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Well-known poet marks a milestoneby Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
A well-known Minnesota poet is retiring from the classroom. Mark Vinz began teaching and writing poetry at Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1968. In the intervening 40 years he's published hundreds of poems and won numerous awards for his writing. Minnesota State University - Moorhead recently published a chapbook of poems spanning his career.
Moorhead, Minn. — Mark Vinz recalls hating poetry when he was growing up. Misbehave in school, and memorizing poetry was the punishment. But by the time he finished college, Vinz wanted to be a writer.
He joined the Moorhead State University english department in 1968. After living in the mountains of New Mexico, the Red River Valley was a difficult place to be poetic.
"I came here and the Red River Valley was just this void, I hadn't discovered the beauties of the prairie. I look back at some of those early poems and they were just poems about being unhappy here. Sullen Viking gods squatting on the prairie and things like that," says Vinz with a laugh. Several years and hundreds of poems later, Mark Vinz made peace with the place he's now pleased to call home.
"This is my home. I know this place, this place is part of me and I'm part of it and I understand it. I'm writing as an insider rather than an outsider," says Vinz, "and that's a remarkable discovery to make."
Mark Vinz writes about love and death, but he also writes about things like snowstorms, hitting a deer on the highway, and rhubarb.
"Poetry is a way of seeing, a way of discovering; it's learning how to see, it's learning how to hear. It's learning how to appreciate those things we take for granted," says Vinz. "There are all kinds of things to write about, but certainly an important voice in poetry celebrates the everyday."
"I think poetry finally is about being human. It's about what we have in common, it's about the things we have to face, the things that we all go through; falling in love, fear of death," says Vinz. "Poetry to me, more than any other kind of writing, deals with those human emotions we all share."
Mark Vinz is author or editor of more than 15 poetry collections. He's recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry. Honors include three Minnesota book awards, and a poet laureate title in North Dakota. Mark Vinz will step away from the classroom this spring after 40 years, but the kid who hated poetry doubts he will ever stop writing.
"After a few years it became something I realized I couldn't not do," explains Vinz. "People would say why do you write and I could never say why I did, I could only say I can't imagine my life without doing it."
Minnesota State University - Moorhead has published a chapbook of poems selected by Mark Vinz. He will share his poetry and sign books at a farewell reading at the university on April 26th.
- Morning Edition, 04/26/2007, 7:25 a.m. | <urn:uuid:6296135b-c3cf-44ea-834f-1353d2808ebf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/04/24/vinzretires?refid=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981451 | 671 | 1.695313 | 2 |
[ Back to Messages
Posted by LynnB
on July 19, 2000 at 10:55:16:
In Reply to: Symptoms? posted by Smile on July 17, 2000 at 14:51:21:
: Hi everyone! How early do symtoms start? I'm not expecting my period for another week but I have been feeling sick to my stomach and my breasts are in such pain (I've never had such pain before my periods)! Also I have been having terrible headaches. Could I be pregnant, and do you have any advice as to which pregnancy tests are the best (and can be used earliest) other than blood tests? I appreciate any help!
My symptoms started really early: my breasts hurt (like 1 week after having become pregnant)!! I knew I was pregnant because it was
different from usual (and we were trying to get pregnant.) I tried using a home preg. test early,
but it turned out negative (too early I believe.) But I knew I was pregnant, so I waited until the day
after my period should have come and tried again...voila...it turned out positive!! That's when I
called up my doc. to make a prenatal appt.
I think any home pregnancy test sold at the stores these days are pretty good. If that turns out
positive then go to a doctor or clinic for a recheck and for prenatal care. Good luck :) LynnB
PS: I know that the waiting to find out part stinks! | <urn:uuid:8f421e7c-a422-4c03-ae29-3f5ea3313a7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthboards.com/pregnancy/2695.html | 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 | 0.972658 | 311 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The Transportation Security Administration, which has recently started to respond more aggressively to constant criticism by fringe bloggers and right wing ideologues, is now taking on a powerful congressman.
The agency said Tuesday that it will not make any representatives available to appear before a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee because the committee lacks jurisdiction over the agency. The full committee is headed by Rep. John Mica, a vociferous critic of the TSA.
An aviation subcommittee, headed by Rep. Thomas Petri, has scheduled the Thursday hearing in order to “examine the impact that the regulations and policies of the Transportation Security Administration have on aviation passenger experience and the free flow of aviation commerce,” according to a memorandum issued by Petri. A witness list indicated that TSA Administrator John Pistole had been invited to appear.
On the subcommittee’s website, Petri called the TSA “a massive, inflexible, backward-looking bureaucracy of more than 65,000″ that has spent $57 billion in its ten years of existence. “TSA is a top-heavy agency in need of reform,” he wrote.
In a press release issued Tuesday, TSA said that because the rules of the House of Representatives “state that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has no jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), no representative from TSA will be present at the subcommittee on aviation hearing.
”TSA will continue to work with its committees of jurisdiction to pursue effective and efficient security solutions,” the release said. “In the 112th Congress alone, TSA witnesses have testified at 38 hearings and provided 425 briefings for Members of Congress.”
A spokesman for the committee was not immediately available for comment. | <urn:uuid:ba5547f6-8440-460a-b985-fb9f3518bdbb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2012/11/27/tsa-spurns-invitation-to-be-lambasted-by-congressional-committee/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958324 | 355 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The cost to drive across the Tappan Zee bridge could hit the double digits once the project is complete. YNN's Elaina Athans has the details.
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TARRYTOWN -- The State says there is no way the tolls can remain at the current price with a new bridge. Some drivers might end up paying nearly triple what they're paying right now. There are projections and they're not exactly receiving a warm reception.
"That's a crazy fee. I don't know if anybody can go over the bridge under those circumstances," said Tarrytown resident Tamara Lanza
Now, an idea what tolls might be for a new Tappan Zee Bridge and that ride across the Hudson River will cost you more. About $14 for a drivers paying cash, a significant jump from the current $5 fee. Folks with a EZpass would be charged roughly $13 and people on the commuter plan would pay around $8.
"It's too expensive to think about. It's astronomical and I think it's unnecessary," said Tarrytown resident Annette Kinoy.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said now is the time for replacement since the existing bridge has substantial structural problems for the thousands of people that use it. He says what it would cost to repair the decaying bridge isn't that far off from what it would take to replace it.
"Do nothing, you're looking at about a $12 toll. You build a new bridge, you're looking at about a $14 toll," said Governor Cuomo.
The new corridor's pricetag is coming at $5.2 billion. To pay for it, the state plans on using both long-term low interest loans from the federal government and thruway authority bonds backed by tolls.
"We understand that it’s a significant increase, but what you’re going to get is a brand new transit ready bridge that is structural sound. It can withstand things like earthquake, that won’t be prone to traffic tie ups everyday,” said Tappan Zee Bridge Special Advisor Brian Conybeare.
The State wants to open the span by 2017. Around that same time at least commuter will be taking different routes, not avoid traffic but to avoid the toll.
"Ii definitely won't go across the river anymore unless I have to. And if I do, I can go the Bear Mountain [Bridge] way," said Tarrytown resident Maryann Schartner.
These toll prices are just projections. The ultimate cost will depend on which design plan is chosen. There are currently three construction bids under review. The state says depending on which one is picked, there could be a slight drip the toll price. | <urn:uuid:a9c702fb-2e34-41fc-b686-a694bfda5f40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saratoga-north.ynn.com/content/video_stories/593942/-14-projected-toll-for-cash-drivers-on-new-tappan-zee/?ap=1&MP4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95942 | 591 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Friday, a Freeman school bus tipped over and no one called 911. Now school officials explain why and tell 10/11 how they plan to make changes.
Freeman School officials admit they made some mistakes. Now they're trying to figure out how they can prevent them from happening again.
A typical bus ride home for seven Freeman students quickly became anything but typical. Their driver lost control on a mushy, dirt road, slid the bus into a ditch and tipped over.
He couldn't find a cell phone signal to make a call so he checked to see if anyone was hurt. When he didn't find any students injured, he walked to the top of a hill and called the parents at the next stop on his route.
The students left with those parents.
That's where the bad decisions began.
"After I got off the phone with the driver, the next call was to law enforcement which by the way, was a mistake. My first call should have been to emergency medical services," said Randy Page, Freeman Superintendent.
Page told police the crash didn't appear bad and not to send an ambulance.
By the time deputies arrived at the crash scene, no one, not even the driver, could be found.
"In thirty years of working, I've never seen a situation handled this way. I've never even heard of it handled this way," said Deputy Randall Muhm, Johnson County Sheriff's office.
Now, Page realizes he should have reacted differently.
"Our goal is to do a fantastic job in everything we do. That didn't happen Friday. But we'll work so that happens if there is a next time," Page said.
That work started first thing Monday morning. Officials held a transportation committee meeting. The group pinpointed areas that need to be changed.
"Put the kids in a safe situation and have them checked out. As well as have better communication with the parents of the kids," Page said.
Page and the bus driver spent the rest of Monday talking to parents, admitting where they went wrong and hearing feedback on how to get it right.
Luckily, all seven students are healthy and were back in school Monday. The bus driver wasn't injured and completed his usual route.
The Johnson County Attorney will decide whether or not to file charges against the driver. | <urn:uuid:0d93213a-f42b-463e-867a-1158c5e287cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Bus-Tips-with-Seven-Kids-Onboard-Bus-Driver-leaves-the-Scene-187685051.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985017 | 474 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Illinois's Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is taking CATCH to a whole new level: your grocer's food aisles. According to The News-Gazette:
Depending on where you grocery shop, you'll be seeing signs that read "Go," "Slow," or "Whoa," in the food aisles soon. They're part of a healthy-eating and physical-activity program the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is promoting with area schools.
The program helps children and their families make better food choices. But the food signs are there in the stores to guide all shoppers, just like traffic signs guide drivers: "Go" foods are intended to be eaten the most because they're the healthiest; "slow" foods are intended to be eaten a bit less, and "whoa" foods are intended to be eaten least of the three, said Jennifer Jackson, health educator for the public health district.
Jackson said a handful of schools and stores are participating in this program, but she hopes to see more take part. Stores that have signed up so far, she said, include Schnucks in Champaign, Ingold's Grocery in Fisher, Mahomet IGA, the County Market at 1819 S. Philo Road, U, and the Walgreens at 302 E. University Ave., U.
Champaign-Urbana, we salute you! | <urn:uuid:0f1ec748-4d27-4264-a0a7-3bed405c2871> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dialogue4health.ning.com/profiles/blogs/go-slow-whoa-at-the-supermarket-catch-newsletter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963656 | 290 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Enter Helicanus and Escanes
No, Escanes, know this of me, Antiochus from incest lived not free: For which, the most high gods not minding longer To withhold the vengeance that they had in store, Due to this heinous capital offence, Even in the height and pride of all his glory, When he was seated in a chariot Of an inestimable value, and his daughter with him, A fire from heaven came and shrivell'd up Their bodies, even to loathing; for they so stunk, That all those eyes adored them ere their fall Scorn now their hand should give them burial.
And yet but justice; for though This king were great, his greatness was no guard To bar heaven's shaft, but sin had his reward.
Enter two or three Lords
Wrong not yourself, then, noble Helicane; But if the prince do live, let us salute him, Or know what ground's made happy by his breath. If in the world he live, we'll seek him out; If in his grave he rest, we'll find him there; And be resolved he lives to govern us, Or dead, give's cause to mourn his funeral, And leave us to our free election.
Whose death indeed's the strongest in our censure: And knowing this kingdom is without a head,— Like goodly buildings left without a roof Soon fall to ruin,—your noble self, That best know how to rule and how to reign, We thus submit unto,—our sovereign.
For honour's cause, forbear your suffrages: If that you love Prince Pericles, forbear. Take I your wish, I leap into the seas, Where's hourly trouble for a minute's ease. A twelvemonth longer, let me entreat you to Forbear the absence of your king: If in which time expired, he not return, I shall with aged patience bear your yoke. But if I cannot win you to this love, Go search like nobles, like noble subjects, And in your search spend your adventurous worth; Whom if you find, and win unto return, You shall like diamonds sit about his crown.
To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield; And since Lord Helicane enjoineth us, We with our travels will endeavour us.
Then you love us, we you, and we'll clasp hands: When peers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands. | <urn:uuid:ea83610d-15d8-484c-a538-09f1f4d6f54c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/t/lit/shakespeare-plays/pericles-act2-4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959086 | 503 | 1.625 | 2 |
Welcome to the
Center for Excellence in Education
The Xavier Center for Excellence in Education (XCEED) opened its doors in August 1998. Today XCEED offers consulting services for education and outstanding professional development programs for in-service educators.
Our mission is to prepare educators who are qualified and committed to providing an outstanding education for their students. Programs emphasize the integration of technology into teaching. This is accomplished through embracing multiple teaching methodologies including constructivism, cooperative learning, and other strategies.
Xavier has a long history of providing professional development for teachers. XCEED will plan, develop, and implement programs to meet the needs of our clients. We work collaboratively with local school districts in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky to serve teachers and students. | <urn:uuid:0b25f6b3-39f3-4f54-8e3d-31ee1112b8e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xavier.edu/xceed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954985 | 152 | 1.6875 | 2 |
I need to run a gas (LP) line from outside the house to a cooktop in the kitchen. Here's what I think I need to do:
- drill a hole in the exterior wall and the header (from the attic) of the same wall
- connect a 90° joint to Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST), drop it through the hole drilled in the header and fish it through the hole in the exterior wall
- connect a short piece of black pipe to the elbow, and connect it to the regulator installed by the propane supplier
- the other end of the CSST would run through the attic and down through another hole in the header of the kitchen wall
- connect to cooktop (I will, of course, use the supplied conversion kit)
This is the plan I've assimilated from research, much of it conflicting. So I'm sure it needs some adjustments. Here are my questions:
- from what I've read CSST is the way to go, but how do you protect it from fasteners going into the wall?
- I assumed short legs of black pipe should be used at the ends, since it probably looks better coming out of the wall, unless...is there some kind of wall plate/jack that could be used?
Is this approach generally sound? Anything else I should consider? | <urn:uuid:298f2380-fcb7-45f5-8572-35334d730950> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/18738/how-to-run-an-interior-gas-lp-line/18762 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960047 | 277 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Early voting kicks off weeks before 2012 presidential election day
Republicans in Florida approved a law last year shaving the number of early voting days from as many as 14 to eight. Early-voting advocates are challenging that, and a panel of three federal judges recently determined the changes could hurt participation by blacks, who lean heavily toward the Democrats.
In Ohio, another election battleground, the Obama campaign sued over a Republican-backed state law cutting off early voting for most people on the weekend and Monday before Election Day. A federal judge on Friday agreed to restore the voting days, although Ohio's Republican attorney general, Mike DeWine, plans to appeal the ruling. Early voting in both states begins Oct. 2.
Weekend voting has been an effective tool for Democrats. Black churches in 2008 promoted "take your souls to the polls" programs, helping deliver churchgoers from Sunday services to polling places.
But whether this election can match or exceed the 2008 early vote is an open question.
"We're not dealing with a candidate who's running for the first time; we're not dealing with the establishment of an historic change, and we have an economic downturn," observed Kareem Crayton, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina who specializes in voting rights.
Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, Ore., said that without the level of enthusiasm and excitement that existed in 2008 the early voting patterns might build up more slowly. He also noted, however, that Romney, unlike McCain, has embraced some of the same social media techniques that Obama used in 2008 to motivate his early voters.
"For that alone, Obama has a bigger challenge," he said.
From Anchorage to Miami, state-specific mailers are ready to go to each candidate's supporters, informing them when voting offices are open or how to request early ballots. Volunteers are ready to call supporters — culled from email lists, voter files and even magazine subscriptions — to remind them to get their votes counted.
Ohio is "going to be close, but we have 35 days to have our supporters vote early," said Aaron Pickrell, Obama's senior adviser in the state.
Obama has been asking crowds to visit a website run by his campaign, gottavote.com, to get early-voting information.
All of this means that today's presidential campaign looks much different from those of old, when massive get-out-the-vote operations were confined mostly to the final weekend and Monday before the election. Now, voter turnout is becoming a two-month slog. That is why the airwaves are already clogged with television ads, mailboxes are cluttered with political mailings and people are picking sides even before the first presidential debates take place.
"The old adage in Republican politics was a 72-hour campaign," said Scott Jennings, Romney's top aide in Ohio. "But really, that's a misnomer these days. We are going to be treating every day like Election Day, especially when the early voting starts." | <urn:uuid:f24391e8-3120-4075-ac1d-ad842b5c8333> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80633_Page2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968263 | 623 | 1.804688 | 2 |
A scalable algorithm for extraction and clustering of event-related pictures
The event detection problem, which is closely related to clustering, has gained a lot of attentions within event detection for textual documents. However, although image clustering is a problem that has been treated extensively in both Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) and Text-Based Image Retrieval (TBIR) systems, event detection within image management is a relatively new area. Having this in mind, we propose a novel approach for event extraction and clustering of images, taking into account textual annotations, time and geographical positions. Our goal is to develop a clustering method based on the fact that an image may belong to an event cluster. Here, we stress the necessity of having an event clustering and cluster extraction algorithm that are both scalable and allow online applications. To achieve this, we extend a well-known clustering algorithm called Suffix Tree Clustering (STC), originally developed to cluster text documents using document snippets. The idea is that we consider an image along with its annotation as a document. Further, we extend it to also include time and geographical position so that we can capture the contextual information from each image during the clustering process. This has appeared to be particularly useful on images gathered from online photo-sharing applications such as Flickr. Hence, our STC-based approach is aimed at dealing with the challenges induced by capturing contextual information from Flickr images and extracting related events. We evaluate our algorithm using different annotated datasets mainly gathered from Flickr. As part of this evaluation we investigate the effects of using different parameters, such as time and space granularities, and compare these effects. In addition, we evaluate the performance of our algorithm with respect to mining events from image collections. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our STC-based algorithm in extracting and clustering events. | <urn:uuid:87853038-35af-4f63-8f9e-a0e3a74ccc35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.citeulike.org/user/massimilianoruocco/article/10689364 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942621 | 382 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Rapunzel Welcomed As 10th Disney Princess, Watched By The World's Media And Celebrities
'Rapunzel's royal celebration' Took Place at Kensington Palace in London, UK
Tangled is now one of the top ten grossing Disney movies of all time ahead of Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Cars and Toy Story 2
To mark today's event, Disney is highlighting a range of new Disney Princess products, including an Apple ipad app Disney Princess: A Royal Party
Kensington Palace has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is famed for its associations with Princesses. Princess Victoria (later Queen Victoria, Britain's longest reigning monarch) was born at Kensington Palace on 24th May 1819 and was christened the following month in the Cupola Room. Her love for the palace ensured the renovations of the State Apartments in 1897 which were opened to the public on Queen Victoria's 80th birthday. Today, parts of Kensington Palace continue to serve as residences for members of the Royal Family. The best known resident in recent years was Diana, Princess of Wales who occupied apartments in the north-west part of the palace from 1981-1997.
London, UK — 2 October 2011 — Disney today officially welcomed Rapunzel as the 10th Disney Princess character at a high profile, star-studded celebration, which took place in front of a global audience at Kensington Palace in London. Little princesses from across the globe watched Rapunzel be welcomed into the Disney Princess royal court by Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White and Tiana. British teenager and rising star Shannon Saunders sang Disney Princess' new signature theme, The Glow.
The procession through Kensington Gardens was watched by an estimated over 25,000 Disney fans waving flags and lining the parade route to welcome Rapunzel and the other Disney Princess characters in their horse-drawn carriages. In a world first, Kensington Palace, was chosen by Disney as the perfect location for this magical welcoming ceremony of a Disney Princess, as it has been the home of many real life Princesses over the centuries.
"Rapunzel's royal celebration at Kensington Palace was truly a meaningful and important event in the history of Disney Princess," said Bob Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. "Since the release of Tangled, Princess Rapunzel's inquisitive and energetic personality has filled the hearts and homes of little girls around the world."
Over 100 girls from over 25 countries dressed as little princesses joined the festivities and witnessed the crowning of Rapunzel by Fairy God Mother and Flynn Rider. The celebrations continued with a fun filled afternoon from lantern making to storytelling. Celebrities in attendance included from the United States, Nicole Richie with husband Joel Madden and their son and daughter; from the UK, Peter Andre, Helen McCrory, Damian Lewis; from Brazil, Ticiane Pinheiro Justus; from Italy, Laura Chiatti.
"Today's celebration was vibrant, energetic and fun, just like our newest addition to the Disney Princess family herself," said Anne Gates, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Disney Consumer Products. "Girls everywhere have admired Princess Rapunzel for her curiosity and imagination and now they can continue to celebrate her strengths and story with her induction into the Disney Princess royal court."
Each Disney Princess character has a unique story that empowers girls to imagine and live their very own fairy tales. Rapunzel is a modern heroine - she may have lived her entire life locked inside a hidden tower but Rapunzel is no damsel in distress. The girl with 70 feet of glowing, magical hair is an upbeat young lady who fills her days with art, books and imagination. She is full of curiosity about the outside world and can't help but feel her true destiny lies outside of the lonely tower walls.
To kick off her celebration, Rapunzel arrived in London a week early to do some sightseeing and visited a famous London landmark every day. Fans can view Rapunzel's royal journey picture gallery at Facebook.com/DisneyLiving and see the newest Disney Princess visiting Salt Tower at the Tower of London, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge at Thames River and Big Ben.
- Rapunzel is officially celebrated as the tenth Disney Princess on the 2nd of October
News | Toy News
About Disney Consumer Products
Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) that extends the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, home décor and books and magazines to foods and beverages, stationery, electronics and fine art. This is accomplished through DCP's various lines of business, which include: Disney Toys, Disney Fashion & Home, Disney Food, Health & Beauty, and Disney Stationery. Other businesses involved in Disney's consumer products sales are Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world's largest publisher of children's books and magazines, and www.DisneyStore.com, the company's official shopping portal. The Disney Stores retail chain, which debuted in 1987, is owned and operated by Disney in North America and Europe. The Disney Stores chain in Japan is operated under a license agreement with Disney. For more information, please visit www.DisneyConsumerProducts.com or follow us at www.YouTube.com/DisneyLiving, www.Facebook.com/DisneyLiving and www.Twitter.com/DisneyLiving.
About Historic Royal Palaces
Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace the Banqueting House and Kew Palace. We help everyone explore the story of how monarchs and people have shaped society, in some of the greatest palaces ever built.
We receive no funding from the Government or the Crown, so we depend on the support of our visitors, members, donors, volunteers and sponsors. These palaces are owned by The Queen on behalf of the nation, and we manage them for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
We believe in four principles. Guardianship: giving these palaces a future as long and valuable as their past. Discovery: encouraging people to make links with their own lives and today's world. Showmanship: doing everything with panache. Independence: having our own point of view and finding new ways to do our work. www.hrp.org.uk Registered charity number 1068852 | <urn:uuid:d6103069-1e1b-4f3b-b6c5-fd89170e3804> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kidsturncentral.com/topics/toys/tn100211.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94338 | 1,337 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
I have myself always been terrified of plagiarism—of being accused of it, that is. Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies. The reason writers are such slow readers is that we are ceaselessly searching for things we can steal and then pass off as our own: a natty bit of syntax, a seamless transition, a metaphor that jumps to its target like an arrow shot from an aluminum crossbow.
All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Plagiarism of style is the most nefarious of all forms of plagiarism and the shabbiest.
The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.
Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats. | <urn:uuid:49481b8a-d7ef-4ed3-a84d-b77085a280a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2012/1/28/plagiarism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950357 | 213 | 1.546875 | 2 |
What a great IMPACT webinar last week, with Andy Pai answering the 200 coaches’ written questions that poured in, while Phil Shoemaker, head coach at University of Alaska Fairbanks, and I shared about 100 total years of collective insights for these new coaches to learn from. One coach made our night, typing in that he felt he was getting a $1,000 coaching clinic for under $100. When wrote the first edition of the IMPACT manual back in 1988, that was the intent, to share the science, facts, ideas and even secrets so a new coach could be far more successful in that crucial first year. It is nice to see that 23 editions and years later, it is still doing that.
As the questions came in, I was struck as to how many caring coaches we have in our sport, but also as to how many wanted to fix their players, rather than guide them. It is part of the coaches (and teachers and parents) paradox – we want the best for our kids, but often step in too soon to problem solve and deliver the solution. This is explicit learning, which results in their being dependent on the coach for the answer, rather than being able to solve it, albeit more slowly, themselves. It also results in players who, when they err, head swivel to look at the bench “for the answers,” rather than inwardly and using implicit learning to figure things out themselves. This not only creates dependent, not independent athletes and thinkers, but athletes who are not resilient.
Developing resiliency in your players is one of the top three things you can do as a coach. I have oft written about the “Right here, Right now” focus of great players and teams. Of players who will play with drive and purpose and passion through matches and tournaments, focused on getting better, one point at a time. They know it is about raising their averages, in a game fraught and filled with the chaos of randomness. This random training is VITAL for the athletes to retain what is being learned and problem solve novel situations. It will LOOK, to quote USA Olympic Volleyball Coach Hugh McCutcheon “a little squirrely out there…” but the players are learning faster and remembering what is being learned better.
Like it or not, as good as a coach as you might be, we all are still subject to the randomness of our sport – and, as I wrote long ago “Stuff Happens” … we must be patient, and never get angry when streaks of errors occur. They will occur. A lot. As will good streaks. A key is to thus be calm, optimistic and consistent, focused on mastery, not the outcome.
INTENT vs. RESULT
What we need to do better is focus on the INTENT and not the result, as we teach. At my last practice, while working with a talented and self critical player on my 14er team, I had a one on one with her after a great serve that went long, corner to corner zone one. She looked disgusted with herself, a habit in our sport that is shown by body posture, gestures and even verbally which coaches continue to work to eliminate. So many players who come from situations of being alone, or even sports, where one’s actions are not seen in total, do not realize the power they are giving opponents by these external displays of frustration. So that was part of the teachable moment, but at its core was that I wanted to reward for the intent that I saw, when she chose the right serve to do at that moment. I also got to remind her of the positive vs. negative error options in her choice. She served over, not into the net. Good. She served long, not wide left to zone one. Good. It was a GREAT choice of serve, she just missed. That result was ok at this stage of her development, for I saw the right intent in her eyes…
Helping is NOT Fixing
Helping is guiding them to discover the solutions, not giving them the solution. At my core of this fixing vs. coaching focus, is my own coaching philosophy of Developing Amazing Leaders. This means that I am using volleyball and its wonderful, best of all sports TEAM game realities, to grow the leadership, problem solving and resiliency skills of each of the players. The athletes on my Team Colorado "14ers" team know that:
1. They must get their own water bottles; they cannot ask a parent to bring it to them.
2. They are to serve to weakest passer or toughest to pass areas of the court based on their experience and information we give in practice and advance of the match – they will never see me signaling where to serve a ball in a match.
3. They can call a time out to celebrate or talk about things happening in the game – it is not just me who might call a time out to celebrate the success of our team.
4. The game will ebb and flo, and that is not to be worried about. That they play with passion and joy, while focusing on the only point they can control – this point. Not the last one or the next one. This point.
5. Knowing why is more important than knowing how.
Thoughts on Resiliency
I wanted to share some other thoughts on developing resiliency in players. In no particular order, they are…..
1. Catch them on the comeback path. – The book Mindset by Carol Dweck is filled with guidance on creating confident, independent kids, from a parenting/coaching role point of view. The key remains to praise things they can control, not things out of one’s control. So we all must “catch them being good/nearer to the desired actions and behaviors” with things that show their being more resilient. Saying things like “That’s how we compete hard always!;” “See how your hard work brought us back into the game;” “Great job sticking with it!;” and rewarding with your attention, the efforts they give along the way, even if they are losing on the scoreboard. Remember the USA Team “Relentless Pursuit Rule” – 1. Go for every ball. 2. When the ball is too far away, see rule one…
2. Seek first to understand, before being understood. – The ability to be empathetic is a huge skill for a coach. Develop yours. It is like the great Canadian Hockey clips we have on the MVP Youth CD say at the end “What if kids treated us the way we treat them. CLICK HERE for the best of the bunch, the child teaching his dad golf....
3. Be consistent and respectful – Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde coaches develop very non-resilient players, for they cannot trust or respect your teachings, when given inconsistently and without respect for who they are. One of the places to help guide the whole team in this process is to cease using the words “always” and “never” - Be specific and be respectful, and I can promise you, that it is not accurate to say “You always” or “You never…”
4. Focus on MASTERY over outcome. – The best teachers do, and the research shows that it is 10 times more important than the tourney’s results in impacting your players on all sorts of levels. It is neat to see the research on mastery focus, given that the title of IMPACT is Increased Mastery (and Professional Application of Coaching Theory).
5. Teach and show adaptation. – Walk the talk. Be creative. Change line ups. Teach non-traditional skills. Do the unexpected.
6. Coach to the individual. – know who they are from the player information form. Remember, kids don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
7. Miztakes r oportunies to lern. – Marty Miller in Iowa showed me his t-shirt with such a phrase on it, and it is an important lesson in developing resilient athletes. Stay consistent to letting your gym be, what Bill Neville calls an “Exploratorium” – As the Olympic motto says, “Citius, Altius, Fortius” – swifter, higher, stronger – all of which means mistakes will happen along the way, and they are simply part of the learning process.
8. Guide their discovery, but don’t give them the solutions. – Give them “hints without a rule” and they will learn it far better than you telling them what to do.
9. Let them influence you. – Over thirty years ago I learned that teams have needs, which include affiliation, competency, and influence. Let the players chose to serve or receive. Let them pick where to go for lunch. Let them pick games and scoring options in practice. Let them determine the rewards for performance and effort.
Increasing Deliberate Practice of Resiliency Through Reading…
While the most important skill in our sport is reading, this same verb applies to developing resilience in our athletes by learning about role models and examples through stories. So my top choices for players to read on this topic are:
1. Unbroken – my new #1 read on resiliency - the true story of Louie Zamerini, by the author of Seabiscuit. From juvenile delinquent to Olympian and WWII hero….a great, but tough and gritty read about wit, persistence, ingenuity and the will of man.
2. A Man’s Search for Meaning – I have oft mentioned, shared and gifted this book by Viktor Frankel, where a man’s choice to chose your own attitude is so powerfully stated. It was at #1 for decades, and worth the read.
3. Vision of a Champion – Anson Dorrance’s book for soccer players which largely fits how to be a great, resilient, team sport competitor. (Coaching friend Jason Trepanier in Canada notes that in another great book, The Man Watching - a biography about Dorrance - that Anson’s father is quoted saying that “Anson is the most confident athlete with no talent that he’d ever seen…
4. Get with it Girls – Life is About Competition By Teri Clemens, our own USAV CAP cadre member, who about a decade ago wrote this great book for volleyball girls. Thanks to Amazon, you can get a copy used or new, and it is worth sharing with your team on a pass around basis. I actually have five copies for loaning and sharing.
5. The Little Engine that Could - I think I can, I think I can….I thought I could, I thought I could. Over a century of versions of this tale. Now, with digital technology, in 2011 you will see a 3D version of the story in film. CLICK HERE to get lots more information on this classic….
And a couple of websites on the topic:
1. A Nation of Wimps – a classic and still favorite site on helping kids be strong and able to bounce back on their own.
2. Raising Resilient Children – Read the book many years ago when my kids were young, now a website with some helpful insights too.
Thanks for your help in growing the game. If you like these blogs, give it a Facebook like or share, and forward to your fellow coaches. You are welcome to email your thoughts and comments to me at email@example.com regarding resiliency or anything you are thinking about that will help us grow the game. | <urn:uuid:c3b5fe27-df36-47b1-9a41-1d60e22dbf7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Features/2011/February/07/Creating-and-Training-Resilient-Athletes.aspx?p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968259 | 2,442 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Needing Some Hugs
Over the past 30 years, HUGS has helped support more than 1,500 family members for an average of three years each. The volunteer and community-supported agency receives funding through Aloha United Way, grants, donations and fundraisers. (More on that later.)
Additionally, hundreds are served through a hospital outreach program that includes Tripler Army Hospital.
The plight of military families is something to which CEO Johnson can relate. Born in Wisconsin, she was a globetrotter thanks to her military dad’s assignments in Europe and the Far East. She attended high school in Yokosuka, Japan, and also studied at the University of Maryland-Asian Division as well as Jacksonville University.
“I understand the adjustment families go through in a place where the culture and language are new,” she says. “I have particular empathy for what they go through in terms of isolation. I remember how traumatic it was when we were living in Spain and a sick sister had to be medevaced to Germany.”
Military personnel are among the broad-based population HUGS serves. As demographic changes of residents have changed, so have the services HUGS provides.
“As long as there is a need that we can address, we never turn away a client,” Johnson says, adding that HUGS services are free.
Health care providers who refer patients to HUGS claim that the agency provides the “human touch and compassionate counseling” that go beyond medical treatment.
Its Silver Lining Toy Chest program, for instance, distributes toys and gift cards to children undergoing painful treatments such as a spinal tap or bone marrow aspirations. Laughter Wagon engages children, teens and siblings in interactive games and activities that reduce stress and anxiety. Kokua Kupboard provides food to needy families.
Even while government stipends have softened during the recession, Johnson is pleased with the record performance of the agency and pioneering efforts such as HUGS GPS, which helps clients navigate a network of aid resources and agencies.
The productive and positive performance of last year gives her confidence for expanding HUGS’s reach to the Neighbor Islands and the Mainland.
“HUGS can be one of Hawaii’s most valuable exports,” she says. “The model started here and is now ready for expansion. There is a real need for the human-touch services that HUGS provides.”
The philanthropy specialist has 20 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector, and through her consultancy, Social Currency matches high net-worth individuals, trusts and foundations with local causes.
The philanthropic landscape of Hawaii is changing and evolving, Johnson says. Younger donors and newcomers to Hawaii are looking for charitable involvements and opportunities where they can see immediate results.
The large, established kamaaina family trusts are becoming a thing of the past. Development and fundraising strategies must adjust accordingly.
Which brings us to HUGS’s annual gala fundraiser.
Last year, its annual gala fundraiser raised $225,000. This year the goal is $275,000, and HUGS anticipates another sold-out event.
With the theme “Jungle Love,” the gala will take place Oct. 19 at The Modern Honolulu. Four hundred guests are expected to attend the charitable safari featuring five auctions, a fashion show and a roaring good time.
Advance table sales cost $3,000-$10,000 and take place through February, with a Las Vegas trip baiting a prize winner. For details, call HUGS at 732-4846 or go online to hugslove.org.
As the afternoon sun moved into the clouds over the HUGS House, we ended our interview with Johnson on the porch.
We had learned a lot about the organization and how it helps folks in the community. Now it was time to go.
But not before we gave each other, you guessed it, a hug. | <urn:uuid:dd805872-4a0b-42e7-85c2-0bf0f8fe1b9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midweek.com/help-understanding-and-group-support-hugs-hawaii/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957581 | 835 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Sister displays crocheted nativity scene
- Sister Mary Helen Richstatter doesn’t crochet anymore because her hands are no longer able.
Sister Mary Helen Richstatter doesn’t crochet anymore because her hands are no longer able.
But before the Sister of Charity was forced to give up crocheting, she created a nativity scene.
“After I first made it, I didn’t know what to do with it,” she said.
So she kept the 18-piece set stashed away in a box. She later began putting it on display at Christmastime in the recreation room of the Mother House of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.
This year, she’s put it on display in the dining area of Ross Hall, which she said is the nursing home wing for the Mother House.
Richstatter, 89, said she worked on the nativity scene pieces as she took follow nuns to doctor appointments. She said she probably worked on the nativity scene for about two years.
She finished them about six or seven years ago.
“They were kind of fun, and they were a real conversation piece,” she said of the crocheted figures.
Richstatter said her favorite piece in the set is a camel. But she said working on the camel nearly drove her crazy by the time she put fringe on it.
She created the nativity scene from a pattern. | <urn:uuid:b76f8337-ab43-4449-82e0-fd5ef3799d1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/article/20121222/NEWS/121229744/1007/OPINION | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977828 | 305 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Service Projects & Special Events
Volunteer Fair -
This event was hosted at Wor-Wic Community College, and is centered
around parents and their children. The AmeriCorps members volunteered their
time to not only talk to others about what they do for AmeriCorps, but they also
entertain children with science projects so that their parents could browse the
other volunteer opportunities at the fair. This event not only has a positive
effect on children but on the parents as well because the children learned about
science while the parents could browse and not worry about their children while
they looked at the different organizations that attended the fair that day.
National Day of Play - This event was hosted
that the Salisbury YMCA. This event was sponsored specifically for children so
that they could come out and play in a safe and healthy environment. There were
refreshments like snow cones, face painting, a live band, a moon bounce,
interactive sports games, and a guest speaker. The guest speaker was Jim
Ireton, the mayor, who came to support the youth in the community for wanting to
have fun in a positive way. This event allowed for fun and clean interactions
between children so that they know that they can still have fun without doing
Breast Cancer Walk -
This event was hosted at the Winterplace Park in Salisbury, MD. This
event is a 5k walk to support Breast Cancer Research.
Hayward Youth Center Cheerleading Coaching - This
event is hosted at the Garland Hayward Youth Center and this
event starts in October and continues all the way until the end
of the school year in May. Practices are every Wednesday, and
since the girls have a supporting and caring coach, who is an
AmeriCorps member, they love coming to practice and enjoy
working with the other girls on the team. They not only learn
how to cheer, but they also have fun doing it. The AmeriCorps
member takes them bowling and to other social events so that
they can all interact in situations where they are not pressured
to do anything they do not want to do. They hope to raise money
so that they can continue to travel to competitions.
Alcohol Awareness – This
event was held at Camp Arrowhead in Lewes, DE where some of the
AmeriCorps members met with high school students to talk about
alcohol and its effects when is experienced at a young age and
the dangers of drunk driving.
Night of the Living Zoo –
This event is located at the Salisbury Zoo in Salisbury, MD and
is held at night. At this event, there is a moon bounce,
walk-around cartoon characters, handing out candies and snacks,
and meet and greet the animals. Meet and greet the animals was
the zookeepers way of demystifying what was so scary about
crocodiles, snakes, cave crickets etc. so that the kids would no
longer be afraid of these animals. This event was also held so
that parents could bring their children to a safe Halloween
party without having to worry about the candy or people being
safe. Finally, in addition to being a benefit for the
community, parents and children, it helped raise money for the
Zoo’s wildlife education program so that it can continue to
educate children about animals throughout the rest of the year.
Seagull Century – This event
was set all over Salisbury University and Salisbury, MD. The
AmeriCorps members were placed in Furnace Town the past year to
pass out Gatorade and water to the bikers who were going through
the pit stop they were running. Seagull Century is not only fun
for the bikers but is raises money for different school programs
Gimme 5 Youth Day – This
event was held at Prince Street Elementary in Salisbury, MD.
This event is a part of the Giraffe Hero Project which is a
program that promotes “sticking your neck out” for your
community. The AmeriCorps members talk to the kids in the
community and they get the kids to understand and respond to the
Giraffe Heroes in their own community. In this particular
project though, the AmeriCorps members supported vendors such as
Wicomico Mentoring Project, Kool Smiles, Wicomico Rec & Parks,
Girl Scouts etc. who tried to represent the 5 aspects that
represent our youth: Good health, safe place, caring adult,
marketable skills and a willingness to serve. This event gives
the community a chance to come together and have good fun like
face painting, pumpkin painting, fall festive games and other
fun crafts. To see the safe places click on
Gimme 5 Youth Day.
Veteran's Day Flag – This
event is held at Delmar Elementary School in Salisbury, MD and
in this event the children created a flag that was 8’ x 10’
which was made of cut out hands signed by every child and staff
member in the school. When the flag was finally completed it
was hung in the school cafeteria. This project was about
commemorating veterans and education on who veterans are and
what they do for our country. It also got the children involved
at the school and excited to do something simple and creative.
AmeriCorps members are planning on holding another Veteran's Day
Flag event in May as well.
Youth Career Tour – This
event is located in a variety of places, such as Salisbury
University, the Fire Station, Wor-Wic Community College, and the
Food Bank which are all located in Salisbury, MD. For this
event, the AmeriCorps members take seventh and eighth graders to
visit local businesses and colleges so that they can try and
find the students interests in a field of study. Specifically,
they were trying to educate students on the kinds of jobs that
will be available to them if they go or do not go to college and
how they can obtain the jobs of choice.
College Tours – these events
are held at colleges where our AmeriCorps members are able to
reserve with. This past year it was with the Naval
Salisbury University and other local colleges in the area. The AmeriCorps members educate young
adults from the Kids of Honor Club about college and the
benefits that it can bring to them in the future.
University of Maryland College Park
Workshop – This event was located at UMD College
Park in College Park, MD and was created for selected seniors in
Somerset County where they could apply to 1 college/university
for free. They could also attend sessions on creating a resume,
individuality, time management, organization, financial aid and
other college related topics, along with learning about the
college life and how to cope with a new environment.
