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The blind pirate is a calm game. The pirate is guarding his treasure. The other players have to steal the treasure without being caught by the pirate.
If necessary, you can play the game without any special equipment. However,
- blindfolds for the pirate would be great
- as treasure, any smaller item can be taken (scarf, keys, coins, etc.)
The pirate is sitting in the center of the room, the treasure is laying on the floor right in front of him. He closes his eyes (or uses the blindfolds). All the other players are standing along the walls (or outside the playing area) and are as quite as possible.
The referee appoints a certain player that may try to steal the treasure. He sneaks to it and tries to remove it. If he manages to do so, he gets a point.
The pirate may defend itself by pointing in the direction of an approaching thief. If the direction is (roughly) correct, the thief is out of the game. Of course, the pirate may not just point aimlessly around ...
- Guardian game is quite similar, but its a tag game and can be played by larger groups. | <urn:uuid:8240cc01-aca2-4780-8d9e-d10f44a144e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.games-wiki.org/wiki/Blind_pirate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971809 | 245 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Arizona’s chief financial regulator may ask state lawmakers to cap how much lenders can hike the interest on adjustable rate mortgages.
Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of the state Department of Financial Resources, said she and Fred Karnas, director of the Arizona Department of Housing, have been meeting with some major banks to convince them to work with borrowers who are in trouble rather than simply foreclose on their homes.
Karnas said the problem for many are those adjustable mortgages.
The introductory interest rate they got when they bought their home is going away, being replaced by something that now puts payments out of the reach of the home-owners.
Rotellini said the banks “have all assured us that they’re working with their borrowers to do work-outs and have flexibility in interest rates, in the terms that they are willing to negotiate.”
But Rotellini, who acknowledged many of the loans are in the hands of national companies, said that may not be enough. She said her agency is investigating legislation which would freeze the interest on those adjustable mortgages at current rates.
“I don’t think you could do anything without changing the law,” she said.
Getting the measure through the Legislature might be the least of Rotellini’s problems: The state constitution has a specific provision barring enactment of any “law impairing the obligations of a contract.” And
the mortgage deals signed by borrowers are contracts.
The efforts come as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just this week negotiated a deal with four major lenders who deal largely in “subprime” mortgages to maintain the lower introductory interest for at least some of their customers. | <urn:uuid:54de18ff-3434-463b-a9db-0baed68275e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/article_f01c2d6c-42ad-5bc0-88d2-d60e251d753e.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968884 | 348 | 1.578125 | 2 |
At Mad Fiber, all we do is make bicycle wheels—the most technically advanced, drool-worthy wheels in the world.
This is an almost complete reboot of the bicycle wheel—an entirely different concept, and an entirely different way of building wheels. It wasn’t something that could be done at an existing facility—we needed fresh blood, and a whole new way of manufacturing. So we started our own company to do it, and rounded up some really smart guys, with exceedingly sharp pencils, some serious computational chops and manufacturing know-how.
It also doesn’t hurt that we’re in Seattle, and able to make use of the region’s vast technology manufacturing base that exists to support Boeing. We exploit local Boeing sub-contractors for some parts production, but Mad Fibers are entirely American-made, built in a nearly 100-year-old converted bakery building where we now cook up the world’s tastiest bicycle wheels. | <urn:uuid:bec267c4-0679-499f-9bb8-c8e19ff106df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wiggle.com.au/mad-fiber/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937679 | 201 | 1.625 | 2 |
After almost 50 years, the moment is remembered as clearly as if it were a scene under glass, lovingly preserved.
The woman was in a coma. Suffering from a virulent meningitis, her death was certain. But can we try a new medicine I`ve been reading about, something called an antibiotic? begged a young intern standing over her hospital bed.
FOR THE RECORD - ******UNPUBLISHED CORRECTION:******
Danielle Steel's name is misspelled in this article.
Why bother, the older physicians responded. But they figured no harm could come to the woman who was close to dying, and they gave their permission.
The intern managed to obtain the precious antibiotic. Crushing it by the handful, he mixed it with orange juice, feeding it to the unconscious patient through a stomach tube. And he waited.
Twenty-four hours later, the woman opened her eyes. Within a week, she walked out of the Washington, D.C., hospital.
One of the staff doctors approached the intern. No matter what else you ever do, he told the intern, you always will be able to say you saved a life. Little did either of them know that the act of compassion would set the stage for the rest of intern Robert Kassan`s career.
Since he was graduated from George Washington University Medical School in 1936, Dr. Robert ``Jack`` Kassan has distinguished himself not only in the research laboratory or the operating room, but also in the doctor`s office. He is one physician who never forgot that he ministered not to a body but to the soul that inhabited it.
On his official resume, the ``Medical Practice`` heading is brief. After serving as chief of medical services at the U.S. Military Academy, in 1945, he opened his own practice in White Plains, N.Y., where he remained until he retired in 1981.
But under ``Organizational and Other Activities, `` the list grows long: president of the Southeast Florida Branch of the Arthritis Foundation, the foundation`s Volunteer of the Year in Florida, member of the board of directors of the Broward County Area Agency, a member of the Broward Senior Hall of Fame and a member of the advisory committee for St. John`s Rehabilitation Hospital in Lauderdale Lakes.
Is this man ever home?
``Rarely,`` said Rosalind Kassan, his wife of 43 years who sometimes, it seems, needs to make an appointment to see the doctor with whom she shares a Palm-Aire condominium.
But would she change him? Hardly.
``I`m thrilled with the honors that he`s received,`` she said.
At least all this activity is nothing new. Kassan was an active volunteer almost from the moment he stepped out of medical school. A member of the American Rheumatism Association since 1950, he also ran a volunteer arthritis clinic at the White Plains Hospital for 25 years.
Actually, the reason Kassan became interested in rheumatology involved helping others. Beginning his practice in internal medicine, many of his patients complained of arthritis pain.
Said Kassan: ``There wasn`t a lot known about arthritis in those days. I hated people having to be told, `You have arthritis, learn to live with it,` or, `You`re an old person, what do you expect?` ``
After several years of advanced studies and a fellowship, Kassan moved exclusively into rheumatology, a field he still finds challenging.
``Most of what we`ve learned about arthritis, we`ve learned in recent years. Now there is no case of arthritis for which something cannot be done,`` he said.
And cases abound. According to the Arthritis Foundation, nearly every American will suffer from one of the more than 120 types of the disease within their lifetimes. Even Kassan has been plagued for the past 10 years with an arthritic back, which finally made him give up golf.
Since his retirement and move to Pompano Beach five years ago (arthritis also played a role in Kassan`s choice of a new home), the doctor has devoted himself to public education. He has become almost a full-time, non-salaried staff member at the foundation`s Broward office, giving lectures and teaching an arthritis self-management course, in which he is a certified instructor.
His work with the foundation prompted the Broward Area Agency on Aging to name him to its Senior Hall of Fame this year.
His latest venture brings him back to the role he loves: a doctor. The Medivan is his new office, a recreational vehicle turned into a clinic, which makes house calls to lower-income senior citizens.
Kassan is one of 14 volunteer physicians who work up to eight hours a week on the van, which is administered and financed by the private, non-profit Elderly Interest Fund.
Because he never was licensed to practice in Florida and because the van has not yet received a limited license, Kassan finds himself working in the same capacity as a medical intern, as he did when he was a student 50 years ago.
Kassan doesn`t mind. The concept is wonderful, he said, and being a mobile physician ``is a very rewarding type of work.``
``There is a tremendous need and I think Medivan will be a role model for the nation.``
Volunteer physician and lecturer | <urn:uuid:2dc56c6e-d6b0-45a0-992f-c6561f55be76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-10-05/news/8602280818_1_arthritis-foundation-volunteer-intern | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974843 | 1,131 | 1.796875 | 2 |
By David Benoit
A wood-pellet salesman claims he has a nearly 10-year-old piece of paper that gives him control of half of Facebook. Facebook’s lawyers today say the paper only looks that old because he likely hung it up with clothespins to expose it to light and make to look older.
The lawyers, seeking to dismiss the case, call the document a fraud.
Paul Ceglia, the wood-pellet salesman, has sued Mark Zuckerberg in a case in Buffalo, N.Y. saying an alleged contract the two signed when Zuckerberg was a freshman at Harvard resulted in Ceglia paying him seed money that was used to create Facebook.
Over at Digits, there’s a story about Zuckerberg’s Harvard era emails being released as part of the new filing today.
In another one of the interesting parts of the filing, Facebook went through an extensive forensic analysis of the alleged contract Ceglia handed over.
The company claims the contract was “baked” by hanging it out to the light to make it look older, and actually it was over baked because the front and back are different colors and the pages were “unusually stiff.”
The lawyers go as far as to point out the evidence from true CSI technology: a black-light picture. The image shows there are small rectangular tabs that are not discolored at the top of the document, which the lawyers allege “strongly indicates that Ceglia hung the document up to the light using clips or clothespins.”
UPDATE: A Ceglia attorney has provided this comment to WSJ: “We have made a preliminary review of Facebook’s Motion, which attempts to have this matter ended before Facebook has to provide any discovery and before going to a jury…Mr. Ceglia deserves his day in court, where the jury will resolve this dispute over the ownership of Facebook.”
It may seem like a lot of back and forth over a piece of paper, but that “aged” document could be worth some $50 billion if the company gets the $100 billion IPO that is expected. | <urn:uuid:34ec0e38-d8b5-4528-bf0a-2d02ede86e6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/26/facebook-alleged-zuckerberg-contract-with-ceglia-was-baked/?mod=msn_money_ticker&industry=IND_BANKING&isub= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971146 | 445 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Industry experts with a vast array of expertise will converge at World Dairy Expo to help increase dairy operations profitability and efficiency as part of the 2011 Expo Seminars. Eight free seminars will be offered during the week of October 4 through 8 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. Learn more about: Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy, genomic testing, communicating with consumers, robotic milking, calf nutrition, somatic cell counts, feed costs and carbon emissions.
Seminars will be showcased each day, Tuesday through Saturday, in the Mendota 2 meeting room, in the Exhibition Hall. APC, Inc., Aspen Dairy Solutions, Badgerland Financial, BASF Plant Science, Dairy Management Inc., DeLaval, Jamesway and Select Sires, Inc. are sponsors of this year's seminars. Following is a brief synopsis of each Expo Seminar.
Tuesday, October 4, 1:00 p.m.
“Is Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) for Dairy Right for Your Dairy”
Dr. Chad Hart, Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
Sponsored by: Badgerland Financial
Milk and feed prices continue to be more volatile than ever. Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy) is an insurance product for dairy producers that is being offered through the Federal Crop Insurance Program. This insurance helps producers protect against price volatility. The product can be used for price protection for both milk and feed prices. Dr. Chad Hart will explain the product, federal subsidies and the rules that apply. In addition, he will explain government interactions with the producers using the program. Hart is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University. In addition, he is a partner in FarmRisk, an Iowa firm that develops revenue insurance products, including Livestock Gross Margin.
Wednesday, October 5, 11:00 a.m.
“Making Genomic Testing Work for You”
Dr. Tom Lawlor, Director, Research and Development, Holstein Association USA
Sponsored by: Select Sires, Inc.
Genomic testing is evolving quickly and becoming a more cost effective process. New options in genomic testing include 3K, 50K and High Density. Dr. Tom Lawlor will explain how these different levels of genomic information can be utilized to identify high-end breeding stock, as well as, low-end animals to be culled. Additionally, he will outline which animals you should consider testing, what the results can tell you and how to implement a test protocol for your herd. Lawlor has worked in the dairy cattle breeding and genetics industry for over 25 years. Prior to working at Holstein Association USA, he was employed at the USDA Animal Improvement Lab in Maryland and as an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut. Lawlor was the 2009 recipient of the American Dairy Science Association’s J. L. Lush Award in animal breeding and genetics.
Wednesday, October 5, 1:00 p.m.
“Leading the Conversation”
Jane Hillstrom, President, Hillstrom Communications
Michele Ruby, President, Ruby-Do, Inc.
Sponsored by: Dairy Management Inc.
People want to know where their food comes from and if it is safe. Answering tough consumer questions can be challenging. Jane Hillstrom and Michele Ruby will lead an interactive workshop to help producers develop their skills to better connect with their neighbors, communities and consumers. Learn how to lead conversations in a positive and effective way with research-based, consumer-tested messages. Come prepared to roll up your sleeves and be part of a working session! Jane Hillstrom is the president of Hillstrom Communications where she has worked with a variety of clients including Dairy Management Inc., Packerland Packing, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Dairy Export Council, National Milk Producers Federation, Culver Franchising Incorporated, Land O’ Lakes and others. Michele Ruby is the president of Ruby-Do, Inc. and has the opportunity to spearhead the development of the Dairy Farming Today website and help producers develop their dairy’s stories. Both have extensive experience leading workshops and training, writing articles, presentations and developing messaging for production agriculture to effectively communicate with consumers.
Thursday, October 6, 11:00 a.m.
“Automatic Milking: Current Status and Future Options”
Dr. Douglas Reinemann, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sponsored by: DeLaval
A new wave of automated milking technology has emerged. Dr. Douglas Reinemann will introduce a range of automatic milking technology that is now available in the U.S. and new innovations that will become available. He will also review the latest field results on milk quality in automatic milking and give recommendations on facilities and building design. Furthermore, Reinemann will outline the best management practices for automated milking and share survey results from current users. Reinemann has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Biological Systems Engineering Department for the past two decades. During his tenure, he has directed the activities of the UW Milking Research and Instruction Lab, and he has served as the U.S. representative and Chair of the International Dairy Federation’s working group on machine milking and the U.S. representative to the International Standards Organization committees on milking machine performance and installation, and automatic milking installations.
Thursday, October 6, 1:00 p.m.
“Baby Calf Nutrition: Getting Your Future Off to a Good Start”
Dr. James Drackley, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sponsored by: APC, Inc.
Proper nutrition during the first few weeks of life is essential to keep a newborn calf healthy and growing. Recent evidence indicates that complete nutrition is a critical determinant of future milk production, and possibly longevity in the herd, making the first two weeks of life critical for future herd performance. Managing the transition from milk to solid feeds is a second critical point in the animal’s life. Dr. James Drackley will provide background information and practical guidelines for managing these important phases of heifer rearing. Drackley is professor of Animal Sciences and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his tenure, his research has been focused on nutrition and metabolism of dairy cows during the transition from dry period to lactation, fat feeding and metabolism, and aspects of calf nutrition and management. Drackley has published extensively and received numerous professional awards.
Friday, October 7, 11:00 a.m.
“Managing Your Margins: Practical Ways to Reduce Feed Costs and Increase Milk Price”
Dr. Normand St-Pierre, Professor, The Ohio State University
Sponsored by: BASF Plant Science
Feeding the dairy herd and replacements is the single most expensive part of any dairy operation. Corn and soybean prices, along with milk prices, continue to fluctuate, making it difficult to manage price margins. There are strategies and tactics that can help your bottom line through good and bad times, other than finding cheaper corn. Dr. Normand St-Pierre will outline ways producers can improve the margin between milk income and total herd feed costs without even using futures markets. St-Pierre is professor of Animal Sciences at the Ohio State University. He is currently conducting research and extension programs in the areas of dairy farm management, information processing, decision support systems and nutritional economics and optimization. St-Pierre has published over 300 articles in various publications and has received numerous awards for his research and extension work.
Friday, October 7, 1:00 p.m.
“Improve Your SCC, 400K Beat It!”
Dr. Ynte Hein Schukken, Professor and Director Quality Milk Production Services, Cornell University
Sponsored by: Aspen Dairy Solutions
As new regulations in milk quality are being set in place, controlling somatic cell count will become more important than ever. Dr. Ynte Schukken will discuss the best management practices for milk quality with a focus on somatic cell counts. The benefits of a lower SCC will be presented and a quick calculator to estimate the benefits to be gained from improved milk quality will be presented. He will also share a novel program to reduce cell counts on your farm that has had very successful results. Schukken is a professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. His research focuses on population dynamics of infectious diseases, udder health and statistical and mathematical models for animal disease research. Schukken was also honored with the Outstanding Scientist Award in 2002 by the American Dairy Science Association.
Saturday, October 8, 11:00 a.m.
"Dairies, Air Quality & Climate Change – Where the Industry Stands"
Dr. Frank Mitloener, Associate Professor and Air Quality Extension Specialist, University of California-Davis
Sponsored by: Jamesway
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about the impact dairy farming has on the environment especially with regards to air quality. Carbon footprinting is quickly becoming a standard to measure the impact items have on the environment and could force even stricter regulations for producers. Dr. Mitloehner will discuss the most recent findings as they relate to the impacts of the dairy industry on air quality and climate change. He will summarize the most recent regional, national and international efforts to quantify and mitigate emissions, as well as the latest developments in the area of dairies and air quality regulation and litigation. Mitloehner is an associate professor and Air Quality Specialist in Cooperative Extension at UC-Davis. He serves as principle investigator of a broad range of air emission and mitigation studies and has authored 50 publications in refereed journals. He serves as Director of the UC Davis Agricultural Air Quality Center.
Source: World Dairy Expo | <urn:uuid:41164129-e702-4c88-a968-97ec1182c6d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/events/Expo-seminars-showcase-latest-research-121265309.html?view=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941399 | 2,058 | 1.75 | 2 |
On April 26, the Senate passed a strong, bipartisan Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization by a bipartisan vote of 68 to 31, which upholds the traditions of VAWA Reauthorizations of being bipartisan and working to ensure all victims of domestic and sexual violence should be protected.
By sharp contrast on May 16th, 2012, the House passed H.R. 4970, a controversial House GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization that fails to include many of the protections in the Senate bill and also rolls back current protections. A manager's amendment made a few modest changes in the area of immigrant victims - but even with the manager's amendment, the GOP version remains a partisan bill that rolls back key protections in current law for many domestic violence victims, making them less safe.
The GOP bill rolls back certain long-standing VAWA protections that help promote the safety of battered immigrant victims:
- Weakens protections for battered immigrant spouses legally here, under the “self-petition” provisions in VAWA since 1994. For example, even with the manager's amendment, the bill will delay and deny protection for many spouses, adding new layers of bureaucracy that will slow down their efforts to obtain independent status and potentially make them less safe.
- Fundamentally weakens the U visa program, which was created in VAWA in 2000 to encourage immigrant victims of crime to report and help prosecute serious criminal activity. The bill discourages victims from cooperating, fearing that doing so could lead to deportation, by removing the opportunity of most victims to apply to become permanent residents.
The GOP bill fails:
- to include key provisions, which are included in the Senate-passed bill, to protect the LGBT community. Recent studies show that LGBT victims of domestic violence face discrimination when accessing services. The provisions in the Senate bill are responsive to the real needs of real victims and have the support of law enforcement and service providers around the country.
- to include many of the key provisions in the Senate bill to protect Native American women, including provisions providing concurrent tribal jurisdiction over those who assault Indian spouses and dating partners in Indian country.
- to include provisions in the Senate bill to allow law enforcement to request up to 5,000 additional U visas a year for immigrant victims helping law enforcement prosecute sexual assault, domestic violence and other serious crimes.
The GOP bill, as modified by the manager's amendment, is opposed by more than 100 organizations, including National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Organization for Women, American Bar Association, National Council of La Raza, and U.S. Conference of Mayors. The Administration has also issued a veto threat on the bill.
Rolls Back Current Protections for Domestic Violence Victims
Undermines Key Protections for Battered Immigrant Spouses, Under the VAWA “Self-Petition” Program
- Batterers often compound the physical or mental abuse of their immigrant spouses with threats of deportation. To protect these vulnerable victims and encourage them to report crime, the VAWA self-petition for immigration status was created in 1994 in the original Violence Against Women Act.
- The VAWA self-petition process allows battered immigrants, who are living legally within the United States as the spouse of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, to petition for independent legal status without relying on their abusive spouse as a sponsor.
- The manager's amendment makes some changes in this part of the bill, but fails to eliminate many of the rollbacks in the GOP bill, which can make women less safe. The bill still significantly tips the scales in favor of abusers by eliminating one of the most crucial protections for battered women in current law - that statements provided by abusers must be corroborated before they can be used to deny petitions by battered immigrants.
- Secondly, the bill still contains several provisions that can delay and deny protection to many battered spouses, including staying adjudications during pending prosecutions; and adding a whole new level of bureaucracy by requiring that two separate adjudicators work on each case and that two separate interviews be conducted with the victim. In these cases, delay can actually endanger a woman's life.
Undermines the VAWA U Visa Program, Which Protects Immigrant Victims of Serious Crimes
- The U Visa was created in VAWA 2000 to encourage immigrant victims of serious crimes to report and help prosecute the criminal activity. Under current law, the U Visa program allows law enforcement officials to request up to 10,000 visas each year for victims who are helping to investigate and prosecute serious crimes. The U Visa program has always been strongly supported by law enforcement, including the Fraternal Order of Police, National Sheriffs' Association, National District Attorneys Association, and National Association of Attorneys General.
- The House GOP bill fundamentally undermines the U visa program, by turning the U visa into a temporary visa for most immigrants:
- Current law allows U visa recipients to apply to become permanent residents. This provision has been part of the U visa program from the beginning and has had bipartisan support.
- The original GOP bill prevented all women with U visas from applying for permanent residency. Under the manager's amendment, the vast majority of immigrant women will still be unable to apply for permanent residency; it would only be those who meet all three of the following criteria: 1) the perpetrator was actually convicted of the serious crime for which the U visa was granted; 2) the perpetrator is an immigrant from the same country as the victim; and 3) the perpetrator has already been deported to the same country to which the victim would have to return after expiration of the U visa.
- By removing this opportunity, victims will not have the incentive to voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement in dangerous criminal investigations, and in fact may be discouraged from cooperating, fearing that doing so would lead to deportation.
GOP Bill FAILS to Include Many of the Key Provisions, Included in Bipartisan Senate Bill, To Protect Native American Women
- Women in tribal communities experience domestic violence at rates far higher than the general population, often at the hands of non-Indian men. Indeed, well over 50 percent of all Native American women are married to or live with a non-Indian.
- Currently, many of these domestic violence crimes go unprosecuted because tribal courts do not have jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indian defendants. Additionally, federal and state law enforcement and prosecutors have limited resources and may be located hours away. As a result, non-Indian perpetrators regularly go unpunished, and their violence continues.
- Unfortunately, this House GOP bill fails to include many of the key provisions in the Senate-passed bill that fill this jurisdictional gap by narrowly expanding concurrent tribal criminal jurisdiction over those who assault Indian spouses and dating partners in Indian country, in specified circumstances and with significant protections for the rights of defendants.
- Furthermore, the manager's amendment actually includes provisions that will make Native Americans LESS safe. The National Congress of American Indians has sent a letter to Congress, stating, “[The manager's amendment] includes a dangerous new provision that has the potential to further undermine the safety and autonomy of victims in Indian Country. … [It] would allow tribal governments to seek a protection order from the federal government regardless of the wishes of the victims. This runs contrary to one of the foundational principles of VAWA, which has always encouraged and supported victim-centered responses that help restore autonomy and control to battered women.”
GOP Bill FAILS to Include Key Provisions, Included in Bipartisan Senate Bill, to Protect LGBT Community
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered victims experience domestic violence in 25-35 percent of relationships - the same rate as the general population.
- Recent studies show that LGBT victims face discrimination when accessing services. For example, 45 percent of LGBT victims were turned away when they sought help from a domestic violence shelter, according to a 2010 survey, and nearly 55 percent were denied protection orders.
- Unfortunately, this House GOP bill fails to include key provisions in the Senate-passed bill that would better ensure equal justice under the law to LGBT victims, including prohibiting any VAWA-funded program from discriminating against anyone based on their sexual orientation and explicitly including the LGBT community in the “STOP Grant program” that provides funds to domestic violence service providers.
- The Senate bill's provisions were developed by service providers. As Cindy Dyer, former director of the Office on Violence Against Women in the Bush Administration stated, “It is imperative that police and prosecutors are able to protect all victims of intimate partner violence. Failing to provide services to, obtain protective orders for, or prosecute the cases of victims simply because of their sexual orientation is a dangerous practice.” Despite House GOP claims, these provisions are not political.
GOP Bill FAILS to Include Key Provisions, Included in Bipartisan Senate Bill, to Increase Number of U Visas
- The U Visa program allows law enforcement to request visas for victims who are helping them investigate serious crimes. The Senate bill allows for up to 5,000 additional visas to be drawn each year, at law enforcement request, from a pool of previously authorized but never issued U Visas.
- Law enforcement requested this modest increase because the current cap of 10,000 has been reached the past two years, making it more difficult for police and prosecutors to pursue cases against dangerous perpetrators that they could otherwise reach. Unfortunately, this House GOP bill fails to include these key provisions in the Senate bill granting this increase requested by law enforcement.
- The increase in U visas is supported by such organizations as Fraternal Order of Police, National Sheriffs' Association, National District Attorneys Association, and National Association of Attorneys General.
- The Fraternal Order of Police points out, “U visas are an invaluable tool that allow law enforcement to do its job more effectively and makes it easier to pursue prosecution of criminals. Furthermore, the expansion of the U visa will provide incalculable benefits to our citizens and our communities at a negligible cost.”
More Than 100 Organizations Oppose the House GOP Bill
More than 100 organizations oppose the House GOP bill, including such groups as the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Break the Cycle, Legal Momentum, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, YWCA USA, AAUW, Business and Professional Women's Foundation, National Women's Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, American Bar Association, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, Human Rights Campaign, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and National Congress of American Indians.
The National Association of Evangelicals is opposed to the immigrant provisions in the bill. | <urn:uuid:4bd9aa19-234d-4bf0-b12d-66931f7d02c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.democraticleader.gov/floor?id=0280&qt-photos_video=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945092 | 2,231 | 1.742188 | 2 |
(RNN) - You may have the luxury of seeing a hurricane coming, but that doesn't mean you can wait until it arrives to prepare. Planning for a hurricane days before it arrives will keep you and your family safe.
According to ready.gov, the first things you should do are build an emergency kit, make a family communications plan and know your evacuation routes.
Some people choose to weather hurricanes and tropical storms at home, but if you change your mind or are forcibly evacuated, you need to know your evacuation plan. Included in it should be where to go, where to take shelter and when to leave so you don't get stuck in traffic or the storm itself while on the road.
Know where higher ground is located in case of flooding, which is a major risk with tropical storms and hurricanes, and know if your home is prone to flooding or is in a low-lying area.
Ready.gov advises there are a few simple things you can do around your home to prevent damage:
Cover all of your home's windows, either with storm shutters or 5/8" marine plywood, cut to fit and ready to install. Tape will not prevent your windows from breaking.
Install straps or additional clips to securely fasten your roof to the frame of your home.
Reinforce your garage doors.
Anything outside that is not tied down should be brought inside.
Unclog or clear all outdoor drains, rain gutters and downspouts.
Secure your home.
Lastly, you should check your insurance and make sure you have flood coverage. The days before a hurricane is too late, so you should prepare your insurance well ahead of time. Once a year, look over your insurance policies and make sure all of your important documents, such as passports or birth certificates, are in a waterproof container within easy reach of your emergency and evacuation kit.
Copyright 2012 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
Workers are set to begin demolishing perhaps the most famous symbol of Superstorm Sandy's devastation along New Jersey's shoreline.More >>
Riding the Jet Star roller coaster as a girl vacationing at the Jersey shore, Nicole Jones said there was always that one breath-catching moment when the passenger cars swerved toward the ocean, as if threatening to dump...More >>
Tuesday, April 30 2013 10:45 AM EDT2013-04-30 14:45:27 GMT
Six months since the Superstorm Sandy hit Connecticut's shores and tore down a number of homes in Milford this past November, the cleanup efforts continued Monday. Crooked porches, hanging roofs and bustedMore >>
Six months since Superstorm Sandy hit Connecticut's shores and tore down a number of homes in Milford this past November, the cleanup efforts continued Monday.More >>
Friday, April 26 2013 7:03 AM EDT2013-04-26 11:03:49 GMT
(RNN) - Most natural disasters come as a surprise to all homeowners, but not being covered can be surprising and costly when you aren't sufficiently insured. One major insurance company is aiding homeownersMore >>
For homeowners, the instance of having insurance is not the only part in being prepared for severe weather when it strikes.More >>
Monday, April 15 2013 9:06 PM EDT2013-04-16 01:06:27 GMT
A new audit released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor says the state could be on the hook for hundreds of millions in disaster relief payback. The money was supposed to help property ownersMore >>
A new audit released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor says the state could be on the hook for hundreds of millions in disaster relief payback. The money was supposed to help property owners recover from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.More >>
Monday, April 8 2013 7:09 PM EDT2013-04-08 23:09:50 GMT
MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Hurricane Season officially starts June 1st, but emergency management and disaster relief organizations are already hard at work getting ready for the season, saying the riskMore >>
Hurricane Season officially starts June 1st, but emergency management and disaster relief organizations are already hard at work getting ready for the season, saying the risk of a big storm is always there.More >>
(RNN) - As Hurricane Sandy continues its roll towards the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, people in some of the nation's most populated cities have either evacuated hunkered down to ride out what has becomeMore >>
Sandy, no longer a hurricane, has made landfall along the southern coast of New Jersey. More >>
Sunday, October 28 2012 7:34 PM EDT2012-10-28 23:34:19 GMT
You may have the luxury of seeing a hurricane coming, but that doesn't mean you can wait until it arrives to prepare. Days before a hurricane arrives you should plan for the major weather event to keepMore >>
Days before a hurricane arrives you should plan for the major weather event to keep you and your family safe.More >>
Thursday, August 30 2012 1:35 AM EDT2012-08-30 05:35:36 GMT
(RNN) - After crashing into southern Louisiana Tuesday evening, Hurricane Isaac erratically continues its course across several southern states, bringing torrential rain and power outages to areas in its path. AlthoughMore >>
Hurricane Isaac continues to dump double-digits of rain over some parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. More >> | <urn:uuid:3cd7a180-caa6-4a69-8517-f5451e95cecb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wistv.com/story/18639296/hurricane-preparedness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950966 | 1,118 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Updated, 5:27 p.m. | The notion that New York’s Jewish electorate could be easily characterized has long been debatable. But the looming primary election on Tuesday is raising new speculation about how strongly Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama will appeal to Jewish Democrats.
“I don’t speak for the Jewish community,” said former Mayor Edward I. Koch, “and nobody speaks for the Jewish community. The Jews, individually, speak for themselves.”
And though these days he, himself, is speaking up for Senator Clinton, Mr. Koch acknowledges that “lots of people — Jews and others — will be voting for Barack.”
Indeed, “it’s almost an embarrassment of riches for the Jewish voter,” said Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “Perhaps there is a certain amount of distress that they have to choose between the two, because they are both enormously appealing to the Jewish community.”
He added, “It is a very exciting time for us, because I think the Jewish primary vote in the New York area is up for grabs in the next five days.”
To Sid Davidoff, a senior partner at one of New York’s largest lobbying firms who is not working for either of the campaigns, “I think there is going to be a split between established older voters in the Jewish community, with whom Hillary will do well, and younger and more liberal Jews who see Obama as an agent of change.”
Although it would seem likely that Senator Clinton might capture the larger share of voters in her stronghold state, including Jews, even the slightest shift in Jewish support is a subject of interest. Some local blogs recently claimed that Councilman Simcha Felder of Brooklyn had switched his support to Senator Obama from Senator Clinton.
A spokesman for the councilman, Eric Kuo, said Thursday that Mr. Felder has not campaigned for either candidate, or previously announced support. Then, during a radio program on Tuesday night, according to Mr. Kuo, Councilman Felder said that he would be voting for Senator Obama.
An important reason for such intense scrutiny is that “the Jewish community tends to vote, and make contributions, far in excess of its proportion of the population,” said Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of Jewish Week, the nation’s largest Jewish weekly.
Exit polls from the 2006 New York governor’s race showed 87 percent of the Jewish population voting Democratic and 12 percent voting Republican; in the 2004 exit polls, about 8 percent of the New York vote was Jewish. A phenomenal 83 percent of voting-age Jewish adults were registered to vote — some 863,000 people — in the five boroughs of New York City plus Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, according to a U.J.A. Federation of New York report in 2002 that was released in 2004.
Not everyone is being swept away by the primary deadline, of course.
“Generally speaking, I am suspicious of all politicians on the Jewish issue,” said Marvin Kitman, a media critic for The Huffington Post. “With friends like them we don’t need enemies. The basic question we of the Hebrew persuasion tend to ask on all issues, whether it is the Giants in the Super Bowl, or Amy Winehouse, or global warming, is: Is it good or bad for the Jews?”
This week, trying to make it clear that he is good for the Jews, Senator Obama answered questions from reporters at Jewish news outlets in a conference call. His aim was to counter concerns about his positions on issues like his hope for a dialogue with Iran, saying that the control of nuclear weapons by Iran would be a threat to Israeli and United States interests. He added that he had long spoken against anti-Semitism, and had always denounced the views of Louis Farrakhan.
In the Senate, Senator Obama backed Israel during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in the Monday conference call he said that Palestinians must control terrorist activity and violent anti-Israel actions before Israel should make concessions.
Both senators “are supportive of Israel, and few question that,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nonprofit group that promotes consensus among Jewish groups and oversees the Israel Advocacy Initiative, which tries to communicate pro-Israel views.
The American Jewish Committee and other Jewish groups have criticized a campaign of e-mails that made false claims that Senator Obama was, among other things, a secret Muslim. (He is a Christian who has attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago since the 1980s.)
“I think Obama has dealt effectively with those rumors that he is really a secret agent,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
And to Rabbi Hirsch, “Most Jews are too sophisticated to fall for that garbage,” he said, adding, “It’s almost embarrassing that there would be an attempt to sway us in that manner.”
As for Senator Clinton, “I don’t think the Suha issue has any resonance anymore,” Mr. Koch said. In 1999, Mrs. Clinton attended an event in Ramallah where the wife of Yasir Arafat, Suha, accused Israel of poisoning Palestinian women and children with toxic gases. Mrs. Clinton listened with obvious discomfort but left politely, giving Mrs. Arafat a kiss.
Mrs. Arafat’s remarks were denounced by Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel, and in New York, Mrs. Clinton was criticized in newspaper editorials and by several groups for her silence and the kiss. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, then a possible Senate candidate, sharply attacked her.
Mr. Koch added: “I said that Suha wasn’t an issue in a Hillary commercial then. And I’d say it again in a commercial now if she asked me.”
Both senators are still looking for endorsements, and hoping that the ones they have will influence Tuesday’s vote. “Both Hillary and Obama have prominent people in the Jewish community supporting them,” Mr. Rosenblatt said.
Aside from Mr. Koch, prominent Jewish politicians supporting Mrs. Clinton include New York’s other senator, Charles E. Schumer; Senator Dianne Feinstein of California; and Representatives Gary L. Ackerman of Queens, Eliot L. Engel of the Bronx, Jerrold L. Nadler of Manhattan and Anthony D. Weiner of Queens and Brooklyn.
Among Senator Obama’s supporters are several Jewish members of Congress: Representatives Steve Rothman of New Jersey, Adam B. Schiff of California, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Robert Wexler of Florida.
Although the candidates have focused on public appearances in other states, “my sense is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for both candidates in the Jewish community, and that both represent an important breakthrough in American political and social life,” Rabbi Hirsch said.
He added: “The community was disproportionately active in favor of the civil-rights movement, and so the prospect of an African-American president is enormously moving for the Jewish community. But then, the prospect of a woman president is also very moving for the Jewish community.”
In the American Jewish Committee’s national Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 70 percent of Jewish Democrats said they had a favorable opinion of Senator Clinton, in comparison with 45 percent for Senator Obama. The telephone poll in November studied 1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents in a sample that had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
A victory in New York’s Jewish community for Senator Obama would be remarkable. “In the Chicago community Jewish voters know Obama well and like him,” said Malcolm I. Hoenlein, vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization that focuses on Jewish issues. “But in New York, Jewish voters don’t know him well.”
None would predict who would sway Jewish voters on Tuesday. “I think that the Jewish vote is supporting Hillary at this point,” Mr. Davidoff said. “But Obama has the buzz. And with the primary less than a week away, this is very volatile.”
Read more Primary Journal blog entries from the New York region. | <urn:uuid:db27e739-8b82-4985-913c-11f2d4c78c39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/clinton-obama-and-the-jews/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961456 | 1,761 | 1.5625 | 2 |
I’m going to venture a guess that some of the most photographed moments in life are birthday parties. We’re using our phones to snap pictures of our kids, friends, and relatives on their special day, but when the cake comes out and the lights go dim, picture quality decreases into a grainy, blurry mess. Sony wants to help clean up this mess. Yesterday it announced new censors built specifically for cell phones that will bring white-light detectors into the picture (literally). White light detectors help a camera make out what lurks in the shadows of your shot. From the BBC: “Although white-light sensing pixels cannot distinguish colour, they have a higher sensitivity to light across the entire visible spectrum thanks in part to the fact they do not have a colour filter covering them.” I know, this sounds like I’m trying to feed you a fork-full of science, and maybe I am, but even if you don’t care about white-light sensors and you’re drinking your coffee thinking “oh, he’s all pixel this and pixel that,” just think about how much better your life will be when you capture and post a photo-set of granny singing happy birthday just as her dentures are decide to come loose.
Speaking of your phone and pictures, the new, tell-all Apple book, “Inside Apple”, says that one of the three things Steve Jobs really wanted to revolutionize was photography (TV and textbooks were the others). The book says he contacted and had a meeting with Ren Ng, CEO of Lytro, the camera that everybody’s been going bananas over for the past year. The same camera that lets you change the focus of your picture after you’ve snapped it. Mac Rumors quotes from the book about a meeting Ng had with Jobs: “Ng, who is thirty-two, hurried to Palo Alto, showed Jobs a demo of Lytro’s technology, discussed cameras and product design with him, and, at Jobs’s request, agreed to send him an email outlining three things he’d like Lytro to do with Apple.” So, add focus-later cameras to the list of possibilities for the iPhone 5. | <urn:uuid:9e0ca7aa-5da8-425e-9d0c-8d6ca07d6085> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/tech-report-blog/low-light-solutions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956881 | 469 | 1.734375 | 2 |
NEW YORK, NY.-
A week of 20th Century Design sales at Sothebys
New York concluded, bringing in excess of $19 million. This represents the highest total for a week of Design sales at Sothebys New York since December 2003, achieved with less than one third of the total number of lots on offer. The week was led by an auction of nine masterworks by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, an original interior of furniture that had been in storage for nearly a quarter of a century. The sale brought $6,618,100, more than double its pre-sale high estimate.
