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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 22, 2012
It is too easy to take our fathers for granted. My Dad continues to impress me more and more each year. It is so encouraging to see people age well rather than end up grumpy and negative.
In 1910, Father’s Day was invented in Spokane Washington by Arkansas-born Sonora Smart Dodd. It is not without significance that her dad William Jackson Smart, was a civil war veteran who singlehandedly raised his six children. When Sonora was only sixteen, her mother died in childbirth. This left Sonora the only daughter helping her dad raising her brothers. While listening to a sermon about mothers, Sonora was very excited by Miss Anne Jarvis’ invention of Mother’s Day. June 5th, her dad’s birthday, was the original intended date for Father’s Day, but it was delayed to the third Sunday of June in order to have time to make arrangements. Like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is celebrated on a Sunday because of its original connection to Sunday morning worship.
I thank God for my wonderful father, Ted Hird who, with my mom Lorna, will soon be celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary. It fills me with gratitude to have a loving father that believes in me. My dad is such an encourager; he is often sending me e-mails and notes telling me how pleased he is with my work, my family and my life. I want to be like my father in his remarkable gift of encouragement. It is so easy to be someone who sees what is wrong with other people. My dad looks for that which is working and builds on it.
When my dad became an electrical engineer in 1950, they were still using test-tubes for radio communication. Over sixty-two years later, my dad is still growing and learning. I want to be the kind of father who never stops learning, never stops changing, never stops expanding my horizons. Technology is always changing, but my dad has never been left behind. My father is a passionate reader who consumes books in a way that keeps his mind active and fresh. I want to be a father that always keeps reading, and inspires my own children to read for the very pleasure of reading.
My father is a born leader. He rose from very humble circumstances to become the President of Lenkurt Electric, at that time the largest secondary industry in BC. I have seen my father make wise decisions again and again in very difficult leadership situations. As a trained leadership coach, I want to lead like my father, with wisdom and patience. My father has raised up many younger leaders who have made a lasting difference in the world. Like my father, I have a passion for raising up the emerging generation of leaders.
Through my father, God passed on to me my gift and passion for writing. Writing for me is like breathing. That is why I have invested the past twenty-four years communicating with you as a Deep Cove Crier columnist. When my father writes, he is sharp, crisp and clear. I love to receive from him new chapters every couple of months about his ever unfolding autobiography.
I often wish that I had my father’s carpentry skills. It is remarkable how many gifts that he has built through love for various members of our family, including my book shelves and my wife’s dining room cabinet. My dad is always willing to help whenever he can.
My father has developed a strong faith over the years that is a great encouragement to me. As a former agnostic, my father has become very interested in understanding the bible for himself. It is great that I can openly chat with my father about our common faith in Jesus Christ. Taking the Alpha Course was a major step in my father’s spiritual pilgrimage. My prayer for those reading this article is that each of us will discover fresh ways to honour our fathers for all the good that they have done in our lives. | <urn:uuid:a6315be2-fb2d-4773-a6ed-1d77f67ed0cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edhird.wordpress.com/tag/carpentry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982287 | 810 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Here is what one such clinician, an acute admitting physician, told the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Incapacity Act.
What is the doctor to do if the patient is not incapacitated but merely distressed because of life circumstances? They may have discussed it with friends and relatives, may have written down their request in the form of a suicide note and gone on to take the overdose. We know that the majority of such patients, 19 out of 20, live but regret having taken the overdose. Any clinician will tell you, any psychiatrist will tell you that this business of taking overdoses is part of the very natural history of how distressed and depressed individuals behave. They want out. They want to get out of the situation into a different environment and there are all sorts of feelings of guilt and concern about it. I know from my clinical experience that the next day many of these patients are glad to be alive. It would be a tragedy if suicide notes were deemed valid advance directives. Why do we treat them? For the reasons I have stated. We know that their views are not fixed. Indeed this is part and parcel of the way that distressed individuals behave. They want help, they want a different environment and they want to be surrounded by people who can help them. We know that but at the time that they take the overdose on the Friday or Saturday night their intention may very well have been to kill themselves and they may have thought about that for two or three weeks or even months. I think there are dangers in having advance directives which will freeze in time individuals' so-called wishes when we know in practice that they change over time.
Dr Philip Howard was the doctor who put forward this view on behalf of the Guild of Catholic Doctors. Was that why his views were ignored? Did the committee think he had a religious agenda? Dr Grumble has never revealed his religious views here. He is not going to now. This is not about religion. It is about what is right and what is wrong. It is a shame that the law now views doctors with such distrust that they can no longer act in the best interests of their patients and save their lives when they are in a state of distress.
With thanks to Julie McAnulty | <urn:uuid:1ffe549b-305e-40e3-9f82-117489dd6da7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://drgrumble.blogspot.com/2009/12/any-clinician-will-tell-you.html?showComment=1260295676629 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984642 | 452 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Police in Suffolk are reminding drivers and passengers to belt up, as officers take part in a week-long enforcement campaign.
Checks will be held between Monday, March 11 and Sunday, March 17, aiming to raise awareness of how many injuries and deaths can be prevented by wearing seatbelts. Drivers and passengers found not wearing seatbelts will be issued fixed penalty notices of £60.
Chief Inspector Chris Spinks said:“Nowadays the majority of vehicles have seatbelts fitted and the value of wearing them is obvious, but some people still leave their seatbelt unfastened or don’t
ensure that their children are secured in the back seat. We want to remind people that by not wearing your belt, or not ensuring others in the vehicle are, you are putting your own and others’ lives at risk.
In Suffolk in 2012, 10 people who were seriously injured in road traffic collisions were not wearing a seatbelt. | <urn:uuid:b0541b0f-ee92-4a61-bba4-a775c90550f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Haverhill/Seatbelt-campaign-in-Suffolk-20130311140208.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988142 | 195 | 1.796875 | 2 |
I’ve heard the phrase “Let’s rewrite this in Java!” uttered in various meetings at various companies at various times in my career. Often by managers. All such projects to completely re-write the company’s software in a new language or framework inevitably end in disaster. Why is this? I must confess I don’t really know.
I suppose it doesn’t have to be Java, although it often is. Java is the classic. For example, a big company comes along and sees, oh my god, the entire code-base is written in a scripting language!! and feels the need to “clean up” the source code. Without further thought, the decision is taken to write everything. I think at least such companies inevitably choose to transition to Java.
It’s the same with frameworks. Oh my god, this is written with web framework X which is no longer trendy, or with no framework at all!!! The decision is taken to “introduce” a new front-end framework, often trendy, which necessitates a re-write of at least the entire front-end, if not the entire system.
By “end in disaster,” I mean, mainly, that the system is never completed, and never goes online. At some point the code just gets deleted. (Or stored in some backup system, or on a branch of the VCS, where nobody ever looks at it, which are basically equivalent, if one judges the success of software by it going online and the benefit it brings to its users, and/or the money it brings to its sponsoring company, etc)
There is a danger to re-writes, beyond just costing the sponsoring organization money, without any benefit. In a small team it seems too much to concentrate on two projects at once (the old and the new). And the tasks associated with the new (conception, programming afresh) are much more fun than the tasks associated with the old (bug fixing, performance issues), so the programmers tend to prefer them. They also feel the work on the new system is a better investment of their time, as that work will be online a year from now, in contrast to work on the old system. With weak technical management programmers may do what they prefer as opposed to what is important. But if this takes a year or two, what about existing customers? The live system can just stagnate, while their competitors add new features and progress. I think in this case it’s important to have people assigned to the old project, and people assigned to the new. It might suck to be the guy assigned to the old project but what can you do? The work has to be done.
Reasons for failure
Perhaps it’s just a nature of re-writing software, as described by Joel on Software. But I think it’s more than that. I’ve seen re-writes or refactoring projects be successful. Classically the re-write of the Mac operating system was very successful, and the re-writing of the Netscape browser into what became Mozilla Firefox. The re-writing of Windows into Windows NT. At Uboot we re-wrote many pieces of software and they all worked out fine, and were much better for having been re-written.
I think it could have something to do with how the project starts out. What is trying to be achieved? I think if the project starts out with the objective “we need these completely new features” and then it turns out that a re-write is necessary, as the current code-base can’t support these new features, then such a re-write can be successful. If it starts out with the only objective being “we need to re-write it”, for example because the programming language is considered wrong, or the software design is considered wrong, i.e. things which are more faults of the old system than benefits of the new, then things will start to get into trouble.
I think if the objective is simply “we need a re-write” then everyone will chime in with all the problems the old system had and how they can be fixed. For example the software design can be improved (for its own sake). Newer frameworks can be used (for their own sake, or some vague reason such as they are more modern.) Radical new features, which have been on the roadmap for a while, but never really seemed to be totally necessary, can be introduced. Perhaps this is just too much at once, combined with re-writing a system which might have had years of work already put into it without all those new features? But I’m not sure it’s just that.
I also notice that, while the old system is still online, such re-writes do not have any feeling of urgency. (“The old system is online anyway. It’s important that we get it right this time, even if that takes longer.”) Perhaps that too is bad – urgency is often a good motivator for simplicity, and simplicity an attribute of systems with desirable properties such as ease of maintain, having fewer bugs, fewer scalability problems. Related: Perhaps people feel more allowance to act as an architecture astronaut; after all, the objective is to have an architecture, not to have features for customers.
Perhaps it’s because if there are no clearly expressed objectives beyond “we need a re-write” then the other objectives which haven’t been clearly stated (such as which new features to add) can change over time? Half way through the project a new framework is released and is decided to be used, on the grounds, well, we’re doing a re-write so we should use the most modern framework available. Or the same with new requirements which crop up during the project. If one introduces a new framework or feature sufficiently often, and these introductions require re-writing part of the already written re-write, then perhaps the re-write will never get a chance to be finished.
Perhaps it’s that people have a problem conceiving of a new system (which, on the day it’s released, must already have lots of features and scale to lots of users)? Perhaps people find it easier to go one feature at a time, and scale the existing system when necessary? Which is how an initial system often starts out.
Perhaps the projects fail because they take too long? One the one side you want to have people on the old team producing new features for the customers and keeping up with the competition. On the other side you don’t want the new project to work against a moving target and keep on re-writing bits of the re-write. These are contradictory objectives. Perhaps the trick is to get the re-write out the door in 3-6 months, before the old system has had a chance to change too much? Which is a problem if the system is beyond a certain size, or the re-write too ambitious.
Perhaps implementing a system in a language and/or framework with which the development team, and perhaps also architects, are not familiar, is a really bad idea too? This will inevitably lead to mistakes being made. Perhaps that can be mitigated by having an external consultant review the designs, perform design, do code reviews, or by using a language/framework with which senior members of the team are already familiar.
I don’t really know why, when I hear the words “Let’s rewrite it in X!” (where X is nearly always Java!), I just know the project is going to cost the company 1-2 years and most of the development team, get thrown away at the end, bring no benefit to either the users or the development team, and cause the live product to stagnate behind the competitors for this time.
And I don’t really know what you can do about it. Not re-writing things is clearly not acceptable either (would you like your primary system to be the latest incarnations of Netscape 4 on Windows ME?). I think you need to have clear objectives (which features do you need that you can’t implement on the old system, which technology do you want to move to and why?), keep separate teams for old and new, have at least one person with years of experience in the new technology, and make sure the new vision gets wrapped up within 3-6 months to avoid the live system having acquired too many new features.
Shameless self-promotion: I work as a software architect and have been involved in many successful re-writes. We re-wrote the UCP Media Album from Perl into Java J2EE and deployed it an an American mobile operator. For Offer Ready we’ve completely re-written our calculation engine. Uboot was in a constant state of flux e.g. introducing payments into messaging, etc. At easyname I oversaw the re-write of many key features such as the way money was handled. If you are hitting a wall with your current system and want to know your options, contact me. | <urn:uuid:23d3b3de-8200-45e3-baf2-e7bcc896366e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.databasesandlife.com/category/uncategorized/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975089 | 1,904 | 1.671875 | 2 |
(CNN) - Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement Wednesday he was closely tracking Tropical Storm Isaac, currently rotating its way toward the Southeast coast of the United States – and possibly Tampa, where the Republican National Convention is being held next week.
“Although Tropical Storm Isaac is still far from Florida’s shores, we are closely tracking the potential for the storm to impact part or all of the state, including the Tampa Bay region during the Republican National Convention. Florida’s state emergency management team and local emergency teams have been working closely with convention officials and have been planning for this event for more than a year, and the possibility of a hurricane hitting the convention has been part of that planning process.
“I am confident in our preparation, and the decision process in place to ensure the safety of both our residents and visitors during the convention.
“As Florida’s governor, I’m urging everyone across the state to monitor the storm track, and use the next several days to prepare for a potential storm. As we know, storms this far from land are still unpredictable and everyone should be vigilant and prepared.” | <urn:uuid:6a8df02f-1bed-4d13-952c-8f92d4a5b7d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/22/florida-governor-closely-tracking-tropical-storm-isaac/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964254 | 235 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense,) or Ghost Chile, named for its ghostly bite, is the hottest chile pepper in the world. Also known as the Naga Jolokia and Bih Jolokia, or poison chile pepper, it has been measured at 855,000 Scoville units up to 1,041,427 units by an Indian export company. The Bhut Jolokia is twice as hot as the Red Savina (350,000-577,000 Scoville units) and is similar looking to the Dorset Naga. When ripe, the ghost chiles are 60 mm to 85 mm long and up to 30 mm wide. They have an orange or red color. They are very similar looking to Habanero peppers, but they have a rugged skin.
Dangerously hot, The Bhut Jolokia, or Ghost Chile, is the hottest chile in the world and should be handled with care. Use extremely sparingly in fresh salsa, sauces, chili, soups and only where extreme heat is desired. Blend with oil and strain to use as extra hot chile oil. Bake into cornbread or mix into ground beef and make a ghost burger. | <urn:uuid:2511c3df-7f29-478f-9864-635e984891ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gourmetstore.com/node/1026 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939764 | 247 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Jewish World Review Sept. 25, 2001 / 8 Tishrei, 5762
http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- IN the view from my office window, the white cloud rising over the remains of the World Trade Center is on the left, the Statue of Liberty is in the center, and over to the right, just across the Hudson River, is the skyline of Jersey City, N.J. Nobody has ever thought of Jersey City as much of a symbol, but I have been meditating what the plots hatched there and elsewhere mean for the liberties represented by the lady with the torch.
Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Muslim cleric who directed the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people and injuring more than a thousand, regularly delivered fiery anti-American rants at a Jersey City mosque. Several of the conspirators worshiped at the mosque and mixed chemicals for the bomb in a Jersey City apartment.
The city's links to the Sept. 11 attacks were apparently much weaker, though the terrorists left footprints over a wide patch of north Jersey, including car rentals and addresses. Two of the living suspects in the case, arrested in Texas last week carrying box cutters and $5,000 in cash, were Jersey City residents who may have been assigned to fly a fifth jet into a major building.
Another item in the news: The Washington Post reported that the FBI detained and questioned a number of people from the Middle East who were reportedly seen holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops in Jersey City to celebrate the destruction of the twin towers. So far no other news organization has verified this report. Maybe it's a budding urban legend that reflects our national jitters about open immigration.
Part of our current shock is our belated awareness of how easy it is for terrorists to move among us. They rented good homes, depended on us to train them in aviation and hand-to-hand combat, visited Las Vegas, counted their frequent-flier miles, threw parties for neighborhood children and twice attended events at our war colleges. One bin Laden associate, a bizarre double agent, served in the U.S. Army. At least two are American citizens. One naturalized American citizen, El Hage, was convicted in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. Another American, Abdul Rahman Yasin, born to Iraqi parents in Bloomington, Ind., was indicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and fled the country.
A few of the Sept. 11 bombers moved in and out of the country several times. Immigration checkpoints don't seem to be much of a barrier. If they are, nearly any terrorist can come here as a student without being tracked or ever asked to leave. In 1996, Congress set up a program to track the half-million foreign students who attend college in the United States. The American Council of Education has been fighting the plan because colleges want the money that foreign students pay. So far the program called for by Congress is still on the drawing board. Only 25 schools even bother to check to see whether people here on student visas are actually in school. The upshot is that if you get here on a student visa, you can stay as long as you want.
The media stress on bias crimes is important. Sikhs, who are neither Arabs nor Muslims, have been attacked simply for wearing turbans. As Mayor Giuliani said, cowardly attacks based on hate are exactly what we are supposed to be opposing now. Still, there is something unbalanced and one-sided about the anti-bias rhetoric. I have noticed no comparable stress on the heightened responsibilities of Muslim Americans.
The most obvious one is to help watch out for dangerous members of their communities. We need to know what groups Osama bin Laden has tapped into and what those groups are doing. The Muslim community can be of enormous help here. A retired CIA officer told The New Yorker magazine that he and other members of the intelligence community were particularly alarmed by the likelihood that the terrorists had been sheltered, and never betrayed, by Muslim communities in the United States.
We also need clarity from American Muslims on the role of American Islamic charities that have become focuses of concern because of alleged ties to terrorist groups. High on the list is the Holy Land Foundation of Richardson, Texas. Israel says Holy Land is a front for the wealthy terrorist group Hamas. One of Hamas' important recruiting tools is a promise of annuities to the widows and children of suicide bombers. The State Department concluded that Holy Land was in effect sponsoring terrorism by raising money for these annuities here. American Muslims should speak out about Holy Land. If it is a front, as it appears to be, call for it to be shut down.
Writing in The New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman gently outlined
another responsibility of Arab and Muslim Americans: to send positive word about
America back to their homelands to combat the Great Satan image of the United
States promoted by our enemies. So far, many speaking for the Muslim
community have simply stuck to a distressing pattern: a few perfunctory words of
regret for the terrorist attacks, followed by far more energetic denunciation of bias
crimes. In the struggle ahead, the nation will expect more than this from our
Muslim and Arab | <urn:uuid:58581c06-e97a-4820-a3a8-0938bb359b1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/leo092501.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967401 | 1,084 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|Posted by hj on October 03, 19100 at 09:35:20:|
|In response to Re: septic system distance from well|
Your local codes will govern your spacing. Here, it is 75 feet.
: How far does the border of a leaching field need to be from a well to ensure the purity of the well water?
|Replies to this post|
|There are none.| | <urn:uuid:bb1cea99-4f55-42c4-9be7-f6fca5d00f85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.terrylove.com/wwwboard/messages/12967.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93118 | 91 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Originally Posted by Rob
Whatever a transponder is.
It's actually a satellite term, but I know what they are getting at. Several channels are bundled together on the same frequency. I don't know the Smallworld channel line up, but as an example on Virgin Media, BBC News, BBC Parliament and the BBC radio channels are all on the same frequency. If you happen to want to record two channels from the same frequency, Topfield boxes can do it using a single tuner tuned to that frequency. However, they only have two tuners, so can't record say 3 channels from 3 different frequencies.
The problem is knowing which channels share a frequency. I'd be surprised if Smallworld publish that info, so it would be trial and error. Also channels can get moved between frequencies from time to time, so the info becomes out of date.
So in summary, only rely on being able to record two channels, and you can't watch a third at the same time. | <urn:uuid:dea785be-807d-47ff-9049-d771f8eb6b04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/64/33684050-crc-2400-a-confused-newbie.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972893 | 203 | 1.648438 | 2 |
This is a project by SUE Architekten and it is located at Vienna, Austria. Project's program: 40 apartments of two different construction types. There are fourteen images for 40 x Residing in Aspern.
The plot, which spans across an area of 150 x 17 x 34m, is situated directly beside the old village green of Aspern; here we have conceived 40 apartments of two different construction types.
In the garden between the two apartment houses facing the street there are 18 town houses, discretely out of sight from the street. To ensure a high degree of residential quality and a sense of spaciousness despite the density of the development (45 %) and the short distance between the buildings compared to their height, the town houses are arranged in a staggered pattern to each other.
Building regulations for the town houses would have required us to build the houses with very steeply pitched roofs. We had to convince the building authority that creative application of dormer and staircase well regulations and their proper implementation would create structures of equivalent cubature, without presenting a disadvantage for neighbors while providing at the same time usable, modern floor plans for future users.
The average building height is still at the prescribed 4 meters. Yet now, the houses have two main floors and to some extent a spacious top floor, providing ample usable space.
The street-facing buildings are oriented to the south, with large, floor-to-ceiling doors opening up on spacious balconies. These directly annexed outdoor areas combine the external wall and pitched roof into a façade and provide the necessary structure for the building.
On the northern face, this tightly structured balcony view changes to a pixel-like presentation of open and closed façade sections. | <urn:uuid:50ffeb45-4743-44e9-8921-657c6b1d083c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/projects/2543 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958362 | 354 | 1.5 | 2 |
Public Test Drives Surgical Robot at Augusta Mall
December 05, 2009
Augusta, GA – Children as young as four, teenagers, and adults took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Saturday at the Augusta Mall. They took the controls of a $2 million robot used to perform surgery.
The daVinci SI Surgery System has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, Good Morning America, and other popular shows. Surgeons at Doctors Hospital have been using the daVinci system since 2008.
Doctors Hospital and the Augusta Mall teamed up to offer the public a test drive of the cutting-edge technology that is changing the surgery experience. Young and old alike sat at the same console used by surgeons, peered into the 3D vision field, and worked the hand controls to move pennies and rubber bands.
“We wanted people to experience what the DaVinci is about,” said Sondra Smith-Lancaster, the vice-president of Business Development at Doctors Hospital. “People hear robotics and they think the robot is operating on its own. The daVinci Surgical System, though, is a tool that surgeons are using to improve the surgery experience for patients,” Smith said.
The daVinci Surgical System enables surgeons to perform complex and delicate procedures through tiny incisions with unmatched precision. With the daVinci Robotic Surgical System Augusta residents can have surgery with less pain, minimal scarring, quicker recovery time and a shorter hospital stay. | <urn:uuid:36d59a65-4066-4d39-8f50-fc8f00082b01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doctors-hospital.net/about/newsroom/detail.dot?id=b6bc6c4b-1c05-4fa1-aeea-576d01eb6277 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945057 | 321 | 1.6875 | 2 |
At the event, Mr Stefano Bertasi, from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), provided an update on the ICC’s World Trade Agenda initiative, and Mr Carlos Braga of the Evian Group gave his perspective on the relations between business and the WTO.
“This meeting is the first of what we hope will be a series of encounters between the WTO and the business community through which we hope to strengthen our dialogue and our interaction,” said Mr Keith Rockwell, Director of the Information and External Relations Division at the WTO.
The aim of the web page for business (www.wto.org/business) is to make key information for the private sector, such as trade statistics and trade monitoring news, easily accessible in one dedicated area.
The newsletter, which will be issued on a regular basis, includes the latest business-focused trade news from the WTO. It will be circulated electronically to all business representatives who have registered on the WTO online Database.
The introduction of both initiatives was supported in the WTO’s business survey, which also suggested a number of other ways of improving co-operation between the WTO and the business community.
> Photo gallery
RSS news feeds
> Problems viewing this page?
Please contact firstname.lastname@example.org giving details of the operating system and web browser you are using. | <urn:uuid:8f4625bf-3954-4d40-922b-7b696d66da59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news13_e/bus_21feb13_e.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936474 | 278 | 1.523438 | 2 |
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Sept. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) today announced it has awarded four new grants through its prestigious Marshall A. Lichtman Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) research initiative, bringing the program's total funding to $260 million since its inception in 2000.
All Principal Investigators have long-time connections to LLS. They are Jerry M. Adams, Ph.D, The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research; Jon C Aster, M.D., Ph.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.; Carl H. June, M.D., University of Pennsylvania; Jonathan Licht, M.D., Northwestern University.
The innovative SCOR program funds teams of researchers representing different disciplines and engaged in collaborative efforts to discover new approaches to treat patients with hematological malignancies. The teams will each receive $1.25 million a year for five years, for a total of $6.25 million each.
Dr. Adams and his colleagues in The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, have been investigating apoptosis, the natural process of cell death, for over two decades.Our bodies make billions of blood cells every day, and, to make room, billions of other blood cells must undergo apoptosis. If some cells fail to die when they should, they can develop into leukemia, lymphoma or multiple myeloma. The Melbourne team is studying how impaired apoptosis contributes to the development of blood cell cancers and renders the malignant cells more resistant to current therapies. Notably, to improve treatment, they are also studying new drugs, used either alone or in combination with other therapies, which directly engage the apoptotic machinery and flip the cell death switch.
Dr. Aster, Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc., in Boston,
is working on new therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and related blood cancers. One team project is focused on drugs that inhibit bromodomain proteins, a group of proteins shown to maintain the growth and survival of ALL cells and other blood cancer cells. Another team member is working on drugs that inhibit a protein called DOT1L, shown to have a key role in some forms of acute leukemia that often occur in infants and are frequently fatal with current therapies. Another group is developing new drugs to treat tumors caused by the Notch signaling pathway, which Aster has previously shown is hyperactive in T-cell ALL. In the final project, Adolfo Ferrando, M.D., Ph.D., is identify drugs that overcome resistance to glucocorticoids, a mainstay of current blood cancer therapy that Ferrando has shown stop working when certain other pathways are activated in ALL cells.
"By working as a team, our SCOR aims to move new treatments emanating from each of our projects into the clinic during the next 5 years, thereby providing new hope for patients with blood cancers that are now incurable," Aster said.
Dr. June, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of Translational Research at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center, has demonstrated sustained success employing genetically engineered T cells as a novel targeted therapy for blood cancers. Over the last ten years, LLS has provided consistent support to Dr. June in the form of SCOR grant funding to support the development of his adoptive immunotherapy programs at Penn. Traditional therapy consisting of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (using a donor's cells) remains among the most successful treatments for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), but long-term survival of adults is still less than 50 percent. A key objective of Dr. June's new SCOR project is to achieve or exceed the potent effects observed with traditional stem cell transplantation while eliminating the serious associated risk of graft versus host disease. In addition, standard drug regimens used in leukemia treatment, particularly for AML, are often not curative because they fail to eradicate the leukemia stem cells that are capable of perpetuating the disease after initial treatment has been completed. The team will perform basic and translational studies to develop new chimeric antigen receptors to kill the stem cells that occur in AML. In studies to be conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, clinical trials will test new forms of chimeric antigen receptor modified cells in both adult and pediatric blood cancers that are resistant to current therapies. Through multiple collaborations and synergies, these projects have much greater potential to accelerate the development of engineered T cells as novel therapies for ALL and AML.
Dr. Licht, professor and chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology at Northwestern University, along with a distinguished group of co-investigators at Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the University of Michigan studies aberrant epigenetic regulation in leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The group studies chromatin, the combination of DNA and protein which contains genes and epigenetics, the chemical and physical changes in chromatin that control how genes are turned on and off. Recent evidence resulting from the human genome project showed that mutations in proteins that control the chemical structure of chromatin are common in blood cancer. Such mutations have a cascade effect leading to a radical upset of the normal control of genes and uncontrolled cell growth. Many of the proteins that affect chromatin are enzymes and may be targeted for therapy. Dr. Licht's SCOR group includes leukemia biologists, molecular biologists, structural biologists and chemists. Together they will discover how mutant epigenetic proteins cause blood cancers, develop animal models of these processes, solve the detailed atomic structure of the proteins and begin to develop therapies to reverse the abnormalities. Over the past five years the group published numerous joint papers on the underlying mechanism of leukemia in the highest quality scientific journals. They have analyzed clinical specimens to understand how epigenetic regulation may affect the prognosis of leukemia. Lastly the group in involved in the study of drugs that can reverse abnormal gene regulation in leukemia.
"This year's SCOR teams consist of investigators with illustrious careers, all of whom are undertaking cutting-edge research," said Richard Winneker, Ph.D., LLS senior vice president of research. "Their work is leading to a better understanding of the root causes of blood cancer and the development of new immunotherapies and novel drugs that can target the genetic abnormalities that lead to cancer. LLS is honored to be able to help advance their work and bring more therapies to patients in the near future."
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ® (LLS)is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.
Founded in 1949 andheadquartered in White Plains, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org or contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. www.lls.org.
Contact: Andrea Greif
SOURCE The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | <urn:uuid:0e54f15c-0a3a-428a-8ab9-70aa842dee39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biospace.com/News/the-leukemia-lymphoma-society-awards-four-major/272264 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930854 | 1,545 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Within Hours Joplin, MO
In the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event there is a gap between the initial destruction and the arrival of humanitarian relief. Team Rubicon bridges that gap. An organization comprised of military veterans, many with medical backgrounds, Team Rubicon is an elite first responder force. They save lives by deploying quickly and supporting victims until larger organizations can react.
Formed in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the organization embodies a truly heroic ethos of service… operating entirely for free. Powered by dedication and donations alone, this nimble force recently used StayClassy's equally agile donation processing platform to help fund its efforts to assist the victims of the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri.
[ more ]
"We were on the ground within hours after the tornado struck. We quickly built a donation page through StayClassy, and immediately started receiving donations. That funding allowed us to stay a full seven days."
This was Team Rubicon's first domestic mission. As a young organization, it didn't even have the federal certification it needed to act in a medical capacity in the U.S. yet. And while no amount of red tape would stop Team Rubicon from doing everything in its power to assist the recovery efforts in Joplin, the mission still needed to be financed. Fortunately, shortly before the tornado struck, Team Rubicon had created a custom StayClassy donation page linked to its website. The page was branded to fit seamlessly with the rest of the organization's web design, creating the appearance that supporters were "staying in one place." And so, as the veterans rolled out over the broken terrain of Joplin, the donations rolled in from the concerned American public. Aided by the simple steam-lined donation page provided by StayClassy, Team Rubicon was able to take in $38,000 in a few days to support its efforts on the ground.
Those efforts on the ground made a huge impact in Joplin. By conducting search and rescue missions over areas that had only been checked hastily, Team Rubicon freed up local responders to focus on previously unsearched locations.
With their debris removal efforts, the veterans were able to clear away between 100 to 200 trees from roadways and houses. And, by following a tiered response plan, the team was able to operate with maximal efficiency, starting with buildings in danger of losing structural integrity and families that lacked insurance coverage to fix the damage.
As might be expected of a group like Team Rubicon, even fundraising is converted into an on-the-ground effort. During natural disasters, members of the team use iPads and StayClassy's checkout page to collect donations from Americans across the country. Empowering Americans to help their fellow Americans struck by disaster, the $38,000 fundraising effort represented the third time in Team Rubicon's history when total contributions actually exceeded mission costs.
In a move of true organizational humility, Team Rubicon would later use StayClassy's donor tracking and management features to reach back out to its generous donors to offer them a refund on the portion of donations that did not go directly to the efforts in Joplin. Most donors chose to invest in Team Rubicon rather than take the refund offer. Wise decision.
"An organization like Team Rubicon needs to be able to trust our product in any situation. One minute they’re receiving online donations from a dozen Countries, and the next they’re going door-to-door with an iPad. Reliability is an absolute must." | <urn:uuid:3e54e47d-ea0e-4dd4-ae4e-38dbc0030539> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classy.org/case-studies/team-rubicon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960304 | 723 | 1.515625 | 2 |
(The following post has been contributed by Satvik Varma)It has been reported in yesterday’s Economic Times that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is perhaps doing away with the mandatory spend of 2% on Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”). While details of any such changes are not available on the Ministry’s website, based on the news report, it is most likely that the Companies Bill will now only contain a provision requiring corporations to disclose to their shareholders whether they have made a 2% contribution to CSR and, if not, their reasons for not making the said contribution. Thus, while the disclosure to corporate shareholders may be made mandatory, the actual implementation of the prescribed percentage will not.
I had written on the proposed mandatory 2% spend last week and the provision as it was previously drafted was more in the nature of a tax and took away from the whole concept of CSR. Based on what has been reported, it is extremely unclear on what gets achieved by this change (rather than doing away with the whole provision) and what also remains to be seen is whether such a benign provision can help achieve the larger objective of getting corporates to accept their responsibility to society, their stakeholders and the environment in which they operate. Such provisions only make their compliance a check-the-box obligation and can in fact deter from the larger and more desirable social objectives. If nothing else, the Ministry should look into making public the list of corporate defaulters so that the customers and other stakeholders are aware of such non-compliance and can at least impose moral pressure on corporations to comply with their CSR obligations, both which are prescribed by law and those which corporations should themselves be fulfilling.
- Satvik Varma | <urn:uuid:c9c31fa1-2562-457b-84ed-5a34c4842d87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indiacorplaw.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-on-csr-in-companies-bill.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972127 | 350 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Students at Warren Wilson College learn to appreciate work as an important and meaningful part of their lives. They approach their adult careers looking for more than just a way to pay the bills — many of them go on to enrich their communities and change the world.
In economic hard times, the Triad of Academics, Work and Service provide new Warren Wilson graduates with tools to get jobs or to continue their education at the graduate level. Unlike their peers from other schools, Warren Wilson alumni leave the College with several years of marketable work experience. Add in their service, and it’s obvious why 75% of Warren Wilson students reported being employed full-time within 6 months of graduation (and 13.5% were in graduate school) — even during a time of national recession and high unemployment. They are confident, their résumés are impressive, and they have learned social skills in our tight-knit community. Most importantly, our graduates leave with a deep sense of civic responsibility and the desire to make a difference. Their record of finding work is not only a sign that they are financially stable — it is a sign that they are helping everyone around them.
By supporting Warren Wilson College — as a student, a donor, or a friend — you are helping us educate compassionate, informed citizens who go on to succeed in meaningful careers and dedicate themselves to lifetimes of service. By supporting our College, you are participating in a singular educational experience and contributing to the good our graduates do in the world. What you do really matters.
Here are just a few of the many inspiring stories that we hear from our graudates. | <urn:uuid:e1318cbf-c69f-4800-abe4-073d7f62ee25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.warren-wilson.edu/alumni/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977781 | 329 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Today President Obama nominated Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank. The New York Times reports on the nomination here, the AP here. President Kim stuck around Dartmouth barely long enough to get his ticket punched (not quite three years). Except for his apparent lack of relevant background for the position — no one had guessed that Kim was in the running for the nomination — I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t be confirmed by the bank’s executive board.
At Dartmouth President Kim cultivated a cult of personality that resulted in his chosen speaker at the 2010 commencement ceremony paying tribute to none other than President Kim himself. I do not think there will be many tears shed over the departure of Dartmouth’s dear leader. He was liberally loathed by the faculty, and not for petty reasons.
In the video President Kim quoted his father and cited his father’s role in his his professional accomplishments. President Kim’s father was an immigrant unbound by the constraints of political correctness. Steering his son away from the study of philosophy as an undergraduate at Brown, President Kim’s father dramatically told Kim that “a Chinaman” needs to acquire a skill “to make it in this world.” Nowadays talk like that would be enough to get a student on most college campuses in trouble.
President Kim said he dispensed the same advice regarding the imperative of acquiring a skill to students at Dartmouth. The implication was that if you want to be a benefactor of humanity, as President Kim is has been in his medical work, you need to move beyond the traditional claims of a liberal arts education.
Yet Dartmouth holds itself out as providing an outstanding liberal arts education to undergraduate students (and charges a hefty sum for the goods on offer). Apart from my parents and my own family, I would say that going to Dartmouth is the best thing that ever happened to me in precisely this respect. It would have been interesting to hear Kim defend a liberal arts education on its own terms, but he had other things on his mind.
Later in the interview President Kim cited the great leaders in whose presence he has been. “You can smell” the quality of great leadership on them, President Kim said. Based on his personal exposure to them, he cited GE chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt, Freddie Mac chief executive officer Ed Haldeman and Bill Clinton as such leaders. The first two were members of the Dartmouth College board at the time. President Clinton is the one and only. Clinton’s wife appeared with Obama at the announcement of Kim’s nomination this morning. Dropping the right names is one skill that can come in handy climbing the greasy pole.
I wondered about other members of the Dartmouth board at the time whom I know but whom President Kim did not mention in the video. I was a classmate and friend of Leon Black. Leon is the founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management, LLC and a managing partner of Apollo Management, L.P. He is an incredibly successful businessman. He ain’t chopped liver.
T.J. Rodgers is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Cypress Semiconductor. T.J. was a Sloan scholar at Dartmouth, where he graduated as salutatorian with a double major in physics and chemistry. In President Kim’s terms, he acquired a skill or two at Dartmouth. Wikipedia also helpfully adds that he is known for his public relations acumen, brash personality and strong advocacy of free enterprise. At Dartmouth, he is known for his support of free speech on campus. Indeed, he has played something of a leadership role in making the campus safe for free speech.
Peter Robinson is the former Reagan speechwriter who now hangs his shingle out at the Hoover Institution and Ricochet. At Dartmouth Peter studied English literature under Professor Jeffrey Hart, a teacher who opened and sharpened the minds of a few generations of Dartmouth students.
Peter put his Dartmouth education to especially good use when he drafted the speech in which President Reagan demanded that Gorbachev “tear down this wall.” He therefore had a direct hand in some history that benefited humanity.
I speculated last year that Kim would not be long for Dartmouth. It was briefly of use to him, but it offered way too small a stage for him. I may be wrong, but my guess is that President Kim’s nomination to the World Bank is probably a source of celebration today at one place above all others — Dartmouth College. | <urn:uuid:4444ef7a-bf40-4851-9550-f024d1ab63f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/03/sweet-smell-of-success-world-bank-edition.php?tsize=small&tsize=small&tsize=large | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984168 | 933 | 1.625 | 2 |
Top White Papers
Ubuntu 8.10 upmc for the Asus EeePC? Don't bother, just install the full distroJan 14, 2009, 09:01 (1 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Gary Richmond)
[ Thanks to steve hill for this link. ]
"I know that the hacker community has been uber busy since the Asus EeePC broke through the clouds heralded by bugling heavenly angels and Seraphims announcing its arrival in the digital firmament. The roll call of customised GNU/Linux distros has grown impressively. Most of them are designed for a full SSD install to replace the Xandros OS. There are versions too for running some distros from a USB stick but they were not, in the first instance at least, for novices. In the year since the EeePC arrived on my doorstep matters have progressed significantly. Several distros designed for standard laptops have developed GUI tools for installing GNU/Linux onto a USB stick that take the pain out of formatting, partitioning and making it bootable. If you can point and click you'll be in hog Heaven.
0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment) | <urn:uuid:5b258ab3-301b-4717-a6cd-d8656a4c1b2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2009011400735OSDTGN | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937329 | 248 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Film director Wim Wenders announced Friday the creation of a foundation in his native German city to ensure his work is publicly accessible and to support young film-makers.
The maker of films such as “Pina” and “Don’t Come Knocking” said the foundation would firstly buy the rights to all his movies by the end of this year for around 1.8 million euros ($2.4 million).
His works “belong to the collective memory of viewers of every age and of many nationalities,” said a statement by the film and media foundation of the western North Rhine-Westphalia state, which has helped with financing.
The state is home to the city of Duesseldorf where Wenders was born.
Wenders, 67, told local DPA news agency that it had long been his dream.
“Eventually one gets to an age where you imagine the work living on without you,” he was quoted by the agency as saying.
The new foundation will also gradually take on Wenders’s photographic, artistic and literary works and will also award grants to young film- and video-makers. | <urn:uuid:d38fa754-350a-49d6-8b21-f9b0c38545d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/14/german-director-establishes-foundation-for-young-filmmakers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983018 | 244 | 1.664063 | 2 |
On-Grid Solar: An Industry in Plight (Government-dependence perils)
“Without these subsidies … ‘On-grid PV,’ would be virtually non-existent. It only exists because the solar industry lobbied government officials to compel citizens to purchase this otherwise non-economic energy source.”
“Included in the list of failed solar companies is Solon of Germany whose corporate slogan was ‘Don’t Leave the Planet to the Stupid.’ Fortunately for taxpayers, it appears Solon will be leaving the planet.”
A recent Wall Street Journal article, Dark Times Fall on Solar Sector(December 27, 2011), surveyed the latest solar industry fallout, as well as overviewed the financial condition of the surviving companies.
But the article seems to mistakenly equate the fallout to viability as if better profits would mean sustainability. The industry is not viable, but this is unrelated to the recent fall-out. The industry was growing and profitable in the recent past and was equally non-viable then. The difference is that with profit-enabling government subsidies intact, many established U.S. and European manufacturers are now competing with China. And they cannot compete.
There is a measure of justice in this recent turn of events. The old adage “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword,” comes to mind. In this case, one might say, “the industry that lives by government intervention dies by government intervention.”
The U.S. solar industry has seen remarkable growth in the past six-to-eight years, principally on the backs of taxpayers and ratepayers who have been forced to shoulder a significant percent of the cost of these solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to make them appear financially viable as on-grid resources.
The solar industry has amassed a ridiculous collection of additive subsidies, which total upwards of 80 to 90% of the total lifecycle cost. They have lobbied every conceivable legislative body to garner special handouts for installing the systems and production subsidies (Net Metering) for operating the systems.
This industry is artificial. Without these subsidies this market segment called “On-grid PV” would be virtually non-existent. It exists only because the solar industry lobbied government officials to compel citizens to purchase this otherwise non-economic energy source.
In fact, they did such a good job of creating an enormous demand, that it attracted the attention of manufacturers and governments around the world, governments whose only subsidy is perhaps favorable lending to those companies that wish to sell into this artificial marketplace.
Global Subsidies, Calls for Protectionism
So now those same solar companies, which lobbied so heavily to plunder the public coffers, are through some grand act of justice being forced out of the business by Chinese manufacturers, who can produce panels at much lower cost. This industry built on government intervention in the marketplace is now dying because of possible Chinese government intervention in the marketplace. I call that just deserts.
So what is the response of the U.S. solar industry? It’s mixed, but continues on the same self-serving path it has followed. Some panel manufacturers are trying to block solar imports from China, which leads me to believe they’re not really that concerned with green house gas emissions after all.
Solar installers are against the restrictions, because the cheaper panel prices are increasing the sales of PV systems and they’re as happy as ever to continue riding the subsidy gravy train. Both segments are guilty of participating in a massive plunder of public and private moneys.
It is almost comical watching manufacturers and installers fight over the import restriction policy. The manufactures want the restrictions so that they won’t have to compete against the low-cost panels from China, and the installers like the low prices so they have more business, thus showing little concern for the U.S. manufacturers who created the subsidies in the first place. Is there no honor among the plunderers?
The oversupply of panel production is the direct result of government subsidies for solar. The article, in part, credits the oil price boom for the investment surge, but solar is not a substitute for oil. Installing solar panels does not reduce our oil imports. Solar PV offsets electricity and only about 1% of our electricity is made from oil, so I can’t believe investors invested in solar in response to high oil prices, nor for the reason of climate concerns, since solar is a very expensive means of reducing GHG emissions.
Reality Check Needed
It is far more reasonable to assume that investors invested simply based on a belief that subsidies and mandates would continue for many years. The subsidies created an artificial demand, which those investing in the industry surely understood was unsustainable. But apparently they did not correctly foresee the competition.
And fortunately for the taxpayers, who were helpless against the massive lobbying efforts of the industry, the Chinese manufacturers have come to the rescue. So if we’re being forced to buy panels, at least we can buy less expensive ones.
The best possible outcome for the U.S. taxpayers at this point is:
1) those companies most responsible for the solar subsidies lose interest because of the competition, and
2) there is a widespread realization that our utility mandates are accomplishing little except supporting the Chinese solar panel manufacturing industry.
Hopefully, these two outcomes will result in a shuttering of the political forces sustaining the subsidies and the subsidies will finally end.
PV Grid Parity: Still Illusory
One other point worth noting about this article is that the cost of PV is finally down to about $1/watt, which is the price many in the industry claimed was the price needed for solar to reach grid parity without subsidies. Well, $1/watt is finally here and solar is still far from grid parity. The truth is even if China could sell panels to installers for 1¢/watt, the systems would still be too expensive. Even with free PV, the cost of installation, mounting structure, inverters, wiring, etc. make the systems financially unsustainable.
The article concludes with the statement that “as technology advances and costs drop, solar-panel makers can supply power without a need for heavy government subsidies.” This leaves the reader some hope that on-grid solar PV will wean the world off fossil fuels, but this is wishful thinking. There is no guarantee that the prices will ever reach the point of grid parity without subsidies.
PV would reach grid parity if the total installed cost plus the net present value (NPV) of the operations and maintenance cost were at or below about $1/watt. But given that the PV panels alone cost $1/watt, and the total system cost for utility scale PV arrays is still $3.75/watt not including the NPV of O&M costs, I don’t see on-grid PV as a rational bet. Unless of course, one gets to bet with other people’s money and can ignore the moral implications.
Perhaps it will someday be necessary to wean ourselves off fossil fuels for reasons of supply limits or environmental issues. If that happens, normal market forces will rebalance both the supply and demand of energy in logical and rational ways. Till then we’ll just have to suffer through yet another economic bubble created by government intervention in markets.
Will we never learn?
As a final note, included in the list of failed solar companies is Solon of Germany whose corporate slogan was “Don’t Leave the Planet to the Stupid.” Fortunately for taxpayers, it appears Solon will be leaving the planet.
David J. Bergeron is founder and president of SunDanzer of Tucson, Arizona, a leading provider of solar-powered refrigerators and freezers world-wide. He has worked in the refrigeration and aerospace industries for 21 years and holds key refrigeration patents used by his company.
Bergeron graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University cum laude in 1982 and from the University of Houston (Clear Lake) with a Masters in Finance in 1985. | <urn:uuid:a71c40e4-4a7d-48f9-b95d-91349528e9c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.masterresource.org/2012/01/on-grid-solar-plight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95442 | 1,688 | 1.71875 | 2 |
I’m not one for tours. For the most part I like exploring things on my own, but when I saw Angela Jossy’s announcement of a ‘Once In A Lifetime Underground Tour of Tacoma’, I had to go. The Facebook page spoke of the legendary Shanghai Tunnels, the vaulted sidewalks, Old City Hall, and Never Never Land figures. For those who are unaware of some of these Tacoma legends, here’s a bit of background.
The Chinese Tunnels are among Tacoma’s oldest legends. Depending on who you’re talking to they were for literally shanghaiing unruly customers at shady bars, sending the unsuspecting patrons to the basement, through the tunnel and onto a ship down on the waterfront or they were for smuggling Chinese workers after their expulsion from Tacoma in 1885 or they were used as opium dens. But as many stories as there are, there is a distinct lack of evidence of these tunnels.
Old City Hall is one of Tacoma’s oldest and most beautiful buildings. Sadly, due to a series of unfortunate events, Old City Hall is now vacant and in some areas unsafe. It’s future remains uncertain.
Walk the streets of downtown Tacoma and look down. Occasionally you’ll see thick opaque glass. These are the vaulted sidewalks of Tacoma. In other words, there’s something under that sidewalk.
And then there was Never Never Land. As a child I remembered going to Never Never Land at Pt. Defiance Park. There was a meandering trail through the woods where various figurines acted out parts from famous fairy tales. It was kind of cool but kind of creepy. Never Never Land closed many years ago and left behind empty areas along the trail where once stood Little Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs. Recently even the trail was removed leaving almost no evidence that Never Never Land ever existed.
Given all of this, I was excited as hell to go on this tour. Unfortunately in the days leading up to the tour, Angela had to cancel the Old City Hall portion of the tour due to lack of cooperation from the current tenants. She also reminded people that any tunnels were long ago filled in and we’d only be seeing the entrance to one and that this was not going to be like the Seattle Underground Tours. None of this deterred me.
It turned out that Jenya, an old friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in years was also interested in going on the tour. We met up in the early afternoon to catch up and then headed downtown.
We were supposed to pick up tickets any time after 3:00pm at the Gritty City Gift Fair at 9th and Broadway. We arrived at around 5:30pm. When we got there, the earliest group we could sign up for was 7:40pm. We met up with a couple of other friends and went to PSP (Puget Sound Pizza) for a couple drinks and some awesome pizza while we waited.
We came back at 7:30pm to find that the 7:20pm team was just now leaving. We wandered around the Gritty City Gift Fair. I ran into Kris Brannon otherwise known as Sonics Guy as well as ThanksGIVING founder Heidi Stoermer. I also saw Fingerprint Confection Owner, Clay Richart along with his wife who were selling their amazing caramels at the Fair. It was like a 5 Question Friday gathering.
A previous tour returned. We were told to grab the hard hats from them and be sure to sign the release form. I heard one returning person say that the tour was ‘underwhelming’. Not knowing this person, I had no idea what they expected it to be so this didn’t really bother me.
As the time crawled past 8pm, I became a bit concerned. Luckily the tour started a few minutes later. It turns out that two of the tour guides had gone home. One had hurt their ankle and the other, we were told, um, stepped in a puddle. The result was that Angela and another guide whose name I did not get were taking almost two tours worth of people at once to help get things caught up. We followed her down the hill to Pacific Avenue then took a left towards South 7th Street.
As we approached Meconi’s Pub, we were split into two groups. One went into Meconi’s. The other group (my group) was taken around the back of the building to find a man named Darryl who would show us where to go.
Around the back was an open door and Darryl. He led us to a spiral staircase covered in plastic sheeting that went down to the basement. In this basement, there were dozens of figurines. Every one of them creepier than I ever remember them being. The idea that at one point these were meant to entertain children is disturbing. That I was one of those children is even more bothersome.
Here are some photos of these almost forgotten relics:
Past the figurines walking towards the direction of the street was a dark area where the flashlights were absolutely necessary. The stone floor was wet. There was thick glass above us in certain areas that I recognized as part of the sidewalk. These were the vaulted sidewalks of Tacoma. You can’t really see through the glass, but it was clear that if it was day, the sunlight would have provided at least a little illumination.
We walked back past the Never Never Land figures and up the stairs to switch places with the other group. Once inside Meconi’s we were led through a door, down another staircase to another vaulted sidewalk. This one had a substantial pool of water on the ground. I assumed this was the puddle that took out a previous tour guide. I walked through it with no problem.
Back in Meconi’s we walked through to the back of the bar where we went through another door and another staircase. Here there was a wall of brick and cement framed by a doorway. This we were told was once an entrance to a tunnel that went all the way to the docks.
In the 1880s, this area of Tacoma was full of illicit activities so a secret tunnel to the docks wasn’t even a little far fetched.
We left Meconi’s and head back up towards 9th and Broadway by way of the Spanish steps, near the old Elk’s Lodge that McMenamin’s has recently purchased and promised to turn into what might end up being one of the best night spots in Tacoma. It seemed fitting to end the tour through Tacoma’s past with a glimpse of what’s in Tacoma’s future.