Definitely Real –
This event is held in Crisfield High School in Crisfield, MD and
the AmeriCorps members performed a Financial Literary education
class through the Delmarva Education Foundation. Specifically,
the AmeriCorps members talked to eighth graders about the value
of the dollar and how to spend, save and understand how money
Toys for Tots – This
event was held at St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Salisbury, MD.
The AmeriCorps members were wrapping presents for
lower income families with children who could not afford to give
their children presents for the holidays.
Salvation Army Give-a-Way
– This event was located at the Salvation Army and the
AmeriCorps members took toys that were donated and gave them
away to families with children who found themselves in poopr
economical situations and had no gifts for the holidays.
Martin Luther King Day
– was held in the Wicomico Civic Center. What the AmeriCorps
members did though was the Giraffe Project Table promoting
children to “stick their neck out” for what they believe in and
to stand up for themselves. There were also other businesses
who had tables came to celebrate Martin Luther King Day and to
inspire unity and a commitment to a better world as well as a
better local community. At this event, there were activities
such as face painting, educational games/puzzles, food/
beverages, freebees and guest speakers.
College Goal Saturday
– this event was located at Washington High School and the
AmeriCorps members were holding a financial aid workshop for the
high school students. The seniors from Somerset County came and
learned how to complete their FAFSA forms and learned how to
apply for scholarships. Not only did the members connect with
the seniors but with the seniors’ families and siblings which
made the experience even more rewarding.
College Application and Scholarship
Workshops – This event is located at Washington
and Crisfield High School every Wednesday starting in January 26th
and continues throughout the year. For this event, the
AmeriCorps members host 3 hour workshops for high school
students to attend so that the members can help them apply to
college and find scholarship money for future endeavors. These
programs really motivate high school students to go to college
and make something for themselves.
Raking Leaves – This
event was held at the Village of Hope in Salisbury, MD. The
Village of Hope is a program that houses abused or addicted
mothers and their children so that the women can get help and
eventually learn how to re-enter society. What the AmeriCorps
members did for this project was clearing leaves from the
parking lot, sidewalks, nature trails, gardens, and playground.
They also picked up trash in those areas as well, making the
kids of the mothers want to come outside and play more. The
children were also happy that people came to help them in their
time of need.
Career Exposure –
This event is going to be held in the Culinary School, Beauty
School, the Hospital, and or medical center where the AmeriCorps
members will take some of the youth from the Kids of Honor
Program in the local high schools to look at these places to see
if they could possibly express interest in any of these fields.
This gives the young adults more knowledge about possible future
careers and what they can do to achieve them.
Prom Dress Drive –
This event is held throughout February until the beginning of
April. The AmeriCorps members collect prom dresses from
Salisbury University students and from other college students in
the community. Girls in the community donate their old dresses
that they have collected over the years and then in April they
will given away to local high school girls who do not have
enough money to be able to afford a prom dress. By giving these
dresses out, it enables the young women to feel beautiful even
when they do not have adequate finances to buy a prom dress.
May/ June/ July Events
Junior Achievement – The
third week of May at Chipman Elementary, AmeriCorps members
worked with second graders in 45 minute sessions teaching
different subjects. While they teach the members and students do
activities dealing with community in which we live in and jobs
within the community. The main goal in this event is to drive
home the fact that children need a good education to receive a
good job and succeed in life. This event gives children the
ability to take a break out of their day and learn about jobs
and the possibilities that await for them after school.
Eggstraviganza- On May 24th, 2011 the event
“Eggstraviganza” was put on for kids and families to come and
enjoy Easter related activities. These activities would include
Easter Egg Hunts, where members would set up different hunts for
different age groups, set up games for the different age groups,
arts and crafts as well as egg dying for all the children to
take part in. This event enables kids and the parents to have a
safe and enjoyable environment.
Planting- This July
on Delaware Ave in Salisbury Maryland, members planted a big
garden to help clean up the surrounding area. Member’s visit the
site as often as possible to ensure that the gardens presence
will make a “bad” area of town a beautiful and relaxing place
for the community to visit. Our hope is that this garden will
benefit the community that live around there and hopefully, just
by being there, it will change someone’s negative perspective
and turn it into a positive outlook.
Summer Basketball Leagues-
From late Spring to early Fall, the program Summer Basketball
League allows children in the Salisbury area take part in the
Men’s Basketball Leagues. Children that are highly involved in
basketball and those that are just fans of the game come out to
the Men’s Basketball League to keep score and stats for the AAU
(Amateur Athletic Union)Tournaments. The Men’s Basketball league
was held at local playgrounds such as the Lake St Playground and
the Billy Gene Jackson Park, where the community would come out
to support and where the children could have fun and play in a
The show “Hometown Heroes” was created to highlight the youth in
the Salisbury Area and present how they are making a difference
within their community. These youth groups are programs and
mom-profits such as Boy Scouts, Junior Red Cross, ROTC and more.
This event benefits the youth who are being highlighted as it
allows people to see what a difference they are making and
recognizing how important it is to reach out to others. | <urn:uuid:7c5e01ed-a036-487a-9a3c-f5ea1189ac30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salisbury.edu/americorps/projects.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971026 | 2,926 | 1.726563 | 2 |
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Nothing But Nets Blog
In the past couple of months of working with the Nothing But Nets campaign, I noticed that many of our supporters have held various events or requested donations in lieu of presents in honor of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebrations. I learned that the Hebrew word 'mitzvah' literally means 'commandment' and is understood to mean 'commanded to perform good deeds.' Considering the amount of lives saved by the funds raised through our supporters Bar and Bat Mitzvahs - good deeds have been performed, indeed!
Recently, Nothing But Nets supporter Matthew Lawson informed the Rabbi (Rabbi Joel) at his synagogue (Congregation B'nai Jacob) that he wanted to raise money for Nothing But Nets in honor of becoming a Bar Mitzvah. They decided to hold a fundraiser for Nothing But Nets by hosting a basketball tournament including a free throw contest, 3-point contest and 3-on-3 games. The event raised more than $1200!
On Sunday, May 3rd, youth groups from six different United Methodist Churches gathered at St. Luke's to raise funds and awareness for Nothing But Nets. Prior to the event, each group had a goal of collecting donations every day in April. The youth leader from the group that raised the most money would have to appear on stage in fish nets in front of the May 3rd gathering!
The competition was stiff - in fact, so many donations were collected that the leader of each group decided to get up on stage and share in the silliness by the end of the night!
The crowd was later entertained by an improv show performance made up of members of St. Luke's UMC in Highlands Ranch. An iPod shuffle was offered up as a door prize, as well as two autographed sports items, a Colorado Avalanche Hockey Stick and a Denver Nuggets Basketball provided by Kroenke Sports; all of which raised a total of $700 for bed nets.
A dedicated Nothing But Nets supporter from the Union for Reform Judaism used her traditional Jewish coming of age celebration to raise money for anti-malarial bed nets. Naomi Keren Black, a thirteen year old girl from Australia, asked for donations to Nothing But Nets in lieu of Bat Mitzvah gifts.
To promote her efforts, Naomi created a Bat Mitzvah webpage that highlights her life and the special celebration that took place on December 27, 2008.
The Social Action Committee at Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism recently hosted a free throw shootout at a local gym in Highland Park, Ill., to raise money for Nothing But Nets. Participants ranged in ages from 7 to 67 with a strong showing by the town's high school varsity basketball team and their coach.
The turnout was terrific and the fundraising effort resulted in nearly $1,700 in donations taken at the door. The event was a fun and great experience for all involved especially the winner of the day—Ben Levine, who shot 24 out of 25 free throws.
I recently experienced my first Nothing But Nets campaign event at the Butler-Wyatt Boys & Girls Club Washington D.C., where UNA-NCA and YPIC hosted a Nothing But Nets Basketball Clinic. Nearly 50 youth members from the clubhouse gathered to learn about one of the most important global health issues facing the world today—malaria.
The day started off with brief introductions and remarks from Nothing But Nets Deputy Director Adrianna Logalbo, encouraging participants to become leaders and create awareness about malaria within their communities. | <urn:uuid:287a476d-52fd-4ffe-98d5-69cf327e54e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nothingbutnets.net/blogs/?blogger=lola-ajayi | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958117 | 731 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Someone recently sent me the link to the Happy Meal art project by New York artist, Sally Davies. I couldn’t resist sharing it with you—people I care about—in hopes that I can convince more of you not to eat at fast food restaurants. I had heard anecdotal reports about the fact that McDonald’s food doesn’t decompose over time, but this art project documents it once and for all. See for yourself what happens (or doesn’t happen) over 190 day period to a McDonald’s happy meal (hamburger and French fries). http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallydavies/4951819956/in/set-72157624739645253/
I mentioned this project to someone waiting in line for a flu shot at a health fair on Wednesday and she gave me her own version of the lack of decomposition of McDonald’s food products over time. She said she was in Arizona (think “hot sun”) and she had gotten a McDonald’s vanilla milk shake. She placed it on the fence post while she rode her horse for about an hour and a half. When she went back to get the milkshake, it wasn’t cold anymore but it hadn’t changed in any other way. She was pretty shocked and she’s never touch McDonald’s food or drink again.
Maybe you want to do your own scientific experiment. Next time you buy something at a fast food restaurant, buy two and bring one home and watch what happens (or doesn’t happen) over time.
If you need more convincing about the dangers of fast food, please watch the documentary “Super Size Me” or go to their “facts” webpage at http://www.vivavegie.org/101book/text/nolink/social/supersizeme.htm.
WARNING: FAST FOOD MAY BE DANGEOUS TO YOUR HEALTH! | <urn:uuid:e40f1d2f-4523-4fee-a957-fe0fc3f0ac1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umsystem.edu/newscentral/mindfuleating/2010/10/28/the-happy-meal-art-project/?pfstyle=wp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945284 | 419 | 1.585938 | 2 |
and two Lexus sedans — the
and the outgoing
— failed the latest round of IIHS frontal tests.
As we reported Monday , the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s new offset frontal-barrier test simulates a 40-mph collision with a rigid barrier that overlaps just 25% of the car. The test simulates a front-corner collision with a tree, a pole or another vehicle, a scenario that is responsible for almost 25% of front crashes that seriously injure or kill someone in front, IIHS says. The new test will augment the agency's existing frontal test, which crashes a car at 40 mph against a deformable barrier that overlaps 40% of the front.
"Outside of some automakers’ proving grounds, such a test isn’t currently conducted anywhere else in the United States or Europe," IIHS said in a statement, noting that despite an increasing number of cars that score well in frontal crash tests, some 10,000 highway deaths still come from frontal collisions each year.
The first batch of IIHS crash-test results included 11 luxury cars, all 2012s. Only three — the
— scored Acceptable or Good. In addition to the C-Class, A4 and the two Lexus cars, the remaining four — the
— scored Marginal or Poor. The C-Class, A4 and the Lexus cars earned the worst IIHS designation, Poor. IIHS cited poor structural integrity for all four, but the S60 was the only car whose structure earned a Good rating.
Although a car’s main crumple zones protect the passenger compartment, so-called "small-overlap crashes" impact the front wheels, suspension and engine firewall, resulting in significant cabin intrusion. In some cases, the front wheel can end up crunching the footwell. The S60's passenger compartment resisted intrusion the best; see its photo versus the Lexus IS below.
Lexus wasn't the only automaker to fare poorly. IIHS says the crash test for Mercedes’ C-Class left the dummy's foot wedged beneath the brake pedal, while the driver's door opened on the A4 and the CC. The CC's door fell off entirely — the first instance of that ever happening, IIHS noted.
Widening the boundaries of the frontal crush structure and building safety cages that resist impact at their boundaries can help, IIHS said. Containing the occupant is important, too. Frontal airbag coverage proved difficult, though, as crash forces tended to move dummies toward the A-pillars. Side curtain airbag deployment could mitigate the situation, but just six of the 11 cars deployed them — and four of those didn't provide enough forward coverage. In the MKZ, for example, the crash-test dummy missed the steering-wheel airbag altogether. Compare it to the TL (below), whose dummy hit the bag.
See the full results below. IIHS expects to test family sedans like the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion next. Top Safety Picks will continue for 2013, but IIHS will introduce a "higher award level that will be announced later this year" for cars that secure a top rating in the small-overlap test as well as the institute's existing tests. | <urn:uuid:cf29c9ec-881b-4dab-852b-2867fab4ade0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/kicking-tires/post/mercedes-lexus-and-audi-fail-latest-iihs-crash-tests/2012/08/14/66d7a940-e604-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933684 | 674 | 1.734375 | 2 |
I wanted to share a very cool use for Twitter that I discovered inadvertently, via this article in the New York Times explaining Twitter to the unenlightened.
The author suggested using Twitter as a streaming RSS service for news stories. And since my Twitter stream has become clogged of late with endless retweets to links of dubious value, I was intrigued enough to experiment.
My parameters were pretty simple: limit the feed only to those news organizations that pushed out stories with links. No chatter, no back and forth – I only wanted links to news stories. And happily, there’s no shortage of news organizations, from TV and radio stations to newspapers and magazines, that publish these sorts of streams, In fact, many of them even offer specialized streams, so you can get sports news separate from science news separate from weather.
I set them all up on a separate account from my main one, and ran that account off different desktop and mobile apps than my usual account. (UPDATE: Running both off of Twhirl these days, since it supports two separate accounts being open at the same time)
The result has been a really useful and fascinating stream of interesting stories and perspectives I likely would not have found on my own, a stream that’s updated more or less minute-by-minute. I like the serendipity of discovering these stories on my own time, without the pressure of feeling like I need to read each and every one.
If you want to set up your own list, please feel free to use mine as a guide. And if there are any sites you feel I’ve overlooked, your suggestions are certainly welcome.
NB: Most of these twitter streams were tough to find—lots of trial and error and guesswork. Few (if any) of the parent organizations had any sort of home page link to them and Google was of little help, returning stories said news outlets had done about Twitter, rather than the actual feeds | <urn:uuid:2d0c386a-be3d-4091-a6ea-86276dc67a4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toadstoolblog.com/2008/12/twitter-news-feed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964324 | 402 | 1.695313 | 2 |
A George Barna survey showed that, in a typical week:
22% of evangelical Christians do not read the Bible at all.
Thirty percent read it only once or twice a week.
The Gideons, who put million of Bibles in hotel rooms every year, say this about the Bible:
The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.
The Bible is God’s word and it is available, culturally relevant, historically accurate, valuable, and holy. How should that change the way we read it? | <urn:uuid:859b1912-8859-482e-9932-3cbb820a76f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://girlsgodgoodlife.blogspot.com/2006/08/bible-that-is-falling-apart-usually.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955221 | 187 | 1.742188 | 2 |
One of the first things Mark, our Lapicida showroom tour guide, mentioned at the start of his tour was that people often think of stone as “cold,” not a material you’d really want permeating your home. At this point I imagine a guilty look crossed my face. I’ve long been of the opinion that a house with abundant use of stone either includes a butler named Alfred or is of the medieval variety. Lapicida, consider me converted. The showroom is a masterpiece, displaying stone in every possible application: flooring, walls, furniture, and decoration. Lapicida challenged my perceptions of what stone can be, creating entire kitchens, living rooms, and dining rooms within their showroom to illustrate their point.
My favorite feature of the entire showroom was a wall of Italian vein-cut travertine. The wall featured a gradient of color that lightened as it progressed towards the ceiling and was gorgeous, rendering unnecessary any additional ornamentation placed in the room. I found myself unwilling to move on to the next room, straining to catch the fading intonations of our tour guide as he grew further away. The stone’s natural beauty was compounded by the artful installation. The room was stunning yet understated, an homage to the natural beauty of stone.
Lapicida did more than convince me that stone has a place outside of bathrooms and castles, however. They showed me that stone can be considered art in its own right. An artistic interpretation of stone comes through via Lapicida’s “book matching” technique. When a particularly beautiful piece of stone is uncovered, the stone is split and then the pieces are placed side by side in such a way as to enhance the symmetry of the piece and the imagery wrought by Mother Nature. One of the first things you see upon entering the showroom is a Rorschach-esque book-matched piece of marble that features a vaguely butterfly-shaped crimson design against a cream background. It’s a piece of art that is made doubly impressive due to its natural origins. The image below is a “quarter matched” piece, a piece that was split into four sections and aligned accordingly.
I guess a good way to sum up my feelings about our Lapicida visit was that, had I been currently in the process of renovating or building a home, it would now be entirely decorated in stone. I would also be searching for a butler named Alfred. | <urn:uuid:bdcbd519-260d-44ac-81c1-64c972fb1dd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modenus.com/blog/blogtour/lapicida-stone-for-the-21st-century | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97324 | 515 | 1.515625 | 2 |
With one instructor, one Piper J-3 Cub, 27 solos and more than 100 students in the first 12 months, the Elkins Pilots Club started with a bang 50 years ago and has continued ever since.
The club celebrated the milestone anniversary May 12 with a fly-in at the Elkins-Randolph County-Jennings Randolph Field in West Virginia. Two of the club's original members and the first flight instructor unveiled a stone monument commemorating the founding of the club.
Speaking at the event, club member Craig Hyre told the story of the founding in 1962 when gas cost 20 cents a gallon, airplanes rented for $6 an hour and flight instruction cost $4 an hour. The club's original Piper Cub aircraft is still on the field, and it was front and center at the event. Each of the 11 founding members invested $100 to launch the enterprise. Since then, hundreds of pilots have flown the club's airplanes, which today include a Cessna 172 and a Piper Archer II. The airplanes rent for $70 an hour; instruction is $35 an hour.
Elkins Pilots Club members Wendell Cramer, left, and K. G. Schmertzler, right, along with original club member CFI Perry Dillon are shown with the newly unveiled monument celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Tougher than a Tornado Sweepstakes aircraft made an appearance at the event, as did AOPA President Craig Fuller, arriving in his own Husky. Addressing the crowd, Fuller thanked Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for his support. Manchin is an AOPA member and active pilot who frequents Elkins. One of the airplanes on display at the event was the state's Cessna Caravan, which Manchin regularly flew as governor. Manchin is a member of the Senate General Aviation Caucus. Fuller pointed out the importance of such large caucuses in the House and Senate and the effectiveness of the government bodies supporting GA causes.
Fuller also recognized the importance of flying clubs in supporting the growth of GA, providing lower-cost access to airplanes and flight training and encouraging social connections among pilots. AOPA is developing new means to support flying clubs and partnerships, he said.
Novelist Stephen Coonts, a West Virginia native who has a nearby farm with a grass runway, related his experience of flying into the airport many times and praised the welcoming pilot community at Elkins. The former naval aviator and best-selling techno-thriller author arrived at the event in his Breezy, and noted that many believe aviation is an expensive endeavor.
"But if you keep your wife working, it's not," he joked.
Rounding out the event, the Elkins Experimental Aircraft Association chapter provided Young Eagle flights to 72 local students, perhaps inspiring some potential club members who will be around to celebrate the club's centennial in 2062. | <urn:uuid:6abb665d-5fb1-48c5-a138-141f7952d86e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theintermountain.com/page/content.detail/id/552935/Strong-launch-sustains-pilot-club-50-years-later.html?nav=5008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954964 | 605 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Here at DECA we’re dedicated to providing our students with the most engaging and modern training available. One of the ways we achieve this goal is through the use of our state-of-the-art simulator, DriveSim.
Using the latest in simulation technology, DriveSim is a realistic and exciting tool we can use to provide students with real-world driving experience minus the risks and costs normally associated with driving a heavy vehicle.
With DriveSim we are able to simulate any vehicle in any condition at any time. Want to learn how to drive a B Double in the city at night while it’s raining? Or how about a Heavy Coach in the snow while your tyre’s blown out? Ordinarily these situations would be near impossible to plan for, but with DriveSim they’re only the click of a button away.
Benefits of Using DriveSim
There are many, many benefits of using our DriveSim, including:
- Instant Feedback: as well as receiving a printed report at the end of each drive, DriveSim will provide students with instant feedback- from dips in the road to creaks and groans after a collision, students are immersed in a realistic and responsive world
- Environmentally Friendly: practice your skills without the worry of damaging the environment- no petrol is being used!
- Tailored Training: pre-loaded with a wide range of courses, DriveSim provides students with in-depth experience driving in specific situations. There are many facets to a DriveSim program that we can easily adjust, including:
- Driving Environment: We can simulate city roads, busy highways, rural roads and more with just a click
- Traffic Conditions: DriveSim can put you on the road with a host of different traffic conditions, including drunk drivers and persistent police patrols
- Time of Day: Switch between the bright sunshine of day or the black of night in seconds
- Weather: With DriveSim you can learn how to drive the most intricate of vehicles in the pouring rain. Not extreme enough? How about a thunderstorm? Or even a patch of snow?
- Vehicle Conditions: Learn how to drive in an emergency without the risks! Not only can we customize what type of truck or bus you use, we can also manipulate a number of failures, including tyre blow-outs, overheating the engine, brake failure, locked steering and more.
- Safe Training Environment: there are some situations that traditional training can never truly prepare you for- how does a tyre blow-out feel? What should I do if my steering locks? With DriveSim you can learn these advanced techniques in a safe and relaxed environment. Training can be repeated at the click of a button, so you can practice until you get it perfect!
- Mobile Training: can’t make it to one of our sites? Using our Mobile DriveSim, we can come to you! Utilising our national network of trainers and assessors, we can deliver Mobile DriveSim training at any client site in Australia.
We can deliver DriveSim training from a number of our branches, including our sites in Altona North, Carrum Downs and Shepparton. We also have the ability to deliver Mobile DriveSim training to any client site across Australia. For more information or to schedule training please contact your closest branch or email us at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:e631ae95-9970-421d-9d93-2b90f042f3be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deca.com.au/drivesim/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932263 | 691 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Mecartney: Graduate school is fun, exciting and often lucrative.
This year’s SURF-IT undergraduates may just have begun the 10-week program but already they’re learning how their summer research experience can enhance their graduate school application process.
The program’s first lunchtime seminar, delivered last Tuesday by professor and SURF-IT mentor Martha Mecartney, focused on the rigors and expectations of grad school, and gave the future grad students a look at common admission criteria as well as a what-not-to-do primer.
Mecartney, a UC Irvine chemical engineering and materials science professor who has experience as a graduate advisor, graduate admissions committee chairperson and associate dean of graduate studies, told the student researchers she has seen thousands of graduate school applications. “So I’ll give you the truth,” she said, including “things people may or may not tell you.”
First, she informed the group, not everyone will need a doctorate, especially if they’re planning a career in industry. But those who want to teach or conduct high-level research will need the advanced degree.
She was bitten by the research bug as an undergraduate at Case Western Reserve University. There, she worked on a research project, which, while it failed to garner the hoped-for results, provided her with her first look at the process. And she’s never looked back. “I got [excited] about how you do research,” she said. “You try all these things, you read things you maybe don’t quite understand and you try to put it into context. And that, to me, seemed really interesting.”
Among her tips for potential graduate students were:
• Before applying, check universities’ online catalogs to learn which schools offer specific areas of interest;
• Read up on faculty to learn their specialties and make sure the group is large enough to offer in-depth opportunities;
• Line up three letters of recommendation from faculty who can speak to students’ research potential;
• Write a comprehensive statement of interest and submit it to those faculty members who are writing the recommendations. This allows them not only to critique the statement and offer suggestions for improvement but also to write a letter that is in line with the student’s stated interests;
• Realize that deadlines are sacrosanct. Allow plenty of time to collect recommendation letters and order transcripts.
Once students have narrowed down their choices, they should visit the campuses, and talk to professors and students. “Never commit to a program without going to visit,” Mecartney cautioned. “You want to make sure your ultimate Ph.D. research advisor is someone you like.” She urged the students to identify their work style and choose an advisor with a similar style. “They may look great on paper but you should make sure you want to work with them.”
Keys to success are the letters of recommendation and the statement of interest. “Make sure to mention outreach programs, or mentoring programs, and other ‘teaching-type’ involvement. We want to know what your experience is,” she said.
How can a summer research program like SURF-IT help? In addition to the obvious – learning how to conduct research – the program supplies faculty mentors with an overabundance of information about their students’ level of responsibility, inquisitiveness, teamwork, oral and written presentation skills and other traits that can be used to determine their suitability for advanced research and to write recommendations.
“These are all signs that you’re ready to be a good graduate student,” said Mecartney.
In addition to preparing students for future careers, graduate programs can be lucrative, paying approximately $20,000 per year or $100,000 for a typical five-year program. “Never go to a Ph.D. program that doesn’t pay you,” she said. “That means they don’t really want you.” In addition, most programs will cover tuition and fees, and many will guarantee housing.
She urged the students to investigate fellowship opportunities as well, giving them a list that includes NSF fellowships, U.S. Department of Education graduate assistantships and others.
In closing, she shared with the audience the experiences of some of her previous graduate students. They have traveled the world, done research at large corporations, published papers and worked in national laboratories during their programs. “The life of a graduate student is so much fun,” she concluded. “It’s not all just being in a lab at a university. There are incredible opportunities out there.”
-- Anna Lynn Spitzer
Presentation as recorded | <urn:uuid:ad938c94-c47c-4c79-a837-ec254936a1b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calit2.uci.edu/calit2-newsroom/itemdetail.aspx?cguid=bb0acc22-8177-47ff-a14f-53aaf6c5aa67 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970229 | 1,005 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Soldotna dentist Jerry Hu moved into his new offices last month. The move was not out of the ordinary. But the manner in which he initiated his new building was unusual.
The morning he was to begin seeing patients there, he embarked upon a Chinese ceremony called Tun Fu. Although Jerry would not disclose the actual events that took place during the ceremony, the following description comes from a similar such ritual witnessed more than 60 years ago.
One morning, a man arrived at the place of his new business just before day break. He carried with him a case, a young rooster and was followed by a group of villagers. Onto a table there he unpacked incense, six cups, a rice bowl, a water container, several pieces of bamboo paper, some red string, a book of Chinese, a red cloth, a bottle of wine, a nail, a jar of tea and a red packet from the case he carried.
The man then lit the incense and poured water into the rice bowl. He lit two pieces of bamboo paper, then placed them into the rice bowl of water along with the nail.
He took one of the pieces of wet bamboo and passed it over the burning incense until it was dry. Then he began writing a secret inscription on the paper from the book he had. He turned the paper over, the written side down, and passed it over the incense again. He repeated this for each piece of bamboo.
Feng shui tips for the office
The location of your desk is the single most important feng shui consideration in the work place. It should be in a commanding position: you should always face the door and you should sit far enough inside the office to see the whole room from your desk. If you sit with your back to the door, you will not be sufficiently aware of your surroundings and may be surprised by people entering your office as well as by the things they have to say. If it isn't possible to arrange your desk to face the entrance, hang a mirror over the desk so you can see behind you.
The most favorable site for the manager's or boss's office is farthest from the front door. This way, the manager is distanced from distractions in the office, and is able to see the "big picture." Also, this distance allows the manager to be able to make decisions that might otherwise be rushed if he or she were closer to the rest of the activity in the office.
Workers whose desks are farther inside the office than the manager's are likely to be insubordinate because they will feel more in command than their superior.
For a more powerful presence at meetings, take a chair that is facing the door. This position will make you more aware of the dynamics of the room. Sit with your back to a wall rather than a window. The wall will offer solid backing to your ideas and lend authority to your presence.
Move desks so that you do not directly face your co-workers. Face-to-face seating can lead to confrontation between colleagues.
Jutting corners, especially those pointing toward your back, can contribute to disruptive office politics. If possible, interrupt the angle by placing a plant or some other non-angled object between yourself and the jutting corner.
Plants with flowers make for good feng shui. Your working environment will be more harmonious, and you will benefit from healthy, smooth-flowing ch'i if you add living things such as plants or goldfish (which symbolize money) to the office atmosphere.
-- From "Feng Shui -- Arranging Your Home To Change Your Life" by Kirsten M. Lagatree.
The red cloth was cut into strips and tied with pieces of string to the top of the bamboo pieces. Then he poured wine into three cups and tea into three more cups. The man then took his place at the head of the table and began giving incantations.
He took the rooster, and fighting to keep hold of the animal, pierced the cockerel's eye with the nail from the rice bowl and drove it through front of the socket and out the other eye. The bird immediately stopped protesting and its head fell limp.
Two villagers produced two pots of sand into which the man placed the pieces of bamboo, three in each pot with a cup of tea. He then sprinkled blood from the rooster's eyes on the bamboos and nailed the bird to a nearby tree with the nail through its eyes.
After pouring out wine at the bottom of the tree, more bamboo papers were burned. The man wet his fingers and put water from the bowl into the cock's blinded eyes. Firecrackers were set off and the bird was set on the ground, and the man put water from the bowl into the bird's mouth before reviving it.
The rooster actually woke up.
Jade plants adorn the doctor's office. The plant is known as the "good luck tree" in China, according to Celia Hu.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
The two pots with the bamboos were taken to hillsides at far ends of the village and buried under trees selected by the man. Then he declared that work could start in the new building in three days, and the ceremony was over.
This account was recorded in 1960 by a G.C.W. Grout in a book called Chinese Geomancy. Tun Fu is a ritual to appease Chinese spirits before moving into a new home or work place and is an important initial precursor to feng shui, the Chinese art of placement.
Jerry performed a similar ritual early in the morning on Sept. 19. He downplayed the ceremony, however, and indicated the rites he performed were very different from the aforementioned ritual.
"It's just a gesture," he said.
But he said the ceremony, along with the placement of the all the dental and office equipment and the design and actual placement of the building, were done according to the laws of feng shui (pronounced fung shway).
"It's all about harmony with nature," Jerry said of the principles upon which his new offices on Binkley Street were designed, built and decorated. "It's just like in biblical terms. You don't build your house on sand."
But the principles of
feng shui go deeper than just a good foundation. The Chinese believe feng shui -- literally meaning "wind" and "water" -- are forces responsible for determining health, good luck and prosperity. Following the principles is said to give good ch'i, or human energy.
The practice evolved from the observation that people's environments can have an impact on their lives -- for better or for worse.
Examples include moving a desk to face an office door so a person's back is not to the door. This keeps the person at the desk from being surprised by people entering the office. Or placing a fish tank in the office to enhance finances: the flow of water represents cash flow and fish represent abundant wealth. Sharp angles aren't good, because they can direct energy toward places it may not be needed.
Rounded shapes and pastel colors prevail in Hu's new office. "If it's pretty, it's feng shui," Hu's mother Celia said.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
The front doors of businesses should not directly face or oppose neighboring businesses, because this symbolizes conflict. Within a work environment, office doors shouldn't face, lest there be internal strife.
Managing one's environment according to such principles can generate good ch'i, or fortune, while not keeping good feng shui could lead to misfortune.
"When you don't believe, you think whatever happened just happened," said Celia Hu, Jerry's mother. "But when you believe, and something bad happens, you look in the books for answers and you're like, 'Oh, that's why.'"
Celia moved to San Francisco from Taiwan in 1978 with her husband, Tom, and sons Jerry and Peter. The family moved to Soldotna in 1980 and opened Golden International Chinese Restaurant in 1984.
Celia said she tried to reflect many of the same feng shui principles in the restaurant. That meant soft, curved angles on much of the furniture and a running fountain with fish to greet customers. Paintings of fish and horses are said to bring good fortune, as well, so there is plenty of art depicting the animals.
Celia said the layout of the restaurant was meant to be relaxing to guests.
"How does it make you feel?" she asked as she showed off her business.
Jerry said he is not a scholar of feng shui but was eager to follow his parents' lead when he began planning the new building. Moving his practice less than a mile east of his previous location, he had the opportunity to get what he wanted -- and he wanted good ch'i.
"We wanted as many rounded angles as possible," he said, motioning to the reception desk at the entrance to the office. "If you think about it logically, rounded corners are safer. When (someone) bumps into them, they're not going to hurt themselves."
Jerry saw his first patient that afternoon, at an office that had been designed specifically around feng shui, with the latest in dental technology interspersed in the interior layout.
A Chinese symbol for happiness adorns a vase in the doctor's waiting room.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
"We didn't want to have the front entr-ance going into something the same size," he said.
He said the entryway to a work place must open into a space that was larger because it was a gateway to more good luck.
In the waiting room, paintings of a flock of geese landing, ships coming into harbor, or rivers churning down valleys are hung against periwinkle-colored walls and a fledgling orange tree greets patients. These paintings all represent signs of good fortune coming into the business, and the tree's leaves are rounded, continuing the concept of softly moving energies. Purple shading spans the walls throughout the office, because the Chinese recognize it as a noble color, Jerry said.
"It gives a trustworthy feeling."
The three work bays are done in earth tones with new dental chairs that have foot and knee controls hidden into the design. This allows Jerry and the technicians to work on patients without risking picking up bacteria from the metal sinks.
Celia said feng shui is popular in her homeland, but she admitted she was not as adroit in assigning feng shui principles to her son's office. She said she enlisted the aid of a family friend.
"All the Chinese people more or less know feng shui," Celia said. "Because we've lived in America for 24 years, we forgot. So I had a friend from Taiwan come in to help."
Jerry said the concepts of the practice were applied first to the architecture and followed up in the construction. He said he hoped his new office would not take anything from the neighborhood's appearance.
"We wanted to enhance the area," he said. "We wanted the community to feel that it was a positive addition.
"The designer was really sensitive to what I asked for and the contractors went out of their way to make sure they worked with us to make it come together."
Rounded corners and careful placement of office furniture, like this sink in one of Hu's exam areas, is important to followers of feng shui.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
He said he did make an effort not to become too wrapped up in putting everything in the building according to feng shui, however. In the long run, he wanted to have a place he and his employees were comfortable with, and more importantly, one his patients would feel comfortable visiting.
"My folks told me feng shui wasn't something to get carried away with," Jerry said. "It's supposed to make life go smoother and make blood pressure go down. I thought about it. That's what you want at a dentist office."
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News tagged with metabolites
Non-smokers should give hotels that allow smoking in certain rooms a wide berth, say the authors, and instead choose completely smoke free hotels.
Health May 13, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
(HealthDay)—Patients with Cushing's syndrome have abnormal brain metabolites suggestive of neuronal dysfunction even after they appeared to have been cured, according to a study presented at the annual ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes May 03, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
Anti-smoking ads with strong arguments, not flashy editing, trigger part of brain involving behavior change
Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that an area of the brain that initiates behavioral changes had greater activation in smokers who watched anti-smoking ads with ...
Neuroscience Apr 23, 2013 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0 |
Dietary supplements accounted for more than half the Class 1 drugs recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2004-12, meaning they contained substances that could cause serious health problems or even death, ...
Health Apr 18, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
(HealthDay)—For individuals with type 1 diabetes, low concentrations of vitamin D metabolites are not associated with an increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis, according to a study published online ...
Diabetes Apr 12, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
Researchers have generated new insights into the ways in which physical activity affects how much estrogen is broken down and secreted in the urine of postmenopausal women. These findings enhance understanding of the potential ...
Cancer Apr 10, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
A compound abundant in red meat and added as a supplement to popular energy drinks has been found to promote atherosclerosis – or the hardening or clogging of the arteries – according to Cleveland Clinic ...
Cardiology Apr 07, 2013 | 4.8 / 5 (18) | 14 |
(HealthDay)—For vitamin D deficient individuals, cholecalciferol therapy is associated with reduced phosphocreatine recovery half-time in skeletal muscle and with improvements in fatigue, according to a ...
Health Mar 19, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
While water bottles may tout BPA-free labels and personal care products declare phthalates not among their ingredients, these assurances may not be enough. According to a study published February 27 in the ...
Health Feb 27, 2013 | not rated yet | 0 |
A natural sense of rhythm: Shifting levels of molecules in the blood provide a snapshot of internal 'body-time'
Anybody who has worked the overnight shift will testify that sometimes the time displayed on the clock is not the same as the one in your head. This disconnect is not merely perception; many physiological ...
Medical research Jan 18, 2013 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that the lack of a critical enzyme in the folic acid metabolic pathway leads to neural tube birth defects in developing embryos.
Medical research Jan 17, 2013 | not rated yet | 0 |
Abnormalities of mineral metabolism worsen with progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) and are linked with a higher risk for kidney failure among African Americans, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Dec 13, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
A team of scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, led by its director, María Blasco, together with Jose M. Mato, the director of the Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, has shown that the ...
Medical research Dec 04, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Center for Drug Design have developed a synthetic compound that, in a mouse model, successfully prevents the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia Dec 03, 2012 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0 |
Preeclampsia is a serious complication of pregnancy and the major cause of death for both mother and child in Europe and the U.S. It affects about one in 20 pregnancies. The main symptoms are high blood pressure and protein ...
Medical research Nov 26, 2012 | not rated yet | 0
Metabolites are the intermediates and products of metabolism. The term metabolite is usually restricted to small molecules. A primary metabolite is directly involved in normal growth, development, and reproduction. Alcohol is an example of a primary metabolite produced in large-scale by industrial microbiology. A secondary metabolite is not directly involved in those processes, but usually has an important ecological function. Examples include antibiotics and pigments. Some antibiotics use primary metabolites as precursors, such as actinomycin which is created from the primary metabolite, tryptophan.
Examples of primary metabolites produced by industrial microbiology:
The metabolome forms a large network of metabolic reactions, where outputs from one enzymatic chemical reaction are inputs to other chemical reactions.
Metabolites from chemical compounds, whether inherent or pharmaceutical, are formed as part of the natural biochemical process of degrading and eliminating the compounds. The rate of degradation of a compound is an important determinant of the duration and intensity of its action. Profiling metabolites of pharmaceutical compounds, drug metabolism, is an important part of drug discovery, leading to an understanding of any undesirable side effects.
For more information about Metabolite, read the full article at
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. | <urn:uuid:4c461298-14fe-416b-8bac-32eda0ba777c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/tags/metabolites/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936459 | 1,157 | 1.507813 | 2 |
“Competitiveness” means several things on Capitol Hill, but mostly it seems to be Congressional password for technology.
Bill Gates (M$oft’s Chairman and all around good guy) testified yesterday morning before the Senate. The full story is at the CRA’s Policy Blog, along with a link to the web cast of his testimony.
Here’s a quote:
Yet in 2004, just 11 percent of all higher education degrees awarded in the U.S. were in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences – a decline of about a third since 1960.
Recent declines are particularly pronounced in computer science. The percentage of college freshmen planning to major in computer science dropped by 70 percent between 2000 and 2005.3 In an economy in which computing has become central to innovation in nearly every sector, this decline poses a serious threat to American competitiveness. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that every significant technological innovation of the 21st century will require new software to make it happen. | <urn:uuid:00c22525-1bbc-44ad-9000-7db0b2c22872> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidehpc.com/2007/03/08/gates-testifies-on-competitiveness/ | 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 | 0.967708 | 208 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Refugee Admissions Reception & Placement Program
Each refugee approved for admission to the United States is sponsored by one of ten resettlement agencies participating in the Reception & Placement (R&P) Program under a cooperative agreement with the Department of State. The sponsoring agency is responsible for placing refugees with one of its affiliated offices and for providing initial services, which include housing, essential furnishings, food, clothing, community orientation, and referral to other social, medical and employment services, for the refugees’ first 30-90 days in the United States. The R&P Program is a public-private partnership, which anticipates that sponsoring agencies will contribute significant cash and/or in-kind resources to supplement U.S. Government funding for the program.
Although refugees are eligible for public assistance when they first arrive, the U.S. Government emphasizes early economic self-sufficiency through employment to speed their integration into American society. During the refugees’ initial transition period, programs funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement and administered either by the states or resettlement agencies provide cash and medical assistance, employment services, English language training, and other support services.
Refugees are admitted to the United States by the Department of Homeland Security. After twelve months of residency, refugees are required to apply for adjustment of status to that of permanent resident alien. After five years in the United States, refugees may apply for citizenship.
The voluntary agencies participating in the Refugee Admissions Reception and Placement Program in FY2009 are:
- Church World Service
- Episcopal Migration Ministries
- Ethiopian Community Development Council
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
- Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services
- International Rescue Committee
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
- U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
- World Relief | <urn:uuid:3ab85e29-b5cd-47af-80e2-68a3c9a0899a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.state.gov/md181056.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930428 | 384 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Following comments and rants on various media, the matter being discussed about last week’s release Shanghai is about the excessive praise lavished on it by a section of critics. A radio jockey even went on to wonder if they had all been paid. (This is the commonest allegation and almost always untrue.) A columnist grumbled that he has stopped trusting critics. And various members of the audience who went to see the film after reading the rave reviews came out disgruntled.
After the first round of gush, some of the other critics also expressed mild disappointment with Shanghai. Usually, the first bunch of reviews sets the tone for others to follow, because nobody wants to be the odd one out when 4 and 5 stars are flying around. Nobody said it was a bad film, and Dibakar Banerjee is acknowledged as one of the exciting filmmaking voices of his generation. He has done bold and original work before this – Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Love Sex Aur Dhoka—but Shanghai with all its merits is clearly not his best. The idea comes from a 1969 Greek novel Z by Vassilis Vassilikos turned into an award-winning and very powerful film by Costa Gavras, which is clearly an inspiration for Shanghai too.