16 December 2010
Ruhlmann: An Important Interior
The day began with a blockbuster sale of a rare interior of furniture by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, the legendary French Art Deco atelier. The nine masterworks on offer achieved $6,618,100 in total, more than double the pre-sale high estimate of $2.5 million*. The salesroom saw spirited bidding from an international audience both in the room and by phone on every lot in the sale. This competition drove the top lot, one of the two Ventru Sideboards offered, to $1,516,100, more than six times the high estimate. Together with its pair, which represent numbers two and three of the model produced by the atelier in 1929, the two lots brought $2,688,600. Additional highlights from the sale included a Vuillerme Dining Table and a Set of Twelve Cannelée Dining Chairs
that sold for $986,500 and $886,500 respectively, both more than double their high estimates.
The sale represents the first time in over ten years that such a complete interior of works by Ruhlmann has been offered at auction. Even more remarkable is the archive of documents preserved by the family that outlines the history of the commission. Correspondence with the atelier traces the customizing of each work, bills of sale and original certificates signed by Ruhlmann. The works, originally commissioned by an American family, have been in storage for nearly a quarter of a century. As a result, they remain in mostly original condition and finish, a prized trait among collectors that contributed to todays incredible result.
Important 20th Century Design
Immediately following the Ruhlmann auction was the sale of Important 20th Century Design, which brought $6,939,401 in total. The sale was led by two rare works by René Lalique from Property from an Important Midwestern Collection. A Highly Important "Figure Femme et Guirlande de Fleurs" Statuette, which sold for $602,500, is a unique work molded directly on a silver centerpiece from the London exhibitions of Laliques works that he organized in 1903 and 1905. A Highly Important "Baies de Cornouiller" Vase by Lalique from the same Midwestern Collection achieved $494,500, in excess of the high estimate.
Continuing the momentum for earlier in the morning, additional works by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann continued to perform well. A Pair of "Comfortable Redhead" Armchairs brought $410,500 and a "Bloch" Armchair sold for $146,500, both well in excess of their high estimates. Another highlight of the sale was A Rare "Calla Lily" Vase by Teco Art Pottery, whose $314,500 price set a new auction record for Teco, more than five times the previous one.
The afternoon auction of Important Tiffany gave a strong finish to the day. The sale achieved $5,583,375 in total, well in excess of the pre-sale high estimate of $3.6 million, and was more than 87% sold by lot. The auction was led by An Important and Rare Grape Table Lamp that brought $1,202,500, more than double its high estimate. The lamp was last offered at auction at Sothebys predecessor
Sotheby Park Bernet in 1980. Among the other highlights that far exceeded their estimates were A Superb "Laburnum" Table Lamp and An Important and Rare "Landscape" Floor Lamp that both sold for $842,500, as well as A "Daffodil" Table Lamp that achieved $512,500, more than seven times its high estimate.
14 December 2010
Fusion: Contemporary Art and Design
The week of sales began with an inaugural auction of Fusion; Contemporary Art and Design that brought $4,911,186, within the pre-sale estimate. The sale featured works that blurred the distinction between fine art and design, a phenomenon that has been a driving force in visual culture since World War II, and represented a unique collaboration between Sothebys Contemporary Art and 20th Century Design departments. Some of the works that best illustrate this theme include a Desk and Pair of Chairs by Donald Judd from the Collection of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen that sold for $98,500, a Pair of Granite Chairs by sculptor and performance artist Scott Burton that achieved $104,500, and an iconic Half Dollar Chair by designer Johnny Swing that brought $65,000.
*Pre-sale estimates do not include buyers premium | <urn:uuid:53bafa50-a85d-49e1-be29-bbee53e0163f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=43534&int_modo=1 | 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 | 0.956588 | 1,092 | 1.5 | 2 |
Resigned British agent is captured by people unknown and taken to a mysterious village.
"I am not a number, I am a free man!"
17 episodes of 60 minutes duration. An Everyman Films Production 1967 - 68.
Probably the most cultist and analysed show in television history. Ex 'Danger Man' star Patrick McGoohan was the British spy who resigned abruptly from his job, only to be kidnapped and transported by persons unknown to 'The Village', where everyone was known by number -and names were never used. It was the task of Number Two (a different actor each week), to discover why McGoohan (Number Six), resigned in the first place, and whilst Number Six remained persistently tight lipped for his reasons -so his interrogators would remain silent when asked the question "Who is Number One?"
The series was seen by many as a direct follow on from McGoohan's previous series in which he played secret agent John Drake, and although McGoohan himself insisted that it wasn't the same character, it has been suggested that this claim may have been made to avoid having to pay a hefty royalty to Danger Man creator Ralph Smart. There has always been dispute over who originally came up with the idea for 'The Prisoner', both McGoohan and script editor George Markstein laying claim. From the formers point of view, an isolation camp for British Agents who knew too much had figured in the Danger Man episode 'Colony Three', and it was whilst on location for this series that McGoohan discovered Portmeirion in South Wales, which featured as 'The Village'. However, whilst serving with Army Intelligence during the second World War, Markstein had supposedly discovered the existence of a remote Scottish castle which acted very much as an isolation centre for military personnel, whose knowledge of classified material made it impossible to allow them their freedom during such a sensitively dangerous period. (Many years after, Markstein would cite this as his prime inspiration for The Prisoner's core concept).
'The Prisoner' was a stylish production with the star as executive producer and very much in control of the direction the series took, indeed it was McGoohan himself who penned the final episode, "Fall Out" which promised to give all the answers -but ended up asking more questions. We never actually discovered who Number One was although at the beginning of each show when McGoohan asked the question, 'Who is Number One?' he received the reply, 'You, are Number Six'. Or could it have been "You are, Number Six!", for certainly in the final episode Number 6 actually removes a mask from the face of the supposed Number One -only to reveal himself underneath it. This would be a not-unreasonable assumption, given the fact that McGoohan exerted an almost draconian directorial control over every aspect of the series' production, although another possible candidate for the real identity of "Number One" could well have been the legendary Lew Grade (the managing director of ATV), since the show's star was always acutely aware that ultimately, the final fate of the series rested in Grade's near-all-powerful hands.
This of course is a prime example of the ambiguity that has kept fans of the series debating for years hence, even after (many years later) Patrick McGoohan claimed that his intention was for 'The Prisoner' to be an allegory in which the people, places and happenings hide a message, the message here being that we are all prisoners of ourselves. Of course no one would dispute the actors claims, however it should be noted that the series was planned for thirty six episodes but Grade refused to commission any past 17, therefore the ending may have been hastily written. One thing is for certain, "Fall Out" left many viewers at the time feeling confused and frustrated at the outcome. Years later in an interview with the Prisoner Appreciation Society, Six of One, McGoohan admitted that there was "-an outcry, I nearly got lynched and had to go into hiding."
These days 'The Prisoner' has a bigger following around the world than anyone could have imagined when it was first broadcast between 1967 and 1968. From time to time there have been rumours of an intended feature film, but to date nothing has transpired. (Although at the time of writing this original review it had been reported that a scriptwriter and production crew had been appointed, and McGoohan would also be involved in some executive position, six years later the project seems no closer to realisation). All the episodes are available on DVD and almost forty years on from their original broadcast they stand up well to the test of time.
By turns infuriating, complex, oblique and thought provoking, 'The Prisoner' stands, even today, as a perfect example of original and entertaining television story telling, as well as the almost overpowering need of one complexly gifted man to challenge the limits of a too often ephemeral and trivial medium. 'The Prisoner' is highly recommended...be seeing you!
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Return to Top of Page | <urn:uuid:9afebb24-077c-4602-bae4-0a608dcbf2e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/prisoner.htm | 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 | 0.981955 | 1,039 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The Three Hebrew Boys
Social Consensus/Phantom Riches
Everyone Is Doing It, But You Don't Have To
The people you surround yourself with—whether family or social organizations—are often the greatest influencers in your life. Whether it's your friends from church, classmates or fellow military service members, the affinity you have with those people creates a strong bond. Unfortunately, it's those bonds that some fraudsters exploit to get you to invest in a scam. This tactic is called "affinity fraud"—the thought that if everyone is doing it, it must be okay.
One shocking example was that of "The Three Hebrew Boys," a trio of scammers who targeted church groups and military service members, using an angle of faith to get people to invest.
"Because of the bond with other military personnel," said Joyce Adams, a victim of scam, "it gave me a sense of trust to invest with the Three Hebrew Boys."
The Three Hebrew Boys, who promised 200 percent returns on the investments, recruited high-ranking military officials as sales people to sign on their subordinates, betting on the faith and trust between military servicemembers. Assuming the high-ranking officials had already done their due diligence, the subordinates blindly invested their money.
Ron Grosse, the FBI agent who cracked the Hebrew Boys fraud case, said many of the victims of the Ponzi scheme he interviewed during this investigation were highly educated—some with multiple degrees—but their faith and trust got the best of them.
"Because of their faith, because of their affinity with these folks, they cannot believe, they will not believe…that this is a fraud," said Grosse.
The Three Hebrew Boys were not registered to sell investments. When it was all said and done, they had stolen more than $80 million dollars from church groups and military service members. In 2010, they were convicted and sent to prison. Joyce Adams lost $37,000, but that doesn't have to happen to you. Read more about how to detect if an investment pitch is from a comrade or a con.
See more stories of investment fraud. | <urn:uuid:7e61d0d7-dc36-4db1-b24b-22da546ed788> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.saveandinvest.org/FraudCenter/FraudStories/P197194 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976554 | 434 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Sometimes when I ponder what tiny difference I might make in my efforts to ward off such insurmountable problems as the impending collapse of the biosphere due to global warming or the impending collapse of the economy following peak oil, I feel as if I might as well be reciting a zen koan. Am I making a difference. Can I make a difference? What is the sound of me making a difference?
What can one individual do? It helped to look at the impact of the seemingly, small things we are doing. Take toilet paper. I had no idea that our consumption of TP was a concern until I heard a speaker at the recent Recycling Update Conference. Toilet paper is so lowly compared to 25lb ultra white, office paper, that I did not equate it with virgin forests being mowed down for pulp for the tissue industry.
Yet virgin pulp is being sold to make tissue, from the Canadian Boreal to be exact. Greenpeace and the National Resource Defense Council have mounted a campaign to persuade Kimberley Clark, the world's largest tissue manufacturer, to use a higher recycled content, higher than their current 19% most of which is not post-consumer. Commercial toilet paper, such as that used in public restrooms, has a recycled content as high as 60%. It is the consumer market that commands mostly virgin pulp, for that squeezably soft cushy feel.
Is this a high priority, people? The paper and pulp industry is the third largest generator of global warming emissions and the world's largest user of fresh water. Toilet paper consumption is something that is personally within our grasp to change. There is no huge up front cost to install a roll in your bathroom. Your public image will not be affected by what brand you wipe with. Surely, when it comes down to it, we could easily have unbleached 100% recycled content (80% post-consumer) toilet paper and not mow down any more trees for this two minute one time use.
Consider the data. We North Americans are 7% of the global population and we use, wait for it, nearly half of the world's tissue paper products! Not the usual 25% as with most other resources, but half. This did give me pause as my mind lept to fathom this usage, but I shall just let that amazing fact rest without embelishment.
It is only when I think back to how we lived in Thailand that I realize how Spartan a culture can be with tissue products. Even in public restrooms in Bangkok today, you must buy your (small) allotment of paper from an attendant. Growing up in this land of tropical rainforests, the lack of softwood trees to make pulp meant that alongside the squat toilet was a water jar with a bowl floating in it to dip out water to splash yourself with. Even now, the Thais do not consider toilet paper to do the job properly and a flexible hose with a trigger-operated sprayer is installed next to the modern throne style toilet. Think of the French bidet.
In the pre-amenities, pre-cafe latté England of yore, one found a uniquely utilitarian toilet paper. A strange non-absorbent, glossy paper in a one-sheet-at-a-time dispenser box; something like what you get at the donut counter. This was so culturally sparse, I saved a piece and put it in a frame to show my American friends.
So I was startled to learn from my now favorite Yahoo group, the Compact, that there are Americans - educated, computer owning, internet savvy Americans - living right in this great TP consuming nation, who don't use toilet paper at all. They make do with reusable cloths that they wash after each use. The most elaborate example of this usage was a story told of a homeowner who supplied her family (and guests) with a stack of home sewn flannel cloths about five ply thick. After use, the cloths were put into a lidded pail, much like a diaper pail and washed later with bleach, just as one would wash cloth diapers. (This is why people are addicted to the Internet; to find out these unpublishable facts.)
"Don't get any ideas," Catherine told me.
You won't be seeing any homemade toilet paper at our house, but we do buy the Seventh Generation 100% recycled (80% post-consumer) content toilet paper. Ten years ago when it was only available at a natural food store across town, I would mail order the above by the case to bring down the price. Now you can get it at Whole Foods; their store brand is also of similarly high content. I still buy TP by the case because it's one more thing I don't have to lug home every week.
While we were entertained to learn about tissue industry practices, the primary focus of the conference was, not surprisingly, garbage. Particularly packaging and non-durable manufactured goods that are destined for the dump almost at the outset. Thus a speaker, from the Product Policy Institute, questioned why our tax dollars should even pay for this corporate clean up.
When garbage was a matter of public health and sanitation, that was a genuine concern to municipalities, but why should government haul away manufactured waste? This garbage does not endanger the public if it is not collected, yet it is 75% of what goes to landfill today. We're paying for stuff to be stored when it is no longer wanted. Government subsidized, permanent, offsite storage.
My clients often have offsite storage units for the stuff that they no longer use. They have trouble getting rid of it because it's not actually garbage in the traditional sense and they perceive it as having value. The goal of manufacturing is to make all of my client's stuff obsolete as quickly as possible and persuade them that they must buy the new model.
The Product Policy Institute no longer wants us to subsidize this waste making manufacturing and is working towards something called Extended Producer Responsibility laws. Once manufacturers take care of their own products then government would only have to handle the recycling of organics. Communities can then achieve the environmentally coveted status of Zero Waste.
Recently, I told a salesperson calling me about a new wireless telephone headset, that I was happy with the headset I had, thank-you. It confused him that, though I appeared to be a headset user and I was willing to talk to him, I didn't want to know about a better product. Nope, what I have is good enough. It was satisfying just to say it.
In fact everything I owned was good enough. I was at saturation level for stuff. This is the death knoll for manufacturers and very bad for the economy we're told. The Great Depression was caused by just such saturation. This was shortly after automobiles became mass-produced. People bought them up like mad. Then every potential buyer had one and boom no more record breaking sales. Oops. We can admit, now, that it's this growth driven economy that's making us obsolete.
Teaching Us To Walk (the Talk)
We can talk about a sustainable economy all we want, but we need to start training people to live it, which was the appeal of Green Mary's message. Green Mary is an entrepreneur who saw a need, or rather something we don't need and proceeded to build a business around getting rid of it. Now that's something worth growing - businesses that disappear unwanted stuff.
Before Green Mary was Green, she was at a presentation given by Julia Butterfly. The world famous tree sitter looked out at the crowd assembled there anxious to save the planet and all she could see were Styrofoam cups, plastic forks and disposable bottles of water. She took them to task for it. Mary heard her and went home in tears, then decided to do something about it. She started with the very Styrofoam and paper cups that Ms. Butterfly found so upsetting. She became a green events planner.
"What I saw," she told us, "was that here we were making people feel good about going to environmental events, but all we were doing was enabling them to continue to use disposables and create mountains of garbage". Hmm. yes enabling people. Am I enabling my clients to store more stuff, so they can accumulate more, I wondered?
Mary took on the challenge of changing people's behavior. Once hired to "green" an event, she spoke to every participating food vendor asking them not to sell any bottled water and to use only compostable paper plates and forks. (See her site for resources). She then set up water filling stations and had the event inform the attending public that they were to bring their own water container. If they didn't they could buy water bottles from vendors. Even though the water bottles might be plastic (steel was preferred), at least they were not designed for one use and would be taken home.
Then she made sure that beside every garbage can was a composting bin with instructions informing the potential user that the plastic looking forks were actually compostable. Volunteers were posted at each bin to help with the concept. Now the eager green public could actually be green and Green Mary continues to spread the message to other events.
I've been at these green events. The composting and acknowledgement for doing the right thing by bringing my own water bottle, utensils and plates is like getting a little gold star (make that a green star). The process builds a sense of shared responsibility by giving us something real to do while listening to concerns about the planet. The benefits are equally real in reduced garbage, better use of resources and further reinforcement of the reduce, reuse, recycle message.
In my mother's day, growing up in wartime England, much was asked of the public from giving up their radios and binoculars to rations on food and luxury items. What Green Mary was asking of the public in the microcosm of a one-weekend event, can be asked of the larger community as we face planetary resource limitations. I learned how at another all day workshop given by the Post Carbon Institute.
A number of communities, such as Willits in Northern California, are beginning to transition to living within the limitations of their region. Called economic localization this is a journey that begins with an inventory of a town's resources and supplies, much like a household might inventory what food and supplies are in their cupboards. The community then envisions the future they want (continued stock of food, supplies and services), plans the transition (strategizes sourcing supplies locally) and implements the plan (encourages local food growing, installs solar power for municipal water pumps in case of power outage, etc).
"Humans are meaning making machines" explained Brian Weller in the workshop. Given meaningful information, we are eager to do our part. Raise the bar and we will rise to the challenge.
Jason Bradford, a medical doctor, spearheaded the Willits project enlisted the community with free bi-weekly showings of the peak oil documentary End of Suburbia followed by ongoing discussion groups. By enrolling community members in the process and giving them meaningful data and proven facts, plus a non-partisan, inclusive space, the town of Willits came together to journey to a sustainable future.
Community building provides the glue; we humans are eager to stick together to save what we love for we are longing to be happy with what we have. | <urn:uuid:dea6e4a4-1402-4ef5-9f4a-241f9e5a59f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energybulletin.net/print/15141 | 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 | 0.974706 | 2,337 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Beer brewing - I need help getting startedgreenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread
I just arrived froim Germany with about sixteen cases of the standard beer bottles of Germany. I have been told they are excellent to store home brewed beer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to sources of materials and or brewing kits to get me started.
-- Lawrence Wybrant (firstname.lastname@example.org), February 16, 2002
being a beginner myself I have no business giving advice but...
below are two links that I found/find helpful. a lot of information there if you dig a little. as for kits I like the one shown in the E.C. Kraus catalogue. more expensive than some but the primary fermenting vessel looks better than what I'm using. I think there's a toll free number for Kraus but I can't seem to find it just now. free catalogue for the asking. also go to the Archives area of this forum, which is accessed by scrolling to the bottom of the "new questions" page, and look in "brewing". goodluck.
E.C. Kraus Wine & Beer Making Supplies P.O. Box 7850 733 S. Northern Blvd. Independence, MO 64054 Tel. 816/254-7448 Fax 816/254-7051
-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (email@example.com), February 17, 2002.
Do a search on www.google.com on "home brewing". Do a search in your local Yellow Pages ditto for home-brew shops. Do a search (and talk to the staff) in bookshops ditto - you really need at least one good straightforward book to start (although you might pick one up with a home-brew kit).
We can buy home-brew kits here, and home-brew pre-mixed contents (a can of syrup (malt extract, sugar, flavoured with hops) with a packet of yeast taped to the lid). Add boiled water, allow to cool, add yeast. I find it best to get the yeast started in some warm sugar- water first, and have it bubbling strongly when I add it to the wort (say 24 hours). These kits are reliable and easy. They're not necessarily great (although the best of them are) but they're a good easy way to get started.
One thing: I'd find a way (possible at one of those home-brew shops) to check whether those bottles can be capped by whatever bottle-tops you can get where you are. It's likely, but you want to know for sure before it gets to the point where you're counting on it.
Beware: once you get used to the taste of real live beer, there's an awful lot of the commercial stuff you just can't bring yourself to force down.
-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (firstname.lastname@example.org), February 17, 2002.
My favorite supplier for top qualitiy ingredients and supplies is William's Brewing, in California, and I'm in Maine! They are at triple W, dot williamsbrewing dot com. I phrase it this way since listing the actual address always gets deleted on this forum. Good folks, reasonable price, fine products. GL!
-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), February 17, 2002.
Home brewing is rewarding, fun, and as easy or hard as you want it to be. The equipment requirements are minimal- you should be able to get everyting at a home brew supply center for $20-30, less if you have some food grade plastic 5 gallon buckets or glass carboys lying around your house. Check the yellow pages under Beer-Homebrewing Supplys and visit your local shop. Trust me, anyone who runs a home brew place is a wealth of knowledge. They can set you up with equipment, recipes and ingredients. Also, I highly recommend "The Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian, the acknowledged guru of Home Brewers. His book has great info and recipes/techniques. One personal word of advice. Follow the directions to a T. Especially as far as sanitation goes. Wash all your equipment with a diluted bleach solution. Not that there is dangerous microorganisms, but that free- floating wild yeast strains can spoil your brew if they get into the wort. The only people I have ever seen mess up with a proven recipe are those who are careless. Keep a clean work area and you'll do OK.
Relax, have a homebrew,
-- Jeff (email@example.com), February 17, 2002.
do a search on Worms Way. all the beer stuff you need. store in st. louis
-- randy in central missouri (firstname.lastname@example.org), February 19, 2002. | <urn:uuid:2c2e109f-73ef-46f2-b076-bbbcaaa0d7d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0084mT | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950353 | 1,024 | 1.703125 | 2 |
City of Alexandria, VA
Page updated Jun 14, 2013 8:51 AM
Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum
The Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum was a family business founded in 1792 and operated in this location from 1796 until 1933. It represents one of Alexandria's oldest continuously run businesses that combined retailing, wholesaling, and manufacturing. The museum boasts a remarkable collection of herbal botanicals, handblown glass, and medical equipment, much still in its original location. It also has a spectacular collection of archival materials, including journals, letters and diaries, prescription and formula books, ledgers, orders and invoices. The names of famous customers appear in these documents, including Martha Washington, Nelly Custis and Robert E. Lee.
Since 2006 when the museum was donated to the City of Alexandria, the museum continues to evolve as new research is uncovered and the museum expands its understanding and interpretation of the medical and business history captured by this site. | <urn:uuid:a0b2b7a1-7221-4eb7-b501-ed499c5a52cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alexandriava.gov/Apothecary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949517 | 209 | 1.773438 | 2 |
To be the first player to complete all twelve combinations or contracts.
In the case of two players completing the 12th contract in the same hand, the one with the least points wins.
For a game with 2 to 5 players, assemble 2 decks of cards
Another player must cut the deck before the dealer begins distributing cards.
Deal 13 cards to each player & place one card face up in the discard pile.
Player to the left of the dealer commences play.
Players may draw either the top card from the stock pile or the top card from the discard pile, but 1 card must be picked up before commencing play and 1 card must be discarded at the end of her turn.
In order to make the contract, all required combinations must be laid down at the same time.
Once a player has made his contract, he may also lay down cards on another player's tableau.
One player may 'liberate' another's wild card by replacing it with the card it represents. Players are not allowed to liberate their own wild cards and the wild card must be played in the round that it was picked up.
The round continues until one player discards her last card. The other players count the points remaining in their hands (see scoring, below) and add them to their score.
A player may make only one contract per round. If he does not make the contract in a given round, he must continue working on it in subsequent rounds until it is made before going for the next combination.
If the stockpile runs out before play has finished, take all of the cards in the discard pile except for the top one, shuffle them and start a new stockpile.
2s and jokers are wildcards. In a set of n-of-a-kind, wild cards may be placed side by side, but in a run they must be separated by a 'real' card.
Aces may be counted as high or low (i.e.,
Sequences or runs must be in the same suit.
|1||2||x||3 of a kind|
|2||1||x||3 of a kind||1||run of 4|
|3||2||x||4 of a kind|
|4||2||runs of 4|
|5||3||x||3 of a kind|
|6||1||x||4 of a kind||1||run of 4|
|7||1||x||3 of a kind||1||run of 7|
|8||2||x||3 of a kind||1||run of 4|
|9||2||x||5 of a kind|
|10||2||runs of 5|
|11||1||x||8 of a kind|
|12||1||run of 10|
|Card Type||Point value| | <urn:uuid:5933e487-aeb3-466b-a04f-5b1f0a7b7102> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/users/kate/12step_rummy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936383 | 596 | 1.796875 | 2 |
July 7, 2011
Settlement Reached in Marcellus Permit Appeal Case
CBF settles permit appeals with DEP; outcome will strengthen drilling regulations and protect waterways
|This drilling site near a stream in northeastern Pennsylvania flooded on January 26 after heavy rains. Photo courtesy Susquehanna River Sentinel
Two significant issues—natural gas drilling rigs in floodplains (above) and drilling near pristine waterways—have been addressed in the recent settlement agreement.
(HARRISBURG, PA)—The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have reached an agreement, finalizing CBF's 2009 appeal of three permits issued by DEP to natural gas drilling companies operating in the Marcellus Shale formation.
DEP's 2008 announcement of an expedited permit review process, exclusive to natural gas drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale region, set off red flags that environmental protection measures may be neglected in favor of a streamlined process that would make it easier and faster for drilling operations to move forward in Pennsylvania. One year later DEP went one step further in streamlining their process by revoking the authority of county conservation district officials for review and approval of these permits, instead turning the authority directly to DEP staff.
"Due to staffing constraints and reduced familiarity with the local landscape, we quickly realized that DEP's new process had the potential to result in significant threats to our water, air, and land," said Matt Ehrhart, PA Executive Director for CBF. "We were particularly concerned with the potential water quality violations that may occur because of inadequate attention paid to stormwater planning. Further, removing the conservation districts from the process meant taking the experienced, on-the-ground staff out of the loop. We needed to take a closer look."
CBF reviewed a number of permits submitted to DEP by the drilling industry, and on August 24, 2009, filed an appeal with the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) challenging the Department's June 3, 2009, issuance of permits to Ultra Resources and Fortuna Energy (now Talisman).
The Erosion and Sediment Control General Permits (E&S) issued by DEP to Ultra Resources and Fortuna Energy were lacking in the mandated requirements. For example, no stormwater calculations and no wetlands surveys or delineations. Yet DEP approved these permits within days of receipt, in some cases, three days later. After CBF filed the appeals DEP reviewed the projects and determined that there were technical deficiencies and revoked the permits.
Once those deficiencies were remedied the permits were reissued. But CBF has continued with the appeals process in order to achieve programmatic changes to DEP's overall permitting process for drilling in the Marcellus shale formation.
"We moved forward with the process because we believed that there were fundamental flaws in DEP's permitting process that put Pennsylvania's waterways at risk," said Ehrhart. "Our biggest concerns have been drill rigs constructed in floodplains, and drilling near our most pristine waterways. Floodplains, by their nature, can flood. We felt that the expedited review process should not be available in these locations because of the potential for downstream contamination."
As for Pennsylvania's established (by DEP) special protection waterways—those with the highest water quality, and considered to be of exceptional value—the settlement agreement removes the expedited process. Ehrhart said, "These pristine waters are largely found in the heart of where much of Marcellus shale regions of Pennsylvania. Drilling projects in these locations should be looked at with extra diligence to assure that those waters are protected and preserved."
Both of those concerns have been addressed in the settlement agreement, which requires Pennsylvania's DEP to amend their permit review process to prohibit an expedited permit review process to any applicant seeking an E&S general permit:
- for projects located in or with the potential to discharge to waters that have been designated as high quality or exceptional value
- for projects in which the well pad will be constructed in or on a floodplain
"In the nearly two years since we began this appeals process, DEP has made significant strides to improve the environmental safeguards with regards to drilling in the Marcellus region, and we commend them for those efforts," said Ehrhart. "However, while the settlement means strengthened protection for our waters, this one victory does not mean that all the issues regarding permitting and environmental protection for development of the Marcellus Shale are resolved. CBF, through our partnerships and position on the Governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Committee, is continuing to advocate for improvements to safeguard our environmental resources." | <urn:uuid:c917d86b-2ef9-45db-a5f2-98191324a849> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cbf.org/page.aspx?pid=2987 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959634 | 955 | 1.554688 | 2 |
John Han-Chih Chang, MD and Kenneth Blank, MD
Last Modified: November 1, 2001
I am a 20 year old female who has had bilateral breast "cysts" since I was 11 years old. I went to the doctor for this condition 2-3 years ago and again this past August. My doctor claimed I had some type of fibrocystic disease. They have definitely gotten bigger over the years ... almost like it's a big clump of cysts. Lately (over the past week or so) they've really begun to hurt and feel like they might have gotten even larger. Do you have any idea what this might be? Could it be anything more than just cysts at my age?
Kenneth Blank, MD and John Han-Chih Chang, MD, Editorial Assistants for Oncolink, respond:
Thank you for your question.
The condition you describe is likely fibrocystic condition of the breast. Fibrocystic condition is diagnosed upon palpation (feeling) rubbery and cystic areas in a single area or multiple regions in one or both breasts. Fibrocystic condition is the most common lesion affecting the female breast. In fact, the majority of women are likely to have some manifestation of fibrocystic condition sometime in their lifetime. The condition is most commonly seen in women ages 30-50, but is reported to occur in younger women
In addition to feeling cysts and rubbery areas, fibrocystic condition can cause monthly cyclic pain and tenderness. The symptoms often occur one week before the menses and subsides one week later. Treatment is symptomatic and includes analgesics and limiting caffeine intake. Occasionally vitamin E may help relieve pain as may abstinence from alcohol. | <urn:uuid:1d7bfc23-9182-4cd2-b5a0-fe6ac9d41e56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oncolink.org/experts/article1.cfm?id=1200&c=35 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971711 | 361 | 1.6875 | 2 |
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Pharmacist Alison Wong in Arua, Uganda
June 3, 2007
Alison Wong was the pharmacist for the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) HIV/AIDS program at Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda from September 2005 to October 2006. MSF began the program in 2001 to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to people in the region living with HIV. It has grown to include treatment for people co-infected with HIV and TB, and to establishing better decentralized care.
"The HIV project is a cooperative, or integrated, program with the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH). MSF has an outpatient HIV clinic inside the hospital, and if a patient is sick, or sick enough to be hospitalized, then we would admit him or her to the hospital, which is run by the MoH.
Mainly, my responsibility was dealing with the management and logistics of the supply chain: inventory, stock control, and collaborating with the Ugandan logistics advisor for the HIV program. I was like a messenger, a link between the field and the capital, in terms of bringing their attention to supply issues, schedules, and delays. And in working out the problems that the local health centers would run into in terms of not being able to get their shipments or not being able to send their orders.
We have patients referred to the local health centers because some of them live quite far away and they're not able to make it to the Arua clinic on a monthly or periodic basis. So, if they are stable, we will just refer them to the local health center that has an HIV program where we don't provide medications, but we do provide technical support.
In order for the patients to be able to follow their regimen in the local health centers, we have to make sure that those centers do get a steady supply of HIV medication from the government. So one of my roles was to ensure that the government is providing them with an adequate stock of ARVs and, on the other hand, making sure the health centers do their job to file proper orders, do proper stock-keeping, and to make sure they do get their medications from the government on time."
"One challenge was adapting to working on the supply and storage side – as a pharmacist from the U.S., we don't really do that. For example, one of the ARV medications is for children. It's a capsule, so we cannot cut the dose to adjust it, based on their body weight. So, a doctor asked me to order oil suspension. At the time, I didn't think much about it, I just ordered. But when I received the shipment, I realized that, although the product itself can be stored at room temperature, after you add water, it has to be kept in the refrigerator, which can be hard to come by in more rural parts of Africa.
So it kind of dawned on me that these are the things I did not really anticipate; I did not really think of ahead of time. And I guess that was just one of the limitations I had as a pharmacist from the Western world. We are not used to dealing with things on the logistics side."
Adapting to New Demands
"At the clinic, we primarily dispensed first-line HIV medications and started some patients on the second-line if first-line treatment failed. Also, toward the end of my stay, we started a TB treatment program for TB/HIV co-infection. We dispensed TB medications to our HIV patients who have TB.
It was a challenge in the beginning because the logistics side of things was not worked out. There was a lot of going back and forth about whether we should dispense the TB drugs from the clinic or from the hospital itself."
Sense of Accomplishment
"For the local health care centers where we provide technical support, I think things are going in a positive way. I worked with this particular health center for over a year and by the time I left, the manager was finally able to understand how to calculate the need for HIV medicines and place the orders properly, so I felt good about that.
I will always be grateful to my supervisor, who is a pharmacist supervisor in Paris. Her name is Sophie Marie and before I went to the field, I was able to have a briefing with her in Paris. When I arrived at the field, there were only three days of handover between me and my predecessor, so I was pretty much without any guidance for a good three to three-and-a-half months.
Finally, Sophie came at the end of January for a field visit. I was able to go with her and visit different government officials at MoH, the national drug authority, the logistics supplier, and different drug companies that supply us with medicines. I was able to get a feel for the whole picture of how the coordination works and how the field works. She was able to give me a lot of guidance that kind of pushed me. She told me what I should be doing and what was expected of me. If I had questions, she gave me clear guidance on how to approach and whom to ask.
So, after that I was able to push at least the pharmacy aspects of that project to a higher level, and that's one of the very positive experiences that I had." | <urn:uuid:e3d3cdaa-2be6-4960-8cc3-85bb521e9e35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2077&cat=voice-from-the-field | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982029 | 1,131 | 1.65625 | 2 |
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SO YOU WANNA BE A TELECOM STAR
First was SimCity, PC game software from Maxis that lets you design and run your own simulated city--offices, traffic, and all. Later, Maxis produced SimAnt (an ant colony) and SimHealth (your own national health program).
Now, phone-company execs can use similar techniques to plan for an uncertain telecom future. A Maxis spin-off called Thinking Tools in Monterey, Calif., is working with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, Pacific Telesis, and Nynex on a program called Telesim, due out later this year. "These telephone executives have no experience competing," says Andrew Zimmerman, head of Coopers' infocom unit. "But they've got to learn how."
Telesim has players act as phone-company CEOs, making such choices as whether to invest in cable or wireless. Customers, competing companies, and regulators keep them jumping. And on the wall of their cyberspace offices is a sailboat painting. Do well, and sails fill with wind. Fail, and the boat sinks.John Verity By EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT AND JULIE TILSNER | <urn:uuid:4d265174-169f-4ebb-b6c1-6fdc39c3d401> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1994-06-26/so-you-wanna-be-a-telecom-star | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951925 | 263 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The amendment calls for 2006 to be ‘a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty,’ for Iraqi Security Forces to take the lead in the counterinsurgency fight, and for the President to submit quarterly reports on ‘United States policy and military operations in Iraq.’ This report is to contain specific information regarding the military and political conditions that must be met to defeat the insurgency and complete the mission in Iraq. While stopping short of asking for a firm date for withdrawing U.S. forces, the amendment does mention a ‘schedule for meeting such conditions [to enable a withdrawal].’
The bipartisan support for the amendment may be partially explained by differing interpretations of the message: Republican Senators John Warner and Bill Frist described it as message of support for Iraqis to take over security in their country, while Democrat Harry Reid called it ‘a vote of no confidence on the Bush administration policy in Iraq.’
But since the military is already in the process of drawing down and handing over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, is this Senate proclamation as significant as some are making it sound? Is it really a call for accountability and a solid strategy from the administration, or are lawmakers pushing for an untimely withdrawal based on flagging public support for the war?
Similarly tagged OmniNerd content: | <urn:uuid:ae6cb86f-d160-4379-830c-3792b056f8b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.omninerd.com/articles/Senate_Asks_For_Specifics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951756 | 276 | 1.6875 | 2 |
July 23, 2012
I have an entirely different vision as to what a crowdfunding portal could be but indications are that the interpretation of the JOBS act by the SEC would disallow its implementation. As a hypothetical, imagine a site targeting new drugs.
1.) For a project to raise money on the site, it's first screened by the PhD level portal management team to determine if they think the proposed drug and founders have a viable economic project and package assembled. There may be a fee of $200 to load a project.
2.) The project is featured on the portal. Because of the reputation built by the portal's past successes, the money is raised from fee-paying ($100/ann.) portal members, shares acquired but held in electronic form on the portal's accounting system. The funds are put into 1 Vehicle that invests in the company. The portal charges 5% of capital raised.
3.) The portal mgmt team sits on the Board and leverages its network and expertise (and the crowd's) to monitor use of proceeds and sources of revenes helps the business succeed. All reporting and updates are handled through the portal's communication platform to the shareholders. For these efforts, the portal has shares in the Vehicle that dilute the portal S/H 10%. If a S/H wants or needs to trade shares, they may be able to find a counterparty via the bulletin board and the portal has the ability to handle the transaction for a small fee. The portal has mechanisms for S/H to vote on matters with the portal representing S/H interests.
4.) Any dividends or sale proceeds are paid to the S/H through their accounts. If a broader public offering leads to a listing on an exchange, the vehicle can enable certificates to be issued to the S/H. The portal electronically issues 1099s and any other required tax documents.
Anyway, you can see that this is more like a VC fund kind of model. The portal limits the projects which can be offered, promotes the project across social media, and has a vested interest in the outcome. The portal holds customer money, has individual accounts, gives advice. Truly, the success of the platform is a function of how well the projects do - so total alignment with investors. But as the laws are shaping up, this firm would have to be registered as a B/D and easily have upwards of $500K in annual overhead (compliance, legal, audits, training) immediately added.