The entire tour took about twenty minutes or so and if I had been expecting something out of Indiana Jones, I suppose I too would have been underwhelmed. As it was, I had a great time with my friends exploring forgotten bits of the City of Destiny. That to me was more than worth the $10 price of admission.
As a side note, Angela Jossy recently found out that they’re not destroying the vaulted sidewalks in January like she thought and there may yet be time for another round of Underground Tours for those who missed it this first time around. If she does, I’ll post that information on this article when I have it.
I’d like to publicly thank Angela Jossy and everyone else who helped her put on this tour.
- Jack Cameron | <urn:uuid:cbed90a9-e72f-48c6-857e-d75216a16aed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tacomastories.com/category/life-in-the-253/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984011 | 1,567 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Subject: Log of Field Inspection of Canning River including Marsh Fork, July
The purpose of this field inspection was to gather general resource information
and better acquaint responsible land management agencies with the river
Mike Jacobson, F&WS, Kaktovik
Dave Patterson, F&WS, Anchorage
Bill Long, State of Alaska Div. of Geological and Geophysical
Bill Welch, HCRS, Anchorage
Jim Morris, HCRS, Anchorage, Trip Leader
A "Turbo Beaver" chartered from Sea Airmotive in Anchorage was our
transportation to the Marsh Fork of the Canning River. Dave, Bill Welch, and I
left Anchorage in the morning and picked up Mike at a refueling stop in
Fairbanks. After a long slow flight and a short stop at Ft. Yukon the Turbo
Beaver set us down on a gravel bar on the Marsh Fork about 2 1/2 river miles
above the confluence with the creek originating near Porcupine Lake (T7S, R26E).
This was about as far up river we felt we could float with existing water level
and also have a gravel bar suitable for even the short landing and take off
capability of a Turbo Beaver. We found ourselves surrounded by some of the
impressively beautiful mountain scenery, which is typical of the eastern Brooks
Range. The Marsh Fork cuts a narrow swath through these mountains all the way
to the confluence with the main stem where the main stem of the . Canning River
continues for an additional few river miles through the mountains. The Marsh
Fork appears deceptively shallow from the air because of its clarity. Actually
its swiftness and depth make crossing it on foot a somewhat difficult task.
During the late evening the river temporarily rose a few inches, probably as a
result of snow melt in the headwaters during the day.
NOTE: These reports may not
contain important information about: 1) safety, 2) land management and ownership, 3) fishing and other
regulations and 4) possible errors >
Bill, Mike, and I spent much of the day exploring a small tributary to the east
of Marsh Fork. We found the walking terrain to be very good. Above the
floodplain the terrain is mostly dry, firm, and free from thick, tall brush or
tussocks. Similar terrain is found along the river until the main stem exits
from the mountains. We watched a band of over 70 sheep apparently all ewes and
lambs along the south slope of the creek drainage. We also spotted a golden
eagle and a single caribou. We checked out the creek draining the lake known as
X-ray Lake (T7S, R26E) and found the water level to be much to low for floating.
While walking in the evening on the west side of the river we spotted a wolf and
a red fox and three rams high above us on a ridge.
In the morning we inflated and loaded our two rafts (13' Avon Adventurer and a
12' Avon Redshank) and started off. This upper part of the Marsh Fork has a
moderately fast current of about 6 to 7 mph. The river is very braided and the
best channel is not always obvious. The river bottom is gravel. We encountered a
few narrow places and several shallow ripple bars, some requiring short
distances of dragging. Overhanging willow brush is a little annoying but posed
no hazards for us. During about 2 1/ 2 hours on the river we traveled about 10
river miles. Over this distance the river passes through a valley about 1/ 3
mile wide on the floor, with high scenic rock ridges on either side. We spotted
a few sheep and 1 cow caribou during the day. We made camp on a low gravelly
bench on the west bank of the river. Firewood is sparse. The air and water
temperature at 5:00 p.m., were 62F and 45F respectively. In the evening we hiked
up a creek flowing out of a narrow canyon typical of many canyons adjoining the
Marsh Fork. The terrain on the canyon floor offered easy walking. Poplar trees
up to 15 feet high occupied two separate draws along the north side of the
particular canyon we walked up. Bill Long arrived by chopper late in the
Today’s floating provided us with the best float boating waters of the entire
trip. During about 4 hours on the river we traveled about 20 river miles. The
first three river miles are very braided and shallow in several places so that
dragging the boats over very short distances occasionally was necessary. A short
stretch of Class II rapids with many rocks to maneuver around is encountered
before entering somewhat of a canyon where the river is mostly contained within
a single channel. For four miles the river offers exciting Class II rapids with
some bordering on Class III The challenge, although not a difficult one in
rafts, comes from maneuvering among the many rocks in moderately swift water
(averaging about 6 mph). At the north end of the "canyon" are good gravel bars
for aircraft use which appear to have received regular use. A rough landing
strip has been marked with rocks and flagging. The next 4 to 5 miles of river
includes about 1 mile of braided river and then more rapids, Class II and
possibly Class III. The waves here are higher than those encountered further up
river. Some large rocks are in the river and one short navigable falls that a
boater may easily avoid. There are also a few sharp angle turns here and
elsewhere on the river where the water rushes against a rock wall. These places
are easily spotted from a reasonable distance up river. However, at higher
water, these places could be very dangerous. The remainder of the day's float
was mostly along braided river with intermittent short stretches with rapids.
During the day we saw one bull caribou, a few sheep, and two golden eagles. Dave
caught a few grayling up to 12' long and several small Arctic char. We explored
a spring spilling water down a steep slope into the river along its west bank.
Bill Long estimated the flow to be 20 cfs. Poplar trees about 20 feet high and
up to about 5 inches in diameter grow near the spring.
During about 2 hours on the river we floated about 10 river miles. The river
current is about 6 mph. About half way through the days float we arrived at the
main stem of the Canning River. In disappointing contrast to the Marsh Fork the
main stem was very silty and continued to be cloudy the remainder of the trip.
The confluence area of the Marsh Fork and main stem is very braided. Careful
selection of a channel is important. We encountered some shallow ripple bars,
which required dragging the boats very short distances. Below the confluence the
river is still very braided but the main channel is obvious. Near the river on
the east side is a lake about 1/3 mile long. We saw Arctic char in the lake but
were unsuccessful in catching any. A few grayling were caught in
We traveled about 15 river miles in about 4 1/ 2 hours of floating. Much of the
river is braided but the main channel is easy to follow. The river moves at a
good rate with some Class II rapids. An upstream wind slowed our progress and
made it very difficult to keep the rafts in the main current, away from the
banks. The scenery changed drastically as we left the mountains and entered the
foothills country. We camped up stream from the outflow of Shublik Spring, a
major spring. In the evening Bill Long and I hiked to the source of the spring
where we found most of the water coming from 3 places. A relatively lush growth
of flowers and other low growing vegetation occurs around the source area of the
springs. Tall willow shrubs grow along the length of Shublik Creek.
We floated about 16 miles, camping near the mouth of Ignek Creek. In the
afternoon we encountered the first incremental weather of the trip. We had rain,
and worse, wind. Even with a good gradient and current the wind makes it very
difficult for rafts on the river. Wildlife viewing was very limited. Grizzly
bear tracks, but no bears were seen.
We floated about 20 miles of river during 6 hours on the river and perhaps 4
hours of actual floating. The river now is mostly a single channel with very
little braiding. The river maintains a good gradient and a current of about 3 to
4 mph. Some Class II rapids in the river. The main channel is about 50 yards
wide with gravel and rock bottom. The surrounding countryside is characterized
by low, rolling hills. We found the walking terrain on the low ridges to be
We traveled about 9 river miles during 3 hours on the river. We stopped at a
gravel bar suitable for our pick-up plane (Turbo Beaver) to land on. The
location is immediately above the Staines River Delta. The terrain is mostly
flat, typical of the Arctic coastal plain. The river still has a surprisingly
strong current for this close to the sea. The following day while flying out we
over flew a portion of the braided river and noted that the river continues to
have a noticeable current all the way to the sea.
In the morning we experienced rain and heavy ground fog (to be expected near the
coast) but our pick-up plane was able to come in during the afternoon.
The Marsh Fork offers a very good float boating experience in a raft or
whitewater kayak. The river has sufficient gradient to provide moderate to
fairly fast current, and has frequent rapids and even a couple short, low drops.
The use of canoes or large rigid kayaks is not practical because of difficult
access. The use of a folding flat-water type kayaks on Marsh Fork is not
recommended because of the many rocks to maneuver around. The Canning below the
confluence with the Marsh Fork is quite braided but has a moderate gradient and
current and offers good float boating. Less maneuvering is required.
In addition to float boating the most outstanding feature of this river is the
scenery. It is an intimate river where the mountains rise up within easy walking
distance from much of the river. Travelers should allow plenty of extra time to
walk up and explore some of the many canyons and ridges accessible from the
river. The opportunities for hiking in the mountains region are excellent.
Although requiring more time, a hike from the Canning River up Ignek Valley
between the Sadlerochet and Shublik Mountains is reported to be worth the
The Canning River passes through a very interesting as well as scenic geologic
display. The stratigraphic record revealed in the rocks of the Sadlerochit and
Shublik Mountains is very similar to that in the area of Prudhoe Bay oil field.
Thus a traveler through this area has the opportunity to see and interpret the
same rock sequence and phenomenon that is present in the petroleum bearing rocks
underneath the Arctic Slope. Viewable from the river are textbook examples of
structural features formed by the uplift of the mountains.
Camping sites along the river's gravel bars are numerous. Firewood, however, is
generally scarce. Fishing for grayling and Arctic char during our trip was poor.
The fishing probably changes with the time of year and with water clarity.
Although we did not observe or catch any, anadromous char reportedly run in the
river. Except for many Dall sheep observed on the slopes above the Marsh Fork,
wildlife viewing was poor. Of course this can also vary with time of year or
from year to year.
Access to the Canning River and Marsh Fork for float boaters is by chartered
aircraft. Expense will be high, as it is for access to many north Alaska rivers.
Chartering a plane from Anchorage, as we did because of unique circumstances, is
not recommended. Kaktovik (Barter Island) is served once a week and Ft. Yukon
and Prudhoe Bay receive flights every day. Each of these locations has charter
services available, however, availability of desired type of aircraft must be
checked and confirmed. The use of the gravel bars require aircraft capable of
landing and taking off in short distances on rough terrain.
Complete river log
Other information resources
List of rivers for which information is available on this website
Alagnak River | Alatna River
| American Creek
| Andreafsky River | Aniakchak River | Awuna River | Beaver Creek | Black River | Bremner River | Canning River | Charley River |
Chilikadrotna River | Chitina River | Colville River | Copper River | Delta River | Fortymile River | Gulkana River | Huslia River | Ivishak River | John River | Kakhonak River | Kanektok River | Karluk River | Kasegaluk Lagoon | King Salmon River | Kobuk River |
Koyukuk River North Fork | Little Susitna River | Mulchatna River | Nigu Etivluk rivers | Noatak River | Nowitna River | Nuyakuk River | Porcupine River | Saganirktok River | Salmon River (Kobuk) | Selawik River | Sheenjek River | Squirrel River | Talachulitna River | Tlikakila River | Togiak River | Unalakleet River |
Back to the main river logs page
Where next on
hunting books, Alaska fishing
boating page, main Alaska hunting
and main Alaska fishing page
General information about boating, hunting and fishing in Alaska
with leads on where to find out more.
lodges, fishing guides,
charters, air taxis,
and much more. Hundreds of listings throughout Alaska.
What is it like to
and fish in various areas of Alaska?
Alaska outdoors swap n sell,
and Alaska shooting
Read what people are saying about
hunting, fishing and shooting in Alaska. Post
your own comments. Buy or sell Alaska outdoors gear.
Stories and information about hunting and fishing in | <urn:uuid:81abc5aa-c825-411d-a465-9ec525be5700> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/boating/arl/canning.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939478 | 3,055 | 1.796875 | 2 |
It's always a challenge to create the right kind of lighting when you are working on your computer. Usually, some bright lights work, but that's not always the case. What about when you are relaxing? Do you still want that bright desk lamp on? We really like this idea: creating ambient lighting behind your monitor using LEDs.
It's not uncommon that people have to set up their workstations in other rooms, like the living room or the bedroom, especially if other people are using them. That's why we really liked Davelei's idea. He used ambient lighting that was created using LED lamps in order to effectively light his workspace.
It's kind of like a Philips Ambilight for computers. What's amazing about Amibilight is that the color of the LEDs actually changes depending on what's being displayed on the HDTV. This won't happen with your computer, but it's a really neat idea. It's definitely less tiring for the eyes.
Davelei uses the Ergotron LX Desk Mount, a floating monitor mount, that really sets his workspace apart in terms of looks and usability. It also creates the illusion of more space. A $40 IKEA Dioder lighting set completes the desk. He keeps his desk clean by storing his computer peripherals above and below the monitor. | <urn:uuid:7b160a3b-d9ee-4465-b36b-fe82d3203f0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/using-led-lighting-behind-work-109398 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971981 | 270 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Ready for a mouthful? The Everpresent Wordsnatcher, the Terrible Trivium, the Demon of Insincerity, the Giant, and the Senses Taker. These are five of the scariest demons that Milo, Tock, and the Humbug encounter as they pass through the Mountains of Ignorance on their way to the Castle in the Air.
First on the list is the Everpresent Wordsnatcher. He turns out to be not that bad compared to the rest: it's just impossible to hold a conversation with him! Frustrating, yes. Life-threatening, not so much.
The other demons are a bit more complicated. Milo ends up using all four gifts given to him by King Azaz, Alec Bing, the Soundkeeper, and the Mathemagician to defeat these terrible creatures.
First, the Terrible Trivium forces Milo to use his gift from the Mathemagician, the magic staff. See, the Trivium looks like a "very pleasant man" (16.116), but he has a blank face. That should be the first clue that he's a lot more trouble than he appears. He gives Milo, Tock, and the Humbug tasks that seem urgent but are really just tedious (picky). Milo's only able to figure this out by doing some math (using the handy pencil/staff).
The Trivium becomes even more frightening when he's found out. His blank face ends up becoming super-scary when he explains how he has trapped the travelers into doing meaningless tasks: "his face looked as if he'd be grinning an evil grin – if he could grin at all" (17.20). It's a good thing Milo, Tock, and the Humbug can outrun him once they start to get away.
Next up is the Demon of Insincerity, who has a great voice but insignificant body. He uses his voice to trap Milo, Tock, and the Humbug in a pit where they can only hear him (and fear him!). That is, until Milo uses Alec's telescope to see the demon as he really is. Being seen makes the little demon fold like a pack of cards:
"I don't mean what I say, I don't mean what I do, and I don't mean what I am. Most people who believe what I tell them go the wrong way, and stay there, but you and your awful telescope have spoiled everything. I'm going home." And, crying hysterically, he stamped off in a huff. (17.43)
Once he's gone, the travelers can climb out of the pit. But, of course, they walk right into the hand of a giant. This big guy wants to eat our heroes, he can't stand new ideas because they make him sick to his stomach. (Perhaps, allegorically, he's supposed to represent towering intellectual figures who are stuck in their ways and don't want to hear anything new. Sounds about right to us.) Milo uses the box of words from King Azaz to defeat the giant, who doesn't even need to see the ideas to feel sick. Just the thought of them is enough.
Finally, the travelers have to defeat the Senses Taker. The Senses Taker seems like an unassuming little man who merely wants to get information from them. But he keeps asking and asking questions until Milo, Tock, and the Humbug have told him all they can. Then, he literally takes their senses! He distracts them with fantasies, which trap them in place so the other demons can run up and get them. Luckily, Milo has one gift left: the Soundkeeper's collection of sounds. When he drops them (totally by accident!) they all hear laughter, the one thing that can defeat the Senses Taker. Whew.
The demons are all scary in different ways and they each warn us against certain types of behavior: like, say, spending time on worthless activities, pretending to me more than you are… you get the idea. But by the time he gets into the Castle in the Air, Milo has been able to defeat each and every one of them using the knowledge he gained so far in Wisdom. Learning sure is coming in handy. | <urn:uuid:b28073b6-09fb-4936-981a-3f706cc499c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/phantom-tollbooth/demons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971044 | 882 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Investigation in the \adíth-Reports
Dr. Jalálí: I would request Mr. Hoshyár to continue our previous discussion on the traditions about the merits of awaiting deliverance (faraj) through the advent of the Mahdí.
Mr. Hoshyár: Let us get into our main topic of investigation in the traditions dealing with opposition to political and social activism during the occultation.
As we have pointed out a major part of Islamic
teachings which deal with ordinances which relate the Muslim public
order to the religiously required deeds. These include participation
in the defense of one's family, home, property, and so on; warfare
with those who oppress the people; commanding the good and forbidding
evil; and all other duties that constitute a necessary prerequisite
for a Muslim as a member of society, of a public order. However,
it is possible that some people might escape from the burden of
these societal obligations and cite a <adíth
or two to justify their complacency and satisfaction with merely
performing some rituals that please them. It is for this reason
that I think the traditions that they employ to justify such behavior
must be carefully examined to determine their source and validity.
Group of Traditions
There are traditions that advise the Shí'ís not to accept the invitation to join a person who rises in armed revolt without first carefully examining his credentials and goals. These traditions, furthermore, require the Shí'ís to reject the claims of leadership and the lofty goals of such individuals, even if they happen to be among the descendants of 'Alí b. Abí ^álib.
First <adíth: It is narrated
from Mu<ammad b. Ya'qúb, from 'Alí b. Ibráhím,
from his father, from @afwán b. Ya<yá, from 'Ísá
b. al-Qásim, who said: I heard Imam @ádiq say:
Do not leave taqwá (fear of) God, the One and without any partners, and watch over yourselves constantly. I solemnly declare that if someone has chosen a shepherd to care for his sheep, but afterward finds someone else who is more wise than the first one for the task, he will leave the first one and employ the services of the wiser one. By God, if you had two life-times, and you experimented with the first one, and were left with the second lifetime, then there would be no difficulty in utilizing the experience of the first lifetime. But the reality is other than this. Every person has no more than one self, for which, if it falls into peril, there is no possibility for repentance or return. Therefore, it is necessary for you to carefully evaluate and select the best way for your selves.
Hence, if one among us came to you and called upon you to revolt, think carefully and find out for what purpose he has revolted. Do not simply say [to justify his revolt by saying something like:] "Well, Zayd b. 'Alí also had arisen before!" The reason is that Zayd was a learned and truthful person and had not called upon you to acknowledge his own leadership; rather, he was calling towards a person who would be acceptable and endorsed by the ahl al-bayt. Had he succeeded, he would have acted upon his promise and would have handed over the power to its owner. Zayd revolted against the government so that he could overthrow it. But what is the one who has emerged today calling you? Is he calling you towards a person who is acceptable and endorsed by the ahl al-bayt? No, absolutely not. I am calling you to bear witness that we are not pleased with this person's revolt. This man has not even reached power and he has already started opposing us. And when he does seize power and raises his flag, he would certainly not submit to us in obedience.
Hence, accept the call of the one about whom all the descendants of Fá>ima are in agreement. That person is your Imam and your leader. When the month of Rajab dawns, come to the help of God. There is no problem if you wish to delay it until the month of Sha'bán. And, it is even better for you, if you wished to keep the fast of Rama_án with your family. If you need any signs, it is sufficient to remind yourselves about the rise of Sufyání.
The <adíth is regarded
as authentic because the entire chain of transmission has been
accredited by scholars.
and Implications of the <adíth
The warning given by Imam @ádiq deals with the problem of individuals from the ahl al-bayt rising against the tyrannical power of the caliphs and claiming for themselves the leadership. The Imam provides the criteria of accepting such claims: if the individual is truly qualified or if he is honest about his goals and about the leader for whom he is revolting, then his Shí'a should have no problem in responding positively to his call. This was the situation during the times of practically all the Imams before the twelfth Imam went into occultation. The <adíth apparently addresses the revolt of Mu<ammad b. 'Abd Alláh b. \asan b. 'Alí b. Abí ^álib, which the Imam compares with an earlier revolt of Zayd b. 'Alí b. \usayn b. 'Alí b. Abí ^álib. The Imam warns people not to conflate the two upheavals, and thereby justify their positive response to the later revolt. For Zayd's revolt was launched in order to restore the true Imamate to the rightful Imam; whereas there was no such noble goal in Mu<ammad's revolt. Moreover, there was a difference in the leadership of the two movements. Zayd's personality was far more credible than Mu<ammad's. Imam @ádiq's observation that the latter would not obey him clearly explains his misgivings about the goal of the recent revolt.
Abú Faraj I#fahání, writing about Mu<ammad b. 'Abd Alláh, says that the ahl al-bayt used to call Muhammad the Mahdí, and believed that he was the promised Mahdí of the traditions. The belief was so widespread that a group of people belonging to the Háshimites, descendants of Abí ^álib, and the 'Abbasids paid allegiance to him. To add to this atmosphere of expectation and revolution, according to Abú Faraj, Mu<ammad b. 'Abd Alláh used to publicly confirm his own candidacy to Mahdiism.
In any case Mu<ammad b. 'Abd Alláh arose as the Mahdí during Imam @ádiq's period and called upon people to join him. It was in this context that the above cited <adíth was related as a warning to the Shí'a not to be taken in by such messianic claims. In other words, the purpose of the Imam was not to issue a blanket prohibition against any kind of activist response to social and political turmoil. Rather, his efforts were directed towards educating his followers to distinguish between the well-intended revolt of Zayd and the ill-intended rise of Mu<ammad, both members of the ahl al-bayt. In fact, on the basis of the above narrative, it appears that Imam @ádiq gave his approval to the former, including people's participation in that, while condemning the latter.
It is important to understand the goals of the revolution of Zayd, which received positive commendation from Imam @ádiq. Of course, in the limited space that we have in this study, we can only treat them in brief:
(1) Zayd was a pious, knowledgeable, and truthful person. He had the necessary qualifications for becoming a leader of the movement. Imam @ádiq's own evaluation of his uncle's character provides the main evidence for his endorsement of his revolution. He says: "My uncle Zayd was beneficial to us in this and the next world. Indeed, he attained martyrdom in God's way. He is like those who were killed and attained martyrdom fighting with the Prophet, 'Alí b. Abí ^álib, \asan and \usyan."
In a tradition reported by Abú Faraj I#fahání, the Prophet told Imam \usayn: "Among your descendants will be born a son whose name will be Zayd. He and his supporters will be resurrected with a brilliant and beautiful face on the Day of Judgement, and will enter Paradise."
(2) Zayd's goal in his revolt was sound. He was not claiming to be an Imam. His main aim was to overthrow the unjust government and to restore the authority to the rightful Imam among the ahl al-bayt. If he had succeeded he would have kept his promise. Again, Imam @ádiq used to say: "May God have mercy on my uncle Zayd! Had he succeeded in his mission he would have fulfilled his promise. He used to call people to acknowledge a person among the ahl al-bayt who was acceptable to and endorsed by them."
In some sources there are statements to the effect that Zayd claimed to be the Imam. His son Ya<yá, however, denied that ascription to him and regarded Imam @ádiq as the Imam. Among his followers and his soldiers also Imam @ádiq was acknowledged as the most learned of the Háshimites and the rightful Imam. 'Ammár Sába>í relates the occasion when a man asked Sulaymán b. Khálid, one of the soldiers in Zayd's army, who had revolted: "What is your opinion of Zayd? Who is more excellent, Zayd or Ja'far b. Mu<ammad [@ádiq]?" Sulaymán replied: "By God, one day of Ja'far b. Mu<ammad's life is more valuable than the entire life of Zayd." When Zayd was told about this he too acknowledged that excellence by saying: "Ja'far b. Mu<ammad is our Imam in all the questions that deal with the lawful and unlawful."
(3) Zayd's revolution was a calculated measure; it did not occur as an emotional outburst and without any preparation. The underlying intent was to command the good and forbid the evil, and to combat the forces of tyranny and wickedness. Zayd wanted to overthrow the unjust government by use of force and to replace it with a qualified member of the ahl al-bayt, who had the support of every one. It was mainly for this reason that a large number of Muslims had rallied to his cause. In Kufa alone, 15,000 thousand people had pledged their support for him. His army was made up of peoples from different regions of Iraq and Khurásán.
The importance and legitimacy of Zayd's revolt was underscored by the fact that a great number of Sunni scholars had also responded to his call and joined his revolution. Some, like Abú \anífa, the Imam of the Sunnis, had endorsed and sent him monetary help for his movement.
Zayd had discussed his intention to rise
against the unjust authority with Imam @ádiq, beforehand,
to which the Imam replied: "Uncle, if you are willing to
be killed and your body hanged in the trash of Kufa, then do what
you think is right." Zayd was so determined to go ahead with
his plan that in spite of what the Imam had predicted he was willing
to die for his cause. He fought in God's path until he was killed.
Imam Ri_a said the following about him:
Zayd was the learned one among the descendants of Mu<ammad. He was angered for God's sake and fought against God's enemies until he became a martyr in God's path.
Let us once again come back to our main inquiry about the tradition. It is evident that one cannot use the tradition reported by 'Ísá b. Qásim as being against an activist response to the political turmoil in the Muslim public order. On the contrary, it is among those reports that support a legitimate movement against injustices. The purport of the Imam's warnings is to make sure that his followers do not blindly follow this or that person and movement and put themselves in an unnecessarily dangerous condition. As long as the necessary criteria, as discussed above, were fulfilled, there was no prohibition against joining the leader and his movement. Accordingly, one cannot regard the tradition as among those opposed to any action on the part of the Shí'a during the occultation of the twelfth Imam.
Second <adíth: It is reported
from A<mad b. Ya<yá al-Maktab, from Mu<ammad b.
Ya<yá al-@úlí, from Mu<ammad b. Zayd
al-Na<wí, from Ibn Abí 'Abdún, from his
father, from Imam Ri_á (peace be upon him), who told Ma'mún,
the 'Abbasid caliph:
Do not compare my brother Zayd with Zayd b. 'Alí b. \usayn. Zayd b. 'Alí was among the learned authorities of Mu<ammad's descendants, who was angered for God's sake and fought against God's enemies until he was killed in God's way and attained martyrdom. My father, Músá b. Ja'far said that he heard from his father, Ja'far b. Mu<ammad, who said: "May God have mercy on my uncle Zayd. He called people towards a person acceptable to and endorsed by the ahl al-bayt. Had he succeeded he would have definitely fulfilled his promise." He also used to say: "Zayd consulted me about his mission and I told him, if you are willing to be killed and your body hanged in the trash of Kufa, then do what you think is right."
Imam Ri_á then said:
Zayd was not claiming something that was not his right. He was so godfearing that he could never claim something that did not belong to him. On the contrary, he used to tell the people: "I am calling you to acknowledge a person who will be acceptable to the family of the Prophet."
The <adíth is not sound, as far as the chain of transmission (sanad) is concerned. The narrators have been described by scholars of biographical dictionaries as "lacking credibility." As for its content, it cannot be regarded as being opposed to an activist stance during the occultation. After all, it is describing positively Zayd's movement and personality. However, another Zayd, that is, Zayd b. Músá, Imam Ri_á's brother has been criticized. This Zayd had emerged in Basra and had called people to acknowledge him as their leader. He destroyed the people's homes and plundered them. He was finally defeated and arrested by the caliphal authority. Ma'mún forgave him and sent him to see Imam Ri_á. Imam Ri_á ordered him released but asked his brother not to speak to him ever again.
Evidently, even this <adíth
is not evidence against an activist response to the injustices
in the Muslim polity during the absence of the twelfth Imam (peace
be upon him).
Group of Traditions
These are the traditions that indicate that any revolution before the final widespread revolution of the Mahdí will end up in defeat.
First <adíth: It is reported
from 'Alí b. Ibráhím, from his father, from
\ammád b. 'Ísá, from Rab'í, reaching
back to 'Alí b. \usayn (peace be upon him), who said:
By God, none among us will rise before the revolution of the Qá'im, except the one resembling a chick that leaves its nest before it can fly. Such will fall in the hands of children who will play with it.
This tradition is regarded as weak in transmission because it is incomplete. As such it is not regarded as reliable.
Second <adíth: It is reported
from Jábir, from Imam Báqir, who said:
The mode of our Qá'im's revolution will resemble the Prophet's emergence. The mode of revolution of any one among us, the ahl al-bayt, before the emergence of the Qá'im, will resemble a chick that leaves its nest [before being ready to fly], and becomes a plaything for children.
Third <adíth: It is reported
from Abú al-Járúd, who heard Imam Báqir
None among us, the ahl al-bayt, rises in order to stand against injustices and fight for the truth, except he becomes entangled in difficulties and faces defeat. Until that time, when those who were present in the Battle of Badr, and who went swiftly to help those who were fighting, and did not have any one killed in need of burial nor any one injured in need of treatment, rise.
The reporter asked: 'Who does the Imam mean by that?' Abú Járúd replied: 'Angels.'
Fourth <adíth: It is reported
from Abú al-Járúd, from Imam Báqir.
He asked the Imam to recommend to him something for his benefit.
In response the Imam said:
I recommend to you that you be godfearing, and remain in your home. And live with these common people. Avoid the people among us who rise up, because they do not have any goals. . . Be aware that there is no group that rises in order to combat injustice and restore the glory of Islam except that they are struck on the ground by calamities until that time when a group that was present in the Battle of Badr arises . . .
The rest of the <adíth
resembles the previous tradition. These last three traditions,
again, on account of a weak chain of transmission are regarded
as unreliable. Moreover, one of the narrators is Abú Járúd
who followed the Zaydí faction and was the founder of the
Járúdiyya sect. He has been regarded as a weak transmitter
by scholars of biographical dictionaries.
into the Meanings and Implications of these <adíth-Reports
The traditions show Imam Báqir encountering those among his followers who want to know the reason he has not arisen. They relate the external truth about the situation encountered by individuals belonging to the ahl al-bayt who emerged and who initiated a movement against the unjust forces, but met with resistance and destruction. It also recounts the faith in the future revolution of the Mahdí who will receive divine help from the angels, just as those who fought that monumental battle of Badr in the early days of Islam received such miraculous help. In other words, the traditions are engaged in explaining the reason why the Imams could not arise against the unjust authority without adequate preparation and without divine aid.
There is also another aspect to these traditions:
as reminders for those who insisted on radical responses at inopportune
times for the success of such actions. These are grim reminders
about those 'Alawids who had been killed at different times because
they had taken off "before they could fly out of the safety
of their nest." In other words, success was not guaranteed
to any uprising before the revolution of the Mahdí. Nevertheless,
the traditions do not convey that the legally and morally imposed
obligation of jihád in God's way, defence of Islam
and the Muslims, commanding the good and forbidding the evil,
confronting injustices and wickedness, were all in abeyance since
the Imams had no discretionary authority to effect these duties.
If one is informed of the adverse outcome of a struggle, it does
not mean that he is unable, then, to make a decision to put up
the struggle. Here Imam \usayn serves as a good example. He knew
the outcome that would ensue because of his stance against the
injustices of the Umayyads, and still he decided to fulfill his
legal and moral obligation of defending Islam and the Qur'an.
There is absolutely no doubt that today Islam has survived because
of the sacrifices that were made by Imam \usayn, his family and
his companions. Hence, it is accurate to maintain that none of
the above <adíth-reports imply that the obligations
to defend and protect the Muslim public order specified by the
Sharí'a are in suspension until the twelfth Imam returns.
Group of Traditions
These are the traditions that require the
Shí'a to refrain from joining any movement before the final
appearance of the twelfth Imam. First <adíth:
It is related from several narrators, from A<mad b. Mu<ammad
b. 'Uthmán b. 'Ísá, from Bakr b. Mu<ammad,
from Sudyar, who said that Imam @ádiq said:
Stay in your homes. As long as day and night are motionless, you too remain calm. When you hear that Sufyání has arisen, then commute towards us, even if it be on foot.
The transmission of the <adíth is problematic, because the persons cited in the chain include a wáqifí, that is, one of those who stopped believing in the Imamate's continuation after the seventh, Imam Músá Ká~im. 'Uthmán b. Sa'íd was Imam Ká~im's agent while the Imam was alive. After his death he became a wáqifí, and refrained from sending the Imam's share of khums to Imam Ri_á. The latter had shown his severe disapproval of him for that. He repented later on and returned all the goods belonging to the Imam. Equally problematic is the reliability of Sudayr b. \akím @ayrafí.
Second <adíth: It is related
from A<mad b. 'Alí b. al-\akam, from Abí Ayyub
al-Khazzaz, from 'Umar b. \an~ala. He said he heard from Imam
@ádiq, who said:
"There are five signs that will occur before the rise of the Qá'im: (1) The cry [from the sky]; (2) the [rise of] Sufyání; (3) the sinking [of the earth in some parts]; (4) the killing of Nafs Zakiyya; and, (5) the emergence of a Yamání." The narrator asked: "O son of the Prophet, what if one of the members of the ahl al-bayt rises before these signs occur? Should we follow him?" The Imam said: "No."
The chain of transmission in this <adíth is also problematic because of the inclusion of 'Umar b. \an~ala, who has not been accredited.
Third <adíth: It is reported
from Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. al-Fa_l b. Shádhán,
from al-\asan b. Ma<búb, from 'Amr b. Abí al-Miqdám,
from Jábir, from Imam Báqir. He said:
Remain still on earth; do not move your hands and feet, until the signs of which I inform you occur. [These are:], dispute among the family of so and so; and the call of a caller from the sky; and the sound that will come from the direction of Damascus.
This tradition also lacks reliability because of its chain of transmission, which includes an unknown narrator by the name of 'Umar b. Abí al-Miqdám. Shaykh ^úsi has narrated the tradition from two sources which both happen to be unreliable.
Fourth <adíth: It is related
from al-\asan b. Mu<ammad al-^úsí, from his father,
from al-Mufíd, from A<mad b. Mu<ammad al-'Alawí,
from \aydar b. Mu<ammad b. Nu'aym, from Mu<ammad b. 'Ísá,
from al-\asan b. Khálid, who said: "I told Abú
al-\asan al-Ri_á that 'Abd Alláh b. Bukayr has related
a tradition which I would like to tell you." He said, "Go
ahead and tell me what is this <adíth?"
I said: "Ibn Bukayr has related from 'Ubayd b. Zurára
who said: 'When Mu<ammad b. 'Abd Alláh b. \asan revolted
I was with Imam @ádiq (peace be upon him). One of the companions
came and said: May my life be a sacrifice for you! Mu<ammad
b. \asan has revolted. What is your opinion about this matter?'
The Imam said:
As long as the earth and the heavens are calm you too remain motionless. Hence, if this is the situation there will neither be a Qá'im nor a revolution.
Imam Ri_á said:
Imam @ádiq is right. But the meaning of what he said is not as Ibn Bukayr has inferred. Rather, the intention of the Imam was to convey that as long as the sky is silent from the final cry and the earth from sinking the army [of God's enemy] you too remain undisturbed.
This <adíth is not sound in its transmission, because A<mad b. Mu<ammad has not been identified by scholars of biographical dictionaries. Likewise, three other persons have not been authenticated in this chain, namely, \asan b. Khálid, Abú al-'Alá' and @ayrafí.
Fifth <adíth: It is related
from Mu<ammad b. Humám, from Ja'far b. Malik al-Fazazí,
from Mu<ammad b. A<mad, from 'Alí b. Asbá>,
from some of his companions, from Imam @ádiq. He said:
Hold your tongues, and remain within the confines of your homes, because you will not get anything that the rest of the people do not get. Moreover, Zaydís will be your shield [against the atrocities that are being committed].
This tradition too suffers from a weak chain of transmission and, hence, it is not that reliable. A number of transmitters are omitted and the tradition is taken from 'Alí b. Asbá> without any information about his sources. Moreover, Ja'far b. Mu<ammad b. Málik is regarded as a weak link.
Sixth <adíth: It is narrated
from 'Alí b. A<mad, from 'Abd Allah b. Músá
al-'Alawí, from Mu<ammad b. Sinán, from 'Ammar
b. Marwán, from Minkhal b. Jamíl, from Jábir
b. Yazíd, from Imam Báqir. He said:
As long as the sky is calm, you too remain calm and do not revolt against anyone. Indeed your situation is not obscure. The exception [to this calmness] is that there are stings from God, on which people have no power.
The chain of transmission of this <adíth
also suffers in reliability because Minkhal b. Jamíl has
been identified as weak and harmful in his narration.
into the Meanings and Implications of these <adíth-Reports
Before examining the implications of these reports, it is relevant to point out that the Shí'a and the companions of the Imams lived in anticipation of the awaited Mahdí's rising. This anticipation was founded upon the traditions that had been handed down from the time of the Prophet and the Imams (peace be upon them) in which it was promised that when the Mahdí appears he will fill the earth with justice and equity as it is filled with tyranny and wickedness. They had also learnt from the traditions that when that person comes forth he will be triumphant and will enjoy God's special favor. It was for this reason that the subject of the rise and the final victory of the Mahdí and so on was prevalent among the Shí'a. The followers of the Imams used to ask them the reason for their silence in the face of all sorts of atrocities and the inhumanity suffered by the generality of Muslims under the caliphs. At times, they used to ask a very specific question: "Why does not the Qá'im from the ahl al-bayt rise?" At other times, they wanted to know the signs of the Imam's appearance. It was such conditions that some descendants of 'Alí b. Abí ^álib took advantage of appearing as the promised Mahdí of the family of Mu<ammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) and fight against the evil power of the caliphs. However, within a short time they were defeated, arrested, and mercilessly killed.
This was the background of these <adíth-reports
that we have examined in this section. Hence, when the Imam advises
his followers to adopt quietism in the face of the existing turmoil,
he is actually informing them that the person who has revolted
is not the promised Mahdí. They have to wait for his appearance
which will be attended by some specific signs as well as a movement
of resistance. These <adíth, then, are meant
to warn their followers not to fall into any trap before the real
event has taken place. They do not, in any way, relieve them from
assuming the tasks laid down by the law for their own and their
religion's survival. There is no evidence, whatsoever, to ascribe
such illegitimate views to the Imams whose sole purpose in uttering
these traditions was to save them from being meaninglessly destroyed.
Hence, these traditions cannot be regarded as opposing all activist
responses which seek to preserve Islamic public order.
Group of Traditions
These are the traditions that recommend the Shí'a not to make haste in rising against an unjust government.
First <adíth: It is reported
from several companions of the Imam, from A<mad b. Mu<ammad
b. Khalid, from Mu<ammad b. 'Alí, from \afs b. 'Á#im,
from Sayf al-Tammár, from Abí al-Marhaf, from Imam
Báqir, who said:
The dirt gets into the eye of the one who stirs it up. Those who make haste destroy themselves. . . . Surely, they (i.e., the government forces) intend to see people rising against them [so that they can get rid of them]. O Abú Marhaf, do you believe that those who persevere will not receive any release from God? Indeed, by God, they will certainly receive deliverance.
The chain of transmission of this <adíth is weak, because it includes Mu<ammad b. 'Alí, the Kufan narrator, who is regarded as weak by scholars of biographical dictionaries. Moreover, Abú al-Marhaf's identity is unknown.
The context of the <adíth is the period in which a group of people had revolted against the caliphal authority, and were defeated. It is for this reason the narrator appears to be anxious that Shí'ís might also be targeted. Hence, the Imam consoles him and assures him that God will deliver those who remain steadfast. Accordingly, this tradition cannot be classified as one of those which opposes any active participation in movements led by legitimate individuals with well-defined goals.
Second <adíth: It is related from al-\asan b. Mu<ammad al-^úsí, from his father, from al-Mufíd, from Ibn Qawlawayh, from his father, from A<mad b. Mu<ammad, from 'Alí b. Asbá>, from his uncle Ya'qúb b. Sálim, from Abí al-\asan al-'Abídí, from Imam @ádiq (peace be upon him). He said: "Anyone who for God's sake adopts perseverance, God will make him enter Paradise."
This <adíth is relatively well authenticated, since its reporters are all regarded as trustworthy.
The context of the <adíth is not evident from the text. But it is clear that the Imam is recommending patience in general and the reward that accrues to the person who perseveres. It does not deal necessarily with circumstances of revolt or other social-political turmoil.
Third <adíth: Imam 'Alí
b. Abí ^álib says:
Stay where you are, and when visited by calamities be patient. Do not move your hands and swords in the way of fulfilling the inclination of your tongues. Do not be in haste. Surely, any one of you dying on his bed while acknowledging the right of his Lord, and the right of his Prophet and his ahl al-bayt, dies a martyr. He deserves to receive the reward for the intention of his righteous deed. He will also reap the reward for the intention to fight with his sword [in defence of truth and justice]. Undoubtedly, there is a time and specific limit for everything.
The <adíth is also part of the Nahj al-balágha, and is regarded as authentic.
Fourth <adíth: It is related
from Mu<ammad b. Ya<yá, from Mu<ammad b. al-\asan,
from 'Abd al-Ra<mán b. Abú Háshim, from
al-Fa_l al-Kátib. He said that he was in the presence of
Imam @ádiq when he received the letter from Abú
Muslim [Khurásání]. He told the messenger
that there was no reply to carry back and that he should leave
his presence immediately. And then he added:
God does not expedite a matter because His servants are in a hurry. To be sure, it is easier to dig a mountain from its place than to overthrow a government whose term has not been decreed to end.
The narrator asked for a sign of such an
imminence that would be recognized by the Imam and his followers.
The Imam said:
Do not move from where you are until the Sufyání has arisen. At that time run towards us.
And, he repeated the sentence thrice: "The rise of Sufyání is bound to happen."
The <adíth is regarded as reliable on the basis of its chain of transmission.
Fifth <adíth: It is reported
from Mu<ammad b. 'Alí b. al-\asan, from his sources,
from \ammád b. 'Amr, from Anas b. Mu<ammad, from his
father, from Imam @ádiq, from his forefathers. This was
a recommendation from the Prophet to 'Alí b. Abí
^álib. He said:
It is easier to dig huge mountains than to remove those in power whose time to vanish has not come yet.
This <adíth has a problem when examined for its chain of transmission. It includes \ammád whose identity is unknown. In addition, Anas b. Mu<ammad and his father are regarded as lacking credibility.
Sixth <adíth: It is reported from \umayd b. Ziyád, from 'Ubayd Alláh b. A<mad al-Dihqán, from 'Alí b. al-\asan al-^á>arí, from Mu<ammad b. Ziyád, from Abán, from @abá< b. Siyába, from al-Mu'allá b. Khunays who said, 'I took letters from 'Abd al-Salám b. Nu'aym, Sudayr, and others to Imam @ádiq at the time when the black-clothed one had arisen. This was just before the 'Abbasids revolted. The letter said: "We have decided that the matter of leadership should be handed over to you. What is your opinion about it?" The Imam threw the letter on the ground and said: "Alas, alas, alas! I am not their (i.e., the insurrectionists') Imam. Do they not know that the awaited Mahdí will kill the Sufyání"''
The <adíth is not reliable
as far the chain of transmission in concerned. The problem is
that @abá< b. Siyába is unidentified.
into the Meanings and Implications of these <adíth-Reports
It is important to bear in mind what we have said earlier: the followers of the Imams unfailingly anticipated emancipation from tyrannical conditions through the rise of the Qá'im from among the family of the Prophet, as predicted in the traditions from him and the Imams (peace be upon them). In addition, we must not forget that the Shí'a were living under most cruel circumstances in this period. They were under surveillance, in prisons, executed, burnt alive, and so on. Consequently, whenever a member of the ahl al-bayt promised to lead the movement to redress the wrongs committed against them, they did not hesitate to follow him. They even accepted their claim to be the promised Mahdí, and rallied around to lend them support for their revolution.
On the side of the government, the Umayyads, and then the 'Abbasids, were fully aware of the messianic traditions and the political activism it generated among the dispossessed people. They also knew that the Shí'a exerted lot of pressure on their Imams to fight injustices and to replace unjust rulers by assuming power themselves. It was for this reason that 'Abbasid spies constantly reported the whereabouts of the Shí'í Imams and their contacts with their Shí'a, expecting that they would eventually conspire against the government.
This general observation about the times in which the Imams lived and guided their followers explains many traditions cited in this chapter. The main point that the Imams wanted their followers to realize was that the time for the revolution of the promised Mahdí had not as yet arrived. There were specific signs that would precede that revolution under the leadership of the Qá'im of the family of the Prophet. More importantly, there was a realistic assessment of the power of the unjust authorities in such statements as "It is easier to dig huge mountains than to remove those in power whose time to vanish has not come yet." Hence, the Shí'a were admonished to bear with patience their burdens and to remain alert without causing destruction to themselves at the hands of the wicked rulers. This does not teach submission and quietism, as others have interpreted. On the contrary, it requires the Shí'a to assess each instance of upheaval carefully in order to avoid being drawn into them without any advantage. In fact, all the traditions point towards using one's intellect to understand the realities and not to respond simply emotionally and in reaction.
In the final analysis, the implication of
these traditions is an explicit demand that the followers of the
Imam, who happened to be in the minority and under the constant
hostile watch of the rulers, deliberate and conceive better strategies
to work for their self-preservation as well as for the preservation
of an Islamic public order. To be sure, the purport of Imam 'Alí
b. Abí ^álib's statement: "Stay where you are,
and when visited by calamities be patient. Do not move your hands
and swords in the way of fulfilling the inclination of your tongues,"
is a warning not to submit to emotional outbursts, but to learn
from experience the wisdom of caution when the power is unjust
Group of Traditions
These are the traditions that regard the person who leads any revolution prior to the revolution of the Mahdí as an evildoer, >ághüt.
First <adíth: It is related
from Mu<ammad b. Ya<yá, from A<mad b. Mu<ammad,
from 'Ísá b. al-\usayn b. al-Mukhtár, from
Abú Ba#ír, from Imam @ádiq, who said:
The leader of every flag [in an uprising] that is raised before the rising of the Qá'im is an evildoer who is worshipped (>ághüt) [by the people for his daringness] beside God.
This <adíth is authenticated on the basis of its narrators who are all regarded as reliable.
Second <adíth: It is reported
from Mu<ammad b. Ibráhím al-Nu'mání,
from 'Abd al-Wá<id b. 'Abd Alláh, from A<mad
b. Mu<ammad b. Rayyá< al-Zuhrí, from Mu<ammad
b. al-'Abbás, from 'Ísá al-\usayní,
from al-\asan b. 'Alí b. Abí \amza, from his father,
from Málik b. A'yan al-Jihaní, from Imam Báqir,
The leader of any flag that is raised before the raising of the Mahdí's flag, is an evildoer.
into the Meanings and Implications of these <adíth-Reports
To be sure, "raising of the flag" is a metaphor for beginning a battle against a system in order to establish a new government, and a new system. The standard-bearer is the leader of the movement who is in the process of overthrowing the ruling regime and installing a new government. For this he calls upon the people to join him. ^ághüt, as we have seen in other traditions, is a tyrant who has attacked God's creatures and has forced them to accept his rule without opposition. The credo of the leader is captured in the phrase: "the one who worships other than God." Accordingly, he is engaged in undermining God's authority among His people, so that he can pursue his personal ambitions. It is in this sense that the word >ághüt is applied to the leader of such a movement.
The meaning of the tradition is that any
flag that is raised before the revolution of the Qá'im,
and of which the leader calls the people towards himself, that
bearer of the flag is to be regarded as an evildoer. Hence, the
<adíth implies that insurrection for purposes
other than the correct religion is to be rejected outright. However,
if the purpose of the revolt is to restore violated justice and
to make people aware of their spiritual and moral responsibilities,
then it is to be regarded as legitimate. The leader of this latter
kind of revolt does not call people to himself; rather, he is
inviting people towards God. As such, his flag is leading the
people in the same direction as that of the Qá'im. It is
not engaged in negating the achievements of the other Imams and
the Prophet, who all at different times stood firm against injustices
and atrocities committed against innocent peoples.
of the Discussion
The majority of the traditions that we examined in this section were classified by the scholars of the science of <adíth as weak. As such, they cannot be used as evidence for the argument that is being put forward in opposition to an activist response during the occultation of the twelfth Imam. The traditions, however, provide the guidelines for the Shí'a to consider in acknowledging valid and invalid religious movements led by one or another leader. They also serve as a reminder to them that the time for the appearance of the Mahdí had not arrived yet. Under the circumstances that existed for the Shí'a community living as a minority under those most unfavorable circumstances that were prevalent under the caliphate, it was expedient for them not to join the bandwagon of anyone who invited them to rise against tyranny. In fact, under those conditions patience is a virtue.
Furthermore, it was a duty to determine
both the leadership's claim and intent, before making the decision
to support or reject an uprising. Not every flag that is raised
in the name of fighting injustice deserves unquestioning support
from the Shí'a. The criteria for judging a just cause provided
in the traditions function as a deterrent rather than as a total
prohibition against taking up arms against tyrants. In other words,
the traditions do not propose complete withdrawal for the followers
of the ahl al-bayt from defending God's laws and the Muslim
public order. It simply requires them to be alert at all times
about their duty to God and to God's purposes for humanity as
specified in the teachings of Islam on interpersonal justice.
To recapitulate our lengthy discussion, let us summarize our major propositions and then derive the final overall conclusion.
(1) Islam is not simply concerned with the spiritual aspects of human religiosity. It has legislated comprehensively on every aspect of human existence -- as individuals related to God, and as members of the human community related to fellow humans. Thus, all the chapters of Islamic law, whether they deal with prayer or with fasting, with warfare or defence, reveal this bi-dimensional feature of Islam.
(2) There is no doubt that Islam was revealed in order to be implemented as a vital aspect of meaningful human existence.
(3) The implementation of Islam depends upon the establishment of a Muslim polity and government that is committed to executing the divine plan on earth by creating an ideal society.
(4) The Prophet was not merely an envoy of God who had come to deliver the message. He was also the executor of the divine will on earth. An integral part of his prophetic obligation was to organize his people and lead them to establish divine scales of justice on earth.
(5) This obligation of implementing the divine will on earth did not end with the death of the Prophet. It continues as long as Islam remains the religion of humankind.