The way Banerjee has Indianised it, there are clear references to what is going on the country today in the name of development, but there was hardly any need to seek help from a four-decade old Greek source—there are enough instances in India of anti-establishment or anti-MNC activists being harassed, terrorized or killed. Nobody denies the right of the filmmaker to pick his idea from anywhere and also express his political point of view; in fact, the more socially conscious cinema is, the more light it can throw in serious issues. Popular cinema has the kind of reach documentary films cannot. However, a filmmaker’s intention does not necessarily include awareness or understanding of the cause at hand. Bollywood is usually politically naïve if not downright indifferent.
The critical response to Shanghai again raised questions about the standards of criticism, on whether critics are meant to be serious analysts of cinema, crowd-pleasers, sycophants of big-ticket Bollywood or fanboys of the self-appointed rebels against mainstream cinema; whether it is even important for them to be clued into to history, social issues, literature, art and theatre, or it is enough to be fed on a diet of international cinema from which so many of today’s brat pack of directors derives sustenance. In short, do they know what they are talking about, can they place criticism of a few worthy films in a social, historical, moral (unpopular word today) context, can they stick their necks out and take an unpopular stand when need be? If yes, then they will have a reading public trusting their views. The others will be happy with ‘timepass’ films anyway, and the success of a bad film does not make it good, never mind how many celebratory parties the produces throws and how many self-congratulatory interviews stars and directors give. | <urn:uuid:f3eb8c23-cddf-48d1-8cf0-35dad42904bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afternoondc.in/bollywood/easy-to-impress/article_58067 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968042 | 650 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Pope Benedict XVI, 85, announced Monday he was resigning his seat because of health reasons, effective Feb. 28.
The resignation is the first from a pope in roughly 600 years.
(SEE RELATED: Concession on birth control not sufficient, bishops say)
In a statement in Latin to the cardinals, the pope said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry."
He also said, in his statement published by various media: "In today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."
A new pope could be elected as early as March, according to various media.
Fox News's Father Jonathan Morris finds the announcement a shocker — an "unforgettable moment in the history of the church," he said.
"It's a phone call you never, never expect to get," he said, in a Monday morning telephone interview on Fox News just minutes before he was to board an airplane. "Not that the pope has died — but the pope has resigned. This is stunning."
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at email@example.com.
By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A carefully guided tour through the confusing world of modern bookselling and publishing.
“Right Angles” explores serious subjects, such as the Islamization of the Middle East and delegitimization of Israel, with humor, candor and a twist.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
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Great Northern Theatre
3639 N. Broad Street,
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Great Northern Theatre was one of Philadelphia’s early neighborhood houses. Located on Broad Street, just south of Erie Avenue, was opened in 1913. In 1916 it was remodeled and expanded to plans by Philadelphia architects Henon & Boyle. At some point, an Austin organ was installed (Opus 636.)
Vintage photos show that the Great Northern Theatre was still in operation in the late-1930s. It’s possible that at some later time the entrance was moved to Germantown Avenue, as the building extended through the block. The seating capacity was given as 1,050 in the early-1940’s.
The Great Northern Theatre was still listed as operating in the 1950 edition of Film Daily Yearbook. It was closed in 1953.
Additional information about the Great Northern Theatre would be appreciated.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater | <urn:uuid:7bf2bd49-d6b1-436a-aaa4-cffd41e20f26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/36807 | 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 | 0.983484 | 203 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Discrimination Against Unemployed Applicants? EEOC Hears Experts.
By Laura Berndt, Beth Hanson and George Lenard
Recently the EEOC held a public meeting to look into “the emerging practice of excluding unemployed persons from applicant pools” and whether such a practice is unlawful under federal discrimination laws.
The press release from the EEOC meeting questioned using “current employment as a sign of quality performance” (and thus a standard for hiring), stating that any such “correlation is decidedly weak” and that “blanket reliance on current employment serves as a poor proxy for successful job performance.”
Table of Contents
- The Practice of Not Hiring Unemployed Applicants
- Is Discrimination Against the Unemployed Unlawful Disparate Treatment?
- Does Discrimination Against the Unemployed Have Unlawful Disparate Impact?
- Disparate Impact on Racial and Ethnic Minorities
- Disparate Impact On Women
- Disparate Impact on Individuals With Disabilities
- Is There a Business Justification for Excluding Unemployed Applicants?
- The Counter-Argument
Discrimination against the unemployed also has negative socio-economic impacts, most obviously on government efforts to lower the high unemployment rate.
Christine Owens, Executive Director of National Employment Law Project (NELP), said:
At a moment when we all should be doing whatever we can to open up job opportunities to the unemployed, it is profoundly disturbing that the trend of deliberately excluding the jobless from work opportunities is on the rise.
More importantly from the EEOC’s perspective, excluding unemployed persons from consideration for jobs may have a disparate impact on women and racial minorities and thus may be unlawfully discriminatory.
While full documentation of the written testimony on discrimination against unemployed applicants presented at the meeting can be found on the EEOC’s website, this post will summarize the highlights.
The Practice of Not Hiring Unemployed Applicants
According to the written testimony of Christine L. Owens, Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP):
Stories suggesting systematic exclusion, often blatant, of unemployed workers from consideration for jobs began to emerge early last summer.
Blatant Exclusions in Job Ads
The blatant exclusions include job ads explicitly stating, “Must be currently employed,” and the like.
Other bans on hiring unemployed applicants focus on length of unemployment, usually six months or more being the criteria. This can be described as a requirement of recent employment.
According to Helen Norton, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law, employers and staffing agencies have publicly advertised jobs in fields ranging from electronic engineers to restaurant and grocery managers to mortgage underwriters with the explicit restriction that only currently employed candidates will be considered.
James Urban, a partner in the Jones Day law firm, disputed the prevalence of this practice, stating he believed it “is not a widespread practice among employers to disqualify applicants on the basis of unemployment.“ He mentioned having reviewed the “help wanted” sections from three major metropolitan newspapers, and not having found “one single advertisement in any of these publications stating that the unemployed need not apply [or] … anything remotely close to such a statement.”
Since Norton reached the opposite conclusion, perhaps she simply dug a bit deeper (taking a more thorough and professorial approach) and found information a cursory spot-check by a busy lawyer such as Urban could easily overlook.
HR Professionals Produce Evidence of Exclusion of Unemployed Applicants
Some employers openly admit they prefer employed applicants, even if they don’t go so far as to mention it in job ads. Unfortunately, experts believe there are many more employers who secretly practice the same favoritism. Owens of NELP testified:
There is no official data on how frequently unemployed workers are denied consideration for jobs because of their employment status, but the brazenness of the ads . . . and the experiences jobless workers shared with us suggest the practice is fairly common. That suspicion is borne out by comments of human resource consultants and recruiters willing to go on record about the practice.
Adecco Group North America’s Vice President of Learning and Performance Rich Thompson said that the practice of only hiring applicants who are currently employed is “more prevalent than it used to be.”
New Jersey-based human resources consultant Lisa Chenofsky Singer also has been quoted as saying that recruiters are not interested in applicants who are not currently working:
Most executive recruiters won’t consider a job applicant unless they are employed (although most won’t admit this.)
Isang Inokon, a health-care recruiter, said it is difficult to place the jobless because employers “want somebody who’s wanted,” (i.e., still employed.)
In its testimony before the EEOC, NELP provided the example of a 53-year-old woman from Illinois who lost her job of 19 years as an IT help supervisor in 2008, has been unemployed and unable to find a job since, and has currently exhausted her unemployment benefits and applied for food stamps.
On one occasion, several months into her job search, a headhunter who originally was excited about this woman’s qualifications told her he would be unable to interview her because she had been unemployed over six months, which was against his company’s policy.
Whatever the prevalence of policies of excluding unemployed applicants, recent data shows they have a harder time finding work the longer they are unemployed:
Just over 30 percent of unemployed people who had been out of work for under five weeks were hired in an average month in 2010, while that number dropped below 20 percent for those who had been unemployed for up to 14 weeks, below 15 percent for a jobless duration of 15 to 26 weeks, and so on.
Is Discrimination Against the Unemployed Unlawful Disparate Treatment?
As with any employment decision or practice, the lawfulness of not hiring an applicant because of their lack of current or recent employment must be considered under both of the main theories for proof of employment discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact.
The Disparate Treatment Theory of Discrimination
As its name suggests, the essence of the disparate treatment theory is that the complaining individual was treated differently than others because of their protected characteristic (race, sex, age, etc.).
Normally, proof under this theory focuses on:
- Comparisons to other employees who do not have the protected characteristic, and/or
- Challenges to the credibility of reasons the employer gives for its action. If the employer’s stated reason doesn’t hold water, it may be found to be a pretext, or lie, covering up intentional discrimination.
The bottom line under the disparate treatment theory is that the employer intended to treat someone differently for a discriminatory reason, i.e., because of their protected characteristic.
How Exclusion of Unemployed Applicants Might Be Disparate Treatment Discrimination
Helen Norton’s testimony at the EEOC meeting states there are at least two situations in which an employer’s requirement of current or recent employment might support a disparate treatment claim:
- If the employer required this of some applicants but not others, based on a protected characteristic, e.g., screened out female applicants because of lack of current or recent employment, but ignored this factor when considering males.
- If the employer used lack of current or recent employment as a pretextual reason to reject applicants when the true reason was their protected characteristic.
The distinction between the two is subtle. Either way, this would be intentional discrimination and the element of disparate treatment would be present. But in the first situation applicants would not necessarily know that their employment status was a decisive factor, whereas in the second they would be expressly told it was, as a false excuse for discriminatory exclusion based on a protected characteristic.
Does Discrimination Against the Unemployed Have Unlawful Disparate Impact?
In contrast to disparate treatment, under the disparate impact theory unlawful discrimination may be proven despite the absence of any intent to discriminate and despite the fact all individuals were treated the same.
Disparate impact occurs when the employer applies a uniform requirement, such as that all employees hired for a certain position must pass a test or possess a certain qualification.
This may seem to be the epitome of nondiscriminatory, neutral fairness, but the test or standard may disproportionately exclude people having certain protected characteristics. If it does so to a significant degree, and there is no adequate business reason for using it, or there is an alternative that would have a less severe impact, then its use is unlawful.
With respect to a requirement of current or recent employment, disparate impact refers to the possibility that applying this requirement identically to all applicants – e.g., rejecting all unemployed applicants regardless of age, race, sex – may be unlawful discrimination because while “facially neutral,” it may not be neutral in impact, disproportionately rejecting blacks, women and/or others with protected characteristics.
More information on disparate impact can be found in this earlier post, which highlights the Civil Rights Act of 1991’s amendments to Title VII dealing with disparate impact.
NELP found that older workers are more likely than their younger counterparts to be unemployed for long time periods. Bans on hiring those without current or recent employment also more significantly impact racial minorities, who experience higher rates of unemployment.
Disparate Impact on Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Algernon Austin, Director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and Economy at the Economic Policy Institute testified at the EEOC’s meeting concerning the impact of not hiring unemployed applicants on racial minorities, specifically African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. He cited these facts:
- The disparity between the unemployment rates of African American and white workers has been at a ratio of two to one since the 1970s. “[A]ll black workers, regardless of educational attainment, are more likely to be unemployed than white workers.”
- Throughout the past decade, Hispanics have faced an unemployment rate 1.5 times that of whites. As with African Americans, this rate is about the same among all levels of educational attainment.
- While the overall unemployment rate of Asian Americans is lower than whites, it is higher among college-educated Asian Americans. Additionally, Asian Americans have experienced a higher long-term unemployment rate than other racial groups.
- Native Americans have an overall unemployment rate 1.7 times that of whites. In some regions, such as Alaska, the rate is as high as three to one.
All of this means that any practice which disadvantages currently unemployed workers relative to similar employed workers will likely have a disproportionate negative impact on people of color.
Disparate Impact On Women
Given that women represented only three out of ten jobs lost in the recession, it may appear unlikely that exclusion of applicants based on lack of current or recent employment could have a disparate impact on women (if anything, it might seem to have a disparate impact on men).
But National Women’s Law Center Vice President Fatima Goss Graves testified in the EEOC meeting that women have fared far worse than men in the recovery.
According to Ms. Graves, between July 2009 and January 2011, men gained 438,000 jobs, while women lost 366,000. One possible reason for this disparity in women’s hiring rate could be companies only hiring those who are currently employed. This practice would have the effect of excluding women who have taken time off work to be caregivers to children or other family members and are now ready to re-enter the workforce.
Disparate Impact on Individuals With Disabilities
Joyce Bender, CEO of Bender Consulting Services — who has both professional and personal knowledge and experience regarding living and working with disabilities — said this about employers not hiring unemployed applicants:
[T]he practice of excluding persons who are currently unemployed from applicant pools is real and can have a negative impact on persons with disabilities. . . .
[N]early 80% of Americans with disabilities are not considered to be in the labor force . . . . Of the remaining 20%, 13.6% are unemployed.
The majority of applicants with disabilities do not have work experience, and even if they do, it is often not current work experience. . . .
For many Americans with disabilities, the closing of the door to employment does not occur after the interview, it occurs before it when human resources “gate screeners” prevent the person from even getting an interview. . . .
[C]ountless times I have heard the same excuse: “If only this person had current work experience, we would be happy to interview them.” Hiring managers call it seeking the “best qualified” talent for their company and no overt discriminatory comment is made, but I am concerned that for some of these employers discrimination is a factor [disparate treatment]. And even where it is not, the impact on workers with disabilities is the same; they are eliminated from the applicant pool [disparate impact]. . . .
I understand that for certain positions, experience is required; however, not every position with a specific employer requires current work experience, even in a high-tech industry. . . .
[O]ur national goals for increasing employment amongst Americans with disabilities will never be met if the only way to gain an interview is to be currently employed.
Is There a Business Justification for Excluding Unemployed Applicants?
In assessing the lawfulness of excluding unemployed applicants or those without recent work experience under the disparate impact theory, if a sufficient impact based on a protected characteristic is shown, the employer is liable for discrimination absent proof of a valid business justification.
Norton testified that in her opinion there is no valid business justification for making current or recent employment a requirement for hiring. She considered, and rebutted, three possible justifications:
- Some employers may use current employment as a signal of quality job performance, believing that to have retained a position in such a tough economy is evidence of job success.
- Others “may use current employment as a proxy for relevant experience,” believing those who lack current or recent employment must have outdated skill sets.
- Some “might use a current-employment requirement simply to reduce the number of applications received” or to screen them down to a manageable number.
Norton addressed these in turn.
First, she noted there are multiple reasons for a person to be unemployed that have no correlation with job success, such as:
- Having been in school or in a training program.
- Having had to leave a job because of a spousal relocation.
- Having lost a job solely because lack of seniority during employer downsizing.
- Having lost a job solely because the employer eliminated an entire division or shut down altogether.
- Having left employment temporarily due to illness, injury, disability, pregnancy, or family caregiving responsibilities.
Second, current employment is not a valid measure of experience for entry-level jobs that do not even require previous experience. And for other jobs, “[m]ore accurate (and less discriminatory) alternatives include more individualized assessments, such as posing problems or questions in interviews or tests that measure relevant contemporary knowledge, as well as asking questions that reveal recent experience or recent education and training.”
Finally, if the purpose is simply the administrative benefit of reducing applications to a manageable number, Norton said this “has no relationship to candidates’ successful job performance, and thus is not job related for the position in question.”
James Urban of the Jones Day law firm took issue with applying the disparate impact theory to practices of not hiring the unemployed. He said:
[A]ccording to BLS statistics, the most recent unemployment rate for Hispanics is 11.9% percent; for whites the rate is 8 percent. This means that 88.1% percent of Hispanics and 92 percent of whites are employed. The four-fifths rule applied to these numbers reveals that the employment rate for Hispanics exceeds 80 percent of the employment rate for whites. In fact, it is more than 90 percent (88.1 divided by 92) of the rate for whites. The same holds true for the national unemployment rates for African-Americans. The BLS unemployment national averages do not establish disparate impact for any of the identified groups.
Urban appears to be far off the mark, at least if he is implying that “the same” is true of African-Americans’ unemployment rate as that of Hispanics. According to the BLS, the unemployment rate for African-Americans in March was 16.5%, close to twice the white rate of 8.7%.
Urban is applying an 80% rule of thumb for assessing the statistical significance of disparate impact that has long been in use, but is not recognized as an absolute by the courts or EEOC.
He is correctly pointing out that mere disparate impact is not enough; it must meet a standard of significance.
But the fact the EEOC held a meeting on this subject in itself indicates the agency is likely to have grave concerns about the extent of disparate impact that would follow from the racial and other disparities in unemployment discussed above, even if the 80% test is not quite met.
Certainly, Urban posits what could be put forth as a defense in litigation to a disparate impact claim in such situations. But it is far better for employers to avoid litigation by recognizing the weakness of potential business justifications for routinely excluding applicants who are unemployed or not recently employed — assuming the disparate impact of such a practice could be established.
Urban said “employers in most all circumstances are looking to hire the best candidate for the position that is being filled and, to that end, solicit, welcome and consider all qualified candidates regardless of their employment status.”
That is how it should be.
The Benefits of Hiring an Unemployed Candidate
Hiring an already-employed candidate does little to help the economy. While in some instances it may result in more productive use of labor, by placing people in jobs for which they are better suited, in large part it just churns the labor force, imposing hiring and training costs on the employers whose employees are hired away, without creating any net jobs to relieve the serious unemployment crisis.
We all have a stake in the economic recovery. Our current low-demand, low-consumer-spending situation continues to burden economic recovery, and increased employment is critical to increased demand and spending, not to mention deficit reduction.
For an employer with job openings, the masses of unemployed potential applicants provide an excellent opportunity to hire carefully, choosing among many highly motivated candidates. While it is true that some workers are unemployed due to their poor work ethic, the majority of unemployed people have simply fallen upon hard times.
In addition, unemployed applicants who are hired may well prove to be more loyal, longer-term employees, remaining grateful for the opportunity they received at a very difficult time in their lives.
What to Look for in Unemployed Job Applicants
When considering a job applicant who is currently unemployed, it is important for employers to consider the duration of the applicant’s unemployment and their reasons for leaving their last job. It is also important to evaluate the full extent of the applicant’s work history and, of course, their qualifications.
If an employer states that they will only consider currently employed job applicants, and this is found unlawful, both they and their recruiters could be liable. For more information, see our previous recruiter liability post.
Discrimination Against the Unemployed Poses Legal Risk.
The EEOC may well sue some employers over this issue in the months to come. It is important for employers to be cautious and fair during the hiring process, because the EEOC will continue to closely monitor this issue and related discrimination claims. It could also become the basis for individual or class-action lawsuits brought by private attorneys. | <urn:uuid:c69edd6f-a265-4510-a248-ce700e81ef5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.employmentblawg.com/discrimination-against-unemployed-applicants-eeoc-hears-experts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951509 | 4,120 | 1.75 | 2 |
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate and the Congress:
In Reporting on the state of the nation, I have felt it necessary on previous occasions to advise the Congress of disturbance abroad and of the need of putting our own house in order in the face of storm signals from across the seas. As this Seventy-sixth Congress opens there is need for further warning.
A war which threatened to envelop the world in flames has been averted; but it has become increasingly clear that world peace is not assured.
All about us rage undeclared wars--military and economic. All about us grow more deadly armaments--military and economic. All about us are threats of new aggression military and economic.
Storms from abroad directly challenge three institutions indispensable to Americans, now as always. The first is religion. It is the source of the other two--democracy and international good faith.
Religion, by teaching man his relationship to God, gives the individual a sense of his own dignity and teaches him to respect himself by respecting his neighbors.
Democracy, the practice of self-government, is a covenant among free men to respect the rights and liberties of their fellows.
International good faith, a sister of democracy, springs from the will of civilized nations of men to respect the rights and liberties of other nations of men.
In a modern civilization, all three--religion, democracy and international good faith--complement and support each other.
Where freedom of religion has been attacked, the attack has come from sources opposed to democracy. Where democracy has been overthrown, the spirit of free worship has disappeared. And where religion and democracy have vanished, good faith and reason in international affairs have given way to strident ambition and brute force.
An ordering of society which relegates religion, democracy and good faith among nations to the background can find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The United States rejects such an ordering, and retains its ancient faith.
There comes a time in the affairs of men when they must prepare to defend, not their homes alone, but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments and their very civilization are founded. The defense of religion, of democracy and of good faith among nations is all the same fight. To save one we must now make up our minds to save all.
We know what might happen to us of the United States if the new philosophies of force were to encompass the other continents and invade our own. We, no more than other nations, can afford to be surrounded by the enemies of our faith and our humanity. Fortunate it is, therefore, that in this Western Hemisphere we have, under a common ideal of democratic government, a rich diversity of resources and of peoples functioning together in mutual respect and peace.
That Hemisphere, that peace, and that ideal we propose to do our share in protecting against storms from any quarter. Our people and our resources are pledged to secure that protection. From that determination no American flinches.
This by no means implies that the American Republics disassociate themselves from the nations of other continents. It does not mean the Americas against the rest of the world. We as one of the Republics reiterate our willingness to help the cause of world peace. We stand on our historic offer to take counsel with all other nations of the world to the end that aggression among them be terminated, that the race of armaments cease and that commerce be renewed.
But the world has grown so small and weapons of attack so swift that no nation can be safe in its will to peace so long as any other powerful nation refuses to settle its grievances at the council table.
For if any government bristling with implements of war insists on policies of force, weapons of defense give the only safety.
In our foreign relations we have learned from the past what not to do. From new wars we have learned what we must do.
We have learned that effective timing of defense, and the distant points from which attacks may be launched are completely different from what they were twenty years ago.
We have learned that survival cannot be guaranteed by arming after the attack begins--for there is new range and speed to offense.
We have learned that long before any overt military act, aggression begins with preliminaries of propaganda, subsidized penetration, the loosening of ties of good will, the stirring of prejudice and the incitement to disunion.
We have learned that God-fearing democracies of the world which observe the sanctity of treaties and good faith in their dealings with other nations cannot safely be indifferent to international lawlessness anywhere. They cannot forever let pass, without effective protest, acts of aggression against sister nations--acts which automatically undermine all of us.
Obviously they must proceed along practical, peaceful lines. But the mere fact that we rightly decline to intervene with arms to prevent acts of aggression does not mean that we must act as if there were no aggression at all. Words may be futile, but war is not the only means of commanding a decent respect for the opinions of mankind. There are many methods short of war, but stronger and more effective than mere words, of bringing home to aggressor governments the aggregate sentiments of our own people.
At the very least, we can and should avoid any action, or any lack of action, which will encourage, assist or build up an aggressor. We have learned that when we deliberately try to legislate neutrality, our neutrality laws may operate unevenly and unfairly--may actually give aid to an aggressor and deny it to the victim. The instinct of self-preservation should warn us that we ought not to let that happen any more.
And we have learned something else--the old, old lesson that probability of attack is mightily decreased by the assurance of an ever ready defense. Since 1931, nearly eight years ago, world events of thunderous import have moved with lightning speed. During these eight years many of our people clung to the hope that the innate decency of mankind would protect the unprepared who showed their innate trust in mankind. Today we are all wiser--and sadder.
Under modern conditions what we mean by "adequate defense"--a policy subscribed to by all of us--must be divided into three elements. First, we must have armed forces and defenses strong enough to ward off sudden attack against strategic positions and key facilities essential to ensure sustained resistance and ultimate victory. Secondly, we must have the organization and location of those key facilities so that they may be immediately utilized and rapidly expanded to meet all needs without danger of serious interruption by enemy attack.
In the course of a few days I shall send you a special message making recommendations for those two essentials of defense against danger which we cannot safely assume will not come.
If these first two essentials are reasonably provided for, we must be able confidently to invoke the third element, the underlying strength of citizenship--the self-confidence, the ability, the imagination and the devotion that give the staying power to see things through.
A strong and united nation may be destroyed if it is unprepared against sudden attack. But even a nation well armed and well organized from a strictly military standpoint may, after a period of time, meet defeat if it is unnerved by self-distrust, endangered by class prejudice, by dissension between capital and labor, by false economy and by other unsolved social problems at home.
In meeting the troubles of the world we must meet them as one people--with a unity born of the fact that for generations those who have come to our shores, representing many kindreds and tongues, have been welded by common opportunity into a united patriotism. If another form of government can present a united front in its attack on a democracy, the attack must and will be met by a united democracy. Such a democracy can and must exist in the United States.
A dictatorship may command the full strength of a regimented nation. But the united strength of a democratic nation can be mustered only when its people, educated by modern standards to know what is going on and where they are going, have conviction that they are receiving as large a share of opportunity for development, as large a share of material success and of human dignity, as they have a right to receive.
Our nation's program of social and economic reform is therefore a part of defense, as basic as armaments themselves.
Against the background of events in Europe, in Africa and in Asia during these recent years, the pattern of what we have accomplished since 1933 appears in even clearer focus.
For the first time we have moved upon deep-seated problems affecting our national strength and have forged national instruments adequate to meet them.
Consider what the seemingly piecemeal struggles of these six years add up to in terms of realistic national preparedness.
We are conserving and developing natural resources--land, water power, forests.
We are trying to provide necessary food, shelter and medical care for the health of our population.
We are putting agriculture--our system of food and fibre supply--on a sounder basis.
We are strengthening the weakest spot in our system of industrial supply-- its long smouldering labor difficulties.
We have cleaned up our credit system so that depositor and investor alike may more readily and willingly make their capital available for peace or war.
We are giving to our youth new opportunities for work and education.
We have sustained the morale of all the population by the dignified recognition of our obligations to the aged, the helpless and the needy.
Above all, we have made the American people conscious of their interrelationship and their interdependence. They sense a common destiny and a common need of each other. Differences of occupation, geography, race and religion no longer obscure the nation's fundamental unity in thought and in action.
We have our difficulties, true--but we are a wiser and a tougher nation than we were in 1929, or in 1932.
Never have there been six years of such far-flung internal preparedness in our history. And this has been done without any dictator's power to command, without conscription of labor or confiscation of capital, without concentration camps and without a scratch on freedom of speech, freedom of the press or the rest of the Bill of Rights.
We see things now that we could not see along the way. The tools of government which we had in 1933 are outmoded. We have had to forge new tools for a new role of government operating in a democracy--a role of new responsibility for new needs and increased responsibility for old needs, long neglected.
Some of these tools had to be roughly shaped and still need some machining down. Many of those who fought bitterly against the forging of these new tools welcome their use today. The American people, as a whole, have accepted them. The Nation looks to the Congress to improve the new machinery which we have permanently installed, provided that in the process the social usefulness of the machinery is not destroyed or impaired.
All of us agree that we should simplify and improve laws if experience and operation clearly demonstrate the need. For instance, all of us want better provision for our older people under our social security legislation. For the medically needy we must provide better care.
Most of us agree that for the sake of employer and employee alike we must find ways to end factional labor strife and employer-employee disputes.
Most of us recognize that none of these tools can be put to maximum effectiveness unless the executive processes of government are revamped--reorganized, if you will--into more effective combination. And even after such reorganization it will take time to develop administrative personnel and experience in order to use our new tools with a minimum of mistakes. The Congress, of course, needs no further information on this.
With this exception of legislation to provide greater government efficiency, and with the exception of legislation to ameliorate our railroad and other transportation problems, the past three Congresses have met in part or in whole the pressing needs of the new order of things.
We have now passed the period of internal conflict in the launching of our program of social reform. Our full energies may now be released to invigorate the processes of recovery in order to preserve our reforms, and to give every man and woman who wants to work a real job at a living wage.
But time is of paramount importance. The deadline of danger from within and from without is not within our control. The hour-glass may be in the hands of other nations. Our own hour-glass tells us that we are off on a race to make democracy work, so that we may be efficient in peace and therefore secure in national defense.
This time element forces us to still greater efforts to attain the full employment of our labor and our capital.
The first duty of our statesmanship is to bring capital and man-power together.
Dictatorships do this by main force. By using main force they apparently succeed at it--for the moment. However we abhor their methods, we are compelled to admit that they have obtained substantial utilization of all their material and human resources. Like it or not, they have solved, for a time at least, the problem of idle men and idle capital. Can we compete with them by boldly seeking methods of putting idle men and idle capital together and, at the same time, remain within our American way of life, within the Bill of Rights, and within the bounds of what is, from our point of view, civilization itself?
We suffer from a great unemployment of capital. Many people have the idea that as a nation we are overburdened with debt and are spending more than we can afford. That is not so. Despite our Federal Government expenditures the entire debt of our national economic system, public and private together, is no larger today than it was in 1929, and the interest thereon is far less than it was in 1929.
The object is to put capital--private as well as public--to work.
We want to get enough capital and labor at work to give us a total turnover of business, a total national income, of at least eighty billion dollars a year. At that figure we shall have a substantial reduction of unemployment; and the Federal Revenues will be sufficient to balance the current level of cash expenditures on the basis of the existing tax structure. That figure can be attained, working within the framework of our traditional profit system.
The factors in attaining and maintaining that amount of national income are many and complicated.
They include more widespread understanding among business men of many changes which world conditions and technological improvements have brought to our economy over the last twenty years--changes in the interrelationship of price and volume and employment, for example--changes of the kind in which business men are now educating themselves through excellent opportunities like the so-called "monopoly investigation."
They include a perfecting of our farm program to protect farmers' income and consumers' purchasing power from alternate risks of crop gluts and crop shortages.
They include wholehearted acceptance of new standards of honesty in our financial markets.
They include reconcilement of enormous, antagonistic interests--some of them long in litigation--in the railroad and general transportation field.
They include the working out of new techniques--private, state and federal--to protect the public interest in and to develop wider markets for electric power.
They include a revamping of the tax relationships between federal, state and local units of government, and consideration of relatively small tax increases to adjust inequalities without interfering with the aggregate income of the American people.
They include the perfecting of labor organization and a universal ungrudging attitude by employers toward the labor movement, until there is a minimum of interruption of production and employment because of disputes, and acceptance by labor of the truth that the welfare of labor itself depends on increased balanced out-put of goods.
To be immediately practical, while proceeding with a steady evolution in the solving of these and like problems, we must wisely use instrumentalities, like Federal investment, which are immediately available to us.
Here, as elsewhere, time is the deciding factor in our choice of remedies.
Therefore, it does not seem logical to me, at the moment we seek to increase production and consumption, for the Federal Government to consider a drastic curtailment of its own investments.
The whole subject of government investing and government income is one which may be approached in two different ways.
The first calls for the elimination of enough activities of government to bring the expenses of government immediately into balance with income of government. This school of thought maintains that because our national income this year is only sixty billion dollars, ours is only a sixty billion dollar country; that government must treat it as such; and that without the help of government, it may some day, somehow, happen to become an eighty billion dollar country.
If the Congress decides to accept this point of view, it will logically have to reduce the present functions or activities of government by one-third. Not only will the Congress have to accept the responsibility for such reduction; but the Congress will have to determine which activities are to be reduced.
Certain expenditures we cannot possibly reduce at this session, such as the interest on the public debt. A few million dollars saved here or there in the normal or in curtailed work of the old departments and commissions will make no great saving in the Federal budget. Therefore, the Congress would have to reduce drastically some of certain large items, very large items, such as aids to agriculture and soil conservation, veterans' pensions, flood control, highways, waterways and other public works, grants for social and health security, Civilian Conservation Corps activities, relief for the unemployed, or national defense itself.
The Congress alone has the power to do all this, as it is the appropriating branch of the government.
The other approach to the question of government spending takes the position that this Nation ought not to be and need not be only a sixty billion dollar nation; that at this moment it has the men and the resources sufficient to make it at least an eighty billion dollar nation. This school of thought does not believe that it can become an eighty billion dollar nation in the near future if government cuts its operations by one-third. It is convinced that if we were to try it, we would invite disaster--and that we would not long remain even a sixty billion dollar nation. There are many complicated factors with which we have to deal, but we have learned that it is unsafe to make abrupt reductions at any time in our net expenditure program.
By our common sense action of resuming government activities last spring, we have reversed a recession and started the new rising tide of prosperity and national income which we are now just beginning to enjoy.
If government activities are fully maintained, there is a good prospect of our becoming an eighty billion dollar country in a very short time. With such a national income, present tax laws will yield enough each year to balance each year's expenses.
It is my conviction that down in their hearts the American public--industry, agriculture, finance--want this Congress to do whatever needs to be done to raise our national income to eighty billion dollars a year.
Investing soundly must preclude spending wastefully. To guard against opportunist appropriations, I have on several occasions addressed the Congress on the importance of permanent long-range planning. I hope, therefore, that following my recommendation of last year, a permanent agency will be set up and authorized to report on the urgency and desirability of the various types of government investment.
Investment for prosperity can be made in a democracy.
I hear some people say, "This is all so complicated. There are certain advantages in a dictatorship. It gets rid of labor trouble, of unemployment, of wasted motion and of having to do your own thinking."
My answer is, "Yes, but it also gets rid of some other things which we Americans intend very definitely to keep--and we still intend to do our own thinking."
It will cost us taxes and the voluntary risk of capital to attain some of the practical advantages which other forms of government have acquired.
Dictatorship, however, involves costs which the American people will never pay: The cost of our spiritual values. The cost of the blessed right of being able to say what we please. The cost of freedom of religion. The cost of seeing our capital confiscated. The cost of being cast into a concentration camp. The cost of being afraid to walk down the street with the wrong neighbor. The cost of having our children brought up, not as free and dignified human beings, but as pawns molded and enslaved by a machine.
If the avoidance of these costs means taxes on my income; if avoiding these costs means taxes on my estate at death, I would bear those taxes willingly as the price of my breathing and my children breathing the free air of a free country, as the price of a living and not a dead world.
Events abroad have made it increasingly clear to the American people that dangers within are less to be feared than dangers from without. If, therefore, a solution of this problem of idle men and idle capital is the price of preserving our liberty, no formless selfish fears can stand in the way.
Once I prophesied that this generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. That prophecy comes true. To us much is given; more is expected.
This generation will "nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. . . . The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless." | <urn:uuid:1c02b404-0468-43a9-a6c2-ae290da919f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/150.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959992 | 4,421 | 1.835938 | 2 |
President’s Plan “Will Hurt Nearly a Million Small Businesses”
Speaker Boehner and House Republican leaders just finished up a meeting with small business owners who will get hit if President Obama raises tax rates instead of cutting spending. A former small business owner, Boehner kicked off the discussion by outlining the consequences of the president’s tax rate hikes, and Republicans’ responsible efforts to protect jobs:
“These small business owners that are with us today are here to highlight President Obama’s plan to raise tax rates instead of cutting spending. His plan will hurt nearly a million small businesses around our country, that will affect hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now this week, we made a reasonable offer to the White House that would avert the fiscal cliff… It’s up to the president to engage in this process, talk to us about where he’d like to go next.”
The Hill has previously noted that “Republicans hope to contrast their meeting with small business owners to Obama’s recent talks with CEO’s from large corporations.” Indeed, as Speaker Boehner said on Friday, “Small business owners are regular men and women from all backgrounds, who in today’s economy are facing challenges on a daily basis.” The House Small Business Committee has collected some of those everyday stories, which go into detail about the hurdles the president’s tax rate hikes presents.
Small businesses are protected from tax rate hikes in the reasonable and responsible offer Republicans have made to avert the fiscal cliff, calling instead for cutting spending and fixing our tax code – an approach supported by most Americans, and the president himself in 2011.
For more, be sure to read Speaker Boehner’s latest statement on the status of fiscal cliff talks. | <urn:uuid:9a144f2d-283e-48fc-9f2a-214a57109ca0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.speaker.gov/video/president-s-plan-will-hurt-nearly-million-small-businesses | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962524 | 366 | 1.570313 | 2 |
A survey released by the Pew (News - Alert) Research Center today proves to be helpful for Facebook after announcing a $5 billion initial public offering (IPO).
Concerns from potential investors may be assuaged now that a survey shows that long-time users – since its founding in 2004 – show no signs of “Facebook (News - Alert) fatigue.”
Investors initially worried that users will eventually grow bored of the social networking site, thus losing them money.
Tim Ghriskey, the chief investment officer at Solaris Group, stated that although emotionally, people want to own a piece of the networking giant, it is still considered a very speculative investment at this point in its life cycle.
Pew Research Center’s survey, however, reports that the longer people have used Facebook, the more frequently they hit the “like” button, comment on friends’ content, posted status updates and tagged their friends in photos.
The main factor driving this phenomenon is that there is a segment of “power users” who specialize in different Facebook activities and contribute much more than the typical user does, according to the study which conducted a U.S.-based phone survey as well as, logs and data of Facebook activity from November 2010.
“The explanation for this pattern is fascinating for a couple of reasons,” noted Prof. Keith Hampton, the lead author of the Pew Internet report, Why Most Facebook Users Get More Than They Give. “First, it turns out there are segments of Facebook power users who contribute much more content than the typical user. Most Facebook users are moderately active over a one month time period, so highly active power users skew the average.”
“Second, these power users constitute about 20-30 percent of Facebook users, but the striking thing is that there are different power users depending on the activity in question. One group of power users dominates friending activity. Another dominates ‘liking’ activity. And yet another dominates photo tagging.”
The survey was based on a phone survey of 2,255 U.S. adults that was conducted in November 2010. Respondents were asked to share logs of their Facebook activity, and about 269 respondents let Facebook release data on their use, as reported by Reuters.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, happening NOW in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.
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Julie Griffin has a B.A. in English from the University of Kentucky and covers technology news and communications related topics. Known best for her various web publications, Griffin also occasionally contributes to local press.
Edited by Rich Steeves | <urn:uuid:4f389fc9-bb47-4ca9-af19-51c084922796> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/2012/02/03/262714-survey-finds-long-term-users-still-love-facebooking.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948646 | 652 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Men Without Women
The paintings, drawings and animations of Tala Madani
Shirtless and wearing only red-striped pyjama bottoms and a thick pair of black-rimmed glasses, a man in late middle age begins to pace from left to right. A spare-tyre belly hangs over his waistband, while sinuous black lines shape his soft, round, worried face, surrounded by tufts of white hair. The few lines that make up this man’s round forehead, pot belly and supple breasts compete with the burdensome weight of gravity, which turns the aged body into a sad mass of pendulous limbs and skin. The man is non-descript but familiar – someone’s senile grandfather, an estranged uncle or, perhaps, a caricature of Truman Capote played by a bespectacled Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Spiral Suicide, 2012, oil on linen, 203 × 305 cm
The man paces with both hands buried deep into the buttocks of his trousers; he is also shoeless and appears to stammer slightly with each step. He floats in an evacuated space and inches slowly forward, following an inwardly spiralling path. As he rounds a second bend, we see that the crotch of his pyjama bottoms is soiled but his face shows no sign of embarrassment. By the time he has turned again, his back to us, it’s apparent that it is his ass producing the red seepage that blends into the pin-striped bottoms – his hands still buried, rummaging about in search of something within the cavern of his bowels. Unfazed, the man’s hands emerge with a trail of intestines protruding from his backside. The entrails stretch like sausage casings nearing the height of his head, pulled tight by an outstretched arm that eventually extends so far that the man collapses forward with his exposed ass pointed toward the sky, a pile of tubular guts pinning him down. The final scene is like a yoga horror movie – the bloody aftermath of a downward-dog mishap.
Such descriptions can only approximate the humorous and gruesome nonchalance that is conveyed in Tala Madani’s paintings, drawings and stop-motion animations. Seemingly ruthless and relentless, the candid and satirical world she depicts is perhaps an antidote to the one crafted by Shirin Neshat’s overwrought Women Without Men (2009), a feature-length drama told from the perspective of four women who attempt to rid themselves of the men who control them. By comparison (and the comparison is apt not only because the two share a common identity as Iranian-born women currently living and working in the United States), Madani’s painted images revel in a fantasy world where men have rid themselves of women and imagination runs wild. It is a world of homo-social fraternity and hazing rituals run amok, where bodily fluids gush, ejaculate and ooze from the most unexpected places of their bodies.
Avatar, 2012, oil on linen, 55 × 61 cm
Almost without fail, Madani’s men (‘my men’ as she often refers to them) have been racialized as Middle Eastern – a reflection, perhaps, of the many curators and critics who desire it to be the case – but beyond the artist’s own biography there are few clues to indicate this. Certainly, there are traits to suggest the men are ethnically other, but there are just as many examples from Madani’s repertoire to undermine this fact. The bloated Anglicized man who disembowels himself in Spiral Suicide (2012) is more Norman Schwarzkopf than Saddam Hussein.
