about the experiences of their families in Libya
In the United States, Libyans are gathering in front of the UN building in New York to protest the killings of civilians in their country by the Gaddafi regime. FSRN’s Manuel Rueda went along to talk to them and spoke with Tia Cibani, Ahmed Hasin, Ali Mohammed and Ahmed Matri.
Ohio lawmakers consider a bill like Wisconsin’s that would strip workers’ rights
In Ohio, State lawmakers are considering a bill that would restrict state and local employees’ collective bargaining powers. The proposals are similar to bills in other states, including Wisconsin. Proponents of Ohio's Senate Bill 5 want to end collective bargaining for all state workers and restrict if for local employees including firefighters and police. Sehvilla Mann has more from Columbus.
Koch Industries and the Wisconsin bill that would restrict collective bargaining rights
From Columbus, Ohio to Madison, Wisconsin, where tens of thousands have been demonstrating against a bill to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights. Democrats in the State Assembly are in the process of introducing dozens of amendments in an attempt to slow the passage of Governor Scott Walker’s controversial bill. Earlier this week, Democratic lawmakers fled the State to avoid voting on the bill. But during a debate that lasted into the early hours of this morning, Republicans voted to defeat one Democrat proposal that would have sent the Governor’s bill back to committee. Among the Governor’s supporters, IS the powerful business duo, the Koch brothers. For more on their role in this unfolding struggle over workers’ rights, we go to AlterNet's Washington bureau chief, Adele Stan. She’s written about the connections between Governor Walker and the Koch Brothers.
In Honduras, a new draft constitution calls for the official recognition of indigenous and Garifuna people
In Honduras, hundreds of Indigenous people and Garifuna - who are descendants of Carib, Arawak and West Africans - have been meeting in a constitutional assembly. Today, they're putting the finishing touches on proposals for a new Honduran Constitution which calls for recognition of Indigenous and Garifuna peoples. The assembly has emphasized issues fundamental to indigenous and Garifuna autonomy, education and health care for marginalized communities. Tim Russo brings us more from Honduras.
The US budget impasse and the possibility of the government shutting down
Although Congress is not in Washington this week; the possibility of a government shutdown grows each day. An impasse over the budget could cause the federal government to close. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell explains what that could like. | <urn:uuid:4b6180c9-7199-484f-815d-2f90ea6d5a5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fsrn.org/audio/newscast-wednesday-february-23-2011/8075 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952034 | 855 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.Close
This is Martha Payne. Martha's a 9-year-old Scot who lives in the Council of Argyll and Bute. A couple months ago, Payne started a food blog called NeverSeconds, and she would take her camera with her every day to school to document her school lunches. Can you spot the vegetable? (Laughter) And, as sometimes happens, this blog acquired first dozens of readers, and then hundreds of readers, and then thousands of readers, as people tuned in to watch her rate her school lunches, including on my favorite category, "Pieces of hair found in food." (Laughter) This was a zero day. That's good.
And then two weeks ago yesterday, she posted this. A post that read: "Goodbye." And she said, "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but my head teacher pulled me out of class today and told me I'm not allowed to take pictures in the lunch room anymore. I really enjoyed doing this. Thank you for reading. Goodbye."
You can guess what happened next, right? (Laughter) The outrage was so swift, so voluminous, so unanimous, that the Council of Argyll and Bute reversed themselves the same day and said, "We would, we would never censor a nine-year-old." (Laughter) Except, of course, this morning. (Laughter) And this brings up the question, what made them think they could get away with something like that? (Laughter) And the answer is, all of human history prior to now.
Now, this isn't just a contemporaneous question. This is something we've faced several times over the last few centuries. When the telegraph came along, it was clear that it was going to globalize the news industry. What would this lead to? Well, obviously, it would lead to world peace. The television, a medium that allowed us not just to hear but see, literally see, what was going on elsewhere in the world, what would this lead to? World peace. (Laughter) The telephone? You guessed it: world peace. Sorry for the spoiler alert, but no world peace. Not yet. Even the printing press, even the printing press was assumed to be a tool that was going to enforce Catholic intellectual hegemony across Europe. Instead, what we got was Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the Protestant Reformation, and, you know, the Thirty Years' War. All right, so what all of these predictions of world peace got right is that when a lot of new ideas suddenly come into circulation, it changes society. What they got exactly wrong was what happens next.
The more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with. More media always means more arguing. That's what happens when the media's space expands. And yet, when we look back on the printing press in the early years, we like what happened. We are a pro-printing press society.
And the answer, I think, can be found in things like this. This is the cover of "Philosophical Transactions," the first scientific journal ever published in English in the middle of the 1600s, and it was created by a group of people who had been calling themselves "The Invisible College," a group of natural philosophers who only later would call themselves scientists, and they wanted to improve the way natural philosophers argued with each other, and they needed to do two things for this. They needed openness. They needed to create a norm which said, when you do an experiment, you have to publish not just your claims, but how you did the experiment. If you don't tell us how you did it, we won't trust you. But the other thing they needed was speed. They had to quickly synchronize what other natural philosophers knew. Otherwise, you couldn't get the right kind of argument going. The printing press was clearly the right medium for this, but the book was the wrong tool. It was too slow. And so they invented the scientific journal as a way of synchronizing the argument across the community of natural scientists. The scientific revolution wasn't created by the printing press. It was created by scientists, but it couldn't have been created if they didn't have a printing press as a tool.
So what about us? What about our generation, and our media revolution, the Internet? Well, predictions of world peace? Check. (Laughter) More arguing? Gold star on that one. (Laughter) (Laughter) I mean, YouTube is just a gold mine. (Laughter) Better arguing? That's the question.
So I study social media, which means, to a first approximation, I watch people argue. And if I had to pick a group that I think is our Invisible College, is our generation's collection of people trying to take these tools and to press it into service, not for more arguments, but for better arguments, I'd pick the open-source programmers. Programming is a three-way relationship between a programmer, some source code, and the computer it's meant to run on, but computers are such famously inflexible interpreters of instructions that it's extraordinarily difficult to write out a set of instructions that the computer knows how to execute, and that's if one person is writing it. Once you get more than one person writing it, it's very easy for any two programmers to overwrite each other's work if they're working on the same file, or to send incompatible instructions that simply causes the computer to choke, and this problem grows larger the more programmers are involved. To a first approximation, the problem of managing a large software project is the problem of keeping this social chaos at bay.
Now, for decades there has been a canonical solution to this problem, which is to use something called a "version control system," and a version control system does what is says on the tin. It provides a canonical copy of the software on a server somewhere. The only programmers who can change it are people who've specifically been given permission to access it, and they're only allowed to access the sub-section of it that they have permission to change. And when people draw diagrams of version control systems, the diagrams always look something like this. All right. They look like org charts. And you don't have to squint very hard to see the political ramifications of a system like this. This is feudalism: one owner, many workers.
But there was one programmer who decided that this wasn't the way to work. This is Linus Torvalds. Torvalds is the most famous open-source programmer, created Linux, obviously, and Torvalds looked at the way the open-source movement had been dealing with this problem. Open-source software, the core promise of the open-source license, is that everybody should have access to all the source code all the time, but of course, this creates the very threat of chaos you have to forestall in order to get anything working. So most open-source projects just held their noses and adopted the feudal management systems.
But Torvalds said, "No, I'm not going to do that." His point of view on this was very clear. When you adopt a tool, you also adopt the management philosophy embedded in that tool, and he wasn't going to adopt anything that didn't work the way the Linux community worked. And to give you a sense of how enormous a decision like this was, this is a map of the internal dependencies within Linux, within the Linux operating system, which sub-parts of the program rely on which other sub-parts to get going. This is a tremendously complicated process. This is a tremendously complicated program, and yet, for years, Torvalds ran this not with automated tools but out of his email box. People would literally mail him changes that they'd agreed on, and he would merge them by hand.
And he called it "Git." Git is distributed version control. It has two big differences with traditional version control systems. The first is that it lives up to the philosophical promise of open-source. Everybody who works on a project has access to all of the source code all of the time. And when people draw diagrams of Git workflow, they use drawings that look like this. And you don't have to understand what the circles and boxes and arrows mean to see that this is a far more complicated way of working than is supported by ordinary version control systems.
But this is also the thing that brings the chaos back, and this is Git's second big innovation. This is a screenshot from GitHub, the premier Git hosting service, and every time a programmer uses Git to make any important change at all, creating a new file, modifying an existing one, merging two files, Git creates this kind of signature. This long string of numbers and letters here is a unique identifier tied to every single change, but without any central coordination. Every Git system generates this number the same way, which means this is a signature tied directly and unforgeably to a particular change.
This has the following effect: A programmer in Edinburgh and a programmer in Entebbe can both get the same -- a copy of the same piece of software. Each of them can make changes and they can merge them after the fact even if they didn't know of each other's existence beforehand. This is cooperation without coordination. This is the big change.
Now, I tell you all of this not to convince you that it's great that open-source programmers now have a tool that supports their philosophical way of working, although I think that is great. I tell you all of this because of what I think it means for the way communities come together.
This is a graph of the Ruby community. It's an open-source programming language, and all of the interconnections between the people -- this is now not a software graph, but a people graph, all of the interconnections among the people working on that project — and this doesn't look like an org chart. This looks like a dis-org chart, and yet, out of this community, but using these tools, they can now create something together. So there are two good reasons to think that this kind of technique can be applied to democracies in general and in particular to the law.
Which is, are you talking about the thing with the singing cats? Like, is that the thing you think is going to be good for society? To which I have to say, here's the thing with the singing cats. That always happens. And I don't just mean that always happens with the Internet, I mean that always happens with media, full stop. It did not take long after the rise of the commercial printing press before someone figured out that erotic novels were a good idea. (Laughter) You don't have to have an economic incentive to sell books very long before someone says, "Hey, you know what I bet people would pay for?" (Laughter) It took people another 150 years to even think of the scientific journal, right? So -- (Laughter) (Applause)
So the harnessing by the Invisible College of the printing press to create the scientific journal was phenomenally important, but it didn't happen big, and it didn't happen quick, and it didn't happen fast, so if you're going to look for where the change is happening, you have to look on the margins.
So, the law is also dependency-related. This is a graph of the U.S. Tax Code, and the dependencies of one law on other laws for the overall effect. So there's that as a site for source code management. But there's also the fact that law is another place where there are many opinions in circulation, but they need to be resolved to one canonical copy, and when you go onto GitHub, and you look around, there are millions and millions of projects, almost all of which are source code, but if you look around the edges, you can see people experimenting with the political ramifications of a system like that. Someone put up all the Wikileaked cables from the State Department, along with software used to interpret them, including my favorite use ever of the Cablegate cables, which is a tool for detecting naturally occurring haiku in State Department prose. (Laughter) Right. (Laughter) The New York Senate has put up something called Open Legislation, also hosting it on GitHub, again for all of the reasons of updating and fluidity. You can go and pick your Senator and then you can see a list of bills they have sponsored. Someone going by Divegeek has put up the Utah code, the laws of the state of Utah, and they've put it up there not just to distribute the code, but with the very interesting possibility that this could be used to further the development of legislation. Somebody put up a tool during the copyright debate last year in the Senate, saying, "It's strange that Hollywood has more access to Canadian legislators than Canadian citizens do. Why don't we use GitHub to show them what a citizen-developed bill might look like?" And it includes this very evocative screenshot.
This is a called a "diff," this thing on the right here. This shows you, for text that many people are editing, when a change was made, who made it, and what the change is. The stuff in red is the stuff that got deleted. The stuff in green is the stuff that got added. Programmers take this capability for granted. No democracy anywhere in the world offers this feature to its citizens for either legislation or for budgets, even though those are the things done with our consent and with our money.
Now, I would love to tell you that the fact that the open-source programmers have worked out a collaborative method that is large scale, distributed, cheap, and in sync with the ideals of democracy, I would love to tell you that because those tools are in place, the innovation is inevitable. But it's not. Part of the problem, of course, is just a lack of information. Somebody put a question up on Quora saying, "Why is it that lawmakers don't use distributed version control?" This, graphically, was the answer. (Laughter) (Laughter) (Applause) And that is indeed part of the problem, but only part.
The bigger problem, of course, is power. The people experimenting with participation don't have legislative power, and the people who have legislative power are not experimenting with participation. They are experimenting with openness. There's no democracy worth the name that doesn't have a transparency move, but transparency is openness in only one direction, and being given a dashboard without a steering wheel has never been the core promise a democracy makes to its citizens.
So consider this. The thing that got Martha Payne's opinions out into the public was a piece of technology, but the thing that kept them there was political will. It was the expectation of the citizens that she would not be censored. That's now the state we're in with these collaboration tools. We have them. We've seen them. They work. Can we use them? Can we apply the techniques that worked here to this?
T.S. Eliot once said, "One of the most momentous things that can happen to a culture is that they acquire a new form of prose." I think that's wrong, but -- (Laughter) I think it's right for argumentation. Right? A momentous thing that can happen to a culture is they can acquire a new style of arguing: trial by jury, voting, peer review, now this. Right?
A new form of arguing has been invented in our lifetimes, in the last decade, in fact. It's large, it's distributed, it's low-cost, and it's compatible with the ideals of democracy. The question for us now is, are we going to let the programmers keep it to themselves? Or are we going to try and take it and press it into service for society at large?
You can share this video by copying this HTML to your clipboard and pasting into your blog or web page.
need to get the latest Flash player.
Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation.
The open-source world has learned to deal with a flood of new, oftentimes divergent, ideas using hosting services like GitHub -- so why can’t governments? In this rousing talk Clay Shirky shows how democracies can take a lesson from the Internet, to be not just transparent but also to draw on the knowledge of all their citizens.
Clay Shirky argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of ways of arguing, where changes in media change what sort of arguments are possible -- with deep social and political implications. Full bio » | <urn:uuid:89625a1c-beca-4f22-84f1-98e1b7aeef59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transform_government.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974788 | 3,497 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Shiver Me Timber: “Pirate Architects” Steal Design, Set to Finish Construction on Their Version Before the Original is Completed.
In a short film at the start of Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life” a gaggle of downtrodden elderly (English) accountants rebel against their new, younger (American) bosses. They commandeer the company building, ripping it from its foundations, literally turning it into a pirate ship, and sail away into the sunset, towards the ends of the earth.
But what, if anything, do the pirates of the “Crimson Permanent Assurance” have to do with intellectual property law?
Like Python’s bandits, “Pirate Architects” in China are renowned for their prowess in the business of “building theft.”
Last month, British star-architect (or “starchitect”) Zaha Hadid looked set to file suit against a Chinese developer whom she claims stole one of her architecture designs. Hadid designed the Wangjing SOHO complex—a futuristic set of curved buildings, sculpted in stone and etched with wave-like aluminum bands—which is now under construction in Beijing. A nearly identical set of buildings is also currently under construction in Chongquing, a megacity of 32 million in southwest China. Chongquing Meiquan is the developer behind this project, known at the “Meiquan 22nd Century” building.
Hadid sent Chongquing Meiquan a “cease and desist” letter in May 2012. The letter was ignored and the Chinese developer launched an advertising campaign claiming that his firm “never meant to copy, only … to surpass.”
The SOHO and Meiquan projects are now locked in a race for completion, and the Chongquing project looks like it is pulling ahead: Meiquan is set to complete construction this year, while Hadid’s project won’t be finished until 2014.
This is not the first time that Chinese firms have replicated internationally-renowned pieces of architecture. There is a 108 meter high Eiffel Tower replica in Tianducheng, near Shanghai, a slowly-emerging version of the Manhattan skyline in Tianjin, northern China, and an exact duplication of the entire Austrian village of Hallstadtt—a protected UNESCO World Heritage site—in Huizhou city, southern China.
China does have intellectual property laws that protect works of architecture, and most lawyers believe that Hadid could win if the suit went to trial. They caution however, that the remedies would likely be limited to compensation or other similar types of damages, since courts would be hesitant to order a defendant to knock-down a newly completed, multi-million dollar complex.
United State copyright law also protects architectural works, and provides them with the same protection as any other original work. 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(8). The Act also places two express limits on these rights—in addition to general copyright exceptions, such as Fair Use. The first is that once constructed, architects cannot prevent the owners of the physical building from altering or destroying the building. 17 U.S.C. § 120(b). The second provides that architects cannot prevent others from making, distributing, or publicly displaying pictorial representations of the building, so long as the building is ordinarily visible from a public place. 17 U.S.C. 120(a). Thus, like in China, U.S. architects also have recourse against unauthorized construction projects replicating their buildings.
Hadid was initially excited by the prospect of her work popping up in other places, but has since stepped back: “It is fine to take from the same well,” she says, “but not from the same bucket.”
While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, trends indicate the culture of “duplitecture”—as it has come to be known—is on the rise and is showing no signs of stopping: it will be a long battle yet with the brigands known at “pirate architects.” | <urn:uuid:b8a1667c-62f9-4bd4-8edd-46363e028551> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ipbrief.net/2013/02/08/shiver-me-timber-pirate-architects-steal-design-set-to-finish-construction-on-their-version-before-the-original-is-completed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951608 | 867 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Earlier in June, President Bill Clinton’s former campaign adviser and election maestro James Carville proclaimed that “the Tea Party is over.”
This quote couldn’t be further from the truth, of course. Since June, the Tea Party has notched a number of high-profile election victories — most notable of which was Ted Cruz’s Senate primary win in Texas — and has helped shaped the conversation in conservative politics. Massive fiscal restraint and lowered taxes will be the hallmark of the Republican Party not only in this election cycle, but for years to come.
Newly-minted GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan preaches it, and has been one of the top architects of a reigned in U.S. bu8dget. At the Republican National Convention next week top Tea Partiers Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, and Cruz will all give speeches.
Each will preaches policies central to the Tea Party platform: less government spending, U.S. military withdraw from foreign soil, no government intervention in the economy, less still government intervention in social issues.
But the biggest name who has advocated these policies will be absent for the RNC.
Why isn’t Ron Paul speaking?
I need to clarify here: Ron Paul is by no means a Tea Party politician. He is, instead, a libertarian, who’s principles are guided by mostly free market values. The Tea Party, though believing in the free market and less government intervention in the economy, have been less principled in the politicking. Their aims have sometimes been mixed, and there isn’t always a clear agenda. Some Tea Partiers have sought to push social issues like traditional marriage or have seemed to only act in obstructionist ways while in office. Libertarians, though, are another breed, driven singularly by capitalistic principles.
Michele Bachman = Tea Party. Rand Paul = libertarian.
The distinction here is important, but also underscores how new sects which have bubbled up in the Republican Party. The GOP, once considered the party which marshals its followers behind a single banner, now has to contend with a schism in its ranks. But the GOP can’t turn its back on its own followers. Whether conservatives like it or not, the Republican Party is now filled with different view points on how to approach the policy decisions of our time. Mitt Romney is by no means a Southern conservative Republican, and Sarah Palin is no economic free market champion.
Enter Ron Paul, the figurehead of the libertarian movement. He has been alienated by GOP, despite leading a popular and successful 2012 presidential run, one in which he was especially able to mobilize young voters and lead a viral internet campaign — something Romney is comparison has failed to do. By some counts, Ron Paul will have as many as 500 delegates at the RNC next week, a massive haul for a politician some people call a fringe candidate. Sidelining Ron Paul means the GOP is sidelining one of it’s biggest assets in election 2012. They’ll lose out on the energy that the Ron Paul campaign brings, and risk alienating a voting bloc for years to come, one which may now instead turn to other parties. Libertarianism won’t go away, either, and will only continue to be a driving force in American politics. One poll actually finds that there are actually more libertarians than conservatives in the U.S.
“The GOP is absolutely shooting themselves in the foot with the way they are handling the Paul grassroots organization and the libertarians trying to work within the party,” PolicyMic libertarian expert Robert Taylor said. “Romney may well get the nomination, but not after some battling. More so, alienating potentially 15% to 20% of possible Republican votes is suicide in the general election.”
And suicide is exactly what the GOP now seems to be doing.
If the GOP hopes to win this election, they must be more inclusionary of other groups.
The rigidity of the Republican Party is absurd. Let Ron Paul talk. | <urn:uuid:839521f0-88de-4568-b33e-32aefc25549b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ronpaultoday.com/if-ron-paul-is-not-allowed-to-speak-at-the-rnc-then-the-gop-deserves-to-lose-policymic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959228 | 835 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill — Decline to give a Second Reading — rejected — 17 Dec 2003 at 18:43
Ms Glenda Jackson MP, Hampstead and Highgate voted in the minority (Aye).
The majority No voters rejected an amendment to decline to give a Second Reading to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill. If passed the amendment would have prevented the Bill from moving to the committee stage. However, it was defeated.
The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill became law in 2004. Its main aims were to:
- Simplify the process of appeal for asylum seekers
- Criminalise people who arrive into the UK without a valid travel document unless they have a reasonable excuse
- Stop supporting failed asylum seekers and their families if they do not leave the UK
- Allow the government to tag and track asylum seekers
- Provide accommodation to failed asylum seekers who cannot return home immediately
- Hilton Dawson MP, House of Commons, 17 December 2003
- Based on The Guardian's A-Z of legislation
- This was the part of the Bill that particularly concerned MPs who didn't want the Bill to proceed
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
|Party||Majority (No)||Minority (Aye)||Both||Turnout|
|Lab||285 (+2 tell)||23 (+2 tell)||1||76.7%| | <urn:uuid:af497621-1d3d-43f5-b213-fb4c6df0abf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2003-12-17&number=16&mpn=Glenda_Jackson&mpc=Hampstead_and_Highgate&house=commons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937516 | 393 | 1.78125 | 2 |
When I was six years old, I played in a YMCA basketball league that allowed all methods of moving the ball up and down the court. We could run with the ball, stop and start dribbles whenever we wanted, and play by the regular rules. Being a big sports fan even at that young age, I knew the real rules of basketball and dribbled whenever I could. But no one was penalized for turning basketball into a children's version of street rollerball. Playing by the rules of the game, or not, depended on our growing senses of pride and shame.
On Wednesday night, Toronto Raptors big man Amir Johnson tapped into that same approach to the laws of basketball. Around the six-minute mark of the first quarter of Toronto's home game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Johnson fielded a pass near the top of the key and took a single dribble to his right. After a brief pause, he pump-faked a jumper, which defender J.J. Hickson challenged aggressively because Johnson could not blow by him on a drive.
Except that's exactly what Johnson did. Flouting all established rules of the game, he dribbled again and created enough space to make a short jump hook over Hickson. On his way back down the court, Johnson laughed, because this entire play was ridiculous and never should have happened.
I don't know what officials Bennett Salvatore, Scott Wall, and Eric Dalen were doing on this play, but it stands to reason that they either stopped paying attention entirely or simply wanted to congratulate Johnson on his willingness to take risks. At any rate, it's hard to imagine a goofier missed call, if only because these are rules that most basketball players learn right around the time they realize that there are different positions on the court.
It's difficult to say this basket changed the game, because the Raptors dominated the Blazers in a 102-79 victory. Nevertheless, the implications of the play could be widespread. If more plays like this one happen, it's not impossible to imagine the very foundations of the game cracking. Basketball would then turn into a rule-free zone in which only a player's personal honor could maintain a suitable level of sportsmanship. That situation could be good news for some athletes — I'm looking at you, Reggie Evans — but bad news for fans.
Please, referees: call double-dribbles. I am no longer a small child and will not understand basketball without them.
For a different and much homier take, check out Raptors broadcaster Matt Devlin completely ignoring the infraction in order to talk up Amir's most recent haircut:
(Original video via The Point Forward) | <urn:uuid:60d54f9d-bcda-44bb-bb61-674d6c0aa74f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/amir-johnson-gets-away-double-dribble-laughs-video-135918858--nba.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967873 | 544 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov’s Visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov paid a working visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from April 23-24 at the invitation of the Korean side. He had talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun and met President of the Presidium of the Supreme People‘s Assembly Kim Yong Nam.
Discussions focused on wide-ranging issues of mutual concern, including various aspects of bilateral political, trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation, and international problems. An exchange of views regarding the aggravated situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia featured prominently in the agenda.
In the talks, Lavrov noted the priority of preserving six-party negotiations as a tool for resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear problem. In this context he called on all participants of the six-party process to fully comply with the obligations assumed in its framework.
While staying in Pyongyang Lavrov signed an intergovernmental Plan of Cultural and Scientific Cooperation between Russia and the DPRK 2009-2010, and took part in the opening of a Russian Center, designed to facilitate the two nations’ cultural and education cooperation and the popularization of the Russian language.
The visit passed in the atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust characteristic for the traditionally friendly relations between Russia and the DPRK.
April 24, 2009 | <urn:uuid:b27c2522-8a66-45ca-99b7-50652eeb7ba3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/0bfcaee9c6a68888c32575a200572ae7?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931989 | 280 | 1.625 | 2 |
JGAP is a Genetic Algorithms and Genetic Programming package written in Java. It is designed to require minimum effort to use, but is also designed to be highly modular. JGAP features grid functionality and a lot of examples. Many unit tests included.
very good project, thanks! | <urn:uuid:bc64582e-d9b1-4d87-a5bf-a110246fa266> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sourceforge.net/projects/jgap/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938775 | 60 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Afghanistan - Meet Enzar
When Enzar Gull lost both legs, his left arm and two fingers in a landmine, he had to find a new way to support his wife and two children. So he turned to the one skill he knew well: gardening.
Enzar used his knowledge as a former hospital gardener to convert his small plot of land into a plant nursery, but he needed money for fertilizer. In his small village, he could only borrow from business people who charged very high interest rates, which would leave him with very little income.
When Enzar heard about a local credit union supported by WOCCU, he joined and applied for a loan at a much more affordable rate. No longer at the mercy of usurious lenders, he received the credit he needed to buy fertilizer. His income instantly doubled, and he has since applied for a second, larger loan to expand his business. "Business is good and my family's future is brighter than ever," Enzar said.
Colombia - Meet Delmar
Delmar Luz Cordoba and her husband once farmed their family land in Chocó, the Colombian state bordering Panama. When right-wing paramilitary troops threatened to kill Cordoba's husband nine years ago, the couple gathered their six children and fled south to Pereira, a small city on the edge of the country's vast coffee fields. With no land to farm and no experience in urban living, the family turned to local social service agencies for help.
Through a Catholic-run charity, Cordoba learned about COOPLAROSA, a credit union that had helped other desplazados, or "displaced ones." Cordoba joined the credit union and has since received several small loans, enabling her to open a tiny shop that sells food products, toiletries and cosmetics. "COOPLAROSA has never turned me down," Cordoba said. "Without their help, we never would have survived."
Haiti - Meet Pierre
Pierre Durandisse is a church pastor and farmer who cultivates several small plots of corn, peas and cassava, a tropical root vegetable. When the earthquake struck in January, his church collapsed and he watched from his yard as his house suffered the same fate. Pierre now sleeps under the trees and holds services in a makeshift shelter. Thankfully, he had already harvested his crop by the time the earthquake struck, and though he had lost his home and his church, he still had his small business. With his local credit union one of the few enterprises still operating in post-earthquake Haiti, Pierre was able to deposit money from the crop he had harvested just before the disaster.
Kenya - Meet Benadette
Benadette, a widow and mother of five, has been a volunteer early childhood teacher at Busia Compassionate Centre since 2003. She teaches 27 six-year-olds in a small, concrete floor classroom with little furniture and fewer books. Though she struggles personally to make ends meet as a volunteer, Benadette said the children are quite bright, and she loves teaching them. The orphans have received school scholarships through the local credit union, and they started a garden project with WOCCU's guidance to ensure they have regular, nutritious food while learning farming skills and responsibility.
Mexico - Meet Reina and Rofina
Reina Hernandez, 24, and Rofina Cruz Martinez, 29, are a part of an isolated indigenous community in Mexico. The remoteness of their village, in addition to speaking Spanish as a second language, made working outside the home nearly impossible until five years ago when a newly constructed road provided their community access to a nearby credit union. Through the credit union, the community was able to secure a loan to build a food distribution center to serve the surrounding villages.
Now, Reina and Rofina work at the center, helping distribute beans, rice and sugar. According to Reina, "Before [the distribution center was built] we had nowhere to work. Now we can bring in a consistent cash flow." With the help of savings and loan services from the credit union, Reina and Rofina have created stability for themselves and their family's future. Their credit union, Caja Zongolica, is a member of WOCCU's program in Mexico.
Sri Lanka - Meet Jothaline
When U.A. Jothaline, 62, visits the Women's Coop, she often brings along the fruits of her labors for friends at the branch office, located in a small, darkened room adjacent to the volunteer treasurer's house.
Jothaline and her family raise cattle and farm a four-acre rice paddy and one acre of vegetables. It's an enterprise the three have maintained for more than 30 years. Compared to many of her neighbors, Jothaline is a prosperous entrepreneur, success she attributes in part to her seven years of membership at the Women's Coop.
Loans have been essential in helping Jothaline survive rough periods, including the inevitable blight that attacks the area's rice crops. Jothaline's role as part of a women's borrowing group has enabled her to prosper and even establish a small savings account. | <urn:uuid:7e51b6e9-8cf2-496d-890f-082d077d1c8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.woccu.org/involved/supporters/supporters_work/cumemberstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983431 | 1,071 | 1.625 | 2 |
At a public meeting in Willmar Monday I was reminded of old western movies where an indian might be heard to say "White man speak with forked tongue." I remember back in 2007 when a site was chosen for the new Community Behavioral Health Hospital, nestled in a residential area just west of the Willmar YMCA. At that time state and county officials reassured neighbors that it would be a "secure facility" meaning the doors would be locked and the patients would be kept inside.
However, in the last few months local residents noticed patients outside the facility, apparently unsupervised, walking the streets, smoking in a nearby park and playground. One neighbor said he was shaken up to see a patient looking into his window, and a woman was terrified earlier this month when she found a patient in her garage. Because of the recent incidents, state officials felt compelled to hold a public meeting to tell residents why they are suddenly seeing patients roaming the neighborhood.
It turns out when the hospital opened in the Summer of 2008, a need for secure hospital beds plummetted in the state. There was, however, a need for a facility to help patients recently released from secure hospitals get further treatment and transitioned back into the community. So, without telling Willmar or Kandiyohi County officials or neighbors, the state changed the facility to a "sub-acute" facility, where patients, most of them there voluntarily, earn privileges that allow them out of the facility, with or without supervision.
Compounding the problem is the fact many of the patients smoke, but aren't allowed to smoke or have tobacco on hospital property. So they go off of state property, sometimes into neighbor's yards or the playground to smoke. And they hide their cigarettes off the property, then retreive them when they want to smoke. Rod Kornrumpf, head of state mental health services, told people at the meeting the state messed up by not telling everyone about the hospital changes. As a member of the media, I knew the changes were coming, but was not told it was no longer going to be a secure facility. One lesson to be learned...when the government tells you something, like the mental hospital they are building next door will be a locked facility, keep in mind they can change their mind.
Kornrumpf says in the future they will keep neighbors abreast of changes at the facility, however the future of the facility itself is dim, because Governor Dayton wants to close it and move the Adolescent Treatment Unit at the former WRTC campus to the 3-year-old Mental Health Facility building. If and when that happens, we'll see how the youthful patients interact with the neighbors. There are no neighbors where they are currently located at the old WRTC. | <urn:uuid:dda503dd-733e-4713-b4d4-972e835f2bc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kwlm.com/6-15-11------Mental-Hospital-neighbors--unintentionally-misled-/8842999?archive=1&pid=52068 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976433 | 564 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Graham, Kerry, Lieberman: “Every day, we spend nearly $1 billion to sustain our addiction to foreign energy sources and we ship Americans’ hard earned dollars overseas, some of which finds its way to extremist or terrorist organizations.”
Recent events underscore the need for the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill, which is key to maintaining and improving U.S. energy and national security (see “EIA: Clean air, clean water, clean energy jobs bill would make America more energy independent, cutting U.S. foreign oil bill $650 billion through 2030, saving $5,600 per household“).
Yesterday, Meet the Press focused on the failed effort to blow up an airline on Christmas Day. One exchange was especially illuminating (transcript here)
MR. GREGORY: Doris, you’re familiar with writing long and wonderful volumes of history. And if the war on terror, if chapter one was written by President Bush, now it’s chapter two and beyond; and it’s still very, very complicated, an entire decade really defined by, by terrorist acts at the front end and at the back end, an attempted act at the back end. So much different than the wars we have fought in our past.
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, as always, provided a crucial historical perspective:
MS. GOODWIN: True. But I think there are certain lessons, even though the war on terror is a war about individuals, loose organizations, it’s not countries, there aren’t going to be treaties. We’ve learned things from other wars that I still think are valid here. Number one, you have to have allies on your side, and I think that’s what the Obama administration has begun to do. I mean, after we made the announcement about the Afghan escalation, NATO put in 7,000 troops. That showed that some work had been done at that point. I also keep thinking that somehow what we really missed in the beginning of this decade on the war on terror, what would have happened right after September 11th if President Bush had called for independent–a Manhattan Project for independence from Middle Eastern oil? What if he’d called for a lot more people to join the Army? We wouldn’t have had these same soldiers going back three and four times. What if we’d had a tax increase, as we’ve done in every other war, to fight a war? We wouldn’t be facing the deficits right now. So I think even though it’s a different war, the need to mobilize the spirit and the energy of the American people, so it’s not just our soldiers fighting those wars alone over there, is still relevant in history’s terms.
The Manhattan project of course was not a long-term basic R&D effort, which is how some people seem to use the analogy. It was a staggeringly massive engineering project aimed at rapidly developing — and, more importantly, deploying — a very specific military technology, part of an even bigger effort to deploy technology, as I discuss in the conclusion to my book:
This national (and global) re-industrialization effort would be on the scale of what we did during World War II, except it would last far longer. “In nine months, the entire capacity of the prolific automobile industry had been converted to the production of tanks, guns, planes, and bombs,” explains Doris Kearns Goodwin in her 1994 book on the World War II homefront, No Ordinary Time. “The industry that once built 4 million cars a year was now building three fourths of the nation’s aircraft engines, one half of all tanks, and one third of all machine guns.”
The scale of the war effort was astonishing. The physicist Edward Teller tells the story of how Niels Bohr had insisted in 1939 that making a nuclear bomb would take an enormous national effort, one without any precedent. When Bohr came to see the huge Los Alamos facility years later, he said to Teller, “You see, I told you it couldn’t be done without turning the whole country into a factory. You have done just that.” And we did it in under five years.
Now, of course, the government can’t turn the whole country into a factory — the private sector is crucial to this “enormous national effort, one without any precedent” — one aimed at deploying low-oil, low-carbon commercial products on a large scale. And that’s where there is a bipartisan realization that the key to energy independence is the climate and clean energy jobs bill as Senators Graham (R-SC), Kerry (D-MA), Lieberman (I-CT) spelled out last month in their “Framework for Climate Action and Energy Independence in the U.S. Senate”:
Carbon pollution is altering the earth’s climate. The impacts have already been seen and felt throughout our country and around the world….
This document outlines the principles and guidelines that will shape our ongoing efforts to develop comprehensive climate change and energy independence legislation….
We believe a near term pollution reduction target in the range of 17 percent below 2005 emissions levels is achievable and reasonable, as is a long term target of approximately 80 percent below 2005 levels….
Securing energy independence. We find ourselves more dependent on foreign oil today than any other time in our nation’s history, and that is unacceptable. Every day, we spend nearly $1 billion to sustain our addiction to foreign energy sources – and we ship Americans’ hard earned dollars overseas, some of which finds its way to extremist or terrorist organizations. Presidents and politicians have bemoaned this fact for decades; and now is the moment when we can – and must – break that habit. By spurring the development and deployment of new clean energy technologies and increasing our supply of domestically produced oil and natural gas on land and offshore, our legislation will ensure America’s energy security. We will do so in a way that sends money back to the states that opt to drill and also provides new federal government revenues to advance climate mitigation goals. We will also encourage investments in energy efficiency because we believe that consuming less power will help keep energy bills down and simultaneously extend the life of our domestic energy resources. Finally, maintaining the ability to refine petroleum products in the United States is a national security priority. It is our belief that we can preserve our refining capacity without sacrificing our environmental goals. If energy independence is to be a priority, we must keep the entire energy cycle right here at home.
This is also no ordinary time. This year we’ll see whether we have ordinary — or extraordinary — leaders | <urn:uuid:12505197-76a1-4532-b41a-d9ca88e57ee3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/01/04/205290/doris-kearns-goodwin-terrorism-energy-security-climate-bill/?mobile=nc | 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 | 0.953748 | 1,399 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Lose Weight With The Bite Counter- “It’s Like a Pedometer But For Your Mouth!”
Yet another weight loss gadget is coming to market. Introducing the claimed solution to obesity, The Bite Counter. The Bite Counter is a wrist watch like device that was developed at Clemson University. It’s expected to be available for eager consumers next year and will be about $100, but for now it’s $799 online.
How does it work? Well, the bite counter is said to be about 90% accurate on counting bites. It just simply detects the wrist rolling motion when you eat. The rule for this device is twenty bites for breakfast, twenty for lunch, and forty for dinner. An alarm will sound if you take too many bites.
This isn’t a new concept. There are bite counting diets already out there, but now there is an expensive device to go a long with it. I’ve already thought of ways to beat this annoying electronic at it’s own game, bigger bites and not rolling your wrist while eating.
What do you think of “The Bite Counter”, is it just another money making diet gadget or an actual solution to help people lose weight? | <urn:uuid:772be446-d04c-4bce-8d8d-fae0846273a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://1023blakefm.com/lose-weight-with-the-bite-counter-its-like-a-pedometer-but-for-your-mouth/ | 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 | 0.937977 | 257 | 1.625 | 2 |
A worker paints a single-seater submarine designed by Zhang Wuyi and his fellow engineers at a shipyard in Wuhan, Hubei province May 7, 2012. Zhang, a 37-year-old local farmer, who is interested in scientific inventions, has made six miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855) last October. The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres, and can travel for 10 hours, local media reported.
Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:0e5c15d1-e0c8-4259-9fc4-8637888b4f02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boingboing.net/2012/05/09/gentleman-builds-his-own-mini.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958737 | 201 | 1.664063 | 2 |
On Nov. 10, 1954, the 179th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, a bronze monument modeled after the famous photo of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, was unveiled at the Arlington National Cemetery. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial to all Marines who had died to keep their country free.
Since September 1956, marching and musical units from Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., have been paying tribute to those whose “Uncommon valor was a common virtue” by presenting Sunset Parades in the shadow of the 32-foot high figures of the United States Marine Corps War Memorial. – “History of the Sunset Parade“
The USO was proud to have our President and CEO Sloan Gibson honored at this week’s Sunset Parade. The parade is comprised of a one hour program that incorporates a precision drill by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon and a music by “The Commandant’s Own”, The United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps.
The Sunset Parade takes place every Tuesday during the summer at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington. Click here for specific dates and times. The parade is free and open to the public at no charge and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for viewing. We hope to see you there soon! | <urn:uuid:4222f9e6-5406-4240-a068-8975d3394651> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.uso.org/2010/08/05/sloan-gibson-guest-of-honor-at-the-sunset-parade/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=744caefc44 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942831 | 281 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Oklahoma City (September 22) – Fire fighters and insurers announced today they are launching Ready, Set, Go! Oklahoma, an initiative to provide Oklahomans living in wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas with information about how to best prepare themselves, their families and property against the threat of wildfire. Gov. Mary Fallin has declared this week Wildfire Preparedness Week in Oklahoma, which is why the groups chose today to make the announcement at the Capitol.
“As drought conditions persist in Oklahoma, we are getting daily calls about wildfire-related emergencies,” said JoAnne Sellars, Assistant State Fire Marshal.