(6) It is the duty of the people to support and assist the Prophet and his rightful infallible successors who also are invested with the power to create the ideal Muslim public order. This requirement is extended to the times when there is no infallible leader in power or when such a leader is in occultation. As long as there is a Muslim polity that needs support and maintenance through government, a military apparatus, and financial structures, Muslims have the obligation to provide that support. During the occultation, when the twelfth Imam lives an invisible life, the people should choose a most qualified jurist to provide the necessary Islamic governance. This is the meaning of Islamic government. It is a government that is headed by a pious, well-versed jurist, not merely in matters of religion, but also in matters of governance and in administration of an Islamic polity.
In the second part of our discussion we examined all the traditions that are used as documentation for the opinion that opposes an active response from the people during the occultation. As we have demonstrated, it is impossible to take these traditions in that meaning and to regard the fundamental duties of a Muslim as a member of the community as being in abeyance until the twelfth Imam (peace be upon him) emerges as the Mahdí. In view of all the verses and the <adíth-reports that require Muslims to take up jihád, to command the good and forbid evil, to defend the rights of the dispossessed and downtrodden, and other related public obligations, it is impossible to maintain, even hypothetically, that since the actual ruler of the Muslims is in invisible existence, we cannot undertake these duties that require the presence of an infallible leader like the twelfth Imam as a precondition. More importantly, if the religion of Islam is faced with a danger, no Muslim can be excused for sitting around and doing nothing about it. Nor can they be forgiven if they do not resist any intervention or interference in Muslim affairs by external or internal enemies. None of the <adíth can possibly be interpreted to dictate such irresponsible behavior from Muslims simply because the Imam is in occultation. All the above-cited verses and many more passages of the Qur'an form the most explicit response to those who want to escape that most critical obligation of being a Muslim, namely, to work towards the creation of an ethical public order which reflects God's will. When there is no ambiguity in such unequivocally required duties to maintain the Muslim public order, there can be no possibility of deducing a quietist attitude that would avoid facing these religious and moral obligations of the Sharí'a. Regardless of the need for sacrifices, Muslims at all times must, as a fundamental duty of being a believer in God and His Prophet, protect Islam and its public order.
The scholars of Islam, especially the jurists,
have an even greater responsibility in this regard. As heirs to
the Prophet's function and as protectors of the true religion,
they are the refuge of the people. They cannot acquiesce in the
face of a threat that is posed by the ungodly powers to the Muslims.
Imam 'Alí b. Abí ^álib has reminded these
I swear by God, Who has caused the seed to germinate and the human being to be created, if that crowd had not come to pay their allegiance to me, and through that act of theirs, the duty that I had to undertake had not been made clearer, I would have tossed away the reins of the camel of the caliphate and let it go anywhere it pleased. Moreover, had it not been that God has exacted a promise from the learned that they would not give their consent to the wrongdoer to fill his belly while the wronged person goes hungry, then [I would have never accepted the caliphate.]
Imam \usayn also made similar remarks when
he had to confront the injustices of the Umayyads, by quoting
the Prophet, who said:
Whoever sees a tyrant ruler making lawful
what God made unlawful, breaking God's covenant with those who
exercise authority, opposing the Prophet's tradition, and becoming
the enemy of the people by committing acts of disobedience against
God, and does not oppose him by action and opinion, then God will
make him enter the same place [of hell-fire] as the tyrant.
Imam \usayn goes on to explain the reason
for such a severe indictment of any who fails to oppose wrongdoing:
This is so, because the execution of the laws and administration of affairs is in the hands of those who are knowledgeable about God, entrusted with the preservation of God's legal order dealing with the lawful and unlawful. Hence, it is you who have lost this position. And, this status has not been snatched from you except that you separated yourselves from the truth and disputed in the matter of the tradition of the Prophet after a clear proof was afforded. Had you been patient with the hardships and borne your livelihood for the sake of God, then those matters related to God would have reverted to you, would have been issued by you, and would have been referred to you. But you let the wrongdoers take your place and you handed over God's affairs to them, being fully aware of their following their ruse and their giving in to their lower appetites. It was your running away from death and your being attracted to life that made them dominate you. It was you who let the downtrodden people fall into their hands, so that they would make some of them their slaves and others their source of feed. All this allowed the tyrants to rule the way they wanted, and brought shame and humiliation to themselves and their subjects. In this behavior of theirs, they follow evil people, and they have become daring in their opposition to God.
There is no doubt that the learned in the community have great responsibilities. If they failed to execute them they would suffer severe sanctions on the Day of Judgment. The duty of the 'ulama' is not limited to teaching, discussing, commenting, leading congregational prayers and so on. Rather, their greater responsibility is to protect the religion of Islam and the Muslims, to fight against unbelievers and evildoers, who are engaged in destroying Islam, and to implement Islamic legal and moral precepts. If they fall short in this then they do not have any excuse in the presence of God. By referring to those weak and brief traditions, they will not be able to exonerate themselves from this extremely critical responsibility.
Can God, the Exalted, and the Prophet of
Islam, allow us to remain indifferent to the heinous and dangerous
conspiracies against Islam and the pitiful behavior of some of
the Muslim countries; continue with our life of teaching, preaching,
and leading the prayers as usual? No, never. | <urn:uuid:06319241-f3b6-4eb2-b6b1-3163022689a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.al-islam.org/mahdi/Chap-13.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966592 | 11,488 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Jack, 17, is quite a star student at his local church.
The newly-crowned Model Student of the Year at a neighbourhood school has just completed N levels, topping his class with scores of 3 As, 1 B and 2 Cs. He is 'now influencing friends around me to study'.
And, at a recent service at the Heart of God Church in Paya Lebar, he told the congregation that he recites mathematics formulas, instead of hurling vulgarities, like he used to.
'I would say things like x = (-b + vb2-4ac)/ 2a,' he said. 'As a result, maths is my best subject now!'
But Jack's path to academic success is far from usual.
The polite teen was until last year a gang member.
From the age of 13 to 15, fighting and stealing hand phones was the norm for the youth who sports tattoos over half of his back.
His break from an all-too-predictable future came when he was beaten up by members of his own gang and, upset, dropped by the church he once visited years ago with friends.
This led to him being invited by two mentors from the youth-friendly church to join other teens for a Father's Day meal at Fish and Co.
'They wanted us to know what it's like to have a happy family to spend Father's Day with,' he recalls.
Stories of gangsters-turned-good guys are not uncommon, according to the church of 1,000 youths and 250 adults.
Amid the tense headlines on youth gangs, religion seems to offer some glimmer of hope.
With ex-offenders known to make an easy transition from the brotherhood of gangs to the family of faith, religion offers a glimmer of hope against the grim backdrop of increasing youth gang crime.
Youth specialist Glenn Lim, a former drug addict involved in the gang scene from 16 to 23, points out that organised religion offers a sense of community.
With gangs, as with religion, there is a sense of belonging, acceptance and significance, as well as power, says Mr Lim, who now trains youth pastors at the School of Youth Ministry. He also founded Architects of Life, where former delinquents mentor troubled youths.
Adult mentors and youth clerics are now a growing presence in temples, mosques and churches.
And it's clear that these committed adults, who spend time with youth, sometimes online, make an impact.
One Muslim instructor does this innocuously enough by visiting his students' Facebook pages - when they occasionally use vulgarities, he leaves a comment on some other subject, just to show his presence. He says it works.
At the Singapore Buddhist Mission youth group, Venerable Bodhi, 40, regularly drops in to lead discussions. She unpacks complex Buddhist concepts through folksy allegories and laughs merrily at the youth circle’s antics. It’s evident that she enjoys their company, even as she guides their conversation with grace and firmness.
Among the Taoists, Hindus, Sikhs and Bahá'í, dynamic young adults, all not much older than their teenage charges, too give of their time, providing insight and friendship.
They bridge the generations, and build young faith. And they offer a quiet bulwark against the demons of cynicism and violence against which youth battle. | <urn:uuid:41631bd3-b7ff-43a9-8b4f-37751c49e375> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2010/11/26/from-gangs-to-religion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970143 | 694 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Self-flattery heaps praise on itself in substitute for penance. This is dangerously absurd. Even the silliest bird does not set a trap for itself. Smoothing over our conduct or soothing our conscience may set us up for failure. We can justify anything, but we had better be ready to suffer the consequences. There is a limit to our self-congratulation. Eventually, God and others grow impatient with our obnoxious ways. Our inability to own up to our actions—or lack thereof—lowers our standing with God and man. Self-flattery is a losing proposition. It loses respect instead of gaining respect. It grows discontent instead of being content. It feels worse instead of feeling better. Self-flattery fails.
There are many forms of self-flattery. When we think we are smarter than God, ignoring the principles laid out in His word, we flatter ourselves. When we think we have hope in heaven but we act like hell, we flatter ourselves. When we live for today as if death were a million miles away, we flatter ourselves. When we treat others with contempt, then expect them to follow our ways, we flatter ourselves. When we say we trust in the Lord, but borrow money and presume on the future, we flatter ourselves. Self-flattery longs for approval, but it is denied from those who really matter. There is a better way. The better way rises above self-flattery’s deception. It needs awakening from its slumber, as did the church Jesus spoke about (Revelation 3:17).
The road away from self-flattery is self-denial. Self-denial refrains from flattery. It is determined to know God. It is sensitive to sin and loves the Lord. The fear of God is in the forefront of those who deny themselves for the cause of Christ. Self-denial keeps God in holy awe, keeping self away from unhealthy admiration. It makes much of God and little of self. When we see God we admire Him and cease to flatter ourselves. Knowing God allows us to really know ourselves and discern between the two. The wisdom of God instructs us to place proper weight on what God wants versus what we want. Self-denial sends us into a whole other mindset, away from self-flattery. Its focus is being who God wants us to be and doing what God wants us to do. Self-denial serves others, deferring to them and what they value. It thinks more highly of God and His children. Self-denial replaces self-flattery with faith in God. Faith in God frees us to be secure in Him. Our identity is in Christ. We do not have to impress others or ourselves. He is all that matters. Replace self-flattery with faith in God. Faith in Him energizes an eternal self-esteem.
Taken from Reading #25 in the 90-day devotional book, “Seeking God in the Psalms”… | <urn:uuid:9506d633-dfd5-44c7-ac9d-b7b268a16148> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://365dailyreadings.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961976 | 626 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Academic excellence: U.S. News & World Report ranks Western Michigan University's College of Health and Human Services' audiology, occupational therapy, physician assistant, and speech pathology graduate programs among the top 50 programs of their kind in the nation. Rehabilitation counseling and social work are also ranked among the best graduate schools in the nation.
State-of-the-art facility: College of Health and Human Services academic programs are housed in a high-tech building that facilitates progressive methods of teaching, learning and research. It is the first building in southwest Michigan to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (Leed-EB) standards, and its 2009 gold-level certification distinguishes it as the most highly rated higher education building in the United States.
Research productivity: For more than 10 years, the College of Health and Human Services has been among a select few of the nation's schools and colleges of allied health that consistently receive prestigious research awards from the National Institutes of Health.
Clinical skills and specialized health care provision: Through College of Health and Human Services affiliates—the Unified Clinics and the Center for Disability Services—students practice clinical skills and a broad population of community members receive specialized health care. These enterprises serve 1,800 patients per week in more than 80,000 appointments annually.
The College of Health and Human Services is advancing its commitment to interdisciplinary, holistic and collaborative education, research and service innovatively through two interdisciplinary health academic programs and two interdisciplinary academic centers.
The Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Ph.D. program is an interdisciplinary approach to educating Ph.D. professionals with research and leadership skills to improve health and human services in all areas of society.
The Interdisciplinary Health Services program prepares students to apply skills necessary to think critically, work collaboratively, act ethically and respond flexibly to change in health and human services.
The Center for Excellence in Gerontology in the College of Health and Human Services addresses the aging of America and forecasted future needs and services for older adults. It provides for the study of aging, the education of WMU students in gerontology, interdisciplinary research to improve health and human services for older persons, and education and service learning activities for professionals and older adults and their families.
The Center for Health Information Technology Advancement is a collaboration between the Bronson School of Nursing and the Department of Business Information Systems at the WMU Haworth College of Business. It addresses state and federal priorities aimed at using technology to reform health care delivery. Through courses and real-world experiences, students are able to offer ways to organize and deploy information technology effectively and efficiently for better health care outcomes.
The Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies is the oldest and largest—and regarded as one of the best—programs of its kind in the world. Faculty members are engaged in groundbreaking national research on safety issues related to quiet cars and traffic roundabouts, which impact the safety of persons with blindness and low vision.
The Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at WMU was one of the nation's earliest clinics for the study and treatment of speech disorders and the preparation of speech therapists. Its founder Dr. Charles Van Riper was a pioneer in the field, known worldwide for his innovative treatment for stuttering. The department's graduate program was the first in Michigan and one of the first six in the nation to gain accreditation.
The Integrative Holistic Health and Wellness program is one of only four similar programs in the country and offers both an undergraduate minor and graduate certificate that foster "holism" within health care and across other disciplines.
The college's occupational therapy department is the first and oldest non-teacher education program at WMU; its founding in 1922 initiated Western's expansion from a teachers' college to a comprehensive institution of higher learning. It is also the highest-ranking occupational therapy program in Michigan by U.S. News & World Report.
The college's physician assistant program is the first to be established with legislative approval and funding appropriation in Michigan and has one of the highest pass rates in the country for its national licensure exam.
The School of Social Work is a research-driven professional program that focuses on social change, social justice and service transformation, working closely with students and the community. It serves the profession, and has reached national and international audiences through its Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare since 1974.
Established in 1973, the Specialty Program in Alcohol and Drug Abuse was the first of its kind in Michigan and the first university-based training clinic in Michigan to address the criminal justice population of substance abusers. | <urn:uuid:57b4675c-c42f-4c06-b066-30980fca4f86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wmich.edu/hhs/about/pride | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958909 | 941 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Macmillan Family Matters
Keep it real: the key to delivering important information in sensitive situations
Macmillan was looking for a piece of e-learning that would teach health & social care professionals how to recognise when people affected by cancer may need to seek legal advice about family issues, such as wills and guardianship.
While the learners wouldn’t need to give legal advice, they’d need to answer potentially awkward questions and signpost people to the right sources of advice. The challenge was to get the balance right: not too much legal information, but enough to have a quality conversation and recognise when people might need help.
Our approach was to keep it real with case studies, expert views and practical exercises, to provide as many real-life situations as possible.
With 90 minutes of learning, there was a lot of information to include. So we made sure we got the structure spot-on, with five main topics and three sections that follow the same format within each one.
Each topic begins with ‘In depth’, a section to present the basics up-front. This was supplemented with brief ‘What?’ ‘When?’ and ‘Why?’ pop-ups, as well as expert views from three real healthcare professionals.
The section is based around a realistic case study to illustrate the key concepts and bring the learning to life.
The course isn’t just about spotting when people need help – learners are also taught the soft skills that are needed to have a good quality conversation and signpost people effectively.
The second section, ‘Another view’, provides further case studies, and gives learners a chance to practice spotting different legal issues and correctly advising the people involved.
Finally, we have the ‘Take it further’ section. This leaves learners with an audio comment from one of the three expert healthcare professionals, as well as providing further information and support to help learners feel comfortable applying their newly acquired knowledge to real-life situations.
This Family Matters course allowed learners to feel more confident talking to people involved with cancer about what can often be complex and emotive topics. The course can be accessed by Macmillan professionals, other healthcare professionals and members of the public on Macmillan’s Learn Zone website.
Macmillan was so pleased with the results that they asked us to work with them on a range of subsequent e-learning courses, covering topics such as benefits awareness, information giving, the late effects of cancer, and survivorship.
Not only have we continued to work with Macmillan to create these additional e-learning courses, but Macmillan is also looking for us to further develop the courses so that they can be used by other organisations. This means that even more people can be reached as more learners are given the confidence to discuss sensitive issues as well and we are very proud to be a part of the great ongoing work that Macmillan do. | <urn:uuid:7eeb0e9c-f999-478c-a073-e795f035dd74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kineo.com/sv/health-pharmaceuticals-case-studies/macmillan-family-matters.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970042 | 606 | 1.695313 | 2 |
A.B. Yehoshua, long recognized as one of Israel's best novelists, has in recent years also emerged as one of its most prominent scolds.
The Jewish Journal's senior writer, Brad A. Greenberg, asks Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon about his "frozen chosen" hit "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," about being called an anti-Semite and about being comfortable as a geek
So we return, with the inevitability of quarrels in a shul, to the question posed at the outset: what makes a Jewish writer? I promised to avoid it, but there is a Wittgensteinian way out (and by the way, was he a Jewish philosopher?) A Jewish writer is someone whom we choose to call a "Jewish" writer. Would we rather have a clear category or fecundity and individuality of expression? Uniformity of commitment or divergence? The dilemma of modern Jewish writing is the same as that which bedevils modern Judaism: Where one can be everything, how likely is it that in the end, bristling with talent and showered with opportunity, one will come to nothing?
Interview with novelist Michael Chabon.
Interview with author Charlotte Mendelson about her novel "When We Were Bad".
A new bookshelf, overflowing with volumes, testifies to Gady Levy's latest and perhaps most ambitious endeavor: the Celebration of Jewish Books, which begins on Monday and extends through an all-day festival on Sunday. The celebration will offer lectures and signings with 40 authors -- including big names, such as Larry King, Michael Chabon, Kirk Douglas and Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) -- plus music and dance performances, food and a thousand titles for sale, provided by Borders and the Hebrew-language bookseller Steimatzky.
In the living room of novelist Merrill Joan Gerber's home in Sierra Madre is a harpsichord that is most often played by her husband, a retired Pasadena City College history professor. The presence of this musical instrument is fitting, because music plays a major role in Gerber's latest book, "The Victory Gardens of Brooklyn." At one point in "Victory Gardens," Gerber's 27th book, the central character, Musetta, a pianist and stand-in for Gerber's own mother, ponders the magic of music. It "made her feel she was flying outside over the treetops, over the river, away past Brooklyn, past the cemeteries and the houses and the endless stores of dead chickens and glassy-eyed fish."
For this writer, at a time when literary books no longer hold the general culture in thrall and in a city where many sit alone in rooms wondering, in the words of E.M. Forster, "how to connect," it is reassuring to read a blog where someone cares about literature and those novels that may never make the best-seller lists.
Jet lag launched Haggai Carmon into his career as an author. The international lawyer found himself in a small, unheated hotel room in a remote country he won't identify. He was on U.S. government assignment, collecting intelligence on a violent criminal organization, but his security cover had been blown, and he was advised by Interpol not to leave his hotel room.Tired, but too scared to sleep, Carmon sat at a child-sized desk with his laptop computer and spun 100 pages of a thriller based on, but disguising, his experiences. Those first 100 pages became the basis for "Triple Identity," the first in a series of three thrillers featuring Dan Gordon, a lawyer and former Mossad agent working for the U.S. Department of Justice.
He has long been known abroad as an Israeli novelist. But this weekend, David Grossman put fiction aside to become the voice of an Israel that is bruised, confused and yearning to see the horizon beyond the perennial war clouds.
When Imre Kertesz was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 2002, few Americans had read the work of the Hungarian novelist, the first survivor of the concentration camps to be awarded the literary prize. Even in his own country, his works were not well known; his subject, largely the Holocaust, was not popular.
Leon Uris, the novelist and screenwriter whose best-known works are "Exodus," a popular novel about Jews trying to establish modern Israel, and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," perhaps the archetypal Hollywood Western, died June 21 at his home on Shelter Island, N.Y. He was 78.
Dara Horn wrote an exuberant scene in her stunning debut novel, "In the Image," upon returning to her dreary garret flat during a year abroad in 1999. "I'd been to this dismal British market in which an entire aisle was devoted to butter and fats," the ebullient Horn, 25, said animatedly. "I recall a product called 'beef drippings.' The produce was wilting. All the milk was expired yesterday. I was very homesick."
Chaim Potok was a novelist who paved the way for a younger generation of religious American Jewish writers -- and a Jewish scholar who worked tirelessly to bring Jews and Judaism closer together.
In the wake of the Littleton shooting tragedy, a nation of finger-pointers has rounded up the usual suspects: media violence, guns, video games, the Internet. But for Jonathan Kellerman, this laundry list -- inevitably brought out in the wake of such violence -- omits one major source of responsibility: the perpetrators. "We'll blame society," says an unsurprised Kellerman. "And we'll forget about it until the next tragedy."
Kellerman is not being cynical or prophetic, just reflective.
When you write a book-length study of a living author lots of things can happen; most of them are bad.
"You've missed a nuance here, a shading there," some will point out, in the iciest language possible, while others go straight to the jugular and angrily insist that you don't know beans about their work.
Joseph Heller, who passed away Dec. 13 at the age of 76, was a wonderful exception. | <urn:uuid:7aa696fb-cdd6-4adc-89a1-178a083fca1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/tag/novelist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976103 | 1,292 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The Students Admissions Office (SAdO) is responsible for the recruitment, selection and admissions programs of freshmen, transferees, and upperclassmen. It is also in-charge of all matters pertaining to the scholarships of the university.
Specifically the office will:
- Communicate programs of study, admissions expectations, and other facets of University Life to prospective students and other stakeholders;
- Admit new undergraduate students in accordance with the admissions expectations of the University;
- Manage and administer the scholarship program in conjunction to guidelines and policies set by the University;
- Strengthen university relations by providing admission and scholarship information to faculty, administration, Board of Trustees, and providing data to various departments to facilitate recruitment efforts.
Some of the projects are:
Cavite Association of Schools’ Student Admissions Officers (CASSAO). This association was recently created to establish strong academic linkages among colleges and universities in Cavite. One of its aims is to share intellectual, physical, human and other resources to member schools. To achieve its goals, the association holds seminars on marketing strategies and techniques that would increase the enrollment of the member schools.
Cavite Intersecondary Schools Athletic Association (CISAA). This is an annual sports affair that involves secondary schools in the province. Through this, SAdO is able to promote amateur sports, discover and develop promising athletes and help improve athletic programs of the member schools. All secondary schools in Cavite are eligible members of the association.
DLSU-D Open House. This annual activity aims to strengthen DLSU-D's bond with its feeder schools. The university opens its door to prospective students who are given the opportunity to see for themselves what the school can offer. Free seminars on instruction for the high school teachers and leadership trainings for the officers of the student body are also provided during the activity.
DLSU-D Caravan. This activity promotes the university by visiting different secondary schools in CALABARZON, other provinces in the country and abroad. It aims to inform potential students of what DLSU-D has to offer to them and eventually become the school of choice. This was also conceptualized to maintain good university relations to its identified public.
Academic Competitions. The competition is open to all junior and senior high school students who are enrolled in any public or private school within the province of Cavite . Through this, the university provides a venue for high school students to apply their skills in English, Filipino, Social Science, Mathematics, General and Physical Science. Winners of the contest may eventually join the university as scholars. Here, they will further be nurtured so they can maximize their intellectual gifts. | <urn:uuid:4c0be7d7-5a55-408f-96eb-ea4be315f7c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dlsud.edu.ph/admission/about.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962929 | 553 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Cyrano de Bergerac The Second Act: The Bakery of the Poets Summary
This scene takes place at Ragueneau’s pastry shop, a spacious corner building. On the left is a counter with hanging ducks, geese, and peacocks. There’s a fireplace, and to the right of the stage, a door. Beyond that is a staircase that leads up to a dining room which we can see through open shutters. In the middle of this room is an iron hook that can be raised or lowered by pulley; various game meat hangs off of it, so it’s like a chandelier… for meat-eaters.
We join the scene the morning after the Cyrano runs off to kill 100 men. Ragueneau is seated in his pastry shop at a corner table writing poetry.
Much to his frustration, he repeatedly has to stop writing to do his job as chef. Much to the cook’s frustration, he gives his cooking advice in poetical terms (add a dactyl of soup, a caesura in between the rolls, etc.).
Ragueneau’s wife, Lise, enters with a stack of paper pastry bags; to her husband’s anger, we see that she has made them out of his poetry.
Lise snips at her husband for a bit about wasting time and money on useless poetic endeavors.
Ragueneau isn’t a happy camper, but as a customer waits, he has to pick which poetry to sacrifice as pastry-wrappings. He can’t bear to part with "Ulysses, when he left Penelope" or a sonnet to Phyllis, so he instead gives the customers more food and asks for the bag back.
He then laments that there is a spot of butter on Phyllis’s name.
Cyrano then arrives at the shop, where Ragueneau further displays his man-crush for all things Cyrano (mostly, he admires him for his swashbuckling in verse at the play last night).
Lise, in passing, shakes hands with him, notices something about his hand, and remarks on it.
Cyrano brushes her off; there’s nothing wrong, he says, but she comments that he must be lying.
Nervous for his meeting with Roxane, Cyrano passes the time by writing a letter to her declaring his love. Meanwhile, a musketeer entering the shop joins Lise (raise eyebrows now).
Ragueneau’s poet-friends arrive late for breakfast, bearing news of a gory sight at Port de Nesle, where eight villainous-looking scoundrels lay dead.
Cyrano is all, "Eight?! I thought there were seven!" but doesn’t reveal that he was the one to kill said scoundrels. No one seems to know who the big hero was.
Meanwhile, Cyrano has finished his letter to Roxane – but leaves it unsigned.
The poets, we see, have come to the shop with the sole intention of getting free food off of Ragueneau. He entertains them willingly while they chat of verse, at one point even reciting his own "Recipe for Making Almond Tarts" in rhyme.
When Cyrano asks (quietly) why Ragueneau puts up with their free-loading, Ragueneau admits he loves the attention.
Still waiting for Roxane, Cyrano takes Lise aside and asks her if, by any chance, she’s been sleeping with the musketeer.
She denies it, but not very convincingly. Cyrano tells her not to make a mockery of her husband anymore.
When Roxane arrives, Cyrano ensures that they are alone. He sends the Duenna away with sweets from the bakery.
Roxane starts off by thanking Cyrano for dueling Valvert the night before, and by reminding us all that Valvert’s patron, de Guiche, is trying to make her marry Valvert.
She reminisces about her time with Cyrano when they were children. Turns out, they used to play together in the gardens. Aw. Whenever he hurt his hand, she would bandage it for him.
At this convenient point, she just so happens to take Cyrano’s hand and realize he has hurt it again. He admits that it happened while "playing" at Porte de Nesle.
She bandages it for him while he swells with unvoiced love and calls her a "wise little mother," which isn’t Freudian at all.
Then… Roxane reveals that she’s in love with someone.
It turns out to be Christian.
At this opportune moment, the Duenna comes back in saying that she’s done eating the sweets. Cyrano sends her back out to read the poems on the bags, which she does.
Roxane says she’s afraid for Christian because of his hot Gascon temper. She wants Cyrano (a famous swordsman) to protect Christian (a novice) from folly and harm during his service with the Cadets. She also wants Christian to write a letter to her.
The disappointed Cyrano agrees to all this, out of his obsessive love for her.
Roxane leaves, oscillating between praising Cyrano for his heroic, hand-hurting efforts last night and declaring her love for Christian.
Now that Cyrano is alone again, Ragueneau and his poetry buddies join him.
Just then, the Captain of the Guards, Carbon De Castel-Jaloux, arrives with a group of cadets (this is Cyrano’s company). The Captain quickly praises Cyrano for basically being the greatest guy ever, and everyone oohs and ahhs over his impossible victory last night.
Christian is there, too.
Adding to the mix, de Guiche and his cronies arrive to congratulate Cyrano. At his Captain’s request, Cyrano composes an impromptu anthem about his men – the Cadets of Gascoyne. Keep this song in mind.
De Guiche offers Cyrano a position with his uncle, Cardinal Richelieu, as a playwright. Initially Cyrano is tempted by the offer, but eventually declines when he hears the Cardinal will have the right to edit his work. (Edit!? The nerve!)
De Guiche eventually admits that he’s the one who hired the 100 men to assassinate Lignière. However, he justifies his action on the grounds that he is too lordly to carry out such a base task (as killingsomeone) on his own.
We’re still waiting to hear why he needed 100 men to do it, but whatever.
This completely lame excuse angers Cyrano; de Guiche quickly takes his leave, before our hero can pounce on him.
Le Bret asks Cyrano why he insists on making the whole world his enemy. (Sound familiar?)
Cyrano replies with a grand ode (sigh) that discourses on his pride and love of freedom.
Meanwhile, Christian is warned by several of his peers never to insult Cyrano’s nose on pain of death. As if he hadn’t figured that out yet.
Christian snubs this advice and pokes fun at Cyrano’s nose.
Cyrano, enraged, nevertheless remembers his promise to Roxane and tolerates Christian’s insults.
Adding insult to, well, insult, Christian continually interrupts as Cyrano tries to tell the heroic story of his victory the night before. This wouldn’t be so bad if said interruptions weren’t primarily remarks about Cyrano’s nose.
The other cadets watch in fascination, waiting for Cyrano to bust out.
Cyrano takes it like a man. For about two minutes. Then he says something along the lines of "Arghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"
The rest of the men quickly clear the room, leaving Cyrano alone with soon-to-be-dead-meat Christian.
Once the men are alone, Cyrano reveals to Christian that, in fact, he’s not going to cut him up into little pieces. Rather, he tells him that Roxane is in love with him. All he has to do is write the woman a letter.
Very sadly, Christian cannot speak or write well to women, as he gets nervous.
Cyrano, ever the gentleman, offers to write on Christian’s behalf, but doesn’t disclose that he, too, is in love with the woman in question.
The two men become fast friends under this alliance, apparently forgetting all about the nose jokes from minutes before.
When the cadets return, they find Cyrano and Christian hugging.
This would be great, except the men take this to mean that they can now safely insult Cyrano’s nose.
One poor sucker goes first, but Cyrano immediately knocks him to the ground.
Glad to have the old Cyrano back, everyone stands around and chuckles, except for the man on the floor, who is likely weeping quietly into a pool of his own blood. | <urn:uuid:a6c95dce-532a-4882-920a-37aa10aee319> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/cyrano-de-bergerac/act-2-summary.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 | 0.965998 | 1,951 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Creating a Parenting 'Bucket List'
Parkway Mom takes inspiration from the Bucket List trend and a friend to create a Parenting List -- things she wants to do with her kids before they grow up.
Recently my friend Karen posted photos of an icy New Year's Day plunge she took with her friend Christina and the L Street Brownies. I was impressed. And curious.
I asked Karen why she did such a crazy, courageous and COLD thing. She told me she had a list of things she wanted to do before turning 40 and doing a Polar Plunge was on it. She mentioned that lots of people have “Bucket Lists,” and her list was made in the spirit of Bucket Lists everywhere.
I was inspired.
The term "kick the bucket" refers to when a person passes away. This is where the phrase "Bucket List" came from. It is a list of things that you want to do before you "kick the bucket" The items on this list can be as simple as "Fly a kite" or "Cook a meal". They can also be more meaningful to the person writing the list such as, "Make a difference in somebody's life" or "Finally write to the friend you haven't seen in years." They can even be in between the two such as, "Swim in the world's largest swimming pool" or "Pet a baby polar bear". The list is all up to the wishes and dreams of the person writing it.
I decided to create my own bucket list of sorts, a parenting bucket list.. A list of things I would like to do with my kids before they get too old to enjoy them, before they don’t want to do things with their [stupid] parents anymore, before they leave for college.
This is a fun list to create because I get to dream. Anything can go on it, even crazy, outrageous, silly things.
I think, though, that bucket lists are also supposed to be real — things you plan to actually do, so I decided have to be careful and keep it realistic, keeping our interests and budget in mind.
So what's on my list?
- Make it to Orlando. My kids have been begging for years now to visit Disney or Universal Studios. Lego Land was recently added to the list (it opened in October 2011). We have not been able to make it happen. Part of the problem is the only time we can go is during school vacations, the most expensive and busiest time to travel. And Orlando in the summer has little appeal, due to the extreme heat and humidity. So there we are. We either have to save a bundle (hard to do) or strike it rich to make this a reality anytime soon. That said, we started a very modest vacation fund a few years ago in hopes to make it to Disney some day. The account is s-l-o-w-l-y growing (we make modest deposits every once in a while), but it will likely be years before we will be able to fund our trip. I am a little worried the kids may outgrow their interest before we can make this happen. For this reason, it is first on my list.
- Repeat the two-week summer road trip we took in 2011 -- using a new route. Last summer we took off for two amazing weeks. We visited the New Jersey Shore (as we do every summer) to see my husband's family and then road-tripped to Baltimore, Southern Virginia, Nashville, Memphis, St. Louis, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, and finally Niagara Falls and Seneca Falls, New York. It was an amazing time of exploring new places, feasting on regional foods, enjoying live music venues and bonding as a family. The driving got tedious at times, but we'd all do it again in a heartbeat. Perhaps our next family road trip will take us North into Vermont and Maine and then into Canada to see Montréal and Quebec. Better get passports for the kids!
- Do another culinary expedition with my daughter. As you may have read in my "Cake Boss" column, we went to a cake decorating class in NJ last year and got to meet some of the cast of the TLC show "Cake Boss." Not sure I'll ever be able to top this, but I would love to take my daughter on another culinary outing. I'll keep my eyes open and see what presents itself.
- Likewise, I'd love for my son to meet some of his illustrator or author heroes. He is a big fan of graphic novels, comics, and humor. I'm on the lookout for readings and events with his heroes. Comic Con is one option and I'm eager for Jeff Kinney, author of the Wimpy Kid series, to hit the road to see if we can meet him at a local happening.
- Resume volunteering with the kids. For a while we helped deliver meals to elderly people living in the Boston area. The elders enjoyed getting the meals but seemed even more appreciative of our company. Visits by young people seem helpful to the elderly, almost reinvigorating them. It would be great to return to this, for my kids and for the elders. We often volunteer at community events like Boston Shines, but we could do even more. I want to instill in the kids value of caring for people in our community and the importance of giving our time and ourselves to others.
- Teach my kids financial literacy. I hope to teach my children enough about money, credit cards and interest rates so they understand the basics of finances. Learning how to keep a checkbook seems rather antiquated since everything is done online these days, but I would like them to understand electronic banking, how to use credit cards without racking up huge debts, how to read and pay bills, what a mortgage is, why saving receipts (for big purchases, things you may return) is important, what refinancing is, etc. They see me clip coupons and study the sales fliers from the supermarket each week, but there is even more for them to know, like double coupons!
- Make sure they know it is always OK to ask for help. Lost in Prague when you are 20? Ask for help. Not sure what to do about the warning light flashing on your dashboard? Ask for help. Worried about a friend who may be in an abusive relationship? Ask for help. The range of situations they may find themselves in is endless. What I want them to know is that there are good people out there, and my kids are smart enough to find them if they are ever in need. Uniforms (police, fire, nurses, doctors, etc.) are usually good places to start. And their dad and I are always available, too. Always. (Although we might not be able to help much if they are lost in Prague!)
- Be healthy. I'd like to impart on my kids my hopes they will lead healthy lives. I hope they'll never smoke or become addicted to drugs or alcohol. I also hope they will remember to eat their colors everyday (fruit and veggies) and exercise regularly. My husband and I try to be good role models for them. We hope they take notice.
- Know they can do anything — with focus and hard work. I believe in my children and feel confident they can make their own dreams come true. I hope they live by this and feel like they can be who they want to be.
Interested in creating your own Bucket List? I found this advice at ehow. Check it out, and let us know what's on your Bucket List, be it with your children or singularly. | <urn:uuid:756a96e5-dea0-49e4-bb68-0eb34fd52fc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westroxbury.patch.com/articles/creating-a-parenting-bucket-list-419659b7?logout=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976856 | 1,583 | 1.5 | 2 |
Japan's ruling party conceded a crushing defeat today as voters looked to have handed the main opposition party a historic general election victory.
Television exit polls suggested the left-of-centre Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) would win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house, a huge improvement on its current 115 seats.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party was forecast to win only about 100 seats, a devastating blow to the party that has ruled Japan for all but 11 months since 1955.
"These results are very severe," the prime minister, Taro Aso, told a news conference at party headquarters. "There has been a deep dissatisfaction with our party."
Aso said he would have to accept responsibility for the results, suggesting that he would resign as party president. Other LDP leaders also said they would step down, though official results were not to be released until early tomorrow morning.
Victory for the DPJ will see its president, Yukio Hatoyama, installed as leader of the first government not led by the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) for 15 years and only the second for more than half a century.
Early estimates showed turnout was high, but hopes that it could exceed 70% may have been dashed by strong winds and heavy rain brought by an approaching typhoon.
The exit polls are in line with recent opinion polls showing the LDP's strength in the lower house slashed from 300 seats to as few as 100.
The Democratic Party needs only to win a simple majority of 241 seats in the lower house to ensure that it can name the next prime minister. The 300-plus level would allow it and its two smaller allies the two-thirds majority they need in the lower house to pass bills.
The election has proved disastrous for Aso, whose year in office has been bedevilled by gaffes and sleaze, as well as coinciding with Japan's deepest recession since the second world war.
While Hatoyama represents a shot in the dark, he has captured the public imagination with promises of higher welfare spending, the introduction of a minimum wage and child allowance, and a more equal relationship with Japan's main ally, the US.
"The ruling party has betrayed the people over the past four years, driving the economy to the edge of a cliff, building up more than 6 trillion yen (£39.4bn) in public debt, wasting money, ruining our social security net and widening the gap between the rich and poor," the DPJ said in a statement today. "We will change Japan. We will not be arrogant and we will listen to the people."
Even voters who remain wary of the DPJ's spending promises said they were prepared to vote for the party.
"We don't know if the Democrats can really make a difference, but we want to give them a chance," Junko Shinoda, a civil servant, told the Associated Press after casting her vote in Tokyo.
Newspaper editorials agreed that Hatoyama's first task must be to steer Japan towards sustained economic recovery.
"Whoever wins the election on Sunday, we want to ask the next administration to swiftly deal with concerns about unemployment, uncertainty and deflation, which are deepening simultaneously," the Nikkei business paper said. | <urn:uuid:0f9bdc8e-77e3-43f5-92ba-ca761b06a3c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/30/japan-opposition-heads-for-victory-election | 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 | 0.978198 | 668 | 1.585938 | 2 |
As I Lay Dying
From Vardaman’s accusation of Peabody to Vardaman’s statement that his mother is a fish
Vardaman runs out of the house and begins to cry. He sees the spot on the ground where he first laid the fish he caught, and thinks about how the fish is now chopped up into little pieces of “not-fish” and “not-blood.” Vardaman reasons that Peabody is responsible for Addie’s death and curses him for it. He jumps off the porch and runs into the barn. Still crying, Vardaman picks up a stick and begins beating Peabody’s horses, cursing them and blaming them for Addie’s death, until they run off. He shoos away a cow that wants milking, and returns to the barn to cry quietly. Cash passes by and Dewey Dell calls out, but Vardaman continues to cry in the dark.
Dewey Dell is again thinking of her union with Lafe and of the pregnancy that has resulted. She thinks, with some bitterness, of how much Peabody could do for her, if only he would. Outside, Cash continues sawing the wood to make Addie’s coffin. Dewey Dell begins to prepare a supper of greens and bread, but does not have time to cook the fish that Vardaman has caught. Cash enters the kitchen, announcing that Peabody’s team of horses has gotten loose. Anse, Cash, and Peabody begin eating. They invite Dewey Dell to eat with him, but she leaves to look for Vardaman, who is missing. Dewey Dell runs up to the barn, where the cow needs to be milked, but she tells it to wait. Dewey Dell walks among the stalls, repeating Lafe’s name to herself. She finds Vardaman hiding in a stall and accuses him of trying to spy on her. Dewey Dell shakes Vardaman violently before sending him away, then returns to her thoughts of Peabody, and how he may be able to help her.
Vardaman stares at the coffin. He is disturbed by the thought that Addie is going to be nailed shut inside of it.
Tull remembers how he and Cora found out Addie was dead when Peabody’s team of horses showed up at his door. It is raining when Tull goes to sleep, and the storm is getting worse when he is woken up by a knock at the door. He finds Vardaman there, soaking wet and covered in mud. Vardaman talks incoherently of the fish that he caught earlier. Tull goes out to harness the team, and returns to find Cora and Vardaman sitting in the kitchen. Vardaman is still speaking about his fish. Cora, Tull, and Vardaman make the journey back to the Bundren house, and Tull helps Cash finish building the coffin. Just before daybreak, they place Addie in the coffin and nail it shut. The next morning, they find the coffin bored full of holes and Vardaman asleep next to it. Inadvertently, Vardaman has bored two of the holes through his mother’s face. Throughout the chapter, Tull notes that Vardaman’s inexplicable behavior is God’s judgment upon Anse’s failures as a father and husband. At dawn, Cora and Tull return home.
Darl, still away on the delivery with Jewel, is able to see what is happening far away at his home. He sees Cash and Anse working to complete the coffin. It begins to rain. Cash, though soaked, continues working. Cora and Tull arrive. Cash sends Anse away, and Cash and Tull make a push to complete the coffin. Just before dawn, Cash finally finishes his task. Anse, Cash, Peabody, and Tull carry the coffin inside. As Darl watches this scene, he reflects that he does not know whether he “is” or not, whereas Jewel knows that he “is” because he does not question his own existence.
Cash very precisely lists the logic behind his decision to make the coffin on a bevel, or a slight slant.
Vardaman states that his mother is a fish.
The Bundren siblings’ varied responses to Addie’s death provide us with deeper insight into their characters. Cash’s dry, technical list of his reasons for choosing to make the coffin on a bevel could be read as callousness, but one could also argue that his assembly of the coffin in front of Addie’s window is a gesture of some kind. Jewel, on the other hand, remains completely uncommunicative in this section, and remains so throughout the novel, as he is the only Bundren child whose narrative is cut off following Addie’s death. Dewey Dell speaks frequently, but she is lost in thought over her pregnancy, which not only eclipses her awareness of her mother’s death but even manages to distract her during the relatively simple task of finding Vardaman in the barn. Dewey Dell mentions that she laments this inability to focus on Addie’s passing, but feels powerless to change it, noting that she cannot think long enough to worry about anything. Dewey Dell’s ability to communicate with the cow introduces an affinity for animals that endures throughout the novel. Like the cow in need of milking, Dewey Dell is preoccupied with her own immediate concerns and is unable to contemplate fully matters that are not her own.
While the first sections of the novel make it clear that Darl’s voice is the most authoritative, Vardaman’s narration takes on increasing importance as the story progresses. Both Darl’s and Vardaman’s voices find common ground on the incredibly intricate issue of existence. Darl has the air of an amateur philosopher when he ruminates, “I dont know what I am. I dont know if I am or not.” For Darl, his mother’s transformation from a living person into a thing to be placed in a box brings up the question of what it means to exist. Vardaman wrestles with similar questions, although his thoughts are conducted with the imagination of a child. As he comes to grips with the initial pain of his mother’s death, Vardaman observes that there exists “an is different from my is.” Vardaman’s endless rants about the fish puzzle the other characters, but they are simply his way of expressing and making sense of his mother’s death. Vardaman equates the transformation of a live fish into “not-fish” and “not-blood” with the death of his mother, and the idea that his own parent can so suddenly cease to exist is as traumatic for him as it is for Darl.
The various characters’ interior monologues often seem detached from the rest of the novel, but there is in fact a very careful structure holding them all in place. One particularly noteworthy example of this structure can be found in the overlapping, but still contradictory, passages in which Dewey Dell and Vardaman are both in the barn. We see Dewey Dell pass by Vardaman twice, first in his account of the episode, then in hers. The two narratives are connected by the unmilked cow, a seemingly superfluous entity that reminds us that these two voices, although separated by chapters, are in fact speaking at the same time. Tellingly, Dewey Dell and Vardaman take away quite different impressions of the same experience—she thinks he has been spying on her, while he thinks she knows about his treatment of Peabody’s team—but these differing perspectives are nonetheless borne out of the same urge to protect their own innocence. The storm serves a similar function, appearing in the thoughts of both Tull and Darl and providing a sort of narrative umbrella to expose the thematic link between the two men’s thoughts.
Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note! | <urn:uuid:36587ed7-43c2-4a86-835b-56c2cd15da2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/asilay/section3.rhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969958 | 1,752 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Free Photo Archive of over 26,000 vintage photographs. Find people and the places were they lived. Search for your surnames. Find photos of your ancestors. Make connections with genealogy cousins. Add your family's photos.
Millie and Mary Etta Kauffman
Permelia "Millie" Thompson Kauffman was born Nov 29, 1849 at Mill Creek, Huntingdon County, PA. She was the daughter of William M. Thompson and Mary E. Gilliland. She married David C. Kauffman on Aug 17, 1873 at Mapleton, Huntingdon County. David was the son of Daniel Kauffman and Hannah Schumacher. Millie died in 1928.
Mary Etta Kauffman was born July 13, 1874 in Mapleton, Huntingdon County, PA. She was the daughter of Millie Thompson and David C. Kauffman. Mary Etta married James Alexander Cassady, son of David F. Cassady and Josephine Barben. They were the parents of Beatrice Cassady Hogue and Gladys Cassady. Mary Etta died in Cynwyd, Montgomery County, on Oct 29, 1959. She is buried at Alto Reste Cemetery, Altoona, Blair County. | <urn:uuid:499ecd5e-a838-4538-8ae2-a0bdce1992e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.familyoldphotos.com/photo/pennsylvania/9006/millie-and-mary-etta-kauffman?size=thumbnail | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968331 | 255 | 1.773438 | 2 |
The Federal Government is set to empower indigenous ship owners through a bailout package to enable them to undertake international operations.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Services, Mr. Olugbenga Oyewole, who gave the hint in an interview in Abuja on Saturday, said the aim was to assist the ship owners to develop capacity to ply international harbours.
Although he did not disclose the amount being packaged for the shippers and the conditions, he said indigenous vessels that would benefit from the intervention would be required to carry Nigerian flag during their operations.
He said with the size of cargo coming in and going out of the country, it was painful that Nigerian shippers were not involved in high volume of international shipping business.
Oyewole said, “I cannot think of any country that has the kind of cargo that we have and yet, our national vessels are not carrying it. Every other country in the world keeps to their cargo. They carry it by themselves and they are coming to scramble for the ones we have here also.
“We may not have the capacity but the capacity may not come without government support. What we are trying to do as a government is to create the enabling environment so that they will be able to acquire good vessels. These vessels will fly Nigeria’s flag and will be used as training platforms for our people.”
He lamented that all the crude oil leaving the country with other exportable products were being carried on foreign vessels.
Oyewole explained the implication of that to the national economy, saying, “You pay freight on these vessels; your insurance is paid to some other countries and it runs into billions of dollars.”
He, however, said immediately Nigerians were empowered to have their own ships, freight would be retained within the economy.
The senior special assistant also said that the government’s action would provide job opportunities for several professionals in the industry, which would boost the economy.
“We will retain the insurance within the Nigerian economy; we would also have provided training platform for our cadets for their sea time; we also would have provided jobs for lawyers, brokers, ship yards, engineers and all that,” he said.
Oyewole also spoke on the 24-hour clearance as part of measures to decongest the Lagos ports, create some aesthetics around them and increase the value of property around the area.
According to him, the Federal Government is working with the Lagos State Government to fix the road leading in and out of the port to free traffic around the area.
He said government would “connect the rails to the port so that we can evacuate goods leaving the port.” | <urn:uuid:642b2f4f-4d05-4e87-bbc8-de9bdf51d1a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/national-carrier-fg-plans-bailout-for-indigenous-shippers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982862 | 558 | 1.601563 | 2 |
For the last eight decades, Pontiac has been producing top quality vehicles that are specifically intended to compete as a mid-level brand incorporating a sportier, performance driven feel at a reasonable cost for a younger market. As part of the leading automotive manufacturer, the Pontiac was created in 1926, as a cheaper version of the Oakland Motor Car line. For the next period of years, Pontiac has made remarkable vehicles with powerful engine.
Some notable models such as the Pontiac Bonneville or also known as the performance vehicle at a cheaper price has conquered the market share of its more expensive counterparts: the Oldsmobile and the Buick. The infamous Pontiac GTO that was first introduced in 1964 with 389ci V8 Tri-Power setup with three two-barrel carburetors has become one of the most popular muscle car in the history. It was also one of the best selling performance vehicles at that time. The Pontiac Firebird entered strong in the market three years after the GTO. The Sunbird of 1982 was dubbed as the GM's smallest American-built car. It shared chassis and powertrains with the Chevrolet Cavalier. Together, they were Canada and the U.S.'s top sellers for the better part of two decades.
With the driving power of each Pontiac engine comes the strength and beauty of the exterior parts that complement each other to give every Pontiac its total image. Part of this body is the Pontiac bumper that's usually made of heavy sheet metal and located or attached to the front and rear of the vehicle. It serves as the primary or the first line of defense in case of collision. It also serves as an aesthetic. Early Pontiac bumper designs, particularly front bumpers, are shaped and curved to withstand low speed impact leaving the passengers safe. The front bumper and rear bumper are mounted on the Pontiac's chassis to allow certain force to be absorbed by an impact absorber decreasing the force of the impact into a tolerable state.
Modern bumpers are made from plastic and synthetic fiber that acts almost in an exact manner as the bumpers made from sheet metals. Plastic bumpers are also mode advantageous to the vehicles for it is easier to mold giving the designer a wider array of designs. It is also lighter and easier to attach and to replace thus making it more convenient to Pontiac enthusiast to change designs. | <urn:uuid:108b9b84-9a94-46b3-9ddc-de71876fad7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carparts.com/pontiac/bumper | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972481 | 481 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Via Gotta Be Mobile
By Josh Smith
- FaceTime over 3G and 4G – Make FaceTime calls over cellular connections.
- Facebook Integration – Share photos to Facebook from Photos app and Like Apps.
The ultimate DIY project guide for techie dads raising kids in their own geeky image,in the spirit of The Dangerous Book for Boys Today’s generation of dads grew up more tech-savvy than ever. Rather than joining the Little League team,many grew up playing computer games,Dungeons and Dragons,and watching Star Wars. Now with kids of their own,these digital-age dads are looking for fresh ways to share their love of science and technology,and help their kids develop a passion for learning and discovery.
Reposted from Just Means
By Sarena Ulibarri who is a Justmeans staff writer for Ethical Consumption.
Do you know where your jeans or your child’s favorite toy came from, before they landed on that shelf in your neighborhood store? Would it make a difference in your shopping habits if you could tell, with just a quick check on your smartphone, that the dress you’re about to buy was made with slave labor? Free2Work thinks so.