As the laws are shaping up - you will basically drive an oligopolistic model where only a handful of large sites that attain scale fast can survive on the relatively thin margins allowed. Your first attempts at enabling democratization of capital will be to consolidate power and access in the industry to the usual suspects. You potentially undermine the industry before it even begins - or force sites offshore where laws may be more adaptable to innovations.
Accordingly, in the spirit of the JOBS Act, I would implore you not to just think about the small entrepreneurs raising capital but the small entrepreneurs building portals and ensure a playing field that does not exclude us. Focus more on transparency than dictating what the business model should be. Enable innovation and evolution, let's find out what succeeds in the marketplace. | <urn:uuid:d5407b3b-be9b-4d2f-9e19-11fb25fad0fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sec.gov/comments/jobs-title-iii/jobstitleiii-110.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951882 | 661 | 1.8125 | 2 |
It’s just hard to make a go of a small-town film house when competing with the cornucopia of entertainment options being delivered right into living rooms. Even middle-size towns like Rome have screens gone dark.
At best, someone interested more in making a go of a business opportunity and less about making a political statement will take it over. At the very least the future for the West should hold it being turned into a venue/center for live community theater as the DeSoto in Rome has been because just the building alone, like the DeSoto, is too valuable to allow to disappear.
The West is typically preceded by that “historic” and here’s why: When it opened in 1941 it was considered the finest example of the Art Deco style in Northwest Georgia and was the largest movie house in the area — bigger than the DeSoto. It has chandeliers in the lobby and 1950s-era movie posters on the walls. And, most recently, it was itself used as movie set in the filming of “Jayne Mansfield’s Car.” When that movie ever goes into general release (it has only been shown at film festivals thus far) guess it will not be showing in Cedartown. | <urn:uuid:aa8753f8-bf6e-41a7-959f-319940472960> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/20851155/article-FRIDAY-BLOG--Not-showing-in-Cedartown-?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966272 | 261 | 1.625 | 2 |
Published Friday, March 02, 2012
A friend was kind to send an account of an event that happened to senior adults.
Rushing out of a committee meeting at his church, he searched for his car keys. They were not in his pockets: coat or trousers.
He realized he must have left them in the car, even though his wife had frequently warned him that leaving them in the ignition was making it too convenient for a thief.
He knew she was right. There is always a possibility your car could be stolen. And with this in mind, he reached the parking lot and came to a terrifying conclusion.
It was so alarming to him, it felt like a kick in the stomach: The parking lot was empty! His car had been stolen!
He immediately called the police, gave them his location, all the information on his car and asked them to send out a message to all police to be on the lookout for his stolen car.
The most difficult thing for him to do was to call his wife and sheepishly say: "Honey, you were right. I must have left my keys in the car and it has been stolen!"
There was a period of silence that, in itself, is agonizing for a husband waiting for his wife to say what he thinks he knows she will say as she scolds him. Instead, he was shocked.
Her voice, with a tone of indignation, came through loud and clear:
"Don't you remember? I dropped you off at the church for your committee meeting!"
Now it was his time to be silent. Humiliated, he finally manages to say, "Well, please come and get me."
She replied, "I will come and get you as soon as I convince this policeman standing here that I have not stolen your car!" | <urn:uuid:599d317d-92ba-4d7c-b40b-8ae19e907017> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.times-herald.com/opinion/op-ed/griffith/Senior-adult---moment-not---unfamiliar--2102392 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.996965 | 371 | 1.5625 | 2 |
As Governor Kasich and the state legislature consider whether to open the door to Medicaid coverage through expansion, I hope they consider analysis recently released by a non-partisan collaboration of researchers from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, The Ohio State University and others. The study confirmed that expansion will mean health care coverage from more than 450,000 currently uninsured Ohioans and will actually save the state money.
On a daily basis, Community Health Centers like Family Healthcare, Inc. see the tremendous need for greater health care coverage. Expanded Medicaid eligibility levels are directly associated with our ability to invest in capacity, increase access to care and better meet the needs of patients and our community.
Bottom line, moving uninsured Ohioans onto Medicaid, into medical homes and out of emergency rooms for primary care will save lives, improve health outcomes and reduce costs. I urge Governor Kasich to include Medicaid expansion in his budget, and ask the General Assembly to embrace its fundamental human and economic benefits.
Family Healthcare, Inc. | <urn:uuid:3f8ab94e-a21e-4493-95cd-748ef3e66157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mydailyregister.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Family+Healthcare+supports+expanded+health+care+coverage%20&id=21452986 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936367 | 198 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Voluntary Contributors to AHBIC
AHBIC wishes to thank all those who contribute to the support of the organisation. It would be prudent, when purchasing queen bees or selling honey, to consider supporting those who support the industry and conduct price comparisons on that basis. A list of all current contributors appears below.
Stingless Bee Keeping in Australia – Tim A Heard and Anne E Dollin
A recent survey of the keeping of stingless bees in Australia in 1998/9 showed that this new activity is growing rapidly. Responses came from over 250 stingless beekeepers with more than 1400 colonies. The industry is concentrated in coastal Queensland with Trigona carbonaria being the most common species kept. Rates of future colony increase expected by survey participants (15-18% per annum) were low compared with increases achieved by experienced beekeepers (30%), but both indicate that the industry could grow rapidly over the next two decades. Enjoyment, conservation, crop pollination (mainly macadamia nut), honey production and hive sales were the major reasons for keeping stingless bees.
One of the most common groups of bees in northern tropical and subtropical Australia are the stingless bees (Meliponini). These are highly social bees which live in colonies of thousands of individuals. The Australia species of stingless bees are small (< 4 mm long), black in colour, nest in hollow trees and belong to two genera: Trigona and Austroplebeia. Six species of Trigona (Heterotigona) occur in Australia. The genus Austroplebeia only occurs in Australia and consists of about four species.
In recent years, parts of Australia have seen a surge of interest in the keeping of native stingless bee species. We believe that this industry will continue to grow strongly over the next few decades from almost non-existence in 1984. In view of this, we feel it is valuable to provide a description of the size and nature of this industry now. This will allow planning and will provide baseline data for future analyses. To achieve this, we conducted a survey of stingless bee keeping. We present, analyse and interpret these data from our perspective of close association with Australian stingless bees.
Survey forms, with postage paid envelopes, were sent to 1800 people. Names and addresses of these people were derived from two sources:
A total of 298 responses were received between November 1998 and March 1999. We only considered responses where the colonies had been manipulated to some extent. Hence 41 responses that simply recorded the presence of a nest in a natural cavity that remained in situ were not included. We define people who manipulated a colony as ‘stingless beekeepers’ even though they may only have cut out a section of log that contained a colony and moved it to a safe position. We define ‘colonies’ as the bees and their nest materials, ‘nests’ as colonies in natural places and ‘hives’ as colonies in artificial wooden boxes.
We estimate that we received responses from over 50% of the stingless beekeepers that exist in Australia, but that we received responses from most of the larger stingless beekeepers and hence have information from a large proportion of the industry.
A total of 257 stingless beekeepers responded to the survey. They held a total 1429 colonies with the vast majority (82%) being in hives; the remainder were in logs and other natural cavities.
The majority (90%) of the 166 stingless beekeepers with hives used a similar hive design and splitting method. The hive is a simple rectangular box of about seven litres volume that divides horizontally into two equal parts. This design allows colony division by dividing the hive when it is full and coupling each full half with an empty new half.
The stingless beekeepers responding to this survey reported having made more than 1200 attempts to transfer a colony into a hive and over 800 attempts to split a hive to produce new hives. Very high rates of success for both these procedures were reported.
Species and Distribution
Only 60% of beekeepers attempted to give species identification for their colonies. The most common species kept in Australia were reported to be Trigona carbonaria (69%) and T. hockingsi (20%). Austraplebeia species, particularly A. australis but also A. symei, comprises c. 11% of reported colonies. These results are consistent with the relative natural abundance of these species in the areas where the beekeepers live.
The majority of stingless beekeepers (71%) and colonies (91%) were in the state of Queensland. The remainder were in New South Wales except for two in the Northern Territory and one in South Australia.
A total of 56% of hive sites used by stingless beekeepers were in suburban areas, 24% were on farmland and 20% were in natural bushland habitats. Many beekeepers kept their hives at more than one of these locations.
Characteristics of Stingless Beekeepers
More than 50% of stingless beekeepers kept only one colony. There were only nine beekeepers with more than 20 hives. Approximately 50% of beekeepers had three of less years of experience and the longest experience was 55 years.
Many stingless beekeepers had simply obtained their colonies in logs or hives and did nothing with them. Some of the reasons that they were reluctant to interfere with the hives included: unsuitable climate, unsuitable boxes, lack of inclination, lack of knowledge, bad early experience. Other stingless beekeepers had transferred their colonies from a natural cavity into a hive but had not yet split the resulting hive into daughter hives. Some had obtained hives and split them. Other, including most of the more experience beekeepers had engaged in all activities: obtaining colonies, transferring them into boxes and splitting the resulting hives. Of the 1168 colonies in boxes, 29% were obtained from splitting.
Stingless beekeepers kept their bees for many reasons. Enjoyment and conservation were the most important reasons with more commercial applications being less common motivations. The number of stingless beekeepers keeping hives for honey production and hive sales was small but these beekeepers kept relatively large number of hives for these purposes.
Stingless beekeepers were asked to predict how many hives they will have in five and ten years time. 188 stingless beekeepers now owning 1050 colonies expected to have 2495 colonies in five years (18% annual increase) and 84 stingless beekeepers now owning 763 colonies expected to have 2909 colonies in ten years (15% annual increase). These rates of increase are low compared to the rates experiences by the authors (30% annual increase).
Sixty-two stingless beekeepers kept 317 colonies of stingless bees for pollination of crops. Most, but not all of these beekeepers were the growers of these crops. Approximately 20 crops were recorded as being subject to pollination by stingless bees. Macadamia was the most common crop species recorded. Some responses simply stated fruit or vegetables. These people either used their stingless bees for several plant species or did not have a clear idea which species are pollinated by the stingless bees. Some of the nominated crops are probably not insect pollinated, e.g. the wind pollinated maize and pecan. Some other crops are probably pollinated by insects other than stingless bees e.g. passionfruit, papaya, custard apply and tomato.
Twenty stingless beekeepers with 542 hives extracted honey from their hives. A total of only 90kg of honey was produced per year. A single producer dominated production. The price of this rare product is high, selling from approximately $A40 per kg wholesale to $A150 per kg.
Hives sales generated income for 13 stingless beekeepers who sold 103 hives per year. Prices are around $A200 per hive. Currently, much of the demand for hives comes from people wanting a hive for enjoyment.
Stingless bees mix propolis (resin collected from plants) with wax (a product of glands on the bee’s body) to form cerumen, their nest construction material. This cerumen was harvested by five stingless beekeepers with 29 hives who sold it for purposes such as aboriginal handcrafts and medicine.
Stingless beekeeping in Australia is emerging as a cottage industry that is currently tiny but with great potential. We suggest several reasons for the recent increase in interest in stingless beekeeping:
The vast majority of stinglee beekeepers used a similar hive design and splitting method. The hive is a simple wooden box of approximately seven litres in volume, 200mm wide, 250 mm high and 280mm long, that divides horizontally into two equal parts. This design allow colony division by dividing the hive when it is full and coupling each full half with an empty new half. Minor variations exist on this basic design but the idea of a box that splits evenly into two halves that form the nucleus for two daughter hives is predominant. We expect that this design will be modified, especially to allow for harvesting of honey.
Most stingless beekeeping was in coastal Queensland. This pattern is generated by the population distributions of bees and people. Stingless bees are more common in the north of the country. Coastal Queensland is the only part of north Australia heavily populated by people. Some areas rich in stingless bees, e.g. Northern Territory, have low human populations. The industry was primarily based on only three species: T. carbonaria, T. hockingsi and A. australis. There is potential for the development of other species in the north of the country where they occur.
Most stingless beekeepers had only one colony and kept it for less than three years. They had obtained a ready-made hive or log nest and had not done any colony transfers or hive splitting. This patters exemplifies the novelty of stingless beekeeping in Australia. Many of these people will develop their skills, although some had no desire to do so. The pattern of keeping most hives in suburban areas reflects the interest that some urban Australians have in these insects. To many, keeping stingless bees presents an opportunity to be involved in nature conservation.
The current and predicted annual growth rate is approximately 30%. At this growth rate, 24,000 colonies would be domesticated by the year 2010 and 320,000 by the year 2020. By comparison, there are currently about 700,000 honey bee hives in Australia. The major commercial uses for these stingless beehives will be in crop pollination and honey production, but hive sales and cerumen production may provide other forms of income for stingless beekeepers.
The growth rate will decline at some point and the size of the industry will stabilise. The point at which this occurs cannot be predicted at this point. If the industry stabilised at 500,000 hives, and if a large proportion of these were used for crop pollination, this would provide a significant boost to horticulture. For example, hives could be used for the macadamia nut industry. Assuming that 20 hives per hectare were used and that half of Australia’s orchards, or 10,000 hectares, are pollinator limited, then the industry could benefit from the introduction of 200,000 hives during flowering. The annual crop pollination services of honey bees has been estimated at $A1.2 billion. Stingless bees could contribute to a substantial proportion of this. Other horticultural industries, e.g. mango and avocado, would also benefit. The diversification of crop pollination services away from almost total reliance on honey bees by the introduction of stingless bees would be a prudent measure given the problems with pests and diseases that honey bees face.
Research is needed in several areas in order to make stingless beekeeping a commercial reality. The suitability of these bees for pollination of specific crops needs much research. Many aspects of honey production, including extraction and processing need more understanding. The fighting swarms of Australia Trigona species need to be understood and managed. Education is also needed to train the next generation of stingless beekeepers.
Tim A Heard – CSIRO Entomology, Indooroopilly, Qld
Anne E. Dollin – Australian Native Bee Research Centre, North Richmond, NSW
During the month of February, Mr Asger Jorgensen, Chairman of Apimondia, accompanied by his wife, visited Australia. During their visit they met with beekeepers in Victoria and New South Wales and were entertained in Sydney by members of the Apimondia 2005 Committee. They visited various tourist venues and, following a guided tour of the Opera House, attended the Playhouse Theatre to see a comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). From all reports, Mr Jorgensen and his wife enjoyed their trip to Australia and AHBIC would like to put on record our thanks to those who participated in making their visit a success.
Overall, the impression was that Melbourne has a good chance of hosting Apimondia in 2005. It will be up to the Melbourne Convention Centre to have a good presentation for the Apimondia Executive and for us to make a good impression at Apimondia at Durban later this year.
AHBIC SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
To be held at the Airport Motel and Convention Centre
33 Ardlie Street, Attwood, Victoria
on Sunday 18th March 2001.
A Media Training Day will be held
on Saturday 17th March, 2001 at the same venue
Agenda papers will be forwarded to delegates in the near future
Dollar Boost to Exports
Exports of merchandise rose a solid 9.9% in the December quarter, boosted by the attractiveness of the lower Australian dollar. Merchandise imports rose about 3.5%
Exports of crude oil, wool and milk and cream products rose substantially, while imports of crude oil, aircraft, telecommunications equipment and clothing also climbed.
Total merchandise exports rose to $31,369 billion, just shy of the $31,376 billion in imports of merchandise.
Protect Australian Livestock Week
AHBIC again will take part in the Protect Australia Livestock Week organised by Animal Health Australia from Sunday March 25 to Saturday March 31, 2001.
Representatives of industry will be available during this time for media contact and the following press release has been included in the documentation for presentation.
Australia has the best disease free status in the world. If we lower our guard, we not only put at risk our $65 million honey bee industry, but we also put at risk the whole of Australia’s agricultural and grazing industries.
One third of the foods in our diet need pollination and honey bees provide the best pollination service.
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council
CROP, STOCK AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
Crop Report – South Australia
The long stretch of hot weather building up to extreme heat has taken is toll on bees. There have been reports of general hive strength diminishing, hives melting down and the loss of an entire apiary.
South East: The lucerne has finished, with a good seed set in the pollination contracted lucerne crops, but the honey yield was poor. The bees are breeding well in pockets despite severe heat conditions and lack of sufficient nectar. The last heat wave as well as the dry conditions, prematurely finished the lucerne flowering. Prospects: Some beekeepers are looking in the lower south east and into Victoria at stringy bark. Potato weed prospects are unlikely as this resource is badly heat affected. Badly need rain for banksia development. Some banksia sites are already showing signs of moisture stress.
Riverland: Rain just received. Time will tell if ground flora resources respond.
Northern – Lower: A very poor lucerne season. River box yielded. Euc. socialis yielded, but patchy. Heat and weavils have affected tea tree which is patchy this year. Prospects: Some peppermint has budded up.
Northern – Upper: Generally very dry conditions except for isolated areas which received a thunderstorm which brought on some potato weed. Some grey box about to break but requires rain for a chance of useful prospects.
West Coast – Lower: Tea tree has finished, the heat shortening the flow. Talka fire (near Port Lincoln) depleted some regular tea tree sites. Fortunately no hives were lost; due to poor flowering bees were not in situ. Prospects: Some peppermint budded, patchy and most still showing signs of stress from two years of lerp. If good rains, lincoln weed could still produce before winter. Average production to date.
Kangaroo Island: The sugar gum season is well under way now with initial flowering appearing. Cup gum is looking promising with heavy budding on many sites although it is likely that autumn rains will be needed to encourage a nectar flow. Beekeepers must be hoping to recover from the disappointment of the late spring when several crops appeared promising only to dry out in the seasonal conditions.
Central: Off year for stringy bark; patches of cup gum (Euc. Cosmophylla). There has been a lack of rain for summer ground flora pollens.
Barossa: Peppermint has a light budding. Because the grape growing area is now so large, it is restrictive in where bees can be placed during the vintage period.
Crop Report – New South Wales
Red stringy bark is yielding very well in the central west of the state. With a lot of bud still to flower, the flow should continue for another four to five weeks.
Mugga iron bark is budded in the central west and also some good bud on the south west slopes.
Napunyah is looking very good in the north west and beekeepers are looking forward to a good crop over winter and into spring.
Stock Report – New South Wales
Honey is still in very short supply but with red stringy bark yielding this should help the honey situation. Light honey will be very short before spring.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Lyle Graham, a very well liked packer for many years. Lyle was a real gentleman and was well respected by all who knew him.
Alleged illegal importation case
The case was set down for 20 February, 2001. It has now been adjourned until 20th March, 2001. AHBIC notes industry interest in this case from members and also the media, however, as the matter is still sub judice we will not be making any comment until after the case is heard.
Beekeepers often ask how the port surveillance program is progressing. I recently sent a series of questions out to the members of the Quarantine Sub-committee. I will summarise the answers in my next report.
It was reported in the last newsletter that a swarm had been found in Melbourne ports area.
AQIS have advised me that there were no mites found on the bees from that swarm. Good news. It is most likely that it was a local swarm but we cannot afford to be complacent.
Varroa preparedness workshop
AQIS have been in contact in relation to holding a workshop on the above subject. AHBIC is happy for this to proceed and details will be sent out soon. There will be delegates from New Zealand who will give some insights into the experience in this matter in New Zealand.
Varroa in New Zealand
With varroa now well established in the North Island of New Zealand, I have been keeping up to date with their media coverage on this matter.
Long term measures for managing the impact of varroa are being discussed. There is $7.6 million package in place for measures to limit the impact of varroa. New Zealand is also looking at a range of options for the long term response once the current programme ends.
The group plans to meet again in March.
Crop Report and Stock Position - Queensland
Weather conditions continue to play a critical role in the potential for honey crops in Queensland.
Recent rains will need to be supported by further good falls to ensure a crop in spring and summer. Long range weather forecasts indicate a possible return to El-Nino weather conditions. Hopefully this is wrong as honey producers could not stand another poor season. However, on the bright side reports indicate that there is a general budding over a wide area of the south east of Queensland over such species as Blue Gum, Gum Top Box, Grey Ironbark, Narrow Leaved Ironbark and Yellow Stringybark. Reports from other states indicate similar prospects following recent rain.
Brush Box yielded in places with excellent colour and density being recorded. Yapunyah is rumoured to be budding nicely with potential for a winter crop. White Box and Caleys Ironbark will be closely watched. We still remember that year the picture was similar and the crop failed. As a result it would be unwise to forecast more than an average crop. In the meantime beekeepers will be concentrating on maintaining their hives.
Very little honey has been produced in Queensland this season with the obvious result that stocks are low.
Crop Report – Victoria
The hot, dry summer which settled in following the humid wet spring extended until early February when severe thunderstorm activity across most of the state broke up the weather pattern. Cool, dewy nights have followed and are an early sign that autumn is not far away.
The heat of December/January (up to 46 degrees in some part of the state) and the need for beekeepers to keep their hives in good condition for autumn prospects with limited floral resources available, was a considerable challenge for some.
Apiaries were widely dispersed throughout Victoria and interstate, seeking out bits and pieces of buddings of eucalypt species as well as clover in irrigation districts. The best reported yields over the period came from black box in the southern Riverina and south western New South Wales. Small quantities of yellow box, red gum, Christmas mallee and clover were produced. More recently, small patches of early flowering iron bark have been yielding well.
Most commercial apiaries have now moved to red string bark, which is yielding. Heavy thunderstorms, up to five inches (125mm) in place, just as the species was breaking, have ensured a good light honey will be produced. A sizeable crop also looks a certainty.
Grey box in the flat country is starting to break. The budding is not general across the state, but it remains a modest prospect for March/April. Against all the odds, the short budding yellow gum has again budded and given a long Indian summer through April and May, may do something this side of winter.
Crop Report – Tasmania
Leatherwood trees throughout the western area of Tasmania flowered exceptionally well this season.
The weather has, as always, played a major part in honey production. Early flowering and early beekeepers fared well. All commercial hives were on site by the end of January. Rain and cool weather prevailed for a vital week of production.
Fortunately it became hot again and the later flowering trees began to yield. In mid-February the weather broke again on the west coast. The last week in Tasmania has been extremely warm. The net result will be a slightly better than average production year.
Inquiries for prepaks continue and hold promise of good sales. Ground Flora – Inquiries continue and a sale has been made overseas for bulk honey. Only a light crop produced so should not be hard to sell as the eastern states struggle to produce. | <urn:uuid:8e733fbd-817f-492e-b010-f6be03d527f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.honeybee.com.au/Library/news/HoneynewsFebruary2001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959864 | 4,879 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Air Transport World reports that Homeland Security has taken charge of deciding who may fly and who will not. The airlines used to do this. Big Sis claims their takeover will result in fewer cases of mistaken identity, such as the CNN reporter who turned up on a watchlist after criticizing the TSA.
It’s just a changing of hands, but there’s an ominous feel to this announcement. I find it hard to believe that this will result in any improvement. Won’t it just make it easier for Big Sis to bar certain people from flying, or make their lives hell in order to fly? The watchlist process is already opaque. Could it get any worse?
US Dept. of Homeland Security stated that all passengers on flights “within or bound for the United States are now being checked against government watch lists” under implementation of the Transportation Security Administration’s “Secure Flight” program, which entails the agency prescreening a passenger’s full name, birth date and gender prior to issuance of a boarding pass.
Previously, airlines were tasked with checking names against watch lists; now, in accordance with a final rule issued by DHS in 2008 (ATW Daily News, Oct. 23, 2008), airlines are required to collect a passenger’s information at the time of reservation and provide it to TSA. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement, “Secure Flight makes air travel safer for everyone by screening every passenger against the latest intelligence before a boarding pass is issued.”
TSA Administrator John Pistole added, “The threats we face in the aviation sector are real and evolving, and we must confront them with strong and dynamic security measures. Secure Flight bolsters our efforts to be more intelligence-driven and risk-based in our approach to aviation security.”
Some 197 airlines are participating in the program, for which full implementation was required by Jan. 1. “We are pleased that [airlines and government] were able to reach this important security milestone ahead of schedule,” US Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May said. TSA, which noted it “adheres to strict protocols to protect individual privacy” related to the passenger information provided by airlines, pointed out it has been handling the watch list checks for all domestic flights since June 22.
DHS said that “99% of passengers” will be able to receive boarding passes at home, via kiosks or airport counters just as before Secure Flight was in place. “Individuals found to match watch list parameters will be subject to secondary screening, a law enforcement interview or prohibition from boarding an aircraft, depending on the specific case,” it stated.
Pistole commented that a positive offshoot of the program will be making it less likely passengers will be wrongly confused with names on watch lists. “This will reduce, perhaps substantially, the number of people seeking redress,” he told reporters. | <urn:uuid:562f335e-1c6e-45ae-a39e-d4e1d06acf74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wewontfly.com/big-sis-veto-your-travel-plans | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953936 | 610 | 1.625 | 2 |
Shock was the overwhelming first response to Pope Benedict XVI's announcement Monday that he would retire Feb. 28.
"He can't quit like that. This can't be," said Alis Ramirez, an ice cream seller headed to church in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. "A vacuum is created. It's like when a loved one dies."
The news also brought reawakened calls for a pope from the developing world, long considered a bulwark against continued losses in church membership in Europe and the United States. While the church has been battered by growing secularism and sex abuse scandals in the northern hemisphere, the number of believers is growing in Africa, and half the world's Catholics live in Latin America.
"We need someone young who can bring back the dynamism to the church," said Zulma Alves, a cook who was lighting candles in front of a Rio de Janeiro church that was closed for Carnival.
In Cuba, site of one of Pope Benedict's final trips, the few parishioners outside Havana's Cathedral before doors opened early Monday said they understood his reasons for stepping down and hoped it he would be replaced by a younger
"The church must bring itself up to date with the modern world," said Angel Aguilera, a 33-year-old municipal worker.
Antonio Marto, the bishop of Fatima in central Portugal, said Benedict XVI's resignation presents an opportunity to pick a church leader from a country from the developing world.
"Europe today is going through a period of cultural tiredness, exhaustion, which is reflected in the way Christianity is lived," Marto told reporters. "You don't see that in Africa or Latin America where there is a freshness, an enthusiasm about living the faith.
"Perhaps we need a pope who can look beyond Europe and bring to the entire church a certain vitality that is seen on other continents."
It may be time for a "youngish" pope, possibly from the developing world, said Andreas Dingstad, a spokesman for the Catholic diocese in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
"The church is growing most in the south. So I think lots of people will be ready for a pope from Africa, Asia or South America. But who knows, it's the early days still," Dingstad said.
The nation with biggest Christian population in Africa, Nigeria, has some 20 million practicing Catholics. In Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, trader Chukwuma Awaegwu put his feelings simply Monday: "If I had my way, an African should be the next pope, or someone from Nigeria."
"It's true; they brought the religion to us, but we have come of age," he said. "In America, now we have a black president. So let's just feel the impact of a black pope."
But Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, a Nigerian who was made a cardinal in November by Benedict, said papal politics are not normal politics.
"Popes come and popes go. It doesn't mean when a pope comes, the church completely changes, now. It isn't like a politician who wins an election and begins to implement manifestos," Onaiyekan said. "It is a different ball game all together, and I hope people out there realize that."
Bookmakers in Britain were quick to offer odds on candidates to replace Benedict. Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson, Canada's Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria led in betting.
Scholars of other faiths also weighed in on the outgoing pope's legacy.
In Britain, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, expressed "a heavy heart but complete understanding" of the pope's decision.
A noted Islamic scholar in Jerusalem was less sympathetic. He said Benedict would be remembered by Muslims for misrepresenting their faith, damaging years of careful interfaith dialogue by his predecessor John Paul II.
"I regret that his term was not marked by genuine rapprochement with the Muslim world," said Mustafa Abu Sway of the Palestinian al-Quds University. Abu Sway said many Muslims couldn't forget Benedict's much-criticized lecture in 2006 at the University of Regensburg in Germany when he referenced a remark about Islam that offended Muslims.
"I just hope that the next Pope would do a much better job," Abu Sway said.
Many Catholics, however, praised Benedict for bravery and modesty in deciding to step aside.
In the pope's native Germany, the pontiff's older brother, 89-year-old Georg Ratzinger, told the dpa news agency in Regensburg that a doctor had advised his brother not to take any more trans-Atlantic trips and said was having increasing difficulty walking. "His age is weighing on him," Ratzinger said.
In Poland, the homeland of Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz said he was "surprised like everybody else," but said cardinals at the Vatican could see that Benedict was "weakening, had problems walking" even as his intellect remained strong.
The resignation was an act of deference to the greater good by a man "demonstrating his humanity," said Father Luis Rivero, Archdiocesan director of campus ministry for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami.
"There are times that only we know that we have to let go. And sometimes people may see that as a failure, but it's honorable when someone reaches their point they have to let go because they can't do this effectively anymore." | <urn:uuid:d4981b67-c820-441d-8ea3-d5e4ae0f7c38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_22566107/papal-resignation-sparks-global-disbelief-grief | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97929 | 1,164 | 1.679688 | 2 |
As part of August Craft Month 2012, Craft Northern Ireland’s exhibition for the duration, (work in progress) contextualizes the work of six of Northern Ireland’s finest craft makers, giving viewers an insight into their various stages of production.
Upon entering the gallery in Craft NI's head quarters in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter – their gallery space is, essentially, also their waiting area, with their office visible behind temporary walls – I'm immediately struck by the steel sculptures created by Antrim-based Eamonn Higgins (pictured below).
Higgins has laid out his process on a chalkboard: a complicated, sometimes humorous web of inspiration, frustration and execution. His finished sculptures – made from intertwined copper wire sprayed with deconstructed steel and shaped into vaguely human forms – seem like brittle reminders of the fragility of human life.
Following Higgins is textile artist, Michelle Stephens, who uses a range of materials all brought together with woven fabric. Evoking Celtic imagery and heritage – here a harp, there a four-leaf clover – Stephens's practice is extremely precise. From her sketches, drawn with ruler-straight lines on graph paper, to the finished products, nothing is out of place.
The presentation of her process, however, is a little curious. Finished pieces are presented alongside raw materials, yarns and threads bunched up and knotted haphazardly, which ultimately takes something away from the scrupulousness of her completed works. It all seems a little too messy, despite her innovative vision.
Continuing on, Diane Lyness presents a mixture of useful objects – napkin rings, candle holders – made using silver and semi-precious stones (pictured above). Her work is clearly inspired by the architecture of flora. Complementary sketches and photographs document her process, and reveal her knowledge of and obsession with uncoiling ferns, flower stalks and stamens.
Work by Catherine Keenan follows, blown-glass sculptures and necklaces (main image). They remind me of Dr Seuss, alien shapes from a wierd, playful world. They are practical – you could imagine using these strange vessels as flowerpots, for example – but they are also very beautiful.
Keenan’s accompanying booklet is perhaps the most in-depth of all the exhibits, and shows the level of difficulty involved in glass blowing, where timing is everything. It features watercolours and sketches that inform Keenan's completed sculptures.
Alison Lowry, meanwhile, repeats the image of a child's dress over and over, screen printed onto different coloured rectangles of glass. When considered together with the book that forms the remainder of her exhibit – which explains that the dress symbolises the estimated 95% of UK sexual assault victims who do not report the crime committed against them – the work is unsettling.
Suddenly it feels like a piece of evidence at a crime scene, an artifact removed, frail, ghostly. The dress itself is included among Lowry's materials, but not a lot of insight into the process is provided.
Finally, Katie Brown prints urban images – barbed wire fences, industrial cranes, lamposts and stones – onto sumptuous silk. The dichotomy between the medium and the subject matter is an interesting one. I think of Japanese textiles that traditionally feature rural scenes, and admire Brown's modern twist.
As individual pieces, these works are impressive. And yet, within the context of the exhibition, Brown's presentation is light on process, and so it is difficult to follow her 'progress' as an artist.
Accompanying the exhibit is a film that goes some way toward filling the gaps (see it in six parts below). Shown on a continuous loop, the film, produced by Adam Frew, shows all six of the artists at work. It contains some interesting scenes, but it’s soundtracked only by music – there are no interviews – and leaves much unsaid.
The size of the Craft NI gallery space undoubtedly limits the ability to illuminate so many works. Nevertheless, this is an interesting exhibition, a window into the working practices of six very talented craft makers, and well worth a visit.
(work in progress) continues until September 24. Watch Andrew Frew's videos of the above artists below. | <urn:uuid:15bfdd4d-82cd-4772-8e72-d40c77935e4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/5185/art-review-work-in-progress- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958165 | 879 | 1.617188 | 2 |
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DR. THOMAS MCGUIRE:
Dr. Thomas McGuire is both an artist and art enthusiast. As a child growing up poor in the South Bronx, McGuire was drawn to the visual world, especially color. At the age of 12, he saw an advertisement for an art correspondence course and submitted an application. His parents could not afford the course, and thought art was an impractical career choice. Those financial practicalities influenced McGuire’s education and career decisions. He chose to study medicine, reasoning that he could have a satisfying career helping others and turn to art later. Even so, art was always an important part of his life. As an intern at Northwestern University, homesick and a little blue, he visited a gallery and saw a painting that matched his mood. That painting became the first in his extensive collection and hangs today in his New York City apartment. “Collecting became a passion,” he says.
When McGuire came to Sarasota 20 years ago, he sought opportunities to add to his collection by purchasing art from Ringling students. “I buy art from students whenever I can,” he says. He has purchased many pieces over the years—at the College’s sidewalk sales, from students whose work appeared in Best of Ringling exhibitions, and at campus art sales. McGuire is delighted by the growth and direction he has seen at Ringling. “The progress has been amazing,” he says. “We’re happy to have Ringling in our town. When people talk about other art colleges as being the best, I say, ‘No, it’s Ringling!’”
McGuire’s homes, including his house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are testaments to his love of art and his passion for collecting. Art is everywhere. However, not all of the pieces were purchased. McGuire created some of them himself. While his medical career flourished, McGuire made time to take art classes, even during his army service. Today he paints regularly, always keeping a set of watercolors with him. He especially enjoys taking classes.
When Sarasota Museum of Art’s (SMOA) president, Wendy Surkis, shared Ringling and SMOA’s idea to turn the historic Sarasota High School building into a destination for visual learning with a museum as its centerpiece, McGuire was captivated. The project brought together his passion for art, for Ringling College, and for expanding opportunities to study art. “The idea of a dual-purpose museum and studio setting is wonderful,” says McGuire. “It will provide opportunities for people like me to take classes in a first-class academic setting.” Through his boundless enthusiasm, his desire to ensure that all members of the community have access to art, and his exceptional generosity, McGuire has contributed to the creation of a new vision for artists and art lovers in Sarasota.
The Thomas F. McGuire MD Studio, named in honor of McGuire’s donation of $1 million to the project, will exemplify the architect’s vision for the center—to design a building in which those creating art and those viewing art will have a shared experience. Spanning two stories, the studio will have windows on the upper level that will allow museum visitors to view the process of making art as community members take classes in the studio below. The artists, in turn, will be able to look up into the museum. Through those windows, the process of creating and viewing art will come together.
“Art is important in a person’s life. If you’re ever looking and can’t find me, I’m probably in a gallery or museum,” laughs McGuire.
One day soon, you will find him taking a painting class in the studio he made possible as SMOA visitors look on appreciatively. | <urn:uuid:ac7fbc54-e966-4f6a-949e-143235ac2235> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ringling.edu/connect/alumni-friends/donor-stories/tom-mcguire/?nomobileredirect=httpr-n4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975034 | 893 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Munich Airport Franz Josef Strauß
The new airport, which replaced the Munich-Riem site and began operating in 1992, has received many awards for its architecture. Mid-2003, the opening of Terminal 2 with its daring design was an important step towards further extraordinary growth.
Apart from the airline passengers, the airport greets 1,1 million guests a year, including those who come to pick up the passengers, but also visitors who want a closer look at the workings of an important airport. The latter can turn to the special Visitors Park (tel.: 089/975 41 333) for assistance. The Munich Airport offers its guests exceptional shopping facilities and a variety of gastronomical treats. There is even a small brewery called "Airbräu" between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The Munich Airport is certainly the first airport in the world to have its own (mini) brewery!
The Visitors Park presents a well-balanced mix of information and recreation. Visitors can marvel at the sight of historical airplanes or stand on the Viewing Hill and enjoy a great view of the terminal and the runways. Guided airport tours provide a fascinating look at airport operations.
Not to be missed: Munich Airport Center, or MAC for short - an architectural masterpiece.
Reference: Munich Tourist Office | <urn:uuid:9adfcab4-37d0-49e0-b211-3042f2dc25e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.muenchen.de/int/en/sights/attractions/munich-airport.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947903 | 265 | 1.515625 | 2 |
On June 9, 2009 AGA submitted comments on EPA’s proposed rule on the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The comments note AGA's support of the proposed reporting threshold of 25,000 tons per year of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions from large facilities in all sectors. AGA detailed the practical problems that would be arise from the proposed daily metering and annual calibration requirements. In addition, AGA noted that EPA verification has worked well in other
Clean Air Act programs; third party verification should not be considered, as it is wasteful, expensive and would not appreciably improve the quality or reliability of GHG emissions reports. | <urn:uuid:fcd571c4-c63e-4ce2-9e3e-adc4d8a17850> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aga.org/our-issues/environment/publicenviro/2009/Pages/GHGRule_ComJune09.aspx | 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 | 0.966072 | 131 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Can Investors Have Too Much Accounting Transparency?
The earnings of all publicly owned organizations may soon take a hit as the organizations comply with various provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and new FASB rules. Are these and perhaps other "cures" to the corporate scandals really worth the cost to investors?
Basic conclusions that can be drawn from responses to this month's column are that it may or may not be useful to try to legislate accounting transparency. But such efforts address symptoms, not causes, of behaviors leading to purposely misleading financial reporting. As Scott Green puts it, "We cannot look at investor losses as the only benchmark to evaluate the costs of Sarbanes-Oxley. One must also consider the cost of capital if confidence in the markets does not return Unfortunately, you cannot legislate morality..." This theme was picked up by Richard Eckel, who wrote, "... legislative and regulatory response treats the symptoms (means) rather than the disease (motivation). Transparency is only as successful as the least creative obscurantist." He recommends, among other things, prohibiting "by regulation public equity trading by corporate insiders of the insider's equity..."