“Thousands of acres and hundreds of homes have been damaged and destroyed statewide this summer, and at least five deaths are linked to the wildland fires that have broken out across the state, stretching firefighting resources thin and forcing residents to leave their homes,” said Chief Mark Goeller, Fire Management Chief, Oklahoma Forestry Services.
Federal forecasters have issued warnings that the drought in Oklahoma will extend for several more months. Drought Monitor puts 66.84 percent of the state in the “exceptional” drought category. During this summer, many areas in the state experienced 60 days of temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and it was the hottest July on record.
“All of this means that the majority of the state is extremely dry, which substantially increases the risk of wildfire,” said Chief James Fullingim, Fire Chief of Norman, Oklahoma, and 1st Vice President of the Southwestern Division, International Assoc. of Fire Chiefs.
“Millions of dollars in insured losses have been reported already, and we can expect more as the drought conditions continue to plague our state and spark wildfires,” according to Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak.
“It is very important for home and business owners to be certain the amount of insurance they have is sufficient to cover a major loss. Homeowners should make sure they have enough insurance coverage to rebuild their homes in the current construction market,” Doak explained.
“We are very pleased to have brought together firefighters and insurers to launch Ready, Set, Go! Oklahoma. Together we can ensure that Oklahomans living in high risk wildfire areas are both physically and financially prepared to face what is one of the scariest natural hazards,” said Julie Rochman, president and CEO, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.
Ready, Set, Go! is based on three actions:
READY - Prepare your home and family for the fire threat – follow instructions from local firefighters on how to prepare your home, and have a disaster plan in place for your family and business.
SET - Situational Awareness – Pay attention to local reports of wildfires in your area and be prepared to leave.
GO - Leave early! This gives you and your family the best chance of surviving and helps firefighters by keeping roads clear.
“Our fire departments take every precaution to help protect our citizens and their property from wildfire. However, the reality is that during a major wildfire, there simply will not be enough fire engines or firefighters to defend every home,” said Lucien Deaton, International Association of Fire Chiefs.
“We believe that many homes threatened by wildfire can be saved if owners follow a few simple fire-safe practices. Ready, Set, Go! Oklahoma will utilize local fire departments to tell people specifically what they need to do to make their homes more resistant to wildfire,” said Chief Fullingim.
“Successfully preparing for a wildfire requires individuals to take personal responsibility for protecting their homes and businesses. Through advance planning and preparation, we can all be ready for wildfire,” said Chief Goeller.
Ready, Set, Go! Oklahoma is an initiative of the American Insurance Association, Farmers Insurance, the Trusted Choice Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America and the Southwestern Insurance Information Institute.
Media Relations Manager, IBHS
(813) 442-2845 (c); (813) 675-1045 (o) | <urn:uuid:d4ed8bfe-9f7a-4921-93ef-852513d16117> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farmers.com/9_22_11_OK_Wildfire_safety.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942805 | 866 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Cantaloupes distributed in Colorado could be tainted
DENVER — A California company is voluntarily recalling cantaloupes in several states, including Colorado, because of possible salmonella contamination.
Fresno-based DFI Marketing Inc. issued the recall as a precaution after salmonella was found on a single sample of cantaloupe during routine testing. The company did not respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press on Sunday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says about 28,000 cartons of bulk-packed product are possibly contaminated. They were packed Aug. 26 and may have been distributed from Aug. 27 to Sept. 10 to almost two dozen states and Mexico.
No illnesses have been reported.
Last year, 33 deaths were associated with a listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Colorado. | <urn:uuid:3d88d7f6-e77e-4d37-821d-cc9620a8a4c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gjsentinel.com/breaking/articles/cantaloupes-distributed-in-colorado-could-be-tainted | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96426 | 179 | 1.796875 | 2 |
. . .
John Kerry's nomination as secretary of state or John Brennan's nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. There may have been a time when those nominations were supposed to be controversial, but compared to the choice of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, both look like cinches to sail through the confirmation process.
» The latest on traffic, delays and road construction delivered to your mobile phone. Click to sign up to receive text alerts!
. . .
Mr. Hagel's qualifications to head the Defense Department begin with his war record, for he served bravely and honorably in Vietnam, being wounded twice in action. But that may also be where his qualifications end. Can anyone recall a single piece of legislation, a notable law, or any other signal accomplishment of his all the time he served as a senator? Has he ever run an enterprise, let alone one as vast as the Department of Defense? If so, some of us would sure like to know.
And talk about a about a sunshine soldier: Having voted to go to war in Iraq, Sen. Hagel chose the lowest point of American fortunes there to announce that now was the time not to reinforce our troops but to withdraw them.
. . .
Even before he was sworn in as the newest congressman from Arkansas, Tom Cotton was asking the kind of questions Chuck Hagel's record invites. A combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, Captain and now Congressman Cotton knew Chuck Hagel's name. And so did the men who served under him in Iraq. They had good reason to, or rather bad reasons.
To quote Tom Cotton's op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal when Chuck Hagel's name was first floated as the next secretary of defense:
"Our fighting men and women deserve a leader who will not only honor their service, but also advocate for them and honor their accomplishments. Regrettably, the former senator's dismal record on Iraq suggests that he will do none of those things -- for he abandoned the very troops he once voted to send to war. I would know, because I was one of them.
"Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2006, two years before his retirement as the Republican senator from Nebraska, Mr. Hagel penned a column for the Washington Post entitled 'Leaving Iraq, Honorably.' He asserted that 'there will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq,' and 'the time for more U.S. troops in Iraq has passed.' Rather, Mr. Hagel argued, we 'must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal.' Imagine my surprise at the senator's assertions, having just returned that week from combat in Baghdad as an infantry platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division. My soldiers had fought bravely to stabilize that city, protect innocent civilians and defeat al-Qaida. Those soldiers were proud of their accomplishments. No one had told us during our time in Baghdad that we would achieve 'no victory.' Readers might have shared my surprise at Mr. Hagel's words if he had mentioned his earlier vote supporting the war."
. . .
Maybe there's some explanation for Chuck Hagel's turnaround at the darkest hour for American forces in Iraq. He certainly should be allowed to offer one during his confirmation hearings. If he can.
Even when the Surge he had opposed proved a dramatic success, Mr. Hagel refused to admit it. The remarkable progress there, he explained, wasn't because of the Surge but other factors, as if he begrudged our troops their victory.
. . .
Chuck Hagel didn't fool a young captain named Tom Cotton for a minute. To quote his comment: "Even after the Surge had succeeded, Mr. Hagel could not bring himself to celebrate our military's accomplishment. In late 2008, with casualties down by 85 percent, Mr. Hagel still questioned the Surge's success. He credited the Anbar Awakening of Sunni tribal leaders against al-Qaida (as if the Surge didn't encourage them), Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's stand-down (as if the Surge didn't scare him) and improved intelligence systems (as if the Surge didn't introduce them)."
. . .
It's one thing to have made a misjudgment at a crucial moment, another to be unable to admit it. Other senators who opposed the Surge -- like Barack Obama, who would become commander-in-chief of all American armed forces -- would come to recognize the success of the Surge in Iraq in the most sincere way: by adopting much the same strategy in Afghanistan. But not Chuck Hagel. Why? Maybe he can address that question, too, during his confirmation hearings.
And not just that question. Even more impressive, and depressing, was the senator's vote against designating the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's terrorist spearhead, a terrorist organization. That was in 2007, when the Guards were still flooding Iraq with the IEDs used to kill American GIs. Some of us would like to hear him explain that vote, too. | <urn:uuid:b5779705-ac70-46b2-a96f-16f4838a71ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/sns-201301141330--tms--pgreenbgtp--u-a20130114-20130114,0,508602.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979856 | 1,030 | 1.539063 | 2 |
2015 20th Street
Fort Meade, MD 20755
Sarah's House is a supportive housing program, offering emergency and transitional housing for homeless families in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
We provide safe shelter, daily meals, and personal, as well as professional, casework support for those in need. As a supportive housing program for homeless families, Sarah’s House is much more than just a safe place to sleep. Our goal is to effect positive change in the families we serve by providing the following:
- emergency housing for up to 90 days
- transitional housing for 18 to 24 months
- casework assistance for 12 months
- parenting classes
- GED classes
- computer classes and workshops
- employment programs
- licensed child care center
- variety of counseling services
- transportation to and from work and doctor appointments
- three meals each day
Who we serve
To be a guest at Sarah’s House, you must be referred by Anne Arundel County DSS, and all guests must be from Anne Arundel County.
We have received so much used clothing, we are unable to store any more! Please share your gently used clothing with another charity until January. We have completely run out of storage space at Sarah's House. We always need donations. If you prefer to make in-kind donations, please visit our wish list to see what we need most now. Thanks again for thinking of Sarah's House.
Sarah's House is one of three shelters in the United States supported by the U.S. Army.
Computer classes and workshops are funded by Anne Arundel Community College and United Way
"Everything that I have been able to do - get my kids in daycare, find a full-time job, learn how to budget my money - is thanks to Sarah's House,"said Lauren Volker, a former Sarah's House resident. "The volunteers and staff have been wonderful, and have been such a help to me and my family. This program teaches you a lot and gives you the tools to be independent. I am determined to make it on my own, and thanks to Sarah's House I am more determined than ever." | <urn:uuid:fcf1935c-35f8-41f8-adf6-97c5a45774ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cc-md.org/sarahs-house/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963659 | 452 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Mes·mer (mĕz'mer), Franz or Friedrich Anton 1734–1815. Austrian physician who sought to treat disease through animal magnetism, an early therapeutic application of hypnotism.
mes·mer·ize (mĕz'me-rīz') tr.v. –ized, -iz·ing, iz·es 1. To spellbind; enthrall: "he could mesmerize an audience by the sheer force of his presence" (Justin Kaplan). 2. To hypnotize.
Wil·ker (wĭl'ker), Josh. Born 1968. American proofreader who rode public transportation a lot.
wil·ker·ize (wĭl'ke-rīz') tr.v. –ized, -iz·ing, iz·es 1. To mar or erode the value of, paradoxically as a result of both neglect and an overly needy sense of attachment: "I have tons of wilkerized [baseball] cards" (Anonymous). 2. To damage by way of ineptitude or overly crude handling: "Too much cursing. The posting was wilkerized" (Earl Fibril). 3. To squander: "But, alas, I had spent the entire evening smoking marijuana resin through a punctured Sprite can and watching old episodes of Kung Fu. My chances of graduating had been wilkerized." (Butch Pixis III)
Of the four definitions listed above, only two of them are actually to be found in either of my two dictionaries, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. OK, yes, wilkerize has not yet found its way into the official records of language, which I suppose should not be surprising since I only began to push for its wider usage three days ago in this extremely obscure forum while ruminating on the greatness of Harmon Killebrew.
A more surprising exclusion from my two fairly recent dictionaries (both published since the year 2000) is the term Tommy John surgery, which in both tomes should be but isn’t tucked in between tommy gun (or Tommy gun) ("a Thompson submachine gun") and tommyrot ("utter foolishness").
By comparison, Lou Gehrig’s disease is listed in both books, leading me to believe that, even though Gary Cooper, or even Gary Coleman, never starred in a movie about Tommy John, Tommy John surgery has a chance to someday make it into the dictionaries. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the term Tommy John surgery is currently used more often than the term Lou Gehrig’s disease. I don’t know how these things are decided, but maybe there’s a word counter somewhere, a guy with a big blackboard who makes a mark each time a nondictionaried word (such as "nondictionaried") is used, then when the predetermined limit is reached he rings a bell or sends a message via suctioned pneumatic tube to some more influential cog in the high-stakes dictionary racket and the higher-up in turn adds the word to the canon.
It won’t be long for this to happen to the term Tommy John surgery, I think. The annual late-February, early-March spike in the usage of the term has become a herald that winter is on its last legs: every year at this time, news reports on the recovery of hurlers who have recently undergone Tommy John surgery abound. What baseball fan doesn't enjoy such stories? It’s always a pleasant read, because it’s always about guys you sort of forgot about who are coming back. You may have even assumed they were through, but here they are again, possibly even stronger than ever, thanks to good old Tommy John surgery.
Anyway, the inclusion of the term in the dictionaries will of course immortalize the man it is named after, Tommy John, pictured here in 1978 at the very crest of what was at the time a miraculous comeback from arm trouble. In 1974 he had been the first athlete to get the now famous surgery, and he had then sat out the 1975 season with the odds of his ever pitching again placed at a hundred to one by his surgeon, Dr. Frank Jobe. In his early thirties during his recovery, not a young man in terms of athletic life, Tommy John must have had thoughts throughout the long exile that he might never come back. But come back he did, compiling a decent 10-10 record in his first year with a reconstructed arm (at the time, due to the popularity of the Six Million Dollar Man television show, Tommy John’s repaired appendage was often referred to as being "bionic"), then in 1977 helped lead the Dodgers to a pennant with a 20-7 record that would have been a shining accomplishment for anyone and was downright astounding for a man who had just a couple years earlier been basically marked for athletic death.
More amazing still, Tommy John went on to play for a total of 26 seasons in the major leagues, racking up even more post-surgery than pre-surgery victories. He hasn’t yet made it into the Hall of Fame (in the most recent voting he was named on 22.9% of the ballots, far short of the required 75%), but even if he never does his name will certainly live on after him. As befitting a man who had his most, well, mesmerizing moments in sunny, optimistic Dodger blue, Tommy John will soon enough become enshrined in our lexicon as part of a term that has come to signify a kind of all-American nexus of can-do medical acumen, athletic prowess, and never-quit regenerative spirit. Here in America we can do it! We can fix what is broken! We can come up with a solution! We can return from the disabled list! We can heal the sick! We can feed the hungry! We can maybe even purify and renew the seemingly hopelessly wilkerized! | <urn:uuid:56931005-e07d-4b65-99ef-2c2317b7aef4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cardboardgods.blogspot.com/2007/02/tommy-john.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965951 | 1,272 | 1.742188 | 2 |
TORONTO - This month's income tax deadline day can not only be stressful for those who have left filing their return to the last minute, but it can also be deadly.
A 30-year study of traffic accidents in the United States has found that the country's mid-April tax deadline day is associated with an elevated risk of fatal crashes.
Using data for fatal vehicle crashes for every April 15 over the last three decades, the study found that Americans have a six per cent increased risk of dying on tax day — and a similar risk likely occurs on Canada's tax deadline day, April 30, researchers say.
"We find about the same increase in risk both during the morning hours, the afternoon hours and the evening hours," said lead researcher Dr. Donald Redelmeier, an internal medicine specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
"So it's not all confined to the 11th hour, right before the stroke of midnight. But it prevails for the full day."
That differs from Super Bowl Sunday — another event Redelmeier has studied.
His 2003 analysis of traffic deaths on the day of the hugely popular televised National Football League showdown found a 41 per cent increased risk in the average number of road fatalities over a 27-year period.
But Super Bowl Sunday traffic deaths occurred primarily within three hours following the game's completion — not throughout 24 hours, as is the case for tax-filing day.
Redelmeier, who is often called on to treat victims of vehicle crashes at Sunnybrook's regional trauma centre, said the increased risk on U.S. tax day translates into about 13 deaths per year.
"None of these people had to die ... Road trauma destroys the lives of thousands of people in the United States each year," as it does in Canada, he said.
"And driver error contributes to about 93 per cent of such events."
The study, published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, used tax day road fatalities as a marker for what high stress can do to driver behaviour on any day of the year, anywhere in the world.
"Stress is often speculated as a contributing factor in driver error, and yet stress is almost impossible to study in a scientific manner," Redelmeier said. "Here, we were trying to pull out one particular form of stress."
He said the largest jumps in risk for fatal crashes on tax deadline day occurred during the last two decades, despite the advent of electronic tax filing during that period.
"So that we don't think that what's going on here is increased amounts of driving ... like the proverbial rushing to the post office at the stroke before midnight. We don't think that that's the largest factor here."
Ironically, he said, electronic filing may encourage more people to leave tax-return preparation to the last minute.
The study, which also looked at traffic death data for seven days before and seven days after tax day over 30 years, also found that bad weather, such as snow or rain storms, does not appear to be a factor.
"We looked at different regions, and the increase in risk was about same, in northern versus southern states, west versus east, urban versus rural," Redelmeier said.
Researchers aren't clear on what factors are behind the bump-up in the chance of dying in a road accident on the final day for filing taxes.
While one explanation is that stressful deadlines can lead to driver distraction and human error, sleep deprivation and drinking alcohol could also play a role.
And although the study data only allowed researchers to nail down the six per cent increased risk for fatalities, Redelmeier believes a similar level of risk applies to the spectrum of outcomes that can arise from collisions on roadways — from brain and spinal cord injuries to other kinds of physical trauma and property damage.
Intriguingly, only about 20 per cent of Americans leave their tax filing to the deadline, yet there is still a significantly elevated risk of dying on that day.
"What that means is even if you as an individual have filed early, it doesn't mean you're immunized against the situation, because you live in a community of all sorts of other drivers out there," he said, noting that non-drivers aren't immune either.
"The increase in risk on tax day included the passengers and pedestrians, which is a common theme of all of road trauma — bad driving imposes risks on other people."
The study was not able to look at traffic deaths in Canada on April 30 because of a lack of good data, but he said high stress leads to distracted drivers in this country as well.
"And that stressful tax deadline, like we've got in Canada on April 30, might also contribute to short-term human error and result in fatal road trauma."
Redelmeier said no matter how much stress is being experienced, it's critical that drivers remember to wear their seatbelts, obey the speed limit, restrict alcohol consumption and minimize distractions while behind the wheel.
"Almost every one of these fatal crashes could have been entirely avoided by a small change in driver behaviour. Basic safety practices should not be forgotten at times of stress." | <urn:uuid:482bcca3-0aa5-49de-89bb-a5e3495e0549> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/10/car-crashes-income-tax_n_1415941.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97097 | 1,060 | 1.757813 | 2 |
LEAGUE CITY, Texas -- Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease because there is no cure, but a man found out his diagnosis was wrong. What happened to him could happen to you.
Ron and Doris Shillcutt, a couple married for 50 years, said it all happened very fast. Ron Shillcutt’s memory and ability to walk was gone in just four months.
“The first thing that entered our mind was Alzheimer’s,” she said. “By January it was dreadful, he was hardly able to walk at all.”
Neurologist Dong Kim at Memorial Hermann and the University of Texas Medical School helped solve the Shillcutt’s problem.
It was NPH or Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, which creates excess fluid building up in his brain. Symptoms can mimic Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
The solution is a shunt, basically a long straw, under his skin that drains the fluid into his abdomen.
“Getting the shunt was sort of a miracle for us,” Ron Shillcutt said.
His memory and his ability to walk came back in a matter of days.
“I feel very, very good. I can still feel it,” he said. “It’s a miracle.”
Doctors don’t know why the fluid buildup happens. Only that it’s more common in the elderly. Ron is 74. The issue can be detected with the help of an MRI, something Alzheimer’s patients don’t always receive.
“Because it’s a treatable condition I’m particularly interested in as many of our citizens getting the right diagnosis as possible,” Kim said.
And now Shillcutt can hang his walker back in his garage. He doesn’t need it anymore.
“Well I don’t know what else to say except miracle. Putting something in your head that drains fluid and then your symptoms just virtually disappear,” his wife said.
They said it is a story they wanted to share so that maybe someone else can get the same miracle.
More information visit www.LifeNPH.com | <urn:uuid:9bda2d02-4f3a-4511-bbf3-fc32bb2d55f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kvue.com/news/health/181477071.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97741 | 473 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Read the original article in the Chicago Tribune here.
I have seen the polling booth of the future. And it is a table at a nice restaurant with a glass of pinot grigio.
At least it was for my mother and me. We filled out our ballots over dinner last week, then sealed them in envelopes that I later mailed, combining an evening out with a new kind of voting opportunity.
This is the first presidential election in Illinois in which anyone could vote by absentee ballot — for any reason or none at all. All you had to do was ask to be mailed a ballot.
And since I was going to ask on behalf of my not-too-mobile mother, I figured I might as well go for convenience myself.
So did a lot of other people. In suburban Cook County, there were 46,000 requests for mail ballots in this election, up nearly 160 percent compared with 2008, said Cook County Clerk David Orr. As of Sunday, the clerk's office had received 42 percent more mail ballots than at the same point in 2008.
"We think mail [voting] will dramatically grow over a period of time," Orr said.
There was a smaller increase in the city — 15 percent more voters requested absentee ballots this year than in 2008. But even before Election Day, a higher percentage absentee ballots had been sent back than in 2008.
Still, "the vast majority of our voters will tell you they are traditionalists," said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. "They like going to vote on Election Day."
Me, too. Still, this year I went for convenience.
And I got it, along with a Caesar salad topped with grilled chicken.
But come tomorrow, Election Day will feel a little flatter, a little less special, a little less — electoral.
I've always loved the civic ritual of voting. My neighbors and I walked through the crisp autumn air to the nearby school, chatted as we waited our turn, then stepped up to the booth and did our part for democracy.
I liked knowing that people across the country were doing the same thing on the same day. It felt like a communal rite, one that transcended the bitterest campaign and most serious differences and united us as voters.
Popping an envelope into the mail just wasn't the same.
Voting by mail is increasingly common. More states are offering "no-excuse" absentee voting, reports the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. In Oregon and Washington, registered voters are automatically sent ballots and elections are conducted almost entirely by mail.
Do voters there miss voting in person? Judging by my cousins Shainie and Michael Schuffler, Chicago natives who have lived in Seattle for decades, not a bit.
"I love voting at home," emailed Michael when I asked. "I get all the info I've collected in front of me, including ... op-ed and relevant news pieces, and then make my decisions."
"I like sitting down with my booklet and newspaper articles making my final decisions without feeling rushed," wrote Shainie. "There is never an excuse for not voting when you have the ballot at home and can send it in up to 2 weeks early or the last minute."
Experts' verdicts are mixed. Voting by mail does not necessarily increase voter turnout in a presidential election, said Robert Pastor, co-director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University, and is more vulnerable to fraud or error. However, he said most people like it for the convenience.
Absentee ballots have been rejected when voters made a mistake like putting two ballots in one envelope, said Michael P. McDonald, associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University. In the 2008 election, according to the election assistance commission, states rejected more than 400,000 absentee ballots for various reasons — 1.7 percent of those they had received.
"We need to think how to better manage the flow of mail ballots to prevent that kind of loss," he said. But voters like the mail option — and this year "a lot of people in New Jersey are going to be able to vote who wouldn't otherwise."
In Chicago, the election board prefers that people vote in person, Allen said, so a voter who makes a mistake marking a ballot to can ask for a replacement.
"If you're in a polling place and you spoil it, the judge hands you a new one. If you're at home, what do you do?" he said.
In Oregon, Phil Keisling sings vote-by-mail's praises.
Director of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University's Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, Keisling spearheaded vote-by-mail in Oregon when he was secretary of state.
Voting by mail lets voters cast better-informed votes, he said; it has kept turnout high at a time when the state's changing demographics would otherwise have lowered it; and "fraud is a complete nonissue."
But my concern about losing a cherished ritual?
That Keisling understands.
"I call it the Crunch of Autumn Leaves argument," he said. "It resonated with me. In 1989, I was in the Legislature and voted against vote by mail for that very reason."
He changed his mind. "The reality is, 'It's late, I'm working, it's dark, the lines are long, my kid is sick, the baby sitter didn't show up,' " he said.
Going to a polling place to vote on a weekday is inconvenient. But in a way, that's a part of Election Day I like. You have to rearrange your schedule, make time, get to work late or leave early — to do things you would only do for something very important.
Tradition or convenience? The local school or your kitchen table? Public ritual or private process?
That vote, too, is now yours. | <urn:uuid:4058c5db-093c-4d76-adce-2dee634e005f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pdx.edu/healthycampus/news/chicago-tribune-absentee-ballots-handy-votings-thrill-feels-absent-too | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973774 | 1,232 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Global Warming Causes Less Snow, Except When It Causes More Snow : Political Outcast
Changing the temperature of an entire planet was a great cause to get low-information voters behind. Who doesn’t complain when it’s a hundred degrees outside and the humidity makes you want to cry? Thus global warming became the cause du jour, something of which the politicians could remind everybody every single summer, when people are really feeling the heat. Autumn comes, then winter and spring, and global warming is forgotten about. But the advent of summer always brings with it sirens being sounded by politicians. “Man, d’ya feel that heat? Can you feel it suckin’ the water right outa ya? Sheesh, that global warming is really somethin’! Say, if you slide me over a bit a’ your money, I can make that go away for ya.”Parody or Does She Believe It? CNN Anchor Blames Asteroid on Global Warming | NewsBusters
CNN anchor Deb Feyerick asked Saturday afternoon if an approaching asteroid, which will pass by Earth on February 15, “is an example of, perhaps, global warming?”Cap-and-trade is still alive in New England. Is it working?
Moments earlier, before an ad break, she segued from the Northeast blizzard to a segment with Bill Nye “the science guy,” by pointing to global warming: “Every time we see a storm like this lately, the first question to pop into a lot of people’s minds is whether or not global warming is to blame? I’ll talk to Bill Nye, ‘the science guy,’ about devastating storms and climate change.”
Ultimately, RGGI might best be thought of less as a solution to climate change and more of a revenue-raiser for the Northeast.McGowan flip-flops on carbon tax: Barnett
Mr McGowan finally revealed on Saturday that he did not support the tax. | <urn:uuid:9063b80d-93ef-43fa-afd8-8007efa55ab6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2013/02/global-warming-causes-less-snow-except.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931135 | 424 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed that the next version of Office, code-named Office 14, will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
The 64-bit version is a first for both Office and for Microsoft’s mainstream desktop applications, though a number of its server products, such as SQL Server, are already available in 64-bit versions.
Office 14, which is expected to be called Office 2010, is slated to ship next year. Among its other notable features is the fact that Microsoft will offer browser-based versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote, in addition to the traditional Windows-based desktop programs.
By extending the browser support to Firefox and Safari, in addition to Internet Explorer, Microsoft has said it will have the effect of also bringing Office to the iPhone and to Linux-based computers for the first time. | <urn:uuid:b16d31f3-56ad-4ad5-b65f-5ab1d981d57d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviransplace.com/2009/04/15/next-office-will-come-in-32-bit-64-bit-versions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956313 | 175 | 1.5625 | 2 |
After her death, the Friends of Peace Pilgrim, a non-profit, all-volunteer group composed of people directly touched by her life was set up in California in 1981. Ann and John Rush, who gave their home for this purpose, have devoted their retirement to this service, in the spirit of Peace Pilgrim. The Friends' purpose is to publish and disseminate the words and work of Peace Pilgrim. They also serve as a repository and distribution site for her teachings. They write, compile and send out a newsletter that serves as an information source describing on-going Peace Pilgrim work, related activities and influences.
Peace Pilgrim Book Soon after Peace Pilgrim's death, five friends of Peace Pilgrim got together and compiled a 224-page book, Peace Pilgrim, Her Life and Work in her Own Words, first printed in 1983. This book pulled together the major teachings and talks of Peace Pilgrim in one place. It has been reprinted many times, with 500,000 copies in 11 languages in circulation-all without marketing or funding. Contributions from supporters have been sufficient to keep it in circulation. It is now distributed commercially by Ocean Tree Books, Santa Fe, NM.
Spirit of Peace, 1st Documentary The Friends created a documentary film, Peace Pilgrim: The Spirit of Peace, in 1997, and several other shorter video clips of her speeches recorded live as she preached and spoke. Spirit of Peace is a 71-minute video that captures the life and teachings of Peace Pilgrim, and provides a sense of the impact her life had on those who knew her. It has been widely distributed and served as a forerunner for the 2nd video film.
An American Sage, 2nd Documentary The Friends also produced a TV-quality, 60-minute documentary in 2000, entitled Peace Pilgrim: An American Sage Who Walked Her Talk. This film contains extraordinary television footage from Peace Pilgrim's early pilgrimages in the 1950's and early 1960's as well as testimony from well-known religious leaders, spiritual teachers, academics, cultural figures, writers, poets and everyday people who had either known Peace Pilgrim or were deeply affected by her life and teachings.
Peace Pilgrim Movie A full length, professional feature film portrayal of the life of Peace Pilgrim is currently under development. A script has been produced, industry supporters are working to make the necessary connections, and it is expected to be under production in the near future. The goal is for the Peace Pilgrim's life to go beyond entertainment and serve to inspire a global renaissance of the eternal principles of peace, as taught and lived by Peace Pilgrim.
Web Site In 1995, a web site, www.peacepilgrim.org, was created, bringing together many important aspects of Peace Pilgrim's life and achievements. It was originally set up by volunteers and is regularly updated by a volunteer webmaster, Bruce Nichols.
Steps Toward Inner Peace Pamphlet The Friends continue to reprint the Peace Pilgrim's Steps Toward Inner Peace pamphlet. Today, over 1.5 million copies of Steps are now in print in English. It has been translated into 25 languages including Russian, in which over 30,000 copies have been printed and distributed, and a Peace Pilgrim Center in Moscow has been established. Reports come to the Friends Center that the Steps pamphlet keeps "showing up" in distant places - African villages, in the shadow of the Pyramids, in the jungles of Thailand, at a Bedouin inn, in the ancient ruins of Central America, in an Ashramic Library in the Himalayas, and in China.
Steps Prison Project For years, the Steps pamphlet has been an important source of inspiration to this nation's prison population. The Human Kindness Foundation now sends a copy of Steps to all new prisoners who contact the organization. On average, they send out 15,000 copies a year. In addition, prisoners have initiated "inner peace" projects and study groups within state prisons, using the Steps pamphlet. It is reported that there is a near 100% non-recidivism rate for all prisoners who have participated in a program, or come in contact with the Steps pamphlet.
Legal Mediation Project Because of contact with the Peace Pilgrim's message, lawyers who wished to find an alternative to the combative, adversarial legal system started mediation projects such as the one in Dallas, TX. Through the local Bar Association, the Dallas Mediation Project trained 1000 attorneys as mediators for settling civil disputes. They have been using Peace Pil- grim's principles since 1987, trying to find creative solutions and win-win-scenarios for their clients. They say the difference between mediation and litigation is that in litigation, the dispute is resolved by somebody "dying", whereas in mediation, dispute is resolved by everybody finding a solution that they can all live with. The project uses the Peace Pilgrim's "golden rule of resolution" as its primary teaching principle: Have it be your purpose to resolve the dispute rather than to gain an advantage. In their first six months, with 1000 cases in Dallas County referred for mediation, approximately 80% of them settled voluntarily.
Peace Pilgrim Statue, Costa Rica On November 19, 2000, a life-size bronze statue of Peace Pilgrim, created by sculptor Fernando Calvo, was dedicated at the United Nations University of Peace in Colon, Costa Rica. It was placed near that of Gandhi and other world peacemakers such as Tolstoy and King on the grounds of the University. Rodrigo Carazo, former President of Costa Rica, gave the keynote address at the dedication ceremony. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United Nations and chancellor emeritus of the UN University for Peace, originated the idea of the statues a few years ago. He wanted to honor individuals who "dedicated their life's work to world peace." Costa Rica is the first and only country to unilaterally abolish its army, which occurred 50 years ago. The University of Peace, founded in 1980, is the world's only United Nations-sanctioned learning center dedicated to peace studies.
Peace Pilgrim Statue, Egg Harbor, NJ Another statue of Peace Pilgrim has also been created - in ceramic - by New Jersey artist Sally McInermey. It is destined to be placed in her hometown of Egg Harbor City, NJ, sometime in the near future.
Awards: She was posthumously awarded the Sherborn, Massachusetts-based Peace Abby's "Courage of Conscience" Award in 1992. Described as "the wandering mendicant and peace activist," she was awarded the honor "for her unprecedented 28 year trip across America, in which she walked over 25,000 miles, talking to everyone she met about peaceful living.
Nominations In the spring of 1981, Peace Pilgrim was recommended for nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. (However, the Prize cannot be awarded posthumously.) In 2003, she was nominated for the National Women's Hall of Fame. She has also been entered in the Encyclopedia of Notable American Women, Vol. V, published by Harvard University Press, 2003.
In July 2000, the Dalai Lama tried to sum up the impact of her life, for the documentary film, Peace Pilgrim: An American Sage. He said, while holding a copy of her book:
Her motivation and activities are effective methods. Her commitment to propagate peace through actions, the peace walk, without seeking money or fame, is wonderful. We need such determined people everywhere, irrespective of culture, race, religion. It doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters. Peace Pilgrim is a real peacemaker. | <urn:uuid:6a9466bf-816a-4ed8-ae98-1b17793f1e3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voiceseducation.org/category/tag/legacy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963331 | 1,536 | 1.757813 | 2 |
RECENTLY ON TOL:
- A tumblr site dedicated to the people and places that make up Oregon and Southwest Washington.
- Send me an email if there is activity in this thread.
The Series in Sixty Seconds
This week, OPB News and Think Out Loud focused on creating jobs in our "Getting Back to Work" series. On TOL we looked at how work shapes our identity, at creating jobs through entrepreneurship, and at retraining as a way into the job markets of the future.
Click here for the post with clips on work and identity.
Listen here (mp3) to Michael Dimond describe why he went into business for himself. Dimond teaches entrepreneurship at Portland State University and describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur." He's owned more than a dozen businesses over the years, a path he followed after a major lightbulb went off in his head.
And here (mp3), Mike McLeren talks about going back to school after being laid off from Freightliner. He's retraining to work in water treatment. The opportunity for a free education did offer a bit of a silver lining around the layoff, but it's been harder than he'd hoped. | <urn:uuid:defc0270-08f0-48bc-b29b-78d889820df0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kmhd.fm/thinkoutloud/blog/series-sixty-seconds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958665 | 248 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Build your own iPhone app
With the Manchester Evening News launching its own iPhone app, other newspapers may be considering their own next move in attracting wider audiences.
A report by Business Week has highlighted how easy it now is to follow in the MEN's footsteps. For those who are tech-savvy, there are dozens of guides on how to create your own iPhone app on Youtube.
But what do you do if you're not so confident?
According to Business Week, there has been a new crop of services to help non-techies and those who may have concerns about quality, distribution and security of DIY methods, to create their very own iPhone app, no matter what business they're in.
Led by the likes of Swebapps.com and MyAppBuilder.com, they can help create the apps often in less time and for less money than it would for the company to develop the app from scratch.
Clients could create downloadable games, travel guides, quizzes, blog feeds and, as with the MEN, breaking news headlines, sometimes as simply as by plugging specs into online templates.
Business Week describes how the already expanding market for these apps is likely to grow at a faster pace. It states how the number of apps downloaded through the likes of the Apple App store and Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Marketplace for Mobile may surge to 18.7 billion in 2014, from about 491 million at the end of 2008, according to consultant Ovum. That may result in sales of nealry £3.5 billion in 2014, up from over £222 million last year, Ovum says. | <urn:uuid:155c68ab-7817-4153-9ee0-cb653cb8b125> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jpdigitaldigest.blogspot.com/2009/11/build-your-own-iphone-app.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958641 | 331 | 1.632813 | 2 |
If you don’t have life insurance, but have a family to support, you might need to get one very soon.
It could give the financial benefit to your loved ones that they would really need in case of your sudden death.
You can get really cheap life insurance coverage for as little as just $10/month.
Many are used to the idea of insuring themselves in the event of their death, but may not be aware that it is also possible to insure in the event of developing an illness or disability which affects their livelihood and that of their families.
Many sites offer online life insurance quotes, such as the one at this link.
Disability Insurance or Critical Illness Insurance
Unfortunately, statistics say that as many as 1 in 4 people will experience some form of critical illness before reaching retirement age. Read the full article… | <urn:uuid:22166703-02ef-489d-ae9a-d49bc7b7653b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.happy-healthy-successful.com/tag/life-insurance-cover/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981191 | 173 | 1.5 | 2 |
Countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait are filled with workers from all over South Asia. While working in "the Gulf" - as the area is commonly known in the Subcontinent - means much more money than they could possibly earn in a lifetime at home, many of these workers struggle with dire circumstances and poor wages. Let's just say that worrying about the welfare of foreign workers often takes a backseat to the interests of the big local and multinational companies. [See SAJAforum posts about coverage by "60 Minutes" | The New York Times.]
But, occasionally, workers take a stand, as when a Kuwaiti company stopped paying salaries to its Bangladeshi workers. From the Christian Science Monitor:
What began as an internal dispute involving one company over the non-payment of salaries, flared into a general strike by thousands of Asian cleaning workers calling for a complete overhaul of the industry, in which some of the poorest people in world pay as much as $3,500 to middlemen in Bangladesh to secure jobs in Kuwait. Upon arrival, however, the promised salary often shrinks by more than half, as a host of expenses for visa processing and health insurance are deducted from their salaries.
"In Bangladesh, they say they'll pay 50 Kuwaiti Dinars ($188), but the company only gives KD 20 a month ($75)," says Nazrul (not his real name), standing outside the dilapidated seven-story apartment complex in the south of Kuwait City where he and several thousand other Bangladeshi workers live.
More than 250 Bangladeshi workers have been deported from Kuwait following the violent demonstrations and strike by the South Asian workers demanding for better pay and work conditions, the CSM reports.
According to the BBC, people were manhandled as the Kuwaiti authorities deported them.
"People were screaming, and wailing, in pain but no-one was paying any attention to them," said Mahmud Kamal who was deported with 57 other workers and arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday.
"In the middle of all of the chaos, many were asking for some water... they tied up our hands and then dragged us into the trucks.
"We were kept inside for about half-an-hour and then they brought us out again. And then they left us there - standing - out in the open, tied up in pairs for the whole night.
"We didn't have any shoes - some of us were wearing just lunghis or a T-shirt. We couldn't even bring back anything to wear," he said.
This isn't the first case in the Gulf where South Asian workers have been fooled and exploited. Stories of Nepalis, Sri Lankans and Indians living miserable lives and even being killed flood the local media in the region. In many cases, brokers and manpower agencies involved in securing the jobs in the Gulf for the many lower income people betray them. Some are stranded and many forced to work so they can send some money home to pay their debts and feed their families.
Most South Asian countries do have labor agreements with the Gulf
countries, but not much attention goes to the workers' benefits, or their
working and living conditions. People will go to the Gulf to work, no
matter what. Many come back
with pocket full of money and stories to share, but some just become a
Post your comments below.
Earlier on SAJAforum: | <urn:uuid:beed2d6a-9e27-4a10-9119-ca2550ebb7b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sajaforum.org/2008/08/bangladesh-bad.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980497 | 700 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The Health of the New Philippine Justice System
The Medical History
The daily Supreme Court-novela has aired its last episode. The cast has made their mark. The trial may be over but there are still many issues that need to be addressed. And the wounds and pains are ready to be healed. But before the Filipinos fully move on, one must know where the resolutions are coming from. Here is a quick run down of how the Philippine Justice System became afflicted with so much illness. From hindsight, one can say that it all started with the questionable appointment of then-Associate Justice Renato Corona as the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Outgoing president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, appointed Corona after Reynato Puno retired. This decision was questioned by many including then-senator Benigno Aquino III. On December 12, 2011, Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives. This became an important milestone in the Philippine Government. Joseph Estrada may have had his term cut short but he was not actually impeached in any court of law. Renato C. Corona is the highest ranked government official to ever be impeached.
Accounts of Impeachment: First Half
But what did Renato Corona do to make the Congress impeach him? Here are the articles of impeachment.
The first point of argument was his track record that showed partiality in special cases involving the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. On the side, many said that his midnight appointment as Chief Justice was the former president’s measure to protect herself. Senator Franklin Drilon pointed out 19 cases in which Corona voted in favor of the Arroyos or any one connected to them. Corona’s defense was that his vote, though he is the Chief Justice, counts as one. And it will not sway influence to the decision of the Supreme Court.