At home I’ve used both these devices hands on extensively. So who wins? Not so fast. Really it depends what you’re looking for in a media centre.
Our three and a half year old does not get to sit in front of the TV for endless unspecified amounts of time. Imaginative play is good for her. I love to hear her sitting on our steps with her toys chatting away to herself. It takes me back to my own childhood and the hours I spent in my own space and imagination creating worlds with all sorts of characters.
Let’s get this out of the way right now. It’s a confession of sorts. I am an early adopter. New tech and software excites me. So of course, as soon as Apple’s servers were functioning (after the overload from other crazy early adopters) I jumped in with both feet.
The Back to the Future trilogy has to be on every 30 something dads “must own” list. I loved all three movies (yes even part 3). But there is something extra special about part 2. It reflects our own dreams and hopes for the tech of tomorrow (though 2015 isn’t that far off). A utopian world where anything is possible. So what’s come true (pretty close)? What was way off? What is just around the corner? And what is way better about our alternate timeline? | <urn:uuid:3cdb1be2-a3d7-4e6d-be09-a39744e599fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://daddyzine.com/tagged/tech | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947641 | 549 | 1.570313 | 2 |
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her government was committed to the cause of the farmers of Singur and hoped they would win.
Banerjee's comment came in the wake of the Calcutta high court's verdict striking down as unconstitutional and void, the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, by which the Trinamool Congress government sought to scrap the
land lease of Tata Motors and return the acquired lands to farmers and give them a better compensation and rehabilitation package.
"I do not want to comment on the court's verdict. But we are committed to the cause of the farmers of Singur and will continue to stand by them. I believe, ultimately the farmers will win," Banerjee said at the state assembly.
The division bench of justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and justice Mrinal Kanti Chaudhuri, declaring the Singur land act as void, said the sections of the act dealing with compensation were in conflict with the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
The judges also said the legislation had been enacted without obtaining the assent of the president.
Automobile giant Tata Motors had moved the division bench against the Calcutta high court's justice IP Mukerji's Sep 28 ruling, which upheld the Act.
The court has suspended for two months its order to enable the West Bengal government to appeal before the Supreme Court, but has barred the state from disbursing reclaimed land in the interim period.
The Mamata Banerjee government passed the act soon after assuming office, and scrapped the land lease given to Tata Motors by the earlier Left Front regime to set up an automobile factory in Hooghly's Singur.
The automobile major had to shift its Nano small car plant to Sanand in Gujarat from Singur in 2008 because of protests by farmers led by the Trinamool Congress. The party sought the return of 400 acres taken from farmers, who were reportedly unwilling to part with their lands.
Reacting to the verdict, Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said the government is paying the price for not heeding to the opposition's plea to desist from making any discrimination between those farmers who were unwilling to part with the land and those who gave their land willingly.
Congress leader Abdul Mannan questioned Banerjee's intent to give back the land to the farmers.
"She never had the intention to give the land back to the farmers it was only posturing on her behalf. Otherwise, she would not have hastily passed the law but would have taken time and help of experts to draft a comprehensive law," said Mannan. | <urn:uuid:5e0a44f6-e962-4de8-9a9b-197abc8f28d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Kolkata/After-Singur-setback-Mamata-says-farmers-will-win/Article1-877026.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972321 | 537 | 1.679688 | 2 |
This past Wednesday, October 3, two leading US peace activists were traveling to Toronto to attend an antiwar event. Medea Benjamin, cofounder of CODEPINK, and Ann Wright, a retired Army colonel and former diplomat, both tireless peace activists, were stopped at the border crossing at Buffalo, where they were detained and questioned for several hours.
It appears that Wright and Benjamin were denied entry into Canada because their names appeared on an FBI-run international criminal database. The women have been arrested several times while committing acts of civil disobedience to protest the war in Iraq.
You can read Wright's own description of what happened, in an interview with Amy Goodman.
NDP MP Olivia Chow called barring the women from Canada "absurd".
Both activists, clad in pink and backed by anti-war supporters holding banners, held a news conference outside the Canadian embassy in Washington yesterday.
They said they were astonished that the names of anti-war activists convicted of misdemeanours - such as trespass, the offence routinely used to clear peaceful protesters - had been added to the FBI's National Crime Information Center database.
"This is outrageous. I'm appealing to Canadians not to treat peaceful activists like common criminals," Ms. Benjamin said.
"I travel all over the world on a regular basis and Canada is the first country to use the NCIC to keep out people like us," said the veteran activist and founding director of Global Exchange, an international social justice movement.
Both women have previously visited Canada for anti-war meetings, sometimes at the invitation of Canadian activist groups or political parties.
Canadian border agents have access to the FBI's database. The border agents at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls who barred Ms. Benjamin and Ms. Wright said the mere fact that they were listed on the NCIC was sufficient to bar them from entry.
"The people at the border were almost apologetic. ... One of them said he thought the war was terrible," Ms. Benjamin said. She said the Canadian immigration official told her that he had no choice. "He said it wasn't up to him."
In Ottawa, border agency spokesman Chris Williams denied that simply being listed on the FBI's NCIC database would automatically bar someone from entry to Canada.
"Entry is always judged on a case-by-case basis," he said.
However, the actual basis for denying entry to anti-war activists remained unclear.
Sometimes I think we got out just in time. | <urn:uuid:1b6d22d0-d477-41cc-83f4-71a5a2c28795> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmtc.ca/2007/10/peace-activists-refused-entry-into.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980005 | 504 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Duke Physics graduate student Joel Greenberg attended the the 19th annual International Laser Physics Workshop in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, this month. The conference included an excursion to a nearby National Park. (Read Part 1 of this story here.) Here’s what Joel said about it:
On July 7 (midway through the conference), a group excursion was facilitated by the conference organizers. All of the participants boarded buses and made the several-mile journey to the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, which boasts Iguaçu Falls, one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the planet (in fact, it is one of the finalists for the New Seven Wonders of the World. The falls themselves consist of over 270 distinct waterfalls that go on for several kilometers (making it the widest in the world) and contain a region where one is surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls. After the day at the falls, everyone was bused to Rafain, which is a churrascaria (or Brazilian steakhouse), for the conference banquet. In addition to typical Brazilian cuisine, the restaurant offered entertainment featuring dancing and music from a variety of South American countries. Overall, the conference was a lot of fun and a great way to meet other scientists with similar research areas and interests. | <urn:uuid:8fcfdb41-93b1-4949-8152-5c9e289e378a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.phy.duke.edu/2010/07/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961434 | 271 | 1.726563 | 2 |
VietNamNet Bridge – The information that VietinBank, one of the biggest commercial banks in Vietnam which has been equitized, is planning to issue international bonds and has surprised financial analysts, because it is not the ideal time to do that now.
On March 19, VietinBank began a series of roadshows in foreign countries to prepare for the bond issuance in the international market. The events have caught the special attention from both the Vietnamese and international communities.
The Financial Times has commented that the success of VietinBank in the issuance could show how the international community thinks about the Vietnamese national economy.
The bank plans to issue 500 million dollars worth of international bonds with the consultancy of two big banks Barclays and HSBC. The roadshows to introduce about the issuance would take place in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The article “Vietnam: Anyone for state-owned debt?” published on the Financial Times commented that the bond issuance takes place in a sensitive moment, when Vietnamese banks, after many years of pursuing the hot credit growth and making mistakes in financial management, have been put in a worrying situation. Therefore, the government of Vietnam has recently announced a plan to restructure the banking system.
Especially, VietinBank decided to issue bonds after other Vietnamese state owned enterprises did not obtain the expected success when issuing bonds in the international market. The Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacoal) and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) have been facing difficulties when raising funds in the world market after the Vietnam Shipping Industry Group (Vinashin), also known as a big conglomerate, bogged down in debts in late 2010.
The article on the Financial Times also wrote that the Vietnamese economy is still facing big challenges, even though it has witnessed some recovery signs.
Many Vietnamese people have also expressed their surprise to the decision by VietinBank to issue shares at this moment, when the debt crisis in Europe has yet come to an end, which means that it would be very difficult to persuade investors to spend money on Vietnamese bonds.
However, it’s still unclear if VietinBank can be luckier than EVN and Vinacoal in seeking capital in the international market. Standard&Poor’s và Moody’s both seem to believe that VietinBank would succeed more than the two said economic groups.
Moody’s late last week gave B1 to VietinBank’s long term credit, while S&P gave B+ to the bonds to be issued by the bank. Though both the credit ratings firms mentioned the concern about the asset quality of the bank, they believe that the bank has a big advantage thanks to the big operation scale and the support from the government.
In related news, the plan of VietinBank to sell shares to the foreign strategic partner Nova Scotia from Canada in the first quarter of 2012 has failed completely.
Dau tu quoted its sources as saying that the two banks agreed on all the terms of the share transfer. However, right before the money remittance schedule, Nova Scotia unexpectedly set up a new condition which has made the affair unrealistic.
Nova Scotia demanded to enjoy all the 2011’s dividends and the capital surplus. Prior to that, VietinBank and Nova Scotia agreed to the share price at 22,000 dong per share. Meanwhile, if the newly set up condition is satisfied, the actual price of VietinBank shares would be 19,000 dong per share only.
VietinBank’s President Pham Huy Hung said the requirement is unreasonable, because Nova Scotia planned to remit money in the first quarter of 2012, while it wanted the dividends for 2011. | <urn:uuid:0ed00041-8065-45f3-8fd2-4a3bdd63ea5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.baomoi.com/Info/VietinBank-issues-international-bonds-amid-big-challenges/5/246512.epi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952906 | 771 | 1.539063 | 2 |
DHS earns kudos for tightening security on intelligence systems
Report says DHS minimized security risks to IT systems with top-secret data
The Homeland Security Department has significantly minimized the security risks with its intelligence systems, according to a report from the department’s inspector general.
The department made the improvements by dealing with security vulnerabilities that the IG identified in an evaluation of fiscal 2007, according to the summary report
released on the IG’s Web site July 8. The IG said a more recent evaluation showed that DHS had dealt with 10 of the 14 recommendations the office had previously made that related to the department’s security program for top secret/sensitive compartmented information systems.
“Overall, the information security procedures have been documents and controls have been implemented, providing an effective level of security for the department’s intelligence systems,” the report states.
However, the IG also said the department hadn’t yet implemented all of the department’s recommendations and suggested that the head of intelligence and analysis at DHS take those actions. The IG also recommended the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer deal with “system-control issues” identified during the IG’s review.
The report said DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis concurred with the IG’s recommendations and provided proposed plans of action to fix the problems. The report was based on fieldwork conducted between May and October of 2008.
The IG’s evaluation focused on security program management, implementation and system administration of the department’s intelligence systems. The report said the IG primarily assessed the plan of action and milestones, system certification and accreditation, incident-reporting processes, and its security-awareness training program. The evaluation was done according to annual requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act.
The report said over the past year, DHS had finalized its guidance for personnel handling its intelligence systems, and had certified and accredited its classified network extension. The IG also said the Coast Guard’s intelligence systems were put under DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
Ben Bain is a reporter for Federal Computer Week. | <urn:uuid:b62a00b4-8761-410b-a844-d8ae199abbd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fcw.com/articles/2009/07/10/web-dhs-ig-intelligence-system-management.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961482 | 437 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Merchant Services & Merchant Accounts
The job of a Merchant Services Provider is to manage and provide a transaction gateway for businesses accepting card as a method of payment. A merchant services account is essentially a bank account exclusive for payments made to your business via card. Once a card payment is processed by your merchant services provider, the funds will be deposited into your merchant services account. The Merchant Services provider will normally charge per transaction for this service.
Card Processing Rates
If you are new to accepting card as a form of payment you may find that card transactions will make up a substantial portion of your daily takings. Make sure your provider offers you a competitive rate in order to avoid paying large sums of commission to you provider.
Key elements to look for when choosing the right provider.
Your customers personal data is of paramount importance be sure to sign up with a merchant service provider that provides a safe transaction gateway.
Customer Service and Support
If something goes wrong or you need support and guidance you are going to need someone available on the other end of line ready to help you.
Card Processing Options
You may start off with a chip and pin machine and later decide it is time to move your business online. Choosing a provider who can help with accepting card payments across the board takes the stress away when making new decisions in your business.
Many merchants choose to go through their bank to process card transactions however this method tends to be costly. CardSave are able to leverage cheaper rates with banks and are part of WorldPay, the UK’s largest card processor*.
Applying for a Merchant Account
When applying for a merchant account it is important to take costs into consideration and make sure there are no hidden charges. Your rates will be based on your company turnover. Once you decide which provider to go with you will need to provide financial information regarding your business. If your business is less than 12 months old you will need to provide a business plan. All in all the process of getting set up will take about 3-4 weeks as it takes time for the merchant services provider to check all the paperwork.
When processing card payments you and your merchant services provider need to be PCI compliant by law. Naturally, you would expect a high level of security from your provider. CardSave processes card transactions through a 128 bit encryption. We also provide guidance and assistance to help our members become PCI compliant.
Your provider will process transactions for you on a daily basis. You need to know that you are receiving an excellent level of service and you will be taken care of should anything go wrong. CardSave have a support line open 7 days a week just in case you need any assistance. We also provide customers with a personal payment specialist ready to help and advise you.
The UK is the number 1 country for Ecommerce. Thousands of online businesses are starting up every year, all wishing to accept cards as a payment method online. When you choose your merchant services provider be sure they have a wide range of card processing methods available to you. If you take orders over the phone you may need a virtual terminal, whereas if you have a website you may require a different online solution. | <urn:uuid:6c255f45-5751-42b4-9a2d-12351cbb5b15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cardsave.net/merchant-services/ | 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 | 0.950696 | 639 | 1.625 | 2 |
A little girl rides high
Almost-11-year-old Libby Thump is told by her teacher at the end of fourth grade that she needs “to live up to her potential.” Libby is encouraged by this since it must mean she has potential, but worries what that is exactly. After she discovers the High Hopes Horse Farm, she believes her potential lies in her desire to be the world’s best horse rider.
A string of disappointments and obstacles keep Libby from becoming who she thinks she should be, and the reader will feel her pain every step of the way. The frustrations of adult expectations and of being the little sister are real and palpable. Gloriously, Libby eventually discovers that who you are is just as important as you will be.
Elise Primavera expertly draws us into Libby’s life, creating her world in simple prose that perfectly echoes the mind of a 10-year-old girl. Primavera also illustrates the book with pen and ink drawings that are a wonderful complement to the story. Her knowledge of horses and horse riding is evident—a major plus for all the horse-crazy girls who read this book. | <urn:uuid:cc84bd90-f668-40fe-add2-645b8eb9207d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookpage.com/review/libby-of-high-hopes/a-little-girl-rides-high | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978411 | 248 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Jump to navigation
'By the Power of these Keys the Head of the Church will be made the Lord of Hell'
In late 2011 a cryptic invitation leads a crime novelist to Venice's Island of the Dead. Once there he is captivated by his host's tale, which spans the centuries - but seemingly begins and ends in the dark days of the 1930s ...
In 1936, a similarly cryptic invitation brings Grail historian Otto Rahn to an apartment in Berlin. Waiting for him inside is Hitler's right-hand man, Heinrich Himmler, and Rahn's life is turned upside down.
For Himmler wants Rahn to locate Les Serpent Rouge, a notorious book of black magic written by Pope Honorius in the 14th century.
Following a trail from Paris down to Carcassone in the South of France, Rahn discovers a web of deceit and murder. Clearly Himmler is not the only powerful figure in search of the grimoire. A shadowy circle of men are watching Rahn's every move, and they will stop at nothing to possess both the book and the legendary Sixth Key that will unlock its terrifying power…
Whoops - sorry, so far I've not added any other entries about this book to the website (yet).
More information about text formats | <urn:uuid:233f3669-3c2d-4ee5-90e1-8c3b260fe4c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.austcrimefiction.org/content/sixth-sense?page=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937638 | 264 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Mobile Business - The biggest thing to happen to work since email
Unified communications – the set of technologies that will make the phone on your desk look like a dinosaur – will unite voice with data and make the workplace universal.
Unified communications (UC) is set to be the biggest change agent to be introduced to the workplace since people began getting email and internet access at their desk in the 1990s. it will remove the clutter of our working lives – email, smartphones, desk phones, iPads – and unite them under one cohesive framework.
Making use of ‘presence’ technology, colleagues will know if co-workers are available to talk by phone, by instant messaging (IM) or video conference in an instant. An executive could be strolling down a street in New York but could participate in a video conference call with executives in London, Paris and Berlin simultaneously.
What is unified communications?
UC is a platform that brings together voice calls, IM, audio conferencing, web conferencing and videoconferencing into a single platform for companies that saves costs and helps teams to work better together.
It takes the best of the ICT revolution in business and ensures that companies can be lean and efficient without surrendering quality or effort.
Since UC burst onto the scene in recent years, Irish organisations have begun migrating their workers off traditional PBXs to server-based solutions that transform their telephony needs. Irish firms are right now successfully reducing costs by introducing voice over iP (VoiP) capabilities and providing rich web conferencing technology, which helps teams to communicate and collaborate without having to travel.
UC supports increased productivity by enabling co-workers to find and communicate with each other, whether they are in the office or on the road.
The next evolution of UC to UC4 (unified communications, collaboration and call centre) will see entire enterprises develop and evolve around this platform, which will do for business voice and video communications what email did for the written word.
David Lang of Phone Pulse, a firm that has been serving the communications needs of Irish firms for more than 21 years, believes unified communications will help SMEs become more lean and efficient.
“Unified communications is where the business user’s work space experience is seamless between their voice and data applications and devices,” he says.
“In today’s challenging business environment, companies are focused on obtaining the highest level of productivity from staff to ensure their business remains competitive and cost effective. Many companies overlook the benefits that efficient communications brings to both the bottom line and productivity of staff.
“Companies that seek to collaborate more efficiently deliver an enhanced customer service experience. With this drives loyalty from customers and the ability to protect the business from a decline in revenue. Customers have naturally been seeking cost savings from suppliers over the last few years. The trend is changing with value and service now the focus as customers realise that they have reached the threshold where costs have stabilised.
“Many companies continue to seek short-term cost savings within the business to reduce overheads. In fact, a more forward-looking approach is necessary to consider solutions like UC to assist companies in becoming more agile. With flexible finance options available, companies are upgrading their telephony system now to quickly obtain the agility and efficiencies to be leveraged from UC. The reality is most find the cost savings greater than expected, making the ROI more compelling.
“UC will eventually be a standard feature of a user’s work space where it will continue to integrate with more work space applications.”
In November, Microsoft launched its next generation of UC, Microsoft Lync, which brings a unified IM, presence, audio and videoconferencing capability to Microsoft 365. Lync is a single platform that integrates instant messaging, presence, audio, web and videoconferencing and voice to bring people together through a single interface.
Jeremy Showalter, IW business group lead at Microsoft Ireland explains: “With unified communications people and organisations can unify all business communications into a single experience and platform, including email, voicemail, instant messaging, HD videoconferencing, online meetings and enterprise voice. With a unified communications approach, businesses can improve how they work and cut costs (less travel, less commuting, lower telephony costs, etc).
“Unified communications enables people to work faster and easier across all their communication options and provides significant cost savings for organisations.
“A simple example is you can receive voicemails, including an auto text transcript, or missed instant messages directly in Outlook, enabling you to stay in touch while on the road or from multiple devices. Today, many companies are exploring various aspects of these capabilities, but often in a very fragmented way.
“Office 365 provides a unified experience across these capabilities from within Microsoft Office to enable people to work in new ways in the context of where they work today, enabling organisations to adopt new capabilities quickly and easily.
“Lync is the next generation of Microsoft’s presence, instant messaging, audio/videoconferencing, online meetings and enterprise voice capabilities with the ability to completely replace a traditional phone system (PBX).”
One of the problems in bringing unified communications to the Irish marketplace is few businesses understand it. Showalter agrees and believes there is work to be done in terms of education.
“Too often SMEs are not aware of these capabilities and not aware that they can adopt these services easily and cost effectively, though we are seeing significant organic growth of these types of services through our current BPOS offering and significant interest in the Office 365 offering,” he says.
“SME companies are focused on growing their businesses, and often that is related to improving how they communicate and how quickly they can communicate with their customers, suppliers and partners.”
“One of the barriers is the culture changes associated to the work styles unified communications enables. For instance, are firms and managers comfortable with employees working from anywhere? do firms have the vision to think about their traditional telephony options in new ways or are they held back by legacy PBX systems?”
UC and cloud computing
Showalter sees cloud computing as a significant enabler for unified communications. “With previous generation services like LiveMeeting in the market for many years and now with Office 365, we expand those communication capabilities with a full roadmap to deliver all unified communication capabilities via cloud options like Office 365.”
Damovo country manager Mary Bradshaw believes that more and more organisations in Ireland are switching on to unified communications. They see the value in making the office universal and equipping workforces to communicate in the office and on the road, she says.
“It’s true integration. It’s the integration of the full suite of communications tools in real-time into one single intuitive user interface, whether you are on a notebook PC, sitting at your desk or on a mobile device walking around. This is the technology that does that efficiently.
“In terms of the return on investment for the SME, it puts everything into one repository and you can be contactable and in touch via one device if you want – there’s no split between PC or mobile.
“Large organisations are using this in a big way, but to be honest it has huge benefits for SMEs in the same way, improving the way people and systems interact and collaborate. Putting all your communications into one single device like a smartphone, for example, makes it so much quicker, dynamic and efficient, and to become lean and efficient it is about improving effectiveness.
“You could accomplish more in a single click rather than picking up a phone or leaving voice message. Access to presence technology will tell you whether someone is available or unavailable. You can send messages over IM, click into an email or start a video conversation.
“Unified communications is convergence. All those technologies that used to sit aside from one another – phone systems, email, CRM, workflow – can all be accommodated in the one place to enable simpler collaboration, better customer service and, ultimately, providing a better service to your own business.”
Many firms are beginning to get rid of their old PBX systems and access unified communications as a managed service, Bradshaw adds.
“Why do you need these systems on premises? Can’t you go into the cloud?
“Unified communications provides a whole raft of different sets of return on investment – your business communicates better, your colleagues collaborate better and individuals become more efficient,” she says. | <urn:uuid:286ee476-b0b0-4b52-8b6f-26036f805430> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/21030-mobbus2011/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941873 | 1,775 | 1.648438 | 2 |
004 // Black Harvest
Robin Anderson & Bob Connolly
// Australia // 1992
// 90 min // Couleur // 1:33
"As with a great book, we find what is at the core of humanity since Cain and Abel. Greed, jealousy, lust for power." Catherine Humblot / / Le Monde
"A documentary event of extraordinary resonance." Stephen Holden / / New York Times
Cinéma du Réel // Grand Prix 1992
Best Documentary // Australian Film Institute Awards 1992
Sundance Festival// Official Selection 1993
In the 1930s, Australian gold hunters were the first whites to discover the indigenous population of the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Mixed-race children were born of this encounter. Joe Leahy is one of them. At the dawn of the 1990s, he it is a prosperous agricultural entrepreneur who has managed to reconcile his two cultures. He makes a proposal to the Ganigas tribe: they will work with him to produce a huge coffee crop. His business experience enables him to raise funding from banks. The Ganiga offer the land and the workforce.
Market fluctuations and the demands of tribal alliances soon put the project in difficulty.
A cult documentary, one of the world's most celebrated, Black Harvest is a contemporary tragedy, the film of a striking encounter between a traditional society and economic liberalism, as well as a portrait of a man torn between two cultures. Black Harvest profoundly changed documentary film, and is often cited as one of the most engaging examples of the narrative power of direct cinema.
DVD and Extras
Black Harvest: Filmer les Highlands: An interview with the ethnographer and documentarist Lorenzo Brutti
Booklet (40 pages): Interview with Bob Connolly by Alain Morel
16 mm / 1,33 :1 / PAL / Pigdin & English / French subtitles opt. / 90 min + 30 min (extras) / Chapters / All Zones / DVD 9
Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson met as journalists at the Australian ABC channel. A major reporter, Bob Connolly made more than thirty important reportages . He left the channel in 1979 and founded his own company with his wife, Robin Anderson, to produce films they co-directed in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Their trilogy - First Contact (1983), Joe Leahy's Neighbours (1989), Black Harvest (1992) - met with great success and was shown in the major documentary festivals, and was bought by television stations around the world. Each of the three films won the Grand Prix du Cinema du Reel in Paris, which is a unique event in the festival's history. In 1992, for Black Harvest, the president of the jury was the great Mexican director Nicolás Echevarria (Cabeza de Vaca). In order to gain acceptance from the tribes, to get close to Joe Leahy, and to understand the social organisation of the region, Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson spent several years with their children in the Highlands and learned pigdin, the language of Papua. In order to be totally autonomous and to do without any technical team, they rapidly learned the tools of direct cinema: 16mm camera for Bob Connolly and synchronous sound recording for Robin Anderson. The Highland trilogy was developed over more than ten years.
Connolly and Anderson later directed Rats in the Ranks (1996) on Australian politics, which stayed in the cinemas for five months, and Facing the Music (2001). Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson have had a profound impact on Australian film and documentary practice.
Robin Anderson graduated in sociology at Columbia. It is this practice of sociology which brings him to documentary film. She died suddenly of cancer in 2002. One can read a tribute to this great documentarist on the Senses of Cinema website.
Our film Kelly has won the Youth Prize at Cinema du Reel !
De McBride à Joseph Morder
>> Lire le blog
Weekend at the beach...
>> Lire le blog | <urn:uuid:214b420e-fb9c-4d19-954e-10f0c4553d94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.survivance.net/document/8/72/Black-Harvest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932912 | 813 | 1.546875 | 2 |
in a Pecan ShellJefferson,
the former county seat of Cass County was made the county seat of the newly formed
Marion County in 1852. The post office was granted the same year.
town was reportedly named after a former Tennessean who named it after his former
The county newspaper began in 1875, printed a press rescued from
the Red River that had been sunk in the Red River to prevent its capture by Federal
troops during the Civil War.
By 1885 Linden had 300 residents and became
a center for a growing lumber industry that peaked in the 1890s.
1930s saw Linden with 1,000 citizens but it took 30 years for the population to
double. Linden had 1,950 residents by the mid-1960s, not far from the 1990 population.
Book Hotel Here > Jefferson
Hotels | Atlanta Hotels
1907 Cass County Postal map
(Below "AS" in "CASS")
Texas General Land Office
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic,
endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local
history and vintage/historic photos of their town, please contact
My name is Diane Wooten, and I was born Carolyn Diane
Cowley - Nov.3,1950 in Atlanta,Texas. My grandparents lived in Linden for as long
as I can remember. My Grandfathers name was Thomas Jefferson Foster. He was a
descendant of Steven Foster, who was the founder of Linden. Thank you. - Diane
Cowley Wooten, March 18, 2005
Sought in Fatal Linden, Texas Car Accident
In 1954 my family and I were
traveling through Linden to a new job my Dad had. My parents were, Leanord & Francis
Loucks. In the front seat with my Dad, and Mom, was my younger baby sister (I
believe 6 weeks). My older brother (I believe 5 yrs) was in the backseat. I was
two years old at the time of the accident. A couple of men who were drinking ran
head-on into our car, killing my mother. I have had different stories about what
happend to my Dad. Each of us children were adopted into different families. I
was adopted to Bonnie and Jimmy Hall of Linden, Texas, both now deceased.
If anyone has any information on the accident, or knows anything pertaining
to this incident, please contact me. - Patricia Smith, Dallas, Texas, firstname.lastname@example.org,
July 15, 2007
|Book Hotel Here | <urn:uuid:381c830f-402a-447e-872a-c13217b4040c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.texasescapes.com/EastTexasTowns/LindenTexas.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 | 0.967093 | 549 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Meryl Streep has insisted that she searched for the "humanity" in Margaret Thatcher while filming The Iron Lady.
The Academy Award winner explained in an article for Newsweek that she was determined to understand why Thatcher became such a lightning rod for controversy during her 11-year term as British Prime Minister.
"We give our elected leaders iconic stature almost to have things to tear down, to work out all sorts of our own psychological problems and needs and venomous feelings," Streep said.
"So I wondered about all the times that Margaret Thatcher was spoken about being unfeeling. And I thought, well, why was that? Was she really completely unfeeling?"
Streep continued: "As a public figure in a much smaller way myself, I understand that feeling of being stripped of your humanity. Was she a monster?
"While we were making the film, people had such strong and particular and specific venom for her. It was sort of stunning. It made me all the more interested in where her humanity lay."
Streep recently defended her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady against criticism from some ex-politicians.
She has since received Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe award nominations for The Iron Lady, while Thatcher's former colleague Nigel Lawson has predicted that Streep will also win an Oscar.
The Iron Lady opens on limited release in the US on December 30 and wider on January 13. The film is released on January 6 in the UK.
> Meryl Streep: 'I thought my career was over at 40'
> Meryl Streep: 'Movie industry only wants to sell toys and games'
Watch a trailer for The Iron Lady below: | <urn:uuid:d9965fb6-9996-4ce2-9d52-a5ee57fc05b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalspy.ca/movies/news/a356712/iron-lady-meryl-streep-wanted-to-find-margaret-thatchers-humanity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984754 | 345 | 1.53125 | 2 |
How To Make Your Workplace a Healthier One
A lot goes into making a business successful and, while any accountant will tell you its all about the numbers, the real secret to success is making sure that your staff are all healthy and happy. Your staff are by far your greatest asset without them you probably wouldn’t even have a business so make sure you do everything you can to have them operating at their best. The following are some great ways to make sure your workplace is as healthy as it can possibly be:
Make Sure It’s Clean
Having a clean workplace is not only important for the health of your staff but also for their morale and pride in their work so there’s no better way to increase workplace satisfaction than by having your workplace look amazing.Commercial cleaning services offer some amazing deals with office cleaning in Melbourne a necessity if you hope to keep your business operation running smoothly. It’s worth every cent so be smart and get the professionals in to regularly clean your workplace.
If at all possible, ensure that your workplace maximises natural light sources, as this will concretely affect mood levels among your staff. If your workplace is set up in such a way that it is difficult to make use of natural lighting try and establish some kind of patio or outdoor area where staff can take their breaks.
Invest in the health of your staff by providing fresh fruit every day for them. Having a huge fruit bowl in your staff room is a great way to make sure all of your staff has regular access to some healthy food. Even just having one piece of fruit a day is a great way to reduce the risk of illness.
If your workplace is one where people spend a lot of time sitting then make sure that everyone has comfortable and well-supported seating. Back and neck problems are common among office workers so make sure you are not losing your staff to crippling injuries by making sure they have the best possible support.
There is nothing worse than having staff members who are sick come in to work and spread germs and illness. Usually sick people come to work because they can’t afford not to, so, eliminate this sad situation by providing your staff with adequate paid sick leave and health benefits. People are going to get sick so make sure that if your staff are unwell that they can take the time they need to rest up and return healthy, happy and raring to go.
Provide spring water for your staff and encourage them to drink as much water as possible. One of the best possible things you can do for your health is to drink heaps of water, so make it easy for those at your workplace by providing good quality water for them.
If your staff are healthy chances are your business will be too. Look after your staff and you will find your business becomes far more productive. | <urn:uuid:3938a20f-34ef-42f5-ad07-6a08393128df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cleancorpnsw.com.au/blog/2012/01/15/workplace-healthier/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976048 | 574 | 1.5 | 2 |
COLUMBUS - Sentinel Career and Technology Center students' desire to aim high is reflected in the school's chapter display at the 60th annual Skills-USA Ohio championships this weekend.
The display was built around an amusement park theme and features a Ferris wheel and carousel. Sara Shellhorn, a senior public safety services student from Mohawk High School, said she came up with the idea to include a Ferris wheel to represent the idea that Sentinel students strive to reach to the top.
"It was a process, a long process," she said.
Shellhorn is one of four Sentinel students who are to present the facility's chapter display during judging today.
Tyler Toland, a junior electrical trades student from Upper Sandusky High School; Eric Radford, a junior building trades student from Upper Sandusky High School; and Jeffrey McCrann, a junior building trades student from Seneca East High School, also are on the presentation team.
Radford said the Ferris wheel spins, and Toland said the wheel's spinning helps power lights. Horses on the carousel move up and down, and Toland said a motor and belt turn the carousel.
There were 1,746 hours of work on the project. Forty-one students from the building trades, collision repair, computer automated design, computer communications network technician, cosmetology, electrical trades, precision machining and welding programs assisted with the hands-on work. Every program had a student participate on a committee for the chapter display.
Shellhorn said she didn't think the display would turn out like it did, and she was pleased with the result.
"It looks amazing," she said.
Shellhorn had to memorize a seven-minute speech for today's judging, and she said she was nervous, excited and ready Friday afternoon.
"They'll be standing behind me," she said about her teammates.
Team members said their goal was to do the best they could and win. McCrann said he thought the team had a chance at winning a gold medal.
It has "a lot of time and dedication to it (and) good ideas," he said.
Three seniors in Sentinel's cosmetology program competed in the Tech Prep showcase for cosmetology Friday.
Deana Halcomb, a Hopewell-Loudon High School student, said the competition involves the team explaining what it did to bring the community, business and industry into the career center.
The team started organizing a project in January to teach first-graders about hygiene. They explained how to clean fingernails, styled the children's hair and gave them manicures and pedicures.
"(The project) was so much fun," said Sara Ernst, a student at Calvert High School.
The team was interviewed by three judges for the state competition.
"We were the first team to go," said Ginny Becker, a student at Old Fort High School.
Becker said she thought it went well.
"We prepared, and we knew what we were talking about," she said.
Brandon Hicks, a senior in Sentinel's building trades program and at Columbian High School, is competing in the two-day carpentry contest. He took the written test Friday and is to compete in the hands-on portion today.
Competitors got to see the plans Friday for the miniature house they are to build today.
"The contest is a lot harder than last year. ... I competed last year and got second," he said.
Hicks said he would love to win so he could go to the national competition. He practiced every day at school and usually every Sunday in preparation for state competition. It takes a lot of preparation to do well, he said.
"(I'm) nervous and ready," he said. | <urn:uuid:a8d3b380-e0cf-4f81-9336-3db772a01bbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/546228/Sentinel-students-aim-high-at-Ohio-s-SkillsUSA.html?nav=5236 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983135 | 781 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Friends, please find below the official and full transcript of our first workshop in the three-part series on 'Freedom and Peace'. Thanks to all who participated!
Event link: http://mepeace.org/events/mepeace-chat-january-8
Participants: Linda Abed (from Gaza), Mutasem Mafarjeh (from West Bank), Len Traubman (from the US), Sergio Storch (from Brazil), Eyal Raviv (from Israel), Waleed Hammad (from West Bank, currently residing in India)
Moderator: Oliver Haack (from Germany)
NOTE: ME refers to Oliver Haack
Hello everybody! Welcome to tonight's MEPEACE Chat Workshop, the first in 2012, and the first in a new three-part series on the topic 'FREEDOM AND PEACE'.
Good evening Oliver
Sergio, Neri, Eyal, Waleed, are you all with me?
Yes. Hi All ;)
Welcome Libby & Len!
Sergio, are you here, too?
Hi Eyal and Oliver
Well, Libby&Len, Sergio, I do hope you see what I write :) We have a complex topic, so we gonna make use of the 90 available minutes.. Let's start:
Freedom is a highly controversial and ambiguous concept. While we all might agree that there cannot be lasting peace, not even serious efforts at conflict mitigation, without a certain notion of freedom, we may at the same have very different notions of what freedom actually is,....
what it is supposed to entail. Besides that, we can distinguish between several different kinds of freedom. There is personal freedom, economic freedom and political freedom, for instance....
And there is positive and negative freedom (a distinction - conceptualized by the political thinker Isiah Berlin - we're also going to talk about in the workshop). We might have a bias towards a specific kind of freedom, ...
and this bias might narrow our view on the other available and desirable 'freedoms'....
good 2012 for all!!!
This Chat Workshop will start with a 'blank page'. That means that we do not pretend to know what freedom is, we do not pretend to really know what it means for us and our fellow human beings, and we have no common idea why and how it could be important for conflict mitigation and management, ...
and finally peace. Our goal is to find a definition we all can live with, even if that may mean that each of us has to make some kind of compromise, for the sake of accomplishing a basis for mutual understanding and co-existence...
The main objective of this three-workshop series is to figure out a kind of 'freedom' that is of advantage to all citizens instead of working for the benefit of only one group in society, or a small privileged elite...
Let's learn from each other, let's be teachers and students at the same time, and hopefully, in the end, find a sort of consensus on a working definition of freedom in relation to conflict mitigation.
Everybody take your time to read through above introduction...
If you have any questions beforehand, raise your hand :)
....and, welcome Sergio and Libby&Len!
Good 2012 to you, too, Sergio!
Yes, Len .. go ahead
i´ve read it. Great text. I´d like to highlight: "how it could be important for conflict mitigation and management, ... and finally peace." Great context.
Thanks, Sergio. I'm looking forward to tackle this concept
Len, feel free to ask
forgot the rules. If i want to talk, what´s the convention?
Do you imagine it's best to begin personally, with ourselves, and with how we each experience and use freedoms? How we spend our time and our money, being very, very concrete?
no convention yet... I will introduce the rules in a sec :)
Len, I will announce the first leading question in a min...
...and you'll see, it's a very very general one...
but, first, the rules as usual
you're all quite experienced with our rules, so...
let's just repeat that it's important to 'raise your hand'...
and don't forget to add (...) if you're not finished w your statement
and put (.) when you're done, or just write 'Done'
Thanks for your attention!
This is our first leading question for tonight:
What is freedom?
Guys, what is freedom? What does it mean to you? What do you make of it?
And, Len, personal answers appreciated :)
I Skype with people in Gaza.....
With them, and even in the West Bank, they're afraid to be too vocal or visible. . . .
then electricity goes OFF beginning at 6:00 AM in the morning...
so I feel sooooooooooo free to be myself, seek high ideals, and communicate without fear. . .
and thus am terribly grateful for true freedom. (end)
Freedom means when you are able to do, say and move without control or observation from others ..
As I reside in Delhi .. I feel that I am free to share our events online although my friends , Palestinian peacemakers, can't do the same ..
due to the war on normalization
i understand then that the gazans and westbankers
have limitations on their freedom because of telecom infrastructure...
am i right?
or you mean something else?
I mean, generally, what is freedom?
No direct connection to the Middle East necessary
let's keep it general for the start
Len - after Sergio
Feedoom necessry to all peoplel
Linda, please read our rules above...if you want to communicate a statement, please 'raise your hand' before. Thanks
Sergio - Len
freedom is the ability one has to DO whatever he or she needs for his life
and to move around
Len - Linda
With Gazans and West Bank citizens, to answer your question, it is not an Internet technology problem. . .
but fear. . .
of one's own people and one's own governing political figures and police. . .
and also, with Jewish and Palestinian Israelis is fear of one's own people. This is why I feel so much gratitude for freedom to express and create whatever I can imagine. (done)
Linda - Sergio
i agree wtth freedom and peace to much nessery to us /,, we in gaza really need peace and to live in freedom /,,,
life without freedom like deth
Sergio, let me say something before you can go on, ok?
The intellectual Isaiah Berlin distinguished between positive and negative freedom...
Your example, Sergio ("freedom is the ability one has to DO whatever he or she needs for his life and to move around "....
is a great example of positive freedom...meaning, to use one's own agency...
while Len highlighted negative freedom ("fear. . . of one's own people and one's own governing political figures and police. . . ")...
meaning that Gazans, in Len's words, would need less political constraints...
Negative freedom means living without constraints from other parties (state, family,...)
Thanks for your attention.
Sergio, pls go ahead
so palestinian freedom doesn´t depend only on the suppresion of the blockade and the occupation, rather especially on the change they ´d need to effect in their own society
Let me ask:
What is more important for you: positive or negative freedom? What is easier to achieve?
Positive freedom is more important to me... (I prefer anything positive)...
and I think positive freedom is also easier to achieve.
Would be glad to hear what Sergio and others think.
am i right in reminding the teachings of rabbis who said...
that it was easier to take the people from slavery in egypt...
than in taking away egypt from within our soul
How would you interpret that saying, Sergio?
excuse me: why does the screen disappear suddenly so often requiring to look for it again
I'm not familiar w that problem, sorry.
Sergio , try to pop the screen out
i think the second is related to negative freedom
it will be easier for you
and how to pop out? brrrr
there is a black line "Main Room" .. look at the two small squares and click on them
don´t see these small squares
Let's slowly move on to the second leading question:
Why might it be difficult to find a common definition of what freedom is supposed to be?
(Sergio, simply open the Chat from the Menu on the top part of the mepeace homepage. Then you'll have a second window, just for the chat)
good, now it´s ok, tks
The floor is open for comments on our second question
Vaclav Havel planned and wrote about a free future while he was in prison, so. . .
none of us needs to "wait" to begin planning -- alone and together -- what our future looks like. (end)
i am still wrestling with berlin´s notion of negative freedom
Sergio - Oliver
and i am thinking that what libby/len said pose challenges even to a person who isn´t free
so that he can seek for his own freedom, and achieve it
Sergio - Oliver - Linda
it´s a matter of individual responsibility...
toward all its social environment, so that he can achieve the freedom that is possible...
Because ther is of the freedom of many kinds
that makes me remind of a reading 40 years ago, in Erich Fromm, a book called Fear of Freedom...
Thanks. Linda, pls give me some time to comment, ok?
Len, you mentioned Havel...
I know he wrote and spoke about freedom...
Let's give Linda some space here.
but it was him who was one of the strongest supporters of US foreign policy during the Bush era...
so, there ARE problems w defining freedom.
Because of the freedom of many kinds, Freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of movement
pls go ahead
Linda, could you elaborate on this? What 'kind' of freedom is the most important for you?
You live in Gaza, right?
would you agree with what Len said above? Do you have fear?
Linda - Sergio
Linda, may i ask you a question?
what if ...
yes or no? to what are you referring, Linda?
Sergio, wait a sec, please
iam not afrad
Sergio, go ahead, please
iam very happy to be with you
if you shared your feeling of lack of freedom with friends in gaza, gradually, do yu think you might together be empowered to get more freedom?
...and we feel honored you're with us, Linda
say, three or four of you try to get with our help, for example, the possibility of traveling to visit friends in the west bank
would it be imaginable that you might accomplish that?...
one more example, i remind the situation this year of israeli women smuggling palestinians to take bath in the sea in telaviv
yes of couse
give her sometime .. I translate the question to her
that worked out in spite of israeli government...
it´s a civil disobedience strategy, which is nonviolent and would get international support
one more thing
my tendency is to think on the concept and do something immediately to change that situation...
very good but we want achve freedon to all people
wat we do to change that situation in gaza
yes, linda, now let´s switch from the individual level to a group level and then to a societal level
in each of those levels the support of israelis and internationals can help you achieve it
and i think that here we can organize to start doing it in a piecemeal way, and growing...
rmh after Linda's answer
Linda - Waleed
really we in gaza not need eat , drink we want lettel freedom
Thanks for your openness, Linda
Waleed - Sergio
not at all
to answer the second leading question
Sergio, it's Waleed's turn. Thanks.
Regardless the different views and definitions for “Freedom”, humanity makes us one with common needs and interests in life as individuals.. We do not like restriction, observation so this will unify our definition for “Freedom”
Thanks for this detailed reply.. Worth contemplating, indeed.
The floor is open!
Linda, may I suggest that you do some presential talk with these friends of mine? http://www.facebook.com/shahd.abusalama
Shahd and Fidaa
and then we might talk again
feel free to call me on facebook
i´ve developed good friends in gaza, who can help you figure out on how to fight for freedom using politics
with the help of israelis who don´t agree with israeli government
and with help of internationals
Who else sees any problems/issues with defining freedom? Would everyone agree on Waleed's definition?
Waleed's definition really builds on negative freedom...
Oliver - Eyal
in that he highlights that "we don't like restrictions"...
I guess that from the 'opportunity' of negative freedom, we can gradually move to a more positive notion of freedom.
ahlan Mutasem .. Welcome
I agree with Waleed's definition and with what you add, Oliver...
I would add a thought, though...
Defining Freedom is an oxymoron...
What I mean is that Freedom is difficult to define because it is supposed to be free...
Practically, we might have to let the word be free of definitions ;)
And this has a practical lesson for all of us in our conflict...
Great, Eyal. Philosophical. Something to think aboit, definitely.
because many times, all too often, humans are imprisoned...
Humans are born to be free, they should be free... and so I say we (Israel) should take a look at how it imprisons Palestinian prisoners.... (thousands)
and frankly, and I say this as an Israeli, Israel should look at how it imprisons Palestinians (even those outside of prison)...
Practically speaking, I think we all should value freedom and employ it in practice. This way we can all achieve freedom of thought, freedom of action, and freedom of peace.
We have 15 mins left, let's move on to our 3rd and final leading question: How does freedom relate to conflict mitigation and conflict management, and, in the end, peace?
Eyal just now already mentioned the occupation acting as the opposite of freedom...
probably others can build on that.
Mutasem, what would you say, regarding the 3rd leading question
The floor is open.
oliver im having a call
No problem... The floor is open to everybody.
I'm so upset. . .
about the ongoing. . .
ignorance and prolonging the idea of "normalization" . . . .
which STOPS freedom. . .
and STOPS creativity. . .
Len - Sergio
that can come only from engagement of free citizens.
i´ve just gotten the feeling - i may be wrong - that there is a lot that can be done right now in developing people-s empowerment to take their destiny in their hands, regardless of normalization or whatever...
my feeling as i listened to Linda is that an immediate challenge is on political education...
Sergio - Mutasem
I once sent a few links to a young engineering student in gaza, with the stories in youtube of gandhi, martin luther king etc...
he got very happy with that because he had never heard about these stories...
there´s no restriction for us to hold linda and so many people-s hands, and take them through very simple acts to defy their perception of lack of freedom...
very simple acts, that may result immediately in getting some of them to cross israel and visiting hebron, ramallah etc...
that´s within our reach...
then i think... excuse me libby and len, i appreciate and admire greatly your work and compassionate listening... but my feeling is that these peoples need subversion, civil disobedience, and adding up to nonviolent resistance
(Sergio, sorry, time is short. Thx for understanding)
with visibility globally to enlarge it throught the media
Mutasem - Len
I wanted to say that only negotiating with free people can lead to serious solution and so only free people can negotiate
go on, please, if you want
this is in response to your question about freedom
Len (final comment for this Chat Workshop)
free people will dare to ask for their freedom
Thanks, Mutasem. A great statement
Len (final comment)
I will never forget an image on our Skype screen from December. . .
(we want to start the first Meeting for Hope on time)
of Omar, with no electricity. . .
shining a light on his face, so we could see him . .
sitting in the dark in Gaza, with no electricity, with a battery powreed laptop computer and Skype. . .
so, so eager to communicate!!!!!
It borught tears to our eyes. . .
gratitude for the freedom to communicate. . .
and reminded us that we who have freedom to communicate MUST do that to remember that. . .
"an enemy is one whose story we have not hear." (end)
Friends, I'm so proud you all shared so freely and honestly. It was a great, productive workshop.
everybody is encouraged to delve deeper into the topic, by highlighting the topic in a discussion, by writing a blog about freedom...
and what it can mean for conflict mitigation, or just by chatting with fellow peacemakers about it. ..
Your action after each workshop is also a good basis for the respective upcoming workshops in the series, which will focus on 'freedom' in relation to conflict mitigation in the Middle East in particular...
Thanks for taking part tonight!
END OF TRANSCRIPT
Everybody is encouraged to delve deeper into the topic, by highlighting the topic in a discussion, by writing a blog about freedom and what it can mean for conflict mitigation, or just by chatting with fellow peacemakers about it. Your action after each workshop is also a good basis for the respective upcoming workshops in the series, which will focus on 'freedom' in relation to conflict mitigation in the Middle East in particular. | <urn:uuid:43ffa785-136c-4255-8682-8d58e4ceee67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mepeace.org/forum/topics/official-transcript-of-the-08-january-2012-mepeace-chat-workshop?page=1&commentId=661876%3AComment%3A709209&x=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930289 | 3,964 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream
Leinberger, Christopher. The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008.
The main point of this book is the idea that we currently are in a social and economic position in the history of the US to choose between developing walkable urban space or drivable sub-urban (he always hyphenates this word) space or some combination of these two extremes. He explains how drivable sub-urban real estate was turned into a commodity that could be traded on the stock exchange. This commoditization explains the uniformity of every suburban streetscape in the country. There are 19 standard drivable sub-urban products that are recognized as commodities that can be bought and sold on the NYSE. That seems hard for me to believe that the explanation is so simple. | <urn:uuid:71af7669-9c59-4b08-8455-69b8a737d3d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.lib.umn.edu/kati/tuckpoint/2008/07/the_option_of_urbanism_investi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948477 | 182 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Last month, I stopped by a fire station in Salem, Ohio, to thank some of the folks who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe. Throughout my whole career, I’ve fought to assure that police and firefighters have the resources to protect our communities—as well as one another. I’ve made it a habit to thank them at every opportunity I have.
President Obama and I know that when we invest in police officers and firefighters, we’re building something that’s going to last: safer towns and cities all over the country, and more jobs for the middle class. That’s why the President and I have worked to make sure firefighters and police officers have the resources they need to do their jobs as safely as possible—and it’s why supporting first responders is a key part of the President’s plan to create up to a million new jobs.
For so many Americans, including myself, the debt we all owe to our firefighters and police officers is personal. To these men and women, what they do every day is a job—to the rest of us, it’s our lives, our homes, and our families.
So when I hear that Mitt Romney is calling for us to “cut back” on jobs for police officers and firefighters, that tells me one thing: he just doesn’t get it. Firing first responders won’t grow our economy—it will put our public safety at risk, and make an already tough job even tougher.
We’ve seen the consequences of these cutbacks before, when Mitt Romney tried to put the same plan in place for Massachusetts. As governor, he slashed local aid, forcing communities to lay off 14,500 local government workers—including police officers and firefighters. He raised fees for police training, and vetoed $2.5 million in funding for fire safety equipment and $1 million for fire education. Both vetoes were overridden unanimously. He also tried to strip union membership from thousands of government employees.