Several respondents suggested the need for a careful approach to the issue of greater transparency. E. Smith asked, "Do investors care about immaterial smoothing [of earnings]? I do not believe so. It is when ... earnings management leads an investor to misunderstand the health of the company that makes this wrong." Ruth Sager suggests that the current reactions to misleading financial reporting could potentially go too far. As she says, "Fashion in any field is like that. It goes to a ridiculous extreme before becoming more practical. Legislation is therefore a problematic way to achieve the golden mean in normative behavior."
Edward Hare agrees, pointing out that "Corporate governance is a system that continues to fail us ... and joins the ranks of education, mutual funds, and healthcare ... Are ethics, integrity, and self-interest the common denominators to them all?"
Echoing his point of view, does our current approach to greater accounting transparency through legislation and regulation attack the symptoms and not the disease? If so, is this a reflection of the worth of attacking even symptoms in order to restore credibility to financial markets? And if not through legislation and regulation, how then do we address the disease rather than the symptoms? What do you think?
The collapse of companies like Enron and WorldCom cost investors tens of billions of dollars. But that amount may be dwarfed by the cost of conforming to new laws driven by those corporate scandals--laws that are intended to protect investors. It prompts a question: Is the cost of accounting transparency worth it to investors?
At issue are various provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, including its Section 404, which will become common knowledge from Wall Street to Main Street, as well as rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in recent years. This is not an issue of interest only to those of us in the U.S., as suggested by a number of investigations and recommended guidelines being put forth in several member countries of the E.U. in response to accounting improprieties at Ahold and other European companies.
Among other things, Sarbanes-Oxley seeks more independent directors on boards and in key board committee positions. It discourages companies from buying auditing and particularly large amounts of consulting services from the same supplier. And now, by means of Section 404, it will: (1 require senior executives to certify that their companies have financial controls that work, and (2 give external auditors the added task of evaluating and reporting on not only a company's numbers but also the systems that produce the numbers. Finally, public accountants will have to evaluate the work of the boards' audit committees that hired them. The bill for the additional external auditors and significant investment in hardware and software for new control systems is estimated to double. If not offset by improved productivity and lower costs, it will result in a hit to the earnings of all publicly owned organizations.
Investors will face challenges as a result of guidelines recently issued by the FASB, as well. Foremost among these are efforts to encourage more aggressive write-offs of so-called non-performing assets, such as retail stores still in operation but performing below a certain level, as well as the creation of reserves against earnings that are much more accurate and timely than in the past. As a result of these guidelines, write-offs are more frequent, at times becoming a quarterly feature of a company's earnings. Reserves are created closer to an adverse event at a time when the cost of the event may be better known. One result has been greater volatility in earnings. In short, gone are the days when various accounting practices led to earnings "management" or "smoothing," whether or not such practices resulted in more stable stock prices.
Responses such as these to recent corporate scandals prompt several questions: Are these and perhaps other "cures" worth the cost to investors? Is it possible to have too much accounting transparency? What do you think? | <urn:uuid:7bedb9f6-aac6-498f-9f48-73713d5d20e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3770.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 | 0.967068 | 1,051 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Air New Zealand plans to outsource some of its contact centre work in a bid to cut costs.
Under the proposal, about 70 temporary staff handling domestic and short-haul inquiries will be shifted from the airline's own operation to a call centre that will be part of computer giant IBM's "New Zealand Delivery Centre" being established with Auckland's Unitec Institute of Technology.
The move would save the airline about $3 million a year.
Workers say they are worried that it is the start of a move to outsource permanent contact centre roles and could lead to a reduced customer service.
IBM has a similar setup at the University of Ballarat near Melbourne where students work at the delivery centre as part of an "earn as you learn" programme.
Air New Zealand says the partnership would boost its contact centre capability and enhance customers' experience.
As at Ballarat, IBM would use students at the call centre.
"This would offer the benefit of a part-time workforce which can be called upon at short notice to ensure extra support is provided to customers and staff at times of high demand."
The airline is now in the midst of consultation with all its 431 contact centre staff on the proposal that could come into effect from March 31.
One worker said although still a proposal, based on previous experience "the decision has pretty much already been made".
The worker, who did not want to be named, said more information would be made available to staff over the coming week but it was optional to view and anyone who did so would have to sign confidentiality agreements and be supervised while looking at the data.
The Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union said it did not believe outsourcing was the best solution.
"We're concerned that the company has gone straight to outsourcing without working through the areas around profitability in the business first," said assistant director of organising Strachan Crang.
During the consultation period the EPMU would offer alternatives to keep all the work done at the airline's two centres in Auckland.
"We believe that having call centres and support centres in-house is the best solution because they understand the brand," Crang said.
Air New Zealand's acting chief sales officer Norm Thompson said no redundancies would result and about 70 temporary staff would be offered permanent full-time positions at the new IBM centre. | <urn:uuid:a722e7a3-95f0-4229-a3e6-5f84ddea12d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news/print.cfm?objectid=10859130 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973882 | 476 | 1.53125 | 2 |
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SOURCE: Americord Registry
Americord Registry Umbilical Cord Blood Bank Remains Fully Operational Through Storm
New York, NY (PRWEB) November 14, 2012
Americord Registry, headquartered in New York City, was one of the few cord blood banks able to remain fully operational throughout the entire duration of Hurricane Sandy. When Americord responded to the FDA’s request for an impact status, it learned that many cord blood banks were “severely impacted” by the storm, according to the FDA. After Sandy brought historic flooding to the Northeast region, the company’s staff pulled together to ensure that the cord blood of two newborn babies in Newark, New Jersey was safely collected at the hospital. With their medical courier navigating congested roadways, staff at headquarters relayed information from Twitter to guide the driver successfully to one of the few open gas stations in the area so he could make the pick-up.
“In the aftermath of Sandy, we remain very concerned about the local communities in New York and New Jersey,” said Americord CEO Martin Smithmyer, who participated in recovery efforts as a volunteer on Staten Island in the days following the storm. “Americord is dedicated to being a responsible corporate citizen of this great community. Americord is focused on providing the highest quality cord blood banking services at the best value available on the market, and we are committed to being there for parents, no matter when their baby arrives – even if that is in the middle of an unprecedented storm.”
Americord will be celebrating the ongoing recovery efforts along with New Yorkers on Monday November 19th at the Biggest Baby Shower Ever, an event hosted by Big City Moms at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. Company representatives will be available to educate and inform attendees about cord blood banking.
About Americord Registry
Americord Registry is a leader in the advancement of umbilical cord blood, cord tissue and placenta tissue banking. Americord collects, processes, and stores newborn stem cells from umbilical cord blood for future medical or therapeutic use, including the treatment of more than 80 blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia and leukemia. Founded in 2008, Americord is registered with the FDA and operates in all 50 states. The company's laboratory is CLIA Certified, accredited by the AABB and complies with all federal and state guidelines and applicable licenses. Americord is headquartered in New York, NY. You may visit Americord Registry's website at http://www.cordadvantage.com for more information. You may also find Americord Registry on Facebook and follow the company on Twitter.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/11/prweb10131625.htm
Can't find what you're looking for? | <urn:uuid:d2972874-2478-4ceb-be48-09515a8b6ca9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbs19.tv/story/20096149/hurricane-sandy-threatens-cord-blood-banks | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939195 | 616 | 1.507813 | 2 |
COVINGTON - With unemployment still high and many folks desperate to find a job, scammers are taking advantage.
The Better Business Bureau has issued alerts to several scams lately, including one aimed at job seekers looking for employment online.
Scammers will ask for personal information to fill out paperwork or require applicants to pay fees for bogus background checks or make purchases related to the fake job.
People have been targeted on Craigslist, Moster.com and Facebook, along with numerous other sites. The BBB warns that one tell-tale sign of an employment scam is the phrase "Get rich quick - without leaving your home!"
While some legitimate businesses offer work at home opportunities, many are really scammers trying to take advantage of the unemployed, stay at home moms, the elderly and disabled, BBB warns.
A red flag is if the job posting is rife with grammatical and spelling errors, as many scammers are outside the country and English is not their first language, according to BBB. If the salary and benefits seem too good to be true, they probably are.
Also, a request for personal information such as Social Security or bank account numbers is a sign something is amiss. Some job seekers have reported being offered employment without doing an interview, then being asked for personal information so the "employer" can fill out paperwork.
Sometimes, job applicants will be asked to wire money or receive a check through the mail and are asked to send a portion of the check to another entity. The check turns out to be bad and the victim is out the money wired to the scammers.
Scammers always follow the headlines, and they know there are plenty of people in need of jobs, said Fred T. Elsberry Jr., president and CEO of the BBB Serving Metro Atlanta, Athens and Northeast Georgia.
"There are more people at home than at work these days, and more people in dire straits that want to believe it's true, so they fall for something they wouldn't fall for otherwise," he said.
Companies offering work at home opportunities can be researched at www.bbb.org.
A report by Consumer Sentinel Network, an online database of consumer complaints compiled from the Federal Trade Commission and other sources, logged more than 1.3 million complaints during 2010, with 19 percent of those relating to identity theft. Other common complaints were debt collection fraud, Internet fraud and false prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries.
CSN reports that people age 20 to 29 are most susceptible to scams, while people over 70 are least susceptible. That's likely because so many scams are taking place online now, Elsberry said. Also, seniors are less likely to believe the promise of a free offer and are more wary about giving out personal information.
Facebook users make themselves easy targets by listing the city and state where they were born and birthdates. With that information, it's possible to figure out a person's Social Security number fairly quickly, Elsberry said.
He also warned against posting plans for vacation on Facebook. That opens the door for scammers to call relatives, whose name and information they can also find on Facebook, with a false story about you. For example, some have received calls stating their relative has been in a wreck and asking if they can wire money. The scammer knows the vacation spot because it was posted on Facebook.
The easiest way to protect yourself is simply to keep personal information private, Elsberry said.
"Personal information is personal information because not everybody should have it," he said. Shred documents with personal information before throwing them away, he said.
Those who believe they or their loved ones are victims of a scam should call local law enforcement and if credit cards or bank accounts are involved, also their bank or credit bureau. | <urn:uuid:633ddd37-0e35-4931-89bf-c07b57a9142e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newtoncitizen.com/news/2011/aug/10/bbb-job-seekers-beware-of-online-scammers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963287 | 775 | 1.796875 | 2 |
- "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The reality is not that I lack respect for the law; it’s that I have greater respect for justice. Where there is a conflict between the law and the higher moral code that we all share, my loyalty is to that higher moral code."
“This is what you shall do; love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
Tag Archives: conservatives
The following comes from an interview Boston Review web editor, David V. Johnson did with David Graeber, an anthropologist at Goldsmiths, University of London and an anarchist / activist, best known for being the “Anti-Leader of Occupy Wall Street.” He is also the author of a recently published book, Debt: The First 5,000 Years, in which he “marries his academic and activist selves by dissecting our moral confusion about debt, showing both how contingent our intuitions are in the light of anthropology and how … Continue reading
Found this in one of the feeds I follow on Facebook, and no further comment seems necessary. You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President. You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy. You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed. You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed. You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed … Continue reading
After posting last night’s piece regarding the similarities between 21st century America and Weimar Germany, I stumbled upon this little bit of wisdom, posted at addicting info. It’s true, conservative policies are sociopathic, and we have Ayn Rand to thank for their widespread appeal today. Ayn Rand and the Sociopathic Society or ‘How I Learned to Stop Loving My Neighbor and Despise Them Instead.’ by Justin “Filthy Liberal Scum” Rosario A fat, smug bastard friend of mine (that’s his chosen nickname, The … Continue reading
(SOURCE: Raw Story) Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told columnist George Will and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Sunday that Republican opposition to marijuana legalization was “a great embarrassment to the conservatives.” During a town hall-style debate on ABC, Frank demanded a response from Will about decriminalizing marijuana. “I mean, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who’s an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?” Frank asked. “With regard to marijuana, I need to know … Continue reading | <urn:uuid:4f04ad17-5be8-4c66-8562-5874cf8a419a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thurmanhubbard.com/?tag=conservatives | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939962 | 767 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Editor's note: David Frum, a CNN contributor, is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is the author of eight books, including a new novel, "Patriots," and a post-election e-book, "Why Romney Lost." Frum was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002.
(CNN) -- Massacres such as Newtown are horrifying and heart-rending. They are also nothing like the typical American gun murder.
The typical murder has one victim, not many. The typical murder is committed with a handgun, not a rifle. And in the typical murder, both the perpetrator and the victim are young black men. Blacks are six times as likely as whites to be the victim of a homicide. Blacks are seven times as likely to commit a homicide.
The horrifying toll of gun violence on black America explains why black Americans are so much more likely than whites to favor gun control.
Conversely, fears of being victimized by violence explain why so many white Americans -- especially older and more conservative white Americans -- insist on the right to bear arms in self-protection. They see gun violence as something that impinges on them from the outside. They don't blame guns for gun violence. They blame a particular subset of the population. And they don't see why they should lose their right because some subset of the population abuses theirs.
A writer I greatly admire, Rod Dreher, an independent-minded conservative, gives voice to such feelings in an article posted this weekend on the American Conservative website. Dreher expresses himself forcefully and frankly. That frankness should be welcomed, because the more clearly a mistaken idea is put, the faster we can reach a better understanding.
"Yesterday the Baton Rouge Advocate published a lengthy analysis of the 2012 murder stats in the city. Take a look at this PDF of one of the inside pages. Last year, 83 people died by homicide in Baton Rouge. Of that number, 87% were black, and 87% were male. Two-thirds had been in trouble with the law before, and one-third had been in trouble with the law for drugs. The median age of victims: 26.
"Of the perpetrators, the median age was 22. Get this: 96% of them were black, and 90% were male. Almost two-thirds had previous arrests. One out of four had a drug record.
"Most of the murders took place in the poorest parts of the city.
"What can we learn from these statistics? That murder in Baton Rouge is almost entirely about young black men from the poor part of town killing other young black men from the poor part of town. It's mostly a matter of thugs killing thugs."
If you look at the world that way, gun control must seem a pointless diversion from the real problem: not guns, but one particular group of gun owners. Somebody else's problem. But life is not so neatly separated.
Guns offer equal opportunity tragedies. More than 8,000 white Americans had to be treated for nonfatal gun injuries in 2008. Eighty percent of those who commit suicide with a gun are white males. The gun that the suburban family buys to protect itself from "thugs killing thugs" ends up killing its own: One important new study finds that a gun kept in the house is 43 times more likely to kill a household member than to be used in self-defense.
Thugs killing thugs? Maybe. But many of those seeming thugs are carrying guns for the same reason that people who consider themselves respectable carry them : in a futile quest to protect themselves with greater firepower. One person can find safety that way. But if two people carry firearms, a confrontation that might otherwise have ended in words or blows ends instead with one man dead, and the other man on his way to prison for life.
Louisiana sends more people to prison than any other state, at a total cost of almost 7% of its state budget. Prison is always expensive, but the incarceration of murderers costs the most, because they remain in prison to the end. The oldest of Louisiana's prisoners cost the state almost $80,000 a year, including their health care.
Widespread gun ownership means not only more gun killings, but also more gun maimings and cripplings. The National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre hailed the ability of a "good guy" with a gun to stop a "bad guy" with a gun. Sixty seconds later, however, that bad guy may need a wheelchair for life. We can't dismiss these human costs as pertaining to only somebody else. They are all part of us.
Yet the urge to subdivide runs strong among Americans. Monday on Fox News, the popular conservative commentator Ann Coulter claimed that the murder rate among white Americans is as low as the murder rate in Belgium. "So perhaps it's not a gun problem," she concluded. "Perhaps it's a demographic problem."
But countries cannot dismiss the sufferings of great blocks of their people by dismissing some "demographics" as unworthy of attention.
If you ignore America's poor, you can make all kinds of problems disappear from view. Not counting the poor and minorities, the country does not have an obesity epidemic. Not counting the poor and minorities, the United States has perfectly adequate schools. Not counting the poor and minorities, America would have a higher average income.
Likewise, not counting hurricanes, America would not have so many natural disasters. Not counting divorces, America would have more intact families. Not counting wars, America would have a smaller public debt. But what's the point of this exercise? The people who make up America count as Americans, and their problems count as America's problems. Their problems do not occur in isolation, but are manifestations of failures to which all Americans contributed together.
Those young men in Baton Rouge who are killing each other in such horrific numbers do not manufacture their own guns. They did not organize the gun trade that brings the guns to their town. They did not write the laws that prevent their town government from acting against guns. They carry guns -- and misuse guns -- thanks to a national system of gun regulation that makes guns easily accessible to those least likely to use guns responsibly.
The gun laws intended to put guns into the hands of "good guys" are the laws that also multiply guns in the hands of "bad guys" -- bad guys who might not have become such bad guys if the guns had not been available to their hands.
The price of redefining gun violence as an issue pertaining only to "those people" -- of casting and recasting the gun statistics to make them less grisly if only "those people" are toted under some different heading in some different ledger -- the price of that redefinition is to lose our ability to think about the problem at all.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum. | <urn:uuid:df9d5575-65d7-441a-8e65-aeb8bf25ffbf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://us.cnn.com/2013/01/15/opinion/frum-guns-race/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973465 | 1,435 | 1.554688 | 2 |
By Jim Schutze
By Rachel Watts
By Lauren Drewes Daniels
By Anna Merlan
By Lee Escobedo
By Eric Nicholson
What the two men have in common, of course, is that each--after years in prison and torturous legal appeals--managed to escape the best efforts of the state of Texas to kill them for crimes they did not commit.
Adams and Brandley are only the most famous of seven men who have been sent to Texas Death Row but released when it became clear that they almost certainly did not commit the crimes of which they were convicted.
Zealous prosecutors, suppressed evidence, perjured testimony, or shoddy police work conspired in various ways to bring the men within days, and in some cases hours, of execution.
Their unjust convictions loom large as both the Texas Legis-lature and the U.S. Congress consider new laws intended to speed up executions by limiting the appeals that Death Row inmates can file.
The federal legislation, called the "Effective Death Penalty Act of 1995," has already cleared the House as part of the Republican crime package. The Texas legislation, known more benignly as House Bill 3, is pending in the Texas Legislature.
The bills would limit, on both the federal and state levels, how much time convicted inmates have to file appeals after they are convicted. They would also change procedural rules, making it harder for defendants to win a court's permission to pursue their claims.
Death penalty supporters, long outraged that more than a decade can easily pass before a convicted capital murderer is actually executed, want the process to go faster.
Men and women guilty of heinous murders, they say, are buying years of time pursuing every appeal available to them under existing state and federal laws. Execution must be swift, they argue, if the spectre of ultimate punishment is to deter other would-be killers.
"The five- and 10-year delays undermine a lot of the value of the death penalty," says David Price, an attorney for the Washington Legal Foundation, a D.C. think tank that supports legislation to speed up executions.
But without the lengthy appeals process, death penalty foes point out, people like Brandley and Adams might now be dead, executed before they were cleared of their alleged crimes.
Those howling for swifter executions, they say, are ignoring the dozens of documented cases in which state courts have sent innocent men to Death Row.
"I think we will see many more people facing death who are actually innocent, and Texas has a horrible track record," says Diann Rust-Tiernay, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Death Penalty Project. "In the end, innocent people will be executed."
Sentencing innocent people to death is not uncommon. A 1993 report prepared by the staff of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights found 48 cases across the nation of capital murder defendants who were ultimately released from Death Row "with significant evidence of their innocence."
The men--including five in Texas--were "living proof that innocent people are sentenced to death," the report concluded.
In many of the cases, more than 10 years of appeals and remarkable legal assistance not available to most Death Row inmates were required to free the men.
Since that report, two other Texas cases have surfaced in which substantial evidence of innocence helped free convicted men.
Choking off death penalty appeals, foes say, will only increase the likelihood that some of those innocent people will be executed. That risk is especially high in Texas, with its established penchant for sending men and women to Death Row.
Texas continues to hold its lead as the nation's most prolific death penalty state. As of last Friday, Death Row held 398 inmates, the most in the country.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court began allowing states to reimpose the death penalty in the late 1970s, Texas has executed 92 people, also the most in the country.
Republican protestations aside, death penalty opponents say, the deck is already handily stacked against people charged with capital crimes.
Virtually all death penalty defendants are poor and get court-appointed attorneys, many of whom are no match for the more experienced prosecutors they face, says Steve Hall of the Texas Re-source Center, a federally funded legal rights group that assists the condemned with their appeals.
The center's attorneys, Hall notes, receive cases after the defendants have already been convicted and sentenced to die.
In many cases, he says, a review of the case file shows that the original court-appointed attorney did not have the time, money or resources to mount a vigorous defense.
Hall's assessment may seem self serving, but it is the same conclusion reached by an outside consultant hired by the Texas Bar Association in 1993 to look at what kind of legal help accused capital murderers receive.
"We believe, in the strongest terms possible, that Texas has already reached the crisis stage in capital representation and that the problem is substantially worse than that faced by any other state with the death penalty," concluded the report by the Spangen-berg Group of Massachusetts.
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Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city | <urn:uuid:76b63beb-6edd-4ad3-bbcf-3be8784eaa25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dallasobserver.com/1995-03-09/news/lambs-to-the-slaughter/ | 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 | 0.965452 | 1,095 | 1.695313 | 2 |
PUBLIC EMPLOYEE LABOR RELATIONS
273-C:4 Obligation to Bargain. – It is the obligation of the employer and the employee organization certified by the board as the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit to negotiate in good faith. "Good faith" negotiation involves meeting at reasonable times and places in an effort to reach agreement on the terms of employment, but the obligation to negotiate in good faith shall not compel either party to agree to a proposal or to make a concession.
Source. 1990, 214:1, eff. July 31, 1990. | <urn:uuid:38b20ff4-db5e-43ad-b57e-769fd90aa720> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nh.gov/pelrb/laws/c4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937569 | 118 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Brett Walker, who runs the @DarwinorthOZ Twitter account, shared a non-Top End link last night that caught my eye, it read:
Good post ~ Please don’t be that guy: some advice for using social media
It contained a link to an article by Anne Chaconas, entitled, Please: Don’t be “that guy.”
In short, the article was a call for being ‘social’ in social media, a common theme throughout The RITE Series and a core part of my Two Commandments of Social Media Marketing.
What prompted Anne to write the piece was a rogue member in one of her social networks, a writer who shared some of the following atrocious tweets.
Anne’s piece also prompted me to run a tool that checks people in your Twitter account to see who should be deleted. That’s where the Chief Minister account comes into it.
Me, myself, I leads to goodbye
Anne’s rogue spammer was a fellow writer who basically contributed nothing to the social network he was part of except for tweets like these:
- “The cover of my book is truly spectacular–and the content is even better!” 12:45pm
- “My background qualifies me as an expert in my field, which is why my book has positively affected so many people.” 1.13pm
- “Check out this 5-star review on my book.” 1:30pm.
- “Have you purchased my book?” 1:52pm.
- “This book will change your life.” 2:17pm. Including link to his book’s Amazon page.
I truly hope you do not see yourself in those tweets.
Anne’s important warning is to remember people join social networks to connect with each other, build community and gain access to people with shared interests. She reminds us to also ‘shut up and listen’ to others so that we might interact more meaningfully.
I was prompted to review my Twitter habits on the weekend. Firstly, Anne’s post made me check the mirror. And then Alain de Botton, during his interview on One Plus One, commented that simply being noisy in social media and seeking fame for its own sake is a sign of brokenness, whereas seeking to be genuine and giving in your social interactions can actually lead to fame as a result of the value you bring to others’ lives.
To aid my review, I used a free service called Twit Cleaner, which I recommend, with caution.
Twit Cleaner analyses the Twitter output of Twits you are following to determine the ratio between content they create and:
- how many times their tweets include links
- how many times their tweets have been generated automatically or used an RSS feed
- how many times their tweets include others – a sign of engagement
- how many times their tweets include advertising or spam
- how long it has been between tweets
The results make for fascinating reading and I was relieved my personal account, @stevedavis, got a clean bill of health. However, my @theriteseries account got a little talking to, primarily because I don’t use it enough for conversation and tend to use it as a broadcast medium for The RITE Series blog, as the source of The RITE Series Daily, and to connect directly with people who have questions about The RITE Series.
Even more interesting was the list of ‘potentially dodgy’ Twitter accounts that Twit Clean had found I was following was led by the Chief Minister himself, Paul Henderson.
I was shocked.
I have never met ‘Hendo’ personally but thought he did a great job of making the Northern Territory look good to the rest of Australia when Q and A was filmed in Darwin duing my October visit.
As it turns out, the account in question was Paul’s old account, @chiefministernt, while his current account, @NTChiefMinister, passed the test. So, that was a relief.
However, Twit Cleaner said I should ditch @Hot100Darwin because the account was 80 percent links and not used for almost two years. A similarly brutal report was meted out to 8HA in Alice Springs. Twit Cleaner dubbed @yourstation8HA as a ‘snob’ because it followed back less than 10 percent of those who followed it. However it was almost two years without content as well. It appears to me that the two stations have simply stopped using Twitter, worth noting as you work your way through your report.
Surprisingly, the quite active @skycitydarwin was placed in the list to ‘drop’ because Twit Cleaner says it partakes in ‘no interaction at all’.
What we learn from tools like Twit Cleaner is that fellow social media users will value your presence if you ‘tweet unto others as you would have them tweet unto you’, as it were. This means making sure your value others in the social space, by listening and responding to them, sharing good things they have published, in balance with your own raw material.
One word of caution about Twit Cleaner, and any tool that uses and algorithm to quickly calculate and ‘judge’ human interaction, review the Twitter accounts it suggests you delete first. It may well be that the Twitter account that is ‘mainly links’ might just happen to be sharing links you really care about. Even Twit Cleaner suggests you exercise caution.
Why don’t you run the test and click on the tab called, How Do I Look? I have found it to be a most worthwhile exercise and I hope it prompts me to making @theriteseries more worthwhile for you in the future. | <urn:uuid:3661b0d2-0a19-4d2b-b780-458737d64c5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theriteseries.com.au/please-dont-be-that-guy-on-social-media-and-i-dont-mean-the-chief-minister/ | 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 | 0.965639 | 1,225 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Real name: Patrick Stewart
Birthdate: July 13, 1940
Partner: Wendy Neuss
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Patrick Stewart OBE (born July 13, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated English film, television and stage actor. He is also Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. Stewart has had a distinguished career in theatre for nearly fifty years, including performances as various characters in Shakespearean productions. However, he is most famous for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as Professor Xavier in the X-Men films.
In 1991, Stewart performed his one-man-play adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which he portrayed all 40-plus characters himself. He staged encore performances in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and then again for the benefit of survivors and victims' families in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Stewart performed the play again for a 23-day run in London's West End in December 2005. For his performances in this play, he has received the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance in 1992 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Solo Performance in 1994. Shakespeare roles during this period included Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, on Broadway in 1995, a role he would reprise in Rupert Goold's 2006 production of The Tempest as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival, and the title role in Shakespeare's Othello in 1997. Originally a play about a black African entering a white Society, Patrick had wanted to play the title role since the age of 14, so he (along with director Jude Kelly), inverted the play so Othello became a White man in a Black Society.
He also was a voice actor on several animated films, including The Prince of Egypt, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Chicken Little, The Pagemaster, as well as the English dubbings of the Japanese anime films Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki and Steamboy. He voiced the pig Napoleon in a TV adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm and guest starred in the Simpsons episode "Homer the Great" as Number One. More recently, he has played a recurring role as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock (lending his likeness as well as his voice) on the animated series American Dad as well as appearing on Family Guy in various forms (as Capt. Picard & replacing Peter Griffin's voice for a gag). In 2006, Stewart voiced Bambi's father, The Great Prince of the Forest in Disney's direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II. Stewart considered it an honor to do so.
His voice talents also appeared in a couple of commercials including the UK TV Advert for Domestos 5x Longer Bleach, an advertisement for Shell fuel, and an American advertisement for the prescription drug Crestor. He also voiced the UK and Australian TV advertisements for the PAL version of Final Fantasy XII.
Stewart takes part in a lot of promotional advertising for The University of Huddersfield where he is the chancellor. He also attends about three of the university's fifteen graduation ceremonies per year. | <urn:uuid:4865deff-23d7-41b9-b9ea-64455386ef79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gossiprocks.com/patrick-stewart | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965387 | 663 | 1.601563 | 2 |
"I know a lot of people had some doubts and some questions: Can you really go to the people and ask them to vote for a tax?" Brown told supporters as the measure inched into the "yes" column just after 11 p.m. "Here we are ... We have a vote of the people, I think the only state in the country that says let's raise our taxes, for our kids for our schools, and for our California dream."
While Proposition 30 was on pace to pass by a slight margin, two other tax measures were more lopsided: Proposition 38, a competing tax-for-schools measure, was soundly defeated, while Proposition 39, which forces big businesses to pay more taxes, won comfortably.
With most precincts reporting, results showed Yolo County and other areas supporting the measure while some inland and rural areas were rejecting it.
In Yolo County, Prop. 30 captured 37,715 yes votes, or 63.9 percent; compared to 21,307 votes, or 36.1 percent, against.
Brown made Proposition 30 the hallmark of his administration, spending the year trying to convince voters that California schools have reached a breaking point and need taxpayers to come to the rescue. It will raise $6 billion annually for education and the state budget by increasing the sales
"It sold itself," he said at a victory party in Sacramento.
"The core reason it brought people together was a belief in schools and universities and the capacity of government to make wise investments that benefit all of us."
The governor has repeatedly promised that rejecting Proposition 30 would have meant $6 billion in fresh cuts to schools starting Jan. 1 - threatening to shorten the K-12 school year and raise tuition at public universities again.
Meanwhile, wealthy attorney Molly Munger's Proposition 38, a competing tax-for-schools measure, trailed badly, as expected, despite Munger providing most of the money for the $48 million campaign. Proposition 38 sought to raise $10 billion, mostly for K-12 schools, by raising the income tax on the wealthy and middle class, who bristled at the idea of hiking their own taxes by hundreds of dollars a year.
In Yolo County, Prop. 38 failed with 41,342, or 72.1 percent, of the voters opposed, compared to 27.9 percent, or 15,997 voters in favor.
However, a third tax measure, Proposition 39, passed as expected, closing a loophole that allowed big multistate businesses to pay fewer state taxes. The result could add $1 billion a year in new revenues to the state.
In Yolo County, meanwhile, Prop. 39, was approved with 36,019 voters in favor, or 63.8 percent, compared to 20,429 voters, or 36.2 percent, opposed.
In other California propositions, Yolo County was also consistent with statewide voting:
n Prop. 31, which would have let the state approve a budget every two years instead of once a year, Yolo County voted against the idea with 334,752 people opposed, or 63.3 percent; compared to those in favor, who tallied 20,129 voters, or 36.7 percent. That compared statewide with 39.2 percent in favor and 60.8 percent opposed, effectively defeating the measure.
n Prop. 32 was an effort to limit the campaign influence of labor unions, however, information uncovered by the state showed it was being financed by outside business influences which would have exempted too many political groups. As a result, voters statewide defeated the measure 56.2 percent to 43.8 percent. In Yolo County, there were 35,758 voters opposed to the measure, or 61.8 percent, compared to 22,105 voters in favor, or 38.2 percent.
n Prop. 33, which would have allowed insurance billionaire George Joseph to change auto insurance law in a way that helped his company, Mercury General Corp., was easily defeated statewide with 45.3 percent of the voting public in favor and 54.7 percent opposed. In Yolo County, there were 62.2 percent of the voting public opposed, or 35,263 people; compared to 37.8 percent in favor, or 21,456 voters.
n Prop. 34 would have eliminated the death penalty, but it was defeated statewide with 52.7 percent of voters opposed compared to 47.3 percent in favor. Yolo County voters, however, were in favor of eliminating the death penalty. There were 32,343 people in favor , or 55.8 percent, compared to 25,640 voters, or 44.2 percent, opposed to any change.
n Prop. 35, an effort to limit human trafficking, was approved by voters statewide 81.1 percent compared to 18.9 percent opposed. In Yolo County, there were 43,138 voters in favor, or 74.9 percent, compared to 14,438 voters, or 25.1 percent, opposed.
n Prop. 36, an effort to modify the state's "three-strikes" law passed with 68.7 percent of the voters in favor compared to 31.3 percent opposed. In Yolo County, the distinction was starker. There were 73.8 percent of the county's voters in favor of changing the law, or 42,590 voters, compared to 15,110 voters opposed, or 26.2 percent.
n Prop. 37 would have affected Yolo County farmers and seed companies had it passed. It did not. The measure would have required the labeling of foods which were genetically altered to be labeled as such. Statewide, voters were opposed to the measure 53 percent compared to 47 percent in favor. In Yolo County, the difference was more dramatic. There were 33,262 voters, or 57.2 percent, opposed, compared to 24,851 voters, or 42.8 percent, in favor.
n Prop. 40, which would have left in place state Senate districts drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, 40,701 Yolo County voters in favor, or 75 percent; compared to 13,575 people opposed, or 25 percent. Statewide, there were 71.4 percent of the voters in support compared to 28.6 percent opposed.
Meanwhile, Yolo County voters also supported President Barack Obama's return to office. Countywide, there were 38,856 people in favor of Obama's re-election, or 65 percent, compared to 19,080, or 31.9 percent, in favor of electing Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
There were 60,384 people who voted of those 102,186 registered voters countywide, or 59 percent. Expectations were for an 80 percent turnout, however, absentee ballots must still be counted.
Additionally, Yolo County voters were equally supportive of longtime Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who faced a weak challenge from Republican Elizabeth Emken. In Yolo County, Feinstein got 39,430 votes, or 67.5 percent; compared to Emken's 18,999 votes, or 32.5 percent.
Follow The Democrat at twitter.com/woodlandnews | <urn:uuid:0fadb0e5-9153-45ab-ba87-c1f50766576d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_21946306/yolo-county-voters-follow-state-federal-trends | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979404 | 1,454 | 1.75 | 2 |
North York Mirror
Future city development should reflect the needs of drivers and non-drivers alike in order to avoid “planning failures” like the Peanut Plaza in Don Mills, said a panel of urban design experts last week.
The Construct Canada panel, made up of architects Clifford Korman, David Butterworth and city councillor Shelley Carroll, encouraged the audience of peers attending the trade show to build projects accessible to pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, as well as drivers.
Though it was constructed in the 1960s, Peanut Plaza is still considered a culturally vibrant community hub situated near schools, residences and recreational facilities.
But it is nearly impenetrable to non-drivers, who must cross Don Mills Road and a “sea of cars” to get to the peanut-shaped shopping centre situated between Sheppard Avenue and Finch Avenue, said Korman, a senior partner with Toronto firm Kirkor Architects and Planners.
Korman, who has worked on many high-rise condominiums including the 12-storey ARC tower near Bayview and Sheppard avenues, suggested dividing Peanut Plaza into separate intersections and installing traffic lights to improve accessibility.
“You can keep the identity of the Peanut but you break up the block, which will make it easier to reach,” he said after the panel discussion that took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Nov. 28 and was moderated by newspaper columnist Marcus Gee.
Carroll told the audience she often heard from residents who would much rather walk due to the frequent lack of available parking at the more than 100,000-square-foot plaza located at 3030 Don Mills Rd.
“So I know what my next assignment is: build better paths around the Peanut,” said Carroll, who represents the ward of Don Valley East, in which the plaza lies.
She said transforming properties like the Peanut into pedestrian- and transit-friendly locations would encourage more mixed-use development in the area for people to live, work and engage in recreational activities.
“Let’s look at what’s possible on the site and keep it alive,” said Carroll. “You don’t have to knock down a property, you just have to give it more life.”
More and more, developers are interested in building in areas where there are existing transit connections, said Butterworth.
He said such locations are particularly appealing to younger generations who increasingly prefer other forms of transportation to the automobile.
“Who wants to drive downtown and pay 20 bucks for parking when you can take the subway instead?” said Butterworth, a senior designer with Kirkor.
He said it is up to politicians and developers alike to convince residents of the importance of “smart” growth, even if the completion of the project lies several years in the future.
“Political will is key to achieving vision,” said Butterworth following the panel discussion. “As long as the vision is better than the current reality, people will be prepared to wait.”
Korman called on the province to build one subway station per year to fuel growth and expand Toronto’s existing system, arguing transit is integral to the city’s health.
“Build one station, one bus loop a year, and the city will grow organically around the intensification from that transit line,” he said. | <urn:uuid:6e6c50ed-b7ee-4f78-a690-cfdaf537aee0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/1376597-planning-for-all-people-encourages-mixed-use-growth-urban-designers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959519 | 707 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The lens is designed to mirror your own vision, with a 136 degree wide angle view. When the camera is turned off the ‘eye’ which houses the lens turns yellow – an important feature not for the user but for those around him/her concerned with privacy by knowing whether or not the camera is taking pictures.
The photos are compiled and turned into a stop-frame video showing your whole day in a matter of minutes – you can view this on a smart phone as well as a computer.
Photos are compiled and turned into a stop-frame video showing your whole day in a matter of minutes
Nick Bolton, OMG’s Chief Executive Officer believes the camera can make a practical impact on people’s everyday lives:
“We have always believed that this particular imaging technology could have a wide range of applications and today we have a product that proves it…now the real excitement of seeing just what Autographer can do begins.”
Chauhan Studio led the strategy on the design, and Director Tej Chauhan explains that that an industrial look and feel underpinned the craftsmanship.
“Wearable technology often looks “geeky” or otherwise out of place when worn. OMG Life partnered with us to develop a design that was quietly expressive yet unobtrusive, something that would look harmonious when worn across different styles and attitudes. This has been achieved by experimenting with different iterations of the outer body, eventually crafting relatively simple surfaces and channelling expression to the lens area. It came to serve a bigger purpose by becoming the brand signifier for this and any future developments that may be needed.