Her men bear Middle Eastern traits, but they might also pass for any nationality, just as it is common practice for Arabs and Persians living in Europe and North America to ‘blend in’ by adopting names like Fred (Fereydoon) and Bob (Babak). Nevertheless, the differentiation between ethnic typologies is hardly the point here. Madani’s men are simply men, however grotesque and pathetic – bald, balding or with hair sparsely combed over, mustachioed and unshaven, large or over-projected noses and nasal humps, uni-browed, hairy and unfit, wearing undergarments or pyjamas no matter what the context – and in some cases they are such a blurry amalgamation of line and colour that they might as well be ‘women’ in the way that Richard Prince made ‘men’ out of De Kooning’s ‘women’. There are indicators of manhood in Panties (2008), a small brushy painting on wood, but the protagonist’s resemblance to Paul McCarthy’s Experimental Dancer (1975) – whose tucked penis betrays him – is evidence of how trans- the world of men without women can sometimes become.
Light Parody, 2012, oil on linen, 36 × 28 cm
In some instances, Madani’s men are, in fact, a single man repeated within an image. This suggests the passage of time; an opportunity to sully the spatial conditions of painting with unwieldy temporality. And as much as this tendency toward repetition and duration is a characteristic informed by the history of Futurist painting and early-modern experiments in chronophotography, it is also the byproduct of the artist’s own series of stop-motion animations, which adapt the content and style of her paintings to a determinedly time-based medium. Running for no more than a few minutes, works such as Headbug (2009) and Apple Tree (2007) animate the subjects of Madani’s paintings, who are forced to replicate themselves when they are fated to canvas, linen or paper.
A work such as Spiral Suicide affords the experience of duration in painting only because its shirtless protagonist is repeated a total of 24 times to carry us along with him as he stumbles toward his own blundering intestinal misfortune. The limitation of narrative in painting appears throughout Madani’s expansive output; the theme of men in uniform confuses any assuredness as to whether or not a single man is being repeated or is shown as part of a larger social body of boneheads. Perhaps it is the result of the artist’s quick and fluid mark-making – the running paint, the merging of striped figures with their striped surroundings – or the obscured faces in larger paintings like Dirty Starts and Smiley (both 2008), that make it seem as if these men and their intolerable behaviours are proliferating exponentially. As both men in the plural, and man in the lamentable singular ideal, they are rooted in time as subjects of a seemingly timeless medium, trapped in the continuum of historical sequence – made explicit by Madani’s apparent reference to and defilement of the legacy of colour-field painting – where the undulating drips and pours of, say, a painting by Morris Louis give way to a sea of bald heads and curvaceous butts.
If narrative storytelling is even just a small part of ‘reading’ paintings, then the 2,500-odd still images that add up to the one or so minutes of Madani’s flickering Headbug or Apple Tree make this fact explicit. Hand-painted in oil on wood, and wiped away after her camera captures each single frame, these works bear the looseness and imprecision that is part of stop-motion animation. As a process of both accumulation and subtraction, the painted layers are quickly added, manipulated, smudged, trudged, blotted and erased to allow narrative to unfold one frame at a time through minimal means. What matters most in a work like Music Man (2009) is not that the scene appears consistent from one frame to the next, but rather to show what it’s like when a taller man uses another man’s ejaculating phallic bald head to notate a musical composition with creamy white daubs of vomit. The scene is the stuff of ridiculous erotic fantasy, not unlike Mike Kelley’s crude evocation of bearded pussy mouths in Day is Done (2005), or any other example that equates seemingly innocuous physicality with an organ of sexual pleasure. To this end, Music Man accomplishes what Madani’s discrete paintings set out to do despite their determined limitations as static objects. Rather than seek to evade the burdensome legacies of medium-specificity, timelessness and Modernist painting, Madani’s animations curtail the conditions of medium-insufficiency, perfectly suited just as it is to represent a paltry world of men without women.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Tala Madani lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Recent solo shows include the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Pilar Corrias, London, UK (both 2011). In Febuary 2013 her largest museum exhibition to date will open at Moderna Museet, Malmo, Sweden; it will tour to Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden later in the year. Also forthcoming in 2013 is a solo exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary, UK.
is a writer and currently the Associate Curator of the Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles, USA.
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Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
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Excerpt 1 His personality was reflected in the products he created. Just as the core of Apple’s philosophy, from the original Macintosh in 1984 to the iPad a generation later, was the end-to-end integration of hardware and software, so too was it the case with Steve Jobs: His passions, perfectionism, demons, desires, artistry, devilry, and obsession for control were integrally connected to his approach to business and the products that resulted. The unified field theory that ties together Jobs’s personality and products begins with his most salient trait: his intensity. His silences could... see more
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Reading Group Guide
In a clear, elegant biographical voice, Walter Isaacson provides an unflinching portrait of the most important technological and innovative personality of the modern era: Apple’s founder and chief thinker, Steve Jobs. Through a series of unprecedented interviews with Jobs—as well as interviews with more than 100 friends, family members, colleagues, adversaries, admirers, and imitators—Isaacson documents the transformation of an ambitious Silicon Valley whiz kid into one of the most feared and respected business leaders of his generation and quite possibly of all time; arriving at some hard truths about a man who defined the intersection of art and technology for the digital age and the future to come.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. Discuss Jobs’ harsh binary system of appraisal. Why do you think it worked so well in tangent with his style of leadership? Do you think there is merit in living to such high standards? Is it unrealistic or ultimately impractical?
2. Which do you think is more beneficial for the future of technology: end-to-end hardware and software integration or open and customizable systems? Do you agree with Jobs that good products can only come from closed, centralized environments? Why or why not?
3. Chapter 11 is titled “The Reality Distortion Field: Playing by His Own Set of Rules.” Discuss this term and how it is used to both compliment and critic see more | <urn:uuid:eb338014-ea6e-47ed-9aca-65beb3043a0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://books.simonandschuster.com/Steve-Jobs/Walter-Isaacson/9781451648539?intcmp=l_fl&cp_type=l_fl_authors_josh%20frank_detail&prefd=l_fl_9781451648539 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959539 | 805 | 1.804688 | 2 |
This morning we return in our study to Matthew 18. I notice in the bulletin that it says the subject is Learning To Forgive. And I'm going to teach on that subject, but not today. That's next week, because if you remember from two weeks ago, we didn't quite finish the passage in verses 15-20. And I want to go back to that passage and not only complete the passage, but express my heart on some matters that I've been thinking and praying about over the last couple of weeks.
Let's look together at Matthew 18, verse 15 and I'll read as you follow in your Bible. "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more and the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a tax collector. Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Now this particular passage speaks of the Lord's command for the holiness of His church. I believe that Jesus Christ desires that the church be pure. And herein is His instruction as to our part in that purity. In Revelation Chapter 1, we see an interesting picture of Christ. He's moving in verse 12 and 13 among the seven lamp stands which represent the seven churches, which represent all the church. And He is clothed with the garment of the priest and the king and prophet. He's there in His full glory.
Verse 14 says "His head and His hair were white like wool and white as snow." And that speaks of His purity and then His eyes like a flame of fire. His searching out to find any blemish or any unholiness. Then His feet like fine bronze as if they'd burned in a furnace. And His voice is that of many waters. Now you see Him in judgment character ready to trample out sin and speak a word of judgment that goes forth. As it says later in Revelation like a two-edged sword.
So you see the Lord moving in His church and He is marked out as pure by His whiteness. And His eyes are penetrating looking for sin. And that sin is to be dealt with. How does the Lord deal with sin in His church. That's a picture in Revelation 1, but how does He actually do that. I think there are three elements. Element number one is the ministry of the word. The word is an instrument of holiness. Ephesians 5 talks about being washed by the water of the word. It is a purifier.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit, Romans 1:4, is called the spirit of holiness. And the ministry of the spirit is essential to the holiness of the church. So the ministry of the word and the ministry of the spirit, but thirdly, I believe you must link up Revelation 1 to Matthew 18. And I think the Lord is moving in His church with purity in mind, penetrating, searching out sin and ready to deal with, not only through the ministry of the word and the ministry of the spirit, but the ministry of the people.
I think the outworking of Revelation 1 is in Matthew 18. As Christ is involved in the purging of His church through the instrumentation of those who represent Him in the world. And that's why at the close of the passage He says when you're gathered together in my name, I'm there in the midst of you. In other words, when the church is moving to seek its purity, Christ is there in the midst moving among the candlesticks doing His purifying work.
Let me make a statement and then I'm going to say it again later on. Never, never is the church more like Jesus Christ than when it is engaged in dealing with sin. Never are you as an individual more like Jesus Christ than when you are seeking the purity of His church. And yet, on a wide scale, in the church across our land today, this is not in the thinking of the people. And I'm amazed at that. When I left two weeks ago, I had to go to Chicago. And then had to be driven to another city for a Bible conference.
I had to be driven because I have been writing a book for nearly a year and I've been collecting the thoughts for ten years, but I've been writing a book on worship called The Ultimate Priority. And it really is the expression of my heart about the matter of worship. And I have been writing it in bits and pieces. When you write a book, you write a chapter and you send it to be edited and you get it back and you edit it and you send it back and then you do another chapter and you send and it gets switched around and Chapter 2 becomes Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 becomes Chapter 3 and I really had written it and sent it and edited it so long that I really couldn't put it all together in my mind and I had lost the sense of what the whole thing said.
But before the book could go to the printer to be released June 1, the publisher insisted that I sit down and read through every word of every page at one full sitting and make all the final corrections. And so they said graciously that they would drive me the seven hours I needed rather than have me fly so that I could sit there the whole time and go through this. And that is exactly what I did for seven hours, broken up only by one hot chocolate and it was one degree. It was cold outside.
And it was a very soul searching experience. Very often when you write something your sort of set it aside and you never want to see it again because its sort of have been a burden for a long time, but I found myself dragging my own soul through all of the biblical data regarding worship and it was a very profound experience for me. In fact, I sort of wondered at what the man who was driving me thought about my reactions to my own book. But it wasn't really my reaction to me as much as it was my reaction to God. And I was brought face to face with the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin.
Then there was just a very soul searching time in the quietness of that ride. I arrived at this particular place where I was to speak at the Bible conference and I had prepared a message and I was all set to speak that night and faculty member called me and said, "I don't know what you're giving tonight, but could you give a message on the holiness of God?" I said, "could I ever." He said, "This is what we need." And he said, "I've been praying for a long time that God would put that on your heart and I just thought I'd call and suggest that." Before I got out of the hotel room, I got a second phone call. Another man called and said, "What in the world are you doing in a place like this? Don't you know such and such and such and such about this place where you're going?" And he got done describing and I said, "it sounds exactly like a place I ought to be." I said, "long ago, I decided I wasn't going to spend my whole life saying things to people that already believed Him. But I was going to say them to the people that maybe needed to hear them."
And I explained to him that I had been asked to speak on this issue and I said I'm going to trust that the Lord has me here for a purpose. So I did. And I really didn't have any notes, I just took my Bible and I had my head full of all those other things about worship and about the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin and I just poured out my heart in this regard. And it was very quiet. I don't know, 4,000 or 5,000 people maybe or something like that. Very quiet. And it was the quietness of...I think the quietness of conviction to some extent. It may have been somewhat the quietness of where did this guy drop in, you know. I don't know that they were too used to that approach.
But it was very interesting. I poured out my heart on the matter of the holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin and talked about if ever there was to be a real renewal if ever there was to be a real revival in the church, it would be when we again saw the holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin and in brokenness fell before a holy God to worship Him. And I finished and it took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the door, because we had time to talk with so many, many people. And finally there was one final person waiting and this person came up and said, "I'm a student in seminary, senior, and I just have to tell you that I did not appreciate your message at all. You were totally off base." And I said, "Why do you say that?" "Well, because you lacked love. Our message is love and I didn't find any love at all in your message."
Well, it grieved my heart. So I said to this student, I said, "did you understand what passage I was...passages I was teaching?" "Yes." "Were those passages about love?" "Well, no." "Is it legitimate to teach a Bible passage and just teach it the way God wrote it or do we have to read into every passage the message of love? I mean, if we do that, then we're not really being fair to the word of God are we? And maybe the fact that you felt that way is only a demonstrate of the over-balance or the lack of balance in your own understanding of God's holiness as over against His love."
I said, "I think that you probably needed this message and that's evident by your response to it." Well, I tried to be as loving as I could in saying that, but I confess it was only a sort of a sad moment because later on a faculty member was asking me what the conversation was. Saw it going on I guess and I said well, I repeated some of the conversation and his reply was, "Well, you see the real issue wasn't that you didn't have enough love in your message, the real issue was that from that student's viewpoint you didn't have all love in your message, because there's no room for anything else."
Love, nothing wrong with love. And I'm the first person to be thankful for it, aren't you also? Thankful for God's love? But I think the kind of love that some people have in mind isn't even the holy love of God. I'm not sure what kind of love it is. And I really fear that if seminaries produce people and all they want to talk about is love that there never will be in the church the work of Jesus Christ and the way He wants to do it. And I'm also interested to note that so many of the people who are like this student and like this, maybe some of the influences of that institution, they all may not be like that by any means, either that institution or others. But it's interesting to me that the same people who are always talking about this are always talking seemingly about revival and renewal and restoration in the church.
And they live under an illusion that to renew the church and to revitalize the church and restore the church and bring revival and really win the lost we just have to talk about love and love and love and love all the time on the some kind of sentimental level. And we're all talking about renewal and all of this that is wanted in the church, but it just...they don't understand that you're never going to have revival and renewal and restoration until you have a sense of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. Out of which true brokenness comes and true revival. Tolerant kind of sentimentalism is never going to renew the church and all the message of love, love, love, you know, isn't going to do that.
You know, you can go back to the great awakening in the 1700's particularly under the ministry of Jonathan Edwards and you will find characteristic of the revival the first great awakening was a great revival and every other revival, whether biblical or after biblical times, and you will find that two things characterize those revivals, including the great awakening in 1700's. One was a powerful preaching on the holiness of God and two was powerful preaching on the sinfulness of sin. In fact, invitations hadn't even been invented in the time of Jonathan Edwards. They didn't come until Finney later and I don't think we have a great sense of debt to what Finney did in sort of manipulating people through his invitation system.
But in Edwards' time they said that he preached and he would preach on the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin and not only did not have to invite people to do anything, but in the middle of his sermons people would be screaming and crying for him to stop because they'd be under so much conviction. And a real revival happened. Now it may have had some excesses and maybe it was a little too harsh and some extremes and there was a move away as you go from the 18thCentury into the 19thCentury there was a drift away from the firmness and the rigidity and the power of preaching about the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin. And people began to talk more about love and they began to sort of want to mitigate that. And sort of ease off of that because they feared some of the extremes.
Richard Lovelace from Gordon Conwell writes, "The whole church was avoiding the biblical portrait of the sovereign and holy God who was angry with the wicked every day and whose anger remains upon those who will not receive His son. Walling off this image into an unvisited corner of its consciousness, the church substituted a new God who was the projection of grandmotherly kindness mixed with a gentleness and winsomeness of a Jesus who hardly needed to die for our sins. And many American congregations were, in effect, paying their ministers to protect them from the real God." And then He insightfully says, "It is partially responsible, not only for the general spiritual collapse of the church in this century, but also for a great deal of evangelistic weakness. For in a world in which the sovereign holy God regularly employs plagues, famines, wars, disease, and death is instruments to punish sin and bring mankind to repentance, the idolatrous image of God as pure benevolence and love cannot really be believed, let alone feared and worship in the manner prescribed by both the Old Testament and New Testament."
Now what he's saying is this, when you just have this sort of sentimental view of love, one, it'll never renew the church, because it never really causes people to face their sin. It'll never really renew the church. Two, it'll never evangelize and that is the worst illusion of all. People think if you just talk about love and God's love and how God loves everybody, you're going to evangelize. But apologetically you have a tremendous problem, because on the one hand, you're proclaiming a God who is all love and then on the other hand, you are stuck trying to define to people how such a God can allow plagues and disease and disaster and war and famine and horror to exist.
And that is why we must proclaim a holy God who has a holy hatred of sin so that all of that stuff makes sense. Do you understand? And unless the church comes back to a message of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin, it will never be renewed and its evangelism will be shallow and ineffective and unable to explain what is patently obvious to an unbeliever who hears only a message of love how can a loving God allow what He allows.
Removing God's holy hatred of sin literally emasculates the church and hinders rather than helps evangelism. Now there I think are a lot of people who think there's revival when it may be little else than emotion. Jonathan Edwards was well aware of this. In a treatise concerning religious affections, which he wrote in 1746, he was very concerned to make it known that fallen human nature is fertile ground for a fleshly religiosity which is impiously spiritual, but ultimately rooted in self love.
High emotional experiences, he said, effusive, gushy religious talk, even praising God and experiencing love for God and man can be self-centered and self motivated. In contrast of this, experiences of genuine renewal from the Holy Spirit are God centered in character based on worship, have an appreciation of God's worth and grandeur, divorce from self interest. And Edwards wanted to point out that such genuine experiences create humility in the convert rather than pride and they issue in a new creation and a new spirit of meekness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. They leave the believer hungering and thirsting for righteousness instead of being satisfied with self-congratulation.
In other words, true revival isn't people saying we've arrived spiritual. It's people being broken over the sense that they have not arrived. So when you look at what we're seeing in our culture and you ask yourself the question is this a genuine revival, you can ask some further questions, does it mark itself by an overwhelming sense of the holiness of God. By a comprehensive sense of the depth of sin. And by a kind of spiritual experience that results in brokenness rather than self-congratulation. That's the stuff that makes for true revival. And when you have like you do in the church today this incessant talk about love and acceptance and tolerance, this desire for self-esteem and to feel good about yourselves and God wants you healthy, wealthy, happy, and all of this, you are really at the very opposite pole from the elements of genuine revival.
And the reason being because the church not understanding the holiness of God doesn't deal with the sinfulness of sin and it never in effect purges itself. And as I said in the very beginning that's what Christ wants to do in His church. Never is the church more like Jesus Christ than when it's acting out Matthew 18:15-20 dealing with sin. Lovelace also says, "Most congregations of professing Christians today are saturated with a kind of dead goodness and ethical respectability which has its motivational roots in the flesh rather than in the Holy Spirit. Surface righteousness which does not spring from faith and the spirit's renewing action, but from religious pride and condition conformity to tradition as a form of Godliness which denies its power."
He goes on to call it counterfeit pioty. Well, we have to get back to the true elements of revival. John Owens said, "The bigger and power of the spiritual life depends on the mortification of sin. Sin has to be faced, exposed, dealt with. Now I believe this is what Christ wants to do in His church. I believe Christ came into the world to do one thing. He says that in John 5:19, 5:30, 6:38, 7:16, and elsewhere and that is He said "I came to do not my will, but," what, "the will of Him that sent me. The will of my Father." He says that over and over again and the will of the Father can be reduced to one statement. Come to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, "But as he who called you his holy so be ye holy in all your manner of life and everything you be holy." And here's why, and he quotes out of Leviticus 11, "Be ye holy for I am holy."
Now if you want to take all the will of God at its broadest possible point and condense it to one statement, that's it. God wants His people holy. That's the message. And that's why Christ is moving in His church. With searching eyes, with a holy presence, with judgment ready to purge and to cleanse. In the kingdom, Isaiah 35:8 says that, "God is preparing a path and the path is the way of holiness." In James, you remember Chapter 4 where he says in verse 8, "draw nearer to God and He'll draw nearer to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners. Purify your hearts you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He'll exalt you."
God is calling for a purging and purifying. The will of the Father is that His people be holy. That is the work of Christ in the church. He does it to the word, the spirit, and the work of the people. The word does its part as it's proclaimed. The Spirit does His part as He moves in the heart, but we are to join the word and the Spirit in human flesh and we are to act on behalf of Christ in the presence of His church to seek its purity and the prescription for that is in verses 15-20. We are to be Christ, moving in His church.
Now let's find out how again. The place of discipline, let's go back to the text. The place of discipline in verse 17, the church. It says it there. Tell it to the church. Hear the church. The church is the place. What does that mean? The assembly of God's redeemed people. That's the place of discipline. That's where the Lord is moving to cleanse. Second, the purpose, the end of verse 15. "If He shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Restoration, one who sins is lost to the fellowship. He's lost to the ministry there and he needs to be regained as a treasure that was lost.
The person of discipline. Who's to be involved? Verse 15 again, "Your brother trespasses against you, you go, you tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you've gained your brother." It's you. It's you and me and all believers. We're all responsible. We are all to be ministers of holiness. Galatians 6:1, "You that are spiritual go and restore such in one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." Hebrews 10, "You come together to stimulate love and good works among the brothers and sisters." So we need those who are willing to do...to be obedient to that who have a holy zeal for God's name and who have purified their own hearts so they can do this work. We need ministers of holiness.
And I made a big point of that. I just want to emphasize it without belaboring it. We need in the church ministers of holiness who do the work of Christ which is the work of keeping the church pure, which means to confront and deal with sin. So the place of discipline, the church; the purpose to gain your brother; the person, you; the provocation of discipline when do we do it? Verse 15, "If your brother trespasses." And every sin is a sin against us, either directly or indirectly as we saw in our prior studies.
So whenever there's an unconfessed unrepented sin, whenever there's a continuing sin, whatever the sin, that's a provocation for discipline. The process of discipline, then, we saw in verse 15-17. Four steps, step one, go and tell him his sin alone, privately. If he responds that's the end of the process. If he doesn't, step two, verse 16, take one or two with you that his attitude and his response might be confirmed by two or three witnesses, which according to Deuteronomic law was the standard of legality.
Now if he doesn't respond in that setting then, three, verse 17, tell the whole church and that means the whole church then goes to try to restore him. The whole church then goes to try to draw him back. One has been unsuccessful, two and three have been unsuccessful, now everybody goes. Now the extent to which the church has been told may vary. You may want to tell the church. You may want to tell a group of the church or the church as constituted in its leaders, but in other words, you're to widen the circle of people who are pursuing this sinning brother or sister to bring them back, to bring them to repentance, confession turning from sin back to purity.
And if they still do not hear, then step four, treat them as heathen or a tax collector. And we pointed out that those were two people who identified or symbolized the idea of being an outcast. Treat them like you would somebody on the outside of your group. Put them out. We went through some Scripture on that. Put them out. Don't let them join the fellowship. Don't let them associate. Don't let them feel at home, make them miserable, turn them over to Satan, as Paul called it. But the second point was what? Put them out, call them back. Call them back.
So the place of discipline, the church; the purpose, to gain your brother; the person, you; the provocation, any sin, the process, four steps. Now we come to just the last part. The power of discipline, the power. If you want to use another word, use the word authority. You know when you come to the end of verse 17, you always sort of face the fact that there's that sense of inadequacy about this. If you're like I am, you say well, who in the world am I to go to somebody else and confront them with their sin?
I mean, this is a private world and everybody is sort of a private person. You just can't go blasting into someone's life and saying you are sinning. I mean, what right do we have? I'm not an apostle. I'm not perfect. And then people want to misinterpret Matthew 7, "judge not lest ye be judged." What right do we have to do that? How can we possibly publicize people's sin to the whole church and send everybody out after them and how can we put people out of the church publicly? I mean, doesn't this seem like we're going way beyond the bounds that would be permissible to us who are ourselves weak and failing sinners.
What is our authority? By what power do we do this? By what right do we do this? And that we find in verses 18-20 and this is the absolute climax of this text. It's hard to do this. It's a difficult work to do, but it must be done. And beloved, it must be done if ever the church is to know real revival and real renewal. And all the effort to have renewal without ever confronting sin and without ever proclaiming the holiness and the fear of God is just absolutely wasted effort. We must do this though it's difficult, but what is our authority? Two reasons why we have authority. Two reason, number one, the Father in heaven acts with us. Did you get that? You ought to write that in the margin of your Bible somewhere. The Father in heaven acts with us.
I just sat back when I came to this part of my study and just thought of this. I know I can't put into words what my heart feels. It is beyond conception that I could be acting in concert with the infinite holy God. But that's what it's saying. Look at verse 18. "Truly I say to you," it's a good thing He put the word truly there, because it's so hard to believe, truly, "whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven."
Now that may seem at first obscure to you, but we've studied the same terms in Matthew 16:19 and in John 20:23 some years ago, because they appear there. These are rabbinical terms, very familiar to the Jewish audience. Very common terms to Matthew and to our Lord living in that time. They simply refer to the rabbis either binding someone's sins on them or loosing their sins from them. And it basically is the idea that you're either saying to someone your sins are bound you or your sins are loosed from you. In other words, you're still under the bondage of sin or you're free from sin. And the verse says, "that whatever you bind on earth," in other words, when on earth you say to someone you are still bound with sin, when you say that on earth, it'll already have been bound in heaven. Now one earth when you say to someone your sins are loosed, in other words, freed...you're freed from them, heaven will already have done that as well. That's a perfect passive form which means it's already been done with continuing results. In other words, when the church finally gets around to saying your sins are bound on you or your sins are loosed from you, the church is then beginning to act in accord with the Father who's in heaven, who's already said either their loosed or their bound based upon whether the person responded to the conviction of sin or not.
Now the point is this, a very simple point, heaven ratifies what is done on earth when the church follows this process of discipline. That's exactly what it means. Now that's authority. Listen, if you're a sinning person in the church and somebody goes to you and you don't repent and two or three go to you and you don't repent and the whole church is pursuing you and you don't repent, we can say your sins are bound on you and we can say that because we've gone through the process to determine that based upon the revelation of the word of God and when we say that we are simply saying what the Father has already said in heaven. In other words, the church is acting in the behalf of the will of God. The Father in heaven is acting with us. What a tremendous thought.
On the other hand, if you're in sin and we go to you and say you don't repent the first time and two or three go and you do repent and your heart is broken and you grieve and you turn from your sin, and we say your sins are loosed, welcome into the fullness of the fellowship. We are merely doing on earth what has already been done in heaven. So the authority then is that we are acting in behalf of the Father in heaven who's already done what is right to do in your case.
We say in the church we want to do the will of God. We pray. How many churches get up on Sundays and people all stand up say "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, they kingdom come, thy will be done," where, "on earth as it is in heaven," and never do what this passage says. You want to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, then you do this and heaven will have already done what you did here. This is an answer to that prayer in Matthew Chapter 6 verses 9-12, the disciples prayer.
And so I say it again, never, never is the church more like Jesus Christ. Never does the church more fulfill the will of God than when it acts out the principles of this passage. This is taking the kingdom in heaven and bringing it to earth. That's our authority. Heaven stands with us. You say well how can it be our authority? Because we've followed the biblical pattern. When I got to a person and say your sins are bound to you, you say MacArthur what right do you have to say that to a person? Because the person has not repented. On the other hand, if I say to a person, your sins are loosed from you or if you say it to a person, what right do you have to say that? Because they have repented, right?
Recently, I met a man and he said to me, "Well, you see I believe that this is what you're supposed to do to get to heaven." And he described this very bizarre thing. And he said, "you know, I've been in this "Christian organization" for years" and so I just put my finger to him as gently as I could and I said, "my friend, you are lost in your sin." You say what gave you...who do you think you are? Now I had the authority to bind his sins on him, because he didn't meet the biblical conditions of repentance, right? I said, "you're lost. You don't know God. You don't have forgiveness of sins. You don't know Jesus Christ my friend."
And I explained the gospel to him. Then you have the right to say to a sinning Christian, you my friend are bound in your sin and the Father in heaven is acting with you when you say that. Isn't that a marvelous thing? I mean you become the ambassador of heaven on earth. This is why the church must do this. Listen, as I said at the beginning if the will of God in its extremity could be condensed into one thing, "be ye holy for I am holy," then never are we fulfilling the will of God anymore than we are...than when we are pursuing the holiness of His people, right?
That's what the verse means. God will be doing the same thing. That's very comforting to me, because a lot of times people think, you know, if you go out after this and you try to be aggressive and you try to attack sin and you try to confront sin and call it what it is, that you're being unloving and all of these other things and what you're really doing is you're really fighting God's battle. You're really lining up with heaven. So hard to convince people of that in this day because whatever this sentimental squashy kind of love thing is has gotten completely out of hand.
There's a second reason, but before we get to that we have to go to verse 19. And verse 19 basically sort of repeats what it said in verse 18, because they're hard to believe. So hard to believe that the Father in heaven is acting with us. So He says "Again, I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything," well, what things are we talking about here? What things are we talking about? Discipline, sin. Well, what two are these? Well, that's the lowest number of people who can confirm a person in a sin. So when you've gone and you've confirmed the person and you agree and you seek God's will on it, it'll be done for them by my Father who's in heaven. In other words, God's acting with you. The two here are the two witnesses who confirm the unrepentant heart or who, on the other hand, confirm the repentant heart. He starts with the lowest possible number. If two of you on up agree. In other words, you confirm the fact that this indeed is true then God is acting in heaven in accord with that.
That's great authority. We're ambassadors of heaven on earth. Just a glorious, glorious incomprehensible thought. The word agree there is worth nothing, sumphoneo, from which we get the word symphony. It means to produce a sound together. When all of you who are looking into this person's life agreed that his sin is still there or his sin is repented of, whatever it is, covering anything the Father will be agreement with you. I don't think this verse is talking about a blank check for prayer and it's been utterly misused. Just ripped out of it's context and these two people just have...most people think just mean any two people, and if you can just get two people to agree, God has to give you what you agreeing for.
I've heard that said so many times. That isn't the point. The two here are the two witnesses in a case of church discipline, a sinning person, and they really want god's will done and they really want what's right, but if they agree over this issue and the follow the biblical pattern, they can be confident that in their seeking for God's will they will receive it and God will do what's right. And that's a very important confidence, because when you move into discipline, you can second-guess yourself and say boy I hope I'm doing what's right. Boy I just worry, maybe I'm doing the wrong things. Maybe I'm judging. And I've had that feeling. I've gone into a situation with a Christian who's sinning and say, you know...in fact, I've talked to Patricia like this sometimes and I said, you know, maybe I'm just being too harsh. Maybe I...maybe I'm not being sensitive. Maybe this isn't right, but I just don't see the repentance there. I don't see the brokenness there. I don't see the contrition there.
And her simple wisdom, she says, well, you know what the Scripture says. And I say yeah. That if it's been confirmed and we all are in symphony and we're all reading the same signs the same way, and we're asking for God's wisdom we can know the Father is acting in accord with us. Isn't that a marvelous confidence? So we don't fear to do that because we're carrying out the will of the Father that His people be holy.
Second reason, not only does the Father in heaven act with us, but the Son on earth acts with us. This is a dual divine authority. The Son on earth acts with us, verse 20. And here's another verse that gets terribly misapplied, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Now you've probably heard that with a dozen prayer meetings you've been at. If we can just get two or three people together God will be there. Listen, if you've just got one person, God's there, right? I used to worry about that when I was a kid because I heard some people preach on that sermon. "Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst." And I thought well, what happens when one person prays?
You see that isn't what that's talking about. What are the two or three in this context? Two or three what? Two or three witnesses and the discipline. You see that's why it's so important to teach the flow of the Scripture. Two or three witnesses, when you gather in my name, what does that mean? To do my works Jesus says. What's You work? I'm moving among the church. And when you gather together in my name to reflect my character and my will there am I in the midst of that.
Isn't that a great confidence? Not only is heaven acting...is the Father acting in heaven with us, but the Son is there on earth with us. Never are you more fulfilling the will of God and the work of the Son than when you're acting in the purging and the purifying of His own church. We all have to be a part of that beloved, ministers of holiness.
In closing, just a word about the victim in this. We really need to bring that brother back or that sister back don't we. You can't just let them go. You can't. They need to be brought back. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian of rather liberal persuasion, lived through some of the terrors of Nazi Germany. He wrote a little book that I read many years ago as a seminary student called Life Together. In it are some very profound thoughts that might help us with what we're looking at. Listen to what he says.
"Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him. And the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession, the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin is brought into the light. The unexpressed is openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted, but God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron" (Psalm 107:16).
Listen to this, "Since the confession of sin is made the presence of a Christian brother, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders. He gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God. He finds the forgiveness of all his sin and the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother. The expressed acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother. He is no longer alone with his evil for he is cast off his sin in confession and it handed it over to God. It has been taken away from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God and the cross of Jesus Christ. The sin concealed separated him from the fellowship made all his apparent fellowship a sham. The sin confessed has helped him to find true fellowship with the brethren in Jesus Christ."
What a ministry, the ministry of restoring the sinning brother. It is the key to purity of the church. It is the key to revival of the church, the renewal of the church, and the reaching of the world through a renewed church. We must hear these words of our Lord." Let's bow in prayer.
Father, we ask that You would revive Your church. Oh God we would seek a renewal. A true restoration of the holy power of Your people. We know that it comes through the message of Your holiness and our sinfulness. May the church be committed to that. And may in seeing the holy God and the sinful man the church want to be the instruments of holiness. May we be the body of Christ moving among the candlesticks, the lamp stands allowing the spirit of Christ and the word of Christ to purge the church through us. Make us instruments of righteousness that we may do the will of the Father that the people of God may be holy as He is holy.
Father, help us to begin with ourselves and even as we gather tonight for the Lord's table, may it be a starting place as we cleanse our own hearts, confessing sin, and allowing the Spirit to do the work that only He can do. And then Lord, may we seek the purity of Your church not as those who piously set ourselves up, but those who humbly seek the restoration of a brother. Considering ourselves knowing we too are tempted and sin. Help us Father to turn the light on. That sin may not find the isolation it craves and do its deadly work.
We thank You for the clarity with which our Lord has spoken and may the church hear the words and apply them. Our Father, we know now what the word says to us. The only remaining question is our willingness to respond. We know this is Your desire, may it be ours to fulfill all Your holy purpose in Your church, in love, that the world while seeing a holy God who hates sin will then understand truly the grace and love of forgiveness. Make this a special day for all of us. And we'll praise You for what You're going to do in every heart. In Jesus' name, Amen. | <urn:uuid:bbad6791-1f6e-458b-9c0f-fe6c9e04b132> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gtycanada.org/resources/sermons/2332/the-discipline-of-gods-children-part-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980482 | 9,244 | 1.523438 | 2 |
EU chooses mobile TV standard
One system to rule them all
The European Commission has drafted a document recommending the adoption of Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) as a pan-European, mobile-broadcasting standard to avoid "market fragmentation".
The document is intended for publication mid-July, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal, and follows on from comments made by Viviane Reding, the commission's regulator, back in March. At that time she stressed the need for a cross-Europe standard, and indicated her preference for DVB-H, but those comments raised considerable anger in the industry, which wanted the market to be left alone.
DVB-H is one of three standards competing to provide broadcast video to mobile phones, the others being Digital Media Broadcasting (DMB) and MediaFLO.
Nokia has been a fierce proponent of DVB-H, a technology in which it holds considerable patent rights, to the point of building handsets before any service existed and contributing financially to network-operator-led trials. Samsung has, meanwhile, been doing much the same thing with DMB. Having convinced the South Korean Government to mandate DMB, the company has since been financing large-scale trails in Europe and elsewhere.
First-class trips to Korea might play better than hops to Finland, at least with the network-operator management, but the fact that Nokia is in Europe could be seen to carry more weight with the EU.
Qualcomm's MediaFLO is not only American, but, according to the document, a "proprietary solution" that is at the start of the testing phase.
All three technologies are capable of providing a decent broadcast video experience, and can be slotted into the TDD frequencies currently lying idle in many countries, so this argument is becoming less about technology and more about patent rights and politics.
What seems most remarkable is the amount of money companies are prepared to spend on the assumption that punters really want broadcast TV on their mobile phones. While the home-viewing experience rapidly moves towards video-on-demand and unicast, it seems perverse for mobile phones to be heading in the opposite direction. | <urn:uuid:e0be4113-c122-46ee-a251-4e4ebe6b3f39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/27/eu_endorses_dvb_h/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951956 | 448 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Morten Albaek has something to say: "I want to change the world."
Coming from a philosopher turned corporate marketer, you might expect something a little more original. But he doesn't stop there: "I want to surprise the world by creating something that has never been created before, something unique enough to inspire people to think, innovate, act, and react differently."
Yes, roll your eyes at Albaek's fantastic idealism, but wait, because there's more: "We could be at the beginning of a new enlightenment period."
In Albaek's vision, this new enlightenment will have its Lockes and its Rousseaus, but they won't be philosophers or writers -- they'll be multinational corporations and their execs, who throw their collective weight behind a troika of blue swirls. The cute little logo is called WindMade, and it will be used on consumer products certified as having been produced with wind power. If successful, it would be the world's first global trustmark driven by a corporation. (Think of the Energy Star sticker on appliances, or the USDA Organic label on produce.)
Albaek sees WindMade as much more than just a logo; it's an opportunity for companies to show that they are committed to greater transparency about how they do their business -- the kind of power they use is just a starting point. "Many companies still base their businesses on keeping consumers ignorant, but there will be a tremendous and increasing clash between companies and consumers if we don't take upon ourselves the responsibility of behaving sensibly," he says. "The strongest brands in the world must step up."
Obviously, Albaek has another motive: He's a senior exec at Vestas, a company that makes all of its money from wind-power plants, and getting companies to commit to wind would produce a huge ... windfall. But as the WindMade team has traveled the world during the past six months, quietly courting potential partners, it has been met with enthusiasm that has surprised even the biggest cheerleaders among them. The fledgling coalition already includes the media-information giant Bloomberg and the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry consortium. The WWF has signed on as a partner. And the UN Global Compact is backing the trustmark, the first time it has ever done so.
The WindMade campaign will officially be announced at the 2011 World Economic Forum, in Davos. Later in the year, consumers may start seeing the WindMade swirls on store shelves, and by the beginning of 2012, Albaek hopes to have 1,000 companies signed up as WindMade partners. Whether this plan succeeds or fails, it will be a fascinating case study of one company's attempt to take the concept of the multiple bottom line to a new -- and, yes, potentially world-altering -- level. "Will WindMade change the world on its own? No. It's a step," Albaek says. "What we are trying to do is to create a new model: Is it CSR? Is it sustainability? Is it business development? Is it marketing? Is it PR? You can just say yes."
Trustmarks are like any other startup: Many launch, a few gain widespread recognition, but only a minuscule number ever affect what we buy. Perhaps the most successful trustmark in the United States has been Energy Star, which identifies products that meet federal standards for energy efficiency. According to the 2009 Conscious Consumer Report by the branding firm BBMG, 87% of Americans surveyed said they recognized the Energy Star logo, and 75% sought it out at least sometimes.
The logo was created by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992, but for years, surveys showed that less than a third of Americans knew what it meant and many fewer said that it made a difference in what they bought. Growth in the number of products that carry the mark has helped -- Energy Star stickers can now be found on everything from fridges to laptops to new homes. The key conversions came not among consumers but from manufacturers. Home builders, for instance, began to see "a competitive advantage. Five-and-a-half million homes are sold each year, and only a quarter million are new. Among all those, wouldn't it be great to stand out?" says Sam Rashkin, who heads the EPA's Energy Star housing program.
As marketplace recognition has grown, so has the EPA's understanding of how to turn that into purchases. "Consumers will pick the product that is environmentally beneficial as long as they don't have to give up anything else," says Ann Bailey, director of Energy Star product labeling.
Energy Star has enjoyed two advantages that are tough to replicate. It's backed by government standards, and studies have shown that, as skeptical of government as we may be these days, we still trust it much more than corporations. Energy Star was also a pioneer. "There are probably more than 700 trustmarks now -- that's a conservative estimate -- all competing for time and attention and trust," says BBMG chief creative officer Mitch Baranowski. "There's a race on now to certify and label, and because of that, there's a lot of confusion and clutter, and questions about who to trust."
Baranowski says the race is happening because shoppers want it. "We see an increased consciousness among consumers who really care about where things come from," he says. "Trust and transparency are the biggest brand drivers going forward." Which is precisely what Albaek wants to hear.
Wind has long been venerated as a vehicle for change,a bringer of clarity, even a deliverer of prosperity. In the Shinto genesis story, Fujin, the wind god lately reincarnated as a Mortal Kombat character, cleared the newborn earth of murk and mist. Vayu, the mercurial Hindu lord of the wind, is said to control the breath of life. And Njordr, of Norse mythology, is described in legends as having the ability to calm the sea, quell fire, and create wealth.
Albaek's ambition for WindMade seems no less grand, and perhaps no more probable, than these ancient myths. "I truly cannot see why there should not be 1,000 corporations -- and I mean that literally, so maybe let's even say 1,001, like the Persian fairy tale! -- that will join, that will be progressive enough, intelligent enough, modern enough to show the world that the corporate world can lead in fundamentally changing how we act and react to the challenges that confront us," says Albaek one blustery afternoon in Denmark, as he drives from his office in Aarhus to give a talk to a group of school counselors. (Topic: finding meaning in your work and life.) He rambles from Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus to American Idol to the global obesity epidemic to the Renaissance. Eventually, he returns to business. "In the future, the corporations of the world will be divided between the sensible and the unsensible. The unsensible are dinosaurs," he says. "The ones who will join us will help us create a revolution, just as the Enlightenment created the sensibility that created the acknowledgment that we need to change."
Getting his project going has been much more prosaic. It began, aptly, in the upper atmosphere, during a flight on the Scandinavian airline SAS. In the seat pocket, Albaek found an envelope for donations to Save the Children, which had partnered with SAS. What if, he wondered, a corporation had started the charity? (In fact, it was launched in the wake of World War I by Eglantyne Jebb, an English do-gooder heartsick at the plight of ailing, starving European children.) What if Vestas started a charity?