Actions like these aren’t just an attack on firefighters and police officers—they’re an attack on middle-class, working Americans who deserve better, and their families. It’s the interest of these Americans that the President and I are prepared to fight for every day.
The next few months are going to be a tough fight—and we can’t do it on our own. Join us by making sure your friends and family know exactly where President Obama and Mitt Romney stand when it comes to keeping our communities safe and supporting first responders—get a conversation started today. | <urn:uuid:5b239a52-8b1c-44fb-8f6e-3ef4b6009dae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barackobama.com/oh/entry/oh-vp-fighting-for-first-responders?source=socnet_20120618_OH_TW_vp_firefighters_policemen | 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 | 0.964794 | 546 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Regular readers know that I’m an enthusiastic supporter of the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. Our school has been a big supporter, I’ve written about them in my book and in other articles, I’ve helped with some of their trainings and, of course, I’ve made plenty of home visits.
I’ve also posted The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits.
The Project recently held a national conference in Reno, Nevada, and Elaine Smith, a parent from our district — the Sacramento City Unified School District — agreed to write a guest post about it. Here is her report:
Personal stories from teachers and parents who turned their schools around deeply moved educators at a recent conference in Reno. The national gathering focused upon the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project (PTHVP), a program that is catching on as studies show its effectiveness in creating connection between schools and their communities. Principals and school board members from eleven states shared both data and anecdotes crediting home visits with improved attendance, discipline and academic achievement, including higher test scores.
“The discoveries that parents and families make when they connect on a home visit change their lives,” says Carrie Rose, Executive Director of the non-profit sponsor of the conference, the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project. “I know that sounds dramatic, but the research, and these stories, show how strongly it affects people.”
“My home visits did more than help me deal with behavior issues in the classroom more effectively,” says Denver special education teacher Janel Possiel, “What I was learning was the kind of growth you can’t get in a million meditation retreats. My assumptions about the parents decreased, and as they went down, my love and understanding just kept going up.”
“Home visits make me a better teacher. And because they break down barriers, make us a stronger community,” says Possiel, who was trained in the Parent/Teacher Home Visit model at a Denver workshop four years ago.
The PTHVP training helps teachers and families connect even when there may be linguistic and cultural differences. While, ultimately, academic issues are addressed, the discussion also covers the adults’ mutual hopes and dreams for the child, creating a common goal. The program emphasizes that visits are voluntary for both families and teachers, and that the school avoid stigmatizing “problem” students by visiting as many families as possible.
How-to sessions at the conference were seasoned with personal testimonies, which quickly became emotional even for classroom and administrative veterans. Tua Moua, a Principal in Roseville, CA, shed a few tears herself as she spoke of the impact of home visits on her own immigrant Hmong family.
“I was born in Ban Vinai refugee camp, in Thailand, and have 9 brothers and sisters. My father, grandfather, and uncles fought for America during the Vietnam War and were forced to flee to safety after the war. I started Kindergarten in America like so many of our children today. I’ve never sat a day in a preschool class prior to Kindergarten, nor did I speak any English.”
“But, it wasn’t until the 3rd grade that I felt a true connection with a teacher,” Ms. Moua continued. “She’d encourage me to do my best, despite the fact that I lived in Section 8 apartment housing in southeast Fresno where crime prevented my parents from ever allowing us to go outside….One special day, Mrs. Spolsdoff came inside my home. She entered and sat on our one couch, and graciously accepted the glass of water my mother gave her. She told my mother what a special daughter she had, and that it was a pleasure to have me in her class. And naturally, I translated that to my mother. In that moment, I KNEW I wanted to be a teacher.
That one home visit by Mrs. Spolsdoff changed my perception of school. After that day, she and I had a secret. She had come to my house! Mrs. Spolsdoff was in my house! You better believe I NEVER EVER wanted to disappoint her afterwards.”
Ms. Moua grew up to be a teacher and now serves as a school principal who uses home visits to connect her school with a diverse community.
“As the Principal of Earl Warren Elementary School, I encouraged my teachers to do home visits,”she said. “We built it into our pre-service days. Working in schools like Earl Warren, and like John Burroughs Elementary, the elementary school I grew up in Fresno, meant we COULD NOT GIVE UP on our kids. And not giving up starts with having a positive relationship with our children, and our families.”
Single father Paul Lumpkin, age 28, of Springfield, MA, eloquently explained the risks, and the rewards, of participating in home visits as a parent.
“My experiences with bureaucratic intuitions have not been pleasant to say the least especially with the foster care and education system,” said Mr. Lumpkin. “So when I was asked to be apart of The Parent Teacher Home Visit Project I was extremely reluctant. “
“I was thinking that something was wrong when I was picked for an actual home visit. I was nervous, thinking that these teachers are trying to get in my business because I am a single man raising a boy and a girl alone…I would soon find out I was wrong and my assumptions were creating unnecessary barriers that could potentially damage my children’s future level of sociability.”
The relationship forged with his daughter’s teacher, Marguerite Foster Franklin, has contributed to his growing role as an advocate for involved fathers, and his enrollment in college after completing his GED.
“After my visit with Mr. Lumpkin, we now have a special bond,” explained Ms. Franklin. “I continue to encourage him in all that he does for his children and his self. Parents need encouragement also, especially those who are single because there is not another adult around to discuss feelings with or support each other.”
“Participants emotional response to conference presentations makes sense,” says Ms. Rose, “because they feel the power of transformation. This isn’t just another school program. It is a fundamental change in the school’s relationship with families, and that makes fundamental progress in student and school performance.”
Filed under: home visits | <urn:uuid:39e99131-93c9-4ac8-864e-4786aa4c5602> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/2011/12/14/report-from-parent-teacher-home-visit-conference/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977911 | 1,371 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Remarks by the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet at the Second regular session of UN Women Executive Board. New York, 28 November 2012.
[Check against delivery]
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to be here with you and address the Executive Board. Twenty-six months ago, I arrived at the United Nations. You just saw the video highlighting our work, partnerships and the impact being made in the lives of women and families around the globe.
We have come a long way in a short period of time. And I would like to pay tribute to our staff, and acknowledge the support we have enjoyed from within the United Nations, from UN member States, and from you as members of our Executive Board. Together we are making progress. From Haiti to Egypt, from Liberia to India to every country around the world, steps are being taken to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women.
UN Women exists for one reason and one reason only—to deliver results that advance gender equality and improve the lives of women. So, allow me to add to what you just saw in the video, and update you on some of the strategic results achieved in 2012 in our core priority areas.
To increase women’s political leadership and participation, UN Women is providing support in 71 countries to enhance legal frameworks and national capacities. For example, in May 2012, Algeria attained 31 per cent of women in parliament, becoming the first and only country in the Arab States region to reach the target threshold of 30 per cent, a significant step towards democratic reform and gender equality. In July, women of Libya gained an outstanding 33 seats or 16.5 percent representation in the country’s first free and fair elections in over 60 years. And in Senegal, after the July elections, the number of female parliamentarians nearly doubled in the National Assembly to 45 percent, thanks to a law on parity to ensure women’s participation and gender equality.
To increase women’s economic opportunities and reduce poverty, UN Women is providing support to 67 countries that have prioritized women’s economic empowerment. In September, I joined leaders from the three Rome-based UN-food and agriculture agencies to launch a new programme to empower rural women so they can enjoy better economic opportunities and run successful enterprises.
UN Women has also launched a new joint programme with the European Commission called “Spring Forward for Women” to empower women economically and politically in the wake of the Arab Spring. And I am pleased to report that 37 new companies have signed onto the Women’s Empowerment Principles since the last Board session which brings us to a total of 466 private companies now working to advance women’s equal opportunities in the workplace.
To end violence against women and girls, UN Women is working in 85 countries to prevent violence in the first place, to end impunity for these crimes, and to expand essential services to survivors. UN Women launched the “Safe cities” programme in New Dehli, which is now also operating in Quito, Kigali, Port Moresby and Cairo to enhance women’s safety on city streets, in buildings, in buses and subways, and to improve police response and services. And for the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women on 25 November, UN Women launched a global effort called COMMIT to showcase national commitments to prevent and end violence against women and girls. Later today we will hold a special event here in the United Nations.
To improve women’s role in peace, security and humanitarian response, UN Women is supporting gender equality and women’s leadership in in 37 countries. In September, I visited Colombia, where the President declared that women would be an integral part of the emerging peace process.
I will continue to encourage women’s full and equal participation in the peace process in Colombia and in all conflict affected countries around the world. So far, UN Women has trained more than 200 senior level women peace and security experts from 25 countries so they can participate in peace talks, reconstruction and recovery. We know that lasting peace is built on a foundation of inclusiveness, justice and equality.
To build stronger institutional accountability for gender equality, UN Women is working in 65 countries to promote gender responsive planning and budgeting. Today 20 countries prioritize gender equality and women’s empowerment in their national plans and budgets, and the level of investments in these areas is rising.
This year for the first time, we commemorated the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, as decided by UN Member States. UN Women joined UN agencies and women’s civil society groups to issue a global call to action to end child marriage. During this 67th session of the General Assembly, we also advanced the rule of law with a focus on women’s access to justice.
And on 10th October, I hosted the first meeting of UN Women’s Global Civil Society Advisory group. Members include grassroots, rural and community-based leaders, leaders of indigenous people’s groups, feminist scholars, human rights lawyers and male leaders working on gender and women’s rights issues. The Global Civil Society Advisory Group is part of our global network of civil society advisory groups established at the country, regional and global levels. Civil society is one of UN Women’s most important constituencies, and I look forward to continued strong partnership to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide.
We have also progressed further in implementing our coordination mandate. We are rolling out the UN System Wide Action Plan, which establishes an accountability framework for the work of each UN entity on gender equality and the empowerment of women. I am pleased to report that seven agencies have fully aligned their gender equality policies, strategies and accountability frameworks with the UN SWAP Performance Indicators. Another six entities are in the process of doing the same.
The SWAP is recognized by ECOSOC and other bodies as a primary tool to ensure accountability of the UN system on gender equality and women’s empowerment. In fact, other agencies are now emulating this model for other themes, such as youth, and we look forward to engaging in these processes as well.
At UN Women, we know that results must be institutionalized across all levels of the organization. We know that the results that matter the most are those experienced by women in their daily lives, results on the ground in the communities where women and men live. This is why UN Women needs a strong field presence and robust regional architecture to drive UN system coordination and strategic partnerships, to institutionalize a strong culture of results-based management and evaluation, to enhance organizational effectiveness and accountability, and to strengthen institutional capacity to deliver.
At UN Women, we derive legitimacy not from our mission and mandate, but from the results we deliver on the ground in response to national priorities. Of course, we need the appropriate and effective structures that allow us to do so. UN Women has taken great strides in organizational development but much more remains to be done. As they say, “Rome was not built in one day”. Success takes vision, planning and determination. And it takes strong change management.
Since we last met, UN Women has made great strides in building a unified and effective organization. I would now like to update you on the steps that we have taken for change management, through our initiative for efficiency and effectiveness, to deliver results in an accountable and transparent manner.
UN Women has adopted a consolidated change management strategy that builds on recommendations from regional workshops, a leadership retreat with field managers, the proposed regional architecture, and the recommendations of the first UN Women external audit.
As a first step, I have recruited a special advisor for accountability and transparency to support me in this strategic undertaking and help speed up the change management process.
As we move to decentralize through our proposed regional architecture, we have rolled out the necessary delegation of authorities to managers, the new internal controls, a new programme and operations manual, and we have trained managers on our priorities, programme and operations. We have made good progress on implementation of IPSAS—the International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
We have developed a new evaluation policy, established a new audit advisory committee and an anti-fraud hotline. Furthermore, we will publicly disclose internal audit reports, and UN Women has published data with the International AID Transparency Initiative.
In June, we presented the Executive Board with the guiding principles for developing UN Women’s regional architecture. As Board members, you encouraged us to advance the regional architecture on this basis and requested the overall administrative, functional and budgetary implications as well as an implementation plan to be submitted now in November.
In response to your request, we are pleased to present our final report on UN Women’s Regional Architecture, together with the report of the ACABQ, the Advisory Committee of Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and our management response.
The regional architecture plan is essential to deliver the results expected of us. For this, we have benefited enormously from wide consultation. Your guidance and feedback as Board members, and continual support, has been invaluable throughout this process, and I thank you.
The plan before you is driven by the need to be close to the countries where the demand for our services and needs are highest, and where we can integrate with existing UN offices to achieve as much interaction as possible with our UN system partners. In summary, this plan responds to the priority set out in our Strategic Plan to build UN Women’s capacity, and improve the support we deliver in countries, where women and girls live, and where we can make the greatest impact.
Only by strengthening our work in the field can we meaningfully support national ownership of women’s empowerment and gender equality, and that is the essence of this proposal.
We present a proposal of six regional offices, of which two are located in Africa. The regional structure is further supported by either one or two multi-country offices in each region.
Regional Offices will be an essential conduit between the field and headquarters. They will be responsible, through their oversight and technical guidance functions, for ensuring that UN Women’s work at the country level promotes the norms and standards coming from intergovernmental processes. At the same time, regional offices will draw from country experiences and feed this knowledge into intergovernmental processes, making this knowledge available to Member States either directly or as contributions to broader reports such as those of the Secretary General.
UN Women is presenting an architecture that has the reach and scope to promote the universal vision of gender equality and women’s empowerment in every country—either through programme presence or country office presence and to bring our expertise closer to the women and girls we serve. At its heart, the regional architecture allows us to make the changes needed to move from the structure and business processes we inherited to a structure that responds to UN Women’s universal mandate and Strategic Plan.
We applied four criteria in deciding on the location of UN Women’s six regional offices:
Firstly, from a programmatic perspective, we considered the presence of a UN hub and the proximity of UN Women’s main partners within the UN Development Group regional teams.
Secondly, from an operational perspective, the ability to serve the region and the ease of conducting business was evaluated.
Thirdly, the overall costs of establishing and running the regional offices were estimated.
Fourthly, UN Women assessed its ability to leverage its existing resources and those of its partners to gain strategic advantages.
The locations of the regional offices are presented as follows:
- Asia Pacific – in Bangkok
- East and Southern Africa – in Nairobi
- West and Central Africa – in Dakar
- The Americas and the Caribbean – in Panama
- Arab States – in Cairo
- Europe and Central Asia – in Istanbul
For five of six of these locations, the decision was relatively straightforward, given our regional offices are co-located in established UN regional hubs. However, for Europe and Central Asia, there is no single hub and we were fortunate that four member states made generous offers to host our regional office. We selected Istanbul based on the set criteria, including cost.
Our regional offices are designed and will be located so that we achieve the decentralization needed to function more efficiently and close to our clients. The regionalization also includes business process improvements: clearer accountabilities in day-to-day decision-making; streamlined programme and project approval; delegated authority for operational management and decision-making and simplified recruitment processes.
Each of these regional offices will have a core staffing of national and international officers including the Regional Director at D1 level. UN Women’s country representatives will report directly to their respective Regional Directors. Regional offices will also influence and support the work of regional partners both within and outside the United Nations.
The implementation of the regional architecture will take place in a phased approach to avoid disruption to UN Women’s operations, to minimize costs and to achieve the transition rapidly. By the end of 2013, we expect to have the Regional architecture completed.
To build the capacity of UN Women in line with the proposed new structure, we have embarked on leadership training for managers. Two training sessions have already been completed and the next is scheduled for February. In these trainings, managers including country representatives are learning new skills, policies and procedures to effectively manage teams and operations to deliver on UN Women’s strategic objectives.
This restructuring involves an increase in staffing levels of 39 posts in management, technical and operational support. The indicative costs for the regional architecture total $7.1 million, of which staff costs represent 93 per cent or $6.6 million.
To cover these costs, UN Women is not seeking additional funding, as these post increases can be covered within the existing 2012/ 2013 budget. This is possible due to our prudent approach whereby a number of recruitments were put on hold pending your decisions relating to the regional architecture. This made funds available that can now be deployed against these additional costs with no additional funding required in this biennium. However, the cost increase of the regional architecture will be reflected in the integrated budget for 2014-2015, which will be presented in due course for your review and decision.
Once again, I thank you for the support and guidance you have provided to us as we have developed our regional architecture, and we look forward to a successful conclusion to our discussions.
An effective and efficient organization is built on a foundation of accountability and transparency. I would like to update you on our progress in this vital area and begin with our new evaluation policy.
The UN Women Evaluation Policy supports the quality of our programmes, the credibility of our organization and is of central importance to accountability, learning, and decision-making. This policy has been developed following a review of existing evaluation policies in the UN system, wide consultations, and peer reviews of the evaluation function and the existing evaluation culture in UN Women. The policy is consistent with international standards for evaluation and adapts to the characteristics and mandate of UN Women.
The policy provides a framework for an independent, credible and useful evaluation function that provides evidence on the performance of UN Women towards achieving results in the pursuit of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The policy lays out the definition of evaluation on gender equality, and the principles and standards that guide evaluation practice, such as national ownership, transparency, independence, and credibility. It covers both the UN Women coordination role for United Nations system-wide evaluation on gender equality, as well as corporate and decentralized evaluation of operational, normative support and coordination work undertaken by UN Women.
I also know that for this policy to be successful, it requires adequate capacities and a detailed implementation plan. This is why the Evaluation Office is working under my guidance to develop these components, starting with a Global Oversight Mechanism – the GATE system.
This will ensure relevant and timely management responses to evaluations, a periodic report to the Executive Director on status and compliance; a public web platform that enables tracking of actions committed; and the creation of a UN Women Evaluation Committee to advise UN Women in evaluation.
The evaluation policy will be an important step forward in building a robust evaluation function in UN Women and we count on your continued support.
Since we last met in June, the Board of Auditors presented its Report on the Financial Statements of UN Women for the year 2011. In response to the modified audit opinion, we have taken decisive action. UN Women has designed its internal control framework and issued new delegations of authority to ensure clear accountability for roles and responsibilities across the organization.
The Board of Auditors issued 28 audit recommendations, of which 25 have been implemented, and the remaining three are on track for completion within the established timeline. And the implementation of IPSAS has allowed UN Women to introduce new procedures to promote robust financial management of assets and resources.
I am also pleased to report that UN Women has established an independent audit advisory committee that met for the first time on 25 October. The committee is comprised of five experts from academia, the UN and civil society and I value their advice in fulfilling oversight responsibilities.
UN Women will further strengthen accountability and transparency measures through the upcoming public disclosure of internal audit reports, in harmonization with UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNOPS. We also encourage staff members to report any fraudulent activities and have set up an anti-fraud hotline to protect whistle-blowers.
Finally, I am pleased to announce that UN Women is the 100th organization to publish data with the International Aid Transparency Initiative. Members of the public can see programme information in the countries where we work and the scope of what we are doing. We are proud to be part of this aid transparency initiative to foster informed decision-making on international development work.
I would now like to present, as requested by the Board, the principles, criteria and procedures that will guide the use of cost recovery income, taking into account the methodologies and policies adopted by the other agencies, specifically UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP.
UN Women is now a member of the inter-agency working group and we are aligned with the harmonized budget approach. Discussions and inter-agency workshops are well underway and we intend to present, together with the others, a proposal on cost recovery during the first session of the Executive Board in 2013. In addition, we are also presenting a proposed methodology for calculating and maintaining an operational reserve for UN Women, as is already required by Financial Regulation 19.2.
This operational reserve is required to guarantee the financial viability and integrity of UN Women and will be held fully funded and available in liquid assets. Any decision to drawdown on this reserve will be made by myself as Executive Director with a full report to the Executive Board to be required should this be the case. At this session, we will have a chance to discuss the technical details of our approach and I can assure you that we have taken a prudent approach to ensure that we maintain a sufficient level of cash resources.
I am also very pleased to note that this Executive Board session will be the first ever PaperSmart session. UN Women has decided to join the UN Secretary General’s initiative to make the most of the organization’s resources, reduce costs and our environmental footprint, and direct as many financial resources as possible towards programming on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
I would like to thank the Integrated Sustainable PaperSmart Services- a division of the UN Secretariat to have worked so closely with UN-Women and have been so effective in making the UN Women Executive Board Papersmart a reality.
We are also being paper smart with our holiday greeting cards, which we will be sending out electronically this year.
Allow me now to comment briefly on our general funding situation. As you know resource mobilization is a vital part of the sustainability of our organization, and our strategy is to widen and deepen our donor base.
Despite the adverse financial and economic crisis-related environment, we are doing our best to sustain last year’s level through our outreach, increased support by some donors to fill gaps and mobilization of private and voluntary sector, including foundations.
In 2011, we managed to raise $227 million, which represented an 80 per cent increase in core resources and 60 per cent in non-core resources compared to previous years. This year, our projections bring us to a total of $233 million, which means we can surpass last year’s level, although we will still not reach our funding target of $300 million per year. We have made significant headways with non-government contributions. For example, we have already largely surpassed our annual target of $3 million from the private and voluntary sector and we are looking at new partnerships with this sector.
However, if we want to meet our projections, we need you, member states, to urgently honour your pledges and ensure that they are paid before 15 December so that they can be accounted for in 2012. We also need new pledges and we need member states to prioritize and front load your contributions at this critical time.
Now is the time to invest in women.
I would now like to briefly highlight three ongoing discussions that I believe are critical for the UN system to deliver results for women and gender equality, and for which we count on your strong support in moving forward.
These three discussions are those for the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, QCPR, for the upcoming 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2013, and for the Rio+20 follow-up on the sustainable development goals and the post-2015 agenda.
Firstly, as you know, the QCPR deliberations are already well underway. We look to the General Assembly to underscore the intrinsic value of gender equality and the empowerment of women broadly in development and specifically in the UN system’s operational activities for development. The Secretary-General’s report recognizes the role and mandate of UN Women in the new development landscape.
We hope that through the QCPR, the General Assembly will call for boosting the use of programmatic and accountability instruments that enhance the effectiveness and coherence of the UN system’s gender related work and accountability for it.
Secondly, the upcoming CSW 57 priority theme is the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. We are very actively preparing by working closely with a core group of nine UN entities, governments and civil society.
We will shortly conduct a stakeholder meeting in preparation for CSW 57, on 13-14 December 2012, with participation of a number of ministers to raise awareness of existing standards and commitments for ending violence against women, to identify areas and issues where consensus needs strengthening, and to build alliances and support. I invite all of you to attend this meeting. We rely on your support to ensure that the conclusions of CSW 57 strongly promote measures to both prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.
Finally, UN Women continues to be closely engaged with Member States, the UN system and civil society in the post-Rio follow-up to develop the sustainable development goals and the post-2015 agenda. We are working closely with UN Country Teams to ensure women’s voices are heard in country consultations. We are actively engaged in the UN task forces, co-leading the Inequalities thematic consultation with UNICEF.
We are engaging closely with civil society and supporting and facilitating their participation. And tomorrow we will conclude an expert group meeting here in New York to develop the conceptual framework and priorities for gender equality in the post-2015 agenda.
We ask all of you as our partners and friends among Member States to not only support us as UN Women, but to be champions for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Let us work together to ensure that the UN system as a whole delivers results for women and girls, that women’s rights –including the right to live free of violence – are protected, respected and promoted, and that gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the heart of the post-2015 development agenda.
I thank you again for your strong support for UN Women and for advancing equality for all. We look forward to the day when every person can enjoy equal opportunity, dignity and freedom. | <urn:uuid:942dbd20-4f0a-40f4-8f6e-fc7d5af72019> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unwomen.org/2012/11/remarks-by-the-executive-director-of-un-women-michelle-bachelet-at-the-second-regular-session-of-un-women-executive-board/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94772 | 4,947 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Funding will Promote Cybersecurity Education at Community Colleges Nationally
LARGO, MD -- The National Science Foundation has awarded Prince George's Community College a $5 million grant for its "National CyberWatch - Cybersecurity Education Solutions for the Nation" project.
"The award is a testament to the hard work and accomplishments of the CyberWatch team at Prince George's Community College," said Charlene M. Dukes, president of Prince George's Community College. "The grant extends the CyberWatch Center's scope and prominence and serves as validation of the great work already done," she added.
The grant will allow the National CyberWatch Center, headquartered at Prince George's Community College, to build a culture of collaboration, grow program and faculty capabilities based on models of excellence and promote the cybersecurity profession nationally.
In addition, it will help strengthen student aptitude and expand career pathways, as well as advance research in cybersecurity education across the country. | <urn:uuid:94b0b6ad-2f5f-4e17-a747-23bd96922041> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtoninformer.com/index.php/local/item/12035-pgcc-awarded-$5-million-cybersecurity-grant/local | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956872 | 191 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Freshmen to sponsor a blood drive to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy
On Dec. 6 from 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the Stokes Student Center Community Room, the freshman class will sponsor a blood drive to benefit Hurricane Sandy victims.
The freshman council, which is made up of representative from each Pfeiffer Journey class, was charged with forming a proposal for a spring service project. In addition to planning service opportunities for next semester, the council felt compelled to react to the disaster in the Northeast by coordinating a blood drive in response to the immediate need for blood.
“I am excited about everyone coming together as a community for a good cause that will help those in need,” said Ashley King, a freshman representative who is helping coordinate the blood drive.
Those who would like to donate blood should make an appointment by visiting www.carolinadonor.org; click on donate and enter the sponsor code: Pfeiffer. | <urn:uuid:eff6d130-ad2d-4849-b496-9ae7b44b7c1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://misenheimer.pfeiffer.edu/misenheimer/student-life/campus-news/4218-freshmen-to-sponsor-a-blood-drive-to-benefit-victims-of-hurricane-sandy | 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 | 0.948743 | 203 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Business Case for Diversity
For the third year in a row, Abbott Labs has made it into the top 10 companies judged by DiversityInc magazine to have the most diverse workforce. According to DiversityInc co-founder Luke Visconti, that makes Abbott, number five in the ranking, extraordinary. Merck is the only other pharma company to make the cut, but comes in at number 24, and is on a downturn—it was ranked 13 last year.
Making the Cut Visconti says determining the Top 50 is a complex process involving absolute metrics that yield relatively objective results. This year, the 203 companies that entered the competition (21 were pharma) were asked 200 detailed questions that were weighted differently, but divided evenly into the following four areas: CEO commitment, human capital, supplier diversity, and corporate communications.
"Roughly 10.9 percent of the American population over the age of 16 is African-American," says Visconti. "So a company doesn't get extra points for having 30 percent African-Americans in its workforce. We roll the points on a bell curve to avoid giving companies an advantage that are just doing what is convenient for them." Black Enterprise, for example, is not the most diverse company in the United States because 99 percent of its employees are African American."
"These companies are especially well run and that's where the return to shareholder part comes in," says Visconti. "It also says that pharma companies are involved with the subject, but their diversity management is not as robust or sophisticated as financial services, for example. Abbott is the exception."
Abbott landed at the top of other important lists in the breakdown: number three in recruitment and retention, seven for Latinos, six for Asians, and number one for executive women.
Trickle Down Theory Visconti says that one of the most important questions in the survey asks whether a company's chief executive officer signed off on executive compensation tied to diversity.
"Wal-Mart is number 29 on our list this year," he says. "As Esther Parker Silver, who is responsible for African-American programs there says, 'Things really change when you tie compensation to diversity.'" That's an idea that has not been taken very seriously by most pharma companies today.
"Most companies are doing nothing about this," Visconti says. "You'll come across companies who'll say, 'Sure we have diversity programs, we have Cinco de Mayo day.' That's like saying, 'Of course we're into technology, we have fax machines.' If you've got a pharmaceutical company that isn't dealing with [diversity] at this point, I would question whether or not it's a well run company. And if I were a shareholder, I'd be questioning that as well."
Supply Chain Strategy: Managing risk and opportunity in a changing global landscape | <urn:uuid:8bcf8398-88d0-4a5a-b826-5539a7952381> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pharmexec.com/pharmexec/Pharma+Workforce/The-Business-Case-for-Diversity/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/161849 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974722 | 590 | 1.609375 | 2 |
From Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA:
What do you think about the new "strips" which read for lab equivalent results, and not whole blood? A customer service rep told me to discount their meter's reading of 90, and go with the 70 which my old meter said, and which agreed with how I felt. I don't want to have to subtract every test result!
The meter change is certainly confusing... Betty Brackenridge and I wrote a letter to the editor of Forecast which was published July 1998, with the same concerns you have. We feel that the change to "plasma referenced" strips is a big deal that should be reviewed with patients. When your meter reads 90 on a plasma referenced strip, it really is 90, which is approximately the same number as a whole blood reading of 70. I don't think you should try converting back to whole blood numbers but change the numbers in your head where you are treating lows, etc. You will find that by managing with the new numbers your log book and HbA1c will be more in sync.
Original posting 13 Aug 1999
Posted to Blood Tests and Insulin Injections
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15:09:04
This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional.
This site is published by Children With Diabetes, Inc, which is responsible for its contents.
© Children with Diabetes, Inc. 1995-2013. Comments and Feedback. | <urn:uuid:d2f345f4-7d1b-4452-bf48-1bdf5a025213> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/dteam/1999-08/d_0d_422.htm | 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 | 0.957105 | 334 | 1.796875 | 2 |
|« Back to Article|
U.S. economy is rushing toward a fiscal cliff
By William Moore | June 21, 2012 | Updated: June 21, 2012 7:01pm
Catastrophes come in two categories: Black Swan disasters that catch everyone off guard and predictable surprises that arrive with clear warnings and can easily be avoided. Brace yourself for a predictable surprise for the U.S. economy - a completely avoidable recession and market crash, beginning next year.
Absent action by Congress, the U.S. government will take our economy over a fiscal cliff at the beginning of 2013 when large spending cuts and tax increases are scheduled to take effect. These cuts and taxes - about 3.5 percent of gross domestic product - are simply too big for a wobbly U.S. economy to handle and would almost certainly cause a recession. Alternatively, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that if Congress steps back from this fiscal cliff, real GDP growth in calendar year 2013 will be a strong 4.4 percent.
Should we careen over the fiscal cliff, tax rates, especially those on capital gains, may cause a mass sell-off on Wall Street, resulting in a recession and a postponed economic recovery. It would also cause quite a few Americans to get very angry with those they see as responsible for creating such a disaster.
The question is whether Capitol Hill will act to avoid these calamities. A clear-eyed assessment suggests the answer is no. The possible policy results include: the expiration of all or some of the Bush- and Obama-era tax cuts, millions of taxpayers subjected to the alternative minimum tax, Medicare doctor pay cuts of 27 percent and automatic across-the-board spending cuts to military and domestic programs.
All of this can be avoided if Congress can pass legislation before or after the November election. But bitter partisanship and disdain for compromise in Congress makes legislation very unlikely. Even cleaning up the mess next year is uncertain. This Congress is the most partisan since Reconstruction. Hostility to passing any major legislation before the election has hardened like concrete.
The forecast for a post-election grand bargain is dodgy. Should one party sense the election results make it stronger going into 2013, it will postpone action until its legislative muscle is stronger. If Mitt Romney should win, he has made clear he opposes action by a lame duck Congress. What's more, Congress has demonstrated enmity to compromise, and the fiscal cliff features the most basic disputes dividing the parties today: how much to spend and tax.
The most likely outcome is rushing over the cliff and a cleanup of the mess next spring. But the cleanup only works if one party wins control of the House, Senate and the presidency. Otherwise, gridlock is likely to continue until future elections install lawmakers willing to compromise in order to solve problems.
Assuming Congress fails to act, what happens come the 2013 New Year? Income tax rates will revert to 2001 levels with top tax rate rising from 35 to 39.6 percent. The payroll tax will increase from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. The $1,000 child tax credit would fall to $500 per child. Dividends would be taxed as income, with the rate rising from 15 percent to as high as 39.6 percent. Long-term capital gains taxes would increase to 20 percent from the current 15 percent.
Investors may sell assets to lock in gains at a lower tax rate before year-end, which could produce a market crash that would make any short-term recession much deeper, longer and more harmful. The impact on 401(k) and other retirement plans would be devastating. An asset sell-off could produce a flood of capital gains revenues to the Treasury, but the deficit reduction would be short-term. It could postpone the need for yet another debt ceiling increase, but congressional inaction would likely result in yet another credit downgrade.
It is within the power of Congress to make a deal that avoids the cataclysm on the horizon. There are several alternatives that would avert disaster, such as the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan. But few in Congress have demonstrated the courage to take the political risks necessary to make a bargain and defend it to the voters. So long as compromise remains a dirty word in Washington, this train will keep racing toward the fiscal cliff - carrying the nation's economic future right along with it.
Moore, a 26-year veteran of Congress, having worked mostly for Texas members of Congress, including U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, is a contributor to the Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac blog. | <urn:uuid:51a7fadd-cb5c-4230-85ca-12ff0d11c5b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/U-S-economy-is-rushing-toward-a-fiscal-cliff-3653546.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955383 | 939 | 1.757813 | 2 |
I am bumping this thread because I need some help and/or advice.
I have an alder guitar body coming shortly which I want to stain translucent green. I tried to find some alder scrap around here somewhere but I guess I didn't look hard enough, I couldn't find any. So, I just went to Home Depot and picked up some knotty pine, as I read online that it stains similar to alder, other than being a slightly lighter colored wood.
Fast forward to today, the pictures below are really the best I have been able to get it. I have done the following:
- Wet the wood to raise the grain
- Sanded lightly with 120, then 220
- treated with Minwax pre-stain conditioner (water based)
- Sanded lightly with 220
- Applied stain (Minwax water based).
- Wipe off stain after about 2 - 3 minutes
The following is the result, but the grain looks weird to me. Keep in mind this is still wet with the second coat of color and no clear yet. The grain seems lighter than the actual wood, when in past experience with staining, it's usually the opposite. This is also just barely pressing the cloth to remove any stain, which is why there is a line or two in it. If I press hard, the area that are light green in the pictures go almost back to bare wood.
Am I doing something wrong, or is this just the pine at work? It looks ok I guess but it's not what I was picturing. | <urn:uuid:95e67614-a960-49cd-8efd-7a4a4d29d519> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=308126&page=52 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979006 | 324 | 1.75 | 2 |
Clay County Arkansas Genealogy Trails
ALEXANDER, S. W.
ALLEN, J. H.
ALLEN, Capt. John J.
BARNES, W. F.
BEARDEN, Zachariah T.
S. W. ALEXANDER, manufacturer and dealer in hard wood lumber, railroad ties, wagons, agricultural implements, car material, etc., at Corning, Ark., was born in Hancock County, Ind., October 17, 1835, his parents, James and Mary (Mac Michael) Alexander, and his grandparents, on both sides, being natives of Orange County, N. C. They all emigrated at an early day (about 1828) to Indiana where they died. The great-grandfather was in the Revolutionary War, and fired the first cannon in that service. James Alexander remained in Hancock County, Ind., until the spring of 1857, when he emigrated to Polk County, Iowa, where he was living at the time of his death, in 1882. His wife died in 1872, having borne five children: John C., Julia A., Simeon W., James A. and Louisa. Mr. Alexander was a farmer by occupation.
Simeon W. Alexander, our subject, was reared and educated
in his native county, and from childhood has been
familiar with farm life. On reaching his majority he was
married, and emigrated to Illinois, locating in
Cumberland County, where he was engaged in the saw-mill
business until 1859, when he removed to Polk County,
Iowa, but returned to Illinois in December, 1863, and
there resided until the fall of 1869. In the fall of that
year he sold his mill and returned to Iowa, where he
remained until 1886, being engaged in both lumbering and
farming on an extensive scale. He owned 400 acres of good
land, and on coming to Clay County, embarked in the
lumber business, putting up a large sawmill. He still
continues this business and employs a great many hands.
He owns about 2400 acres of land in Clay County, some
1000 of which will make fine farming land when improved.
He also has one of the best houses in the county,
situated in Corning.
October 23, 1856, he was married to Miss Mary Faster, a native of Indiana, by whom he has seven children: William (in Dakota), Lucy M., Cora (wife of T. J. Conway, of Chicago), Charles W., Addie, Freddie and Edward. Mr. Alexander is a member of the I. O. O. F. and is one of the public-spirited men of Clay County, always being ready to advance the interests of the people.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 196.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 196-197.
CAPT. JOHN J. ALLEN was born in Lee County, Ga., on the 2nd of July, 1841, and is the son of Edward M. and Mary J. (Knight) Allen. The father was born in the "Palmetto State" in 1819 of Scotch-Irish parents, and was a mechanic and ginwright, making machines by hand. He was taken to Georgia when small, and was there reared to manhood. During the Indian troubles in the Southern States, especially in Florida, Mr. Allen participated as a private, and received in payment for his services a land warrant for 160 acres, and in 1853 chose the land on which Capt. John J. Allen now resides. Prior to this, however, he took a trip through Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Indian Territory, making the journey on horseback, a distance of 3,000 miles. He then returned to Georgia, and the following year (1853) located in Arkansas, the nearest post-office at that time being sixteen miles distant, and the second nearest (Pocahontas) fifty miles distant. The families of McNiel, Nettles, Wooter, Singleton, Copeland, Sexton and White, were the only ones within a radius of ten miles. Wild animals roamed the country at will, and Indians were also very numerous. Schools were almost unknown, and Mr. Allen assisted in building many of the first houses. John G. Taylor, a Missionary Baptist minister, came with Mr. Allen to the State, and preached the first sermon in Northeast Arkansas. The latter opened thirty acres of land the first year, which was heavily covered with timber. He was a slave owner, and served for twelve months in the confederate army under Price, holding the rank of captain, when he resigned on account of his age. He died in 1877. His wife was born in Jasper County, Ga., about 1822, and was there married to Mr. Allen, by whom she became the mother of ten children: William A., John J., Elizabeth J., Edward M., Thomas M., living to be grown, and the following dying in infancy: Martha, Stapie, and two infants. Mrs. Allen died in 1860, and Mr. Allen then married Sarah J. Palmer, who bore him five children: Robert, Georgia L., George W., Willie, and Odus. Capt. Allen, our subject, has resided in Arkansas since twelve years of age, but spent his entire school days in Georgia. He was reared on the farm on which he is now residing, and remained at home until his marriage at the age of eighteen years, when he was engaged in farming until 1861. Then he enlisted in Company H, Fifth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, participating in many battles: Helena, Fredericksburg, Boonville, Lexington, Newtonia, and many others of less note. He enlisted as a private, but was promoted to captain, and was then transferred to the cavalry, serving two years. After coming home he engaged in farming, and in 1868 opened a mercantile establishment at Scatterville, and followed this occupation in connection with ginning for four years. He then removed to Tilton, where he was occupied in business until August, 1888.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 197.
JOSHUA BARE, farmer and stock raiser of St. Francis Township, is a fair sample of what can be accomplished by industry and perseverance. Although starting life with a limited amount of this world's goods, he is now one of the substantial farmers of the county, and is the owner of 240 acres of land in the home place, with 160 acres cleared, on which he has good buildings. Aside from this he is the owner of another tract of land in the township, one and a quarter miles from the home place, consisting of 160 acres of timber land. He also possesses some 320 acres in the St. Francis bottoms, with about 100 acres cleared, and has an interest in 205 acres of other lands, all the result of industry and good management. Mr. Bare was born in Crawford County, Ind., December 13, 1833, and is the son of Jacob Bare and Nancy (Copple) Bare, the latter of German descent. The father was born in Virginia but was reared in Indiana. After marriage he settled in Crawford County of that State, where he followed farming until about 1843, when he moved to Illinois and settled in Jefferson County. He resided there up to 1868, when he came to Arkansas, and located in what is now Clay County. Here he died in February 1877. He served as sheriff and deputy sheriff in Indiana, and was quite a prominent man. Joshua Bare was reared in Jefferson County, Ill., and came to Arkansas in 1855, locating in Clay County, but what was then Greene County, and entered eighty acres of land. He then bought eighty acres near Brown's Ferry, resided there about fifteen years, after which he sold this, and bought the place where he now lives. He has been four times married; first to Miss Susan Williams; then to Nancy Brown, who bore him one daughter, Peggy A., wife of John Nettle; his next marriage was to Mrs. Nettle, a widow, who bore him four children: Clarissa (wife of Wiley Thomas, Joshua, Bettie and Arabella. Mr. Bare's fourth marriage was to Mrs. Marietta Sarver, a widow, and the daughter of Jacob Sarver. Three children were born to this union: Jacob, Mattie and John Harry. When Mr. Bare first came to the State it was a comparative wilderness, and for about eleven winters he was engaged in trapping. He has killed bear, wolves, wild cats, lots of deer, turkey and small game. He would average about $200 worth of furs annually at that business. Mr. Bare has been a member of the I. O. O. F. for thirteen years. Mrs. Bare belongs to the Christian Church. An interesting volume might be written of many of Mr. Bare's hunting expeditions, but space will permit mention of only the following: In 1867, one of his neighbors, Billy Maner, a single man, had struck camp some seven miles south of where our subject lived in a wild locality on Old River. Mr. Bare went on one occasion to spend the night with him, but found the unsuccessful hunter without food. Starting the next morning with a determination to return only after he shot something, he traveled some distance, occasionally seeing game which could not be secured. Later on, while not far from camp, he killed tow wolves, and being a humorous disposition, the thought was suggested to pass off this meat upon the unsuspecting Billy as venison. Bringing a portion of the animal to headquarters (together with a squirrel), and assuring him that a large buck had been killed, the mess was eaten by the victim of Mr. Bare's joke, with a casual remark as to the toughness, etc. Subsequently the truth was told. Imagination rather than words can picture the result of such a revelation. In 1876 a three-days' hunt was indulged in by Mr. Bare, two of his nephews and a little negro boy. Starting with a cart and yoke of oxen, they drove into a bottom farm, proceeding horse-back until about a mile from their camping ground, when fresh bear tracks were discovered. Before very long an effort to secure bruin was commenced, and proved fruitful. While waiting for help to remove the animal (which weighed about 400 pounds) a large buck was killed by Mr. Bare. These furnish but mere instances of his good fortune with the gun and rifle.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 198-199.
W. F. BARNES, undertaker and furniture dealer, of Corning, Ark., has been in business here since August 1888, when he purchased his stock of goods of Mr. Bishop and continued at that stand until June 1, 1889, when he moved to his present location. His establishment is a two-story frame building, 40x20 feet, now under process of erection, which will, when finished, be commodious and substantial. Mr. Barnes' success in this line has been due to his energy and enterprise, and his establishment is now one of the leading concerns of this kind in the county. He was born in Lawrence County, Ill., in 1856, and was the eldest in a family of eight children born to John and Jane (Thompson) Barnes, who were Kentuckians by birth, but emigrated to Illinois in their youth, where they grew to maturity and met and married. The father settled with his parents in Lawrence County in 1826, and afterward became a successful farmer and teacher of that region., following these occupations for many years in that State. He died in 1885, but his widow is still residing in Illinois. The paternal grandfather was an early settler of Illinois, where he also makes his home. Mr. Barnes was early inured to the duties of farm life, and during his youth also attended the common schools of Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Ill. He engaged in farming for himself in that State and was married there in 1882 to Miss Ella P. Price, a native of that county. Her parents, Joseph and Hannah (Dart) Price, were born in Ohio and Kentucky, respectively, and are now residing in Illinois. In 1887 Mr. Barnes came to Corning, Ark., and until 1888 worked at the carpenter's trade, but has since been engaged in his present business. Politically he is a Democrat, and always supports the principles of that party. He belongs to the K. of H. and the I. O. G. T., and he and wife are members of the Methodist Church. They are the parents of two children: Opal V. and Verna D. Mr. Barnes has done well financially, is the owner of some valuable town property, and predits a bright future for Corning.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 199.
ZACHARIAH T. BEARDEN was born in Montgomery County, Tenn., September 29, 1849, and is the son of John and Prudence (Majors) Bearden. John Bearden was born in Montgomery County, Tenn., and is of Irish-English parentage. He received a fair, common-school education, later followed farming and emigrated to Clay County, Ark., in 1851. The county was called Greene County at that time, but was afterward changed to Clay. At that early day there were but six families in an area ten miles square, and all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life were experienced by Mr. Bearden. Schools were taught on the subscription plan,a nd church was held about once a month in old log cabins. Mr. Bearden was a slave owner but generally perferred white labor. He was the owner of a large farm, but was broken up during the war. He died May 10, 1888, being seventy-six years of age. During life he was never an office seeker,but was elected by the people, without solicitation, to the office of county treasurer. Mrs. Bearden was also reared in Tennessee, grew to womanhood there, and was married in that State. Nine children were the result of this union: Richard E., Isom K., Judge H., Zach. T., Samuel J., Susan U., William J., Robert W. and Mary E. Mrs. Bearden died in this county, August 16 1877. Grandfather and Grandmother Bearden died in Tennessee; she was a native of North Carolina. Grandfather and Grandmother Majors were natives of West Virginia, and at an early day emigrated to Tennessee. Zachariah T. Bearden came with his parents to Arkansas when two years of age, settling in Greene County, and there remained.
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, Goodspeed Pub. Co, c1891, p. 199.
©2006-2011 Anna Newell, Arkansas Genealogy Trails | <urn:uuid:27c57b3b-1652-4203-9a7a-886d74343040> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genealogytrails.com/ark/clay/bios.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985159 | 3,214 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Subsidised Meals for Employees – Draft legislation preventing use of salary sacrificeThursday, February 11th, 2010
Section 317 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 provides a tax exemption for the provision of free or subsidised meals provided for employees in a canteen or on the employer’s business premises. The 2009 Pre-Budget Report announced that the legislation would be changed to prevent this exemption being used in conjunction with salary sacrifice schemes or flexible benefits schemes. The restriction will apply from April 2011.
The Government’s objection to the subsidy exemption being used in conjunction with these schemes is that the exemption is intended to benefit all employees, not to provide an additional tax and NICs advantage for those employees who purchase meals out of their gross pay.
HMRC has published in draft the changes to legislation that will give effect to this restriction. Currently, use of the exemption depends on the following conditions being met:
- the meals are provided on a reasonable scale,
- all the employer’s employees or all of them at a particular location may obtain a free or subsidised meal and/or a
free or subsidised meal voucher or token, and,
- if the meals are provided in the restaurant or dining room of a hotel or a catering or similar business at a time when meals are being served to the public, part of the restaurant or dining room is designated for the use of employees only, and the meals are taken in that part.The new restriction will add a fourth condition, namely
- the provision is not pursuant to
- “relevant salary sacrifice arrangements”, or
- “relevant flexible remuneration arrangements”.
These terms are defined as follows:
- “relevant salary sacrifice arrangements” are arrangements (whenever made) under which the employee gives up the right to receive an amount of general earnings or specific employment income in return for the provision of free or subsidised meals, and
- “relevant flexible remuneration arrangements” are arrangements (whenever made) under which the employee and employer agree that the employee is to be provided with free or subsidised meals rather than receive some other description of employment income.
The reference to “whenever made” means that the restriction does not apply just to new arrangements made on or after 6 April 2011. Rather, it applies to existing arrangements as well. Therefore, if free or subsidised meals are provided under the terms of a salary sacrifice scheme or a flexible benefits scheme, irrespective of whether the arrangements are made before or after April 2011, the exemption will not apply from 6 April 2011 and the benefit must be reported as a taxable benefit on form P11D. The amount reported will be the cost to the employer of subsidising the meals for the particular employees.
Sponsored by Learn Payroll | <urn:uuid:cf5d4c2c-ef07-47d8-be00-8a783e3b44bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.payroll-help.com/2010/02/subsidised-meals-for-employees-001/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933562 | 580 | 1.515625 | 2 |
To be honest I don’t know if I found this Cairn?
There are several patches of stones hidden amongst the ferns and they all looked pretty much the same.
Was one of these the Cairn? – I honestly don’t know.
Perhaps a winter visit would be best?
On the plus side there are decent views down the valley to be had.
Head north along the A4061 towards Treorchy.
Just before the B4223 junction there is a place to park on the right in front of a locked forestry commission? access road. There is room to park without blocking the gate.
Head along the access road which zigzags up the hill until you are amongst the trees.
(When you come to the fork in the road go left)
When you come to a stone lined drainage ditch (about 1 metre wide) you have to jump across it and scramble up a steep bank. At the top of the bank is a barbed wire fence you need to negotiate. You then come out onto the Hillfort which is clear of trees.
No doubt there is an easier way to get to the Hillfort but I always seem to find the hard way!
It is a steep old climb and takes about 30 minutes. Given the obstacles it is one for the fairly fit and mobile only I would say. I was pretty knackered when I got to the top!
There is not too much to add about the Hillfort. It is fairly flat and mostly covered in ferns. There are also lots of groups of stones and rough grass covering the site.
An oval bank about 1 metre high is the most discernable part of the Hillfort.
Didn’t think I would find this one but for a change I did!
At the junction of the A4107 / A4061 there is a view point with a large car park.
Park here. (If you are lucky there is sometimes a burger van parked there)
Looking down the valley there is a ‘path’ running along the hillside to the right.
This is the ‘path’ which runs close to the Cairn. You cross a small stream on the way.
Looking at my notes and the terrain in front of me I didn’t expect to find this Cairn but thought I would try anyway.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the site and the Cairn is quite difficult to spot.
It is in amongst ‘spiky’ grass and consists of a small mound of stones.
Despite being a pretty bleak place to visit there are decent views to be had.
One best to visit on a nice day – if they ever have nice days up here?
Found the following verse sometime back and wrote about it, Iolo Morgannwg was obviously an interesting character but fought shy of truthfulness....
As the sun, so shy, speeds on to hide behind the western hills
I stand within this
Ancient circle with its rugged stones
Pointing to the sky
Like the digits on the clock of time -
The time that has refused to move,
As if the keeper of this heather hearth has gone to bed
Remembering not to lift
The fallen weights of Time and Space.
The first verse of one of Iolo Morgannwg’s poem, some would call him a fantasist who created an idea or vision of a Celtic Druidic order in the 18th century.
His first meeting of the bards was on Primrose Hill in London, where he had erected twelve stones called the Great Circle and a central altar stone known as the Maen Llog, this was in 1792. It is said of Iolo that he constructed an “elaborate mystical philosophy which he claimed represented a direct continuation of ancient Druidic practice. His use of laudanum may have contributed to this fabrication, though many of his writings fall between a small truth and a large imaginative myth that he wrote!
In 1795, a gorsedd meeting took place at the Pontypridd Rocking Stone, near Eglwysilam in Glamorgan. This was a huge slab of natural slate stone (the Maen Chwyf), and this stone became a meeting place, though the circles were yet to be put up.