The second point of contention was that of Corona’s failure to disclose his assets, liabilities and net worth. The disclosure of SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) is required of the high-ranking officials like the president, vice-president, members of the cabinet, the congress, officers of the armed forces and yes, even members of the Supreme Court. This article will prove to be his downfall.
The third article for impeachment falls under Corona’s betrayal of public trust in failing to meet and observe the stringent standards of the Constitution. There are three prime examples to the third article. The first puts his competence in question by swaying a decision in a labor case against Philippine Airlines. A mere letter from the counsel caused the change. The second example questions his credibility even further as he discussed with litigants cases pending before the Supreme Court decision. This is what happened with the Vizconde case. Corona allegedly met with Lauro Vizconde to discuss Senior Justice Antonio Carpio’s supposed lobbying of Webb’s acquittal. The said meeting took place even before the Supreme Court arrived at a decision. This is not acceptable in the court of law. The last example on this article is the appointment of Corona’s wife in Camp John Hay. According to law, a member of the Supreme Court, more so the Chief Justice’s spouse cannot hold office in the government. This runs in the basic principle of government officials should have no shared interest or whatsoever.
Accounts of Impeachment: Second Half
The prosecution made sure that there are many counts in which they can pin Corona down. Some of the cases are strong and some are a stretch. Here are the other articles of the Corona Impeachment.
Corona betrayed public trust when he allegedly disregarded the principle of separation of powers by issuing a status quo ante order against the House of Representatives regarding the impeachment case of Ombudsman Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez. The impeachment also accuses Corona of violating the constitution through partiality in disregarding the principle of res judicata and favoring the gerrymandering in the cases of the 16-new cities and the promotion of Dinagat island into a province.
The sixth article of the impeachment dealt with Corona’s decision to arrogate unto himself, and to a committee he created, the authority and jurisdiction to investigate an alleged erring member of the Supreme Court. Article seven was about Corona’s allegedly showing partiality in giving a Temporary Restraining Order to favor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo. The TRO has been seen as a way to give the couple a chance to escape prosecution.
The last article of impeachment dealt with Corona’s alleged act of graft and corruption when he failed and refused to account for the Judiciary Development Fund and Special Allowance for the Judiciary. The prosecution team chose many articles to accuse Corona. Some found it even wanting to the point that it seemed a waste of time to carry on with the impeachment.
The Article That Mattered Most
Corona faced a prosecution team that was intent on impeaching and proving that he is guilty. Though their approach might not be approved by many, their intention was very much there.
In the end, Corona was found guilty on the account of failing to declare his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. The former Chief Justice failed to disclose $2.4 million. This was the finding on the second article of impeachment against Corona.
On May 29, 2012, twenty of the twenty-three senators voted GUILTY against Corona. This was marked as the day that the first high-ranking Philippine official has been impeached and actually declared guilty. Corona had his say. He believed that it was not required of him to disclose the $2.4 million since foreign currency deposits belonged to his relatives. He also insinuated that the entire exercise was politically motivated to fuel President Benigno Aquino III’s platform against corruption. Words have been said and the dust has yet to settle. No matter what view or side you take, there is one fact that stands true for all – the Philippine Justice System is tainted.
The Healing Process
Prosecution, defense, senator, balut vendor, congressman, jeepney driver, judge and teacher all came home with their Chief Justice found guilty on May 29, 2012. It may be a win for some but in one way or another each Filipino lost something on that day – trust. The integrity of the Philippine Justice System was shook to its core. In simpler terms, it is like a relationship where your partner betrays your trust by cheating on you. Every Filipino has at least a feeling that they were betrayed by the very institution that they firmly believed as the moral high ground or an impartial institution that brings equality to all. How can you now trust someone who has cheated on you?
The Philippine Justice System is clearly having health issues. It may not be as sick since the root of the pain has been removed, but it is now put in an unfamiliar territory. It is used to casting an eye on defendants and accusers. Impartially judging who speaks the truth and who does not. Day in and day out, they scrutinize and criticize facts to get to the bottom of every case. Day in and day out, they have their eyes on everyone to keep them in check. But on May 30 of 2012, the perspective has vastly shifted. It is now the Filipino citizens outside of the Justice System who have their eyes on the Supreme Court. And the tough thing is, the Filipinos are not casting an impartial eye at the remaining members. It is ideal for everyone to be impartial but it is hard to be fair when you feel cheated. Day in and day out, Filipinos will scrutinize and criticize facts and actions of the Supreme Court. Day in and day out, Filipinos will have their eyes on the judges, the government and the next Chief Justice.
Calling All Citizens
This is indeed a bold new day in Philippine history. You may or may not like it, but you are a part of the healing process. Your morale may be low but you have to lift your head up and believe that there is a silver lining amidst all the words, accusations, mud slinging, courtroom drama, courtroom walkouts and pains. And as a Filipino, whether you are in the motherland or in another country, it is your rightful duty to be the astute, objective guard dog and the caring healer of the afflicted. Vowing never to flinch or to be taken advantage upon by those whom you have trusted to serve and protect you. Proper vigilance must be in order. Do not fall into the mass hysteria of trial by publicity or trial by the big TV networks. Do not be roused by the scheming names and icons out to protect their own agenda. Do not let the tide of emotion sway you to what is not right. After the impeachment, it is not only the Justice department that is put under the microscope. The President, the senators, and the congressmen should also be put in watchful scrutiny. It is not because they are guilty. But it is for them to remember that the law is not something that anyone can toy with. The law works no matter how fast or how slow. The truth will prevail.
The best way to move on after this debacle called the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona, is not to flog the horse further. The mighty justice system, in one way or another, have fallen. It is the duty of every Filipino to help it stand back on its feet. And whomever they may put in the seat of power, give the individual a chance. Watchful eyes should come with a guiding hand. Filipinos take pride in bayanihan. This is one of the best times to show what its like to put something big and great on the shoulders of small brown skinned heroes.
Lesson of EDSA
The spirit of the EDSA Revolution is to uplift every Filipino. No one shall be put down by an abusive dictator or government. Three EDSA Revolutions after, Filipinos are still in a place where the mighty becomes mightier by taking advantage of the weak and the meek. Filipinos have learned a lot in EDSA. But there is one more that is yet to be picked up. And that is the lesson that the fight does not end after the dictator is toppled nor after the point has been made. The spirit of living for one another should be inside every Filipino every minute, every hour of every day. You do not need a massive shrine or flash mob to keep the spirit alive. What you need to do is to be morally upright and be vigilant so that no one shall be over and above the Filipinos.
Justice in the Philippines will no longer be the same. But it is up to the Filipinos whether it will nurse the Justice department to good health or let it succumb and let it be weaker. The time of passing judgments is over. It is time to mend broken promises and pain. It is also a perfect time for the justice system to clean its overall image. A good opportunity to wash away the stigma of the slow pace of justice. It is more than just a wag the dog Public Relations slant. This is all about renewing itself from inside out. Justice will never be the same and may it be for the good of all. | <urn:uuid:1d81a13a-0eae-497c-9b00-aaae1b816870> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.talktalktilaok.com/featured/the-health-of-the-new-philippine-justice-system.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969909 | 2,330 | 1.75 | 2 |
You probably won't recognize her name, but in October 2004, Maria Pattakos did something heroic. She was out for a walk in Rock Creek Park with a friend and a two-year-old in a stroller. While crossing a street, Maria saw a truck out of the corner of her eye, turning into her path. She managed to push the stroller out of harm's way, but she paid dearly for it. The truck, which was turning against the walk light, hit Maria, throwing her into the air. She landed hard on the pavement, and the impact caused devastating injuries: broken ribs, a broken hip, two punctured lungs, a broken collarbone, and a fractured skull.
Broken bones heal with time. But Maria also suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) — an injury that isn't so easily overcome. TBI is in the news a lot these days, because of the many service men and women who have suffered brain injuries on their tours of duty. But TBI isn't just a residual of war; according to the Centers for Disease Control, each year, 1.4 million Americans sustain such injuries through falls, motor vehicle accidents, or blows to the head. In Maryland, 12 percent of all hospitalizations are due to TBI.
When Maria first arrived at National Rehabilitation Hospital, she could not walk, talk, or eat. It took her a week to open her eyes, and she could not speak for nearly three months. Maria's husband, Arion, kept a meticulous diary of their long ordeal. "I am proud of your deed but devastated emotionally, given what happened to you," he wrote in October of 2004. According to his diary, on November 8th, she kissed him. On December 9th, she spoke her first word; as he was getting her ready for therapy, he accidentally bumped her head. "Ow," she said.
February 24, 2009 marks four years since Maria walked out of NRH on her own. Today, her broken bones have mended, and while she still suffers vision problems and pain on her right side, she walks, talks, laughs, and has come a very long way since the first days after the accident. Arion says his wife's recuperation has been arduous for her and for her entire family. Still, they have celebrated every milestone in her recovery and are grateful she's alive. They're also grateful for the support of NRH specialists and staff, who helped them navigate the difficult challenges of her recovery. | <urn:uuid:96bd2226-08ff-4354-a242-800defb193c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nrhrehab.org/About+NRH/News+Archive/986.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989069 | 517 | 1.679688 | 2 |
June 10, 2008
US Rep. Wants Bush Impeachment
WASHINGTON, June 10–Democrat Dennis Kucinich introduced a 35-count resolution to impeach US President George Bush, saying that the president set out to deceive the nation, and violated his oath of office with the Iraq war.
Addressing the House of Representatives on Monday evening, the Ohio congressman and former presidential candidate accused the administration of a number of offenses, including lying to Congress and the public about its reasons for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
He said Bush “fraudulently” justified the war on Iraq and misled “the American people and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so as to manufacture a false case for war.”
He added, Bush has violated his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
“President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office,” Kucinich said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would not pursue the impeachment of Bush saying it was “off the table.”
Kucinich, an outspoken Iraq war critic who has consistently voted against funding the war and led anti-war efforts in Congress, offered a resolution to impeach Vice president Dick Cheney in April 2007. That also failed to move forward.
Many Democrats and civil liberties groups have accused the Bush administration of providing misleading information before the 2003 Iraq invasion as well as violating the rights of US citizens with its warrantless surveillance program.
|Alex Jones LIVE, A Fourth Hour Now Added To The Infowars Radio Show For Members
Click here to get your subscription today!
This article was posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 2:51 pm | <urn:uuid:fb2fca3d-a021-4e8f-a2cc-cc1e48221813> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infowars.com/nancy-is-impeachment-still-off-the-table/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960004 | 387 | 1.671875 | 2 |
My oldest daughter is just a month over 2 years old. She has always loved playing with my and my wife’s phones. In fact, she started to think every screen was a touch screen and did not really know what an old landline phone was when she saw it, as we . . . → Read More: Cell Phones for Learning – With a 2 Year Old
The director of my school district has asked for teacher’s opinions on the policy of banning cell phones in schools. Below is an open-letter that I have written in response.
The students that we have the responsibility of teaching have access to a wide range of advanced tools. Many students . . . → Read More: Open Letter on Cell Phones in Schools | <urn:uuid:a56bfeeb-8d80-4d0a-9c26-a892c74d5102> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jasontbedell.com/tag/cell-phones | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985514 | 152 | 1.554688 | 2 |
I'm trying to write an include that needs to 'know' where it's being called from. In the case of nested includes, we want the original parent. For example, if the include in question is i1.php and it is included in a file called i2.php, which is in turn included by parent.php, we need to find parent.php, not i2.php.
Does $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] do this reliably? This is a security question; we need it to be foolproof. My understanding is that REQUEST_URI will always return the full path from the server's root directory of the file that was accessed by an end user. Is this correct? Online documentation I've found via Google is somewhat inconclusive. | <urn:uuid:8d7830da-18c1-4538-838b-810da3f026a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.talkphp.com/general/2511-_server-request_uri-question.html?mode=threaded | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979183 | 159 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. 33: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Part III, tr. by John King, [1847-50], at sacred-texts.com
MATTHEW 24:15-28; MARK 13:14-23;
LUKE 21:20-24; 17:22-25
15. When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which is described by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let him that readeth understand,) 16. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17. Let not him who is on the housetop go down to carry anything out of his house; 18. And let not him who is in the field return to carry away his clothes. 19. But woe to the women with child, and to them that give suck in those days. 20. And pray that your flight may not be in the winter, nor on the sabbath. 134 21. For there will then be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world till this time, nor will be. 22. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved, but on account of the elect those days shall be shortened. 23. If anyone shall then say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, do not believe it. 24. For false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall perform great signs and wonders, so that even the elect (if it were possible) will be led into error. 25. Lo, I have foretold it to you. 26. If then they shall say to you, Lo, he is in the desert, go not out; lo, he is in the secret chamber, do not believe it. 27. For as the lightning goeth out of the east, and shineth even to the west, so shall also be the coming of the Son of man. 28. For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles also be gathered together.
14. But when you shall see the abomination of desolation, which is described by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains; 15. And let not him who is on the housetop go down into the house, or enter into it, to carry away anything out of his house. 16. And let not him that is in the field return back to bring away his cloak. 17. But woe to the women with child, and to them that give suck in those days. 18. But pray that your flight may not be in the winter. 19. For in those days there shall be tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the creation which God created till this time, nor will be. 20. And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved, but on account of the elect whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 21. And if anyone shall then say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or, lo, there, do not believe it. 22. For false Christs and false prophets shall arise, and shall perform signs and wonders to deceive (if it were possible) even the elect. 23. But take heed; lo, I have foretold to you all things.
20. And when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. 21. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them who are in the midst of it withdraw; and let not those who are in the fields enter into it. 22. For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23. But woe to women with child, and to them that give suck in those days; for there shall be great tribulation on the earth, and wrath on this people. 24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
22. And he said to the disciples, The days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it. 23. And they will say to you, Lo, he is here, or, lo, he is here; do not go, nor follow them. 135 24. For as the lightning, flashing from one side which is under heaven, shineth to the other side which is under heaven, so shall be also the Son of man in his day. 25. But he must first suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.
Matthew 24:15. When you shall see the abomination of desolation. Because the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, together with the overthrow of the whole Jewish government, was (as we have already said) a thing incredible, and because it might be thought strange, that the disciples could not be saved without being torn from that nation, to which had been committed the adoption and the covenant (Ro 9:4) of eternal salvation, Christ confirms both by the testimony of Daniel As if he had said, That you may not be too strongly attached to the temple and to the ceremonies of the Law, God has limited them to a fixed time, 136 and has long ago declared, that when the Redeemer should come, sacrifices would cease; and that it may not give you uneasiness to be cut off from your own nation, God has also forewarned his people, that in due time it would be rejected. Such a prediction was not only well adapted for removing ground of offense, but likewise for animating the minds of the godly, that amidst the sorest calamities—knowing that God was looking upon them, and was taking care of their salvation—they might betake themselves to the sacred anchor, where, amidst the most dreadful heavings of the billows, their condition would be firm and secure.
But before I proceed farther, I must examine the passage which is quoted by Christ. Those commentators are, I think, mistaken, who think that this quotation is made from the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel 137 For there we do not literally find the words, abomination, of desolation; and it is certain that the angel does not there speak of the final destruction which Christ now mentions, but of the temporary dispersion which was brought about by the tyranny of Antiochus. 138 But in the twelfth chapter the angel predicts what is called the final abrogation of the services of the Law, 139 which was to take place at the coming of Christ. For, after having exhorted believers to unshaken constancy, he fixes absolutely the time both of the ruin and of the restoration. 140
From the time, says he, that the daily sacrifices shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who shall wait till he come to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days, (Dan. 12:11, 12.)
I am aware that this passage is tortured in a variety of ways on account of its obscurity; but I consider the natural meaning of it to be, that the angel declares that, after the temple has been once purified from the pollutions and idols of Antiochus, another period will arrive when it will be exposed to a new profanation, and when all its sacredness and majesty will be for ever lost. 141 And as that message was sad and melancholy, he again recalls the prophet to one year, and two years, and six months. These words denote both the duration and the close of the calamities; for, in an interrupted succession of calamities, the course of one year appears to us very long, but when that space of time is doubled, the distress is greatly increased. The Spirit therefore exhorts believers to prepare themselves for the exercise of patience, not only for a single year, that is, for a long period, but to lay their account with enduring tribulations through an uninterrupted succession of many ages. There is no small consolation also in the phrase, half a time, (Da 12:7) for though the tribulations be of long continuance, yet the Spirit shows that they will not be perpetual. And, indeed, he had formerly used this form of expression: The calamity of the Church shall last through a time, times, and half a time, (Da 7:25.) But now he reckons the period of three years and six months by days, that believers may be more and more hardened by a very long continuance of calamities; for it is customary with men in adversity to compute time, not by years or months, but by days, a single day being, in their estimation, equal to a year 142 He says that those will be happy who bear up to the end of that period; that is, who with invincible patience persevere to the end.
Now Christ selects only what suited his purpose, namely, that the termination of sacrifices was at hand, and that the abomination, which was the sign of the final desolation, would be placed in the temple. But as the Jews were too strongly attached to their present condition, and therefore paid little attention to the prophecies which foretold the abolition of it, Christ, as if endeavoring to gain their ear, bids them read attentively that passage, where they would learn that what appeared to them difficult to be believed was plainly declared by the Prophets. 143 Abomination means profanation; for this word denotes uncleanness, 144 which corrupts or overturns the pure worship of God. It is called desolation, because it drew along with it the destruction of the temple and of the government; as he had formerly said, (Da 9:27,) that the pollution introduced by Antiochus was, as it were, the standard of temporary desolation; for such I conceive to be the meaning of the wing, or, “spreading out.” 145 It is a mistake to suppose that this expression denotes the siege of Jerusalem, and the mistake receives no countenance from the words of Luke, who did not intend to say the same thing, but something quite different. For that city having been formerly delivered, when it appeared to be in the midst of destruction, lest believers should expect something of the same kind in future, Christ declares that, as soon as it would be surrounded by armies, it was utterly ruined, because it was wholly deprived of divine assistance. The meaning therefore is, that the issue of the war will not be doubtful, because that city is devoted to destruction, which it will not be able to escape any more than to rescind a decree of heaven. Accordingly, Luke shortly afterwards adds, that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, a mode of expression which denotes utter ruin. But as it might appear to be strange that the holy city should be thus given up to the Gentiles, to do with it as they pleased, he adds a consolation, 146 that it was only for a time that so much liberty was allowed to the Gentiles, till their iniquity was ripe, and the vengeance which had been reserved for them was fully displayed.
16. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Having shown by the testimony of the prophet that, when the temple had been profaned, the services of the Law would soon afterwards be abolished, he adds, that fearful and appalling calamities will soon overtake the whole of Judea, so that there will be nothing more desirable than to withdraw a distance from it; and, at the same time, he states that they will be so sudden, that time will scarcely be time allowed for the most rapid flight. For such is the import of the expressions, Let not him who is on the house-top enter into the house; let not him who is in the field turn back; that is, lest, by attempting to save their property, they themselves perish. Again, Woe to the women with child, and to them that give suck; for they will not be in a fit condition for flight. Again, Pray that your fight may not be in the winter; that is, that neither a regard to the sacredness of the day, nor the roughness of the roads, nor the shortness of the clays, may prevent or retard your flight. The design of Christ therefore was, first, to arouse his followers, that they might no longer indulge the hope of ease and repose, and the enjoyments of an earthly kingdom; and, secondly, to fortify their minds, that they might not give way under ordinary calamities. Such an admonition, no doubt, was fir from being agreeable, but, in consequence of their stupidity, and the great weight of the calamities, it was highly necessary.
21 For there will then be great tribulation. Luke says also, that there will be days of vengeance, and of wrath on that people, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. For since the people, through obstinate malice, had then broken the covenant of God, it was proper that alarming changes should take place, by which the earth itself and the air would be shaken. True, indeed, the most destructive plague inflicted on the Jews was, that the light of heavenly doctrine was extinguished among them, and that they were rejected by God; but they were compelled—as the great hardness of their hearts made it necessary that they should be compelled—to feel the evil of their rejection by sharp and severe chastisements. Now the true cause of such an awful punishment was, that the desperate wickedness of that nation had reached its height. For not only had they haughtily despised, but even disdainfully rejected the medicine which was brought for their diseases; and, what was worse, like persons who were mad or possessed by the devil, they wreaked their cruelty on the Physician himself. 147 Since the Lord executed his vengeance on those men for their inveterate contempt of the Gospel, accompanied by incorrigible rage, let their punishment be always before our eyes; and let us learn from it, that no offense is more heinous in the sight of God, than obstinacy in despising his grace. But though all who in like manner despise the Gospel will receive the same punishment, God determined to make a very extraordinary demonstration in the case of the Jews, that the coming of Christ might be regarded by posterity with greater admiration and reverence. For no words can express the baseness of their criminality in putting to death the Son of God, who had been sent to them as the Author of life. Having committed this execrable sacrilege, they did not cease to incur the guilt of one crime after another, and thus to draw down upon themselves every ground of utter destruction. And, therefore, Christ declares that never afterwards will there be such tribulation in the world; for, as the rejection of Christ, viewed in itself, and especially as attended by so many circumstances of detestable obstinacy and ingratitude, was worthy of abhorrence above all the sins committed ill all ages, so also it was proper that, in the severity of punishment with which it was visited, it should go beyond all others.
22 And unless those days had been shortened. He presents an appalling view of those calamities, but at the same time mingles it with this consolation, that they would be sufficient to exterminate the very name of the Jews, if God did not look to his elect, and on their account grant some alleviation. This passage agrees with that of Isaiah:
Unless the Lord had left us a small seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah, (Isa 1:9.)
For it was necessary, as Paul assures us, that the vengeance of God, which had been displayed in the Babylonish captivity, should be again fulfilled at the coming of Christ, (Ro 9:29.) Nay more, in proportion as our wickedness was greater, it deserved a greater severity of punishment. And therefore Christ says that, unless God put a period to those calamities, the Jews will utterly perish, so that not a single individual will be left; but that God will remember his gracious covenant, and will spare his elect, according to that other prediction of Isaiah,
Though thy people were like the sand of the sea,
a remnant only shall be saved, (Isa 10:22.)
This affords us a striking proof of the judgment of God, when he afflicts his visible Church to such a degree, that we would be ready to conclude that it had altogether perished; and yet, in order to preserve some seed, he miraculously rescues from destruction his elect, though few in number, that, contrary to expectation, they may escape from the jaws of death. For, on the one hand, it is fitted to alarm hypocrites, that they may not, through reliance on the title and outward appearance of a Church, cherish the vain hope that they will pass unpunished, for the Lord will find some means of delivering his Church, when those men have been given up to destruction; and, on the other hand, it conveys a wonderful consolation to the godly, that God will never allow his wrath to proceed so far as not to provide for their safety. Thus, in punishing the Jews, the wrath of God burned to an extent which was truly awful, and yet, contrary to the expectation of men, he restrained it in such a manner, that not one of the elect perished. And it was a miracle which almost exceeded belief; that, as salvation was to proceed from Judea, out of a few drops of a fountain which was dried up God formed rivers to water the whole world; for, in consequence of the hatred of all nations which they had drawn upon themselves, they narrowly escaped from being murdered in all places, by a preconcerted signal, in one day. Nor can it be doubted, that when many persons entreated that they should be slaughtered in this manner, Titus was restrained by God from giving permission to his soldiers and to others who were excessively desirous to carry such a design into execution; and, therefore, when the Roman Emperor at that time prevented the utter destruction of the whole nation, that was the shortening here mentioned, for preserving some seed, (Isa 1:9.)
Yet it ought to be observed, that it was on account of the elect that God restrained the fierceness of his anger, that he might not consume them all. For why did he determine that a few should remain out of a vast multitude? and what reason had he for giving them a preference above others? It was because his grace dwelt in the people whom he had adopted; and, that his covenant might not fail, some were elected and appointed to salvation by his eternal purpose. Hence Paul ascribes to free election (Ro 11:5) the reason why out of an immense nation a remnant only was saved. Away then with human merits, when our attention is directed exclusively to the good pleasure of God, that the distinction between some persons and others may depend solely on this, that those who have been elected must be saved. To state the matter more clearly and fully, Mark uses a superfluity of words, 148 expressing it thus, on account of the elect, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. Certainly the use of the word elect might have been sufficient, if he had not intended to state expressly that God is not induced by external causes to bestow his favor on some rather than on others; but that, because he has elected those whom he will save, he ratifies the secret purpose of his grace in their salvation.
But a question arises, how was it on account of the elect that God set a limit to these calamities, so as not utterly to destroy the Jews, when many of those who were saved were reprobate and desperate? The reply is easy. A part of the nation was preserved, that out of them God might bring his elect, who were mixed with them, like the seed after the chaff has been blown off. So then, though temporal safety was bestowed equally on the reprobate and on the elect, yet, as it was of no advantage to the reprobate, it is justly ascribed to the elect alone, for it was to their benefit that the wonderful providence of God was directed.
23. If any one shall then say to you. He again repeats what he had said about impostors, and not without reason; for there was great danger arising from this temptation, that wretched men, while their affairs were in a troubled and desperate condition, would be deceived by false pretenses, would seek phantoms instead of Christ, and would embrace the delusions of Satan, as if they were assistance from God. As the Jews, when they were so severely oppressed on account of having despised redemption, needed, at least, violent remedies to restrain them from treachery, Satan cunningly held out to them new hopes, which would withdraw them still farther from God. And certainly, when we are left without direction in adversity, nothing is more pernicious than to be deceived, under the disguise of the name of God, by falsehoods which not only shut against us the door of repentance, but increase the darkness of infidelity, and at length overwhelm us with despair, and drive us to madness. The repetition of the statement, therefore, was far from being superfluous, when the danger was so great; and especially when Christ warns them that false prophets will come prepared with no ordinary instruments of deception, with signs and wonders fitted to confound weak minds. For since it is by miracles that God attests the presence of his power, and since they are therefore seals of the true doctrine, we need not wonder if impostors gain credit by them. By this kind of delusion God revenges the ingratitude of men, that they who rejected the truth may believe a lie, and that they who shut their eyes against the light which was offered to them may be plunged deeper and deeper in darkness. He exercises, at the same time, the constancy of his followers, which comes to shine with greater brightness, when they give way to no kind of impostures.
Again, since our Lord declares that antichrists and false prophets would be armed with miracles, there is no reason why the Papists should talk so haughtily on this ground, or why we should be terrified by their boasting. In support of their superstitions they plead miracles, — those very miracles which, the Son of God predicted, would corrupt the faith of many, and which, therefore, wise men ought not to hold in such estimation as to be sufficient of themselves to prove either one or another kind of doctrine. If it be objected, that such reasoning would overthrow and set aside the miracles by which both the Law and the Gospel were ratified, I reply, that the Spirit engraved on them an undoubted mark, which removed from believers all doubt and fear of being mistaken. For when God displayed his power for the purpose of confirming his people, he did not act in so confused a manner as not to manifest the true and infallible distinction. Besides, the manner in which miracles seal doctrine is such, that the doctrine itself mutually shines before them, and dispels all the clouds by which Satan darkens the minds of the simple. In short, if we wish to guard against impostures, let us preserve the connection between miracles and doctrine unbroken.
24. So that even the elect (if it were possible) will be led into error. This was added for the purpose of exciting alarm, that believers may be more careful to be on their guard; for when such unbounded freedom of action is allowed to false prophets, and when they are permitted to exert such powers of deceiving, those who are careless and inattentive would easily be entangled by their snares. Christ therefore exhorts and arouses his disciples to keep watch, and at the same time reminds them that there is no reason for being troubled at the strangeness of the sight, if they see many persons on every hand led away into error. While he excites them to solicitude, that Satan may not overtake them in a state of sloth, he gives them abundant ground of confidence on which they may calmly rely, when he promises that they will be safe under the defense and protection of God against all the snares of Satan. And thus, however frail and slippery the condition of the godly may be, yet here is a firm footing on which they may stand; for it is not possible for them to fall away from salvation, to whom the Son of God is a faithful guardian. For they have not sufficient energy to resist the attacks of Satan, unless in consequence of their being
the sheep of Christ, which none can pluck out of his hand,
It must therefore be observed, that the permanency of our salvation does not depend on us, but on the secret election of God; for though our salvation is kept through faith, as Peter tells us, (1Pe 1:5,) yet we ought to ascend higher, and assure ourselves that we are in safety, because the Father hath given us to the Son, and the Son himself declares, that
none who have been given to him shall perish (Joh 17:12.).
25. Lo, I have foretold it to you. Mark expresses our Lord’s meaning more fully. But take heed: lo, I have foretold you all things. By these words we are taught that they who are dismayed by the stumbling-blocks which Christ predicted are altogether inexcusable; for since the will of God ought to be our rule, it is sufficient that we have received timely warning that such is his pleasure. Again, as he declares that
he is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted beyond
what we are able to bear, (1Co 10:13,)
we shall never be in want of strength to resist, provided that our weakness be not nourished by indifference.
26. Lo, he is in the desert. Luke connects this discourse with another reply of Christ; for, having been interrogated by the Pharisees about the coming of the kingdom of God, he replied, that it would not come with observation; and then follows in Luke’s narrative that, turning to his disciples, he informed them that the days would come when they would no longer see a day of the Son of man. By these words he intended to charge them
to walls in the light before the darkness of the night overtook them, (Joh 12:35;)
for this ought to have been a very powerful excitement to endeavor to make progress, so long as they enjoyed the presence of Christ, when they 1earned that very serious disturbances were at hand. Whether or not Christ admonished his disciples twice on this subject is uncertain; but I think it. probable that Luke, while he was speaking of the coming of the kingdom of God introduced sentences taken from a different occasion, which he frequently does, as we have seen in other instances.
But as this passage has been, through ignorance, tortured in various ways, that the reader may ascertain the true meaning, he must attend to the contrast between a state of concealment and that extension of the kingdom of Christ far and wide, and which would be sudden and unexpected, as the lightning dashes from the east to the west. For we know that the false Christs—in accordance with the gross and foolish hope of that nation—drew along with them as large bodies of men as they could collect into the recesses of the desert, or into caverns, or other places of retirement, in order to throw off the yoke of the Roman government by force and by arms. The meaning therefore is, that every one who collects his forces into a secret place, in order to regain the freedom of the nation by arms, falsely pretends to be the Christ; for the Redeemer is sent to diffuse his grace suddenly and unexpectedly through every quarter of the world. But these two things are quite contrary, to shut up redemption within some corner, and to spread it through the whole world. The disciples were thus reminded that they must no longer seek a Redeemer within the small enclosure of Judea, because he will suddenly extend the limits of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world. And, indeed, this astonishing rapidity, with which the gospel flew through every part of the world, was a manifest testimony of divine power. For it could not be the result of human industry, that the light of the gospel, as soon as it appear, darted from one side of the world to the opposite side like lightning; and therefore it is not without reason that Christ introduces this circumstance for demonstrating and magnifying his heavenly glory. Besides, by holding out this vast extent of his kingdom, he intended to show that the desolation of Judea would not hinder him from reigning.
28 Wheresoever the carcass is. The meaning is, that by whatever methods Satan endeavors to scatter the children of God in various directions, still in Christ himself is the sacred bond of union, by which they must be kept united. For whence comes the dispersion, but that many depart from Christ, in whom alone our strength lies? Here then is a method laid down for promoting a holy union, that the separations produced by errors may not tear in pieces the body of the Church; and that method is, when we remain united to Christ. This ought to be carefully observed; for Christ does not restrict us either to the primacy of the Roman See, or to any other foolery, but employs this method alone for binding his Church together, that all in every quarter should look to him as the only head. Hence it follows, that those who are united to him by pure faith are beyond the risk of schism. Let the adherents of Rome now go, and exclaim that all are schismatics who do not allow themselves to be separated from Christ, that they may transfer their allegiance to a robber.
There also will the eagles be gathered together. When the Papists interpret the word carcass to denote the company of those who profess the same faith, and allegorically explain the eagles to represent acute and sagacious men, 149 it is excessively absurd, 150 for Christ had manifestly no other design than to call to himself, and to retain in union to him, the children of God, wherever they were scattered. Nor does Christ simply employ the word body, but (πτῶμα) carcass; 151 and he ascribes nothing to eagles but what we might apply to crows or vultures, according to the nature of the country which we inhabit. I attach as little value to the ingenuity of other commentators, who say that the death of Christ had a sweet savor, to draw the elect to God; for, in my opinion, Christ intended to argue from the less to the greater, that if birds have so great sagacity as to flock in great numbers from distant places to a single carcass, it would be disgraceful in believers not to assemble to the Author of life, from whom alone they derive their actual nourishment.
“Ny an jour du Sabbath;” — “nor on the Sabbath-Day.”
“Mais n’y allez point, et ne les suyvez point;” — “but go not there, and do not follow them.”
“Dieu a limité certain temps auquel ces choses prendrent fin;” — “God has limited a certain time when those things shall be terminated.”
The passage here referred to, and from which CALVIN thinks that the quotation is not made, is Da 9:27, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifices and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading or abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. The other passage, from which he supposes the quotation to have been actually made, is Da 12:11, And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. We have given both passages, as they stand in the authorized version. — Ed.
Antiochus, known in history by the surname Epiphanes, or, Illustrious, but more frequently denominated by the Jews who had beheld his cruelties, and by others who were shocked at the indecency of his public life, Antiochus Epimanes, or, Furious. — Ed.
“Du service et des ceremonies de la Loy;” — “of the service and of the ceremonies of the Law.”
“Car apres qu’il avoit exhorté les fideles à une constance ferme et bien assuree, et avoit predit que l’advenement de Christ mettroit fin aux ceremonies, et doan, pour signe la profanation externe du temple, finale-ment au chapitre treizieme (douzieme?) il determine un temps certain tant de la ruine que du restablissement.” — “For after having exhorted believers to a firm and assured constancy, and having predicted that the coming of Christ would put an end to ceremonies, and having given the outward profanation of the temple as a sign, finally, in the thirteenth (twelfth?) chapter he determines a fixed time both for the ruin and for the restoration.”
“Sans esperance de plus la recouvrer;” — “without the expectation of ever again recovering it.”
In prophetic language one day stands for a year, a Jewish month (of thirty days) for thirty years, and a Jewish year (of three hundred and sixty days) for three hundred and sixty years. Thus a time, or Jewish year, stood for three hundred and sixty years; times, or two Jewish years, stood for seven hundred and twenty years; and half a time, or half of a Jewish year, stood for one hundred and eighty years; so that the time, times, and half a time, (Dan. 7:25, Dan. 12:7; Re 12:14,) or three years and a half, represented one thousand two hundred and sixty years. By a similar computation, forty-two months, (Rev. 11:2, Rev. 13:5,) of thirty days each, denoted the same period. — Ed.
“Sinon qu’on vueille prendre. ceci comme estant dit en la personne de l’Evangeliste; toutesfois il est plus vray-semblable que c’est Christ qui parle, et que suyvant son propos d’un fil continuel, il exhorte les siens estre attentifs a bon escient.” — “Unless we choose to take this as having been said in the person of the Evangelist; yet it is more probable that it is Christ who speaks, and that, following out his subject, he exhorts his followers to be earnestly attentive.”
“La pollution, immondicit, et souillure;” — “pollution, uncleanness, and defilement.”
כנפ שקוצים משמם, the wing (or, spreading out) of abominations which maketh desolate. — Ed
“Il adjouste quant et quant une consolation speciale pour le regard des fideles, (laquelle Daniel omet, pource qu’il parle à tout le corps du peuple;)” — “he adds to it a special consolation with respect to believers, (which Daniel leaves out, because he speaks to the whole body of the people.”)
“Il s’estoyent ruez cruellment, contre la personne mesme du Medecin, le mettant à mort.” — “They had pursued with cruel rage the very person of the Physician, putting him to death.”
“Il use de redite, ou de paroles superflues;” — “he makes use of a repetition, or of superfluous words.”
“Les gens subtils et de jugement, à scavoir les docteurs;” — “men of acuteness and judgment, namely, the doctors.”
“Il n’y a ne rime ne raison en cela;” — “there is neither rhyme nor reason in it.”
“Aussi le mot Grec duquel use l’Evangeliste, ne signifie pas simplement un corps, mais un corps mort.” — “The Greek word, too, which the Evangelist employs, does not denote simply a body, but a dead body.” | <urn:uuid:ce212861-093d-41c7-a412-1f992d28217b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc33/cc33018.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971601 | 7,810 | 1.585938 | 2 |
VERNON -- How should trash be collected in Vernon?
That’s the question town officials will ask residents as they try to determine how to save money and boost recycling while also complying with a tough new state law.
One thing is clear: Vernon’s current curbside trash-collection program will change in some way. Voters, who soon will receive an informational mailing from the town, will determine the extent of that change.
"Whatever we do, we have to decide at Town Meeting this year," said Patty O’Donnell, Selectboard chairwoman. "We’re going to have to prepare for it in this budget."
The discussion was spurred by a law approved by the state Legislature last year. Among other requirements, it bans landfill disposal of recyclables and eventually also bans landfill disposal of leaf, yard and food waste.
"We have no choice," O’Donnell said. "This is the new law, and we have to abide by the law in some way."
The statute mandates that garbage haulers also pick up recycling as of 2015. And that presents a dilemma for Vernon, one of only three Windham County towns that provide townwide, curbside trash collection.
Vernon currently pays $135,000 annually for that contract with Brattleboro-based Triple T Trucking.
A new report produced by Bob Spencer, Windham Solid Waste Management District executive director, says adding curbside pickup of recyclables could double Vernon’s
Because landfill tipping fees are levied on each ton of trash generated by the town, reaching that recycling goal could save Vernon $15,000 annually, the report concludes.
But there’s a catch: Curbside recycling actually would end up costing the town more.
"The cost savings (from recycling more trash) would be negated by the cost of adding an additional truck and collection, plus the cost to purchase recycling bins for all residents," Spencer wrote in his report to the Vernon Selectboard.
A second option could save the town money: A transfer station, possibly located at the town garage off Fort Bridgman Road, would provide a central location where residents would have to drop off their trash during scheduled hours.
That would mean the end of curbside garbage collection in Vernon.
"There are many variations on how the cost of a transfer station is covered, but usually residents are required to buy a sticker for their vehicle and then may be charged by the bag or the load," Spencer wrote.
"Residents who do not want to haul their own trash can opt to hire a private hauler to come to their home," he added.
His report estimated that, by building a transfer station, Vernon could save $42,000 annually. That’s because a hauler’s costs would be trimmed dramatically by picking up the town’s trash at a central location -- the transfer station -- rather than from each of Vernon’s 825 residences.
There would be startup costs, however. Spencer estimates those at $45,000 to $50,000 for a trash compactor and other infrastructure necessary to build a proper transfer station.
O’Donnell was pleasantly surprised by that number.
"That isn’t anywhere near as expensive as I thought it was going to be," she said.
Spencer also examined a collection method dubbed "pay as you throw" -- meaning residents pay based on the amount of trash they generate. The state calls that "variable rate pricing," and the new law makes it mandatory by 2015.
There are multiple ways to implement such a program, Spencer said.
"Usually, residents will be allowed one 30-gallon trash bag at no charge and then have to use special ‘Vernon’ trash bags that are purchased at a certain cost per bag such as $1.50 or $2 for additional trash," he wrote.
"Since recyclables are free, there is a real incentive to reduce the amount of trash," Spencer’s report says. "Some communities give exemptions to senior citizens, too."
He cited Hinsdale, N.H., and Northfield, Mass., as towns where "pay as you throw" has been successful. Trash tonnage at Northfield’s transfer station has decreased by more than 20 percent since 2006, Spencer said.