This kind of thinking has propelled his quick rise through Denmark's corporate ranks. At age 26, Albaek, then a young philosopher, was plucked from the academy by Danske Bank, which wanted to see what new ideas this upstart could inject into Denmark's largest and fustiest bank. He dreamed up enough to earn six promotions in seven years. He also found time to become one of Denmark's most prominent talking heads, appearing frequently on TV to discuss everything from romance to world affairs, and to cowrite Generation Fucked Up?, a 2005 book in which he spars with political scientist Rasmus Hylleberg about the degree to which Danes born in the 1970s and 1980s are lazy, entitled, lacking in responsibility, and hypocritical. (The short version of Albaek's stance: Very.) Four years later, Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel lured Albaek, who is now 35, to oversee global marketing.
Albaek quickly settled on an answer to his questions of charity: He wanted to try to save the earth. His original idea was to launch a Vestas-sponsored charitable venture to provide renewable energy -- wind, of course -- to remote African villages. But he worried that a Vestas-only initiative would necessarily have limited reach.
As he and his team brainstormed ways to have a broader effect, they solicited the input of the New York-based creative agency Droga5. It suggested that Vestas create a trustmark called WindMade and a foundation that would manage it and funnel its revenues toward extending renewable energy in developing nations.
WindMade now has a three-pronged approach that Albaek has dubbed TEA -- the T is for transparency, the E for enlightenment, and the A for activation. ("America has voted for its Tea Party," he says, "but I think we need to create a different one.")
Transparency will come in two forms. First, Bloomberg, the inaugural corporation to join Vestas in the WindMade coalition, will build and maintain the WindMade Index, a public ranking of major companies' energy mix and how much of it comes from wind and other renewables. The creation of the index fits neatly into Bloomberg's push to complement its dominance in financial data with information in areas such as renewable energy. "A growing number of investors are looking to what we call 'extra financial' information to better understand how companies are managed," says Curtis Ravenel, Bloomberg's head of sustainability. "The data they need are data we think is important to better understand how companies are addressing long-term sustainability issues."
Second, companies will register for WindMade certification. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been hired to vet applicants for WindMade. To carry the label, a product will have to be made with newly installed wind power. So let's say Tesco, which has discussed a possible partnership with WindMade, wants to put the WindMade logo on its house-label dried apricots. According to the draft standards, Tesco would have to draw at least 12.5% of its power from a wind farm built after 2010, another 12.5% from wind (new or not), and another 25% from any renewable source.
Enlightenment -- taking transparency and information to the consumer -- will come with the help of publicity stunts. The first, which was set to be unveiled in New York, London, and Abu Dhabi in January, on the eve of Davos, will be an art installation called Blue Box, based on work done by Yale urban ecologists who calculated the amount of water it typically takes to make a range of ubiquitous consumer products. A mobile phone, for instance, will be placed in an acrylic box designed to hold 165,144 liters. The idea is to dramatize that wind power consumes little water, unlike other kinds of H2O-hogging rival power sources.
The E-is-for-enlightenment part of its campaign got a credibility boost when the UN Global Compact decided in November to give the WindMade effort its backing. The compact, a coalition that brings corporations and UN agencies together in support of a range of do-gooder causes, has never before given its official blessing to a trustmark. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is expected to cite WindMade in his Davos speech as an example of the kind of public-private partnership necessary to battle climate change, and the Global Compact will have a seat on the WindMade Foundation board. "We have long tried to establish links with the consumer, but it has never really worked," says Global Compact executive director Georg Kell. "For the first time, we have a label that has the power to be a fundamental force."
Both the WindMade team and external analysts say that the toughest part of brewing their TEA will be the A, activation. Even if you can give consumers data, even if you can convince them of the importance of those data, and even if you can get the WindMade mark into stores, how do you get shoppers to open their wallets? Last spring, Vestas commissioned TNS Gallup to survey 25,000 people in 20 nations. In nearly all of the countries, consumers claimed they would eagerly buy products that were better for the environment. (The U.S. was a notable laggard, with only 70% agreeing, versus 91% in China.) But studies have repeatedly shown that consumers don't do everything they tell a pollster they'll do.
Paul Rice, president of Fair Trade U.S.A., knows about the challenges of activation. His organization has been cultivating the Fair Trade label since 1998, but it was after the participation of big brands such as Starbucks (in 2000) and Dunkin' Donuts (2003) "that people realized it had legs," Rice says. And yet: By Rice's count, only a third of Americans know what the Fair Trade label is, and according to BBMG's numbers, it's just 18%.
Albaek knows that WindMade will need big consumer brands in its coalition, yet those are precisely the companies that he has found the most difficult to attract. "Perhaps it was too naive of me to think that you could have 25 corporations signing up quickly for something that was still so undefined," he says. He has also been surprised by a strong strain of what he calls "old-fashioned thinking." He cites a conversation he recently had with the chief of sustainability for one of America's largest food companies. "He said one thing that I found remarkable. He will not create transparency before consumers demand it," Albaek recalls.
Other potential WindMade partners have voiced greater enthusiasm for the concept, yet getting them to sign on has been tough. One company said it could not yet meet the criteria, while another was not prepared for the millions it would cost to switch to wind. For any consumer-products manufacturer that does join, though, there remain some other major questions: Will anyone choose a toy or a cell phone or a pair of shoes because of wind rather than uniqueness or utility or style? The proof of WindMade's potency will be if, when faced with two of the same product, the consumer chooses the WindMade one.
As important as WindMade may be, and as ambitious as it is, one of the smartest things about the label is that it's actually pretty low-risk for Vestas. When asked how much is at stake financially, CEO Engel responds cheerily, "Not a lot, I think!" Vestas has committed to investing $1 million a year in the WindMade Foundation for the next two years. It will also spend about 10% of its annual marketing budget on WindMade -- mere pennies relative to the $331 million it spends each year on research and development.
But the reward is potentially enormous. Even if WindMade doesn't gain the consumer traction Albaek hopes for, it has already succeeded for Vestas. Many companies have opened their doors to Vestas and to pitches about the power of wind; several are poised to buy Vestas turbines.
Albaek and his colleagues acknowledge that upside but quickly turn the focus back to WindMade's broader potential. "If this works, it won't just be people buying WindMade products," says WindMade project manager Bragi Fjalldal. "We could have WindMade neighborhoods, a WindMade Olympics, even WindMade cities, and even WindMade countries. If we succeed, five years from now, someone will be working on, say, SolarMade. If we do this right, other industries will want to do this. It will be a new model." If.
One day late last October at Vestas's main R&D facility in Aarhus, several members of the WindMade team decide to climb one of the company's offshore windmills. Though the sky is slate gray, it's a calm day at sea. The water sparkles, a carpet of iridescent blue. Even 300 feet up, the air is remarkably still -- how is it that all these turbines are even moving?
Allan Laursen Molbech, the group's tour guide, has done this before. He darts through the nacelle -- the capsule-like casing that houses the turbine's mechanical guts -- pointing out the transformer, the hydraulic units, the electrical components. He even crawls into an air duct and then maneuvers himself underneath the turbine.
One of Molbech's visitors begins to get dizzy and nauseated; another takes off her glasses and closes her eyes. Molbech continues his work, dismantling the engine and hoisting a massive piece of carbon fiber high above his head. Then he smiles: "It's much easier and much more practical working in virtual reality than in reality."
This is all happening in Vestas's 3-D virtual-reality simulator, where nearly every detail of the company's windmills can be modeled and examined. "We can address all the complexities," explains Molbech, who is Vestas's virtual-reality administrator. "What does this component do? Is there even enough room for someone to make a repair?"
If only Albaek could do the same for a marketing-side initiative like WindMade. The day after the virtual-reality turbine tour, he muses on the science and relative certainty of one part of Vestas's business versus the art and chance of his own. "Will this work? I don't know," he says with a half-smile and a shrug. "I have hope." He'll need that -- and a very strong wind at his back. | <urn:uuid:a1c5dc54-be26-48af-a3ed-b1aed07c167b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcompany.com/1715181/inside-vestass-plan-create-more-energy-conscious-consumers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971279 | 3,775 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Terror suspect’s New York trialby Opinion Staff
President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects in the 9/11 attacks of 2001 will be brought to trial in New York.
Republicans such as John Boehner, the House minority leader, have declared that the decision somehow is an abdication of the war on terror. In fact, it’s a way to prove to the terrorists that they can’t scare us away from using our own court system and that those courts are more than capable of handing out justice. The administration is expected to seek the death penalty.
Critics are afraid the suspects might get off on a technicality. If they do, the “technicality” is likely to be that the Bush administration used interrogation techniques such as waterboarding that have been rejected by the civilized international community. Republican opponents of the trials seem to be cynically positioning themselves to say “I told you so” if something goes wrong.
If terrorists can force us to abandon our principles and our judicial system, then they have won. Would we be afraid to try Osama bin Laden (remember him?) in New York if he were caught today?
U.S. Courts have successfully tried terrorists before, including those who carried out the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. We think it is fitting to try the terror suspects in New York just blocks from the site of the attack on the Towers. What do you think? Take our poll above. | <urn:uuid:86b7a6de-d178-487a-8b86-e2f824b813b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2009/11/17/terror-suspects-new-york-trial/ | 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 | 0.955818 | 307 | 1.570313 | 2 |
How was I supposed to know what an axolotl was? When mum and dad asked if I wanted one for my birthday, I said “Oh yeah, that’d be excellent” because I thought it was some kind of deadly Viking battle-axe that I could play with in the backyard. But on the morning of my birthday, they didn’t give me a deadly Viking axe: instead they gave me a small fish tank with nothing inside but some water, a plastic sea-plant, and behind the sea-plant, a small white strange smiling cucumber. With four legs. They told me it was a Mexican walking fish and all I had to do was feed it a tiny bit of meat once a day – it needed meat to stay alive, so I couldn’t forget. Then they left me alone in my room with the Mexican walking fish: it didn’t seem to do any walking, didn’t do any Mexican dancing, didn’t even stroll around its tank and explore its plastic sea-plant. It just sat there, staring back with its stupid smiling cucumber face, as if to say “I am Axel the Axolotl. I have legs and I can climb out of this tank and breathe out of water for several minutes. So don’t forget my meat, friendo, or I will have to climb out and find my own...”
It had been 260 days since the world ended in the Flash. Even now, no one knew exactly what the Flash was, or why it had turned all electronic devices to slush. And no one knew why most of the adults who’d seen it had either died…or become something else. Petey said it was some kind of attack by aliens from outer space, but I wasn’t so sure about that. Petey thought everything was to do with aliens from outer space. Someone sounded the alarm, a screeching blast of a trumpet that echoed through the underground bunker that was home for me and about a hundred other kids. Kira couldn’t actually play the trumpet, but she was excellent at making a noise. I rolled off my bed, grabbing for the crossbow that I always kept beside me and running for the trapdoor that led outside. Probably just a false alarm. We’d already had three this week. But when I scrambled through the trapdoor and into the open air, I saw it – the telltale cloud in the distance, caused by thousands of clawed feet kicking up the dirt as they ran. The Screamers were coming
Even though I hadn’t seen Pooh for a couple of years, I recognised him straight away. I sidled up to where he was neatly stacking books into his new locker.
“Hi, Pooh,” I said. “Remember me?”
He glanced at me. “Oh, hi. Yeah, of course I remember you. And they don’t call me that any more. Now it’s Damien. Or Damo. But not Pooh.”
“Are you back for good now?”
He nodded. “Dad’s contract is finished.”
“Happy to be back?”
He shrugged. “It’s fine, I guess. I made a lot of friends in Portugal. I’ll miss them.”
“Portugal,” I sighed. “Sounds so exotic.”
He frowned at the cover of his chemistry textbook, before sliding it into place between a couple of other books. “It’s exotic for the first month or so. Then it’s just home. You know how it is. Oh, wait – sorry. Home… Where are you living now? With Mum? Dad? Aunty? Other mum? Strangers?”
“Your new accent,” I said, leaning closer. “It’s so mysterious. Makes me feel like doing something bad.”
He stopped what he was doing and stared at the back of his locker, his lips pursed. I could almost hear the cogs ticking.
Finally he turned and looked at me, his jaw tight. “I’m only going to say this once,” he snarled. | <urn:uuid:da4e6fdd-0909-4c5f-bf53-cd267957ee02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swf.org.au/writenow-competition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977214 | 910 | 1.65625 | 2 |
A Whirlpool logo is seen on a Whirlpool refrigerator on the Singers showroom floor Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 in Philadelphia. Whirlpool Corp. says it will cut 5,000 jobs in an effort as it faces soft demand and higher costs for materials. The jobs to be cut are mostly in North America and Europe. They include 1,200 salaried positions and the closing of the company's Fort Smith, Ark., plant. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. plans to cut 5,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its workforce in North America and Europe, as it faces soft demand and higher costs for materials.
The world’s biggest appliance maker also on Friday cut its 2011 earnings outlook drastically and reported third-quarter results that missed expectations, hurt by higher costs and a slowdown in emerging markets.
The company, whose brands include Maytag and KitchenAid, has nearly 1,400 employees in its Cleveland, Tenn., division, which makes stoves and ovens. No announcements have been made about any staff cuts at the Cleveland plant, but Whirlpool said it plans to close company’s Fort Smith, Ark., plant.
The Arkansas plant shutdown will affect 884 hourly workers and 90 salaried employees. An additional 800 workers were on layoff from the factory and on a recall list.
Whirlpool will also relocate dishwasher production from Neunkirchen, Germany, to Poland in January 2012.
The company expects the moves will save $400 million by the end of 2013.
Whirlpool said it has been squeezed by soft demand since the recession and rising costs for materials such as steel and copper. Due to its size, Whirlpool’s performance provides a window on the economy because it indicates whether consumers are comfortable spending on big-ticket items.
Whirlpool has raised prices to combat higher costs, but demand for items like refrigerators and washing machines remains tight. Whirlpool is also facing discount pressure from competitors.
To offset slowing North American sales, Whirlpool has turned to emerging markets. But the company said Friday that sales have slowed there, too.
Steep costs and the dour global economy are affecting the entire appliance industry. Swedish appliance maker Electrolux said Wednesday that its third-quarter net income fell 39 percent and cut its forecast for demand in North American and Europe for the year
Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool’s third-quarter net income more than doubled to $177 million, or $2.27 per share, from $79 million, or $1.02 per share. Adjusted earnings of $2.35 per share fell short of analyst expectations for $2.73 per share.
Revenue rose 2 percent to $4.63 billion, short of expectations for $4.74 billion.
“Our results were negatively impacted by recessionary demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in emerging markets and high levels of inflation in material costs,” CEO Jeff Fettig said.
Unit shipments fell in all regions except Asia, where they rose 4 percent.
In North America, revenue fell 2 percent to $2.4 billion, and in Latin America, revenue rose 8 percent to $1.2 billion.
The company now expects 2011 net income will be $4.75 to $5.25 per share. Its prior guidance was net income would be at the low end of a range between $7.25 and $8.25 per share. | <urn:uuid:53a2fd1f-dda3-45ef-9db1-87ee6e146448> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/28/whirlpool-cut-5000-jobs-reduce-costs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950681 | 740 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|Silence is a Commons by Ivan Illich
Computers are doing to communication
what fences did to pastures
and cars did to streets.
by Ivan Illich
Minna-san, gladly I accept the honour of addressing this forum on Science and Man. The theme that Mr. Tsuru proposes, "The Computer-Managed Society," sounds an alarm. Clearly you foresee that machines which ape people are tending to encroach on every aspect of people's lives, and that such machines force people to behave like machines. The new electronic devices do indeed have the power to force people to "communicate" with them and with each other on the terms of the machine. Whatever structurally does not fit the logic of machines is effectively filtered from a culture dominated by their use.
The machine-like behaviour of people chained to electronics constitutes a degradation of their well-being and of their dignity which, for most people in the long run, becomes intolerable. Observations of the sickening effect of programmed environments show that people in them become indolent, impotent, narcissistic and apolitical. The political process breaks down, because people cease to be able to govern themselves; they demand to be managed.
I congratulate Asahi Shimbun on its efforts to foster a new democratic consensus in Japan, by which your more than seven million readers become aware of the need to limit the encroachment of machines on the style of their own behaviour. It is important that precisely Japan initiate such action. Japan is looked upon as the capital of electronics; it would be marvellous if it became for the entire world the model of a new politics of self-limitation in the field of communication, which, in my opinion, is henceforth necessary if a people wants to remain self-governing.
Electronic management as a political issue can be approached in several ways. I propose, at the beginning of this public consultation, to approach the issue as one of political ecology. Ecology, during the last ten years, has acquired a new meaning. It is still the name for a branch of professional biology, but the term now increasingly serves as the label under which a broad, politically organized general public analyzes and influences technical decisions. I want to focus on the new electronic management devices as a technical change of the human environment which, to be benign, must remain under political (and not exclusively expert) control. I have chosen this focus for my introduction, because I thus continue my conversation with those three Japanese colleagues to whom I owe what I know about your country - Professors Yoshikazu Sakamoto, Joshiro Tamanoi and Jun Ui.
In the 13 minutes still left to me on this rostrum I will clarify a distinction that I consider fundamental to political ecology. I shall distinguish the environment as commons from the environment as resource. On our ability to make this particular distinction depends not only the construction of a sound theoretical ecology, but also - and more importantly - effective ecological jurisprudence Minna-san, how I wish, at this point, that I were a pupil trained by your Zen poet, the great Basho. Then perhaps in a bare 17 syllables I could express the distinction between the commons within which people's subsistence activities are embedded, and resources that serve for the economic production of those commodities on which modem survival depends. If I were a poet, perhaps I would make this distinction so beautifully and incisively that it would penetrate your hearts and remain unforgettable. Unfortunately I am not a Japanese poet. I must speak to you in English, a language that during the last 100 years has lost the ability to make this distinction, and - in addition - I must speak through translation. Only because I may count on the translating genius of Mr. Muramatsu do I dare to recover Old English meanings with a talk in Japan.
"Commons" is an Old English word. According to my Japanese friends, it is quite close to the meaning that iriai still has in Japanese "Commons," like iriai, is a word which, in preindustrial times, was used to designate certain aspects of the environment. People called commons those parts of the environment for which customary law exacted specific forms of community respect. People called commons that part of the environment which lay beyond their own thresholds and outside of their own possessions, to which, however, they had recognized claims of usage, not to produce commodities but to provide for the subsistence of their households. The customary law which humanized the environment by establishing the commons was usually unwritten. It was unwritten law not only because people did not care to write it down, but because what it protected was a reality much too complex to fit into paragraphs. The law of the commons regulates the right of way, the right to fish and to hunt, to graze, and to collect wood or medicinal plants in the forest.
An oak tree might be in the commons. Its shade, in summer, is reserved for the shepherd and his flock; its acorns are reserved for the pigs of the neighbouring peasants; its dry branches serve as fuel for the widows of the village; some of its fresh twigs in springtime are cut as ornaments for the church - and at sunset it might be the place for the village assembly. When people spoke about commons, iriai, they designated an aspect of the environment that was limited, that was necessary for the community's survival, that was necessary for different groups in different ways, but which, in a strictly economic sense, was not perceived as scarce.
When today, in Europe, with university students I use the term "commons" (in German Almende or Gemeinheit, in Italian gli usi civici) my listeners immediately think of the eighteenth century. They think of those pastures in England on which villagers each kept a few sheep, and they think of the "enclosure of the pastures" which transformed the grassland from commons into a resource on which commercial flocks could be raised. Primarily, however, my students think of the innovation of poverty which came with enclosure: of the absolute impoverishment of the peasants, who were driven from the land and into wage labour, and they think of the commercial enrichment of the lords.
In their immediate reaction, my students think of the rise of a new capitalist order. Facing that painful newness, they forget that enclosure also stands for something more basic. The enclosure of the commons inaugurates a new ecological order: Enclosure did not just physically transfer the control over grasslands from the peasants to the lord. Enclosure marked a radical change in the attitudes of society towards the environment. Before, in any juridical system, most of the environment had been considered as commons from which most people could draw most of their sustenance without needing to take recourse to the market. After enclosure, the environment became primarily a resource at the service of "enterprises" which, by organizing wage-labor, transformed nature into the goods and services on which the satisfaction of basic needs by consumers depends. This transformation is in the blind spot of political economy.
This change of attitudes can be illustrated better if we think about roads rather than about grasslands. What a difference there was between the new and the old parts of Mexico City only 20 years ago. In the old parts of the city the streets were true commons. Some people sat on the road to sell vegetables and charcoal. Others put their chairs on the road to drink coffee or tequila. Others held their meetings on the road to decide on the new headman for the neighbourhood or to determine the price of a donkey. Others drove their donkeys through the crowd, walking next to the heavily loaded beast of burden; others sat in the saddle. Children played in the gutter, and still people walking could use the road to get from one place to another.
Such roads were not built for people. Like any true commons, the street itself was the result of people living there and making that space liveable. The dwellings that lined the roads were not private homes in the modern sense - garages for the overnight deposit of workers. The threshold still separated two living spaces, one intimate and one common. But neither homes in this intimate sense nor streets as commons survived economic development.
In the new sections of Mexico City, streets are no more for people. They are now roadways for automobiles, for buses, for taxis, cars, and trucks. People are barely tolerated on the streets unless they are on their way to a bus stop. If people now sat down or stopped on the street, they would become obstacles for traffic, and traffic would be dangerous to them. The road has been degraded from a commons to a simple resource for the circulation of vehicles. People can circulate no more on their own. Traffic has displaced their mobility. They can circulate only when they are strapped down and are moved.
The appropriation of the grassland by the lords was challenged, but the more fundamental transformation of grassland (or of roads) from commons to resource has happened, until recently, without being subjected to criticism. The appropriation of the environment by the few was clearly recognized as an intolerable abuse By contrast, the even more degrading transformation of people into members of an industrial labour force and into consumers was taken, until recently, for granted. For almost a hundred years the majority of political parties has challenged the accumulation of environmental resources in private hands. However, the issue was argued in terms of the private utilization of these resources, not the distinction of commons. Thus anticapitalist politics so far have bolstered the legitimacy of transforming commons into resources.
Only recently, at the base of society, a new kind of "popular intellectual" is beginning to recognize what has been happening. Enclosure has denied the people the right to that kind of environment on which - throughout all of history - the moral economy of survival had been based. Enclosure, once accepted, redefines community. Enclosure underlines the local autonomy of community. Enclosure of the commons is thus as much in the interest of professionals and of state bureaucrats as it is in the interest of capitalists. Enclosure allows the bureaucrats to define local community as impotent - "ei-ei schau-schau!!!" - to provide for its own survival. People become economic individuals that depend for their survival on commodities that are produced for them. Fundamentally, most citizens' movements represent a rebellion against this environmentally induced redefinition of people as consumers.
Minna-san, you wanted to hear me speak on electronics, not grassland and roads. But I am a historian; I wanted to speak first about the pastoral commons as I know them from the past in order then to say something about the present, much wider threat to the commons by electronics.
This man who speaks to you was born 55 years ago in Vienna. One month after his birth he was put on a train, and then on a ship and brought to the Island of Brac. Here, in a village on the Dalmatian coast, his grandfather wanted to bless him. My grandfather lived in the house in which his family had lived since the time when Muromachi ruled in Kyoto. Since then on the Dalmatian Coast many rulers had come and gone - the doges of Venice, the sultans of Istanbul, the corsairs of Almissa, the emperors of Austria, and the kings of Yugoslavia. But these many changes in the uniform and language of the governors had changed little in daily life during these 500 years. The very same olive-wood rafters still supported the roof of my grandfather's house. Water was still gathered from the same stone slabs on the roof. The wine was pressed in the same vats, the fish caught from the same kind of boat, and the oil came from trees planted when Edo was in its youth.
My grandfather had received news twice a month. The news now arrived by steamer in three days; and formerly, by sloop, it had taken five days to arrive. When I was born, for the people who lived off the main routes, history still flowed slowly, imperceptibly. Most of the environment was still in the commons. People lived in houses they had built; moved on streets that had been trampled by the feet of their animals; were autonomous in the procurement and disposal of their water; could depend on their own voices when they wanted to speak up. All this changed with my arrival in Brac.
On the same boat on which I arrived in 1926, the first loudspeaker was landed on the island. Few people there had ever heard of such a thing. Up to that day, all men and women had spoken with more or less equally powerful voices. Henceforth this would change. Henceforth the access to the microphone would determine whose voice shall be magnified. Silence now ceased to be in the commons; it became a resource for which loudspeakers compete. Language itself was transformed thereby from a local commons into a national resource for communication. As enclosure by the lords increased national productivity by denying the individual peasant to keep a few sheep, so the encroachment of the loudspeaker has destroyed that silence which so far had given each man and woman his or her proper and equal voice. Unless you have access to a loudspeaker, you now are silenced.
I hope that the parallel now becomes clear. Just as the commons of space are vulnerable, and can be destroyed by the motorization of traffic, so the commons of speech are vulnerable, and can easily be destroyed by the encroachment of modem means of communication.
The issue which I propose for discussion should therefore be clear: how to counter the encroachment of new, electronic devices and systems upon commons that are more subtle and more intimate to our being than either grassland or roads - commons that are at least as valuable as silence. Silence, according to western and eastern tradition alike, is necessary for the emergence of persons. It is taken from us by machines that ape people. We could easily be made increasingly dependent on machines for speaking and for thinking, as we are already dependent on machines for moving.
Such a transformation of the environment from a commons to a productive resource constitutes the most fundamental form of environmental degradation. This degradation has a long history, which coincides with the history of capitalism but can in no way just be reduced to it. Unfortunately the importance of this transformation has been overlooked or belittled by political ecology so far. It needs to be recognized if we are to organize defense movements of what remains of the commons. This defense constitutes the crucial public task for political action during the eighties. The task must be undertaken urgently because commons can exist without police, but resources cannot. Just as traffic does, computers call for police, and for ever more of them, and in ever more subtle forms.
By definition, resources call for defense by police. Once they are defended, their recovery as commons becomes increasingly difficult. This is a special reason for urgency. | <urn:uuid:87aed2cf-9f1e-4b2e-9396-c9af74c4139e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/1983_silence_commons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974818 | 3,056 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Australia, at your servers
Australia is now the white knight in the worldwide battle against spam.
At conferences in China and South Korea this week it will try to persuade Asian governments and internet service providers to follow its example.
Once responsible for producing an estimated 16per cent of the world's spam, Australia now has dropped off the radar entirely, according to figures released yesterday by Sophos, the British internet security company.
"That's reflective of Australia's anti-spam legislation," said Peter Coroneos, executive director of the Australian Internet Industry Association.
"The penalties here for distributing spam are now huge. Spamming in Australia is now very risky." Under laws introduced in April, spammers face fines of up to $1.1million.
Mr Coroneos said the big task facing the global internet industry was to persuade countries such as the US, South Korea and China, which together are responsible for 70per cent of world spam, to follow the example of Australia's legislators and industry self-regulation.
South Korea could be hard to convince. The Sophos figures show that South Korea, with the most broadband connections in the world, has since February almost tripled the percentage of spam originating from its servers.
Sean Richmond, Sophos's technical director, said that about 40 per cent of all spam is now being generated by "always-on" broadband-connected PCs that, unknown to their owners (at least until they get their broadband usage bills) have been turned into zombies by viruses written by hackers in the pay of spamming companies.
Spam is now estimated to account for more than 60per cent of the world's email traffic, and the tide continues to rise.
While Australia now leads the world in combating spam, Mr Coroneos concedes that many domestic spammers are probably still active.
Vested interests in China and South Korea, and political lobbying in the US, make the task difficult. | <urn:uuid:6d328f66-42ea-491a-b1a6-a38f4bbff388> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/30/1093852184843.html?from=storylhs | 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 | 0.959737 | 394 | 1.828125 | 2 |
GR: Clear and sharp, and as good as Vermeer of Delft. The blurring is always a kind of emergency butchering. [Laughter] It's an emergency move at the end. To make the picture in some way attractive to look at, I blur it.
RS: I see. Something isn't going right in the painting, and the blurring then‑takes care of it.
GR: Yes, but prior to that, the situation is terrible.
RS: The first paintings that had that quality were from the early 1960s. There is a series of portraits of a family from 1965-Boy Baker, Girl Baker, Mr. Baker and Mrs. Baker-with what look like white strokes on top. Is that the first time you canceled a painting?
GR: With the strokes? No, I canceled the painting by blurring. I cut the four heads off. I was trying to restore the painting because it had small cracks in it, and then I got angry and made all these marks.
RS: Was the Table of 1962 the first canceled painting?
RS: And what provoked you in that case to smear the image?
GR: I painted it very realistically, and it looked so stupid. You can't paint like that, that's the problem. You can't quite stand it anymore. Or very seldom. The Reader from 1994 is almost the way I wanted it, but that's a rare example; it is not too imprecise.
RS: No, it is quite clear. And this is actually what you imagined?
GR: Even better, but that's okay. [Laughter]
RS: It's very okay! So in a way the first cases of blurring the image started out, as you say, as emergencies, either a technical emergency-cracking- or a conceptual emergency-"I can't stand to look at something like this." At what point did you realize that this was actually a way of painting?
GR: That came very slowly. In the abstract paintings, there's sometimes this trick. I have to be careful not to do it, but I sometimes cover the painting with white and then everything is beautiful and new and fresh, like snow. All the misery is over, the terror.
RS: The terrifying part of the image itself or .‑.‑.‑
GR: No, the way I did it, my inability to make‑the stupid stuff, which gets worse and worse.
RS: And what makes something stupid in your eyes? The paint itself is innocent, you know.
GR: I need an example of what you mean.
RS: How do you decide whether something is good or bad? I know it's not logical, it's not something you can state easily, but‑.‑.‑.‑
GR: The most important thing, in life and for humanity, is to decide what is good and what is bad. And it's the most difficult. I remember a time when it was out of fashion to judge a painting good. But all my real constructive experiences with people were about good or not good, with Polke, Palermo, Fischer or the sculptor Isa Genzken, who is very strict. "That's ugly, terrible," she'd say. It's very important.
RS: And what's the difference between good and beautiful, bad and ugly?
GR: It always means good and bad. I don't know if it is the same in English, but in German if you say it's a good painting, you already mean it's beautiful; if you say it's a bad painting, you imply also that it's ugly. It almost has moral connotations of good and evil. If we say something is beautiful, then we mean it's good.
RS: And do you believe this?
RS: What if a painting is disturbing? "Ugly" maybe is not the right word, but what if it's upsetting or makes you uneasy?
GR: That can be a good quality, a quality you can use.
RS: I would think that many people looking at The Reader could easily identify the subject and can also respond to the way it is painted. On the other hand, there are paintings where the colors are mixed on the surface and mottled or unclear. Those pictures could be very disturbing to look at.
GR: Even then, it has to be good in some way. There has to be something that fits or resonates.
RS: Put another way, there seems to be in the figurative paintings, especially the recent ones, a degree of gentleness, an invitation to come into the picture. In some of the more recent abstractions, though, there is a level of aggression and a closing off of the picture. Those are very different experiences.
GR: And both have their own criteria, and they have to be good.
RS: Do you agree with that way of reading some of the abstract paintings?
GR: Yes, of course.
RS: In some of them, as you say, the white closes something off. In other cases, covering or removing the paint almost cancels the image, as if you were committing an act of aggression. Is that an accurate way to describe things?
GR: I think so, yes.
RS: How so?
GR: I find that difficult to talk about at the moment.
RS: I understand that Robert Ryman visited your studio at some point. He said to me with some perplexity that it was amazing that you could do anything and everything. My question is how do you decide what to do if you have this ability to make things in so many different ways?
GR: I never had the feeling that I have so many abilities. I did a little landscape, and then something abstract. The day is long, so I never felt that was so special. Except I developed a bad conscience. When I saw Ryman, so thorough, so persistent, painting every day, this made me a bit nervous. I thought maybe I am not a proper painter. I really often worried that there was something missing, that I was lacking something because I was trying so many things, in all directions. I envied other artists and thought they had a quality I was lacking, especially Ryman. That changed a little after I got to know him better; I got to know his problems, and my problems. [Laughter]
RS: And your problems were?
GR: My problems? They are still the same. They haven't changed, but now I can see I have the right to keep on painting.
RS: Typically, artists were encouraged to make a consistent body of work or to make a conscious progression from one idea to the next. What's striking in your work is the apparent freedom you have given yourself to move from one idea to another without worrying about how the paintings will be received. How did you arrive at the sense that this was okay? | <urn:uuid:7c90a304-87e0-41e2-97a7-c5839c86ff03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/features/gerhard-richter-robert-storr/4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983862 | 1,441 | 1.507813 | 2 |
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Like most Staten Islander homeowners, George Fredericks has seen his share of termites, carpenter ants and carpenter bees over the years.
Now, the ladies are moving in.
Since Tuesday, as temperatures seemed more spring than fall, his Dutch Colonial in Dongan Hills has been teeming with hundreds of ladybugs — or technically, the Asian lady beetle.
"I’ve never seen a swarm of ladybugs," said Fredericks, who has been living in the same residence for more than 30 years. "They’re crawling all over the sunny side of the house."
Borough exterminators — and those around the country and in Canada — have found themselves swarmed with calls from residents with similar stories.
Richard Pascone, president of Top Hat Exterminating in Great Kills, has received at least 30 from anxious customers this week, including one at midnight from a homeowner willing to pay any price "if you come right now."
"They’re trying to get in for the winter," said Richard Pascone, a self-proclaimed ladybug lover. "They’re trying to hit the warmest side of the house, finding the first crack or crevice to survive for next year. They’re outside bugs trying to survive like everybody else."
But while they may be a nuisance in overwhelming numbers, the insects are harmless — and are actually good for the environment.
"They are predators," said Mark Loffredo, president of Post Exterminating, Grasmere. "They eat other insects. They’re great for the garden."
Among the ladybug’s favorite meals are aphids, small plant eating insects that often wreak havoc in backyard vegetable gardens.
Both Pascone and Loffredo said the bugs can "overwinter" in residences and large buildings in big numbers, but are not structure-damaging insects like termites or carpenter ants — and they don’t lay their eggs in homes.
They are attracted to lighter colors, food sources, hillsides and forested areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
All that makes Fredericks home seem like the perfect place to spend the winter: It sits at the top of a hill, its shingles are light in color and the leaves and flowers on its rose of sharon bush are a plentiful source of aphids.
Fredericks has removed about two dozen ladybugs from inside his house — those were attracted to the windows on the sunny side — and placed them back outside after learning they were more helpful than harmful.
"They perform a useful function, they don’t bother anyone," Fredericks said, and, "they’re supposed to be good luck." | <urn:uuid:5a3e1dfe-8de6-4148-a1a6-d73e501c81ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2009/10/borough_exterminators_fielding.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966181 | 579 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Moez Garsalloui, a 43-year-old Tunisian, fled Europe years ago for the remote tribal region of Waziristan.
Two intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that Garsalloui—also known as Moezuddin al-Qayrawani—died in a raid this month, though neither the circumstances nor the precise date could be immediately confirmed.
News of his death was originally reported by the U.S.-based SITE Intel Group, which tracks militant websites.
Garsalloui was suspected in the kidnappings of a Swiss couple who were held captive for eight months in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold, according to the intelligence officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Although he was known as an experienced militant with explosives skills, Garsalloui wasn't considered a top al-Qaida leader or strategist. Still, dozens of al-Qaida leaders and militants have been killed in recent years, crippling advances made by the group and its affiliates.
Garsalloui came onto European intelligence officials' radar nearly a decade ago with his Belgian wife, Malika El Aroud, who was recently sentenced to eight years in prison in Belgium for heading a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida and running a Web site that glorified suicide bombings.
Intelligence officials say through her French-language blog, El Aroud lured dozens of women into extremism across Europe.
She was convicted in Switzerland in June 2007 for running a Web site propagating hardline Islamic ideals. She received a six-month suspended sentence and returned to Belgium, where she continued her Web site.
Brussels police raided houses across the city in 2008, detaining 14 people on suspicion they had associated with Garsalloui. Al Aroud and others were sentenced in 2010, and Garsalloui, who had fled at that point, was tried in absentia.
Though most of the women who made contact with El Aroud through her blog were French speaking Muslims, her posts have resonated with English speaking women in countries such as Britain, according to the two intelligence officials who said they are actively tracking dozens of women suspected of extremist links.
El Aroud's first husband died in a suicide attack on a top anti-Taliban leader in Afghanistan just two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. | <urn:uuid:57b66bc4-6943-4cda-90d9-1937b1bcfb98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publicopiniononline.com/nationalnews/ci_21799820/apnewsbreak-aq-militant-killed-raid | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980239 | 500 | 1.5 | 2 |
THREE DIE IN VIENNA IN POLITICAL CLASH; Thirty Nazis and 5 Policemen Wounded as Socialists Fire From Workers' Club. THREE KILLED IN DORTMUND Many Are Seriously Injured as the Hitlerites and Communists Fight In Various Parts of Reich.
Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES. ();
October 17, 1932,
, Section , Page 10, Column , words
VIENNA, Oct. 16. -- A policeman, a National Socialist and another man were killed and thirty Hitlerites and five policemen were seriously wounded by rifle and revolver shots in a clash between Hitlerites and Socialists in the working class suburb of Simmering today. | <urn:uuid:9856a923-b486-4464-a3b7-7239da8b4423> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60E15F83B5513738DDDAE0994D8415B828FF1D3 | 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 | 0.948329 | 141 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Beth Groebe ABR CNE847-441-6300
Cell Phone: 847-650-5073
Phone (Other): 847-784-3008
Direct Fax: 847-626-1708
Kenilworth has the distinction of being the smallest yet one of the loveliest and most affluent of all North Shore communities. The suburb also has a distinguished history. Incorporated in 1896, Kenilworth was established by Chicago retailer Joseph Sears, son of the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and stands today as an ideal example of an early planned community. Sears purchased 200 acres of land in 1889, laid out the streets, brought in pipes for gas and water and planted trees. Homes had to correspond to regulations concerning lot sizes and high quality construction.
Sears named the area after the castle and town of Kenilworth, England. Famed architects built many of the area’s first homes. Daniel Burnham designed the founder’s residence. Franklin Burnham designed the railroad station. Noted Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen designed many of the parks and homes. George W Maher, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the landmark two-tiered fountain at the intersection of Kenilworth Avenue and Green Bay Road.
The Kenilworth Historical Society is a treasure-trove of information on the community and has available maps, early photos and biographies as well as a copious house-history file on individual homes. The Society also maintains a Children’s Museum on the lower level.
Kenilworth residents consider its small size an advantage. Since the community covers only .6 of a mile, all facilities are within walking distance. All residents are within a mile of its pristine beach and the local train station and post office. Although Kenilworth has only a small retail section, residents are close to larger shopping areas in neighboring Wilmette and Winnetka.
Parks and Recreation
In addition to the beautifully maintained community beach, the Kenilworth Park District operates parks, an outdoor ice rink, athletic fields, and programs including basketball, t-ball, little league, Ayso Soccer, and summer day camp for children three to nine years of age.
Kenilworth students enjoy outstanding educational opportunities. Elementary students attend the Joseph Sears School in district 38 for kindergarten through eighth grade. Included in the curriculum are programs for gifted and special needs students.
High school students attend award-winning New Trier High School in district 203 in neighboring Winnetka.
Kenilworth prides itself on its beautiful homes, many of which date from the early part of the century. Most are Colonial, Tudor, Georgian, Prairie, Victorian or Cape Cod styles set on spacious properties with well landscaped properties.
Drivers can access Edens Expressway (I-94) which is two miles west of the Village. Drive time to Chicago is about 40 minutes. O’Hare Airport is 30 minutes away and Midway Airport is about an hour’s drive. Metra rail service to the Loop is 35 minutes by local and 25minutes by express trains. Suburban bus service is provided by PACE and bus stops are within walking distance for all residents.
Kenilworth Village Hall and Park District: 847-251-1666 | <urn:uuid:64f71385-bce1-4de5-81ed-5fd6f4d6e62f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koenigstrey.com/real-estate-agent/bethgroebe/more/5996 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94225 | 684 | 1.75 | 2 |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Concerned about the number of children living in foster care, several Philadelphia churches and synagogues urged their members to consider adoption.
The regional "adoption sabbath" was planned by a group of religious social service groups, working with state and city officials.
Church leaders hope to find families for some of the 1,600 foster children in Pennsylvania -- 300 in Philadelphia -- who have no adoptive parents on the horizon. Thousands more are in foster care but have relatives or foster parents who may someday provide permanent homes.
Brainerd Dispatch ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:2dd454ea-813c-4d33-b59d-8e0ac3a47de4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brainerddispatch.com/stories/112400/chu_1124000017.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934561 | 126 | 1.507813 | 2 |
New Yorkers may be famous for their strong opinions and argumentative nature, but there’s one thing most of them agree on: they wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else. Contrary to that hilarious Onion article that made the Internet rounds this summer, a new survey shows that most of the city’s residents are happy with their hometown.