The word gorsedd, which in Welsh means throne, but is also loosely used as a coming together of bards. Julian Cope in his book The Modern Antiquarian says of this rocking stone ‘that it stands high on the ground overlooking the confluence of the two great sacred rivers Rhodda and Taff,’ and that this gorsedd stone must have had great significance in prehistoric times. The stone is surrounded by two circles plus an avenue but the circles are not prehistoric, and it now sits in a pleasant landscape next to a small cottage hospital. | <urn:uuid:67232b5c-65e5-4ecf-ab07-472ae6968fb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/8150/rhondda_cynon_taff.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967713 | 1,021 | 1.570313 | 2 |
I was recently looking at natural gas standby generators on the Costco website. Given the current electricity rates during peak Time of Use hours, I then started wondering what the cost per kWh was for a natural gas standby generator. Especially considering how low the natural gas prices have been.
So let’s do some math. Fun!
According to EnergyShop.com, natural gas is currently 25.04¢/m³ in my area. That includes all of the “add ons” that are over and above the posted natural gas rate. It excludes taxes though. As we saw before, your real electricity rate is not the same as what is “advertised” by Hydro One. We need to add in a number of extra charges to get the real rate. With the recent switch to the summer Time of Use pricing, the advertised rates increased.
Based on the current Hydro One Residential Delivery Rates, the real Time of Use prices are (based on Urban High density) 12.01¢/kWh for off-peak, 15.24¢/kWh for mid-peak and 17.18¢/kWh for peak usage. Again, these are the rates without taxes added (and minus some monthly charges that don’t translate well into a per kWh price).
So, let’s take the Generac 17 kW Standby Generator that is available on the Costco website, and figure out the cost per kWh. According to the website, it is capable of producing 16kW using natural gas and consumes 6.9m³/h at full load. So, that translates to 2.32kWh/m³ at full load. Given the current natural gas rate in my area, that means the standby generator costs 10.80¢/kWh. WHAT?
Well, hang on, let’s not get too carried away with this. Natural gas prices are currently at all time lows. Let’s see how much it would cost with the ~50¢/m³ that we were paying a couple years ago. At that price, the generator costs 21.55¢/kWh to run.
Let’s not forget about the cost of the generator – $3699.99 plus around $1000 of installation/other costs (based on some rough numbers I found while Googling). To cover that, you’d have to run the “standby” generator at full load during Time of Use on-peak time for about 67142 hours all while hoping that the natural gas price doesn’t go up. Oh, and don’t forget that peak time is only for about 6 hours a day and only 5 days a week.
Oh well, that satisfied my curiosity.
Well, almost. I poked around a bit and found a couple industrial natural gas generator sets. Unfortunately most of the large scale (2500kW – 3000kW) units I found didn’t have fuel consumption values. The $500k for a used (with no warranty) 3000kW generator set was interesting. (Yikes!)
I did manage to find the Kohler Power 400RZX which is 400kW natural gas generator. It’s capable of around 3.3kW/m³ at full load or a cost of 7.5¢/kWh. Of course, no price is listed so I’m going to assume its payoff time would be greater than the 67000+ hours of the Generac unit. | <urn:uuid:10a8ce44-2d50-4008-aa4e-b8897a2a537e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ivany.org/tag/ontario/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941666 | 727 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Five members of the Quinnipiac University women's volleyball team, and the team's coach, have sued the school for dismantling the team to use the money for a cheerleading squad.
The players argue that cheerleading does not meet federally defined standards for a "sport" under Title IX, the groundbreaking civil rights law that requires schools to allocate resources equally to men's and women's sports teams.
The judge will also determine whether the university doctored its team rosters, undercounting men and overcounting women, in an effort to skirt Title IX requirements.
"The outcome of this case could have a chilling effect on women's athletics programs if cheerleading is deemed a sport," said Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Girls and Women in Sports at the University of Minnesota and a Title IX expert unaffiliated with the case.
"No one wants to denigrate cheerleading, but should it be considered sport at the expense of legitimate women's competitive team sports? It's a question of equality," Kane said. "How would people react if the school cut a men's sport like baseball or lacrosse and used those funds for a male cheerleading squad?"
The women volleyball players say a men's team would never lose funding in favor of cheerleading and the players are the subjects of sex discrimination.
"The Student Plaintiffs allege that Defendant's ongoing sex discrimination in the operation of its varsity athletic program violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972," the students said in their lawsuit.
Though Quinnipiac, located in Hamden, Conn. and known more for its political polling than its athletics programs, is a private school, it receives some federal funding and is therefore subject to Title IX requirements.
"Because QU receives federal financial assistance, its athletic program is subject to Title IX and QU must comply with its requirements," the volleyball players said in their suit.
The school says cheerleading is a competitive, athletic activity that creates more opportunities for women than volleyball. It says it has adequately complied with the law.
"The university believes that it has complied with all aspects of Title IX legislation and will continue to do so. Given that this is a matter awaiting adjudication, we will not comment further," said Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs, in a statement.
The lawyer for the players said he "can't comment while the trial is on" but previously told the Associated Press that the trial was the first of its kind in the country.
"What makes this case significant is that, as far as I know, this will be the first time any court has been asked to rule whether competitive cheer is a sport for Title IX purposes," said attorney Jon Orleans, who represents the volleyball players.
In order to be considered a sport under Title IX, an activity must meet certain criteria, said Neena Chaudhry, senior council at the National Women's Law Center. | <urn:uuid:3259bc00-ad8f-43ba-9e2c-0c17712d6da1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/WN/connecticut-trial-determine-cheerleading-sport/story?id=10972950 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975882 | 594 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The world-renowned San Diego Zoo is only one part of this magnificent 1,200-acre city park that was built for the 1915-1916 ... More
The world-renowned San Diego Zoo is only one part of this magnificent 1,200-acre city park that was built for the 1915-1916 Panama-California Expo. California's Hispanic roots were celebrated as the city erected breathtakingly ornate Spanish-style buildings. The California Building was modeled after a Spanish colonial church and is topped off with a polychrome tile dome. Balboa Park is home to the zoo, 14 museums, a pipe organ pavilion, botanical gardens, a Tony award winning theater, an antique carousel and a miniature-scale train. Of particular interest is Balboa Park's Christmas on the Prado that is held the first weekend of December each year.
The best thing about Balboa Park is that you can visit this location and be drawn to it's serenity. You can watch the Koi fish at the pond or just relax in the Botanical Garden. You have the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Aersopace Museum, The Natural History Museum, etc. It's a great place for the family to enjoy, relax and yes even dine.
San Diego is a tourists paradise. But Balboa Park has so much to offer from museums to Volleyball. You can spend a whole day exploring and still not realize it's depth. I make a point to go there at least once a month!
The scenery is magnificent and you can't beat the price... it's free! Parking can sometimes become a pain, but other than that, the park is beautiful. The prado brings an authentic architectural style to the environment. The park makes a great place for a picnic while the free late night entertainment during the summer is a great way to end the night.
I like to be here because lot of exhibits you can see and learn, nice park to have fun, but the charge for exhibits are not good enough... we have joined science museum membership and got some discount tickets for other museums, which you might won't use at all because it is inconvenient, disappointed...
THe park is so well maintained. We felt very safe in all areas. There were so many museums to see, and each one had an admission fee. We did not expect that. Had to limit which ones were most important to all age levels in our group.
Would definitely go back and see the rest on the next visit.
Balboa Park offers a science museum, carnival rides, The San Diego Zoo, and a traditional play catch in the park. It is a must-do when visiting San Diego. I visit San Diego at least once a year, and it's always on our agenda.
This is the home of the local Artist's Association (more than 60 artists) living in the San Diego area who
work in oils, pencils, mixed media, watercolor, metal and precious stones. A wide selection of the numerous artists' work ...
Formed by the dredging of San Diego Bay in order to deepen the berths for military ships, the U.S. Navy
built this recreational island in 1961. More than 12 million cubic yards of sand and mud created this mile ...
Just minutes from downtown San Diego, the convention center, and Mission Valley. The Prado at Balboa Park is located in
one of the parks most beautiful buildings. Under chef Jonathon Hale's creative direction the Prado Restaurant has won honors ...
*Terms & Conditions: Savings calculation is based on Flight + Hotel vacation package bookings for a 3 month period for 2 adults with a 2+ night length of stay compared to price of the same components if booked separately during same period. Savings will vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, travel dates and selected travel supplier(s). Savings not available on all packages. | <urn:uuid:2eba5b9a-b2fa-45c9-9e0e-b29fbf90de83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2814696-balboa_park_san_diego-i?rsort=helpful | 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 | 0.950765 | 804 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) is providing food, beverage, and spiritual support to survivors and first responders following the severe tornado activity and damage in Oklahoma yesterday and today.
The Salvation Army is currently mobilizing disaster response units to serve hard-hit areas in Central Oklahoma, including Moore and South Oklahoma City.
The Salvation Army has been responding to many impacted areas throughout Oklahoma today, including:
- In Pottawatomie County: The McAlester, OK and Shawnee, OK disaster response teams served multiple locations in the Shawnee area, including devastated neighborhoods and rural areas throughout the night and day. Around 3:00 PM all units were pulled into safety as tremendous storms threatened the area. Response teams will be out once again upon an all-clear.
- In Lincoln County: The Enid, OK canteen provided breakfast, lunch & dinner to the Carney, OK area throughout the early morning hours and all day today.
- In Cleveland County: The Central Oklahoma Area Command Disaster Service Unit responded to the Little Axe area with breakfast, lunch & dinner today. The Salvation Army was responding, even as one of our Salvation Army family member’s home was destroyed.
Monetary donations are the most critical need as supplies and personnel are mobilized.
Donors are encouraged to give online at www.SalvationArmyUSA.org or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769).
You can also text the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation through your mobile phone; to confirm your gift, respond with the word “Yes.”*
Donations in the form of checks designated to Oklahoma Tornado Relief may also be mailed locally to:
The Salvation Army
PO Box 4159
Rockford, IL 61110
Please designate as “Oklahoma Tornado Relief” on memo line
Your donations make a real difference.
- A $10 donation feeds a disaster survivor for one day.
- A $30 donation provides one food box, containing staple foods for a family of four, or one household cleanup kit, containing brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplies
- A $100 donation can serve snacks and drinks for 125 survivors and emergency personnel at the scene of a disaster
- A $250 donation can provide one hot meal to 100 people or keep a hydration station operational for 24 hours
- A $500 donation keeps a Salvation Army canteen (mobile feeding unit) fully operational for one day
Salvation Army Statements
Major Steve Morris, Divisional Commander of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Division of The Salvation Army
- “The Salvation Army is calling on everyone to pray for all of those impacted by the devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma.”
- “Many of these impacted communities will take months or even years to recover. The Salvation Army is committed to being there with them throughout and providing aid wherever it’s needed.”
About The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church established in London in 1865, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination for more than 130 years in the United States. Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children. 82 cents of every dollar The Salvation Army spends is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide. For more information, go to www.salvationarmyusa.org.
During National Salvation Army Week, The Salvation Army was out at Cherry Vale Mall thanking donors in Winnebago County who have helped contribute more than $800,000.
To see video click here.
In five days, 4,000 canned goods were stacked, taped, and secured to each other to form an AmeriCAN flag at center court in CherryVale Mall in Rockford. This canned edifice represents the creativity and collaboration that is alive and well within the Rockford community and it brings awareness to the needs of others through the idea of “You CAN make a difference.” the need to bring awareness to . This project is part of a month long celebration of creativity through Rockford’s Out of the Box community initiative. The AmeriCAN flag will be on display throughout the month of May and volunteers are to be Project Hosts. You can signup for a 2-hour shift at www.ringbells.org or call 815-962-7207.
All 4,000 plus cans of food are being donated to The Salvation Army Food Pantry. Volunteers are needed for tear down on Saturday, June 1st from 8 – 10 pm. Closed toe shoes are required and you have be able work use a box cutter, bend, pack cans into boxes and lift boxes. You can signup online at www.ringbells.org or call 815-962-7207.
Many thanks to SAM FURMAN of the GroundUP, Rockford AIA Architects, and volunteers for building the AmeriCAN Flag.
Many, many thanks to Rockford’s Out of the Box community initiative, the brainchild of the the Superintendent of Rockford Lutheran Schools, Don Gillingham and Communications Director, Nancee Long. For more information on community events please visit http://www.rockfordlutheran.com/outofthebox/ | <urn:uuid:68fc70d8-712e-4201-8835-00f44c6bae2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://salvationarmychicago.net/winnebagocounty/?openDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933434 | 1,154 | 1.515625 | 2 |
California schools are about to hit the jackpot – or at least 32 percent of it.
While hundreds of thousands of lotto-players line up for a chance to win $640 million in the Mega Million Lotto, schools are poised to win regardless of the numbers drawn Friday night.
This is because California schools get about 32 cents of every dollar spent in the state on the lottery, said Alex Traverso with the California Lottery.
Traverso estimated that Californians have spent about $300 million on the Mega Millions Lotto since Jan. 24. This means state schools and universities will win about $100 million.
This may not do much to mend the damage of the past several years' budget cuts. Since 2007, the San Diego Unified School District lost about $500 million in budget cuts. Spending on public univeristies in California has been cut by more than $2.65 billion since 2008.
And spread throughout all schools and universities, more will be funneled into the schools with higher enrollment.
"It's all based on enrollment, so schools with higher enrollment obviously are going to get a little bit larger share of lottery funds," Traverso said.
Over half of the lotto is used for the prizes. The remaining 16 percent is spent on retailer commissions, advertising and administrative fees.
Lotto money is distributed by the State Controller’s Office. | <urn:uuid:3a1b388d-2524-4af7-9113-2e09425cd41f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/CA-Schools-Win-100M-from-Mega-Millions--145228405.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96506 | 285 | 1.75 | 2 |
As it promised in October, Google has now started to add search results in real-time to its engine, giving end-users the option of seeing relevant links that have just been added to its index.
The move is an acknowledgement by Google of the increasing importance of providing literally up-to-the-minute results in its engine, as end-users have found value in searching through messages and status updates posted to microblogging and social-networking sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. In fact, these three companies have struck deals with Google for this initiative, feeding the search engine posts, status updates and other content that people and organizations have labeled as public.
[ Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter. ]
"Google's real-time search is Google's relevance technology meeting the real-time Web," said Amit Singhal, Google fellow, at a press event the company held in San Francisco that was also webcast.
"Relevance is the foundation of this product. It's relevance, relevance, relevance. There's so much information being generated out there, that getting to you relevant information is the key to success of a product like this. That's where we as Google come in, because for 11 years that's what we have done," he added.
Bing, Microsoft's competing search engine, unveiled real-time search features in October, primarily focused on Twitter results, with plans to expand its scope. Yahoo is also making moves in this area.
Google's real-time results won't be limited to Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. They will include results from other social networks, blogs and news outlets as well.
Google had to develop more than 12 new technologies to power real-time search, which requires monitoring more than 1 billion fast-changing pages and documents.
Google will roll out this real-time search functionality gradually to users over the coming days. For now, it will be available only for English-language results.
When real-time becomes available to them, users will see a section in the results labeled "latest results." This will open up a section right on the search results page with relevant items scrolling in as they become available.
There will also be a specific menu option to filter results down only to real-time ones by clicking on "latest." An option called "updates" will limit real-time results to those from microblogging services like Twitter.
Real-time search functionality will also be available to mobile users of iPhone and Android devices.
The real-time technology will also power a new option in the Google Trends service. Called "hot topics," this new option will contain the most popular topics online at any given time.
Google also announced new mobile search services designed to let users find out what local businesses are in their current vicinity, as well as search for information on an item by snapping a photo of it with their phone's camera.
The local business search feature is called "What's Nearby" and included in the latest version of Google Maps for Android devices, said Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president of engineering. In a few weeks, the same functionality will be available from Google's mobile home page via a new option called "Near me now."
Google Goggles, the photo-based search, is available as an early prototype from the company's Labs team for now, because it works well only for specific items in specific categories, he said. The service, which Gundotra called "a mouse pointer for the world," should eventually be able to identify virtually any item a user photographs.
Gundotra also demonstrated an early version of an upcoming feature that translates speech in real time, acting like a real-time interpreter for phone conversations.
He also announced that the mobile search engine's existing ability to field voice queries has been sharpened, as well as extended through the addition of Japanese. It already worked in English and Mandarin.
"This is just the beginning, but the possibilities ahead inspire us," he said about the new and improved mobile services.
Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, said that the mobile search advances offer a peek into how the search engine interface will evolve and change from its current format of a search box into which text queries are typed. | <urn:uuid:c857f33e-4003-437c-8aa0-609b5126811c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoworld.com/t/search/google-turns-real-time-search-292 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957415 | 887 | 1.515625 | 2 |
LIFTopolis: Navigating the Maze
By Sarah Hanson, LIFT-Philadelphia Communications Intern & Former Summer Fellow
A vigorous buzz of excitement pulsed through the airwaves, traversed the vents and spilled into the room where I and 16 other LIFTers prepared to host the first ever Philadelphia LIFTopolis. This was a special kind of energy – the kind generated by a multitude of determined, bright, and optimistic minds – and it was contagious. Where was this? Villanova University, the home of a prestigious service-learning program that aims to engage students in their communities through ongoing service, study, and reflection. We came to help them kick the year off with LIFTopolis, a challenging poverty simulation in which participants take on a new identity and attempt to navigate the social service system first-hand. As a facilitator, I had a character to play as well: the LIFTopolis news anchor. Luckily we had more seasoned LIFTers in town from all over the network to play roles like the housing authority and unemployment compensation office, so I was able to spend most of my time getting to interact with the 146 students, and experience the simulation from both sides.
To a complete outsider, LIFTopolis looks like mass chaos. And for once, the outsider perspective is pretty close to reality. Our complex social service system requires an incredible amount of perseverance, and it is nearly impossible to grasp all the ins and outs without support and guidance. In LIFTopolis, students are thrown into the same challenging situations that millions of low-income Americans face daily. Through the succession of four “days” in which they attempt to resolve these situations, they learn that the system is infinitely complicated and difficult to navigate. The experience, though set up in a fun, game-like style, can be stressful and overwhelming. In addition to this discomfort, though, comes understanding and insight that is inspiring to say the least. One group of students, after the activities and a short debrief, came up with this catchy slogan as their key take-away point: “In the reality of isolation and desperation, a small kindness is motivation.”
This point really resonated with me; in particular, the word small – because sometimes this world can get way, way too big. LIFT focuses on small things: individuals, relationships, and accomplishing one goal at a time, so that eventually an enormous iceberg problem melts down to an ice sculpture, then an ice cube, and then just a puddle. Cristina Rocca, one of Villanova’s service learning students and a LIFT advocate expressed this idea in her opening speech, stating:
“I’ve come to really appreciate the little victories: a completed résumé or a promising email or vacancies for affordable housing. These small successes are the stepping stones to social justice and better communities.”
Christina really targeted the message we were trying to convey through LIFTopolis, and she wasn’t the only one. As student representatives from each group gave their final thoughts and impressions from the day, I felt my neck growing sore from nodding and my hands tingling from clapping. Assumptions were challenged, empathy was activated, knowledge was shared, and I was so glad to be a part of it.
Thanks to the people at LIFT and Villanova who worked so hard to make this event a success. And for those of you reading this at home, if LIFTopolis comes to a community near you, don’t hesitate for a second to sign up. This is an experience you don’t want to miss! | <urn:uuid:df841437-ee2d-4583-a7b2-0e4a56611548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.liftcommunities.org/post/31350833076/31350833076-liftopolis-navigating-the-maze-by-sarah-hans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961531 | 750 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Atlanta entrepreneur Mike Mondelli has access to more than a billion records detailing consumers’ personal finances — and there is little they can do about it.
The information collected by his company, L2C, comes from thousands of everyday transactions that many people do not realize are being tracked: auto warranties, cellphone bills and magazine subscriptions. It includes purchases of prepaid cards and visits to payday lenders and rent-to-own furniture stores. It knows whether your checks have cleared and scours public records for mentions of your name.
Pulled together, the data follow the life of your wallet far beyond what exists in the country’s three main credit bureaus. Mondelli sells that information for a profit to lenders, landlords and even health-care providers trying to solve one of the most fundamental questions of personal finance: Who is worthy of credit? | <urn:uuid:6cadf403-ce39-44c8-ae3b-e0064282c809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.plaintruth.com/the_plain_truth/2011/07/little-known-firms-tracking-data-used-in-credit-scores.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938195 | 172 | 1.65625 | 2 |
There has always been a relationship between the military and the media. It is an uneasy one, but it has existed for centuries. Reporters, photographers, eventually film crews, are travelling with the troops, or as it has come to be known, embedding.
For the journalist there is a trade-off. Embedding will get you closer to the front line but often, it is at the price of editorial independence. And in the same way journalists use militaries to get news stories, militaries use journalists to get their story out. Those are two agendas on a collision course.
We saw an example of that last month, when navies from the US and more than 30 other countries completed the largest joint-exercises the Middle East has ever seen, a dress rehearsal for the hunting and destroying of mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Pentagon wanted to flex some muscle and it wanted the media there to make sure that that message was delivered to Iran. Al Jazeera correspondent Cal Perry was on board, along with cameraman Bradley McLennan. They had one eye on the naval exercises, the other on the media story.
"I think there is a perception that the American military tries to control, the British military, whoever, tries to control the journalists who are with it. And I think in many cases there is some truth to that. They have their message that they want to get across. They want to be on message. They would like you to be on message. That's what they do, that is the purpose. The media is a tool of what they are doing."
Stephen Farrall, a New York Times reporter | <urn:uuid:ba5f9715-5f7b-457d-8bd7-4e3492bce754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2012/10/20121028832042124.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972377 | 339 | 1.765625 | 2 |
“Reducing these fees will reduce costs, ultimately resulting in lower prices for consumers,” said Patrick J. Coughlin, senior trial counsel at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and one of the merchants’ attorneys.
But one of the largest plaintiffs in the case rejected the terms of the agreement on Friday, casting doubt on whether it would move forward and how effective it would be.
The National Association of Convenience Stores called the monetary settlement a “mirage” and said the agreement does little to change the rules in the battle between retailers and card companies.
Several other retail trade groups involved in the suit, including the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Grocers Association, said that they are still reviewing the court documents and assessing its impact on members.
The proposed settlement stems from a 2005 lawsuit brought by 20 merchants and trade groups over “swipe fees,” also known as interchange. Swipe-fee rates are set by card processors, like Visa, but are paid by retailers to banks each time a shopper uses plastic. Swipe fees typically run between 2 and 5 percent of the purchase price.
Retailers have long argued that they have little power to negotiate the amount of the fees, calling them “hidden” taxes on consumers that total as much as $50 billion a year. But financial companies say they are charging merchants for providing a key service that many shoppers find indispensable. Last year, the Federal Reserve set caps on the size of swipe fees for debit cards but left credit cards untouched.
Under the terms of the agreement, Visa, MasterCard and the banks would create a $6.05 billion fund to repay retailers for charging high swipe fees.
They would also reduce the fees for eight months to allow new negotiating rules to take effect, an amount expected to total $1.2 billion.
Those new rules include allowing merchants to raise or lower prices on a product to reflect the amount of the swipe fee. Gas stations, for instance, could charge less for using cash. They also require Visa and MasterCard to negotiate in good faith with retailers who band together.
“We believe that today’s settlements should resolve all issues with the merchant community,” Noah Hanft, general counsel for MasterCard, said Friday.
The changes mirror, in part, an agreement reached two years ago between the Justice Department and Visa and MasterCard after an antitrust investigation. The settlement also allowed merchants to discount goods for different forms of payments, although that has not been widely adopted.
The convenience store trade group said the other changes were insignificant: Merchants already have the ability to form buying groups, and the restrictions in the settlement on raising prices to reflect higher swipe fees were onerous.
“We hope and expect that, as they have the time to review it, many other merchants including class representatives will decide to reject this proposal,” said Henry Armour, the group’s president and chief executive.
Although the proposed settlement would cover an estimated 7 million merchants, each retailer must decide whether to participate in the class action. That could reduce the size of the $6.05 billion fund by as much as 25 percent.
The agreement still requires the approval of a U.S. District Court judge. If a significant number of retailers oppose the settlement, the judge may reject it.
“The money is significant, but the test will be whether the injunctive relief that goes along with it is meaningful,” said Mallory Duncan, general counsel for the National Retail Federation, one of the industry’s largest trade groups.
“If it isn’t, then the card market will remain broken, and neither merchants nor their customers will benefit,” Duncan said.
But one of the lead plaintiffs in the suit said he was thrilled with the terms of the agreement.
Mitch Goldstone, who is the president and chief executive of ScanMyPhotos.com, called the deal “a huge win for Main Street versus Wall Street.”
“This is my Erin Brockovich moment after seven years,” he said. | <urn:uuid:f1778b0a-2fd5-4a61-9c69-75c807ac2457> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/visa-mastercard-and-banks-to-pay-up-to-725-billion-in-card-swiping-settlement/2012/07/13/gJQAe2qziW_story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96481 | 851 | 1.515625 | 2 |
on 28 Sep 2012
Have you spoken to any doctors about this? I'm not a doctor so please do take this as medical advice. Doctors don't usually even consider weight loss surgery unless you have a BMI of 35 or higher. They will consider less than 35 if you have co-morbidities such as diabetes, sleep apnea, etc.
You can check your BMI out by using our BMI calculator here.
You should speak to your doctor and see what they say about your weight loss. They may be able to help you lose without surgery.
You can also read reviews from people who have already had Lap Band surgery, here.
Before & Afters from Doctors (4)
Photos from the Community
View all →
Your information remains private and will not be posted without your permission.
Don't have an account? Create one now.
By creating an account, you are indicating that you have read and accept the
Already a member? Sign In.
Enter your username or email address and we will send you a link to login.
Check your email. We've sent you a link to reset your password. | <urn:uuid:2d8233e0-e3c4-4ee2-a87e-2105e80b216a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realself.com/forum/there-the-lap-band-lose-minimal-weight-b-c-the-yoyo-dieting-30-79-lbs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952987 | 232 | 1.601563 | 2 |
This is about a 24 year old young lady named Lindsay, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in February 2008 at the age of 22 and underwent two surgeries within a nine month period. Just two weeks ago she was given the news that it has crossed over to the other side of her brain and it's time to get more aggressive with radiation and/or chemo. She opted for radiation due to the fact that chemo would be a two year plan and her doctors were worried she didn't have enough body mass to withstand the rigors of chemo. She just completed her first week of radiation today; so far so good (we hear week two gets rough!)
Several nights per week, you can find Lindsay downtown, whether it's Tacoma, Seattle or Portland. She usually shows up with several bags packed with food, hygiene items and under clothes. She's not afraid to spend time talking or just sitting with these people. She wants to hear their story and usually comes home with a heavy heart...but ready to go back out there the next day! Her philosophy is this, "If God wants to do a miracle and take my brain tumors away, that would be awesome! But if that's not the path He has for me, then I'm going to make a difference in as many lives as I can while I'm on this journey!" We were talking the other day and she made this profound statement, "I don't have time for brain cancer!"
Not wanting to forget any of her thoughts, feelings or experiences, she has just begun blogging her journey. Her site is under construction but you can read a few of her entries here Victory at Sea: http://tovictoryatsea.blogspot.com/
After she is finished with her radiation treatments mid-September, the doctors say it takes around six weeks to recover. Once she has regained her strength, she'll be heading to Los Angeles to volunteer at the Dream Center...a program to help get homeless teens off the streets. Her room and board is provided for a small fee of $300 per month which is half of what she receives from Social Security.
I stand in awe of this young woman. Not because she is my daughter, but because she truly is an AMAZING person!
Thanks for reading my story. I don't know how it will end, but nobody knows how their story will end. I do know she encourages me to make it a better one! | <urn:uuid:a4d19072-c040-440f-9df1-4c6e77d688f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.star1015.com/younews/100164209.html?form=signup | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983831 | 496 | 1.601563 | 2 |
On April 24, 2003, hundreds of people in a Red Lion junior high cafeteria witnessed a killing. Then they saw the shooter, a child like most of them, take his own life. When classes resumed, the students pressed their hands to that cafeteria wall, an attempt to reclaim their school. For many, the trauma never took hold. In time, others broke free. Some are still trapped on that day. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
York, PA -
Mindy Bennett dreams of the day.
She will pack her things.
She will pull onto Broadway and turn south on Main Street. She will reach Interstate 83 and head for Baltimore, where a new life waits.
She will leave Red Lion, the old cigar factory town in southeastern York County where she was raised. She'd been a basketball player. She'd dreamed of being a model. She'd had her first kiss there. But she also will leave behind April 24, 2003, and the moment that, for almost a decade, has made leaving impossible.
A steady flow of antidepressants, psychiatrists and psychologists helped Bennett learn to talk again about that day.
Maybe a firecracker had snapped, or a balloon had popped, or, perhaps, somebody pulled off a practical joke. Then she saw the blood on her principal's chest and knew.
As a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Red Lion Area Junior High School, Bennett faced a choice that would have paralyzed an adult.
Do you stop to help a dying man?
Or do you step over him to save your own life?
Grant Becker went to a party not far from his house.
A couple of girls there had graduated a year ahead of Becker. Everybody got to talking about the old times, and then the conversation fell to April 24, 2003.
Jimmy Sheets, the girls said. What a psycho. The kid had shot up the school.
Becker had been in the cafeteria that day, not them. He had heard the pistol snap, had seen the blank expression on his friend's face in the last moments before he'd taken his own life.
That wasn't Jimmy. Jimmy was a clown. A sports fan. A kid, just like Becker.
Becker doesn't question Jimmy's character. He only questions why.
What was inside Jimmy that allowed him to kill someone?
Becker wonders: Is it also inside of me?
Kim Preske toured the cafeteria with her therapist.
Here, five years earlier, was where Jimmy had been standing.
He took a .44-caliber gun from his book bag here.
Dr. Eugene Segro, the principal, was standing here when he was shot. Jimmy placed the .44 on a chair, reached into the book bag and retrieved a .22. Pressed the barrel to his brown hair. Pulled the trigger.
But there had been something else. An errant shot had struck the floor here.
An errant shot?
Yes. As Jimmy lowered his arm after shooting the principal, the gun had gone off. The bullet hadn't hit anyone and had ricocheted into the ceiling.
Preske believed she shouldn't have been affected. She should not have had nightmares, the play-rewind-repeat of the hundreds of children running from the building. She shouldn't have lost sleep, shouldn't have felt like she had to quit her job.
She should have been able to forget the errant shot.
After all, Preske told herself over and over, she'd just been a sub on April 24, 2003.
Why wasn't she over it by now?
Heather Gisiner poses in the Red Lion Area Junior High School library with one of the pieces of stained glass she helped design to honor Principal Eugene Segro. After the shooting, she had recurring nightmares involving a gunman. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
Before the sun set that day, two people had died.
Hundreds of children saw what happened and realized the gunman was a playmate.
Parents worried. And as news spread through the town, people hung banners that said "I believe in Red Lion" as though belief was all that kept Red Lion from dissolving.
Nine years later, most members of Red Lion Area School District's Class of 2007 have moved on. Others took longer to break free of the trauma. Some are still trapped.
Dr. Allen Miller, director of behavioral health services for WellSpan, oversaw the 50 or so mental-health and social workers who arrived to help Red Lion within two hours of the shooting. Over the past nine years, some witnesses managed to process the violence and others couldn't, he said.
Their fight-or-flight reflexes would have been working overtime that day. Intellect and reason give way to instinct during a traumatic event, and the shift can leave a residue -- for weeks afterward, trauma can plague dreams or cause uneasiness in crowds. It usually goes away in about a month.
However, for some -- experts say as much as 8 percent of the total population -- those feelings don't fade.
When the debilitating effects of trauma exposure linger, doctors call it post-traumatic stress disorder -- an indiscriminate illness from which mental toughness or soundness of mind offer no protection. PTSD is not cowardice. It has a definite physiology, doctors say.
Children are more at risk to different kinds of trauma -- particularly school shootings, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which is considered a pre-eminent authority on PTSD. Seventy-seven percent of children who witness a school shooting will develop PTSD, according to the VA.
To help shepherd the Class of 2007 through its recovery, Red Lion rallied. The district trucked in dozens of therapists, planted group therapy sessions all over town and identified those who seemed more likely than others to develop long-term problems.
It helped hundreds of people. Even witnesses who never sought professional help said they felt reassured by the district's response.
"It felt good just knowing that help was there if I needed it," said Nick Webb, who had been sitting next to Jimmy when he stood and fired his first shot. Webb said he never sought help, and any effects from the trauma he felt disappeared within weeks. Others, like Randy Boyd, say it never affected them at all.
But getting psychiatric assistance to everyone who needed it was virtually impossible, Miller said. Participation in much of what was available was voluntary. It had to be, because forcing people to talk before they're ready can make their problems worse.
Some people who developed trauma-related illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder started exhibiting symptoms within months.
Others didn't. Or the symptoms were hard to identify. Some kept their nightmares and personality changes under wraps or resorted to drugs or alcohol.
Many people don't discuss their struggles, publicly. That does not necessarily imply an underlying problem, said Holly Orcutt, associate professor of psychology at Northern Illinois University. Orcutt performed a study of PTSD among witnesses of a shooting at her school. She said if discussing something or seeing media coverage causes someone serious damage or harm, then a serious psychological issue might be at play.
In 2010, Denise Wagner, who'd been a teacher at the junior high school, published a children's book called "I Went to School to Teach Today." Wagner's book tells the story of an unnamed act of school violence and how students and teachers reacted.
"We need to take the time to open this horrid door," Wagner wrote. "We can let out the darkness and violence will be no more!"
At first, Wagner agreed to speak about her book.
Later, she called and canceled.
"I just had a chance to speak with some professional teachers that I worked with at the junior high," she explained in a voicemail, "and administration has asked us not to be a part of this piece you're putting together. I'm very sorry, but, professionally, I wouldn't be able to do it."
The district's administration said it had informed the faculty that they were permitted to speak if they wanted to. Still, Wagner declined.
That's how it went. Of the roughly 70 former students and their families the York Daily Record/Sunday News attempted to interview, many declined to speak on the record. Several parents explained that their son or daughter -- some now parents themselves -- didn't want to relive the day.
In some cases, parents said their child had received or was still receiving therapy; talking about the day would throw them into a depression.
Sometimes, parents said their son or daughter was fine and would be willing to talk, and later the witness would decline. And some parents warned their child had been devastated, but, when questioned, the son or daughter claimed no damage.
Among the members of the Class of 2007 who agreed to speak, levels of cooperation waned. Men and women who started out speaking candidly later stopped returning phone calls, text messages or emails.
Segro's widow, Lynne Segro, declined to comment for the story. Jimmy's stepfather and mother also declined to be interviewed.
After the tragedy, Red Lion Area School District moved on, creating memorials, such as a display in the cafeteria of 1,000 handprints from students who had been in the junior high that day and the yearly 5K run named in honor of Segro.
"Every year there are kids who graduate from Red Lion that go to college, they get jobs, they go on with their lives," Miller said. "And then there are other people . . . whose lives were affected to the degree that they weren't able to go on with their lives in what one would say was a normal trajectory that they were on the day before that incident occurred. That it was an interruption to their life."
And there are those who, regardless of their best efforts and most fervent desires, remain trapped by April 24, 2003. Though they ran from the cafeteria, they have never been able to make it out the door.
'It stays with you'
That Thursday morning, Jimmy wore a black, imitation leather jacket over a green Jerzees T-shirt and brown, camouflage boots. He carried a backpack. On the school bus that morning, he listened to music through headphones attached to a compact disc player.
Every morning, eighth-graders gathered in the cafeteria ahead of the opening bell. Steve Bare watched Jimmy, his friend and football teammate, sit down at his usual seat. He seemed out of sorts. He usually clowned around. He was the kind of kid who would spray a buddy in the face with a water bottle for laughs. On bad days, he might sulk.
April 24, 2003, seemed to be one of those days.
His classmates streamed off buses through the glass doors and into the school. Bennett, a tall girl with long brown hair, sat with her friends in the cheerleader squad at a table next to Jimmy's and cooed over someone's baby pictures.
Becker, a multisport athlete, was three tables away in freshly washed sneakers.
Fun Day was coming -- the day in May when carnival games on school grounds held classes at bay. Then, three months of freedom.
As the clock rounded 7:30 a.m., Jimmy held his backpack between his knees.
Down the hall, Preske, a substitute with eyes toward a teaching career, readied her classroom for language arts. She had thought of going to the cafeteria, but something stopped her.
In the cafeteria, Heather Gisiner, a girl with a heart-shaped face, and Josh Campbell, a 15-year-old who had been held back a year, took their places at the wood-stained, circular tables.
Chad Waltemyer sat down next to Jimmy.
Jimmy opened his backpack. He showed Waltemyer what was inside.
"It became something real after the screaming," Gisiner said. "For about 15 seconds, everybody froze, and then everyone started going in different directions."
Bennett stood a few feet from a door. All around her, classmates poured through exits or became pinned against walls by fleeing forms.
Between Bennett and the door lay the body of her principal.
What could she do? Try to stop the bleeding? Drag Segro to safety? Stay with him until paramedics arrived?
Then she heard another shot.
Becker slid out of his chair onto the floor. Then, he stood and ran.
He arrived at the exit first.
Gisiner stood frozen until a friend grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.
Campbell fled through the exit doors. Waltemyer ran up a flight of stairs. Bare and a friend dashed through the kitchen.
Becker hurried toward Edgar Moore Elementary School. When he got there, he realized he'd stepped out of his sneaker.
Preske heard three shots. A boy came tearing into her classroom. He sat at a desk and tried to catch his breath. He told her what he'd seen.
As she talked to the boy, Preske heard voices and feet and a roar. Outside her door, children flooded the hallway.
"It was a tsunami," she said.
Six more children ducked into Preske's room. Preske shut off the lights, and she and the students huddled in a corner. They sat quietly for 15 minutes. Then, Preske heard someone knocking on a door down the hall. She opened her door a crack and peeked. A teacher told her it was over.
Bennett climbed aboard a school bus just outside the building. Other children sat on the benches and filled the aisles. There was no room for Bennett to sit. She lay down on her classmates' legs.
Rumors ran wild. Dr. Segro had shot himself in the leg, one boy said.
Bennett knew that wasn't true. She began to cry.
Becker joined other students at the high school auditorium.
Campbell, Bare and Waltemyer wound up there, too. For nearly four hours, police questioned Waltemyer, who had been sitting next to Jimmy and heard what might have been his last words.
"I think his exact words were, 'Should I shoot the principal?'" Waltemyer said.
Gisiner and her friend had left school grounds for her friend's house. Later, Gisiner's mother drove her back to the school so she could check on a friend.
At the auditorium, everyone seemed shocked. Some children cried.
Becker didn't start crying until his mother arrived to pick him up.
After parents came for her students, Preske walked back to the junior high school to get her things and head home.
On the way, she began to cry.
Counselors from WellSpan had been dispatched to the school. Preske spoke with a woman who gave her a hotline number and told her to call it if she felt panicked. Preske drove home, exhausted.
She tried to go to bed, but, when she began to doze, the tsunami roared in her ears: the children running away from the cafeteria past her doorway and down the hall.
Why had she stopped at the cafeteria doors that morning? Why hadn't she gone in?
She couldn't sleep.
Bennett sat in the auditorium and wept. Her mother arrived and took her to work. Then they went home.
The next two days "were probably the worst," Bennett said.
She couldn't eat. When she tried to sleep, it played over and over again, the sound of the pistol snap and then the sickening moments where she stood waiting to be killed, the only way out blocked by her dying principal.
Bennett wanted to feel safe. There was only one room in the house for that -- the bathroom. It was the only room with a locking door.
"I didn't want anyone to come get me," she said.
She lay down on the cold floor and waited for sleep that never came.
Grant Becker, a former Red Lion Area Junior High student, stands near the memorial erected in honor of Principal Eugene Segro on the Red Lion campus. Becker was a friend and sports teammate of Jimmy Sheets. He has struggled to understand why Jimmy did what he did. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
The day after the shooting, Becker went to Massachusetts for a basketball tournament. What had happened in Red Lion seemed like a bad dream.
The junior high already had held an open house for families. More than 1,000 people -- students, parents and residents -- went to the high school auditorium. They were angry, worried and fearful. Miller arranged meetings with individual students, teachers and entire families.
Any one of them could have developed a long-term psychological issue, Miller said. They didn't have to be in the cafeteria when the shots were fired.
The district and other local organizations held activities for the kids, such as group meetings and art therapy. All of it was voluntary.
Gisiner went to a group therapy session with her friends.
She'd been having nightmares.
On Monday, April 28, mourners buried Jimmy in a plot at Susquehanna Memorial Gardens. The same day, Segro was laid to rest at an undisclosed location.
When Becker returned from his trip, classes were in full swing.
"It was strange," he said. "It was strangely normal."
There was a counselor in every homeroom. Becker, his friends and the counselors spoke about what happened.
Preske returned to teach. Everything had changed. Colleagues who had been so friendly before, she said, now seldom spoke with one another.
Counselors from WellSpan and Lincoln Intermediate Unit were on hand the first few weeks. "I was a frequent flier," Preske said.
She worked at the district throughout the next year.
She gave up trying to sleep at night. The night brought the sounds of that day and the questions. Instead, after work ended in the afternoon, she would go home and catch a few hours on the couch while it was still light outside, often with her elementary-school-aged son sitting next to her.
When the junior high reopened the Tuesday after the shooting, teachers poured black paint into trays and invited the kids to walk into the cafeteria and make handprints on the wall.
Bennett couldn't go back in.
One time, later, she tried. She felt sick and nearly dropped her tray. She ate with the faculty in an adjoining room after that.
When Bennett moved on to high school, counselors checked on her frequently.
Eventually, a high school dance was scheduled in the junior high cafeteria. Bennett didn't want to go, but her friends talked her into it.
When she arrived, she felt nervous. They served cupcakes on a table. The table was positioned where she had seen Segro that day. Bennett had to leave.
When school began again in the fall, a basketball coach kept regular tabs on Becker.
The two spoke informally about Becker's life in general and eventually the coach asked him about how he felt in regard to the shooting.
He felt confused. He could make peace with the fact that it had happened, but Becker never understood why. Why did Jimmy do it?
In ninth grade, Bare and a group of boys he'd been sitting close to that day, or who'd been close friends with Jimmy, gathered in a classroom at the high school nearly once a week to talk. A counselor helped lead discussions about how everyone felt.
"Guilty," Bare said. "We all felt like we shoulda seen it coming. We were his friends."
One boy in particular, the boy Bare fled with that day, seemed to Bare to be consumed with feelings of guilt. He is among the people who chose not to speak publicly, saying it was too painful to talk.
For his part, Bare said the bad feelings began to subside within that first year. "When the media coverage started to go away, I realized I could go on with my life," he said.
An art class designed and installed two stained-glass windows in the junior high library as a tribute to Segro. Gisiner was one of the artists who helped with the design.
"It made me feel good about things," she recalled.
Gisiner's nightmares continued for months. She never replayed the event; instead, random dreams were interrupted by an anonymous gunman.
Loud noises disturbed her. If a car backfired or a balloon popped unexpectedly, Gisiner burst into tears.
Kim Preske, a former substitute teacher at Red Lion Area Junior High School, holds a piece of artwork she created as part of her PTSD therapy. The shooting 'happened to everyone,' she said. She wished it had been more acceptable in the town to speak about what happened, as a means of therapy. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
Preske became convinced she should have gone to the cafeteria that day. That shot had been meant for her. She should be dead.
By the time Preske taught her final class at the junior high, she had become "a Nazi," she said. Once lenient and fun loving, Preske said she now sent students to the office for the smallest offenses.
"I couldn't trust my kids any more," she said.
Gone was any talk of becoming a full-time educator. She quit teaching in 2006.
She became angry. She seldom left home. She thought about suicide. She'd drive herself to the grocery store and go inside, only to emerge a moment later in tears.
Bennett had dental surgery. The dentist prescribed Vicodin for the pain.
One day, she took an entire bottle, along with other pills.
Doctors admitted her to the psychiatric ward of York Hospital. She stayed several days. Bennett remembers mingling with men and women who mumbled to themselves.
Bennett was suffering from depression, her doctors said. They prescribed antidepressants. The first variety made her sleepy, so they changed her dosage.
A friend advised her to stop taking her pills. She stopped and suffered a relapse.
As a student at Lebanon Valley College, Becker sat in a crowded arena listening to a Journey cover band. A speaker shorted out.
Becker felt a sharp pain in his chest. He became aware of the people all around him. He remembers feeling trapped, as though he had to get outside into the fresh air.
It had happened before. At parties, when a balloon popped, for example.
In Red Lion, Campbell developed a cocaine problem. One night, he nearly died of an overdose. He said he has since stopped using illegal drugs.
Plenty of factors led to his drug abuse, he said. But could what he saw that day be a factor? Who knows?
That day, he said, "stays with you. It messed with my head. It's not every day you see someone murdered."
Nearly six years after the shooting, Preske's son entered the eighth grade at Red Lion Area Junior High School. Preske found herself attending track and field events at the school, wearing Red Lion's colors -- yellow and black. Her son sat in the same classrooms where Jimmy had once sat.
Preske didn't weep. She didn't force her son to go to another school.
"I was physically there," she said. "But I felt nothing. And that was when I had had enough."
'What our voices really sounded like'
On June 8, 2007, Red Lion Area High School seniors and their families gathered on Horn Field for graduation.
Four years earlier, the students' weeping, horrified faces had been national news. Now, they were heading out into the world. Gina Arakelian was about to serve her country in the military. Students such as Nick Webb, who'd been sitting next to the boy who shot his principal, were college bound.
Graduating senior Libby Spangler addressed the crowd.
"People would ask, 'Where do you go to school?' and you would say, 'Red Lion,'" she said. "And they would stare at you.
"The nation looked at us and said, 'See what happened in little Red Lion?'" Spangler continued. "Some bashed us for not taking more precautions, and others praised us for how we handled the situation. . . . We wanted to share with the nation what our voices really sounded like. . . .
"Don't be afraid of what your voice has to say. Just speak up."
Mindy Bennett poses with two bottles of antidepressant pills she no longer takes to manage depression that developed after the shooting. Bennett saw her principal lay dying and feared for her own life in that moment. Afterward, she struggled to eat, sleep or feel safe. She blamed herself for not helping Segro. She attempted suicide and spent time in a psychiatric ward. Today, she manages without medication and has for the past 18 months. (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
The monster in the closet
A barking, lunging German shepherd pushed visitors back from the front door of Bennett's yellow-sided two-story home on Broadway in Red Lion.
Bennett is close to 6 feet tall. Her hair, mahogany in her junior high yearbook photo, is blond.
When she agreed to be photographed, Bennett went through her things and found two bottles of the depression medication she no longer takes.
At first, she would not bring the bottles into the room. She double checked -- nothing was to be written indicating she still was taking the pills. Once reassured, she produced the bottles.
She speaks about the day and what followed without hesitation and with a touch of gallows humor. She's been over it and over it. Talking about it feels good, she says.
After Bennett graduated, she went to Lebanon Valley College and attempted to major in psychology. But her illness made her feel insecure, so she dropped out and moved back home with her parents.
About two years ago, Bennett began seeing a new psychiatrist. Other therapists asked her to recount April 24, 2003.
She got sick of it. What was the point? "Read a newspaper if you want that," Bennett said. Her new doctor, for the first time, asked her to delve into how she felt.
That day, her dying principal blocked her only way out of the cafeteria. Near her, Jimmy fired his gun a second time.
This was the moment within the moment -- the object of her nightmares that kept replaying over and over.
Do you stop to help a dying man? Or step over him to save your own life?
Bennett had stepped over her principal and run out the door.
For years, she believed she should have stopped to help Segro, as if, at 14, she alone among hundreds of scattering children held sway over the man's life.
Bennett quit antidepressants a year and a half ago and hasn't had a relapse.
She works several double-shifts a week as a waitress at the Hawk's Gunning Club in Springettsbury Township. Recently she began applying to schools in the Baltimore area. She wants to take a job as an X-ray technician.
That would mean leaving home. Bennett feels strong enough. Now.
"I'm doing a lot better," she said.
A few years ago, a couple of Becker's co-workers were playing a prank on a girl. They were sneaking up behind her and popping balloons. The girl seemed to have an unnaturally histrionic reaction to loud noises.
Becker knew why.
Horrified, he told the pranksters to stop.
The girl had been his classmate. The Daily Record/Sunday News spoke with the girl's parents. They said the shooting caused her too much pain to talk.
If, like Becker, the girl struggled with finding a reason for the tragedy, there were few answers.
On the morning of April 24, 2003, Jimmy entered the cafeteria with three guns and 700 rounds of ammunition.
Police determined Jimmy was depressed, but they were never able to figure out why he shot Segro.
However, they developed a theory -- that Jimmy had intended to wave guns to show off that morning but never meant to hurt anyone. If that theory is true, the gun went off by accident, and Jimmy, overwrought, took his own life.
The first time Becker heard the theory, he looked at the floor. He stood silently.
On the wood-paneled walls of the basement of his parents' house -- where Becker now lives -- are photos and clippings of his athletic career. Walk down a hallway from the area with the TV to the laundry room and you can watch Becker grow up in uniform.
Jimmy is in many of the photos.
Could it all have been an accident? "I guess I could buy that to an extent," he said.
Several days later, Becker said he hadn't stopped thinking about the theory. It was the first time he heard a plausible answer about why Jimmy had killed someone.
"It just makes sense to me," he said.
You don't have to go far in Red Lion to hear a different theory or rumor about what happened that day. The less the town talked about what had occurred, the more opinions and stories about how the tragedy had occurred took flight.
Another of Jimmy's teammates, Bare, doesn't buy the accident theory. After he fired the shots, Jimmy's face seemed devoid of emotion. Still, Bare felt he could read something. Jimmy meant to fire the gun at Segro, Bare said. But, when it happened, "he couldn't believe he'd chosen that road."
Today, Bare lives with his wife and young son in a rancher in Delta. He works long hours.
His wife had been in the cafeteria that day, but they'd never discussed the shooting. Bare said he would ask her how she felt about what she had seen.