Vernon’s cash investment in a "pay as you throw" program would be up to the Selectboard. Fees can be set "to make a trash program revenue neutral or even a revenue generator depending on how much the town wants to subsidize trash and recycling," Spencer wrote.
In presenting his findings to the Selectboard on Monday, Spencer said change won’t be easy. But it is feasible, he said.
"Vernon really has quite a few options, and they’re viable," Spencer told the board.
The Selectboard asked Spencer and Michael Courtemanche, a Vernon representative on the Windham Solid Waste board, to develop an informational mailing that would explain the town’s trash options to residents.
The board also expects to hold a forum to discuss the matter before Town Meeting.
There is some cash available to finance any big trash-collection changes such as construction of a transfer station. Officials said the town’s solid-waste management fund last year held about $280,000.
As with a new trash-collection program, any expenditure from that fund will have to be approved by town voters.
There is one other option that voters likely won’t be considering: Spencer said some towns simply stay out of the trash business and tell residents to contract with their own haulers.
But O’Donnell said she doesn’t favor that.
"I don’t really see it being a valid option," she said, noting that it "really would be a disadvantage" for those who cannot afford their own haulers.
Mike Faher can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 802-254-2311, ext. 275. | <urn:uuid:b221b101-5276-448a-8009-97a16393515e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reformer.com/alerts/ci_22336781/vernon-ask-trash-collection-vote | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970681 | 1,262 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Duffy in Wash Times: Dodd-Frank: One year laterPosted by on July 21, 2011
Promises are unfulfilled while the costs are real
By Rep. Sean Duffy
It was one year ago today that President Obama signed the so-called "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010." Like other signature pieces of legislation of this administration, the name can be misleading. Like the so-called "stimulus" that stimulated nothing but more government debt, this bill fails to actually reform Wall Street or protect consumers, which is a remarkable accomplishment, considering it was more than 2,300 pages long and contained more than 400 regulations and mandates.
For small community banks and credit unions, like those in Central and Northern Wisconsin, the hundreds of new rules will require an estimated 2,260,631 labor hours just for compliance. Those are hours that your local bank or credit union will spend dealing with some Washington bureaucrat instead of focusing on the needs of customers like you.
Just because Wall Street is in New York and has a bad reputation doesn't mean it's right or fair to lump the "little guys" in Wausau, Hayward and Superior in with them. As one of the few members on the House Committee on Financial Services from the rural Midwest, I have made it a top priority to speak up for the community banks and credit unions that are on Main Street, not Wall Street.
That's why I've tried to reform the centerpiece of the Dodd-Frank law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a brand-new agency that will cost the American taxpayers more than $329 million for 2012 alone. I am all for protecting consumers but this agency actually could hurt consumers and slow economic recovery because of the additional regulatory burden it creates for small, local financial institutions. More troubling is the lack of accountability of the CFPB, which will be led by a single, unelected bureaucrat who can set his own budget with no congressional oversight.
Today, the House will vote on H.R. 1315, a common-sense bill I've introduced to increase consumer protection and government accountability. It would replace the director with a bipartisan commission and establish a meaningful review process of CFPB rulings that are inconsistent with the safety and soundness of the banking system. This bill doesn't get rid of the CFPB, it simply recognizes the reality that we cannot separate consumer protection from the safety and soundness of the banking system. If our banking system fails, our economy fails and ultimately, consumers suffer. This measure reflects my commitment to a system of checks and balances, and a financial system that is safe, sound and accountable.
The financial crisis that dragged our nation into a recession warranted action. Dodd-Frank was rammed through Congress on claims that by increasing government mandates and control over the private economy, we would see "robust growth in our economy" and "greater economic security" for our working families and small businesses. One year later, with new business creation at a 17-year low and paralysis in the private sector, it's clear that Dodd-Frank has woefully underdelivered. While the promises of Dodd-Frank remain unrealized, its costs on the economy are real. It will have cost more than $1.25 billion by this time next year, lead to the hiring of thousands of new bureaucrats and will continue to be a drag on the private sector for decades to come.
Job creation has been and will continue to be my top priority in Congress. Part of getting our economy growing again and getting our people back to work means unraveling the burdensome mandates and regulations that are not just causing uncertainty in the marketplace, but killing jobs in America. One year after Dodd-Frank, let's recommit ourselves to smart regulation that will help establish a job-friendly environment, protect consumers and turn this economy around.
Rep. Sean Duffy, Wisconsin Republican, is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services. | <urn:uuid:f5fbbb58-3a7a-469b-b09f-8c93dbfda900> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://financialservices.house.gov/blog/default.aspx?postid=253205 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953327 | 812 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I wrote last week about how the ad industry is going on the attack against Do Not Track. Then yesterday, as the New York Times reported, the Direct Marketing Association kicked off a $1 million public relations campaign to try to persuade policymakers and the public that privacy protections from the data mining industry are not needed. Unfortunately, those who are advocating on behalf of the public do not have $1 million to throw into a counter-campaign. The outcome will be a test of the degree to which money can trump the public good in our political system right now. And that highlights one of the dynamics that it seems to me is at work when it comes to regulating commercial privacy: delay is deadly.
What privacy advocates want to do is declare commercial spying off-limits. Companies, including marketing and advertising companies, can compete and innovate, but we need to put up some fences in the pasture and say “you shall not graze these lands,” because doing so violates our values. We do that in areas such as child labor, and we need to do it with regards to commercial spying. The problem is, if we delay in drawing those lines, then companies begin to make hay from those areas that should be forbidden, and then it becomes much harder to get them to stop, because they can deploy the money they make there to stop rules and protections from being erected.
Let me use an example to illustrate this dynamic. Imagine that I have a business plan: I’m going to deploy computers to listen in on people’s voice telephone calls, use voice recognition to transcribe what is said, and computer algorithms to discern valuable information about the people on the line—their interests, plans, opinions, and attributes. Then I monetize that.
All of this is currently technologically feasible, but it’s not being done. Why? Because our telecommunications privacy laws make it illegal. However, if voice telephone technology, instead of being a century old, were to spring up suddenly today, with no longstanding privacy protections and expectations in place, there is little doubt that companies would be rushing in to graze those pastures. And, there is little doubt that anyone proposing to ban what the industry might call “voice-based marketing” would be subject to all the arguments we are now hearing about commercial internet spying: it will deprive companies of needed revenue, forestall innovation, cost jobs, etc. Since this kind of scheme is simply out of the question, phone companies and others today look elsewhere for innovation—but if such a law was proposed when revenue streams had already sprung up from this, it would be much harder to dislodge it.
That’s why it’s vital that we get good privacy protections in place soon, before the practice of commercial internet surveillance—and the revenue streams it produces—become any more intrusive and entrenched than they already are. | <urn:uuid:e45fddf9-c5d6-463d-91cc-aac7549b7517> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aclu.org/print/blog/technology-and-liberty/protections-against-commercial-internet-spying-why-delay-deadly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9589 | 586 | 1.617188 | 2 |
A Fireside Chat With Producer John Snyder
So the point of that is that when people are given more choices, more things are sold. The record business has been engaging in the bait and switch game for too long now. They bait you with a single on the radio that they paid three hundred thousand dollars to get on the radio and then they switch it when you go to the record store and want to buy it. Then you have to buy an eighteen dollar thing that you don't want and can't afford.
Also, the record companies just settled a price fixing suit saying that they conspired to inflate prices. So are they surprised that people don't want to pay that inflated price that they conspired to fix? You can't have it both ways. On top of that, you have AOL, who is betting the farm on broadband distribution and they own Warner Bros. music. So Warner Bros. is complaining about people downloading their records when their boss company is providing the service that allows that to happen. So the people who run Time Warner, they know this.
Sony has a similar sort of conflict. They share the patent with the CD. There were five hundred million blank CDs sold last year. A high percentage of those are going to put downloaded music on. They are also a major manufacturer of CD write-able drives. That is how the music is being put on the CDs. So you can't have it both ways. That is the conflict that companies are going through. You have divisions of Sony suing other divisions of Sony. It is craziness out there.
FJ: With current trends prevailing, will the music industry be able to sustain itself in ten years?
JS: Only if they embrace the internet. The future of music is the internet. They are not going to continue to sell this out of date medium called the CD. That is a done deal. It is just a matter of time. The way it should be is that ISP should pay a service, they should be taxed just like radio stations and TV stations are taxed by BMI as a levy and they pay into that pool and the publishers and writers get paid. ISP should pay just like a radio station pays.
On top of that, the major companies should agree among themselves with publishers, writers, and artists to a service that people can go to and have whatever they want for a set $9.95 a month. If you were able to get whatever you wanted, anytime day or night for $9.95 or even $19.95, you might consider it. Especially if there was a service connected to it that you could go to and say that you are having a party and want a James Brown record that never sits down and they recommend twelve songs and you pay five dollars for it. That is a good deal and everybody's happy.
They have to adapt to the internet and they are not doing it. They are trying. EMI just started an online service in Europe that shows promise because it is not restricted and it is reasonable fee. Sony is charging $1.49 a track. There is nobody that is going to do that. You can't charge too much. If they had cooped Napster in the first place and charged ten cents a song, they would be billions of dollars ahead of the game. But instead, they shut it down. So record companies are not rational and they are not too advanced in technology.
My CDs are encoded with MP3s. I want you to trade my songs. I also encode the website, so go to the website and make a contribution to PayPal. You use the music, give us a dollar. Give us whatever you want and if you don't want to do that, buy something and here is what we are selling you. We are going to give you a four hour DVD and a CD and it is going to be less money than a CD that the majors are charging. You get more for less.
Amazon has its biggest quarter last year by increasing their product line to include clothes and cutting shipping costs. More service, less cost and it worked. The record business needs to look at those kinds of models. I think what is really going to happen is they are going to become software companies and I think an example of that is Apple and their talks with Universal to buy Universal music. Here comes a computer company that is going to buy content because they want to use it on the internet and in their MP3 players.
FJ: It is not as if music execs are these eighty year olds, a foot in the grave, some of these cats are younger than I am. One would think they would be hip to the internet by now.
JS: I don't think that they are really internet guys. I think most of them still have their secretaries print out their emails. I don't really think that they are technology savvy. It is the 20 year-olds that is the full blown computer generation. The 35 year-olds are a little late to the game and they have to pick that up.
It is like teaching French to a 3 year-old. It is a lot easier than teaching it to a 50 year-old. The kids that grew up with it, they don't think about it any other way. If you are still reading a newspaper, you're analog. My kid wouldn't touch a newspaper, but he reads more news than I do. It is going to change when the generation changes. | <urn:uuid:206b6221-cf61-41b1-ab13-8dbf56494b6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=392&pg=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988509 | 1,113 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Debt collection horror stories
Collectors prohibited from threatening violence or calling incessantly
Debt collector horror stories abound: There are threats to dig up the dead relatives of those who couldn't pay their funeral bills, promises to imprison debtors or take their children into custody -- even warnings that pets will be killed.
Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collectors are prohibited from threatening violence, using profane language, calling incessantly, inflating a debt and implying they are attorneys. And they can't tell consumers they will arrest them or garnish their wages or property unless they actually plan to take that action and are legally able to do so through a court order. Many states have their own rules governing debt collector practices as well.
These are some of the latest outrageous allegations of abuse:
Threatening to take away children: Last week, the Federal Trade Commission shut down a Texas-based debt collector, Goldman Schwartz, for using deceptive and abusive scare tactics to force people to pay their payday loan debts. Among the alleged offenses: collectors called consumers incessantly, saying "we can take you to jail" or "we'll send the sheriff's department to your job and take care of this the hard way," even though they had no legal basis to do so.
Collectors went so far as to tell consumers that when they go to jail, police or child protective services would take their minor children into government custody, according to the FTC. Goldman Schwartz hasn't responded to the complaint filed by the FTC, and its attorney declined to comment on the case.
Posing as a law firm: To scare consumers into paying, Goldman Schwartz also allegedly posed as a law firm or claimed to work with law enforcement authorities -- even charging unauthorized attorney's fees that it referred to as "juice."
One consumer, who asked to remain anonymous, filed a complaint against Goldman Schwartz claiming its collectors pretended to belong to a law firm one day, and the next day said they worked for local law enforcement. After calling her incessantly over a $300 payday loan debt -- which she said she already paid -- a collector even called her workplace and told her coworkers he was going to come arrest her and they would have to pick her out of a lineup.
Pretending to have legal authority has become a popular tactic among debt collectors. In a separate lawsuit filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General that's still pending, a debt collector, Unicredit, was charged with decorating an office to look like a courtroom and holding fake court proceedings. The attorney for Unicredit's vice president said "he was not personally involved" in the activities that the lawsuit alleges, and the president's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Threatening to dig up dead bodies: Another collection agency, Rumson, Bolling & Associates, was fined more than $700,000 last month for taking harassment to a whole new level. One of the worst offenses listed in the FTC's lawsuit: collectors allegedly threatened to dig up the bodies of debtors' deceased children and hang them from a tree or drop them outside their door if they failed to pay their funeral bills. The defendant's attorney, Christopher Pitet, said the company's owners did their best to ensure collectors complied with the law -- so if any wrongdoing was done, it was done by employees and was against company policy.
Promising to hurt pets: The harassment didn't stop at dead bodies, according to the FTC. Collectors at Rumson, Bolling & Associates also allegedly threatened to kill a debtor's dog. Specifically, collectors told a woman they would have her dog "arrested ... shoot him up and ... eat him," before sending the police to her house to arrest her, the FTC claimed.
Collecting debts owed to other companies: Along with all the harassment, the FTC has seen a new collection scheme pop up: scam artists are stealing customer information from payday loan websites and then disguising themselves as debt collectors and going after the loans customers take out, said Tom Pahl, an assistant director at the FTC.
In one case, a phony California-based debt collection outfit run by a man named Kirit Patel allegedly collected more than $5.2 million in debts that were owed to payday loan companies -- or weren't owed at all, according to the FTC. The defendant's attorney, Andrew Steinheimer, said Patel was duped into opening the company by someone else and was unaware of any wrongdoing.
The case was referred to the Justice Department, and a federal grand jury indicted Patel last year. If convicted, Patel will face up to 20 years in prison or a fine of $250,000 (or both).
"[These debt collection agencies] continue to taint the professionalism of the vast majority of collectors that do it the right way -- respectfully and in compliance with federal and state laws," said Mark Schiffman, a spokesman for debt collection trade association ACA, which represents more than 3,000 debt collectors.
Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:c9451a45-faca-4c33-adfa-422049c58613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlwt.com/news/money/Debt-collection-horror-stories/-/9837682/18428134/-/view/print/-/nu1dyv/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974808 | 1,033 | 1.671875 | 2 |
May 22, 2012John McCauley
For the second year in the row, the House GOP majority is seeking to curtail Pentagon investments in alternative sources of fuel. Republicans’ effort failed last year, but there is a strong chance that fossil fuel supporters might win this time, unless a more forceful argument is made in favor of clean-burning, renewable energy, said House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.
“We have to fundamentally start to win the argument for why alternative energy matters,” Smith said May 22 in a conference call with reporters.
“The political environment is difficult” for green energy, Smith said.
Provisions passed by the House in the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310) severely limit the Pentagon’s authority to purchase alternative fuels that cost more than fossil fuels. One amendment would exempt the Pentagon from legislation — passed in fiscal year 2007 under the Bush administration — that requires federal agencies buy only alternatives that are less polluting than fossil fuels. Another provision would include so-called clean coal and tar sands fuel as acceptable alternatives to petroleum.
Smith said the GOP position on DoD energy programs has hardened over the past several years, although he is still hopeful that the amendments in H.R. 4310 will be stripped when the bill is taken up by a House-Senate conference committee.
That is what happened a year ago, Smith said. “I was able to persuade [HASC Chairman Rep.] Buck McKeon, [and Senate Armed Services members] John McCain and Carl Levin that this was a significant policy shift and we shouldn’t just throw it in the conference report.” Smith said it took a large group of lawmakers to make this argument. “We needed many voices to say this is bad,” Smith said.
It’s hard to predict if a similar strategy will work this time, he added.
Renewable energy has suffered significant political setbacks in the past several years, he said. “We just have not convinced enough people about the need to start burning clean burning sources of energy.”
Too many Americans, he said, have bought the GOP argument that unless the United States starts drilling “every square inch for oil, gas prices will go up.”
The Pentagons’ biofuels program is costly, Smith acknowledged, but it should be seen as a long-term strategic investment so that clean alternatives to oil are available one day.
McKeon and other HASC Republicans have been adamant that Navy spending on biofuels is an unaffordable luxury as it drains funds from ship construction programs and naval readiness accounts. Some of the lawmakers who have opposed Navy biofuel efforts come from shipbuilding districts.
Smith agreed that members’ unhappiness with the Navy’s ship procurement budgets has become a lightning rod. But the energy standoff is more than just about ships, he said. “The GOP majority simply doesn’t buy into alternative energy policy as a philosophy,” he said. “They’re very pro fossil fuel. Promoting alternative fuel to them doesn’t make sense.” Adding more ships to the budget wouldn’t change that, he noted, although that is not an option that is being contemplated.
“Ships are expensive,” Smith said. “It don’t know that we’re in a position to cut that deal.”
If the goal were to find more money for ships, there is plenty of fat in the defense bill to do that, Smith said. H.R. 4310 is adding costly demands on the Pentagon to expand missile defense sites, for instance, he said. “They can find savings elsewhere to build ships.”
At this stage in the game, the Pentagon’s energy agenda only can be saved by stronger advocacy of what it means for the larger national energy future, Smith said.
“We’re simply trying to raise awareness that we need to reverse these amendments in the Senate and then in conference.”
A particularly tough hurdle will be to convince members to back away from including coal and tar sands as part of the alternative fuels mix, said Smith. Even “clean” coal has not been proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and tar sands do not make clean-burning fuel, he contended. Deliberations are likely to get ugly because they have to do with the contentious issue of climate change. “The Defense Department has said climate change is a national security issue,” said Smith. If the Pentagon has to choose between petroleum and other non-clean burning sources of fuel, that also undermines its agenda, he said. | <urn:uuid:ea91b8be-a133-449d-9f68-fc0c2e927022> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.operationfree.net/2012/05/22/ranking-hasc-dem-political-environment-%E2%80%98difficult%E2%80%99-for-dod-energy-agenda/ | 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 | 0.96322 | 984 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Zone Labs Uses AI Solution to Handle E-Mail OverloadSoftware firm Zone Labs recently dug itself out from under a mountain of unanswered e-mail by using an artificial intelligence system that is able to "read" text queries and suggest responses to customers' questions.
Now, Zone Labs, San Francisco, which markets a computer security solution available for download directly through the Internet, is turning e-mail service queries around in two days and automatically rerouting queries that should go to the sales department. The company also is preparing to use that same AI solution to migrate its customer service function from an e-mail-only environment to a self-service, Web-based format.
The situation was much different about eight weeks ago. With 10,000 unanswered e-mail messages in its service queue, the company was the poster child for poor customer service on the Internet. Just a few months after it began selling ZoneAlarm, a software product designed to protect the information stored on computers used within a network, customers had downloaded 3 million copies and had begun firing back service questions via e-mail.
After considering several options, the company decided to install e-mail management technology from Banter Inc., San Francisco. Rather than searching for keywords, as some e-mail management solutions do, Banter detects the intent of the e-mail message by looking at the patterns of words in the text and comparing them with previous messages that have been answered correctly. It then suggests responses that the agents can select from, and it displays those suggestions on the agents' screens.
Using that system, Zone Labs' two-person staff now is handling 200 to 500 incoming e-mail messages per day with no phone support.
"My estimation is that without an e-mail management system, an agent can handle 70 to 100 e-mails a day, some days more, some days less, depending on the complexity of the questions," said Claus Tarstrup, director of product marketing at Zone Labs. "With Banter, on good days, agents are answering 250 to 300 e-mails [each], on bad days, 150."
Zone Labs has the system set up to provide five suggested, canned responses for each e-mail inquiry. An agent then reads the question, selects the correct response from the five choices the system offers and responds. Agents can then augment those responses with additional text comments that they can type in themselves.
In addition to helping the agents stay on top of the e-mail traffic flow, the e-mail management system also is helping Zone Labs to distribute some queries directly to appropriate departments. For example, the system routes e-mail messages that it determines are from potential buyers directly into the sales queue.
"If someone says, 'I'm really interested in ZoneAlarm, and I want to buy 1,000 copies. Can you provide me with a quote?' it will actually take that e-mail, even though it was sent to support, and put it into the sales queue because it knows that the intent of the e-mail is that somebody wants to buy the product," Tarstrup said. He receives about 15 e-mails per day that are routed to the sales queue from the customer service department.
He said it is fairly common for prospective customers to send a sales inquiry to the customer service department deliberately as a test of the vendor's reliability.
In addition, the system can detect if there is an unusually large number of questions about a particular technical issue and send up a red flag to the quality assurance department.
Like other AI solutions, the Banter system is designed to learn continually from the responses that are given to certain questions. When agents select a correct response from the field of chosen answers, the system remembers the pattern of words that appeared in the question and offers the agents the same answer again when it sees that word pattern appear in another question.
Tarstrup said the Banter system has even been able to distinguish what operating systems customers use based on their questions, even when customers don't specifically mention that they are trying to install ZoneAlarm on a Windows system, for example. Thus, Banter is able to suggest the correct response automatically without having an agent try to take the time to sort through the whole message.
Russ Rosen, director of marketing strategies at Kana Communications Inc., which markets a rival AI e-mail management product and is based in Redwood City, CA, said such systems are helpful in handling large volumes of e-mail inquiries in which many of the questions fall into the same category and can get the same prepared response. Less complicated forms of e-mail management, such as pattern-matching systems and Web forms in which users simply fill in the blanks, can also be highly effective customer service tools in many cases, he said.
Tarstrup concurred with Rosen's assessment of AI e-mail management, saying that the system has been particularly effective in sorting all of the queries his company gets about the availability of a ZoneAlarm system for the Macintosh.
"There's no value to us in having a pair of eyes evaluate 1,000 e-mails asking us if we have a Mac version," he said. "We don't, but we know we will have [one] soon, so why waste time answering that?"
Tarstrup said Banter is able to identify correctly 90 percent of the queries about the availability of a Mac version, allowing agents to spend more time on the more complicated or multiple question e-mail queries. The system also has been able to identify 80 percent of the questions about how the system works with America Online, which is another common query.
In addition to helping the company sort through its pile of incoming e-mail, the Banter system also is helping Zone Labs build a self-service component for its Web site. The knowledge the system has gained by using e-mail responses will soon be placed on the Web so that customers will be able to type free-form text questions at the Web site and get an answer without the intervention of an agent. That system also will have the capacity to improve from previous correct answers.
Meanwhile, Zone Labs is preparing to introduce additional products that will increase the complexity of the system even further. This time, Tarstrup said, his company is ready. | <urn:uuid:9ee2371a-1af7-4e8d-befa-bd9eeca432ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/zone-labs-uses-ai-solution-to-handle-e-mail-overload/article/66833/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958415 | 1,283 | 1.757813 | 2 |
So many ancestors, so little time!
This month’s “Carnival of Genealogy” topic is to pick four ancestors with whom to have dinner.
If you could have dinner with four of your ancestors who would they be and why?Would you have dinner in the present day or in one of their eras? Would you dine out or opt for a home cooked meal? What would you discuss at the dinner table? What would you most like to share with them about your life?
Hmmmm. I think I would have dinner in the eras of my ancestors to give me a taste of yesterday. Dessert, however, would be in current times so I could give them a taste of today. I would have a home-cooked meal; preferably one the ancestor cooks! Not because I don’t want to bother (sometimes I almost like to cook), but because even as a very finicky eater I think it would be fascinating to eat what they ate. Besides, I’m really not a fan of eating out. Some of what we discuss would be about questions I have about them and/or their family. Some would be about their lifestyles, their hobbies, their work.
One ancestor I would like to eat with is Margaret (DOYLE) CONROY (1867-1948). She is the one that has been elusive in the 1880 U.S. Census. She would have been 13 in 1880. She is not listed with her family, William and Mary DOYLE, and children John (my great-grandfather), Peter, James, Mary Ann, and William. I couldn’t find her among neighbors, either. I would ask her where she was in 1880 first thing. With my luck, the answer would be as simple as “at home. I guess someone forgot to list me”. During dessert, in modern times, I would also ask her if she ever found out how her young sons died around 1904. The story goes that one son, Albert, of Margaret (DOYLE) and Thomas CONROY died. They took him back to PA to bury him. When they returned to NYC they found their other son, William, dead. Was it Smallpox? I would hold this question until dessert during modern times because I figure that by now, 104 years after her children’s deaths and 60 years after being reunited with them, she’d be okay to talk about it. In the picture below, Margaret is at the left, in the darker dress. She's standing next to her sisters, Mary Ann, Alice and Johanna. Another ancestor I’d share a meal with is my great-grandfather on my mother’s paternal line, James O’ROURKE (1876-1944). As I’ve shared in several posts, my first question for him would be “Who the hell are your parents?”. Honestly I don’t know of any other specific questions I’d have for him. I guess I’d just converse about the times. Oh wait! I’d also ask where his forbearers lived in Ireland.
I think the next ancestor I’d choose would be Mary (GRIFFIN) McHUGH, my father’s paternal grandmother (1867 – 195?). I’d ask about her birthplace, her parents’ identities and location in Ireland, and through what port they entered. My dad had a story in his head that her family emigrated to Canada, and dad’s paternal grandfather, Dennnis McHUGH, followed them there to take Mary away to the U.S. to marry. Alas, Census records show that Mary likely immigrated to the U.S. at about age 8 and Dennis around age 15. Of course, another Census year states age 19 for Mary (immigration year 1886) and around age 29 for Dennis(1896 immigration year). This information is almost certainly incorrect, however, given that their first born son Patrick was born in PA in 1887.
Finally, the last ancestor I’d dine with is my father’s maternal grandmother Justina (NAHODIL sp?) HODICK (1875-1950). First thing I’d ask her is the correct spelling of her maiden name. It was always thought to be NAUCHADILE; however, during my research it is more likely a version of NAHODIL / NAHADIL. It may have been both; perhaps they changed it when they immigrated. I’d ask her where she was born. A family Bible somewhere stated Fuenfkirchen, Austria, which *may* now be Pecs, Hungary (or it may not). Every census record I’ve found her in states Czechoslavakia. Below is Justina with her husband, my gr-grandfather, Edward(1867-1951).
With a little luck, each of the above ancestors would be able to answer questions about their spouses’ ancestors, too. I’d like to confirm the 1885 ship Pennland as the one on which Justina’s husband, my dad’s maternal grandfather, sailed with his family when they immigrated to the U.S. It likely is, as the ship’s manifest to the U.S. via St.Kitt’s matches what my dad recalled about the family having stopped in that part of the world before arriving in the States. Also, this ship’s manifest identified Austria as the HODICK family’s country of origin.
I’d like to confirm my maternal great-grandmother’s maiden name’s spelling as McCUE as opposed to McHUGH. I’d also like to know her birth name. Her marriage record states Jennie; family knew her as Jane. Perhaps it was Genevieve? Perhaps Margaret DOYLE would have known.
I know that someday, when I finally get around to ordering vital recores, many of these questions will be answered. But it sure was fun imagining I could get the answers directly from their mouths!
I said this before, and I’ll say it again:
So many ancestors, so little time. | <urn:uuid:fd502443-3879-4ce2-8299-4b4510131466> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://omchorations.blogspot.com/2008/01/so-many-ancestors.html | 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 | 0.984086 | 1,308 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Email article to friend
Copy of the email your friend will receive:
This message was sent by [friends name] using [your email]
Hi [friends name]
I've just read this great article on GadgetSpeak™ and thought you'd find it interesting.
If you enjoy this article and would like to read more then click here
The Clockwork Man
Starting in Victorian London of 1889, The Clockwork Man is a hidden object game which has been developed by Total Eclipse and is published by GameHouse.
As is becoming increasingly standard with games of this genre, The Clockwork Man has a storyline of sorts and has a number of mini-games which take the form of puzzles that need to be solved in order to make progress. In some cases the mini-games rely on finding certain objects so that the task can be completed. You are cast in the role of Miranda Calomy, a young lady whose appearance and attitude is completely at odds with what you might expect from a Victorian lady. | <urn:uuid:70fda6cd-9a5d-41f3-b09d-f7018714545b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gadgetspeak.com/gadget/forward.rhtm?topicID=130123&articleID=575917 | 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 | 0.967212 | 202 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Did Chief Justice John Roberts, in a reprise of the celebrated “switch in time that saved nine”, change his vote at the last minute to uphold the Affordable Care Act? My colleague Travis Jacobs e-mailed me early yesterday to note an NPR report that, contrary to what some analysts were claiming based on their assessment of the written opinions in the health care case, only three days after the oral arguments last March Chief Justice Roberts had in fact voted with the four liberals judges to uphold the ACA. That is, Roberts did not initially write an opinion to overturn the ACA only to change his mind at the last minute, as many bloggers have speculated based on how his opinion was written. Rather, from the very start, Roberts – as Chief Justice – was intent on crafting an opinion that offered something to both the liberal and conservative wings of the Court, while shielding it as much as possible from charges of partisan bias.
Shortly after Travis’ email, other news outlets chimed in with their own version of when Roberts’ made his decision. According to this CBS News story by Jan Crawford, Roberts had, initially, agreed to strike down the ACA, but he soon reconsidered and decided to uphold it, choosing to write the majority opinion himself. That majority decision, according to Crawford, was due on June 1, which gave the dissenters until June 15 to draft a response which was written by Kennedy and Justice Scalia. In this version, then, Roberts appears to have decided relatively early to uphold ACA.
The dispute over the timing of Roberts’ decision is interesting because it reminds us that the Supreme Court is a political institution whose members often draft opinions in ways designed to attract maximum support with the goal of building a winning coalition. That is, they do not come to a decision as nine individuals, each acting independently to divine the true constitutional implications of a statute based on their own readings of the relevant case law. Instead, they consider what their colleagues are saying, both as a means of coming to their own verdict, but also with an eye toward anticipating and shaping the final Court ruling. In this vein, it would not surprise me if all three sets of opinions – Roberts’ majority holding, and the two sets of dissents – were all crafted with an eye toward staving off defections and picking up additional votes. Roberts, of course, with an interest in portraying the Court as above politics, wanted to avoid another 5-4 decision, while Kennedy needed a 5th vote to overturn ACA in its entirety. For her part, Ginsburg couldn’t be certain that Roberts’ vote to uphold would stand, so she wrote in the possibility that he might switch his position.
If true, how might have this sequential process of coalition building influence the wording of the justices’ opinions? Note that Ginsburg’s dissent (all references to the justices’ opinions are from the final decision here) repeatedly addresses the Chief Justice’s arguments regarding the commerce clause, in often scathing tones. The portions of her dissent discussing the “vegetable state” that I alluded to yesterday are particularly biting. In contrast, as far as I can tell, Kennedy’s dissent barely mentions the Chief Justice or his arguments at all. Instead, he typically directs his response against “The government and those who support its position” and spends most of his time addressing the Solicitor General’s oral arguments, rather than Roberts’ majority opinion. Indeed, after eviscerating the government’s claim that the mandate is covered by the interstate commerce clause, Kennedy dismisses the tax rationale that is the heart of Roberts’ defense by saying, in effect, that when passing ACA Congress called it a penalty, not a tax. Moreover, its provisions are those associated with a penalty, not a tax. As Kennedy writes, “We never have classified as a tax an exaction imposed for violation of the law, and so too, we never have classified as a tax an exaction described in the legislation itself as a penalty….we have never—never—treated as a tax an exaction which faces up to the critical difference between a tax and a penalty, and explicitly denominates the exaction a ‘penalty.’ Eighteen times in §5000A itself and elsewhere throughout the Act, Congress called the exaction in§5000A(b) a ‘penalty’…What counts is what the statute says, and that is entirely clear.” And later, he warns, “Imposing a tax through judicial legislation inverts the constitutional scheme, and places the power to tax in the branch of government least accountable to the citizenry.” That is, to borrow my analogy from yesterday, if it does not walk or quack – it is not a tax.
As I noted yesterday, some bloggers believe the difference in tone suggests that Roberts initially sided with Kennedy and the three conservatives, but then was persuaded late in the game to switch to uphold ACA. Crawford suggests in her CBS times piece that Kennedy and the three conservatives decided, at some point, to stop engaging with Roberts’ argument altogether. But as Orin Kerr warns, consistent with Travis’ comment, Roberts might have supported upholding ACA almost as soon as the oral arguments ended. The different tones adopted by the two groups of dissenters might simply reflect the compressed time schedule under which the justices were forced to come to a decision on a very important and very complex case. Assume that Roberts decided shortly after oral arguments to uphold the ACA. He then worked carefully to craft an opinion designed to reach out, in part, to Kennedy in the hope of getting at least a 6-3 vote, rather than the less politically appealing 5-4 split decision. The dissenters, pressed for time to make the alternative case, begin drafting their response even before seeing Roberts’ majority opinion, which is why they direct so much of their opinion against the Solicitor General’s oral argument. When Ginsburg finally sees Roberts’ draft, meanwhile, she can’t be sure that he will hold his ground, so she focuses all her firepower on critiquing his interstate commerce clause argument, in effect trying to win a fifth vote (perhaps from Kennedy.)
I don’t know when Roberts arrived at his decision, or whether he is, in fact, merely the latest Justice Roberts to “switch in time to save nine.” But I am confident that he crafted his decision – as did each group of dissenters – not just on a reading of the case at hand within an understanding of the constitutional issues, but also with an eye toward building a winning coalition with very little time to spare. In this sense the Court, as an institution, is less like a legal temple housing priests in robes, and much more like the backroom in City Hall. | <urn:uuid:9cece805-1849-4d32-9feb-b7601ce3b620> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sites.middlebury.edu/presidentialpower/2012/07/02/the-roberts-decision-no-switch-in-time-to-save-nine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975943 | 1,405 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Posts Tagged Ecuador
Volunteer in Ecuador
Ecuador is located in the continent of South America, where it borders the Pacific Ocean at the equator, in between Colombia and Peru. With its capital at Quinto, Ecuador boasts an estimated population of 14 million persons, who are mostly a mixture of Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) and Amerindian. The official language in Ecuador is Spanish, while the pre dominant religion is Roman Catholic.
Ecuador has a democratically-elected government and national assembly, the current president being Rafael Correa who was elected in November 26, 2006. The country has used the U.S. dollar as its official currency since 2000, ever since its currency collapsed in 1997. Both U.S. coins and Ecuadorian coins, which are equivalent to the value of the U.S. coins, are used.
The climate and weather in Ecuador is mainly tropical, but if packing for specificity, then a basic idea is thatthe weather is tropical along coast, it becomes cooler as you head inland at higher elevations, and tropical in the Amazonian jungle and lowlands.
For a volunteer one should know that Ecuador has 4 diverse regions: the Amazon Rain forest, the Coast, the highland Andes, and the Galapagos Archipelago, but as there may be some differences in cultural practices within these regions, mainly evidenced by mode of dressing, the Roman Catholic Church has a strong influence on personal and social behavior, making it part of national identity.
Most holidays and celebrations are based on Christian festivals. Due to historical circumstances the Church is also wrapped up with the process of government, however, traditional gender roles still remain, the man is the breadwinner and the wife looks after the home. Therefore from birth, children are raised to understand that they will have different roles and expectations in life, remember this while dealing with local volunteers to avoid meeting cultural barriers.
Ecuadorians are known for being warm and polite. They can be quite tactile and tend to stand much closer to each other when speaking than in many other cultures. As a result they are highly tuned to body language and non-verbal communication, so if you are from a culture that is less reliant on relationships, trust and non-verbal cues then you need to watch what messages you may, or may not, be giving, in order to have an easier time communicating with the local people.
There are many volunteer opportunities that exist in Ecuador include sports coaching, animal conservation, teaching, orphanage work, social work, HIV/AIDS etc. It is also a great place for volunteers or students who want to learn to speak Spanish. They can improve their Spanish by living with the local people and being immersed in their culture.
Tags: Ecuador, Volunteer | <urn:uuid:d60bff3d-073e-4e71-b0d9-b48d241cd7fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chicagolandheadhuggers.org/tag/ecuador | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965464 | 565 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Do as we say not what we do
Despite the fact that the US government has been forcing others to comply with tough new privacy laws the "majority" of the UK government's own websites will fail to comply in time.
All UK sites have been given until 26 May to make sure visitors are able to give "informed consent" over cookies. The Cabinet Office said the government was working to achieve compliance at the earliest possible date but it was starting to look like a long of them will not make it.
Consent will most likely be obtained by ticking a "yes" box when visiting a site. While the regulations are designed to protect user privacy when using the web seem fair enough, it seems that the British government, which has had to make shedloads of cuts on its IT budget will not be ready in time.
The sites, which range from those run by local councils to national departments, have been told that no action will be taken by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). All they will have to do is show they are still committed. | <urn:uuid:907a719c-2300-4af0-a396-760eb301de21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/27203-brits-unable-to-comply-with-cookie-law | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983496 | 213 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Offshore Software Development with Different Teams
Couple of years back or we can say in early nineties it was something that software development can be done with a Software development Company solely at one place. Now it is changed and different teams are working from different places on entire projects and never meet face-to-face. The fact that is still challenging is that it hasn't reduced the risk and complexity involved in successful project delivery in spite of reducing the frequent-flyer balance of today's developers.
Global development and delivery (GDD) is most fascinating short tem aspect that is consistently keeping management to think of the same. Companies in software development using GDD as a competitive variable; most IT organizations know what benefits to expect from GDD. They usually are less sure about how to achieve them. Still, that hasn't affected the speed of GDD adoption. Frequently, software development demands force IT organizations to take on GDD before they can establish strategies and platforms for success.
As the scope and scale of GDD efforts increase, so does the occurrence of failure. This pattern continues until frustration results in software development organizations concluding that GDD is more trouble than it's worth. Software development has always been a team sport geographical & organizational separations of project Software development Company increases the complexity involved in achieving successful outcomes. Yet global flexibility is the core foundation for achieving advantages in cost, time, and quality. To be successful in GDD, you must protect the Software development Company aspect of application development outsourcing.
Well structured software development process framework gives GDD projects with Software development Company cohesion and direction without sacrificing the flexibility necessary for agile development. This help teams to adopt a single, "common" process for all projects and provides teams with the ability to adopt methods and best practices that are visible, practical, and governed. The platform ties global teams together and reduces the risk of failure as global development initiatives become more complex. With a global process framework, you can easily codify lessons learned and achieve continuous global process improvement.
For example, in defining and implementing a software development project specification, there is a tendency to believe that the more detailed and precise the specification is, the better the expected results from offshore software Development Company. However, in practice, wasting collaboration and communication time between distributed teams on the clarification of unnecessary implementation specifics and style contribute little to meeting the requirements of the end product. Implementation style is difficult to direct across GDD teams. Global methods and process should focus energy on managing and communicating the architecture and requirements. It shouldn't waste time defining the step-by-step directions for how distributed Software development Company members should do their jobs. | <urn:uuid:19818fa7-c492-4ac4-b820-f494381d25d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tatvasoft.com/outsourcing/2008/02/offshore-software-development-with.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942499 | 533 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Sacramento reviews speed limits on 30 streets
Traffic engineers propose lowering some speed limits
Speed limits could be changing on several streets if the Sacramento City Council adopts a proposal from the city's transportation department.
The proposed changes come after engineers reviewed data on motorists' average speed on 30 city streets. Three of those streets are up for change.