As reported by the New York Times’ City Room blog, 84 percent of New Yorkers who were surveyed said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the city as a place to live, while only 4 percent said they were not at all satisfied.
What’s the happiest borough? Staten Island, with 95 percent of its residents claiming to be “happy” or “very happy.” Queens was just behind that, with 93 percent, and Manhattan had 91 percent. The Bronx was lowest on this scale, but still pretty good, at 86 percent. Manhattan apparently emerged as the friendliest borough (28 percent), followed closely by Brooklyn (24 percent) and Queens (23 percent).
The 1,005 adults who were surveyed were chosen at random and interviewed by telephone between Sept. 29 and Oct. 6. Hmm…while I love the thought of so many happy fellow New Yorkers around me, the cynical New Yorker in me can’t help but wonder: If they had conducted their interviews during hot, sticky summer, when the rush-hour subway platform morphs into the ninth circle of Hell, instead of bright, beautiful fall, might they have gotten different responses? | <urn:uuid:33aad1a0-ae80-43d6-b83f-3059b8c2829e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/new-york/2010/10/21/new-york-city-love/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980763 | 323 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
Tue December 4, 2012
Living On Food Stamps: Newark Mayor Cory Booker Starts Challenge Today
Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:02 am
A campaign to raise awareness about the struggles of low-income Americans who depend on food stamps gets a high-profile plug today as Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., begins a week of living on $30 worth of food.
The Democratic politician took up the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge after getting into a discussion with a fellow Twitter user about "the role the government should play in funding school breakfast and lunch programs," The Star-Ledger writes.
His challenge (SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps) is to live for a week on the $4-or-so per day average that New Jersey food stamp recipients receive.
Booker is very active on Twitter, and is sure to be posting updates about his experience. He's already twitpic'd a photo of his grocery receipt for the week. He spent $29.78, mostly on fruits, some vegetables and "lots of beans," as The Star-Ledger says.
Booker writes on Linked In that:
"My goals for the #SNAPChallenge are to raise awareness and understanding of food insecurity; reduce the stigma of SNAP participation; elevate innovative local and national food justice initiatives and food policy; and, amplify compassion for individuals and communities in need of assistance. Over the next seven days, I plan to highlight the voices of people involved in local food policy, the SNAP program, and other related initiatives. ... Throughout this week, I will document my #SNAPChallenge experiences and reflections on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and through video on #waywire."
A previous post about the mayor: "Today's Hero: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, For Going Into A Burning Building." | <urn:uuid:01b5e8d3-27a3-4bf6-8da7-d805b4792658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wuky.org/post/living-food-stamps-newark-mayor-cory-booker-starts-challenge-today | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946647 | 385 | 1.546875 | 2 |
China, 2000 years ago: Loyang (LuÚyŠng) has risen to become the Capital of the Han Dynasty and one of the four great Capitals of old China. The economic upturn of the now-flourishing city requires a better supply of basic foodstuffs.
You are local farmers, who plant wheat, pumpkins, turnips, cabbages, beans and leeks in their fields. After each harvest, the farmers assemble at the gates of Loyang to sell and trade their vegetables. They deliver to their regular customers or lucratively sell their vegetables to passing shoppers. Vegetables can also be traded at Market stalls or used for seed and planted in fields. If the farmers need vegetables that they donít have in stock, they can buy them in the Shop. Twenty different helpers, each with different individual skills, are available to assist them. The most successful farmer will be the one who moves furthest along the Path of Prosperity within the given timeframe. Each step costs more and more money, which is also needed for investments. Farmers have to find the right balance.
This third game in Rosenberg's harvest trilogoy (Agricola and Le Havre being the other two) can also be played solo.
1-4 players aged 10 and older. Average playing time is 90-120 minutes. | <urn:uuid:fb79232d-500f-4615-86fb-d069168ea104> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gamersarmory.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=966 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955313 | 279 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Ashot Ghoulian served as NKR Foreign Minister from 2002 to 2004
Ashot Ghoulian was named Foreign Affairs Minister on October 11, 2002. Prior to his appointment, Ghoulian served as Chairman of the Artsakh Democratic Union, a major political organization in Nagorno Karabakh.
A career civil servant, Ghoulian was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister in 1998 following three years as the Head of the Foreign Ministry's political department. Ghoulian also managed the Diaspora and Bilateral Affairs Department.
In 1992, Ghoulian served as a senior advisor to the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Supreme Council (NKR parliament) and one year later rose to the position of Assistant to the Speaker of the Parliament.
As a member of the NKR delegation, in 1995-1997 Ghoulian participated in OSCE Minsk Group-mediated negotiations on Nagorno Karabakh in Europe and Russia. He holds the diplomatic rank of the Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister.
Minister Ghoulian is a graduate of the Artsakh State University, where he studied history and law. He was born in 1965 in Nagorno Karabakh and is married with three sons. | <urn:uuid:8e701e07-6da7-48ba-ae5d-da8637f52185> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nkrusa.org/foreign_policy/ashot_bio.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977618 | 247 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Small and medium enterprises (SME) typically are lean, agile organizations. On one hand, functional managers of SMEs often wear multiple hats and are focused on executing the day-to-day operations to ensure their organization’s survival. On the other hand, the executives of SMEs are charged with creating a strategic vision and executing on that vision to ensure the long-term viability of the organization. And oh by the way depending on the size of the organization, the executives may also be working in the trenches as well to maximize the chances to achieve success.
Like their larger brethren, success requires SMEs to be able to not only articulate the strategic goals of the organization, but also to capture and implement them at all levels of the enterprise to ensure that all projects, not matter how small or large, are aligned to the enterprise’s overall strategy. The lack of a middle management layer in SMEs, however, often means that there is no one in the organization to help translate the vision of the executives into operational terms so that the entire enterprise and all of its projects (i.e., tactical activities) are working in concert to achieve the same common set of goals.
Strategic management offices (SMO) represent one approach to help SMEs align their tactical operations with their strategic planning, bridging the gap between the operations management and the executive suite while optimizing resource management and minimizing waste.
In this episode, we will examine what makes strategy implementation so difficult in SMEs, what is an SMO, and how does an SMO differ from a project management office (PMO).
To do this, Wayne Thompson sits down with his friend and colleague, Michael Kamel, who will be sharing his insights and war stories on aligning operational activities with strategic planning in small and medium enterprises.
1. The opening of the show – “Highlight Reel”
2. The closing of the show – “Redondo Beach” | <urn:uuid:50c3a3c4-1247-49ef-877e-dd668f4539ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pmwarstories.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948454 | 400 | 1.59375 | 2 |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquitted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Thursday of one of the two genocide charges he faces at the halfway stage of his long-running trial.
Judges said prosecutors did not present enough evidence to support the genocide count covering mass killings, expulsions and persecution by Serb forces of Muslims and Croats from Bosnian towns early in the country's 1992-95 war.
Presiding Judge Oh-Gon Kwon said there was not enough evidence to "be capable of supporting a conviction of genocide in the municipalities."
While the dismissal of the genocide charge was a setback for prosecutors, judges upheld 10 more charges, including a genocide count covering Karadzic's alleged involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men.
The U.N. court's rules allow suspects to seek acquittal after prosecutors wrap up their case.
Prosecutors finished presenting their evidence in May and earlier this month Karadzic asked judges to dismiss all 11 counts against him, saying prosecutors had failed to prove them.
His trial will continue later this year on the 10 remaining counts. Karadzic is due to begin presenting evidence in his defense on Oct. 16.
He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.
The court has repeatedly ruled that the massacre in Srebrenica was genocide, but has never convicted any suspect of genocide for the campaign of killings in municipalities at the outset of the war.
Karadzic was arrested in 2008, 13 years after he was first indicted on charges of masterminding Serb atrocities during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. His trial started in 2009 and prosecutors rested their case in May. | <urn:uuid:9f1c987d-fa8f-4373-abb3-e67b9ff4c1e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpri.com/dpps/news/world_news/un-court-acquits-karadzic-of-1-genocide-count-wd12-jgr_4219464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974815 | 360 | 1.625 | 2 |
The map on the wall of Mayor Benny Kashriel's office shows the growth of this West Bank settlement -- shopping mall and all -- to a bustling community of 40,000.
And in the upper left hand corner, a lonely police station and lines drawn to highlight the so-called E-1 parcel the mayor hopes is soon busy with construction -- even though the visiting President Barack Obama would be furious if the Israeli government gave the green light.
"I expect my prime minister to take care of our young couples who have been born in Ma'ale Adumim, that have been raised and educated in Ma'ale Adumim and now these young couples want to live by their families. ...It is not human to not let them live in the place that they have been born."
What the mayor describes as logical growth of his "residential community," Israeli critics call the latest effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in diplomatic lingo, to change the facts on the ground.
Meaning change the map of Israel and its West Bank settlements in ways that make it more difficult -- some argue impossible -- to draw a contiguous Palestinian state as part of any peace agreement.
Kashriel insists, when it comes to Ma'ale Adumim and E-1 anyway, those critics are wrong, and he wrote Obama asking him to visit, knowing the answer would be no.
So why bother?
"Because he (Obama) hears all the time the disinformation, lies, started from the Palestinians," Kashriel told CNN. "The place we are talking about, E-1, is a regular residential neighborhood that we needed for young couples. This place doesn't disconnect the Palestinian state. ... It is not a buffer at all."
Ala Salman is among the many Palestinians who say the Israelis are not to be believed -- or trusted.
He lives in the village of Beit Safafa, a short walk from his uncle's house and the neighborhood schools, clinic and mosque. But not for long: Israel is constructing a highway to connect its West Bank settlements to Jerusalem, and the early construction already cuts a swath through Beit Safafa. | <urn:uuid:98366269-d5e2-4089-b894-3a60ab26f0b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbaltv.com/news/politics/Israeli-growth-a-roadblock-for-Palestinians/-/9379266/19403468/-/56ko6u/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964327 | 437 | 1.632813 | 2 |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- On Wednesday night, kids will be hitting the streets to trick or treat. As they go door to door, they may be passing the homes of sex offenders.
In Florida, there are more than 40,000 registered sex offenders, and in the Fairfield neighborhood off Talleyrand Avenue, there is a high concentration of convicted sex offenders. Within a one-mile radius of John Love Elementary School, there are more than 100 registered sex offenders and 8 predators. It's a school that has no busing, so some of the kids walk.
Marvine Poole is raising her five grandchildren in this neighborhood, and is like many residents here. She had no idea so many sex offenders and predators were close to her home.
"You just have to pray and keep them close to you. They don't understand. They want to play and go out in the neighborhood and everything," said Poole.
While the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is required to notify residents of sexual predators living in their neighborhood, the law only requires residents to be notified within 48 hours of a predator moving into the area.
If you move in after a predator, it's up to you to check online to see where they live. And while sex offender registries can be great tools, JSO said don't let them give you a false sense of security. Only those convicted since 1993 are required to register.
JSO Public Information Officer Melissa Bujeda said, "There are people who have gotten out of jail and out of prison that are convicted of sexual battery that got out prior to that law being enacted in 1993. They are not involved, they are not labeled. That's something people need to be aware of. You may be living next to someone arrested and convicted prior to that law being enacted."
In Florida, not all sex offenders are classified as predators. It depends on the conviction. Predators cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park, or playground. In Duval County it's even stricter. Predators can't live within 2,500 feet of those areas, but some sex offenders, depending on their conviction, don't have any restrictions.
"I am not under the 1,000 foot rule. I can live where ever I want to live."
A sex offender who agreed to talk to us if we didn't identify him was convicted of attempted sexual battery on a child in the '90s. He's now in his 60s and said he ended up in this neighborhood through a re-entry program when he was released from prison. It's a house he said used to be solely for sex offenders, until a day care opened nearby.
The unidentified sex offender said, "With us being here, they shouldn't have accepted that application but they did and then they approved it, which stopped us from being able to house any more sex offenders. Who is here is grandfathered in. They can't make us leave, but if I leave or one of us was to leave, we cannot come back to the same house."
Having so many sex offenders and predators concentrated in one area makes one mom and day care operator we talked to nervous.
"I just do everything i can to make sure my kids are safe. I don't let them come out in the front to play. They are only allowed to be in the backyard but i don't let them freely walk up and down the street because I don't feel safe ... Even when I get out to take the kids to the van or to the car, I have to make sure they are right behind me where there is no way no one can snatch them. I'm just extra protective about that situation and everything going on over here."
Reporter: "Can you understand the mindset of parents and grandparents?"
Sex offender: "I can understand the mindset but like I said, each conviction is different. It depends on the type of conviction it is. When you are labeled a sex offender, they think you are a child rapist or a predator when you might not be."
Six of the eight predators living in this area are listed as transients on The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's registry.
"If the transients have somewhere where they are laying their heads at night every single day as their address changes they have to notify the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office where that change is occurring," Bujeda said. "That's why JSO Offender Watch is updated in the moment as they register. We do random checks to verify that is where they are staying."
But some who are required to register have not. At last check, JSO had 45 active warrants for everything from failure to comply with requirements to failure to report address change. With nearly 1,700 registered sex offenders in Jacksonville, they are not just confined to this one neighborhood. They live in all sections of town and are from all different backgrounds.
Check the state and JSO Offender Watch registries to monitor your area. Be sure to check them both and check them frequently because they are updated daily.
On Halloween, sex offenders and predators in Jacksonville are required to post a sign in their yard saying "No candy or treats at this residence," and they can't have any outside lights on or participate in Halloween activities.
JSO's Offender Unit will be out in full force checking to make sure they are following the laws. First for You, we'll be out checking too to see if they're following the law. We'll show you what we find Wednesday night on First Coast News at 11. We'll also talk to a woman who was sexually abused as a child and shares important information for parents to help protect their children.
First for You, here are some ways to keep your kids safe:
-Walk your child's route to school or to the bus stop or to parks where they play.
-Check the addresses along the way to see if they walk directly by a home with a registered sex offender. You can show your kids pictures of offenders in the area so they know who to avoid.
First Coast News | <urn:uuid:e03a2c91-3c1c-4392-a994-08dc17cf35ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.firstcoastnews.com/rss/article/280346/483/More-than-100-sex-offenders-registered-as-living-in-one-neighborhood | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97701 | 1,246 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine at Hope College will feature the address "Integrating Evidence-Based Principle in Clinical Practice" by Dr. Luzita Vela of West Chester University on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Maas Center.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the integration of the most clinically relevant research into daily practice. Vela's talk will focus on how athletic trainers can employ EBP, with special attention on clinical outcomes, levels of research evidence, critical appraisal and the current state of EBP in athletic training.
Vela is an assistant professor of sports medicine at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, where she has taught since the fall of 2005. She is active professionally and has several publications and presentations to her credit.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology from Texas Women's University in 1998, her Master of Science in athletic training at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., in 2000 and her doctorate in kinesiology with a specialization in athletic training at Pennsylvania State University in 2005. She was a member of the Hope kinesiology faculty and was an assistant athletic trainer at the college from 2000 to 2002, when she left to pursue her doctorate.
The Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine, which features a variety of topics, is designed for health care professionals with an interest in physically active patients, and is intended for students, educators and clinicians alike. It is co-sponsored by Shoreline Orthopaedics, Orthopaedic Associates of Grand Rapids, GRSportsCenter and the college.
All lectures in the series begin at 7 p.m. and will be presented either at the college or at Mary Free Bed Hospital in Grand Rapids.
The Maas Center is located on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.
Additional information about the Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine may be found online at: | <urn:uuid:f714369b-2c13-4e1c-a744-3ec605552849> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hope.edu/print/3922 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959205 | 403 | 1.546875 | 2 |
- COMMUNITY LINKS
Elk County recycling and solid waste coordinator Bekki Titchner reported to Solid Waste Authority members on Tuesday afternoon that so far there have been no instances of illegal dumping in St. Marys related to the removal of the city's drop-off recycling containers.
The containers, which were previously located on South Michael Street and Depot Street, were removed on Monday, Oct. 18 in conjunction with the start of the county's new recycling contract.
Even though no illegal dumping has been reported, Titchner remarked that many residents are still unaware that the containers are no longer in place.
"We're still getting calls from people who [attempt to dispose of recyclables for] the first time since we changed the containers out. They're going, 'What happened to the containers in St. Marys?' The other day someone called because they don't use them all the time and they didn't realize they were gone," Titchner said.
While there have been no issues in St. Marys over the past week, Titchner noted that there have been issues in other communities, particularly regarding people placing plastic bottles in drop-off containers even though plastic is no longer being accepted at those locations.
For more on this story, see the Oct. 27 edition of The Daily Press. | <urn:uuid:dfd771fa-9f43-4e49-aac0-a2f57a8cf6a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smdailypress.com/content/no-illegal-dumping-reported-st-marys?quicktabs_4=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973968 | 271 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Submitted by dihmmi no more (United States), May 22, 2007 at 20:02
Our dear azeem rabina yu3azimuhu akthar wa akthar
Wa ma arsalna rasulan ila bilisani qawmuhu
Oh I forgot that you do not know any Arabic the aya says:
We do not send a messenger unless (he comes) in the language of his people. (see QS page 53)
Do you know what this means?
1. It means that Allah only sends a prophet that speaks the language of his people.
2. Muhammad was sent to his people the Hijazi Arabs who spoke Muhammad's language Arabic!
3. This means that Allah did not send Muhammad to your people (let me guess Pakistanis or are they really Turks?) because their language was not Arabic and it was Urdu!
4. Then who is really the rasul that was sent to your people our dear Azeem because he ain't Muhammad?
If you want more evidence from the Qur'an that islam is the religion of the Arabs just ask and here is a head start for you: Q10:47, 13:8, 35:25, 28:75
And like I say: You are here defending islam and Arabian imperialism that more than likely brutalized your ancestors and for this I say shame.
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".
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You can help support Daniel Pipes' work by making a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum. Daniel J. Pipes | <urn:uuid:e8f8de97-aab9-4647-b555-665f6ce0a8f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/94011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946204 | 423 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Alana Le, of North Dighton, Mass., leaves a stuffed animal at the memorial at Newtown High School Thursday, December 20, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. (Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/MCT via Getty Images)
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- It's been nearly a week since the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school that took the lives of 20 children and six adults.
On Thursday, the people of Newtown and its environs weathered a fourth day of funerals.
Mourners laid to rest Catherine Hubbard, Benjamin Wheeler, Jesse Lewis and Allison Wyatt, all 6 years old; and Grace McDonnell, 7.
A service was also held in Katonah, N.Y., for 52-year-old Anne Marie Murphy, a teacher who authorities believe helped shield some of her students from the rain of bullets.
In downtown Danbury, mourners attended a memorial service for 30-year-old teacher Lauren Rousseau.
Nancy Lanza, the mother of the 20-year-old gunman who killed himself after the shootings, also was laid to rest Thursday, in a private ceremony in tiny Kingston, N.H., where she used to live.
Gov. Dannel Malloy has asked people across Connecticut to observe a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m. Friday, which will mark a week since the shootings.
President Barack Obama plans to observe a private moment of silence at the White House on Friday morning in honor of the victims. | <urn:uuid:9eb0757e-99fd-4673-b295-656d3a5d6ad3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbir.com/news/article/246454/16/Funerals-continue-for-victims-of-school-shootings | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952507 | 313 | 1.5 | 2 |
As the result of a legal challenge brought on behalf of two homeless men by the Sarasota Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, the City of Sarasota agreed Wednesday, Feb. 13, to a judicial order stopping Sarasota police from “interfering with the exercise of First Amendment Rights” in dealing with the homeless, according to a press release from the ACLU.
By prohibiting panhandlers from holding signs that solicit money from passing motorists, Circuit Court Judge Rick DeFuria said the ordinance violated federal free speech protections.
In a consent decree issued Wednesday, the City agrees to abide by an updated 60-day injunction stopping the City of Sarasota, its City Manager and Police Chief from relying on a repealed solicitation ordinance to target homeless citizens on city sidewalks and streets.
“The Court’s ruling vindicates the right of all citizens to enjoy the protections of the First Amendment, particularly those who are the least able to seek protection,” said Michael Barfield, Chair of the Legal Panel of the Sarasota Chapter of the ACLU. “We will continue to monitor the City’s response to the crisis of the mistreatment of people who are homeless.”
The consent decree comes as the result of an ACLU legal challenge on behalf of two homeless men; Jon Hill, who had been arrested under the ordinance, and Seann Manning, who had been threatened with arrest.
On Jan. 7, the City Commission suspended enforcement of the city’s sign-holding law, also known as ordinance 23-1, after the city attorney told them the law was unconstitutional. Friday, Feb. 1, a judge ordered a temporary injunction forbidding police officers from telling homeless people holding signs to move elsewhere.
The injunction came after the Sarasota branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit to prevent the police department from enacting ordinance 23-1.
Currently 1 Response
- Do these guys send any of the money received to their families? They are a traffic hazard and no one should be allowed in traffic like this. Late at night women are also out...they must make a LOT of money!
20 Gentle Yoga and Meditation with Lynn Burgess
10:00 am - 11:00 am
20 Fun Fitness for Parkinsons
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
20 Annual Meeting of Friends of the Selby Public Library
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
20 KEEP MOVING! New Treatments for Those who Suffer from Knee Pain
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Trevor Kunk is the chef de cuisine at Blue Hill in New York City’s Greenwich Village, which the James Beard Foundation just named "most outstanding restaurant."
Sarasota native and resident Bri Oliva made her TV debut May 7, on the "Rachael Ray Show." Oliva was selected to participate in a segment called "Hidden Dangers on the Playground."
Key to the city
More than 100 community members and leaders, friends and family surprised Paul Thorpe, one of the founding members of the Downtown Association of Sarasota, April 25, at The Gator Club, to show their appreciation and celebrate the strides he’s made for Sarasota over the past four decades. | <urn:uuid:fde7af4a-7c5f-4773-b345-79c53c54c246> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yourobserver.com/news/sarasota/News/0213201324985/City-agrees-to-stop-panhandling-enforcement?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935214 | 681 | 1.578125 | 2 |
On Tuesday February 9th, 2010 KVHS will be held its February general
meeting (open to the public) at the Kouts Library (101 E. Daumer Rd.) at
6:30. Porter County Sheriff David Lain will be our guest presenter
that evening. Sheriff David Lain owns an extensive collection of
historic antique police equipment, some pieces goes back to the 18th century.
Sheriff Lain enjoys learning the history of his pieces, and will share
both in his presentation. Sheriff Lain was kind enough to allow me to
see his collection and take some pictures for our KVHS website.
Below you can view some of the pictures I took.
Sheriff David E. Lain
David Lain began his law enforcement career as a police officer for the
in 1977. There he achieved the rank of Lieutenant, and in 1999 he
accepted an appointment as Chief of the Porter County Sheriff’s
Department. He was elected Sheriff in 2006.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from
, was twice named Police Officer of the Year for
, and is active in numerous civic and professional organizations.
Sheriff Lain has been a trainer for a wide variety of police topics and
currently is an instructor in the ethics and cultural diversity classes
for new officers at the
. He has also been a guest speaker in
for state conferences related to law enforcement and senior citizen
For seven years he hosted “Behind the Star” a public affairs
television program in NW Indiana, and the Robbery Survival training
program he designed was the basis for an episode of the nationally
syndicated “Judge Hatchett” show in which he appeared.
Dave manages a department of 150 employees and a $7.7 million budget. In
2006 a 175,000 square foot jail and Sheriff’s Department building
opened at a cost of just under $38 million.
Click pictures to enlarge.
Sheriff David Lain
Sheriff Lain holding Billy Club
Sheriff Lain holding .22 caliber pocket pistol.
Sheriff Lain holding original 1861 Colt .44 caliber
pistol used in the Civil War.
Sheriff Lain holding the John Dillinger Thompson
machine gun owned by the Porter County Sheriff Department.
Yours truly (John Hodson) holding the Dillinger
machine gun trying to look "gangster mean". | <urn:uuid:e8b8c9c0-d829-4107-9662-1d3d92af693f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/Sheriff%20David%20Lain.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931004 | 505 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Mary Yoklavich LeaderHabitat Ecology Team LeaderPhone: (831) 420-3940Fax: (831) 420-3977E-mail: email@example.com
Mary Yoklavich is a supervisory research biologist and leader of the Habitat Ecology Team in the Fisheries Ecology Division of SWFSC. She has conducted research from California to Alaska for thirty years, and is well known for her research on habitat assessments of West Coast rockfishes. She has been named NOAA Fisheries Employee of the Year and has received three NOAA Bronze Medal Awards for her innovative research to characterize deepwater habitats off California; for her efforts as part of the Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations in the Gulf of Alaska; and for protecting US West Coast essential groundfish habitats. She has produced close to eighty scientific publications, and is a co-author of "The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific". Mary has received the NMFS award for Best Publication, is a Distinguished Fellow in Science and Technology at California State University Monterey Bay, and received the Science/Research Award from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Mary and her team are part of a growing cooperative of researchers from British Columbia to southern California, who conduct coastwide visual surveys of demersal species and their habitats in deep water. Her current research includes baseline surveys using manned submersibles to monitor fishes, coral communities, and habitats associated with Marine Protected Areas off central and southern California. Mary has served on the Science Advisory Team of California’s Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, and currently serves on the Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s Essential Fish Habitat Review Committee.
Andrew TaylorPhone: Fax: E-mail:
Andrew Taylor joined the Habitat Ecology Team in 2010 to help with video cataloging. Andrew received his BS in Marine Biology from California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo in 2008. While at NMFS he has helped to analyze HD video obtained from ROV footage, as well as complete population density analysis of Christmas tree corals. Andrew also works for the Department of Fish and Game collecting biological data on various local marine fishes and invertebrates.
Diana WattersPhone: (831) 420-3934Fax: (831) 420-3977E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Diana Watters joined the Habitat Ecology Team in August 2005. Her background includes studies of rockfish and herring age and growth, nearshore and deepwater assemblages of rockfishes and other species caught by the marine recreational fishery in central and northern California, and long-term monitoring and assessment of Pacific herring population dynamics and spawning habitat in San Francisco Bay. Her current research includes surveys of deepwater benthic habitats and fish assemblages inside and outside of marine protected areas off central California, and marine debris in deepwater benthic habitats off central and southern California. She has published 15 scientific, technical, and popular articles.
Lisa KrigsmanPhone: (831) 420-3971Fax: (831) 420-3977E-mail: email@example.com
Lisa Krigsman joined the Habitat Ecology Team to work as a liaison between NMFS and USGS, as the biologist for the California Seafloor Mapping Project. Lisa earned her BA in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her MS in Marine Biology at San Francisco State University. Lisa has done subtidal work in Australia, Baja, Bahamas, and Mexico as well working extensively throughout California. In addition to spending time in the water Lisa has also spent time in the lab ageing newly recruited and adult rockfish with the use of otoliths. In addition to the work with the California Seafloor Mapping Project Lisa is also involved in the Deepsea Coral Project which the Habitat Ecology Team recently began.
Lisa WeddingPostdoctoral Scholar - Marine Spatial EcologistPhone: (831) 420-3993Fax: (831) 420-3977E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Lisa Wedding joined the NOAA Fisheries - Habitat Ecology Team and the UCSC Institute of Marine Sciences to work as Postdoctoral Scholar in the Fall of 2011. She has a special interest in applying a geospatial approach to study marine biogeographic patterns in support of marine conservation and management. Lisa earned her PhD in Geography with a specialization in Marine Landscape Ecology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. Her dissertation research involved spatially predictive modeling and mapping of coral reef fish assemblages in Hawaii using bathymetric LiDAR (Light detection and ranging) data. Working with the Habitat Ecology Team, she will continue to focus her marine landscape ecology research efforts on spatial modeling of demersal fishes. This work will spatially integrate remotely sensed habitat data to create predictive models and maps of rockfish density and biomass in order to delineate areas of critical habitat, support marine spatial planning and provide a robust fisheries independent approach to support the assessment and management of critical habitats and fish stocks.
Tom LaidigPhone: (831) 420-3942Fax: (831) 420-3977E-mail: email@example.com
Tom Laidig works in the Habitat Ecology Team of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service at the SWFSC Fisheries Ecology Division. Tom earned his BS in Aquatic Biology at University of California, Santa Barbara and his MS in Marine Biology at San Francisco State University before beginning his career with NMFS as a biological technician in 1988. His first duties were to daily age juvenile rockfish otoliths. He soon advanced to a Research Biologist and worked on such projects as distribution and diet relationships between large deep and shallow slope fish, aging lingcod for an 8-year age and growth study along the California and Oregon coasts, and juvenile rockfish recruitment studies. He has completed more than 25 publications. Tom became a NOAA diver in 1995 and Unit Diving Supervisor in 1996. He currently runs the diving program at the lab and he uses his diving abilities to study different aspects of rockfish biology, especially juvenile settlement to the nearshore environment. In 2000, he joined Mary Yoklavich in the new Habitat Ecology Team. This was a good pairing since both researchers studied rockfish in situ, with Mary studying the deeper living ones and the Tom the shallower species. | <urn:uuid:0eb4f6d6-b986-4f1f-8119-8371cbd155af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://swfsc.noaa.gov/program.aspx?Division=FED&ParentMenuId=54&program_id=54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933051 | 1,337 | 1.828125 | 2 |
“If you think training is expensive, try ignorance.” –Tom Peters
Some News Directors encounter resistance when they bring up the need for training in their department. It behooves the ND to find out why. If you give up on training, you give up on your staff, your craft, your station and your audience.
Resistance to training is often budget related. While some forms of training can be expensive, not all training is.
Be clear about your training needs. Conduct an audit if necessary. Knowing your needs is the first step to shopping around for affordable training. Often the cheapest training is that which you provide yourself.
Sometimes, managers can inject a bit too much ego into their arguments against training. They say things like, “we’re doing great in that area,” or “I don’t see any problems there.” Training isn’t necessarily about fixing things, but improving them.
However, sometimes training is about fixing problems — but that doesn’t make it embarrassing or an admission of failure. It makes training critically necessary.
Here are good arguments in favor of training.
Training is leadership in action. It takes commitment to excellence and investment in that commitment. | <urn:uuid:21fc530b-05ea-43c3-a884-5bcffe965105> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prndg.org/making-the-case-for-training | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965124 | 256 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Head-scratching sci-fi questions 0
More than The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man or Madea's Witness Protection, there's one movie this summer I've been completely stoked to see: Prometheus. Ridley Scott revisiting the universe he created with the original Alien? Cutting edge digital effects? Noomi Rapace? Sold.
But after the mixed reviews started coming in, I held off seeing it right away. And now that I've finally taken in Prometheus, my brain is bursting with questions.
But Prometheus comes from a long line of sci-fi flicks that left us with major head-scratching questions. Here are five we still haven't worked out to this day. (Warning: if you're behind on your Netflixing, there may be spoilers ahead.)
How come it's so hard to detect Replicants? (Blade Runner, 1982)
Speaking of Ridley Scott, there's something I've never been able to figure out about his Blade Runner: if Replicants are able to withstand boiling water and liquid nitrogen with no pain or damage, couldn't Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) just do a skin test to suss them out? Why did he have to go through this enormously complicated oral exam about tortoises and boiled dogs to figure out who wasn't human?
Why did the machines need humans for energy? (The Matrix, 1999)
Machines have become smart enough to imprison humanity in a hyper-real computer simulation, but they can't figure out nuclear fission? And if the machines can't use solar energy because the sun is blocked out, how are they creating food to keep their inefficient organic batteries alive? And why people, instead of animals that don't need a computer simulation to keep their brains entertained? Think too hard on this and you'll just go "whoa."
Why did they build the U.S.S. Enterprise on the ground? (Star Trek, 2009)
It doesn't get more nerdy than arguing details in a Star Trek movie, but even though I enjoyed J.J. Abrams' glossy re-interpretation of Trek, the scene where James Kirk (Chris Pine) stops his motorbike to look at the under-construction Enterprise makes no sense. Why would they build it on Earth instead of in a space dock? Can the Enterprise even lift off from a planet's surface? Most illogical, captain.
Was Eli blind? (The Book of Eli, 2010)
The enduring mystery of this movie is whether Eli (Denzel Washington) was blind all along. At no point in the film does he do anything that would unequivocally require sight. So was he blind from the start? And how come Mila Kunis's eyebrows are so perfectly plucked?
What's the deal with the space baby? (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)
Seriously, the last chunk of Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi opus is nigh-on indecipherable. Why is Dave so old all of a sudden? Why is there a massive fetus floating in space? I feel sorry for folks who saw the movie back in 1968 and couldn't immediately rush home, hop on Google and have people smarter than them explain it. (That's what I did, so I sort of get it now. Sort of.) | <urn:uuid:fc2d3131-515f-48c2-9806-7ed8c489ada7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2012/06/24/19914961.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956277 | 680 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Q.How do teachers decide if a child will attend summer school? Is it mandatory or do parents have a choice?
Ron Arnsden, Lantana
A.Summer school is strongly recommended for students who do not want to be held back a grade, said Murray Harris, public information officer for the Palm Beach County School Board.
"State-supported summer school has remedial programs only," Harris said. "It is not meant as a way for students to get ahead in subjects or take electives."
This year, summer school will begin in July and have a shorter term. But students will attend longer hours during the days, Harris added.
Likewise, John Walker, program planner with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, said students risk being held back a grade if they do not attend summer school, although the sessions are not mandatory.
At the middle school level, teachers recommend students for summer school classes if they fail one or more courses. In high school, students repeat courses during the summer if they fail or if they want to get a better grade.
"We also have minimal elective offerings, based on the need of the student and the request for them, such as drivers' education courses," Walker said. "Students have the opportunity to take classes during the summer in a less crowded environment, also."
In elementary schools, children are recommended for summer school classes if they have fallen behind in basic skills such as reading and math. Students also need to attend if they require more than 180 days to fulfill term requirements, Walker said.
"The option is, if you don't go to summer school, you may be asked to stay back a grade," Walker said. "At the middle school level, if you fail two courses, you are retained in that grade. Palm Beach County offers remedial summer school, not necessarily a chance to get ahead."
Q.Why is the grading system here in Florida different than in other states? An A is 93 or above here, while other states begin As at 90 or above. It doesn't seem fair to students trying to maintain grade point averages for college entrance requirements.
Anita Garnett, Boca Raton
A.Four or five years ago, Florida allowed each school district to set its own grading scale, according to John Walker, program planner with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
"We probably had 45 different grading scales throughout the state before that," Walker said. "We now have a state grading scale that calls for 93 to 100 for an A. That is the scale we use in Palm Beach County schools."
However, the state has not required that every district follow that guideline. For example, Broward County schools maintain a different scale, he said.
"We have heard that when students transfer to Palm Beach County schools from other states, it often affects their grade point average," Walker said. "But I believe a college or university will look at more than just a GPA and will examine the core courses taken when considering a student's high school transcripts."
In the long run, he added, if a student made good grades in another state, he or she should be able to make the same good grades here, and one or two points will not make a big difference.
"And if a Palm Beach County student moves to another state, they may have an advantage over the other kids because they are used to the tougher grading scale," Walker said.
About Education appears every Wednesday in Palm Beach Plus and all questions are welcome. If you have a question, you may call 1-407-243-6554 and leave a message or write to About Education, Sun-Sentinel, 3333 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach, Fla. 33445. | <urn:uuid:f2286739-4658-4d71-b9ee-266b67f10aba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-05-11/news/9405100227_1_summer-school-school-classes-middle-school-level | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963824 | 768 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The Cato Institute's Tad DeHaven has an interesting graph of what the $61 billion in cuts proposed in the House Republicans' plan to fund the rest of 2011 would look like against the total budget. The answer? You guessed it: not much.
As the chart shows, the proposed cuts amount to less than a third of what taxpayers will pay in interest on the debt alone this year.
The $61 billion in cuts, which are woefully insufficient, would come from a relatively small category of government spending (non-defense, discretionary spending). However, that merely indicates the need to tackle defense spending and budget-busting "mandatory" programs. [emphasis mine]
As DeHaven notes, "Senate Democrats are balking at the $61 billion in cuts and the president has issued a veto threat." If Democrats can't even stomach to cut this much from the budget, the prospects for long-term reform are not good. | <urn:uuid:9213299d-0057-4552-87d6-625ca91f3a0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.org/blog/show/what-do-the-administrations-budget | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963459 | 192 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Inaction would bring a sharp rise in taxes and deep cuts in federal spending set to take effect in January. Economists, including several members of the Federal Reserve, agree the economy is likely to fall into a new recession if this happens.
Some analysts, including those at UBS, predict the issues will be difficult to solve -- especially before the next class of lawmakers take power next year in Washington.
"In a scenario in which the political makeup inside the beltway is largely unchanged from last summer, we expect an intense battle," they said. "We would not be surprised if the most difficult long-term fiscal policy decisions are kicked down the road once again."
Failure to make progress on fiscal issues could have economic consequences, including possible credit rating downgrades.
"The longer-term fiscal issues of the US are still not likely to be dealt with in the near term," said BNP Paribas in a note.
"The good news is less near-term fiscal tightening and rancorous negotiation, allowing the recovery to continue to broaden and strengthen. The bad news is a steadily rising debt-to-GDP ratio." | <urn:uuid:a65fc801-0b87-4609-97f5-53dc2965a4b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmur.com/news/money/World-markets-slide-on-weak-growth-outlook/-/9857662/17297292/-/item/1/-/kpllv6z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963366 | 231 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Women simply don't waste their time following sports the way men do. A man will fly all the way to Las Vegas to watch a championship boxing match. If a woman did so, it would only be to accompany her boyfriend. On the flight out, rather than think about the fight, she would think about the luxury of her hotel room, the spa she planned to go to, and the celebrities she might see attending the match.
You never hear two women arguing passionately about, say, who the greatest female tennis player of all time was.
Go to any sports message board. It will be filled with guys arguing about which athlete was better in his prime, who is on steroids, which team will win, etc. Women are absent from those discussions.
A woman will never plan her afternoon or evening around a televised sporting event.
Women, even when they watch a sport, tend not to be knowledgable about the ins and outs of that sport, its rules and its history. They are more likely watching because they think the players are cute.
Women don't consider pennants appropriate interior decor. Nor do they consider jerseys with the number of their favorite player a positive fashion statement.
Talk to any bookie. All of their customers are men. Period.
How many famous sportswriters are women?
How many women go into coaching? Perhaps more to the point, how many of the women who do go into coaching are feminine? (That there are a few lesbians in a profession hardly negates the gender divide argument.)
Boys who run will pore over Track and Field News, comparing their times to those of runners around the country. Girls who run almost never do this.
The reason Sports Illustrated's bathing suit issue doesn't have any male models is simple: the magazine has no female subscribers.
There are exceptions to these rules, but they are just that. | <urn:uuid:4ff93a0d-c776-4b87-9ed3-c24de1b030a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2012/06/gender-differences-part-xiii-sports.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979093 | 387 | 1.523438 | 2 |
HPPR hosts & contributors
Tue June 12, 2012
Russia Is Giving Syria Helicopters, Clinton Says
Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 6:28 am
Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syria for President Bashar Assad's regime to use in its campaign to stamp out opposition, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today.
She warned that such action "will escalate the conflict quite dramatically."
The U.S. and Russia have been at odds over how hard to squeeze the regime in an effort to end its harsh crackdown on anti-Assad protests — a crackdown that the U.N. says has killed more than 10,000 people since March 2011, mostly civilians.
Last month, Clinton accused Russia of "propping up" the Assad regime. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected that charge. He also said Russia doesn't supply weapons "that can be used in civil conflicts." So it will be interesting to see how he or his aides respond to Clinton's latest charge.
As The Associated Press points out: "Russia and Syria have a longstanding military relationship and Syria hosts Russia's only naval base on the Mediterranean Sea."
On All Things Considered Friday, Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy described how the Assad regime uses its "armed forces, shelling [and] helicopter gunships" to clear areas of opposition and then sends in Shabiha militia units to further terrorize the people and hold the ground.
Our related posts from earlier today:
-- The conflict in Syria is now a full-scale civil war, according to U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous. (Reuters)
-- Heavy fighting killed at least 34 people today. (Voice of America)
-- Clinton also warned that a massing of Syrian forces near Aleppo could be a "red line" for Turkey "in terms of their strategic and national interests." (The Associated Press) | <urn:uuid:b6c7217e-cb95-4cac-a94d-e013ed2f0103> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hppr.org/post/russia-giving-syria-helicopters-clinton-says | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950005 | 394 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that some of the problems that are slowing the U.S. economy could persist into next year.
Bernanke said at a news conference that the slowdown could be due, in part, to the depressed housing market and other factors that aren't likely to fade soon.
"We don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting," Bernanke said. "Maybe some of the headwinds that have been concerning us, like the weakness in the financial sector, problems in the housing sector ... some of the headwinds may be stronger and more persistent than we thought."
Bernanke's comments came as the Fed lowered its forecast for growth and raised its expectation for unemployment this year. The weaker outlook and Bernanke's acknowledgment that some of the problems may persist into 2012 suggested that the Fed recognizes the economy is struggling.