“The Autographer can be worn in lots of different ways: clipping, hanging, tethering and in various combinations. A range of innovative accessories were designed for this purpose and the team used materials and colours that created a cool contrast with the high-tech device.”
Traditionally speaking, a photo is a planned composition – you take a photo of friends or family and they look on with fixed grins – and the result is quite often predictable and uninteresting. Autographer’s ability to take automated photos, on the other hand, captures completely uncontrived moments and shows the world in its natural state.
The Autographer can be worn in lots of different ways: clipping, hanging, tethering and in various combinations
The device is based on a predecessor called the SenseCam, a less sophisticated version of the camera which was designed to create a visual history for people suffering from memory loss such as those with Alzheimers. The Autographer, on the other hand is for the commercial market, and it will be interesting to see whether it becomes a novelty device or if it enters the mainstream. | <urn:uuid:e48ac47c-b36d-4c4c-8bfc-9b353b07d97d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humansinvent.com/?_escaped_fragment_=/9216/the-smart-camera-that-captures-your-every-move/ | 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 | 0.959965 | 562 | 1.6875 | 2 |
|Shipyard ||Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig (Werk 30)|
|Ordered ||6 Jan 1915 ||Laid down || |
|Launched ||10 Aug 1915 ||Commissioned ||24 Nov 1915 |
|Career ||2 patrols|
|18 Mar 1916 - 17 May 1916 I Flotilla
|Successes||1 ship sunk with a total of 2,802 tons. |
|Fate ||17 May 1916 - Sank in a mine handling accident 3.5 miles off Dunbar, Scotland. The wreck of an UEI class submarine located by divers is undoubtedly that of U 74. 34 dead (all hands lost).
Previously recorded fate
Sunk by gunfire from the Royal Navy trawlers Sea Ranger, Kimberly, Oku, and Rodino off Peterhead at 57.10N, 01.20E on May 27, 1916. U 74 was lost well before this date.
See the 1 ships hit by U 74
There was another U 74 in World War Two|
That boat was launched from its shipyard on 31 Aug 1940 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on 31 Oct 1940. Take a look at the U 74 from WWII. | <urn:uuid:0f543bc2-24e8-4421-804e-1ba48411b7a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=74 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938128 | 249 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Advantages Strong flavour, lower in fat than 'normal' Pringles
Disadvantages Have an odd taste.
At the weekend I had round for dinner a couple of old school friends. Kate and Clare were two of my closest friends at school and over the last twelve years we haven't seen each other on more than a handful of occasions. I cooked a simple meal and baked a cake but I knew nibbles while we watched a film were a must so i bought some Maltesers and a tube of Sour Cream and onion Pringles. It seems Kate had a similar idea and brought a box of chocolates and a tube of the new Rice Infusion Pringles in Salt and vinegar flavour.During the film the chocolates Kate brought with her got polished off and the Pringles didn't get opened. My other half and I have happily picked at them ever since! We both love Pringles, they seem different to crisps and are classed as a treat item so feel even more special.
The Rice Infusion tubes are slightly nicer in their design and to me look prettier but let's face it these are aimed at women more than men so that is why they have made the packaging more appealing in this way.At the moment in Asda the 'normal' Pringles are on offer for 71p for a 155g tube and the Rice Infusions are far more expensive at £1.43 for a 160g tube.
These are lower in fat than the 'normal' Pringles and are made with rice flour.The Rice Infusion crisps are slightly thinner and the difference is noticeable. They have far less crunch to them than the 'normal' Pringles do and they suffer in my eyes for that fact.
They have a very strong salt and vinegar taste, to the point where the skin on the inside of your mouth feels rather dehydrated after eating just a few of them. They would make an ideal bar snack as they really would make customers buy more drinks! They induce a thirst after just a couple of crisps.They do taste nice but you know how if you buy chips from a Chinese takeaway they taste slightly different? Well the same applies to these, they have a slight twang to them which makes them just taste a little wrong.
100g of these contains 487 calories, 100g of 'normal' sour cream and onion contains 531calories.
100g of these contains 24g of fat, 100g of 'normal' sour cream and onion contains 35g of fat.
The difference is noticeable but not huge. If you were to only have these as a treat and not eat too many I don't think the low fat option would be my choice, the compromise on flavour is not worth taking.
Attention, this is the first review from this author
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Add your comment | <urn:uuid:8e037e8a-bd9c-4fae-90e7-2c1d61924d46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ciao.co.uk/Pringles_Rice_Infusions__Review_5817064 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973603 | 625 | 1.507813 | 2 |
04 August 2008 10:16 [Source: ICIS news]
SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Major international retail chain Metro Group has increased the prices of its plastic shopping bags in China by 67-100% since 3 August to meet rising costs of feedstock polyethylene (PE), a source from the company’s Beijing office said on Monday.
Metro had previously charged customers yuan (CNY) 0.3 for a medium-sized plastic bag and CNY 0.5 for a large one and after the new rates come into effect, medium and large-sized bags would be priced at around CNY0.5 and CNY1 respectively, the source said.
The cost of PE for plastic bag production had increased by 53% to above CNY 13,800/tonne ($2,017/tonne) from CNY 9,000/tonne two months ago, a bag supplier in Xiongxian city, Hebei province said.
"In striking a balance between the high costs and decreasing consumption of the bags, there is little we can do other than increase prices. We have discussed with our supplier for a long term agreement since we received the notice on the increase in prices from the supplier two months ago," added the source.
The consumption of plastic shopping bags had dropped substantially in June and July across Metro department stores in China, with consumption of large-sized bags falling by 25% during April-May, or a drop of 30% year on year.
Managers of some supermarkets said that they may be forced to raise prices of plastic bags if PE prices continued to rise.
For more on PE visit ICIS chemical intelligence
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|ICIS Global Petrochemical Index (IPEX). Download the free tabular data and a chart of the historical index| | <urn:uuid:9f985c79-ceb1-49c9-b1ec-7f17ace0fb0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icis.com/Articles/2008/08/04/9145103/metro-plastic-bags-to-cost-67-more-in-china.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94422 | 483 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Gross Profit breakdown for NuveenGross Profit is the most basic measure of business operational efficiency. It is simply the difference between sales revenue and the cost associated with making a product or providing a service. It is calculated before deducting administrative expenses, taxes, and interest payments.
Gross Profit varies significantly from one sector to another and tells investor how much money a business would have made if it didn't have to pay any overhead expenses such as salary, taxes, or rent.
Nuveen Gross Profit Assessment
According to company disclosure Nuveen Municipal Value Fund Inc reported 93.35 M of gross profit. This is 96.69% lower than that of Financial sector, and 222.41% higher than that of Closed-End Fund - Debt industry, The Gross Profit for all stocks is 98.2% higher than the company.
Filter other Stocks by Gross Profit
Gross Profit ComparisonNuveen is regarded fifth in gross profit category among related companies.
Follow Nuveen Gross Profit with Macroaxis syndicated feed, custom widget, or your favorite custom stock ticker
Other Nuveen Fundamentals | <urn:uuid:222fa6a8-984a-46bf-9ac5-2466cb3a48c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/NUV--Gross_Profit | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948572 | 231 | 1.757813 | 2 |
One important problem for the application of reactive low temperature plasmas is the formation of nanoparticles in the plasma volume. It is well known that such particles may act as "killer particles" which are responsible, for example, for the
malfunction of integrated circuits. On the other hand a controlled growth of particles is desired for applications in catalysis and pharmacy and for the fabrication of nano-crystalline materials. In the latter case nanoparticles are incorporated into the
growing film for a controlled modification of film properties.
Especially in gas mixtures which are used for thin film deposition, polymerization processes in the plasma volume - leading to the formation of particles - are competing with "surface polymerization" processes which are leading to the formation of thin
In this work both processes were studied in a capacitively coupled GEC Cell in mixtures of argon and different hydrocarbon gases. | <urn:uuid:3397683c-e0ca-49d8-a561-d2f630f952ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www-brs.ub.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/netahtml/HSS/Diss/HongSukHo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947712 | 181 | 1.640625 | 2 |
The marriage certificate of Kate Allison (my 2x great-aunt) and Patrick Vaughan showed that he was a soldier, which wasn’t surprising given that the year was 1917 (or 1918) and the vast majority of young men were fighting for King and Country.
More specifically the marriage certificate said that he was a sapper, so presumably this meant that he was serving with the Royal Engineers. This would help in my search for his service record.
The first step was to check the WW1 Medal Index Cards on Ancestry.co.uk, this gives the most complete list of men who served in the First World War, and it revealed just one Patrick Vaughan who had served in the Royal Engineers. Initially this Patrick Vaughan had served with the Liverpool Regiment before transferring to the Royal Engineers.
Based on this I transferred to the WW1 Service and Pension Records on Ancestry and was delighted to see that the record for Patrick Vaughan who served with the Royal Engineers had survived and was in among the service records. Not only had it survived, but it had survived in abundance, in total there were 58 pages about Patrick.
It soon became obvious that this wasn’t the Patrick Vaughan that I had been looking for, either that or he had been lying profusely when he attested or got married. This Patrick had been 28 years old when he enlisted in 1915, by no stretch of the imagination or slip of the pen could he be 43 years old a couple of years later when he married.
Amongst the 58 pages there was no mention of a wife, his next of kin was his sister, and there was a fair bit of correspondence with his sister because he died in 1918, seemingly taking his only life whilst recovering in hospital. It was such a sad story, but not one that I could stretch to fit into my family tree, things just didn’t stack up.
My only likely candidate had been disproved, but of course there were many reason why I could find no trace of his military service. Perhaps he wasn’t a sapper after all, perhaps he wasn’t even a soldier? Perhaps he was never entitled to any medals so didn’t show up in the records? Perhaps Patrick wasn’t his full name or his age wasn’t 43 years after all?
I had no choice but to give up searching for his service record, perhaps I would have more luck with finding him in civilian records. After all I had his name, age and the name of his father, that should make it relatively easy to find out more about him. | <urn:uuid:9db63004-3f9e-4c6f-a64d-d092a20abbb6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wanderinggenealogist.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/searching-for-the-service-record-of-patrick-vaughan/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=4e28c04ab9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994514 | 530 | 1.742188 | 2 |
All Roads Film Fest returns
Sick of Hollywood and movies' contrived endings? Travel the globe at National Geographic's All Roads Film Festival, which highlights the indigenous people and cultures of 21 countries.
Here's a selection of films screening at the festival, which runs through Sunday. Individual screenings are $10 ($8 for students and seniors) and take place at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium. You can also score a festival pass for $114.
"REEL INJUN" Canadian director Neil Diamond uses depictions of Native Americans in film and interviews actors, activists and directors in this comedic examination of the American stereotype of Native Americans. Tuesday at 7 p.m.
"FOR THE NEXT SEVEN GENERATIONS" Ashley Judd narrates this documentary by Carole Hart that follows 13 grandmothers from around the world who formed the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers to speak out for peace and healing. In various languages with English subtitles. Wednesday at 7 p.m.
"DESERT FLOWER" A true story based on a best-selling book, this film tells the story of Waris Dirie, a Somalian woman who traveled across the African desert to get to London to avoid a forced marriage. She was discovered by a photographer while working at a fast food restaurant, became a model and is now a human rights activist. Thursday at 7 p.m.
"BOY" A boy living in New Zealand with his grandmother, brother and cousins is left to only imagine what his father is like. When the actual man appears and is not quite like the one he made up, the boy must come to terms with his real father. Friday at 7 p.m.
"SAMSON AND DELILAH" Samson is kicked out of the shack where he lives with his brother, and Delilah's grandmother dies, leaving her without a home. The two teenagers steal a car and leave the place where they have nothing left. Directed by Warwick Thorton, this film has its U.S. premiere at the festival. In English and Warlpiri with English subtitles. Saturday at 7 p.m.
For a full schedule of films, visit the All Roads Film Project site.
-- Kristen Boghosian
| September 28, 2010; 10:12 AM ET
Categories: Events, Movies, Museums
Save & Share: Previous: Getting Up Guide: Pac Div; Kim O'Donnel; Unita and the Bruery
Next: Nightlife Agenda
The comments to this entry are closed. | <urn:uuid:b0365468-08cf-4c3c-a3d7-f33f9115afaf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voices.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/2010/09/allroads_film_fest_returns.html | 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 | 0.949635 | 524 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
I have some good friends in Louisiana. They took their children to the beach last weekend over concern that this may be the last time they would find clean sand in their lifetimes. For the adults, watching shore birds and dolphins was both thrilling and sickening.
Humans can imagine a future that does not yet exist. This can be a blessing and a curse. It is a curse when events spin out of your control and you fear the loss of something precious. It is a blessing when you can plan ahead and change the future by your actions.
Yesterday I walked on our farm and envisioned what it might look like 1, 3, 5 and 20 years from now. It was beautiful.
My imagination is assisted by the stunning places there now, such as the big leaf maple and ash forest on the western edge of the north field near the Marys River. In early May, this forest has an enchanting understory of purple larkspur and cow parsnip–one of the best displays many experienced people have ever seen.
Sometimes I think about (or even witness) the spores of saprophytic fungi that colonize the farm fields and speed the breakdown of organic matter so plants can grow. When I see mounds from ground rodents near the forest edge I smile because I know they bring mycorrhizal spores into ag soils, which dramatically increases the water efficiency of plants and the uptake of often limiting nutrients like phosphorus. Knowing the forest is rich in microhabitats and teaming with critters, I am thrilled by a nearby source of pollinators, ground beetles, spiders, bats and predatory wasps that will make their homes in the shelter of those trees and leaf litter and come onto the fields to do their feeding.
It is functional diversity, and we could estimate some monetary value of pollination, decomposition, or predator-prey regulation services, but part of me wonders if the sense of awe we feel in places like this comes from some genetic understanding. We have a gut reaction that says, “This is right! This is good!”
What do I envision for this farm? A lot, but one line of thought is that it more of it will look like this forest. The banks of the river will be protected so species such as chinook salmon, cut throat trout, spring steelhead, Oregon chub and Pacific lamphrey (all rare and threatened) have a better chance to thrive.
In developing more riparian forest it is easy to see how this will protect the fish. But my mind sees deeper connections that extend back to my friends in Louisiana. You see, my goal is to have this farm weaned from fossil fuel dependency so that we don’t feel the pressure, as a society, to go after oil in far flung places so we can grow our food.
Here’s how it goes…The forest harbors larkspurs. Larkspurs feed hummingbirds. Hummingbirds also eat crop munching insects. Thus, in the long run, through many, many synergies like this, the farm will become less and less dependent on oil-based inputs like pesticides.
Now isn’t that beautiful. | <urn:uuid:33b38dbc-7e50-4cff-b3e4-6ceb1c478757> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farmlandlp.com/2010/05/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952486 | 800 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Do you know the reason we rave over those “vintage” recordings?
Forty years ago, they didn’t use tubes, transformers, and tape by choice. Nope, it was all that was available to them at the time.
The “sound” of so many of our favorite recordings from that era came from running the audio through gear that couldn’t faithfully and accurately reproduce the signal.
Each piece of gear added something to the sound — warmth, low end, smoothness, punchy-ness, even noise.
In short, it was near impossible to get a clean, accurate recording. The gear added to the sound.
Our recording heros aren’t heroes because of the tools they used. They’re heroes because of how they USED the tools.
They took this “imperfect gear,” with all its pros and cons, and they made great music with it.
I really believe we have a huge advantage today.
We have access to affordable equipment that will give us nice, clean, accurate recordings. AND we can also get the “vintage” gear sound if we want, too.
The key difference between now and then? We have a CHOICE.
Do those “vintage” albums sound great? Sure.
Does that mean we need to make our recordings today sound just like those? Heck no.
Here’s what I think.
I vote that we constantly push the envelope, and use the technology available to us RIGHT NOW to make great-sounding music, even if it doesn’t sound like the hallowed vintage recordings we hold so dear.
Don’t get stuck in the past. You don’t need a $3,000 tube compressor to get great recordings. Heck, you might even find that the big fancy comp doesn’t even give you the sound you really wanted anyway.
Use whatcha got. That’s what the old-school folks did, and it worked well for them.
For example, I’m still amazed at the different tones I can get with a simple, run-of-the-mill compressor plug-in.
You can too.
Joe Gilder is a Nashville-based engineer, musician, and producer who also provides training and advice at the Home Studio Corner.Note that Joe also offers highly effective training courses, including Understanding Compression and Understanding EQ. | <urn:uuid:9d7af31e-c8e3-433f-ade0-22917b09a310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/in_the_studio_going_for_that_vintage_sound/processor | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951926 | 512 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Opinion: The next storm: Expanding Medicaid
Brigid Callahan Harrison is professor of political science and law at Montclair State University, where she teaches courses in American government. A frequent commentator on state and national politics, she is the author of five books on American politics.
WILL HE or won’t he?For months, governors’ decisions over whether to expand Medicaid in their states through provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have hung in the balance, waiting for the outcome of the presidential election. Now those governors – including Governor Christie – are faced with the decision of whether to expand Medicaid coverage to a greater number of New Jersey’s poor.
At issue is whether the state will accept federal dollars to enroll poor, uninsured residents without dependent children in Medicaid. New Jersey’s current guidelines provide coverage for parents in families whose income does not exceed 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and children whose family income is not more than 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
But adults without children are not eligible for coverage unless they earn less than 26 percent of the federal poverty level – that is, if a single person earns more than $2,904 or a married couple earns more than $3,934 they currently are ineligible for Medicaid in New Jersey.
If Christie were to choose to expand Medicaid, New Jerseyans earning up to about $15,400 annually would be covered.
Federal government picks up the tab
For anyone but Christie, this decision would be a no-brainer: In expanding the Medicaid rolls, the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the tab for expanded eligibility for the first two years. After 2016, the state would be responsible for sharing a small portion of the cost: 5 percent in 2017, increasing steadily to 10 percent by 2020.
Contrast this with the costs associated with current Medicaid subscribers: For today’s recipients, the federal and state governments share the cost 50-50.
It would enable an additional 234,000 working poor New Jerseyans – those who do not currently qualify for Medicaid because their incomes are too
high, but who do not have employer-provided health benefits, to gain medical coverage, according to Rutgers Center on State Health Policy. Some of the potential recipients are workers who have seen their once-full-time jobs cut to part-time during these troubled economic times. | <urn:uuid:4b51d775-2880-4e64-af97-de27abe507d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/harrison_112512.html?c=y&page=1 | 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 | 0.953829 | 487 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Viacom doesn't think that YouTube videos increased the awareness of its shows. "YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws," stated a Viacom representative.
YouTube removed 100,000 videos last month, at Viacom's request. But Viacom wants financial compensations and a content filtering programs that prevents future copyright infringements.
Google paid $1.65 billion in stock for YouTube in October 2006, to have a good platform for its video ads. Unfortunately, Google failed to make deals with significant content owners, so many videos hosted by YouTube have a fuzzy legal status.
Kartik Hosanagar, professor of operations and information management, gives an interesting reason for the failure of the negotiations. "If Google is the one controlling all the matching of ads and consumers, [traditional media companies will be] really worried about Google's market power. That worry is reflected in Viacom's deal with Joost."
An YouTube fan explains the whole thing in an animation that imitates Stephen Colbert's show on Comedy Central.
Update: Google responds to Viacom, by saying that "YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders. We will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube and its ability to attract more users, more traffic and build a stronger community." | <urn:uuid:97a8bf8f-8603-49ee-a5a7-a57855c5598d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/03/viacom-sues-youtube-for-1-billion.html?showComment=1173821400000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954316 | 311 | 1.5625 | 2 |
This article was extracted from the Toronto Police Service website: www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=5267&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Police services across Ontario are calling on the government to provide officers with the tools they need to reunite victims of break-and-enters with their stolen property, which often winds up in pawn shops, second-hand goods stores and flea markets.
At a recent press conference, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) released details on their 2011 Crime Prevention Campaign, which said police leaders are renewing their call to the provincial government to update the century-old Pawnbrokers Act.
“We have been calling on successive provincial governments to update the hopelessly outdated Pawnbrokers Act so that our officers could do what law-abiding citizens want us to do when they respond to break and enters and that is investigate the crime, use modern investigative tools to locate stolen property and reconnect victims with that property,” said Deputy Chief Kim Derry, chair of the OACP Crime Prevention Committee.
The campaign’s theme, titled – Break and Enter – It Shatters More than Glass – provides all police services across the province with public education materials which they can use to educate people and businesses on ways to avoid being victimized. The 24-page booklet includes crime-prevention tips related to break-and-enters, property and identity crime, fraud and auto theft.
“We also aim to reduce victimization overall by introducing crime prevention initiatives such as this, as well as addressing social design and root causes,” Derry said, noting this year’s theme is very apropos.
“I say that because when a person’s home or business is entered illegally or personal property or identity is stolen, the victim suffers material as well as personal loss,” he pointed out.
“Many feel anger, fear, guilt, anxiety and sadness at this personal violation. We need to do all we can to help those victims return to a normal life as quickly as possible.”
This year’s program involves partners from Reilly Security, TitlePLUS/LawPRO, Accident Support Services International Ltd., VIA Rail, Canpar Transport, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.
Gina Antonacci, the dean of Humber’s School of Social and Community Services, said break and enter is a misunderstood crime.
“Not only do you raise awareness which ultimately leads to changes in behaviour, but the other thing that you do is get out the message that we can empower ourselves and that it’s not just about you being random victims. There are things that we can do to lessen our chances of being victims and that’s a very powerful message.”
There were 12,362 break-and-enters in Toronto in 2009 compared with 12,932 the year before. | <urn:uuid:716a46e8-5922-4537-80fa-98b376c1d46b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lakeshoresafe.blogspot.com/2011/03/break-and-enters-shatter-more-than.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943631 | 639 | 1.695313 | 2 |
NM city approves gun buyback program
Program in Santa Fe would pay people to trade guns and ammo for cash
One New Mexico city is so desperate to get guns off the streets, it’s willing to pay for them.
Santa Fe Mayor David Coss said he started looking for solutions to curb violence after the deadly Sandy Hook elementary school shooting and took inspiration from gun buyback programs happening across the country.
“Santa Fe is prohibited under state law to do any kind of gun control, but we can do a gun buyback program,” said Coss.
City councilors passed a resolution to develop a program that would trade people’s guns and ammunition for cash. The city is planning to host a day where residents can receive money for their guns, possible as much as $200. They mayor says it’ll be worth every penny.
“Guns in the home can be dangerous for children, for people with depression or mental health issues, for people to steal that gun and use it in a crime,” said Coss.
The details of the program are not finalized. The money for the buyback will come from the police department’s budget, but the city will look towards the state to chip in.
Copyright 2012 by KOAT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:a760cc80-ff01-4ad6-9a3b-de507e41487b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koat.com/news/NM-city-approves-gun-buyback-program/-/9154100/17946656/-/view/print/-/3uniwb/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967167 | 285 | 1.625 | 2 |
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s office is looking to balance the desire of police to access Internet subscriber information with privacy rights.
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is negotiating with the Conservative government on how to satisfy police desire for easier access to Internet subscriber information while maintaining proper judicial oversight, the Globe and Mail reports.
After obtaining a memo under the Access to Information Act, the Globe reports the Privacy Commissioner’s office is looking “to help find a middle ground between security and privacy” after the government’s first proposal for Internet surveillance faced a harsh public outcry. With Bill C-20, the government sought to eliminate the need for a warrant when asking Internet service providers (ISPs) to hand over subscriber’s personal information to legal authorities. Currently, the practice is voluntary but nearly always complied with.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews didn’t help convince the public of why the bill was necessary when he compared those who spoke out against the bill as being in support of child pornographers. But now the Privacy Commissioner’s office is asking academics to help find a balanced way to catch the bad guys without putting the innocent at risk for losing their privacy.
What’s being proposed is a five-step process where police would apply to court for an order to obtain subscriber data. A judge would review the application and see if it sets out a “reasonable suspicion” that a law has been broken and the information requested is related to that offence. The judge could then approve the order and it would require the ISP to provide the information.
It’s a process similar to one used currently by police to obtain financial information. | <urn:uuid:561d7c2a-f1dc-4a28-973c-9d1a90363a30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/compromise-sought-on-government-internet-surveillance/19622 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939651 | 341 | 1.765625 | 2 |
That's a lot of fish for a 55G. My two, which are probably half that size are in 75G. Minimum
for a goldfish should be 20-25G per fish, and more is in this case better.
Also, I'd skip the flakes. I find flake good only for small, surface feeding tropicals. Much of it falls down, isn't found and just pollutes the water. As for feeding, I've got one fantail type that's fast and smart. The other is a bumbling, ungraceful Oranda. When I feed, I tap the lid on the glass at the same spot and the smart one comes up and lets me feed him. I make sure he's got a good mouthful, then I drop the shrimp pellets in the area of "Miss Graceful" so I don't have to toss in extra to cover bases as it were.
They will always try to convince you it's time to eat. Do not fall for it. They can go many days without. In fact, enforce a once a week no feeding day. It's good for them.
One goldfish (telescope) is quite large (and round) - about 6 inches long. As big as any I see in the stores (if not bigger) - I also have a large ryukin about 4-5 inches and two others about the medium size - 3-3.5 inches. They are in a 55 gallon tank. The water is clear. The algae is on the glass. very green. I use the magnets and a scrubber alot - daily. I change the water weekly about 50%. The nitrate level is low and the ammonia and nitrate close to 0 at all times. No chemicals used at all because I use private deep well water. PH is on the high side naturally - mid 7.5 or so.
All artificial plants, feed them oranges, shrimp pellets, flakes, sinking foods, peas. I probaby do overfeed them, but they always seem hungry, except the telescope who has clearly challenged vision. | <urn:uuid:468364cf-ba7e-41c7-b938-1c671b78d8b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonaquariumsociety.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=2608 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969428 | 430 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Did you know that cleaning your lint trap with a dryer sheet can ruin it? Dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit.
You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free, and smell good. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box? Apparently that stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it!
You can test it by running the lint trap under water. If the water goes through you are good. If not then you need to clean it.
The best way to keep your dryer working for a long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. via | <urn:uuid:1bd26445-5111-4646-ae2c-b5dce23a74fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://doitandhow.com/2012/01/30/wash-your-dryer-lint-filter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952561 | 213 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Posted by Richard on February 17, 2005
Gone for a Burton = dead (not returning)
My mother (who grew up in Nottingham) swore that this originated in Nottingham, where the local brewery was Burton's ales, known for their strength.
If a wife asked another in the street "Where's your Jim ?", the answer would be "Gone for a Burton", which was taken to mean that she didn't expect to see him in any sensible state that day.
Anyone else heard this expalanation ? | <urn:uuid:96f9e583-2ad1-4f3c-a46e-ede4bb34e0ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/39/messages/591.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990004 | 108 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Last night, the Costa Book of the Year chosen. The winners of all the individual categories (Novel, First Novel, Biography, Children’s Book, and Poetry) were announced just after Christmas, and in the final stage of the competition those winners went head to head for the big prize. I was one of the judges, but I’m pleased to say (because I don’t trust myself to be in a fit state to blog after the party) that I am writing this before our final meeting, and so I have no idea, as I write, which of the five books will triumph.
I only know what a tough job it is comparing such diverse work and trying to apply a common yardstick. Four authors are going to be disappointed, when they should be bursting with pride. It’s hard not to feel uneasy about prizes (for all sorts of reasons we might discuss at another time) but they do serve one great purpose: they draw attention to books that might otherwise be missed.
Two of the contenders for the Costa prize are ‘history’ books. That is why I am concentrating on them here. They tackle the past in very different ways. Andrew Miller’s Pure is a novel, set in Paris shortly before the French Revolution. Now All Roads Lead to France, by Matthew Hollis, is a scholarly literary biography describing the last five years in the life of the poet Edward Thomas, who was killed on the battlefield at Arras on Easter Monday, 1917. Both are profoundly successful works, and being forced to rate them against each other has shown me the utter absurdity of taking sides for or against fiction and non-fiction as vehicles for discussing the past. I can commend them both to you without reservation.
So why do they work so well? I’ll try to tell you without spoiling them if you haven’t read them yet.
Some of their qualities are shared. Neither book can be the fruit of anything other than rigorous historical scholarship, but that effort is never gratuitously displayed. Even Hollis’s academic detail takes second place to the narrative drive of the human story he has to tell. Both writers move effortlessly in the worlds they depict. The reader is always confident that the author knows more about the era than he is letting on. Details of dress, food, transport and so on are there in the text, and chime as somehow ‘right’, but in neither case are they paraded to demonstrate the amount of background work the author has done. Miller uses them only as needed by his plot; Hollis to clothe the subjects of his attention in the mantle of their times.
The inner lives of real and fictional people are probed and speculated upon, but in neither book are the squeamishness or sensibilities of our time imposed on people from another era. They are judged by their standards, and not ours. Somehow the reader emerges from each book better informed about the mores of the time, but without a feeling of having been lectured or patronised. Of course, that apparent light touch is achieved with consummate control of the writer’s craft. In Pure, Andrew Miller even cured my allergy to the use of the present tense. In both books, the use of language is a joy.
One would, perhaps, expect the biography, with its footnotes and careful sourcing, to be less gripping than the novel, but Matthew Hollis’s mannered, squabbling poets are just as compelling as Miller’s French grotesques. Though unmistakeably in awe of Thomas’s poetic abilities (Hollis is a poet himself) he nevertheless allows Thomas’s frailties as a man to seep through. Thomas is all the more convincing for the lack of any attempt to excuse his selfishness, or his multiple failures as a friend, husband and father. These shortcomings are not emphasised or over-analysed in the manner of so many biographies, rather they are just placed before us – emerging from Thomas’s words and actions; scrupulously observed. And Hollis resists the temptation to enfold his subject in the glamorous cloak of the (now) more fashionable ‘war’ poets such as Owen and Sassoon. While illustrating how Thomas’s poems were drenched in the fact of war, and reflected the wrenching calamity of the conflict, Hollis nevertheless reveals an uncomfortable truth about Thomas: he was happier inhabiting a soldiers uniform than his own skin, and enjoyed being at the front far more than battling against publishers and household obligations in his life before the war.
Andrew Miller uses a real location for his story Pure - the ancient, overstuffed, unsanitary cemetery of Les Innocents in the heart of eighteenth-century Paris - but the plot is a work of the imagination. And yet, how can we not believe absolutely in creations such as the casually disdainful functionary who tasks the main character - a young provincial engineer - with razing Les Innocents to the ground? You can almost smell the rotting corpses unearthed by the team of labourers imported to do the job. The violence in the book hurts. The uncertainty and danger that pervade the personal lives of the characters mirror the political atmosphere of the day (1785). Could there be a more convincing evocation of the mood of excitement and distrust than that created by Miller’s vignettes of everyday life slithering on as the foundations of Paris begin to shake? Reading this book, it’s somehow easier to understand what it must have been like to live in Cairo or Tripoli early last year, as the Arab Spring was gathering momentum. The Revolutionary graffiti in Miller’s Paris somehow pre-echoes that of 1968 and 1989, and the tweets and emails of 2011. But Miller never hits us with a leaden reflection on parallels with modern times. His fictional characters, and Hollis’s real people, are allowed the values of their day while retaining an essential humanity - making their plights just as relevant to the 21st century as those of the cast of any news bulletin or modern novel.
So will one of these ‘history’ books win the Costa prize? They are up against a wonderful shortlist: Carol Ann Duffy’s new collection of poems, The Bees, Christie Watson’s first novel, Small Sunbirds Far Away, and Moira Young’s original and exciting book for children Blood Red Road. I’m not going to say which book I’m voting for. Who knows what passions will be unleashed and what trade-offs made when we judges sit down together to make our decision?
But I should remind myself, in the real world that happened yesterday. When you read this, you will know whether Pure or All Roads Now Lead to France has taken the palm. Whatever happened, both books are well worth a read. In their very different ways, they do what lovers of history books want: when you finish reading, you are left with a heightened ‘feel’ for a past time, wanting to find out more, and not entirely sure how you found out all the new things you now know. | <urn:uuid:bf1774b5-66dd-4a10-a793-1366f2a83bd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2012/01/and-winner-is-by-eleanor-updale.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962846 | 1,482 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Top 30 signs you are a Worm Farmer
Top 25 signs you are Worm Farmer:
1. You collect all your food scraps (for the worms)
2. You collect all your neighbors food scraps (for the worms)
3. You collect the food scraps from anyone who will give them to you (for the worms)
4. You make a “run to starbucks” for the free used coffee grounds (for the worms)
5. You buy a paper shredder just to make digestion of paper easier (for the worms)
6. You chop up food into a nice puree because that’s the way they like it (for the worms)
7. You use your dryer lint as bedding (for the worms)
8. You go dumpster diving to find newspaper and cardboard (for the worms)
9. You have ever started a sentence with “My worms……”
10. You have ever called worm poop : black gold
11. You would NEVER consider fishing with or feeding these worms to chickens
12. You’ve brought them in the house ‘cause its “too hot or too cold” for them
13. You’ve ever grown pumpkins or watermelon just as feedstock (for the worms)
14. You no longer where gloves when digging through worm poop
15. You arrange your vacation plans around harvesting seasons
16. Someone has referred to you as “The Worm Lady or Man”
17. Your yard is AWESOME thanks to the power of Worm Poop
18. You know what worm tea is and how to “brew” it for maximum effect
19. You know why bones and meat are no good in a worm bin
20. You are a member of a worm composting support group aka forum
These were added from folks on my yahoo forum:
21. “You try to rescue worms on top of the pavement after a rain, carrying them backto the soil.” (Nance)
22. “you can't wait for your produce to go bad so you can feed it to the worms” (whitemountainworms)
23. “dirty hands are no longer a concern” (wellsworms)
24. “your a worm farmer when you collect pumpkins from porches the day before halloween.” (wellsworms)
25. your closest friends are segmented.
26. you and the wife named your first born Eisenia.
27. you list 20,000 dependents on your tax form.
28. your milking stool is very, very small.
29. you clean your barn boots over the wormbin
30. sometimes you sleep with the lights on. (25-20 from txworms.com)
Just wanted to have a bit of fun today. Do you have anymore to add to the list?I would love to hear from you.
Back from Worm Farmer to BigTex Worms page
Back from Worm Farmer to wormbincomposting.com | <urn:uuid:6a84c3e2-629c-4d4b-94bb-2b26e4d2f523> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wormbincomposting.com/wormfarmer.html | 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 | 0.930455 | 649 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Hix Island House Offers Ecological Awareness
Are you looking to get away from it all and live a simpler, healthier existence? A visit to Hix Island House in Puerto Rico may be just what you need to inspire you. Set on 13 acres of beautiful garden and wilderness on the island of Vieques, Hix Island House is an unusual hotel which combines ecological awareness with contemporary architecture and minimalist living.
Hix Island House is the perfect place to go if you’re passionate about the conservation of the environment and you really need a quiet retreat. Unlike most other Caribbean hotels, Hix Island House is focused on providing guests with truly soothing vacation. Instead of having access to all the latest technology and amenities at your fingertips, guests are rewarded with silence and tranquility. There are no phones, no televisions and no typical room and turn-down service. Instead guests are treated to daily yoga sessions, in-room massage and weekly Meditation in Motion classes. This is one place where the hustle and bustle of the city can be truly left behind.
So exactly what can you expect when you visit Hix Island House? The complex features 13 loft apartments which are housed in four rather dramatic buildings. The buildings are made from concrete and feature large garage doors that open to the most magnificent view of the Caribbean and palm-lined beaches which are only minutes away. The entire development is nestled in a 13-acre natural refuge and tall grasses, butterflies, birds and native trees only add to the wonderfully peaceful atmosphere. Open-air private terraces allow guests to make the most of their accommodation, while outdoor showers provide a great way to immerse yourself in nature. At night the jasmine blooms, filling the air with the most wonderfully sweet scent.
The entire development was designed and created by Canadian-born architect John Hix, whose primary focus was on the environment. Thus, instead of glossy, ecologically unfriendly sky-scrapers, you have simple but modern apartments. Water is collected and heated on the roof and electricity is supplemented by solar panels. Waste water is sent out to the garden where it feeds guavas, bananas, papayas and lemons.
Other features include Frette linens and robes, sea-island cotton shirts made exclusively for guests, Marimekko fabrics, beach chairs, cooler bags and beach towels, wireless internet access in common areas, complimentary weekly owner’s reception in La Casona, a generous selection of on-site gourmet provisions including home-made bread which is supplied fresh every day, and complete concierge services which include reservations for sailing trips, restaurants, Biobay excursions, horseback riding, mountain biking and more. So minimize your ecological footprint and return to nature at Hix Island House in Vieques. | <urn:uuid:37791da5-ed61-4f6e-970a-dbcbf452d809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.puertorico.com/hotels/hix-island-house/ | 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 | 0.943988 | 575 | 1.789063 | 2 |
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Representatives of the Tahoe Lobster Co. met Thursday with several South Shore anglers to discuss concerns that the crawfish harvest will negatively impact fishing in Tahoe.Tahoe Lobster Co., the first commercial fishing operation to come to Tahoe since the 1930s, acquired the permit to catch and sell the crustaceans in July. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and other organizations have praised the company's efforts to remove the invasive species from the lake, but some sportfishermen worry that they'll lose lures on the submerged traps. Fred Jackson, owner of Tahoe Lobster Co., opened the discussion Thursday at the Tahoe & Truckee River Fisheries Coalition meeting by stating his desire to foster open communication between the two parties."I'd like to work with these guys and actually give them a map of where we're working. I'm willing to do anything with the fishing community. I can't speak for anybody else but my business, but we're here to open the dialog," Jackson said. Operator of Blue Ribbon Fishing Charters Gene St. Denis and Leonard O'Malley of O'Malley Fishing Charters -the only licensed outfitters at Thursday's meeting -said their primary concern was snagging the submerged traps with fishing lines. If a guide catches a trap with the lure, it will cost him or her valuable time and equipment, O'Malley said. That scenario could be the reason behind the loss of almost 80 Tahoe Lobster Co. traps that disappeared last fall. Jackson posited that an inexperienced fishermen might have hooked the line before throwing the catch back into the water. And the anglers don't want to be held responsible for accidentally pulling up a trap. "It's a challenge to me. I take people out sport fishing, so if I don't know where your traps are and I come across it and I get snagged up with a $30 lure ... If I get caught in your traps, I got to put that time back onto my client's time. I don't want you to think I'm taking your traps," O'Malley said.If more crawfish companies start to drop traps, the anglers worry that areas of shoreline could become "minefields" for guides. TRPA Senior Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist Patrick Stone said Thursday he's received one application and heard from three other interested groups since the agency approved four more crawfish permits last year.Jackson said it's too expensive to mark each trap with a Coast Guard-approved buoy, but he could float two buoys to mark the area where the company had laid traps. Stone suggested that the TRPA could create an email list or website with the GPS coordinates of the markers that would be available to sportsfishermen.Both St. Denis and O'Malley approved of the potential solution, stating that the more information the fishing community has, the better."We're willing to do this right ... It's always learning to avoid things, and I think we can do that with what we've discussed here," St. Denis said. "We can give that a shot. And I'll do everything I can to press the word on that, 'Hey, lets be professional and give the devil its due.'" | <urn:uuid:6a2e2349-2426-4c67-a32b-1658e4b1a870> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20130125/NEWS/130129922 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966787 | 662 | 1.515625 | 2 |
How To Fix Tight Steering On A Bike
Need to know how to fix tight steering on a bike? One of the more difficult bike maintenance tasks is fixing overly tight steering on a bike. Tight steering can be a symptom of any number of problems and, generally, should be dealt with by an experienced bike technician. However, it isn't impossible to loosen up the tight steering on a bike yourself. With a few steps and the right tools, and a lot of patience, your bike will be handling like a charm in no time.