The proposal that will will go before Sacramento's City Council includes the following speed-limit changes:
+ Second Avenue from Riverside Boulevard to 21st Street will be reduced from 30 mph to 25.
+ Folsom Boulevard from Elvas Avenue to State University Drive could be reduced from 45 mph to 40.
+ Amherst Street, Bercut Drive, and Weald Way would also have the speed limits cut by 5 mph if the proposal is passed.
The city will also examine Second Avenue and Folsom Boulevard for proposed boundary changes to the streets, which would alter existing speed zones in those areas.
Traffic engineer Hector Barron said the city is required to study speeds on more than 300 streets every seven years and submit those studies to the county. If the city doesn't, drivers who get speeding tickets could have those citations thrown out by judges.
Barron said traffic engineers, with a few exceptions, must set speeds based on the how fast 85 percent of drivers travel down the roadways -- to ensure the engineers are not creating speed traps.
Jodie Hope said she supports lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 miles per hour along Second Avenue.
"They will probably still go 30 but at least there's a chance of them going a lower speed," Hope said.
"I think that's a pretty good idea, because this is a pretty residential area," said Cherie Kraus as she stopped at an intersection.
The City Council will consider the changes at its meeting on Tuesday.
If the council approves the speed limit changes, they still won't become effective until the signs are switched.
Copyright 2013 by KCRA.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:b41c4b74-df74-4f47-af19-32ed28a8986f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/Sacramento-reviews-speed-limits-on-30-streets/-/12969376/19333658/-/view/print/-/qm434q/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962647 | 427 | 1.820313 | 2 |
October 14th, 2012
The Ada Initiative works to create a “A world in which women are equal and welcome participants in open source software, open data, and open culture.” This is critical not just for the women involved, but for all of us. We need diversity in people creating our infrastructures and technology if we want them to represent all points of view.
To do this The Ada Initiative gathers active women together, such as AdaCamp in DC, with over 100 women active in wide range of open source /free culture projects. I’ve seen the impact such gatherings have, and have seen the Mozilla attendees come away super-charged. The Ada Initiative is also working to reduce harassment, which sadly still occurs more regularly than should be the case.
I was a seed donor, and I’ve just contributed to the current fund-raising campaign. Please consider joining me by donating to The Ada Initiative.
If you are in the San Francisco area this coming Tuesday (Oct 16), you can also join The Ada Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation and Mozilla to celebrate this year’s Ada Lovelace Day at the Wikimedia Foundation’s office in San Francisco.
September 21st, 2012
Have you ever sat down with someone else’s computer and wondered why a particular piece of software seems to perform so much better (or worse)? Ever wonder what people do to tune the performance of their software? Ever wish you had more information to understand your specific experience — why something stopped working, why something got slower, what you did to make a piece of software feel new and fast again?
Firefox Health Report will be a new feature of Firefox that enables much better answers to these sorts of questions. Firefox Health Report will allow each one of us to understand our own experiences. It will also allow Mozilla to understand these experiences in the aggregate for our users.
Firefox Health Report will use data to do this. It will use data in a privacy-centric way. This is really important. We’re living in the middle of a data explosion. The Internet world must figure out new ways to benefit from the richness of the data explosion without treating people like objects to be manipulated.
We’ve designed Firefox Health Report to treat people well and to start the process of putting us back in control of the data that shapes our online experience. We’ve designed it to provide useful information to you about your experience. For example: is a particular add-on causing performance to degrade? Will starting a new Firefox profile help improve performance?
Second, we’ve designed the Firefox Health Report to not gather personal information. This will allow Mozilla to develop aggregate data in a privacy-sensitive way. You can see all the details about how we’ve done this here.
Third, we will also make it easy for people to disable this feature. This may be an excess of caution for many users. However, we know that there are some people who prefer a world of no data, even if it means less understanding of personal circumstances. We want this group to be comfortable as well, and so we will make the process for disabling this feature clear and conspicuous.
Mozilla has an intense focus on building products that use data in privacy-centric way. We’re organized as a non-profit organization precisely so we can focus on the principle of User Sovereignty rather than business models. Indeed, the Mozilla Manifesto drives us to help people live well in a data-centric world.
September 19th, 2012
In January 2011 Mozilla proposed a new browser feature to help people control who tracks and logs our online activities. This feature is known as “Do Not Track.” It’s a simple way for a person to tell the advertising networks that he or she does not want to be tracked.
Since Mozilla introduced DNT to the market last year, other major browser vendors and web properties have announced their support for DNT on the desktop– Apple and Opera in 2011; and Microsoft not long ago. This week the Google Chrome implementation of DNT is starting to appear in the market. With Chrome joining, we’ve now reached the point where all major desktop browsers support DNT. This is an important step forward for Do Not Track, and for Mozilla’s goal of bring user control and choice to everyone.
When we first proposed Do Not Track we knew it would take a lot of work as well as some luck to be successful. But we knew that many people feel online tracking is creepy and a bit like being stalked. And of course Mozilla’s mission pushes us to do the things our commercial competitors aren’t likely to do. We felt the time was right and we should take the risk and try to improve the state of the industry in this area.
The time was right. Desktop browsers, plus Firefox on Android, now allow us to identify ourselves as not wanting to be tracked. A number of advertising organizations, including Google, have announced they will support the Do Not Track request. Adoption of DNT has been about 11% on Firefox desktop and about 16% on Firefox for Android (currently the only mobile browser to support DNT).
Mozilla’s work on Do Not Track is one facet of our work to bring User Sovereignty to all aspects of online life. Today we’re working on a richer user experience for Do Not Track, a related tool for understanding the flow of information between sites, a way of allowing people to control more of our online identity, and more.
Expect more from Mozilla on these topics!
September 11th, 2012
A very odd sensation today. My husband and I had gone to try to find decent quality office furniture (ergonomic desks, stand-up desk, that sort of thing). The store was closed, even though it was long before noon. For some reason I was drawn to the store next door, which looked a bit like a garden / home store. It had all sorts of stuff in the doorway so I wandered in while my husband sat outside, longing for lunch. As I stepped inside I heard the radio. After a minute the sounds became understandable to me — the radio was a talk show in Mandarin. I looked around, and sure enough, the proprietor was Chinese. The setting felt instantly familiar.
It’s funny, it’s been a very, very long time since I lived in Beijing. But it was such a formative experience that it has stuck with me. I understood the store completely — the odd combination of stuff, the kinds of things one was likely to find, the useful and oddball stuff. And while I’ve forgotten most of the Chinese I once knew, my ability to converse in Chinese is still light-years ahead of Spanish. Often, when I’m trying to say something in Spanish I’ll hear words coming out of my mouth and realize I’ve dropped some Chinese words in the middle of the sentence ….
September 6th, 2012
MozCamp Europe 2012 is this weekend in Warsaw. It should be a packed weekend as the energy of so many people intent on building great things flows together. I’m also excited to see Warsaw as our venue, it reflects the very long and deep contributions the Polish community have made to Mozilla over the last 15 years. Sadly I need to leave early on Sunday because we’ve got 2 kids starting a new school in a new country and I want to be back for that. I suspect that means a *very* late night on Saturday
I’ve got a busy Saturday planned. Together with Tristan I’ll start things off with a big picture view of Mozilla. I’ll hold a session called “Evolution of the Mozilla Manifesto.” This will be partly about the Manifesto, and partly about “living the Manifesto.” The Manifesto is written down as words, but its true manifestation is how we act and what we build, and that’s what I plan to focus on. This is also way I love the Mozilla Community Quilt Presentations part of MozCamp so much — it shows the many local communities that come together to make Mozilla real.
There are also a couple of hours with space set aside for “Office Hours.” I’m hoping anyone, or groups, or local communities who have topics to discuss with wander by and we can work together. That way I’ll also get to meet a lot more people individually.
We’ll take the things that work best and bring them to upcoming MozCamps and other Mozilla events as well. | <urn:uuid:83716e34-7ac9-4ecd-a1d0-e3883adcbe6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/page/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952194 | 1,789 | 1.75 | 2 |
Kansas Attorney General-elect Derek Schmidt announced this week that his office will keep an eye on any environmental regulations coming from the federal government that might exceed federal authority.
The Republican Schmidt takes office next month. He said, “I think we’re in a period of time here where it’s going to be important for states’ legal representatives to keep an eye on the federal administrative process related to the whole range of environmental energy regulations and raise concerns when it’s warranted.”
Schmidt and other critics are concerned new rules set to take effect January 2nd will require farmers and others in agriculture to make significant modifications to their operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Joining Schmidt in his concern about federal intrusion is Republican Governor elect Sam Brownback. Schmidt said he would work with the Brownback administration to determine what legal action is necessary to prevent EPA regulations from harming state and business interests. | <urn:uuid:dd3870f5-4e15-450e-9a0f-ffa650a0324e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kndyradio.com/2010/12/16/kansas-attorney-general-elect-will-watch-federal-epa-regulations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952977 | 186 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The hidden cost of the War on Terror
Supreme Court asked to decide whether attorney general illegally changed IRS regulations to allow federal police powers Congress meant to curb
By GEOFF DAVIDIAN
But the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked in Payne v. USA to decide whether former Attorney General John Ashcroft illegally rewrote IRS regulations in a surreptitious end-run around congressional limits on federal police powers – powers that were meant to protect citizens from the damage caused not by terrorists, but by the IRS.
270-page petition filed on Tuesday,
“That’s why the attorney general’s plan focused on the IRS,” Payne said in an interview on Wednesday.
“The federal police agencies are coordinating and functioning as a unit,” says Payne. “The common sequence is the FBI identifies a ‘target,’ then the FBI gives the ‘target’ to the IRS police, who investigate the target because the IRS police have authority to investigate without any evidence that a crime has been committed.”
This latest battle between Payne and the IRS, which began with an investigation of the attorney’s tax statements in the early 1990s, opens a can of worms for the government as it tries to obtain more IRS positions for enforcement purposes.
“Average Americans pay their taxes honestly and accurately, and have every right to be confident that when they do so, their neighbors and competitors are doing the same,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a March 15 speech at National Press Club. “Let me provide an overview of the steps we have taken over the past year to bolster this confidence, turning briefly to each of our four service-wide enforcement priorities.
“Our first enforcement priority is to discourage and deter non-compliance, with emphasis on corrosive activity by corporations, high-income individuals and other contributors to the tax gap.”
Payne argues that the IRS is not using the enforcement police to crack down on tax deadbeats, but is diverting the agents to do the bidding of the FBI in the War on Terror. The FBI must have probable cause to investigate but the IRS – under the illegally changed regulations – can investigate virtually any crime without a reason and damage a possibly innocent citizen.
“The changed regulations take away a citizen’s chance to provide the information sought by the IRS police without friends and customers learning there is a criminal investigation,” says Payne, who was the target of an investigation but was cleared at trial – after his law practice was damaged by agents.
“The FBI is the ‘front man’ in seeking expansion and renewal of the Patriot Act,” says Payne. “The IRS is seeking more IRS police, they say, because of the Tax Cheater.
“But the reality is that the IRS police are being used to investigate the FBI’s “targets,” which has reduced the IRS police availability to find tax cheats.”
A call to | <urn:uuid:ef38366b-69bb-44b3-84da-c2294a529d4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.putnampit.com/shorewoodvillage/IRS_regulations.htm | 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 | 0.961299 | 629 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Last week’s news about Orexigen’s Contrave obesity drug and its struggles with the FDA’s Division of Metabolic and Endocrinologic Products has left me puzzled. Obesity is such an enormous epidemic, one has to wonder why the FDA is taking such a hardline approach.
Ignoring the advice of their own Advisory Committee last December, which voted for approval, they have now rejected what seems on the surface to be a robust proposal by Orexigen to do one of the largest Phase 3 clinical trials ever to bring Contrave to market. In an attempt to address the cardiovascular risk questions posed by the FDA’s Complete Response earlier this year, Orexigen proposed a very rational REMS approach to safe use of the drug and doing a monster 12-15,000 patient study. That’s a huge trial. But apparently not big enough. Using the FDA’s statistical powering methods implied that the trial size they wanted would need to include 50,000-100,000 patients. That’s an absolutely untenable, multi-year, many billions of dollars study.
How is Orexigen, a small cap biotech, supposed to fund that? It’s not. The FDA doesn’t want Contrave to see the light of day.
Where’s the FDA’s consideration of the benefit part of the “risk-benefit” calculation? Even modest weight loss has been shown to have big health benefits, , particularly related to prevention of diabetes. Contrave showed in multiple studies it could consistently deliver placebo-adjusted weight loss of almost 5%. Would the FDA have approved it if it were 7.5%? 10%? I’m not sure. We’ll find out with Qnexa, Vivus’ obesity drug, that appears to deliver weight loss near 10%, but its hard to be enthusiastic today.
Fundamentally, the only interpretation of Contrave’s struggles, and that of the other Phase 3 anti-obesity agents, is that the FDA does not believe obesity is a disease. For a group supposedly focused on science and data, I think that’s astounding.
Sadly, a lot of people don’t believe obesity is a disease. Many believe its simply a lifestyle choice, and that changes to diet and exercise are the only “right” ways to treat obesity. But the data certainly don’t support that notion. There’s an important role for lifestyle modifications for sure, but the molecular physiology of chronic obese patients suggest there’s a lot more going on than just too many calories and too little exercise. There’s a growing scientific literature around altered molecular pathways in obese patients, genetic parameters, epigenetic changes, serious metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired ability to burn fat and an exaggerated storage of fat, common viruses causing fat deposition, etc… Once these changes are in place at the molecular, cell, and organ level, they don’t just switch back to normal with diet and exercise. Furthermore, we all know the lean person that eats a ton and never exercises, and vice versa. We simply don’t fully understand the drivers of obesity today. But its clearly more than just a lifestyle issue. Some contend, convincingly, that dietary imbalances are an important driver of the disease (and not overeating or sedentary lifestyles). But once you’re obese, however, you are stuck there without a serious intervention.
Take one of Contrave’s Phase 3 studies: the drug was given on top of “intensive lifestyle interventions” that included counseling, diet, and exercise. This “placebo” treatment led to a respectable 5.1% weight loss after 52 weeks. A whole year’s worth of lifestyle changes led to an average loss of 5%. This means that many (if not most) patients in the study failed to achieve even 5% weight loss after a full year of intensive lifestyle modification. When Contrave was added to this, patients lost 9.3% – more than 80% greater weight loss than lifestyle changes alone. This just underscores for me that both approaches are important to get to the goal of reducing obesity, and that neither alone represents a solution to the problem.
The advocates of lifestyle-only intervention seem to be religious in their approach: driven by beliefs rather than data. Diet and exercise don’t typically work on their own, and don’t lead to long term outcomes in most patients. Even the celebrated community- and school-based programs for reducing childhood obesity, like the Shape Up program in Somerville MA that involved intensive lifestyle and diet changes for eight year olds, have achieved only modest weight reductions at best (i.e., Shape Up reduced the weight of the top quartile of kids by less than 1.5% after 8 months of aggressive intervention). Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for these preventative strategies, eating better foods, reducing sugary drinks in the diet, encouraging more exercise for both kids and adults, etc… These all feel like the right things to do. But I don’t think they will by themselves solve the obesity crises, especially for those adults that are already obese. We should be careful not to confuse these useful programs with treatments for obesity. They simply do not, and cannot drive weight loss in the population of high risk patients with established obesity.
I think the lack of advocacy within the FDA in support of medical interventions for obesity, especially in light of the 10s of millions of adults with obesity and more critically morbid obesity, is a travesty of our current healthcare and regulatory system, and we’ll pay the price for this in the future. The FDA approves poorly tolerated and incredibly expensive medicines that provide only glancing benefits to many diseases (like a few weeks survival benefit in cancer), and supports devices for surgical treatment of obesity despite significant rates of death and serious comorbidities. The playing field is simply not level, and our healthcare system will one day pick up the tab in higher costs for treatment of obesity-derived diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and heart disease.
“However much the image of people being medicated to reduce the obesity epidemic may discomfort those who seek a behavioral or public policy remedy, to cease the search for safe and effective medications would be to abandon a major segment of the population to an unhealthy fate”
Furthermore, by putting up seemingly insurmountable roadblocks to getting new medicines approved for obesity, the FDA’s actions are driving scarce R&D and venture capital funding out of the field which will have long term negative consequences to patients and society – no new funding, no new research, no new drugs, and no new levers to pull in the battle against obesity. | <urn:uuid:8aac7a7d-e7d8-4c44-8391-a9fb629c2e66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lifescivc.com/2011/06/contrave-latest-casualty-in-the-fdas-war-against-obesity-drugs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948841 | 1,401 | 1.789063 | 2 |
The trappings of a determined protest movement — chanting, flags and raised fists — fill Tahrir Square, the hard-won enclave of those who seek a new Egypt. But some there fear an enemy within.
The boldest challenge ever to President Hosni Mubarak's three decades of authoritarian rule has so far failed in its singular goal to oust him immediately. And after initial euphoria over their defiance of a state once thought impregnable, protesters are increasingly uneasy that Mubarak or leaders he has chosen may manage to hang on to power.
If they do, there is a growing fear that the entrenched regime will try to exact revenge in the way it has done so many times before — mass arrests and abuse of detainees.
Many in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests in Cairo, have noticed some in their midst who look out of place. They hold mobile telephones aloft, recording video of the panorama. The protesters suspect these are undercover police documenting who is attending the protests and fear that if they don't win far-reaching concessions soon, an emboldened security establishment will identify and round them up, one by one.
"We've heard about plainclothes security milling about in the crowd," said Salih Abdul Aziz, 39, who first joined protests at the square on Jan. 28, a day of intense clashes with riot police. "We are careful in what we say to each other. And we don't talk politics very much to people we don't know."
For decades, Egyptians have endured brutality and corruption at the hands of police, and fear is a part of their fiber. A 30-year-old teacher who has met with government officials to discuss reforms said one of the protesters' main demands is the annulment of Egypt's repressive emergency laws, which the government has promised to lift eventually.
"This must happen. Otherwise we are not safe. We can be arrested anytime," said the teacher, who only gave her first name, Heba, for fear of government retribution.
The emergency laws expand police powers and sharply curtail rights to demonstrate and organize politically. The restrictions were imposed after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, which led to Mubarak taking power.
A Human Rights Watch worker said she had heard of recent detentions involving "lower-level harassment" of people approaching Tahrir Square with blankets and other supplies, or for alleged violations of a nightly curfew.
"There are new reports every day," said rights activist Heba Morayef. "It's not all targeted."
The Arab Network for Human Rights Information, an Egyptian group, said a prominent Egyptian blogger has been missing since Sunday night.
Abdel Kareem Nabil disappeared after leaving Tahrir Square, said Gamal Eid, a group activist. Nabil was released in November after four years in jail for writings deemed insulting to Islam and for calling Mubarak "a symbol of tyranny."
Eid said his group has recorded around 40 people missing, and believed to be in detention, since Jan. 28. He said it was not a comprehensive list and that his group was still compiling data on missing people.
On Monday, the government freed Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. executive who was behind a Facebook page that rallied support for the protest movement. The government has promised to release other detained protesters, though it has not commented on the numbers and location of people it is holding.
Talking to an Egyptian station, station Dream 2 TV, Ghonim described how he met the new head of the ruling National Democratic Party after his release and urged him to quit because his party was "rotten."
In the interview, Ghonim joked: "It looks like I might be kidnapped again after this."
Though they have not reached their ultimate goal of pushing Mubarak out, two weeks of protests have already brought the most far-reaching concessions the regime has ever offered. Mubarak sacked his Cabinet and appointed a new one, including the first vice president he has ever designated. He promised he would not seek re-election later this year and the government also assured protesters his son Gamal would not run, as many had feared. The leadership of the ruling party was purged.
In addition, the new vice president, Omar Suleiman, offered to embark on a far-reaching set of reforms to include amending the constitution to provide for greater political freedoms and competition in elections for both parliament and the presidency.
However, many protesters are deeply mistrustful of those promises.
Ahmed Hosni, a 38-year-old disabled man, said he lost his leg to an accident in 2003 because when he was moved to a hospital, there was not enough equipment to treat his simple injury and he was left bleeding.
"We cannot leave the square because we don't trust the regime," he said. "For 30 years, we have been mistrusting the regime. If we leave, the police will come back."
Many just do not believe the government will deliver. They have heard similar promises before, but the changes never came to pass.
And they see a basic conundrum in the promises of reform: How can those who created an autocratic system, built on privileges for the few and the repression of many, be responsible for dismantling it?
Within the same week, the government made extraordinary pledges not to harass protesters and to investigate election fraud and official graft while hinting darkly at foreign influence in the protests.
That was a slap to a movement that, by most accounts, is homegrown even if it drew inspiration from the revolt in Tunisia, another North African Arab nation.
Suleiman, who has been managing the crisis, is just an extension of the problem for many denizens of Tahrir Square. They see the former intelligence chief and army general as an incarnation of his boss.
In this shifting landscape, it is hard for protesters to know whether they are winning or losing, whether the concessions amount to a real victory as long as the president of nearly three decades is still in his palace.
"What motivated me, and so many other people, was to make Mubarak go," said Ahmad Issam, a 31-year-old engineer in a suit and tie who came to protest in Tahrir Square after work. "Then the brainwashing attempts: the rumors, the media, showed that the regime hasn't changed." | <urn:uuid:bd9352c2-346c-486c-b931-f50d73a15574> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://2scottmontgomery.blogspot.com/2011/02/foxnewsegypt-protesters-fear-revenge-if.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979108 | 1,301 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Train offers juicy vistas
Pear trees show off their spring splendor in Hood River Valley
The Mount Hood Railroad's vintage train creeps backward out of Hood River station, clanking and groaning up the mountain toward Parkdale, the site of the Hood River Valley Blossom Festival.
After negotiating the switchback, the train's passengers suddenly are faced with the sight of acres of white and pink blossoms. Rows of pear and apple trees stretch to the horizon, which to the west is Ñ clouds permitting Ñ punctuated by the profile of Mount Hood.
Smudge pots are scattered about the orchards, and tall white fans stand ready to waft warm air about in case of frost. Pears make up 90 percent of the fruit grown in the volcanic soil of these slopes. Once, apples were the prime crop, Dan the conductor explains on the two-hour round trip to Parkdale. Squeezed by Asian imports, the valley shifted to pears. In the last five years, though, farmers have been eyeing the wine boom and ripping the trees out to plant grapes.
While the gathering of pie bakers, fruit canners and quilt makers on Parkdale's grassy strip cannot match Japan's sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) for scale and class, it remains a vital celebration of being an Oregonian. (Compare it to the parade of fruitless cherry trees in Washington, D.C.)
Whole families are supported by anjou-picking dads, the best of whom can fill 15 bins in a day, each holding 50 pounds, at $20 a bin. Mexican children wave from the windows of subsidized housing as the train wends its way past several of the big packing companies, such as Diamond.
In the course of climbing 1,788 feet, the train offers scenery that varies between orchards in bloom and forested hillsides, with the occasional glimpse of a trailer. The brunch train, which runs weekends in April through December, stops for just 20 minutes; passengers on the blossom festival train will have two hours in Parkdale to browse the craft fair and exhibits.
Alternatively, the blossoms can be viewed via a driving tour on a scenic loop recommended by Hood River County Chamber of Commerce (www.hoodriver.org). But though cup holders and screaming kids are fine for some people, the stylish way to do it is in a classic American train with a caboose, bar and dance floor. | <urn:uuid:896ce972-4d7d-442a-ae11-6fccf9a468e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=119116 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93494 | 506 | 1.625 | 2 |
DEAN BRAID, GM WORKER: I'd like to welcome you --
PAUL SOLMAN: A makeshift union hall at the Ramada Inn in Flint, Mich.
DEAN BRAID: One person here, all of us together, we have power.
PAUL SOLMAN: Striving for militancy here in flint, birthplace of the United Auto Workers, a splinter group of the UAW is trying to invoke the spirit of 1937.
GREGG SHOTWELL, Delphi Worker: Walter Reuther said, "If you close one plant, we will close all the plants."
PAUL SOLMAN: This was the sit-down strike of '37 that launched a previous generation of blue-collar Americans on the road to the middle class. Now, however --
GREGG SHOTWELL: They want to steal our pensions. They want to deprive us of health care. They want to cut our wages. But over and above that, they want to strip us of dignity on the job.
PAUL SOLMAN: Gregg Shotwell, like many here, has long worked at Delphi, Flint's beleaguered parts supplier, which used to be owned by GM, but was spun off back in 1999 to sink or swim on its own.
This fall, Delphi's so-called turn-around-artist CEO, Steve Miller, took the firm into bankruptcy.
Miller wants a judge to void the health care and pension promises of Delphi's UAW contract, slash the $27-an-hour wages of these workers to less than half that.
Delphi declined our request for an interview. Its workers, however, were more than willing to talk.
LEROY SIZEMORE, DELPHI WORKER: We wouldn't be able to support our family, to take care of our families. It's not fair.
SONYA PHELPS: We'd be going through bankruptcy ourselves if we had to take that big of a pay cut, you know?
ERNEST VAN ARSDALE, DELPHI WORKER: It's a bunch of crap. You want to know the truth? That's crap. I mean, we got them where they are today.
PAUL SOLMAN: Unfortunately, where they are today is on the rocks. Delphi does turn out technology intensive products. But it also still relies on simple parts, like sparkplugs, that can be made a whole lot cheaper abroad.
TODD SEIBT: Right behind us is the factory that makes millions of sparkplugs for General Motors today.
PAUL SOLMAN: Todd Seibt has done research on sparkplug economics for the local newspaper.
TODD SEIBT: The average cost of all the plugs built in this plant is about $2. They sell that to GM, Delphi's former parent company, for about $1.50. But GM can buy that same plug on the global market for about $1.
PAUL SOLMAN: So wait. So it costs them $2 to make it?
TODD SEIBT: Approximately.
PAUL SOLMAN: GM pays them $1.50.
TODD SEIBT: Correct. Delphi is losing 50 cents, and GM is getting a 50-cent deal, but still losing 50 cents over the global price.
PAUL SOLMAN: GM propping up its supplier, Delphi, still losing money. Dead-end economics, says the company, so it's targeted the usual suspects, the workers. It's a situation all too familiar in GM'S once-hopping hometown.
FOOTAGE: Teamwork, teamwork --
PAUL SOLMAN: During the first half of the 20th Century, Flint's fortunes rose as General Motors grew into the largest and most profitable corporation in the United States.
Back in 1955, GM employed over 80,000 people in Flint alone, including those who made sparkplugs in-house. But it's been pretty much downhill for decades, as GM has shed market share and lost tens of thousands of jobs.
ROGER SMITH (1986): Today we are announcing the closing of 11 of our older plants.
NEWS REPORTER: The effect on Flint is absolutely devastating.
PAUL SOLMAN: By 1989, when Michael Moore declared a state of emergency in "Roger & Me," his anti-GM diatribe, Flint's GM job count was down to 30,000.
Today it's below 16,000 as things have just kept getting worse. The famed Chevrolet complex, called "Chevy in the Hole" for the valley it filled as recently as two years ago, is now just the hole.
The epitaph for the once-massive Buick City complex, "Demolition means progress," and the $80- million Six Flags Auto World, which raised Flint's reverie of revival in the '80s, was itself razed a decade later.
Flint's former glory, meanwhile, as the cradle of union militancy is preserved at the local museum. Professor Neil Leighton turns back the clock for us to the mythic winter of 1936-1937. The auto industry is rolling in money; the lower-class auto workers, an exploited afterthought.
NEIL LEIGHTON: Labor conditions are horrible. People are working long hours under terrible conditions and their pay is not going up. There's no such thing as benefits or retirement or anything like that.
PAUL SOLMAN: So, in December, the workers sit down on the job at Flint's Fisher body plant and occupy it. When the police come to evict them.
NEIL LEIGHTON: The workers are up on the roof of the plant. And it's 16 degrees out and they open the fire hoses and coat the police with a nice coating of ice.
And in addition to that, they drop fire extinguishers on them, coping tiles, and ultimately, they take car hinges, which are great ammunition, especially when they're fired from an inner tube.
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Rioting and violence flare in the tense atmosphere of the nation's greatest auto strike.
PAUL SOLMAN: The strike paralyzed GM, at its peak of profitability, for more than 40 days. Its resolution ushered in a shared prosperity for more than 40 years, narrowing the income gap between labor and management in ways unimaginable back then. Meanwhile, confounding union critics, the economy grew as never before.
So it's the spirit of '37 that today's dissidents invoke, believing that as the Fisher body sit-down shuttered all of GM, so would a Delphi strike paralyze it today.
GREGG SHOTWELL: We can bring General Motors to its knees. The sit-downers won because they seized control of the shop floor. They won because they shut down General Motors.
PAUL SOLMAN: So why not shut down Delphi today and force GM to preserve the hard-won gains of the past?
The UAW leadership isn't talking strike, however, but legal action to enforce the contract. Thus the militants are organizing on their own.
GREGG SHOTWELL: The international has their place at the bargaining table. We have our place at the shop floor at the point of production. We can directly impact production, directly impact profit.
PAUL SOLMAN: Led by Gregg Shotwell, the dissidents have begun with a tactic called "work to rule," a slowdown in which you do everything strictly by the book.
GREGG SHOTWELL: My machine stops. What's wrong? I don't know. They bring the job setter over. "Gosh, I don't know." They bring a skilled tradesperson over. "I don't know." Now the boss is really sweating because he really doesn't know, and it's time for him to make a decision to tell us what to do. He's the knowledge worker.
That's the only thing that's going to affect them; that's the only thing that's going to bring General Motors to the bargaining table, and the effect of that is going to reduce the inventories so that when we go on strike, they're in a more vulnerable position.
PAUL SOLMAN: But aren't you worried that you're biting the hand that feeds you?
GREGG SHOTWELL: Biting the hand that's stopped feeding us. Why should we be slashed to poverty wages and then try to save General Motors? I'm sorry -- we have no reason in the world to want to save that company. Either they come to the bargaining table and treat us respectfully, or we will bring them down.
PAUL SOLMAN: You certainly feel for the workers when you look at drab Flint today, its stores boarded up, the parades of yesteryear conspicuous by their absence. And on top of that, this GM engine plant may soon be boarded up, Delphi East closed, costing another 6,000 jobs.
GM Worker Claire McClinton also works in the community.
CLAIRE McCLINTON: You know, emergencies used to be some catastrophic event in people's lives and now people are seeking help just to live. You know, their life is in an emergency.
PAUL SOLMAN: A local church serving lunch to members of the community, many of them from auto worker families. Any more shutdowns, and the only assembly lines left in town could be those at the soup kitchens. And presumably, things will just get worse if Delphi, and then GM itself are shut down.
CLAIRE McCLINTON: We're just going to be like a hurricane Delphi; that's what people are calling it. It's going to be a devastating, catastrophic event. But on the other hand, the people from Flint, and with our history and the things that we're hearing is that people are not going down without a fight.
PAUL SOLMAN: Industry analyst David Cole agrees with the natural disaster analogy.
DAVID COLE: We could look at a cascading effect that would be a horrifying kind of thing. It would be Katrina Detroit, literally, or Tsunami Detroit.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, Cole insists, a fight would be futile. This is 2006, not 1937.
DAVID COLE: The company today is not a given. It's a very fragile position that it sits in. If the dissidents really gain tremendous power, they could kill everything.
PAUL SOLMAN: On the other hand --
DUANE ZUCKSCHWERDT: If someone come up to you and said, "Okay, you've got 30 years with this company"-- and people plan their lives around thinking I've got some sort of guarantee here-- and all of a sudden say, "it's gone," wouldn't you be concerned or upset? We understand where our members are at with that.
PAUL SOLMAN: Duane Zuckschwerdt is vice president of the UAW's regional office in Flint. His backdrop: A monument to the great sit-down strike of 1937.
But while the union honors its militant past, it has long staked its future on peaceful partnership with the likes of GM.
Given the double whammy of automation and globalization, David Cole says the UAW has no choice.
DAVID COLE: The union as a traditional adversarial or confrontational party to management is gone; it's dead. The union in the collective bargaining negotiations has no ability to define wages and benefits anymore. The market is defining those. And the only hope for the union is as a collaborative partner with management.
PAUL SOLMAN: The dissidents at Delphi, by contrast, denounce the UAW
SUE ATKINSON: They are spineless.
PAUL SOLMAN: Former GM worker Sue Atkinson thinks the union's partnership strategy is a loser.
SUE ATKINSON: And the international should have stepped up to the plate a long time ago. For the last 20 years, they've done nothing, and rank and file is tired of it.
PAUL SOLMAN: The UAW is diplomatic in response.
DUANE ZUCKSCHWERDT: It's a democratic organization and members have a right to, you know, their opinion.
GREGG SHOTWELL: Take control of production!
PAUL SOLMAN: But even if the UAW thinks a strike would be self-defeating, the dissidents are forcing it to bow, or at least give lip service, to the spirit of '37.
Is there going to be a strike?
DUANE ZUCKSCHWERDT: That's -- that's a strong possibility.
PAUL SOLMAN: So -- and if you strike Delphi, what happens to General Motors?
DUANE ZUCKSCHWERDT: General Motors could probably be shut down.
PAUL SOLMAN: General Motors shut down at huge cost to almost everyone.
On the other hand, if you were one of these people and had just been offered a pay cut of 50 percent, no more pension, no more health care, what would you do? | <urn:uuid:3c09e8de-f9cb-4b03-a1a8-29b7576ad072> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june06/delphi_1-26.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956923 | 2,733 | 1.515625 | 2 |
It's a place where families take walks, and kids ride bikes and roller blade.
And it's only as safe as the driver who happens to be behind the wheel.
But we were surprised to learn that deputies don't have every tool at their disposal to stop these dangerous drivers.
The state has certain restrictions when it comes to local officers using a radar gun, and neighborhoods are one of them.
At the speed some of the drivers we saw Thursday night were going, you'd think you were looking at a road less traveled.
It's actually a neighborhood...and a rather large one.
"It's always been bad," says Jessie Ozmelek. She says drivers race up and down her street at Autumn Trail Road every day--especially in the mornings and afternoons when everyone is leaving and coming home from work.
"It bothers me because children out here come out here on bikes and I don't want anything to happen," Jessie says.
The sign says 25, but after we used our own radar gun we quickly realized the average speed was more like 35-40 miles per hour. That doesn't bother Jessie that much; it's when drivers reach speeds of 55+ that has her concerned.
And we clocked one driver going even faster than that...
70 mph in a 25.
Not too long before that, another driver stopped to ask us what we were doing.
And once we told him, he skidded off in the opposite direction. Good thing there wasn't a kid behind him.
"There was an accident a couple months ago. A young girl was going so fast she didn't make the curve and her car flipped in the woods there," says concerned neighbor Dwight Joiner.
So when Jessie called the sheriff's office to complain, you can imagine her surprise when they told her that radar guns are not allowed on neighborhood roads.
"He said his hands are tied," Jessie tells News 12.
But that doesn't mean deputies won't give you a neighborhood speeding ticket.
"In neighborhoods, we use the Too Fast for Conditions law: people going too fast to control their vehicle," says Deputy Bobby Bradford of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
And if enough neighbors in a subdivision sign a petition in Columbia County, you may be able to get a speed bump near you.
When we spoke to Columbia County's traffic deputies they told us they are aware of these high-speed areas and are monitoring them. | <urn:uuid:d33d7f8b-0878-4c17-a13b-34d221bca231> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/2518031.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986316 | 504 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Nobility is a patrimony of excellence handed on from one generation to the next. Fathers consider it their responsibility provide their sons with a better and more honorable life than they themselves have had. In turn, sons consider it their responsibility to treasure what they have received, to respect it and preserve it, and again, to augment it for the next generation. This is the ideal. The tradition of chivalry is one of the means by which it is strived for.
One can rightly say that the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have had the same noble responsibility, and tragically have failed to preserve and hand on the excellent patrimony of scouting in America to the next generation. Instead, through their capitulation to the homosexual agenda, they have created a profound contradiction between the broadbased ideals of scouting and the natural law. Worse, they make it impossible for Catholics to clarify and lift-up the scouting ideal in the light of the full revelation of Christ. Continue reading →
The Fall Father and Son Encampment has been cancelled for a number of reasons, not least of which is my current status of living mostly in New Bedford until November when a new Guardian will arrive to take over the run of the house there. It may be a good time to take a break anyway, as we have been tossing ideas around about how to make the Encampments better and the preparations more manageable.
Right now we are talking about taking the weekend “off campus,” so to speak to a campground and conducting perhaps one larger event every year, instead of three smaller ones. (We will continue to use the obstacle course at the friary for other events.) I would also like to open the Encampment to boys who have no fathers (or fathers who are involved with them at this level), since fatherlessness is a big problem and one that has longconcerned me.
Please pray for the Knights of Lepanto who have worked so hard to make these encampments a success. We have had a great deal of positive feedback and are very much encouraged. We hope to have something really great, innovative and powerful in the Queen of Lepanto to present for next year. I will keep you all abreast of the developments from this forum.
Thank you for all your support and please spread the word about next years open encampment.
Check out the website for details on the next encampments as well. For the moment that really consists mostly in the dates and example schedule. I will soon have the registration page back up with the specifics. | <urn:uuid:4cd97459-6573-4676-84a3-97bf0c050d23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maryvictrix.com/category/squires/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973682 | 518 | 1.601563 | 2 |
In our modern era of hypervisualized retail experiences, we find companies using the media to propel their products in new and exciting ways. However, one must not neglect the importance of good photography in conveying the value of a product. In a cultural and economic climate where online shopping can be heavily favored, if not the only option, your brand needs to stand out above your competitors. This comes down to an excellent ecommerce platform with ease of navigation, compelling content, and photography. When shopping in a brick-and-mortar setting, customers can touch a product and assess its worth. When shopping online, customers aren’t able to touch whatever you’re selling. That’s exactly why strong product and lifestyle photography is important in swaying a potential buyer to follow through with their purchase. Here are a few tips to consider when either hiring a photographer or attempting the photography yourself:
Styles and Colors:
Firstly, you should assess the minimum number of shots you will need to communicate the product. Sometimes each product will require multiple views in order to fully convey the product options, styles and colors. For example, if you are describing a bag with multiple pockets, show the pockets! A good pitch is working both textual and photographic mediums to sell your product.
You must first decide whether natural or artificial lighting will showcase your product the best. Natural light can be the best choice for some products. It’s soft and imparts color in a way that artificial lighting doesn’t. However, if your product features details that require a close up to show the intricacies of texture, material, or craftsmanship, artificial light might be the only way to go. Get accustomed to looking at your product in different sources of light, and assess which option flatters your product the most. Here’s a clip that shows the dramatic difference in detail level you can get by playing with the light. Artificial/bounced lighting can also bring out details that would not normally be highlighted in natural light. This is especially important if the website has zoom functions to enhance the image experience – you will want to maximize that opportunity with well-lit product images.
The Backdrop – Environmental or Flat White?
Sometimes the look and feel of your brand will decide the background onto which your products will be photographed and displayed. If it is a small object like jewelry or a handheld accessory, shooting on a white background will help accentuate the object and allow the viewer to focus on the product, especially on a website or mobile device where the final image may end up being a thumbnail. However, if you’re going for the hip and modern boutique style, its fine to have more complex and styled backgrounds that convey the context in where the product is used. Thirdly, there are moments where you need both an environmental/lifestyle shot and a static product shot on a flat background to really display the full use of the product. You have to assume that you will be attracting all types of shoppers, even ones that will have no idea what your product is about. The key is being descriptive without being too visually busy. | <urn:uuid:5eb8b73f-8dd8-4629-a75c-ce97dd12a9d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.os-fashion.com/author/infoalbertcheungphoto-com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938905 | 635 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Hope (Parker County sheriff's office)
Hope, the dog found brutally tortured in Texas last week, has a new home. According to the Parker County sheriff's office, the pug mix has been adopted by the family whose ranch she was first spotted wandering on.