"The Fed is well aware now that the economy has slowed," said Lyle Gramley, senior economic adviser with Potomac Research Group. "They are not at all sure where the economy is going."
The central bank announced no further efforts to boost the economy.
In an updated forecast, the Fed estimates that the economy will grow between 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent this year. That's down from its April estimate of between 3.1 percent and 3.3 percent. The downgraded revision is an acknowledgement that the economy has slowed, in part because consumers have been squeezed by higher gasoline prices.
Growth at the rate the Fed is projecting won't be enough to significantly lower unemployment, now at 9.1 percent. The Fed estimates that unemployment will still be around 8.6 percent to 8.9 percent by the end of the year.
Fed officials said in a statement that they think the main causes of the economy's slowdown, such as high gas prices and supply disruptions from Japan's disasters, are temporary. Once those problems subside, Fed officials said the economy should rebound.
Still, the statement stood in contrast to the Fed's more upbeat view when officials last met eight weeks ago. At that time, the central bank said the job market was gradually improving.
The Fed's downward revisions were in line with private economists, who have also been scaling back their forecasts to reflect a batch of weaker-than-expected reports in recent weeks. The latest poll of top economists surveyed by The Associated Press showed they expect the unemployment rate will be 8.7 percent at year's end, within the Fed's new estimate, and that the economy will grow 2.6 percent this year.
Growth would need to pick up in the second half of this year to meet even the reduced estimates of the private economists and the Federal Reserve. The economy grew at an anemic 1.8 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year. Many economists believe the economy is expanding only slightly more in the current quarter.
The Fed trimmed the top range for overall inflation in the new forecast. That reflects the fact that the spike in energy prices earlier this year has begun to recede.
The Fed now sees inflation rising 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent this year, as measured by a price gauge tied to consumer spending. That compares with an April forecast that showed a higher upper range of 2.8 percent.
The Fed estimates that "core" inflation, which excludes energy and food, will increase 1.5 percent to 1.8 percent. That's slightly higher than its April forecast of an increase of 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent.
The revised estimate is still within the Fed's comfort zone for inflation.
The new statement acknowledged the slowdown that has occurred over the past two months. The economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, far fewer than in the previous two months. Consumer spending has weakened, too.
The Fed said it would keep its holdings of Treasury bonds at current levels. That policy is intended to keep consumer and business loan rates at low levels to stimulate spending.
Though the Fed said it was ending its $600 billion Treasury bond buying program, Bernanke didn't rule out another program of bond purchases if the economy deteriorated further.
"We are prepared to take additional actions if conditions warrant," he said.
Though the central bank noted that inflation has risen, it expects those pressures to be temporary as well.
The Fed announcement had little impact on the stock and bond markets. The major indexes ended trading slightly lower.
"The markets got exactly what they had been expecting," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University. "The fact that we did not have any surprises is comforting."
Bernanke and his colleagues are trying to keep a fragile economy on track two years after the Great Recession officially ended. A spike in gasoline prices earlier this year made consumers and businesses more cautious about spending. Employers scaled back hiring in May.
Economic growth slowed to 1.8 percent in the first three months of the year. It isn't expected to be much higher in the current quarter.
Beyond high gas prices and supply disruptions caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Fed is now facing a new problem: renewed jitters that a debt crisis in Greece could spread to other heavily indebted European nations and send shockwaves through global financial markets.
Asked about the prolonged slump in housing, which is weighing on the economy, Bernanke said, "The housing sector is very important to the overall recovery, so we pay a lot of attention to that."
He didn't outline any new initiatives to support the home-buying market.
Bernanke described the debt crisis in Greece as a "very difficult situation." He said that if Greece defaulted on its debt, the impact would go beyond Europe and threaten the global economy.
In answer to another question, Bernanke said the effect on financial institutions would likely be "very small." But he said a spiraling Greek debt crisis that roiled financial markets would pose more severe threats.
The Fed chairman made the comments at his second news conference of the year. Under a new Fed policy, he plans to take questions from reporters four times each year.
Bernanke was asked about the potential timetable for the Fed to keep its main interest rate near zero for "an extended period" to stimulate the economy. He said the continued use of "extended period" in the Fed's statements meant it's at least two or three meetings away from raising rates. The Fed meets every six to eight weeks.
Most private economists say they think the Fed won't begin raising rates for another full year.
Supporters say the bond purchases have worked, in part by keeping rates low and encouraging spending. Low long-term rates are vital for consumers buying homes and cars and for companies making investments.
They also argue that those lower rates fueled a stock rally. When Bernanke outlined plans for the bond-buying program in late August, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 6 percent for the year. Eight months later, the S&P 500 was up 28 percent. Lower rates made stocks more attractive to investors than bonds, whose yields were falling.
Falling bond yields have also helped keep mortgage rates near record lows. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has stayed below 5 percent for all but two weeks this year and was 4.5 percent last week. Still, low rates have done little to boost home sales, which fell in May to the lowest level since November.
Critics, including some Fed officials, saw things differently. They warned that by pumping so much money into the economy, the Fed increased the risks of high inflation later.
Full text of the Fed statement
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April indicates that the economic recovery is continuing at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the Committee had expected. Also, recent labor market indicators have been weaker than anticipated. The slower pace of the recovery reflects in part factors that are likely to be temporary, including the damping effect of higher food and energy prices on consumer purchasing power and spending as well as supply chain disruptions associated with the tragic events in Japan. Household spending and business investment in equipment and software continue to expand. However, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector continues to be depressed. Inflation has picked up in recent months, mainly reflecting higher prices for some commodities and imported goods, as well as the recent supply chain disruptions. However, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The unemployment rate remains elevated; however, the Committee expects the pace of recovery to pick up over coming quarters and the unemployment rate to resume its gradual decline toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. Inflation has moved up recently, but the Committee anticipates that inflation will subside to levels at or below those consistent with the Committee's dual mandate as the effects of past energy and other commodity price increases dissipate. However, the Committee will continue to pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.
To promote the ongoing economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent. The Committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period. The Committee will complete its purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of this month and will maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate.
The Committee will monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will act as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Richard W. Fisher; Narayana Kocherlakota; Charles I. Plosser; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Janet L. Yellen.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:7fcd2b56-d12c-4933-89db-61028d84527a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.witn.com/news/nationalworld/headlines/Bernanke_Drags_On_Economy_May_Last_Into_Next_Year__124408699.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968662 | 2,138 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Left to their devices, minions will eventually be able to push even to the base turrets. Which side accomplishes this, however, is random, and it's basically based on how attacks are being distributed.
Minion targetting works on the following priority scheme, brought to you by the League of Legends Wiki:
- An enemy champion who is attacking an allied champion.
- An enemy minion who is attacking an allied champion.
- An enemy minion who is attacking an allied minion.
- An enemy turret who is attacking an allied minion.
- An enemy champion who is attacking an allied minion. (Tangential, but this lower priority is why they don't pay attention to you when they're bashing your towers)
- The closest enemy minion.
- The closest enemy champion.
Now, when waves engage each other, there are a lot of minions attacking a lot of minions. So each minion picks some sort of target, but it is mostly random within that scope. So blue's caster minions could all be focusing down one purple melee minion, while purple's caster minions are split with two on one blue caster and one on a blue melee. The focus fire will reduce the enemy numbers, in turn resulting in one side having an advantage. But because how the focus fire is attributed is random (both mechanically and because the actual positioning of the minions can differ greatly as a result), the side that gets an advantage is completely random.
This compounds due to two major factors as the game progresses.
- Once siege minions enter the fray, they both deal more damage and take substantially more damage. They can prolong battles long enough for secondary and tertiary minion waves to support them, which can greatly turn the tide of battle even more depending again on how focus fire is attributed.
- If a small minion wave pushes far enough, then when the next minion wave comes in the enemy will have a shorter travel time before its support shows up. With the aforementioned siege minion stalling, the end result is that one side builds up a massive force that just has to deal with the opposing side one wave at a time.
As such, eventually, they amass enough force to push down full towers, much harder than the defense can manage. Even when the defense can stall, the sheer numbers built up from the initial push can have a devastating advantage... at least until their focusing messes up and the force builds up in the opposite side. | <urn:uuid:85739a05-b372-4c54-aa19-cd09c153e719> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/52111/why-does-one-sides-minion-wave-push-harder-than-the-other-side?answertab=oldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945138 | 494 | 1.726563 | 2 |
It has been two years since the Climate Group published "SMART 2020", a report that uncovered the IT sector's potential to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions to 15 percent of business as usual by 2020. Accordingly, this is the fourth semi-annual edition of the Cool IT Leaderboard, which ranks global IT brands on their efforts to build emission-slashing innovations, mitigate their own energy footprints, and support groundbreaking climate and energy policies. Each release of the Leaderboard reflects changing political and business realities and aims to capture a greater level of detail in measuring climate leadership across the IT sector.
While IT companies are increasingly taking advantage of industry conferences, corporate responsibility reports, and media interviews to discuss climate and energy matters, particularly as they relate to IT products and services, this latest assessment of IT leadership still reveals significant delay across the sector in turning potential into action.
Browse the Cool IT Leaderboard webpages, or download the PDF report:
Cool IT Leaderboard 4 | <urn:uuid:eb2a1c99-f153-4516-b1c9-36bd8eda5dcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/Cool-IT-leaderboard-4/ | 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 | 0.939082 | 198 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Welcome back to campus everyone! I know you are busy finding your classes, adjusting to this term’s schedule, and getting re-connected with friends but don’t forget to also start searching for a summer internship. You may be asking, ALREADY??? Yep, many employers hire their interns fall term for the following summer so in order to not miss out on an amazing opportunity, plan ahead! Below are 11 Ways to Get a Summer Internship from DoSomething.org with a few additional suggestions from OSU Career Services.
- Make a list. Figure out what you want to do – what interests you, what do you want to learn how to do, or what do you think you want to be in 10 years? Write down a few places or lines of work that come to mind. While you’re at it, scribble down a few basic things to narrow your search – what town or area, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, for school credit or not.
Not sure of your interests? Then you might want to take a career or self-assessment and/0r meet with a career counselor. We offer both at Career Services!
- Research. Look into big companies in your area; most big corporations have internship programs. Stumped? Meet with a career counselor and also brainstorm a list of people who have jobs you think are interesting. Here is a great list to get you started. Remember Career Fair is taking place on October 24th (University Wide) and 25th (Engineering) and it is a great place to find out about internship opportunities from companies specifically recruiting Beavers!
- Get creative. Don’t want to work in a stuffy office while your buds are hitting the beach? No problem. Look into museums, art galleries, publishing houses, nature centers, eco-research centers, whatever. You may want to check out some ideas on our Alternative/ Adventure Jobs & Opportunities section of the Career Services website.
- Hit the pavement. Online research for big companies and orgs is a great starting point, but walk around your city or town to see if any other places spark your interest. Be bold, if something looks interesting, walk in, ask for an application, or leave your info (including a resume) with them. Don’t forget to smile! Need help putting together a resume? Then check out these resources and come by Career Services during our Drop-In Hours.
- Don’t give up. So your dream workplace doesn’t have an internship program? The search isn’t over yet! Look up who you can contact in Human Resources or who the managing director of a certain department might be, and contact them! Let them know that you’re interested in interning and ask if the company has a program or a way for you to help and learn a few things. You might want to meet with a career counselor to figure out your internship proposal so that you are prepared before you actually set up that meeting with a potential internship supervisor.
- Make sure you can do it! Once you have a few places, ask yourself: Got a ride? OK’d it with your parents/family? Is it realistic for you to get to the internship during the summer? Make sure you can get a ride (or map out your bus/train route), and if you can walk or bike, even better! You don’t want to commit to something and have to pull out at the last minute, so cover your bases.
- Get that resume in shape. What’s a resume and how do you make one? Check out these resources and come by Career Services during our Drop-In Hours for feedback.
- Make contact. If your internship has a formal application program, write out your application and apply, AND do a little digging to find out who might be getting that app. Give HR a call and ask who handles hiring. Send them a written note or an email explaining why you’d like the job and what makes you good at it. A little extra goes a long way.
- Spread your net. It’s tempting to put all your efforts into that dream job, but there are ton of people vying for internships, so make sure you look into at least five options and make contact with them so you have plenty of choices!
- Snagged an interview? It’s important to dress appropriately and remember a few simple things. Check out our resources on interviewing and schedule a mock (practice) interview with Career Services. Don’t have the time to practice with someone in person? Then do one virtually through InterviewStream.
- Follow-up. If you talked to someone at a company or had an interview, make sure to thank them and remind them you’re out there and would still love to intern with them.
Posted by Jen Busick Stewart, Career Advisor & Outreach Coordinator at Oregon State University
Advises students about internships and the job search, applying to graduate school, resumes/cover letters, and interviewing. She also organizes and updates resources, manages social media for Career Services and coordinates outreach opportunities. She enjoys working with students in coming up with a plan to finding a job and assisting them with figuring out the next steps. She has a lot of international experience, including the Peace Corps, study abroad, and independent travel. | <urn:uuid:603d1d45-8d3d-48ae-8169-c54d0dff2a7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/careerservices/2012/09/28/start-your-summer-internship-search-now-11-ways-to-get-going/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953744 | 1,111 | 1.59375 | 2 |
As this week’s mortgage rates hit a new record low of 3.53%, buyers are being presented with more reasons to purchase a home. According to Freddie Mac these are the lowest rates since fixed rates were introduced in the 1950′s! Click here to read the full article…
Parlaying this incredibly low mortgage rate incentive, buyers should seriously consider purchasing a more energy-efficient house or adding green remodeling costs into a mortgage while rates are low. Consider this – when you buy a home with a higher HERS Index rating (like MPG stickers on cars) you can expect to live in a “leakier” home and have higher utility bills. So what?
Well most everyone likes to enjoy more benefits from their money other than spending lots of cash every month to remain cool or have lots of hot water available 24/7. I can’t think of any other benefits for the homeowner only the utility companies! You might wonder what the benefit is of buying a house with a low HERS Index rating and paying thousands of dollars more for a place to live? Imagine paying the same amount for your mortgage as you have been paying for rent or for the last house you owned but the monthly costs of keeping your home have dropped significantly…but that’s only one benefit of buying that new or remodeled energy-efficient home! Other than the benefits of better indoor air quality which translates into better health for your family and possibly less days of missed work or lower medical costs you will also have the benefit of deducting the mortgage interest costs from your 1040 IRS returns each year!
I’m not a genius but I certainly believe I would rather have a deduction on my 1040 and live a healthier life than pay the utility companies and not receive any benefit from my hard-earned money! So if you have been on the fence about buying a house AND you want to consider a healthier house NOW is a great time to consider buying! | <urn:uuid:bab5cdee-e717-4311-85db-fa57bffac5d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greenflproperties.com/2012/07/21/mortgage-rates-hit-a-new-record-low-3-53/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969439 | 399 | 1.617188 | 2 |
(MENAFN - Arab News) The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is hosting a three-day community development workshop for Muslim NGOs to accelerate social and economic development of member countries and Muslim communities in nonmember countries.
Essam Noor Fadel Al-Shanqiti, manager of Special Assistance Department at IDB, spoke at the opening session and said the workshop would help NGOs exchange ideas and experiences and share knowledge. "Muslim communities around the world have been benefiting from the bank's special assistance program that enables them to carry out educational, social and health projects," he said.
Malik Shah bin Mohd Yusoff, head of the scholarship program, highlighted his department's achievements, saying the scholarship program was instrumental in producing a large number of qualified professionals. He urged IDB scholars to play an important role in the development of their communities.
Yusoff said: "IDB signed agreements with reputable international universities like Cambridge to help its scholarship students receive the best education in the world." IDB has spent more than 95 million on its scholarship program, he added.
The IDB-Cambridge International Scholarship Program was launched within the scope of the IDB Merit Scholarship Program for Science and Technology to place students from member countries and Muslim communities in nonmember countries, in a three-year doctoral study at the university.
Mamoon Al-Azami, community development specialist and organizer of the event, said the workshop has three main goals: to create a global community development network, improve the performance of Muslim NGOs and achieve community and leadership development.
"We have been holding this workshop for the last 13 years," he told Arab News, adding that 600 community leaders from 40 countries have benefited from the program.
The Muslim women's NGO from Nigeria highlighted their innovative program to empower women by providing them education, training and employment. Rahma Moosa Sani of "Women in Dawa" said her organization has conducted a variety of programs to meet the needs of communities around her country. "We have trained 5,000 women this year alone," she said, adding her organization is also instrumental in strengthening Muslim unity.
Ramla, a conference participant from the Philippines, raised the issue of unemployment among graduates of Qur'anic schools. The participants, including education specialists, emphasized the need to provide generation education to Qur'an memorization school students to enable them to find jobs.
Kassim Haji Hussein from Somalia told Arab News he was an IDB scholarship student and he established a private university "Jazeerah" in Mogadishu with the support of investors. "We would like to apply for IDB financial support to construct a new campus and a hospital," he said.
Since its establishment in 1980, IDB's special assistance division spent 723.8 million on 1,437 operations. They include 512 relief operations worth 441.9 million in member countries and 925 projects worth 281.9 million in nonmember countries. | <urn:uuid:165d88ba-724f-4983-bf09-da023aa55c14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093576247/Saudi-IDB-to-develop-community-network | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965066 | 604 | 1.695313 | 2 |
When she saw three teenagersone Jewish, another Hindu and the other Muslimsitting in a storytelling circle laughing and joking about a "village of fools" in Israel, it left her awestruck, said Kate Dudding.
"I was so struck by that because for one reason, how many places in the world would you find a Jew, Hindu and Muslim sitting together as friends and sharing stories? Second, who would have imagined one path to world peace had to do with a village of fools," said Dudding, of Clifton Park.
Dudding has been a storyteller for 15 years now, giving up her job as a computer scientist with GE's Global Research Center to pursue a far freer yet equally intricate life as a teller of tales.
"I fell in love with the art form. I did a little of it, just mimicking other storytellers I'd heard, and I realized if I didn't pursue it, I'd regret it the rest of my life," said Dudding, who was introduced to storytelling when her son was young at the New York State Museum. "It just spoke to me. It's a very personal art form because the storyteller is in the same room, looking into the eyes of listeners, reacting to what listeners are doing It's very intimate where the storyteller is present and acknowledging that they [and the audience] are sharing this experience together."
Dudding used her storytelling prowess to win top prize in a Story Slam at the 2010 National Storytelling Conference in Los Angeles in early August. Around 100 people attended the conference and 11 names were picked out of a hat for a chance to tell their story at the slam. Hers was the last name chosen and with her story of the three youth from different faiths, she won the competition.
The three youth her story centered around are part of a local youth interfaith storytelling group called Children at the Well. She serves as their webmaster and supporter. | <urn:uuid:02b5a885-3f2e-4d0f-a75e-24d3543a80ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2010/aug/23/stories-a-slam-dunk/ | 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 | 0.983052 | 401 | 1.625 | 2 |
What Is An MS Entrepreneur?
MS Entrepreneurs are creative, innovative individuals who are passionate about developing new ways to improve the lives of those touched by multiple sclerosis.
Anyone with the passion and time to identify a need and develop a solution can be an MS Entrepreneur. The National MS Society seeks to provide grants to these individuals so that funding won't stand in the way of change and is now available in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Applications for MS Entrepreneurs grants are accepted twice a year and are reviewed by the volunteer engagement team. Deadlines for submission are:
- April 13
- October 15
Applications can be completed online for consideration. Each application includes the criteria for selection and all supporting information required. There are two types of applications, detailed below:
Projects designed to help meet the needs of individuals living with MS:
Projects designed to help fund the mission of the Society:
Ideas to Inspire You
Any unmet need people living with MS face is a potential Entrepreneurs project. A list of ideas has been developed to help you define your area of interest. We encourage you to use this resource, but please remember it is not an exhaustive list. MS Entrepreneurs Project Ideas | <urn:uuid:de10c3a4-2ca7-4a2d-8361-12d7d0090b4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/arr/volunteer/ms-entrepreneurs/index.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931893 | 252 | 1.679688 | 2 |
In a 1969 case involving Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was barred from the U.S. House of Representatives because of corruption allegations, the Supreme Court said that "in judging the qualifications of its members, Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution" and that "since Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was duly elected by the voters of the 18th congressional district of New York and was not ineligible to serve under any provision of the Constitution, the House was without power to exclude him from its membership."
Nor does it matter that Powell was elected by his constituents and Burris was not. Its not Burris fault that there was no election. Like Powell, he secured his seat under the procedures set out by his state.
Its far more plausible to say that the Senate isnt obligated to accept Burris if his appointment involved illegality -- say, if he promised Blagojevich something tangible in exchange, as the governor allegedly sought from other prospects. But so far, no one has alleged, much less proven, anything of the kind. Its one thing for the Senate to conduct an investigation to remove all doubt. But it shouldnt use that pretext to endlessly delay what it cant legally prevent.
If the Senate thinks Blagojevichs presumption is intolerable, after all, it has another option, and one explicitly sanctioned by the Constitution: Seat Burris and then expel him.
The problem is that would require a two-thirds vote, and Republicans might not be willing to go along. For that matter, some Democrats might balk at inflicting such a harsh punishment on someone whose only sin is an excess of ambition and vanity -- which is not exactly rare in Washington.
When faced with a result that accords with the law, senators have a duty to accept it. In this instance, it wont be pleasant. But if the rule of law only told us to do what is pleasant, we wouldnt need it.
Fox News' Roger Ailes: Administration's Excuses Won't Work, Americans Died For Press Freedom | Katie Pavlich | <urn:uuid:86a07cf8-d53f-4765-9941-1911b44c7bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/2009/01/04/why_the_senate_should_seat_burris/page/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976812 | 417 | 1.71875 | 2 |
When Saul got knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus, he really wanted to know Who knocked him off.
Acts 9:1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,"
And as I mentioned before, Jesus gave him the short answer. I also mentioned that Saul asks a very good question. One that all of us should ask, and keep on asking, as long as we walk this earth.
Who is the Jesus, Immanuel, who walked among us?
Do we really believe we can figure it all out in a few years or even a few life times?
In order to understand what God really wants, it is best to start with Who He is.
The Church: Manifold Wisdom of God
11 hours ago | <urn:uuid:4248ddc4-a922-445c-8a42-0540156a1ece> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-are-you-lord.html | 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 | 0.988581 | 290 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Special Olympics athlete Sergey Sizyukhin says cross-country skiing has changed his life.
Photo: Special Olympics Russia athlete Sergey Sizyukhin. Photographer: Martha Jo Braycich
Sergey Sizyukhin, 17, did not take to cross-country skiing immediately when his mother enrolled him the in adapted sports school for children and youths with disabilities in Murmansk 10 years ago.
His balance and coordination were off and he didn’t have the physical strength to stay on his skis for more than 10 minutes.
His coach Irina Uzintseva, 47, would kneel on the ground in front of him and move backward, gently holding the skis in her hands and sliding one after the other, coaxing him forward. Slowly Sizyukhin began to get the hang of cross-country skiing, training four times a week in two-hour sessions.
The training paid off; at the national Murmansk competition, held 3-5 March 2012, he competed in the 50 m and 100 m races. Sizyukhin cut a dashing figure, resplendent in a white ski suit trimmed in deep red. His mother was at work so it was his personal care-giver Irina Uzintseva who brought him to the competition. “Sergey has made great progress since going to the adapted sports school,” said Uzintseva.
“The doctors were amazed at how healthy Sergey has become. He is physically stronger and he can focus better. Most of all he is very happy,” she said. “And, he is truly loved by his parents and five-year-old brother,” she added.
Sizyukhin, who is autistic, was shy and quiet at the venue, inching forward on his skis at random in the competition area. It was not until he was in a nearby café and had a cup of tea and a sweet roll in front of him that he burst into an animated, blow-by-blow account of the race he had just completed, obviously pleased with his performance. | <urn:uuid:bb63a72f-9e67-49d2-8fb9-27b904c7c442> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.specialolympics.org/RegionsPages/content.aspx?id=22162 | 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 | 0.991145 | 440 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Histadrut: Most consumer complaints in 2006 were related to electrical appliances
During 2006, the Histadrut's Consumer Protection Authority received 35,000 consumer complaints regarding the quality of service and substandard quality of products - 17 percent more than during 2005. According to the report, 16 percent of all consumers' complaints relate to electrical appliances. This, in fact, constitutes a drop in comparison with the 22 percent share the field received during 2005. Nevertheless, the field of electrical appliances retains its dubious first place among the number of complaints.
According to Attorney Yaron Levinson, CEO of the Authority, the drop in the number of consumer complaints regarding electrical appliances most probably stems from new regulations, which recently came into effect, set by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry regarding service and responsibility in the field. "Nevertheless," adds Levinson, "new complaints were already made about the regulations not being followed. Therefore, the next year will prove how effective the new regulations are in enforcing customer relations in the field."
Complaints in the field of electrical appliances mostly relate to home electrical appliances, such as washing machines, televisions, ovens and dishwashers. The major problems upsetting consumers were a failure to deliver the product on time to the customer's home, product flaws, disputes over responsibility in case of malfunction, unexpected malfunctions, wrong specifications, dishonesty regarding product features, bad service and poor material quality.
In this report, as in the 2005 one, the furniture field comes in second place with 15 percent of all complaints. The complaints relate to mismatches between the size or type of promised products and the actual ones delivered, failure to deliver on time, fabric stains or flaws in the wood, disputes over responsibility for flaws, disputes over delivery rates in cases of flawed products and worse: customers who paid for a product and found the store had closed and the owner had vanished when delivery was due.
The current report features a number of changes in the rank order. The clothing and footwear field climbed to third place with 9 percent of complaints, after holding fourth place in 2005. Place 4, receiving 8 percent of the complaints, was taken by the previous number 3 - the peddling field, covering the sale of items such as books, jewelry and watches. Complaints in this field focus on aggressive door-to-door marketing, whose transactions the consumer finds hard to cancel despite the law specifying a 14 day period in which the buyer may cancel a transaction. The Authority's report points to a worsening in remote internet transactions. In 2005 this field reached number 11 with only 3 percent of complaints, but in 2006 it rose to fifth place with 7 percent. According to Levinson, most complaints about internet sales regard the selling company's refusal to return the buyer's money in case of cancellation, failure to disclose the seller's identity, and sale Web sites avoiding communication with buyers by claiming they are only middlemen and not an actor involved in the deals.
The rest of the sales fields featured only slight changes during 2006. The holiday and tourism field stands in sixth place with 5 percent of complaints compared with 7 percent in 2005; the cellular companies reached seventh place with 5 percent of complaints, compared to 3 percent in 2005; the cable and satellite companies reached number 8 with 4 percent, the same value as in 2005.
Attorney Levinson said yesterday that the rise in the number of complaints shows a need to increase the government's control and enforcement on the central issues. He says there are still a number of loopholes allowing consumers to be exploited. | <urn:uuid:da6d2e95-6028-4287-a167-617e5d066a9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/histadrut-most-consumer-complaints-in-2006-were-related-to-electrical-appliances-1.286227?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.225%2C2.228%2C | 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 | 0.950065 | 712 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Sunshine and zodiac tours watching transient Orcas - what a perfect start to this Sunday!
July 8, 2011
The feeling on the breeze was promise as we sailed out first thing past Ogden Point in Victoria harbour this morning. The sun was deciding to poke through the clouds rather than hide and the wind had come down from the day before, leaving the water with only a slight chop. We headed straight out and after about 15 minutes stopped for a scan of the horizon. The visibility was good but we weren't able to spot anything yet so we carried on. After another few minutes we stopped again and this time a Humpback was found a little off the Victor-Gulf buoy. We trailed along, watching the massive mysticetes (baleen whale) who was in slow mode. It was surfacing long and lazily, only diving once it had taken several breaths. Humpbacks are known for their long migrations from Hawaii in the winter to Alaska and Northern British Columbia in the summer; it was therefore a bit of a treat to see one of these incredible whales this time of year, most being farther north looking for Krill to feed on.
Prior to the late 1960's Humpbacks were hunted almost to extinction, but luckily these whales have made an exceptional recovery and are now only considered a threatened species. The humpbacks are made unique by the markings on their tail flukes which allow us to identify them and their impressive 5 foot baleen and 400 pound hearts.
Once the Humpback's flukes sank beneath the waves for the third or fourth time we decided to go find other exciting wild life to look at. We motored only a short distance to South of Race Rocks Lighthouse when we happened upon a group of transients. These Orcas were heading East along the coast, no doubt hunting down some seals or porpoise to feed on. There was at least one male, later identified as T-10B, accompanied by his mother T-10 and several others too quick to easily identify. When the wind picked up and we had managed several good looks at the transients, we reluctantly headed for home. Everyone was smiling for the short trip back, the Orcas had lead us almost to Victoria!
This afternoon, we headed back out aboard the Orca Spirit to look for the orcas and the humpback whale. We encountered the orcas about 8 miles south of the Victoria harbour, as they continued to make their way across the Victoria waterfront. The small group of orcas included two males, along with two females. The orcas were spread out and most likely foraging. After our orca encounter, we headed to the Chain Islets where we saw lots of harbour seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Passing by Great Chain Island, we noticed a commotion over the cormorant colony and saw an eagle getting harassed by several gulls. The eagle perched on top of the nest. When we got closer, we noticed two mature bald eagles perched on the nest! With orca sightings, bald eagles, harbour seals, and an abundance of seabirds, it was a great afternoon on the Salish Sea. | <urn:uuid:85a4409d-2bca-4bfb-90e3-82b7c163d5a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.orcaspirit.com/component/zoo/item/humpback-and-orca-sightings-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977333 | 649 | 1.539063 | 2 |
CAIRO - A new proposal to introduce Islamic Shari`ah courts to Australia Victorian government legal system similar to the Koori courts for Aboriginal offenders has been dismissed again, offending the growing calls from the Muslim community.
"There are many ways the Australian legal system can engage with issues of Islamic law," Ikebal Patel, the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, told The Australian on Sunday, December 04.
"My comments about legal pluralism and Shari`ah law were taken out of context: people thought we were talking about an eye for an eye, having your hands being chopped off and all the rest of it.
"You don't want to have systems which are not operating within the greater Australian legal system."
Australian Muslim have been urging recognition of the Shari`ah Islamic law to boost integration and assimilation.
The latest proposal was forwarded by the Somali Community of Victoria president Abdurahman Osman.
Under his suggestion, Osman proposed running Islamic Shari`ah courts in which a jury of elders from the same background as the defendant would rule on an appropriate sentence.
A spokesman for Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark rejected the proposal without giving reasons for the move.
While the Baillieu government refused to give its reasons for rejecting the proposal, but prominent Melbourne defence lawyer Rob Stary said there was no realistic prospect of separate courts for Muslims.
"I don't see it in the foreseeable future," Stary said, speaking on behalf of the Law Institute of Victoria's criminal law division.
"One of the reasons why Koori courts were set up is there was such a high rate of recidivism amongst Aboriginal offenders.
They were significantly disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system."
The president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said the proposal was to include Islamic laws related to community service and financial compensation when deciding in cases between Muslims.
"It has to be accepted by the legal system within Australia and within common law," Patel said.
"The Koori system seems to be working okay."
Yet, Stary said members of any community already had the opportunity to advise magistrates on appropriate sentences, but warned any moves to introduce Shari`ah law principles would fail.
"The Koori courts don't impose Aboriginal customary law, he said.
"They provide mentoring programs, they provide other forms of treatment and rehabilitative programs.
"Victorian and Australian law is applied."
The new suggestion of an Islamic court "absolutely" fitted with a call Patel made earlier this year for legal pluralism.
Supporters cited the federal Government promotion for development of Islamic finance and Halal meat production, governed by the Australian Government Muslim Slaughter Program.
But, Patel's submission sparked controversy and prompted Attorney-General Robert McClelland to rule out any changes that would introduce aspects of Shari`ah law in Australia.
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population.
Islam is the country's second largest religion after Christianity. | <urn:uuid:a3df051f-156d-48ca-a482-e8e6800e903d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.islamonline.com/news/print.php?newid=580205 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970403 | 633 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Revision as of 14:06, 12 June 2011 by Mith
Events which occurred on 5 December.
- 1906 - Otto Preminger, who would voice the Elvenking in |the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit, is born.
- 1953 - Christopher Guard, who would voice Frodo Baggins in the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, is born.
- 1964 - The ninth episode of the Princess-serialization of The Hobbit is published.
- 1985 - Artist Matěj Čadil is born. | <urn:uuid:a59b5c8b-9b5b-40e2-a6b2-554dea2a1357> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=5_December&oldid=158076 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941208 | 113 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Open Source Still Draws Proprietary Vendors Into the Fold
The proprietary competition is very different when it is sitting alongside everyone else in developing, deploying or integrating with open source software. Today's proprietary vendors talk bullishly about their integration with, contribution to, and support for open source software, which is a far cry from belittling open source as a hobby or demonizing it as not enterprise-ready.
VMware continued its embrace of open source software with its recent acquisition of open source and virtual network provider Nicira. The move continued VMware's aggressive M&A strategy and its effort to transition from proprietary software and virtualization to a broader market and cloud computing, largely through open source software.
With previous open source software acquisitions that have included Rabbit Technologies' RabbitMQ messaging, Zimbra email and collaboration and SpringSource, VMware seems to have found it paramount to participate and integrate with open source software technology and communities, despite its heritage as a strictly proprietary virtualization vendor.
VMware continues to back and sell mostly proprietary software and products, but its broader engagement of open source also highlights how nearly all vendors in today's market are, at least to some extent, users or purveyors of open source software. We've also seen examples of how the vendors that resist open source are likely to find themselves isolated from vibrant communities if they stick to a closed technology approach.
Evil Empire Going Soft?
The prime example used to be Microsoft, which recently continued its transformation from strictly proprietary to a more open source-friendly vendor by spinning off a separate unit for openness. Even though Microsoft is still primarily interested in competing with open source rivals and protecting its own interests and markets, there is no question the formerly quintessential proprietary software company is now very much a player in the world of open source software.
We've seen some examples, and the industry has received some lessons of what happens when organizations or vendors hold out on open source and attempt to disregard it, don't leverage it -- or worse, discredit it, such as the SCO ordeal, which ended up strengthening enterprise open source. We've also seen examples of how difficult it can be to maintain open source software community projects, involvement and goodwill in Oracle's difficulties with some of the technology and community it acquired with Sun Microsystems.
The increased involvement of vendors such as VMware and Microsoft in open source shows how far open source software has come and the incredible transition that has taken place in enterprise software over the past 10 years. Beyond the various vendors, open source software is alive and well in the top trends of today's enterprise and consumer software, including cloud computing, Big Data, devops and mobility.
True Believers and Converts
The changes in the market and among developers also have impacts on open source software communities. First, we've seen cloud computing disrupt what parts of infrastructure and applications are most important to developers and users. This is most evident when it comes to APIs, which are often as critical and important to providers and consumers as availability and access to source code.
Also, the proprietary competition is very different when it is sitting alongside everyone else in developing, deploying or integrating with open source software. Today's proprietary vendors talk bullishly about their integration with, contribution to, and support for open source software, which is a far cry from belittling open source as a hobby or demonizing it as not enterprise-ready.
There still is a difference, however, between a VMware that has built itself up largely on proprietary software licensing and revenue and a Red Hat, which has stuck to an open source strategy through its maturation.
We also see vitality in new open source software companies that are leveraging community and developer/system administrator reach for enterprise opportunity: Puppet Labs, Opscode and CFEngine. These server automation players are often central to enterprise implementations of cloud computing and devops, attracting large enterprises and service providers as customers. All three have strong open source software and communities at their core, and they still serve as a contrast to the many proprietary players that, while welcome in the wider community of enterprise open source, didn't necessarily choose that path on their own from the start. | <urn:uuid:6e8688a6-2527-4281-8d6b-1fa45de6816e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/75894.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957559 | 842 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The King of Schmaltz who's waltzed his way to be bigger that Springsteen: How Andre Rieu conquered classical music
By Brian Viner
A riot of fake snowflakes fall from the gods, elaborate fountains send jets of water into the air, ice rinks shimmer, plumed horses trot through the auditorium pulling fairy-tale gilt carriages and women in lavish pastel ballgowns waltz with men dressed as Austro-Hungarian dragoons.
In the audience, grown men and women leap to their feet, clap, stamp, hug each other, pirouette in the aisle and weep with the ecstasy of it all.
Standing centre-stage, his silk cravat fastened with a sparkling brooch, a Stradivarius violin pressed between shoulder and neck, is Andre Rieu, the Dutch conductor and violinist whose extraordinary showmanship has helped him sell more than 32 million CDs worldwide and has made him a millionaire many times over.
Showman: Andre Rieu dazzles the audience during a performance on Sunday's Strictly Come Dancing
Rieu’s fans lap up his unique brand of snow-sprinkled Bavarian kitsch.
On Sunday evening, he performed on Strictly Come Dancing accompanied by four beautiful cellists in silk taffeta dresses and a brass band in white tie.
Serenaded by Rieu’s violin, professional ballroom dancers Brendan Cole and Erin Boag waltzed across the dance floor, sending the audience into raptures.
Meanwhile, the violinist’s album narrowly missed the top spot in the Sunday night UK album charts. He was beaten to the number one spot by Robbie Williams, but at number two, Rieu was still ahead of the wildly popular boyband JLS. Not bad for a 63-year-old grandfather from the Netherlands.
The hugely successful record, Magic Of The Movies, offers Rieu’s take on classic film scores, but it is in live performance that his genius lies.
Indeed, even the bespangled Liberace, until now the most flamboyant showman popular classical music has ever known, might have described Rieu’s concerts as a tad over the top. For audiences it must be like being inside a giant snowglobe.
Flamboyant: His exceptional showmanship has helped Dutch violinist Andre Rieu, right, sell more than 32million CDs world wide
But who is the long-haired King of Schmaltz and how did he inspire such a cult following?
Born in 1949, Rieu grew up in the Dutch city of Maastricht, known for the treaty which led to the creation of the euro — a currency of which Rieu has accumulated rather a lot, enabling him to buy the local medieval castle and make it his home.
He started playing the violin when he was five, forced into it by his father, who led the city’s symphony orchestra. But he gradually came to adore classical music. ‘The Beatles completely passed me by,’ he once recalled.
When he became a professional classical musician himself in 1978, aged 29, he was troubled by the solemn reverence the music inspired, both from those who performed it and the audience.
Struggles: Andre Rieu, performing in Sydney, Australia, came close to bankruptcy staging some of his shows
‘I felt very strongly: why don’t you put some flowers on the stage? Why do you have the girls always in black dresses? Why does the conductor turn his back to the audience? No wonder classical music was dying.’
If classical music was in its death throes, he has given it CPR.
In 1987, aged 38, Rieu formed his own orchestra, the Johann Strauss, specialising in waltzes, and gave it a lick of Las Vegas magic.
The purists were horrified. His performances were described as ‘affected’, ‘effeminate’, ‘histrionic’, ‘slapstick’ and ‘conceited’.
He was denounced as a ‘phoney’. But Rieu waltzed all the way to the bank. He has now sold out more venues than Bruce Springsteen.
Moreover, while many of the world’s orchestras are subsidised by governments, he keeps his going entirely from his own pocket.
His 120 musicians are loyal and by all accounts he treats them well. He is said only to get cross with them when they forget to smile.
On his seemingly effortless rise to the top, Rieu has only once stumbled. Four years ago, he paid for three eye-wateringly expensive replicas (allowing for wear and tear) of the facade of Vienna’s 1,441-room Schonbrunn Palace to serve as backdrops to his Australian tour. He was almost bankrupted as a result.
But the gamble was worth it. The tour was a triumph, paying off all his debts.
The greater Rieu’s success, the more the classical music snobs shudder at his repertoire. He intersperses endless renditions of The Blue Danube with Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins, Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight? and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On. Everything, but everything, is arranged so you can waltz to it.
It’s impossible not to laugh at a video of Rieu wielding his 1667 Stradivarius at the top of an Austrian mountain, playing Edelweiss accompanied by a battalion of other violinists, passing goatherds and bemused cattle wearing cowbells.
Nor is he the first classical musician to challenge dusty perceptions — he is not even the first violinist. Our own Nigel Kennedy brought the spirit of punk to violin solos, and the lovely Vanessa-Mae a dash of glamour. But never has it been done on such a monumental scale.
While it might seem incongruous that a man with a Stradivarius should have taken on Robbie Williams for the top spot in the album charts, they actually have a great deal in common: whatever the brand of music, they are both showmen, inveterate and irrepressible.
Rise to the top: Andre Rieu astonishing popularity has seen him sell out more venues than Bruce Sprinsteen
When Rieu paid homage to Frank Sinatra in New York, with his waltzable version of My Way, men and women in the audience openly wept.
Rieu, who is liable to get swept up by the almost hysterical emotions of the crowd, wept too. Ol’ Blue Eyes might also have shed a tear, had he been there.
Star act: Andre Rieu can rival big name acts such as Robbie Williams for star attraction
In Australia, his fans hugged each other as Rieu marched down the aisle to Seventy-Six Trombones, then practically hyperventilated when he brought Ravel’s Bolero to a shuddering climax.