- The headset. Take the top screws on your tube out while making sure the fork doesn't drop out when you remove the final top screw. Keep a firm grip on your handle bars and remove them. Tap the forks with a hammer and a block of wood to get them loosened up, and then remove the spacers. You should see your bike's bearings. If you've replaced any of these parts before you should know what you are doing.
- Get your bearings. Now that you are staring at your bike's innards, take a water-proof grease and grease your bearings up. Make sure you get it not only on the bearings but around the inside where your bearings go. Be generous; you can always wipe off the excess after your tight steering is fixed.
- All together now. Now follow everything you did and do it backwards. You may need some help holding things in place while you do. Put the fork, spacers and headset back in and make sure your handlebars are on top. Tighten the screws carefully, don't strip them, and make sure your top plate is snug. You don't want a lot of play with any of these parts, you just want to make sure that the bearings are greased up enough to remove the friction of the seal. Make sure everything is aligned and safe and take it for a spin! Your tight steering problems should be a thing of the past. | <urn:uuid:0680f5f7-b3b0-4b7d-8bbf-1b90847c7e69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-fix-tight-steering-bike.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952479 | 397 | 1.78125 | 2 |
BRUSSELS (AP) -- Greece is on its way to getting the next installment of its much-needed bailout loans after finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro agreed on a program to reduce the country's debt.
The first disbursement will take place Dec. 13, said Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup of finance ministers, which made the decision early Tuesday.
Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, welcomed the agreement.
"It will certainly reduce the uncertainty and strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece," Draghi said.
This was the third time in the last two weeks that finance ministers from the eurozone had tried to hammer out a deal on the next installment of bailout money -- some €44.6 billion ($57.8 billion).
The so-called troika of the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Commission, which is the 27-country EU's executive arm, have twice agreed to bail out Greece, pledging a total of €240 billion in rescue loans -- of which the country has received about €150 billion so far. In return for its bailout loans, Greece has had to impose several rounds of austerity measures and submit its economy to scrutiny.
Greece is predicted to enter its sixth year of recession shortly, and there had been fears that it might be forced to drop out of the eurozone, destabilizing other countries in the process.
The main aim of the bailout program is to right Greece's economy and get it to a point where it can independently raise money on the debt markets. It has been clear for months that the country is far from achieving that goal, and the latest talks were about trying to get Greece back on the path to sustainability.
Juncker said the agreement includes:
-- A plan to reduce Greece's debt level to 124 percent of its gross domestic product by 2020 and below 110 percent by 2022. The original goal had been 120 percent of GDP in 2020.
--A lowering by 100 basis points of the interest rate charged to Greece by other eurozone member states -- excluding those that are also receiving bailouts.
--A 15-year extension of the maturities of loans from other countries and the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, and a deferral of interest payments by Greece on EFSF loans by 10 years.
"This is not just about money," Juncker said. "It is the promise of a better future for the Greek people and for the euro area as a whole."
The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, also said the agreement was significant.
"We wanted to make sure that Greece was back on track," Lagarde said. "If you put it all together it is a significant amount."
Greek officials welcomed the agreement.
"Of course it is positive that the blockage has been removed from the loan installments," said Notis Mitarakis, the country's deputy development minister, early Tuesday, on the private Skai channel in Greece. "But I am unaware of the details, so we'll have to look at them."
The channel reported that Greece would get €31.5 billion ($40.84 billion) straight away and the rest in separate installments in January, February and March, but it cited no sources.
The political agreement reached Tuesday will have to be submitted to national parliaments in some countries. After that, the finance ministers plan to hold another meeting, either in person or by telephone, to give final approval to the disbursement.
Pan Pylas in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report. Don Melvin can be reached at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin. | <urn:uuid:af62e515-d988-45ce-af6b-ae8790372624> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crescent-news.com/ap%20international/2012/11/26/euro-officials-reach-deal-to-reduce-greek-debt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970245 | 768 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Saudi Arabia will grant visas to Syrians wishing to perform the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, set to begin next week, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon said on Wednesday.
Riyadh, a bastion of Sunni Islam, has been one of the staunchest supporters of the revolt against Syria's President Bashar Assad. The majority of Syria's population is Sunni, while the regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
"King Abdullah's instructions are aimed at facilitating procedures to grant visas to Syrian citizens wishing to perform the hajj, and they have been communicated to consulates and embassies in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan," Ali Awadh Asiri told Lebanon's National News Agency.
"A special department has been opened at the embassy in Beirut to offer all the necessary services to grant visas," he said.
Asiri added that the Saudi king "grants special attention to the well-being of Syrian citizens."
Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq currently host a total of at least 300,000 Syrian refugees who fled the deadly conflict that has ravaged their homeland, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
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On any given day, one isn't likely to find common cause with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's a dangerous, lying, Holocaust-denying, Jew-hating cutthroat thug - not to put too fine a point on it.
But he was dead-on when he wondered why a once-great power such as Britain sends mothers of toddlers to fight its battles.
Ahmadinejad characterized the release of 15 British sailors and marines, including one woman, seized at sea last month as a gift to Britain. In reality, the hostages were the West's gift to Ahmadinejad.
When a pretender to sanity like Ahmadinejad gets to lecture the West about how it treats its women, we've effectively handed him a free pass to the end zone and made the world his cheerleaders.
Not only does the Iranian president get to look magnanimous in releasing the hostages, but he gets to look wise. And we in the West get to look humiliated, foolish and weak.
Just because we may not "feel'' humiliated doesn't mean we're not.
In the eyes of Iran and other Muslim nations, we're wimps. While the West puts mothers in boats with rough men, Islamic men "rescue'' women and drape them in floral hijabs.
We can debate whether they're right until all our boys wear aprons, but it won't change the way we're perceived. The propaganda value Iran gained from its lone female hostage, the mother of a 3-year-old, was incalculable.
It is not fashionable these days to suggest that women don't belong in or near combat - or that children need their mothers. Yes, they need their fathers, too, but children in their tender years are dependent on their mothers in unique ways.
There's not enough space here to go into all the ways that this is true, but children (and good parents) know the difference even if some adults are too dim, brainwashed or ideologically driven to see what's obvious.
Why the West has seen it necessary to diminish motherhood so that women can pretend to be men remains a mystery to sane adults. It should be unnecessary to say that the military is not a proper vehicle for social experimentation, but a machine dedicated to fighting and, if necessary, killing.
Women may be able to push buttons as well as men, but the door-to-door combat in Fallujah proved the irrelevance of that argument. Meanwhile, no one can look at photos of the 15 British marines and sailors and argue convincingly that the British Navy is stronger for the presence of Leading Seaman Faye Turney - no matter how lovely and brave she may be.
But let's assume for the sake of argument that women, despite all evidence to the contrary, are as capable as men in any battle. If our goal is to prevail, then shouldn't we also consider other ramifications of putting women in combat or in positions of risk?
Those ramifications include women's unequal vulnerability to rape and injury, as well as cultural attitudes toward women that may enhance their exposure to punishment or, alternatively, to make them useful to our enemies.
Iran wasted no time dressing up Turney in Islamic garb and parading her before television cameras. More than her fellow male captives, Turney was required to confess repeatedly, to apologize for trespassing in Iranian waters and write letters of contrition.
This was not, needless to say, Churchill's Navy.
Rape, though not a likely risk in this case, is a consistent argument against putting women in or near combat. While advocates for women in combat argue that men are also raped, there is an important difference. Women are raped by men, which, given the inherent power differential between the sexes, raises women's rape to another level of terror.
What kind of man, one shudders to wonder, is willing to allow his country's women to be raped and tortured by other men of enemy nations?
None that I know, but our military is gradually weaning men of their intuitive inclination to protect women -which, by extrapolation, means ignoring the screams of women being assaulted.
At the point when our men can stand by unfazed while American servicewomen are raped and tortured, then we will have no cause to fight any war. We will have already lost.
Positioning women to become pawns of propaganda, meanwhile, is called aiding and abetting the enemy.
E-mail nationally syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker at email@example.com.
Have any thoughts about this column? Share them with us at firstname.lastname@example.org. Letters should be no more than 200 words and are subject to approval by the publisher. Letters may be edited for style and space requirements. Please sign your name and provide an address and a daytime telephone number. Address letters for publication to: Letters to the Editor, Gwinnett Daily Post, P.O. Box 603, Lawrenceville, GA 30046-0603. The fax number is 770-339-8081. | <urn:uuid:64a712fe-5999-4360-8a3f-c6080608f5d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2007/apr/06/female-hostage-gave-iran-major-propaganda/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962838 | 1,048 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (Eph 5:22-24).
When Fergie married Andrew we marveled at the days of pageantry surrounding the wedding, but what most of us remember is a moment when their vows were taken. Fergie was supposed to say to her groom, “I promise to love, honor, and obey…” She did say the phrase, but not without a sideways grin at the Prince that said much more. Her look could hardly have more clearly articulated the new Duchess’s thought: “You gotta be kidding. Nobody really believes those anachronisms about wifely submission anymore, and you had better not!” She repeated the vows, but with a toss of her head Fergie as clearly tossed away the content of those words without any indication of what commitments should or could take their place. In hindsight, that smirk of bemused lip service to traditions not intended to be truly honored has become a sad illustration of a royal marriage gone awry. But it is not merely royalty to whom the illustration applies.
It is my guess that if we strip away party platforms and lip service we too readily give to the official positions of our churches, political agendas, families, or traditions we will also find large question marks remain in all the thinking people about the current responsibilities of women in marriage. Hal Farnsworth, a Reformed University Ministries campus minister at Vanderbilt, tells me, “It does not matter whether the intelligent women on my campus are liberal feminists or conservative traditionalists, if you can get them to talk honestly about their deepest concerns most will say that even when they make choices according to one perspective that they constantly wonder if they are right. Deep down they are desperate for a credible authority to tell them what women are supposed to be.”
Sadly, our churches have not proved to be a credible enough authority to settle the issue even among themselves. I know of some churches that have urged women fed up with abusive husbands to leave their marriages. Others have used discipline to try to force women to submit to husbands guilty of the same offenses under the assumption that the abuse is a result of the women not being submissive enough. I hear the resultant confusion among my own relatives as women long committed to marriage and deeply desiring to honor Scripture have after decades of sacrifice cried out in emotional exhaustion and spiritual agony, “I know the Bible says to submit, but I can’t continue to live this way. I have tried, but I can’t keep on. I just can’t.”
From palaces to campuses to churches to our homes and hearts the questions echo: What really is a wife supposed to love, or to honor, or to obey? I do not have all the answers to the questions this fragmented and broken society demands that I consider. However, I do know that some of the flip answers we often give do not consider the complexity of our age, the dignity of each person, and the authority of God’s Word. Many of these principles appear in this passage which I cannot read without discovering a rather straight answer to the ultimate question we have to ask: “What is a Christian wife to be?” The inescapable answer here (for those who believe this Word is authoritative) is stated directly–a Christian wife is to be submissive. However, lest that answer merely be simplistic, we must carefully assess the requirements, nature, and goals of this submission.
The Duty of a Christian Wife
The duty to which God calls Christian wives could hardly be more clearly stated by the apostle: “Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord” (vs. 22). However, as you well know, simply repeating the word “submit” or even giving its Greek origin (which means “to arrange under”) does not tell us all we feel we have to know. What does Paul intend for us to understand by submission?
Submission Does Not Mean “Nothing”
We know that submission cannot be an incidental term without meaning because of the comprehensive ways in which it is addressed. If we do not understand what submit means Paul first gives us a comparison analogy. Wives are to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord” (vs. 22). As all persons should arrange their lives under the righteous purposes of their Lord so wives should prioritize their lives relative to husbands’ purposes in God’s kingdom. Lest that comparison prove insufficient, the apostle then adds a more compelling example of his thought based on the relationship of Christ and the church. As the church submits to Christ as its head, so wives should submit to their husbands’ headship (vs. 23-24). As the church would never think it could fulfill its purposes without submission to the holy will of its Lord, the apostle reminds women that they cannot fulfill their divine purposes if they are not submitting to the biblical purposes of their husbands. Finally, lest we assume Paul only means these standards to apply to some narrow part of life, the apostle clarifies the comprehensive extent of his instruction by saying that “wives should submit to their husbands in everything (vs. 24).” These really are comprehensive words.
The Scope of Scripture’s Witness
As comprehensive as these words appear in this place, however, we might still find a way to narrow their intent if this seemed to be an exceptional passage. Then, our culture as well as our biblical interpretation principles of letting Scripture interpret Scripture and allowing clearer passages to interpret less obvious passages might well lead us to conclude these “submission” words do not really mean anything for us. We cannot draw such a conclusion in light of the consistent commitment of Scripture to these concepts.
Note that wives are instructed three times in this passage alone to subject their priorities to their husband’s authority. Paul uses the same or related terminology about husbands and wives in at least five other books (viz. 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, and Titus). The Apostle Peter also tells wives, “be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without talk by the behavior of their wives” (1 Pt 3:1). This “gentle and quiet spirit” Peter then ties to Israel’s earliest history saying it was with such a demeanor that “Sarah obeyed Abraham” (1 Pt 3:4-6). Paul goes back even further in the Ephesians and Corinthians passages by relating this order of family relationships to the events of creation (vs. 31). The effect of this consistent witness is to spread the instruction for wives to submit to husbands not only over one passage, but across the Pauline material, through the New Testament, to Israel’s origins and throughout humanity’s history. Submission (so comprehensive in its imperatives, scope, and duration) cannot mean nothing.
Submission Does Mean Something
The something that submission means is perhaps most obvious in light of the purpose it fulfills. Paul reminds us of this when in the same passage he refers to the genesis of the marriage relationship saying, “For this reason a man will leave his Father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery…” (vs. 31, 32). These words tell us that submission is the pouring oneself into the completion of another. It is the sacrificing of self to make a relationship, and those in it, whole. Paul says this is a profound mystery and we can well attest to that. It is so past our explaining (and yet so obvious to us) that God has made those of us not gifted for celibacy so that we are never quite whole–in our relational maturity, in our personal development, or even in our spirituality–without those he intends to complement and complete us in marital oneness.
We will look at another individual (or even at ourselves) after a few years of marriage and say, “That person has so matured, so leveled out, or become so less self-absorbed since marrying so and so.” At least, that is what we say if the marriage is functioning well. If the marriage is going poorly, we typically recognize that the self-absorption, immaturity, or character flaws may be even more prominent. When the real oneness God intends for marriage does not occur, then the people themselves become less whole. Though this is a mystery it fits precisely with the pattern of Scripture which tells us that since God made us such that marriage would make us whole, then the abuse or neglect of that union must damage us.
Ultimately it is this knowledge of the way in which our lives affect each other that directs our understanding about what the apostle says here about the mutual responsibilities of marriage. To the husband is given the authority for the sacrificial responsibility of biblical headship that is designed to lead a family in the paths of God. To the wife is committed the nurture and care to support him so that he can carry out these responsibilities. Each has responsibility for the other to the end that the family unit as a whole is whole and healthy before God. Note this goal is much clearer than a specific set of behaviors imposed on every couple despite differing personalities, gifts, and situations. We are not obligated by some simplistic imposition that determines who takes the garbage out, who washes dishes, or how many hours outside of the home a spouse may work or play without crossing some definite biblical threshold of marital correctness. The responsibilities of marriage are determined at the deepest levels of the Christian heart, and call for the most diligent, honest, conscientious questions of self-examination. The husband must not only ask, “Am I leading my family to a better knowledge of God?” but also, “Is my leadership self-serving or sacrificial?” Similarly, the wife must not only ask, “Do my actions, words, and attitudes enable my husband to lead my family to a better knowledge of God?” but also, “Have I truly in everything submitted my life to this highest priority?”
These are questions that cannot be answered by arbitrary, cultural, or merely traditional role assignments regarding such things as who gets to talk first, who writes the checks, or who gets to drive. The inappropriateness of culturally imposed rules is obvious when we understand that submission (in addition to requiring the pouring of oneself into the completion of another) involves the exercising of gifts for the glory of another. This becomes most apparent when you recognize the balanced construction of the instruction Paul gives wives and husbands in this passage. His instruction for husbands directs them to use their headship as Christ used his for the glory of his bride, the Church (vs. 25-27). The effect is to remind husbands that they must never abuse their authority so that they rob their wives of “radiance” (cf. vs. 27). At the same time wives are told not to so disregard submission that they rob their husbands of “respect” (vs. 33). Discerning how wives make sure they fulfill this obligation requires us to recognize the implications of Paul’s comparison of marriage to the relationship of Christ and the Church. The Church does not honor Christ by dispensing with the gifts and graces God provides. Rather she is called to arrange all her energies and abilities under the grand purpose of glorifying the Savior. To do less would not be submission; it would be disobedience. By this line of thought we grow to understand the wisdom of Paul’s terminology. Biblical submission truly is an “arranging under” of one’s own gifts for the glory of another. Such submission is never an abdication of responsibility for another’s welfare, nor is it an abandonment of one’s own gifts to fit a culturally determined role.
Let me indicate at least one reason why humanly prescribed behaviors are an insufficient measure of biblical submission. On a church council outside our locale there is a lay leader who asks every new pastoral candidate entering that denomination’s churches, “Does your wife submit to you?” This man’s agenda is to make each candidate prove to the council that he has control of his family the way this official thinks headship should be practiced–meaning the way he controls his own family. However, it would be tragic if candidates actually did satisfy this official.
Over the years this man’s friends have watched as his intelligent, once glowing and buoyant wife has become increasingly silent, sullen, and dowdy under his “headship.” Sadly, the more withdrawn she has become the more obnoxious, belligerent, and accusing he has become with everyone in his path. The more she retreats from her own gifts the more his faults assert themselves. You need to hear me clearly say that I am not blaming her for his faults. I am simply noting the marital results of a spouse’s suppressed gifts. Yet, despite the obvious deterioration of their Christian witness both parties in this marriage claim the wife is biblically submitting to her husband because she only talks when he allows, only leaves the home when he permits, only wears what he approves. How sad. By limiting headship and submission to a certain set of behaviors they have actually lost sight of their true biblical priorities of promoting God’s glory and, thus, they have diminished each other. I cannot prescribe the specific actions this wife should do each day, nor would I pretend to know when certain things should have been discussed between these two people in years gone by. I do know, however, (and their lives confirm this) that submitting one’s life to the good of another does not mean abandoning them to their faults, nor abandoning one’s own gifts. God does not expect anyone to minimize the gifts he grants for a worship response to his own creative character and through which he has designed the character and happiness of a marriage to mature. Submission ultimately is not the suppression of gifts but the full expression of them in behalf of another.
The Dignity of a Christian Wife
It is this expression of gifts in behalf of another that further defines submission not only in terms of duty, but also in terms of dignity. To see how biblical submission grants dignity you must examine the precise wording of this passage. Such an examination may initially yield a shock. Where our translations say, “Wives submit to your husbands” (vs. 22), the word “submit” does not appear in the original language of the text. The very word we are so ready to debate is not actually present in this verse. Interestingly its absence not only underscores the necessity of submission, it is also confirms the dignity of a Christian wife.
The Value of a Christian Wife
The place the word “submit” does appear is the preceding verse where the apostle concludes his instruction on being “filled with the Spirit,” by saying we should all “Submit to one another out of reverence to the Lord” (vs. 21). The instruction to wives then follows as only the first constituency among Christians to whom the submission mandate applies. Next will follow husbands, then fathers, then children, then slaves, then masters. The construction of the passage, thus, unfolds with the following impact:
Submit to one another…Wives, to your husbands as to the Lord (5:22-24, 33); Husbands, by giving yourselves for your wives, as the Lord gave Himself for the church (5:25-33); Children, by obeying you parents (6:1-3); Fathers, by not exasperating your children (6:4); Slaves, by obeying masters properly from your hearts (6:5-8); and, Masters, by treating slaves with respect and fairness since you are slaves of Christ (6:9).
Each person is to submit whatever gifts, rights, or authority he or she has to the good of another for the building up of Christ’s kingdom.
The reason this structure confirms the dignity of a Christian wife is that it proves that her submission does not lessen her value or diminish her place in the kingdom. All Christians are to submit themselves to the good of others whom God has placed in their lives. Although the apostle clearly assigns differing purposes to husbands and wives, he just as clearly exempts no one from the requirement of having the attitude that was also Christ’s who made himself nothing and became obedient to God’s call for selfless sacrifice (cf. Phil 2:5ff.). In Christ’s Kingdom submission does not lessen believers’ standing, it confirms their place. Christians’ responsibilities vary, their value does not. To conclude otherwise is to reason that Christ became an inferior in the Godhead when he submitted himself to the Father, or that the Spirit deserves less glory because he fulfills the purposes of the Son. By his Trinitarian nature our God has made it abundantly clear that an equality of value does not require an identity of roles.
To Respect Her Husband
Paul concludes this address to husbands and wives with the instruction for men to “love” their wives and for wives to “respect” their husbands (vs. 33). Here the apostle seems to be dealing with each gender at the weak points of our relational tendencies. Often a man’s great temptation is to use the power of his position and physique to enforce dictatorial rule or to indulge passive self-absorption. A woman’s comparable temptation is to use the power of words and emotions to diminish a husband’s influence so that she has control of the home. Paul allows neither “power play,” by commanding men to love their wives sacrificially and commending women who respect their husbands.
Something in us instinctively knows the power of the forces the apostle is seeking to curb. When Kathy and I were first married and living in an apartment in a low-income part of this city, the paper-like walls and floors of the complex gave us an ear-opening perspective on the way some people live. The vileness and violence so many of the families around us considered normal were shocking to us. Most curious was the minister’s family below us. Most of their fights were about who was the better witness. We usually tried to ignore the shouts and slaps until he started choking her so she could not respond, and then we would have to find some way to intervene. It was awful. But as Kathy and I would night after night try to close our ears to the conflict as it built, we would sometimes turn to one another and say, “Why does she taunt him so? She knows he is going to hit her.” We did not know then what we have now learned about abusive homes: that as often as a man will try to dominate a woman with his strength, a woman will try to control a man with shame.
Even if violence is not a part of your home you must learn by listening to the ways spouses try to get their way even in Christian marriages. With intimidation or intransigence that are both expressions of power, men often exert their control. Women by a look, a cutting remark, an accusation, or some embarrassing reminder, may seek to diminish a man so he becomes less sure of himself and, thus, more controllable. Sadly these factors often, then, turn cyclical as insecure men react to their sense of being diminished by becoming more dominating, which only gives a wife more opportunity to needle and shame, which subsequently triggers more abuse. When this cycle is in effect to any degree each party in the marriage is vying for power, but note Paul is crusading for love (cf. 5:1- 2). Love permits none of this grappling for spousal control. A Christian husband has no privilege to intimidate or ignore his wife; a Christian wife no right to diminish or shame her husband.
The Glory of a Christian Wife
The dignity of a Christian wife is not only spelled out in the comparison of her duty with others’ tasks, but also in the glory of the purpose God grants her. To understand the dignity of this purpose it may be helpful to compare it to the role current society sometimes advocates. Such a comparison is available in author Phoebe Hobby’s January 1994 review of current books addressed to women (as it appeared in Harper’s magazine). Hoban writes that in the past feminism has been about power and money. Now, however, she concludes-
Feminism is no longer a battle for equal opportunity in a male-dominated society, but a kind of 12-step recovery program for wounded women. There is an endless appetite for self-help books. They do not offer women still struggling in an unfair world any clarion call to arms. Instead they urge women to redefine their inner lives.
I remind you these words are not my assessment, but rather are the observations of a secular advocate of modern feminism. How sad (and revealing) that a movement with such altruistic rhetoric and so often correct pleas for justice, equality, and dignity now finds at its end that it was but another journey into me-ism. Whether this cause returns to the direction of getting more external affirmation of status or stays focused on inner healing, the result of the movement as it is currently framed is the same–a path for women that is but the pouring of one’s life and demands into the vain, cloying pursuit of “what’s-in-it-for-me.”
Whether it be a man or woman, we find nothing so detestable as a person driven by selfishness, and nothing so ennobling as a life given in service and sacrifice for others. If you can see this in the comic book life of a Donald Trump who gains power and wealth at the expense of our respect, and sense it in the life of a Mother Teresa who has the honor of the world and its rulers though she has nothing, then perhaps you can begin to gauge the dignity God grants to the wife who submits herself to the good of her husband and family. The Bible says that they will rise up and call her blessed (Prov 31:28).
I sensed some of this divine pleasure at a social I attended a few days ago. There I took much delight in listening to an older couple sing their own version of “Do You Love Me” from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. At the point of the song where the stage characters are supposed sing, “After twenty-five years it’s nice to know,” this couple substituted their own marriage’s stats and sang, “After 48 years it’s nice to know.” In a church dominated by young marriages that have not yet stood the test of years, and in which we had just that evening heard previous stories from some in troubled relationships battered by cultural influences, the enduring love of this couple was more than endearing. It was inspiring. When they hit the last notes the room exploded in a standing ovation as we cheered for a love that had so powerfully encouraged us and had so radiantly persevered in them.
We were about to discover there was more for them to endure. Just a few minutes later their 41-year-old son also went on the stage to tell us about his current battle with cancer and the hope he still claims as a result of his parents’ life of faith. After the social when I spoke to the parents privately in a remote hallway of the church, I told them I was surprised to hear the cancer report. They said the report was only days old to them as well. There had been no history or warning signs to prepare them-just an out-of-the-blue telephone call: “Mom and Dad, I have cancer.”
As they told me this account of their beloved son, the recentness of the news with its shock, grief, and fear welled in the couple. The man, usually so stoic, could not keep tears from his eyes. When his wife saw that pain and the embarrassment of his tears, she touched his arm. It was such a simple and subtle gesture, and yet you could almost see the strength flow from her as he, then, collected himself and spoke again of their faith in God’s care.
The wife, I am sure, wanted to cry as much (if not more) than her husband wanted not to cry. Knowing her as I do, tears would have been far more typical of her, and she had no less a need to be comforted by him. Yet, in that moment he needed her strength and in that reassuring touch she sacrificed the expression of her own grief to minister to his pain. In their oneness she knew just how to help him, and how to preserve his respect in the midst of her own hurting. The gesture was a duty of deep love, a dignifying of him that dignified her, and a desire to serve another nurtured through a lifetime of serving God. Who witnessed this wife’s giving of herself in that caring touch in the hall? I did, and maybe one or two others, but for her I again heard applause–another standing ovation exploding this time from the portals of heaven as its hosts rejoiced for a wife who in those moments submitted her right to grieve to her husband’s need for support. I hope with her spiritual ears she heard it, too. I pray that on that day she sensed heaven’s regard for the beauty of her service; and, I pray that on this day she, like you, will know and claim the eternal value and scriptural glory of every wife who submits to her husband out of reverence for the Lord. | <urn:uuid:d917cc31-81f5-439b-aedc-ec3c2068a3c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rodiagnusdei.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/the-submissive-wife-by-brian-chapell-essential-read/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974838 | 5,385 | 1.554688 | 2 |
* Withdrawal of 900 mln permits should limit volatility
* Commission outlines six plans for deeper reform
* Long-term fix could take years, backloading can be quick
By Barbara Lewis
BRUSSELS, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The European Union must agree by the end of this year on a stop-gap measure to tackle the virtual collapse of its main instrument for cutting carbon emissions, the bloc's climate boss said on Wednesday.
Allowances on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) sank below 8 euros a tonne, down more than 6 percent on the day, reflecting trader disappointment Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard's statement on Wednesday did not go further.
Anticipation of EU action to support the market has been behind a slight recovery for the price of an emissions permit from a record low of 5.99 euros hit in April.
At the start of this week, the Commission, the EU executive, delivered its formal proposal for a temporary withdrawal - or backloading - of some of the huge surplus of allowances generated by economic slowdown that crushed demand.
But while EU officials have always said that far-reaching reforms would require time, the market has been disappointed by their inability to take stronger action quickly. Even the temporary backloading needs to secure approval of member states, which are expected to vote on it next month.
"Market operators must have clarity before year-end on this (backload)," Hedegaard said in the statement.
"Our carbon market is delivering emissions reductions. But because of the oversupply in the market, the ETS is not driving energy efficiency and green technologies strongly enough," she said. "This is bad for Europe's innovation and competitiveness."
FLAWED FROM THE START
At the root of the problems for a market mechanism that aimed to push the power industry towards cleaner energy by making it more expensive to burn coal, is the original parcelling out of permits several years ago.
Heavy industry and developing markets like Poland demanded higher volumes of permits to allow them to grow and compete. Exacerbated by a weak economy that has reduced demand for electricity, the result is a flood on the market.
The Commission on Monday proposed deferring the auction of 900 million allowances that would have been sold between 2013 and 2015, the first three years of the next phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), until 2019-20. But it is not yet clear how much support there will be for the plan.
The EU's biggest economy Germany has not taken a formal position and coal-dependent Poland and heavy industry have led opposition to anything that would drive up the price of carbon allowances.
"Poland maintains its negative stance towards any interference with the CO2 permits market that would lead to an artificial rise in their prices," the Polish economy ministry said in a statement.
Energy companies ranging from oil major Royal Dutch Shell to First Solar are among those clamouring for a stronger carbon price to drive innovation and a move away from carbon-intensive coal.
In an open letter, they echoed Hedegaard's call for swift action, as well as deeper reform, "so that the EU ETS as a whole remains the cornerstone of EU climate and energy policy".
Other signatories included Alstom, Dong Energy , EDF, E.ON and Statoil.
Although some market participants had called for deeper cuts to address the allowance glut, the Commission decided on the figure of 900 million allowances because it said this would have a "proportional impact".
It should result in "a more gradual build-up of the structural surplus, thereby reducing the risk of market price volatility in the transition to phase 3," it said. Phase 3 covers the period 2013-2020 for the ETS.
The Commission's views on long-term change for the scheme emerged last month in a draft seen by Reuters.
The difficulty of deeper reforms is that they would take years under EU processes, making it unlikely they could be achieved before the current European commissioners end their term in 2014.
The structural measures include raising an EU target to cut emissions to 30 percent by 2020, from a current goal of 20 percent. Debate on increasing ambition beyond existing 2020 green policy goals has stalled so far, with Poland again leading opposition.
Other options include permanently cancelling allowances, rather than just deferring them, and bringing other sectors into the ETS in addition to those, such as industry and utilities, already in the plan.
Adding aviation has met with international fury and the Commission this week announced a plan to freeze for a year the requirement for all flights to and from EU airports to pay for emissions through the ETS. The exemption does not apply to internal EU flights. | <urn:uuid:74a3a44c-bc7f-4eea-a86b-df4a19bc3a2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trust.org/item/?map=eu-carbon-market-needs-quick-fix-and-deep-reform--commission | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956898 | 960 | 1.648438 | 2 |
If you need to transport your pig and your pig is not used to traveling, you may find that a little preparation is necessary before the transporting can begin. If your need is to get your pig to the vet, it may be better to have the vet come to you. In some areas it is easy to find a mobile vet, but in other areas it is impossible. If you are unable to find a mobile vet, often the case in more urban areas, you may be lucky enough to find an experienced vet who will see your pet pig at their office. Getting the pig to the vet’s office, however, may not be so easy. Some pigs will jump right into a vehicle. Others will walk up a ramp. Some will easily get into a crate. Some will wear a harness and leash, and some won’t do any of the above. If you get the animal to the vet's office in your car without having it confined to a crate, can you control it once you get there? We have found that having the pig in a crate is preferable, but others just walk their pig in on a leash. If your pig is not leash trained and you need to use a crate, but your pig is not crate trained, HELP!
Fighting a pig into a crate is usually a disaster. Bribing a pig into a crate only works once, but giving the pig nowhere else to go but into the crate is usually quiet and calm. First, make sure you have a big enough crate. Then make sure you have a vehicle that will hold the crate. The “700” or “Giant” size crate will be too high for many SUV’s and covered pickups. Try it before you get the pig loaded. Then make sure you have enough strong backs to lift it. One of these large crates weighs around 50 lbs, add a full grown potbellied pig at 100 to 150lbs or more and you have a 2 to 3 person project. (At first I made a special roller dolly and an 8’ ramp with a rope and pulley assembly so my wife and I could load our boys. Now we place the crate on a hydraulic table and jack it up to truck bed level.)
How do you make a pig want to enter a crate? We have discovered a few ways. The big secret is to set it up right the first time and don’t fail. Pigs tend to go forward. They can’t see behind them. A little prodding with a pig sorting board (a 2’x3’ piece of plywood or even a garbage can lid) lightly tapped (not taped) on their behinds and used to block their vision if they try to turn will do wonders to guide them. We purchase
plastic sorting boards from QC Supply (www.qcsupply.com, #50019 called Sow Mate
Sorting Panels). Some of our members can guide a pig with a cane by tapping its shoulders on one side and then the other. The main thing to do is keep the pig and you CALM. No chasing, running or yelling. Get the pig and the crate in a pen or area of the backyard (or house) that is fairly small and uncluttered. In our yard we have a 15’ walkway about two feet wide with a short fence on one side and a shed on the other. We put the crate at one end and guide a pig in the other end with the pig board. Once he starts down the path with the pig board blocking his view behind, there’s no where to go but into the crate. We have also used exercise pens to corral the pig, and then placed the crate at the pen opening and folded up the exercise pen making it smaller and smaller with the crate being the only place left to go. I can remember when we first started working with pigs. Chasing them, yelling, wrestling them into crates, and it never worked. It stressed us, and it stressed the pig. Be sure you have enough help, but also make sure that the helpers understand that this is not a roundup in the old west. We’re not trying to scare the pig, just guide it. If you have a major size pig that won’t fit in any crate, my wife’s idea to a member that worked excellently was as follows. The evening before this pig had to go to U.C.Davis Vet Hospital for some serious vet work, she had them fill the back of a covered pickup (a van would also work) with straw or hay. They then got some neighbors and friends to hold boards, and corrals on either side of the pig and move along as the pig was prodded towards a ramp (a sheet of 3/4” plywood with 2’x4’ reinforcing on the back) into the truck. The pig went into the truck spent the night in the warm straw and left the next morning for U.C.Davis without ever even waking up. | <urn:uuid:e3bc2d29-59b6-458d-b683-056ed877334c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cppa4pigs.org/Transporting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972713 | 1,039 | 1.75 | 2 |
Drawing on his unique and unrivalled position in popular culture, Jay Z (with collaborator and the film’s executive music consultant Jeymes Samuel) has worked with Luhrmann and his team on the project over the past two years, translating the Jazz Age sensibility of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel into the musical equivalents of our own times, through the blending of hip-hop, traditional jazz and other contemporary musical textures.
Luhrmann stated, “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is peppered with contemporary music references specific to the story’s setting of 1922. While we acknowledge, as Fitzgerald phrased it, ‘the Jazz Age,’ and this is the period represented on screen, we-our audience-are living in the ‘hip-hop age’ and want our viewers to feel the impact of modern-day music the way Fitzgerald did for the readers of his novel at the time of its publication.”
“The Great Gatsby is that classic American story of one’s introduction to extravagance, decadence and illusion. It’s ripe for experimentation and ready to be interpreted with a modern twist. The imagination Baz brought to ‘Moulin Rouge!’ made it a masterpiece, and ‘Romeo + Juliet’s’ score wasn’t just in the background; the music became a character. This film’s vision and direction has all the makings of an epic experience,” JAY Z said in a previous statement.
Jay Z’s own “No Church in the Wild,” which he was recording when he and Luhrmann first came together, is included in the film, along with his original “100$ Bill.” The first single to drop is the hauntingly melodious track “Young and Beautiful,” from recent Brit Award winner for Best International Female Solo Artist, Lana Del Rey. Del Rey collaborated with Luhrmann in creating the song.
Del Rey said, “It was an honour to work with Baz Lurhmann on his amazing adaptation of one of the most extraordinary books ever written. The movie is highly glamorous and exciting; Rick Nowels and I were thrilled to write the song for the film.”
Luhrmann also worked personally alongside good friends and collaborators Florence Welch, of Florence + The Machine, and The xx. Each of the artists worked to picture.