Later, Bare said his wife wanted no part of this story. Then, he stopped returning phone calls.
To Becker, Jimmy is a litmus test. When he feels stressed or when things are going badly, Becker thinks about what an awful place the junior high school cafeteria must have seemed that morning to his friend. How everything must have collapsed in on him.
Then Becker looks within himself. Could things ever get that bad?
"Jimmy Sheets," he said, "is the epitome of a bad day."
'This is what trauma looks like,' Kim Preske said of this piece of artwork she created to help her manage her PTSD (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
"Grief is like a Twinkie," she said, "because no matter how long you have grief for it's always still fresh when you open it."
Propped on the chair next to her were two canvas rectangles. One depicts a multicolored series of lines spiraling in on one another.
"This is what trauma looks like," she said.
The other is a collage of old newspaper clippings, paystubs and construction paper. One clipping is a photo of her back as she embraces a girl whose hands cover her face.
"These are all pieces of that first day," Preske said. She points to a headline that says "Disbelief and Deep Anguish."
Preske calls the big parts of life "pieces." There's the substitute teacher piece, the Jimmy Sheets piece, the fear piece, the PTSD piece, the guilt and trauma piece. Preske has spent most of the last decade trying to make these pieces fit into ... something. An explanation. A life.
In 2008, Preske had had enough. At her husband's insistence, she saw a doctor. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Preske knew she had it early on but felt unworthy. She'd been a sub. She was an adult. She hadn't been in the room.
Three and a half years of therapy, collages and poems later, Preske says the nightmares have subsided.
And now, Preske is pursuing another college degree -- this time in trauma therapy. Her dream is to one day start a nonprofit to help people suffering from trauma-related illnesses.
She speaks of what happened, reverently, the way some might speak about Jesus.
"Trauma is an AMAZING organism," she says, smiling. The shooting "happened to everyone. It's like an epicenter."
But then the town stopped talking about it, she said. Warning signs went ignored, and some people may have developed acute trauma-related illnesses that she believes could have been stemmed or lessened with treatment.
To help with her therapy, Preske sought police records and said she was denied access to files about the shooting. York Area Regional Police, which keeps the 6-inch thick file on the shooting, said they offered Preske to work with her therapist to give her access to portions of the file. Preske never returned a phone call, they said.
The town was eager to leave the shooting in the past. Most people have, Miller said. But for others, like Preske, moving on was never possible.
"I think we all talk behind our hands -- those of us that have survived," she says. "... I've always wanted to sit down and say, 'Hey this isn't my story, you're not saying my story. Please stop speaking for me.'
"For eight years, everyone's been talking for me, mental-health professionals have been talking for me, my bosses, my district. I never had a voice. I just feel like my voice, as an employee, we lost our voice. I lost my voice. I lost my own opinion."
Former Red Lion Area Junior High School students Josh Campbell, left, and Chad Waltemyer sit in front of some of the handprints that surround the school cafeteria in honor of Principal Eugene Segro. Both were in the cafeteria on April 24, 2003, when classmate Jimmy Sheets shot and killed Segro and then himself. Just before, Waltemyer recalls, Jimmy made a quip about shooting the principal, 'and before I knew what to do ...' Campbell thinks about that day 'all the time. I would love to understand. But no one will ever know.' (DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS -- JASON PLOTKIN)
One day in February, three students returned to the junior high school for photographs.
All three said they'd put the day behind them.
Waltemyer arrived first. The yellow band of the handprint display in the cafeteria glowed to his right as he walked in the door.
The last time he'd set foot in Red Lion Area Junior High School was a few weeks after the shooting. He left the district for York County School of Technology after that. Today, he works as a landscaper.
He'd been one of the lucky ones, he said. The shooting never haunted him. He'd managed to let go.
Now, back at Red Lion, he glanced around corners and exhaled through his teeth.
"It's weird," he said. "This is where it all went down."
Gisiner and her boyfriend arrived next. She didn't recognize Waltemyer. She hadn't been in the school since the installation of the stained glass windows in the Dr. Eugene Segro Memorial Library.
Campbell arrived next. He shook hands with Gisiner and Waltemyer and reminisced about wrestling.
Gisiner went off to the library for photos in front of the stained glass windows she helped create. Campbell and Waltemyer walked into the cafeteria.
"It looks exactly the same!" Campbell said.
Waltemyer couldn't remember the handprints. More than 1,000 black hands smudged the walls.
Both men pointed out where they'd sat that day. Segro had fallen near a row of cash registers.
As Campbell and Waltemyer spoke, Gisiner walked down the hallway toward the exit. Something caught her eye. She stopped and stood in the cafeteria doorway.
Gisiner squinted. She took two steps. She raised her hand and pressed it to the wall.
The print disappeared beneath her hand.
Was that hers?
How could she remember? It had been nine years.
"This is as far as I was willing to come into the room," she said.
Gisiner went no farther. She said goodbye to Waltemyer and Campbell, turned and walked out the door.
About this story
In 2011, two people who had experienced the Red Lion school shooting eight years earlier independently approached the York Daily Record/Sunday News and said they wanted to talk about what happened, how they had coped and the effect they believed the shooting had on the Red Lion community.
They said others would want to help tell the story of the shooting's aftermath.
That's where this story began. Reporter Bill Landauer created a list of members from the Class of 2007 and started calling and visiting them. Visual journalist Jason Plotkin joined him. Instead of focusing on the events of that day, Landauer and Plotkin wanted to talk to people about their lives since then. Those stories could show others who were struggling that they are not alone.
Red Lion Area School Supt. Scott Deisley told school staff they could talk to us, if they wished, and he allowed us to photograph students at the school. Some people we talked to said they understood and even supported the idea of the newspaper doing this story, but they didn't want to participate. Others questioned what good a newspaper story would do and declined to talk. Some objected to the paper writing about the shooting again.
Others, including Jimmy Sheets' parents and Eugene Segro's widow, Lynne, said they didn't want to talk. We respected their wishes.
Several people decided to tell their stories in depth.
In all, Landauer and Plotkin spoke with dozens of former students, as well as members of the Red Lion Area Junior High School staff, trauma experts and police.
This story is written from those
interviews, information from York Daily Record/Sunday News archives, public records and online resources. | <urn:uuid:84cdeea1-09b3-43c5-84bb-a9bd295656de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_20418716 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985585 | 8,001 | 1.546875 | 2 |
1964. Phebe Jane Thorn was born on 15 Sep 1812 in Ulster County, NY. She was Quaker.
She was married
to William Penn Roach on 16 Feb 1837 in New York City, NY. Name of Husband found
in her Father's Will. William Penn Roach was born
on 3 Mar 1816 in Bedford, Westchester, NY. He died on 7 Nov 1870 in Monroe,
Orange Co, NY. He was buried in Cornwall Quaker Cemetery, Cornwall, Orange Co,
NY. Phebe Jane Thorn and William Penn Roach had the following children: | <urn:uuid:0f079b6b-255c-4af6-8058-9cbe7ef03f3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thorn.pair.com/williamthorne1/d113.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95762 | 126 | 1.617188 | 2 |
In late 2010, after the ninth corpse or body part had been discovered on his ranch in a span of 12 months, David Lowell sat down and drafted a document that he later took to calling, with a grain of dark pride, "my map of atrocities." Lowell lives in southern Arizona, 11 miles north of Mexico, in a hinterland canyon in the middle of the busiest drug- and human-smuggling corridor in the United States. Lowell's map, "Sites of Recent Border Violence Within the Atascosa Ranch," renders the ranch boundary as a thick black line. Inside the line glow 17 red dots, each stamped with a number. Among the descriptions in the corresponding key: "Rape tree with women's underwear" (2); "Fresh human head without body" (3); "Skull" (3A); "Body found 500 yards west of Lowell home" (6); "Body found 100 yards south of Lowell home" (7); and "Patrolman Terry killed by Mexican bandits" (12).
Lowell, who is 84, has owned and run the Atascosa Ranch for more than 35 years. He is slight and chalk-pallid but possessed of a steady vigor. He handed me a copy of the map in his office before taking me on a tour of the ranch. "In the case of the human head," Lowell said as I was examining the map, "one of our cowboys came to the house holding a Safeway bag and said, 'You wanna see something interesting?' And I said, 'Sure,' and I opened the bag and inside there was a fairly fresh human head. Meat. Fresh-looking meat."
After telling the cowboy, Martin, to put the head back exactly where he'd found it, Lowell called the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office. Neither the responding deputies nor Lowell nor Martin could find a corpse. Eventually, the county medical examiner matched the head to the remains of a body recovered a mile away. The deceased was an illegal immigrant who had probably been abandoned by his guide and died of hunger or exposure. Animals had dissected his corpse.
About five years earlier, the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, had assumed control of the smuggling corridor, which runs from Nogales to Phoenix and is roughly 8,000 square miles. All of the human smugglers work for the cartel now. ("The days of the independent coyote are gone," several locals told me.) Decapitated enemies and illegal immigrants left to die are the detritus of a newly disciplined, unitary system.
The Nogales–Phoenix corridor is one of the roughest, least-accessible swaths of land along the U.S.–Mexico border. It became the Sinaloa Cartel's primary trafficking route not long after the 9/11 attacks, when "border security" was a touchstone phrase and lawmakers worried that bomb-bearing terrorists posing as illegal immigrants would exploit the country's permeable southwestern border. The Department of Homeland Security sought to move beyond mere deterrence and achieve "operational control" of the border. It assigned the Border Patrol a special "priority mission": to prevent "terrorists and terrorists' weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, from entering the United States." Legislation in 2004 and 2006 provided funding for 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents, mandated 700 miles of new fencing, and authorized the deployment of advanced surveillance systems: laser range finders, mobile ground radar, unmanned aerial vehicles, infrared cameras.
The technology and agents are in place, and much of the fence is complete, but the new tactics seem to have rerouted illicit traffic as much as decreased it. With superior fencing and detection equipment, and a recent burst of manpower, DHS has successfully shielded populated areas and shut down some major trafficking routes. Elsewhere, though, agents are scarcer, and the new fence is not continuous or uniform: Pedestrian fencing alternates with vehicle barriers and long stretches of open border. Much of the Nogales–Phoenix corridor is, in any event, so mountainous as to be unfenceable, and its isolation and immensity make it inimical to law enforcement. As DHS selectively tightened the border and drug seizures increased, the cartel moved into the corridor. The infrastructure and counter-surveillance systems it has established there make its operations virtually ineradicable. It now ships an enormous volume of narcotics through the corridor each year, including as much as a quarter of all the marijuana that enters the United States.
Lowell occasionally sees smugglers hiking through canyons on the ranch. There are typically 10 porters and two armed guards. "They're very often a matched team, all about the same size, muscular and in good condition. Our policy is to turn off at a right angle or go back the way we'd come. I've had one or two experiences where I've thought, 'Somebody might really take a shot at us.'"
It is unlikely that a trafficker would deliberately shoot at a U.S. citizen. The more attention traffickers attract, the less efficient they become, and cartel bosses prioritize efficiency. "The Sinaloa Cartel includes some of the best entrepreneurs of all time," a senior DEA agent based in Tucson told me. "These guys know how to make billions of dollars better than anybody." They prefer their assault rifles to be used against bandits.
Confrontations between traffickers and bandits, or "rip crews," account for most of the violence here. When bandits become too disruptive, the cartel reportedly deploys teams of assassins. In 2010, a sheriff in Florence received an intelligence report from the DHS: Cartel leaders planned to send "a group of 15 very well-equipped and armed sicarios [assassins]" into the Vekol Valley, south of Phoenix. A month later, two men were killed there, in what appeared to be a sicario ambush.
We left the office, taking with us Lowell's springer spaniels, Ginger and Spook. The Sonoran monsoon had greened the canyon. Lowell's house, built of stone and 100-year-old adobe, stands above the canyon's wash, which had just received a braid of water. To the west, the canyon climbs into the foothills of the Atascosa Mountains. To the east, it widens into a valley that approaches the Santa Rita Mountains.
Lowell said that the cartel had scouts on mountaintops across the ranch. "I'm sure people will be watching us today," he said.
I said that must be disturbing.
"Oh, we kind of forget about it," he said. "But one of the dilemmas we do run into is that, fairly often, we see groups coming past our house – maybe a hundred feet away."
Until recently, Lowell and his wife, Edith, reported these sightings to the Border Patrol. "But after 2010 – 14 dead bodies, or people shot at, or people killed – we're not quite so enthusiastic about calling," he said. In the last two years, unknown assailants shot and killed an Arizona rancher named Rob Krentz and a New Mexico landowner named Larry Link. Rumors along the border hold that they were murdered in retaliation for reporting drug activity.
Edith, who had been running errands in Nogales, pulled up to the house and came over to say hello. "There was a helicopter hovering over the ridge, and two cars stopped where I drove in, and two female Border Patrol agents were out of their vehicle," she said. "So, a little action today." She told us to have a good time and walked inside.
The helicopter returned and hovered at the end of the Lowells' driveway. The Border Patrol had increased its presence in the canyon after bandits killed an agent named Brian Terry in December 2010 (number 12 on Lowell's map), but until then traffickers had used the intersection of the driveway and a county road, Avenida Beatriz, as a vehicle-staging area.
The concentration of agents has just pushed traffic into adjacent canyons, Lowell said. "The cartel is still bringing drugs down this canyon on a regular basis."
We climbed into his SUV and started down the driveway, immediately passing the ranch junkyard and hay barn. Loads of dope had been found in both places on multiple occasions. Border Patrol agents once found paraphernalia in the hay barn; a drug mule had been smoking marijuana out of a soda-can pipe. "Which was not optimal from our point of view," Lowell said, "because of the risk of fire."
One night Edith found a car parked in the middle of the driveway. Annoyed, she approached it. "To her horror, the trunk was open and two fellows were filling it with marijuana," Lowell said. "They looked at her, and she looked at them, until they'd gotten all the marijuana in the car and rode off."
We passed the Border Patrol SUV at the end of the driveway and began a steep climb up the canyon ridge. The road turned to dirt and the ridge narrowed. Ravines fell away on either side. In all directions sharp canyonlands stretched to spurred foothills and peaks. It was a landscape human beings should be moving around, not through. Sheriff's deputies sometimes had to be lowered into it by helicopter.
"One dead body was over there," Lowell said, stopping and indicating a point on a ridge. "Between there and our canyon were two others. The human head was found near where that road disappears. A second human head was found in the last year in about the same place. But it was an older head, more of a skull. We have one rape tree" – where the smugglers rape women they're guiding – "that I know about. But we have a neighbor who likes everything tidy, and she went up and collected all the women's underwear."
Two friends of Lowell's, out hiking southwest of the ranch, had found a tree with 32 pairs of women's underwear hanging from its branches.
"Some of them showed signs of having been there for a year or two," Lowell said. "It was a repeated rape site. There's some really bad people involved in this."
Later, back at the house, Edith joined us in the living room. The windows afford a view of the wash and the ridge beyond. I asked if it was hard to relax in the evenings.
"Well, we're careful to pull the curtains," she said.
"And we automatically lock all the doors," Lowell said. "We have a sophisticated alarm system with motion-sensing lights and three sirens, and we have guns."
Someone had tried to break into their bedroom once, but the dogs had scared him off. Six men had snuck up to the house and demanded money and food from Lowell's secretary, but she'd run them off with the dogs, too. A few years earlier, they had hosted an event for a state representative who was looking into the trafficking situation. Edith told the representative that drug carriers walked right by the house, and pointed out a window. "And right then I looked out, and here came a group of drug mules," Lowell told me. "In our yard! Fifty feet from the house. And they didn't pay any attention to us. They just hiked by with their packs."
One night, he said, Ginger started growling, and when he let her out she stopped on the porch and pointed. "I pretended that her head was a rifle sight, and I got behind her and sighted between her ears and over her nose. Soon two fellows walked through a gap in the bushes. Maybe 150 feet away."
"If Ginger starts barking loudly, we know there's someone around," Edith said. "Once in a while we hear noises getting closer, and our lights go on, and we get alarmed enough to get up and look out. Otherwise, we have peaceful evenings."Lowell's neighbor Jim Chilton owns a 50,000-acre ranch that shares a five-mile border with Mexico. Hundreds of smuggling trails cross it. Guided by scouts and aided by a paucity of roads and law-enforcement patrols, the smugglers move easily through the terrain.
When I showed up at his house, Chilton opened a small barred window set into his heavy front door and scrutinized me for a moment, then invited me in for cowboy coffee in his kitchen with his wife, Sue. Chilton is 72, Sue, 69. They are relaxed and of modest stature. Sue, a naturalist, said that at 3,500 feet, mesquite grassland gives way to oak grassland and that the region has a bimodal weather pattern (convective and frontal). With a cackle and sidelong glance, Chilton said, "I just read cowboy things."
"Oh, don't believe him," said Sue. "He has a great, great interest in history."
Chilton, whose family has been ranching in Arizona for five generations, has a large library where he likes to sit and read Bancroft's Works or 19th-century magazine articles with titles like "My Adventures in Zuñi."
Chilton brought a Ruger .44 pistol and a Ruger .223 rifle with us out to his pickup, and we drove south into a landscape that lay furrowed or broken between mountain ranges. Ranchers here lease most of their land from the state or federal government, and their permits restrict material improvements. The majority of the corridor runs through national forests or monuments, or semiautonomous, undeveloped Native American reservations. Law-enforcement officers consequently have very few roads to use and no operating bases – 96 percent of Chilton's ranch is publicly owned. Its scarce roads are gashed and serpentine.
"How on Earth," Chilton asked, "would a border patrolman ever see anyone coming through this country?" He slowed above a notably green arroyo called Yellowjacket Pasture. "The Border Patrol rarely get out of their vehicles – they patrol the roads. Now imagine you got people down there in Yellowjacket Wash. Look down there. Look at all the hiding spots."
The wash had produced thick stands of mesquite trees, and an opaque profusion of ocotillo and guajilla and creosote and prickly pear cactus.
As we continued south, Chilton began pointing out trail after trail coming down through the hills: little switchback scars, bare tracks descending arroyos. "There are literally hundreds," he said. "There's no way law enforcement can cover all these trails." Smugglers could cross the border at night without resistance, Chilton said, climb the mountains, come down these trails, and disappear.
Like Lowell, Chilton told me that scouts have stationed themselves on mountaintops all across his ranch. According to the DEA, the Sinaloa Cartel employs between 200 and 300 surveillance teams along the length of the corridor. Drug loads can be passed from one team to another, all the way north. Scouts have night-vision goggles, infrared telescopes, and military-grade two-way radios with rolling encryption. Land-mobile radio repeaters boost the strength of outgoing transmissions, so no signal degradation occurs as the radio waves flow north. Portable solar panels power the devices. The cartel can reprovision its surveillance teams over a period of months a hundred miles into the United States.
Individual scouts can be chased from their locations, but only temporarily, and they usually succeed in remaining invisible. The mountains are full of caves – "spider holes," Border Patrol and DEA agents call them – and when scouts can't find caves they remain deep in brush, beneath rock overhangs or under camouflage tarps. When scouts are spotted and flushed, they're rarely caught. If you see them, they see you, and they have strict orders, Chilton said, to drop everything and run. The cartel doesn't care about losing equipment; it worries about giving up information. "Chasing a scout," one Border Patrol agent told me, "is like chasing a unicorn."
Shortly afterward, we saw a Border Patrol SUV parked on the side of the road. "He's there to prevent vehicle traffic," Chilton said. "He'll just sit there." In the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which encompasses the corridor, the agency has at most one agent for every 21 square miles of territory. We would spend seven hours traversing the ranch that day and not see another patrol unit.
The farther south we drove, the rougher the terrain became. We entered the Bartolo Mountains. Halfway down a narrow canyon, Chilton pulled over. The other side of the canyon, he said, was Mexico. He grabbed his rifle, and we got out and climbed down to a small plateau. A cattle fence, making acute angles as it traveled through the mountains, marked the border. The fence was so low and insubstantial, it disappeared as soon as you shifted your gaze. We were far beyond the scope of any patrol, Chilton said. He doubted the cartel even bothered to station scouts here.I returned to the border the following day with Deputy Omar Rodriguez, a member of the Santa Cruz County sheriff's office. A good portion of the southern half of the smuggling corridor runs through Santa Cruz County. Our patrol was part of Operation Stonegarden, an anti-trafficking initiative whose objective was to get more "eyes on the ground." A guarded, thoughtful, crew-cut realist, Rodriguez had been a deputy since 2006, and there were parts of the county he still hadn't seen. In addition to the detection problem so evident during my ride with Chilton, law enforcement also faced an apprehension problem. To maximize coverage, Rodriguez said, deputies went out alone – but couldn't apprehend armed traffickers without backup. And the traffickers usually got away before backup arrived.
The patrol with Rodriguez would serve as a kind of inventory of the advantages enjoyed by the traffickers: cartel engineers who devised methods for circumventing physical barriers; U.S. citizens on the traffickers' payroll who provided logistical support; scouts who meticulously documented the habits of U.S. law enforcement. From Nogales, the county seat, we drove northeast into the Coronado National Forest, passing through the Patagonia Mountains, some of whose peaks approach 7,000 feet. Several signs along the road read smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in this area. Now and again we saw trailers and houses. I asked Rodriguez whether he'd be comfortable living there, or even hiking. "Me, personally?" he said. "No."
We turned south, descended steadily, and came upon a handful of singlewide trailers and tar-shingled bungalows. Ahead of us, an arroyo widened into a weedy field, and the road ran under a steel gate. "That's Mexico," Rodriguez said. A derelict sign on the gate faintly read '1975' and 'Lochiel Port of Entry.' Low, anti-vehicle Normandy barriers, recently installed, ran along the border. Rodriguez said that traffickers use flatbed tow trucks to drop dope-filled vehicles over the barriers. They drive over higher vehicle barriers on portable, custom-built metal bridges. When I asked him how much of the Border Patrol's most formidable fencing – deeply anchored steel posts with concrete cores, 30 feet high – protects Santa Cruz County, the fullness and duration of his laugh surprised me. "Not much," he said. Later I got the exact figure: 2.8 miles.
Traffickers know a lot about law enforcement on this side of the border. They see almost everything. They hire U.S. citizens to collect intelligence. A person living on a fixed income in a mobile home in the Coronado National Forest might accept a stack of bills from a stranger if all they have to do in exchange is call a number on a prepaid cellphone when a sheriff's deputy drives by or a Border Patrol technician installs a sensor. Traffickers hire locals to obtain police reports and press releases after major seizures and debrief drug mules forced to drop their loads. They will know which agencies were involved, which kinds of vehicles were used, whether air support was available.
Cartel surveillance teams generally know how long it will take a law-enforcement unit to get from one point to another – they measure response times. They are familiar with the protocols of Border Patrol shift changes. They know that there are fewer agents in the field on weekends. They have mapped everything – all the forest lanes wavering away from the Lochiel gate, for example, as well as the dead-end spur roads. They know whether the Border Patrol has been using trackers in an area and how much lead time a group will need to outpace them.
If a vehicle crossing the border at Lochiel trips a sensor or is otherwise detected and law enforcement responds, scouts direct it onto a spur road, where its driver covers it with brush and a camouflage tarp. (Scouts may also note the potential presence of a new sensor.) Already provisioned for this eventuality, drivers will wait for minutes or hours or days, until the roads are clear.
Traffickers use decoy groups to walk across the border at known sensor locations. Or they may employ banzais, who simultaneously scale border fences and scatter, vacuuming up manpower. Jim Chilton told me that 12 men with assault rifles once marched across the border and straight at a National Guard surveillance post. The men paused while the alarm rippled through the system and then crossed back. As Border Patrol units and tactical teams and sheriff's deputies and helicopters descended on the post, smugglers crossed en masse for miles on either side.
From Lochiel, we headed to the Santa Cruz River, which runs into Mexico about 10 miles east of Nogales. Drug mules often cross the border and hide in the brush along its banks until scouts signal them to continue. We pulled over a few miles north of the border and began walking along the river's south bank until we came to a camp. Amid a jetsam of empty water bottles and bleached shreds of cloth and bits of clothing stood improvised shelters: a lean-to of tarp and driftwood stakes, a canopy of tarp pulled through a lattice of low branches, a roof of viney undergrowth and cardboard on legs of salvaged PVC pipe. We found another camp close by, and then another, and another.
Rodriguez said that traffickers pay locals to resupply people in the camps. He had stopped river-bound cars full of pizza, roasted chicken, and soda, all purchased in bulk from Walmart. In one scenario, a driver picks up provisions at Walmart while three sentinels with cellphones and binoculars station themselves between the store and a drop-off point along the river. If no law enforcement is present, the sentinels authorize the drop and the driver deposits the supplies and leaves. None of these U.S. citizens interacts with cartel traffickers or visibly break the law, and none have information beyond a simple set of instructions for performing a discrete task.The corridor's smuggling routes complete their convergence in Pinal County, which extends south from Phoenix. For the past five years, the county has seen unprecedented levels of drug trafficking and violence.
"It's hard to tell how much violence there actually is because there's so much shit that goes on out here we don't see," Lt. Matthew Thomas, commander of the Pinal Regional SWAT team, told me. The county's 220 deputies patrol 5,500 square miles. Thomas conducts some of the most aggressive anti-narcotics operations in the smuggling corridor.
I met Thomas one morning before dawn at a sheriff's office substation in the dilapidated desert town of Arizona City. We climbed into his unmarked silver Chevy Tahoe and turned onto Sunland Gin Road, a thoroughfare sometimes used by traffickers. He wore a long-sleeve SWAT T-shirt, desert army pants, and beige combat boots. He had a tactical knife in a scabbard strapped to one leg.
Earlier that morning, Thomas told me, blacked-out SWAT vehicles had dropped off eight deputies near surveillance positions in two nearby mountain ranges that smugglers use to move north through the county.
"If we keep relatively current on the activity of smuggling routes, we might catch somebody," Thomas said. "The smugglers switch routes, but they might keep a successful one going a little longer than they should."
Because the cartel's own surveillance coverage is so advanced and comprehensive, Thomas can never be sure whether his men will make it to their positions unseen.
"The bosses know when the dope is moving, and they'll start asking, 'What's out there?'" Thomas said. "They've mapped the area and all their scout locations. If it's hot they'll say, 'Shut it down,' and the smugglers will run their load into a wash, cover it with camo and brush, and wait. When they do that, it's very hard to find them. They're very good at hiding. And they'll wait as long as days."
The cartel's resupply vehicles sometimes spend all night provisioning scout positions, making the rounds from one peak to the next. Occasionally they drop off prostitutes for a day or two. Two weeks earlier, Thomas had impounded a car containing 200 pounds of dope and copious supplies for scouts. He pulled out his cellphone and showed me pictures of the supplies: packets of socks and underwear; Levi's jeans with the tags still on them; cans of beans and bags of tortillas; cases of Sprite, Coke, and Gatorade; bottles of tequila and beer; a carton of Marlboros; a Glock 9mm pistol; a two-way radio charger and two phone chargers, all wired to portable solar panels; Remington and American Eagle ammunition (9mm, .38 super, .22); and an all-weather Puma smartphone with embedded solar panels. Still in its case, the phone had just been released in Europe. It wasn't available yet in the United States.
Traffickers make their own roads, running one three-quarter-ton pickup right behind another, crushing vegetation and replacing tires and vehicles as needed. The drivers navigate a landscape of washes, mesquite thickets, irrigation berms, and foothill canyons.
"I'll tell you what, their drivers amaze me," Thomas said. If the SWAT team can't overtake smugglers, they'll try to push them toward Border Patrol tactical teams. "But at night we have to have an air asset in front of us with infrared and night vision, because if we're pushing them we need to know where to set up choke points."
SWAT operations yield apprehensions and seizures, but to be effective they mostly rely on the criminals making mistakes. Thomas and his men have to hope that smugglers will overuse routes, that cartel scouts won't discover SWAT surveillance positions, that traffickers' evasion techniques will fail, that an air asset will be available.
"There's no misconception that we're ever ahead on any of this stuff," he said. "They've got more time and more money and more manpower."
The sky lightened as we drove through cotton fields and mesquite flats. We entered a construction zone, slowed to a crawl, and passed a dented pickup in the opposite lane. Its occupants glanced at us, then glanced again.
"It's highly likely they're a lot more than farmworkers," Thomas said. From a distance, the Tahoe looked like any other SUV, but up close you noticed its antennas and the maximum tint of its windows. "If we think we've been made by scouts, we try to act natural. Let them think it's just some dumb cop on a regular patrol."
One by one, Thomas' men radioed in to say that they'd seen no activity that night and dawn had revealed no traces of movement along the routes. Another SWAT team member radioed in. He'd picked up a drug mule standing by the side of the road. The mule had delivered his load sometime earlier that night – he had the telltale backpack ruts on his shoulders – and he knew that he could only be charged with illegal entry. He would likely be processed and bused home, which he preferred to walking. The dope in his pack might sell for $70,000, nearly twice the salary of a first-year deputy.
Thomas agreed to show me the notorious Vekol Valley, the last leg of an alternate smuggling route running up the western edge of Pinal County. We drove west on Interstate 8 and entered the Sonoran Desert National Monument on Vekol Valley Road. Scouts often sit in the brush here, guiding smugglers north through the desert to load-out spots along the highway. We turned onto a Bureau of Land Management road, which was hardly graded and not easily distinguishable from the land itself, and stopped at a hollow below a ridge joining two low hills. Thomas told me a trafficker had recently killed a rip crew member here.
We climbed one of the hills. The Vekol Valley opened out below us. In some directions, you could see for 20 miles. Law-enforcement vehicles would be easy for an unaided eye to pick out. With night-vision goggles, you could spot a blacked-out SUV. Disciplined scouts with high-powered binoculars and infrared telescopes would see everything that moved in the valley.
We drove back to I-8 and pulled over. "There's so much traffic that any place that's a natural hiding spot along the highway, you can go in there and it's pretty much guaranteed to be a load-out spot," Thomas said. We climbed down an embankment and into a brushy arroyo. In the arroyo were backpacks, blankets, sweatshirts, empty bottles of the rehydrating sports drink Electrolit, disposable razors, burlap sacks for marijuana bundles, four pairs of "carpet shoes" (or "sneaky feet") to confuse trackers, and the same sort of improvised shelters I'd seen along the banks of the Santa Cruz River, 150 miles to the south.
On the way back to Arizona City, Thomas said, "Realistically, we know we're not stopping the flow. When you debrief people on the cartel side, when you get all the drugs and people you seize and you know how much actually makes it north, it's not much. On a good day we might get 20 percent. Normally we're probably getting five to 10 percent. And I would say that's everyone: Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the other task forces." A few years back, he said, Pinal SWAT seized an unprecedented 10,000 pounds of dope in a month. Later, one of Thomas' informants told him that the cartel was moving 15,000 pounds through the county every week.Some law-enforcement officials, and many conservative politicians, advocate militarizing the border. "We need 6,000 armed soldiers on our border to protect America," Matthew Thomas' boss, Sheriff Paul Babeu, recently said. "Commit the military to this border," former Colorado congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo has demanded. "We have a war. We are facing a military on the other side." Texas Governor Rick Perry has said that he considers the border "a war zone as dangerous as Iraq."
It's instructive to imagine what militarizing the border would actually require. Rich Stana, the former director of homeland security for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, has said that a zero-incursion barrier would be "something akin to the inner German border during the Cold War, where very few, if any, could penetrate it without fear of losing one's life." A militarization project would entail blasting and grading a security zone from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, erecting 1,900 miles of double or triple fence along its length, and deploying many thousands of soldiers to man guard towers and patrol the zone. (South Korea, by way of comparison, has more than 250,000 troops stationed along its 150-mile border with North Korea.) The soldiers would be authorized to shoot and kill Mexican citizens. In the meantime, demand for drugs in this country would remain stable. Our coasts and airspace and wide-open 5,500-mile-long border with Canada would welcome pioneering importers.
Sheriff Tony Estrada, Deputy Omar Rodriguez's boss, does not take militarization seriously. "I always say, 'The border is more secure than it's ever been; it's just not sealed,'" he told me. "It cannot be sealed. You have tourism, you have international commerce. If you want zero everything – mission impossible." He measures border security by the local crime rate, which is low in his county. He understands the suffering of ranchers like David Lowell and Jim Chilton, but his priority is the overall safety of the county.
Unless we're willing to establish a DMZ along the southwestern border, this is the only rational perspective available. The Department of Homeland Security has already adopted it. "The specific theory of action [is] to push people out of easy urban places to cross the border and get into the transportation network," the former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Alan Bersin, said last summer. DHS deters and apprehends wherever it can, and it forces traffickers around populous areas. That strategy, of course, will always be problematic for the people living in the traffic's redirected currents, who justifiably feel as though they have accidentally moved out of their own country.Consider in that context the residents of the Silverbell Estates, arguably the most cartel-oppressed subdivision in the United States. An exurban isolate in the open desert of southern Pinal County, it is too remote for timely police response and is by design diffuse and unassuming. The streets, named for Greek gods and the signs of the Zodiac, are unlighted; the landscaping is muted; the faux-adobe homes sit on multi-acre lots. It is also almost perfectly centered in the corridor.
Not long ago, a resident of the Estates was surveying the desert landscape from his rooftop deck when he noticed a form on nearby Wildcat Peak. He examined it through binoculars he kept on the roof for viewing wildlife. A cartel scout was standing outside of a cave.
I heard this story at the home of a retiree named Pat Murphree. We were sitting at his dining room table, drinking iced tea with his wife, Pennee, and their neighbors, Jay Stewart and Sam Schreiner. At one end of the table a picture window framed Wildcat Peak. A telescope on a tripod pointed at the scout's cave, but you could see it clearly with a glance.
People here first became aware of the trafficking in 2007, when the sound of three-quarter-ton pickups bludgeoning their way through the desert began waking them up in the middle of the night. Running without lights, the trucks tore up the two-mile fence encircling the Estates.
"We repaired, what, 11 breaks in the fence about two years ago?" Murphree asked.
"About a quarter mile of fence, wasn't it?" Stewart said.
"And about a year ago, 14 breaks were repaired, and there's probably five or six of them out there now," Murphree said.
Residents called the Border Patrol and the sheriff's department, but the trucks were usually gone before they got there, and the traffic followed no pattern.
Stewart, a US Airways pilot, flies a single-prop plane recreationally, taxiing it out of his hybrid hangar-garage and onto a short unpaved runway. From the air he started spotting caches of goods in the desert. There were also pickups and SUVs camouflaged for future use or totaled and abandoned, jugs of gasoline, spare tires with mounted rims, cases of bottled water. He once landed near a Humvee, fully loaded with features, a Coach purse on the front seat.
"That was a guy's dream vehicle. He'd worked his butt off, owns a framing company, and here these SOBs steal it," Stewart said.
Dozens and dozens of vehicles were appearing in the desert, and the numbers haven't declined. "There's so many vehicles I've quit counting," Stewart said. He has found abandoned smugglers' vehicles at the end of his driveway and groups of illegal immigrants at the end of his runway. One day he took off, looked down, and saw 40 people.
"But that's what it's like living out here," he said. "You never know what's coming."
When he sees a group, he contacts the Border Patrol, sometimes staying up and "orbiting" the illegal immigrants, holding them in place until the agents arrive.
"So you've been an air asset of the Border Patrol?" I asked.
"More than once," he said. "But I moved down here to have fun, not to fight the drug cartel."
After the scout sighting, Pinal SWAT stormed and cleared Wildcat Peak, and Stewart and Murphree hiked to the cave and began cleaning it up.
"The trash, you can't imagine," Stewart said. "They'd been going up there at least six months, and you couldn't see it – they had it all covered with camo tarp."
"I think we took out 19 bags of trash," Murphree said. "That stuff stunk so bad."
"I was standing knee-deep in that rubbish pile," Stewart said. "It was all cans of menudo, and full of scorpions and black widows, and it was gag-a-maggot. It was bad."
There are also the casualties of human trafficking.
"They cram the pickup beds with people standing up and put a rope around them," Schreiner said. "And the sway of the bodies can bend the sides of the bed about 45 degrees. They lie on the cab roof, they lie on the hood, they take all the seats out."
About four years ago, just before dawn, in front of the big white stucco pillars of the subdivision's entrance, a pickup carrying 35 illegal immigrants took a turn too fast.
"I had to dodge dead bodies going to work that morning," Stewart said.
Murphree remembers seeing 26 people lying on the ground. Four of them, he could tell, were dead. Ten eventually died. Six rescue helicopters evacuated the dead and wounded. The helicopters had to queue up in the air. The cleanup took seven hours.
Early that evening, Murphree took me to visit Susan and Nathan Cary, who live at the southern edge of the Estates and are most exposed to the traffic. The Carys are children's advocates for an international organization called Compassion in Jesus' Name, whose motto is "Releasing Children From Poverty."
In their living room, they told me that they have always tried to feed and shelter illegal immigrants abandoned by their guides. It's become frightening, though. They have suffered break-ins, and they don't know whether the perpetrators are desperate immigrants, armed drug mules, or scouts. Of a man who showed up one winter, Nathan said, "He was cold, he was cold, and I thought, 'What am I going to do with him, this poor soul.' But you don't know who they are, who they're with."
One night, Nathan said, someone killed their dog. The animal's senses had shielded the property for many years. The killer had stabbed the dog in the eye with a fine-pointed object or shot it in the eye with an air gun, Nathan couldn't tell. He recognized the pointlessness of reporting the incident, but he felt that he should somehow mark the death of a loved creature.
"I don't feel safe walking here anymore," Susan said. "When we moved here, I walked all the time."
"I walk in the morning, but I take the dog, and I take a firearm," Nathan said.
They recently fenced in the property, which has helped hold down the number of people who come to the house unbidden. They keep the gate closed, but not locked.
"I'm not a hateful man, and if people want to come in because they need to, then they can," Nathan said. "The closed gate says, 'We're not expecting you, approach respectfully.'" Although they offer strangers the shelter of their covered front porch and food and water, they also call the Border Patrol. They will allow the house to be used as a comfort station, but not a refuge.
"When you're alone, it's unsettling, but when we're together we work as a team," Susan said. "He speaks more Spanish than I do, and I stay in here with the phone and the gun locked and loaded."
"So if I get knocked off, she'll make the call and have the gun ready," Nathan said.
When I left, he came out with me to open the gate and make sure I had my bearings. He held a rifle in one hand and a law-enforcement flashlight in the other. He kept the rifle barrel down but held the flashlight just above it like a scope – ready, should the worst happen, to sight and shoot a figure coming out of the night. | <urn:uuid:26a4cbe1-d893-48ba-b058-d13cbaffa470> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/the-u-s-mexico-borders-150-miles-of-hell-20130103 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973854 | 8,597 | 1.578125 | 2 |
N.J. Lawmakers Approve Rutgers Plan Backed by Christie
Rutgers, the state university based in New Brunswick, will take over the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The agreement doesn’t extend to Christie’s proposal to fold Rutgers’ Camden campus into Rowan University to form a large research institution based in Glassboro.
Rutgers, founded in 1766, is the eighth oldest college in the U.S. and has an enrollment of about 57,000, according to the university’s website. The Newark-based medical school has about 7,000 students. Christie said the reorganization would help New Jersey become a leader in medical education and research.
“It accomplishes exactly what I wanted to accomplish,” the first-term Republican said of the compromise reached with Democrats and passed by the Senate and Assembly late yesterday. “It’s going to be an enormous step forward for economic development in this state and allow Rutgers to go from good to great.”
The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Democrats Joseph Vitale of Woodbridge, the leader of the health committee, and Donald Norcross of Camden, brother of George E. Norcross, a Democratic Party leader and chairman of Cooper University Hospital, who pressed for an overhaul in southern New Jersey.
Christie, 49, said the restructuring will streamline bureaucracy and lower costs. Rutgers will assume $665 million in debt from the medical school and refinance it at lower rates. Vitale said the plan, while costing $50 million to implement, will bring savings in the future.
In addition to reshuffling the medical school, Christie had urged lawmakers to fold Rutgers-Camden into Rowan.
Rutgers employees said the merger was politically motivated and would weaken their school’s name recognition. In March, Rutgers students and faculty presented lawmakers with thousands of signatures opposing the move.
Senator Bob Smith, a Democrat who represents New Brunswick, said the reorganization bill sailed through the Legislature without a full reckoning of the changes or their costs. The state should look to increase funding for all colleges and universities before turning to restructuring, he said.
“I’ve been here a while and I’ve seen a lot of bad processes developing legislation, but I have to say this is one of the top 10 or even number one,” said Smith, who entered the legislature in 1986. “We’ve treated higher education as a dog in this state.”
Last week, at least 10 Democratic lawmakers said they might withhold support for the state budget unless Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver agreed to delay voting on the university mergers. They later relented; all Democrats voted on June 25 in favor of a $31.7 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Under the new agreement, Rutgers-Camden and Rowan will cooperate on their health-sciences programs while maintaining separate campuses and trustees, Vitale said.
The Rutgers Board of Governors adopted a resolution yesterday that supports the plan “in general.” The school agreed to an effective date for the reorganization of July 1, 2013, which would allow time to study the matter before voting on it, according to an e-mailed statement from Greg Trevor, a Rutgers spokesman.
Norcross said the reorganization would elevate the status of Rutgers’s campuses outside of New Brunswick.
“Satellite campuses have been underserved by a majority of governors for the last decade in Camden and Newark,” he said. “Today that changes.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:f818bfc3-5af1-43a3-9a8a-c7781083aa0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-29/n-j-lawmakers-approve-rutgers-plan-backed-by-christie.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953763 | 796 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Careers in Social Work
Recent graduates have found employment in the following agencies:
- Big Brother/Big Sisters - Cape Girardeau
- Bootheel Counseling Services - Sikeston
- Bootheel Healthy Start - Charleston
- Boys & Girls Club of Poplar Bluff - Poplar Bluff
- Community Caring Council - Cape Girardeau
- Community Counseling Center - Cape Girardeau
- Department of Health & Senior Services - Cape Girardeau
- Family Counseling Center - Cape Girardeau
- Girardot Center - Cape Girardeau
- Life Care Center - Cape Girardeau
- The Lutheran Home - Cape Girardeau
- Missouri Children's Division - Bloomfield, Cape Girardeau, Caruthersville, Park Hills, Sikeston
- Missouri Delta Medical Center - Sikeston
- Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center - Poplar Bluff
- SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence, Inc. - Cape Girardeau
What can I do with this degree?
|-Family service agencies
-Child welfare departments
-School pupil personnel departments
-Area agencies on aging
-State mental health departments
-Employee assistance programs
Administrators are involved with planning, budgeting, public relations, marketing, supervising, operations management, fund raising, to name a few.
Obtain an MSW and gain management experience.
-Child day care
-Foster care agencies
-Family preservation agencies
-Public and private child welfare organizations
Child welfare social workers strive to ensure the safety and well-being of children through treatment of the whole family.
Volunteer at daycares, child shelters, camps YMCA, Scouts, or other agencies that aid youth
-Community action agencies
-Neighborhood and community centers
-Local, state, & federal governments
Social workers in this area work with existing organizations for specific groups, enhance quality of living, and involve community members in the political process.
Get involved with grassroots causes and community agencies.
-Victim services programs
Social workers in corrections focus on rehabilitation of clients.
Obtain experience by volunteering at a corrections facility or victims' program such as a rape crisis center.
Planning and Program evaluation
|-Community-based living arrangements
-State and local agencies
Social workers in this area help people with disabilities to adjust and to lead productive lives.
Volunteer at special needs camps, daycares, schools, or hospitals to gain experience.
Information and referral
Geriatric case management
Home Health Care
|-Hospitals and medical centers
-Senior housing facilities
-Senior volunteer programs
Gerontology involves working with older adults, healthy or ill, and their families.
Get involved with programs or organizations designed for senior citizens.
AIDS counseling & education
Home health care
Maternal and child health
|-Health maintenance organizations (HMOs)
Social workers in health care facilitate medical and emotional treatment of patients.
Choose volunteer settings such as hospitals, the American Red Cross or AIDS agencies to get experience.
|-Community mental health centers
-Residential treatment centers
-Employee assistance programs
-Family service agencies
Clinical social workers are found in a variety of settings that provide therapeutic counseling to clients.
Master of Social Work (MSW) is required.
-Employee assistance programs
Occupational social workers help employees to be more productive and satisfied.
|-Public welfare agencies
-Private social service agencies
Public welfare is designed to provide services and support for poor, disabled, ill, elderly, or juvenile clients.
Volunteer at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, battered women homes, literacy programs, or other social service agencies to get experience.
|RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Planning and Policy
|-Colleges and universities
-Local, state and federal government
Research provides data and statistics important in program implementation and policy development.
Doctor of Social Work (DSW) or Ph.D. usually required.
|SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK
Clinical social work
Pupil personnel services
|-Elementary & secondary schools
-Head start centers
-Early intervention programs
School systems may employ social workers to help students cope with and resolve emotional, developmental, or educational difficulties.
Gain experience with children at daycare centers, camps, or Scouts.
- According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), social work is one of the fastest growing careers in the United States. The profession is expected to grow by 30% by 2010; currently, nearly 600,000 people hold social work degrees.
- According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), professional social workers are the nation's largest group of mental health services providers.
- There are more clinically trained social workers - over 190,000 in 1998 - than psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric nurses combined.
- Federal law and the National Institutes of Health recognize social work as one of five core mental health professions.
- The BSW is widely recognized as the entry-level professional degree for practice in public and private social agencies, in hospitals and other supervised health care settings, as in a wide variety of other agency settings. There are over 300 CSWE-accredited BSW programs across the country.
- The MSW is the graduate level degree for professional social work practice, and is often pursued after some work experience. Social work has increasingly become a second career for many. Many BSW graduates soon enter MSW programs in order to further develop additional skills and practice knowledge. There are about 90 schools of social work offering accredited MSW programs.
Careers in Social Work
Since the first social work class was offered in the summer of 1898 at Columbia University, social workers have led the way developing private and charitable organizations to serve people in need. Social workers continue to address the needs of society and bring our nation's social problems to the public's attention.
Social workers are unique among the helping professionals in the way they consider the individual within the context of the family and the larger social environment. They people overcome some of life's most difficult challenges: poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, physical illness, marital problems, divorce, loss, unemployment, educational problems, disability, emotional stress, and mental illness. They help prevent crises and counsel individuals, families, and communities to cope more effectively with the stresses of every day life.
For sheer variety, few occupations can match social work, which offers the broadest range of opportunities and settings. Social workers are found in public agencies, private businesses, hospitals, clinics, schools, nursing homes, private practices, police departments, courts, and countless other interesting workplaces. They are managers, supervisors, and administrators. They serve at all levels of government. They are educators. They are therapists and researchers. More and more, they are also elected political leaders and legislators.
Today, Americans enjoy many privileges because early social workers saw miseries and injustices and took action, inspiring others along the way. Many of the benefits we take for granted came about because social workers - working with families and institutions - led the fight for child labor laws, more humane industrial conditions, voting rights for women, and other progressive milestones.
Those who seek a career in social work should be willing to commit themselves to a special way of life, as does any professional. the social work profession has its own body of knowledge, code of ethics, practice standards, credentials, state licensing, and a nationwide system of accredited education programs. These equip the professional social worker to combine the desire to help others with the knowledge, skill, and ethics needed to provide that help. A professional is often defined as one who is expected to have a sense of autonomy, belief in self-regulation, a commitment to service, and a conception of wok as a calling rather than a job. Social workers fit that description aptly.
Sense of autonomy: The decisions social workers must make often require sorting out a very complex set of relationships. In any given case, they may be responsible for negotiating a course between the needs and wants of a client, the organizational needs and social responsibility of the agency by which they are employed, ethical and legal considerations, and economic and political realities. It then becomes essential for social workers to autonomously adhere to the tenets of the profession and avoid being diverted from their chief goal - the well being of the client.
A belief in self-regulation: Professionals have traditionally assumed the responsibility of regulating themselves, a philosophy that protects both the consumer of service and the integrity of the profession. The social work profession, in keeping with this philosophy, operates national testing programs to ensure that its practitioners are prepared for independent practice; supports state social work licensing programs; conducts an adjudication process, which enforces adherence to an ethics code; and has a rigorous accrediting process for its educational institutions.
Commitment to service: This attribute is almost synonymous with the social work profession. Social work practice is often defined as “provision of service” and many of the traditional functions social workers perform are called “social services.”
Conception of work as a calling: As is the case with other helping professions, social workers in general are motivated by a desire to help, to enable those they serve to enjoy a measure of health and well-being and to be productive members of the community. While other considerations surely enter into a decision to choose a career, the decision to become a social worker is usually predicated on a belief that doing so will contribute to the greater good.
An important assignment in social work is managing when, how, to whom, and by who services are allocated. This the job of the professional administrator. Social work administration includes many elements common to administration in other organizations. But it also entails knowledge of human behaviour, social problems, social services, and values.
The Administrator's roles are diverse. They usually include policy formulation and goal setting, program design and implementation, budget development, operations management, personnel direction and supervision, fund development and resource allocations, public relations, and, perhaps most importantly, evaluation.
In the past employers simply promoted social work practitioners into administrative positions, emphasis is now being placed on background in the administrative field and technical management ability. A capacity to work with and motivate others is key to administrative success, as are creative thinking and leadership.
Child welfare social workers are advocates for America's most silent minority: our nation's youths. The social worker's job is to help ensure the health and well-being of children primarily by supporting and strengthening their families. Often, timely services to a family can forestall a crisis. Them may provide support services to the family in their home and link parents with community services such as childcare, temporary income maintenance, job training, substance abuse treatment, counseling, or parenting classes.
In cases where these measures are not enough, the social worker may recommend temporary foster care. They will advocate for the best placement for the child, whether with other relatives or recommending the child's release for adoption. Intervening when children are abused or neglected, when a family is in trouble, or when parents have problems is difficult and challenging, requiring training, skill, and sensitivity. Often a social worker's intervention makes a critical difference at a key moment in a child's life.
Helping people help themselves is a fundamental doctrine of social work. It is collective problem-solving by a group working on behalf of themselves and their community that defines community organization. A social worker in community organizing usually works with an existing organization to tackle issues that concern people in a building, neighbourhood, workplace, or community. Community organizers coordinate and facilitate activities to improve social conditions, enhance the quality of life, and bring people into the political process.