Charlie and Kit Moncrief have agreed to adopt Hope, who continues to recover from what the Dallas Morning News described as "one of the worst cases of animal cruelty ever reported in the county." Hope was found dehydrated, her mouth sealed shut with electrical tape and her tongue protruding. She had five large cuts that took more than 100 stitches to close.
"I have known the Moncrief family for many, many years," Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. "I can't think of a better family for Hope to belong to. She will think she is in heaven at her new home with her new family."
Veterinarians at Bowie Drive Animal Hospital say that Hope, who is estimated to be between 3 and 4 years old, will make a full recovery, though she may need part of her tongue removed.
Hope's story, coming the same week as a dog was put to sleep in Northern Ireland for looking like a pit bull, garnered worldwide media attention—and more than $35,000 offered for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Fowler said his office has investigated several leads but is still seeking the suspect or suspects involved.
"This is the bottom line," Fowler added. "If they will torture a defenseless creature, what else are they capable of? We need to find the person(s) responsible for this."
Meanwhile, the story of Lennox, the dog who was euthanized in Belfast, continues to spark outrage. A Facebook group is urging residents to boycott the Belfast City Council for its killing of Lennox, and sent a letter to U.K. media outlets demanding an investigation.
The petitions follow Victoria Stilwell, host of "It's Me or the Dog," who claims she was threatened by members of the city council. | <urn:uuid:a4c1e54d-5a64-4441-a2a7-9d057e6069c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hope-dog-tortured-texas-adopted-164604446.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98235 | 430 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Forex losses may be moved from the P&L account to the balance sheet.
Foreign borrowing is another area where forex fluctuations affect companies.
Take Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), for example. For the half year ended September 2011, the company had Rs 9,096 crore in foreign-currency borrowings.
Even though the company doesn’t have to repay foreign-currency borrowings anytime soon, accounting rules requires such borrowings to be reported based on the closing exchange rate at the end of each accounting period. The gain or loss arising on this restatement has to be shown in the financial statements.
Originally, all such notional losses had to be shown in the P&L account. Predominantly due to this exposure, the company made forex losses of about Rs 132 crore in April-September 2011, bringing profits lower by that amount.
Under the new rules which REC started following from the December quarter, if a foreign-currency borrowing (term of more than 12 months) relates to a depreciable capital asset, translation differences from the loan could be added to/deducted from the asset, instead of charging to the P&L account.
When a company has other foreign-currency borrowings that cannot be directly attributed to an asset (say, for general expenses or working-capital requirements), then the translation difference could be charged to a special translation difference reserve.
Later, this amount can be spread out and amortised. By taking this up, about Rs 198 crore of forex losses for the company moved from the P&L account to the balance sheet.
Hence, the profits of Rs 770 crore for the quarter were propped up by the same amount.
These changes to the rules were first made in 2009 and were applicable only until the year ended March 31, 2011. In December, the dates were extended till March 31, 2020, also allowing companies who did not take it up in the past to do so now. | <urn:uuid:c6bab437-e39d-4866-b037-787dd718ae7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/article3901243.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home | 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 | 0.968915 | 406 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Shooting to Kill Pirates Risks Blackwater Moment
At first the video depicts a seemingly calm, sun-drenched sea from aboard the Avocet, until a pale blue skiff appears in the distance, cutting rapidly across the Indian Ocean toward the bulk ship’s starboard side.
After a tense radio exchange between the ship’s armed guards, who believe they’re under attack by pirates, their team leader steps through the bridge door and orders warning shots. Immediately, he and another guard fire dozens of rounds at the oncoming boat. The blaze of gunfire continues after the skiff crashes into the ship, with guards shooting down into the vessel, and as it then trails behind the Avocet.
“Second skiff coming in,” he shouts, then they turn and begin firing on the new boat, and the video ends.
At least some of the boats’ occupants were probably killed or injured, said Thomas Rothrauff, president of Virginia Beach, Virginia-based Trident Group Inc., which provided the ship’s security crew. He said the incident on March 25 last year was the second attempt to hijack the Avocet in three days. After spotting rocket-propelled grenades on the first skiff, the guards feared for their lives. The shootings were justified and the guards acted responsibly, Rothrauff said, firing warnings before aiming at the boat.
The gunfire exchange highlights a lack of rules governing the use of weapons on the high seas amid questions over how much force is legal and necessary to fight Somali piracy attacks, which targeted a record 237 ships last year. The video, presented at a shipping conference in December and leaked on the internet last month, has fueled debate over when is it acceptable to open fire -- and to keep shooting.
Fear of pirate attacks is creating more violent and chaotic seas, where some overzealous or untrained guards are shooting indiscriminately, killing pirates and sometimes innocent fishermen before verifying the threat, according to more than two dozen interviews with lawyers, ship owner groups, insurance underwriters and maritime security companies.
Reckless gun use at sea could put the whole industry at risk of reputational damage, said Stephen Askins, a partner at the London-based law firm Ince & Co., who has negotiated with Somali pirates for the release of hostages.
“You can’t have a Blackwater out in the Indian Ocean,” he said, referring to the 2007 incident in which Blackwater Worldwide security guards allegedly fired on and killed civilians in Baghdad.
New security companies have sprouted to cater to shipowners’ rising demand for private guards, often recruiting former soldiers from combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, as well as moonlighting police officers, they said.
‘Wild Wild West’
“It’s the Wild Wild West out there,” said James Staples, a retired U.S. merchant marine captain who spent more than 30 years working in the Indian Ocean and chased off pirates about to board his ship at 4:30 a.m. one morning in 2009 by shooting warning shots from his pistol. “There are no regulations or vetting process for these teams. The company doesn’t know who it’s getting on board. There’s no training requirement or training for lifesaving.”
Nevertheless, Staples said that based on his understanding of the incident, he believes the Avocet guards were justified.
The shipping industry is divided over whether the amount of shooting in the video was warranted, said Michael Frodl, a Washington-based chairman of C-Level Maritime Risks, a consultant with clients including ship owners and insurance underwriters.
“Some ship owners don’t want to spend money on security groups that just shoo away the pirates; they want to see pirates destroyed,” he said. “Others say you can’t import the values of warfare to what’s essentially a police action against criminals.”
There’s no doubt that pirates are a lethal and costly enemy on the high seas, with their attacks, hijackings and ransom demands translating into billions in economic losses. As vessel owners also confront rising fuel prices and cargo rates that have plunged since 2008, piracy is a problem they can ill afford.
Since 2008, gangs of Somali pirates linked to clans in the failed state on the eastern coast of Africa have carried out more than 800 attacks on ships, from private yachts to oil supertankers. Pirates hijacked more than 170 of those vessels, taking hostage some 3,400 seafarers and killing 25, according to Intercargo, an industry group representing global owners of dry cargo vessels.
Maritime piracy cost the global economy roughly $7 billion, including $530 million spent on private armed guards, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy, a project of Broomfield, Colorado-based non-profit One Earth Future Foundation. The pirate groups earned about $160 million last year through ransom payments for vessels and crew.
The Avocet’s Journey
The threat makes it tough on companies like New York-based Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (EGLE), which operates a fleet of 45 carriers, including the Avocet, that transport cargoes of minerals and grains.
The Avocet was traveling from Europe, passing through the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, when the pirates first approached on March 22 last year, said Trident’s Rothrauff, whose company specializes in maritime security. The pirates fired on the ship, but retreated, he said. For the next three days, the pirates followed from a larger vessel they appeared to have hijacked, their skiffs on board ready to be lowered into the water.
By the day of the videotaped shooting, the Avocet had reached a point in the center of the Arabian Sea, an area of the Indian Ocean midway between Somalia and India. Its American security team, which included former U.S. Navy SEALs, had been on alert for 72 hours, using their radar to monitor the location, Rothrauff said in telephone interviews.
A video camera fixed to the helmet of a Trident team leader captured the action over 2 minutes, 54 seconds.
For most of a minute, the team leader speaks by radio from the bridge, instructing other guards to hold fire, before running onto the bridge wing with his assault rifle and ordering warning shots. Then the action begins. The shooting continues with only brief interruptions for the rest of the video.
One of the first shots appears to have killed or incapacitated the boat driver, causing the skiff to crash into the side of the Avocet, according to two former special-forces officers from two different European countries who viewed the video at the request of Bloomberg News. Shooting at the boat continues until the guards spot a second boat and turn their guns on it.
Rothrauff said that while it is not visible on the video, return fire from AK-47s on the skiffs barely missed the head of one of his guards.
All four ship guards had fired warning shots, and that barrage of gunfire may have provoked a firefight that masked the sound of return shots from the skiffs on the video, he said. Trident has changed its procedures, and now permits only the team leader to fire warnings.
Rothrauff said it was likely that the occupants of the skiffs were killed or injured, though he had no way of knowing.
“We’re not in the business of counting injuries,” he said.
Trident is “absolutely” satisfied its operating procedures were legal, said Rothrauff. “Full compliance with rules for use of force were in place.”
He said the crew typically videotapes all encounters, but he wouldn’t confirm that video was taken of the first attack. He declined Bloomberg’s request to review additional images, saying all video belongs to the ship owner. Eagle Bulk Shipping doesn’t discuss its security or operational procedures, said Jim Lawrence, founding partner of MTI Network, a crisis media management company, on behalf of Eagle.
The video never should have become public, said Bryan Bittner, director of operations at Eagle Shipping International (USA) LLC, a unit of Eagle Bulk Shipping.
“What we do for vessel security should remain within the realm of parties interested,” he said in an April 13 telephone interview. He referred further inquiries to Trident.
Daren Knight, a maritime security consultant and former U.K. Royal Marines commando who leads on-board security teams and who viewed the video after hearing about it from a colleague, also concluded that the armed guards hadn’t fired warning shots, turning their weapons immediately on the skiff with the gunfire appearing to quickly spiral out of control.
‘Just Not Acceptable’
“The rate of fire that went down was just not acceptable at all,” said Knight, who is based in Dublin. “All force has to be proportionate, that’s the rules for the use of force.”
“I look at that video in horror,” said Chris South, deputy director at West of England Insurance Services, a protection and indemnity club that protects ship owners against marine risks. South said the guards appear to use excessive force.
“I don’t necessarily think they were acting with a graduated, proportional, necessary response.”
One risk is that armed guards inadvertently kill fishermen, said John Boreman, marine director for the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko), the industry’s biggest trade group. He cited the killing of two Indian fishermen in February, allegedly by Italian soldiers detached to the Enrica Lexie tanker, as well as the difficulty in distinguishing between fishermen and pirate boats.
Spotting a gun on an approaching boat doesn’t guarantee that those aboard are pirates, he said.
Demand for Guards
When looking for clues, Boreman said, “it’s not arms anymore because we know Yemeni fishermen carry arms.”
The presence of private armed guards is escalating rapidly on ships crossing areas prone to piracy -- generally considered to include the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia and fanning out to the Indian Ocean, covering an area about the size of the continental United States.
Some 160 maritime security companies operate in high-risk areas, according to William Mackenzie Green, business development manager at Protection Vessels International Ltd., one of those companies. About 40 percent of the 42,500 ships that transit the region each year now use armed guards, compared to 15 percent a year ago, he said.
The armed-guard business boom is based on financial calculations by cash-strapped ship owners. Freight rates have slumped since the final quarter of 2008, and an oversupply of new ships and high fuel costs cut earnings to unprofitable levels for most types of tankers, container ships and dry cargo vessels in 2011. Container-shipping lines lost more than $11.4 billion last year, according to SeaIntel Maritime Analysis, a Copenhagen-based consultant. Eagle reported a net loss of $14.8 million for 2011, with cash generated by the fleet declining from $94.3 million to $58.3 million.
Cheaper Than Fuel
Hiring armed guards is cheaper than the extra fuel required to detour around pirate areas or to go fast enough to outrun them, according to Roland Hoeger, managing director of the shipping companies of the Komrowski Group in Hamburg, which has used such guards since one of its container ships, Taipan, was hijacked in 2010.
Armed guards cost about $60,000 for a crossing while the extra fuel for the largest container ships to go at their maximum speed comes to about $200,000, he said on April 25 at a Hanson Wade piracy conference in Hamburg.
No ship with armed guards aboard has been hijacked by Somali pirates, according to Peter Cook, chairman of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry, a group that has created an accreditation system for private guard companies. And the proportion of attacks that lead to hijackings has plummeted.
Guards Deter Hijackings
In the first quarter of this year, the 43 reported ship incidents with Somali pirates resulted in 9 hijackings, 152 seafarers taken hostage and two mariners killed, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center. That is roughly half the 97 incidents, 16 hijackings and 299 mariners seized in the first quarter of 2011.
While more countries have begun allowing private armed guards to board ships bearing their flags, including the U.S., U.K., Norway, and Panama, there are no binding international rules that regulate their use. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization issued non-binding guidelines for private armed guards last year stating that they should try to avoid using force, but if they must do so, “in no case should the use of force exceed what is strictly necessary.”
Andrew Shapiro, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, said an expectation that armed guards on ships would behave as undisciplined “cowboys” and increase violence at sea has not panned out.
“We have not seen cases of pitched battles at sea between pirates and armed security personnel,” he said in a March 27 speech in Washington.
With the release of the Avocet video, a state department official said its context was insufficient for him to provide a definitive opinion about whether the guards’ actions were appropriate.
”It certainly doesn’t dissuade me or my colleagues in the U.S. government from the view that the increased use of armed security teams is purely a reaction to the increase in pirate attacks and is demonstrably effective in repelling attacks,” said Thomas Kelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. “And that is a good thing.”
Per Gullestrup, a partner at Copenhagen-based Clipper Group A/S, negotiated the release of one of the company’s ships after it was hijacked in late 2008. Clipper has used armed guards for all of its Indian Ocean crossings since March 2011.
“We know of numerous shootouts between armed guards and pirates and every time the pirates have had to break off an attack,” he said. “In our view the only 100 percent fail-proof way so far is putting armed guards on board.”
While most private armed guard suppliers say they have strict rules governing their use of force and say they make sure to verify that suspicious vessels really are pirate ships initiating an attack before shooting at them, both the video and encounters listed by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) seem to paint a different picture.
Two entries in the IMB’s 2011 annual report record private security teams firing at skiffs at a distance of one nautical mile, or more than 2,000 yards.
“Any idea how far out you could see an AK-47 with a 10- power scope? Maybe 350 yards,” Jonah Mesritz, a former Navy SEAL who is in business development and is a guard team leader at GreySide Group, said in a presentation to ship owners in Hamburg last month. “These guys have to come in close enough for you to be able to ID these weapons.”
Incidents Not Reported
Askins, the London lawyer, said firefights aren’t being reported or investigated, and that armed guards lack the accountability and transparency demanded of the military and police.
Ship owners are asked to report all incidents or suspicious activity to either the IMB or to militaries patrolling in the region via the U.K. Maritime Trade Operation (UKMTO), but aren’t required to do so.
Reported attacks early this year were about half of what the European Union Naval Force, EU NAVFOR, expected, indicating that a large proportion of all pirate encounters may not be disclosed, according to Simon Church, industry liaison officer. That proportion is pushed down in part by the use of armed guards, Intertanko’s Boreman said. At a conference in Dubai in March, he saw a sample contract of a private armed guard supplier that specifically prohibited the ship owner from notifying UKMTO of any encounters, he said.
Eagle Shipping, whose carrier was sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, reported the March 25, 2011, incident to the islands’ registry, according to John Ramage, chief operating officer of International Registries Inc., which runs the registry. Eagle also reported it to the IMB, which provided this description in its 2011 annual report: “Armed security team aboard fired warning shots. The pirates aborted the attempted attack.” Eagle reported the earlier, March 22, exchange to the IMB, but the Marshall Islands has no record of that attack, according to Ramage.
The video did not come to the attention of officials with the islands’ registry until two weeks ago, Ramage said. It is his responsibility to decide if an investigation is warranted, he said, and if so, pursue one. He said he had not spoken to the security company, was unaware of injuries or deaths to those aboard the skiffs, hadn’t investigated and doesn’t plan to.
“It’s very unfortunate that the Somali pirates got injured but they shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” Ramage said.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on whether it was investigating.
James Wilkes, managing director of Gray Page, an Oxford, England-based maritime investigation company, said an inquiry into the incident is necessary for the integrity of the shipping industry.
“It’s given enough people cause for concern that something should be done,” Wilkes said. “It can’t just be swept under the rug.”
No one should pre-judge the outcome of an investigation, he added.
“We don’t know the full circumstances, we don’t know the run-up to it, we don’t know what happen afterwards,” he said. “We only have the video to go on, but that’s why an investigation is required.”
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:00c93f39-4eb9-492c-9c62-7e7a9049cfbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-08/shooting-to-kill-pirates-risks-blackwater-moment.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 | 0.958718 | 3,865 | 1.523438 | 2 |
We've really made a lot of progress on our system since I last posted. Our tanks (except one) are completely cycled now and our vegetables are taking off - they've more than quadrupled in size and have blooms on…"
The Sacramento Aquaponics Community would like to welcome you to this year's tour.We will be caravanning around the Sacramento area to see a variety of Aquaponic systems that some local urban farmers have been working with.Tour info:Date: Saturday June 1st (9:30am-2pm)Start/end point: Midtown SacramentoTour Length: 70 miles (will setup carpools at meeting spot please bring small bills to help pay for gas)If you are interested please RSVP with me as soon as possible. In order to give you the…See More
"That system looks awesome! I have the same set up with one tote and the green house on the way. My question is, is your grow bed to small for your fish tanks. I only ask that because the book I read from Sylvia Bernstein suggest a 1 to 1 ratio when…"
I see from your videos the drain lines from the GB's are near to the base of the beds, which looks(appears to be) like about 4-6 inches below the top of the bed. If the drain lines are indeed set at a "close to base height",…"
"If you want to have any significant water pressure to feed the grow beds, the fish tank would have to be up fairly high... if you set it up like the sketch above anyway.
It takes a little bit more than 2' of height to make 1 psi of water…"
"Jim, Yeah, I want a bunch to use as scavengers, and insect control. I live in prime mosquito country. But I'd rather use the majority of bio load capacity for something I can eat.
Which brings up an off the wall thought... Has anybody ever…"
I have not tried the salt treatment as yet. If I have any fish left by this weekend, I'll take a stab at it.
Do you happen to know the ratio of salt to water and the time necessary to 'dip the fish'?"
"Hi Matt, Growstones don't disappear or disintegrate with handling. They are large enough and will remain a large stone or aggregate with all its physical properties, long after many years of usage. Yes, they will produce some…"
"You might want to try a nutrient calculator like the plant people use in the Aquarium hobby. http://calc.petalphile.com/
I use this for my planted tanks and along with the plant deficiencies chart that was previously posted. It's important to…"
"As long as the pea gravel in your location is large enough and not made of limestone. I have to warn people constantly that "pea" gravel describes shape/size but doesn't tell what kind of rock it will be. In many places if…" | <urn:uuid:7fda77f8-71a2-4095-bc09-c75c8501a245> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.theaquaponicsource.com/?id=4778851%25253APhoto%25253A303108 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967662 | 614 | 1.5 | 2 |
African business, politics and lifestyle
Africa’s giants lag on reform
Rwanda led the table again as Africa’s top reformer in the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business survey. Although it was beaten into second place by Kazakhstan on the global list, in Africa it moved up 12 places to a global rank of 58th.
Among the other usual suspects doing well in Africa were Ghana and Cape Verde, both up 10 places to 67th and 132nd places respectively. It will be interesting to see what impact the start of oil production in Ghana will have, when the new source of income may mean less need to appeal to foreign donors and investors.
Uganda, also set to start producing oil, rose seven places to 122nd while Zambia continued its strong reform record, rising 8 places to 76th on the list.
But sub-Saharan Africa’s giants again appeared to be lagging. South Africa fell two places to 34th on the list. Kenya was down four places at 98th and Nigeria fell another three places to 98th.
The Democratic Republic of Congo rose four places, but was still only 175th on the table. Some of those foreign resources companies caught up in squabbles over contracts might also question how much change they have seen when it comes to the ease of doing business there. | <urn:uuid:7400240f-2297-4ed9-9121-c1812e22d356> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/africanews/2010/11/04/africa%E2%80%99s-giants-lag-on-reform/ | 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 | 0.964361 | 280 | 1.5625 | 2 |
By David Knopf/Richmond News
Ray Countians who receive a Kindle or other eBook device for Christmas will find they’ll have access to a wealth of materials locally – all without additional cost.
Steve Meyer, director of Ray County Public Library, announced last week that on Dec. 1 the taxpayer-funded library would become a member of the MoLib2Go.org Consortium, a group of 70 or so libraries with 10,000 eBooks and other electronic media available to members.
Residents will only need an electronic device such as a Kindle, a computer and a library card to take advantage of the consortium’s holdings, Meyer said.
Joining the consortium is an economical means of achieving one of the library’s goals, Meyer said.
“We’ve been interested in starting an eBook program here at the library, but as you know we’ve been using all our extra funds to pay off our building debt,” said Meyer. | <urn:uuid:f54e50fb-42c7-48d5-bf69-56e6d74285ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.richmond-dailynews.com/2012/11/ebook-access-big-step-forward-for-ray-library-users/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944816 | 203 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Storm brings big snowfall in northern New England
In New Hampshire, the 24 inches of snow recorded in Concord was a few inches short of the reading from the blizzard of 1888, meteorologist Mike Kistner said.
A transportation spokesman said the storm-related high tide forced the closing of a section of U.S. Route 1A in Hampton, N.H. The tide caused minor flooding and street closings along the southern Maine coast, as well.
At the storm's height, more than 15,000 homes and businesses lost power in Maine and New Hampshire, but utility workers were quickly bringing them back online.
In Vermont, snow totals topped out at 17.3 inches in Marlboro, 16.5 inches in South Royalton and 16 inches in Springfield. Nearly everyone in Vermont had power during the storm, although winds Saturday forced the closing of the ferry between Charlotte and Essex, N.Y.
In Portland, the snowstorm made for a memorable wedding.
Karen Willis Beal said her vision of a dream wedding included a snowstorm just like the one hit before her parents married in December 1970. The record-breaking storm prevented some of her guests from attending, but there were no regrets.
The happy couple even had some outdoor photos taken during the snowstorm.
"I have always wanted a snowstorm for my wedding, and my wish has come true to the max. This is what I've wished for all my life," Beal said Saturday after the ceremony.
Associated Press Writers David Sharp in Portland, Maine, and Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., contributed to this story.
Weather Photo Galleriesview all
- 54680Oklahoma tornadoes: 'It took it all'
- 35701Oklahoma weather: Crews work to clear storm damage in Oklahoma City as the state braces for severe weather Sunday.
- 32594Oklahoma Severe Storm Updates
- 8907Wild hogs continue to be a growing menace across Oklahoma
- 8388Oklahoma State football: Limiting Wes Lunt's transfer options makes Mike Gundy look bad
- 5554Oklahoma City Thunder: What could Serge Ibaka learn from Hakeem Olajuwon?
- 4146OKC Thunder GM Sam Presti won't amnesty Kendrick Perkins | <urn:uuid:216a929c-e21e-4f0c-b2a3-9f0bc789b33c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsok.com/storm-brings-big-snowfall-in-northern-new-england/article/feed/498748/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94648 | 472 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Royal Watch News
Princess Beatrice inspired by young people to reach Mont Blanc summit
Sep 19, 2012, 12:01 GMT
Princess Beatrice was inspired by the good work she was doing to reach the top of Mont Blanc.
The 24-year-old royal was part of a six person expedition which scaled the 15,000-ft peak in the French Alps earlier this month to launch the Big Change Charitable trust.
She told the BBC: 'It is a very difficult mountain to climb there are so many different elements that went into this, not just the training, but also once you're up there.
'And what was getting us to the top was remembering that we were doing this for charity and thinking about all the young people we could help and support by getting to the top. It was inspiring to be there.
'It was the perfect opportunity to unveil the Big Change Charitable trust, and we wanted to find the perfect challenge, to launch the charity with, but also challenge ourselves.'
The princess was joined on the trek by Holly and Sam Branson - the offspring of entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson - and Isabella Calthorpe, Sam Richardson and Philip Nevin, the six key figures who worked to set up the trust.
Holly said now was the perfect time to launch the charity, as the 2012 London Olympics have sparked inspiration in many young people.
She said: 'It's very important to put things back in the world and just because we are privileged doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing that, in fact we should be doing it more things like that, so we wanted to set up the charity, a UK, youth-based charity to help inspire and encourage young people.
'Especially after the Olympics, we thought the youth of the UK now more than ever are inspired to become the best that they can be.'
Beatrice also said how proud her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, is of her achievements, and those of her father, Prince Andrew, who abseiled the tallest building in Europe, The Shard, in the same week.
She said: 'She's a supportive figure and an incredible woman. We were talking before I went and she was just she was incredibly supportive, and with my dad abseiling down the Shard and me taking on Mont Blanc in the same week, she must have been very excited.'
FROM THE WEB
Further Reading on M&CPrincess Beatrice Biography -
COMMENT on Princess Beatrice inspired by young people to reach Mont Blanc summitcomments powered by Disqus
Latest Headlines in Royal Watch
- 1. Princes William and Harry open Help For Heroes centre
- 2. Prince Charles protester fined
- 3. Princes Charles and William to call for poaching action
- 4. Duchess Catherine's etiquette knowledge
- 5. Prince Harry to throw party for US swimmer | <urn:uuid:a143e9f5-9d64-4ed2-8435-0ec861fcba35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/royalwatch/news/article_1703841.php/Princess-Beatrice-inspired-by-young-people-to-reach-Mont-Blanc-summit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976044 | 592 | 1.65625 | 2 |
How do I find out if my girlfriends flirting and talking about other guys? She says she doesn't, she's begging me to trust her but how can I if we are in a long-distance relationship?
I was watching a debate about sex education today, one rife with a lot of ludicrous statements, but the statement that quality sex education could not possibly help prevent sexual abuse stuck with me. It was all the more infuriating as someone who knows too well that a lack of knowledge about bodies and sex, and a lack of information about sexual consent and autonomy are some of the hugest reasons why sexual abuse is so prevalent.
Now, this is hardly a new form of cluelessness (nor is it exclusive to Canada: we've all but made an art form of it stateside). I've addressed this issue before, at Scarleteen and in some talks and interviews I have given over the years, and also in a piece a little while back for the Guardian in the United Kingdom.
Hopefully it's obvious the reason I, as a sexuality educator and activist, and Scarleteen, as an organization, provide sex education isn't just about preventing unwanted or negative outcomes, like unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infectiRead more...
High school has always provided great inspiration for movies and television. Grease, Popular, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Breakfast Club, Freaks and Geeks....the list of high-school-based movies and TV shows is pretty extensive. And then there's a new addition, Glee, set in a smallish town in the US, centered on the local high school's glee club, and chock full of as much singing, dancing and snappy one-liners as anyone could want. There's the fairly standard cast of characters; the good teacher and the bad teacher, the macho football coach and the fairly clueless guidance counsellor, the popular kids and the not-so-popular. The show is entertaining and all (I do love a musical) but I find it pretty hit and miss in terms of how the high school experience is portrayed. For example, the recent episode featuring three characters dealing with first-time sex - to a soundtrack entirely by Madonna, including, yep, Like a Virgin. (If you haven't seen it and want to, prepare for spoileRead more...
My ex boyfriend and I are really close and sometimes make out with each other when we are alone. He used to really like me still and I didn't feel the same way and now it has reversed and I really like him again but he doesn't want a relationship. We have talked about just being friends and doing stuff but is this wrong? Plus I really want to have sex with him, he's not a virgin and I am, do you think it is a bad idea if we're not together? I know we will always be really close and share everything with each other but should I wait until we are together one day? I really love him and maybe if we do it his old feelings will light up again. Please give me honest advice on what I should do. Cheers.
My father and I don't have the best relationship but he continually forces me to give him hugs, kisses, etc. even after I say no. It really bothers me, even if it is just a kiss on the cheek. He also comes in my room a lot (without knocking) and lays down in my TWIN size bed with me and wont leave even after I tell him to get up. I don't know what to do anymore and I don't feel like I can trust him anymore because he never respects what I want to do. What should I do about this? | <urn:uuid:b7f12346-1e9c-4c5a-ba71-0ab1dfb9e2e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scarleteen.com/tags/boundaries?page=4&theme=scarleteen_textonly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980859 | 755 | 1.554688 | 2 |
UN chief should press India on AFSPA revocation: HRW
‘Ban Should Make Human Rights Central Part Of His Discussion With GOI’
Srinagar, Apr 26: The global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, currently on a visit to India, to press for the repeal of contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Ban should press the Indian government to repeal the AFSPA in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern part of the country,” HRW said in a statement.
“The law provides effective immunity to soldiers responsible for serious human rights violations and has led to widespread abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, and in the northeastern states where it remains in force. Ban should also call for the repeal of archaic sedition laws that have been used to silence peaceful dissent,” the statement reads.
“We have been continuously demanding its (AFSPA) repeal,” Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW told Greater Kashmir over phone from New Delhi. She said HRW has been seeking repeal of AFSPA from J&K since 2006. Ban arrived in New Delhi last evening on a three day to India.
The rights group said UN chief should make human rights a central part of his discussions with government officials during his visit.
“India has a dynamic democracy, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should not gloss over the serious domestic violations and routine impunity that affect millions of Indians, and hold back the country’s development,” said Ganguly.
“Ban would do a great disservice to the Indian people if he were to only talk about regional and global issues.”
The HRW said Ban should press the Indian government to address serious human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, abuses in conflict areas, and widespread torture.
“The Indian government has failed to hold soldiers and police officers who are responsible for abuses to account. Ban should also raise India's excessive restrictions on civil society and the need to take strong steps to protect the rights of women, Dalits, indigenous people, and other vulnerable groups. Widespread impunity for these abuses, as well as a lack of access to justice or adequate compensation, are commonplace in India,” the rights group said.
The HRW said UN chief should caution Indian leaders against allowing sovereignty concerns to blind them to serious human rights abuses in other countries.
While referring to the initial response of India, serving a two year term on the United Nations Security Council, to situation of Syria, the rights group said India should be encouraged to seek ways to incorporate human rights concerns into its response to international issues.
“India is serving a two-year term on the UN Security Council. The country has initially used its seat to oppose strong UN pressure to address the situation in Syria, despite overwhelming evidence of massive and systematic abuse by the government against its own population. India recently sided with the majority of Security Council members that favor increased pressure on the Syrian government to stop the abuses. “With growing power comes growing responsibility, not only to foreign governments, but also to the people they often oppress,” the statement said.
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST
- MORE FROM FRONTPAGE
- UN chief should press India on AFSPA revocation: HRW
- National Conference sees hope in Ban’s visit
- MAJOR RESHUFFLE IN POLICE DEPARTMENT
- Employees get 7 percent DA
- Pradeep Gupta is Div Com Jmu
- Secretariat shut in advance
- Development not to be confused with K-resolution: Omar
- Mirwaiz for formal education in seminaries
- Pak PM convicted in contempt case
- Cabinet nod to easier visas for Pakistanis
- UN Secy Gen arrives in India
Project To Be Completed In 2 Phases
GK NEWS NETWORK
Jammu, Apr 26: Central Electricity Authority of India has approved the proposal of Jammu and Kashmir government to enhance the generation capacity of upcoming Sawlakote Hydro Electric Power Project from More
- Srinagar City
PHQ Hyderpora, neighborhood landlines dead
SYED IMRAN ALI HAMDANI
Srinagar, Apr 26: For the fifth time in a month, landline cables of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited along the Airport Road were stolen last night even as cops continue to be clueless about the recurring thefts More
POLICE DEPARTMENT OVERHAULED
GK NEWS NETWORK
Jammu, Apr 26: The Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda on Thursday ordered transfer of the following Dy. Superintendents of Police and directed them to report at their places of posting with immediate More | <urn:uuid:582e0419-eb44-4094-93f1-8ceb50e85a9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Apr/27/un-chief-should-press-india-on-afspa-revocation-hrw-80.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935538 | 1,039 | 1.78125 | 2 |
WASHINGTON -- The search for a solution to the war in Iraq has been put on hold in the government until a bipartisan 10-member commission submits its recommendations next month.
After a volcanic election that ousted Republicans and put Democrats in charge of Congress, largely because of mounting U.S. war casualties, a huge gulf still exists over what to do next.
President Bush, admitting to deep frustration over the course of the war, is open to "fresh ideas" about how to fight the war, says chief of staff Josh Bolten. Democrats, who won last week on the promise of a new military strategy, still have no detailed plan of their own, except withdrawal. Their leaders said on the Sunday talk shows that they would push for phased troop reductions when they take over in January.
The chief architect of Bush's military strategy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, has submitted his resignation and a new defense chief, Robert Gates, who has spent most of his professional life in intelligence work and is known as a compromiser, will take over once the Senate confirms him.
All hopes seem to now rest with the congressionally sanctioned blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group, a special commission led by former Republican secretary of state James A. Baker III and former Indiana congressman Lee H. Hamilton, a Democrat, to devise a new plan to try to end a terrorist and sectarian war with no end in sight. The panel has interviewed Iraqi leaders, U.S. military officials and this week met with Bush and senior defense and intelligence officials.
Strangely, the panel, which includes former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta, Clinton pal Vernon Jordan and former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, has few military/foreign-policy experts. Moreover, there is little or no evidence thus far that Baker and Hamilton have been able to come up with a consensus that can appeal to both sides.
In the few interviews Baker has given recently, he expressed doubt that a U.S. troop withdrawal can be pulled off without a full-scale civil war that plunges the country into even more chaos.
Last week, Hamilton told the Washington Post "We need to reach agreement, and that may not be possible." Translation: Democrats on the panel may not go along with anything that does not include some degree of troop withdrawal next year, nor will House and Senate Democrats.
The gulf that exists in the Senate, for example, is exemplified by two wildly divergent positions. Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the incoming Armed Services Committee chairman, wants "to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months." Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona wants to send more troops there, warning any withdrawal would not only result in chaos in Iraq but throughout the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the terrorist and sectarian warfare worsens each week, and many in the Bush administration are losing confidence in Prime Minister al-Maliki's government. Bush wonders privately whether the Iraqis will ever be able to produce civilian leaders strong enough to overcome the terror insurgency.
It is in this near-hopeless environment that Baker is searching to bring outside adversaries into a solution, like Syria and Iran. He held a three-hour dinner meeting with Iran's U.N. ambassador that raised eyebrows among neoconservatives who support the war.
Clearly, there will be Democratic withdrawal resolutions next year, if not before. However, Levin told the Post that any troop measure "would not contain detailed benchmarks mandating how many troops should be withdrawn by specific dates."
It is unclear what Baker's panel will produce, but my instincts tell me that any plan to save Iraq must ultimately involve a feared Iraqi force that can more quickly take over the security of its country. That force must increase, so we can decrease.
Reconstruction and all other forms of noncombat, nonmilitary aid must give way to one overriding mission: recruiting and training a much larger and more lethal Iraqi army, including special forces, and a military-police force second to none. U.S. troops there must be turned into a training, air logistics and weapons-supply force as quickly as possible.
A critical strategy change: To prevent terrorists from killing more Iraqi recruits, training must be done in secret, remote locations elsewhere in the region. The job of the U.S. military after that will be to arm these beefed-up security forces to the teeth with the best and most lethal weaponry we can give them to fight for their country for as long as it takes.
This is a page out of President Ronald Reagan's playbook when he drove the Evil Empire out of Afghanistan and fought the Marxist guerrillas in now-democratic Nicaragua -- without the use of U.S. troops.
A plan that turns the U.S. military in Iraq into an enlarged recruiting and training force is a plan that a divided Congress can support, as well as the Iraqis, because it will hasten the day when they'll be doing all the fighting. | <urn:uuid:15a23c8d-c6ef-4771-9be2-8bf2a54e779c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/donaldlambro/2006/11/16/to_save_iraq,_follow_reagans_playbook/page/full/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963309 | 1,017 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Japanese visit opens door to rebuilding ties
Updated: 2013-01-28 01:42
By Qin Zhongwei and Zhang Yunbi (China Daily)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke highly of a recent visit to China by the leader of his party's coalition partner New Komeito.
In response to the call of China's top political leader Xi Jinping to improve ties, the Japanese prime minister said the door to dialogue is still open.
Observers said the two sides have demonstrated restraint and suggest dialogue be enhanced to mend ties damaged by the island disputes.
Japanese media reported that Abe was encouraged by Natsuo Yamaguchi's four-day visit to China. Yamaguchi, party leader of Japan's pacifist New Komeito, went to Beijing on Tuesday and handed Xi a letter from Abe.
According to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Abe said Yamaguchi's visit was "very good", and "it was encouraging that a consensus was reached on the need to promote a mutually beneficial relationship while considering the bigger picture".
Abe said he is prepared to keep the door open for dialogue, Yamaguchi said.
Abe told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun on Sunday that exploring ways to have a leaders' meeting is "on his mind". The comments were in response to Xi's emphasis on high-level dialogue. He said maintaining the status of dialogue "serves the national interests of both countries".
During Yamaguchi's meeting with Xi on Friday, Xi said Beijing's emphasis on developing China-Japan ties "has not changed".
Before his trip, there was widespread speculation on whether Yamaguchi would meet with Xi, and the fact the meeting did occur demonstrates the importance Beijing attached to Yamaguchi's visit and willingness to improve ties, said Zhang Tuosheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.
During the meeting, Xi called on both sides to show "national responsibility, political wisdom and historical duty", similar to what the former leaders of the two countries had done.
The three key phrases of Xi's advice can be seen as the key to decode the current diplomatic dilemma, said Feng Wei, an expert on Japanese studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
"A lack of historical duty is behind the rampant nationalism within Japan, and dispelling the nationalistic sentiment is a key to solving the islands tension and improving bilateral ties," Feng said.
Abe's handwritten letter is indicative of his wish for improving ties.
"The key to thaw ties depends on what Tokyo will do next," Zhang Tuosheng added.
Zhang said other steps that will help mend ties include Tokyo having the courage to recognize the existence of the Diaoyu Islands dispute, and Tokyo's departure from more measures that may further strain bilateral ties, he said.
Since Abe was elected in a landslide victory in December, he has demonstrated a tough stance toward China, and launched so-called value-oriented diplomacy by visiting Southeast Asian countries and sending other diplomats on shuttle diplomacy trips, widely interpreted as aimed at containing China.
Despite this, Beijing has confirmed that diplomatic efforts and communication remains between China and Japan.
Before Yamaguchi, Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's former prime minister, visited China in mid-January. Apart from meeting with Chinese officials and scholars, he also visited the memorial site to victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Another Japanese friendship group, led by former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, is scheduled to visit China this week.
Ezra Feivel Vogel, a famous United States scholar on Chinese and Japanese studies, told Chinese media recently the top leaders from both sides should try not to embarrass each other and should resume conversation.
Experts said they hope Abe can treat China in a rational manner, as he has underlined the importance of Sino-Japanese relationship several times but still refuses to take a step back on the islands issue.
During the interview with Mainichi, Abe insisted that "there has been no such shelving the issue", and "there is still no change" in Tokyo's position over Diaoyu islands, which offers no diplomatic room for reconciliation regarding the islands issue.