The highly eclectic soundtrack also features songs performed by such artists as Beyoncé x André 3000; Fergie + Q Tip + GoonRock; Coco O. of Quadron, Gotye; Nero; and Sia. Moviegoers will also recognise a few favourites with a new twist, such as Jack White’s interpretation of U2′s “Love Is Blindness,” Beyoncé x André 3000 collaborating on Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” and Bryan Ferry’s new take on a couple of classics: his own “Love Is The Drug,” and, with Emeli Sandé, Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love.” New songs by Florence + The Machine, Lana Del Rey, Nero, will.i.am and The xx were written for scenes in the film, and appear on the soundtrack.
The score is composed by Luhrmann’s regular collaborator, Craig Armstrong, who worked with the director on “Moulin Rouge!” and “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.” Both the standard album and the deluxe edition will be released worldwide by Universal Music. In Australia, the soundtrack will be released on May 10th.
The full track list for “The Great Gatsby” standard soundtrack album is as follows:
1. 100$ Bill – JAY Z
2. Back To Black – Beyoncé x André 3000
3. Bang Bang – will.i.am
4. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) – Fergie + Q Tip + GoonRock
5. Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Rey
6. Love Is The Drug – Bryan Ferry with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
7. Over The Love – Florence + The Machine
8. Where The Wind Blows – Coco O. of Quadron
9. Crazy in Love – Emeli Sandé and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
10. Together – The xx
11. Hearts A Mess – Gotye
12. Love Is Blindness – Jack White
13. Into the Past – Nero
14. Kill and Run – Sia
The deluxe soundtrack will feature the above songs, plus three additional bonus tracks. | <urn:uuid:a104a2cc-9194-4007-ad07-017360ffe5d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allaussiehiphop.com/tag/sia/ | 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 | 0.932188 | 985 | 1.765625 | 2 |
First code, question about family notificationRegister Today!
This is a discussion on First code, question about family notification in Nurse Colleague / Patient Relations, part of General Nursing ... Hey all, I'm just wondering if you can give me some clarity. To put it shortly, I am a PCT /...by blackvans1234 Mar 10Hey all, I'm just wondering if you can give me some clarity.
To put it shortly, I am a PCT / CNA, I was floated to another unit, the code was called, patient successfully resuscitated. I believe I overheard the Doc talking with a family member over the phone, but I didn't catch much of what he was saying. From what I heard, "She went into cardiac arrest, CPR was performed and she was successfully resuscitated...."
Pt was intubated and on a ventilator, necrotizing faciitis, possible sepsis?
The code was at about 630pm, I was floated to another unit at 730pm, so I didn't have time to ask questions to the staff about the prognosis, future for this patient, ''what now?", etc.
As I was leaving (1130PM), I saw that family arrived to see the patient. There were like six or seven people in the hallway.
Normally families don't visit at midnight, so I'm wondering what the deal is?
My assumption would be that maybe the outlook for this patient is no good, and they may discontinue life support or choose to have a DNR for this patient?
Or maybe just because of the uncertainty of her future they advised the family to see her.
So in your experience, why would a family be advised to come visit a patient after a code?
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- Mar 10 by bsnstudent16Let me ask you this. Say that your mom was in the hospital, and the doctor just called and informed you that she went into cardiac arrest, they performed CPR, and resuscitated her. Wouldn't you want to go see her? I mean, coding is a pretty serious thing. The patient could have died. I think it would be normal for a family to come see a patient who just went through that?
- Mar 10 by sissiesmamaUnfortunately, when a patient codes, it ends up being the "first" code. Some patients, young ones, traumas, ect can bounce back or come back from a devastating injury or illnes. Others that have a lot of preexsisting conditions / long illnesses just can't recover, and if they recover to a certain extent, they may not come back to the mental status they were before. The ones you mentioned above are some that a patient may not come back from.
Some time as the code blue nurse working in the ER, I have been to a code upstairs, and the pt make it and transfer to ICU only to end up coding the same patient one or even two more times in the same shift. I've heard the doc tell the family on the phone after them surviving the code "if u want to see your mom, you may want to come now." That's what the ER doc and the cardiologist told me after my dad had his MI. Thankfully, he was one of the ones to survive and go home.
- Mar 10 by coco317In my personal experience with codes in the hospital, the family is called in because we don't know if they will continue to code again and again during the night. If the outlook for the patient is looking grim the physician will usually discuss it with the family and open up discussion regarding changing the code status.
If the patient does not make it there is also paperwork the family needs to fill out.
- Mar 10 by VespertinasThat was a near-death experience. The patient lived thanks to the efficiency of her team and the grace of god. Is it possible you don't feel the gravity of that situation because since the patient was intubated and thus had a depressed level of consciousness, you can't observe the difference in how she's faring before vs. after? I can imagine with the clinical picture you painted before, she looked quite sick to begin with. I assure you, she's worse for the wear now. Besides what bsnstudent said which I think should be obvious, you're right that after a first code is a good time for families to re-think code status.
- Mar 10 by bebbercornAgree with all of the above, the outlook doesn't look good and the Doc might have hinted that they should be present.
- Mar 10 by turnforthenurseRNAs for visitors after midnight, there are always exceptions, such as in this case. The patient had a near-death experience. How do you think that would look if the hospital said to the family, "sorry, it's after midnight, and we know your loved one almost died but you cannot visit because it's after hours."
- Mar 10 by blackvans1234Thanks for all of the responses, this was on the CCU, so there was no / minimal delay in the initiation of CPR and subsequent code protocol.
When I came on, she was very sick looking, we were doing some care and she had a few runs of V-tach (one was like 30 seconds)
Her nurse actually called the Doc and said ''she just doesn't look good'' about an hour before the code.
A nurses intuition huh?
I assumed the family was notified because of the gravity of the situation (everything you guys said above), I just wanted to make sure.
- Mar 10 by netglowOP, for future posts you may want to consider dialing back on your specifics to the case. If I was working on your floor that night, or was family perusing this site, I might just know who that patient was.
- Mar 10 by KSU-SNIf someone called me in the middle of the night or whenever and told me my mom or dad coded, NOTHING could hold me back from going immediately to their side. | <urn:uuid:37c53716-b284-41d9-8647-d50a47e4569e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allnurses.com/nurse-colleague-patient/first-code-question-820659.html | 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 | 0.98287 | 1,313 | 1.585938 | 2 |
There is a new move afoot to encourage people to shop locally. The 3/50 Project wants folks to dedicate $50 each month to shopping at three local retailers. The theory is that this keeps tax dollars in the local economy. I like the idea of shopping locally and eating at local, independent restaurants. In fact, I prefer my local eating establishments over the chains any day. I buy much of my food through local co-ops. Local is good.
The only problem I see with this idea is that it is an idea for the elite. And by elite I mean those who actually have expendable income each month. For the elderly on a fixed income or the low-income family who barely pays the rent each month the idea of $50 to spend any way and any where they want is a glorious fantasy. When the blood pressure medication prescription needs to be filled, the patient can choose to pay $4 at Walmart or market price at the independent pharmacy.
To the elite, $50 sounds like pocket change. To many Americans it sounds like the difference between paying the electric bill and not paying the electric bill. Local is a grand idea if you have $50 in your pocket that isn’t already earmarked for basic life necessities such as water, heat and shelter.
Perhaps instead of worrying about where the common folks are spending their money, our local enthusiasts should concentrate on finding ways to create an economy that provides $50 of pocket change for every person.
I got wind that October 15 was Blog Action Day ~ Poverty. So, I thought I’d make a few comments about poverty and what we can and can’t do about it. I’ll relay the stories of two single mothers I’ve known and assisted in their battle against poverty – each with a different outcome.
Each woman received identical assistance:
- The basics of food stamps, Section 8 housing and subsidized childcare
- Free job training co-sponsored by a community agency and DHS
- Mentoring with a business woman
- Resume and interview coaching
- Gas allowances and transportation assistance through a local church
- Utility assistance
- Free work-appropriate clothing through a local charity
- Medical and mental healthcare through a government/community action agency partnership
- Opportunities to volunteer at local churches or charities of their choice
- Parenting training and coaching
In short, they participated in a program that took every step imaginable to help them build the skills, confidence, and support system necessary to be able to get to a point that they could support themselves and their children.
Woman A consistently missed appointments, classes, required DHS inspections, etc. She blew what little money she had on beer and cigarettes. Despite my efforts and the efforts of countless others, she ended up evicted from her subsidized housing and her children were taken by DHS and put in foster care. We cried, all of us, those children were precious. The mother cried, but chose to run off to another state with the latest boyfriend instead of working to right the situation.
Woman B never missed an appointment, a class, or failed to attend to any other requirements asked of her, regardless of how silly or demeaning they may have seemed (and some government regulations do seem completely senseless). She won the respect of her teachers, case workers and counselors. She volunteered to help other women in her same position. She learned and asked questions and learned some more. She hung on her mentor’s every word and worked hard to become a professional herself. And she succeeded. Again we cried, but this time it was at a graduation ceremony for a young mother who would be starting her first “real” job in her entire life.
The difference in those two women was the attitude, the mindset, they brought to the table. You and I can and should support efforts to help those living in poverty. However, none of us can change the way a person thinks. Someone who chooses to be the victim and believes the government, the rich, or whoever, is out to keep them down will never rise out of poverty. More money, more programs, more volunteers will never end poverty. Poverty is as much a mind problem as a financial problem. All we can do is continue to reach those who are ready and willing to take the steps necessary to defeat the scourge of poverty.
I don’t know what happened to Woman A. I can only pray that she has or will take advantage of opportunities to rise above her unpleasant past. Woman B has continued to do well. She’s received promotions and pay raises and recently moved from her Section 8 housing to a nice, suburban neighborhood where the kids can attend some of the best schools in the area. And it’s for the sake of the Woman B’s out there they we must continue to help wherever and however we can. | <urn:uuid:77210a23-4fd5-4653-9a36-aea4a57c0d20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bohemianreflections.com/blog/category/poverty/ | 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 | 0.974516 | 992 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Chris Hondros, a staff photographer for Getty Images, took these images while riding around Baghdad in Humvees with the U.S. military this month. On his 11th trip to Iraq during the past five years, Hondros decided to document real life in the city.
"After five years, Iraqis are blasé about the sight of a Humvee," Hondros said. That allowed him a literal window into their everyday lives. The photographer also observed that the security situation seemed somewhat improved.
Overall, attacks have fallen 55% since a buildup of 30,000 additional U.S. troops was fully implemented early this summer, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman, told reporters this week.
"We are all realizing now that what Baghdad was seeing every day — dead bodies in the streets and morgues — is ebbing remarkably," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said this month.
The relative lull in violence has allowed a small number of Iraqi refugees to return home, although there are still more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country and are living abroad, according to the United Nations.
Some markets also have reopened in recent months. The U.S. military credits the improvement to the troop buildup, the growing effectiveness of Iraqi neighborhood security groups, and cooperation with tribes that have turned on al-Qaeda.
Civilian casualties are down 60% across Iraq since June, Smith said, and the figure for the capital is even better — 75%.
The number of U.S. troop deaths in October was 38, the lowest level since March 2006. So far this month, 23 U.S. troops have been reported dead as of Tuesday, according to the Pentagon.
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map. | <urn:uuid:dd375497-044d-4d34-af2f-03a2ca0bbea2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-11-20-humvee-photos_N.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970598 | 397 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Harlem In My Mind: Julian Euell's Riffs Towards A Full- Blown Biography.
I was eleven years old when everything changed. My uncle Raymond took me to Croton on the Hudson in New York State. It was ‘upstate’ to me. I spent that summer discovering Art, Filipino and Japanese food and a whole new American Culture. That summer was a turning point. I saw a Pablo Picasso retrospective at the Guggenheim. I discovered that people could have a life’s work! During this summer my uncle began introducing me to eastern philosophy and to body-mind practices, which he would continue for years. But on this trip, I was more interested in what the other kids were doing. I was in a different culture. I was in a world that seemed to me more like the ones I saw on television shows like ‘Leave it to Beaver” and “ Father Knows Best”. I was so surprised that other kids had bikes, had pool tables and that they seemed to know a lot about things I did not know about. These kids had very different childhoods than my Black and Puerto Rican friends and myself who were living in public housing projects.
I was always curious. Any time I could, I listened to and watched my father. He practiced his bass for hours. He played jazz bass for a living. My father, when he was home any Saturday morning, would also give regular ‘speeches’ on the life of the Black people in the United States. My father was a reader. He read books that were popular among the intelligentsia who hung out in Greenwich Village jazz clubs. Of the many books he read before he went to sleep, two of these had a life shaking effect on me. I read the ‘The Ugly American”, and later the book, “The Age of Overkill”. It was from here that I began an intellectual trip towards understanding how much of the social world worked. By the time I was fourteen I had already decided that I would learn as much as I could about how people thought and how people behaved together. This wonderment partially came from living in a neighborhood that had a lot of working poor, people who were under-employed and people who would go for months or years without being able to find work. By the time Malcolm X was walking the neighborhood up the street from me, I had developed more awareness than perhaps a young boy should have. I was reading a lot and taking photographs, thanks to the Boys Club and my own drive to take pictures of my neighborhood. My dream then was to create pictures like Gordon Parks, an African –American photographer who worked for a magazine called “Life”.
When I began thinking about society I began to wonder about alternatives to my life in Harlem. I began to enjoy the two weeks away at the Fresh Air summer camps in upstate New York. I was always interested in the woods. I began collecting specimens on my own from Central Park which was only five blocks from my house. My early morning trips were my way of recalling summer camp. Both photography and my summer trips into the countryside led me out of Harlem and eventually to Ithaca.
My first two years after graduating from high school were spent working and doing community organizing work. I left New York for Rochester to study photography and film. In my first or second semester I read Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”. This book lead to my interest in the connections between exploitation of nature, the exploitation of human beings and their socially supported beliefs. I had come to conclude, that a personal, social and cultural evolution was a possibility. What began as a curiosity became serious. I wanted to study any area of life that would help me to change my world and myself. Sociology was one of the main intellectual places I went for answers.
My interests include social and culture stability and change; human social and personal development. Fundamental to my life long learning, is the development of the depths of sensibility of mind, body and spirit.
Where I Went to School
I studied photography and design at Rochester Institute of Technology. I received my degrees in Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Rochester and Urban Planning at Cornell University. My main interest is in the development of new social and individual relationships with social and ecological environments.
Outside the classroom I have composed a life which includes being an amateur chef, more than 30 years of Aikido, the practice of Tai Chi, Japanese swordsmanship and visual arts. My approach to teaching stems from my experiences and studies in these areas as well as reading ' a thousand books'. I would like the student to discover the brilliance in life, and to compose a life of imagination and attention.
My Basic Philosophy of Learning and Teaching
A solution to problems is discovered or uncovered by the development of sensibilities. We are always making sense rather than performing calculations. Solutions are met in this fashion. So as a teacher, and as a human being I attempt to discover what needs to be made sense of?
I am interested in helping students develop a multidisciplinary, multicultural, and multi-modal approach to learning. I am interested in the ways imagination transforms our relationships to our social and ecological environments. I am always a student of how the three rigors: intellectual, physical and spiritual (mind, body, spirit) can be attuned and developed and therefore produce a life that becomes artful and scientific, modifiable, and inventive.
I encourage students to capture 'a world' with their sensibilities--to sense solutions by ' intermeshing ideas, impressions, and forms of collecting and presenting knowledge and information.'
Courses I Teach
Introduction to Sociology
Technology and Society
Civil Rights and Social Movements
Sociology of Signs and Symbols | <urn:uuid:7593b38c-8534-45f0-93bc-495d49612081> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://faculty.ithaca.edu/euell/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9821 | 1,196 | 1.679688 | 2 |
|Sponsor||Rep. Lipinski, Daniel|
|Committee||Education and Labor|
|Date||January 20, 2010 (111th Congress, 2nd Session)|
|Staff Contact||Ja'Ron Smith|
H.Res. 1008 is expected to be considered on the floor of the House on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, under a motion to suspend the rules, requiring a two-thirds vote for passage. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) on January 13, 2010.
H.Res. 1008 would resolve that the House of Representatives:
• "Supports the goals of Catholic Schools Week, an event co-sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and established to recognize the vital contributions of the thousands of Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the United States;
• "Applauds the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on their selection of a theme that all can celebrate; and
• "Congratulates Catholic schools, students, parents, and teachers across the Nation for their ongoing contributions to education, and for the key role they play in promoting and ensuring a brighter, stronger future for this Nation.
According to the resolution's findings, the week of January 31, 2010, to February 6, 2010, has been designated as Catholic Schools Week by the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. | <urn:uuid:7ffdf363-8ee6-44ea-981c-4306ae9ced19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/hres1008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962408 | 302 | 1.585938 | 2 |
This morning on MSNBC, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof asserted that Bill Gates, who was seated nearby on set, is "richer than God":
"Here with us now, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of Microsoft, maker of the surface, Bill Gates," began the MSNBC host. "Very good to have you on the show this morning. Today, Bill unveils his annual letter, which features the findings of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Also with us, columnist for the New York Times, Nick Kristof, who has traveled to Africa with Bill Gates, you traveled to two places with him. ... How is he as a traveling partner?"
"You know, boy, he has logistics down better than I do. Buses actually go places. Planes go places. It's better than hitching a ride with war lords," said Kristof.
He soon added, "And you know, you just see traveling with him the incredible impact, not just that, I mean, he's richer than God--
"Right, there's that," said the MSNBC host.
"But bringing business and civility to global aid," said the Times columnist.
"So let's talk about what you do with all that money and how you do it," said the MSNBC host, turning to Gates. "Because it can't be a simple task."
Gates is considered the richest man in America, with an estimated net worth of $65 billion. | <urn:uuid:e23b15f8-36d2-435b-b1d2-a3ac75580897> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklystandard.com/keyword/Nick-Kristof | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974543 | 309 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Dear Nerd Fitness reader: I have the best homework assignment ever for you.
If you’re been reading this site for longer than today, you know that I’m a BIG fan of strength training for anybody and everybody: young or old, male or female, big or small, fat or skinny. Today’s homework assignment is to take the inspiration you get from today’s article and DO something about it. Don’t worry, I provide you with the tools necessary.
I know there are folks out there who are afraid to strength train, don’t enjoy it, and/or don’t think it’s necessary: this article is for you. If you’re already strength training, congratulations – you get an A in my book (lie: I don’t actually have a book). Read the articles below for added inspiration or just skip to the end and leave a comment WHY you strength train.
I don’t care who you are or what you do, you should be doing some sort of strength training if you want to level up your life:
- If you only like to run, strength training will improve your time.
- If you only like to do martial arts, strength training will improve your power.
- If you only like to do Parkour - strength training will help protect you from injury.
- If you only like to sit around and eat donuts, strength training will make pretty much every part of your life better.
So where’s that inspiration I promised you? Read on…
Iron & the Soul
If you only have time to read ONE thing today, let this be it.
I’ve written about Iron and the Soul by hard-rocking Henry Rollins twice already on Nerd Fitness – that’s how much this article has inspired me. In fact, I’ve read it so many times that I finally dedicated a page to it. Feel free to bookmark this link and read it whenever you need motivation – that’s what I do. I didn’t know he had it in him, but Rollins has put together one of the most inspiring and profoundly philosophical articles I’ve ever read:
I’ll bet you five imaginary dollars that this article will make you want to do push ups and squats by the time you’re done with it. Do yourself a favor and set aside a few minutes to blaze through it. You can thank me later.
Here are my favorite passages:
“It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.”
“I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character.”
“Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.”
“The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs.
Friends may come and go.
But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”
Wow. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go climb a mountain, wrestle a bear, and bench press a tour bus.
Everything You Know About Fitness is A Lie
My old roommate Evan, fellow nerd and developer of the awesome and free iExit iPhone app (iTunes link), forwarded me an amazing article from Men’s Journal last week. I found myself nodding and smiling throughout the entire article, and was seconds away from standing and applauding at the end before remembering that I was in a crowded internet cafe in New Zealand.
It’s quite a lengthy read but so freaking worth it. Here’s the overarching theme: no matter who you are or what you do, focus on getting stronger if you want to continue being active for the rest of your life. Pick up a weight or go do body weight exercises, make building strength a priority, and the rest will take care of itself.
Rather than copy and past the entire article here, I’ll post some of my favorite paragraphs:
“Too many of us drift into health clubs with only the vaguest of notions about why we’re actually there — notions like maybe losing a little weight, somehow looking like the young Brad Pitt in Fight Club, or just heeding a doctor’s orders. Vague goals beget vague methods; the unfocused mind is the vulnerable mind, deeply susceptible to bullshit.”
“Most gyms do include a few token free weights, but think about where you’ll find them: around the edges of the room, like fresh fruits and vegetables in a supermarket that gives all the prime middle-of-the-store shelf space to Frosted Flakes and frozen cheesecake.”
“True sport-specific training, for literally everybody except elite athletes, isn’t sport-specific at all. It’s about getting strong, durable, and relentless in simple, old-school ways that a man can train, test, and measure. Nobody does crunches training this way, nobody watches television from the stationary bike, and 60-year-old women dead-lift 200 pounds and more.”
“I knew this wasn’t about a gym or about gym equipment; it was about an ethos, an understanding that nothing on Earth beats the fundamentals, a commitment to regular, measurable improvement in everything that a gym trainer won’t teach, for fear you’ll walk away bored: push-ups, pull-ups, bench presses, squats, dead lifts, and even such military-seeming tests as just how fast you can run a single mile.”
“The only other thing you really need to understand is how our bodies respond to training. First: The human body adapts to stress. Throw us in ice-cold water every day and we’ll sprout subcutaneous fat for insulation; expose us to the desert sun and our skin will darken. What this means for getting in shape is that each week, you have to stress your body a little more than last time — lift a little heavier, run a little harder. Muscles weaken with exhaustion after a workout, but then they recover and typically, a few days later, go into what’s known as “supercompensation,” a fancy word that just means bouncing back a little stronger than before.”
“Finally, keep it simple; understand that variety is overrated. Variety does stave off boredom — it’s fun to mix in new exercises all the time — but a guy who hasn’t trained in a long time, if ever, will get stronger faster on the simplest program of squats, dead lifts, and presses, three times a week…If you constantly screw around with endless new exercises, you have no way of adding the precisely calibrated weight increases that actually make you stronger. To get it just right, keep meticulous records, writing down every rep and every lift so your targets for each workout are easy to spot and your gains are easy to measure.”
“I’ll admit this begs a few questions, mostly about how pure strength makes anybody healthier, or helps in a given sport. There’s the predictable answer about how numerous studies recommend resistance training for the maintenance of bone density and muscle mass and even for heart-health benefits equal to cardiovascular exercise, how even famous big-wave surfers have begun lifting like this, and how barbells have become de rigueur on the pro-tennis circuit.
But there’s an even better reason to build pure strength. I’ve come to believe that men don’t go to gyms just to avoid heart disease or support our weekend sports. It’s worth getting strong because we go to gyms in large part to maintain a little goddamned self-respect, and to blow off steam, and to insist, against all odds, that we do remain fiercely vital physical beings.
If you don’t have a gym membership or have any desire to get one - don’t worry, you don’t need one – but that doesn’t excuse you from strength training. Here’s why:
No Gym? No Problem.
The authors of the two articles above are huge fans of gyms and free weights. Not surprisingly, I am too. Working out in a gym is something I’ve been doing for over a decade now (which is why I enjoy writing articles like “How to Not Suck at Working Out” and “Infiltrating the Empire“), but now that I’m traveling I no longer have access to a gym and free weights.
As I said in last week’s article, I came into this epic trip already expecting to lose strength and muscle mass because I would not have access to a gym. Fortunately I snapped out of my funk a few weeks back, stopped feeling sorry for myself, and started taking action. I decided I was going to find a way to come back to the States in June in better shape and with more muscle than when I left, using nothing but my own body weight for resistance in my workouts.
Here’s what I did to put my plan into place:
- I researched advanced body weight routines from gymnastic websites that would help me build pure strength and muscle.
- I made eating a priority to make sure I provided my body with enough fuel to build muscle.
- I worked with Vic Magary, my partner in writing for the upcoming Rebel Strength Guide, to develop body weight exercise routines that get progressively more challenging. Yes, these workouts are in the book.
- I began watching videos by guys like Willy Wendens who show what’s possible with enough practice and dedication.
WARNING: you will have to pick your jaw up off the floor after watching this:
I also started reading about moves like Planche push ups and Front Levers, which made me realize that although it’s pretty damn tough to do these incredibly difficult exercises…it’s not impossible. Just like with anything else that seems impossible, you simply take it one day at a time, one change at a time, and get just a little bit bigger/better/faster/stronger every day.
If you’re just getting started with strength training, begin with the Angry Birds Workout and go from there. If you’re already big into advanced body weight training, try adding on the static holds explained in the article above to the end of your workouts – that’s what I’m doing currently.
Why I strength train.
So why do I do it? Why have I dragged myself to gyms for ten years, forking over thousands of dollars in membership fees and spending hours of my life with a bunch of old metal plates? Why do I dedicate hours of my time while traveling to exercising on hostel bedroom floors and preschool playgrounds? What’s the point of it all?
- I strength train because I was always the weak one; I was the skinny kid that got pushed around on the basketball court or football field, and I got sick of it. I’m still not as strong as I’d like to be, but I’m getting there.
- I strength train because it builds my self-confidence and allows me feel good about myself. I know a successful day of working out usually leads to a successful day outside of the gym.
- I strength train because I like knowing that I’ve improved my life in some measurable way. One more push up or five extra pounds on my squat compared to last week means that I’ve become a stronger version of myself.
- I strength train because I know that a solid foundation now will allow me to live a long and strong life later. I want to be able to wrestle with my kids when I’m forty, surf until I’m sixty, weight train until I’m ninety, and die peacefully in my sleep with smile on my face at the age of 125 after climbing a mountain.
- I strength train because I’m inspired by people who are stronger than me. I watch videos like that guy above and think “now I know what’s possible.” It’s a challenge to myself every single day to be better than I was yesterday. I want to be the best Steve Kamb I can be – the Level 50 version of me is strong as an ox, so I’m working every day to get there.
- I strength train because I want to know what I’m made of.
Why do YOU strength train?
That’s why I strength train. Now it’s your turn. I want to know why YOU strength train. Because I apparently love giving away stuff, I’ll be picking one answer from the comments to win a free NF shirt. Rather than pick a winner at random like usual, I’m going to be biased and simply pick my favorite comment from all submissions. Because that’s how I roll.
So, my rebel friend, why do you strength train?
For the Rebellion,
That’s right, the NF Rebellion has spread to the Middle East!
After taking this picture, Lindsay bench pressed both women behind her, rebuilt the ruins by hand, and then swam home to LA.
Update – Just THREE weeks until the Rebel Strength Guide is released! I started loading all of the content into our templates this morning and got a sneak peak at the cover design from my buddy Joe – it looks bad ass.
push up photo locations: Wanaka, Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu, Franz Josef Glacier, Cusco. | <urn:uuid:12814805-b356-4d96-af1c-5dc4432e15d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/14/why-strengh-training/ | 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 | 0.948777 | 3,180 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Your week of horse camp includes a daily group lesson followed by fun, informative, hands-on activities with materials that are designed to be age and skill appropriate.
Camp Riding Activities
Camp Equestrian Activities
Other activities may include arts & crafts projects, games, etc…
It is our desire at North Creek Farm to offer a unique experience in the area of horsemanship. Our goal is to build confidence, responsibility, and skill through horsemanship in an esteem building, family-oriented atmosphere. The foundation of our program include both mounted and un-mounted instruction and covers a broad spectrum of topics including horse psychology, horse health issues, feeding, care, grooming, and tack as well as daily riding instruction by qualified instructors.
It is important to us at North Creek Farm to continually maintain quality and safety in all of our programs; therefore, groups are limited in size and campers are matched as closely as possible in their horse experience. Camps which include formal riding instructions are for children from ages 7 and up and are held weekly throughout the summer months.
Pony Camp is designed for beginners (no experience) and those with some experience (can successfully walk, trot, and canter).
For children who are more advanced (have begun jumping and understand such exercises as diagonals, lead changes, and proper hand and leg positions), North Creek Farm offers what we refer to as Horse Camp.
Camps are limited to small groups and run through out the summer months.
We look forward to being a part of your child's summer plans. If you have any further questions, please call us at 704.664.8450 and we will return your call. Reserved spaces are based on receipt of application and non-refundable deposit. Balance can be paid on or before date of camp. See you soon! | <urn:uuid:7862b0fb-1483-4dfd-93eb-5faa4a56584c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northcreekequestrian.com/Camps___Clinics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969366 | 373 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Organizers said about 90,000 people gathered in a large field Yangon, Myanmar, for their first chance to do what much of the world does every Dec. 31 - watch a countdown. The reformist government that took office in 2011 in the country, long under military rule, threw its first public New Year's celebration in decades.
"We feel like we are in a different world," said Yu Thawda, a university student who went with three of her friends.
Parts of Europe held scaled-back festivities and street parties, the mood a bit restrained - if hopeful - for a 2013 that is projected to be a sixth straight year of recession amid Greece's worst economic crisis since World War II.
London, the often soggy British capital, was dry and clear, as the familiar chimes of the clock inside the Big Ben tower counted down the final seconds of 2012 and a dazzling display of fireworks lit the skies above Parliament Square. People cheered as the landmarks were bathed in the light of the display, which included streamers shot out of the London Eye wheel and blazing rockets launched from the banks of the River Thames.
Elsewhere, the atmosphere of celebration was muted with concern.
Hotels, clubs and other sites in New Delhi, the Indian capital, canceled festivities after the death of a rape victim on Saturday touched off days of mourning and reflection about women's safety.
In Times Square, some revelers checked their cellphones to keep up with news of lawmakers' tentative deal to skirt the fiscal cliff combination of expiring tax cuts and across-the-board spending cuts that threatened to reverberate globally. And the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and Superstorm Sandy mingled into the memories of 2012.
"This has been a very eventful year, on many levels," Denise Norris said as she and her husband, the Rev. Urie Norris, surveyed the crowd jamming Times Square for the countdown show with Ryan Seacrest as host.
Seacrest remembered Clark and his legacy, saying it was one that would be continued, and that Clark himself had told him, "Seacrest, the show must go on."
Elvis Rivera, of Manhattan, was taking photos in Times Square to capture the moment. He wasn't planning to ring in the new year there but went by to take pictures.
How did he feel about the end of 2012?
"Relieved," Rivera said, adding that there had been a death and job losses in his family this year. | <urn:uuid:e4375a54-6786-4caf-906a-acd476019464> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201212310175?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976268 | 512 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Lao PDR addresses terrorism prevention
Vientiane (Lao PDR), 15 February 2010 - The Ministry of Justice of the Lao People's Democratic Republic organized, with support from the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch, a national workshop entitled "Promotion of ratification and implementation of the universal legal instruments against terrorism". The workshop, which was held on 28 and 29 January 2010, was preceded by a preparatory meeting on 27 January to discuss and design a concrete road map for future actions.
The workshop was supported by UNODC terrorism prevention experts and it specifically focused on the adoption of legislative measures needed for the Lao People's Democratic Republic to fully adhere to and implement the universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols. The participation of the UNODC's Country Office expert encouraged discussions towards integrating counter terrorism requirements into the on-going national criminal justice system improvements and the role of UNODC in supporting this process.
Representatives from the following branches of Government and other entities participated in the workshop: the Office of the Supreme People's Prosecutor, the judiciary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (which also acts as a financial intelligence unit), a lawyers association and the customs police. | <urn:uuid:6ff4c64a-97c1-4a55-adc9-379157ca793f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unodc.org/laopdr/en/stories/Lao-PDR-addresses-Terrorism-Prevention.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935781 | 260 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The decision of Florida's special prosecutor to file a second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot to death an unarmed 17-year-old black youth he had followed out of his gated community, marks a needed stand for justice and a welcome challenge to Florida's misbegotten "stand your ground" law.
The shooting six weeks ago of Trayvon Martin, a student who had no criminal record, should never have occurred. It would not have happened if Zimmerman had not disregarded a 911 dispatcher's warning not to follow the youth, who was walking through his gated community.
Zimmerman had made several calls to the police in Sanford, a suburb just north of Orlando, after he saw Martin in his neighborhood. During one of those calls, he left his car to follow the young man as the dispatcher warned him not to do that. "O.K. We don't need you to do that," the dispatcher said. Zimmerman responded, "O.K.," but followed the youth anyway.
Minutes later, Sanford police received a report that Zimmerman had shot and killed the youth, who was returning to his father's residence from a convenience store, carrying a bag of Skittles in one hand and iced-tea in the other. Zimmerman, 28, and armed with a 9-millimeter pistol, had fatally shot Martin in the chest at close range. He claimed Martin had knocked him to the ground and that he feared for his life.
The case rightly elicited outrage in Sanford -- and across the nation -- as details of the shooting spread. The circumstances have clearly appeared to beg an in-depth investigation: why did Zimmerman pursue the youth; how did their encounter start; what physical evidence suggested grounds to kill the unarmed young man? Sanford's police provided little evidence of a thorough inquiry, and they had quickly released Zimmerman after questioning without filing any charges.
Since these circumstances became broadly public, Sanford's police chief stepped down, and Florida authorities initiated an investigation by the attorney general of Jacksonville, who was appointed as special prosecutor. Her decision Wednesday to file a charge of second-degree murder appears to be the proper charge.
A charge of first-degree murder would require evidence of pre-meditation. The second-degree charge indicates grounds for a needless killing, but without pre-meditation. It carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
At issue is not just a wrongful death, but the state law that allows a citizen who holds a permit to carry a gun to use deadly force without the duty to retreat from an encounter in which he or she feels threatened. That law applies not just for Floridians in their homes, but in almost any public space. Though police and prosecutors in Florida objected to it, Florida's legislature enacted it in 2005 at the urging of the National Rifle Association. Versions of the law have since been adopted in Tennessee and 22 other states.
In Florida, unprosecuted homicides in which self-defense has been claimed have tripled in recent years. Prosecutors say that in the absence of hard physical evidence, it's hard to disprove a claim of self-defense when the victim is dead.
Florida has a duty to tighten the law, or repeal it. No citizen should be legally allowed to stalk and fatally shoot someone on the grounds of self-defense. That makes a mockery of justice, and invites a vigilante bent this country -- saturated with guns -- can ill afford. | <urn:uuid:fb272d46-48f8-46bd-88a1-28c6b0b308c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/apr/13/a-murder-charge-in-florida/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977719 | 705 | 1.5 | 2 |
A quick glance through leaked NYPD intelligence reports on Muslim communities in New York City and Newark, New Jersey should make Americans feel uneasy about the activities of law enforcement in the United States. Three months ago, the Associated Press released more evidence that New York’s finest went far out of its jurisdiction to conduct unwarranted surveillance on Muslim Americans.
The “Newark, New Jersey Demographics Report” was not an investigation into a crime, or even a probable crime, but was actually a mapping of Muslim life across the Hudson River by the NYPD. Furthermore, the NYPD didn’t find terrorists in the midst of Newark Muslim life. Instead, they found that owners of a halal meat shop chose to carry Mecca Cola, “in place of Coke or Pepsi”, and that more than one discount retail store sold “religious picture frames”.
Human Terrain System (HTS)-style mapping of Muslim life in the United States indicates once more that American law enforcement has gone abundantly haywire. Law enforcement has gone from prioritising the protection of the US constitution in day-to-day American life, to deploying militaristic HTS tactics developed by the US army to be used in a warzone context.
Since the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD intelligence unit has spent its resources meticulously charting, as the NYPD report put it, “the largest geographic population concentrations of people from countries of concern”. Photographs and details recorded of mosques and other institutions owned and operated by Muslims, such as numerous fast food restaurants, a Dunkin Donuts, and two schools for girls, fill the pages of the report and reveal an intensive and invasive practice spelling out assumptions about an “enemy within”.
Yet, it should not surprise us to discover that this is the handling of Muslim life by the NYPD. After a decade’s worth of training programmes in various branches of US law enforcement, teaching police officers, FBI agents, and US soldiers that “Islam is the enemy”, the subsequent antagonistic conduct by policing agencies is an inevitable result. American Muslims, who have been all too aware of surveillance and infiltrators in their communities in the years since 9/11, have been given a clear message: their presence within US borders will meet with suspicion from law enforcement. The lingering effect on Muslim communities has been detrimental.
“Let’s ask how [the] NYPD’s illegal unauthorised surveillance of American Muslims in New Jersey doesn’t lead to the denigration of a faith practiced by 1.3 billion people? NYPD’s spying programme does exactly that,” says one of the plaintiffs, Farhaj Hassan.
Hassan is also a decorated US soldier who was on active duty in Iraq for 14 months. He feels that surveillance schemes have lowered mosque attendance in his area:
“It’s too bad. Islam is a great faith that expresses the importance of community, good health, good moral character, and good citizenship.”
After the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, and commissioner of the NYPD, Ray Kelly, defended the surveillance practice and the refusal of federal officials to launch an inquiry into the actions of the NYPD, this move by New Jersey Muslims to take on the City of New York on their own, to defend their constitutional right to practice their religion, is a courageous one. Says Hassan:
“I’ve been associated with the mechanisms of military power for over a decade – now I’m associated with a ground breaking civil rights case. Only in America.”
The United States was founded upon the principles of religious freedom and pluralism. The US constitution was written to protect citizens generally and minorities in particular, from the tyranny of governing powers.
So it falls to eight American Muslims from New Jersey to remind their fellow American citizens of this historic fact. After 10 years of laws that have undermined many constitutional rights, beginning with the USA Patriot Act, it is sobering that eight citizens must sue the authorities to maintain rights that should be inalienable. | <urn:uuid:fac084bb-b5b7-4eb9-b2f4-87d6b2f17b6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/10-Jun-2012/muslims-sue-to-protect-their-rights-from-nypd-spying/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949522 | 837 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Thursday 21 February 2013 Updated: 22/02 00:07
SHOCKING statistics released this week show more than 1,000 children across Bromsgrove district are living in poverty.
The figures, published by the End Child Poverty Campaign on Wednesday (February 20), relate to children who are part of a family that is either living on unemployment benefits or on less than 60 per cent of the average household income.