And in the one city where you might expect him to be pelted with stale Viennese Whirls, Rieu is venerated almost as much as Strauss himself.
In 2008, the thousands of people packing the square in front of Vienna’s imperial palace could hardly contain their exhilaration as he launched into The Blue Danube.
But what does Rieu’s chart success tell us about ourselves?
The answer is surely that we enjoy kitsch and schmaltz — the former a German word defined as a tasteless imitation of high art, the latter a German-Yiddish word which has come to mean excessive sentimentality — more than we like to admit.
In fact, two more German words are proof of this: Engelbert Humperdinck. The best-known hits — Release Me, The Last Waltz — of the singer born plain Arnold George Dorsey could hardly be schmaltzier.
Even the most cursory flick through the history of our singles charts reveals Britain’s intermittent love affair with the saccharine and sentimental, from Ken Dodd’s Tears, the biggest-selling single of 1965 (beating Ticket To Ride by The Beatles and Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones), to the late Clive Dunn singing Grandad, a chart-topper for three weeks in 1971.
The following year, Amazing Grace, by the pipe band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, stayed at number one for more than a month.
It is clearly to this tradition that Rieu’s music belongs.
Paul Cassidy of the celebrated Brodsky Quartet, who has himself pushed the genre’s boundaries by collaborating with Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Bjork, takes his hat off to Rieu.
‘I can’t bring myself to disapprove of what he’s doing,’ says Cassidy. ‘It’s fun, people like it, so why not? And frankly, anyone who can make a living playing the violin deserves it.’ | <urn:uuid:e81697f9-04c9-4f4d-af8c-6550c4c6e18c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2232098/The-King-Schmaltz-whos-waltzed-way-bigger-Springsteen-How-Andre-Rieu-conquered-classical-music.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962418 | 1,918 | 1.5 | 2 |
White Oak Museum houses an extensive collection of Civil War artifacts, representing both Union and Confederate troops. Most items were discarded or lost by troops camping or fighting in the Stafford County and Fredericksburg areas.
Displays will amaze the novice as well as the serious Civil War Buff - including replicas of soldier huts that were used as temporary housing during the winter months. Many Civil War soldiers died of wounds and disease.
To give proper remembrance to these brave soldiers, White Oak Museum exhibits both military and personal items to honor the soliders, from private to general, who suffered both in battle and behind the front lines.
Hours: 10-5 Wednesday through Sunday
Admission Fee: Adults $4, Seniors $2, Ages 13-17 $2, Ages 7-12 $1, 6 & Under FREE
Last Updated: 7/19/2011 11:33 AM | <urn:uuid:ec069b5a-e9ab-4c7c-8623-044e60d186eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginia.org/Listings/HistoricSites/WhiteOakCivilWarMuseum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95893 | 180 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Boys and Girls Ultimate: State Championships
Teams must qualify.
During the second quarter of senior art class, I brushed up a lot on my drawing skills. I bought myself a brand new sketch book to start fresh and my goal was to only draw things in it that I knew I was going to be really proud of. Before this quarter, I was working a lot with charcoal so I wanted to switch it up a little and just use my pencil for a lot of the work that I did. I really wanted to improve my drawing skills so my drawings look a little more realistic. I think this really showed through with my daffodil drawing. That is the drawing I am most proud of doing this quarter. It took me about three class periods to complete because I was being very meticulous with the shading. I wanted it to look good enough to be a tattoo, that is what I kept envisioning.
I also worked on a project at home. I was doing some research online and I came across a Crayola canvas. It really looked interesting and I wanted to try it out. I went to the craft store Michael's and picked up a new canvas and the biggest pack of Crayola crayons I could buy. I color organized the crayons the way I wanted them to be on the canvas. I then hot glued each crayon onto the canvas in a zig zag pattern. My next step was to take a hair dryer and put it on high and melt the tops of the crayons so the wax melted and dripped down the canvas. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I used my friend’s professional camera to take a picture of it.
After that project, I went back into pencil drawings. I drew a bunch of pictures of my favorite cartoon characters. This included the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, Alice, and the Mad Hatter, all from the movie ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Then I drew Jake and Fin from ‘Adventure Time’, my favorite TV show. I also threw in one charcoal drawing I drew down Valley green and two flower pastel drawings. I really enjoyed art this quarter because I did a variety of different things and I got to brush up on my drawing skills and make a Crayola canvas.
The summer of July 4, 2011. My Family and I always had a different tongue. The school went to I had a wonderful english Language arts teacher. She taught us how speaking correctly reflected on our education, and we studied big words and their meanings. The correct way to use terms that have been interpreted wrongly by people that was around us. I would always think that my education was higher in my family. I could never understand why they would talk uneducated in public. In school peers around me talk uneducated and it always frustrated me since we learned the same things at the same time.
July 4, 2011 was a fun day until me and my mom met up with my family. We all met at Red lobster for lunch. Everyone walked into the red lobster and when we were finally seated the waiter came up to us and asked “Drinks?” My aunt said “Do yall got orange?” I could feel the eyes staring at us, it seemed like I was the only one at the table that realized what she said. I was sure the people around us did. When he asked me I said “I would like a sprite please” The waiter left. My cousins and my aunts mocked me repeating to what I said the waiter. The mocking set something off in me. I felt like I had to talk like them to really fit in. The waiter returned and took the orders. I noticed my uncle ask the waiter “Can I get some melted butter with dat” I sat there and wondered why he didn't pronounce the (TH). The frustration built inside me. I look at my whole family as ignorant.
The rest of the dinner was embarrassing they were the loudest people in our little section.I was too full to care. I haven't spent over three years with my family. I could understand why we spoke so different it was because I wasn't near them a lot. I thought to myself what if I spent a lot of time with them would I talk like them? This helps me to understand, you can't judge a whole family on how one person talks. Everyone has their own way of talking.
Another event was at a family reunion Everyone came from all over the country to come to the family reunion. Once everyone got to the reunion I started to realize everyone spoke different depending on where they were in the country. I also realized even if they lived far away most of them still talked the same.
Everyone in my family was born in philadelphia so ideally they were all taught how to speak the same way. When they moved they started talking differently. For example both of my aunts got up to talk but they had different accents yet they were born in the same house. Had the same parents and lived with each other for 21 years the only difference is one of them moved down south. So how is it that they have different accents yet they were born and raised at the same place and time?
I noticed in my family the way you speak reflects on what you wear. Its when you talk educated you dress more properly. When you talk normal you dress casual. When you talk uneducated you dress like you need to stay in the house. I noticed when people have different types of clothes on they reflect what their wearing.
In time as generations go on and education is distributed more, people are leaning on talking like one another.
In my beliefs there is a reason why people all talk differently. People normally don't think Religion and how it contribute in the different languages and different speech patterns
For our second benchmark mark we are studying languages within ourselves. I choose to write about the code switching I do between my friend, family,and to older people.
Language is how you speak. Everyone has a different way of speaking.When I’m with my friends I may come off as sarcastic or as if I do not care. When I really take a sad story and turn it into something I can cope with. But not every story me and my friends talk about that way is sad. When a person asks a question they already know the answer to we speak sarcastic. For example if you ask how many fingers a normal person has you should already know the answer. I look at my friend they will look at me and then we would start smiling. Next comes our sarcasm. We might respond with something such as “15” or to really laugh we might say “non, we do not know what a finger is.”
I thought that writing about this could help me really understand why I do it. I guess that if people knew what I do then they might stop acting dumb. Well those who read this. What does sracman mean to me? I think of it as a way to insult idiots without them realizing it. Am I a mean person for it? Well I don’t think so. I’m sarcastic 75% of the time, but that doesn’t mean that i’m never serious.
There was this time when abounce of my friends and I was sitting around a table. Of course there when outsiders there but when do they ever matter? We were talking about this youtube video about this girl who was dancing on a locker and she fell off. We watched the video over and over again because it was funny. A Bi-standard walked by and was like omg did she just fall? We laughed again but this time not at the video at the dummy with a stupid question. I replied no she did it because she wanted to. She bumped her head because she thought she could become smarter. Everybody laughed. The dummy with a dumb question felt stupid. My goal is complete.
Is what i’m doing a nice thing? Can people benefit from how I speak to them? Probably not, but the big question is ask me if I care. It’s not my fault that I think sometimes before I talk unlike most of the students that goes to my school. Asking question you know the answer to will get you nowhere. It’s like asking your mother how many siblings you have, when you live with all of them everyday. Or asking how many numbers is in the alphabet when you use a computer to make a living.
There are times where people ask question they know the answer to and you can not reply sarcastic. You must look at them differently and or begin to laugh.
Here’s a time when my sister said something that almost made me want to homeschool her my self. My father was mins away from getting a foot operation. He was telling us about the other operations he has overcome. One of them was when he had gotten his appendix removed. After he said it my younger sister turned around and replies “You have no kidney?”
What can you say to a question as such. Nothing you sit there and crack up laughing. You laugh until your “Kidney” falls out.
- 2 table-spoons of vegetable oils
- powder cheese
Add two table-spoons of vegetable oil in some water. Wait 5 minutes to add the milk then add the macaroni in the pot. After 15 minutes, add the cheese from the packet.
Due to the fact that the whole Kraft’s macaroni and cheese consists of the following ingredients,
Iron in the form of ferrous sulfate
Whey (milk protein),
Milk protein concentrate,
Yellow 5 ,
then I don’t really recommend anyone to eat the macaroni and cheese. Most of these ingredients are only recommended for people whom need to treat certain health conditions.
I chose to make Macaroni and Cheese to investigate whether or not it was good due to the fact that I eat it a lot when I want to make something to eat quickly. I don’t go to fast food restaurants so I thought that cooking at home would be better. However, a lot of food has preservatives and it is difficult to stay healthy even certain organic foods aren’t okay to eat.
Making this dish helped me understand how I need to change what I eat and how bad things are for you even if it’s promoted by ad’s and how certain foods actually have “real cheese” when they’re supposed to have certain ingredients. Also, most people are worried about how many calories are in each platter or on whatever you eat, but I now believe that people need to focus more on what they’re eating, because it is not food.. Or atleast not all the time.
Other than that, I believe that the reason a lot of people don’t eat healthy has to do with the economy. Not everyone can afford to eat healthy, so a good thing to do would save up and work harder. Also, you can buy by greater quantity in order for the food to last longer and not have to spend that much.
Ingredients (for two
1 Green pepper
2 African hot peppers
5 Maggi cubes
1 Package Chicken tray
⅕ cup of vegetable oil
1.) Pour 5 oz. of dehydrated attieke into a large pot.
2.) Heat 5 oz. of water until warm. Pour the water in the pot with the attieke while stirring gently. Allow the attieke to soak for 5 to 10 minutes.
3.) Place the pot on the stove and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the attieke continuously. Use a fork to prevent the grains from sticking together.
4.) Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove.
5.) Place the attieke in a large bowl and wait for it to cool down.
6.) For the second part of the dish, place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag. Then, place the 3 maggi cubes in the Ziploc bag with the chicken. Keep the chicken in there for 30-60 minutes.
7.) Take the Ziploc bag with the chicken and put it in a refrigerator. You can refrigerate the chicken for up to four hour. The chicken will absorb the flavors.
8.) Take the chicken out of the fridge. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature before grilling it.
9.) Grill the chicken in a grill pan till both sides of the chicken turn brown and crispy.
10.) Place the grilled chicken in a plate and put the attieke next to it.
11.) Cut up the onion, tomato, African hot pepper, and green pepper and put them in a Ziploc bag. Put one maggi cube and ⅕ of vegetable oil in the Ziploc bag. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
12.) Put the mixture that is in the Ziploc bag on top of the grilled chicken and the attieke.
Our meal consists entirely of processed foods. The total amount of calories in our meal is 851.4. Since there are so many calories in our dish, if eaten often, the human body would gain weight and grow to be less healthy. The amount of fat in our dish is 18.1 grams. Since our dish is fairly low in fat, the human body is more likely to work more proficiently. It is also less prone to get diseases associated with a fatty diet. These include diabetes, heart disease, and cancer of the lower digestive system. However, if you ate this meal everyday, since it is low in fat, it can lead to problems like overeating, depression, and hormonal imbalances.
All of our ingredients were harvested in the United States. However, some of them are native to West Africa (African hot pepper, etc.). On average, our ingredients travelled 600 miles to get to Philadelphia. According to research, the manufactures of the ingredients to not harvest it organically.
The chemicals used can have a negative impact on the planet in many ways. One of these is pollution. As the chemicals get washed away, they end up in rivers. This ultimately decreases the quality of the affected river. Given each ingredient, the meal cost five ten dollars to make. This is about the same cost as a fast food meal.
One ingredient of particular interest to us was the African hot pepper. To grow it, a seed was placed in the ground. It was watered once everyday and sprayed with pesticides. After growing, it was picked, packaged, and sent to the store to be sold. After being purchased, it ended up in our dish.
Ronald: One of the main problems with America’s food system is that people are lazy. In this unit, we have learned that people simply do what is most convenient when it comes to obtaining food. For instance, I remember one of the graphs that we looked at showed how far away the average person is from a supermarket. I realized that this distance often determines whether or not a person has access to healthy organic foods, as if unhealthy foods are closer, that is probably what the consumer will choose.
If I could make changes to my food choices, I would I would eat more vegetables. The reason is because I sometimes go days without eating them. I feel that if I ate more vegetables, I would become a healthier person. One impact that eating more vegetables would have is that I would have more lasting energy. Although eating foods that are high in sugar gives me energy, it burns out quickly. As a sprinter, this can lead to me tiring out in the middle of a race.
After realizing that I need to eat more vegetables, I am prepared to make a change. Now, I make sure that I eat vegetables at least once a day. I plan to increase my intake even further.
Mabintu: I have learned a lot about foods this unit; food that is good for you and food that is bad for you. We also learned about why some foods are the way they are and what the government has to do with the kind of food we eat. When we looked at the health/food maps we came to an understanding that most of the overweight/Obese people are in the poor areas of Philadelphia. We talked about how food companies be lying about in the food and the labels. We talked about organic food and how it is more expensive and you have less of a variety to choose from. That is why people spend most of their money on presses food because they cause less. I do not need to change anything about my diet because I usually eat homemade food. When I eat outside I do not eat health because it’s they only time I can eat something that I think is good. I do not eat unhealthy most of the time I eat unhealthy like twice a week or so. I guess I need to make a little change to my diet, as to what times I eat. Right now I eat any time I hungry and sometimes I eat even when I’m not hungry. That will have to change.
Serving size: 7-8
1/2 cup of magrine
1/2 cup of Sugar
4 eggs1 bag of wheat bread crumbs
1 cup of skim milk.2 tablespoons of salt.
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Mix the bowls with the ingredients.
3. Bake the 350 degree oven for an hour before serving.
Serving size 2 people.
Some of the food is process and some is whole. The pineapples and eggs are not process and they are whole foods. But the extra ingredients like sugar margarine is process. Its pretty healthy as it only has 166 calories. I say it’s like 55% process and 45% not process. It is very high in natural sugar and process sugar. It also has eggs for protein and bread for bread use. This food dish lacks vitamin A, B and D. Also it does not have a lot of cholesterol. Some of the food that is processed all of the food will go straight to your systems that will be processed and then go to your stomach. Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. That is healthier then butter.
Margarine comes from vegetable oil and skim milk. So they came from a farmers. So does the eggs that were made. My specific margarine and eggs comes from Kentucky. I am not aware wear my eggs came from but its company was Foodhold USA which is in Maryland. The rolls came from Florida and my Pineapples also came from Florida. That is a total of 1324 miles traveled just to get in my home. The Margarine, bread, pineapples, and sugar were all processed. Only the eggs were not processed. But the chicken who laid it was.
This meal cost around 12 dollars. This meal is suppose to serve 8 people. This is a lot more expensive then a 4 dollar menu burgers from McDonalds. This is an outrage that a dish served for 8 cost so much more. The stuff that cost the most is pineapples which were 2.00 dollars. Obviously the Martians, Doles and other foods won the deal by stealing my money.
My bread cubes cubes some soybeans and Monocalcuim in it. I have no idea how they managed to add those items in bread but the did. I’m pretty sure if I made the bread those items would not be included in my bread. My eggs have no significant source of Dietary fiber or sugar. But I have no idea how to make eggs the right way. Plus I have no chickens.
I learned different effects that food can have on someone. I knew that eating unhealthy can cause an unhealthy life in the future. I knew that liver problems and other serious diseases are caused by eating habits. What I learned the most was from the videos, even though we didn’t finish the movie I learned a lot about the food culture. I learned that the food producers are a bunch of a-holes. Sorry for the rude language but it’s beyond me that a food company can just about contaminate almost all of the natural foods to make them more fattening just for money. It’s terrible to kill the cows, chickens and pigs the way they do. Not only make them fat but you basically make them kill them in the most gruesome way. And once someone talks about it, they get sued by the food companies. The workers can’t stop because they need the money to survive. So no one wins. This is a messed up society we have. Another reason why this world is messed up is because people in low income can not afford healthy foods because 1 low income and 2 there are no grocery store. This a terrible world we live in.
I remember when I first moved to Philly, I was five years old and beginning my kindergarten year at Norwood Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic School in Chestnut Hill. I walked down the stairs in my favorite polo dress and my hair in one ponytail and hopped in the car after what seemed like thousands of pictures from my overly emotional mother. I never understood the tears, I mean, I did go to preschool for three years before that. We rolled into the construction filled school in our Ford Explorer with the Massachusetts license plate. Nervousness ran through my whole body. I sat down on the “magic carpet” when we went around the circle to say our names and where we are from. When it was my turn I sat up straight, head held high, and said “My name is Gabrielle Aahrnold and I am from Amhuuuuurst Massachusetts.” Naturally my teachers were concerned that I wasn’t developing my phonics correctly. Fast forward 10 years later with a little “Hooked on Phonics” and “speech therapy”, I speak with little to no accent.
My accent was one of the things that defined me. Amherst is in my blood. My accent made me different from everyone else. I stood out from the crowd. I wasn’t just a Philly girl, I was an Amherst girl, and damn proud of it. I still am an Amherst girl... but a Philly girl as well. My accent was a conversation starter, something distinct, something beautiful. That’s the beauty of language, regardless of how your voice sounds, where you are and who you’re with. There will always be someone who will listen to your voice and instantly connect with you. Their voice rubs off on you.
I began attending Germantown Friends School September of 2003. My vocabulary from the time I was very young has always been vaster than what was the expectation. Over time I began to talk more and more like my peers, we began our own language. “Obvi” began to slowly creep into my “all the time vocabulary, annoying my parents and pushing my cousins to call me “white girl”. My aunt began to taunt my cousins and I when she saw us talking, “And I’m like, and he’s like, and I’m like and he’s like”. She says this to this day. I’ve changed schools so the taunting hasn’t been as severe since I picked up a majority of my other cousin’s vocabulary when I began attending Science Leadership Academy in the fall of 2011.
When I began attending Science Leadership Academy, I learned a new type of English, Philly slang. Most of my friends at GFS were from the outskirts of Philly, we had our own slang. “That’s dead” slowly began to creep into my vocabulary so much so that my mother has begun saying it.I love that my language reflects all the places I have been in life. Amherst, Philly, Norwood, SLA. My language is like one of my style, something that is visible always and represents who I am to the fullest. "
Over the past three years of living in Philadelphia my language has changed dramatically compared to when I lived in Delaware. Not only did I move to a totally different state with a different way of living, talking, dressing, etc., but I got older as well. Living in Philly I definitely have picked up the slang that’s used on a daily basis. When I am with my friends we use different slang words then someone maybe from south Philly. My weekends are full of fun random sayings that we make up.
My friends that live in West Philly, together we call each other The Mob. In the Mob my closest friend is Shania. She Is the one closest to my age (17). “Shine bright like a diamond” a song by Rihanna (my sister Shania’s ringtone) begins to play as my day is interrupted by her daily text messages or phone calls. Most the time she is calling or messaging me to ask if im going to come down there that day to chill or go to a party. “Yo shawty. Whats up? Instead of just “Hey” or “Hi” those are usually the things she’ll say. My response mainly sounds something like “Hey love. How r u?” I use love as a way to show I care about you on some level. If I call you my love its basically like calling you my friend or my homie. Majority of the Mob’s conversations involve finding out the swerve (the move; activity) of the day/night. They can also involve a lot of plotting and planning sessions.
Our conversations go on they begin to get sillier and sillier. Someone will say something that someone else should have already known the answer to. Or (usually) Shania will ask a dumb question like five times in four different ways. We are the youngest of our crew of about 20 people (we are 16). The oldest direct member of our family will be 21 this year. Shania and I being the young ones, they basically took us in as there lil sisters/ young bulls. For someone who doesn’t hang out with us on a daily basis they would think we are they WEIRDEST people alive. One thing that we do to basically laugh at each other is what is called Follow ups. “That’s one…follow ups”; this is usually stated when someone does something wrong or says something totally Stupid off. What happens is that you get hit on the shoulder back arm area by everyone around you. You can say “No Follow ups” Saying this is basically acknowledging that you screwed up in some way. It also yells “dont hit me!”
Another language that is used a lot in my life is the language of arts. Whether its rap poetry or singing its always happening (especially if im with my friends) We use it to not only express ourselves but to make things more fun. We could be walking down the street and someone will randomly start singing or rapping about what we are doing. Seven out of the 15 people in The Mob rap and go to the studio. When PurpVarsity (the rap group) with Cazz, Drew and two people not from The Mob throws parties they preform and give other people the opportunity to perform as well. The arts have become of big part of how I communicate to strangers and very close people. Its not pressuring, its comfortable and fun.
Over the short amount of years I have been in this world, I have learned a lifetimes worth of things just from language alone. I have learned ,thanks entirely to the judgment of others, that my way of speaking is 'white'. Which on paper sounds kind of ridiculous as you wouldn't think of language as actually having a color. But I assure you people in this day and age have color coded the english language. While slang and grammatically incorrect english is usually referred to as 'black' more articulated, polished english is thought of as 'white'. There exist a grey zone where broken english falls into but that's a story for another day. In the hierarchy of colored language someone speaking in a 'white' manner is always thought to be smarter than someone who speaks in a 'black' or even 'grey' dialect and that shouldn't be so. Take my first day of 6th grade for example.
“Welcome to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love!” I still remembered the giant billboard ushering us into Philadelphia after what seemed like endless drive along a highway that seemed like it stretched on forever. Now I stood at a classroom door, scared nervous, out of my element. I put doubt behind me as I remembered I was in the city of brotherly love of course they would accept me they had too. Right? I slowly crept through the door accidently closing it a bit harder than I intended to. Instantly 30 pairs of eyes swallowed me whole from my hair to my skin color to the shoes I wore. Everything was put on the forefront. I remember my teacher, Ms.Graves, booming voice. “Okay class this is Charles” Char-els she somehow managed to shove two syllables in my name “Char-els tell us about yourself!” It was more of a command then a suggestion. I looked out at my classmates they were hungry for information their eyes said so. “Well, my name is Charles,” I said emphasizing the way my name is supposed to be spoken the way my mom says it. In one breath, short sweet, but it carried power. I remember getting weird looks just from this statement, not form what I said, but form my annunciation and pronunciation, nervously I continued. “I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. I just moved here not to long ago and I—“ “Why is you talkin’ so white?” This outburst came from a girl right in front of me, it wasn’t a tease, it was not an insult. It was a sincere question. Why did I talk so white? The whole class went up in laughter; they had all been wondering the same thing apparently. I never did answer that girl, I didn’t know how too.
That was the first time I had not only realized i talked differently from other black kids, but I was assumed to be smartly purely from just me muttering a few words. My time in 6th grade was spent trying to adjust to the Philadelphia dialect. At first I had mental cringes every time a kid would say "I be" or "They is" and I'll admit at time I thought of them as stupid or uneducated. But then came the days we had classroom discussions and it were those days that I realized my peers 'black' language did not reflect how bright there minds were. My fancy words didn't make my point anymore valid than the next man-- or kid in my classroom and I realized from that day on that people assuming intellectual levels based on speech is ignorance at it's finest. In their defense, it's only logical to think an idea is only as good as it is portrayed verbally. However what we overlook is what's being spoken and what's being spoken are two very different things.
In closing, a persons mastery over their respective language, or even others, should not reflect how educated or smart you think they are. doing that is not only ignorant but it's one of the very prudent forms of modern racism. Thinking this way can only hurt you in expanding your mind to the different cultures of the world. | <urn:uuid:7fe09f1b-8e3c-4fd2-9710-946eb2565fef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceleadership.org/blog?limit=25&offset=1625 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979588 | 6,559 | 1.625 | 2 |
Austin, Texas (CNN) -- Julie Uhrman needed $950,000 from Kickstarter in less than a month to make her dream of an affordable, free-to-play gaming console a reality.
She got it in eight hours -- and nearly $8 million more after that.
"It was the opposite of 'Field of Dreams,' " said Uhrman, a gaming-industry veteran and former vice president at IGN. "It was, if you come, we will build this."
And so was born Ouya, a $99 console that's shaped like and is just a hair bigger than a Rubik's Cube. It runs on Google's Android operating system and requires developers to offer a version of their games for free.
Kickstarter backers will be getting their Ouyas later this month and they'll go on sale to everyone else in June.
Speaking here at the South by Southwest Interactive festival, Uhrman said she got the idea for Ouya (pronounced OOO-yuh) in response to a video-game industry that to her had grown stale.
No new consoles were announced at last year's E3 gaming conference by the big three console makers (Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony). In recent years, almost all the most hyped and popular games have been sequels. And the rise of mobile gaming has been limited, turning video gaming into a solitary exercise rather than the social one she remembered growing up.
"The TV is the best screen for playing games," Uhrman said in an interview-style keynote with editor Joshua Topolsky of tech blog The Verge. "I remember growing up, playing with my sister ... I feel like we've lost that. I want to bring back the world of TV gaming."
For gamers, the strength of a console often boils down to the games they can play on it. To that end, Uhrman said 7,000 developers have signed up for Ouya accounts, from big publishers who create multi-million-selling titles like "Halo" down to the smaller independents.
The only requirement, she says, is that the game must be free or offer a free trial before the player has to buy it. How the game will make money -- whether it's through ads, in-game purchases or sales after a free trial -- is up to the developer.
"You shouldn't have to pay so much money to try out a new game," she said. "We believe that every single game you should try before you buy."
During the hour-long interview, Topolsky pushed Uhrman on whether the Ouya, which will have 1GB of RAM and run on an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, will be powerful enough to run the kind of immersive, expansive shooters that have made big gaming releases as lucrative as blockbuster movies.
Her answer came in two parts.
"Yes," she said. "And why would we?
"Those experiences are great on those devices. You wouldn't want to play those games anywhere else. But we are going to have exclusive games. ... We're going to have inventive, creative, exciting content that no one else has. At $99, it's not an either-or decision."
Uhrman said some top developers will be reworking popular titles for the Ouya. Others, some of whom have never made games before using Android, are crafting new titles, she said.
"We're going to have our version of those games, but it's going to be different," she said. "We will have a first-person shooter ... game that you are going to want to play for hours on end."
Ouya also has partnered with game-streaming site OnLive, meaning that some graphic-intensive games could be playable on the device via the cloud.
Throughout its development, Ouya has been open to its public, inviting them to help make suggestions. When backers pointed out on Reddit that the color-coded buttons on the console's controller were no good for color-blind players, Ouya replaced them, making the four buttons correspond with the O, U, Y and A in its name.
An Ethernet port was added when some backers outside the United States said they had no access to Wi-Fi, and a USB port was added for the "hardest of the hardcore" players who will want to store more games than the console can handle.
Increasingly, gaming consoles are becoming all-in-one entertainment hubs for the living room, and Ouya will try to compete in that arena as well. The company already has partnerships with Flickster and Vevo and is in talks with major players like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Google.
"We're pretty confident we're going to have (that content) at launch or close to launch," Uhrman said.
Between now and then, she'll be focusing on two goals.
"We want you to love it," she said. "And we want it to work." | <urn:uuid:68d407be-f8d2-48e2-ae1f-bbf72379f55a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/12/tech/gaming-gadgets/ouya-julie-uhrman-sxsw/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978867 | 1,027 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Evangelism. We all know that we are supposed to do it. Most of us have a desire to share the faith but we often lack the confidence to follow through. We often worry about if we are going to say the wrong thing. Maybe some of us do not feel equipped to share the gospel very well.
About a month ago, someone introduced me to the Pocket Testament League. Now, I would like to introduce it to you.
Here's an overview from their website:
The ministry began in 1893 as the vision of a teenage girl named Helen Cadbury, daughter of the president of Cadbury Chocolates. She was so excited about sharing her faith that she organized a group of girls who sewed pockets onto their dresses to carry the small New Testaments her father had provided. The girls called their group "The Pocket Testament League." Using small membership cards, they pledged to read a portion of the Bible every day, pray, and to share their faith as God provided opportunity.
Their plan is simple: Read, Carry, Share.
Read God's Word.
Carry God's Word in the form of a gospel of John.
Share God's Word by giving it away.
I have begun to use it as part of my regular routine as a pastor. I can honestly say, I wish someone would have told me about it sooner.
With tracts I find I spend time reading the tract, scrutinizing the tract, sometimes wishing it said things a little different, and then wondering things like "Did I grab the right tract to share with the person?"
I've decided now I'm going to keep a Gospel of John with me. I usually keep a small box in the car for good measure.
I would invite you to check out the Pocket Testament League. You can sign up and receive up to 30 free gospels of John a month through sponsorship. You simple order them, tell them what you'd like to use them for, and within a few days your order will be sponsored by a donation and your gospels shipped.
I would also encourage you to sign up for their evangelism boot camp. It is a seven email training course that gives you some basics for sharing the faith.
Consider this a helpful tool to help us all be more evangelistic. Click on one of the web banners and sign up for the league today. | <urn:uuid:72e013ee-99f8-4af9-a548-f299ae31a5b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thevoyages.blogspot.com/2012/04/pocket-testament-league.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97652 | 482 | 1.617188 | 2 |
CLAYTON The Thousand Islands Land Trust is urging members of the public to encourage children to be physically active at a Healthy People, Healthy Planet fundraiser walk at 10 a.m. March 16 at the Zenda Farm Preserve, Route 12E.
Corinne M. Mockler, TILTs coordinator of education and outreach, said the event is meant to be an easygoing outing on Zendas 1.5-mile trail.
Registration costs $25 per adult children 18 years and younger participate for free and includes a one-year membership in TILT, which normally starts at $40, and a goody bag.
Included in the goody bag will be a snack, water bottle, pedometer, chance to win a months access to Northern Physical Therapy and Fitness Center, Clayton, and more.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will help TILT maintain its nature trails, which are open to the public year-round, and support the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a national organization working toward reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity by empowering youths to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Participants are encouraged to register by March 8, but walk-ins are also welcome, Ms. Mockler said.
T.I. Land Trust partnered with Jefferson County Public Health Service, Community Coalition for Children and Adopting Healthy Habits for its inaugural health walk.
Ms. Mockler said the land trust hopes to hold the event annually as part of its ongoing effort to get people outside more.
Every year, TILT holds several free public treks in the Thousand Islands region to encourage outdoor activities and wildlife conservation.
An open house for TILT volunteers will be held at 7 p.m. April 5 at the TILT office, John Street, and several outdoor nature events are scheduled for April.
For more information or to register for the Healthy People, Healthy Planet fundraiser walk, call TILT at 686-5345, email event organizers at email@example.com or visit the land trusts website: www.tilandtrust.org. | <urn:uuid:a28aa3e3-6f08-474d-bce4-dc1b52ee7e97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130227/NEWS03/702279824/1039 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932571 | 429 | 1.773438 | 2 |
- The Mission of the Association is to promote the significant uptake of New Zealand's abundant wind energy resource as a realistic, sustainable and clean energy source.
- All Members of the Association as a continuing condition of membership of the Association agree to support the Association in achieving its mission and undertake to assist it in meeting its objectives.
- Policy advocacy with local and central government officials and elected representatives, regulatory bodies, industry groups and other interested organisations to raise the awareness of, and develop the concept of wind energy in New Zealand;
- Organising seminars, conferences and other promotional and educational events and to distribute information, relating to wind energy in New Zealand;
- Providing a forum for external and internal networking, discussion and co-operation among persons with an interest in the promotion of wind energy in New Zealand;
- Promoting the economic, environmental, social significance and other benefits of wind energy in New Zealand;
- Promoting research and development of wind energy technology in New Zealand. | <urn:uuid:1f78ded6-1b80-47de-8d81-22bbd2a9a43b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://windenergy.org.nz/join/nzwea-mission-and-objectives | 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 | 0.931575 | 199 | 1.5625 | 2 |
CHAPEL HILL -- What do Southern gay men, Igor Stravinksky's notorious ballet "The Rite of Spring," Vivien Leigh's performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and the poetry of Ovid have in common?
They all deal, at least in part and in extremely various ways, with issues of gender and identity.
This academic year, UNC is presenting a series of performances, lectures, films and other events focused on those issues. The Gender Project, this year's Carolina Creative Campus, uses the arts as the foundation to foster dialogue about questions of gender and identity and their impact on our lives through the arts, humanities, politics, law, religion and the media.
Gender is the subject for the second year of Carolina Creative Campus, following last year's conversation on capital punishment, "Criminal/Justice: The Death Penalty Examined."
The project will use the performing arts, films, lectures, exhibits and discussions as tools to further the year-long conversation.
"The arts stimulate discussion and challenge perceptions while illuminating issues that are important to all of us, and that is the aim of The Gender Project," said Emil Kang, executive director for the arts at UNC.
On Thursday, UNC alumnus E. Patrick Johnson will perform "Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South," a one-man performance based on stories he collected for his new book, "Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South," an oral history of black gay men who live in the southern United States.
The free performance covers some of the themes discussed in "Sweet Tea," with Johnson performing the narratives of nine men.
Johnson, a professor of African-American studies and professor, chairman and director of graduate studies in the performance studies department at Northwestern University, has performed "Pouring Tea" at colleges and universities nationwide.
A pre-show reception will start at 6 p.m., and the performance will begin at 7. The event will take place at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, 150 South Road on the UNC campus.
This weekend brings "[it is in you]," Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in Gerrard Hall on Cameron Avenue, performed and created by UNC alumna Marie Garlock.
In addition to being a part of the Gender Project, the play is a part of a series of new and still developing performance works at UNC.
"[it it is you]" fuses storytelling, dance and movement, live music and spoken word into a piece that explores the politics of development, HIV and the body.
Garlock earned a bachelor's degree with a double major in communication studies and international and area studies at UNC. She focused on African studies and questions of social and economic justice. She developed "[it is in you]" as part of her honors thesis, and as a means to commemorate what she studied at Tanzania's University of Dar es Salaam in 2007.
"It is thrilling to be able to open our first season with an exciting new performance developed here and presented by a recent grad," Joseph Megel, a resident artist in the communication studies department in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences and the director of the process series.
In October, London's DVV8 Physical Theatre will present "To Be Straight With You," a visceral, highly political dance-theater piece featuring live performance, documentary footage and animation. Shows will be Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. at Memorial Hall.
The piece presents a vivid, unflinching look at the tangled connections between sexuality, ethnicity and religion. "To Be Straight With You" is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with people of different races, religions and sexual identities who have experienced or taken part in some form of intolerance. The resulting play examines how religious viewpoints, ethnicity and culture intersect.
On Oct. 21, Memorial Hall will present the world premiere of "Vivien and The Shadows," a multifaceted reimagining of Tennessee Williams' timeless drama "A Streetcar Named Desire." Commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts, "Vivien" is conceived and directed by Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen and with his company, Theatreworks.
"Vivien and The Shadows" focuses on the 1951 film adaptation of the play that starred Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Keng Sen and Theatreworks examine Leigh's portrayal of the tragic heroine, Blanche DuBois, and how, over time and through the success of the film, Leigh and DuBois have come to meld into each other within the popular imagination.
The performance will feature four different portrayals of Leigh/DuBois by Keng Sen, Swedish vocalist-performance artist Charlotte Engelkes, Obie-winner Karen Kandel and New York-based art-burlesque star Julie Atlas Muz.
"To Be Straight With You" and "Vivien and The Shadows" are powerful contributions to The Gender Project that investigate aspects of perspectives on the intersection of gender, identity and culture, said Reed Colver, facilitator of the project.
"Both performances challenge us to reflect on what we experience and how that experience informs our notions of gender and identity," she said. "They are great illustrations of how the arts can catalyze this type of dialogue."
Gender Project discussions and events will take place throughout the academic year. For project updates and additions, including additional fall semester events and collaboration opportunities, visit carolinacreativecampus.org and The Gender Project blog at blog.carolinacreativecampus.org. Participate online by sharing your story or opinion or suggesting events for inclusion.
Departments across campus will contribute to the discussion.
Coming highlights include:
- "The Rite of Spring," Compagnie Heddy Maalem, Oct. 25, 8 p.m.
- "The Shadow of the Glen" and "The Playboy of the Western World," Druid Theatre Company, Oct. 29 and 30, 7:30 p.m.
- "Feminine and Masculine in Ovid's Poetry," on display through Feb. 1, 2009, at the Ackland Art Museum.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner. | <urn:uuid:db75af3e-1970-46f8-a5b2-9d6ca8845019> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2008/09/24/17001/who-are-you.html | 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 | 0.947817 | 1,302 | 1.835938 | 2 |
London youth unemployment jumps by 26,000 in three years
The number of young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) has jumped by 26,380 since 2008, a study commissioned by BBC London has found.
In January 2008, the number of 16 to 24-year-olds claiming jobseeker's allowance was 32,945. In October this year it was 59,325.
All 32 London boroughs have seen a rise in the number of young people claiming the benefit since 2008, research by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (CESI) found.
Figures for October 2011 show that Tower Hamlets was the borough with the highest number of claimants, with 3,430 getting jobseeker's allowance (10% of its young people).
Newham came second with 3,300 claimants, followed by Croydon (2,935), Enfield (2,860) Waltham Forest (2,780) and Southwark (2,700).
Youth unemployment numbers have also more than doubled in Croydon, Redbridge, Ealing, Havering and Barnet since 2008.
Of all the boroughs, Waltham Forest had the highest proportion of Neets (10.3%).
Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said: "In Tower Hamlets, this year's GCSE results were the highest they have ever been. Yet, across the country, young people are achieving more but receiving less.
"In Bethnal Green and Bow there has been a 76% rise in young people out of work for more than six months. Graduates are struggling to find work and school leavers their next steps."
A spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "London's jobs market is more competitive than ever, particularly for young people who can find it tough to compete and secure even entry-level positions."'Take every opportunity'
In a statement Tower Hamlets council said: "In the past year, we have actually reduced the proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds within this category to just 5.3%, which is lower than the national average of 6.6%."
Over the past three years, 1,000 young people in the borough began an apprenticeship and new initiatives like Future Jobs Fund and Work Start helped more than 200 young people into jobs.
The council said it was also on track to fill 1,000 London Olympics jobs.
How the economy is affecting your household finances, job prospects and how you shop - three days of in-depth coverage on TV, radio and online
Waltham Forest councillor Clyde Loakes, cabinet member for the environment and public realm, said it was a "real worry" that the borough had the highest proportion of unemployed young people in the capital.
He said: "We are trying to put in place programmes where we can at least encourage young people to get some better training, some better skills for maybe when that growth does come along they are first in line to benefit from those job opportunities."
He advised young people to do paid internships and "take any opportunities that come your way... wherever they may arise and however small they may be".
CESI, which said young people in the UK were facing a similar situation to the 1980s recession, found that five of the six Olympic boroughs had the highest proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds in London claiming the allowance.Summer jobs
Figures for October 2011 show in Waltham Forest 10.3% of young people claimed, in Tower Hamlets it was 10%, 9.6% claimed in Newham and 9.4% in Barking and Dagenham and Hackney.
The Olympic organising committee Locog said it was looking to recruit 4,000 people over the next few months and there were thousands of opportunities with contractors which were being highlighted to residents of host boroughs.
A spokeswoman said: "With our recruitment partner Adecco, we launched the Summer Jobs of a Lifetime site, which is aimed at students wanting to take advantage of the unique opportunity to get a job at an Olympic and Paralympic Games."
The Olympic Delivery Authority said of the 44,000 people that worked on the Olympic Park, a fifth came from the five host boroughs and as well as 450 apprentices.
A £13m Host Borough Employment and Skills project is up and running to help people improve their skills and to find work during the Games and beyond.
More than 2,600 residents living in the host boroughs have been offered jobs with contractors.
London Councils, which represents all 32 boroughs and co-ordinates apprenticeships offered by them, said more than 80% of the 2,275 paid positions were offered to 16 to 24-year-olds.
The mayor said he wanted to see "more action from big companies to open their doors" and offer apprenticeships. | <urn:uuid:250056a7-f3da-47e9-ae9c-3d8a2ccc0e8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16157531 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97941 | 1,015 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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