Contact the writers at email@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:f2ea4b03-d39d-4080-9b4a-3d5bbfc32479> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2013-01/28/content_16178650.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963492 | 898 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A New York Times article, “That’s No Phone. That’s My Tracker,” by Peter Maass, suggests that we should consider smartphones, computers, and other connected devices as tracking machines rather than simple appliances of personal convenience.
The manufacturers of these now ubiquitous gadgets claim that aggregating data about individuals favors the consumer, so when you visit a web page, it might display ads relevant to your tastes and needs. Fair enough. But it’s widely speculated that far more sinister use is made of this information—that the government enjoys a cozy relationship with private data gatherers, that information can and will be used against us, and/or to the advantage of the military-industrial complex.
I assume that companies and not-very-secret government agencies already know a truckload of tangential information about me; that is, who I know and communicate with, the web pages I visit, where I am and where I’ve been, the stores at which I spend money and the items purchased therein. But they're still missing the most important component; that is, who am I, what do I intend to do with that stuff? If I purchase fertilizer, am I making a bomb or helping my crops? If I purchase boots with deep heels and correspond with persons with Arabic names, am I a shoe bomber?
Let's say my eldest granddaughter, Bailey Anne, joins the Peace Corps (a fabrication, she's really still in high school). Bailey is already an accomplished farmer, so she travels to Africa, proselytizing sustainable agriculture. While on location, she befriends local persons her same approximate age; some are illiterate, and relatively unsophisticated in western terms. Some are reluctant, conscripted women, who face death, rape, stoning and/or torture du jour for any unapproved point of view or action.
During informal, (assumed) private conversations, Bailey argues against violence, suicide and, if only by example, encourages her friends to be free. Bailey should be judged as a worthy asset by the US government, a loyal American ambassador, attempting to win hearts and minds, spreading a gospel of peace. All well and good.
However, government decides that Bailey might be a threat, not because it knows anything about her moral compass, but because her spreadsheet calculates a suspicious result. In an over-simplified attempt to decide whether she's enemy or friend, said entity decides to intercept her data points. A circumstantial, imperfect ledger begins to compile.
Bailey grew up in the information age and is technically savvy, so she suspects her new friends are being scrutinized by evil forces everywhere, but not her own government. In all communication she uses various encrypted (read privacy protected) mechanisms to communicate. Contemporary computer science suggests they know her physical circumstance and might be deciphering trigger words plucked from various data streams (inaccurately/partially), including encrypted voice, like Skype. (We really don't know the extent of NSA capability, for instance, but when the mechanisms of encryption are cracked they'll be the first to know.)
Bailey’s life ledger might not meet any reasonable standard of proof according to US constitutional law, nonetheless this surreptitiously obtained and commercially available information is fed to a target probability list when sufficiently elevated by AI (Artificial Intelligence). Let's add it up; she lived in an African nation where dangerous persons are known to exist. She arranges the purchase of fertilizer and, most importantly, she continues frequent conversations with her multi-national friends (aka other persons of interest) after leaving Africa. Bailey’s life and death spreadsheet; simplified, incomplete, misleading, beta.
If still in Africa, or walking the streets of Omaha, she might be she might be tracked, harassed, arrested or vaporized by an invisible, silent drone, several miles distant, assigned to remove her by automated, tangential analysis. Think this is fanciful or improbable? Ask a member of a wedding party in Afghanistan or Yemen that was blown to bits by a salaried, comfortable drone operator in Nevada. Had I been judged by spreadsheet when young, I, too, might have been removed.
Deployment of drones, whether weaponized or surveillance, all shapes, sizes and capability, will soon outstrip presumed mitigation by a (possibly) compassionate human. When a young drone pilot is incapacitated because of a hangover, or a quota is missed, or the master target map spikes beyond capacity, a switch is flipped that allows robot fleets to think for themselves, even as an interconnected hive (as suggested by Daniel Suarez in the novel Kill Decision). It’s probably incorrect to assume that algorithm can or will spare life because of a compassionate sub-routine. And what happens when Iran, Russia, China, Syria, gangs, thugs, mafia, and/or other outliers deploy similar, competing technology?
We live in a world ruled by dispassionate government and omnipotent corporations who make fundamental, serious judgments about individuals. They have the capability to gather enough information about us to sell product or kill from the earth's other side, but we (the citizen/owners funding such blood thirst) have no direct knowledge of the formula. Every person on the planet is a potential victim; when numbers dictate they can jail us, take our money, make us miserable, foreclose our homes, end our lives. Who’s granddaughter, nation, political movement will be next? Like contracting a serious disease, we tend to think that it only happens to the other guy.
I’m kind of a math nut, and it seems to me that these numbers don't add up. The enemy algorithm probably can't wait on sufficiently robust technology, rather it might turn bits to bombs because the software is deemed good enough. Popular opinion and an endless stream of apocalyptic news can force/allow aggression without proof. Governments and their corporate overlords jail/kill with circumstantial evidence, incredibly flawed human observation, and with no moral or elected mandate.
Bailey Anne: Eliminated by a spreadsheet? Thankfully, not yet.
Please Stay Tuned... | <urn:uuid:24586a74-d6d7-41f4-90ed-02e20eb401ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boonvilledailynews.com/article/20121212/blogs/121219610/0/Topstories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933178 | 1,265 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Add a Comment
The first six weeks of school is about providing structure for students. Teachers who are too lenient never seem to gain control of their class while teachers who are too rigid risk the… Read MoreAdd a Comment
We all had a favorite teacher, yes? They did really neat, cool things that we remember well after our school days. My most “cool” teacher was when I was in third grade. He taught us to knit, make bread, sprechen Deutsch (as well as sing Bach Fugues in German!), tumble, and make lye soap. And that’s also the first time I did a comic strip–and fell in love with cartooning. His name wasn’t Mr. McCool, but it may as well have been.
Having taught classroom myself for a number of years, I know how hard the job is. So godspeed to all you teachers out there, prepping for the new year!Add a Comment
5 Stars Back Cover: When Stubby Pencil Noodlehead is forced to stand in front of his class to explain why he is late for school every day, the resulting tale is more than the teacher bargained for. Stubby’s story of pirates, pygmies, mastodons, and more, turns classroom order to chaos, and has yhe teacher begging [...]Add a Comment
Wallis, Michael. (2011) The Wild West: 365 days. New York, NY: Abrams Press. ISBN 978-0810996892 All ages.
Publisher’s description: The Wild West: 365 Days is a day-by-day adventure that tells the stories of pioneers and cowboys, gold rushes and saloon shoot-outs in America’s frontier. The lure of land rich in minerals, fertile for farming, and plentiful with buffalo bred an all-out obsession with heading westward. The Wild West: 365 Days takes the reader back to these booming frontier towns that became the stuff of American legend, breeding characters such as Butch Cassidy and Jesse James. Author Michael Wallis spins a colorful narrative, separating myth from fact, in 365 vignettes. The reader will learn the stories of Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, and Annie Oakley; travel to the O.K. Corral and Dodge City; ride with the Pony Express; and witness the invention of the Colt revolver. The images are drawn from Robert G. McCubbin’s extensive collection of Western memorabilia, encompassing rare books, photographs, ephemera, and artifacts, including Billy the Kid’s knife.
This is one of the neatest books I’ve seen in a long time. The entire family will love it. Keep it on the coffee table but don’t let it gather dust!
Every page is a look back into history with a well-known cowboy, pioneer, outlaw, native American or other adventurer tale complete with numerous authentic art and photo reproductions. The book is worth owning just for the original pictures. But there is more…an index of its contents for easy reference too! Not only is this fun for the family, it is excellent for the school or home classroom use too. A really fun way to study the 19th century too and also well received as a gift. I highly recommend this captivating collection! See for yourself at the Litland.com Bookstore.Add a Comment
Brown, Bea (2011) Wally the Cockeyed Cricket. Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61777-106-4. Recommended age 8 and under.
Publisher’s description: When Wally the Cockeyed Cricket finds himself trapped in Mrs. Grumpydee’s kitchen, he sings a sad song and Mrs. Grumpydee’s locks Wally in a jar. When the jar is knocked over and shatters, Wally the Cockeyed Cricket sings a different tune.
Read it—see it—listen to it! The great thing about books from Tate Publishing is that you do not need to choose between print and audio formats because books have a code that permits you to download the audio version on MP3 too! The print version has beautifully captivating illustrations. Yet the young man (ok, he sounds young to this old reviewer!) reading the audio does an excellent job at it. A great enhancement to teach reading to little ones :>)
Of course, the most important reason to consider adding this book to your child’s bookshelf is because they will enjoy the story! As evidenced by its title, Wally looks a little different than most crickets. He doesn’t think anything of this difference and is happy as can be. Until, that is, he unfortunately wanders into Mrs. Grumpydee’s kitchen! Captured, bullied and made a public spectacle, Wally never loses courage or confidence. Helped with the aid of a complete stranger, he is rescued and makes a new friend. Virtues exhibited are courage, justice and friendship. A feel-good story where the good guys win! Great parent-child sharing, Pre-3rd grade class or homeschool, bedtime reading, gift giving, therapy use, and family book club! Grab your copy at the Litland.com Bookstore.Add a Comment
Warren, Jill. (2011) Abe’s Lucky Day. Outskirts Press Inc. ISBN 978-1-4327-7305-2. Age 8 and under.
Publisher’s description: Any day can be a lucky day. Abe is a homeless man who lives in the alley behind a bakery and winter is coming. What will happen on his lucky day that will change his life?
Introducing us to the varied faces of distress and homelessness, Abe’s Lucky Day reminds us that , while food, warm clothes and dry beds feel great, helping others feels even better. Illustrations permit the child to imagine themselves in the story, and so can feel the heartwarming rewards of selflessness…definitely good for your Litland.com family book club or a preschool classroom. Part luck and lots of kindness, Abe’s Lucky Day infuses a desire for kindness and generosity into its reader’s mind and heart, and is sure to strengthen bonds within the family reading it as well :>) Great for gift-giving, pick up your copy in our Litland.com Bookstore!Add a Comment
Nordhielm Wooldridge, Connie. (2011) Just Fine the Way They Are: From Dirt Roads to Rail Roads to Interstates. Honesdale, PA: Calkins Creek of Boyds Mill Press. ISBN 978-1-59078-710-6. (26 pgs) Author recommends grades 4-6; Litland adds excellent for younger advanced readers.
Publisher’s Description: Change. Who needs it? We do! Mr. John Slack, the keeper of a tavern beside a rutted dirt road in the early 1800s, thought things were just fine the way they were. So did Lucius Stockton who ran the National Road Stage Company in the mid 1800s. So too, did the owners of the railroads when the first model T appeared in 1908. Yet with each new innovation, Americans were able to move around the country more quickly, efficiently, and comfortably. Connie Woolbridge offers an informative, yet light-hearted look at how the dirt roads of the early 1800s evolved into the present-day U.S. highway system. Richard Walz’s gorgeous paintings capture both the broad sweep and the individual impact of change and progress.
What a great overview of American history focused on transportation! Told in a folky style, the narrator’s storytelling voice reminds us of sitting on the front porch and listening to elders of the family recount the same stories over and over again. And even though we already knew the story, we enjoyed hearing it once more. Only for 8-11 year olds, these stories will be new :>)
Just Fine the Way They Are has lots of potential uses:
* reluctant readers, particularly boys, will find an easy and entertaining style holding their attention.
* a discussion tool for talking about feelings or conflict, making it great for family book clubs or class discussions.
* illustrations are brilliantly eye-catching—I was sitting in a diner reading this, and the waitress walked over saying “What a cute book!”. As such, it would surely keep the students’ attention if read to the class, whether reading to a traditional classroom or homeschool kids around the dining table.
* While intended for 4th, 5th & 6th grades, it also would be great for accelerated students writing their first book report.
An added touch: it comes complete with a historic timeline, bibliography, and list of relevant websites. Plus the author (a former elementary school librarian) has lesson plans on her website too (see http://conniewooldridge.com/ )! This is one of those unique books that provide diversity on the bookshelf, catching the eye of the reader looking for something a bit different, and being enjoyed many times over :>) Pick up a copy at our Litland.com Bookstore!Add a Comment
Manno, Mike (2010) End of the Line: A Parker Noble Mystery. Five Star Publishing of Gale, Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1594148637. Litland recommends of interest to adults, acceptable for older teens.
Publisher description: When former banker R. J. Butler is found murdered on a city transit bus, police take little time making a connection with the embezzlement at his former bank. But is that the motive for his murder? State police detective Sergeant Jerome Stankowski and his persnickety “partner,” Parker Noble, are called to investigate and run into a host of possibilities including a trophy wife on drugs and an ex-wife desperately needing a church annulment R. J. was blocking..
The second installment of the Parker Noble series, End of the Line, is a fun yet engaging, quick-paced detective mystery. Parker Noble may be the genius who solves the crimes, but it is Detective “Stan” Stankowski’s antics both on and off the job that lighten the story. Truly a man’s man, Stankowski enjoys girl watching while being easily manipulated by his somewhat-girlfriend Buffy the reporter. He tries to juggle dating 3 girls at the same time, each end up having a role in solving the mystery. Meanwhile, the contrast of Parker’s rigidly-ordered life to Stan’s adds color, and both humor and clues surface throughout the story just often enough to keep the reader alert. My favorite dialogue pertains to Parker’s dog, Buckwheat Bob the basset hound, who listens to talk radio while Parker is at work:
(Stan) “I take it that the human voice is soothing for him?”…(Parker) ”Not really, he likes to listen to the political talk”…”You don’t think he understands all of that, do you?”…”Don’t know, Stanley. All I can tell you is that he’s turned into quite a Republican.” LOL!
A cozy mystery written for adults, it would probably have a PG rating if a movie: use of the bird finger; one suspect referred to as tramp, hussy, nude model; Buffy pressuring Stan into taking a vacation together. However, Stan remains chaste in his girl-chasing and the story is focused on the relationships between all the characters, which adds depth, interest and a few chuckles along the way. A fun story available in the Litland.com Bookstore.Add a Comment
Bradley, Alan. (2010) The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag. (The Flavia de Luce Series) Bantam, division of Random House. ISBN 978-0385343459. Litland recommends ages 14-100!
Publisher’s description: Flavia de Luce, a dangerously smart eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop’s Lacey are over—until beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson has his own strings sizzled in an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. But who’d do such a thing, and why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she’s letting on? What about Porson’s charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve—without Flavia’s help. But in getting so close to who’s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head? (Bantam Books)
Flavia De Luce is back and in full force! Still precocious. Still brilliant. Still holding an unfortunate fascination with poisons…
As with the first book of the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, we begin with a seemingly urgent, if not sheer emergency, situation that once again turns out to be Flavia’s form of play. We also see the depth of her sister’s cruelty as they emotionally badger their little sister, and Flavia’s immediate plan for the most cruel of poisoned deaths as revenge. Readers will find themselves chuckling throughout the book!
And while the family does not present the best of role models (smile), our little heroine does demonstrate good character here and there as she progresses through this adventure. As explained in my first review on this series, the protagonist may be 11 but that doesn’t mean the book was written for 11-year olds :>) For readers who are parents, however (myself included), we shudder to wonder what might have happened if we had bought that chemistry kit for our own kids!
Alas, the story has much more to it than mere chemistry. The author’s writing style is incredibly rich and entertaining, with too many amusing moments to even give example of here. From page 1 the reader is engaged and intrigued, and our imagination is easily transported into the 1950’s Post WWII England village. In this edition of the series, we have more perspective of Flavia as filled in by what the neighbors know and think of her. Quite the manipulative character as she flits around Bishop’s Lacy on her mother’s old bike, Flavia may think she goes unnoticed but begins to learn not all are fooled…
The interesting treatment of perceptions around German prisoners of war from WWII add historical perspective, and Flavia’s critical view of villagers, such as the Vicar’s mean wife and their sad relationship, fill in character profiles with deep colors. Coupled with her attention to detail that helps her unveil the little white lies told by antagonists, not a word is wasted in this story.
I admit to being enviouAdd a Comment
Here it is! The book of the day challenge, to recommend a new book or related media every day in 2012. January is complete, and attached for handy download–just click on the above link. February is on the way! “Friend” Litland Reviews on Facebook to see daily recommendations as they post. http://facebook.com/LitlandreviewsAdd a Comment
We’ve created lots of new content this February to help you extend the experience of reading our books long after the last page has been turned. Here are some of our newest resources to go with our titles:
Free Classroom Guides for:
-First Come the Zebra
-John Lewis in the Lead
-Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars
-George Crum and the Saratoga Chip
-The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby
-Poems to Dream Together/ Poemas para soñar juntos
Discussion Questions for Irena’s Jars of Secrets
And remember, sign up for our e-news to get monthly updates of our latest resources, sneak peeks at new books, and more straight to your inbox.
After being a straight-A student, Karina now cultivates Fs: Family, Faith, Fiction and Fun. From and order of nuns working in space to a down-and-out faerie dragon working off a geas from St. George, her stories surprise with their twists of clichés and incorporation of modern day foibles in an otherworld setting. Her quirky twists and crazy characters have won awards, including the INDIE book award for best fantasy (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem), and a Mensa Owl for best fiction (World Gathering). In May 2010, her writing took a right turn with a devotional, Why God Matters, which she co-wrote with her father. Mrs. Fabian is former President of the Catholic Writer’s Guild and also teaches writing and book marketing seminars online.
Let’s hear what Karina has to say about science fiction writing…
Why Science Fiction?
By Karina Fabian
Rob and I have a confession to make: Neither of us likes literary fiction much. Oh, we can appreciate the classics like Dickens and Twain, and I was impressed by the beauty of the language in the Secret Lives of Bees, but when it comes to angst and personal reflection, we’d like to have that mixed in with some aliens or a rip-roaring space battle.
Too often, however, science fiction gets a bum rap. People see only the aliens or the fantastic battles in space, or they classify science fiction with “Godless” fiction, and doubt it has any redeeming value beyond entertainment.
The truth is, science fiction is often used to examine the big issues in an entertaining and “safe” environment. Star Trek, of course, is well known for this, but it’s not unique. Aldous Huxley’s 1984 is a classic example–an examination of a future world where comfort and security have taken supreme precedence over individuality. This book, written in 1931, still informs our political decisions, as we balance our own needs for security against letting our government become a “Big Brother.”
Another great example, made into a movie not so long ago, was Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. The crux of the story (and of many of Asimov’s other robot stories) were the Three Laws of Robotics:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
At the heart of the stories lie the questions: Can you legislate morality? Is Right more than a set of rules to follow?
Science fiction tackles other big issues, too–prejudice (against aliens rather than a particular race–check out the TV show Alien Nation); conflict of cultures and the origin of ethics (Patchwork Girl by Larry Niven); Little Brother by Cory Doctorow looks at the opposite side of 1984–people banding together in reaction to the “Big Brother” state. Naturally, it also looks at the impact technology has on our lives–a good one for that is Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge, where Alzheimer’s patients are cured and must reintegrate into a radically different society from the one they remember.
It is true thaAdd a Comment
Nuns are people too, and we are given a view of the diversity of personalities who are called to the religious life as the stories move from Antivenin to An Exercise in Logic. Parents should be apprised that the salty ship commander engages in mild cussing akin to a John Wayne style character, but only a few instances…
Editor’s comment: “She holds herself with the dignity of her position as both a nun and a diplomat, yet is willing to bend–whether that means by sneaking out in defiance of the mission commander’s orders or going to her knees to pray when logic seems to fail her. “
How many times, when trying to get a point across in a conversation with someone of a totally different life experience, we have said it to be alien or foreign to them? In this story, trying to explain Christianity to people raised in secluded colonies is a bit like trying to explain a life of freedom to someone whose lifelong existence has been dictated under communist rule. But even more difficult is being the foreigner…the one who cannot comprehend the faith belief being explained. A nun and expert on alien religions, Sr. Julian is called in to negotiate with a group of aliens whose obedience to the decisions and words of their ancestors is taken to the extreme, and she has a short time to learn their religion in order to prove them illogical. Aristotle is oft quoted as saying “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”, and this story demonstrates how respectful discourse rather than angry debate can lead to Truth. For those who like stories of intellect and strategy, this one is for you! Pick up the entire anthology at Amazon http://ow.ly/4F48e .
(About the author: Barton has a degree in physics. Happily married to genre poet Elizabeth Penrose, he confuses everybody by being both a born-again Christian and a liberal Democrat. His work has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, ChiZine, Cricket, Cicada, The New York Review of Science Fiction and many small press markets. His e-novels, “Ella the Vampire,” “Parole,” and “Max and Me” can be downloaded now from Lyrical Press or amazon.com, and his first paperback, “I Will” is available from Virtual Tales (or amazon). Barton was prohibited from entering the Confluence Short Story Contest again after winning first prize two years in a row.)Add a Comment
At about 10 pages in length, next is a short, short story but don’t let length fool you. Author Tamara Wilhite succeeds in bringing out a wealth of emotions in Cathedral…
Editor’s comment: Karina likes to think that, though Katarina may not have realized it, there was someone at the end to catch her.
Our society today is experiencing the onset of social engineering. The laws no longer assume an inherent right of well being of the citizen, so society no longer strives towards its preservation. Instead, the rights of individuals have been separated and elevated above their well being. As laws are reinterpreted from this view, we transition into a new form of social disorder where, no longer having the legal right to attend to one another’s well being, citizens are forced to merely exist and comply while the government must increase its social services to fill in the gap previously fulfilled by sheer human kindness.
As moral truths become relevant and absolute standards of right vs. wrong, good vs. evil wash away, we see science begin to transition into defining what is human and what is not through new medical research and genetic engineering. Thus reading Cathedral, written from the perspective of the near-perfect genetically-engineered “human” forced out into the world of mundanes (normal folks), science fiction does not seem to be very far-fetched at all. “We never let emotions or sleep or relaxation get in the way of work. Just get as much done as possible in your life…” could even describe the lives of many people today as family “quality time” is now spent in the minivan driving from one activity to another, and businesses demand robotic-like perfection from their employees. Read closely and you will hear how the seeds of this fictional society are found in our very real world today. And you might find yourself asking the same question as Kat, our protagonist: “Was I participating in a delusion, trying to enjoy a moment here like I was like everyone else?”. Pick up a copy of Infinite Space, Infinite God II at Amazon http://ow.ly/4F48e .
(About the author): Tamara Wilhite is a professional technical writer and the “IE in IT” blogger for the Institute of Industrial Engineers. She is also the author of Humanity’s Edge; Saving Money, Time, Sanity and Yourself; and Sirat: Through the Fires of Hell. Her work has also been included in the Bonded by Blood, Genres, and Universe Pathways anthologies. Print and Kindle editions of her books are available on Amazon.com. www.myspace.com/humanitysedge )Add a Comment
Back on earth again, we switch gears to a story with a modern day setting that seems it could be straight out of today’s news…except the humanitarian aid workers aren’t quite what they seem to be. Parents should be advised that one of the themes to the plot is the abuse of very human-like female droids as sex slaves.
Editor’s comment: “He’d (the author) read a lot of stories about robots trying to act human, but humans acting as robots?”
This is a solid, fast-paced action drama set in Ghana nearly 50 years from now. The trauma and tragedy of a war-torn African nation, as well as risk to the protagonist, are realistically told almost as if we were watching an award-winning film. The beauty to reading stories instead of watching them in film is that the reader has the benefit of the character’s self-talk. We sense Paul’s, a/k/a TK-19’s, yearning to help the refugees with every cell in his body. Or at least the ones that are still human…
Don’t miss out. Pick up a copy of Infinite Space, Infinite God II at Amazon http://ow.ly/4F48e .
(J Sherer lives in Southern California and works as a marketing supervisor for a large credit union. When he’s not writing, he enjoys playing sports, catching up on his favorite stories, and working with others on business strategies and tactics. His blog, Constructing Stories (www.jsherer.com), is a place where writers of all levels can engage in meaningful dialogue about the writing and storytelling process. He also partners with Nathan Scheck to present a free online science fiction adventure experience called Time Slingers (www.timeslingers.com). J Sherer’s past publication credits include Infinite Space, Infinite God; Dragons, Knights, and Angels Magazine; and the West Wind.)Add a Comment
Once again, we’ve taken off to parts of the galaxy that even Spock and Captain Kirk never imagined! Basilica gives an interesting “take” on space ship architecture…
Editor’s comment (quoting author): (Rundle) “A hero is the architect of his own salvation; that is the very definition of a hero. If a hero can’t do that, he becomes a supporting character with no one to support, an empty suit.”
I agree with the editors: Basilica was a great story. Not a syllable wasted in description that created a fast paced adventure in a short amount of “space” (pages, not outer), the protagonist’s moral dilemma only exists because of his strong moral character. Loyalty to authority of admiralty, choosing to protect civilizations from evil even at the cost of their own lives, all of this heightens the dilemma. The characters know from the outset they must sacrifice themselves for the good of all civilizations; acting in a self-serving manner just isn’t a choice for them. As we are flooded with modern entertainment in all forms (film, book, cable, games) that simply offer “empty suits”, it is refreshing to have such a strong hero at the helm of this ship.
Nine stories, nine excellent reads! Don’t miss them in the anthology Infinite Space, Infinite God II http://ow.ly/4F48e .
(John “Fish” Rundle (“Basilica”): After graduating from college summa cum laude, John turned to writing fiction simply to relieve stress. It became a wonderful outlet for his imagination and he eagerly wrote first plays and then detective fiction then novels and finally short stories. A lifelong Christian, he enjoys writing religious fiction at every opportunity and is no stranger to writing for a Catholic audience. John lives a quiet life in the wilds of Arizona with Iris, his long-suffering wife of almost twenty years.)Add a Comment
Having stories centered either in outer space or on earth, we now have both. Frankie in space returning to earth…
Editor’s comment: “God’s calling or no, she should have honored her parents by telling them personally what was going on…”
Rather than a story, this is more of an amusing intermission. Carrying on from the story first presented in ISIG volume I, we are to imagine its main character, Frankie, finally returning home. Imagine, after a two year absence in outer space, what it would be like to call mom and try to explain it all to her…well, I’ll let you read for yourself in Infinite Space, Infinite God II http://ow.ly/4F48e .
(Karina Fabian writes a wide variety of fiction involving characters with faith. Her first anthology, Infinite Space, Infinite God I, won the EPPIE award for best sci-fi. Her humorous fantasy involving a dragon and nun detective team, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, won the 2010 INDIE for best fantasy. She’s also written a small devotional with her father, Deacon Steve Lumbert, Why God Matters. Visit her website at http://www.fabianspace.com .)Add a Comment
I know that, for some of you librarians, it feels like summer (and summer reading) will never end. But I was visiting my family in California recently and my sister-in-law mentioned that my niece is starting school on August 10th! August 10th! That seems so early, doesn’t it? Here in NYC, the public schools don’t start until after Labor Day. What about your part of the country? When does school start?
With school starting just around the corner, here are some new books to consider adding to your library to refresh and update your collections:
KINDERGATORS: HANDS OFF, HARRY! by Rosemary Wells
This is an excellent picture book recommendation for kids with personal space issues.
And for those of you librarians with another couple weeks of summer reading, hang in there!Add a Comment
I was one of three new kids in my bunk at camp in 1989. The rest of the girls who were in my bunk had been together for a few years and were known for getting perfect tens on daily bunk inspections. That summer, I was the kid who made my bunk get nines, rather [...]Add a Comment
The island Republic has emerged from a ruined world. Its citizens are safe but not free. Until a man named Adam Forde rescues a girl from the sea. Fourteen-year-old Anax thinks she knows her history. She’d better. She’s sat facing three Examiners and her five-hour examination has just begun. The subject is close to her heart: Adam Forde, her long-dead hero. In a series of startling twists, Anax discovers new things about Adam and her people that question everything she holds sacred. But why is the Academy allowing her to open up the enigma at its heart? Bernard Beckett has written a strikingly original novel that weaves dazzling ideas into a truly moving story about a young girl on the brink of her future.
Irregardless of whether you are an evolutionist or creationist, if you like intellectual sci-fi you’ll love this book. How refreshing to read a story free from hidden agendas and attempts to indoctrinate its reader into a politically-correct mindset. And while set in a post-apocalyptic era, the world portrayed is one in which inhabitants have been freed from the very things that sets humans apart from all other creation, including man-made. Once engulfed in the story, the reader is drawn into an intellectual battle over this “difference” between man and man-made intelligence. The will to kill; the existence of evil. A new look at original sin. And a plot twist at the end that shifts the paradigm of the entire story.
Borrowing from the American movie rating scale, this story would be a PG. Just a few instances of profanity, it is a thought-provoking read intended for mature readers already established in their values and beliefs, and who would not make the error of interpreting the story to hold any religious metaphors. The “myth” of Adam and Art, original sin and the genesis of this new world is merely a structure familiar to readers, not a message. The reader is then free to fully imagine this new world without the constraints of their own real life while still within the constraints of their own value system.
Genesis is moderately short but very quick paced, and hard to put down once you’ve started! Thus it is not surprising to see the accolades and awards accumulated by Beckett’s book. The author, a New Zealand high school teacher instructing in Drama, English and Mathematics, completed a fellowship study on DNA mutations as well. This combination of strengths gives Genesis its intrigue as well as complexity. Yet it is never too theoretical as to exclude its reader. See our review against character education criteria at Litland.com’s teen book review section. And pick up your own copy in our bookstore!Add a Comment
print out your copies today! (scroll down to the pdf labeled "Activity Guide" to download) | <urn:uuid:b9b64bef-2efd-4617-8949-dc4d7252a13e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jacketflap.com/megablog/index.asp?tagid=7073&tag=classroom | 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 | 0.949474 | 7,184 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Porsche, via European Pressphoto AgencyIn a file photo from 1963, Mr. Porsche with the Type 901, which would be commercialized as the 911.
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who conceived one of the world’s most recognizable sports cars, died Thursday in Salzburg, Austria, at age 76. The cause of death was not disclosed by Porsche, which issued a statement on Thursday, but he was known to have been ill in recent months.
Mr. Porsche was the son of Ferry Porsche and the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer credited with the design of the Volkswagen Beetle and the founder of the sports-car company that bears his name.
Best known simply as F.A. or, informally, Butzi, he studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung, or school of design, in Ulm, then joined Porsche in 1958. He assumed control over the design studio in 1962.
Mr. Porsche was credited with the design for the 911, which made its debut in 1963 as the successor to Porsche’s original car, the 356. He departed the company in 1972 after an acrimonious family dispute involving his cousin and rival, Ferdinand Piëch, currently chairman of the supervisory board of the Volkswagen Group.
That same year he founded the Porsche Design Studio in Stuttgart, which relocated to Zell am See in Austria in 1974. Products bearing the Porsche name would go on to appear on shopping streets around the world. The “Design by F. A. Porsche” label can be seen on watches, shoes, pens, glasses, computer equipment, power drills and light-rail cars.
The Porsche Design Advent Calendar includes a wristwatch.
Before 1972, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche designed cars, including most famously the 911, which had its premiere in 1963. After 1972, when he left the car company, he designed almost everything else. The company he established, Porsche Design, based in Austria, has brought the sensibility of Porsche to luggage, watches, coffee makers and other items over the years.
Juergen Gessler, the chief executive of Porsche Design, said in a recent interview that the company had resumed the production of early items in honor of the 75th birthday of F.A. Porsche, the son of Ferry and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. One is a black wristwatch, inspired by car instruments and done in 1972. Another is a pair of sunglasses made famous by Yoko Ono.
Even in these hard times, Porsche Design has been prospering, Mr. Gessler said. It has added stores — it has 105 around the world — and its United States sales, mostly of luggage and leather goods, have gone up by almost a third in the last year, he said.
But the ultimate Porsche Design piece is offered in an edition of five, at a price of $1 million. Limited to “one per continent,” the Advent Calendar is a sample box of two dozen Porsche Design products, to be opened one per day until Christmas. | <urn:uuid:1a5ecd72-13e1-4fc2-a9d9-589011b1059b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/porsche-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962264 | 624 | 1.523438 | 2 |
POLICE are putting the brakes on hotted-up cars using Sunshine Coast roads, after a staggering 840 infringement notices and hundreds of fines were issued for cars with defects last year.
Poor steering, suspension, brakes, tyres, lighting and windscreen conditions made up most of the defects, Although unroadworthy modifications were common.
Transport and Main Roads have joined the Coast police crackdown on defective cars, accompanying officers at almost every random breath testing operation this year.
A Transport and Main Roads spokeswoman said inspectors were mainly using an educative approach with drivers, but in cases where there were safety concerns, enforcement action was being taken.
"Anyone driving a vehicle on the road is required to ensure it is safe and free from defects," she said.
"Transport inspectors have a vital role to play in ensuring the safety of our roads and all who use them."
"They are highly trained and have the authority to intercept any vehicle to conduct a safety inspection."
Inspectors were required to comply with a national code of practice for roadworthy vehicles.
Their inspection covers driver and passenger safety items, such as the condition of seat belts and loose or broken seat mounts.
"Areas they may pay attention to include major components such as steering, suspension, brakes, tyres, lighting and windscreen condition," the spokeswoman said.
"This is because these items impact most on the safe use and handling of the vehicle.
"Some of the common defects inspectors see on passenger vehicles include tyres below minimum tread depth or worn through to canvas or steel, cracked and damaged windscreens, and broken and inoperative lights."
In minor cases, owners will be issued with a "defect notice", which outlines issues that need to be fixed by a certain date or face a fine.
If they do not comply with these requirements, a reminder or final notice is issued.
If the owner still fails to comply, a $330 penalty is issued and the owner may be required to present the vehicle for a full inspection.
In cases where more severe defects are detected, such as bald tyres, an infringement notice may be issued, with the person fined up to $220 and left with up to three demerit points.
In extreme cases, where the vehicle is dangerous, it may be ordered off the road immediately and not allowed to be driven away.
>> WHAT MAKES A DEFECT?
Notices can be issued if:
- Windscreen washers are unable to clean windscreen properly.
- Windows don't operate.
- The exhaust system on a vehicle has been modified. | <urn:uuid:86fe82c4-145c-49c6-9c46-eccbd29cb0a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/cops-target-car-defects/1729345/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968726 | 530 | 1.507813 | 2 |
VA provides an American flag for services, and a flag to be given to the next of kin or a close associate of the deceased, at no cost, to drape the casket or accompany the urn of a deceased veteran who served honorably in the U. S. Armed Forces. It is furnished to honor the memory of a veteran's military service to his or her country.
Generally, the flag is given to the next-of-kin, as a keepsake, after its use during the funeral service. When there is no next-of-kin, VA will furnish the flag to a friend making request for it. For those VA national Cemeteries with an Avenue of Flags, families of veterans buried in these national cemeteries may donate the burial flags of their loved ones to be flown on patriotic holidays.
The law allows us to issue one flag for a veteran's funeral. We cannot replace it if it is lost, destroyed, or stolen. However, some veterans' organizations or other community groups may be able to help you get another flag.
The proper way to display the flag depends upon whether the casket is open or closed. VA Form 2008 provides the correct method for displaying and folding the flag. The burial flag is not suitable for outside display because of its size and fabric. It is made of cotton and can easily be damaged by weather.
Most of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) national cemeteries display an Avenue of Flags on patriotic holidays and during special events. The Avenues consist of burial flags donated by the families of deceased veterans and provide a unique visible tribute to all of our Nation's veterans.
A Certificate of Appreciation is presented to the donor for providing their loved ones' burial flag to a national cemetery.
Please contact the cemetery of your choice for information on how to donate a veteran's burial flag.
Plan would impact retiree's benefits | <urn:uuid:9b7c78fa-f338-4cb0-97ea-6656a1dd0459> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.military.com/benefits/burial-and-memorial/burial-flags.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937691 | 391 | 1.828125 | 2 |
South Korea’s consumer confidence fell to the lowest level since the Asian financial crisis a decade ago on concern faltering economic growth will lead to further job cuts and falling incomes.
The sentiment index sank to 81 in December from 84 in November, the Bank of Korea said in Seoul today. That’s the lowest reading since the fourth quarter of 1998. A score below 100 indicates pessimists outnumber optimists.
President Lee Myung Bak said two days ago the export-dependent economy may shrink in the first half of next year, which would mark the nation’s first recession since 1998. South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Hyundai Motor Co have joined global counterparts in cutting production as the global economic slowdown deepens.
“The economy is heading for worse times as both consumer spending and exports weaken,” said Go You Sun, an economist at Daewoo Securities Co in Seoul. “It’s difficult to see consumer sentiment picking up for a while.”
The Kospi stock index fell 2.8% to 1,086.57 at 10:46 a.m. in Seoul, extending this year’s slump to 43%. The won climbed 1.1% to 1,285.50 against the dollar, and has dropped 28% this year, making it Asia’s worst performer.
An index measuring consumers’ views of the economic outlook declined to 56 in December from 58 in November. The nation’s jobless rate rose to a 16-month high of 3.3% in November.
“Consumer sentiment is continuing to deteriorate due to concern about job security and a drop in incomes,” the central bank said in today’s report.
Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-biggest maker of memory chips, said this month it will eliminate 30% of its executives and cut labour costs by more than 15%.
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, and affiliate Kia Motors Corp said on December 22 they will freeze wages for administrative workers and shorten factory operations. Hyundai’s sales in the US, its biggest overseas market, tumbled 40% in November.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development this month said South Korea should use fiscal stimulus and interest-rate reductions to buttress the economy.
Annual growth will slow to 2.7% in 2009, which would be the weakest pace since the economy was last in a recession in 1998, the OECD forecasts.
South Korea has pumped funds into the financial system, cut taxes and boosted public spending to limit fallout from the global credit crisis. The Bank of Korea has slashed its key rate by 2.25 percentage points since October, the most aggressive easing since it first set a benchmark in 1999. The bank cut the rate to a record low of 3% on December 11.
The consumer confidence index is based on a survey of 2,200 households in 56 major cities conducted by mail and telephone from December 12 to December 19. | <urn:uuid:15f47acd-80dd-4146-a37f-0bb4938cb79a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intellasia.net/s-korea-consumer-confidence-plummets-to-lowest-in-decade-89764 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943308 | 630 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The Sonneborn mss., 1922-1981, consist of the papers of Tracy Morton Sonneborn, 1905-1981, geneticist and Indiana University Distinguished Professor of Zoology. Sonneborn was born in Baltimore, Maryland and received an A.B. from Johns Hopkins University in 1925. Changing direction from an English major, Sonneborn moved into zoology, and in 1928 received his Ph.D. under the direction of renowned philosopher, educator, and geneticist Herbert Spencer Jennings. The next ten years were spent in post doctoral work and as a research assistant at Johns Hopkins, during which time he studied single-celled paramecium and made the crucial discovery of mating types and their control. This discovery along with his other research brought him to the attention of leading geneticists throughout the country and to that of Indiana University's Dean of the Graduate School Fernandus Payne in particular. In 1939 he and his young family made the move to Bloomington, Indiana, and Indiana University where he would remain throughout his career.
During the course of that career, Sonneborn lectured across the country and held temporary positions at many universities, including Princeton, University of Colorado, and University of Chile. He was active in national and international organizations and received various awards and high honors for both his teaching and research, including the Frederic Bachman Lieber Memorial (1967) and the Brown Derby (1971) teaching award; the American Association for the Advancement of Science prize (1946), membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Royal Society of London; Honorary D.Sc. degrees from Johns Hopkins (l957) and Indiana (1979) universities; the Kimber Genetics Award (1959); and the Mendel Medal (1965). Professor Sonneborn retired from teaching in 1976 but continued his research and connections with both students and the university up until the time of his death. In 1985 Indiana University initiated the Tracy M. Sonneborn Award to honor a faculty member who has achieved distinction as a teacher and as a scholar or artist. It was designed as a commemoration of Professor Sonneborn, an IU faculty member who clearly distinguished himself in both these areas.