The End Child Poverty Campaign has called on the Government and councils to protect people on low income families when making decisions about welfare spending, in particular changes to council tax and housing benefit.
Across Bromsgrove district, Charford is the hardest-hit ward with one in five youngsters deemed to be living in poverty.
Next is Sidemoor (13 per cent) and then Catshill, Whitford and St John’s, which covers Bromsgrove Town Centre. Those three are all deemed to have 11 per cent of children living in poverty.
In total, however, ten Bromsgrove wards have less than five per cent of children within them living in poverty. And that factor, which makes it seven per cent overall for the district, sees Bromsgrove have the lowest child poverty figure in Worcestershire.
Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid said: “Cutting child poverty, and poverty in general, requires an economy that creates jobs.
“This is the surest way to improve living standards for everyone and particularly those, such as children, who are dependent on others.
“I’m pleased that unemployment has been falling month-on-month, and that today we have more people in employment that at anytime in our history.
“The Government’s Pupil Premium, Universal Credit, Work Programme and investment in childcare are all also helping to deal with the causes of poverty.
“The tax cuts for the lowest paid have made 24million people better off, and taken over 2million out of income taxation altogether.”
In South Birmingham, the figures are much higher - 29 per cent of children in Longbridge, which also covers Rednal and Frankley, are living in poverty. That equates to around 1,800. And in neighbouring Northfield, the figure is 25 per cent, with some 1,400 youngsters in families depending on benefits or having an income less than 60 per cent of the average income.
Northfield MP Richard Burden said poverty crippled a child’s chance to lead a happy and healthy life and made it so much harder for them to reach their potential.
“You would think the Government would make tackling child poverty a key priority.
“Instead they are making life harder for working families already struggling to get by – with their unfair attack on tax credits and working benefits this April.
“The Government’s own assessment predicts that these changes will push another 200,000 children into poverty.
“And this comes on top of the 800,000 increase expected as a result of the Government’s other welfare cuts.
“I am proud the last Labour Government took 1million children out of poverty and committed to end child poverty by 2020.
“It is a disgrace that, in contrast, by 2020 this Conservative-led Government is set to force 1million more children into poverty.”
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A WINYATES man has been ordered to complete 75 hours ...
A FORMER detective constable has appeared in court to deny ...
TELEVISION presenter Jim Rosenthal joined more than 100 people to ... | <urn:uuid:6e247bd0-1a57-421f-b2e2-279f9f587992> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/2013/02/23/-More-than-1,000-Bromsgrove-children-are-'living-in-poverty'-63793.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955588 | 791 | 1.710938 | 2 |
“A road map to turn businesspeople into published authors.”
-- Dan Poynter, author The Self-Publishing Manual
Read what people are saying about Publishize!
Learn How You Can
Breaking the Bank
If you are a business owner, coach, author, or speaker, writing a book is the best way to demonstrate your expertise. It's a sure way to prove that you know what you're talking about! Plus, writing a book distinguishes you from your competition so you no longer have to scrounge for clients, no matter what the economic climate.
“Publishize cuts through the jargon and confusion and gets to the heart and soul of what the industry is about. If you want to be successfully published you must read this book!”
-- Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO Author Marketing Experts, Inc and author of Red Hot Internet Publicity and From Book to Bestseller, www.AMarketingExpert.com
Getting a traditional book-publishing contract is difficult and time-consuming, so many people opt to self-publish.
If you’re new to publishing, the process can seem complex.
Susan Daffron's award-winning book, Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise details a cost-effective method to quickly self-publish a book.
The term "publishize" marries two terms: Publish and Publicize. When you take advantage of the power of publishing, you improve awareness of who you are and what you do.
Many consultants and business owners have discovered that publishing a book is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and get new clients.
With new tools and techniques, self publishing is easier than ever before. The information in Publishize will help you:
- Find the time to write a book and run your business at the same time. (Hint: working more hours is not the answer!).
- Unearth written gems lurking in your file cabinets and hard disk that can be incorporated into your book. You'll become a "power recycler" so every word you write earns you money.
- Deal with the often misleading and confusing terms surrounding print-on-demand printing and "self-publishing companies." You'll learn when and why you should avoid subsidy or vanity presses and why being the publisher matters.
- Devise a mouthwatering book title that "hooks" exactly the right readers, along with layout and design information so you end up with a professional book that you'll be proud to hand to people.
- Understand the six key elements of a book Web site and navigate the often-perplexing areas of online book marketing with information on everything from social media marketing to podcasting and video book trailers.
Unlike most publishing books, Publishize focuses on the publishing industry from the business owner's perspective.
Well-written, honest, pulling no punches, and full of good advice. Read Publishize to make informed and profitable decisions about the entire publishing and marketing process.
-- Shel Horowitz, award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers and six other books
With a focus on earning more profits and smart outsourcing, this book is a hands-on guidebook for entrepreneurs who want to add a new revenue stream to their business.
"Every business owner has read that publishing a book is a great way to demonstrate expertise and get new clients. But it seems like such a monumental task, most people never do it. Susan Daffron offers honest advice and breaks down self-publishing into manageable steps any business owner can implement."
-- John Eggen,
President, The Mission Marketing Mentors, Inc.
Check Out this Award-Winning Book!
Publishize won two 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The book was named a finalist in the How To category and the WINNER in the Writing and Publishing category.
Publishize also won a 2009 Apex Award of Excellence in the Books & Ebooks category. APEX Awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the success of the entry -- in the opinion of the judges -- in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence.
See for Yourself What Is In the Book
Check out a PDF file that contains the table of contents and the first 5 pages of the first chapter (87K). Note that because it's a PDF file, you need the free Acrobat Reader to view it.
Don't get overwhelmed at the idea of self-publishing your book! Instead, just pick up a copy of Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise and learn the easy way to publish without the subsidy press stigma.
"If the cost and complexity of printing has steered you away from self-publishing, you'll appreciate the straightforward advice in Publishize. Susan Daffron explains the ins and outs of print-on-demand printing without the subsidy press stigma and offers a great overview of the latest online book marketing methods. I highly recommend this book for all the women writers I serve!"
-- Sheri McConnell, CEO of the
National Association of Women Writers
Don't Put Off Your Book Project!
If you've been procrastinating about finishing your book, do yourself a favor and get the book that cuts through the confusion with the information you need to really get a book out the door.
We can't guarantee that you'll make money with your book. No one can. But Publishize is like having a self-publishing consultant right by your side, explaining things in straightforward terms, without a lot of publishing mumbo jumbo.
The bottom line is that publishing a book is one of the best things you can do to advance your career. We live in an area most people don't get to live in until they retire, yet people all over the country buy our books and know who we are. If we can run a publishing company from here, you can from anywhere!
Publishize costs only $24.95 and you can order the book in two ways:
Click this link to order directly from us (if you want an autographed or inscribed copy). We'll sign it for you for free and dedicate it to whomever you like. Just use the drop-down box on the order form to tell us how you'd like the book signed.
Click this link to order the book from Amazon.com
You can buy Publishize from your favorite online bookseller:
Publishize is also available in ebook formats for just $6.99. You can purchase it from these locations:
Our Personal Guarantee
Like all of our products, Publishize comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. We have tried to make the book as helpful and easy to understand as possible. But if you don't like the book for some reason, it was damaged in shipment, or you have any problems with it, simply let us know.
If you're not absolutely thrilled with what you've learned about publishing and promoting a book online, just contact us and send it back for a full refund. We have dealt with virtually all the technology and techniques discussed in the book in some way and we have given the book to reviewers who have told us it is helpful! So we honestly don't think we'll be hearing from you.
We're confident that armed with the information in Publishize, you'll get your book published. So what are you waiting for? Publishing greatness awaits you! | <urn:uuid:764da6a8-8f24-411e-9def-cba2cdd57735> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publishize.com/ | 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 | 0.945013 | 1,570 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Participation & Social Justice
Members of the Participation and Social Justice research group share a commitment to participation, social justice, transformation and a belief that all three should permeate the entire research process, from problem formulation through to the drawing of conclusions and on to the use of the results.
We are united in attempting to apply the following principles to all stages of a research project:
Researchers not only have an academic responsibility but also a social responsibility. Researchers are committed to social justice and are aware of power differentials in the context of their research and use their research to promote greater social equality and justice
All people have rights, including the right to be heard, the right to define the issues facing them and the right to take action on their own behalf. People also have the right to define themselves and not have negative labels imposed upon them. Researchers have a responsibility to respect those rights
Interaction between researcher and participants is essential and this interaction requires understanding and trust. It is based on the belief that all people have skills, experience and understanding that they can draw from to tackle the problems they face
The paradigm places central importance on the experiences of individuals who encounter/suffer discrimination or oppression.
Participation & Social Justice Research Group
Led by: Jennie Fleming
T: +44 (0)116 257 7873 | <urn:uuid:8994ae80-b75a-4818-8638-fe3d7cd0bae3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/health-and-life-sciences/participation--social-justice/participation-social-justice.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93955 | 267 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Want a great way to spend time with your kids? Tired of macaroni and cheese with hot dogs being the only secret recipe you have? Dust off your countertops, tie on your apron and introduce your “Small Fry” to the educational and fun world of cooking. Even if they have only mastered Kool-Aid®, you and your kids can expand your cooking skills with the help of these kitchen-tested and approved recipes.
Follow Host (and Mom) Karen Arnold, as she leads school-age children step-by-step in preparing nutritious, delicious, but most of all, fun recipes. Each week, pint-sized chefs will help prepare a different recipe that can easily be made in your own home. These recipes are not only simple to prepare and affordable, but are an excellent way to share the joys of cooking with your kids.
Preparing quality food together also can provide quality time with your kids. Remember, the recipe for cooking success is simple … Just you and your kids.
Kids-A-Cookin may be seen on HCC-TV, channel 96/41 in Howard County Maryland on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30AM and 3:30PM, and Saturday at 8:30AM. For more information visit them online at Kids-A-Cookin. | <urn:uuid:d6ced1bb-e5e6-4058-9ff1-f0c399c673df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.howardcc.edu/Visitors/hcctv/programming/kidsacookin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938667 | 271 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Assault rifles are banned in Connecticut. But then again, they're not. PAUL TOOHEY reports
- From: News Limited Network
- December 18, 2012
AROUND the Newtown area in Connecticut, smaller gun stores had shut shop up on Monday.
The bigger gun stores were not inclined to explain how a person might go about buying a .223 Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle such as used in Friday's massacre.
But the answer is that in Connecticut, which has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the US, it's not hard at all.
The Bushmaster is a variation of the AR-15 Armalite rifle, made by many different US manufacturers. Originally designated the M16, it was designed to take on the durable Russian-made AK-47, the so-called ``people's gun'', which proved so damaging to US troops in the Vietnam War.
Assault rifles were federally outlawed across the US in 1993, but the law expired in 2004, when most states let them become legal again.
Connecticut law states that it remains illegal to possess an assault rifle, but there are ways to get one legally.
Lindsay Nicholls, an attorney with the Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence, explains how it works.
``Gun manufacturers sometimes create assault rifles in such a way they fall outside the law,'' she says.
``You add and take away features so that those guns are available and legal.''
Connecticut defines as assault rifle as a weapon that can accept a detachable magazine; has features such as a folding or telescopic stock; a pistol grip that makes it easier to control in rapid-fire situations; and a suppressor that stops recoil, which also helps with rapid fire.
However, if a manufacturer removes two of those features as the makers of the Bushmaster .223 carbine have done the weapon is legal in Connecticut.
A shooter's most preferred feature is the detachable magazine, because people firing a semi-auto want to be able to keep firing.
``There are magazines out there that can hold 100 bullets in one magazine, and that is legal in Connecticut,'' said Ms Nicholls.
If you buy a Bushmaster through a licenced dealer, there is a two-week waiting period, but if you buy it over the internet or from a private dealer, no waiting period and no background check is required.
Even so, the Law Centre rates Connecticut as one of the top five ``best'' gun-law states in the US.
``They have some of the stronger laws in the country, but that speaks more to the weaknesses in other states,'' Ms Nicholls says.
To purchase a Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle in Australia, you would need to be a professional contract shooter for the government and employed for the purposes of pest animal control.
You must also be authorised by the Attorney-General of Australia.
``No regular shooter, collector or hunter can own the Bushmaster .223 in Australia,'' explained Tim Horan, spokesperson for the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia.
``It is completely illegal.''
Between 2011 and 2012, three people in Victoria were found to be illegally in possession of guns that fall into the same category as a Bushmaster .223.
- Lisa Cornish
JUDGES will no longer be able to hand out suspended sentences to violent repeat offenders unless there are exceptional circumstances.
THE first "convincing evidence'' has emerged that petrol stations manipulate prices to maximise profits.
CORRUPT sports referees, dodgy players and suspect support staff could be exposed by a sophisticated new sports data tracking system.
PARENTS are rorting strict school zoning rules by registering parks and relatives' homes to trick their way into some of Adelaide's popular public schools. | <urn:uuid:ef4665b4-ab8b-4c0b-9873-5ed3f284f209> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/assault-rifles-are-banned-in-connecticut-but-then-again-theyre-not-paul-toohey-reports/story-fnejr8lb-1226539881547 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956083 | 775 | 1.625 | 2 |
A few months ago I removed a lot of over grown shrubs; the soil is clay based topsoil on top of solid clay. The top soil is about one spade deep. I don’t think the garden has had any compost for many years.
I am going to double dig before planning the roses, so how much compost should I put into the subsoil and how much into the top soil. I have a source of compost from wholesale market fruit & vegetable waste and cost is not a limiting factor. (Organic content = 100%, C:N ratio c. 15:1, pH c. 7.5)
I am also planning on adding more worms, as there seem to be very few in the ground. All of the beds will be covered with compost or wood chipping every year, but this is my only chance to properly dig-in compost.
(We are in the North West of the UK) | <urn:uuid:02b2c95c-0aa8-4806-a5c2-753a1614765c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/3466/how-much-compost-should-i-add-to-a-clay-soil-for-roses?answertab=active | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978443 | 193 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Jerry Buss may be gone, but Jerry Buss hasn't gone anywhere.
Jerry Buss may have died on Feb. 18 at age 80, but Jerry Buss lives.
"He was nothing less than a transformational force in the history of sports," said NBA Commissioner David Stern at Buss' memorial service.
Forever and ever, amen.
When you are cheering the Laker Girls, you are cheering Jerry Buss. He invented them, he promoted them, he inspired not only their skimpy clothes and gyrating dances but also their community outreach and public service. He made them the centerpiece of his newfangled idea to turn sports into entertainment. And, OK, to be honest, he probably dated a few of them.
When you are walking inside Staples Center, you are walking inside a monument to Jerry Buss. Does anybody really think that real estate billionaire Phil Anschutz would have built this country's most glamorous sports palace without knowing he had a tenant who could come and rock it? Is it any wonder that one of Anschutz's first phone calls was to Buss, who picked up the phone and said, sure, we could always use a bigger dance hall, bring it on! Forget the Kings, forget the Grammy Awards, even forget the Celine Dion concerts, there would be no Staples Center without the powerful attraction of Jerry Buss and his Lakers.
When you feel the inspiration of Magic Johnson, you feel the inspiration of Jerry Buss. This country's most influential sports figure — who has made a bigger impact in retirement? — would never have thrived without Buss. When Johnson says, "I was Dr. Buss' black son," he means it. Buss picked Johnson as his first young star. Buss gave Johnson the freedom to become Magic. Buss gave Johnson the strength to become human and acknowledge he had HIV. Buss handed Johnson $14 million during a season in which Johnson retired before the first game. Buss taught Johnson the economic skills to become one of this country's most inspirational businessmen after retirement. The only person to consistently weep during interviews about Buss' death was Johnson, and there was nothing magic about it.
When you hear the recorded tones of Chick Hearn, you hear Jerry Buss. Only under such a loyal boss could an announcer endure so long while becoming a treasure to so many. As the television and radio voice of the Lakers, Hearn broadcast 3,338 consecutive games in a streak that lasted 36 years. Many of those nights he was tired or sick, and many bosses would have made their employees stay home, but Buss never really made his employees do anything. He gave them their assignments and stayed out of the way. Only through this constant support could Hearn become a legend whose statue stands outside Staples Center among sporting greats. Actually, the statue doesn't stand, it's of Hearn sitting in press row, because that's where Buss insisted he remain for as long as he lived.
When you gawk at Jack Nicholson sitting courtside, you are gawking at Jerry Buss. It is a myth that Nicholson became perhaps the most famous single fan in all of sports because he loves the Lakers. He became that sort of fan because Buss supported and encouraged his love for the Lakers. What, you think Nicholson always paid for his courtside seats? The Lakers comped him plenty to keep him there, and ordered the cameras turned on him for years before he reached his basketball-cult-star status. Buss understood that having the entertainment stars surround his basketball stars put the Lakers smack in the middle of Hollywood. One of the saddest parts of Buss' memorial service was Nicholson's refusal to speak there, just days before he was a presenter at the Academy Awards. Buss spent so many years cheering for Jack, it would have been nice to see Jack cheering for Buss.
Finally, when you are frustrated at the discord between the two main heirs to Buss' Lakers throne — daughter Jeanie and and son Jim Buss — you are actually embracing the very essence of Jerry Buss. He may have been a playboy, but he was also a loving father, which could both help and hurt the Lakers in the future. He empowered Jeanie to become one of this country's top female sports executives by putting her in charge of the Lakers' business operations. He has attempted to do the same thing with Jim by putting him in charge of basketball. What worked so well for Jeanie hasn't worked so well for Jim, and Lakers fans can only hope that in the inevitable power struggle, Jeanie wins and controls her father's empire.
Make no mistake, Jerry Buss left an empire. It is one built on equal parts competitiveness and entertainment. It is one that cares equally about victories and fans. It is one that has affected other sports empires throughout the country, including the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees. But mostly, it is an empire that changed a city, the Lakers connecting with their fans like perhaps no other team in any other community.
When you hear the words to the Lakers' victory song, you will forever feel the message of Jerry Buss. He loved L.A. He loved it. | <urn:uuid:53350cdd-73c3-499a-a325-6ba22cb69355> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.courant.com/topic/la-sp-buss-plaschke-20130303,0,67773.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982192 | 1,070 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The death of former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell reverberated throughout the National Football League, eliciting responses from figures both past and present. Here are some of those responses:
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti: "He was my friend, my mentor. We will miss him so much. How lucky are all of us to have had Art in Baltimore? How fortunate I am to have had him teach me about the NFL. His generosity, his love, his humor, his intelligence, his friendship -- we were all blessed by this great man. We will strive to live up to his standard."
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome: "Art was a giant in our industry. He was my boss -- but he wouldn't let me call him that -- my mentor, and most importantly, my friend. He was the most caring, compassionate person I've ever known. The opportunities he gave me are historic, and I will be forever humble and grateful."
|Art Modell, one of the most influential people in the NFL, died Thursday, eliciting a range of reactions. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)|
Ravens coach John Harbaugh: "It is often said about those inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame: 'Can you write the history of the league without him?' The answer with Art Modell is resounding. He was a great leader, but more importantly, he was truly a good man."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: "Art Modell's leadership was an important part of the NFL's success during the league's explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond. As the longtime chairman of the league's Broadcast Committee, Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass viewing of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the league. Art played important roles in many other league matters as a key advisor to Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue, and also built championship teams in Cleveland and Baltimore. His skills as an owner and league contributor were matched only by his great sense of humor. Any conversation with Art included laughs. He always left you with a smile on your face. We extend our condolences to John, David and the rest of the Modell family."
Former NBC-TV president Dick Ebersol: "I believe very strongly that Art Modell is one of the most important figures in the history of the modern NFL. He and Pete Rozelle developed the magic formula that married the potential of television to the game. Those funds from this marriage propelled the game into what it is today. Art was there with Pete, and Art made it happen. Those two, along with Well Mara -- who convinced other owners about the power of shared revenue -- are the three men who pushed the NFL into what we know today."
Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: "Art Modell made extraordinary contributions to the National Football League during his decades as an NFL owner. When he stepped away from operating the Baltimore Ravens in 2004, his 43 seasons in the league represented more than half of the NFL's history. Art contributed to the NFL's growth and success through the performance of his teams, his recognition of the unique place our sport has in American life, his active participation in the leagueâs governance, and his support of civic and community organizations. He was a trusted advisor to both Commissioner Rozelle and me during our time in office. His wisdom, knowledge and wit kept both of us grounded in the toughest of circumstances. My deepest sympathies to David, John and the entire Modell family on their loss."
Former Ravens coach Brian Billick: "Art Modell was all about family, and that's how he directed the Ravens. He treated me, my family and everyone in the organization like a member of his family. Before I think of the gratitude I owe him for giving me the opportunity to be his head coach, I think of the way he treated all of us. I don't believe there's another NFL franchise that embraces that more than Art did. That was reflected in the people he hired. He created an atmosphere that was the best. It was a joy to come to work for him. He accomplished so much as an owner: championships, playoffs, the TV contracts, the leadership in the NFL. They are all great and deserving of the Hall of Fame. Those who worked with Art will all say the same thing. He was a Hall of Fame person."
Former Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer: "No, no, this is sad news. I loved Art Modell, and I was just thinking of him yesterday. He was a man's man, someone you wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with. He gave me my first head coaching job, and we had the most fun working together. We didn't win the biggest prize, but we were awfully close, and we had a ball trying to get there. Art made it fun. His humor was the best, and my wife, Pat, always said what a gentleman he is -- classy, and he ran his franchise that way. I have only good memories of Art."
Giants president and CEO John Mara on the passing of Art Modell: "Art Modell was one of the greatest owners in the history of the NFL. He contributed in so many ways to the success of this League and he deserves a place in Canton. More importantly, he was a decent man and a great friend to my family. We will miss him dearly."
Giants executive vice president Steve Tisch: "Art Modell was a visionary, a deal-maker and a friend. And he possessed a marvelous sense of humor. Our league and my father and our family benefitted from his great qualities and foresight. It was Art who formally introduced my father to Wellington Mara, which ultimately led to my father purchasing 50 percent of the Giants franchise. For that, and for Art's good nature, we will always be grateful."
Former Denver Broncos and Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe: "One of my favorite moments in the NFL was when he spoke to us in the locker room after the Super Bowl victory. He said, 'This is the proudest day of my life; you guys make me proud.' And then he started to break down. That touched me. You could not only see the emotion from him and from all of us in that room, you could feel it. Knowing how long he had been in the NFL and how many great players he had been around, it was such a great feeling to give him something that he wanted for so long. We all wanted it for him!"
Ravens LB Ray Lewis: "When you think about Art Modell, you think about a great man, a leader, a father and a servant. Every minute of his life, he cared more about everyone around him than himself. Anytime I saw him, he would always make me smile. He always had a joke to lighten your mood or some sort of wisdom to impart to make you a better man. I genuinely loved Art as a man, and he showed me what to strive for in life. When you truly see the impact he had on everyone he touched, it humbles you. When I found out he wasn't doing well, I knew immediately I had to see him. When I was with him yesterday, I prayed with him and shared with him things that a son would say to a father. Even though he has left us, he is going to a place that one day we all want to be. I am truly blessed to have had Art in my life. He was a humble servant, and one of the best men I have ever known."
Former Browns and Ravens RB Earnest Byner: "The thing about Mr. Modell, his heart was always one of giving. That man did a lot for Cleveland, he did a lot for the players that were on that team, and he gave a lot of people a lot of second chances in life. He's a juggernaut in the league because of what he did for Monday Night Football. He was a visionary, and he had the heart of a champion. For me, that pretty much says it all."
Former Browns, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins QB Bernie Kosar: "I had a special relationship with Mr. Modell, and he's probably angry that I'm not calling him Art. We were close when I played for him and became even closer through our adversities. He was such a caring person. The first thing he would ask is, 'How are you doing? How are the kids?' He told me that I was like a son to him, and that made me proud. A lot of Clevelanders wouldnât believe this, but Art is one of the most loyal and trusting persons I've ever met. Maybe that led him to some decisions that not everyone liked. But, he was tough -- always willing to take the brunt of things on his shoulders. He didn't blame others. This is a sad day for me. I truly valued his friendship and will miss that."
My family and I would like to send ourcondolences to the Modell family. Art was a visionary and humanitarian, who helped lot of people...â Jim Brown 32 (@JimBrownNFL32) September 6, 2012
RIP A Modell..Art was part of the 2nd wave of Owners of mid-20th century era that shaped the NFL,the marriage of TV;a big-hearted jokester!â Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) September 6, 2012
Art Modell was one of kindest men I have ever known. I am proud to have called him a friend & will miss him dearly. twitter.com/CoachBillick/sâ¦â Brian Billick (@CoachBillick) September 6, 2012
To a man that I consider not only a friend but a second father Art Modell you taughtme a lot about life and being a man thank u ! RIP!â Tony Siragusa (@TonySiragusa) September 6, 2012
Art Modell was a class act... When I was a rookie he was at every practice. He was a owner that you just wanted to win for.â Jamal Lewis (@Jamal31Lewis) September 6, 2012
My favorite Art Modell quote is when he would call me and say, "Look kid, I am not second guessing, I am first guessing".â Michael Lombardi (@michaelombardi) September 6, 2012
R.I.P to Art Modell an amazing person who effected so many aspects of our history from Cleveland to Syracuse to Baltimore.â Jameel McClain (@JameelMcClain) September 6, 2012
Equality that he strived for in this game will only be a small part of a great legacy.â Jameel McClain (@JameelMcClain) September 6, 2012
RIP Mr. Art Modell...without his dream I would have never been able to play for this great city...thank youâ Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) September 6, 2012
RIP to the late great Art Modell prayers go out to your family and ravens nation for losing a great one.â Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) September 6, 2012
RIP Art Modell, one of the most fascinating people I've ever covered in this business. He loved the NFL as much as any owner.â Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) September 6, 2012
Prayers go out to the modell family!â Derrick Mason (@deemason85) September 6, 2012
I visited Art Modell every yr in owners' suite in Baltimore. He was never same after moving #Browns. I believe it broke his heart.â Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 6, 2012 | <urn:uuid:06082099-a6ce-47a7-8fe1-18154c64ebc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000058866/article/the-sports-world-reacts-to-death-of-art-modell?module=HP11_content_stream | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988516 | 2,434 | 1.664063 | 2 |
By: Stacey Barr
Where do you start improving your organisation's performance measures? What kinds of things could you improve about how your organisation measures its performance? In what ways are you already good at performance measurement?
These questions may not be exactly keeping you awake at night, but certainly by answering them, you could both save a lot of time and effort in the process of getting better measures to manage your organisation's performance. That's because with the answers to these questions you can decide where to focus your efforts to make performance measurement work better.
So to give you a start in answering these questions, here is a rough-and-ready checklist of the key criteria to assess where your current performance measurement system is working well, well enough, or needs more work. Tick it if you do it well. Tally up your ticks for each section and start exploring how you might improve those sections where your tick count is lowest.
1) Selecting performance measures that are meaningful.
[ ] The organisation's strategy is the guideline for what should be measured.
[ ] Each performance measure provides objective evidence of the degree to which a specific result is occurring over time.
[ ] Ownership of the measures happens.
[ ] No one is responsible for more than 7 (or so) performance measures.
[ ] All performance measures are defined using a consistent definition framework that specifies exactly how each measure will be constructed, reported and used.
[ ] Performance measures are driving the right behaviour (which has been defined).
[ ] The linkages or relationships between all performance measures are understood.
2) Collecting performance measure data that is reliable and relevant.
[ ] Only relevant and useful data is collected.
[ ] There is a policy that makes explicit the degree of integrity required of data for each measure.
[ ] The data collection tools that used throughout the business are designed to collect data with the degree of trustworthiness required.
[ ] Each data item collected is defined consistently as part of a 'data dictionary' for the organisation.
[ ] Data collection processes dovetail into work processes seamlessly with minimum, if any, disruption to operational effectiveness or efficiency.
3) Storing and managing performance measure data for easy and quick access.
[ ] Data capture is simple, effective and maintains data integrity.
[ ] Data can be easily accessed by those who need it, when it is needed.
[ ] Historical data is readily available when required (historical data means data that is more than a couple of years old).
4) Analysing performance measure data to reveal the data's story.
[ ] All data analyses performed, whether internal or external to our organisation, are focused on answering pre-defined driving questions.
[ ] Statistical techniques are used validly and appropriately.
[ ] Variation in the performance of business processes is measured (not % differences, true statistical variation).
5) Presenting performance measures to make interpretation easy and valid.
[ ] All performance reports produced have a clearly defined and understood purpose and a clear target audience (or audiences).
[ ] The physical layout of reports is simple to follow and makes finding information easy and quick.
[ ] Graphs are the preferred method of presenting performance measures (and the correct graph type is used to answer the driving question).
6) Interpreting performance measures to draw the right conclusions.
[ ] The owners of performance measures are the people that interpret those performance measures and communicate their conclusions to others.
[ ] Statistical methods (such as statistical process control charts) are used to flag signals in the data (e.g. levels of stability and change in process performance).
[ ] There are consistent and well defined guidelines for interpretation of performance measures (such as a definition of the evidence of a true trend or change in performance levels).
[ ] People involved in using data and information have the appropriate level of skill in interpreting it effectively, efficiently and validly.
7) Applying performance measures to improve performance.
[ ] The results of performance improvement decisions are tracked using the same measures of performance that these decisions aimed to improve.
[ ] The results of interpretation of performance measures are an input into our planning review process, taking a visible role in the formulation and evaluation of our business goals & targets.
[ ] The root causes of performance results are identified through further analysis of lead indicators and/or other data.
[ ] Performance improvements are decided upon through application of systemic thinking and are prioritised before they are taken on and implemented.
[ ] Intuition, emotion and gut feel are used to guide further collection and analysis of objective data (both quantitative and qualitative) rather than to drive decision making alone. | <urn:uuid:102aa393-2bf8-4d73-aff2-6b15069f26c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bizymoms.com/art/articles/managing-biz/business-performance-measurement.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931591 | 960 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Japan agency-sponsored project for capital city from May 18
The Thiruvananthapuram component of the Kerala Water Supply Project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be partially commissioned on May 18.
Minister for Water Resources N. K. Premachandran told the media here on Tuesday that Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan would commission the scheme, marking the inauguration of Fourth Anniversary Celebrations of LDF government.
The Minister said that the other components of the project, except the scheme for Kozhikode city, would be commissioned during the tenure of the present Government. The schemes for Meenad and neighbouring villages in Kollam district, Cherthala and neighbouring areas in Alappuzha district and Pattuvam and nearby areas in Kannur district would be commissioned during this financial year. The work on the Kozhikode scheme could be completed only by November next year.
42 lakh beneficiaries
The Japan Agency, formerly known as JBIC, was providing a loan of Rs.2,987 crore for the project benefitting 42 lakh persons in five districts. It is one of the biggest water supply projects under implementation in India.
Mr. Premachandran recalled that the project was originally proposed to be taken up in 2004 and was to be completed in two years. However, controversies over appointment of the consultant delayed the project. The works were finally taken up in 2006. The work, however, got delayed because of the complexity of the task. So, the project was extended up to 2012.
Sufficient till 2036
The Thiruvananthapuram scheme would serve Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and three neighbouring panchayats. The full commissioning of the scheme is scheduled for the end of February next year. With that, the installed capacity of the Thiruvananthapuram water supply scheme would rise to 284 million litres a day. The scheme would be enough to meet the drinking water needs of the city till 2036, with an augmentation planned for 2021 to add a capacity of 47 million litres a day.
He said that the scheme employed modern technology. The modern treatment plant at Aruvikkara near here has pulsator clarifier, special filters, chlorine contact tank, reservoirs, pumps and break pressure tank. The water treatment and supply could be controlled from a control room in Thiruvananthapuram using telemetry and supervisory control and data acquisition system. Water reaches new reservoirs through gravity flow. The new reservoirs at Poudikonam, Malamukal and Nelliyodu could cater to areas such as Vattiyoorkavu, Sreekaryam, Technopark, Karyavattom, Pachalloor, Poonkulam and Thiruvallam. | <urn:uuid:65989ddb-c999-43bd-a055-daa355d38cf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/water-scheme-to-be-partially-commissioned/article427315.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95879 | 584 | 1.539063 | 2 |
In "The Push for the Summit: Creating Health Care's New Terrain," we now set our sights on frontiers and summits yet to come.
March 7, 2013 | Commentary
RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey sees "pockets of progress toward reversing the childhood obesity epidemic," but says more needs to be done.
September 6, 2012 | Commentary/News Release/Journal Article/Story
Largest declines seen among African American boys and Hispanic girls.
June 5, 2012 | Commentary/Story/Staff and Leadership
"Having fun is an important part of growing up. But kids can’t have fun if they aren’t healthy. We commend Disney for recognizing that, and for making changes in their business model to help kids lead healthier lives.”
May 8, 2012 | Commentary
“Is it possible to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic?” We know now that the answer is emphatically, “Yes.”
January 24, 2012 | Commentary/Story
“These changes are badly needed. Although many schools have made significant improvements to their meal programs, we must ensure that all schools strive to provide more nutritious meals for students."
January 1, 2012 | Commentary
This special issue of Health & Place highlights some of the research studies on active living research that were presented at the 2011 Active Living Research Annual Conference that should be useful for researchers, practitioners and advocates.
July 8, 2010 | Commentary
Americans are "way ahead of their elected officials" and they want action now, says RWJF Senior Vice President James S. Marks in a commentary on The Huffington Post.
June 15, 2010 | Commentary
Alliance for a Healthier Generation recognizes a record number of schools nationwide.
July 1, 2009 | Commentary
To address obesity in culturally diverse populations, interventions should include "real-world" practices that are adapted to cultural needs, values and resources, according to Terry L. Bazzarre, Ph.D., a former senior program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
March 17, 2009 | Commentary/Story
RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A. recently sat down with McKinsey & Company to discuss the Foundation's work on childhood obesity. | <urn:uuid:9ebe39f4-29f6-4e01-8187-6ab8d4d18097> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/speeches-and-commentaries.html?t=topics%3A499&o=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948454 | 479 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Insure.com Reveals 5 Words Never to Say to Your Insurance Company
Insure.com, Inc. (ticker: NSUR, exchange: NASDAQ) News Release - 7/27/2009
Insure.com Reveals 5 Words Never to
Say to Your Insurance Company
DARIEN, Illinois (July 27, 2009) -- When making an insurance claim, what you say can mean the difference between a fast payment check and a nightmarish process. Insurance companies are sensitive to certain words and using them incorrectly could result in a claim delay or even denial. Of course, lying to your insurance company or misrepresenting facts is fraud � and your claim will surely be denied if the insurer finds out. But using the right words to accurately describe your problem is important.
Here are common "wrong words" that could slow down or scuttle an otherwise legitimate insurance claim.
1. Flood. Homeowners often use the word "flood" inappropriately and it can trigger an alarm with insurers � since flood damage is not covered under a standard home insurance policy. To an insurance company, "flood" means water from a nearby lake, stream, river or other body of water. This may seem like a minor distinction, but your insurer has a very narrow definition of flooding. A true flood is covered only by a flood insurance policy.
If your basement is filled with water due to a burst pipe, it's not considered a flood � even if it's knee-high � and would be covered.
2. Experimental. Avoid using terms like "experimental," "investigational" or "clinical trial" when you need a medical treatment that isn't a common practice. Just because it isn't common practice doesn't mean these terms apply to it. Plus, health insurance companies typically refuse to cover treatment that falls into that category. They will cover treatments that are medically necessary and proven effective.
3. In my opinion. . . . Don't offer your opinion. Stick to the facts. For example, following a car accident, don't give your opinion of speed or distances � it could later be used against you.
4. Sorry! Without sounding insensitive, try to avoid saying "I'm sorry" because it can be interpreted as an admission of fault after a car accident. Don't use words like "it's my fault," "it's not your fault," "I made a mistake" or "I'm not sure what happened." Describe what happened to the best of your ability. If you're not sure about how something happened, let the authorities and insurance companies figure it out.
5. Whiplash. Whiplash and whiplash-associated disorders represent a wide range of injuries caused by a sudden distortion of the neck. Insurance companies often associate the term with exaggerated or fraudulent claims, so saying "I have whiplash" could delay the claim-payment process. Wait for a medical diagnosis.
For the full article, see 5 words never to say to your insurance company.
Insure.com provides a comprehensive consumer information service and companion insurance brokerage that caters to the needs of self-directed insurance shoppers. Visitors to company's flagship Web site, www.insure.com, are able to obtain free, instant car insurance quotes, instant life insurance quotes, home, business and health insurancequotes from leading insurers and have the freedom to buy online or by phone from any company shown. Insure.com is home to hundreds of originally authored articles on consumer insurance topics and provides free insurance decision-making tools that are not available from any other single source. Insure.com generates revenues from receipt of industry-standard commissions, including back-end bonus commissions and volume-based contingent bonus commissions that are paid by participating insurance companies. Shares of the Company's common stock trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol NSUR. Insure.com was originally founded in 1984 as Quotesmith Corporation.
SOURCE: Insure.com, Inc.
CONTACT: At Insure.com, Inc.
Amy Danise, Editor
(860) 386-6446, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:731ba49c-c4d9-4e86-a02d-5e75cfdf2ab4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insure.com/ir/releases/pr072709.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947825 | 850 | 1.640625 | 2 |
>Of course one of the reasons that properties become empty is that a single owner-occupier dies. A number of people who contact us at the Empty Homes Agency are under the impression that when this happens the property doesn’t belong to anybody and it’s up for grabs. I’m sorry to disappoint again but ..no. The concept of ownerless property Bona Vacantia (Latin for ownerless property) does exist in British law, but more on that later. In fact the truth is weirder than you could imagine.
Firstly most people die having left a valid will. Where this happens an executor is appointed [...] | <urn:uuid:c9671766-7b8e-45b5-9715-4caa1bb4e714> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emptyhomes.com/category/bona-vacantia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947677 | 134 | 1.703125 | 2 |
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