Some work directly with communities. They may help stop a toxic waste incinerator, initiate an alternative school, develop a neighbourhood-housing plan, get drug dealers off the bloc, develop senior citizen programs, or organize stockholders to promote corporate responsibility. Others work for advocacy or social change organizations to improve conditions for specific groups (such as homeless people, immigrants, or refugees) or tackle issues such as welfare reform or violence prevention.
In correctional facilities, the focus is on rehabilitation. Social workers may plan and provide drug and alcohol addiction treatment, life skills and basic competency training, and therapy to help offenders function once released into the community. Social workers can be probation and parole officers, arranging for services after an offender is released: finding group home residence, remedial classes, job training, addiction treatment, counseling, childcare, and transportation. These activities generally help raise a client's independence and self-esteem.
Social workers may also be involved in restitution programs, or victim assistance services. They may serve the court as expert witnesses or work in partnership with attorneys. In police departments, social workers may help with domestic disputes or provide trauma and critical incident services to enforcement officers. Social work activities in corrections are diverse, as are the clients, affording the chance to develop and use a broad range of skills. Corrections and justice is a field where a social worker can focus on rehabilitation and the constructive use of authority.
People with developmental disabilities, which can include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, and other conditions, may at some time seek out social services. The goal of the social worker is to assist such people i improving their functioning and social adjustment. Usually this is accomplished through teams that include other professionals.
Social workers help parents of children with disabilities understand their legal rights, learn to be advocates for their children, and help them find special services. Social workers may work with individuals or groups as well as provide counseling for families. The social worker helps find the right services to enable each individual to be as independent as possible. For most clients, those services can mean the difference between merely surviving and leading a productive and joyful life.
Working with older adults can mean involvement with active, healthy clients as well as those who are ill. Often, social workers will have direct contact with elderly people, providing counseling; helping them maintain their independence at home; arranging income assistance, transportation, and medical treatment; organizing recreational activities an support groups; and generally improving their quality of life. Social workers may also work with family members caring for elderly members and may help them obtain services and make plans for future care.
Social workers are needed in hospitals, clinics, and other medical and health care settings to facilitate medical and emotional treatment. These social workers assess a patient's needs, manage the many services a patient may require for recovery, plan for care after hospitalizations, educate patients and their families, and help them cope with the personal and emotional problems related to the illness.
Social workers are vital members of the health care team, working in concert with doctors, nurses, and other health and mental health professionals. They sensitise other health care providers to the social and emotional aspects of illness. In health settings social workers also conduct research, develop programs, administer social work departments, lead support groups, and coordinate community resources. The health care field offers a variety of employment opportunities in homes, community health centers, outpatient clinics, and public health programs, as well as in hospitals.
Many people at certain times in their lives need mental health services to get the most out of life. Clinical social workers are the largest group of professionally trained mental health providers in the United States, supplying more than half of counseling and therapy services. These mental health professionals help people find solutions to problems ranging from inability to cope with day-to-day stress to severe mental illness.
The social worker's emphasis is on helping clients help themselves. Clinical social work services include aiding a client in understanding the causes of emotional distress, developing and implementing methods to resolve the situation, and connecting the client with appropriate community resources.
With the ever-increasing competitiveness of our economy, the quality of the workforce often determines an enterprise's success or failure. Occupational social workers are a boon to our nations' businesses, helping workers with problems that affect their job performance and satisfactions. Social workers may help corporations re-engineer their structure and methods to improve efficiency, creativity, productivity, and morale. Or social workers in this field may work for a union and might be involved in job counseling or organizing.
For more than four decades, public welfare has provided income and support services to society's most vulnerable people - children, the ill, the elderly, and the disabled. Although some of these people will always need services, traditional thinking about how to help is changing as the nation debates welfare reform. How to foster self-sufficiency and move people in to mainstream is today's challenge, complicated by an increase in social problems and a general decrease in funds.
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
One of the most absorbing roles in professional social work involves expanding the profession's knowledge. Social work researchers achieve this by investigating the effectiveness of approaches, methods, or programs in assisting clients. Social work researchers also help agencies provide services more effectively and contribute to efforts to support and promote social change. Research points the way for improved social policies or legislation and can be the underpinning of successful social policy advocacy.
Research entails a scientific process involving quantitative and qualitative techniques. Data are collected in a variety of ways, then analysed and reported. Problems for study may include virtually every facet of social work. Social workers may investigate the effectiveness of a particular service program or treatment approach or study broader, societal concerns. Social work research is a satisfying way to turn intellectual curiosity into results that contribute to the practice of social work and the betterment of life
SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK
Working with teams of other school personnel, social workers help children with physical or learning disabilities or emotional problems or who face child abuse, neglect, domestic violence, poverty, or other problems. Social workers may assess student needs, assist in discipline hearings, serve on policymaking committees, or help develop alternative programs. Other functions include facilitating school-community relations and providing a variety of services to students in special education programs.
School social workers may be the first to spot difficulties a child is confronting at home or in the community and the first to intervene. They often provide services or find services in the areas that prevent more serious problems from developing.
HOW TO ENTER THE PROFESSION:
To be a social worker, one must have a degree in social work from a college or university program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The undergraduate degree is the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). Graduate degrees include the Master of Social Work (MSW) and the Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) or PhD. An MSW is required to provide therapy.
Degree programs involve classroom study as well as practical field experience. The bachelor's degree prepares graduates for generalist entry-level work, whereas the master's degree is for more advanced clinical practice. A DSW or PhD is useful for doing research or teaching at the university level.
- American Association of Schools of Social Work
- American Association of Medical Social Workers
- American Association of Social Workers
- American Hospitals Associations
- American Public Welfare Association
- Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
- National Association of Commission for Women
- National Association of Social Workers
- National Conference on Social Welfare
- National Council on Aging
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- National Urban League
- Society for Hospital Social Work Directors
- U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Famous Social Workers
- Abbott, Edith (1876~1957)
- Addams, Jane (1860~1935)
- Breckenridge, Sophonisba (1866~1948)
- Capen Reynolds, Bertha (1885~1978)
- Cowin, Ruth Ada (1911~)
- Daniel, Margaret (1908~)
- Epstein, Joshua (1915~1996)
- Gillis, Mary C. (1916~2004)
- Insley, Virginia (1912~2003)
- James Williams, Ethel (1915~2003)
- Lomas Feldman, Frances (1912~)
- Settle Egypt, Ophelia (died 1984)
- Tannar, Virginia (Sandifer) (1902~1999)
Famous People dedicated to the Pursuit of Social Justice
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1915~1902) Pioneer with Susan Anthony in women's rights movement.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820~1906) Social activist who lobbied against slavery and for women's rights. She is most notably know for her involvement in suffragist movement (women's right to vote).
- John Muir (1838~1914) One of the founders of the environmentalist movement; first President of Sierra Club.
- Elanor Roosevelt (1884~1962) First Lady of the United States (1933~1945); head of U.N. Human Rights Commission that drafts Declaration of Human Rights (1946~1947); civil rights and human rights activist.
- Rachel Carson (1907~1964) Exposed how chemicals used in agriculture were polluting the water supply and ourselves.
- MotherTeresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (1910~1997) Devoted life to working among the poorest of the poor. 1979 Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.
- Rosa Parks (1913~2005) Civil rights activist who challenged racial segregation in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white man.
- Betty Friedan (1921~2006) Feminist activist; co-founder of National Organization for Women (NOW). Wrote influential 1963 book The Feminine Mystique.
- Howard Zinn (1922~) Historian and social justice activist. His most famous book is A People's History of the United States. Some of his essays are collected in the Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy.
- Malcom X (1925~1966) Activist for African American pride and empowerment.
- Cesar Chavez (1927~1993) Farm worker rights organizer; founded United Farm Workers (UFW).
- Maya Angelou (1928~) Author, civil-rights activist, and feminist. Confronts themes of racism and classism in her writings and speeches.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929~1986) Civil Rights Leader. 1964 Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.
- Frances Fox Piven (1932~) Political scientist whose work has addressed the role of welfare as a form of political and economic control over the poor and the working class. Two of her notable books include Regulating the Poor andWhy Americans Don't Vote.
- Audre Lorder (1934~1992) Poet; activist for gay and lesbian right; advocate for celebration of African American culture.
- Ralph Nader (1934~) Consumer advocate, environmentalist,critic of corporate abuse; founder of Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
- Dennis Banks (1937~) Native American leader, activist, teacher, lecturer, and author. He founded the Sacred Run and co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM).
- Marian Wright Edelman (1939~) Founder of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), which advocates for right of children.
- Russell Means (1939~) Activist for Native American rights; first national director of American Indian Movement (AIM).
- Jesse Jackson (1941~) Civil rights activist and religious leader; founder of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), now known as the Rainbow/Push Coalition (RPC).
- Aung San Suu Kyi (1945~) Nonviolent activist for democracy and human rights in Myanmar (Burma). Under house arrest since 1990. 1991 Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.
- Wilma Mankiller (1945~) The first woman elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Advocate for the Cherokee Nation; established the Cherokee Community Development Department.
- Rigoberta MenchÚ Tum (1959~) Human Rights Activist for Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 1992 Recipient of Nobel Peace Prize.
- Bono (Paul Hewson) (1960~) Singer/songwriter and social activist. Has lobbied for Third World debt relief, human rights, and the environment.
"America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live." Jane Addams
"Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men." Jane Addams
"Simple kindness may be the most vital key to the riddle of how human beings can live with each other in peace, and care properly for this planet we all share." Bo Lozoff
"How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance -- the one value that is indispensable in creating community. One thing is clear to me: We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves." Barbara Jordan
*Note: Much of this information was adapted from Choices: Careers in Social Work by the National Association of Social Workers. http://www.naswdc.org/ | <urn:uuid:325872ac-0b0d-4efb-a9f7-a85f69215019> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.semo.edu/socialwork/careers.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930503 | 5,245 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Earl Bostic (April 25, 1912 – October 28, 1965) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist and a pioneer of the post-war American Rhythm and Blues style. He had a number of popular hits such as "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep", "Special Delivery Stomp" and "Where or When" which all showed off his characteristic growl on the horn. He was a major influence on John Coltrane.Continue reading at Wikipedia...
Showing release groups by this artist. Show Various Artist release groups instead. | <urn:uuid:556a22ac-84ba-413d-8450-6d0da6241b9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://musicbrainz.org/artist/4fa43047-75f2-4590-b7a9-4c66dba0099d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968515 | 127 | 1.84375 | 2 |
This article is going to be seen as “political” by some, and as such will be controversial. So, if you, dear reader, do not like reading “political” articles, move on along, there is nothing to see here. But if you are a person who can peer past the veil of “politics” to the heart of . . . → Read More: Internet Privacy: Do You Google?
Proverbs 22:6 – Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Many parents in recent years have chosen to homeschool their children. The reasons for this vary, but most include some measure of the understanding that to . . . → Read More: Open Source: Homeschool Computing
I recently had the opportunity to look into the anti-malware world of Apple OS X. One of our clients moved to a new office in late October 2011. As part of this move they also moved from Microsoft operating systems and software to Apple OS X systems and software, making a clean break from all . . . → Read More: Security: Linux, OS X, Unix and Malware (Viruses)
What do I mean “… Since 1985″? Go here for a timeline of Microsoft Windows: A history of Windows – Microsoft Windows
I am a Unix / Linux guy writing this article out of sheer frustration, so if one does not like pointed, accurate ranting about that Not A Unix OS to which one may . . . → Read More: Microsoft Windows – Promoting Mediocrity Since 1985
It is almost that time again. The ritual of installing Microsoft patches released on the second Tuesday of each month to fix security problems with its operating systems and software. My company will be monitoring and installing these updates again for some of our local clients this week.
It is an . . . → Read More: Open Source: FOSS Security Updates vs Microsoft Patch Day
The short answer: Updates are worthless if one does not apply them.
Once again I find myself cleaning malware off of a home user’s Microsoft based notebook PC. Once again, while it has anti-virus software installed it was infected by a “drive-by attack” from a web page. It was infected with the Antispyware Soft fake . . . → Read More: Security: FOSS/CSS Updates – Are They Worth Anything?
I use a PC. Actually, I use several PCs. My small business has 5 tower PC systems and 1 laptop PC system. All of these are what is called a PC. Any computer that can be purchased by an individual and used by said person for personal "stuff" is by definition a Personal Computer also . . . → Read More: GNU/Linux: Don’t Call Them PC Viruses
This is the second article in my series about GNU/Linux security for the GNU/Linux curious and new GNU/Linux user. The first article is here: GNU/Linux Security: Ubuntu has been Cracked!
There are many attempts to explain the differences between GNU/Linux and Microsoft products when it comes to security. In this article I am going to . . . → Read More: GNU/Linux Security: Linux House vs Microsoft House
[Notice: If you do not like the title, read the article anyway. Otherwise, there is no point in sending me a comment as I will not post comments that state something like, "Your title suxxors! I refused to read your article after I read the first paragraph! You're just trying to boost traffic to your . . . → Read More: GNU/Linux Security: Ubuntu has been Cracked!
After reading this article be sure to see my follow-up comment about it.
Could it be that Microsoft, Microsoft shills and/or Microsoft fanboys are “gaming” the uptime table at Netcraft? Unless I am misunderstanding something, frankly, I think they are. I was going to show a friend of mine the uptime table at Netcraft to . . . → Read More: Linux and Unix Uptime vs Microsoft on Netcraft | <urn:uuid:feb1e72b-2136-465b-b93a-d0f0cd0646b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.eracc.com/category/computing/security/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934353 | 864 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Rick Abath used to work the night shift at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. He would arrive around 11:30 p.m. and spend the night patrolling the halls of one of the finest museums in the state.
On the night shift, only two young watchmen were responsible for guarding the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art housed in the museum, including Rembrandt’s only seascape painting, and a painting by the Dutch artist Vermeer, only one of about 36 in existence.
The job was pretty uneventful. Even boring.
But on St. Patrick’s Day weekend in 1990, Abath’s usual routine was dramatically shattered. Two men dressed as Boston Police officers rang the doorbell. Going against protocol, Abath let them into the museum. Within minutes he and his partner were subdued and the two thieves had free reign over the museum.
On Friday night AC360° will air a special report “Arab Spring: Revolution Interrupted.” In December 2010, a young Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Mouazizi refused to pay a bribe to a local inspector who slapped him. This indignity led Bouazizi to set himself on fire in protest and Tunisians, already fed up with the unemployment, corruption and repressive conditions in the country took to the streets, quickly causing the resignation of Tunisia's president. These events sparked a wave of revolutions across the region in countries like Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Syria.
It's been written that a decade's worth of events have occurred in the Arab world in just over a year. Long time dictators like Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi have fallen, while the regime of Bashar al-Assad still clings to power in Syria, despite 15 months of ongoing conflict.
On Friday night after AC360° aired, Anderson and team embarked on a nearly 28 hour trip (including two plane rides, layovers and a three hour drive) that took us from New York City to the eastern border of Turkey.
Where are we going? The eastern part of Turkey borders Syria. Believe me, we would love to actually go into Syria and report what’s happening in the country. However, despite Bashar al-Assad’s regime’s claims that journalists are free to report from the country, our visa applications have disappeared into the Syrian embassy in Washington with no word on if we are approved, denied, or even when a decision would be made.
So we will stick to the Turkey side of the border, which holds a piece of the conflict the world should see. Nearly 25,000 Syrians have fled across the border into Turkey since the uprising in Syria began last March. Turkey, which maintains an open border policy with Syria, has set up numerous camps close to the border for the refugees that have been steadily streaming in to escape the violence.
We have heard stories of families who fled their homes, mostly on foot, to escape the relentless shelling of cities like Homs, Aleppo, Jisr al Shughur. We’ve heard stories of parents who have lost sons, wives who have lost husbands, ordinary citizens who have lost not only their homes but their beloved country as well. We’ve heard their stories, but we haven’t met the victims ourselves, so we will spend the weekend visiting the camps and speaking with some of these refugees. We will tell the world their stories on Monday night when we broadcast live at 8pm ET on CNN.
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with | <urn:uuid:93884391-6948-4cd6-a8e9-b8c971c3f4e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/tag/susan-chun/ | 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 | 0.956793 | 782 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Serving Students since 1969
In 1969, Creighton University established the first office to support and advocate for diversity and inclusion. Over the years, this office has had several name changes, but since 1994 it has been known as the Office of Multicultural Affairs. (Read more about the history of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.)
Today, the Office of Multicultural Affairs stands as a vibrant, evolving, and multi-faceted office dedicated to students and their learning.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) is a department in the Division of Student Life at Creighton University, a Jesuit Catholic University. Our professional services are grounded in supporting the mission of Creighton University and Jesuit and Ignatian traditions and values. Through our services and programs to students, staff and faculty we advance the educational, cultural and social understanding of our diverse human family.
To accomplish this mission, the office has four primary functions: | <urn:uuid:b0f62ffb-21a5-4c4b-a3c4-94ae4878f290> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.creighton.edu/studentlife/officeofmulticulturalaffairs/aboutus/index.php | 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 | 0.96123 | 188 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Lara Hoffmans, Contributor
I comment on the intersection of economics, politics and markets.
With Ron Paul still in the running for president, it’s become popular (again) to call for a return to the gold standard.
Gold standard fans’ chief argument tends to be the Fed (and all central banks) is an egregious government intrusion. They further posit we can achieve a utopic state of economic stability by “ending the Fed” and pegging currency globally to gold.
Except it takes a heck of a lot of intervention to get currencies to stay pegged to anything—whether it’s a chunk of decorative metal or not. A peg must be constantly jiggered. Why? Gold is pretty darn finite, wealth is not. Only so much gold exists above ground, and we only extract a bit more annually. Yet, while gold was sitting inert in bank vaults, Steve Jobs (RIP) created massive shareholder value and global wealth out of an idea he had then pursued in his garage. Bill Gates too. Chuck Schwab. Sam Walton. Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Mark Zuckerburg. Bethenny Frankel. They all created something out of nothing, packaged it, marketed it and sold it to people who believed that product had value.
In a world where wealth isn’t zero sum, tying money to a fixed hunk of anything requires a massive amount of intervention—by the government. To believe otherwise means adopting a mercantilist view of the world that doesn’t explain the existence of Skinnygirl margaritas and Angry Birds.
And what wretchedness has befallen us since we went off the gold standard in 1971? We had gross monetary missteps in the 1970s leading to hyperinflation, yes. A global phenomenon, not one unique to the US. But starting about 1982, inflation has steadily fallen. Interest rates are and have been very benign for years! Headline CPI was also much more volatile on the gold standard than off. US GDP was about was about $1 trillion in 1971 (in current dollars) and is now about $15 trillion. Global stocks have risen 2,946%. Incomes have risen steadily. Your phone (which cost you $300) can out-compute any 1971 warehouse-sized supercomputer (which cost a big firm many millions). Overall, we seem to have done ok.
Plus, the world before fiat currency wasn’t inherently more stable. Nor was the world pre-Fed particularly glorious. The very frequent bank panics of the 19th century and early 20th were often followed by 4- and 5- and 6-year Depressions.
Now, some argue gold is real and fiat money fake. Fair enough. Under the fiat system, currency has value only because we all agree it does. It’s psychological. It’s the Matrix! But it’s the same thing with gold. Gold doesn’t have inherent value. It’s worth what someone is eager to pay for it relative to someone’s eagerness to sell it. It’s worth more than tin because gold is more scarce and, thousands of years ago, we decided gold was prettier.
Mind you, I have no great love for the Fed. It’s plausible their autonomy (or lack thereof) is sometimes perilous. But there’s no such thing as a static set of rules politicians play by—ever. They change the rules when they want, and they’ll do that with gold too.
A final point: Greece wouldn’t be better off on a gold standard. Greece doesn’t suffer from a lack of credible currency. A credible currency is basically all Greece has going for it now. Greece suffers from decades of socialism making its economy utterly uncompetitive. The last thing Greece needs is Greek politicians managing a gold peg to the drachma. Zeus save us all.
Markets Never Forget But People Do by Ken Fisher (CEO of Fisher Investments) and Lara Hoffmans is available now.
This constitutes the views, opinions and commentary of the author as of February 2012 and should not be regarded as personal investment advice. No assurances are made the author will continue to hold these views, which may change at any time without notice. No assurances are made regarding the accuracy of any forecast made. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing in stock markets involves the risk of loss. | <urn:uuid:89130966-b4ac-4e7c-9147-fc4187125222> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/larahoffmans/2012/02/15/ron-paul-greece-and-the-tin-standard/?commentId=comment_blogAndPostId/blog/comment/1655-383-172 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951936 | 921 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Keeping private information private seems to be difficult for some people, but it can get you into series trouble if something is shared that shouldn’t be. Employee information including wages and other information should be kept private, but you must share this information with those that handle certain tasks.
A prime example of this would deal with the admin that handles your payroll. She will see wage and title information, but she needs to keep it private. It’s not her right to tell one of your employees how much another employee makes or if they have garnishments taken out of their check. This is confidential information and if it’s shared you could be in legal trouble if the employee decides to pursue the issue.
Another example of information that should be confidential comes with testing you perform. If your business requires hearing tests or a fitness test, the results of those tests need to be confidential regardless of the outcome. It doesn’t matter if they pass with flying colors, have a few problem areas, or fail all together you need to keep these results under lock and key. If someone has the key to the files, you need to make sure they understand there is confidential information in the files and they could be held liable if the information is shared with others.
Home address, phone numbers, and family status are private information as well. If your employees choose to share this information with someone else that’s fine, but it’s not your right or the rights of others to hand this information out without permission. Giving out this information, no matter what the reason is, can cause problems if it were to get into the wrong hands. An example would be if your employee has a restraining order filed against an ex-spouse. If they’re hiding from this person and someone tells someone and someone tells the ex the address or phone number the family could be in danger.
It’s important to keep any personal information from your employees private. If you have others that would have a need to access this information, it’s important you tell them how important it is to keep it private and you might want to consider having them sign a confidentiality agreement that states they’ll be held liable if it’s found they shared information that should have been private. When you protect your employees your business will be protected at the same time. | <urn:uuid:a491d1cd-953f-46c6-8505-bda3e7b6f21c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coursepark.com/blog/2012/08/keeping-private-information-private/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962591 | 481 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Lecture Series: Recent Advancements in the Archaeology of Jerusalem
By Elizabeth Klarich
Please join us Winter Quarter for a series of lectures given by Dr. Ronny Reich, faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at Haifa University and Senior Archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with Eli Shukron, Reich has co-directed excavations in the oldest part of Jerusalem, known as the city of David, since 1995. He has published numerous articles on Second Temple Period archaeology and Israel and is also known for his co-edited volume on The Architecture of Ancient Israel.
This lecture series will be held on four Thursday nights (January 8, 15, 29 and February 12) at 7pm in Royce Hall Room 314. Please check the Cotsen online calendar for details or click here for a flyer. | <urn:uuid:f014c115-8e05-48f3-aa5d-41e35f651bf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ioa.ucla.edu/news-events/lecture-series-recent-advancements-in-the-archaeology-of-jerusalem | 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 | 0.951288 | 172 | 1.664063 | 2 |
A coalition of pro-gun groups is stirring up controversy by calling for a nationwide “Gun Appreciation Day” the same week as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President Obama’s inauguration.
Gun Appreciation Day chairman Larry Ward added fuel to the fire during a recent appearance on CNN where he had the gall to say that Gun Appreciation Day actually honors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., who was committed to non-violence. But Ward’s ridiculousness didn’t stop there.
“I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country’s founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history,” Ward said.
Ward was on CNN with Maria Roach, whose group United for Change USA began a petition against Gun Appreciation Day.
Watch Ward’s statements, when see how Maria Roach responded: | <urn:uuid:19dfd642-2eb2-4cab-a212-687105d58a04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hotspotatl.com/2835693/gun-rights-activist-says-gun-appreciation-day-honors-mlk-if-blacks-were-armed-slavery-wouldnt-have-existed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965439 | 208 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Buy a Book
Author Web Site
Writer and artist WOPASHITWE MONDO EYEN WE LANGA
(formerly known as David Rice) was born in Omaha in 1949, graduated from Creighton Preparatory
School and took courses at Creighton University.
He has created art, written short stories, poetry and journalism.
Five books of poetry were published between 1973 and 1978, and he has contributed poems and
stories to such literary journals and magazines as Prairie Schooner, The Black Scholar,
ARGO, Black American Literary Forum, Shooting Star Quarterly Review, Pacifica Review,
Obsidian, Black Books Bulletin, and over thirty others.
In addition, his poem, "Great Babaleur"
was featured in Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic, Inc,
1993). Two of his plays, Different Dances and We Dance in Our Neighborhood, were
performed by Ujima Youtheatre in Nebraska, as well as in New York City.
From 1969-1970, he wrote for the local underground paper,
Buffalo Chip, and joined the Black Panther party.
In 1970, he and fellow Black Panther Ed Poindexter were convicted for the bombing murder
of Omaha policeman Larry Minard, and given life sentences. Both have consistently denied any
connection with the crime, and Amnesty International has
called for either a new trial or immediate release.
He is one of several co-authors (including Yosef-ben-Jochannan, John Henrik Clarke, et al)
of The Race: Matters Concerning Pan Afrikan History, Culture, and Genocide (Native Sun
Publishers, 1992). He is a contributor to Nebraska Voices, the anthology commissioned by
the Nebraska Humanities Council in celebration of the sesquicentennial of Nebraska statehood. | <urn:uuid:44c7e93e-d123-4dd2-9a7e-bc5fc9db76b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/ncw/langa.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948567 | 386 | 1.726563 | 2 |
NEW YORK, NY, June 7, 2010 - The New York Life Foundation announced today grants totaling $150,000 to two organizations offering safe places to learn and grow and educational enhancement opportunities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Foundation made a $50,000 grant to the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center and a grant of $100,000 to The Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI) serving youth throughout New York City and Newark, New Jersey.
"We are pleased to be announcing our support for these two fine organizations during Gay Pride Month," said Chris Park, president, New York Life Foundation. "Both organizations offer a safe haven where young people, regardless of their sexual orientation, can realize their full potential - academically, socially and emotionally."
"We are deeply appreciative of the support from the New York Life Foundation," said Glennda Testone, executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center. "On behalf of our young people, we will put this grant to good use developing leadership skills and positive self-expression within the context of a supportive community."
The grant to the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center supports leadership initiatives within their Youth Enrichment Program which provides free after-school, Saturday, and summer programs and activities focusing on the healthy development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people, ages 13-21, who live throughout the New York City metropolitan area.
"The Hetrick-Martin Institute is incredibly grateful and excited to work with the New York Life Foundation to support its after-school and supportive services," said Thomas Krever, executive director of The Hetrick-Martin Institute. "In addition to supporting our services provided in New York City, with the assistance of the Foundation, HMI intends to work with the city of Newark, New Jersey, to provide its first-ever comprehensive after-school program for LGBTQ youth, addressing mental health, health and wellness, academic enrichment and so many other needs. With this support, we will be able to improve the lives of thousands of young people who desperately need these services."
The grant to the Hetrick-Martin Institute will help expand services in Newark where none exist and support educational enhancement activities in New York City. The Hetrick-Martin Institute provides comprehensive academic, career and job enrichment, and supportive services in a safe environment that fosters friendship, learning and acceptance while simultaneously providing youth with the resiliency and life training they need to become stable, successful adults.
About The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center of New York City Established in 1983, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center of New York City builds and supports our community through health, advocacy, and cultural programs; meeting and conference services; referrals and resources; and a safe and welcoming environment. The Center empowers people to live rich, healthy lives and to discover the strength found in community through a wide variety of programs, services and activities. For more information about The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center of New York City and Youth Enrichment Services (YES), please visit www.gaycenter.org.
About The Hetrick-Martin Institute
The Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, believes all young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.
Through a comprehensive package of direct services and referrals, Hetrick-Martin seeks to foster healthy youth development. Hetrick-Martin's staff promotes excellence in the delivery of youth services and uses its expertise to create innovative programs that other organizations may use as models. To learn more, please visit www.hmi.org.
About The New York Life Foundation
Inspired by New York Life's tradition of service and humanity, the New York Life Foundation has, since its founding in 1979, provided more than $130 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations. Through its focus on "Nurturing the Children," the Foundation supports programs that benefit young people, particularly in the areas of mentoring, safe places to learn and grow, educational enhancement opportunities and childhood bereavement. The Foundation also encourages and facilitates the community involvement of employees, agents, and retirees of New York Life through its Volunteers for Life program. To learn more, please visit www.newyorklifefoundation.org.
Rating: 5.0/5 (3 votes cast)
|New York Life Foundation Awards $150,000 to Support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth in New York and New Jersey| | <urn:uuid:db9c1f1b-d621-4f62-af1c-43e079b9beea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newyorklife.com/nyl/v/index.jsp?contentId=126654&vgnextoid=5663e10734819210VgnVCM100000ac841cacRCRD | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937307 | 961 | 1.71875 | 2 |
The home of Motor City, Motown and the Wolverines has known big business for a long time. Heavily industrial Michigan has a number of special environmental and community protection-oriented regulations to keep its citizens safe. That means lots of licenses and permits for business-owners to secure.
In Michigan, real Estate businesses including Agencies, Brokerages and Leasing Companies need state real estate licenses. State authorities ensure these businesses are properly registered for accountability and that principals understand applicable laws and regulations. In many cases, cities and counties add additional licensing requirements. | <urn:uuid:928e8197-360b-4aff-9fc8-6025a29c8f73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.license123.com/Businesses/Real-Estate-Agency/Michigan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949283 | 113 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Millions of Californians are expected to hit the road and head out of town over the holidays.
While 10 million are expected to drive to and from their vacation destinations between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2, a fair number started thir traveling last weekend, according to Cynthia Harris, a spokeswoman for AAA of Northern California.
The big travel days will, of course, be next Friday and Saturday. One hint for brisk passage along freeways and airport terminals, according to Harris: Travel on Christmas Day.
A AAA survey shows that a sluggish economy is not stopping Californians from maintaining holiday traditions that involve travel over Christmas and New Year's.
AAA predicts an estimated 11.4 million Californians will travel during this end-of-the-year holiday season, representing an overall increase of 4.1 percent compared to 2010. The majority of those people -- more than 10 million -- will drive, representing a 2.5 percent increase compared to last year. Fewer will fly this year, with the airlines industry experiencing a 9.9 percent decline compared to 2010.
Although Californians are scaling back on travel expenditures, "many are creating opportunities to visit family and friends during these holidays," Harris said.
Nationally, AAA projects 91 million people will travel 50 miles or more during the holiday season. That’s a 1.4 percent increase compared to last year.
The Contra Costa County office of the California Highway Patrol already shifted into holiday enforcement mode this week, launching its "Season of Safety" holiday traffic safety campaign on Monday.
During this time, the CHP in Contra Costa County plans to increase the number of patrol cars that will be on the lookout for speedng motorists, seat belt scofflaws and drunken drivers.
This extra enforcement, including a DUI checkpoint in Bay Point, is scheduled to continue through New Year's, said Lt. Christopher Sherry. Eighty percent of the resources of the Contra Costa office will be in force on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and on New Year's Eve.
"The whole thing about the checkpoint is to deter people from drinking and drive, remove drunken drivers from the road and educate the public about the dangers of drinking and driving," Sherry said.
AAA Northern California is doing its part to reduce drunken driving over the holidays. Its Tipsy Tow Program offers a free tow for drinking drivers in Northern California from 6 pm on Dec. 24, until 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, and from 6 p.m. Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. Jan. 1. Members and non-members alike can call (800) 222-4357 (AAA-HELP) for a free tow of up to ten miles. | <urn:uuid:ed0e1208-2093-4ffd-aea1-fcfaf98269f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newark.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/aaa-expects-10-million-to-hit-the-road-for-the-holidays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946008 | 551 | 1.609375 | 2 |
NEW YORK — Marking Osama bin Laden’s death where the terrorist inflicted his greatest damage, President BarackObama soberly laid a wreath Thursday at New York’s ground zero and declared to the city and the world, “When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”
The president closed his eyes and clasped his hands at the outdoor memorial where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once dominated the Manhattan skyline. He shook hands with 9/11 family members and others dressed in black at the site where the skyscrapers were brought down by planes commandeered by bin Laden’s followers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
The president met privately at the memorial site with about 60 family members from various 9/11 organizations. He also visited the firefighters and police officers whose response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, turned them into heroes and symbols of national resolve, but also cost them heavy casualties on that horrific day.
“This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day,” the president said at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9. The firehouse in New York’s theater district lost 15 firefighters on 9/11, more than any other firehouse.
Months before the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, and days after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by U.S. commandos, Obama’s visit was a day of sober remembrance, thanks given to firefighters, police and U.S. troops, and reminders of the challenges ahead and the president’s call for addressing them with unity.
It wasn’t a moment for celebrating the military operation that killed bin Laden; that may come Friday, when the president visits Fort Campbell, Ky., home to the Army unit involved in transporting Navy SEALS in and out of bin Laden’s compound. White House officials said Obama intended to privately thank participants in the raid.
On Thursday, at the First Precinct police station in lower Manhattan, the first on the scene on Sept. 11, Obama alluded to bin Laden’s killing and said of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, “We keep them in our hearts. We haven’t forgotten.”
Obama said he hoped the results of the raid on bin Laden’s compound showed that “we did what we said we were going to do, and that Americans, even in the midst of tragedy, will come together, across the years, across politics, across party, across administrations, to make sure that justice is done.”
Obama never mentioned bin Laden by name in his brief remarks to firefighters and police.
Enthusiastic, emotional New Yorkers waited on streets to see the president, but there were few displays like the more raucous exuberance of a few days earlier. There were happy faces, shouts of “USA! USA!” and flags waved in the crowd, but there also was heavy security and most people were cordoned off blocks from where the president could be seen.
At ground zero, the mood was somber, even sad, as the president stood where the towers had been, seeing the faces of the children who lost parents and adults who lost spouses. As Obama bowed his head, a jetliner screamed by far overhead on a blue-sky day.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city in dark days after the attacks, joined Obama during the day.
At the Pentagon, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden led a similar wreath-laying ceremony at the site where another hijacked plane crashed into the nation’s military headquarters. Among those present was Donald Rumsfeld, who was George W. Bush’s defense secretary at the time of the attacks.
Obama invited Bush to join him Thursday in New York, but the former president declined.
Obama’s visit came as new details emerged of the daring raid on bin Laden’s Pakistan compound. A senior defense official said Thursday that only one of the five people killed in the raid was armed and fired a shot — an account that differs from original administration portrayals of an intense firefight. The White House also now says bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot, after officials initially said the terrorist was holding a gun or even firing.
Such details perhaps mattered little to New Yorkers who suffered most grievously in the attacks and are now deeply gratified to see bin Laden’s demise.
“God bless the Navy SEALS,” said McDonald, 38, from Brooklyn. She took work off on Thursday to wait for the president, saying she was prouder than ever to be an American.
Obama’s New York visit was intended to have a measured tone — not a bookend to Bush’s visit after the attacks when Bush took a bullhorn and called out his defiance to the terrorists. Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling with the president on Air Force One that the trip was intended in part “to perhaps help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere to achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden.”
The bustling construction site that Obama visited bears little resemblance to the pit that remained after the rubble of the towers was removed. The emerging skyscraper informally known as Freedom Tower is more than 60 stories high now. Mammoth fountains and reflecting pools mark the footprints of the fallen twin towers.
Jim Riches, whose firefighter son was among the nearly 3,000 people killed at the World Trade Center, planned to meet with the president on Thursday.
“I just want to thank him, hug him and thank him and shake his hand,” Riches said. “Father to father. Thank you for doing this for me.”
Obama arrived in New York City Thursday after rejecting calls to release photos of a slain bin Laden so the world could see some proof of death. The president said he would not risk giving propaganda to extremists or gloat by publicizing grotesque photos of a terrorist leader shot in the head.
To those who keep on doubting, Obama said, “You will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again.”
The president sought to handle the moment without being seen as overly celebrating bin Laden’s death or aiming to boost his own standing.
Al-Qaida terrorists hijacked jets and flew two of them into the World Trade Center’s towers. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and also claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help. A third plane slammed into the Pentagon. Officials have speculated that a fourth plane had been heading for the U.S. Capitol or perhaps even the White House when it crashed after passengers fought back in Pennsylvania.
A few days later, Bush stood amid the rubble and spoke through a bullhorn. When one worker yelled, “I can’t hear you,” the president responded: “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
All these years later, Obama said this was no time for gloating.
Heightened security put in place in response to the killing of bin Laden remained for Obama’s visit. Police officials said there were no specific threats against the city but also said they assumed bin Laden’s “disciples” might try to avenge his death with a terror attack.
• Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik, Colleen Long, Kiley Armstrong, Karen Matthews, David B. Caruso and videojournalist Bonny Ghosh in New York and AP writers Sam Hananel and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.
By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A collection of reader guest articles, thoughts and opinions by Communities writers and breaking news and information.
News and opinion from a Millennial Urbanite with Southern sensibilities,
Covering the world of soccer, including the World Cup, Major League Soccer, D.C. United and the English Premier League and other interesting sporting events.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
NRA kicks off annual convention | <urn:uuid:52787113-b567-49d5-b7e1-023fc5a0a1e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/5/obama-honor-911-victims-after-bin-laden-death/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970552 | 1,740 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Last week we introduced an opportunity for everyone to see New Topographics in an entirely new way: via special Sunday afternoon tours given by leading Los Angeles photographers.
This Sunday’s tour leader will be Amir Zaki. Born and trained in Southern California, Amir focuses on the region’s architectural landscape. Carefully recording—yet deftly using digital technology to transform—subjects such as modernist residences, nocturnal suburbia, and urban density, Amir reconfigures many of his subjects into unfamiliar and confounding images. The desire to challenge assumptions about photographic authenticity also informs his recent survey of elevated lifeguard towers on Orange County beaches. Amir experiments with light and color until, shorn of regular indications of locality or use, these everyday structures become monuments of uncertain function and suggestive new meaning.
I recently spoke to Amir about LACMA’s restaging of this important exhibition, which was first seen in 1975 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The video here offers a sneak peek into Amir’s take on New Topographics, including how his early aversion to the work grew into profound respect and inspiration.
Edward Robinson, Associate Curator, The Wallis Annenberg Photography Department | <urn:uuid:7f1ab795-4f72-4c87-9764-626a45f5531e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lacma.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/tour-new-topographics-with-amir-zaki/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940894 | 248 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Who is Althouse? * View only LAW posts * Contribute * Shop AMAZON*
"Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt."
...a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens.
Easy:"We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 343 (2003). This ought to be known as the "not just living, breathing Constitution, but zombie Constitution that changes with the calendar" line.
It ain't over til its over?
If you can't convince them, confuse them.
I'm with Beldar as to the most famous line. (My political views I will keep to myself.)
Dear Mr. Conehead - Not to get too far off topic but your comment on the quotation begs the questions "what do you mean" and "what are you implying".Are you suggesting that the great hope exhibited in the sentence shouldn't have been included? Does it not keep the door for further consideration "as times change"? Does it not recognize that our society changes over time and we do as a society make some fundamental changes in how we address our fellow citizens?Or are you suggesting that Ms. O'Connor errs when writes anything other than "the framers wanted this; so be it".I heard a physicist talk about the constitution in a public lecture (Feynman in fact). The sum of his observation was that like physics, the constitution has a few inviolate threads - something like a clothes line - on which all things hang. You can't change the threads but you can and should hang new things on them, discarding some, reworking some, and always examining what is hanging there with an eye to the past and an eye to the future.But I digress. It is a great line and does her honor. Thanks for nominating it.
"Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe….
Gustavas - if that opinion counts, I agree, but that opinion had three authors and Justice Kennedy wrote that line, not O'Connor.
I'm actually stumped. I have no idea what the most famous line would be (as opposed to the best line, the worst line, or some other criterion).
Simon,I don't necessarily dispute you, but what's your source for saying that Kennedy authored that line? Lexis lists O'Connor as the first author. (And I always associated it with her. Although that's not very authoritative.)
"Our task is to clarify the law -- not to muddy the waters, and not to exact overcompliance by intimidation. The States and the Federal Government are entitled to know before they act the standard to which they will be held, rather than be compelled to guess about the outcome of Supreme Court peek-a-boo.”“What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you'd like it to mean?”
Gustavas, Kennedy is widely "credited" (so to speak) with writing that section, and even if that wasn't so, I don't think it takes that much familiarity with their respective writing styles to conclude that if it's pompous, virtually meaningless, sweeping and grandiloquent, Kennedy wrote it. ;)
"Heads, I go with Stevens; tails, I go with Scalia.""Damned, it landed on its edge again".Okay, that was two.
hdhouse (8:16am): Don't get me wrong. I hold Justice O'Connor in high regard, and I agree with the sentiment of the line I quoted. I don't hold Justice O'Connor's jurisprudence in high regard, though, because I think she voted on the SCOTUS pretty much like she voted in the Arizona state senate, which is to say, she valued practical expediency. To understand the significance of the line I quoted, you have to appreciate (as I know Prof. A does) that Michigan had no history of unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of race. Thus, Grutter was not a remedies case. One can make an argument for race-conscious remedies when there is a history of constitutional violation, but that was not Grutter. Thus, the only explanation of Justice O'Connor's quoted remark is that the Constitution meant one thing in 2003, when the case was decided, but would mean something entirely different 25 years later (with no constitutional amendments in the meantime).The reason I nominate this as the most famous line in an O'Connor opinion is that it's the least constitutionally principled line in any Supreme Court opinion for the last couple or three decades.
"Loosen up, Sandy baby" - John RigginsOops - I thought you asked for the most famous line said to Conner...
Beldar said..."To understand the significance of the line I quoted, you have to appreciate (as I know Prof. A does) that Michigan had no history of unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of race. Thus, Grutter was not a remedies case. One can make an argument for race-conscious remedies when there is a history of constitutional violation, but that was not Grutter."Also true of the Seattle School District plan at issue in the Parents Involved (i.e. Schools Cases) decided last term, and although the same can't be said for the Louisville school district in that case, that district had been certified as desegregated before the plan was adopted which makes it analytically indistinguishable from a district that had no history of discrimination insofar as the plan by definition can't be remedial without anything to remedy.One of the little tidbits in Toobin's new book is the reason O'Connor picked "25 years from now"? Grutter was decided in 2003; Bakke, which O'Connor admired as a practical decision, was decided in 1978. You do the math. Neutral principles it ain't.
I'm asking the question because Toobin asserts that something is her most famous line, and I didn't think it was. So far none of you has quoted the line Toobin calls her most famous.
The zombie constitution? I thought that was my line--the half-living, half-dead Constitution.
I guess I should have brought the book to the office, but that'd spoil the fun. ;) It depends on what crowd he's talking about - famous among the general public? I doubt any line O'Connor's written is famous qua a line written by Justice O'Connor amidst the general public. Among law professors and other people interested in law? Probably a line from Casey or JA Croson.
"This corn rye is a little stale."(Well, it's big on the deli circuit.)
The implication of Beldar's quote is that the constitution should be interpreted so as to "further" those "interest"(s) favored by a majority of the court.
A moment of silence is not inherently religious.IANAL so I did a web search on O'Connor quotes (the first hit was the althouse post asking the question!) -- I don't know if the above is in an opinion.
Sandra Day you were a crazy rabbit.On Monday: "It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence and some control over the other two. That's set out in the Constitution. "By Friday: "Now you are seeing proposals in Congress to cut budgets of courts in an effort to in effect punish them for things the legislators don't like. There's a resolution pending to give grounds for impeachment if a judge cites a foreign judgment. You see a proposal for an inspector general for judges."ht brainyquote.com
From 1981: "Why is there a urinal in the Ladies Room?"Whatever happened to John Riggins?
I'm certain this isn't the example Toobin uses, but maybe "The court today surveys the battle scene of federalism and sounds a retreat" (from Garcia)?
Fritz, I don't think those two statements are really in that much tension. The first says that the three branches are both independent and interdependent. The second criticizes Congress for leaning on the independence of the court because it doesn't like the court's rulings.
Feynman's description of the constitution as a clothes line with things hanging on it is brilliant. Just as light is sometimes a wave and sometimes a particle, so it is that sometimes the clothes line becomes something that is hanging and sometimes something that is hanging becomes the clothes line.
This is a case about federalism?
"It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren."This is one of three quotes that About.com uses in its bio of O'Connor. The other two are clearly from speeches: "The more education a woman has, the wider the gap between men's and women's earnings for the same work.""The power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender."
Beldar said... Easy: "We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."I agree with Beldar. Only 7,582 days left!
"At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."Simon, surely a co-authored opinion counts as being an opinion by Justice O'Connor!
Beldar! The Constitution can smell your brains!
I cheated and looked. Whatever the most famous line is, Toobin's wrong, that isn't it.Skeptical - I think the reference to a "line in an opinion by Justice O'Connor" connotes a line written by Justice O'Connor.
Like Skeptical, I instantly thought of the "sweet mystery of life" passage, but how do we know if O'Connor or Kennedy wrote it?
Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc.(1983):The Roe framework, then, is clearly on a collision course with itself. As the medical risks of various abortion procedures decrease, the point at which the State may regulate for reasons of maternal health is moved further forward to actual childbirth. As medical science becomes better able to provide for the separate existence of the fetus, the point of viability is moved further back toward conception.
Roe v. Wade is on a collision course with technology (or words to that effect). The idea being that as medical science advances, and ever-younger premature babies can be saved, the rationale for the trimester/viability schema disappears.
Was it something to do with Rocky Mountain oysters and her intended husband?
I remember reading the line Beldar quoted when the reporting of that decision came down.I thought at the time that 25 years was entirely too long of an estimate; that it would be much sooner than that.Then I read stories like this and I realize that we might not even make that 25 years estimate.How on earth can this not be a story getting national attention, nearly every day?
On general principle I would vote for the non-opinion quote:"We are a nation of laws and not men or even women."But I'll vote for:"Liberty finds no refuge in a jurisprudence of doubt."
So, Prof. Althouse, what's Toobin's nomination for O'Connor's most famous line?
“Bill, I think John needs me. I think I need to go, but I don’t want to leave the Court with two vacancies.”
All the flowers that you planted, mamaIn the back yard All died when you went away I know that living with you baby was sometimes hard But I'm willing to give it another try 'Cause nothing compares ... Nothing compares to you That O'Connor?
LOS - it's funny, actually, because both Greenburg and Toobin recount the story of that meeting in their books, yet tell quite different versions. Since the events thereof could only be divulged by one of the two people present, and Rehnquist isn't giving interviews -- honestly, he's the laziest guy on the court these days: never does interviews, never writes opinions, doesn't even show up for arguments, he has his clerk sitting in all the time -- the only possible source is O'Connor. So either Greenburg's spinning, toobin's spinning, or O'Connor can't even make up her mind about factual recollections of events in her life.
smon,Who knows?I would assume Toobin was recording much of what he has so he's not litigated into the ground, and if he's lying about anything somebody would certainly raise hell or sue.I've always loved Clarence's famous quote: "Gee, Anthony, I love your tie."
LOS - actually I'd think that Brother Clarence's most famous line in an opinion (for better or worse) is his observation in Hudson v. McMillian that "a use of force that causes only insignificant harm to a prisoner may be immoral, it may be tortious, it may be criminal, and it may even be remediable under other provisions of the Federal Constitution, but it is not 'cruel and unusual punishment.'"
"...sometimes the clothesline becomes something that is hanging and sometimes something that is hanging becomes the clothesline."No! I'm going to say this for the last time. A clothesline does not hang, a clothesine is hung, sometimes well hung, with clothes. Get it!
simon,That's exactly the same thing many of his black brothers said over the years..."it is not 'cruel and unusual punishment."I deserved it.
Clarence Thomas is easy: "Something has gone seriously awry with this Court’s interpretation of the Constitution."O'Connor doesn't really have famous lines, although I think Wurly is closest.
What is the most famous line in an opinion by O'Connor? A woman should cleave into her husband. Right here in this house is where Edith's cleavage belongs
Post a Comment | <urn:uuid:5b8fada5-aec5-4e2a-aae2-0d5310443162> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://althouse.blogspot.jp/2007/09/what-is-most-famous-line-in-opinion-by.html?showComment=1190294100000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970895 | 2,972 | 1.53125 | 2 |
The SR&D line of Rockmodules was revolutionary in several ways. First and foremost, beginning with the coveted Sustainor, the Rockmodules emulated and allowed other guitarists to come close to the gigantic guitar sound created by Tom Scholz of Boston. Now, it wasn't a Xerox copy of his sound, but Scholz shared quite a few secrets with the rest of the world when it came to the general idea of how to get a guitar sound bigger than life itself. Before forming SR&D, Scholz achieved his tone with old tube amps. Actually, his first product under the SR&D name was the Power Soak, which was and still is used by players who prefer old tube amp power stage saturation.
PerfectSound Rock Refurbs goes through each and every Rockmodule with a fine tooth comb, checking for sonic clarity, mechanical soundness, and electrical stability. We also look for upgrades in circuitry, where newer or better parts may be available. In addition, it means point to point soldering or resoldering, upgraded wiring, or shielding. Each and every module is actually played through with an electric guitar (no synthesizers used) and must satisfy the ear of an accomplished player.
It has been said that the Rockman Rockmodules were the best designed, yet worst manufactured guitar processors ever made. PSRR corrects this, allowing you to hear these modules the way they should have exited the factory, in some cases two decades ago. Many small things were overlooked in the assembly of the Rockmodules, which ended up harming circuitry later on down the road…which in turn harmed many a gig. For this reason, the SR&D name was somewhat cursed by players.
The phrase "WE EXIST FOR GREAT GUITAR SOUND" was printed on many boxes leaving the SR&D factory. Well, PerfectSound Rock Refurbs EXISTS FOR GREAT GUITAR SOUND…AGAIN!!! In other words, we are here to redeem the Rockman name in all it's glory. Long Live Rock!!
Best Regards, David Accomando
President, PerfectSound Rock Refurbs
We cater to your endless search for tone!! Over 25 years of rock and roll experience!!
"SAVING ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY FROM AMERICA'S LANDFILLS" | <urn:uuid:c6cc5537-5ba3-4089-9efb-0a6c2875c79e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://perfectsoundrockrefurbs.com/moduleinfo.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963027 | 479 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.