The collection is organized into the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Writings; III. Courses; IV. Department and University Affairs; V. Professional Organizations; VI. Research; VII. Speeches and Lectures; VIII. Personal; IX. Printed materials.
Gift. Tracy M. Sonneborn, Bloomington, Indiana; Herman B Wells, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Estate of Tracy M. Sonneborn through Mrs. Ruth Sonneborn, Bloomington, Indiana. 1966, 1981, 1982
Also see the: Sonneborn Reprint Collection, ca. 1900-1981
Collection size: 75,310 items | <urn:uuid:18927844-20b4-477e-be1e-e26c2de7af35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/index.php?p=sonnebor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957837 | 583 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Mountain Home High School is a four-year secondary school with an enrollment of approximately 1100 students. Enrollment fluctuates based on changes in personnel at Mountain Home Air Force Base.
Mountain Home High School operates on a seven-period modified block schedule.
Very old yearbooks indicate that apparently the first students to graduate from a school known as Mountain Home High School was in 1901.
In about 1905, a new brick schoolhouse was completed. This two-story building housed the elementary grades on the first floor and the high school classes on the second. It was located on 4th East Street between Jackson and 2nd North (currently the Middle School PE field). It was demolished in 1964.
On the same block a new building was built for the High School in 1926. This building which is currently the Hacker Middle School Annex was MHHS until 1954.
The current High School building is located on 11th East between 2nd South & 4th South. Over the past 55 years it has had several additions built including the recent East Annex. The East Annex includes 12 temporary classrooms needed to accommodate the addition of the Freshman class in 2009. | <urn:uuid:73854d46-dc93-4879-9c88-e4dc30e01b70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mtnhomesd.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=4326&linkid=nav-menu-container-4-10195 | 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 | 0.987844 | 232 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Linus Torvalds offered an explanation to the lkml of the recent decision to switch away from using BitKeeper to manage the Linux kernel [story]. He began, "as a number of people are already aware (and in some cases have been aware over the last several weeks), we've been trying to work out a conflict over BK usage over the last month or two (and it feels like longer ;). That hasn't been working out, and as a result, the kernel team is looking at alternatives." He continued on to thank Larry and BitMover for their efforts in trying to make things work. He added, "NOTE! BitKeeper isn't going away per se. Right now, the only real thing that has happened is that I've decided to not use BK mainly because I need to figure out the alternatives, and rather than continuing "things as normal", I decided to bite the bullet and just see what life without BK looks like. So far it's a gray and bleak world ;)"
Citing the fact that his three years of BitKeeper usage have helped him to improve how he works on the kernel, he added, "so I just wanted to say that I'm personally very happy with BK, and with Larry. It didn't work out, but it sure as hell made a big difference to kernel development. And we'll work out the temporary problem of having to figure out a set of tools to allow us to continue to do the things that BK allowed us to do." As for what tool was likely to replace BitKeeper, Linus offered, "don't bother telling me about subversion. If you must, start reading up on 'monotone'. That seems to be the most viable alternative, but don't pester the developers so much that they don't get any work done. They are already aware of my problems ;)"
BitKeeper was first utilized by a Linux project in December of 1999, when it was employed by the Linux PowerPC project. Then in February of 2002, Linux creator Linus Torvalds decided that BitKeeper was "the best tool for the job" and started using it to manage the mainline kernel, an event that received much attention in the free and open source communities [story], and beyond. BitMover, the company behind BitKeeper, was founded by its current CEO, Larry McVoy [interview], who originally conceived of BitKeeper as a tool to keep Linus from getting burnt out by the growing task of managing the Linux Kernel. Since Linus began using the tool three years ago, the pace of Linux kernel development has doubled [story].
There are two definitions for the word "free" that are commonly used to describe software. The first is "Free as in Freedom", and the other is "Free as in Free Beer". BitKeeper was made available freely under the latter definition, allowing free and open source software developers to use the tool without having to pay any money. It was provided under the agreement that anyone actively using the free tool would not develop a competing product at the same time. In other words, the aim was to provide a tool that could be freely used, but not freely cloned. At the same time, a more advanced version of BitKeeper has been sold commercially, and both products remain the intellectual property of BitMover.
A vocal group has long protested Linus' use of BitKeeper, considering Linux the free and open source flagship product. GNU Project founder Richard Stallman [interview] is among the protestors, harshly criticizing Linus' decision to use a non-free (as in freedom) tool [story]. However, most acknowledge that no free tool currently exists that is as powerful as BitKeeper, offering the ability to perform truly distributed development. Attempts to reverse engineer some of BitKeeper's features have lead to repeated cautions by BitMover. Most recently two such reverse engineering attempts have contributed to BitMover's decision to end the development and availability of the free BitKeeper product.
Three years after Linux creator Linus Torvalds began using BitKeeper to manage the Linux kernel source tree, debates have continued to spring up on the Linux kernel mailing list [story]. A BitKeeper press release from nearly a year ago claims that the move has resulted in doubling the pace of Linux kernel development, a claim examined in a later two part interview on NewsForge from last May, including comments from Linus and Larry McVoy [interview]. In spite of this significant boost in productivity, there remains a group who vehemently oppose Linus' choice to use BitKeeper.
In a recent thread, Larry noted that the version of BitKeeper in use by Linux kernel developers uses an unsigned short to count changesets, and that in about 100 days the number of changesets in the Linux kernel source tree will grow too large to fit in this variable. A new version of BK will soon be released to allow developers to continue to work even after this 64 thousand changeset boundary is reached. While explaining this, Larry also noted that there was a plan to update the BK license to provide a more precise definition of what is and what is not allowed. Specifically, as is, the license requires that you agree to not work on another SCM product if you use or have used the free BK product. Larry explains, "we've had some people who have indicated that they believed that if they used BK they were agreeing that they would never work on another SCM system. We can see how it is possible that people would interpret the license that way but that wasn't our intent. What we would like to do is change the language to say that if you use BK you are agreeing that you won't work on another SCM for 1 year after you stop using BK. But after that you would be able to hack on anything that you wanted."
Larry went on to note that the reason for this clause is to prevent people from using the free BK product, then to stop using it to work on a competing product, then to go back and use the free BK product again gathering more ideas, then to stop using it to further work on the competing product, and so on. For anyone unwilling to use BK due to its licensing, there are numerous alternative methods for obtaining up-to-date snapshots of the Linux kernel, and Linus continues to accept plain text patch files from non-BK users.
There have been numerous flame wars and discussions on the lkml regarding the use of BitKeeper in Linux kernel development [story] [story] [story] [story] [story]. During one of these earlier wars, Linux creator Linus Torvalds explained his position, "Would I prefer to use a tool that didn't have any restrictions on it for kernel maintenance? Yes. But since no such tool exists, and since I'm personally not very interested in writing one, _and_ since I don't have any hangups about using the right tool for the job, I use BitKeeper."
BitKeeper is a source management tool provided under any of three licenses, one of which - the BKL - can make BitKeeper available for free (as in free beer). Tom Gall posted a question to the lkml when he noticed a clause in the BKL intended to prevent an individual or organization from using BitKeeper under this free license if they or their employer develops, produces, sells or resells a competing product. Yet another lengthy discussion followed.
Some contributers to this discussion seem to overlook two simple facts: First, that BitKeeper is also available under commercial (non-free) licensing, and second, that BitKeeper is and always has been primarily a commercial product (hence the sarcastic title of this article). Granted, the wording of any legal verbiage is open to interpretation, but as BitMover founder Larry McVoy [interview] has publicly interpreted this clause as "if you make or sell a competing product, you don't get to use ours for free", there seems little risk it can be used to attain other ends. In any case, for now Linus and many other Linux kernel developers have chosen to utilize BitKeeper in their efforts, and it is still possible to view the latest code (within 3 hours) without using BitKeeper via archives such as this one set up by Rik van Riel [interview].
That said, there are many interesting points raised during this discussion. Read on for the full thread...
Update (October 6 @ 9am EST): Hourly snapshots of the latest 2.5 development tree can also be found here on ftp.kernel.org. Linus sarcastically summarized complaints, "Big boo-hoo, bitkeeper is evil, and Linus doesn't manually do any more what BK plus a few scripts does better for us automatically."
James Simmons announced innocently enough on the lkml, "Just to let you know I created a bitkeeper repository for the framebuffer layer." M. R. Brown replied a couple hours later, "Please tell us that primary framebuffer/input/console development will continue in the CVS drop-in tree on SourceForge? " | <urn:uuid:e64b5115-a764-4603-8626-45db0925a7a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kerneltrap.com/taxonomy/term/443 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963608 | 1,915 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Cunard can boast having the most famous ocean liners in the world. They are truly floating palaces, an embodiment of luxury and sophistication. The Cunard ships have reined the seas for over century and a half and now are carrying this heritage to the 21st century, along with a cache of luxuries and innovations that are unequalled. Each ocean liner in Cunard's famous fleet has its own unique personality and distinctive onboard charm. Among the Cunard ships, two are the most popular - Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) and Queen Mary 2 (QM2). Which one will you fall in love with?
It is no surprise to most cruise-aholics that the world's most famous liner is not Titanic! It is Cunard Queen Elizabeth 2, which achieved a legend status in her own time. This grand ship evokes the era of classic ocean liner travel, where royalty, millionaires and film stars have been known to stroll on gleaming teak decks while savoring the earth's most dramatic panoramas. Since her inaugural voyage in 1969, the QE2 has sailed over five million nautical miles and has carried more than two million passengers on more than one thousand and two hundred voyages.
With a passenger capacity of 1500, the ship is best compared to a small resort city, divided into suburbs. Built as a two-class liner, the QE2 has been one class for several years; however, there are still subtle class distinctions. Big differences exist in the cabin location and size, although, all of the cabins have been refitted with new carpeting and other amenities. Accommodations and dining are accounted for a high number of single passengers. The level of the service is equally high independent on the cabin category and the restaurants are really beautiful with an elegantly presented cuisine.
Due to her size and configuration, the QE2 can allow to have the largest and most extensive library at the sea, a hospital staffed by two doctors and four nurses, a dental clinic supervised by a licensed dentist, a podiatrist in the spa, the largest dance floor and ballroom at the sea, one of the highest space ratios at the sea and entertainment choices that require additional twelve hours a day to get around to almost all of the venues. The Sports Center has facilities for shuffleboard, volleyball, basketball, paddle tennis and golf putting and driving. Entertainment includes an abundance of games, a casino, various shows and a movie theater. There are also educational programs for you to select according to your interest.
Cunard Queen Mary 2 is the world's largest passenger ship nowadays (the capacity is 2,620). In fact, she is the longest, tallest, heaviest, and the most expensive passenger ship in the world. Inspired by the legendary Cunard Queen Elizabeth 2, the QM2 has been designed to recreate the magic for the 21st century. Now she melds the classic grace of yester-year's ocean liners and the ultimate modern features.
Accommodations vary a lot. The sizes range from the largest Grand Duplexes (2,249 square feet) to balcony cabins (248 square feet) with a standard ocean view and inside cabins (194 square feet). Seventy three percent of the ship's accommodations have balconies, and thirty cabins are equipped for the physically challenged. All the cabins are stylish and set according to everything you may need during your voyage. Dining is the first-rate onboard the QM2, as seven galleys service ten restaurants.
Like all the Cunard ships, the QM2 offers a really impressive selection of entertainment and activities, both; in the daytime and at night. Sporty fun, a cinema, a theatre, shopping, concerts, dancing, shows, games, lectures and seminars, exhibitions, illuminations, even the world's first-ever planetarium on a cruise ship - the list is almost endless.
If you feel you deserve the best - choose the Cunard ships and be a part of the legend! | <urn:uuid:49e3784a-7003-4185-80d7-c2657233e66a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.syl.com/travel/cunardshipsalivinglegend.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952978 | 833 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and George Bush to be taken to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for their role in the Iraq war.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner accused the former British and US leaders of lying about weapons of mass destruction and said the invasion left the world more destabilised and divided "than any other conflict in history".
He wrote in the Observer that the US and UK-led action to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003 created the backdrop for the civil war in Syria and a possible wider Middle East conflict involving Iran.
He said: "The then leaders of the United States and Great Britain fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us."
As for the call for Mr Blair and Mr Bush to face justice in The Hague, he said different standards appeared to be set for prosecuting African leaders than western ones, and that the death toll during and after the Iraq conflict was sufficient on its own for them to face action.
"On these grounds, alone, in a consistent world, those responsible should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague."
Archbishop Tutu, a long time critic of the Iraq war, pulled out of a South African conference on leadership last week because Mr Blair was attending. | <urn:uuid:8c0f36f6-fdb3-427a-bcf9-9d8a488d36e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://icwalsall.icnetwork.co.uk/news/natnews/tm_headline=tutu-try-bush-and-blair-over-iraq&method=full&objectid=31746945&siteid=60240-name_page.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968927 | 298 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Why Robert Burns Was Right About Best-Laid Plans or What's Wrong With The Curriculum The Way It Is?
By Frank Heppner
Honors Professor at The University of Rhode Island
©1991, Frank Heppner. All Rights Reserved
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In 1987, I received a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) for a project entitled "Rational Curricular Review for College ________ Departments." Perhaps the most important finding from this project was that "Rational Curricular Review" is an oxymoron. When the project was over and it was time to submit the final report, I was confronted with the problem that almost nothing had gone the way it was planned. Since I was tenured, and in the possession of certain pieces of information kept in a strong box in a distant country that almost guaranteed my continued employment, I decided I had little to lose by telling the following, very-nearly true story; let it serve as a warning for other departments considering "rational curricular review."
What follows is an only slightly altered version of my report to FIPSE. As the condemned man said as the noose was being adjusted, "Well, I'm certainly never going to do that again!"
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan
This project was a crashing failure, and a stunning success. Almost none of its original objectives were attained. However, one of its incidental sub-projects has already turned out to have a national audience, and will almost certainly have a far-reaching national impact. (Self-puffery is an integral part of every final report. It is, in fact, required by Sec. 14.11.02 of the Federal Code.)
The original premise of the proposal was that college curriculum development can be thought of as a rational process; therefore, there ought to be a rational, data-based, and systematic way of going about it, free of politics and emotional concerns. I asked for support to develop such a process of rational curriculum development and then use it to help my department (the Department of Critical Thought at the University of Rhode Island) develop a carefully reasoned, data-based curriculum. As it turned out, this was an extraordinarily naive premise.
Because the story of why our department took the path it did might well serve as a cautionary tale for other college departments considering curricular change, that tale will be told. Because I must continue to live and work with my colleagues, and have no desire to change my route home every evening, certain events, characters and circumstances must be changed, but the essence of things will emerge. Some aspects of our situation are probably unique, but I suspect that many elements that contributed to our peculiar scenario are generalizable.
Since most people never get beyond the first pages of a government report, I'll interrupt the narrative flow right here to warn:
Departments! If you are thinking about changing your curriculum - think twice!
We spent over 1,000 person-hours in wrangling, bickering, forming and breaking alliances, negotiating, swapping, then propagating and spreading rumors. Very few of those hours were spent on data-generated development of curriculum. The preliminary signs are that our new curriculum is no better than our old one, perhaps even a tad worse.
Our story begins a few years back, when we acquired a new chairman after having had a single chairman for about a dozen years. As part of the New Era, the chair decided to form a committee to see if a new curriculum was needed. There was no particular feeling that there was anything drastically wrong with the old curriculum, but the New Broom wanted the curriculum on the table, along with the committee structure and other housekeeping functions of the department.
The chairman had walked into a department that was factionalized, as are many college departments. In our case, there were two loose groups rather neatly bisecting the department, accompanied by a few renegades and mavericks who were essentially unclassifiable. To be equally unflattering to both factions, I shall call them the Moles and the Slugs. Fortunately, personal relationships between the Moles and the Slugs were generally neutral to good; there were no bitter, non-speaking enemies. The Moles and Slugs were mildly and vaguely contemptuous of each other from a professional standpoint, each feeling that the other group was less productive and less-relevant. Had the Moles and Slugs been working on collaborative projects, this might have resulted in a healthy team competition, but the only thing both the Moles and Slugs had in common was their distaste for non-Moles, and non-Slugs, respectively. Neither the department as a whole, nor the Moles and Slugs, ever had had much luck in doing anything collectively. Ayn Rand would have loved our department.
Although the department chairman was a Mole, he appointed a Slug to be chair of the new curriculum committee, normally a wise political move in an equal-factioned department. The other members of the committee were mostly Slugs, with a few token Moles.
The committee's initial deliberations revolved around what changes were needed to have a more "Modern" (read Slug-like) curriculum. This was a clever approach for the committee chair, because to then argue for more Mole courses was to argue for retrogression and living in the past.
The original committee debate was almost entirely based on rhetoric. The committee gathered little if any data, conducted no surveys among students or alumni, consulted with no curriculum experts. The committee had found out what attorneys long ago discovered: facts only serve to confuse juries, and ideally, are to be dispensed with altogether.
Significant numbers of both the Moles and Slugs argued that data-gathering was not even necessary; as experts in Critical Thought we were in a better position than anyone to know what was required for students to be contemporary in "Thinking" today. The fact that we had no idea where our students went after graduation, how well they did (with the exception of the well-known success stories, which we paraded in our recruiting literature), or what they, employers, or graduate students thought of our curriculum was considered irrelevant, if the object was to develop a strong curriculum in "Modern Thinking."
The deliberations of this committee proceeded at a sloth-like pace. That is, until the Evil Legislators did their infamous audit. A committee of the Rhode Island state legislature commissioned an audit of the teaching loads at the University. Surprise! They discovered that teaching loads at the University were less than those at the Community College. The legislature, in its outrage, then said, "You people down there are going to have to shape up!" In a rare display of administrative courage, the University then tugged its forelock, and said "Yes, Boss. Right away, Sir!"
The upshot was a new series of regulations that stated minimum teaching expectations for each faculty member (not a minimum departmental average) and minimum class sizes for each level of class. Thus, if you had fewer than eight students in your graduate course, you were more than welcome to teach it, and thank you very much, but it couldn't be counted as part of your teaching expectation. Instantly, the old departmental stabilities disappeared, where those who liked to teach big classes and were good at it tended to teach relatively more, and research-oriented people, who were best allowed never to come within 50 yards of a classroom, taught relatively less.
Overnight, the whole curriculum question gained a new perspective. Instructors who taught four or five low-enrollment courses a year found that due to minimum class-size regulations, they now had no official teaching load, according to the books. The kindly front office let it be known that departments that did not have themselves fully loaded up, according to the new regulations, could kiss sabbatical or retirement replacements goodbye. Both the Moles and Slugs could see that students had to be gotten into classes pronto, and that those "golden" classes meeting the new enrollment standard had to be distributed amongst the faculty, or the department would very quickly become an ex-department.
Many departments quickly discovered a loophole in the system. Quite properly, the teaching of a large class was considered to be more time-demanding than a small one, so any class with more than 100 students was counted as two courses. Outfits like the Department of Truth and Beauty, which had many very large courses (300-500 students) usually taught by people who had some expertise and liking for large classes, instantly divided them into "sections" of slightly more than 100 students each, and assigned them to people who previously had taught only upper-division or graduate courses. In this way, by receiving double credit, the course deficient prof could satisfy the regulations.
The effect on teaching quality can be imagined. Professors whose monotone could be used by the Bureau of Standards suddenly had not six advanced graduate students but 125 gum-popping freshmen. Some professors were quick to exploit the system, dropping two or three low-enrollment upper-division courses and swapping them for one section of a big course.
In our department, the impact of the regulations was not felt equally by the Moles and the Slugs. For a variety of reasons, Slug courses tended to have low enrollments. Under the old curriculum, Slugs might well have become an endangered species.
Naturally, this topic was never discussed in an open meeting, nor was anything put on paper (making this chronicler's task much more difficult). It was crass to even hint at a suggestion that curriculum could be driven by a need to increase the body count. Backstage, and off the record, it was Topic No. 1.
It was against this backdrop that I brashly suggested we could all save ourselves time and trouble by approaching curriculum development in a logical fashion--after all, we were all Critical Thinkers--and maybe FIPSE could help us by giving us the resources to develop a truly logical, data-based curriculum. (It should be evident right here that my grasp of the nuances of department politics was not then one of my strong points.)
The chairman approved the proposal-but how could he refuse, when the administration was putting tremendous pressure on departments to generate more grant proposals? The dean was delighted--a FIPSE grant is a high prestige item in many quarters. The Slug who headed the curriculum committee couldn't very well object to a possibility of help with her work.
I suspect now that the situation was very much like the plot of the old Mel Brooks movie, "The Producers," where Zero Mostel vastly oversells subscriptions to a new musical, knowing that when it flops he'll reap a huge profit from the oversubscription. Imagine his horror when the musical, "Springtime for Hitler," turns out to be a raging success, and all the subscribers start demanding their share of the profits. Imagine the quiet horror on my campus, then, when the FIPSE proposal, against comfortably impossible odds, was actually approved.
The department's problem was that by the time the FIPSE curriculum proposal was approved, the Slug-dominated curriculum committee had already blocked out a new curriculum that would be "Modern" (hence unassailable). Not coincidentally, that new curriculum would go a long way toward eliminating the Slugs' low enrollment problems by requiring more Slug courses. The Moles rumbled and grumbled about this, but the Slugs' enrollment gain in this case would not really come at the expense of the Moles. So most of the Moles' objections, then, were departmental rather than personal--the new curriculum is too inflexible, it's unattractive to uncommitted freshmen, students won't be able to handle the first-semester core course without a survey course first, etc.,/p>
The department chairman's problem was that he already had a sitting curriculum committee, and now had a fat curriculum grant whose project director was not even on that selfsame committee; the danger was that FlPSE-supported work would start generating hard data that might force a conclusion different from the one already comfortably established by rhetoric and politics. Clearly, the department chairman could not displace the existing committee chairman: the Slugs would get really slimy.
He did probably the only thing possible. He created a new committee, a FIPSE committee, which would have an advisory function to the curriculum committee. As Lord Chesterfield said, "Advice is seldom welcome, and those who want it the most always like it the least." Naturally, as project director, I would chair the FIPSE committee. Since I was a Mole, this was about like hiring Daniel Ellsberg to be National Security Adviser to Lyndon Johnson.
Unfortunately, and probably unavoidably, the FIPSE committee came to be perceived as a Mole plot to undermine the new curriculum. Despite the fact that the FIPSE committee had some outspoken Slugs in its makeup, its "Advice" came to be interpreted as "Criticism" by the curriculum committee.
It quickly became obvious that the FIPSE committee's good information would be graciously received, only to then vanish into the ether. For example, at the outset of the grant period, at great expense, we brought in one of the leading gurus of college curriculum development and sponsored a weekend retreat at the University's conference center. All who attended agreed that it was a marvelous, enormously profitable experience. Rather pointedly, the chair of the curriculum committee had other pressing obligations, as did all but one of its other members.
Although our guru had suggested that it was not a good idea to try to patch up a curriculum, but rather to start from scratch once it was decided what you wanted to do with the curriculum, the FIPSE committee decided that it would be nice to ask the question, "What, if anything, is wrong with the old curriculum?"
It quickly became evident that our products, the Critical Thinking majors, were by and large doing very well for themselves. Those going to graduate school reported back that their undergraduate preparation served them well; test scores were good for the pre-professionals; our grads seemed to compete well in the employment market. To be sure, there were retrospective complaints about individual teachers, but very few systemic complaints about the Critical Thinking curriculum.
There were, however, many vitriolic comments about a sequence of required courses taught outside the department: we'll call them Grindingly Difficult I and Grindingly Difficult II. Both were killer courses, and, in the case of Grindingly II, the flunk rate was over 50 percent--and this was for sophomore and junior students.
By interviewing students who had initially declared themselves to be Critical Thinking majors and then changed, we found that Grindingly II was having a pernicious effect on our enrollments. Students were changing their majors to avoid the necessity of Grindingly II. Where were they going? To the Department of Casual Thought.
Casual Thought was a relic department in another college that had been losing students for years and was fighting for survival. It discovered that it could offer a relatively easy degree in Casual Thought as an alternate to pre-professional Critical Thinking students frightened off by Grindingly II. A kind of academic Gresham's Law was starting to operate, where students moved away from the more difficult, worthwhile degree to a less-demanding, low-prestige degree where they could earn a higher grade point. Clearly, Grindingly II was hurting us, and hurting badly, as the overall number of Thinking students, both locally and nationally, declined. Even without the new minimum-enrollment directives, Grindingly II needed a long, hard look.
Unfortunately, discussions about the wisdom of continuing to require Grindingly II--it was killing our program--quickly mutated to the general, eternal debate over whether Rigor truly equals Godliness. Sadly, we were unable to resolve this question for the benefit of future generations of acadernics.
As the curriculum committee inexorably marched toward a New Curriculum, the FIPSE committee was busily trying to determine first, what a good curriculum was, second, what a curriculum was supposed to do, and third, how to go about getting a curriculum to do what you wanted it to do. Toward these ends, the FIPSE committee thought it might be useful to see what other Critical Thinking departments had for curricula. Maybe we could see if there were any particularly innovative ones, from which we could steal ideas. We hired a couple of grad students to set up a data base for us, then sent out hundreds of letters to different schools, asking their department chairs to share their curricula with us.
This effort, which was started mostly as a kind of afterthought, a "what if" sort of thing, developed into something that became the most worthwhile part of the whole project. We discovered that there is what amounts to a "standard" curriculum among Critical Thinking departments in the United States. There are tiny numbers of "innovative" curricula in Thinking, primarily found in smaller schools. There are no clear-cut patterns of difference between the curricula of highly rated and low-rated schools, although high-ranked schools tend to have greater Difficult Thought requirements.
When it became clear that studies aimed specifically at assisting our department to have a data-based curriculum were going to be politely received, then vanish without a trace, the FIPSE committee cut back on many activities that had been outlined in the original proposal. It seemed pointless to visit schools with innovative curricula when a) those schools were so different from ours that their solutions simply couldn't work in our case, and b) the curriculum committee was already locked into a particular set of answers. So we are turning money back to FIPSE, for which we apologize. (Evidently it is considered as sinful as sodomizing wallabies to spend less than the full sum of a federal grant.)
Every good story has a little twist at the end, and so does this one. After all was said and done, our department adopted a New Curriculum: the first students are taking the first course in the new core curriculum as this is being written. It is much too early to tell, but first-year students are flunking the first course in the new curriculum at about the rate they did in the old freshman survey course. Since the only logically derivable difficulty of the old curriculum was that some parts of it were too tough, and students were being driven away, the New Curriculum is not off to a stellar beginning.
The wonderful thing, however, is that, for us, it doesn't really matter! Thinking at the University of Rhode Island is currently being reorganized and scrambled. In two years or so, there will be brand new departments, Critical Thinking will vanish, and WE WILL GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!
As my colleagues here face this grim prospect (I, regretfully, am planning field research on BoraBora when the new curriculum committee is formed), what lessons might colleagues elsewhere learn from our experience?
Forming a new curriculum is wildly expensive in terms of faculty effort. Be prepared, and double your worst-case estimate for the amount of time involved.
The collective intelligence of a department can be less - much less - than the average intelligence of its members.
When the balloon finally goes up, logic, reasoning, and rationality have relatively little to do with curriculum design. Power, turf, and survival are vastly more significant.
Good, motivated teachers in well-equipped classrooms, and a supportive administration, are far more important to a good education than any particular curriculum design.
Logic is no match for rhetoric.
If there are factions in a department, setting up a new curriculum is likely to magnify the differences and create wonderful new opportunities for bad blood.
When it comes down to survival, there is no such thing as an altruistic department.
As the great Greek philosopher Thales once said, "What is difficult? To know one's self. What is easy? To advise others."
My conclusion after all this? I look no further than to the old Yankee observation:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.FIPSE Home | <urn:uuid:77f66427-04c9-424f-ad42-3e754aade1e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/heppner.html?exp=3 | 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 | 0.981004 | 4,204 | 1.671875 | 2 |
An essay donated by Amarjit Singh
Two stories about being possessed by possessions
The old man and the Westminster chime clock:
I was in a shoe sale near Swanley in Kent, England and saw a lovely Westminster chime clock for sale. "One proud owner," said the market trader. "Look at it its pristine condition; very well looked after."
It had a fantastic chime, just like the one we had back home in Tanzania when I was a little boy some 50 years ago. As the Clock chimed the chimes took me back to that period. I must buy this clock I thought.
As I was about to pay for the clock, Sai Baba suddenly appeared next to me in
the shoe sale.
Baba said, sternly: "Amarjit do you really want this clock?''
I replied ''Yes Baba hear the chimes and look at it, its fantastic.'
Baba looked at me in a bemused fashion and then said: "Okay buy it, but look who will come to your home with it." He motioned to the old man polishing the clock.
Baba then said ''Its the old owner he has passed away. However he does not realize this. He was so attached to his possessions that when he died, he did not realize that he was no longer alive. Every night he comes to polish the clock and also to wind it. Do you want him in your house?
Baba continued: "I say to you Amarjit: 'Practice attachment and detachment always, so when your time comes to passover -- to leave this body -- you do not become so attached to your possessions that you fail to see the hand of the angels who will come to take you.'
Attachment means holding onto things dearly as if you cannot live without
them as if your very happiness and existence depends on them (sexual
relationships, family , revenge, home, land, cars etc.). These are the invisible
strings that tie you to the external world and they will not allow your soul to
recognize your death when it comes!''
George and his model trains:
I was sitting in my office in the hangar at Biggin Hill Airport with my son Shonu, chief engineer Ashley. George Hammond -- one of our customers, about 56 years-of-age, and a very good friend -- walked in. We have flown many hours together. He is a lovely man very full of compassion. He does a lot of charity work for the community. George owns two light aircraft which we repair.
I looked at George and saw that he was disturbed. I asked: "What is your problem; you don't look happy."
George said " Singh I do have a problem and I don't know what to do. I have 2 large rooms in my home where I have some 5,000 pieces of model trains. Christies' auctioneers have drawn up a contract for me to sell them in the auction. I just cant sign it "
As George said this I looked at him and standing beside him was a green model train.
I described the train to George and he said: "Singh, this is my favorite train. I Have played with it for many hours. How can you see it standing next to me?"
As he spoke, suddenly the model train started to speak to me: "Amarjit: tell George I speak for the trains and we cannot bear to be parted from George. He has given us a lot of love. We cannot bear the parting and we cannot accept him selling us !" I thought I had gone mad that a train could talk.
I told George the message the train had given to me. My son Ashley and George were looking at me as if I had lost my mind. They asked if I was all right.
As they questioned me, Suddenly Sai Baba ji stood in our office. I said "Sai Baba ji I am going mad; how can a train talk to me."
Sai Baba ji replied "Amarjit, George has given so much of his devotion & love to the trains that he has awakened their God consciousness." Sai Baba explained that every particle of creation has God consciousness. "What you can do is to recite some Mantras and ask for the ties that bind to be dissolved."
I asked George if he wanted these ties to be dissolved. He agreed.
As Sai Baba ji says: "Energy follows thought. What we think manifests if not in this dimension then in another. So even our thoughts must be pure all the time. What or who we are thinking about is actually happening in another level. The other person is affected by our thoughts. So the only attachment we must have is with God.
Books on this topic:
Initial posting: 2009-OCT-04
This page translator works on Firefox, | <urn:uuid:18800287-ac81-4353-b57b-013e9828affe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://religioustolerance.org/singh02.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98537 | 1,011 | 1.75 | 2 |
Have Extra Activities Planned
Chances are good that some of the people at your Super Bowl party won't really be there for the game. In fact, it's estimated that almost 8 percent of all the people watching the game will only be watching for the commercials and not the football. Because of this, and especially if the game turns into a blowout, you'll want to have other activities planned, just in case. Have a stack of board games or movies handy, or just a separate area of the house where those who aren't interested can get away from those who are into the game, and vice versa.
Something For Kids
Along the same lines as above, it is imperative that, if there will be children present, to have activities for them as well. Depending on the age of the children at the Super Bowl party, games could be good entertainment, as would (if possible) a separate area where they can hang out and have fun. Some kids, regardless of age, will want to watch the big game. But there should be an area where, should the kids choose not to watch the game, they can relax and have fun without being in the way or having to worry about bothering others. Consider organizing football-related activities for them, such as a training course or balloon football, as suggested by AmazingMoms.com.
A Little Knowledge Goes a Long Way
In spite of the fact that some of your guests might not be interested in the game, it's always more fun to watch a sporting event if you know what's going on. So use the Internet. Find out some interesting facts about the Super Bowl itself, and about the teams playing in it. Create a trivia sheet and have a fun quiz so everyone gets involved. And there will undoubtedly be some people there who have never watched football before, so be prepared to answer some basic questions about the sport itself. Preparing your guests in this way will keep them more engaged in the game.
These are just a few of the ways you can spice up your Super Bowl party: decorations, invitations, extra activities and food. Add them all together and it shouldn't surprise you if next year people want to have the Super Bowl party at your place again. | <urn:uuid:d618cd7b-5f02-4cd2-95fb-43e70530da6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyff4.com/Clever-ways-to-plan-a-Super-Bowl-party/-/9324882/4891974/-/item/1/-/opeu8n/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971171 | 452 | 1.601563 | 2 |
|Home||Events||Public Statements||World Press Freedom Review||Newsletter & Publications||About IPI||Link Terminal||Contact Us|
IPI Public Statements
IPI Calls Impunity a ‘Dark Stain’ on Sri Lankan Government
19 January 2009
The International Press Institute joined other leading media rights organisations today in condemning a "culture of impunity and indifference" over attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka.
Since the beginning of the year, the killing of a senior editor and the attack on the facilities of a popular independent TV channel have led to a paralysis of the media. In the wake of these events, an extreme sense of anxiety has gripped the journalists’ community about their basic safety and working conditions.
Launching a new report, "Media Under Fire: Press Freedom Lockdown in Sri Lanka," the International Press Freedom Mission criticised the government over its inaction and failure to take the attacks and killings of reporters seriously. This has in turn led to an almost total blackout of independent and objective reporting from the north and east of Sri Lanka, which have seen the worst of the country’s long-running civil war.
"The government must understand that impunity arising from the murder of journalists is not a badge of honour for Sri Lanka," IPI Director David Dadge said. "It is a dark stain that has come to define the country in the eyes of the international community. The government must act or it risks being irrevocably tarnished by these events."
IPI has pushed for action by highlighting in its Justice Denied Campaign the case of Subramaniyam Sukirtharajan, a journalist shot dead in the eastern city of Trincomalee by assailants on a motorcycle on 24 January 2006. "That campaign, which personalizes the problems of impunity and journalist imprisonment by focussing on ten individual cases worldwide, aims to aid journalists and their families in their often frustrating search for justice," Dadge said. "We hope this report adds momentum to that effort."
The International Mission noted that there are few serious investigations of attacks on journalists by the authorities and none of the killers are ever brought to trial. "A hostile environment of intolerance by the top political leadership has created a culture of impunity and indifference making every day hunting season for attacks on media staff," the International Mission said in releasing the report.
Based on its visit to Sri Lanka in October 2008, the International Mission noted three trends relating to the coverage of the conflict: lack of press access and independent information flow in the conflict zones; a wave of assaults and intimidation of journalists covering the conflict; and self-censorship by the media on the realities of the war.
The situation for media has continued to deteriorate in Sri Lanka. On 6 January this year the studio of the Maharaja Television/Broadcasting Network (MTV/MBC) was attacked by armed gunmen. On 8 January, Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle as he drove to work in Colombo.
Before the gunning down of Wickrematunga, 14 journalists had been killed in Sri Lanka since 2004, according to IPI’s "Death Watch."
According to the report findings, reporters and editors conveying messages that are critical of the government’s war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are labeled as "traitors" and "terrorists."
On 15 January, police began a widespread search for MTV Channel 1 Chief Chevan Daniel. The police search started directly after a live broadcast on state-run TV by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who had accused Chevan of being an LTTE supporter.
Gotabhaya said that he was "not pleased with how several media institutions acted when the security forces achieved victories." The defence secretary’s statements came at the same time as his brother, President Mahinda Rajapakse, gave assurances to media owners that no journalist or media institution would be threatened or attacked by the government.
The International Mission also was shocked at the repeated instances of elected representatives and government ministers using violent and inflammatory language against the media.
The International Mission is calling on the government to accept the creation of an international commission and independent investigation into the two recent attacks in line with requests by Sri Lankan journalists and media institutions. As a group, the International Mission will offer its assistance to form this commission and to participate in the investigation.
Since 2006, the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka has conducted three missions to Sri Lanka. The most recent mission in October 2008 included representatives from IPI, International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support, International News Safety Institute, and Reporters Without Borders.
Dnyanesh V. Jathar, Mumbai bureau chief of the Week and a member of IPI’s Indian National Committee, represented IPI on this latest mission.
For more information, contact:
Read Country Reports on 'Sri Lanka':
2008 World Press Freedom Review
2007 World Press Freedom Review
2006 World Press Freedom Review
2005 World Press Freedom Review
2004 World Press Freedom Review
2003 World Press Freedom Review
2002 World Press Freedom Review
2001 World Press Freedom Review
2000 World Press Freedom Review
1999 World Press Freedom Review
1998 World Press Freedom Review
'Sri Lanka' is on the IPI Watch List!
Journalists killed in 'Sri Lanka':
IPI provides links to other Internet sites only for the convenience of its visitors. IPI is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does IPI endorse, guarantee or warrant the information, services or products available at these sites. | <urn:uuid:9fbedf4e-39b5-4fb2-8616-37f012f737b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://service.cms.apa.at/cms/ipi/statements_detail.html?ctxid=CH0055&docid=CMS1232363582054 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945856 | 1,164 | 1.742188 | 2 |
In professional sports, most seasons end with a disappointing loss. After all, only one team can win the Super Bowl or the World Series or the Stanley Cup.
It’s the same with kids’ sports. Lots of kids start their soccer or basketball season with high hopes of an undefeated season. And just before they drift off to sleep, they dream of scoring the winning goal or basket.
Most seasons don’t work out that way. So anyone who plays sports, whether a pro or a kid, should develop the habit of looking back honestly at the end of the season to figure out what went well and what needs improvement.
When the Redskins look back at their 2012 season, they will see lots of good things.
They found a terrific quarterback and leader in Robert Griffin III. They also found a hard-charging running back, Alfred Morris. How important were those two rookies to the Redskins’ success? Griffin’s passing and running combined with Morris’s rushing yards accounted for almost 92 percent of the Redskins’ total offense.
Washington’s offensive line stayed healthy and improved. Even the defense, which was so bad in the beginning of the season, played better. The defense should improve further when linebacker Brian Orakpo, lineman Adam Carriker and safety Brandon Meriweather return from the injuries that cut their 2012 seasons short.
Still, there is lots of room for improvement. Even the best teams can get better. The Redskins — and that includes the coaches — have to protect Griffin better. RGIII missed one game and was knocked out of two more. He ended the season with a serious knee injury. If this keeps up, Griffin may have a short career.
The team also needs to draft or sign some better defensive backs and wide receivers.
Oh, and the Redskins need to do one more thing: Buy some grass seed! I’ve seen kids’ soccer fields that look a whole lot better than the turf on FedEx Field during the Seahawks game.
A team can’t win the championship every season. But any season in which you can honestly say you improved is a good one.
So the Redskins had a good season.
Fred Bowen writes the sports opinion column for KidsPost. He is the author of 18 sports books for kids, including “Touchdown Trouble” and “Quarterback Season.” | <urn:uuid:93ae380f-082f-4e39-aa99-07d052a28501> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/reviewing-redskins-season-a-success/2013/01/09/f8aa83ba-59cc-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966835 | 491 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.